The Secret of the Purity of Clothing

Know that the Salat is the state of ascension to the state of Proximity and being present in "the Presence of Intimacy" [nahdar-i uns], and the salik has to observe the disciplines of being present in the Holy Presence of the King of kings. As from the lowest of the degrees and stages of the appearance of the soul which is most superficial (the crust of the crust) and is its formal and visible body to the highest of its stages and realities -which is the innermost and the secret state of the heart -all are present in the Sacred Presence of Allah, likewise the salik must prepare himself to display all the internal and external soldiers of the overt and covert kingdoms in the Presence of Allah, the Exalted and Most High, and to return back to His Holy Presence all the trusts which His Sanctified Essence has bestowed upon him with complete purity, clarity, without the intrusion of any being, and with His hand of Power, Beauty and Majesty. He has to return the deposits as they have been given to him out of Kindness.

Therefore, there are many dangers in the discipline [adab] of the Presence, which the salik must take care not to neglect. He is to take the purity of the clothes -which cover the crust, or rather, the crust of the crust -as a means for the purity of the internal clothes, and to know that as these formal clothes cover the visible body, the body itself covers the isthmus body, which is actually existent, but is hidden within the curtains of the corporeal body which covers it. The isthmus body is the cover, the clothes and the veil of the soul, which covers the heart, and the heart is the cover of spirit, and the spirit is the cover of the secret, which covers the hidden latifah (the real essence), and other stages. Each low stage is the cover of its higher stage, and though all these stages are existing in the most pure people of Allah, and the others are void of them, yet only some of these stages are mentioned because all people have them.

So, it must be noted that as the external form of the salat is not proved to be correct without the purity of the clothes and the body, and as impurities - which are of Satan's vile acts and cause repellence from the Presence of the Beneficent [rahman] -block the way of attending the Presence, the musalli with clothes and body polluted with Satan's vileness is expelled from the divine Presence and prevented from attending the station of familiarity [maqam-i uns]. Similar is the vileness of disobeying Allah, which is also of Satan's practices and of the filths of that foul creature. It also prevents one from entering the Presence [mahdar]. So, the red-handed disobedient one, with an impure cover of the isthmus body, cannot be admitted to Allah's Presence [mahdar]. Purifying this cover is of the conditions of the realization and correctness of the internal salat. As long as man is in the veil of this world, he cannot know about the invisible body, the purity and filth of its clothes and the condition of its being pure and without filth. The day he comes out of this veil, and the sovereignty of the interior and of the day of gathering [yaumul jam] twists aside the extensive disunion of the exterior, and the sun of truth rises out of the dark mundane veils, and the eye of the invisible interior opens, and the eye of the visible animality closes, thereupon, with the eye of insight, he will understand that his salat , had been, till the end of life, void of purity and surrounded by thousands of obstacles, each one of which was an independent cause for expelling one from the Holy Presence of Allah. Alas! A thousand alas! For on that day there will be no way for indemnity and there will be no cure. There will be nothing but regret and remorse -endless regrets and continuous remorses: "And warm them of the day of anguish when the matter shall have been decided ... " [140]

After that the clothes of the interior body became pure, it would be necessary for the very invisible body to be purified from Satan's filths, that is, purification from the filths of the dispraised characters, as each one of them is apt to pollute the interior and to expel man from the Presence [mahdar] and prevent him from the Proximity. Such characters are of the filths of Satan, who is deprived of (Allah's) mercy. The origins of all the dispraised acts are self-conceit, selfishness, ostentation and obstinacy, each of which is the origin of many dispraised characters, and is at the head of many sins

Having completed this purification, and purified the clothes of taqwa with the water of sincere repentance and lawful austerity, the salik will have to busy himself with the purification of the heart, which is the real concealer [satir] and into which Satan's intrusion is greater, and its impurities spread to other clothes and concealers. So, without purifying the heart other purifications will not be easy. The purification of the heart passes through several stages, some of which will be referred to in these pages.

One of them is purging the heart from loving this world, which is at the head of all sins and it is the origin of all corruptions. As long as man has this love in his heart, it will not be possible for him to be admitted to the Presence of Allah; and divine affection, which is the mother of purities, is not accomplished with this impurity. Perhaps in the Book of Allah and in the advices of the prophets and holy men (AS), particularly Amirul Muiminin (Ali) (AS), importance is the least given to other than abandoning this world, neglecting it and avoiding it, all of which are of the realities of taqwa. This stage of purification is not achieved except by useful knowledge, strong cordial austerities, concentrating one's thoughts on the beginning [mabda'] and the return (to Allah) [ma'ad], engaging the heart in taking lessons from the decay and the destruction of the world, and the excellence and happiness of the invisible worlds: "May Allah have mercy upon one who knows where he has come from, where he is and where he is going." [141]

Another purification is to be purged from dependence on the creatures, which is a concealed polytheism; yet, to the people of knowledge, it is a manifest polytheism. This purification is accomplished through (the belief in) Allah's Unity of Acts, which is the source of all cordial purifications. It must be noted that mere demonstrative knowledge and contemplative step concerning the Unity of Acts do not have the required result. It sometimes happens that too much indulgence in the experimental sciences brings darkness and displeasure to the heart, and hinders man from attaining to the higher objective. In this respect it is said: "Knowledge is the greatest veil." The writer believes that all sciences, even the science of tauhid (monotheism), are functional [practical = 'amali] Perhaps the grammatical etymology of the word "tauhid", which is "taf'il", proves that, as according to its etymological function it means advancing from multiplicity to oneness, and annihilating and abolishing the aspects of the multiplicity in "the Essence of Union" ['ain-i jam]. This idea cannot be proved with evidence, as with cordial austerity and instinctive inclination towards the Owner of the hearts, the heart is to be informed about what proofs say, so that the truth of tauhid can be understood. Yes, proof tells us that "There is no effecter [mu'aththir] in the (world of) existence except Allah" [142], which is one of the meanings of "There is no God but Allah." By the blessing of this proof we cut short the intruding hands of beings from the realm of the Majesty of existence, and return the invisible and visible worlds to their Owner, and display the truth of: "His is what is in the heavens and the earth", [143] "And in His hand is the Kingdom of everything," [144] and "He it is Who in the heaven is God and in the earth God." [145] But unless this proved subject reaches the heart and becomes an internal form [surat] of the heart, we will not cross the limit [hadd] of knowledge to the limit of faith; and of the light of faith, which illuminates the kingdom of the interior and the exterior, we shall have no share and no profit. This is the reason that although we have the proof supporting this divine, lofty subject, we are still in multiplicity and know little of tauhid which is the pleasure of the eyes of the people of Allah -we do ring the bell of: "There is no effecter [mu'aththir] in the (world of) existence except Allah", yet we look with the eye of greed, and extend the hand of demand to everybody:

The legs of the inferentialists are wooden, Legs will be very much infirm, if wooden. [146]

This purification is of the great stations of the wayfarers to Allah. There are, however, further stations, which are beyond our limit, though probably we may refer to some of them within these papers, when the occasion arises, insha' allah (Allah willing).

Notes:

[140]. Surah Mariam: 39.

[141]. Mafatihul Ghayb, by Mulla Sadra, edited by Khajawi, p. 50.

[142]. It is ascribed to the theologian philosophers, as is related by Mirza Abul Hasan Sha'rani in the Preface of his The Secrets of the Maxims, p. 32.

[143]. Surah an-Nahl: 52.

[144]. Surah Ya Sin: 83.

[145]. Surah Zukhruf: 84.

[146]. A poem by Maulawi.

On Some Disciplines Concerning Permissibility [ibahah] of Place

Having understood the stages of the place according to his states and existential growths [nasha'at], the salik is to exert his effort, in respect with the cordial disciplines of their permissibility, so that his Salat may come out of the usurping intrusions of the evil Iblis. In the first stage he is to perform the formal disciplines of worship and servitude, and to fulfil his former promises of the world of pre-existence and the Day of Covenant, cutting Satan's intruding hand from the kingdom of his nature, so as to establish amicable relations with the Owner of the House, and his actions [tasarrufat] in the world of nature may not be usurping. Some of the people of good aptitude say that the inner meaning of the noble ayah " O you who believe! Fulfil the obligations. The cattle quadruped are allowed to you," [165] is that allowing the cattle quadruped is conditioned by the fulfillment of the guardianship obligation. Noble hadiths relate that all land is the Imam's, and that other than the Shi'ahs are its usurpers. [166] People of knowledge regard the waliy ul'amr (the religiously legal authority) as the owner of all kingdoms of the existence, and the stages of the visible and the invisible, and regard using them without the Imam's permission to be wrong.

The writer says: The accursed lblis is the enemy of Allah, and his conducts and all the Satanic intrusions in the world of nature are tyrannical and usurping. So, if the wayfarer to Allah could bring himself out of the control of that wicked one, his conduct would be divine, and his place, clothing, food and matrimony would be permissible and clean. And as much as he remains under Satan's control, his permissibilities become less and Satanic polytheism [shirk] will affect them. So, if man's external organs become under Satan's control, they will be Satanic organs, usurping Allah's kingdom, as the seclusion of the invisible powers in the mosque of the body can only be permissible and right when those powers are of the soldiers of Allah, in which case lblis's soldiers will not have the right to intrude into the kingdom of the human body, which is the property of Allah, the Exalted. Having cut the intruding hand of Satan short off the kingdom of the heart, which is the private residence of Allah, and cleared his heart for Allah's manifestation, and excluded other than Allah, such as lblis, from it, the external and internal mosques and the visible and invisible places become permissible for him, and his salats become like those of the people of knowledge, and consequently, the purity of the mosque is realized, too.

Notes:

[165]. Surah al-Ma'idah: 1.

[166]. Usulul Kafi, vol. 2, p. 266, "Book of the Proof', narratives in ch. "Concerning that All Land is the Imam's"

Times of Salat

Know that the people of knowledge and of observance pay attention to, and take care of, the times for the Salats according to the depth of their knowledge of the Sacred State of the Lord, and according to their longing for supplication with the Creator, Honoured be His Name, as these times are for supplication and meeting Allah.

Those who are attracted by the Beauty of the Beautiful, and are fond of the beauty of eternity, and are drunk with the cup of affection, and are in a state of ecstacy by (drinking) a goblet from "alastu"? (Am I not ...?) [167], are delivered from both worlds, closing their eyes against the regions of existence and joining the Majesty of the Sanctity of Allah's Beauty. To them the Presence is continual, and they do not forget, even for a single moment, remembrance, contemplation, perception and observance.

The people of knowledge, virtues and honourable learned souls, and of good disposition, would prefer nothing to supplication to Allah. They demand supplication and privacy with Allah. They take glory, honour, virtue and knowledge to be in supplication and remembering Allah. Should they look at the universe and the world, their look would be gnostic. In the world they are in quest of Allah and want Him. To them, all beings are the manifestations of Allah and the charms of the Beautiful: "l love the whole world as the whole world is from Him." [168] They watch for the times of the salats with all their hearts, and eagerly wait for the time of supplication to Allah, preparing themselves to be present at a fixed time to meet Him. Their hearts are present, and from the Presence [mahdar] they demand the Present, as they respect the Presence [mahdar] for the sake of the Present. They believe that servitude is association and sociability with the Absolute Perfect, and their eagerness for worship is due to this fact.

And those who believe in the invisible and the other world, and are fascinated by the generosity of Allah, the Exalted, and who would not change the eternal heavenly blessings and the everlasting pleasures and the permanent cheerfulness for mundane perishing chances and the temporal, incomplete and suspected delights, at the times of worship -which is the seed of the blessings relating to the other world -they prepare their hearts and perform it whole-heartedly and anxiously. They wait for the times of the salats -which are the times for getting the results and winning the treasures -and take nothing for the eternal blessings. As their hearts are aware of the invisible world and they cordially believe in the eternal blessings and the continual pleasures of the Hereafter world, they fully utilize their time and do not waste it. Those are the owners of Paradise and the lords of grace in which they will remain forever.

Those groups that have been mentioned, and the others which have not been mentioned, obtain pleasure from worshipping itself, in proportion to their ranks and their knowledge. They never feel the heaviness of the obligations, but it is we, the helpless, who are in the chains of hopes and desires, and in the fetters of whims and wishes, drowned in the overflowing dark sea of the world of nature, where neither a smell of affection and love has reached the sense of smell of our spirit, nor has our heart's sense of taste tasted any delicacies of knowledge and virtue. We are neither of the people of gnosticism and vision, nor of the people of faith and tranquillity. We take the divine worship to be a heavy obligation, and regard supplication unto Allah a burden. We trust nothing but this world, which is a manger for animals, and are attached to nothing except to this house of nature, which is the seclusion place of the unjust. The eye of our heart's insight is blind to the Beauty of the Beautiful, and the taste of our spirit is void of the taste of gnosticism.

The master of the circle of the people of knowledge, and the gist of the people of affection and truth says:" I spend the night with my Lord Who feeds me and gives me to drink." [169] O Lord! what a night which Muhammad (SA) spent in the House of Private Intimacy with You! What food and drink were those which You, with Your own hand, fed that honourable being and freed him from all worlds! It is proper for that master to say: "I have with Allah a time which is not within the capacity of any favourable angel and prophet." [170] Was that time of the times of this world and the other world? Or was it the time of the Privacy of "qaba qausayn" (the distance of two bows' length) and discarding the two worlds? Moses, the interlocutor with Allah, fasted for forty days and could attain to a meeting with Allah, and Allah said: "So, the appointed time of his Lord was complete forty nights." [171] Yet, he could not attain to a meeting like Muhammad's, and it cannot be compared with that of him. In the meeting place Moses was told: "Take off your shoes" [172], which is interpreted to mean "affection to family", while the Seal of the Prophets was told to love' Ali. In my heart, of this secret, there is a firebrand, of which I would not talk. You yourself, from this brief, read its detailed talk.

Notes:

[167]. This is a reference to the ayah: "and made them bear witness against their own souls: 'Am I not your Lord?' They said: 'Yes, we bear witness"' (Surah An'am: 172).

[168]. By the world I am pleased, since the world is pleasant by Him, I love the whole world, as the whole world is from Him. (by Sa'di)

[169]. Wasai'lush Shi'ah, vol. 7, p. 388, with a slight difference. Al-Bukhari's Sahih, vol. 4, "Book of Wishes", p. 251. Maulawi, in a couplet says: As "I spend the night with my Lord" became knowledge, "He feeds and waters" afterwards became porridge.

[170]. 'Awaliyul La'ali vol. 4, p. 7, hadith 7. Biharul Anwar, vol. 18, p. 360, "Book of the Prophet's History", ch. on "Proving the Mi'raj".

[171]. Surah al-'Araf: 142.

[172]. "I am your Lord; take off your shoes"," Surah Ta-Ha: 12.

On Watching Over the Time

Dear, you too, are to seize this opportunity for supplication, as available and according to the possible measure, and apply its cordial disciplines, informing your heart that the origin [mayah] of the eternal Hereafter life, the source of the spiritual virtues and the capital of the unlimited generosities are in the Proximity to and Intimacy with Allah, the Exalted, and in supplication to Him, especially in the Salat which is a spiritual mixture [ma'jun] prepared by the hand of Allah's Beauty and Majesty. It is the most comprehensive and perfect worship among all types of servitude. So, take care, at your best, to keep its times, and select its virtuous times, for in them is a sort of luminosity not found in other times. In those times you are to lessen, or even sever, your heart's engagements, and this can be achieved by arranging your times and assigning special times for the Salat, which guarantees the eternal Hereafter life for you, such that in those assigned times you would have nothing else to do, and the heart could have no other attachments that might rival the Salat, and the heart can be prepared and made present with ease.

Now I am going to relate some of the hadiths about the conditions of the infallibles (the Imams) (AS), as needs be, so that contemplating their conditions may lead to being awake, and perhaps the importance of the situation and seriousness of the state can be recognized by the heart and it be awakened from its sleep of negligence.

Some wives of the Messenger of Allah (SA) were quoted to have said that "The Messenger of Allah (SA) used to talk to us and we used to talk to him. But when the time for the salat arrived he appeared as if he did not know us and we did not know him, as his attention was completely directed to Allah." [173] It is said that Amirul Mu'minin ' Ali (AS), when it was time for the salat, used to writhe and tremble. Asked once about his uncommon state, he said: "The time has come for the trust which Allah, the Exalted, offered to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to carry it and were afraid of it". [174] Sayyid Ibn Tawus (may his spirit be sanctified) says, in Falahus sa'il, that when Imam Husayn (AS) used to perform the Wu'du, he changed colours and his joints trembled. Asked about the reason, the Imam said: "When one is going to stand before the Owner of the arsh, his colour is ought to turn pale and his joints to tremble". [175] Imam Hasan had a similar condition. [176] It is narrated that Imam as-Sajjad (the fourth Imam) (AS) used to get pale at the arrival of the time of the wudu '. He was once asked: "What is this state which happens to you whenever you want to perform the wudu '?" He said: " Do you not know before whose presence I am to stand '? [177]

If we, too, think a little and tell our veiled and discarded heart that the times of the salats are the times of being present at the Holy Threshold of the Owner of Majesty, the times in which Allah, the Exalted, the Master of the Kings and the Absolute Great, invites His helpless and worthless servant to supplication, admitting him to His House of Generosity, so that he may win the eternal happiness and permanent pleasures and cheerfulness, we will have pleasure and cheerfulness, according to our level of knowledge when the time of the salat arrives. If the heart understands the greatness and the importance of the situation, there will be fear and dread in proportion to the extent of its understanding of the greatness. But as the hearts of the holy men [auliya'] and their conditions are different, according to the gracious and the overpowering manifestations and feeling the greatness and mercy, sometimes their longing for the meeting, and their feeling the mercy and beauty excite them to display pleasure and cheerfulness, and they hail: "Relieve us, O Bilal!" [178] And sometimes (divine) manifestations of Greatness, Power and Sovereignty, drive them to ecstasy, trembling and shivering.

In short, O you helpless! The cordial disciplines of the times are in preparing yourself for entering into the Presence of the Master of this world and the Hereafter, for conversing with Allah, the Almighty and Most High. So, cast a glance at your weakness, helplessness, humility and indigence, and at the Greatness, Glory and Majesty of the Sanctified Essence, Glorified be His Majesty, in Whose court of Greatness the prophetic Messengers and the favourite angels go into rapture, and confess their incapability, humility and wretchedness. Having so looked, and taught your heart, it would feel afraid and you regard yourself and your worship trivial and worthless. Then, contemplate the extent of the mercy, complete kindness and all-embracing affection of His Sacred Essence, to realize that such a helpless servant, with all his impurities and wretchedness, is invited to His Sacred Court, received by the ceremonies of sending down of angels, heavenly Books and Prophets and Messengers (AS), who call him to the meeting of intimacy, without this helpless possible servant having any previous aptitude, or there being imaginable, in this invitation to His Presence, any benefit for Him -we take refuge with Allah -or for the angels of Allah and the Prophets (AS). It is natural, however, that the heart is pleased with this contemplation, and it is filled with hope and expectancy. Therefore, with steps of fear and hope, desire and dread, prepare yourself for the Presence and have ready the required provisions for the Attendance, the most important of which is to attend the Meeting [mahdar] with a shy and fearing heart, feeling broken, humiliated, weak and helpless, and believing yourself unworthy to worship and servitude and to be admitted into the Presence, and regarding that giving you permission to enter into worship and servitude was only because of the general mercy and the all-inclusive kindness of the One, the Almighty and Glorified. If you put your humility before your eyes, and humbly and heartily submitted to the Sacred Essence of Allah, and if you considered yourself and your worship worthless and trivial, Allah, the Exalted, would be kind to you, raise you and bestow upon you of His graces.

Notes:

[173]. Mustadarkul Wasa'il, "Book of as-Salat" , chs. on "The Acts of the salat", ch. 2, Hadith 17.

[174]. Ibid., Hadiths 5 and 14.

[175]. Sayyid Ibn Tawus (may his spirit be sanctified) has stated this point in his Falahus Sa'il, quoting al Lulu'iyat, concerning the conditions of Imam Hasan ibn 'Ali (AS)

[176]. Biharul Anwar, vol. 77, p. 346, "Book of purification", chs. on "Wudu"', ch. 34, Hadith 34, quoting Falahus Sa'il.

[177]. Mustadarkul Wasa'il, "Book of as-Salat", chs .On "The Acts of the salat, ch. 2, Hadith 35.

[178]. al Mahajjatul Bayda fi Tahdhibil ahya " val. 1, p. 377. (Bilal was the Prophet's mu'adhdhim, or the caller for the salat), Maulawi, in a couplet, says: The soul is perfect and perfect is its call, The Chosen One said: "Relieve us, O Bilal!"

On the General Secret of Orientation

The appearance of orientation consists of two aspects:

One is (turning to) the forefront, which is turning the face from all dispersed sides.

The other is psychological, and it is the orientation of the face towards the Ka'bah, which is the ummul qura ' ( the Mother of the Towns) and the center of the extension of the earth.

This appearance has an inside, and the inside has a secret, or rather, secrets. The people of the invisible secrets distract the interior or the spirit from dispersed directions [jihat] of the multiplicities of the invisible and visible, and direct the secret of the spirit towards being attached to the One. They regard all the multiplicities as vanished in the secret of the "Collective Oneness" [ahadiyat-i jam]. When this spiritual secret settles in the heart, the Haqq (Allah) appears in the heart as the Greatest Name, which is the state of the "Union of the Names" [jam '-i asma'i], and the multiplicities of the Names are vanished and disappear in the Greatest Name, and the heart is directed, in this instance, to the Greatest Name. And when it comes out from inside the heart to the outer visibility, the plan for annihilating [fina] (all) other (than Allah) is to turn away from the east and west of the visible world, and the plan of the orientation towards the Union [hadrat-i jam] is the orientation towards the center of the extended earth, which is Allah's hand in the earth.

As regards the traveller to Allah, who travels from the outside to the inside, and advances from the overt to the covert, he is to use this formal orientation towards the center of the earthly blessings, and discarding other diverse orientations, as a means for the cordial moods, and never to be satisfied with the meaningless appearance. He is to divert the heart -which is the focus of Allah's attention -from the different and diverse directions, which are real idols, directing it towards the qiblah of the truth, which is the origin of the origins of the blessings of the heavens and the earth, and doing away with the custom of other [ghair] and otherness [ghairiyat] so as to get to the secret of: " I have turned my face toward Him Who originated the heavens and the earth " [179] to some extent, and to have in his heart an example of the manifestations and gleams of the invisible world of the (Divine) Names, so that the diverse directions and the different multiplicities may be burnt away by the divine gleam. Allah, the Exalted, would help him, and the small and big idols in the inmost corner of the heart may be destroyed by the hand of (His) guardianship. However, this is an endless story, so let me drop it and go by.

Notes:

[179]. Surah al-An'am: 79.