This article is from Purification of the Mind (Jila’ Al-Khatir)
* The Prophet (Allah’s prayer and peace be on him) is reported to have said: “In every craft seek the expertise of its experts.” Worshipping is a craft, and its experts are those whose deeds are righteous; those who are knowledgeable of the Law and have put it into practice; those who have bidden farewell to all creatures after knowing them; those who have run away from their lower selves, their possessions, their children, and everything other than their Lord (mighty and glorified is He) on the feet of their hearts and their innermost beings. Their bodies are in populated places, in the midst of the creatures; but their hearts are in the wilderness and deserts. They keep to this until their hearts grow and their wings strengthen and fly to heaven. Their spiritual aspirations ascended, so their hearts flew up and reached the True One (mighty and glorified is He). Thus, they became among those about whom Allah (mighty and glorified is He) has said: “And in Our sight they are among the righteous elect” (38.47).
You have this world in your hearts. You have acts of disobedience in your hearts. Let me take charge of you to cleanse and purify you with drinks I offer you. The drinks that I give you are pious restraint, renunciation, piety, faith, certitude, knowingness, Knowledge, forgetting everything, and being in a state of extinction with respect to everything. After reaching this state, existence through your Lord (mighty and glorified is He), nearness to Him, and remembrance of Him will come to you. When all of this has become true of someone, he becomes a sun, moon, and guide for the creatures — taking them by their hands from the river of this world to the shore of the hereafter.
Woe to you! You depend exclusively on your opinion and say: “What do I do with the company of the jurisprudents and scholars?” You think you have been created only for earning worldly things, eating, drinking, and having sexual intercourse. Repent and return before the Angel of Death (prayer and peace be on our Prophet and on all prophets and angels) comes to you and takes you while you are amid the worst of deeds. Everyone of you is told to observe the commandments and prohibitions and endure with patience whatever destiny brings.
* Moses (prayer and peace be on our Prophet and on him) came to his people carrying the Torah which contained the commandments and prohibitions. They said to him: “We will not accept what you say unless we see Allah’s face and hear His speech.” He said to them: “He has not shown His face to me so how would He show it to you?” They replied: “If you do not show us His face and let us hear His speech, we will not accept His words.” Therefore, Allah (mighty and glorified is He) revealed to Moses (prayer and peace be on our Prophet and on him) the following: “Tell them if they want to hear My speech, they must fast for three days, and on the fourth day purify themselves and dress up in new, clean clothes, then bring them to hear My speech.” Moses told them that, so they did so.
Then they came to the place on the mountain where Moses used to privately converse with His Lord (mighty and glorified is He). Moses had chosen seventy men from the scholars and ascetics of his people. Then the True One (mighty and glorified is He) addressed them, and they were all thunderstruck, with Moses (prayer and peace be on our Prophet and on him) remaining alone. He said, “O Lord! You have killed the elite of my nation,” and he wept. Allah responded to his weeping with mercy and revived them. They stood on their feet and said: “O Moses, we do not have the capacity to hear the speech of Allah (high is He), so be the mediator between us and Him!” Thus, Allah spoke to Moses who, in turn, enabled his people to hear Him by repeating His words.
Moses could hear the speech of Allah (mighty and glorified is He) because of the strength of his faith and the realization of his obedience and servitude, whereas they failed to hear Him because of the weakness of their faith. If they had accepted from him what was brought to them of the Torah, had acted with obedience on the commandments and prohibitions, had kept to good manners, had not tried a test, and had not dared to say what they said, they would have been able to hear the speech of Allah (mighty and glorified is He).
Copyright © 2008 Shetha Al-Dargazelli & Louay Fatoohi
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