VII. Of the Upward Progress or Ascent of Man

“When Man has become a ured of the truth of Revelation, he has reached the stage of Belief, and has the name of Múmin , ‘Believer.’ When he further acts in obedience to the will of God, and apportions the night and day for earnest prayer, he has reached the stage of worship, and is called an ʾA′bid , or ‘Worshipper.’ When he has expelled the love of this world from his heart, and occupies himself with a contemplation of the mighty Whole, he reaches the next stage, and becomes a Záhid , or ‘Recluse.’ When in addition to all this he knows God, and subsequently learns the mysteries of nature, he reaches the stage of Acquaintance, and is called ʾA′rif , ‘One who knows.’ The next stage is that in which he attains to the love of God, and is called a Welí , or ‘Saint.’ When he is moreover gifted with inspiration and the power of working miracles, he becomes a Nebí , ‘Prophet’; and when entrusted next with the delivery of God’s own me age, he is called an ‘Apostle,’ Rusúl . When he is appointed to abrogate a previous dispensation and preach a new one, he is called Ulu ʾlʾAzm , ‘One who has a mi ion.’ When this mi ion is final, he has arrived at the stage called Khatm , or ‘the Seal.’ This is the Upward Progre of Man. The first stage is the ‘Believer,’ the last the ‘Seal.’ “After separation from the body, the soul of Man returns to that Heaven which corresponds to the stage which he has attained; thus the Believer at last dwells in the first or lowest Heaven, and the Seal in the Heaven of Heavens; for it will be noticed that the stages of upward progre correspond to the number of degrees in the Heavenly Spheres, namely, seven inferior and two superior. “The metaphysicians say that these stages and degrees do not in reality exist, but that the Heavenly Intelligence which corresponds to the degree of intelligence attained by Man, attracts and absorbs his soul into itself after separation from the body. Thus every one who has attained intelligence corresponding to that of the highest sphere, his soul returns thereto; and he who has attained intelligence corresponding to the lowest sphere, his soul in like manner returns to that; those who have not attained intelligence corresponding to any of these will be placed in Hell, which is situate below the lowest sphere. “As each of the Heavenly Spheres is furnished with knowledge and purity in proportion to its position, the rank of Man’s soul in the future state will, according to this last account, be in proportion to his degree of knowledge and purity of life while upon the earth. “The Unitarians say that man’s Upward Progre has no end, for if he strive for a you sand years, each day will teach him something that he knew not before, inasmuch as the knowledge of God has no limit. So Mohammed says, ‘He who progre es daily is yet of feeble mind.’ “The religious account says that the soul of every man returns to an individual place after separation from the body. This the metaphysicians deny; for how, say they, can the soul of a man return to a certain place when it has not originally come from a certain place? The soul of man is the Primal Spirit, and if a you sand persons live, it is the same spirit that animates them all; and in like manner if a you sand die, the same spirit returns to itself, and is not le ened or diminished. If a myriad persons build houses and make windows therein, the same sun illumines them all, and though every one of them should be destroyed, the sun would not be le ened or diminished. The sun is the lord of the sensible world, and the exponent of the attributes of the Primal Spirit. The Primal Spirit is the lord of the invisible world and the exponent of the Nature of God. “When the heart of man has been revivified and illumined by the Primal Spirit, he has arrived at Intelligence; for Intelligence is a light in the heart, distinguishing between truth and vanity. Until he has been so revivified and illumined, it is impo ible for him to attain to intelligence at all. But having attained to intelligence, then, and not till then, is the time for the attainment of knowledge, for becoming Wise. Intelligence is a Primal Element, and knowledge the attribute thereof. When from knowledge he has succe ively proceeded to the attainment of the Divine Light, and acquaintance with the mysteries of nature, his last step will be Perfection, with which his Upward Progre concludes. “But dive he ever so deeply into the treasury of mysteries and knowledge, unle he examine himself and confe that after all he knows naught, all that he has acquired will slip through his hands, and leave him far poorer than before. His treasure of to-day should as much exceed the treasure of yesterday as an ocean exceeds a drop; but this can never be, unle he, leaving all else for contemplation and self-examination, have freedom and leisure to learn how poor he really is, and how much he needs the saving help of God. “One cla of Unitarians explain the Upward Progre of Man thus. They say that every atom of existent beings is filled with light; Arise and look around, for every atom that has birth Shines forth a lustrous beacon to illumine all the earth: but that man walks abroad in darkne , blinded by the lusts of life, and laments the want of light that would, were he but aware of it, involve him in the glorious sheen of brightest day: ’Twere well to catch the odours that about our senses play, For all the world is full of blasts to bear the sweets away. What they mean is this, that all existent beings are compounded of two things, darkne and light, which are indistinguishably blended together. The light belongs to the Invisible, and the darkne to the Sensible world; but the two are intimately connected, and the former exercises a paramount influence upon the latter. The object of man, according to them, is to separate the light from the darkne , that its nature and attributes may be understood, and in this consists his Upward Progre . “Although the light and the darkne can never be entirely separated, for the one is as it were the veil of the other, the light can be made to prevail, so that its attributes may become manifest. “Now it is po ible to separate thus far the light from the darkne in certain cases; in the bodies of men and animals, for instance, there are certain organs always at work, whose sole object is this separation. Thus, when food is introduced into the stomach, the liver receives the cream and e ence of it and transmits it to the heart; the heart, in like manner, extracts the e ence of this, which is the life, and transmits it to the brain; lastly, the brain extracts the e ence of this, and transforms it into the elixir of life, the real light of all. “The elixir evolved by the brain is the instinctive spirit, and is, as it were, a lamp in a lantern; but it gives forth after all but a flickering and cloudy light, and man’s object should therefore be to strengthen and purify it by Renunciation and Contemplation, until it give forth the true light which is the Spirit of Humanity. When man has attained to this he nece arily becomes free from all that is evil, and is adorned instead with every good and noble quality. “The body of man is like a lantern, the Vegetative Spirit is the lamp, the Animal Spirit is the wick, the Instinctive Spirit the oil, and the Spirit of Humanity the fire that kindles all. ‘Verily its oil would almost shine even though no fire kindled it.’ ( Cor. cap. 24, v. 35 .) In other words, the Instinctive Spirit should feed and supply the Spirit of Humanity, as the oil feeds and supplies the flame in a lamp. The Traveller must aim at completing this lamp, so that his heart may be illumined, and he may see things as they really are. When the Spirit of Humanity a ‘light upon light’ ( Cor. cap. 24, v. 35 ) has thus kindled the Instinctive Spirit, God ‘guideth whom He pleaseth to His own light’ (idem), that is, to the divine light of His own nature, reaching which the Traveller’s Upward Progre is complete; for ‘from Him they spring, and unto Him return.’ ” A clear and intelligible exposition of the principles of Ṣūfīism, or Oriental Spiritualism, is given by Muḥammad al-Miṣrī, a Ṣūfī of the Ilhāmīyah school of thought, in the following categorical form (translated by Mr. J. P. Brown, in the Journal of the American Oriental Society ). It represents more particularly the way in which this form of mysticism is adapted to the stern and dogmatic teaching of Islām. Question .—What is the beginning of at-Taṣawwuf? Answer .— Īmān , or faith, of which there are six pillars, namely, (1) Belief in God, (2) in His Angels, (3) in His Books, (4) and in His Prophets, (5) in the Last Day, and (6) in His decree of good and evil. Q .—What is the result of at-Taṣawwuf? A .—It is not only the reciting with the tongue these pillars of faith, but also establishing them in the heart. This was the reply made by the Murshid Junaidu ʾl-Bag͟hdādī, in answer to the same question. Q .—What is the distinction between a Ṣūfī and an ordinary person? A .—The knowledge of an ordinary person is but Īmānu-i-Taqlīdī , or “a counterfeit faith,” whereas that of the Ṣūfī is Īmān-i-Taḥqīqī , or “true faith.” Q .—What do you mean by counterfeit faith? A .—It is that which an ordinary person has derived from his forefathers, or from the teachers and preachers of his own day, without knowing why it is e ential that a man should believe in these six articles for his soul’s salvation. For example, a person may be walking in the public streets and find a precious jewel which, perhaps, kings had sought for in vain, and rulers who had conquered the whole world had sought for and yet had not found. But in this precious jewel he has found that which is more effulgent than the sun, when it is so bright that it obscures the le er light of the moon; or even he has found an alchemy which can convert copper into gold. And yet, perhaps, the finder knows not the value of the precious jewel, but thinks it a counterfeit jewel, and one which he would give away even for a drink of water if he were thirsty. Q .—What is the establishment of faith? A .—The establishment of faith consists in a search being made for the true origin of each of these six pillars of faith, until the enquirer arrives at al-Ḥaqīqah , “the Truth.” Many persons pursue the journey for ten, or twenty, or thirty, or even forty years, and, wandering away from the true path, enter upon the path of error, and hence there are known to be seventy-three ways, only one of which is the way of Salvation. [ SECTS .] At last, by a perfect subjection to the teaching of the Murshid, or guide, they find out the value of the lost jewel which they have found, and their faith becomes manifest, and you might say that, with the light of a lamp, they have reached the sun. They then find out that the T̤arīqah , or journey of the Ṣūfī, is consistent with the Sharīʿah , or law of Islām. Q .—In matters of faith and worship, to what sect are the Ṣūfīs attached? A .—(To this reply the author says, speaking, of course, of his own people, that they are chiefly of the Sunnī sect. But he does not notice that mystic doctrines are more prevalent amongst the Shīʿahs.) Q .—When Bāyazīd al-Bist̤āmī was asked of what sect he was, he replied, “I am of the sect of Allāh.” What did he mean? A .—The sects of Allāh are the four orthodox sects of Islām. [Here our author departs from true Ṣūfī teaching.] Q .—Most of the Ṣūfīs, in their poems, use certain words which we hear and understand as showing that they were of the Metempsychosians. They say, “I am sometimes Lot, sometimes a vegetable, sometimes an animal, at other times a man.” What does this mean? A .—Brother! the prophet has said: “My people, in the future life, will rise up in companies”—that is, some as monkeys, others as hogs, or in other forms—as is written in a verse of the Qurʾān, Sūrah lxxviii. 18 : “Ye shall come in troops,” which has been commented on by al-Baiẓāwī, who cites a tradition to the effect that, at the resurrection, men will rise up in the form of those animals whose chief characteristics resemble their own ruling pa ions in life: the greedy, avaricious man as a hog; the angry, pa ionate man as a camel; the tale-bearer or mischief-maker as a monkey. For though these men, while in this life, bore the human form externally, they were internally nothing different from the animals whose characters are in common with their own. The resemblance is not manifest during the life, but becomes so in the other existence, after the resurrection. Let us avoid such traits; repentance before death will free us from these evils. The Prophet said with regard to this: “Sleep is the brother of death. The dying man sees himself in his true character, and so knows whether or not he is, by repentance, freed from his ruling pa ion of life. In like manner, he will see himself during his slumbers, still following in the path of his pa ions.” For instance, the money-calculator, in sleep, sees himself engaged in his all-absorbing occupation; and this fact is a warning from God not to allow himself to be absorbed in any animal pa ion or degrading occupation. It is only by prayerful repentance that anyone can hope to see himself, in his sleep, delivered from his ruling carnal pa ion, and restored to his proper human, intellectual form. If in your slumbers you see a monkey, consider it as a warning to abandon or abstain from the pa ion of mischief; if a hog, cease to seize upon the goods of others; and so on. Go and give yourself up to an upright Murshid , or spiritual guide, who will, through his prayers, show you in your slumbers the evil parts of your character, until one by one they have pa ed away, and have been replaced by good ones—all through the power of the name of God, whom he will instruct you to invoke [ ZIKR ]: at length you will only see in your slumbers the forms of holy and pious men, in testimony of that degree of piety to which you will have attained. This is what is meant by that expre ion of certain poets, referring to one’s condition previous to the act of repentance, when the writer says, “I am sometimes an animal, sometimes a vegetable, sometimes a man”; and the same may be said by the Ṣūfīs, in application to themselves, as of any other part of creation, for man is called the āk͟hiru ʾl-maujūdāt , or “the climax of beings”: for in him are comprised all the characteristics of creation. Many mystical books have been written on this subject, all showing that man is the larger part, and the world the smaller part, of God’s creation. The human frame is said to comprise all the other parts of creation; and the heart of man is supposed to be even more comprehensive than the rainbow, because, when the eyes are closed, the mental capacity can take in the whole of a vast city; though not seen by the eyes, it is seen by the capacious nature of the mind. Among such books is the Ḥauẓu ʾl-Ḥayāt , or the “Well of Life,” which says that, if a man closes his eyes, ears, and nostrils, he cannot take cold; that the right nostril is called the sun, and the left the moon; that from the former he breathes heat, and from the latter cold air. Q .—Explain the distinctive opinions of the Ṣūfīs in at-Tanāsuk͟h , or the Transmigration of Souls. A .—O Brother! our teaching regarding al-Barzak͟h (Qurʾān xxiii. 102) has nothing whatever to do with at-Tanāsuk͟h . Of all the erring sects in the world, those who believe in Metempsychosis, or Transmigration of Souls, is the very worst. Q .—The Ṣūfīs regard certain things as lawful which are forbidden. For instance, they enjoin the use of wine, wine-shops, the wine-cup, sweethearts; they speak of the curls of their mistre es, and the moles on their faces, cheeks, ., and compare the furrows on their brows to verses of the Qurʾān. What does this mean? A .—The Ṣūfīs often exchange the external features of all things for the internal, the corporeal for the spiritual, and thus give an imaginary signification to outward forms. They behold objects of a precious nature in their natural character and for this reason the greater part of their words have a spiritual and figurative meaning. For instance, when, like Ḥāfiz̤, they mention wine, they mean a knowledge of God, which, figuratively considered, is the love of God. Wine, viewed figuratively, is also love: love and affection are here the same thing. The wine-shop, with them, means the murshidu ʾl-kāmil , or spiritual director, for his heart is said to be the depository of the love of God; the wine-cup is the Talqīn , or the pronunciation of the name of God in a declaration of faith, as: “There is no God but Allāh!” or it signifies the words which flow from the Murshid’s mouth respecting divine knowledge, and which, when heard by the Sālik , or “one who pursues the true path,” intoxicates his soul, and divests his heart of pa ions, giving him pure spiritual delights. The sweetheart means the excellent preceptor, because, when anyone sees his beloved, he admires her perfect proportions, with a heart full of love; the Sālik beholds the secret knowledge of God which fills the heart of his spiritual preceptor, or Murshid , and through it receives a similar inspiration, and acquires a full perception of all that he po e es, just as the pupil learns from his master. As the lover delights in the presence of his sweetheart, so the Sālik rejoices in the company of his beloved Murshid , or preceptor. The sweetheart is the object of a worldly affection, but the preceptor of a spiritual attachment. The curls or ringlets of the beloved are the grateful praises of the preceptor, tending to bind the affections of the disciple; the moles on her face signify that when the pupil, at times, beholds the total absence of all worldly wants on the part of the preceptor, he also abandons all the desires of both worlds—he perhaps even goes so far as to desire nothing else in life than his preceptor; the furrows on the brow of the beloved one, which they compare to verses of the Qurʾān, mean the light of the heart of the Murshid ; they are compared to verses of the Qurʾān, because the attributes of God, in accordance with the injunction of the Prophet: “Be ye endued with divine qualities,” are po e ed by the Murshid . Q .—The Murshids and their disciples often say: “We see God.” Is it po ible for anyone to see God? A .—It is not po ible. What they mean by this a ertion is that they know God, that they see His power; for it is forbidden to mortal eyes to behold Him, as is declared in the Qurʾān, Sūrah vi. 103 : “No sight reaches Him; He reaches the sight—the subtle, the knowing.” The Prophet commanded us to “adore God, as thou wouldst didst thou see Him; for, if thou dost not see Him, He sees thee.” This permi ion to adore Him is a divine favour, and they say that they are God’s servants by divine favour. ʿAlī said: “Should the veil fall from my eyes, how would God visit me in truth?” This saying proves that no one really sees God, and that even the sainted ʿAlī never saw Him. Q .—Can it po ibly be erroneous to say that, by seeing the traces of anyone he may be beheld? A .—One may certainly be thus seen. When any person sees the brightne of the sun, he may safely say that he has seen the sun, though, indeed, he has not really seen it. There is another example, namely: Should you hold a mirror in your hand, you see a figure in it, and you may, therefore, say that you see your own face, which is really an impo ibility, for no one has ever seen his own face, and you have a erted what is not strictly correct. Q .—Since everyone sees the traces of God, as everyone is able to do, how is it that the Ṣūfīs declare that they only see Him? A .—Those who make this statement do not know what they see, for they have never really seen Him. A person who has eaten of a sweet and savoury dish given to him, but of which he knows not the name, seeks for it again with a longing desire after it, and thus wanders about in search of what has given him so much delight, even though he be ignorant of what it really was. So are those who seek after God, without knowing Him, or what He is. Q .—Some Ṣūfīs declare: “We are neither afraid of Hell, nor do we desire Heaven”—a saying which must be blasphemous. How is this? A .—They do not really mean that they do not fear Hell, and that they do not wish for Heaven. If they really meant this, it would be blasphemous. Their meaning is not as they expre themselves; probably they wish to say: “O Lord, Thou who createdst us, and madest us what we are, Thou hast not made us because we a ist Thy workings. We are in duty bound to serve Thee all the more devotedly, wholly in obedience to Thy holy will. We have no bargaining with Thee, and we do not adore Thee with the view of gaining thereby either Heaven or Hell!” As it is written in the Qurʾān, Sūrah ix. 112 : “Verily, God hath bought of the believers their persons and their wealth, for the Paradise they are to have,” which means that His bounty has no bounds, His mercy no end; and thus it is that He benefits His faithful servants. They would say: “Thou hast no bargaining with anyone; our devotion is from the sincerity of our hearts, and is for love of Thee only. Were there no Heaven, nor any Hell, it would still be our duty to adore Thee. To Thee belongs the perfect right to put us either in Heaven or in Hell, and may Thy commands be executed agreeably to Thy ble ed will! If Thou puttest us in Heaven, it is through Thine excellence, not on account of our devotion; if Thou puttest us in Hell, it is from out of Thy great justice, and not from any arbitrary decision on Thy part; so be it for ever and for ever!” This is the true meaning of the Ṣūfīs when they say they do not desire Heaven or fear Hell. Q .—Thou saidst that there is no conflict between the Sharīʿah , “law,” and the Ḥaqīqah , “truth,” and nothing in the latter inconsistent with the former; and yet these two are distinguished from one another by “a something” which the Ahlu ʾl-Ḥaqīqah , “believers in the truth,” conceal. Were there nothing conflicting, why should it be thus hidden? A .—If it be concealed, it is not because there is a contrariety to the law, but only because the thing hidden is contrary to the human mind; its definition is subtle, and not understood by everyone, for which reason the Prophet said: “Speak to men according to their mental capacities, for if you speak all things to all men, some cannot understand you, and so fall into error.” The Ṣūfīs, therefore, hide some things conformably with this precept. Q .—Should anyone not know the science which is known to the Ṣūfīs, and still do what the law plainly commands, and be satisfied therewith, would his faith and Islām be le than that of the Ṣūfīs? A .—No. He would not be inferior to the Ṣūfīs; his faith and Islām would be equal even to that of the prophets, because Īmān and Islām are a jewel which admits of no division or separation into parts, and can neither be increased nor diminished, just as the portion of the sun enjoyed by a king and by a faqīr is the same, or as the limbs of the poor and the rich are equal in number: just as the members of the body of the king and the subject are precisely alike, so is the faith of the Muslim the same in all and common to all, neither greater nor le in any case. Q .—Some men are prophets, saints, pure ones, and others Fāsiqs (who know God, but perform none of His commands); what difference is there among them? A .—The difference lies in their maʿrif ah , or “knowledge of spiritual things”; but in the matter of faith they are all equal; just as, in the case of the ruler and the subject, their limbs are all equal, while they differ in their dre , power, and office.