4. DOWRY OF PARADISE
You ought to contemplate (fikr) using acute insight, the mortality of the dwellers of Paradise (jannah) who enjoy a stress-free life while basking in continuous pleasures, having every desire fulfilled and more than beyond belief, for indeed it has therein what no eyes have ever seen, what no ears have ever heard of and what no imagination of mankind could ever comprehend. All of this being unchangeable and unstoppable because time has no effect in Paradise as it is an infinity with no end.
To attain the benefit of such contemplation however, one should compare all that with his own lifetime.
In best of cases, a person may live to one-hundred years; the first fifteen years of which are spent recklessly as a teenager while the last thirty years of which are spent in a state of weakness and impairment.
For the life between these two phases, half of it is spent sleeping and part of the rest in eating, drinking and working, while only a small portion of time is dedicated to worship.
Having considered all this, should you not buy all that mortality7 with spending little in this life? In fact, he who overlooks such a deal indicates a severe mental problem and a defect in one’s belief in the promises made by Allah for His believing slaves.
It is He who has the knowledge to conduct such deals directing people to the path and educating people of its goodness and warning them from the consequences of being astray.
Shaytan has manipulated some ascetics (mutayabid) and introduced grave trials in their way, the greatest of which being that he kept them away from knowledge (‘Uni). This is because he wanted to turn off the light so he could steal in the dark. In fact, some great scholars deviated in taking such a path that knowledge (i.e. religion) forbids.
I saw one of the books of Abu Hamid al-TusI wherein he mentioned some of his reports, he said: ‘I sought the advice of a notable man from the Sufis, to ask his opinion regarding my intention to be constant in reciting the Qur’an. He forbade me from starting such an act of worship and said, ‘the way to follow is that you need to disconnect yourself from this worldly life totally so that your heart neither thinks of a child or a wife or a wealth of knowledge. You remain in such a state until the existence of the existence of the aforesaid equals their nonexistence. Then you need to seclude yourself in a corner and sit there not thinking of anything at all while you keep saying in repetition, Allah, Allah, Allah until you reach a state where, if your tongue stops uttering this word, you feel as if the word is still uttered by your tongue. Then you sit and wait for what will be inspired to you similar to what Allah inspired Prophets and Awliya’.’
I am not surprised with what he advised him to do, but I am surprised by his objection to reading the Qur’an despite his knowledge and understanding.
How could reciting the Qur’an be an obstacle upon the right path? And how could he think that Prophets were inspired just because of their self-discipline and struggle?
In fact, how can one trust what appears out of such ways? What is it that will be inspired? Would it be knowledge of the unseen or a revelation?
Indeed, all this is nothing but the manipulation of Shaytan. It is possible that what they imagine to be is either just mental delusions or from Shaytan.
That said, you should seek knowledge and read the stories of the righteous predecessors to verify if any of them ever did such things or commanded such things.
On the contrary, they busied themselves with the Qur’an and seeking knowledge that guided them to rectify and purify their hearts and hidden affairs.
We ask Allah, Most High, for knowledge that is beneficial to us and shield us from our enemies, for indeed He is the Most Capable.
(Source: al-Hafiz Abu’l-Faraj ibn al-jawzl [d. 597AH] “CAPTURED THOUGHTS being” a translation of his masterpiece ‘Sayd al-K hati
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