33
Yā-Halim
O Clement1 as defined in the Mureeds’ Manual of the Sufi Ruhaniat International is also described as The Clement2, the Mild2 Gentle2, Forbearant2, and Patient2 by Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. Bawa adds as a further explanation that God endows the qualities and action of each creation with patience and forbearance.
In an attempt to provide a meditation tool on the meaning of Halim, we will visit what has been written on that subject. We will see that God is Clement to the sinner and forgives his faults, that Halim is one attribute characterizing His Will. Ar-Râzî7 said that halīm and šabūr are qualities that mean that God is in no hurry to punish. In our spiritual journey, we started as the word Tassawuf (mysticism) indicated with tawwab which can be interpreted as the action of turning from a focus towards the limited self, the nafs to a focus towards the higher self and the presence of God. Of course as we strive to enter the realization of that space of consciousness, all kind of thoughts will come and the nafs will rebel, sabur or patience with oneself is most necessary on the path as we persist with our daily practices moving from makam (level of consciousness) to makam. Now we will see the importance of halim in connection with sabur and tawwab.
We will go through an overview of how halim has been understood and translated, often as forbearing in English or “indulgent” in French, some translator even using the word “mansuétude”.
In the Koran we find the following translation of Halim:
(Koran 2:225). God is forgiveness and patience: Laa yu-'aakhizu-kumul-laahu bil-laghwi fiii 'ay-maanikum wa laakiny-yu-'aakhizukum-bimaa kasabat quluubukum; wallaahu Ghafuurun Haliim: Allah will not Call you to account for thoughtlessness in your oaths, But for the intention in your hearts; And He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Forbearing4.
“…et sachez aussi qu’Allah est Pardonneur et
Plein de mansuétude.” (Koran 2 :235)”: and know that Allah
knows what is in your minds, therefore beware of Him, and know that Allah is
Forgiving, Forbearing.
A
kind word and the veiling of another's want is better than a charitable deed
followed by hurt; and God is self-sufficient, forbearing. (Al-Baqarah 2:263,
tr. Asad) :
Kind speech and forgiveness is better than charity followed by injury;
and Allah is Self-sufficient, Forbearing.
”… Et Allah est Omniscient et Indulgent. ”
(Koran 4 :12) : this is an ordinance from Allah: and Allah is
Knowing, Forbearing.
”Certes c’est Lui qui est Indulgent et
Pardonneur. ” (Koran 17 :44) : surely He is
Forbearing, Forgiving.
”… et Allah est certes Omniscient et Indulgent. ”
(Koran 22 :59) : and most surely Allah is Knowing, Forbearing.
”Et, n’étaient la grace d’Allah sur vous et
Sa miséricorde… ! Allah est Grand Acceuillant au repentir et Sage !”
(Koran 24 :10) : And were it not for Allah's grace upon you
and His mercy-- and that Allah is Oft-returning (to mercy), Wise!
”Et Allah est
Omniscient et Indulgent” (Koran 33 :51) : and Allah knows what is
in your hearts; and Allah is Knowing, Forbearing.
”Il est Indulgent et
Pardonneur” (Koran 35 :41) : surely He is the Forbearing, the
Forgiving.
Clemency come from the Latin Clemens, one meaning is to be inclined to be merciful, lenient like a clement judge.
Mercy from the Old French merci and from Medieval Latin merces means compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject under one’s power. It also means according to the dictionary a blessing that is an act of divine favor or compassion and also compassionate treatment of those in distress. The synonyms are charity, clemency, grace and leniency that mean a disposition to show kindness or compassion. Mercy implies compassion that forbears punishing even when justice demands it “threw himself on the mercy of the court”, charity stresses benevolence and goodwill shown in broad understanding and tolerance of others “show a little charity for the less fortunate”, clemency implies a mild or merciful disposition in one having the power or duty of punishing “the judge refused to show clemency”, grace implies a benign attitude and a willingness to grant favors or make concessions “by the grace of God”, leniency implies lack of severity in punishing “criticized the courts for excessive leniency”.
Forbearance is a refraining from the enforcement of something (as a debt, right, or obligation) that is due. The act of forbearing is an act of patience and the quality of being forbearing is leniency.
For
Ar-Râzî6 Al-Halîm means the forbearant,
the very clement. This is the one that does not hurry to avenge himself (lâ ya’jalu bi al-intiqâm). However Razi said that the one that does not hurry to
avenge himself, but does it later on is called vindictive (huqûd). If he decided never to avenge himself, he shows leniency
and indulgence (‘afw) and forgiveness
(ghufrân). But Razi asks, where is
the forbearance (hilm) and what is
its meaning. It is possible to say that the one who is forbearing (halîm) is the one who decided not to
avenge himself but only if he does not show it, if not this would be indulgence
or leniency. From this point of view this shows the difference between
indulgence and forbearance. Knowing that Allah forbearance towards the sinner
is great. “And if Allah had destroyed men for their iniquity, He would
not leave on the earth a single creature, …(Koran
16:61). Knowing that forbearance is in man one of the most noble quality, Razi
cites Abraham who said “My Lord: Grant me wisdom, and join me with the
good (Koran 26:83) Allah granted him the following “So
We gave him the good news of a boy, possessing forbearance.” (Koran 37:101). According to Razi, this is the proof that
this quality is great.
Ar-Râzî7 said
that halīm et šabūr are qualities that mean
that God is in no hurry to punish. Ar-Râzî7 said that regarding the punishment that
could be feared, sabur represents a
lesser guaranty for man that halim
(Law 352, 14-15). For Gazali7, sabur
has a larger sense that halim. This means similarly taking His time, but for sabur this is not only about punishment,
just acting without hurry, that He does everything when the time is right.
Halîm (Page 62)7 is to be found in
all traditional lists. Regarding the
attributes derived of the action of God, ‘Abd al-Gabbar distinguished four
kinds, a second kind of sifat al-af’al brings together the qualities of God
that He deserves because He does not carry on a certain action, first the one
that exempt Him of all bad actions like subbuh,
quddus, tahir, then the one that He deserves because he does not inflict a
punishment when he renounces it all together like gafir, gafur, satir, sattar, ‘afuww or because He delays the
application and in this case He is called halim.
Halimi7
says that God is called halīm, šabūr, ‘afuww, ġafir,
ġaffār, ġafūr, tawwāb because He is indulgent to the sinner and that He forgives
his faults.
For Abū Ishāq al-Isfarā’ini7 (page 106), all
the divines names could be classified in seven attributes: Life, Power,
Science, Will, Speech, Hearing, Seeing. Among those meaning the Will he
included: rahmān, rahīm,
ġaffār, wadūd, ‘afuww, ra’ūf, sabūr, halīm,
karīm, barr. It is interesting that Ibn ‘Arabi used himself this
distribution in the table that he created.
Baġdādī7 said that murīd,
šā’ī, rahmān, rahīm, wadūd, halīm, šabūr are
the qualities of God that denotes of His Will.
Eleven time halīm7 qualifies God in the Koran (six times in
association with ġafūr and
three times with ‘alīm). The
same qualification is applied to humans such as Abraham (9:114 and 11:75) and
his son (37:101). The exegesis most found implied by halim is the fact that God is not in a hurry to punish, that He
delays his punishment or that He gives time to those that He must strike.
This attitude by God proceed of
what could be called in Him a characteristic of His personality, His hilm, that Tusi, translated by anat, this is exactly the fact of taking
His time or absence of precipitation. We could also say of keeping His cool.
God is halim because the disobedience
of the disobedient does not perturb Him and that it does not make Him angry
towards them. Bagdadi said that there is not in Him any fit of anger (hidda), any hurry (‘agala) or any heedlessness. And this is why He is not pushed to
chastise the one that He must chastise before time. This exegesis of the divine
hilm that Tusi take for himself,
leaves Razi questioning. Razi says that the one that is not in a hurry to
chastise, or has the firm intention to chastise at the appropriate time, in
this case we should call him haqud
(for the hateful that arbors a secret hatred and wait for the time to avenge
himself) or that if He does not have a firm intent to chastise and in this case
we should call Him ‘afuww and ġafūr.
What is then halim? May be says Razi, God must be called like this when He does
not have the intent to chastise but that He does not show it, if He shows it,
then He should be ‘afuww (Razi, Law
249, 13-18).
It is a fact that according to the
usual exegesis, halim7
does not mean necessarily leniency or mercy. We could simply understand that
God wait for His time, like the proverb says in French “revenge is a meal eaten
cold”. But we should understand that by not punishing right away the sins, God
give man time to repent or convert. Certain authors put in their exegesis of halim the notion of forgiveness, such as
Aš’arī for whom the divine hilm
means not punish the sinner and not hurry the punishment of the wrongdoers.
(Mug 53, 22-23), for Zaggagi, God is halim
first because He forgives man many of their bad actions, for Hattabi halim means indulgence and compromise,
Abu Ishaq al-Isfara’ini says that halim
means that God has the will to annul the punishment deserved by sin.
Some theologians wonder if hilm must be understood as the fact of
delaying punishment (in this case this is an attribute of the act of God) or as
the will to delay (in this case this is an eternal attribute). For Abū
Ishāq al-Isfarā’ini, the following qualities represent the Divine Will:
rahmān, rahīm,
ġaffār, wadūd, ‘afuww, ra’ūf, sabūr, halīm,
karīm, barr.
For those who wants to see an
attribute of the act of God, there is a difficulty because halim means more the lack of acting, the fact of not punishing
(right away). ‘Abd al-Gabbar wrote in depth about this problem (cf. Mg. XXb
222-224). The solution thought by Gubba’I was to understand the hilm of God as the creation by Him of an
opposite to punishment, meaning a good deed.
The opposite of hilm is tays (heedlessness) while the opposite of sabr is
"...Forebearing (halîm)8
(64:17). The Forebearer is a quality which shows neither anger nor rage upon
witnessing disobedience and the violation of Allah's commands. Possessing a
sense of moral reasonableness, it is not prompted by haste and recklessness to
take swift vengeance even though it has unlimited power to do so. Allah said,
"If Allah took mankind to task by that which they deserve, He would not
leave a living creature on the surface of the earth" (35:45).
From the Sufi Ruhaniat papers, here are some
instances of the use of the word forbearance or halim:
If you wish to follow in the Path of Saints first learn forgiveness9.” First see to it that the wrong that another does you does not pain you; see that you do not react to the wrong-doing of others; do not look for consideration and at the same time practice consideration; do not expect virtues from others anymore than you would from little children; have forbearance9 for others even as you would for your own little children.
There is a mureed10 who is within the reach of the teacher, and there is another who keeps away from his reach. There is one whose heart beats with the heart of the teacher, and there is one whose heart is covered and unaffected by the teacher’s influence. Nothing should cause annoyance to the teacher. Forbearance must be the first thing for the teacher to have when dealing with his mureeds. If a mureed is as a tuned harp it is well and good. If he be out of tune then try and tune him gently lest the string may break. If it seems difficult to bring a mureed into tune then wait patiently for the moment to arrive, for in time all things come right. If it be a hopeless case, still do not think it is impossible. Never allow your friend to turn into an enemy. Your mureed must be your mureed whether he is facing you respectfully or whether he has turned his back with bitterness. Your goodwill and blessing must reach each and everyone whose hand once you have held in the sacred initiation.
FORBEARANCE,
PATIENCE AND TOLERANCE ARE THE ONLY CONDITIONS WHICH KEEP TWO INDIVIDUAL HEARTS
UNITED. Hazrat Inayat Khan, The Bowl of Saki, June 6.
Commentary by Hazrat Samuel L. Lewis (Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti): These are the heart faculties, which flow out of the heart naturally and do not have to be cultivated. This is the difference between the moralist and the sage. The moralist tries to pour into the heart what the sage knows to be there already. It is heart, not head, which holds these qualities, and the awakening of heart brings them to view.
The “Zikar” Prayer11 means: O Lord Who is worshipped in the unseen worlds on high, may Thou also be worshipped in the world below. Grant us Thy sustenance and forgive us our shortcomings as the spirit of forgiveness and forbearance appears in us. May our love for Thee be so great that we shall be delivered from all the temptations and trials of this world.
In
concluding, the qualities of Al-Halim is the One Who does not lose self-control
even when in anger, excitement and wrath, and Who, in spite of possessing
power, does not hasten to take revenge. It
is a sign of one absorbed in inner worship and love of God that he is not
disturbed easily by the behavior of others - as an adult is not moved easily by
the petty bickering of small children. Self control is of great significance in
spiritual development.
He is the clement, the forbearant and the
patient. As the turning of the heart towards God happens, then the heart opens
to sabur and halim, patience, clemency and forbearance.
---------------------
1.
Ninety-Nine
Beautiful Names of Allah Mureeds’ Manual of the Sufi Ruhaniat International.
2.
Asma’ul
Husna, the 99 Beautiful Names of Allah, M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen.
3.
Al-Ghazali
- The Ninety-nine Beautiful Names of God. Trans. Burrel/Daher: ITS:
1992.
4.
http://www.sufism.org/society/asma/halim.html
5.
http://www.naieb.org/ashusna/AL-HALEEM.htm
6. Ar-Râzî, Traité sur les noms divins, Editions Al Bouraq, translated by Maurice Gloton.
7. Les noms divins en Islam, Daniel Gimaret, exégèse lexicographique et théologique,
1988, Editions du cerf.
8. http://www.mashriq.org/names/halim.html
9.
CHAPTER
III: BOULAS “GAYANIAT” Commentaries on THE GAYAN:Notes From the Unstruck Music of
HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN by Murshid Samuel L. Lewis (Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti)
10. SANGITHAS series 1 SANGITHAS Series I of Pir-o-Murshid
Hazrat Inayat Khan
11. ON THE PERFORMANCE OF ZIKAR SANGATHEKA:
SERIES III Z: JC, On the Performance of Zikar by Murshid Samuel L. Lewis (Sufi
Ahmed Murad Chisti).
--------------------