(Lesson) Knowing Allah through His Sublime Beauty

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.
May prayer and peace be upon the noblest of the Messengers, upon his family and upon all his companions.

Gathering of the Educating Shaykh Sidi Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari – may Allah be pleased with him –
Lesson of Friday 30 May 2014

Knowing Allah through His Sublime Beauty

On the occasion of the weekly majma‘ of Oujda, Sayyiduna Shaykh (qaddasa Allahu sirrahu) devoted his lesson to speaking of “al-jamal”, that is, the sublime beauty of the Creator, saying that without Knowledge of the jamal of our Lord it is impossible to praise Him… and it is when one ceases to see oneself, when the Light of faith annihilates in us the notion of time and space, when the aspirant no longer sees before or after, in front or behind… that he realises the depth of the verse: “Wherever you turn, there is the Face (wajh) of Allah” [2:115]. To reach and taste this reality, Allah – subhanahu wa ta‘ala – has placed at our disposal one single door: following the supreme Example, the Sunna of our Prophet… And as the mother of the believers ‘A’isha (may Allah be pleased with her) told us: “The first thing with which the Revelation began to the Prophet was true visions in his sleep, which were like the glow of the dawn. Then solitude became dear to him and he withdrew to the cave of Hira, where he devoted himself to acts of worship for several nights in a row without returning to his home.”.

The very first Sunna established was therefore withdrawing into a cave, finding oneself alone with oneself in order to reach the Knowledge of one’s Creator, in accordance with the saying: “Whoever knows himself will know his Lord.” The khalwa, or spiritual retreat, is the one and only entrance door to the Supreme Knowledge of the Lord of the worlds. It is moreover a one-way door, a door which, once crossed, allows no turning back in any manner. When the aspirant realises his own non-existence and sees the Existence of the One who has neither beginning nor end, he cannot turn back to lean once more on what is nothing. Whoever crosses this door will find Allah: how then could one who has found Allah return to His creation? Sayyiduna Shaykh then explained to us that each of the Prophets (the blessings of Allah be upon them all), during their khalwa, had access to ‘ayn al-wujud according to their maqam, and that the latter presented itself to Sayyiduna Dawud in the form of a six-pointed star, to Sayyiduna Musa in the form of a five-pointed star, and Sayyiduna Muhammad received for his part the Basmala in its marqum writing (that is, three points forming a triangle).

In a Hadith, the Messenger of Allah tells us: “Reflect on the creation of Allah, but not on His Essence.” In reality we all swim in the same sea, but each of us sees his proximity to his Lord according to what is within him… And in reality the people of Allah cannot speak directly of His Magnificence. They therefore have recourse to creation, through which they express their Love of the Creator. Some described the dawning daybreak, others spoke of a woman’s Love, others still compared the illumination of their heart to the sight of the sun or the moon… and so on. And when the divine Light takes its place in the hearts of the Lovers, once they realise that they are in fact walking on this Nur, they are seen taking off their shoes in the manner of Sayyiduna Musa: “And when he came to it, he was called: ‘O Moses! Indeed, I am your Lord, so remove your sandals; indeed, you are in the sacred valley of Tuwa.’” [20:12]. It is also reported that Imam Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) walked barefoot in Medina, saying that he saw himself unable to tread with his sandals on lands that the Messenger of Allah had trodden… and if some think this concerned only the blessed city of the Prophet, they are mistaken: wherever he went, Imam Malik was barefoot, for the Light of the beloved has no limit except in a heart blinded by appearances…

It is by worshipping Allah through al-jamal that one tastes the savour of prayer and fasting… and the Love of al-Jamal can be born in hearts only through Nur al-Jamal… This Light is a mirror, and the Messenger of Allah, described in the Qur’an as a Light, tells us: “The believer is the mirror of the believer, and the believer is the brother of the believer.”… Now the believer par excellence is none other than the Prophet himself, the one whom the Companions saw weeping, a few days before his death, and who was asked: “What makes you weep, O Messenger of Allah?” He answered: “I miss my brothers!”… Let us understand well, then, who the brothers of the beloved are.

The aspirant who Knows Allah through al-jamal will taste the true savour of dhikr, and when night comes upon him he will turn towards his Lord and, taking the sky as a blanket, begin to speak to the stars one by one… and he will discover in what way each of them evokes the Creator… The Lover flooded by the theophanic Lights will see only al-jamal in everything and, taking off his sandals, will scrape his feet on brambles and pebbles without feeling the slightest pain, overwhelmed as he will be by the manifestations of the sublime Beauty of his Lord. Finally, to conclude, Sayyiduna Shaykh (qaddasa Allahu sirrahu) warned us, saying that whoever loves Allah should prepare to be tried… whoever loves the Messenger of Allah should prepare to be touched by poverty… and whoever loves Sayyiduna ‘Ali (may Allah honour his face) should prepare to see enemies rise against him…

As for whoever claims to love Allah but is not heavily tried in his life… whoever claims to love His Messenger and does not live in poverty… or whoever claims to love Sayyiduna ‘Ali without having enemies who want to block his road to the Truth… know that this is neither more nor less than a liar.