The Spiritual dimension of the Sunnah
By Shaykh Mahdi
Hendricks (Lecturer in Tafsir, Hadith
and Akhlaq,
The Prophet (pbuh) said: “At the end of time ‘Akhiru Zaman’ three things would become extremely rare, the True Sunnah, a Halāl Dinār and a sincere brother”
When we speak about the spiritual or inner dimension of the Sunnah, we refer to the states of the Prophet, taken from the Hadith: “Ashariatu Aqwāli wa Tariqatu Af ‘Ali wal Haqiqa tu Ahwāli” Shariah is my speech, Tariqah (the path) is my acts and Haqiqa (Divine Reality) is my states.”
Shariah is the outside of the religion and Haqiqa is the inside. However there is no separation between Shariah h and Haqiqa they are in actual fact one. Haqiqa is the essence of Shariah. It is like the butter that is hidden in the milk, only after the churning of the milk will the butter appear. Sidi Alawi bin Murād (R.A), a great Sufi Shaikh of our time gave a beautiful analogy on this Hadith, he said: Shariah is the body (form), Tariqah is the heart (container) and Haqiqa is the Soul (essence) or one could say Shariah is the ‘‘Ibāda, Tariqah is the application of the ’Ibāda and Haqiqa is the result and fruit of that ‘Ibāda. Shariah one is able to take from the books, whereas the Haqiqa (states) cannot be taken from the books, because it is not an idea or a concept. For this one needs a true spiritual guide who knows the Haqiqa and has arrived to the Haqiqa al Muhamadiya, like the great Shaikh Mustapha al Alawi (R.A) who said in his diwān, “Muhammad we know the inside of him, (Muhammad Na’rif Ma Fi Hi). These are the Arifūn (Gnostics) who have arrived at the level of al-Ihsán and obtained Ma’rifah (Knowledge of Allah).
The prophet (pbuh) said: “I came with a Knowledge transmitted (Manqūl)” (and this is Shariah) “and I came with a Knowledge which transcends the intellect” (and this is Haqiqa)
The Prophet also said: there is most certainly a kind of Knowledge that appears to be in a hidden form, none has knowledge thereof except for the ‘knowers’ of Allah (Gnostics) and when they reveal this knowledge, those heedless of Allah, reject it. It is for this reason that the prophet gave the prudent advice to his companions when he said: “Speak to people in accordance to the level of their intellect”. Because people normally reject what does not appeal to the intellect. Of the well known sayings of Abu Huraira (R.A.) (reported in Bukhari): “I have preserved two vessels of Knowledge from the messenger of Allah, the one I have disclosed, as for the other, if I were to disclose it, you would slit my throat”.
Salmān al Farisi said: “If I should inform you of everything I know, you would say, ‘may Allah have mercy on the killer of Salman” Imam Ali (R.A) said: “I have a knowledge, should I mention it you would remove ‘this’ from ‘this”, pointing towards his head and his body.
All of this is proof that even amongst the companions there were levels of understanding and there were sciences, which the prophet did not give to everyone amongst them.
Allah asks the Prophet SAW to come down to the level of the believers: “ and lower your wings (O! Muhammad) to the believers” (al Hajr-88)
Allah has made man his Khalifah (representative) because of his ability to possess the Divine Realities (al-Haqiqa), despite the fact that he is a potential sinner and a mixture of light and clay. The angels on the other hand, who are sinless beings, created from pure light, were not given this rank. We must understand that essentially Allah created us as transcendental beings made up of the physical and the spiritual. But the Divine purpose is that man should become a spiritual, godly being. Allah says in Surah Ali Imrān verse 79 ‘Kūnu Rab Baniyīn’ Be you godly (worshippers) and this is the state of al-Ihsān.
Man has the ability to go beyond the state of the angels.
Angelism, says Shaikh Udda bin
People are in three categories in their understanding of the religion and that is Islam, Imān and Ihsān. To each one is his allotted portion. The general people (Awām) do not have the capacity to endure the taste of the elect (Khusūs). The Prophet said, “The Qurán is the orchard of the Arifun (Gnostics) meaning, it’s the Arif who lives with the inside of the Qurán. He maintains a healthy balance between the esoteric and exoteric dimensions of the religion, because Allah has opened his heart to the Knowledge of the Divine realities (al-Haqiqa) On the outside he lives with the acts of the Shariah and on the inside he lives with the states and the soul of the Shariah, which is the Haqiqa. When he prays for example’ the outside is Salah whilst the inside is Muwāsala (attachment) with the Beloved and he remains continuously with the state of Salah, the state never leaves him. The prophet said, “Abu Bakr did not excel you by his prayers or by his is fasting, but by something in his heart”. Allah says about the Arif, “And We will give him a light with which he will walk among the people” (An’ām 122) there is a great verse in the Qurán that deals with the spiritual dimension of the prophet’s Sunnah, “Say if you love Allah, follow me and Allah will love you”. (‘Ali Imrān – 31) A beautiful explanation is given for this verse by a Sufi Shaikh, he said “Allah did not say to the prophet SAW, if you love Allah then love me and Allah will love you, no! He said follow me and Allah will love you.” Because if we follow the Prophet SAW we taste another love, a love that will take us to Allah, In the following (Ittibā) of the Prophet SAW lays the secret. However the question is, to follow him in what? “Follow me in my speech, my deeds and my states”, since the sum total of the religion is made up of three levels, Shariah, Tariqah, Haqiqa or Islam, Imān, Ihsān. It is easy to understand the ‘following’ of the prophet in his speech and acts. But how does one follow him in the states, which is al-Ihsān? The only way to taste the states of the prophet is to follow the one who has tasted and arrived to the complete Sunnah inwardly and outwardly and they are the Arifūn (Gnostics) who inherited from the prophet his speech, acts and states. They live with the qualities of the prophet and it is they who have tasted the love of Allah through self-extinction in the beloved and though they are among the few elite, the earth will never be void of them, they are the true saints of Allah. So what is the recompense for the one who has followed? Allah says, “Yuh bib kum Allah” Allah will love you.
In Sahih Bukhari Allah says in the Hadith Qudsi, “and when I love my servant, I become his eyes with which he sees, his hearing with which he hears, his hand with which he touches and his feet with wish he walks.”
This is the ultimate recompense because Allah himself has
become the reward. Nabi Esa (AS) said:
“Allah is love” and in the education of the Sufis is the education of love,
from the beginning to the end. Anyone
who contends withthe existence of this knowledge is
contending with Allah because it suffices to read the story of Nabi Mūsa
and