Yaqeen (Certainty)
Yaqeen
Praise be to Allah! We thank Him, seek His assistance, and repent to Him. We also have recourse to Him against the evil in ourselves and the wickedness of our deeds. Whoever Allah chooses to guide to the right path may never be misguided and whoever goes astray shall find no guide to help him. I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah Who has no partner and that Muhammad (r) is Allah’s servant and Messenger.
O you who believe! Fear Allâh (by doing all that He has ordered and by abstaining from all that He has forbidden) as He should be feared. [Obey Him, be thankful to Him, and remember Him always], and die not except in a state of Islâm [as Muslims (with complete submission to Allâh.[Âl-‘Imrân: 102]
O mankind! Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a single person (Adam), and from him (Adam) He created his wife [Hawwâ (Eve)], and from them both He created many men and women; and fear Allâh through Whom you demand (your mutual rights), and (do not cut the relations of) the wombs (kinship)[2]. Surely, Allâh is Ever an All-Watcher over you.[An-Nisâ’:1]
O you who believe! Keep your duty to Allâh and fear Him, and speak (always) the truth. (70) He will direct you to do righteous good deeds and will forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys Allâh and His Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم), he has indeed achieved a great achievement (i.e. he will be saved from the Hell-fire and will be admitted to Paradise.[Al-Ahzâb: 70-71]
The truest words are those of Allah and the best guidance is that of Muhammad (r).The most evil of things is novelty (bid’ah) in religion; every such novelty is an innovation, and every innovation is straying away from the right path.
O Muslims!
‘Yaqin’ is a quality that is difficult to attain, an ambition aspired to by every wise and intelligent spirit, a road rarely trodden, a calling voice in the wilderness, a companion in the desolation of selfishness, a strength in the tempest of weakness, a quenching at the peak of thirst, a torch in the darkness, and an abundance in paucity.
Whoever attains this quality reaches the heights of heaven even if he were lying in his bed, and whoever is clothed in it achieves prestige, reverence and eminence above all those of reputation, lineage, and power. It is a quality that cannot be purchased with money nor can it be acquired by force.
It is a quality and a characteristic much recommended by our Prophet and exemplar (r) as he always orders us to pursue what is good for us. He (r) said, “Ask Allah for certitude and wellness, for next to certitude, wellness is the best thing one can receive.” [narrated by Ahmad]
This quality is that of certitude, O servants of Allah! It is that type of certitude with which knowledge of Allah (U) becomes terminally established deep down the believer’s heart which would then be permeated by a feeling of tranquility as to the reality of things and would be filled with faith in the unknown past, present, and future by having all his doubts about Allah removed.
Hence a man may attain the three well-known levels of certitude: certitude through knowing, certitude through seeing, and certitude through the Manifest Truth.
Certitude is to belief what the soul is to the body, so without certitude one would be but a body devoid of its soul. A believer must have certitude about the truthfulness of the words of Allah (I). Thus he has to trust in the words of Allah (I) and those of His Messenger (r). He, therefore, gives credence to the commands and prohibitions of Allah and His messenger (r). Only then can a believer feel sublimity and glee for having attained a degree that has never been achieved by anyone in the nation of Muhammad (r) save the second most favored man (after Prophet Muhammad (r) Al-Seddik[3] (t) whose certitude made him stand firm and steadfast in three situations, which history has recorded in sparkling ink, at a time when sedition moved stern mountains.
The first situation: When the infidels of Quraish came to him with the purpose of shaking his faith in his religion and in what he was told by his Prophet and friend (r) -they said to him: Your friend claimed that he was taken on a night journey [Isra’][4] to Jerusalem and then was made to ascend to heaven [Me’eraj]. He answered without hesitation so that the Prophet (r) could hear what he said; He rather said – being certain in his knowledge of the veracity of the ever-truthful, ever-believable Prophet (r) and uttered his famous saying: “If he had said that, then he told the truth.”
Yes, indeed. “If he had said that, then he told the truth.”
The second situation: When he stood on the pulpit and faced the crowds that were screaming, refusing to believe that the Prophet (r) had passed away, he said to them: “Those who used to worship Muhammad, they must know that Muhammad is now dead, but those who used to worship Allah, they must know that Allah is the Ever-Living, the Immortal.”
The third situation: When he, as an individual, stood up representing an entire nation in the face of the apostates and uttered his famous saying: “I swear to Allah I will fight whoever discriminates between prayer and charity. I swear to Allah, if they withheld from me a piece of rope they used to donate to the Messenger of Allah (r), I would fight them over it.”
Certitude is not a mere abstract mental conviction. If it were just that, there would have been no need for the Prophet (r) who is endowed with the most perfect of minds and the purest of hearts, before he was entrusted with the prophethood, to have such certitude; yet Allah said about him: And thus We have sent to you (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم) Ruh (a Revelation, and a Mercy) of Our Command. You knew not what is the Book, nor what is Faith? But We have made it (this Qur’ân) a light wherewith We guide whosoever of Our slaves We will. And verily, you (O Muhammad صلى اللهعليه و سلم) are indeed guiding (mankind) to the Straight Path (i.e. Allâh’s Religion of Islâmic Monotheism). (52) The Path of Allâh to Whom belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. Verily, all matters at the end go to Allâh (for decision) (53)[Ash-Shurâ: 52-53]
With this in mind, we find that when Hercules asked Abou Sufyan (t), before he converted to Islam, “Does any one of the followers of the Prophet (r) abandon his religion out of discontent after being converted to it?” He said: “No”. He said: “And so is faith, if its joviality penetrates the hearts no one will feel discontented with it.”
O servants of Allah! It is known that belief, once its joviality touches the heart it can elevate the individual to the degree of certitude which is never followed by discontentment with anything pertaining to the religion of Allah.
If the person who believes in his Lord lived his life in certainty about Allah, he would realize that the world, to Allah, is not worth ‘a wing of a mosquito’ and that he would not obtain from it anything more than what was ordained for him as he has a sublime objective surpassing those of the others, and whoever experiences this is bound to know its truth. Seeing is not like hearing because certitude is an act of the heart that takes place between the believer and his Lord and no one would be able to notice its effect on him except those endowed with quick perception and special insight, particularly while fearing Allah privately and in public, telling the truth when angry or happy, and resigning oneself to the commands of Allah and His Messenger (r) whether in difficulty or in ease.
Those possessing certitude are entitled to be favored with insight, guidance, and compassion for true religious life rests on these three qualities. Allah the Almighty truly said: This (Qur’an) is a clear insight and evidence for mankind, and a guidance and a mercy for people who have Faith with certainty[5] [Al-Jâthiyah: 20].
O servants of Allah! A believer who really feels yaqin is one who believes in no other deity but Allah, implores and fears no one but Him. He is not harmed by whoever goes astray when he himself has found the right path. He is just as content when people walk away with the sheep, cattle, the Dinars and Dirhams [money] or when they boast distinguished lineage and prestige, when he has on his side only Allah (U) because those who know Allah may just ignore those who don’t, and those who know the truth may not be harmed by those who know but evil.
This, O servants of Allah, admits no doubt, for whoever has found Allah, what could he then have lost? And whoever has lost Allah, what could he then have found?
Allah endowed his close friend, Ibrahim (u) with yaqin, when He said:Thus did we show Ibrâhîm (Abraham) the kingdom of the heavens and the earth that he be one of those who have Faith with certainty.[Al-An’âm: 75].
Thus, his ‘yaqin’ about Allah only further confirmed his faith in Him, and that he was following the clear Truth. His ‘yaqin’ also confirmed his conviction that his people, who worshipped other deities than Allah and diverted people’s attention from Allah’s Path, went astray and turned away from it, though they were perceptive people.
O servants of Allah! It is ‘yaqin’ which made Al-Khalil Ibrahim (u) obey the command of his Lord to slaughter his son, Ismail (as sacrifice to Allah), and it is ‘yaqin’ which made his son Ismail say:O my father! Do that which you are commanded, Inshâ’ Allâh (if Allâh wills), you shall find me of As-Sâbirûn (the patient).[As-Saffat: 102]
Prophet Muhammad (r) said "The most cherished of all deeds for Allah is true faith.” [Narrated by Ahmad]
And this is the renowned level ‘yaqin’ through knowledge.
Ibn Masud (t) said: “Patience makes half of Faith and ‘yaqin’ all of it.”[Narrated by Bukhari]
None can be a guide and rightly guided in his home, marketplace, community, and ummah while he lacks the most important components of ‘yaqin’ about Allah. Allah (U) says:
And We made from among them (Children of Israel), leaders, giving guidance under Our Command, when they were patient and used to believe with certainty in Our Ayât (proofs, evidence, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.).[As-Sajdah: 24] Notice here that Allah (U) has not used the words ‘with gratitude’, ‘with rationality’ or ‘with attention’ since the people having such qualities are many.
For this, since leadership in Religion is precious, Allah associated it with something precious within the hearts: it is ‘yaqin’ about Allah. No one can realize the true meaning of ‘yaqin’ or enjoy its fruit except he who approaches life and death the way a knowledgeable scholar does.
The Commander of the Faithful,Ali (t) abridged the concept of ‘yaqin’ in the most concise phrase in dealing with life and death which constitute the object of ‘yaqin’ about Allah. He (t) said (in two lines of poetry) that life and death are from Allah and are (therefore) inescapable:
Which of my two days shall I escape?
A day which is not foredoomed and during which I would pay little heed,
Or a day which has already been preordained for me,
But from which I shall not escape despite my prudence.
This is a type of ‘yaqin’ wherein he called to mind every moment the human being weakens before the vanities of this worldly life at the expense ofhis Creator and Lord. Are you pleased with the life of this world rather than the Hereafter? But little is the enjoyment of the life of this world as compared to the Hereafter.[At-Taubah: 38]
In the Name of Allâh, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful: The mutual rivalry (for piling up of worldly things) diverts you, Until you visit the graves (i.e. till you die). Nay! You shall come to know! Again nay! You shall come to know! Nay! If you knew with a sure knowledge (the end result of piling up, you would not have been occupied yourselves in worldly things). Verily, You shall see the blazing Fire (Hell)! And again, you shall see it with certainty of sight! Then on that Day you shall be asked about the delights (you indulged in, in this world)! [At-Takathur: 1-8]
May Allah bless you and me by the Noble Qur'ān and Sunnah, and make the Qur'ān's verses and wise sayings beneficial to you and me. This is what I have said. If it is true, it is from Allah, but if it is wrong, it is from myself and Satan. I seek forgiveness from Almighty Allah. Verily, He is Oft-Forgiving.
Part Two
Praise be to Allah alone and may Allah’s Salat (Graces, Honours, and Mercy) and Peace be upon the Prophet who is the Seal of all prophets.
Let it be known –may Allah protect you– that ‘yaqin’ about Allah has prompted His servants who are well-versed in religious knowledge to say what follows about the Religion of Allah, His orders, and prohibitions:We believe in it; the whole of it (clear and unclear Verses) are from our Lord. And none receive admonition except men of understanding.[Al-Imran: 7] They never dispute it, nor do they argue about its truth. They do not renege on it, nor do they believe in some parts of it and reject some others.But if the truth is on their side, they come to him willingly with submission. Is there a disease in their hearts? Or do they doubt or fear lest Allâh and His Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) should wrong them in judgement. Nay, it is they themselves who are the Zâlimûn (polytheists, hypocrites and wrong-doers.[An-Nur: 49-50]
Approving of Allah’s Sharia wholly and perfectly is the basis of ‘yaqin’ about Allah which does not tolerate fragmentation and partition. Allah truthfully said:Do they then seek the judgment of (the days of) Ignorance?[3] And who is better in judgment than Allâh for a people who have firm Faith.[Al-Maidah: 50]
And among the prayers of Al-Mustafa (the Chosen one, i.e. Prophet Muhammad) (r) was the prayer in the well-known Hadith: “… and grant us enough ‘yaqin’ as would remove the hardships of this world from us.” [Narrated by Tirmidhi]
This means: O Allah! Grant us enough ‘yaqin’ to help us withstand every adversity and affliction which You cause to befall us for some wisdom so that we do not become discontented with any of Your commands and Your destiny and so that we do not apostatize by arguing our submission to your Sharia.
The ‘yaqin’ of the believer is like a light surmounted by another light that is constantly illuminating the sky above him, for he realizes that Allah sees his position, hears his secret counsel and knows his adversity and the roar of his chest that is teeming with ‘yaqin’. Therefore, he pertinently realizes that what has befallen him was not to miss him, and, likewise, what has missed him was not to befall him. He realizes that Allah tries him only to make him recuperate, takes from him only to reimburse him, detracts from him only to give him more. He would stand by him in his troubles, shorten the distance for him when walking turns painful, spark for him a gleaming light at the end of the dark tunnel, open up doors for him, quench his thirst, grant him (from His bounty) during hard times, turn his grief into joy; for the cream resides underneath the lather. Life is like mirage in a desert, and to Allah is our return, and surely the hereafter is the abode to settle.
The sheikh quotes a poet who says:
He who wishes to lead a life of freedom,
And be honored in this world and in his religion,
Let him hope for health that satisfies him,
And let him protect his faith through ‘yaqin’.
Ask Allah –may He have mercy on you– to send His Salat (Graces, Honours and Mercy) and Peace on the best creature of Allah and the purest of mankind, Muhammad ibn `Abd Allāh, who is given al-Hawdh[6] and is vested with intercession; for Allah sent His Salat (Graces, Honours and Mercy) and Peace on him and then ordered His angels, that are praising His sanctity, to do likewise and called out to you, O believers, to ask Him to send His Salat (Graces, Honours and Mercy) and Peace on him. Allah the Almighty (U) says: Allâh sends His Salât (Graces, Honours, Blessings, Mercy) on the Prophet (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم), and also His angels (ask Allâh to bless and forgive him). O you who believe! Send your Salât[1] on (ask Allâh to bless) him (Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم), and (you should) greet (salute) him with the Islâmic way of greeting (salutation i.e. As-Salâmu ‘Alaikum).[AlAhzab: 56]
O Allah! Send Your Salat (Graces, Honours, and Mercy) and Peace on Your servant and Messenger Muhammad who has the brightest face and the most glorious forehead. O Allah! Be pleased with his four Caliphs, Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman and Ali, on all the Companions of Your Prophet Muhammad (r), and the tab’în[7], and those who righteously followed them till the Day of Judgment. O Allah! Be also pleased with us all, along with them, by Your Pardon and Generosity, O You, the Most Merciful, Most Compassionate of all!
O Allah! Grant glory to Islam and Muslims! O Allah! Grant glory to Islam and Muslims! O Allah! Grant glory to Islam and Muslims! O Allah! Fail polytheism and polytheists (who associate partners with You)! O Allah! Grant victory to Your Religion, Your Holy Book, Your Prophet’s Sunnah, and Your true servants!
O Allah! Bring an end to the suffering of Muslims! Rescue those in distress, and help those indebted pay back their debts! Cure those of us and those of the Muslims who are ill, O You, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate!
O Allah! Improve the conditions of Muslims everywhere! O Allah! Improve the conditions of Muslims everywhere! O Allah! Unite their hearts! Be on the side of our Muslim brothers who are oppressed because of their religion throughout the world. O Allah! Stand by them, not against them, grant them victory, and do not fail them! O Allah! Grant them victory over their oppressors!
O Allah! Grant victory to our Muslim brothers in Burma, and in Syria. O You the Lord of Majesty and Bounty! O Allah! Fail their enemy; plague their life and make it disastrous! O You the Ever-Living, the Eternal Guardian! O You, Lord of al-'ālamîn (the worlds)!
O Allah! Grant us security in our homelands! Make good our leaders and those responsible for our affairs, and make our leadership from among those who are fearful of Allah, who observe taqwa (fear of Allah), and seek your satisfaction. O You, Lord of al-'ālamîn (the worlds)!
O Allah! Guide our leader to do and say whatever you please and accept. O You the Ever-Living, the Eternal Guardian! O Allah! Make his retinue righteous. O You the Lord of Majesty and Bounty.
O Allah! You are Allah; there is no deity worthy of worship except You! You are the Self-Sufficient and we are the poor! Send down rain upon us and do not make us despondent! Send down rain upon us and do not make us despondent! Send down rain upon us and do not make us despondent! O Allah, we are creatures of Yours, so do not make our sins impede Your grace!
O Allah! Send down rain upon all your creatures everywhere, be they in urban or rural areas!O You the Ever-Living, the Eternal Guardian, the Lord of Majesty and Bounty!
[IMG]file:///C:/Users/7D51~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.png[/IMG] … Our Lord! Give us in this world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire![Al-Baqarah: 201]
Glorified be You, our Lord, the Lord of Honor and Power! You are free from what they attribute unto You! May peace be upon the Messengers! The last of our supplications is all praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds!
Yaqin - An Arabic word meaning certitude, certainty, unswerving religious conviction
Yaqeen is generally translated as "certainty", and is considered the summit of the many stations by which the path of walaya (sometimes translated as Sainthood) is fully completed. This is the repository of liberating experience in Islam. In relation to the exoteric religious life Certainty is the sister of religious life in its perfection (ehsân), that is to say the adoration of Allah acc
ording to the visionary way; through this channel it is the pillar of Islam in the accomplishment of its external practices, as it is the foundation of faith (imân) in its internal dogma. It is in fact ihsân which gives the external religion its true meaning and the domain of faith its real values. Certainty (al-yaqîn), comprises three degrees.
Contents
1 Stages
1.1 Ilm al-yaqîn (the knowledge of Certainty)
1.2 Ayn al-yaqîn (the Eye of Certainty)
1.3 Haqq al-yaqîn (the total reality of Certainty)
Ilm al-yaqîn (the knowledge of Certainty)
The first degree is referred to by the name ‘ilm al-yaqîn (the knowledge of Certainty), which means that Certainty is the result of knowledge. At this degree the object of Certainty is knowledge just as the aim of knowledge is Certainty. Both together are in the soul uniquely, such that Certainty is the first degree of spiritual life and the last of speculative experience. This particular degree of mystical yaqîn is the result of divine theophanies in Act at the level of existence and also the result of theophanies of lights of nature at the gnostic level.
Ayn al-yaqîn (the Eye of Certainty)
The second degree of yaqîn is what one calls in Sufi terms ayn al-yaqîn (the Eye of Certainty), that is, Certainty as a consequence of contemplation and vision. At this level, the object of Certainty is present in front of the gnostic and is not only a speculative concept. Here knowledge becomes what one calls 'ilm-e-huzuri’’ (Presence of knowledge), and that is the second aspect of Certainty in the spiritual way and in liberating experience. By this kind of knowledge, the man of the Way is distinguished from philosophers and learned men. This particular degree of spiritual Certainty is the result of divine theophanies of Attributes at the level of existence, just as it is the result of theophanies of lights of the intellect at the level of gnosis.
Haqq al-yaqîn (the total reality of Certainty)
Finally, the last degree of yaqîn is called haqq a1-yaqîn (the total reality of Certainty), that is, Certainty as supreme truth. Here, Certainty has a particular coloring: it is the fruit of an all-embracing experience because the object of Certainty is identical to the one who is experiencing it, knowledge being transformed into actual experience and actual experience into knowledge. At this stage, in fact, knowledge is not limited to the intellect, nor to the vision of the one who is contemplating it, it becomes one with the human being. This is the final phase of yaqîn, the apotheosis of the spiritual and intellectual journey. This high degree of Sufi Certainty is the effect of the Emanation of the divine The ophanies in Essence at its existential level and that of the diffusion of the Light of lights (Dazzling Irradiations) at the level of the the ophanies of the Gnostic.
