A Spiritual Master

A voice from the past that may shed light unto problems this day and age regarding Spiritual Masters.

Shaykh ad-Darqawi (may God be pleased with him) writes:

One of the effects of Divine Beauty, Grace and Generosity is that one finds the Master who can grant spiritual education; without Divine Grace no one would find or recognize him, since, according to the saying of the Saint Abu'l-`Abbas al-Mursi; "It is more difficult to know a Saint than it is to know God." ....in the Hikam of Ibn `Ata-Illah, it is said: "Exalted be He Who makes His Saints known only in order to make Himself known and Who leads toward them those whom He wishes to lead toward Himself." There is no doubt that the Lord of the inhabitants of Heaven and Earth, our Master, God's Messenger (may God bless him and give him peace) was openly manifested, like a sun on a standard, and in spite of that was not seen by all, but only by some. God veiled him from others, just as He veiled the Prophets (on them be peace) from certain men, and just as He veils the Saints from the men of their time, so much so that they slander the Saints and do not believe them. God's Books testify to this:

"Thou shalt see them looking toward thee and they see not.."
[Qur'an: VII, 198]

and

"They said: what kind of a messenger is this, who eats food and walks in markets..."
[Qur'an: XXV, 7]

and so on, in all other analogous passages. Two thirds or more of the divine Book tells how the Prophets (on them be peace) were slandered by the men of their time. Among those who did not see God's Messenger (may God bless him and give him peace) was Abu Jahl; he saw in the Messenger only the orphan who had been adopted by Abu Talib. The same applies to the spiritual Master who is simultaneously ecstatic (majdhub) and methodical (salik), who is at the same time both drunk and sober; only a few find him. Now if one finds the Master (he sometimes acts in an unexpected way); sometimes he sees that the disciple's Spirit will be freed by fasting and so makes him fast; at another time, on the contrary, he will make him eat to repletion for the same purpose; now he sees that the disciple will benefit spiritually from an increase of outer activity; at another time, from less activity; at one time, from sleeping; at another time, from staying awake; sometimes he wishes the disciple to avoid people, sometimes, on the contrary he advises him to frequent people; for it may be that the inner light of the disciple has suddenly become too strong for him, so that the Master fears he may lose his reason, like many disciples in the past and in our day who have become mad; this is why the Master may bring the disciple out of his retreat and make him mix with people; in order that his spiritual tension may diminish and he be preserved from madness.  In the same way, if the inner light has become too weak, the Master sends him back into solitude in order that it may acquire force, and so forth, the issue is in God's hands. Spiritual mastery could very nearly have ceased to be manifested for the lack of those whose heart is quickened by an ardent desire to follow it, but the divine Wisdom never runs dry.

We see that the spiritual way (tariqah) is necessarily maintained by Divine Force and Power, since it comes down through our Masters from God's Messenger (may God bless him and give him peace). As the Saint al-Mursi used to say: No Master makes himself known to his disciples unless he has been led to do so by inspirations (waridat) and unless he has received the authorization of God and of His Messenger." The blessing (barakah) of this authorization and the secret it implies is what sustains our cause and safeguards the state of those who adhere to it; but God is wiser.


Neither sober nor drunk, sometimes I feel the joy of my soul's eyes looking out through mine. 

~ Mahmoud Shabistari~

My Noah Project

Last month, in my moment of deep, dark despair, I began a rather 'ridiculously ambitious' project. Inspired by Rumi who once said that when all the world is against you, begin a 'ridiculously ambitious' project. Like Noah. Well, this is my Noah project. A thousand cranes to carry my wish to the Heavens. Ever we hope.

You never really know how much you've accomplished until you put it all together. Here are 349 paper cranes so far.

Completion

In a particular sea, I have heard,
pearl shells rise from the depths in April,
opening their mouths to the sky.
Mist also rises, then falls as rain.
A few drops fall into each open mouth.
The shells close and fall again,
their hearts full with a pearl-to-be.
Much later, the diver descends and brings
up a gem of great price.
Eons ago, the divine breath dived into us,
and now it dives again and again,
a thousand pearls wrapped in a blanket.

~Mahmoud Shabistari~

The completion of each stage of the pearl's development was necessary at a particular moment to prepare the way for something else. As Shabistari says a thousand potential pearls lie wrapped within us. To grasp another, we may need to let go of the the one already in our hand.

A traditional translation of this quality is "the Last." It shows us that it is really time to let go. The One Being is there at the moment of ripeness, when the fruit is eaten. Imagine the whole universe as fruit. When it is eaten, Allah is still there, so you can't lose by letting go.

I was at a particular stage in my life, where I longed for completion. After a few "right-back-where-I-started" moments, this Name appeared to me. Enabling me to see clearly and ever so painfully what I was unwilling to let go of after all these years. Breathing this pathway illuminated what I needed to do...in the light of the One.

Subhana'Llah. In all things, God be praised.


Sources:
~ The Sufi Book of Life by Neil Douglas-Klotz
~ Mahmoud Shabistari's Gulshan-i raz

All things love God by their very nature

The words of God are in and around us, since we and the cosmos are the articulations of the Breath of the All Merciful...we love God in everything that we love. Love of God is a fact of existence. So by our very nature we love God...realizing that it is Him that we love in all that we love is life's quest. At least in this seeker's heart...

and God knows best, indeed He knows all.

Those who love God are those whom God loves.

~a Sufi saying~

There are those among us who see God but are ignorant of Him. But just as no one is poor toward anyone else, so also—by God—none but God is loved in the existent things. It is He who is manifest within every beloved to the eye of every lover—and there is nothing which is not a lover. So the cosmos is all lover and beloved, all of it goes back to Him…

Though no one loves any but his own Creator, he is veiled from Him by the love for Zaynab, Su’ad, Hind, Layla, this world, money, position, and everything loved in the world. Poets exhaust their words writing about all these existent things without knowing, but the gnostics never hear a verse, a riddle, a panegyric, or a love poem that is not about Him, hidden beyond the veils of forms.

~Ibn al-`Arabi~

From his Futuhat al-Makkiyyah II.326.18

Translated by William Chittick

Quoted in the Sufi Path of Knowledge, p 181

The Sublime Spirits, Where are they?

The loved ones1 of my heart--where are they? Say, by God, where are they?

As thou sawest their apparition2, wilt thou show to me their reality?

How long, how long was I seeking them! and how often did I beg to be united with them,

Until I had no fear of being parted from them, and yet I feared to be amongst them3,

Perchance my happy star4 will hinder their going afar from me,

That mine eye may be blest with them, and that I may not ask, 'Where are they?'

~Ibn al-`Arabi~
The Tarujman al-Ashwaq, XLV

 Mount Fuji’s Sea of Trees

Aokigahra Forest

Mount Fuji

Japan

NOTES on the Text:
1. the sublime spirits
2. their manifestation in the world of similitude
3. lest their radiance should consume me
4. the Divine favor predestined to me

This World is midwinter

There is no doubt that this world is midwinter. Why are inanimate objects called "solid"? Because they are all "frozen."*  These rocks, mountains, and other coverings that garb this world are all "frozen."  If the world is not midwinter, why is it frozen? The concept of the world is simple and cannot be seen, but through the effect one can know that there are such things as wind and cold.  This world is like the season of midwinter when everything is frozen and solidified.  What sort of midwinter?  A mental midwinter, not a tangible one.  When that "divine" breeze comes, the mountains of this world will begin to melt and turn to water. Just as the heat of midsummer causes all frozen things to melt, so on the Day of Resurrection, when that breeze comes, all things will melt.

~Rumi~ 


*This line of reasoning is based on an etymological similarity between jamad (solid, inanimate) and munjamid (frozen).

SOURCE: Signs of the Unseen, Discourses of Rumi, Discourse Twelve

Ladder Rungs

In a human being is such a love, a pain, an itch, a desire that, even if he were to possess a hundred thousand worlds, he would not rest or find peace. People work variously at all sorts of callings, crafts, and professions, and they learn astrology and medicine, and so forth, but they are not at peace because what they are seeking cannot be found. The Beloved is called dil-aram because the heart finds peace through anything else? All these other joys and objects of search are like a ladder. 

The rungs on the ladder are not place to stay 

but to pass through.

The sooner one wakes up and becomes aware, the shorter the long road becomes and the less one's life is wasted on these "ladder rungs."

Source: W.M. Thackston, Jr., Signs of the Unseen, The Discourses of Jalaluddin Rumi, Discourse Fifteen, Part 1.