Book of Healing - Healing Through Knowledge - Sleep of Awliya'

Sleep of Awliya'

1. Is it true that the sleep of Prophets and awliya', under the influence of the light of "the Ever-living, the Ever-lasting", is extremely pleasant, sweet, miraculous and between sleep and wakefulness? Is it true that their eyes sleep, but their hearts do not? Is it also true that they are in constant dhikr day and night? Are all the individuals of the world of humanity alike with respect to need and the state of sleep, or do they differ? If you accept that there are different levels of sleep, what is their cause? Does a child sleep more in the womb of mother or after birth? What happens to sleep gradually after birth? Does it decrease or does it increase?

2. The wise Qur'an, in numerous of its noble verses, invites us to reflect upon everything of the universe and the existents and says that there are signs of God for the wise people in everything (2:164). You might have noticed that even in the animal kingdom there are many patterns of sleep which differ entirely from one another, such as the sleep of the rabbit, which is infamous because of the dominance of sleep. In extremely cold areas there are certain small and big animals who remain asleep or half dead for months in the holes of the earth or the cavities of hollow trees. On the other hand, the amazing thing is that the horse and the ox, despite strenuous work, do not feel the very need of sleep. You might have also seen birds which roost on trees. Do you think that the sleep of negligence overtakes them? No. Not at all. Had it been so, then the branch of the tree would have been released from the grip of their claws, and they would have fallen down on the ground in the darkness of the night. The most amazing thing is that the bat which flies the whole night for the sake of prey, remains hanging upside down from a ceiling or a branch of a tree during the daytime. Tell me, does it sleep in this state, or does it not? It is difficult to believe that it sleeps.

3. The highest ranks of the world of humanity and the world of religion are held by the Prophets and the awliya', therefore the recognition of their secrets is extremely difficult. However, it is not impossible. For, in Islam, there is no despondency from Divine mercy (12:87), because in it the soul-nourishing miracle of the means of guidance works amazingly. Thus in the light of the wisdom of the Qur'an and Hadith, it is possible to discover the great secret of the nature of the sleep of awliya'. How does it affect the senses? Is it included in the world of wakefulness or in the world of dream? Or is it a line of demarcation between the two? God willing, many such questions will be automatically solved by this article, so that the readers of this book may estimate the real standard of spiritual health and peace.

4. The holy Prophet says: "My eye sleeps but my heart does not sleep" (Bukhari, IV, 495). Glory be to God! See the glory of the sanctity of the holy Prophet, the owner of the diadem of mi`raj (spiritual ascent). In such a case, the light of dhikr automatically speaks without any interruption and this miraculous chain continues constantly, every moment. From the wisdom-filled words of this Hadith, it is evident that this sleep of the Prophets and awliya' is extremely pleasant, peaceful, animating, gladdening, amazing, miraculous and luminous. It is a state which takes place between sleep and wakefulness and is called half-sleep. Similarly, the holy Prophet says about all the Prophets: "The Prophets are those whose eyes sleep but their hearts do not sleep". (Bukhari, IV, 495-496; al Mu`jam, VII, 48). In spirituality, not only are the siddiqin, i.e. awliya', with the Prophets, but undoubtedly the shuhada' and salihin also have this bliss. Further, the obedient mu'mins can also attain the companionship of this august group (4:9). That is, it is possible to attain the recognition of one's self and every kind of recognition.

5. The wisdom-filled words of the wise Qur'an are multi-dimensional. That is, they have more than one meaning. (al-Ittiqan, II, 121-139). For instance, among these words, one is majma`u'l-bahrayn (the confluence of two oceans), which has many meanings. One of these meanings in the personal world, is the place which is the confluence of the ocean of wakefulness and the ocean of sleep. A brief description of this place is that, if a mu'min who is engaged in dhikr, reaches and stays there, all his disturbing thoughts are washed away and his dhikr starts to become miraculous. This is due to Hazrat `Izr'ail who leaves only the soul which is engaged in dhikr in the heart and seizes the rest of the carnal soul and its thoughts, as it is implied in the holy Qur'an: "God takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that die not, during their sleep". (39:42). Thus the sleep of the friends of God is dissolved into spirituality. In the Qur'an, where sleep is mentioned in laudatory terms, it is not the sleep of negligence, rather it is the greatest and most special bounty which has been praised, and towards which mu'mins have been invited and guided in a wisdom-filled way. Therefore, first and foremost, this sleep, which is the sleep of spirituality or the miraculous sleep, is granted to the Prophets and the awliya'.

6. In the battle of Badr and the battle of Uhud, some of the companions of the Prophet had experienced this sleep, which is mentioned as "nu`as (slumber, 8:11; 3:154)". This was not an ordinary kind of sleep. They used to have glimpses of the miraculous sleep and the given knowledge. And it was due to this that they used to have peace. Study the relevant noble verses carefully.

7. It is mentioned in the holy Qur'an (3:190-191) that the people of intelligence remember God standing, sitting and lying on their sides. This heavenly praise is special for the awliya' and it is only they who can stand the test of it. Otherwise, how can those people, who are trapped in trivial problems, be the people of intelligence in the sight of God, and how can they do a successful dhikr in the state of half-sleep lying on their sides in which the eye sleeps but the heart and mind remain wakeful? But it is true that someone who becomes annihilated in the Murshid and annihilated in the Prophet, can undoubtedly become aware of these secrets of recognition.

8. Suratu'r-Rahman is called the Bride of the Qur'an because of the fact that all spiritual bounties are tersely mentioned in it, and it is the quintessence of the beauty of knowledge and gnosis, as the Qur'an says: "He has made the two oceans (of wakefulness and sleep) to flow (so that) they meet together: Between them there is a barrier which they cannot pass. Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny? There come forth from them pearls and corals". (55:19-22). This barrier is the confluence of the two oceans and the place of spirituality, where the pearls and corals of `aynu'l-yaqin (certainty of vision) are obtained.

9. The treasures of the Qur'an are in its wisdom-filled allusions, therefore, one is repeatedly invited to think and reflect upon them. It is extremely necessary to know that spirituality is not only a barrier between the ocean of wakefulness and the ocean of sleep, but also its own veil, therefore most of its names are used in the sense of its veil and barrier, such as barzakh (barrier, 23:100; 25:53; 55:20), hajiz (veil, 27:61), hijab (veil, 19:17), hijab-i mastur (hidden veil, 17:45), sur (wall, 57:13), sadd (wall, 36:9), etc.

10. It is mentioned in a noble Hadith: "The Qur'an is tractable and multi-dimensional, so take it on the best of its dimensions". (al-Ittiqan, IV, 184). Thus the Qur'an says in one of its wisdom-filled verses: "Wa ja`alana nawmakum subata (And We made your nawm as a repose)" (78:9). Nawm here has two meanings: sleep and spirituality, and accordingly it can be translated as: "And We made your sleep a repose", or "And We made your spirituality a repose". For, in this verse the Qur'an addresses both the awliya' and the masses at the same time and accordingly it has different meanings. For one group it is spirituality and for the other it is sleep.

11. The real place of mubashshirat is spirituality. As the holy Prophet has said: "Nothing is left from the Prophethood except mubashshirat". And he was asked what are the mubashshirat? He said: "The good dreams" (Bukhara, IX, 98). If the good dream is a part of the forty-six parts of Prophethood, then the mubashshirat affirm the spirituality of the awliya' of God, for their sleep is not like the sleep of the masses. They see the mubashshirat or the good dreams in their spirituality. However, the mu'mins, as has already been mentioned, can follow them since the straight path is the same and the ultimate destination is also the same. Therefore, let us humbly pray that God, the Sustainer of the worlds, may enrich all with the everlasting wealth of spiritual and intellectual health. Amin!

Nasir al-Din Nasir Hunzai, Karachi
10 Sha'banu'l-Mu'azzam 1408/29 March, 1988.

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