‘JOB-covered with sores’, statue on the left altar wall at the ‘Marienkapelle’

in Langscheid, Sundern-North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany,

 Picture by Thomas Hummel.

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Today’s sharing from the Blue House of Via-HYGEIA, is another excerpts from Azizuddin Nasafi’s ‘Book of the Perfect Man’, Fayard, Paris, 1984. Our Via-HYGEIA English working translation comes from Isabelle de Gastine’s French translation of the original Persian. From pages 271 to 275, followed by ‘An exhortation upon Humility’, page 235 and 236. We share also, as an bonus appendix, the famous prayer by brother Charles de Foucauld, ‘the prayer of abandon’.

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Of Confident Abandon

‘Confident abandon is to put yourself willingly into someone else’s power. “He who fears God, God will give him an auspicious outcome to his affairs; He will grant him His gifts.” (Kur’an, ?)

O dervish! Confident abandon is the fruit of faith. The deeper the faith, the truer the abandon. In other words, the person who believes in being and in the unicity of God knows with certainty that God is omniscient and omnipotent. God’s mercy and solicitude are those of a mother for her child-What do i say?! There is no comparison between them and this one! The tenderness of a mother for her child is but a reflection of God’s tenderness for his servant.

O dervish ! He whose abandon is true knows with certitude that God Almighty oversees the subsistance of his Servants-to whom He promised it to them. He knows also that God never recants. Supported by these certitudes, confident in the divine generosity, the heart at peace, he truly abandons himself.

O dervish! True abandon proceeds from true certitude. The greater the certitude, the more confident is the abandon. Certitude dwells in the heart. Confident abandon is the heart’s affair. Once the servant’s heart is appeased-God provides to his subsistance and steers over his endeavors. The servant, in appearance, may seem busy or stays inactive, perhaps he is caring about someone else or isn’t, perhaps he is getting what he needs or abstains-confident abandon does not diminish in him. If he talks to the prince, he knows with certitude that it is God who juges and decides. If he speaks to a doctor, he knows with certitude that it is God who heals.

O dervish! Confident abandon relies upon neither possessions nor work, nor means. It depends solely upon God’s munificence and grace.

O dervish! The person who does not see the science, the will and the might of God upon all of His creatures, this one relies only upon the instruments of divine Will. Being unable to see beyond the instruments, he cannot reach the Master of the instruments. Therefore, every time the instruments run out, he is grumpy and contrite with a troubled and unfocused mind. On the contrary, the person who sees that the science, the will and the might of God is upon all creatures, this man puts his trust in Him-not in the instruments of divine Will. He see the instruments-as much as their effects-as destitute, miserable and submitted to God. He sees God as omniscient and omnipotent. He knows from clear experience that everything he does, God does it; that everything he gives, God is giving it. And if the instruments runs out, he is neither troubled nor contrite.

O dervish! He is the absolute Might. Everything He wants, He does. Hence, in the Kur’an: “He does what he intends” (85,16) applies to Him. No leaves of a tree would move; not a gesture would animate the hand; not an impetus would move in the heart, out-side of His science, His will and His might. Nothing comes into being, nothing moves alone, because He is what animates, what gives life but also what takes life. He is noxious & good. He is what retains & what dispenses. He is the One that brings prosperity & shortage. “It is We who portion out between them their livelihood in the life of this world…” (Kur’an, 43,16)

O dervish! Because you know it is like that, don’t torment yourself anymore about this world. Leave it up to God; He is the Provider. Therefore, may the servant manage his own tasks! his duty is to obey; God’s promise is to provide.

O dervish! Wise men want nothing of this world. To everything that happens to them, they agree and submit. “I commit my own affairs to God: for God watches over his servants.” (Kur’an, 40, 44)

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Exhortation upon Humility

‘O dervish! Love adults and children alike, so that you are loved back. Be equally humble towards friends and ennemies, so that the friends may becomes even more friendly and the ennemies less of a threat and, hopefully, even become some of your friends. The customs of the elite, opposite to the pleb, commands that consideration and attention grow with friendship and love.

O dervish! Tolerance and modesty, respect, caring for others are  the virtues of the Prophets and God’s Friends (awliya).

O dervish! Harmonize your appearance upon the people you live with, do not attract attention by your way of life. Such is the character of God’s Friends; such is their dome. Everybody takes refuge under it.

O dervish ! If there is a business between God and you, it is a matter of the heart. No one, should hear about it. Progress and ascent depend of the inside. It is from the inside that you are different from others, not from the outside. It is from the outside that the hypocrites deceive the world: not from the inside.

O dervish! Know that, from clear experience, the person who seeks attention-who fancies to impersonate a teacher or a pious devotee-does not have the slightest aroma of God. Prophets and Keepers of the Law, willingly or not, are bound to get attention. But it is not so for God’s Friends and the mystics. For them, the only thing that matters is to give water to the thirsty, to sit under their dome and contemplate. Therefore, the person from this group who boasts about his science & devotion is neither a Friends of God nor a Gnostic, but a greedy and ambitious person. But this snake is not even at the same level than an ordinary person who is bound to the world and harvests it according to his merits. No, this fake is the worst of men.

Glory to God, the Lord of the two worlds!‘

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Appendix

‘Prayer of Abandon’,

by brother Charles de Foucauld

(15 September 1858 – 1 December 1916)

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‘Father,

I abandon myself into your hands;
do with me what you will.

Whatever you may do,
I thank you.

I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all your creatures.
I wish no more than this, O Lord.

Into your hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you
with all the love of my heart,
for I love you, Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
for you are my Father.’

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