Prophetic or Awliya'i Death
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1. The mention of the death of the carnal soul is often present in the background of physical death in the wise Qur'an, and the reality of spiritual martyrdom is hidden in the example of physical martyrdom. This is because all things are created in pairs, so that one may become the example and the other the reality, or one may become the proof and the other the proven. It is said: "Every soul will taste death" (3:185). You can research that tasting (dha'iqah) is in the sense of experiencing, and the full experience of death can only be attained by a person who is resurrected after death in this very life. There are innumerable benefits in this great feat. This universal shows that the Prophets and Imams (awliya') are not only fully aware of all the states of the death associated with [spiritual] resurrection, but that they also attain the highest recognition of the rank of merging in God after passing through all the stages of the personal world.
2. Similarly, the mention of spiritual martyrdom is hidden in the mention of physical martyrdom. See, for example, the following verse: "Do not consider those who are slain in the way of Allah as dead. Nay, they are alive; with their Lord they have their provision" (3:169). This verse refers, on the one hand, to the physical martyrs and, on the other hand, to the spiritual martyrs. It praises the spiritual martyrs in the words that they are not dead even after experiencing death and that they attain eternal life in the luminous body and receive knowledge from God's presence (cilm-i ladunni). They are spiritual martyrs (shahid) as well as those who are slain (dhabih).
3. Reflect on these words of the blessed verse: "fa-bacatha'llahu'n-nabiyyin" (2:213). First translation: "Then God sent prophets". Second translation: "Then God revived the prophets (after they had experienced death)". In the absence of this [second] meaning, one could ask: since those special servants of God whom He bestowed with the crown of prophethood did not come physically from afar, but were present amongst their own people, like our holy Prophet: What is the secret in saying that He sent them? The answer is that every prophet attains the amazing experience of death during his lifetime and, after passing through all the stages of spirituality, reaches the micraj of merging in God. Then that prophet is sent down from the special closeness of God to the people, because the above blessed verse says: "And He sent down with them the Scripture" (2:213). This shows that the spiritual rank of the prophets also comes from the higher world.
4. In the path of spirituality, all Perfect Human Beings (kamilin) and those who attain God's recognition (carifin) are resurrected after passing through death twice. First at the destination of Israfil and cIzra'il, and finally after attaining the rank of intellect, where all the realities and recognitions are centred and confined. This is the prophetic or awliya'i death, which is extremely wisdom-filled and miraculous.
5. According to Qamusu'l-Qur'an, bacatha means to resurrect, to raise, to become alive, to send, as the wise Qur'an itself calls the Day of Resurrection "yawmu'l-bacth" (30:56). It is said in surah-yi Luqman: "Your creation and your resurrection are like that of one soul" (31:28). This means that your unconscious resurrection takes place in the Single Soul (nafs-i wahidah), which is the conscious resurrection of the Single Soul.
6. This noble prophetic tradition is in the sixth volume of Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi's famous book "Mathnawi": Mutu qabla an tamutu = Die before you die. As proof, he quotes the following verse of Hakim Sana'i: Bi-mir ay dost pish az marg agar mi zindagi khwahi Kih Idris az chunin murdan bihishti gasht pish az ma Translation: O friend! Die before [compulsory] death if you want [eternal] life, for by dying such a death before us, Idris became a dweller of paradise.
7. It is said about Hazrat-i Idris: "And We raised him to an exalted station" (19:57). By the grace and mercy of Allah, every prophet, every wali and every carif experiences the death associated with the [spiritual] resurrection that comes before the physical death. The above noble verse mentions the same death and personal and spiritual resurrection. God raised Hazrat-i Idris through all the ranks of the personal world to cilliyyin (i.e., Sacred Sanctuary). cIlliyyin or cIlliyyun is the paradise of the forehead. It is living, it is the speaking book, it is perfect (kamil) as well as the perfect ones (kamilin), it is singular as well as plural, it is lover as well as the beloved, it is space as well as spaceless, it is everything, for it is the Divine treasure and the manifest Imam (36:12).
8. It is said in the Qur'an: "And a sign (miracle) for them is that We bore their (spiritual) particles in the laden ark" (36:41). By the grace of God, you know the greatest secret of the laden ark. It manifests itself in its time in the personal world of every prophet and every wali. There are several examples and ta'wilat of this sacred ark: a. It is the ark of Nuh, which is the ark of salvation. b. It is the example of the Imam of time from the ahl-i bayt of the holy Prophet Muhammad. c. It is al-jariyah (69:11), i.e., the ark that saves from being drowned in the deluge of knowledge. d. Also see its plural: al-jawar (42:32, 55:24). e. It is the throne of the Lord on the ocean of knowledge. The throne is living, which is an angel or the Perfect Man who is the locus of manifestation (mazhar) of Monoreality.
9. Reflect carefully on this sublime verse from surah-yi Rahman (the Bride of the Qur'an). First translation: "His are the ships towering like mountains in the sea" (55:24). Second translation: "His are the trained and advanced (living) ships which are like chiefs in the ocean (of knowledge)". In it is mentioned the recognition of all the personal worlds.
10. Munsha'at is from insha', which means to invent, train or educate something. Generally, this word is used for a living thing … (Mufradatu'l-Qur'an). Al-calam: (a) an imprint on a cloth, a flag, the chief of a nation, pl. aclamun. (b) a sign on a path, a high mountain, a symbol, a sign, a minaret, pl. aclamun wa cilamun (al-Munjid).
11. All those who are in these living arks are going to perish (55:26), and only the countenance of your Lord, the Glorious, the Bounteous (i.e., the Image of the Compassionate) will remain (55:27). This shows that all the souls in the laden arks are merged in and have their oneness with the Image of the Compassionate. God's countenance (wajhu'llah) or the Image of the Compassionate (surat-i Rahman) is the Imam of the time.
Karachi Monday 15 Jumada al-Awwal 1419 AH / 7 September 1998
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