IMAM Ghazzali quoting Prophet (PBUH) said, “The people who will be most severely tortured on the Day of Judgment will be those scholars, who did not benefit from their knowledge.” Hence the imperative to pass on their knowledge truthfully to other people. He tells us that way out of suffering is to be nourished spiritually. He himself had left everything to find the true nature of divine reality and to find certitude. He believed this was possible only by removing the obstacles and purging the soul of its base characteristics and vicious morals, so that the heart may achieve freedom from anything that is not God. He advises us to achieve moral transformation and to live a God conscious life drawing yourself away from fruitless desires. He says, ”If you travel on the spiritual path in God’s consciousness, travelling both inwardly and outwardly trusting only in God, recalling God through invocation and prayers, the constant remembrance of God will purify your soul.” He calls this journey experimental science, because you can replicate the experiment, with same set of conditions, “Here is the path I have mapped it for you, set out on the journey and I assure you, you will arrive.”
In his book, ‘The Alchemy of Happiness,’ he writes, “There is nothing closer to you than your own self. If you do not know yourself, how can you know your lord? It is therefore an obligation to know your inner reality, which thing is your felicity and which thing is your damnation. He divides people into four categories, Ruminants (goats, cows) Predators (lions, tigers) Demons and Angels. The deeds related to eating, drinking, sleeping and copulation are the qualities of ruminants or beasts. The joy of the predators is in attacking and ripping the flesh. The deeds related to anger, striking, killing, argumentation and aggressiveness are the characteristics of predators. If this is what you are, your character is closer to the lions and the leopards, but not of humans. The joy of the demons is in trickery, evil strategies and machinations. If you are one of them, you will occupy yourself in things like subterfuge, faithlessness, disloyalty and deception. A cursory look will tell you that there are ruminants, predators and demons all out there, and some people are admixture of all three. The joy of the angels is witnessing the beauty of the divine presence and there is no room for anger, lust, or desire. If you are of angelic essence, you will struggle to know the road to divine presence and His beauty. This is the path that Prophet (PBUH) and majority of his companions treaded and it leads to paradise. Quran states, “And those who strive in Our cause, We will certainly guide them to our paths, for verily Allah is with those, who do right.”(Surah al-Ankabut verse 69).
Imam Ghazzali tells us the way, how pure and impure thoughts can be mastered. The Prophet quoting God said, “I am in the good opinion of my servants. If he thinks good of Me, he finds good and if he thinks bad of me, he finds bad.”This means we literally are creating our own realities. The paradigm that resides in our understanding is confirmed by our experience. As we change our paradigms, the experience of the world changes qualitatively. He advises to go beyond the acts, which are obligatory. Pay Zakat, but also give charity constantly remembering God with an unperturbed heart and in all this, there will be assistance from your heart. If you struggle against self for the sake of your Lord, you adorn himself with stations of certainty. This is called Mujahida (jehad) struggling against the lower impulses of the self. This is a constant struggle; one has to do before entering into the state of remembrance or state of mindfulness. Once you become mindful of your actions and thoughts you get into the stage that you can say I can do it. Each time you stop your negative thoughts you become stronger, until it is finally conquered and you begin to fear God. It’s not a fear of a tyrant, but fear of being displeasing, like the fear one has of upsetting one’s parents.
There is hope, gratitude, patience and perseverance in struggle, repentance in turning back, recognizing that if I fall short, I can hit the bottom of the mountain, but can start back up again something like the myth of Sisyphus. The rock may fall down before we go to the top, but there is a possibility that we will reach the top of the hill and achieve our spiritual aspirations. Next is abandoning wants, most of what in our lives we do not need. Trust in God and being content with what you have and what Good has apportioned for us. This is achievable, but we may have to struggle to get to that stage. Finally love God with all one’s heart, that we should do all actions for God alone. In Islamic tradition, there are two types of freedom, freedom from and freedom to. If you are free from wants and if you become master of your lower self, you are truly free. This is the hierarchy established by God to do all sorts of work, and there is wisdom in it, but also responsibility. If you achieve divine love and you are chosen for divine presence, you will achieve the station of Ehsan (favour) and when you start feeling the divine presence and that is end of all this struggle. Extracts from Islamic Spirituality and Mysticism (Sufism) The Path and Destination. —Concluded
—The writer is author of various books based in Rawalpindi.
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