Tawhid, in the story of Pharoah and Moses

I came across an article about tawhid, which makes use of the story about Moses and Pharoah to illustrate the Exaltedness and the Sublimity of God Almighty. The article refers quite a fair bit to Ibn Arabi’s literature. Just as a word of caution, Ibn Arabi is very deep in his writing, so read the article slowly and try to comprehend. Sometimes Ibn Arabi’s content is not that difficult to understand, just that the phrasing and the language used is tough.

If you do not read his work properly with understanding, you may think that Ibn Arabi is a heretic, indeed people have accused Ibn Arabi of being a kafir; he is far from that, he is Shaykhul Akbar and Muhyiddin. In all likelihood, our lack of knowledge is what makes us PERCEIVE Ibn Arabi as a heretic. Just remember that one sahaba either Abu Huraira or Anas Bin Malik ra (I cant rmbr exactly who) once said something like this; “I’ve inherited a lot (knowledge) from the Prophet, only half of which I relate to the people, the other half I keep to myself because if I were to relate that other half, they would surely cut my head off.”

So Here It Is :

Pharaoh in the Qur'an is the epitome of the arrogant, unjust, and egoistic man of power, who calls those below him to worship at the altar of his conceit. Acknowledging the truth of tawhid in his heart, he deliberately suppresses this truth in order to arrogate to himself the attributes that rightfully belong to Allah. For the thirteenth-century Andalusian Sufi Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi, (d. 1240) Pharaoh epitomized the perversion of the vice-regal function of man by attempting to rule in his own name and without the guidance of Allah's Law. By contrast, Moses epitomized submission to tawhid and the divine Law, without the intermediary power of self-reliance (tadbir). For Ibn 'Arabi, the great paradox of the Moses narratives was that Pharaoh was aware of the reality of Moses' Messengership, as well as of the truth of tawhid, but refused to acknowledge either of them openly. In a complex and counter-intuitive chapter on "The Wisdom of Highness in the Mosaic Word" in his book Fusus al-Hikam (lit. "The Ring-Settings of Wisdom Teachings"), Ibn 'Arabi depicts Pharaoh as playing the role of Moses' antagonist like an actor playing a role in a drama. He knows that his words and actions are false, but he persists in his creation of falsehoods, thus fulfilling the divine will by parodying in his conceit the true authority that God reveals through Moses.

For 'Arabi, the figures of Moses and Pharaoh are inseparable from each other, like conjoined twins, each representing a contrasting yet complementary aspect of the human condition. This is why Pharaoh can be understood as obeying the Law of Allah while flouting the tenets of divine justice. It is also why he can be understood as acknowledging tawhid at the very moment that he appears to reject it. For Ibn 'Arabi, the key to "The Wisdom of Highness in the Mosaic Word" can be found in the verses where Pharaoh mockingly asks Moses, "And what is the 'Lord of the Worlds?'" [Qur'an 26:23]. According to Ibn 'Arabi, Pharaoh was fully aware of the answer to his question, and only asked it so that Moses could give the answer that his role required him to give:

[Moses] answered:
"The Lord of the Heavens and the Earth and what is in between-- if you are among those who have attained certainty."
[Pharaoh] said to those who surrounded him: "Do you not hear?"
Then [Moses] said: "Your Lord and the Lord of your fathers, from the beginning."
[Pharaoh] said: "Verily this Messenger of yours who has been sent to you is possessed!"
[Moses] said: "Lord of the East and the West, and all that is in between, if only you had sense!"
[Pharaoh] replied: "If you take any god other than me, I will surely make you a prisoner!" [26:24-29].

In Ibn 'Arabi's hands, Pharaoh's words become pregnant with double meaning. When Moses affirms the identity of Allah as Lord of all things, Pharaoh exclaims, "Do you not hear?" appearing to rebuke Moses, but actually affirming the truth of what he says. When Moses next describes Allah as the deity of a specific group of people (in this case Pharaoh's royal ancestors), Allah rebukes Moses' apparent shortsightedness by making Pharaoh say, "Verily this Messenger of yours is possessed!" When Moses returns to divine transcendence by proclaiming that Allah is Lord of the East and the West and all that is in between them, his understanding of the true nature of tawhid is affirmed by means of Pharaoh's parody of the divine commandment: "Thou shalt have no other god before Me."

As a final irony, Pharaoh (in Ibn 'Arabi's interpretation) is both destroyed by Allah and "saved" by being drowned in the crashing waves of the sea as he pursues the fleeing Israelites. As his body is crushed by the waves, his soul is "drowned" in the ocean of divine foreknowledge. If only Pharaoh had known, says Ibn 'Arabi, of the true highness within himself! The highness of the human being as vicegerent of Allah, whose altar is lit by a miraculous fire within -- a theophany of the divine, like the burning bush that spoke the word of Allah to Moses:

Like the fire of Moses, which [Pharaoh] perceived in the extremity of his need,
He, too, was the divinity, but was not aware of it!


The problem with Pharoah is not so much about not knowing what is Tawhid or having a wrong concept of Tawhid. He apparently knew what Tawhid is about and what it entails, just that Pharaoh wanted that greatness Tawhid speaks about all for himself, instead of Allah alone who rightfully owns that Tawhid.

In this case, Pharaoh was not being just, not being fair when he chose to allocate Tawhid to himself. He was not putting things in their rightful place, he was zalim.

Pharaoh chose to struggle against God and compete with God for ownership over Tawhid. Why would you even try to steal something from God? We know that whenever anyone competes against God, God always wins.

Reflections, Parallels and Lessons OUGHT to be drawn

well, let me recap, the 9th of Jan, or according to their format, 090108, went to every man's island and there i took the oath of allegiance to the nation. i was trying to comprehend what that entails, the swearing of allegiance. i guess for many of us it's just speech by the tongue. somehow i felt i am not doing things right, took the oath there but still until today i haven't took bai'ah(allegiance) to Sidi. i used to tell myself, don't take bai'ah yet, you are not ready for the strenuous path, there'll be loads of responsibility, it'll require a whole deal of consistency on my part etc etc. it's true that in tariqah sometimes the daily awrad can be strenuous, for example, there is this ijazah of invoking the Name Allah 10000 times every night or 1000 al ikhlas everyday. how to do? won't be easy right? but this is what tariqah teaches you, to keep constantly in mind, the remembrance of God and be disciplined in it.

In the army, discipline is a big thing, and once you are used to it, routine orders there become like a simple everyday kind of thing. so why cant this be applied to tariqah? those 'heavy' zikir can be done by anyone who wants to. if you don't mind, it don't matter. Mind Over Matter. Cast away hypocrisy NOW. if you can do routine orders, surely you can do zikir. maybe there is hikmah in the army anyway.

next up, the thing that touched me personally was how we had to greet and salute superiors, i have no issues with greeting or saluting them, that is the system, plus they have earned their status and deserves such treatment. but this pinpoints me to a very important concept of greetings and veneration for the Holy Prophet SAW. How much should we greet him? How much should we revere him? Some self proclaimed salafis/ wahabis out there say certain groups of muslims are greeting/praising the Prophet TOO MUCH. what gibberish! how can one possibly OVER praise or OVER greet the Prophet?! if God Himself has Greeted and Praised the Prophet, then no matter how we praise him, it will never be too much, too little being the more likely. For he is the Most Beloved and Most Preferred and Most Perfect of all Creation. if to the commanders we salute, then upon the Prophet we send our SALAWAT!

SallaAllahu alaika wa sallam Ya RasullAllah! fii kulli lamhatin wa nafasin a'dada ma wa sia'huu 'ilmullah!

the other thing that struck me was about patience, my superior was talking about how tiring field camp would be and he also talked about the fact that field camp is the time when you will see our friends' true colours. by then all will be very shagged and hungry and we shall see who cares only for himself. honestly speaking, i really don't know how i would do. and i can't stop to marvel at how the Prophet did it. the Prophet mingled amongst the poor and constantly put the poor ahead of himself, remember hijrah? He was the last to leave after everyone else. He survived on just pieces of dates for days (nice pun huh, dates and days) and he never failed to give them to the hungry first. such was the exalted moral character of the Prophet which i have yet to experience for myself, hopefully all goes well Amin, May Allah forgive us all and guide us and plant in us firmly, the love for the Prophet and for the Almighty Himself.

Hiatus

ok, so this blog will be going on a hiatus for at least 17 days coz im bookin chalet this wed 9 jan n book out only during the second weekend. it'll be a new env no doubt, with new challenges as a muslim. anyways, i do hope u ppl out there can selit me in ur prayers such that everything goes well and smooth for me, insyaAllah. i'm lookin for a win-win situation there, May Allah keep it easy for all of us.

to end it off, Allah says in surah An Nisa' , : "Athiullah wa Athiur Rasul, wa ulil amri minkum"

Obey Allah and obey Prophet, and those on authority. An-Nisa' (4:59)

so, i will have new "ulil amri minkum" and yeah, be a kambing just obey and follow ;)

The 4 levels of the Attitude towards Sin

This is by far one of the most influential pieces of information for all of us. It’s a practical, always relevant issue in our daily lives and it pertains to our weakness, namely that of succumbing to temptation and sins.

The First Level:
You commit a sin and you feel remorseful, regret and you lament it. You dye your hair, flirt lecherously around, imbibe alcohol, get yourself inked up but you are saying “Oh Allah, this is all my bad, my fault; I’m too weak to brush off the whispers of the Devil and the inclinations of my own Nafs. Therefore forgive me.” In such a case, God usually will have no qualms to forgive you, no matter how much or how big the sin, insyaAllah. He says in a hadith Qudsi, “O child of Adam, as long as you beseech Me and hope for Me, I shall forgive you whatever you have done, without minding in the slightest." But again, ourselves will know, do not take advantage of this purposefully.

That is why the Chief of Istighfar thought to us by the Prophet himself has this part,
“abou ulaka bi ni’matika alaiya, wa abou u bi dzanbii, farghfirlii,” which means
“I acknowledge the blessings showered upon me and I admit my sins, therefore forgive me”

The Second Level:
You commit a sin and you don’t feel bad about it. This one already has signs of the heart dying.

The Third Level:
You commit a sin and you are proud about it, you go tell everyone. This is bad for a few reasons; firstly it is a very impertinent and impudent thing on our part to feel good/proud about committing a sin. Very much like a sore loser, you are on the wrong side and you are happy, proud. The other thing is, you don’t even bother to cover your own shortcomings (‘aib), your own iniquities. Almost like throwing away your self-worth.

The Fourth Level:
You commit a sin, you are proud of it, and you condemn the Law of God as being backward, anti-modernity, and the likes of it. This is true sore loser. It is playing on the fences, with murtad and kuffar on one side. God save us from such things, Amin.

This is a serious issue especially today. In the western world the clash at this level mostly comes from the homosexual community. We do not condemn homosexuals as individuals; there is no right to do so. But we condemn their actions and their inclinations. This is because it is going against God. Science, medicine and even evolution, all prove that heterosexual is the way to go.

(Some people say homosexuality is common among animals and thus is normal; my foot! Since when do we take animals as our guides? Animals are also known to engage in necrophilia, pedophilia, fornication, incest. Are we going to condone all these as well?)

Right now there is no known genetic basis for homosexual tendencies, unlikely to be found in the future too, it is mostly psychological and this can change.

The thing is, homosexual communities tend to condemn the established Law of God as barbaric, backward and only fitting for backwater desert-dwellers. The condemnation of the law is absolutely unnecessary, totally a transgression. You have sinned, but why sin again by being a sore loser in front of God? What are you going to say to Him about rejecting His Favors upon you??? This is God asking a favor of you and you blatantly deny?

There is a reason why the verse “which of the Favors of Thy Lord do you deny?” is repeated many times in a surah called Ar-rahman, The Beneficient. It is supposed to appeal to our nature. Rejection only means the death of our hearts.

Such an issue is always much easier said than done, and I pray that God save me from hypocrisy as I type. Such issues are easy to understand but difficult to execute, hence the difference between knowledge and wisdom, between knowledge of paper and knowledge of taste. Each one of us inherently knows what is the right thing to do, that is our fitrah, which is why akhlaq exams, can just go in and smoke your way through, no need to mug. Knowing alone is easy but execution is hard and this is the test. You pass this and paradise is yours. This is precisely why we do not have paradise in hand, especially me. We pray to God for Support, Amin.

Turn to You? Why?

Sometimes I wonder why should I turn to Him? Why does He even care? I’m nothing, I’m worthless. And why does He even care to govern my actions? For no sin, regardless how humongous, can harm Him and no merits, regardless how significant, can benefit Him.

Oh, so now I get it, it’s a love story. Disobedience and disappointment on my part is hurtful to You, O God. You loved me first, You Initiated this love and in return, and out of good manners, I’m supposed to reciprocate that love.

I’m so ashamed in front of You, Your obedience to me is greater than my obedience to You.

But above anything else, please O Allah, I want to love You for all You’ve done. Allow me my indulgence. I want You, don’t tell me anything about paradise, I want You.

The Praised Station of the Prophet. (Maqaman Mahmudaa)

God commands us to pray, but He Himself never prays!
He makes it obligatory for us to fast, but He never fasts!
He says we must pay the zakat, but He Himself never pays!

But when He enjoins believers to send peace and blessings upon the Prophet, He Himself sends His Peace and Blessings upon the Beloved Prophet s.a.w. and He Himself Praises the Prophet with “wa innaka laa’la khuluqin 'azhim”

And verily, thou (O Muhammad) art of an Exalted Character. - Al-Qalam [68:4]

Such is the Station (Maqam) of the Prophet in the sight of God.

And May God increase our Love for His Beloved s.a.w.