The Third Flash

The Third Flash

Some degree of emotions and spiritual tasting (dhawq) have become mixed into this flash. Since the emotions and spiritual tasting in their excitement do not hearken nor adhere greatly to the principles of reason (‘aql) and measures of thought (fikr), this "Third Flash" should not be weighed on the scales of logic (mantiq).

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّح۪يمِ (a)

كُلُّ شَئٍ هَالِكٌ اِلَّا وَجْهَهُ لَهُ الْحُكْمُ وَاِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَ (b)

The two sentences in the phrase يَا بَاق۪ٓي اَنْتَ الْبَاق۪ي * يَا بَاق۪ٓي اَنْتَ الْبَاق۪ي (c) which is a commentary on this verse [above], conveys two important spiritual truths, and it is for this reason that some of the leading lights of the Naqshbandi Sufi order have taken these two sentences as a litany special to them, and they consider it to be like an encapsulation of the [longer] Naqshbandi litany (khatma-i Naqshiyya); and it being so that these two sentences elucidate this momentous verse, we are going to explain `a few subtle points` [amongst the many points] relating to these two important truths, which are conveyed by these two sentences. 

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a In the Name of Allāh, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

b All is to perish save His Essence (and all that is consistent with His good pleasure). His is the judgement, and to Him will you be brought back. (Qur’ān: al-Qaṣaṣ, 28:88) 

c O Ever-abiding One, You are the Ever-abiding One! O Ever-abiding One, You are the Ever-abiding One! 

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The first subtle point: The first repetition of يَا بَاق۪ٓي اَنْتَ الْبَاق۪ي "O Ever-abiding One, You are the Ever-abiding One!" is like a surgical operation in its divesting and cutting off the heart from all that is other [than Allāh] (māsiwā), this in the following manner:

Man has, with respect to the quiddity of his all-embracingness, a relationship with the majority of existent beings, and the capacity for illimitable love has been incorporated into his all-embracing quiddity. It is thus that man harbours a love for all existent beings. He loves the vast world just as he loves his own house. He loves eternal Paradise just as he loves his own garden. However, the creatures that he loves do not stay long [here], but they leave [this world]. Man endures ceaseless pain due to separation. His illimitable love causes limitless spiritual torment. It is merely his error and flaw that causes him to suffer this very pain. For the capacity in man's heart for endless love was bestowed upon him so that he could direct it towards the One Who owns a limitlessly eternal beauty. Yet man errs by misusing that love and directs it towards ephemeral creatures, therefore suffering the consequences of his own fault in the pain of separation. 

Thus, the first [instance of the] sentence يَا بَاق۪ٓي اَنْتَ الْبَاق۪ي "O Ever-abiding One, You are the Ever-abiding One!" which causes a release from this flaw, and a severing of ties to those ephemeral beloveds, and man's leaving those beloveds behind before they leave him, and which means confining love to the Eternal Beloved (al-Maḥbūbu’l-Bāqī), expresses the following meaning: 

“You alone are the Truly Ever-abiding (al-Bāqi’l-Ḥaqīqī). All that is other than You (māsiwā) is ephemeral. That which is ephemeral deserves not an eternal love, nor a beginninglessly and endlessly eternal passion (‘ashq), nor is it worthy of a relationship with a heart created for eternality. Since those limitless, transitory beloveds leave me and depart from me, I leave them and give them up before they leave me, saying يَا بَاق۪ٓي اَنْتَ الْبَاق۪ي "O Ever-abiding One, You are the Ever-abiding One!" You alone are the Ever-abiding one, and I know and believe that existent beings can only find eternality through Your causing them to live on forever. These existent beings should thus be loved only for the sake of Your love; otherwise, they do not deserve that the heart be attached to them.” 

Now, in this state, the heart relinquishes its illimitable beloveds. It sees the seal of evanescence upon their beauty (ḥusn) and elegance (jamāl), and cuts off its attachment to them; and from this arise as many spiritual wounds as it has beloveds. 

The second [instance] of the sentence يَا بَاق۪ٓي اَنْتَ الْبَاق۪ي "O Ever-abiding One, You are the Ever-abiding One!" becomes a balm and an antidote for those limitless wounds, and it means: “Yā Bāqī (O Ever-abiding One)! Since you are Ever-abiding, that is enough [for all], You are sufficient compensation for everything. Since You exist, all things exist.” 

Yes, all the beauty (ḥusn), beneficence (iḥsān) and perfection (kamāl) that existent beings have, and that are the cause of the love [we have for them] are no more than mere indications and faint shadows of the beauty, beneficence and perfections of the Truly Ever-abiding One that have penetrated through a great many veils, nay, shadows of the shadows of the manifestations of His Beautiful Names. 

The second subtle point: Within the innate disposition of man there exists a very intense yearning (‘ashq) to live on forever, and because of man's imaginative faculty, he imagines that there is a type of eternality in all things, and thus loves them. Whenever he contemplates their passing away or beholds [that they pass away], he screams - [a scream of agony] that comes from his depths. 

All these screams that stem from the instances of separation are [in a way voices] that translate those weepings stemming from the passionate love for living on forever. 

Were it not for one's imagining eternality [in things], one would love nothing; indeed, it could be said that one of the reasons that the eternal world and endless paradise [were made to] exist is [that very] powerful, intense desire to live on forever, arising from the intense yearning for enduring forever hidden in the quiddity of man, and the innate, universal supplication for eternal life; in that the Ever-abiding Possessor of Majesty (Al-Bāqī Dhu’l-Jalāl) accepted that intense and unshakeable, innate desire and that effective and powerful, universal prayer, and thus created an everlasting world for transient human beings. 

Is it at all possible that the Generous Originator (Al-Fāṭiru’l-Karīm) and the Compassionate Creator (Al-Khāliqu’r-Raḥīm) would, by bringing illimitable types of delicious foods into existence, honour the particular desire that a little stomach has and accept the prayer that it has made in the language of its state for the sake of an [only] temporary life, yet that He would not honour the very intense desire of all human beings, and that arises from a momentous innate need; [that He would not accept] the really powerful, universal, perpetual, rightful and sincere prayer offered in the language of their states and their actual spoken words, regarding eternality? Hāshā! A hundred thousand times far be it from Him! That He not accept them is impossible, and in no way whatever is [such a notion] befitting to His wisdom, justice, mercy and power. 

Since man is intensely in love with ever-abidingness (baqā), all of his perfections and pleasures certainly depend on ever-abidingness. And since ever-abidingness is particular to the Ever-abiding Possessor of Majesty (Al-Bāqī Dhu’l-Jalāl), and since the Names of the Ever-abiding (Al-Bāqī) are ever-abiding, and since the mirrors of the Ever-abiding become coloured by the dye of the Ever-abiding and become ever-lasting like the Ever-abiding and attain a type of ever-abidingness, there can be no doubt that the most necessary pursuit and the most important duty that man has is his developing a connection with that Ever-abiding One, and holding fast to His Names, for everything that is utilised for the sake of the Ever-abiding attains a type of ever-abidingness.

That is why the second [instance] of the sentence يَا بَاق۪ٓي اَنْتَ الْبَاق۪ي "O Ever-abiding One, You are the Ever-abiding One!" expresses this truth. Not only does it treat man’s illimitable spiritual wounds but it also satiates the intense desire for living on forever within his innate disposition (fiṭrah).

The third subtle point: The effects of time in “annihilation (fanā') and passing away (zawāl) of things” differ greatly in this world. The states of existent beings, on the other hand, differ in terms of fading away, despite the fact that they are situated within one another, like concentric circles. For just as the hand of a clock that counts seconds and the hands of a clock that counts the minutes and hours and days outwardly resemble one another but differ in speed, so too do the [respective] circles of the body, self, heart and spirit within man differ from one another. 

For example, the continuation (baqā), life and existence of the physical body are [only] the day it is [presently] in, nay the very hour that it is in, and its past and future are both nonexistent and dead for it, yet the circle of existence that the heart has and the circle of its life are expansive [to encompass] many days previous to the day it is presently in, and many days after it. [Whereas] the circle of life of the spirit and its existence includes the vast circle of a very great many years before the day it is presently in, and many years after it.

Now, it is on the basis of this capacity that a transient lifespan in this world contains an eternal lifespan, in terms of [man's having] gnosis of the Divine (al-ma‘rifatu’l-Ilāhiyya), love of the Lord (al-maḥabbatu’r-Rabbānīyya), the worship of the Glorified (al-‘ubūdiyyatu’s-Subḥāniyya), and [engaging in those] things found pleasing by the Merciful, all of which are a means to the life of the heart and the spirit. And that transient lifespan results in an endless, ever-abiding life, and becomes like unto an ever-abiding life that never dies. 

Yes - a single second spent for the sake of the love (muḥabbah), knowledge (ma‘rifah) and good pleasure (ridhā) of the Truly Ever-abiding is like a year. If it is not spent for His sake, a year is like a single second. However, a single second spent for His sake is lāyamūt, [that is], it does not die, and is [counted as] numerous years, whereas a hundred years for the people of heedlessness (ghaflah) is like a single second with respect to the life of this world. 

There is a famous saying: 

سِنَةُ الْفِرَاقِ سَنَةٌ وَ سَنَةُ الْوِصَالِ سِنَةٌ which means “a single second of separation is long, like unto the length of a year, whereas an entire year of union is as short as a single second.” 

I say quite the opposite of this: 

“Union (wiṣāl), that is a second of union, spent in the circle of the good pleasure of the Ever-abiding Possessor of Majesty (Al-Bāqī Dhu’l-Jalāl) and for Allāh's sake, is not merely a year like this, but is a perpetual window of union. A single year, indeed a thousand years, spent in the separation of heedlessness (ghaflah) and misguidance (ḍalālah) is like a single second.”

There is another, even more famous saying: 

اَرْضُ الْفَلَاةِ مَعَ الْاَعْدَٓاءِ فِنْجَانٌ * سَمُّ الْخِيَاطِ مَعَ الْاَحْبَابِ مَيْدَانٌ (a)

This saying confirms our take on this topic. 

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a Being out in the wilderness with your enemy is like being [stuck] in a cup. And the eye of a needle amongst friends is like an open field.

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An authentic meaning of the first famous saying is as follows: 

Since the union of transient beings is itself transient, then however long it is, it is again counted as being short. A whole year of it passes as quickly as a single second, and becomes a wistful imagination and a regretful dream. The human heart, that longs to abide forever, could possibly enjoy pleasure in a year-long union as short as a pleasure of a single second and indeed as little as an atom's weight. Whereas a single second of separation is not a single year but numerous years, because separation's domain is vast. Separation - even a moment of separation - for a heart yearning to abide forever devastates it like a great number of years, for that separation reminds it of the illimitable varieties of separation [afflicting it]. For every type of material and sublunary love lies a past and a future filled with separation.

Because of its relevance to this topic, we now say: 

“O people - do you desire to make your transient, short, fruitless lifespan into an ever-abiding, long, beneficial, fruitful lifespan? Since desiring is an entailment of humanness, then spend your lives in the way of the Truly Ever-abiding. Because whatever is directed towards the Ever-abiding becomes the locus of the manifestations of eternality. Since every human being most intensely desires an extended lifespan and yearns for ever-abidingness, and since there exists a means that transforms this transient lifespan into an ever-abiding lifespan, and it is possible to transform it, spiritually, into a tremendously extended lifespan, there can be no doubt that any human being who has not forsaken his humanness will seek after that means, and will strive to turn that possibility into a palpable actuality, and will act in accordance with that. Now, this means is [exactly] the following: Work for Allāh, meet for Allāh, strive for Allāh! Act in accordance with li’llāh, liwajhi’llāh, liajli’llāh (for Allāh, and for the Essence of Allāh, and for the sake of Allāh). At that very moment the minutes of your lifespan will be like years.” 

The textual proof of the Qur’ān shows that a single night like the Night of Destiny (Laylatu’l-Qadr) - which points to this truth - is better than a thousand months, which is equivalent to some eighty years. 

Moreover, the duration of the Ascension (al-Mi‘rāj), which took a few minutes but was like numerous years, proves the existence of this reality, and points to the fact of its actual occurrence, by the secret of the widening of time (basṭu’z-zamān), which points to this reality and is an experientially-verified law amongst the people of sainthood and the people of spiritual reality. 

A few hours of the Ascension possesses an expansiveness and all-embracingness and length like unto thousands of years, for by means of the Ascension, he (‘alayhi’ṣ-ṣālātu wa’s-salām) entered the world of ever-abidingness. A few minutes in the world of ever-abidingness incorporate thousands of years of this world. 

Furthermore, there are incidents built upon this reality, like the widening of time (basṭu’z-zamān) (Footnote), which has taken place many times to the saints. Certain of the saints completed a day's work in a few minutes. Others carried out a year's duties in a single hour. Some of them narrate and inform that they finished reading the entire Qur’ān in a single minute. Such people of truth and veracity, most surely, do not intentionally stoop to a rather degraded level of lying. And they witnessed the reality of the widening of time with their own eyes, as has been related in an illimitable number of and a great many reports of unanimous testimony (tawātur), that there could be no doubt whatsoever [as to their veracity]. 

Indeed, there is a type of widening of time that all could verify, which is seen in dreams. At times, one would need a day, maybe days, in the realm of wakefulness (yaqaẓa) in order to see all the states he happened to live, and the words that he uttered, and the pleasures that he enjoyed, or the pains that he suffered in his only one-minute-long dream. 

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Footnote: Just as the verse قَالَ قَٓاِئلٌ مِنْهُمْ كَمْ لَبِثْتُمْ قَالُوا لَبِثْنَا يَوْمًا اَوْ بَعْضَ يَوْمٍ (a) and the verse وَلَبِثُوا۟ فِى كَهْفِهِمْ ثَلَـٰثَ مِا۟ئَةٍۢ سِنِينَ وَٱزْدَادُوا۟ تِسْعًۭا (b) refer to the wrapping up of time (ṭayy-i zamān), so does the verse وَ اِنَّ يَوْمًا عِنْدَ رَبِّكَ كَاَلْفِ سَنَةٍ مِمَّاتَعُدُّونَ (c) point to the widening of time (basṭ-i zamān).

a someone said 'how long have you remained?' They said 'we have remained a day, or a part of a day.' (Qur’ān: al-Kahf, 18:19)

b They remained in their cave for three hundred years, and nine more than that. (Qur’ān: al-Kahf, 18:25)

c Surely a day for your Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning (Qur’ān: al-Ḥaj, 22:47)

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The upshot: Man in reality is transient, yet he has been created for eternality. And he has been created like a mirror of an Essence Who is Ever-abiding and he has been charged with fulfilling duties that yield ever-abiding fruits, and a form has been bestowed upon him - a form that is the locus of the manifestations and inscriptions of the ever-abiding Names of the Ever-abiding One. Thus is it that the original vocation, and true bliss for the like of this human being is to hold fast with all of his faculties and all of his capacities to the Names of that Eternal, Ever-abiding One, within the domain of His good pleasure, and to set off upon the road of [endless] eternity, towards that Ever-abiding One. 

Just as the tongue says يَا بَاق۪ٓي اَنْتَ الْبَاق۪ي "O Ever-abiding One, You are the Ever-abiding One!" so too must one's heart (qalb), spirit (rūh) and intellect (‘aql) must say, with all of their subtle spiritual centres (laṭāif): 

هُوَالْبَاق۪ي، هُوَالْاَزَلِيُّ الْأَبَدُ، هُوَالسَّرْمَدِيُّ، هُوَالدّٓائِمُ، هُوَالْمَطْلُوبُ، هُوَالْمَحْبُوبُ، هُوَالْمَقْصُودُ، هُوَالْمَعْبُودُ (a)

سُبْحَانَكَ لَاعِلْمَ لَنَٓا اِلَّا مَا عَلَّمْتَنَٓا اِنَّكَ اَنْتَ الْعَل۪يمُ الْحَك۪يمُ (b)

رَبَّنَا لَاتُؤَاخِذْنَٓا اِنْ نَس۪ينَٓا اَوْ اَخْطَاْنَا (c)

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a He is the Ever-abiding, He is the Beginninglessly and Endlessly eternal, He is the eternal, He is the Everlasting, He is the One wanted, He is the beloved, He is the goal, He is the One worshipped.

b Glory be to You! We have no knowledge, except that which You have taught us; surely You are the All-Knowing, the Wise. (Qur’ān: al-Baqarah, 2:32) 

c Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we have forgotten or erred. (Qur’ān: al-Baqarah, 2:286)