واصف علی واصف

          Someone who believes in a certain prophet may well possess all the qualities which the prophet was endowed with. But the presence of these qualities will not turn a man of high spiritual status into a prophet. He who is Truth Eternal alone decides who is to be close to Him. It certainly does not follow that Allah the Beneficent can make an unbeliever or a disobedient person his close associate. Not at all ! if Allah wants an un-believer to be close to Him He first enriches him with the affluence of belief. Here is a secret: for some of the un-believers there are only the tortures of hell. Allah remains inaccessible to them. But for some of the unbelievers there is the largesse of belief and the stations of Allah’s proximity and they are ranked among those Sahabis who were the first to embrace Islam. Similarly a society, which is in a state of moral decay, which is refractory, is usually destroyed. Although the Arabian society before the advent of Islam was steeped in evil and fully deserved to be destroyed but Allah, in His endless grace, bestowed on it His blessings. Not only this but He honoured it with a prophet who is a mercy for all the worlds. See, how Allah showers His blessings on a rebellious society, what tidings of nearness are for those who were far away from Him, what robes of distinction, denoting good fortune, for those who were out of luck! He alone knows what He is doing. There are no acts, which can bring one near to Him. It is purely a matter of His grace, a matter of His providence. And indeed what a wonderful thing His providence is He can do whatever He likes. He can do it in any way He pleases. He is the absolute Creator, answerable to no one.

          Should He so wish He can take a man out of darkness and show him the light, or change his sins into virtues, or at times, acting as befits His glorious unconcern, totally waste all the good deeds of a person? The Satan disobeyed Him and is regarded as damned and cursed forever. On the other hand, when Adam (A.S.) failed to obey one of His injunctions he was sent off to assume the lordship of the earth. Even within the roaring inferno created by Nimrud one can be granted a vision, which will bring him near to Allah. A slave sold in the market of Egypt becomes so close to Allah that his story is known as the finest of tales. The legend of Allah’s nearness reaches us across many a Karbala. The formula of proximity is written with the blood of the martyr. Think of the orphan who has to go without food day after day. His sufferings are like directions, which lead to Allah.

          The desire for getting close to Allah is always present in the heart of a believer. Man worships Him, he obeys His commandments, he desire to be close to Him. But every believer is not equally close to Allah, he simply cannot be. There are persons whom Allah Himself calls as His friends. From them the heavy burden of fear and grief is taken away. There are some believers who fall a prey to the vicissitude of time and place. Inspite of their firm belief they are surrounded by tragedies and travails. The light of belief keeps on shining in their heart. But they are assailed by the furious storms of circumstances. A poor man who keeps his belief intact can draw near to Allah but at times he is so overwhelmed by his poverty that he loses hope even of Allah’s blessings. In this way poverty cannot only bring a man closer to Allah but also drive him very far from Allah.

          Those who are close to Allah rarely know about each other. The proximity is like a secret shared by the lover and the beloved. The status of a man close to Allah can be completely unknown to someone who also is close to Allah. Sometimes a man so blessed does not himself  realize that he is close to Allah.

          When a man sets out to seek the nearness of Allah his very act is a proof that he is already close to Allah. His quest signifies closeness. If someone, keen to get nearer to Allah, were to examine himself he will come to know that the desire for nearness is present in some part or other of his own being. This deep desire unveils for him the secret of nearness. If the yearning is concentrated in a man’s forehead he will be accorded Allah’s nearness when he fervently prostrates himself before Him. The very act of honouring the ardent forehead with prostrations will help him cover the stages leading to nearness. Not every seeker’s forehead yearns to bow down before Him. There are some people who seek the nearness of their Lord through the ardour of their glances. They set forth as if their desirous eyes were a beggar’s bowl and witness and enjoy the splendour of their Lord in the scenes unfolding before them and in this way cover the various stages of the journey, which culminates in Allah’s nearness. When they arrive at the place where the Ultimate Beauty unveils itself they pass into a trance and from there onwards their journey towards Allah begins. In fact, the journey towards Allah is always a journey in Allah’s company. For the near ones the countenance of the beloved is like the glimpse of Kaaba itself. For them to see the beauty of the Friend in all its glory is the same thing as getting near to Him Who nourishes us all. If their prayers are not directed by a passion for the beloved they regard the act of worship as a blind, which shuts out the vision. They know that one who is blind here will be blind in the hereafter also. He who is denied the vision of the Supreme Reality has been described as blind.

          The seeker whose restlessness is concentrated in his organ of hearing will come upon the manifestation of Truth in a melody. A keen ear can perceive even the melody, which is still within the instrument. The near ones are those who believe that every melody is the voice of the Friend and expresses the Truth.

          The man who seeks the nearness of Allah with the helped of his intellect is like a traveler who has a very long journey before him. He comes near his Lord after traversing the perilous paths of question and answer. By linking up the causes and conclusions he reaches the Prime Principles. He discovers that the vast universe has not been created without reason. There must be someone who created it. That real Creator is the goal of his quest. When secrets are revealed to a man of intellect he passes into a state of wonderment and attains the status of a near one. His intellect becomes a wholesome intellect. He comes upon the ultimate answer to the ultimate question. It is the stage of nearness. Hard to achieve but completely real. The various methods adopted to get close to Allah turn out to be authentic and reliable when examined one by one. Seek the grace of someone’s beneficent glance: it is the easiest way to Allah’s nearness. It was the glance of Shams Tabriz, which helped Jalaluddin Rumi to become Maulana Rum. The perfect Guide reveals the secret of Truth to his chaste disciple and bestows on him the status of nearness to Allah. That is why the perfect Guide is sometimes described as the incarnation of Allah’s shadow. When those march towards Him are helped along by someone’s mediation they arrive at their destination and rest. They Guide sets alight the lamps of love in the seeker’s heart and introduces him to the actual meaning of submission and prayer and in this manner the seeker is rewarded with the resplendent robes of Allah’s nearness.

          There is no formula either for identifying those who are the near ones of Allah. They are certainly different from the common run of seekers. Of course, they do say their prayers but they also love. They do not criticize any of the acts of their dear Lord. They utter no complaint against their fellow creatures either. It is not acquisitiveness they believe in but in altruism.

          They regard even the affections inflicted on them by the Beloved as acts of kindness. They seek and crave for visions. They wonder about in the valleys of wonders. They see nothing but beauty and grace everywhere. Those near to Allah manage to shake off anger, envy, malice, greed and hatred. They become harmless forever. They prove beneficial to everyone. They do not hurt anyone’s feelings. They do not usurp anybody’s right. They do not regard anyone as their inferior. They do dislike sin but not the sinner. They do not pray for anyone’s destruction. They have freed themselves from the love of the world. They go past the blinds and obstacles formed by fame, status and wealth. They prefer wakefulness to sleep. If they are rich it is not because they can wallow in luxury like Parvez the King; rather they are rich in sorrow like Farhad. They see the vision of the sea in every drop. They praise the Lord in every affliction. They are patient. They give thanks. They are made acquainted with the stages of beneficence and justice. Even in a crowd they are all alone. And even when alone they are surrounded by a festive throng of ideas. Those who are near to Allah are what they are. There is no criterion by which you can identify them.

          Allah’s mercy is for everyone. It waits for all. Let the seeker but knock. The door will open without fail.

          In any case the ways, which lead to the Creator, are as boundless as His own being. One of the principal means of getting close to Allah is to serve His creatures. As long man is not near to Allah he cannot approach His creation. Everyone who is near to Allah will be a servant and benefactor of mankind.

          The one man nearest to Allah is for all times to come a personification of mercy for entire creation. He is the greatest among those who are Allah’s near ones. Allah is the Lord of the worlds and he is “mercy for all the worlds”. On one side they Holy Prophet (PBUH) is exceedingly close to Allah and on the other exceedingly kind to the creation. Allah the Beneficent has Himself used the words “merciful” and “compassionate” for the Holy Prophet. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) is nearest to Allah _____ so near indeed that all those who are near to Him get the sense of Allah’s nearness from the Holy Prophet’s (PBUH) threshold. He to whom the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is kind can traverse the stages, which bring him close to Allah. And on whom Allah is kind he is blessed with the riches a beatitudes of the Love of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). Getting near Allah is in fact getting near the beloved of Allah. The man who is near to the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is near to Allah and he who is far away from the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is forever denied the nearness of Allah. He who is excluded from the love of Mustufa (PBUH) is excluded from Allah’s nearness.