Mouood Mouood English Edition
An outline of the spiritual journey
One may think that our claim that Islam expresses the spiritual path using hints and allusions is baseless and just a shot in the dark.
However, adequate contemplation of Islamic teachings and their examination through the passionate and ecstatic state of this group has proven the contrary. In a vague and general manner, it reveals the stages of perfection that the wayfarers of this path traverse. Even so, in order to truly and elaborately understand these stages, there is no way but mystical intuition [dhawq].
This group, who are besotted with the infinite beauty and perfection of the Truth, worship God because of their love and affection, not due to desire of rewards or fear of punishment. Worship of God for attaining paradise or avoiding hell is in truth worship of rewards or punishment, not worship of God. As a result of the love and devotion pervading their hearts, especially after hearing that God, the Exalted, states:
“Remember Me that I remember you…”28
and discovering hundreds of other verses that speak of the remembrance of God, such as:
“They remember Allah standing, sitting, and laying on their sides (whichever way they face and in whatever state they are)…”29
and when they hear the message of their Beloved that:
“Surely in the heavens and earth there are (many) signs for the believers.”30
“And there is not a thing but celebrates His praise…”31
“Whichever way you turn, you face Allah…”32
and find out that all beings are mirrors each of which display the unparalleled beauty of the Truth and that, besides being mirrors, they possess no independent existence of their own; thus, they observe all things with loving eyes and probing hearts and have no intention but to behold the beauty of the true Beloved.
And when they hear God’s message that:
“O you who believe! Be mindful of your selves (souls): a person who is gone astray cannot harm you if you are rightly guided…”33
“O human! Verily you are striving towards your Lord and you shall encounter Him.”34
they understand that creation has confined them to the enclosure of their selves and that they have no way towards God save the way of their selves. Everything that they see or discover from this wide world, they also see and discover through their selves.
In this stage, one finds that they are detached from everywhere and everything; that there is no one but themselves and their God. Such persons are alone even if they are among thousands and even though others may see them among a crowd, they perceive themselves in utter seclusion unattainable by any save God.
At this moment, they look at themselves and everything within themselves, seeing nothing but a mirror in which the matchless beauty of the Truth is manifest. There remains nothing save God.
When they remember God in this manner and stabilize remembrance of God in their hearts, free of vanity, through various devotions, they shall enter the first rank of the people of certitude [yaqīn]. Thus, the following divine covenant will be realized for them.
“And worship your Lord until you attain certainty.”35
At this moment, the doors to the kingdom of the heavens and the earth will open to them and they will perceive everything as being from Him. Regarding Abraham, the Qur’an states:
“Thus, We show Abraham the kingdoms of the heavens and the earth that he becomes one of those having certitude.”36
First, the unity of divine acts [tawhīd-i af‘ālī] will be revealed unto them and they will directly perceive that it is God that directs the world and everything in it; that the innumerable causes and factors in the world of creation that are engaged in various tasks acting in accordance to their attribute—voluntary acts with the attribute of volition and compulsory movements true to compulsion—are painted with His (figuratively) capable hands.
Whether it is a cause, an effect, or the relationship between them, all are created and formed by Him:
“And to Allah belongs the kingdom of the heavens and the earth…”37
Then they will start discovering the unity of divine names and attributes [tawhīd-i asmā’ wa sifāt] and openly discern that every attribute of perfection that manifests in this vast world and every beauty and grandeur that is seen, including life, knowledge, power, glory, and splendor, are all rays from the never-ending light source of Truth that radiate from the existential windows of the diverse objects in the world:
“And to God belong names (even) more beautiful…”38
Then in the third stage, they perceive that all these various attributes are manifestations of an infinite Essence and are in truth all exactly the same and identical to the Essence:
“Say: Allah is the Creator of all things and He is the One and the Predominant (over all things).”39
Superiority of the tawhīd of Islam
These were the threefold stages of tawhīd (monotheism) that are allotted to the travelers of the path of Truth. When followers of various Godly religions who love truth journey upon this path, they assign it as their supreme aim. However, in order to instruct its wayfarers, Islam has discovered an apex higher than that found by others, determining it as their ultimate destination.
That which is understood from Brahman, Buddhist, Sabian, Christian, and other texts is merely that they have negated the quality of limitation from the Truth, identifying Him as an infinite truth beyond all status. However, Islam has even negated infinitude—because it is an attribute and all attributes limit their subjects—as a quality of God. It considers the Holy Essence to be above all status and even beyond this description. This stage of tawhīd cannot be found in any place but the holy creed of Islam.
According to a narration cited in the book “Al-Kāfī” from the sixth Imām (‘a), he interprets this stage from the following holy verse. In view of the fact that this discussion is beyond the level I have pursued in this article up until now, I will forbear from further explication.
“Say: call upon Allah or call upon the Merciful [rahmān]. Whichsoever you call upon, He has names (even) more beautiful…”40
Divine guidance
From the point they begin to the place where they achieve rest, wayfarers of the path to perfection have many mystic insights that are hidden from the eyes and hearts of the earthbound of the physical world. This topic is beyond the limits of this article. That which is now important is the issue of divine guidance.
When these wayfarers enter the stage of tawhīd and proximity to God, they lose straight away everything they had until then, everything they thought was theirs, and all independence they claimed to be their own.
Seeing all as belonging to the Truth, they forswear their false claims. This is when they realize the greatest tranquility and are freed of all suffering, fear, and sorrow since they do not own anything to be afraid of its possible harm or be sorrowful for harm realized.
“Verily upon those who said, ‘Our Lord is Allah’ then persevered, angels descend saying, ‘Fear not nor feel sorrow; receive joyous tidings of the Paradise you were promised. We are your guardians and guides in the world and in the Hereafter’…”41
“Lo! Verily the friends of Allah feel no fear nor do they feel sorrow.”42
It is then that the bitter and sweet, the ugliness and beauty, and the ups and downs of the world will become one for them. They will attain a different existence, seeing the world and all that is in it in a new light:
“Is he who was dead and We brought to life and set for him a light with which he walks among people like his counterpart in darkness?”43
Ultimately, they and everything they had becomes of God and God becomes of them:
“Those who are for Allah, Allah is for them.”44
The foregoing discussions have made it apparent that the spiritual life in Islam is more extensive and profound than other religions. Because it encompasses all pauses and motions, positive and negative, performed by humans and its zenith rises above the aims of other creeds.45
1. Regarding the reasons for the advance of Islam and the triumph of Muslims over Christians in the Crusades and other battles, Hendrik Willem Van Loon states in “The Story of Mankind”:
“The Prophet promised that those who fell, facing the enemy, would go directly to Heaven. This made sudden death in the field preferable to a long but dreary existence upon this earth. It gave the Mohammedans an enormous advantage over the Crusaders who were in constant dread of a dark hereafter, and who stuck to the good things of this world as long as they possibly could. Incidentally, it explains why even today Muslim soldiers will charge into the fire of European machine guns quite indifferent to the fate that awaits them and why they are such dangerous and persistent enemies.”
2. Sūrat al-Saff 61:8.
3. Sūrat al-A‘rāf 7:44-45.
4. Sūrat al-Hujurāt 49:13.
5. Sūrat Āl ‘Imrān 3:195.
6. Sūrat Yūnus 10:32.
7. Sūrat al-Mu’minūn 23:71.
8. Sūrat Tā Hā 20:50.
9. Sūrat al-A‘lā 87:2-3.
10. Sūrat ‘Abas 80:18-20.
11. Sūrat al-Rūm 30:30.
12. Sūrat al-Shams 91:7-10.
13. Sūrat al-Qisas 28:68.
14. Sūrat Āl ‘Imrān 3:19.
15. Sūrat Āl ‘Imrān 3:85.
16. This point is understood from the questions and answers between Herod and Christ after his imprisonment and it has been noted in the Gospels. In “The Story of Mankind”, Hendrik Van Loon cites this from Christ in a historical letter reproduced in the story of Joshua of Nazareth.
17. Sūrat Āl ‘Imrān 3:64.
18. Sūrat al-Baqarah 2:115.
19. Sūrat al-Zumar 39:9.
20. Sūrat al-Isrā’ 17:36.
21. Sūrat al-Tawbah (or Barā’ah) 9:122.
22. Sūrat al-Ra‘d 13:17.
23. Usūl al-Kāfī, vol. 1, p. 23.
24. Those who cannot elicit the practical precepts and laws of Islam from their original documents must refer to the opinion of a mujtahid—i.e., a person who has the capability and mastery to deduce precepts—and act accordingly.
25. Sūrat al-Isrā’ 17:36.
26. In a book he wrote describing the religion and asceticism of Buddha, an orientalist named Hermann Oldenberg, repeatedly elucidates that the mystic beliefs of Hindus are mingled with folly. He also states that Buddha considers the world to be independent of God.
27. For more information, refer to “Al-‘Aqā’id al-Wathaniyyah fīal-Millah al-Nasrāniyyah” (Idolatrous Beliefs in the Christian Nation).
28. Sūrat al-Baqarah 2:152.
29. Sūrat Āl ‘Imrān 3:191.
30. Sūrat al-Jāthiyah 45:3.
31. Sūrat al-Isrā’ 17:44.
32. Sūrat al-Baqarah 2:115.
33. Sūrat al-Mā’idah 5:105.
34. Sūrat al-Inshiqāq 84:6.
35. Sūrat al-Hijr 15:99.
36. Sūrat al-An‘ām 6:75.
37. Sūrat al-Jāthiyah 45:27.
38. Sūrat al-A‘rāf 7:180.
39. Sūrat al-Ra‘d 13:16.
40. Sūrat al-Isrā’ 17:110.
41. Sūrat Fussilat 41:30-31.
42. Sūrat Yūnus 10:62.
43. Sūrat al-An‘ām 6:122.
44. Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 82, p. 197; Wāfī, vol. 8, p. 784.
45. Extracted from “Muhammad Khātam-e Payāmbarān”.
