the saint in Islam, living reminder of God

the saint in Islam, living reminder of God

Holiness in Islam has provided an abundant literature describing its types, degrees or modes of access. But what is a saint (walî)? There are multiple definitions, such as that of Shiblî (d. 946): “he who sees in both worlds nothing other than God”. Or again, the one “the sight of which reminds you of God, the words increase your knowledge, and the works make you desire the Hereafter”according to a saying (hadith) of the Prophet.

Three major modes of holiness are identifiable: fear, love, and gnosis.

The fear of God characterizes devotees and ascetics. Love delighted the hearts of the ‘âshiqînes (“those who ardently desire God”): “If the desired Being is beyond our reach; We still have to destroy ourselves here.”wrote ‘Attâr (d. 1221). Gnosis, in Islam, is the knowledge of the heart, according to the words of Ibn ‘Ajîba (d. 1809): “the walis are those who know God by direct sight”. Devotees, lovers, gnostics: procession of countless saints, testifying to their journeys between ecstatic words, spiritual treatises and mystical poems.

A reminder of the original Man

By divine election or inner struggle, the wali purified his heart to make room for the Presence of God, becoming the mirror of His Qualities, thus realizing the theomorphism of man: “ God created man in His Image » (1). The saint is this reminder of the original Man.

To be holy is to tear away the veil of the illusion of the “individual self” and to rediscover true Being. For this, the masters recommend numerous rites, within the quaternary “ silence, solitude, hunger and wakefulness “. Above all, it is through the practice of constant invocation of God (dhikr: repetition of a sacred formula) that man achieves realization, dhikr polishing the heart from the rust of forgetting; viaticum of the saint, it is the very goal of every rite in Islam. Dhikr is at the center of the path to holiness, summarized by Ibn ‘Arabî (d. 1240) in “the five canonical prayers, and the expectation of death”.

The saint is at the heart of Islamic society

Hermit in his zaouïa, learned preacher surrounded by disciples, prince or wanderer, the saint is at the heart of Islamic society. Visited during his lifetime (for his wisdom, his knowledge, his blessing), he is also visited after his death (for his intercession). Sometimes radiant, like Emir Abdelkader, retreating in the middle of the crowd; or enigmatic initiator, such as the mysterious “Verdoyant” (Khidr) whose adventures are recounted in sura 18 alongside a Moses distraught by the apparently scandalous attitudes of this extraordinary master; or still unknown to all, humble beggar “disheveled, dressed in rags and rejected from all doors (but who only has) to beg God to hear him”(hadith).

Having become, in spite of themselves, the center of the world, “ it is through them that the earth is maintained, that the rain reaches you and that you receive the support of God » (hadith).

(1) Biblical formula which is also a hadith.

Read: Éric Geoffroy, SufismThreshold, 2009.

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