The Way Going to Allah

The divine world is seen with the heart's eye, while the material world is seen with the head's eye. The way going to Allah passes through the heart. Heart is the representational existent in which all the conscious and unconscious spiritual events happen. It's existence is figurative.

True nature of spirit doesn't be known. So much knowledge hasn't been given about spirit by the Creator. It seems that as if the ways going to obtain the knowledges about spirit by the humans have been closed. The spiritual phenomena are very complex events effecting us down to our smallest cells, minor capillary vessels and most unimportant muscles of our body. The true nature of spirit is continuing to be an unknowable subject, while the psychic events being induced by spirit can be known by using empirical methods. Why?

Because, the knowledges belonging to the divine world can not be obtained by using the knowledge obtaining methods of the material world... The method of "experiment", which is the modern sciences' knowledge obtaining method, works only on the material world. But it doesn't work on the spiritual world being timeless and spaceless.


# How much belief, so much beneficence

The knowledges belonging to the spiritual world obtain only by self methods of this world. In fact, these knowledges don't be obtained, but are bestowed upon persons by way of the intuition and inspiration, by God. The password of this grace is the "faith". Everybody is informed about the spiritual world in the ratio of his belief.

"Faith" isn't such a visual and tactile thing. The degree of the faith of a person is in the ratio of obeying his God, by abandoning his ego's desires and greediness. When a person be subject to the will of Allah, in time, he begins to see everything with the divine light of Allah. Then, the knowledges belonging to the divine world begin to flow into this person's heart. As long as he is subject to this divine layout which was endowed to us as a life form by Allahu ta'ala; in other words, as long as he moves away from his ego's demands and desires, he observes and learns so much thing from the realities of the divine world.

My very dear readers,

It is necessary to understand the heart very well, to reach the spiritual world.

The heart is a place where all the conscious and unconscious spiritual events happen in it.

All the feelings coming through the five senses; all the desires being the lusts of the body; all the judgments, discoveries being the products of intelligence; all the ideas, thoughts, concepts, opinions, intentions being the products of mind; all the emotions and excitements; angers, furies, fears, anxieties, arrogances, grudges, hatreds, envies, passions being the reactions of ego; the belief and inspiration being the divine proposals; blasphemy, discord and misgiving being the satanic suggestions; reminiscences being the products of memory... All of these happen in the heart.

For the reason that, the heart is a place where all the spiritual events happen in it; sometimes, "heart" and "spirit" are used in the same meaning. In fact, these are different things.


# Heart is variable

Heart is very variable. It is as changeable as the moon.

Sometimes, sex hormones increase in body, lustful passions invade the whole heart.
Sometimes, person calms down, a tranquility occupies the heart, the feelings of mercy fill in it..

Sometimes, he loves a girl. He begins to think his darling day-and-night. And this love doesn't leave an empty space at his heart except his beloved.

And sometimes, some passions occupy the heart. Heart pulsates with the dreams of being the owner of wealth, honour, eminence and dignity.

But, my dear readers, certainly the most satisfied moment of the heart is the moment in which person remembers his God and be subject to Him.


# Heart is the focus point of ego

My dear readers, I had said that "Heart is much variable". For this reason, one must be owner of his heart very well.

The heart is a place where all the spiritual events happen. In a way, the heart is the focus point of our ego and personality. Because, the heart is an arranger and organizer of all the events and activities in our body. Our whole organs are under the command of our heart. Our heart is the manager and director of our whole acts.

The behaviours of a person take shape according to the feelings and ideas in his heart. If which feelings and ideas are there in heart in a certain time, the behaviours in accord with these feelings and ideas emerge from all the organs of body, in that time. The closeness of Allah also begins at heart.


# Heart is a window opening to the divine world

As the heart is a place where all the spiritual events emerge, at the same time, it is a window opening to the divine world.

While the phenomena in the material world are observed and perceived with the head's eye, the phenomena in the divine world only can be observed and perceived with the heart's eye, from the window of heart. For this reason, persons trying to perceive the divine phenomena with the head's eye, while their heart's eyes are blind, can not see anything, and they suppose absent them. Whenever heart's eyes of a man begin to see, then only then, he also begins to notices the spiritual realities.

A heart without belief is a dead heart. It does not see the divine realities. Whenever the belief's light begins to shine at heart, which had been mentioned from it in the former articles, then only then the heart also comes to life again, and begins to notice the divine realities bit by bit. As long as this belief's light increases, the flowing of the knowledges belonging to the spiritual world to the heart also accelerates. For that reason, being informed about the divine world is in the ratio of the belief of person.

My dear readers,

The thing, killing the heart, blackening the heart's window, and preventing to be seen the divine realities by human is, actually, the endless desire and greediness of ego. In a windy weather, the pieces of dust floating through the air make dirty the glasses of our windows and we can't see the outside clearly. Like this, the desires and passions of ego make dirty the glasses of the heart's window and prevents to be seen the divine world. How the heart remembers its god, Allah, while it is completely full with the desires and demands of ego, and the imaginations belonging to them.


# One must firstly clean the ways going to Allah

My very dear readers, the way going to Allah passes through the heart. When the heart becomes filled with the worldly ambitions, the worldly passions, and the endless wishes and desires of ego, this road closes and then Allahu ta'âla becomes doesn't be remembered. For this reason, if a person wants to be close to his God, firstly he must remove this world's love and the world's passions from his heart. This becomes possible by means of the "repent" for sins, the "zikr" (to remember Allah, always) , "riyadat" (to refrain Islamic forbiddens) and "mujahada" (to worship) . Turning back again to Allahu taâla by repenting, provides to see once again the realities of the divine world by cleaning the heart's window.

The repentance is the first step for the heart's invigoration. The repentance is remorse. Sincerely being felt remorse by person by being noticed his sins is enough for the repentance. Another thing isn't necessary for this. Almighty Allah knows all the thing happened in the heart, He is aware of every thing.

Be entrusted to Allah.

The beginning of the closeness to Allah (2)

My precious readers,

I had said that "After beginning to shine the belief's light in heart, the doors of heart become open to the divine knowledges, the divine recommendation and advices"


# From the Imitated Belief to the Rational Belief

As a matter of fact, after beginning to shine this belief's light at his heart, a person becomes more enthusiastic for the divine knowledges which have been brought by Prophets. Beforehand, while he thinks them as cock and bull stories faked up by the human imagination; after belief, his perspective and viewpoint changes. Person discerns that they are not faked-up stories; they are completely true, and every divine rule being obeyed takes away person to unlimited goodnesses. This also takes away him to a new process where he tries to obtain a thorough knowledge on Islam and tries to value these knowledges in the scales of mind.

This is the rational belief stage. The rational belief is a stage that person tries to interpret the acts of Allah by using his mind, by enquiring and investigating the religious knowledges. Man is more close to his Creator in this stage than he was in the imitated belief stage.


# From the Rational Belief to the Real Belief

But, after a certain duration, person will immediately notice that he doesn't explain everything by using his mind. Because, mind is a mechanism that works only on tangible realities. It works only by using the senses, images, imagines, ideas and consepts obtained from matter, whereas the divine realities are completely different from the material realities. The divine realities are spaceless and timeless. The words using for stating the divine realities are also representational statements. These realities can not be undestood by sense and mind. To try understanding the divine realities by using methods of the material realities is, so to say, similar to try understanding the vapour by investigating an ice floe; whereas, vapour and ice are the things endowed with the completely different structures. The rules, which they are subject to, are completely different. True knowledges can be obtained only if every structure has been investigated by their own rules and canons.

The place we stand now is the exhaustion point of mind for believer. Because, on the one hand, person comes face to face with some events confirming the divine realities and these power his belief; on the other hand, some events appear that these can not be accepted easily by mind, and these cause him to fall into hesitations.

The real face of the belief emerges in the heart of person, when it has been passed to the spiritual dimension by climbing over the enquiry phase with the help of God. Certainly, this doesn't be so easy. For passing to this dimension, usually, it is necessary the helps of the persons named as awliya (saints). But Allahu ta'âla also destines this dimension to some persons He likes, without getting any help.

In this phase, the divine (spiritual) realities begin to appear in such a way that more transparent, more explicit, as clear as crystal in man's imagination. In time, the believer begins to see the divine (spiritual) realities as clear and doubtlessly as in the material realities. This final phase which the believer has come to, be named as the witnessing phase, is the peak point of the belief. Nobody can return back such a man from his belief, hereafter.

The peak point of the belief is also the peak point of the closeness of Allah, in the same time.


# It is not So Easy to Reach the Real Belief

My dear readers,

Certainly, to reach a real belief is not so easy and is also not an event occurring quickly. And also, it is not bestowed on everybody.

The beginning of this process, as mentioned above, is the moment in which begins to shine the belief's light in heart with the word "Lailahe illallah" (There is no God, but Allah). The belief process which has begun in this way, reaches to peak by progressing with the various Riyazat (means to avoid from Islamic forbiddens) and Mujahada (means to worship), and with the different ego cleaning activities such as zikr (means to remember Allah). But the principle of the act never changes: this is to increase the belief's light in heart, namely, to increase the love of Allah, Muhabbetullah, in heart.

When a person becomes acquainted with a good man, how his loyalty to him increases in his heart as long as he sees his good behaviours; in the same way, as long as the belief's light (the love towards his God) increases in the believer's heart, his closeness to Creator, also, increases. It is called as "qurbet". Qurbet means closeness and approach. Also the acts making closer to Allah are named as "qurbet"

In these articles, i am trying to tell what means the closeness to Allah and what are the ways and methods of this, without going into detail and without losing sight of the essence in the many controversial knowledges. The details can be learn from the "ilmihal"s, the books explaining the principles of Islam. My purpose is to tell you the main prenciples of being closer to Allah. I am expecting to achieve this by the helps of Allah.

I wish Allahu ta'âla makes me and you successfull on our beneficial acts, inshaallah. And almighty Allah cleans our hearts from the useless and unnecessary things, and He increases his own love (Muhabbetullah) at our hearts, and He makes me and you from the persons close to himself, inshaallah.

The beginning of the closeness to Allah (1)

My precious readers,

The beginning of the closeness to Allah is certainly the beginning of the belief.

The respectable erudite Imami Rabbanî states at his work named "Mektubat" that, when a person said "Lailahe illallah" (There is no God, but Allah) by knowing its meaning, a mote of the belief emerges in his heart.

This moment in which a very little faith emerged in heart is a very much valued and very much important moment.

How, for a narcotic addict, the moment in which he took the first drugs, is the beginning of all the unexpected troubles and all the malignancies that will take away him to death; likewise, but conversely, for a believer, the moment which this very little belief emerged in heart, is the beginning of all the goodnesses to take away him a true belief and to open him the door of a perpetual happiness.

After emerging of this belief as little as a mote, the light of the belief begins to shine in heart. The thing named the belief's light is the love and loyalty to Allah, in the fact.

It is talking at Qur'an about increasing and decreasing of the belief. The meaning in here is metaphorical. A man either belives or not. There is not middle of this. In short, the belief doesn't increase and decrease. The thing increasing and decreasing is the light of the belief; in other words, is the closeness to Allah, is the love of Allah (Muhabbetullah)


# The source of all goodnesses

This belief fact and this love of Allah in a heart is the main source of all the excellences and goodnesses, and also the closeness to Allah.

After believing, this love emerging in heart towards Allah and towards the believers who love Him, is the light of the heart, and is the beginning of every matureness and all the goodnesses. After shining this belief's light in the heart, amazing and shocking alterations occur at behaviours of that man.

I liken this case to the situation of a fanatic who begins to support a new football team. After he has begun to support this new team, a love emerges to the team captain, players, and fans of this new team in his heart. He goes to all matches of this new team. He follows all news about this new team. Similarly, a love arises towards Allah ta'âla, towards all His prophets and whole muslims, in the heart of a person who has newly begun to believe.

Every thing varies after emerging this belief phenomenon and this love in heart. That person begins to listen to every thing coming from his God and tries to internalize them. He begins to research the realities of the rumours.

After beginning to shine this belief's light in heart, the doors of the heart become open to the divine knowledges, to the divine recommendation and advices, and to the divine advances.


# Before and after believing

Beforehand, person tries to change the subject when is talked about Allah, for the reason that he has bored. As if, it is being talked about a simple thing. But, after this a little faith, person be all ears when is talked about his God. And tries to be a more respectful and a more decent man towards his god, Allah.

Beforehand, while a lot of exemplary events happen around him and he doesn't draw a lesson from any one of these; after believing, he begins to value them from a different point and to take lessons from them.

Before belief, when anybody wants to warn him about any subject, he doesn't give ear to these and he is angry at these advises by reason of his arrogance. But after believing, he begins to be all ears for these advices and cautions.

These changes emerged after believing and beginning to shine the belief's light in a person's heart are countless.

The reason of these changes is closely connected with, whether a man be subject to his ego's desires or he is subject to his own God's will.

After belief, a man begins also to take the Allah's wills into consideration near his own ego's desires at all works he did. So, he has entered into the education of his God. In other words, the Rabb attribution of Allah begins to appear on that man. Rabb means educator in Arabic.


# The faith is the beginning of the liberation and salvation

My dear readers, this a little faith is so very much important for a man that, person firstly accepts his God's will, by going beyond his own weak and powerless existence and by climbing over his own ego. When he says "Lailahe illallah" (There is no God, but Allah) by accepting it's meaning, person begins firstly to be subject to Allah's will, by abandoning his own ego's endless desires, one by one. It is called as "ibaadat". Ibaadat means to live for Allah, to be servant and slave of Him, in Arabic. In other words, this a little faith is the beginning to serve, to be slave for Allah, from the point of this person. In fact, not being a servant and a slave, but it is the beginning of the liberation and salvation from the desires and wishes of ego, which they make person a despicable and dishonorable man at everywhere and every time. This "being slave for Allah" will slowly slowly take away him from the hegemony of his ego to the peak of the divine maturities, and will be the basis of the world and afterdeath happinesses. Man will appreciate this in time and will know increasingly the value of this, as long as complete his salvation from his ego, later.

My dear readers, this completing process is called as Islam. Islam is to be subject to the will of almighty Allah, which He is only one and He has not a partner; nothing is an equal and similar to Him; He has created all the things (takwin) in certain measures (taqdir); He has arranged and organized them according to His self will (tanzim), has programmed them (qadar), and He is realizing this programme when its time comes (Qazaa); and He is managing all the worlds in a way He wills. Briefly, Islam is to obey the will of Allah ta'âla; not person's own will.

While a person is unamenable and be subject to own low desires of his ego, before belief; after belief, he begins willingly to be subjet to the will of his Creator. In fact, here, person doesn't renounce completely from his own desires and wishes, but he limits his desires with the boundaries determined by Allah, and tries not to pass beyond these boundaries.

(to be cont'd)