The Prophet Muhammad SAW said: 'The key to the
Garden (Paradise) is salat (prayer), and the key to salat is wudu (ablution).'
Jabir reported it, Ahmad transmitted it.
The Shaykh al-Kamil said: 'The validity of your
salat is based on your having performed your wudu. The validity of the wudu is
based on the ghusl which preceded it at its time, and the validity of the ghusl
in turn depends on having washed the anus and the penis in the lavatory. Thus
your whole inner reality is based on the natural act of washing the anus and
the penis.'
The wudu is a sealing of the body in preparation for
the act of salat. That is why passing wind anally, emission, excretion and
menstruation break the wudu. Its effect is, on the one hand to bring into the
consciousness of the person an acceptance of themselves as being these open,
flowing organisms, of intake and giving out – with the obligations of wudu and ghusl,
there is no hiding the process, no guilt, no fantasy – these events are natural
and they have their natural means of purification: its effect is to make a
sharp distinction between these energetic activities which are all concerned
with production and reproduction, and the higher nafs (ego) which demands a
complete separation from them, without a repression either of their activity or
of our awareness of that activity. The final culmination of these rites is the
washing of the dead.
We wash our own dead, the men the men, and the women
the women. Thus while alive we have the benefit and privilege of preparing
others for the grave. In these rites the body is emptied of waste matter, the
mouth closed, and then the whole corpse is washed and camphored in a final
sealing, so that the body dries rather than rots, and is draped in white cloths
then laid to rest in the earth. Incense is burned to awaken the higher self of
the mourners, as scent is worn by the person who has done his wudu and is ready
for the act of salat which follows.
'Wudu is separation, salat is joining.' Pseudo-sufic
teaching, false spirituality, bases itself on the Unity and so instructs its
followers that they do not have to follow any particular path since they are
all one. It is a doctrine founded on ignorance which bears little scrutiny. It
is based on the preservation of the central experiencing nafs and indeed on exalting
it and making it powerful and effective in the world of action and events. Why should
I bow in that way, or pray in this way – surely I am constantly at prayer,
surely the Qur'an tells me that wherever I turn there is the face of Allah?
This is basically the superficial argument of the pseudo-sufi with his fear of
surrender. The Qur'an has said that wherever you turn there is the face of
Allah. It also instructs us to take up a particular direction for the act of
prostration, thus unifying all the worship of man around a central point, the
Ka'ba in Makka, so that an endless wheel of living glorification of Reality endlessly
turns around the empty four-walled Ancient House built by Sayyedina Ibrahim AS for
that purpose. Reality addresses the Messenger in the Qur'an saying:
We have seen you turning
your face about in the heavens: now we will surely turn you to a direction that
shall satisfy you. Turn your face towards the pure Mosque and wherever you are
turn your faces towards it. Those who have been given the Book know it is the
truth from their Lord. Allah is not heedless of the things they do. Yet if you
should bring to those that have been given the Book every sign, they will not
follow your direction. You are not a follower of their direction, neither are they
followers of one another's direction. If you follow their caprices after the knowledge
that has come to you, then you will surely be among the evildoers whom We have
given the Book, and they recognise it as they recognise their sons, eventhough
there is a party of them who conceal the truth – and that deliberately.
The truth comes from your Lord, then be
not among the doubters. Every man has his direction to which he turns: so be
you forward in good works. Wherever you may be, Allah will bring you all
together: surely Allah is powerful over everything. From whatever place you issue, turn your face
towards the Holy Mosque: it is the truth from your Lord. Allah is not heedless of the things you do.
From whatever place you issue, turn
your face to the Holy Mosque: and wherever you may be turn your faces towards
it, that the people may not have any argument against you, excepting the
evildoers of them: and fear not them, but fear Me: And that I may perfect My blessing upon you,
and that haply so you may be guided, as also We have sent among you, of
yourselves, a Messenger, to recite Our signs to you and to purify you and to
teach you the Book and the Wisdom, and to teach you that you knew not. So
remember Me and I will remember you: and be thankful to Me: and do not be
ungrateful towards Me. (Glorious Qur'an 2.144-152) .
Ref.: The Way of Muhammad SAW.
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