guzelhan
22-06-10, 17:23
TheTwenty-Sixth Letter(Part 10)
I n S h o r t : Nothing at all can be established in place of the sacred Divine words which are the protective cases of the essentials of religion, and nothing can take their place, and nothing can perform their duties. Even if they can express them temporarily, they cannot do so permanently and in sacred and elevated fashion.
However, as for the words that are the protective cases of the theoretical matters of religion, there is no necessity for them to be changed. For such a need is repulsed by preaching, teaching, advice, and other instruction.
T o C o n c l u d e : The comprehensiveness of the Arabic language, the language of grammar, and the miraculousness of the Qur’an’s words are such that they are untranslatable. I can even say it is impossible to translate them. If anyone doubts this, let him refer to the Twenty-Fifth Word. What they call translations are abbreviated and deficient approximations. How can such approximations be compared with the living, true meanings of the Qur’an’s verses, which have many aspects of ramification?
* * *
Ninth Matter
]An important, confidential matter, and a mystery concerning sainthood. [
The largest group in the World of Islam, the people of truth and moderation, called Ahl al-Sunna wa’l-Jama‘at or Sunnis, have preserved the truths of the Qur’an and belief by following to the letter the noble Practices of the Prophet within the bounds of moderation. The great majority of the saints have arisen within this sphere. Others of the saints have appeared outside some of the principles of the Sunnis, and on a path opposed to their rules. Thus, those who have considered this group of saints have divided into two groups:
One group have denied their sainthood because they are opposed to the principles of the Sunnis. They have even gone as far as declaring some of them to be unbelievers.
The other group are those that follow them. Since they accept their sainthood, they say that “The truth is not restricted to the way of the Sunnis." They have formed a group of the innovators and have even gone as far as misguidance. They do not know that: Every person who is rightly guided cannot be a guide. Their shaykhs are to be excused from their mistakes, because they were ecstatics, but their followers cannot be excused.
As for the middle group, they do not deny the sainthood of the saints, but do not accept their ways and paths. They say:"Their words which are opposed to the principles [of religion] were either metaphorical utterances of which the meaning is not known, or they [the saints] were in error, being overcome by their mental state."
Unfortunately, the first group, and especially externalist scholars, have denied saints of great importance with the intention of protecting the Sunni way, and have even been compelled to accuse them of misguidance. And their supporters, which form the second group, have left the right path because of their excessive good will towards shaykhs of that sort, and have fallen into innovation, and even misguidance.
There was a situation connected with this which occupied my mind for a very long time: at a crucial time I execrated a group of the people of misguidance. Then an awesome collective strength arose in the face of my malediction; it both returned my prayer, and prevented me from repeating it.
Then I saw that facilitated by a collective strength in its wrongful activities, that group of the people of misguidance was driving forward the people, whom it had taken behind it. Since it had become combined with a desire arising not only from compulsion but from the power of sainthood, some of the believers were being carried away by that desire, looking on the group favourably and not considering it to be very bad.
When I perceived these two secrets, I took fright. “Glory be to God!” I said, “Can there be sainthood other than that of the true way? Especially a terrible current of misguidance, can the people of truth come forward and support it?” Then one blessed Day of ‘Arafa, following a praiseworthy Islamic practice, I recited Sura al-Ikhlas hundreds of times, and through its blessings the matter which was written under the name of “Answer to an important question” and, through Divine mercy, the following truth also were imparted to my impotent heart. The truth is this:
Similar to the famous and meaningful ‘story of Jibali Baba, which was related in the time of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, some of the saints are in a state of ecstasy while appearing to be rational and reasonable. Others appear to be sober and in command of their reasoning faculties, and sometimes they enter a state outside this. One class of this sort are confused and cannot distinguish between things. They apply a matter they see while in a state of intoxication to the state of sobriety. They are in error and do not know that they are so. Some ecstatics are preserved by God and do not enter misguidance on their spiritual journeying. While others are not preserved, and may be found in the sects of innovation and misguidance. It has even been thought possible for them to be among the unbelievers.
Thus, because they are temporarily or permanently in a state of ecstasy, they are like “blessed lunatics." And because they are like blessed and free lunatics, they are not responsible. And because they are not responsibible, they are not punishable. With their ecstatic sainthood persisting, they emerge as supporters of the people of misguidance and innovation; they cause their ways to become popular to a degree, and inauspiciously give rise to some of the believers and people of truth entering them.
* * *
Tenth Matter
]It was requested by some friends that a principle concerning visitors be explained. That is the reason for this being written.[
It should be known that those who visit me either come in respect of worldly life, and that door is closed; or they come in respect of the life of the hereafter, and in that respect there are two doors: they either come supposing my person to be blessed and of spiritual rank, and that door too is closed. For I do not like myself, and I do not like those who like me. All thanks be to Almighty God that He did not make me like myself. Or they come purely in respect of my being the herald of the All-Wise Qur’an. Those who enter by this door, I accept willingly. They too are of three sorts: they are either friends, or brothers, or students.
The characteristics and conditions of friends are these:
Definitely they have to earnestly support our work and service connected with the Words and the lights of the Qur’an. They should not support in heartfelt fashion injustice, innovations, or misguidance, nor try to profit by them.
The characteristics and conditions of brothers are these: Together with truly and earnestly working to disseminate the Words, they are to perform the five obligatory prayers and not to commit the seven grievous sins.
The characteristics and conditions of students are these: To feel as though the Words are their own property written by themselves, and to know their vital duty, their life’s work, to be the service and dissemination of them.
These three levels are connected with my three personalities. A friend is connected with my individual and essential personality. A brother is connected with my personality which springs from my worship and being Almighty God’s bondsman. And a student is connected with my personality which has the duties of herald of the All-Wise Qur’an and teacher.
Such meetings yield three fruits:
The First: In regard to being herald, it is to receive instruction concerning the jewels of the Qur’an from either myself or the Words. Even if it is only a single lesson.
The Second: In respect of worship, it is to have a share of my gains of the hereafter.
The Third: It is to turn together towards the Divine Court, and binding one’s heart to Almighty God and seeking success and guidance, to work together in the service of the All-Wise Qur’an.
If it is a student, every morning he is with me in name, and sometimes also in imagination, and receives a share.
If it is a brother, he is several times with me with his particular name and form in my supplications and gains, and receives a share. Then he is included among all the brothers, and I hand him over to Divine mercy, so that when I say “my brothers and sisters” in prayer, he is among them. If I do not know them, Divine mercy knows them and sees them.
If it is a friend who performs the obligatory prayers and gives up grievous sins, he is included in my prayers among all the brothers. The condition is that these three categories include me in their supplications and spiritual gains.
O God! Grant blessings to the one who said:"The believer is to the believer like a well-founded building, with one part strengthening the other,"(1) and to his Family and Companions, and grant them peace.
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise!(2)
And they shall say:"Praise be to God, Who has guided us to this [felicity]; never could we have found guidance, had it not been for the guidance of God; indeed it was the truth that the Messengers of our Sustainer brought to us!"(3)
O God, Who responded to Noah among his people, * And helped Abraham before his enemies, * And returned Joseph to Jacob, * And raised Job’s suffering from him, * And answered the prayer of Zakariya, * And responded to Jonah b. Matta; we implore You through the mystery of those who offered these answered prayers that You preserve me and those who disseminate these treatises and their companions from the evil of satans among jinn and men, and help us in the face of our enemies, and do not leave us to our own devices, and remove our anxieties and their anxieties, and heal the sicknesses of our hearts and of their hearts.
Amen. Amen. Amen.
* * *
I n S h o r t : Nothing at all can be established in place of the sacred Divine words which are the protective cases of the essentials of religion, and nothing can take their place, and nothing can perform their duties. Even if they can express them temporarily, they cannot do so permanently and in sacred and elevated fashion.
However, as for the words that are the protective cases of the theoretical matters of religion, there is no necessity for them to be changed. For such a need is repulsed by preaching, teaching, advice, and other instruction.
T o C o n c l u d e : The comprehensiveness of the Arabic language, the language of grammar, and the miraculousness of the Qur’an’s words are such that they are untranslatable. I can even say it is impossible to translate them. If anyone doubts this, let him refer to the Twenty-Fifth Word. What they call translations are abbreviated and deficient approximations. How can such approximations be compared with the living, true meanings of the Qur’an’s verses, which have many aspects of ramification?
* * *
Ninth Matter
]An important, confidential matter, and a mystery concerning sainthood. [
The largest group in the World of Islam, the people of truth and moderation, called Ahl al-Sunna wa’l-Jama‘at or Sunnis, have preserved the truths of the Qur’an and belief by following to the letter the noble Practices of the Prophet within the bounds of moderation. The great majority of the saints have arisen within this sphere. Others of the saints have appeared outside some of the principles of the Sunnis, and on a path opposed to their rules. Thus, those who have considered this group of saints have divided into two groups:
One group have denied their sainthood because they are opposed to the principles of the Sunnis. They have even gone as far as declaring some of them to be unbelievers.
The other group are those that follow them. Since they accept their sainthood, they say that “The truth is not restricted to the way of the Sunnis." They have formed a group of the innovators and have even gone as far as misguidance. They do not know that: Every person who is rightly guided cannot be a guide. Their shaykhs are to be excused from their mistakes, because they were ecstatics, but their followers cannot be excused.
As for the middle group, they do not deny the sainthood of the saints, but do not accept their ways and paths. They say:"Their words which are opposed to the principles [of religion] were either metaphorical utterances of which the meaning is not known, or they [the saints] were in error, being overcome by their mental state."
Unfortunately, the first group, and especially externalist scholars, have denied saints of great importance with the intention of protecting the Sunni way, and have even been compelled to accuse them of misguidance. And their supporters, which form the second group, have left the right path because of their excessive good will towards shaykhs of that sort, and have fallen into innovation, and even misguidance.
There was a situation connected with this which occupied my mind for a very long time: at a crucial time I execrated a group of the people of misguidance. Then an awesome collective strength arose in the face of my malediction; it both returned my prayer, and prevented me from repeating it.
Then I saw that facilitated by a collective strength in its wrongful activities, that group of the people of misguidance was driving forward the people, whom it had taken behind it. Since it had become combined with a desire arising not only from compulsion but from the power of sainthood, some of the believers were being carried away by that desire, looking on the group favourably and not considering it to be very bad.
When I perceived these two secrets, I took fright. “Glory be to God!” I said, “Can there be sainthood other than that of the true way? Especially a terrible current of misguidance, can the people of truth come forward and support it?” Then one blessed Day of ‘Arafa, following a praiseworthy Islamic practice, I recited Sura al-Ikhlas hundreds of times, and through its blessings the matter which was written under the name of “Answer to an important question” and, through Divine mercy, the following truth also were imparted to my impotent heart. The truth is this:
Similar to the famous and meaningful ‘story of Jibali Baba, which was related in the time of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, some of the saints are in a state of ecstasy while appearing to be rational and reasonable. Others appear to be sober and in command of their reasoning faculties, and sometimes they enter a state outside this. One class of this sort are confused and cannot distinguish between things. They apply a matter they see while in a state of intoxication to the state of sobriety. They are in error and do not know that they are so. Some ecstatics are preserved by God and do not enter misguidance on their spiritual journeying. While others are not preserved, and may be found in the sects of innovation and misguidance. It has even been thought possible for them to be among the unbelievers.
Thus, because they are temporarily or permanently in a state of ecstasy, they are like “blessed lunatics." And because they are like blessed and free lunatics, they are not responsible. And because they are not responsibible, they are not punishable. With their ecstatic sainthood persisting, they emerge as supporters of the people of misguidance and innovation; they cause their ways to become popular to a degree, and inauspiciously give rise to some of the believers and people of truth entering them.
* * *
Tenth Matter
]It was requested by some friends that a principle concerning visitors be explained. That is the reason for this being written.[
It should be known that those who visit me either come in respect of worldly life, and that door is closed; or they come in respect of the life of the hereafter, and in that respect there are two doors: they either come supposing my person to be blessed and of spiritual rank, and that door too is closed. For I do not like myself, and I do not like those who like me. All thanks be to Almighty God that He did not make me like myself. Or they come purely in respect of my being the herald of the All-Wise Qur’an. Those who enter by this door, I accept willingly. They too are of three sorts: they are either friends, or brothers, or students.
The characteristics and conditions of friends are these:
Definitely they have to earnestly support our work and service connected with the Words and the lights of the Qur’an. They should not support in heartfelt fashion injustice, innovations, or misguidance, nor try to profit by them.
The characteristics and conditions of brothers are these: Together with truly and earnestly working to disseminate the Words, they are to perform the five obligatory prayers and not to commit the seven grievous sins.
The characteristics and conditions of students are these: To feel as though the Words are their own property written by themselves, and to know their vital duty, their life’s work, to be the service and dissemination of them.
These three levels are connected with my three personalities. A friend is connected with my individual and essential personality. A brother is connected with my personality which springs from my worship and being Almighty God’s bondsman. And a student is connected with my personality which has the duties of herald of the All-Wise Qur’an and teacher.
Such meetings yield three fruits:
The First: In regard to being herald, it is to receive instruction concerning the jewels of the Qur’an from either myself or the Words. Even if it is only a single lesson.
The Second: In respect of worship, it is to have a share of my gains of the hereafter.
The Third: It is to turn together towards the Divine Court, and binding one’s heart to Almighty God and seeking success and guidance, to work together in the service of the All-Wise Qur’an.
If it is a student, every morning he is with me in name, and sometimes also in imagination, and receives a share.
If it is a brother, he is several times with me with his particular name and form in my supplications and gains, and receives a share. Then he is included among all the brothers, and I hand him over to Divine mercy, so that when I say “my brothers and sisters” in prayer, he is among them. If I do not know them, Divine mercy knows them and sees them.
If it is a friend who performs the obligatory prayers and gives up grievous sins, he is included in my prayers among all the brothers. The condition is that these three categories include me in their supplications and spiritual gains.
O God! Grant blessings to the one who said:"The believer is to the believer like a well-founded building, with one part strengthening the other,"(1) and to his Family and Companions, and grant them peace.
Glory be unto You! We have no knowledge save that which You have taught us; indeed, You are All-Knowing, All-Wise!(2)
And they shall say:"Praise be to God, Who has guided us to this [felicity]; never could we have found guidance, had it not been for the guidance of God; indeed it was the truth that the Messengers of our Sustainer brought to us!"(3)
O God, Who responded to Noah among his people, * And helped Abraham before his enemies, * And returned Joseph to Jacob, * And raised Job’s suffering from him, * And answered the prayer of Zakariya, * And responded to Jonah b. Matta; we implore You through the mystery of those who offered these answered prayers that You preserve me and those who disseminate these treatises and their companions from the evil of satans among jinn and men, and help us in the face of our enemies, and do not leave us to our own devices, and remove our anxieties and their anxieties, and heal the sicknesses of our hearts and of their hearts.
Amen. Amen. Amen.
* * *