Al-Hikam Commentary – Sharh al-Hikam al-`Atā’iyya pdf

Al-Hikam Commentary

A Detailed Guide for the Path to Allah – Sharh al-Hikam al-`Atā’iyya

Written by, Sheikh Ibn `Abbad al-Rundi – Translated under the supervision of Abu Qanit al-Sharif al-Hasani

AL-HIKAM COMMENTARY SHARH AL-HIKAM AL-`ATĀ’IYYA

Among the signs of depending on actions is losing hope in presence of a slip.

I say: Relying on Allah Most High is a characteristic of those who know Allah and declare His Oneness. Relying on other than Him is a characteristic of the ignorant and heedless no matter what this other thing maybe including knowledge, actions, and spiritual states.

As for the knowers of Allah who declare Allah’s Oneness, they function in accordance with closeness to and direct vision of Allah, gazing towards their Lord while annihilating themselves.

 When they slip and fall or become heedless, they witness the Truth Most High’s full disposal of them and the overrunning of His decrees on them.

Similarly, when an act of obedience emanates from them or they experience spiritual wakefulness, they do not witness themselves and do not see their power or strength.

 This is so because the remembrance of their Lord preceded [the external obedience] in their hearts.

 They are well content with the overrunning of His decrees on them and their hearts are at peace due to His lights which have glimmered over them. [Consequently], they do not differentiate between the two states [i.e. slips and obedience] because they are drowned in the ocean of His Oneness.

Their fear and hope have become equal. So, their fear does not diminish due to their avoiding disobedience, neither does their hope increase due to their performing good.

The commentator on al-Majalis said: The knowers of Allah exist through Allah. He has taken custody of their affair.

 So when obedience emerges from them, they do not hope for reward since they do not see themselves as doing the action.

Likewise, when downfall manifests itself from them, the blood money is owed by the killer. They do not witness other than Him in hard times or easy times.

 Rather, their existence is through Allah, their gaze is fixed on Him, their fear is reverence of Him, and their hope is being in good relations with Him.

As for others than them, they remain with themselves attributing actions to themselves. They seek to assign for themselves a portion and against themselves likewise. They rely on their actions and are content with their spiritual states.

 So when they experience a slip, their hope decreases.

Likewise, when they act in obedience they hold their act as their greatest preparation and strongest reliance. Doing so, they hang by the ropes of causes and are veiled from the Lord of lords due to their separation [from Him]. Whoever finds this sign in himself, let him recognize his [low] station and rank, and not transgress his limit and claim a special station among those brought near [to their Lord]. He is only of the regular people of the right hand. There shall come indications of this notion in other places of the words of the author may Allah sanctify his secret.

Shaykh Abu `Abd al-Rahman al-Salami and Hafiz Abu Na`im al-Asfahani have mentioned that Yusuf ibn Husayn al-Razi (May Allah be pleased with them) said, “A person opposed me in speech and said, ‘You will not be able to obtain the goal from your works until you repent.’

I replied, ‘Even if repentance was knocking on my door, I would not grant it permission to enter in an attempt to save myself with it from my Lord.

Even if truthfulness and sincerity were two slaves of mine, I would have sold them both regarding them as insignificant.

This is so because if I were in Allah’s unseen knowledge blissful and accepted, I would not be left behind because of committing sins and misdeeds. And if I were in His Knowledge wretched and abandoned, my repentance, sincerity, or truthfulness would not make me blissful. Indeed, Allah has created me as a human being without having had actions or intercessors for me towards Him.

Then, He guided me to His religion which He Himself is pleased with as He has said: ‘Whoever tries to seek other than Islam as a religion, it will not be accepted from him and He will be among the losers in the hereafter.’ [al-Qur’an 3:85] If I am a free man and mentally capable, it is more proper for me to rely on His favors and generosity and not on my defective actions and sick attributes.

Trying to match our actions with His bounty and generosity is [a sign] of our meager recognition of the Most Generous and Bountiful.'”

I say: This narration and others similar to it might strike the ears of those with no realization in the path of the folk [as odd].

Thus, he will deny its concept, not believe it, or refuse to accept it. Additionally, he will use this to claim a spiritual station for himself. In such a case, both of the two conditions [i.e. slips and obedience] will cause him harm and danger.

So, let a servant who does not have an insight in this path fear Allah lest he should deny what we have mentioned and fall into opposition to the high scholars and friends of Allah.

This will also distance him from Allah Most High and might cause him to claim a spiritual station without attaining it, being firm in it, or weighing it with the scale that we have just pointed out.

This type of behavior is found in someone who has not proved true to the spiritual station of annihilating himself. In this case, he will perpetuate those things that anger Allah Most High, overstep His limits, and will make this an argument against himself in blunder and ignorance.

This is also an entrance to hypocrisy from which we seek the protection of Allah glorified be He, the Most High.

2

Your wanting to leave worldly means while Allah is keeping you in them is due to a non-obvious lust. And your wanting to engage in worldly means while Allah is keeping you from them is a fall from high spiritual ambition.

Worldly means are the acts by which one tries to obtain one’s material needs/desires. Leaving worldly means entails not busying oneself with such acts.

If the Truth Most High has established someone in earning a living and this person desires to leave this [means of income], his desire is a non-obvious lust. It is among the lusts because it is not in concurrence with what Allah has willed for this person.

It is not obvious because this person did not intend a worldly gain; rather, he only intended to come closer to Allah Most High by being in a situation that is more elevated in his opinion.

However, he has not kept to proper etiquette by opposing Allah Most High’s Will in keeping him in his current state and also by trying to seek a high position which he is not fit for at the present time.

The tell-tale sign of Allah’s keeping a person in worldly means is that his means of income is steady-flowing and the fruit and profit of his work is at hand. While earning a living, he also finds security for his religion and does not crave what others have. He also has good intentions for joining blood ties, helping poor people, or has another useful [Shari`a] purpose connected with wealth.

As for the person whom the Truth Most High has established in abstinence from worldly means: if he desires to leave his life of not earning a living, it shows a decline in his spiritual ambition and his bad etiquette.

This desire [to engage in worldly means] is also in accordance with his obvious lusts. Abstinence from worldly means is a high station in which the Truth Most High has established special servants of His among those who declare the Oneness of Allah and know Him. So why does he want to descend from this high station that Allah has established him into the ranks of the lower class?…

The tell-tale sign of Allah’s keeping him in abstinence from worldly means is his persistence in it and his yielding its fruits. Among isolation’s fruits are: good free time, purity of heart, and being free from mixing with people

Spiritual ambition is a state of the heart. It is the strength of willpower and is what presses one to obtain desired goals. It is high when attached to high things and low when it is attached to low things…

The author of al-Tanwir has said: Know (May Allah have mercy upon you) that it is the way of the enemy [Shaytan] that he comes to you and ridicules what Allah has established you in and asks you to seek other than it to confuse your heart and spoil your time.

He does this by approaching those engaged in earning a living and tells them, “If only you left earning a living and went off in isolation, the spiritual lights would shine for you and your hearts and innermost beings would become pure.” He would also say, “So and so and so and so did like this.”

However, this servant was not meant for nor had the strength for abstinence from worldly means; his well-being was in earning a living. When he leaves gaining a livelihood, his faith is rocked out of him and his certainty departs from him.

He then turns to ask people [for money] and becomes heavily concerned about his provision. Consequently, he is also forced to break family ties. This was the real aim of the enemy.

He only comes to you in the form of an advisor as he came to your parents as Allah Most High has informed: And he said, “Your Lord has not prohibited you from this tree except that you may become two angels or become immortal.” And he swore to them, “I am indeed an advisor to you.” [al-Qur’an 7:20-21]

Similarly, he approaches those who abstain from worldly means and says to them, “Until when will you leave earning a living? Don’t you know that leaving a means of income causes one’s heart to look at what is in the hands of people and opens the door to craving [what others have]?

You are not able to deliver relief, show altruism, or discharge your duties. Instead of waiting for other people to give you something, others would start waiting for you to give them something if only you started earning a living…”

This servant had good free time, spiritual lights were spread for him, and was free from mixing with people.

He remains in such a state until he returns to earning a living at which point its griminess strikes him and its darkness engulfs him. Additionally, the regular worker does [far] better than him.

This is because this person walked a path and then left it; he intended a goal and then turned away from it. So, understand this and cling to Allah: And whoever clings to Allah, is guided to the straight path. [al-Qur’an 3:101]

The devil (Shaytan) only wants to prevent people from being content with their present condition. He wants to push them out of what Allah has willed for them into that which they have willed for themselves. [Know that] whatever Allah enters you in, He takes charge of helping you with it.

Conversely, whatever you enter into by yourselves, He leaves you to fend for yourself in: And say, “O my Lord, make me enter with a true entering and make me exit with a true exiting.

And appoint for me from You a power and a helper” [al-Qur’an 17:80] Understand that the true entering is that which you do not enter into by yourself and the true exiting is likewise. What Allah requires of you is that you stay in that which He has establishes you in until the Truth Glorified be He takes charge of drawing you out, just as He took charge of putting you in.

It is not fitting that you leave earning a living, but that the means of income leave you, as one of them said, “I tried to leave worldly means such and such number of times. However, each time I came back to it. Then, worldly means left me and I have haven’t ever since returned back to it.”

The author (May Allah be well-pleased with him) said, “I entered upon my sheikh [i.e. Abul `Abbas al- Mursi] with a firm determination to leave worldly means saying to myself, ‘Reaching Allah in this state of being involved in external knowledge [e.g., jurisprudence] and mixing with people is a far shot.’

He said to me, without me having asked him, ‘There was a person who accompanied me while engaged in external knowledge and having leadership in it and he still tasted something of this path.

He came to me once and said, ‘Sidi, I want to leave the state I’m in right now and abstain from worldly means to accompany you.’ I then said, ‘That is not how things work. Rather, stay where you are and whatever Allah has apportioned for you at our hands will still reach you.’

The author continued, ‘The sheikh then looked at me and said, ‘This is how the voraciously truthful are. They do not come out of anything until the Truth (Glorified be He) takes charge of drawing them out.’ I then left him and found that Allah had cleansed my heart of those thoughts I was having.

 I then found rest in surrendering to Allah Most High, as they are as the Messenger of Allah (May Allah bless him and give him peace) said, ‘People with whom their companions do not become wretched.’ “

This is the author’s statements in al-Tanwir. They are beautiful words. We placed it here in its full text and length, since the author himself clearly explains the meaning of his words in this hikma through his own experiences. We wish that all of the things he talks about were explained by him likewise

3

Even the swiftest of spiritual wills cannot pierce the walls of destiny.

Swift spiritual wills are powers of the self by which things are brought about with the permission of Allah Most High. T

he sufis call this type of will himma. So they say, “So and so transferred his himma on such and such affair. Consequently, this affair was accomplished for him.”

Things do not happen due to these swift spiritual wills without being decreed and predestined [from Allah].

This is what we mean when we say, “By the permission of Allah Most High.” These spiritual wills do not infringe upon the walls of predestined decrees nor do they pierce them.

The friends of Allah often possess these types of spiritual wills as gifts from Him.

Others possess such wills as a means of Allah misleading them step by step into His plot, as is the case for the one who inflicts with the evil eye or who practices sorcery. It is verified that the evil eye is a reality and so is sorcery, and the meaning [of these two terms] is what we have just mentioned.

The main point is that the servant should realize that these spiritual wills are only external causes that have no intrinsic effects. These wills do not carry out actions.

 Rather, the real performer of actions is only Allah Most High. He performs actions with the external causes present and not by using these causes.

It seems that the author (May Allah have mercy upon him) narrated these words before his next statement about egocentric planning so that he may inform you that egocentric planning is useless. If the above-mentioned type of spiritual will do not benefit in piercing the walls of predestined