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| Excrepts from KASHF-AL MAHJUB The oldest persian treatise on Sufism |
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| by
Ali B. Uthman Al-Jullabi Al Hujwary (Popularly known as Hazrat Data Gunj Baksh) |
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| Translated by Reynold A. Nicholson |
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| Discourse on Subsistence (baqa) and (fana) Annihilation |
| Comments from Experts quoted in Kashf al Mahjub |
| Abu Sa�id Kharraz has said, �Annihilation is annihilation of consciousness of manhood (ubudiyyat), and subsistence is subsistence in the contemplation of Godhead (ilahiyyat)�. One should not be conscious of one�s personal individual actions as human beings, but rather contemplate on actions of God, only then one attains real manhood (bandagi). When man devotes all actions to God, he is inclined towards perfection leaving his personal choice to take God�s course. |
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| Abu Ali Juzjani would say, � The saint in annihilated in his own state and subsistent in the contemplation of The Truth.� (p216)
In contemplation it is impossible to regard aught but God. He cannot be peace with anyone but with God, because a man has knowledge only of his own state, and when all his states are annihilated he cannot tell anything about himself. He cannot relate it to any other human being, because to tell of one�s hidden state to other is betrayal, revealing secrets of the Beloved, and no one can hold that but The Beloved Himself. |
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| Abu Yaqub Nahrajuri has said, �A man�s true servantship (ubudiyyat) lies in annihilation and subsistence�. Here annihilation requires denouncing self-interest, i.e. selfishness for the sake of collective benefit (falah). As Ibrahim b. Shayban has said, �The alchemy of annihilation turns on �sincerity� (Ikhlas) and unity (wahdiyyat) and true servantship; all else is error and heresy�.
When one is overpowered by Omnipotence of God, and realizes His might, he is humbled by it, confesses his weakness and sees no alternative but to serve God by obtaining His gratification (rida). As Ali Ibn Talib has said, �I cognize him for contravention of my personal plans.� |