As I have contemplated and reflected on the sixth verse of al-Fatiha over the years, I have been concerned over how this particular Face of Allah can be so misinterpreted. There was a moment when I felt the need to "soften" the translation to make it more palatable to recite. This was out of a sense of fear as well as out of a tentative theological position. Isn't God all good and great? Rahman and Rahim? So, what's up with His Anger? Is this really the angry and violent God of Islam? Are we willing to face this question about the religious expressions of our faith?
The troubling image that comes to mind is of my mother who was very vigilant and devoted in her spiritual practice. Yet, when she was suffering from excruciating pain from the cancer which had spread to her bones, she pleaded with Allah: "What have I done to deserve such pain?" She was convinced that some how she was experiencing some form of Divine Retribution.
This is a sensitive topic, so I ask my readers to indulge me in some critical reflections.
Where did my mother get this idea? Was it self-evident? Was this her understanding of "karma?" Did she really believe that she had been so bad, strayed off the path so far, that Allah would treat her with such condemnation and suffering? If this is the consequence of her pure and moral life, what can we expect for our mistakes and errors of judgment?
For years, I have been unable to hold the notion that Allah could actually "curse" anyone or any thing of His Own Creation. The translations that do not use the words Divine Wrath, allude to the "cursed ones." So, this implies that these unfortunates have been cursed by Allah. Were they cursed because they were wilful in their errant deviations from the straight path? Is it not possible that they were just not capable of reaching a level of awakening and consciousness that could have informed their ethical decisions? Is there only a religious and moral basis for pathology? Could they not have stolen because they had no where else to turn to for nourishment?
I have consulted various sources on this topic and will post specific commentaries that I believe actually politicize al-Fatiha to the point of perverting the essence of Islam. In the meantime, I wanted to leave my readers with some time for reflection on this "loaded" topic. Let's all sit with this for a while...
Islamic Garden
Islamic Garden in Lausanne, Switzerland
Friday, June 29, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Walking the Holy Way of al-Ikhlas
The Deep Connection between Sirat al-Mustaqeem and al-Ikhlas
A Sufi of the Shadhiliyya order sent me this quotation, see http://www.sufimaster.org/,
from the teachings of Sidi Muhammad Sa'id Al Jamal ar-Rifa'a ash Shadhuli
Al-Ikhlas The Highest Courtesy, Trust, Sincerity, Offering, Gift
Bismi'llah ir-rahman ir-rahim
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate Open the eye of your heart to catch a glimpse of His truth. Such a glimpse is more than a dream,to lose yourself in Him,to lose all of the sciences of the earth,to listen only to what the Truth says.When Muhammad, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, was asked about al-ikhlas, he said, " I must ask the angel Jibra'il," and when he asked, Jibra'il said, "I must ask Allah." When he asked Him,Allah said, "It is one of My secrets that I give only to those whom I love among My servants. Even the angels do not know it, and no devil can destroy it."This is the station of the illuminated knowing of the believers who keep Allah in the eye of their heart and in their prayer, and who do His will as if they are beholding Him; for if they are not seeing Him,surely He is seeing them. But, in this case, they have let everything die but the awareness of Him; and so they see Him as He sees them, and they know.
The ikhlas, trust or offering, has three stations of which the deep illumination is the last without end. The first station of trust is of the ordinary person. These people, obeying the law, trust only in their money, themselves, their sons, and to succeed in this. This they ask for in this life and in the next. This is the station of the world, in which all those who have a religion, follow the laws of their religion. They pray to God to gain something, and if they lose they will stop praying.The second station, the middle way of al-ikhlas is al-khawas, the special in which the believers trust in the next life rather than this life, for they prefer the end-life because it is the most perfect to them. It is an end without end, and it exists forever just as Allah exists forever.
Those who want to reach this station must travel to it and leave this material world (ad-dunya) because all of this world of the body will be destroyed, and there is a great distance between the world of the body and that of the soul.Then know beloved, that the third station, al-khawas al-khawas, is the most special of the special in which the offering and trust is to be facing Allah with all your being. You do not care whether you are turned toward the garden or the fire, wishing only to be facing Allah and not another thing, and to see Him, and to do the business of His will, loving and thirsting for this alone, and to know the truth of your praying – to surrender to the Will of God from pre-eternity. This is the only gift for the people in this station. As it is said, "He loves them first, and then they love Him." Thus it is their complete absorption only to manifest His Will.
In this station of the essence of the essence (al-khawas al-khawas), both this world and the next cease to exist. These people have no fear of the fire or desire for the garden, but they yearn only for the deep secret love of Allah, and they are prostrated in the qibla of His love. They do not say why or what, but they live in the essence of the deep love (al-'ishq), and are immersed in the silence of the certainty (al-itqan), sleeping always between His arms.This is not sleeping as people normally sleep, but it is a deep awakening, in which there is no rest but in the arms of the Beloved,the Reality. These people drink only the wine of the truth and eat only the bread of knowing, and this puts them into the ocean of original essence (al-badt). This ocean can be understood by a metaphor. When one is constantly engaged in drinking milk from the Beloved, and when all his life and being are dependent upon the flow of milk from the source, then he cannot live a moment without it, and he cannot stop drinking to talk or to look to the right or the left.He lives only for the milk of the divine truth, and there is nothing in all the worlds that can distract him from this. This state is called absorption in the ocean of al-badt.This is the condition of the essence of the lovers of Allah in the third station of al-ikhlas. These are the nearest to Him, and here the wisdom is la ilaha illa'llah. When He wanted to see Himself in Himself, as in a mirror, Allah came to them in the soul world and asked, "Have I not created you? Are you not My people?" They answered,"Yes, You are our God in truth, and we are Your children. We ask You for courtesy, love and knowing, and to keep us in Your presence because we cannot live without You, and we ask You to give us the remembrance of You with the words of al-ikhlas, la ilaha illa'llah.So know, my beloved, that the offering and trust of these people is to be dying for truth, to kill themselves to live in God, and to be like the wool in His hands until they reach the station of completion, and to be resting face to face with the All-Powerful. The tongue of theirsituation is as Rabi'a's, who says, "Everyone prays to You from fear of the fire, and if You do not put them in the fire, this is their reward. Or they pray to You for the garden full of fruits and flowers,and for them, this is their reward. But I do not pray to You like this, for I am not afraid of the fire and I have no desire for the garden. All I want is the essence of Your love, and to return to be one with You, to become Your face."All this means that the family of God guides people by means of their total absorption in His presence, and by drinking the water of the truth and the milk of wisdom from His lips, from the world of the body, to the world of the soul, to the station of the presence, so that their picture becomes the picture of truth, and their station becomes the station of proximity and union.
As Rabi'a says, "I have hurried to the refuge of Your will to give You my being, so that You may take me into Your being." Then she is completely effaced in His face.After all this, may I be ready, prostrated in the qibla of love, which has no boundaries and which You reveal to all Your lovers as the straight and perfect way of turning to face You; forever bowed before You with no prostration to anyone but to You alone. This prostration is the dearest meaning of knowledge which You give me. This knowledge that You give me is Yourself. When I know the meaning of prostration before You, then I know with certainty that I have come to the real beginning of al-ikhlas, which is loving Your compassionate face.The person who arrives at this station has finished his business with people in the outside sense. He does not look at what they do or what they say, whether they are waking or sleeping, or whether they are here or there because he has returned everything to Allah. He is with Him alone in all his conditions. He has left his body, with the shaitan spirit in it. He has left his thoughts and finished thinking to travel to God with all and everything. He says, "I am traveling to my God; He will guide me." Then Allah takes him, embraces him, and puts him in His heart. With that, he becomes the servant, the slave,and in the perfection of his servitude he becomes one with his Master.Then, when he says to a thing, "Be!," it will be because his voice has become as the voice of Allah, and what he says he says by Allah. What he does he does by Allah. His hearing is as the hearing of Allah, as was mentioned earlier in the supplication, "Listen my beloved, and understand."
One reaches this station by the power of Allah, fearing Him and being polite with Him in everything, watching himself attentively and everything around him, through the eye of his Lord. For the King Whom one serves is, Himself, the source and the completion of courtesy.So you see that the one who trusts, and offers himself, and is honest and far from pretension, nothing can stop him from realizing the will of Allah. He does not regret his mistakes because Allah says, "O My people! If you do not make mistakes, how can you know Me? I am the Forgiver. Return My children, for I want to hear your voices calling for forgiveness, mercy and guidance. The mistake is a gate to righteousness. Through the gate of the mistake, most of My beloveds come to reach Me. First, I put them in the fire of the mistake, then this fire brings them to the deeper fire of My love.
Then I show them My light in the fire, and in a moment they jump and are face to face,the Rabi'a of their time. Do not think that your mistakes forbid you to reach Me. They are the instruments of My will. But learn and repent. Consume the essence of the mistake, so that once having done this and deeply understood, you cannot return to make that mistake again. Offer the essence of the mistake to Me in the fire of your love for Me and My love for you, and do not take it back again."Know, my beloved, that the holy mistake is like a dress. He Who puts this dress on your body does not keep it on your body all the time,but He takes this dress when you are ready to let go of it and gives you another wholly new dress. You see yourself in the morning in the world of al-mistake and then, an hour later, you have returned to the straight way. Know that everything is necessary for you. Allah puts everything in its place, and He knows what you need. So do not let your mistakes keep you from your Beloved, but again and again, wash in the water of forgiveness, the water of His mercy and truth, and offer all that you have and all that you are back to Him who created you,and walk straight to Him, your Beloved, your Lord.Again and again He sends His voice to you. Listen to His voice, my heart. When you truly listen and hear and trust and obey, without asking why or what, then you begin to walk in the station of al-ikhlas.
The station of the trust is a journey from the life of the body to the life of the truth. The life of the body will be merged with the life of the truth in one picture, one life, the life of Muhammad, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him. The truthful one does not want anything but to be with the Beloved, and his heart is yoked to the hands of Allah. Then his journey will take him from this existence to another existence, and from that existence to the source of existence. This is the sacred moment for him, the moment of his holy birth. If he does not die to be born, and be born to live in the truth of Allah, he loses the jewel which Allah created for him alone. If he loses his jewel, his life and his way, who else can find this jewel?Know, my beloved, that the trust of al-ikhlas, which the lover puts in the hand of his Beloved to carry him through every station of the holy road, is an echo in the valley of existence of the first trust, which God bestowed upon the creature when He brought him to life and to His holy way.
A Sufi of the Shadhiliyya order sent me this quotation, see http://www.sufimaster.org/,
from the teachings of Sidi Muhammad Sa'id Al Jamal ar-Rifa'a ash Shadhuli
Al-Ikhlas The Highest Courtesy, Trust, Sincerity, Offering, Gift
Bismi'llah ir-rahman ir-rahim
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate Open the eye of your heart to catch a glimpse of His truth. Such a glimpse is more than a dream,to lose yourself in Him,to lose all of the sciences of the earth,to listen only to what the Truth says.When Muhammad, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him, was asked about al-ikhlas, he said, " I must ask the angel Jibra'il," and when he asked, Jibra'il said, "I must ask Allah." When he asked Him,Allah said, "It is one of My secrets that I give only to those whom I love among My servants. Even the angels do not know it, and no devil can destroy it."This is the station of the illuminated knowing of the believers who keep Allah in the eye of their heart and in their prayer, and who do His will as if they are beholding Him; for if they are not seeing Him,surely He is seeing them. But, in this case, they have let everything die but the awareness of Him; and so they see Him as He sees them, and they know.
The ikhlas, trust or offering, has three stations of which the deep illumination is the last without end. The first station of trust is of the ordinary person. These people, obeying the law, trust only in their money, themselves, their sons, and to succeed in this. This they ask for in this life and in the next. This is the station of the world, in which all those who have a religion, follow the laws of their religion. They pray to God to gain something, and if they lose they will stop praying.The second station, the middle way of al-ikhlas is al-khawas, the special in which the believers trust in the next life rather than this life, for they prefer the end-life because it is the most perfect to them. It is an end without end, and it exists forever just as Allah exists forever.
Those who want to reach this station must travel to it and leave this material world (ad-dunya) because all of this world of the body will be destroyed, and there is a great distance between the world of the body and that of the soul.Then know beloved, that the third station, al-khawas al-khawas, is the most special of the special in which the offering and trust is to be facing Allah with all your being. You do not care whether you are turned toward the garden or the fire, wishing only to be facing Allah and not another thing, and to see Him, and to do the business of His will, loving and thirsting for this alone, and to know the truth of your praying – to surrender to the Will of God from pre-eternity. This is the only gift for the people in this station. As it is said, "He loves them first, and then they love Him." Thus it is their complete absorption only to manifest His Will.
In this station of the essence of the essence (al-khawas al-khawas), both this world and the next cease to exist. These people have no fear of the fire or desire for the garden, but they yearn only for the deep secret love of Allah, and they are prostrated in the qibla of His love. They do not say why or what, but they live in the essence of the deep love (al-'ishq), and are immersed in the silence of the certainty (al-itqan), sleeping always between His arms.This is not sleeping as people normally sleep, but it is a deep awakening, in which there is no rest but in the arms of the Beloved,the Reality. These people drink only the wine of the truth and eat only the bread of knowing, and this puts them into the ocean of original essence (al-badt). This ocean can be understood by a metaphor. When one is constantly engaged in drinking milk from the Beloved, and when all his life and being are dependent upon the flow of milk from the source, then he cannot live a moment without it, and he cannot stop drinking to talk or to look to the right or the left.He lives only for the milk of the divine truth, and there is nothing in all the worlds that can distract him from this. This state is called absorption in the ocean of al-badt.This is the condition of the essence of the lovers of Allah in the third station of al-ikhlas. These are the nearest to Him, and here the wisdom is la ilaha illa'llah. When He wanted to see Himself in Himself, as in a mirror, Allah came to them in the soul world and asked, "Have I not created you? Are you not My people?" They answered,"Yes, You are our God in truth, and we are Your children. We ask You for courtesy, love and knowing, and to keep us in Your presence because we cannot live without You, and we ask You to give us the remembrance of You with the words of al-ikhlas, la ilaha illa'llah.So know, my beloved, that the offering and trust of these people is to be dying for truth, to kill themselves to live in God, and to be like the wool in His hands until they reach the station of completion, and to be resting face to face with the All-Powerful. The tongue of theirsituation is as Rabi'a's, who says, "Everyone prays to You from fear of the fire, and if You do not put them in the fire, this is their reward. Or they pray to You for the garden full of fruits and flowers,and for them, this is their reward. But I do not pray to You like this, for I am not afraid of the fire and I have no desire for the garden. All I want is the essence of Your love, and to return to be one with You, to become Your face."All this means that the family of God guides people by means of their total absorption in His presence, and by drinking the water of the truth and the milk of wisdom from His lips, from the world of the body, to the world of the soul, to the station of the presence, so that their picture becomes the picture of truth, and their station becomes the station of proximity and union.
As Rabi'a says, "I have hurried to the refuge of Your will to give You my being, so that You may take me into Your being." Then she is completely effaced in His face.After all this, may I be ready, prostrated in the qibla of love, which has no boundaries and which You reveal to all Your lovers as the straight and perfect way of turning to face You; forever bowed before You with no prostration to anyone but to You alone. This prostration is the dearest meaning of knowledge which You give me. This knowledge that You give me is Yourself. When I know the meaning of prostration before You, then I know with certainty that I have come to the real beginning of al-ikhlas, which is loving Your compassionate face.The person who arrives at this station has finished his business with people in the outside sense. He does not look at what they do or what they say, whether they are waking or sleeping, or whether they are here or there because he has returned everything to Allah. He is with Him alone in all his conditions. He has left his body, with the shaitan spirit in it. He has left his thoughts and finished thinking to travel to God with all and everything. He says, "I am traveling to my God; He will guide me." Then Allah takes him, embraces him, and puts him in His heart. With that, he becomes the servant, the slave,and in the perfection of his servitude he becomes one with his Master.Then, when he says to a thing, "Be!," it will be because his voice has become as the voice of Allah, and what he says he says by Allah. What he does he does by Allah. His hearing is as the hearing of Allah, as was mentioned earlier in the supplication, "Listen my beloved, and understand."
One reaches this station by the power of Allah, fearing Him and being polite with Him in everything, watching himself attentively and everything around him, through the eye of his Lord. For the King Whom one serves is, Himself, the source and the completion of courtesy.So you see that the one who trusts, and offers himself, and is honest and far from pretension, nothing can stop him from realizing the will of Allah. He does not regret his mistakes because Allah says, "O My people! If you do not make mistakes, how can you know Me? I am the Forgiver. Return My children, for I want to hear your voices calling for forgiveness, mercy and guidance. The mistake is a gate to righteousness. Through the gate of the mistake, most of My beloveds come to reach Me. First, I put them in the fire of the mistake, then this fire brings them to the deeper fire of My love.
Then I show them My light in the fire, and in a moment they jump and are face to face,the Rabi'a of their time. Do not think that your mistakes forbid you to reach Me. They are the instruments of My will. But learn and repent. Consume the essence of the mistake, so that once having done this and deeply understood, you cannot return to make that mistake again. Offer the essence of the mistake to Me in the fire of your love for Me and My love for you, and do not take it back again."Know, my beloved, that the holy mistake is like a dress. He Who puts this dress on your body does not keep it on your body all the time,but He takes this dress when you are ready to let go of it and gives you another wholly new dress. You see yourself in the morning in the world of al-mistake and then, an hour later, you have returned to the straight way. Know that everything is necessary for you. Allah puts everything in its place, and He knows what you need. So do not let your mistakes keep you from your Beloved, but again and again, wash in the water of forgiveness, the water of His mercy and truth, and offer all that you have and all that you are back to Him who created you,and walk straight to Him, your Beloved, your Lord.Again and again He sends His voice to you. Listen to His voice, my heart. When you truly listen and hear and trust and obey, without asking why or what, then you begin to walk in the station of al-ikhlas.
The station of the trust is a journey from the life of the body to the life of the truth. The life of the body will be merged with the life of the truth in one picture, one life, the life of Muhammad, may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon him. The truthful one does not want anything but to be with the Beloved, and his heart is yoked to the hands of Allah. Then his journey will take him from this existence to another existence, and from that existence to the source of existence. This is the sacred moment for him, the moment of his holy birth. If he does not die to be born, and be born to live in the truth of Allah, he loses the jewel which Allah created for him alone. If he loses his jewel, his life and his way, who else can find this jewel?Know, my beloved, that the trust of al-ikhlas, which the lover puts in the hand of his Beloved to carry him through every station of the holy road, is an echo in the valley of existence of the first trust, which God bestowed upon the creature when He brought him to life and to His holy way.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
The Path of Prophets and Saints in al-Fatiha
Deep in our hearts the Light of Heaven is shining
Upon a soundless Sea without a shore.
Oh, happy they who found it in resigning
The images of all that men adore.
Blind eyes, to dote on shadows of things fair
Only at last to curse their fatal lure,
Like Harut and Marut, that Angel-pair
Who deemed themselves the purest of the pure.
Our ignorance and self-will and vicious pride
Destroy the harmony of part and whole.
In vain we seek with lusts unmortified
A vision of the One Eternal Soul.
Love, Love alone can kill what seemed so dead,
The frozen snake of passion. Love alone,
By tearful prayer and fiery longing fed,
Reveals a knowledge schools have never known.
God's lovers learn from Him the secret ways
Of Providence, the universal plan.
Living in Him, they ever sing His praise
Who made the myriad worlds of Time for Man.
Evil they knew not, for in Him there's none;
Yet without evil how should good be seen?
Love answers: "Feel with me, with me be one;
Where I am nought stands up to come between."
There are degrees of heavenly light in souls;
Prophets and Saints have shown the path they trod,
Its starting points and stages, halts and goals,
All leading to the single end in God.
Love will not let his faithful servants tire,
Immortal Beauty draws them on and on
From glory unto glory drawing nigher
At each remove and loving to be drawn.
When Truth shines out words fail and nothing tell;
Now hear the Voice within your hearts. Farewell.
~ R.A. Nicholson, excerpted from "An Autobiographical Sketch by the Late Professor A.J. Arberry" contained in"Mystical Poems of Rumi 2" (translated by A.J. Arberry).
In celebration of the 800th anniversary of Rumi and a tribute to Nicholson, the scholar who was instrumental in first introducing Rumi to the Western World.
The following is a reflection on Nicholson's poem by Karim Maherali which he considers as an esoteric interpretation of the al-fatiha par excellence. He elaborates on each verse of al-fatiha as reflected in the poem which will have overlapping references across verses.
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
The poem begins with the phrase:
Deep in our hearts the Light of Heaven is shining Upon a soundless Sea without a shore.
The Light of Heaven alluded to above is the Universal Intellect and the soundless Sea is the Infinite Divine Essence. We can also say that the Light represents 'God with attributes' and the Sea represents the Limitless Divine Essence. The Sea in esoteric traditions is also a symbol of the limitless reservoir of the Ameeras (the Water of Life) which sustains the worlds. Hence Light in conjunction with the Sea represents the most compassionate divine attributes of the Most Beneficent and the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful
One of the verses of the poem states:
Living in Him, they ever sing His praise Who made the myriad worlds of Time for Man
.....
There are degrees of heavenly light in souls
According to the esoteric cosmology, the universe is not out there but the projection of our consciousness out there depending upon the degree of heavenly light endowed upon us - a Perfect Man would perceive the entire universe in it's totality whereas an ordinary mortal would have a limited perception. Hence there are many worlds according to the degree of individual souls - an act of highest mercy by the Lord of the worlds, each soul having his/her personal Lord according to his/her understanding and capacity of worship.
The Lord of the Day of Judgement
The Lord of the Day of Judgement according to an esoteric understanding is not someone out there waiting to punish an individual soul but rather it is our own inner conscience driving us to regret and curse as eluded in the following phrase of the poem.
Blind eyes, to dote on shadows of things fair Only at last to curse their fatal lure
Thee alone we worship and thee alone we seek support
The poem states:
God's lovers learn from Him the secret ways Of Providence, the universal plan. Living in Him, they ever sing His praise Who made the myriad worlds of Time for Man. Evil they knew not, for in Him there's none
Existence in Him as alluded to above means total submission and reliance - a sense of total providence and protection resulting in gratitude and praise.
Guide us to the Right Path, the Path of those whom you have bestowed favours, not of the cursed ones, nor of those who have gone astray.
The poem states:
There are degrees of heavenly light in souls; Prophets and Saints have shown the path they trod, Its starting points and stages, halts and goals, All leading to the single end in God
In esoteric tradition the Right Path is the path in which the Lord is constantly experienced as an ever presence as per living in Him above. The Prophets and Saints where blessed with the constant presence and they are referred to as those upon whom 'you have bestowed favours'. Hence submission to the command of the living Saints comprises the Right Path and they guide individuals according to their capacities.
The cursed ones and those who have gone astray are those who do not feel the presence and hence are led to the clutches of 'The frozen snake of passion' and in 'ignorance and self-will and vicious pride Destroy the harmony of part and whole' as mentioned in the poem.snake of passion as mentioned in the poem.
Upon a soundless Sea without a shore.
Oh, happy they who found it in resigning
The images of all that men adore.
Blind eyes, to dote on shadows of things fair
Only at last to curse their fatal lure,
Like Harut and Marut, that Angel-pair
Who deemed themselves the purest of the pure.
Our ignorance and self-will and vicious pride
Destroy the harmony of part and whole.
In vain we seek with lusts unmortified
A vision of the One Eternal Soul.
Love, Love alone can kill what seemed so dead,
The frozen snake of passion. Love alone,
By tearful prayer and fiery longing fed,
Reveals a knowledge schools have never known.
God's lovers learn from Him the secret ways
Of Providence, the universal plan.
Living in Him, they ever sing His praise
Who made the myriad worlds of Time for Man.
Evil they knew not, for in Him there's none;
Yet without evil how should good be seen?
Love answers: "Feel with me, with me be one;
Where I am nought stands up to come between."
There are degrees of heavenly light in souls;
Prophets and Saints have shown the path they trod,
Its starting points and stages, halts and goals,
All leading to the single end in God.
Love will not let his faithful servants tire,
Immortal Beauty draws them on and on
From glory unto glory drawing nigher
At each remove and loving to be drawn.
When Truth shines out words fail and nothing tell;
Now hear the Voice within your hearts. Farewell.
~ R.A. Nicholson, excerpted from "An Autobiographical Sketch by the Late Professor A.J. Arberry" contained in"Mystical Poems of Rumi 2" (translated by A.J. Arberry).
In celebration of the 800th anniversary of Rumi and a tribute to Nicholson, the scholar who was instrumental in first introducing Rumi to the Western World.
The following is a reflection on Nicholson's poem by Karim Maherali which he considers as an esoteric interpretation of the al-fatiha par excellence. He elaborates on each verse of al-fatiha as reflected in the poem which will have overlapping references across verses.
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful
The poem begins with the phrase:
Deep in our hearts the Light of Heaven is shining Upon a soundless Sea without a shore.
The Light of Heaven alluded to above is the Universal Intellect and the soundless Sea is the Infinite Divine Essence. We can also say that the Light represents 'God with attributes' and the Sea represents the Limitless Divine Essence. The Sea in esoteric traditions is also a symbol of the limitless reservoir of the Ameeras (the Water of Life) which sustains the worlds. Hence Light in conjunction with the Sea represents the most compassionate divine attributes of the Most Beneficent and the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful
One of the verses of the poem states:
Living in Him, they ever sing His praise Who made the myriad worlds of Time for Man
.....
There are degrees of heavenly light in souls
According to the esoteric cosmology, the universe is not out there but the projection of our consciousness out there depending upon the degree of heavenly light endowed upon us - a Perfect Man would perceive the entire universe in it's totality whereas an ordinary mortal would have a limited perception. Hence there are many worlds according to the degree of individual souls - an act of highest mercy by the Lord of the worlds, each soul having his/her personal Lord according to his/her understanding and capacity of worship.
The Lord of the Day of Judgement
The Lord of the Day of Judgement according to an esoteric understanding is not someone out there waiting to punish an individual soul but rather it is our own inner conscience driving us to regret and curse as eluded in the following phrase of the poem.
Blind eyes, to dote on shadows of things fair Only at last to curse their fatal lure
Thee alone we worship and thee alone we seek support
The poem states:
God's lovers learn from Him the secret ways Of Providence, the universal plan. Living in Him, they ever sing His praise Who made the myriad worlds of Time for Man. Evil they knew not, for in Him there's none
Existence in Him as alluded to above means total submission and reliance - a sense of total providence and protection resulting in gratitude and praise.
Guide us to the Right Path, the Path of those whom you have bestowed favours, not of the cursed ones, nor of those who have gone astray.
The poem states:
There are degrees of heavenly light in souls; Prophets and Saints have shown the path they trod, Its starting points and stages, halts and goals, All leading to the single end in God
In esoteric tradition the Right Path is the path in which the Lord is constantly experienced as an ever presence as per living in Him above. The Prophets and Saints where blessed with the constant presence and they are referred to as those upon whom 'you have bestowed favours'. Hence submission to the command of the living Saints comprises the Right Path and they guide individuals according to their capacities.
The cursed ones and those who have gone astray are those who do not feel the presence and hence are led to the clutches of 'The frozen snake of passion' and in 'ignorance and self-will and vicious pride Destroy the harmony of part and whole' as mentioned in the poem.snake of passion as mentioned in the poem.
Wait! You mean there is a meaning..... to the meaning?
In those who are most alive and therefore most themselves, the life of the body is subordinate to a higher life that is within them. It quietly surrenders to the far more abundant vitality of a spirit living on levels that defy measurement and observation. The mark of true life in man is therefore not turbulence but control, not effervescence but lucidity and direction, not passion but the sobriety that sublimates all passion and elevates it to the clear inebriation of mysticism. The control we mean here is not arbitrary and tyrannical control by an interior principle which can be called, variously, a “super-ego” or a pharasaical conscience: it is the harmonious coordination of man’s powers in striving for the realization of his deepest spiritual potentialities. It is not so much a control of one part of man by another, but the peaceful integration of all man’s powers into one perfect actuality which is his true self, that is to say his spiritual self.
Man, then, can only fully be said to be alive when he becomes plainly conscious of the real meaning of his own existence, that is to say when he experiences something of the fullness of intelligence, freedom, and spirituality that are actualized within himself.
But can we really expect a man to attain to this kind of consciousness? Is it not utterly cruel to hold before his eyes the delusive hope of this “fullness” of life and of “realization?” Of course, if the nature of the hope is not understood, it is the cruelest and most mocking of delusions. It may be the worst of all spiritual mirages that torments him in his desert pilgrimage. How can a man, plunged in the agonia, the wrestling of life and death in their most elemental spiritual forms, be beguiled by the promise of self realization? His very self, his very reality, is all contradiction: a contradiction mercifully obscured by confusion. If the confusion is cleared away, and he fully “realizes” this tormented self, what will he see if not the final absurdity of the contradiction? The “real meaning of his existence” would then be precisely that it has no meaning.
In a certain sense, that is true. To find life we must die to life as we know it. To find meaning we must die to meaning as we know it. The sun rises every morning and we are used to it, and because we know the sun will rise we have finally come to act as if it rose because we wanted it to. Suppose the sun should choose not to rise? Some of our mornings would then be “absurd” – or, to put it mildly, they would not meet our expectations.
To find the full meaning of our existence we must find not the meaning that we expect but the meaning that is revealed to us by God. The meaning that comes to us out of the transcendent darkness of His mystery and our own. We do not know God and we do not know ourselves. How then can we imagine that it is possible to chart our own course toward the discovery of the meaning of our life? This meaning is not a sun that rises every morning, though we have come think that it does, and on mornings when it does not rise we substitute some artificial light of our own so as not to admit that this morning was absurd.
Meaning is then not something we discover in ourselves, or in our lives. The meanings we are capable of discovering are never sufficient. The true meaning has to be revealed. It has to be “given.” And the fact that it is given is, indeed, the greater part of its significance: for life itself is, in the end, only significant in so far as it is given.
As long as we experience life and existence as suns that have to rise every morning, we are in agony. We must learn that life is a light that rises when God summons it out of darkness. For this there are no fixed times.
~ From The New Man by Thomas Merton (1915-1968). Thomas Merton is one of the foremost spiritual thinkers of the twentieth century. Though he lived a mostly solitary existence as a Trappist monk, he had a dynamic impact on world affairs through his writing. An outspoken proponent of the antiwar and civil rights movements, he was both hailed as a prophet and castigated for his social criticism. He was also unique among religious leaders in his embrace of Eastern mysticism, positing it as complementary to the Western sacred tradition. Merton is the author of over forty books of poetry, essays, and religious writing, including The Seven Storey Mountain, for which he is best known. His work continues to be widely read to this day.
Man, then, can only fully be said to be alive when he becomes plainly conscious of the real meaning of his own existence, that is to say when he experiences something of the fullness of intelligence, freedom, and spirituality that are actualized within himself.
But can we really expect a man to attain to this kind of consciousness? Is it not utterly cruel to hold before his eyes the delusive hope of this “fullness” of life and of “realization?” Of course, if the nature of the hope is not understood, it is the cruelest and most mocking of delusions. It may be the worst of all spiritual mirages that torments him in his desert pilgrimage. How can a man, plunged in the agonia, the wrestling of life and death in their most elemental spiritual forms, be beguiled by the promise of self realization? His very self, his very reality, is all contradiction: a contradiction mercifully obscured by confusion. If the confusion is cleared away, and he fully “realizes” this tormented self, what will he see if not the final absurdity of the contradiction? The “real meaning of his existence” would then be precisely that it has no meaning.
In a certain sense, that is true. To find life we must die to life as we know it. To find meaning we must die to meaning as we know it. The sun rises every morning and we are used to it, and because we know the sun will rise we have finally come to act as if it rose because we wanted it to. Suppose the sun should choose not to rise? Some of our mornings would then be “absurd” – or, to put it mildly, they would not meet our expectations.
To find the full meaning of our existence we must find not the meaning that we expect but the meaning that is revealed to us by God. The meaning that comes to us out of the transcendent darkness of His mystery and our own. We do not know God and we do not know ourselves. How then can we imagine that it is possible to chart our own course toward the discovery of the meaning of our life? This meaning is not a sun that rises every morning, though we have come think that it does, and on mornings when it does not rise we substitute some artificial light of our own so as not to admit that this morning was absurd.
Meaning is then not something we discover in ourselves, or in our lives. The meanings we are capable of discovering are never sufficient. The true meaning has to be revealed. It has to be “given.” And the fact that it is given is, indeed, the greater part of its significance: for life itself is, in the end, only significant in so far as it is given.
As long as we experience life and existence as suns that have to rise every morning, we are in agony. We must learn that life is a light that rises when God summons it out of darkness. For this there are no fixed times.
~ From The New Man by Thomas Merton (1915-1968). Thomas Merton is one of the foremost spiritual thinkers of the twentieth century. Though he lived a mostly solitary existence as a Trappist monk, he had a dynamic impact on world affairs through his writing. An outspoken proponent of the antiwar and civil rights movements, he was both hailed as a prophet and castigated for his social criticism. He was also unique among religious leaders in his embrace of Eastern mysticism, positing it as complementary to the Western sacred tradition. Merton is the author of over forty books of poetry, essays, and religious writing, including The Seven Storey Mountain, for which he is best known. His work continues to be widely read to this day.
Friday, June 22, 2007
THE PATH OF GNOSIS
In reflecting upon "the Straight Path, the path of those upon whom Thou hast bestowed favors," I came across this excerpt from a lecture delivered, circa 1922, by renowned Cambridge scholar, R.A. Nicholson at the Univeristy of London on "The Idea of Personality in Sufism:"
"According to the Egyptian Sufi Dhu'l -Nun (ob. A.H. 245 = AD 859), Divine Love is a mystery that must not be spoken of, lest it come to the ears of the vulgar. Dhu'l-Nun took a very important step in the development of Sufism by distinguishing the mystic's knowledge of God (ma'rifat) from traditional or intellectual knowledge ('ilm) and by connecting the former with the love of God (mahabbat).
"True knowledge of God, " he says, "is not the knowledge that God is One, which is possessed by all believers; nor the knowledge of Him derived from proof and demonstration, which belongs to philosophers, rhetoricians, and theologians but it is the knowledge of the Divine Unity, which belongs to the Saints of God, those who behold God with their hearts in such wise that He reveals unto them what He revealeth not unto any one else in the world."
And again: "Real knowledge is God's illumination of the heart with the pure radiance of knowledge, " i.e. the sun can be seen only by the light of the sun. Hence "the more a man knoweth God, the deeper and greater his bewilderment in God," because (as the commentator explains) the nearer he is to the sun the more he is dazzled, until he reaches a point where he is not he.
"They that know God, " Dhu'l Nun continues, "are not themselves and subsist not through themselves, but in so far as they are themselves they subsist through God. They move as God causes them to move, and their words are the words of God which roll upon their tongues, and their sight is the sight of God which hath entered their eyes. The Prophet, on whom be peace, told of those qualities when he related that God said: 'When I love a servant, I the Lord an his ear, so that he hears by Me, and his eye, so that he sees by Me, and his tongue, so that he speaks by Me, and his hand, so that he takes by Me.' "
These quotations show that what the Sufis call ma'rifat, knowledge of God, resembles the gnosis of Hellenistic religion: it is an immediate experience in which the intellect has no share, an ecstatic contemplation of God by the divinley illuminated heart. Moreover, it involves the effacement of the individual self and the substitution of divine qualities for human; yet all this is the act of God."
"According to the Egyptian Sufi Dhu'l -Nun (ob. A.H. 245 = AD 859), Divine Love is a mystery that must not be spoken of, lest it come to the ears of the vulgar. Dhu'l-Nun took a very important step in the development of Sufism by distinguishing the mystic's knowledge of God (ma'rifat) from traditional or intellectual knowledge ('ilm) and by connecting the former with the love of God (mahabbat).
"True knowledge of God, " he says, "is not the knowledge that God is One, which is possessed by all believers; nor the knowledge of Him derived from proof and demonstration, which belongs to philosophers, rhetoricians, and theologians but it is the knowledge of the Divine Unity, which belongs to the Saints of God, those who behold God with their hearts in such wise that He reveals unto them what He revealeth not unto any one else in the world."
And again: "Real knowledge is God's illumination of the heart with the pure radiance of knowledge, " i.e. the sun can be seen only by the light of the sun. Hence "the more a man knoweth God, the deeper and greater his bewilderment in God," because (as the commentator explains) the nearer he is to the sun the more he is dazzled, until he reaches a point where he is not he.
"They that know God, " Dhu'l Nun continues, "are not themselves and subsist not through themselves, but in so far as they are themselves they subsist through God. They move as God causes them to move, and their words are the words of God which roll upon their tongues, and their sight is the sight of God which hath entered their eyes. The Prophet, on whom be peace, told of those qualities when he related that God said: 'When I love a servant, I the Lord an his ear, so that he hears by Me, and his eye, so that he sees by Me, and his tongue, so that he speaks by Me, and his hand, so that he takes by Me.' "
These quotations show that what the Sufis call ma'rifat, knowledge of God, resembles the gnosis of Hellenistic religion: it is an immediate experience in which the intellect has no share, an ecstatic contemplation of God by the divinley illuminated heart. Moreover, it involves the effacement of the individual self and the substitution of divine qualities for human; yet all this is the act of God."
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
SUFISM AND MENTAL HEALTH
From a Muslimah in Bosnia & Herzegovina:
Reciting Al-Fatiha and understanding its full meaning, the believer can achieve wonderful benefits because it improves emotional, mental and spiritual growth... I take it as our basic prayer which is healing our hearts and our bodies, helping us to overcome difficulties, leading to a change of direction of negative effects, enabling us to achieve patience, motivating us to be truly responsible doing good deeds and avoiding sins; to control anger and discontent. It is very supportive and represents a shelter (safe place) for recovery. Al-Fatiha is actually the universal key that is opening the door of a true cognition of the Only One God, s.w.t, and His attributes. Reading Al-Fatiha made me feel His Justice and His Mercy upon all things and all beings..It made me feel secured and safe in Tawakul and completely free from the illusions, from serving the systems, situations and people on this world....
Dr. Amra Delic of Tuzla offers the above submission of her experience of reciting al-Fatiha and the following contribution on "A Holistic approach to mental well being."
A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO MENTAL WELL BEING
According to the World Health Organization there is no one "official" definition of mental health. Cultural differences, subjective assessments, and competing professional theories all affect
how mental health is defined. "From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life, procure a balance between life activities, and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. Mental health can be seen as a continuum
whereas an individual's mental health may have many different possible values.
Mental wellness is generally viewed as a positive attribute, such that a person can reach enhanced levels of mental health, even if they do not have any diagnosable mental health condition. This definition of mental health highlights emotional well being, the capacity to live a full and creative life and the flexibility to deal with life's inevitable challenges.
how mental health is defined. "From perspectives of the discipline of positive psychology mental health may include an individual's ability to enjoy life, procure a balance between life activities, and efforts to achieve psychological resilience. Mental health can be seen as a continuum
whereas an individual's mental health may have many different possible values.
Mental wellness is generally viewed as a positive attribute, such that a person can reach enhanced levels of mental health, even if they do not have any diagnosable mental health condition. This definition of mental health highlights emotional well being, the capacity to live a full and creative life and the flexibility to deal with life's inevitable challenges.
A holistic model of mental health generally includes concepts based upon anthropological, educational, psychological, religious and sociological perspectives as well as theoretical perspectives from personality, social, clinical, health and developmental psychology.
An example of a wellness model includes one developed by Myers, Sweeny and
Witmer. It includes five life tasks - essence or spirituality, work and
leisure, friendship, love and self-direction-and twelve sub tasks-sense of
worth, sense of control, realistic beliefs, emotional awareness and coping,
problem solving and creativity, sense of humor, nutrition, exercise, self
care, stress management, gender identity, and cultural identity-are
identified as characteristics of healthy functioning and a major component
of wellness. The components provide a means of responding to the
circumstances of life in a manner that promotes healthy functioning.
Cultural and religious considerations
Mental health can be socially constructed and socially defined; that is different professions, communities, societies and cultures have very different ways of conceptualizing its nature and causes, determining what is mentally healthy, and deciding what interventions are
appropriate. Therefore different professionals will have different cultural and religious
backgrounds and experience which may impact the methodology applied during treatment.
Many mental health professionals are beginning to or already understand the importance of competency in religious diversity and spirituality. The American Psychological Association
explicitly states that religion must be respected. Education in spiritual and religious matters is also required by the American Psychiatric Association (as far as I know it is now included in
Training Programs in Psychiatry in the States with a tendency to include it in European Training Programs too).
OUR EXPERIENCE
It is stated in DSM IV and confirmed by clinical studies that extreme trauma exerts an impact on important aspects of functioning of the survivors. Wilson and Moran (1997) have also emphasized that highly traumatic experiences can have a devastating impact on human psyche and personality, which results in collapse of inner coping mechanisms and severe complaints
that put normal life in disorder (Pajevic, 1999), including religious belief and spirituality that are integral parts of human existence. Facing with reality of today (with entire tragedy and insecurity of human existence onto Earth), mental health professionals have to understand the influence of psycho-social trauma and PTSD on spirituality and personality (Hasanovic,
1999). During and after the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995), mental health professionals are facing with a number of various mental health disorders, the consequences of severe traumatic experiences.
An example of a wellness model includes one developed by Myers, Sweeny and
Witmer. It includes five life tasks - essence or spirituality, work and
leisure, friendship, love and self-direction-and twelve sub tasks-sense of
worth, sense of control, realistic beliefs, emotional awareness and coping,
problem solving and creativity, sense of humor, nutrition, exercise, self
care, stress management, gender identity, and cultural identity-are
identified as characteristics of healthy functioning and a major component
of wellness. The components provide a means of responding to the
circumstances of life in a manner that promotes healthy functioning.
Cultural and religious considerations
Mental health can be socially constructed and socially defined; that is different professions, communities, societies and cultures have very different ways of conceptualizing its nature and causes, determining what is mentally healthy, and deciding what interventions are
appropriate. Therefore different professionals will have different cultural and religious
backgrounds and experience which may impact the methodology applied during treatment.
Many mental health professionals are beginning to or already understand the importance of competency in religious diversity and spirituality. The American Psychological Association
explicitly states that religion must be respected. Education in spiritual and religious matters is also required by the American Psychiatric Association (as far as I know it is now included in
Training Programs in Psychiatry in the States with a tendency to include it in European Training Programs too).
OUR EXPERIENCE
It is stated in DSM IV and confirmed by clinical studies that extreme trauma exerts an impact on important aspects of functioning of the survivors. Wilson and Moran (1997) have also emphasized that highly traumatic experiences can have a devastating impact on human psyche and personality, which results in collapse of inner coping mechanisms and severe complaints
that put normal life in disorder (Pajevic, 1999), including religious belief and spirituality that are integral parts of human existence. Facing with reality of today (with entire tragedy and insecurity of human existence onto Earth), mental health professionals have to understand the influence of psycho-social trauma and PTSD on spirituality and personality (Hasanovic,
1999). During and after the aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995), mental health professionals are facing with a number of various mental health disorders, the consequences of severe traumatic experiences.
In our clinical work with survivors we meet people that "have lost" their faith, complaining on the "God's injustice" and "so cruel punishment they have gone through although being innocent". In the souls of highly traumatized we found out that they feel disconnected, spiritually abandoned by God and His system of protection, which has been supportive until then. Majority of our clients belong to Muslim cultural circle. They actually belong to Islamic spiritual background regardless their active or passive participation in daily religious 'rituals' (salat). During various methods of clinical treatment most of them expresses the needs to talk about spiritual perspectives of the meaning; death and significance of martyrdom
sacrificing their closest that have been killed. Within the frame of individual and group sessions, a need for Islamic explanation of life on this world (dunja) and hereafter appeared. They expressed the wish to establish a daily rhythm of prayers during their stay at the department.
sacrificing their closest that have been killed. Within the frame of individual and group sessions, a need for Islamic explanation of life on this world (dunja) and hereafter appeared. They expressed the wish to establish a daily rhythm of prayers during their stay at the department.
Therefore, we provided two rooms; one for our Muslim clients (masjid) and one for non-Muslims, mainly Christians (a prayer room). The clients found it of great importance and helpful. Knowing historical roots of mental health care that in our social reality absorb the spiritual forces from Islamic background, we interfaced arguments between spiritual dimension of personality from Muslim perspectives on one side, and psycho-social trauma
and PTSD and efforts put for its healing using Islamic principles on the other side. Compared to other religions, Islam is not religion only but a comprehensive, holistic system that addresses all aspects of our life (both individual and community level). Unfortunately, being weak, we have tended to reduce this most special way of life (universal model) to the lowest common denominator of a set of legalistic rituals. This Deen, that our Lord and Creator has entrusted to us is greater than we are and our limited knowledge and understanding of it is indicative of the dilemma we as Muslims are facing today.
and PTSD and efforts put for its healing using Islamic principles on the other side. Compared to other religions, Islam is not religion only but a comprehensive, holistic system that addresses all aspects of our life (both individual and community level). Unfortunately, being weak, we have tended to reduce this most special way of life (universal model) to the lowest common denominator of a set of legalistic rituals. This Deen, that our Lord and Creator has entrusted to us is greater than we are and our limited knowledge and understanding of it is indicative of the dilemma we as Muslims are facing today.
In the Quran, Allah s.w.t., draws our attention to all aspects of our life, as physical beings with an intellect as well as emotions and most importantly as spiritual persons. We are reminded,
"It is He Who brought you forth from the wombs of your mothers, when you knew
nothing, and He gave you hearing and sight and intelligence and affections that you may give thanks" (Quran 16:78). It is logical, therefore, that when we reject His way, "Allah hath set a seal on their heart and on their hearing and in their eyes is a veil" (Quran 2:7).
El-Azayem (1995) stated that a firm bonding to Islamic principles enables humans to overcome depression, to strengthen the will and support feeling of hope and optimism.
Islam, with all of its disciplines (including shariat/fikh, tafsir, hadith, Sufism etc.) is offering such a life concept that enables individual living in harmony and spirit of Islamic principles
to affirm himself/herself as healthy, creative, self-aware and stable personality. The prayer (including dikhr) neutralizes emotional conflicts, which is greatly illustrated by the
life model of Prophet Muhammad, s.a.w.s., who, according to the ayats and
hadiths, in the state of sorrow and suffering, arousal or anxiety, took refugee in the prayer.
nothing, and He gave you hearing and sight and intelligence and affections that you may give thanks" (Quran 16:78). It is logical, therefore, that when we reject His way, "Allah hath set a seal on their heart and on their hearing and in their eyes is a veil" (Quran 2:7).
El-Azayem (1995) stated that a firm bonding to Islamic principles enables humans to overcome depression, to strengthen the will and support feeling of hope and optimism.
Islam, with all of its disciplines (including shariat/fikh, tafsir, hadith, Sufism etc.) is offering such a life concept that enables individual living in harmony and spirit of Islamic principles
to affirm himself/herself as healthy, creative, self-aware and stable personality. The prayer (including dikhr) neutralizes emotional conflicts, which is greatly illustrated by the
life model of Prophet Muhammad, s.a.w.s., who, according to the ayats and
hadiths, in the state of sorrow and suffering, arousal or anxiety, took refugee in the prayer.
"And if you fear, perform prayer." (Al-Baqarah, 239).
Beside the prayer, our clients participate in spiritual group setting with religious/spiritual psychotherapy oriented staff (trained in neuropsychology and neurophysiology of spiritual experience as well as in Islam). We also co-operate with (Islamic) theologians, some of which
completed Group Analysis Education with us, Seminar on Psychoactive Substance Abuse as well as the School of Psycho-social Trauma (at the Missouri University, Columbia, Missouri). Our clinical experience with traumatized confirmed the scientific evidence that after the prayer and spiritual therapy, the clients feel less anxious, less depressive, and they report on improving communication skills, and decrease in symptoms of avoidance and hyper-arousal. Following religious and spiritual needs of our patients and developing holistic (multidisciplinary) approach in our work, we found out that dealing with spiritual issues in the process of healing is
beneficial and supportive.
He created us as physical, mental and spiritual beings. Our responsibility is to understand ourselves first, because it is only when we do this, that we can help our community. If there
is the absence of Islam, Iman or Taqwa, then the "security and safety" of the individual is missing. The rebellion against Allah is a state of neglect of the spirit which leads to a corrupted
heart. Understanding the physiology of the brain-heart connection we will understand how it affects our health, both physical and spiritual and how to achieve a peacefulness of the heart
which is the greatest treasure.
Beside the prayer, our clients participate in spiritual group setting with religious/spiritual psychotherapy oriented staff (trained in neuropsychology and neurophysiology of spiritual experience as well as in Islam). We also co-operate with (Islamic) theologians, some of which
completed Group Analysis Education with us, Seminar on Psychoactive Substance Abuse as well as the School of Psycho-social Trauma (at the Missouri University, Columbia, Missouri). Our clinical experience with traumatized confirmed the scientific evidence that after the prayer and spiritual therapy, the clients feel less anxious, less depressive, and they report on improving communication skills, and decrease in symptoms of avoidance and hyper-arousal. Following religious and spiritual needs of our patients and developing holistic (multidisciplinary) approach in our work, we found out that dealing with spiritual issues in the process of healing is
beneficial and supportive.
He created us as physical, mental and spiritual beings. Our responsibility is to understand ourselves first, because it is only when we do this, that we can help our community. If there
is the absence of Islam, Iman or Taqwa, then the "security and safety" of the individual is missing. The rebellion against Allah is a state of neglect of the spirit which leads to a corrupted
heart. Understanding the physiology of the brain-heart connection we will understand how it affects our health, both physical and spiritual and how to achieve a peacefulness of the heart
which is the greatest treasure.
Tracing back to the history, it can be seen that very many people embraced Islam via Sufism (spiritual aspect of Islam). I would say that the basics are of importance. Namely, the body
requires regulations that are needed in our lives in order to function normally. Sharia, tariqat, hakiqat and marifat in Sufism can be compared to the egg where we can see the shell,
membrane, white and yolk..Each part has its own function. The function of the Law is to put all the things on this Earth in order.. From my point of view, the basic is to do no harm to the
others, while performing duties towards God in a proper way (as it is 'prescribed') is a matter of maturation and decisions. Yet, it is a private matter, which does not necessarily harm or benefit others.
Islam came to Bosnia via Turkish sufis not in the way the missionaries are doing. It simply came as a model of life demonstrated by sufis. Starting point in Sufism is that all people are same (the way I perceive Islam), His creatures, with predispositions to be better than me or you..In this way, the door is opened to all as Mowlana Jelaluddin Rumi says: "Come, come, and
come over again, whoever you are, wherever you are." When the heart is opened the gifts are coming.. It is said that most important is to have a good intention (nijjat) so the one does not have to care how God will treat him/her. Allah, s.w.t., the Creator of people, loves people and wont reject sincere intention of people.
We are all seekers and we all lean upon His Mercy through the stages of our spiritual development. Zikr (type of meditation technique) is performed for it cleans and calms our hearts and support our further growth and integration..The Holy Qur'an says: Be with
those who are calling (remember) Your Lord..
those who are calling (remember) Your Lord..
The Prophet Muhammad,
s.a.w.s., said: "Oh Allah, I seek refuge in You from perversity and anxiety
and I seek refuge in You from aspiring after that which is beyond aspiration."
In peace..
Dr. Amra Delic
Department for Psychiatry
University Clinical Center Tuzla
President of the Association of Trainees and Young Psychiatrists
Bosnia and Herzegovina
s.a.w.s., said: "Oh Allah, I seek refuge in You from perversity and anxiety
and I seek refuge in You from aspiring after that which is beyond aspiration."
In peace..
Dr. Amra Delic
Department for Psychiatry
University Clinical Center Tuzla
President of the Association of Trainees and Young Psychiatrists
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Commentary on Ikhlas (Purity) in al-Fatiha
Allama Nasir Hunzai's commentary inspired a response from Maheroon Pradhan, who is of Scottish-Hispanic background. She embraced the faith in 1975 and says she experiences "peace" in the recitation of al-Fatiha.
Ikhlas (Purity, Sincerity):
In the fourth verse of the Fatihah, first is mentioned ikhlas or sincerity, that is, to purify one’s belief regarding the unity of God from all things other than Him. Ikhlas literally means to purify something from adulteration and mixture. Therefore, everything which can possibly be adulterated and alloyed, but is found pure in a true sense is called khalis (pure), such as gold, silver, etc. Nonetheless, in religious terms ikhlas means that state of the heart in which its attention is towards God alone and in this state, there is not the slightest mixture of the other imaginations and thoughts. Regarding this state of the heart, an example from the wise Qur’an is presented here, which is: “And when they mount upon the ships they pray to Allah, making their faith pure for Him only, but when He brings them safe to land, behold they ascribe partners (unto Him)” (29:65). The purport or meaning of this verse depends purely on wisdom. That is, most of the believers in God do not apparently start to pray to Him purifying their faith for Him when they embark on a ship, nor do they unusually ascribe partners to Him instantly upon coming ashore. However, it is true that due to the fear in their hearts when embarking on a ship they become attentive to God, in such a way that no worldly thing can divert their attention from Him, but after landing, this state of the heart, which according to God is called ikhlas or ‘pure faith’, vanishes and worldly imaginations and thoughts start to enter their hearts. This state of the heart, according to God, is called shirk or ‘ascribing partners to God’. Thus, ikhlas is the name of that state of heart in which attention is directed towards God alone, just as the people of a ship in a dangerous sea are attentive to God alone.
Memory of Beach Excursions with Abuelo
Upon setting foot on sand, abuelo (grandfather) would head for one of the piers with four-year-old grandson in tow. From the safety of the shore, I anxiously watched and prayed as Jaime screamed, his skinny arms releasing the strangle hold of abuelo’s neck when he reached the safety of the pier. During my turn at crossing the ocean between piers, abuelo got tangled in ropes (which cordoned off the beach) and we both went under. Years later, Jaime and I sailed alongside the beach watching distant bathers and recalled abuelo’s insistence we confidently engage the mysterious depths of the ocean. In that perfect moment as if on cue, the sky turned gray and a quick moving tropical storm overtook us. Jaime gave me instructions on how to position the sails; but after struggling for a while and sickened by the incessant rocking of the boat, I dove for the safety of the cabin. In prayer, I found relief for the familiar fear. Focused sincerity, gets us past agonizing moments in which self must surrender to the most merciful, generous One. Graced with access, we find the assistance we seek and as self struggles to understand the experience, the most hazardous leg of the journey begins.
In the midst of the tempest, gripped by confusion
SOS sent, self surrenders the ship’s wheel
To a loving, peaceful response and the feared
Boogey man disappears upon the first rays of dawn.
Navigating unpredictable waters, the Captain sails
Past treacherous, rocky shores of duality anchored
In the fathomless single Reality of being.
~ Maheroon Pradhan, Stafford, VA
Ikhlas (Purity, Sincerity):
In the fourth verse of the Fatihah, first is mentioned ikhlas or sincerity, that is, to purify one’s belief regarding the unity of God from all things other than Him. Ikhlas literally means to purify something from adulteration and mixture. Therefore, everything which can possibly be adulterated and alloyed, but is found pure in a true sense is called khalis (pure), such as gold, silver, etc. Nonetheless, in religious terms ikhlas means that state of the heart in which its attention is towards God alone and in this state, there is not the slightest mixture of the other imaginations and thoughts. Regarding this state of the heart, an example from the wise Qur’an is presented here, which is: “And when they mount upon the ships they pray to Allah, making their faith pure for Him only, but when He brings them safe to land, behold they ascribe partners (unto Him)” (29:65). The purport or meaning of this verse depends purely on wisdom. That is, most of the believers in God do not apparently start to pray to Him purifying their faith for Him when they embark on a ship, nor do they unusually ascribe partners to Him instantly upon coming ashore. However, it is true that due to the fear in their hearts when embarking on a ship they become attentive to God, in such a way that no worldly thing can divert their attention from Him, but after landing, this state of the heart, which according to God is called ikhlas or ‘pure faith’, vanishes and worldly imaginations and thoughts start to enter their hearts. This state of the heart, according to God, is called shirk or ‘ascribing partners to God’. Thus, ikhlas is the name of that state of heart in which attention is directed towards God alone, just as the people of a ship in a dangerous sea are attentive to God alone.
Memory of Beach Excursions with Abuelo
Upon setting foot on sand, abuelo (grandfather) would head for one of the piers with four-year-old grandson in tow. From the safety of the shore, I anxiously watched and prayed as Jaime screamed, his skinny arms releasing the strangle hold of abuelo’s neck when he reached the safety of the pier. During my turn at crossing the ocean between piers, abuelo got tangled in ropes (which cordoned off the beach) and we both went under. Years later, Jaime and I sailed alongside the beach watching distant bathers and recalled abuelo’s insistence we confidently engage the mysterious depths of the ocean. In that perfect moment as if on cue, the sky turned gray and a quick moving tropical storm overtook us. Jaime gave me instructions on how to position the sails; but after struggling for a while and sickened by the incessant rocking of the boat, I dove for the safety of the cabin. In prayer, I found relief for the familiar fear. Focused sincerity, gets us past agonizing moments in which self must surrender to the most merciful, generous One. Graced with access, we find the assistance we seek and as self struggles to understand the experience, the most hazardous leg of the journey begins.
In the midst of the tempest, gripped by confusion
SOS sent, self surrenders the ship’s wheel
To a loving, peaceful response and the feared
Boogey man disappears upon the first rays of dawn.
Navigating unpredictable waters, the Captain sails
Past treacherous, rocky shores of duality anchored
In the fathomless single Reality of being.
~ Maheroon Pradhan, Stafford, VA
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