Spiritual Experiences- Noble Knowledge and Subtle Body

Noble Knowledge and Subtle Body

1. God has honoured the Prophets and Imams over the people of the world. In addition, it is apparent from the wise Qur'an and the sayings of the Prophet that it is God and the Prophet who make the Imam the religious and spiritual king. Read the entire story of Imam Talut (May peace be through him) with deep reflection, from (2:245) onwards. It is said: "O Prophet, have you not seen the chiefs (hujjats and da'is) of the children of Israel after Musa? When they said to one of their Prophets: Appoint for us a (religious and spiritual) king" (Ib`ath lana malikan) (2:246).

2. There is a great secret in the word ib`ath in the above-mentioned verse. That is, although the manifestation of the Imam is also in the highest ranks, one of his ranks is such that it is under the Prophet. Therefore, the hujjats and da'is of the children of Israel asked their Prophet, "Send us a (religious and spiritual king)". That is, such a king must have a profound experience of the personal resurrection, spirituality, ibda` and inbi`ath.

3. "Their Prophet said to them: verily Allah has sent Talut as king over you. On hearing this they said: How can he exercise authority over us when we are better fitted than he to exercise authority, and he is not even abundantly wealthy? The Prophet replied: Allah has chosen him above you and has increased him abundantly both in knowledge and body". That is, God has given him noble knowledge (spiritual knowledge) and the subtle body.

4. From this we ascertain the proof that the Imam has universal knowledge and an all-embracing body. By the all-embracing body is meant the Universal Body which is the essence of the whole universe. It is this universal essence which is the all-embracing subtle body of the religious and spiritual king (the Imam), because if the microcosm (personal world) has two bodies, one dense and one subtle, then surely there are two bodies for the macrocosm. It is also a fact that it is the subtle body due to which a human being becomes the universe and the universe becomes the human being. It is because of this that a human being is called the microcosm (ka'inat-i saghir) and the universe is called the Great human being (insan-i kabir).

5. It is said in a hadith: "O children of `Abdu'l-Muttalib! Obey me! You will be kings of the earth and its rulers. Indeed, God has never sent a Prophet but has made for him a wasi, a wazir, an heir, a brother and a wali". (Da`a'imu'l-Islam, I)

6. Both the Qur'an and the hadith are the most comprehensive words. Therefore, there are many great wisdoms hidden in this hadith. First wisdom: Within himself, every person is potentially a very great world, whose heaven and earth are very spacious. Second wisdom: every planet and star is a world which has its own heaven and earth. Third wisdom: the Universal Intellect is heaven and the Universal Soul is earth. Every heaven and every earth has countless copies, in such a way that there is no difference between the original and the copy. Therefore, in God's Godhead there is tremendous capacity for kingship. Hence after the Imam, countless people can become the kings of Paradise.

7. From the exoteric and esoteric aspects of the Qur'an and the hadith it is established that God and the Prophet have made Hazrat-i Mawla `Ali (May peace be through him), i.e. the Imam, the king. In turn, he can make all of his obedient spiritual children, kings. However, a worldly king cannot even make all his princes and princesses heirs to his throne and crown; only one can be his heir.

8. It is extremely necessary to mention that `arifs recognise the next world and paradise in this very worldly life, as you have read with reference to (47:6). The same witness of the holy Qur'an is also found in (76:20): "And when you will see (in this world) then you will see every bounty of paradise and the magnificent kingdom (in the next world, completely)".

9. There is a wisdom-filled example of Imams mentioned in (27:34) which is as follows: Bilqis said: "It is a rule of Kings that when they enter a town by force of victory, they destroy it, and make the noblest people the meanest. Thus, they will do (similarly)". That is, when the army of the Lord of the time (Gog and Magog) enters into a personal world, it first destroys it in order to reconstruct it, and the traveller on the path of spirituality (mu'min-i salik) suffers severely.

Zulfiqar Abad, Gilgit, 28th May 1997
Wednesday, 20 Muharramu'l-Haram 1418 A.H

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