Article n°1
The Ultimate Divine Reality - The Mohammadian Reality - Al Mahdi
by S.Amanoullah de Vos
Dear reader,
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Whoever you are brother, sister or simple seeker, accept this intention of sharing from a man who believes that the meaning of life is the Ma'rifa, the true knowledge of the Real, Al Haqq.
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The intention here is to contribute, if possible, to the enlargement of the heart, of the consciousness by calling for the true knowledge, the one that is only possible beyond our mind, when the eye of the heart is opened, illuminated by the Mohammedan light, the Nûr Mohammadiyya.
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This text also includes the secrets of the Naqshbandi masters and the announcement of the advent of Sayyidina Al Mahdi and the statement of our illustrious Master Sheikh Nazim Ar-Rabbani about the state of Sufism and our world.
Mawlana Sheikh Nazim :
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"From this day on, I draw a line, no longer say "I am mutassawif, Naqshbandi, Qadiri, Shazili"... There is no more tassawuf... Never has God in the Qur'an said to us "kûnû motassawifin - be Sufi"... he said "kûnû rabbaniyin". "
This is valid for all religions : Jews, Christians or others.
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"From this moment on, do not say I am a Sufi, say Rabbanî"
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20.10.2010
THE ULTIMATE DIVINE REALITY
Wouldn't the first of our intentions, the one that defines our orientation, be to clearly specify to whom our worship is addressed ?
In the heart of the Fatiha, the first chapter of the Qur'an, we say:
"Iyyâka na'boudou wa iyyâka nassta'în": "It is YOU that we worship and it is from YOU that we ask for help".
We only worship ALLAH and we only ask for help from HIM! This simple ayat is already a magnificent dhikr given by the 'arifîn (the gnostics). But what about the One we worship, how should we purify our faith by the right orientation which is to clarify WHO is our Lord God, ALLAH.
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I take you as witness my saying that Allah, God 'aza wa jal, is beyond all that is attributed to Him and that He is without partner. He is not a substance, He is not an accident, He is not a body, He is free from directions and dimensions, He has no intelligible representation, He is not limited by time or space, He is not reached by analogy, imaginations do not conceive Him, understandings do not determine Him, He is neither known nor knowable, He has neither beginning nor end...
The pure worship of God has its ultimate expression in chapter 112 of the Qur'an, al-Ikhlâç. Let us immediately emphasize that what is eternal is always current, but that in this particular case, it is even more true because al-Ikhlâç is at the heart of the teaching of
Imam Mahdi who, according to Skeikh Al-Akbar Ibn 'Arabi, will bring back the practice of a deviated islam in our time ila dîn al mukhliç, to the pure cult (of the origin).
Sheikh al-Akbar, Muhyydin Ibn Arabi, is the greatest master of islamic esoterism. He inherits from the maqam of Seal of Muhammadan Sainthood. In this end of cycle, none will access the prophetic science for our time unless through adab towards the Light of Sheikh al Akbar
Let us also note that it is after the recitation of three Ikhlâç that the ruhâniya of Mawlana Sheikh Nazim like that of the Naqshbandi masters is summoned.
Let us say for those who practice the fajr prayers (before sunrise) that the 11 Ikhlâç recited (khâfiyan) internally at the end of this morning prayer are the heart of the secret of this practice which is constructed as if to emphasize this moment opening the door to the ecstatic mohammadian light. In reality, the secret of this, as we shall see later, is related to the perfect heir of the Mohammadan light at this time, Imam Mahdi, by whom all masters are being nurtured.
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Chapter 112 of the Qur'an, entitled al-Ikhlâç begins by stating : "Say God is ONE, (AHAD)" (112-1).
God thus proposes to us a first "acceptance" of His Presence but which remains an expression of His Transcendence even in Immanence. He gives us a support in our orientation : he is ONE! But beware, let us understand well ! He is not One among others, he is the Only One !
Ahad is reserved to God and even in the current language it is used for the negation as for example : "I did not see anybody", mâ ra'aytu ahadan (nobody).
We will see later on the importance of negation to affirm the infinite. Then the second verse : "Allahu Samad" (112-2). Allah is the Absolute Sustainer, Samad also having the meaning of "Impenetrable", "Unfathomable". Do we not see here, once again, how in the manifestation of an attribute (in his Immanence), God preserves his Transcendence. Now, immediately afterwards, with verse 3, His Transcendence is recalled: "Lam yalid wa lam yûlad": "He does not beget and has not been begotten" (112-3).
How could our poor mental capacities "generate" a concept about HIM? Look at the perplexity in which we are led, where the intellects note their poverty. And the finale completes the highlighting of His Transcendence: "wa lam yakun lahu kufuwan Ahad". Commonly translated : "No thing can be compared to Him" (112-4).
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However, there is something more here that is important to be aware of and that is not rendered in this translation. For example, one could say "no being (yakun) can be ONE like Him" but this is still insufficient because HE is beyond being since it is HE who makes being. The last verse of surah 18 al Kahf, the cave, will enlighten us (note that the whole teaching of surah 18 is related to the mission of Imam Mahdi, sâheb az-zamân, which we will show in the second letter). It says: "wa la yuchrik bi'ibadati rabihi AHADA" Koran. 18-110. Commonly translated as: "Associate no one in the worship of his Lord". However, here again a subtlety is lost in this translation.
Sheikh Muhhy din Ibn 'Arabi who is a master in the subtleties of the Qur'an and who knows the grammar well says that it is necessary to realize in this verse : "do not associate with him even (the attribute) AHAD, "THE ONE". Indeed, the divine transcendence must be considered "beyond" the qualities including those expressed in the divine Names. What is then this mystery which seems to present a discontinuity between Allah in his Essence (dhât) and Allah in his divine function (ilâhiyya) ? How can He be worshipped when His Essence is unknowable ?
Be careful with this reflection ! Let's not miss it, it is the one that in the history of Islam caused a lot of ink to flow as in the disputes between Mu'tazilites who affirmed the divine essence to deny that it has attributes distinct from it, the Jahmites and the Karamites who affirmed immanence and anthropomorphism about God, the Ash'arites releasing a middle way which affirmed both the Essence and the qualities as being real, Transcendence or Immanence. Some scholars say that God is the absolute BEING, but again this is a way of comparing Him to the being of man, and the ultimate divine reality should be considered as beyond BEING.
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Let's look at what René Guénon, Sheikh Abdel Wahid Yahya, has magnificently enlightened in his book : The Multiple States of the Being, considered by our late Sheikh Mustapha Vâlsan as an expression of the 'ilm laduni, inspired science, transmitted by sayyiduna- l -Khidr (the great permanent companion of Imam Mahdi).
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I ask the reader to make an effort to pay attention to the fact that it will not be wasted if he wants to save his heart from giving a limit to HIM who has no limit. Wouldn't it be a magnificent worship to recognize His INFINITY?
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Here is an excerpt :
« The infinite, ...in order to be truly such, cannot admit any restriction, which supposes that it is absolutely unconditioned and indeterminate, for any determination, whatever it may be, is necessarily a limitation, by the very fact that it leaves something outside of it, namely all the other determinations that are also possible... To pose a limit, it is to deny, for what is enclosed, all that this limit excludes; consequently, the negation of a limit is properly the negation of a negation, that is to say logically and even mathematically, an assertion, so that the negation of any limit is in reality equivalent to the total and absolute assertion... » (Chapter I)
« If we define the BEING, in the universal sense, as the principle of the manifestation, and at the same time as including, by the same, the whole of all the possibilities of manifestation, we must say that the BEING is not infinite, since it does not coincide with the total Possibility... Outside of BEING, then, there is all the rest, that is, all the possibilities of non-manifestation, together with the possibilities of manifestation themselves insofar as they are in the unmanifested state; and BEING itself is included in this... To designate what is thus outside and beyond BEING, we are obliged, for want of any other term, to call it the NON-BEING... » (Chapter III)
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René Guénon, Sheikh Abdel Wahid Yahya, disciple of seyyiduna al Khidr and receiver of 'ilm ladunni, exposed for the first time in the West since several centuries the complete metaphysical doctrine in its book : les Etats multiples de l'Être - the Multiple States of the Being
Our Sheikh R. Guénon (A.W.Y.) to specify once again that this negative expression is obviously not synonymous with "nothingness", on the contrary, because if we understand well, we understand that the most universal ideas, insofar as they are expressible, are expressed in terms of negative forms, as for the infinite for example.
« We can also say that the NON-BEING, in the sense that we have just indicated, is more than the BEING, or if we want, that it is superior to the BEING, if we understand by this that what it includes is beyond the extension of the BEING, and that it contains in principle the BEING itself. However, as soon as we oppose the NON-BEING to the BEING, or even if we simply distinguish them, it is because neither one nor the other is infinite, since from this point of view they limit each other in some way ; infinity belongs only to the whole of the BEING and the NON-BEING, since this whole is identical to the UNIVERSAL POSSIBILITY. »
But then after having preserved the unknowable of the divine reality in its infinitude, what happens in front of this unfathomable mystery, in front of this ungraspable reality ? What vertigo are we going to be seized with before this night of the unknowable ?
How can we worship Him whose reality escapes us behind the curtain of the Mystery in which we must nevertheless believe : yu'minun bi-l-ghayb, "they believe in the invisible Mystery"; Koran 2-2. Where will this perplexity lead us in front of this inaccessible God in a transcendence which would not concern us ? It is in this state of poverty of being, in this state of existential nothingness that we should appreciate the manifestation of the "KUN FAYAKUN" (cf. Koran chapter 36 : Ya-Sin).
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The divine will giving the order through his Word : BE AND IT IS. This mysterious "passage" from the NON-BEING which defies all description to the BEING, will allow the manifestation of the divine Names. What an extraordinary and mysterious passage. This "passage" is invoked in a tradition called hadith qudsi : "I was a hidden treasure and I was not known. But I liked to be known. So I created the creatures and made them known to Me (through my Theophanies), so they knew Me. " An act of divine love, Naffass ar-Rahman, the breathed-out breath of His Mercy, manifesting itself to express this "totality of possibilities", this infinity, beyond Transcendence and Immanence.
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Let us meditate on the brilliant manifestation of this presence wanting to know and love itself in the mirrors of its creation. But this "passage" does not take place in time, it is in operation at all times, in a recurrent creation, unceasingly renewed, in a new and Theophanic relationship between the Rabb and the 'abd, the Lord and the servant.
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The divine word of the Kun, the imperative: "Let it be!" produces existence, emits the possible in the contingent world, propagates itself in its theophanic supports in as many distinct words as the places where the universal Manifestation occurs. But isn't there still, here, a formidable secret to contemplate ?
THE MUHAMMADAN REALITY
Let us realize how this original vibration of the divine order, this primordial word, manifested itself as NÛR MUHAMMADIYYA, the Muhammadian light which can also be called HAQÎQA MUHAMMADIYYA, the Muhammadian Reality. Indeed, the first light that appeared out of the curtain of the NON-BEING is the light of our Prophet Mohammad (saw), i.e. his deep luminous essence (bâtina) in the world of archetypes (dhâtuhu al-nuraniya al-batina fi 'âlam al ma'ânî). According to the reporters of hadith, he said: "I am the first of the prophets to be created and the last to be sent" (jami' as saghir, Suyûthî).
He is the one whom God called sirâj al-munîr, "the Torch that enlightens", just as he had spoken of the sun as a luminary whose light makes all things appear and distinguish, so the intelligences, the spirits, the penetrating intuitions (baca'ir) and the essences are nourished by the light of the CHOSEN ONE. As Sheikh al-Akbar Ibn 'Arabi tells us, « by the mystery of the rûhâniyya spiritual nature of this tanaqqûl transmission, the Prophet feeds himself (yastamidu) on the Supreme Holy Flow (al-fayd al-aqdas al-a'lâ) and feeds the whole world. » He is thus the bridge between al-Haqq, the divine reality, and al-Khalq, the Creation. He is the archetype (ma'nâ) and that totalizing Life (hayat jami'a) which first appeared out of the curtain of the unmanifest. He showed through his Sunnah and especially during the "night journey" (al-isra' wal-mi'râj) the path of sainthood that removes the two veils : the veil of Unity and the veil of Multiplicity.
The Passage from Non-Being to Being then to Existence from the point of view of divine Transcendance - Tanzih
The First Theophany or Muhammadan Reality as the "link" between God and the World. Creation of the World from the point of view of divine Immanence - Tashbih
This is how one of the gnostics interpreted the famous Quranic repetition of Sura 94 An-Nashr: "fa inna ma'al 'ussri yusra, inna ma'al 'usri yusra...". "The first 'usr or "difficulty" is the veil over the Unity, the accepted human condition produces multiplicity which veils the Unity from us. This first 'usr or veil was lifted during the path to God by the grace of the first yusra, "the facility" during the ascending realization. Then, during the descending realization, the second 'usr or "difficulty" is the veil over the multiplicity (because after the ecstatic state of contemplation one sees only the One in this state of contemplation) then the second yusra, "the facility", was the grace lifting this veil by the (compassionate) descent towards the creatures. Thus, he gave us a path, a protocol for realizing Unity in Multiplicity, without one veiling the other. This grace given by the yusra, this "facility", is in fact the circulation, the transmission of this Nûr Mohammadiya, this original light which continues to nourish the creatures.
The ascending realization precedes the descending realization - ruju' -, the return to the Creation, as taught by Ibn Arabi and René Guénon
THE MUHAMMADAN LIGHT
It is this light that has circulated through all the prophets from Adam to Muhammad. Now this light takes two aspects, one of them is the expression of an inspiration reserved for the Messengers, Rasûl, responsible for a divine legislation and for the Prophets heralds, anbiyya', this on one hand. On the other hand, this light is inherited by the awliya', the saints, those of the Proximity.
Sayyiduna 'Ali (karrama allah wajhahu) and Ahl Al-Bayt (family of the Prophet). The first of these saints who was also bathed in this light from the beginning is Imam 'ALI. The one of whom Rasûl Allah Muhammad (saw) said: « If you entrust the Imamate to 'Ali you will find in him a well-guided guide (al-hâdi mahdi) ». Note here already the extraordinary allusion. It is well established (see Razi in his Tafssir al kabir and Suyuti in his Dur al Manthur which confirms the narration we are about to make) when the verse 13-7 Sura the Thunder (Ar-ra'd) was revealed: « Innama anta munzirun wa likullin qawmin hadi », « You are a warner and to every people a guide ». The Messenger of Allah (saw) put his hand on his chest and said, « I am the one who warns, and to every people a guide ». Then, addressing Imam 'Ali, he said, "You are the guide, 'Ali, for after me the believers will be guided by you.". This is confirmed by another no less famous hadith : « For whom I am the master, mawla, 'ALI here is also the master, mawla ». He repeated this three times before descending from his pulpit. (Mussnad of Ahmad, volume 1, Ibn Majah, Hakim, Ibn Kathir and many others).
The day of Ghadir Khum, before the separation and after the Farewell Pilgrimage, the Prophet publicly declared: "Man kuntu Mawla fa hadha Aliyun mawla"- "The one whom I am the Master, then Ali is his Master"
Sheikh Ibn-'Arabi, in chapter VI of the futuhat al-Makkiya -ed. Othman Yahya-, section 119.29, says about Imam 'Ali: "'Ali, radia allahou 'anhou, imam al-'Alam, wa sirr al-anbiyyae ajma'în"; "'Ali, may God be pleased with him, is the Secret of all the prophets". Let us understand here in a subtle way once again.
Everything converges on the clear heritage of Imam 'Ali when it comes to this light of sainthood that his family the AHL AL-BAYT, may God bless them, will have the difficult mission of preserving in the vicissitudes of history. Let us recall again that, Sheikh al Akbar, Ibn-'Arabî says that : "the love of the family of the Prophet (saw) is an aspect of the love of the Prophet himself, because the only thing that the Prophet (saw) asked us, on the order of God, is to show us "affection towards his kinship" Qoran 42.23." If your love for God and His Prophet (saw) is sincere, you will love the family of the Prophet (saw)..." (futuhat al-Makkiya).
It seems that these advices and orders are too much forgotten today. It is not a question of taking a shiite or sunni position, it is clear that the teaching of Imam Al-Mahdi will lead us to the source of the Original and Pure Islam, beyond the divisions. It should be noted that the mission of preserving the purity of Islam entrusted to the Ahl Al-Bayt (family of the Prophet) was distinct from the mission of government as the Khalifs had to assume it in the affairs of the world.
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The divine plan was that the government of the Khalifs should be different, as history shows us. Sheikh Ibn 'Arabi takes this position: « It was necessary that the succession to the Messenger of God (saw) was distributed over the reigns of the four Khalifs (radia Allah 'anhoum) according to the place and rank predestined for each of them in the pre-eternal Knowledge of God and determined according to the time assigned by the divine pen and corresponding to the duration of their function, encompassing in totality the sum of the thirty years that the Messenger had set. He had predicted thirty years which exactly coincides with the time of the first four Khalifs plus the share of that of Imam Hassan. ».
The 30 years reign of the "rightly guided" after the departure of the Prophet is still situated in a "divine sector", however, the cyclical downfall beign inevitable, an hereditary monarchy settled against the spiritual authority of the 12 Imams : this is the revolt of the Kshatriyas as explained by René Guénon Shaykh, Abd al Wahid Yahya
It seems clear indeed that nothing is possible without the divine will, so it is normal to think that what took place in this order had to manifest itself in a predestined and moreover announced way : the thirty years of the khulafa ar-rachidin. Then, we know the sad and unbearable story of Kerbela with the assassination of Imam Hussein organized by the son of Mo'awiya the sinister and debauched, Yazid who introduced the Khilafa (government) in the darkness of political and worldly affairs depriving himself of light. Yet the light of Islam, the Ikhlaç, that purity, was protected by the sublime sacrifice of the greatest hero of Islam, Imam Hussein. It was then preserved by his son, the Imam of the pious people, Zain al-'âbidîn and then by his son and his son's son Imam Ja'far as-Sâdiq (Golden Chain) and then by his son and so on until the expected Imam Mahdi. This light radiated from these permanent sources nourishing different currents of Islam, including the great movement of Tasawwuf which, at the beginning, was spontaneous and then organized into brotherhoods.
The battle of Kerbala (680 AD - 61 AH) where took place the heroïc martyrdom of al Hussayn (as), 3rd Imam, to preserve the original purity of Islam : "Islam re-birth again at each Kerbala"
IMAM AL MAHDI
Today, the light of the pole of poles Imam Mahdi, sâheb az-zamân, is manifesting itself more closely. One of his great companions Sultan al-awliya, Mawlana Sheikh Nazim dared to point out the advent of a new form of circulation for this light and this guidance, outside the "tired" circuits we would say to remain delicate.
He said among other things : "the sufi brotherhoods have become like pharmacies without medicine" (Jâmi' a-l-Irshâd a-sharîf, 1999 - Avicenna Bookshop). He has, above all, affirmed this new time in a magistral and historic statement in Cyprus on 20/10/2010, saying in substance : "...from this day, I draw a line, do not say anymore I am Mutasawwif, naqshbandi, qadiri, shazili,... There is no more tasawwuf ... Never God in the Qur'an has told us: "kûnû Motassawifin", "be Sufi"...He said: "kunu rabbaniyîn"...This is valid for all religions: Jews, Christians or others. " "From this moment on, don't say I am sufi, say rabbanî" and Mawlana quoted the verses of the Quran that give proof of this position. He also tells us that this position will bring unity to the Ummah and stop all divisions, for example between sunnis and shiites.
Has this great statement been understood ? It frees us from the conditioning of categories, divisions : it represents exactly the teaching of Imam al-Mahdi, beyond religions, sects, divisions and of course beyond the oppositions between shiites and sunnis, maintained by the enemies of Islam. It calls for a return to that time of the Golden Age when the teachings were transmitted directly by inspiration from the Rabb to the 'abd who knew how to open the eye of his heart. It calls us to receive "'ilm laduni", this divine science directly received in the heart by following the example of the universal saint Sayyiduna al Khidr, the permanent companion of Imam Mahdi in all the manifestations of the Imam.
THE SUBTLE CENTERS: LATÂÏFS
And how then can we prepare ourselves to receive this light, this inspired science ? The Naqshbandi masters have prepared us for this liberation by giving us the prayer that expands the chest, opens the eye of the heart and leads us to the teaching of RABB.
Indeed, the spiritual centers in the chest of human beings are installed as a reflection point of a maqam, a prophetic station of science that can be actualized. Thus, the first center is connected to the earth of Adam then the second center to the water and thus the memory of the cycles given in Noah, then the third center of the chest, connected to the fire of enthusiasm, love, spiritual authority in relation to the maqam of Ibrahim and Musa, Then the fourth center the maqam of Jesus-'Issa connected with the air and the Spirit of breath, then the fifth center of the chest the maqam of Sayyidina Mohammad gives us the balance in the manifestation of these lights and energies. Finally the sixth center between the eyebrows leads us to the Rabb ('azza wa jal), the Lord al-Murabbi, the teacher.
This path of light in the subtle centers of the body is an exercise of sublime initiatory pedagogy. It leads to our spiritual realization, it updates in us according to our station the prophetic heritage and thus the history of the human soul, until leading us to our Rabb (see the page of this site on the matter).
The subtle body: the lataïf in the Naqshbandi Way
The teacher who is the support, mazhar rabbani, of the manifestation of our Lord is the sacred and secret Imam, the invisible master of whom the visible masters are only the mirrors, the one who teaches us in a unique and personal way when we have finally become rabbaniyyîn. For after the close of prophecy this light (in the form of sainthood) continues to manifest itself in the creatures who receive guidance, which leads them to find the source : the Imam of their time, the Pole of the world. We mean the One who is the support of God's gaze towards the creatures, the One who is the Lieutenant of God, Khalifat Allah in the worlds. The one who, according to the hadiths, "will restore justice where there is injustice", the one who will lead Islam, "ila din al mukhliss", back to the original and pure cult, to the Golden Age.
Among the companions of the Prophet who reported hadiths about Imam Mahdi, there are at least 26 of them, for example : Ali, Uthman, Talhha, Abdullah ibn Aws, Jabir, Anas ibn Malik, Om Salama, Om Habibah...(Radia Allah 'anhoum). Even the professor of the Islamic University of Medina Abdul 'Aziz ben Baz, (a famous professor, rigorous and fundamentalist) says: "the question of the Mahdi is an evidence". The hadiths on this subject are very widespread or rather concordant and combined, which shows that the question of this promised person is established and that his appearance is an undeniable truth, which does not prevent some ignorant people from denying this reality as I saw reported by one of my brothers in discussion with a turkish student representative of a certain current who took this subject either by denying this advent or by taking it lightly.
What we are interested in here is to address those who receive this inner guidance and yet still doubt their hearts and need to be strengthened to have confidence in themselves. It is not possible to quote here the hundreds of hadiths on this subject. Let us remember that Imam Mahdi is already acting in the hearts and that if he does not manifest himself in society, some may see him individually.
His global function is to intervene at the time "when the earth will be covered with injustice to restore justice" according to the hadiths. After his fight against the "outdated" structures of which the "schools of fixed teachings" (the doctors of the legal schools, will be his opponents), he will bring peace and prosperity on earth. At that time, it is said, diseases will cease, the earth will bear fruit in abundance, wild animals will no longer do harm and will circulate among humans without fear on either side...
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the Golden Age brought by Imam al Mahdi where "the wolf will be at peace with the sheep" and a state of divine Joy on Earth.
All these indications show that the Imam leads the whole world, all religions included, to the great return of the Golden Age. We might as well say right away that this function is the one described by Sheikh Abdel Wahid Yahya, René Guénon, in his inspired book : The King of the World. The interest of referring to this book is to give all its dimension to this event because it is shown how this function is clearly inscribed in all religions.
René Guénon exposed for the first time in the West the reality of the Supreme Center and its universality accross traditions, known in Islam as the Diwan al Awliya. Here, a Daoïst representaiton of the Qutb and his two Imams.
Let us therefore update our practice not in groups, sects or schools but in the Spirit of the knights, "the fityân of the Cave" (Ahl al-Kahf), who are the true companions of the supreme heir of the knighthood "Futuwwa". Let us configure our hearts in accordance with our times in order to be receptive to the Master of the Masters Sayyiduna Imam al Mahdi, so that we too may be his companions participating in this transformation of the world as rabbaniyyîn, connected to one another as one being...who resembles him!
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Sh. Amanoullah de Vos