The Gift of Islam by SAQ

The following is the transcript of the talk The Gift of Islam by Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi:

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

All praise and gratitude belong to Allah SWT, who has bestowed upon us the blessings of iman (faith), Islam, the Qur’an, good health, time, and the opportunity to come together to seek knowledge and remember Allah SWT.

May peace and blessings be upon our beloved Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, his family, his Companions, and all those who follow him with excellence and sincerity until the Day of Judgement.

Introduction

Bismillahirahmani Rahim

I think it's very important for us as Muslims to understand the greatness and the splendor of our Deen and also the fact that having the Deen actually it gives you a... it is a gift. It's called a gift. Allah calls it a gift and we thank Allah for the gift of Islam. Alhamdulillah Islam, and it's enough for us. But this is not just a statement of acceptance; it's much more than that. You have to understand that the Muslims are set over everybody else, whether they like it or not, want it or not, know it or not. This is the reality and we will demonstrate how this is the case so that you understand very clearly that the people who are not Muslim, the people the kuffar, are of a different station; they have a different spiritual station, they have a different human station from the Muslims.  And that's why the message to the kuffar from Allah is warning; Allah gives guidance to the Muslims, but he also says to the kuffar it's a warning. And it is because they are living not just in ignorance, but they're living in an ignorance which is contracted under a deception because it's not that they don't know, it's that they do know and they've decided not to know, which is not the same thing.  It is in itself the element of it is in itself nifak, it is in itself hypocrisy. They have a hypocrisy with reality, with the Haqq, with Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala.

Understand The Process

Now, what you have to understand is the process of life is based on—in the language of our technical language of the ulama—it's based on what we call fitra. And fitra is like the natural condition. People have fitra because they're in tune with the natural condition, with the Adamic condition. Like if we go to faraway places like New Guinea or somewhere and you see the people living, now they don't know what we know, but you still see them living with a certain harmony, and the Muslim alim will say yes, they have fitra, they're in tune with nature. And this in tune with nature is something to do with the ordinary primal condition of human beings.

Quran and Human

Now, Allah explains in great length in several places in the Quran that the human species—that Allah before the creation of the world, he summoned them all before him and he made a contract with them, that is with us but with all of us, all the humans. And he said to them, "Alastu bi-rabbikum?" (Am I not your Lord?), and all the creatures replied, "Yes." (4:06) Now, those who have followed the prophets and arriving at the time of Rasul (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam), those who followed uniquely followed him, of the people who have been brought into the circle of those who remember the contract... and the kuffar take on the name kafir because kafara is from "to cover." It's from the yogurt that's left out at night and a cover is put over it so that it curdles and is ready in the morning to be another something entirely different, although its basic condition was milk; it has become something else because it's covered over. And this is where kufr comes from. So kufr is a covering up. What is covered up? What is covered up is in the depths of the being of the human creature is a covering up of the primal contract: Alastu bi-rabbikum. And that they answered "Yes." It's not that some said yes and some said no; all the human beings admitted the divine dependence of being created. And so the kafir comes into the world, he's cut off from this contract. Now this contract has with it an obligation, and Allah explains: "We have not created the jinn and the men except to glorify Us." So the creature is brought into being in order to glorify Allah.

Now the Muslims have taken on an enormously complex science. What is interesting is you know that the people who are technically would be called illiterate have got this enormous complex, sophisticated, intricate system that is Deen. You go into the depths of the desert, you go into the heart of Sudan, and there you see men who cannot read or write but they live completely in a sophisticated, complex understanding of existence because of their Deen. Why? Because it is the Deen of fitra. It fits onto it; it is like the fitra is the head and the Deen is the crown that fits onto the head, so that the people of the Deen have got this incredibly complex system; they live with part of their being, and what is that? It is ibadah. "We have not created the jinn and men except to glorify Us."

The contract. 

And the kuffar, because they've cut themselves off from this, do not practice a procedure which totally changes the understanding of existence. I would put it like this: that the Muslim is dynamic, is active in relation to existence, and the kafir in fact is passive. The Muslim is constructive in relation to existence, and the kafir is destructive. From where does this come? Because at the heart of the Muslim's condition is that he is locked into a system, as I've said, a very complicated system, which is the glorification of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. (9:04) I mean look at the intricacy of it: there are five fard prayers, there's a number of nawafl prayers, there are prayers for the duha, there are prayers for the night, there are prayers for funerals, there are prayers for the rain. Each has its procedure, each has its rhythm. There are times you may not pray, there are times when you must pray. It all is a very sophisticated system, and the Muslim takes it with him in the most ordinary way. But it means he's active, because—and this is again why the modernists have really gone a long way to destroying Islam in our time—for example, the time of prayer is not by a clock. The time of prayer is by the sky. Rasul (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) has explained it himself. Allah has said he has put the sun and the moon in the sky to be a measure for you of the time of Salat. You're plugged into a cosmic time system which is existential, which you see with your eye and you verify. Fajr is because of the line that delineates the thread that delineates that the first hint of the sun is on the way, and that you have that from that delineation until the point where the sun is about to appear, that is the time of Fajr. And so and it's set in that time, and then the minute the sun rises, no, then you cannot pray, you cannot make up Fajr. It's gone. It's in its time. Prayers are in appointed times; there's no such thing as making up a prayer.  So that what is the Fajr and what is the Maghrib... Maghrib is also on a time frame, but that time frame is by verification; it is by verification, not by a clock. Ramadan is not by 27 minutes past and 23 minutes past and so on; this is not Islam, this is another invention of mankind. It is by verification of the Maghrib, and then the breaking of the fast, the sighting of the moon—all of these things are existential. They are by verification. And in the case of that, it's by verification with Amal. It is not a democratic thing of everyone going on to the beach and looking for the moon; it is the correct shari'ah of that is two witnesses have to identify the moon within the domain that is to go under the rule of Ramadan. They have to then go before a qadi, and the qadi verifies their character, like character references—they've got to be sound, they're not to be crazy, they're not to be people who would be emotionally disturbed and make up a story. Once they've given that, they have that ijazah, then that goes to the Amir, and the Amir takes the confirmation from the witnesses and the authorizing qadi, and then he gives the authority, gives the order for Ramadan. And that, only to my knowledge performed now by the King of Morocco, who have followed strictly in this matter, have followed strictly the Amal of Medina.

Ibadah ang living

So what I'm saying is that this relationship with ibadah clicks the Muslim into what you might call the active mode in their existential reality, in their existence, in their life.  So that onto this also comes a whole other set of things which they can acquire according to their knowledge and acquire to the richness of the Deen of the ulama around them. [The Prophet] lived in dua; he said Allah loves best the doer of the moment of all the ibadah. He loves Allah best to do because it is the expression of need. It's the need of the slave for his Lord; that is a consciousness, that is knowledge. The knowledge that you need Allah is already tuning you into a right action which will follow that, so that in dealing with the need you will make those moves that will bring mercy and rahma to you, so that the need is met—not that you have to fight the existence to get it, but existence will begin to move in harmony with you to give you, because of your dua, what you need, because Allah answers the dua of his slave. So this is another kind of person we're talking about now. In place of this, we go back to the kafir. Now it's quite stunning if you think about it. The kuffar don't worship Allah, they don't worship their Creator. They don't know how he is with his existence, what he does with his existence, how he set it up. It all works by laws, and strangely enough they seem they found out all the kind of laws we didn't know about, about how microorganisms work and how astral bodies in the heavens move and form, and you know, they know that now that there's ice on the base of the planet Mars. And they don't know how existence works, they don't know how their own life works because they haven't got a knowledge that is given to the Muslims; it's how he lives. So what you must remember is that for the kafir, his only realities are what we might call earthly realities. Now this means that every day he gets up, and every day he has breakfast, and then sometime in the middle of the day he has lunch, and then in the evening he has something else to eat, and he goes to the lavatory, and then he goes to bed and he has intercourse, and then he sleeps and then he wakes, and then it's again the next day he has breakfast and his lunch and he has dinner, and he has to wash himself and he has to go to the lavatory, intercourse... 

And all his existence is in fact a monotony of appetite and fulfilling appetite and not being satisfied by appetite and getting weary of the meal, getting weary of his partner as a woman, and needing another one now, and having to change, and being restless. Everything that he's got, he's not content with it; he's in movement all the time, but he seems trapped in stuff, in existence, in the matter, and it doesn't make sense to him. It's absurd. It's absurd to him. Remember now that the dominant religion in France is atheism, the second religion is Christianity, and the third catching up to be the most dominant religion is Islam. But the body of people in Europe, they don't believe in anything, and so at the heart of their life is a kind of emptiness.

The Dynamic Relationship

Now, if you could then go back to the Muslim, he also has the same rhythm as the kafir because he's a human, he's from insaniyah. But every day there is the Fajr, there is Asr, there is Maghrib, there is Isha. There are extra prayers in the time of struggle and difficulty. In the middle of the day before the sun is high he can make the Duha prayer; in the night he can rise and be with Allah and pour out his heart and ask for strength. He is in a dynamic relationship with these same sort of events that the kafir is dealing with in a setting which he cannot find the meaning. And when the troubles come, when the shipwreck comes, when the storm comes, then he's lost to pieces because he does not have one he can call on, he does not have trust. Not only that, but the Muslim is moving through the world knowing that while there is a visible world, there's also an invisible world. The beginning of Alif Lam Mim: "This book is for those who believe in the [unseen]." The Muslim believes in the unseen, so he himself has an unseen earthly dimension which is if he sleeps he dreams—this is the unseen earthly—but there's also an unseen heavenly. There are true dreams which illuminate. Muhammad Ibrahim, who was in Meknes at the time of Sheikh—he was a student—and he was to leave Meknes and go to Casablanca to study, and he was very concerned that in going to this great city he might lose his Deen and he might go to, you know, bad company and lose everything he gained in the company of the Sheikh. And the next morning before he left he said to me, "I had the most extraordinary dream. I dreamed that I was standing on the shore and Moulay al-Arbi, who is the Sheikh of our Sheikh, great Sheikh, called him over, and he was in a boat. And Moulay al-Arbi said, 'Get into the boat. Go, row.' And he got into the boat and then Moulay al-Arbi pushed the boat out into the water." And he said, "This was most vivid dream." You see, he said, "I have to go now and say goodbye to my Sheikh." He went to Sheikh Abdulhabib, he said, "I'm leaving for Casablanca, and I'm a bit worried about it, how I should be." And the Sheikh Ibrahim smiled and he said, "Be like you were when Moulay al-Arbi pushed your boat into the water." So this dimension of existence, you see, of certainty, of knowing that you're on the right way, this is not known to the kafir. He's in ignorance, he's in the darkness that there are good times and bad times and they're opposites. But as the man of knowledge begins to realize that these things are the same—the one of the great Sufis of the East said that the Sufi weeps at the wedding and smiles at the funeral, because he sees it from another point of view, with another understanding. So you have to realize that what you take with you is void of this emptiness that the kafir has. When you look at the kuffar, they don't have fitra, they don't have the attitude to cleanliness that we have, and they don't have a harmony with nature that we have. And not only that, they don't know how existence works. And we know how it works because as Sheikh Akbar, the Sheikh of the Sufis, Ibn Arabi, said: "Allah governs the universe from inside the universe." Allah rules the world from inside the world; it's not a divinity crashing and intervening at dramatic moments because of something that is pleasing or not pleasing. Allah has set up the whole thing of the Rububiyah—the ulama call it the interconnectedness of all the rules of existence—so that things work from inside the universe by vast series of patterns. Then the Sufis know and have taught their people that not only that, but that we have a specific relationship with existence that no other creature has. And that is, from the Hadith Qudsi that is referred to a lot by Ibn Arabi: when Allah says, "I was a hidden treasure and I desired to be known, so I created mankind in order to be known." In other words, they are a mirror in which Allah contemplates himself. So once you know that you are this mirror that is reflecting light from Allah Subhanahu, then the beginning of the path of knowledge and Ma'rifa begins. But this is another kind of person who knows that he has been created for this high thing which is the knowledge of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala. "I was a hidden secret and I desire to be known," in order that this secret should manifest, there had to be the mirror to take the reflection of the light of Allah.

High Place For Muslims

Now, this puts the Muslims in a high place. There is no kafir equivalent to Hajj. There's no kafir equivalent to the House of Allah. There's no kafir equivalent to the Black Stone. There's no kafir equivalent to the Tawaf, to the running between Safa and Marwa. All these are complex, sophisticated rituals in order to take us on this difficult journey, of which Hajj is Arafat. Arafat is from Arafa—from the knowledge—so Hajj is self-knowledge. And Hajj is Arafat; Hajj is not all the things that make it up, it is that you must stand if only for a moment on Arafat. That is Hajj, and at that point you are alone before Allah, dressed in the two garments of burial. That is Arafat. So we have millions of us, the common people, go on that Hajj, stand on Arafat. Already all the hajjis are set above all the rest of mankind because they have fulfilled this command, and they're imbued with secrets from it and lights from it that they take with them for the rest of their lives. And this is what you have to understand: you are people who know how existence works. You know that you have come from Allah and you are going to Allah. And this is with this begins something that happens naturally—also not unnaturally, but that among the body of the Muslims there are men who achieve what we would call gravity, depth—what the Spanish call hondo, is that right? Hondo, no, it's a depth, it's a kind of depth in the being. And it's an age where men are frivolous, and lack this quality. Anyway, but the Muslim acquires it by his increase of knowledge. And then he becomes another sort of being, and the word in Arabic is Rijal. They become the Rijalullah, the men of Allah. And the men of Allah are the ones who know they have come from Allah and they are going to Allah. That is their life's journey; it is not a project, it is a divine project, it is a divine rendezvous, it is an encounter, an expected encounter. The last words of Rasul (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) were the fulfillment of that; that his last words were to the Highest Companion. This is the noble perfection of the Muslim man. Fatihah.

MasyaAllah, May Allah Grant Shaykh AbdalQadir Rahimullah Janatul Firdaus

Professor Dr Zuhaimy Ismail

Ketakutan, Keberanian dan Kebesaran Insan: Melampaui Ketakutan dengan Mengingati Allah

Ketakutan, Keberanian dan Kebesaran Insan: Melampaui Ketakutan dengan Mengingati Allah

Terjemahan Bahasa Melayu hasil tulisan Hajjah Rabea Radpath, sebuah ders yang diberikan di Zawiyah Shaykh AbdalQadir AsSufi di Cape Town pada 9 December, 2020.

Moga Roh Hajjah Rabiah di letakkan dikalangan para syuhadah. Aamiin

Pengenalan

Penulis dan pahlawan Jerman, Ernst Jünger, menulis sebuah esei yang luar biasa berjudul Der Waldgang. Dalam esei tersebut, beliau memulakan tulisannya dengan kata-kata berikut:

 "Fear is one of the most characteristic phenomena of our age. Its appearance is all the perplexing, because it follows closely upon an era of individual freedom in which even the misery which was still familiar to Dickens had become almost unknown.”

“Ketakutan ialah antara fenomena yang paling mencirikan zaman kita. Kemunculannya lebih membingungkan kerana ia menyusul rapat selepas suatu era kebebasan individu, ketika kemelaratan yang masih lazim pada zaman Dickens pun hampir tidak lagi diketahui.”

Tulisan ini dihasilkan seawal tahun 1954. Namun, zaman yang kita diami sekarang benar-benar dikuasai oleh ketakutan, malah ketakutan itu sendiri telah menjadi alat untuk mengawal manusia. Kita tidak dapat melepaskan diri sepenuhnya daripada keadaan ini selagi kita hidup dalam masyarakat tersebut dan menjadi sebahagian daripadanya, betapa pun mendalamnya kita memahami keadaan itu.

Seperti yang dikatakan oleh Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi, “Keadaan masyarakat dan keadaan batin diri kamu berjalan seiring.”

Kita bukanlah makhluk yang terpisah daripada masyarakat, betapa pun kita menyangka sebaliknya.

Walau bagaimanapun, ketakutan merupakan sebahagian daripada keadaan semula jadi manusia. Ia sentiasa wujud dalam kehidupan kita. Ada bentuk ketakutan yang baik kerana mendorong kita kembali kepada Allah Subhanahu wa Taala. Namun, ada juga ketakutan yang melumpuhkan kita, merendahkan martabat diri, membantutkan perkembangan kita dan menutup keupayaan kita untuk bertindak.

Dalam al-Quran terdapat sebelas perkataan berbeza yang menggambarkan pelbagai bentuk ketakutan. Sebagaimana yang kita ketahui, bahasa mempunyai kekuatan yang besar. Keupayaan untuk mengenal pasti dan memahami perbezaan antara pelbagai bentuk ketakutan ini dapat banyak membantu kita.

1. Khawf (خوف) — Ketakutan terhadap bahaya yang nyata

Khawf merujuk kepada ketakutan terhadap bahaya fizikal yang dirasakan, seperti apabila seekor singa sedang mengejar kita.

Inilah perkataan yang digunakan dalam kisah Nabi Musa a.s. ketika baginda menyatakan kebimbangannya terhadap Firaun: “Aku takut dia akan membunuhku.”

2. Khashyah (خشية) — Ketakutan yang lahir daripada kesedaran terhadap kebesaran sesuatu

Khashyah ialah ketakutan yang timbul apabila kita menyedari kebesaran sesuatu yang bakal berlaku, seperti Hari Pengadilan. Namun, ia juga boleh berkaitan dengan perkara kehidupan seharian, misalnya ketakutan kehilangan pekerjaan.

Ketakutan seperti ini boleh mendorong seseorang mengambil tindakan. Oleh itu, ia boleh menjadi sesuatu yang baik apabila membawa kepada kesedaran dan tindakan yang sewajarnya.

Terdapat juga istilah khushuk atau khushu‘ (خشوع), iaitu keadaan khusyuk yang mula-mula hadir dalam hati sebelum terpancar pada anggota tubuh.

Makna asal perkataan ini berkaitan dengan merendahkan diri dan menjadi tenang. Inilah keadaan yang ingin kita capai ketika bersolat: kerendahan hati di hadapan Allah.

3. Hadhar (حذر) — Ketakutan yang mendorong seseorang mengelak

Hadhar merujuk kepada usaha melarikan diri daripada sesuatu atau mengelakkan sesuatu yang ditakuti.

Ia juga boleh menggambarkan ketakutan bahawa sesuatu yang tersembunyi di dalam hati akan terbongkar. Menurut huraian ini, inilah antara perasaan yang dialami oleh golongan munafik.

4. Raa‘ (راع) — Ketakutan yang mengejutkan

Raa‘ menggambarkan ketakutan yang datang secara tiba-tiba sehingga seseorang tersentak atau terkejut, tetapi perasaan itu segera reda.

Perkataan ini digunakan untuk menggambarkan keadaan Nabi Ibrahim a.s. apabila para malaikat enggan menjamah hidangan yang disediakan oleh baginda. Baginda berasa terkejut dan bimbang dengan keadaan tersebut.

5. Awjasa (أوجس) — Ketakutan yang dirasai tetapi disembunyikan

Awjasa merujuk kepada keadaan apabila seseorang mendengar atau melihat sesuatu yang menimbulkan ketakutan dalam dirinya, tetapi dia tidak mahu memperlihatkan perasaan itu kepada orang lain.

Contohnya ialah Nabi Musa a.s. ketika baginda menyaksikan ahli-ahli sihir Firaun. Baginda merasakan ketakutan di dalam hati, tetapi Allah memberikan ketenteraman kepadanya. Lalu, baginda tidak memperlihatkan ketakutan itu kepada orang lain.

6. Wajil (وجل) — Ketakutan yang meresap jauh ke dalam hati

Wajil ialah ketakutan yang menembusi bahagian hati yang paling dalam, sehingga seseorang benar-benar merasakan kesan ketakutan tersebut dalam batinnya.

7. Rahb (رهب) — Ketakutan yang bercampur dengan rasa cinta

Rahb ialah ketakutan yang bercampur dengan rasa cinta. Seseorang tidak mahu mengecewakan insan yang dicintainya.

Perasaan ini menjadikan seseorang sentiasa berjaga-jaga dan peka, bukannya leka atau terlalu selesa.

8. Ra‘b (رعب) — Ketakutan yang amat dahsyat

Ra‘b menggambarkan ketakutan yang begitu kuat sehingga seseorang berasa amat tergoncang dan hilang pertimbangan.

Menurut huraian ini, inilah ketakutan yang dirasai oleh golongan musyrikin dalam Perang Badar apabila mereka melihat para malaikat.

9. Ashfaqa (أشفق) — Ketakutan yang lahir daripada rasa prihatin

Ashfaqa merujuk kepada keprihatinan terhadap seseorang, apabila kita mengambil berat tentang kesejahteraannya dan berasa bimbang akan keselamatannya.

Ini bukan sekadar ketakutan untuk diri sendiri, tetapi ketakutan yang lahir daripada rasa kasih dan tanggungjawab terhadap orang lain.

10. Wajaf (وجف) — Ketakutan yang disertai kegelisahan

Wajaf ialah ketakutan yang bercampur dengan ketidakselesaan dan kegelisahan, seperti jantung yang berdegup kencang pada Hari Pengadilan.

11. Taqwa (تقوى) — Ketakutan yang disertai kesedaran terhadap Allah

Inilah bentuk ketakutan yang kita semua ingin miliki dan yang paling kita kenali, iaitu taqwa.

Taqwa ialah kesedaran yang mendalam terhadap Allah Subhanahu wa Taala, termasuk rasa takut akan akibat perbuatan kita di sisi-Nya. Oleh sebab itu, taqwa menjadi perisai dan pelindung bagi manusia.

Taqwa disebut berulang kali dalam al-Quran dan merupakan antara perkara yang paling kita perlukan dalam kehidupan.

Shaykh Abdelkebir, rahimahullah, pernah berkata:

“Taqwa ialah modal. Taqwa ialah asas bagi segala-galanya.”

Allah mengawasi segala perbuatan kita dan Dialah yang menggerakkan segala peristiwa. Kita berdiri dengan penuh rasa gerun dan takzim di hadapan-Nya. Segala ketakutan kita hendaklah kita himpunkan di bawah satu ketakutan yang utama, iaitu ketakutan kepada Allah.

Ketakutan zaman moden: Kehilangan rasa aman

Mungkin bentuk ketakutan yang paling buruk ialah ketakutan moden yang sedang kita alami sekarang. Ia bukan sekadar ketakutan terhadap penyakit atau keruntuhan ekonomi, walaupun kedua-duanya merupakan perkara yang sangat membimbangkan kerana boleh menghakis iman.

Namun, sekiranya kita mengalami ketakutan seperti ini, kita juga tidak perlu berasa malu. Ada orang beranggapan bahawa mereka tidak sepatutnya berasa takut. Hakikatnya, ketakutan ialah sesuatu yang semula jadi bagi manusia.

Persoalannya bukanlah dengan berkata, “Aku tidak boleh berasa takut,” tetapi dengan menyerahkan urusan itu kepada Allah Taala, sebagaimana yang dilakukan oleh Nabi Musa a.s. ketika baginda berasa takut.

Kita boleh mengadu kepada Allah:

“Ya Allah, aku berasa takut. Tambahkanlah kepercayaanku kepada-Mu dan kuatkanlah imanku.”

Ketakutan moden yang saya maksudkan ialah ketakutan kehilangan rasa aman, iaitu kebimbangan bahawa kehidupan tidak lagi akan berjalan seperti biasa.

Saya fikir kita semua dapat melihat keretakan yang mula muncul pada sebuah empangan. Air sudah mula meresap keluar melalui celah-celahnya. Kita tahu bahawa cepat atau lambat, empangan itu akan pecah.

Seperti yang pernah dikatakan oleh Shaykh Abdalqadir, masyarakat yang kita kenali sekarang akan mengalami keruntuhan secara mendadak.

Sebelum munculnya zaman automasi dan sebelum teknologi berkembang pesat, ketidakpastian seperti ini merupakan perkara biasa. Dalam satu sudut, keadaan itu sebenarnya baik kerana menjadikan manusia sentiasa berjaga-jaga, bergerak dan bertindak. Ia menghindarkan mereka daripada terperangkap dalam kehidupan yang berulang-ulang, seolah-olah berjalan dalam tidur, tanpa kesedaran terhadap apa yang berlaku di sekeliling mereka.

Pada hari ini, kita mudah terperangkap dalam ilusi bahawa kehidupan akan sentiasa berjalan seperti biasa. Kita hidup dalam lingkungan yang kita bina sendiri, dengan batasan-batasan yang memberikan rasa selesa kepada kita.

Apabila keselesaan ini terancam atau hilang, timbullah ketakutan yang besar.

Dalam satu pengertian, keadaan ini menjadi hijab yang menghalang kita daripada melihat apa yang sebenarnya sedang berlaku.

Namun, ketakutan terhadap kehilangan rasa aman ini sebenarnya mungkin merupakan ketakutan terhadap kebesaran diri kita sendiri.

Sayyid Ibn al-Banna berkata:

“Fahamilah bahawa kamu merupakan salinan kewujudan bagi Allah, sehingga tiada sesuatu pun daripada kewujudan yang tidak terkandung dalam dirimu. Alam semesta tidak lain ialah manusia pada skala yang besar, sedangkan kamu ialah alam semesta dalam bentuk yang kecil.”

Al-Jili pula berkata:

“Dirimu merangkumi seluruh realiti. Saya menyatakan perkara ini dengan bersungguh-sungguh; saya tidak memperdayakan kamu.”

Seperti yang dikatakan oleh Shaykh Abdalqadir, manusia terbentuk daripada keseluruhan bentuk yang terdapat dalam alam semesta.

Ibn ‘Ajibah berkata:

“Saya menyatakan bahawa HAKIKAT manusia ialah kerohanian. Ia bersifat halus dan terbentuk daripada cahaya yang berasal daripada sumber segala kewujudan. Namun, ia tersembunyi di sebalik sifat kemanusiaan yang bersifat padat dan kasar.”

Terdapat juga sebuah hadis qudsi yang masyhur, yang dipetik dalam perbincangan ini:

“Seluruh alam semesta tidak dapat menampung-Ku, tetapi hati hamba-Ku yang beriman dapat menampung-Ku.”

Kita ialah makhluk yang memiliki keluasan batin yang amat besar. Apabila kita membiarkan sifat kemanusiaan kita menguasai diri sepenuhnya, kita akan terus berada dalam keadaan yang kecil. Namun, apabila kerohanian mengambil tempat yang sewajarnya, alam semesta itu sendiri terasa kecil berbanding keluasan hakikat rohani manusia.

Saya teringat seorang lelaki di Maghribi yang pernah berkata:

“Mengapa kamu mahu pergi ke bulan? Membosankan sekali berada di bulan. Tiada apa-apa yang menarik di sana!”

Kita mungkin dikurniakan atau tidak dikurniakan pembukaan rohani yang luas seperti ini. Semuanya ialah kurniaan Allah Taala.

Saya masih ingat ketika saya pernah menyatakan kepada Shaykh Abdelkebir bahawa saya menginginkan pembukaan rohani seperti itu. Beliau menjawab:

“Astaghfirullah! Semua perkara ini ialah kurniaan Allah. Ucapkanlah Alhamdulillah kerana kamu masih mampu mengangkat tasbihmu sekalipun.”

Namun, kita tetap perlu menyimpan kerinduan dan terus berusaha menuju tahap yang paling tinggi dalam diri kita.

Kita menjaga tubuh badan dengan baik, tetapi kita harus ingat bahawa tubuh ini hanyalah seperti cangkerang yang melindungi mutiara di dalam diri setiap daripada kita. Ada yang memiliki mutiara besar, ada yang kecil dan ada pula yang sangat halus. Namun, setiap daripada kita mempunyai rahsia batin tersendiri.

Akhirnya, inilah yang sebenarnya kita cari dan rindui. Malangnya, dalam kesibukan kehidupan seharian, kita menutupnya dan melupakannya.

Saya berharap agar segala peristiwa yang sedang berlaku pada zaman ini, yang membawa kita memasuki wilayah kehidupan yang belum pernah kita lalui, akan menggerakkan hati kita dan membuka diri kita untuk keluar daripada kebiasaan yang selama ini membelenggu.

Ingatlah kata-kata Shaykh Abdalqadir tentang peristiwa:

“Setiap peristiwa yang berlaku mempunyai unsur yang tidak terlihat. Allah mempunyai tujuan-Nya. Allah tidak diukur berdasarkan hasil.”

Sebagai contoh, apabila kita meneliti kisah Nabi Musa a.s., kita melihat bagaimana bayi-bayi lelaki dibunuh sebelum kelahiran baginda.

Shaykh Abdalqadir meneruskan:

“Segala peristiwa ini tidak dapat difahami sepenuhnya. Bukan tugas kita untuk memahaminya.”

Jika kita merenungkan segala peristiwa yang menimpa Nabi Yusuf a.s. — baginda dicampakkan ke dalam perigi, dijadikan hamba, dipenjarakan dan melalui pelbagai lagi ujian — kita akan mendapati bahawa sepanjang surah yang menceritakan kisah baginda, berulang kali disebut bahawa Nabi Yusuf telah diajarkan takwil atau pemahaman tentang peristiwa-peristiwa yang berlaku.

Baginda diajarkan MAKNA di sebalik peristiwa-peristiwa tersebut.

Demikian juga dengan segala peristiwa yang sedang berlaku kepada kita. Allah sedang mendorong kita menuju kebesaran yang ada dalam diri kita. Dia sedang membentuk kita menjadi sesuatu yang lebih besar daripada keadaan kita sekarang.

Oleh itu, kita perlu menyedari hakikat ini. Kita perlu melangkaui ketakutan yang membutakan pandangan kita. Kita perlu bergerak melampauinya dan meyakini bahawa Allah tetap Maha Pengasih dalam segala yang berlaku.

Kebesaran insan dan perjuangan melawan ketakutan

Berbicara tentang kebesaran manusia, Jünger turut berkata:

“Kebesaran manusia perlu diperjuangkan dan dicapai semula berulang kali. Kebesaran itu mencapai kemenangan apabila manusia berjaya menguasai serangan sifat rendah dalam hatinya sendiri.”

Saya memahami perkataan vulgarity yang digunakan di sini sebagai sifat remeh, cetek dan rendah dalam kehidupan — perkara-perkara kecil yang tidak penting tetapi mampu menguasai dan menundukkan kita.

Beliau meneruskan:

“Pertemuan manusia dengan dirinya sendiri, iaitu dengan kuasa ketuhanan yang ada dalam dirinya, merupakan perjuangan menentang setiap zaman yang didorong oleh ketakutan sebagai asas utamanya.”

Untuk membantu kita dalam perjuangan ini, kita mempunyai wird.

Kita tidak boleh memandang ringan akan kepentingan dan hakikat wird. Shaykh AbdalQadir  pernah berkata:

“Kamu mempunyai wird ini, tetapi kamu mesti merenungkan kata-katanya. Kamu mesti berfikir dan bertafakur tentang setiap perkataan. Jika kamu mahu wird itu memberikan manfaat, renungkanlah kata-katanya.

Segala-galanya terkandung dalam wird. Kamu perlu menjadikan doa-doa itu benar-benar hidup dalam dirimu. Jika tidak, apakah sebenarnya yang kamu lakukan?

Apabila kamu membuat secawan kopi, kamu meminumnya! Kamu tidak membuangnya begitu sahaja. Maka, ambillah wird itu dan jangan membuangnya!”

Saya semakin menyedari betapa ungkapan Hasbunallahu wa ni‘mal wakil menjadi seperti benang yang menjalin keseluruhan wird.

Apakah yang sebenarnya kita ucapkan?

Cukuplah Allah bagi kami, dan Dialah sebaik-baik Pelindung serta tempat kami berserah.

Pada zaman ini, kita amat memerlukan al-Wakil, iaitu Allah sebagai tempat kita menyerahkan segala urusan dan memohon perlindungan.

Kita sentiasa diberitahu supaya berasa takut. Ketakutan seolah-olah dilemparkan kepada kita dari setiap arah dan pada setiap masa.

Namun, kita mempunyai Hasbunallahu wa ni‘mal wakil.

Shaykh AbdalQadir menyebut zikir ini sebagai:

“Senjata bagi menghadapi keadaan yang sedang kamu lalui.”

Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib, rahimahullah, pula menyatakan dalam Syarah Qasidah bagi Wird:

“Dalam waqt atau zaman kita ini, zikir dan doa ini hendaklah diutamakan berbanding Hizb dan Wazifah.”

Di tengah-tengah wird, kita menemui petikan daripada Surah Ali ‘Imran, ayat 173–174:

“Mereka yang apabila diberitahu oleh orang ramai: ‘Sesungguhnya orang ramai telah berhimpun untuk menyerang kamu, maka takutlah kepada mereka.’

Namun, berita itu hanya menambahkan iman mereka, lalu mereka berkata:

Hasbunallahu wa ni‘mal wakil.

Maka, mereka kembali dengan nikmat dan kurniaan daripada Allah, tanpa ditimpa sebarang keburukan. Mereka mengikuti keredaan Allah. Dan Allah mempunyai kurniaan yang amat besar.”

Dalam wird tersebut, ayat ini diikuti pula dengan petikan daripada Surah al-Anfal, ayat 63:

“Dan jika mereka bermaksud memperdayakanmu, maka sesungguhnya cukuplah Allah bagimu.”

Kita sedang hidup pada zaman ketika penipuan bertindih dengan penipuan dan ilusi bertindih dengan ilusi. Kita tidak lagi mengetahui dengan pasti apa yang benar dan apa yang palsu.

Shaykh AbdalQadir pernah berkata:

“Bacalah ayat ini. Ia akan membantu kamu dan menjadikan kamu mampu melihat dengan jelas.”

Oleh itu, kita perlu memanfaatkan segala yang telah dikurniakan kepada kita. Kita tidak boleh sekadar melafazkan zikir dan doa secara berulang-ulang tanpa penghayatan.

Kita perlu benar-benar merenungkannya, memahami maknanya dan membiarkannya meresap ke dalam kehidupan kita.

Pelbagai perkara pasti akan berlaku. Itu sesuatu yang tidak dapat dielakkan.

Kita perlu berpegang teguh pada segala yang telah dikurniakan kepada kita. Kita juga memerlukan satu sama lain. Dan kita mesti MENGAMBIL KEBERANIAN — membina keberanian dalam diri untuk menghadapi segala yang mendatang.

Apakah rupa keberanian seperti ini dalam kehidupan sebenar?

Teladan agung tentang keberanian itu ialah Shaykh Abdalqadir.

Semoga Allah Subhanahu wa Taala mengurniakan keberanian kepada kita semua dalam menghadapi zaman ini.

Semoga Allah menghimpunkan kita bersama, menjadikan kita saling mengasihi dengan kasih sayang yang begitu mendalam, serta menanamkan dalam diri kita kecintaan yang begitu kuat kepada Allah dan Rasul-Nya, Nabi Muhammad SAW, sehingga kecintaan itu mengatasi segala ketakutan kita.

Semoga Allah menjadikan kita mampu melihat kebenaran sebagai kebenaran dan kebatilan sebagai kebatilan.

Kita memohon kepada Allah agar Dia memimpin tangan kita, membimbing langkah kita dan menunjukkan kepada kita jalan yang benar.

Amin, ya Rabbal ‘alamin.

Professor Dr Zuhaimy Ismail