Isolation Became Dear to Him

Why did isolation become dear to the Prophet (Peace be upon him)? Why did he feel the need to escape to Mount Hira for deep contemplation and reflection, even before prophethood. Sometimes, it is necessary to cut all connections with the world and people, in order to renew your connection with yourself, and thus your Lord. As Imaam Al-Ghazzali says “The heart is that in which if a man knows it, he knows himself, and if he knows himself, he knows his Lord. It is that in which if a man knows it not, he knows not himself and thus he knows not his Lord.”

To See Reality As It Truly Is.

I dont know about anyone elses experiences, but sometimes Allah has shown me through small signs who people realy are.
Although they have been deceitful and dishonest to me, in my naivety I make excuses for them, I hide the wrong that they are doing when really I should for once stand up for justice and face them head on, demanding explanations. But I choose not to. Sometimes its better to make excuses for you fellow muslims and allow Allah to do the rest. If they really are deceiving you, Allah will show you, and then its up to you, whether you want to foolishly carry on blindly, or be strong enough to walk away for good. Each time I gave someone a chance and made an excuse for them, some how strangely Allah showed me in ways, some ways that were purely accidental, that these people have not changed and are still dishonest. Its up to you to take notice of the sign Allah sent you, to hear Allah and be strong. There are times where we ask Allah to show us the truth, to show us which direction to turn, and when He shows us we become unhappy about it, we are in denial and we carry on making bad decisions that never will benefit us.

Deep down we all know the people and the paths that are harmful to us and the ones that will benefit us and bring us closer to Allah. We know but we are not strong enough to listen to our own instincts. Be strong enough to walk away, with the full belief that Allah will reimburse you with something so much more fitting or that those people will return to you, when they have finally realised, that they can hide their dishonesty from you - but not from Allah.

And of course the same goes for the opposite. If a person is sincere, pure and genuine, you will surely see it. Allah will not veil this from you. You will know in your heart who beautiful people are, and when you find them you should not let go of them, for they can only make your life beautiful. And you should fear that you should never hurt them, be good to them, and know, that Allah is with them, and will surely show them how ugly you are, if you are not sincere from within.

I ask Allah to help me see things as they truly are, and to show me people for who they truly are, and for the strength to base my decisions on this reality.

"In truth the conduct of our lives is the only proof of the sincerity of our hearts." -Anonymous

Debating Matters of Religion

A man came before Imaam Abu Hanifa and brought with him another man who was known to have a deviant belief of Islam.
The man asked Imaam Abu Hanifa "Can I pray behind this man?" Imaam Abu Hanifa Rahimullah replied "We cannot pray behind either of the two of you."
The man became surprised and asked why, and the Imaam replied "because he holds a belief that
is deviant from Islam and you, (refering to the man who asked the question), you argue about matters of religion."
Imaam Al-Ghazzali says in Bidayat Al-Hidayat that he consideres argumentation in matters of religion a major sin of its own.
These days there are Imaams/people who actually enjoy debating on matters of religion, and for some it is simply in their nature to just uneccesarily debate and constantly prove their point to others. However all this really shows, is that they themselves are uneasy and confused in their own heart and it is thus the reason why it should be avoided to pray behind such people, and in my view to stay away from such people completely.

You Fool!

"The most foolish of men are those who believe strongly in their own intelligence.

And the men who are most stable in intelligence, are those who are suspicious of themselves, and most ready to ask from the learned." ~ Imaam Al-Ghazzali

The Mirror of the Heart

To understand reality as it truly is.

(Imaam Al-Ghazzali)

Sometimes we want to understand things the way we want to understand it and not as it truly is. And sometimes we want to understand things as they truely are and try to reach a higher state of spirituality to be amongst the pious, but can’t, why is this so?

The Heart is like a mirror, it has the ability to reflects the true nature of things.

As with the mirror, a true reflection will not be shown for the following 5 reasons:

1)      A defect in the iron of the mirror – the mirror is still just a lump of iron, it has not yet been formed and moulded into a mirror. So the entity (or potential) is there but has not yet been shaped or formed yet. (This is the state of the Hearts of children or the youth).

2)      Because of the dirt, rust and dullness. Even if it has been formed perfectly but it cannot reflect because of the dullness and dirt on the surface. (Due to the filth from disobedience and dirt from excessive desires which heap up onto the surface of the Heart causing it to be dull).

3)      Because it is turned away from the direction of the object towards something else. (Perhaps the attention is directed towards outward acts – making wudu/how to pray etc…one does not realise the internal needs to be worked on aswell).

4)      Because of a veil placed before the mirror and the object. (Because one is stuck to certain beliefs, or may even deny the higher states of spirituality).

5)      Because of not knowing how to position the mirror in the desired direction of the object. (Simply one has no knowledge of reaching this state of understanding).

Thus too is the Heart a mirror. Ready to have reflected in it the true nature of reality and all things.

The Pig, The Dog, The Demon and The Wise Man

There are elements of the inner being, which are the traits of Mans nature. Success lies in keeping these elements in balance.

Imaam Al-Ghazzali says:

Know, that there are 4 factors intermixed elements that dwell in a man’s nature that are united against him, the qualities of:

1)      The predatory beast (animalistic)

2)      Demonic (deceitful, cunningness, evil intention)

3)      lordly (God-given wisdom/knowledge - which may lead to good or may lead to arrogance, i.e. to claim lordship – like Pharaoh, notice we use this word with lower case letter “L”)

4)      Brutish qualities (greed)

Every man has a mix of these four qualities, these all gather within a man’s skin as if they were a pig (Brutish), a dog (Predatory beast), a demon (Demonic) and a Wise Man (lordly).

The Pig = appetence, desire, lust, internal greed

The Dog = Anger, enmity, as it is in the nature of this animal to be savage, to slaughter, to be wild

The Demon, it continues to stir up the appetence of the Pig and the enmity of the Wild beast.

And within Man there also lies a “wise man” (akl), who, wards off the Demon, and kills off the gluttony of the Pig by setting the enmity of the Dog onto it. And if he is successful in doing so and maintains the balance then the kingdom is safe. However if he is weak and he fails, then he is constantly searching out new ways to satisfy the Pig and please his Dog. And thus the scary reality of it is that most of mankind are not serving their Lord, but are serving a Dog and a Pig, because their primary concern is their bellies, sexual indulgence and getting even with the enemy.

And so the irony comes, as Imaam Al-Ghazzali says, he whom disapproves of idolatry to a stone, if the veil were surely to be removed, he would actually find himself in prostration to a Pig, serving his appetite and that which he lusts. Or he would find himself in prostration to a Dog, by planning and scheming to become obedient to it. And as it is the Demon that arouses the Pig and the Dog, in effect, Man is worshipping the Demon.

If Man is able to bring all of these elements under the lordly rule of the wise man, then he is able to gain more knowledge, wisdom, understand the real nature of things. By bringing the appetence of the Pig back within limits, he is able to gain so much more honourable qualities, such as chasteness, contentment, happiness, modesty and such. By holding back the anger of the Dog he is able to gain courage, generosity, self-control, patience, gentleness, nobility, dignity and such.

The ways shaytaan enters the Heart.

From Book 21 of Imaam Al-Ghazzali’s Ihya Ulum Al-din

v  Know, that the heart is like a fortress. Shaytaan is an enemy who wishes to enter the fortress and take possession of it.

v  The fortress cannot be kept safe from the enemy except by guarding its doors and entrances.

v  The doors in which shaytaan enters, are the traits of a person

v  He whom does not know his doors cannot guard them.

There are great doors and then there are narrow doors. These great doors are like the large street gates. Once you close the large street gates, it will become easier to close the narrow ones.

One of the great gates is Anger

-          When one gets angry, this anger can overtake a person, the same way one gets intoxicated by alcohol; they lose control.

One must always be conscious of keeping the gates closed. If the army of the intellect grow weak (you are not conscious of it), then the army of shaytaan will take the opportunity to attack.

When one becomes angry, shaytaan will play with that person as a boy plays with a ball (tossing it and kicking it here and there and making it do what he wants).

Of the great doors, includes: Anger, Desire, Greed, Hastiness – man is hasty by nature (Hastiness of anger is a characteristic of Man that is most helpful to shaytaan), love of adornment of furnishing and house, and the greatest door is Envy.

He whom does not know his doors cannot guard them.

So know them, and guard them.

The Special Properties of the Heart of Man cont..

To continue from the last post:

Imaam Al-Ghazzali says that desire, anger, and external/internal senses exists in the youth potentially – (like a seed planted but needs to grow), but in order to attain them (use them fruitfully) the youth must first pass through two stages:

1)      His heart must comprehend the knowledge and its first principles (the knowledge of possibility and impossibility, rationale judgement, for example it is impossible for Zayd to be in two places at one time..)

2)      He shall gain that knowledge which is acquired by experience and thought (the experiences we have, and reflecting upon these experiences – there is no substitute for experience)

A similtude given:

The status of point 1) in relation to knowledge, is like that of a writer whos knowledge of writing only extends as far as knowing the use of a pen which is dipped into the inkwell which is then used to write letters. But they do not know how to join the letters together to make meaningful words and sentences. – such a person is well on their way to writing, but has not yet achieved it.
(In comparison – is like people who have knowledge of Fiqh, who have memorised the quran, who mastered tajweed, but their knowledge does not extend as far as how to implement it into their life in a meaningful way).

And thus if the youth has passed both point 1) and point 2) is like that of a person who knows how to write – able to form words and sentences meaningfully – a writer. (And in comparison – the person who has much knowledge in Fiqh, Quran, Sunnah, is able to implement it meaningfully and able to make perfectly just decisions based on his knowledge in accordance to his experiences and reflection and maturity which has developed over time).

The potential lies within every youth, like a seed planted but needs to grow

(Picture is of the Blessed Tree in Jordan)

The Special Properties of the Heart of Man

Taken from book 21 of Imaam Al-Ghazzali’s Ihya Ulum Al-Din
Title: An Exposition on the Special Properties on the Heart of Man.

Khaasiyah – an attribute which is inseparable to something, which makes it unique and thus has a special property.

There are things in the world where Allah has given them special properties, e.g. there are certain herbs in the world which are used for specific medicinal purposes, animals have their own unique attributes, and so what makes Man so special? It is his Heart.

The special properties of the heart are based on:

-          Knowledge (Ilm)

-          Will (Iraadah)

From Knowledge (Ilm) meaning: special knowledge, the ability to reflect on the past and future (animals cannot reflect on things) – thus is a special attribute gifted to Man related to the Heart.

From Will (Iraadah) meaning: the ability to act on the intellect, to reach a certain desire/benefit.

Knowledge and Will are related because, if someone wants to do something beneficial (i.e. take medicine), but can only do it through a way that is undesirable (through injection), if they are intelligent they will still go ahead with it in order to reach that which benefits them, therefore the Will goes against the desire based on their knowledge. In comparison, an animal will not go against the desire, it Wills what it desires, if its hungry it eats.

Imaam Al-Ghazzali states that the heart of man has the special properties of Knowledge  and Will which separate it:

-          From other animals (as described above)

-          From the youth in his natural disposition, for this comes to him only with maturity

Thus the difference between the Heart of Man and animals, and the heart of the mature man and the youth.

So its interesting to note that one may adopt the special qualities of the heart – but infact it will be of no real use to them until they know how to use it, and they will know how to use it only with maturity and maturity only comes with time and life experience. Hence why we have young people of today whom have the Will to gain and seek out knowledge, however are still not righteous people, or are unable to make right decisions as they lack maturity  and experience which can only come through time.

An example by Imaam Al-Ghazzali

An example of the inner reality of the heart that Imaam Al-Ghazzali gives:

The Body is like a city and the perceptive power - the Mind (Akl) is a King that rules over the city. The perceptive power of the senses (sight, smell, touch, hearing) both external and internal are its armies and helpers.  The members (limbs) are like the people of the city, the soul which commands to evil – appetence and anger (nafs) is like the enemy who opposes the Kingdom and strives to destroy his people. His body thus becomes a frontier outpost, and his soul, is a place in which guards are placed. So if he strives against the enemy (nafs) and conquours him, then his deeds will be praised on the day that he returns to the presence of Allah (swt). But if he loses the control of the frontier and neglects his people, then his deeds will be blamed and vengeance will be taken against him when he meets Allah.

And so on the outside of the city, we have the evil notions (shaytaan) that try to penetrate the heart – the Castle, to take over the city, through different doors/gates. And it is the enemy within (your nafs) which tells the shaytan which doors are open, because your nafs knows you from the inside, it knows your weaknesses. And thus, we need the Akl – the intellect to understand and to keep closing the doors, to try to win the war.

Your Heart is where the battle takes place within the city. There are lesser battles and there are greater battles, the greater battle being that of the nafs – the battle against yourself.

Allow your Intellect (the King) to close the gate to the Heart (the Castle) in order to win the Battle of the Self (the Nafs)

The Marvels of the Heart: Chapter 2

Chapter 2: An exposition on the armies of the heart (Bayaan Junuud Al-Qalb)

Imam Al-Ghazzali says:

Allah says: no one knows the armies of thy Lord save himself. For in the hearts and spirits of other worlds, Allah has armies levied (Junuud Mujannadah).

Junuud Rabika – the armies of your Lord, which are the Angels (malaika)

Junuud Al-Qalb – the armies of the heart:

The heart has two armies – the armies seen with the eye (outwardly) and the armies seen with the inner sight (inwardly)

 The heart is as a King. And the armies are as servants and helpers.   The armies visible to the eye, include, the hand/foot/leg/ear/eye/tongue etc. These were created with a disposition to obey the heart, and not to rebel against it.

When the heart commands the limbs, they obey, as do the angels when Allah commands them.
Thus note: if the heart is pure, then it will command the limbs to do pure actions.

The heart needs these armies due to its need for a vehicle to make the journey to Allah. Thus, the body is the vehicle of the Heart. The heart needs this vehicle in order to:

-          Procure food -  by the internal army (apetite) and the external army (hand/mouth)

-          To drive off things that will destroy it – internal army (anger), and external (hand/foot). – thus anger is not always a bad thing in terms of protecting yourself and your family.

These things are related to preservation of the body.
And so the heart also needs this vehicle to gain knowledge, again with internal and external aspects.

We have learnt the two types of armies of the heart (internal/external) and why they are needed by the heart. The next post will be about how the heart uses its armies to gain this provision for the journey, inshallah.

The Marvels of the Heart: Chapter 1

Title: An exposition on the meaning of the Soul, Spirit, Heart and Intellect and what is intended by these names.

·         Nafs – Soul

·         Ruh – Spirit

·         Qalb – Heart

·         Akl – Intellect/mind

All of the words listed above have two meanings; a higher and a lower meaning.¹ There is something outwardly related and something inwardly related to them. In their Higher meaning they all have a similar aspect, they coincide with one another.

The Qalb (Heart):

Lower meaning: The fleshy organ on the left side of the chest

Higher meaning: The Spiritual Centre

The Ruh (Spirit):

Lower meaning: the “energy” that circulates the blood around the body

Higher meaning: this coincides with the higher meaning of the heart – it is a “mystery” beyond the comprehension of Man.

The Nafs (Soul):

Lower meaning: this is something that is driven by the physical forces such as appetite, aggression, pleasure seeking, pain avoidance

Higher aspect: No different to the Higher aspect of the Heart and the Spirit where they coincide, it is termed The Serene Soul.

The Akl (Intellect)

Lower meaning: the faculty that processes the information from the sensory apparatus, organises this information, selects the relevant parts and then precedes

Higher meaning: “Inspired intellect” the recipient of knowledge from higher worlds

(so in the lower form, it relates to knowledge itself and in the higher form it relates to the Knower himself)²

Imaam Al-Ghazzali says:  They all have meanings specific to them, but then they also all share a meaning inwardly.²

(Note: that all the lower meanings are as they are in the Dunya, and all the higher meanings are something on a spiritual level, something in the next world, something that is much of a mystery as we cannot comprehend it as such but still we must strive towards it.)

To be continued...The next chapter is really interesting, it explains the role of each Nafs, Ruh, Qalb and Akl within the “Kingdom” the body.

References: 

¹ “Man and the Universe” a book written by Dr Mustafa Badawi – taken from Imaam Al-Ghazzali’s Marvels of the heart.

² The Religious Psychology of Al-Ghazzali: A translation of his book of the Ihya on the Explanation of the Wonders of the Heart with introduction and notes. Skellie, Walter James (1899), 77-32, 719

The Marvels of the Heart: Introduction

The title: Marvels of the Heart

 عجائب القلب      

There are many wonders of the physical heart – its function in the body, scientifically there are still many mysteries that surround the heart, and thus just as there are wonders of the physical heart, that is also so for the inward spiritual heart

Other names for the heart that is found in the Quran and Imaam Al-Ghazzali uses: Fu’aad, Sarira (sara’ir plural)

I wanted to include the arabic text, alas my rubbish IT skills wont allow it. it sounds rather profound in English, but more so in Arabic, thus, I would encourage it to be read or listened to in Arabic.

Translation (by Walter James Skellie) – hopefully I won’t get killed for copywrite, I just had to include exactly what the sheikh said from this translation, it’s just absolutely beyond beautiful, and I couldn’t add anything of my own without ruining its essence.  (Anything written in brackets is just my notes to help me understand it better).

“Praise be to Allah whos majesty does perplex the hearts and thoughts of those who seek in vain to comprehend it; whose shining light is such as to bewilder the eye and sight; the one who beholds the secrets of the heart, the knower of the hidden aspects of our heart; he who has no helper in the ruling of his kingdom; the one who oscillates the heart; the forgiver of sins, the veiler of faults and the one who relieves from anxieties. And peace and blessings be on the master of all messengers; the uniter of the religion and the one who cuts off the people of disobedience, and on his family.”¹

And so he begins  أما  بعد‏    to percede:

“the honour and excellence of man in which he surpasses all other creation/animals in his ability and spiritual preparedness to know Allah – thus the reason why we were created.” ¹

(so he says that what makes us humans different to all other creation, is that Allah gave us the ability to know Allah, and this is an honour for mankind, hence why the (mala’ika) angels were ordered to bow down to Adam, the Angels simply obey Allah, as angels were not created with free-will or choice (the same as any other creation, tree/animal), however Mankind was created with free-will, they have the ability to disobey Allah if they choose to, so the people that choose to obey Allah and choose to seek out knowledge of Allah, this makes them superior to all creation for this reason only, that man was given the ability as well as the choice to become spiritually prepared.)

 

“this knowledge of Allah in this world is mans beauty and perfection and glory and in the next world, it is his provision and store. “¹

(to know Allah in this world; the more you know Allah, the more perfect you become,  and the more perfect you become in this world, the more provision there will be for you in the next world – not sure if I understood this correctly but it made sense to me this way.)

“He only prepares himself to know his Lord by way of his heart, not with any of his limbs, the heart! It is the Heart that knows Allah, it is the heart that draws near to Allah, it is the heart that works for Allah, it is the heart that strives towards Allah, it is at the level of the heart where unveilings take place in Allahs presence.  All of the Limbs are subjects, servants and instruments of the heart. For it is the Heart which is accepted by Allah”²

(the key to drawing near to Allah, is doing so with your heart. When the heart is corrupted, then so too are the limbs and when your heart is on the right path, then the limbs will be also. The heart is like the King and the limbs are merely its subjects and servants in the kingdom. The limbs are instruments, they can be used to help the heart get closer to Allah. i.e. doing dikhr – involves the tongue, the lips, the hands/fingers  tasbeeh,  etc)

“…Since every vessel drips that which it contains” ²

e.g. milk in a glass, when spilled will pour out milk, thus, whatever the heart is filled with, if the heart is filled with goodness, it will diffuse goodness out onto the limbs outwardly, and if it is filled with impure things, then this will be shown externally on the limbs. ³

“The heart is that in which if a man knows it, he knows himself, and if he knows himself, he knows his Lord. It is that in which if a man knows it not, he knows not himself and thus he knows not his Lord.” ²

To know your weakness and your personality, your bad qualities, is all related to knowing ones Lord, if you know what is disliked by your Lord then you will know what weak qualities you hold.³

(thus knowing oneself is the key to knowing ones Lord)

“He who knows not his own heart is still ignorant of everything else.”⁴

So if you are ignorant of knowing your heart, then don’t expect to know anything else with this ignorance. By not focusing on the heart and its characteristics means not being able to control outwardly the limbs. The wrong actions that people commit, is all due to this internal blindness. The ignorance of not knowing the importance of the heart and its connection to the Ruh and to Allah, all provides ignorance of ones own actions. ³

 References:

¹ The Religious Psychology of Al-Ghazzali: A translation of his book of the Ihya on the Explanation of the Wonders of the Heart with introduction and notes. Skellie, Walter James (1899), 77-32, 719 (page 1)

² Same ref as 1 (page 2)

³ Comments of Sheikh Yahya Rhodus

⁴ Same ref as 1 (page 3)

The Marvels of the Heart

I have just recently started studying the following book by Imaam Al-Ghazzali

From Book 21 of Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya Uloom Al-din)

Book 21: Book of an explanation of the Marvelsof the Heart

There is no way I could possible capture all the aspects of this book, and noway can I say I can fully comprehend it. Although every word seems to be truly breath taking, I endevour to try to portray the parts that have completely blown me away. With the help of the right books and English translations and the Sheikh whom has proper knowledge to explain it, And with Allahs help, I do only that which is within my ability.

 “The heart is called the heart due its constant Oscillation, it moves from state to state in every moment.”

If we think about it, even biologically in the physical sense, the heart is constantly  moving from one state to another, where in one beat of the heart it contains oxygenated blood and in the next beat it contains deoxygenated blood, its oscillation is its blood circulation in the body, and so the heart also constantly oscilates spiritually,  in imaan – one moment the heart is filled with imaan, and the next moment there is no imaan and one finds themselves committing sin, and then one repents and the imaan is raised again,

Thus the importance of the the science of tassawuf, to know the fiqh of the heart and the nature of the heart, in order to know how to deal with each state. Usually when studying Fiqh, we are taught the right way of doing things externally, i.e. making wudu, performing prayers, however when the internal fiqh is missing, the fiqh of the heart, it makes the external actions quite pointless. One needs to know the nature of one’s heart in order to respond appropriately in situations and capture the true aspect of being a Muslim, this is part of the journey of every traveler on the spiritual path to become closer to Allah.

My following posts will be what I have written up so far, of my very basic understanding of this book, so stay tuned - its extremely interesting and enlightening, and let me know your thoughts, I would encourage everyone to take this course.