It is stated in the Qur'an, "Successful and prosperous are those who have purified their souls, who remember the name their Lord and pray." [ 87:14-15]. There is a poem by our teacher, by sayyiduna Jalal ad-Din Rumi, that brings out the essence of this verse:
Who is in the house of my heart,
I cried in the middle of the night.
Love said,
“It is I, but what are all these images that fill your house?”
I said, they are the reflection of your beautiful face.
She asked,
“But what is this image full of pain?”
I said, it is me lost in the sorrows of life
and showed her my soul full of wounds.
She offered me one end of a thread and said:
“Take it so I can pull you back
but do not break the delicate string.”
I reached towards her but she struck my hand.
I asked, why the harshness?
She said,
“To remind you that whoever comes to love’s holy space,
proud and full of himself will be sent away.
Look at love with the eyes of your heart.”
And so this mystery of the spiritual path, the path of purification is the path towards God, the Divine Mystery. But it is God, that Eternal Mystery, who alone opens the door to Divine Intimacy, and this door is opened only for those who are sincere lovers. The trials of the world, of removing those images of all others besides God within the heart, purify us when we confront them by turning towards the Face of God. They are reminders that as long as we love these false images by which we adorn ourselves, by which we love ourselves in self-inflated arrogance and pride, that narcissistic self-obsession by which we make ourselves to become a false lord, an idol, you can never enter that purified space of Divine Intimacy. For true love is the sacrifice of loving all others besides the Beloved, necessarily.
To be in this state is the state of the awliyah, the beloved ones of God, the friends of God, the saints of God, "My Beloved ones". And so, the spiritual path of Islam is the path of love, and there is none more loved by God than our liege lord, the Beloved of God, Muhammad ﷺ. He was the perfect embodiment of the inward and outward forms that are loved by God, forms that are found in the cosmos itself, proclaiming their love for God, the Name of God. All of nature makes remembrance of God [dhikr], and so to be in harmony with nature, with our nature, is to remember God most intimately. And this inward state must be manifested in our outward form, which completes the form. The outward Sunnah, that is to follow the principles of the Shari'ah (Divine Law) is to adorn our physical existence with the clothe of nobility, dignity, honor, and beauty.
The lover naturally harmonizes with their beloved, resembling them, imitating them, both their inward state and their outward manifestation. Our path, therefore, is about the Sunnah of the Chosen one, the beloved God, who is our beloved as well; and so in the love for Muhammad ﷺ, our love and the love of God meet. In this there is a great mystery, a mystery that pertains to the gnostic light of God's Love itself, the Muhammadan Light. And thus he ﷺ is the Mercy to all of creation, the most precious of God's creation by which creation may participate in Divine Love.
In the remembrance of God do hearts find rest, contentment, and peace. And so, in the forgetfulness of God do hearts find agitation, perturbation, and suffering. There are those in this life who are manifestations of God's guidance, love, and mercy, and those who are manifestations of God's anger, punishment, and misguidance. Let us not be among those who have earned the anger of God, and instead, be among the saints of God, those who are beloved to God.
This was a talk given by Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad from Cambridge Muslim College (CMC). Please visit them for lectures and other content.