Treating Spiritual lows

[Following are a few highlights from Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed db’s CII Tazkiya talk on 12th May 2011]

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Right after a person sins, Allah swt can take him back in moments even that person who has been sinning for years only if he asks for the Mercy of Allah swt. So, our response when are in a spiritual low is to be humble, to be shamed, to feel need and dependence upon Allah swt – and if we do that – i.e. if a person throws themselves in sajdah at the mercy of Allah swt then there is great hope that Allah swt can forgive them and Allah swt can raise them out of that spiritual low. Sometimes a person makes a person commit a mistake that [after they sin, or are in a spiritual low, they don’t put themselves before Allah swt, but instead]  they first try other types of means [to come out of that spiritual low] for e.g. they’d think okay i’ll read something, or go online and listen to a lecture – I’m not saying reading books and listening to lectures online is not beneficial, they definitely are, – but at that particular time a person is not going to benefit merely from listening to a lecture online or reading a book and what happens is that a person will then say that i didn’t even feel like doing that or i listened to the lecture but it had no effect on my heart and so the person will get even more depressed. Now, this is Shaytan taking a person on a ride, keeps making a person think that they have to find the ability from within and inside of themselves to come out of sin and when they do all of those things that otherwise, normally, do increase their ability and they don’t have an effect on them – they become even more depressed. And they think that they have completely lost the ability to come [out of their sinful state], and they completely loose their ibadah.

So, know that in this situation a person has to throw themselves in sajdah, and make dua directly from Allah swt – yes, maybe listening to a talk may motivate them to do that, reading something may motivate them to do that, talking to someone may help them do that, something may push them drive them spur them to do that – but the only way to get out of a spiritual low and to get back on to a spiritual high is to lower ourselves before that being who is Al-mighty, return to Allah swt.

That is what we see in the duas of Sayyidina RasoolAllahi صلى الله عليه وسلم and the ambiya-e-karam ‘alaihimussalam, duas of Sahabah, Tabieen, Taba tabieen and the duas that we hear from our own Ullema and Mashaikh –  that many of their duas involve a person’s simply submitting themselves directly to Allah swt, presenting themselves directly before Allah swt

A person must have a direct relationship with Allah swt, and if a person neglects that or looses that then there is no replacement from that. Even the relationship with Shaykh is all about trying to connect a person to Allah swt, linking a person to Allah swt, restore that person’s link to Allah swt, re-motivate that person to connect to Allah swt – but at the end of the day, we must have a direct relationship with Allah swt. In other words, when you see all these different duas, the sincerity of the dua can be seen by how personal the duas were made to Allah swt – that  how much in the history of humanity, people have personally loved Allah swt, personally begged Allah swt, personally thrown themselves at the Mercy  of Allah swt, personally been shameful in front of Allah swt and thats really one of the big aspects of Tasawwuf – that by Dhikr and Rabta and Sohbah, – all of it is geared to help that person develop and maintain their personal relationship with Allah swt; their direct relationship with Allah swt.

And, whenever that becomes falls; or becomes weak, then there is no ability inside of ourselves to bring that back – because that relationship was a gift from Allah swt, was bestowed by Allah swt on us.

One of the greatest ways, we loose that personal relationship with Allah swt is, when we form personal relationships with other people outsides the bounds of Shariah – so, then what happens is that all the feelings that they were supposed to have for Allah swt, they start having them for a human being. This is a very very dangerous situation.

–cont’d, iA

[Following are a few highlights from Shaykh Kamaluddin Ahmed db’s CII Tazkiya talk on 12th May 2011]