اندیشهفلسفهخردگفتگوحکمتمعناپرسشفرهنگ
Religion
Why Are Mystics in a Good State?
Contrary to the common belief that sorrow signifies closeness to God, many mystics see the true path as reaching the 'City of Joy.' This profound happiness arises from perceiving God's loving presence in existence and shifting from a fear-based to a love-based Sufism.
Many mystics in our culture speak of a dazzling and enviable joy that, at first glance, seems strange and whose reason is difficult for us to understand. In their states and stations, we witness pleasant moods, exultant words, and times filled with delight that, while astonishing, are also question-provoking: What has happened to them that they rejoice so?
Contrary to the common notion that sadness and sorrow are a sign of closeness to God, many mystics said that the correct spiritual wayfaring is that which brings a person to the "city of joy," and they would ask God to color their souls with happiness. Bahāʾ al-Dīn Walad said:
"O God! Through a blessing, bring every part of me to the city of joy and comfort, and open a thousand gates of joy upon every part of me; and the straight path is that which leads to the city of joy, and the crooked path is that which does not lead to the city of joy." (Maʿārif-i Bahāʾ-i Walad)
This group of mystics believed that if a person gains insight and perceives God's loving presence in existence, they will see that:
"The world of Truth is a vast expanse, an immense, endless expansion." (Maqālāt-i Shams)
"The world of God is light upon light, pleasure upon pleasure, splendor upon splendor, generosity upon generosity." (Maqālāt-i Shams)
"O God, I am glad, glad, glad, that I fell not by myself, but upon You." (Khwāja ʿAbd Allāh Anṣārī, from 'The Never and Ever of the Human')
"O God, You know why I am glad: because I fell not by myself, but upon You." (Ibid.)
Therefore, in their view, one who partakes more of profound joy possesses a heavenly existence, and one should choose to keep company with them. The one who is of the color of paradise, their companionship becomes a source of heart's expansion, makes one forget the constrictions of the world, and fans the flames of longing:
"The reality of joy is paradise itself; so when joy is with you, paradise is with you, and God is also with you, for paradise and all joys and tastes are from the radiance of the beauty of God's grace, and you are heedless of it." (Maʿārif-i Bahāʾ-i Walad)
"Whomever you see with an expansive nature and character, and open speech and broad forbearance, who prays for the good of the whole world, from whose speech you gain an opening of the heart, and this world and its constriction are forgotten by you, that one is an angel and heavenly. And the one in whom and in whose speech you see contraction, constriction, and coldness, such that from his speech you become as cold as you had become warm from the speech of that other person, and now, because of his coldness, you do not find that warmth, that one is a devil and hellish. Now, whoever becomes aware of this secret and makes it his practice, will pay no heed to a hundred thousand masters." (Maqālāt-i Shams)
I said, do not sit beside a sorrowful companion,
Sit nowhere but beside sweet, cheerful-hearted ones.
(Ghazaliyyāt-i Shams)
Whomever you see full of sorrow and sour-faced,
Is no lover and is not from that domain.
(Ghazaliyyāt-i Shams)
Avicenna also describes the mystic as cheerful and smiling:
"The mystic is always glad, cheerful, and smiling. Out of humility, he honors the lowly as much as the noble and dignified, and his expansiveness and joy with the obscure and unknown is the same as with the renowned and well-known. And how could he not be glad? While he is delighted by God and by everything, for he sees God in all things; and why should he not regard all as equal and alike? While all are equal in his sight, in that they are all recipients of mercy and occupied with falsehood...!" (Al-Ishārāt wa-l-Tanbīhāt)
Shams said it is joy that causes blossoming and has a property like water, which is the source of growth and life:
"They have abandoned joy and worship sorrow! Joy, like fine, clear water, wherever it reaches, a wondrous blossom immediately grows. Sorrow, like a black torrent, wherever it reaches, causes the blossom to wither." (Maqālāt-i Shams)
To dwell in the house of sorrow stems from low aspiration,
And in a heart of low aspiration, how can Your secrets reside?
(Ghazaliyyāt-i Shams)
The mystics said that we possess a perspective and a spirit that has created such a paradise within our hearts, and if the kings of the world were aware of our good state, they would lose all patience:
Once, someone saw Ibrahim Khawwas in the desert, sitting at ease with his knees drawn up and clasped. He said, "O Abu Ishaq! Why are you sitting here?" He replied, "Go away, you idle fellow! If the kings of the earth knew the state I am in here, they would come at me with swords out of envy." [Hubwa: It is when one draws up the knees and clasps them to the stomach, holding them in place with one's garment.] (Nafahat al-Uns)
In our heart is a tulip field and a rose garden,
For old age and withering there is no way.
We are ever fresh and young and delicate,
Verdant and sweet and smiling and elegant.
(Masnavi: Book Three)
Our blood is forbidden to sorrow, and sorrow's blood is lawful to us,
Any sorrow that circles around us is drowned in its own blood.
(Ghazaliyat-e Shams)
He turned the world into a paradise through grateful laughter,
He who taught me to laugh like a spark.
Although I myself was born cheerful and laughing from eternity,
Love taught me another way of laughing.
(Ghazaliyat-e Shams)
I have a pact with joy, that joy shall be mine,
I have a promise with the Beloved, that the Beloved shall be my soul.
(Ghazaliyat-e Shams)
Of course, the mystics were not always in a state of joy. That is, they themselves have told us of their times of dejection and sorrow, especially the Sufis of the early centuries, who were generally of an ascetic disposition and possessed a fearful Sufism, and were so apprehensive of their own misdeeds that one cannot find striking manifestations of joy in them.
But what happened that in later periods, and especially with the mystics of Greater Khorasan such as Bayazid Bastami and Abu Sa'id Abi'l-Khayr, and most strikingly of all, Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi, we witness such spirit-enhancing states of good cheer?
The mystics of our culture, particularly from the time of Abu Sa'id Abi'l-Khayr onward, replaced fearful Sufism with love-based Sufism. Up until the fourth century [AH], the prevalent Sufism was largely mixed with sorrow and fear. The mystics of the early centuries primarily regulated their relationship with God based on fear and hope (khawf wa raja). But from the time of Bu Sa'id onward, most mystics, by highlighting the concept of love and affection, presented a new definition of their relationship with God. In this view, God is a captivating Beloved who has extended the hand of friendship and kindness toward humanity and spread the snare of affection.
Depart, O sorrow, from my breast, for the grace of the Friend is coming,
You too, O heart, vanish from me, for that Heart-Ravisher is coming.
I do not wish the Friend joy, for He has transcended joy,
From the excess of my love for Him, I feel shame at joy.
(Ghazaliyat-e Shams)
From where do mystical joys draw their water?
1) It seems the most important source of joy for the mystics is the perception of the Beloved's presence. When God appears in the form of a heart-ravishing Beloved in the mirror of the soul, and considering that all of existence is entirely the theater of the Beloved's face-showing, it is natural that the individual, from companionship and association with the Beloved, finds exhilaration, attraction, and states of rapture.
As long as the image of that envy of the fairies is in my heart,
Who in all this world is as happy-hearted as I?
By God, I know not how to live except happily,
I hear of sorrow, but I know not what it is.
(Ghazaliyat-e Shams)
Our soul cannot be contained in its skin from the joy of You,
For You have brought this soul-increasing beauty for our sake.
(Ghazaliyat-e Shams)
It seems one of the main reasons for the mystics' good state is that, firstly, they have been in a loving relationship with God, and secondly, they have seen existence as the mirror of His face-revealing, and eye-to-eye with God, they have quaffed the wine of life, and in Rumi's words, imagined themselves in "God's banquet":
Come without tambourine to my grave, brother
For in God's banquet, sorrow is unbecoming
"O God, whenever I look at You, I am an angel, crown on head; and whenever I look at myself, I am dust, dust on my head." (Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, from Man, from Never and Always)
When you have a loving relationship with the life-giving essence and the lamp-kindler of the world, you feel you are living in paradise:
If you are a lover, abandon sorrow
Behold a wedding and abandon mourning
(Ghazaliyat-e Shams)
I who am ever at peace with this Father
This world appears to me as paradise
(Masnavi: Book Four)
Bohlul said to a certain dervish
"How are you, O dervish? Inform me."
He said, "How should one be for whom the world's affairs
Eternally proceed according to his desire?
Torrents and streams flow according to his desire
The stars turn out as he wishes
Life and death, his sergeants
March according to his desire, from place to place
Not a tooth laughs in the world
Without the consent and command of that sovereign
Hear this much: since the universal affair
Turns not except by the Creator's command
When God's decree becomes the servant's contentment
The servant becomes a willing subject to His decree
(Masnavi: Book Three)
Love, when coupled with the nearness of the beloved, brings joy. In the joyful experience of love, the individual's spirit is so content in the presence of the friend that it regards the hardships of the outer world as nothing. If you are a fellow-prisoner with Joseph, the prison is a rose garden to you:
"I am amazed by this hadith: 'The world is the believer's prison'; for I have seen no prison at all, I have seen all joy, all honor, all fortune. I have not been perplexed by any hadith of the Prophet except this one, 'The world is the believer's prison,' for I see no prison. I say: Where is the prison?" (Maqalat-e Shams)
"We are those who turn the prison into a garden for ourselves. When our prison becomes a garden, consider what our garden itself must be!" (Maqalat-e Shams)
A moment with the friend in solitude is better than a hundred years in festivity
I do not desire freedom, for I am in prison with Joseph
(Sa'di)
Wherever there is a Joseph like the moon
It is paradise, even if it be the bottom of a well
(Masnavi: Book Three)
The mystics would say that the essence of joy and the joy of the essence is that you taste the sweetness and delight of connection with God and conversation with Him. Until you reach that true heart's-ease, nothing grants you profound peace:
I tested my heart in a thousand ways
Nothing contented it except union with You
(Ghazaliyat-e Shams)
"Whoever departs this world without having tasted the sweetness of God's speech, nothing has been attained by him." (Abu al-Hasan Kharaqani, Tazkirat al-Awliya)
"The weight of a single atom of His sweetness is greater than the palaces of paradise." (Bayazid Bastami, Daftar-e Roshana'i)
«در آدمی عشقی و دردی و خارخاری و تقاضایی است که: اگر صد هزار عالم ملک او شود، نیاساید و آرام نیابد. خلق در هر پیشهای و صنعتی و منصبی تحصیل میکنند و هیچ آرام نمیگیرند زیرا آنچه مقصود است بدست نیامده است. آخر معشوق را دلارام میگویند، یعنی که دل به وی آرام گیرد. پس به غیر، چون آرام و قرار گیرد؟»(مولانا، فیه ما فیه)
«مدار خوشی حیات با دوست میسّر میگردد. باغ و میوهها و آب روان و سرای، با بیگانه منغّص و با دوست خوش باشد. همهی رنجها از بهر دوست خوش میشود، همهی خوشیها بیدوست ناخوش میشود.»(بهاالدین ولد، معارف)
«الهی صحبتِ تو همه شادی است و ایّام آن همه عید.»(خواجه عبدالله انصاری، از هرگز و همیشه انسان)
اما دردورنجهای عالَم چگونه نزد عارف تحملپذیر و بلکه گوارا میشود؟ باورِ عارفان این است که دنیا سرای آزمون و امتحان است و عمدهی رنجهای دنیا از این باب است که عاشق را بیازمایند. شما وقتی عاشق کسی هستید و بدانید که معشوقتان از جهت آزمودن شما و اینکه چه اندازه در عشق او چالاکی و استقامت دارید شما را دچار دشواریها میکند، از سرگذراندن آن دشواریها بر شما شیرین میشود. چرا که میدانید از جانب اوست و برای اثبات عشقتان به او. میدانید که این رنجها از آنرو گریبانگیر شما میشوند که پیدا شود چه اندازه دلیرانه پای در عشق او نهادهاید:
عشق کار نازکان خام نیست
عشق کار پُردلان و پهلوان است ای پسر
(غزلیات شمس)
با این توضیح، تنگناهایی که عارض بر عارف میشود از آنرو که به باور او همگی از جانب محبوب است، شیریناند:
«بلا نیکو بوَد چون در میان بلا او بوَد.»(خواجه عبدالله انصاری، در هرگز و همیشهی انسان)
«بلا از دوست عطاست، پس از عطا نالیدن خطاست.»(همان)
«الهی! همه شادیها، بییادِ تو، غرور است و همه غمها با یادِ تو سرور است.»(همان)
غم و شادی بر عارف چه تفاوت دارد
ساقیا بده بده شادی آن که این غم از اوست
(سعدی)
عارفان میگویند عشق راستین با بلا و مرارت، از میان نمیرود بلکه به تعبیر مولانا «در بلا هم میکشم لذّات او». مواجههی عارفانه با دردهای اینجهانی در حکایت زیر به خوبی مشاهده میشود:
نقل است که یک روز حسن بصری و مالک دینار و شقیق بلخی در برِ رابعه رفتند، و او رنجور بود. حسن گفت: «لیس بصادقٍ فی دعواهُ مَن لم یصبر علی ضربِ مولاه»/ صادق نیست در دعویِ خویش هر که صبر نکند بر زخم مولای خویش. رابعه گفت: «از این سخن بوی مَنی میآید.» شقیق گفت: «لیس بصادقٍ فی دعواه من لم یشکر علی ضربِ مولاه.»/ صادق نیست در دعویِ خویش هر که شکر نکند بر زخم مولای خویش. رابعه گفت: «از این به باید!» مالک دینار گفت: «لیس بصادقٍ فی دعواه من لم یتلذّذ بضرب مولاه»/ صادق نیست در دعوی خویش هر که لذت نیابد از زخم دوست خویش. رابعه گفت: «به از این میباید!» گفتند: تو بگوی! گفت: «لیس بصادقٍ فی دعواه من لم یَنسَ الضَّربَ فی مشاهدة مولاه»/ صادق نیست در دعوی خویش هر که فراموش نکند الم زخم در مشاهدهی مطلوب خویش؛ این عجب نبود که زنان مصر در مشاهدهی مخلوق الم زخم نیافتند، اگر کسی در مشاهدهی خالق بدین صفت بُوَد، بدیع نبُوَد.(تذکره)
رنجهای جهان در چشم عارف، آزمونهای عیارسنجِ عاشقی او هستند و از اینرو مبارک و شیرین. رنجی که از جانب دوست باشد، شیرین است:
«خوشیهای عالم را قیمت کردهاند که هر یکی به چند است. ای جان! این ناخوشی به چند است؟!»(مقالات شمس)
در بلا هم میچشم لذات او
مات اویم مات اویم مات او
(مثنوی: دفتردوم)
شادی شود آن غم که خوریمش چو شکَر خوش
ای غم بر ما آی که اکسیر غمانیم
(غزلیات شمس)
«I was in a sickly state; I told my companions: each state of mine has a different pleasure. My illness has one pleasure, my health another; my journey has one pleasure, my settled life another; the state of my disgrace has one pleasure, my solitude another. In most states, I am cheerful.» (Ma‘ārif-i Bahā’ Walad)
In fact, from the mystic’s perspective, the afflictions of this world serve to reveal the original love from the substitute affection. For true love does not dim because of the beloved’s cruelty:
«The reality of love is that it does not increase with kindness, nor does it diminish with cruelty.» (Yaḥyā ibn Mu‘ādh, Ṭabaqāt al-Ṣūfiyya)
«Shiblī was confined to a hospital on the accusation of madness. A group came to visit him. He asked, “Who are you?” They said, “Your friends.” He began to throw stones at them. They all fled. He said, “If you were my friends, why did you flee from my affliction? So endure my affliction. If you are my friends, why do you flee from my affliction? For a friend does not flee from a friend’s affliction.”» (Kashf al-Maḥjūb)
In Rumi’s expression, the mystic is one for whom “all unpleasant things, through His love, are a pleasure.” “Unpleasant things,” when accompanied by love, become pleasant:
O evil that You do in wrath and strife,
More joyous than a concert and the harp’s sound!
O Your cruelty, better than fortune,
And Your vengeance more beloved than the soul!
If this is Your fire, what must Your light be?
This is mourning—what then must Your wedding feast be?
From the sweetnesses that Your tyranny holds,
And from its subtlety, none can fathom Your depth.
I lament, and fear that He might believe it,
And out of kindness, lessen that tyranny.
I am in love with His wrath and His grace, truly—
How wondrous, I am in love with these two opposites!
By God, if from this thorn I enter the garden,
Like the nightingale, I would lament for this very reason.
This is a wondrous nightingale that opens its beak
To devour the thorn along with the rose garden.
What nightingale? This is a fiery crocodile!
All unpleasant things, through His love, are a pleasure to him.
(Mathnawī: Book One)
The mystic’s entire sorrow is that God might distance Himself from him and melt him in the station of absence and separation. Other hardships are nothing to him:
In the world, nothing is more bitter than separation—
Do whatever You will, but do not do that.
(Ghazaliyyāt-i Shams)
The city preacher’s tale of the terror of Resurrection
Was an allusion to the days of separation.
(Ḥāfiẓ)
And whenever he feels he is in the station of nearness, reconciliation, and presence, he lacks nothing at all:
If union with the Friend is granted to you for a moment,
Go, for you possess whatever is desired in the world.
(Ḥāfiẓ)
The primary cause of the mystics’ joy is love for God. A love that also transforms all of existence into the theater of His manifestation and reconciles the mystic with the entire world, bringing peace. It makes hardships and difficulties, because they come from the Beloved, smooth and even sweet in his eyes.
The mystic says: the secret of my happiness is possessing Your affection and friendship, and as long as Your affection has not left my heart, I am endowed with the most precious of treasures. The treasure that keeps the mystic content with himself is the treasure of affection he has found within his own heart.
They asked Bāyazīd, “What is dervishhood?” He said: “It is when someone, in the corner of their heart, steps upon a treasure; in that treasure, they find a gem, which is called affection. Whoever finds that gem, he is a dervish.” (Tadhkirat al-Awliyā’)
The kingdom of love and the treasure of joy—
Whatever I have is from the blessing of his aspiration.
(Hafez)
It is recorded in the accounts of some mystics that they had robust and plump bodies and were not thin and frail, and they saw the reason for this as the joy derived from divine love:
It is related that Shaykh [Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr] had a huge frame. They asked, "What is this?" He said, "I am fattened by the joy of God." Someone said, "I am amazed how the Shaykh's neck, being so large, fits into his collar." The Shaykh said, "It is more amazing how it fits into the eighteen thousand worlds." (Tasting the Moment, Shafi'i Kadkani)
"... Bayazid Bastami, at the beginning of his path, set out to visit a man from the Kurdish people and traveled seven hundred leagues. When he reached him, he found him plump. He regretted going to him. The man became aware of Bayazid's thought. He said, 'O Bayazid! Do not waste your traveling of seven hundred leagues; this plumpness of mine is from the joy of being with Him.'" (The Book of Illumination, Shafi'i Kadkani)
The mystic says the main cause of your suffering and sorrow is that you are unaware of what a Beloved exists in this world. A beloved who, in Rumi's words, is "the incomparable, faithful Sultan of sweet disposition," and a person melts from His warm greeting:
Where in the two worlds is one as subtle and sweet as our Amir?
His brow did not frown, though He saw a hundred errors.
Open your eyes and look upon the face, bring your sin and look upon the disposition,
Look upon the disposition like a stream's water, all freshness and purity.
I melted from His warm greeting, from shame before Him,
And from His soft words, stones melt.
(Ghazaliyat-e Shams)
Seek, O lovers of graceful conduct,
Joy, O sweet-working beauties.
How long from the house? Come, the path to the desert!
How long from the Kaaba? Come, into the tavern!
Henceforth, our hand and the Friend's skirt,
Hereafter, our ear and the Beloved's ring.
In the world there is a Witness, and we are heedless?!
In the cup there is a sip, and we are sober?!
(Sana'i)
"If the servant knew that he has such a generous Lord, and recognized Him as He is, his gall bladder would burst from joy, and the servant would strut and swagger from his own nobility." (Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr, Tasting the Moment)
In such a state, even death is sweet, for by escaping the cage of the body, the mystic attains eternal union and vision.
They asked Shaykh [Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr], "Which verse should we recite before your funeral procession?" He said, "That would be a lofty affair; recite this couplet:
There was no better affair in the world than this:
Friend went to friend, beloved to beloved.
That was all sorrow, this is all joy,
That was all talk, this is all action."
(Tasting the Moment, Shafi'i Kadkani)
Sultan Walad, Rumi's son, versified the testament of Shaykh Salah al-Din Zarkub:
The Shaykh said, at my funeral,
Bring drums and kettledrums, and strike the tambourine.
Proceed to my grave dancing,
Happy, joyful, intoxicated, and clapping hands.
So that they know the friends of God
Go toward the meeting, happy and smiling.
All, from soul and heart, the testament
Heard without hypocrisy, with purity.
(Waladnama)
On the day of death, when my coffin is moving,
Do not imagine that I feel the pain of this world.
Do not weep for me and do not say, "Alas, alas,"
You would fall into the demon's buttermilk; that would be the regret.
When you see my funeral, do not say, "Separation, separation,"
My union and meeting shall be at that time
You laid me in the grave, do not say farewell, farewell
For the grave is the veil of the gathering of paradise
(Ghazals of Shams)
If death arrives, why should I fear?
For I know that path leads to You
This is not death, it is a garden and orchard
Which is the path to the abode of friends
How long shall I lament death?
Since death is from Him, may death be mine
If I behold it as it truly is
This death is not death, it is a change of place
From a feeding place to a sleeping place
And from a sleeping place to the royal feast
A sleep whose path leads to Your feast
I shall not turn my neck away from its sleeping place
Since longing for You is my household rising
I sleep well and rise joyfully
(Nizami, Layla and Majnun)
This death, of which the people are a morsel
We shall make it a single morsel and have no sorrow
(Ghazals of Shams)
You are like Zulfiqar, your body a wooden sheath
If this sheath breaks, why are you broken-hearted?
(Ghazals of Shams)
If death is a man, let him come before me
So I may embrace him tightly, tightly
I shall take from him a soul without color or scent
He shall take from me a cloak of many colors
(Ghazals of Shams)
The kingly soul has escaped from prison
Why should we tear our garments and bite our hands?
Since they were the kings of faith
It is a time of joy, for they have broken their bonds
They galloped toward the pavilion of fortune
They cast away the stocks and chains
It is the day of kingship and magnificence and emperorhood
If you have even an atom of awareness of them
(Masnavi: Book Six)
2) Another factor contributing to the mystic's happiness is their indifference to the acceptance or rejection of others. When you give your entire heart to a singular Beloved, it no longer matters to you if someone dislikes you; it does not matter if others abandon you or speak ill of you.
Let the dove of the spirit fly again
Take the path of Noah in the way of invitation
Render service for the Creator
What business have you with the acceptance and rejection of people?
(Masnavi: Book Six)
We feel bad when we are dependent on the gaze and judgment of others. People's praise and blame affect us greatly. We are anxious lest our image be ruined in the minds of others. But one who is in love, not with one heart but a hundred hearts, cares only for the Beloved's satisfaction and being beside the Beloved.
Happy with pre-eternity, happy with death, blissful
Free from the reproach and talk of elite and common folk
The one at whose face the soul laughs like sugar
What harm comes to them from the sour faces of people?
The one on whose eye the soul bestows a kiss
How would they suffer grief from the sky and its wrath?
(Masnavi: Book Two)
"What harm does the sourness of people do to the dervish? If the whole world is covered by the sea, what harm does it do to the duck?" (Discourses of Shams)
Abu Firas, in a beautiful poem, has said:
Would that you were sweet, though life be bitter,
And would that you were pleased, though all mankind be wrathful.
Would that what lies between me and you were flourishing,
And what lies between me and all the world were ruin.
If your affection is sound, then all else is trivial,
And all that is upon the dust is but dust.
Translation: Would that you were sweet and my life bitter, and would that you were content and all were wrathful toward me.
Would that the bond between me and you were established and flourishing, and the connection between me and all the world were ruined and severed.
If you are my friend, everything is easy for me, and all that is upon the face of the earth is as dust to me.
For instance, in this anecdote we see how light-hearted Shaykh Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr is, and how comfortably he eats turnips in the marketplace, and what a blissful state he is in:
For a time, [Master Abu al-Qasim Qushayri] was in the Shaykh's company, until one day both were walking in the bazaar of Nishapur. They saw cooked turnips set out, white and clean. The appetite of both great men was tempted by them. The Shaykh gave a small coin, took some of the turnips, and ate them. Master Abu al-Qasim said to himself, "I am the Imam of Nishapur; how can I eat turnips in the middle of the bazaar?" He did not eat and went to the khanaqah. As was the Shaykh's custom, after the meal they held a sama'. A tremendous state came upon the Shaykh. It crossed Master Abu al-Qasim's heart that, "With all the learning I have acquired and the hardships I have endured on the path of the Way, such a moment and state has not been granted to me." The Shaykh raised his head and said, "At that moment when I was eating turnips in the bazaar, you were worshipping the idol of the self, saying, 'I am the Imam of Nishapur; how can I eat turnips in the bazaar?' Do you not know that such a moment and state is never given to any idol-worshipper?" (States and Sayings of Abu Sa'id Abu'l-Khayr, Jamal al-Din Abu Rawh Lutf Allah)
Take the cup of love and go,
Know only the Beloved and go.
Be a wine free of the dregs of form,
Subtle and pure as the soul, and go.
One sight of Him is worth a hundred souls,
Give your soul, buy it cheap, and go.
When you have seen such a silver-bosomed one,
Give your silver, lay down your purse, and go.
If the world weeps, what is that to you?
Gaze upon the laughing moon and go.
If they say you are a provider and empty-handed,
Say, I am two hundred times that, and go.
Rub a clod of earth on your lips before the people,
Hold sugar between your teeth, and go.
Say, that Moon is mine, the rest is yours,
I want neither head nor possessions, and go.
(Ghazals of Shams)
Though a thousand foes seek my destruction,
If you are my friend, I have no fear of enemies.
(Hafiz)
A tale from your mouth reached the ear of my soul,
Henceforth, people's counsel is but a tale to my ear.
(Sa'di)
3) The mystic's detachment is another reason for his joy. The more you feel a sense of ownership and possessiveness, the more distressed you are. When the mystic finds the true Beloved and the real tranquility of the heart, the craving to want, to have, and to possess diminishes in him, and in Rumi's words, he acquires a "sated eye."
The mystic does not have the thirst for ownership, possession, seizing, and increasing the volume of his belongings.
"Abu Bakr al-Misri was asked about the sincere faqir. He said: He does not own and is not owned. The meaning of this is that he has no property and is the property of no one.
Samnun was asked about Sufism. He said: It is that nothing is your property, and you are not the property of anything." (The Qushayriyyan Epistle, Abu al-Qasim Qushayri)
در حکایت زیر ابوسعید به نکتهی مهمی اشاره میکند:
نقل است که یک روز بومحمّدِ جُوینی با شیخ[ابوسعید ابوالخیر] در حمّام بود. شیخ گفت «این حمّام چرا خوش است؟» گفت «از آنک آدمی پاکیزه میگرداند و شوخ از آدمی دور میکند.» شیخ گفت «به از این باید.» گفت «از آنک چون تو کسی اینجا حاضر است.» گفت «پایِ من و ما از میان برگیر!» گفت «شیخ به داند.» شیخ گفت «از آن خوش است که دو مخالف- یعنی آتش و آب- بهم ساخته اند و یکی شده.» بو محمد تعجب کرد از آن معنی لطیف. پس شیخ گفت « از آن خوش است که از جملهی مال و ملکِ دنیا بیش از سطلی و ازاری[لُنگ] با تو، بهم، نیست و آنگاه آن هر دو نیز از آنِ تو نیست!»(چشیدن طعم وقت، شفیعی کدکنی)
از اسباب ناخوشی ما خواستن فراوان است، اگر عطش خواهش را بشود فرونشاند، رنجی نمیماند:
«رنجوری را گفتند دلت چه میخواهد گفت آن که دلم چیزی نخواهد.»(گلستان سعدی، باب سوم)
شبلی گفته است: «آن خواهم که نخواهم.» و خرقانی گفته که: «این هم خواستی است.»(نفحات الأنس)
حق - تعالی- با بایزید گفت که «یا بایزید! چه خواهی؟» گفت: «خواهم که نخواهم.»(تذکرة الاولیاء)
«همهی رنجها از آن میخیزد که چیزی خواهی و آن میسر نشود. چون نخواهی رنج نماند.»(فیه ما فیه)
دیگر اینکه عارف به نامانایی و گذرایی هستی توجه دارد و اینکه سرای دنیا را اعتبار و بقایی نیست:
حافظا چون غم و شادی جهان در گذر است
بهتر آن است که من خاطر خود خوش دارم
این نگاه سبب میشود که دلش را به آنچه دارد پیوند نزد و وارستگی داشته باشد:
(لِکیلَا تَأْسَوْا عَلَى مَا فَاتَکمْ وَلَا تَفْرَحُوا بِمَا آتَاکمْ...)[حدید:23]؛ «تا آنکه بر آنچه از دست شما رَوَد اندوه مخورید و بر آنچه به شما بخشد شادمانی مکنید...»
«همه دلتنگی دنیا، از دل نهادن بر این عالم است. هر دمی که آزاد باشی از این جهان و خود را غریب دانی، و در هر رنگی که بنگری و هر مزهای که بچشی، دانی که با او نمانی و جای دیگر میروی، دلتنگ نباشی.»(مولانا، مناقب العارفین)
«خرقهپوشی در کاروان حجاز همراه ما بود یکی از امرای عرب مرو را صد دینار بخشیده تا قربان کند. دزدان خفاجه ناگاه بر کاروان زدند و پاک ببردند. بازرگانان گریه و زاری کردن گرفتند و فریاد بیفایده خواندند، مگر آن درویش صالح که بر قرار خویش مانده بود و تغیّر درو نیامده. گفتم مگر معلوم تو را دزد نبرد؟ گفت بلی بردند و لیکن مرا با آن الفتی چنان نبود که به وقت مفارقت خستهدلی باشد.»(گلستان، باب پنجم)
عارفان چون از عشق خدا سیراب شدهاند، آن گرسنگی و ولع تملک چیزها را ندارد و به تعبیری «غم دین» و «غم عشق» غمهای دیگر را از آنان دور داشته است:
گفت رو هر که غم دین برگزید
باقی غمها خدا از وی برید
(مثنوی دفتر چهارم)
غم دو قسم است ای برادر گوش کن
شعلهی ما را چراغ هوش کن
یک غم است آن غم که آدم را خورد
آن غم دیگر که هر غم را خورد
آن غم دیگر که ما را همدم است
جان ما از صحبت او بیغم است
(اقبال لاهوری، زبور عجم)
4) راه لذت از درون است. این حقیقی است که عارف به آن باور دارد. خاستگاه شادی در دل است و آدم باید بیش از آنکه در چیزها یا آدمهای بیرون دنبال شادی باشد، شادی و خوشاحوالی را در درون خودش پیدا کند و به گفتهی خیام: «ماییم که اصل شادی و کان غمایم»
«بیمزگی همه از بیماری توست نه از بهر آنکه مزه نیست در عالم و در طعام و شراب و صحبت و نظر. تو جهد کن تا بیماری از تنت و خیرگی از چشمت و گرفتگی از پایت برود.»(بهاءولد، معارف)
دست بگشا دامن خود را بگیر
The salve for this wound is none but this wound
(Divan-e Shams)
When one's state is good, it makes no difference in what place or situation one finds oneself:
Know the path of pleasure to be from within, not from without
Know it to be folly to seek palaces and fortresses
One is in the corner of a mosque, drunk and joyful
And another in the garden, sour and disappointed
(Masnavi: Book Six)
One is in a meadow with flowing water
And another beside him is in torment
He is left wondering, "From what does this one's delight arise?"
And that one is left wondering, "In what prison is this one confined?"
(Masnavi: Book Three)
Whatever comes upon you of darkness and sorrow
That too is from recklessness and insolence
(Masnavi: Book One)
So for every sorrow that comes to you from pain
Lay blame on no one, turn it upon yourself
(Masnavi: Book Four)
A person whose state is good, and who, in Abu Sa'id's terms, is mindful of the "taste of the moment," derives the utmost enjoyment and benefit from every gift and situation:
"It is related that one day our Shaykh, after that state—to which he had attained, as is well known—was seated at the door of the holy shrine. A disciple of the Shaykh was slicing pieces of sweet melon with a knife, rolling them in ground sugar, and giving them to the Shaykh to eat. One of the deniers of this account passed by and said: 'O Shaykh! What taste does this that you are eating now have, and what taste did the thistle and tamarisk you ate for seven years in the desert have? And which is more pleasant?' Our Shaykh said: 'Both have the taste of the moment. That is, if the moment had the quality of expansion, that tamarisk and thistle were more pleasant than this; and if the state takes the form of contraction—for God contracts and expands (Qur'an 2:245)—and what is sought is in the veil, this sugar would be more unpleasant than that thistle.'" (Asrar al-Tawhid)
This human knowledge led the mystic to strive for the "expansion of the moment" and to endeavor to acquire a spacious heart and a fresh, sharp sense of savor, so as to enjoy abundant delight from what he has:
"With a constricted heart, the kingdom of the whole world is troubled, and with a spacious heart, all hardships are easy." (Ma'arif of Baha' al-Din Valad)
"The mystic is one whom no turbidity troubles the clear spring of his spirit, and every turbidity that reaches him becomes clear." (Fihi Ma Fihi)
The mystic's view is that the true rose garden must be built within the heart, and if spaciousness of heart and inner luminosity are attained, the outer world will also appear spring-like in one's sight:
"A Sufi was told, 'Lift your head and look upon the traces of God's mercy.' He said, 'Those traces are traces. The flowers and tulips are within.'" (Maqalat-e Shams)
Joseph is within you, why do you go to Egypt in vain?
Come within the veil and see what a beautiful countenance it is
-
Seek the moon from your own collar, like Moses of Amram
Look through your own window and say, "Peace, peace"
(Divan-e Shams)
Mystics have no candle and beloved from outside themselves
Not having drunk grape's blood, their wine too is their own blood
Everyone in the world has become Majnun for Layla
Mystics are their own Layla and, moment by moment, their own Majnun
For an hour, the measure of this, for an hour, the rhythm of that
After this, become your own measure, so you may become your own rhythm
The sorrowful drink wine, and we are more cheerful than wine
Go, cupbearer, give your opium to the prisoners of sorrow
Our blood is forbidden to sorrow, and sorrow's blood is lawful to us
Every sorrow that circled around us drowned in its own blood
Wine is rose-hued on the cheeks of sorrow’s invalids
We delight in our own color and our own rosy face
(Ghazals of Shams)
5) Inner peace and reconciliation with all is a condition for cheerfulness. Mystics strove to be at peace with everyone. When you are in a state of peace and reconciliation, your inner world becomes a paradise. Living in peace and reconciliation with others, and harboring no ill-will, malice, or enmity toward anyone in your heart, benefits the individual above all else and improves their state.
“In this world, nothing is harder than having enmity with someone.” (Abu al-Hasan Kharaqani, Tazkirat al-Awliya)
“If you wish to be in paradise perpetually, befriend all people and hold no one’s malice in your heart, for when you remember someone with friendship, you are perpetually joyful, and that joy is the very essence of paradise. And if you remember someone with enmity, you are perpetually in sorrow, and that sorrow is the very essence of hell. When you remember friends, the garden within you blossoms with delight and is filled with roses and sweet basil. And when you mention enemies, the garden within you is filled with thorns and serpents, and you wither.” (Rumi, Manaqib al-Arifin)
The mystic is one who has made their heart an ocean; they are not hurt by cruelties and bear no grudges:
A vast ocean is not muddied by a stone
The mystic who takes offense is still shallow water
(Saadi)
Let us be faithful, endure blame, and be cheerful
For in our path, taking offense is unbelief
(Hafez)
Sayyid Burhan al-Din Muhaqqiq Tirmidhi said: “The free man is one who is not offended by anyone’s offense. The noble man is one who does not offend one who deserves to be offended.” (Ma'arif of Tirmidhi)
Instead of conflict and war with others, mystics were more occupied with struggling against their own blameworthy traits:
“I made peace with God’s creation, with whom I had ever waged war, and I waged war with the self, with which I had never made peace.” (Abu al-Hasan Kharaqani, Tazkirat al-Awliya)
When our Shaykh [Abu Sa'id Abu al-Khayr] was holding a gathering in Mayhana, a dervish arrived in the midst of the assembly and said: “O Shaykh! I must know what kind of man you are and what you are about.” The Shaykh said: “O dervish! We have no purse tied at our waist, and no war with God’s creation.” (Asrar al-Tawhid)
“[Khwaja Abdullah Ansari] was asked about Sufism. He said: ‘An outward without color and an inward without war.’” (From Man’s Never and Always)
Shaykh Nizam al-Din Awliya recited these two couplets in a gathering:
Whoever does not remember us, may God be their friend
And whoever causes us pain, may their comfort be abundant
Whoever places a thorn in our path out of enmity
May every flower that blossoms from the garden of their life be without thorns!
And then he added: “One places a thorn, and you also place a thorn. This is all thorniness!... Among people, it is thus: with the beautiful you are beautiful, and with the crooked you are crooked [naghz: fair-faced and wondrous; kuz: bent and hunchbacked]; but among dervishes, it is thus: with the beautiful you are beautiful, and with the crooked you are also beautiful.” (Fawa'id al-Fu'ad)
6) It is seeking and questing that bring vitality and freshness. A person who has no quest becomes weary and disheartened. The mystic is in “perpetual quest,” and in perpetual quest there is delight:
“Pleasure and delight lie in the quest. In attainment, there is no delight. Attainment is a shock that shatters you. All comforts, delights, graces, sanctities, and pleasures lie in the quest.” (Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, Tabaqat al-Sufiyya)
If you have no beloved, why do you not seek?
And if you have reached the beloved, why do you not rejoice?
(Ghazals of Shams)
7) When you seek your own happiness, it flees from you. One must seek to make another happy and seek the beloved’s approval; then happiness itself comes to you:
«حق تعالی اگر چه وعده داده است که جزاهای نیک و بد در قیامت خواهد بودن، اما نمونهی آن، دم به دم و لمحه به لمحه میرسد. اگر آدمی را شادیی در دل میآید، جزای آن است که کسی را شاد کرده است. و اگر غمگین میشود، کسی را غمگین کرده است. این ارمغانهای آن عالم است و نمودار روز جزاست، تا بدین اندک، آن بسیار را فهم کنند همچون که از انبار گندم، مشتی گندم بنمایند.
این قبضها و تیرگیها و ناخوشیها که بر تو میآید، از تأثیر آزار و معصیتی است که کردهای، اگر چه به تفصیل ترا یاد نیست که چه و چه کردهای. نگر که چقدر گشاد داری و چقدر قبض داری، قطعاً قبض جزای معصیت است و بسط جزای طاعت است.»(مولانا، فیه ما فیه)
عارفان از پیلهی خود بیرون آمدهاند تا پروانهی گلهای عشق شوند. عشق به آنها «امکان یک پرنده شدن» داده است. فراموشی خود برای درآغوش گرفتن دیگری لازم است و همزمان شادیآور:
«یک قدم از «خود» فراتر نِه، تا شادیها بینی.»(روضة الفریقین، مؤمل بن منصور شاشی)
آن نفسی که باخودی یار چو خار آیدت
وان نفسی که بیخودی یار چه کار آیدت
آن نفسی که باخودی بستهی ابر غصهای
وان نفسی که بیخودی مه به کنار آیدت
آن نفسی که باخودی یار کناره میکند
وان نفسی که بیخودی باده یار آیدت
آن نفسی که باخودی همچو خزان فسردهای
وان نفسی که بیخودی دی چو بهار آیدت
(غزلیات شمس)
8- البته که عارف همیشه در شادی اقامت ندارد و غم و اندوه نیز بر او عارض میشود:
یک دمی خوش چو گلستان کُنَدَم
یک دمی همچو زمستان کُنَدَم
یک دمم چشمهی خورشید کند
یک دمی جمله شبستان کُنَدَم
(غزلیات شمس)
اما نگاهی که عارف به غم و اندوه دارد، التیامبخش و مرهمگذار است. عارفان بر این باورند که «غم» کارسازِ شادی است و حال قبض و اندوه مثل باد خزان است که برگریزی میکند تا دوباره برگهای تازه از شاخهای درخت برویند. شادی خرجِ روح است و هر خَرجی را دخل و درآمدی لازم است. خرج و مصرف شادی از دخل و درآمد غم است. بنابراین در قبض و غم نیز امید شادی تازه نهفته است:
فکر غم گر راه شادی میزَند
کارسازیهای شادی میکند
خانه میروبَد به تندی او ز غیر
تا در آید شادی نو ز اصل خیر
(مثنوی: دفتر پنجم)
چون که قبضی آیدت ای راهرو
آن صلاح توست آتشدل مشو
زانکه در خرجی از آن بسط و گشاد
خرج را دخلی بباید ز اعتداد
قند شادی میوهی باغ غم است
این فرح زخم است و آن غم مرهم است
(مثنوی: دفتر سوم)
«وقت غم خوشتر از وقت شادی است، از آنکه غم، روح را به الله میرساند. روح در وقت غم، بهره از الله میگیرد
و در وقت شادی و خوشی خرج میکند. آخر دخل روح بهتر از خرج باشد.»(معارف بهاءولد)
«مرد آن باشد که در ناخوشی خوش باشد. در غم، شاد باشد. زیرا که داند که آن مراد در بیمرادی همچنان در پیچیده است. در آن بیمرادی امید مراد است، و در آن مراد غصهی رسیدن بی مرادی. آن روز که نوبت تب من بودی، شاد بودمی که رسید صحت فردا. و آن روز که نوبت صحت بودی، در غصه بودمی که فردا تب خواهد بودن.»(مقالات شمس)
«همه چیز از چون خویشتنی زاید، مگر شادی که از اندوه زاید.»(طبقات الصوفیه)
منابع:
1- Asrār al-Tawḥīd fī Maqāmāt al-Shaykh Abī Saʿīd, Muḥammad ibn Munawwar Mayhanī, introduction, edition, and annotations by Dr. Muḥammad Riḍā Shafīʿī Kadkanī, Āgāh Publishing Institute, 6th edition, 2006
2- Al-Ishārāt wa-l-Tanbīhāt, Ibn Sīnā, edited by Sulaymān Dunyā, Cairo, Dār al-Maʿārif, 3rd edition, 1985
3- Tadhkirat al-Awliyāʾ, Shaykh Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār Nīshābūrī, edited by Reynold A. Nicholson, Asāṭīr Publications, 2nd edition, 2007
4- Chashīdan-i Ṭaʿm-i Waqt, from the Mystical Heritage of Abū Saʿīd Abī al-Khayr, introduction, edition, and annotations by Muḥammad Riḍā Shafīʿī Kadkanī, Sukhan Publishing, 1st edition, 2006
5- Ḥālāt va Sukhanān-i Abū Saʿīd Abī al-Khayr, compiled by Jamāl al-Dīn Abū Rawḥ Luṭf Allāh ibn Abī Saʿīd ibn Abī Saʿd, introduction, edition, and annotations by Muḥammad Riḍā Shafīʿī Kadkanī, Sukhan Publishing, 6th edition, 2005
6- Khamī az Sharāb-i Rabbānī: Gūzīda-yi Maqālāt-i Shams, selected and annotated by Muḥammad ʿAlī Muvaḥḥid, Sukhan Publishing, 2nd edition, 2009
7- Dar Hargiz va Hamīsha-yi Insān (from the Mystical Heritage of Khwāja ʿAbd Allāh Anṣārī), Muḥammad Riḍā Shafīʿī Kadkanī, Sukhan Publications, 1st edition, 2015
8- Daftar-i Rawshanāyī, from the Mystical Heritage of Bāyazīd Basṭāmī, Dr. Shafīʿī Kadkanī, Sukhan Publishing, 1st edition, 2005
Risāla-yi Qushayriyya, translated by Abū ʿAlī Ḥasan ibn Aḥmad ʿUthmānī, edited by Badīʿ al-Zamān Furūzānfar, ʿIlmī Farhangī Publications, 9th edition, 2006
9- Ṭabaqāt al-Ṣūfiyya, Khwāja ʿAbd Allāh Anṣārī, edited by Dr. Muḥammad Surūr Mullāyī, Tehran, 1983
10- Fawāʾid al-Fuʾād (Malfūẓāt of Shaykh Niẓām al-Dīn Awliyāʾ), Amīr Ḥusayn Sijzī, edited by Muḥammad Laṭīf Malik, Lahore, 1966
11- Kashf al-Maḥjūb, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn ʿUthmān Hujwīrī; introduction, edition, and annotations by Maḥmūd ʿĀbidī, Surūsh Publications, 5th edition, 2010
12- Kīmiyā: A Notebook on Literature, Art, and Mysticism (2), Dr. Ḥusayn Ilāhī Qumshaʾī and Sayyid Aḥmad Bihishtī Shīrāzī, Rawzana Publications, 3rd edition, 2002
13- Gūzīda-yi Fīhi Mā Fīhi (Discourses of Rūmī), abridged, introduced, and annotated by Dr. Ḥusayn Ilāhī Qumshaʾī, Islamic Revolution Education and Publications, Tehran, 1991
14- Maʿārif, Bahāʾ al-Dīn Muḥammad Walad, edited by Badīʿ al-Zamān Furūzānfar, Tehran, Ṭahūrī, 1973
15- Maʿārif, Sayyid Burhān al-Dīn Muḥaqqiq Tirmidhī, edited by Badīʿ al-Zamān Furūzānfar, Tehran, 1960
16- Manāqib al-ʿĀrifīn, Shams al-Dīn Aflākī, edited by Taḥsīn Yāzijī, Tehran, Dunyā-yi Kitāb, 1996
17- Nafaḥāt al-Uns min Ḥaḍarāt al-Quds, Nūr al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī, introduction, edition, and annotations by Dr. Maḥmūd ʿĀbidī, Sukhan Publishing, 5th edition, 2007
18- Nivishta bar Daryā, from the Mystical Heritage of Abū al-Ḥasan Kharaqānī, Muḥammad Riḍā Shafīʿī Kadkanī, Sukhan Publications, 1st edition, 2005
19- Waladnāma, edited by Jalāl al-Dīn Humāyī, Iqbāl Partnership Company, Tehran, 1936
20- Yak Ḥarf-i Ṣūfiyāna: Sayings from the Mystics, Maḥmūd ʿĀbidī, Sukhan Publishing, 1st edition, 2006
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Why Are Mystics in a Good State?
Author: Ṣiddīq Quṭbī
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Discussion1 comments
بسیار عالی و زیبا بود