46 – THIRD VOLUME, 17th LETTER
This letter, written to a very pious lady, explains beliefs and encourages worship:
May hamd-u-thenâ[1] be to Allâhu ta’âlâ, who sends us all the conspicuous and invisible blessings, who shows us the way to safety, and who has honoured us by making us an Ummat of His beloved Prophet Muhammad ‘’alaihis-salâm’.
Allâhu ta’âlâ is the only One who gives every blessing, every goodness to all creatures. He is the One who creates everything and who gives the blessing of existence. He is also the One who keeps everything in existence every moment. Perfect and good attributes are given to men through His mercy, through His sympathy. Our attributes of life, knowledge, hearing, seeing, power and speech are all from Him. He, alone, sends innumerable blessings. He is the One who saves people from troubles. He is the One who accepts prayers and rescues people from disasters. He is such a Razzâq[2] that He does not cut off the sustenance of His born slaves on account of their sins. His forgiveness and mercy is so plentiful that He does not disclose the ugliness of the faces of sinners. He is so lenient that He does not hurry in punishing His born slaves.
He is so bounteous that He showers His favours and blessings upon everybody, whether beloved or hostile. And, as the most honourable, the most valuable and the highest of all His blessings, He teaches Islam to His born slaves clearly, and shows them the way He likes. He so kindly commands them to attain endless bliss by following the highest of creatures. Thus, His blessings and favours are clearer than the sun and more conspicuous than the moon. Also, He is the One who sends the blessings that come through others. Others’ favours are similar to the custodian’s entrusting something to another person for safekeeping. To ask anything from somebody else means to expect something from a poor person. An ignorant person as well as a learned one knows this. A blockhead as well as a clever person understands it.
Couplet:
Even if the hairs on my body began to speak
They couldn’t do even one-thousandth of the thanks Thou deserve.
Everybody knows that he who does favours should be thanked. It is a requirement of being human. Those who do favours are respected. Generous people are deemed great. Then, it is a requirement of being human to thank Allâhu ta’âlâ, who is the real owner of every blessing. It is a duty, a debt, which reason necessitates. However, since Allâhu ta’âlâ is free from any defect or fault, while men are smeared with the taint of defects and with the stains of deficiency, they do not have any relationship with Him. They cannot understand how great He is or how to thank Him properly. Methods which they think of as beautiful and use to describe Him may be loathsome to Him. What they think appropriate as a way of lauding and praising Him may, in fact, insult and belittle Him. Unless He dictates the means by which He should be praised and thanked, other ways cannot be trusted as being worthy of Him, nor can they be acceptable ways of worshipping Him. A way that a man chooses to thank Him may actually be a form of slander. Therefore, the religions which have been communicated by His Prophets ‘’alaihim-us-salawâtu wa-tteslîmât’ reveal how He should be praised, respected, and thanked. Ways of respecting Him through the heart are taught by Islam, and the thanks that must be rendered to Him with the tongue are, again shown by Islam. Religions explain clearly and in detail the actions which every organ will do.
Then, thanking Allâhu ta’âlâ by believing with the heart and doing certain things with the body is possible only by adapting oneself to Islam. The reverence and the worship that is rendered to Allâhu ta’âlâ without Islam cannot be depended upon. They usually are done in a form contrary to His wishes and what is thought of as a blessing turns out to be a sin. As is understood from these words, following Islam is a requirement of being a human and is something which mind approves of and likes. Allâhu ta’âlâ cannot be thanked without His religion.
Each religion which Allâhu ta’âlâ declared is of two component parts: i’tiqâd (belief) and ’amal (worship); i.e., îmân and rules. Of them, i’tiqâd is the same in every religion. I’tiqâd is the essence and the basis of the religion. It is the trunk of the tree of the religion. And ’amal is like the branches and leaves of the tree. The i’tiqâds communicated in ancient religions were defiled in the course of time. The only correct i’tiqâd today is the i’tiqâd which is communicated by the Islamic religion. He who does not have this correct i’tiqâd will not be saved from Hell. It will be impossible for him to escape the torment in the next world. There is hope for those without ’amal to be saved. They may rely on the mercy of Allâhu ta’âlâ; He may forgive them, if He wills, or may torment them as much as they deserve on account of their sins, if He wills, and then take them out of Hell. Staying eternally in Hell is for those who do not hold the correct i’tiqâd taught by the Islamic religion, that is, those who do not believe the tenets of the Islamic religion, which were conveyed by Muhammad ‘’alaihis-salâm’. Those who hold the i’tiqâd, but who do not have ’amal, that is, who do not carry out the rules with their heart and body, will not stay in Hell eternally, though they may go there.
Since the tenets that must be believed are the essentials, the absolutely indispensable bases of Islam, it is necessary for everybody to teach and to learn them. [It is everybody’s first duty to learn them. He who does not learn correct îmân and its rules and who does not teach them to his children has not done his duty as a human being. Everbody has the right to learn them. It is the first of all human rights.]
Since the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya, that is, the commandments and prohibitions, are dependent upon i’tiqâd (îmân) and since they are lengthy and detailed, we will leave the job of dealing with them to the books of Fiqh [and morals]. We will touch only upon the very essential ones, inshâ-Allâhu ta’âlâ. [Îmân and i’tiqâd are the same. There is a very lengthy and profound branch of knowledge describing them called ’Ilm-i Kalâm. Savants of Kalâm are very great people, and books of Kalâm are numerous. These books are also called books of ’aqâid. Things that are to be done or abstained from with the heart and body are called Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya or shortly Islam. The branch of knowledge teaching the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya, which consists of acts to be practised with the body, is called ’Ilm-i-Fiqh. The books of Kalâm of the four Madhhabs are the same, but their books of Fiqh are different. The books that are written for non-educated people and that briefly and clearly describe the knowledge of Kalâm (îmân), morals and Fiqh, which everybody should know and do, are called the books of ’Ilm-i hâl. It is the first duty of each Muslim to get books of ’Ilm-i hâl written by blessed people who know, love and take care for their religion. Thereafter, he must teach what he has learned to his wife and children. To attempt to learn Islam from the speeches and articles of ignorant people who call themselves and pass themselves as men of religion means to throw oneself down into Hell.]
TENETS THAT ARE ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY TO BE BELIEVED:
Allâhu ta’âlâ exists by His Dhât; His existence is of Himself. As He exists now, He has always been existing and will continue to exist. There cannot be nonexistence before or after His being. His existence is indispensable. That is, He is Wâjib-ulwujûd (the Indispensable Being). There cannot be nonexistence at that rank. Existence of Allâhu ta’âlâ can be understood both scientifically and mentally. The scientific way (of understanding His existence) is also called limnî way. His existence is proved through both these ways in the sixtieth chapter of the current book. Allâhu ta’âlâ is One. That is, He does not have a partner or a likeness. He does not have a partner in being Wâjib-ul-wujûd, in being worshipped or in being worthy of worship. To have a partner would mean insufficiency and dependence on the part of Allâhu ta’âlâ, which are defects and faults. There cannot be deficiencies in wujûb and ulûhiyyat[3].
He is sufficient, independent. That is, He is by Himself. Then, there is no need for a partner or a likeness. And being unnecessary is a defect and is not compatible with wujûb and ulûhiyyat. As it can be seen, to think that He has a partner shows that each of the partners is insufficient. That is, to think that there is a partner exposes the fact that there cannot be a partner. That means to say that Allâhu ta’âlâ does not have a partner. He is One. Allâhu ta’âlâ has perfect Attributes that are not deficient. They are: hayât (to exist), ’ilm (to know), sem’ (to hear), basar (to see), qudrat (to be omnipotent), irâda (to will), kalâm (to say) and tekwîn (to create). These eight Attributes are called Sifât-i thubûtiyya or Sifât-i haqîqiyya. These Attributes of His are eternal. That is, they are not existences that came into being later. They exist separately from Himself. The Ahl-i Sunnat savants have stated so, so may Allâhu ta’âlâ reward them for their work! None of the seventy-two sects, but only the Ahl-i Sunnat could realize that Allâhu ta’âlâ had separate Attributes. In fact, the recent ones of the Sôfiyya-i ’aliyya (great men of Tasawwuf) said that those Attributes were the same as the Divine Person (Allah Himself), thus they made themselves akin to the seventy-two sects, though they were Sunnî people. Yes, they do not say that the Attributes are nonexistent, like the others do, but it is understood from the implications of their words that they view the Attributes as nonexistent.
The seventy-two sects claim that they protect Allâhu ta’âlâ against defects and that they know Him as perfect by considering the Attributes to be nonexistent. While they think of this as perfection, they disagree with the Qur’ân al-kerîm. May Allâhu ta’âlâ bless them with adhering to the way of the Qur’ân alkerîm! The other Attributes of Allâhu ta’âlâ are either i’tibârî (thought to exist) or selbî (impossible to exist). For example, qidam (not nonexistent before His existence), ezeliyyat (not having a beginning as an existence), wujûb (impossible to cease to exist), and ulûhiyyat. For example, Allâhu ta’âlâ is not a substance. He is not of a substance. He is not matterial. He is not a state. He does not have a place. He is not with time. He has not entered anything or settled in any place. He is not limited or surrounded by anything. He is not on any side or in any direction. He is not connected with anything. He does not resemble anything. He doe not have a likeness or an opposite. He does not have a mother, father, wife or children. [He who says, “Allah, the Father,” becomes a kâfir.] All these are things that exist in creatures, in beings that were created later. They are all signs of a defect and fault. They are all sifât-i selbiyya. All perfect Attributes exist in Allâhu ta’âlâ. No defective attributes exist in Him. Allâhu ta’âlâ knows the wholes, the fragments, the big things and the tiny motes. He knows every secret. He knows the tiniest motes in earth and in the skies. He is the One who creates everything. Certainly, He knows the things He creates. Creating requires knowing. Some unfortunate people say that He does not know of every mote. They suppose that it is greatness and perfectness not to know of every mote.
Likewise, by saying that Allâhu ta’âlâ created something which they call ‘the first intellect’, willy-nilly; they suppose that this is perfection, too. They are so ignorant that they think of ignorance as perfection. They suppose that it is an act of greatness to do something willy-nilly, like the forces recognized by the knowledge of physics. They fabled something called the great first cause. They say that everything comes to being from it. According to them, the creator of the worlds and heavens and all their contents is at the same time someone who is incapable and ineffective. To this faqîr, (Hadrat Imâm-i Rabbânî means himself), nobody on earth is more ignorant and baser than they are. And some other people think of them as scientists, as men of positive knowledge, and suppose that they know something and tell the truth. Allâhu ta’âlâ is the Speaker of one Word from eternity in the past until eternity in the future. All His commandments are from that one Word. All His prohibitions are, again, from that one Word. Likewise, all His news and all His questions originate from that one Word. The books Tawrât and Injîl denote that one Word.
Also, the Zebûr and the Qur’ân al-kerîm signify that one Word. Likewise, His other Books and Pages are all explanations of that one Word. When eternity in the past and eternity in the future become one moment at that rank despite their being infinite –even though it would not include the word ‘one moment,’ we use the word ‘one moment’ since there is no other word– the word, which is in that one moment, is also certainly one word, one letter, and even one dot. To say one dot, like saying one moment, is due to there being no other appropriate word. Otherwise, it would not be correct to say even one dot. The wideness and the narrowness in Allah Himself and in His Attributes are not like those which we know and with which we are familiar.
He is far from being wide or narrow, which is an attribute for creatures. Believers will see Allâhu ta’âlâ in Paradise. But they will see Him by way of a seeing which is not known. Seeing something which is not known or comprehended, will be seeing which is not comprehended. Maybe the one who sees will go into a state that cannot be understood, and then will see. This is a mystery, a puzzle, which has been communicated to the distinguished ones of the Awliyâ in this world. This profound, difficult matter, which is hidden to everybody, has been revealed to them. It has not been understood, with the exception of the Ahl-i sunnat, neither by groups of Believers nor by any individual among the disbelievers. All but those great people said that Allâhu ta’âlâ could not be seen. Others went wrong because they likened the things which they did not know to those which they saw. It is obvious that such comparisons and measurements will give wrong results. [And today, many people are drifting towards eternal disaster by losing their îmân because of this wrong measurement and comparison.] To be blessed with the honour of îmân in profound matters such as these falls to one’s lot only in the light of obeying the Sunnat (that is, the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya) of Muhammad ‘’alaihi-s-salâm’. How can they be honoured with attaining this blessing, those who are deprived of the honour of believing in seeing Allâhu ta’âlâ in Paradise in light of the famous saying, “He who rejects will be deprived”? On the other hand, it is not suitable to be in Paradise and not see Him, for Islam says that all of those in Paradise will see. It does not say that some of them will see and others will not see Him. We will quote for them the answer which Hadrat Mûsâ gave to Pharaoh, which Allâhu ta’âlâ declares through the 51st and 52nd âyats of Sûra Tâhâ: “Pharaoh said, ‘What became of those who came and passed before us?’ He said in response, ‘My Allah knows their states and futures. It is written in Lawh-i mahfûz. My Allah never goes wrong or forgets anything. As for me, I am merely a born slave like you. I know only as much as He lets me know.’ ”
Paradise also is a creature of Allâhu ta’âlâ, as everything is. Allâhu ta’âlâ does not enter or stay in any of His creatures. But His divine lights appear on some of His creatures. And others do not have that talent. The mirror reflects the images of the things opposite itself. But stone or soil does not reflect them. Though Allâhu ta’âlâ is in the same nisbat (relation) to each of His creatures, the creatures are not the same in respect to one another. Allâhu ta’âlâ cannot be seen in the world. This world is not convenient for attaining the blessing of seeing Him. He who says that He can be seen here is a liar, a slanderer. He has not understood the truth. If this blessing were attainable in this world, Hadrat Mûsâ ‘’alaihis-salâm’ would have seen Him before anybody else. Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ was honoured with this good luck in the Mi’râj[4]. Yet it did not happen in this world. He went into Paradise. He saw Him there. That is, he saw Him as He will be seen in the next world. He did not see Him in the world. While being in the world, he went out of the world, went into the next world and saw Him.
Allâhu ta’âlâ is the creator of the worlds and heavens. He is the One who created mountains, seas, trees, fruits, metals, germs, animals, atoms, electrons and molecules. As He ornamented the first heaven with stars, so He ornamented the earth by creating human beings. He created simple substances, elements. Compounds came into being through His creation. He is the One who created everything out of nothing. Everything other than Him was nonexistent. None of them is eternal. All righteous religions declare that everything other than Allâhu ta’âlâ came to being later while having been nonexistent and that there is nothing eternal except Allâhu ta’âlâ. They say that those who know others as eternal are disbelievers. Imâm-i Ghazâlî, the Proof of Islam, said in his book al-Munqidhu ’aniddalâl (reproduced by offset press by Hakîkat Kitabevi) that he who knows anybody besides Allâhu ta’âlâ as eternal is a kâfir (unbeliever).
The Qur’ân al-kerîm communicates that those who know the heavens, the stars and other things as eternal are liars. There are many âyat-i-kerîmas showing that the ’âlams were created out of nothing. Extremely dissolute is the person who contradicts the Qur’ân by following his mind, which may go wrong at any time. Unless Allâhu ta’âlâ gives light to a person, he will not be enlightened.
As human beings are creatures, so are all their deeds and actions; they are Allâhu ta’âlâ’s creatures. For, nobody besides Him can make or create anything. How can a creature create another, while it itself has been created? The stamp of createdness denotes little power and signifies insufficient knowledge. He who has little knowledge and power cannot create or invent. In man’s action, what falls to his lot is a result of his acquiring. That is, action has been produced through his power and will. It is Allâhu ta’âlâ who has created and made that action, and it is man who has acquired it. As is seen, the optional actions of men, those which they do willingly, happen from their acquiring and Allah’s creating. If man’s acquiring or option [that is, his liking] does not take part in his action, that action turns into convulsions. [It becomes like the movement of the stomach or of the heart.] However, it is obvious that optional actions are not like them. The difference between optional actions and convulsions, though they are both created by Allâhu ta’âlâ, is in the acquiring. Pitying His born slaves, Allâhu ta’âlâ made the creation of their actions dependent upon their intention and wish. He creates man’s action when man wants. It is for this reason that man is responsible. The blessing or the sin of the action is given to man. The intention, the option, which Allâhu ta’âlâ has given to His born slaves, is equal in doing or not doing the action. He declared clearly to His born slaves through His Prophets what actions are good or bad to do or not to do. Man, being free to do or not to do each of his actions, will for certain choose one of them; the action will be either good or bad, and he will receive either a blessing or a sin. Allâhu ta’âlâ has given His born slaves as much power (energy) and option (liking, choosing) as to obey His commands and prohibitions. There is no need for Him to give any more ability. He has given as much as is necessary. He who does not believe this is a person who cannot realize things easily. Because his heart is sick, he looks for pretexts for not obeying the Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya.
[Allâhu ta’âlâ willed in pre-eternity to give to mankind the power of option, and to let them choose freely the things they want to do or do not want to do. He never forces men to do something. The reason for mankind having the power of option is because Allâhu ta’âlâ willed it to be so. The freedom that mankind has in doing what he wishes clearly indicates that mankind has the power of option; as well, it denotes that Allâhu ta’âlâ willed it in preeternity that way. If He had not willed mankind to have the power of option, and if He had not created it in them, then man would not be free, but would be obliged to do the thing he wished for. However, when a man wishes and wills to do something, Allâhu ta’âlâ, too, wills it and creates it. Allâhu ta’âlâ is the Creator of the things men opted for. Man cannot create and then do any one of his wishes. After he wills something, then Allâhu ta’âlâ also wills it and creates it. He, Allâhu ta’âlâ, is the only Creator and Maker of everything. There is no creator other than Him. To call anyone other than Him Creator, or to say ‘…someone created’ is very wrong and is an act of making someone a shareholder, a partner with Allâhu ta’âlâ, which is what He most emphatically prohibited and informed that such people will experience an endless and most vehement torment.]
All of this which we have stated concerns profound matters involving the knowledge of Kalâm. Their easiest and clearest explanation consists of what we have written here. We have to believe what the savants of the right way have communicated. We shouldn’t busy ourselves with discussing or researching (them).
Couplet:
Attacking is not good in all circumstances,
Digging in is better in some instances.
Having mercy upon His born slaves, Allâhu ta’âlâ sent them Prophets ‘’alaihim-us-salawâtu wa-t-teslîmât’. Through them He guided His born slaves to the right way, to the way of endless bliss, and called His born slaves to Himself. He invited them to Paradise, the place for His grace and love. So poor should be a person to turn down an invitation on the part of such a giver of favours. How idiotic it would be to deprive oneself of His blessings. All the information which those great people conveyed from Allâhu ta’âlâ is true. It is necessary to believe all of it. Though mind is a means for finding out the truth and what is good, it cannot find it alone, for it is insufficient. It has been completed with the coming of Prophets ‘’alaihim-us-salawâtu wa-t-teslîmât’. There is no excuse, no pretext left for men. The first Prophet is Hadrat Âdam. And the last one is hadrat Muhammad Rasûlullah ‘’alaihi wa ’alaihim-ussalawâtu wa-t-teslîmât’. It is necessary to believe in all the Prophets. All of them should be known as innocent (sinless) and true. To deny one of them means to deny all of them. For, all of them taught the same îmân. That is, the essentials, the bases of the things to be believed were the same in all their religions. [Wahhabis do not believe that Âdam ‘’alaihi’s-salâm’ was a Prophet. The book Kashf-ush-shuhubât, a book of Wahhabism, states in its initial pages that the first Prophet was Noah ‘’alaihi’ssalâm’.] This is only one of their wrong credal tenets. Hadrat Îsâ (Jesus) did not die. When Jews wanted to kill him, Allâhu ta’âlâ raised him alive up to Heaven. At a time towards the end of the world he will descend to Damascus from Heaven and will follow the religion of Muhammad ‘’alaihissalâm’. Hadrat Khwâja Muhammad Pârisâ, one of the great Awliyâ educated by Hadrat Bahâaddîn-i Naqshibandî Bukhârî, a great Walî, a diver into the ocean of Tasawwuf, says in his book Fusûl-i sitta: “Hadrat Îsâ will descend from Heaven, will act according to the Madhhab of Imâmi Abû Hanîfa, (i.e. the Hanafî Madhhab,) will say halâl about what he said was halâl, and will say harâm about what he said was harâm.”
ANGELS:
They are valuable born slaves of Allâhu ta’âlâ. Some of them have been honoured with conveying information to other angels and to His Prophets ‘’alaihim-us-salâm’ among mankind. They do what they are commanded to do. They do not revolt. They do not eat or drink. They do not get married. They are neither male nor female. They do not have children. They carried the (heavenly) Books and Pages. Because they are trustworthy, what they convey is true. To be a Muslim, it is necessary to hold this belief concerning angels. According to the majority of the savants of the right way, the exalted ones of human beings are superior to the exalted ones of the angels. Since human beings struggle against the Devil and against their own nafs, they are exalted, though they are in need. But angels were created exalted already. Angels say tasbîh and taqdîs[5]. Yet it is peculiar to the higher ones of human beings to add jihâd to it. Allâhu ta’âlâ declares in the ninety-fourth âyat of Sûrat-un-Nisâ: “Those Muslims who perform jihâd, who war against the enemies of religion by sacrificing their property and lives for Allah’s sake, are more exalted than those who do not go out, but instead only worship. I promise Paradise for all of them.”
All of what the Mukhbir-i sâdiq ‘’alaihi wa ’alâ âlihi-s-salâtu wa-s-salâm’ (he who always tells the truth, the Prophet) communicated about the grave, Rising, Hashr (assembling in the space of Arasât after the Rising), Neshr (dispersing after the settling of accounts to go into Paradise or Hell), and about Paradise and Hell, is true. Believing in the next world, like believing in Allâhu ta’âlâ, is an essential of îmân. He who denies the next world is a kâfir, as if he denied Allâhu ta’âlâ.
Torment in the grave and the grave’s squeezing the corpse are true facts. He who denies them does not become a kâfir, but he becomes on ahl-i bid’at since he has denied the hadîths that are well known. [Such people deny the torment in the grave because they doubt that those hadîths are true ones. If they accepted them as hadîths, they would believe it. For this reason, they do not become disbelievers, but they stray from the Ahl-i sunnat. But, he who says, “I do not believe in the torment in the grave, whether it is written in hadîths or not. Mind and experiments do not confirm it,” becomes a kâfîr. People who deny it in this manner today become disbelievers.] Since the grave is a pass between this world and the next torment in the grave is transient like worldly torment but resembles the torment in the next world. That is, in one respect, it is like worldly torment, while in another respect, it is like torment in the next world. The torment in the grave will be mostly done to those who fouled their clothes while urinating and to those who spread gossip among Muslims while they are in the world. Two angels named Munkar and Nakîr will ask questions in the grave. It is difficult to answer their questions. [‘Munkar and Nakîr’ means ‘(something) whose nature is not known’. See the explanations after Friday Prayer in the twenty-first chapter of the fourth fascicle of Endless Bliss.]
There is the day when the world will end. That day will surely come. On that day, the skies will be torn into pieces, the stars will disperse, the earth and mountains will break into pieces and will be annihilated. The Qur’ân communicates this fact and all groups of Muslims believe it. He who denies it becomes a kâfir. Even if he misrepresents his obstinacy well by means of some fantastic stories, or deceives the ignorant by pushing knowledge and science on them, he is still a kâfir. At the end of the world, after all creatures are annihilated, they will be recreated, and all people will be resurrected from their graves. Allâhu ta’âlâ will resurrect the bones that have rotted and turned into dust. That day a pair of scales will be set up; the account-books of all humans will fly to their owners, to the righteous ones from their right and to the evil ones from their left. The bridge of Sirât, which is set over Hell, will be passed, the pious ones will pass over it and will go into Paradise, but those who are for Hell will fall down into Hell. These things which we state are not impossible. Since the Mukhbîr-i sâdiq ‘sall- Allâhu ta’âlâ ’alaihi wa sallam’ has declared them, we have to accept them and believe them instantly. We shouldn’t doubt about them by being fed on illusions. Allâhu ta’âlâ declares in the seventh âyat of Sûrat-ul-Hashr: “Take what My Messenger has brought for you!” In other words, believe whatever he says! On the Day of Rising, with the permission of Allâhu ta’âlâ, the virtuous ones will perform shafâ’at for the bad ones; that is, they will intercede for them. Our Prophet stated: “My shafâ’at is for the ones with grave sins from among my Ummat.” After settling accounts, disbelievers will go into Hell and will stay in Hell and be tormented eternally. Believers will stay in Paradise and in the blessings of Paradise eternally. Those Muslims whose sins are greater than their good deeds will possibly go into Hell, being tormented there for a while or as much as they deserve on account of their sins. Yet they will not remain in Hell eternally. A person with îmân equaling a speck will not remain in Hell eternally, but being blessed with Divine Mercy, he will enter Paradise.
[It is written in the two hundred and ninth page of the book Âmentü Şerhi, written by Kâdızâde Ahmed Efendî: “In Hell, there is a place called Zemherîr. That is, it is the cold Hell. Its cold is so vehement that it cannot be endured even for a moment. Disbelievers will be tormented by being thrown now into the cold Hell and then into the hot one, and then again into the cold one and then again into the hot one.” It is written in the sixth chapter of the fourth part of the book Kimyâ-yi Sa’âdat, and also in the chapter “Calling One’s Nafs to Account” at the end of the book Kıyâmet ve Âhıret, which is the Turkish version of the book entitled ad-Durrat al-Fâkhira, by Imâm-i-Muhammad Ghazâlî, that there are cold zemherîr[6] torments in Hell. This fact is also stated clearly in hadîth-i-sherîfs. By attacking Islam through lies and slanders, the enemies of religion say, “Because all Prophets came to hot countries, they always frightened people with fire by saying that fire was the means of torment in Hell. If they had come to the poles, to the cold northern countries, they would have said that the torment would be done with ice.” These disbelievers are both ignorant and stupid. As a matter of fact, if they knew of the Qur’ân and if they had heard of the words of the great men of Islam and if they were a little clever, they would become Muslims immediately. At least, perhaps, they would not be so mean as to write these reckless lies. Our religion both declares that there are also cold torments in Hell, and states that Prophets were sent not only to hot countries, but also to every country on earth, hot or cold alike. The Qur’ân answers the questions asked to our Prophet in accordance with the knowledge and understanding of the people who asked them. Also, it explains the unknown beings in the next world by likening them to the ones which people have seen and known in the world. Since the Meccans had not heard of the poles and of the countries of ice, it would be useless to tell them about the freezing torments of Hell.
The existence of such information compatible with this subtlety in the Qur’ân and hadîths causes today’s unbelievers to become more confused.] It is at the last breath when it is determined whether a person is a Believer or an unbeliever. Many people remain disbelievers throughout their lives, and, at last, they get blessed with îmân. Likewise, there are people who spend their entire lifetimes with îmân in their hearts and yet who turn renegades in the end. At the Last Judgment, they will be judged according to their last breath. Yâ Rabbî! After showing us the right way and honouring us with îmân, protect us against going wrong, against aberration! Have mercy upon us, pity us! Thou alone can show the right way!
ÎMÂN (FAITH):
It is called îmân to believe through the heart the facts that are known to be of Islam, and to express one’s îmân with one’s tongue. The facts that must be believed are: To believe the existence of Allâhu ta’âlâ, His Oneness, His Books and Pages, and His Prophets and Angels. To believe in the Hashr (Allâhu ta’âlâ’s making people rise and assemble for judgment) and Neshr (dispersal after judgment), the next world, the eternal blessings in Paradise, the eternal torment in Hell, the cracking of the skies, the dispersing of the stars, and the breaking of the earth into pieces. To believe that it is fard to perform the prayer of namâz five times daily, to believe in the numbers of rak’ats[7] in these prayers, to believe that it is fard to pay the zakât of one’s property (see first chapter of fifth fascicle), to fast every day in the month of Ramadân and, for those who qualify, to go to the city of Mecca and perform the hajj. It is necessary to believe that it is harâm to drink wine, to eat pork, to kill a person unjustly, to disobey one’s parents, to steal, to commit fornication, to appropriate an orphan’s property, to charge or pay interest when lending or borrowing money, [for women to go out without covering themselves properly or naked, and to gamble.] If a person with îmân commits a grave sin, his îmân does not go away, nor does he become a kâfir.
A person who says halâl about a sin, that is, about a harâm, becomes a kâfir. He who commits a harâm becomes fâsiq (sinful). One should say, “I am certainly a Mu’min.” One should say that one has îmân. One should not say inshâ-Allah (if Allah wills) while saying that one is a Believer. It may imply doubt. Yes, it may be permissible to say inshâ-Allah about one’s last breath, yet it is still better not to say so. The superiority of the four Khalîfas to one another is in accordance with the sequence of their caliphates. All the savants of the right way said: “After the Prophets ‘’alaihim-us-salawâtu wa-tteslîmât’ the highest of human beings is Hadrat Abû Bakr Siddîq ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’. Next after him is Hadrat ’Umar Fârûq ‘radiy- Allâhu ’anh’.” To this faqîr, being higher or superior does not depend on having virtues, attributes or good habits. It depends on accepting Islam before others, giving one’s property more than anybody else for one’s religion, and risking one’s life. That is, it depends on being a teacher to one’s successors. The successors learn eveything from their predecessors. All of these three conditions were found in Hadrat Siddîq. He accepted Islam before anybody else and sacrificed his property and his life for the sake of the religion. This blessing has not been the lot of anybody else besides him in this Ummat. Rasûlullah stated towards his death: “Nobody equals Abû Bakr in sacrificing his property and life for my sake. If I were to have a friend, I would have made Abû Bakr my friend.” He stated in a hadîth: “Allâhu ta’âlâ sent me to you as a Prophet. You did not believe me. Abû Bakr did. He helped me with his property and life. Do not hurt him; revere and respect him!” He stated in a hadîth: “There will not come another Prophet after me. If there were another, certainly ’Umar would be a Prophet.” Hadrat Amîr ’Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ said: “Both Abû Bakr and ’Umar are the highest of this Ummat. He who holds me superior to them is a slanderer. As slanderers are to be thrashed, I will thrash him.” We should know that the wars amongst the Ashâb-i kirâm ‘’alaihim-ur-ridwân’ were for good reasons. Those differences among them were not for the desires of the nafs or for the passion of obtaining a post, a chair, an office, or to become a leader, all of which are the evils of the nafs-i ammâra.
In fact, their nafses had become quite pure through the company, or by the presence of the Best of Mankind (Rasûlullah). Only, in the wars that took place during the caliphate of Hadrat Amîr ’Alî, he (’Alî) was right. Those who disagreed with him were wrong. But, because it was a mistake of ijtihâd[8], it can by no means be criticized, let alone saying that they were fâsiq (sinful)! All of them were just. The judgments given by any of them were acceptable. With respect to correctness and dependability, there was no difference between the judgments given by those who followed the Amîr and the ones which were given by those who disagreed with him. The wars between them did not cause them to lose their being trustworthy.
Then, it is necessary to love all of them; to love them is to love our Sayyid, the Prophet. He stated in a hadîth: “He who loves them does so because he loves me.” We should utterly avoid disliking them or, especially, feeling hostility towards one of them, since enmity towards them means enmity towards our Prophet. He said in a hadîth: “He who is their enemy is so because he is my enemy.” To revere, to respect those great people would be to revere and to respect the Best of Mankind. To belittle them would mean to belittle him. For respecting the company of the Best of Mankind and the words of the Best of Mankind, it is necessary to respect and esteem all the Ashâb-i kirâm. Hadrat Abû Bakr-i Shiblî ‘quddisa sirruh’, one of the greater ones of the Awliyâ, says: “A person who does not respect or esteem the Ashâb-i kirâm ‘radiy- Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anhum ajma’în’ has denied Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’.”
A’MÂL-I SHAR’IYYA:
After correcting our belief, it is necessary to do the things which Islam commands. Rasûlullah ‘sall- Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ declared: “The building of Islam has been constructed upon five pillars. The first of them is to say, ‘Eshhadu an lâ ilâha illallah wa eshhadu anna Muhammadan ’abduhu wa rasûluh,’ and to believe its meaning.” The meaning of this word of Shahâdat is: “I know and believe as if I saw that there is no god, nobody besides Allâhu ta’âlâ, whose existence is necessary and who is worth being worshipped and obeyed. I know and believe as if I saw that Muhammad ‘’alaihis-salâm’ is both a born slave and the Prophet of Allâhu ta’âlâ. He having been sent, the dispensations of the Prophets preceding him have been antiquated and their validity has been abrogated. Attaining endless bliss requires following him. Each of his utterances has been imparted to him by Allâhu ta’âlâ. All of them are correct. There is no likelihood for any mistake.” [A person who wants to become a Muslim first expresses this word of Shahâdat and its meaning. Then he learns how to perform a ghusl and namâz, and then the fards and harâms, as many of them as he needs.]
The tenets to be believed have been written above.
The second pillar of Islam is to perform namâz five times daily, which is a basic pillar of the religion. Namâz is the highest of worships. The most valuable worship after îmân is namâz. Like îmân, its beauty also is of itself. But the beauty of other acts of worship are not of themselves. We should be extra careful to perform namâz correctly. First, we should perform a perfect ’abdast (ablution), and then we should begin namâz without showing any indolence. We should try to perform it in the best manner in the qirâat (standing and reciting the Qur’ân when performing namâz), in rukû’ (bowing by putting the hands on the knees, in sajdas (prostrating twice), in qawma (standing upright and motionless after rukû’) and in jalsa, (sitting upright and motionless for a moment between the two sajdas) and in its other stages. We should know that tumânînat is necessary, which means to keep each of our limbs motionless during rukû’, sajda, qawma and jalsa. We should perform namâz in its early time and avoid slackness.
The acceptable, beloved born slave is the one who does the commands of his owner only because they are his commands. It will be an act of obstinacy and impertinence to be late in doing the command. You should always keep at hand one of the Fiqh books written in Persian, such as the book Targhîb-us salât wa taysîrulahkâm, or any other one of the same kind. [Teachings in the book Targhîb-us salât wa taysîrul-ahkâm are a collection of information borrowed from about one hundred books. The book has three parts. The first part deals with the fact that namâz is fard, the second part is about ’abdast, and the third part deals with the things which break an ’abdast. This book can be found in the Library of Nûr-i Osmâniyye] We should learn religious matters by referring to such books. [He who learns Islam from books and magazines written for the sake of earning money by people of doubtful origin, will learn wrong things. We should find and read books written by pious Muslims for Allah’s sake. The best Turkish books for learning Islam are the books Birgivî Vasiyetnâmesi Şerhi and Âmentü Şerhi by Kâdizâde. Also helpful are the books Mewkûfât, Dürr-i Yektâ Şerhi, Ey Oğul lmihâli, Mevâhib-i Ledünniyye, Mecmû’a-i Zühdiyye and Miftâh-ül Cennet Ilmihali. The book Islam Yolu (The way of Islam) written by Muhammad Âtif Efendi of Iskilip, who was a dersiâm (lecturer of that time) in Fâtih medresesi and the head of a school named ‘Ibtidâ-i dâhil Medresesi,’ is very useful. This book was printed in 1959. It has sixty-three pages. They have been printed in Arabic letters.
A book may be trusted not only after seeing its title, but also after seeing the name of its author.] We should not read the book entitled Gulistan or other story books before learning the Ahl-i sunnat belief and knowledge of Fiqh. The book Gulistan or other books of its kind are unnecessary when compared with Fiqh books. [When Gulistan is unnecessary, I wonder what we should say about those who are addicted to newspapers and magazines that are Islam’s enemies?] It is primarily necessary to read, learn, and teach what is indispensable in the religion. What is more than this remains as of secondary importance. [Especially those who learn other things before learning religious knowledge and those who strive so that their children acquire money, property and posts, instead of teaching them correct religious knowledge – they are so wrong! I wonder if earning one’s future means to acquire these things? Or does it mean to earn Allah’s grace? All parents should first think of having their children earn their real future, their endless bliss.]
We should try not to miss Tahajjud namâz (namâz performed after midnight) unless there is a darûrat. [The namâz which is performed after the two-thirds of the night has elapsed is called the tahajjud; it is performed before dawn. Tahajjud means to forgo one’s sleep. Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ would perform tahajjud even during war. He who has omitted prayers of namâz should perform his omitted prayers during the time of tahajjud. Thus he will both pay his debt of omitted prayers and earn the thawâb of tahajjud. How to perform the namâz called tahajjud and other nâfila (supererogatory) prayers of namâz is written in our book entitled Ethics of Islam. If it is difficult to wake up at midnight, order some of your servants to wake you up then. After getting up for a few nights, you will make it a habit and will begin to wake up. He who wants to wake up for tahajjud and morning prayer should go to bed immediately after performing the night prayer, instead or being late for sleep by busying oneself with useless things. At the time of tahajjud, it is necessary to make tawba, to say istighfâr, to trust oneself to Allâhu ta’âlâ, to entreat Him, to think of one’s sins, to remember one’s faults, defects, to fear with the thought of the torment in the next world; and to tremble in anticipation of the bitter torments of Hell. One should beg for afw and maghfirat (forgiveness) very much. At that time and also at any time, it is necessary to say istighfâr (Astaghfirullahal-’ azîm-allazî lâ îlâha illâ huwa-l-hayy-al-qayyûma wa atûbu ilayh) a hundred times and to think of its meaning. [‘’Azîm’ means one whose person and attributes are perfect. ‘Kabîr’ means one whose person is perfect. ‘Jalîl’ means one whose attributes are perfect.] One should say it a hundred times after late afternoon prayer [after saying one’s tasbîhs and invoking one’s blessings.]
It may be said when one has an ’abdast (ablution) as well as without an ’abdast. It is stated in a hadîth: “Good news to those on whose pages there are many istighfârs on the Day of Last Judgment!” [Muhammad Ma’thûm-i Fârûqî, in the eightieth letter of the second volume, states: “It has become a proven fact after a number of events experienced by various people that saying istighfârs is effective in getting rid of calamities and hardships. It has been reported in a hadîth-i sherîf that saying istighfâr causes every sort of adversity to be removed and one’s sustenance to increase. After each fard namâz it must be said three times, and this number, (three,) must be complemented to seventy by saying its abbreviated form, ‘Astaghfirallah.’ (sixty-seven times).” Please see the ‘Second Volume, Eightieth Letter’ in ‘Part Seven’ of the book entitled Documents of the Right Word! If a person says the ‘Istighfâr’ or other prayers only in the form of a lip-service instead of saying them with a pure heart and in deep concentration on the meanings that those prayers contain, he will reap no benefit from them. Saying them three times with the mouth will prime a pure heart into following the example and starting to say them as well. A heart darkened by the sins committed needs a powerful oral support so that it may start saying them, and that support is to say them frequently with the mouth. The heart of a person who does not perform his daily prayers of namâz and who eats harâm food has become quite black. Hearts as dark as that need at least seventy verbal repetitions so that they also can start saying them, (i.e. the prayers uttered with the mouth.)] During the time of duhâ, that is, at a certain time after sunrise,[9] it is necessary to perform at least two rak’ats of namâz. The namâz of tahajjud or duhâ (forenoon) is of twelve rak’ats at most.
[In supererogatory prayers of namâz, you should say salâm after each two rak’ats at night and after each four rak’ats during the day.] After performing each fard namâz, you should try to recite the Âyat-ul-Kursî. Our Prophet stated: “Between Paradise and the person who recites the Âyat-ul-Kursî after fard namâz, there is no obstacle besides death.” After each of the daily five prayers of namâz, you should silently say the word tanzîh (Subhânallâh) thirty-three times, the word tahmîd (Alhamdulillâh) thirty-three times, the word takbîr (Allâhu akbar) thirty-three times and a certain prayer (Lâ ilâha illallâhu wahdahu lâ sharîka-lah, lahu-lmulku wa lahu-l-hamdu yuhyî wa yumîtu wa huwa ’alâ kullî shay’in qadîr) once; all of them add up to a hundred. You should say “Subhânallâhi wa bi hamdihî” a hundred times every day and every night. There are many blessings in it.
Also, it is necessary to say once every morning and once every evening the prayer, (Allâhumma mâ asbaha bî min ni’matin aw bi-ahadin min khalqika, fa minka wahdaka, lâ sharîka laka, fa laka-l-hamdu wa laka-sh-shukr) by substituting (mâ amsâ) for (mâ asbaha) in the evenings, which the Prophet has prescribed. Our Prophet stated: “He, who says this prayer during the day, will have offered the gratitude for that day. When he says it at night, he will have offered the gratitude for that night.” It is not necessary to have an ablution for saying it. You should say it every day and every night. The third essential of Islam is to pay the zakât of one’s property. It is certainly necessary to pay zakât. You should pay zakât willingly to people whom Islam commands you to pay it to.[1] Allâhu ta’âlâ, Who is the real Owner of all blessings and possessions, commands the rich to pay Muslims one-fortieth of their blessings He has given them and promises that as a recompense for this He will give them many blessings and many more rewards. [He declares: “Certainly I will increase the property for which zakât has been paid, and I will bless you with using it at useful occasions. As for the property for which zakât has not been paid, I will make you spend it unwillingly through disasters and catastrophés; I will take it away from you and give it to your enemies, and you, seeing this case, will be burned and scorched about it.”] It will be such a great absurdity, obstinacy not to pay such an insignificant amount [to any one of your Muslim brothers whom you choose.] Not to do the commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ is caused by a sickness in the heart. A sickness in the heart means that it does not believe in Islam thoroughly. To be a Believer, it is not enough only to express the word Shahâdat (Esh hadu an lâ…). Munâfiqs (those who pretend to be Muslims though they are disbelievers) also express it. The sign of the existence of îmân in the heart is to do the commands of Islam willingly. To give one gold coin to a poor Muslim with the intention of zakât is more blessed than giving a hundred thousand gold coins as alms because to pay zakât is to obey Islam’s command. But those that are given without the intention of zakât are supererogatory worships. Supererogatory worships are of no value when compared with fard worships. They are not even like a drop of water compared with an ocean. The devil, by deceiving Muslims, prevent them from performing their omitted salâts. Performing the supererogatory salâts, [supererogatory pilgrimage, and ’umra] are made to appear more beautiful. Also, by misrepresenting supererogatory deeds and actions as beautiful, he prevents them from paying zakât. [The promised great rewards for the sunnats and for the supererogatory are for those who do not owe fard deeds and who have paid their omitted fard worships. But those who still have omitted fard worships will not be given any rewards for any worships besides the fard ones.] The fourth principle of Islam is to fast every day in the holy month of Ramadân. We should be sure to fast every day in the blessed month of Ramadân. We should not miss this important fard for any reason.
Our Prophet stated: “Fasting is a shield that protects the Believer against Hell.” If one cannot fast for some inevitable reasons, such as sickness, one should eat secretly and, immediately after the excuse is over, one should perform it. We are all His born slaves. We are not independent or without an owner. We should live within the commandments and the restrictions of our Owner so that we may be saved from Hell. Those who disobey Islam are obstinate born slaves and perverse, disobedient agents; they must be punished.[11] The fifth essential of Islam is the hajj [once in a life, to go to the city of Mecca and perform the duty of hajj]. The duty of hajj has certain requirements. All of them are written in Fiqh books.
It is stated in a hadîth-i-sherîf: “An accepted hajj wipes off one’s past sins.”[12] He who wants to escape Hell should learn very well what is halâl and what is harâm and should earn from the halâl and avoid the harâms. He should avoid the things which the conveyor of Islam (Rasûlullah) has prohibited. He should not go beyond the limits of Islam. How long will this sleep of unawareness last? When will we become attentive? When the hour of one’s death comes, one will be awakened, and one’s eyes and ears will be opened. But repentance will be no good then. Nothing will be obtained, except being disgraced. Death is gradually approaching us all. The various torments in the next world are awaiting people. When man dies, the end of his world takes place. Let us wake up before death wakes us up and before it is too late! After learning the commandments and prohibitions of Islam, let us live these few days of life of ours compatibly with them. Let us save ourselves from the various torments in the next world!
The meaning of the sixth âyat of Sûra Tahrîm, is: “O you who believe! Save yourselves and your families from a fire whose fuel is men and stones.” After correcting our belief and doing the worships compatible with Islam, we should enrich our time with dhikr-i ilâhî; we should not live one moment without remembering Allâhu ta’âlâ. While the heart should always be with Him, getting flavour from remembering Him. This great fortune falls to anybody’s lot in a short time who follows the way shown by our superiors. Alhamdulillâh, you know that this is so. Perhaps, some of it has occurred to you, little as it may be. You should not let go of what you have obtained; you should thank Allah very much and strive so that it may increase. Things which everybody may attain only in the end are attained at the beginning of this way. Then, the little that has been obtained by the wayfarers of this way has been great and much. For, what is to be known in the end they know in the beginning. Nevertheless, you should not be contented with what you have obtained no matter how much it is. You should not, however, discontinue thanking Allâhu ta’âlâ. You should both thank and wish that it will increase. The purpose of the heart’s making dhikr of Him is to dispel the love of anybody else besides Him from the heart. The illness of the heart is that it has various attachments. Unless such attachments are eradicated, real îmân will not fall to one’s lot. It will not be easy to perform the commandments of Islam and to avoid its prohibitions.
A couplet:
Make dhikr, dhikr as long as you are alive
Your heart gets purified, into dhikr as you dive.
[Dhikr means to remember Allâhu ta’âlâ. And this may well be done through the heart. When a person makes dhikr, his heart becomes purified. That is, love of the world leaves his heart and love of Allah takes its place. It is not dhikr for several people to assemble together and to shout “Hiy” or “Huy!” or to dance and whirl. Many things have been made up under the name of Tarîqat for a hundred years. The way of the great men of religion, of the murshids of Tasawwuf, of the Ashâb-i kirâm has been forgotten. Inorant and sinful people have become shaikhs and have committed sins under the name of dhikr and worship. Especially recently, there has not been a dervish convent left in which harâms and Shî’ism have not asserted themselves. Today, there are almost no real savants of Tasawwuf in Istanbul, in Anatolia, in Egypt, in Iraq, in Iran, in Syria, in Hidjaz, or in Pakistan; there is no Islamic country worldover where you can find them. Numerous, however, are those false and counterfeit murshids and members of Tarîqat whose Sufism has been based on an exploitation of Muslims. We should read the old, real books of great men of religion and correct our acts of worship, dhikr and thoughts in accordance with them. We should not believe the thieves of property and religion, who work behind the curtain of valuable names, such as, men of Tarîqat, shaikhs, murîds; but we should avoid them.] We should eat food not for pleasure or flavour, but for getting strong enough to do Allah’s commands. If in the beginning you cannot intend so, force yourself to intend so at each meal.
Entreat Allâhu ta’âlâ so that you can develop a true intention! We should wear new and clean clothes, and, when dressing, we should intend to adorn ourselves for worship, for namâz. Allâhu ta’âlâ declares in the Qur’ân: “When performing each namâz, wear your adorned, clean, and favorite clothes!” We should not wear our clothes for ostentation in the presence of others; this is a sin. [Ibni ’Âbidîn, while explaining the makrûhs in fasting, says that it is mubâh to dress smartly.] All actions, manners, words, reading and listening, [sending one’s son to school] should always be for Allah’s sake. We should try so that these will be compatible with His religion. Then each of our limbs and our hearts will turn towards Allâhu ta’âlâ. Our hearts will mention Him, [that is, they will remember Him.] For example, sleep, which is altogether a state of unawareness, will thoroughly be an act of worship when done with the intention of performing our acts of worship with strength and soundness. For, we have slept with the intention of worshipping.
Our Prophet stated: “A savant’s sleep is worship.” Yes, I know, it will be difficult for you to do these today. For, you are surrounded by various obstacles. You have been seized by customs and by fashions. You have been struck with such misgivings as to feel shame if your self-respect should be injured. All these prevent you from carrying out Islam’s commands. As a matter of fact, Allâhu ta’âlâ sent Islam in order to exterminate corrupt customs, loathsome fashions, and to tranquilize the madnesses of the nafs-iammâra, such as egoism and self-respect. Yet, if it falls to your lot to remember Allâhu ta’âlâ’s name continuously in your heart, if you perform namâz five times daily without being slack in observing its conditions, and if you are careful about halâls and harâms as much as you can be, it may be hoped that you will get rid of these obstacles and will be allured towards doing everything for Allah’s sake. The second reason why I have written this advice is that it will help you to realize your own defects and faults, even if you do not fulfill them, and that is a great blessing, too. We trust ourselves to Allâhu ta’âlâ against the complacency of missing a blessing and yet being unaware of what we have missed, against not knowing of our fault, and against not being ashamed of not having done our duty. Such people are stubborn and ignorant people who do not know of Islam and who do not do their duties as worshippers.
[In the one hundred and fortieth letter of the second volume, Muhammad Ma’thûm Serhendî ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ says: “In a hadîth-i qudsî it was stated: ‘He who feels hostility toward a Walî slave of Mine will (on account of that hostility) have made a war against Me. Among the things [deeds] which bring my born slave closer to Me, I like the fards best. I like very much my born slave who comes closer to Me by making nâfila ’ibâdat. I will be the ears which hear, the eyes which see, the hands which hold things, and the feet which walk, of my born slave whom I like very much. I will certainly give him whatever he wants. I will certainly protect him when he trusts himself to Me.’ ” This hadîth-i qudsî has been explained in the third page of the seventeenth chapter of the second part and in the one hundred and eighty-second page of the book Hadîqa, in the one hundred and sixty-fifth page of the Turkish book Kıyâmet ve Âhıret,[13] and also in the sixty-second page of the book The Sunni Path. The qurb, (i.e. closeness to Allâhu ta’âlâ,) which is attained by performing the fards, is more than the qurb which is obtained by performing the nâfilas. However, it is the fards performed with ikhlâs that produce qurb. Ikhlâs means to do the worships because Allâhu ta’âlâ commands them. Every Sunnî Muslim has an amount of ikhlâs. Depending on his taqwâ and worshipping, pieces of information pertaining to heart and called fayz (fayd) will come to his heart. If he receives these fayds, which emanate from a Walî’s heart, his ikhlâs will grow stronger in a short time. Taqwâ is to hate the harâms and not to ever think about committing a harâm. It means a case of spiritual closeness to Allâhu ta’âlâ, and to attain His grace, and to be loved by Him. [See the last paragraphs of the section Final Word of Se’âdet-i Ebediyye in the current fascicle.]
The nûrs and fayds, which Allâhu ta’âlâ sends to Believers’ hearts, will come more profusely to those who have stronger taqwâ and who worship more. In other words, there will be an increase in such people’s aptitude and tendency to receive fayd. Fayds emanate from Rasûlullah’s blessed heart. Receiving the fayds coming requires loving Rasûlullah. And loving him, in its turn, requires learning his knowledge, beautiful moral properties, miracles and perfections. If Rasûlullah, too, sees a person, his receiving fayds will become augmented. It is for this reason that those who attended his sohbat and saw his beautiful face and heard his sweet words received more fayz. And it is for this reason that the Ashâbi- kirâm received more fayz, their hearts were purified from worldly affections and they had ikhlâs. The nûrs and fayds they attained travelled through the hearts of the Awliyâ and reached our time. If a person knows a Walî living in his time, loves him, attends his sohbat and ingratiates himself with him, the nûrs which emanated from Rasûlullah’s blessed heart and arrived into the Walî’s heart will flow into his heart, too, and thus his heart will become purified. If he cannot attain his sohbat, he might as well do Râbita, that is, imagine the Walî’s countenance, face, in which case he will be blessed as if he attained the Walî’s sohbat. Mazhar-i-Jâni- Jânân, who was in Delhi, made tawajjuh towards Shâh Behîk, who was in Kâbil (Kabul), and made him attain high grades despite the enormous distance. Hadrat Mazhar-i Jân-i Jânân said: “I have attained all my blessings and fayds because of my love for my masters. Can our defective ’ibâdât be a means for our getting closer to Allâhu ta’âlâ?” In order to become closer to Allâhu ta’âlâ humans must perform ’ibâdât with ikhlâs. Ikhlâs is possible only by receiving fayd from the ’Ârifs.
A hadîth-i sherîf written in Qunûz ad-deqâiq reads: ‘Everything has a source. The source of ikhlâs and taqwâ is the hearts of ’Ârifs.’ In order to be a Walî, that is, to obtain spiritual closeness to Allâhu ta’âlâ, that is, to attain love for Allâhu ta’âlâ, the things that are fard must be performed. The first of the fard things is to have a belief as taught by Ahl-i sunna scholars. The second step is to avoid the things that are harâm, to perform the acts of worship that are fard.]
[1] Gratitude, praise, and laud.
[2] He who gives sustenance, food.
[3] ‘Wujûb’ means ‘being necessary.’ It also means ‘the being whose existence is indispensable.’ Allâhu ta’âlâ and his eight Attributes are in the grade of wujûb. They are wâjib. ‘Ulûhiyyât’ means ‘being worthy of being worshipped and entreated.’ It is necessary to worship, entreat a being who creates man and keeps him in existence every moment and who creates everything which is necessary for man and who protects him against horror and who is powerful enough to do everything and who does not have a likeness, an assistant or any being powerful enough to oppose Him. This being is the rank of ulûhiyyat.
[4] The Prophet’s ascent to Heaven. Please see the seventh of the Muslims’ ten sacred nights being dealt with in the sixtieth chapter of the third fascicle of Endless Bliss.
[5] The words ‘tasbîh’ and ‘taqdîs’ are used in the same meaning. Though there is a very delicate difference between their meanings, they both mean ‘without any fault or defect.’
[6] Please see our book entitled the Rising and the Hereafter.
[7] In the performance of namâz, the actions of standing, bowing, putting the head on the ground twice are altogether called one ‘rak’at.’ Most prayers consist of two or four rak’ats. One of them consists of three rak’ats. Please see the initial twenty-three chapters of the fourth fascicle of Endless Bliss.
[8] (Meaning or conclusion drawn by a mujtahid by) endeavoring to understand the hidden meaning in an âyat or a hadîth.
[9] Please see the tenth chapter of the fourth fascicle of Endless Bliss for ‘duhâ’.
[10] The first chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss provides lengthy and detailed information about ‘zakât’. [11] Detailed information about fasting is available from the second chapter of the fifth fascicle of Endless Bliss. [12] Please see the seventh chapter of the same fascicle for ‘hajj’.
[13] Please see our booklet entitled the Rising and the Hereafter, which is its English version.
