'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 Fakhreddin 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].

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The Self 2

The subject is not closed, and it will never be, about the barriers that block the humans from the truth's way, and lead him to committing vices. We were talking last issue about the self as one of the main pillars of these barriers. We were trying to explain its dangers and why one should be careful of its evils. Our sheikhs, the people of Allah, the righteous ones, cared a lot about this subject, as it is one of the basis of the Message that the prophet [PPBUH] brought to people. The good morals, that the Prophet [PPBUH] came to perfect, require contradicting these barriers. That is why our sheikhs, the people of Allah, the righteous ones, dedicated sections and sections in their enormous books for these barriers. As they [AAT] aimed to satisfy the same goals of the Beloved Chosen Prophet [PPBUH].

The building of the individual in the nation is a matter that is studied and planned for carefully, to protect the nation's texture and make it advance towards its promotion, civilization, and progress. As no doubt that morals and its refinement are some of the matters and high goals that a nation should be built accordingly. However, there is no way for refining these morals before we study the risks of their enemies, the barriers. Because of that we have this section, "the Barriers", in alMagalla with continuous discussion and communication.

Talking about the self has showed us its dangers and how it is inclined to follow its subjectivity and and to go against the scriptures. So Allah, Almighty, said [But as for him who feared to stand before his Lord and restrained his self from subjectivity ¤ Lo! the Paradise will be his home] an-Nazi'at 79:40-41. It was narrated that the Prophet [PPBUH] said (The most thing that I fear for my nation is subjectivity and the long hopes. As subjectivity blocks the way to the truth and long hopes make the one forget about the hereafter. This worldly life is going away and this hereafter is coming up. Each of them have children, so if you can not to be of the children of the worldly life, then do that. As now you are in the home of work with no answering, and tomorrow you will be in the home of answering with no work). al-Bayhaqy in "Sho'ab al-Eman".

One of the righteous people said "The greatest blessing is in getting out of the self. Because self is the the greatest veil between you and Allah, Almighty". Another one said "Allah was never worshiped with anything like contradicting the self and the subjectivity". They also said "The origins of the bad morals are three: Self-satisfaction, fearing of the creatures, and worrying about the provisions. The first leads to lust, heedlessness, and sinning. The second leads to anger, grudge, and envy. The third leads to craving, greed, and stinginess. But if you stuck to one origin, it will annul them all, which is self-dissatisfaction at all conditions and being wary of it at all times".

Sayydi Ibrahim al-Khawwas [AAH] reported that he was once on a mountain in Sham [Syria] and he saw the fruits of pomegranate, so he desired it. Then got closer and took one and he cut it, but he found it to be rotten, so he left it and went away. Then he found a man lying on the ground with the hornets gather over him. He said to the man "Peace be upon you" The man answered "And peace be upon you, Ibrahim" Ibrahim said "How did you know me?" The man said "Whoever knows Allah, Almighty, then nothing will be hidden from him" Ibrahim said "I see that you have a connection with Allah, so why do not you ask Him to protect you from from the harm of these hornets?" The man said "And I see that you have a connection with Allah, so why do not you ask Him to protect you from the desire of the pomegranate? As the stinging of the pomegranate gives you pain in the hereafter, while the stinging of the hornets gives you pain in the worldly life" So Ibrahim left the man and went away.

We have no comment on this story, except to say what we said before: the origin of every sin, lust and heedlessness is the self-satisfaction. And the origin of every obedience, vigilance, and chastity is self-dissatisfaction. So one have to fight the self by all means, and closest way it is to deceive it until you take it back to its Lord. As when it gets back to its Lord, it will give you the rare knowledge and opens for you the stores of the understanding. The best trick to be done with the self is to take it to the raising sheikh to treat it any way he finds it suitable, and help you fight it:

[So trick the self, as a trick may be     more supporting for you than a tribe]

Accompanying yourself connects you to your subjectivity and gets you far away from your Lord. On the other hand, being enemy with yourself, gets you closer to your Lord and makes Him more accepting to you. The closer you get to your Lord the more the people will smell from you a smell they do not know, and whoever gets along with it, will get more closer to you, and whoever denies it, will fight you hardly. As whoever is ignorant with something is bound to be its enemy, and that is their custom. Or it is more appropriate to say that it is the custom of the self that is controlled by its bad morals.

It is better to have the company of an ignorant who is not satisfied with himself, than to have the company of a knowledgeable one who is satisfied with himself, and how is it possible for a rational one to be satisfied with himself?

This matter is really serious and we have to take with very careful consideration, and we keep discovering time after time its deepness and dangers. These barriers are intercrossing and fickle. As we know that hell is surrounded with desires, so we to differentiate which desire is the way to hell, as we always have some kind of desire that is not clearly classified, and Satan will adorn it to look like lawful with harm, and ourselves will be inclined to to go with that easily. As this is how the self's nature is and what it wants. So we should be wary of those schemes. MAy Allah protects us from those schemes.

Prayers and Peace be upon sayydina Muhammad and his family and companions.

Written by Ahmed Nouraddin

Translated by Ahmed