Lower-soul and Self-mortification
Ali Hujwary has informed us in Kasaf al Mahjub, “an explanation of the qualities of human nature (insaniyyat) and the mystery thereof is incumbent upon all seekers of Truth.”
Hazrat Muhammad (SAW) has said: “He who knows himself already knows his Lord,” i.e., if a person knows himself as perishable, he knows his God is everlasting. Similarly, if a person knows himself as humble, he knows God as Almighty, and if he knows himself as a servant, he knows God as the Lord. Therefore, one who does not know himself is debarred from knowledge of everything.
The object of mortification is to correct the vices of the lower soul, not to attain real proximity; mortification is the most referred to man, while contemplation is the most referred to God.
Qur’an: “And those who strive in Our (cause), We will certainly guide them to our Paths: For verily Allah is with those who do right.” (29:69)
Man is guided to mortification by a flash of Divine Beauty, and in as much as that flash is the cause of the existence of mortification, Divine Guidance precedes mortification.
Failure to affirm mortification involves the denial of all the religious ordinances that have come down in books revealed to the Prophets.
Mortification is a Divine gift.
Mortification involves bringing out the best qualities in you. The mortification of those whom God loves is the work of God in them without choice on their part: it overwhelms and melts them away, but the mortification of ignorant men is the work of themselves in themselves by their choosing: it perturbs and distresses them, and distress is due to evil.
The lower soul cannot be destroyed.
Shaykh Abu Ali Siyah of Merv has said, my lower soul called me to say, “I am God’s Army: You cannot reduce me to naught.”
Muhammad b. Ulayn of Nassa has related, “My lower soul appeared before me as a fox. I cast it under my feet, kicked it, but it grew bigger and bigger at every blow.” It then explained to me, “It is so because I was created perverse: that which is pain to other things is pleasure to me, and their pleasure is my pain.”
The lower soul told me: “I am the destruction of the heedless, for I urge them to evil, and salvation of those who Love God, for if I were not with them in my corruption, they would be puffed up with pride in their purity.”
Further Links
Learn more at: From Chapter 52 of the Futūhāt – Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society
