Contention:
The beginner feels gratitude for the rukhsa* in his mind.
The advanced seeker feels gratitude for the rukhsa in his heart.
The saint never takes the rukhsa at all.
(by Shaykh Abdal-Hakim Murad)
Definitions:
The `azima of the law is its full legal requirement.
A rukhsa is a relaxation of the law (legal dispensation) due to special circumstances. For example, invalids may pray sitting; travelers may shorten and combine certain prayers; and fasting may be postponed or omitted if one is sick, traveling, pregnant, or nursing a baby.
Illustration:
I once took a dispensation for something that is deemed permissible in some of the other legal schools, afterwards however, I found hardness in my heart, a feeling of being expelled from the door (of Divine presence), distance, darkness, and thick veils. My lower self (Nafs) said:
“What is this feeling? You have not departed from the consensus of the legal jurists.” I replied: Oh base lower self; I respond to you in two ways:
1. In this, you have only peformed a legal interpretation, and you dont actually believe (in the view of the other school). If a legal verdict was sought from you, you would not have delivered a legal verdict (to the other person) based on what you have done. It (my lower self) said: “If I didnt believe in the permisibility of what I have done, I would not have done it in the first place!” I replied; Rather, your actual conviction is what you are pleased to give to others as a legal verdict.
2. It is a must for you (oh lower self) to be delighted in the darkness that you have found after this action, for if there was no light in your heart, none of this (darkness) would have affected you. It (my lower self) said: “I feel utter alienation because of this thick darkness in the heart.” I replied; be dedicated to abandon (things) and consider them to be permissible according to consensus, while considering your abandonment of them to be pious cautiousness, and you will be safe.
(Imam ibn al-Jawzi in Sayd al-Kathir)
The advanced seeker feels gratitude for the rukhsa in his heart.
The saint never takes the rukhsa at all.
(by Shaykh Abdal-Hakim Murad)
Definitions:
The `azima of the law is its full legal requirement.
A rukhsa is a relaxation of the law (legal dispensation) due to special circumstances. For example, invalids may pray sitting; travelers may shorten and combine certain prayers; and fasting may be postponed or omitted if one is sick, traveling, pregnant, or nursing a baby.
Illustration:
I once took a dispensation for something that is deemed permissible in some of the other legal schools, afterwards however, I found hardness in my heart, a feeling of being expelled from the door (of Divine presence), distance, darkness, and thick veils. My lower self (Nafs) said:
“What is this feeling? You have not departed from the consensus of the legal jurists.” I replied: Oh base lower self; I respond to you in two ways:
1. In this, you have only peformed a legal interpretation, and you dont actually believe (in the view of the other school). If a legal verdict was sought from you, you would not have delivered a legal verdict (to the other person) based on what you have done. It (my lower self) said: “If I didnt believe in the permisibility of what I have done, I would not have done it in the first place!” I replied; Rather, your actual conviction is what you are pleased to give to others as a legal verdict.
2. It is a must for you (oh lower self) to be delighted in the darkness that you have found after this action, for if there was no light in your heart, none of this (darkness) would have affected you. It (my lower self) said: “I feel utter alienation because of this thick darkness in the heart.” I replied; be dedicated to abandon (things) and consider them to be permissible according to consensus, while considering your abandonment of them to be pious cautiousness, and you will be safe.
(Imam ibn al-Jawzi in Sayd al-Kathir)
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