of Nokounam, (Session 237)
This volume constitutes a comprehensive and scholarly redaction of the lectures delivered by Nokounam, , explicating the chapter of purification (tab) from Manzil al-Sirn, the esteemed treatise authored by Khwajah Abdullah Ansari, the eminent mystic of the fifth Islamic century. This seminal work delineates tab as the rigorous trial endured by the adept in the nascent stages of spiritual discipline and shariah observance a process transcending mere sincerity (ikhl) to encompass both gnosis and praxis. Tab functions analogously to a crucible wherein the impurities of the nafs (self) are fused away, thereby guiding the seeker towards purification and divine proximity.
Tab represents the strenuous ordeal characteristic of the early practitioners and adherents to shariah-based disciplines. It signifies an advanced stage surpassing ikhl in the mystical itinerary. Whereas ikhl confines itself to the purity of intention and action, tab subsumes both knowledge and practice, steering the aspirant towards the complete refinement of the nafs. This superiority resembles the difference between a mere illumination that lights the path and a profound heat that melts away impurities.
Derived from the root a-dh-b (to inflict torment), tab implies chastisement, necessitating the burning away of base qualities and liberation from internal and external attachments. This process resembles placing iron into a furnace painful yet indispensable to cleanse the soul of its accretions and bring it to purity and sanctification.
Tab unfolds through four principal stages: knowledge (ilm), character (khulq), refinement (adab), and action (amal). Knowledge signifies divine gnosis and self-awareness which illuminate character. Character embodies the seekers intrinsic ethical disposition, further refined by adab, the manifest decorum of behaviour. Action manifests the harmonious expression of these three levels in the seekers conduct. Together, these stages constitute the structural components of the spiritual edifice, each integral to the resilience and strength of the wayfaring journey.
Knowledge functions as a lamp that illumines the path. Character forms the foundational roots of inward ethics. Adab resembles the branches that grow from this root, producing beauty. Action represents the fruit borne of this coordination. Attainment of tab requires the balanced harmonisation of these stages for spiritual perfection to be achieved.
Character denotes the inward moral disposition, rooted in ancestry, lineage, and gnosis, whereas refinement is the outward manifestation of character expressed through exalted behaviour. This distinction mirrors that between the hidden roots and visible branches of a tree: roots concealed within the earth, branches revealed through their aesthetic flourish.
Character bifurcates into intellectual and innate segments. Some traits stem from lineage and inherent nature, while others arise from acquired knowledge and cognition. Refinement is the social and ethical enactment of character, polished through spiritual discipline (riyat), guiding the seeker towards both outward and inward perfection.
Tab constitutes a stage transcending ikhl, encompassing knowledge and practice to cleanse the nafs of impurities. The four stagesknowledge, character, refinement, and actionrepresent multifaceted dimensions of this process. The distinction between character and refinement underscores the critical balance between inner disposition and outward conduct. Tab acts as a furnace where spiritual suffering purges the seeker en route to purification and divine proximity.
Tab inherently demands asceticism (riyat), which is inseparable from trial (minat) a state of hardship and affliction. Minat constitutes a strenuous examination entailing limited freedom, unlike ordinary tests. It functions as a crucible evaluating the seekers resistance to the nafss inertia, directing liberation from superfluities.
Rooted in min, meaning hardship and affliction, minat differs from a mere examination. While examinations may be simple and painless, minat is an agonising process purging the seeker from impurities in knowledge, character, refinement, and action. This process resembles the smelting of gold in a furnace, incinerating dross to reveal pure essence.
Minat is an onerous test accompanied by suffering, whereas not all examinations qualify as minat. The lecture critiques the commentators view reducing minat to mere examination, asserting that minat entails a particular category of trial marked by pain and hardship. This contrast equates to the difference between a gentle washing and tearing a deep wound: the former is facile, the latter agonising and profound.
Minat confronts the seeker with spiritual adversities, compelling endurance of torment to detach from improper desires and habits. Only through surrender and perseverance may one emerge triumphant from this crucible.
Tab literally means chastisement (tadhb), distinct from purification (tahr) or extraction (takhli). The latter are results of the former, not synonymous with it. The lecture critiques the view equating tab with purification or extraction, underscoring that tadhb lies at its core. This process resembles a spiritual torment akin to torture that burns away impurities, culminating in purification and extraction.
Tadhb entails the incineration of spiritual refuse such as ingrained habits, erroneous beliefs, and concealed attachments. This is a painful process akin to flesh being stripped from bone, yet its outcome is the souls purification and emancipation.
Asceticism and trial constitute the very essence of tab, wherein spiritual torment purges the seeker of impurities. Minat is a demanding ordeal differing from common examination. Tab is fundamentally chastisement, not purification or extraction, serving as a painful precursor to spiritual liberation and cleansing.
Tab necessitates a discerning and enlightened mentor to guide the seeker in rectifying flaws in knowledge, character, refinement, and action. Faith in the mentor functions as the structural beam or chassis in the architecture of the spiritual journey. Without such conviction, the seeker cannot withstand the nafss resistance, and tab fails to bear fruit.
The mentor resembles a skilled blacksmith, forging the raw iron of the nafs within the furnace of ascetic discipline into a refined and functional form. The lectures stress that without submissive adherence to the mentors guidance, the seeker achieves no progress.
The Islamic sharyah represents one of the ascetic arenas wherein, accompanied by the infallibles, the Quran, Sunnah, knowledge, and scholars, the seeker attains tab. Sharyah is analogous to the stones lining a brook the initial point of departure steering the seeker towards the spiritual path (arqah) and ultimate truth (aqqah).
The lectures present sharyah as the entryway to the spiritual journey, furnishing a platform for virtuous practice and soul-training. It acts as a bridge conveying the seeker from outer forms to inner realities, from initial states (badyt) to the truth.
Sharyah, arqah, and aqqah denote successive stages in the evolution of the spiritual path. Sharyah, like the stones beside a brook, marks the starting gate. arqah resembles the flowing river the seeker navigates, while aqqah is the ocean of divine gnosis, the ultimate destination. This triadic structure serves as a map outlining the seekers journey from inception to culmination.
Sharyah summons the seeker to enact divine ordinances and practise virtue; arqah guides inward to the heart and essence; aqqah entails immersion in divine knowledge. These stages constitute a ladder elevating the seeker towards perfection.
The mentor and sharyah stand as the twin pillars of tab. The mentors conscious guidance coupled with sharyahs provision of an ascetic framework facilitate the seekers purification. The tripartite division into sharyah, arqah, and aqqah illustrates the spiritual progression and underscores the essential commencement from sharyah.
The nafs must be trained through goodness rather than harshness to yield obedience to the heart and accompany it in attentiveness and progression towards the Truth. Goodness functions like refreshing water quenching the nafs, directing it towards obedience. The lectures critique harsh methods, affirming that violence incites resistance and flight in the nafs.
Training the nafs with goodness resembles taming a wild beast: coercion causes flight, whereas tenderness and affection foster companionship. This approach guides the nafs towards virtuous action and heartful compliance.
Tenderness constitutes a pivotal element of tab, encompassing the tenderness of the seeker, the worshipper, and the Divine Beloved. Contrary to violence, tenderness subjugates the heart and directs the nafs towards divine proximity. The lectures invoke the poetry of Sheikh Bahai, depicting tenderness as a burning candle that sheds light while shedding tears.
Tenderness resembles a gentle breeze that fans the nafs towards gnosis and divine love. Unlike traditional harshness that chains the nafs as a rebellious animal, tenderness captivates it through love and gentle invitation.
Prayer, giving (in the sense of bestowal rather than taking), and tenderness form the complementary triad of spiritual discipline. The seeker must give goodness selflessly and reach divine proximity through the tenderness of the Beloved. The lectures cite Quranic verses underscoring that prayer devoid of giving and tenderness loses its intrinsic value.
This noble verse emphasizes the necessity of coupling prayer with selfless giving. Giving implies bestowing goodness without expectation of reward, and tenderness embodies love towards the Divine, together completing the spiritual journey.
The spiritual wayfarer (slik) must not perform actions motivated by the pursuit of reward (i.e., seeking qirn), but rather should engage in beneficence (i.e., giving qirn) so as to transcend mercenary conduct and attain genuine spiritual progression (sulk). The discursive lecture, relying on a verse from the Holy Qur'an, considers mercenarism a barrier to sincerity (ikhl) and spiritual refinement (tahb).
لَا تَمْنُنْ تَسْتَكْثِرُ
(Qur'an, Surah Al-Muddaththir, 74:6)
Fooladvand's translation: "Do not confer favour expecting increase."
This noble Qur'anic injunction emphatically urges avoidance of ostentatious favour or expectation of reward in acts of charity. The wayfarer must act with a spirit of altruism, devoid of anticipation of recompense, to approach true spiritual purification.
Spiritual refinement necessitates total submission to both the spiritual mentor and the dictates of the sacred law (sharyah). Absent such submission, the wayfarer cannot cast aside the impurities of the nafs. The lecture compares submission to a tender sapling that bends flexibly under the guidance of the mentor, thereby reaching perfection. Submission is likened to entrusting oneself into the hands of a skilled blacksmith who fashions raw iron into a form of exquisite beauty. The seeker must relinquish nafsn resistances and, trusting wholly in the guide, tread the path of refinement.
At the outset of the journey, the wayfarer resembles a sapling pliant and readily adaptable to the mentors direction. Yet, with advancing age and experience, akin to a mature tree, rigidity ensues, rendering refinement more arduous. The discourse, through this analogy, accentuates the importance of commencing the spiritual path at an early stage. Flexibility at the beginning parallels soft soil that readily accepts the seed of growth. Conversely, in subsequent stages, the soil hardens, resisting change and complicating transformation.
The lecture recounts the narrative of a scholar who, in advanced years, sought gnosis but, due to inflexibility and entrenched habits, failed to attain spiritual progress. This scholar resembled a plane tree which, despite a spark of mystical aspiration, was hindered by the hardness of its nature and consequently remained arrested at the early stages. This story functions as a caution, urging the seeker to embark upon the spiritual journey promptly and to maintain pliancy before guidance. Inflexibility becomes a wall obstructing the path of refinement.
Key Insight: Flexibility in the early stages resembles a tender sapling readily guided, whereas inflexibility, akin to a plane tree, renders spiritual refinement difficult.
Liberation from carnal desiressuch as knowledge, temperament, and mannersis arduous because they are deeply rooted in ones conception, sustenance, and habitual tendencies. This process is comparable to the painful extraction of a tooth, involving hardship and tribulation. The lecture, through the narrative of a scholar dependent upon undesirable habits, vividly illustrates this difficulty. Such carnal attachments act as chains imprisoning the nafs. Liberation necessitates enduring suffering and submitting oneself to the guidance of the spiritual mentor.
Attention (the deliberate focus on the goal) precedes progress (the actual movement). The seeker must first discern the destination, then proceed towards the Truth. The lecture elucidates this principle by likening attention to the act of gazing across a stream before leaping. Attention functions as a compass that indicates the route of the spiritual journey. Without a clear focus on the destination, the seekers movement will be aimless and inefficient. This principle serves as an invocation for pure intention and precise goal-setting in the journey.
The nafs must be trained to accompany the seeker, not to hinder him. The lecture critiques harsh methods that compel the nafs to flee and resist, instead emphasising that benevolence and tenderness are necessary to subdue and harmonise the nafs, facilitating progress toward the Truth. The nafs is analogous to a beast that flees under duress but follows willingly when treated with kindness and affection. This training is akin to softening the soil for seed-sowing, preparing the nafs for movement along the spiritual path.
Key Insight: Attention acts as a compass illuminating the spiritual path, while nurturing the nafs with tenderness prepares it to accompany the seeker toward the Truth.
The present treatise, through the paraphrase of the discursive lectures of Nokounam on the chapter of spiritual refinement in Manzil al-Sirn, elucidates spiritual refinement as the tribulation of neophytes and a shar discipline within the disciplines of asceticism. Refinement is a painful yet liberating process which, through gnosis, practice, and the four stages of knowledge, disposition, etiquette, and action, purifies the nafs from its impurities. Tribulation forms the very essence of this process, which, via submission to the spiritual guide and the sacred law, culminates in purification and absolution. The sacred law, spiritual path, and truth constitute the evolutionary stages of the journey, leading the wayfarer from the beginnings to the ocean of gnosis. Tenderness, contrary to harshness, subdues and harmonises the nafs, and alongside prayer and neediness, leads to Divine proximity. The critique of mercenarism and emphasis on disinterested beneficence highlight sincerity in action. Flexibility in the early stages and attention preceding progress stand as fundamental principles guiding the spiritual journey. Supervised by Sadegh Khademi