LETTER 12: LIGHTS

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate!

Dear brother Shamsuddin may God Almighty illumine your soul with the lights of his knowledge! When the mirror of the heart is thoroughly cleansed of the rust of human nature and selfish qualities, it becomes capable of reflecting lights from the extrasensory world. In the beginning, the nature of these lights is comparable to flashes of lightning and illuminations. As purity of heart increases, so too do the power and frequency of these lights. What first appeared as lightning gradually becomes more like a lamp, or a candle, or a torch, or a flaming fire. Then sublime lights appear. At first, they appear as stars, both small and large. Then they become more like the moon until, in time, they rival the sun itself. You should know that every light that initially appears as a flash of lightning or an illumination becomes still greater after being blessed by the ritual ablutions and prayers. Once a disciple of Sheikh Abu Sa'id Abul Khair, after performing his ablutions, entered the place of prayer and there saw a light. I have seen God! he shouted. The sheikh, on being told about his state, said: You have seen nothing. That was the light of your ablution. What a gulf exists between you and that Pure One! If there were no shadow veiling the wealth of that Ancient One, the unfortunate person who tries to see Him would be utterly destroyed! When, however, lights like those of lamps, candles, or torches and other suchlike things are seen, they then come from the sanctity of the sheikh or from the Lord of Prophecy, and the lamp and candle of the heart are illuminated to that extent. If a person sees lights that are comparable to various types of chandeliers, that would mean that he has seen what was just stated. But if he sees them in the form of sublime lights, such as the stars, moon, or the sun, then they are generally held to be spiritual entities manifest in a pure form on the highest stratum of the soul.

When the heart has been so purified that it can reflect stars as though in a mirror, then the light of the soul appears like a star. If a person sees the moon, and it is full, know that the heart has been completely purified. If it has any blemish, then to that extent it is opaque. When the mirror of the heart attains the perfection of purity, it becomes capable of reflecting the spiritual light, which is seen as being like the sun. As purity increases, so too does its sunlike effulgence until the time arrives when its light is a thousand times more luminous than that of the sun. If a person sees both the sun and the moon on one occasion, he should recognize the moon as his heart illuminated by the reflection of the light of his soul. The sun is his very soul.

Yet till God comes forth from His concealment so that the thought of Him might be compared to the face of the sun, verily the light of the soul remains without form or features! Sometimes it happens that rays of the lights of the divine attributes extend a welcome, as is written, Whosoever comes to Me, even the distance of a hand, is brought forward a whole yard. From behind the veil of spiritual things and the affairs of the heart, a divine reflection is projected onto the mirror of the heart, which, to the extent of its purity, reflects in turn what it has received. If someone says, How can we know that the rays are the light of the divine attributes? the following answer is given: It is due to the lights of divine attributes that the heart becomes illuminated. That very light makes Him known. Yet, in truth, it is He Himself who praises Himself. A sense of inner bliss arises within him so that in that very bliss a person knows that what he is seeing is from God Almighty and not from any other source! As to the meaning of this bliss, it is difficult to explain. It has been said that the attributes of divine beauty are illuminative but not scorching, while the attributes of His majesty are scorching but not illuminative. Here the mind and intellect are of no help. Sometimes it may happen that this purity of heart attains perfection. We have given them our signs in the heavens and in themselves (Q41:53). As a notable Sufi has said: I have not looked at anything without seeing the Lord in it; and when the light of God throws a reflection on the light of the soul, the vision is mixed with bliss. When, however, the light of God Almighty comes into view without the veil of soul or heart, it becomes perfectly clear. There is no color, quality, limit, comparison, or contrast to it. It itself is the stability and firm support of all existing beings! Here there remains neither rising nor setting, right nor left, height nor depth, space nor time, near nor far, day nor night, neither earth nor world nor heaven itself. Here the pen breaks. the tongue is tied; the intellect sinks into the pit of nothingness, while understanding and knowledge are lost in the wilderness of amazement. You might now be pining out of grief that you are in the stage of being distant from Him. Actually, the grief of not having found Him is better than the pain of being close to Him! In amazement one finds that amazement itself is the prelude to loss, while grief is the means of finding and gaining access to Him. Verily it is imperative to clear one's ego out of the way, while the garment of human nature should be nought but dust. Dust should only be viewed as dust, to remove the danger that a person might esteem himself. Indeed, whoever esteems himself has made a eunuch of himself!

In the time of Adam there was a certain person who called attention to himself repeatedly. He was the leader of the angels. Yet when he preened himself, he became a eunuch who looked like a woman. He was given the embellished house of the world so that in the eyes of base people he appeared clean and respectable. Thus did God do violence to Satan in creating him. Yet He showered His blessings on this handful of dust in also creating him. He exalted the one, while disgracing the other. He demeaned Satan, who became completely unacceptable to Him, while He accepted Adam, pledging never to turn away from him again.

Do you know what this means? Wherever there are handsome people, there must also be some black-faced fellow. Everything that is deprived of something really ugly to throw its own beauty into relief is defective. Wherever there exists a saint reflecting the light of purity, there will also be a soul as filthy as a cesspool to contrast with him. When the soul dons the garment of love, then some speck of tyranny and ignorance comes forward so that a person might not be forgetful of himself and what he is. A peacock realizes what it is when, having gazed admiringly at its plumage and taken delight in the special beauty of each of its feathers, its glance comes to rest on its feet.

Peace!

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate!

Dear brother Shamsuddin may God Almighty illumine your soul with the lights of his knowledge! When the mirror of the heart is thoroughly cleansed of the rust of human nature and selfish qualities, it becomes capable of reflecting lights from the extrasensory world. In the beginning, the nature of these lights is comparable to flashes of lightning and illuminations. As purity of heart increases, so too do the power and frequency of these lights. What first appeared as lightning gradually becomes more like a lamp, or a candle, or a torch, or a flaming fire. Then sublime lights appear. At first, they appear as stars, both small and large. Then they become more like the moon until, in time, they rival the sun itself. You should know that every light that initially appears as a flash of lightning or an illumination becomes still greater after being blessed by the ritual ablutions and prayers. Once a disciple of Sheikh Abu Sa'id Abul Khair, after performing his ablutions, entered the place of prayer and there saw a light. I have seen God! he shouted. The sheikh, on being told about his state, said: You have seen nothing. That was the light of your ablution. What a gulf exists between you and that Pure One! If there were no shadow veiling the wealth of that Ancient One, the unfortunate person who tries to see Him would be utterly destroyed! When, however, lights like those of lamps, candles, or torches and other suchlike things are seen, they then come from the sanctity of the sheikh or from the Lord of Prophecy, and the lamp and candle of the heart are illuminated to that extent. If a person sees lights that are comparable to various types of chandeliers, that would mean that he has seen what was just stated. But if he sees them in the form of sublime lights, such as the stars, moon, or the sun, then they are generally held to be spiritual entities manifest in a pure form on the highest stratum of the soul.

When the heart has been so purified that it can reflect stars as though in a mirror, then the light of the soul appears like a star. If a person sees the moon, and it is full, know that the heart has been completely purified. If it has any blemish, then to that extent it is opaque. When the mirror of the heart attains the perfection of purity, it becomes capable of reflecting the spiritual light, which is seen as being like the sun. As purity increases, so too does its sunlike effulgence until the time arrives when its light is a thousand times more luminous than that of the sun. If a person sees both the sun and the moon on one occasion, he should recognize the moon as his heart illuminated by the reflection of the light of his soul. The sun is his very soul.

Yet till God comes forth from His concealment so that the thought of Him might be compared to the face of the sun, verily the light of the soul remains without form or features! Sometimes it happens that rays of the lights of the divine attributes extend a welcome, as is written, Whosoever comes to Me, even the distance of a hand, is brought forward a whole yard. From behind the veil of spiritual things and the affairs of the heart, a divine reflection is projected onto the mirror of the heart, which, to the extent of its purity, reflects in turn what it has received. If someone says, How can we know that the rays are the light of the divine attributes? the following answer is given: It is due to the lights of divine attributes that the heart becomes illuminated. That very light makes Him known. Yet, in truth, it is He Himself who praises Himself. A sense of inner bliss arises within him so that in that very bliss a person knows that what he is seeing is from God Almighty and not from any other source! As to the meaning of this bliss, it is difficult to explain. It has been said that the attributes of divine beauty are illuminative but not scorching, while the attributes of His majesty are scorching but not illuminative. Here the mind and intellect are of no help. Sometimes it may happen that this purity of heart attains perfection. We have given them our signs in the heavens and in themselves (Q41:53). As a notable Sufi has said: I have not looked at anything without seeing the Lord in it; and when the light of God throws a reflection on the light of the soul, the vision is mixed with bliss. When, however, the light of God Almighty comes into view without the veil of soul or heart, it becomes perfectly clear. There is no color, quality, limit, comparison, or contrast to it. It itself is the stability and firm support of all existing beings! Here there remains neither rising nor setting, right nor left, height nor depth, space nor time, near nor far, day nor night, neither earth nor world nor heaven itself. Here the pen breaks. the tongue is tied; the intellect sinks into the pit of nothingness, while understanding and knowledge are lost in the wilderness of amazement. You might now be pining out of grief that you are in the stage of being distant from Him. Actually, the grief of not having found Him is better than the pain of being close to Him! In amazement one finds that amazement itself is the prelude to loss, while grief is the means of finding and gaining access to Him. Verily it is imperative to clear one's ego out of the way, while the garment of human nature should be nought but dust. Dust should only be viewed as dust, to remove the danger that a person might esteem himself. Indeed, whoever esteems himself has made a eunuch of himself!

In the time of Adam there was a certain person who called attention to himself repeatedly. He was the leader of the angels. Yet when he preened himself, he became a eunuch who looked like a woman. He was given the embellished house of the world so that in the eyes of base people he appeared clean and respectable. Thus did God do violence to Satan in creating him. Yet He showered His blessings on this handful of dust in also creating him. He exalted the one, while disgracing the other. He demeaned Satan, who became completely unacceptable to Him, while He accepted Adam, pledging never to turn away from him again.

Do you know what this means? Wherever there are handsome people, there must also be some black-faced fellow. Everything that is deprived of something really ugly to throw its own beauty into relief is defective. Wherever there exists a saint reflecting the light of purity, there will also be a soul as filthy as a cesspool to contrast with him. When the soul dons the garment of love, then some speck of tyranny and ignorance comes forward so that a person might not be forgetful of himself and what he is. A peacock realizes what it is when, having gazed admiringly at its plumage and taken delight in the special beauty of each of its feathers, its glance comes to rest on its feet.

Peace!