From: silatman@hls.com
Newsgroups: soc.culture.asean,soc.culture.arabic,soc.culture.usa
Subject: Saint of Gilan (1)
Date: 13 Dec 92 18:48:36 GMT



                         SAINT OF GILAN (1)
                         ------------------

   Shaikh Abdul Qadir Gilani was born in Naif, in the District
of Gilan, in Persia, in the month of Ramadan in the year 470 A.H.
[1077 A.D.]. He is a direct descendent of both Imam Husain
and Imam Hasan, the sons of Hazrat Ali [raa], the Holy Prophet's
first cousin, and of Fatima, his beloved daughter.
   In his lifetime he preached to the open public, and I am
presenting here a series of his discourses. In another article
I will present the details of his life.
   All acts of a saint are subservient to the Will of Allah swt.
A saint does not act from his own will, as he is a tool
in the hands of Allah swt for creating destiny according
to Allah's plan. When a saint speaks, he speaks in a state 
'hal', as God speaks thru him.

                       SAINT OF GILAN SPEAKS:
                       ---------------------

  Said Hazrat Abdul Qadir Gilani [raa]:

  "When the servant of God is in a trial he first tries to escape
from it with his own efforts, and when he fails in this he seeks
the help of others from among men such as the kings and men of
authority, people of the world, men of wealth, and in the case
of illness and physical suffering, from physicians and doctors;
but if the escape is not secured by these he then turns towards
his Creator and Lord the Great and Mighty and appeals to Him
with prayer and humility and praise. So long as he finds 
the resources in his own self he does not turn towards the people
and so long as he finds resources in the people he does not
turn towards the Creator.

   Further, when he does not get any help from God he throws
himself in His presence and continues in this state, begging
and praying and humbly entreating and praising and submitting
his neediness in fear and hope. God the Great and Mighty
however, tires him out in his prayer and does not accept it
until he is completely disappointed in all the means of 
the world. The decree of God and His work then manifest 
themselves thru him and this servant of God passes away
from all the worldly means and the activities and efforts
of the world and retains just his soul.

   At this stage he sees nothing but the work of God the Great
and Mighty, and becomes, of necessity, a believer in the unity
of God [Tawhid] to the degree of certainty, that in reality
there is no doer of anything excepting God and no mover
and stopper excepting Him and no good and no evil and
no loss and no gain and no benefit and no conferring
and no withholding and no opening and no closing and no death
and no life and no honour and no dishonour and no affluence
and no poverty but in the hand of God.

   He then becomes in the presence of God as a sucking baby
in the hands of its nurse and a dead body in the hands
of the person who gives it the funeral bath and as a ball
 before the stick of the polo player,---kept revolving
and rolling and changing position after position and condition
after condition and he feels no strength either in his own self 
or in others besides himself for any movement. He thus vanishes
from his own self out into the work of his Master.

   So he sees nothing but his Master and His work, and hears
and understands nothing excepting Him. If he sees anything
it is His work and if he hears and knows anything, he hears
His word and knows thru His knowledge and he becomes gifted
with His gifts and becomes lucky thru His nearness and thru
his nearness he becomes decorated and honoured and becomes 
pleased and comforted and satisfied with His promise and
is drawn towards His word and he feels aversion for and
is repelled from those besides Him and he desires and 
relies on His remembrance and he becomes established in Him,
the Great and Mighty, and relies on Him and obtains guidance
from, and clothes and dresses himself with, the light
of His knowledge and is apprised of the rare points
of His knowledge and of the secrets of His power and he hears
and remembers only from Him the Great and Mighty, and
then offers thanks and praise therefor and takes to prayer."


From "Futuh al-Ghaib" [Revelations of the Unseen]
Sufi Books, 227 West Broadway, New York, NY 10013.
Phone: 212-334-5212.