Sincerity of Devotion
It must be remembered that without being sincere in the way of Allah it is not possible to attain to spiritual stations and stages. Truth cannot be unravelled to a spiritual traveller unless he is fully sincere and single-minded in his devotion.
There are two stages of sincerity. The first stage is of carrying out all religious injunctions for the sake of Allah only. The second stage is of devoting one's entire self exclusively to Allah. The first stage is indicated by the following verse:
They are ordained nothing but to worship Allah keeping religion pure for Him. (Surah al -Bayyinah, 98:5)
The second stage is indicated by the following verse:
Save single minded slaves of Allah. (Surah as *faffat, 37:128)
There is a well-known Prophetic tradition to the effect that he who has kept himself pure for Allah for 40 days, fountains of wisdom flow from his heart to his tongue.
This tradition also alludes to the second stage of sincerity. The Qur'an has at certain places described a deed as
salih (virtuous and pious). For example it said: "Whoever did a
salih (virtuous and pious) deed". And at some other places it
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describes some men as For example at one place it says:
.Surely he was one of the salih (pious). .Similarly it has sometimes described a deed as sincere and sometimes a man as sincere. It
is obvious that man's sincerity depends on his deeds and he cannot be sincere unless he is sincere in all his deeds and in all that he does or says. Allah says:
To Him ascends good word and the
good deed raises it. (Surah 35:10)
It may be remembered that a man who attains to the grade of personal sincerity, is endowed with certain other characteristic qualities which are not possessed by others.
An important characteristic which he acquires is that according to a text of the Qur'an he becomes immune from the domination of Satan. The Qur'an quotes Satan saying:
My Lord, I swear by Your honour, I shall adorn the path of error for them in the earth and shall mislead all of them, except such of them as are your sincerely devoted slaves. (Surah al-Hijr, 38:82)
It is clear that Allah's sincerely devoted slaves have been excluded here not because Satan was forced by Allah to do so. They have been excluded because owing to their attaining to the station of 'unity', Satan can no longer gain control over them. As these people have made themselves pure for Allah, they see Allah wherever they cast their eyes. Whatever shape Satan may assume, they see the manifestation of Allah's glory in it. That is why Satan has admitted from the beginning his helplessness against them. Otherwise it is his job to seduce the children of Adam and to lead them astray. He can have no mercy on anyone.
The second point is that the sincerely devoted slaves of Allah will be exempted from reckoning on the Day of Judgment. The Qur'an says:
And the trumpet is blown and .all who are in the heavens and the earth swoon away, save him whom Allah wills. .(Surah az-Zumar, 39:68)
This verse definitely shows that an unspecified group of people will be saved from the horrors of the Day of Judgment. When we match this verse with another verse which reads:
They will surely be produced save sincerely single-minded people, (Surah as Saffat, 37:39 40) it becomes clear what that group will be. The sincerely devoted people need not be brought up
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for reckoning. They have already secured eternal life as the result of their meditations, self-annihilation and ceaseless acts of devotion. They have already passed the reckoning and judgment and as having been slain in the way of Allah, they have provision with their Lord.
Think not of those who are slain in the way of Allah as dead. Nay, they are living. With their Lord they have provision. (Surah Ali Imrin, 3:169)
Moreover, only that one is produced who is not present. These people are already present even before the beginning of the Day of Resurrection, for Allah says that they have provision with their Lord.
The third point is that on the Day of Judgment people will generally be rewarded and recompensed for their deeds. But these sincerely single-minded people will be favoured with rewards beyond their deeds. Allah says:
You are not requited but what you did, save sincerely single-minded slaves of Allah. (Surah az-Zumar, 39:40)
If it is claimed that this verse means only that the sinners will be punished for their sins, but the reward given to the virtuous will purely be a favour bestowed on them by Allah, we will say that this verse is general in its connotation and does not exclusively refer to the sinners. Moreover, there is no contradiction between Allah's favour and His recompense, for Allah's favour means that He sometimes rewards a great deal for small deeds. In spite of this kind of favour the reward still remains for the deeds performed. But what this verse says is quite a different thing. It says that what Allah will bestow on His sincerely single minded slaves, will be a pure favour, not a reward for any deeds at all.
Another verse says:
There they have all that they desire and there is more with Us. (Surah Qaf, 50:35)
This verse means that the inmates of Paradise will have all that man can desire or wish. Not only that, but Allah will bestow on them what they cannot imagine or think of. This point is worth considering. The fourth point is that this group holds such a high position that its members can glorify Allah in the most appropriate manner.
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Allah says:
Glorified be Allah from what they attribute to Him, except what the sincerely single-minded slaves of Allah say of Him. (Surah as Saffat, 37:159-160)
This is the highest position that a man can occupy.
The above mentioned details show what the blessings of this last stage of gnosis are. But it must be kept in mind that these blessings can be obtained only when the spiritual traveller's ceaseless devotion reaches the stage of self-annihilation so that he may be called to have been slain in the way of Allah and may become eligible for the reward reserved for the martyrs. Just as in the battlefield the sword cuts off the connection between the body and the soul of a martyr, similarly a spiritual traveller snaps off the connection between his body and his soul by fighting against his appetitive soul. For this purpose he acquires the help of his spiritual power instead of using his physical force.
In the beginning of his spiritual journey a devotee should lead an ascetic life and should constantly contemplate on the worthlessness of the vanities of the world and thus should break off his relation to the world of plurality. When he would cease to be interested in the world, no material gain will ever please him nor will any material loss grieve him.
So that you grieve not for what you have missed and exult not for what you have been given. (Surah al-Hadid, 57:23)
Indifference to the happiness and sorrow does not mean that the spiritual traveller does not feel happy even about the bounties of Allah or does not grieve at anything which may distress Him, for happiness about Allah's favours is not the result of his love for worldly trivialities such as wealth, rank, honour, fame etc. He loves the bounties of Allah because he finds himself overwhelmed by His mercy.
After passing this stage the devotee feels that he still loves himself ardently. Whatever spiritual effort and exercises he makes is the result of his self-love. Man is selfish by nature. He is always ready to sacrifice everything else for his own self. He would be willing to destroy anything for the sake of his own survival. It is difficult for him to do away with this natural instinct and to overcome his selfishness. But so long as he does
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not do so, he cannot expect the divine light to manifest itself in his heart. In other words unless a spiritual traveller annihilates his individual self he cannot establish his connection with Allah. Therefore it is necessary for him first to weaken and ultimately to smash the spirit of selfishness so that whatever he may do, is done purely for the sake of Allah and his sense of self-love may turn into love for Him.
For this purpose ceaseless effort is necessary. After passing this stage the devotee's attachment not only to his body and every other thing material ceases to exist, but even his attachment to his soul is finished. Now whatever he does, he does for Allah alone. If he eats to satiate his hunger or provides for the bare necessities of life, he does so only because his Eternal Beloved wants him to continue to live. All his wishes become .subject to the Will of Allah. That is why he does not seek any miraculous power for himself. He believes that he has no right to undertake any sort of spiritual exercise with a view to know the past or predict future events or to practise thought-reading or to cover very long distances in a very short time or to make any changes in the universal system or to invigorate his libidinous faculties, for such acts are not performed for pleasing Allah, nor can they be motivated by sincere devotion to Him. They mean only self-worship and are performed for the satisfaction of one's licentious desires, although the person concerned may not admit this fact and although he may apparently be sincerely devoted to Allah. But according to the following verse he only worships his desire.
Have you seen him who makes his desire his god? (Surah al-Jithiyah, 45:23)29
Therefore the spiritual traveller should pass all these stages cautiously and do his best to gain complete control over his vanity. We shall further talk on this subject later.
When the devotee reaches this final stage, he gradually begins to lose interest in himself and ultimately forgets himself totally. Now he sees nothing except the eternal and everlasting .beauty of his True Beloved.
It must be borne in mind that it is essential for the spiritual traveller to gain complete victory over the fiendish horde of licentious desires, love for wealth, fame and power, pride and conceit. It is not possible to attain perfection if any trace of
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self-love is left, that is why it has been observed that many a distinguished man even after years long spiritual exercise and ceaseless acts of devotion could not attain perfection in gnosis and was defeated in his battle against his phenomenal self. The reason was that his heart was not fully purified, and petty desires still lurked in some corner of his heart, though he was under the impression that all his evil qualities had been uprooted. The result was that at the time of test the suppressed desires once again raised their head and began to thrive, with the result that the poor devotee fell on evil times.
Success against the lower self depends on the favour of .Allah and cannot be achieved without His help.
It is said that one day the late Bahrul Thim was very cheerful. On being asked about the reason of that, he said: "After performing ceaseless acts of devotion for 25 years now I find my deeds free from ostentation." The lesson in this story .is worth being remembered well.
It is to be remembered that a spiritual traveller must abide by the Islamic injunctions from the very beginning of his embarking on the path of gnosis to the end of it. Even the slightest digression from the law is not allowed. If you find that anyone in spite of claiming to be gnostic, does not follow all the rules of Islamic law and is not strictly pious and virtuous, he may be regarded as a hypocrite and impostor. But if he commits a mistake and has some valid reason to justify his wrong action, then it is a different thing.
It is a big lie and calumny to hold that the Islamic code of law may be disregarded by a
wali (Muslim saint). The Holy Prophet held the highest position among all living beings, but he still abided by the injunctions of Islam till the last moments of his life. Therefore it is absolutely wrong to say that a
wali is not obligated to observe the law. Anyhow, it is possible to say that an ordinary man worships Allah in order to consummate his potentialities, but a
wali worships Him because his high position requires him to do so. Ayeshah is reported to have said to the Holy Prophet: "When Allah has said about you:
So that Allah may forgive you of your sin, that which is past and that which is to come, (Surah al-Fath, 48:2) then why do you exert yourself so much to perform the acts of worship?" The Holy
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Prophet said: "Should I not be a thankful slave of Allah?"
This shows that certain individuals worship Allah not for the consummation of their personality, but to show their gratitude to Allah.
The states which a spiritual traveller experiences and the lights which he beholds, should be a prelude to his acquisition of certain traits and qualities. Otherwise a simple change in his condition is not enough. The spiritual traveller must completely get rid of all remnants of the lower world in himself by means of meditation and ceaseless acts of devotion. It is not possible to acquire the position of the virtuous and the pure without acquiring their qualities. A little slip in the matters of meditation and acts of devotion may cause a spiritual traveller a tremendous loss. The following verse throws light on this point:
Muhammad is
but a messenger. Other messengers have passed away before him. Will it be that, when he dies or is slain, you will turn back on your heels?". (Surah 'Ali Imran, 3:144)
Therefore the spiritual traveller must cleanse his heart and purify himself inwardly and outwardly so that he may be graced with the company of the pure souls.
Allah says:
Forsake outward as well as inward sins. (Surah al-An'am, 6:120)
Acting according to this verse the spiritual traveller must pass all those stages which enable him to arrive at the stage of sincere devotion. These stages have been briefly enumerated in the following verse:
Those who believe, and have left their homes and strive with their wealth and their lives in Allah's way, are of much greater worth in Allah's sight. These are they who are triumphant. Their Lord gives them good tidings of mercy from Him, and acceptance, and Gardens where enduring pleasures will be theirs. There they will abide for ever. Surely with Allah there is an immense reward. (Surah at-Tawbah, 9:20 - 22)
According to this verse there are four worlds preceding to the world of sincere devotion: (i) World of Islam, (ii) World of faith, (iii) World of emigration, and (iv) World of
Jihad in the way of Allah. According to the Prophetic tradition in which it has been said: "We have returned from a minor holy war to a major holy war", the spiritual traveller's struggle is a major
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holy war (major jihad), and as such his Islam also should be a major Islam and his faith also a major faith. After passing the stages of Islam and faith he should muster enough courage to be able to emigrate in the company of the inward messenger with the help of the outward messenger or his successor. Thus he should undertake self-mortification, so that he may gain the status of a person slain in the way of Allah.
The spiritual traveller must keep it in mind that from the beginning of his spiritual journey till the stage of self-mortification he has to face many obstacles, which are created either by man or the Devil. He has to pass through the worlds of major Islam and major faith before reaching the stage of self-mortification and gaining the status of a martyr. In the spiritual journey major Islam, major faith, major emigration and major holy war are preliminary stages preceding the final stage. The Major obstacles in the way to these stages are called major infidelity and major hypocrisy. At this stage the junior devils can do no harm to the spiritual traveller, but Satan who is their supreme head still tries to obstruct his progress. Therefore while passing through these stages he should not think that he is out of danger. So long as he does not pass out of above-mentioned "major worlds", Satan will continue to obstruct his way. The spiritual traveller should keep up his spirit and beware of Satan, lest he be involved in major infidelity or major hypocrisy. After passing through the worlds of major Islam and major faith the spiritual traveller undertakes major emigration and then by means of self-mortification he passes through major self-resurrection and then passes into the valley of those who are sincerely devoted to Allah. May Allah grant us all this success?
