BAB PENJELASAN HAKIKAT KASIH SAYANG DAN SEBAB-SEBABNYA DAN PEMASTIAN MAKNA KECINTAAN HAMBA KEPADA الله SWT.
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Ketahuilah kiranya bahwa yang dicari pada pasal ini tidak akan terbuka melainkan dengan mengetahui hakikat kecintaan, tentang kecintaan itu sendiri, kemudian mengetahuui syarat-syarat dan sebab-sebabnya, kemudian setelah itu memperhatikan pada pemastian maknanya terhadap kecintaan kepada الله SWT.
Maka yang pertama, yang seharusnya dipastikan ialah : tidak akan tergambar adanya kecintaan kecuali sesudah ma’rifah (kenal) dan idrak (mengetahui). Karena manusia itu tidak akan mencintai melainkan apa yang ia ketahui, dan karena itulah tidak akan tergambar barang yang beku/mati mempunyai sifat kecintaan. Akan tetapi kecintaan itu adalah suatu sifat yang khusus bagi yang hidup, yang mengetahui. Kemudian hal-hal yang diketahui itu terbagi kepada :
- yang bersesuaian dengan tabi’at yang mengetahui, yang cocok, yang enak baginya.
- yang berketiadaan, yang berjauhan dan menyakitinya.
- Yang tidak membebaskan padanya dengan menyakitkan dan melezatkan.
Maka setiap yang diketahui itu sesuatu yang lezat dan menyenangkan, niscaya akan dicintai oleh yang mengetahui. Dan apa yang diketahuinya itu sesuatu yang pedih, maka akan dibenci oleh yang mengetahui. Dan yang terlepas dari akibat kepedihan dan kelezatan maka keadaannya tidak disifatkan dengan dicintai atau dibenci.
Jadi, setiap yang enak itu dicintai oleh yang menerima keenakan. Makna keadaannya itu dicintai adalah bahwa tabi’atnya cenderung kepadanya. Dan makna benci adalah bahwa tabi’atnya itu lari / menjauh dari padanya.
Maka cinta itu adalah kecenderungan tabi’at kepada sesuatu yang melezatkan. Jikalau kecenderungan itu kokoh dan kuat niscaya dinamakan ‘asyiq (hati bergantung kepadanya). Dan benci itu ibarat dari larinya tabiat dari yang memedihkan, yang memayahkan. Apabila benci telah kuat niscaya dinamakan maqtan (sangat benci).
Inilah asal usul dari kahikat makna cinta, yang harus kita kenal.
Asal-usul yang kedua adalah bahwa cinta apabila padanya itu pengikut bagi idrak dan ma’rifah niscaya tidak mustahil akan terbagi menurut pembagian yang di-idrak-kan dan panca indera. Setiap panca indera memiliki idrak bagi semacam yang di-idrak-kan. Bagi setiap sesuatu dari padanya memiliki kelezatan pada sebagian yang di-idrak-kan. Dan bagi tabi’at yang dengan sebab kelezatan yang demikian, pasti mempunyai kecenderungan padanya. Maka semua yang diketahui itu menjadi dicintai pada tabi’at yang sehat. Kelezatan mata itu pada melihat, mengetahui segala yang dilihat, yang cantik dan semua bentuk yang manis, yang bagus, yang melezatkan. Kelezatan telinga itu ada pada bunyi-bunyian yang merdu, yang tertimbang tinggi rendahnya. Kelezatan penciuman itu ada pada bebauan yang harum. Kelezatan rasa itu ada pada makanan, dan kelezatan sentuhan itu pada yang halus dan licin.
Tatkala yang diketahui dengan panca indera itu melezatkan niscaya dia akan dicintai. Artinya adalah kecenderungan kepada tabi’at yang sehat kepadanya. Sehingga رسول الله SAW bersabda :
حبب الى من دنياكم ثلاث : الطيب, والنساء, وجعل قرة عينى فى الصلاة
Menjadi kecintaan bagiku dari duniamu tiga perkara : bau-bauan, wanita, dan dijadikan cahaya mataku pada shalat.
Dinamakan bebauan itu dicintai, sebagaimana dimaklumi bahwa tidak ada bahagian untuk mata dan telinga pada bau-bauan itu, akan tetapi hanya bagi penciuman saja. Dan dinamakan wanita itu dicintai, karena tidak ada bagian pada wanita itu selain bagi penglihatan dan sentuhan, tidak bagi penciuman, rasa dan pendengaran. Dinamakan shalat itu cahaya mata dan dijadikannya yang paling dicintai, sebagaimana dimaklumi bahwa sesungguhnya panca indera itu tidak mendapatkan keberuntungan dengan shalat akan tetapi indera yang ke-enam lah yang tempat sangkaannya itu adalah hati yang tidak akan diketahui selain oleh orang yang mempunyai hati.
Kelezatan panca indera yang lima itu bersekutuan padanya antara binatang dengan manusia (keduanya sama-sama memiliki). Maka jikalau cinta itu dibatasi hanya kepada apa yang diketahui oleh panca indera – sehingga dikatakan bahwa الله SWT itu tidak ber-idrak dengan panca indera dan tidak bercontoh pada khayalan, maka IA tidak mencintai. Jadi, batalah kekhususan manusia dan apa yang berbedanya manusia dari panca indera yang ke enam yang diibaratkan daripadanya. Adakalanya dengan nur, akal dan hati atau dengan apa yang engkau kehendaki dari ibarat-ibarat yang lain, maka tidaklah bersempit-sempit padanya. Dan amat jauhlah yang demikian. Sesungguhnya penglihatan mata hati yang bathiniyah itu lebih tajam dari pada penglihatan lahiriyah. Hati itu lebih kuat idrak-nya daripada mata. Keindahan pengertian-pengertian yang diketahui dengan akal itu lebih besar dari keindahan bentuk-bentuk lahiriyah dari penglihatan.
Maka tidaklah mustahil adanya kelezatan hati dengan apa yang dilihatnya dari hal-hal yang mulia yang bersifat Ketuhanan, yang sukar di-idrak-kan oleh panca indra itu lebih sempurna dan lebih bersangatan. Maka adalah kecenderungan tabi’at yang sejahtera dan akal yang sehat kepadanya itu lebih kuat. Tak ada arti bagi cinta selain kecenderungan kepada apa yang diketahuinya itu lezat, sebagaimana akan datang uraiannya (insya-Allah). Jadi tidaklah dimungkiri akan kecintan kepada الله SWT selain orang yang telah duduk bersimpuh padanya keteledoran dalam derajat binatang, sehingga sekali-kali ia tidak dapat melampaui idrak panca indera.
Asal usul ketiga adalah, tidak tersembunyi lagi bahwa manusia itu mencintai diri sendiri. Da tidak tersembuntyi pula bahwa manusia itu terkadang mencintai orang lain, karena dirinya sendiri. Adakah tergambar manusia itu mencintai orang lain karena diri orang lain itu bukan karena dirinya sendiri ?
Ini termasuk beberapa hal yang terkadang sulit atas orang-orang yang lemah sehingga mereka itu menyangka bahwa tidak tergambar dimana manusia itu mencintai orang lain karena diri orang lain itu selama keuntungan dari orang lain itu tidak kembali kepada yang mencintai selain mengetahui idrinya.
Yang benar, bahwa yang demikian itu bisa tergambar dan ada. Maka marilah kita terangkan sebab-sebab cinta dan bahagian-bahagiannya.
Penjelasannya bahwa kecintaan yang pertama pada setiap yang hidup itu adalah dirinya sendiri (cinta kepada diri sendiri). Makna cintanya kepada dirinya adalah bahwa pada tabi’atnya itu cenderung kepada kekekalan keberadaannya, lari dari ketiadaan dan kebinasaannya. Karena yang dicintai dari tabi’at itu adalah yang bersesuaian dengan yang mencintai. Manakah yang lebih sempurna kesesuaian dari dirinya dan kekekalan terus adanya ? Manakah sesuatu yang lebis besar berlawanan dan kelarian darinya dari tidak adanya dan kebinasaannya ?
Karena itulah manusia mencintai kekekalan dan tidak menyukai mati terbunuh. Tidak semata-mata karena apa yang ia takuti sesudah mati dan tidak pula seamta-mata takut dari sakaratul maut, akan tetapi jikalau ia disambar tanpa ada kesakitan dan dimatikan tanpa pahala dan siksa niscaya ia tidak ridha / mau dengan yang demikian. Ia tidak menyukai mati dan ketiadaan semata, selain karena kepedihan dan penderitaan dalam hidup.
Manakala ia terkena oleh suatu cobaan, maka yang dicintainya adalah hilangnya cobaan itu. Maka jikalau ia mencintai ketiadaannya niscaya ia tidak mencintainya karena itu suatu ketiadaan dirinya, akan tetapi dikarenakan hilangnya cobaan (kepedihan) pada dirinya.
Maka kebinasaan dan ketiadaan itu dibencikan. Dan kekekalan (terus menerus ada) itu dicintakan. Sebagaimana kekekalan itu dicintakan (disuka), maka kesempurnaan ada itu juga dicintakan, karena sesuatu yang kurang itu meniadakan kesempurnaan. Dan kekurangan itu tidak ada, dikaitakn kepada kadar yang hilang (yang tiada diperoleh). Dan itu kebinasaan dengan dibandingkan kepadanya.
Binasa dan tidak ada itu dibencikan pada sifat-sifat dan kesempurnaan ada (wujud), sebagaimana dia itu dibencikan pada pokok zatnya sendiri. Sedangkan adanya sifat-sifat kesempurnaan itu dicintakan sebagaimana kekekalan pokok adanya itu dicintakan.
Ini adalah gharizah / instink pada tabi’at-tabi’at dengan hukum sunatuLlah :
ولن تجد لسنة الله تبديل
Dan tiada engkau dapati sunnah الله itu digantikan (Al-Ahzab 62)
Jadi yang pertama dicinta oleh manusia adalah zat dirinya., kemudian keselamatan anggota badannya, kemudian hartanya, anaknya, kaum keluarganya, dan teman-temannya.
Anggota-anggota badan itu dicintai keselamatannya dicari karena kesempurnaan wujud dan kekekalan wujud itu terletak padanya. Harta itu dicintai karena dia itu juga alat pada kekekalan wujud dan kesempurnaannya. Demikian juga sebab-sebab yang lain. Manusia mencintai semua ini bukan karena bendanya, akan tetapi karena keterkaitan keberuntungannya pada kekekalan wujudnya dan kesempurnaannya dengan hal-hal tersebut. Sehingga manusia itu mencintai anaknya walaupun ia tiada memperoleh keuntungan daripadanya. Bahkan ia mau menanggung kesukaran lantaran anak itu karena anak itu akan menggantikannya pada adanya dirinya sesudah ia tiada. Maka pada kekekalan keturunannya itu menjadi semacam kekekalan baginya. Oleh karena itu karena bersangatan kecintaan manusia akan kekekalan dirinya sehingga ia mencintai kekekalan orang yang berdiri pada tempat kediriannya (yang menggantikannya). Dan seakan-akan orang itu menjadi bagian dari dirinya karena ia menyadari kelemahan bahwa mengharap pada kekekalan dirinya untuk selama-lamanya.
Benar jikalau disuruh memilih antara ia dibunuh atau anaknya, apabila tabi’atnya benar niscaya ia memilih kekekalan dirinya di atas kekekalan anaknya karena kekekalan anaknya itu menyerupai kekekalannya dari satu segi, dan tidaklah kekekalan anaknya itu sebagai kekekalannya yang sebenarnya.
Seperti ini juga kecintaan kepada kaum kerabat dan familinya itu kembali kepada kecintaannya bagi kesempurnaan dirinya sendiri. Ia melihat dirinya akan banyak dengan mereka dan menjadi kuat dengan sebab mereka, bertambah elok dengan kesempurnaan mereka. Bahwa famili, harta benda dan sebab-sebab yang di luar dirinya adalah seperti sayap yang menyempurnakan bagi manusia. Oleh karena itu kesempurnaan wujud dan kekelannya sudah pasti dicintai dengan tabiat.
Jadi, kecintaan yang pertama pada setiap yang hidup adalah dirinya, kesempurnaan dirinya dan kekekalan itu semua. Sedangkan yang tidak disukainya adalah lawan dari semua itu. Inilah permulaan dari sebab-sebab itu !
Sebab kedua : adalah berbuat baik (ihsan). Bahwa manusia adalah budak dari (Al-Ihsan). Telah menjadi tabi’at manusia bahwa ia mencintai orang yang berbuat baik kepadanya dan membenci orang yang berbuat jahat kepadanya. رسول الله SAW bersabda :
اللهم لا تجعل لفاجر علي يدا فيحبه قلبي
Wahai الله Tuhanku, jangan Engkau jadikan bagi orang jahat mempunyai tangan (berpengaruh) atasku, maka ia dicintai oleh hatiku.
Sebagai isyarat bahwa kecintaan hati kepada orang yang berbuat baik adalah suatu keharusan, yang tidak sanggup menolaknya, yaitu suatu tabi’at dan fitrah manusia yang tiada jalan kepada merubahnya.
Dengan sebab ini kadang-kadang manusia mencintai orang asing yang tiada ada tali kefamilian serta hubungan antara dia dengan orang asing tersebut. Dan ini apabila telah pasti, maka kembali pada sebab yang pertama itu.
Bahwa orang yang berbuat kebaikan itu ialah orang yang meenolong dengan harta, bantuan dan sebab-sebab lain yang menyampaikan kepada kekekalan terus adanya, kesempurnaan adanya dan keberhasilan keuntungan-keuntungan yang dengan itu tesedialah wujudnya. Hanya saja perbedaannya adalah : anggota tubuh manusia itu dicintakan karena dengannya terdapat kesempurnaan wujudnya, dan itu adalah kesempurnaan itu sendiri yang dicari.
Adapun orang yang berbuat al-ihsan (berbuat baik kepadanya) maka tidaklah ia itu diri kesempurnaan yang dicari akan tetapi terkadang sebagai sebab bagi kesempurnaan. Seperti tabib/dokter yang menjadi sebab pada kekekalan sehatnya anggota-anggota badan. Maka diperbedakan diantara cinta kepada kesehatan dan cinta kepada tabib yang menjadi sebab kesehatan. Karena kesehatan itu dicari bagi diri kesehatan itu, dan tabib dicintai tidak karena dirinya akan tetapi karena dia menjadi sebab bagi kesehatan.
Seperti demikian juga ilmu yang dicintai. Guru itu dicintai. Akan tetapi ilmu itu dicintai bagi ilmu itu sendiri. Dan guru itu dicintai karena adanya guru itu menjadi sebab bagi ilmu yang dicintai. Begitu pula makanaan dan minuman itu dicintai dan uang / emas itu dicintai. Akan tetapi makanan itu dicintai bagi makanan itu sendiri dan uang dinar/emas itu dicintai karena dia menjadi perantara (wasilah) kepada makanan.
Jadi kembalilah perbedaannya kepada berlebih kurangnya tingkat. Jikalau tidak, maka setiap satu itu kembali kepada kecintaan manusia kepada dirinya. Maka setiap orang yang mencintai orang yang berbuat baik / ihsan karena ke-ihsanan-nya, maka sesungguhnya ia tidak mencintai diri orang itu pada hakekatnya, akan tetapi ia mencintai ke-ihsanan-nya yaitu suatu perbuatan dari beberapa perbuatannya. Jikalau hilang (keihsanan) itu niscaya hilang pula kecintaan itu semenrata diri orang itu masih tetap pada keadaannya yang sebenarnya. Jikalau berkurang kebaikannya, niscaya berkurang pula kecintaannya. Dan jikalau bertambah, niscaya bertambah pula kecintaan. Berlaku padanya bertambah dan berkurang menurut bertambah dan berkurangnya ihsan.
Sebab ketiga, bahwa mencintai sesuatu itu dikarenakan diri sesuatu itu sendiri, bukan karena keuntungan yang diperoleh daripadanya dibalik sesuatu itu sendiri. Akan tetapi adalah dirinya itu menjadi kenuntungan itu sendiri. Dan itulah kecintaan yang hakiki yang sampai kepada yang dimaksud yang dipercayakan dengan kekekalannya.
Yang demikian itu seperti kecintaan kepada kecantikan dan kebagusan, bahwa kecantikan itu dicintai pada orang yang mengetahui akan kecantikan. Dan itu adalah karena kecintaan itu sendiri karena mengetahui akan kecantikan maka padanya itu kelezatan tersendiri, yang dicintai karena dirinya benda itu bukan karena lainnya.
Anda jangan menyangka bahwa mencintai sesuatu yang cantik itu tidak tergambar selain karena memenuhi nafsu syahwat. Bahwa memenuhi nafsu syahwat itu suatu kelezatan yang lain yang kadang-kadang rupa yang cantik itu dicintai karena rupa yang cantik itu sendiri. Mengetahui kecantikan itu juga suatu kelezatan. Maka bolehlah bahwa kecantikan itu dicintai karena kecantikan itu sendiri.
Adalah رسول الله SAW itu tertakjubkan oleh sayuran dan air yang mengalir. Tabi’at yang sehat itu terpenuhi, dengan kelezatan memandang kepada cahaya, bunga-bungaan dan burung-burung yang indah warnanya, ukiran yang bagus, yang bersesuaian bentuknya, sehingga manusia itu menjadi lega dari kegundahan dan kesusahan dengan memandang kepdanya. Tidak karena mencari keuntungan dibalik memandang itu.
Maka inilah sebab-sebab yang melezatkan, dan setiap yang melezatkan itu disukai. Setiap kebagusan dan kecantikan maka tidaklah terelepas mengetahuinya dari kelezatan. Dan tidak seorangpun menungkiri akan keadaan kecantikan itu disukai menurut tabi’at manusia.
Kalau sudah pasti bahwa الله SWT itu elok dan indah maka sudah pasti bahwa Dia itu dicintai oleh orang yang tersingkap baginya keelokan dan keagungan-Nya sebagaimana رسول الله SAW bersabda :
ان الله جميل يحب الجمال
Sesungguhnya الله itu indah dan mencintai keindahan.
Pokok ke empat mengenai penjelasan makna bagus dan olek.
Ketahuilah bahwa yang terpenjara di dalam khayalan dan perasaan yang sempit terkadang disangka bahwa yang demikian itu tiada arti bagi kebagusan dan keelokan selain oleh kesesuaian kejadian dan bentuk, kebagusan warna, keadaan putih yang bercampur dengan kemerahan, tegak semampai dan lain sebagainya dari apa yang disifatkan bagi kecantikan seorang insan.
Bahwa kebagusan yang mengerasi atas makhluk adalah kebagusan penglihatan, dan kebanyakan penolehan mereka kepada bentuk orang-orang. Lalu disangka bahwa apa yang tidak dilihat, tidak dikhayalkan, tidak berbentuk dan tidak berwarna itu adalah suatu yang dikira-kirakan (diumpamakan), sehingga tidak tergambarlah kebagusannya. Dan manakala tiada tergambar kebagusannya, niscaya tidaklah tergambar pada idrak-nya itu kelezatan lalu tidaklah ia dicintai.
Ini adalah kesalahan yang nyata. Bahwa kebagusan itu tidaklah terbatas pada yang di-idrak-kan oleh penglihatan dan oleh keserasian kejadian dan kecampuran putih dengan kemerahan. Bahwa kita mengatakan Ini tulisan bagus, ini suara bagus, ini kuda yang bagus. Bahkan kita mengatakan ini kain yang bagus, ini bejana tempat air yang bagus. Maka dimanakah makna kebagusan suara, tulisan dan lain sebagainya, jikalau tidaklah kebagusan itu hanya terbatas pada rupa ?
Sebagaimana diketahui bahwa mata itu merasa lezat dengan memandang pada tulisan yang bagus. Dan telinga merasa enak dengan mendengar bunyi-bunyian yang bagus lagi merdu. Tiada sesuatupun dari hal-hal yang di-idrak-kan (diketahui) melainkan itu terbagi menjadi : bagus dan buruk.
Maka apakah arti bagus yang bersekutu padanya hal-hal tersebut, maka tidak-boleh tidak untuk dibahas. Adapun pembahasan tersebut akan panjang dan tidak layak dengan ilmu muamalah itu berpanjang-panjang padanya. Oleh karena itu kami tegaskan dengan sebenarnya dan kami katakan bahwa segala sesuatu, mengenai indah dan bagusnya itu terletak pada adanya kesempurnaan yang layak yang memungkinkan baginya. Apabila semua kesempurnaannya yang bersifat mungkin itu dapat terwujud, maka adalah ia itu berada pada puncak keelokan. Dan kalau yang terwujud itu sebagian, maka kebagusan dan keelokannya itu menurut kadar yang terwujud saja.
Kuda yang bagus adalah kuda yang terkumpul padanya apa saja yang layak bagi kuda, dari keadaan dan bentuk, warna, kebagusan berlari, mudah menyerbu dan berlarian padanya. Tulisan yang baus adalah tulisan yang terkumpul padanya apa yang layak bagi tulisan dari kesesuaian bentuk huruf, seimbang dan lurus susunannya, dan bagus keteraturannya. Dan bagi setiap sesuatu memiliki kesempurnaan yang layak dengan dia. Maka insan belum tentu bagus dengan apa yang bagus bagi kuda. Tidaklah bagus tulisan dengan apa yang bagus bagi suara. Tidaklah bagus bejana-bejana dengan apa yang bagus pada kain. Begitu juga dengan barang-barang yang lain.
Jikalau anda mengatakan bahwa barang-barang tersebut walaupun tidak di-idrakkan semuanya dengan kebagusan melihat seperti suara dan rasa makanan maka sesungguhnya ia tidak terlepas dari idrak-nya panca indera kepadanya. Dan itu dirasa dengan panca indera. Dan tidaklah dimungkinkan kebagusan dan keelokan bagi yang dirasakan dengan panca indera. Dan tidak dimungkiri hasilnya kelezatan dengan idrak kebagusannya, hanya dimungkiri yang demiikian pada yang tidak di-idrak-kan dengan panca indera.
Ketahulah bahwa kebagusan dan keelokan itu terdapat pula pada apa yang tidak dirasa dengan panca indera. Karenanya dikatakan : ini tingkah laku yang baugs, ini perjalanan hidup yang bagus, ini akhlak yang bagus. Bahwa akhlak yang bagus itu dikehendaki oleh ilmu, akal, penjagaan diri (al-iffah), berani, taqwa, kemurahan hati, kepribadian, dan sifat-sifat kebajikan yang lain. Sesuatu dari sifat-sifat ini tidak dapat di-idrak-kan (dirasa) dengan panca indera akan tetapi dapat di idrak-kan (diketahui) dengan nur penglihatan mata hati yang bathiniyah. Semua sifat-sifat yang elok ini disukai. Orang yang bersifat dengan sifat-sifat tersebut pasti dicintai secara tabi’at pada orang yang mengenal sifat-sifatnya.
Keadaannya memang seperti yang demikian, bahwa tabi’at-tabi’at itu dijadikan untuk mencintai nabi-nabi AS, untuk mencintai para sahabat RA, sedang mereka itu tidak pernah disaksikan. Bahkan mencintai orang-orang yang mempunyai (pendiri-pendiri) mazhab seperti as-Syafi’i, Hanafi, Malik dan lain sebgainya, sehingga kecintaan seseorang kepada pendiri mazhabnya melampaui batas cinta. Lalu yang demikian membuatnya mau membelanjakan hartanya untuk menolong mazhabnya dan mempertahankan mazhabnya. Dan ia mau menghadang bahaya dengan nyawanya untuk memerangi orang yang mencaci maki imamnya dan orang yang ditakutinya. Berapa banyak darah ditumpahkan untuk menolong orang-orang pendiri mazhab-mazhab. Semoga kiranya aku ketahui orang yang mencintai As-Syafi’i misalnya, maka mengapa ia (As-syafi’i) dicintainya padahal sekali-kali ia tidak pernah menyaksikan bentuknya. Dan jikalau disaksikannya mungkin ia tidak akan memandang kebagusan rupanya. Maka pandangan yang bagus yang membawanya kepada cinta yang bersangatan adalah karena bentuknya yang bathiniyah bukan karena bentuknya yang zahiriyah. Bahwasanya bentuknya yang zahiriyah itu telah bertukar menjadi tanah bersama tanah. Sesungguhnya ia mencintainya karena sifat-sifatnya yang bathiniyah dari agama, taqwa, banyak ilmu, meliputi pengetahuan agama, bangunnya untuk memfaedahkan ilmu syari’at dan pada menyiarkan kebajikan-kebajikan dalam alam duniawi.
Inilah hal-hal yang elok yang tidak diketahui keelokannya selain dengan nur penglihatan mata hati. Adapun panca indera maka terbatas/singkat pandangan dari padanya.
Demikian juga orang yang mencintai Abu Bakar As-Shidiq RA, dan melebihkannya atas orang lain. Atau mencintai Ali RA dan ber-ta’assub (fanatik) kepadanya. Maka ia tidak mencintai mereka semua melainkan karena memandang bagusnya bentuk bathiniyah mereka dari ilmu agama, taqwa, berani, kemurahan hati dan lain-lain.
Maka sebagai dimaklumi bahwa orang yang mencintai Abi Bakar As-Shidiq RA, tidaklah ia mencintai tulangnya, dagingnya, kulitnya, sendi-sendi dan bentuknya karena semua itu telah hilnag, berganti dan menjadi tiada. Akan tetapi tinggalah apa yang menjadikan Abu Bakar itu Shidiq karenanya yaitu sifat-sifat yang terpuji yang menjadi sumber perjalanan hidup yang elok. maka kecintaan itu kekal dengan kekekalan sifat-sifat itu serta hilangnya semua bentuk. Sifat-sifat itu kembali semuanya kepada ilmu dan kesanggupan, apabila ia telah mengetahui segala urusan dan sanggup membawa dirinya kepadanya dengan memaksakan nafsu syahwatnya. Maka semua sifat kebajikan itu bercabang dari dua sifat tadi. Keduanya tidak dapat dijangkau dengan panca indera, dan tempat keduanya dari jumlah badannya itu menjadi bagian yang tidak terpisahkan. Dan itu dicintai dengan sebenarnya. Dan tidaklah bagian yang tidak terpisahkan itu suatu rupa bentuk dan warna yang tampak bagi penglihatan sehingga karenanya ia dicntai.
Jadi, keelokan itu terjadi pada perjalanan hidup walaupun perjalanan hidup itu muncul tanpa ilmu dan penglihatan mata hati yang tidak mengharuskan yang demikian akan cinta. Maka yang dicintai itu adalah sumber perjalanan hidup yang elok yaitu budi pekerti yang terpuji dan sifat-sifat keutamaan yang mulia kesemuanya kembali pada kesempurnaan ilmu dan kemampuan. Dan itu dicintai dengan tabi’at manusia dan tidak diketahui dengan panca indera. Sehingga anak kecil yang disembunyikan, serta tabi’atnya apabila kita menghendaki mencintainya dalam keadaan tidak hadir, niscaya tiada jalan bagi kita selain dengan berpanjang lebar menerangkan sifatnya dengan keberanian, kemurahan hati, dan perkara-perkara terpuji lainnya.
Manakala orang beri’tikad yang demikian niscaya ia tidak dapat menahan dirinya dan tidak sanggup untuk tidak mencintainya. Maka adakah kuatnya kecintaan kepada para sahabat RA, kemarahan kepada abu jahal dan kemarahan kepada iblis yang telah kena kutukan الله, selain disebabkan dengan berpanjang lebar pada mensifatkan kebaikan dan kekejian yang semua itu tidak dapat dijangkau oleh panca indera ?. bahkan ketika manusia mensifatkan Hatim dengan kemurahan hati dan mereka mensifatkan Khalid dengan keberanian, niscaya mereka itu dicintai oleh semua hati dengan kecintaan yang demikian mudah. Tidaklah yang demikian itu dengan melihat bentuk yang dirasakan dengan panca indera dan tidak dari keuntungan yang akan diperoleh yang mencintai. Bahkan apabila diceritakan perjalanan hidup dari sebagian raja-raja di sebagian dunia di atas bumi akan keadilan, keikhlasan dan melimpahnya kebajikan, niscaya akanlah kuat kecintaan di hati serta putus asa daripada berhamburan ke-ihsanan-nya kepada orang-orang yang mencintai itu, karena jaraknya tempat yang dikunjungi dan jauhnya rumah-rumah yang ditempati.
Jadi tidaklah cinta manusia itu terbatas kepada orang yang telah berbuat baik kepadanya saja, akan tetapi orang yang berbuat baik itu dicintai pada dirinya walaupun tidak sampai sekali-kali kebaikannya kepada yang mencintai. Karena setiap kebagusan dan keelokan itu adalah dicintai orang. Bentuk itu zahiriyah dan bathiniyah. Bagus dan elok itu melengkapi keduanya. Bentuk zahiriyah dapat diperoleh dengan penglihatan lahir dan bentuk bathiniyah dapat diperoleh dengan penglihatan mata hati yang bathiniyah. Barang siapa yang tiada memiliki penglihatan mata hati bathiniyah niscaya ia tiada memperoleh bentuk bathiniyah. Ia tidak merasa lezat, tiada mencintai dan tiada cenderung kepada bentuk bathiniyah tersebut. Siapa yang memiliki penglihatan mata hati bathiniyah yang lebih kuat, dari panca indera zahiriyah, niscaya adalah cintanya kepada makna-makna bathiniyah itu lebih banyak dari cintanya kepada makna-makna zahiriyah. Maka jauhlah perbedaannya, antara orang yang menyukai ukiran yang tergambar pada dinding tembok karena keelokan bentuknya yang zahiriyah dan orang yang mencintai salah seorang nabi karena keelokan bentuknya yang bathiniyah.
Sebab kelima : kesesuaian yang tersembunyi antara orang yang cinta dan yang dicinta karena banyaklah terjadi diantara dua orang yang teguh kasih sayang diantara keduanya tidak disebabkan keelokan atau keuntungan akan teapi semata-mata disesuaikan kesesuaian jiwa, sebagaimana sabda Nabi SAW, :
فما تعارف منهائتلف وما تناكر منهاأختلف
Maka yang berkenal-kenalan dari jwa itu niscaya berjinakan, sedang yag bertentangan daripadanya niscaya timbul perselisihan.
Kami jelaskan (insya الله) yang demikian itu pada kitab Adab Persahabatan, ketika menyabutkan kecintaan kepada الله. Maka carilah pada kitab tersebut karena dia itu termasuk dari keajaiban sebab-sebab cinta. Jadi bagian cinta itu kembali kepada lima sebab yaitu :
· Cinta insan akan wujudnya sendiri, kesempurnaan dan kekekalannya.
· Cinta insan kepada orang yang berbuat baik kepadanya mengenai apa yang kembali kepada kekekalan wujudnya, yang menolong pada kekekalannya dan yang menolak dari kebinasaan dirinya.
· Cinta insan kepada orang yang berbuat baik pada dirinya kepada manusia walaupun orang itu tidak berbuat baik kepadanya.
· Cinta insan kepada apa saja yang cantik pada benda itu sama saja dalam bentuk zahiriyah maupun bathiniyah.
· Cinta insan kepada orng yang diantara dia dengan orang itu ada kesesuaian yang tersembunyi pada bathiniyah.
Jikalau terkumpul sebab-sebab ini pada orang seorang niscaya sudah pasti berlipat ganda-lah cintanya, sebagaimana jikalau ada bagi insan seorang anak yang cantik rupanya, bagus budi pekerti, sempurna ilmu, teratur, berbuat baik kepada makhluk dan berbuat baik kepada ibu bapa niscaya anak itu akan dicintai dengan sungguh-sungguh. Dan adalah kuatnya cinta sudah terhimpun hal – hal tersebut, menurut kuatnya sifat-sifat itu pada dirinya. Jikalau ada sifat-sifat itu pada derajat kesempurnaan yang paling ujung, niscaya sudah pasti cinta itu pada derajat ayng paling tinggi. Maka marilah kita terangkan sekarang bahwa sebab-sebab semua itu tiada tergambar kesempurnaan dan terkumpul selain kepada الله SWT. Maka tiada yang mustahak/berhak dengan kecintaan pada hakikatnya selain kepada الله SWT....
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INSYA الله DILANJUT DENGAN PENJELASAN BAHWA YANG BERHAK BAGI KECINTAAN ITU ADALAH الله TUHAN YANG MAHA ESA.
Kembali ke www.manakib.wordpress.com
Sumber kitab Ihya Ulumuddin karya Imam Al-Ghazali
Leila MouradLeila Mourad
Leila Mourad (Arabic: ليلى مراد; February 17, 1918- November 21, 1995) was an Egyptian singer. She is also credited as "Laila Mourad" and "Layla Mourad".
Life
She was born in Al Daher, Cairo in February 1917 to a Jewish Egyptian father, Ibrahim Zaki Mordachi, a famous religious cantor (Hazzan), singer and musician in the twenties, and to a Jewish Polish mother, Gamilah "Salmon" who gave birth to Mourad, Ibrahim, Malak, Mounir and Samihah. Her brother Mounir Mourad was an Egyptian actor and composer.
Jewish composer Dawoud Housni, who composed the first Operetta in the Arabic language, helped her start her career by composing two songs: "hairana Leh Bein El Eloub" (Why can't you choose from among lovers), and "Hoa el dala'a ya'ani khessam" (Does daliance mean avoiding me?). Further success came when the prominent Egyptian composer Mohammed Abdel Wahab heard her singing and gave her a role in his film Yahia el Hob (Viva Love!) in 1938. With the rise of antisemitism in the late 1930s and the 1940s, she converted to Islam in the hope of protecting her career in show business. Several of her family members were dismayed and her conversion did not help her for too long.
In 1953, she was selected, over Umm Khulthum, as the official singer of the Egyptian revolution. Umm Khulthum, herself a respected and popular singer, was said to have been furious. Shortly thereafter, a rumor that she visited Israel and donated money there, placed her as a suspect of spying and made some Arab radio stations boycott her. She denied these allegations and she was called for judicial investigations. All along, she was defensive against the antisemitic innuendos, insisting that she is a Muslim.
No proof had been found in Egypt that she contributed money to Israel. Her visit to the Jewish state, where several members of her family fled and settled, was however neither confirmed nor categorically denied by the authorities who investigated. Nevertheless, the Egyptian public, who never took the actress's conversion to Islam seriously and considered her Jewish all along, continued to love her. The religious commitment of actresses, singers, and dancers are not taken seriously by Egyptians.
Laila Murad died in a hospital in Cairo in 1995.
Family and Marriages
Laila's relationship to her family was complicated. Since the accusations against her, she tried to distance herself from other Jews, including her family. In the years following the Six Day War, Egyptian Jewish men between the ages of seventeen and sixty were rounded up, incarcerated and tortured in the notorious detention camps of Abu Za'abal and Tura. Laila's brother, Ishak Zaki, was among these internees. Though after a year of incarceration family visits were allowed, Laila never visited her brother. Nearly all of the incarcerated Jews had their citizenship or residency rights denied before being deported out of the country, taken from the camp to the airport. Laila Murad did not see her brother off at the airport.
Laila Mourad married Anwar Wagdi (1945-1953). They were married and divorced three times. Rumors spread that Wagdi divorced her because he sensed that her conversion to Islam was an act of convenience, and that her loyalty remained to Judaism, and by extension, Israel. However, Wagdi, who married Laila before her conversion, himself denied that religion was a cause of their divorces. She was later to marry, and divorce, Wagih Abaza of the Abaza Family. Later she married the producer Fateen Abdul Wahab and she gave birth to her son Zaki Fattin Abdul Wahab, and finally divorced in 1969.
Her famous songs include:
- "Yama Arak el nasim"
- "Ya msafer we nassi hawak"
- "Albi dalleli"
- "leeh khaletni ahebak"
- "Elmaya we el hawa"
- "Ya aaz mn Ainy"
- "Sanaten wana ahayel feek"
- "Etmakhtary".
- "El Hob Gameel".
- "Monaya fi Korbak"
- "Abgad Hawaz".
- "Einy Betref", a duet with the Egyptian actor "Naguib AlRaihani".
Her movies include:
- Sayedat al-Qitar (Lady on the Train), 1953.
- Ward el gharam (Flowers of Love), 1952.
- Ghazal Al Banat (Flirtation of Girls), 1949.
- El Hawa wa el chabab (Love and Youth), 1948.
- Darbet el kadar (The Blow of Fate), 1947.
- Qalbi dalili (My Heart is my guide), 1947.
- Khatem Suleiman (Solomon's Ring), 1947.
- Leila bint el agnia (Leila, Daughter of the Rich), 1947.
- Leila bint el fukara (Leila, Daughter of the Poor), 1946.
- El Madi el maghoul (The Forgotten Past), 1946.
- Shadia al wadi (The Singer in the Valley), 1946.
- Leila fil zalam (Leila in the Shadows), 1944.
- Leila, bint al-madaress (Leila, the Schoolgirl), 1942.
- Laila, ghadet el camelia (Leila, Lady of the Camelias), 1942.
- Shuhaddaa el gharam (Romeo and Juliet), 1942.
- Leila, bint el rif (Leila, the Girl from the Country), 1941.
- Laila momtera (Stormy Night), 1940.
- Yahya el hub (Long Live Love), 1938.
Sabbatai Zevi
Sabbatai Zevi, (Hebrew: שַׁבְּתַי צְבִי, Shabbetay Ẓevi) (other spellings include Sabetay in Turkish, Shabbethai, Sabbetai, Shabbsai; Zvi; Sabbetai Tzvi; he was also known by the acronym ש״ץ Shatz) (August 1, 1626 – possibly September 17, 1676, in Dulcigno (present day Ulcinj), Montenegro) was a rabbi[1] and Kabbalist who claimed to be the long-awaited Jewish Messiah. He was the founder of the Jewish Sabbatean movement and inspired the founding of a number of other similar sects, such as the Donmeh in Turkey.
Sabbatai Zevi was born in Smyrna on (supposedly) a 9th Av 1626 (a Sabbath), and died, according to some, on Yom Kippur, September 30, 1676, in Dulcigno, a small town in the coastal region of Montenegro, now called Ulcinj. Zevi's family were Romaniotes from Patras; his father, Mordecai, was a poor poultry-dealer in the Morea. Later, when in consequence of the war between Turkey and Venice under the Sultan Ibrahim I, Smyrna became the centre of Levantine trade, Mordecai became the Smyrnan agent of an English house. As a consequence, he acquired considerable wealth.
Sabbatai Zevi's early years
In accordance with the prevailing Jewish custom, Sabbatai's father had him study the Talmud. In his early youth he attended a yeshiva under the erudite rabbi of Smyrna, Joseph Escapa. Studies in halakha (Jewish law) did not appeal to him but apparently he did attain proficiency in the Talmud. On the other hand, he was fascinated by mysticism and the Kabbalah, in the prevailing style of Rabbi Isaac Luria. He found the practical Kabbalah, with its asceticism, and its mortification of the body – through which its devotees claimed to be able to communicate with God and the angels, to predict the future and to perform all sorts of miracles – especially appealing.
In his youth he was inclined to solitude. According to custom he married early, but he avoided intercourse with his wife; she therefore applied for a divorce, which he willingly granted. The same thing happened with a second wife.[citation needed] When he was about twenty years of age, he began to develop unusual behaviors. He would alternately sink into deep depression and isolation, and become filled with frenzied restlessness and ecstasy. He felt compelled to eat nonkosher food, speak the forbidden name of God, and commit other "holy sins."[2]
Influence of English millenarianism
During the first half of the 17th century, millenarian ideas of the approach of the Messianic time, and more especially of the redemption of the Jews and their return to the land of Israel, with their own independent sovereignty, were popular. The apocalyptic year was identified by Christian authors as 1666. This belief was so dominant that Manasseh ben Israel, in his letter to Oliver Cromwell and the Rump Parliament, did not hesitate to use it as a motive for his plea for the readmission of the Jews into England, remarking "the opinions of many Christians and mine do concur herein, that we both believe that the restoring time of our Nation into their native country is very near at hand".
Sabbatai's father, who as the agent of an English house was in constant touch with English people, must frequently have heard of these expectations and, being strongly inclined to believe them, must have communicated them to his son, whom he almost deified because of his piety and kabbalistic wisdom.
Claims of messiahship
Apart from this general Messianic theory, there was another computation, based on an interpreted passage in the Zohar (a famous Jewish mystical text), and particularly popular among the Jews, according to which the year 1648 was to be the year of Israel's redemption by their long-awaited Jewish Messiah.
Though only twenty-two years old Sabbatai chose (in the year 1648) to reveal himself at Smyrna to a group of followers as the true Messianic redeemer, designated by God to overthrow the governments of the nations and to restore the kingdom of Israel. His mode of revealing his mission was the pronouncing of the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew, an act which Judaism emphatically prohibited, except the Jewish high priest in the Temple in Jerusalem on the Day of Atonement. This was of great significance to those acquainted with rabbinical, and especially Kabbalistic, literature. However, Sabbatai's authority at the age of twenty-two did not reach far enough for him to gain many adherents.
Among the first of those to whom he revealed his Messiahship were Isaac Silveyra and Moses Pinheiro, the latter a brother-in-law of the Italian rabbi and kabbalist Joseph Ergas. Sabbatai remained at Smyrna for several years, leading the pious life of a mystic, and giving rise to much argument in the community, the details of which are not known. The college of rabbis, having at its head his teacher, Joseph Escapa, watched Sabbatai closely, and when his Messianic pretensions became too bold they put him and his followers under a ban of cherem, a type of excommunication in classical Judaism.
About the year 1651 (according to others, 1654) Sabbatai and his disciples were banished from Smyrna. It is not quite certain where he went from there. In 1653, or at the latest 1658, he was in Constantinople, where he met a preacher, Abraham ha-Yakini (a disciple of Joseph di Trani), who confirmed Sabbatai. Ha-Yakini is said[who?] to have forged a manuscript in archaic characters and in a style imitating the ancient apocalypses, and which, he alleged, bore testimony to Sabbatai's Messiahship. It was entitled The Great Wisdom of Solomon, and began:
"I, Abraham, was confined in a cave for forty years, and I wondered greatly that the time of miracles did not arrive. Then was heard a voice proclaiming, 'A son will be born in the Hebrew year 5386 [English calendar year 1626] to Mordecai Zevi; and he will be called Shabbethai. He will humble the great dragon; ... he, the true Messiah, will sit upon My throne."
In Salonica
With this document, which he appears to have accepted as an actual revelation, Sabbatai determined to choose Salonica, at that time a center of Kabbalists, as the field for his further operations. Here he boldly proclaimed himself the Messiah, gaining many adherents. In order to impress his Messiahship upon the minds of his enthusiastic friends he put on all sorts of mystical events — e.g., the celebration of his marriage as the “Son of God” (the Ein Sof) with the Torah, preparing a solemn festival to which he invited his friends. The consequence was that the rabbis of Salonica banished him from the city. The sources differ widely as to the route he took after this expulsion, Alexandria, Athens, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Smyrna and other places being mentioned as temporary centers. Finally, however, after long wanderings, he settled in Cairo, where he resided for about two years (1660–1662).
At that time there lived in Cairo a very wealthy and influential Jew named Raphael Joseph Halabi ("of Aleppo"), who held the high position of mint-master and tax-farmer under the Ottoman government. Despite his riches and the external splendor which he displayed before the public, he continued to lead privately an ascetic life, fasting, bathing, and frequently scourging his body at night. He used his great wealth benevolently, supplying the needs of poor Talmudists and Kabbalists, fifty of whom regularly dined at his table. Sabbatai at once made the acquaintance of Raphael Joseph, who became one of the most zealous promulgators of his Messianic claims.
He left the Egyptian capital and traveled to Jerusalem. Arriving there in about 1663, he at first remained inactive, so as not to offend the community. He resumed his former practice of mortifying the body by frequent fasting and other penances. Many saw this as proof of his extraordinary piety. Having a very melodious voice, he sang psalms for the whole night, or at times even coarse Spanish love-songs, to which he gave mystical interpretations, thus attracting crowds of admiring listeners. At other times he would pray at the graves of pious men and women and, some of his followers reported, shed floods of tears. He distributed all sorts of sweetmeats to the children on the streets. Thus he gradually gathered around him a circle of adherents who placed their faith in him.At this point an unexpected incident took him back to Cairo. The community of Jerusalem needed money in order to avert a calamity which Turkish officials planned against it. Sabbatai, known as the favorite of the rich Raphael Joseph Halabi, was chosen as the envoy of the distressed community, and he willingly undertook the task, as it gave him an opportunity to act as the deliverer of the Holy City. As soon as he appeared before Halabi he obtained from him the necessary sum, which gave him great prestige. His worshipers dated his public career from this second journey to Cairo
Marriage to Sarah
Another circumstance assisted Sabbatai in the course of his second stay at Cairo. During the Chmielnicki massacres in Poland, a Jewish orphan girl named Sarah, about six years old, had been found by Christians and sent to a convent. After ten years' confinement she escaped (reportedly through a miracle), and was taken to Amsterdam. Some years later she went to Livorno where, according to authentic reports, she led a life of prostitution. She also conceived the notion that she was to become the bride of the Messiah who was soon to appear. The report of this girl reached Cairo, and Sabbatai claimed that such a consort had been promised to him in a dream because he, like the Messiah of the Christians, was bound to fall in love with an unchaste woman...(Cecilia Ruiz de Ríos, Nicaraguan historian). Messengers were sent to Livorno, and Sarah was brought to Cairo, where she was married to Sabbatai at Halabi's house. Through her a romantic, licentious element entered Sabbatai's career. Her beauty and eccentricity gained for him many new followers, and even her past lewd life was looked upon as an additional confirmation of his Messiahship, the prophet Hosea having been commanded to take a "wife of whoredom" as the first symbolic act of his calling.
Nathan of Gaza
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Main article: Nathan of Gaza
Having Halabi's money, a charming wife, and many additional followers, Sabbatai triumphantly returned to Palestine. Passing through the city of Gaza, he met a man who was to become very active in his subsequent Messianic career. This was Nathan Benjamin Levi, known under the name of Nathan of Gaza (נתן עזתי Nathan 'Azzati). He became Sabbatai's right-hand man and professed to be the risen Elijah, the precursor of the Messiah. In 1665, Nathan announced that the Messianic age was to begin in the following year. Sabbatai spread this announcement widely, together with many additional details to the effect that the world would be conquered by him, the Elijah, without bloodshed; that the Messiah would then lead back the Ten Lost Tribes to the Holy Land, "riding on a lion with a seven-headed dragon in its jaws". These claims were widely circulated and believed.
The rabbis of Jerusalem regarded the movement with great suspicion, and threatened its followers with excommunication. Sabbatai, realizing that Jerusalem was not a congenial place in which to carry out his plans, left for his native city, Smyrna, while his prophet, Nathan, proclaimed that henceforth Gaza, and not Jerusalem, would be the sacred city. On his way from Jerusalem to Smyrna, Sabbatai was enthusiastically greeted in the large Asiatic community of Aleppo, and at Smyrna, which he reached in the autumn of 1665, the greatest homage was paid to him. Finally, after some hesitation, he publicly declared himself as the expected Messiah (Jewish New Year, 1665); the declaration was made in the synagogue, with the blowing of horns, and the multitude greeted him with: "Long live our King, our Messiah!"
[edit] Proclaimed messiah
"Shabbatai Tzvi enthroned", from Tikkun, Amsterdam, 1666. The joy of his followers knew no bounds. Sabbatai, assisted by his wife, now became the sole ruler of the community. In this capacity he used his power to crush all opposition. For instance, he deposed the old rabbi of Smyrna, Aaron Lapapa, and appointed in his place Hayyim Benveniste. His popularity grew with incredible rapidity, as not only Jews but Christians also spread his story far and wide. His fame extended to all countries. Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands had centers where the Messianic movement was ardently promulgated, and the Jews of Hamburg and Amsterdam received confirmation of the extraordinary events in Smyrna from trustworthy Christians. A distinguished German savant, Heinrich Oldenburg, wrote to Baruch Spinoza (Spinozae Epistolae No 33): "All the world here is talking of a rumour of the return of the Israelites ... to their own country. ... Should the news be confirmed, it may bring about a revolution in all things."
Sabbatai numbered many prominent rabbis as followers, including Isaac Aboab da Fonseca, Moses Raphael de Aguilar, Moses Galante, Moses Zacuto, and the above-mentioned Hayyim Benveniste. Even the semi-Spinozist Dionysius Mussafia Musaphia likewise became one of Sabbatai's zealous adherents. Fantastic reports were widely spread and believed, as for example: "in the north of Scotland a ship had appeared with silken sails and ropes, manned by sailors who spoke Hebrew. The flag bore the inscription 'The Twelve Tribes of Israel'." The community of Avignon, France, prepared to emigrate to the new kingdom in the spring of 1666.
The readiness of the Jews of the time to believe the messianic claims of Sabbatai Zevi may be largely explained by the desperate state of European Jewry in the mid-1600s. The bloody pogroms of Bohdan Khmelnytsky had wiped out one third of the Jewish population and destroyed many centers of Jewish learning and communal life (Cohen 1948). There is no doubt that for most of the Jews of Europe there could never have seemed a more propitious moment for the messiah to deliver salvation than the moment at which Sabbetai Zevi made his appearance.
[edit] Spread of his influence
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The adherents of Sabbatai, probably with his consent, even planned to abolish to a great extent the ritualistic observances because, according to a minority opinion in the Talmud, in the Messianic time most of them were to lose their obligatory character. The first step toward the disintegration of traditional Judaism was the changing of the fast of the Tenth of Tevet to a day of feasting and rejoicing. Samuel Primo, a man who entered Sabbatai's service as secretary at the time when the latter left Jerusalem for Smyrna, directed in the name of the Messiah the following circular to the whole of Israel:
"The first-begotten Son of God, Shabbethai Tebi, Messiah and Redeemer of the people of Israel, to all the sons of Israel, Peace! Since ye have been deemed worthy to behold the great day and the fulfilment of God's word by the Prophets, your lament and sorrow must be changed into joy, and your fasting into merriment; for ye shall weep no more. Rejoice with song and melody, and change the day formerly spent in sadness and sorrow into a day of jubilee, because I have appeared."
This message produced wild excitement and dissension in the communities, as many of the leaders, who had hitherto regarded the movement sympathetically, were shocked at these radical innovations. Solomon Algazi, a prominent Talmudist of Smyrna, and other members of the rabbinate, who opposed the abolition of the fast, narrowly escaped with their lives.
[edit] In Istanbul
At the beginning of the year 1666, Sabbatai again left Smyrna for Istanbul (the Ottoman Empire's capital, which was still known in the Christian West at the time as Constantinople), either because he was compelled to do so by the city authorities or because of a hope that a miracle would happen in the Turkish capital to fulfill the prophecy of Nathan Ghazzati that Sabbatai would place the sultan's crown on his own head. As soon as he reached the landing-place, however, he was arrested at the command of the grand vizier, Ahmed Köprülü, and cast into prison in chains.
Sabbatai's imprisonment had no discouraging effect either on him or on his followers. On the contrary, the lenient treatment which he secured by means of bribes served rather to strengthen them in their Messianic delusions. In the meantime, all sorts of fabulous reports concerning the miraculous deeds which "the Messiah" was performing in the Turkish capital were spread by Ghazzati and Primo among the Jews of Smyrna and in many other communities, and the expectations of the Jews were raised to a still higher pitch.
[edit] At Abydos (Migdal Oz)
After two months' imprisonment in Constantinople, Sabbatai was brought to the state prison in the castle of Abydos. Here he was treated very leniently, some of his friends even being allowed to accompany him. In consequence the Sabbataians called that fortress Migdal Oz ("Tower [of] Strength"). As the day on which he was brought to Abydos was the day preceding Passover, he slew a paschal lamb for himself and his followers and ate it with its fat, which was a violation of the Law. It is said that he pronounced over it the benediction: "Blessed be God who hath restored again that which was forbidden."
The immense sums sent to him by his rich adherents, the charms of the queenly Sarah and the reverential admiration shown him even by the Turkish officials and the inhabitants of the place enabled Sabbatai to display royal splendor in the castle of Abydos, accounts of which were exaggerated and spread among Jews in Europe, Asia, and Africa. In some parts of Europe Jews began to unroof their houses and prepare for a new "exodus". In almost every synagogue, Sabbatai's initials were posted, and prayers for him were inserted in the following form: "Bless our Lord and King, the holy and righteous Sabbatai Zevi, the Messiah of the God of Jacob." In Hamburg the council introduced this custom of praying for Sabbatai not only on Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath), but also on Monday and Thursday, and unbelievers were compelled to remain in the synagogue and join in the prayer with a loud Amen. Sabbatai's picture was printed together with that of King David in most of the prayer-books, as well as his kabbalistic formulas and penances.
These and similar innovations caused great dissension in various communities. In Moravia the excitement reached such a pitch that the government had to interfere, while at Sale, Morocco, the emir ordered a persecution of the Jews. It was during this period that Sabbatai transformed the fasts of the Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av (his birthday) into feast-days, and it is said that he contemplated even the abolition of the Day of Atonement.
[edit] Nehemiah ha-Kohen
Shabbatai Tzvi as a prisoner in Abydos. At this time an incident occurred which led to the discrediting of Sabbatai's Messiahship. Two prominent Polish Talmudists from Lwów, Galicia, who were among Sabbatai's visitors in Abydos, apprised him of the fact that in their native country a prophet, Nehemiah ha-Kohen, had announced the coming of the Messiah. Sabbatai ordered the prophet to appear before him. (See Jew. Encyc. ix. 212a, s.v. Nehemiah ha-Kohen). Nehemiah obeyed, reaching Abydos, after a journey of three months, at the beginning of September, 1666. The conference between the two ended in mutual dissatisfaction, and some fanatical Sabbataians are said to have contemplated the secret murder of the dangerous rival.
[edit] Sabbatai adopts Islam
Nehemiah, however, escaped to Constantinople, where he pretended to embrace Islam to get an audience with the kaymakam and betrayed the treasonable desires of Sabbatai to him. He in turn informed the sultan, Mehmed IV. At the command of Mehmed, Sabbatai was now taken from Abydos to Adrianople, where the sultan's physician, a former Jew, advised him to convert to Islam. Sabbatai realized the danger of the situation and adopted the physician's advice. On the following day (September 16, 1666), being brought before the sultan, he cast off his Jewish garb and put a Turkish turban on his head, and thus his conversion to Islam was accomplished. The sultan was much pleased, and rewarded Sabbatai by conferring on him the title (Mahmed) Effendi, and appointing him as his doorkeeper with a high salary. Sarah and a number of Sabbatai's followers also went over to Islam. To complete his acceptance of Islam, Sabbatai was ordered to take an additional wife. Some days after his conversion he wrote to Smyrna: "God has made me an Ishmaelite; He commanded, and it was done. The ninth day of my regeneration."
[edit] Disillusion
Sabbatai's conversion was devastating for his followers. In addition to the misery and disappointment from within, Muslims and Christians jeered at and scorned the credulous Jews. In spite of Sabbatai's apostasy, many of his adherents still tenaciously clung to him, claiming that his conversion was a part of the Messianic scheme. This belief was further upheld and strengthened by false prophets like Ghazzati and Primo, who were interested in maintaining the movement. In many communities the Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av were still observed as feast-days in spite of bans and excommunications.
Former followers of Shabbatai do penance for their support of him. At times Sabbatai would assume the role of a pious Muslim and revile Judaism, at others he would enter into relations with Jews as one of their own faith. In March 1668 he again announced that he had been filled with the "Holy Spirit" at Passover, and had received a "revelation." He, or one of his followers, published a mystical work addressed to the Jews in which it was claimed that Sabbatai was the true Messiah, in spite of his conversion, his object being to bring over thousands of Muslims to Judaism. To the sultan, however, he said that his activity among the Jews was to bring them over to Islam. He therefore received permission to associate with his former co-religionists, and even to preach in their synagogues. He thus succeeded in bringing over a number of Muslims to his kabbalistic views, and in converting many Jews to Islam, thus forming a Judaeo–Turkish sect whose followers implicitly believed in him.
Gradually the Turks tired of Sabbatai's schemes. He was deprived of his salary, and banished from Adrianople to Constantinople. In a village near the latter city he was one day discovered singing psalms in a tent with Jews, whereupon the grand vizier ordered his banishment to Dulcigno (today called Ulcinj), a small place in Montenegro, where he died in solitude.
[edit] Modern followers
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Main articles: Sabbateans and Donmeh
Although rather little is known about them, various groups called Donmeh (Turkish for "apostate") continue to follow Sabbatai Zevi today, mostly in Turkey. Estimates of the numbers vary. Many sources claim that there are less than 100,000 and many of them claim there are hundreds of thousands of sabbatais in Turkey. According to one source:
"Although outwardly Muslims and, to a lesser extent, Christians, the DonmehReb Berechia after Sabbatai's death, such as The Darkening of the Light." secretly continue to observe Jewish rituals (such as circumcision, but at the age of three rather than eight days), pray in Hebrew as well as Aramaic and Ladino, and have clandestine festivals and fast days that are Jewish survivals. Karakash-Honiosos group also practise unique Sabbatian rites, probably instituted by
Isik University (a private university in Istanbul, Turkey) and the Feyziye Schools Foundation (Feyziye Mektepleri Vakfi - FMV) under whose umbrella the University is operating, are claimed to be founded by the Karakash group of Donmeh.
A group called Donmeh West, founded in California in 1973 by Yakov Leib HaKohain, is a Neo-Sabbatian virtual community at www.donmeh-west.com. Its teachings and practices are based on Yakov Leib's reinterpretation of Sabbatian teachings -- as well as those of Islam, Hinduism, Gnosticism and C.G. Jung -- to form a syncretistic Kabbalistic system in the antinomian tradition of Sabbatai Zevi.
Donmeh West and its leader, Yakov Leib HaKohain, have close ties with the hereditary donme of Turkey, many of whom look upon him as spearheading a spiritual revival in Sabbatianism of which they consider themselves to be a part, both in Turkey and the West. Hundreds of these "Sabbatians-by-Birth" have joined "Sabbatians-by-Choice" in the group for Neo-Sabbatian Ma'aminim created and led by Yakov Leib on Facebook.
The Israeli newspaper, Ma'ariv, recently published an interview with Yakov Leib explaining the Neo-Sabbatian revival they present him as heading.[3] Ma'ariv is also translating and publishing Yakov Leib's Neo-Sabbatian writings as a series of feature articles in their spirituality section. The first of these, "Redemption through Sin," has already been published.[4]
Hujjat al-Islam
Abu Hamid al-Ghazali
(1058-1111)
The Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife,
from The Revival of the Religious Sciences
(Ihya `ulum al-din)
as-Salaamu `alaykum,
Al-Ghazali : The Remembrance of Death and the Afterlife
(Kitab dhikr al-mawt wa-ma ba'dahu) ISBN: 0 946621 13 6 (Islamic Texts Society)
Book XL of The Revival of the Religious Sciences (Ihya `ulum al-din) translated with an introduction and notes by T. J. Winter
[Introduction by the modern fan of al-Ghazali who put it on the net]
The following is a section from the above book, the book is an remarkable piece of work on eschatology by probably the greatest scholar of Islam, Imam Hujjat al-Islam (The Proof of Islam) Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058-1111). The Imam was a theologian, logician, jurist and mystic, was born and died at the town of Tus in Central Asia, but spent much of his life lecturing in Baghdad or leading the life of a wandering dervish. His most celebrated work, of which this is the culminating section, exercised a profound influence on Muslim intellectual history by exploring the mystical significance of the practices and beliefs of Islamic orthodoxy, and earned him the title of "Hujjat al-Islam", the "Proof of Islam".
Many people consider the Imam to be the fulfillment of the hadith found in Bukhari:
6.420: Narrated Abu Huraira:
While we were sitting with the Prophet Surat Al-Jumu'a was revealed to him, and when the Verse, "And He (Allah) has sent him (Muhammad) also to other (Muslims).....' (62.3) was recited by the Prophet, I said, "Who are they, O Allah's Apostle?" The Prophet did not reply till I repeated my question thrice. At that time, Salman Al-Farisi was with us. So Allah's Apostle put his hand on Salman, saying, "If Faith were at (the place of) Ath-Thuraiya (Pleiades, the highest star), even then some men or man from these people (i.e. Salman's folk) would attain it."
Anyone who is acquainted with the work of the Imam would unhesitatingly agree with this statement, as Imam Ghazali deals primarily with issues of faith (Aqid`ah) as well as other Islamic issues and is of Persian descent. Imam Nawawi has said that "if all the books of Islam were lost, the Ihya would suffice them all", such is the depth and detail of this remarkable work.
The translation is a masterful one by T. J. Winter (`Abdal-Hakim Murad), who is a historian and a teacher of Arabic. Currently the book is out of print but will be made available again soon, insha'Allah, I consider this a must for every Muslim and I am currently making a second reading of this gem. Those who have read it relate that the book brings about much awareness of the brevity and fragility of life in this world and contemplation of the life in the next. Although the book deals with a subject that brings about much fear, it is not a morbid or pessimistic discourse and so it leaves the reader full of hope instead of fear, such is the style of Imam al-Ghazali (RahimuAllah).
May Allah (SWT) enable other sections from Ihya 'ulum al-Din available in English as we are in much need of classical, orthodox and quality literature.
Wa'as-Salaam
Mas`ud
An exposition of the grave's discourse to the dead, and of their utterances, either on the tongue of common speech, or that of the Spiritual State (lisan al-hal) (from Chapter Seven)
Now, the tongue of the Spiritual State (lisan al-hal) is even more eloquent in communicating with the dead than that of the speech when communicating with the living. The Emissary of God (May God bless him and grant him peace) said, 'When the dead man is laid in his grave it speaks to him, saying, "Woe betide you, O son of Adam! What distracted you from contemplating me? Did you not know that I am the house of trial, the house of darkness, the house of solitude and the house of worms? What distracted you from me? You used to pass me by, strutting on!" Now if he had worked well, then someone will reply to the grave on his behalf, saying, "Do you not see that it was his practice to enjoin the good and forbid the evil?" And the grave replies, "Then for him shall I turn to verdure [a condition of freshness or healthy growth.], and his body shall become radiance, and his spirit shall soar up to God (Exalted is He!)".' (According to the narrator, 'strutting' [faddad] is to take large strides.) [Ref: al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi, 161; Abu Nu`aym, VI. 90; Abu Ya'la, al-Musnad (Haytami, Majma', III. 45-46)]
Said `Ubaid bin `Umayr al-Laythi 'Not a single man dies without being called by the pit in which he is buried, which declares, "I am the house of gloom, and of loneliness and solitude! If you were obedient to God during your lifetime then today I shall be a source of mercy for you, but if you were rebellious then I am an act of vengeance against you. The obedient who enter me shall come forth joyful, while the rebellious who enter me shall emerge in ruin".' Said Muhammad ibn Sabih 'I have heard that if a man is laid in his tomb to be tormented or afflicted by something which is odious to him, his dead neighbours call out to him, saying, "O you who leave your bretheren and neighbours behind you in the world! Was there never a lesson for you in us? Was there no clue for you in our preceding you? Did you not see how our actions were severed from us while you still had some respite? Why did you not achieve that which passed your bretheren by?" Then the regions of the earth call out to him, saying, "O you who were beguiled by the outer aspect of the world! Did you not take heed from your relatives who had vanished into the earth's interior? Those who were beguiled by the world before you and then met their fate, and entered into their graves? You watched them being borne aloft [To the cemetery], availed nothing by those they loved, and taken to the abode which they could not escape."'
Said Yazid al-Ruqashi 'I have heard it said that when the deceased is set in his tomb his works amass around him and are given to speak by God, so that they say, "O bondsman, alone in his pit! Your family and friends are now separated from you, so that today we are your sole companions".'
Said Ka'b [al-Ahbar], 'When the righteous bondsman is laid in his tomb he is surrounded by his righteous acts, such as his prayer, his fasting, his pilgrimage, his engagement in the Holy War, and the charity he used to distribute. Then the Angels of Chastisement approach him from the direction of his feet, but are told by Prayer, "Get back from him, you have no authority over him, for upon those [feet] he stood in me at length for the sake of God". Then they approach him from the direction of his head, but Fasting says, "You have no authority over him, for in the world's abode he thirsted at length for the sake of God". Next they draw near to him from the direction of his trunk, but Pilgrimage and Holy War say, "Get back from him for he exhausted himself and wearied his body when he accomplished the Pilgrimage and the Holy War for the sake of God; no authority do you have over him". Then they approach him from the direction of his hands, but Charity says, "Back! Retreat from my master, for how many an act of charity issued from those two hands to fall in to the hand of God (Exalted is He!), while he acted only for His sake; no authority, do you have over him". Then he shall be told, "Rejoice! Good you have been in life and in death!" Next, the Angels of Mercy come, and spread a heavenly cloth and resting-place out for him, and his grave is widened around him for as far as the eye can see. A candle is brought from Heaven, and from it he has light until God resurrects him from his grave.'
Said `Abd Allah ibn `Ubayd ibn `Umayr at a funeral, 'I have heard it said that the Emissary of God (may God bless him and grant him peace) once declared, "The dead man sits up and hears the footsteps of those that are present at his funeral, but none addresses him save his tomb, which says, 'Woe betide you, O son of Adam! Did you not fear me and my narrowness, and my corruption, terror and worms? What have you prepared for me?"
[Ibn al-Mubarak, (riwaya Nu`aym ibn Hammad), 41; Ibn Abi'l-Dunya, K. al-Qubur (Zabidi, x.397; Suyuti, Sharh, 114).
