“RIZA” OR JOYOUS SUBMISSION TO HIS WILL[98]
Riza is the quintessence of love and is one of the highest stages of the favoured few. But some doubt its existence, saying, How can man be joyous for what is against his own will. He may submit to God’s will, but it does not follow that he also shares the feeling of joy. We shall discuss the nature of Riza and prove its existence.
Let us first turn to the Quran and the Hadis. “Allah has promised to the believing man and the believing women gardens, beneath which rivers flow, to abide in them, and goodly dwellings in gardens of perpetual abode and best of all is Allah’s goodly pleasure—that is the grand achievement”.[99] In this passage God’s pleasure (Rizwan) is described as best of all blessings. In another passage this blessing is also bestowed on those who joyfully submit to his will, “Allah is well pleased with them and they are well pleased with him; that is for him who fears his Lord.”[100] “Who fear the beneficent God in secret and come with a penitent heart, enter it in peace that is the day of abiding. They have therein what they wish and with us is more yet.” Some commentators while commenting on the words in italics say that three gifts will be given in paradise: (i) a rare gift of which “no soul knows (in this world) what is hidden for them of that which will refresh the eyes”.[101] (ii) The salutation as mentioned in the Quran: “Peace (Salam) a word from the merciful Lord”.[102] (iii) His goodly grace and pleasure as mentioned in “wa Rizwanumminallahi akbar” (and best of all is Allah’s goodly pleasure).
The Prophet once asked some of his companions to point out the signs of the faith which they professed. “O apostle of God,” said the companions, “we are patient in tribulations, grateful in felicity and pleased with what is ordained”. “Ye are Muslims” said the Prophet. Again the Prophet said: “Ye who are poor be pleased with what God has put you in and then you shall have your reward”.
Let us discuss the nature of Riza. Those who deny the existence of Riza, saying that man can be patient in sufferings but joyous submission to His will is not possible, really deny the existence of love and its all-absorbing nature. A lover always loves his beloved’s actions. Now this love of actions is of two kinds: (1) Redemption from the experience of pain caused in mental or physical suffering.
Experience shows that many warriors while enraged do not feel the pain of their wounds, and know it only when they see blood gushing from them. Even when a man is engaged in some action which absorbs his attention, the pain of a thorn pricking him will not be felt. If then in such cases—and there are many such—pain is not felt, will it not be possible that a devotee who is absorbed in him does not feel pain, which in his belief is inflicted by his beloved?
Or (2) although pain is felt, he would desire it just as a patient who feels the pain caused by the surgeon’s lancet is glad to be operated upon and is pleased with the surgeon’s action. Similarly he who firmly believes that tribulations are like God-sent curatives will be pleased with them and be thankful to God. Anyone who ponders over the nature of the above mentioned kinds and then in the light of them reads the lives and the sayings of the lovers of God, will, I believe, be convinced of the existence of Riza.
Saint Basher, son of Harith, narrates the story: In the Sharkia Lane of Baghdad, I saw a man who received a thousand stripes, but did not cry in his agony. He was then sent to prison and I followed him. “Why have you been punished so mercilessly?” I asked. “Because they have found out the secret of my love”. “But why were you so strangely quiet while you were punished so severely”, I asked in astonishment. “Because”, answered the poor fellow with a sigh, “She was looking at me from her balcony”. “Oh that you might see the true Beloved”, I murmured. Hearing this, his colour at once changed, and with a loud cry he fell dead.
The same saint tells another story: “While I was a student of Sufiism I went to Jazirai Abbadan,[103] where I saw a blind epileptic leper, lying on the ground while worms were eating his flesh. I sat by his side and placed his head on my lap and spoke gently to him. When he came to his senses, he spoke: ‘Who is this stranger who comes between me and my Lord. Even if each and every limb is severed from my body, I will love Him.’ That scene of Riza, says the saint, I shall never forget; it is a life-long lesson for me.”
It is said that Christ once saw a blind forlorn leper who was praying: “Blessed art thou, O Lord, who hast saved me from such maladies which have overtaken many of us”. “Art thou not in misery” asked Christ, “Tell me which is that malady which has not overtaken thee”. “Thank God”, cried the leper, “I am not like him who does not know God”. “You are right”, said Christ, “Give me your hand”. And the breath of Christ instantly healed the leper, and he became one of his followers.
The Prophet’s companion Said bin Wakas,[104] lost his eyesight in old age, and resigning his post returned to Mecca. People flocked to him for blessing as he was known to be one whose prayers were always heard. Says Abdullah bin Said: “I was then a mere boy; I too went to pay my respects to the venerable Said. He spake kindly to me and blessed me. Then I said: ‘Uncle, how is it that you who are praying for everybody would not pray for the restoration of your eyesight?’ ‘My son’, answered Said with a smile, ‘to be pleased with His sweet will is better than eyesight’”.
Some people went to see Shibli[105] at Maristan, where he was imprisoned. “Who are you?” asked the saint. “Friends”, they all replied with one voice. Hearing this Shibli fetched some stones and began to throw them at them, and they all fled calling him a madman. “What’s this”, exclaimed Shibli, “You call yourselves my friends but if you are sincere, bear patiently what ye receive from me,” and then he sang: “His love has turned my brain. Have you ever seen a lover who is not intoxicated with love!”
These narratives point out that Riza or joyous submission to God’s will is possible and is one of the highest stages to which the souls of true devotees could aspire. People believe in eccentricities of Cupid’s votaries but give no ear to the ecstasies of the true lovers of God. Perhaps they have no eyes to look at the manifestation of His beauty; no ears to listen to the music of His love, no heart to gaze at and enjoy His sweet presence. Perhaps they are proud of their learning and think too much of their good deeds but they have no idea of humble and broken hearts.
A certain nobleman of Bustam, comely in appearance and lordly in bearing, used to attend the sermons of saint Bayazid of Bustam.[106] One day he said to the saint: “For thirty years I have been keeping fasts waking for the whole night and offering my prayers, but still I do not find in me the animating force of what you teach, although I believe in it and cherish love for you.” “Thirty years”: ejaculated the saint: “Why for three hundred years if you do as you have done till now you will not have a bit of it.” “How is that?” asked the astonished nobleman. “Because” answered the saint “the veil of your egotism has fallen heavily on your mind’s eye”. The chief then asked the saint to tell him of some remedy, but he declined saying that the chief would not like to take it. “But do tell me”, entreated the nobleman, “And I will try my best to follow your kind advice”. “Listen then”, calmly answered the saint, “This very moment go to the barber, get your head and beard shaven, take off this apparel, and gird your loins with a piece of blanket; gather children round you and tell them that whosoever gives you a slap with the hand will get a walnut; pass through the throngs in all the bazars, followed by those children and then show yourself to your intimate friends”.
“Subhan Allah” exclaimed the chief, “Do you say that to me”. “Hold thy tongue”, retorted the saint, “thy Subhan Allah is blasphemy.” “How is that”, asked the chief. “Because,” replied the saint, “you uttered Subhan Allah not for any reverence for the Holy Being but out of respect for your own vain self”. “Well”, said the chief, “tell me some other remedy, please”. “Try this remedy first”, continued the saint. “I cannot do so,” rejoined the chief. “There you are”, spoke the saint finally, “Did I not tell you that you would not like the remedy.”
Our egoistic tendencies impede the progress of our souls towards higher virtues, and hence some of us go the length of denying the possibility of their existence. Let the lives of the true lovers of God be our guide.
FOOTNOTES
[1] D. B. Macdonald: Muslim Theology London 1903. p. 215. This book gives the best account of Al Ghazzali’s work yet available in English.
[2] ibid. p. 240.
[3] Quoted in E. G. Browne: Literary History of Persia 1903. Vol. I. p. 294.
[4] ibid. p. 293.
[5] I. Goldzieher: Vorlesungen uber den Islam Leipzig 1910. p. 185. See translation in the Indian Philosophical Review by the present writer: Vol. 1. pp. 260-6.
[6] Op. cit. pp. 238-40.
[7] From Al Munqidh min ad’-Dalal.
[8] Gazali. Paris 1902. pp. 44-45.
[9] See the English translation of the Guide by Friedländer; The Guide to the Perplexed, London, especially pp. 225 ff. Al Ghazzali’s works were so widely studied that it is hardly possible to suppose that Maimonides was not influenced by them. The influence may have been direct, as Maimonides was not only a student in Spain but also physician in the court of Saladin in Alexandria. Indirectly the influence may have come through the Jewish poet Yehuda Halevi.
[10] op. cit. p. 179.
[11] This list is taken from A Chronological List of Muslim Works on Religion and Philosophy which has been for a short time in preparation at the Seminar for the Comparative Study of Religions, Baroda, by Professor J. ur Rehman of Hyderabad, and Professor F. S. Gilani of Surat, Fellows of the Seminar. The list has been compared with that of Shibli in his Urdu life of Ghazali (Cawnpore 1902) whose classification is followed with slight modification.
[12] Ihya III. 1.
[13] This word is used both for Rasul and Nabi, but the Muslim notion of Rasul differs from that of Nabi. Malachi was a prophet (Nabi), but Moses was more than a prophet (Rasul). Thus in St. Matthew XI. 9 we have: “But wherefore went ye out? to see a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and much more than a prophet”.
[14] Abuhuraira’s report given in Bokhari and Muslim.
[15] Reported by Abuhuraira in Ahmad’s Masnav. Egypt 1300 A. H.
[16] Quran XXXIII. 72.
[17] Quran XVII. 85.
[18] Ihya IV. 5.
[19] It is interesting to note here the following passage from a modern European author: “If we form a conception of a Perfect or Infinite Mind it is in this sense that we must speak of such a mind as free. To speak of choice between alternatives is to suggest that another than the best might be chosen and this would be inconsistent with the idea of perfection.
A finite mind, limited in knowledge and power and distracted by desires other than the will to goodness, may yet have a partial measure of self-determination which is complete only in the infinite. It is incompletely determined by forces external to itself. And if it stand—as it does stand—between the realm of nature and the realm of goodness, conscious of the good and yet beset by many temptations to fall to a lower level, then the relative independence or partial spontaneity of such a mind may be exhibited in the power to direct its own path toward the goal of goodness or to allow it to lapse into evil. Its freedom will be neither complete independence of external determination nor complete agreement with the ideal of goodness; but it will exclude total subordination to the forces beyond itself, and it will give opportunity for choosing and serving the good. In spite of its restrictions human activity will be recognized as possessing a core of spontaneity”. W. R. Sorley: Moral Values and the Idea of God. Cambridge 1918 pp. 446-7.
[20] Ghazzali here anticipated Hume. “Seven hundred years before Hume, Ghazzali cut the bond of causality with the edge of his dialectic”. Journal of the American Oriental Society vol. XX. 103.
[21] Quran XLIV. 38, 39.
[22] Quran XXXII. 11.
[23] Quran XXXIX. 42.
[24] Quran LVI. 63.
[25] Quran LXXX. 25-7.
[26] Quran IX. 14.
[27] Quran VIII. 17. This passage refers to the battle of Badr, the first battle of the Prophet. The Muslims slew the enemy but it is affirmed that really they did not slay, but it was Allah who slew them; the meaning apparently being that Allah’s hand was working in the battle, which is also clear from the fact that three hundred Muslims mostly raw and equipped with neither horses nor sufficient arms, prevailed against a thousand of the most renowned warriors who had come to crush the growing power of Islam. “And Thou didst not smite when thou didst smite”. Ghazzali points out that negation and affirmation for one and the same action throw new light on the nature of causation. Negation affirms God as the efficient and real cause; affirmation establishes man’s free-will faithfully executing divine order.
2nd ed. 1898. Bk. I, pp. 19-20.)
[28] Quran XCV. 4-6. Whether man is by nature good or bad is a question which has vexed great thinkers from ancient times. Various answers have been suggested, which are summed up in three distinct theories:
1. Evil is innate. Education simply muzzles the brute in man. Civilisation is mere veneering process. This cynical view of human nature is the religion of despair.
2. Man is neither good nor bad. Mind is a tabula rasa. Good or bad actions leave their impression. Thorns and roses are alike gathered by it.
3. Good and evil are mixed up in man. He has an angelic as well as a satanic nature. The development of this double nature depends on the force of external circumstances and surrounding influences. Good and evil are like two seeds: whichever is sown and taken care of will grow into a tree.
The Quranic expression: “we created man in the best make” emphasises the purity of his nature. He is born with good and for good, but has to preserve and to develop his goodness to his full capacity in the struggle of life. He has but one seed which is good if it grows and bears fruit it is called goodness; if it be crushed or nipped in the bud it is called evil. Evil, therefore has no separate entity in him, it is simply a negative which will lose his soul and reduce him to the lower depths.
[29] It is interesting to note a parallel passage from the Masnavi of Jal al uddin Rumi, who was born in 1207 A.D. ninety-seven years after the death of Al Ghazzali:
[30] St. Matthew XIV. 55-31. “And in the fourth watch of the night he came unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled saying, It is an apparition and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying: Be of good cheer, it is I, be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said: Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee upon the water. And Peter went down from the boat and walked upon the waters to come to Jesus. But when he saw the wind he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried, saying,: Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and took hold of him and said unto him: O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?”
[31] Comp. Quran XLII. 11: Nothing is like a likeness of Him. He is the hearing, the seeing.
[32] Comp. Genesis I. 27.
[33] Exodus III. 14.
[34] Quran XX. 12. It is generally supposed that Moses was ordered to take off his “leather shoes” out of respect for the sacred place. But Razi in his Commentary calls it an idiom and says that the Arabs used the word Na’al (shoe) for wife and family. The command to put off the shoes is therefore a metaphorical expression for making the heart vacant from care of family. See Tafsir-i-Razi vol. VI. 19. Stamboul edition.
[35] Quran XXXIX. 97. The full text runs: And they have not honoured Allah with the honour due to him: and the whole earth shall be in his grip on the day of resurrection and the heavens rolled up in his right hand; glory be to him and may he be exalted above what they associate with him.
[36] Ghazzali has dealt with the question fully in his work entitled ‘Iljamal awam’. He says that every object has four stages of existence. To use a figure: “Fire” is (1) written on paper: (2) pronounced as Fire (3) burns; and (4) is perceived by the mind to be inflammable. The first two are purely conventional but have an educational value. Similarly the anthropomorphism of the passages of the Scriptures should be studied in the light of the above stages.
[37] Quran XXIX. 69.
[38] See Section vi of this book.
[39] Ihya III. 9.
[40] Quran IV. 172.
[41] Quran XXV. 7, 8; 21.
[42] Quran XLIII. 31. “And they say: why was not this Quran revealed to a man of importance in the two towns.” (Mecca and Taif).
[43] Quran XVIII. 28.
[44] Ibn Abbas.
[45] Trimizi: Abu Huraira’s report.
[46] Comp. Matt VI. 24 “No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon”.
[47] Matt V. 3.
[48] Quran XVIII. 32-46.
[49] Ihya 115; IV. 7.
[50] Quran III. 102.
[51] Tibrani and Abu Daud.
[52] Muslim.
[53] Bokhari and Muslim.
[54] Quran XVIII. 5.
[55] Nasai and Bokhari.
[56] Adu Mansur.
[57] Rumi has beautifully described this story of Nasuh in Masnavi Bk. V.
[58] Ihya IV. 6.
[59] Bukhari and Muslim.
[60] Quran LXXVI. 1-3.
[61] Ghazzali’s remark should not be confounded with either egoistic or universalistic hedonism. See his remark on the affinity of souls (pages 95 ff).
[62] Muslim.
[63] From uncanonical sayings of Christ.
[64] Quran XXXVIII. 71, 72.
[65] See Bukhari Haddis Qudsi.
[66] Al Ghazzali condemns all such expressions which are called by Cardinal Newman “eccentricities of the saints.” He is aware of their liability to abuse and points out their error in a manner which six hundred years later took the form of Bishop Butler’s dictum that reason cannot abdicate its right of judging obvious improprieties in religious doctrines and persons. “Ibn Allah”, (Son of God) refers to the orthodox Christian view of Jesus. “Anal Haq” (I am the truth, i.e. God) refers to the expression of Husain bin Mansur al Hallaj, who in 309 A.D. was crucified in Bagdad for his blasphemy. The poet Hafiz says of him: “Jurmash an bud ki asrar huwaida bikard.” (His crime was that he revealed the secrets.)
[67] St Matthew XXII 35-57. “And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him,: Master, which is the great commandment in the law? And he said unto him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” In the above passage the law referred to is Deuteronomy VI. 5, where instead of mind, the word might is used.
[68] Daran, a village near Damascus, where he died in 215 A.H.
[69] A famous Muslim woman saint of Basrah, considered to be an authority on Sufiism. She died in 801 A. D.
[70] Quran LVII. 20 and III. 14-16.
[71] Compare Descartes’: Cogito ergo sum.
[72] Compare Quran XXIV. 35. “Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth: a likeness of his light is a pillar on which is a lamp, the lamp is in a glass (and) the glass is as it were a brightly shining star lit from a blessed olive tree, neither eastern nor western, the oil whereof almost gives light though fire touches it not (heads daffor.) Allah guides to his light whom he pleases, and Allah sets forth parables for men and Allah is cogniscant of all things.” Al Ghazzali has written a separate treatise called Mishkat ul Anwar dealing exhaustively with the above passage. An excellent summary of his views is given by Razi in his Commentary, vol. VI. 393-408. (Stamboul edition). In the above parable Islam is represented as a likeness of the divine light, a light placed high on a pillar so as to illumine the whole world, a light guarded by being placed in a glass so that no puff of wind can put it out, a light so resplendent that the glass itself in which it is placed is as a brilliant star. Just as a fig tree stands for a symbol of Judaism (see St. Matthew XXI. 19) the olive stands for Islam, which must give light to both the East and the West, and does not specifically belong to either one of them.
The doctrine of Fana is misunderstood by many Western scholars. Tennyson puts it:
Ghazzali’s vivid description is neither vague nor unsweet. To him Fana is “a prayer of rapture”. “In that state man is effaced from self, so that he is conscious neither of his body nor of outward things, nor of inward feelings. He is rapt from all these, journeying first to his Lord and then in his Lord, and if the thought that he is effaced from self occurs to him, that is a defect. The highest state is to be effaced from effacement”. E. Whinfield: Masnavi, Introduction p. xxxvii.
[73] Ihya IV. 5.
[74] Usually Fana is translated as “annihilation,” but Al Ghazzali here means what is implied in the statement: “To live, move, and have our being in Him”.
[76] Quran XXIX. 65-66.
[77] Quran XVIII. 109. Compare Jalal-ud-Din Rumi:—
[78] Ihya IV. 6.
[79] Quran V. 54.
[80] Quran II. 165.
[81] Bukhari and Muslim.
[82] Quran IX. 24.
[83] Tirmizi.
[84] Abu Naim.
[85] Tirmizi.
[86] Quran II. 222. Repentance is the first step towards God. Comp. St. Matthew III. 2.
[87] Quran III. 30. Keeping God’s commandments revealed through his holy prophets constitutes love of Him. Comp. St. John. XV. 10 “If ye keep my commandments ye shall abide in my love; even as I keep my Father’s commandments and abide in his love”.
[88] A Sufi of great renown: died at Baghdad in 840 A.D.
[89] Quran II. 94-95.
[90] Hadisi Qudsi is that kind of tradition in which God is himself reported to speak.
[91] Comp:
[92] See Bukhari.
[93] Called the “father of Sufiism”. He founded a sect of Sufis in Egypt. He died in 860 A.D.
[94] St. Matthew VI. 1-4; 16-18.
[95] A celebrated Sufi called Syed Uttaifa (chief of the sect). He died at Baghdad in 911 A.D.
[96] A theologian and Sufi of Ray in Persia. He died in 871 A.D.
[97] Comp:
[98] Ihya IV. 6.
[99] Quran IX. 72.
[100] Quran XCVIII. 8.
[101] Quran XXXII. 17.
[102] Quran XXXVI. 58.
[103] In Tigris.
[104] He conquered Persia in the time of the Khalifa Omar.
[105] The Arabs address elders in this way.
[106] One of the most renowned of the early Sufis. His grandfather was a Magian who accepted Islam. He was born in 777 A. D. and died at a great age in 878 A. D.