Of Books & Men

بِبِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

This is taken from Of Books & Men.  Shaykh ‘Abd al-Karim ibn Ibrahim al-Jili (q.s.) wrote, in Maratib al-Wujud wa Haqiqatu kulli Mawjud, “I say unto you the levels of certitude alluded to by the terms ‘ilm al-yaqin, ‘ayn al-yaqin, and haqq al-yaqin, which we have said are the ultimate benefit to be obtained from reading books, are almost impossible to attain - not the slightest amount of them - by means of even a lifetime of pious works.

I have seen young men of my brethren on the Path, by means of reading such books for even a few days, reach that which men devoted to pious works could not reach in forty or fifty years, even though they themselves were the cause for these young men to come to the Path; for when they limited themselves only to their way of action, whilst these young men read books of metaphysics and spiritual realities and understood them, they fell short of their full potential, and these young men became the true elders, whilst the elders became youngsters to them.  One such as these said: 

‘I adopted all my fathers in full trust,

And there is no doubt that I am the exemplar for all fathers.’ 

This verse was composed by a certain shaykh’s disciple, whose works in the Path were known to us to consist of nothing more than reading books of metaphysics and spiritual realities, until he reached a level of knowledge in this field such as was not reached by a great many of his predecessors.  His name was Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad al-Hakkak, and he composed many verses concerning the science of metaphysics and spiritual realities; and whoever finds his collected poems and recognises their worth is lucky indeed. 

I have only related to you all of these stories in the preamble of this book in order to make you understand the value of this science and its great eminence, that you might yearn to attain unto this noble art by reading these books, applying them, and discussing them with those who are experts in them wherever they might be; for a man such as one of them might benefit you with a single word more than all the books in the world could benefit you in an entire lifetime.  This is because what you take from books is dependent on your understanding, whilst if a man who ‘arif bi Allah wishes you to understand the matter as it actually is, he imparts unto you his own understanding of it - and what a difference there is between you understanding and his. 

For those of deep understanding, to read books of metaphysics and spiritual realities is superior to the pious acts of the as-salikin; and to sit with the Folk of God and keep good conduct with them is superior to reading all the books there are. I counsel you, and I counsel you again, to keep reading books of metaphysics and spiritual realities, and to act in conformity with the knowledge they impart; for in doing this, you shall achieve your purpose and attain unto Knowledge of your God - if He so will.”