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The Spiritual Way of Life

(Extracts from teaching of Grand Sheikh Muhaiyadeen Abdul


Khader Jeelani R.A.)

Islam stresses honesty, charity, services and other virtues that


form solid foundation. A moral, ethical and disciplined lifestyle
is like a solid container that can hold mystical experiences
without its leaking or dissipating. Sufism without Islam is like a
candle burning in the open without a lantern. There are winds
which will blow the candle out. But if you have lantern with
glass protecting the flame, the candle will continue to burn
safely.

You will not be a Muslim until you are like the earth – both the
righteous and the sinner tread upon it. You will not be a mystic
until you are like the clouds - they share all things. You will not
be a mystic until you are like the rain – It waters all things
whether it loves them or not.

One of the sayings of Prophet (S.A.W) analyzes the difference


between human and angelic nature. Allah created Angels from
intellect without sensuality, Allah created beasts from
sensuality without intellect and Allah created humanity from
both intellect and sensuality. So, whenever a person’s intellect
overcomes his sensuality, he is better than angels but when his
sensuality overcomes his intellect, he is worse than the beasts.

Sufis are those who have preferred Allah to every thing so that
Allah has preferred them to every thing.

Sufi is absent from him self and present with Allah.

Any one can learn the outer forms of prayer and worship. You
should seek to develop a heart that can pray.

Keep your hands busy with your duties in this world and your
heart busy with Allah.

Faith is the friend who comes along especially when things


seem to go wrong.
Faqir – refers to a person whose heart is empty of attachment
to anything other than Allah.

You can not see the back of your own head, no matter how
intently you stare into a mirror or how quickly you turn around.
Even the most clear sighted have blind spots. These places to
which we ourselves are blind are often astonishingly visible to
others.

The first stage of worship is silence. Do not commit yourself to


lengthy discussions of religion. Such talk only succeeds in
making religion a complex and confused matter. Allah has
made religion easy and simple.

Happy are those who find fault with themselves instead of


finding fault with others.
There are four stages of practice. Shariah is the religious law.
Tariqah is the mystical path. Haqiqah is Truth and Marfia is
Gnosis (Intuitive knowledge of spiritual truths).

First is the Shariah, which is the basic foundation for the next
three stages. Trying to follow Sufism without following the
shariah is like trying to build a house on a foundation of sand.
Without an ordered life built on solid moral and ethical
principles, Sufism can not flourish. Shariah means road, a clear
track, a well traveled route that any one can follow.

Second is the Tariqah – It literally means the path in the desert


that the Bedouin would follow to travel from oasis to oasis. This
path is not clearly marked like a high way; it is not even a
visible road. To find your way in the trackless desert, you need
to know the area intimately, or you need a guide who knows
the destination and is familiar with the local land marks just as
shariah refers to the external dimension of religion, the Tariqah
refers to the inner practices. Shariah makes the outer day to
day life clean and attractive. Tariqah is designed to make the
inner life pure and clean. Each of these supports the other..

Third is the Haqiqah or Truth – It refers to the inner meaning of


the practices and guidance found in the Shariah and Tariqah. It
is the direct experience of the mystical states, direct
experience of the presence of Allah with in. Before Haqiqah, all
practice is imitation. The attainment of Haqiqah confirms and
solidifies the practice of the first two stages. Without the deep
inner understanding that comes from experience, one follows
the teachings and teachings of others mechanically.

Fourth is Marifah – It is superior wisdom or knowledge of


spiritual truth. This is the deep level of the inner knowing,
beyond Haqiqah. More than momentary spiritual experience,
Marifah refers to an ongoing state of attunement with Allah and
with Truth. It is the knowledge of Reality, attained by a very
few. This is the station of the Messengers, of the Prophets and
the great Sages and Saints.

At the level of Shariah there is “Yours and Mine”. This is law


that guarantees individual rights and ethical relations between
people.

At the Level of Tariqah “Mine is Yours and Yours is Mine”. At this


level, you are expected to open your homes, hearts and purses
to one another.

At the level of Haqiqah “There is no Mine and no Yours”. At this


level, the advanced you are expected to realize that all things
are from Allah. You are really only a caretaker and you possess
nothing. Those who realize Truth have gone beyond attachment
to possessions and beyond attachment to externals in general,
including fame and position.
At the level of Marifah “There is no Me, There is no You”. At this
final level, the individual has realized that all is Allah, that
nothing and no one is separate from Allah.

What is lawful at one level may not be lawful at the other level
of understanding. For example, the outer practice of fasting is
required by religious law, but according to Marifah, one of the
essential reasons for fasting is to develop self discipline and to
control the insatiable ego.
If a person is proud of fasting, the fast is technically lawful, but
in terms of Marifah, the fast is a failure.
*************
The roots of conduct have four aspects.
 Conduct with Allah.
 Conduct with Self.
 Conduct with People
 Conduct with World

Each of these is based on seven principles.

Seven principles of conduct with Allah are


 Giving Allah His due
 Keeping His Limits
 Being thankful for His gifts
 Being content with His decree
 Being patient with his trials
 Glorifying His sanctity
 Yearning for Him

The seven principles of conduct with Self are


 Striving
 Reducing fear
 Enduring harm
 Embracing spiritual discipline
 Seeking truthfulness and sincerity
 Withdrawing Self from what it loves
 Binding it in poverty

The seven principles of conduct with People are


 Forbearance
 Forgiveness
 Humility
 Generosity
 Compassion
 Good Counsel
 Justice and Fairness
Seven principles of conduct with World are
 Being content with what is at hand
 Preferring what is available to what is not
 Abandoning the quest for elusive (Unattainable)
 Hating over-abundance
 Choosing abstinence (practice of refraining from indulging
an appetite)
 Knowing the evils of this world and abandoning any desire
for them
 Negating the evils’ dominance
*************

Silence for ordinary people is with their tongues, Silence for


saints is with their hearts and Silence for lovers is with
restraining the stray thoughts that come to their inner most
beings.

The world of self knowledge, the ability to see oneself clearly,


spans the abyss of ignorance. Below its stretched length blaze
the swirling fires of ego while fogs of delusion and self
deception flow in from every side. In spite of the dangers, there
is guidance to help us traverse that blade’s edge.

Those who have gone before have left signposts, teachings and
writings that instruct us in ways that awaken, that train the
capacity to remember, that enable us to hold ourselves
correctly as we move toward the light.

There is a human tendency to overlook our own obstacles, to


ignore them or deny their existence even when we have seen
them clearly. Therefore, it is difficult for us to achieve and
sustain spiritual clarity without someone other than ourselves
leading us beyond our own ignorance.

Love, service and compassion help us re open out hearts and


come closer to Allah. One of the greatest services that we can
perform is to help heal the injured hearts of others. Our hands
are made to lift up those who have fallen, to wipe the tears of
those who are suffering from the trials of this world. A kind
word or glance softens your heart and a every hurtful word or
act closes or hardens your heart.

The sight of some one eating will not appease your hunger
similarly; the spiritual experiences of others can not satisfy
your yearning. Look to what you do for that is what you are
worth. True labor means neither fasting nor prayer.

It is related that Habib (R.A) possessed a maid servant for thirty


years. One he said to the maid, “Hey veiled woman, Go and call
my maid”. She replied, “But, sir, I am your maid. Don’t you
recognize me? “. Habib (R.A) answered, “During this time, I
never dared to look at anything but Him, How then I should
have recognized you?”
The world is a place of preparation where one is given many
lessons and passes many tests. Choose less over more in it. Be
satisfied with what you have, even if it is less than what others
have. This world is not bad – on the contrary, it is the field of
the hereafter. What you plant here, you will reap there.

Our Prophet (S.A.W) in whom wisdom was as clear as crystal,


was asked, “what is worldliness?” He answered, “Everything
that makes you heedless and causes you to forget your Lord.”
Therefore the goods of this world are not harmful in
themselves, but only when you let them render you forgetful,
disobedient and unaware of the Lord.

If you want to live freely, borrow less. Avoid greed, for greed in
itself is poverty.

The most ignorant among you is the one who does not learn
from the changes in the world. The richest among you is the
one who is not entrapped with greed.

Jealousy destroys good acts just as fire burns wood, Charity


consumes sin the same way that water quenches fire.

Allah exalts the humble and humbles the proud. Avoid


stubbornness, for it begins in ignorance and ends in regret.

Be kind to people whether they deserve your kindness or not. If


your kindness reaches the deserving, good for you, If your
kindness reaches the undeserving, take joy in your compassion.

For none of you will faith be rectified unless your hearts be


made right, nor will your hearts be rectified unless your
tongues be made right, nor will your tongues be rectified unless
your actions be made right.

Two believers that lend to support to each other are like a pair
of hands that wash each other clean.

One who suffers oppression and forgives the oppressor is the


most favored for aid from Allah.

True wealth is not abundance in property but a generous heart.


Oh, Heart sit with some who knows the heart, Go under a tree
which has fresh blossoms.

Go you, Sweep out dwelling room of your heart, prepare it to be


the home of the Beloved. When you go out, he will come in.
Within you when you are free from Self, He will show His
Beauty.

Umar Abdul Aziz once wrote a letter to Hasan Al Basri (RA)


requesting some brief advice that would serve to guide him. On
the back of the envelope, Hasan (RA) wrote, “Oh Commander of
the faithful, If Allah is with you, then what do you fear, and If
Allah is not with you, in what can you have hope?”

To become a saint, change your character into the character of


the children. Children have five qualities. If adults had the
same, they would attain the rank of saints.
 They do not worry about their daily bread
 When they fall sick they do not complain and worry about
their misfortune
 Whatever food they have they share
 When they fight or quarrel they do not keep grudges in
their heart but make up quickly
 The slightest threat makes them frightened and brings
tears to their eyes

He who is intimate with worldly wealth will find his intellect


destroyed, He who is intimate with people will become lonely.
He who is intimate with work will be preoccupied and He who is
intimate with Allah will attain Union.

Humility and self awareness are the pre requisites to wisdom.


Action is final essential component of wisdom. Knowledge not
acted upon is merrily a collection of facts. A donkey with a load
of books is still a donkey.

Value the worth of five things before they are replaced by the
other five conditions.
 Value your youthfulness before your old age arrives
 Value health before sickness strikes
 Value your wealth before you become needy
 Value peacefulness before hardship comes
 Value life before death arrives

All wisdom is already with in us, All Love is already with in us,
all joy is already with in us. Yet, they are hidden with in us until
the heart opens.

The metamorphosis of caterpillar into butterfly is particularly


good metaphor for transformation. At a certain point caterpillar
feels impelled to wrap itself in a cocoon. Immobile, it begins to
dissolve. There is no sense of the marvelous new life that’s
coming, there is only the dissolving of the old and the deep
fears that accompany this. The caterpillar literally turns into a
kind of goo (thick messy substance) and only from that
annihilation of old form can the magnificent new form of
butterfly emerges. We can get a sense of this radical process of
self transformation from those who have been through it and be
guided those who can help us through this process.

As a man in his last breath drops all he is carrying, each breath


is a little death that can set us free.

Life in this world is like a dream and our true life starts in the
next world. Life does not end with death.

May Allah Subhanatala enlighten us and make us tread the


straight path (Ahdinas Siratul Mustakheem) - Ameen!

Compiled by - an aspiring Faqir

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