By Touseef Mohamad Khan
Love… a spring that has gushed its heart out, from the day it sprouted, in a manner both volatile as well as stable. So mystic in its nature and so evident in its expression that some were left with a bitter life and some with a beautiful death. So magical that once taken rushes in the veins with a speed more vigorously than it had discharged. Neither has its enchanting aura diminished despite being in the company time, its most fearsome adversary nor has its peaks been scaled despite being ventured by the most passionate.
Quenching with this overwhelming potion has never been for those who never listened to the moans of their parched hearts and thus justifiability they never deserved it. There has been a question, though, which has always engaged me as a spectator. Has God loved his creation more or has the creation been successful to surpass it as a reciprocal act? I have settled it with believing in the former, for there is no reason to rest my mind else-way.
God has never forsaken men but men did it with all possible means. He kept on devising ways to improve their lives but men kept on innovating customs to degrade it. He kept on formulating routes to bestow dignity upon them but men kept on making schemes to humiliate themselves. But God was not to be discouraged or disgruntled for He knew that if the universe was to remember Him as the creator it had to be through men of sacrifice. Thus this endeavor led Him to craft such men who even after being subjected to unfathomable tribulations grew more magnificent and peerless and in the process defined and redefined the meaning of love.
Long ago when the face of Islam radiated mercy and tranquility, long ago when Islam was another name of serenity and peace, long ago when Islam stood for knowledge and brotherhood, long ago when Islam was what it was and not what it was made into, some men rose above the rest to elevate themselves to feel the being of God–within them and beyond.
Breaking the shackles of desire and need they set out on a journey whose door lay embedded beneath their conscience just to find the universe of truth naked in front of them. Ripping apart their cloaks of necessities that pegged them to dust they overwhelmed their being with shrouds of eternity. Establishing the overpowering authority of their creator by attribution to virtues wasn’t enough for them thus undertook voyages to feel Him within their own existence.
For them, every fragment of the known and unknown had one meaning and in the dimensions of which they constantly realized themselves being found and being lost and then being found again. To have their fill from the goblet of the divine was least satisfying for their incarcerated selves for it wasn’t their flesh and bones that required to be soaked but their souls that demanded no less than the very hand to quench their thirst that made them in the first instant.
Nothing was to stop them and nothing ever did. Leaping from one pedestal of immolation to another plinth of attainment they incinerated themselves in kilns of immortality. The clay of life that structured their foundation, the water of sustenance that molded their arrangement, and all other elements of subsistence that crafted their pattern lay in front of them revealing their innermost secrets and in the most vibrant mannerism. The circles of calm and turbulence, tranquility and tumult, pleasure and hurt, darkness and light, life and death all rendered meaningless and subordinate.
The process continued till the arrival of such a time that what remained of them was merely a transparent component through which images of God flashed by. This endeavor of human love to reach the edges of eternal love was never easy as the same was done in the most adverse of circumstances. They were those who loved God according to how He wished them to do and not how their fallible minds told them. They never disconnected from the test and never disengaged from the effects of the test, the test of living in the world. And this is what is known as practical irfan, the purest form of traveling inwards to taste the divine nectar in the gardens of the beloved. For them, the most critical part remains to adhere to the decrees of God, the only means to sustain the unrivaled universe of love within them.
O believers! Fasting is prescribed for you—as it was for those before you—so perhaps you will become mindful ˹of Allah˺.
(Quran 2:183)
Ramazan does not mean to abstain from food. On a physical side it symbolizes restraining one’s self from certain things which are deeply embedded in human life and the most basic of which is food. It is the crown jewel for the spiritual wayfarers. It has been reported from Imam Ja`far as-Sadiq while he tells his companion, ‘O Jabir! Whoever during the month of Ramazan, fasts in its days, stands up for prayers in parts of the night, controls his desires and emotions, puts a rein on his tongue, keeps his eyes down, and does not injure the feelings of others, will become as free of sins as the day he was born’. Undoubtedly it has a deep impact upon the one who, for the sake of seeking nearness to his creator, embarks upon the journey. The impact is spiritual, mental as well as social and hunger has a profound connection with all three. We find in Suluk al Arifan a beautiful narration of the Prophet’s heavenly journey (Me’raj):
“O’Ahmad! Do you comprehend the outcome of fasting? ‘No.’ Replied the Holy Prophet [pbuh]. ‘The outcome of fasting is less eating and less talking.’ Replied Allah, and then explained the outcome of silence and less speaking as follows:
‘The result of silence is wisdom; the result of wisdom is enlightenment; the result of enlightenment is certainty; and when a person attains the Exalted spiritual position of certainty, then he does not care how he starts his day, whether with ease or hardship, and tragedy or comfort. Such is the state of those who have attained the position of content, and whoever attains this position acquires three inseparable characteristics: thanks (shukr) not contaminated with ignorance, invocation (zikr) not mixed with forgetfulness and love not mixed with the love of others.’
‘Whoever loves Me in this manner does not intermingle the love of others with My friendship; I too love him and make others to love him; would make his heart’s eyes opened, so that he could witness My splendor and majesty; would not deprive him of the knowledge and enlightenment bestowed by Me upon others; amid night’s darkness as well as during the brightness of the day would whisper and communicate with him, so that he becomes disgusted with other’s company; would have him listen to My speech as well as the speech of My angels; My secrets which I keep hidden from others would become manifested upon him. Would saturate his wisdom with My enlightenment (ma’refat) and would sit Myself in place of his wisdom; would make the pang of death and its hardships easier for him so that he would enter Paradise with ease and comfort. When the angel of death would descend upon him would speak to him: Welcome! Welcome! Welcome! Allah is anxiously waiting for you. At this point Allah would speak to him: This is My Paradise, make yourself at home, and this is My neighborhood in which you would be dwelling forever.’ Then the soul would say: ‘O’ my Lord! You have introduced Yourself to me and after identifying You I became detached from Your entire creation. By Your Splendor and Majesty, I swear that in order to earn Your pleasure if I have to be slaughtered seventy times with extreme suffering and torture, even then Your consent would have been the dearest and desirable thing for me.’ At this point Allah would speak to him: ‘I swear with My Splendor and Majesty that from now on there will never be any veil between Me and you, that you may see Me whenever you desire; that is the way I treat my friends.’
Ramazan, the season of love, rather holding within its immeasurable confines a spring that witnesses an enthralling blossom of hope for a lover that once he opens his petals for the glorious rays of his beloved, it shall merge in its dazzle. A pristine summer that nourishes the fruit of his anticipation to be caressed by the one for whom he basks without hesitation. A golden autumn wherein the brimming soul decorates the palms of his true admirer. And a spectacular winter which blankets love with love.