The Book of Wisdom
Ibn Atā’ol-lāh Al-Eskandari

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O the One who has remembered the Dhākerin (Rememberers) before they even made a single Dhikr (Remembrance) of You:

You are the One who has remembered all, within the perpetuity of the Azal (Sempiternity) where Your Ardent Elan willed the Wujud (Being-ness), ceaselessly remembered all Your slaves and remembered all with utmost of beauty and goodness.

And bestowed upon all the success, the ability and the aptitude to remember You, that had You not willed such aptitude upon the Dhākir (Rememberer) he/she could not have ever made Dhikr (Remembrance) for You.

You manifested Ihsān (Divine Goodness) prior to the Tawaj-juh (Directed Attention Towards Hu) of the worshippers:

If a slave has Tawaj-juh (Directed Attention Towards Hu), be assured that Dhikr (Remembrance) & Ihsān (Divine Goodness) were bestowed upon him prior to the creation of his Tawaj-juh.

You were openheartedly generous prior to the seeking of the seekers:

The struggles of the Murids (Seekers) upon the Path are only a commencement a reception to receive the blessed ‘Ilm (Divine Knowledge) and deeds that had already been generously awarded him.

Finally, for what You have bestowed upon us You have placed Yourself under voluntary debt:

Because You have said: Loan to Me here and I shall repay in Hereafter—He who offers Allah a beautiful loan (Qur’an[])—this again an act of borrowing from us that which You Yourself gave us freely, the infinite extreme of affection and grace, indeed an Ishārat (Hinting) pointing towards ITs Ihsān (Divine Goodness) being free of causation and justification.

And for Allah there are Auliā (Divine Patricians) who make us take notice of the above. Abu Yazid Bastāmi has confessed:

In the beginning of my journey, I was mistaken about four things:

1.    I thought I was remembering Hu (IT, He)
2.    I though I was developing ‘Orf (Divine Gnosis)
3.    I thought I was in Love with Hu
4.    I thought I was seeking Hu

And finally I reached the end of this misguided journey and saw:

1.    ITs Dhikr (Remembrance) of me anteceded my Dhikr of Hu (IT, He)
2.    ITs Ma’refat (Divine Gnosis) preceded mine
3.    ITs Mahab-bat (Divine Love) was immemorially preexistent to my love
4.    ITs seeking was Awwal (Primordially First Most) indeed causing my seeking of Hu

And when we see these Auliā (Divine Patricians) as such, we are left with no options but to seek Tawas-sul (Fervent Appeal) vis-à-vis Hu Itself, abandoning all other instruments & causes, relying solely on ITs magnanimous generosity and benevolence.

End.

 

Apercu

If you think that you were making Dhikr (Remembrance) to remember Allah, you are foolishly remembering only your own Nafs (Self, Psyche). Indeed your only true Dhikr (Remembrance) is an echo from Allah’s Remembrance of you, bounding off of you.

Similarly, seeking loving and knowledge are Qadim: Time Immemorial & Preexistent i.e. these things were ITs doings before the creation of this universe and what we are doing now of seeking or loving or acquisition of knowledge are nothing but faint echoes of ITs similar endeavor.

Make still the turbulence within and search though your silence for these faint echoes.

© 2005-2002,  Dara O. Shayda