Peace And Submission – Attaining peace, happiness and contentment has its roots in Submission. This is the 6th article in the series of “A Walk Through The Shareefiya Garden” expounding the teachings of Tasawaff in light of our Holy scriptures.
With the name of Allah most Beneficient ever Merciful
Many scholars of Islam interpret Islam to mean “peace” while others interpret it to mean “submission”. Although these two meanings may appear to be completely different they are very closely related.
In life, every state can only be reached through some activity or some sort of striving. As an example: drinking water is linked to satisfying one’s thirst. Similarly “peace” and submission are related because the way to attain the condition of peace is by submission.
Submit means to surrender one’s self, to give in to, to yield to, to agree to, to succumb to, to resign yourself to etc.
Submission is important in Islam because it makes one humble and keeps one’s pride in check and this is most important to our spiritual development. Therefore no matter who or what we are, we are required to submit.
Submit to “who?” would be the next obvious question and the obvious answer is to submit to Allah The Master of the universe. This is easier said than done.
How do we submit to Allah, The Ever-living, when we cannot see Him in His Essence? We can, however, submit to Him by following the commands He has sent down to us through the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.
Now of all commands, the hardest to follow is when Allah, The Supreme, commands us to submit to others besides Himself.
This is where the test of submission to Allah, The All Wise, comes into play. This is the difficult part, far more difficult than praying fifty times a day. We have to submit to Him by submitting to the people around us and quite often these people may seem lower and simpler than we are and sometimes they may ask us to do something we do not want to.
This is the test that shaitaan failed. He praised and glorified Allah, to Whom All Praises belong, but he could not submit to Adam (AS) when Allah, The All Powerful, commanded him to.
“Muhammad bin Ishaq reported that Ibn Abbas said, “Before he undertook the path of sin, Iblis was with the angels and was called Azazil. He was among the residents of the earth and was one of the most active worshippers and knowledgeable persons among the angels. This fact caused him to be arrogant. Iblis was from a genus called Jinn.“ Ibn Katir p161
Firstly as Muslims we are commanded by Allah, The All Knowing, to submit to the messengers and His chosen servants because these are the people that guide us and show us the way to Him.
“He who obeys the Messenger obeys Allah.” 4:80,
When Hazrath Sulaimaan (AS) preached to the Queen of Sheba, she realized her mistakes and said: “My Lord! I have done injustice to myself and (now) I submit myself through Solomon to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.”” Al Quran 27:44
The Messengers of Allah are the people that have made great personal sacrifices to guide us to everlasting bliss. Being guided by these people is what we pray for in every ‘rakaat’ of every prayer in the form of Sura Fatiha.
When we read through the Holy Quran, then in all the narrations of all the prophets, we would come across situations where some people did not submit to their respective prophets. It is not surprising that these people were wealthy, learned or seemingly religious people while those that submitted were the meek and the poor.
In this is also the lesson: If we are wealthy, learned or pious then we have to be extra cautious because these achievements of ours could make us proud like the way it did to shaitaan.
Many are the people that adorn the outward dress of piety but inwardly hold the prophets and the pious people (Aulia Allah) in scorn. Instead of submitting to them, they pick faults with them, they proudly seek to compete with them and they think that they are better than them based on their superficial acts of prayer.
In the times we live in we are not going to meet a prophet because our Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, is the last. However we can meet the saints or the friends of Allah. In sura Fatiha, the dua we make is that Allah, The Guider, guides us on the path of those on whom He has bestowed His grace.
He gives us further details about His chosen people in the fourth sura, verse 69 which is: “the prophets, the truthful, the bearers of testimony, the martyrs, the righteous s people.”
Apart from the Prophets, the rest are the Aulia Allah. There are many hadith to collaborate this fact but because we have quoted them in previous articles we will not repeat them. However we would add by quoting from the Mathnawi:
“The Prophet, peace be upon him, said to Ali, “O Ali, you are the lion of God, you are a courageous knight, But do not even rely upon your lion-heartedness: come into the shade of the palm tree of hope. Come into the shade (protection) of the Sage whom no conveyor can carry off from the way (truth)…. If I should tell you of his (the sage’s) qualities until the Resurrection, do not seek (expect) any conclusion and end to them. The Divine Sun has veiled Himself in man: apprehend the mystery, and God knows what is right. O Ali, above all devotional acts in the way (of God) do you choose the shadow (protection) of the servant of God….. When the Pir has accepted you, take heed, surrender (submit) yourself to (him): go like Moses under the authority of Kizar. Bare patiently whatever is done by Kizar who is without hypocrisy, in order that Kizar may not say,: ‘Be gone, this is (our) parting.’….God has declared that his (the Pir’s) hand is as His Own since He gave out the words ‘the Hand of God is above your hands.” Mathnawi 1:2959.
Similarly, our Pir O Murshid, Dr. Hakim Hazrath Khwaja Sayed Shareef Ahmed Ali Shah (RA), fondly known as Hazrath Poona Wale Shah Saib (RA) said: “Pir dill mae uterna, ye sab se barie baath.” Put your pir into your heart (Love him), this is the greatest thing.”
Secondly, we have to respect and submit to our parents especially our mothers: “and be heedful of the wombs (that bore you) 4:1. The Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, has said that “paradise lies at the feet of your mother.” Ahmed, Nisai & Bahagi.
Then, as we grow up, we should also submit to our righteous teachers. When we begin to work then we must submit to our employer for he is teaching us how to earn our living.
The Prophet Salallahu Alayhe Wasallam has said: “Whoever is not grateful to man is not grateful to Allah.” Ahmed &Tirmizi.
In terms of marriage the grand Messenger has taught that a woman should submit to her husband and follow his lead.
In every society there are leaders and our Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, has taught us to submit to them and be obedient to them.
Now when we submit, respect and obey those we should, then we would find that peace: peace within ourselves, peace within our families, peace within our working environment, peace within our community and ultimately peace with our Creator.
By not submitting there would be conflict and disagreements and these days there are so many conflicting situations all around us. We are fast losing the ability to get along with those we should be following.
To submit is not easy because it sometimes entails doing something that we do not want to. Even the likes of Hazrath Moosa (AS) had difficulty in following the commands of Kizar (AS). (sura Khaf).
As an example: Our parents might tell us not to dress in a particular way but because it is fashion and it makes us feel good, it would be difficult for us to obey them.
At some point or the other, in everyone’s life, we would face situations where we have to give in to others and our egos (nafs) would never want us to give in. When we are in such situations then we must remember that if we submit, for Allah Subhanatallah’s sake, then this is indeed great and it brings us closer to Him.
What can be greater than submitting our wills to what He wants? This submitting of our wills, to those He commands us to submit to, is that one grand “sajda” (submission) that Allah loves and wants from us.
Inshallah, when we do give in to His command, by following those who are in authority or those that are right, then He would take care of our needs and in time we would see the wisdom behind His commands and realize that His plan is far better than what we wanted.
When Hazrath Ebrahiem (AS) told his son that he was commanded by Allah, The Originator, to sacrifice him, then he was submissive. He was prepared to lay down his life immediately without question.
“Now, when that (son, Ismial) was (old enough) to work along with him, (his father, Abraham) said, ‘My dear son! I have seen in a dream that I sacrifice you. So consider (it and tell me) what you think (of it).’ (The son) said, ‘My dear father! do as you are commanded. If Allah wills you will find me of the calm and steadfast.” Now, (it so happened) when both of them submitted themselves (to the will of God) and he (Abraham) had laid him (Ismail) down on his forehead,…” Al Quran 37:102.
We have difficulty in following simple commands of our parents and Hazrath Ishmail (AS) was prepared to lay down his life when his father, not commanded him, but put the proposal to him in the most round about ways.
When it comes to following the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, or our pir o murshid, we should not even question it in our minds.
“But no, by your Lord! they are not believers at all unless they refer all their disputes (that arise between them) to you (o Muhammad ﷺ, for judgment, then they do not find any protest in their minds about the propriety of your judgment, and they submit (to your decisions) with entire submission.” Al Quran 4:65.
As difficult as it was, even the Holy Prophet, peace be upon him, had to order things that he did not like because obedience and submitting takes precedence.
“Ibn Omar (RA) reported. I had a wife whom I loved but my father disliked her. He told me to divorce her but I refused. Then my father went to the Prophet, peace be upon him, and told him about it. The Messenger of Allah told me to divorce her.” Al Hadis (Tirmizi& Abu Dawud).
There is great wisdom in all of this because the different ways in which Allah, The All Knowing, commands us to submit ensures that He is in our thoughts at all times because the different ways in which He commands us to submit to Him range through every activity of our lives.
The ability to make ourselves follow others is extremely important because it entails self-control and this has great benefits for our spirituality because it is the result of us overpowering our egos.
“Be not a friend to (sensual) passion and desire, since it leads you astray from the Way of God. Nothing in the world will break (destroy) this passion like the shadow (protection) of fellow travellers. (Pir).“ Mathnawi 1:2957.
Good people and greatness stems from being good followers. Apart from this, by being submissive we begin to love.
By submitting ourselves, to those people that Allah, The All Mighty, teaches us to submit to, then in essence it amounts to submitting to Him because this is His command.
Submission results in humility which is the veil of Allah, The All Powerful, and not submitting results in pride which is the veil of shaitaan.
We have to be extremely careful when dealing with simple people below our social status because if we have just a tiny bit of pride then it will lead us to hell.
“The holy Prophet, peace be upon him, has said: “Nobody who has got pride in his heart to the weight of a mustard seed shall enter paradise.” Al Hadis 1:4:21:228. End.
Peace and salutations be upon Allah’s Messengers who are responsible for guiding humanity throughout time. Ameen.
Published by Anjuman e Waris e Mohammedi.
The Anjuman e Waris e Mohammedi was founded by Dr/Hakim Hazrath Khwaja Sayed Shareef Ahmed Ali Shah RA (lovingly known as Hazrath Poona Wale Shah Saab RA).
Author: Mohamed Hassan Gaffoor WhatsApp; +27 84 910 1486