The Descension of Angels To The True Believers

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Ya Ali Madad. On the occasion Mi’raj, the commemoration of the journey in which our Holy Prophet (s.a.s.) attained the status of fana fi’llah and baqa bi’llah using ism-i azam (symbolized by Burraq, the mystical horse), please accept our heartfelt felicitations!

On this day, may Noor Mowlana Shah Karim Al-Hussaini Hazar Imam, the 49th direct lineal descendant of the Holy Prophet (s.a.s.), grant peace, prosperity, happiness, barakat, higher spiritual enlightenment, spiritual & luminous tayid (help) and empowerment to the global Jamat as we go through this difficult period. Ameen.

Allâhumâ salli alâ Muhammadin wa âle Muhammad
(O Allah! Bestow Peace on and through Muhammad and his Descendants).

Introduction

This post has seven headings and has quotations which guide us to the Right Path:

1. Three Ayats from Surah Ha Mim and Commentary on these Verses;
2. An Ayat from Surah Al-Qadr and Commentary on this Verse;
3. Expansion of the Spiritual Heart (Sharh-i Sadr);
4. True Knowledge is Unveiled As a Light in the Soul;
5. How Some People Prepare for Unveiling;
6. Prostration of the Heart; and
7. Global prayers and Three Grand Aspirations.

1. Ayats from Surah Ha Mim and Commentary on these Verses

Ayats 41:30-32

These ayats read as follows:

“Verily,²¹⁷⁸ those who say: Our Lord is God! and persevere aright, descend upon them the angels, (saying): that “Fear ye not, nor be grieved, and receive the glad tidings of the Garden which ye were promised.”

“We are your guardians in the life of this world and in the hereafter, and for you shall be therein whatever desireth your selves, and yours shall be therein whatever ye shall ask for.”

“A hospitable welcome from the Oft-Forgiving , the Most Merciful (God).”

Holy Quran Ayats 41:30-32

Explanation of Ayats 41:30-32

Here is the footnote from S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali’s translation of the Holy Quran:

Footnote 2178

This clearly indicates that the descension of the angels with glad tidings, is not only for the apostles but also to those who believe and persevere aright. But, from some traditions of the Ahlul-Bait, it seems that it refers to the descension of angels to the true believers at the agony of death. That may be one of the instances of descension of angels. It is not impossible if they descend to the true believers even earlier with glad tidings.

Footnote 2178, S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali, pp. 1433-1434.

2. Ayat from Al-Qadr and Commentary on this Verse

Ayat 97:4

This ayat read as follows:

“The ³¹¹⁰ Angels and the Spirit descend therein by the permission of their Lord, with (decrees) of all affairs.”

Holy Quran Ayats 97:4

Explanation of Ayats 97:4

Here is the footnote from S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali’s translation of the Holy Quran:

Footnote 3110

It is said that angels and holy spirits descend on earth with special blessings from God and peace for those who seek them through prayers, supplications to the Lord.

Footnote 2178, S. V. Mir Ahmed Ali, pp. 1433-1434.

Noor Mowlana Sultan Muhammad Shah (a.s.) has taught us that every night is a night of Laylat-al-Qadr for true believers who practice bandagi at the Luminous time with a Luminous word (Ism-i Azam). From an esoteric point of view, angels became the best companions of true believers and bring glad tidings for the expansion of the soul and for unveiling of God’s light into the spiritual hearts of true believers.

3. Expansion of the Spiritual Heart (Sharh-i Sadr)

The great experiences of Holy Prophet (s.a.s.) are an inspiration for humanity. Let us reflect on the concept of expansion of the heart. Sharh-i Sadr literally means to open the chest, that is, the expansion of the heart, which in turn means the expansion of the human soul, because the centre of the soul is the heart and mind.

God says: “Is he whose heart Allah has expanded for Islam and follows (the guidance of) a Light from His Lord (equal to the one who has gone astray)? Then woe unto those whose hearts are hardened against the remembrance of Allah. Such are in plain error.” (Holy Qur’an 39:22).

This verse shows that when a mu’min, melting in fire of true love, is engrossed in the remembrance of God in such a way that he forgets everything, save the remembrance of God, to the extent that he does not know whether he is awake or in the world of dream, his soul expands and then the Light starts to appear.

Regarding the Holy Prophet, the Holy Qur’an says, “Did not We open your heart?” (94:1). This means that the blessed heart of the Prophet, i.e., his pure soul was expanded to the ultimate and as a result he could see the spiritual form of the entire universe in his own pure soul.”

Pir Nasir-i Khusraw and Spirituality, p. 34

4. True Knowledge is Unveiled As a Light in the Soul

In his book, the Sufi Path of Knowledge, William C. Chittick has presented Ibn al-Arabi’s Metaphysics of Imagination. He writes:

True knowledge is unveiled by God without intermediary of reflection or any other faculty. According to a saying often cited in Sufi texts, “Knowledge is a light which God throws into the heart whomsoever He will.”

Here is the articulation of Ibn al-Arabi:

Sound knowledge is not given by reflection, nor by what the rational thinkers establish by means of their reflective powers. Sound knowledge is only that which God throws into the heart of the knower. It is a divine light for which God singles out any of His servants whom He will, whether angel, messenger, prophet, friend, or person of faith. He who has no unveiling has no knowledge (man la kashf lah la ilm lah) (I 218.19)

There is no knowledge except that taken from God, for He alone is the the Knower. He is the Teacher whose student is never visited by obfuscations in what he takes from Him. We are those who follow His authority, and what He has is true. So we are more deserving in our following His authority of the name “learned masters” (ulama) than the possessors of reflective consideration, those who follow the authority of consideration in what it gives to them.

Chittick, W. C. The Sufi Path of Knowledge. SUNY Press, Albany, 1989. p. 170

The above form of knowledge is called ilm-i Laduni. It is holistic, gifted knowledge In form of Noor (Light).

5. How Some People Prepare for Unveiling

Here are excepts of Ibn al-Arabi on how people prepare for unveiling:

They [i.e., this tribe of believers] start to polish their hearts through invocations, reciting the Koran, freeing the locus [of God’s self-disclosure] from taking possible things into consideration, presence (hudur) and self examination (muraqaba). They also keep their outward dimension pure by halting within the bounds established by the Law.

He secludes himself at the gate of his Lord, occupying himself in examining his heart, in hope that God will open the gate for him and he will come to know what he did not know, those things which the messengers and the Folk of Allah know and which rational facilities cannot possibly perceive on their own.

When God opens the gate to the possessor of this heart, he actualizes a divine self-disclosure which gives to him that which accords with its own properties.

He used to take such things through following authority [Talim from religion instructors]. Now he takes them them through an unveiling which corresponds with and confirms for him what the revealed scriptures and the messengers have mentioned. He used to ascribe those things to God through faith and as a mere narrator, without verifying their meanings or adding to them. Now he ascribes them to Him within himself, with a verified knowledge because of that which has been disclosed to him. (I 271.27)

Chittick, W. C. The Sufi Path of Knowledge. SUNY Press, Albany, 1989. Pp.168-169

Unveiling is according to one’s measure, or the capacity of the spiritual heart. The Light of a Divine Name is shown in stages. This is the reason that Ibn al-Arabi has used the words, ‘with its own properties’ in the above excerpt. In other words, unveiling takes place through light, but the light that comes from God must coincide with the light of the heart (Chittick, p.224). The expansion of the spiritual heart enables it to be bestowed with more and more Light. The word ‘Wahab’ means bestowal or gifted and we pray for this in the early morning tasbi ‘Ya Wahab”.

6. Prostration of the Heart

Here are excerpts of Ibn al-Arabi on how people prepare for unveiling:

When the heart prostrates itself, it never rises up, since the prostration is to the divine names—not to the Essence—for the names have made it a “heart” (qalb); the names have made it fluctuate from state to state in this world and the next. This is why it is called a “heart”. When the Real discloses Himself to the heart as the Cause of Fluctuation (muqallib), it sees itself in the grasp of Him who makes it fluctuate. And He is the divine names, from which no created thing is separate. The names rule over the creatures. The heart of him who witnesses them prostrates itself, but the heart of him who does not witness them does not prostrate itself: he is the one who claims (muddai) by saying “I”. On the Day of Resurrection the reckoning and questioning will be directed towards the person who has such an attribute, as also a punishment, if he is punished. He whose heart has prostrated itself has no claims (da’wa), so he will have no reckoning, questioning, or punishment.

Hence there is no state more noble than the state of prostration, since it is the state of attainment of the roots {i.e., origin]. And there is no attribute more noble than [luminous] knowledge, since it yields felicity in both worlds, and ease in the two stations.

Chittick, W. C. The Sufi Path of Knowledge. SUNY Press, Albany, 1989. pp. 152-153.

7. Global Prayers and Three Grand Aspirations

Through the barakat of recitation of Holy Quran, Qasidas, Holy Ginans and voluminous prayers and Angelic Salwat by many, many individuals of the global Jamat, O Noor Mowlana Hazar Imam, bless the global Jamat with:

1. Spiritual and luminous tayid (help) to advance materially, spiritually and intellectually;
2. Sunshine in our spiritual hearts and actualization of the inner vision of the Truth;
3. Empowerment to present a Material Nazrana of time, knowledge and financial resources;
4. Empowerment to present a Spiritual Nazrana in the form of a pure heart which is in a state of constant dhikr; and
5. Empowerment to present a Luminous Nazrana in the form of a sound heart (qalb-i salim) which is in a state of constant dhikr and enlightenment.

Al-Hamdu lil-lahi Rab-bil Aalamin (All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds).

Shab-e Mi’raj Mubarak!

Angelic Salwat Supplication

Let us now start supplicating with angelic salwat, Allâhumâ salli alâ Muhammadin wa âle Muhammad (O Allah! Bestow Peace on and through Muhammad and his Descendants) to our beloved NOOR Mowlana Shah Karim Al-Hussaini Hazar Imam for mushkil aasan for material and spiritual upliftment.

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Haizinda — Qayampaya
(Our Present Imam is Living and His NOOR is Eternal)