Spiritual Experiences - Bitter and Sweet Experiences

Bitter and Sweet Experiences

1. To taste death:
God says in (21:35): "Every soul shall taste of death". Although death is collectively the same, it occurs in different ways. There are two major kinds of death: (a) natural death which has many forms; (b) sudden death which also has many forms. However, none of these deaths is really such that, according to the wisdom of the Qur'an, the dying person knows its taste truly, becomes aware of the great secrets of the Angel of death and his army and can exactly tell a story of a death common to all. Apparently, there is neither such a death, nor is there a person who is a proof of the above mentioned blessed verse in the true sense.

2. Involuntary death and voluntary death:
For noble sufis, death is of two kinds: one is the spiritual (voluntary) death and the other is the physical (involuntary) death. Since in Islam there is the major jihad, necessarily there is also inner martyrdom, because behind every external bounty there is also an internal bounty. Now you must know that it is the internal martyrdom which is that wisdom-filled death tasted by mystics, `arifs, and the Perfect Men, who benefit the people of faith with the precious treasures of the countless wonders and marvels of wisdom at the destination of Hazrat-i `Izra'il (May peace be through him).

3. Is death something to be tasted?
This question is appropriate and interesting for the sake of informative discussion. The answer is, yes, death in the sense of the experience of knowledge and recognition, is indeed something to be tasted. However, it must be remembered that such an experiential death is only spiritual. This wisdom-filled and magnificent experience of death continues consecutively for seven nights and eight days (69:7). Such great secrets of spirituality cannot be without veils. Thus, if you wish to also see the veil of this secret of recognition, then read the story of the community of `Ad in (69:6).

4. Does every `arif also see punishment in the spiritual path?
Yes, in order to attain recognition, he sees both punishment and reward because in his personality the representative resurrection of the people of the world takes place during which he is both the sum of all the spiritual particles of all the people, as well as the representative of the people of the time and therefore he has to undergo this arduous trial of resurrection.

5. Every bitter fruit of spirituality subsequently becomes extremely sweet:
Among all the experiences of spirituality, some are always very sweet and pleasing whereas some experiences are very bitter and severe for some time, but in the future because of knowledge and wisdom these too become very tasty and sweet. If someone were to ask: on the basis of which law do the toils of the spiritual journey change into sweetness and happiness, the answer is that in God's kingdom, the law of good and evil is such that good is permanent but evil is not permanent, in fact it is temporary and therefore when the time comes every evil thing has to become good. As it is said in (3:26) "Good is in Your hand". Its ta'wili wisdom is that there is only good in God's Blessed Hand when He enfolds the whole universe, and at that time evil disappears completely.

6. God's light in the place of resurrection:
Almighty God has made the Imam of the time the Master of resurrection (17:71). Similarly, after the Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny), the Imam is the light of guidance (5:15) and the compendium of the beautiful Names (7:180). This is the reason that God of both the worlds says to the holy Prophet (May Allah send blessings and peace through him and his progeny): "(O Prophet) The day you will see that the light of the believing men and believing women run in front of them and on their right side." (57:12) This is the light of the Imam who is the vicegerent of the Prophets) and the Guide of the stages of resurrection.

7. Hazrat-i Mawla `Ali (May peace be through him) has said:
"I am the resurrection which, whoever belies or disapproves, for him hell is inevitable". "I am the one who resurrects". "I am the trumpet which God mentions in the Qur'an (74:8)". "I am that person who, if death is given to me, I will not die and if I am murdered then (in reality) I will not be murdered". (Kawkab-i durri)

8. Extraordinary birth twice:
Hazrat-i `Isa (May peace be through him) has said: "Whoever is not born twice, he will never enter the kingdom of heaven." That is, every `arif in his physical life first dies with [respect to] his carnal soul and becomes alive spiritually, then after progressing a lot he dies spiritually and becomes alive intellectually. This is the extraordinary dual birth of God's special friends and this is also the personal resurrection, as is said in a hadith: "Whoever dies (spiritually), his resurrection takes place".

9. Is the Imam only for the righteous?
The answer is that the Guide of the time is, in general, the Imam of all people (2:124) and in particular, the Imam of the righteous (25:74) so that through their free will people should take advantage of the Imam's guidance and the righteous may receive spiritual knowledge from the Imam directly. The unique way of teaching via the luminous voice has continued since the time of Hazrat-i Adam (May peace be through him) and so for the people who go through the bitter experience of resurrection the greatest advantage is that their soul, which is an angel, can receive the luminous teaching of the Adam of the time.

10. One important question:
Q. There is no doubt that to taste spiritual death and to go through the wisdom-filled experiences of the personal resurrection is especially for `arifs and the Perfect Men. The question still exists as to whether there is any other secret in this universal principle which is that every soul has to taste death? A. Yes, there is definitely a great secret hidden in it that the spiritual feat which people cannot accomplish themselves, is accomplished by the exalted Imam. For this purpose, the spiritual particles of people are invited to participate in the `arif's spiritual death and resurrection. Thus, all those representative particles participate in the experiences of resurrection. However, with respect to them, all this happens unconsciously. As it is said in (2:243): "Thus, God said to them: Die; (and they all died). Then He brought them all back to life". These are the representative particles (souls) of all people who repeatedly die and are revived at the `arif's destination of Hazrat-i `Izra'il (May peace be through him).

Karachi, 21st July 1997
Monday, 15 Rabi` I, 1418 A.H

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