786 The Zahuri Web Site - Sufi Stories
1. The Profession of Faith
The Shahadah (Kalima) is the Muslim profession of faith:
la ilaha illa-Llah, Muhammedar - rasulu - Llah.
This can be divided into three parts, the first part - la ilaha
is known as the negative part denying idolatry. The second
part - illa - Llah is known as the positive affirmation of the
unity of God. The third part confirms belief in the
prophethood of Muhammed (peace be upon him).
The first two parts recited together are often used in Sufi
'Zhikrs' and the repeated recitation of these is said to bring
much benefit*. There is much discussion as to how the first
two parts of should be translated into English. The most
conventional translation is that it should be written in
English as - 'There is no god, but God'. However in
discussion one day on this topic with Zahurmian I asked
him whether he thought this was better or whether it should
be spelt with a capital G both times the word God is used -
i.e. There is no God, but God. He expressed his own view
quite clearly that the latter was preferable. He did not
expand further on this, but on reflection I found that his
view and mine coincided entirely. Some people will find
this difficult to understand or accept - but I believe it repays
reflection.
*In his book The Meditations of Khawaja Muin Uddin Hasan Chishti Zahurmian
quotes that great saint as saying:
"The people recite 'There is no god but God and Muhammed is the
messenger of God', but they don't know what is meant by existence and
non-existence, who is denied and Who is affirmed. This article of faith
implies that, except Allah the One and the Supreme, there is none
existing and that the holy Prophet Muhammed is the manifestation of
Allah."
2. Good and Bad
People wonder how is it that an Merciful and All-powerful
God allows the existence of evil in his creation. Today I
was reading al-Ghazzali who gives a wonderful account to
help the rational mind to come to terms with this*.
Whilst thinking over what he says this idea came to my
mind concerning good and evil..
A carpenter who is building something may require for that
work a tough and strong piece of wood to act as a firm
support, he may select that piece of wood with great care
looking for just this particular quality of hardness and
strength. When he begins to work on the wood it is
necessary to make joints and to shape the wood according
to the requirements of the task. Now the hardness of the
wood becomes a difficulty to him. It requires much labour
and the very quality he required and sought with so much
care and effort becomes his enemy. The very quality of
hardness which is good for his task becomes as it were the
evil quality of the wood as far as his chisel and his saw and,
temporarily, he himself are concerned.
Were the saw and chisel able to talk and think might they
not complain and wonder why the carpenter permitted such
an evil thing as the hardness of the wood? Indeed at the
same time would the wood not feel justified in grieving at
the apparent cruelty of the saw and the chisel and the
carpenter.
No comparison does justice to Him. O God, keep fresh in
our remembrance Your great purpose.
Jamiluddin Morris Zahuri. Southampton, November 10th 2001
* See Al-Ghazzali The Ninety nine Beautiful Names of God. (trans. by Burrel and Daher published by Islamic Text Society
1992. (page 55)
3. The Story of the Missing Washing
The wife of a poor man who wasted his life in drunkenness
shouted at him one day - 'Go you lazy, witless clod who is
capable of no useful work and is only a burden on me, O
lazy ass - go and collect for me the basket of my washing!'
He went tamely - for when a man has no work and wins no
bread he becomes the slave of his wife - from the pangs of
guilt at his failure to do his duty to her.
He went, but on the way he met some companions who
were busy getting drunk - he joined them as was his wont
and his custom. Many hours later he returned sans sobriety,
sans legs that would walk in a straight line, sans thought,
sans memory - and sans washing basket. His wife detected
his state at once - how could she not?
Do not judge the wife too harshly in this - the anger of the
wife arose from and was the outward face of the man's
conscience. Neither judge the husband too harshly for the
anger of the wife in its way drove the man into the
cul-de-sac of witless behaviour. It is the nature of husband
and wife to be in opposition - for the husband seeks the
spirituality (or femininity) natural to the wife, and the wife
seeks the materiality inherent in the nature of the husband.
Materiality and spirituality are always at war - but the
resolution of this conflict is profit all round.
Following a volley of abuse that would have curled the ears
of an ass and left a garage mechanic or trooper feeling
inadequate, she came to the point. 'And where is my
washing' she cried?' He protested, 'But my dear and beloved
wife, I did not see any washing - I am sure it is not there - I
think you brought the washing basket in yourself'. She
denied this but by now he had fully convinced himself that
the washing had been brought in and was somewhere in the
house. He searched high and low. The wife could not
persuade him and he would not believe her. Despite her
careful rehearsal of events he felt that the washing must
have been brought back. Eventually, near to despair, she
said - 'if you refuse to believe me I know of only one thing
that will convince you. Let the washing speak for itself.'
She accompanied him to the place where the basket of
washing had been - and lo there it still was. In a voice a
hundred times more persuasive than her prolonged
invective the washing 'spoke' with complete authority -'Lo,
here am I'. The drunken fantasy of the man was blown to
shreds in a moment.
But the barbs of his wife were less than the self
recrimination of the man. 'What a witless clod I really am '
he thought, 'had I but quietly gone myself to seek the
washing I would have discovered my mistake, put it right
and avoided all this. Now there will be no no meal and no
bed to share in the night'.
Consider the moral of this story. A person spends their life
busy in daily affairs, avoiding major crimes and acts of an
indecent sort for fear of the law and the opinion of the
neighbours. In reality they are drunk with wine of
worldliness - which is to say forgetfulness of God. The
daily business of life presses in ever upon them. One thing
rapidly followed by another. If asked that person is sure to
say - 'I am a good person - I have done nothing wrong'. If
the person reads a text pointing out the sinful state of man -
they will say 'how true' but in their heart they will think -
'but this does not really apply to me'. No amount of
persuasion will make them think differently. The thousand
ill thoughts about this person or that, the thousand of petty
jealousies and envy, the myriad small acts of greed,
vindictiveness, meanness, spite, laziness, anger, hatred and
so on remain hidden from their view - until death brings
these small acts to their attention and then, like the basket of
washing in the story, the acts, thoughts, and feelings say
'Lo, here am I'.
Take this as a commentary on the verse in the Holy Book
which says: 'even their very limbs will bear witness against
them of what they did.'
From this take the lesson recited by God's holy Prophet; 'die
before you die'. One of the meanings of this is to examine
in minute detail our actions, and thoughts, and words, or
feelings - before our physical death brings us to it. To act
on this recognition so as to transform the situation then
becomes the inevitable conclusion of the sensible person.
Then, unlike the husband in the tale, bitter recriminations
turn to sweet talk of love, and a hungry cold night to a
generous repast.
JMZ Southampton (January 6th 2004)