How do we know the purity of our intentions ?

Answer:

Looking at an animal like a cow, it gives pure normal milk whether it comprehends or not. The intentions of the cow are based on its created mode. The human being has been given definite and unique components. It has been given faculties like the mind, the heart, the spirit, dreams, love, compassion, honour, and many more. All for the single purpose of knowing when God is. I will point of assessment is how we use these unique components to achieve this. This point of departure between the human being and animals is called intention.

The whole exam is assessed is very point. Literally we have absolutely no control. Under the judgement we will be assessed on our decisions, our choices. What precedes choice is intention. Notice how close it is to our soul. It is the very thing that makes us we are. It is the only thing that can escalate us to the highest point of creation. What did you produce and what was your intention? We have no control or were what we produce and we are only assessed on what our intention was. Allah makes sure that there is no ambiguity involved, it is as clear as black and white. Intention is directly a component of our free will.

Our biggest enemy is ignorance. The first revealed word of the Quran was “read”. Our intentions can be polluted by deficient knowledge. This is because intentions are based on awareness and knowledge. If we are only taught one way to think then your intentions will be based on that. Intentions based on our values. However, our intentions should be based on what Allah wants. Thus it is our responsibility to find it out. And we can do so by reading, reading the Quran. Through this we can see exactly what our intentions are.

Sometimes the Nefis comes into play and this is where confusion occurs. We either do it for Allah or not, there is no in between. We cannot hide it. But the Nefis does not want to be forced to serve, it wants to rebel. It is with the Nefis that we have the potential to rise to the level of light. The point of conflict, that moment of struggle takes us to the next level of faith. We can only advance through knowledge. When it comes to learning, we cannot be silent. We need it more than we need food or water.

When the sick and dying patient cries out to his doctor, no one questions the sincerity of his cry. Our spiritual need, our spiritual cry is more important than this. A student of the Quran should disappear under absolute poverty and absolute impotence before Allah. We must preserve the purity of our intention.

The pieces in this Second Station resemble poetry, but they are not poetry. They were not put into verse intentionally.They rather took on that form to a degree due to the perfect order of the truths they express.

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Our Readings for Read and Discuss will be chosen on Friday night at our discussion circle, so if you have any suggestions or recommendations, please send them across to us in time via our Contact Page. Thank you!

“How we Muslims can preserve our faith in this modern time, when corruption is prevalent and contagious?”

Answer:

To solve this question, it is important to recognize that as social beings, we humans are influenced by the bombardment of information from other people, especially from the ignorant in this time and age.

This reality demonstrates that a person cannot preserve his or her faith by him or herself. Instead, we should look for other sincere Muslims who share with us the ambition to be the reflection of all attributes of Allah, who desire to make sacrifices, and who are even willing to “sacrifice their own sacrifices”. Any Muslim who thinks that they can study the Quran with their own intelligence and knowledge of Arabic actually reduces the Quran into a typical source like Chemistry or Physics textbooks. Studying the Quran is beyond memorizing the words and scoring perfectly on Islamic law exams. Rather, Muslims’ duty is to be persistent investigators of the universe (the physical and the unseen world) through using the resources from the Quran, the Book of the Universe and the prophets. This duty makes it impossible for Muslims to stay in their own cage but have to listen to other Muslims’ viewpoints and learn as a community.

Recorded in Melbourne, July 16th 2011

Note that this reading is taken from the section of the 24th Flash entitled “A Conversation with Women.”, from the 2nd point. To all our online readers, please use the bookmarks feature as the fastest means of going to the relevant section.

Recorded in Melbourne, July 16th 2011.

However, we also need to attend to our Nefis all the time because Nefis can also drag us down any moment we are distracted.  Even if we are tricked by the Nefis and fall, we have to stand up and climb again. Hence, training our Nefis is a struggle with many risks and dangers; nonetheless, there is no doubt that this journey will be worth our efforts because we know that that is the way to elevate significantly in our level of faith.

Is the following a Hadith, and what does it mean? “The best of youths are those who resemble men of mature age, while the worst men of middle age are those who resemble youths.”

The Answer :

I have heard that it is a Hadith. Its meaning is this: “The best youth is the one who thinks about death like an elderly person, and working for the hereafter, avoids joining those who become captive to the passions of youth and drown in heedlessness. And the worst of your elderly people is the one who tries to resemble the young in heedlessness and passion, and follows the lusts of the soul like a child.”

The correct form of the second part you saw in the piece is as follows. I have hung it above my head for the wisdom it teaches. I look it at it every morning and evening and receive instruction:

If you want a friend, God is sufficient. Yes, if He is your friend, everything is friendly.

If you want companions, the Qur’an is sufficient. For in the imagination one meets with the prophets and angels in it, observes the events in which they were involved, and becomes familiar with them.

If you want possessions, contentment is sufficient. Yes, the person who is content is frugal; and the frugal person receives the blessing of plenty.

If you want an enemy, the soul is sufficient. Yes, the person who fancies himself is visited with calamities and meets with difficulties, whereas the one who is not fond of himself, finds happiness, and receives mercy.

If you want advice, death is sufficient. Yes, the person who thinks of death is saved from love of this world, and works in earnest for the hereafter.

I am adding an eighth to your seven matters. It is like this: a couple of days ago, a Qur’an reciter read part of Sura Yusuf as far as,

Take my soul [at death] as one submitting to Your will [as a Muslim], and unite me with the righteous.(12:101)

This point occurred to me in a flash: everything concerning the Qur’an and belief is valuable; however insignificant a point appears to be, it has great value. Nothing that helps to win eternal happiness is insignificant. In which case, it may not be said that this is only a small point and not worth explaining or being given importance. And certainly, the first student and person addressed in matters of this kind, who appreciates the fine points of the Qur’an, Ibrahim Hulûsi, wants to hear this point! In which case, listen to it: It is a fine point about the finest of stories. An elevated, subtle, happy, and miraculous point of the verse,

Take my soul [at death] as one submitting to Your will [as a Muslim], and unite me with the righteous,(12:101)

which announces that the story of Joseph (Upon whom be peace), the best of stories, has reached its conclusion. It is this: the sorrows of death and separation at the end of other happy stories sour the pleasure the listener has received from the story in his imagination, and dispel it. Especially if they describe death and separation just when recounting the moment of perfect joy and happiness; this is even more painful and causes those listening to cry out in sorrow. However, although this verse mentions Joseph’s death just at the most brilliant part of his story, when he is Ruler of Egypt, united with his mother and father, fondly meeting with his brothers, and is experiencing the greatest worldly happiness and joy, it does so in such a way as to say: Joseph himself asked Almighty God for his death in order to experience greater happiness and a more brilliant situation; and he did die and did receive that happiness.

That is to say, there is beyond the grave a happiness and joy greater than the pleasurable happiness of this world, so that while in that most joyful worldly situation, a truth-seeing person like Joseph (Upon whom be peace) wished for bitter death, so as to receive that other happiness.

So note this eloquence of the All-Wise Qur’an, and the way it announces the end of the story of Joseph. It causes not sorrow and regret to those listening to it, but gives good tidings and adds further joy. It also gives guidance, saying: Work for beyond the grave, for it is there that true happiness and pleasure will be found! It also points out Joseph’s exalted veraciousness, saying: Even the most brilliant and joyful situation of this world did not cause him to become heedless; it did not captivate him; he still wanted the hereafter.

The Eternal One, He is the Eternal One!
S a i d N u r s i

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Our Readings for Read and Discuss will be chosen on Friday night at our discussion circle, so if you have any suggestions or recommendations, please send them across to us in time via our Contact Page. Thank you!

[This short Addendum has great importance; it is beneficial for everyone.]

The ways leading to Almighty God are truly numerous. While all true ways are taken from the Qur’an, some are shorter, safer, and more general than others. One of these is the way of impotence, poverty, compassion, and reflection, from which, with my defective understanding, I have benefited.

Indeed, like ecstatic love, impotence is a path which, by way of worship, leads to winning God’s love; but it is safer. Poverty too leads to the Divine Name of All-Merciful. And, like ecstatic love, compassion leads to the Name of All-Compassionate, but is a swifter and broader path. Also like ecstatic love, reflection leads to the Name of All-Wise, but it is a richer, broader, and more brilliant path. This path consists not of ten steps like the ‘ten subtle faculties’ of some of the Sufi orders (tariqat) employing silent recollection, nor of seven stages like the ‘seven souls’ of those practising public recitation, but of four steps. It is reality , rather than a tariqat. It is Shari’a.

However, let it not be misunderstood. It means to see one’s impotence, poverty and faults before Almighty God, not to fabricate them or display them to people. The method of this short path is to follow the Practices of the Prophet (PBUH), perform the religious obligations and give up serious sins. And it is especially to perform the prescribed prayers correctly and with attention, and following them to say the tesbihat.

The verse, Therefore, do not justify yourselves, [Qur’an, 53:32] points to the first step.

The verse, And be not like those who forget God, and He therefore makes them forget their own selves, [Qur’an, 59:19] points to the second step.

The verse, Whatever good happens to you is from God, but whatever evil befalls you is from yourself, [Qur’an, 4:79] points to the third step.

The verse, Everything will perish save His countenance, [Qur’an, 28:88] points to the fourth step.

A brief explanation of these Four Steps is as follows:

THE FIRST STEP: As the verse, Therefore, do not justify yourselves suggests, it is to not purify the soul. For on account of his nature and innate disposition, man loves himself. Indeed, he loves himself before anything else, and only himself. He sacrifices everything other than himself to his own soul. He praises himself in a manner befitting some object of worship. He absolves and exonerates himself from faults in the same way. As far as he possibly can, he does not see faults as being appropriate for him, and does not accept them. He defends himself passionately as though worshipping himself. Even, using on himself the members and faculties given him as part of his nature in order to praise and glorify the True Object of Worship, he displays the meaning of the verse, Who takes as his god his own desires.[Qur’an, 25:43; 45:23]  He considers himself, he relies on himself, he fancies himself. Thus, his purification and cleansing at this stage, in this step, is to not purify himself; it is not to absolve himself.

SECOND STEP: As the verse, And be not like those who forget God, and He therefore makes them forget their own selves teaches, man is oblivious of himself, and is not aware of himself. If he thinks of death, it is in relation to others. If he sees transience and decline, he does not attribute them to himself. His evil-commanding soul demands that when it comes to inconvenience and service of others, he forgets himself, but when it comes to receiving his recompense, and to benefits and enjoyment, he thinks of himself, and takes his own part fervently. His purification, cleansing, and training at this stage is the reverse of this state. That is to say, when oblivious of himself, it is not to be oblivious. That is, to forget himself when it comes to pleasure, and ambition and greed, and to think of himself when it comes to death and service of others.

   THIRD STEP: As the verse, Whatever good happens to you is from God, but whatever evil befalls you is from yourself teaches, the nature of the evil-commanding soul demands that it always considers goodness to be from itself and becomes vain and conceited. Thus, in this Step, a person sees only faults, defects, impotence, and poverty in himself, and understands that all his good qualities and perfections are bounties bestowed on him by the All-Glorious Creator. He gives thanks instead of being conceited, and offers praise instead of boasting. According to the meaning of the verse, Truly he succeeds who purifies it,[Qur’an, 91:9.] his purification at this stage is to know his perfection to lie in imperfection, his power in impotence, and his wealth in poverty.

FOURTH STEP: As the verse, Everything will perish save His countenance teaches, the evil-commanding soul considers itself to be free and independent and to exist of itself. Because of this, man claims to possess a sort of dominicality. He harbours a hostile rebelliousness towards his True Object of Worship. Thus, through understanding the following fact, he is saved from this. The fact is this:

According to the apparent meaning of things, which looks to each thing itself, everything is transitory, lacking, accidental, non-existent. But according to the meaning that signifies something other than itself and in respect of each thing being a mirror to the All-Glorious Maker’s Names and charged with various duties, each is a witness, it is witnessed, and it is existent. The purification and cleansing of a person at this stage is as follows:

In his existence he is non-existent, and in his non-existence he has existence. That is to say, if he values himself and attributes existence to himself, he is in a darkness of non-existence as great as the universe. That is, if he relies on his individual existence and is unmindful of the True Giver of Existence, he has an individual light of existence like that of a fire-fly and is submerged in an endless darkness of non-existence and separation. But if he gives up egotism and sees that he is a mirror of the manifestations of the True Giver of Existence, he gains all beings and an infinite existence. For he who finds the Necessary Existent One, the manifestation of Whose Names all beings manifest, finds everything.

    Conclusion

The Four Steps in this way of impotence, poverty, compassion, and reflection have been explained in the twenty-six Words so far written, which are concerned with knowledge of reality, the reality of the Shari’a, and the wisdom of the Qur’an. So here we shall allude briefly to only one or two points, as follows:

Indeed, this path is shorter, because it consists of four steps. When impotence removes the hand from the soul, it gives it directly to the All-Powerful One of Glory. Whereas, when the way of ecstatic love, the swiftest way, takes the hand away from the soul, it attaches it to the metaphorical beloved. Only after the beloved is found to be impermanent does it go to the True Beloved.
Also, this path is much safer, because the ravings and high-flown claims of the soul are not present on it. For, apart from impotence, poverty, and defect, the soul possesses nothing so that it oversteps its mark.

Also, this path is much broader and more universal. For, in order to attain to a constant awareness of God’s presence, a person is not compelled to imagine the universe to be condemned to non-existence and to declare: “There is no existent but He,” like those who believe in ‘the unity of existence,’ nor to suppose the universe to be condemned to imprisonment in absolute oblivion and to say, “There is nothing witnessed but He,” like those who believe in ‘the unity of witnessing.’ Rather, since the Qur’an has most explicitly pardoned the universe and released it from execution and imprisonment, one on this path disregards the above, and dismissing beings from working on their own account and employing them on account of the All-Glorious Creator, and in the duty of manifesting the Most Beautiful Names and being mirrors to them, he considers them from the point of view of signifying something other than themselves; and being saved from absolute heedlessness he enters the Divine presence permanently; he finds a way leading to Almighty God in everything.

In Short: Dismissing beings from working on account of other beings, this way is to not look at them as signifying themselves.

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Our Readings for Read and Discuss will be chosen on Friday night at our discussion circle, so if you have any suggestions or recommendations, please send them across to us in time via our Contact Page. Thank you!

An atheist argued in response to a believer that even if he agreed that a watch found on the sand, you would only know that it points to a watchmaker because you already had prior knowledge of what a watch is. That is, the watch does not prove the existence of a watchmaker, it is the fore knowledge of watches and watch makers that leads the man in the sand to assume that the watch had a maker.

In response to this, we say that the Quran does not go straight to the watchmaker, first it points to the creation. It talks about the stars and the sun, the elements of a human being, it points to the microcosm and macrocosm. Whether you look into the ground or the sky, everything is integral in the make-up of human being. Something as small as a grain of sand is integral to our make-up. Whatever you pick, they all work together to hold this universe together.

When you pick the sand, it is dumb and lifeless and makes us think what is commanding it. Who is it? Everything works like a clock, perfectly tuned. It is the self-evident perfection in the design that makes the known, undeniably, the perfection of the Designer.

Recorded 5th March 2011.

Most of the elements mentioned for the end of times are visible now. How do we prepare ourselves?

Answer:

The specific date for the end of time is hidden from us. It is in the realm of the Gayb, the unseen, known to only Allah. The verses (ayat) of the Quran have mentioned some hints as to the timing of the event. But the precise time is still hidden from us for a reason. That is, we are asked to live and act as if the end can occur at any time. We need to prepare as if it is the next moment or the next day. Our death is our individual end of time.

The awareness of the event “the end of time” is given to us to focus our attention on the wrapping up of this form of existence as we know it. It firmly establishes that there is no place for delusion or escape. Many people try to escape death by imagining that they will live on in the memories of other people. The “end of time” dispels this self-deception. There is absolutely no room for anyone to live in any form when the time comes. It reminds us that we are temporary and transient. This great even impacts not only human existence but all existence. We can understand it at the level of the universe. We can compare the life of the cosmos to the life of a human being. The “end of time” is also the end of the universe.

The manifest truth shown by the reminder of the “end of time” is that there is no escape from death and what comes after death. Ultimately our preparation for all that rests upon our choices. Since our death is our individual “end of time”, there is urgency for us to shape up and be serious. It is time to accept responsibility of Trust given to us. This is how we prepare ourselves.

This preparation is vital during the period of the “end of time”. During this time, attacks on faith are the most intense. Truth and deception, that were as clear as black and white in Prophet’s time, are melded together in shades of grey. These times are most challenging. The Exam is harder. Therefore we have to rise to the challenge. Our efforts must match the difficulty of these times. Allah has sent lot of help in the form of Quran, Sunnahs, Tafsirs, appointed scholars, good books and good guides. We just have to be disciplined, seek out and rely on these sources.

Recorded on 5th March 2011.