Elucidation of slavery to the lord and repudiation of anyone who contradicts it

Elucidation of slavery to the lord and repudiation of anyone who contradicts it

Know, O Muslims that a clear sign that a murid has not yet understood his nafs is his ignorance of its qualities, be they praiseworthy or reproachable. For, if he truly knew his nafs, he would know that all praiseworthy and reproachable qualities are manifested in other sinner Muslims - even in the righteous slaves of Allah and that from time to time they appear and disappear within them. For a slave of Allah is like a firmament in which, like clouds of varying form, there float both meritorious and reproachable qualities: that is, in man there is each and every quality in both these categories.

Know that all moral qualities, including those which are reproachable, are possessed by every slave of Allah except by the prophets (truly Almighty Allah cleansed their moral dispositions). As for all other righteous and ordinary Muslims alike, their moral disposition is not endowed with natural purity. However, the Almighty does not permit solely reproachable qualities to appear in people’s moral dispositions; he cleanses His true slaves.

And when a true worshiper is embraced by the care of the Almighty, only praiseworthy qualities are manifested. But when such a slave leaves the Almighty’s care, everything changes to exactly the opposite. And at the sight of such a person, others will start to say, “O our Allah, deliver us from his evil!” “O people, just look at how murky this person’s face is!”

If a slave realizes this truth, he will not censure another of Allah’s slaves and will not show his discontentment with however the Creator has dealt with him. Sheikh Abdul Qadir al Dashtuti recounted, “Once I scolded a man who did not fully observe a pause when bowing at the waist in prayer before prostration. And he responded: “O my brother, I am completely in the grip of Almighty Allah! And if He wills, He will also lengthen or shorten my pause in prayer. I look only on Him who creates this movement, and not at the process itself.” And then the sheikh added: «Never condemn anything except that which destroys religion.»

You are a slave of him who occupies your heart

`Ubudiyya means slavery and captivity. A person is a slave to that which prevails over him and has possession of his heart. If a person is in the captivity of his nafs, then he is the slave of his nafs, and if he is in the captivity of the worldly, then he is a slave of the worldly. And there is no doubt that a murid whose worship is inextricably linked with love for the worldly is busying his heart in vain and tormenting his body.

For such worship, even though it be frequent, is insignificant before Almighty Allah. It is like a body without a soul. Nowadays, most people engage themselves in the pursuit of the worldly and then afterwards stand at night in worship. But if even frequent worship which is inextricably associated with love for the worldly does not bring a person closer to Allah, what will happen to those who love the worldly but very rarely perform worship and thereby demonstrate their disobedience?

A believer in monotheism submits to only Almighty Allah and him, submission to whom constitutes submission to the Creator. The value and dignity of a slave is defined by that to whom or to what he worships, same as the value of the knowledgeable person depends on the subject of his knowledge.

Prayer of supplication is also worship

In prayer of supplication the whole essence of human slavery before Almighty Allah is revealed. For it is precisely during prayer that a slave reveals the extent of his weakness, his impotence and his need, awaiting boundless generosity from his Lord. Indeed, true slavery is the recognition by a person of his lack of any strength and power for the doing of good and for the rejection of sin, as well as the recognition that all blessings and grace come from the Almighty Creator only.

The Prophet said, «Prayer is the brain of worship.» Another version says, “Prayer is worship.” That is, the Prophet underlined that prayer is the basis of everything, as the essence of worship is the meekness of a slave and his humility and only during the time of prayer is this manifested and achieved to its highest degree.

Qualities which impede true worship

Know that the qualities that hinder a person from approaching Almighty Allah, even in namaz prayer (the daily prayers obligatory for every Muslim), are divided into four categories: divine, diabolical, animal and bestial.

• • Divine qualities are similar to the attributes of Almighty Allah, the adoption of which by man in their entirety He forbade. To such qualities belong: grandeur, aspiring to supremacy, the lack of need for anyone or anything, the desire to have dominion over people and the feeling of being superior to any other Muslim.
• • Diabolical qualities are akin to the qualities of Satan: envy, injustice, guile, treachery, deceit, hypocrisy, as well as an inclination for heresy.
• • Animal qualities are gluttony, avarice and a strong desire to satisfy lust and amorousness on account of which their possessor falls into the sins of adultery and theft.
• • Bestial qualities are anger and hatred. Due to the presence of these qualities, a person is capable of committing a grave sin forbidden by Allah the killing of another person, as well as the infliction of mutilating injuries.

A human soul is initially subjugated by animal qualities. Then during the period of formation of a mature worldview bestial qualities appear as well. And if during that this period Almighty Allah does not support His slave, a person starts to employ his mind in cunning and deceit and resorts to the aid of Satan, who, in his turn, will try with all his powers to prompt the waywardness in his striving to acquire qualities innate only to Allah.

Allah will deprive whoever acquires even one quality of Satan of any opportunity to approach Him and will then turn to Satan and his army, as if to say, “You have no way to influence people close to Me, but over all those who have estranged themselves from Me you have full authority.”

Almighty Allah says (meaning), «Allah ordered (Satan),"Away with you! You and those who follow you will be fully rewarded in Hell. Seduce with your speeches whomever you are able and gather your host against them, be their partner in their possessions and in their children and make them promises. But Satan promises them only that which is false.” (Sura Al Isra, ayat 63–64).

There is a great threat in these words, for the meaning of the words of Almighty Allah “be their partner in their possessions and in their children” is: encourage them to acquire possessions in a forbidden way and to spend it in an illicit way and also to have children by engendering them in forbidden ways.

The words “and make them promises” means making false promises that there will be no accounting for their deeds nor a day of resurrection from the dead. Further, the words of the Almighty “But Satan promises them only that which is false” mean that Satan embellishes that which is sinful, instilling in people the illusion of the rightfulness of this or that deed.

In a hadith it is said that when Satan was cast down on earth, he asked,

“O Lord, you cast me down on this earth and damned me and deprived me of your grace. And now, where will my house be?” The Almighty replied, “Your house is a latrine.” Then iblis asked again, “And where will I hold my gatherings?” And Almighty Allah replied, “Your gatherings will be in the markets and places where people gather on the road.” Iblis asked again, “And what will I eat?” The Almighty answered, “Your food will be that on which the Name of Almighty Allah is not mentioned.” Then iblis requested, “Make a drink for me.” To that Almighty said, “Your drink is all that makes one intoxicated.” Iblis again requested, “Make me a muedzin (one who calls to the performance of prayer).” The Almighty said, “Your muedzin is a flute.” Then iblis asked again, “Make me a book.” And the Almighty said, “This will be songs and poetry.” Iblis asked, “And will I have my own writing?” To this the Almighty replied, “Your writing will be tattooing.” Iblis continued, “And can you make dictums for me?” The Almighty said, “Your dictums will be all kinds of falsehoods.” Then iblis asked, “And will I have a messenger?” The Almighty said, “Your messengers are soothsayers.” Iblis asked, “Give me snares.” To this the Almighty replied, “Your snares will be women.”

FROM THE BOOK “VIRTUES OF THE RIGHTEOUS” BY SHEIKH AHMAD-AFANDI, MUFTI DAGESTAN