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| Excerpts From Kashf-al Mahjub |
| Trans.
R. A. Nicholson |
| Ali b. Uthaman Al Hajwary |
| Lower-soul and Self-mortification |
| �The object of all austerities and acts of self-mortification is resistance to the lower soul (nafs), and until a man knows his lower-soul his austerities are of no use to him.� |
| Pages (196-210) |
| Sahl b. Abdallah of Tustar and his followers had emphasized upon endeavour, self-mortification and ascetic training.
Dhu�l-Nun the Egyptian says: �Vision of the lower soul and its promptings is the worst of veils�, because obedience to it is the disobedience to Allah. Abu Yazid Bastami says, �the lower soul is an attribute which never rests safe lest in falsehood, i.e. it never seeks the �Truth�. Abu Sulyman Darrani says, �The lower soul is treacherous and hindering (in pleasing Allah), and resistance to it is the best of actions.� |
| What is Man? |
| Allah the Almighty has ascribed the name �Man� to the sum of substances which He has compound expound in us, excluding those things which are not to be found in some human beings. (p.198) |
| �And We have created Man of the choicest clay,� (Qur'an: 23: 12-14) |
| In the opinion of mystics the most perfect composition of Man includes three elements, viz. spirit, soul and body; and that each of these has an attribute which subsists therein, the attribute of spirit being intelligence, of soul, passion, and of body sensation. Man is type of the whole universe. The universe in the name of the two worlds and in man there is a vestige of both, for he is composed of phlegm, blood, bile, and melancholy, which four humours correspond to the four elements of this world, viz. water, earth, air, and fire. While his soul (jan) his lower soul (Nafs) and his body correspond to paradise, Hell and the place of resurrection. (p.199)
Paradise is the effect of God�s satisfaction, and Hell is the result of His anger. The spirit of the true believer reflects the peace of knowledge, and his lower-soul the error which veils him from God. Spirit leads to paradise, whereas Nafs leads to hell. A type of both exists in this world also. It is imperative not to relax resistance to Nafs, thus reinforcing the intelligence and the spirit which are home of divine mystery. (p. 199) |
| The importance of self-knowledge |
| Ali Hujwary has informed us in Kasaf al Mahjub, �an explanation of the qualities of human nature (insaniyyat) and the mystery thereof is incumbent upon all seekers of Truth.� |
| Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) has said: �He who knows himself already knows his Lord�, i.e. if he knows himself as perishable he knows his God is everlasting, or if he knows himself as humble he knows God as Almighty, or if he knows himself as servant he knows God as the Lord. Therefore one who does not know himself is debarred from knowledge of all things. (p.197) |
| Lower soul is the worst enemy |
| Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) has said,
�Thy worst enemy is your lower soul, which is between thy two sides.� |
| When you have obtained knowledge of it you recognize that it can be mastered by discipline, but that its essence and substance do not perish. If it is rightly known and under control, the seeker need not care though it continues to exist in him. The purpose of self mortification of the lower soul is to destroy its attributes, not to annihilate its reality. (pages: 206-207)
Shaykh Abu al Qasim al Gurgani has said: The lower-soul told me: �I am the destruction of the heedless, for I urge them to evil and salvation of those who Love God, for if I were not with them in my corruption they would be puffed up with pride in their purity.� (p.206) |
| Lower-soul cannot be destructed |
| Shaykh Abu Ali Siyah of Merv has said, my lower-soul called me to say, �I am God�s Army: You cannot reduce me to naught�.
Muhammad b. Ulayn of Nassa has related, �my lower-soul appeared before me as fox, I cast it under my feet, kicked it, but it grew bigger and bigger at every blow.� It then explained to me, �it is so because I was created perverse: that which is pain to other things is pleasure to me, and their pleasure is my pain.� (p.206) |
| Mortification is a Divine gift |
| Mortification involves bringing out best qualities in you. The mortification of those whom God loves is the work of God in them without choice on their part: it overwhelms and melts them away; but the mortification of ignorant men is the work of themselves in themselves by their own choice: it perturbs and distresses them, and distress is due to evil. (p.205) |
| Go To Self-mortification |
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