Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Lantern of the Path More on Bondage Bondage is an essence, the inner nature of which is lordship (rububiyah). Whatever is missing in bondage is found in lordship, and whatever is veiled from lordship is found in bondage.
Bondage means ridding oneself of everything, and the way to obtain this is to deny the self what it desires and to make it bear what it dislikes. The key to this is abandoning rest, loving seclusion and following the path of recognition of the need for Allah. The Holy Prophet (S) said, 'Worship Allah as if you see Him. Even if you do not see Him, He sees you.' The letters of the Arabic word for 'bondsman' ('abd) are three; 'ayn, ba' and dal. The 'ayn is one's knowledge ('ilm) of Allah.
The ba' is one's distance (bawn) from other than Him, and the dal is one's nearness (dunuw) to Allah with the restriction of neither contingent qualities nor veil. The principles of conduct have four aspects, as we mentioned at the beginning of the first chapter. Previous Next