4.
TEN DEGREES OF GUIDANCE (3)
The eighth degree of guidance
mentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyyah in his Madārij al-Sulūk (Steps
of Divine Seekers) is Ismā‘ (الإسماع, “to make listen”). There is distinction
between “hearing” which is by ears, whereas “listening” is “hearing through
heart.” It is the heart that listens. Similarly, there are two kinds of
“seeing”: through the eyes, and through the heart. The kuffār, those who
deny the truth of Islam do hear its message, but they do not listen to it, because
their hearts are closed. Allah says in the Qur’an:
أَفَلَا يَتَدَبَّرُونَ
الْقُرْآنَ أَمْ عَلَى قُلُوبٍ أَقْفَالُهَا (محمد : 24)
Do they not then think deeply in the Qur’an
or are their hearts
locked up (from
understanding it?) (Q. 47:24)
It is a command from Allah to reflect upon the Qur’an, but their hearts
are locked up, so that they cannot understand it. They have eyes, ears and
hearts, but they do not use it spiritually, as if they are blind, deaf, and
heartless. Allah says about them as follows:
وَلَقَدْ ذَرَأْنَا لِجَهَنَّمَ
كَثِيرًا مِنَ الْجِنِّ وَالْإِنْسِ لَهُمْ قُلُوبٌ لَا يَفْقَهُونَ
بِهَا وَلَهُمْ أَعْيُنٌ
لَا يُبْصِرُونَ بِهَا وَلَهُمْ آذَانٌ لَا يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَا أُولَئِكَ
كَالْأَنْعَامِ بَلْ هُمْ أَضَلُّ أُولَئِكَ هُمُ
الْغَافِلُونَ (الأعراف: 179)
And surely, We have
created many of the jinn and
mankind for Hell. They have hearts wherewith
they
understand not, and they have eyes wherewith
they
see not, and they have ears wherewith they
hear
not (the truth).
They are like cattle, nay even
more astray; those! They are the
heedless ones. (Q. 7:179)
Ibn al-Qayyim gives an
example of a person who hears but does not listen to the truth, mentioning the
following verse:
وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَسْتَمِعُ
إِلَيْكَ حَتَّى إِذَا خَرَجُوا مِنْ عِنْدِكَ قَالُوا لِلَّذِينَ
أُوتُوا الْعِلْمَ مَاذَا قَالَ آنِفًا أُولَئِكَ
الَّذِينَ طَبَعَ اللَّهُ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِمْ
وَاتَّبَعُوا أَهْوَاءَهُمْ
(محمد : 16)
And among them are some who listen to you
(O Muhammad) till when they go out from you,
they say to those who have received knowledge:
“What has he said
just now?” Such are men
whose hearts Allah has sealed, and they
follow their lusts (evil desires) (Q. 47:16)
Allah said to the Prophet
that among disbelievers were people who listened to him, but without paying
enough attention, so that they did not understand anything about what the
Prophet had said, because they were, according to the commentators Qatādah and
Ibn Zayd, the hypocrites. When they left from the Prophet’s presence, they
asked the companions what the Prophet had said. Their hearts had been sealed
for following their lusts.
In order to receive guidance through ismā‘ Ibn
al-
Qayyim said that a person has to pass three degrees of hearing: hearing with his ears (سَمَاعُ الأُذن), then hearing with his heart(سَمَاعُ الْقَلْب) , namely with understanding, then to the last degree, hearing with acceptance and with response (سَماَعُ الْقُبُوْلِ وَالإجَابَة).
Qayyim said that a person has to pass three degrees of hearing: hearing with his ears (سَمَاعُ الأُذن), then hearing with his heart(سَمَاعُ الْقَلْب) , namely with understanding, then to the last degree, hearing with acceptance and with response (سَماَعُ الْقُبُوْلِ وَالإجَابَة).
The ninth degree of
guidance is ilhām (الإلْهَام, Inspiration, instinct). It is a gift from Allah to believers
in general based on the quality of their belief. Some examples are mentioned in
the Qur’an, as follows:
وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَى أُمِّ
مُوسَى أَنْ أَرْضِعِيهِ, فَإِذَا خِفْتِ عَلَيْهِ فَأَلْقِيهِ فِي الْيَمِّ وَلَا
تَخَافِي وَلَا تَحْزَنِي إِنَّا رَادُّوهُ إِلَيْكِ
وَجَاعِلُوهُ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ (القصص:7)
And We inspired the
mother of Mūsā (Moses) (telling):
“Suckle him, but when you fear for him, then
cast him
into the river and
fear not, nor grieve. Verily, We shall
bring him back to
you, and shall make him one
of (Our) Messengers.” (Q. 28:7)
وَإِذْ أَوْحَيْتُ إِلَى الْحَوَارِيِّينَ أَنْ آمِنُوا بِي
وَبِرَسُولِي قَالُوا
آمَنَّا وَاشْهَدْ بِأَنَّنَا مُسْلِمُونَ (المائدة:111)
And when I (Allah)
inspired al-ḥawāriyyīn [the
disciples of ‘Īsā
(Jesus)] to believe in Me and My
Messenger, they
said: “We believe. And bear
witness that we are Muslims. (Q. 5:111)
This kind of guidance are also given
to inanimate beings, usually called “instinct”, for example, mentioned in the
Qur’an, as follows:
وَأَوْحَى رَبُّكَ إِلَى
النَّحْلِ أَنِ اتَّخِذِي مِنَ الْجِبَالِ بُيُوتًا
وَمِنَ الشَّجَرِ وَمِمَّا
يَعْرِشُونَ (النحل:68)
And your Lord
inspired the bee, saying: “Take you
habitations in the
mountains and in the trees and
in what they erect.” (Q. 16:68)
Ibn al-Qayyim makes distinction between ilhām and firāsah (الفراسة, intuitive knowledge of human nature), which takes place
rarely, whereas the former takes place often. Each of them is divided into
general which takes place many times and particular which takes place rarely. Ihām
is purely a gift, whereas firāsah
is attainable through acquisition and learning.
Ibn al-Qayyim
al-Jawziyyah divides ilhām (inspiration) into three degrees: (a) an
important information given as definite inspiration accompanied with hearing;
(b) an inspiration that takes place clearly which is general and inevitable
where it is unavoidable by the heart; and (c) an inspiration which purely
clarifies the essence (substance) of conviction (verification), and genuinely
talks about the essence of eternity. The details are as follows:
A. The important information gives as definite
inspiration accompanied with hearing.[1]. It
is divided into three categories:
(1) The inspiration where the angel partially talks to somebody who is
not a prophet, like ‘Imrān ibn Ḥuṣayn. It is said that the angels shook hands
with him.[2] It is either it is heard by ears which is
rarely occurs among believers, or heard by the believer’s inner ears, namely,
the angel talks to his soul. But at the
same time Satan could also inspire him. The Prophet said:
Verily, the angel has a call in the heart of the
son
of Adam,
and Satan has also a call in the heart of
the son
of Adam. The call of the angel is threatening
with good things and confirming Allah’s promise,
whereas
Satan’s call is threatening with
bad things and denying the promise.
Then the Prophet s.a.w. recited:
الشَّيْطَانُ يَعِدُكُمُ الْفَقْرَ
وَيَأْمُرُكُمْ بِالْفَحْشَاءِ وَاللَّهُ يَعِدُكُمْ
مَغْفِرَةً مِنْهُ وَفَضْلًا وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ (البقرة:268)
Satan threatens you with poverty and orders you to
commit
evil deeds; whereas Allah promises you with forgiveness from Himself and bounty,
and Allah is
All-Sufficient for His creatures’ needs,
All-Knower. (Q. 2:268)
(2) Inspiration from exclusively from the jinn (demons),
either a Muslim jinn or Satan, and either heard by ears, or
heard by heart. For example, Allah says in the Qur’an:
يَعِدُهُمْ وَيُمَنِّيهِمْ
وَمَا يَعِدُهُمُ الشَّيْطَانُ
إِلَّا غُرُورًا (النساء:120)
He (Satan) makes promises to them, and
arouses in
them false desires; and Satan’s promises
are nothing
but deceptions.(Q. 4:120)
If someone claims to be inspired, he has to
verify, whether the inspiration comes from a Muslim jinni or from Satan. Satan
would inspire somebody and talk to him, and the man would say proudly, “I have
been spoken”, but by whom? When Ghaylān ibn Salamah who had ten wives converted
to Islam, the Prophet told him to keep only four of them, and he did. But in
the time of ‘Umar who became caliph he divorced all his wives and distributed
all him wealth to his children. When ‘Umar r.a. heard this, he told him that “…Satan might
have stolen information and heard about your death, so he inspired you and told you that you will no longer live long…”, and therefore,
‘Umar asked him to take back his wives and wealth.
(3) An instant address
originally from man’s mind, and return to his mind, but he thinks that it comes
from outside. This happens many times to divine seekers, and therefore, they
make a mistake by thinking that the address comes from Allah. The reason is
that the subtle signal (لَطِيْفَة)[3] attained by man if it becomes pure by means of
spiritual exercise, and his mind (عَقْل) is cut from massive distractions, its
judgment becomes in virtue of the control of soul and heart over the body as
well as the outcome of their (the soul’s and the heart’s) judgments. Then the concern of the soul and the heart
will move to purify the ideas (thoughts, senses) into spiritual mental speech
and address in virtue of tradition, and will agree with the freedom of the
soul, so that these ideas (thoughts, senses) form by the power of hearing as
heard sounds, and by the power of sight as seen entities, so that he sees their
images, and hears their speeches. All of these are within himself, and nothing
outside of him at all, but he may swear that he hears, sees and that he is
right, but all these are not from outside of him.
In the
next khutbah, in shā’ Allah, we shall continue with the remaining
ninth and the tenth degrees of guidance, as mentioned by Ibn al-Qayyim
al-Jawziyyah in his Madārij al-Sālikīn.
(CIVIC,29January,
2016)
المراجع:
المكتبة الشاملة
تفسير الطبري )ت. 043 ه (
تفسير القرطبى )ت. 664
ه (
تفسير ابن كثير )ت.
661 ه (
ابن القيم الجوزية. مدارج
السالكين.
Muhsin
Khan, Dr. Muhammad. Summarized Sahih Al-Bukhari. Riyadh: Darussalam, 1996
Asad,
Muhammad. The Message of the Qur’an. Gibraltar: Dar al-Andalus, 1984.
http://jamharah.net/showthread.php?t=22172#.VpycPlLIWpY
http://www.nabulsi.com/blue/ar/art.php?art=2999&id=150&sid=734&ssid=753&sssid=754
http://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-ar/%D9%84% D8%B7% D8%A7%D8%A6%
[1] If Allah talks
directly to a person, it is the highest degree of inspiration and we call it
revelation which occurs only to prophets, such as Prophet Moses a.s. and
Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. in his ascension to heaven (mi‘rāj) as mentioned earlier.
[2] ‘Imrān ibn Ḥuṣayn embraced Islam lately, in the year
of the campaign of Khaybar in the 7th AH. After he made a pledge with the
Prophet s.a.w. with his right hand, he said that he would only use it
for noble deeds. One day while he was present, the companions of the Prophet
asked him, “O Messenger of Allah, what will happen to us, when we are with you
our hearts become tender, and we renounce our pleasure with worldly things, as
if we see the Hereafter with our eyes, until we go away from you and we meet
our family, children and the world, then we denies ourselves?” The Prophet
replied: “By Allah, in Whose hand is my soul, if you keep being like when you
are with me, you would clearly shake hands with the angels now and then.” The
classical Qur’an commentator Qatādah said that ‘Imrān ibn Ḥuṣayn shook hands
with the angels until he became pressed, and so they withdrew.”
[3] The definition of laṭīfah is as
follows: كلّ إشارة دقيقة المعنى تلوح للفهم لا تسعها
العبارة . It every signal with subtle meaning which appears
to our understanding but it is beyond our expression.
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