Spirituality & Purification

If human beings were left alone in the world with their own hopes, each would judge on the basis of his own temperament and taste. They would do whatever they found pleasing and conformist to their inclinations. Every individual would follow his own path in order to secure his interests, leading to the severance of individual and social relations and unending corruption and anarchy.

The French scholar, Emile Dermenghem, writes in his book The life of Muhammad: The Prophets are just as necessary for the world as the beneficial and wondrous forces of nature, such as the sun, rainfall, winter storms, which shake and cleave, open dry and infertile land, covering them with freshness and verdure. The grandeur and legitimacy of such events can be deduced from their results: inward capacities that have received strength and as well as confidence, hearts that have been given tranquility, wills that have been fortified, tumults that have been quietened, moral disease that have been cured, and finally, the supplications that have been mounted up to Heaven.

Since the purpose of prophet-hood is the comprehensive guidance of the individual and society towards perfection and the laying down of a legal system and a social order for mankind, the assumption of responsibility involved is necessarily heavy and taxing. To accept bearing the burden of prophet hood requires great capability and energy. The Almighty Allaah therefore bestows the station of prophet hood on those who have the ability and capacity to bear the heavy responsibilities of the delineating practical course, for mankind to follow through the light of revelation.
Being appointed to this mission is like a storm that envelops the whole being of the prophet. It causes his mind to overflow with the light of insight and wisdom. And by virtue of this clarity of vision, as well as his freedom from arbitrary and selfish desires and erroneous thought, he mobilizes all his capacities with an inexhaustible ardor to fulfill his divine mission.

All human beings want to follow their own way to spirituality, by their own thinking and techniques. What the mind accepts they agree to, and what the mind rejects they disagree with. However, one thing should be remembered. Where the human intellect stops, the prophetic intellect pick up. Altogether The Almighty Allaah sent 1,24,000 prophets to this world to introduce The Almighty Allaah and His likes and dislikes to mankind and to purify the people of their desires and sins. Each time, in the absence of a prophet, human beings begin to worship worldly things instead of The Almighty Allaah. Then His prophets were sent to turn the human mind towards The Almighty Allaah once again. But in fact even today, we are worshipping not The Almighty Allaah but money and power, in various degrees.

It was The Almighty Allaah's Prophets who introduced The Almighty Allaah and His Supreme Power, His treasures and miracles to us. Now, which Prophet's guidance should be followed, that of Prophet Adam, the Prophet Moses, Prophet Jesus (Peace be upon them) or the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) – or that of any others?  Each Prophets brought a particular model of spirituality suitable to the time and place and were directly inspired by The Almighty Allaah. When the second Prophet came, the first Prophet's guidance became invalid; when the third Prophet came, the second Prophet's guidance became invalid and so on. Since the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the last and final Prophet, no Prophet will come after him and since he brought the complete acts and commands of The Almighty Allaah, His wishes and prohibitions, it is confirmed that his guidance will remain valid forever till the end of the world, and those who want to achieve spirituality and enlightenment must follow Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) whether or not the mind accepts the fact that The Almighty Allaah's instructions came for mankind through Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). Without following this way of life, of which The Almighty Allaah has shown His approval, purification of the soul will not possible. The Holy Quran justifies this view.

In the 74th Surah of the Quran, The Almighty Allaah addresses the Prophet thus: "Oh you, enveloped in your cloak, arise and give warning! Glorify your Lord, purify your raiment, and shun pollution! Bestow no favors expecting worldly gain! For the sake of your Lord, be patient!'' Only the clean and pure soul will go to Heaven and the sullied soul will enter Hell. Enjoining purification, Allaah says: "For you I have sent the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), he will recite my words and will purify you. He will teach you the Quran (Holy Book) and Allaah's knowledge and such things as you never knew. So remember Me and I will also remember you. And be grateful to Me, don't be ungrateful."
 
We are unclean with the thoughts of sins and desires but the Prophet is clean from all these. This is one of the reasons why we need to follow him so that we can lead a life in devotion to The Almighty Allaah. Another reason is that he is a Prophet of Allaah and His revelation came to him and it is the commands of Allaah that we follow him. We are born with desires in this world. Our duration in this world is like a test, which we have to undergo. If we don’t give into this desire, but instead worship The Almighty Allaah and refrain ourselves from all these things, He will grant us abundance of rewards in the hereafter.

Excess of sins and negligence in the remembrance of The Almighty Allaah causes the heart to rust, as water causes iron to rust. The reading of The Holy Quran and the remembrance of death polish the rusted hearts. The heart is like a mirror. If it is not cleaned it will not be able to properly reflect the image of The Almighty Allaah. The cleaner is the mirror, the clearer is the image. Therefore, the more we indulge in sinful lust and devilish acts, the more we are deprived of the recognition of The Almighty Allaah. It is with a view to purifying the mirror of the heart that Mashaikhs (pious) enjoin upon their disciples to devote themselves to self-discipline endeavors, spiritual occupation, incantation and remembrance of The Almighty Allaah. It is mentioned in the Hadees that when a man commits a sin, his heart gets stained. If he repents in earnestly, the stains disappear, but if he commits another sin, the stains re-appear. In this way, if he goes on committing one sin after another, his heart gets completely blackened. At this stage the heart becomes disinclined to do well, and takes to evil. (May Allaah save us from such a stage) “Verily their evil deeds have covered their hearts with rust” 

Muhammad bin Sammaak R.A. relates that Mussa Bin Muhammad Bin Sulaiman Al Hasmi was a nobleman of the Banu Umayyaih clan, who had been brought up in affluent circumstances, and used to engage in eating, drinking and merrymaking; he had the most elegant clothes and indulged in all kinds of sensual pleasures. A handsome young man with a moon-like face, he lived in the company of beautiful women and men, far from the worries and responsibilities of the world. The Almighty Allaah had showered upon him all kinds of bounties and favors; his annual income amounted to 303,000 Diners, which he spent on frivolous pursuits. He lived in a palatial mansion with windows on one side, opening out to the main road; where he would sit and watch the wayfarers walking past. The windows on the other side of the building, opened on to a beautiful garden, from which cool fresh breezes blew, laden with the sweet fragrance of flowers. In the middle of his palace, there stood a domed pavilion of ivory, studded with silver. In his pleasure-dome, the young Hashmi, wearing a gem-studded turban, would recline on a throne covered with jeweled brocade, in the company of close friends and Companions, while his attendants stood at a respectable distance, awaiting his orders. In front of the pavilion sat a company of dancers and singing girls. Whenever he wanted to listen to music, he just glanced at the guitar, and the musician would come forward and play their instruments accompanied by songs. When he wanted the music to stop, he pointed to the instruments and the music ceased. This merrymaking would go on till late at night, until sleep overpowered him. When he became drunk owing to excessive quantities of wine, his friends would go away and he would retire to his private apartment, with any girl that pleased his fancy. He spent his mornings playing chess and dice. Nobody ever talked to him of painful matters or of anything concerning death or disease. His parties were devoted to merrymaking, amusing anecdotes were related, and jokes and pleasantries were shared. Each day people brought him rich varieties of the rarest perfumes from all over the country and beautiful vases of sweet-smelling flowers.

The chieftain spent 27 years of his life in the enjoyment of such luxuries and pastimes. One night, while sitting as usual in his pavilion, he heard a sweet voice coming from a distance; it was unlike the voices of any of his own singers, but was most melodious and charming, and this made him restless. He ordered to stop the music and leant out of the window to listen earnestly to sweet and clear voice. It floated in the air for some time, then just as silence fell, it became audible again. The Chieftain ordered his servants to fetch the man responsible for these charming melodies. While their master continued to drink wine, the servants traced the voice to a thin, lean young man, weak in body, pale in face, with parched lips and disheveled hair, his belly sticking to his ribs, dressed in rags that just covered his nakedness, standing in prayer before The Almighty Allaah and reciting from the Holy Quran. They caught hold of the man and presented him to their master saying, "Here is the person you wanted, sir." The chieftain, who was now completely drunk and not in his proper senses, asked, "Who is this man?" and they told him that he was the one whose voice he had been listening to a few moments ago. He asked them where they had found the man and they replied that he was praying in a Mosque and reciting from the Holy Quran. The chieftain then asked the ragged young man what he was reciting and asked him to recite it again. He began with "I seek refuge in The Almighty Allaah, against the devil, the outcast. Lo! The righteous will surely dwell in bliss. Reclining on soft couches, they will gaze at the wonders of Heaven. You will know in their faces the radiance of delight. They will be given pure wine to drink, sealed, whose seal is musk. (As this bliss can be a recompense only for good deeds, let men try to excel one another in the performance of good deeds.) And, that wine is mixed with the water of Tasneem, a spring from which those who have been brought near to The Almighty Allaah will drink." The ragged man then said to the Chieftain, "O you who have been deceived, your palace, your pavilion and your couches cannot compare with those raised couches of Heaven. Couches lined with silk brocade. Green cushions and carpets of the fairest hues. While reclining on these couches, the people of Heaven will see two gardens in which two fountains are flowing. In these two gardens there is every kind of fruit in pairs, each having a different taste. The fruit of these gardens is unending in its abundance and neither is it forbidden. It is also unlike the gardens of this world, of which not everybody is allowed to eat. When the man had thus recited a good many verses, about Hell and Heaven, the Hashmi Chief rose from his seat and embraced him, weeping bitterly. He told his friends to go away and, himself went out, with the poor man, to the courtyard of his palace, where he sat on a rug and wept and cried with deep remorse over his past youth, while the poor man sat there till dawn, admonishing him to repent and exhorting him to start a life of piety. The Hashmi then repented deeply of his sins, before the poor man, and made a covenant with The Almighty Allaah that he would do sin no more. In the morning, he made a public repentance, in the presence of his friends and other people, and sat in a corner of the Mosque, leading a life of devotion and holy seclusion. He gave away, Sadqah all the assets of his house, distributed all his belongings among the poor, dismissed all his servants, set free most of his slave-boys and slave-girls, sold others and spent the money received in return, for the cause of The Almighty Allaah . He made full requital of all the wrongs done to others and paid all that was due from him to the people also, returned all the things he had wrongly and forcibly taken from their owners.

Then he entered upon a life of austerity, wearing coarse cloth and eating plain barley bread. He stood all night in prayer, fasted by day and began to lead a life of self-mortifying austerities. So much so, that the saints and spiritual head of his times came to visit him and advised him not to chastise himself so severely, saying, `Take pity on yourself; The Almighty Allaah is Most Merciful and His bounty is beyond our estimation . He grants bounteous rewards for little pains .But he would reply, "My friends, you do not know how much I sinned against my Lord. Day and night I defied His commandments. I indulged in the most heinous crimes." And then he would weep profusely.

Governor Haroon Rasheed (may Allaah be pleased with him) had a son, about sixteen years of age, who used to associate frequently with the ascetics and spiritual leaders of those times. He would often go to the graveyard , sit by the graves and say, "There was a time when you inhabited this world and you were its masters. But the world did not protect you and you ended up in the grave. I wish I knew what you are experiencing now! I wish I knew what you said in reply to the questions that were asked of you !" He used to recite this couplet very often: They will wish to come forth from the Fire, but they will not come forth. (Al-Maaidah:37)

One day, the young boy came to the court of his father, Haroon Rasheed, while he was sitting in company with his viziers, lords and noble- men. The boy was dressed in simple clothes, and was wearing a turban. When the courtiers saw him in this condition, they said, " The ways of this mad boy are a disgrace to the Governor, in the sight of the kings; if only he could be admonished him, to give up his foolish habits." The Khalifah heard this and said to his son , "My dear son, you have disgraced me in the sight of the kings." At this, the boy did not say a word to his father, but called out to a bird sitting nearby, "Oh bird, I ask you, in the name of Him Who created you, to come and sit on my hand," whereupon the bird flew across to him and perched on his hand. The boy then told it to fly away and it flew back to its former perch. After this, he said to his father, "My dear father, as a matter of fact, it is your attachment to the world that is a disgrace to me. I have made up my mind to part with it all." And, having said this, the boy went away, taking only the Quran with him .When he went to take leave of his mother, she gave him a precious ring, so that he might sell it and use the money in case of need. The boy then went to Basrah, to work among the labourers. He accepted employment only on Saturday, using this one day's wages for seven days, spending a danaq (one sixth of a Dirham) each day.

The rest of the story has been related by Abu Amir Basri (may Allaah be pleased with him) who says, "Once a wall of my house collapsed and I needed a mason to rebuilt it. So somebody told me that there was a young boy who did the work of a mason and I went looking for him. Outside the city, I saw a handsome young boy sitting on the ground with a bag lying beside him and reciting the Holy Quran. I asked him if he would like to work as a labourer and he said, "Certainly, we have been created to toil and labour. What work do you want me to do?" I said that I needed a mason to do some construction. He agreed and asked for one dirham and one danaq as his wages for the day, and said that he will stop work and go to the masjid when it was time for prayer and would resume work after that. I agreed, he came with me and began to work on the wall. I came back in the evening and was surprised to see that he had done as much work as ten masons. I gave him two dirham, but he refused to accept more than one dirham and one danaq, and then he was gone, taking no more than had been agreed upon.

Next morning, I went out again, looking for him but I was told that he worked only on Saturday and that nobody could find him on any other days of the week. As I was greatly satisfied with his work, I decided to postpone the remaining construction till Saturday. When Saturday came round, I again went looking for him and found him in the same place, reciting from the Holy Quran as usual. When I greeted him, saying, "Assalaam-o-Alaikum," he returned my greeting, saying, "Wa-Alaikum-As-Salaam" and agreed to work for me on the same conditions. Then he came with me and started to work on the wall. Wondering how he had done the work of 10 men the previous Saturday, I watched him working, without being noticed by him. I saw, to my great amazement, that when he put mortar on the wall, the stones automatically banded together. I was sure then that he was one of the favourites of Allaah, as such people are assisted by unseen help from their Creator. In the evening, I wanted to give him three dirham, but he took just one dirham and one danaq and went away, saying, he had no use for more than this amount. I waited for him for another week and went out looking for him again next Saturday, but could not find him anywhere. On my enquiring from people, a man told me that he had been ill for three days and was lying in a deserted place; so I engaged a guide on payment to take me there. We reached the place only to find him lying unconscious on the ground, his head pillowed on a piece of broken brick. I greeted him but he did not respond. Then I said, Assalaam -O -Alaikum again, a bit louder. This time he opened his eyes and recognized me. I laid his head in my lap, but he put it back on the piece of brick. And then he recited a few couplets, two of which I still remember.

‘O my friend, do not be beguiled by the luxuries of the world, for your life is passing away; the luxuries are short-lived. And when you carry a body to the grave, remember, one day you too will be carried to the graveyard.’

The boy then said to me, 'Abu Amir, when my soul departs, wash me and shroud me in the clothes that I am wearing now. I said, "Dear me, I see no harm in buying new cloth for your shroud." He said, "The living is more in want of new clothes than the dead." (These were the exact words spoken by Abu Bakr (May Allaah be pleased with him), who, when close to death, refused to give his permission to buy new cloth for his shroud, expressing the desire that he be shrouded in his old garments.) The boy added, "The shroud (old or new) will quickly decay. What remain with a man after his death is his deeds. Give this turban of mine and the jug of water to the grave-digger and, when you have buried me, convey this copy of the Holy Quran and this ring to the Governor Haroon Rashid . Be careful to deliver it into his own hands and say,     " These things were entrusted to me by a stranger who bade me to convey them to you, with the admonition: 'Oh father, take heed, lest you die in heedlessness, beguiled by the world. ' '' With these words on his lips, the young boy gave up his soul. At that moment I came to know that he was a prince.

After his death, I washed him, shrouded him and laid him in the grave just as he had desired, and gave his turban and the jug to the gravedigger. After this, I undertook a journey to Baghdad in order to deliver the ring and the Holy book to the Governor. Luckily for me, when I reached the Governor's palace, his cavalcade was just coming out of the court. I stood on a raised platform and watched the pageant. There came out from the palace, a troop of a thousand horsemen, followed by ten more troops of a thousand horsemen each. In the last troop rode the Governor himself, whereupon I called out in a loud voice, " O Governor, I beseech you, in the name of your kinship with the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), to stop for a while." The Governor stopped and looked round. I went forward at once and handed over to him the two things entrusted to me by the deceased prince, saying, "These things were entrusted to me by a stranger boy who passed away, leaving a will that these should be delivered into your own hands." The Governor looked at the ring and the Holy Quran and hung his head in sorrow. I saw tears falling from his eyes. The Governor then told his chamberlain to escort me to his palace and to present me to him when he came back from the promenade. I proceeded with the chamberlain to the palace.

When the Governor came back in the evening, he ordered the curtains of his palace to be drawn and told the chamberlain to call me into his presence, even though he said, "This man will just revive my sorrow." The chamberlain came to me and said, "The Governor wants you, but have a care. He is grievously shocked. If you want to say something in ten words, try to put it in five." He then ushered me into the private room of the Governor, who was sitting there all by himself. The Governor told me to sit closer to him and when I had taken my seat, he asked me, "Did you know that son of mine?'' I said I did, and then he asked, "What did he do for a living?" I replied that he did the work of a mason. The Governor said, "Did you also engage him to do the work of a mason?" I said that I had done so. The Governor said, " Did it not occur to you that he was related to the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him)?" Haroon Rashid was a descendant of Abbas R.A, the uncle of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). I said "O Governor, first of all, I beg forgiveness from The Almighty Allaah and then I beg your pardon, but I did not know of this at that time. I only learnt about it after he had passed away." The Governor said, "Did you wash his body with your own hands?" I said, "Yes," and he said, "Let me touch your hand." He then held my hand to his bosom, caressing his chest with it and recited a few verses, which meant: "O thou estranged from me, my heart melts away with grief over thee; my eyes shed tears of sorrow! O thou whose burial place is far, too far, thy grief is closer to my heart. True, death concerts most excellent pleasures of the world. Ah! My estranged son was like a moon hanging above a silvery bough. The moon has set in the grave: the silvery bough is gone to dust”.
After this Haroon Rashid decided to go Basra (Iraq) to visit the grave of his son. I, Abu Ameer, also accompanied him. Standing by his son's grave, Haroon recited the following verses:

`O voyager to the Unknown, never shall thou come back home. Death snatched you away in the first bloom of youth. O coolness of my eyes, thou wert my solace, my heart's peace, in long lonely hours of night and in brief moments of joy. Thou has tasted the potion of death, which thy father shall drink in old age. Indeed each one must taste of Death, be he nomad or town dweller. All praise be to he Almighty Allaah, the One, Who has no partners; for, these are the manifestations of His Divine Decree.'

The following night, when I went to bed after observing my daily devotional practices, I dreamt that I saw a domed building bathed in light (Nor), above which there hung a radiant cloud. Out of this cloud came the voice of the deceased boy, talking to me: "Abu Aamir, may Allaah grant you the best reward (for washing and shrouding me and for acting upon my will)!" I asked him, "My dear friend, how are you faring in the next world?" He said, "I have been admitted to the presence of my Lord, Who is the most Bounteous One and Who is well pleased with me. He has granted me such Bounties as the eyes have never seen, the ears have never heard and minds have never thought of it.