'The Barriers from Al-Mohaimen are four' (qasida 5:16)

This is the motto of this section, which is for talking about the barriers that cuts off the Moslems' relations with Allah [Al-Mohaimen which is a name of Allah that means the Dominant who controls everything]. We need to know these barriers in order for us to be able to avoid or rectify them in our path to Allah.

This section started with a question from one of our viewers, which he sent to the Discussion page. We then found out that it is a big issue that needs more extensive discussion. We found a book made out of a research conducted by a group of brothers which took them 2 years to complete. This book discusses this subject extensively from the point of view of sayyidi Fakhraddin because it was made with the help of some of his older companions. The book's title is "al-Morshid al-Wagis" which means [the summarized guide].

You can find all special expressions in the Glossary. We need your comments to develop this site for you.

A continuation from previous issues:

He looks at Your Heart

We have discussed the importance of the heart, as its goodness reflects the goodness of the whole body and its corruption reflects the corruption of the whole body. We have talked about its problems and diseases. The question now is “what is the heart”? It is scientifically defined as a heart-shaped piece of flesh which falls in the left side of the chest.  This heart is common between human and animal. Its definition, for the people of Allah, is a spiritual Lordly thin material attached to the physical one, and this is what is intended by the following verse, just as an example, [Those who believe, and whose hearts find assurance in Allah's Dhikr. Aye! It is in Allah's Dhikr that hearts can find assurance] ar-Ra'd 13:28, There are two types of assurance, mentioned in the interpretation of this verse, as: an assurance out of faith and an assurance out of eye-witness. Some people find assurance in an existing absent, and some people find it in a witnessed one. Some people find assurance by means of faith and proof, while others find it through witness, taste, and ecstasy. The latter is the product of increasing Allah's Dhikr. 

Sheikh al-Shazely [AAH] said “a real Dhikr is what the heart feels assured to its meaning and what makes the Lord appear in the clouds of its sky lights”.  

Allah said [Have they not travelled in the land, so that they may have hearts wherewith to understand, or ears wherewith to hear? But the fact is that it is not the eyes that are blinded, but it is the hearts which are in the breasts that are blinded]. al-Hajj 22:46. It has been said that the blindness of the heart is the obliteration of the insight. This obliteration is indicated by several things: the involvement of organs in sins, being forgetful of Allah, offending the people of Allah, working hard for the worldly life and neglecting what Allah asks us for. It has been said that: “Working hard in what is guaranteed to you and forgetting about what you are created for is a sign of the obliteration of your insight”. The signs of having insight are: hurrying up in obeying Allah, working hard to know Allah by means of accompanying the people of Allah, getting abstained from the worldly life and its people, being entertained by the company of Allah alone, and being absent from everything else.

Sight and insight are opposite in terms of origin.  The sight does not see but the currently-available physical stuff, whereas the insight does not see but the old, eternal meanings. When the insight is blinded, the slave is away from Allah, and sees only the dark current existence. In this regards, sheikh al-Majzoub [AAH] says:

"those who sees the world with the worldly senses, will be deceived with the blind insight, but those who see the world with the eye of its Creator, will find the cure of the self". When the insight is completely opened, its light will take over the light of sight. Then the insight will be reflected in the sight. The slave does not see but the old, eternal secrets, while the current characters will be efface, so he will be abstained from seeing the worlds by seeing its Creator. The cure for the insight is by the hands of a clever doctor who knows Allah. He cures it open with the "kohl stick" of monotheism. He starts to cure it with the monotheism of Actions, then the monotheism of Attributes and finally the monotheism of the Holy Self, until it opens. The monotheism of Actions and Attributes witnesses the closeness of the Truth [Allah] to the slave, whereas the monotheism of the Holy Self witnesses the slave’s self-loss because of the existence of the Truth. In the old wisdom, it is expressed as «the ray of the insight makes you witness the closeness of the Truth to you, whereas the eye of the insight makes you witness your loss for His existence, and the truth of the insight makes you witness the existence of the Truth, not your existence or your loss. Allah was alone, nothing else with Him, and He is now as He ever was». The slave, then, sees the secrets of the Holy Self and the lights of the Attributes, which no one with sight can see. He witnesses what the ignorant can never witness. Sidi al-Hallaj [AAH] said:

[The hearts of those who know have eyes,

that see what the people cannot see]

[They also have wings that fly without feathers

to the kingdom of the Lord of the worlds]

[They have tongues that confide secrets

which would be hidden from even the writing angels]

In the meaning of the heart, it has been also said that it is: an absolute enlightened essence in the middle between the soul and the self. Through this essence, humanity is achieved. The people of wisdom call the heart “the speaking self”.

From a Holy Hadith, we discovered the importance of this enlightened essence or this lordly thin material that have been installed by Allah the Exalted in the Human being. As besides the fact that the heart is the place where Allah looks at, He said, in a divine speech: [My sky and my earth do not include me, but the heart of my faithful believer does].  If we want to understand the meaning of such a divine speech, without being wrongly led to the likening, and to exalt Allah from the place and direction, as Imam Fakhreddin said:

[Do not say in the likening what they said

and keep what we came with in your eyes] (92/24)

And in order to be careful of falling into these likening maters which could cause the belief of anyone to fall in a chasm so deep that only Allah knows how, we have to refer to what the righteous really knowledgeable people of Allah said. Those ones whose wick have been lit from the oil of the beloved Prophet [PPBUH] so that all their sides have been lightened with the divine lordly knowledge. When they talked about this Holy Hadith, they said: “this inclusion has three types, all in the heart: 

The first one: the inclusion of knowledge which means the knowledge of Allah, as nothing in the whole existence can realize the influence of the Truth and what He properly deserves but the heart. Anything other than the heart knows Allah only in one aspect, not the other, nor the whole aspects. So the heart is wider.

The second one: the inclusion of witnessing which is the revealing that acquaints the heart with the beauty of Allah Almighty. So it tastes the pleasure of His Names and Attributes after he witnesses them. Also nothing other than the heart can bear that. When he apprehends the knowledge of Allah about the creations, and paces in the orbit of one attribute, he will taste its pleasure and know its rank with respect to Allah. Then he will also know its power. He will then go through the rest of the Attributes and Names of Allah. The will be wide enough for that, only for the knowledgeable ones. 

The third one: the inclusion of the caliphate [viceroy], which is realization with His Names and Attributes.

Written by Essam

Translated by Nahed