Rainwater and Sharia Knowledge
Rainwater is in a single state: pure, clear, cool, and a drink that satisfies the thirst. This symbolizes the knowledge of correct reason and thoughts. Because the knowledge gained through thought (ideas) changes and becomes impure. Because they depend on the temperament of those who think. The rational person only examines the perceptible matters (and also the things imagined from them). Their proofs also depend on similar things. Thus, the judgments of rational people about a single thing differ, just as a person’s ruling about a single thing also changes at different times. The reason for this change in ruling is the change in temperaments and the mixture and elements inherent in creation (over time). Thus, just as the judgments of rational people about a single thing differ, their judgments about the details and principles also differ.
The taste of divine and worldly knowledge is singular. Even if the acquired tastes change, its purity remains unchanged: it is pure, and some parts are even purer. This knowledge is clear, and no impurity has mixed with it. Because it is free from the influence of natural temperaments and (its) original sources. Therefore: prophets, saints, and those who convey news from Allah have been in agreement about knowledge regarding Allah. It does not increase, decrease, or change. They confirm each other. Indeed, the water of the sky when raining does not differ.
Let your trust and the purity of your heart be like this knowledge! This knowledge is the sharia knowledge that resembles rainwater. If you do not behave in this way, you have not been sincere to yourself. Moreover, your essence and purity should be like the place from which this water originates. If you can distinguish the bitterness and sweetness of this water, you should know that you have healthy senses. This matter is something I have not seen anyone else pay attention to. Because a person who can sense the sweetness of something when eating it, but cannot sense the bitterness of something else when eating it, does not have a healthy sense. Reason also does not allow for this. Thus, we have drawn your attention to this matter. Be aware of it! Examine it!
Belief and Purity
O friend! Strive to attain the knowledge of the saints and the wise, who receive knowledge from Allah, by keeping away from riya (showing off), seclusion, striving, unnecessary needs, and superfluous thoughts, and by studying the sharia sciences as they are. If you cannot distinguish these waters, you should know that you have an evil temperament. One of the mixtures (ahlat-ı erbaa) has become dominant over you. We have no solution to your problem. But if Allah has mercy on you (then it is different).
If you use the purity of this knowledge’s water – which I mean is the legitimate knowledge – in your purity, you will have cleansed and purified your qualities and spirituality just as you cleanse and purify your organs with water. The first purity is washing your hands before you drink water after getting up from sleep at night, without dipping your hands into the water. There is no disagreement on this matter. However, there is disagreement on the necessity of washing your hands after a daytime nap. The hand is the organ of strength and governance. The purification of these two hands is achieved through the knowledge of the left hand saying “There is no power except with Allah [la-havle]” and the right hand saying “There is no power except with the Most Mighty Allah [ve-la kuvvete illa billahi’l-azim].”
These two hands are the place where stinginess and the tightening of the hand are held and prevented as a duty. Therefore, you should purify them by opening and spending generously through acts of generosity and charity. Night sleep is a state of ignorance regarding one’s own hidden world. Daytime sleep is a state of ignorance regarding the world of testimony. This is the very essence of being identical with the world of hiddenness and testimony, which are among the most beautiful names attributed to Allah, and it is the very essence of morality.
After this comes purification with water (istinca) and purification with stone (isticmar). Doing both together is better than doing just one. These are two separate purifications; light within light. These purifications are encouraged in the Sunna and the Quran. Istinca is the act of cleansing the sexual organs with water due to the presence of excrement (eza, pain) within them. Thus, these two sexual organs are both the places from which excrement comes and also the two places that should be covered and hidden. The pain within a person (eza, likened to excrement) is the ugly thoughts and misleading doubts that have attached themselves to the heart. In a sahih hadith, it is reported: “Shaytan comes to a person’s heart and says to him: Who created this? Who created that? In the end, he asks: Who created Allah?” The purification of the heart from this kind of pain, as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, is simply to seek refuge in Allah and to end the question.
These two (the front and back sexual organs) are the private parts. In other words, these are inclined towards things that cause a person to be tempted to himself. A person tempts himself with things that harm his religiosity in matters of essence and detail. The back is the place of excretion (eza). It was created for this very reason. The other two sexual organs in men and women (the front organs of men and women) are the original and unique ones. They have both a good and a bad aspect. Good and bad are marriage and fornication.
Look! When a little dirt gets into a little amount of water, it affects it and then that water is no longer used. Water, when poured over dirt, removes its ruling. Just like this, doubts affect weak-hearted and thoughtful people. When dirt falls into a lake, it disappears from it, just as doubts, when they fall upon strong hearts supported by knowledge and the Holy Spirit, disappear in the same way. When the devil, humans and jinn bring these doubts to a person who has been blessed with divine knowledge from the grace of Allah, that person changes the external existence of the doubts. This person knows how, with the elixir of knowledge obtained from the grace of Allah’s divine mercy, he can turn doubt bullets into something worthless and transform base things into silver. In addition, he knows which direction these things are correct from, and how they affect (without even considering the influence of the sources). This is the secret of spiritual purification.
A person who performs ablution (wudu) and cleanses himself with a stone (isticmar) instead of washing, should know that this is the purity of the follower (mukallid). Because the stones (cemre) are plural (cemaa) and, as stated in the hadith, “The hand of Allah is upon the community (cemaat).” The hadith’s term kasibe refers to an animal that has separated from the herd. Separating from the herd means opposing the community. Isticmar is collecting stones with numbers that are odd and greater than three. The reason for being odd is that Allah is one. Therefore, you should continuously observe the singular. The singular (vitr) means a demand for revenge. Here, what is being discussed is the doubts that the devil casts into a person’s faith. Thus, you collect stones to remove this filth from the organ.
When a follower (mukallid) finds a doubt within himself, he flees to the community, in other words, to the people of the Sunnah (Ehl-i sünnet ve’l-cemaat). Because, as stated in the hadith, the hand of Allah is with the community. The hand of Allah means His support and power. The Prophet (peace be upon him) has forbidden separation from the community. Therefore, the consensus (icma) of the imams has taken the place of the text (nass) that expresses a legitimate ruling, just like a mutawatir hadith that expresses a book or certain knowledge.
To remove the ugly remembrance, give water (mazmaza) to your mouth with beautiful remembrance! The ugly remembrance is gossip, backbiting, and exposing bad speech. Giving water to your mouth should be recitation, remembering Allah, reconciling differences, commanding good, and keeping away from evil. Allah says: “Allah does not like the open exposure of evil speech.” In another verse, He says: “The one who spreads gossip.” In another verse, He says: “Most of their speech is not good, except for the one who commands charity or goodness or reconciles between people.” Examples like these can be given.
This is the purity of your mouth. I have opened the door for you. You should continue in this way during your ablution, ghusl, and teyemmum. This is what Allah demands from you. We have made a detailed explanation in our book called “Et-Tenezzülâtu’l-müsuliyye” in both prose and poetry style, so please refer to it! In this way, we have guided you.
Apply this purity completely in all your responsible organs! Because every responsible limb is responsible for all acts of worship. These acts of worship are purity, prayer, zakat, fasting, pilgrimage, jihad, etc., which are religiously determined deeds. You also direct these acts of worship to each responsible limb in the way that its truth requires. “Allah does not hold anyone responsible for anything other than what He has given. Allah has given everything its creation, and then He has shown them the way. In other words, He has explained how to use what He has given.
The responsible organs of a human being are eight in number. Although the number may not increase, it may decrease in some individuals. These are the eye, ear, tongue, hand, stomach, sexual organ, foot, and heart. There is nothing else in a human being. However, in some individuals of the human race, these may be missing. For example, we can mention the blind, the deaf, the mute, and the disabled. In such a situation, the responsibility is directed to the organ that you have.
All offers related to each of these organs are learned from the address of Shari’. These organs are like the instruments of the soul, which is addressed by the Sharia, and is responsible for managing the body. You are also responsible for applying justice in them. The Prophet said, ‘When one shoe’s strap broke, he would remove the other shoe in order to achieve justice between his two feet and would not walk on a single shoe.’ We have explained these matters and their lights, honors, abodes, secrets, and manifestations in our book called Mevâkiu’n-nücüm in a complete manner. As far as we know, there was no such book written before us. I wrote it in the month of Ramadan in the year 595 H in the city of el-Meriyye (Almeria) in eleven days. The book does not require a teacher, in fact, the teacher is in need of the book. Because one of the two teachers is superior, the other is even more superior. The book, however, is at the highest rank where a teacher can be found. There is no rank in this Sharia, in which we worship Allah with it, beyond that rank. Whoever finds this book, let him trust in Allah’s success. Because the benefit of this book is great. The only reason I have mentioned the value of the book is this: I saw in my dream twice that Allah said to me, ‘Advise my servants!’ This book is one of the greatest advices I give you. Success is from Allah. Guidance is in His hand. We have no power at all.
The lying Iblis once spoke the truth! Iblis met the Prophet and the Prophet asked him, ‘What news?’ Iblis answered, ‘O Messenger of Allah! You should know that Allah created you for guidance, but you have no contribution in guidance. Allah created me for misguidance, and I have no influence in misguidance.’ The Prophet did not add anything to Iblis’ words and left. Then, angels placed a veil between Iblis and the Prophet (peace be upon him).
VASIL
After drawing your attention to some matters you can benefit from, you should know that Allah addressed the entirety of mankind, not separating the outward from the inward, nor the inward from the outward. Except for a certain minority, the majority of people have aimed to know the rulings related to the outward aspects of the Sharia, and have remained unaware of the rulings related to the inward aspects of the religion. This minority is ‘the people of the path of Allah,’ because they have investigated this matter at both the outward and inward levels. They have seen that every religious ruling they accepted at the outward level has an extension at the inward level, and have treated all the rulings of the Sharia in this way, worshipping Allah by fulfilling the duties He holds responsible at both the outward and inward levels, and they have attained salvation where others have suffered loss.
Then, a third group emerged in these matters, who are deviant and misleading. This group took the rulings of the Sharia and used them at the inward level, not leaving any of the Sharia rulings without applying them at the outward level. This group is called ‘the inwarders.’ They have different inclinations in this matter. Abu Hamid al-Ghazali opposed them in his book named Fedaihu’l-Bâtıniyye, explaining the errors of the inwarders in this work. Undoubtedly, happiness is with the people of the outward. They are opposite to the side where the people of the inward are. Complete happiness belongs to the group that unites the outward and the inward. They are the people who know Allah and His rulings.
If Allah wills, I had intended to write a great book. In it, I wanted to present all the issues of the Sharia as they appear in their outward contexts. After completing the outward matters, I would present the rulings related to the inward aspects of these issues (or I would present them). In this way, I would show that the ruling of the Sharia spreads to both the outward and the inward. Because even though the purpose and intention of the people of the path of Allah is to unite the outward and the inward, each of them is not from those who understand the meaning given by Allah. Therefore, no one can learn the measure of this ruling regarding the outward and the inward from within himself.
In this book, however, we have focused on taking up general topics from among the acts of worship. This includes cleanliness, prayer, alms, fasting, pilgrimage, and the declaration ‘There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’ (the testimony of faith). I have especially made an effort to address these five acts of worship. Because these are the foundations upon which Islam, the religion of Islam, is built. They are like the walls of a house. Faith, however, is the house itself and its entirety. The entrance to the house is the ‘door.’ This door has two wings: these are the two testimonies of faith. The four pillars of the house are: prayer, alms, fasting, and pilgrimage.
For the sake of Allah’s mercy, which resides in this house and protects us from the cold and heat of the breath of Hell, we have dedicated ourselves to keeping this house standing. The Messenger of Allah says: “The fire complains to its Lord, saying: O my Lord! A part of me consumes another part.” Allah allows two breaths in Hell: one in winter, and the other in summer. All kinds of heat and intensity, as well as all kinds of cold and chill, are formed from the breath of Hell. People also acquire houses in order to protect themselves from the heat of the sun and the cold of the air.