Extraction from "What the Seeker Needs"of Muhyiddin
Ibn 'Arabi:
by Silvia Chowdhury
- Believe in the oneness and uniqueness of Allah. . "Nothing is
like Him" - Write in your heart and mind this principle, this foundation
of faith, and believe in Allah's prophet and the message that he
brought from the Devine Truth, and in Allah's orders and justice.
- Do not debate with people who attribute partners to Allah. If
the mind has reached a state in which it is free from doubt and
the heart is safe and secure, it makes no sense to disturb this
peace with superfluous proofs.
- You must accept and believe, even if you don't understand, the
allegorical verses of the Holly Qur'an and the ambiguous statements
of the messenger concerning the unity and the ultimate cause, as
well as the declaration of the prophets, which have come to us unaltered.
Love their companions; accept the truth of their mission. Think
of them with terms of praise, as they are described in the Holy
Qur'an. Show respect, as did the prophets, for the character that
distinguishes the perfect man.
- Look upon the whole creation, and above all, mankind, with good
will accepting, approving, forgiving, serving, and loving. Make
that your nature in your dealings with the world.
- Listen to your conscience.
- Cleanse your heart. In that heart keep up prayers for your faithful
brothers. Help and serve, as much as you can. Do not attribute to
yourself virtue, goodness, and graciousness because of your service
to the creation. It is your duty to lighten the load of those who
are burdened. If they cause you pain in return if their response,
their ways, their habits are dark and cast shadows upon you show
patience and forbearance. Do not forget that Allah says: ". surely
Allah is with the patient."
- Don't spend your life in empty endeavors and your time in idle
talk. Instead, reflect and remember Allah, read the Qur'an, guide
the misguided to the enlightened path. Help others leave evil and
turn to doing good. Mend broken friendship. Help others to help
others. Work to serve the ones who are in need.
- Find the right friend, who will be a support for you, a good
traveling companion on the path of truth. Beware of being close
to those who do not discriminate between the faithful and the unfaithful
not knowing either faith or the faithful; they do not care about
them. They are either strangers to or enemies of the truth in which
you believe.
- Look for the perfect teacher who will lead you on the straight
path. In your search for a guide, be sincere, because sincerity
distinguishes the true seeker. It is certain that if you cling to
sincerity and truthfulness, the Lord will manifest His attribute
of the Ultimate Guide upon you and will guide you to a perfect teacher.
Sincerity is such a catalyst that it turns lead into gold and purifies
everything it touches.
- Lawful sustenance, the lawfulness of all that you enjoy in this
world, is the foundation of your faith. So make sure that the morsel
of bread you put in your mouth is lawful.
- To advance in this path you have to be light light in worldly
goods, light in your concerns about this world. An unmistakable
sign of the heaviness that will prevent you from advancing is to
be a burden on people.
- When the love of the world fills your heart totally, it leaves
no space for the remembrance of Allah. The one who lives for this
world alone is bound to bear its pains and difficulties - trying
to resolve its problems by himself. His ego whose appetite never
knows satiation, whose ambitions are endless, is always wanting,
always hungry, always dissatisfied. These are the rewards of the
world to those who make the world their lord, forgetting the Lord
of all the Universes.
- This does not mean that you should abandon the world, not do
your duties in it or participate in its affairs - retiring to a
corner, making no effort, doing no work. The Messenger of Allah
(peace and blessings be upon him) says, "The one who earns his sustenance
lawfully through his efforts is beloved of Allah."
- This means that man will attain peace of heart and the level
of Allah's praise and grace if he accepts and is content with his
lot in accordance with Allah's divine apportionment. On the other
hand, if you do not accept the lot that is your fate, Allah will
render the world, which you so desire, your enemy
- Do not exchange your spiritual peace and the possibility of
eternal bliss for the temporal, decaying goods of this world. No
matter how grand and secure they look, they will die when you die.
- Most people complain that this world, their work to secure their
sustenance, and their work as householders for their families, take
time away from their worship. Know that work done heedfully, with
consideration for others, in accordance with proper behavior, for
the pleasure of Allah, is also worship.
- Use your with intellect, knowledge, profession, strength, and
health to gather as much of your sustenance as possible in the minimum
of time.
- Cleanse and beautify your days and nights with worship and at
each prayer make an accounting of your actions since the last prayer.
It is to be hoped that only good deeds and actions befitting a Muslim
are done between the times of prayer.
- After you perform your morning prayer, stay with your Lord until
sunrise, and after your afternoon prayer stay in His presence until
sunset. These are two periods of time when spiritual powers and
enlightenment flow in abundance. Keep your heart tied to Allah in
humility and in peace.
- Do not sleep until you are unable to stay awake. Do not eat
until you are hungry. Eat less. That will leave more space in your
heart and will increase your desire to pray and be obedient It will
make you more active and less lazy.
- Cleanliness is an order of Allah. Keep your body and your inner
self clean at all times.
- Make it a habit to read from the Holy Qur'an every day. When
you read, hold the holy book with respect. Read aloud, but just
loud enough that you can hear your own voice. Read without haste,
slowly thinking of the meaning of each word. There are infinite
meanings within the verses of the Holy Qur'an, within every word
- changing with your states and levels, knowledge and understanding.
Therefore you cannot possibly be tired, weary, or bored in reading
them.
- What is essential for you is to be heedful at all times, to
be attentive to what comes into your mind and your heart. Analyze
these thoughts and feelings. Try to control them. Beware of the
wishes of your ego.
- Think that each deed may be your last act, each prayer your
last prostration, that you may not have another chance. Have conscience,
shame, in front of Allah. It will be a motivation for becoming heedful
and also for becoming sincere and truthful.
- Give value to your time. Live in the present moment. Do not
live in imagination and throw your time away. Spend your time in
remembering, glorifying, and worshipping Allah.
- First perform the actions He has given to you as obligations.
Then do what He has given to you to do through the example of His
Prophet. Then take on what He has left you as voluntary, acceptable
good deeds.
- What you need is high morals, good character, proper behavior;
you must identify your bad features and rid yourself of them. Your
relationship to whomever you come into contact with must be based
on the best of conduct. If something is done to bring salvation,
truth, comfort, and peace to others, to oneself, and to as many
people as possible, protecting them, eliminating pain and hardship,
it is good behavior on condition that it is not done for personal
benefit, but for Allah's sake. Proper behavior is the means by which
an intention becomes a good deed.
- Choose to forgive, instead of punishing, so that you will be
counted among the compassionate, the peaceful, and the righteous,
whose rewards are promised by Allah.
- Anger and its manifestation are one of the great sins if aroused
by wrongs done to you personally. But it is permissible and right
and a part of correct behavior and good character to become angry
because of something done against Allah and His divine precepts,
to manifest it, and to fight for Allah's sake.
- It is best to separate yourself from people who do not believe
in what you believe, who do not do what you do, and who are against
your faith. Yet at the same time you should not think badly of them
or condemn them for what they are. Your intention in ignoring them
should be that you prefer the company of believers.
- Do not seek to be close to the heedless, to the ones who are
slaves to the desires of their flesh. If you are placed with them
in the same time and space, then face them and advise them. If they
turn their backs on you. Do not stab them in the back.
- Treat well those who are dependent upon you: the people who
work for you, your children, your wives and husbands, your mothers,
sisters, and friends, the animals in your care, the plants in your
garden. Show love, compassion, delicacy, generosity, and protection
towards those who depend on you - and in fact, to everyone. If you
wish His compassion and protection, remember that you yourself depend
on the One, the lord and owner of all and everything. Allah will
treat you the way He has ordered you to treat others. So try to
develop the good qualities of being just, peaceful, helpful, gentle,
and loving. You will see that this character will spread from you
to others around you, creating harmony, mutual love, and respect.
- Teach Allah's words in His divine book and the good behavior
of Islam to your children. Secure for them conditions in which they
can exercise what you have taught them. Do this without expecting
any return from them. From the very beginning, teach them to bear
difficulty, to have patience, to think. Do not place in their hearts
the love of the world. Teach them to dislike the things of this
world that will render them proud - luxuries, beautiful clothes,
delicacies, excess of ambition - because all these, if obtained,
will be subtracted from the good due them in the hereafter. Let
them not get accustomed to good things; break their habits. Beware
that this, which may seem austere, should not bring forth in you
the ugly character of miserliness towards your children. Do it in
respect and attachment to your religion.
- Do not be satisfied with your spiritual state; advance. Advance
ceaselessly, without interruption. With firm intention pray to Allah
to bring you from the state in which you are to a state beyond it.
In every state, in every move, while doing something or while being
inactive, be sincere and truthful. Do not ever forget Him. Feel
His presence always.
- Learn to give, whether you have plenty or little, whether you
are happy or in pain. Try to satisfy the needs of the needy. This
is a proof of your trusting in Allah. Spend from what Allah has
given you. Do not fear poverty.
- Avoid being negative and control your temper and anger. If you
cannot stop anger, at least do not show it. As you hold your temper
you begin to tame it, teach it how to behave, to obey, so that it
cannot hurt others or itself. For if you hold your temper, the All
Just Allah will also hold back His punishment for your sins.
- Wake before sunrise, remember Allah, and repent. When repentance
follows sin, the sin disappears as if it never happened. When repentance
follows a benevolent action or prayer, it is like light upon light,
grace upon grace.
- Fear Allah both in your actions and deep in - your heart and
thoughts. The fear of Allah is a protection, the thing that guards
you from harm. Allah's protection is the strongest of all armor,
of all fortifications; no harm can penetrate it
- Seek, learn about, and imitate the beneficent acts of your Creator
that manifest all around you.
- Be chaste. Chastity is to be cautious, to try to abstain from
all that is unclean and sinful. It is protecting yourself from all
that is doubtful and suspicious in and around you. If you are chaste,
all your deeds will be pure and sincere
- Follow the advice of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon
him): Even if you feel in need of that which is doubtful, even if
you are unable to get anything else, do not take it; leave it for
the sake of Allah. This is chastity.
- Choose less over more in it. Be satisfied with what you have,
even if it is less than what others have.
- Death may come in your next step upon this earth, and all your
dreams of this world will evaporate. So do not leave your accounting
to the Day of Reckoning. There is no place to go except Allah's
door of mercy. Therefore, go and kneel at its sill. Shed tears of
repentance and beg for entrance.
- There are three dangers, which may keep you from examining yourself
making the accounting of your acts, and being thankful to your generous
Lord. The first of these dangers is unconsciousness, heedlessness.
The second is the flood of tastes and desires that gush from your
ego, your lower self. The third is bad habits, in fact all habits,
which make one like a machine. The one who can protect himself against
these three dangers, with Allah's help, will find salvation in both
worlds.
- Spend all your effort to stay on the path of piety, and may
Allah help you.
- May the Eternal Truth wake you from the slumber of heedlessness.
May He make you aware of the origin, to which we will all return
and in which we will all remain for the rest of eternity.
- May the Divine Seer of all and everything open your inner eye,
so that you can see and remember what you have done and said all
through your life in this temporal realm of experiments. Then you
will know and always remember that you must account for it all and
that you will be judged on the day of final judgment.
source: What the Seeker Needs
