A Recent Sohbet – Abdur Rahman’s Corner

Peace, one and all…

I wanted to share the text of a recent sohbet, as well as a short reflection on it. The first passage is drawn from al-Sulami’s work Proper Comportment in the Presence of Sufi Masters, which was recently published. The poem is an excerpt from a much longer, and beautiful, poem written by beloved Sidi Muhammad ibn al-Habib.

May the hearts of the lovers be opened

Text

The seeker must exert himself to make sincere his intention towards his master and to solidify his aspiration to venerate him. If he becomes sound in this, even an allusion will provide enough knowledge for him and even a faint scent will provide enough wisdom. For the one who attains to the realisation of the service of the masters and the requirements of reverence for them, Allah (Exalted is He) will replace his desire with fear [of God], his persistence in sin with repentance, his avarice with contentedness (qana’a), his anxiety with patience, his resentment with contentment (rida), his pride with humility, his self-exaltation with self-abasement, his doubt with certainty, his ignorance (inkar) with gnosis (ma’rifa), his intransigence with acceptance, his weakness with strength, his love of the world with doing without it and its people, his restlessness with stillness, his gluttony with indifference, the annihilation of his own character traits and states with an abiding in Allah, his laziness with energy, his forgetfulness with attentiveness, his reliance on
himself (tadbir) with entrusting [everything to God] (tafwid), his questions (su’al) with supplications (du’a), his disagreement with agreement, his hatred with love, and his scattered-ness with focused unified aspiration (jam’ al-himma). And so on and so forth in ranks have that no end or limit.

Al-Sulami, Proper Comportment in the Presence of Sufi Masters, 15.

In the oneness of Allah’s deeds the ego’s traces dissolve
and the entire cosmos is enfolded in an instant.

Depend on that Oneness and leave your ego’s doubts behind,
and you will succeed in the journey the way the greatest saints have done.

If deeds arise from them, they see themselves as tools
whose movements, without doubt, are by Allah’s decrees.

Their gratitude is to be occupied with a vision of the Giver
and to be detached from both hardship and comfort.

Their patience is the beauty of their contentment with decrees,
knowing they control neither sickness or health.

Their trust is to place their concerns in the Hands
of the One Who best knows the most hidden of our cares.

Their love is to be drunk with the goodliness of His beauty
and there is the station of intimacy – the noblest adornment

And expansion and unrestraint and discourse with the Beloved:
the mysteries of love flow forth without end.

Sidi Muhammad ibn al-Habib, If You Would Ascend the Path of Lovers

Reflections

Kabir Dede’s reflection theme for April is ‘The most helpful thing for reforming the ego is contentment (qana’a)’.

Contentment is a beautiful thing, and a worthy thing to aim for indeed. Much of the path, it would seem, is about peeling back our many layers of resentment and in realising just how much we are cared for by our Merciful Allah, and in seeing how each of the obstacles we face can be transformed by an attitude of active acceptance and trust. We are called to surrender, to strive to let go of ourselves – though in truth, who is the real Actor, the real Mover?

Our last two sohbets have been on Hz. Najm al-Din Kubra’s 8 principles of the path and on the Tyranny of Distraction. Both emphasised the need for concerted action, consistent
practice and an awareness of Divine love. Last week’s sohbet in particular drew our attention once again to Divine love and to Allah’s constant call to return home. At first glance these two sohbets might seem somewhat off-topic. I found them to be extremely relevant. Firstly, what might contentment look like? As we all need teachers and guides, whom should we select? We need to be content with the things we have been given: even our desire to grow requires contentment. In previous years, I used to want to reach the goal quickly – as if it were in my hands. Reflecting on contentment shows just how beautiful, precious and human the spiritual journey can be. We travel to God, with God – and this becomes clearer as we journey. Ismail Hakki of Erzurum offers a beautiful couplet:

‘The heart is the home of God; purify it from whatever is other than Him
So that the All-Merciful may descend into His palace at night’
Ismail Hakki of Erzurum

Intention is then crucial. We need to have the right motivation, and be open to a consistent revisiting of that initial urge to growth. A beautiful prophetic dua:

‘Allahumma inni a’udhu bika min munkaratil-akhlaqi, wal-a’mali, wal- ahwa’i (OAllah! I seek refuge in You from undesirable manners, deeds, and aspirations)’.”
Riyad as-Salihin 1482

How then do we learn? One powerful way is through a teacher, connected hand by hand to the Prophet (as), within the context of a loving community of seekers. This first text came on my way home from last week’s sohbet. I opened the book at ‘random’, and this was the first passage my eyes fell upon. It struck me as important
for a number of reasons:

1. Love, devotion and reverence
2. Adab – there is a beautiful methodology of service
3. Relationship brings inward growth as we come to know that we can rely on our teachers, and slowly see transformation at work
4. From outward to inward growth
5. We learn by opposites. In book 1 of the Masnavi serif, Hz. Mevlana says:
   So, hidden things become visible by their opposite.
   Since God does not have an opposite, He is hidden
   1:1131

That is, we can know of the existence of contentment because we have experienced avarice. We can know of patience because it is the opposite of anxiety and so on. In
other words, it is in the context of a loving relationship that we can untie the knots around our heart. Slowly we move from this to that, and then eventually, as God
wills, beyond every duality. Other points of note:

• Qana’a and rida – leaving avarice and resentment
• Inkar and ma’rfia – failure to recognise and recognition
• Tadbir and tafwid – leaving self-direction behind – perhaps more a matter of letting
  go of our objections, rather than leaving our own God-given faculties?
• Su’al and Du’a – from asking points, fractured questions to heartfelt munajat
• ‘a vision of the Giver’: each quality mentioned is beautiful in itself, but also
  offers a means of witnessing Allah’s Names at work

This is where the short excerpt from beloved Sidi Muhammad ibn al-Habib is important. I have really come to value and love his diwan, and have found that, even opened ‘randomly’ it always offers relevant advice, always points beyond duality.