FIFTH CHAPTER · SEVENTH SECTION · Second Article
Second Article
It describes the signs and miracles (karāma) of the perfect murshid (murshid, spiritual guide);
the signs of raising a capable sālik (sālik, spiritual wayfarer); and his own habits and acts of worship.
O dear one! It should be known that the friends of Allah (awliyāʾ, friends of God) have said: The perfect murshid is
extremely compassionate and merciful towards all people. Especially, the traveler on the path of Truth (ḥaqq) finds him more merciful than his own mother and father.
The beautiful habit of the perfect murshid is that, to sāliks who come into his presence with a desire for the love and maʿrifa (maʿrifa, experiential knowledge of God) of Allah Most High, and with eagerness for his service and companionship,
he first teaches them their religion and corrects their beliefs in his gatherings, [346/b]
making clarifications in a way that removes their doubts. He acts in accordance with the school of Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jamāʿa (the people of the prophetic tradition and the community). After this, he fully teaches matters related to ablution (purification; ṭahāra) and prayer (the essentials of religious practice). He explains and encourages states such as tawakkul (tawakkul, reliance upon God), tafwīḍ (entrusting affairs to God),
sabr (sabr, patient endurance), submission, and riḍā (riḍā, contentment with God's decree). He continues his companionship in this manner for a while and observes the state of the sālik during this time.
If he finds him capable of spiritual journeying (sayr wa sulūk), he instructs him in the dhikr (dhikr, remembrance of God) of the declaration of tawḥīd (tawḥīd, the oneness of God), and shows him the path of the select servants (muqarrabūn, those brought near to Allah) who have been spiritually drawn close to Allah in a beautiful way. He helps him with his wealth to abandon reliance on causes, and protects him from all obstacles (that hinder progress on the path of Truth). He supports him in every matter and draws him towards the path of Truth.
If he sees that the seeker who wishes to enter sayr wa sulūk is not capable,
he advises him, saying: “If you have a craft, go and practice it. If not, start an honest trade. For Allah Most High does not love lazy and idle servants.
One cannot travel this path with laziness and slackness.”
If the perfect murshid does not send the sālik whom he deems incapable to a craft,
he has deceived him. However, the perfect murshid does not deceive people and does not wish for others what he does not wish for himself. As the Noble Beloved (the Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him) said,
“Whoever deceives us is not of us.” [152] With this, he has announced that those who deceive and act fraudulently will ultimately be in loss.
If the murshid is in need of someone to serve him, then
he may employ the seeker whom he deems incapable of progress on the path of Truth in his service. But on the condition that he informs him from the very beginning that he is not a sālik on the path of the muqarrabūn. Only after this, if he wishes, may he remain in his service.
One of the signs of the perfect murshid is that he covers faults and shortcomings.
He does not tell anyone’s faults to anyone else. Especially, he covers the states and secrets that sāliks confide in him, and does not disclose them to anyone. The heart of this perfect one is so rich that he expects nothing from anyone and is independent of all. He possesses such beautiful character that he never becomes angry with anyone and never speaks ill to anyone. Unless he is angry for the sake of Allah; in that case, he speaks with anger. In the eyes of the perfect one, all foods and scents are the same; the good and the bad are one. The fine and coarse of all clothes and tactile pleasures are equal in his eyes. For him, there is no difference between bread and porridge [153], rice and barley, water and sherbet, the smell of garlic and a pleasant scent, wool and silk, a soft bed and a dry mat, the young and the old, those of high status and the humble whom no one esteems, the king and the poor. Whichever of these is present with him, he does not prefer or seek its counterpart. This perfect person finds the middle way, which is the best of all affairs, in hunger and satiety, in sleep and wakefulness, in silence and speech, in seclusion and companionship—in short, in all his habits and acts of worship. That is, in all his states, his every action is between excess and deficiency. As the most perfect of the perfect and the soul of those who guide to the right path, the Noble Beloved (peace and blessings be upon him), said: “By Allah, I am the one among you who fears Allah most and is most God-conscious. Yet sometimes I fast, and sometimes I break my fast. I pray and I rest, and I marry women.” [154] With this, he has announced that being on the middle way in every matter is the most beautiful of states, the most noble of qualities, and is specific to the people of perfection.
Thus, not everyone is able to maintain the middle way with justice in everything and every affair. Only those perfect ones who have become free from the bondage of their nafs (nafs, the lower self) and have reached the rank of the awliyāʾ can achieve this. Therefore, the perfect one who is characterized by moderation is undoubtedly worthy of spiritual guidance. It becomes clear that the one who possesses these signs and miracles (karāma) mentioned above is a perfect murshid.
Verse
1-The man of God is intoxicated without wine,
The man of God is sated without kebab.
2-The man of God is enraptured and bewildered,
The man of God’s habit is to abandon sleep. [347/a]
3-The man of God is neither fire nor air,
The man of God is neither earth nor water.
4-The man of God is a king in a patched cloak,
The man of God is a hidden treasure in the earth.
5-The man of God is the essence of intellect and soul,
For the man of God, what is error, what is right?
6-The man of God is a knower and aware,
The man of God’s heart is filled with books.
7-The man of God is manifest with the Truth,
The horizons become visible from the man of God.
In Contemporary Turkish
1-The man of the path of Truth becomes intoxicated without wine. The man of the path of Truth is sated without kebab.
2-The man of the path of Truth is wholly enraptured. The habit of the man of the path of Truth is to abandon sleep.
3-The man of the path of Truth is neither fire nor air. The man of the path of Truth is neither water nor earth.
4-The man of the path of Truth is a king in his cloak. The man of the path of Truth is a hidden treasure in the earth.
5-The man of the path of Truth is the essence of intellect and soul. The man of the path of Truth sometimes errs, sometimes is correct.
6-The man of the path of Truth is a knower and awake. The man of the path of Truth’s heart is filled with books.
7-The Truth becomes manifest through the man of the path of Truth. From the man of the path of Truth, horizons become visible.