SIXTY-EIGHTH CHAPTER
The Secrets of Purification
Look with insight, and you will clearly see the secret of purification,
Upon those who are alert and purified, with ease.
THE THIRTIETH SECTION
OF THE FUTŪḤĀT AL-MAKKIYYA
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate
When a person becomes junub (in a state of major ritual impurity), he washes himself completely,
Just as pleasures spread over his upper parts.
Behold, Allah draws the attention of creatures,
The duration for wiping (masḥ) is one day, without need for making up (qaḍāʾ)!
There is a secret in masḥ (wiping) that I cannot explain,
Even if my joints and indeed every part of me were cut apart.
After it, comes wiping over bandages, whose secret is clear
For every murīd (aspirant, disciple) who does not desire the outward aspect of the world.
If a person cannot find pure water,
It suffices to perform tayammum (dry ablution) with pure earth.
He wipes his face and his hands.
But if he wishes, he may do it twice, which is even better!
The purity of the secret is the share of the purified and the unpurified alike.
A person puts water in his mouth, but
If he does not avoid pretension and does not fulfill his claim,
Or if he draws water into his nose without sensing the fragrance of union (wuṣla),
He blows his nose, but if arrogance leads him to destruction (he is not considered to have performed ablution).
If he listens to the best of words,
He is considered to have purified his ear.
A traveler who puts on khuffs (leather socks) while in a state of ablution
Performs masḥ (wiping) for three days; in its secret there is concealment.
If he is not a traveler but is staying at home,
The modesty of one who washes his face properly is also sound.
Now, whenever he wishes, he can lift the veils.
If water does not touch the hair on his head,
And his palms do not remain at the nape of his neck,
It means he has not been freed from the yoke of servitude.
'Others' have made him bow in the abode of destruction.
If, while washing his feet during his journey, he has not seen the Kursī (Divine Footstool),
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This type of purification is done with three things. There is consensus about two of them, while there is disagreement about one. The two means agreed upon in general are water and earth. Here, the earth is separated from the ground and—
Spiritual purification is to cleanse the nafs (the lower self) from evil and blameworthy traits, and the intellect from the filth of evil thoughts and doubts. The purification of the secret (sirr) is to cleanse it from looking at others. As for the purification of the organs, you should know that every organ has a spiritual purification. We have mentioned these in the purification section of al-Tanazzulāt al-Mawṣiliyya. Material purification is to cleanse oneself from impure things that the nafs naturally and habitually finds repugnant. These two purifications have been made obligatory.
External-material purification is of two types: The first is the cleanliness (nazāfa) we mentioned earlier. The other consists of specific applications in certain special places arising from necessary-special circumstances. Nothing can be added to or subtracted from these by the religion. This purification has three names in the religion: wuḍūʾ (ablution), ghusl (full-body ritual washing), and tayammum (dry ablution). This is the case in every act of worship.
Can one who does not know the matters be like one who knows?
This is the purification of the gnostics (ʿārifūn), look!
If you are among their group, you attain the chosen nearness!
If this is the outward aspect of the matter, there is also that which is hidden from the eyes—
It is far loftier by many degrees!
May Allah support us and you with a spirit from Himself. Know that, since purification means cleanliness (nazāfa), we have understood that it is a quality of declaring transcendence (tanzīh). Purification is divided into material and spiritual purification, in other words, purification of the qalb (the heart) and the purification of certain organs.
This is the one whom purification has encompassed entirely.
Even if he loses himself in pure pleasures, he does not lose his self-possession.
If a person forgets any obligatory act,
He repeats it, making up and compensating for its requirement.
But if he neglects a sunnah (prophetic practice) rather than an obligation,
It means he has not deserved nearness (to the Truth) nor attained his desires.
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Allah does not wish to place a burden upon you, but He wishes to purify you.30
It is not valid. [As an opposing view, it is argued that] the Lawgiver's (Sharīʿ) command to repeat ablution when water is found is, in my view, a different ruling. Just as an obstacle that had previously been removed may return again. There is disagreement about things separated from the earth other than soil itself.
Allah says: 'O you who believe! When you rise up for prayer, wash your faces and your hands up to the elbows, and wipe your heads, and (wash) your feet up to the ankles.229' The word 'feet' may be read with fatḥa (as the object of 'wash') or with kasra (as the object of 'wipe'). 'If you are in a state of janāba (major ritual impurity), then purify yourselves. If you are ill or on a journey, or one of you comes from the toilet, or you have touched women and you find no water, then perform tayammum with clean earth and wipe your faces and your hands with it.'41
The first case is like performing ablution over ablution: 'Light upon light.' The second is about removing the obstacle to the validity of the act of worship that may be performed due to this purification, and making it possible to perform. Here, purification is originally present in the command to perform that act of worship.
One of the things for which this purification is performed may be a means that removes the obstacle and makes its performance permissible. This means, without any disagreement, is water and sour date juice (nabīdh) in ablution. Another means of purification makes it permissible to perform a specific act at the obligatory time, but according to differing opinions, it does not completely remove the obstacle. This is earth. In my view, the act of tayammum with earth at the time of the act removes the obstacle, and it does not matter if it is not performed with earth or earth products like bricks.
Especially in ablution, the means of purification over which there is disagreement is sour date juice (nabīdh). Also, earth that has been separated from the ground [in ablution]. Because, apart from the type of earth we mentioned, there is also disagreement about it.
This purification may be an independent act of worship. As the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said about it: 'Light upon light.' Sometimes, it may be a condition for the validity or greater merit of a specific act of worship that is only valid with the existence of purification. The fact that purification is an independent act of worship—
Take off my garment from my garment.
The poet, by 'garment,' meant love and union. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) reports in a sacred hadith that his Lord said: 'Neither My earth nor My heaven can contain Me, but the heart of My believing servant contains Me.' One of Allah's names is al-Muʾmin. Whoever is adorned with this name has undoubtedly purified his qalb (heart), for the heart is the locus of iman (faith). Thus, containing the Real (al-Ḥaqq) and divine manifestation (tajallī) occurs [in the heart].
General purification—which means washing—is to cleanse oneself from the state of heedlessness that envelops the self due to the pleasure taken from sexual intercourse. [This state of intercourse is described in poetry as follows]:
The beloved of Suhayl appeared to me, and he too—
He too appeared—
I was reciting the Qur'an—I had heard: According to the recitation of Ibn Kathīr, while reciting the Qur'an, I read [ṣirāṭ] with the letter Sīn. Thereupon, he said to me:
'A linguist asked a Bedouin: Do you read it as 'sakar' or as 'sekar'?