DÖRDÜNCÜ BÂB · BEŞİNCİ FASIL · Altıncı Madde
**Article Six**
This article recounts the errors of those who, on the path of gnosis, stray from the way of guidance and fall into valleys of error, seeing all things as permissible (mubah). [313/a]
O esteemed one! Know that the friends of God have said: The *mubahi* have turned away from God’s ordinances and deviated from the clear path of religion, going astray. They have fallen into error through five means, which We shall enumerate below:
**First Group:** These deny faith in the Most High God, seeking to know the truth of His exalted essence and the manner of His attributes through conjecture and imagination, comparison and analogy. For they cannot truly grasp Him. They erred, attributing the various workings and actions of God in the universe to certain natural occurrences and stars. They came to believe that this wondrous world and this astonishing order arose spontaneously and are eternal. All beings—human, animal, plant, and mineral—are governed by order and arrangement through the influence of natural events and stars. There is no creator other than this universe, and this beautiful writing has been written spontaneously.
**Second Group:** These do not believe in resurrection after death and deny it. They have said: “The human race, like animals, trees, and plants, comes into being (enters the world) and eventually perishes. After its demise, it does not reappear.” “Since the spirits cannot reunite with their bodies, there will be no reckoning, reward, or punishment.” Their greatest error is a lack of awareness of their own existence. For they suppose that the spirit consists only of animal soul.
They failed to understand that the reality of humankind is the *ruh-i ravani*—which We call heart—it is the abode of gnosis and the addressee of the Presence of God. Non-existence (*fana*) never befalls it; it is eternal, but separates from the body, which separation is called death. This group has remained heedless because they do not understand the spirit.
**Third Group:** These deny the correction and beautification of character, saying: “Religion commands us to purify our hearts from vengeance, desire, hypocrisy, and pride. But this is impossible. For our selves are created with these qualities. The alteration of human character (disposition) is impossible. Just as we cannot whiten a black object by washing it, so too the heart cannot be completely cleansed of the attributes it bears at its creation. Character is beneath the soul; until the soul departs, character does not leave its place.” They believe this way.
But they did not know this truth: The religion of Islam does not command that these qualities be entirely erased and annihilated from the heart. Rather, it commands that they be brought under the control of reason and the heart. This is possible and easy—it has been proven by experience.
The Most Noble Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “I am also a human being like yourselves. Just as any one of you may become angry, so too do I sometimes feel anger.” [106] And he announced that in his childhood, he possessed human qualities but later overcame them.
The Most High God has declared in His Eternal Word: “(Those who) swallow their wrath and forgive people” (Al-Imran 3/134), announcing that those who restrain their anger and overcome it with reason are worthy of praise. But He has not praised those without anger or resentment, for they cannot attain the degree of perfection without them.
**Fourth Group:** These trust in their selves, considering themselves to be on the highest level, saying: “We have attained such high degrees and reached such states that sin does no harm to us. With these states, our hearts have become like seas, so that some [313/b] impurities may mix with them without defiling them.” But they failed to understand that being like a sea requires attaining such tranquility that no wind can move it, nor can anything pollute it. However, if one of them were to speak to another without showing respect or addressing him as “O Noble One,” or if he were to insult and use harsh words, cursing; that person would harbor animosity towards him for months and years and desire to harm him. If someone were to take a coin or a morsel of food from one of them, the world would seem constricted to him, his vision would vanish, and his mind would go astray. For these fools are captives of their anger and desires, filled with hypocrisy and pride. They are not even considered men; their humanity is surely deficient.
Because they trust in their ignorance and heedlessness, they have strayed into such baseless claims. Indeed, even the prophets and friends of God have shed tears and repented when a fault occurred from them.
**Fifth Group:** These also place excessive trust in God’s mercy—which is the name *settar*, meaning “One who covers imperfections”—and are confident that they are safe from the manifestation of His attribute of "Punisher" (*kahhar*), saying: “God is Forgiving and Generous, Compassionate and Merciful. He is more merciful to His servants than a mother is to her child. Surely God, the *settaru’l-uyub* (One who covers imperfections exceedingly), will cover our faults just as He is the *Ghaffar* (Forgiver) of sins.” But they failed to understand that God is both *settar* and *Ghaffar*, but also *Jabbâr* and *Kahhar* (Punisher).
They say: “God has no need for our worship; He is Self-Sufficient. Our worship brings Him no benefit. Nor does our disobedience cause Him any harm.”
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