‘Whomsoever I kill, I am his ransom’

AFP has reported that Australian PM Kevin Rudd says that the holy warriors are cowards. We simply cannot hear this: it makes the Ali blood in our veins boil. These offensive words don’t call for explanation or interpretation, no matter whether their sayer is Rudd or Bush. ‘Grievous are the words which come out from their mouths.’ [18:the Cave:5]

Know, and God may guide us, that they, the holy warriors, are the martyrs of Love. The holy hadith ‘Whomsoever I kill, I am his ransom’ is a reference to their stage (maqam).

They are always under the crushing (sahq under qahr) weight of their affective experience (halan wa dhawqan), and have no moment of rest. For rest is in forgetting, and since they are in the stage of perpetual effacement (mahw da’im) -- awaiting execution -- there is no possibility for them of forgetting Allah (swt) and asking for forgiveness from infidels.

“The distinguishing mark of them is on their foreheads from the traces of prostration. Such is their likeness in the Torah and their likeness in the Gospel -- like as sown corn that sendeth forth its shoot and strengtheneth it and riseth firm upon its stalk, delighting the sowers -- that He may enrage the disbelievers with the sight of them.” [48:the Victory:29]

The degree of their realization and knowledge of all that which has been created is as perfect as the creator (khaliq), save the finest span between the finite and the infinite.

The first degree of realization (tahaqquq) they reached is the scene of istiwa in the highest part of the horizon (ufuq) which is the highest stage of the angelic force (jabarut), at which appear the two arcs -- the arc of creation, khalq and the arc of Godhead, uluhiyyah -- to meet each other. Here they heard a voice (saying): "Glory be to Me. I am the Lord of the angels and the spirits. My mercy subdues My wrath."

Then moving further beyond (wara’) the dualistic view (ithnayniyyat) they entered the state of awaiting or pending -- not terminated -- between the finite and the infinite, joining point (nuqtah, dot) of the two arcs, after which comes the phase of aw adna (or nearer) where all dualistic considerations concerning the two arcs disappear. The whole becomes a circle wherein the absolute infinite manifests overall encompassment and penetration. At this stage of total submission and absorption, they come into direct communion (munajat) with the infinite absolute and receive most important message which is known to them and their Lord.

Imam Ja‘far bin Muhammad as-Sadiq says: "It was in this state the command relating to wilayah or imamah with finality was revealed to the Holy Prophet." The Imam further says that "what he saw" has nothing to do with the ordinary sense of seeing but it refers to the realization the cognitive self of the Holy Prophet achieved.

So understand that mukhlas is the one who has been chosen by God and reserved for Himself. We can look for the truth of ‘the eye did not swerve, nor did it go wrong’ here. At this level Love means the will to obey. Here the object is to remove the evil objects. Therefore, when evil objects are removed – as per istiwa, the prophetic walayat is realized. After that, whatever progress we make will be in the area of prophetic perfections. ‘Our Lord! forgive us our sins and transgressions in our duties, establish our feet firmly, and help us against those who resist Faith’ [3:Ali Imran:147];

ربَّنَا اغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَإِسْرَافَنَا فِي أَمْرِنَا وَثَبِّتْ أَقْدَامَنَا وانصُرْنَا عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ

Brotherhood of Believers