Allah is the Greatest

Apparently, this takbir (saying: Allahu Akbar=Allah is the Greatest) belongs to the ruku ` (obeisance = genuflection) in order to be prepared for the stage of ruku `. Its relevant discipline is to bring to mind Allah's status of Greatness and Majesty and the Lord's Might and Sovereignty, and considering, at the same time, one's weakness, inability, poverty, humility and servitude. In such a condition, and according to one's knowledge of the Lord's Might and the servant's humility, one will say the takbir of the Haqq (Allah), the Exalted, being above all description.

The description [tausif] which the salik servant makes of the Haqq (Allah), the Exalted, and his glorifying and extolling, should be out of pure obedience, and taking them to be by the permission of the Haqq (Allah), the Exalted, to describe and worship Him. Otherwise he would dare not to vaunt of his describing and glorifying in the presence of the Lord, weak a servant as he is, and, actually, having nothing of his own, for whatsoever he has is from his Great Worshipped. When 'Ali ibn al Husayn, with such sweet and authoritative a tongue as he had, being the tongue of Allah, says: "How, with this feeble tongue as I have, can I thank you?", [583] what a thin gnat can do ?" [584]

So, when the salik servant wants to enter the grave stage of ruku`, he has to prepare himself for that stage, throwing behind, with his own hand, his describing, glorifying, worshipping and conduct [suluk]. He then has to raise his hands beside his ears, facing his empty palms towards the qiblah, and, empty-handed, with a heart full of fear and hope-fear of failure and deficiency in observing the state of servitude; and assured hope in the Holy state of Allah Who honoured him into such situations, which belong to the bosom friends of Allah and the perfect lovers - he enters the stage of ruku`. Probably, raising the hands in this way denotes leaving the qiyam (standing) position and the stand [wuquf] in that stage - a sign indicating taking no provision from the stage of qiyam. Takbir denotes glorifying and aggrandizing the descriptions done in the stage of qiyam. As ruku`, to the people of knowledge, is the stage of the Unity of Attributes, the takbir of ruku`, to them, is aggrandizing this Unity, and raising the hands is a sign of rejecting the attributes of the creatures.

Notes:

[583]. Misbahul Mutahajjid, p. 534, an extract from Abu Hamzah's invocation.

[584]. Refer to footnote No. 272.

Concerning the Disciplines of Bowing in Ruku`

Know that the principal positions of the salat are three. The other acts and deeds are preliminary and preparatory:

First; q'iyam.

Second: ruku`

Third: sujud.

The people of knowledge regard these three positions to be a hint at the three Unities [tauhidat]. We, in the Secret of the Salat, referred to these stages in terms of the gnostic taste. Now, we explain them in other terms suitable to the common people.

So, we say that as the salat is the believer's perfective mi`raj, and the bringer of the pious people to Allah's proximity, it stands on two bases, the one is the preliminary to the other.

The first is abandoning self-conceit and selfishness, as it is the truth and the inside of taqwa (piety).

The second is seeking Allah and being in quest of the Haqq, as this is the truth of the mi`raj and proximity. Hence, it is in the noble narratives that:

"The salat is the means of proximity for every pious person," [585] the same as the Qur'an is a light of guidance, but for the pious: "This is the Book, there is no doubt in it. It is a guide for the muttaqin (the pious)." [586]

In short, in these three states: the states of qiyam, ruku `, and sujud, the said two states (bases) take shape gradually. So, in the state of qiyam, self-conceitedness is forsaken according to the state of Activity [fa`iliyat], and regarding Allah to be the Absolute Factor and Eternal. In the state of ruku ; self-conceitedness is forsaken according to the state of Attributes and Names, considering the state of Allah's Attributes and Names. In the sujud, the self-conceitedness is forsaken altogether, and it is entirely Allah-seeking and being in quest of the Haqq. All the stages of the saliks are of the affairs [shu'un] of these three states, as it is quite obvious to the people of insight, the gnostics and the saliks.

When the salik along these three states realizes that the secret of these acts is the three Unities, he will have to pay more attention to that state which is nicer and more delicate. Naturally, the danger of the state is greater and it is more slippery. Then, in the state of ruku`, the salik claims that in the house of existence [dar-i wujud] there is no knowledge, power, life nor will except from Allah - a claim so great and a state so delicate, which we are not (qualified) to put forth. We should inwardly turn to the Holy Threshold of Allah, showing supplication, distress and humility, asking forgiveness for our faults and failures, and, with seeing eyes and witnessing conscience, admitting our shortcomings, that perhaps His Sacred Holiness may show kindness to, and care for, us, and may He, in the time of necessity, extend a hand of help to us. "Or, Who answers the distressed one when he calls upon Him, and removes the evil ... ?" [587]

Notes:

[585]. Furu `ul Kafi, vol. 3, p. 265, "The Book of as-Salat", ch. on "The Merit of as-Salat", hadith 6.

[586]. Surah al-Baqarah: 2.

[587]. Surah an-Naml: 62.

The ruku` of the salat of the Messenger's mi`raj

In respect of the mi`raj salat of the Messenger of Allah (SA) it is stated that after the ruku `, The Almighty addressed him, saying: "Look at My Arsh." The Messenger of Allah said: "I looked at a greatness which astounded my soul and I went in a swoon. I was inspired to say: `Glory be to my great Lord and praise be to Him' because of the greatness which I saw. As I said that, I came to myself. I continued to say it for seven times till I came to myself as before ... " [588] as the hadith goes.

Consider, dear, the state of the greatness of the suluk of the "Universal Master" [sarwar-i kull] and the Guide to the Paths (SA), who, while in the state of ruku`, which is a looking down at one's inferior, sees the light of the Arsh; and, as the light of Arsh to the walis [auliya] is the manifestation of the Essence, without mirror, the self individuation is gone, and a mood of swoon and shock takes place. So, the Holy Essence, with eternal care, helped that honourable being, and with affectionate inspiration taught that noble personality how to "glorify", "aggrandize" and "praise", until after seven times - the number of the veils and the number of man's ranks - he came to himself and to wakefulness. This condition prevailed throughout the mi`raj salat.

But as we have no admission into the privacy of intimacy, nor into a place of Holy State, it is good to use our incapability and humility as a capital for the attainment to the objective, and as a pretext to reach the goal. We have to keep clinging to the skirt of the intended until we get what we desire. Or, at least, if we are not the men for the job, we are to seek guidance from the guides of the road, and find help with the perfect spiritual men, so that a smell of fragrant of knowledge may reach the smelling sense of our souls, and a breeze of the graces may blow into our dead corpses, because Allah, the Exalted, is accustomed to being beneficent, and His habit is to be graceful and generous.

It must be noted that ruku ` consists of "glorifying", "aggrandizing" (magnifying) and "praising" the Lord, Almighty and Most High. Thus, "glorifying" is purifying Allah, the Exalted, from description and definition. "Aggrandizing" and "praising" are refraining from limits of assimilation and devesting Allah from attributes, because "praising" denotes the appearance in the mirrors of creation, and "aggrandizing" negates limitation. Thus, He is apparent and there is no appearance in the world more apparent than Him. He is not clothed in the apparel of the individuations of the creation.

Notes:

[588]. `Ilalush-Shara'i` p. 315. A part of the hadith concerning al-mi`raj salat.  

Delicacies and secrets of the ruku`, sujud and their cordial disciplines

It is stated in Misbahush-Shari`ah that as-Sadiq (AS) said: "No servant bows in the ruku `for Allah, in a true way, unless Allah adorns him with the light of His Brilliance, and shades him with the shade of His Majesty, and clothes him with the gown of His chosen friends. The ruku ` is first and the sujud is second. The one who performed the first is fit for the second. The ruku ` is politeness, and the sujud is proximity. So, the one who is not well-mannered, is unfit for proximity. Therefore, perform the ruku ` like the one who is submitting to Allah with his heart, humble and afraid under His Sovereignty, drooping to Him his limbs like the one who is afraid and grieved for what one loses of the benefit of those who perform the ruku`. It is narrated that ar-Rabi` ibn Khuthaym used to keep indulged in a single ruku `all the night till dawn. In the morning he would raise his head and say: `Oh, the sincere ones have passed us and we are left behind.' Complete your ruku ` by levelling your back, and rebuke yourself for being vigilant in serving Him except with His help. Protect your heart against Satan's whispers, deceits and traps. Allah, the Exalted, raises His servants as much as they show humility to Him, and He guides them to the principles of humility and submission as much as His Greatness knows of their secrets." [589]

This noble hadith contains signs, good tidings, disciplines and instructions, as "adorning" with the "light of Allah's Brilliance", being under the "shade of Allah's Majesty" and wearing the "gown of Allah's chosen ones" are good tidings of attaining to the state of learning the Names: "And He taught Adam all the names". [590] Of that state is the taking of the state of attributive annihilation and the state of wakefulness, because Allah's adorning the servant with the state of "the light of His Brilliance" means taking him to the state of Names, which is the reality of teaching man. Taking him under the shade and shadow of "Majesty", which is of the Names of Power, and placing him in His Court, refer to annihilating the servant of himself. After this state, clothing him in "the gown of the chosen ones" is survival after annihilation. From this it is realized that the sujud is self-annihilation, as is said by the people of knowledge. The ruku` is first, and it is these states, and the sujud is second, which is nothing but the state of annihilation in the Essence.

It is also realized that the Absolute Proximity, which happens in the sujud, is not accessible except through the true ruku `. Whoever wants to be fit for the second, must acquire the discipline of the ruku ` and its proximity.

After stating the delicacies and secrets of the ruku ` and sujud, he refers to their hearty disciplines to suit the middle class. These are among the general matters, which we have referred to in the Preliminaries; and some of them belong to ruku `. Now, as most of these things have already been stated, we leave out further explanations.

Notes:

[589]. Misbahush-Shari`ah, p. 12. Biharul Anwar, vol. 89, p. 108.

[590]. Surah al-Baqarah: 31.

Its secret is the return from wuquf (standing) in the multiplicity of names, as it is said: "The perfect monotheism is the negation of ascribing attributes to Him" [591], because after the awakening from the annihilation in the Names [fana'-i asma'i], the salik servant witnesses his failure and shortcoming, since the beginning of Man's sin-which is to be compensated for by his offspring-is the inclination toward the multiplicities of names, which is the inside of the "tree". Having understood the sin of himself, who is Adam's offspring, and the sin of Adam, who is his origin, he would recognize his state of humility and need, and get ready to remove the sin by way of behaving with humility in `the presence of Allah's Majesty. He would then stand erect out of this state, and with the takbir after the ruku` he would remove the multiplicities of names, and, empty-handed, he would comprehend the state of humility, helplessness and the earthly origin. The important discipline in this respect is to find out the state's great significance, and to have the heart to taste it through complete remembrance, and strive to attend [tawajjuh] to His Essence, forsaking attending [tawajjuh] to oneself, even to one's state of humility.

Know, dear, that complete rememberance of the Haqq (Allah), and absolute turning, with the inside of the heart, to the Holy Essence, will open the heart's internal eye, through which meeting Allah-the pleasure of the eyes of the walis [auliya] - takes place: "And those who strive hard for Us, We will most certainly guide them in Our ways." [592]

Notes:

[591]. Usulul Kafi, vol. 1, p. 191, "The Book of Monotheism", ch. on "General Hadiths on Monotheism", hadith 6.

[592]. Surah al-`Ankabut: 69.

According to the people of gnosticism and of heart, this secret is to be forsaking oneself and closing one's eyes against anything except Him; and, with a Jonahian mi'raj -which took place by sinking into the stomach of the fish -one can pay attention to his origin without seeing the veil. And, in putting the head on the dust, there is a hint at seeing the Beauty of the Beautiful in the inner heart of the dust and the origin of the world of nature.

Its hearty disciplines are to find one's reality and the original root of one's existence, and to place the brain, which is the center of the sovereignty of the soul and the Arsh of the spirit, at the lowest threshold of the State of Holiness, and to consider the world of dust as the threshold of the Master of the Kings.

Thus, the secret of the position of the sujud is to give up oneself, and the discipline of putting the head on the dust is to debase one's most high position, regarding it to be lower than the dust. Should there be in the heart a cause for these claims, in respect of the states of the salat, which are a reference to them, they are, to the people of knowledge, hypocrisy. And, as this state is the most dangerous one, the salik to Allah will have to cling to the skirt of the care of Allah, the Most High, by means of his personal disposition and inmost nature, humbly and servilely asking forgiveness for the shortcomings. But this is a dangerous state which is out of the obligations of people like us.

As we have explained in The Secret of the Salat these states in details, we refrain from repeating them in this thesis, satisfying ourselves with relating the hadith narrated in Misbahush-Sharai `ah concerning the relevant discipline.  

Disciplines of the sujud

It is stated in Misbahush-Sharu'ah that Imam as-Sadiq (AS) said: "By Allah he will not be a loser the one who performs the sujud as it really should be, even if for a single time in his life. No one will be successful if he takes to privacy with his Lord, in a similar position, resembling the deceiver of himself, unaware of; and neglecting, what Allah has arranged for the sajidin (the prostrate worshippers) of immediate intimacy and adjourned comfort. The one who is good at approaching (Allah) in the sujud, will never be far from Him, whereas the one who observes not the discipline of; and loses the respect for, the sujud, can never be near Him by longing for other than Him in his sujud. So, let yours be the sujud of a submissive and humble to Allah, the Exalted, knowing that he has been created from the dust which is trodden upon by the creatures, and that He has made you of a nutfah (semen) which is regarded filthy by everybody, and was brought into existence though not existed before. The concept of the sujud has been made by Allah, the Exalted, a cause for getting near Him with the heart, the inside and the spirit. So, whoever nears Him turns away from other than Him. Do you not realize that, in the external form, the position of the sujud is not complete except by hiding oneself from everything, and turning away from all things visible to the eyes? Similar is the question of the internal position. Whoever his heart is attracted, during the salat, to other than Allah,the Exalted, he will be near to that which attracted him, and far from the reality of that which Allah wanted him to be in his salat. Allah, the Exalted, says: `Allah has not made for any man two hearts within him,' [593] and the Messenger of Allah (AS) said that Allah, the Exalted, told him: `Whenever I look into the heart of a servant and find in it his love to be sincere in obeying Me for My sake and for obtaining My pleasure, I undertake setting him aright and managing his affairs. But whoever is indulged in other than Me, he is among those who mock themselves, and his name is registered in the Book of the Losers."' [594]

This noble hadith explains both the secrets and the disciplines, and, by contemplation, it opens ways of knowledge in the face of the salik to Allah, and destroys the obstinacy and the denial of the deniers, and supports and praises the godly men of knowledge and the people of certainty, and attracts attention to the reality of privacy and intimacy with Allah, and forsaking other than Allah, the Exalted.

Notes:

[593]. Surah al-Ahzab: 4.

[594]. Misbahush-Shari`ah, ch. 16, on "The Sujud."

Chapter Three

Contents and meaning of the form, mood and invocation of the sujud

It is stated in a narrative that when the ayah: "Therefore, glorify the Name of your Lord, the Great," [595] was revealed, the Messenger of Allah (SA) said : " Recite this in your ruku `," and when the ayah : " Glorify the Name of your Lord, the Most High" [596] was revealed, he said: "Recite this in your sujud." [597]

It is in the noble hadith of al-Kafi that "... the first and foremost name He assumed for Himself was al-'Ali (the High) al-Azim (the Great) [598]. It may be that "al-'Ali" was the first of the names of Essence, and "al-Azim" was the first of the names of Attributes.

Know that the sujud, like the other positions of the salat has its form, mood, recitation [dhikr] and secret. These matters, in relation to the Perfect Ones, are as have formerly been related in this thesis, but to go into the details is not suitable. For the middle class the form is showing humbleness and forsaking arrogance and self conceit. Pressing the nose onto dust-which is of the confirmed supererogations, or even neglecting it is contrary to precaution - is a token of showing complete submission, humility and modesty. It also means being aware of one's origin and creation. And putting the tops of the exposed organs--which are the places of sensation and of the appearance of mobility and power, being the very seven or eight organs-on the dust of humility and helplessness, is a sign of complete surrender, of offering one's entire powers, and getting out of Adam's sin.

By strengthening the rememberance of these concepts in the heart, it becomes affected by them and it acquires a mood of running away from oneself and from self-conceit. This mood results in a mood of pleasure, which, by its turn, results in a mood of complete privacy and there will be full love.

As regards the recitation [dhikr] during the sajdah, it is based on tasbih, which is glorifying (purifying) Allah from description and observance of the command (amr), or it is purifying (glorifying) Him from multiplicity of names, or purifying (glorifying) Him from unification [tauhid], which is "taf`il", moving from multiplicity to unity, and it is not free from the blemish of multiplying [takthir] and associating with Allah [tashrik], as describing Him with the Essential highness and praising Him are also not free from the blemishes of these concepts.

"Al-'Ali" is of the Names of Essence, and, according to the narrative of al-Kafi, it is the first name adopted by Allah for Himself. That is, the first manifestation of the Essence is for Himself. When the salik, in this state, becomes annihilated out of himself and forsakes the world and what is in it, he will have the honour of this Essential manifestation.

Know that as the ruku` is first and the sujud is second, glorification and praising in them differ a great deal. Also rabb is different in those two states, because rabb as the people of knowledge say, is of the Names of Essence, Attributes and Acts in three aspects. Therefore, rabb in al-hamdu lillahi rabbil `alamin may be of the Names of Act in accordance with the state of standing, which is the state of the Unity of Acts. In the ruku ` it is of the Names of Attributes in accordance with the fact that the ruku` is the state of the Unity of Attributes. In the sujud it is of the Names of Essence in accordance with the fact that sujud is the state of the Unity of Essence. The "glorifying" and "praising" in each one of these states are related to that particular state. [599]

Notes:

[595]. Surah al-Waqi'ah: 74.

[596]. Surah al-Al'a: 1.

[597]. Majma `ul Bayan, vol. 9, p. 224, commenting on ayah 74 of surah al-Waqi'ah.

[598]. Usulul Kafi, vol. 1, p. 153, "The Book of at-Tauhid," ch. on "The Originality of the Names (of Allah), hadith 2.

[599]. In the Ms (manuscript), before starting "Chapter Four", the Imam has scribed nearly two pages under the title "A Gnostic Note", then these were crossed out as to be deleted, and in the margin he wrote: "This note is not needed and it is to be completely effaced." In the book's latest Ms (manuscript) this part is omitted. But it appears in the former editions of this book. In this edition that passage is not printed.