The lote-tree in Mostaghanem beneath which the Sheikh al-Alawi loved to sit and invoke.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Sheikh al-Alawi's Lote Tree
The lote-tree in Mostaghanem beneath which the Sheikh al-Alawi loved to sit and invoke.
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Ibn Ajiba on the Spiritual Virtues (3)
5 – Patience
Patience means that the heart accept the Lord’s decree gladly. Ordinary people have patience when their hearts gladly accept the difficulties of performing righteous deeds and abstaining from sins; the elite have patience when their souls gladly accept to endure the exercises, efforts and terrors of the spiritual path, keeping their hearts always attentive, and seeking to behold what lies beyond mystical veils; and the elite of the elite have patience when their spirits – or their secrets – gladly accept the presence of wonders and graces, or the constant and unending vision of God.
6 – Gratitude
Gratitude is the heart’s joy at receiving blessings whilst the body is devoted to obedience of the Blesser. Or, it is to acknowledge the blessings of the Blesser with devotion. It has three forms: The gratitude of the tongue, which is to vocally acknowledge the blessing with resignation, which is itself a blessing; and the gratitude of the body, which is to devote it to God’s service; and the gratitude of the heart, which is to see the Blesser in every blessing. The foundation of all of these is contained in Junayd’s words: ‘One must not disobey God by means of His blessings.’
Ordinary people are grateful when they praise God with their tongues; the elite are grateful when they serve God with their bodies; and the elite of the elite are grateful when they immerse themselves completely in the vision of the Giver.
Patience means that the heart accept the Lord’s decree gladly. Ordinary people have patience when their hearts gladly accept the difficulties of performing righteous deeds and abstaining from sins; the elite have patience when their souls gladly accept to endure the exercises, efforts and terrors of the spiritual path, keeping their hearts always attentive, and seeking to behold what lies beyond mystical veils; and the elite of the elite have patience when their spirits – or their secrets – gladly accept the presence of wonders and graces, or the constant and unending vision of God.
6 – Gratitude
Gratitude is the heart’s joy at receiving blessings whilst the body is devoted to obedience of the Blesser. Or, it is to acknowledge the blessings of the Blesser with devotion. It has three forms: The gratitude of the tongue, which is to vocally acknowledge the blessing with resignation, which is itself a blessing; and the gratitude of the body, which is to devote it to God’s service; and the gratitude of the heart, which is to see the Blesser in every blessing. The foundation of all of these is contained in Junayd’s words: ‘One must not disobey God by means of His blessings.’
Ordinary people are grateful when they praise God with their tongues; the elite are grateful when they serve God with their bodies; and the elite of the elite are grateful when they immerse themselves completely in the vision of the Giver.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Ibn Ajiba on the Spiritual Virtues (2)
Penitence, Fear and Hope
2 – Penitence
Penitence goes deeper than repentance, because it means renouncement accompanied by a feeling of humble regret and a firm resolve to return to the straight path. It has three levels: To turn from sin to repentance, and from heedlessness to attentiveness, and from being divided from God to being united with Him.
3 – Fear
Fear is the heart’s worry of encountering something it dislikes or losing out on something it desires. Its fruit is that it makes one resolve to be righteous and flee from sin. And to act as though one is fearful whilst being remiss in piety is a false claim. Ordinary people fear punishment and the loss of reward; the elite fear rebuke and the loss of nearness; and the elite of the elite fear to be veiled from God because of poor etiquette on their part.
4 – Hope
Hope is the heart’s gladness in anticipation of something it loves, on condition that one does what one can to attain it – otherwise it is but a wish and a fancy. Ordinary people hope to attain unto reward in the hereafter; the elite hope to attain unto God’s goodly pleasure and His nearness; and the elite of the elite hope to be firmly rooted in the Beatific vision, and to continue to learn more and more of the mysteries of the Loving Sovereign.
Fear and hope are like the wings of the heart, without which it cannot fly; and perhaps the gnostics have more hope, whilst the righteous have more fear.
2 – Penitence
Penitence goes deeper than repentance, because it means renouncement accompanied by a feeling of humble regret and a firm resolve to return to the straight path. It has three levels: To turn from sin to repentance, and from heedlessness to attentiveness, and from being divided from God to being united with Him.
3 – Fear
Fear is the heart’s worry of encountering something it dislikes or losing out on something it desires. Its fruit is that it makes one resolve to be righteous and flee from sin. And to act as though one is fearful whilst being remiss in piety is a false claim. Ordinary people fear punishment and the loss of reward; the elite fear rebuke and the loss of nearness; and the elite of the elite fear to be veiled from God because of poor etiquette on their part.
4 – Hope
Hope is the heart’s gladness in anticipation of something it loves, on condition that one does what one can to attain it – otherwise it is but a wish and a fancy. Ordinary people hope to attain unto reward in the hereafter; the elite hope to attain unto God’s goodly pleasure and His nearness; and the elite of the elite hope to be firmly rooted in the Beatific vision, and to continue to learn more and more of the mysteries of the Loving Sovereign.
Fear and hope are like the wings of the heart, without which it cannot fly; and perhaps the gnostics have more hope, whilst the righteous have more fear.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Ibn Ajiba on the Spiritual Virtues (1)
1 – Repentance
Repentance means to renounce every vile action and adopt every pleasant one; or to renounce every base attribute and adopt every high one; or to renounce the vision of created things and immerse oneself in the vision of the Real.
Its conditions are regret, renunciation and a firm resolve not to repeat the sin; as for returning the rights of others, it is a separate obligation and repentance may be valid without it, just as it may be valid to repent from one sin while persisting in another. Ordinary people repent from sins; the elite repent from faults; the elite of the elite repent from everything which distracts the spirit from the Presence of God. Every spiritual station requires repentance: when one repentance has been sincerely made, another is then required. The station of Fear requires repentance at times of security and pride; the station of Hope requires repentance at times of hopelessness and despair; the station of Patience requires repentance at times of anxiety; the station of Asceticism requires repentance at times of desire; the station of Piety requires repentance at times when dispensations are needless sought out, and at times of avarice; the station of Confidence requires repentance at times when one engages in planning and decision-making and when one is concerned about one’s provision; the station of Contentment and Resignation requires repentance at times when one dislikes and objects to what fate brings one; the station of Vigilance requires repentance at times of poor outward comportment or evil thoughts; the station of Self-Awareness requires repentance when time is wasted on things which do not bring one closer to the Real; the station of Love requires repentance when the heart inclines to anything but the Beloved; the station of Vision requires repentance when the spirit’s attention is directed to anything but the Beheld, or when it is absorbed with a sensory matter instead of ascending further the ladder of divine mysteries. This is why the Prophet (upon him be peace and blessings) would seek forgiveness seventy or one hundred times in a single gathering.
Sincere repentance entails four things: to seek forgiveness with the tongue, to abstain with the body, to refrain from persisting with the heart, and to shun bad company. Sufyan al-Thawri summarised this by saying: ‘The signs of sincere repentance are four: Speech, intention, humility and solitude.’
(Mi‘raj al-Tashawwuf)
Repentance means to renounce every vile action and adopt every pleasant one; or to renounce every base attribute and adopt every high one; or to renounce the vision of created things and immerse oneself in the vision of the Real.
Its conditions are regret, renunciation and a firm resolve not to repeat the sin; as for returning the rights of others, it is a separate obligation and repentance may be valid without it, just as it may be valid to repent from one sin while persisting in another. Ordinary people repent from sins; the elite repent from faults; the elite of the elite repent from everything which distracts the spirit from the Presence of God. Every spiritual station requires repentance: when one repentance has been sincerely made, another is then required. The station of Fear requires repentance at times of security and pride; the station of Hope requires repentance at times of hopelessness and despair; the station of Patience requires repentance at times of anxiety; the station of Asceticism requires repentance at times of desire; the station of Piety requires repentance at times when dispensations are needless sought out, and at times of avarice; the station of Confidence requires repentance at times when one engages in planning and decision-making and when one is concerned about one’s provision; the station of Contentment and Resignation requires repentance at times when one dislikes and objects to what fate brings one; the station of Vigilance requires repentance at times of poor outward comportment or evil thoughts; the station of Self-Awareness requires repentance when time is wasted on things which do not bring one closer to the Real; the station of Love requires repentance when the heart inclines to anything but the Beloved; the station of Vision requires repentance when the spirit’s attention is directed to anything but the Beheld, or when it is absorbed with a sensory matter instead of ascending further the ladder of divine mysteries. This is why the Prophet (upon him be peace and blessings) would seek forgiveness seventy or one hundred times in a single gathering.
Sincere repentance entails four things: to seek forgiveness with the tongue, to abstain with the body, to refrain from persisting with the heart, and to shun bad company. Sufyan al-Thawri summarised this by saying: ‘The signs of sincere repentance are four: Speech, intention, humility and solitude.’
(Mi‘raj al-Tashawwuf)
Monday, January 25, 2010
Tathir, Tanwir, Ta‘mir.
The daily wird of the various branches of the Shadhili tariqa is generally composed of a certain number of repetitions of three formulas: the petition for forgiveness, the sending of prayers upon the Prophet, and the testimony of the Oneness of God; that is, to say Astaghfiru’llah, Allahumma salli ‘ala sayyidina Muhammad, and La ilaha illa ‘Llah or some variant thereof. Some years ago Sheikh Haddad in Fes explained to me that these three formulas perform respectively the functions of tathir, tanwir and ta‘mir; that is, ‘purification, illumination, and saturation.’
To understand this, we must first ask what it is that is being purified, illuminated and saturated or filled. The answer is the heart, which the faqir seeks to turn into a ‘house for God’.
In order for the house to be fit for God to live in, it must first be emptied of all other occupants, since ‘He hath no partner’ and ‘God hath not given a man two hearts in his breast.’ The house must be emptied of ‘all that is other than God’ (ma siwa Allah) and cleansed of all its idols as the Kaaba was cleansed after the conquest of Mecca. To ask forgiveness of God means to ask God to perform this cleansing for us or aid us to perform it, since we are too weak to do it on our own.
Once the house is clean it must be lit, since no one likes to live in a dark house. We illuminate our hearts by invoking prayers and blessings upon the Prophet; after having emptied the house of all that is ‘other than God’, we fill it with a light which, although not God, is not ‘other than God’ either: ‘He took a piece of His Light and said unto it, Be Muhammad!’ And again: ‘There hath come unto you from God a light.’ When someone asked the sheikh to elaborate on this, I remember, he simply asked one of us to turn on the light in the room in which we were sitting, and once it was done he said no more.
Once the house is clean and lit, it is ready to be occupied: the faqir invites God into his heart by invoking His Oneness. In principal it would be enough to do this only once; but since we are prone to bad housekeeping and allow our hearts to be cluttered up again and again with foreign objects and impure artificial lights, we repeat over and again the process of purifying, lighting and filling.
The hadith says: ‘The believer’s heart is the Throne of the Most Merciful.’ Or again: ‘My heaven containeth Me not, nor My earth; yet the heart of my faithful servant doth contain Me.’
To understand this, we must first ask what it is that is being purified, illuminated and saturated or filled. The answer is the heart, which the faqir seeks to turn into a ‘house for God’.
In order for the house to be fit for God to live in, it must first be emptied of all other occupants, since ‘He hath no partner’ and ‘God hath not given a man two hearts in his breast.’ The house must be emptied of ‘all that is other than God’ (ma siwa Allah) and cleansed of all its idols as the Kaaba was cleansed after the conquest of Mecca. To ask forgiveness of God means to ask God to perform this cleansing for us or aid us to perform it, since we are too weak to do it on our own.
Once the house is clean it must be lit, since no one likes to live in a dark house. We illuminate our hearts by invoking prayers and blessings upon the Prophet; after having emptied the house of all that is ‘other than God’, we fill it with a light which, although not God, is not ‘other than God’ either: ‘He took a piece of His Light and said unto it, Be Muhammad!’ And again: ‘There hath come unto you from God a light.’ When someone asked the sheikh to elaborate on this, I remember, he simply asked one of us to turn on the light in the room in which we were sitting, and once it was done he said no more.
Once the house is clean and lit, it is ready to be occupied: the faqir invites God into his heart by invoking His Oneness. In principal it would be enough to do this only once; but since we are prone to bad housekeeping and allow our hearts to be cluttered up again and again with foreign objects and impure artificial lights, we repeat over and again the process of purifying, lighting and filling.
The hadith says: ‘The believer’s heart is the Throne of the Most Merciful.’ Or again: ‘My heaven containeth Me not, nor My earth; yet the heart of my faithful servant doth contain Me.’
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