Book of Healing - Spiritual Healing - Minor Resurrection
Minor Resurrection
Tags: Resurrection, Ma`rifat
1. The holy Prophet says: "He who dies, his Resurrection takes place". (Ihya', IV, 64). Death is of two kinds, spiritual and physical. Therefore, the minor or personal Resurrection occurs to the chosen servants of God before physical death, whereas the common people experience it after physical death. It happens so because it is not possible to observe the treasures of the secrets of ma`rifat with the eye of certainty without dying before death. This dying before death is called the minor Resurrection, and is discussed here.
2. In the sacred verses of the Suratu'l-Baqarah, in which the slaughtering of an ox is mentioned, in addition to an external miracle, there is also a wisdom-filled example of how a mu'min can attain the pure life, by sacrificing his carnal soul which is like an ox, through knowledge, `ibadat and discipline. That is, how a mu'min can be eternal by dying during his life time. Mawlawi-yi Ma`nawi in his renowned book Mathnawi, (III, 3897-3906) has explained this wisdom as follows:
3. "Consider me the ox of Hazrat Musa which was granted a special life. Every particle of mine is a Resurrection of every free human". (By the ox of Hazrat Musa was meant a sacrificed living martyr, whose smallest particle (subtle particle) was the source of life for a slain one). "At its stroke the murdered man sprang up from his place - at the words spoken (by God), ‘Strike him with part of it' (2:68). O my noble ones! Slaughter this ox, if you desire the Resurrection of the souls of insight. I died to the inorganic state and became endowed with growth, and (then) I died to (vegetable) growth and attained to the animal. I died from animality and became Adam (man): why, then, should I fear? When have I become less by dying? At the next remove I shall die to man, that I may soar and lift up my head amongst the angels; And I must escape even from (the state of) the angel: ‘Everything is perishing except His Face' (28:88). Once more I shall be sacrificed and die to the angel: I shall become that which enters not into the imagination. Then I shall become non-existence: non-existence will say to me, (in tones loud) as an organ, ‘Verily, unto Him shall we return' (2:156)."
4. Regarding Hazrat Ya`qub's death of ma`rifat before his physical death, the wise Qur'an says (2:133): "Were you witnesses when the death (of ma`rifat) came to Ya`qub?" That is, have you seen in the tajaddud-i amthal (renewal of similitudes) of the personal world, the death of ma`rifat of the Prophets and the awliya'? The question is raised here to indicate that it is possible to see it and its purpose is to draw attention to the above-mentioned reality. Thus the meaning of the presence of such a death is that, with it, a personal Resurrection (minor Resurrection) of knowledge and ma`rifat takes place.
5. God in these wisdom-filled verses (41:30-31) says: "Those who said (with their heart): Our Sustainer is God, and then they remained steadfast, the angels (of the Night of Power) descend upon them (and practically they say): Fear not nor grieve, but hear good tidings of Paradise which you are promised. We are your friends in this life of the world and in the Hereafter." This is the spiritual death before the physical death and the personal Resurrection of the friends of God. For, among these angels, Hazrat Israfil and Hazrat `Izra'il are foremost and the purpose of whatever they do by the command of God, is to remove the fear and grief of the mu'mins through friendship and to open the door of the secrets of ma`rifat to them.
6. Every reality is like a diamond which has many facets. Thus the facet of the reality of Resurrection which we discuss here, might possibly surprise an `aziz. For, in the beginning, due to the exigency of wisdom, not only were the secrets of Resurrection kept hidden, but many other sciences too, which gradually revealed later on and some still continue to reveal today. Then how can the blessings of the wise Qur'an, which is among the Divine treasures (15:21), be limited, while the collective allusion of the noble Qur'an is to new discoveries of knowledge and ma`rifat.
7. Truly speaking, Resurrection has a fixed time and is also beyond time. This means that the major Resurrection is not going to take place before the fixed time, whereas the minor Resurrection, which is ordained for the sake of the acquisition of ma`rifat, continues to always happen within the chosen friends of God, so that the door of realities and gnoses may always remain open to them and never be closed. It should be remembered that the supreme bliss of the highest spiritual progress, namely, fana' fi'l-murshid (annihilation in the Murshid), fana' fi'r-rasul (annihilation in the Prophet) and fana' fi'llah (annihilation in God) can be attained in every time. This magnificent and unique event is the minor Resurrection.
8. Q: If it is accepted that there is an individual Resurrection and also a collective Resurrection, then without experiencing the all-inclusive collective Resurrection, how can an `arif attain the treasure of ma`rifat, while he has the limited observation of the minor Resurrection?
A.: As the Omnipotent God, by His perfect power, has enfolded the macrocosm in the microcosm, similarly He has encompassed the major Resurrection in the minor one. This is in the sense that, the countless particles of the personal world, which is called the world of particles, represent the universe, the existents and all human beings. These particles are in fact, living souls. Thus, all human beings gather in an `arif. Thus in his case, the minor or personal Resurrection takes place in the form of the collective Resurrection.
9. There is a voluntary death, which in reality, according to "Die before you die" (Ahadith-i Mathnawi, p. 116) is annihilation in God, and the other kind of death is involuntary or by force. Though Resurrection takes place in both cases, there is a world of difference between the two. Annihilation in God is that highest rank of spirituality where the renewal of similitudes of the individual and collective Resurrections of the Perfect Man takes place, as God says: "Purified is He in Whose hand is the malakut (the souls and angels in their entirety) of everything and you have to return to Him" (36:83). That is, God has gathered all the realities and recognitions in one place in His hand and made them one, including the minor and the major Resurrections, whilst they also exist separately in their respective places.
10. According to the Divine promise, the collective Resurrection is going to take place soon. Its conditions will be extremely astonishing and will be imposed upon the people by force through Israfil (a.s.), `Izra'il (a.s.) and other angels. In this, Gog and Magog also have a prominent role. These are spiritual particles which will lick and destroy the solid wall of the animal soul, due to which the inner senses will not only wake up and play their role, but will also be united with the external senses. For instance, the inner eye will also be able to see the spiritual marvels and miracles in the external world through the external eye and the spiritual revolution will take place in the entire world.
11. The condition of the collective Resurrection is such that, by the order of the heavenly Doctor, the angels are operating on a sick humanity, which necessarily results in unconsciousness, wounds, acute pain, hard labour, dressing the wound with hardship, fear, medicine and nursing. Thus it is incumbent upon every wise mu'min to look after his spiritual health, so that the extremely delicate and most difficult medical examination, in which the soul is seized again and again and every particle spiritually grafted, may be easy.
12. The entire Qur'an is full of the secrets of Resurrection. No verse of it is devoid of the wisdom of the purpose of the Hereafter, for the entire system of religion is based on the purpose that, on the Day of Resurrection, the servant may go to God with a heart which is free from every spiritual disease and sound in every respect (26:89), so that he may be enriched with the lasting and unending wealth of the treasures of ma`rifat and remain happy forever. Almighty God willing!
Tuesday, 8 Jumada II, 1409
17th January, 1989.
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