Abraham the Friend of Allah

In Allah’s Boundless Love and Compassion

The magnificent heart of beloved Abraham, may he be showered in peace, has touched my heart this morning. I opened the Koran in salat and came to his cry of love. As we read words from the Koran and other books of revelation we must realize that these are actually movements of the heart and spirit, not simply words. The word we read is like a trace, a sign, an ayat, of a spiritual event in creation. In this response of Abraham to his people he is revealing his station as ‘the friend of Allah,’ the ‘Khalilullah.’ He is revealing his longing for Allah as a lover of the Beloved and his gratitude for receiving the bounty of love and supernal care lavished on him by the Beloved. On a guide for humanity he is revealing the love and care bestowed by the Beloved upon each one of us.

Behold, he said to this father and his people’ “What are you worshipping?
They answered, “We worship idols, and we remain devoted to them.”
He answered, “Do they then hear you when you call on them? Are they able to benefit you or to bring harm to you in any way?”
They responded, “No, but we found our forefathers doing this.”
He asked them to consider deeply, “Do you then see what you have been worshipping, you and your fathers before you? Indeed they are all enemies to me, except for the Lord and Lover of all the worlds - the One Who gave me existence and the One Who guides me, the One Who gives me food and drink and Who heals me when I am ill, Who will cause me to taste death and who will then bestow upon me eternal life, and Who I pray will forgive me my faults on the Day of Truth.”

This nearness and this vision is the fire that is in Mevlana, may his secret be sanctified. Can we also see and feel this nearness, this constant presence and giving of the Beloved?
Let us contemplate our own coming into being from nothing thru the love of the Absolute Beloved. This is a wonderful meditation. Let us imagine our pre-eternal state of potential in darkness, the state of absolute contraction, before receiving ‘being’. And then let us imagine the power of love of the Beloved maternally sweeping over us and commanding us to ‘be’, and showering us in light and bestowing upon us life and guidance. Our guidance was given in pre-eternity. Allah inscribed guidance in our spirit and then breathed into us our soul and clothed us with Allah’s Own attributes. And we became hearing and seeing and knowing. We became compassionate and caring. We became full of love. We became intelligent. We became aware. Thus we are made in the Beloved’s image.

Following further in the way of Abraham, when we take food can we see the Beloved feeding us?
When we are ill can we feel the Beloved healing us?
Can we trust that the Beloved will take us over the threshold of death into the life of eternal union and delight?

Let us continue contemplating the nearness of the Beloved, nearer than our own life vein, nearer than near.
What we imagine we are doing for ourselves is actually given to us and done for us by the Beloved!

This is pure Mevlana!

In the eternal heart of Hu Fariha