The
Lantern of Guidance
Chapter 3
Section 5
Ma’refat (Gnosis) of the Rooh
(Soul, Spirit)
Discussion
Join
Allah Almighty has said, “They ask you concerning the Rooh (Soul,
Spirit) say the Rooh (Soul, Spirit) is under the command of my Lord”
(Koran [17:85]). Know that the foundation of the Rooh’s (Soul’s,
Spirit’s) Ma’refat (Gnosis) and the summit of its cognition are
endlessly lofty & unreachable. The lasso of ‘Aql (Intellect) cannot
catch it. It is a Simorgh nesting aloft the mighty mountaintop of Quf.
The bird-decoys of words cannot entrap any comprehension or imagination
about the Rooh (Soul, Spirit). A pearl risen from the depth of the
ocean of Divine Azima (Exaltedness & Sublimity); there is no scale
capable of measuring the Rooh’s (Soul’s, Spirit’s) Sifaat (Attributes).
The masters of the Kashf (Unearthing Secrets) and the companions of the
hearts who are the trustees of the secrets of the Ghayb (Transcendental
Unseen)—manumitted from the bondage of desires and ‘Ubudiate (Serfdom
& Servitude) of the Nafs (Psyche)—failed
and avoid the Kashf (Unearthing Secrets) of the Rooh (Soul, Spirit).
And other than the language of Ishaarat (Paradigms to hint at) nothing
else can come upon the tongue describing it, “A mere hint suffices for
a glittering jewel”.
(Note: From this point on,
what you read is only a bunch of paradigms to hint at the concept of
the Soul & Nafs in relation to each other, since the last sentence
of the paragraph above teaches us that there is no understanding of the
Soul unless by paradigms. So we are not talking about truth, proof or
description. We are talking about exemplifying some paradigms to point
to 'a' concept of the Soul.)
Know that the noblest
beingness and the nearest witness to the Divine Presence is the Rooh
(Soul, Spirit), which the Haqq (Absolute & True Reality, The Lord)
associated that with Itself and paraphrased as follows, My Rooh: “When I have fashioned him (in due
proportion) and breathed into him of My Rooh (Spirit)” (Koran
[15:29]) and Our Rooh:”
And (remember) her (Mary) who guarded
her chastity: We breathed into her of Our Rooh (Spirit)” (Koran
[21:91]). The Great Adam, the Divine Khalifah (Deputy), the Divine
Translator [1], the key to the Creation the
(design?) pen and the Paradise of Souls, for the souls of everyone can
be described
by means of his Sifaat (Attributes). The first unsuspecting prey
trapped within the net of Creation was Adam’s beingness. And the Qadim
(Preexistent Time Immemorial) “Divine Will” appointed him as Its
Khalifah (Deputy) in the Realm of Creation (Physical World) and the
keys to the treasures of secrets delegated to his trust i.e. he was
granted permission & ready-access to the treasures of secrets. A
giant river was stretched, exclusively for him, from the Ocean of Life
so constantly Adam could ask for extension & prolonging of the
flood of life to splurge abundantly upon the cosmos. (Perhaps this
means many things in the cosmos were created for Adam’s sake or Adam
had huge appetite for things he desired and this river was given to him
to extract what he wished in form of life. This interpretation of
Adam’s appetite would come into play further down.)
And Adam delivers/copies the
illustrations & likeness of the Divine Kalimah (Words) from their
resting place in Divine & Sanctified Jam’ (Collective) to the place
of Tafreqah (Concrescence) i.e. this created universe, (Adam) from the
essence of Ijmaal (Abstract Wordlessness) manifests to the essence of
Tafsil (Detailed Analysis & Verbiage). (Our bodies our world are
corpuscular made up of components & particles all inter-related in
a very vast detailed way and the Sufis call that Realm the Tafreqah
(Concrescence). The origin of the word is Farq (Separation, Partition)
the further we get away from the Divine Presence the more there is Farq
(Partition) the closer we get to the Divine Presence there is less Farq
due to the Tawhid (Divine Oneness)—everything
approaches to One (words are many). The closer we get to the Divine
Presence less and less words can be applied, the further away we get
and closer to this world, more and more words describe things. The
first is Ijmaal approaching abstract & wordlessness and the latter
Tafsil approaching detailed descriptions. Therefore the closer to the
Divine Presence the words are less capable to describe anything.)
Divine Karaamat (Generosity
& Munificence) bestowed upon Adam two visions: First to observe
Jalaal (Momentous Glory) of the Azali (Sempiternal) Divine Qudra (Power
& Capacity). Second to observe the beauty of Lam-Yazel (Ceases
Not!). (Lam-Yazel perhaps means Adam had access to the Lord’s
benevolence that was never ending for him as a sign for his appetite
that was the prelude for Nafs (?) requires more research INSHALLAH)
The meaning of the first one
is the innate (human essence) ‘Aql (Intellect), which draws near to the
Lord—the Mahab-bat (Divine
Love). (This ‘Aql belongs to the Realm of Amr (Divine Governance)
where the Soul resides and true love is related to this form of
intellect)
The meaning of the second is
the created ‘Aql (Intellect) i.e. intellect dealing with the physical
world as a leader or someone who directs, ponders and demands as has
been mentioned in the Hadith (Prophetic Narration), “The first thing
Allah Almighty created was the ‘Aql (Intellect) then Allah told It to
come and it came and then Allah told it to go back and it went back”.
(Best I can understand to “come” & “go back” means this creation
can either be close to Allah or by its own volition be far like Nafs
and this would be necessary for directing things that are needed for
physical existence i.e. greed, hate, violence that are far away from
Allah and the Soul does not or cannot deal with them e.g. the material
desires. Or you can say in this creation man has will power to push
back from Allah and be afar while the Soul can not (?) need more
research here INSHALLAH)
Anything EXTRA that the Rooh
(Soul) requires from the Divine Jam’ (Collective), Universal-Nafs
(Psyche) becomes its reception and the place of its Tafsil (Detailed
Analysis & Verbiage). (These extra things are necessary for
completion of human life in this world e.g. greed, desires, anger…
which are not for Soul to deal with so Nafs as a next-to-Soul or a
sidekick handles them.)
And due to the commixture and
coupling of the two i.e. Rooh (Soul) & Nafs (Psyche),
action & reaction, power & weakness, some form of male-female
relationship appears that establishes the loving: Attraction and
adhesion between the two. And the marriage of these two begets all the
beingness in the universe. And the midwife of the Divine Fiat delivers
these new creatures from the Realm of the Ghayb (Transcendental Unseen)
to the Realm of Zohoor (Manifest & Observable Universe).
In conclusion all creation is
the result of commixture of Rooh (Soul) & Nafs (Psyche,
Essence). Nafs (Psyche)
is the byproduct of Rooh (Soul) and Rooh is the byproduct of Amr
(Divine Governance). Allah Almighty created the Rooh (Soul) independent
of all things and without any intermediary cause or instruments, and
the word Amr (Divine Governance) is an/a Ishaarat (Paradigm or hint)
towards that. And all
creatures were created by the intermediary instrumentality of the Rooh
(Soul) and the Creation is entirely derived from this Rooh, “Is it not ‘Its’ to create and to Amr
(govern)? Blessed be Allah, the Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds!”(Koran
[7:54]).
Since It is the case that all
Khalifahs (Deputies) to have the attributes of their appointer, the
Divine Fadhl (Excellence & Virtue) & Infinite Karam
(Generosity) appointed the Rooh (Soul) as the Khalifah (Deputy) enrobed
it with the gown of beautiful & glorious Divine Names
& Attributes whereat placed it upon the acme of the Creation.
(Creation being likened to a circle) And since the circle of the
creation came near to a close, indeed reached the first & beginning
(primordial) point i.e. the Rooh (Soul) whereat Rooh reflected off the
mirror of the Adam’s beingness, thus all Divine Names
& Attributes manifested within him. Therefore the call, “I (Allah) will create a vicegerent on earth.”
(Koran [2:30]) echoed throughout the “Exalted
Assembly” (Koran [37:8]). And upon the writ of this vicegerency
there is the signature, “Indeed Allah created Adam upon Its own shape
& form” and upon the flag of Its Karaamat (Generosity) this emblem
appeared, “And ‘It’ taught Adam the
Asmaa (Names, Nature) of all things” (Koran [2:31]). The harness
of subjugation and rein of control was placed at his disposal.
The angels prostrated to Adam.
Since the angels could not assemble within themselves the same
combinations of attributes like Adam could. Some of the angels are the
paragon of beauty and nothing else. Some are just for Lotf (Grace)
& Rahma (Mercy) and nothing else. Some others solely embody the
attribute of Jalaal (Momentous Glory) and nothing else and these are
the angels of subjugation and torment. But Adam was the embodiment of
beauty, glory, grace, mercy yet subjugation and anger, all immixed
within him, “one whom I (Allah) have
created with my hands” (Koran [38:75]). Beyond doubt Adam became
cognizant of the Lord with all the Asmaa (Names)
and in contrast the angels who narrowly understood Allah with the Esem
(Name, Knowledge) that they were the epitome of, “They said (angels): "Glory to Thee, of knowledge We have none,
save what Thou Hast taught us” (Koran [2:32])—Ishaarat (A
Paradigm hinting) towards that argument.
As Adam’s beingness within the
Realm of Shahaadat (Observable Universe) was the epitome of the Rooh
(Soul) within the Realm of the Ghayb (Transcendental Unseen), the
beingness of Eve within the Realm of Shahaadat (Observable Universe)
was the epitome of the Nafs (Psyche)
within the Realm of the Ghayb (Transcendental Unseen). And her birth
through Adam, “O mankind! Reverence
your Guardian-Lord, who created you from a single person, and from him
(Adam) ‘It’ (Lord) created his mate (Eve)” (Koran [4:1]) is
similar to the birth of the Nafs (Psyche)
from the Rooh (Soul). And the phenomenon of the coupling of the Rooh
(Soul) & Nafs (Psyche),
likened to male & female, is the similitude of the Adam & Eve.
And again the similitude of the coupling of the Adam & Eve and
Adam’s
carrying the seed for all the progeny, is the extraction of objects out
of the coupling of Rooh (Soul) & Nafs (Psyche).
Therefore the beingness of the
Adam & Eve is the transcription/copy of the beingness of Rooh
(Soul) & Nafs (Psyche)
and within every human being there is a new copy of beingness of
(both) Adam & Eve due to the coupling of the segmented-Rooh (Soul)
& segmented-Nafs (Psyche)
and the consequent birth of the Qalb (Heart). (Segmented means a part
of the Universal-Rooh or Universal-Nafs from the other universe)
The birth of the male progeny
of Adam while benefited from the Universal-Rooh (Soul), it is however
intermixed with the attributes of the Nafs (Psyche).
The birth of the female progeny of Adam although originated from the
Universal-Nafs (Psyche),
definitely intermixed with the attributes of the Rooh (Soul). [2]
For this reason no prophet
appeared as female. Since the prophethood is for impacting the Nafs (Psyche)
of the progeny of Adam in the Realm of Creation (this world), thus
relating to the male progeny (i.e. they are enrobed with the attributes
of the Nafs, women are not). Furthermore the intermediary instrument of
the prophethood is indeed the Rooh (Soul) (which is attracted to the
Nafs attributes of the male) therefore the Rooh (Soul) is beneficial
for the male progeny—Allah knows best.
End.
[1] Divine
Translator means a creature that has the ability to bring to this world
news and meanings from the other world. No other creature you can think
of other than human being can do that.
[2] What
presented here are just paradigms attempting to point at the difference
between the spirituality of the men vs. women. Today we believe that
they are the same and that is not true.
Men have certainly come from
or benefited from the Rooh (Soul), but in this world they have
retracted to the opposite i.e. men’s attributes are that of the Nafs (Psyche)
inciting them towards evil behavior. This reversal has the name Enantiodromia
that has a place within the Sufi thinking as was portrayed by Araqi
about Faqr (Poverty).
Any object going to the extreme, it reverses its attributes. Men are
coming from the extreme of the Rooh (Soul) therefore reversing towards
the attributes of the Nafs (Psyche)—the
opposite.
Women on the other hand,
originated from the nature of Nafs (Psyche)
that was the spirit extension of the Rooh (Soul), but by coming to this
world they went through the extreme of the Nafs that got reversed into
the attributes of the Rooh (Soul).
So the prophets had to come as
men to the men, in order to crack the hard shell of the Nafs’s (Psyche’s)
attributes that veiled the Rooh (Souls) of the men. This is done
through prayers, remembrance, worship, fasting, charity and etc.
Prophets came through the conduit of the Rooh (Soul) therefore they get
attracted to their opposite i.e. the Nafs (Psyche)
which is presently in this world the attribute of the men. If people do
becalm man's chaos within the attributes of the Nafs (Psyche),
he shall for sure fall back upon his serene characteristics of the Rooh
(Souls).
Women are adorned by the
attributes of the Rooh (Soul). They do not need to be exercised or
given to the hardships of meditation, for they have to be left
unmolested undisturbed and serene i.e. naturally are given the serene
state & attributes of the Rooh (Soul). If people do disturb her
equilibrium within the attributes of the Rooh (Soul), she shall for
sure fall back upon her chaotic characteristics of the Nafs (Psyche).
The best example is that of
Mary the mother of Jesus peace be upon them both. She was just left
alone in a room in the Jewish temple devoted to worship and every time
her care taker came to visit her to bring provisions, he would find
that she already had food delivered to her from the heavens, “Right graciously did her Lord accept her:
He made her grow in purity and beauty: To the care of Zakariya was she
assigned. Every time that he entered (Her) chamber to see her, He found
her supplied with sustenance. He said: "O Mary! Whence (comes) this to
you?" She said: "From Allah. for Allah Provides sustenance to whom It
pleases without measure." (Koran [3:37]). This is an indication
that total serenity of sincere women, unmolested by the worldly
presence of other men or women alike, allows the woman to attain
highest ranks of spirituality. While for the attainment of a much lower
goal men have to fast, long hours of worship, learning and so on to get
them away from their unstable attributes of the Nafs (Psyche)
into the serenity of the Rooh (Soul).
INSHALLAH lots more research
on this subject.
©
2004-2002, Dara O. Shayda
