Lecture F

In the Name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate

E- THE TRUTH OF THE HEART

It is necessary to clarify the below mentioned points to get informed about the truth of the heart.

1- The origin and essence of the heart

2- The properties of the heart

3-The branches and divisions of heart

4- The illnesses of the heart and their remedies and solutions.

About the fact that heart is one

Heart is the name of the organ inside the chest which controls the flow of blood by pushing it around. It is also the centre of a person’s feelings, especially of kind and sincere feelings. (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English). The Arabic form of the word heart also means to change, to transform and to turn.

Some people mention that there are two hearts in the physical and spiritual synthesis structure of men. The physical heart is the centre of the animal soul. It is the most important organ that enables our physical existence and our other organs to continue to live. It exists beneath the left-hand side breast and is made of special muscles. While the foods eaten going though the small intestine in the form of a paste, they mix with the blood through very thin veins in required quantity and density. As the heart beats an average of 75 times per minute, the blood is pumped to all parts of the body. The veins that are called capillary and are fifty times thinner than a hair, deliver and provide the nutrition that is needed to continuation of our bodily life.

HEART has some cosmological properties that are in relation with the divine attributes. This reality has a connection and love relation with PINE-CONE-LIKE HEART. Naming it heart emanates from the fact that it is the essence of all creatures. (The prophet –peace be upon him-)

HEART is between the two fingers of the most Gracious and he turns it by any attribute He wishes. By saying his two fingers, the venerable Allah Taala meant his attributes of JALAL (majesty) and JAMAL (beauty).

Fusus Şerhi, Vol 1, pp:91, Avni Konuk

Heart has two divisions, one of which is physical

In the shape of a pine-cone, the centre of the animal soul

One is the real heart, the centre of the sultan of the soul

It is the place of knowledge and the place of faith

Both the divine mirror and the viewing place of God

The remedies for heart are five, which are the solution for it

The first being in the assembly of good people, the second fasting,

Reciting the Qur’an is the third; the fourth is prayer at night,

The fifth one is praying for forgiveness before the daybreak.

The Anthology of Visali, pp-18

While the author venerable Visali mentions that heart has two parts, A. Avni Konuk (may Allah be pleased with him) (the Author of Fusus Serhi) says – as mentioned above- the heart is a reality that combines the properties of the gentle spiritual realm and the properties of the created physical realm. Therefore, heart is A SINGLE REALITY that combines material properties and subtle immaterial properties.

A verse in the Qur’an makes it clear that heart is one.

“Allah has never made any man with two hearts inside him”. (Surah al Ahzab, 33/4)

The verse continues with the subject of ZAHR (a metonym for the back of the body) (saying one’s wife 'be as my mother's back’. Saying this meant getting divorce in the era of ignorance. Islam removes this. The penalty for uttering this phrase to one’s wife in the Islamic era is setting a slave free or unable to do so he should fast two successive months before they touch one another.

The following verses of Surah Al Ahzab is about the fact that adopted children are not own children and therefore the same legal ordinances do not apply to the adopted kids. Thus, the verse says no one has two hearts and then is followed by these two legal verdicts and from which we infer the oneness of the heart indirectly. Different legal principles apply for one’s own child and adopted child.

For the materialization the act of ZAHR first one should make a comparison which is made in the mind by the imagination. This relates to the gentle part of the heart. The punishment and atonement for the sin relate to a material act, i.e. setting a slave free or fasting for two successive months. We try to point out the fact that even though it happened in the different divisions of the heart, it is related to one single truth of the heart.

THE ESSENCE AND ORIGIN OF THE HEART

NAFS, SOUL AND HEART constitute three main principles of our structure, i.e. the synthesis of physical and spiritual structures. That is why we made it quite detailed and expanded the subjects. The worshipping, awareness, astonishment, cognizance and love of the servants to Allah are possible only being aware of his mastership attribute perfectly. Knowing the mastership of Allah is occurring of the cognizance of the mentioned three principles depending on the hidayah granting of Allah. (Hidayah: embracing the true religion)

A noble verse decrees:

“Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.” (Surah An-Noor, 24/35)

A hadith qudsi says:

“First I created your light –THE LIGHT OF MUHAMMAD-, and out of your light I created the whole universe.”

The creation of all worlds and within those worlds and the creation of heart, their turning from inexistence and darkness to existence happened by the manifestation of the Light name of Allah. The noble verse and the qudsi hadith above point out this truth. Therefore the essence, origin and coming into existence of heart occurred with the manifestation of the light of the divine Self. All material or immaterial creatures are AS SHADOWS in front of the greatness and magnificence of the light of Allah.

Allah Taala is a pure LIGHT. It is impossible to see him. Therefore it is impossible to see and perceive THE GENUINE LIGHT as isolated from mirrors, attributions and relativity.

The perception of it could be possible through MAZHARLAR (mirrors) behind the curtains that the degrees of deigning brought forth in front of eyes.

Being genuine light is not against his existence as ABSOLUTE EXISTENT.

Muhyiddin Ibn’ul Arabi uses the word of LIGHT in two different meanings:

1- The Commencement of the creation

“Allah Taala took us out of the darkness of inexistence to the light of existence, we became a light.”

Fütühatı Mekkiye 37412

Fusus-ul Hikem Vol III, pp:39

Allah is the light that spread out all creatures and this is called the LIGHT OF EXISTENCE.

2- The Commencement of the ıntellıgence

The intelligence that happened in the existence took place with the name of LIGHT, i.e. LIGHT in the meaning of intellect. The LIGHT as the source of intelligence has other names: THE LIGHT OF WITNESSING AND THE LIGHT OF FAITH.

KASANİ, a wise person, said the following while interpreting the verse “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.” (Surah An-Noor, 24/35)

“Light is the one that is apparent by itself and the objects become apparent through it. LIGHT is a divine name and an absolute name due to its strong appearance and the objects being appeared by it. As Allah exists and is apparent, he is the Light of the heavens and the earth”

Fusus-ul Hikem Şerhi, A. Avni Konuk, Vol III, pp:37-39

Ismail Hakkı Bursevi says the following while interpreting the above verse:

“…Allah Taala took non-existent essences out of secrecy of absence to appearance with the lights of existence and the fayz (blessıng) of his generosity.

The prophet decreed:

““Allah created the people in the darkness and then sprinkled his light onTO them”

Here creation means predestination, because it is metonym for invention, i.e. ascribing a body. What is possible is described as darkness. Its getting light means appearance.

Aziz Nesefi (may Allah be pleased with him) said:

“Existence is one, not else. However, the interior side of this existence is a LIGHT. The life of the world is only this LIGHT. The universe is full of this LIGHT. It is limitless and infinite LIGHT like an endless sea with no shores.

The creatures’ life, knowledge, will and power are from this LIGHT. The nature, qualities and actions of the creatures are from this LIGHT. They are a mirror of this light.

Muhyiddin Ibn’ul Arabi says the following in his Fusus:

“God is like the LIGHT in glass oil-lamp compared to particular mirrors being small, big, pure, colorless etc. Whoever looks at it sees the light as it is dyed with colour of the glass.

Allah Taala is the doer of all deeds. As each movement of a shadow actually belongs to the owner of the shadow; all acts and movements of all creatures, who are shadows, belong to Allah, the owner of the shadows.

We find a way to know and notice Allah through the worlds that are the shadow of the existence of Allah. We can know the existence of God which is covered by the curtains of invisible realms through this relative existence of him, as his shadow, which appeared by the name of LIGHT.

Fusus Vol II, pp-246-248

The Properties of heart

1- The Attribute of Oneness

Above in the section about the oneness of heart we said:

Heart is a reality that combines all properties of the gentle spiritual realm and the properties of cosmology of the physical realm.

The venerable Visali expresses the same truth in his eulogy of the perfect rosary (tesbih-i kamile)

O Allah you made all hearts exist with your unity,

You are exempt from the hearts with your unity o Allah Taala.

Oneness (al- Wahdaniyyah) is one of the personal attributes of Allah. Heart is created out of the light of the attribute of ONENESS. It was stated that Nafs Natiqah, too, has the honour of all attributes of the Self of Allah. This truth is confirmed in the eulogy of the perfect rosary by the line of O ALLAH, YOU MADE ALL NAFS EXIST WITH YOUR SELF.

Oneness is a comprehensive attribute and includes other divine attributes. In reality, heart is the palace of the nafs, the place where nafs exists being exempt from ascribing a place.

Oneness is the truth of the ONE who contains and surrounds everything in both physical realms and gentle realms. In front of us, ONE is turned to multitude, and multitude is rolled up to ONE. Water, as a one being, is separated into the names of steam, fog, cloud, rain, snow, AND HAIL. Each one looks as a different object. Their colors, tastes, shapes are different. If their origin is investigated, through chemical change they turn into WATER. First it has accumulated as WATER, and turned to an object with six appearances, then it melted and all turned to be WATER again.

Another example:

Male and female cells turn into a single synthesis cell. By the nourishment in mother’s blood, within the (pregnancy) period of 9 months and 10 days it turns into various shapes, chemical compound objects and then becomes FETUS, BABY and HUMAN. Human as the final stage of bodily structure, the miracle and masterpiece of the MASTERSHIP (RABB) ATTRIBUTE of allah taala, out of the first synthesis cell, proliferates to billions of cells and names.

Our compound cell extracts bone cell within a time period determined by the divine program. They proliferate and skeleton is formed. Again as per the divine program, organs are put in their places in the skeleton. Brain, ears, eyes, tongue, teeth, nails, hair, eyelash, esophagus, trachea, lung, liver, heart, pancreas, kidneys, reproduction organs, stomach, small intestine and large intestine, all take their places in the bodily structure in an aesthetic, conscious, measured and balanced manner. Kidneys have billions of microscopic separators that separate urine and the clean blood. In the defense system of the body the number of red blood cells and white blood cells, too, amount to billions. There are many other things to count. We tried to show how a single synthesis CELL in a womb turns into multitude with a perfect creation.

What kind of a conscious cell is this, namely all things the life in the conditions of the world requires have been completed perfectly. Even though their formation is done by the nourishment in the blood of the mother, it is beyond the capacity of the bodily structure to determine the place of each organ, to make them work in a measured way, each one doing its job for the continuation of life in harmony without any disputes between themselves.

The structure of human consists of physical body and soul, which is from the invisible (ghayb) realm and has a subtle structure. We have been explaining the physical structure of human. The one who will direct and administer the body is the soul. The soul is sent from the divine treasury and breathed into the fetus after 40 days passed (another quotation says after 4 months) in mother’s womb.

Life of person is something limited. One day comes and he dies and is put into the grave. His body decomposes and turns into soil. However, the soul can take the distances of billions of light years, going beyond the ends of the universe, in an eye twinkling time. It goes to its place and returns to the grave if needed. The highest speed the science of physics found is the speed of light which is three hundred thousand kilometers per second. The going and returning speed of the soul is, if I may put it in this way, is a metaphysical speed.

A noble verse decrees:

“We created you from it (the earth), and to it We shall restore you; and from it We will bring you forth yet a second time.” (Surah At Taahaa, 20/55)

Even though we started the physical creation of humans from the MALE-FEMALE SYNTHESIS CELL, there are some stages before that. We mentioned it in the section of the reality of nafs. We think it would be useful to repeat it here. Please do not forget that the prophet for humans and genie, the venerable Muhammad (peace be upon him), too, repeated three times the subjects he considered as important. As the authentic quotations inform us, he even repeated some Qur’anic verses throughout the night.

The first cell has come into existence out of the sperm of the male. The sperm is made of foods, foods are made of animal foods, they are made of plants and vegetables, and they are created out of soil. Before the soil it was created from the water, before water, from the fire, before the fire from the air, before the air from the realm of dreams, before that the realm of souls, before it the light of the reality of Muhammad which is synonymous with the eternal knowledge, before that it has been created from the degree of ONENESS of ALLAH. Above we explained that heart has been created out of the light of the attribute of oneness. Thus, when we trace back to the first degree of our first creation, we get to OUR ORIGIN, THE ONE BEING. In other words, the truth of all creatures, including ourselves, being created out of one being becomes clear.

Thus, the first origin of our creation is the soil and before that the single existence of the absolute God. Upon our death, we are given back to the soil and we return to our origin. It is understood that we are returning to the single being.

This truth –in the word below- is stressed by the meaning of a hadith (ayet değil hadis olması lazım), too:

“Everything returns to its origin.”

The findings of positive (cosmology) science

The Qur’an is not conflict with any fields of science, because both the Qur’an and science emanate from the knowledge treasure of the venerable Allah dzul Kamaal (possessor of perfection). The source is single.

The venerable Visali interpreted the first two verses of the surah al Baqarah:

“Alif-Lām-Mīm. This divine Book- let there be no doubt about it- is guidance for the God-conscious”

Alif refers of the self, Lām refers to the attribute, Mīm refers to acts.

The venerable Allah Dzul Jalaal exists with his Self. He deigned from his Self to his attributes. He surrounded everything with his attributes. He deigned from his attributes to his acts. He is known by his acts. He is witnessed by his artwork, all creatures and objects he created. Can Allah be seen by our physical eyes? Surely his Self can not be seen, because Allah does not stand in need of anything in all the worlds.

A verse in the Surah Al Ankabut refers to this fact:

“Allah does not stand in need of anything in all the worlds.” (29/6)

In one of his speeches, the venerable Visali said: If Allah Taala deigns with his Self as small as the head of a needle, all universe will be burnt instantly.

However, Allah Taala is seen by his names, work, acts and attributes, because he appeared from the source of the Self via deigning. The Sun is a creature of Allah. The Sun is 150 million kilometers away from us. That distance is the Sun’s degree of Self. Those who go to this degree, melts and perishes. To be close to it and not no perish, one needs to stand at the mentioned distance, should wear appropriate clothing, (the light should) pass through the layers of ozone and atmosphere. Now he is able to be together with its LIGHT AND HEAT. Thus if a person says, “I have been to the sun WITH ITS LIGHT AND HEAT below the mentioned degrees, I can not be with the Sun at its Self degree, otherwise, I was burnt…” his evaluation is correct and conforms to the realities. This analogy is valid for the issue of seeing Allah.

The venerable Visali explained the verse “This divine Book- let there be no doubt about it” as such: There are three types of books:

1- Revealed books. This refers to the books bestowed upon prophets. Our noble Qur’an is this kind of book.

2- The Book of Universe: It is all the visible creatures with every atom of them. The books that are revealed as letters, words, sentences and we own a hard copy informs us the meanings as writings. As the symbols in the writing let us know the meanings and concepts, if one looks at the forms and shapes in the Universe sheltering all realms, it will be seen that the meanings written in the Qur’an exists in them, too. Let us give two examples to the reading of the book of the universe:

A-) Example 1: The first verse that has been revealed to our prophet:

“Read in the name of your Sustainer, who has created (you) (Surah Al Alaq, 96/1)”

The meaning as per the revealed book is read the Qur’an by starting with basmalah, by the name of Allah who created (you). There are some other meanings, too. The hadith saying “Qur’an has been revealed as seven wholes” shows this truth. It is known that the venerable Visali interpreted the Surah At Tīn in seven different meanings.

Let us try to read the book of the universe: the order of ‘READ’ also includes the order of ‘KNOW’ that is each sentence is to know something. Therefore the order of ‘READ’ means first and foremost ‘know your Rabb (Cherisher and Sustainer)’. Sustainer is one of the divine names. Knowing one’s sustainer means knowing Allah. Knowing Allah is the knowing he is the sustainer of all worlds, the true God, deserving of being worshipped. Recognizing Allah as God is the first pillar and commencement of the prayers.

In the above topics, it is told that the creation of humans starts with a sperm and a single cell which goes through different levels of mastership degrees and turn into a human. Even though the parents may seem the cause of this perfect creation, they are unaware of the mentioned training system, the perfection of the system of creation… Birth and coming to this world are neither an initiative of the baby, nor of the parents who caused it. They are only simple causes, they have no other participation. The person who continues reading the book of the universe sees the existence of THE REAL CAUSE with the eye of knowledge, and reflects with his brain. Such a reflection is better than 70 years worshipping unmindfully. This also leads person to worshipping.

There is a SUPER POWER who creates the causes of the coming to the world that we call birth. He has limitless power, greatness and perfection and owns everything.

The second thing he knows is his imaginary existence that has limitless weakness, poverty, needs, ignorance and nothingness. He is below zero, in a nonexistence going towards minus infinite.

These two definite pieces of knowledge lead the person to the prayer and urge the person who understands his weakness and needs to seek refugee with Allah Taala who can meet his needs.

Thus, when this understanding is fixed into the heart, it turns into action in the bodily structure and then worshipping starts. Reading the book of the universe leads humans to the worshipping, which is the purpose of the creation.

B- The second example: A noble verse decrees:

“Most exalted, tremendous is He.” (Al-Baqara- 255)

We have written about many topics so far concerning the structure and running of the material realm. The structure of humans, the solar system, galactic systems and the fact that each of them was created perfectly and with Knowledge , Will and Power attributes of Allah show us that the creator of them is Powerful, Omniscient and Murid (who wills) and the biggest artist of the art of creation. As one can understand the perfection of the artist when he sees a man-made artwork, the perfection attribute in the structure of the universe shows the greatness and majesty of Allah. That is, the greatness appearing by the meanings of the words in the noble Qur’an appears in the book of the universe by way of looking at all creatures and objects.

3- THE TALKING BOOK: This refers to our effendi, the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and to his knowledge and good ethics. The meanings in the revealed book, the speeches of our prophet and the speeches of the saints of Allah, who are the heirs of the prophet, are also considered as the talking books.

As a matter of fact, a hadith says “Human and the Qur’an are twins”. This shows that the truths and meanings that are given as definite knowledge in the Qur’an, appear in the speeches, life and morality of the perfect people. Both accept who notifies them and both are the representatives of the truth. For that reason, THE QUR’AN and THE PERFECT HUMAN are twins.