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1 Practices of Muraqabah Shaykh Ahmed abdur Rashid September 20, 2012 www.circlegroup.org Thursday Suhbat Practices of Muraqabah: History and References Rābita of the Shaykh Bismi-Llāhi-r-Rahmāni-r-Rahīm. Having spoken in some detail about the circles again, saving the admonitions and encouragements for another time, I want to return once again to the actual practices of muraqabah for a while with some history and references. Why should we sit in muraqabah / meditation? Everything in this physical world is a process of refinement and eventually repairing back to the infinite. We are born; we live; and we pass. In that process, we gain knowledge, capacity, and capabilities. [That process] is in itself in line with the symbol of a greater reality, one in which the passing (dying) is the transition from attachment to this world to attachment to the Infinite / Allah; hence, we get the statement, “Die before you die.” Not only are apparently “real” things happening in life, but there is the acquiring of knowledge and the applying of that knowledge. Then there is the inevitable transition, past the limitations of this physical world, into another dimension. So too, this is something that can transpire on a day to day basis in muraqabah. For this reason, the maha shaykh of our orders (I’ll speak mostly of Naqshbandi Mujaddidi, but because of Abdul Bari Shah (ra) we are speaking of all the orders) know that ultimately this knowledge is about Allah and remembrance of Allah, which all orders, teachers, and teachings always agree upon. That’s why we perform dhikru- Llāh, make salawat, and recite Qur’an, but the most important aspect of the spiritual journey is muraqabah. Just like a student sometimes finds it difficult to study – for whatever reasons, lack of interest in the subject, or lack of capacity or self-discipline – it’s also symbolic of 1 Shaykh Ahmed abdur Rashid September 20, 2012 www.circlegroup.org Thursday Suhbat what happens on the spiritual journey. One has to find the discipline and the direction for the muraqabah. Certainly, one can live their life without it. Many people life their lives without attaining any of their potential, too. There is not a separation between muraqabah and day to day life. Muraqabah adds to your capacity, your knowledge, your understanding of the meaningfulness of your day to day life, but it’s not only what it is designed for. The origin of muraqabah lies in the hadith: “Live as if you are seeing Allah, and if you don’t see Allah, know that Allah is seeing you.” The process of muraqabah is in a strange way learning how to wait. Allah guarantees to the one who is patient, who is waiting, who is attentive, that a certain security or knowledge will come to them. Muraqabah also means to protect. From our point of view, the meaning is a turning away from touching this world for a period of time, with a specific intention, and to take that time to nurture a spiritual aspect of life, or receive the spiritual guidance from our shaykh, and from the shuyukh, and from Rasūlu-Llāh, and from Allah. So too, though the subtle organs of perception (the latā’if ), after receiving instruction and guidance, we begin to move from the attachment to the worldly aspects of life, and we focus on the latā’if. The muraqabah leads to knowledge both empirical and non-empirical. It paves a pathway to what we call accompaniment / maiyyat, or nearness to Allah. When we truly experience that detachment from the day to day worldly efforts and sit and wait for blessings, eventually we begin to feel some kind of activity in those latā’if, especially in the heart. It takes many different forms, and the forms are not that important, so there is no need to dwell on them. Indeed, we shouldn’t focus on them, thinking about the colors, forms, or sensations. But [we should] turn our attention to the Divine Essence that is beyond all forms and qualities, and sit for 30, 35, 40 minutes, and wait. 2 Shaykh Ahmed abdur Rashid September 20, 2012 www.circlegroup.org Thursday Suhbat It may be, as you know, that at the very beginning many thoughts come into our minds, as Hazrat used to say. Hazrat as you know used to say that you don’t know whether they are coming in or going out. We are not trying to focus our thoughts, not practicing vipassana yoga. We are trying to awaken our hearts. So we let them come and go and we wait, and eventually, a person drifts: ghunoodgi. I gave a series of talks on the ‘āyat in Qur’an on nu’as. We drift into other dimensions. I hope you know or have heard that there are other dimensions. I’ve said for 3 decades or more that there is a big difference between this drifting and sleeping. The drifting is a transformative state, which is a reflection of fana / annihilation. Mujaddid al-alf ath-thānī Shaykh Ahmad Farūqī Sirhindī (ra) said, “He (meaning Allah) comes and He takes you away.” When we are sleeping, our soul is inclined to the lower self. It is like a “baby death.” We make analogies in dreams, but dreams have to do with this world. The highest of dreams may give you some light, but they have to do with things in this world, in the lower realms. In the state of ghunoodgi, the self goes to the higher realms and seeks its refuge in the rūh. In sleep, it seeks refuge in the heart. When we are in that state of drifting, we are not aware of our self. There may be some visions and experiences of the kashf, ru’ya, and what Hazrat used to call “thought projections.” We used to call them psychic phenomena, psychic powers. Some people call it distance seeing. We shouldn’t be caught up in that phenomena. Mujaddid al-alf ath-thānī Shaykh Ahmad Farūqī Sirhindī (ra) said, “These experiences are there simply to please the seeker’s heart. The final destination lies ahead.” Hazrat Allaudin Attar (ra) said, “This meditation is better than the practice of dhikr of nafsi bat, or negation and affirmation. Through meditation it becomes possible to attain the station of the vice regency of Allah and the dominion of the physical world and the 3 Shaykh Ahmed abdur Rashid September 20, 2012 www.circlegroup.org Thursday Suhbat in world of spirit. One becomes the khalifa.” There are many teachers, such as Turki, and Hazrat Khwajā ‘Ubaydullāh Ahrār (ra) who commented on the process of this state of paying attention, not just to Allah, but making rābita. Rābita is a sort of controversial subject, which is why I will deal with it. There is a dalil of rābita which comes from Qur’an: “Fear Allah, and be with those who are true in word and in deed.” Some people don’t understand rābita. We were instructed and guided that we don’t need to make rābita. Certain shuyukh of our line, the Khwaja Khwajagan, and Mujaddidi, and Shadhili lines would make rābita. There are no indications historically that rābita is not permitted. What is it? It means turning one’s attention toward the face of the shaykh. Indeed, there are many reports from many of the imams, and other great people. One said that when visiting the grave of a wali, you have to turn yourself to the soul of that person who is in the grave and get the fayd from that individual. In fact, Imam al Hanafi said in his book Tadir Ulūm that it is necessary for a salik to make rābita. Such great notables such as Hazrat Jami in his Rubaiyat, and Hazrat Alam al Nablusi, and Jami as Sahir, and many others, Sharani and those scholars spoke of the necessity of rābita. We cannot assume that these great luminaries were messing around with Shar’īah. They were not of the character or type of person who does that. They were scholars. They were alims, most of them. Many of them were hafez of Qur’an. They would know if that were wrong, and they wouldn’t do it. I don’t know people who deny the efficacy of it, but we were also taught that it is not necessary. There is a difference between understanding the efficacy of something and the necessity of it. Hazrat Hakim Maulana Ashraf Alif Thani allowed rābita. In his writings he gave a very detailed answer. He said, “Among the benefits he lists for this practice is how it enables the mureed to mirror the ahwal of the murshid.” Nowhere does he say it is 4 Shaykh Ahmed abdur Rashid September 20, 2012 www.circlegroup.org Thursday Suhbat shirk or that it is not permitted. So too, Maulana Zakariyya Handalawiyya in his work, said, “Tasawwur of the shaykh is a practice, also termed rābita, as well as barzakh and wasita. It is a very important practice of the scholars on a spiritual path, and the scholars have illustrated its benefits abundantly. Some of the elders prohibited this practice, unconditionally. However, according to me, this is incorrect. For the practice of tasawwur of the shaykh is indicated in many narratives, so I do not understand those who have forbidden this practice unconditionally.” Tasawwur and rābita are not exactly the same time. Rābita is, from our perspective, sitting quietly and contemplating the grave, realizing that the grave has come upon you and you are not ready for it. You have not prepared yourself, and now you turn to the shaykh and make tasawwur of the shaykh.
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