وفي هذا
الحديث الشريف من مكارم الأخلاق، ما يُصعِّد
همة العارف إلى حضرة ربه، فإن أُس(1) المعرفة بالله مكارم الأخلاق، وأما
سوء الأخلاق فهو والعياذ بالله من انحجاب السر عن الله تعالى.
My Children, know
that the worst calamity that can befall a Sirr (
The
Divine Observatory)
is its veiling from
Allah the Most
High. Whosoever is afflicted with
this calamity, his other troubles have faded away in comparison. For
the lover is drunk, and the drunk does not realize in his state of
drunkenness, the pain of his calamity; once he awakens, he finds pain.
The calamity of the one who is veiled from Allah can never be healed,
except by disrobing the Sirr (The Divine Observatory) from all other
than
Allah,
the most High. No warning in the Qur’an is more ominous
than that
of His Words: “Nay, but their hearts are corroded by all [the evil]
that they were wont to do! “ (Surat al-Mutafifin 83:14). Many
acts of obedience have veiled their doer from Allah, and many favors
have cut their recipient from the Bestower of Gifts. Many a sleeper has
been bestowed with alertness to Allah’s Presence (Intibah) after he
fell asleep, and many a wakeful fell asleep after lengthy watchfulness.
Many an unrighteous person (Fajer) has been gifted with Friendship with
Allah
(Walayat) and has reached the stages (Manazel) of the virtuous
(Abrar). How many an ascetic has lost his Frendship with Allah
(Walayat)
and walked on the path of the unrighteous (Fujjar). How many a hard
worker (on the Path) whose attention to his own work has veiled him
from seeing the appreciation of His Lord, until his sight became
completely blind and he was distanced ( by Allah from Allah), while
still believing that he is going to arrive. No calamity is more
difficult on the Divine Knower than that of the veil, even for a blink
of an eye; no greater punishment is there for the slave than distance
and veiling.
أي بني، اعلم أن أعظم مصائب السر حجابه عن الله
تعالى،، فكل من حلت به هذه المصيبة، فقد تلاشت سائر مصائبه في جنبها، فإن
المحب سكران، والسكران لا يجد حالة سكره وجع المصيبة، فإذا أفاق وجد
الألم، ومصيبة المحجوب عن الله لا تنجبر أبداً، إلا بتجريد السر عن كل ما
دون الله تعالى، ولا وعيد في القرآن أصعب من قوله تعالى: ( كلا بل ران على
قلوبهم)(2) فكم من طاعة حجبت صاحبها عن المطاع، وكم من نعمة قطعت صاحبها
من المنعم، ورب نائم رُزق الانتباه بعد رقدته، ومنتبه نام بعد طول
الانتباه، ورب فاجر رزق الولاية، وبلغ منازل الأبرار، وزاهد سقط عن
ولايته، وسلك مسالك الفجار، وكم من عامل قد حجبته رؤية أعماله، عن رؤية
امتنان ربه، حتى عمي بصره فصار مُبعداً وهو يحسب أنه واصل، ولا مصيبة أشد
على العارف من الحجاب، ولو طرفة عين، وأعظم عقوبة على العبد من الله البعد
والحجاب.
Abu
Musa Khadem Abi Yazeed stated: “A sheikh entered a town and gathered a
following of many people. When Abu Yazid looked at them, and at their
crowding towards him, he invoked:” My Lord, I take refuge in You, do
not veil me by them from You, and I take refuge in You do not veil me
from You by my Self”. May Allah have
Mercy on him, how fair, how true
to his Lord he was and how much he took pity on his fellow Muslims; he
wanted the good for them as he wanted it for himself. Beware! You who
desire the gathering of people around you and their credence in you,
how many a man has been led to perdition by the clacking of shoes
around him, and how many a rightful Path which has been thus lost.
Allahuma
grant safety, Allahuma Grant safety.
Know that men are of 4 types: a man
whose heart, Allah endowed
with spiritual sight (Basirah),
he looks at
the subtleties of His creation, and at the perfection of His Ability
(Qidrat) with the Light of
Certainty (Noor al-Yaqeen); another man
whose
intellect, Allah has endowed with perception, he looks at the promises
and warnings with the eye of perspicacity (FiTtna); another man
whose Sirr (Divine
Observatory) Allah made insightful, he looks in all
his moments (Awqat: plural of Waqt) to Allah the most High with the
Light
of Divine
Knowledge and yet another man whom Allah has rendered
blind, so that he does not perceive anything and is in fact a place of
manifestation (Muzhir) for His words:”... for whoever is blind in this
will be blind in the life to come, and still farther astray from
the path" (Surat al-Isra’, 17: 72.)
And know that those who deny the
truth are veiled from the Light of
Guidance by the darkness of
aberration (Ddalalah), those who commit forbidden deeds are veiled by
the darkness of heedlessness (Ghaflah), those who are obedient in
performing the prescribed deeds are veiled, by the darkness of their
observation of their own obedience, from the Lights of seeing the
facilitation and care afforded to them by the Friend and Lord ( Tr: in
order for them to be able to perform the prescribed deeds) . It is only
when Allah
removes those veils, that they can look with the eyes of
Light to the Light, and it is then that, they become veiled by Him from
anything else but Him. For whosoever watches his moves and deeds in
obedience to Allah becomes veiled from the One who owns these moves and
deeds and he ends up empty-handed, but whoever looks at the owner of
those moves and deeds becomes veiled by Him from seeing the deeds, for
then he realizes his impotence in accomplishing and completing them on
his own and becomes immersed (Istighraq) in gratitude. Even here, he
may become veiled, by watching the slaves (tr: who admire him), from
the inner realization of the sweetness of this gratitude; or he may be
veiled by the sweetness of gratitude from understanding the (role of)
the Divine Will (in his own performance of the rightful deeds), and it
may be that he becomes veiled, by watching his own gratitude, from
seeing the Bestower.
وحكي أن رجلاً من العُبّاد قال: إلهي كم أعصيك ولا
تعاقبني ! فأوحى الله إلى نبي ذلك الزمان أن قل به: إلى كم أعاقبك وأنت لا
تدري، ألم أحجبك عن لطائف أُنسي، ألم أخرج عن قلبك حلاوة مناجاتي؟ وقال:
أبو موسى خادم أبي يزيد: دخل الشيخ مدينة فتبعه خلقٌ كثير، فلما نظر أبو
يزيد إليهم وإلى ازدحامهم نحوه، قال: اللهم إني أعوذ بك أن تحجبني عنك
بهم، وأعوذ بك أن تحجبهم عنك بي. رحمه الله ما أكثر إنصافه، ما أصدقه
بربه، ما أشفقه على إخوانه المسلمين، أراد لهم الخير وصحة النظر، كما أراد
لنفسه، تنبه يا من يريد اجتماع الناس عليه، واعتقادهم به، كم طيرت طقطقة
النعال حول الرجال من رأس، وكم أذهبت من دين، اللهم سلم، اللهم سلم.
اعلم أن الناس أربعة أصناف، رجل جعل الله قلبه بصيراً
ينظر بنور اليقين إلى لطائف صنعه وكمال قدرته، ورجل جعل الله عقله بصيراً
ينظر بنور الفطنة إلى الوعد والوعيد، ورجل جعل الله سره بصيراً ينظر في كل
الأوقات بنور المعرفة إلى الله تعالى، ورجل جعله الله مكفوفاً لا يبصر
شيئاً، فهو مظهر قوله تعالى: ( ومن كان في هذه أعمى فهو في الآخرة أعمى
وأضل سبيلاً).(1)
واعلم أن الكفار محجوبون بظلمة الضلالة عن نور الهدى،
وأهل المعصية محجوبون بظلمة الغفلة عن أنور التقوى، وأهل الطاعة محجوبون
بظلمة رؤية الطاعة عن أنوار رؤية التوفيق وعناية المولى، فإذا رفع الله
عنهم هذه الحُجُب، نظروا بأعين النور إلى النور، فعند ذلك يُحجبون عن غيره
به، فكل من نظر إلى حركاته وأفعاله في طاعة الله، صار محجوباً عن وليها
مفلساً، ومن نظر إلى وليها صار محجوباً به عن رؤيتها، لأنه إذا رأى عجزه
عن تحقيقها وإتمامها، صار مستغرقاً في امتنانه، وربما يحجب برؤية العباد
عن وجدان حلاوتها وربما يحجب برؤية وجدان الحلاوة عن صحة الإدارة، وربما
يحجب برؤية المنة عن المنان سبحانه،
Al-Nassaj
stated: “ As he performs the prescribed deeds: whoever sees his Self,
has not rid his Self from self-admiration; and whoever sees the people
around him has not rid his Self from pretentious self-display ( Raya’);
and whoever sees his own obedience has not rid his Self from vanity;
and whoever sees the future reward of his good deeds has not rid his
Self from the veil; but whoever sees the Lord most High, he is the one
who is“in a seat of truth, in the presence of a Sovereign who
determines all things.” (Surat al-Qamar, 54:55)
Abu Bakr bin Abdullah al-Muzni
stated:” Whoever busies himself with the exotic details of Divine
Knowledge becomes veiled from the Reality of the Divine Knowledge,
I do
not know of a worse disobedience for the slave than forgetting the Lord
and attaching his heart with other than He”. He also said:” Any concern
or mention of other than Allah the most
High is a veil between you and
Allah”. It has come down to us that: “ There are instances where a
right action will negatively affect a man who has never committed any
wrongdoing , and instances where a man who never committed a rightful
deed, commits a wrong deed which is useful to him. In that sense it was
said: “Because the good deed is praised and the bad one is despised, as
long as the slave who is doing good is in the fields of self-indulgence
and pride, and as long as the slave who is committing wrong deeds is in
the fields of humiliation and deprivation, the state of the one in the
Moment of complete neediness (of Allah)
(Iftiqar) is better.
Imam Abu Bakr al-Sideeq, may Allah
be pleased with him, stated: “My Lord, I take refuge in you from the
hidden association (Shirk Khafiy)”. And Rabi’a, may Allah be pleased
with her, said:” This worldly life (al-Dunyah) has veiled the hearts of
its people from Allah; would they but let their hearts wander in His
Dominion, they would return to them with the rarest and most pleasing
of benefits.”
Sidi Mansoor al-Rabbani, may Allah
be pleased with him, was asked:” How does one recognize a slave who is
not veiled from his Lord?” He answered: “ If he seeks Him and
does not seek (anything) from Him, if he wants Him and wants (nothing)
from Him, if he does not choose anything (for himself) other than what
He has chosen for him even if He would chose for him the Fire. He who
does not have in his heart the Awe ( Hayba) of Divine Authority,
the fire of Divine Love, and the intimacy ( Uns) of Divine
companionship, he is veiled” . He also said:” It is sufficient Divine
Knowledge (Maarifah) for you to know that Allah is well
acquainted with
you; it is sufficient worship (‘Ibadah) for you to know that Allah has
no need of you; it is sufficient love (MaHhabah) for you to know that
His love has preceded yours; and it is sufficient remembrance (Dhikr)
for you to know that His Remembrance of you has preceded your
remembrance of Him”.
When the Hearts sit on the carpet of
Awe (Haybah), desires depart them; when they sit on the carpets of
Knowledge
(Maarifa), various types of heedlessness leave them; and when
they sit on the truthfulness of Peerless Unicity (Fardaniat), from the
One to the one , then they are indeed sitting on the seat of Truth (
Surat al-Qamar, 54:55)”
قال النساج: من رأى نفسه عند الطاعة لم يتخلص من العُجب، ومن رأى
الخلق لم يتخلص من الرياء، ومن رأي الطاعة لم يتخلص من الغرور ومن رأي
الثواب لم يتخلص من الحجاب، ومن رأي الرب تعالى فذلك في مقعد صدق عند مليك
مقتدر.
وقال بكر بن عبدالله (1) من اشتغل بطرائف الحكمة
ودقائقها، صار محجوباً عن حقائقها، وما أعرف معصية أضر بصاحبها من نسيان
الرب، وعلاقة القلب بغيره. وقال: كل هم وذكر لغير الله تعالى فهو حجاب
بينك وبين الله، وفي الخير: (رُبَّ حسنةٍ يعملها الرجل لا يكون له سيئة
أضر عليه منها، ورب سيئة يعملها الرجل لا يكون له حسنة أنفع له منها)، قيل
في معناه: لأن الحسنة محمودة، والسيئة مذمومة، فمادام العبد في الحسنة مع
رؤية الحسنة فهو في ميدان الدلال والافتخار، وما دام العبد في السيئة مع
رؤية السيئة فهو في ميدان الانكسار والافتقار، وحال العبد في وقت الافتقار
أحسن(2).
قال الإمام أبو بكر الصديق رضي الله عنه: اللهم إني
أعوذ بك من الشرك الخفي، قالت رابعة رضي الله عنها: حجبت الدنيا قلوب
أهلها عن الله، فلو تركوها لجالت في ملكوته، ثم رجعت بطرائف الفوائد.
قيل لسيدي منصور الرباني رضي الله عنه: بأي شيء يعرف
العبد أنه غير محجوب عن ربه؟ قال: إذا طلبه ولو يطلب منه، وأراده ولم يرد
منه، وأن لا يختار على اختياره شيئاً، وإن اختار له النار، وكل مَن ليس في
قلبه سلطان الهيبة، ونار المحبة، وأُنس الصحبة، فهو محجوب. وقال: كفاك من
المعرفة أن تعلم أن الله مطلع عليك، وكفاك من العبادة أن تعلم أن الله
مستغنٍ عنك، وكفاك من المحبة أن تعلم أن حبه سابقٌ على حبك، وكفاك من
الذكر أن تعلم أن ذكره متقدم على ذكرك. القلوب إذا قعدت على بساط الهيبة،
زالت عنها الشهوات، وإذا قعدت على بساط المعرفة، زالت عنها الغفلات، وإذا
قعدت على صدق الفردانية بالفرد للفرد فذلك مقعد الصدق.
©
2009-2002, Hind Rifai