Islamic Spirituality - The Forgotten Path
A lecture delivered by
Maulana Imran Nazar Hosein
at the Maulana Abd
al-Aleem Siddiqui Masjid, Singapore
In Sura al-Kahf, Allah ﷻ gives us wonderful instruction on the
consequences of not having the capacity
to see with the internal eye. He takes Musa pbuh
the Nabi who was sent to Bani Israel,
those who say that they are the chosen people of Allah 
, the elite, the select whilst the rest of
mankind is gentile. According to Sahih Bukhari, Musa pbuh has delivered a Khutbah at Sinai. Someone came to him and said, ‘O Musa! What a wonderful Khutbah. You must be the most learned man in the world.’ What Musa pbuh should have replied was, ‘Praise is due to Allah ﷻ!’ What Musa pbuh should have replied was, ‘Beyond any man is He who is all learned.’ But he didn’t say that. He said what the PhD From the university says, ‘yes, I am the most learned man in the world.’ This is what happens when you secularize knowledge. You take Allah ﷻ out of the process of learning. ‘He has nothing to do with it. I am the expert in my field. I am the top scholar in my field.’ He says, ‘yes, I am the most learned man in the world.’ When you do that and don’t recognize Allah ﷻ as the source of all knowledge, then He cuts off your internal sight.
So Musa pbuh temporarily is without internal sight. Allah ﷻ then says to him, ‘There is a servant of mine more learned than you are, Musa.’ So Musa pbuh, says, ‘I would like to meet him.’ Then Allah ﷻ gives him instructions to take a fish, put it in a basket and travel in the direction where the two seas meet- majmaul bahrain. ‘When the fish jumps out of the basket, there you shall meet him.’ This is a rather humiliating thing for the most learned man in the world to do. Allah ﷻ cuts him down. ‘Learn humility if you really are learned. The sign of knowledge is humility.’ So he goes and eventually, he meets him. He is called Khidr pbuh, which means ‘green’. This is a man more learned than Musa pbuh. There is a difference between his knowledge and this knowledge. This knowledge can grow old and stale and be superseded by other knowledge and so become obsolete. Like the computer you had ten years ago, obsolete now. But this knowledge does not grow obsolete, always green always relevant, always fresh. Like a fresh breeze, this is the knowledge of Khidr pbuh that’s why he is Mr. Green.
Musa pbuh asks, ‘Can
I accompany you so that I may learn from you?’
Very difficult! Really difficult for a one eyed man to learn from a two eyed
man. The on-eyed man has a PhD, so he believes he knows all. Hazrath Khidr pbuh says, ‘You
are not going to be able to show patience with me.’ How correct is that answer; unto this day; but he keeps on
insisting, ‘I want to go with you.’ He is allowed to accompany Khidr pbuh, on condition he does not ask questions
unless Khidr pbuh explains. He is cut down. So they travel
and come to the sea or the water and there they board a boat. Sahih
Bukhari tells us a nice story about what happened on the boat. A little bird
came and sat on the sail of the boat and then flew down dipped its beak into
the water and flew back up with one drop of water inside the mouth. Khidr pbuh points to the bird and says, ‘Musa pbuh,
the knowledge that
you have plus the knowledge that
I have when compared to Allah ﷻ‘s knowledge is like the one drop of water in the beak of the
bird. That is the first lesson to teach a one eyed man. Then three events
occur:
1. Khidr pbuh breaks the bottom of the boat. Musa pbuh is annoyed and says, ‘Why do you do such a wicked thing?’
2. When they get off the boat they came
across a boy whom Khidr pbuh killed. Hazrath Musa pbuh is now more than just angry because he remembers
that he accidentally killed a man in
Egypt and what suffering he suffered because of this. So being very angry he
demands an explanation from Hazrath Khidr pbuh as to why he slew an innocent boy.
3. Then they came to a town which was very
inhospitable. There was a wall which someone had constructed and it was
crumbling. Hazrath Khidr pbuh pays for the wall to be rebuilt. Hazrath Musa pbuh cannot understand. ‘Why would you pay to do this in a town that doesn’t even show elementary hospitality? You can at least demand a refund of the amount you have spent?’ says Hazrath Musa pbuh.
What
is important about these three
events is that on each
occasion Hazrath Musa pbuh formed his judgment based on external
observation and rational analysis. And yet on all three occasions he was wrong.
Suratul Kahf is knocking at your hearts.
Warning you! That
in the age of Dajjal
if you depend only on your external observation and rational
investigations to formulate your judgment, you will be wrong because Dajjal comes
with two things: a river and a fire. His river is a fire and his fire is the
cool waters of the river. In other words, appearance and reality will be
completely different from each other in the age of Dajjal. It looks good but
it’s dangerous. It looks bad but the reality is different it is good. In the
age of Dajjal appearance and reality are going to be completely different from
each other so if judgment is based on external observation and rational enquiry
alone you are going to be wrong and will pay a terrible price for your wrong
judgment.
Hazrath Khidr pbuh explains saying, “What I did with this boat appeared to you to be bad but was actually good. There is a king, a government that is coming seizing people’s property and they are going to be seizing this boat, thus by damaging the boat, I saved the boat so when the king is gone the poor fishermen can repair their boat. It looked bad to you but actually I did them a favour. This little boy! You sometimes plant a seed and you get a rose. Sometimes you plant a seed and you get a scorpion. So when you sleep with your wife make dua, ‘O Allah ﷻ! This seed which I plant I pray it may grow into something good and beautiful.’ So this child was destined to grow into such a Devil that his parent’s faith would have been threatened. By killing the child and praying to Allah ﷻ to send them another child who would be coolness for their eyes (kurratu aiyun) I did something good for them but you couldn’t see that. As regards the wall: In this town there was a believer (mu’min), who had two little children, he was dying he had some money and he couldn’t find a single person he could trust to keep the money until his children grow. So he had to dig a hole and bury the money. Having buried the money he then built a wall and prayed to Allah ﷻ that He would guide them to the money. When I found the wall crumbling, Allah ﷻ instructed me to rebuild it.’
Hazrath Khidr pbuh explains saying, “What I did with this boat appeared to you to be bad but was actually good. There is a king, a government that is coming seizing people’s property and they are going to be seizing this boat, thus by damaging the boat, I saved the boat so when the king is gone the poor fishermen can repair their boat. It looked bad to you but actually I did them a favour. This little boy! You sometimes plant a seed and you get a rose. Sometimes you plant a seed and you get a scorpion. So when you sleep with your wife make dua, ‘O Allah ﷻ! This seed which I plant I pray it may grow into something good and beautiful.’ So this child was destined to grow into such a Devil that his parent’s faith would have been threatened. By killing the child and praying to Allah ﷻ to send them another child who would be coolness for their eyes (kurratu aiyun) I did something good for them but you couldn’t see that. As regards the wall: In this town there was a believer (mu’min), who had two little children, he was dying he had some money and he couldn’t find a single person he could trust to keep the money until his children grow. So he had to dig a hole and bury the money. Having buried the money he then built a wall and prayed to Allah ﷻ that He would guide them to the money. When I found the wall crumbling, Allah ﷻ instructed me to rebuild it.’
So knowledge, instructions and guidance can
come from above. What we are introduced to here is a branch of
knowledge that is called epistemology.
What is knowledge? Is it possible for us to acquire knowledge and how is
it acquired? The Holy Qur’aan teaches
us: Did you acquire knowledge? That knowledge wherein there is no doubt
never becomes obsolete like the computer from ten years ago. [The Holy Qur’aan
says in the 102nd Sura, Takaathur (The Piling up):
If you had that knowledge
that is borne of certainty
to be continued . . . .
