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A very learned and
scholarly person, with a long beard and an attractive face, came to visit me.
During conversation, discussion turned to hadith ['a saying of the Holy Prophet
(saw)]. The aforementioned gentleman said:
"It is stated
in a hadith that the pen has dried up writing about what is yet to happen. Now
if the pen has dried up then it begs the question as to what is
spirituality."
Morning comes every
day. The atmosphere in the morning stays constant according to the season. But
we take every morning to be a new morning. Night comes. We sleep in the same
home, in the same room, in the same bed, and in the same sheets, yet we think that
every night is a new night. We eat when we feel hungry. Bread constitutes our
diet, yet every time we eat it we take it to be a new loaf of bread. Are we not
living a life of deception? And if one's entire life is a deception then what
value if any can be attached to the extravagant claims to spirituality? The
nation is inactive as it is; yet you are preaching of even more inaction.
Commentating on this
hadith, Abdaal-e-Haq Qalander Baba Aulliya (r.a)' has stated:
'"There is a
book that has already been written. In other words, this book is the past (1.e.
a record). There are different ways to read this book. If the book is read from
the beginning, in order and in continuity, i.e., first word and then the second
word, first line and then the second line, first page and then the second
page—if this is the way the entire book is read then this is the method of
reading which applies to wakefulness (consciousness)."
A person's conscious
experience is that a day passes, then the next day passes, a week passes, then
the next week passes. Similarly, months, years, and centuries pass in the same
order and in the same way, i.e. they pass one after the other. After Tuesday,
Thursday does not arrive until Wednesday has passed. The month of Shavvaal does
not arrive until Ramadhan and the other months prior to it come to pass. This
way [of thinking] is the conscious way that is present in man (bound by the
confines of time and space). This approach is called wakefulness. And when this
conscious approach transports to a different page of the book it becomes the
subconscious approach, free from the confines of time and space. In simple
words this can be stated thus: The same approach alternates between two
compartments and this alternation and shifting of thought is what our life is.
In light of these facts, whatever there is, has been written in a book. The
book is eternal and eternity has become the past. As far as the concept of sin
and virtue, or goodness and evil, is concerned, this is the process of giving
meaning to information. The thing that is good is also bad. A man establishes
salaat, but if he remains unaware of the reality of salaat according to the
Holy Quran, (which is the establishment of a connection and a relationship with
Allah the Exalted), then [such] salaat becomes the mean of his annihilation and
destruction.
The interpretation
of salaat is that it brings a believer into the realm of the unseen. The
general observation, however, is that it is difficult for people to find even
the presence of heart and mind in salaat, let alone, gain an awareness of the
unseen. As soon as a person stands for salaat and recites the intention for
salaat he is overwhelmed by the onslaught of thoughts.
Abdaal-e-Haq
Qalander Baba Aulliya(r.a) says that the spiritual interpretation of "the
pen has dried" is that the past rules over the universe and, since man
took the responsibility of the trust upon his shoulders, he has accepted the
responsibility to be filled by the past. The past is a saying of the Holy
Prophet(saw) that,
"Do not speak
ill of the times; Allah is time."
Everything has
already happened in eternity" does not mean that Allah the Exalted has
bound or restricted humankind [to a to prewritten script]. In fact, within the
book that has been written in eternity, not only are the two paths, of mercy
and of pain, mentioned, but it has also been given the freedom to choose
between either of the two paths. The writing in the book states that, 'Two
paths are available to a person —one leads to mercy, the other ends in
turmoil.'
Spirituality is
necessary because there is no other way that can introduce man to the past
(i.e. the book written in eternity).
KHWAJA SHAMS-UD-DEEN AZEEMI
Science has made immense progress, yet many believe that, even with all of the modern tools at our disposal, human beings function at no more than 10% of their mental capacity. This leads to the question of what exactly it is that comprises the remaining 90%. Yet another question that arises is this: If it has taken man four and a half billion years to be able to apply only 10% of his ability, how long will it take for him to make use of the remaining 90%?
