Voices of Islam (97 page)

Be turned unto God, welcoming all that cometh unto thee from Him. Busy thyself with naught but let everything busy itself with thee, and do thou busy thyself with proclaiming the Infinite and saying there is no god but God, utterly independent therein of all things, until thou comest to be the same in either stare
...
. (144–145)

In ‘‘The Symbolism of the Letters of the Alphabet,’’ Merton was particularly interested in the writings of Shaikh al-‘Alawi with regard to the metaphysics of the manifested world and the nature of the Godhead, whose Essence is to be found in Qualities.

In ‘‘The Great Peace,’’ Dr. Lings explains:

The rhythm to which the breathing is subjected is the rhythm of creation and dissolution, of Beauty and Majesty. Breathing in represents creation, that is, the Outward Manifestation of the Divine Qualities
...
breathing out represents the ‘‘return’’ of the Qualities to the Essence, the next intake of breath is a new creation, and so on. The final expiring symbolizes the realization of the Immu- tability which underlies the illusory vicissitudes of creation and dissolution, the realization of the truth that ‘‘God was and there was naught else beside Him, He is now even as He was
.. .
.’’ (159)

The fullest attainment of inward Peace means the shifting of the conscious- ness from a secondary or illusory centre to the One True Centre, where the subject is
...
no longer created being but the Creator. This is in fact what is meant

Thomas Merton and a Sufi Saint
151

by ‘‘concentration’’; it follows therefore that for one who is truly concentrated, the symbolism of breathing is necessarily inverted: breathing in becomes absorp- tion of all in the Oneness of the Essence, and breathing out is the Manifestation of the Divine Names and Qualities. (159)

To say that beyond his created plenitude Universal Man has an aspect of total extinction means that beyond this extinction he has an aspect of Absolute Plenitude, for his extinction is simply the measure of his capacity to receive. (160)

According to Shaikh al-‘Alawi:

[A] Gnostic may be dead unto himself and unto the whole world, and resurrected in his Lord, so that if thou shouldest ask him of his existence he would not answer thee inasmuch as he hath lost sight of his own individuality. Abuˆ Yazˆıd al-Bistaˆmˆı was asked about himself and he said, ‘‘Abuˆ Yazˆıd is dead—May God not have mercy on him!’’ This is the real death; but if on the Day of Resurrection thou shouldest ask one who hath died only the general death ‘‘Who art thou?’’ he would answer ‘‘I am so-and-so,’’ for his life hath never ceased and he hath never sensed the perfume of death, but hath simply passed on from world to world, and none graspeth the meaning of the real death save him who hath died it. Thus have the Sufis a reckoning before the Day of Reckoning, even as the Prophet said: ‘‘Call yourselves to account before ye be called to account.’’ They laboured in calling themselves to account until they were free to contemplate their Lord, and theirs is a resurrection before the Resurrection. (161)

Extinction and submersion and annihilation come suddenly upon the Gnostic, so that he goeth out from the sphere of sense and loseth all consciousness of himself, leaving behind all his perceptions, nay, his very existence. Now this annihilation is in the Essence of Truth, for there floweth down over him from the Holiness of the Divinity a flood which compelleth him to see himself as the Truth’s Very Self in virtue of his effacement and annihilation therein. (163)

Regarding extinction from oneself and subsistence in God, the great Andalusian saint, whose tomb has become the spiritual center of Alexandria in Egypt,

Abuˆ ’l ‘Abbas al-Mursˆı used to pray, ‘‘O Lord, open our inward eyes and illumine our secret parts, and extinguish us from ourselves, and give us subsistence in Thee, not in ourselves.’’ (167)

The point is made that even though someone be blessed with Union with God, this in no way absolves him from following the revealed law. To be fully mature in the spiritual life

one should combine outward stability with inward o’erwhelmedness, so that one is outwardly spiritual effort and inwardly contemplation, outwardly obedient to

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God’s command and inwardly submissive (
mustaslim
) to His Utter Compulsion and that the Supreme State belongs to those ‘‘who combine sobriety (
sahw
) with uprootedness (
istilam
)’’
.. .
so that outwardly they are among creatures and inwardly with the Truth, integrating two opposite states and combining the wisdom of each. (168)

In the same vein, Merton marked passages which discussed the true cause of the great sadness Jacob felt at the loss of Joseph. A disciple of Shaikh al-‘Alawˆı had inquired of his master how the ‘‘beauty of Joseph could have diverted [Jacob’s] attention from the beauty of the Truth,’’ and the Shaikh explained:

Jacob’s exceeding sorrow was not for the person of Joseph but because Joseph was for him a place of the Manifestation of the Truth, so that when Joseph was by, Jacob’s own presence with God was increased in intensity. (164)

Therefore the Truth trieth those whom He loveth by the sudden disappear- ance of the form, so that their vision may be defl from the part unto the whole, as He did with Jacob. (165)

Merton also highlighted a magnificent line from al-Ghazali (d. 1111
CE
), which refers to this meeting of the finite with the Infinite:

Each thing hath two faces, a face of its own and a face of its Lord; in respect of its own face it is nothingness, and in respect of the Face of God it is Being. (169)

Among the many ideas that attracted Merton in ‘‘Gnosis’’ is one regarding sight:

But the Shaikh affirms that it is none the less possible for the outward eye, while still ‘‘in this world,’’ to see the Truth, provided that it can first achieve a perfect co-ordination with the inward eye. [Footnote by Dr. Lings: During this life, the Saint’s ‘‘resurrection in God’’ is a resurrection of the soul, not yet of the body. But through the coordination just referred to, he may also have foretaste of the resurrection of the body.] (172)

The outward eye is the ray of the inward eye and the
faqˆır
should not open his outward eye (in the hope of seeing Reality) until the connection hath been established between it and his inward eye. When, in virtue of this connection, his outward eye hath become pure inward vision, then he will see the Lord of the verse
Naught is like unto Him
with all his faculties, just as he will also hear Him with all his faculties
...
. (172)

The sight cannot attach itself unto nothing, and that therefore no object of sight can be void of the outward manifestation of the Truth, for things in them- selves are naught. (174)

Merton was interested in the meaning and inner purposes of the ritual ablution before prayer in Islam, and the symbolism of water. In respect that

Thomas Merton and a Sufi Saint
153

everything returns to the Archetype, the world is compared to an iceberg and man, to the water flowing from its sides, melting back to Essence. Among the paragraphs which Merton singled out is:

The purpose of the ablution in Islam is the removal of inward impurity symbol- ized by various modes of outward impurity
...
. The meaning of defi

(
hadath
), continues the Shaikh, is ephemeral existence (
huduˆ th
), that is, the existence of other than God. This is not ousted from the heart of the Gnostic, and its fi is not removed from his inward eye to be replaced in his sight by Eternity, save through his fi the Water and his Purifi ation therewith. Except he be purifi by It, he is far from the Presence of his Lord, unfi to enter It, let alone to sit therein. Likewise the slave will not cease to suppose the existence of defilement in all creatures until he have poured this Absolute Water over their outward appearance. Without It he will not cease to condemn them, and how should his verdict be revoked when he seeth their defilement with his eyes, and when his Heart believeth in the independent existence of creation? (182–183)

In ‘‘The Ritual Prayer,’’ Merton is seen to have taken a special interest in the deepest significance of the positions in Muslim prayer. Shaikh al-‘Alawi explains that after the worshipper begins his prayer by raising his hands and proclaiming ‘‘God is Most Great,’’ or
Allahu Akbar,
he begins gradually to draw himself in more and more as he approaches the Divine. The extremity of Nearness is attained by the state of prostration.

The Prophet said: ‘‘The slave is nearest his Lord when in prostration.’’ At his prostration he descendeth from the stature of existence into the fold of nothing- ness, and the more his body is folded up, the more his existence is folded up
...
. (187–188)

Before his prostration the Gnostic had the upright stature of existence, but after his prostration he hath become extinct, a thing lost, effaced in himself and Eternal in his Lord
...
. (188)

When the worshipper hath obtained the degree of prostration and hath been extinguished from existence, he prostrateth himself a second time that he may be extinguished from that extinction. Thus is his (second) prostration identical with his rising up from (the first) prostration, which rising signifi th subsistence. (188)

He is prostrate with regard unto the truth, upright with regard unto creation, extinct (even as a Divine Quality is extinct) in the Transcendent Oneness, subsistent in the Immanent Oneness. Thus is the prostration of the Gnostics uninterrupted, and their union knoweth no separation. The Truth hath slain them with a death that knoweth no resurrection. Then He hath given them Life, Endless Life, that knoweth no death. (189)

After the fi al prostration before the end of the prayer, the worshipper resumes the sitting position from which, after expressions of devotion to God and invocations of Peace on the Prophet, himself and all the faithful, he seals

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the prayer by turning his head to the right with the words
As-Salaˆ mu ‘alaikum
—Peace be on you! (190)

Of this fi sitting position the Shaikh says: He must take a middle course when he returneth unto creation, that is, he must be seated, which is midway between prostration and standing, that he may make good his intercourse with creation. For if he went out unto creatures in a state of being prostrate, that is, in a state of extinction and obliteration, he could take no notice of them. Nor must he go out unto creation standing, that is, far from the Truth as he used to be before his extinction, for thus would he go out unto creation as one cre- ated and there would be no good in him and none would profit from his return. Even so he must take a middle course, and ‘‘midmost is best in all things.’’ It is said: ‘‘Long live the man who knoweth his own worth and taketh his seat beneath it!’’ Now a man gaineth knowledge of his worth only at his obliteration. Thus is a sitting position required of him after his obliteration. (190)

On the subject of meditation, the Algerian master wrote:

Meditation may be on things that are made, but not on the Essence, even as the Prophet said: ‘‘Meditate upon all things, but meditate not on the Essence lest ye perish.’’ Thought is only used with regard unto what is made, but when the Gnostic hath attained unto the Maker, then is his thought changed to wonder- ment. Thus is wonderment the fruit of thought, and once it hath been achieved the Gnostic must not swerve from it nor change it for that which is its inferior. Nor can he ever have enough of wonderment at God, and indeed the Prophet would say: ‘‘O Lord, increase me in marveling at Thee.’’ Meditation is demanded of the
faqir
whilst he be on his journey. One meditateth on the absent: but when He that was sought is Present in Person, then is meditation changed into wonderment. (190–191)

Merton also underlined these words regarding the wasting of one’s time:

Trifl for the Gnostic, is being busied with that which concerneth him not, once he hath realized the degree of Perfection; and everything except being busied with God is such frivolity and trifling as justifi neither a turn of the head thereunto nor the waste of a moment of time thereon. (191)

In the section on the funeral prayer, parallels between the spiritual and the physical death struck Merton. As one will be passive in the hands of whoever washes one’s body at death, so should the disciple be in the hands of his master ‘‘lest he be left with all his impurities upon him by reason of his stub- bornness and willfulness and want of passivity.’’ Merton must have wrestled with the fame which came in conjunction with his writings. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why he highlighted the following:

‘‘Bury thine existence in the earth of obscurity, for if a seed be not buried it bringeth not forth in fullness.’’ (Ibn Ata Allah d. 1309
CE
)

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155

[The Shaykh says:] ‘‘Indeed, there is nothing better for the disciple than obscurity after attainment, and no harm is greater for him than fame at that moment, that is, at the moment of his entry unto God, not afterwards, for after his burial in the earth of obscurity there is no harm in the spreading of his fame inasmuch as the growth hath come after the roots were firm, not before, so that there is no doubt that he will bring forth in fullness.’’ (193–194)

Analogously, by a symbolism parallel to this last, the realization of Supreme Sainthood is mirrored in the funeral prayer. Just as the body yields up the soul at death, so the soul, at spiritual death, yields up the Spirit. The Shaikh says: ‘‘Bodily death taketh not place without the Angel of Death, and even so spiritual death taketh not place save through the intermediary of a Master who knoweth how to grasp the Spirits of his disciples.’’

‘‘The soul is precious, yet for Thee will I exchange it,

And being slain is bitter, yet in Thy Good Pleasure is it sweet.’’ (194)