Adab as-Salat: The Disciplines of the Prayer Second Revised Edition

Completion: On Turning The Soul Away From The World

So, O seeker of the truth and traveler to Allah, as you have tamed the bird of imagination, chained the Satan of fancy, given up the love of wife, children and other worldly affairs, got familiar with the attraction of the fire of the natural divine love and said: “Lo! I see a fire [afar off],”[^1] seen yourself with no barriers in the way and prepared the requirements of the journey, get up, then, leave this dark room of nature and the narrow passage of the world, break off the chains of time, save yourself from this prison and let the bird of sanctity fly to “the meeting place of intimacy.” [mahfil-i 'uns].

A whistle is calling you from the turret of the 'Arsh, I wonder what keeps you into this place of traps![^2]

So, be resolute and strengthen your will, since the first condition of sulūk is resolution ['azm], without which no distance can be covered and no perfection can be reached. The great Shaykh, Shāhābādī [^3] (may my soul be his ransom) called it as the core of humanity. It can also be said that one of the great points of fearing Allah, avoiding the desires of the appetitive soul, the lawful austerities, and the divine worship and rituals, is strengthening the resolution and defying the worldly powers under the sovereignty of the soul, as has already been mentioned.

We now close this discourse with praising and glorifying the Sacred Essence of Allah, the Exalted, and with praising the attributes of the Chosen Master, the elected Prophet, and his pure offspring ('a). We ask the help of the holy souls of those sacred personalities in our spiritual journey and faithful ascension.

[^1]: A part of Moses' conversation with his people. “When he saw a fire, he said to his people: “Stay here! Lo! I see a fire [afar off].” ” Sūrah Tā-Hā 20:10 and Sūrah an-Naml 27: 7.  

[^2]: A poem by Hāfiz Shīrāzī.

[^3]: The late Āyatullāh Mīrzā Muhammad-'Alī Isfahānī Shāhābādī, a jurist, methodist, gnostic and prominent philosopher, son of the late Āyatullāh Mīrzā Muhammad Jawād Husaynābādī Isfahānī, was born in Isfahan in 1292 L.H. After finishing his preliminary learning in Isfahan and Tehran, he traveled to study in the theological circles of Najaf al-Ashraf and Sāmirrā' (in Iraq). There his tutors were great scholars, such as the late writer of Al-Jawāhir, Ākhūnd Khurāsānī and Sharī'at Isfahānī. He soon attained the degree of ijtihād. He reached a high position in fiqh, philosophy and gnosticism, and he taught these branches of knowledge. His class was one of the most powerful scholarly circles in Sāmirrā'. After returning from Iraq, he settled first in Tehran, and then he moved to the sacred town of Qum, where he dwelt for seven years. During his stay in Qum, Imām Khomeinī (may Allah be pleased with him and send peace upon him) benefited so much from his lessons on ethics and gnosticism. The Imām of the nation, in many places in this book and in his other books and writings, refers to his great teacher with utmost respect and esteem, and relates his scholarly emissions. Besides teaching different branches of knowledge and educating his distinguished disciples, the late Shāhābādī wrote many books in different fields. At the age of seventy-seven, that man of knowledge and action died in 1369 L.H. in Tehran, and was buried in the neighborhood of the shrine of 'Abd al-'Azīm al-Hasanī, in the graveyard of the late Shaykh Abū 'l-Futūh ar-Rāzī. May Allah resurrect him together with the Prophet Muhammad and his pure progeny.