LETTER 34: ALMSGIVING

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

My brother Shamsuddin, there is a worship connected with one's body and another pertaining to one's property. The latter is more ef- ficacious than the former, for its advantage accrues to another as well. Sufis simply pay no attention at all to life and property and have no dealings with anyone except God. They say that a genuine dervish is a person who claims no rights with respect to his life and property. If his blood is shed, he is convinced that this shedding comes from God and would count that hour as the culminating point of his life and call it a compensation from the Lord, as it has been said: Whoever is killed in My love, his blood has been shed by My hands If his pos sessions are taken away, he is happy and says, God be praised! A veil has been removed from my eyes Hence they say that giving in alms of the blessings of this world should not be praised by Sufis, since avarice is unpraiseworthy and yet a greedy man is intent on keeping intact two hundred silver coins, even though he must give five of them away after he has had them for a year.

One of the canon lawyers pur Shibli to a kind of test by asking him how many silver coins one needed to possess in order to be obliged to contribute alms. He replied: Do you want me to answer according to the practice of lawyers or according to the practice of God's destitute? He was asked to reply according to both schools. He said: According to lawyers, before the expiration of a year, out of two hundred silver coins, five should be given away, while according to God's destitute, the whole two hundred silver coins should be im- mediately expended! Indeed, as an expression of gratitude, the Sufi should offer up his life. The lawyer said: We have adopted this practice as a requirement of our religion. Shibli said: We have takeen this practice from the treasury of the Lord of the Worlds, that is, from Abu Bakr, the Just One. He placed whatever he possessed in front of the Prophet and even offered his entire life, as a thank-offering. In Nawadir-al-Uul [The book of unusual doctrines), it is written that the Lord divided the special ones of this community into a thou- sand parts and presented the world before them. Nine hundred parts desired the world. They said: This world is the field of the world to come. Today we sow in order that, on the morrow, we might reap a harvest. A hundred parts had the world to come placed before them. Ninety of these parts desired that world. They said: The Lord has called this a great country. For an insignificant slave, this is some- thing stupendous! The other ten parts were sorely tried with afflictions and hardships. Nine of the cried out, Distress has afflicted me! (Q21:83). Calamity hid even the Object of their yearning from them!

Now only one part remained. The voice of God came: What is it that you desire? And who is your beloved? A cry arose: You are our Lord! You are our Completion! You are What we desire! You are our Beloved! There was a voice from heaven that said, Undoubtedly it is you who are My loved ones and My friends! When a man accepts this faith, he makes a present of his heart; when he prays, he offers his body, when he gives alms, he bestows his goods. Now, all these three qualities are those of lovers and show the genuineness of their claim to love. In other words, everything that has a form is offered up by them as a gift so that their relationship toward us men might be severed completely and their attention fixed upon God. When they approach, the gaze of the Master falls upon them, and they are found free of anything except Him. Even before He accepts them, God has already made them special. He has seated them on the heavenly throne. As for the command to give alms, it implies that the hearts of most men are seen to be preoccupied with calculations concerning goods, and they are absorbed in accumulating goods. It is known by the light of prophecy that anyone who clings to whatever is other than God, insofar as his heart is immersed in that which is not God, it is diverted from the path to God and becomes wholly engrossed in the particular matter at hand. If a person is unable to dispose completely of what he possesses, he can give at least five silver coins out of two hundred to some dervish, taking into account his own weak- ness. Just look at this generous provision of the Law. God is more considerate toward those who are weaker!

It should also be noted that almsgiving is of little practical consequence with Sufis, for their way of life is one of solitude and renunciation. In the time of the Prophet one of the Sufis related that a gold coin was found in his clothes. On the Last Day you will be branded like a slave! he was told. There was another incident concerning a Sufi who had two gold coins remaining in his possession. He was told: There are two marks to be branded on you! The reason for this severity was that, because they laid claim to a life of solitude and renunciation, even this amount was for them an external sin. O brother, goods present no difficulty for anyone who, from the very first step, has offered up his life! This is not your work nor mine! Who gave this wealth? Some of us who have been defective from birth will, God willing, gain some resemblance to them. Whoever becomes like a particular group will be counted as one of them. Tomorrow He will take our hand. There is hope of welfare and prosperity, if not, blood will issue forth from our body. He is always seeking forgiveness for his sins, and his devotion leaves him ashamed, even if there is no question of sin. The point is, there can be defects in his devotion. If the woeful state of your devotion were to be brought before you, you would be more fearful of it than of your sin. The Prophet said, I seek forgiveness a hundred times a day. The skirt of prophecy should be free of that, for it has been washed of the stain of sin. Still, there would be need to seek forgiveness for defects in one's de Votion. Rabia often used to say: It is for my dereliction in calling upon the name of God that I am obliged to seek forgiveness! [A tradition from Aisha follows.]

There is none in the city worse than 1. No mother ever bore a son more slowly than 1. I am caught within the circle of creaturely claims, yet there is another place outside this circle, closer to Him! A Magian priest speaks more truthfully to his people than I. And a dog is more faithful to its fellows than 1. Thanksgiving is proper, for where God's glory shines, The most forlorn of men has been renewed with hope!

Peace!

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

My brother Shamsuddin, there is a worship connected with one's body and another pertaining to one's property. The latter is more ef- ficacious than the former, for its advantage accrues to another as well. Sufis simply pay no attention at all to life and property and have no dealings with anyone except God. They say that a genuine dervish is a person who claims no rights with respect to his life and property. If his blood is shed, he is convinced that this shedding comes from God and would count that hour as the culminating point of his life and call it a compensation from the Lord, as it has been said: Whoever is killed in My love, his blood has been shed by My hands If his pos sessions are taken away, he is happy and says, God be praised! A veil has been removed from my eyes Hence they say that giving in alms of the blessings of this world should not be praised by Sufis, since avarice is unpraiseworthy and yet a greedy man is intent on keeping intact two hundred silver coins, even though he must give five of them away after he has had them for a year.

One of the canon lawyers pur Shibli to a kind of test by asking him how many silver coins one needed to possess in order to be obliged to contribute alms. He replied: Do you want me to answer according to the practice of lawyers or according to the practice of God's destitute? He was asked to reply according to both schools. He said: According to lawyers, before the expiration of a year, out of two hundred silver coins, five should be given away, while according to God's destitute, the whole two hundred silver coins should be im- mediately expended! Indeed, as an expression of gratitude, the Sufi should offer up his life. The lawyer said: We have adopted this practice as a requirement of our religion. Shibli said: We have takeen this practice from the treasury of the Lord of the Worlds, that is, from Abu Bakr, the Just One. He placed whatever he possessed in front of the Prophet and even offered his entire life, as a thank-offering. In Nawadir-al-Uul [The book of unusual doctrines), it is written that the Lord divided the special ones of this community into a thou- sand parts and presented the world before them. Nine hundred parts desired the world. They said: This world is the field of the world to come. Today we sow in order that, on the morrow, we might reap a harvest. A hundred parts had the world to come placed before them. Ninety of these parts desired that world. They said: The Lord has called this a great country. For an insignificant slave, this is some- thing stupendous! The other ten parts were sorely tried with afflictions and hardships. Nine of the cried out, Distress has afflicted me! (Q21:83). Calamity hid even the Object of their yearning from them!

Now only one part remained. The voice of God came: What is it that you desire? And who is your beloved? A cry arose: You are our Lord! You are our Completion! You are What we desire! You are our Beloved! There was a voice from heaven that said, Undoubtedly it is you who are My loved ones and My friends! When a man accepts this faith, he makes a present of his heart; when he prays, he offers his body, when he gives alms, he bestows his goods. Now, all these three qualities are those of lovers and show the genuineness of their claim to love. In other words, everything that has a form is offered up by them as a gift so that their relationship toward us men might be severed completely and their attention fixed upon God. When they approach, the gaze of the Master falls upon them, and they are found free of anything except Him. Even before He accepts them, God has already made them special. He has seated them on the heavenly throne. As for the command to give alms, it implies that the hearts of most men are seen to be preoccupied with calculations concerning goods, and they are absorbed in accumulating goods. It is known by the light of prophecy that anyone who clings to whatever is other than God, insofar as his heart is immersed in that which is not God, it is diverted from the path to God and becomes wholly engrossed in the particular matter at hand. If a person is unable to dispose completely of what he possesses, he can give at least five silver coins out of two hundred to some dervish, taking into account his own weak- ness. Just look at this generous provision of the Law. God is more considerate toward those who are weaker!

It should also be noted that almsgiving is of little practical consequence with Sufis, for their way of life is one of solitude and renunciation. In the time of the Prophet one of the Sufis related that a gold coin was found in his clothes. On the Last Day you will be branded like a slave! he was told. There was another incident concerning a Sufi who had two gold coins remaining in his possession. He was told: There are two marks to be branded on you! The reason for this severity was that, because they laid claim to a life of solitude and renunciation, even this amount was for them an external sin. O brother, goods present no difficulty for anyone who, from the very first step, has offered up his life! This is not your work nor mine! Who gave this wealth? Some of us who have been defective from birth will, God willing, gain some resemblance to them. Whoever becomes like a particular group will be counted as one of them. Tomorrow He will take our hand. There is hope of welfare and prosperity, if not, blood will issue forth from our body. He is always seeking forgiveness for his sins, and his devotion leaves him ashamed, even if there is no question of sin. The point is, there can be defects in his devotion. If the woeful state of your devotion were to be brought before you, you would be more fearful of it than of your sin. The Prophet said, I seek forgiveness a hundred times a day. The skirt of prophecy should be free of that, for it has been washed of the stain of sin. Still, there would be need to seek forgiveness for defects in one's de Votion. Rabia often used to say: It is for my dereliction in calling upon the name of God that I am obliged to seek forgiveness! [A tradition from Aisha follows.]

There is none in the city worse than 1. No mother ever bore a son more slowly than 1. I am caught within the circle of creaturely claims, yet there is another place outside this circle, closer to Him! A Magian priest speaks more truthfully to his people than I. And a dog is more faithful to its fellows than 1. Thanksgiving is proper, for where God's glory shines, The most forlorn of men has been renewed with hope!

Peace!