Ibn Ajiba on the Spiritual Virtues (5)

Contentment & Resignation, Vigilance, Self-Reckoning

10 – Contentment (rida) means to meet misfortunes with a smiling face; or it means the happiness the heart feels as fate unfolds; or it means to forgo one’s own free choice and leave things to God’s plan and decree; or it means the expansion of the breast and the absence of any resentment for what comes to one from the One Invincible God.

Resignation (taslim) means to leave all planning and free choice by being still and tranquil as fate unfolds. Thus it is like contentment in essence, except that contentment is greater than it. It is said that the time for contentment is when things actually happen, whilst the time for resignation is before they happen. In this sense, resignation is the same as spiritual abandonment (tafwid). Its beginning is patience and effort; its middle is outward tranquillity despite feelings of resentment and unhappiness; its end is joy and peace without any resentment. The first is for ordinary people, the second for the elite, and the third for the elite of the elite. Even the first stage is not always possible for everyone, because of the human weakness that they, being human, cannot be free of; and thus they are forgiven if they fall short of it.

11 – Vigilance (muraqaba) means constant awareness that God is watching one; or it means to fulfil the rights of God both secretly and openly, without indulging any doubts or delusions, and with complete sincerity. This is the root of all that is good. Vigilance leads to beatitude and determines its power: the more powerful one’s vigilance is, the more powerful the beatific vision he experiences later on will be. Exoterists are vigilant by protecting their bodies from sin; esoterists are vigilant by protecting their hearts from indulging in vain thoughts; the elite of the esoterists are vigilant by protecting their innermost secret from inclining to anything but God.

12 – Self-Reckoning (muhasaba) means to censure oneself from wasting one’s breath and time on anything but obedience to God. It takes place at the end of the day, just as forming one’s spiritual intention (musharata) takes place at the start of the day. One says to oneself at the start of the day: ‘This is a new day, and it will bear witness against you; strive to fill it with that which draws you nearer to God. Had you died yesterday, you would have missed out on the goodness you have a chance to win today.’ One says the same thing as the night approaches, and reckons it when it passes. One continues to do this until he becomes firm in the Presence, whereupon his time becomes unified; this is to drown in the witnessing of the Divine, so that there is no longer anyone to reckon or to chastise. Thus forming one’s spiritual intention comes first, and reckoning oneself comes last; and vigilance must be constant, as long as one walks the path – and when one arrives, there is no longer any reckoning, nor any intention.

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الصوفي لم يُخْلَق

Life and Death, Tears and Laughter

Remember that when you were born, you were crying while all around you were laughing.
Die in such a way that, though all around you cry, you shall laugh.

-Mawlana Rumi.

Moulay Arabi and the Kittens

Moulay 'Arabi al-Darqawi was walking along one day through the streets of Fes with a disciple of his, when they came across a pair of kittens playing in a doorway.

'Look at these kittens, master', said the disciple, 'and how they love each other unconditionally and purely. If only the fuqara could be that way!'

'Indeed,' said Moulay 'Arabi. 'Let us see.' He went over to a nearby butcher and asked for a sliver of meat, which the butcher gave him. He returned with it to the kittens and threw the scrap of meat down to them. Immediately they began to fight and scratch and yowl, each one trying to claim the meat for itself.

'Thus it is with the fuqara', said Moulay 'Arabi.

Ibn Ajiba on the Salat ‘ala an-Nabi

The blessing (salat) which God sends upon His Beloved is His love and affection for him, and His drawing him nigh and electing him; and the peace (salam) He sends him is a salutation and generous ennoblement, and an expression of utmost kindness and favour.

In the invocation of blessings upon the Messenger of God (upon whom be blessings and peace), people are divided into three groups:


First there are those who send blessings upon his human form; these are the people of rational arguments and proofs. They envisage him in their hearts as they invoke blessings upon him, and as they invoke more and more (with presence of mind), the noble image becomes firmer and firmer in their hearts. Thus they see him often in their dreams; and perhaps his noble spirit might take the form of his blessed body so that they see him in a waking state.

Then there are those who invoke blessings upon his illuminating spirit; these are the people of witnessing who travel the spiritual path. They invoke blessings upon his light which flows down from the Realm of Domination (al-Jabarut), and they witness him most of the time, as long as they have presence of mind and vision.

Then there are those who invoke blessings upon his primordial light, which is the light of all lights; these are the people of spiritual firmness and mastery, they of direct witnessing and vision. The Prophet (upon whom be blessings and peace) never leaves them for a moment, which is why Sheikh Abu Abbas [al-Mursi], God be pleased with him, said: ‘Were the Messenger of God (upon whom be blessings and peace) to leave me for the blinking of an eye, I would no longer count myself a Muslim.’ In saying this he was alluding to his own firmness and mastery in the Presence, and his having come back to the station of subsistence (al-baqa) wherein one witnesses the Intermediary. Such people’s thoughts roam through the World of Dominion (al-Malakut), and their spirits are connected to the World of Domination (al-Jabarut), and in them is synthesised all that is lacking in others, as the Prophet (upon whom be blessings and peace) said: ‘All prey is in the belly of the wild donkey’; for the wild donkey is the fattest of all hunted animals, so that whoever catches one is as fortunate as he would be to catch them all. And the poet said:

It is not beyond God in the least
To combine all worlds in one man.

(From al-Futuhat al-Ilahiyyah.)

Ibn Ajiba on the Spiritual Virtues (4)

7 – Scrupulousness.

Scrupulousness means to hold back the soul from indulging in anything with blameworthy consequences. Ordinary people are scrupulous by avoiding all that is plainly unlawful; the elite are scrupulous by avoiding all that disturbs the heart with ugliness and darkness, as summed up by the words of the Prophet (upon whom be blessings and peace): ‘Leave that which makes you doubt for that which makes you doubt not’. The elite of the elite are scrupulous by refusing to be attached to ought but God, and closing the door to desire for ought but God, and channelling the aspiration towards God, and being content with nothing but Him. This is the scrupulousness of which Hasan al-Basri was speaking when he said: ‘The essence of religion is scrupulousness, and the bane of religion is greed.’ Now the scrupulousness which is diametrically opposed to greed in every way is the scrupulousness of the elite of the elite; a single bit of is worth thousands of prayers and fasts. Thus (Ibn ‘Ata ‘Illah) says in the Tanwir: ‘The servant’s understanding is not proved by his having much knowledge or by his adherence to his litanies; his illumination and understanding are rather proved by his being satisfied with his Lord, and his heart’s being attached to Him, and by his breaking free of the thrall of greed and adorning himself with the robe of scrupulousness.’ (He is speaking of the scrupulousness of the elite of the elite.) God knows best.

8 – Asceticism.

Asceticism means for the heart to have no attachments save to the Lord; or for the life of this world to be alien to the heart and worthless to the soul. Ordinary people are ascetic by leaving all that is above their needs; the elite are ascetic by leaving all that distracts from the act of drawing nigh unto God in all situations; the elite of the elite are ascetic by refraining from looking towards anything but God at all times. In all cases, the essence of the matter is that the heart is alienated from all but God, and from any desire save for the Beloved. Thus, asceticism engenders love, as the Prophet (upon whom be blessings and peace) said: ‘Be ascetic in the world, and God will love you…’ It also engenders spiritual wayfaring, and is the means of arriving at its end; for the heart cannot undergo this journey whilst it is attached to ought but the Beloved.

9 – Reliance.

Reliance means for the heart to trust in God so that it depends on nought besides Him, and to be attached to God and consign all things to Him, secure in the knowledge that He knows all things. Or, it means to trust what is in God’s hand more than what is in one’s own. Its lowest level is to be with God as the deputy is with the kind and compassionate commissioner; its middle level is to be like the child with his mother: he turns to no one but her for anything; its highest level is to be like the dead body in the hands of the washer. The first is for ordinary people, the second is for the elite, and the third is for the elite of the elite. Doubt may enter the head of the first; the second is without any doubt, but he only attaches to his mother when he needs her; as for the third, there is no question of either doubt or attachment, for he is annihilated from his own self, and at all times he sees nothing but what God does with him.