The Third Flash

EXPLORING THE ETERNAL REALITIES

THE THIRD FLASH

In this Flash, emotion and spiritual delight have, to some extent, become intermingled. Since the unrestrained state that arises from emotion and spiritual delight pays little regard to the principles of reason and the measures of thought, this Flash should not be weighed on the scale of logic.

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحٖيمِIn the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate

كُلُّ شَىْءٍ هَالِكٌ اِلاَّ وَجْهَهُ لَهُ الْحُكْمُ وَاِلَيْهِ تُرْجَعُونَEverything is perishable except Him. To Him belongs the judgment, and to Him you will be returned.” — The Qur’an 28:88

The two phrases:

يَا بَاقِى أَنْتَ الْبَاقِىO Everlasting One, You are the Everlasting. - يَا بَاقِى أَنْتَ الْبَاقِىO Everlasting One, You are the Everlasting.

express the meaning of the above-mentioned verse and describe two important truths. For this reason, certain leaders of the Naqshbandī TarīqahA major Sufi order named after Bahā al-Dīn Naqshband, emphasizing remembrance of Allah (dhikr), spiritual discipline, and adherence to the Sunnah. have adopted these two phrases as a special dhikrThe remembrance of Allah through the repeated recitation of a word or short phrase as an act of worship. and regarded them as a concise dhikrThe remembrance of Allah through the repeated recitation of a word or short phrase as an act of worship. of the Naqshbandī PathA Sufi spiritual path emphasizing the remembrance of Allah (dhikr), adherence to the Sunnah, and spiritual discipline.. Since these two phrases express the meaning of this mighty verse, we shall set forth several points concerning the two important truths they convey.

The First Point

The first utterance of:

يَا بَاقِى أَنْتَ الْبَاقِىO Everlasting One, You are the Everlasting.

may be regarded as a surgical operation that separates and removes everything other than Allah from the heart. This process unfolds as follows:

Because of his all-embracing nature, the human being is connected with almost the whole of existence. Within that comprehensive nature there has also been placed a boundless capacity for love. For this reason, man feels love for all existence. Just as he loves the vast world as though it were his home, he also loves the eternal Paradise as though it were his garden.

Yet everything he loves is not lasting; it passes away, and he constantly experiences the pain of separation. His boundless love becomes the cause of boundless spiritual torment. In reality, it is none other than he himself who causes himself to suffer this torment. For the boundless capacity for love in his heart was given so that it might be directed toward the One Who is the Eternal Possessor of boundless beauty. Man misuses that love by spending it on transient creatures, and thus falls into a mistake. As a consequence of that mistake, he suffers the punishment of separation.

Indeed, the first utterance of:

يَا بَاقِى أَنْتَ الْبَاقِىO Everlasting One, You are the Everlasting.

declares that love must be restricted to the Mahbūb-i BāqīAllah, the true Beloved whose existence is everlasting. and carries the following meaning: “Only You are the True Beloved. Everything other than You is transient. And what is transient can never be worthy of eternal devotion, endless love, or attachment from a heart created for eternity.”