Do Not Teach Allah (s.w.t.)

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is adapted from a swuhbah by Shaykh Muhammad Nazhim Adil al-Haqqani (q.s.) on the 25^th March 2010. 

There is a particular intimate conversation between Musa (a.s.) and Allah (s.w.t.), from which we can draw a beautiful and inspirational lesson. 

سُوۡرَةُ طٰه

وَمَا تِلۡكَ بِيَمِينِكَ يَـٰمُوسَىٰ (١٧) قَالَ هِىَ عَصَاىَ أَتَوَڪَّؤُاْ عَلَيۡہَا وَأَهُشُّ بِہَا عَلَىٰ غَنَمِى وَلِىَ فِيہَا مَـَٔارِبُ أُخۡرَىٰ (١٨) 

“And what is that in thy right hand, O Moses?”  He said, “It is my rod: on it, I lean; with it, I beat down fodder for my flocks; and in it, I find other uses.” (Surah ThaHa:17-18) 

Allah (s.w.t.) Asked Musa (a.s.), what was in his right hand, even though He Knew what was in his hand.  Musa (a.s.) could have replied, “You know better, O Allah!”  Allah (s.w.t.) Deliberately Placed this example in the Qur’an to teach us from the ummah of Muhammad (s.a.w.), the adab of behaving before Allah (s.w.t.).  We must always submit every matter to Allah (s.w.t.). 

In today’s highly intellectual world, everyone wants to teach his Lord, like Musa (a.s.) in the ayat above.  Each one wants to dictate Divine Will to bend it their way, to favour them.  They want to guide Allah (s.w.t.) on how best to help them.  People today use their intellect to create new innovations in Islam and invent new theories and ideas about Allah (s.w.t.) and His Rasul (s.a.w.), thereby leading people astray.  The awliya’ do not use their intellect to invent new ideas.  They follow the Guided, who open new levels of understanding for them.  They study from all that goes on around them, hence are always ascending in spiritual levels.  Book-based scholars use their intellects to try to create a new understanding, and they never ascend to the Divine Presence with that sort of knowledge.  Musa (a.s.) answered with his intellect, failing to understand that such a question needed no answer. 

Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w.) showed us what complete submission is all about.  During the Night Ascension, the Mi’raj, Rasulullah (s.a.w.) was accompanied by many of the angels, but they were unable to accompany him to the Divine Presence, the Realm of Lahut, Divinity.  Rasulullah (s.a.w.) was Bestowed the Greatest Honour known to Creation.  His spiritual self went through a transformation and Rasulullah (s.a.w.) was Dressed in his reality in the Divine Presence.  Allah (s.w.t.) Proclaims that only He Exists.  There is none but Allah (s.w.t.).  Rasulullah (s.a.w.) recounted that when Allah (s.w.t.) Said those words, Jibril (a.s.) fell into prostration.  He was unable to stand because he was in awe. 

It is an unprecedented Honour to be received by the Lord Almighty Himself in the Divine Presence.  Allah (s.w.t.) Bestowed on Rasulullah (s.a.w.) such unmatched Honour.  No one may declare that respect for the Prophet (s.a.w.), is shirk.  No prophet or saint has ever disrespected Rasulullah (s.a.w.).  In the Divine Presence of Allah’s (s.w.t.) Welcome, Allah (s.w.t.) Asked Rasulullah (s.a.w.), “Who are you?” 

Rasulullah (s.a.w.) replied, “You, O Allah!” 

This is the ultimate Wajib al-Wujud, Station of Oneness.  It is the purest witnessing of tawhid.  Rasulullah (s.a.w.) was the only Creation to reach that point.  All others have only come to a vague understanding of tawhid.  Only Allah (s.w.t.) is in Existence, the entire Creation is His Shadow, His reflection in the Divine Mirror.  If we were to look at our shadow as we stand in the Sun, would we think it is real, like us?  Or imagine standing between two mirrors that face each other.  There will be infinite images of us in the mirrors, but only one real us.  All those images are powerless and helpless.  They cannot move unless we move.  They do not really exist, but we do.  Laa mawjuda il Allah, none Exists, except Allah (s.w.t.). 

The answer of our Prophet (s.a.w.) is the haqiqat at-tawhid, Reality of tawhid.  When Allah (s.w.t.) Ordered Rasulullah (s.a.w.) to Draw Near, Rasulullah (s.a.w.) replied that there was no he to do so, only Allah (s.w.t.) Exists.  Allah (s.w.t.) Taught Rasulullah (s.a.w.) the highest adab.  We learn by comparing this to the answer that Musa (a.s.) had given before.  In the difference between the two responses is the understanding of the Ocean of Knowledge.  In Reality, Allah (s.w.t.) had Welcomed Himself, but that is another Ocean altogether.  It is not one Ocean, but Oceans within Oceans.  It is the Dzat, the Essence, of the Doctrine of Tawhid. 

In conclusion, we must give to each, his rights.  We cannot withhold them, for that is from Shaythan.  Shaythan desired what was Rasulullah’s (s.a.w.) right, and when he was denied, he became drunk with envy and created fitnah.  The secret to understanding a swuhbah is to attend without the ego.  If we come with a full cup, we will never understand the swuhbah.  The ego always guides us to the wrong understanding, the wrong attitude, the wrong actions and the wrong intentions.  We must beware the ego and leave it when we come to learn.  We must not teach Allah (s.w.t.), but come and learn humbly from Him.