Kitab Al Hikam by Ibn Athaillah, the Early Gateway to Knowing the Way of Sufism

Free yourself from taking care of world affairs. Something that Allah has arranged for you, you no longer need to take care of it yourself. –The 4th lesson.

There is no doubt about the popularity of the Kitab Al-Hikam in Indonesia, especially in traditional pesantren. The book by Ibn Athaillah has many features because it is assumed that not everyone is advised to access it. Within the pesantren itself, this book is taught mainly to high-level students.

The book of Al-Hikam contains a string of wisdom that is conveyed through short, meaningful sentences. To be able to taste wisdom, we need clarity of mind, deep reflection and established thinking. No doubt that the book is recommended to be accessed only by certain groups. However, with the presence of this book, we get "help" to make it easier to reap the wisdom contained in the book of Al-Hikam.

With Imam Sibawaih's contemporary commentary, this book is relatively easy to digest. That way, efforts to explore the wisdom of being helped and can be done by all groups, without except the common people. Even though it is a classic book, it doesn't mean that Al-Hikam has lost its appeal. Precisely with the emergence of books that review it, the dynamics of understanding it becomes more alive and develops according to the conditions of the times.

Sincerity, sin, and lust

The task of every human being is to do good. However, understanding charity does not stop with how we run it. Feel the following sentence; "Charity is the upright frame while the spirit is the secret of sincerity in it" (p. 24). It feels that in doing charity, sincerity is a crucial thing which is called "spirit". A body without a spirit is tantamount to an object without life. And by itself, charity without sincerity means nothing.

Sincerity is like a signal that gives a sign, but cannot be felt. We can continue to do charity because of the source of the battery (intention), but that does not guarantee that we are connected to the goal (Allah SWT). Ikhlas is what brings freedom because it only depends on His judgment, not the judgment of His creatures. Our duty in maintaining sincerity in every charity is to always ask for His help, maintain and straighten our intentions.

Every human being is not free from mistakes. In the context of the heart, sin becomes a means of seeing the extent of the condition of our hearts. Feel the following string: "Among the signs of the death of the heart is not grieving over missed obedience and not repenting for sins committed" (p. 64). The heart becomes a self-behavior detection tool. We must be sensitive and restless if the worship (prayer, fasting, zakat, zikir, etc.) that we leave behind no longer produces sadness. Because it indicates the heart has become thick and arid.

So we have to immediately "water" ourselves, so that our arid hearts will return to being fertile and leafy. Take your time to "be alone" for a moment, make your heart a defendant. Ask why you are so thick, then cry to Him in munajat. You will quickly get well (p. 65). We need silence to worry and admit all wrong. Then ask Him for forgiveness in prayer which is revealed with full awareness of all mistakes and mistakes.

Apart from the matter of sincerity and sin, many things are discussed in the book of Al-Hikam and reviewed beautifully by Imam Sibawaih. Short sentences full of meaning, with simple language wrapped in literary beauty, make this book crunchy, but do not hinder the way the message is conveyed. This book can be a guide for those of us who yearn for inner calm and spiritual thirst, in the midst of routine work and the hectic pace of modern life which is increasingly sparkling *