Stuck in a Vicious Cycle
Many people spend years praying, fasting, and attending remembrance gatherings (dhikr), yet fail to make even the slightest progress in their spiritual character. Years pass, but they remain captive to the same desires, pride, and gossip. Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (q.s.) likened this spiritual stagnation to an animal with its eyes bound, spinning around the same stone from morning till evening, saying: “You are like a mill donkey. Keep turning around your axis there; what will be your end?” A person who revolves around the axis of outward acts of worship but fails to free their heart from attachment (worldliness) and take even one step towards God is merely exhausting themselves.
Stuck Between Two Worlds
Being unable to decide and not being able to completely surrender to God after leaving the world consumes a person’s spiritual energy. Shaykh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (q.s.) describes the pitiable state of souls trapped between these two worlds, saying: “You are like a piece of flesh stuck between this world and the hereafter.” This person, unable to completely erase their worldly expectations, therefore cannot attain complete trust (tawakkul), and because they do not fully desire the afterlife, they cannot find sincerity. They experience a spiritual paralysis. Breaking free from this vicious cycle—transcending the axis—is only possible through a radical transformation of the heart, by instantly releasing everything transient from both hand and tongue.
Finding a Physician to Revive
For a soul stagnating like a mill donkey, it is almost impossible to break those chains on their own. A person whose eye of understanding has become blind and who has strayed far from God needs someone to take them by the hand—a guide. Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (q.s.) reminds us that we need a true guide whose prayers will revive us, urging reliance on the grace of a perfect spiritual mentor (mureed). Those true guides untie the knot in the disciple’s eye, take them out of that narrow axis, and enable them to fly directly into the ocean of Divine knowledge.