LETTER 25: THE LAW AND THE WAY

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

Brother Shamsuddin may God show you the straight path! The Law is a path established by prophets in the midst of a people, with the help of the Lord. The call issued by all the prophets is, first and for most, to acknowledge the unity of God. In this, they concur. More- over, there is only one religion, one call, and One worthy of adoration. All have said, Your God is one God! (Q2:163) Bur Muhammad said, Fear God, and obey me! (Q3:49). From Adam to Muhammad there has been no disagreement in the teaching of the prophets, since the call is simply the divine revelation that God Almighty accomplished through Gabriel, having it imprinted in their minds and sounded in their ears. There have been different words, interpretations, metaphors, and supports for different Laws, but what is essential in the call and constitutes the real origin of a community and its laws is the divine invitation. In this there is no contradiction.

The second call of the prophets is to service, by virtue of the fact that they are physicians to the people. At all times, according to the exigencies of the particular people, prophets lay the foundation that governs and regulates that people, through the revelation of the Lord The acceptance by the prophets of the divine utterances is called revelation. When they explain things on the basis of that revelation, it is called the invitation. Those who listen to them and follow them form a community. The collection of commands and prohibitions, of principles and their institutionalized expressions, comprise the Law. Following this path is called submission. Accepting the burden of all this is Islam, while showing constancy in all these matters is called faith. So, then, a Law is a path established and maintained by a prophet. This wide road is called a Highway. The Law should be a wide road, for many roads branch off from it, as the Prophet said: My people will be divided into seventy-three different sects, among whom seventy-two will be deviations, and one the path to salvation.

The Way is a path that stems from the Law. The Law expounds divine Unity, purity, prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, the holy war, religious tax, together with other obligations and concerns, while the Way seeks the reality behind all these prescribed things. Works are adorned with purity of conscience, and moral activity is purified of the evil propensities of nature, such as hypocrisy, avarice, oppression, idolatry, and similar things. In short, everything that is connected with outward purity and sanctification pertains to the Law, while everything connected with inner purification and sanctification pertains to the Way.

For example, washing before prayers is prescribed by the Law, while the effort to remain perpetually clean derives from the Way. The Law prescribes that at the time of prayer one should turn toward the Kaaba, while the Way endeavors to turn our gaze toward the Truth (behind the Kaaba). In general, the observance of all that pertains to the senses comes under the ambit of the Law, while the observance of all that is concealed in the inner purity of the body has to do with the Way.

All the prophets command their own communities to do what they themselves do, but there are some matters of conduct and works they do not insist upon, in order to make things a bit easier for the people. They themselves, however, as well as the elect, observe them all, such as praying throughout the night, refusing alms, eating little, turning away from the world, remaining calm in the face of great calamities, displaying simplicity in what concerns food, dwelling, and clothing, and all such similar things. In short, what brings difficulty to people is the Law, but what lightens their burden-whether it is enjoined or merely recommended constitutes the Way. Hence, if anyone resolves to progress on this Way, he ceases to belong to the class of the common people and enters the category of the elect.

The election of the prophets is of two kinds: One is forbidden and dangerous, as the Quran has said, This is especially for you, and not for the believers! (Q33:50). The second type is expressed in a pleasing Tradition: If anyone grows renowned in that specialty and advances along this Way, then how can there be any talk of excess? He would be making progress in his own perfection. Yet no dispensations are granted for anything along the Way, for such are granted on account of the weakness of a person's condition, just as others are al- lowed for the purpose of mitigating the lot of the needy and the in- firm. The masters of the Way, however, should be noted for their strength, courage, application, and diligence. Anyone in earnest must necessarily hold that there are no dispensations for him from any- thing. He should view what is permissible as forbidden to him. Even in what is lawful, he should not display greed or cupidity. The Law opens the door to ease and comfort, while the Way leaves no loophole for it! It also forbids whatever leads to ease or originates in the sensu- al soul.

Whenever a disciple allows himself liberties in things that are

permissible, his soul then becomes emboldened, and he is prompted to

follow his appetites. From these he goes on to greater and greater excesses, till he is finally borne off to what is forbidden and there perishes. Everyone who resolves to follow the Way without the Law is

like someone who wants to climb onto the top of the roof but breaks

the ladder and then tries to scale the wall without it. No matter how

hard he tries, he will keep falling down. Such a person may also be

compared to someone who tries the trick of throwing many stones up

into the air, but no matter how much deception he practices or how

hard he strives, the stones will still fall on him even more quickly

than he throws them into the air! Or again, such a person would be like someone who wants to go on a pilgrimage but turns away from the direction of prayer and so, inevitably, turns his back on the Kaaba as well. If he then sets off, no matter how many years he travels with the purpose of reaching the Kaaba, he will never reach it. Every end has its appropriate means, and every intention has conditions attached. In each society people have to be fit for this enterprise and have some affinity for it. The conditions and requirements of the Way are the full complement of God's commands and the Law. When a disciple becomes well versed in the path of the Law and reaches the stage where he discharges, as far as possible, all the duties of the Law, then the divine grace becomes his intimate friend. In this manner will he be found to have been specially chosen from among ordinary men and will be worthy of becoming a companion to those who tread the path of the special Way.

O brother, when you have grasped what the Law and the Way are, set out as best you can like someone who hobbles and stumbles along in imitation of, and conformity to, those pure souls! Come forward as a pauper who has absolutely nothing and yet presents his petition from afar to the One who cares for the needy! Know that if a few particles from the alchemy of kindness that is found in the treasury of divine grace were to be sprinkled on the idolatry of the idola- tors or the infidelity of the infidels, then that very idolatry or infidelity would turn into faith in the Unity of God! And if a few drops of the soul-animating sherbet contained in the cup of the Invisible One were to drop into the throats of people, then you would not see any- one in the whole world opposing or denying God! What He did not do to you was determined from all eternity and cannot be ascribed to the agency of some creature. If He had acted as a creature does, then there would be no question of divine grace! Even if every hair of your head were to become an angel of death, and every limb a Pharaoh, and every particle of you a Nimrod, and if hell were to surround you on all sides, still, whenever He wants you, absolutely nothing anyone can do will stand between Him and you.

Peace!

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

Brother Shamsuddin may God show you the straight path! The Law is a path established by prophets in the midst of a people, with the help of the Lord. The call issued by all the prophets is, first and for most, to acknowledge the unity of God. In this, they concur. More- over, there is only one religion, one call, and One worthy of adoration. All have said, Your God is one God! (Q2:163) Bur Muhammad said, Fear God, and obey me! (Q3:49). From Adam to Muhammad there has been no disagreement in the teaching of the prophets, since the call is simply the divine revelation that God Almighty accomplished through Gabriel, having it imprinted in their minds and sounded in their ears. There have been different words, interpretations, metaphors, and supports for different Laws, but what is essential in the call and constitutes the real origin of a community and its laws is the divine invitation. In this there is no contradiction.

The second call of the prophets is to service, by virtue of the fact that they are physicians to the people. At all times, according to the exigencies of the particular people, prophets lay the foundation that governs and regulates that people, through the revelation of the Lord The acceptance by the prophets of the divine utterances is called revelation. When they explain things on the basis of that revelation, it is called the invitation. Those who listen to them and follow them form a community. The collection of commands and prohibitions, of principles and their institutionalized expressions, comprise the Law. Following this path is called submission. Accepting the burden of all this is Islam, while showing constancy in all these matters is called faith. So, then, a Law is a path established and maintained by a prophet. This wide road is called a Highway. The Law should be a wide road, for many roads branch off from it, as the Prophet said: My people will be divided into seventy-three different sects, among whom seventy-two will be deviations, and one the path to salvation.

The Way is a path that stems from the Law. The Law expounds divine Unity, purity, prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, the holy war, religious tax, together with other obligations and concerns, while the Way seeks the reality behind all these prescribed things. Works are adorned with purity of conscience, and moral activity is purified of the evil propensities of nature, such as hypocrisy, avarice, oppression, idolatry, and similar things. In short, everything that is connected with outward purity and sanctification pertains to the Law, while everything connected with inner purification and sanctification pertains to the Way.

For example, washing before prayers is prescribed by the Law, while the effort to remain perpetually clean derives from the Way. The Law prescribes that at the time of prayer one should turn toward the Kaaba, while the Way endeavors to turn our gaze toward the Truth (behind the Kaaba). In general, the observance of all that pertains to the senses comes under the ambit of the Law, while the observance of all that is concealed in the inner purity of the body has to do with the Way.

All the prophets command their own communities to do what they themselves do, but there are some matters of conduct and works they do not insist upon, in order to make things a bit easier for the people. They themselves, however, as well as the elect, observe them all, such as praying throughout the night, refusing alms, eating little, turning away from the world, remaining calm in the face of great calamities, displaying simplicity in what concerns food, dwelling, and clothing, and all such similar things. In short, what brings difficulty to people is the Law, but what lightens their burden-whether it is enjoined or merely recommended constitutes the Way. Hence, if anyone resolves to progress on this Way, he ceases to belong to the class of the common people and enters the category of the elect.

The election of the prophets is of two kinds: One is forbidden and dangerous, as the Quran has said, This is especially for you, and not for the believers! (Q33:50). The second type is expressed in a pleasing Tradition: If anyone grows renowned in that specialty and advances along this Way, then how can there be any talk of excess? He would be making progress in his own perfection. Yet no dispensations are granted for anything along the Way, for such are granted on account of the weakness of a person's condition, just as others are al- lowed for the purpose of mitigating the lot of the needy and the in- firm. The masters of the Way, however, should be noted for their strength, courage, application, and diligence. Anyone in earnest must necessarily hold that there are no dispensations for him from any- thing. He should view what is permissible as forbidden to him. Even in what is lawful, he should not display greed or cupidity. The Law opens the door to ease and comfort, while the Way leaves no loophole for it! It also forbids whatever leads to ease or originates in the sensu- al soul.

Whenever a disciple allows himself liberties in things that are

permissible, his soul then becomes emboldened, and he is prompted to

follow his appetites. From these he goes on to greater and greater excesses, till he is finally borne off to what is forbidden and there perishes. Everyone who resolves to follow the Way without the Law is

like someone who wants to climb onto the top of the roof but breaks

the ladder and then tries to scale the wall without it. No matter how

hard he tries, he will keep falling down. Such a person may also be

compared to someone who tries the trick of throwing many stones up

into the air, but no matter how much deception he practices or how

hard he strives, the stones will still fall on him even more quickly

than he throws them into the air! Or again, such a person would be like someone who wants to go on a pilgrimage but turns away from the direction of prayer and so, inevitably, turns his back on the Kaaba as well. If he then sets off, no matter how many years he travels with the purpose of reaching the Kaaba, he will never reach it. Every end has its appropriate means, and every intention has conditions attached. In each society people have to be fit for this enterprise and have some affinity for it. The conditions and requirements of the Way are the full complement of God's commands and the Law. When a disciple becomes well versed in the path of the Law and reaches the stage where he discharges, as far as possible, all the duties of the Law, then the divine grace becomes his intimate friend. In this manner will he be found to have been specially chosen from among ordinary men and will be worthy of becoming a companion to those who tread the path of the special Way.

O brother, when you have grasped what the Law and the Way are, set out as best you can like someone who hobbles and stumbles along in imitation of, and conformity to, those pure souls! Come forward as a pauper who has absolutely nothing and yet presents his petition from afar to the One who cares for the needy! Know that if a few particles from the alchemy of kindness that is found in the treasury of divine grace were to be sprinkled on the idolatry of the idola- tors or the infidelity of the infidels, then that very idolatry or infidelity would turn into faith in the Unity of God! And if a few drops of the soul-animating sherbet contained in the cup of the Invisible One were to drop into the throats of people, then you would not see any- one in the whole world opposing or denying God! What He did not do to you was determined from all eternity and cannot be ascribed to the agency of some creature. If He had acted as a creature does, then there would be no question of divine grace! Even if every hair of your head were to become an angel of death, and every limb a Pharaoh, and every particle of you a Nimrod, and if hell were to surround you on all sides, still, whenever He wants you, absolutely nothing anyone can do will stand between Him and you.

Peace!