14. BEING MINDFUL OF ALLAH WHEN ALONE
Whoever wants his concerns to be removed and his heart to be rectified, should avoid associating with people in this era. Because before people used to gather for benefit [of talking and performing good deeds], while today’s gathering comprise of nothing but harm.
I also tried to seclude myself many times in the house of solitude (‘uifa) and thereby it became strong. 1 reinforced such strength with reviewing the stories of the righteous predecessors (sirah al-salaj). I thus found such solitude to be a diet, and reading such stories as medicine— taking the medicine while following a diet when one is sick will bring benefit. Similarly if I permit myself to mix with people and meet them, my focused heart becomes distracted. 1 overlook what 1 previously heeded, and the heart becomes engraved with the images that my eyes see. My consciousness inscribed in it what the ears have heard, and ‘the self becomes eager to attain worldly benefits. This is all because the majority of people are heedless {ghafla) and sitting with them will make ‘the self steal from their habits.
Afterwards, when I try reaching out to my heart (qalb), I no longer can find it and start missing the feelings [of tranquillity and peace in being mindful of Allah and worshiping Him] I used to have in my solitude, hence my heart remains in such a condition for days until it overcomes the effect.
What benefit may someone gain by demolishing his building? Remaining in solitude is like the building and looking into the stories of the righteous predecessors is like the means whereby the building is lifted up. Mingling with people will tear apart what has been built over a long time within a minute, notwithstanding the heart becoming weak and more difficult to retrieve. Such a condition can be only realised by a person who knows the [spiritual] sicknesses of the heart (marad al-qall)) to understand and know when it turns away from its owner, and when the bird leaves its cage!
The sick, in such a case, cannot be assured that such a sickness will not ruin his heart or that the captured bird will not fall in the trap!
The cause of the sickness of the heart was that it was on a diet of avoiding mixing with people and fed with knowledge (ilm) and stories of the righteous predecessors (sirah al-salaj). Then suddenly it broke its diet and mixed with people; hence it could not handle such a disturbance thus becoming sick.
One should hence endeavour harder because it will not be long before we find out who we can meet or take [benefit] from, or find whose company is good, except in very rare cases that I am unaware of.
So keep yourself in your solitude (khalwa) and take care of what has remained from the self. And, know if ‘the self (nafs) becomes disturbed because it longs to associate with people, it is then debased so tame it until it finds being in the company of mankind as something it despises.
For if it was attached to its Creator (al-Khaliq), it would not find joy in being in the company of others, as this is like the example of a person in the company of whom he loves in privacy and hence he does not care, or is not affected by the presence of anyone else!
Indeed, if the heart falls in love with Yemen, it will never consider the Levant (Sham).
(Source: al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hatir)
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