#ialam

Secret

Meaning something kept hidden from the knowledge or view of others, sir (secret) is a spiritual faculty deposited in the heart as a Divine trust. As a Divine trust, it has the same significance for the heart as spirit has for the body. Will-power, the mind, feelings, and the heart are the four pillars of the conscience and human conscious nature-these are called “the heavenly faculties”–that are given by the Lord in the same way that a secret is a faculty and dimension of the heart. Each of the pillars of conscience has a function and goal particular to it with respect to the relationship between the Lord and His servants. Will-power is charged with submission and devotion to the Lord, the mind with acquiring the necessary information to know God, the feelings with love of God, and the heart with a vision of God’s “Face.” As for secret, it is open to and innately charged with discovering Divine secrets.

All creation has been brought into existence by the Power of the Necessarily Existent One. This gives rise to a relationship between the Creator as Lord (One Who sustains, brings up, and protects the creation and administers life) and the creation, the things and beings, of which He is Lord. This relation contains secrets that are concerned with God’s Lordship and which are called the “secrets of Lordship.” Lordship manifests itself, first of all, in the heart: the seekers feel this manifestation developing as they learn more about Him and in a deeper manner, until the point where they experience the concentrated manifestation of the Divine Names in themselves and see the whole of creation, including themselves, as consisting only in the manifestation of those Names. Finally, they obtain the pleasure of witnessing the Lord in everything with all His Names. This witnessing opens to them the door of some Divine secrets called the “secrets of manifestation.”

Some have interpreted secret as meaning a heart that is purified of all carnal vices and stains caused by attachment to anything else other than the Lord, and which has a clear relationship with the world of spirit.

Based on the verse (11:31), God knows the best whatever is in their inner worlds, we can describe a secret as being a pure bosom full of loyalty and faithfulness, open to Prophetic messages, and preferring God and the other world to all else. We can regard secret in this sense as being the heart at the level of secret.

Some have viewed the qualities mentioned here as the reasons or means of a secret’s rising in the heart. When God prepares a heart to have these qualities, endowing it with the possibility and opportunity of accepting religion, the acceptance of God’s Existence and Oneness, the confirmation of the afterlife, and the affirmation of the Prophets, the heart immediately uses this possibility and opportunity and tries to achieve the goals that can be achieved through secret. In other words, since God knows that such a heart will use this Divine trust-secret-in the best way possible, out of His special grace, He causes it to flourish. For it is He Himself Who declares (6:53): Does God not know best who are the thankful?

Such a pure, elevated heart or its owner are indicated sometimes by, Surely God loves a servant who is pious, indifferent to all save Him, and has unknown depths,[1] and sometimes by, How many servants there are, whose hair is untidy, and who are repulsed from doors, and denied respect and attention, but if they swear by God for something, God does not prove them to be untrue.[2]

In view of the above explanations, the people of secret can be divided into three classes:

The people of truth whose eyes do not see any save God, and who always pursue His good pleasure and know how to resist the carnal self. Their aims, for which they make every effort, are so sublime that they cannot be prevented by any worldly desire, and are so pure that they are in accord with the Divine commandments, and their lives are ordered to gain eternal happiness. The ways they follow are free of any doubt, and they are always aware of God’s purpose in any of their acts, even for a millisecond. They avoid fame and any distinction, knowing that servanthood to God is the aim of their existence; they value it above all worldly and other worldly considerations. Their daily lives are described in the following verse (24:36-37): In houses which God has allowed to be exalted and in which His Name is mentioned: therein are men who glorify Him in the morning and evening and whom neither trade nor buying prevents from mention of God and establishing the Prayer and paying the prescribed Alms; who fear a day when hearts and eyes will be over-turned.

The faithful souls who try to hide from others their degree of relationship with God and their rank with Him: they keep the Divine gifts granted to them concealed from others, as if they were guarding their chastity, and although each is a star in the heaven of sainthood, they all try to appear as if they were but fireflies. Though each is a dove striving on God’s way, they prefer to appear like magpies, knowing themselves to be nothing, even when they are declared in the heavens to be so holy as to be among the worthiest in the sight of God. In serving on God’s way, they are extra-ordinarily active, dynamic and humble, although they outstrip all others; they are altruistic and disinterested when it is their turn to receive wages; they have no expectations in this world. They are described in the following verse (5:54): A people whom He loves, and who love Him, and who are most humble towards the believers, and dignified and commanding in the face of the unbelievers, continuously striving in God’s way in solidarity, and fearing not the censure of anyone to censure them.

When they are alone with God in devotion, they are extra-ordinarily profound, while being exceptionally wise and successful in worldly affairs. They are remarkably careful and determined when guarding the honor of their community, and they hold themselves as aloof as possible from mean acts which may bring disgrace upon them or may cause others to feel suspicious.

The heroes have reached the summit of perfection under the care and protection of the All-Preserving and with the help of the All-Helping: they do not spend even a moment without Him, and use every event, thought and consideration as a means to mention Him. Self-annihilated in His company, they live unaware of themselves. Whatever good they do for others and whatever service they render on God’s way, they conceal it, not only from others, but also from themselves. Even if they sometimes feel some pride in themselves, they regard this as if it were a terrible affliction and immediately try to escape. They spend their lives amidst ecstasy and exhilaration, and rejoice in the Divine compliments, and in His special help and perfect care. These heroes are unknown among people and remain hid-den, enveloped by secrets, although they are God’s favorites and among the most vital elements of existence. God, the Truth, looks at things with their eyes and the universe is fed with the pure water of their secrets.

O God! Help us with mentioning You, and being thankful to You, and worshipping You properly.

Narrated Al-A`mash:

I asked Abu Wail, "Did you take part in the battle of Siffin?" He said, 'Yes, and I heard Sahl bin Hunaif (when he was blamed for lack of zeal for fighting) saying, "You'd better blame your wrong opinions. I wish you had seen me on the day of Abu Jandal. If I had the courage to disobey the Prophet's orders, I would have done so. We had kept out swords on our necks and shoulders, for a thing which frightened us. And we did so, we found it easier for us, except in the case of the above battle (of ours).' "

Allah calls Himself Al-Baatin— The Hidden, Knower of hidden things— once in the Quran. Al-Baatin is the One who is concealed and veiled from the creation’s perception. He is unseen in this world, yet His existence is apparent through His signs in the creation of which He knows all inner circumstances!

The Hidden and Intimate, Knower of the all the concealed

Baatin comes from the root baa-Taa-naa which points to two main meanings. The first meaning is to be concealed and lie hidden and the second is to be inside and penetrate into.

This root appears 25 times in the Quran in five derived forms. Examples of these forms are batana (“is concealed”), butooni (“the wombs”), al butoona (“the bellies”) and baatinuhoo (“its interior”).

Linguistically, zhaahir and baatin are opposites where zhaahir refers to that which is manifest and apparent and baatin that which is inward and concealed. In Arabic, butn refers to the belly or womb, which is concealed inside the human body. Both these opposites are united in the perfect Attributes of Allah ‘azza wa jall, who is both Azh-Zhaahir and Al-Baatin. He is the Manifest, everything becomes manifest through Him only and through His signs we know Him, yet we cannot perceive Him in this world.

Al-Baatin Himself says: . . . He is the First and the Last, the Ascendant and the Intimate, and He is, of all things, Knowing. [Quran, 57:3]

The question of Musa

Al-Baatin says: When Musa came at Our appointed time and his Lord spoke to him, he said, ‘My Lord, show (Yourself) to me that I may look at You.’ He said: ‘You shall never see Me. But look at the mount. If it stays at its place, you will see Me.’ So when his Lord appeared to the Mount, it smashed, and Musa fell down unconscious. [Quran, 7: 143] In this ayah we find the proof that Allah ‘azza wa jall cannot be seen in this world.

Allah said that when Musa came for His appointment and spoke to Him directly, he asked to see Him, Allah said: Lan taraanee- You cannot see Me. `You cannot’ (Lan) by no means indicates that seeing Allah will never occur, as (the misguided sect of) Al-Mu`tazilah claimed. [Tafseer Ibn Katheer] The biggest blessing in the Hereafter for the believers is when they are granted the ability to see Allah! Some faces that Day shall be radiant. Looking at their Lord [Quran, 75:22-23]

In earlier Scriptures, it was reported that Allah said to Musa, O Musa! No living soul sees Me, but will perish, and no solid but will be demolished [Tafseer ibn Katheer]

Allah is Al-Baatin and told Musa ‘alayhi sallam that it was not possible to view Him with his mortal eyes. We cannot perceive things that are hidden and we also are not able to view extremely bright images with our naked eye. However, we know through His actions and signs in and around us and through revelation that Al-Baatin is there and this way we have a little knowledge of what He is like.

How Can You Live By This Name?

1. Seek comfort in Al-Baatin.

Whenever you feel alone, scared and distressed know that Allah is the Knower of all hidden things, including your thoughts and inner states. He is the only One who truly knows you, so talk to Him in prayer and supplication, ask Him to help you and mend you and take comfort in the fact He is unseen yet the One who knows you best.

2. Be true inward and outward.

In surah Al-Hadeed Allah uses the word baatinuhoo, while describing the wall with a door that will be placed between the believers and hypocrites in the Hereafter, which interior contains mercy for the believers and zhaahiruhoo (its outside) is torment. And a wall will be placed between them with a door, its interior containing mercy, but on the outside of it is torment. The hypocrites will call to the believers, “Were we not with you?” [Quran, 57:13:14]

How come these people were locked out? What was their crime?  They will say, “Yes, but you afflicted yourselves and awaited [misfortune for us] and doubted, and wishful thinking deluded you until there came the command of Allah . And the Deceiver deceived you concerning Allah [Quran, 57:14] These people pretended to be with those who truly believed and prayed with them, but they indulged themselves in all types of temptations, they had doubts about Allah’s power and they thought easy of their sins until death came to them. This is how shaytan deceived them. The meaning here is that the believers will answer the hypocrites by saying, “You were with us in bodies which were heartless and devoid of intentions. You were cast in doubt and suspicion. You were showing off for people and remembered Allah, little.” [Tafseer ibn Katheer]

Learn from this and carefully look at your intentions, beware of showing off and remember Allah in words and deeds so you will be of those on the right side of the wall, in Paradise!

3. Remember Al-Baatin through His signs.

Even though you cannot perceive Allah ‘azza wa jall, you can remember Him and increase your love for Him by reflecting on the things He created in and around you. Jareer Bin Abdullah al-Bajali said: We were with the Prophet on a full moon night. He looked at the moon and said, You will certainly see your Lord as you see this moon, and there will be no trouble in seeing Him [Al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] Next time you see the full moon, feel the desire and think about the moment you will be able to see Al-Baatin in shaa Allah. This way reflecting on the creation will be a great emaan-boost!

 4. Hide your sins.

The Prophet salallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said: All of my ummah will be forgiven except those who sin openly. It is a part of sinning openly when a man does something at night, then the following morning when Allah has concealed his sin, he says, ‘O so and so, I did such and such last night,’ when all night his Lord has concealed him and the next morning he uncovers what Allah had concealed [Al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]

Never ‘boast’ about your bad deeds to your friends, nor try to expose the bad deeds of other people who did not sin openly and tried to conceal them!

Wallahu ta’alaa ‘alem.

The Conquest of Khaybar: Part 1

(7th year of the Migration, toward the end of the month of Muharram / AD 628)

Khaybar was a city located on a volcanic area and having seven strong castles. It was on the way of Damascus and in the north west of Madinah; it was about 100 miles (161km) away from Madinah.

Most of the Jews that were expelled from Madinah because they violated their treaty with the Messenger of God had settled there and they virtually transformed Khaybar to a center for Jews.

As we have mentioned before, the Jews living there caused the Battle of Khandaq to take place by organizing all of the Arab tribes around and leading them to Madinah. After the Battle of Khandaq, they did not behave well and they slandered and talked against Muslims everywhere.

On the other hand, they made a new treaty with Makkan polytheists. According to this treaty, the people of Khaybar would attack Madinah if the Prophet walked against Makkah; if the Prophet walked against Khaybar, the Qurayshi polytheists would attack Madinah. However, their plan failed due to the Treaty of Hudaybiyah.

The Messenger of God protected Madinah from the polytheists by signing the treaty with them. However, the north side (where Khaybar Jews lived) was still deprived of security. It was necessary for the acceleration of the Islamic development to make the north secure.

Besides, the greatest trade destination for Arabs was Damascus. The Jews were on this way and started to develop as a strong element. It was a danger in terms of Islamic development.

All of those reasons made it necessary for Muslims to settle the issue of Khaybar.

Moreover, God Almighty had promised Muslims the conquest of Khaybar in the chapter of al-Fath while returning from the Expedition of Hudaybiyah.

Setting off from Madinah

The Messenger of God decided to go Khaybar and told his Companions to get ready for the expedition.

Many people who had avoided joining the Expedition of Hudaybiyah due to their fear wanted to join the Expedition of Khaybar due to the booty to be obtained from this productive and fertile city. They said, “We want to go to Khaybar with you.”

Thereupon, the Prophet said, “Those who will fight in the way of exalting the name of God as it is necessary should get ready. Nobody else can come with us. They will not be given anything out of the booty.”He declared it openly to the people of Madinah.

This order of the Messenger of God clearly teaches us that jihad in the way of God needs to be made for the sake of God and without expecting or even thinking of any material returns.

Besides, the lofty and luminous aim of war in Islam is exalting the name of God.

Upon the order of the Messenger of God, Muslims gathered at once. There were 1600 people, two hundred of whom were cavalrymen.They were the Muslims that would set off from Madinah together with the Prophet. Afterwards, when the Prophet was in Khaybar, four hundred Muslims from the tribe of Daws, among whom was Abu Hurayra, and Muslim migrants who returned from Abyssinia would join the Islamic army.

Moreover, there were twenty women together with Umm Salama, one of the wives of the Prophet, in the Islamic army that set off from Madinah. They were going to treat the wounded mujahids, cook and meet the needs of the mujahids during the battle.

The Prophet appointed Siba’ b. Urfuta from Ghifar as his deputy in Madinah and set off toward Khaybar with his army toward the end of the month of Muharram.

The mujahids who had been painted by the spiritual paint of the prophethood proceeded with enthusiasm. Amir b. Aqwa, the poet, expressed his excitement and loyalty with the following poem: “O God! If you had not guided us, we would not have found the right path; we would not pay zakah nor perform prayers. When a nation walks against us and tries to make us exit from our religion, send tranquility to our hearts and make our feet strong when we fight.”

The Prophet asked who recited the poem. When he was told that Amir b. Aqwa recited it, he said, “May God show mercy on him!”

The mujahids hesitated for a second because this prayer meant that Amir was going to be martyred.

“He is neither deaf nor absent…”

The mujahids proceeded uttering takbirs. The earth and the sky resounded with the sound of takbirs. Once, they uttered takbir very loudly: “Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! La ilaha illallahu Allahu Akbar!”

Upon this act of the Companions, the Messenger of God said, “Show mercy to your souls; do not shout so loudly. You are not addressing a dead being or a being that is absent. You are praying God, who knows and hears everything and who is near to everything from anything else.”

Yes, God, to whom we pray, is neither deaf nor absent. He is nearer to us from our jugular veins with His knowledge, will and power: “It was We who created man, and We know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him: for We are nearer to him than (his) jugular vein.”

Only He knows the most secret things in our hearts; therefore, He answers our requests and meets our needs.

The Messenger of God prayed his lofty Lord as follows wherever he stopped for a break:

“O God!  I take refuge in you from the worries about the future, sorrows of the past, weaklessness, laziness, stinginess, cowardice, heavy debts, and the inflictions of oppressors and unjust people.”

The Islamic Army is in Raji’

The Prophet reached a place called Raji’ with his army and stopped there. It was a place between Kahybar and the land of Ghatafans. There was a reason why they stopped there. Khaybar Jews had asked helped from Ghatafans and they had accepted; they said Jews could come to their castles and fight against the Islamic army together.  The Messenger of God was informed about it. In order to prevent this help, he made this offer to Ghatafans:  “If you do not help Jews, we will give you the crop of the dates of Khaybar to be conquered for one year.” However, they did not accept the offer.

Thus, the Prophet aimed to prevent any help that could come from Ghatafans to Jews by settling there. As a matter of fact, Ghatafans could not help Khaybar Jews and had to stay in their land when the Messenger of God settled in Raji’.

The Islamic Army is in front of Khaybar

Later, the Prophet left Raji’ with his army and proceeded to Khaybar. They reached Khaybar at night. The Prophet did not use to attack at night; so he waited for the morning.  

The Prayer of the Prophet

When the Messenger of God reached in front of Khaybar, he prayed as follows: “O God, who is the Lord of the skies and what they shade! O God, who is the Lord the earth and those on the earth! O God, who is the Lord the devil and those that the devil misguides! O God, who is the Lord of the winds and what they blow! We wish from you the goodness of this city, the wellbeing of its people and the goodness of everything in the city. We take refuge in you from the evil of this city, of this people and of everything in it!”

The Prophet prayed like that whenever he entered a city.

When the people of Khaybar woke up in the morning, took their tools to go to their fields and left the castle, they saw the Islamic army in front of them. They were astonished; they shouted, “There is Muhammad and his army” and ran back to their castle.

They faced something unexpected. Many of them did not think it to be possible for the Prophet to leave Madinah and to come there to fight them. Their castle was strong; they had many men; they had plenty of weapons; therefore, they thought the Messenger of God could not face the risk of fighting them. That was what they had thought. However, it did not turn out to be like that; so, they were astonished.  

When the Messenger of God saw their astonishment and that they ran back to their castle in panic, he said,“Allahu Akbar, Allaha Akbar! Kharibat Khaybar [Khaybar was destroyed]! How bad is the state of a frightened tribe when we enter their land unexpectedly!”He repeated that sentence, which indicated the conquest of Khaybar, three times.

The Enemy Front

Khaybar Jews negotiated the situation and decided to remain in the castle and defend their castle.

The Jews that would fight gathered in the Castle of Natat, their strongest castle. They put their wives and children into other castles.

Fighting Starts

Fighting started when Jews started to shoot arrows at the mujahids from the Castle of Natat, where they had gathered. The Islamic army had encamped in front of the Castle of Natat.

The first day passed like that. About fifty mujahids were wounded by the arrows shot from the castles.

On the second day, upon the order of the Messenger of God, the Islamic army moved their headquarters to Raji’. Thus, the mujahids were protected from the attacks that could come from the houses around and they would be away from the swamp where they had encamped.

The Prophet and the mujahids took their weapons every morning and went to the upper part of the Castle of Natat, fought the Jews until the evening and then returned to Raji’.

The Prophet Gets Ill

Meanwhile, the Prophet had a headache. He could not go out near the mujahids. He appointed Hazrat Abu Bakr as the leader of the army to fight the Jews. Despite severe clashes, Khaybar was not conquered. Next time, the Prophet gave his white flag to Hazrat Umar and sent him to fight together with the mujahids. Severe clashes took place again but Khaybar was not conquered.

It went on like that for seven days.

Meanwhile, one person from the Islamic army was martyred: Mahmud b. Masla­ma… While he was resting in the shade of the Castle of Natat in a very tired state due to the hot weather and severe clashes, he was wounded in the head by a stone thrown by the Jews from the castle and was martyred three days later.

Amir b. Aqwa is martyred

Meanwhile, Amir b. Aqwa and Marhab, one of the famous heroes of the people of Khaybar encountered. They started to swing their swords against each other. When Amir hit Marhab’s leg severely with his sword, the blade of his own sword moved toward his leg and cut the vein in the middle. He was taken to the headquarters of the Islamic army in a wounded state. He died there due to the wound.The Prophet had pointed out before reaching Khaybar that he would be martyred.

The People of Daws Join the Islamic Army

Tufayl b. Amr, the poet, the leader of the Daws tribe had talked to the Prophet when he was in Makkah and become a Muslim. Since then, he had invited his tribe to Islam.

Tufayl b. Amr went to Madinah with about four hundred Muslims from his tribe in the 7th year of the Migration. When they heard that the Prophet went to Khaybar to fight, they came to Khaybar and joined the Islamic army and fought against the Jews.

Endeavor (ghayra) literally means making every effort of concern, and being alert in striving, for chastity, honor, and esteem. It signifies being on the alert in respect of religious prohibitions.

God is limitless in His concern for the purity of His servants and is infinitely pleased with the care they show and the endeavors they make in preserving it. For this reason, He has made some things, including indecencies and evil acts in particular, unlawful. So His servants, at least, must respond to His concern by being as careful as possible not to commit such acts. This is endeavor (ghayra); in this lies a person’s honor.

In order to remind us of this point, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, said: “Do you wonder at the degree of Sa’d’s concern? I am more concerned than Sa’d, and God is more concerned than me.” Concern requires fulfilling with great zeal whatever God likes and orders and being as determined as possible not to commit whatever He dislikes and forbids. It also requires loving from the bottom of one’s heart the Essence, Attributes and Names of the Necessarily Existent Being, and doing one’s utmost so that He may be loved also by others, and preferring relationship with one’s Lord to everything in the world and the Hereafter. In expressing these last two points in particular, the following verse of a saint is highly significant:

I wish all the people of the world love Him Whom I love,

And all that we speak about would be the Beloved.

If the endeavor required is the assumption of a determined attitude not to commit evil and therefore related to God’s absolute dislike of such acts, then this would mean that one must adopt a manner that belongs to God. He who was the voice of truth, upon him be peace and blessings, said:

There is no one more concerned than God. It is because of His concern that He has prohibited all indecencies to be committed, whether in public or secretly. [ Al-Bukhari, “Nikah,” 107; Al-Muslim, “Tawba,” 32-34. ]

This draws attention to the Divine source of concern and endeavor. By saying, God displays concern, and a believer also displays concern. God’s concern is for the prohibited acts that His servant may commit, he reminds us of the mutuality of concern and the ardent endeavor that is required by it.

The scholars of truth have interpreted concern and endeavor in two ways:

Recognizing no alternative or rival to the Beloved.

Fixing all of one’s attention on the Beloved and trying to outdo all else in loving Him.

However we want to understand endeavor, whether it be resisting corporeal desires and trying to lead our lives on the horizon of the heart and the spirit, or waging war against evil morals and establishing a way of life formed of good morals or virtues, or feeling in our hearts that we belong to Him exclusively -all these are among the principal elements which will bring us up to the level of true humanity. They are a response to God Almighty’s infinite concern for His servants. God’s concern is that He does not leave His servants forever vulnerable to others’ sense of what is fair, just and right, and He honors them with exclusive loyalty and servanthood to Him, He does not throw them into the humiliation of subjection to false, imaginary deities. In response to this, the required concern of His servants is, in the words of Mawlana Jami’, the craving for One, the invoking of One, the seeking of One, the seeing and following of One, the knowing of One, and the mentioning of One.

Some view endeavor as the initiates’ making Him their unique concern, their sole hope of contentment, and excluding all else other than Him from the sphere of their efforts which must be directed toward Him alone and exclusively. It has been regarded as the manifestation of the state in which that some wander sighing for the Beloved from whom they are separated, are. The initial verses of the Mathnawi by Jalal al-Din al-Rumi sound like melodies of such endeavor and longing:

Listen to the flute, how it recounts;

It complains of separation.

………………………………………………………………………

I seek a bosom split in parts by separation,

So that I can explain to it my painful yearning!

Whoever has fallen far from his origin,

Longs for the day when he will be reunited with the Beloved.

Those who have made serious endeavor with utmost concern have treated the subject of endeavor in three degrees:

The first consists of the endeavor that is practiced and known by regular, profound worship of God, by those who embroider their lives with the threads of piety and righteous deeds. In order to become perfected, they exert such endeavor that even a single, slight error is enough for them to suffer pangs of conscience for a life-time.

The second degree of endeavor is practiced by those who have set their hearts on God, the Truth, exclusively, who go from state to state, who travel from love to pleasure and thereon into deeper and deeper yearning. They make every endeavor to please Him and, as stated in the verse, To whatever direction you turn, there is the “Face” of God (2:115), they always turn to Him with all their faculties and under all circumstances, and are on the alert against letting their eyes slide to another beloved. They always try to find Him in any corner of their hearts for special meetings, as mentioned in a hadith, I have a special time with God.[ al-Ajluni, Kashf al-Khafa’, 2:173. ] They regard it as the greatest disrespect for time to fail to spend even a moment in knowing and pleasing Him. They tremble with the threat, This is because you exulted on earth without right, and you behaved insolently! (40:75), and they hear with eagerness the Divine call, Eat and drink at ease as reward for your deprivations and sacrifices in past days! (69:24) resounding all the time at different pitches.

The endeavor of those endowed with true knowledge of God, which is the third degree, is always to pursue deeper and deeper knowledge of Him, saying, We have not been able to know You as Your knowledge requires. They glimpse unbelievable beauties and sometimes keep what they have witnessed concealed, even from their own eyes, in jealousy. Sometimes they bemoan this world as being a place where He cannot be seen and complain of their eyes, in that they are unable to see Him and belittle their own being as they cannot keep concealed their special relationship with the Beloved and His special favors to them. Like a compass, they are always sensitively poised and agitated until they reach the day of final, eternal reunion with the Beloved, a day when they will acquire steadiness.

O God, I want (Your) forgiveness and endeavor (to please You)! O God, lead me to what You love and are pleased with!

Part2

Based on this, the Mu’tazilis and (to some extent) the Maturidis, say that even in the absence of Prophets or guides, we should be able to gain some knowledge of God by observing the universe and then act accordingly. There is some evidence to support this argument. Before Islam, many people, including Muhammad, were born and lived in Makkah, the heartland of Arab paganism and idolatry. No one showed them the way to God or spoke to them of the Oneness of God (tawhid). And yet history records the remarks of a desert nomad of that time:

“Camel droppings point to a camel’s existence. Footprints on the sand tell of a traveler. Heaven with its stars, the Earth with its mountains and valleys, and the sea with its waves—don’t they point to the All-Powerful, Knowing, Wise, and Caring Maker?”

If even a simple bedouin could understand this much, what about others? What about Muhammad, who one day would be appointed to deliver God’s final Revelation? Long before the Revelation began, he understood the world’s reality, perceived the Truth (al-Haqq) in the grand Book of the Universe, and began to search for it. Taking refuge in Hira cave, he devoted himself to worship. ‘A’isha, narrating directly from Khadija, said that he gave himself up to prayer, only occasionally coming home for provisions. This might indicate that we can reach some degree of knowledge and so worship God.

Zayd ibn ‘Amr, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab’s uncle, reached a similar understanding. Although he died before Muhammad’s Prophethood, he intuitively felt the truth of Islam in the air, as well as the meaning and significance of Prophet Muhammad’s coming. As he lay dying, he called his family members and said:

“The light of God is on the horizon. I believe it will emerge fully very soon. I already feel its signs over our heads.”

Addressing God, he continued:

“O Great Creator! I have not been able to know You thoroughly. Had I known, I would have put my face upon the ground before You and never raised it in quest of Your pleasure.”

Evidently, a pure conscience free of any traces of paganism and polytheism can understand its own station and duty when it seen creation’s splendor and harmony, and thus seek to serve and please the One who created and ordained all things.

Knowing God entails worshipping Him. As he provides everything for us, we are obliged to serve Him. One of these blessings is that of prayer. God tells us how to pray so that we will do it correctly and effectively.

God told the Prophet how to pray, and we are told to follow his example. There are certain rules to follow. Before beginning, we must purify ourselves with the proper ablution. Depending on our circumstances, this can be ghusl (full ablution), wudu’ (regular ablution), or tayammum (ablution in the absence of water). Then we say Allahu akbar, meaning that nothing is greater than God. Standing in a peaceful, respectful stillness, with hands joined together on our chest, indicates our complete surrender. Concentrating as fully and deeply as possible allows us to experience, based upon our level of spiritual development, the Prophet’s ascension in our spirit.

Rising up inwardly, we bow down physically to renew our surrender and express our humility. As we do so, we experience a different stage in our servanthood and so prostrate in fuller reverence and humility. According to the depth of surrender there, we enter into different realms. Hoping for further progress, we raise our head, say a few words, and then lower it again for the second prostration. After this, we may experience the meaning of the hadith in Muslim’s Sahih:

Resignation results in a thrilling joy or a heavenly breeze from God’s being pleased with the believer that is proportional to the depth of one’s fear and hope. It does not come from feeling God’s nearness, worship and devotion, the struggle against sin and the temptations of one’s carnal self and Satan. Rather, it is a spiritual delight merged with hope and expectation, regulated by self-possession, a direct gift from Him, and a breath of mercy associated only with this station of being pleased with God. This station requires the self-regulation of one’s thoughts, considerations, plans, hopes, expectations, feelings, and actions according to God’s Will. Thus, seeing it as a way to experience pleasure and delight in the expectation of acquiring that pleasure and delight shows one’s disrespect of this station, which is based on the purity of one’s intention and sincerity. In reality, this applies to all other states and stations attained through actions of the heart, or which are themselves actions of the heart. One must love and pursue His approval or pleasure for His sake only.

Heroes of the spiritual life have expressed their views about resignation and being pleased with God since the early days of Sufism. According to Dhu al-Nun al-Misri, resignation means preferring God’s wishes over one’s own in advance, accepting His decree without complaint based on the realization that whatever God wills and does is good, and overflowing with love of Him even while in the grip of misfortune. ‘Ali Zayn al-’Abidin describes resignation as an initiate’s determination not to pursue anything opposed to God’s Will and pleasure. According to Abu ‘Uthman, resignation denotes welcoming with the same mood all divine decrees and disposals, regardless of whether they issue from His Grace or His Majesty or Wrath, and having no conscious preference for one or the other. God’s Messenger referred to this when he said:

I ask You for resignation after You have decreed something. Being pleased in advance with God’s decree means being determined to show resignation, while resignation signifies enduring calamity when it occurs.