Creation Of The Nafs

The scriptures of old report that when Allah created the intellect, He said, "O intellect go back," and it went back. (Then He said.) "O intellect come forward," and it came forward. (He then said,) "O intellect who am I," and it said, "You are Allah, the Lord of the universes."
Similarly, when He created the nafs, He said, "O nafs come forth," yet it went back. Then He said "O nafs go back," and it came forward. "O Nafs who am I?" and it said, "You are you and I am I." Thus Allah imposed hunger upon it and weakness crept into it until it became subdued and obedient. He then said, "O nafs go back," and it went back, and "O nafs come forward," and it came forward. He said, "O nafs who am I?" and it said, "You are Allah, the lord of all the universes."
Thus weakening the desires of the nafs proved of great importance in the realm of seeking nearness to Allah

-Habib 'Ali Zain Al 'Abideen Al Jifri

Ma'alim as-Suluk (Wayfarers to God)

Ya Muhammad (Peace & Blessing Be Upon Him)

Salawat - Nasheed

God is Most Great

Your Saying “God is Most Great” does not mean that He is greater than something else, since there is nothing else alongside of Him, so that it could be said that He is greater than it… Rather, the meaning of Allahu Akbar is that He is much too great to be perceived by the senses or for the depths of His Majesty to be reached by reason and logic, and indeed, that He is much too great to be known by an other-than-Him for truly, no one knows God but God.

-Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah

On The Excellence Of Learning

The excellence of learning is attested in the Qur’an by the following words of Allah: “And if a party of every band of them march not out. it is that they may instruct themselves in their religion;” (9:123) and again. “Ask of those who have Books of Monition if ye know it not.” (16:45)

[As to the evidence of the excellence of learning] in tradition, the Prophet of Allah said. “Whoever follows a path in search of knowledge. Allah will guide him into a path leading into Paradise.”[1]And again. “Verily the angels will bow low to the seeker after knowledge in approval of what he does.”[2] He also said, “To rise up before daybreak and learn but a section of knowledge is better than prostrating yourself in prayer a hundred times.”[3] The Apostle again said. “One section of knowledge which a man learns is better for him than all the riches of the world.” And again. “Seeking after knowledge is an ordinance obligatory upon every Muslim.”[4] He also said, “Seek ye knowledge even [as far as] China.” The Prophet further said. “Knowledge is like sealed treasure houses, the keys of which arc inquiry. Inquire. therefore, for therein lies reward for four: the inquirer, the learned, the auditor, and their admirer.” He also said, “The ignorant one should not hide his ignorance nor the learned his knowledge.” And in a tradition on the authority of abu Dharr,[5] “To be present in the circle of a learned man is better than prostrating oneself in payer a thousand times. or visiting a thousand sick men. or joining a thousand funerals.” It was then said.. “O Apostle of Allah, is it also better than the reading of the Qur’an?” To which he replied, “What good. though. is the Qur’an except through knowledge?” The Prophet also said. “Whoever is overtaken by death while seeking knowledge wherewith to strengthen Islam. between him and the prophets in Paradise is but one grade.”

[As to the evidence of the excellence of learning] in the sayings of the Companions, ibn-Abbas said, “While I sought knowledge, I was abased, but when I was sought for it, I was exalted.” Similarly, ibn-abi -Mulaykah[6] said, “Never have I seen the like of ibn `Abbas: to behold him is to behold the most handsome man; when he speaks, he is the most eloquent, and when he hands down a judicial opinion, he [reveals himself] as the most learned.” Ibn-al-Mubarak said, I wonder how one who sought no knowledge could be moved to any noble deed;” while one of the wise men said, “Verily I pity no one as I pity the man who seeks knowledge but understands not, and him who understands and seek it not.” Abu-al-Darda’[7] said, “I would rather learn one point than spend my night in continual prayer;” and again, “The learned and the learner are partners in righteousness while the rest of men are barbarians in whom there is no good.” He :also said, “Be learned, or a learner, or an auditor but never anything else lest thou perish.” ‘Ata’[8] said “[Attendance at] an assembly of learning[9] atones [the evil of attending] seventy places of entertainment.” “Umar[10] said, “The death of a thousand worshippers who spend their days in fasting and their nights in continual prayer is a lesser calamity than the passing away of one learned man who is aware of what is lawful before Allah and what is unlawful. “Al-Shafi’i said, “Seeking knowledge is better than supererogatory works.” Ibn-‘Abd-al-Hakam[11] said, “I was [once] at Malik’s[12] place studying at his feet when the hour of noon arrived. Thereupon I closed my books and put them away in order to pray; but he said, `What you have risen to perform is not better than what you were doing provided your intentions are good.” Abu-al-Darda’ also said, “Whoever should regard that rising early for study is not jihad [reveals himself] deficient in reasoning and intellect.”

- Iman Al Ghazali

Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din

Kitab al-ilm

[1] Muslim. al-Dhikr-w-al-Du’a’. 11: Ibn-Majah. Intro., 17: 4.
[2] Ibn-Majah, Intro.. 17:4.
[3] Cf. Ibn-Majah, Intro., 16:9.
[4] See supra, p. 3. [Ibn-Majah, Sunan al-Mustafa, Intro., 17:5, al-Baghawi, Masabih al-Sunnah, (Cairo, 1318), Vol. I, p. 15. ed.]
[5] Al-Ghif­­ari. Jundub ibn-Junadah. d. A.H. 32/A.D. 652-3 See al-Nawawi. Tahdhib al-Asma’ ed F. Wüstenfeld (Gottingen. 1842-7). pp. 714-15
[6] A.H. 117/A.D. 735; Tadhkirat al-Huffaz, Vol I, pp. 95-6.
[7] ‘Uwaymir ibn-Zayd (A.H. 32/A.D. 652-3) See ibn-Sa’d, Vol. VII, Pt. 2,
pp. 117-18.
[8] Ibn-abi-Rabah (A.H. 115/A.D. 733). See ibn-Qutaybah, p. 227; ibn-
Khallikan, I, Vol. pp. 571-3.
[9] “Dhkir” in B.
[10] The second Rashidite Caliph.
[11] Abu Muhammad ‘Abdullah (A.H. 314/A.D. 829), father of the famous
historian of Egypt; see ibn-Khallikan, Vol. 1, pp. 444-5.
[12] Ibn-Anas (A.H.179/A.D.795). See al-Fihrist, pp.198-9; ibn-Khallikan,
Vol. II, p. 200.

Woman

The Prophet said that women hold dominion over sages and over men of heart,

but that fools, again, hold the upper hand over women, because fools are violent and exceedingly froward. They have no tenderness or gentleness or amity, because the animal nature sways their temperament. Love and tenderness are qualities of humanity, passion and lust are qualities of animality. Woman is a ray of God, not a mere mistress, the Creator's self, as it were, not a mere creature!

- Rumi

If You Could...

If you could get rid
of yourself just once,
The secret of secrets
Would open to you.
The face of the unknown,
Hidden beyond the universe
Would appear
on theMirror of your perception.

-Rumi-

Spiritual Ecstasy

The Prophet, may Allah grant blessings and peace upon him, says, 'The one who has not experienced ecstasy and thereby received the manifestation of divine wisdom and truth has not lived'.

Hadrat Junayd, may Allah be pleased with him, said, 'When ecstasy meets the divine manifestations inside one, one is either in a state of the highest joy or the deepest sorrow'.

There are two kinds of ecstasy: physical ecstasy and spiritual ecstasy. Physical ecstasy is a product of the ego. It does not give one any spiritual satisfaction. It is under the influence of the senses. Often it is hypocritical, occurring so that others see or hear about it. This kind of ecstasy is totally devoid of value because it is purposeful, it is willed: the one who experiences it still thinks that he can do, that he can choose. It is not good to give any importance to such experiences.

Spiritual ecstasy, however, is a totally different state, a state caused by the overflow of spiritual energy. Ordinarily, exterior influences—such as a beautifully recited poem, or the Qur'an chanted by a beautiful voice, or the excitement brought on by the ceremony of remembrance of the Sufis—may cause this spiritual elevation. This happens because at such moments the physical resistance of the being is obliterated. The will, the ability of the mind to choose and to decide, is overcome. When the powers of both the body and the mind are undermined, the ecstatic state is purely spiritual. To go along with that kind of experience is beneficial to one.

The influences which incite spiritual ecstasy are described in the words of the Prophet, may Allah grant blessings and peace upon him, 'The verses of the Qur'an, the wise and wondrous poems of love and sounds and voices of yearning illuminate the face of the soul'.

The Prophet, may Allah grant blessings and peace upon him, says, 'The one who has not experienced ecstasy does not have the taste of his religion'.

There are ten states of ecstasy. Some of these are apparent and their signs visible, and some are hidden and unobservable by others, like the inner consciousness and remembrance of Allah, or a silent reading of the Holy Qur'an. To shed tears, to have deep feeling of regret, fear of Allah's punishment, longing and sorrow, shame for one's moments of unconsciousness; when one grows pale, or the face flushes with excitement from states within and from events around one, burning with the yearning for Allah—these and all physical and spiritual anomalies caused by such things are signs of ecstasy.

- Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani
Sirr al-Asrār (Secret of Secrets)

Anecdotes Of Junaid

Once Junaid’s eye pained him, and he sent for the doctor.“If your eye is throbbing, do not let any water get to it,” the doctor advised.

When he had gone, Junaid performed his ablutions and prayed, and then went to sleep. When he awoke, his eye was well again. He heard a voice saying, “Junaid forsook his eye to gain Our good pleasure. If with the same intention he had begged of Us all the inhabitants of Hell, his petition would have been granted.”

The physician called and saw that his eye was healed.“What did you do?” he asked.“I performed the ablutions for prayer,” Junaid answered.

Thereupon the physician, who was a Christian, declared his conversion.

“This is the Creator’s cure, not the creature’s,” he commented. “It was my eye that was sick, not yours. You were the physician, not I.”

-Farid al-Din Attar
Tadhkirat al-Awliya'

"I'm contained by true hearts"

The Prophet said that Allah has said,

"I cannot be contained in hallowed places.

Heaven and earth cannot hold Me.

But I am contained by true hearts.

If you seek Me, search in those hearts."

-Rumi

In the hour or grief...

In the hour of grief you turn to Him;

when grief departs you transgress.

In adversity you moan entreating Him;

when ease returns you turn away.

Those who know Allah remain steady,

but those who doubt exult at times

and become despondent at others.

-Rumi