COSMOLOGY
OF THE SELF
By:
Shaykh
Fadhlalla Haeri
Chapter
Three
The Ways of the
Heart
The
qalb, heart, occupies a pivotal position in the cosmology of
the self. It connects man in the seen with the unseen, augmenting
the ‘aql, intellect. In it are the capacities to reflect
with deep understanding, to retain real knowledge, and to gain far
greater insight than our intellects are capable of giving us. The qalb
is what is nourished by dhikr, or remembrance of God. Its
health depends on its purity and freedom as far as attachments and
worldly matters are concerned.
In
the Qur`an when adjectives such as ‘healthy’, ‘wholesome’
‘contented’ and so on describe the condition of the qalb,
it implies that these hearts are in dynamic motion and have the
ability to reflect the truth.
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The
Heart, Man and His Spirit
If
the heart fulfils its role of reflecting the truth through pure
awareness its state is that of pure witnessing, shahada. It
is a light revealing relevant knowledge. That is why the Prophet,
peace and blessings be upon him, said "I have eyes in the back
of my head." The shahid within us is an accurate
witness; it sees our intentions and our actions and captures them
all for us instantly, like a snapshot. For example, when we are
faced with a dilemma of whether or not to undertake a certain
action, we exercise our intellect and reasoning to its limitation
and then we need to let the inner heart reflect or indicate what
course of action needs to be taken. We must, however, be able to
discriminate between the shahid and our fears, doubts desires
and so on. If we achieve this, we will be rewarded with constant shahada.
Then, quite naturally, we nurture and revitalize our inner
faculties, as these will enable us to interact properly in this
world whilst the heart is open to the unseen.
There
are three types of ayat that refer to the shahid in the
Qur`an. Some invoke God as the ultimate Witnesser, al-Shahid,
acknowledging Him as the source of all witnessing. Others tell us
that the Prophet also witnesses ‘along with those who follow
the prophetic path’. The majority of ayat, however, refer to
the entire creation in the act of witnessing. We are told that our
limbs will bear witness, that is, record all that has happened to
them in this life, as will our skins. Every cell will testify in a
similar way. Everything we do or say leaves its trace in us and
around us.
The Monitoring Self – Raqib
The
raqib, or monitory supervising self, emerges when our shahid
is recording our actions and intentions. This self interferes in our
actions to prevent us from causing ourselves harm and duly regulates
us. Al-Raqib is a Divine Name identifying God as the source
of all monitoring and regulating.
The
definitions of raqib are ‘watcher’, ‘guardian’,
‘observer’. Nothing is hidden from the raqib. The word is
derived from raqaba, which means ‘to observe’, ‘to
respect’, ‘to watch and wait’, ‘to watch attentively’,
‘to fear God’. The act highly recommended by the great masters, muraqaba,
cultivates self-watching and awareness, which in turn guards us
against wrong actions prompted by the lower nafs. This is a high
degree of meditation that is possible for us to achieve, provided we
can enter into a state of no thoughts or feeling, that is, pure
awareness. At this stage, we can just be and the raqib within
us is akin to pure consciousness.
The Recording Companion
– Qarin
The
Arabic term, qarin, means in this context ‘the recording
companion’. Its usual definition is: ‘intimate companion’,
‘associate’. It is derived from the root verb, qarana,
which means ‘to become someone’s companion’. Qarn also
means ‘generation’, in the sense of ‘equal in age’, and
'comparable'.
What
the word means in respect of the map of the self is defined best in
the Qur`an. ‘In the afterlife the companion says, "This
is what I have with me as a record"’ (Qur`an 23:50).
The qarin, reveals its record of our past actions once
experienced. The companion is the reality of ourselves at each
moment. The Qur`an also warns us against acquiring the shaytan
as our qarin. ‘Shaytan’ literally means ‘to be cast
away from the Mercy of Allah’. For people who have made this their
qarin, this becomes their sole reference point and will
mislead them.
We
can now clearly see how important it is to nurture the higher
elements within the nafs, and especially the heart, so that we can
deal with our lives on earth in the most efficient way. The
faculties of thinking, remembering, imagining, visualizing and the
ability we have to transport ourselves from the present to the
future in order to transform ourselves in an effective way, all
exist to help us achieve this. They also help us to attain our
divine potential. A self with a healthy body containing a clear mind
and heart can develop and evolve towards the higher.
Insight
(Basira), Gnosis (Ma‘rifa) and Unveiling (Kashf)
Insight,
or basira is the inevitable outcome of a pure heart, clear
intellect and healthy mind, with the faculties of witnessing,
monitoring and recording in action. This has been programmed into
our fitra by Allah. God has made creation for us and us to
worship Him. We must, therefore, take from creation what we need as
provision and turn to the Creator with heart and limbs. But we must
passionately want enlightenment and awakening in order to know our Rabb
(the Sustainer who nurtures us) until passion infuses all aspects of
our lives. Passion often gets diffused into relationships but these
are only tasters to take us to divine love. God tells us in the
Qur’an not to forget our share of this world. But at the same time
we need to remember that we are not of this world. This is not being
‘mystical’, or developing a holy persona; it is transcending
pleasure so one begins to unlock the door of indescribable inner
joy, using pleasure as a stepping stone to the higher rather than
taking bodily pleasures to the point where they destroy us.
The
definition of basira is ‘keen insight’ - as opposed to
outward vision - ‘discernment’, ‘understanding’ and ‘the
power of mental perception’. The word is derived from the root
verb basara, which means ‘to look’, ‘to see’, ‘to
realize and comprehend’. God is al-Basir, the all-Seer. ‘No
sight may encompass God’. He cannot be seen yet He is the
source of all seeing. It is His will that provides both ordinary
sight and insight. The Qur’an says of this attribute of the Rabb:
‘And He is with you wherever you are.’ We want to have
access to this attribute of God. ‘Ayn al-basira is ‘the
eye of insight’. Some Gnostics ('Ar'fîn) are able to
develop this insight to heightened levels, but for most people this
insight is non-existent. Like the heart, the inner eye also has its
sickness and rust upon it. The Qur`an refers to ‘those who
cannot see ,’ that is, those who have outer sight but are
inwardly blind. Their wrong actions have sealed their hearts so that
they are unable to hear or have insight. They are in a state of
heedless distraction, unawareness, in ghafla - the opposite
of being in a state of dhikr, remembrance of Allah.
Allah
says ‘We are closer to all this but you do not see’. This
is because we do not look for the source and only see its
manifestations. People who continue in their inner blindness will be
resurrected blind. Then they will ask ‘Why have I been put with
these blind people when I had sight in the previous life?’ It
is because he or she has squandered the opportunity to develop
insight, and thereby awakening to the true light behind the play of
light and shadow in this world.
God
addresses those who are likely to attain gnosis and enlightenment: ‘Take
heed, those who have insight.’ We are told to contemplate the
processes of day and night and look for the meaning behind forms and
events. We are also reminded that insight, proofs and indications
are from our Rabb; there for whoever wishes to heighten them.
Whoever succeeds in this does so for himself and is granted insight;
and whoever fails is blind to himself.
Gnosis – Ma‘rifa
From
keen insight emerges ma‘rifa, which we may define as
‘gnosis’, ‘realization’, ‘the ultimate knowledge upon
which all knowledge rests’. The word is derived from the root
verb, ‘arafa, which means ‘to know’, ‘to
recognize’, ‘to differentiate’ and ‘to perceive’. The ‘arif
, the Gnostic, is he who never sees anything but that he sees the
light of God in it, before it, and after it. The wonderful
‘crack’ of our humanness coming into being as a fitra,
gives us a wide perspective on all aspects of existence. We gain
true knowledge of who we are and where we are going by bringing to
the fore our original, higher self and subduing the lower until its fana’,
literally, annihilation. It is when the person knows that he does
not exist independent of his Lord that he is at the door of the
Ever-Living.
After
gnosis comes a period of inner disturbance and turmoil, called bala’.
This arises because we feel we do not belong in this realm nor can
we escape to the unseen world (for which we have discovered a
new-found affinity, having gained knowledge and experience of it).
Once
this period of disturbance and uncertainty about outer service is
over, the period of simple on-going, called baqa’, begins.
At this stage we accept all phenomenal existence with grace, seeing
it as Allah’s infinite mercy in both ease and difficulty.
The
‘arif, or gnostic, is simply one who is awakened and
enlightened and thus alive to the moment. A related word, ma‘ruf,
means ‘that which is commonly known’ - subconsciously we all
know that God is the Creator and we are His bondsmen, but we insist
on trying to veil this knowledge with fantasies and images of the
self. It is this knowledge which was brought by all the prophets and
which was known in all earlier systems of belief. The Prophet
Muhammad is known as the seal of prophethood because he brought with
him the additional injunction from God to act and to struggle, both
on the outer and within the inner, to do jihad; to ‘enjoin
good, amr bil-ma‘ruf, and forbid evil. The ultimate good is
ma‘rifa, knowledge of Allah.
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