
The Intimate Discourses of Ibn Ata’illah 6 – Abdur Rahman’s Corner
Peace, one and all…
In the last few days we have moved from the blessed month of Rajab to the equally blessed month of Sha’ban. We are now less than a month from the start of Ramadan. Allah!
Intimate Discourse 6
My God, if virtues arise from me, that is because of Your grace: it is Your right to bless me. And if vices arise from me, that is because of Your justice: it is Your right to have proof against me
Commentary
Man’s obedience and acts of virtue are not by virtue of his effort and strength, but are the result of Allah’s grace and kindness which He confers to man. On the contrary, the perpetration of evil is not injustice by Allah Most High. It is His justice. He, being the true King, is entitled to act in His kingdom as He pleases. Thus when He refrains from preventing man from the commission of evil, He is not being unjust to him. His action is just.
In man’s commission of evil is also confirmation of Allah’s indictment against man who will not be able to deny his evil in the Divine Court.
Reflections
I re-read Discourses 1 – 6 this morning, in the midst of running some errands. It was refreshing to to read this passage in context. What comes through strongly is a clear sense of our own nakedness before God. We are utterly naked before Hu, in each moment and in each circumstance. And yet, our nafs seeks to wrap this truth in a covering, a seeking here and there for something ever-present. This realisation underlines another important point: kufr, sometimes translated as unbelief, is, in essence, a more 0r less deliberate covering over of a truth we already know. Kufr is, therefore, ingratitude, a turning away from reality to some thing that has attracted our attention for a moment.
In this context, Discourse 6 is both an indictment and an act of divine healing. Every ability, every strength, every accomplishment is a divine gift. Not only are these things a gift, but so also is the provision of an entire reality in which our qualities might manifest. This is a great blessing, one beyond my ability to understand or fully recognise. It is God’s right to bless us, and each blessing is exquisitely measured and beautifully balanced, that we might come to know the Giver Himself.
‘And if vices arise from me…’ Unhelpful behaviours lie within us all. They are a ‘space’ in which divine education might occur and might touch us deeply. They manifest, it seems, in that moment of turning away, of closing our eyes to the Source, and seeing only the thing we desire or fear. It is God’s right to correct us. Justice is love as therapeutic movement. It is God’s healing in action. If we are able to accept the truth our inward mirror reveals we can see a path to greater integration, a more authentic wholeness. Looking within, and accepting the truth of our harmful attitudes, behaviours and actions is hard. We are required to look into that mirror, and to not turn away. It is to willingly experience divine judgement in this life. It is essential if we are to move beyond our separative existence, to die before we die.
And this itself is a beautiful gift. Passing through judgement and the surrender of our own existence are themselves part of Allah’s subtle mercy, of his liberational grace: ‘would You then hold them back from me after the existence of my weakness?’, as Discourse 5 powerfully underlines.
My heart is also struck by a short poem by Mahmud Abdal, which underlines the message of this munajat, of the love that brought us forth and runs through our very veins, and returns us home. Allah!
I came to this world with nothing at all,
and naked I wandered around.
If Azrael paid a call on me,
how could I turn him down?
The fire of love runs through your veins,
the fire of love can burn.
Remember this in pleasure and pain:
to love we shall return.
Mahmud Abdal simply says:
the heart must face its tests.
Until some sweets turn bitter in the end,
the heart won’t answer, “Yes.”
(Source)
Bringing these reflections to rest, my heart is left in a state of loving gratitude, of a deepening awareness of just how subtle Allah truly is! The beautiful prophetic prayer also comes to heart:
اللهم ارنا الحق حقاً وارزقنا اتباعه وارنا الباطل باطلا وارزقنا اجتنابه
Allahumma arinal haqq haqqan warzuqnat tiba’ah, wa arinal batila batilan warzuqnaj tinabah
‘O Allah, show us the truth as true and grant us following it. Show us falsehood as falsehood and inspire us to abstain from it’.
(Source)