ÜÇÜNCÜ FEN · ÜÇÜNCÜ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL · Beşinci Madde
Fifth Article
This describes the effects of perfect trust (tevekkul), its miracles (karamat), and some anecdotes concerning those who embody trust.
Beloved! Know that the friends of Allah have said: It is absolutely essential to remove from the heart of a servant illnesses that afflict it and prevent him from worshipping Allah. This is so that the heart does not stray from its Mua’llib (the One Who turns hearts, namely Allah Almighty) and becomes filled with the spiritual joy of friendship with Him, finding delight therein.
These illnesses are four in number:
First: It concerns provision (rizq), and the excessive worries and efforts expended to obtain it. Its cure is perfect trust. Second: It concerns thoughts and fears that come to mind, and endeavors contrary to law undertaken to acquire them. Its cure lies only in entrusting matters to Allah (tafweed). Third: It concerns severe trials and calamities. Their remedy is achieved only through patience. Fourth: It concerns fate and destiny, and the grief arising from their various manifestations. Its cure is to be content with what has befallen one.
The heart of a servant who trusts in provision, entrusts matters to Allah during times of fear and anxiety, perseveres through hardships, and accepts fate will become pure, attaining peace and tranquility. He becomes a knower (arif) and perfect being, obtaining all his desires. These four principles – trust, entrusting, patience, and acceptance – are the remedies for these four illnesses, and each has been explained extensively in its respective section.
Although the aforementioned illnesses give the heart preoccupations pertaining to the present and future, constantly hindering it from the presence of Allah, their greatest and most difficult affliction is the matter of provision. For this is a great trial for most people, causing their bodies to be afflicted with hardship and their souls burdened. Their hearts are saddened, their minds preoccupied. They have experienced great difficulty in procuring and securing sustenance, their thoughts are shattered, their lives unproductive, and the world feels constricted upon them. Many become desperate, abandoning obedience to Allah to seek provision, going to the doors of the people of the world, becoming servants to them, subjected to every kind of humiliation and disgrace, falling into hardship and distress. They groan in the prison-like nature of the world, bewildered in the darkness of heedlessness, their lives ruined by thousands of hardships. Finally, they turn to Allah with repentance, but due to the multitude of their sins, they become deserving of the fire of Hell.
Couplet:
1- Mixing with the masses brings grief and heaviness.
2- Distance yourself from them so they do not know you.
(Translation of the Couplet)
1- Mingling with the common folk brings sorrow and gloom. Stay away from them, lest they recognize you.
2- There is no need for much effort and striving for worldly affairs; do not worry! Your provision will surely reach you.
But those who are endowed with insight and zeal have disregarded worldly means, instead directing their attention to the path of the higher realms. They have clung to the Lord of the Worlds and attained perfect trust. They avoid excessive contact with people, preferring solitude and seclusion. Abandoning worries about work and provision, they enter through the gate of the heart, passing beyond humans and desires, drinking the wine of love, and attaining the station of peace.
It is narrated from a person of the perfected ones among the saints: "While wandering alone in the desert, my nafs (self) whispered to me, saying, 'You are now utterly alone, this desert has no end.' Upon this, intending to discipline my nafs, I resolved to avoid the main road and refrain from eating or drinking unless honey and butter were placed in my mouth. With this intention, I traveled for some time in the desert. Soon after, I saw a caravan approaching me as if they had lost their way. When I saw them, I threw myself on my back to lie down so that they would not see me.
For I knew they had been sent to me by Allah Almighty. I closed my eyes. As they approached me, they said to one another: 'This is a traveler; he has probably lost his mind from hunger. Bring honey and butter and let us put it in his mouth so that he may regain his senses.' I tightly clenched my mouth and teeth. They brought a knife and tried to open my mouth. As they were trying, I smiled and opened my mouth. When they saw me in this state, they said, 'Are you mad?' Immediately, I praised Allah and thanked Him, and related to them the struggle I had with my nafs."
“All praise be to Allah, the Giver of provision, the Generous, free from all imperfection, we glorify Him.”
A perfect person among the saints has said: "During a journey, I was alone. I came to a mosque at the edge of a city. My nafs whispered to me, saying, 'This mosque is in a place far from people, and you have no provision for your fast. Go to a mosque where there are people so that the community may see you and provide for your needs.'
I resolved to discipline my nafs by vowing that I would spend this night definitely in this mosque, eating nothing but halva, and having it placed into my mouth piece by piece."
Having linked the matter of food with these conditions, I closed the door of the mosque after the evening prayer. When someone knocked on the door after the late-night (isha) prayer, I ignored it. When they began to knock forcefully, I opened the door. An elderly woman entered the mosque with a young man and a candle. The woman prayed for me and placed a plate of halva before me, saying: 'My son is a sick boy. "
Okay, here's the translation of the provided text, aiming for faithfulness and preservation of meaning within a classical Islamic/Sufi context:
1- O, newly transcribed copy of the collected secrets!
Bud of the garden of grace and tenderness!
2- Let me not declare my need to anyone;
Let me not be bowed beneath the burden of gratitude.
3- Let not my mouth open for desire’s sake;
Let not my lips be sullied by the utterance of request.
4- The possessor of greed and avarice is disgraced;
The alchemy of honor is self-sufficiency.
5- That which is not destined shall not reach the hand;
That which *is* destined shall not depart from it.
6- Raise the value of your being, do not be devalued;
Do not be a seeker of every sight.
7- What can the servant desire that is in his grasp?
"Give this one, give that one," let him say?
8- For he too is needy of the Divine bestowal;
He is bound to the absolute gift.
9- Can the helpless one grant favor?
Can he possess wealth to bestow?
10- The grace of God is given without expectation;
The hand of the servant is but an instrument at times.
11- Abandoning means is not, indeed, merit;
But what use are means without a Cause?
12- Do not suppose that your provision requires seeking;
Do not draw needless sorrow and toil to yourself.
13- He who has certainty in the Divine bestowal—
His sustenance rushes to him from himself, drawn by love.