LETTER 20: THE GRACE OF PROPHETS AND THE GRACE OF SAINTS

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

Brother Shamsuddin, at all times and in all states the blessings of God are uninterruptedly showered on all the sheikhs of the Way. Saints follow after the prophets, who are more blessed than they, since great saintliness is merely the starting point of prophecy! All the prophets were themselves saints, whereas no saint could become a prophet. None of the theologians or Sufis would disagree with the above statement, except for those heretics who affirm that the saints are more blessed than the prophets. They adhere to this view because they rea son that saints are always engrossed in God, whereas the prophets are mostly concerned with the affairs of men. They presuppose that anyone who is continuously absorbed with God is holier than anyone who is only sometimes caught up in this fashion.

Some foolish people lay claim to having an affection for this group and, cutting away the bridle of goodness, follow them. The stage of saintliness, in their view, is higher than that of prophecy. A prophet is granted the knowledge of revelation, whereas a saint receives hidden knowledge. He knows the secret of things about which the prophets are ignorant. Such knowledge is called infused knowledge, a title derived from the story of Moses and Khizr.

They say that Khizr was a saint, while Moses was a prophet. While Moses had revelation given to him, apart from which he knew nothing. Khizr was given knowledge infused from above. Khizr knew hidden things, even without revelation, so that Moses had to become his disciple, and a master is always more blessed than his disciple On the other hand, the spiritual guides of hues religion, who are firmly rooted in their faith and fully reliable, all say that no one can attain a stage higher than that of the prophets, or even be on an equal footing with them. The answer to the difficulty is this. Khizr had a particular grace, that of infused knowledge, whereas Moses had a grace that was in no way limited. A grace that is specific cannot outdo one that is limitless. Consider the grace of chaste Mary who, without inter- course, gave birth to a son. Yet her grace does not do away with that of Aisha and Fatima, since theirs has not been restricted among the whole of womankind.

You should know that if all the states and spirits of the entire world of the saints were placed beside one step of the Prophet their worthlessness would be evident! The reason is that they are still seeking and advancing, while the prophets have already arrived. They have found what they wanted, having come by invitation of the royal command. Moreover, they lead a whole people. One breath of the prophets is more blessed than all the breaths of the saints. When the saints reach the height of contemplation, they tell of what they have witnessed, and are liberated from the veil of humanity, even though they remain men. Yet it was the Prophet who took the first step into the realm of witnessing, since he pioneered this path. How can saints be compared to him! Even if they reach the state of a Bayazid, what can be said? About the state of prophets, Bayazid himself said, Alas, we have no power with respect to them! However much we try to imagine them, we find that we are thinking about ourselves Just as the rank of saints is concealed from the understanding of ordinary people, so, too, that of prophets is hidden from the grasp of the saints! So inferior are saints to prophets that the latter, when placed next to the former, seem airborne! Can a pedestrian keep pace with fliers It is also related that Bayazid said: They the prophets) carry

our secrets up to heaven! He himself paid attention to nothing. He

MANERI

was shown heaven and hell, and he did not even look at them! He simply passed by everything, whether hidden or veiled. I flew quick- ly! I became a bird and ascended into the atmosphere of the Divine, until I was on an elevated, limitless plain, where I saw the stage of Origins! When I observed that I was all that, I exclaimed, O Mighty Lord God! As long as I am filled with egoism, there is no path from me to Thee! What is more, I cannot pass beyond my own self-consciousness. What should I do? A command came, 'O Bayazid, your liberation from yourself is bound up with submission to my friend [Muhammad). Anoint your eyes with the dust upon which he trod! Show diligence in imitating him! This is what people of the Way call the Ascent of Bayazid. The real meaning of ascent is near- ness. The ascent of prophets was evidently a matter pertaining to both their persons and their bodies, while that of saints was merely intentional. In its discreteness it amounted to little more than a starting point for the former. Everything that occurs to prophets should be done openly, while for saints it takes place secretly. Also, for prophets, purity and chastity and nearness are experienced in the body, while they remain hidden in the heart of saints. There is a considerable difference between someone who makes the ascent in per- son, and somebody who merely ascends in the recess of his own heart!

When you have grasped this, realize that the traditionalists and the Sufis agree that prophets and saints are specially protected and more blessed than angels. The Mutazilites oppose this view, saying that angels are more blessed. Angels, in their view, have attained a far more exalted rank, are more refined in nature and also more submissive to God. Hence, they must surely be more blessed. In response, we say that an obedient body, exalted rank, and refined nature are not the cause of God's grace. A person's grace depends on how much grace God Almighty bestows upon him. If grace depended on submission, then previous generations would have been more blessed than this one, for they were very obedient. Moreover, if grace depended on exalted rank and nature, then Satan would have been more blessed than Adam, since the latter was made from murky dust, while for Mer sprang from luminous fire. The grace of any person, it should be

clearly realized, depends on what is given him by God.

It must also be understood that angels are forced to submit to God by the binding power of their knowledge of Him. They are not caught up in a lustful nature. There is no covetousness, disasters, hypocrisy, or crookedness in their hearts, nor is theirs a shifty nature geared to trickery. Their food consists of submission, and their drink is obedience to God. On the other hand, the nature of man is commingled with lust, and it is highly probable that he will commit sin. The glamor of the world is firmly entrenched in his heart, while greed and hypocrisy are suffused through his entire being. Satan also has a certain amount of power over a man's person, coursing through the blood that circulates in the veins of his body. His evil, covetous soul invites inside all sorts of depravities. Those who are burdened with natural human defects, including the possibility of lust, and yet ab stain from all vice and immorality and, at the same time, in spite of avarice, turn their glance away from the world and, spurning Satan's persistent efforts, divert their hearts from sin, are careful about what befalls their own souls, and occupy themselves contentedly in worship, assiduous submission, and struggle with their own soul in op posing Satan-such persons are, in reality, more blessed than the an gels Submission is easy for the angels because their being is not Satan's battleground, nor is it the abode of lust, nor does their nature desire food and pleasure, nor do they have the cares of wife and children, nor are they preoccupied with self, they are neither uplifted by hopes nor overwhelmed by calamities! Consider the astonishing in- stance of Gabriel, who for so many thousands of years waited for the robe of worship. His being was at the service of Muhammad so that, on the night of ascent, it was he who cared for the Prophet's mount How much more blessed would anyone be who had conquered his soul after having struggled with himself night and day, especially if God had been gracious toward him and granted him the grace of seeing Him and had saved him from the danger of hell fire. In short, it is God Who gives grace to whom He wills! Attar has hinted at the meaning of this mystery in one of his poems [Eight couplets are then quoted.]

In reality, saintliness is one of the divine secrets. It is not born from efforts at self-control or from austerities, and only saints can recognize each other! If the import of this saying were not known to the wise, then it would not be possible to distinguish a friend from an enemy, nor could you pick out one who has attained union from a lazy fellow. God Almighty willed things in such a way that the pearl of friendship was placed inside a small oyster, which was in turn thrown into the ocean of calamity so that the seeker of this pearl, by order of the Beloved, has to put his life in danger: While crossing that formidable expanse, he descends to the very bottom of the ocean in order to obtain the pearl he desires! He lives with the sensation that the condition of this world is pressing in on him. One who has gam- bled with his life has hinted at the meaning of this undertaking:

Pass beyond soul and intellect for but a moment, in order to heed the commandment of God but once! Experiencing the love and rhythm of that World Is impossible-unless you sacrifice your life! You cannot maintain faith as an adjunct to life The night you die will see the dawn of real faith! Any desire that supersedes this Call it mere custom or habit; it is not faith!

O brother, remain faithful during all this anxiety, and do not de- sist from seeking pain! You should not be discouraged by the quantity of your sins, or by the reluctance you may feel! Both angels and men bow their heads in His Presence! [The example of God's elevation of a shepherd to prophecy, and also the example of Balaam, are then cited.

Dear brother, I swear by God Almighty that heaven and what is contained therein can lead to boasting, while hell and what it contains can lead to renunciation! Hell can, therefore, be a cause of blessing and purification for some. This is why they have been created, not for the sake of unhappiness or to put people at a distance. God wishes to make things easy for you, not difficult (Q2:185). Note the following justification for this interpretation: Do you not see that gold is thrown into the fire not to harm it but to purify it and make it perfect in the same sense, a sinner is taken to hell in order to be purified for the Pure Presence. It has been aptly said by the Lord of the Eternal Covenant, Muhammad: From the beginning it was known that we would sin. That knowledge was not enough to prevent our creation. Why should the iniquities we committed have been prevent ed or why should they be obliterated along with our forgiveness A heavenly voice was heard to say: Never despair of God's mercy! (Q39:53). In every age this is repeated in the ear of the soul, which finds therein a hundred new lives and victories! Consider also the Tradition: If you had not sinned, then God Almighty would have created another people who would have sinned and then cried out for mercy, and finally been forgiven! These joyful tidings are a reassurance for all the sinners of the world!

Do not despair, O hapless sinner, For, when the sun's rays come forth, they fall not only on the king's palace, But also on the beggar's nook.

Peace!

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

Brother Shamsuddin, at all times and in all states the blessings of God are uninterruptedly showered on all the sheikhs of the Way. Saints follow after the prophets, who are more blessed than they, since great saintliness is merely the starting point of prophecy! All the prophets were themselves saints, whereas no saint could become a prophet. None of the theologians or Sufis would disagree with the above statement, except for those heretics who affirm that the saints are more blessed than the prophets. They adhere to this view because they rea son that saints are always engrossed in God, whereas the prophets are mostly concerned with the affairs of men. They presuppose that anyone who is continuously absorbed with God is holier than anyone who is only sometimes caught up in this fashion.

Some foolish people lay claim to having an affection for this group and, cutting away the bridle of goodness, follow them. The stage of saintliness, in their view, is higher than that of prophecy. A prophet is granted the knowledge of revelation, whereas a saint receives hidden knowledge. He knows the secret of things about which the prophets are ignorant. Such knowledge is called infused knowledge, a title derived from the story of Moses and Khizr.

They say that Khizr was a saint, while Moses was a prophet. While Moses had revelation given to him, apart from which he knew nothing. Khizr was given knowledge infused from above. Khizr knew hidden things, even without revelation, so that Moses had to become his disciple, and a master is always more blessed than his disciple On the other hand, the spiritual guides of hues religion, who are firmly rooted in their faith and fully reliable, all say that no one can attain a stage higher than that of the prophets, or even be on an equal footing with them. The answer to the difficulty is this. Khizr had a particular grace, that of infused knowledge, whereas Moses had a grace that was in no way limited. A grace that is specific cannot outdo one that is limitless. Consider the grace of chaste Mary who, without inter- course, gave birth to a son. Yet her grace does not do away with that of Aisha and Fatima, since theirs has not been restricted among the whole of womankind.

You should know that if all the states and spirits of the entire world of the saints were placed beside one step of the Prophet their worthlessness would be evident! The reason is that they are still seeking and advancing, while the prophets have already arrived. They have found what they wanted, having come by invitation of the royal command. Moreover, they lead a whole people. One breath of the prophets is more blessed than all the breaths of the saints. When the saints reach the height of contemplation, they tell of what they have witnessed, and are liberated from the veil of humanity, even though they remain men. Yet it was the Prophet who took the first step into the realm of witnessing, since he pioneered this path. How can saints be compared to him! Even if they reach the state of a Bayazid, what can be said? About the state of prophets, Bayazid himself said, Alas, we have no power with respect to them! However much we try to imagine them, we find that we are thinking about ourselves Just as the rank of saints is concealed from the understanding of ordinary people, so, too, that of prophets is hidden from the grasp of the saints! So inferior are saints to prophets that the latter, when placed next to the former, seem airborne! Can a pedestrian keep pace with fliers It is also related that Bayazid said: They the prophets) carry

our secrets up to heaven! He himself paid attention to nothing. He

MANERI

was shown heaven and hell, and he did not even look at them! He simply passed by everything, whether hidden or veiled. I flew quick- ly! I became a bird and ascended into the atmosphere of the Divine, until I was on an elevated, limitless plain, where I saw the stage of Origins! When I observed that I was all that, I exclaimed, O Mighty Lord God! As long as I am filled with egoism, there is no path from me to Thee! What is more, I cannot pass beyond my own self-consciousness. What should I do? A command came, 'O Bayazid, your liberation from yourself is bound up with submission to my friend [Muhammad). Anoint your eyes with the dust upon which he trod! Show diligence in imitating him! This is what people of the Way call the Ascent of Bayazid. The real meaning of ascent is near- ness. The ascent of prophets was evidently a matter pertaining to both their persons and their bodies, while that of saints was merely intentional. In its discreteness it amounted to little more than a starting point for the former. Everything that occurs to prophets should be done openly, while for saints it takes place secretly. Also, for prophets, purity and chastity and nearness are experienced in the body, while they remain hidden in the heart of saints. There is a considerable difference between someone who makes the ascent in per- son, and somebody who merely ascends in the recess of his own heart!

When you have grasped this, realize that the traditionalists and the Sufis agree that prophets and saints are specially protected and more blessed than angels. The Mutazilites oppose this view, saying that angels are more blessed. Angels, in their view, have attained a far more exalted rank, are more refined in nature and also more submissive to God. Hence, they must surely be more blessed. In response, we say that an obedient body, exalted rank, and refined nature are not the cause of God's grace. A person's grace depends on how much grace God Almighty bestows upon him. If grace depended on submission, then previous generations would have been more blessed than this one, for they were very obedient. Moreover, if grace depended on exalted rank and nature, then Satan would have been more blessed than Adam, since the latter was made from murky dust, while for Mer sprang from luminous fire. The grace of any person, it should be

clearly realized, depends on what is given him by God.

It must also be understood that angels are forced to submit to God by the binding power of their knowledge of Him. They are not caught up in a lustful nature. There is no covetousness, disasters, hypocrisy, or crookedness in their hearts, nor is theirs a shifty nature geared to trickery. Their food consists of submission, and their drink is obedience to God. On the other hand, the nature of man is commingled with lust, and it is highly probable that he will commit sin. The glamor of the world is firmly entrenched in his heart, while greed and hypocrisy are suffused through his entire being. Satan also has a certain amount of power over a man's person, coursing through the blood that circulates in the veins of his body. His evil, covetous soul invites inside all sorts of depravities. Those who are burdened with natural human defects, including the possibility of lust, and yet ab stain from all vice and immorality and, at the same time, in spite of avarice, turn their glance away from the world and, spurning Satan's persistent efforts, divert their hearts from sin, are careful about what befalls their own souls, and occupy themselves contentedly in worship, assiduous submission, and struggle with their own soul in op posing Satan-such persons are, in reality, more blessed than the an gels Submission is easy for the angels because their being is not Satan's battleground, nor is it the abode of lust, nor does their nature desire food and pleasure, nor do they have the cares of wife and children, nor are they preoccupied with self, they are neither uplifted by hopes nor overwhelmed by calamities! Consider the astonishing in- stance of Gabriel, who for so many thousands of years waited for the robe of worship. His being was at the service of Muhammad so that, on the night of ascent, it was he who cared for the Prophet's mount How much more blessed would anyone be who had conquered his soul after having struggled with himself night and day, especially if God had been gracious toward him and granted him the grace of seeing Him and had saved him from the danger of hell fire. In short, it is God Who gives grace to whom He wills! Attar has hinted at the meaning of this mystery in one of his poems [Eight couplets are then quoted.]

In reality, saintliness is one of the divine secrets. It is not born from efforts at self-control or from austerities, and only saints can recognize each other! If the import of this saying were not known to the wise, then it would not be possible to distinguish a friend from an enemy, nor could you pick out one who has attained union from a lazy fellow. God Almighty willed things in such a way that the pearl of friendship was placed inside a small oyster, which was in turn thrown into the ocean of calamity so that the seeker of this pearl, by order of the Beloved, has to put his life in danger: While crossing that formidable expanse, he descends to the very bottom of the ocean in order to obtain the pearl he desires! He lives with the sensation that the condition of this world is pressing in on him. One who has gam- bled with his life has hinted at the meaning of this undertaking:

Pass beyond soul and intellect for but a moment, in order to heed the commandment of God but once! Experiencing the love and rhythm of that World Is impossible-unless you sacrifice your life! You cannot maintain faith as an adjunct to life The night you die will see the dawn of real faith! Any desire that supersedes this Call it mere custom or habit; it is not faith!

O brother, remain faithful during all this anxiety, and do not de- sist from seeking pain! You should not be discouraged by the quantity of your sins, or by the reluctance you may feel! Both angels and men bow their heads in His Presence! [The example of God's elevation of a shepherd to prophecy, and also the example of Balaam, are then cited.

Dear brother, I swear by God Almighty that heaven and what is contained therein can lead to boasting, while hell and what it contains can lead to renunciation! Hell can, therefore, be a cause of blessing and purification for some. This is why they have been created, not for the sake of unhappiness or to put people at a distance. God wishes to make things easy for you, not difficult (Q2:185). Note the following justification for this interpretation: Do you not see that gold is thrown into the fire not to harm it but to purify it and make it perfect in the same sense, a sinner is taken to hell in order to be purified for the Pure Presence. It has been aptly said by the Lord of the Eternal Covenant, Muhammad: From the beginning it was known that we would sin. That knowledge was not enough to prevent our creation. Why should the iniquities we committed have been prevent ed or why should they be obliterated along with our forgiveness A heavenly voice was heard to say: Never despair of God's mercy! (Q39:53). In every age this is repeated in the ear of the soul, which finds therein a hundred new lives and victories! Consider also the Tradition: If you had not sinned, then God Almighty would have created another people who would have sinned and then cried out for mercy, and finally been forgiven! These joyful tidings are a reassurance for all the sinners of the world!

Do not despair, O hapless sinner, For, when the sun's rays come forth, they fall not only on the king's palace, But also on the beggar's nook.

Peace!