29. STRENGTHENING THE SELF
Two individuals passed by me carrying a heavy trunk while entertaining themselves with chanting all the way. One would sing and the other would listen to him, and in return, he would repeat it or sing something else and so forth.
After thinking about what they did, I realized that if they did not behave in way they did, then carrying the heavy’ trunk would have been more difficult and so what they did brought them some ease along the way.
Having contemplated the effect of that made me understand that each one of them gave his attention to what the other person was saying while focusing on what he will say afterwards—thereby making each one of them overlook the heaviness of what they were carrying.
This made me astonishingly conclude that as mankind is ordained to fulfil difficult tasks—and amongst these tasks is to wisely cope with the ‘self (nafs) [to make it abide by the law], compel it to overlook what it desires patiently and perform what it dislikes patiently—the right thing to do in such circumstances is to walk on the road ofpatience to the end while ensuring the self is being entertained and dealt with gently.
An example of this meaning is reported from the life of Bishr al-Hafi, may Allah engulf him with His mercy, who once travelled with another man and this man became thirsty on the way. As they arrived at a well, he said to Bishr, ‘Let’s drink from this well’ but Bishr replied, ‘Be patient and we will drink from the other well on the way.’ When they reached the other well, Bishr again encouraged the man advising him to be patient until they reached the next well and he kept doing so all the way. Then, at the end, Bishr said to the man, ‘See, this is how this life should be passed.’
Whoever understands this principle will entertain, encourage and handle the ‘self (nafs) gently with good promises about what awaits it in order to patiently conform to the commandments ordained on it. This meaning was reported from the righteous predecessors (salaj)\ one of them used to say to his ‘self, ‘By Allah, the only reason I forbid you from what you desire is my compassion for you.’
And, Abu Yazld used to say, ‘I remained steering my ‘self to Allah while it cried, until I could eventually steer it to Allah while laughing.’
Know that handling the ‘self gently (talattaf is required because it will help you endure and overcome the difficulties of this life. The aforementioned is merely a hint for its elaboration will become lengthy.
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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