The Sea of the World and the Ship of Iman
The life of this world is like a deep, dangerous, and turbulent ocean that a person must cross in order to reach the eternal abode of the hereafter. ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Geylānī (may Allah sanctify his secret) explains this tremendous reality with a legendary piece of advice that Luqmān the Wise gave to his son: "My dear son! The world is a sea, and iman (faith) is the ship within it... What makes the ship move is servanthood to Allah. The shore is the beginning of the realm of the hereafter," 12. Those who try to swim in this sea or travel with rotten rafts (worldly greed and desires of the nafs [the lower self]) are inevitably drowned. However, the one whose iman is sound, who builds his ship with the planks of taqwa (God-consciousness), and who turns his rudder toward servanthood to Allah, will, despite the storms, reach the shore of safety unharmed 11, 12.
Becoming the Deputy of the Captain
For a ship not to sink in a stormy sea, it is not enough for it to be sturdy; that ship also needs a competent captain and the right course. Al-Geylānī states, "The world is a sea, the path of religion is its ship, and the sailor is the grace of Allah," indicating that the only salvation lies in clinging to Divine grace. If a person departs from the path of religion (the sharia [the sacred law] of Islam), he will sink in the sea of the world like a ship that has lost its compass. Those who make their nafs and fleeting desires the captain of their ship are doomed to crash upon the rocks. However, the servant who clings tightly to the rules of religion becomes the "deputy of the captain" on this ship and, by drawing Allah's favor upon himself, takes possession of all the spiritual treasures found in that sea.
Reaching the Shore and the Eternal Abode
The waves in the sea of the world sometimes strike to the right, sometimes to the left, to test the iman of the servant. In the midst of these arduous struggles, the servant must continue to row with sabr (patient endurance) (through worship and servanthood). Al-Geylānī (may Allah sanctify his secret) gives the glad tidings: "Strive in this sea. As the waves strike to the right and to the left, one day they will cast you upon the shore of safety." When that ship reaches the shore of the hereafter, the journey ends and true rest begins. The believer who does not let his ship sink in this world, who does not allow it to take on water through the holes of the unlawful, will, upon reaching that shore, find his Lord and be freed from all his fears forever.