Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

Glimpses from Spiritual Life Of Auliya Allah

Spiritual Link between Real Self of Man and the Divine Self

We have seen at length what science has achieved so far, as regards man’s psychic powers or capabilities. We have also had glimpses of the latent powers which even those possess and actualize who have not embraced faith and who do not practice the formal spiritual discipline which has been revealed to mankind through the beloved Messenger of Allah. They only have an unsystematic belief in all what they observe whether compatible with or incongruous to science. They do not have faith in the ‘unseen’ which is basic to Islamic faith. They are, therefore, deprived of the real knowledge of spiritualism, its real value in our practical life and the reservoir of energies it provides to man to conquer the universe. They do many things but in a disorderly manner. They do achieve out of it but very little. They neither study nor practice the formal establishment of divine link between real self of man and the Ultimate Divine Authority of the universe - Allah Almighty in accordance with the revealed procedure.

Spiritualism of Islam is based on the relation of the real human self to the Divine Self, which is the Perfect Self. He is no doubt the Almighty ‘the Eternal, the Living and the Self-Subsistent’ (The Qur’an, 2:255). All depends upon this affiliation between the believer’s soul and Allah which Islam so emphatically exhorts. Hadrat Makhdum Ali Hajwiri (Data Ganj Bakhsh) explains:[17]

Tasawwuf is to establish relation with Allah.

Man establishes his relation with Allah abandoning the worldly lustful temptations and affiliations. Consequently, the spiritual bliss and rapture entrance him.

The spiritual insight into the Qur'anic philosophy reveals that the human self has, by virtue of his relation with Allah Almighty, the capacity to develop itself on the model of the Divine attributes. It then rises higher and higher in the scale of existence. It is a hard task and man is required to be on guard against all threats from within and without while treading this path. The restrictions Islam imposes on the individual aim at developing in him a strong character and enduring personality for successful self-actualization. This is where we need the divine guidance and spiritual assistance from someone who has already attained Allah’s proximity and accomplished what is essential to reach the ultimate goal - the countenance of Allah. The best model to follow in this regard is the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet (SAW).

At this juncture, the system of spiritual channels comes in to facilitate spiritual survival and growth of the common man in face of heavy odds and tempting evils of the earthly existence. This is the spiritual system that has perpetuated ever since the emergence of Islam through Auliya Allah who enjoy nearness to Allah and His Holy Messenger (SAW) and who are the spiritual giants of the universe. They acquire the divine attributes and Allah places under their control what all they wish to control.

A Mo’omin’s hand is Allah’s hand’

Commanding, Elegant, Prudent, Triumphant. [18]

This happens according to a system. We have already acquainted ourselves with the studies on parapsychology and the literature produced on learning about infinite potentiality man has been bestowed with. Islam offers a well-organized system that wins us the spiritual prowess and competence. The lives of Auliya Allah are replete with the incidents that befittingly illustrate as to what it is that we call the spiritual power, how it is acquired and what is it that we name as the spiritual system of life. This also unfolds how these spiritual personalities acquire attributes of the Divine Reality.

These glimpses are in sharp contrast with the casual episodes that the scientists of parapsychology probe with an unusual surprise. These anecdotes have been taken from ‘Muslim Saints and Mystics’ by A.J.Arberry, an English translation of Tadhkiratul Auliya by Farid-ud-Din Attar. They are in fact miraculous manifestations of the spiritualism of Islam.

Glimpses

Hasan Basri and the Fire-Worshipper

Hasan Basri is revered as one of the greatest saints of early Islam. Brought up in Basra, he met many companions of the Holy Prophet (SAW) including seventy of those who fought at the Battle of Badar.

Hasan Basri’s neighbour Simeon, a fireworshipper, fell ill and was on deathbed. Hasan called on him and found him discoloured with fire and smoke.

“Fear God,” Hasan counselled him. “You have passed all your life amid fire and smoke. Embrace Islam so that God may have mercy on you.”

“Three things keep me from becoming a Muslim,” Simeon replied. “First, you speak ill of the world, yet you run after worldly things day and night. Second, you fear facing death, yet you do not prepare for it. Third, you believe in seeing God’s face, yet you do everything contrary to His good pleasure.”

“This is the token of those who know truly,” Hasan commented. “Now if believers act as you describe, what have you to say? They acknowledge the unity of God whereas you have spent your life in fire worship. You who have worshipped fire for seventy years and I who have never worshipped fire - we are both carried off to Hell. Hell will consume both you and me. God will pay no regard to you; but if God so wills, the fire will dare not burn one hair of my body. For fire is a thing created by God; and the creature is subject to the Creator’s command. Come now, you who have worshipped fire for seventy years; let us both put our hands into the fire, then you will see with your own eyes the impotence of fire and the omnipotence of God.”

Saying that, Hasan thrust his hand into the fire and held it there. Not a particle of his body was affected or burnt. When Simeon saw this he was amazed. The dawn of true knowledge began to break.

“For seventy years I have worshipped fire,” he groaned. “Now only a breath or two remains to me. What am I to do?”

Become a Muslim,” Hasan replied.

“If you guarantee in writing that God will not punish me,” said Simeon, “then I will believe. But until I have it in writing, I will not believe.”

Hasan wrote it down and the witnesses endorsed the document. Then Simeon wept bitterly and accepted Islam. He spoke his last testament to Hasan.

“When I die, bid them wash me, then commit me to the earth with your own hands, and place this document in my hand. This document will be my proof.”

Having charged Hasan thus, he spoke the attestation of faith and died. They washed his body, said the prayer over him, and buried him with the document in his hand. That night Hasan went to sleep pondering what he had done.

“How could I help a drowning man, seeing that I am drowning myself? Since I have no control over my own fate, why did I venture to prescribe how God should act?”

With this thought he fell asleep and saw Simeon in a dream glowing like a candle; on his head a crown, robed in fine raiment, he was walking with a smile in the garden of Paradise.

“How are you, Simeon?” Hasan inquired.

“Why do you ask? You can see for yourself,” Simeon answered. “God Almighty of His bounty brought me nigh His presence and graciously showed me His face. The favours He showered upon me beggar description. You have honoured your guarantee; so take your document. I do not need it anymore.”

When Hasan awoke, he saw that parchment in his hand. “O God,” he cried, “I know well that what You do is without cause, save of Your bounty. Who shall suffer loss at Your door? You grant a fire worshipper of seventy years to come into Your near presence because of a single utterance. How then will You exclude a believer of seventy years?”

Knowledge and Faith

One day Hasan Basri called on Habib Ajami. Habib placed two rounds of barley bread and a little salt before him. Hasan began to eat. A beggar came to the door, and Habib gave the two rounds and the salt to him.

“Habib,” remarked the astonished Hasan, “you are a worthy man. If only you had some knowledge, it would be better. You took the bread from under the nose of your guest and gave it all to the beggar. You ought to have given a part to the beggar and a part to the guest.”

Habib said nothing. Presently a slave entered with a roasted lamb in a tray on his head, together with sweet meat and fine bread, and gave hundred silver dirhams. He set the tray before Habib. Habib gave the money to the poor, and placed the tray before Hasan.

“Master,” he said when Hassan had eaten some of the roast, “You are a good man. If only you had a little faith, it would be better. Knowledge must be accompanied by faith.”

When Rabe’a Basri was Born!

Rabe’a settled in Basra, attained great fame as a saint. To her is attributed a large share in the introduction into Islamic Mysticism of the theme of Divine love.

The night when Rabe’a Basri was borne, there was nothing whatsoever in her father’s house. Her father was a very humble and poor person. He did not have even a drop of oil to anoint her navel. He already had three daughters, and Rabe’a was his fourth; that is why she was called by that name.

There was no lamp lit in the house, nor a rag to swaddle the baby.“Go to neighbour so-and-so and beg for a drop of oil, so that I can light the lamp,” his wife said to him.

The father had already promised that he would never ask any mortal for anything. So he went out, just laid his hand on the neighbour’s door, and returned.

“They won’t open the door,” he reported.

The poor woman wept bitterly and he, in that state of extreme anxiety, placed his head on his knees and fell asleep. He dreamed that he saw the Holy Prophet (SAW).

“Be not sad,” the Prophet (SAW) bade him. “The girl child you are just blessed with is a queen among women, who shall be the intercessor for seventy thousand of my Ummah. Tomorrow,” the Prophet (SAW) continued, “go to Isa-e-Zadan, the governor of Basra. Write on a piece of paper to the following effect: ‘every night you send upon me a hundred salutations and blessings, and on Friday night four hundred. Last night was Friday night, and you forgot me. In expiation for that, give this man four hundred dinars lawfully acquired.”

Rabe’a’s father on awaking, burst into tears. He rose up and wrote as the Prophet (SAW) had bidden him, and sent the message to the governor by the hand of a chamberlain.

“Pay him two thousand dinars,” commanded the governor on reading the note, “as a thanksgiving for my beloved Prophet (SAW) remembering me. Give another four hundred dinars also to the Shaikh, and tell him: ‘I wish you come to me so that I may see you. But I do not hold it proper for a man like you to come to me. I would rather come and rub my beard in your threshold. However, I adjure you by God, whatever, you may need, pray let me know.’”

A Glimpse of Faith

Once two gentlemen came to visit Rabe’a Basri; both were hungry. They expected that they would be entertained with food by their hostess.

“It may be that she will give us food,” they said to each other. “Her food is bound to come from a lawful source.”

When they sat down there was a napkin with two loaves laid before them. They were well content. A beggar arrived just then, and Rabe’a gave him the two loaves. The two men felt much upset, but said nothing. After a while a maidservant entered with a handful of warm bread.

“My mistress sent these,” she explained.

Rabe’a counted the loaves; they were eighteen.

“Perhaps it was not this that she sent me,” Rabe’a remarked.

All that the maidservant assured her proved of no avail. She took back the loaves and carried them away. Now it so happened that she had taken two of the loaves for herself. She asked her mistress, and she added the two to the pile and returned with them. Rabe’a counted again, and found there were twenty loaves. She now accepted them.

“This is what your mistress sent me,” she said.

She set the loaves before the two men and they ate, feeling much amazed.

“What is the secret behind this?” they asked her. “We had an appetite for your own bread, but you took it away from us and gave it to the beggar. Then you said that the eighteen loaves did not belong to you. When they were twenty, you accepted them.”

“I knew when you arrived that you were hungry,” Rabe’a replied. “I said to myself, How can I offer two loaves to two such notables? So when the beggar came to the door I gave them to him and said to Almighty Allah, “O Lord, You have said that You repay tenfold, and this I firmly believe. Now I have given two loaves to please You, so that You may give twenty in return for them.’ When eighteen were brought to me, I knew that either there had been some misappropriation, or that they were not meant for me.”

Gratitude & Complaint

Once Rabe’a saw a man with a bandage tied round his head.

“Why have you tied the bandage?” she asked.

“Because my head aches,” the man replied.

“How old are you?” she asked

“Thirty,” he replied.

“Have you been in pain and anguish the greater part of your life?” she enquired.

“No,” the man answered.

“For thirty years you have enjoyed good health,” she remarked, “and you never tied about you the bandage of thankfulness. Now because of this one night that you have a headache you tied the bandage of complaint!”

Ibrahim Adham

Ibrahim Adham, born in Balkh of pure Arab descent, is described in Sufi legend as a prince who renounced his kingdom and wandered westwards to live a life of complete asceticism, earning his bread in Syria by honest manual toil until his death.

Sweet Pomegranates

“Once,” Ibrahim Adham narrated, “I was appointed to look after an orchard. The owner of the orchard came and said to me, ‘Bring me some sweet pomegranates.’ I brought some, but they were sour.

“ ‘Bring me sweet ones,’ the owner repeated. I brought another dishful, but they were also sour.

“ ‘Glory be to God!’ the owner cried. ‘You have spent so long in the orchard, but you do not know ripe pomegranates?”

“ ‘I look after your orchard, but do not know what pomegranates taste like because I have never sampled any,’ I replied.

“ ‘When I heard these words, I departed from that place.”

The Wind Subsided

Ibrahim was once on a shipboard when suddenly a wind sprang up and the world grew dark.

“Alas, the ship is sinking!” the voyagers cried.

“Fear not that the ship will sink,” came a voice from the air, “Ibrahim Adham is with you.”

Immediately the wind subsided, and the darkened world became bright.

Allah’s Remembrance

Once Ibrahim passed by a drunkard. His mouth was foul. So he fetched water and washed the drunkard’s mouth.

“Do you leave foul the mouth that has mouthed the name of God? That is irreverence!” Ibrahim said to himself.

“The ascetic of Khorasan washed your mouth,” they told the man when he woke.

“I too now repent,” the man declared.

After that Ibrahim heard in a dream, “You did wash a mouth for My sake. I have washed thy heart.”

Beggary

One day Ibrahim saw a beggar bewailing his lot.

“I guess you bought beggary gratis,” he remarked.

“Why, is beggary for sale?” the beggar asked in astonishment.

“Certainly,” Ibrahim replied. “I bought it with the kingdom of Bulkh. I got a bargain.”

Sitting Cross-legged

No one had ever seen Ibrahim sitting cross-legged.

“Why do you not sit cross-legged?” he was asked.

“I did sit that way one day,” he replied. “I heard a voice from the air saying, “Son of Adham, do servants sit so in the presence of their lords?’ I at once sat upright and repented.”

Ba Yazid Bestami and his Mother

Ba Yazid Taifur al-Bestami, the founder of the ecstatic school of Sufism, is famous for the boldness of his expression of the mystic’s complete absorption into the Godhood.

(1)“Go and be God’s”

Ba Yazid’s mother sent him to school. He learned the Qur’an. One day his teacher was explaining the meaning of the verse in Sura Loqman, Be thankful to Me, and to your parents. These words changed Ba Yazid’s mind.

“Sir, please permit me to go home and say something to my mother.”

The master gave him leave, and Ba Yazid went home.

“Why, Taifur,” cried his mother, “why have you come home? Did they give you a present, or is it some special occasion?”

“No,” Ba Yazid replied. “I reached the verse where God commands me to serve Him and you. I cannot manage in two houses at the same time. This verse stung me to the quick. Either you ask for me from God, so that I may

be yours entirely, or apprentice me to God, so that I may dwell wholly with Him.”

“My son, I resign you to God, and exempt you from your duty to me,” said his mother. “Go and be God’s.”

“The task I supposed to be the hindmost of all tasks proved to be the foremost,” Ba Yazid later recalled. “That was to please my mother. In pleasing my mother, I attained all that I sought in my many acts of self-discipline and service.

One night my mother asked me for water. I went to fetch her some, but there was none in the jug. I fetched the pitcher, but none was in it either. So I went down to the river and filled the pitcher with water. When I returned to the house, my mother had fallen asleep.”

“The night was cold. I stood there keeping the jug in my hand. When my mother awoke from sleep she drank some water and blessed me. Then she noticed that the jug was frozen to my hand. ‘Why did you not lay the jug aside?’ she exclaimed. ‘I was afraid you might wake when I was not present,’ I answered. ‘Keep the door half-open,’ my mother then said.

“I watched till near daybreak to ensure that the door was properly half-open and that I should not have disregarded her command. At the hour of dawn, that which I had sought so many times entered by the door.”

(2)“O Lord, Care Well for our Exile.”

After his mother had resigned him to God, Ba Yazid left Bestam and for thirty years wandered from land to land, disciplining himself with continuous vigil and hunger. His mother in the meantime had grown ailing and old with the back bent double owing to grief.

After Ba Yazid had visited Medina, he received the order to return and care for his mother. Accordingly, he set out for Bestam, accompanied by a throng. The news spread through the city, and the people of Bestam came out to welcome him a good way from the town. Ba Yazid was likely to be so preoccupied with their attentions that he would be detained from God. As they approached him, he drew a loaf out of his sleeve. Now it was the month of Holy Ramazan; yet he stood and ate the loaf. As soon as the people of Bestam saw this, they turned away from him.

“Did you not see?” Ba Yazid addressed his companions. “I obeyed an ordinance of the sacred Law, and all the people rejected me.”

He waited patiently until nightfall. At midnight he entered Bestam and, coming to his mother’s house, he stood listening for a while. He heard his mother performing her ablutions and praying.

“O Lord, care well for our exile. Incline the hearts of the Shaikhs towards him, and vouchsafe him to do all things well.”

Ba Yazid wept when he heard these words. Then he knocked the door.

“Who is there?” cried his mother.

“Your exile,” he replied.

Weeping, his mother opened the door. Her sight was dimmed.

“Taifur,” she addressed her son, “do you know what has dimmed my sight? It is because I have wept so much being parted from you, and my back is bent double from the load of grief I have endured.”

Abu Hafs Haddad and Junaid

Abu Hafs al-Haddad, a blacksmith of Nishapur, visited Baghdad and met Abul Qasim al-Junaid, the greatest exponent of the ‘sober’ school of Sufism who admired his devotion; he also encountered Abu Bakr Al-Shibli and other mystics of the Baghdad school.

He began to Speak Arabic

Abu Hafs resolved for the pilgrimage. He was an illiterate and did not understand Arabic. When he came to Baghdad, the Sufi disciples whispered together.

“It is a great disgrace that the Shaikh of Shaikhs of Khorasan should require an interpreter to understand their language.”

Junaid sent his disciples out to welcome him. Abu Hafs knew what they were thinking, and at once began to speak Arabic. The people of Baghdad were amazed at the purity of his speech.

Self-Sacrifice

A number of great scholars gathered before Abu Hafs and questioned him on self-sacrificing love.

“You are able to express yourselves. You define it,” Abu Hafs replied.

“As I see it,” said Junaid, “true self-sacrifice means that you should not regard yourself as self-sacrificing, and that you should not attribute to yourself whatever you may have done.”

“Excellent,” commented Abu Hafs. “But as I see it, self-sacrifice means acting with justice towards others, and not seeking justice for oneself.”

“Act on that, our Companions,” said Junaid.

“To act rightly requires more than words,” retorted Abu Hafs.

“Rise up, our companions,” Junaid commanded when he heard this reply. “Abu Hafs exceeds in self-sacrifice Adam and all his seed.”

Broth and Halwa

Once Abu Hafs asked Junaid, “Order the disciples to make broth and halwa.”

Junaid directed one of his disciples to make them. When he brought the dishes, Abu Hafs proceeded.

“Call a porter and put them on his head. Let him carry them until he is tired out. Then, whatever house he has reached, let him call out, and whoever comes to the door, let him give them to him.”

The porter obeyed these instructions. He went on until he felt tired and could go no farther. Setting the dishes down by the door of a house, he called out. The owner of the house, an elder, replied.

“If you have brought broth and halwa, I will open the door.”

“I have,” replied the porter.

“Bring them in,” said the elder, opening the door.

“I was amazed,” the porter related. “I asked the old man, ‘What is going on? How did you know that I have brought broth and halwa?” The old man answered, ‘Last night when I was at my prayers, the thought came into my mind that my children had been begging me for them for a long time. I know that my prayer has not been in vain.”

Abu Hafs and Abu Bakr Shibli

Shibli gave hospitality to Abu Hafs for four months. Every day he produced a different kind of dish and several sorts of sweetmeat.

When Abu Hafs came to bid him farewell, he said, “Shibli, when you come to Nishapur I will teach you true entertainment and generosity.”

“Why, what have I done, Abu Hafs?” asked Shibli.

“You took too great pains. Extravagance is not the same as generosity,” said Abu Hafs. “One should treat a guest exactly as oneself. That way, his coming will not be a burden to you, and his departure will not be an occasion of gladness. When you go to extravagant lengths, his coming is burdensome to you and his departure a relief. No man who feels like that towards a guest is truly generous.”

When Shibli came to Nishapur he stayed with Abu Hafs. Forty persons were in the party, and at night Abu Hafs lit forty-one lamps.

“Did you not say one should not act extravagantly?” remarked Shibli.

“Then get up and put them out,” answered Abu Hafs.

Shibli got up, but for all his efforts he could not extinguish more than one lamp.

“Sheikh, how is this?” he asked.

“You were forty persons, emissaries of God. For the guest is an emissary of God. Naturally I lit a lamp in the name of each one, for the sake of God, and one for myself. Those forty which I lit for God you were unable to put out, but the one lit for myself you extinguished. All that you did in Baghdad you did for my sake; I did what I did for God’s sake. So the former was extravagance, the latter not.”

Abul-Qasim al-Junaid

Abul Qasim al-Junaid, elaborated a theosophical doctrine which determined the whole course of orthodox mysticism in Islam. He expounded his theories in his teachings, and in a series of letters written to various contemporaries that have survived.

The Worst of People

Sari-al-Saqati once asked Junaid to preach. “While the master is there, it is not seemly for the disciple to preach,” Junaid demurred. Then one night Junaid saw the Prophet in a dream.

“Preach,” the Prophet ordained.

Next morning he arose to go and report to Sari, but he found Sari standing at the door.

“Hitherto,” Sari told him, “you were inhibited, waiting for others to tell you to preach. Now you must speak, because your words have been made the means of a whole world’s salvation. You would not speak when the disciples asked you to. You did not speak when the Shaikhs of Baghdad interceded with you. You did not speak at my urging. Now that the Prophet has commanded you, you must speak.”

“God forgive me,” Junaid replied. “How did you know that I saw the Prophet in a dream.”

“I saw God in a dream,” Sari explained. “God said, ‘I have sent the Messenger to tell Junaid to preach from the rostrum.”

“I will preach then,” consented Junaid. “only on one condition, that it be to no more than forty persons.”

One day Junaid was preaching, and forty persons were present. Of these eighteen expired, and twenty-two fell to the ground unconscious. They were lifted up and carried to their homes.

On another day Junaid was preaching in the cathedral. In the congregation there was a Christian lad, but no one knew that he was a Christian. He approached Junaid and said, “According to the Prophet’s saying, ‘Beware of the insight of the believers, for he sees by the light of God.’ ” “The pronouncement is,” replied Junaid, “that you should become a Muslim and cut your Christian girdle, for this is the time of Muslimdom”

The boy immediately became a Muslim.

After Junaid had preached a number of times, the people cried out against him. He gave up preaching, and retired to his room. For all that he was urged to resume, he would not do so.

“I am content,” he replied. “I cannot contrive my own destruction.”

Some time later he mounted the pulpit and began to preach without any prompting.

“What was the inner wisdom in this?” he was asked.

“I came upon a Tradition,” he replied, “according to which the Prophet said, ‘In the last days the spokesman of the people will be he that is the worst of them. He will preach to them.’ I know that I am the worst of the people. I am preaching because of what the Prophet said, so that I may not oppose his words.”

The Creator’s Cure

Once Junaid’s eye pained him, and he sent for the doctor.

“If your eye is throbbing, do not let any water get into it,” the doctor advised.

When he had gone, Junaid performed his ablutions and prayed, and then went to sleep. When he awoke, his eye was well again. He heard a voice saying, “Junaid forsook his eye to gain Our good pleasure. If with the same intention he had begged of Us all the inhabitants of Hell, his petition would have been granted.”

The physician called and saw that his eye was healed.

“What did you do?” he asked.

“I performed the ablutions for prayer,” Junaid answered.

Thereupon the physician, who was a Christian, declared his conversion and embraced Islam.

“This is the Creator’s cure, not the creature’s,” he commented. “It was my eye that was sick, not yours. You were the physician, not I.”

The Question of Need

A man brought five hundred dinars and offered them to Junaid.

“Do you posses anything besides this?” Junaid asked him.

“Yes, a lot,” the man replied.

“Do you need more?”

“Yes, I do.”

“then take it away,” Junaid said, You have a better right to it. I possess nothing and I need nothing.”

The Spiritual Awareness about the Disciple

A disciple of Junaid’s was dwelling in seclusion in Basra. One night a sinful thought entered his mind. He looked in a mirror and saw that his face had turned black. Stupefied, he tried every device he could think of, but in vain. He was so ashamed that he showed his face to no one. Three days went by; then the blackness gradually grew less.

Unexpectedly some one knocked at his door.

“Who is it?” the disciple asked.

“I have come with a letter from Junaid,” said the caller.

The disciple read the letter.

“Why do you not conduct yourself becomingly in the presence of Glory? For three days and nights I have had to work as a fuller, to change your face from black to white.”

Mystic Intuition and Awareness

Shaikh Junaid had a disciple whom he loved most. The other disciples felt jealous of him, a fact that the Shaikh realized by his mystic intuition.

“He is superior to you in manners and understanding,” he told them. “That is what I have in view; let us make an experiment, so that you may also realize it.”

Junaid commanded twenty birds to be brought to him.

“Each of you take one,” he told his disciples. “In a place where no one can see you kill it, then bring it back.”

All the disciples went off and killed and brought back the bird except that favourite disciple. He brought his bird back alive.

“Why did you not kill it?” Junaid asked him.

“Because the master said it must be done in a place where no one can see,” the disciple answered. “Wherever I went, God saw.”

“You see the measure of his understanding!” Junaid exclaimed. “Compare that with that of the others.”

All the other disciples begged God’s forgiveness.

Nine Litters for Martyrs

Junaid had eight special disciples who carried out his every thought. One day the notion occurred to them that they must go to the holy war. Next morning Junaid ordered his servant to make all preparations for the war. He then set out to fight together with those eight disciples.

When the lines of battle were drawn up, a champion stepped forth from the ranks of the infidels and martyred all eight.

“I looked up to heaven,” said Junaid, “and I saw nine litters standing by. As each of the eight was martyred his spirit was lifted up on a litter, until one remained empty. ‘That one must be meant for me,’ I thought, and I joined the battle-ranks once more. Then the champion who had slain my eight companions came up and addressed me. “Abul Qasim, that ninth litter is for me. You return to Baghdad, and be the Shaikh of the community. Offer me Islam.’

“So he became a Muslim. With the same sword with which he had slain the eight disciples, he slew a like number of infidels. Then he achieved martyrdom himself. His soul,” Junaid concluded, “was also placed in that litter, and all vanished.”

Private Sanctuary of God

Someone known as Naseri, a Sayyad, one of the descendents of Hadrat Ali, intended to proceed on pilgrimage. When he reached Baghdad he went to visit Junaid.

“Whence comes the Sayyad?” Junaid enquired when greetings had been exchanged.

“From Gilan,” he replied.

“Of whose sons are you?” asked Junaid.

“I am descended from Ali the Prince of the Believers, God be well pleased with him,” the man answered.

“Your forefather wielded two swords,” said Junaid. “One against the unbelievers, the other against himself. Now, Sayyad, you who are his son, which of these two do you employ?”

The sayyid wept bitterly when he heard these words and groveled before Junaid.

“Master, my pilgrimage is here,” he exclaimed. “Show me the way to God.”

“Your heart is the private sanctuary of God,” said Junaid. “So far as you are able, admit naught unsanctified into the private sanctuary.”

“That is all I want to know,” said the Sayyad.

The Essence of Friendship

Once Junaid and Shibli both fell sick. A Christian physician visited Shibli.

“What pains are you feeling?” he asked.

“None,” Shibli replied.

“What do you say?” the doctor repeated.

“I have no pain,” Shibli told him.

The physician then visited Junaid.

“What pains do you have?” he enquired.

Junaid described his symptoms in detail, enumerating each pain in turn. The Christian treated him, and departed. Later the two friends came together.

“Why did you expose all your pains to a Christian?” Shibli asked.

“So that he might realize,” Junaid answered, “if His friend is treated so, what He will do to His foe! And you,” he added, “why did you not describe your pains?”

“I was ashamed,” Shibli replied, “to complain to an enemy of the Friends!”

Dhun-Noon, al-Misri

Abul Faiz Thauban bin Ibrahim al-Mesri, called Dhun-Noon, studied under various teachers and traveled extensively in Arabia and Syria. A great

saint of his time and a legendary figure as alchemist, supposed to have known the secret of the Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The Inanimate World under Spiritual Command

Dhun-Noon was once among a group of his followers. They were telling stories of inanimate things obeying commands. Now there was a sofa in the room.

“An example,” said Dhun-Noon, “of inanimate things obeying saints’ commands would be if I were to say to that sofa there, “Waltz around the house’ and it started to move.”

No sooner had Dhun-Noon spoken these words than the sofa started to circle round the house, then it returned to its place. A youth present there burst into tears at the sight, and then gasped his last. They washed his body on that very sofa, and buried him.

Stone turned into Emerald

Once a man came up to Dhun-Noon and said, “I have a debt, and I have no means of paying it.”

Dhun-Noon picked up a stone from the ground and gave it to him. The man took the stone to bazaar. It had turned into an emerald. He sold it for four hundred dirhams and paid his debt.

A Defiant Youth

A certain youth was always speaking against Sufis. One day Dhun-Noon took the ring off his finger and handed it to him.

“Take this to market and pawn it for a dinar,” he said.

The young man took the ring to market, but they would not take it for more than one dirham. The youth returned with the news.

“Now take it to the jewelers, and see that they value it at,” Dhun-Noon told him.

The jewelers priced the ring at a thousand dinars.

“You know as much about Sufis,” Dhun-Noon said to the youth when he returned, “as those stall holders in the market know about this ring.”

The youth repented, and shunned his disbelief in the Sufis.

Dhun-Noon and the Holy Prophet (SAW)

Dhun-Noon had been longing for sekbaj (a stew made of meat, wheat-flour and vinegar) for ten years, but he never gratified that longing. Now it was the eve of festival, and his soul said within him, “How would it be if tomorrow you gave us a mouthful of sekbaj as a festival treat?”

“Soul,” answered Dhun-Noon, “if you want me to do that, then consent with me tonight in chanting the whole Koran in the course of two rak’as.”

His soul consented. The next day Dhun-Noon prepared sekbaj and set it before his soul. He washed his fingers and stood in prayer.

“What happened?” he was asked.

“Just now,” Dhun-Noon replied, “my soul said to me, ‘At last after ten years I have attained my desire.’ ‘By God,’ I answered, ‘you shall not attain that desire,”

The relater of this story states that Dhun-Noon had just spoken these words when a man entered and set a bowl of sekbaj before him.

“Master,” he said, “I did not come on my own. I was sent. Let me explain. I earn my living as a porter, and I have children. For some time now they have been asking for sekbaj, and I have been saving up. Last night I made this sekbaj for the festival. Today I saw in a dream the world-adorning beauty of the Messenger of God. ‘If you would see me on the morrow of uprising,’ said the Prophet, ‘take this to Dhun-Noon and tell him that Muhammad, the son of Abdullah, the son of Abdul-Muttalib, intercedes with him to make truce with his soul for one moment and swallow a few mouthfuls.”

“I obey,” said Dhun-Noon, weeping.

When Dhun-Noon Died

As Dhun-Noon lay on his deathbed his friends asked him, “What do you desire?”

“My desire,” he answered, “is that I die, even if it be for only one moment, I may know Him.”

He then spoke the following verse.

Fear wasted me,

Yearning consumed me,

Love beguiled me,

God revived me.

One day later he lost consciousness. On the night of his departure from this world, seventy persons saw the Holy Prophet in a dream. All reported that the Prophet said, “The friend of God is coming. I have come out to welcome him.”

When he died, there was seen written in green on his brow, “This is the friend of Allah. He died in the love of Allah. This is the slain of Allah by the sword of Allah.”

When they lifted his coffin to carry him to the grave the sun was extremely hot. The birds of the air came and with wings flapping kept his bier shaded from his house to the graveyard.

As he was being borne along the road, a muezzin chanted the call to prayer. When he reached the words of attestation, Dhun-Noon lifted a finger out of the shroud.

“He is alive!” the shout went up.

They laid down the bier. His finger was pointing, but he was dead. For all that they tried, they could not straighten his finger. When the people of Egypt beheld this, they were all put to shame and repented of the wrongs they had done him. They did things over his dust that cannot be described in words.

Ahmad Khazruya and the Thief

A thief broke into Ahmad Khazruya’s house. He searched everywhere but could not find anything. He was about to leave disappointed when Ahmad called out to him.

“Young fellow, take the bucket and draw water from the well and purify yourself, then attend to your prayers. When something comes I will give it to you, so that you shall not leave my house empty-handed.”

The youth did as Ahmad bade him. When daylight returned, a gentleman brought a hundred dinars and gave them to the Shaikh.

“Take this as a reward for your night of prayer,” he said to the thief.

The thief suddenly trembled all over. He burst into tears.

“I had mistaken the way,” he cried. “I worked for God just one night, and He has favoured me so.”

Repenting, he returned to God. He refused to take the gold, and became one of Ahmad’s disciples.

Seventy Candles

Once a dervish was received by Ahmad; in hospitality. Ahmad lit seventy candles.

“This is not pleasing to me,” said the dervish. “Making a fuss bears no relation to Sufism.”

“Go then,” said Ahmad, “And extinguish every candle I have not lit for the sake of God.”

All that night the dervish was pouring water and earth, but could not extinguish even one of the candles.

“Why so surprised?” Ahmad addressed the dervish next morning. “Come with me, and you will see things really to wonder at.”

They went off and came to the door of a church. When the Christian deacons saw Ahmad and his Companion, the archdeacon invited them to enter. He laid a table and bade Ahmad to eat.

“Friends do not eat with foes,” Ahmad observed.

So Ahmad offered them Islam, and seventy of his retinue accepted conversion. That night Ahmad had a dream in which God spoke to him.

“Ahmad, you lit seventy candles for Me. I have lit for you seventy hearts with the light of the Faith.”

Lack of Faith

Shah-e-Shuja‘ had a daughter. The kings of Kerman asked for her hand in marriage. He requested three days grace, and during those three days he went from mosque to mosque, till at last he caught sight of a dervish praying earnestly. Shah-e-Shuja‘ waited patiently until he had finished his prayers, then he addressed him.

“Dervish, do you have any family?”

“No,” the dervish replied.

“Do you want a wife who can recite the Koran?”

“Who is there who will give such a wife to me?” said the dervish. “All I possess is three dirhams.”

“I will give you my daughter,” said Shah-e-Shuja‘ “Of these three dirhams you possess, spend one on bread and one on attar of roses, then tie the marriage-knot.”

They agreed accordingly. That same night Shah-e-Shuja‘ dispatched his daughter to his house. Entering the dervish’s house, the girl saw some dry bread beside a jug of water.

“What is this bread?” she demanded.

“It remained over from yesterday. I kept it for tonight,” the dervish told her.

Thereupon the girl made to leave the house.

“I knew,” the dervish observed, “that the daughter of Shah-e-Shuja‘ would never be able to live with me and put up with my poverty.”

“Sir, it is not on account of your lack of means that I am leaving you,” the girl replied. “I am leaving because of your lack of faith and trust, in that you set aside bred from yesterday, not relying on God’s provision for tomorrow. At the same time I am surprised at my father. For twenty years he has kept me at home, always saying ‘I will give you to a god-fearing man.’ Now he has given me to a fellow who does not rely on God for his daily bread.”

“Is there any atonement for this sin?” the dervish asked.

“Yes,” said the girl. “The atonement is, that only one of the two remains in this house myself or the dry bread.”

Yusuf Razi and the Prophet Yusuf (AS)

Yusuf Razi was travelling in Arabia with a company of his fellows when he arrived in the territory of a certain tribe. When the daughter of the Prince of the Arabs caught sight of him, she fell madly in love with him; for he was possessed of great beauty. Waiting her opportunity, the girl suddenly flung herself before him. Trembling, he left her and departed to a more distant tribe.

That night he was sleeping with his head on his knees, when he dreamed he was in a place the like of which he had never seen. One was seated on a throne with kingly grace, surrounded by a company clad in green robes. Wishful to know who they might be, Yusuf edged his way towards them. They made way for him, treating him with much respect.

“Who are?” he enquired.

“We are angels,” they replied, “and he who is seated on the throne there is Yusuf, upon whom be peace. He has come to pay a visit to Yusuf Razi.”

In Yusuf’s own words:

Overcome with weeping, I cried, “Who am I, that God’s Prophet should come to visit me?”

Thereupon Yusuf, upon him be peace, descended from his throne, took me in his embrace, and seated me on the throne.

“Prophet of God,” I cried, “who am I that you should be so gracious to me?”

“In the hour,” Yusuf answered, “when that lovely girl flung herself before you, and you committed yourself to God and sought His protection, God displayed you to me and the angels. God said, ‘See, Yusuf! You are that Yusuf who inclined after Zoleikha only to repel her. He is that Yusuf who did not incline after the daughter of the King of the Arabs, and fled.’ God Himself sent me with these angels to visit you. He sends you the good tidings that you are of God’s elect.”

Statement of Case

Our Dissociation with the Past

The Muslim Ummah remained at the pinnacle of glory for over a millennium. It had stamped its existence on the surface of the earth. But it eclipsed to such a stalemate that even the urge to remain in the race got consigned to oblivion. Devoid of a zeal for worldly advancement and spiritually hollow, we have entangled ourselves in superficial and absurd paradoxes and contradictions. Indifferent to our immense ancestral heritage, we have lagged far behind, serving other nations with a welcome opportunity to feed on our forefathers’ highly nourishing and delicious inputs in the field of scientific research and intellectual advancement. We know we are starving but we do not comprehend how and why! We have failed to perceive what assets we have ruined. We are bereaved of both vision and the insight. This predicament has consequenced to humiliation, disesteem and debasement.

One major reason of our fall to dishonor and disdain, is our indifference towards scientific disciplines. It has put us among the tail-enders in the world. An in-depth inquiry of human history reveals that our ancestors disseminated thought and philosophy to the whole world and founded numerous scientific disciplines. Had our forefathers not accomplished their pioneer work in the field of empirical sciences, the contemporary scientific disciplines could never have developed into their present status. They dawned with their wisdom on the Western Nations drowned in murk and darkness of ignorance. The Western World amply fed on our illuminating heredity. And we spared everything for them witlessly.

Our Forebears’ Ingenuity and ourClumsiness

Our forebears vehemently defended the tenets and doctrines of Islam against the infidels’ onslaughts. They planned their strategy well and executed it intelligently. They paid them back in the same coins. The unbelievers used all their weapons to invalidate Islamic ideology. However, the Muslim scholars and thinkers put to use the same weapons effectively against the adversaries and frustrated their game plan. These weapons were the disciplines of learning in vogue. The strategy adopted by the Muslim intellectuals bore fruit. They employed logic and reasoning to thrash Greek perplexities and silenced the enemy through rational argumentation and thoughtful interpretations. Thus they guarded the verity and veracity of Islam.

The table, however, was turned on us. For last two centuries the stronghold of knowledge and learning held by the Muslim scholars and scientists has passed into non-Muslim hands. This has reduced our existence to mere dependents of the West in all spheres of life. For last one hundred years in general and half a century in particular, the West has launched a high power offensive against the teachings and ideology of Islam. Our ancestors were not exposed to such malice.

These offensive measures employed against our dominion - Islam, are multifaceted and multidimensional. The bottom line is lamentable and heartbreaking. The complexity gets manifold when our so-called religious

scholars pursue the Western thought and endorse the materialistic and sacrilegious mentality that denies spirituality root and branch. What a paradox and what an irony of fate! Our superficial and pseudo intellectuals share the ideas of Western thinkers, regurgitate their thought and negate the very spiritualism that forms the basis of Muhammad’s (A) ‘Channel’ to Allah. A critical analysis of this situation reveals that the axis of reason and intellect has shifted from the Islamic World to the Western confines of wisdom. Whatever they mould carries heretic features. A majority of our contemporary thinkers and scholars have been swayed by Western thought. Is it not grievous and distressing?

The tragic consequence of this deplorable situation is that the distracted rather deluded Muslim scholars fail to defend against the contemporary attacks of Western scientific thought. They either become apologetic for their paucity of learning and inferiority complex or attempt to encounter the blasphemous attack equipped with timeworn Greek thought and philosophy. The output is obvious. What can they achieve with obsolete weapons? What an awareness and what a modernism! Centuries after the demise of Greeks, we teach their philosophy as part of our curriculum even today. Sequel to this intellectual inertia, the sources of our creativity have gone parched and unproductive. What counter-offensive against the Western scientific method is then possible in this scenario?

Weak Defence of a Strong Case

This is deplorable that in our era the Islamic world seems to lose its case despite having strong grounds. We have failed to plead a strong case. On the contrary, the anti-Islamic forces appear to win a very weak case due to their strong presentation and vigilant and shrewd attorneys. This situation warrants us to concentrate maximum on acquisition of modern education in the current disciplines, in addition to dissemination of Islamic thought. The modern learning merits priority also because, unlike Greek philosophy, it is consistent with the Islamic thought. The more you get grounded in it, the clearer you become on its perfection. The modern scientific evolution has verified and validated the Holy Quran and Hadith as its origin. This is an irrefutable fact that expansion of scientific research and advancement will keep validating the absoluteness and rationality of Islamic concepts and teachings. In this regard, probabilities of breakthroughs and progression are infinite and the prospects of the victory of Islamic thought are encouragingly bright.

We have to inquire into the factors responsible for the present predicament of the Islamic world. Why have we failed to triumphantly advocate our case and standpoint before the world? Why the world persistently rejects and repulses our viewpoint based on solid scientific facts?

An objective analysis of the dilemma would unfold that we, as a community, are unaware of the requisites of modern age. Majority of our Ummah is not well versed with the language that we have to employ to convince the non-Muslim world of our beliefs. We are not equipped with the weaponry that the enemies of Islam have put to use for destroying our strongholds. The enemy is engaged in adulterating the text of the Holy

Qur'an and in counterassault, we are complacent with the use of merely the print media to curb the heinous attack launched through electronic media. The enemy forces have opened gunfire and we are combating with slings and arrows. They bomb us to shatter our unity and positions and we feel contented with throwing stones. Is it not heartrending? Should we close our eyes to the dazzling firepower of the enemy and hide into the caves of evasion and escape? OR shouldn’t we equip ourselves overnight with the weapons superior to those of adversaries to overpower and frustrate their malicious designs?

How to Counter the Conspiracy?

We must understand the conspiracy against the Islamic World. The science is advancing by leaps and bounds. The Westerns are rightly proud of their superior evolutionary status among the comity of nations. As they keep the poor and the deprived dependent and subdued, they also intend to see the Muslim world under their subjugating authority.

The modern scientific civilization is eating up geographical distances and the world spread over millions of miles has been reduced to Global Village. Owing to scientific progress, deserts are being transformed into meadows and fertile fields. The mineral wealth is drawn to our feet. Scientific knowledge has enabled us to bring all the natural sources under human control and consumption. This is, however, tragic to note that the Western nations are adamantly bent upon keeping the backward nations dependent and subdued. In this regard, the Muslims of the world are their well-defined target. They are striving hard to keep the Muslims deprived of the fruits of scientific progress.

On the contrary, we are not ready to realize the need of the hour. Instead of acquiring modern scientific knowledge, we still justify and take pride in learning classical knowledge. Even today the outdated Greek philosophy forms part of curricula of our higher seats of learning. What all facts science has deducted from its research work are compatible with Islamic thought and validate and verify the facts dealt with in the Holy Qur’an and Hadith literature. Under the circumstances, all intellectuals, scholars and scientists of the Muslim world are required to jointly develop some workable plan to get rid of sluggishness and adynamism; introduce remedial measures to overcome the odds and perpetuate our existence in the modern scientific age. Keeping this objective in view, they are to contrive a strategy how to remedy the present deteriorated situation.

Need for Learning Modern Logic (Ilm-e-Kalam Jadeed)

In early days of Islam when sciences had not yet taken roots, the Greek philosophy was considered to be the measure of wisdom and rationality the world over. Our forerunners, the traditionalists and the religious vanguards befittingly encountered the philosophical attacks against postulates and tenets of Islam, in terms of Greek philosophy. For that, they contrived the discipline of ‘logic’ known as ‘Ilm-e-Kalam.’

The present generation has opened eyes in the scientific age. A person even with insignificant learning, knowing little about science is at least aware of scientific method. The hard disk of his mind has been formatted in a manner that he won’t accept anything incompatible with scientific

thinking. He knows that all scientific procedures produce logically correct results. In the same way, we need modern logic (Ilm-e-Kalam Jadeed) to triumphantly communicate the Islamic teachings and concepts to the scientifically formatted mind. The old method to work out a ‘mean’ term of two extremes to infer corollary has gone archaic. Today, we need to observe and undergo successive experiments to deduce inference and formulate concepts. This scientific method is believed to be the rational method to arrive at the truth.

In early centuries of Islam, in counterstrike to Greek offensive attack against Islamic ideology, our Islamic vanguards, (the Aa’immah-e-Keram), approved and promoted ‘logic’ (Ilm-e-kalam) as the offensive-defensive strategy. They frustrated this way the atheist attacks and proved that Islam was verily the true DEEN.

Today, our sincerity of purpose in spreading and defending Islam binds us to follow the footsteps of our ancestors. To consolidate their position and ensure victory against the adversaries, they used the most effective weaponry of the day, the Greek philosophy itself. We too are required to follow the same strategy i.e. using the contemporary methods of offensive- defensive operations against the adversary. We need to administer the scientific method, which our forerunners were not even exposed to, as it was a nonentity at that time. It is considered to be the touchstone of wisdom and reason. This is the ‘modern logic’, the Ilm-e-Kalam Jadeed. This device put to use would generate the desired results against the Western intellectual forces deployed to oust us from the civilized world. This is the only strategy that would guarantee our success and stability and ensure effective communication of the message of Islam to all scientific cultures in the world. This may also confirm our emancipation ultimately with our heads bowed down, souls prostrated and tears quivering in our eyes, in the foremost and loftiest court of our most beloved ‘Prophet’(A). We will receive from him alms, benevolence, compassion, mercy, intercession and deliverance from acts of trespassing, slip and oversight. He will shower upon us his bliss and bounties and we shall drink to our fill from his ever-spurting spring of love, care and kindness.

The need of the hour is to equip our coming generations with scientific knowledge and methodology. This would not only provide a solid foundation to Islam but also groom us to put the enemy on defensive through our counter offensive measures. Without that even the defense of our modest teachings of Islam is impracticable. Our scholars absorbed the Greek philosophy to frustrate the Greek faith and concepts and their onslaught against the Muslim thought. We also have to follow the same path: acquire modern scientific learning; reject the adversaries’ concepts on scientific grounds; stun their wits and mute their antagonism. This is the secret of our survival as a dauntless and triumphant Muslim Ummah.

The awful fact, however, is that we are far from our destination. Science is making rapid advancement and we are too slow to keep abreast with the modern developments. The situation is grievous and dreary. It warrants expeditious but wise and cautious planning to take most effective measures to equip our youth with the modern thought and defeat the foes on their

ground. Otherwise a perpetual backwardness will bring us to a total subjugation leading to annihilation as an independent entity.

Our Pseudo Scholars and their Escape from Spiritualism of Islam

This is quite unfortunate that in such a critical moment, when antagonistic forces surround Islam, a few fanatics are busy sermonizing empirical ideals. They have shunned spiritualism and ignored the spiritual values. They reject and deny love and attachment for ‘Sunnah’ (the holy practices of the Prophet(A), refute miracles (mo’ojizat) performed by him as Signs of his Prophethood and reject his knowledge of the unseen. They totally reject love for the ‘Auliya Allah’. Nor do they accept their teachings. Instead, they promulgate a self-made concept of Islam, which may be in keeping with their materialistic reasoning but cannot be compatible with the true spirit and real teachings of Islam.

On occasions, these pseudo scholars and their Western thinkers seem to be the same class. Both have the same objectives. The non-Muslim intellectuals strive to keep the ‘Ummah’ from nourishing on the spiritual source. The Muslim pseudo intellectuals and thinkers too deny spirituality of Islam and have joined the hostile camp. Our Western rivals emphatically denounce the spiritual benevolence, and bliss of our beloved ‘Messenger’ of Islam(A). They also deny his life, now, fourteen centuries after his physical demise. Our awkwardly educated, ill-informed and strayed scholars do also disbelieve the living status of the Prophet(A). They claim to have faith in the Holy Qur’an but, paradoxically, reject the unimaginable eminence, spiritual glory and effulgence of the Holy Prophet(A) - who is the embodiment, divine recipient and awardee of the Holy Qur’an.

This is an undeniable fact that the religious scholars assigned to teach Islam in religious institutions have lost their communication with the majority of the people. They are an isolated entity. The communities and the milieu that need exhortation and merit goading and teaching are out of their reach and intellectual influence. These pseudo scholars are unfit for the war of wits that is on in the East and West and in the Arab and non-Arab Muslim world. Those who somehow, reach the front soon learn that they are far feeble and low in face of modern learning and scientific interpretation of the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah. They have limited knowledge and are ill-equipped for any sort of logical reasoning and intellectual combat. Owing to lack of scientific knowledge, they fail to come up to the mark. Their superficial bookish knowledge containing narratives, debates, religious sanctions against their rivals and versified fables cannot satisfy a scientific mind. Consequently, they fail to differentiate right from wrong. What they try to prove through Qur’anic reasons as perverse innovations and infidelity, come out to be righteous, pure and virtuous. Through religious declaration, Fatwa, they label whom they wish and whenever they want, as unbeliever and atheist. This would not be inappropriate to say that all they do to promote the cause of Holy Qur’an is in fact, detrimental to the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah. They are miserably handicapped. Nor can one keep them from this pseudo service of Islam, snatch their pens and mute their eloquence. Our great thinker poet, Iqbal has masterly potrayed their true picture in his splendid poetic work Javed Nama:

“The religion of God is more shameful than unbelief,

Because the Mullah is a believer trading in unfaith;

In our eyes this dew-drop of ours is an ocean,

To his eyes our ocean is a dew-drop.

At the elegant graces of that Qur’an-vendor

I have seen the Trusty Spirit himself cry out!

His heart is a stranger to what lies beyond the sky,

For him the Archetype of the Book is but a fable;

Having no share of the wisdom of the Prophet’s religion

His heaven is dark, being without any star.

Short of vision, blind of taste, an idle gossip

His hairsplitting arguments have fragmented the Community.

Seminary and Mullah, before the secrets of the Book

Are as one blind before the light of the sun.

The infidel’s religion is the plotting and planning of Holy War;

The mullah’s religion is corruption in the way of God.”

Convincing New Generation to see the Real Light

The need of the hour is to impede Mullah and convince the new generation to see the real light and save them from hell fire through learning Islamic teachings in scientific and rational way. With scientific knowledge and logical conviction they will practice the tenets of Islam persistently, consistently and productively. It is, however, regrettable that our hypocritical scholars, owing to their defective reasoning on the Holy Qur'an and Hadith, are causing our youth deviate from Islamic teachings.

Consequent to their failure in defending the cause of Islam, our religious scholars generally start condemning and reproaching time and age. They need to review their inconsistent thought, irreconcilable concepts and awkward behaviour. Instead, they find it far convenient to find fault with and blame time and age and get relieved of their fundamental duties and liabilities. For this very reason, supreme leader of the universe, the Holy Prophet(A) exhorted:

Do not reproach time for Allah is (manifest through) time.

(Ahmad bin Hambal, Musnad, 5:299, 311.)

This pearl of wisdom of the Holy Prophet(A) contains invaluable connotations and denotations. Rebuking age is worthless and futile; it rather worsens the situation. Whether you are dynamic or inactive, gaining or losing, time is indifferent to that. This is a permanent value subject to no change that time sanctions victory for those who do not depart from reality; they present and fight their case more effectively and scientifically and reject any compromise on principles and rules of the game.

This is a heartrending paradox that a majority of our so-called learned lot presents the Qur’anic message so awkwardly that instead of drawing closer to the postulates of Islam, our younger generation feels fed up with and strides away from Islamic concept of life. Such religious scholars (Ulama or Maulvees) are utterly counter productive. The wrong, self-willed and unauthentic interpretations of the Holy Qur’an, which is the divine source of guidance, corrupt their vision and put them on the erroneous track. The Holy Qur’an verifies:

By means of the Holy Qur’an He (Allah) causes many to stray and many He leads to the right path.

(Qur’an (al-Baqarah) 2:26.)

The Muslim youth all over the world in general and the Pakistanis in particular have set out to get equipped with scientific knowledge. They regard those Qur’anic concepts and deeds which have descended to them from their forefathers, not more than whims. The young Muslims graduating from the Western universities feel frustrated and dissatisfied with the unnatural concepts about Islamic code of life. They question their elders about the spiritual “channels” like Qadri, Sohrwardi, Chishti and others: Why should there be such channels? What is their value in terms of utility in practical life? Why should we take the mystic traditionalists, the saints -Auliya Allah, as our guides and leaders? Why shouldn’t we implore Allah’s assistance directly? And why an intermediary link or a ‘channel’ for mediation is all that necessary?

These interrogations crowd their minds and find vent in form of defiant utterances. We consider these eloquent inquiries as rudeness and arrogance. We do not attempt to convince them with logic and reason. We blame them to be trespassers and deserters of their faith. Such reprimands do restrain them for a short while, but eventually frustrate them and make them astray. Such a rebellious approach emanates from our failure to present Islamic postulates in the language of science.

An Exhorting Episode

This would not be out of place to mention an episode that occurred during one of my visits to London. One of my elderly friends called on me. He looked gloomy and deeply worried. Sympathizing, I offered my fervent cooperation and investigated the problem. He burst out and lamented: “I sent my son to a mosque for religious education. There the commentary lectures on the Holy Qur’an were delivered according to a regular program. He attended these lectures for a few days and then discontinued. On inquiry, he retorted, “I listened to the lectures on the Holy Qur’an. But to my disappointment, what all I learned was contrary to science and reason. I do not accept such mythological and unrealistic tales.” Narrating the grieving tragedy my friend mourned, “ I sent my son to Mosque to learn Islam. But contrary to what I aspired, he denied his belief, creed and even the dignity and divine status of the Holy Prophet(A)”.

I consoled my friend and invited him and his son to dinner. I intended to clear the young man on the essence of Islam and make him learn the reality. My friend however, declined saying, “But my son considers you an innovator and a polytheist”. On this, I approached his son myself, hugged him and said, “Sonny, We are your guests; courtesy demands that you accompany us for a while.” I called his father as well and enquired about all the complexities that had perverted his son’s mind. He put the questions one by one and I replied in the same order. The son felt half relieved in an hour’s time. On my departure he sought information about my stay their. “Another two three days” I replied. “Could you spare one more hour please?” he requested. I replied in affirmative saying, “Not for you alone. Bring your friends too. There will be an open session for every body.”

When we ended the second session, the son embraced me, saying, “May Allah bless you, you have saved me from complete divergence”. The son is now a staunch Muslim, strictly complying with the teachings of Islam.

Most wards of immigrants in Europe, owing to their brought-up in the most modern educated societies, are exposed to similar problems. They are diverting from the righteous Islamic teachings and guidance for the sole reason that we are indifferent to and avoid modern scientific education and fail to perceive the reality. We ourselves are responsible for this situation. We can keep the young generation from this disaster, provided we appreciate the requisites of scientific age and present Islam to the young but more knowledgeable and mature mind in a manner compatible with the prerequisites of our age. We require arranging religious education for our children on scientific grounds along with formal modern education. This would bear us positive and fruitful results and our children would stick to the postulates of Islam tenaciously and perseveringly.

A Dire Need of the Hour

We are in a dismal state. It is indeed Islamic spiritualism that can rescue us from the earthly impasse we have gone into. This has become a dire need of the hour that men of vision and wisdom from amongst the ‘channels of mysticism, saints and Holy Shrines’ should come forward and make comprehensible the spiritual teachings of Islam to the scientific mind of our youth. They have to take keen interest in the education of their children, their training and brought-up on right footing. Only by producing competent heirs can they save the spiritual heritage of Islam from deterioration and disaster.

In the modern era of impiety and wickedness, only a few mystic and spiritual dynasties have been able to survive the invasion of materialistic forces. Very few of them are those who still have the stimulant value in re-animating spiritual pursuits among their followers. What is generally observed is that, to a great extent, the spiritual foundation of shrines has been demolished and superficiality and pseudo spiritualism surround the spiritual centers established by the eminent forerunners. Our great national poet Allama Iqbal perceived this bitter fact and versed this passion: ‘the shrines are devoid of mystic savour; and schools are depleted of innovation of ideas.’

Analysis of Problem

Why Downfall?

We observe an explicit rebellion against Deen, depressing downfall and catastrophe i.e. deterioration of human values. While investigating the causes of decline, we should not lose sight of this reality that system of human life is based on three foundations: Belief, Knowledge and Compliance. These three foundations put together are called Deen. When these are complied with, the life can be termed as a balanced religious life.

Belief: The dogmas or beliefs are the ideological determinants, which are retained in the heart after comprehension; they are executed at internal or external level. For instance: Allah is one Who is the Creator. He has sent the Prophets (D) for guidance of the humanity. After death, we will be brought back to life on the Day of Resurrection. On that Day every person will be awarded paradise or hell according to his or her good or evil performance. So on and so forth. These determinants are the constituents of Islamic faith or belief. We, Muslims, keep the foundation of our faith on the Qur'an and Sunnah. The other religions have the dogmas according to their Books. Some people hold the hereditary belief while others base it upon their insight. Every one behaves and acts under some ideological determinants, ingrained in one’s mind.

Knowledge: The second foundation of the system of life is knowledge. We gather it through our five or more senses. (Parapsychology claims there are as many as seventeen senses). After this sensory process, our experiences and observations are advanced to the intellect. The intellect sorts out comprehension of the sensory data, which is transformed into its quintessence called knowledge. The sources of knowledge are, therefore, observations, experiences and apperception. Belief integrates a being into personality and becomes a vital force in human life. The second force is knowledge, which takes its roots from observations and experiences. The belief precedes knowledge. If knowledge endorses genuineness of belief, the belief gets validated and invigorated. It then becomes a strong base of dynamics of a personality.

Compliance: All actions are deeply rooted in belief and knowledge. A contradiction between the two can jeopardize an action or execution. Such a situation is sufficient to shatter a belief. The individual falls prey to doubts, ambiguities and develops into a skeptic. The standards of fair and foul get confused and vision blurs when the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. In his private meditation, he finds faults either with faith or the reality on ground. When the belief in Allah is ingrained in heart that He is the Creator and Omnipotent, a passion incites man to worship Him. But if one does not experience the versatility of Allah in this world, his belief gets impaired and a contradiction in belief and knowledge about Allah comes to fore. Such an unfortunate state of mind benumbs the impetus and passion for the subservience to Allah. The belief actually charges all acts like electric current and becomes a driving force. But if not affirmed by external reality it gasps its last. A total spiritual devastation.

Where Do We Stand?

Reward, retribution, Paradise and Hell are our faith. Every good deed, it is observed, does not, at times, produce good results. Similarly, every bad deed does not, every time, bring about bad results. It is a deceptive situation. All depends upon the social dynamics. But when our observation does not conform to our faith, and knowledge too does not come to our rescue, we lose confidence and go astray. The foundation of our faith is laid on the unseen:

Those who believe in the unseen.

(Qur'an (al-Baqarah) 2:3.)

We have not seen Allah, His Angels, the Day of Judgement, Paradise and Hell, but we believe in them because the Prophet (A) has told us, ‘they are.’ Our faith is based on the unseen. The common man’s faith is based on the unseen, which intrinsically warrants the endorsement. If the faith is not endorsed, it gets weakened with the passage of time. The faith is an impetus for action. If faith is strong, action will also be strong and vice versa.

An educated young Muslim today cannot deny existence of Allah and the Holy Prophet (A) because he is born in a Muslim family. But he falls victim to the worst type of uncertainty of faith for he is not well grounded in it. Many of us particularly youngsters, who apparently do not deny Doomsday, do not accept it completely because they have not experienced any creditable result of believing in Allah and His Prophet (A). They doubt even the credibility of resurrection for he has yet to experience the credibility of things related to his belief in the unseen. His heart forces him to believe but his intellect spurns it. This contradiction between heart and intellect exists incessantly.

We deny the reality while performing the acts. We claim to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (A) but do not practice it. Our subtle denial is exhibited through our actions. Although we proclaim that Allah is One yet we worship our ambitions and lusts and put them equal to Allah.

This is scientific era and people are free from stronghold of superstitions. The inquisitive scientific mind raises questions. The modern man wants to see the facts with naked eye. Any thing that conforms to observation is easy to believe in. The scientists substantiate their claims by demonstrating facts in laboratories. It is believed that hydrogen and oxygen form water because it is proved in laboratories.

For the materialists and empiricists, every spiritual thing is vague or non-existent. The human intellect is accustomed to proof. The scientific way of judgment, evaluation and believing things has become the way of life. We daily observe that if rules of business conduct are followed, business prospers. Otherwise it declines and ends up in loss. In a like manner, when every matter is subjected to practical tests and proved, it becomes believable. If a faith does not prove its credibility, it is not truly believed in. In this way, faith remains vacillating and unsettled.

The Reassured Belief

We are obliged to think whether or not the Qur'an approves of the prevailing scientific method and that the consistency of faith depends upon experiments and observations. Does the Qur'an allow to subject our faith to

the analytical experimentation. Hadrat Ibrahim (D) implored Allah in the following words:

My Lord, show me how You revive the dead.

(Qur'an (al-Baqarah) 2:260.)

Hadrat Ibrahim (D) intended to subject his belief to observation and experiment so that his faith might become undeniable. There might not be any doubt in believing that Allah can resurrect the humans and the animals. Allah, however, provided complete experimentation of resurrection. Besides this, Allah also showed His matchless and unequaled powers and kingdom of the earth and heavens so as to strengthen his faith to the strongest footings beyond any doubts, obscurity or uncertainty. Allah says:

Therefore, We showed Ibrahim sovereignty over Heavens and Earth so he might feel reassured.

(Qur'an (al-An‘am) 6:75.)

Hadrat Ibrahim (D) was shown the kingdom of heavens and the earth to ascertain his faith to the superlative degree. The firmest faith provides the utmost delight and bliss. Allah has said:

It is incumbent upon Us to help the believers.

(Qur'an (ar-Rum) 30:47.)

It is the promise of Allah to help the believers. Allah helped the believers and furnished them with victory subduing the disbelievers:

When Allah’s support comes as well as victory, and you see mankind entering Allah’s religion in droves.

(Qur'an (an- Nasr) 110:1-2.)

The Prophet (A) saw the people thronging to embrace Islam in multitudes. He (A) witnessed the benefaction of Allah. This was an observation and experience too that provided unassailable strength to faith and the Muslims gained tremendous boost. When the faith reached the stage of certainty, Allah said to the Prophet:

Then hymn your Lord’s praise and beg Him for forgiveness, since He is so Relenting.

(Qur'an (an-Nasr) 110:3.)

After the observation, Allah decrees to resort to His praise and forgiveness. This explicit command to the Prophet (A) implies that the Muslim Ummah requires to glorify Allah more subsequent to a resplendent observation that ascertains their faith. Sura An-Nasr reveals that the unseen faith becomes firm and unquestionable after observation.

What is Mysticism (Tasawwuf)? (Observation and Experimentation)

This cannot be refuted that faith becomes a driving force of life after experimentation and observation have endorsed it. The question arises as to how can this culmination of faith be achieved. How can a person get ascertained of his faith through experimentation and observation? The scientists do carry out experimentation of their expounded theories for validation. Are there any means to reassure faith in the tenets of Islam through observation and experiments? The answer is in affirmative. There is a system, which brings about tangible results of faith through

experimentation and observation. This system based on spiritual experiments and observations is called ‘Tasawwuf’, which is a spiritual discipline and which the English term ‘mysticism’ perhaps cannot fully describe. However, for reader’s convenience, we henceforth call it mysticism. The experts and preceptors of this system are the spiritual incumbents conventionally known as saints or Auliya Allah. Mysticism is the only means of the internal experiences and observations. When the belief in the unseen passes through the evolutionary processes, it changes into the firmest belief. Mysticism brings about the internal observation of the faith to the zenith of certainty.

When mysticism, through observation, endorses faith, the faith becomes firm and unequivocal. The Auliya Allah, pass through rigors and tribulations for ascertaining their faith. They see the miraculous feats of Allah in their lives. Their actions excel the force of action of millions of people in the world. Their action is vitalized by Benefaction and Beneficence of Allah. Their action is based on observation and experimentation while layman’s action is based on the theoretical assumptions and perceptions.

Imam Ghazali’s Precedence

Imam Ghazali, being a versatile erudite, great scholar, subtle thinker and an enviable personage in the Islamic learning felt still a deficiency and unsatiety in comprehending the reality of Deen. He approached the religious preceptors to inquire into the reality of Deen but could not find the ‘truth’. Then he resorted to the philosophers but badly failed to learn reality of Deen. So he turned for help to the incumbents of the batiniyah sect (seclusion group); but in vain. Eventually he made his way to mystics (sufiya and sages) and inquired about the truth. They persuaded him to follow their way. He did so and found the reality.

Imam Ghazali narrates:

The vicissitudes of life, family affairs and financial constraints engulfed my life and deprived me of the congenial solitude. The heavy odds confronted me and provided me with few moments for my pursuits. This state of affairs lasted for ten years but wherever I had some spare and congenial moments I resorted to my intrinsic proclivity. During these turbulent years, numerous astonishing and indescribable secrets of life were unveiled to me. I was convinced that the group of Aulia (holy mystics) is the only truthful group who follow the right path, display best conduct and surpass all sages in their wisdom and insight. They derive all their overt or covert behaviour from the illumining guidance of the holy Prophet(A), the only guidance worth quest and pursuit.”

(Imam Ghazali, al-Munqidh min-ad-dalal, p.50)

Imam Ghazali was completely convinced that the path of Aulia (holy mystics) was the only gainful and genuine course and the remaining ones were all stray paths. They are scrupulous and pre-eminent in their talk, conduct and affairs. They surpass all the people in wisdom and scholarship. The life of Aulia reflects the model of the holy Prophet in sitting, standing, sleeping, awakening, walking and all chores of life. Their whole life is permeated with the holy enlightenment of the Prophet’s teachings and his

love. They seek guidance from the Prophet (A). They do not follow their whims. They follow the holy footsteps of the beloved Prophet (A), and perceive as if the curtain is lifted and the divine light dazzling at the doorsteps of the adorable Messenger (A) illumines their real self. Hence, life of the Auliya Allah is the best life and their course of life leads straight to Allah.

“This is the best course which fully substantiates the Prophetic stature. If you analyse and engross the Qur'an and other relevant literature, you will find out the reality evident and effulgent like sunshine.”

(Imam Ghazali, al-Munqidh min-ad-dalal, p.75)

The state of certainty in faith, therefore, can only be achieved through mysticism. It ignites the spiritual force inside you and bestows the observation explicitly to the extent of certainty as if there is something tangible in your hand.

According to Imam Ghazali, this state begins with the onset of true dreams. As the innerself gets purged, true dreams start and unveil the reality of life. With that the spiritual enlightenment and awareness gets activated. The holy Prophet(A) has termed true dreams as fortieth part of Prophethood.

The Prophet (A) said:

Nothing is left of the Prophethood except ‘Al-Mubashshirat’. They enquired about ‘Al-Mubashshirat?’ He replied, “true good dreams. (that convey glad tidings)

(Related by Bukhari in his as-Sahih, b. of ta‘bir (interpretation of dreams) ch. 5 (6:2564 # 6589); and Muhammad Khatib Tabrizi in Mishkat-ul-masabih, b. of ru’ya (dreams) 2:519 # 4606).

Through true dreams, facts of life are revealed. The Prophet (A) spent several weeks at the ‘Hira Cave’. The Prophet (A) used to go into retreat for several days in the remembrance of Allah. In the wake of this, he used to vision true dreams. Whatever he dreamt, it used to be manifest during daytime. This evinced Prophethood. When true dreams start emerging, it should be deemed that Prophetic benefaction has initiated. Says Imam Ghazali:

In ‘tariqat’ (the tasawwuf discipline), dreams start in the beginning. The mystics see spirits of the Prophets (D) and the angels in their wakeful moments, listen to their voices and acquire vision from them.

(Imam Ghazali, al-Munqidh min-ad-dalal, p.50.)

This state approves one’s faith and the faith culminates into certainty. The fortunate ones treading this path find the truth of life and their belief gets reassured. The barriers are removed and a spiritual contact is established with the beloved holy Prophet (A).

Imam Jalal-ud-Din Suyuti (RA) says:

I had the sight of the Prophet (A) seventy times during my wakeful moments.

The scholars of Ahadith in moments of ambiguity used to resort to the Prophet (A) and get genuine guidance. The human intellect is unable to encompass such a psychic state of Auliya Allah. They take guidance directly from the Prophet (A) during their lifetime and vision the reality. There is a

difference between seeing and listening. Allah guards the communication and actions of His Friends, Auliya. Allah fulfils all they say.

The holy Prophet (A) declares about such holy persons:

There are some of Allah’s slaves who, if take an oath by Allah, are responded to by Allah (i.e. their oath is fulfilled).

(Bukhari, as-Sahih, b. of sulh (reconciliation) Ch. 8 (2:962 # 2556).

In fact, mysticism brings observation, which in turn validates faith. At this stage, even impossible things become possible, the unseen becomes discernable and inaudible becomes audible. A friend of Allah then perceives in full and gets beyond time. These experiences also have their scientific bases.

The people who have not experienced the mystic state cannot achieve thorough confirmation of their faith. That is why a common believer is left far behind while a Friend of Allah, a Wali, accomplishes a century’s assignment in twinkling of an eye.

This is how we need to look at the significance of spiritual discipline in modern scientific era. The true validation of our faith in the unseen can only be acquired through a mystic psychic effort fulfilling all the requisites of scientific method.

Science, although, does not accept or confirm the existence of spiritual visions, contacts and accomplishments, yet the evident and tangible results brought about through spiritual and mystic experiences only bewilder scientific investigators; spiritualism cannot be gainsaid.

The subsequent chapters take an account of some experiences of laymen, non-Muslims, common and psychologically and physically normal people that put the scientists in awe and surprise. A positive investigation into the reality was then initiated to understand the phenomenology of these experiences. Science has failed to deny the reality and has made an advance to find and confirm more to it. In comparison to these common place events, the spiritual reality is a far superior phenomenon that rather helps science to reach its faith in transcendent reality.