O Allah! Confer for ever Your best blessings and ever increasing and never ending favours and Your Purest and Gracious boons on him who is exalted in the realm of the realities of the nature of humans and jinns, and is fully aware of all subtleties of faith, and is the Mount Sinai recieving Divine Illuminations and the place on which descend the mysteries of the All-Beneficent and who is a bridegroom in the Kingdom of the Lord, the centrally placed jewel in the chain of prophets, the first and the foremost in the front line of the army of Messengers, the leader of the caravan of the saints and the truthful, the most graceful of all creation, the bearer of the highest flag of honour, the owner of the keys to the shining gallery, the beholder of the secrets of eternity, the beholder of the pristine glow of Primal Light, the interpreter of the Divine Language, fountain-spring of knowledge, tolerance and wisdom, the manifestation of the existence of the secrets of the whole and its parts, and the person who is the (cause of the) existence of (everything) above and below, the soul in the body of both the worlds (that keeps them alive), the fountain of life of this world and of the world to come, the one who knows the reality of the high rank of servitude of Allah and is created with the highest spiritual stations of morality, the foremost among the friends of Allah and His beloved, highly honoured; our master, our patron, our beloved, Muhammad, son of 'Abdullah, son of 'Abdul Muttalib, Allah's blessings on him, his family and companions, in the number which is in Your Knowledge (O Allah) and as many times as Your Words, whenever You are remembered and he is remembered by those who remember and whenever You are not remembered and he is not remembered by the negligent, and abundant, never ending, complete salutations on him.

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Be Content with the Opposites of your Desires


Things are hidden in their opposites without a doubt. Finding in loss, giving in withholding, might in abasement, wealth in poverty, strength in weakness, expansion in constriction, elevation in descent, life in death, victory in defeat, power in incapacity, and so on. Whoever wants to find should be content with loss. Whoever wants a gift should be content with refusal. Whoever wants might should be content with abasement. Whoever wants strength should be content with weakness. Whoever wants expansion should be content with constriction. Whoever wants elevation should be content with descent. Whoever wants life should be content with death. Whoever wants victory should be content with defeat. Whoever wants power should be content with incapacity. In brief, whoever desires freedom should be content with slaveness as his Prophet, beloved, and master, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, was content with it. Let him choose it as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, chose it. He should not be arrogant or proud and exceed his attributes, for the slave is the slave and the Lord is the Lord. They Shaykh Ibn 'Ata'Illah, may Allah be pleased with him, said in his Hikam, "He forbids you from claiming anything that is not yours from that which creatures possess. Then how can it be permitted for you to claim His attributes when He is the Lord of the worlds?" The people, may Allah be pleased with them, say, "This Path of ours is only useful for people who sweep the rubbish heaps with their spirits."


-The Darqawi Way; The Letters of Shaykh Mawlay al-'Arabi ad-Darqawi

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