May 15, 2009

sincerity (ikhlas)

sirr= secret
sirr Allah= the secret of Allah
Unitarianism (tawhid)= doctrine of Oneness of God

A question from Abu Sa'id ibn Abi 'l-Khayr:

   Answering the question, "What is sincerity (ikhlas)?" he said:

   The Prophet has said tha ikhlas is a divine sirr in man's heart and soul, which sirr is the object of His pure contemplation and is replenished by God's pure contemplation thereof. Whosoever declares God to be One, his belief in the divine Unity depends on that sirr.

   Being asked to define it, he continued as follows:

   That sirr is a substance of God's grace (latifa) --- for He is gracious (latif) unto His servants (Koran, 42, 18) --- and it is produced by the bounty and mercy of God, not by the acquisition and action of man. At first, He produces a need and longing and sorrow in man's heart; then He contemplates that need and sorrow, and in His bounty and mercy deposits in that heart a spiritual substance (latifa) which is hidden from the knowledge of angel and prophet. That substance is called sirr Allah, and that is ikhlas .... That pure sirr is the Beloved of Unitarians. It is immortal and does not become naught, since it subsists in God's contemplation of it. It belongs to the Creator: the creatures have no part therein, and in the body it is a loan. Whoever posseses it is "living" (hayy), and whoever lacks it is "animal" (hayawan). There is a great difference between the "living" and the "animal". 

Source:
Studies in Islamic Mysticism,  by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson   Page 51

3 comments:

  1. The finding of the higher self is the finding of God. God lies closer to us than we think. He is at one and the same time within and without. Everywhere and nowhere. Nowhere by the way also stands for "Now Here"...

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  2. Thanks dear, for reading this post and giving your comment.

    God is Pure and Great. May Allah broaden our chests with love and give us the understanding of 'tawhid' (Oneness of God). Amen

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes brother, according to a sacred Islamic tradition, God is close to us even more than the jugular vein. The Sufi mystics tried to explained this closeness of God. This topic is really very delicate and an acute understanding is required.

    Mansur Ibne Hallaj, a famous Sufi mystic, tried to put some light on this topic in his famous poem, see here, but he was persecuted because a special mind can only understand his ideas, not the general publc. But I think, his poems try to explain the monotheistic belief on a very deep philosophical level.

    May Allah give us the true understanding of Tawhid (monotheism)

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