Approximately, forty years ago, my shaykh recounted the following series of events to me and several other individuals who were present at the time. It is an account concerning someone who is, without question, an authentic spiritual guide.
The anniversary of Hazrat ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) was approaching. The shaykh about whom my guide spoke wanted to have a sama’– that is, music -- session as part of the observance and, consequently, sent an invitation to a certain woman who lived in the area and was a highly regarded singer.
The woman responded to the invitation by indicating that she wanted her payment to be given prior to her participation in the commemoration. She was informed by the shaykh that the adab or etiquette for such an event was organized in a certain manner.
For instance, the established tradition was that donations would spontaneously be laid before the shaykh by different people attending the festivities during the performance of music and/or singing. In addition, at the end of the festivities the woman would receive remuneration for her participation.
The woman insisted on being paid ahead of the commemoration and indicated that without such a payment, she would not participate in the festivities. The shaykh told her to begin to keep track of her medical bills.
The woman became sick and her condition worsened with each passing day. She went to the shaykh and asked if something could be done to bring her condition back to health, and the shaykh indicated that the arrow had already been cast, and, therefore, nothing could change what had transpired.
Sometime later, the woman passed away. Her death might be understood as an expression of either Divine qualities of jalali or jamali or some combination of the two.
For instance, jalali qualities such as: Rigor, accountability, power, discipline, justice and the like might have been operative in the foregoing set of circumstances as a result of the woman’s unreasonable and arrogant actions not only in conjunction with the general etiquette of such a sama’ session as well as in relation to the shaykh presiding over the festivities but, perhaps even more importantly, her breech of etiquette ultimately was directed against a high spiritual personality who is among the awliya or near ones to God – namely, Hazrat ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) … someone for whom the shaykh who was presiding over the festivities had a deep love.
Alternatively, some individuals might wish to maintain, in what could seem to give expression to a counterintuitive perspective, that the foregoing set of circumstances constitutes an example of the presence of qualities such as compassion, love, forgiveness, and the like. More specifically, although the woman had shown little regard for the adab or etiquette of such spiritual observances, and, moreover, although she had been disrespectful toward the shaykh, his invitation, as well as toward the person of Hazrat ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), nonetheless, conceivably, her life might have been taken as expiation for breeches of adab she was committing in this world so that she would not be held responsible in the world to come for the acts she had committed during her earthly life.
Maybe, there was some combination of jalali and jamali qualities involved in her death. On the other hand, perhaps, there were dimensions of the affair to which we are not privy and, as a result, we have no insight, knowledge or understanding concerning why what happened to that woman took place.
For those who might have lost patience with the foregoing account, the following ayats or verses from the Qur’an might be of assistance:
In the Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful
[18.65] Then they found one from among Our servants whom We had granted mercy from Us and whom We had taught knowledge from Ourselves.
[18.66] Musa said to him: Shall I follow you on condition that you should teach me right knowledge of what you have been taught?\
[18.67] He said: Surely you cannot have patience with me:
[18.68] And how can you have patience in that of which you have not got a comprehensive knowledge?
[18.69] He said: If Allah pleases, you will find me patient and I shall not disobey you in any matter.
[18.70] He said: If you would follow me, then do not question me about anything until I myself speak to you about it.
[18.71] So they went (their way) until when they embarked in the boat he made a hole in it. (Musa) said: Have you made a hole in it to drown its inmates? Certainly you have done a grievous thing.
[18.72] He said: Did I not say that you will not be able to have patience with me?
[18.73] He said: Blame me not for what I forgot, and do not constrain me to a difficult thing in my affair.
[18.74] So they went on until, when they met a boy, he slew him. (Musa) said: Have you slain an innocent person otherwise than for manslaughter? Certainly you have done an evil thing.
Sadaqaallahu Azim –-- Allah, The Almighty, speaks the Truth
In the Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful
[18.75] He said: Did I not say to you that you will not be able to have patience with me?
[18.76] He said: If I ask you about anything after this, keep me not in your company; indeed you shall have (then) found an excuse in my case.
[18.77] So they went on until when they came to the people of a town, they asked them for food, but they refused to entertain them as guests. Then they found in it a wall which was on the point of falling, so he put it into a right state. (Musa) said: If you had pleased, you might certainly have taken a recompense for it.
[18.78] He said: This shall be separation between me and you; now I will inform you of the significance of that with which you could not have patience.
[18.79] As for the boat, it belonged to (some) poor men who worked on the river and I wished that I should damage it, and there was behind them a king who seized every boat by force.
[18.80] And as for the boy, his parents were believers and we feared lest he should make disobedience and ingratitude to come upon them:
[18.81] So we desired that their Lord might give them in his place one better than him in purity and nearer to having compassion.
[18.82] And as for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city, and there was beneath it a treasure belonging to them, and their father was a righteous man; so your Lord desired that they should attain their maturity and take out their treasure, a mercy from your Lord, and I did not do it of my own accord. This is the significance of that with which you could not have patience.
Just as the individual who is described in the foregoing Quranic passages as being one who had been given knowledge by God did not act of his own accord, one can be certain that the shaykh about whom my spiritual guide told me did not act of his own accord either. Moreover, one might do well to take the following caveats into consideration and ponder them in conjunction with all that has been said previously in this posting – namely, (1) I have had personal experiences with a spiritual charlatan -- that is, a false shaykh -- who often tried to create the impression in the minds and hearts of those who came into contact with him that he was a vehicle for manifesting jamali and jalali qualities of Divinity but who, in reality, merely manifested his own darkness and sought to induce others to interpret that darkness as something other than it was --– and, no, the identity of this spiritual charlatan is not a reference to the person who related the foregoing account but, instead, alludes to another individual altogether ; (2) during the ‘End Times’ there will be one who will appear to do wonders but who actually only will be giving expression to occult powers that are devoid of anything of spiritual value such as the capacity to assist a person to realize his, her or their essential fitra or spiritual potential.
The joyous possibilities associated with the Sufi path are real. The dangers associated with that path are also very real. It is not a children’s game or merely an imaginative fantasy.