02/25/12 - Saying #2 Part #2

Salaam,

We discussed part 2 of saying 2 last week. The commentary for it is listed below.

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Amir al-Mu’minīn (alayhis-salām) said:

“Whoever covers (clothes) one’s self with greed, has degraded oneself; and one who discloses one’s difficulties, is satisfied with abasement and one who grants one’s tongue authority over oneself, has devalued oneself”

Why should one who discloses one’s difficulties be satisfied with abasement? Is this form of disclosure always on a par with complaining to other than Allah? Is complaining about x, y and z to Allah alone a form of negative disclosure?Inshallah these are some of the questions we hope to shed more light upon this week.

First of all, the Arabic word for difficulties is ضُرّ (ḍurr) which in contrast to ḍarr (difficulties in the absolute sense – bodily or non-bodily) means difficulties of one’s body (and maybe it can mean difficulties of the soul). Now is disclosing such difficulties always bad? Not necessarily! It depends on a number of parameters the most important of which include: (i) to whom are you disclosing your difficulties? and (ii) are you regarded as complaining?

When defining patience, Ibn Arabi writes in chapter 124 of his ‘al-Fūtūḥāt al-Makkīyyah’:

“In 33:57, it states “verily those who (constantly) harm/torment Allah and His Messenger are distanced by Allah in the world and the Hereafter...”; here, in this verse, Allah is warning these people of their ultimate fate due to their committing harm and so Allah is Ṣabūr (the all-Patient) in relation to such people’s harm and abuse. Even though He is requesting His servants not to harm Him, He is still Ṣabūr [i.e. Allah is eternally all-Patient with respect to all wrongdoings etc. but He is still requesting people  not to harm Him and His Messenger; this latter request does not go against His patience because even were people to sin etc. Allah does not complain in the sense that we do; we complain out of a deficiency whereas Allah has no defect; Allah’s request not to harm Him is based on His guidance over us; He loves His servants!]; in the same manner, when a servant requests Allah to solve his difficulties, this servant is still deemed patient. This is what happened with Prophet Job (Ayyūb) when he had   requested in 21:83 “Indeed distress has befallen me, and You are the most merciful of the merciful” and Allah praised him in saying  “Indeed We found him to be patient” even though Prophet Ayyūb had made a  request (he was still deemed patient).” [square brackets added by me]. 

Explanatory Notes: (before continuing with Ibn Arabi’s passage, a few words may be of help)    

Don’t say Allah is free of defect whereas we request because and out of deficiency; for us who are not mukhlas yes this is correct; but even for us, our complaining to Allah alone does not deny us the right to be called patient; nevertheless this patience will not be a complete manifestation of Allah’s attribute of Ṣabūr. That’s concerning us though! With Prophet Ayyub, he was infallible. He was a complete    manifestation of this attribute of Allah’s. We cannot attribute any sin, mistake or second best option to the Prophets. One should not jump to conclusions by the apparent prima facie meanings of the verses of the Quran. Note that the Quran’s essential, divine and infinite message has been revealed and has been brought to us in a very limited and verbal form, so that we at least understand a minimum and then work ourselves to attain to the esoteric dimensions. Some verses when taken at face value and without a proper base of textual and rational ma’rifah can lead one to the wrong conclusions. Prophets were Prophets and as Prophets, complete manifestations of Allah’s attributes. This is a lengthy debate and outside the scope of this maxim’s commentary; inshallah we shall cover this topic one day. The reason I brought it up was because with Prophet Ayyub’s request from Allah, this request was not made out of any deficiency from his part; after all, he had the capacity to be patient over these burdens but nevertheless requested a solution to it from Allah as a result of his love to guide people. It makes no difference to him on a personal level whether he persists with the bodily illness or copes with/tolerates the people’s needs with a healthy body, but the crux of the matter is that Prophet Ayyūb was merciful, loving, affectionate and cared so much for the people that his request was made so that the people be guided by means of him. This is what religion is all about. The Holy Messenger of Islam’s slogan was الحب اساسي (al-ḥubbu asāsī: Disclosing love is my basis of action). So, in the same way that whether you harm or sin against Allah or not, Allah still makes a request because He is the most merciful of the merciful and no matter what you do He is Ṣabūr (even though He makes a request), the same applies to Prophet Ayyūb too i.e. no matter what the burden is that he is encountering, he bears it and is ṣabūr but he still makes a request; why? because he is loving in relation to the people’s guidance. Now, with your permission, let’s go one step further. Let’s go to Karbala and what happened there with Imam al-Husayn (alayhis-salām). He knew of his fate from before. He knew of his martyrdom from before. He was patient no matter what. But he too made requests! Not to Allah but to the people in the same way that Allah requested people not to harm Him and His Messenger. Imam al-Husayn’s requests include: if you harm us, at least do not harm this 6-month infant; when Shimr was making his final blow to end the Imam’s life, the Imam said: “Oh Shimr, I request you to repent; it’s not too late! I shall guarantee you your shafa’ah” Allahu Akbar! Why all these requests? because the Imam loved everyone and cared for everyone and desired for everyone’s guidance. Ponder carefully over this! So what’s all this cursing (la’nah) that we do in different duas and ziyarats! These la’nats that we make have their origins in love and mercy. Some scholars believe that the concept of la’n has been misrepresented in our religion. There are many concepts in our religion that have slightly mutated and have taken a different outlook. This is just one example. Inshallah we shall speak more about this in a more appropriate time. No one is against expressing la’nah (after all, its essential: ziyarats like ziyarat al-Ashura is essential for one’s spiritual wayfaring; however it must be tasted rather than just read or chanted) but make sure you understand this important article of faith, in its entirety, before expressing it (the more you understand it whilst expressing it, the more you will elevate).  

End of Explanatory Note

Ibn Arabi continues:

“Patience (ṣabr) is the process of withholding one’s soul from (a) complaining to other than Allah and (b) finding peace and repose in other than Allah. I have made it clear to you that Allah has requested His servants to eliminate their harm that harms Him even though He has the power to put an end to and  not create that harm which emanates from them. Now focus on the secrets underlying this patience. Verily this is one of the greatest and best secrets. In one tradition, it states: “no-one is more patient than Allah before harm and abuse” 

What are these secrets? Ibn Arabi has not, as far as my limited reading of this book goes, explicitly shed light on these secrets. Maybe (although I doubt it) it is this: the importance of patience is when you have the capacity to eliminate the burden but you do not in the name of manifesting Allah’s attribute of Ṣabūr. This patience has degrees to it. Sometimes you are like Bilal and you are forced to forbear and be patient before the torture etc. However sometimes you see, in history, Amir al-Mu’minīn (alayhis-salām) being patient when Lady Faṭimah (alayhā-salām) is being attacked; here, the Imam had the power and capacity to easily defeat the enemy but there was a greater objective at stake. He knew of this objective because of his faith in Allah. We can also acquire this knowledge from Allah and thus know when to be and not to be patient. In any case, now acknowledge Allah’s patience before us wretched creatures. He is all-Powerful etc. but see how His patience works. 

Going back to the first part in Ibn Arabi’s passage, the pivotal point is where Allah deems and praises His Prophet Ayyūb as one who is patient even though he did complain; the point is however that this form of complaining was made to Allah alone and if this is realised it becomes a praiseworthy form of complaint. Why? because it was made to Allah alone, acknowledging and appreciating that He is the sole independent source of self-sufficiency and that all affairs return to Him. It’s a complaining whose output is nothing but Allah-ness and the colour of Allah; after all, it’s a specific focus and attention one is directing to Him alone.

Is disclosing to other than Allah always bad? This depends on one’s inner states of mind and heart when actually disclosing one’s difficulties. It also depends on the person to whom you are disclosing. Assuming one’s disclosure has no colour of complaint and is complaint-free i.e. one is merely stating facts, this need not be always negative; however this too is negative at times e.g. it may be futile or void and thus a waste of time; it may sadden your friends; it may make your enemies happy by disclosing it; but it may be of benefit too e.g. increasing people’s awareness of something so that they do not fall into the same trap as you. One must therefore sometimes have to weigh the pros and cons and see which is more detrimental or which one is more on a par with salvation. One’s intention here too is essential. Sometimes, however, one is disclosing one’s difficulties to others in a ‘complaining’ manner and this is where one’s soul has the capacity to be most contaminated. Why? because whilst complaining, what happens usually is that one is forgetting that Allah is the self-sufficient sole independent cause. This forgetting is the source of one’s spiritual downfall. However even this last complaining scenario has exceptions i.e. when it is done to one who is truly a mu’min i.e. one who is a manifestation of Allah’s attribute al-Mu’min. Why is this, an exception? because believers, in this sense, are appended to Allah. It’s as if you are complaining to Him. Think about it whilst recalling the tradition where Prophet Jesus (alayhis-salām) advised his followers to be friends with those who remind you and make you recall Allah. Our Infallible Imams were perfect manifestations of the divine attribute al-Mu’min.

Summary:

Disclosing one’s difficulties is usually on a par with the negative form of disclosure i.e. complaining to other than Allah. One who does this is acting Allah-lessly; one who acts Allah-lessly is distancing oneself from becoming more and more Allah-like by not incorporating His attributes (such as al-Ṣabūr) within one’s soul and that’s why the Imam states that by disclosing one’s difficulties, one is in effect satisfied with abasement. The more distanced from Allah your behaviour and actions are, the more you are driving your soul towards abasement and to a level which is degrading to you as a human being that has a super-angelic potential. Our potential is that of our ancestor Adam’s (see 2:31) – we are potential ‘divine khalifahs’!

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