Words and Glances

One of the Sufi scholars of the 17th century Abdullah bin Alawi al-Haddad (quddisa sirruhu) says the following in his book titled Risalatu Adabi Suluki’l-Murid: The Manners of the Disciple, about avoiding sins and worldly strife:

The disciple should try to keep his limbs and organs away from rebellion and sin and must not move them for anything but obedience to Allah. They should do deeds that will benefit them in the Hereafter with their limbs.

A disciple should preserve their tongue because a tongue may be small, but its sin is grave. 

The disciple should avoid lying, backbiting, and other condemnable words. They should also refrain from using crude speech and diving into issues that do not concern them, even if it is not haram. The reason for being extremely cautious of these types of behavior is that they both harden the heart and result in a waste of time. However, the disciple’s tongue should not move for anything but the recitation of the Qur’an, dhikr, giving others good advice, commanding the good and forbidding the evil, and the needs of the world that will help the Hereafter. The Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) said in a hadith:

"The son of Adam's speech is against him not for him, except for commanding good, or forbidding evil, or remembrance of Allah." (Tirmidhi, Zuhd, 62) 

Know that the ear and the eye are two doors to the heart. Everything that enters through them reaches the heart. There are so many things that people hear and consider unnecessary but affect the heart; it is challenging to purge them from it. The heart is affected by everything that reaches it. When something touches the heart, it is difficult to cleanse it away. Therefore, a disciple should take care to protect their eyes and ears and try to avoid committing sins and occupying themselves with vain, pointless distractions.

A disciple should refrain from looking intently at the poisonous beauty of the world. This is because the outside world is full of strife and discord, and the inside is full of cautionary tales and hard-earned lessons. The eyes look at the corruption on its surface, and the heart looks at the lessons inside. Many disciples surrender themselves to the deceptive beauty of this world, turn towards it with an intense desire in their hearts, strive to accumulate worldly possessions, and build up their place in it.

O traveler!It is for this reason that you have to close your eyes and look at the whole universe only as an example. That is, when you look at the universe, you should remember that it will wither away, that it didn’t exist before it was created, and you should ponder that many who have watched it are gone, that it is still standing, and that countless billions have been replaced by others.

When you look at the creations in existence, look at them through the eyes of someone who wants to realize the absoluteness and perfection of the power of the One who created them from nothing. Treat those creations as eye-opening sources of knowledge to learn from, as all beings speak in the silent language, also known as lisanu’l-hal, that can only be heard by those whose hearts are luminous and who look with the light of Allah. They all say, “There is no God save Him, the Almighty, the Wise.”