Red Sulphur
Red Sulphur
Red Sulphur
SULPHUR
Abd Allah ibn Abi Bakr al-Aydarus
Interfaith Series
1.
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6.
Jordan Series
1. Address to the Jordanian Scholars Association 2012
2. Twenty Years of Historic Religious Initiatives based in the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan by H.R.H. Prince Ghazi bin
Muhammad bin Talal and many, many friends, 1993-2013 2013
3. Searching for Consensus 2013
4. The Challenges Facing Arab Christians Today 2013
Jerusalem Series
1. Why Should Muslims Visit Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa? 2012
2. On the Israeli Demand for Recognition of a 'Jewish State' 2012
3. Keys to Jerusalem 2010
MABDA Engilsh Islam Series No.
The Red Sulphur and the Greatest Elixir on the Knowledge of the Secrets of
Wayfaring to the King of Kings
ISBN:
RED
SULPHUR
Abd Allah ibn Abi Bakr al-Aydarus
17
English Islam Series
vi
Contents
The Red Sulphur and the Greatest Elixir on the Knowledge of the
Secrets of Wayfaring to the King of Kings
Translators Introduction
Foreword
The Red Sulphur and the Greatest Elixir on the Knowledge
of the Secrets of Wayfaring to the King of Kings
How to Tread the Spiritual Path?
The Necessity of Keeping the Company of a
Spiritual Master who is a Gnostic
A Poem on the Creed of the People of the Sunna
The Reality of Divine Unity According to the Sufis
The Merit of Godfearingness
Who is a Sufi?
The People of Blame, the Qalandaris and the
Difference between them
Having a Good Opinion of a Believer is Part of his Inviolability
Treading the Sufi Path at the Beginning Leads to
the Most Holy Presence
The Effect of the Heart on Soundness and Corruption
The Spiritual Stations of the Wayfarers and their Fruits
The First Station: Repentance (Tawba)
The Second Station: Scrupulousness (Wara)
The Third Station: Renunciation (Zuhd)
The Fourth Station: Steadfastness (Sabr)
The Fifth Station: Indigence (Faqr)
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Translators Introduction
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Foreword
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Allah and of his own self, who is both present and absent in
retreats and when with others, whose heart is in the physical
and spiritual world.
Moreover, all Sufi masters are unanimous that the thickest of veils between the servant and Allah is the soul that
incites to evil, which is the locus of all ugly traits. And the
thickest and most ugly trait is conceitedness coupled with
love of this world, while the darkest of the dark are resentful
envy, backbiting and talebearing. Sufi masters are also in
agreement regarding the prohibition of mixing with evildoers, keeping the company of the corrupt and frequenting the
opposite sex.
favour.
Not through discursive reason, but through the Sacred
Law, one apprehends this,
And He has decreed good and evil for all as something
destined.
His vision is true and so is intercession,
The Pool, chastisement in the grave and Munkir.
So are the Resurrection, the Scale, the Fire and the
Garden,
Which are already created as is the Bridge-over-Hell.
Are also true the prodigies of the saints and
Our pure and lofty Sacred Law has erased
The laws of all messengers and Ahmad
Is Allahs best of created beings, who will be put ahead
and intercede.
His Companions are the best generation and the best
of them
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One should know that Godfearingness is the pivot of happiness, no edifice is ever correct unless it is built on it, and this
is true with regard to all conventions. The locus of all kinds
of happiness is the world to come, Allah Almighty says: The
issue ultimate is to the Godfearing. The correct basis upon
which to build works, so that they are perfected and accepted,
is Godfearingness. Allah Almighty says: God accepts only of
the Godfearing. All Sufis and the knowers of Allah maintain
that the foundation referred to above, Godfearingness, is the
foundation upon which no edifice will collapse through the
succession of time, for it is the foundation of religion, and
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Who is a Sufi?
A Sufi is the one who knows Allah, who places each thing in
its rightful place, manages all states and moments through
knowledge, assigns to people their rightful position and
to Allah His rightful station, conceals what ought to be
concealed and reveals what ought to be revealed, and puts
matters in their appropriate positions with presence of mind,
sound spiritual insight, perfect gnosis and due attention,
genuineness and sincerity. These are the people of the Sacred Law, the Path and the Ultimate Spiritual Reality.
The People of Blame, the Qalandaris and the Difference between them
Among Sufi groupings there are those who are called the
People of Blame (malamatiyya). The true person of blame
possesses a noble spiritual state and a singular spiritual station; he holds firm to transmitted scriptures and is realized
by sincerity and veracity. He has nothing to do with those
who claim to be of the People of Blame but are really not of
them, indulged as they are in the ways of libertinism, we seek
refuge in Allah, and this is nothing but delusion.
There is another Sufi grouping called the Qalandaris
(al-Qalandariyya). Again, the true Qalandari possesses a
noble spiritual state. The difference between the true Qalandari and the person of blame is that the latter endeavours to
conceal his acts of worship and holds fast to all the ways of
goodness, believing that all merit lies in there, while hiding
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The one who does not have repentance does not have any
station. The master and Gnostic Dhul-Nun al-Misri was
asked about the reason of his conversion to the Sufi path, so
he said: I once left Cairo and walked through some roads.
After a while I fell asleep and when I awoke and opened my
eyes I saw a blind lark falling from a tree and lo! two utensils,
one of gold and the other of silver, emerged from the ground,
one containing sesame seeds and the other water. The lark
ate from the one and drank from the other. At that point
I said to myself: This is enough for me. I therefore stood
before the door [of Allah] until I was accepted.
Shaykh Ibrahim ibn Adham travelled from Jerusalem to Basra to return one single date, whereas Abu Yazid al-Bistami
travelled from Bistam to Hamadan to return an ant he found
in some safflower he bought from there, explaining that he
made it an exile from its birthplace.
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It was related that a man was content with himself for staying awake at night and being steadfast in doing so, until this
became a habit of his. He remained like this for quite a while,
as Allah, glory be to Him, willed for him, until one night,
overcome by sleep, he saw the Abidingly Real in a dream
vision. From then on, he started forcing himself to sleep, and
when he was asked about this, he said:
I saw the joy of my heart in my sleep,
And so, I love taking a breath and sleeping.
to bid me farewell, saying that he wanted to travel to Alexandria. I gave him some money but he refused to take it. When
I insisted, he threw a handful of sand in his small pot and
mixed it with sea water and asked me to eat from it. And
lo! it was a mush of wheat with a lot of sugar in it. Then he
said: One who is in this state and has the like of this does
not need your money.
Another man related the following: I saw the Day of
Judgement as if it had taken place. It was said: Let Muhammad ibn Wasi and Malik ibn Dinar enter the Garden. So I
looked to see which one of them would go first and enter the
Garden. When I saw that it was Muhammad ibn Wasi who
went first, I asked about the reason for this. I was told it was
because Muhammad ibn Wasi had one wrap while Malik
ibn Dinar had two.
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Love is the basis upon which spiritual states are built, without which they are never sound. Likewise, repentance is the
basis of all spiritual stations. Whoever does not have repentance does not have any spiritual stations; and whosoever
does not have love does not have any spiritual states. Nonetheless, spiritual stations and states are built upon repentance and love only after the perfection of repentance and
love. Whoever repents the kind of repentance encountered
in a true servant, who possesses a genuine intention and
sorrowful heart, such repentance will yield for him the love
of Allah Almighty. This is a state that the servant will find in
his heart and it defies any attempt at description. This state
will drive him to exalt Allah and prefer His good-pleasure to
anything else; he will feel that he cannot bear being without
Him, and is unsettled and in constant agitation without Him,
while finding intimate solace in remembering Him continuously with his heart.
Whoever consolidates the second station, the station of
scrupulousness, with a truthful and sorrowful heart, this will
yield for him the gifted state of longing. Longing, according
to some Sufis, is the burning of the inside and the searing of
the interior. And according to others, it is the repose of the
hearts through ecstasy and the love of encounter through
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proximity.
And whoever consolidates the third station, renunciation,
with a truthful and sorrowful heart, this will yield for him
the gifted state of awe, which is the egos humbleness and
submission upon the appearance of the sign of majesty and
grandeur.
And whoever consolidates the fourth station, steadfastness, with a truthful and sorrowful heart, this will yield for
him the gifted state of intimacy. Intimacy, according to the
Sufis, is the lifting of reserve with the presence of awe. The
sign of intimacy with Allah is that as intimacy increases, the
more love and awe increase.
And whoever consolidates the fifth station, indigence,
with a truthful and sorrowful heart, this will yield for him
the gifted state of proximity. Allah the Almighty says in the
Quran: and bow thyself, and draw nigh (Al-Alaq, 96:19). This
proximity refers to the proximity of the servant first with his
faith and assent, and then with his state of excellence and realisation. It also refers to the proximity of the Abidingly Real
to the servant through the gnosis that He specifically grants
him in this world, and the witnessing and beholding with
which He will honour him in the Afterlife, just as it refers to
the different kinds of solicitude and favour that lie between
being gifted gnosis in this world and being honoured with
witnessing and beholding in the world to come.
And whoever consolidates the sixth station, gratitude,
with a truthful and sorrowful heart, this will yield for him
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ness, with a truthful and sorrowful heart, this will yield for
him the gifted state of subsistence. According to the Sufis,
subsistence refers to the subsistence of praiseworthy character traits after the extinction of blameworthy character traits.
The Sufi Gnostics state that the possessor of subsistence is
the one who has reached a station whereby the Abidingly
Real does not veil from the created beings nor do created
beings veil him from the Abidingly Real, in contrast to
extinction whose possessor is completely absorbed in the
Abidingly Real and, thus, he is veiled from created beings.
We now proceed to the exposition of the knowledge of
spiritual wayfaring by means of the stations of the hearts
and also through the ways, which are three in number: the
Sacred Law, the Path and the Ultimate Spiritual Reality.
According to the Sufi folk, the Sacred Law is like a ship, the
Path is like the sea and the Ultimate Spiritual Reality is like
the pearls in the bottom of the sea. Whoever wants to get
to the pearls has to embark on the ship and sail in the sea,
which will lead him to the pearls. Whoever discards this
arrangement will never reach to the pearls of the sea.
The first thing that is incumbent upon the spiritual seeker
is the Sacred Law. What is meant by the Sacred Law is whatever is enjoined by Allah and His Messenger, such as ritual
ablution, the performance of the prayer, fasting, the poor42
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A state is that which descends upon the heart of joy, contraction, elation, longing, experiential tasting, etc. The Gnostics
state that a spiritual state is like lightning, i.e., it vanishes
before long. If it persists with a person, then it is not a spiri45
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Of the Spiritual States: Gatheredness (Jam), Individuatedness (Farq), the Gatheredness of Ghatheredness
(Jam al-Jam) and the Second Individuatedness
(al-Farq al-Thani)
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Of the Spiritual States: Glimmers (Lawaih), Dawnings (Lawami) and Flashes (Tawali)
The reference here is to luminous breaths, which are the refreshment of hearts by means of the subtleties of the Unseen.
The possessor of breaths is finer and purer than the possessor
of spiritual states. The possessor of the moment is a beginner; the possessor of breaths is at the end of the spiritual
path; while the possessor of spiritual states is between the
two. Spiritual states are intermediaries while breaths are for
the folk of inmost secrets. The Sufi masters state that the
Gnostics cannot be spared a breath for no respite is given to
them. The lover, on the other hand, has to have a breath, for
without it he would disintegrate due to his lack of strength.
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A motivating thought is an address that comes to the consciences. It could happen by the casting of an angel or by the
devil, just as it could happen due to mere discourses of the
ego or may come from Allah, exalted and glorified is He. If
it is from an angel, it is an inspiration; if it is from the devil,
it is a mere devilish whispering; if it is from the ego, it is a
prompting; and if it is from Allah, exalted and glorified is He,
it is a motivating thought.
considered a spiritual insight from the Abidingly Real, exalted and glorified is He, or from knowledge. Thus, spiritual
insights are more general than motivating thoughts, for the
latter are specific to the source of the address and that which
contains its meaning, while spiritual insights are either
insights of happiness, sadness, contraction, elation, or any
other meaning.
Of the Spiritual States: The Knowledge of the Contented Soul, the Reproachful Soul and the Soul that
Incites to Evil
The contented soul is the soul that is content with obedience to Allah Almighty and does not seek to contravene His
command. The reproachful soul is the soul that reproaches
the person for committing sins and drives him to repent and
relent. The soul that incites to evil is the soul that commands
bad things. It is this soul that ruins its possessor and is the
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the legion of the ego. Success is from Allah and is due to the
spirit, whilst being God-forsaken is due to the ego.
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The knowers of Allah state that when the person who makes
remembrance of Allah arrives to the realm of extinction, he
becomes connected to the disposal of the Abidingly Real in
him. The state of remembrance, then, becomes a priceless
elixir, and his good qualities turn into pure gold. The lights
of divine transcendence and Unity deposited in him then
negate all associationism, the likeness to created beings, and
the denial of attributes or misrepresentation. Through the
attributes of Unity, he is then purified from blameworthy
traits and cleansed from contraventions. At that point he
joins the cluster of spiritual wayfarers and proceeds through
the halting-places of the spiritual travellers until he reaches
the status of those who fly to tranquillity and quietude, Those
who believe, their hearts being at rest in Gods remembrance -- in
Gods remembrance are at rest the hearts (Al-Rad, 13:28).
Allah does not have a whole such that it can be said that He
has a part; He does not have a genus such that it can be said
that He has a species; He does not have an abode such that
it can be said He is above. Allah is far transcendent above
having a beginning, an end, an extremity or locality, Like
Him there is naught (Al-Shura, 42:11).
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When the invoker arrives to the realm of the secret, the mysteries of the Unseen will be revealed to him and the virgin
brides of mysteries will be brought to him in procession to
his retreats, My friends are under My edifices, no one knows
them except Me. He shall sit at the banquets of, then revealed
to His servant that He revealed (Al-Najm, 53:10), in an exclusive assembly between him and his Lord. In him will then
be confided a secret that no emissary prophet or close angel
shall know. Then the solicitudes of divine power will bring
to him the exquisite gifts of the Divine Presence that no
eyes have seen and no ears have ever heard of, No soul knows
what comfort is laid up for them secretly (Al-Sajdah, 32:17).
Does one know where the comfort of the lover lies? It lies in
beholding the Countenance of the Beloved and finding joy
in looking at the beauty of His majesty; The Beloved who
will carve a hearing in the servants heart and sight in his
intellect, such that he hears without ears and sees without
eyes; he hears only from the Unseen and sees only from the
Unseen. The Unseen, to him, becomes face-to-face seeing,
and that which people hear about only by report becomes
visible to him. This is the meaning of the Sufi saying: My
heart saw my Lord.
The knowers of Allah maintain that the indication of
beginninglessness is found in the text of the Noble Quran,
Hast thou not regarded thy Lord? (Al-Furqan, 25:45). Thenceforth, He will distance the one who makes remembrance
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the mysteries of I was a hidden treasure. So when the covering is lifted, disaffection disappears and the encounter lasts,
then: His heart lies not of what he saw (Al-Najm, 53:11), nor
is the heart sent away. Instead, it grazes in the meadows of
gnosis, drinks from the fountains of love, and is quenched
by the goblet of beauty, which is filled with the drink of
majesty from the ocean of communion. It is then spared
from the embattlements of hearsay, excessive questions
and the changing of vicissitudes, since it has turned away
from that which is absolutely encompassed by the mystery
of mysteries and turned towards the One who absolutely
encompasses everything and, thus, it achieves, Does He not
encompass everything? (Fussilat, 41:54)
The Truth is plain, there is nothing hidden about it,
The secret has been divulged and the veil lifted.
My soul shall perish and the spirit is calling,
Neither pride nor purity remain.
The subsistence of the Abidingly Real extinguished us
and so,
The subsistence of our extinction has extinguished
that subsistence.
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sight of your King and the ones that raise your degrees and
are better for you than expending gold and silver or meeting
your enemies and striking their necks or your necks getting
struck by them? They said: What is that, O Messenger of
Allah? He said: The remembrance of Allah.7
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This is of the blessings of the meanings of, All things perish, except His Face (Al-Qasas, 28:88), All that dwells upon
the earth is perishing (Al-Rahman, 55:26) and Every soul shall
taste of death (Al-Imaran, 3:185). Glory be to the One who
subsists after the evanescence of His created beings. As
for the Sufis, they die before they experience death, and
extinguish their own selves as well as others before they are
extinguished by real death, Verily, His are the creation and the
command (Al-Araf, 7:54).
The Gnostics and Sufi masters state that people are different
as far as their feelings are concerned. Moreover, those of
feelings are disparate insofar as understanding is concerned.
Likewise, those of understanding vary greatly with regard
to taste. The Sufis have of understanding, feeling and taste
what other people have. So when the genuine one amongst
them displays an ecstatic behaviour upon experiencing an
ecstatic finding, which is not necessarily encountered in
those who do not have the same understanding or taste as
the Sufis, one should not denounce him. This is because
the Sufis derive from every understanding an insight, from
every consideration a lesson and admonition, from every
moment of quietude different ideas, and from every speech
categories of wisdom. Indeed, how numerous are the loci of
their contemplation that they contemplate and the raptures
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they experience!
The knowers of Allah Almighty state that a Sufi during
spiritual audition can be moved by a beautiful handicraft or
by an admonition, just as he may contemplate during his remembrance the beauty of the Fashioner. Those of them who
have not reached the contemplation of beauty can infer the
conclusive wisdom and perfection of the Creator from the
perfection and outstanding beauty of creation, and see everything in existence of seemly comeliness as the handicrafts
of a magnanimous and wise Creator who does not have any
equal in beauty. Indeed, His magnanimity is of tremendous
consequence.
The knowers of Allah Almighty, such as Shihab al-Din
al-Suhrawardi, have stated that the Sufi engaged in spiritual
audition, when he hears a verse of poetry, he takes from it
a meaning in his remembrance of his Lord, either by being
overjoyed with Him, being fearful of Him, heartbroken vis-vis Him or displaying indigence towards Him. His heart
goes through all these changes in his remembrance of his
Lord. Even if he were to hear the chirping of a bird, he will
savour its sound, reflect on the power of Allah Almighty, as
well as on the way the birds throat is perfectly created, how
it is made subservient, and he ponders on the shape of its
form and how the bird performs its audition. In all this, the
Sufi is summoning the glory and sanctity of Allah Almighty.
Now, how can anyone censure any Sufi when he summons
all these things upon hearing the voice of another human
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Know that, during spiritual audition, the hearts are receptacles, the ears vessels and the melodies narrated drinks. This
is because the voices carry the melodies from the songs to
the vessels. If it were not for the soundness of meanings,
the forms would not be there. So when the drinks reach
their vessels, which are the hearts, they spur praiseworthy
character traits, noble states and lofty stations if the vessels
are clean; if the vessels are turbid and filthy, they abet ugly
hardness, sins and wrongdoing. If the vessels are neither
clean nor filthy, nor humble or corrupt, they instigate legally
indifferent actions and words. There is no blame on these,
according to both opinions. This is because words are the
cupbearers of the drinks of songs and melodies which are
carried by voices to the vessels, the hearts, which in turn
derive the states of their meanings from the presences of
the immutable archetypes in proportion with the purity of
hearts or their turbidity, and also depending on whether
they are charged with the remembrance of Allah Almighty
and meditating on the marvels of His creation or filled with
vain amusement and sins.
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Attributes. Gnosis is the noblest of all knowledge. Ultimate spiritual reality, according to them, amounts to the
contemplation of the lights of the mysteries of Lordship.
This ultimate reality has a Path which are the strictnesses
of the Sacred Law. Whosoever treads this Path shall reach
the ultimate spiritual reality. Ultimate spiritual reality is the
very end of the strictnesses of this Law. The end of ultimate
spiritual reality in no way contradicts the strictnesses of the
Sacred Law.
The Gnostics have struck four similitudes for the Sacred
Law and ultimate spiritual reality, showing that the Sacred
Law is the basis: the sea, the mine, milk and the tree. Spiritual reality is extracted like pearls, gold, butter or glue.
The orator of this world and the next, Ibn Nabata, said in
one of his sermons regarding the meaning of transcendence:
Why do I see that things without the advent of ascensions
are not setting? This expression has baffled a number of
eminent scholars of old, but whoever believes in indwelling
or union with the Divine is an unbeliever.
Allah Most Holy is far transcendent for the minds to
grasp Him; too august is He and far transcendent from the
opinion of indwelling. The wings of discursive reason are
clipped and cannot ever reach that far. The insights of the
greatest scholars have failed to reach that far, nor is Allah
grasped by peoples grasp of obtaining this grasp. And may
Allah send His blessings upon Ahmad the Messenger. Too
august is the pavilion of Immensity to attain His grasp by
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RED SULPHUR