Common sense informs us that there are inner aspects and outer aspects of created beings. And hardly do the exterior aspects of a created being display the inner charms. Then the inner realities call out to him or her, we are only a trial so believe not. Subhan’Allah. We seek Allah SWT as al-salik – that is the person who has undertaken a way, a path, to a certain destination. And here it means a person who takes the path — I hope that is all of us — to his or her spiritual destination, with the most resolute of hearts. And to whom? To Allah SWT. This resoluteness is“hima” which is not just the intention, it is the drive with resolve. Intention is a state previous to hima. Hima is an internal resoluteness and drive toward that which was intended. So this person, imagine, this salik, has a hima and this hima is to arrive at a spiritual destination with his or her qalb (heart) fully surrendered and devoted to Allah SWT. And on the way certain things happen—an unraveling, an unveiling, a displaying. It could be an unraveling of confusions in my thinking or a freeing from complications and difficulties that have afflicted me. It could be unveiling of deeper meanings so that my understanding of things becomes more firm and stable. It could be a displaying in my everyday life of greater devotion to Allah SWT. Indeed, there are many types of unraveling, displaying, unveiling.
First of all as we alhamdulillah begin to walk the path to Allah SWT and we feel our taubah growing stronger, then we start to perform salat on time and establish zakat and perform some dhikr of Allah SWT. And so in performing the obligatory and also extra dedication in voluntary worship, and doing some good works insha’Allah of learning and sharing and teaching and helping others, then we begin to feel and experience certain beneficial effects and we begin to like the effort and striving to please Allah SWT; we begin to feel more peaceful and balanced. Then my hima, as it is aware of that new state that I am in, it wants to stay in a sense and stop and enjoy it. Maybe that’s it. When that happens, you could be hearing with physical ears or spiritual ears the hatif of the haqqiqah which is the voice of truth. It could be a call inside of your qalb. While what I observe or hear is part of my own mental and emotional being, it is nonetheless the haqqiqah, the underlying truth that speaks to me. The underlying truth is the essence, not the outward, superficial meaning of something. For example, the haqqiqah of the human being is not the way we look physically, the external look.
The haqqiqah of the human being is not physical. It is deep within the inner recesses of the heart. The prophet of Allah said that everything has a haqqiqah and the haqqiqah speaks to the heart. And sometimes the heart wants to stop because the heart of the journeyer, the traveler on the path to Allah SWT, finds delight in reflecting on the inner realities or might find a need for a deserved pause. Then a call from within that speaks to him or her about the realities of things and its vastness, brings reminder that there is more to seek and to be careful not to stop striving. That call from within reminds us, “Don’t think you got itall. Don’t think there is nothing beyond that. What you seek is still beyond.”
