JILA' AL-KHATIR
Purification of the Mind
by Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani
On the Blessing of the Remembrance (of Allah)
O you who are dead at heart! Keep to remembering your Lord (‘Azza wa Jall), reciting His Book and the traditions of His Messenger (Salla Allah ta‘ala ‘alayhi wa sallam) and attending sessions of remembrance. This will quicken your hearts like the earth is revived by the falling rain. Keeping to remembrance is a means for the continuation of good in this world and in the hereafter. When the heart becomes sound, remembrance becomes permanent within it and gets inscribed on its sides and all over it. His eyes would sleep while his heart would continue remembering his Lord (‘Azza wa Jall). He inherits this from his Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allah ta‘ala ‘alayhi wa sallam). One of the righteous persons (may Allah confer mercy upon him) had a rosary that he used in performing remembrance. One day, as he was remembering Allah, he felt asleep while the rosary was still in his hand. He then woke up to find the rosary circulating in his hand, without him moving it, and his tongue remembering Allah.
O young man, when would your heart acquire knowledge and your innermost part attain pure serenity, when you are still associating creatures with Allah? How would you succeed when every night you specify someone to call on to complain to and beg from? How would your heart become pure and serene when it is empty of belief in the oneness of Allah and does not have a single atom of it? The belief in the oneness of Allah is light, while the association of partners with Allah is darkness. How would you succeed when your heart is empty of fear of Allah and does not have a single atom of it? Your are screened off from the Creator. You are screened off by means from the Creator of all means, screened off by the trust in creatures and having confidence in them. You are a false claim. The claims you make would not be accepted without evidence.
Where do you stand in relation to the belief in the oneness of Allah, O idolatrous worshipper? Where do you stand in relation to pure serenity, O you who are disturbed? Where do you stand in relation to satisfaction, O you who are dissatisfied? Where do you stand in relation to patience, O you who complain to creatures? Your current behavior is not the religion of the preceding righteous people. I get angry when I hear someone saying “Allah, Allah” while he sees other than Him. O you who perform remembrance, remember Allah (‘Azza wa Jall) while you are in His presence! Do not remember Him with your tongue while your heart is with other than Him. Escape from the creatures to His door. Evict from your heart this world, the hereafter and anything apart from Him, then remember Him with the tongue of your heart, your innermost being and your essence, and then with the tongue of your outward.
Woe unto you! How often you say “Allah is Greater [Allahu akbar]”, while you are lying! Bread is greater in your sight, the seasoning of the bread is greater in your sight, meat is greater in your sight, the wealth that you have amassed in your life is greater in your sight, the watchman on your street and the ruler of your town are greater in your sight and the ruler of your city is greater in your sight. You fear all those, pin hopes on them, flatter them and conceal your real state from them. Your clothes conceal you. Yet you challenge your Lord with all kinds of detestable deeds! You rely on those people in your serious problems and consider them the source of harm, benefit, giving and withholding. If I investigate you, you would turn out to be bankrupt of religion and would be no more Muslims or believers. Remoteness from Allah keeps things concealed from the person, while nearness to Allah discloses them to him. For someone who has been drawn near, things will be revealed, but he conceals them and does not disclose anything unless there is an irresistible necessity. So, glory be to the One who conceals the faults of his servants. Glory be to the One who reveals to the elite of His creatures the real states of His servants and then orders them not to expose them.
O you who are proud of your affluence and pure serenity! Soon your pure serenity will turn into disturbance, your affluence into poverty and your ease into hardship. Do not be conceited of whatever state you are in. You must keep on attending sessions of remembrance, thinking well of the Shaikhs who have put their knowledge into practice, listening to them and accepting their words.
O young man, in my eyes, you are Satan’s mate and his representative! You have entrusted yourself to him and you have befriended him while he is devouring the flesh of your religion and your fear of Allah and wasting your capital, but you have no clue. Woe unto you! Ward him off and force him to escape from your vicinity by continuously performing remembrance, for remembrance destroys him, defeats him and disperses his soldiers. Remember the True One (‘Azza wa Jall) with your tongue at one time and with your heart at another. Change your food and drink. Practice pious restraint under all circumstances. Seek help in defeating Satan by saying: “There is no might nor strength but by Allah, the High, the Great [la hawla wa la quwwata illa billahi al ‘Aliy al ‘Adheem]. What Allah wills will happen [ma sha’a Allah kana]. There is no god save Allah, the King, the Manifest True One [la ilaha illa Allah al-Malik al-Haqq al-Mubeen]. Glory be to Allah and praise be to Him [subhan Allah wa bihamdih]. Glory be to Allah, the Great, and praise be to Him” [subhan Allah al-’Adheem wa bihamdih]. Thus, he will be overthrown, his power will be broken and his soldiers will be defeated. The throne of Satan is on the sea and he sends his soldiers to the land. The most respected of his soldiers in his sight is the most capable of cheating the son of Adam.
The Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allah ta‘ala ‘alayhi wa sallam) is reported to have said: “These hearts get rusty, and the polish they need is the recitation of the Qur’an and attendance at sessions of remembrance”. The sessions of the knowledgeable persons who have put their knowledge into practice polish, cleanse and promote the hearts and remove their hardness. A man complained to al Hasan al Basri (Radhiya Allah ta‘ala ‘anhu) about the hardness of his own heart, so he said to him: “Keep on remembering Allah”. Those who remember Allah, those who are knowledgeable of Him, those who are His saints, are the kings of the truth. They have known the King, therefore they proceeded towards Him, so he made them kings. They have seen the hereafter, so this world lost its significance in their hearts, and they have seen the True One (‘Azza wa Jall), so creatures became of little importance to them. Honor lies in obeying Allah (Ta‘ala) and giving up all acts of disobedience.
O disobedient ones, do not despair of the mercy of Allah (‘Azza wa Jall)! Never lose hope of the clemency of Allah (‘Azza wa Jall). O you who are dead at heart, keep on remembering your Lord (‘Azza wa Jall), reciting His Book and the traditions of His Messenger (Salla Allah ta‘ala ‘alayhi wa sallam) and attending sessions of remembrance. This will quicken your hearts like the earth is revived by the falling rain. When the heart makes common practice remembering Allah (‘Azza wa Jall), knowingness will come to it, and also Knowledge, belief in the oneness of Allah, trust and turning away from anything apart from Him. Constant remembrance of Allah is a means for the continuation of good in this world and in the hereafter.
As long as you are given to this world and to creatures, you would be sensitive to both praise and dispraise, because you are living through your lower self, your passion and your natural inclination. When your heart attains to your Lord (‘Azza wa Jall) and He takes charge of you, you will rid of your sensitivity to praise and dispraise and you will thus be relieved of a heavy burden. If you work for this world depending on your might and strength, you will lose, be torn apart, tire and be dissatisfied. Similarly, if you work for the hereafter with your strength you will lose. When you work for the True One (‘Azza wa Jall), open the door to livelihood by the hand of His strength and trust in Him and open the door of acts of obedience by the hand of His guidance. Once you have attained to the spiritual station of seeking Him, ask Him for strength and truthfulness in asking for His strength and His help. Place the feet of your heart and your innermost being firmly in His presence and give up all preoccupations with this world and the hereafter.
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