And this very verse is the one that has washed away the doubts from the hearts of the believers, and shined in their hearts the lights of certainty, so it has brought to their hearts the supplies of Divine grants due to what it included of beneficial lessons. That is because it includes the mention of rizq, its place, the swearing upon it, and a similitude for it with that which has no confusion attached to it. So let us follow these beneficial lessons, lesson by lesson.
First: Know that when He جل جلاله knew of the many anxieties which the selves experienced concerning the affair of rizq, He mentioned it repeatedly because of its repeated suggestions upon the hearts, just as you repeat demonstrative proofs if you know that doubts and uncertainties are firmly established in the one you argue with. Just as He also repeated the proofs for the Final Return (on the Last Day) in numerous verses, because of the doubts of the disbelievers. for they denied that man would return after his bodily constitution had vanished and he had become dirt or been eaten by beasts and vermin. So He argued with them in His Mighty Book with many arguments, such as His saying: "And he struck for Us a similitude and has forgotten the fact of his creation, saying: 'Who will give life to bones when they are crumbled to dust?' Say: 'The One who will bring them to life is the same One who gave them life in the first place' (Q36:78-79). And His saying: "And this is most easy for Him" (Q30:27). And His saying: "He who gives life to it can surely give life to the dead" (Q41:39).
Similarly, when the Real جل جلاله knew the intense restlessness and agitation of the selves in the affair of rizq, He corroborated the demonstrative argument for it in many verses, among which are what we mentioned before, and what we did not mention. So when the Real (Most Exalted) knew of that from the selves of the servants, He said in one situation: "Indeed Allah is the All-Provider" (Q51:58). And in another place: "Allah is the One Who created you, then provided for your sustenance" (Q30:40). And He said in another place: "We will surely provide for you" (Q20:132). And He said in another place: "Or who is there that can provide you with sustenance if He were to withhold His provision?" (Q67:21). And He said: 'And in the heaven is your rizq, and what you are promised,' that He might clarify the place of rizq, so that the hearts would confidently abandon themselves to Him.
Guaranteeing something without specifying its place is not like guaranteeing it in addition to making its place clear. So it is as if He جل جلاله said: 'We do not have to clarify for you the place of your rizq. You have with Us a rizq which We will bring to you when its time comes, but We are not required to clarify it.' Rather, out of His subtle kindness and mercy and bounty and generosity He detailed the place of rizq so that it might be more far-reaching in inspiring the trust of the selves in Him, and more effective in the removal of doubt. And there is another benefit in that also:
That the clarification of its place (in the heaven) implies the lifting of the aspirations (himma) of the creation from the creatures, and that they not ask except from the True King. Because if there occurs any covetousness in your heart towards any creature, or any secondary means ('asbab), then He جل جلاله says to you: "And in the heaven is your rizq and what you are promised."
In other words, 'O you who look towards the weak and impotent creature in the earth for your rizq, your rizq is not with him, but rather your rizq is with Me, and I am the Powerful King.' For that reason, when an Arab heard this verse, he sacrificed his camel, and fled off toward Allah saying: "Glory be to Allah! My rizq is in the heaven, and I search for it in the earth?!"
So consider, may Allah جل جلاله have mercy on you, how he understood from Allah جل جلاله directly, that what He desired in this verse is to drive the himma of His slaves towards Him, so that they desire what is with Him, as He said in another verse: "And there is not a thing but its inexhaustible treasures are with Us, but We only send it down in ascertainable measures" (Q15:21). So that the aspirations become perturbed and flee to His Door, and the hearts incline toward His Side. So be, may Allah have mercy on you, celestial and do not be lowly and terrestrial. For that reason one of them said:
'When the stingy denials of the cheap and ignoble cause you thirst, then contentment suffices you as a satiation and a quenching. Be a true man such that your body is in the soil (of the earth), while your resolute aspiration and zeal (himma) roams in the stars. Truly, the wasting away of (the water of your) earthly life is of lesser importance than loss. of the (water of your) essential honor."
I heard our Shaykh Abu-l 'Abbas may Allah be pleased with him say: "By Allah, I have not seen honor except in lifting one's himma above the creatures, and remember, O brother, may Allah have mercy on you, His statement جل جلاله' And the honor is for Allah, His Messenger and the believers.'" (Q63:8) Some of the might with which Allah جل جلاله has ennobled the believer is the lifting of himma to his Master, and trust in Him without other than Him. And be ashamed before Allah جل جلاله that, after He clothed you with the raiment of faith and beautified you with the beauty of gnostic knowledge, forgetfulness and heedlessness should overpower you until you incline towards the worlds, or seek beneficence from other than Him. And for that reason one of them said:
'What! After my penetration into the sciences of the Realities, and after my expansion in the gifts of my Creator, in the moment of my noble entering into His spiritual dominion (malakat), shall I see my hand outstretched to other than my Provider?!"
If the self, heedless of its Master, obliges you to direct your need towards the creatures, then lift your need toward Him to that creature lifts its need. For the ego-self will readily take your faith (in the Divine) lightly to attain her caprices, despite your own coming to disgrace, so that she may reach her own objects of desire. Some have stated on this meaning:
"I have burdened the ego-self with humbling it so it may come to true honor, and how easily the ego-self accepts degradation just for the sake of its own idea of honor. It says: ask the good Yahya ibn 'Akthami, so I tell it: ask the Lord of Yahya ibn 'Akthami."
It is very disgraceful for the believer that he should present his needs to other than Allah, with his knowledge of His Oneness and His Uniqueness in His Lordship, while he hears the words of Allah: "Is not 'Allah sufficient for His slave?" (Q39:36). That is shameful from anyone, but even more shameful from the believer.
He should remember the saying of Allah جل جلاله" :O you who believe, fulfill the covenants" (Q5:1). Among the covenants that you have made with Him is that you not lift your needs to any but Him, and that you not depend on any but Him, for this is the corollary of your acceptance of His supreme Lordship on the Day of the Decrees, the Day of "Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes indeed!" (Q7:172). So how can you recognize Him and declare His Oneness there, but become ignorant of Him here, when His beneficence has recurred again and again to you, and His gifts of bounty have engulfed you in their abundance?
"In the heart, for You, there is a lofty station, neither Sa'da nor Lubna reside therein. (*names of women in pre-Islamic poetry) In the world of the dharr (particles of light) I acknowledged You, so would it be becoming of me, by the honor of my white beard, to deny You?"
The lifting of himma away from the creatures is the scale of the poor (fuqara), and the true measure of the Men. And just as essences are weighed and compared, states of being and attributes are also weighed. "And establish weight with justice" (Qur'an 55:9). So the truthful is manifested with his truthfulness, and the pretender with his adulteration. "Allah will not leave the believers in the state in which you are now until He separates what is evil from what is good" (Qur'an 3:179).
Allah جل جلاله ,has, by His wisdom and the existence of His gift, tested the poor who are not truthful, by manifesting what they hid of their covetousness, and the desires they kept in secret. So they degraded and lowered themselves to the children of this world, spreading their arms to them, conforming to them, in harmony with them in the goals they aim for, driven to their doors. So you see some of them beautifying themselves as the bride beautifies herself, enthralled by the betterment of their outward, heedless of the rectification of their inward.
Indeed, the Real جل جلاله ,has described them with a mark that has unveiled their defects and manifested their reported reputation. If they had been true to Allah جل جلاله ,then their ascription would be that it would be said of them: 'Slave of the Immense.' But they left that ascription due to the lack of their truthfulness, so that now it is. said of them: `Shaykh of the Emir.' (Translator's note: due to their frequenting the majlis of the Emir and their close relationship with him instead of with Allah جل جلاله.)
These are they who lie about Allah جل جلاله and impede and hinder the slaves from the companionship of the true saints of Allah جل جلاله .Because what the generality see in them, they believe in every respect to be of Allah جل جلاله ,whether they are truthful or untruthful. So these are the veils of the people of realization, and the clouds of the suns of the people of Divinely granted success. They strike their drums, and spread their banners, and wear their armor. So if the attack occurs, they retreat and flee away, retracting their tongues. They are uninhibited in their making pretentious claims, while their hearts are void of God-wariness (taqwa). Have they not heard the saying of Allah: "....that He may question the truthful concerning their truthfulness" (Q33:8)? Do you think that if He questioned the truthful He would leave the pretentious without any questioning? Have they not heard His saying جل جلاله , "And say: act, for Allah will observe your action, and His Messenger and the believers, and you will return to the Knower of the unseen and the seen, and He will inform you of what you used to do" (Q9:105). They are outwardly like the truthful, but their actions are the actions of those who turn away from the Truth, as it has been said:
"As for the tents, indeed they are like their tents, but I see that the women of the neighborhood are not their women. No, it cannot be! By the One Whose house the Quraysh has circumambulated, facing the Pillar (of the House) from its valley! My eyes have now never seen the tents of another tribe Without their crying, O my beloved, from its disappearance!"
So you have come to understand, may Allah جل جلاله have mercy on you, that the lifting of himma for the creation is the ornament of the People of the (Sufi) Way, and the mark of the People of Realization. And upon this meaning we have some poetry:
"You have risen early, blaming a time of injury and harm, so you turned away ignoring it that it might turn away (from you). Do not increase your blaming and reproaching of this age, for it (time) is not sought after for fidelity or expected to be unsullied. It does not harm me that I am, in it, obscure and undistinguished, for the full moon, whether open to or hidden from view, remains a full moon. Allah knows well that I am a man whose resolute aspiration (himma) rejects the low and base things out of abstinence and avoidance. Why should I not keep my face away from the creation, and not appear to them with the sublimity and glory of noble kings? Shall I appear to them as one poor and needy towards them, while they are all incapable of action or influence? Or how should I ask for His sustenance from His creation? By my life! If I should do this it would be rude discourtesy! The complaint of the weak one to a weak one like him is an inability which carries its owner to the limit of all stupidity. So seek provision from Allah, whose generosity and beneficence cover all of creation with open gifts and subtle graces. And seek protection with Him, you will find Him as you hope; You will never see any at His doors left shut out and unanswered."
Second: His جل جلاله saying "And in the heaven is your rizq" could mean the 'fixed determination of your provision,' i.e., its establishment in the Guarded Tablet. If that is indeed the meaning, then it therefore becomes a source of tranquility for the slaves. It is as if He is notifying them that: 'Your rizq — in other words, that from which comes your rizq — We have inscribed with Us and fixed it in Our record, and decreed it with Our signs before your existence, and specified it before your appearance. So for what are you so anxious and restless? And what is it with you that you do not repose in Me out of reliance upon Me, nor trust My promise?'
The intended meaning of "in the sky (heaven) is your sustenance" might also be what your rizq comes from, namely, water, in accordance with the words of Allah جل جلاله" :And We made from water every living thing; will they not then believe?" (Q21:30). Also, Ibn 'Abbas may Allah be pleased with him said: "It is rainwater." So His saying, "And in the sky is your provision" would therefore mean that from which comes the source of your provision; and also rainwater in itself is sustenance.
Third: It might be that the intention of the Real جل جلاله in this verse is to make the slaves incapable of presumptuously claiming any influence or power over secondary causes and means (asbab). For if Allah جل جلاله withheld the water from the earth, then the means of everyone of means would discontinue, whether he be a farmer, or cultivator, or trader, or tailor, or scribe, or what-ever else. So it is as if He said: 'Your means are not that which sustains you with provision, but rather I am the One who sustains you with provision, and in My Hand is the facilitation of your means of livelihood. I am the One who causes to descend upon you that by which your means exist and your earnings become complete.' Fourth:
There is an immense beneficial lesson in the pairing of the rizq with that which is promised. When the believers came to know that what the Real جل جلاله promised them must come to be, and that they have no power to expedite it or delay it, nor is there any possibility of their attracting it, then it is as if He said to them:
`Just as there is no doubt with you that We have what you are promised, then in the same way, let there be no doubt with you that with Us is your provision (rizq). And just as you are unable to speed up what We promised for you before its time, you are similarly incapable of expediting any provision that Our Lordship has set a date for, and Our Divinity has specified a time for."
Fifth: In His جل جلاله saying "And in the heaven is your rizq and what you are promised, and by the Lord of the heaven and the earth, this is indeed as true as your ability to articulate," there is a great conclusive argument against the slaves. Namely, that the One loyal to His promise who never breaks His word should swear for the servants by what He guaranteed for them. For He knew what the selves were predisposed to of doubt and restless anxiety, and the existence of confusion in them. For that reason, when the angels heard this verse they exclaimed: "The children of 'Adam have perished, for they have angered their Glorious Lord to the point that He swore." And some said when they heard this verse: "Glory be to Allah! What brought the Noble One to swearing?"
And if you know that someone trusts you, then you do not need to swear for him, but if you know that he doubts your word, then you swear for him.
Therefore, this verse made a group of people joyful, and humiliated another group to shame. As for those it caused joy: they are in the first degree, for by it their faith increases, and their certainty is made firm. So by these they become victorious over the whisperings of Shaytan and the doubts of the self. And as for those it shamed - they came to know that the Real جل جلاله knew of the lack of their trust in Him, and of the existence of doubt and confusion in them. So He stationed them in the station of the people of uncertainty, and thus swore to them. This embarrassed them out of their shyness in front of Him, and this is some of what indicates their Divine understanding from Him.
It could be that one thing caused one people to be happy and another to be sad, according to the differences in the degrees of understanding between them, and the incomings of Divine inspirations. Have you not heard that when He revealed His saying: "This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and have chosen for you al-Islam as your religion" (Q5:3), the Prophet's Companions were elated, while Sayyidina Abu Bakr may Allah be pleased with him was saddened by it? That was because he understood by that the passing away of the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلمso he wept. And he took as a lesson from that that if something reaches completion, it is feared that it will soon return to its former state of deficiency, as it is said:
"If something is perfected, its imperfect deficiencies come nearer; And if something is completed, it begins to abate and disappear. Thus if you are in a state of bliss, then keep it and guard it, for indeed Disobedient rebellion causes bliss to come to an end."
And know that deficiency would not begin to occur while the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلمwas still physically alive. The other Companions may Allah be pleased with them were made joyful by the apparent glad tidings in the saying of Allah, but they did not penetrate to the meaning that Abu Bakr may Allah be pleased with him penetrated to. That was the explanation of the statement of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمconcerning him: "Abu Bakr did not outstrip you by fasting or prayer, but rather by a meaning established in his breast." And he who is the outstripper in himself is the one who necessarily has the prerogative of understanding what others than him do not comprehend.
Similar to this is the saying of Allah جل جلاله" :Verily Allah has bought from the believers their selves and their wealth, in exchange for the Garden. They fight in the cause of Allah, and kill and are killed" (Q9:111). I heard Abu Muhammad al-Marjani may Allah be pleased with him say: "A group of people heard this noble verse, and they rejoiced at this contract. So their faces where whitened out of joy in it, for the Real declared them fit that He should buy from them, thus glorifying their worth, and pleasing them with the sale, and made them happy with a great recompense and abundant reward. Another group heard this verse, and their faces were paled yellow, out of shame before Allah جل جلاله for He had to buy from them what He already owned. Had He not known that they had hidden within them presumptuous claims of ownership, He would not have said, `Verily Allah جل جلاله has bought from the believers their selves.' So those whose faces were whitened received two gardens with silver vessels. And those whose faces were paled yellow received two gardens with golden vessels."
So had the believers been free of the remaining effects of contention, there would not occur any sale with them. For Allah جل جلاله said: "Verily Allah has bought from the believers," and not from the prophets and messengers.'
For that reason Shaykh Abu-l Hasan may Allah be pleased with him said: "Souls fall into three categories. A soul that is not bought due to its despicableness, and a soul that is bought due to its nobility, and a soul that is not bought due to the establishment of its freedom. The first category is the souls of the nonbelievers, whose souls are not bought by Allah جل جلاله because of their despicableness. The second category is the souls of the believers, whose souls are bought by Allah جل جلاله because of their nobility. The third category is the souls of the Prophets and Messengers peace be upon them, whose souls are not bought because they are free."
Sixth: He جل جلاله swore by the complete Lordship over the entire heavens and the earth, and He did not swear by any other of the Names. That is because the complete Lordship over the entire heavens and earth should not be doubted. And among its characteristics is guaranteeing the security of this immense universe in which you are, and if you compare yourself with it you would be like nothing in it. So that is more effective towards inspiring trust in Him than if He said 'and He is the All-Hearing,' or 'the All-Knowing,' or 'the All-Merciful,' or any other of His Names. So understand!
Seventh: His saying جل جلاله" :And by the Lord of the heaven and earth, it is the reality (haqq)." Reality is the opposite of falsehood, and falsehood is nonexistent with no permanence or establishment attached to it. And Divine provision is real, just as the All-Provider is real. So any doubt in Divine provision constitutes doubt in the Provider. It is related that someone used to dig up graves, and then he repented. So he said to a gnostic knower: "I dug up a thousand graves, and I found that all of their occupants had their faces turned away from the qibla (orientation of ritual prayer)." So the knower of that time said: "What turned their faces away from the qibla was their suspicion of Divine provision."
Eighth: His saying, "as true as your ability to articulate," is a confirmation of the establishment of Divine provision and an affirmation of its reality. And that no believer should be uncertain about it, nor should one who has attained to certainty doubt it. Also, its affirmation in the eye-witnessing of the insights of the hearts is as the affirmation of rational speech in the eye-witnessing of outward eyesight. So He جل جلاله transposed the meaning to the form, and He symbolized the unseen with the seen, and thus cut off the doubts of the slaves in the matter of Divine provision. In other words, just as you articulate rationally, and have no uncertainty about that, due to what the eyesight affirms, then similarly you should not be uncertain in the affair of rizq, for the light of faith has affirmed that.
So look (may Allah جل جلاله ,have mercy on you) at the deep concern of the Real جل جلاله with the affair of rizq and His repetition of it, and His clarification of its place, and His comparing it with sensible things which no one can entertain any uncertainty of after seeing them, and His swearing upon it by the complete Lordship that encompasses the entire heaven and earth.
Similarly, it (rizq) was repeated in the words of the Lawgiver صلى الله عليه وسلم ,when he said: "Verily the Holy Spirit (Jibril a.s) inspired in my conscience that a soul will not die until its provision from Allah is completed, so be wary of Allah جل جلاله and polite in seeking from Him." And he جل جلاله said: "Were you to depend upon Allah جل جلاله as He should be trusted, He would have sustained you with provision as He provides for the birds, who go out in the morning with stomachs empty and return with their bellies full." And he said: "'Allah جل جلاله has especially taken charge to guarantee the provision of a seeker of knowledge." And other similar statements of his on that subject.
Trust in Allah جل جلاله is not contradictory to the existence of secondary means and causes: Know that concerning rizq, dependence upon Allah جل جلاله does not contradict the existence of worldly means of livelihood, as the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلمindicated when he said: "So be wary of Allah جل جلاله and be polite in seeking from Him."
He made seeking a means of livelihood licit, and had it been in opposition to the station of dependence, he would not have declared it lawful. For he did not say, 'Do not seek (a means),' but rather, 'Be polite and courteous in seeking.' So it is as if he said: `If you are going to seek a means of livelihood, then be polite in seeking, i.e., have courtesy and correct manners with Allah جل جلاله in seeking, and be consigned to Him.'
So he جل جلاله ,has declared the existence of seeking licit, and seeking is one of the forms of secondary means ('asbab). We have already related his saying: "The most lawful of what a man eats is the acquisition of his own hand," and other statements of his that prove the lawfulness of taking a means of livelihood, no, even urging us to it, and recommending it.
Illuminating Guidance on the Dropping of Self-Direction by Shaykh 'ibn ʿAṭā Allāh al-Iskandarī al-Shādhilī
Tr. Dr. 'Ibrahim Hakim
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