Obedience and the 3 States of Matter
From The Teachings of Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Qabbani
Are You Chasing After The Material World
Who's Riding Hu
Unfortunately, people today are no longer following Saints - they are only following their egos , Instead of riding your ego it is riding you. It is a strange phenomenon because in every aspect of our material lives we seek out experts. If we want to become a doctor, we go to medical school. If we want to become a lawyer we go to law school. In everything we do in life, we must learn from a teacher. You cannot open a practice without that stamp of approval on your wall that says you have been tested and verified as a real doctor by this school – it is not allowed. But you ask people today what school are you taking your spirituality from, they say “there is no need for that. I can read the Holy Books myself and come to my own conclusions.” For some reason, when it comes to spirituality many people reject the concept of learning from a master and follow their ego instead. But the Saints are teaching us that in dealing with life's difficulties and trials, it is important to constantly be guided and inspired by people more pious than ourselves.
“O ye who believe, fear God
and keep the company with those who are truthful.” (9:119)
3 States of Matter and the Shams al-Tabriz
“Obey God, obey the Prophet (s) and obey those in authority.” (4:59)
These three levels of obedience are also symbolic of the 3 states of matter: solid, liquid and gas.
The Divine is like the gaseous state: we can't see it, we can't taste it and we can't smell it. In our physical, solid form it is impossible for us to interact with gas, and that is why God is saying “obey Prophet (s)”.
Prophet (s) is symbolic of the liquid state which, like the gaseous state, is impossible to follow because it has no form. Obedience to Prophet (s) is like trying to hold liquid in our hand. Since we are solid we must find those with form to guide us. It means we must seek out a spiritual guide that we can learn from, one who is inheriting from the spirituality of the Prophet (s).
We are Solid Ignorance, We are in need of Solid Faith / Qutub
These are the Saints who are dressed with the perfection of Prophet (s) because they are reflecting his light. Therefore, when we look to them we see the reality of Prophet (s), just as the essence of liquid remains in its solid form. Through the Saints we begin to be dressed with the attributes of servant hood that Prophet (s) exemplified, and through servant hood we may enter the Divine Presence. To be a servant means to be nothing, to be gaseous.
When we are trying to enter as something and someone it means that we are still in a solid state, but you can’t have form in Divine Presence.
To be in the presence of God, Almighty and Exalted, you must lose your form like binary code.
Binary code is made-up of a series of 1’s and 0’s.
1 means you are “on” and symbolizes your form.
0 means you are off; you are in non-manifest-existence; you are in a gaseous state. You must annihilate and efface your physicality if you are to reach the presence of the 1, which is the oneness of the Divine. It means you must become like a gaseous state, like a 0, complete effacement in the Divine reality.
For matter to change states there must be a catalyst which creates a change within that existing state. For example, for a solid to become liquid requires tremendous heat.
In Sufism that catalyst is the spiritual Mentor, the Shams al-Tabriz.
According to a verbal tradition, once while Rumi was reading next to a large stack of some books, Shams Tabriz, passing by, asked Rumi, "What are you doing?" Rumi scoffingly replied, "Something you cannot understand." On hearing this, Shams threw the stack of books into a nearby pool of water. Rumi hastily took the books out of the water, but to his surprise they were all dry. Rumi then asked Shams, "What is this?" To which Shams replied, "Mowlana, this is what you cannot understand."
Shams al-Tabriz was the name of Jalaludin Rumi's (q) teacher and his name refers to the highest point of energy. “Shams” means sun in Arabic, referring to the fact that the heart of Shams al-Tabriz was like the sun - lit with the light of guidance. Tab-Riz means Highest point of Heat.
When Mawlana Rumi met Shams he was very firm and very scholarly. It means he was in a solid state, and he needed Shams al-Tabriz to melt him into a liquid state because to understand the knowledge of Saints requires a transformation. We cannot understand with book knowledge only. Like the letter of the law without knowing the Spirit of the Law – it is like trying to fit a square-block through a round hole.
REALITIES of Saints
There is an important hadith of Prophet (S):
Allah’s Messenger (S) said, “When Allah (SWT) created the Earth it began to oscillate, so He created the Mountains, ordered them onto it, and it became steady. The angels marveled at the strength of the Mountains and asked their Lord whether there was anything in His creation stronger than the Mountains, to which he replied that Iron was stronger. They asked if anything in His creation was stronger than Iron, and He replied that Fire was. They asked if anything in His creation was stronger than Fire, and He replied that Water was. They asked if anything in His creation was stronger than Water, and He replied that Wind was.” {States of Matter Solid Liquid Gas}
As an aside, this Hadith specifies the stages of personal progress and spiritual achievement.
78:7 And the mountains as pegs
The Mountains refer to the Awliya, the Saints of God, who through great firmness of faith reach a station that corresponds with that which stabilizes the Earth, i.e. they balance the universe with their positive light and energy. The Mountain is unshakeable, solid and stable, and perfectly describes the rank of the Friends of God and of Prophet (S).
Through their further development and evolution, and the application of spiritual power, Awliya then become Iron – absolutely firm and unbreakable. Iron not from the Earth but Heavenly sent.
The next stage is Fire, wherein the Saint’s essence burns and is ignited with the flame of Divine Power from the Presence of God, a state that may melt even Iron. Afterwards, the Saint’s being and container becomes Water, a fluid mountain which responds automatically and instantaneously to the will of the Divine, and which may douse even Fire.
This corresponds to a state wherein one is completely melted and annihilated in Bahr ul-Qudra, the Ocean of Power wherein all creation swims.
Lastly, Awliya may reach the station of Wind, pure Prophetic Essence, subtle, ethereal, completely without mass – pure Divine Will.
55-29 In Every Moment in (new) Splendor doth He (shine)!
The Shams al-Tabriz exists in every time, symbolizing the Saints who can melt our ego through the power of their heart.
They can melt us into a liquid state because they have the ability to intensify energy. In Classical Islam there are many examples of how the Grandshaykhs would melt ice or heat water just from their body heat. For example, during his seclusions Grandshaykh Abdullah al-Fa’iz ad-Daghestani used to use his spiritual power to melt a bucket of snow so that he could make ablution. This shows us that Saints are able to create a tremendous amount of spiritual heat, and through that secret they are also melting their followers to take them towards liquid and gaseous states.
The Saints teach us how to become servants, and that process begins to melt the ego. In that process of melting we scream and struggle because our ego, our identity and who we think we are, begins to burn in that fire. It wants us to escape the fire. It doesn’t accept to be nothing and to be burned away, but spiritual Masters are teaching us to jump into the fire like the story of Prophet Abraham (as) who jumped into the fire of Nimrod.
We said, "O Fire! be thou cool, and a means of safety for Abraham!"
(The Prophets 21:69)
All of the Prophets have something to teach us. The story of Prophet Abraham (as) is teaching us that when you are lost in that love, throw yourself into the fire. Fear of that fire symbolizes fear of faith, but it is all an illusion. That fear is making us run away from faith and from spiritual practices. It makes you think that if you become spiritual you are going to be burned, but the reality is the opposite. When you move towards faith, what appeared to you as a fire is actually cool and peaceful once you are inside it. The Divine is showing you that instead of running away, you should move into the fire. That fire will burn our bad character, but once the bad character goes that fire becomes a fire of love and it is all-consuming.
Then when the Saints have melted us, we enter a liquid state and we become like water. Water symbolizes submission Having a flowing quality without harshness or abrupt breaks.
Whether you are poured into a bottle or into a cup, it no longer matters. How do we reach to that liquid state? Submit! Submit to everything by seeing every event in your life as coming directly from God, because every event and every test in our life is like a fire. Every time your boss yells at you, it represents that fire. The question is, do you fight fire with fire?
Or do you throw water on the fire? It means, do you show no ego by saying “thank you”? Answer back with love, not anger, and throw water on the fire. The more we can put down our ego and respond with love, means the faster Saints can melt us into that liquid state. That is why, in the meditation you may feel your entire body heating up.
Saints are releasing that energy and literally melting you into that liquid state. That liquid state occurs through love, as only love can melt the heart.
When you are in a liquid state, it means you are submitting your will to the Divine will. Once you are in that state you will be quickly ascending because you are no longer fighting the Divine will. But in your physical form, the ego is struggle against Heavenly orders, making it incredibly difficult to accomplish one command from the Divine. If you are told to pray, your ego makes you to skip it. If you are supposed to meditate, your ego tells you to watch television instead, and this becomes the biggest delay to our progress. But as we move into a liquid state under the training of our spiritual Mentor, the process begins to speed up because the ego is submitting.
Water flows in whatever direction the earth takes it. It doesn’t decide where it wants to go. The student in that liquid state must be the same, flowing in whatever direction the Divine is sending them. In that state of submission and obedience to the Divine will, Saints are able to quickly take us to the Divine Presence because to move from liquid to a gaseous state is faster.
