#msulim

عَنْ أَبِي ذَرٍّ، قَالَ صُمْنَا مَعَ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فِي رَمَضَانَ فَلَمْ يَقُمْ بِنَا حَتَّى بَقِيَ سَبْعٌ مِنَ الشَّهْرِ فَقَامَ بِنَا حَتَّى ذَهَبَ ثُلُثُ اللَّيْلِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَقُمْ بِنَا فِي السَّادِسَةِ فَقَامَ بِنَا فِي الْخَامِسَةِ حَتَّى ذَهَبَ شَطْرُ اللَّيْلِ فَقُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ لَوْ نَفَّلْتَنَا بَقِيَّةَ لَيْلَتِنَا هَذِهِ ‏.‏ قَالَ ‏ "‏ إِنَّهُ مَنْ قَامَ مَعَ الإِمَامِ حَتَّى يَنْصَرِفَ كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَهُ قِيَامَ لَيْلَةٍ ‏"‏ ‏.‏ ثُمَّ لَمْ يُصَلِّ بِنَا وَلَمْ يَقُمْ حَتَّى بَقِيَ ثَلاَثٌ مِنَ الشَّهْرِ فَقَامَ بِنَا فِي الثَّالِثَةِ وَجَمَعَ أَهْلَهُ وَنِسَاءَهُ حَتَّى تَخَوَّفْنَا أَنْ يَفُوتَنَا الْفَلاَحُ ‏.‏ قُلْتُ وَمَا الْفَلاَحُ قَالَ السُّحُورُ ‏.‏

عن عبدالله بن مسعود رضي الله عنه، قال: قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم:‏ "‏ الْجَنَّةُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَى أَحَدِكُمْ مِنْ شِرَاكِ نَعْلِهِ، وَالنَّارُ مِثْلُ ذَلِكَ ‏"‏‏.‏ صحيح البخاري حديث ٦٤٨٨

Narrated `Abdullah: The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "Paradise is nearer to any of you than the Shirak (leather strap) of his shoe, and so is the (Hell) Fire.” Sahih al-Bukhari 6488 In-book reference : Book 81, Hadith 77 USC-MSA web (English) reference : Vol. 8, Book 76, Hadith 495

شرح الحديث

يَحكي عبدُ الله بن مسعود رضي الله عنه أنَّ النبيَّ صلَّى الله عليه وسلَّم قال: الجنَّة أقربُ إلى أحدِكم إذا أطاع ربَّه من شِراك نَعلِه (وهو السَّيْرُ الذي يدخُل فيه إصبع الرِّجْل)، والنَّار إذا عصاه مِثلُ ذلك؛ فلا يزهدنَّ في قليل من الخير؛ فلعلَّه يكون سببًا لرحمة الله به، ولا في قليل من الشَّرِّ أن يجتنبه؛ فربَّما يكون فيه سخط الله تعالى. في الحديث: دليلٌ واضح على أنَّ الطَّاعات مُوصلةٌ إلى الجنَّة، والمعاصي مُقرِّبة من النَّار. وفيه: أنَّ المؤمن لا يَزهد في قليل من الخير، ولا يَستقلُّ قليلًا من الشرِّ، فيَحسَبه هيِّنًا وهو عند الله عظيم؛ فإنَّ المؤمن لا يعلَم الحسنة التي يرحَمه الله بها، والسيِّئةَ التي يسخط الله عليه بها. وفيه: أنَّ تحصيلَ الجنَّة سهلٌ بتصحيح القَصدِ وفِعل الطَّاعة، والنَّار كذلك بموافقةِ الهوى وفِعل المعصيةِ.

عن أبي موسى الأشعري رضي الله عنه: عن النبيِّ صلَّى اللهُ عليه وسلَّم : أنه كان يدعو بهذا الدعاءِ : “ربِّ اغفِرْ لي خطيئتي وجهلي، وإسرافي في أمري كلِّه، وما أنت أعلَمُ به مني . اللهم اغفِرْ لي خطاياي، وعمدي وجهلي وهَزلي، وكلُّ ذلك عِندي . اللهم اغفِرْ لي ما قدَّمْتُ وما أخَّرْتُ، وما أسرَرْتُ وما أعلَنْتُ، أنت المقدِّمُ وأنت المؤخِّرُ، وأنت على كلِّ شيءٍ قديرٌ” . صحيح البخاري حديث ٦٣٩٨

Narrated Abu Musa: The Prophet (ﷺ) used to invoke Allah with the following invocation: ‘Rabbi-ghfir-li Khati 'ati wa jahli wa israfi fi `Amri kullihi, wa ma anta a'lamu bihi minni. Allahumma ighfirli khatayaya wa 'amdi, wa jahli wa jiddi, wa kullu dhalika'indi. Allahumma ighrifli ma qaddamtu wa ma akhartu wa ma asrartu wa ma a'lantu. Anta-l-muqaddimu wa anta-l-mu'akh-khiru, wa anta 'ala kulli shai'in qadir.’ Sahih al-Bukhari 6398 In-book reference : Book 80, Hadith 93 USC-MSA web (English) reference : Vol. 8, Book 75, Hadith 407

Narrated Ibn `Umar:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Fever is from the heat of the (Hell) Fire; so abate fever with water."

THIRTY-FIRST WINDOW

We have created man in the best of forms. (95:4) * And in the earth there are signs for those who are certain * And in your own selves; will you not then not see? (51:20-1)

This Window is the Window of man, and it is concerned with man’s self. For more elaborate discussions of it in this respect, we refer you to the detailed books of the thousands of learned and scholarly saints, and here only point out a few principles we have received from the effulgence of the Qur’an. It is like this:

As is explained in the Eleventh Word, “Man is a missive so comprehensive that through his self, Almighty God makes perceived to him all His Names.” For the details we refer you to the other Words, and here only explain three Points.

FIRST POINT

Man is a mirror to the Divine Names in three aspects.

The First Aspect: Like the darkness of the night shows up light, so through his weakness and impotence, his poverty and need, his defects and faults, man makes known the power, strength, riches, and mercy of an All-Powerful One of Glory, and so on... he acts as a mirror to numerous Divine attributes in this way. Even, through searching for a point of support in his infinite impotence and boundless weakness in the face of his innumerable enemies, his conscience perpetually looks to the Necessarily Existent One. And since he is compelled in his utter poverty and endless need to seek for a point of assistance in the face of his innumerable aims, his conscience in that respect all the time leans on the Court of an All-Compassionate One of Riches and opens its hands in supplication to Him. That is to say, in regard to this point of support and point of assistance in the conscience, two small windows are opened onto the Court of Mercy of the All-Powerful and All-Compassionate One, which may all the time be looked through.

The Second Aspect of being mirror-like is this: through particulars like his partial knowledge, power, senses of sight and hearing, ownership and sovereignty, which are sorts of samples given to him, man acts as a mirror to the knowledge, power, sight, hearing, and sovereignty of dominicality of the Master of the Universe; he understands them and makes them known. For example, he says: “Just as I make this house and know how to make it, and I see it and own it and administer it, so the mighty palace of the universe has a Maker. Its Maker knows it, sees it, makes it, administers it.” And so on..

The Third Aspect of being mirror-like: man acts as a mirror to the Divine Names, the imprint of which are upon him. There are more than seventy Names the impresses of which are apparent in man’s comprehensive nature. These have been described to a degree at the start of the Third Stopping- Place of the Thirty-Second Word. For example, through his creation, man shows the Names of Maker and Creator; through his being on the ‘Most Excellent of Patterns,’ the Names of Most Merciful and All-Compassionate, and through the fine way he is nurtured and raised, the Names of All-Generous and Granter of Favours, and so on; he shows the differing impresses of different Names through all his members and faculties, all his organs and limbs, all his subtle senses and faculties, all his feelings and emotions. That is to say, just as among the Names there is a Greatest Name, so among the impresses of those Names there is a greatest impress, and that is man.

A Sufi disciple, called a mureed, is attached to his or her shaykh,  or master, who serves to guide the disciple along the path to spiritual fulfillment. Each Sufi order is characterized by the relationship between disciples and their shaykh, to whom they pledge an oath of allegiance called bay'a. This is standard and required for entrance into an order, but it does not imply celibacy or a monastic life. Many Sufis have families and children, and view their membership in an order as just another aspect of their lives. Once this pledge is taken, the relationship between the teacher and student is initiated.

Eventually, the disciple progresses and may become a teacher and master, initiating future generations of Sufis. Once a disciple has attained knowledge and discipline, his shaykh may permit him to instruct others. There is no formal curriculum or “graduation” to such processes, and they are determined by the members of a tariqa. It is generally held by Sufis that this type of teacher-student lineage stems all the way back to the Prophet Muhammad, who initiated his own friends and Companions along the spiritual path. Basing their disciplinary practices on interpretations of the Quran and hadith, teachers continue what they believe is an unbroken chain of devotional methods, called a silsilah, that originated with Muhammad.

The rite of initiation or bay'ais a kind of rebirth taken when a member first joins a tariqa, when sins of the past are washed away and the disciple undertakes to eradicate them from his or her behavior. It involves clasping the hands of the shaykh and pledging obedience according to whatever formulas the particular tariqa happens to use. Again, there are no universal formulas for such initiations. Dedication to the master or teacher thus involves a kind of emptying of the self, a purging of one’s past identity and the adoption of the role of mureed.

Groups of disciples perform dhikr and sama communally, usually in the presence of their shaykh, who may or may not participate. The role of the teacher is not to program the students in their worship, but to guide them to their own realizations. In some Sufi orders, the teacher, who represents a repository of generations of wisdom, conveys a message without explicit instruction as to particular practices. That is, according to one view, the only True Teacher is God Himself, and a shaykh is merely an intermediary source of guidance, not the True Teacher. The shaykh may convey a message of wisdom, but that wisdom does not originate with the teacher, it only passes through him to the student. This experience is meant merely to aid students in their own progress. The Sufi teacher Hazrat Inayat Khan articulates the relationship between a mureed and a teacher as such:

If you think of the teacher as your brother, it is true; if you think of teacher as your friend, it is true also; if you think of the teacher as your spiritual teacher, it is true; and if you think of the teacher as your servant, it is also true. Besides this, there is no place for any other discussion. Your teacher is a human being, and as such he is liable to shortcomings. You may give him your confidence and trust, and know him as a human being.