Exposition of the Hadith, “The parable of my community is the parable of the Ship (Ark) of Noah: whoso shall cleave to it is saved, and whoso shall hold back from it is drowned.”
On this account the Prophet said, “I am as the Ship (ark) in
the Flood of Time
I and my Companions are as the Ship of Noah : whoso clings
(to us) will gain (spiritual) graces.”
When you are with the Shaykh you are far removed from
wickedness : day and night you are a traveller and in a ship.
You are under the protection of a life-giving spirit : you are
asleep in the ship, you are going on the way.
Do not break with the prophet of your days (1) : do not rely on
your own skill and footsteps (2).
Lion though you are, you are self-conceited and in error and
contemptible when you go on the way without a guide.
Beware! Do not fly but with the wings of the Shaykh, that
you may see (received) the aid of the armies of the Shaykh.
At one time the wave of his mercy is your pinion, at another
moment the fire of his wrath is your carrier.
Do not reckon his wrath to be the contrary of his mercy : be-
hold the oneness of both (these qualities) in the effect.
At one time he will make you green like the earth, at another
time he will make you full of wind, and big.
He gives the quality of inorganic things to the body of the
knower (of God), in order that gay roses and eglantines may
grow on it ;
But he (the Shaykh) alone sees (them), none sees but he :
Paradise yields no scent but to the purified brain.
Empty your brain of disbelief in the Friend, that it may feel
sweet odours from the rose-garden of the Friend;
So that you may feel the scent of Paradise from my Friend,
as Mohammad the scent of the Merciful (God) from heaven.
If you stand in the rank of those who make the spiritual
ascension, not being (self-naughtedness) will bear you aloft, like
Buraaq.
Tis not like the ascension of a piece of earth (an earthly being)
to the moon; nay, but like the ascension of a cane to sugar.
Tis not like the ascension of a vapour to the sky ; nay, but
like the ascension of an embryo to rationality.
The steed of not-being (self-naughtedness) became a goodly
Buraaq : it brings you to (real) existence, if you are non-existent
(self-naughted).
Its hoofs brushes the mountains and seas till it puts the world
of sense-perception behind.
Set your foot into the ship and keep going quickly, like the
soul going towards the soul’s Beloved.
(With) no hands and no feet, go to Eternity in the same fashion
as that in which the spirits sped from non-existence.
IF there had not been somnolence (dullness and inattention)
in the hearer’s hearing, the veil of logical reasoning would have
been torn asunder in the discourse.
O Heaven, shower pearls on his (the Shaykh’s) rede! O
World, have shame of (be abashed by) his world!
If thou wilt shower (pearls), thy substance will become (in-
creased in splendour) hundredfold : thy inorganic (matter) will
become seeing and speaking.
Therefore thou wilt have scattered a largesse for thine own
sake, inasmuch as every stock of thine will be centupled.
1) i.e. the Sufi Shaykhs who are the spiritual heirs and representatives of the PRophet
2) Reading
The Mathnawi of Jallaulddin Rumi Tr Books III and IV pg 308, tr: Nicholson
April 2nd, 2008 - 12:43 pm
MashaAllah, absolutely beautiful.
“1) i.e. the Sufi Shaykhs who are the spiritual heirs and representatives of the PRophet” (salAllahu alahi wasalam)
It seems that a lot of people would object here, quoting the hadith that states ‘the scholars as being the heirs of the Prophet (salAllahu alahi wasalam)’
How would you approach this argument?
April 2nd, 2008 - 1:30 pm
BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Salamu’alaykum,
Please note, those footnotes are found in the original translation by Nicholson.
As far as your question, I would approach it in the manner that I have learned and witnessed and experienced. In fact, proper understanding of this is very important to shifting to a powerful spiritual understanding of the faith.
The word being used in those hadith for knowledge is ‘ilm’, and the words for those who possess it are ‘ulema’ or ‘alims’ (ones with knowledge).
Now, one must realize that at the time of the Prophet (S) there were no schools of thought, differentiating hadith opinions, isnad sciences, etc. In fact, there were no written copy of the Quran much less books of exegesis!
So when the Prophet (S) is speaking so much about ulema and of acquiring so much knowledge, the question is what kind of knowledge is being spoken of? When the Holy Prophet (S) is speaking of inheritors, who was he really speaking of?
If we define knowledge as simply the outwardly prohibitions, obligations, and optional Sunnah, then many non-Muslims of today’s universities in Islamic studies might be the greatest ‘ulema’ of our time!
But then they say, of course you need the unexpressed precondition of Imaan to be qualified as ‘ulema’. Ah… here we hit the real issue.
The unexpressed condition of Imaan and Taqwa.
It is the knowledge of the Sufis which is about directly building Imaan and Taqwa to greater and greater levels. In fact, that is the entire purpose of tariqat and tassawuf.
In fact, Imam Ghazali (R) is proof of the fact that Imaan can waver and weaken while be flooded with external knowledge of the deen, it was not until he abandoned his teaching post about externals of the religion and spent time with the Sufis was his crisis of the heart satisfied.
The real knowledge is that which they care not to even express… This lack of importance to the mastery of Imaan and Taqwa is indicative of the true problem of their approach.
The masters of that knowledge of the heart are degrees above those who have shifted their focus. It is those ones in whose company you feel as if you are sitting with the ummi (unlettered) Prophet (S).
In that manner, you know for certain who is a real inheritor of the Prophet (S).
April 4th, 2008 - 9:50 am
JazakAllah Khair.
May Allah (subhanahu wa ta’ala) bless you.