ABOUT THE COVER The black colour in the background of the book's front cover indicates darkness as well as ignorance, while the white colour of each letter indicates light and knowledge. The image in the front cover of the book is a sentence written in Qufi style calligraphy, which points to the Word of Unity: “La ilaha illallah; Muhammad Rasulullah” and it simply means that, “There is no such concept as ‘God’, there is truly and only One Existent Being denoted by the name Allah and Muhammad (SAW) is the Rasul of this understanding.” The calligraphy, which is placed on top and above everything else on the page is a symbolic representation of the prime importance that this understanding had produced in the author’s life. The green light, which reflects from the window of the Word of Unity opens up from the darkness into the luminance to illustrate the light of Allah’s Rasul. This light is embodied in the title of the book by author’s pen and is shown in white colour in order to illustrate the enlightenment the author aims to achieve in this field. The cover at the back of the book is represented by the white background colour, which indicate those people who are able to evaluate the knowledge delivered by Allah’s Rasul and attain enlightenment in return.
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ESSENTIAL PRINCIPLES OF ISLAM
BY AHMED HULÛSI www.ahmedhulusi.org/en/
Translated by ALI JUNAYD TARI
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Dedications and Quotations ‘As with all my printed works, this book also is not copyrighted and, as long as it remains faithful to the original, it may be freely copied, printed, reproduced, published and translated. For the knowledge of ALLAH, there is no recompense.' Ahmed Hulûsi
A gnostic seeking knowledge will only follow Allah while the negligent becomes wasted with gossiping.
Those who were ungrateful did not attain anything other than their own ignorance.
Seeing the Reality through the mirror of metaphors would make you plunge into the abyss of seeking the Reality within metaphors.
If you can realize the Truth, then surely you are in a state of thankfulness, if, however, you are ignorant of the Truth, then surely you are an infidel.
People’s salvation depend on understanding of the religion Islam in its proper context and the system of Allah to which it relies on.
People have wasted their lives by falling into the trap of assuming metaphors as the Ultimate Reality. Ahmed Hulûsi
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TABLE OF CONTENTS ABOUT THE COVER................................................................................................................................................................................
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DEDICATIONS & QUATATIONS.........................................................................................................................................................
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TRANSLATOR’S FOREWORD..............................................................................................................................................................
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INTRODUCTION - THE REFUGE (ILTIJAH)..................................................................................................................................
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ISLAM............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 11 THERE IS NO COMPULSION IN ISLAM........................................................................................................................................... 18 WORD OF TESTIMONY.........................................................................................................................................................................
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PRAYER, FASTING, PILGRIMAGE, ALMS GIVING.......................................................................................................................
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DAILY PRAYERS.......................................................................................................................................................................................
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FRIDAY PRAYERS....................................................................................................................................................................................
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THE OPENING (FATIHAH) - ALL PRAISE BELONGS EXCLUSIVELY TO ALLAH...........................................................
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HELL IS ALL-EMBRACING DIVINE MERCY..................................................................................................................................
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WHY WAS HELL CREATED?...............................................................................................................................................................
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WHEN IS THE DAY OF JUDGMENT?................................................................................................................................................ 57 WHAT IS SERVITUDE?..........................................................................................................................................................................
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WHAT IS DIVINE GUIDANCE (HIDAYAT) AND HOW IS IT ACHIEVED?..........................................................................
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THE DESIRED INEVITABILITY OF TRANSCENSION................................................................................................................
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Translator's Foreword In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate Dear readers, It is important in this present day that people need to clearly understand the true meaning of Islam. We must know for sure the value of its purity, its unity and the value of its conscience. To all those who have accepted Allah and His Rasul1, Muhammad (SAW)2 with perfect faith, certitude and determination, we must first understand the value of absolute faith. That is the purpose of this book. Islam is equality, peacefulness and unity that teaches mankind about inner patience, contentment as well trust in Allah. A person who understands this reality and puts it into practice will be a true believer. He will be Allah's representative and will practice the explanations given through His revelations in his own life and demonstrate Allah's qualities. We who claim to be in Islam must destroy all the evil qualities that arise within us. We must cut away and discard all that Allah discarded from Himself, all the differences that separate us from Him. In fact, our real enemies have been within us from birth. These are our own evil qualities and they are the enemies that must be conquered. We must control and subdue them and keep them in their place. Allah's perfectly pure qualities, His Divine Attributes and His gracious qualities have all been gathered together with His love and made into the treasure of faith. Allah has given this gift of faith to the true believers, to those who have absolute faith, certitude, and trust. He has given this gift to the children of Adam so that they might receive the wealth of Allah's kingdom and live a life filled with peacefulness. He gave this gift in abundance to the Rasuls, so that they could help man to free himself from his enslavement to earth, sensual pleasures, desires and worldly 1
Although the Arabic word “Rasul” literally means, “Messenger” in English, the author defines the word “Rasul” in the book as the locus where all of Allah’s Divine Names becomes manifest. Indeed, “Rasul” is not to be regarded as the messenger or somebody chosen by God to convey God’s messages to mankind. Therefore, the word “Messenger” is not used in this book. 2 Muslims as a sign of respect and affection say “Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam” whenever Muhammad’s name is mentioned. This has been translated in English as “May peace and blessings be upon him”. Therefore, in this translation, the abbreviation of SAW will be written in parenthesis after Muhammad’s name.
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attachments. And yet man is suffering and can find no freedom; he is a slave to so many things. He has no peace, tranquillity, equality or love. We must release ourselves from the bondage of this suffering. I would kindly invite every reader of this book to have a detached mind, not influenced by any religious sentiments or mental biases, with the aim of attaining the truth, not searching for faults and blunders. The reader is also invited to read seeking to understand through his mind, not through his emotions and liking. Indeed, those who pray to Allah with faith, determination and certitude know that the most important thing in life is to surrender their hearts to Allah. If we can find truth, patience and tranquillity deep in our hearts, if we can find Allah and His Rasul there and if we can find unity among ourselves, then we will be truly exalted people. Unity, compassion, and truth are Islam. Let us realize this and live accordingly. Let us constantly strengthen our faith, certitude and determination. Truthfully speaking, I regret to say that some Muslims nowadays are quite far from actual implementation of Islam's principles and instructions. Unfortunately, they are Muslims only by name and not in the exact meaning of the word. A true Muslim is the one who takes the Glorious Quran and the Holy Sunnah, as the main sources of Islam, as their way of life and code of conduct to which they adhere in all their private and public dealings and transactions. In this book, the Sufi author Ahmed Hulûsi is revealing to you only an atom of the value of Islam. The words that he speaks come from the wisdom of himself. Those with deeper wisdom may understand even deeper meanings. Such meanings will be seen with clarity by those who have Allah's Divine Knowledge and His wisdom. If there are any mistakes in what has been said here due to my translation, please forgive me. The subject of this book is important not only because we need to refine our understanding of Islam, but also because many people don't have a comprehensive and yet detailed concept of Allah's way of life. Many followers of Islam limit the role of religion into mere acts of worship confined to the mosque or in times of hardships and difficulties. This is incomplete and distorted understanding of Islam. Because, Islam is complete and comprehensive. It is the fault of some followers of Islam who project this great and beautiful religion in a bad image. Despite the fact that over one-fifth of the world’s population is Muslim, Islam is often misunderstood and misrepresented in contemporary societies. It is hoped that this book will help shed light on Islam as it was divinely communicated to Muhammad Mustafa (SAW) and dispel any commonly held misconceptions. 7
Allah is sufficient for all. May His peace, beneficence and blessings be upon you. ALI JUNAYD TARI (Translator)
INTRODUCTION THE REFUGE (ILTIJAH) O! The Sustainer of Universes! Places of prostration (Masjids) and Mosques (Jamees) have been converted into the Temples of Worship. Your Supreme Being, which You have manifested by the Divine Attribute The Almighty (Azeez) and The Glorified (Subhaan) encompassed by the all-comprehensive Divine Name Allah is now assumed to be realized as a God out there! The ancient belief, which presumed that there is a God in the sky who dwells in the celestial heaven is defined as a notion connected with Muslim faith, which is prevalent almost all over the world now. This belief has become widespread among every person to such an extent that they would almost hear the footsteps of the gods created in their minds. There is one last final hope and that is the return of Jesus (Hadrat Isa), who shall be verifying the Reality of Muhammad (Haqiqat al-Muhammad) to all mankind. However, this reality is assumed to be understood in metaphorical sense rather than its literal meaning, so therefore, metaphors are used as literal descriptions of the only reality. Hardly a day goes by without someone taking revenge as hatred and violence is all around, outrage and wrath, blood and the smell of gunpowder as well as tears surrounding every single corner of our world day by day. Your Divine Majesty (Jalal) embraces the entire humanity day by day, which is the natural result of people's ignorance (Ghaflat). The principles, which are fundamentally crucial in Islam are no longer in use since they have lost their true meaning at the sight of people. For them, these truths represent nothing other than rote repetitions as they consider themselves by their outer looks! It feels as if the knowledge has completely been removed from the face of the earth and the world is living its final days before the appearance of Anti-Christ (Dajjal). 8
The fact that performing ritual daily prayers (Salat) is the Spiritual Ascension (Miraj) of all the believers is now believed to be a tale spoken in people’s tongues. The warning given in the following Quranic verse has been completely ignored and hence it has been removed, which states that: “‘O you who have believed; believe in Allah in accord with the significance of the meaning signified by the letter B.’…” (Quran 4:136) Therefore, no importance is given to the reality that performing prayers is in fact a believer’s spiritual ascension. The only thing described in detail is how or where one should keep his hands, feet, arms or legs during the prayer and wear what and how to wear it. The brain and its functioning mechanism as to how it really manages to contemplate are such issues that are no longer discussed. Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) is regarded as a touristic visit in order to see the walls of a square building made up of stones as well as a gathering around the slopes of Mount Arafat to worship a God, or maybe it is seen as an activity to “make the Arab nation richer!” The visit to Medina, however, is somewhat different as it is nothing more than a visit paid to the grave of a deceased Rasul, not to mention the funny rules that are invented one should obey after his return from Hajj, all of which are baseless rules according to the tenets of Quran. To refrain one’s self from engaging in trade and business activities, or veiling one’s hair from the others are such beliefs, all of which resemble putting a person into a coffin while still alive. ‘Fasting’ has also lost its true meaning as it has been realized as a topic connected only with slimming in a healthy manner or even with dieting. Hence, it has been deviated from its original purpose, making it nothing other than a physical problem. Therefore, the Divine Quality of SelfSufficiency (Samadiyyat) inherent within each of us can never be attained or unfold within ourselves since we are unable to grasp the true essence of fasting. Alms giving (Zakat) is yet another issue, which has been understood in a totally different sense from its true meaning since the wisdom (Hiqmah) it entails has been veiled; it is basically regarded as a duty to pay some kind of tax. Because the essential reality behind it is not fully explained, people who think that they are clever than the others have thought that alms giving is the activity of evading the payment of tax to the government, so they have 9
assumed it was nothing else other than just that. Of course, they could never realize the cost of what they would pay in the future since they have failed in treating the rights of others with fairness. O, My Sustainer! Because You have veiled the Knowledge (ilm) and Gnosis (Irfan) from the face of this world, religion is now being marketed like a corpse without a soul, it is regarded as a Divine Ruling which has come to establish a social order. By accepting the metaphors as the actual reality, many people fall into the misconception that they advertise themselves as Spiritual Helpers (Ghaws), or Poles (Qutub) and a messianic leader (Mahdi) almost in every country, even every district and village! O, My Sustainer! Yours is a very tough test indeed! As well as disclosing the veil covering Your Reality, You are also hiding Your Reality by veiling Your Divine Self from the others, simply by making people follow those who are unaware of You. Indeed, such people are more concerned with veil sellers, so therefore, they neglect the mystery behind all the veils. O, My Sustainer! Save us from wasting our lifetimes by trying to mess around with each other so that our souls depart this world in an unaware state. Grant us the wisdom of carrying out good deeds and behaviour, which You have manifested through people whom You have loved! Purify our souls by protecting us from those who have turned ungrateful through Your Divine blessings and nourishment. Make us comprehend the reality of Blasphemy (Qufr) and Gratitude (Shuqr), enable us to fully realize what these qualities really are, so that we become aware why they exist and to whom they really apply! Bestow on us to live a life such that we accept Your Order (Huqm) and Divine Decree (Taqdeer), so that we would pass away in that belief. O, My Sustainer! I would not know if You have not taught! I would not be able to grasp if You have not made me comprehend! I would not be able to know the reality if You have not facilitated! O, My Sustainer! If You had not willed, I would not be able to share the knowledge You have given me through the assistance of the books with Your servants on the 10
earth! Indeed, I have attained the state of bliss through my ‘Servitude’ to You, which is what You have decreed for me. I am nothing and You are Everlasting (Baki)! Although I say that “I can explain nothing else other than what You have decreed”, the people of gnosis will realize that You are the only One who would unfold this reality. There is no doubt that You will once again unfold it, just as You have unfolded it before. Meanwhile, those whom You bestowed upon Your grace will receive their rewards. You have made me realize that I am Your servant. You have also made it possible for me to live with this realization, so even if I thank You by the number of all things Your knowledge encompasses, I confess that I can never sufficiently express my gratitude. I seek refuge in You from being ungrateful! Allow me to experience the death with peace and understanding so that I can fulfil my duty of servitude, which in truth would be achieved only through submission to Your Divine Decree and Preordainment. Make me join Your truthful (Salih) servants! Grant peace (Salamat) to those left behind me and make it easy for them to purify their souls! In the Name of Allah, the Most Great! Ahmed Hûlusi London
ISLAM What is Islam? Why Islam? The word Islam has two distinct meanings in terms of its usage. a. It is derived from the Arabic verb “Salama”, which means “Peace and freedom from worry”. b. To surrender or submission. In order to understand what Islam is all about, one should read the fundamental concepts, which we have discussed in our book entitled “What Did Muhammad Read?” by referring to the chapter beginning with the holy verse ‘Read’. After that, it will be a lot easier to understand what Islam really is. 11
So, why Islam? Islam literally means peace and to reach safety, which is derived from the Arabic word “Salam”. The word also refer to the manifestation of the Divine Name Salam becomes manifest through you, which means that you are the locus wherein the meaning of this Divine Attribute reach its full actuality. Whenever the Divine Attribute of Salam becomes manifest through a person, that person experiences complete peace and blessing, which is the quality of this Divine Name and as a result, he begins to live a life, which we call as “living in paradise”. This is the reason why Islam is about surrendering oneself to this reality. The Quran states that “Surely, in the sight of Allah, the true religion is Islam”. Therefore, the religion is the collection of rules governed by Allah, it refers to the system of Divine Law and Divine Order of Allah. However, it is very important that we should not misinterprete these two concepts as they are used in a totally different context. We should be very careful not to confuse the term Divine Order with the social structure of our world today and the political regimes prevalent in our time. Whenever we talk about the “System of Allah”, we should never regard it as a concept, which relates to the religious laws either! This is such an order that it is always in operation in every single moment, existing in every corner of the universe, which is emphasized in Holy Quran in the following verse: “You will never find in the System of Allah (Sunnatullah) any change!” (Quran 48:23) As can be seen, this particular verse points out that Allah’s Divine Law and Order does not change in any way whatsoever. In other words, whether it maybe an animal or a plant, a human being or a Jinni, or an Angel; each and every creature within this Divine system serve the purpose for which they were created. The truth pointed out by the holy verse ‘Surely, the true religion in the sight of Allah is Islam’ indicate that every single being is naturally subjected to submit to Allah's immutable Divine Laws. 12
In other words, the universe, together with everything in it is in complete submission to Allah Almighty, which means that the whole creation has surrendered to Allah and this is the only true religion! With respect to the purpose of their creation and origin, no sentient being can be rebellious or disobedient to Allah. Even the Satan (Iblis) was created for the purpose of being disobedient to Allah and carrying out this task was the main reason behind his existence. This is because, within every level of existence, fulfilling the purpose of their creation for every single being will become possible through the agency of the supernatural beings called the Jinn. If Satan had not fallen into the state of disobedience, neither Adam would have been seperated from the heaven nor people who were subjected to suffering and discomfort due to the physical limitations imposed on them by their own physical characteristics would be able to manifest the divine qualities that they hold within their essence, which they could experience only while living within the higher dimensional realms that are far beyond the dimension of paradise. This is because, Adam had already possessed various qualities while living within the dimension of heaven, which are the qualities that we all aimed at and desired today. In other words, he had been endowed with divine powers. In paradise, everyone’s wish will be granted. Indeed, this was the case for Adam such that whatever he wanted was being granted. However, there was a major difference. Adam Aleyhesselam (peace be upon him) had been created on earth. This fact is revealed in the following verse, which states: “And remember when your Sustainer said to the Angels: Verily, I will make upon the earth (the body) a vicegerent (conscious beings who will live with the awareness of the Names).” (Quran 2:30) This is a clear evidence, which proves that Adam had already been existed on earth. He had a physical body like ours. For this reason, he lived in a dwelling place called the heaven on earth. 13
In spite of the fact that he lived on earth, he had managed to fulfil many of his wishes, which is surely beyond our present capacity. This is because, he was not inflicted by delusive imaginations or any illusions (Wahm), which prevented him from manifesting the divine powers that are latent within himself. Indeed, the faculty of imaginal representation is the most powerful affliction a human being can ever undergo. These feelings captivate our consciousness in such a way that nonexistent things or things which are impossible to exist appear to us as real. Therefore, at the root of all the fears and anxieties, there lies the feeling of these illusions. In our present day, the term which we refer to as ‘Negative Supposition’ is quite a big issue in the lives of so many people since it affects them in a way far beyond what they could predict. If a person could overtake this feeling of illusion, then his life would surely turn into paradise. However, if he cannot achieve this and becomes captivated in this feeling, then his life would turn into hell. More specifically, we can define the term Wahm as the power, an erroneous perception, which makes us assume that whatever we conceive as nonexistent does in fact exist and whatever we conceive as existent does not really exist. If a human being whose mind is not influenced with the faculty of imagination thinks for something and then decides to put this feeling into action through sheer determination, then that person could certainly achieve this goal, which under normal conditions is impossible for him to achieve. A person falling into this category will be able to lead an independent life as if he does not possess a physical body, almost as if he is living in paradise. Having been created on earth, Adam, of course was not influenced by the condition of being deceived by false perceptions as he always lived his life in this way, being in an environment called paradise on earth. In fact, with respect to its origin, we are living in a divine system governed by an orderly administration through which the Divine order become manifest. This includes each and every single entity that exists within the universe. 14
Please pay close attention to the word entity here as we need to concentrate on its meaning very carefully. This is because it encompasses all the human beings, angels, animals and vegetables. In reality, every single entity is in a state of complete submission and servanthood to Allah. In fact, this is the case both for humans as well as the Jinn, which is clearly emphasized in Quran in the following verse: “And I have not created the Jinn and the humans except so that they may serve Me (by means of manifesting the qualities of my Divine Names).” (Quran 51:56) Because Allah has created everything for a specific purpose, then clearly everything has been designed to serve to that specific purpose. It is absolutely impossible to think otherwise. Please also pay attention to the fact that in this holy verse, there is absolutely no restriction imposed whatsoever since it does not state that Allah has created the believers or the humankind for the purpose of worshipping Him. The verse also refers to the class of Jinn. In fact, by referring to the class of Jinn, the verse also indicates all the other beings designated by the term Satan or Devil. Angels on the other hand are already in a state of servitude to the Almighty Allah by their origin. So, by serving the divine order of Allah, they are in fact performing the purpose of their creation. For them, there is no need to say anything further. However, there is an issue which sparks debate amongst many people and that is the question of whether or not the Angels perform the duty of servitude. Taking part in such a debate is totally absurd. As we have already pointed out earlier, in Quran, there is a verse, which clearly states that the humankind as well as the class of Jinn have been created for a specific purpose and that is to show complete submission to Allah’s infinite wisdom. This means that Allah has created everything for a specific purpose. Therefore, every single entity that came into existence will serve the divine purpose, which Allah had decreed or ordained for it. There is absolutely no doubt about this.
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Every single entity in existence is created with Allah’s Divine Preordainment. For this reason, they manifest their actions in accordance with what Allah Almighty has willed and preordained for them. This is the one and only true religion, it is Islam. This is why the following holy verse states: “Surely, the true religion (system and order) in the sight of Allah is Islam”. (Quran 3:19) This has been further emphasized in the following verses: “And whoever seeks a religion (system and order) other than Islam (the consciousness of being in a state of surrender), it will not be accepted of him”. (Quran 3:85) “One whose heart (essence) Allah has expanded towards comprehending Islam, is he not received Nur (knowledge) disclosed by his Rabb (his essential reality)?” (Quran 39:22) As it can be seen, to be able to comprehend the true meaning of Islam in its proper sense is a surely a difficult as well as an important task for everyone. However, the person who attains this realization by the grace of his Sustainer will be able to manifest the Divine Energy through himself and hence achieve the stage of awareness, which would eventually lead him towards comprehending the truth of the universal system. While we strive to understand the true meaning of these verses, we need to concentrate on an important matter. Are there any restrictions or exceptions that require an explanation, either in the beginning or at the end of these verses? This is the point we should consider first. For instance, whenever the Quran states: “Surely, we have created the man as a viceregent on earth”3, it simply means that the man can only be a caliph in this world. If you notice, there is a restriction here since the man is limited to be a caliph in the earth. On the other hand, the Quran also states: 3
Quran (38:26)
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“Surely, the true religion (system and order) with Allah is Islam”. Quran (3:19) In this verse, we can see that there is no restriction of any kind. In other words, the Quran does not particularly refer to the earth or to a different galaxy. So, what place does it refer to? Here, it refers to the earth and the solar system where the earth is located as well as all the other galaxies. This indicates that within every part of the universe, in every single particle that exists and within every single point, the whole being is in total submission to the will of Allah Almighty. This is definitely what has been emphasized here. Meanwhile, there is a point, which we carefully need to assess. Because the entire existence is in a state of complete submission to Allah, this does not mean that each and every living entity have surrendered to Allah as an individual soul and with a personal individuality by using their own free will. As a matter of fact, each and every entity is in total submission to Allah since they have been created in accordance with the natural disposition (Fitrat), which Allah has instilled into them. Therefore, in the sight of Allah, each entity has come into existence through His Divine Will. Because every entity has come into existence with their natural dispositions, they are in a state of total submission. In other words, submission to Allah is a state, which is experienced by every living entity in existence automatically since they are all created with a specific nature or innate disposition. In fact, this natural tendency stems from their inborn characteristics and inner essence of their being. This is the reason why Muhammad (SAW) has said the following: “Every child is born with a natural inclination towards the true faith of Islam.” Those who consider this matter from a narrow perspective argue that each child is born with a natural tendency towards accepting the Muslim faith. However, this is not true. We should never evaluate this statement in this narrow sense by limiting our understanding to the Muslim faith only. 17
Every child, or more comprehensively, every single being living in the entire universe born into this world with a natural tendency towards Islam. This means that they are brought into existence in accordance with the facts explained by the meaning of the word Islam and therefore their inborn natural predisposition cannot change from birth. Yet, in another holy verse, the Quran states the following: “Say: ‘Everyone acts according to his own natural disposition (Fitrat)4.” (Quran 17:84) Here, the Arabic word ‘Shakilah’ mentioned in the holy verse refer to what we have described previously by the concept of Fitrat, which is the nature or original disposition of a person. This defines Islam in its true sense. So, every living entity came into existence by the virtue of the holy verse “Surely, the true religion (system and order) with Allah is Islam”5. This simply indicates that Islam is not a religion that belongs to a particular nation or a tribe only; it is the divine system and the universal order that is in operation at all times in the whole universe. If we could comprehend this reality, we will then realize that Islam simply cannot be regarded as a religion imprisoned within the confines of our own thoughts and narrow minds or be restrained by any means whatsoever. Islam is the manifestation of Allah’s Divine Attributes Who has created each and every entity within the entire universe through His Divine Knowledge and gave each one of them the qualities and the forms He desired. Therefore, the entire creation is in complete submission to the Will of Almighty Allah since they act in accordance with their innate dispositions. So, as a natural consequence of his understanding of Islam, what should then a person do soon after attaining this realization?
THERE IS NO COMPULSION IN ISLAM At this instance, it is worthwhile to consider the following reality. According to the Islamic faith, an individual is only accountable to Allah and His Rasul. The individual is not under any obligation whatsoever to prove his or her faith to anyone else. 4
The reality surrounding the subject of “Fitrat” has been explained in detail in our book entitled “What Did Muhammad Read?” Those who wish to find out more on this topic can enquire it from there. 5 Quran (3:19)
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An individual either believes or disbelieves. After all, he is the one who would suffer the consequences of his actions in the life after death. This is because, the world is not a place about coercing people into believing since it is based on proposition, whether people do it or not. Therefore, nobody has the right to force a set of beliefs upon another. Accordingly, this issue has been clarified in the following holy verse: “There is no compulsion in (acceptance of) the religion (the system and order of Allah; {Sunnatullah})”. (Quran 2:256) However, it is very unfortunate that this reality, which is explained in the Holy Quran is completely disregarded since its reality is not fully understood in our present time by many people who claim that they are Muslims. Instead, people are being forced by others to implement the proposals set forth by Islam through various manipulations and mind tricks. In other words, people are being forced into carrying out the actions they don’t actually believe and as a result, they are rendered into "hypocrites". However, the world we live in is a place of proposition where people are free to choose what they desire. Those who believe act in accordance with the principles of what they believe and those who do not believe spend their lives as they wish. However, in the end, they will suffer the results of their own choices in the life after death. Every individual will be subject to a penalty, which means that they shall either be rewarded for their efforts or be punished for what they have done in the life beyond death within the system of Allah. At this point, I would like to touch upon the significance of yet another issue very briefly: A significant number of human beings in today’s world have a tendency to suffer from emotions connected with desires to dominate and rule over others around themselves, because they always want to be in front of others and lead them, which is a quality that derives from their internal conflicts due to the contradictory impulses produced by their personal ego. However, in reality, most of those individuals who fall into this category has not been successful in reaching a stature where they obtained the approval of the people within their social circles. 19
In such situations, in order to conceal their own insufficiencies, they use religion as a tool by professing actions as “In the name of Allah”, “In the name of the Prophet” or “as the Quran commanded” by hiding themselves under a false appearance and forcing others into a direction as they see fit. When these individuals are put through psychoanalytical analysis, it will be observed that they utilize these notions in order to satisfy their own psychosomatic leanings so that they can overcome their own sense of littleness as well as backwardness. The individuals with such personalities were the ones who have established the inquisition in the middle ages and they tried to carry the mindset of the medieval inquisition to our present day simply by condemning people to hell on earth. In fact, those who pursue such people attach themselves to these concepts blindly and without any questioning. However, according to the law of Quran, there is no compulsion in the religion. This is stated by the Arabic word ‘Ikrah’ in the Quran, which means compulsion. Forcing people into this mentality is strictly forbidden since compulsion does not exist in religion as it is incapable of forming in the soul the judgments, which constitute the essence of religion. Hamdi Yazir, who is a renowned Quranic exegesis scholar, recounts the subject of compulsion in the Islamic belief system in his book as follows: “Religious belief simply cannot be initiated by forcing since individuals are free to do whatever they desire. Therefore, forcing an individual into performing actions that they do not want is forbidden in the religion. Compulsion may exist in the universe, but in religion as well as within the framework of Islamic religious law and in the sphere of religion, the compulsion does not and should not exist at all. In fact, the purpose of religion is to protect the individuals from all kinds of compulsions, not to enforce them into anything, which they don’t wish to perform. Accordingly, wherever Islam rules, compulsion does not and should not exist at that place. Therefore, Islam is a religion that does not proclaim compulsion and does not provide legitimacy or recognition to this act. In fact, in a deed executed by coercion, the basis of merit that the religion attributes does not exist. So, without consent and good will, no deed can be considered as a religious service.
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Actions are judged according to the intentions of the individual. Therefore, religious activities should always be performed with good will and with the full consent of the individual, not by pressure or force. Indeed, it is not possible to instigate a firm belief through coercion; so, the prayers conducted under pressure will not be consiered a true prayer, and the same principle applies to fasting as well as the pilgrimage. Furthermore, it is not acceptable for a person to cross the limits of another person's sphere in religion and force them to do anything; in short, according to the Islam’s legal provisions every person should conduct their service upon their own wishes freely and live without coercion.” (Volume:1 Pages:860-861) Considering that the examination of this topic can be discussed in a separate book, let’s continue from where we left off and not further elaborate on this specification.
WORD OF TESTIMONY A person who has been presented with propositions set forth by Muhammad (SAW) needs to grasp the essence of the following system in order to accept Islam fully, which would then make him say: “There are no gods either on the earth or in the skies, Allah Almighty is the only Real Existence. The whole universe is the creation of Allah, Who created the universe out of nothing. So, Allah is the only One Who has brought every entity into existence through His Divine Will and by His Supreme power, revealing His compassion and by endowing each and everyone with the attributes He desired to manifest.” In order to explain what this means, the next step is to understand the Word of Testimony (Kalimah-al-Shahadah), which is the first pillar of Islam indicating the declaration of the faith. You recite the first part of this sentence in the following way: “Ashadu an la ilaha illa'llah” Here, you begin by saying the words ‘I bear witness that there is no God worthy of worship except Allah’. So how do you bear witness? 21
I bear witness, not with my physical eyes, but with my insight, understanding and with the level of comprehension. I also bear witness and perceive with full determination that within each and every particle in the entire existence, there is only One Absolute Supreme Being to which all else owes its existence and He is the One and only Who exercise His authority in all the affairs of every existent being. You carry on reciting the rest of the words as follows: “Wa Ashadu anna Muhammadan Abduhu wa Rasulullah” And through my direct observation (Mushahada), ‘I bear witness that Muhammad is HU's6 (Allah’s) Servant and Rasul.’ The above sentence states that Muhammad is Allah’s servant, because he fulfils his servantship by displaying the characteristics and the attributes, which are manifested by the Will of Allah. At this point, we should take notice of the statement of Hz Muhammad (SAW) who have said ‘Faqr is my pride.’, which indicates that he is proud to be in a state of ‘nothingness’ when compared to Almighty Allah. Here, the word ‘Faqr’ is understood as a term connected with the concept of poverty, which we are accustomed to in our everyday life. However, in this context, it simply does not have anything to do with that since it refers to an entirely different matter. In fact, the door into the true servantship of Allah only becomes possible by comprehending the significance of ‘Faqr’. You could find detailed information concerning this subject in our book entitled “Interpretation of the Ghawthiyya”. In the second part of this noble phrase, it says that Muhammad (SAW) is ‘His Rasul’, who informs us by conveying the Divine Order and the System of Allah that is in operation all the time, so that we can be fully aware of this truth. In other words, this is same as saying, ‘I also bear witness to this reality’. This belief constitutes the very first pillar of Islam.
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In this book, the author refers to Allah as “Hu”, which is an Arabic pronoun that is usually translated as “He” in English language and carries no sense of gender so does not personify Allah as is often done in the Western tradition of reference to the godhead. It should be noted that while the masculine pronoun “He” is used in both Arabic and English to denote Allah, “He” is nonetheless transcendentally beyond any gender. However, for simplicity the pronoun “He” is used in this book, which is rendered as “The One” throughout this translation.)
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The first pillar of Islam is to declare the faith by saying the word of testimony. But how about the rest of the four pillars? This is another important matter, which we are totally unaware, purely because we have conditioned ourselves by our wrong way of thinking. In fact, Islam does not only have five pillars. After the proclamation of the article of faith, there are further fifty four more obligatory articles. THE QURAN DOES NOT STATE THAT ISLAM CONTAINS ONLY FIVE ESSENTIAL ARTICLES OF FAITH. The Quran points out that there are fifty four essential articles obligatory upon every individual, all of which must be fulfilled and if people do not fulfil these obligations, then they are subject to a great loss. The first four of these articles are the main articles and these are daily prayers, fasting, pilgrimage to Mecca and giving of alms. Beyond these, there are other rules, which we must practice and others that are strictly forbidden such as backbiting and gossiping, drinking alcohol, gambling, fornication, stealing and so on. These altogether make fifty four rules, which are included within the pillars of Islam. After making this clear, let us now turn our attention to the next chapter where we shall carry on with our topic.
PRAYER, FASTING, PILGRIMAGE, ALMS GIVING In this section, due to popular demand from our readers, we found it necessary to present you various explanations, which we have explained regarding the rest of the four main articles namely Prayer, Fasting, Pilgrimage and Alms giving, all in one chapter. Because we have already explained in detail the subject of the Word of Testimony (Kalimah-alShahadah) in our book entitled ‘Muhammad as revealed by Allah’, we shall not talk about it here. We will begin with the daily prayers first, which is a compulsory religious duty upon every individual accepting Islam. I hope that our explanations would be beneficial for everyone.
DAILY PRAYERS Soon after reciting the testimony of faith, the second article of Islam is the Spiritual Ascension (Miraj). 23
Indeed, by reciting the word of testimony, you have witnessed that there is no any other being worthy of worship other than Allah alone and He is the only One and the Absolute Unity of Divinity. There is no any other being other than Him. Having fully acknowledged the importance of this reality, you will then need to ascend to a spiritual level and state in order that you could attain the realization of Allah. Therefore, spiritual ascension is the second noble pillar of Islam. However, at this point, you could argue as follows: We are accustomed to believe that performing the prescribed daily prayers is the second noble pillar of Islam. So, where on earth did this belief of Miraj come from? Well, you are absolutely right. In fact, considering the daily prayer merely as a physical ritual practice is not correct since it is a spiritual journey, which we embark upon within our own self leading to spiritual ascension and in fact, it is nothing more than that. This is because our holy Master Muhammad (SAW) says: “Prayer is the Miraj or the spiritual ascension of the believer.” This shows that performing the customary prayers is the means for your spiritual transformation, it is a spiritual journey experienced within one’s own consciousness and that is the only real objective behind this religious practice. The prayer performed by the physical body on the other hand is just a tool for making this journey possible. So, what is the second pillar of Islam? Of course, it is to achieve the spiritual ascension. If you like, let us list each of these articles of Islam with respect to their exoteric meaning. These are as follows: 1. The Declaration of Faith. 2. Performing daily prayers. 3. Fasting. 4. Making the Pilgrimage to Mecca. 5. Paying the yearly Alms. Now, let us explain the hidden esoteric meaning behind these five exoteric aspects in the order we have stated above. 1. The benefit of understanding the word of testimony : To know the truth of Allah. 24
2. The benefit of performing the daily prayers : To achieve the spiritual ascension and attain Allah. 3. The benefit of fasting : To live in a state of awareness that the self is annihilated in Allah, to attain the state of extinction of the self in Allah (Fanafillah). 4. The benefit of having Pilgrimage to Mecca : To attain the stage of eternal life in union and subsisting with Allah (Baqabillah). 5. The benefit of giving alms : To share whatever comes into one's possession with the entire creation who are endowed with the blessings of the Divine Truth. At this point, I would like to draw your attention to a very important matter, which we fail to notice quite often. The religion that Muhammad (SAW) has proclaimed consists of various religious practices classified under the name ibadat, which are simply a set of rituals suggested for all of us to perform. However, we know for sure that every action has a purpose in life. Therefore, the question: ‘Why do we do this?’ examines the actual aim behind all these acts. This is because, every act serves to a particular purpose. In short, we can say that there is a purpose for every action. We must be fully aware that the ritual practices, which are suggested to us to perform under Islamic religion are nothing other than religious acts. These religious acts, which are referred to as the pillars of Islam all point to the essential articles of faith, each of which must be fully grasped and practiced by everyone, so that the individuals would eventually be ready for the conditions of the life hereafter. However, because the nations are being diverted from grasping this truth, they have considered that performing religious acts is the actual purpose behind everything, which eventually has made them to lost the actual reality. As a result, they have blocked their minds as well as their understanding with this false belief and could not do anything further. At this point, it is worthwhile to remember the following words of the famous mystic poet Yunus Emre: 25
“The Truth is the sea and Islamic Law (Shariat) is the ship in that sea of reality. Many people did not dive into this vast ocean from the ship.” In other words, they simply stuck themselves onto the vehicle and hence could not manage to reach the ultimate truth. For this reason, I emphasize once again that every vehicle on the path to attain the truth is the means to reach the goal. The religious practices, which are suggested to be carried out within the framework of the pillars of Islam are only meant for the purpose of directing people towards the ultimate reality. Therefore, as the individuals who have been endowed with the faculty of thinking, we need to fully comprehend that whenever we perform religious rituals, we should carefully consider the fact that they are the means or the necessary tools to reach the goal. Now, it could be said that ‘We are doing these religious rituals only for the purpose of obeying Allah’s rules. There is no any other reason. The rest is unimportant.’ Indeed, grasping this matter is not a simple task. If it was, then in Quran, there would only be a few verses indicating this matter, perhaps five or say ten verses at the most. It would never be a book addressing the mentality or the logic of the mankind. What’s more is that the following warnings, which appear in some 6300 verses in Quran would never be mentioned either: “Will you still not contemplate?” “Will you still not use your mind?” “Will you still not perceive with your insight?” For this reason, we should understand each religious practice in religion as a necessary tool or the means to achieve the ultimate goal. So, with the help of these religious rituals we perform, we would be able to grasp the truth properly and eventually attain it for ourselves. Therefore, we should not consider the daily prayer merely as a religious act performed physically, but also comprehend its real significance. Our Holy Master Muhammad (SAW) has made a remarkable statement concerning this subject: “Prayer is the pillar of religion.” 26
What does the word ‘pillar’ here mean? In those days, while many people used to live in tent dwellings, hardly anyone lived in houses made up of adobe bricks. The tent was supported by means of a post erected in the middle, which prevented it from collapsing. So, the word ‘pillar’ in the above statement refers to the post erected in the middle of the tent, which has prevented it from collapsing, just like the daily prayers keeping the religion intact. A person can never attain the stage of awareness unless he fully realizes that the prayer is the spiritual ascension. As long as the person remains in this stage, he shall never be able to understand the true meaning of the testimony which he has made in the previous stage; that is to know what the word of unity is all about. Otherwise, he shall only have the knowledge of it. There are three stages of certainty along this path. The first stage is the Knowledge of Certainty (Ilm Al-Yaqeen), which is the realization of the mystery of the word of testimony and its permanent conviction. The next stage is the Eye of Certainty or Certainty after Seeing (Ayn Al-Yaqeen), which is when the prayer becomes the spiritual ascension. The final stage is the total Reality of Certainty (Haqq Al-Yaqeen), which is attained during fasting. This is the level where annihilation in Allah takes place. After this stage, the next level is called subsistence in Allah (Baqa Billah), which is a station attained during alms giving. Of course, you will be judging by using your intuition that these are subjects, which had never ever been mentioned until today. So, how could all these be true? You will not only find it strange, but you will also be puzzled or even deny these facts. But please do not ever deny these facts, do not involve with self-denial as this is injustice to yourselves! In the stage of knowledge of certainty, the person fully realize and further witness the Oneness of Allah and that Muhammad (SAW) is Allah's Rasul and servant through the knowledge he perceives. As a result of this direct witnessing, if the person then performs the ritual prayer not only physically, but in the light of the knowledge he had attained during the stage of knowledge of certainty and with deep spiritual conviction, he will surely be able to achieve the spiritual ascension.
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By means of that spiritual journey, the person performs the spiritual ascent and as a result of his spiritual ascension, he will eventually attain Allah. At the end, his identity becomes effaced as he achieves total union with the Absolute Truth, so, the Only True Existence that remains is the Divine Truth. Having reached this stage in his journey, he would see himself totally immersed in the infinite ocean of the Divine Truth, so he would finally comprehend that his existence is absorbed in the Divine Being. Therefore, he manifests the Divine Attributes through himself. As this takes place, he performs fasting and in return manifests his hunger and thirstiness, showing total endurance to cope with both of these situations. He produces within him a semblance of the Divine Attribute of Samadiyyat (freedom from want), which becomes manifest through him. As a result, he attains the highest level; that is the stage of absolute truth of certainty. Let us carry on to explain more facts concerning the daily ritual prayer. It is stated that the position of prostration is the time when the servant comes closer to Allah at the utmost degree. On the other hand, people often talk about the subject that the prayer should be performed with complete conviction. However, there are people who perform it only physically just as much as there are people who perform it with deep certitude. So, engaging with ritual prayer physically is totally different than performing it with deep certitude. On top of that, there are others who perform the prayer while being in a state of everlasting blessing (As-Salāt u’d Dāima) and they are entirely different than all the rest. People who think that the outward appearance is more important while performing the daily prayers fail to contemplate its real essence, so they can only perform it as a ritual act. For them, it becomes nothing more than a physical prayer. Of course, to engage oneself with ritual prayers involves with various physical movements during which spiritual meditation takes place. However, the purpose of this is to provide the individual with the spiritual energy, which is gained through the meditations and supplications during the prayer. This energy is then transferred onto the person’s soul via the brain. In fact, performing these religious practices will not only strengthen the soul but also provide the positive energy for the soul, so that the person can continue to possess this vital energy in the life after death. 28
Since we are talking about the ritual daily prayer, let us first take the following matter into our consideration: We know that without any doubt, Holy Quran states performing the ritual prayers five times a day. Soon after our master Muhammad Aleyhesselam (SAW) received the divine revelation, he attended to perform this religious duty himself five times a day until such time he has passed away from this world. The Quran states the following verse: “Attend constantly to your Salat (Prayers - turning to Allah), especially the Middle Prayer (Asr Prayer - experiencing this reality continuously within one's consciousness)” (Quran 2:238) The obligatory prayers are not less than five times a day, so any attempt to reduce this amount or deny this is surely the most foolish act. However, you have no excuse that the prayer, which you could not manage to attend on time can always be performed at a later time, just before the time of next prayer. Muslims are obliged to perform ritual prayers five times a day, each of which is assigned to certain prescribed times and units are listed below: The morning prayer, 2 units, The early afternoon prayer, 4 units, The late afternoon prayer, 4 units, The evening prayer, 3 units and The night prayer, 4 units. These are compulsory (Fard) prayers and is the least amount of prayer, which must be performed. Unlike other religious duties, the daily prayers can be classified under two categories: 1. Obligatory prayers (Fard). 2. Additional prayers (Nafilah). The Arabic word Nafilah, which in Turkish means ‘Necessary’ has been the topic studied by many researchers, who has thoroughly investigated the meaning of this word in terms of its proper definition. They have defined this word with various names and qualities such as it means mandatory or something not required, commandable or recommended and so on. 29
According to Islam, this means that those who wish to engage themselves with the additional prayers can perform these as much as they like, before or after their obligatory ritual prayers for as long as they allocate themselves time or the opportunity to do these. However, these prayers are not compulsory. Today, the prayers performed in congregation in our mosques are not different than the prayers performed during the time of Muhammad (SAW) except that the compulsory prayers are performed with the Imam. So, if a person allocates four or five minutes of his time during day in order to perform his four units of noon prayer at a mosque by following the Imam, he is then considered to establish his obligatory prayer. The additional voluntary prayers (Nafilah) performed before and after each prescribed compulsory prayer (Fard) has been regarded as supererogatory prayers performed over and above the prescribed rituals, which is also known as Sunnat prayers. These prayers are imposed on people under the guidance of those summoning people to prayer (Muazzin) through various supplications, which make the nonbinding prayers obligatory, making these rituals look like a religious ceremony. Examples of this are the terawih prayers, which is an Arabic phrase referring to extra prayers performed during the Islamic month of Ramadan. At the time of Muhammad (SAW), this ritual prayer comprised of 8 units only. What’s more is that charging people money for chanting religious hymns or songs to celebrate the religious days in ceremonies under the name Mawlid has nothing to do with religious practices. In Islam, there is no such ritual. In actual fact, Mawlid is nothing more than a religious poem written for the purpose of praising Muhammad (SAW) after many centuries his soul passed away to the life hereafter. Nowadays, chanting Islamic praises as songs to celebrate the religious days by gathering has become a customary ritual for many people, which has nothing to do with religion whatsoever. Indeed, Muhammad Mustafa (SAW) can only and only be praised by Allah Almighty, the Cherisher and the Sustainer of all the worlds. The Holy Quran clearly states this in the following verse, where his unique supremacy is indicated: “And We have not revealed you except as a mercy to the worlds (people).” 30
(Quran 21:107) Of course, people whose mind and reasoning is limited like us can never comprehend the true reality that any attempt to praise him would result in complete failure, because this would only put a limit to his supremacy. Furthermore, Allah’s Rasul does not want from us that we should praise him, he expects from us that we should understand him fully and also be a useful member to our society as much as we can. He does not want that we use his supreme personality as a source of worldly gain to make our ends meet. We must know for sure that charging money for religious services has no place in Islam whatsoever. You can neither get someone to recite Quran nor tell anyone to recite it for you from the beginning to the end by giving them money, neither can you make anyone pay money to anybody for performing the religious practices such as ritual prayers and fasting that the deceased persons have neglected to perform. We must make sure that within the root of Islamic rituals and the religious practices laid down in Holy Quran explained by Muhammad (SAW), chanting religious songs for the deceased person’s soul or paying money to somebody for performing the religious practices such as ritual prayers and fasting on behalf of the deceased does not exist. Taking part in graveyard ceremonies to pay and distribute money to help bless the deceased person has nothing to do with Islam. If you find yourself involved in any of these activities, please be aware that you are only satisfying your own ego while at the same time helping others, so that they can earn a living through these unnecessary religious practices. Islam strongly rejects any activity carried out for the sake receiving money towards the religious services as it also does not support the idea that ‘If no money is received, then nothing will be done’. In fact, by doing this mistake, we are paying for our own ignorance, so we should not look for the fault in others but turn to ourselves. This is because, we have not made extensive research on this subject and hence blindly accepted the norms and values of other people around us.
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Meanwhile, please do not misunderstand. We are not against the idea of performing additional prayers before or after the obligatory ritual prayers. Those who wish to perform these prayers can do so as much as they like and in return for this, they will receive reward for their good deeds. However, we are strongly emphasizing the fact that imposing these additional prayers on people as if they are compulsory to perform in religion is not correct. It is surely a great mistake to consider the Sunnat prayer, which in fact is Nafilah; that is, it is optional as if they are obligatory. Giving it this impression is a big negligence. Perhaps, there is a feeling of goodwill at the root of this belief, but it is complete ignorance and thoughtlessness. This is also arguing against the principles of Muhammad (SAW) inconsiderately who have said that: “Make things easy and do not make them difficult, cheer the people up by conveying glad tidings to them and do not create hatred.” A person who cannot spare a few minutes for performing four, or three, or even two units of prayer does not has no chance for finding any excuse. However, in today’s busy environment, it is very difficult to make people accept that imposing on them prayers taking much longer time to finish, say thirty or even forty five minutes, together with the obligatory prayers, which take no more than five or ten minutes at most is very common. This is a situation that makes people alienate from the religion of Islam by force.
FRIDAY PRAYERS Let’s talk about the Friday prayers in particular! In our present day, the Friday prayers have become such a religious ritual that it is performed only to make people run away from the mosques! In the time of the Rasul of Allah, the Friday prayers consisted of only two units. However, in our present day, those who have not yet realized the level of consciousness to comprehend the Truth have increased this prayer to twenty units. What’s more is that if you add the time to these prayers, the time it takes to listen to the Friday sermons, which, in reality does not provide any benefit towards understanding the religion, it makes people think: “Oh, I have found myself a place where I can listen about religion as 32
much as I like, so let me make most of it!” This is such a mentality that you cannot find any better solution than this to make people run away from the Friday prayers. Indeed, during the time of Rasul of Allah, whenever the call for prayer took place, the next step was the qamaah, that is the phrase recited at the beginning of the ritual prayer. After that, the Imam started to deliver the Friday prayer sermons (Khutba) to inform people of various explanations concerning religious revelations, which is followed by the actual Friday prayer performed in congregation. At the end, everyone leaves the mosque. After performing the two units of Friday prayer, it is not necessary to perform Zuhr-i Akhir (the latest early afternoon) prayer since to claim it as compulsory has become a fabricated belief in our present day. Neither in Quran nor according to the teachings of Muhammad (SAW), there is such a prayer. According to Muhammad Mustafa (SAW), “On Friday, keep the Friday sermons short and brief, while keeping the prayers long.” However, in our present day, a completely opposite approach is being implemented in mosques. The Friday sermons has been turned into places where long and useless speeches are delivered based on satisfying the personal egos of those who are taking part in it, who offer no valuable information whatsoever concerning the religion. The prayer on the other hand is shortened and only a few verses is recited while performing it. However, in reality, the Friday sermon should be kept as little as possible while more time should be allocated for the prayer. The verses recited during the prayer should also be carefully selected. Furthermore, placing hands or the sitting positions during the prayer, that is putting the left foot flat on the ground with toes pointing towards the right or sitting on this foot while the right foot is upright does not indicate at all that the prayer performed is established correctly. The style of dressing other than the compulsory veiling advised by Islam for women does not affect this either. These are such rules that narrow minded people has invented in time. The meaning implied by the warning “Whoever turns away from my sunnah” does not concern only with the customs and traditions, the clothes and finery prevalent in that time. It is connected with the fundamental belief system that the Rasul of Allah has taught us. The detailed explanation 33
concerning the term of “Sunnah” can be found in our book entitled “What Did Muhammad Read?” Religion, in fact, is another name for eternal values indicated by the term “Sunnah”, which in the sight of Allah relates to timeless realities and uniformly applicable in all situations and at all times. This belief system has come to mankind to enable them to comprehend the true nature of these realities, so that they can direct their lives by establishing these essential realities that are not relative notions. There is yet another belief, which asserts that “If you don’t push away all distractions that make you think of something other than the prayer itself, then your prayer is not correctly established.” This is absolutely nonsense. You may of course think of something else at the time when you perform your prayer, however, this still does not mean that your prayer will be nullified. If while performing his prayer and reciting the holy verses, a person wards off his thoughts that keep his mind off the purpose of the prayer, the energy produced by reciting these blessed words would then be stored onto his soul by his brain. It does not matter even if he thinks of something else. This is because, in our brain, there are a huge number of neural synapses (connection points between neurons), each acting as integrated circuits signalling from one cell to the other. Each contact point functions according to a certain mechanism that is unique to its creation, so they serve the purpose for which they were created. Unfortunately, we are totally unaware of all these functions that our brain is capable of. However, being unaware of this reality does not change anything. Even if we are not aware of our brain’s countless functions, it will still carry out its functions, no matter what. Furthermore, we know that we have a multi tasking brain, which can perform several functions at the same time. This means that we can drive a vehicle while we can listen to the radio at the same time or watch the road while we listen and give answers to the person sitting next to us in the vehicle. In fact, we can even do many things without being aware of anything. These activities are controlled and arranged by means of the brain. For this reason, whenever you perform the prayer, the energy obtained through reciting the holy verses as well as the supplications is stored onto your soul, even if you are not aware of this. In this way, you would have the opportunity to obtain the energy and the knowledge needed by your soul in the afterlife environment while you are on earth. Indeed, the ritual prayer 34
plays an important role in everyone’s life, because it allows people to gain many mutual benefits. On the other hand, there is a group of distinguished people known as Havas who thoroughly research into the reality of Sufism. These are such people who would always want to establish their prayers. Before we can obtain the necessary knowledge that will help us in our quest to find the essence of prayer and establish it, it is important that we should understand what the meaning of the name Allah refers to. Those people who does not deeply understand the word of testimony utters it as follows: “There are no Gods other than Allah and Allah is the only God.” By plunging themselves into the primitive notion of a God afar off, they do not fully realize the truth of Allah and quit this understanding, which is always open to criticism. They accept Muhammad (SAW) as the Rasul of Allah. At least, this is what the word of testimony means to vulgar masses. For the elite people who are the people of true perception and understanding however, the word of testimony has a much deeper spiritual meaning. This meaning indicates that there is nothing in the entire existence other than Allah. We need to fully comprehend the concept of the Oneness of Allah, which is a subject we have extensively covered in our book entitled “Allah As Revealed By Muhammad”. Based on the realities we have explained, what we need to realize is that the being, which we assume as an existent entity indicated by the word “I” is only a term superfluous to the Self-subsistent Essence, because in reality, there is no such being as ‘I’. In fact, this is the understanding, which is accepted by the elite people. It is their way of thinking. If you understand that your own ego does not exist and further realize that the being, which you have assumed does exist only within your imagination due to your conditionings, you will then realize that the entire creation is in total unity, because Allah is the only Necessary Being existent in every point in the universe. You will then be able to see into the mystery of the Quranic verse: “So, wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah (You are face to face with the manifestation of the Divine Attributes denoted by Allah’s Names). ” 35
(Quran 2:115) Whenever that special moment is experienced, all violence, evil, hatred, unnecessary foolish desires and the enemies would disappear as perfection and fairness is all that remains, each has been created for a divine purpose. In your eyes, the thorn, the rose, the cactus and the carnation will all look different to you as they will remind you of a dazzling beauty of creation. Considering the word of faith from the perspective and the level of the elite people is the essence of prayer and, in fact, an essential requirement for the establishment of prayer. At this point, let us pay attention to an important and a delicate matter. The level of consciousness needed to establish the prayer is attained before the prayer takes place. This is a state of perception that is comprehended and experienced as the person continues to pray, which makes it possible to establish the prayer. If you are in a state of establishing the prayer, then you truly say “Allah is most great” whenever you start performing the ritual prayer. You say that word, so what happens then? Of course, whoever experiences this reality, they are the ones to know! However, let us try to explain it to you by quoting the holy verses from the Quran, which you might also know: “So woe unto those who pray (due to tradition), who are neglectful (cocooned) of (the experience of the meaning of) their Salat (daily prayers, which is an Ascension (Miraj) to their innermost essential reality; their Rabb).” (Quran 107:4-5) “Those (the believers) who humble themselves (are awed by the experience of observing the Divine Qualities of Allah’s Names) in their prayers.” (Quran 23:2) Let us know this for sure that the word Khushu (Pious Reverence) mentioned in this verse has nothing to do with fear whatsoever. This word simply means that the person who experiences the greatness of Allah Almighty becomes fully aware of his nothingness in the sight of His Magnificence and as a result, he feels nothing other than Allah’s majesty.
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Those who are unable to understand the true meaning of these verses fully make such baseless accusations like the following: “You are not trying to purify your soul during the prayer, because you have attached yourself to this world completely, hence you are not turning yourself to Allah. Therefore, your prayer is not valid.” However, this is a totally wrong interpretation. This is because, as I said previously, performing the prayer will allow you to obtain the energy or the spiritual power, which would be necessary for you, so that you will not become subject to any torment as you shall be protected from the hell fire in the afterlife. Here, the expression “Without the feeling of Khushu (deep and humble reverence), the prayer is not valid” means that the prayer will not be established and therefore the spiritual ascension will not be achieved as the person performing it will not be able to reach Almighty Allah. There are two main reasons why performing religious activities for each person is essential: a. To be protected from various kinds of torments in life after death. b. To attain the truth of Allah while living on the earth. It is very important that these two points should never be confused. The prayer performed without feeling deep reverence can never be the same as the spiritual ascension. However, it can still be performed even if it does not have this quality since it would protect the individual performing it from various torments. Paying attention to those who do not fully understand the inner truth of this religious duty, you could end up saying that “Because I cannot establish the prayer properly, so therefore I do not need to perform it at all!”. This is a very big mistake indeed, which can be considered as depriving oneself from attaining the great mystery that this truth holds. It is like cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. A person who stucks into this frame of mind resembles someone who does not want to eat the food he has been offered. He says: “It would be best if I can avoid eating this food and stay hungry, because I don’t like the taste of it!” and as a result, he does not eat the food. As this example clearly illustrates, it is very important that while you perform the ritual prayer, you must first of all understand the truth of prayer, so that you could establish 37
it. Speaking of establishing the prayer, let us now talk about how this can be achieved. Whenever we stand for praying, we first say the phrase “Allah is most great!” As we begin the prayer, we raise both of our hands while opening the palm of each to the level looking directly opposite. However, during the prayer, it does not matter whether or not we raise our arms up to the level of our head or shoulders. Touching our ears with our hands are also not important. What is important is that as long as we raise our hands to the level of our head while leaving the palm of our hands open to look straight ahead of us and keep our hands parallel to our body, everything is fine. This symbolically means that “I have lifted all the veils between myself and Allah and put everything behind me”. During the taqbir (extolling greatness of Allah), the phrase “Allahu Akbar” is recited, which simply means that “He is the Omnipotent, All Powerful Allah Who has no boundaries and beyond any limitation whatsoever, encompassing all the knowledge and everything and there is no any other deity other than Him.” Let us think for a moment that we have started the prayer being in this state of mind. In other words, we have begun our prayer by contemplating the Oneness and Supremacy of Allah, while accepting that He alone is the One and Only Supreme Being whose glory is reflected in all existent things. This is the moment when the prayer is permanently established. “Surely, I have turned myself together with my consciousness, firmly and truly to Him Who originated all the heavenly dimensions and the entire creation, without accepting the concept of any deity other than Allah and I am not of the polytheists.” “Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are for Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds. He has no partner; and I have been commanded with this inner awareness, and I am the first of those who surrender to His will. I am from those Muslim people.” Soon after attaining this awareness, you have recited the phrase “Subhanahu wa bi hamdika” and further witnessed that every living entity glorifies Him. You have also firmly acknowledged by saying with your mouth that He is independent from all defects, each and every act of Him is 38
a clear sign of His perfection and whatever He has created has been endowed with a specific quality and destined to serve to that purpose only. You have said that ‘I glorify Him with His praise’. In other words, you have said that only Allah can praise Himself. This is because, no any other being can perceive Allah except Himself. In fact, praising is such a state, which can only be attained through absolute awareness. However, we can never ever praise or glorify Allah Almighty. No matter how hard we try, our attempt will be a complete failure, because by doing so, we shall be attributing deficiency to Allah. In reality, the meaning of “Hamd” is that only Allah can have the true knowledge to know Himself and He is the Only One who would praise Himself. After this, you have recited the phrase “Auzu Basmala”. In other words, you have taken refuge in Allah Almighty from all kinds of negative suppositions and evil suggestions as well as deceptions of the Jinn kind leading you towards worshipping your God. You have then said: “B-ismillaahir Rahmanir Rahim” This means that “My whole existence is dependent upon the Absolute Exalted Being Whose Name is Allah, Who is the most Merciful and Beneficent. I act only on behalf of Him.” At this instance, Allah has manifested this phrase through your tongue. By doing so, you have realized that you are taking a journey through the myriad of universes that came into existence by the Supreme Power and Knowledge of Allah Almighty, Who is the Cherisher and Sustainer of all the worlds. To tell the truth, Allah desired to voice this reality through yourself and you have spoken it. You have then witnessed that you are nothing, so you have effaced your identity completely and what’s left behind is only the Creator. As a result, you have become the locus of manifestation where Allah has reflected the quality of nothingness through you and you have become His mirror in which He contemplates His Divine Attributes.
THE OPENING (FATIHAH) - ALL PRAISE BELONGS EXCLUSIVELY TO ALLAH 39
Let us read the very first verse of this chapter from the Quran. It is as follows: “Alhamdulillahi Rabb’ul Alameen.” “Allah is the only True Judge, the One Whose judgment is above that of anyone else's.” So, what is the meaning of this statement? We have never ever heard such a comment up until today. In fact, we have always heard and understood that this verse has been translated as: “All praise is due to Allah, the Sustainer of all the Worlds. So, let us glorify Allah only, but not anything else.” I can almost hear you are saying: “How did you come to think like this?” Let us try to explain this matter by making it clear as much as possible to everyone, so that we can make people comprehend the inner truth of this matter completely. Let us know for sure that Allah is Unique and One. No any other being has the power to praise Him other than Himself alone, so comprehending or grasping Him by any means is absolutely impossible. Therefore, only Allah knows Allah. Only Allah can praise Allah. Only Allah can glorify or exalt Allah. Only and only Allah Almighty can praise Allah of course! In fact, Muhammad (SAW) is the locus of manifestation who possess the most praiseworthy station not only for our present time, but also on the Day of Judgment as well as in the dimension thereafter, since he is blessed with the Divine Authority of intercession. This is what he says: “I simply cannot praise You as I am unable to achieve this the way You praise Yourself!” This means that those who are lower in terms of their spiritual rank can never praise anyone whose ranks are higher than themselves. So, therefore, for me to praise Muhammad is absolutely impossible. However, He can be praised only by Allah Almighty. Indeed, praising somebody properly can only be achieved if the person being praised is fully comprehended in every aspect inherent within their own quality as well as the level of their understanding. They should then be evaluated in that manner. Only after following these steps, the person can be criticized or praised. 40
This means that before criticizing or praising this humble servant of yours, people first need to possess such an intellect that their capacity of knowledge must fully encompass our knowledge comprehensively. Equally, it is not necessary for the person to graduate from a particular educational institution and hold a particular degree or a certain title. This is not really an important issue here for simple reason that each person needs to possess a level of awareness, which would enable them to assess whether or not our level of knowledge is sufficient. Only after comprehending this level of intelligence, they can properly consider our way of thinking in its broader sense and then judge whether what we think is right or wrong. They can then either praise or criticize our ideas accordingly. Avoiding this mentality altogether would mean that it would be absolutely impossible to praise or criticize anybody, simply because their ideas are beyond our level of understanding. In fact, this is nothing more than gossiping since the words that are spoken is nonsensical and gibberish. For this reason, for me to judge anyone above me or praise each person to evaluate them on the merits of their own qualities is impossible. In the same manner, appraising Allah with true appraisal for any created being is never possible. Therefore, all Praise is due to Allah Almighty Alone. So, Allah is the Only One Who truly deserves all Praises. At this instance, let us allow our intuitive mind to think. Imagine the space occupied by a single person on earth. Then try to think of the space occupied by the same human being by comparing it to the sun, which in terms of its mass is a million times more bigger than the world. Then think in terms of the space occupied by a single person, which is contained within a galaxy consisting of billions of stars. Then imagine the space a single person can occupy within our universe which contains billions of galaxies we can perceive. Then endeavour the stupendous mechanism of the Supreme Creator who have created the entire universe that we could perceive and countless universes within the myriad layers of multidimensional realms, which we are still unaware of out of a single point. Can you comprehend the vastness of this with your mind? Indeed, our limited minds cannot even grasp or comprehend the incredible vastness of our universe, which has been brought into existence by the countless qualities of the Almighty One referred to as Allah Who is pure and free of any imperfection, even the concept of infinity, He is the One and Only 41
Unique Supreme Creator, the possessor of all Divine Attributes as well as countless exalted qualities. Since we are unable to understand this reality, then how can we praise that Supreme Being? However, there are two options. We shall either praise Him with pure admiration like a poor shepherd in an intimate manner or we shall be realistic in our approach and hence say that ‘All Praise is due to Allah, so therefore, we are incapable of comprehending this reality’. In this way, we would be able to realize the non-existence of the inherently existent self within us and never exceed our limits. This is because Allah does not love those who show themselves off and exceed their limits. In short, all Praise belongs to Allah Almighty alone and therefore He is totally independent from having any partners in this regard whatsoever. In fact, we are being informed on this subject from the first moment we lay our hands on Holy Quran, which clearly states in the initial verses of its opening chapter the following message: Try to regain command of your emotions and do not be one of those who would assume that He is a sky God and then praise Him in order to ingratiate yourselves into gaining His favour. Indeed, you are simply incapable of praising Him, so therefore only Allah Almighty can praise Allah rightfully and only Allah deserve of all true praises. What we should really grasp here is that only Allah is capable of praising Himself so therefore, each of us, regardless of who we are should be totally aware that we are inefficient in grasping this reality and that we should know our limits accordingly. What’s more is that the venerable companion Abu Bakr whose spiritual rank is known to many of us as the closest companion of Muhammad (SAW) has warned us by pointing out in the following way: He said, ‘Realizing the inability to comprehend Allah is truly the most perfect way to comprehend Allah.’ The religion of Islam emphasizes that the fundamental truth concerning the reality of the Being referred to as Allah is as follows: ‘There is only One Unique Supreme Being Whose Existence is infinite and limitless and in truth, there is no any other Being other than Him.’ Indeed, whatever we see around us including all that perceived by the entire creation pervading the universe comes into existence with the Divine Names of Almighty Allah, Who manifests Himself through His Divine Attributes, which He veils from His creation by arranging every single entity 42
in myriad of forms and compositions, each of which is demonstrating a distinctive aspect. Under the circumstances, we can’t say anymore about this topic, so therefore, we have no choice but to accept the fact that all praise is due to Allah alone. In fact, this is such a lofty rank, which can only be attained by those who could realize its truth. This is the station of witnessing where the person attains Union with the Divine and witnesses the Supreme Being denoted by the name Allah through realizing his nothingness. Let us now concentrate on the words of Hamdi Yazir (may Allah sanctify his soul), a highly ranked renowned religious scholar who spent a considerable time on the interpretation of the Holy Quran. In his book entitled Hak Dini Kuran Dili (Interpretation of the meaning of the Quran) he recounts the following: “The essential truth indicated by the concept of Appraisal is a topic that is widely known by everybody, because it is a subject that needs to be understood eventually by every single person. So, what does it really mean? To praise or being praised is such a quality, which stands specified eternally, entirely and exclusively for Allah, the Exalted, the Sustainer of the universes and all that exists. Therefore, Allah is the Only One Who truly deserves all the praise and all existence is under His Sovereignty for He is the Almighty Allah. However, this essential reality cannot be fully understood in its proper sense since we have no phrase defining its actual meaning. For this reason, we use the phrase ‘Hamd’ in our everyday language as a reference only. It is evident that those who are aware of its reality know exactly what it means, while those who don’t know what it really means cannot be cognizant of what other people know about it.” (Volume:1, Page:62) Therefore, all praise belongs solely to Allah. He alone deserves all the praises. He is the Only One capable of praising and therefore all praise remains under the dominion of Allah. Because, He is Allah Almighty and there is nothing else in existence except Him alone. Whoever knows this reality would surely realize the truth of this matter. As for the people who don’t know anything about it, will they be able to understand anything at all? If we have successfully managed to understand the truth indicated by the phrase “Al-Hamdulillah”, let us now talk about on the meaning of yet another concept, which is referred by the phrase Sustainer of all the Worlds (Rabb’ul Alameen). 43
Although the word ‘Rabb’ in its proper context signifies fostering or nurturing (Tarbiyah), of things in such a manner as to make them attain one condition after another until they reach their goal of perfection and completion, here the term is used to indicate nourishing, which is how this process is carried out and it is referred by the phrase the Divine Providence (Rububiyat). Here, the Arabic word ‘Tarbiya’ simply refers to cause something to develop from stage to stage until it is completely perfect. In general, the term Rabb refers to develop a thing from stage to stage in accordance with its inherent aptitudes, needs and its different aspects of existence, and also in a manner affording the requisite freedom to it to attain its full stature. The word Rabb also implies the process of tender and careful nourishment providing from moment to moment and from stage to stage all that one needs to gain the fullest possible development. It is thus a continuous process of providing one with all that it needs in every situation and at every stage. The attributes pertaining to Rabb mentioned above can be summed up by the Most Beautiful Names (Asmaul Husna) of Allah, which are hidden subtleties behind the veils of human attributes manifested by the Splendour of Allah. In other words, the Divine Attributes indicated by the Most Beautiful Names (Asmaul Husna) denoted by the Absolute Being named Allah constitute His Rububiyat or His Attribute of Providence. Whether we perceive them or not, every single being came into existence through the Divine Attributes indicated by the Most Beautiful Names of Allah, Who is the Sole Provider and the Sustainer (Rabb) of the entire creation, so they owe their existence to no any other being other than the Almighty Sustainer. In fact, this is the process whereby every single being is nurtured and developed from its inception to its final completion all the way by their Sustainer. In reality, the entire creation continues to exist through this constant active presence of nurturing process and this is clearly explained by the following verse in Quran: “…There is no living creature but that He holds it by its forehead (the brain; the very Divine Qualities of the Names of Allah!)…” 44
(Quran 11:56) Therefore, whether we perceive them or not, the entire creation is dependent on His Divine Will and they are engulfed in His infinite Knowledge, so, through His Almighty Power, they can continue to maintain their lives and manifest their actions. As for the entities existing within the various realms. Please pay attention to the expression that we use here. We are not saying every human being, or angel, or Jinn or animal. We are using the word entity. Every entity perceive their own dimensional reality through the lens of their own personal universe and hence what they perceive is just their description of their own personal universe. In this respect, in the most realistic sense, everything is a conscious entity consisting of bundles of substances pertaining to different planes. In reality, whatever is perceived by us is nothing other than illusory images generated in our minds. Hence, everything that we see around us is the vision of the image created in our brains. Thus, when we say we are seeing an object, this is what we really mean: “The combination of the external influences affecting my brain as well as the data that were already present in there produce an illusory image in my mind. So, according to my mind, whatever I perceive is the product of these illusory images or thoughts.” However, what is the truth surrounding this reality? Let us take a closer look at the comments of the late Hamdi Yazir and see what he has said concerning the subject of ‘Sustainer of the Worlds’ in his famous Quranic interpretation. “Through intuitive analysis and thorough contemplation, it will be seen that the entire universe can be considered as having two distinct properties, one which is connected with our mind and the other which concerns with the external influences affecting us. These in return produce all the qualities associated with our faculty of perception. Needless to say, the Sustainer of all the Worlds is far beyond any of these misconceptions, so therefore, He is the Almighty Allah, the Only Necessary Existence Whose Sovereignty perpetually manifests at every moment.
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For those gnostics referred to as the folk of witnessing (Ahl Al-Shuhud), or putting it more explicitly, people who comprehend the Divine Reality in its proper sense, behind each and every existence in the entire universe, either before or after it comes into existence, the only reality that is observed or witnessed is Allah Almighty’s Existence. Since Allah is the only Supreme Power behind all the existence, He is above and beyond everything your mind can imagine. In other words, Allah is the only One upon Whom all things and beings depend. Therefore, the entire universe can be considered as an all-encompassing unity, which means that Allah Almighty is the only Existent in reality. So, Allah is beyond all the existence in the universe. Operating through the multitude of interconnections we encounter in the universe, we accept and fully acknowledge that Allah is an immanent and transcendent deity beyond all the universes. (Volume: 1, Page:71)” (Both passages we have quoted here had been taken from the original book itself. However, the texts we have taken had been found unnecessary to publish by the publishing house since they needed to be adapted into today’s language and therefore these sections were omitted from author’s actual translation. However, the volume and the page numbers we have given here belongs to the original book.) In reality, all that we perceive around us is nothing other than mere reflections, which we encounter through our consciousness and these are nothing but the manifestation of the Divine Names or the Attributes in various forms and combinations belonging to the Supreme Being denoted by the name Allah. We have tried to explain the topic concerning the subject of “Divine Providence of Allah” and the concept of “Sustainer” quite extensively in our book entitled Mysteries of Human. Those who wish to investigate this particular subject in more detail can study it from that book. In actual fact, most subjects covered in this book can in fact be learned from that book since the explanations given there forms the basis of our investigations. Therefore, it is important that these two books should be carefully examined one after the other as this would lead towards understanding these subjects in a better way. After giving you all these explanations, if we still make an attempt to give you a final meaning implied by the phrase “Sustainer of all the Worlds” 46
mentioned in the opening chapter of the Quran, then to the best of our knowledge, we could come up with the following conclusive statement: “To be able to evaluate and praise the Supreme One denoted by the name Allah Who brings every creation into perfection in any form or shape He pleases in its true sense is not something, which can be conceived by created entities. Therefore, all praise belongs to Allah Almighty alone, for He is the Sustainer and Nourisher of all that exists.”
HELL IS ALL-EMBRACING DIVINE MERCY As for the other meanings implied by the phrase or the quality of abounding Divine Grace and Mercy of Allah (Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim). This is a subject, which we have already explained under the topic “In the Name of Allah (Basmala)” in our previous articles. We shall carry on to explain it from a different perspective in this chapter too. The term Ar-Rahman points to the Divine Attribute of Allah Almighty such that He is the One Who is overflowing with the quality of Absolute Mercy from which all of creation is brought into being. He is the One Whose perfect mercy and loving beneficence endlessly embrace all of creation. Although the term Rahmaat can be classified under two categories namely the essential compassion or the Divine Mercy of the Essence (Al-Rahmat AlDhatiyya) and Divine Attribute of Mercy (Rahmat Al-Sifaati), it can also be considered as Particular or Private Grace (Rahmat-i Khassa) and Genaral Grace (Rahmat-i Amma). The phrase Rahmat Al-Dhatiyya refers to the concept such that the essence of all creatures take their livelihood only and exclusively from the Divine Essence of the Unique Being denoted by the Name Allah. Therefore, hell can be considered as all-embracing mercy belonging to the Divine Attribute of Allah Almighty’s Compassion and this extends to entire creation. Rahmat Al-Sifaati on the other hand refers to the concept such that each and every attribute manifested through all creation, regardless of their composite nature, originates from the Divine Qualities denoted by the Name Allah. One of the qualities associated with the term Rahmat-i Amma is that it refers to the General Grace, which means that through the Divine Grace of Allah Almighty, a day would eventually come whereby all people are saved from the torments and the punishments in the life hereafter, even if they 47
are destined to occupy the hell forever! Verily, the mercy of the Most Compassionate One is sufficient even for the people of hell. Even though there is no such explanation in Quran stating that some people would stay in hell forever, no statement is given that they would be subject to suffering torment in hell forever either. This is why the General Grace implied by the phrase Rahmat-i Amma needs to exist. While we are concentrating on giving explanations about the term ‘Rahmat’ here, it would be worthwhile to provide an answer to a particular question at this point, which we often come across. Since Allah Almighty is All-Compassionate, then why was hell created? Indeed, people are always baffled in finding answers to questions like these.
WHY WAS HELL CREATED? One of the issues, which is quite often misunderstood in religious terminology is the concept of hell. Why would people be thrown into hell? Who will be doing the act of throwing and how will it be performed? Why was hell created? Are there any people living in hell? What is the nature of the beings referred to as Demons of Hell (Zebani), and who are they in reality? Why do they burn in hell? Are there different types of burning? What is the nature of the hell fire? How does life continue to exist within the environment of hell fire? While our minds are preoccupied with many questions like these, many answers given in response to highlight these matters cannot fully explain the true nature of these subjects as each answer is based on such views that disregards logical principles and as a result, people with thinking minds experience problems in terms of their understanding due to the illogical and simple statements asserted by other people. However, through the 48
grace bestowed on us by the Almighty Allah, we shall try to explain this subject to the best of our knowledge in such a way that people would not be able to reject it as we shall communicate our findings in a way human mind can understand easily. In Arabic, the word ‘Jahannam’ has two distinct meanings. Although the first refer to the hell in general, the second has a rather specific meaning. In the most general sense, the ‘Jahannam’ is the environment or the place with such conditions that people are subject to severe punishment and torment. In this regard, we can talk about several types of hell namely the environment of hell in the world, the environment of hell in the grave and the environment of hell on the day of judgment. In fact, whether it is the prison or the hospital or any other environment you live, you can still be in hell. These are the type of places that come under the category of virtual hell, which simply shows that such places in the world can also be considered as hell. In actual fact, a person’s transition to the world of graves simply indicate that he is in fact within the environment of virtual hell while in the grave. However, with respect to its characteristics, the environment named hell is actually the sun itself, which, in future would embrace the entire world and everything contained in it. However, this will take place not in the physical sense as seen by the naked eye since the sun possess a twin, that is, a radial dimension consisting of a radiating source of energy currently present in the form of energy waves. The word ‘twin’ here does not refer to the material dimension, which we can observe physically. What we really mean here is the dimension within the spirit world in which the human mind is unable to perceive its specific nature, so this is the structure we are referring to. We know that at this present moment, we are observing the sun in its gaseous state. However, those who have just passed away and transited to the dimension of world's radial twin can observe and hence experience all the qualities pertaining to that environment, which we have already explained. After a period, the Sun will reach to a mass, which will be five hundred times bigger than its original size and it is during this period that it will engulf all the surrounding planets namely the Mercury, Mars, Venus, Earth 49
and the Moon respectively, reaching out as far as the orbit of the Mars and make them melt away and finally evaporate by forming a red giant. At that instance, the spirit or the astral body of each person attracted to the gravitational field of the earth, or to put it more accurately, people whose soul continues to occupy their astral bodies, which is made up of a subtle luminous holographic light body will escape this melting world since it had lost its gravitational attraction. Hence, they will dwell in a new dimension and will look for means to reach out beyond space as they will be travelling through the atmosphere of the giant sun's radiating energy, which had engulfed the world completely. The religious practices and spiritual meditation is purely proposed for the purpose of enhancing the quality of peoples spiritual energy rather than worshipping Allah and therefore, those who have carried out such activities shall be imbued with a luminous divine energy, which would allow them to escape the world's radiative zone occupied by the sun. As a result, they would be able to pass through this zone containing energy in the form of radiation. In religious terminology, this reality is expressed metaphorically with the phrase 'Sirat', which is an imaginary bridge or a pathway to astral dimension. In Holy Koran, the flames of hell is defined by the term 'Semum', which in our present day signify poisonous radiation capable of causing damage. The radiation of the sun that is capable of burning and hence destroying even the stones while on the other hand only could burn the light bodies of the people consists of huge segments, each containing giant flames of fire within the hell and these flames can cause solar flares which can erupt up to 800 thousand kilometres in our present day. Just imagine if you can with your mind how intense that environment will be felt when the sun is 500 times bigger than the earth. In hell, there are two types of burning. The first one is the physical burning, that is the anguish connected with bodily pain and the second one is the mental burning, which is nothing more than deep mental harassment. The first type of burning arises due to the extreme heat inherent within the structure of the hell, which damages the bodies of light as it contains photons produced by the radiation.
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Second type of burning arises due to the unawareness and the false information planted in people's minds since they are heavily influenced by the beliefs and the value judgments derived from their society. So, as soon as they transit to that environment, they will find themselves facing with such conditions, which would be totally different from their false assumptions. One of the foremost causes why this happens is because the person has what we call a sense of individuality as well as portraying a possessive attitude towards mental values topped with extreme greediness, which in return makes him believe that he is nothing other than a mere physical body, living a life just like an animal, having only carnal desires connected with bodily pleasures. So, why does mental burning exist? What you really feel is that you have a possessive and materialistic attitude, so therefore you assume that you own a particular object, but when you lose it, you then start burning straight away. However, if you could accept the fact simply by saying that "Allah has given it" and "Allah has taken it " from me, then the matter of burning would come to an end and it would never ever take place at all. In reality, at the root of all the burnings in hell, there lies a great deal of judgmental values as well as conditionings produced by the social norms, which are adopted or internalized with the society's conventions and these are customary rules of behaviour that eventually coordinate our interactions with others. If you remain attached with these attitudes and say that "This is how it should really be", then whatever the subject is, it is certain that you will be affected by that burning. It then becomes absolutely inevitable. This is because, sooner or later you will be facing with a completely different outcome, which will not turn out in your favour as you desired and therefore you shall have no choice other than burning. Although for the majority of people this burning starts while they are still in this world, for some of them, its agony is experienced during the dying process as the spirit body leaves the physical body. This is because, at this time, people start to feel that everything they once had or possessed is now gone out of their hands completely and they have lost everything for good. So, why does burning is considered to be mercy? 51
Why does those who are destined for paradise burn in hell before they actually enter the paradise? This is because if they don't burn or feel this agony, then they can never ever enter the paradise since they are always occupied with customary beliefs and false conditionings, which they have accustomed themselves to. Indeed, the attribute of Divine Mercy (Rahmat) acts as a mechanism, which allows them to feel this burning, so that they can be purified. The process of burning takes place owing to the fact that they have inflicted themselves with wrong mental attitudes as regards their beliefs such that they are heavily influenced with values of judgments as well as conditionings that these attitudes have planted within their minds. People who make incorrect assumptions concerning their thoughts and feelings always end up facing with suffering a great deal of agony since the ideas they have oppose their way of thinking. If, however, the person can get rid of the concept of 'what would others say!', which is simply an attitude preventing that person from turning towards the truth and walk along the path leading to the reality as much as their capacity of faith and level of comprehension could allow, they would then be saved from many types of burning. On the other hand, attaining spiritual realization through Islamic mysticism would enable the person to understand the meaning of their own inner truth, their essence and allow them to perceive their reality to the full, so by achieving this state of realization, they would be saved from all kinds of burnings and even while they are in this world. If hell had never existed and the people were not supposed to experience this process of purification by burning in hell, or if they did not receive the divine mercy, then they would never be able to attain the spiritual heights necessary for the realisation of divine realities and hence they would never reach the heaven. Thus, burning is a process, which would enable its dwellers to become purified completely from all the sufferings that they would experience and in this respect, its existence is nothing more than a mercy and justice. In fact, this is very similar to the case of an operator who shows complete mercy by amputating the person's leg as it is gangrened. As for the demons of hell who torment those dwelling there. 52
Let us know it for a fact that each plane of existence has its own unique beings associated with it. Just as much as every planet and star in the cosmos have their own alive and conscious entities that are unique to their own environment, each and every single dimension that are formed by various layers in the universe also have diverse array of living organisms and these are all conscious entities. In religious terminology, each an every single of these beings are defined with the word Angels. Our brains with respect to their structure are equipped with limited perceptory devices which we refer to as five senses and because they are programmed to evaluate only the incoming data in this way, we are totally unaware of the various other dimensions as well as the species that are living in these since their existence are completely beyond our perception. However, in reality, it does not matter whether or not you have any knowledge concerning the existence of the species living in other planets or stars. We are not even aware of the existence of the beings referred by the name Jinni trying to take our brains under their control continually or any other life form inhabiting our planet. In Holy Quran, the conscious beings living within the environment of the sun has been given the name Zebani (Demons of Hell). These are known as the Angel kind. They are subtle beings made up of a luminious substance (Nur). Because they occupy this subtle dimension created from light and despite the very intense difficult conditions that not every being is capable of entering their dimension to inhabit the same environment they occupy, they can still live within the dimension of the sun, which is under tremendous amount of radiation without any suffering or being subject to any influence whatsoever, just like the fishes in the water where we can't absolutely live. They also have giant bodies and with respect to the other beings coming into their environment from outside, they possess the ability to move very swiftly. In fact, this resembles very much to the case of the fish that has the ability to swallow the water and spit it out, so they eat fire and spit out fire. They humiliate whoever goes into that environment whether it might be a Jinni or a human kind as they play with them like a bouncing ball. They say to them, 'If you were clever enough, you simply wouldn't end up here, haven't you come accross anyone warning you before?' 53
Just as we could rule over whoever we can take under our control in our natural environment, trap the birds into the cage, train animals such as bears and teach them with unique abilities by running a hook through their nose and then making them bounce and drag on boiling hot plates, the demons in hell could also humiliate those beings coming into their environment from outside in the similar fashion. However, they do not concern themselves whether or not the dwellers who come into contact with them suffer any torment or agony as this is not their problem. Here, the word Zebani is used and this is because they are such beings who can humiliate their captives. In fact, this particular word is used in a general sense, which is a name attributed to them due to their characteristics. In other words, they are immensely powerful creatures who have the ability to rule over anyone by forcing them into doing whatever they desire so that whoever come accross with their powers becomes humiliated and tortured, which means that they are subjected to severe suffering and agony. Indeed, this situation resembles very much to the case of some people who go on the streets as they are in a deplorable state of distress or misfortune since they have been under the complete dominion of the Jinn. Same would also apply for the animals in the hands of those who train them in circuses or the experimental test subjects that are used in laboratories, who have the right to live as much as we do. Therefore, the best thing to do is to get prepared for these conditions in the best possible manner. I think we have given sufficient explanation concerning the subject that the environment of hell is a place for mercy, it is a source of purification and that people are simply not thrown in there in order to become subject to anguish since they will only suffer the results of their own actions resulting from their erroneousness judgments and false notions, which would eventually lead them to that dimension. So, the suffering will be experienced due to all these shortcomings. Let us add one more further comment on this matter. Since the people who are destined for paradise will be those who could identify themselves with the character traits of Allah, then it is necessary to 54
reflect on this matter also, so what is pointed out by characterizing oneself in accordance with the awareness of acquiring the Divine Qualities or Attributes of Allah? Anyway, without elaborating further on this topic, let us continue with our discussion from where we left off. After learning what the term General Grace (Rahmat-i Amma) is all about and what it provides for us, let us now explain the term the Private Grace (Rahmat-i Khassa). The term Rahmat-i Khassa refers to the special grace of Allah Almighty that is bestowed onto those servants whom He chooses. "Allah chooses (enables people to realize their inner reality) for Himself whom He wills!" (Quran 42:13) and "He cannot be questioned as to what He does! (since duality does not exist)" (Quran 21:23) By granting His Divine Mercy, He saves the servant He chooses for Himself from the afflictions of hidden polytheism (Shirk al-Khafi), or in other words from having a strong sense of identity or ego first and then purifies that servant from the thought of imagining a God separate and far away from him. By theophany He taught that servant the incorporation (Takhalluq) of His characteristics (Akhlāq), qualification by His attributes, He then manifests His Divine Attributes through His servant and finally, He graciously rewards him with an inner state of purification known as divine unveiling (Kashf) or with spiritual conquest (Fath), so that He bestows upon His servant with a heavenly life. Anything beyond that understanding can only be realized by those who experience it! In fact, giving information on the true nature of realizing the Divine Names and Attributes of Allah is beyond the scope of this book. Here, another meaning implied by the word Divine Mercy (Rahmat) could be as follows. We have already pointed out that the Divine Mercy (Rahmat) of the Divine Beneficence (Rahman) provides total purification. 55
Of course, there is an agony and oppression brought by this purification process. Take for example an operator who amputates the patient's leg due to gangrene in order to save him from this distress. The operation carried out by the operator here is nothing other than a compassionate act resulting from the mercy of the operator. So, despite all the suffering and agony that this operation brings along, we still thank the doctor who carries out that operation. This is the Divine Mercy, which gives us the suffering at the beginning but proves beneficial at the end! It is all-encompassing embrace of the Infinite Grace (Rahman). However, the grace of the Exclusively Merciful (Rahim) is not like that since it is the Divine Quality that does not only provide purification or make any distinction as it is the Divine Grace giving everyone complete pleasure regardless, having them taste the beauties of all the nice things as well as granting them with such states that they feel really pleasant with. In actual fact, the mercy of this Divine Grace, which is described as the "Mercy that will be granted to the believers in heaven" in many books is indeed quite a different subject. We should definitely know and never ever disregard the fact that the meanings pertaining to the qualities of all the Divine Names of Allah is always in operation and valid all the time. For this reason, the viewpoint, which presumes that the Divine Attribute indicated by the Divine Name of 'Rahim' is not in effect for the moment since its quality would only become manifest only after entering the heaven' is totally groundless. The meaning indicated by Allah's Divine Name of Merciful (Rahim) is such an attribute that its effect is always in operation at all times and is manifested everywhere. Whether or not we realize this reality does not change anything at all. However, it is necessary to explain further on this subject. Only those who are aware of its truth can grasp it. While the people of paradise realize the qualities that this Divine Name manifests, there may be others who may not be fully aware how did this attribute came into being and from where it did originate. On the other hand, there are so many people on earth who have already realized the 56
meaning of this divine attribute in themselves as well as those who are currently in the process of experiencing it. In addition to the friends of Allah (Awliya) who have attained the station of divine unveiling (Kashf) and the state of spiritual conquest (Fath), those who are brought nigh (Al-Muqarrabun)7, Verifiers or Realizers of truth (Muhaqqiq), the Single-Minded Ones (Mufarridun)8 and those who have achieved the Gnosis of Allah (Marifat Billah) also realize the quality of the attribute of Rahim in themselves consciously at each moment in accord with the secret indicated by the mystical letter 'B' as they have become the comprehensive mirror where the manifestations of the Divine Name Rahim are reflected. What's more is that the meaning implied by the magnificent phrase 'There is no power or strength except through Allah (La hawla wa la quwwata illa bi Allah) also originates from the Divine Attribute of Rahim. Therefore, to accept the meaning of the Divine Attribute of Merciful (Rahim) as if it is a kind of quality, which would be manifested only in the life after death and within the sphere of paradise is indeed the greatest negligence. The qualities indicated by the Divine Attributes of the Being denoted by the Name Allah is constantly at work in every dimension and being manifested in every single moment. Furthermore, countless number of angels in the universe subsists by the very essence of the quality that this Divine Name manifests in every single moment. It's now time to talk about the next Quranic verse.
WHEN IS THE DAY OF JUDGMENT? “Mâliki Yawmid-Deen” or “Meliki Yawmid-Deen”... That is; The Owner (Mâlik)9 of the Day of Judgment or The King (Melik)10 of the Day of Judgment.
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Those favoured with Allah's special nearness. Mufarridun is an Arabic term that relates to those people who remember Allah unceasingly. 9 Mâlik is derived from the root of Arabic word Melk, which relates to Ownership or Possession. 10 Melik is derived from the root of Arabic word Mulk, which means Kingship or Sovereignty. 8
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The words which appear in this verse serves a twofold purpose such that it can be understood by some as to mean 'The Owner' (Mâlik) and while for others, it could be evaluated as 'The King' (Melik). In other words, the meaning that this verse entails is read and understood by some as 'the Owner or the Master of the Day of Judgment', and while for some, it could be read or understood as 'the King of the Day of Judgment'. If we try to understand this verse in the light of the meaning conveyed by the word 'Mâlik', we are faced with the meaning “One Who is completely free from depending on anything in existence and the One Who has the power to enforce His Will in any way He likes without any opposition whatsoever.” If, however, we try to read and understand this verse in the light of the meaning conveyed by the word 'Melik', then we are faced with the “One Who has complete possession and ownership in the management of all affairs, One Who has total control and authority on everything and the One Who has total ability and power.” In truth, the One Who manifests Himself with the Name "Allah" has combined both of these Divine Attributes in His Unique Essence. However, as it can be seen, the verse uses the expression “Day of Religion”, which when considered grammatically; force us into accepting that the meaning of this verse is connected with that expression. So, how do we approach to solve the meaning of this verse. That is the issue, which we must deal with here. The term religion (Deen) can sometimes be interpreted as to obtain reward or recompense for which one must inevitably face for the things that he or she has done. In addition to that, the word also used in the sense of “complete submission, obedience and allegiance”. If we can realize these differences, we would see that both meanings are in operation all the time, so it is not something, which would take place at a particular instance in the future. However, the religion (Deen) is not about the Doomsday! Despite this reality, it is being thought that the reward for all the deeds done are not conferred or recompensed at that instant and therefore a final day has been pictured in people's imaginations, so that they will be rewarded for what they have done on that particular day. 58
At this point, it is worthwhile to consider the first holy verse of Mâûn from Quran, in which it states: “Have you seen him who denies the religion (Sunnatullah)?” (Quran 107:1) In other words, have you ever thought about the person who denies the System and Order of Allah? Since on the Day of Resurrection it will be transited to a dimension whereby one day would be regarded as fifty thousand years and that people will be subject to Grand Gathering within the field of (Mahshaar) as well as the period leading to the pathway of (Sirat), which, for one day would be equal to a period that would last thousands of years, then considering that period as if it is only a single day and Allah is the Owner or the King of that one single day is not a realistic approach according to our observation. It is also our firm conviction that... In the Sight of Allah, there is one single “Moment” among infinite others and that Moment is only “one single day.” According to Him, within that one single day or moment, which we consider as the only 'moment' among infinite other 'moments', He is the only One upon all submits and the only One Whose Sovereignty is in force at all times, which has always been the case from eternity without beginning (Azal) to eternity without end (Abad). In other words, Allah's Ownership and Kingship is eternal. At this point, the following question may come to our minds: “Despite causing great harm on others, a very large number of people living in this world are not recompensed for what they have done. Doesn't that reveal to us that the day of recompense is not this very day or the present moment, which we currently live, but it is some other day in the future?” Since those who ask this question could not decontaminate their minds from the concept of 'God' and they have no sufficient knowledge to comprehend the true meaning of Allah, they are missing on a very important point indeed.
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The fact is that every human being shall be recompensed for what they have earned, for every moment of every deed, which is the result of what they did in the previous moment. This is because: “Allah is swift at reckoning!” However, we are falling into the misconception while evaluating the conditions which that person had undergone after he performed his deeds. Therefore, we simply presume that the person who could not receive his due reward at this moment will be recompensed for what he did in the future. Whereas, there is a concept known as the Divine Deception (Maqr)11 of Allah. Majority of people are recompensed for the mistakes they have made through this divine scheme of deception. It has been clearly emphasized in many parts of the holy Quran that the concepts such as the desire to possess wealth, offsprings, social status, having a title, fame and reputation are the means for evil temptations and that those who are not fully awake or cannot abstain from this mischief will be losing their eternal comfort in the hereafter. On the other hand, a lot of rich people invest their wealth on things such as buildings, lands and all kinds of material possessions rather than spending it on the way of Allah. Because they have obtained that money through Maqr or the divine deception of Allah, they cannot fully realize that they are unable to spend it on the way of Allah. Indeed, those who witness these from outside assume that the persons on whom the money has been bestowed with receive the grace or the reward of Allah. However, in reality, that money has been given to them through the scheme of Allah's deception (Maqr) due to their wrongful conducts. In the end, by using his money, the person spends his days in worldly pleasures and as a result, he loses the ultimate union with Allah. What's more is that being totally unaware of this situation, he misses so many opportunities too, which he would never be able to obtain in the future. While Muhammad (SAW) had owned trading caravans, he spent all of his wealth on the way of Allah and because of that, he did not leave any legacy behind him as he departed this world to transit life beyond death. 11
Although the Arabic word “Maqr” can be translated as “Deception”, in this book it is used to mean “The plan or the design of Allah”.
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Similarly, venerable companion Abu Bakr also did the same as he spent his whole fortune in the cause of Allah and therefore, he passed away this world in poverty. However, the wealth granted through the deception of Allah can never be used in the way of Allah. For this reason, many people see and witness that those who possess a wealthy life are attached to the pleasures of this worldly life, so they assume that these rich people are not being recompensed for what they have done. They cannot realize the fact that Allah gives them their reward according to the best of what they have done quickly and without any delay through the agency of His scheme of deception. However, due to their attachment to worldly goods, they are drifting apart and hence being veiled from understanding the matters concerning the reality of Allah day by day. In reality, there is no punishment more painful and hard to bear than that of being veiled from Allah. If we can realize this reality, we will see that every single day we live is in fact can be considered as the “Day of Religion”. According to our observation, bowing down to Allah Almighty is an activity which occurs in every single day and that people are always being recompensed for whatever they have done every single day, which means that they would eventually receive the rewards of their actions, either by means of divine deception or through eternal blessing. If we consider the matter in the light of this absolute truth, we will then be able to see that the warning “He is the Absolute Owner of the Day of Resurrection” would mean that He alone is the One Whose Sovereignty is in force over entire creation at all times and that He is the One Who rewards each and every action taking place within the myriad of universes at every moment. In fact, when considering the meanings pertaining to the Divine Attributes of Allah, it is always essential to take the most appropriate approach such that their validity is not restricted to a particular time and that they should be comprehended in such a way that they would encompass all of infinity.
WHAT IS SERVITUDE? The time now has come to talk about the meaning of the Quranic verse, indicated by the sentence “Iyyaka na'budu wa iyyaka nasta'een”.
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In other words, because You are “The Owner of All Sovereignty” (Malik al Mulk) and that there is no any other Absolute Ruling Power other than You, “We serve to You alone and from You alone we seek the ceaseless manifestation of Your Divine Names.”12 As all of us know, this particular Quranic verse has a generally accepted as well as a commonly understood meaning by everyone. Whether it is inside or outside of the prayer, this holy verse is generally recited to mean the following: “We do not serve anyone or any other being other than You alone, we serve to You only; and we do not ask for any help from anyone other than You alone”. In fact, those who have a general level of understanding accept that this is the most common meaning implied by this holy verse. However, if we can try to understand this verse by pondering upon the Divine Unity of Allah (Wahdat) indicated by each of the verses, which we have been explaining since the beginning, then this time, we would be faced with a meaning as follows: “Because You are the Sustainer of all the Universes” as well as “Our Sole Provider” and that You are the “Owner and the King of the Day of Judgment”, we, as well as all the other creation came into being by the qualities of Your Divine Names and therefore we are in complete servitude to You at every moment, even if we are not fully aware. Indeed, we are in a state of absolute servitude and we put this into action by manifesting the divine attributes of Your various qualities and meanings, each pointing to a unique wisdom. And for the continuation of our servitude, we all (Man, Jinni and Angel) ask for help from You at every moment. If You ever cease the manifestation of Your Divine Names comprising of our very existence, then we all become nonexistent. We also seek Your guidance for the continuation of our existence and the fulfilment of our purpose of servitude.”
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“We, as the whole of creation, are in a state of total servitude to You, by manifesting the meanings of Your Most Beautiful Names and we seek guidance from You in order that we could attain this awareness at all times.”
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Almost every scholar who have interpreted this holy verse arrived at the conclusion that it was revealed only for the purpose of reciting inside the prayer, so therefore, they have considered that its meaning in the prayer is used in that sense. However, if carefully analysed, it will be seen that this verse appears within the first chapter of Quran, which explains the “System and Order of Allah”, and its meaning is always in force at every moment for all eternity until the end of time. It does not make any difference whether inside or outside the prayer! Wherever and whenever it is recited, this verse encompasses all spiritual dimensions and the states since its reality extends to entire creation at every single moment. In fact, the following verse from Quran explains the true meaning indicated by the above mentioned verse in a very clear manner, leaving absolutely no chance at all for making any comment whatsoever: “...And there is not a single thing that does not glorify Him through His Praise (Hamd), but you do not understand their [way of] glorification…” (Quran 17:44) According to us, this holy verse, which comes after the verse stating that the Being denoted by the name Allah is the “Sustainer of all the Worlds” also emphasizes in the similar manner that all that exists in every single moment as well as in timelessness is in fact in a state of total servitude to Him alone and in order that they can continue their servitude, they depend nobody else other than Him. The fact that human beings as well as the Jinn are created solely for the purpose of fulfilling the servitude is emphasized in the following verse: “And I have not created the Jinn and the humans except so that they may serve Me (by means of manifesting the qualities of my Divine Names).” (Quran 51:56) Is it ever possible that those who have been created for the purpose of servitude are unable to fulfil this duty? Above all, if we can truly remember the Creator (Fatir)! 63
In other words, if we can remember the phrase in which Allah describes Himself to us as “The Creator of the heavens and the earth (Fatir alsamawaati wa'l-ard)”, we can then comprehend the fact that whatever He wills to bring into existence, He forms all of His creation with a specific characteristic or a quality, which will serve to that purpose and this simply shows that He is the Originator of all creation both in heavens and on earth. What’s more is that this fact is pointed in the verse below, in which it says: “And your Sustainer (Rabb) has decreed that you serve only Him (He created you to manifest the qualities of His Names)…” (Quran 17:23) So, in this case, how can we evaluate the truth of this matter? What shall we understand from it? How shall we understand it? Let us try to explain it as much as we can to the best of our ability. Since Allah is the “Sustainer of all the Worlds”, He desired to manifest the qualities denoted by His Divine Names and combined in Himself all the excellences and meritorious qualities of these Divine Attributes to show in all of His creation by creating each with a specific combination known as Divine Composition (Tarkib). As each and every created being derives its existence from the meanings of these Divine Names, they have no existence of their own other than the attributes that these Divine Names possess. Therefore, by virtue of the grace and the qualities these Divine Attributes they have been endowed with, they are in a state of total and absolute servitude in every moment. Careful analysis with insight reveals that when all the above verses are tied together, this meaning would become even more evident in all its clarity. According to our observations, verses comprising such comprehensive meanings and encompassing the entire creation should never be considered from a narrow perspective as in the context of “a praying person’s confession of his obedience and servitude to His Sustainer and asking of His help” as this understanding is totally against the mentality of Quran, which is merely a “BOOK explaining the universal system”. So, doesn’t this verse also mean that it is merely an act of “confessing ourselves and asking for help” as it is commonly understood by the others? 64
Did those who have understood it in this manner were wrong in their beliefs? Obviously, they had limited understanding; so therefore, they have failed to comprehend its meaning adequately and hence understood it in the very narrow sense. Indeed, the primary meaning, which we are trying to explain covered extensively in the above verses also contain this narrow-scoped meaning. Furthermore, this holy verse also has the meaning that “We serve to You and in order that we could continue this act of service and subjection, we ask for Your help and succour”. However, this is an act, which should be understood in the sense that carrying it out brings obligations in every breath and every moment in life. At this point, the following question may come to our minds. As all things in existence fulfil their servitude by serving to the purpose of their own creation and hence live their life in this way, then what is the meaning and purpose of our worship? So, why then do we need to pray? Are we not praying in order to worship Allah? Does worshipping to Allah not exist? And by worshipping, don’t we deserve the paradise? Don’t people go to hell, simply because they do not worship? First of all, let us point out the meanings carried by the concept of servitude to Allah, which is of two kinds. The first meaning refers to the state of “inherent or genetic servitude”, which is a kind of natural submission connected with total devotion and absolute subjection. We have obtained this true meaning after collectively taking all the verses we have mentioned above into our consideration. In this sense, the state of servitude simply means that the whole existence contained within the universal system has been created solely for the purpose of carrying out their absolute servitude, which they continuously fulfil at every single moment, so they are bound by an innate compulsion to submit to Allah's will. 65
This fact is further revealed in the following Quranic verse, which simply relates to the innate (Fitri) or instinctive aspect of the creation. “And I have not created the Jinn and the humans except so that they may serve Me (by means of manifesting the qualities of my Divine Names).” (Quran 51:56) The secondary meaning refers to the “optional servitude”, which is a state that the person realizes Allah as the Everlasting Sustainer of every individual and thus accepts that everything in existence submits to Him. The individual also comprehends further that by doing so, he is in fact fulfilling the duty of his servitude and for the continuation of his servitude, he needs Allah at all times. This in relative sense is nothing more than the individual’s choosing his or her way of servitude to Allah. In addition to that, I would like to touch on a very important mystery here. Of course, those who understand and evaluate the secret significance of this mystical sign will be able to enter through that door. The Rasul of Allah (SAW) has said that: “Prayer is the Ascension (Miraj)13 of the believer!” “Whoever does not recite the Surah Al-Fatiha (The opening chapter of the Glorious Quran) in their prayer, their prayer is not valid”14 The following verse also gives such a warning: “So woe to those who pray (owing to tradition), who are heedless (cocooned) of (experiencing the meaning of) their Prayers, (which is an Ascension [Miraj] to their innermost essential reality).” (Quran 107:4-5) In other words, those who pray without understanding what the essential reality of the Prayer is will become absolutely wretched! First of all, let us draw our attention to some important aspects concerning this subject. 13 14
Holy Ascension to the Ultimate Divine Presence. Sahih Bukhari Volume 1, Book 12, Number 723.
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The whole purpose behind performing the prayer is the spiritual ascension. The person’s inability to achieve this simply indicates that he would be veiled from Allah Who brought him into existence as this would result in him heedlessness towards understanding the essential realities (Gaflat)15, so therefore, it would be a great loss for that person. In order to attain the awareness of the spiritual ascension (Miraj), Fatiha needs to be recited, in other words, achieving this spiritual state depends on realizing the meanings indicated by the words mentioned in this holy chapter of Quran. So, this is what we need to think carefully about here. What secret meaning does the quranic chapter of “Fatiha” has, in which other chapters does not have such that the meaning and the reality of the prayer indicated therein is not fully comprehended or recognized while on the other hand it brings about great deal of obligations but on the contrary, the realization of its meaning through reciting it allows the person to attain the Spiritual Ascension (Miraj)? The phrase in the name of Allah (Basmala) and Praising (Hamd) is also mentioned in other parts of the Quran. So, asking the true guidance (Hidayat) as well! Therefore, the crucial point, which needs to be realized here is accentuated on the quranic sentence “Maliki – Meliki yawmi'd-din; Iyyaka na'budu wa iyyaka nasta'een.” Indeed, this is where the mystery of the state of Annihilation in Allah. (Fanafillah) is hidden. The phrase “Iyyaka na'budu” appears in Quran as a term relating to the concept of annihilation or the extinction of the self in Allah (Fanafillah). Meanwhile, it is worthwhile to consider the following statement of Rasul of Allah (SAW): “Performing each prescribed prayer obliterates the sins committed between the prayer being performed and the one offered previously”! So, what kind of mystery does each of these verses present to us such that realizing and further comprehending their secret meaning as well as putting this understanding into practice does not only cleanse or purify the 15
Gaflat is the Quranic term indicating the centrifugal tendencies that draw people away, from Allah towards an excessive concern with the affairs of the here-below as against the here-after.
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person from all the sins committed previously, but also opens the road to experiencing the state of heavenly spiritual ascension? Now, reflect on the meaning of this holy verse one more time! This is a very important mystery indeed. Let’s pray that its mystery reveals to us! According to our observations, opening the road leading to the establishment of the ritual prayer and transforming it into a state of constant and perpetual prayer is possible only by discovering the reality of this mystery. As for the subject of worshipping to “Allah”. Worshipping is a word that is used for many centuries to describe the behaviour of those nations showing constant respect and beseech their Gods in an unconscious manner. This word can never ever reflect the meaning of the word “Servitude”, which we use to refer to the act of “worshipping”. For this reason, using the word ‘to worship’ in place of the word religious practice (Ibadat) merely for the sake of translating it into another language is a crucial mistake, which needs to be avoided at all costs. It simply indicates that the person using this word does not have sufficient knowledge as regards that language. On the other hand, take a look at the following verse again: “And I have not created the Jinn and the humans except so that they may serve Me (by means of manifesting the qualities of my Divine Names).” (Quran 51:56) The word ‘serve’ mentioned in the above holy verse contains the meaning of “Servitude” and this is interpreted by Ibni Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) as “liya’rifun” meaning that ‘they recognize or know Me’, which is a widely accepted belief among people that this particular verse should be interpreted in this manner. If, however, we understand the phrase “liya’budun” in the light of the above meaning and contemplate that the word “servitude” contained in the statement of “Iyyaka na'budu” is connected with the eternal knowledge or Gnosis (Irfan), then this time, we will face with a meaning as follows:
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“We confess with the awareness bestowed on us all that Allah Almighty, Who is the Sustainer and Cherisher of all the Universes is our Maintainer and that He extends His Divine Power universally in every place in every moment, so, in order that we could be in constant servitude in that awareness, we seek His help and guidance.” So, shall we not enter the paradise by performing religious duties, or in other words, are we not performing these practises to obtain the paradise? Here, we are presented by another completely groundless assertion! Nobody can enter paradise by performing the religious rituals! In a very well known authentic tradition (Hadith)16 of Rasul of Allah, our Holy Master Muhammad (SAW) has said the following: − None amongst you can get into Paradise by virtue of his deeds alone! They then asked him: − Oh, Rasul of Allah, not even you? Thereupon he said: − 'Yes, not even me, but that Allah wrapped me with His Grace and Mercy'. (I do not go to paradise through my deeds alone, but I go there because of the Mercy Allah has granted to me)17 This is a matter that is concerned with the subject of destiny altogether. We have given extensive information by pointing out the most important verses on the subject of “Destiny” as well as highlighted the explanations set forth by Rasul of Allah Muhammad (SAW) in our books entitled “Mysteries of Human” and “Mind and Faith” in the relevant chapters under the heading “Belief in Destiny”. Those who wish to investigate the facts deviating from the truth of “destiny” and hence learn the reality of this subject in more detail are more than welcome to inspect our findings on the relevant sections contained in each of our books mentioned above.
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A collection of traditions containing sayings of Muhammad (SAW). Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 7, Hadith 577.
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Let me state here very briefly that ritual practices are not performed merely for the sake of entering the paradise or there is no such concept that those who perform religious duties would go to paradise. In other words, performing religious duties would not make an individual to enter the paradise as this is not dependent on only good deeds. However, even though this is the case, we could still accept the fact that those who are destined to go to paradise, Allah has simplified for them the process of performing the ritual prayers. Indeed, religious practices are meant to provide the individual with the opportunity to gain strength and hence make them fully awake. By carrying out their religious duties, humans can develop self awareness, which will empower them to become even more conscious. However, beyond all these, the most important factor here lies in the fact that the person who is destined for paradise will attain it with the decree of Allah Almighty. If, however, the individual is not granted with this decree, then it does not matter how much he prays or is conscious of his acts and gains strength in that regard, he will never ever be able to enter the paradise. In short, entering the paradise does not depend on practicing religious rituals but is by the decree of Allah Almighty and is possible only by being illuminated with the light of faith (Nur-ul Iman). On the other hand, why does coming out of hell depend on the degree of faith? Let’s give an example here on some of the known causes relating to paralysis, which in most cases are purely originated from psychological reasons. Even though there are no pathological symptoms in the physical body, the person suffering through this ailment assumes that he is paralyzed, so he supposes that he will never ever be able to walk again and hence he imagines himself to be living in this state of hell by being confined to his wheelchair. This shows that those who occupy themselves with excessive worry about their own health simply cannot use their minds as they are under the influence of delusive imagination or illusion, so they cannot utilize their abilities and never be able to get out of the hell that are turning their lives into real agony.
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As we have given extensive information concerning the reality of this subject in our book entitled “Mind and Faith”, human beings simply cannot overcome or release themselves from the faculty of having illusions (Wahm) that turn their lives into hell with their minds. This delusive imaginational faculty is about assuming to accept all things that are nonexistent as existent and all existent things as being non-existent, which, in reality can only be combated with the power of faith. Despite the fact that the faculty of imagination can easily exercise its authority over mind and the faculty of deep contemplation (Tafaqqur), it has always been defeated whenever it is confronted with the faith, which has a direct effect on the actions of the individual. For this reason, in order to provide a better understanding and clarification of misconceptions of the religion, the wise person has been recommended to walk on this path by means of his faith. In fact, whether it is the duration of time the person spends in this worldly life, which is like living in hell, or the life which he would be subject to living in the afterlife, everything he encounters is the result of the faculty of imagination that takes complete control of him. Indeed, putting an end to this misery could only be achieved with the power of faith. Even though there is no physical problem in his body, those who assume that they are paralyzed can walk as soon as they put their trust into someone they have faith in. This shows that people who suffer from problems associated with anxiety could end their worries straight away the moment they come across with knowledge or find someone that they can believe. In its narrowest sense, to believe in Allah allows the person to achieve such a higher level of consciousness that the problems he experiences would eventually be overcomed by the aid of the Divine Attributes pertaining to Allah since these Divine Qualities would assist the person with the problems he is suffering and hence enable him to attain eternal salvation in this respect. Through the assistance this faith provides, the person finds in himself the power, which would enable him to come out of the environment of hell and ascend to heaven even if he has faith in the slightest degree! If, however, the person does not have such a faith and assumes himself as someone who is endowed with certain characteristic qualities only, or if he did not understand Allah and have any faith in Him, he would never be able to come out of the hell forever, so he shall be deprived of the Divine Qualities that are inherent in his nature. Because he has no faith, nobody else will be able to help him out in this matter. In fact, this situation closely resembles the case of the person whose power of reasoning is under the influence of the faculty of his imagination. 71
In other words, those who shall stay in the environment of hell eternally live such a life that they do not save themselves from the influence of the power of illusion controlling their lives, so they live without the awareness of faith and therefore, they are doomed to stay in the hell forever. Here, “worshipping” means total “obedience”. It relates to the act of total devotion and to fulfil this duty in the most perfect manner without asking any reason whatsoever. In actual fact, every person serves the purpose of their existence automatically and in a miraculous way. This natural tendency in every person to serve and worship is referred to as fulfilling the duty of their servitude. However, to be able to accomplish this duty accurately can only be achieved by feeling Him deep within, which in return allows the person to reach the spiritual state of awe (Khashyat)18. Otherwise, the person considers the religious activities nothing more than a physical activity. This in return leads to such a state whereby the person becomes deprived of the pleasure of the awareness that these religious practices produce.
WHAT IS DIVINE GUIDANCE (HIDAYAT) AND HOW IS IT ACHIEVED? Soon after explaining all these, the time now has come to reveal the facts concerning what we understand from the following holy verse in Quran: “Guide us on the Straight Path” (Ihdinas sirataal mustaqeem) In other words, “Allow us to attain what is most beneficent for us.” In reality, every single person is on guidance. The meaning implied here by the word “Ihda” is “to guide”. The word “Hidayat” on the other hand is to attain the level of realization through benovelence and divine favour, which will be very beneficial for the
18
The Arabic term, “Khasyat” literally means dread or fear, but not all kinds of fear. It is a profound and reverent dread caused by veneration as well an overwhelming feeling of reverence and admiration produced by that which is grand, sublime and extremely powerful.
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whole existence since they will reach this state through the qualities inherent in themselves. The most comprehensive meaning indicated by the term “Hidayat” is that it is the divine guidance leading every created being to a state that is beneficent for them, so that they can walk on that road to reach their target and fulfil their assigned role for the perfection of their collective role with the mystery of the Divine Name of Subtle (Lateef)19. Without a doubt, all our affairs are attached to the destiny decreed by Allah, which means that everyone is decreed to achieve a certain target and for this reason, every single being would eventually attain their objective through the special guidance granted for them. This is because they have been guided to reach that special level of awareness as this has been facilitated for them by Allah. Let us give an example from our own experience. We are writing these books purely because doing so has been predestined for us. However, out of all those who read them, only a few will be able to fully evaluate and benefit from the realities contained therein. Because of the divine guidance bestowed onto them, some others would realize and say that “This subject can also be regarded in this manner, it should be taken into consideration in the light of these realities!” As a result, they will start evaluating the Holy Quran in the broad perspective. In this way, they would be able to evaluate the Universal System, understand the place as well as the nature of the man within this system and attain higher levels of consciousness concerning the warnings pointed out in Quran and how they should assess and adapt these into their lives in the future in a totally different way, so that they can soar into new horizons all the time. On the other hand, there are some individuals coming from narrow social backgrounds who have been restricted at the growing stages of their lives due to the influences inflicted onto them by narrow minded people in their circles, which, in return has placed them into a ‘cocoon’ produced as a result of their conditionings.
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Al-Lateef - This is one of the Divine Attributes of Allah meaning, The Most Subtle, The Most Gentle, which indicates that Allah is the One Who knows the minutest subtleties of all things, which are beneficial. He is the One Who truly knows the obscurities of all affairs to treat with regard for circumstances to be most soothing and refined in manner to treat with kindness and gentleness.
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Despite all the efforts they have carried out at later stages, they still could not break the cocoon in their brains and hence, they lived their lives by considering everything from a very narrow perspective. Even though they have seen Far East and America, educated themselves and teach the others in the west or in the east, they still could not save themselves from having a personality with a naive positive mentality caused by their narrow circles in which they have been raised, so therefore, they could not go beyond their narrow confines and limited views. As for those honourable persons who are unable to break out of their ‘Cocoons’. “Quran descended upon Hz Muhammad (SAW) in the city of Mecca from the sky in order to convert the Arab nation and then the entire humanity into morally upright persons. It does not accept to worship anyone other than Allah and it is a sophisticated book laying down the rules for establishing moral ethics in the society. In Holy Quran, there is nothing relating to the SYSTEM. Searching for signs, which would shed light onto scientific realities in Quran is a pointless task. Subjects relating to medical science, astronomy, physics, chemistry or any other scientific field can never be learned from Quran. Quran is merely a book, which explains the reasons why and how the God in the sky high above should be worshipped and to what rules the societies should adhere to in order to shape their lives.” Unless “Allah” bestows His “Divine Guidance”, it is extremely difficult for the person to break away from his cocoon at the later stages of his life, which he once has accustomed himself to at the early stages of his life while being under the influence of the narrow social circles. However, to be able to think in terms of modern and up-to-date scientific knowledge, having an unbiased and an objective way of thinking and most importantly living a future-proof life without being in a state of “Cocoon” is above and beyond all these misconceptions. Let alone our books to one side, out of all those people who try to read the Quran, those who can actually read it is very few. 74
Besides all those charging money for reading the Quran or arrange people to recite it in order that they would obtain its merit in the heaven assuming that doing this would give their deceased loved ones the eternal comfort in the life hereafter, what do you think is the actual number of people who truly read the Quran? That magnificent system in which the Quran endeavours to disclose as well as the distinctive features of all those things within that system, how many people do you think tries the act of reading the unique knowledge and the sublime power of the Almighty Allah by pondering deeply on its actual meaning with the intention that they can understand and evaluate it, so that they are in a state of awe or an overwhelming feeling of reverence? Yes, those who think that they know a great deal but do not have the knowledge or the expertise to resolve the disputes all the way by engaging themselves in prolonged talks and dominate the conversation as well as the preachers speak to the others who are in their cocoons from within their own cocoons. “Whatever you do, do not read or pay attention to any book, which gives you knowledge and attracts you to think more comprehensively, so that you would consider matters from a wide perspective and as a result break out of your cocoon. Like those people who lived a thousand years ago, do not appraise the great bounties of Allah and simply carry on assuming that the earth is the centre of the universe and everything rotates around its axis! Quran is not a book of science! Therefore, interpreting it in the light of knowledge is not permitted. So, leave aside all the new ideas! Because, if you do that, you simply get out of the religion!” But why is that so? Indeed, there is a definite reason behind this reality and that is the guidance they received from Allah. In fact, this is nothing more than the Divine Purpose (Murad-i Ilahi) and the Primal Will of Allah (Mashiyyat-e Ilahi). Meanwhile, the most apparent reason giving rise to this situation is that even though their physical bodies reach beyond the boundaries of abroad, they are still limited in terms of their thinking, which we indicate by the concept of “Cocoon”, that is, getting stuck within the boundaries of “having a narrow scoped mind”.
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In religious terms, this simply can be explained that the individual has not been facilitated with an attitude of mind or a mental state, which would enable him to stay outside of the “Cocoon”. Those who have not been brought up with a free thinking attitude and stuck into evaluating all the data based on their judgmental values and conditionings can never ever see the whole picture and hence they cannot realize the obvious truth. For this reason, we cannot accuse them, we even tolerate and say to them that they are “guided” by the decree of Allah as well. So, let us know for sure that the concept introduced by the word “IHDA”, which is to “facilitate” is the key to understand this subject matter.
THE DESIRED INEVITABILITY OF TRANSCENSION
GLOSSARY OF TERMS A Ayn Al-Yaqeen:
B
Baki: Baqabillah:
C D Dajjal:
E F Faqr: 76
Fanafillah: Fard: Fitrat:
G
Ghaflat: Ghaws:
H Hajj: Haqq Al-Yaqeen: Huqm:
I
Iblis: Ilm Al-Yaqeen:
J K Khushu:
L M Masjid: Mawlid: Miraj: Muqarrabs : Those favoured with Allah's special nearness. 77
N Nafilah:
O P Q Qufr: Qutub:
R S Salih: Shariat: Shuqr:
Taqdeer:
T U W Y Z 78
