SPIRITUAL JOURNEY OF THE MYSTICS
(SALUK-E-ARIFAN)
by
Haj Mirza Javad Agha Maliki Tabrizi (R.A.)
1. Translator's Forward
The Day-of-Judgment in the Holy Qur'an has been described as
the Day-of-Regret
(Yom al-Hasrat),
when the people would witness the inner
essence of this world for the first time with their ow n eyes; they
would then be crying:
is there a way to get out of
Hell?
1 But then it would be too late. Unfortunately, for most of the
people, it is only after their death or their being transferred into other
world that they withness the esoteric essence of this creation. But the
esoteric essence of this creation is a reality and there exists a complete
harmony and coordination among its various constituents.
In the Islamic narrations it has been mentioned, that if a group of
people are sitting at a place, then in case if they were engaged in a
righteous deed, that piece of earth
prays and seeks Allah's forgiveness
(istaghfar)
for them. But if they were busy in sinning, the same spot sends
cursing upon them. For a pious righteous scholar
(alim-e-rabbani),
it is said that the whole universe, i.e. earth, mountains, plants, rivers, and even
the fishes inside the water pray and seek Allah's forgiveness
(istaghfar)
for him.
2
____________
1— the Holy Qur'an (40:12).
2– Friday-Prayer sermon of Tehran delivered by Ayatullah Imami Kashani on
Ramadhan 10, 1418, Jan.9,1998.
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Therefore, there is a direct relationship between human existence
and the created world, if he sins the
entire creation curses upon him.
likewise if he engages into Allah's servitude and obedience, the
entire creation prays for him and
beseech Allah (the glorious, the exalted), to
bestow upon him His best blessings and
bounties. Because, a sinner moves in the direction opposite to the
divine aim of human creation, his sinning creates a disorder in the aim of
human creation which is — the movement towards Allah (the glorious, the
exalted).
Since, Allah (the glorious, the exalted), likes the tears of shame of
sinners, he has created the Holy Month of
Ramadhan — a month of blessings
and mercy. It is a month of worship, prayers, supplications.
repentance, night-vigil, and self-purification. Worshiping
in this month is
bestowed rewards many times of the reward of worship performed in other
months. Even the sleeping and breathing
of a believer are given the
reward of a worship. It is a month when the gates of the Paradise are opened
while the Hell's doors are closed. Divine angels continuously invite
the people towards Allah's worship, especially at the dawn on the
Night-of-Power
(Lailatul-Qadr) in which the
worshiping and night-vigil are superior than the prayer of thousand
months
l. Allah (the glorious, the
exalted), in this month has granted an
audience inviting all the believers
for a divine feast, the invitation of
which has been brought by His messengers.
The host is the most Merciful and Compassionate Lord. His favorite angels are
the servants, and the believers are the guests. The table-cloth of
divine blessings, containing all sorts of
rewards and favors has been
spreaded. From all dimensions the divine special blessings and
favors — which can't be seen by the eyes,
ears are helpless to hear about them, and human hearts can not even
imagine them — are readied to be awarded
upon the guests in accordance to their merits, worths, and absorbing
capacities. If we are negligent, we will feel regret on the Day-of-Judgment
whereby feeling sorry and being regretful will not be of
____________
1– the Holy Qur'an (97.3).
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any advantage. There is a detailed sermon delivered by the Holy Prophet
(S.A.W.) describing the importance of
this blessed month, a portion of which is quoted here as follows:
Oh people the month of Allah with
blessing mercy and pardon has came
to you, a month which is the best month among all months before Him;
its days are the best days; its nights are the best nights and its hours are
the best hours. It is the month in which you have been invited by Allah for
a feast and have been selected as the recipient of this special favor. Your
breathings merit the reward of a worship. In this month your deeds are
accepted and prayers are granted.
Therefore, with true intention and pure hearts beseech Allah
to' bestow upon you His special favor to
be able to observe fasting and
recite the Holy Qur'an. Because, the most unfortunate and wretched one is
the who remains deprived from Allah's pardon during this great month.
With your thirst and hunger remind yourself about the thirst and hunger of
the Day-of-judgment; pay charity to poor and destitute people, pay respect
to elders; be kind towards youngsters, and observe the bonds of relationship
with your kith and kins.
The Holy Month of Ramadhan is directly
related to Allah (the glorious, the exalted), because, it is the only
month whose name has been mentioned in the Holy Qur'an, the month in which
the Holy Qur'an after descending through
various veils in the Celestial-kingdom was revealed
upon the sacred heart of the Holy Prophet
(S.A.W.) though Arch angel Gabriel, as described in the Holy Qur'an
as follows:
The Holy Month of Ramadan in which was revealed the
Quran, a guidance for
mankind, and clear proofs of the guidance,
and the criterion (of right and wrong).
– the Holy Qur7m(2:185).
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The present book is the English translation of the Persion book:
Spiritual Journey of the Mystics
(Salak-e-Arifan) —which is the
translation of Arabic book:
al-Muraqebat fi Am?l
al-Sunnah, written by the most eminent perfect mystic Late Haj
Mirza Javad Agha Maliki
Tabrizi. As the enclosed biography
would reveal, he was the most eminent gnostic and ascetic of his period, who
had attained the most exalted mystic
position of
Kashf-wa-Shahud — a spiritual
position, whereby the curtains are rolled up from the wayfarers
esoteric eyes, enabing him to see into the unseen far beyond the limits of
this material world.
The book present a detailed description of etiquettes and codes of special
deeds performed by Allah's most sincere servants during the Holy
Month of Ramadhan; the self-restraint
and asceticism practiced by them
during these worships and the self-purification achieved by them. The
present translation covers the following topics: deeds and etiquettes of the
Holy Month of Ramadhan, special
distinction of the Holy Month of Ramadhan, the splendor and eminence
of supplications compiled by the
Ahlul-Bait (A.S.),
etiquettes and codes of
prayer, the leadership (
Im?mat) and preaching
(Va'iz),
the Night-of-Power
(Lailatul-Qadr),
the last night of the Holy
Month of Ramadhan, the commentary—world being the House-of-Illusion
(Dar al-Gharoor), how to
farewell the Holy Month of Ramadhan, and
comments about the sense and perception among the solid bodies etc.
If the
readers are seriously interested to discover the inner essence
of the Ramadhan's reality far beyond the
apparent rituals of not eating and drinking etc., they will find the
content of this book highly useful and
interesting. In the end, I would like to mention about the most severe
calamity of our times, especially
in the advanced materialistic societies which is —
the dryness of the eyes.
Following is a tradition narrated by Imam al-Sajjad (A.S.):
Oh Lord! I do complain to you, against the dryness of the
eyes, which do not cry, are not afraid of you, and instead take
pleasure in looking whatever makes them pleased.
- the Bihar al Anwar vol. 94, p-143.
( 06 )
And the following narration:
The dryness of the eyes is the result
of hard-heartedness; hard-heartedness is
caused due to excessive sinning; excessive sins are the result of
consumption of food, which is arranged through
forbidden and unlawful income; earning
through forbidden and unlawful means is due to forgetting death;
forgetting death is due to lengthy desires; lengthy desires are caused
because of attachment to the world; and the world's attachment is the root
of all evils.
Therefore, if after offering daily prayers, recital of
Duai Kumail,1 in the
Qunootof night-prayer, performance of deeds
during the Nights-of-Power (Lailatul-Qadr) in the Holy Month of Ramadhan, and
in general while communicating and establishing a link with the Most
Supreme Reality, if one can not shed a tear, then he should resort to
spiritual physicians immediately without any further delay.
I wish to express my sincere appreciation to all of those who have
contributed towards the realization of
this translation, especially Ayat511511 Ibrahim Amini the
learned scholar and jurisprudent from the Religious
Learning Center of Qum, and Haj Agha
Ansariyan for their encouragement,
guidance, and valuable suggestions. I am indebted to my wife Mrs.
Fatimeh Razavi and my daughter Miss. Saman Zaidi in their
painstaking efforts and endeavors for
type-setting and designing of the
text. Elucidatory foot notes added by the translator are identified
with [Tr].
In the end I wish to apologize to my readers
for possible errors and omissions, and
sincerely welcome their suggestions and comments regarding this work
as well as other translation works of this translator, published earlier by
the Ansariy?n Publications, on the following address.
____________
1—Duai-Kumail: The Prayer of Kumail, a prayer taught to Kumail ibn
Ziyad — a close associate of Imam 'All (A.S.) — by the Imam (A.S.). Its recitation is
particularly recommended during Friday Night (i.e. Night after the end of
Thursday). For the text see Sheik Abass Qummi's Mafatih al-Jinan pp. 83-90 [Tr].
( 07 )
Also, it will be highly useful if the readers could communicate and let us know
their needs and requirements about the Islamic books which should
be translated from Arabic and Persian
into English. We look forward to hear the comments of our dear readers.
Sayyid Hussein Alamdar
Ramadhan 27, 1418
January 26, 1998
Tehran
Phone : 0098-021-2281619
Fax : 0098-021-2281619
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2. Biography of Late Haj Mirza Javad Agha Malaki Tabrizi (R.A.)
The most distinguished jurisprudent and perfect mystic Late Haj
Mirza Javad Agha Malaki Tabrizi was born in Tabriz. After finishing early
education at his home town, he left for
Najaf-e-Ashraf which at that time
was supposed to be the most reputable center. At
Najaf he attended the lectures
of great learned jurisprudents such as Akhund Khoras?ni,
writer of
Kifayeh al-Usool,
Haj Agha Ridha Hamadani, writer of
Misbah
al-Faqiyeh, and Muhaddith Nouri, writer of
Mustadrak al-Was?il.
Also during this period he came in
contact with most celebrated mystic personality of that time — Akhund
Mulla Hussein Quli Hamadani; who was unique in knowledge, ethics, and
mystics. Haj Agha Malaki spent 14 years with him and during this period
acquired profound knowledge of moral
ethics and mysticism from his learned teacher. Haj Agha Malaki
attained such higher spiritual positions in gnosticism that a great
jurisprudent and scholar like Sheik Muhammad Hussein Isf5hanf famous
as Kampanihimself an outstanding authority of learning and deeds — in
a letter to Haj Agha Malaki seeks his instructions regarding ethics and mysticism.
( 10 )
Haj Agha Malaki returned to his native home town Tabriz in the year 1320 or 21 A.H.
and settled down there, but after few years due to
constitutional revolution the condition
in Tabriz deteriorated, facing him
to migrate to Qum, where he started
teaching jurisprudence from Faiz
Kashani's Book: Mafatih as well as taught ethics
(Akhlaque). Also, he kept himself busy in
writing and had left many precious works. Ultimately,
after living a fruitful life full of
learning, writing, refinement, and purification of self, he left this
transient world to join his Beloved in the
morning of 11
th.
Dhi'l-hijjah, 1343 A.H. His holy remains were
buried in the Shaykhan-Qum Graveyard near the tomb of Mirzai-Qummi The following verse
written in Persian reflects about his precious existence and the year of his demise.
The world lost its soul, and the nation lost its shelter.
His virtues and mystical perfections are far greater to be confined in
words. In order to satisfy the curiosity of our readers to know more about
profundities of Islamic mysticism, the
following reports narrated by authentic sources will through some
light about the spiritual perfections of this great man:
1. One of his close friend and pupil had reported:
One night in the City of Shahrud in a dream I found myself
in a plain where Imam al-Mahdi (A.S.)1, the Lord and Master of
____________
1— Imam al-Mahdi(A.S.):The son of Imam Hasan 'Askari was born in Samarra on
Friday, 15th. Sha'ban 255 A.H. The twelfth Imam lived in hiding under the
protection and tutorship of his father until the latter's martyrdom,
when by Allah's command he went into occultation, during a period known
as Lesser-occultation (al-Ghaybat al-Sughra). During this period, four special deputies in
succession would answer the questions of the Shi'ite and resolve their problems.
After that in the year 329 A.H., the Imam (AS.) went into the Greater-occultation
(al-Ghaybat al-Kubra), until a day when by Allah's command he will reappear to fill
the world with justice as it is now filled with oppression [Tr].
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the Age, together with a group of his companions, was leading the congregational
prayer. With the intention of kissing his hand and
salutations, when I approached him, I
sow a sheik whose face was the manifstations of virtues and
perfections sitting near the Imam. After awakening from this dream
I kept thinking deeply about the dignified
sheik who is so close to the Imam (A.S.). I was so much interested to
identify and meet him.
Searching for him, I went to Mashhad hoping
to locate him over there but could not, came to Tehran but still there was
no news from him, ultimately, when I came
to Qum, I found him in a small room at Faizyeh-School busy in teaching.
Having inquired about him, they
said: He is Mime' Javad Malaki Tabrizi.' When I visited
him he welcomed me warm-heartedly and
with kindness, treated me in a manner as though he knows me, and was
aware of that dream. After that I
remained in his company and found him exactly the way I had first
perceived him in that dream.
2. Another one of his intimate friend has reported the following
story:
One day after finishing the lecture Late Malaki went to the room of a religious student in
Dar al-Shafa School; he thanked and appreciated the inmate and after sitting over there
for a while came out of the room. Since I was accompanying him, I asked the reason of
visiting this student, Haj Agha Malaki answered: ' last night near the dawn, I was
bestowed with special divine grace which I understood was not due to my own deeds.
When, I thought deeply, I discovered that this student is busy in night-vigil
and in his night prayer has prayed for me, and those blessing were the result of his
prayer. Therefore, I visited him for offering my appreciation and thanks.'
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3.Late Malaki has a son who is the source of warmth and pleasure
for his household. On the Day of
Eid-e-Ghadir
l, when traditionally people visit the elderly
personalities to offer greeting, his house is full of visitors.
Suddenly, a female servant discovers the
dead body of his son floating inside the yard's water pool. She
starts crying; the other women folk of H5j
Agha Malaki's household join her in loud
crying; having heard the loud
screams 1-1aj Agha Malaki comes to the back yard and sees the
lifeless body of his dear one; he controls himself and asks the women
folk to stop crying,
____________
1— Eid-e-Ghadir: In the tenth year of the Hijra, the Most Noble Messenger (SAW.)
set out from Mecca to perform his final, farewell Hajj. After carrying out the rituals
of the pilgrimage and imparting necessary teachings to the people, he set out for Medina.
When he was returning on 18th.Dhi'l-hijjah (10 March, 632), on the
road at a locale known as Ghadir. al-Khumm (Ghadir-Pond), he ordered
the caravan to halt. In the midst of one hunderd twenty thousand pilgrims from all over the
Arabian' peninsula, he took 'Ali's (AS.) hand, raised it aloft, and declared:
He of whom I am the mowla (the patron, master, and leader) of him 'Allis also
the mowla (man kuntu mawlahu fa'Ali:un-mowlahu). Oh Allah! Be
friend of him who is his friend, and be the enemy of him who is his enemy
(Allahuma wali man walahu
wa adi man
adahu).
With
this act, the question of the successor, who was to govern the affairs of
the Muslim's, guard the Sunna ( the body of customary behavior based on the
Prophet's
precedent ), and uphold religious customs and laws, was settled for the
Islamic
society. The intent of the noble verse:
Messenger! Promulgate what has been
revealed to you by your Lord, for if you do not, you will not have conveyed
His message (5:67)'
was carried out. The Most Noble Messenger (SAW.) died shortly
after returning to Medina. The above traditions of al-Ghadir are so
abundantly reported and so commonly attested by hundreds of different transmitters
belonging to all school of thoughts that it would be futile to doubt their authenticity.
Ibne Kathir, a most staunch supporter of Sunni view point has devoted seven pages
to this subject and has collected a great number of different isnads
from which the tradition is narrated. Also, Imam Ahmad b. Hanbal has
recorded this event in his Musnad.
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the women stop lamentation and become silent, the dead body is placed in
a corner and they return inside the house in order to treat the visiting
guests. Some of the guests remained for the lunch at his house. After the lunch, when
the guests asked permission to leave, }Haj Agha Malaki says to some of his close
friends: please don't leave, I have to tell you some thing.' When all the guests leave
the house, he informs them about thetragedy of his son's demise and seeks their
help in making the necessary arrangements for the funeral.
4.Late Hujjattul Islam Sayyid Mahmud Yazdi one of very close and intimate friend
has narrated the following :
When the time of night prayer arrived he used to perform all the etiquettes,
recommended for awakening namely: prostration and special supplications, used to cry
in his bed, then he would come outside in the yard and looking at the sky would recite
the verse:
Lo! In the creation of earth and sky there are signs ...1, and
while placing his head against the wall shedded tears. During ablutions sitting on the
water pool continued crying, while standing upon the prayer rug used to become
agitated and cried a lot during prayer, and especially in Qunoots.
5.Late Haj Agha Hussein Fatimi, a pious
ascetic and an intimate friend of Late Malaki has narrated:
When I returned from the Jamkaran-Mosque, I was informed
that Haj Agha Malaki has inquired about
me. Since, I knew that he was sick I rushed to see him. I presume it
was Friday afternoon, I found him laying
in a bed, neat and clean, bathed, perfumed, and hair dyed readied for
Dhor and Asr prayer. He recited Adhan and
Aqameh upon his bed, recited
supplications and as soon as raised his hands for Takbireh al-Ahram
and said: Allahu-Akbar—Allah is
____________
1– the Holy Qur'an (2:164)[Tr].
( 14 )
great — his sacred spirit ascended towards the Celestial-Kingdom, thus, the meanings
of narration: the prayer is believer's heavenly journey — become truly manifested for
him. Also, the meanings of get redied for the prayer—qad qamat as-salat , which in
accordance to traditions has been described as the time of meeting with the Beloved,
too became materialized for him, because he rushed to meet his Beloved with prayer .
This was the brief life history of a perfect mystic. For the detailed biography the
readers may refer to the following books:
Rehanateh al-Adab, vol.5, p-397,
Naqba al-Beshar,vol.1, p-330, Ganjinai-d?nishmand?n, vol. 1, p-232, perface to Resala
Laqa-Allah, and Simai-farzangan pp. 60-70.
