The journey of the soul: the seven stations
Contents
‘He who knows his soul knows his Lord’, affirms a hadith qudsi. This can be understood in that an individual soul is but a reflection of the universal soul: the soul is something subtle, which takes the form of whatever dominates it. At the outset a simple vital principle animating the body, enslaved to its impulses, the soul can be purified until it gradually becomes an instrument of intuitive knowledge, then undergo further transformation until it melts into the spirit. The stages of this journey have been described by several scholars, most often drawing on Qur’anic terms. One such classification is that of ’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (1077-1166), who distinguishes seven different stages.
The soul inciting to evil
The soul is first called ‘inciting to evil’ when it is subject to its passions and desires alone. It inclines naturally towards this lower world, because for it nothing else exists: man takes what he desires and pushes away what displeases him. He seeks to satisfy his desires and to wield his power. All this finds expression in the most natural way in the world, and this form of the self exists in each of us. Of course it is easier to see in others than in oneself; but what we see in others is only an image of ourselves. This ‘self’ is quite unaware that it seeks only to gratify its desires and obtain power. It even has the feeling that its will to power is fully justified: it sometimes goes so far as to explain it in terms of benefits and solicitude towards others. The Qur’an describes this state thus: ‘Have you seen the one who takes his passions for his god?’ (XLV, 23). The characteristics of this despotic soul are avarice, greed, desire, pride, the pursuit of fame, jealousy and heedlessness.
The admonishing or repentant soul
One could say that the next stage corresponds to the appearance of morality, the necessary basis of all life in society. It is the development of the capacity to choose the general interest, or the good of others, rather than the satisfaction of one’s personal desires. The first step consists in becoming aware of how our ego works, and turning our gaze back on ourselves. Above all, it is a matter of self-awareness, of observing oneself without indulgence, even in this situation, and of seeing ourselves as we are. The notions of good and evil then appear, sometimes running counter to the desires of the carnal soul: one becomes capable of having criteria other than the mere gratification of one’s own impulses, of saying to oneself ‘this I want, but I will not do it, because it might harm someone else’. The soul then tries to conform to these values, as best it can, and it is called the admonishing, repentant or tormented soul. It strives to tame its own passions; its characteristics are self-blame, cares, contraction, self-esteem and reactions of opposition. This is not moral conformism but an effort of discernment.
The birth of faith: the inspired soul
When the purification continues, by the grace of a spiritual work that amounts to simplifying our being ever further, the heart gradually awakens. The soul is no longer merely reasoning, trying to find its way by mental reflection alone: it is now receptive to intuitive knowledge, and it is qualified as inspired. That is, we no longer act solely according to moral good and evil, but according to what we feel in our own hearts. Our actions no longer depend on a purely outward discrimination but on a path that takes shape from within. We begin to sense what is right and what is not; we learn to follow what our own heart tells us; and faced with it, there is no longer any possibility of pretext, justification or legitimisation.
When a man came to the Prophet, the latter said to him: ‘Have you come to ask me about righteousness?’ The man having answered in the affirmative, he went on: ‘Consult your heart, for good is what brings your soul and your heart tranquillity and serenity. Sin, by contrast, troubles you inwardly and stirs unease in your heart, even if scholars bring you every legal justification possible.’ It is that small voice from the depths of our heart, among our many inner voices, that we must learn to recognise and to hear.
From this stage onwards, one may legitimately speak of a journey anchored in faith. We speak also of the knowledge of certainty, for the heart then understands things with certainty. The attributes of this inspired soul are detachment, contentment, knowledge, humility, repentance, patience and endurance of hardship and harm.
The eye of the heart: the pacified soul
If the heart now has the capacity to understand certain things intuitively, the soul nonetheless remains at times troubled and agitated by the various influences to which it is subject. The next stage will therefore be the opening of what is called the eye of the heart, capable of seeing these things directly. When Abraham asks God to show him how He restores the dead to life, He asks him: ‘Do you not believe?’ And Abraham answers: ‘Yes, I believe, but so that my heart may be set at rest’ (Qur’an II, 260). This is no longer a question of faith, of iman, but of ihsan, of excellence. We pass to another level: it is no longer the knowledge of certainty but the very eye of certainty. When the eye of the heart opens, we then speak of the pacified soul, for the heart is set at rest by this direct vision. No doubt is any longer possible, and its tendency is towards union. Its characteristics are the gift, confident surrender to God, wisdoms, gratitude towards God and satisfaction with the divine will (and not with oneself, of course).
The satisfied or pleasing soul
Once pacified, the soul, by purifying and simplifying itself still further, can renounce its own passions, its own interests, and begin no longer simply to accept but truly to desire what befalls it. The soul is then said to become satisfied (with God), or pleasing. It no longer travels ‘with’ God but truly ‘in’ God, for it can at last live remaining constantly open upon His Reality. Its tendency is then contentment; its qualities are asceticism, sincerity, piety, renunciation of everything that does not concern it, and loyalty.
Towards perfection: the soul approved by God
Drawing still nearer to God, the soul ends by communing with the Spirit and being extinguished in God. Like a wave rejoining the ocean, it then abandons all autonomous will distinct from the divine will. It is named the soul approved by God. At this level there is no longer any doubt, but no longer any question either: things are, quite simply, and this gives rise to no questioning. That does not, however, abolish perplexity, perhaps because this very extinction does not permit the understanding of ultimate ends. After knowledge and vision, the soul here attains the truth of certainty and the plenitude of excellence of conduct (ihsan). Its attributes are excellence of character, the abandoning of all that is other than God, delicacy towards creatures, the search for greater proximity to God, meditation on the divine magnificence and contentment with what God has granted it.
The perfect soul
Finally, at the highest level, the soul is defined as perfect. After extinction in God comes subsistence through God. Man then travels only through Him, and has become capable at once of recognising unity through multiplicity and of discerning multiplicity within unity. His qualities are all those cited for the other stations. And God knows best!
The journey in the hadith qudsi
A famous hadith qudsi affirms: ‘My servant does not draw near to Me by anything more pleasing in My eyes than the performance of what I have prescribed for him. And My servant does not cease to draw near to Me by works of supererogation until I love him. And when I love him, I become the hearing by which he hears, the sight by which he sees, the hand by which he grasps and the foot with which he walks. And if he makes a request of Me, I grant it, and if he invokes My protection, I accord it to him.’
Here we find both the notion of man’s, or the soul’s, journey towards God, and that destiny of return to our origins, to our Creator. The journey is clearly set out as the putting into practice of works, first obligatory then supererogatory. Then comes an encounter which depends on divine grace alone: man is first given the power to hear, then to see, then to take, and then to go further still. His whole being is transformed by this encounter: his soul, of course, since this encounter implies not only a direct vision, referring to the station of the pacified soul, but also the human will overlaid by the divine will, which corresponds to the stage of the approved soul. It is also said that the whole body comes to be inhabited by God: it is not set aside from the journey, not surpassed, but transformed. His human qualities are overlaid by divine qualities; his very senses are in a sense ‘spiritualised’ by this encounter. The love spoken of here is beyond all duality and can only blossom in union, in the reunion one might say, of the creature and its Creator. At this degree, in the unity regained, body, soul and spirit partake of the same reality and can no longer really be distinguished. And this remains possible in this very life.
Maryam and Hussein Dassa, text taken from the book “Corps, âme, esprit, par une musulmane et un musulman” (éd. Mercure dauphinois).
