“The gnostic is not veiled from God by the coming or going of things,” said Egyptian Sufi master Hazrat Ibn ʿAṭā Allāh al-Iskandarī (1259-1310), the third murshid (spiritual guide) of the Shadhili Sufi order. In his famous work Kitab al-Hikam(The Book of Wisdom), Hazrat Ibn al-Iskandarī revealed how seekers on the path of knowledge and awareness may rise above the conventional responses to events, actions and phenomena.
Those who are knowers of the spiritual truth are not impacted by external realities such as rewards or failures. They know that these are flimsy labels. What we regard as a failure today may turn out to be God’s way of leading us on the true path. What we label as reward may not hold the same meaning in the long run.
Those who want to cultivate the Sufi worldview of life can draw inspiration from the teachings of the Masters. They can learn to be steadfast through the tempests of life, knowing that God is always taking care of us and He is always leading us to what is good for our spiritual growth. Transitory understanding of the actions or events around us must never obscure the deep realization of God the Almighty. He is omniscient and omnipotent. He is the only true reality. Deep and abiding faith in God keeps us anchored through what we may regard as testing times.
Hazrat Nūr ad-Dīn ‘Abd ar-Rahmān Jāmī (1414 -1492), the Persian mystic celebrated for his lyrical poetry, historical and theological writings, wrote of how the unity of God is always revealed underneath the ongoing flow of existence. Hazrat Jami wrote of the Divine Almighty:
“From all eternity the Beloved unveiled His beauty in the solitude of the unseen;
He held up the mirror to His own face, He displayed His loveliness to Himself.
He was both the spectator and the spectacle; no eye but His had surveyed the Universe.
All was One, there was no duality, no pretence of mine or thine.”
The purpose of reading the works of the great masters and in talking about their teachings is to inspire us all to be constantly aware of God’s presence, regardless of the changes and movements that we witness unfolding around us daily. We must be firm in our faith that only God is. Rest everything comprises fleeting realities. They all shall lose their meaning in the continuous flux of life.
Hazrat Junayd Baghdadi (830-910), a highly venerated saint and a central figure in the spiritual lineage of many Sufi orders, was so highly regarded that he was referred to as the “Sultan.” Sufi mystics often used to guide their disciples towards inner transformation by way of tales or metaphors. It is said that a man returned from pilgrimage and he met Hazrat Baghdadi, making loud claims that he had successfully completed the sacred journey. The mystic gently smiled and asked him, “During each stage of your journey, did you also travel away from your sins and attachments?” The man was struck by the deep teaching in the Sufi mystic’s question. He humbly responded that even though he had successfully undertaken the pilgrimage, he could not claim that he had moved closer to any spiritual advancement. At this, Hazrat Baghdadi told him that while taking a pilgrimage was a beautiful and blessed endeavour, the true seeker must also seek to undertake the journey which shall bring him closer to God. He must work upon inward detachment and the spiritual growth of the self, because focusing on outward acts alone shall not reveal the mystical ways of God to the seeker.
Hazrat Ibn Arabi (1165–1240), revered as Muḥyiddīn (The Reviver of Religion) and Shaykh al-Akbar, knew that the Almighty may bless us with divine knowledge through the medium that He chooses. When Hazrat Ibn Arabi was about 20 years old, he found his first Sufi teacher, Hazrat Abu al-‘Abbas al-‘Uryabi – an illiterate peasant whom he met in Seville. It is said of Hazrat al-‘Uryabi, “Among this shaykh’s many virtues was that he had realized the station of perfect servitude, the highest of all stations.”
Hazrat Ibn Arabi was so devoted to the path of God that he engaged with many Sufi masters and received important spiritual direction from them. He wrote of his Divine Realization, “Those who adore God in the sun behold the sun, and those who adore Him in living things see a living thing, and those who adore Him in lifeless things see a lifeless thing, and those who adore Him as a Being unique and unparalleled see that which has no like. Do not attach yourself to any particular creed exclusively, so that you disbelieve in all the rest; otherwise, you will lose much good, nay, you will fail to recognise the real truth of the matter.”
The real truth is veiled from us because most of us seek transitory pleasures or gains. It is said that a man was the disciple of a Sufi saint. Weeping bitterly one day, he went to meet his master. The saint asked him, “Why are you weeping?” The man responded, “I had a friend who was very dear to me and the beauty of his presence always gladdened my heart. He died yesterday. Now I feel as if I will die of grief today.”
“Do not grieve,” the Sufi master told him. “You enjoyed that friendship while it lasted. You may now make another friend. But this time, take as your friend one who will not die, and then you will have no cause to grieve. This attachment to what is mortal will always end in grief. Go seek your beloved in that place beyond which there is no beyond.”
Sufi masters teach us to transcend emotional bondage. Deep down, emotions reflect attachment to the self. The attachment is the veil between the seeker and the Divine. When the mind and the heart receive divine knowledge, the seeker is able to see God as the reality behind all passing phenomena.
Disclaimer
Views expressed above are the author’s own.
END OF ARTICLE
