Kharqāni’s quotes from Tadh-keratol Auliā (Remembering the Friends of Allah) by Faridud-din Attār

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Allah has given us (Sufis?) feet that in one step can traverse the distance between the core of the earth to the ‘Arsh (Divine Throne) and vice-a-versa so to understand that we have actually gone to nowhere. Allah sent a Nedā (Calling): The one with such step is my slave and truly where has he really gone to? And I added: O Voyage be prolonged or O Voyage be shortened since how could we traverse out of our own Nafs (Self, Psyche). (Man can travel the corners of cosmos but cannot traverse out of his own Nafs! The powers entrusted upon the Sufis are only there to indicate to them that they have no place to go other than towards Hu (IT), in spite of their powers. Similarly the technological wizardry of the West only to indicate to them that they have no place to go other than towards Hu!)

During the day I used to fast to death and during the night perpetually in worship, hoping that I will reach the destination (yet I found out) that ‘I’ was truly the destination.  (The lover who seeks That Beloved, shall find Hu (IT) nowhere and in no moment of time, instead shall find ITs Beauteous Guiding Nūr (Divine Light) within his own being! Because had that Divine Light not shone upon him, he would not have been!)

I do not tell you things from my own self per se, I am merely showing you the purity of Allah, Allah’s Mercy and Allah’s friendship: (that because of their vastness) Waves billow upon waves and ships smashed to one another.

What you are about to hear from me is either from my own dealings (with Allah) or Divine Endowment from Hu (IT): I cannot inform the people about the Tauhid (Divine Oneness) since nothing can stand it (this truth) like a flare thrown into a stack of hay. (There is a gargantuan entity called Tauhid, the foundation of cosmos, the very nature of human being and all species. There is no creature that can carry the burden of this amazing entity, however Mankind ‘volunteered’ an oath a covenant to carry this burden while the entire cosmos refused to!?)

A Nedā (Calling) from Allah came: My slave! If you come to Me with sorrow I shall give you happiness and if you come to Me with need I shall enrich you, for as long as you wash your hands from your own kind (have no hope of help from them) I shall subjugated the air and the water (i.e. the entire creation) to your will.

The scholars claim: The reasoning of the mind must be used to understand the Lord. The mind itself is blind to its own essence, how could it guide towards the Lord? Many (scholars) are into their own Self i.e. immixing the creation with the creator, but I through the Mushāhedah (Perception) cut my own ties with the creation, moved upon the path towards Allah and where I am this day and there is no other creature. (Human mind can barely comprehend its own neural network of operations how could it guide towards Allah? The only path towards Allah is evermore elimination of the creation from one’s Being, creating a ‘vacuum’ that all there is, is only Allah)

All treasures of the earth were presented to me that I may glance a look at them (and I did not) instead I cried: Deceived is the person who is deceived by these material things. A Nedā (Calling) came from Allah: Abul-Hassan! There is no assigned portion for you in this world, in both worlds, I am yours!

My Lord made my life a sin in my own eyes. (He would not want to look at his own life since the end result would be nothing but sins, so he diverts his eyes from his own life to Allah)

He asked a Sufi: Do you wish to speak to the Khidr? Sufi replied: Of course I do! Sheikh asked him: How old are you? The Sufi replied: Sixty. Sheik told the Sufi: Re-start your life (your current one all wasted) that Hu (IT) created you why do you want to deal with Khidr? For as long as my companionship is with Hu how could I desire others’ companionship?

Once Allah, The Sublime, opened this Path in front of me, the ways of the Path are so ever-changing that each year seemed as though I would go from disbelief to prophethood. (The Divine Path has Darajāt (Gradation, Degrees) and when one successfully goes from one degree to another, the feeling of elation is such that one was in disbelief and now he is endowed with prophethood i.e. a higher stage to the lower stage compares as if the person was in disbelief all along)

In 24 hours of the day & night each breath is from Allah and for Allah. I have no fight with the people. Where I am trekking even the angels cannot reach. (When man is solely preoccupied with Allah there is no fight in him with people)

I became sick of my Nafs (Self, Psyche), I threw my Nafs into the waters and it did not drown, I threw it in fire and it did no burn, I starved it by not feeding it food and it did not die, thus I placed my head upon the altar of helplessness (and Hu (IT) opened a gate for me) and I found my self some place I cannot describe. (There is no way to destroy the Nafs (Self, Psyche). Even if one kills himself the lingering effects of Nafs’s previous history continues to haunt Mankind. The consciousness of helplessness in Presence of Hu (IT) is one sure way to deal with the Nafs)

I am not an Ābed (Worshipper) nor a Zāhid (Ascetic) nor a scholar nor a Sufi, O my Lord you are One and my being one stems from Your Oneness. (When you say “I am one person” the very concept of pronoun ‘I’ and the oneness of this pronoun are the echoes of the Divine Oneness (Tauhid) of Allah that is the foundation of this cosmos and humanity)

I did not find Ikhlās (Sincerity, Purity) in my deeds until saw nothing save Hu (IT) and when I saw the reality of everyone being nothing but Hu then the Ikhlās (Sincerity, Purity) appeared within me. When I observed ITs Needlessness the entire creation amounted to nothing but a wing of a mosquito (in comparison to Hu). And when I observed ITs Mercy people amounted to few birdseeds. And what can these last two statements beget? THERE! (Most of what we do is for the sake of people’s eyes to be pleased and to approve/admire our doing. When the Murid (Seeker) perform acts solely for ITs eye to see, then the Murid is in the state of Ikhlās (Sincerity, Purity). If one could combine the Needlessness and Mercy of the Hu (IT), then one is transported to the other universe: THERE)

The Paths towards Allah are unnumbered. For as long as the Man feels like a slave to Allah then there is some Path for him towards Hu (IT). In each Path that I have taken I found some nation of people (traveling along). I begged Allah: Please choose a Path for me that has no one on it except “You & I”. Allah spread the Path of sorrows in front of me and said: Sorrow is a heavy burden and no other human being can carry it. (What makes me sorrowful is of no importance and concern to others. Therefore the Path is spread for me and for me only paved in sorrow, a path so constricted that only I can pass through it.)

Every morning the scholars wake up and seek more knowledge, every morning the Zāhid (Ascetic) wakes up and seeks more Zohd (Asceticism), yet Abul-Hassan wakes up seeking to bring joy to some brother’s heart. (There is no ‘seeking’ better than to bring happiness to a person in need. A bit of happiness unnoticed and unappreciated by most people is the best to seek in this world, the other lofty scholarly and spiritual pursuits are often nothing more than conquests of Nafs (Self, Psyche) for fame or self-satisfaction.)

I have made peace with Allah’s creation and never fought with people, yet I have declared war upon my own Nafs (Self, Psyche) and I shall never make peace with it.

As a snake emerges out of his old skin into a new life, I emerged (into this spiritual life).

Bā Yazid said: I am not staying and I am not traveling, but for I: I am traveling while residing stationery within ITs Tauhid (Divine Oneness).  

My parents were the children of Adam. Where I am this day there is no Adam and no children, JawānMard/Fatā (Spartan Brave Sufi) is true in Presence of Allah and for no one else (i.e. the Spartan Sufi’s truth and bravery is for Allah not for others and he feels only Allah’s Presence and no one else’s)

My Lord! Place me not in a Maqām (Stationary State of the Heart) wherein I could say “Creation & Haqq (The Absolute Reality, Allah)” or I could say “You & I”, place me in a Maqām that there is only You and none lese.

If my body aches You heal me, but if my heart aches who else can heal me?

O Allah! You created me for Yourself, my mother begat me for You! Do not let me be caught in the nets of others’ traps. (Mothers do not give birth to children, they are the altars for offering the children to Allah. Sheikh did not see the childbirth as a biological process rather a Divine Offering for Allah’s pleasure. Although Prophet Jesus—peace be upon him—was born without a father Allah still required that Jesus to be born of a woman/mother! Why? Why not a miracle where Jesus was born of no human being? Answer: Allah does not accept the offering of the children of Adam from other than women!)

Some of Your slaves like to worship and some like to fast and some like to perform Hajj and some like to acquire knowledge but make me one that his life and his love is You and nothing lese.

One must see his own heart buoying amongst the tumultuous waves of a sea of fire, and midst the smoldering flames his body charred, and upon the ashes sprouts the orchards of Wafā (Loyalty, Fulfillment of promises) bearing the fruits of Baqā (Everlasting-ness) and if one ate from these fruits their nectar would Fanā (Evanesce) the person in Hus (ITs) Divine Tauhid (Oneness).

If a lover finally reaches the presence of his lost beloved, all he sees is his beloved. (Meaning when we finally feel the presence of Hu (IT) all we see That Beloved, we cannot even see our own Self!)

There is no loving (for That Beloved) if even a little shameful thought may appear within the mind that requires seeking forgiveness. (Even if for a moment some evil thought came to your mind about another person, something that you may have lust about, then you loved someone else other than Allah i.e. your own Nafs (Psyche, Self) and if you love someone else then you did not love Allah whatsoever!)

Even a bit of Ta’zim (Aggrandizement for Hu (IT)) is far better than much acquisition of knowledge, worships or Zohd (Asceticism). (A moment the heart brim-filled with the feeling of Allah’s Greatness is worth more than any other practice of ritual. And indeed all these practices are to guide to that moment of Divine Grandeur)

At all times I am Your friend, I am for the Messenger Mohammad and the Khādem (Servant) for Your creation.

I turned my face towards Allah and said: There was this person who called me to You and he was Mustafā (The Chosen One, Mohammad)—peace be upon him—and if we set him aside I call the rest of the creation from the heavens to earth towards You. And this is the expression of Haqiqa (Absolute & True Reality) that affirms the Shariah (Divine Law, Prophetic Way).


© 2005-2002,  Dara O. Shayda