بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
و الصلاة و السلام على أشرف المرسلين
و على اله و اصحابه أجمعين
This passage from death to the life of the traveller on the Way of Allah is clearly described in the Qur’an, and Allah says in this sense: “Did the one who was dead, whom We brought back to life and to whom We have assigned a Light with which he walks among people, is like the one who is in the darkness without being able to get out of it? Thus they have embellished the disbelievers with what they do.” [Surat al-An’am, verse 122].
This renaissance, or indeed this true birth to be more just, is systematically accompanied, as the aforementioned verse states precisely, by the granting by Allah ﷻ of a Light to His servant. This Light is the Light visible through the eye of the heart, a Light that corresponds to the maqâm of Imân, which is the spiritual degree higher than the maqâm of Islâm and lower than that of the Ihsân. It is also related according to sayidinâ ibn ‘Abbâs (radiAllâhu’ anhumâ) that the Prophet ﷺ said: “The Imân is a Light that Allâh places in the heart of His believing servant, Increases and decreases according to the performance of pious works “. And this Divine Light is obviously visible and apprehensible by the eye of the heart, as Sayidunâ Ahmad ibn ‘Ajiba explains in his commentary on the Hikam: “When love and service grow, the light of your heart’s eye becomes stronger than that of sight, and the light of sight disappears in the light of the eye of the heart to see only the subtle meanings and the timeless lights perceived by the eye of the heart.” [Iqadh ul-himam]
Finally, it will be for the Mourid to go in search of the Sheykh who will transmit to him that idhn by which his heart will be elevated and by which he will be able to evoke the Name of Allah as living, that is to say by benefiting from the fruits of his dhikr in this world before the other. And these fruits are manifested through the realization of the vision of the Divine Light in the manner mentioned in the following verse: “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. His light is similar to a niche where there is a lamp. The lamp is in a (container of) crystal and it looks like a star of great brightness …” [Sura an-Noûr, verse 35]. Then only the heart of the murid will be one of the “houses” mentioned in the following verse: “In houses (of hearts) of which Allah has permitted the elevation and His Name is invoked there; They glorify in them morning and afternoon, men (rijâl) whom neither trade nor barter distracts from the invocation of Allah” [Sura an-Noûr, verset 36 and 37].
Let us note in passing that the word “rijâl” actually refers in the Qur’an to the accomplished human being in what it was created, that is to say according to the known tafsir of sayidinâ ibn ‘Abbas (radiallahu ‘Anhumâ): the knowledge of Allâh. In the Quran, the use of the word “dhakar” is used in the case of man as the opposite or complement of woman, as in the following verse: “This is what Allah enjoins you concerning your children: to the son (dhakar), a share equivalent to that of two daughters.” [Sura an-Nissa, verse 11]. While for the people accomplished in the knowledge of Allah, they are concerned by this verse: “And in between the two there will be a wall, and on al-Araf will be people (rijâl) who will recognize everyone by their characteristic features. And they will cry to the people of Paradise: “Peace be upon you! They did not come in, although they wished.”” [Surat al-A’raf, verse 46]. The real “rajoul” (singular of rijâl), or Man with a big “M” is not the human being who will distinguish himself from woman as woman, but rather the one who will make her heart one of the “houses of Allah” and will take over the “woman” that is in him, that is, his own nafs, just as our mother Hawa represents the nafs of our father Adam (‘alayhima s- salam).
And on this subject our Sheykh sidi Muhammad Fawzi al-Karkariy (radiAllahu ‘anhu) often says that in the world in which we live, many women are to be regarded as men (rajoul), and conversely, Men are to be regarded as women (nafs).
