Prev to the page 8
...............................
...............................
All
the joys and treasures of the world are theirs to enjoy. But pain is the
companion of His lovers. Tears are His
apostles. Pain is better than dominion of the world, for the prayers of the
sorrowful come from burning hearts.
He
hardens your heart and respites you for an allotted time from that terrible day. But on the Last Day, there is
no more respite and you will be called to account for your doings, and the
respite you took as a sign that He would not punish you will prove only to have
increased you in rebellion. The Praised One revealed: When We let them taste
Our mercy after affliction, they contrive against Our signs.
If
you renounced all that you cherished and lived in abject misery and suffering, and if
you died, not today nor yet tomorrow, but instead a thousand years hence, you
would, on the Last Day, account your sufferings to be His sweetest mercy.
Submit to Him and your reward resides in your submission.”
Herod said: “I am asking for a little proof. Have
him come down from Heaven. Show me anything. Show me a sign of your god and I
will believe and do exactly as I am bidden! Show me a sign that I may be a true
lover and fear his anger and seek his pleasure. Bring an angel to your side and
let him testify to all that you have said, and I will believe.”
John
said, “I can give you no sign. By seeing Him, you would fear Him. Though He
should be feared, you would worship Him from fear alone. You would make fear a
partner with God, and there is no God but God.”
Herod said, “This is insane. Give me something
other than excuses. At least show me a
vision of that reward he promises his believers. Give me a glimpse of paradise
and I will worship him to attain to it.”
John
said, “If you had listened to all I have said to you, you would already have
glimpsed paradise. I cannot show it to you any more plainly, lest you see it
and lust after it as you lust after things of this world.
You
would worship Him in hope of attaining to paradise. You would have worshipped
paradise and made it a partner with Him. In the court of His Oneness, such
worship is no better than apostasy.
Worship
Him without fear of Him and without hope of reward. Then you might perform a
fitting worship.
Renounce
your pride and you will understand that paradise is His strung bow. He draws
and the high part becomes low and the low becomes high. Renounce your lusts and
you will see that mercy is His curse, deprivation is His blessing. Renounce
your riches and you will know that true wealth is poverty in His way.
Worship
Him only because you love Him and not for some mean price. Ask for no reward
apart from His presence, because He is self-sufficing and nothing can suffice
you but Him.
But
if you offer service to attain to your ends, whether to avert His anger or to
acquire from Him some prize, then you will have never truly served Him and you
will feel His anger and you will be deprived of reward.
Caliph
Ali decided to test the faith and virtue
of a certain servant named Asad. This servant, who was merely a stable-boy,
wished to demonstrate his love of God and his loyalty to Ali in acts of great
courage and fearless battle. Every day he sought out the caliph and clung to
him and pathetically pleaded with him,
‘Make
me a captain of your armies and send me north to fight the Parsis. I will prove my
worth in battle!’
One
day Ali smiled on him and told him, ‘I will make you a captain and send you at
the head of an army to seek out a
rebellious chieftain.’
At
these words, Asad beamed with pride. But Ali said to him, ‘I do not want you to
do battle. Go to the chieftain Numan and ask him why he has abandoned the faith
to which he swore homage in the presence of Ahmad, peace be upon him. Ask him
why and deliver his answer to me. Do this thing for me, and I will adopt you as
my own son.’
Now
when Asad led his army north, he did
not obey Ali’s instructions, but made
war on the chieftain Numan, driving him into the desert and conquering the
lands to which he held title. Numan was murdered by his own people. They cared
nothing for their chieftain’s resistance to Asad and feared the soldiers of the
God in whom Numan’s people still believed.
Asad
concluded his war and returned to Mecca,
resplendent on his horse, leading an army of proud soldiers and a caravan of the richest
tribute. The people hailed him as the conqueror of the north, and his soldiers
esteemed him as the most blessed of generals. He was crowned with every tribute
and honor. But when he went to see the caliph, Ali refused to speak with him.
For
three days and three nights he pleaded with Ali’s guards to let him pass and to
speak with the caliph. At last Ali relented and Asad was brought before him.
Now when Asad saw the caliph, he bowed before that essence of holiness, and
said, ‘My lord, I have returned to you with honors and riches that I won for
you.’
Ali
said, ‘I have no more honors and riches than I had when you were a stable-boy.’
Asad
protested, ‘But my lord, I did battle with Numan and his legions and conquered
their land. Their people have returned to the faith of God and have paid to
your treasuries tribute for the wrong done you by Numan.’
‘Numan
did me no wrong. He disbelieved and I sought a reason from him. But his
disbelief, indeed the disbelief of all mankind, could have no effect on me, for
I am exalted beyond the pettiness of men’s minds.’
Ali
continued, ‘I sent you to question Numan and to return to me with his answer;
you have failed me in that simple task.’
Asad
said, ‘But I have done great things in your name. In your name I have forced
the people of Numan to submit. In your name I have exacted a fine tribute from
the north.
In
your name I have won a dozen battles and killed a hundred infidels with my own hands. Surely this is
more valuable than the excuses of a mere apostate?’
Ali
said, ‘You did not perform these acts
for me. I sent you to perform a simple task and you failed me. How can I
believe that these far greater tasks, to which you lay eager claim, were for my
benefit when that simplest of all duties was beyond your ability? ’
Forget
your rewards and obey Him. Your desire for reward is sufficient witness to your
rebellion against Him. Seek Him for His sake before and above all else.
Do
not loiter in His garden, though there is none so green or beautiful; seek Him
out. If you have come to His threshold for the sake of His threshold, then you
will be deprived of Him.
After
Ahasuerus banned Vashti from his
presence for her disobedience, he decided to take a new
bride. He ordered Hegai, the keeper of his women, to bring his concubines into
the palace garden. When they were assembled, Ahasuerus said to them: ‘I have
hidden a treasure here. Find it and show it to me and I will marry you and give
you possession of that treasure.’
When
the concubines heard this, they were filled with excitement and
searched through the garden.
Some of them imagined the prize to be jewelry. Others presumed it to be
gold and silver.
Still
others believed the prize was Vashti’s own crown which had been taken from her
for her disobedience. But Esther, who was the wisest and most beautiful of the
women did not move even for a moment. She stood before Ahasuerus as before,
smiling at him. He said, ‘Are you going to look for the treasure I have hidden?
’
Esther
said, ‘I have found it already.’ Ahasuerus said, ‘Show it to me.’
Esther
left the garden and returned with her mirror and held it to her king’s face,
her eyes fixed on him. And when she showed him this, he set the royal crown on
her head and made her queen instead of Vashti. He said to her, ‘I was a hidden
treasure wishing to be known.’”
Herod
traded eternity for a single dance. He stumbled over the Joseph of truth but, like the Midianites, cast him away.
Ahmad declared: They hid him as an item of merchandise; but what they did was
known to God. And they sold him as worthless
for a few paltry dirham.
For
his niece’s performance, Herod bartered his soul. He remembered only himself,
and thinking himself alone with his thoughts, he accounted himself blameless.
Before
Moses climbed up Mount Nebo, to the peak of Pisgah, he said, “God, forgive me
this transgression and the one before it.”
The
Israelites heard him and were perplexed by what he had said. They asked him the
meaning of his words.
Moses
answered, “I ask for God’s forgiveness for breaking faith with Him at the
waters of Meribah-Kadesh. And I ask for God’s forgiveness for a worse sin. On
the day I murdered the Egyptian, I looked to the left and the right and,
believing myself alone, I committed murder.”
The
Israelites said, “Surely your Lord has forgiven you. That man was the willing
servant of a tyrant and God made you a prophet.”
Moses
said, “Let nothing you say touch me! I ask forgiveness for ever having excluded
my Lord as witness for all I say and do. I have never been alone, not even for
an instant. By believing no one
witnessed the murder, I became witness
against myself for unbelief.
There
is nowhere that you may turn your head that He is not before your eyes. You do
not see Him because you are in the way. With a single finger you block out the
sun from your eye.
When
the Angel of God showed paradise to Adam, he warned Adam of that single tree,
saying, ‘Do not eat of it. It is the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. A
taste of its fruit on the lips of one who knows only good will separate you
from Him and this is surely death.’
But
Adam did not obey and ate of the tree. The instant he tasted the fruit in his
mouth, he became suddenly aware of himself. He said, ‘I must hide from my Lord
who will surely punish me.’
The Angel of God
approached him, saying, ‘Why
are you hiding? ’
Adam
said, ‘I was afraid that He would punish me for my disobedience. I am ashamed and have
found myself naked before Him. I ate of the fruit forbidden to me and, in
eating, I became aware of myself.’
The
Angel of God said, ‘Truly, you are dead to Him until you become dead to
yourself again. Why did you seek any other than Him?’
Seek
truth from no other but Him. In His treasury alone are the treasures of true
knowledge. In His palace alone are the comforts of true contentment.
Do
not seek an accounting from Him of His doings. He is All- Knowing, All-Wise.
Exalted is He above your approval.
Men look upon
the curtain and
wonder at the
mystery it conceals. We all circle it, casting stones or saying prayers
to it. Others deny it, and still they circle it. And all the while they peer
upon the curtain, thinking behind it is that glimpse of God and that from His
ark He stares back.
But
no man may approach His throne or even lay eyes on Him. To come before Him with
faith is blasphemy, for there is none but Him and you are excluded, unless the
king holds out his scepter.
He
does not conceal Himself from you behind the curtain, but whispers to your
heart to tear the curtain away and to lay eyes on its mystery. He whispers,
‘Destroy what you find concealed for it
is an idol.’ Do not wait until the Last Day to behold the idol of that mirror.
Look
upon yourself today and remember all that you have done. Break the idol you
have found. You will never unravel His mystery. Is it not enough that He help
you unravel your own? ”
Herod
said, “If I fail to fulfill my vow to Salome, none will account me trustworthy.
I must protect my name and my station. I swore an oath to her in the presence
of my wife and ministers. How would you have me keep my dignity if not by
fulfilling my vow?”
John
offered his neck to the sword, “How will He love him who guards his dignity
against Him? The one jealous of his own honor, regards not His.”
And
when John was beheaded, Herod said, “If a single sinner finds favor with Him,
he may intercede for me. If he is Mordecai at the king’s gate, perhaps
Esther will intervene for those who have gone astray.”
Though
He will judge me and may reject my cries at His gate, that He cast me out is
enough. If He curses me, I will not turn to another than
Him. His curse will become my remembrance of Him; His judgment against me and His
decree linking me to Him.
There
was none so beautiful in the days of King Cyrus as his own daughter. None in
the kingdom failed to admire her.
One
day, as she was touring the marketplace,
a dervish was stricken by the sight of her. The bread that was his only dinner
fell from his hand and into the dust. He marvelled at her beauty such that his
appetite meant nothing. Her gorgeous and radiant face blinded him to anything
else.
The
princess saw this dervish in his tattered robes, covered in dirt, and his mouth
agape. She smiled on him as she passed by. When her eyes fell on him, the
dervish lost all sense and fainted away as though dead.
For nine
years he remained in
sublime ecstasy, cherishing the
memory of her glance. Like a stray dog, he followed the one who had shown him a
single kindness. But this was to him more valuable than a kingdom of gold.
Every
night he slept on the street in sight of her palace. During the day, this
restless soul exerted himself only to glimpse her face again.
At
last, her servants said, “He is a nuisance and a danger to you. Let us kill
him.”
But
she told them, “No. Bring him to me and I will show him where things stand.”
When
the dervish was brought into her presence, he fell to his knees on the ground
adoringly. But the princess said, “Why do you do this? Why do you persist after
me? There can be nothing between us.”
He
answered, “There is nothing left for me. Even if my praise does not befit you,
I cannot keep from praising. Even if my love is beneath your contempt, I
cannot help but love you. You are the sun and the moon in the heaven of my
heart. A hundred suns in their brilliance could not obscure my vision of you
since the day you smiled on me.”
She
said, “I curse the day I smiled on you. You are a fool. I did not smile for
love, but out of pity because you are a pathetic sight.”
The
dervish answered, “This is so. But I would have loved you even had you spit on
me in contempt. I loved you not for a smile, but that your eyes fell on me at
all, whether cursing or loving.”
My
Lord, forgive me. I am a halif among the believers. Nothing can blot out my
remembrance of You. I
am a snake with a broken head and cannot turn.
Author by Daud Ibn Ibrahim Al Shawni
Posting to Blog by OGIE
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar