LETTER 39: SERVICE-A FURTHER EXPLANATION

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

Brother Shamsuddin may God adorn you with external and internal worship! Peace and salutations from the author of these words! Take note and be convinced that one should taste the sorrow of service, and that service should be carried out correctly. A seeker should become a servant. If he himself exercises dominion, to what sort of service is he laying claim? Comply with whatever this entails. What does being a slave mean? That is what you should be like! Slaves have tongues, but can they ask how and why? Whether you are given sherbet to drink or poison, accept it willingly! Do not assert yourself by saying. I should have this! or I shouldn't have that! A slave cannot object to his master. No matter what the master does, there is no turning away from him. A venerable Sufi was asked, What is service? He replied, Putting aside all turning aside, and willingly placing before oneself God's decree for you! If you are given something poisonous, drink it like sherbet, without showing the trace of a wrinkle on your forehead!

O brother, being a servant is itself something exalted. For 700,000 years that wretch Satan was diligent in his attempts to serve, but he could not succeed, even for a moment, in becoming a genuine servant. The genuine servant is he who has been purified of everything that might accrue to himself and is free from all thought of self or person- al favors. Another Sufi was asked, What is service He replied: When you become free, you become a servant! A dear one has said: There are many thousands of Abdul Razzaqs, Abdul Wahhabs, Abd-ul-Rahmans, and Abdul Rahims in this world, but you will have great difficulty in finding one Abdullah [i.e.., 'servant of God

O brother, anyone who worships God because He is his portion is called a slave of his own inheritance. He is certainly not a servant of God! Abu Ali Siyah has said: If you are asked whether you would prefer heaven or two prostrations of prayer, do not utter the word 'heaven! Say instead, Two prostrations of prayer, for heaven is already decreed for you. Wherever one's portion intrudes, there calamity and subterfuge lie in ambush. [This teaching is illustrated by a story concerning Moses and Khizr.)

If a slave is accepted, well and good; if rejected, well and good, if honored, well and good; if passed over, well and good. Whether he is praised or opposed, it is all the same to him! What can he do? Go to the house of a judge or bang his head against a wall?

If you want, kill me or strike me! Otherwise, keep me: There is only one thing I can do offer myself to You!

They consider heaven and hell as nothing. Indigent and resourceless, like slaves, they set out on the road. They see nothing except the Lord Himself. Possessing nothing, they desire nothing. One be loved of God saw a dervish and enquired: Where are you coming from? He replied, From God! And where are you going? To God! What is your purpose? God! To every question the reply

was the same, God!

I write Your name on the palm of my hand,

Fixing my eyes on that Name, I shed tears of blood. Yet I want nothing but to rivet my attention on You! No matter where my gaze alights, it is of You that I think!

Seeking a reward for submission, and pondering the reward and merit of one's worship, is a fatal poison. If you spend a thousand years in this fashion at the threshold, and if you perform by yourself all the possible forms of submission and worship known in the world. it will still be said to you: You are unworthy of Me! Your gift should be toral and complete A man had spent many long years of his life in submission and worship. He had engaged in a long struggle with himself and had undergone many hardships. A revelation came to the Prophet Tell him he is destined for hell! Why should he take such pains? When the Prophet conveyed this revelation to the man, he simply intensified his various religious practices, in a spirit of great joy and happiness. People were filled with astonishment at the sight! They said: What is this? Aren't you destined for hell He replied: considered myself to be totally unworthy of gaining admission into His kingdom. Now that I have been judged worthy of hell, what wealth is mine! What value have I gained!

O brother, there can be no expectation of proper service from anyone who has not weighed himself in the Scales beyond compare and discovered his own vanity. There is a saying of the venerable Sufis to the effect that the souls of these dear ones were offered to the dogs of a cemetery, yet not a single one paid any attention to them! A dervish in intimate discourse with God prayed: O God, if

You are not pleased with my love, at least be pleased with my service!

If this does not please You, be pleased with my doglike devotion The following morning he was walking along the road. A dog, in a state of trance, said to him: O dervish, you have given yourself a pretty high rank by equating yourself with one of us! What virtue we possess, since not a hair of ours has been raised in opposition to Him The dervish threw dust on his head and said O that I might become dust on the paw of Your dog Since it is not my lot to be a dog in Your lane!

Dust, of itself, is despicable and of no value. After it causes a thousand sins and rebellions, it becomes stained, cruel, and ignorant. Imagine its attire! Then what happened? God cast a glance in the di- rection of that brother, enabling him to see himself just as he is.

Granted more knowledge each day by the grace and generosity of his Lord, he began to see himself progressively as he is in this abode of dust. If for some days you are sorely tried and without means, do not be sad! At length you will have the pleasure of hearing the divine ad- dress, Come back! You will again experience His generosity, and you will again see yourself honored. Tomorrow, when Adam, along with his children, enters heaven, a voice will arise from the celestial doors from the very extremity of the multitude, and the angels will be filled with astonishment as they watch. This is the man who was thrust naked out of heaven! they will exclaim. The men of this Way have recognized the great value of grief and sorrow, in the following verse:

Such is the heart that, if for an hour it felt no pain, it would go to the afflicted and borrow some of theirs!

There is a tradition current about this: O worldly people, you receive wealth, recompense, and joy! O dear ones, you have much to endure! What a span of difference is there here! Reward and comfort are available to all, but calamities and effort are not. Foolish Pharaoh possessed, for four hundred years, kingdom and comfort and, during that period, was unacquainted with scarcity. Still, if he had wanted the pain and burning of the heart of Moses, even for an hour, it would not have been given to him! See what reward the world offers! There is one crown for the proud head, but a thousand for the submissive ones.

Look carefully at the extent of our effort and anguish! Where have they got us? It would be more fitting if we were hit on the head! People have said: If it had been ordained that, at the hour when the saw was biting into the head of Zachariah, someone had asked him, What do you want? then, summoning all his energy, he would have exclaimed at the top of his lungs: I desire that this saw should bite into my head forever!

Peace!

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

Brother Shamsuddin may God adorn you with external and internal worship! Peace and salutations from the author of these words! Take note and be convinced that one should taste the sorrow of service, and that service should be carried out correctly. A seeker should become a servant. If he himself exercises dominion, to what sort of service is he laying claim? Comply with whatever this entails. What does being a slave mean? That is what you should be like! Slaves have tongues, but can they ask how and why? Whether you are given sherbet to drink or poison, accept it willingly! Do not assert yourself by saying. I should have this! or I shouldn't have that! A slave cannot object to his master. No matter what the master does, there is no turning away from him. A venerable Sufi was asked, What is service? He replied, Putting aside all turning aside, and willingly placing before oneself God's decree for you! If you are given something poisonous, drink it like sherbet, without showing the trace of a wrinkle on your forehead!

O brother, being a servant is itself something exalted. For 700,000 years that wretch Satan was diligent in his attempts to serve, but he could not succeed, even for a moment, in becoming a genuine servant. The genuine servant is he who has been purified of everything that might accrue to himself and is free from all thought of self or person- al favors. Another Sufi was asked, What is service He replied: When you become free, you become a servant! A dear one has said: There are many thousands of Abdul Razzaqs, Abdul Wahhabs, Abd-ul-Rahmans, and Abdul Rahims in this world, but you will have great difficulty in finding one Abdullah [i.e.., 'servant of God

O brother, anyone who worships God because He is his portion is called a slave of his own inheritance. He is certainly not a servant of God! Abu Ali Siyah has said: If you are asked whether you would prefer heaven or two prostrations of prayer, do not utter the word 'heaven! Say instead, Two prostrations of prayer, for heaven is already decreed for you. Wherever one's portion intrudes, there calamity and subterfuge lie in ambush. [This teaching is illustrated by a story concerning Moses and Khizr.)

If a slave is accepted, well and good; if rejected, well and good, if honored, well and good; if passed over, well and good. Whether he is praised or opposed, it is all the same to him! What can he do? Go to the house of a judge or bang his head against a wall?

If you want, kill me or strike me! Otherwise, keep me: There is only one thing I can do offer myself to You!

They consider heaven and hell as nothing. Indigent and resourceless, like slaves, they set out on the road. They see nothing except the Lord Himself. Possessing nothing, they desire nothing. One be loved of God saw a dervish and enquired: Where are you coming from? He replied, From God! And where are you going? To God! What is your purpose? God! To every question the reply

was the same, God!

I write Your name on the palm of my hand,

Fixing my eyes on that Name, I shed tears of blood. Yet I want nothing but to rivet my attention on You! No matter where my gaze alights, it is of You that I think!

Seeking a reward for submission, and pondering the reward and merit of one's worship, is a fatal poison. If you spend a thousand years in this fashion at the threshold, and if you perform by yourself all the possible forms of submission and worship known in the world. it will still be said to you: You are unworthy of Me! Your gift should be toral and complete A man had spent many long years of his life in submission and worship. He had engaged in a long struggle with himself and had undergone many hardships. A revelation came to the Prophet Tell him he is destined for hell! Why should he take such pains? When the Prophet conveyed this revelation to the man, he simply intensified his various religious practices, in a spirit of great joy and happiness. People were filled with astonishment at the sight! They said: What is this? Aren't you destined for hell He replied: considered myself to be totally unworthy of gaining admission into His kingdom. Now that I have been judged worthy of hell, what wealth is mine! What value have I gained!

O brother, there can be no expectation of proper service from anyone who has not weighed himself in the Scales beyond compare and discovered his own vanity. There is a saying of the venerable Sufis to the effect that the souls of these dear ones were offered to the dogs of a cemetery, yet not a single one paid any attention to them! A dervish in intimate discourse with God prayed: O God, if

You are not pleased with my love, at least be pleased with my service!

If this does not please You, be pleased with my doglike devotion The following morning he was walking along the road. A dog, in a state of trance, said to him: O dervish, you have given yourself a pretty high rank by equating yourself with one of us! What virtue we possess, since not a hair of ours has been raised in opposition to Him The dervish threw dust on his head and said O that I might become dust on the paw of Your dog Since it is not my lot to be a dog in Your lane!

Dust, of itself, is despicable and of no value. After it causes a thousand sins and rebellions, it becomes stained, cruel, and ignorant. Imagine its attire! Then what happened? God cast a glance in the di- rection of that brother, enabling him to see himself just as he is.

Granted more knowledge each day by the grace and generosity of his Lord, he began to see himself progressively as he is in this abode of dust. If for some days you are sorely tried and without means, do not be sad! At length you will have the pleasure of hearing the divine ad- dress, Come back! You will again experience His generosity, and you will again see yourself honored. Tomorrow, when Adam, along with his children, enters heaven, a voice will arise from the celestial doors from the very extremity of the multitude, and the angels will be filled with astonishment as they watch. This is the man who was thrust naked out of heaven! they will exclaim. The men of this Way have recognized the great value of grief and sorrow, in the following verse:

Such is the heart that, if for an hour it felt no pain, it would go to the afflicted and borrow some of theirs!

There is a tradition current about this: O worldly people, you receive wealth, recompense, and joy! O dear ones, you have much to endure! What a span of difference is there here! Reward and comfort are available to all, but calamities and effort are not. Foolish Pharaoh possessed, for four hundred years, kingdom and comfort and, during that period, was unacquainted with scarcity. Still, if he had wanted the pain and burning of the heart of Moses, even for an hour, it would not have been given to him! See what reward the world offers! There is one crown for the proud head, but a thousand for the submissive ones.

Look carefully at the extent of our effort and anguish! Where have they got us? It would be more fitting if we were hit on the head! People have said: If it had been ordained that, at the hour when the saw was biting into the head of Zachariah, someone had asked him, What do you want? then, summoning all his energy, he would have exclaimed at the top of his lungs: I desire that this saw should bite into my head forever!

Peace!