Some Sufi masters contend that the experience of love can be partitioned according to a number of stages that, God willing, take place over a period of time during a spiritual journey through the byways of life. One version of the aforementioned parsing process includes the following way stations – namely, (1) compatibility, (2) inclination, (3) fellowship, (4) passion, (5) friendship, (6) exclusive friendship, (7) ardent affection, (8) enslavement, and (9) bewilderment -- which is sometimes described as being in a condition of Huwa la Huwa … that is, He but not He.
Shortly, a brief delineation of each of the foregoing stages will be given, but before doing so, I would like to mention there is a Sufi saying which indicates that:
“When love of Allah enters your heart and seeks nearness to Allah, then, know that: Love has contracts, so do not violate them, and love has adab or spiritual etiquette, so do not omit this, and love has rights, so do not abandon them,”
The foregoing Sufi saying should be applied to the nine stages noted previously so that one keeps in mind that certain contractual obligations, forms of adab, as well as frameworks of rights are associated with each of those stages and, accordingly, are not to be violated, omitted, or abandoned by the seeker. Consequently, each stage of love is characterized by some combination of contracts, adab, and rights.
Various individuals have marveled at the extent of the service and austerities of a seeker as the latter person moves, God willing, from one of the foregoing stages of love to the next one, but we also should keep in mind a saying of the folk of the Path – namely, that while a seeker’s service to a shaykh or to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) or to Allah might be a beautiful or an inspiring phenomenon to behold, nonetheless, greater still is Allah’s service to a seeker, and this service extends beyond what is already being given expression through the shaykh and the Prophet that has been provided by God. One might also keep in mind the admonition which Ra’bia of Basra (may Allah be pleased with her) directed toward a seeker who considered his actions as being spiritually superior to those of the generality of Muslims when she said: “Thy existence is a sin with which none other can compare.”
There are a myriad number of ways of alluding to the foregoing nine stages of love. The following set of descriptions is but one possible manner of proceeding. However, none actually knows the reality of the stages being indicated except individuals who have been graced by God with the realizations to which those stages give expression.
Moreover, during the following set of descriptions concerning the nine stages of love, one might note that irrespective of whether one mentions the term shaykh or refers to the Prophet in conjunction with any of the indicated stages of love, the identity of the One Who makes all spiritual travel possible is none other than God even though adab, or spiritual etiquette, requires that one should show gratitude for, and acknowledgment concerning, the role that is played by the loci of manifestation – such as one’s shaykh and/or the Prophet -- through which God’s Grace may flow to the seeker. In addition, one’s love of the shaykh and the Prophet is done with the understanding that while much is owed to the austerities experienced, and the struggles undergone by, one’s shaykh or the Prophet during the course of their respective lives, nevertheless, the One Who brings about whatever forms of spiritual manifestation or tajalli that might occur in a given stage of love is none other than Allah.
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Here follows a brief account of each of the nine stages of love:
(1) To have ‘compatibility’ with one’s shaykh, or the Prophet, or Allah is to experience a certain chemistry of resonance between that to which they call one and one’s spiritual aspirations … however poorly those aspirations might be understood at the time of feeling the tug of that to which one is being called.
(2) To be ‘inclined’ toward one’s shaykh, or the Prophet, or Allah is to seek to move toward the object of one’s focus with steps of sincerity so that one’s actions begin to reflect the nature of the dynamic toward which one is drawn.
(3) To enter into ‘fellowship’ is to begin to become more deeply aware of the need for, and value of, companionship with respect to one’s shaykh, or the Prophet, or Allah as one proceeds through the challenges and trials that are entailed by one’s spiritual journey.
(4) To have ‘passion’ for one’s shaykh, or for the Prophet, or for Allah is to be enveloped in, and to become increasingly intrigued by, and fascinated with, the diverse lights of counsel that emanate through the presence of one’s shaykh, or the Prophet, or Allah.
(5) To acquire ‘friendship’ with one’s shaykh, or the Prophet, or Allah, is to become immersed in the healing waters that wash over, and through, one consisting of the realized truths, steadfast trust, and compassionate acceptance of existential camaraderie .
(6) To engage in ‘exclusive friendship’ is to be committed with body, mind, heart, soul, and spirit to the essential themes that are being demarked by one’s shaykh, the Prophet, or Allah as one travels along the spiritual path.
(7) To experience ‘ardent affection’ is to be exposed to the reality of the condition noted by Hazrat Khawajah Mu’in-ud-Din Chishti (may Allah be pleased with him) when he is reported to have said: “The heedless desire the world, the wise cherish the Hereafter, I am in love. I seek naught but the Beloved one.”
(8) The condition of ‘enslavement’ emerges when one knows with certainty that the freedom to give expression to one’s essential potential will take place, God willing, only when all one’s hopes, ideas, beliefs, desires, ambitions, fears, and other human preoccupations are laid bare on the altar of sacrifice so that a seeker’s affairs are turned over to the One Who is known to be looking after those affairs.
(9) The station of ‘bewilderment’ -- of: Huwa la Huwa … of: He but not He -- is when the tajalli or Divine manifestations are bestowed on the seeker in such measure and with such rapidity and intensity that one becomes bewildered by the constant unveiling of different, endless dimensions of possibility that are entailed by one’s potential … a potential that is made possible only by God but a potential, as well, which God transcends in every conceivable and inconceivable way, and, therefore, is, simultaneously, both He and not He.
Al Hujwiri (may Allah be pleased with him) once indicated that when the heart is veiled it is said to be in a state of contraction, but when the heart is unveiled, it is said to be in a state of expansion. In the light of his observation, the Sufi path can be described as consisting of a series of contractions and expansions as God withholds or grants unveiling of one kind or another that begins with the heart and carries on with other, inner, spiritual faculties such as the sirr (the mystery), kafi (the hidden), aqfah (the more hidden), and ruh or spirit.
With respect to the possibility of the foregoing modalities of witnessing that might, if God wishes, occur during various stages of the spiritual journey, one would do well to keep in mind a saying that is attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). More specifically, he is reported to have said: “There are hidden gems of knowledge unknown to all but those who know God. If those gems are spoken of, none denies them except those who are arrogant toward God.”
The foregoing statement does not mean that anything that might be said or thought in conjunction with such hidden realities by individuals – for example, spiritual charlatans -- who do not necessarily know the truth about what they are claiming and, therefore, if one withholds judgment concerning such proclamations that one is being arrogant toward God. Instead, the foregoing statement which has been attributed to the Prophet indicates that there are dimensions of reality which are present and that await whatever God wishes to disclose concerning them to those who conscientiously engage in the search for one’s fitra or essential potential … a potential which reveals the full nature of one’s on-going relationship with Allah. However, until such disclosures occur, one is in a state of ignorance concerning them and to be unwilling to admit one’s lack of knowledge concerning those sorts of possibilities is to exercise arrogance toward God.
To know the difference between truth and falsehood in such matters requires discernment that can only be provided by God, and, in the meantime, realization of one’s ignorance concerning those issues serves as its own kind of knowledge. A healthy regard for one’s condition of ignorance concerning such matters serves as an antidote to the poison of arrogance about which the statement being attributed to the Prophet warns.
Today’s discussion provides information that can be used to resolve a two-sided riddle – namely, What meeting takes place but is not observed, and what parting is observed but never takes place?