Part 12

' It is a location situated some 5 kilometers to the east of Makkah. Where Pilgrims would go to stone where the devil was as this is where it is said that Ibrahim stoned the devil.

thoughts abide by the limits set by the Lord, while their hearts are devoted to only love of the Creator. They avoid crowding with the throngs in the market of desires, and their longing for their Lord is too strong to be encompassed in the limits of this worldly life, therefore they forsake it in favour of enjoying the vast stretch of loftiness in the desert of piety, where they pitch their tents of glory in the stretches of guidance and the carefully chosen shores on the rivers of truthfulness. And so, they ptepare for the voyage of shedding tears in these rivers, secluding themselves with their distress (about the Hereafter) - but the dears of the desert aid them. The bulbuls of their anxious hearts thrummed in the dark; if only you could see how they uneasily change from side to side while lying down on the ember of anxiety.

O you whose conduct has been a far cry from piety, self-imprisoned in the cell of ignorance and wishful hopes, should you emerge from your prison seeking to alleviate your heart from the distress of your hardship, I advise you to pay a visit to them in their valley. They are the ones who as soon as they reflected upon the creation, they understood the purpose of their life, and therefore they packed their belongings prior to their departure and prepared themselves to embark the journey. While people indulge in the mire of earning wealth, the pious are reposing in the shades of content. While those whose hearts and souls are infected with the sickness of desires seek help in the hospital of trials, the pious enjoy their stay in the castles of safety. While the negligent slackers lay down on the bed of idleness, the pious are active in the race tracks of

“they look forward to imperishable gain”

SEEDS OF ADMONISHMENT AND REFORM

They drag the horses of strong will in the fields of the endeavors, whipping this worldly life with the whip of pride so that they do not tarry, and times hardly passes until they have safely crossed the toll bridge without paying its imposed tax. Their wealth lies in their hearts;

“Their mark is on their foreheads”,

Thus what they were deprived from never caused them any harm, and they are well-pleased with what they will be granted afterwatds. They easily endured the exhaustion of the long journey for they know the high status of their final destination. They have tasted the bitterness of trials in this life, so their safety is assuted in the next life. May glad tiding be for them on the Day on which it will be said to them

che. Shes ace Sule NSS “This is your Day which you have been promised”

XALTED IS HE WHO SENDS the winds of exhorta-

tions, that stir up in the hearts - of those who are awake

- clouds of sorrow with regards to their past doings, propelling them to the arid land of human nature accompanied by the thunder of forewarning and the lightning of fear, whereupon tears of sorrow rise upward from the deepest reservoirs of the heart to the peak of the head. Thereupon, the wells of the eyes channel theit water along the surface of the cheeks, so that when the green grass [of the heart emerges], it sways with pleasure on having received the answer to prayers.

When the clouds of fright roar and thunder, the heart of the sinner becomes agitated, and the layers of his shelled inner secrets open up just as how shells situated in the sea open up to receive the drops of rain, which pours within them drops of determination made of pearls. The spring of gratitude is sincere repentance. When a pure drop from the elixir of happiness’ is placed on the top of mountains of muddy sins, such a drop will

* "This term is used to refer to the happiness of the Hereafter i.e. the shortest path that a person should take to attain the pleasure of Allah.

SEEDS OF ADMONISHMENT AND REFORM

cause these mountains to crumble down as how the mountain went down [when Allah, Exalted is He, was about to show up to it]. Thereafter, the dust of these crumbled mountains is transformed into a £ob/ with which the eyes of hearts are treated.

Indeed, it may be that a sin be the cause of person’s admission into Paradise. If a person redeems himself with sincerity, his soul - which in the past used to incite him to commit sin - will be transformed into a tranquil soul. When Ibrahim (‘aayhi as-salim) walked along the path of forbearance, his son - the sacrificial lamb - followed him, both of them submitting to the will of Allah, Allah cast passivity upon the knife, rendering it inactive. When a repenting person converses with his faculties of sensibility and contemplation, they remind him of his previous sins and make him regret at his mounting audacity. Thereupon, the eyes that used to indulge in sin erupt with teats of regret, and the repenting tongue repeats the words: I shall never return to sins ever after, and the functionary of bracing begins deploying hard workers to build up the edifice of his heart. There, o sinner, whenever you ate troubled by a matter, let your tears atone your affairs.

O you who severed the connection to his Lord, return. O you who vowed to reject his Lord, repent. You were honoured when Iblis [the devil] was ordered to prostrate to you, whereas Iblis was cast afar when he refused to do so. Yet I truly wonder at you! How could you, inspite of that, make reconciliation with the devil and boycott your Lord?! How ruined you are, for your status in the Eyes of your Lord is greater than the status of the Night of Power (i.e. Laylatil Qad)).

Abandoning Lust and Desires

glory is affected, but they were cut off at the time when

desires were in touch with the pride of Pharaoh. As Misa (‘alayhi as-salam) threw his staff of asceticism and lo! it swallowed the sticks of desires.

TL: HE ROPES OF LIFE ARE A mete illusion with which

This worldly life is a market where the clamour and tumult of desires fills the ears, therefore if you busy yourself with it, how would you be able to hear exhortation and beneficial preaching? The “ant-prince” of providential help calls out to the righteous to save themselves as the tribulation of “Sulayman” (‘alayhi assalim) approaches: desist your base nature from consuming those morsels of worldly delights that you so desire

Og ats Zh yi03 portals “Jest Sulayman and his armies crush you, unperceiving,”

ie. the metaphor is that of the ants which were in the valley that Sulayman (‘alayhi as-salam) and his soldiers were transpiring,

SEEDS OF ADMONISHMENT AND REFORM

and had the ants not heeded the warning of their prince to enter into safety, they would have been crushed by Sulayman’s (‘alayhi as-salam) axmy]

Among the “Seven people whom Allah will shade on the Day in which there is no shade but His” was a man who was seduced and invited by a beautiful women but he refused her advances saying, I fear Allah”, so pay heed, O you who answered the temptation of a deformed old woman. When desire sparks before the eyes of the pious, they attempt to stretch out with their hands to reach for it. However, their hearts notice the thread that would set off the trap that would ensnare them, so they flee from it beating the wings of warning, as they say to others,

“I wish my people could know. Of how my Lord has forgiven me and placed me among the honored.”

Indeed, it is difficult to swim in a lake infested by crocodiles, to travel through a land populated by beasts. O you who are chained in the backyard of this mortal existence, censure is looming over you, yet you are unable to hear the counsel of sincere advice, as the glue in your ear prevents you!

Many tuinous lusts and desires glimmer in your eyes, while the exhortations of Ya‘qib [within yourself] clenches its fingers to warn you from the [punishment] on the Day of Judgment, yet you never pay heed to it. Woe to you, bring your ignorant self to

Abandoning Lust and Desires

the assembly of contemplation, for even Habib al-‘Ajmi' changed after hearing the sermons of Hasan al-Basri.

O you who is settled in on his desires though he is but transient in this world; O you who wastes their capital of lifespan; when will you return to your senses? O you whose heart is blind to the degree that even [Prophet] ‘Isa (‘alayhi as-salam) would not be able heal it; O you whose idleness is even longing than the epoch of the cave dwellers’ sleep; let us for the sake of argument, assume that death does not come all of a sudden! Do you not know what ailment might come all of a sudden?

Woe to you, precious little time is left for you so rush to benefit from what remains from the wick of the lamp [of yout lifespan]; are you not even affected by the voice of exhortation? Do you not even feel pain from the lashes of sermon?

O circle of misery, where is your beginning? O land of wandering, where is your end? O you whose suffering is like that of Ayytib’s (‘alayhi as-salam), how long will you remain living on gatbage? Is it not high time for you to

Org Wace, “Strike [the ground] with your foot; this is a [spring for] a cool bath and drink.”

O you who tarry from returning to your Lord, and yet do not

| Habib al-‘Ajmi is a known pious ascetic who used to be involved in worldly matters then upon hearing the preaching of al-Hasan al-Basti he changed all his life until he comes to this high state of iman and his karamat are known, See al-Dhahabi, Siyar al-A lam an-Nubula, [6/134]

SEEDS OF ADMONISHMENT AND REFORM

join the journey of Pilgrimage; O you who is so far astray from guidance that no sacrifice can compensate for his sins, O you who abandoned the path of good conduct, and have detached from the group of the pious, when you come to the reckoning that the sickness of desire is leading to your death from expulsion [from the Mercy of your Lord], crawl to the tent of the people who join ties with their Lord [i.e. the pious] and take witness of two trustworthy individuals over your will, then call yout lord in humility, regretting all the moments you have missed without utilising them in good deeds.