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10th Khutbah
the Inner self and its states Qutbul Aqtaab,Syedus Saadaat,Sheikhul_Mashaikh, Ghous Samadaani, Mahboob Subhaani, Sulatanul_Aulia, Abu Muhammad, Al-Syed Sheikh Mohayyuddin Abdul Qadir , Al-Gillani Radhi_Allahu Anhu said There is Allah( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ), and there is your own self (nafsuka), and you must address the situation. The self is the opponent and enemy of Allah.( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ). All things are subordinate to Allah( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ), and the self really belongs to Him as His creation and a possession, but the self entertains presumptions and aspirations bound up with carnal appetite and sensual desire. So if you ally yourself with the divine Truth in opposition and hostility toward the self, you will be for the sake of Allah( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala )an adversary to your own self. As Allah ( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ) said to Nabi Daud ('Alaihis-salaam):
"O Daud, I am your indispensable support, so hold fast to your
support. True servitude means being an adversary to your own self."
It is then that your friendship and servitude to Allah
( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ) will be confirmed in reality. All that is allotted to
you will then come to you for your enjoyment and pleasure. You will be
held in honor and esteem, and all things will be ready to serve you with
dignity and respect, for they are all subordinate to their Lord and in
conformity with Him, since He is their Creator and Originator and they
acknowledge their servitude to Him. Allah ( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ) has said: There is not a thing that does not celebrate His praise, and yet you do not understand their celebration. ( 17 :44 ) (Then
He turned to the heaven when it was smoke) and said to it and to the
earth: "Come both of you, willingly or unwillingly." They
said: "We come, obedient." (41:11) Thus
servitude-all, servitude-consists in opposing your own self. Follow
not desire, lest it lead you astray from Allah's path. (38:26) There is also the well-known story of Abu Yazid
al-Bistami (Rahmatullahi 'Alaih). When he saw the Almighty Lord in a dream, he asked
Him: "How can I find the way to You ?" The Lord said:
"Abandon your self and come here!" In response, the Saint
tells us: "I shed my self ,as a snake sloughs off its skin." Thus all good lies in waging total war against the self under all
circumstances. If you are in a state of true devotion, therefore, you
must oppose the self by not getting involved with people, whether their
behavior be unlawful, merely dubious or even well-intentioned, not
depending or relying on them, neither fearing them nor pinning any hopes
on them, and not coveting any worldly advantages they may enjoy. Do not
solicit gifts from them in the form of presents, of alms or charity, or
of other offerings. Get rid of all interest in them and in material
concerns to the point where, if you had a wealthy relative, you would
not want him to die so that you could inherit his wealth. Separate
yourself from creatures in all earnestness. Regard them as a door that
swings open and shut, or as a tree that sometimes bears fruit and at
other times is barren, all in accordance with the action of a Doer and
the management of a Planner, namely Allah ( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ),
so that you may be one who affirms the Unity of the Lord. At the same time, however, we must not forget the proper role of human
endeavor, to avoid subscribing to the fatalistic doctrine of the Jabariyya. Believe that no human action is accomplished without
Allah( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ).
Do not worship His creatures and forget Allah( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ), and do not maintain that
our actions are independent of Allah( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ), for that will make you an
unbeliever, a subscriber to the (extreme free-will doctrine of the) Qadariyya.* You should rather assert that our actions belong to Allah(
Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ) in
point of creation, and to His servants in point of 'acquisition' . *(
Not to be confused with Qadiriyya, the Sufi movement tracing its origins
to the inspiration of Shaikh Abd al-Qadir al- jilani.) Obey
the comands of Allah( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ) in dealing with your fellow creatures. Keep from them
what is your allotted share by His command, but do not go beyond this
limit. Allah's( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ) verdict in this matter will be imposed on you and on them,
so do not be the judge yourself. Your being with them is a decree of
destiny, and destiny is shrouded in darkness, so expose that darkness to
the Lamp, meaning the Book of Allah( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ) and the exemplary practice
(Sunnah) of
His Messenger (Sallallahu 'Alaihi Wsallam). Do not step outside
these two. If some idea occurs to you, or if you receive an inspiration,
check it against the Quraan and Sunnah. By this criterion, you may find that your idea or inspired notion is
declared unlawful. Suppose, for instance, you have received an indication to commit fornication, to practice usury, to consort with dissolute
and immoral characters, or to behave in some other sinful manner. This you
must repudiate, renounce, refuse to accept and refrain from acting upon. Be
convinced that it is from Satan the accursed. Perhaps what you find there will be
permissble, such as that granted to
normal appetites for food, drink, clothing or matrimony. This you should
also refuse and decline to accept, recognizing that the suggestion stems
from the lower self and its animal cravings, which you are under orders to
oppose and combat. It may also happen that you find nothing in Quraan and Sunnah to show that what has occurred to you is under either prohibition or permissibles. Maybe it is something you are at a loss to understand, like an urge prompting you to go to such-and-such a place to meet a certain good man, although you have nothing to gain there or from the good person concerned, since your needs are already taken care of through the knowledge and wisdom Allah( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ) has graciously bestowed on you. In a case like this, you should pause and not react immediately. Instead of saying, "This is an inspiration from the Truth ([al-Haqq) ( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ) so I shall act upon it," prefer to wait for the full potential benefit. The divine Truth works in such a way that the inspiration (ilham) will be clarified through repetition, and you will be told what steps to take. To
people with knowledge (ilm) of Allah ( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ),
a sign will be revealed, intelligible only to saints of matured understanding and confirmed
Abdaal. The reason for not being in great haste to act is that you do not know the
consequences and the ultimate purpose of the affair, nor the snares and
pitfalls it contains, with cunning tests devised by Allah( Subhanahu
Wa-Ta'ala ). So be patient
until He is the one at work within you. When the action is absolutely
stripped of self, and you are borne toward that destination, you will be
carried safely through any trial that may still confront you, because
Allah ( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ) will not chastise you for His own doing; no penalty
can apply to you unless you get personally involved. If you are in the state of reality
(al-haqiqa), which is the state
of sainthood (wilaya), you must oppose your passions and obey the
commandments in their entirety .Obedience to the commandments is of two
kinds: One kind means taking just enough from this world to supply your genuine
personal needs, forsaking extravagant indulgence, performing your
religious duties, and making efforts to get rid of your sins, both
outwardly and inwardly. The second kind is obedience to an inner command, one by which the Lord of Truth ( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ) orders or forbids His servant to do something. Such commands apply only in the sphere of 'neutral' matters, which are not covered by any positive injunction in Islamic law, in the sense that they belong neither to the category of prohibited things, nor to the category of things that are obligatory; since they are legally indifferent, the servant being at liberty to handle them according to his own discretion, they are called mubah (neutral/ indifferent /permissible). Rather than taking any initiative in this area, the servant
should wait to receive instructions, then obey the order when it comes. He
will thus be with Allah ( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ) in all his doings,
whether in movement or at rest, through his respect for the rules of
sacred law where they apply, and that inner commandment in other cases. At
this stage he genuinely belongs among the People of Reality (ahl al-haqiqa).
In the absence even of this inner commandment, there is nothing for it but
spontaneous action in a state of surrender. If you are in touch with To obey the commandment in such matters means going against your own
self, emptied of any power or strength, utterly devoid of all will and
ambition for anything of this world or the hereafter. You come to be the
servant of the King, not of the Kingdom, of His commandment and not of
whim and passion. You come to resemble a babe at his nurse's breast, a
corpse receiving its ritual wash, a patient lying sprawled for treatment
by the doctor, in all that is not subject to the injunctions and
prohibitions (specified by the sacred law). Only
Allah( Subhanahu Wa-Ta'ala ) is All-Knowing.
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