Book of Healing - Healing Through Knowledge - Luminous Time and Luminous `Ibadat
Luminous Time and Luminous `Ibadat
Tags: Luminous Time, Luminous `Ibadat, Nearest heaven, Hazrat Adam, Forty mornings
1. It is said in a noble Hadith: "Every night our Sustainer, may He be blessed and exalted, descends to the nearest heaven. When the last part of the night is left, He says: Who is there to call to me, so that I may accept his call? Who is there to ask me so that I may give him? Who is there to seek forgiveness from Me so that I may forgive him." (Bukhari, VIII, 225).
2. The same Hadith is mentioned in Muslim, I, 520, in various versions, such as: "Every night God descends on the nearest heaven. When the first third part of the night elapses He says: I am the King, I am the King! Who is there to call on Me so that I may accept his call? Who is there to ask Me so that I may give him ? Who is there to ask forgiveness from Me so that I may forgive him? He continues like this till the dawn gleams."
3. This blessed and wisdom-filled Hadith is the special exegesis of those noble verses of the Suratu'l-Muzammil (73), in which rising at night and the luminous `ibadat is enjoined. However, a great question arises here: What is the meaning of God descending to the nearest heaven when He is free from any physical and spatial movement? The answer is that it is not a physical descent of God, rather it is His spiritual manifestation and His manifestation from the invisible world to the visible world is called His descent (nuzul). For, since the non-spatial height where He is, cannot be reached by even the closest of His servants, therefore, He descends in His manifestations and comes closer to them. As for the "nearest heaven or as-sama'ad-duniya", it means the closest heaven of spirituality, for dunya means close (8:42 ).
4. Prophets, awliya' and sincere mu'mins, according to their ranks, take the benefit of the luminous time and luminous `ibadat of the night. For, it is a time in which an immediate reward of the entire `ibadat of the day and night is given so that every mu'min may see the progress of his knowledge and deeds and work with greater ambition, as the noble Qur'an says: "O you who believe! if you fear God, He will grant you a criterion (furqan)" (8:29). This criterion will be both collective and individual, and will continue to work in an Islamic way of living and in all the stages of spirituality. The attributes of the criterion are, in fact, that of the Qur'an itself (2:185; 25:1), therefore, such a criterion will be the spirit or the light of the Qur'an (5:15; 42:52; 57:28 ).
5. It is true that the spiritual creation of Hazrat Adam was completed in the span of forty nights (specifically the mornings), as it is said in a sacred Hadith: "I kneaded the leaven of Adam with both My hands for forty mornings." (Ahadith-i Mathnawi, p. 198) This was the continuation of the luminous `ibadat of Adam, which he used to do in the luminous time of the night, in which there was the Hand of God in a special sense. Now tell me, is this event not an example of God's luminous descent, that He perfected the soul of Adam with His own blessed Hands? If it is said that this was done by the angels, then they become the mazhar of the Divine act. This concept is more correct, as the Qur'an calls the holy Prophet the Hand of God. Nonetheless, regarding the concept of manifestation (mazahariyyat), you may have to reflect deeply as to what the Divine law for it is? Indeed, the Divine law for it is the law of a mirror and a mazhar.
6. The luminous time is the one in which the inner senses become illumined, or rigorous preparation is made to see this miracle. All this becomes possible by spending the greater part of the night in `ibadat. For the night is the most blissful time for dhikr-o bandagi, and the single cause of this bliss is the unique and glorious manifestation of God, in Whose light, the hidden treasures are recognized. In fact, the descent of God, in whatever sense it may be, is God's proclamation of great heavenly favours. This invitation and repast of God for the given knowledge is greater and more spacious than the repast of Hazrat `Isa. Thus the one who does not accept this invitation remains spiritually and intellectually hungry and thirsty, both in this world and the next world.
7. It is said in verses (51:15-19): "Surely those who guard (against evil) will be in the gardens and fountains (of knowledge and wisdom), taking that which the Lord gives them; surely they were before that, the doers of good; they used to sleep but little of the night, and used to ask forgiveness early in the mornings, and in their wealth, the beggar and the outcast had due share." That is to say that, the righteous used to spend the greater part of the night in luminous `ibadat in the world and used to give the exoteric zakat and the esoteric zakat (i.e. the zakat of knowledge).
8. In the following verses (51:20-23) it is also mentioned: "And in the earth there are signs (miracles) for those who have certainty, and in their own souls (too); will you not then see? And your (spiritual) sustenance and what you are promised (i.e. Resurrection) are in the heaven (spirituality). And by the Lord of the heaven and the earth! it (Qur'an) is most surely the truth, just as you do speak." That is, the noble Qur'an is a spirit and light as well (42:52), therefore it is the kitab-i natiq (23:63; 45:29) and kitab-i mubin (15:1; 27:1), namely, the Speaking Book at the place of spirituality. Thus, all this is an emphatic invitation towards luminous `ibadat and spirituality.
9.Hazrat Ibrahim had observed the spirituality (malakut) of the heavens and the earth in the light of the luminous time and the luminous `ibadat (6:75-79). He had seen the setting ones (stars, moon, sun) in the Supreme Similitude of the world of Intellect, and finally he started to say: "I do not love the setting ones."(6:76). Thus, this principle of tawhid was the result of luminous `ibadat.
10. Hazrat Musa had gone to Mount Sinai by the command of God, for the sake of the luminous `ibadat of forty nights. He had seen the manifestation of the Gracious Lord on the Mountain of Intellect (7:143). Although the times of namaz and `ibadat are during the day too, and Divine remembrance can be continued all the time, yet it is a fact that without rising at night, the door of lights cannot be opened to anyone, nor can the luminosity of the colour of God be attained without the luminous `ibadat.
11. God says that in the blessed person of the holy Prophet, the Universal Mercy, the Embodied Light, there is an excellent example for he who hopes in God and the Last Day and remembers God abundantly. (33:21). That is, he who hopes and longs that God may become his ear and tell him the secrets of azal, become his eye and show him the manifestations of the luminous time, become his hand and make him hold the Pearl of Intellect, become his foot and make him stroll in the higher world, then he should follow the holy Prophet in a real sense, so that he may attain these Divine favours of the rank of proximity, after attaining complete healing from spiritual diseases.
N.N. Hunzai,
Saturday, 13 Muharramu'l-haram 1408
27th August, 1988.
| Chapter Index | Previous Chapter | Spiritual Healing |