Thirdly: To be the king of his soul's
kingdom not a slave for it
Invocations of prophets and apostles in the noble Koran is the door from which we know the high politeness in dealing with Allah and the secrets of their dealing with their Lord, and so are the invocations narrated after righteous people in their conditions and Awrad, so Imam Abul-Aza'em clarified this fact and said:
"There is beauty in my invocation realized only by the youthful or the hearty."
Invocation of righteous people has spiritual beauty only realized by those who reached the degree of Fotowwah (youthfulness - strength in applying the orders of Allah), so when we look at the invocation of our sir Ibraheem as Allah says:
"O my Lord! Bestow ruling on me, and join me with the righteous. Grant me honorable mention on the tongue of truth among the latest (generations). Make me one of the inheritors of the Garden of Bliss. Forgive my father, for that he is among those astray. And let me not be in disgrace on the Day when (people) will be raised up. The Day when neither wealth nor sons will avail, But only he (will prosper) that brings to Allah a sound heart."
(Surat Asho'araa', verses 83 - 89)
We see that it implies highly knowledge not got by reading but knowledge by Allah, prophets reached the extreme in the knowledge of Allah. Enemies of Allah might have knowledge of the orders of Allah and Sharia better than believers, but knowledge of Allah is as Imam Abul-Aza'em said:
"Knowledge of Allah is ambiguous only realized by adorers who are in great adoration."
Knowledge of Allah is something ambiguous only known by those who have pure hearts for Allah from everything else, our sir Ibraheem started his invocation here by:
"O my Lord! Bestow ruling on me, and join me with the righteous."
The first thing he asked from Allah is to grant him domination or ruling, what ruling does he ask? When ordinary people listen to the verse, they think that he wanted kingship, i.e. he wanted to be a king, a leader or a president, but he didn’t want that, he wanted to be a ruler or a king over the special kingdom given to him by Allah, it is the kingdom of man about which Imam Ali said:
"You allege that you are small creature while in you lies the greatest world."
Man contains universes by the facts Allah granted him, he is as a small universe and the universe is as a big man, if Allah loves a servant and this servant is a good follower on the way of Allah, Allah will grant him ruling his soul as Allah says:
"When he reached full age, and was firmly established (in life), We bestowed on him leadership and knowledge, "
(Surat Al-Kasas, verse 14)
Revelatory knowledge only comes after man controls and rules his soul, whoever wants revelatory knowledge, he should control his kingdom first, he shouldn’t deal with it according to his desire but he rules it by the orders of Allah, man shouldn’t have wish with the orders of Allah, after ruling it, Allah grants him knowledge as He says: "We bestowed on him leadership and knowledge,"
Ruling comes first because if Allah grants him divine revelatory knowledge without ruling his soul, man naturally tends to reputation, then he will say the jewels of this knowledge not to its proper people, and this is high treason to Allah, such treasonous will be punished by cutting his neck on the way of Allah, he won't be accepted by Allah, Imam Abul-Aza'em said about this:
"Keep my secret, my secret shouldn’t be disclosed, whoever discloses the secret, he will be ended. Our knowledge is in a position higher than minds as it is clear hidden light. Our Lord granted it to us, it is an ambiguous secret, how it is disclosed!"
That who is granted ruling his soul; he prefers to be jailed than to disclose it to improper people, as our sir Yusof said:
"He said: O my Lord, the prison is more to my liking than that to which they invite me."
(Surat Yusof, verse 33)
He preferred to be imprisoned than disclosing secrets, however if he disclosed these secrets to them, they would promote him and give him great position and he wouldn’t be sent to prison, but he kept these secrets inside his chest and didn’t tell them anything. Our sir Moses did the same thing when he said: "My breast will be straitened," i.e. from the knowledge and secrets of Allah inside it, "And my speech may not go (smoothly),"
(Surat Asho'araa', verse 13)
i.e. only to my brothers whose hearts afford these knowledge and meanings.
But if he sits among people and the desire to speech and longing to be respected died in his soul, he doesn’t speak to be noticed or to be ennobled by anyone or to get anything in this life, but he only talks when Allah grants him provision from the treasure of his heart for those chosen by Allah. It is as if these meanings in the heart of the righteous man are as the trust of Allah, his heart is as a treasure for these divine knowledge and meanings, he tells people only what Allah permits, he knows this by the eye of his heart, if he sits with great scholars but they have no permission from Allah and their hearts are not ready for this knowledge, he won't utter a single word even if they backbite or insult him, because he only seeks Allah's face, the first thing our sir Ibraheem asked is what great righteous and truthful people ask followers to do.
The first thing I should concentrate on in the way of Allah to reach Allah's satisfaction, is to ask Allah to give me the control of my soul and not to make it controls me according to its desires and wishes. Everything Allah grants to righteous people of karamat (miracles), knowledge and bounties is the result of controlling to kingdom of the soul. When a righteous man was seen flying in the air, they asked him how he got this position, he said:
"I put my wish under my foot so Allah gave me the control of air."
The interest of a truthful follower should be the control of his soul, if he has other interests; they are the wishes of the soul.
Are there followers who have other interests? Or other lower aims from fighting their souls? Yes, some followers want Allah to grant them meanings to attract people or listeners even if they are not followers on the way of Allah, others want to show Karamat and be mentioned that he is one of righteous people, others want to have shrines and visited by people after his death, what will people give you after your death and what will you get from them? Others want people to kiss their hands and confess their grace and they are happy to hear that mentioned in people's sittings, and also lots of other things the soul desires and the wish hopes for.
The truthful follower is that who understand the words of the father of prophets and apostles when he started his invocation saying: "O my Lord! Bestow ruling on me, and join me with the righteous."
I.e. give me control over my soul to join righteous people, who are righteous people?
The word Saleh (righteous) means, that who is ready for Allah, his heart is ready for the descending of lights of Allah, his secret is ready for seeing our sir the apostle of Allah, his spirit is ready for getting highly demands like sociability, amicability and adoration of Allah and his body is ready for obeying Allah externally and internally, secretly and apparently, so he becomes totally ready for Allah. The degree of righteous people is a high degree so our sir Ibraheem made it his aim and his hope. The hope of a truthful servant who is with his Lord is to join him with righteous people by making him following them, because Allah only decorates those He loves and chooses by the manners and conditions of righteous people, this oh brothers only got by hard strive of the soul.
THE SOUL
By
Fawzy Mohammed Abu-Zeid
Ma shaa Allah wala Kowata Illa Bellah
ردحذف