If you go to a friend tomorrow and say, ‘Listen, man, I want you to die. So here, take this poison.
Here’s a good lad, take it’.
He would slap you across your face.
This is precisely what happens when the lower self is asked to engage in zikr.
He becomes infuriated because zikr and divine energy are poison for the lower self.
‘Faktalu anfusakum…’
What is it to Avoid and Distance Yourselves From Zikr?
Practically, no one would say,
‘I will offer prayers and fast but I will not do Zikr Allah. No way’,
and turn their face away.
To avoid the physical commemoration of God’s name, to disregard it is not what it means to avoid God’s remembrance.
Besides, the word ‘remembrance’ is not being used here in this verse of the holy Qur’an.
‘wa man a’rada an zikri…’
‘The one who avoids and distances himself from my zikr…’
This particular usage of ‘zikr’ refers to the path in which you engage your heart, souls and body in the commemoration of God’s name.
Zakooriyat - The Spiritual Path.
First, you purify your tongue with the [verbal chanting] of God’s name.
Then, you bring the name of God into your heart with the spiritual supervision and attention of the spiritual guide.
Then, the heart commemorates God’s name.
Then comes the soul, until all seven souls are engaged in the commemoration of God’s name.
This doesn’t happen in one day, it takes many years.
Then, the lower self - which commands you to do wrong - is also forced to do zikr.
[For instance] if there are gangsters in your neighbourhood and you’re told to preach to them, everybody would be afraid of them.
Who would preach to them?
What if they hit you, break your nose or your head? What would happen?
It’s a very difficult thing to preach to the gangsters, isn’t it?
The lower self is also a gangster and it has to be forced into doing zikr.
I mean, do you think it would be possible for someone to come and say, ‘Please, take this poison today’?
You’d say, ‘What on earth are you saying?’
And he says, ‘Please, for God’s sake, take the poison’.
You’d slap him and say, ‘Have you lost your damn mind?
You’re asking me to take poison? Why would I do that?’
And he says, ‘Look, that’s what I want. Please, take it’.
I’m not joking. No, this is not a joke.
Look at it through the lens of reality.
Go to a relative or a friend tomorrow and say, ‘Listen, man, I want you to die. So here, take this poison.
Here’s a good lad, take it’. He would slap you across your face.
This is precisely what happens when the lower self is asked to engage in zikr.
He becomes infuriated because zikr and divine energy are poison for the lower self.
‘Faktalu anfusakum…’ ‘Kill your lower self if you are in search of God’.
Divine energy kills the lower self.
Now, if you ask your lower self to engage in zikr,
do you think he’d let you? He’d slap you.
This is the job of the spiritual master.
You find success on this path of zikr, when the wretched lower self within us accepts zikr, by hook or crook.
When the lower self engages in zikr, then Satan, our enemy, comes before us.
As soon as the lower self recites the Kalima,
Satan says, ‘Look, they took my man’.
And he becomes a fatal enemy.
Now, if the Devil were to come to you unveiled and starts launching his attacks, you could say,
‘Devil, my dear brother, please leave me alone.
Why are you my enemy?’
He would say the same thing the Indians say.
When the officials of the Indian embassy find out someone is born in Pakistan,
then it doesn’t matter whether their nationality is British or American,
they tell you to fill out multiple forms because they look at where your parents come from. They’ll conduct a thorough inquiry.
This is exactly what the Devil does.
‘I’m your enemy because you are the progeny of Adam Safi Allah.
He’s the one I hate.
I was dominant over the entire world and suddenly, God commanded the angels to bow before him!
I was standing there dumbfounded while the entire cavalry prostrated to him. What was that?!’
Something similar happened when the Prophet (s) departed from this world.
The honourable Ali stood silently.
After completing the final rites of Prophet Muhammad (s), Maula Ali (a) went home.
Meanwhile the other companions were busy deciding who should become the Caliph.
Maula Ali (a) did not partake in this deliberation.
Why didn’t he take part in it?
It’s not mentioned in any book - neither Shia nor the Sunnis know about it.
I’ve been silent on the matter but today I shall reveal it.
So, he [Maula Ali] went home, and in order to bring him out of his house, they [the other companions] set it on fire.
Just to bring him out of the house at any cost.
Why did they want him out?
Because they had to decide who shall become the Caliph.
And why didn’t he want to be a part of it?
Because he couldn’t make a reference in regards to himself,
that the Prophet (s) had said,
‘Just as Aaron was Moses’s helper, I am the helper of Prophet Muhammad (s)’.
Since the others were worried about selecting the Caliph, Ali (a) wanted no part of this.
Because he knew that if the deliberation were to happen in his presence, he would be forced to speak the truth,
hence he stayed away to avoid confrontation altogether.
This is why he did not join them. So now, you’ve begun tormenting the Devil’s agent, the lower self. Isn’t it a torment on him? You don’t care for his desires. You negate every desire of his. You put him through strenuous fa inna lahoo maeeshatan danaka nahshuru yaum al qiyamati aa’ma’
So now, you’ve begun tormenting the Devil’s agent, the lower self.
Isn’t it a torment on him?
You don’t care for his desires. You negate every desire of his.
You put him through vigorous austerities;
you give him less to eat, you don’t give him enough sleep.
You’re making his life difficult. Did you ever think about this?
You’re not doing it that’s why you haven’t thought about it.
But have you ever pondered that the knowledge of spirituality is torment on the lower self?
The worst kind of torment.
You don’t listen to him, you don’t fulfil his desires, you weaken him.
You cut off the supply of his diet, negative energy; you starve him to death.
In the eyes of the lower self, you’re Yazid and he’s Hussain.
So obviously he would bear enmity for you.
So now that you’re Satan’s mortal enemy,
now you are going to face the tests.
These tests come in the form of your wife, your father, your mother, your children, and the rest of the world.
Either you will suffer a loss in your business or your relatives will begin to oppose you.
Only a few have the courage to face all this opposition.
There are many who lose the fight and abandon this path.
It is for such people that God has said,
‘Those who leave the path of my zikr, I reduce their spiritual provisions’.
And ‘wa nahshuru yaum al qiyamati aa’ma’
‘And We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Judgment’.
Therefore, what is meant by avoiding or distancing yourself from zikr is [abandoning] this path of zikr,
in which we engage our physical and spiritual anatomy,
our heart, lower self, souls and their sub-spirits; our blood, bones and flesh, eyes, ears, tongue and lips,
everything learns to commemorate God’s name.
This is that path. [Some people] abandon this path due to the trials and tribulations and tests, and due to a lack of courage.
And then people also tend to make derisive remarks about the path you have embarked upon.
When your mother and father and other relatives find out you’ve begun your spiritual jouney, they say thing like,
‘Why are you doing this? What you’re doing is wrong! You’ve joined the wrong people’.
They will begin to single you out.
They will begin to persecute you and bully you.
Now, it’s your decision - if you think it’s more important for you to make amends with your disgruntled family members.
You only get one chance.
Those who get this chance and then worry about their disappointed family members, and the disappointed maulvi...
Because this is what happens on this path.
The scholar of the religion, as well as the evil-natured friends become displeased.
He should think it makes sense if his evil-natured friends are disappointed with him, but why would the maulvi be upset?
[He should think] I’m walking the path to God, I’m engaging in Zikr Allah, so the maulvi should be pleased!
But he thinks that since every single person is displeased with his decision so this must be the wrong path to take.
Because every single person, good or bad, is against it!
The maulvi, the mufti, the evil-natured friends are upset.
His parents are upset, his wife is upset… gosh!
What a terrible path. Leave it.
The moment you abandon the path, you’re finished. God stamps [your heart].
‘Allah has sealed their hearts and their hearing, and a covering has fallen over their eyes. They deserve severe punishment’.
This is what it means to avoid and distance yourself from zikr.