In quest of God : Maneri's second collection of 150 letters

349 Pages·2004·8.276 MB·English

by  Sharaf al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyá Manīrī, Paul Jackson

IN QUEST OF GOD
Maneri’s Second Collection of 150 Letters
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TRANSLATION, INTRODUCTION AND NOTES
BY
PAUL JACKSON, S.J.
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2004
GUJARAT SAHITYA PRAKASH
P.B. 70, ANAND - 388001
GUJARAT, INDIA.
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© 2004 Paul Jackson, S.J.
All Rights Reserved
ISBN 81-87886-92-7
Price: Rs. 200.00 $ 25.00
Letters 3 and 15 were first published in Windows on the House of Islam, edited
by John Renard, University of California Press, 1998.
Published by K T Mathew SJ, Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, P.B. 70, Anand - 388001,
Gujarat, INDIA.
Printed by S Abril, S.J., Anand Press, P.B. 70, Gamdi-Anand - 388001, Gujarat.
Dedicated
io
People of ßifyar

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This translation began many years ago. Syed Hasan Askari helped with the
initial letters before his death in 1990. Shah Muhammad Ismail had a ready and
accurate answer to questions proposed until his sudden death in Medina in 1998.
Atiqur Rahman and others in the Khuda Bakhsh Library have been most generous
in helping solve problems connected with the text, as well as in facilitating practical
aspects of the work in unobtrusive yet appreciated ways. Shafiur Rahman helped
tackle a recalcitrant letter, while S. S. Mashhadi offered comments on some of
the Persian verse. I would also like to thank my Jesuit superiors and community
members for their support over the years.
A special word of thanks is due to Fr. Roman Lewicki S.J. for perusing the
entire translation, making corrections and offering comments, as well as to the
late Qaseem Sahib, whose Urdu translation of the Maktubat-i Do Sadi appeared
in 1993. Although this translation had almost been completed, his text was of
great use during the two subsequent revisions.
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THE LETTERS
Page
1. The path of religion 1
2. In quest of knowledge 5
3. Right intention 9
4. The descent of trials and bearing burdens 13
5. The world 16
6. Discipleship and struggle with self 20
7. Firm resolve 22
8. Repenting and turning back to the Lord Most Exalted 26
9. A lowly opinion about self and a good opinion about others 28
10. Love of the world and its criticism 31
11. Affectionate and passionate love 33
12. Union with God 35
13. The effects of companionship 38
14. The obedience of a disciple to the injunctions of his guide 41
15. The qualities of guides and the blameworthy condition of the
extravagant 45
16. Personal penury and the quest for righteousness 50
17. The helplessness of the saints and prophets regarding
the issuance of divine ordinances 53
18. The friendship and enmity of God and the abandonment of desire 55
19. External and internal purity 57
20. Arousing a thirst for knowledge and counting good
companionship as gain 59
21. Conversion 61
22. Purification and sanctification 63
23. Separation and detachment 64
24. Service and being a servant 67
25. The descent of calamity and advancing towards acquiescence 69
26. Abandoning habit and striving after devotion 70
27. Ritual ablution and voluntary night prayer 72
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IN QUEST OF GOD
28. Steadfastness in devotion and worship; the acceptance of
offerings; and keeping away from ignorant people:
May God thus make you happier! 75
29. Esteeming life and night prayer 76
30. Advice and abandoning the harming of others 77
31. The process of collecting the letters sent to the disciple
from the spiritual guide 78
32. Persevering in ejaculatory prayers and in daily tasks 78
33. In quest of God and His love 79
34. The sublimity of steadfastness 81
35. Abandoning the suggestions of the selfish soul 82
36. Making an effort in religious matters and not getting discouraged 83
37. Taking a dose look at the faults of the selfish soul 84
38. Utilizing leisure time 85
39. Fear of one’s end, and personal penury 85
40. The mystical knowledge of the intellect 88
41. Love 90
42. Making friends with the friends of God Most Exalted 94
43. Abandoning external visits 97
44. The abandonment of rank and independence of God 98
45. Anxiety about one’s faith and what has been ordained 100
46. Patience in adversity and the endurance of misfortunes 103
47. How to recognize by signs the divine pleasure or displeasure:
The quest for religious knowledge: and bringing
comfort to God’s creatures 106
48. Immersing oneself in one’s work and placing one’s hope
in the Lord, the Great Forgiver 108
49. The eternal command and the dethroning of the intellect 110
50. Being content with God’s command 112
51. Patience with one’s lot where the command of the
Peerless Lord is concerned 114
52. Love and yearning 115
53. The faithlessness and blameworthiness of the world 117
54. Contentment with bare necessities and a sufficiency of what is needed 119
55. Endurance in observing God’s commands, and acquiescence
in time of adversity 120
56. Bringing one’s selfish soul to heel 124
57. Acquiescing to the divine decree 127
58. Finding fault with accepting the post of judge 128
59. The claim to love and the manifestation of friendship 129
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THE LETTERS
60. Ascertaining the truth: fear and hope 130
61. Work wrought through grace, not justice 133
62. Adducing proof for one’s daim to be a Muslim 134
63 The effort to grow in love and be shaped by it 135
64 The meaning of the Tradition “O that Muhammad’s
Lord had not created Muhammad!” 137
65 Firm resolve and the quest of the Lord 138
66 Keeping secrets: refraining from speaking: remaining far
from thinking: understanding idols and sacred threads 140
67 The wisdom of the Lord and the subjection of servants 142
68 Love of the poor and indigent together with signs and proofs 144
69 Concealing the secret, and the perplexity of the people 145
70 The displacement and helplessness of reason in comparison
to the command of the Glorious, Exalted Lord 147
71 The qualities of manly people and the blameworthiness of
hermaphrodites 148
72 Meeting the needs of people and bringing comfort to God's servants 151
73 The qualities of the soul and their impact 153
74 The perfection of love and the heights of steadfastness 155
75 The wrath of the Beloved and being able to do without
things you want 158
76 The self-sufficiency of the Lord of honour and how
distant intellect is from being a cause 160
77 The secret of man and the ignorance thereof 162
78 Disavowing the world and affirming intimate knowledge of the Lord 164
79 Showing severity towards friends and kindness towards enemies 166
80 Saying what should be said and refraining from saying what shouldn’t 168
81 The grace of the sons of Adam and the love of the Lord
of the world 171
82 Are the actions and commands of the Lord Most Exalted
inherently related to a cause or are they free from it? 174
83 Abandoning the world and inclining towards the life to come 175
84 Scattering idols and remaining uncontaminated by them 178
85 Longing for the works of the life to come and abandoning
avarice and sensuality 181
86 Being at enmity with this world and befriending the life to come 183
87 Seeking God and abandoning creatures 186
88 Contempt for the world and its infidelity 187
89 The joy of finding and the grief of not finding 188
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IN QUEST OF GOD
The Way to God and the renunciation of one’s selfish
soul and of creatures 190
Stimulating desire and fostering caution 192
Helping the distressed and supporting the needy 193
Seeking hidden unbelief and highlighting what it means to be a Muslim 194
The humility and gentleness of the Friend 197
Justice and the vindication of the oppressed 199
The perfection of humility and humane behaviour 200
Seeking the Sought One through what pertains to Him 202
Bearing the burden of being a lover without the Beloved 204
Asking pardon 205
The pre-eminence of the reality of sainthood over that
of prophethood 206
A description of nature from ecstatic contemplation 206
Keeping the secret hidden and obeying the Law 208
Sighing, repenting and overcoming evil suggestions 212
Having confidence in dervishes 215
Absorption in “There is no power or strength except in God" 216
High resolve: another explanation 217
Grieving over one’s past life and repenting over a past
state: another explanation 219
Changing a blameworthy disposition into a laudable one:
another explanation 220
The best, finest, choicest aspect and friendship of man: a summary 224
The way of the Law, of the Sufi Path, and of Reality
225
Sighing and repenting over one’s state: another explanation 225
Enjoining the commands of God and remaining far from
one’s own preference or that of people 227
Stimulating desire for poverty and want: another explanation 228
Exalting the one whom God has blessed 229
The role of intellect and of love 230
Seeking the Lover and nearness to the Beloved 232
Preparing for death and the fullness of life 233
Penury: another explanation 234
Standing firm in the Faith 235
Returning to the Glorious and Honoured Lord 237
Hope in God Most Exalted 239
The citadel of the selfish soul: another explanation 240
Grief and repentance: another explanation 242
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