[Husayni]

This section is concerned with warning the brethren against preoccupation with fortuitous events, reliance upon them and yearning for their occurrence, and also with informing them that the seeker who has not happened to experience something, and who does not contemplate a fortuitous event, is not lower in degree than one who has experienced and does contemplate, but is actually superior.



Success is achieved with the help of Allah (Exalted is He), for He is the Guide by His grace to the straight path!



You should know that this section is like a branch, stemming from the one that precedes it. Our sole purpose in presenting it is to dispel from the seekers the delusion of the ignoramuses and the incompetents, by citing proof of the non superiority of one who has experienced and contemplates fortuities over one who has not experienced and does not contemplate them--and to inform the seekers that one who has not experienced and does not contemplate fortuitous is superior, because of his immunity from the wrongness of the claim that will cause its proponent to die as an unbeliever, if he does not repent, as well as from reliance on what he has experienced, and from coming to a half thereat, which cuts him off from attainment of the goal pursued by the essence.



According to Imam Shaykh Abu Qasim al Qushairi in his Risala: "If a seeker persists in constant practice of the remembrance (dhikr) and adherence to the spiritual retreat (khalwa), and if he discovers in his spiritual retreat what his heart has not discovered, either in sleep or in wakefulness, or between wakefulness and sleep, in the form of a statement that he hears, or a meaning that he perceives, representing what amounts to a subnormality, it is absolutely necessary for him to refrain from preoccupying himself with that, and he must not take it seriously. He must not be on the lookout for the occurrence of the likes of that, for all of these experiences are distractions from the Lord of Truth. In these situations, he is strictly obliged to describe his experience to his Shaykh, so that his heart may become devoid of that, and it is necessary for his Shaykh to keep his secret and conceal his affair from other people. He must view that as insignificant, for it consists of nothing but experiences, and taking them seriously is a delusion. The seeker must therefore be on his guard against that, beware of paying attention to it, and set his aspiration above it....."



According to Zain al Abidin al Khawwaf in al Wasaya al Qudsiyya: "The harm that afflicts the spiritual traveler, as a consequence of disclosing a fortuitous event to someone other than his Shaykh, is more than can be reckoned. If someone fails to make the lower self accustomed to the concealment of fortuitous events, he will be incapable of concealing charismatic talents. If he preoccupies himself with disclosure, it will result in his coming to a halt, falling short, and failing to reach the summit of the gnostic wisdom of the great saints, one of whom said: "The breasts of the nobles are the tombs of the secrets.". Allah's Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace) once saw one of the Sufis during his fortuitous experience or his sleep, and he (the Sufi) asked him about Sufism (Tasawuf) after having acquired some examples of the teaching delivered by the Sufis. Allah's Messenger then said: "Sufism is the abandonment of claims and the concealment of good qualities.'



"Whenever a Shaykh discloses the fortuitous experiences of his disciples, for some reason that has nothing to do with education and training, he is guilty of veiling his disciple with pride. Where the disciple is concerned, the best course is to dismiss what he has seen in his fortuitous experience, for most fortuities are fantasies, by means of which the infants of the Spiritual Path are trained. Someone who has not happened to experience something, and who does not contemplate a fortuitous event, is not lower in degree than one who has experienced and does contemplate, but is actually superior. When those who are weak in certitude experience a fortuitous event, their certitude is strengthened. As for the one who is perfectly strong, however he does not pay attention to it, for he knows that the nature of the abode of the Hereafter is as it has been explained by Allah and by His Messenger in his traditions (ahadith), so it consists, as described, of the Garden of Paradise and its blissful happiness, the Fire of Hell and its raging inferno, the reckoning for some and its absence for some, the weighing of deeds, and all states of being and terrors. Even if those matters had not been revealed they will surely be recognized on the Day of Resurrection, and if they were revealed they will surely be recognized on the Day of Resurrection, and if they were revealed in a manner contrary to what has been described by the seduction of Satan, that would disappear in the light of true faith, so what benefit is there in their revelation, and what harm in the absence of their revelation for someone who seeks to climb to the ladders of intimate knowledge and attain to direct witnessing of the beauty of the Most Beneficent Sovereign?





"As for the affairs of this worldly abode, the disclosure of people's states in part of that which preoccupies the innermost being of the spiritual traveler with happenings and occurrences and when the mind and feelings pay attention to that which happens by chance, how can he prepare himself for the manifestation of the Sempiternal Light?"


From the Rimah of Shaykh Umar Futi