15. GUIDANCE (HIDAYAH) IS FROM ALLAH
I contemplated the cause of people’s guidance (hidayah) and their awakening from heedless (ghafla). I came to realise the main cause behind it is such people were chosen by Allah, Most High. It is as was said: ‘When Allah wants you to do a matter, He prepares you for it.’
Awakening can sometimes happen by having a mere thought one’s intellect (‘aql) necessitates to consider, leading him to realise his existence and thereby concluding his existence necessitates having a Creator; so Allah demands from him the fulfilment of His rights upon him and thankfulness (shitkr) for His Graces (ni’ni). He warned him with His Punishment (‘iqab), which cannot be due to an apparent reason.
This is similar to the case of the people of the cave (ashab al-kahf),
“When they stood up and said, ‘Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and the earth.” [al-Kahf (18): 14]
The books of tafsir state, ‘Each one of them found in his heart a moment of awakening that made them believe that such creation must have a Creator. Hence, their inner selves ignited further due to the fuelled fire of their cautiousness, which made each one depart to the desert where all of them met without any prior arrangement. They asked each other about the reason that made them leave for the desert and their answers were truthful.’
In some other cases, Allah uses some people to create such apparent causes, like initiating intellectual thinking and contemplation; thus some people either awaken due to a sermon they heard or a lesson they witness that makes this apparent cause jolt the inner thought of the heart. The awakened are then divided into those whose desires overcome them and so their nature returns them to the desires they are accustomed— making them deviate again causing them not to benefit from such an awakening. In fact, this awakening establishes the proof against them [on the Day of Judgment],
And there are those who strive and stand in the middle— between their desires that encourage them to follow worldly pleasures— and their sensibility that encourage them to fear Allah.
Some of them strive over a longer time period but eventually deviate back to evil and their lives come to such an evil end, while others manage to overcome their desires once and fail to do so again after some time. But eventually their wounds caused by such struggles do not cause their death.
Other people yet still manage to subdue their enemy and imprison it making such an enemy stand helpless without weapon but casting whispers to them.
From among the elite [i.e. selected ones] are people whose hearts never fall into sleep after their awakening and so they never stop since embarking on the journey [to Allah],
This is because their endeavours and goals are aimed high. Each time they reach a higher rank they realise more of their shortcomings and pitfalls. Therefore they seek forgiveness. On the other hand, some of them may require striving either due to the lowliness of what their nature may call for— though it does not affect them— or either due to the honour of what they endeavour to achieve so they do not mind the hardship caused by it.
You should know that the way to Allah cannot be walked using feet but rather using hearts, and that the sudden impulse desires of the hearts are bandits and thieves. While the road you embark on is like a dark night
Yet the eye of the one whom Allah guides, is like the eyesight of the horse; thereby he’s able to see in the dark just as clear as it can see in the daytime.
And sincerity (ikhlas) while embarking on the road is a beacon that directs us to the right direction. Only those with insincere intentions will stumble in their walk, and those who refuse to be sincere are those whom Allah does not select (for guidance).
And there is no power and strength except with Allah.
(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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