Question:

Hi,
i asked you previously about my dream (https://eshaykh.com/dreams/playing-frisbee-in-a-park/). My question is how many levels/stations are there in spirtual development. And how does one reach higher levels. Thanks

Answer:

a`udhu billah mina ‘sh-shaytani ‘r-rajeem
Bismillahi ‘r-Rahmani ‘r-Raheem

Nawaytu al-Arba`in nawaytul i`tikaf, nawaytu ‘l-khalwah, nawaytul `uzlah, nawaytur-riyadah, nawaytu ‘s-suluk lilLahi Ta`ala al-`Azhim fi hadhal masjid.

Insha`Allah, we hope that Allah (swt) opens onto our hearts and our ears to understand the meanings of heavenly knowledge that Allah (swt) gave to Sayyidina Muhammad (s) in Laylatul Isra`i wa ‘l-Mi’raj (Night of Ascension).

Grandshaykh, may Allah bless him, said in his notes that all the knowledge exists today, combined with whatever knowledge existed from Sayyidina Adam (as) until Judgment Day, all together it is like one drop in the ocean of knowledge of Sayyidina Muhammad (s).  The rest of the ocean is still there.  Why? Prophet’s (s) ascension doesn’t stop.  Huwa da`iman fit-taraqi – he is always ascending.  In life he was ascending, and in the afterlife he is ascending.

He is always in ascension without stopping, and what he is receiving from these high levels, he is giving our.  But no one can take more than he can carry.

لا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّه نَفْساً إِلا وُسْعَهَا

{Allah doesn’t burden someone more than he can bear} (Surah al-Baqarah, 2:286)

And that’s why there are different levels; like today, people are tested.  They say, “That one has an IQ of this, that one has an IQ of that, so they measure the intelligence that they have – how much is your IQ? What is the highest IQ that people can have? .  So if you have… I remember they tested my IQ in the American University in Beirut, it was around 168.  So they test IQ, and they see how much you can get.  If that is with normal people, then also in spirituality and for different knowledges, there must are be different levels of ability to understand.

وَفَوْقَ كُلِّ ذِي عِلْمٍ عَلِيمٌ

Wa fawqa kulli dhi `ilmin `Alim
{above every knower there is a higher Knower.} (Surah al-Yusuf 76.)

As-Sabuni in his abridgement of the commentary of Ibn Kathir, a hadith from al-Hasan al-Basri, “There is not scholar except that there is one above him, but it ends when it comes to Allah” (ie the meaning it doesn’t apply to Allah, because He (saw) is beyond this). On this, Ibn `Abbas (ra) said, “How wretched for you to say, ‘Allah is the All-Knowing above every scholar.” (Meaning the monstrosity of placing Allah in the same category as His creation, by comparing Him to His creation, while He is above that, in transcendence)

So that verse means that it never stops.  Don’t say “This is too much.”  It’s not too much.  What you are hearing is according to our level, and our level is the minimum level of understanding.  So what they give us is very little.  What they have is very enormous.  But all of them combined are still minimal compared to what Prophet (s) has.  Wa fawqa kulli dhi `ilmin `alim – above every knower there is a higher knower.  Wa fawqa kulli maqaamin muqeem – above every station there is someone sitting on that station.  And stations never end.  Do they end?  Why don’t they end?  Because Allah is the Creator, the creativity of Allah doesn’t stop. Dynamic.  Continuous.  It’s impossible.  If you say creativity stops, then Allah is not the Creator.  Since it doesn’t stop, it means levels never end.  And if levels never end, His Names, Attributes, never end.

Because He is Unique.  He is One, and He is Unique.  Ahad.  Qul Huwal Lahu Ahad. “Say, Ya Muhammad (s)”, to people, “Huwa” – the complete Absolute Unseen.  Allah is saying, “No one, Ya Muhammad (s), knows My Essence; no one knows Me.  But you can tell people about Me under the Name of Allah.”

Allah is the whole Name.  Allah is a Name under which go all the Attributes.  Allah called His Essence Allah.  But the Essence, no one knows it except Him.  He described Himself as Allah.  Therefore He said “Say, Ya Muhammad, ‘Allah‘.” then in Suratul Ikhlas, He narrows it to “Ahad.”  (Unique).  He didn’t say “Wahid.”

How many billions of people are here in the world? However many.  You can say Ahadu rijalu – if you want to describe high quality of people, you say in these billions there is “one” – meaning “few.”  To show their specialness the Arabic expression is “ahad.”  We took that word from Allah’s Name, Ahad, The Unique.  There is no one that can be described except Him.  And that’s why He called Himself Ahad.  Wahid is the level of Oneness.

Maqamu ‘l-Ahadiyya and Maqamu ‘l-Wahdaniyya – the Level of Sayyidina Bilal (ra)

When you say Maqamu ‘l-Ahadiyya and Maqamu ‘l-Wahdaniyya.  Maqamu ‘l-Wahdaniyya, the level of Wahid, means everything points to Him, to that One.  Everything in this universe points to Him.  You can understand.  We call it Maqamu ‘l-Wahdaniyya.  Maqamu ‘l-Wahdaniyya means everything. By sound, by knowledge, you can understand that Allah is One.  Maqamu ‘l-Ahadiyya is the Maqamu ‘sh-Shuhud – it is the level of witnessing, seeing.  That’s why Sayyidina Bilal (ra), when he was tortured, was saying Ahad Ahad.  He was witnessing because Prophet (s) pulled him to a level where he was able to witness the Divine Presence, smelling and witnessing the reality of that.  Therefore he was saying Ahad, Ahad, Ahad, Ahad.

Maqamu ‘l-Wahdaniyya you are not seeing.  Maqamu ‘l-Wahdaniyya is “La ilaha ill Allah.”  Everyone say “La ilaha ill Allah.”  It means saying there is only one God.  What do you say in English, for La ilaha ill Allah? Maqamu ‘l-Ahadiyya is Maqamu ‘sh-Shuhood.  What is Maqamu ‘sh-Shuhood in English?  The station of witnessing.  It is “Ashhadu ‘an la ilaha ill Allah, wa Ashhadu anna Muhammadan Rasul Allah (s).”  Witnessing.  They are completely different, witnessing and not witnessing.  Not witnessing, you are understanding, but without vision.  With the things around you, you can understand there is a Creator.  But you didn’t yet see that reality.  You can feel it, you can understand it.  That’s Maqamu ‘l-Wahdaniyya. In Maqamu ‘l-Ahadiyya, you see it.

That’s why Allah called His Prophet (s) to His Presence in Laylatu ‘l-Isra` wal Mi`raj, to tell him, “come and bear witness.”  There is “Ashhadu“, I bear witness.  “Ashhadu an la ilaha ill Allah.”  I bear witness that Allah is my Creator.  It means seeing.  What Allah showed him there, Allah knows.  No one knows.  What Allah opened to him from these high stations, no one knows except Sayyidina Muhammad (s).  From that, Prophet (s) distributed to awliya, he is releasing continuously without ceasing, knowledges to the hearts of awliyaullah.

Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani