LETTER 67: A GOOD MENTAL ATTITUDE

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

Dear Brother Shamsuddin, this group has a better attitude toward God than all others. Khwaja Yahya Mu'az said: Everyone who does not have a good attitude toward God Almighty cannot have his face illumined by Him! This accords with what the Prophet recorded God Almighty says: 'I am close to the mental outlook of My slave, namely, to what he thinks of Me and desires. I know what My slave thinks about Me, and I deal with him according to what I know. It is related in the story of Joseph that he said to Zulaikha: Your husband has a good opinion of me. He says of me: 'Perhaps he will be of some use to us' (Q21:21).I will not do anything against him.

When a creature does not oppose the good opinion of an infidel, then how much the more will God Almighty not oppose the good attitude of believers? The secret of this has been put thus:

O Generous One Who, out of Your hidden treasure, Give sustenance to Zoroastrians and Christians, How could You possibly disappoint Your friends, You, a King, with eyes even for me?

Having a good opinion of somebody results from an experience of his generosity, while a suspicious attitude toward a person would indicate the opposite experience. Everyone who has an actual experience of the generosity of somebody becomes an even firmer friend of his. Khwaja Yahya Mu'az said: Everyone who does not have a good opinion of God does not have his inner eye illuminated by Him. It is because of this tradition that he says that God's attitude toward you will accord with your opinion of Him. If you have a suspicious attitude toward Him, then He too is suspicious. No one who experiences bad things from God will ever have his eye illuminated by Him. Another meaning is that one is very suspicious of one's enemy but trusts one's friends. One's heart is lit up by one's friends, not by one's enemies. Suspicion signifies the onset of enmity, while a good opinion points to incipient love. Here is something of fundamental importance and constituting a very delicate point in which the majority of men are deceived: it is necessary to distinguish between simply desiring something on the one hand and being really hopeful and having a proper attitude on the other. Hope and a proper attitude have some basis, whereas vain desire is without root or justification. As an example of both of these, consider a person who does some cultivating. He prepares the land, ploughs the soil, casts the seed, and, in general, does all that is required in order to secure a good crop. Then he says that he hopes, with the blessing of Almighty God, that he will obtain such and such as a result of his labors. This desire is genuine hope and shows a proper attitude. Another fellow does no work, leaves the land as it is, passes his time in sleeping and idles away the whole year When the time of harvest arrives he says that he hopes, with God's blessing, to obtain some grain from his field. Every intelligent person who hears such nonsense will get very annoyed and say: How can you possibly get anything? This is simply vain desire! Well-founded desire is like a slave who struggles to be devoted to God, and carries out to the letter whatever He has commanded. He keeps away from sin. He says: I hope that God Himself will accept this little I have to offer. He is the one who can make up for my shortcomings. He is the One Who rewards and He is the One Who forgives. Now, such a desire shows a good outlook and firm hope having a solid basis, but when someone remains foolish, abandons submission, gives himself up to sin, has no fear of God in his heart, and pays no attention either to ritual or legal obligations, but says instead: I hope that God will grant me heaven, and save me from hell!-clearly this is but vain desire! It has no basis, for nothing can be obtained by it. Yet he has the audacity to call it a good attitude. This is a great fault, about which the Prophet commented: A wise man is he who supervises his soul and acts with a view to his death, but a fool is he who thinks only of himself and still expects God to forgive him.

Having grasped this, you must realize that these people exalt themselves above the rest of creation: They consider themselves to be beyond advice, whether in temporal or religious matters! They say that they took note of what Joseph said, even though he was a prophet: I do not call myself sinless, for myself still urges me to sin! (Q12:53) If this is the description of the state of soul of the prophets, then what must that of others be like? The secret of this condition has been thus expressed:

As long as you are enmeshed by self and Satan.

You will act like Pharaoh or Haman!

If you accede to the inclinations of your soul, beware! All your members, from head to toe, will weep over you!

Know that the association of this group with their souls should be as though they were already beyond this world. They do not grant their souls anything they desire. Whatever the soul commands, even if it be full of devotion, would not be for his peace. Everyone who entrusts himself to his enemy will soon be destroyed. For the believer, self is the real enemy, while God is his friend. For an enemy, there is nothing but suspicion, whereas for a friend, there is nothing except a good opinion! Everyone whose friend can be of assistance to him will certainly not associate with his enemy! The reason is that, by associating with his enemy, he cuts himself off from his friend. Some great men have said:

If two friends are completely devoted to each other, Then a single hair between them would act like a curtain!

It would be a sin for a mystic to think about anything else except God! The desire of anything except God would be polytheism. Associating with anything other than God would be infidelity. An adulterer does not flee from his adultery the way these people flee from such things! This is their oppression and sin-not the sort of thing you and I are guilty of Majnun was asked: What is your relationship to God? He replied: When I recognized Him, I ceased all oppressive behavior! When did this occur? He replied: From the time people began calling me 'Majnun' [a madman). Actually, the truth is the very opposite of this! A madman is one who brings anything other than God into his heart, not the one who brings God into his heart in place of the world!

I desire no chains other than Your tresses. See what a wise madman I am!

This path is called the path of blame. Those who follow it are called the blameworthy ones, because they have seen that good fortune and rank in the eyes of the people are more dangerous for a slave than a thousand idols. An idol cannot cut off a unitarian in the way that rank and position can! There is a story in this vein concerning Bayazid, the prince of mystic knowers. He entered a certain city. The people received him very well. He perceived that his attachment to the people was resulting in his becoming distant from God. His strength no longer remained. He left the city. The people accompanied him out of the city. He said to his servant, Abdullah Duvaili: Watch how I worship my own soul! The servant said: I was watching to see what he would do. He performed two ceremonial prayers. He stood up and turned toward the people. The people thought he was about to pray. Instead, he said: Surely I am God. There is no god but Me, so worship Me! (Q20:14). Everyone said: Bayazid has become an infidel! He has claimed to be God! Everyone got up and left him alone. But he had not claimed to be God. He had simply recited a verse from the Quran. The servant said: He turned to me and said: My son, you saw that I recited a verse from the Quran and what misfortune befell me! The secret is contained in this:

Beware, for by being flayed, I shall be purified! All for Your sake, O dear, knowing Friend! If I love another, why should I fear the people? If I have my Beloved, I shall throw dust upon the whole world!

Associating with anything other than God is polytheism. Looking at anything except God is a veil. A unitarian is single. Everyone looks at him. He does not look at anything except God. His fear overcomes all other fears. His hope overcomes all other hopes. His glory overshadows all other glory. His kingdom vanquishes all other kingdoms. His power subdues all other powers. The same could be said for His other qualities. The Messenger has given us a hint of this when he said: In my union with God there comes a time when no angel near to God or prophet could draw breath. The secret of this was revealed by God alone. Nothing remained as a blockage between him and God! He experienced the perfection of singularity. That stage is not for everybody, and yet each could have some experience of it, in accordance with his capacity. When a slave's capacity for perception is perfected, he has nothing to fear from this world or from a thousand similar ones. A poem follows.)

Hence realize that no matter what claim creatures make to manifestations of divine unity, they are still really veiled. They have not had any experience. Whoever has a truly divine experience, in which a taste of the divine unity is granted, has no fear of anything but God, nor does he hope for anything from any source other than God. In fact, he sees nothing but God! He associates with none other than God. Of this secret the poet said:

Apart from You and me, it seems nothing else exists: What is there that can mediate between us?

I do not want even the sun to rise together with You. And when You Yourself come, I want no shadow to come with You!

The swooning Majnun said, When I recognized Him, I stopped my oppressive behavior. Namely, when I saw that He had graciously granted me mystical insight into Himself, I recognized that being immersed in anything other than Him was intolerable behavior, as was paying attention to anything but Him. Such is the iniquity of preoccupation with other than God, it is no mere sin. When God showers His favors upon me by removing the veil upon my head so that I can see Him, then if I look at anything besides Him, I again place a veil between Him and me. Being well known among the people means that when someone is talking to another person, if the latter does not pay attention to what the former is saying, he exclaims, Don't ignore me like this Also, if a friend has eyes only for his friend, but then begins to glance elsewhere, his friend will say: Such behavior is intolerable! Ismi has something to say about this in a story he relates I saw a really beautiful girl. My heart went out to her. I said to her My whole being is completely taken up with you! She said: If this is true, I too will lavish myself entirely upon you! Yet I must tell you that I have a sister. Once you see her face you will become oblivious to my beauty! Where is she? I asked. Right behind you! I turned and looked behind me. She jumped up and hit me on the back, saying:

O deceiver! If your being was completely engrossed in mine, how could you possibly look at another?

As far as Sufis are concerned, this is the sort of thing they call iniquity! Majnun said, When I recognized Him, people called me mad, by which he meant that to the extent that mystical knowledge is granted to a person there is a corresponding turning away from what is not God. Whoever turns away from creatures, however, becomes, in the eyes of people, a madman. A Sufi has the quality of turning away from whatever people put before him. The very thing ordinary people are partial to is that from which he flees. His qualities, actions, deeds, and states are exactly opposite to those of most people. This is why he is called mad. As someone has explained: Heavenly minded people are usually considered to be rather foolish. Certainly those who flee from people and from the world are labeled as foolish. There is nothing strange about this, for the simple reason that just as the mad are adjudged mad by intelligent folk, so the mad deem the intelligent to be mad! One beloved of God has put it thus:

Those who are forever occupied with prayer Should be considered as initiates into the Mystery. They do depend on no one at all, Except for the One without need Whom they continually remember.

They are forever burning in the oven of poverty And being consumed with their own grief. At one stroke they are cut off from both worlds, And are separated from whatever is less than God!

A number of books have related the saying of the Almighty: I have created the whole world for your sake, and you for My sake. One day, a religious-minded man was looking at himself in a mirror. He was dumbstruck realizing what wisdom God had displayed in creating him. He heard a voice from the mirror saying: My real wisdom in creating you is that love which has been implanted in your heart. This remains a hidden secret to prevent jealous eyes from falling on it

O brother, if He had not granted you kingship, you, could not possibly have attained a genuine mystical insight into Him, for only kings can recognize kings! Listen to what the Quran has to say:

I have made you a caliph and granted you kingship (Q10:14). Khwaja Nizami has given us a hint when he says:

Your dust is intermingled with much grief: Many are the treasures hidden in this dust! Your dust, on the day of mixing. Was stirred by the feet of one familiar with the heart. We who have mastered knowledge of the hearts, Though we come from a nine of clay, are precious gems. Ascend to the sky and scan it with your heart. So long as you remain in this dust, what will you gain?

Peace!

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

Dear Brother Shamsuddin, this group has a better attitude toward God than all others. Khwaja Yahya Mu'az said: Everyone who does not have a good attitude toward God Almighty cannot have his face illumined by Him! This accords with what the Prophet recorded God Almighty says: 'I am close to the mental outlook of My slave, namely, to what he thinks of Me and desires. I know what My slave thinks about Me, and I deal with him according to what I know. It is related in the story of Joseph that he said to Zulaikha: Your husband has a good opinion of me. He says of me: 'Perhaps he will be of some use to us' (Q21:21).I will not do anything against him.

When a creature does not oppose the good opinion of an infidel, then how much the more will God Almighty not oppose the good attitude of believers? The secret of this has been put thus:

O Generous One Who, out of Your hidden treasure, Give sustenance to Zoroastrians and Christians, How could You possibly disappoint Your friends, You, a King, with eyes even for me?

Having a good opinion of somebody results from an experience of his generosity, while a suspicious attitude toward a person would indicate the opposite experience. Everyone who has an actual experience of the generosity of somebody becomes an even firmer friend of his. Khwaja Yahya Mu'az said: Everyone who does not have a good opinion of God does not have his inner eye illuminated by Him. It is because of this tradition that he says that God's attitude toward you will accord with your opinion of Him. If you have a suspicious attitude toward Him, then He too is suspicious. No one who experiences bad things from God will ever have his eye illuminated by Him. Another meaning is that one is very suspicious of one's enemy but trusts one's friends. One's heart is lit up by one's friends, not by one's enemies. Suspicion signifies the onset of enmity, while a good opinion points to incipient love. Here is something of fundamental importance and constituting a very delicate point in which the majority of men are deceived: it is necessary to distinguish between simply desiring something on the one hand and being really hopeful and having a proper attitude on the other. Hope and a proper attitude have some basis, whereas vain desire is without root or justification. As an example of both of these, consider a person who does some cultivating. He prepares the land, ploughs the soil, casts the seed, and, in general, does all that is required in order to secure a good crop. Then he says that he hopes, with the blessing of Almighty God, that he will obtain such and such as a result of his labors. This desire is genuine hope and shows a proper attitude. Another fellow does no work, leaves the land as it is, passes his time in sleeping and idles away the whole year When the time of harvest arrives he says that he hopes, with God's blessing, to obtain some grain from his field. Every intelligent person who hears such nonsense will get very annoyed and say: How can you possibly get anything? This is simply vain desire! Well-founded desire is like a slave who struggles to be devoted to God, and carries out to the letter whatever He has commanded. He keeps away from sin. He says: I hope that God Himself will accept this little I have to offer. He is the one who can make up for my shortcomings. He is the One Who rewards and He is the One Who forgives. Now, such a desire shows a good outlook and firm hope having a solid basis, but when someone remains foolish, abandons submission, gives himself up to sin, has no fear of God in his heart, and pays no attention either to ritual or legal obligations, but says instead: I hope that God will grant me heaven, and save me from hell!-clearly this is but vain desire! It has no basis, for nothing can be obtained by it. Yet he has the audacity to call it a good attitude. This is a great fault, about which the Prophet commented: A wise man is he who supervises his soul and acts with a view to his death, but a fool is he who thinks only of himself and still expects God to forgive him.

Having grasped this, you must realize that these people exalt themselves above the rest of creation: They consider themselves to be beyond advice, whether in temporal or religious matters! They say that they took note of what Joseph said, even though he was a prophet: I do not call myself sinless, for myself still urges me to sin! (Q12:53) If this is the description of the state of soul of the prophets, then what must that of others be like? The secret of this condition has been thus expressed:

As long as you are enmeshed by self and Satan.

You will act like Pharaoh or Haman!

If you accede to the inclinations of your soul, beware! All your members, from head to toe, will weep over you!

Know that the association of this group with their souls should be as though they were already beyond this world. They do not grant their souls anything they desire. Whatever the soul commands, even if it be full of devotion, would not be for his peace. Everyone who entrusts himself to his enemy will soon be destroyed. For the believer, self is the real enemy, while God is his friend. For an enemy, there is nothing but suspicion, whereas for a friend, there is nothing except a good opinion! Everyone whose friend can be of assistance to him will certainly not associate with his enemy! The reason is that, by associating with his enemy, he cuts himself off from his friend. Some great men have said:

If two friends are completely devoted to each other, Then a single hair between them would act like a curtain!

It would be a sin for a mystic to think about anything else except God! The desire of anything except God would be polytheism. Associating with anything other than God would be infidelity. An adulterer does not flee from his adultery the way these people flee from such things! This is their oppression and sin-not the sort of thing you and I are guilty of Majnun was asked: What is your relationship to God? He replied: When I recognized Him, I ceased all oppressive behavior! When did this occur? He replied: From the time people began calling me 'Majnun' [a madman). Actually, the truth is the very opposite of this! A madman is one who brings anything other than God into his heart, not the one who brings God into his heart in place of the world!

I desire no chains other than Your tresses. See what a wise madman I am!

This path is called the path of blame. Those who follow it are called the blameworthy ones, because they have seen that good fortune and rank in the eyes of the people are more dangerous for a slave than a thousand idols. An idol cannot cut off a unitarian in the way that rank and position can! There is a story in this vein concerning Bayazid, the prince of mystic knowers. He entered a certain city. The people received him very well. He perceived that his attachment to the people was resulting in his becoming distant from God. His strength no longer remained. He left the city. The people accompanied him out of the city. He said to his servant, Abdullah Duvaili: Watch how I worship my own soul! The servant said: I was watching to see what he would do. He performed two ceremonial prayers. He stood up and turned toward the people. The people thought he was about to pray. Instead, he said: Surely I am God. There is no god but Me, so worship Me! (Q20:14). Everyone said: Bayazid has become an infidel! He has claimed to be God! Everyone got up and left him alone. But he had not claimed to be God. He had simply recited a verse from the Quran. The servant said: He turned to me and said: My son, you saw that I recited a verse from the Quran and what misfortune befell me! The secret is contained in this:

Beware, for by being flayed, I shall be purified! All for Your sake, O dear, knowing Friend! If I love another, why should I fear the people? If I have my Beloved, I shall throw dust upon the whole world!

Associating with anything other than God is polytheism. Looking at anything except God is a veil. A unitarian is single. Everyone looks at him. He does not look at anything except God. His fear overcomes all other fears. His hope overcomes all other hopes. His glory overshadows all other glory. His kingdom vanquishes all other kingdoms. His power subdues all other powers. The same could be said for His other qualities. The Messenger has given us a hint of this when he said: In my union with God there comes a time when no angel near to God or prophet could draw breath. The secret of this was revealed by God alone. Nothing remained as a blockage between him and God! He experienced the perfection of singularity. That stage is not for everybody, and yet each could have some experience of it, in accordance with his capacity. When a slave's capacity for perception is perfected, he has nothing to fear from this world or from a thousand similar ones. A poem follows.)

Hence realize that no matter what claim creatures make to manifestations of divine unity, they are still really veiled. They have not had any experience. Whoever has a truly divine experience, in which a taste of the divine unity is granted, has no fear of anything but God, nor does he hope for anything from any source other than God. In fact, he sees nothing but God! He associates with none other than God. Of this secret the poet said:

Apart from You and me, it seems nothing else exists: What is there that can mediate between us?

I do not want even the sun to rise together with You. And when You Yourself come, I want no shadow to come with You!

The swooning Majnun said, When I recognized Him, I stopped my oppressive behavior. Namely, when I saw that He had graciously granted me mystical insight into Himself, I recognized that being immersed in anything other than Him was intolerable behavior, as was paying attention to anything but Him. Such is the iniquity of preoccupation with other than God, it is no mere sin. When God showers His favors upon me by removing the veil upon my head so that I can see Him, then if I look at anything besides Him, I again place a veil between Him and me. Being well known among the people means that when someone is talking to another person, if the latter does not pay attention to what the former is saying, he exclaims, Don't ignore me like this Also, if a friend has eyes only for his friend, but then begins to glance elsewhere, his friend will say: Such behavior is intolerable! Ismi has something to say about this in a story he relates I saw a really beautiful girl. My heart went out to her. I said to her My whole being is completely taken up with you! She said: If this is true, I too will lavish myself entirely upon you! Yet I must tell you that I have a sister. Once you see her face you will become oblivious to my beauty! Where is she? I asked. Right behind you! I turned and looked behind me. She jumped up and hit me on the back, saying:

O deceiver! If your being was completely engrossed in mine, how could you possibly look at another?

As far as Sufis are concerned, this is the sort of thing they call iniquity! Majnun said, When I recognized Him, people called me mad, by which he meant that to the extent that mystical knowledge is granted to a person there is a corresponding turning away from what is not God. Whoever turns away from creatures, however, becomes, in the eyes of people, a madman. A Sufi has the quality of turning away from whatever people put before him. The very thing ordinary people are partial to is that from which he flees. His qualities, actions, deeds, and states are exactly opposite to those of most people. This is why he is called mad. As someone has explained: Heavenly minded people are usually considered to be rather foolish. Certainly those who flee from people and from the world are labeled as foolish. There is nothing strange about this, for the simple reason that just as the mad are adjudged mad by intelligent folk, so the mad deem the intelligent to be mad! One beloved of God has put it thus:

Those who are forever occupied with prayer Should be considered as initiates into the Mystery. They do depend on no one at all, Except for the One without need Whom they continually remember.

They are forever burning in the oven of poverty And being consumed with their own grief. At one stroke they are cut off from both worlds, And are separated from whatever is less than God!

A number of books have related the saying of the Almighty: I have created the whole world for your sake, and you for My sake. One day, a religious-minded man was looking at himself in a mirror. He was dumbstruck realizing what wisdom God had displayed in creating him. He heard a voice from the mirror saying: My real wisdom in creating you is that love which has been implanted in your heart. This remains a hidden secret to prevent jealous eyes from falling on it

O brother, if He had not granted you kingship, you, could not possibly have attained a genuine mystical insight into Him, for only kings can recognize kings! Listen to what the Quran has to say:

I have made you a caliph and granted you kingship (Q10:14). Khwaja Nizami has given us a hint when he says:

Your dust is intermingled with much grief: Many are the treasures hidden in this dust! Your dust, on the day of mixing. Was stirred by the feet of one familiar with the heart. We who have mastered knowledge of the hearts, Though we come from a nine of clay, are precious gems. Ascend to the sky and scan it with your heart. So long as you remain in this dust, what will you gain?

Peace!