Tasawwuf and Character Building
SECTION 2
CHAPTER 13
DAWA - IR - E THALATHA
MEDITATION OF THE CIRCLES OF
DIVINE LOVE
After the three meditations, there is the circle of Divine love.
When we think of the word ‘circle’ our mind naturally turns towards a centre point, as the centre point is the base for a circle. No matter how large the circle is it always revolves around the centre point therefore, the centre point and the circle are always together. Following holy words are recited during the meditation of the first circle: ‘ Yuhibbuhum Wa Yuhihbunahu (He loves them and they love Him). The arrangement of the holy words have a hidden point in them. The commencement is taking place from one side and the reciprocation is coming from the other side. If there is no commencement there would he no result. Let us try to understand the holy words by following example: ‘Yuhibhuhum’ is the action initiated by the centre point. From the centre point the rays of Divine love are spreading around to the circumference. The creation of ALLAH is at the circumference where the reaction of ‘Yuhibbunahu’ takes place love from ALLAH flows freely among His creations and the servants of ALLAH whether they are obedient or disobedient, young or old, women or men, fair or dark, everyone is affected by ALLAH’s love. How is that one may ask? The answer is, ALLAH has created us, He is responsible for our growth and development. Heinstilled in the hearts of the parents to raise a child, which would never have been possible without love. ALLAH created all the necessities of in the universe, and bestowed us with capabilities to acquire them, created limbs in our body so that we may use them as our weapons in the battlefield of life. Is it not because ALLAH loves His creation? Look around ourselves. Everyone and everything is affected by ALLAH’s love as He loves His creation dearly. There is another kind blessing which ALLAH bestows upon us and that is the Divine guidance which is an established proof of ALLAH’s love. Divine guidance comes to everyone but it is not welcomed in the same way everywhere. There are some who turn their cups upside down when Divine guidance is being showered, so that not a single drop can reach them. There are others who are so eager for ALLAH’s guidance and love that when the opportunity arises they are there with open hearts so that every drop is absorbed. These are the servants of ALLAH who reply in earnest to Yuihibbuhum in the form of Yuhibbunahu.
The holy word Yubibbuhum proves that the beginning is from ALLAH. Someone can enter only when ALLAH opens the door to Hiscloseness. If the love of ALLAH does not reach someone, how would he in turn love ALLAH? But sometimes it also happens that people who run away are selected and brought closer, while others who may be near are rejected. Hadhrat ‘Umar
, who was an idol worshipper, was drawn to the feet of the Holy Prophet
, but ‘Abdullah Bin Ubbai was deprived in spite of being in the Prophet’s mosque. However this is not the basic criteria. The main principle is the attraction. The love begins from ALLAH, to respond to this love, one needs to make a decision in one’s heart and then take the step forward.
We have to now see how the affect of Yuhibbuhum Wa Yuhibbunahu comes about. For example, let us light a candle and keep a few mirrors at a distance from it. You can see that the rays of light emanate from the candle and the reflection is seen in the mirror. The rays of light are reflected by the mirrors and return. Here the reverse action is taking place. Now remove the mirrors and replace them with a few dirty pieces of glass. You can see now that the rays are still coming out of the flame but the dirty pieces of glass are not properly reflecting them. Do you know why? Because if the pieces of glass were clean, the light would have at least penetrated through. But as they are very dirty they cannot reflect the light.
We shall try to understand from the above example that a devotee who has practised ALLAH’s Zikr and cleaned his heart of impurities, has enabled his heart to receive the love of ALLAH. The rays of love enter the devotee’s heart and return to the centre point. This has to be understood that when reflection occurs, the rays of Divine light work in this ways. They return to their centre, and during their journey, illuminate the whole environment Their angle of reflection is not in the opposing direction to their angle of incidence, nor do they fall short of their centre. The devotee has, by now polished his heart, following the method prescribed by the greatest purifier who himself polished the hearts of millions. The Holy Prophet said, “everything has to be polished in one way or the other, and the hearts are polished by ALLAH’s Zikr.” When the heart of the devotee is cleansed and polished by ALLAH’s Zikr only then it responds with depth and sincerity to the Divine words of love Yuhibbuhum.
In order to understand the words of Yuhibbuhum and Yuhibbunahu let us consider this example. Take a magnet and place a piece of rusted iron next to it. It is obvious that the rusty iron will not be attracted towards the magnet. Now, again place a clean piece of iron near the magnet or clean the rusted iron with a sand paper and put it next to the magnet. Now, you can see the attraction of the iron towards the magnet. Why is this so? The reason is that the piece of steel is the same but the rust has been cleansed, therefore the phenomenon of magnetic attraction has initiated. The same is the case with the human heart. When a person becomes rebellious to ALLAH ,his heart starts to rust. ALLAH has Himself pointed out this fact in the following words:
Because of their misdeeds, rust has settled on their hearts. (83:14)
When the heart is cleansed of its impurities by ALLAH’s Zikr then the rust disappears and it becomes capable of being attracted. When the magnetic attraction of the Divine love reaches him, he automatically feels the attraction of Yuhibbuhum and cries out in earnest, Yihibbunahu. A group of philosophers have determined the degrees of relationship in the light of their observations which are as follows: Inclination, ranging from feeling oneself bent in a certain direction, to interest, love, passion, and obsession. There are two types of experiences that one goes through in a relationship. The arousal and the depth of feeling and their reason. In the same way a person in the beginning senses the relationship between ALLAH and himself, he then gradually develops a desire for a lasting relationship which is an inclination. Then he thinks of building and improving such a relationship. This shows that his feelings are rending towards a certain direction, he now starts making plans to acquire this relationship and desires to talk and hear only about it. This interest leads him towards love which is the required goal. The words of passion and madness are not mentioned in the Qur-an., but in the Hadith it is said, “Perform ALLAH’sZikr to such an extent that people start calling you insane.” This does not mean that one must lose his sanity, but should be so much involved in the remembrance of ALLAH ,that the onlookers say that he is mad.
Anyway, the devotee has now illuminated his lataif and performed the three meditations. That is, he has passed the three stages of inclination, the bending towards a certain relationship, and an interest and since he is moving forward, the stage of love should certainly come. But before reaching this stage one must enter the circle of Divine love as this is how he shall learn the true way to love.
The first principle of love one must learn is to choose the loved one with care and wisdom. It is not guaranteed that the beloved will love you in return. Secondly, if you choose a beloved among the creations of ALLAH ,it will perish one day, so what is the point of loving a mortal? Whosoever you choose as your lover will be dependent in one way or the other on someone, therefore is it wise to love someone who is dependent for his needs? The real principle of love is to love someone who loves you, who is always there and will never perish, who is not dependent on anyone for his needs and he does not want anything from you. Therefore, the first step of love is taken by him, who is All Powerful and Loving. He is such a beloved that He loves you for whatever you are and takes the first step towards you with the holy words of Yuhihbuhum.
The second principle the devotee learns is that, when ALLAH is not dependent on anyone, He is not mortal and still takes the first step towards you then it is the duty of man to be grateful and love Him in return and if he does not do so it means he is being unwise, disloyal and shall be deprived and doomed for life.
The third principle which the devotee observes is, by looking at the circle of love one observes that the action of Yuhibbuhum starts from the beloved. Therefore those who were at a distance from their beloved ALLAH andwere also at a distance from their own kind, start to draw closer to ALLAH and also with each other, as they gradually move towards the centre point. This proves that when a person progresses towards the love of ALLAH,he also acquires the closeness of other creations. Therefore, true love for ALLAH will also attract mutual love of others as the nature of true love eliminates all kinds of negative feelings and only love and harmony prevail.
During the training of this meditation, the devotee feels an illuminated circle in front of the latifa Nafs, both of them have a deep relationship with each other. To desire something is the trait of the Nafs. All desires are strong in nature, but if a desire is aimed towards a certain object then man makes endless efforts to achieve it. This lesson in meditation teaches the devotee that this particular trait cannot be eliminated in the Nafs, but it is possible to divert the centre of attraction from the mortal to the Immortal. When the centre of attraction of the Nafs is established, love will automatically follow, and the love for the immortal is our main goal.
How is justice done to this meditation? The answer is that the effects of love should show; the requirement of love is that the one who loves, submits to the beloved. This is a fact which is observed daily in the material world for material gains. A person may avoid or ignore many people, but cannot ignore the commands of the beloved. For the sake of the loved one, a person may go to such extents as to sacrifice his life, wealth, and honour. This meditation teaches the devotee to love ALLAH with deep sincerity and to only obey ALLAH and none else. The Holy Prophet has pointed but the symptoms of true love, and the principal standard. He says, “He who likes to adopt my ways, who accepts my advice wholeheartedly, loves me with sincerity.” A person who claims to love the Holy Prophet but does not feel an urge to adopt the Sunnah, is a liar. This cannot be love but a pretence of love, it is nothing but a farce.
Let us understand the relationship of love and obedience in the following way. Suppose love is the steam and our body is the engine This engine may work in three different ways. Imagine the first situation when the engine is all right, the parts are all in good shape but there is no steam? There is only one way, it has to be dragged like a cart to move it forward slowly and gradually. When it is not being towed, it will stop. This is the case when a person performs a deed or action without sincerity and love. The second possibility is, the steam is there, and the engine is in good working condition, and is moving forward very fast, rather it is flying and the steam of love is running it without a break.
Keeping both these cases in view it is necessary that the train does not leave its tracks, and if the tracks are lost, then neither pushing would help nor would the steam be of any use. If at all anything is achieved from the steam, it would be the whistles the train would make and that is all. But when a person has a fixed destination in mind, he would never be satisfied with mere whistles. Therefore, to walk on this path, love is necessary which is the steam and the tracks signify the right path of the Sunnah. If the Sunnah is ignored, then everything else would be a waste of time. And one would never reach his goal towards ALLAH. The third possibility could be that the engine is working all right, but there are no tracks. Neither is there any steam. It is obvious that this engine would be of no use except a Museum showpiece. A devotee should keep these points in view and should try his best to follow the path of the Sunnah. There is an important point to be kept in mind that if an engine which is being pushed, without steam, gets derailed, the loss wouldn’t be serious. But if the engine is moving at a tremendous speed and is derailed, then the destruction is inevitable. The devotee must be well aware of this danger and must strictly adhere to the Sunnah.
After the first circle of love, there is a second circle, which is bigger than the first one and the words to recite are the same Yuhibuhum Wa Yuhibbunahu, which means that the Divine love is expanding, hence the closeness is increasing. After this there is a third circle of love, which is even bigger than the first two circles. The Divine love is expanding to unlimited extent, the recitation is the same, Yuhibbuhum Wa Yuhibbunahu.
Now, the emphasis is on deep and everlasting love. There is a difference between routine work done and work done with love. Whatever the task is, it requires hard work and concentration. These qualities are not readily accepted by the Nafs as the Nafs seeks pleasures and facilities. The medicine the Nafs needs is love. When the rays of love reach the Nafs, it will automatically accept any task according to the commands of ALLAH. The strength of love is so great that nothing can withstand it and all actions performed for the pleasure of the beloved are done with full love and concentration. This is the reason why a devotee is made to be intoxicated by the Divine love so that his Nafs feels restless to hear and obey ALLAH Almighty.
The relationship of ALLAH with His slaves is one of love not to be confined by regulations. If you study the Holy Quran carefully, you will certainly realise this fact. A command is repeated many times in different ways, so that the reader understands its importance and advantages, and remember, ALLAH does not gain or lose anything from it, is this not love? If the relationship was according to rules and laws, the command would have been given just once and in case of disobedience, the slaves would have been convicted that very instant. But that is not so. If human beings disobey the commands of ALLAH ,they are given another chance, because ALLAH loves His slaves and does not want them to suffer. Therefore, the relationship of the devotee towards ALLAH should be one of love and not one of formalities.
Love for ALLAH produces a feeling of care and well-being for all His creations, and such emotions are the height of excellence in Islam. According to the Holy Prophet, “The religion of Islam requires from its followers a feeling of goodwill and welfare for all ALLAH’s creations.” When a person is honest with ALLAH ,he will have an honest relationship with the Prophet of ALLAH. The trait of honesty requires that a person should always think about the welfare of others and therefore should invite them towards ALLAH in order to save them from falling prey to Satanic ways and earning ALLAH’s wrath.
The second effect of ALLAH’s love is that when a person comes across such people who disobey ALLAH, it becomes beyond his control to bear their conduct. Hence, ALLAH Almightyhimself points out:
When you hear the Messages of ALLAH held in defiance and ridicule, you are not to sit with them unless they turn to a different theme. If you did, you would be like them. (4:140)
The Holy Prophet has established the degrees of a person’s behaviour in such gatherings as follows: “When you see people disobeying the commands of ALLAH, it is your duty to stop them with all the strength you have. If you are not strong enough to do that, then at least try to stop them with words. And if you do not find strength to speak out, then at least you should feel a disgust in your heart. The last behaviour is a sign of the weakest faith.” Do you not observe such behaviour in the Assembly Halls when bills are passed, some people just get up and walk out? Why do they do that? Because it is beyond their control to just sit there and watch something they cannot bear.
We shall now explain the three circles of love in detail. The relationship of ALLAH with His servants is that of Creator and created. The creation is an embodiment of flesh with tangible appearance, but ALLAH is free from such limits. It is mentioned in the Quran:
The eyes cannotencompass Him and t here is nothing that is the like of Him.
How then do we come to know and feel the closeness of ALLAH? There are ways and means to achieve this and the circles of love are the way to know and feel ALLAH’slove and closeness.
The first circle is the circle consisting of the Divine Names. ALLAH theAlmighty has said in his Holy Book that for ALLAH are the beautiful Names, and there is a very deep relationship between someone and his name. When you hear a name, your thoughts automatically turn to that person - when you love a person with all your heart, you very naturally love his name also. It is said that when someone asked the famous lover Qais Amiri what he was drawing with his finger in the sand, he replied, “I am writing the name of my beloved Laila, since I cannot reach her I am comforting myself with her name.” ALLAH Almighty has many beautiful names, out of which ninety nine are known. Every name holds a Divine Quality, but the name ‘ALLAH’ is His Personal Name, and the real name holds all the qualities. A real name is a summary of all the qualities a person has. This is the reason why a devotee is asked to meditate the Divine Names of ALLAH .In other words a devotee is trained to acquire the closeness of ALLAH through His Divine Names.
The second circle is of the Divine qualities. This circle is very vast. Look at the universe, look at His many creations. His qualities cannot be defined by any limits. During the meditation of this circle a devotee tries to achieve the love of ALLAH, through His Divine attributes. Look at the creations of ALLAH, from a grain of sand to high peaked mountains, small plants to tall trees, everywhere you will find examples of His beautiful creations. From a tiny little ant to a huge elephant in the jungle, all display the wonders of ALLAH’s creative Attributes in their life styles. His Divine qualities are manifest everywhere. Take a look at human life, everyone is different in nature, colour, structure, words and deeds. You will find innumerable examples everywhere. Hence the more you reflect upon the creation of ALLAH, the more you will love Him. Therefore in the second circle the love and closeness of ALLAH is achieved through the meditation of His Divine attributes.
The third circle is the circle of the Divine Name ‘ALLAH’. This circle is only in name, otherwise its vastness has no limits, it seems to be endless. In this meditation, neither the Names are considered, nor the Attributes. Hence in this circle, the cognition and love of ALLAH do not come through meditation of Divine Name or Attributes, but arrive almost directly. It is said that love is based on three qualities: beauty, excellence and beneficence. Whenever any one is loved, it is because of either of these qualities. But one thing is inevitable with such love, that when similar or better qualities are found in some one else, the attention of the seeker will certainly be diverted, and if these qualities diminish, love also diminishes. A devotee is asked to try and achieve the love and closeness of ALLAH by reflecting on His Divine Name which includes all the Divine Names and attributes.
The question arises, how to visualise ALLAH, our beloved Creator? When the eyes cannot behold Him, the mind cannot comprehend Him, and the thoughts cannot picture Him. How do we then visualise Him? The whole thing seems very complicated, but let us suppose, we are sitting in a room which is divided by a thick curtain, so that no one can see through it. We are absolutely certain that there is someone behind that curtain who is very powerful but also very loveable. We have not seen him, but we are certain he is there, and though we cannot see him, we know for sure that he is watching us very closely and is listening to everything we are saying. Maybe he has fixed hidden mirrors around the room or maybe there are hidden transmitter sets in the walls. Whatever it is, just think what would be our state in such circumstances. How would we behave? In today’s world of modern technology this is not impossible as we usually come across such examples. Let us now take the above example in a much broader sense. Our beloved ALLAH, Who is All-Powerful is present everywhere. We are certain about His presence, and we have faith in the fact that He knows everything. Not for a moment do we doubt the fact that He hears and sees everything that goes on in the universe. What should our behaviour be after knowing all these facts? The answer is, though we cannot see Him, but our movements should prove that we are looking at Him, as He is present and watching us all the time.