An Epistle on the Limits of Thoughts / 1

Know — may Allah grant us and you success — that hearts have their earnings and minds have a limit.

As for the earnings of hearts: they are their deeds, the passing thoughts they hold, and the delights and tears they have stored away; and this is His saying (but He will impose blame upon you for what your hearts have earned).

And minds have a limit at which they end and stop; were they to exceed it, they would destroy crops and animals, (And Allah does not like corruption) — not even in the mind does He like it! Because the mind is the tilled field of thoughts, the planting of deeds, the nurturing of the soul, the nourishment of subtleties, the nearness of secrets, and the gathering of reports; for inspiration from the Lord, the Exalted, is an honor and an ennoblement that befits descending only upon clean earth — just as one who remembers Allah should not eat garlic and onion, and one who prays may not pray in a place of impurity.

And the knowers know that whoever is deprived of subtleties and insights, and has them veiled from his heart — that is from a sin his heart and mind earned, not his limbs; do you not know that the recompense is of the same kind as the deed?

Because subtleties are hidden knowledge veiled from creation and given exclusively to the servant, their ecstasy (wajd) flowing into his inner being so that he found it (wajadahā). And Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (may Allah have mercy on him) said about His saying, the Exalted, (In their hearts is disease, so Allah has increased their disease): it is the withholding of an increase in graces.

So the earnings of hearts veil understanding, or polish insight with understanding from the All-Knowing.

This, then, is the regret of the knowers over states they reaped and subtleties they witnessed, which were then veiled from them by the sins of the heart; this is their regret in this world, and nothing else.

The Sufis exaggerated and went to extremes in annihilation and perpetuity through constant contemplation in the presence of the Eternal Refuge. Because a human being, whoever he may be, needs to reflect on his worldly life as well as his hereafter

Have you not heard His saying: (that you might give thought to this world and the Hereafter)?

By it He means reflection on the interests and affairs of this world and its sciences, of methods and management, because; there is no soundness of action except through soundness of thought. So once you know this — may Allah keep you safe — we move on to its limits

The Limits of Reflecting on This World

Whatever is outwardly permissible is inwardly permissible, that is, thinking about it is permissible; and whatever is outwardly forbidden for the limbs, thinking about it is forbidden! And between them are doubtful matters: according to the light of the knowers and the degrees of piety, understanding becomes clear and scrupulousness grows strong.

So once you know, you are safe.

(And know that Allah knows what is within yourselves, so beware of Him) "He threatened them over what occurs in their hearts concerning matters of women, and guided them to harboring good rather than evil; then He did not make them despair of His mercy, nor make them lose hope in His favor, and said: And know that Allah is Forgiving and Forbearing) " — Ibn Kathir

This verse came in the context of proposing marriage, and because most desires occur in that domain, he cited it here.

So it befits the resolute, astute one to pack up the baggage of his desires and emotions by cutting them off, and the brave, noble one to stand against the current of their nature and overpower it; for this is the great goal, and the great resolve, the utmost.

We said: even if he feels love, there is no obligation regarding feelings, provided he does not drink from the cup of imaginings or enter into their causes by letting himself drift. And the strong and trustworthy one is firm, as one stationed on the frontiers: imaginings and memories — so he strips himself of them and says: Allah, Allah is my Lord, I do not associate anything with Him. (And take your provision from the skills of psychology in controlling thoughts, for it is beneficial and useful; and take it seeking purity from desires, and the journey to the Lord of the worlds)

The Limits of Reflecting on the Hereafter

One reflects on it by way of submission, humility, and reverence, not in the manner of those who plunge into knowledge of the unseen and philosophize about the Lord's attributes — exalted is He above what they say by great sublimity.

Rather, he reflects on Paradise so that his soul longs for it, and imagines the standing and the questioning before the Lord of the worlds, and let him make himself feel fear, humility, and love, for the seeker's beginning is effort and his end is attainment and right guidance.

And when he falls into thoughts of desire, let him not excuse himself with excuses of sickness and escape, for with Yusuf (peace be upon him) they counted ten excuses for him to fall into sin, yet he did not commit it despite them!

For he was young, a stranger, and unmarried, and she was the queen of the palace, through whom prohibition and command passed; and despite this he fled from her and refused her, and so he humbled her and was honored.

So leave the excuses aside, for even the prophets lived in times of trials, and you are not the only one being tested.

— Shoroog Almehmadi