قندیل ہدایت — Page 421
421 of 1460 The Natural Philosophy Of AhleSunant Wal Jamaat www۔nafseislam۔com aught besides, but renounces contention with God and interference with Him in His decrees and His acts۔God hath said of the Apostle at the time of his Ascension: "His eyes did not swerve or transgress" (Qur۔liii, 17), on account of the intensity of his longing for God۔When the lover turns his eye away from created things, he will inevitably see the Creator with his heart۔God hath said: "Tell the believers to close their eyes" (Qur۔xxiv,30)۔i۔e۔to close their bodily eyes to lusts and their spiritual eyes to created things۔He who is most sincere in self-mortification is most firmly grounded in contemplation for inward contemplation is connected with outward mortification۔Sahl b۔'Abdullah of Tustar says: "If anyone shuts his eye to God for a single moment, he will never be rightly guided all his life long," because to regard other than God is to be handed over to other than God, and one who is left at the mercy of other than God is lost۔Therefore the life of contemplatives is the time during which they enjoy contemplation (mushahadah): time spent in seeing ocularly (mu'ayanat) they do not reckon as life, for that to them is really death۔Thus, when Abu Yazid was asked how old he was, he replied: "Four years۔" They said: "How can that be?" He answered: "I have been veiled (from God) by this world for seventy years, but I have seen Him during the last four years: the period in which one is veiled does not belong to one's life۔" Shibli cried in his prayers: "O God, hide Paradise and Hell in Thy unseen places, that Thou mayest be worshipped disinterestedly۔" One who is forgetful of God nevertheless۔worships Him, through faith, because human nature has an interest in Paradise; but inasmuch as the heart has no interest in loving God, one who is forgetful of God is debarred from contemplating Him۔The Apostle told 'A'isha that he did not see God on the night of the Ascension, but Ibn 'Abbas relates that the Apostle told him that he saw God on that occasion۔Accordingly, this remains a matter of controversy: but in saying that he did not see God the 431 www۔nafseislam۔com