471 A.H - 561 A.H (1078 A.D - 1166 A.D)
As reported in the Futuh-al Ghaib of Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani.
[The Futuh-al-Ghaib is a collection of 78 discourses delivered by the master, may Allah be pleased with him.]
ON ENVY.
"Your envy of your neighbour invites the following comparison: A man sees a king with all his might, his armies and his entourage, his possession and control of vast estates, from which he collects taxes and extracts revenue. He sees the king enjoying all kinds of luxuries, pleasures and gratifications, but he does not envy him any of this. Then he sees a dog acting as a servant to one of the king's dogs, standing, squatting, barking, and being given leftovers and scraps of food from the royal kitchen, on which he subsists. The man starts to envy this dog, becomes hostile toward it, wishes death and destruction upon it and wants to take its place, for mean and petty reasons, not in a spirit of asceticism, religious piety and humble contentment. Was there ever a man more foolish, stupid and ignorant?"
ON PRAYER.
"Be well-behaved, practice patience, contentment and harmony with your Lord, and repent for your resentment against Him and of your suspicion of Him where His action is concerned. In the Lord's presence there is no room for demanding payment in full and exacting retaliation where there is no offence, nor for recourse to natural instinct, as is usual in mutual relations between His servants. He is absolutely alone from all eternity, existing before all things. He created them, and He created their benefits and disadvantages. He knows their beginning, their end and their fulfillment. He is wise in His working and sure in His craftsmanship. There is no inconsistency in what He does. He does nothing uselessly and creates nothing as a futile game. There can be no question of criticizing or reproaching Him for His deeds.
You should therefore wait for relief, if you are too weak to comply with Him and to submit to His action gladly, until the prescript of destiny expires. Then the situation will yield to its opposite with the passage of time and the consummation of the course of events, as winter runs its course and yields to summer, and as night comes to an end and yields to day. If you ask for the light of day between the first two watches of the night, it will not be given to you. Indeed the night will get even darker, until the darkness reaches its climax, then dawn breaks and the day comes with its light, whether you ask for this and want it, or say nothing about it and even dislike it. Should you now ask for the night to be brought back, your request will go unanswered and you will not get what you want, because you have asked for something at the wrong moment and time. You will therefore be left sorry, deprived, resentful and disappointed. So give all this up and practice compliance, thinking well of your Lord and graceful patience. For what is yours will not be snatched from you, and what is not yours will not be given to you. By my life, you pray and make supplication to your Lord, offering humble entreaties as an act of worship and obedience in keeping with His commandment: "Call upon Me and I will answer you"[40:60] and His words: "Ask Allah of His bounty" [4:32], as well as other verses and traditions. You pray, and He will answer you at the appropriate moment and appointed time, when He wills, when it is to your advantage in this world and the hereafter, and when it coincides with His decree and the end of the term set by Him."
ON PASSING BEYOND CREATION: ANNIHILATION.
"Become extinct to all created beings by Allah's leave, to your passionate desire by His command: In Allah put your trust if you are true believers. [5:23], and to your own will by his action. Then you will be fit to receive the knowledge of Allah.
Allah has said: I am with those who are broken-hearted on My account. So Allah will not be with you until you totally disown your desire and your will. When these are broken, and you contain nothing stable or useful, Allah will create you afresh and install in you a new power of will for you to exercise. If any element of self creeps into this newly created will, however, the Lord will smash it again. You will always be left broken-hearted, because He will repeat this process until the book of destiny ends with union. This is the meaning of: I am with those who are broken-hearted on My account. When we speak of an element of self creeping in, we mean that you become sure and self-confident in relation to the new will.
"So through Me he hears, through Me he sees, and through Me he understands."
This comes about in the state of annihilation and no other. When you become extinct in relation to yourself and to all creatures, the whole creation being good and evil, as you likewise are good and evil, you neither hope for any good nor fear any evil therefrom. Only Allah remains, Alone as He ever was. Good and evil are part of Allah’s plan, so He will keep you safe from His evil, and will immerse you in the oceans of His good. You will become the receptacle of all that is good, a stronghold for every blessing, happiness and joy, a beacon of security and peace.
Annihilation is therefore the aim and object, the final destination of the journey of the saints. This was the direction sought by all previous saints and Abdaal: to become extinct to their own will, and let the will of the Almighty and Glorious Truth take its place, as a permanent transformation, lasting until death. That is why they came to be called Abdaal [Substitutes] {may Allah be well pleased with them all}.
When you die to the created world, you will be told: Allah have mercy on you! May He now let you die to passionate desire. When you die to your passionate desire, you will be told: Allah have mercy on you! May He now let you die to your willing and wishing. When you die to your will, you will be told: Allah have mercy on you! May He now restore you to a life beyond which there is no death."
THE ESSENTIAL TASKS OF EVERY TRUE BELIEVER.
"Three things inevitably demand the attention of every believer under all circumstances: A commandment to be obeyed, a prohibition to be respected, and a Divine decree to be accepted with good grace. In even the most trivial situation, at least one of the three is bound to apply. The believer must therefore keep his mind and feelings focused upon them, talk to himself about them, and practice the physical self-discipline they require of him at all times."
Selected Quotes
- O Peaceful Nafs turn to God being satisfied and giving satisfaction.
- Be careful before meeting death.
- When the heart is perfected all your conditions become perfect.
- Good men abstain themselves from the world and conquer it by fear of God and piety.
- My satisfaction with Taqdir (fate) has led me to God.
- Make piety your weapon and make Tawhid (Unification of God) contemplation. Piety and sincerity in seclusion and beseeching God's help your army.
- When you get the ability assign this world to your Nafs, the Nafs, the next world to your heart and the Lord to your soul.
- Be constant in fear of God and his worship. Do not fear anyone else nor expect anything from any one. Save yourself - Fear God, fear God and fear God.
- Three things are indispensable for a believer in all conditions of life. He should keep those commandments of God: he should abstain from the forbidden things; and he should be pleased with the decree of Providence.
- Then He will give you death in your will and desires, and when you are dead in your will and desires it will be said to you: "May God have mercy on you" and He will restore you to (a new) life.
- When you are in a particular condition do not wish for another condition either higher or lower. Thus, when you arc at the palace gate of the King do not wish for an entrance into the palace unless you are made to enter it by compulsion and not of your own accord.
- Wealth is your servant and you are the servant of the Lord.
- Then know that God is every day in a new state of glory, in chancing and altering and raising and lowering (people).
- Trials and calamities strengthen the heart and certainty and establish the faith and patience and weaken the animal-self and its desires.
- Be aware of sin in all its form in all your organs of body and in your heart.
- Do not run away from God for He will overtake you.
- Do you not know that for every occurrence of event there is an appointed time and for every calamity there is a point of consummation?
- Make your life after death your capital money and your wordily life its profit. Spend your time first of all in acquiring your life after death.
- There is no spiritual stale nor any spiritual station but has fear and hope attached to it. These two are like two wings of a bird but for which no flight can be perfect. And this is true of every state and station. With this much of difference that every state has its corresponding fear and hope.
- The worldly life is a cultivation ground of the life hereafter; and the good deeds of the Prophets and Awliya after the performance of commandments and prohibitions consist in patience and pleasure and reconcilement in the midst of trial.
- In everything there is an attribute from the attributes of God and every name is a sign one of his names. So surely you are between His names and His attributes and works, inwardly through His power and outwardly through His wisdom. He is manifest in His attributes and concealed in His person. His person is concealed in His attributes and His attributes are concealed in His works And He has revealed His knowledge through His will and He has expressed His will in movements. And He has concealed His skill and His workmanship through His wilt. So He is hidden in His invisibility and He is manifest in His wisdom and power. There is nothing like even a likeness of Him and He is hearing and seeing.
- Tasawwuf is based on eight qualities:
- Generosity like that of Prophet Abraham (Alias Slam),
- Cheerful submission like that of Prophet Ishaque (Alias Slam),
- Patience like that of Yaqoob (Alias Slam),
- Prayer like that of Prophet Zachariah (Alias Slam),
- Poverty like that of Prophet Yahya (Alias Slam),
- Wearing of woollen dress like that of Prophet Musa (Alias Slam),
- Travelling about like that of Prophet Issa and (Alias Slam),
- Religious poverty like that of Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam).
- And a dervish is he who is indifferent to everything besides God.
- All the parts of my body are ailing excepting my heart which has no pain in it and it is sound with God. Human consciousness is divided into three conditions raising upward in the scale of evolution:
- Nafs al-Ammara i.e, unruly animal self.
- Nafs al-Lawwama, i.e. struggling moral self.
- Nafs al-Mutma'inna, i.e. composed God realized self.
- Do not will anything which is not the will of God.