LETTER 1: BELIEF IN THE UNITY OF GOD

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

May the bounty of God be upon you, my brother Shamsuddin, both in this world and the next! It should be known, at the very begin- ning, that belief in the unity of God can be divided into four stages. In the first of these a person proclaims There is no god but God! (Q47:19) but his heart is devoid of faith. Such belief is hypocrisy and will prove profitless in the next life. In the second stage a person both proclaims There is no god but God! and believes in his heart that this is so. This type of belief can be either conventional-as is true for ordinary people or supported by rational proofs-as is the case of the learned. This is the way belief normally manifests itself. In truth it can be said: Come, open your eyes and see that each particle of dust, if you look carefully, contains a world-revealing cup. Sufis say that such faith prevents people from falling into crass polytheism and saves them from languishing eternally in hell. It also ensures entrance into paradise. Although this type of belief is more beneficial and en- during than the first, there is still an element of instability about it. The highest form of belief is for you, my friend, not this, which is fit for old women!

The third stage is said to be reached when a person's soul is illu minated in such a way that he is able to perceive every action flowing from a single source and deriving from a single agent. This firm be lief is different from the faith of common people and the faith of the learned, both of which are constricted. This elevates the heart. It is the contemplation of a light that effaces creatures! There is a similar difference between the person who believes that a certain gentleman is in an inn because somebody told him (just as the person of conventional faith inherits what he believes from his father or mother or someone else) and the person who, upon seeing the gentleman's horse and servants at the door of the inn, infers that the owner himself must be inside. This is the view and belief of the learned, but it contains a great amount of imitation. From the vantage point of someone who has actually seen the man, however, both beliefs are on the same footing, that is, they are equally defective. A believer who has at tainted the third stage is like the man who actually sees the gentleman in the inn. He is a Sufi who, in this stage, sees creatures and experiences the Creator, in the sense that he perceives that they all come from Him. This very discrimination, however, indicates that the state of complete unification has not yet been attained.

Sufi masters are of the opinion that, in the fourth stage, such a surfeit of the dazzling divine light becomes manifest to the pilgrim that every single existing particle that lies within his vision becomes concealed in the very luster of that light just as particles in the air are lost to sight on account of the brightness of the light emanating from the sun. This occurs not because the particles have ceased to exist but rather because the intensity of the sunlight makes it impossible that anything other than this concealment should result. In the same way, it is not true that a person becomes God-for God is infinitely greater than any man-nor has the person really ceased to exist, for ceasing to exist is one thing, and becoming lost to view quite another!

Before your Unique Being, there is neither old nor new Everything is nothing, nothing at all! Yet He is what He is How then can we remain separate from You?

When I and the You have passed away, God alone will re main!

When you look into a mirror you do not see the mirror for the simple reason that your attention has become riveted on your own handsome reflection. You would not, however, go on to say that the mirror has ceased to exist, or that it has become beautiful, or that beauty has become a mirror. In a similar fashion, one can contem plate God's almighty power in the whole gamut of creation, without any distinction. Sufis describe this state as that of being entirely lost to oneself in contemplation of the Unique Being!

A person who attains such a blessed state says His very brilliance blinds me to whatever descends!

Many have lost their balance here, for without the ever-present help of God's grace and favor, as well as the assistance of a spiritual guide, no one can traverse this wilderness. The guide should be a per- son who has passed through the ups and downs of the Way and tasted the unique sweetness of his all-demanding Majesty, as well as the pleasure of his intoxicating Beauty, and himself have attained enlightenment. This is the meaning of the following story. One day, Mansur al-Hallaj saw a famous Sufi, Ibrahim, wandering about in a wilder ness. He inquired what he was about. I am treading the path that leads to perfect trust in God, he replied. Mansur exclaimed, If your whole life were to be passed in doing justice to this stage of trusting in God, then how would you ever reach that of being lost in divine contemplation? It has been noted that fostering any sort of desire is really a waste of time, since it will be but a hindrance to contemplation.

Some people are admitted into the royal Presence for an hour a week, others, for an hour or two a day; while yet others are absorbed in divine contemplation for the great part of their time. Beyond these four stages is one known as losing consciousness of being lost in di- vine contemplation. This is due to the total absorption of the under- standing of the pilgrim, which leads him to forget himself altogether, in the heightened awareness of the King who is unsurpassable in beauty and power! In an instant, the pilgrim is himself borne off to the concealment of nothingness! Everything slips away from him for, if he were to know anything else, then, in the opinion of Sufis, it would be a sign of the distinction between seeing God apart from cre- ation and seeing creation rooted in God! Hence, we can understand how a person can lose sight of both himself and the entire creation in the dazzling light of God! The last vestige of self-awareness is itself lost in the rapture of this union.

When you lose yourself in God, you proclaim the divine Unity. Lose the sense of being lost that is complete detachment!

Hence it is that he forgets himself and the entire creation on ac- count of this dazzling divine light. On account of this forgetfulness, all awareness of self is lost. There is no calling upon the name or ob servance of customs, awareness of whether one exists or not, explana- tion, allusion, or divine throne! In this world, all things pass away (Q55:26) There is no splendor except at this stage. Here, everything perishes except His essence (Q28:88). Here alone is God actually seen face to face. Apart from here, one finds no trace of the Truth! I am the Holy One! The absolutely unhampered realization of the Unique Being occurs only in this stage.

Do not delude yourself, instead remember, Not everyone who gets lost in God becomes God! Consider an example from the world around us: the nut consists of (1) the outer shell, (2) the inner skin, (3) the kernel, and (4) the es sense of the kernel itself, its oil. All four constitute the nut, but each is different in its importance and possible uses, as anyone can easily see. In a similar fashion all the aforementioned refer to belief in di vine Unity, although in degrees, fruits, benefits, and gains there are thousands of distinctions. This letter should be given careful, detailed consideration, for it will be found to be the foundation of all stages, states, activities, and ecstatic phenomena. It will also help the reader to understand the sayings and allusions of religious leaders, when he peruses their writings, for that is what God is like. They will not fall into error. Also, it can throw light upon the foundation and lawful- ness of verses dealing with divine Unity and its various degrees, a matter in which one and all can be deceived and in which contradictions may arise.

Brother, you are now but an ant, yet you can become a Solomon. Do not be preoccupied with your sinfulness. Though you might now be fainthearted, you can develop great courage. Do not lay stress on your present impure and mean condition, but rather on what it is possible for you to achieve. For many long years there have been fol lowers of the Way. Consider Adam, he came from mud and water. Though an orphan raised by Abu Talib, Muhammad became the mes senger of God. From Azar the idol-maker came Abraham, the Friend of God. Consider also how polytheists have become monotheists, unbelievers, believers, sinners, followers of the Way, and mischief-makers, peacemakers Neither is God's might dependent on man's obedience, nor is His Grace determined by man's sin. A conversion story follows.

Peace!

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

May the bounty of God be upon you, my brother Shamsuddin, both in this world and the next! It should be known, at the very begin- ning, that belief in the unity of God can be divided into four stages. In the first of these a person proclaims There is no god but God! (Q47:19) but his heart is devoid of faith. Such belief is hypocrisy and will prove profitless in the next life. In the second stage a person both proclaims There is no god but God! and believes in his heart that this is so. This type of belief can be either conventional-as is true for ordinary people or supported by rational proofs-as is the case of the learned. This is the way belief normally manifests itself. In truth it can be said: Come, open your eyes and see that each particle of dust, if you look carefully, contains a world-revealing cup. Sufis say that such faith prevents people from falling into crass polytheism and saves them from languishing eternally in hell. It also ensures entrance into paradise. Although this type of belief is more beneficial and en- during than the first, there is still an element of instability about it. The highest form of belief is for you, my friend, not this, which is fit for old women!

The third stage is said to be reached when a person's soul is illu minated in such a way that he is able to perceive every action flowing from a single source and deriving from a single agent. This firm be lief is different from the faith of common people and the faith of the learned, both of which are constricted. This elevates the heart. It is the contemplation of a light that effaces creatures! There is a similar difference between the person who believes that a certain gentleman is in an inn because somebody told him (just as the person of conventional faith inherits what he believes from his father or mother or someone else) and the person who, upon seeing the gentleman's horse and servants at the door of the inn, infers that the owner himself must be inside. This is the view and belief of the learned, but it contains a great amount of imitation. From the vantage point of someone who has actually seen the man, however, both beliefs are on the same footing, that is, they are equally defective. A believer who has at tainted the third stage is like the man who actually sees the gentleman in the inn. He is a Sufi who, in this stage, sees creatures and experiences the Creator, in the sense that he perceives that they all come from Him. This very discrimination, however, indicates that the state of complete unification has not yet been attained.

Sufi masters are of the opinion that, in the fourth stage, such a surfeit of the dazzling divine light becomes manifest to the pilgrim that every single existing particle that lies within his vision becomes concealed in the very luster of that light just as particles in the air are lost to sight on account of the brightness of the light emanating from the sun. This occurs not because the particles have ceased to exist but rather because the intensity of the sunlight makes it impossible that anything other than this concealment should result. In the same way, it is not true that a person becomes God-for God is infinitely greater than any man-nor has the person really ceased to exist, for ceasing to exist is one thing, and becoming lost to view quite another!

Before your Unique Being, there is neither old nor new Everything is nothing, nothing at all! Yet He is what He is How then can we remain separate from You?

When I and the You have passed away, God alone will re main!

When you look into a mirror you do not see the mirror for the simple reason that your attention has become riveted on your own handsome reflection. You would not, however, go on to say that the mirror has ceased to exist, or that it has become beautiful, or that beauty has become a mirror. In a similar fashion, one can contem plate God's almighty power in the whole gamut of creation, without any distinction. Sufis describe this state as that of being entirely lost to oneself in contemplation of the Unique Being!

A person who attains such a blessed state says His very brilliance blinds me to whatever descends!

Many have lost their balance here, for without the ever-present help of God's grace and favor, as well as the assistance of a spiritual guide, no one can traverse this wilderness. The guide should be a per- son who has passed through the ups and downs of the Way and tasted the unique sweetness of his all-demanding Majesty, as well as the pleasure of his intoxicating Beauty, and himself have attained enlightenment. This is the meaning of the following story. One day, Mansur al-Hallaj saw a famous Sufi, Ibrahim, wandering about in a wilder ness. He inquired what he was about. I am treading the path that leads to perfect trust in God, he replied. Mansur exclaimed, If your whole life were to be passed in doing justice to this stage of trusting in God, then how would you ever reach that of being lost in divine contemplation? It has been noted that fostering any sort of desire is really a waste of time, since it will be but a hindrance to contemplation.

Some people are admitted into the royal Presence for an hour a week, others, for an hour or two a day; while yet others are absorbed in divine contemplation for the great part of their time. Beyond these four stages is one known as losing consciousness of being lost in di- vine contemplation. This is due to the total absorption of the under- standing of the pilgrim, which leads him to forget himself altogether, in the heightened awareness of the King who is unsurpassable in beauty and power! In an instant, the pilgrim is himself borne off to the concealment of nothingness! Everything slips away from him for, if he were to know anything else, then, in the opinion of Sufis, it would be a sign of the distinction between seeing God apart from cre- ation and seeing creation rooted in God! Hence, we can understand how a person can lose sight of both himself and the entire creation in the dazzling light of God! The last vestige of self-awareness is itself lost in the rapture of this union.

When you lose yourself in God, you proclaim the divine Unity. Lose the sense of being lost that is complete detachment!

Hence it is that he forgets himself and the entire creation on ac- count of this dazzling divine light. On account of this forgetfulness, all awareness of self is lost. There is no calling upon the name or ob servance of customs, awareness of whether one exists or not, explana- tion, allusion, or divine throne! In this world, all things pass away (Q55:26) There is no splendor except at this stage. Here, everything perishes except His essence (Q28:88). Here alone is God actually seen face to face. Apart from here, one finds no trace of the Truth! I am the Holy One! The absolutely unhampered realization of the Unique Being occurs only in this stage.

Do not delude yourself, instead remember, Not everyone who gets lost in God becomes God! Consider an example from the world around us: the nut consists of (1) the outer shell, (2) the inner skin, (3) the kernel, and (4) the es sense of the kernel itself, its oil. All four constitute the nut, but each is different in its importance and possible uses, as anyone can easily see. In a similar fashion all the aforementioned refer to belief in di vine Unity, although in degrees, fruits, benefits, and gains there are thousands of distinctions. This letter should be given careful, detailed consideration, for it will be found to be the foundation of all stages, states, activities, and ecstatic phenomena. It will also help the reader to understand the sayings and allusions of religious leaders, when he peruses their writings, for that is what God is like. They will not fall into error. Also, it can throw light upon the foundation and lawful- ness of verses dealing with divine Unity and its various degrees, a matter in which one and all can be deceived and in which contradictions may arise.

Brother, you are now but an ant, yet you can become a Solomon. Do not be preoccupied with your sinfulness. Though you might now be fainthearted, you can develop great courage. Do not lay stress on your present impure and mean condition, but rather on what it is possible for you to achieve. For many long years there have been fol lowers of the Way. Consider Adam, he came from mud and water. Though an orphan raised by Abu Talib, Muhammad became the mes senger of God. From Azar the idol-maker came Abraham, the Friend of God. Consider also how polytheists have become monotheists, unbelievers, believers, sinners, followers of the Way, and mischief-makers, peacemakers Neither is God's might dependent on man's obedience, nor is His Grace determined by man's sin. A conversion story follows.

Peace!