Abdul Aziz Suraqah
11h
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A Brief Excerpt from Hydration of the Soul: A Commentary on The Drink of the People of Purity
The Shaykh says: 'Therefore, the one who travels by his [the Prophet’s] Supreme Ascension Point will have travelled the ascension points of every [master]; but the one who relinquishes it and clings instead to the secondary ascension points will find his journey arduous. And it is no secret that he will succumb to disruptions, extreme distance, vast wilderness, aimless wandering, and will be made to carry a burdensome load!'
COMMENTARY
According to Shaykh Muhammad al-Qandusi, the one who forsakes or diminishes the importance of the Supreme Ascension Point and focuses instead on the secondary ascension points as his means of drawing near to Allah and attaining the station of Ihsan will have a tough time of it. It is wayfaring (suluk), but he will “find his journey arduous” and difficult to endure in this age of dissolution and decline.
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The one who relinquishes the Supreme Ascension Point while applying himself to the secondary ascension points will, as the Shaykh says, “succumb to disruptions, extreme distance, vast wilderness, aimless wandering, and will be made to carry a burdensome load.” Indeed, in this age of bewilderment and decay, where the Eschaton is not a distant future or a looming event over the horizon, but something in our midst, saturating everything around us, it has become abundantly clear that a Muslim in this age who forgoes the Original Path and clings instead to secondary methods developed in the past will suffer from everything of which the Shaykh speaks—sooner or later.
The one who relinquishes the Supreme Ascension Point of invoking prayers upon the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) will succumb to disruptions. His wayfaring will be marked with frequent starting and stopping. For every two steps he takes he will take three steps back, if not more. For every degree of spiritual progress he makes, he will face obstacles that block the path and halt his progress.
The one who relinquishes the Supreme Ascension Point of invoking prayers upon the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) will succumb to extreme distance. His wayfaring will bring him negative isolation spiritually and even socially. What is near will be made far; what is easy will be made difficult; and what is clear will be obscured.
The one who relinquishes the Supreme Ascension Point of invoking prayers upon the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) will succumb to vast wilderness. His wayfaring will leave him stranded in wild metaphorical forests teeming with dangers. Threats will lurk in the shadows, lying in wait to attack him. Deep in the uncharted wilderness he will find neither a path nor an experienced guide; instead, he will find pitfalls, brigands, and predators in the form of charlatans and false-shaykhs.
The one who relinquishes the Supreme Ascension Point of invoking prayers upon the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) will succumb to aimless wandering. He will wander from this method to that method, this formula of dhikr to that formula of dhikr, this gathering to that gathering.
The one who relinquishes the Supreme Ascension Point of invoking prayers upon the Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace) will be made to carry a burdensome load. He will be burdened with taking powerful medicines that are inappropriate for his spiritual constitution and condition; he will be burdened with replicating in this latter age (Akhir al-Zaman) what suited people of a different age, and will be made to feel guilty for his inability to bear it.
The one who does not realize the time he is in and the collective age of the Umma and its weakened state will not understand the importance of returning to this Original Path. If one is to survive—and thrive—in the Eschaton, the dark age in which knowledge and authority have degenerated, he must return to the Original Path of gratitude.
The Shaykh is not saying one should cast aside the foundations of spiritual wayfaring, nor is he saying that the secondary paths are cut off in an absolute sense. Although he describes them as “secondary ascension points,” it is still possible, he says, to take one of them as one’s spiritual path and means of purification and illumination. If someone choses to stick to one of the secondary ascension points, the Shaykh offers him some advice.
