The Quran constantly warns, reminds and urges us to “think” …

“We give you many examples, will you still not think? Will you still not contemplate? Will you still not take heed?”

The very fact that the divine names that comprise us are in compositional forms and thus manifest at different specific amounts and ratios tells us that they can in fact be expressed at much greater strengths! If this much is expressed via the composition then imagine what more can be!      

Allah is present with His Absolute Essence (dhat) and Attribute in every form that openly manifests the meanings of His names. If He so wills, He may also enable other meanings to manifest from that point. 

If your intellect and consciousness meet the One to whom these meanings and names are based, and you become aware of this, can you then have the power to manifest the names that aren’t currently expressed?

Of course, you can!

Then, going beyond the acts that are the outcome of your natural disposition, if you comply with the rules and regulations of Allah you may possibly reach closeness to Allah!

Everything that transpires through you, your nature, emotions, conditioning and habits are the results of your natural programming, where some of the names are activated into action.

But if on the contrary you turn towards things that go against your natural inclination, then you may begin to activate other names. There is no other way of achieving this!

Let’s say for example you’re sitting somewhere relaxing and suddenly you hear the call to prayer. Your natural inclination is to continue sitting comfortably. Getting out of that comfort zone and going to the mosque, taking ablution and standing to prayer requires a lot of effort and goes against your nature! But if you can succeed in doing this you will be activating a willpower to do something against your natural inclination!

The greatest factor that contributes to suffering is the failure to use one’s willpower! This is due to an inactive or weak expression of the name Mureed in one’s brain. Chanting the name Mureed in dhikr will strengthen the attribute of willpower. The use of willpower is tied to one’s knowledge.

Knowledge stimulates will, as is evident in the many people who know many things but fail to put their knowledge into action. This is because they lack the willpower to do so!

“I felt like it” we say… To say “I felt like doing/not doing such and such” is to say “my composition imposed this on me”. Everything you do because that’s what you think you feel like doing will push you deeper into the bog of your illusory self!

What drives you to do something? A conditioning. Is it consciousness? No. Consciousness is unity with Allah, it is to experience Allah.

Are your actions driven by this force? No. In that case you are driven by the natural programming of your composition, which is only taking you deeper into hell.

This is because instead of choosing to moralize yourself with the morals of Allah you are following a ‘temperament’ that is expressed through your compositional make-up.

Just because you know that your existence is the existence of Allah and that your actions are His actions does not mean you can go to paradise!

As the verse says:

"And man will only accrue the results (consequences) of his own deeds (what manifests through him; his thoughts and actions)!

And the results of his efforts will soon be seen!"[1]

Just as your hunger isn’t satiated until you actually get up and fix yourself a meal, that is without action progress isn’t made and results aren’t met, in the same way, in the life after death you will experience the results of what you do or fail to do here!

If you can’t unite with Allah here in this world, don’t think of uniting with Allah in the hereafter! It’s impossible! If you can’t discover the divine realities here in this world, there’s no way you can achieve this in the hereafter! For the spirit is forever stuck with whatever the brain uploads to it in this world. Once its connection to the brain is ceased there’s no possible way for new information to be uploaded to it!

Here’s the proof:

“And whoever is blind (unable to perceive the Truth) in this life (outer life) will also be blind in the eternal life to come (inner life) and further astray in way (of thought).”[2]

One may be do good, abstain from evil and be honest all he likes! He will still go to hell and stay there for a long time… because all of this is the output of his natural programming! None of it is done with consciousness! The names that compose him drive him to act this way!

If he hasn’t put the effort in to really know Allah, if he hasn’t rid himself of his illusory self, then his knowledge means nothing and will give him no benefit!

Think of someone who is aware of Allah’s existence, knows that his acts are the acts of Allah and that everything in existence is the One and that there is nothing other than Allah. On the other hand, he still goes about his daily life feeling like the person he is and reacts to situations like the person would react. As long as this is the case he is in a state of hidden duality.

As long as one feels like a person and is thus unable to observe from the perspective of the One that person is in a state of hidden duality and all his deeds are like the deeds of the ignorant ones who are unaware of this reality.

The Rasul of Allah (saw) explained hidden duality to Abu Bakr (ra) in the following hadith: Rasulullah (saw) said:

“O Abu Bakr! Shirk (duality) is more hidden than the crawling of an ant.” It is shirq to say, “Allah willed so I willed” and it is shirq to say, 'If it weren’t for this person, that person would have killed me…'

Should I teach you a supplication that if you recite it, you will be freed from minor and major shirk? Recite this three times a day:

'Allahumma inni audhu bika an ushrika bika shay’an wa ana a’lam wa astaghfiruka limala la a’lam.'

'O Allah! I seek refuge in You from ascribing any partners to You knowingly, and I seek Your forgiveness from that which I am unaware of.'”[3]

This is an important hadith to help us understand hidden forms of duality. 

Essentially the whole point of Sufism is to remove hidden duality and cleanse one from the conditioned belief “I exist”. 

Unity (tawhid) consciousness cleanses one from the concept of relative existence, derived from the five-sense perception, and enables one to witness the reality that nothing exists other than Allah.

 

End of Volume 1…