LETTER 31: RIGHT INTENTION

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

Brother Shamsuddin, peace and salutations to you from the author of these words! Know that the powerful deeds and actions of a disciple draw their strength from the intention with which they are per- formed. Intention is related to deeds and actions as the soul is related to the body, and light to the eye. Can you imagine a body without a soul? Or an eye without light? Well, the same condition would pertain to actions or deeds that lack a pure intention. They would simply be expressions of habit and convention. Venerable Sufis consider habit and convention as pride, not submission, leading to destruction rather than salvation. As long as you tread the path of habit you are a devil, a hypocrite and not a dervish!

The truth of one's intention is evident from its sincerity, like rays from the sun or flames from the fire. When one's intention be- comes purified of the dross of the present world, this group calls it the sincerity of the Gnostics. They say that the intention of each per- son is tantamount to his knowledge and perception. It can be of sever- al kinds. One is that desire and love of the world are uppermost: All the actions and deeds that he intends are worldly, even prayer and fasting: There are some among you who hanker after the world! (Q3:151). This is their stain. There is nothing left for them except use- less labor and frustration.

A second kind of intention is motivated by desire and love of the world to come. All actions and deeds that take their origin from such a person's heart bear the stamp of the life beyond, even eating and sleeping! The gardens of paradise are for those who have faith and do good works (Q18:107) refers to them.

There is another people who are known as being royally audacious. Their feet are planted on the earth, but they do not lower their heads even to the level of the next world. They have no purpose or intention in life except to seek the Lord!

Beyond this world there is for us another world; Beyond hell and heaven we have another home.

All the deeds and actions that come into existence through their agency are purely and simply for God. It is You alone Whom I wor- ship (Q1:4) can be fittingly ascribed to these people. My prayer and sacrifices, my living and dying, are all for the sake of the Protector of the Worlds (Q6:163). The praise of these people has been aptly depicted in the Quran: And they desire His face (Q18:28). They have no desire except to meet God. There is no other reward for them ex- cept, You are our True Friend. Whatever is given to these people cannot be measured out according to the measure of the minds and intellects of men or angels. It is a royal proclamation that runs: God supplies the needs of whomsoever He wishes without measure (Q2:212)

Each person is weighed in the scale of his intention, which is de- pendent on his sincerity. Hence arises the question of punishment, which scorches even the hearts of God's friends: God does not look at your faces or at your works! He scrutinizes your hearts and your intentions. The awe inspired by this Tradition, On the Day of Resurrection the fate of people will depend on their intentions, has turned the blood of the just to water! Neither you nor I know how much lamentation will arise from the worldly on that day, it lies be

yond the scope of mind or intellect! Tomorrow you will experience the hangover from today's in Toxication!

When the veil is lifted from in front of you, your real state will be revealed to you, belief in many gods, or in One, infidelity, or ear nest submission to God.

When the dust settles, you will quickly see Whether you are astride a horse or an ass!

A disciple should grieve night and day, anxious about whether he will ever emerge from the grip of his habits and conventional actions and be motivated by true intention! When his deeds and actions cease to be routinized, he should look for the shoes of a spiritual guide, that is, he should enter his service. Whatever he does should be at the command of a master of the human heart. When this happens then, even though there be an admixture of elements of dissimulation and hypocrisy and also the habit of thinking of recompense, still it will be a step toward purity of intention. Here is a comparison that can easily be grasped. When a small boy begins to write, he is inevitably a poor writer. As his teacher goes on correcting his writing, however, it will gradually improve. This is self-evident. If, however, he writes poorly and says: I will put pen to paper when I have acquired the skill of an Ibn Maqla, then he is expecting the impossible! It is the same with regard to religion, reaching God, and attaining eternal bliss. It has been said that if anyone makes this comment, I shall not worship until I acquire the righteousness of an Abu Bakr and the intention of an Umar, he could be compared to a fool who says, I will begin writing on the day that I acquire the grace and perfection of an Ibn Maqla! If he does not begin with deeds and actions that are mixed with habit, dissimulation, and hypocrisy, he will certainly never reach the stage of human perfection! What does it mean to say to a seven-year-old boy: Pray and observe the fast? If it were not for the child's fear of his father, he would not pray or fast. In spite of this, he is tending toward perfection. But there is a precondition: An experienced guide is needed to lead the child from imperfect actions to those that are pure. If there is no guide, then habit becomes like a fatal disease. Nothing comes from such a state. God forbid that it should ever arise!

Do you not see that if a poor writer is not aided by an experienced teacher, his writing will never be perfected, even though he struggles along by himself for fifty years? What we said about looking for shoes did not mean that one should be able to wear the shoes of another! As yet he does not have the ability to do this. He cannot sim- ply step into the shoes of a man of faith. One beloved of God and endowed with virtue said: I watched a great man for seven years. I was completely incapable of taking up his practices! If an experienced guide accepts you, your soul will burn with love for him since he accepted you when you were but dust. To be sure, this task of religion is no game! Hence a poet has said:

O lad, the work of love is no mere game, for this Way is no mere allegory! Go play, then: love is not your work!

It has been explained that a disciple should be like the earth so that his guide may be like the sky. Sometimes the guide provides him with warmth, at other times with light. Sometimes the guide protects him from adversity, at other times he refreshes him like a breeze. The purpose of all this is to bring the disciple to perfection. If some unfortunate soul is among those blessed by the guidance of a master, all his troubles will be taken care of. If, on the other hand, the disciple is not enriched by a guide, he will not be able to do anything. You will find no change in God's way of acting (Q13:62). Yet all this narrative will not be found except in the speech of a just man. Now, what will you do about your intention? If no rainwater falls upon it, then dew will suffice (Q2:265). In other words, if someone cannot acquire the blessings of the conversation of this group, then at least he should arrange to read each day from their writings. There is a reference to this in the following: Since it is my bad luck that the sun has set, May the radiance of your moonlike face be my lamp!

The whole purpose is to have the deeds and actions of a disciple ruled by a right intention. The science of intention is a very refined and subtle one. As far as possible, one should be awake and alert and try to ascertain the real nature of one's intentions. God willing, this aim is attainable. A person then becomes fearful of his sins and ashamed of his selfishness. It is related that Abu Bakr used to say: Time and again it happens that I perform two prostrations. When I give the greeting of peace I repent because I have been ashamed and confused at my worship. You could say that I had committed a theft, since a man who does not reach the stage of purity of intention does not attain the pleasure of worship and the joy of his faith. Khwaja Sufyan Suri had walked around the Kaaba with a friend, crying continuously. His friend said: Are you crying out of a fear of sin? Sufyan stretched out his hand and plucked a blade of grass. I have many sins, he said; and I am worthless when compared to this blade of grass, even though the divine Unity that I confess is the true Unity. Unlike those men who have, but think they do not, we think we have, but in fact we do not

Peace

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

Brother Shamsuddin, peace and salutations to you from the author of these words! Know that the powerful deeds and actions of a disciple draw their strength from the intention with which they are per- formed. Intention is related to deeds and actions as the soul is related to the body, and light to the eye. Can you imagine a body without a soul? Or an eye without light? Well, the same condition would pertain to actions or deeds that lack a pure intention. They would simply be expressions of habit and convention. Venerable Sufis consider habit and convention as pride, not submission, leading to destruction rather than salvation. As long as you tread the path of habit you are a devil, a hypocrite and not a dervish!

The truth of one's intention is evident from its sincerity, like rays from the sun or flames from the fire. When one's intention be- comes purified of the dross of the present world, this group calls it the sincerity of the Gnostics. They say that the intention of each per- son is tantamount to his knowledge and perception. It can be of sever- al kinds. One is that desire and love of the world are uppermost: All the actions and deeds that he intends are worldly, even prayer and fasting: There are some among you who hanker after the world! (Q3:151). This is their stain. There is nothing left for them except use- less labor and frustration.

A second kind of intention is motivated by desire and love of the world to come. All actions and deeds that take their origin from such a person's heart bear the stamp of the life beyond, even eating and sleeping! The gardens of paradise are for those who have faith and do good works (Q18:107) refers to them.

There is another people who are known as being royally audacious. Their feet are planted on the earth, but they do not lower their heads even to the level of the next world. They have no purpose or intention in life except to seek the Lord!

Beyond this world there is for us another world; Beyond hell and heaven we have another home.

All the deeds and actions that come into existence through their agency are purely and simply for God. It is You alone Whom I wor- ship (Q1:4) can be fittingly ascribed to these people. My prayer and sacrifices, my living and dying, are all for the sake of the Protector of the Worlds (Q6:163). The praise of these people has been aptly depicted in the Quran: And they desire His face (Q18:28). They have no desire except to meet God. There is no other reward for them ex- cept, You are our True Friend. Whatever is given to these people cannot be measured out according to the measure of the minds and intellects of men or angels. It is a royal proclamation that runs: God supplies the needs of whomsoever He wishes without measure (Q2:212)

Each person is weighed in the scale of his intention, which is de- pendent on his sincerity. Hence arises the question of punishment, which scorches even the hearts of God's friends: God does not look at your faces or at your works! He scrutinizes your hearts and your intentions. The awe inspired by this Tradition, On the Day of Resurrection the fate of people will depend on their intentions, has turned the blood of the just to water! Neither you nor I know how much lamentation will arise from the worldly on that day, it lies be

yond the scope of mind or intellect! Tomorrow you will experience the hangover from today's in Toxication!

When the veil is lifted from in front of you, your real state will be revealed to you, belief in many gods, or in One, infidelity, or ear nest submission to God.

When the dust settles, you will quickly see Whether you are astride a horse or an ass!

A disciple should grieve night and day, anxious about whether he will ever emerge from the grip of his habits and conventional actions and be motivated by true intention! When his deeds and actions cease to be routinized, he should look for the shoes of a spiritual guide, that is, he should enter his service. Whatever he does should be at the command of a master of the human heart. When this happens then, even though there be an admixture of elements of dissimulation and hypocrisy and also the habit of thinking of recompense, still it will be a step toward purity of intention. Here is a comparison that can easily be grasped. When a small boy begins to write, he is inevitably a poor writer. As his teacher goes on correcting his writing, however, it will gradually improve. This is self-evident. If, however, he writes poorly and says: I will put pen to paper when I have acquired the skill of an Ibn Maqla, then he is expecting the impossible! It is the same with regard to religion, reaching God, and attaining eternal bliss. It has been said that if anyone makes this comment, I shall not worship until I acquire the righteousness of an Abu Bakr and the intention of an Umar, he could be compared to a fool who says, I will begin writing on the day that I acquire the grace and perfection of an Ibn Maqla! If he does not begin with deeds and actions that are mixed with habit, dissimulation, and hypocrisy, he will certainly never reach the stage of human perfection! What does it mean to say to a seven-year-old boy: Pray and observe the fast? If it were not for the child's fear of his father, he would not pray or fast. In spite of this, he is tending toward perfection. But there is a precondition: An experienced guide is needed to lead the child from imperfect actions to those that are pure. If there is no guide, then habit becomes like a fatal disease. Nothing comes from such a state. God forbid that it should ever arise!

Do you not see that if a poor writer is not aided by an experienced teacher, his writing will never be perfected, even though he struggles along by himself for fifty years? What we said about looking for shoes did not mean that one should be able to wear the shoes of another! As yet he does not have the ability to do this. He cannot sim- ply step into the shoes of a man of faith. One beloved of God and endowed with virtue said: I watched a great man for seven years. I was completely incapable of taking up his practices! If an experienced guide accepts you, your soul will burn with love for him since he accepted you when you were but dust. To be sure, this task of religion is no game! Hence a poet has said:

O lad, the work of love is no mere game, for this Way is no mere allegory! Go play, then: love is not your work!

It has been explained that a disciple should be like the earth so that his guide may be like the sky. Sometimes the guide provides him with warmth, at other times with light. Sometimes the guide protects him from adversity, at other times he refreshes him like a breeze. The purpose of all this is to bring the disciple to perfection. If some unfortunate soul is among those blessed by the guidance of a master, all his troubles will be taken care of. If, on the other hand, the disciple is not enriched by a guide, he will not be able to do anything. You will find no change in God's way of acting (Q13:62). Yet all this narrative will not be found except in the speech of a just man. Now, what will you do about your intention? If no rainwater falls upon it, then dew will suffice (Q2:265). In other words, if someone cannot acquire the blessings of the conversation of this group, then at least he should arrange to read each day from their writings. There is a reference to this in the following: Since it is my bad luck that the sun has set, May the radiance of your moonlike face be my lamp!

The whole purpose is to have the deeds and actions of a disciple ruled by a right intention. The science of intention is a very refined and subtle one. As far as possible, one should be awake and alert and try to ascertain the real nature of one's intentions. God willing, this aim is attainable. A person then becomes fearful of his sins and ashamed of his selfishness. It is related that Abu Bakr used to say: Time and again it happens that I perform two prostrations. When I give the greeting of peace I repent because I have been ashamed and confused at my worship. You could say that I had committed a theft, since a man who does not reach the stage of purity of intention does not attain the pleasure of worship and the joy of his faith. Khwaja Sufyan Suri had walked around the Kaaba with a friend, crying continuously. His friend said: Are you crying out of a fear of sin? Sufyan stretched out his hand and plucked a blade of grass. I have many sins, he said; and I am worthless when compared to this blade of grass, even though the divine Unity that I confess is the true Unity. Unlike those men who have, but think they do not, we think we have, but in fact we do not

Peace