Attitude Towards Death

A Chishti pir has this to add: The attitude of the Sufis towards death can be described in this way that they think that if they die they shall be with Allah and if they live Allah will be with them. Thus whether in life or in death they are with the Friend. An eminent saint, named shaykh 'Abdul Qadir Jilani (d. 1166), better known as al-ghawth al-'azam (the supreme helper), says that:  ‘To remember death is the best remedy for the treatment of all the ills of the self'.

A good life can be led only when one is mindful of death. The recollection of death is the best preparation for the life hereafter. One of the benefits of a pure life is that it frees an individual from the fear of death. Shaykh 'Abdul Qadir Jilani offered prayers and prayed for the welfare of all. Then he bowed down in adoration and when he raised his head, he heard a voice from the source invisible saying some words, which translated run thus: 

O, tranquil self! Return to your Lord Well pleased and pleasing! Enter among My servants 

(Source: http://www.chishti.ru/sufi_death.htm)

Anger : Sign of Unleashed Ego

Anger and its manifestations are one of the great sins if aroused by wrongs done to you personally. But it is permissable and right  and a part of correct behaviour and good character to become angry because of something done against Allah and his divine precepts, to manifest it, and to fight for Allah's sake.

If you wish to find the truth and have Allah's pleasure and support in it, then avoid being negative and control your temper and anger. If you cannot stop anger, at least do not show it. When you do this, you will please Allah and disappoint the devil. You will begin it educate your ego and straighten and shorten your path. Anger is a result and a sign of the ego not being under control, like a mean wild animal, untied and uncaged. As you hold your temper, it is as if you put a bridle on its head and barriers around it. You begin then to tame it, teach it how to behave, to obey, so that it cannot hurt others or itself (because it is part of you).

When this discipline reflects from you, revealing someone who can control his temper and hold his anger, your adversary will be calmed. You will not be reacting to his provocations. You will not be punishing him or responding to his negativity, but ignoring it. This is more effective than punishing him. He may be led to see the reality of his acts, to realise what is fair, and to confess his faults.

Give heed to this advice and make it a habit. if you do, you will certainly see the positive result and the rewards here and in the hereafter. You will be the winner on the day when your deeds will be weighed. That is the greatest reward and the greatest grace that you will receive. For if you hold your temper, the All-Just will also hold back his punishment for your sins, which are punishable by His divine wrath. Your forgiving will be rewarded by His forgiving you. What better benefit may one expect for effort in bearing hardship caused by your brothers and sisters in faith.

Allah will treat you the way He has ordered you to treat others. So try to assume the good qualtiies of being just, peaceful, helpful, gentle and loving. Persist in these qualities; act with them. You will see that this character will spread from you to others around you, creating harmony, mutual love and respect. The Beloved of Allah, our master the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), orders us to love each other, to be in a continuous loving state. He repeats this in so many ways, in so many statements. To  leave anger, to replace it with bearing hardship, with forgiving, with caring for the one who causes the hardship, is one of the cornerstones of the foundation of love.

From 'What the Seeker Needs' by Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi, translated by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak and Rabia Harris.

The Amazing Heart of Man

I am amazed at the heart of man: It possesses the substance of wisdom as well as the opposites contrary to it ... for if hope arises in it, it is brought low by covetousness: and if covetousness is aroused in it, greed destroys it.

If despair possesses it, self piety kills it: and if it is seized by anger, this is intensified by rage. If it is blessed with contentment, then it forgets to be careful; and if it is filled with fear, then it becomes pre-occupied with being cautious. If it feels secure , then it is overcome by vain hopes; and if it is given wealth, then its independence makes it extravagant.

If want strikes it, then it is smitten by anxiety. If it is weakened by hunger, then it gives way to exhaustion; and if it goes to far in satisfying its appetites, then its inner becomes clogged up. So all its shortcomings are harmful to it, and all its excesses corrupt it.

There are four things that make the heart die: wrong action followed by wrong action, playing around with foolish people, spending a lot of time with women, and sitting with the dead. Then they asked Imam ‘Ali: ' And who are the dead, O Commander of the believers? ' He replied: ' Every slave who follows his desires. '

Surely want is a trial, and having sickness of the body is more difficult to bear than indigence, and having a sickness of the heart is more difficult to bear than having a sickness of the body. Surely being very wealthy is a blessing, and having a healthy body is better than being very wealthy, and having awe of Allah in your heart is better than having a healthy body.

Surely hearts have desires, and they turn towards, and they turn away ... so approach them by means of what they desire and what they turn towards, for surely if the heart is forced to do some thing against its will, it goes blind.

- Imam Ali ra

The Illusion of This World

Remember that this world which you covet so ardently and attempt to acquire so earnestly, and which sometimes annoys you and sometimes pleases you so much, is neither your home nor a permanent destination. You have not been created for it, nor invited to it as your resting-place. It shall neither remain with you for ever, nor will you remain in it eternally. If it has enticed you away with its charms, it has also warned and cautioned you of real dangers lurking in its folds. Take account of the warnings it has given you and do not be seduced or deceived by its allurements. Let these warnings frighten you from being too greedy to possess it. Try to advance towards the place where you are invited for eternal bliss and turn your face away from the vicious world.

- Imam Ali ra

When a dead person is placed in his grave, four kinds of fire will cover him, but then the prayer will come and put one of them out, and the fast will come and put another one of them out, and then charity will come and put another one out, and knowledge will come and put the forth one out, and it will say : ' If I had come sooner, I would a have put all of them out, and given you delight for I am with you now, and you'll not see anything else distressing. '

- Imam 'Ali r.a.

Sufi Path is the Path of Love

The essence of God is love and the Sufi path is a path of love. It is very difficult to describe love in words. It is like trying to describe honey to someone who has never tasted or even seen honey, who doesn’t know what honey is.

Love is to see what is good and beautiful in everything. It is to learn from everything, to see the gifts of God and the generosity of God in everything, to see the gifts of God and the generosity of God in everything. It is to be thankful for all God’s bounties.

This is the first step on the road to the love of God. This is just a seed of love. In time, the seed will grow and become a tree and bear fruit. Then, whoever tastes of that fruit will know what real love is. It will be difficult for those who have tasted to tell of it to those who did not.

Love is a special pleasurable pain. Whoever has this in their heart will know the secret. They will see that everything is Truth, and that everything leads to Truth. There is nothing but Truth. In the realization of that they will be overcome. They will sink into the sea of Truth.

Whatever you taste of love, in whatever manner, in whatever degree — it is a tiny part of Divine Love. Love between men and women is also a part of that Divine Love. But sometimes the beloved becomes a curtain between love and realization of true love. One day that curtain will lift and then the real Beloved, the real goal will appear in all Divine glory.

What is important is to have this feeling of love in your heart in whatever form and shape. It is also important that you be loved. It is easier to love than to be the beloved. If you have been in love you will certainly reach the Beloved one day.

The gifts of God often come to you from the hands of other human beings, through God’s servants. And so, Divine love also expresses itself between human beings.

The sheikhs are the pourers of the wine and the dervish is the glass. Love is the wine. By the hand of the wine pourer, the glass — the dervish — is filled. This is the short way. Love could be offered to one by other hands. This is the short way.

(Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak. Love is the Wine. Tales of a Sufi Master in America)

70

It is not surprising that 70 has a certain cabalistic value, since it is the tenfold of the sacred 7, and thus, as it were, its "great form." "Our life lasts threescore and ten ... " (Ps. 90: 10) says the psalmist, and groups of 70 are found throughout the Old Testament, from the 70 men accompanying Moses to Mount Sinai (Ex. 24:1) to the 70 years of the Babylonian exile (Jer. 25: 12). This latter period also contains the aspect of mourning that is sometimes connected with 70-as when Moses was mourned for 70 days. Likewise, Isaiah threatened that Tyre would be forgotten for 70 years. According to Jewish and early Christian tradition, either 70 or 72 scholars are supposed to have translated the Old Testament into Greek in the days of the Egyptian king Ptolomy II, and the Greek version is therefore still known as Septuaginta, "of the 70." Whatever their real number was, since they were excellent scholars, they had to be a group of 70 or 72.

According to legend, Adam knew 70 languages, which is taken to mean all the languages of the world. In a similar vein, the Prophet Muhammad is said to have recited the Quran 70 times during his heavenly journey in the Divine Presence, and also to have asked forgiveness 70 times daily-a recurring motif in the Abrahamic religions.

A charming wordplay with 70 is found in the later Midrash where it is said: "He who remains sober while drinking wine has the insight of 70 wise men." The Hebrew word for wine, yayin, has the numerical value of 70, as does the word for secret, sod; thus, when the wine enters, the secrets come out.

Although 70 is itself a great round number, it can be multiplied. Islamic mysticism holds that 70,000 veils separate God from his creatures, and according to another mystical tradition in Islam, the Prophet's luminous essence stayed at the Tree of Knowledge for 70,000 years.

(Annemarie Schimmel. The Mystery of Numbers. Oxford University Press, 1993 p. 263-264)