The covenant of your servanthood is that you be a servant to God, not to someone else, and that you know that everything except God is a servant to God, as He Most High has said, "There is none in the heaven and the earth but cometh unto the Compassionate as a servant."
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of serving God above all, recognizing that everything ultimately serves Him.
Ibn Ata Allah highlights the fundamental principle of servanthood, urging individuals to prioritize their devotion to God rather than to other people or worldly matters. It suggests that true servitude is rooted in a relationship with the divine, and acknowledges that every element of creation is ultimately in service to God. This perspective invites followers to reflect on their commitments and the nature of their devotion.
In practice
In a sermon about the importance of devotion, this quote can inspire the congregation to reflect on their relationship with God.
Whosoever is determined to seek guidance and follow a path of right conduct must search for a shaykh from amongst those who have realization, one who follows a path methodically, who has abandoned his passions, and who has firmly established his feet in the service of his Lord.
Actions are but lifeless forms whose soul is the secret of sincerity in them
Extinction is the beginning of the path: it is traveling to God Most High. Guidance comes afterwards. What I mean by guidance is the guidance of God, as described by the Friend of God, Abraham: "Lo! I am going unto my Lord Who will guide me."
God Most High has said, "Is the reward of virtue aught save virtue?" . . . Know, O man, that the covenant of servanthood is incumbent upon you, and that the covenant of Lordship is incumbent upon His magnanimity, as He Most High has said, ". . . and fulfill your covenant, I shall fulfill My covenant."
. . . persist in that invocation until the unity of the world is subsumed for you in a single sphere, so that with the eye of your heart you will see naught in the two worlds save the One.
The most excellent of those who perform good deeds are those who most often remember God in all situations.
Africa, help me to go home, carry me like an aged child in your arms. Undress me and wash me. Strip me of all of these garments, strip me as a man strips off dreams when the dawn comes. . . .
Give a man religion without reminding him of his filth, and the result will be arrogance in a three- piece suit.
I was a Muslim once, remember, and it was when I was most devout that I was most full of hate.
The name of peace is sweet and the thing itself good, but between peace and slavery there is the greatest difference.
The perpetual obstacle to human advancement is custom.
Religious belief, like history itself, is a story that is always unfolding, always subject to inquiry and ripe for questioning. For without doubt there is no faith.
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