Spiritual Experiences - Spiritual Experiences
Spiritual Experiences
1. O Allah! How many mercies and blessings are hidden in Your trials! O Master! How many great wisdoms are hidden in Your tribulations! O Allah, this humble and feeble slave did not know at all what was going to happen in the future. When I used to cry, being exhausted by torments and afflictions, Your mercy used to smile at me in a way of giving glad tidings. O Lord of the worlds! How amazing are Your ways of favouring. O Lord! Without any doubt, it is You who is the Causer of causes (musabbibu'l-asbab) and the Opener of doors (mufattihu'l-abwab).
2. O Holy Lord! For the sanctity of your beloved Prophet, the Chosen Muhammad (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny), the selected Ahmad (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny), forgive all our shortcomings, because we are not able to express our gratitude and appreciate Your countless blessings. Hence, we fear the consequences of our deeds. Alas, now there is neither moistness in our liver for giryah-u zari, nor is there any softness in our heart, yet there is no scarcity of negligence and ingratitude. We do continue praising heavenly love but cannot duly establish it in our hearts. Therefore, we feel extremely ashamed.
3. Respected readers! Although the attractive name of this book is "Spiritual Experiences", it does not at all mean that all spiritual experiences are gathered in this book alone. Rather, the truth is that by Divine grace, all of our books are written in the light of these experiences, even though, with respect to spiritual experiences, this book has great importance.
4. If we go into detail about spiritual experiences, we would have to write a great deal which requires a long time, but neither is such a task in our plan nor is it an easy one. Therefore, only a brief introduction relating to spiritual experiences is intended here. Nonetheless, I have fortunately mentioned some of my experiences in various books of mine. Therefore, any researcher can also do research in my books. I think that now in this world such research will have very great importance due to the following reasons: The time of the secrets of the Qur'an and spirituality has come i.e., the cycle of ta'wil has started. God is the Causer of causes (musabbibu'lasbab) and by using the people He will gradually reveal the all embracing qualities of Islam.
5. I usually repeat some important points again and again both verbally and in writing. Therefore, we have to repeat the appreciation of the mention of Allah's tremendous favour to all of us. That is, He granted us the status of Islam by taking us ahead, far ahead of countless minerals, countless vegetables, countless animals, countless atheists and countless people of [different] faiths. Moreover, by bestowing upon us thousands of favours, the extremely benevolent God made us recognise the Imam (May peace be through him). Then bestowing additional favours, He also made us recognise Hazrat-i Qa'imu'l-qiyamat (May peace be through him). In this respect, God willing, it will be our great good fortune if we can render any service to the Qur'an, Islam and humanity.
6. There are two aspects of spiritual experiences: In one are the states (kayfiyyat) and in the other, the fruits. Praise be to the Lord! We have worked upon both according to our capacity. States means that you directly mention your spiritual experiences and by the fruits is meant the knowledge and wisdom which is presented to people on the basis of those spiritual experiences and observations. For example, most of our students have heard about the description of many miracles of the destination of `Izra'il (May peace be through him) etc., which is the state or the background or a reference to this particular experience. Now, if a difficult point about spiritual death or personal resurrection is presented to them, they understand it very easily and also accept it without any doubt. This shows that the proof of the greatness and superiority of spiritual knowledge is spiritual experience and the proof of the experience is its background.
7. Whatever the nature of knowledge may be, an introduction to it is necessary. However, an introduction to spiritual knowledge is extremely necessary so that people may benefit tremendously by recognizing it. You must have read the spiritual farmans of Hazrat-i Mawlana Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah (May peace be through him), but the words of the Speaking Qur'an should be read with the understanding that these are the spiritual exposition of the the Perfect Words (kalimat-i tammat). Recite the kalimat of the spiritual farman of the true Imam. These are the blessed words of the mazhar (locus of manifestation) of the Light of Allah and the vicegerent of the Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny) and therefore the keys of knowledge and wisdom are hidden in them.
8. If I were to say that the Imam is present and existing in the world in order to enable people to reach his miracles of knowledge through ethical, religious and spiritual progress, because his light is the light of God and the Prophet which, due to being all-embracing and universal can rise in the heart of every person, then perhaps a question may arise that [if this is the case] then tell us about his miracles which happened to you. This can be answered in many ways. First of all, attention should be drawn to the fact that the young man who had left primary school by studying grades 3 and 4 in a short period of just 10 months, has to date written some 100 books since 1957. With reference to these books, some intellectuals say that a great part of the knowledge and wisdom within them is extremely marvellous, extraordinary, unique and miraculous. Therefore, they say with certainty that this is the miracle of the knowledge of the lofty Imam and this tradition of Hazrat-i Imam (May peace be through him) has continued from the time of Hazrat-i Adam (May peace be through him).
9. Another answer [to the question regarding the miracles of the Imam] can be given in the following way:
Question: How could a lucky murid acquire the knowledge of the essence of the Qur'an (spirituality) from the Imam (May peace be through him) of his time? What are the conditions in order to achieve this objective?
Answer: In order to acquire this greatest objective, a courageous mu'min first of all gets ism-i a`zam from the Imam (May peace be through him) of the time to perform special `ibadat. The [rest of the] conditions are the same as have always been there for true mu'mins. When, by the grace and blessing of Allah, such a mu'min is successful, then according to the Qur'an (17:71) the Imam appears to him in luminosity and the personal resurrection of that mu'min takes place.
Question: During every kind of hardship of the resurrection how does a mu'min acquire spiritual knowledge from his Imam (May peace be through him)? What are the ways of learning and teaching there?
Answer: All those great wisdoms which lie in events of hardship, prick the heart and mind and get so engrained that they cannot be erased from the tablet of one's memory. There, the method of learning and teaching is absolutely different from that of the world and it is like the method of Hazrat-i Adam (May peace be through him). Verbal teaching is minimal, while the practical teachings of events and allusions are plenty. There are various kinds of examples in it as well. There are two companions who talk to each other in which there are also many indications. There is abundant inspiration without speech (91:8). There are many other things too, but except for a few samples of spiritual states, a true portrayal of complete spirituality is not possible for us.
Karachi, 8 August 1997
Friday, 3 Rabi` II 1418 A.H.
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