Obstacles as Elevation
Teachings on the potency of Obstacles
The Spiritual Technology Hidden in Plain Sight
"والحجب فعليه والعلي لا يضره القدر فسلام"
"The obstacles—so through them he elevated." —Anwār al-Qulūb.
Sheikh al-Busiri drops this bombshell right as he's establishing his spiritual credentials, immediately after invoking divine mercy and prophetic blessings. It's positioned strategically—not as advanced esoteric teaching, but as a foundational spiritual principle. If you're going to follow this path, he's saying, you need to understand this from the beginning: obstacles don't prevent elevation, they cause it.
This appears on folio 17, where the manuscript transitions from general spiritual warnings to specific teachings attributed to Sheikh al-Busiri himself. He's moving from critique to construction, from diagnosis to treatment. And the first medicine he offers is this radical reframe: what you think is blocking you is actually lifting you.
The Arabic "حجب" (hijab) means veils, barriers, obstacles—the very things that seem to separate us from spiritual realization. But the grammar is crucial: "فعليه" means "so through them" or "so by means of them." Not despite them, not around them, but literally through them as the mechanism of ascension.
This teaching emerged during French colonial occupation of North Africa, when traditional spiritual systems faced systematic destruction. The Sheikh is preserving something essential: the knowledge that external oppression can become internal elevation when properly understood. What appears as spiritual obstacle becomes spiritual technology.
This destroys the entire self-help industrial complex. Consumer culture profits by promising to eliminate difficulties through products, services, and experiences. Buy this course and avoid that struggle. Take this supplement and bypass that challenge. But if obstacles are actually the mechanism of elevation, then trying to avoid them is like trying to build muscle by avoiding resistance.
The Empire of Disenchantment wants us to believe that spiritual development means removing friction, eliminating discomfort, optimizing our way to bliss. But Sheikh al-Busiri reveals the opposite: spiritual development happens through friction, by means of discomfort, via the very resistances we're taught to eliminate.
This isn't masochism or "spiritual bypassing." It's recognition that consciousness evolves through encountering and integrating whatever it initially perceives as obstacle. The obstacle doesn't disappear—it becomes transparent, a stepping stone rather than a stumbling block.
But what are the obstacles preparing us for?
The full sequence on Folio 17 reveals the complete process:
"Where the light is within you" - Recognizing divine presence
"The obstacles—so through them he elevated" - The transformation mechanism
"The elevated one, fate cannot harm, so peace" - Achieving invulnerability
"You are a lamp above the leaves of love" - Becoming illumination for others
The manuscript's genius is revealing that obstacles serve a dual function: they elevate the individual and prepare them for service. The one who learns to transform difficulty into ascension naturally becomes "a lamp above the leaves of love," capable of guiding others through their own challenging transformations.
This demolishes contemporary spiritual narcissism that treats obstacles as personal inconveniences to overcome. The Empire of Disenchantment wants us to see difficulties as problems requiring products, services, or therapeutic interventions. But if obstacles are actually preparing us for spiritual service, then avoiding them means avoiding our preparation to help others.
The Arabic reveals the precision: "فعليه" (fa-'alayhi) means "so through them" or "so by means of them"—obstacles become the literal mechanism of elevation. And "لا يضره القدر" (lā yaḍurruhu al-qadar) means "fate cannot harm him"—the one elevated through obstacles achieves a kind of invulnerability to external circumstances.
This isn't about becoming emotionally numb or spiritually bypassing. It's about recognizing that consciousness trained through difficulty develops the capacity to remain luminous regardless of external conditions—precisely what's needed to guide others through their own dark passages.
Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher, grasped the same principle: "The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." Different tradition, same recognition: resistance reveals the path rather than blocking it. But the Sufi tradition adds the service dimension: "And what becomes the way for you becomes the light for others."
Questions for Revolutionary Recognition:
What obstacles in your life have you been trying to eliminate rather than learn from?
How does consumer culture profit from convincing you that difficulties are problems to solve rather than opportunities to evolve?
Where might your greatest current challenge actually be offering you your next level of spiritual development?
Questions for Service-Oriented Recognition:
How might your current obstacles be preparing you to help someone else navigate similar challenges?
What would change if you saw your difficulties as spiritual service training rather than personal inconvenience?
Who in your life might benefit from witnessing how you transform obstacles into elevation?
Today's Practice: Obstacle Alchemy When you encounter any resistance today—traffic, difficult people, technical problems, emotional turbulence—pause and ask: "How might this obstacle be trying to elevate me?" Don't force positivity, but genuinely investigate what capacity this challenge might be developing. Notice the difference between fighting obstacles and learning to move through them with curiosity rather than resistance.
The path isn't around the mountain. The mountain is the path.
Bonus Practice: Obstacle as Service Preparation When facing any resistance today, ask not just "How might this elevate me?" but "How might learning to navigate this prepare me to help others?" Notice how reframing obstacles as service training transforms both your relationship to difficulty and your sense of purpose. The lamp doesn't shine for itself—it illuminates the path for those still finding their way.
Your obstacles aren't punishments. They're preparation for becoming someone else's light.
— Abd al-Jamil
Where the heart meets its deepest resistance,
there the soul discovers its wings.
May your obstacles become your teachers,
and your struggles,
your secret stairways to the Divine.
Fi'l-sabr wa'l-irtiqā' 🌹
In Patience and Ascension