Muhammad in the Mirror of Islam

Sanctity in God

The followers of the path towards perfection from the beginning of their journey until the point where they reach final peace witness a great deal which must remain hidden from the eyes and hearts of the earth-bound inhabitants of the material world, and a consideration of these states and stations would be beyond the scope of the present article. What is important here is the question of sanctity in God (Wilayat-Ilahi).

When the travellers on the spiritual path reach the stage of Divine Unity and enter into the proximity of God, they let go totally of what they had possessed up to that time, for they have come to know that everything belongs to God.

They give up the false claim of "owning" things and of being independent in this ownership. It is then that an indescribable tranquility and repose comes over them and they are released absolutely from all pain, fear and sorrow.

"Lo! those who say: Our Lord is Allah, and afterward are upright, the angels descend upon them saying: Fear not nor grieve, but hear good tidings of the paradise which ye are promised. We are your protecting friends in the life of the world and in the Hereafter." (Qur’an 41: 30-31).

Lo! verily the friends of Allah [those who possess sanctity, wilayah] are (those) on whom fear (cometh) not, nor do they grieve." (Qur’an 10: 63).

It is at this point that worldly joys, sorrows, successes and failures appear to them as all the same, and having found a new existence they view the world and all that it contains in a new light.

“His he who was dead and We have raised him unto life, and set for him a light wherein he walketh among men, as him whose similitude is in utter darkness?" (Qur’an 6:122).

And in the end they and everything they possess belongs to God, and God to them: “Whoso is near to God, God is nigh unto him.”