Towards Perfection...

“My Lord it is enough for me in honour to be Your servant

And it is enough for me in pride to have You as my Lord. You are as I love, so make me as You love.” 

-Imam Ali (as)

Irfan, literally knowledge, is the name given to the path a person follows to attain knowledge of Allah (swt), the path of the Ahlul Bayt (as), a necessary discipline pure from heresy. It is the esoteric knowledge of God, the deep recognition of Allah (swt).

The ‘arif (knower), the name derived from the word Irfan, or mystic, is the person inside every one of us who chooses to set out on the path to their Lord, on the sayr wa suluk(wayfaring) overcoming the stages of barriers that increase the separation and distance between ourselves and our Lord. The destination is the ultimate stage of tawhid (monotheism) where worship is solely to Allah (swt) and all love to earthly things becomes a love through the love of Allah (swt).

Irfan is essential to the relationship between God and the individual. The beauty of the faith brought to us by the Prophet (pbuh) and his purified progeny (as) is that it is accompanied by a wealth of duas(invocations) that grab the spirit and make it blossom to Allah (swt).

It was not a faith of rule after rule but a faith brought down to a man in a cave meditating, in a state oftafakkur (contemplation) of his Lord. This arif whose heart was with Allah (swt) lived in society, preached to the people, was married and had children – he was a perfect man, the Prophet of Allah (pbuh). His true love of Allah (swt) protected him from society while he was within it.

The journey the arif travels is a journey of perfecting his deeds qurbatan ila Allah (in seeking closeness to Allah (swt)), abstaining from all that is haram (prohibited) and performing all that is wajib (compulsory).

As a result of living his life in Allah’s (swt) pleasure, the relationship of love between man and Creator flowers and because of this love man begins to worship God in supplementary actions, performing what ismustahab (recommended actions instructed by the Prophet (pbuh) and the Ahlul Bayt (as)). Through maintaining these supererogatory actions to further his proximity to his Lord man grows like a plant achieving stations of closeness.

Irfan is not a new concept, or a cult, but the essence of Islam:

“Surely we are Allah’s and to Him we shall surely return” (Quran 2:156)

Therefore it is our duty to know Allah (swt) to the limited capacity of a human being’s knowledge of Him, making our journey towards him a journey of human perfection, a journey with His pleasure and of benefit, where through worship we attain His love. As our heart attains realisation of Him we prosper and the blessings of Allah (swt) manifest themselves manifold.

The Prophet’s (pbuh) saying “Whoever knows himself has known his Lord” emphasises the importance of self-knowledge, self-awareness and self-struggle on one’s journey to his Lord.The arif on his journey begins to acknowledge his insignificance and meekness in front of the greatness of Allah (swt). He repents for his sins and is not content with his worship for it is little compared to what can be achieved and in comparison to the ultimate Perfect that the arifis travelling towards.

It was Imam Ali (as) who said: “Eyes cannot see him with a glance — it is rather the hearts that see Him through the realities of faith.” Thus we can see that Irfan cannot be separated from the Shariah (Islamic Law) for the Prophet and his progeny (as) were arifs.

They attained a realisation of Allah (swt) so strong that they became signs of His attributes on this earth, reaching a human peak where their justice and mercy was a manifestation of the justice and mercy of the Ultimate but in human terms, for nothing can be even a reflection of the Truth. Their life was all an act of worship. All that they did was for the sake of Allah (swt), all to perfect themselves in order to reach Allah (swt). This is reflected in Imam Ali’s plea to his Creator:

“My Lord it is enough for me in honour to be Your servant

And it is enough for me in pride to have You as my Lord You are as I love, so make me as You love.”

It is through self-purification and struggle that the heart attains the love of Allah (swt). As the veils of blindness caused by his sins slowly diminish the arif begins to see the realities of this world and trulywitnesses everything as a sign of Allah (swt) whence everything he sees is a glorification of Allah (swt):

The seven heavens declare His glory and the earth (too), and those who are in them; and there is not a single thing but glorifies Him with His praise, but you do not understand their glorification; surely He is Forbearing, Forgiving. (Quran 17:44)

Irfan is merely a name given to the journey one takes to perfect themselves, to become a true follower of the infallible Prophet (saw) and his Ahlul Bayt (as). It is the essence of our faith to attain knowledge and proximity to Allah (swt) through the Quran, practices of the infallibles and invocations.

The beauty of Irfan is that it acknowledges the human state as a state of fallibility and it acknowledges that one can never reach Allah (swt). The human capacity of intellect cannot even fully comprehend Allah (swt) but His beauty radiates and the path to Him is a beautiful path. Therefore, the Muslim struggles to be as perfect as possible, he prays and cries, he sins and repents, he continuously seeks and never ceases to be mesmerised by the infinite Mercy of Allah (swt):

“If he [my servant] draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a fathom’s length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him at speed.” (Hadith qudsi)

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