slip-sliding away…..

Continuing our Ramadaan series, this post continues the book entitled “Purification of the Heart: Signs, Symptoms and Cures of the Spiritual Diseases of the Heart” – Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson‘s translation and commentary of Imam Muḥammad Mawlūd’s didactic poem “Matharat al-Qulub” (purification of the heart). The Imam was a 19th century Mauritanian scholar. For notes on the copyright status of the book, as well as links to purchase your own copy, please see the introductory post of the series.

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Heedlessness

POEM VERSES 138–140

Heedlessness is being careless concerning what God has commanded one to do and has prohibited.


Scholars of this science consider [heedlessness] to be the source of all wrongdoing. Its cure is to be found in four deeds, all of which possess rectifying qualities:

Seek forgiveness from God; visit the righteous; invoke benedictions upon the Prophet ; and recite [God’s] Book.

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Definition

Heedlessness (ghaflah) is a terrible lack of attention to what is infinitely more important in one’s life than material goods. Heedlessness is a key concept often discussed in Islamic spiritual treatises and is referred to in many passages of the Qur’an. Imam al- Junayd, a prominent ninth century scholar, argues that heedlessness is the one pathogen that breeds all the rest of the diseases of the heart. The Arabic word for a simpleton is mughaffal, a person who is easily fooled. In our context, it is a person who is easily diverted from what is essential and consequential toward what is ephemeral and ultimately pointless.

According to some linguists, the Arabic word for “human being,” insān, comes from the word uns, which refers to “intimacy,” for the human being needs close companionship. Other linguists, however, believe it comes from the Arabic word nasya, which means to forget, implying that one of the characteristics of human beings is forgetfulness; this further implies that we need to be reminded often, which explains the centrality of repetition in spiritual practices.

The heedlessness that Imam Mawlūd speaks of here is that of its most  menacing  form:  being  heedless  of  divine  purpose, accountability, the resurrection, ultimate standing, and judgment in the Hereafter. The full manifestation of these events is veiled to us by the thin wall of death, the timing of which is the secret that hovers above the heads of all men and women. Even though the reality of these things is hidden in the realm of the unseen, what is expected of us is to receive and accept the message the Prophet  brought.

This was the duty of all the prophets—to call people to believe in the unseen, to trust what they say, and to commit to their teachings. There is a well-known allegory of some people in a cave: at the entrance of the cave was a lamp which cast shadows that the people in the cave believed to be realities. When one person left the cave and saw the real world—the sun, the stars, and the trees—he raced back in the cave to tell the others that there was much more to their world than what they saw in their cave. But the people feared what he said, causing them to deny, ridicule, and then physically attack him. The prophets came to rouse people from their stupor, to take them from their delusion and heedlessness to awareness. Many of the prophets were slain; all faced harsh opposition.

In the Qur’an, you will find ghaflah mentioned several times in different forms, but almost invariably referring to unawareness. The Qur’an uses other words to refer to unawareness. Those who laugh at the Qur’an are sāmidūn (QUR’AN , 53:61); they are so immersed in amusement they are oblivious of reality. On the Day of Reckoning, the heedless will be driven to their chastisement and be told along the way, “You were once heedless of this. Now We have removed your veil [ghiṭā’] from you, so your sight this day is sharp!” (QUR’AN, 50:22). God speaks of the disbelievers impervious to the message of the prophets as having a cover (ghishāwah) over their eyes (QUR’AN, 2:7).

The ultimate trauma of heedlessness, then, is not seeing reality as it truly is. It is choosing a way of living that allows divine signs to be left unnoticed. The Prophet  supplicated that God, the Exalted, show him things in their reality, distinguished and clear: “Show me the truth as truth and give me the ability to follow it; and show me falsehood as falsehood and give me the ability to avoid it.” Imam Mawlūd says ghaflah is also heedlessness of what God has commanded and what He has prohibited, or seeing the difference between the two as irrelevant. One of the cures for heedlessness is keeping good and sincere company. It is recognized in virtually all traditions and cultures that the company one keeps has inroads to one’s heart and morality. When surrounded by people who are sincere and trustworthy, one only benefits from them. Even when a person  errs, good companions remind him and set him right.

Treatment

The cure is in four practices that possess authentic rectifying qualities. The first is repentance and seeking forgiveness. As a matter of regular worship, one should ask for forgiveness (istighfār) at least 70 or 100 times a day, according to the Prophetic practice, which was closely followed by our righteous forebears (salaf). This practice is connected to accounting for one’s deeds. At the day’s end, the merchant looks at his ledger to calculate his earnings, to see what “the scales say,” so to speak. The moral scales are no less important, and each of us is a merchant with regard to what we lost or gained with respect to God’s pleasure. When there is loss, which is a frequent occurrence, seeking God’s forgiveness restores balance.

The second practice is visiting (ziyārah) righteous people, who enjoy rank with God, the Exalted. Classically, the ranking of humanity proceeds as follows, as evinced in the verse of the Qur’an, (4:69): prophets (al-nabīyyīn); truthful ones (al-ṣiddīqīn); martyrs (al-shuhadā’); and the righteous (al-ṣāliḥīn). The word ṣāliḥ conveys the notion of soundness of heart and excellent character. More specifically, it refers to one who gives God His due right by fulfilling His commandments and avoiding what He prohibited. This is ḥaqq al-ʿibādah, God’s right to be worshipped, which include rites of worship as well as excellent behavior towards other people. Hence, a righteous person does not cheat or lie. He or she is the kind of person whom one should seek out as company. Scholars have always encouraged visiting righteous people as part of the protocol of the spiritual ascendancy. These people include the living as well as the dead. If one goes to Medina, it is recommended to visit the graves of the great Muslims and convey salutations of peace to them. The Prophet  visited the gravesites of his fallen Companions. During the early part of his message, he forbade the visiting of graves, but later on, the Prophet  encouraged it. In pre- Islamic times, visiting graves was a form of idolatry. When the young community was purged of that, the Prophet  abrogated the previous command.

Visiting graves is a poignant reminder of death and the Hereafter. It is an armament against heedlessness. There is a hadith in which the Prophet  passed by a grave and saw a woman there weeping. He said to her, “It is better to be patient.” Not recognizing the Prophet  she replied, “You haven’t been afflicted as I have.”

The Prophet  then left her. When someone later told her that it was the Prophet  that she had spoken to, she went to him and explained that she did not realize to whom she was speaking. The Prophet a explained to her that true patience (ṣabr) is the patience shown when a trial first afflicts one. If one shows patience a year after losing someone dear, that is not the patience the Qur’an praises. Thus, visiting graves of righteous loved ones requires composure and self-control.

It is excellent to visit the righteous among us who are alive— those who are truly pious and knowledgeable. One cannot judge another person by title. In many Muslim countries now, men are presented with the title of “shaykh” as inherited from the father. As a result, there are people with that title who are ignorant. There are charlatans in this world, and none is more dangerous than a religious charlatan.

A learned man in Fez, Morocco, said, “God has made the ways of gaining lawful provision innumerable. Someone who uses religious pretension in order to profit is especially wicked.” This is not to say that earning a living by teaching religion is wrong. According to the scholars, this is entirely permissible. Although the very early forebears of Islam objected to it, the later scholars changed that position. They recognized that earning a living through teaching the Qur’an, for example, was honorable, especially as the demand for religious instruction grew exponentially, and teachers, like anyone else, were in need of a livelihood. Imam Mālik was given a good sum of wealth, but he was also known to spend it freely for the benefit of the needy. He was knowledgeable as well as judicious and very generous with his wealth.

One must combine knowledge of the outward Islamic sciences with inward spiritual experience to be truly considered a teacher. Unfortunately in today’s age, people often impose a chasm between inward and outward aspects of Islam, so two camps are postured against one another. The best example, though, is that of the Prophet , who represents the most perfect balance of inward and outward excellence.

When visiting a righteous person, the discourse should be substantive and not one of idle talk. One should seek to benefit in gaining knowledge and in the supplication of the righteous person. In fact, one should ask for being continually remembered in their prayers, for their prayers might be more acceptable to God than one’s own.

Just as one is recommended to visit the righteous, one should strive to be the righteous person that others seek out to visit. Imam Ibn ʿAṭā’allāh said, “If you do not believe that God can take you at this moment and make you one of His saintly believers (awliyāh), then you are ignorant of His power.”

The third cure is to invoke benedictions on the Prophet . This is, in fact, a command from God, the Exalted, Himself: “O you who believe, invoke benedictions upon [the Prophet] and salutations of peace” (QUR’AN, 33:56). The Companion, Ubayy ibn Kaʿb, once asked the Prophet  how much of his litany of remembering God (dhikr) should be benedictions on the Prophet . He said that a fourth would be good, and “If you add more, it is better.” Ubayy then asked, “And if I were to make it half?” The Prophet  said it was good, and “If you add more, it is better.” Ubayy then asked, “And if I were to make it three–quarters?” The Prophet  said it was good, and “If you add more, it is better.” Ubayy then declared that he would make all of his dhikr this way; the Prophet  said, “That is good.” There is great light associated with in voking prayers of benediction upon the Prophet . Sīdī Aḥmad Zarrūq once said, “If you do not have a murabbī [a spiritual mentor], then say prayers of blessings upon the Prophet , which acts as a murabbī.” Many scholars have attested to the fact that sending prayers of blessings upon the Prophet  purifies the soul. (Some recommend that one repeat it at least 500 times a day.) Some people make it their practice to repeat it 5,000 times a day. Imam Mālik constantly sent prayers of blessings on the Prophet . The muḥaddithūn (scholars of prophetic traditions) are well known for this practice.

The fourth cure for heedlessness is the recitation of the Qur’an. Reciting it with tadabbur (reflection) awakens the heart. However, plain recitation is beneficial as well. Learned Muslims have recommended that a person recite one–thirtieth of the Qur’an (juz) every day. If this is difficult, then reciting Sura Yāsīn (36) after the dawn prayer, Sura al-Wāqiʿah (56) after the sunset prayer, and Sura al-Mulk (68) after the evening prayer greatly benefit the soul. (New Muslims should strive with their utmost to learn how to read the original Arabic text of the Qur’an. Meanwhile, one is advised to listen to the well-known Qur’an reciters on audio devices or read a good English translation until one is able to read the Arabic. It is important for one to be regularly engaged with the Book of God.) The actual sounds of the language of the Qur’an—the breathtaking rhythms and words—are a medicine. From the perspective of energy dynamics, every substance has a resonance at a specific wavelength. A medicine resonates in order to cure the disease. So, too, do the sounds of recitation of the Qur’an: “O humankind, there has come to you from your Lord counsel and healing for what is in the breasts, and a guidance and a mercy to the believers” (QUR’AN , 10:57). When one recites the Qur’an, one moves his or her tongue pronouncing revealed words of the Lord of the heavens and the earth. And these words have a powerful and unique sound. People are often amazed at the sound of the Qur’an when they hear it for the first time. The beauty of the Qur’an is in its meanings as well as the sound of its recitation.

These    are    the    four    cures    that    Imam     Mawlūd offers for heedlessness. God warns the Prophet  from conforming to those whose hearts are in the state of heedlessness (QUR’AN , 18:28). God increases the heedlessness of people who turn away from the truth. An interesting aspect of heedlessness is that everyone will eventually be cured of it, no matter what the extent of this disease. The challenge is to be cured in this life, the time when our obedience in the arena of tests and trials holds meaning. The moment a person dies, veils are lifted. Even the denizens of Hellfire will no longer live in the Hell of heedlessness. We were created to remember God, and if it takes the heat of Hell to remind some, then that is how it will be. We ask God to make us among those who remember Him in this life and among those who are saved in the Hereafter.