Spiritual Experiences - Secrets of God's Sunnat (Law)
Secrets of God's Sunnat (Law)
Tags: Sunnat, Oo Mush Oo, thos gatu jo mayn shuro jo
1. With a feeling of a lack of vigil [of the night], servitude, giryah-u zari, supplication, heavenly love and prostration, with great humility and helplessness, I have recourse to the speaking Qur'an (Qur'an-i natiq) so that, as always, he may help me so that I may write a few useful words here. O my `azizan! All of you or some of you may remember that some thoughts on this exalted topic have been expressed before, but since this topic is extremely important, therefore an effort is made to discuss more about it.
2. My first suggestion to you is to study carefully all those verses in which the exalted sunnat of God is mentioned. Sunnat means habit, custom, constitution, path, practice, method and law. As it is said in verse (40:85): "This is the sunnat of God, which has taken course in His servants". This means that God's sunnat is neither in the heaven nor in the earth, rather it has continued to take course in his special slaves (Prophets and awliya'). In other words, God's sunnat is found in the personal world. That is, God's universal law or act has continued and lasts in the personal worlds without any beginning or end.
3. The wise Qur'an says that there is no change in God's sunnat. This alludes to the fundamental laws, such as: He is the creator Who always creates universes; He is al-qabiz and al-basit Who always enfolds and unfolds the universe. In short, just as His essence is eternal, His every attribute is also eternal, because how can it be possible for any of His attributes to be contingent.
4. When the recognition of God is in a human being's own personal world, then necessarily the recognition of Allah's sunnat has to be in it, not anywhere else. Consider the depth of the intrinsic meaning of the Qur'an that the recognition of Allah's signs and miracles is not complete in the external world until its inner observation is complete in the personal world (41:53). The miracles which are scattered in the earth (time and space) are organized and gathered in the personal world (51:20-21).
5. When the lasting relation of God's sunnat is with the personal world then it becomes known that a human being has forgotten all about his unlimited life and contact with the higher world. He is convinced of the beginning and end of everything on the presumption of physical birth and death, despite the fact that they are particulars and not the universals. For example, the world of humanity's first and last end does not appear and in reality, where is the end? It has been said: "óo mush oo", which means to have the idea of beginninglessness and endlessness, because human being's reality is azali and abadi.
6. In verse (76:1) there is a key to a great treasure: "Has a time from dahr (immovable time) passed over man when he was not a thing worth mentioning?" This is the state of man's azali "merging in Allah" where he was without any name or sign and he is still in that same state with respect to the higher "I". The question is whether man has attained the recognition of this unique Monoreality? After that, the lower "I" has been mentioned as follows: "We created man from a drop of mingled sperm so that We may try him and for that we made him hearing and seeing" (76:2). The final test is related to recognition. Thus, when a mu'min-i salik recognises his higher "I" merged in God, this is his greatest achievement.
7. In the Qur'anic mention of the Divine sunnat, it is alluded that the personal world has always been there. Since God's essence is eternal, all His attributes are also eternal and His law also continues eternally in one or another personal world, although with respect to the personal worlds, renewal continues to occur again and again. As it is said: "thos gatu jo mayn shuro jo", i.e., "Oh Lord! Grant my eternal soul new attire and grant (me) eternal sustenance." The great wisdom in this is that the eternal Creator creates a new universe every moment, as said in the Qur'an (55:29) "Every moment He is in a new glory".
Karachi, 19th June 1997
Thursday, 13 Safaru'l-muzaffar 1418 A.H.
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