Allah, the Most High, says: "And whoever Leaves his house migrating to Allah
and His Messenger, and then death overtakes him, his reward is, indeed, with
Allah,"2 The formal migration, or the form of migration, is the
corporeal migration from the formal house to the ka'bah or to the shrines of the
holy men [awliya'] (AS), but the spiritual migration is the going out of the
house of the soul and the house of this world to Allah and His Messenger. To
migrate to the Messenger and the guardian [waliy] is also a migration to Allah.
As long as one's soul has an inclination to oneself and to egotism, it is not
journeying. And so long as there are residues of I-ness in the salik's eyes, and
as long as the walls of his own town and the adhan announcing selfishness have
not yet disappeared, he is regarded present, not a traveler or an emigrant.
It is stated in Misbahush-shari'ah that Imam as Sadiq (AS) said: "Servitude
is a gem whose core is Lordship [rububiyat]. Whatever is lost of servitude is
found in the Lordship, and whatever is hidden of Lordship is obtained by
servitude."3
The one who travels on the foot of servitude, and burns his forehead with the
brand of the humility of serfdom, will reach the Glory of (His) Lordship. The
way of attaining to the facts of Lordship is journeying along the footsteps of
servitude, and what is lost of servitude because of egoism and egotism, can be
recovered under the shadow of the Lordship's patronage, until he reaches a stage
in which the Haqq (Allah), the Most High, will become his ears (hearing), eyes
(seeing), hands and legs, as is stated in the true and well-known hadith
accepted by the two sects.4
When the salik forsook his conducts [tasarrufat] and completely submitted the
kingdom of his existence to Allah, leaving the house to its Owner, and perishing
in the Glory of (His) Lordship, the Owner of the house would Himself manage the
affairs. Thus his conducts [tasarrufat] would become divine, and his eyes would
be divine and he would see with the Haqq's (Allah's) eyes, his ears would become
divine and he would hear with the Haqq's (Allah's) ears. The more complete the
lordship of the soul and the more its glory be cherished, the more, in the same
proportion, the Glory of the (divine) Lordship decreases and becomes incomplete
(in the salik's kingdom of existence), because these two stand face to face:
"This world and the next are like the two wives of a man".5
Thus, the salik to Allah has to recognize his state of humility, and to place
the humility of servitude and the Glory of the Lordship before his eyes. The
stronger this viewpoint, the more spiritual his worship and the stronger the
spirit of his worship, until, if, with the help of Allah and the perfect holy
men [awliya'] (AS), he reaches the truth of servitude and its core, he will
catch a glimpse of the secret of worship. In all the worships -especially (in)
the salat which has a position of comprehensiveness [jami'iyat], and is, among
the worships, like the Perfect Man, and like the Greatest Name (of Allah), or
rather it is the very Greatest Name these two positions, i.e. the position of
the Glory of Lordship, which is a fact, and the position of the humility of
servitude, which accompanies it, are occult. Among the recommended acts the
qunut, and among the obligatory acts the sujud, have particular specialties to
which we shall refer later insha 'allah.
It should be noted, however, that absolute servitude is of the highest degrees
of perfection and of the loftiest positions of humanity, of which no one has any
share except the most perfect of the creatures of Allah, Muhammad (SA) at the
top, followed by the perfect walis (the Guardians). The others are limping in
servitude, and their worshipping and servitude are endued with causes, only with
the steps of servitude one can reach the real absolute mi'raj. That is why the
noble ayah says:
﴾Glorified is He Who carried his servant by night ...﴿.6
It was the step of servitude and the attraction of (His) Lordship that carried
that holy person to the mi'raj of proximity [qurb] and union [wusul]. In the
tashahhud of the salat - which is a return from an absolute "annihilation" [fana']
that was achieved in the sujud there is once again a tendency to servitude,
before paying attention to the Messengership. It may also be a reference to the
position of Messengership as a result of the essence of servitude. This is a
lengthy subject which is out of the scope of these papers.
* Book: Adabus Salat "The Disciplines of the Prayer". By: Imam
Khomeini.
1- The Mother of the
idols is your self's idol, As those are snakes, and this is a dragon-idol! (by
Maulawi)
2- Surah an-Nisa: 100.
3- Misbahush-Shari'ah, "On the Reality of Servitude", ch. 100.
4- This is a reference to a narrative about "The Approximation by Nawafil",
which reads: " ...He (Allah's servant) keeps trying to get closer to Me by means
of the nafilah until I love him. Loving him, I will become his ears with which
he hears, his eyes with which he sees, his tongue with which he speaks and his
hand with which he strikes. When he asks Me I answer him, and if he demands from
Me 1 will give him ..." 'Usul ul Kafi, vol. 4, p. 53, the book of "Faith and
Infidelity", ch. on "One who hurts and despises the Muslims", narratives 7 and
8.
5- 'Awaliyul-La'ali, vol. 1, p. 277, and vol. 4, p. 115. Nahjul Balaghah, edited
by Faydul Islam, maxim, No.100.
6- Surah al-Isra': 1.