Praise and Washing for Entering Ihram
Therefore, the one who circumambulates the House should first perform the washing, and should not delay it for entering ihram, because this washing is a purification suitable for seeing the House and performing circumambulation. There is a relationship between this washing and washing for putting on ihram only in a specific sense. If a person claims to be purified through this purification and completes his circumambulation, he remains deprived of inner purity. Allah has placed blessings and guidance in this House. Guidance means explanation. In other words, the knowledge of ‘lave’ that a person acquires about his Lord becomes clear there. The placement of guidance and blessings in the House implies that the guardian of the House bestows upon those who circumambulate it and visit it, blessings, closeness, favor, and explanation from his ‘clothing’. Explanation relates to unclear issues, conditions, and problematic matters concerning the knowledge of knowing Allah, and it is of a suitable nature for the chosen House. It is the place where the right hand of the Truth is kissed, where the declaration of allegiance is made, and where prostration is performed.
This House is the treasure where the blessings and guidance of Allah are stored. Sari has mentioned the ‘treasure’ present in that House through a sign. What treasure can be higher than the treasure of the blessings and guidance mentioned by Allah? Indeed, Allah has counted both of these as the House itself. Therefore, the treasure is the one who is completed in himself, and that is Allah.
Whoever completes the circumambulation and visitation of the House should look into his heart. If he sees an increase in his knowledge about his Lord and perceives clarity in knowing Him in a way he did not have before, he knows at that moment that his washing for entering Makkah is valid. If he finds none of these things in his heart, he should understand that he has not been purified. He has neither come to his Lord nor circumambulated His House. It is unthinkable that a guest should not be welcomed in the house of a generous host. If a person cannot find an increase in knowledge in his heart, it means that he has not added anything to his washing with water or visiting the arranged stones. Such a person has only experienced fatigue and found failure in his heart. In the afterlife, he will not gain anything other than the reward of Paradise that is due to physical deeds. This reward will be achieved by the majority of believers. If he continues to stay in Makkah, he has become a neighbor to the stones rather than to the Truth. When he returns to his city, he returns in a sorrowful and timid manner.
May Allah, in His honor, make us among the possessors of hearts! They are the people of Allah and the chosen ones. Âmin!
If such a person confesses that there is no increase in his heart and that he has been deprived of something, he will receive the reward due to those who are accurate in the afterlife. In this world, he remains deprived of knowledge.
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Performing the Ritual Washing for Entering Ihram
Washing for entering ihram is interpreted as purifying the body from actions that the ihram-bound person cannot perform, and purifying the heart from everything that it leaves behind. A person should come to Allah’s House with his body, having left behind worldly things such as family, wealth, and children, and should also turn back to himself with his heart, leaving behind these things. He prevents the entry of any of these things into his heart or their coming to mind through repentance and turning to Allah. Therefore, it is called the washing for ihram. Because ihram prohibits these kinds of actions in a person’s body and heart. If a person is not like this, he has not entered ihram with his heart.
The gatekeeper has fallen asleep and become absent, and the gate is left without a guardian. The thoughts of the self and the devil cannot find anyone to prevent them from entering the heart. A person says with his tongue, ‘I respond (labbayk!),’ and believes that he has given a positive answer to the call of his Lord [to the Kaaba]. However, he is actually responding to the call of the self or the devil, which says to him, ‘ey falanca,’ and says, ‘I respond.’ This thought responds according to what the self or the devil has sent it and according to what the thought has brought to the person, which is not commanded to turn to him. When a person says, ‘I respond, O Allah, I respond,’ the sender of the thought [the self or the devil] says, ‘Welcome! You have come to the house that will give you deprivation, failure, and an obvious loss.’ The sender of this thought (the self or the devil) rejoices because the person has regarded himself as a deity and said, ‘I respond’ and ‘beyk.’
For and the language of the state says, “If the mercy and grace of Allah had not been, and if there had not been an intention before this, a great torment would have touched you in the matter in which you have immersed yourself.” What is meant by this is that the heart turns towards the things left behind by the senses and finds them in the heart. Allah covers (forgives) what they say from within and the thoughts brought by Satan at that time. The reason for this is not anything else but the blessing of the utterance of the talbiyah with words alone. Another reason is that He has given the same things to those who purify their inner selves among those who enter ihram.
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Washing After Becoming a Muslim
Washing after becoming a Muslim is a sunnah, even a religiously determined obligation. A hadith is reported regarding this matter. The inner interpretation of this act is as follows: Islam is bowing one’s head. When a person bows their head outwardly, they appear to be a Muslim. Then, in order for them to be a Muslim inwardly, they must also bow their head inwardly. Thus, the meaning of purifying one’s inner self with faith after becoming a Muslim is significant. Allah says about a group: “They said, ‘We have believed.’ Say, ‘You have not believed, say that you have become Muslims. Faith has not entered your hearts.'” Faith is the inner purification that is beneficial and saves from remaining eternally in hell.
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Washing for the Friday Prayer
The inner interpretation of this washing is to purify the heart in order to be united with the Lord. In addition, purifying the heart is achieved by directing all one’s powers to Allah after the veil from the heart is removed and one is brought close to Him. For this reason, according to some scholars, the Friday prayer is valid and performed with the presence of two people. I also hold this view. Allah says: “I have divided the prayer between myself and My servant.” Here, He did not mention the third. “The servant says, and I say to him…”
It is a necessity for someone who desires such a condition to be specially purified for the Friday prayer. In fact, we can say: There is a specific purification for each of the servant’s conditions before Allah. Because prayer is the place of meeting. Therefore, the Friday prayer is performed as two rakats of obligation. The first one turns the servant towards Allah through what is said. The second one turns Allah towards the servant according to the declaration of responding to what the servant says. Or, according to what the servant says in prayer, the Noble Community informs Him. Indeed, a person reads clearly according to the condition determined for the Friday prayer. When he reads clearly, Allah, the Noble Community, says, “My servant has praised me.” Whatever the servant mentions, such as obedience, selflessness, trust, and exaltation, Allah informs the Noble Community of it.
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Washing for Friday
The inner interpretation of washing for Friday is to be purified by the grace of time for the seven days that are the days of the week. Allah has commanded the servant to wash as a mandatory task every week. Therefore, washing on Friday is not for prayer but for the day itself. In this way, the purification for the Friday prayer is a purification of the condition, and this purification is a purification of time. Because scholars have differed regarding the ruling of this washing. According to some, washing is for Friday. Our view is also this. It is better to purify before the Friday prayer and also intend to wash for the Friday prayer along with the day. According to some, this purification is for the Friday prayer on Friday. This is certainly a more superior behavior. Indeed, if a person does not wash before the prayer, he must wash until the sun sets.
That the entire being of the servant turns completely towards the Truth occurs temporally on this day. For this reason, the relation of this day to the Truth is similar to the temporal decrees of the eternal that entered into the creation of existence in different times accompanied by particles such as “before, after, now.” “Commanding before and after belongs to Allah.”* Learn this matter! Because it is an extremely sensitive subject.
Whoever washes for the Friday prayer has united the washing for the condition with the washing for the prayer. Whoever washes after the prayer for Friday has separated them. This, however, harms the thing called Friday. The strongest interpretation is that washing on this day is commanded both for Friday and for the Friday prayer. It is not far-fetched to say that the intention of the Sharia in this matter is this.
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Washing for a Woman in Menstruation
(Hayızlının yıkanması hakkındaki hükmü ifade edip bu konudaki kendi görüşümüzü belirteceğiz. Meselenin bâtıni yorumu şudur: Hayız bir hastalıktır. Kul ise, hastalıktan bir şeyin giremeyeceği şekilde, ibadetini sağlıklı hale getirmekle sorumludur. Kul ibadetlerinden birinde ‘hastalanırsa’, o hastalıktan temizlenir ve hastalığı giderir. Böylece ibadet ve kulluğuna hastalık ve sıkıntı bulaşmaksızın sırf, halis ve saf kul olarak Allah’a ibadet eder.
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Hayızdan Dolayı Boy Abdesti Almak
Hayız şeytanın dürtmesidir. Bu nedenle ondan yıkanmak gerekir. Allah şöyle buyurur: “O şeytanın amelinden bir pisliktir.” Öyleyse gelip kendisine temas ettiğinde kalbin şeytanın verdiği düşünceden temizlenmesi gerekir, Şeytanın verdiği düşünceden ise melek kaynaklı düşünceyle temizlenilir. “Beyaz parca”, insanın kalbinden şeytanın dürtüsünü kovup uzaklaştırmakla kalbi temizlediğinin belirtisi ya da belirtilerinden biridir. Kalp bu esnada meleğin verdiği düşünceyi kullanır ki kalbin temizlenmesi budur. Bu iki düşünce, iki parmakla da [ya da iki elle] simgesel olarak anlatılabilir. Parmakların her ikisi de, rahmet parmağıdır. Çünkü Şari onları kendisine izafe etti. Şeytan kaynaklı düşünce nedeniyle de Allah’ın kuluna rahmeti olmasaydı, meleğin verdiği düşünceyle şeytanın düşüncesine karşı amele dönmek nedeniyle sevap gerçekleşmezdi. Öyleyse (şeytanın dürtüsünden yüz çeviren) bu insanın iki ödülü vardır. Bu nedenle, Allah iki parmağı Rahman’a nispet etti dedik.
İnsan, kendisini ayartan şeytanın yönlendirdiği işi yapmamak için nefsiyle “cihat” eder ve bu nedenle [nefsiyle] cihaddan sonra (başarısız kalıp) ezeli kader kula karşı şeytana yardımcı olabilir ve insan (şeytanın yönlendirdiği) işi yapar. Söz konusu günah fiili, kendisinden meydana gelir. İnsan ise, inanarak ve doğrulayarak fiilin şeytandan olduğunu görür. Nitekim Hz. Musa şöyle der: “O şeytanın amelindendir, şeytan apaçık bir düşmandır.”* Boyle bir fiilin ardından tövbe ederse, şehit sevabı alır. Tövbe derken pişmanlığı kastediyorum. Çünkü pişmanlık, tövbenin en önemli öğesidir. Bir rivayette “Pişmanlık tövbedir” denilir. Şehit ise ölü değil, diridir.
Hangi fiilde olursa olsun kalplerin Allah karşısındaki “hayat”ından (huzur, bilinç hali] daha büyük ve yetkin bir hayat düşünülebilir mi? Günah işlerken imanı akılda tutmak, o günahı bilinçlilik hayatıyla canlandırır. Böyle bir amel ise, kıyamet günü sahibinin bağışlanmasını ister. İşte bu, iki parmağın kendisine izafe edildiği er-Rahman isminin inayetinden kaynaklanır. Öyleyse şeytan, farkında olmaksızın, kulun iyiye olan artışı için çalışmaktadır. Çünkü hırs, şeytanı köreltir. İşlenen günahın vebali ise, şeytana döner. İşte bu, Allah’ın Iblis’i aldatmasının bir yönüdür. Çünkü İblis, Allah’ın, kulu şeytandan kaynaklanan bu dürtüyle özel bir şekilde mutlu yapacağını bilseydi, kendisine herhangi bir şey aktarmazdı. Allah’ın kendisiyle Iblis’i aldattığı bu tuzağa kimsenin dikkat çektiğini görmedim. İblis’i tanımasam, onun bilgisizliğini ve kulu günaha teşvikle ilgili hırsını bilmeseydim, ben de buna dikkat çekmezdim [bu konu benim de dikkatimi çekmezdi]. Çünkü ben, bu engel olmasaydı itaatsizlik dürtüsünden uzak kalacağımı biliyordum. Bu durum, beni bu meseleyi zikretmeye sevk etti. Şeytan ise, kulu bedbaht yapma hırsı ve Allah’ın kula döneceğini (tövbesini kabul edeceğini) bilmemekle perdelendiği için, onu öğrenemez. Her tuzakla aldatan -farkında olunmaksızın- Allah’tır. Aldatılmayan kimse ise, bu farkına varabilir.
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Haz Almaksızın Çıkan Meniden Dolayı Boy Abdesti Almak
According to some scholars, therefore, washing is obligatory; according to others, it is not, and I am of the latter opinion. The inner meaning of this issue is as follows: To become junub means to be in a state of exile. Exile occurs through separation from one’s homeland. A person’s homeland is their servitude to God. When a person separates from their homeland, they enter the boundaries of lordship, and if they are characterized by lordly traits towards their fellow beings without experiencing any pleasure, then they have not fulfilled the essence of lordship. Because, according to a perfected person, no pleasure can be compared to the pleasure of perfection. The joy derived from the senses, due to perfection, cannot be compared to any other joy. If a person does not fulfill their due regarding a quality, then washing becomes an obligation regarding that quality. Therefore, washing is the acknowledgment of the deficiency in that divine quality. The scholars who consider washing obligatory because a person ejaculates while awake without experiencing any pleasure, have considered it obligatory for this reason. However, those who think that if a servant (slave of God) is characterized by the perfection belonging to the necessary existence, while being away from their homeland (servitude), and who believe that it is necessary for that quality to be present in them (since the servant is not the place of that quality), do not consider washing obligatory for the servant.
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The Obligation of Washing for a Person Who Sees Wetness in Their Underwear Upon Waking Without Remembering Ejaculation
The ruling regarding the water seen upon waking (which is semen) is that it is from water, as stated in the hadith. The hadith specifies the ruling, and it is not, as some scholars mistakenly thought, an invalid hadith.
The mystic may encounter a contraction and expansion without knowing their cause. This situation is a very important issue according to the Sufi tradition. The mystic understands that this situation arises from their failure to fully comprehend the relationship between their negligence in observing the will and the condition that brings forth this quality (contraction and expansion). Therefore, until they see what this situation will bring forth in the future, it becomes a duty to submit to what divine decree brings. However, when they know the cause, they must wash with full awareness before God, knowing the mutual relationships.