Erasing People and the World from the Heart
For the heart to truly attain (reach) Allah in Sufi path, a spiritual detachment from everything other than Allah’s essence is essential. Abdülkadir Geylânî (may peace be upon him) describes this state of high concentration as follows: “Those who enter the true path with their hearts become blind, deaf, and mute to everything except Allah’s essence. Only ‘He’ exists in the presence of those servants.” If a person’s gaze is constantly fixed on worldly positions, their ear on people’s praise or criticism, and their tongue on idle chatter, divine lights cannot descend upon that heart. For the heart to be in Allah’s presence, it must first be cleansed of worldly debris.
The Wisdom of True Deafness and Mutism
This spiritual blindness and deafness does not mean withdrawing from the world and doing nothing; it means not attributing absolute power to the causes in the universe. A perfect believer works to earn a living and interacts with people, but their heart is so “deafened” that it is unaffected by their praise or criticism. Geylânî (may peace be upon him) explains this immense awareness of Tawhid (Oneness of God) saying, “For the travelers on the path of Allah, the giver, the taker, the helper, the one who does not help, the one who harms, and the beneficial are all ‘He’,” thus 4. A heart that knows harm and benefit only from Allah will not engage in flattery to please people (become mute) and will not covet the fleeting blessings in their hands (become blind).
The Emergence of Essence and the Realm of Purity
An awakening begins within the inner world of the believer who closes off his feelings to everything except God. The glad tidings, “They have a shell-less interior with purity upon purity,” shows the result of this purification. Those who block their ears from the noise of the outer world begin to hear the Divine Word rising from within them. The wise person who is blind and deaf to people’s gossip rises to the perfect human station of being the sharpest seer and best listener regarding the secrets of the realm of the unseen.