1 Muraqabah: the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Practice Of
Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid December 7, 2011 www.circlegroup.org Wednesday Suhbat
Muraqabah: The Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Practice of Meditation A Dynamic Motion toward Allah through the Heart
Dinner blessing: O Allah, You are showering us with so many blessings with the rain. We ask that each one of those drops be a blessing for spiritual growth and development, that You fill us full of confidence and trust in you and love for You. We ask You, Allah, (swt) to send Your Blessing upon those in our community who are not well, and who are seeking Your Shifat. We ask You, Allah (swt), to strengthen our iman so that in the decisions we make, and the work we do, we spread the blessings of Your Divine Love and Your Divine Presence. Amin.
Suhbat: Some of our predecessors divided the practices into three topics. One is concentration, one is meditation, and one is contemplation. They said that the first stage, concentration, is like sharpening a pencil. The second stage, which they would call ‗meditation,‘ but I would call ‗contemplation,‘ is like learning the forms of the letters of the alphabet—the means. Then the third stage, which I would call ‗meditation,‘ but others call ‗contemplation,‘ is like making sentences. So for Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidi, these stages correspond to dhikr qalbi and nafi wa-ithbat, and muraqabah. The real difference between meditation and contemplation… I like to use the Arabic because these words confuse me… the difference between tafakkur or fikr (contemplation) and muraqabah is a difference in dynamic. That is to say that in muraqabah, there is motion toward Allah. The door is opened, so to speak. Fikr is unlocking the door.
That dynamic is characterized by the different transmission. Each transmission is like a force compelling you forward through different experiences and capabilities, like seeing through different prisms. It‘s a question of time, making the time; submission, which is
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Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid December 7, 2011 www.circlegroup.org Wednesday Suhbat being receptive, and overcoming the resistances of the nafs ammāra and nafs lawwama that hold you back from moving forward. You have this gift coming to you from Allah, from the shuyukh, which are the transmissions. The methods have come before, and you have been given an instruction. Now you have this gift, sort of like rockets being attached to your rocket ship, but you are also still tethered by your nafs and by how you use your time, or misuse it, and by your habits. You can have these opposing forces, because there is no rule that says just because you qualify for the path you will succeed, unless you contribute what is necessary.
It would be like if I said, ―From now on, if you want to come to the dars, you have to pay $100 a month.‖ Then you would have to put a value on the dars. Up until now, you could put any value on it that you want. You choose the value of the dars! But if I value the dars at $100 a month….let‘s see… thirty people or so…. I could be making three grand a month. Hey, what a good idea! That will pay off my mortgage. Up until that point, you are putting the value on the dars. You are determining it. Some of you might ask yourselves, since I have been determining the value of the dars and the practices… Oh, maybe I should also charge for meditation. I won‘t charge for the khutbah, because that is ordained by Allah. But 5 times a week… I have to raise the price. I‘m only working for $5 bucks a lecture [at $100 a month]. Don‘t you think I‘m worth more than $5 a talk? I have to raise the price! I‘ll be generous and say $300 a month. That‘s only $15 a talk. Up until that point, you are putting the value on it.
The reason I‘m adding the meditation to that is because that‘s the real key. If you understood you had to pay for the meditation… (though my point wasn‘t to earn money, it‘s not a bad idea)… you are the ones putting the value on it. So if you ask yourself, ―Why have I not made progress in my transmissions? Why have I not, after all these years, finished all the Orders? Even if you had done three out of the five orders, it would make sense after twenty or thirty years. Maybe if you paid for it, you would be done with it. Because when you get into a whole thing: you take class number one, then number 2
Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid December 7, 2011 www.circlegroup.org Wednesday Suhbat two, and you get to level four of whatever. If you wanted it, you would say, ―That‘s the value of it, and I‘m going to pay for that.‖ It‘s a very materialistic way of looking at things, which is why I never did look at it that way. There are shaykhs who do charge. They just call it retreats and they speak once a month, and charge a lot of money for the retreat. They give three hours of lectures once a month, and that‘s it. You get 4, 5, 6 hours a week, for nothing, basically – but not for nothing. You have to look at yourself and ask, ―How do you value things? How do you place value on what Allah (swt) has given to you?‖
The muraqabah is a dynamic process. Why would one not want to continue with a dynamic process that is guaranteed to be leading you toward something profound? Why do I say it is guaranteed? It is a science, a repeatable phenomena. If it wasn‘t, just from a Newtonian point of view, it would have died out a long time ago and we wouldn‘t even know about it today. Many of the murīds before you and many of the shuyukh before me had the efficacy of this path proven to them. Proven! It was proven because different people had similar experiences and similar capacities were developed, whether kashf or they attained to fana, however you want to define it. It was articulated and written, and people achieved those states. From a Newtonian point of view, it was a repeatable phenomena. It was something that could be reconstructed through certain practices and experimentation.
Collectively, this process of muraqabah, all these latā‟if and transmissions lift the veils from within your eyes and take you from one state to another. It‘s interesting how it happens. It happens by sitting, not by running. It happens by not moving. All the rest of life is this movement in the outer: I‘m busy. My mind is running. I have to do this; I have to do that. I have a deadline here. I have to go to work. Or, I have this halkah I have to go to, and I have this thing to go to; I have to go here and there. All these things are done outwardly, even if you are making a hundred extra prayers. Don‘t forget the quotation: “one hour of meditation is equal to a hundred years of prayer.” It‘s very 3
Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid December 7, 2011 www.circlegroup.org Wednesday Suhbat interesting that this dynamic movement takes place through sitting still. It is described as waiting for the latā‟if to attract the Divine Energy/ Fayd. You put your attention on the latīfa, and you wait for it to attract that Divine Energy/ Fayd.
Hazrat Khwaja Khurd, who was one of the sons of Khwaja Bāqībillah (ra), said, “Muraqabah is leaving behind one‟s power and strength, turning from all states and attributes, waiting in expectation of the encounter, while longing for its beauty and being immersed in its desire and love.” Sounds like love to me! Sounds like the state of a lover. You sit and you wait. Isn‘t it interesting, in the world we live in today, people feel that sitting and waiting is a waste of time. They don‘t see that running around and doing all these things, even the ―spiritual‖ things, could be a waste of time. Hazrat Shaykh Sa‘duddīn Kāshgharī, talking about Junayd Baghdadi, said he was taught how to perform muraqabah by a cat who would wait with complete focus and undivided attention for the mouse to come to pounce on the mouse. There is something to say about that, that is a little more mystical. Did you ever think of the odds of a cat sitting in one place, and a mouse coming to her? Even if you know generally where the mouse is, what are the chances of the mouse coming there? You could say that the cat‘s niyyat is working.
You‘ve seen that in other animals. I‘ve watched animals many times, and you wonder, ―How are they in the right place at the right time?‖ It‘s not like insects. There are 2 billion insects for every cubic foot of space, and chances pretty good that if you stick your leg out in summer time a mosquito will bite it. But [in muraqabah,] you leave behind your power and strength and turn away from everything and wait in expectation. In our way of looking at things, we have these kinds of intersecting circles between the world of essence and the physical world, the bātin and the dhāhir. They are interconnecting circles. We then have a series of niyyats/ intentions in each of the different transmissions of muraqabah, which act like a kind of road map in that spiritual dynamic continuum.
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Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid December 7, 2011 www.circlegroup.org Wednesday Suhbat
You can‘t tell where the road goes unless you have some distance from it. You know it‘s a road and it‘s on a map. You have two points, and you are going between point A and point B, but you are trying to get to point M. This spiritual terrain that we are traversing is really a series of different expressions and manifestations between the ‗ālam al-amr and the „ālam al-khalq, the world of command and the physical world. Along with it, there are instructions on how you negotiate that terrain, most of which is up hill. From the physical world to the essence is an ascent, ‗urūj.‘ ‗Urūj‘ comes from the same word as ‗mirāj,‘ the ascension of the Prophet (sal) in his Night Journey to Allah (swt).
Remember that before the Prophet (sal) embarks on this journey, which is really a journey of muraqabah as well as physical journey, the heart had to be cleansed. Why? I have this little habit: before I travel, I wash my car and try to clean it out and make it nice. The vehicle for this journey is the heart of Rasūlullāh (sal). He cleans the heart because it is the vehicle, the nafi wa-ithbat (dhikr), the dhikr in the heart of Rasūlullāh (sal), lā ilāha illa-Llāh. That‘s how you warm up the engine of the car, so to speak. That nafi wa-ithbat can also be included in the preliminary practices, before you get to the circles and the transmissions. The preliminary practices – the dhikr, awakening the latā‟if, paying attention to where the latā‟if are, preceding it by Surah al-Fatiha, by our wazifa, the preparation – can also be considered nafi wa-ithbat, because it‘s all remembrance of Allah. Everyone is prepared by the shaykh.
When the murīd is ready to begin the first of the contemplations, the first niyyat, one should contemplate or concentrate on ahadiyyat / oneness, unity. This is the contemplation of the five subtle centers (the latā‟if) in muraqabah. Each time you sit in meditation, it is to guide that Fayd / Divine Effulgence from the essence to the qalb, from the essence to the rūh, from the essence to qalb, rūh, sirr, khafī, akhfā and nafs; building on it. Qalb,then qalb and rūh; then qalb, rūh and sir; then qalb, rūh, sirr, and khafī, etc. How? It‘s done by the means of Rasūlullāh (sal) through the mahashaykhs of our line, whatever line you are sitting in. Let‘s say you are sitting in the Naqshbandi –Mujaddidi 5
Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid December 7, 2011 www.circlegroup.org Wednesday Suhbat line. You are on this journey, this tour with these Attributes of Allah (swt) coming into your latā‟if. Especially when you get into the circles and the Asmā‟ wa Sifat of Allah (swt), these Attributes of Allah are passing through each of the latā‟if you are meditating on. The goal is to travel in the essence / dhat, not in the attributes/sifat. Understand that. It means traveling in the initial manifestation of creation, meaning the dhat, not in the lower manifestations, the ta‟ayyun / undifferentiated Essence.
These five contemplations, qalb, rūh, sirr, khafī, akhfā, reflect the essence of Rasūlullāh (sal). In other words, they emulate being in the companionship of Rasūlullāh. As you sit in qalb, rūh, sirr, khafī, akhfā allowing the fayd to be drawn to you, and traveling in that essence, that effulgence, even though the Attributes of Allah (swt) are accruing to you, you are striving to just travel in the essence of those attributes. In other words, you are not sitting in meditation trying to become more compassionate or just or peaceful. That‘s the lower traveling. All that is coming to you, but it is coming from the essence /dhat pak. You want your attention to be in the essence, not the sifat. This is why Hazrat said, ―Don‘t teach people about the names and Attributes of Allah.‖ And I‘m not. I said to him, ―People want to understand who Allah is.‖ We say, ―Allah is compassion, but more than that.‖ I‘m focusing on the ‗more than that.‘ What accrues to you are these attributes. Those divine attributes that are seated within us come forward, but our attention is on the dhat, the essence.
Now do you understand it? Good – I didn‘t have to tell you that, because I never told you to concentrate on the attributes as if you are trying to be more compassionate or merciful. I never said to you, ―The reason you are meditating is to be more compassionate.‖ But just in case, I‘m telling you this. As you go through these different attributes, the emphasis is still on the essence, the dhat. It means these five contemplations (qalb, rūh, sirr, khafī, akhfā) you contemplate are being brought to you under the auspices of Rasūlullāh (sal). He is bringing them to you. What does that mean? It means the light of Muhammed al-Amin (sal) is coming to you. You are in suhbat with Rasūlullāh (sal). You 6
Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid December 7, 2011 www.circlegroup.org Wednesday Suhbat are in companionship with Rasūlullāh (sal). As the murīd sits in meditation, and you sit with me in front of you and Hazrat in front of me, etc. etc. up to Rasūlullāh (sal), you visualize yourself in front of the Prophet Mohammed (sal) receiving that Divine Fayd via the chain of the mahashaykh.
You are looking through my heart, and then through Hazrat‘s heart, and on and on like [you are looking through] a telescope. If you align yourself just right (and there is no curvature because there is no mirror) you see at the end of this line Rasūlullā as nūr / light. Even the yogis say, you close your eyes and look through your third eye, which is to us the nafs or akhfah (in the Naqshbandi line) and you see this golden light. That is Rasūlullāh (sal). Eventually, some of our shuyukh concentrated, during these contemplations, on different ambiyā / prophets and they saw the prophets in different latā‟if. Now, there was some controversy over that. Hazrat Khwaja Shah Abu Ghulām Dehlawi said that it wasn‘t acceptable for people to do that. That you shouldn‘t concentrate on other prophets, through you can get iman from them.
He recommended that focus on Mohammed (sal) and Allah (swt), using our shaykhs as the mirror or the lens through which we do that. You focus on the shaykh with the right adab in your meditation. You can‘t show your adab to Hazrat, he is no longer here. He can‘t show it to Mohammed Sayed Khan; he is no longer here. So you show it through your adab to your shaykh, who is still with you, and then from that you focus on the attributes and any knowledge you have of the other shuyukh through to Rasūlullāh (sal), and you receive that fayd. Each of your latā‟if receives that divine grace from its asal, from the origin. The goal of each latīfa is to go to its origin and to become annihilated in its origin. So qalb becomes annihilated in the origin of qalb, Rasūlullāh (sal); rūh, in the essence of spirit; sirr, in the place of the secret, etc.
Well, it‘s a long journey, and there are not a lot of travelers who make the whole journey. It‘s sort of like climbing the Himalayas. And very few people can do that in rapid 7
Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid December 7, 2011 www.circlegroup.org Wednesday Suhbat succession. Most people take their whole lives to go through the five orders. (I‘ll leave you to interpret the letter Hazrat wrote.) Most people associate themselves with certain latā‟if. Therefore, that‘s how you get people to associate themselves as being under the feet of a certain prophet. They stay there until that‘s annihilated, and you progress to the next latīfa and the next prophet. But the minimum requirement for making progress on this path is to return the heart to its origin. That‘s the most important thing—to purify the heart. In fact, the children asked me a question tonight about the heart and the mind. What does it mean to see things through the heart and not through the mind?
When you cleanse the heart, and return the latīfa qalb to its origin – that is to say, when you understand and the heart is really attracting the Divine Essence, then the murīd can move out of what we call the ―daira incan‖ the circle of contingent existence, into the realm of the names and attributes. What does that mean? Moving into the realm of names and attributes is different than contemplating the names and attributes. You move into the realm where the names and attributes emerge from the unseen world. You see the efficacy of those names and attributes as they manifest. Hazrat Adam (as) we say is the prophet who governs the first niyyat. The active attributes are concentrated in him since he knew the names of everything. Our predecessors described the saliks, who are in the station of the heart in the presence of the remembrance of Allah (swt), to be under the foot of Hazrat Adam. And it goes on: different latā‟if with different ambiyā.
In the station of the rūh, you look at Allah (swt) and you negate the creation of Allah. You are only looking at the rūh / spirit. You want the rūh to return to its origin in what is called the eight immutable Divine Attributes, the sifat subutiyya. That‘s not important for you to get into technically. Then there is the contemplation of Hazrat Ibrahim, and Hazrat Nūh, who have certain physical things. Like fire didn‘t hurt Sidna Ibrahim, and the flood didn‘t drown Sidna Nūh. You get the ability for the physical things of life not to harm you. Some people stop there and they get these capabilities of walking on water, for example, or walking through fire. Certain karamat come. 8
Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid December 7, 2011 www.circlegroup.org Wednesday Suhbat
Then you travel in the sirr. This is the domain of Sidna Musa (as), who was the first to speak to Allah, and the secret (the commandments) was revealed to him. He is the prophet of the siri / secret. Then you go to the attribute of the sifat tanziyya, khafī, which is a mirror of other qualities. Hazrat Isa (as) is associated with that because he transcended the physical laws. He negated what was hidden: he was born without a father; he revived the dead; he rose from the dead. All these concepts are that he transcended the physical realm. He knew the secret or the hidden mystery of that. Then of course Prophet Muhammed (sal) is associated with the highest realm, and is the source of prophethood and walayat for all of the other prophets and the shuyukh to come. Just like Hazrat Isa established the ‗la‟ or negation of the physical, Prophet Mohammed (sal) established the ‗illa-Llāh,‘ the ithbat/affirmation.
When you synthesize all this, it is the transition from the essence and Divine Qualities associated with the Prophet Mohammed (sal), the source through which this grace comes, and the bridge/barzakh al kubra that leads to Allah (swt).This synthesis takes place when you are sitting in meditation. You see the world differently because you see that you go through these different attributes and realms, and they take on another perspective. You see them from a totally different perspective. Eventually, an individual experiences the fana / annihilation, at least in the heart, when the heart becomes absorbed in Allah (swt). Because for it to happen in each latīfa, it means each latīfa has to be turned toward its Source. When you go through each latīfa in all these circles, the door is open for you to travel there in this life or in the Hereafter. But from this life, you have to try to accomplish this fana in the heart.
You become totally submitted in the heart. For that, you exit the reflections / zilāl and you contemplate the relationships that these prophets have with you and what they represent. (I told you what each one represents.) In the Naqshbandi – Mujaddidi path,
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Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid December 7, 2011 www.circlegroup.org Wednesday Suhbat some people contemplated nearness to Allah as being within Allah, sayr-mai‟Allah (accompaniment with Allah). We do that. We say maiyyat or maiyaat al hubbi, accompaniment or accompaniment with love. Mujaddid al-alf ath-thānī Shaykh Ahmad Farūqī Sirhindī (ra) added certain contemplations. The contemplations that were reached by him were reached through certain exercises, certain practices that could only be taught by a living shaykh. By that time, the sojourner is out of the circle of contingent existence, daira incam, and now is traveling to Allah: sayr-fī-Allah (journey in Allah), sayr-bi- Allah (journey by Allah) and sayr-ma-Allah (journey with Allah), adaniyya. That‘s what follows the circles.
Though most Sufi shaykhs gave permission to teach at the point of finishing one Order, some even gave it for finishing an Order in qalb, we don‘t do that because of two reasons: one is, if you see the person is still subject to intense jedhbah / attraction to the material and physical world, or attraction to ecstasy—either one. At this point, a person enters into another dimension, another maqam, which is the walayat kubra, the greater intimacy with Allah (swt). Now this person is really what you would no longer call a seeker: this person is an adept. The person has developed capability in his or her travels in the nafs. Why the nafs? You travel in the nafs in this stage of spiritual development since it is the only subtle center that spans the spiritual heights in the world of creation. Nafs goes from the highest point of self-absorbed in Allah, to the lowest point of creation. That‘s why we end in nafs.
When you are done with the circles and all the latā‟if, you will come to nafs and say, ―What do I do next?‖ And I will say, ―Now you sit only in nafs.‖ ―But I like qalb!‖ Everybody likes qalb. Qalb is like the favorite uncle, but you sit in nafs. This is the realm of the walayat ambiyā; nearness / closeness / intimacy to the prophets. You return from the spiritual heights, and you convey the message of the prophets to humanity. What is the message of Noah, and Ibrahim? What is the message of Sidna Isa? Do you remember? I told you tonight. This is what you are conveying. The maqam is called ―sayd sadr‖ the expansion of the breast. That points to the perfection of the latīfa akhfah, 10
Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid December 7, 2011 www.circlegroup.org Wednesday Suhbat which expands to fill the entire chest until the whole chest is filled with light. As Allah (swt) says in the Holy Qur‘an,
Those whom Allah in His plan wills to guide, He opens their breast to Islam. And those whom He wills to leave straying, He makes their breast closed and constricted/qabd as if he had to climb up to the skies. Thus does Allah heap the penalty on those who refuse to believe.
Then He also says in another surah, “Expand my breast.” This is what it means: akhfā, filled with light. It is one whose heart Allah has opened to Islam. [Does this mean] the religion of Islam? No, it means to submission, to the safety and security, the purification and the refinement, of character. One has received the enlightenment from Allah (swt) and no longer has that hard heart, so to speak. He says, ―Woe to those whose hearts are hardened against celebrating the praises of Allah. They are manifestly wandering in error.” And also, ―Have We not expanded thy breast and lifted a weight from off thy chest?”
What is the emphasis on? The emphasis is on fayd, the effusive light, going to the nafs in these contemplations. Beyond that point, you have the latā‟if hayat wahdani. That is, the subtle goodness of the unity or oneness, living in unity/oneness. At this stage, the ten latā‟if (including the nafs ammāra and nafs mut‟maina) have become purified in rida / contentment. The circle of intimacy is represented by three smaller circles in a bow. Aqribiyat / nearness is the first of the circles. It is a barzakh, which contains the names and the attributes in its lower half, and the Divine Qualities in its upper half. This is also a description of the heart. Think of it as the chambers of the heart. In the two higher circles you find muhabbat / love, which corresponds to sifat salbiyat/ the attributes of negation, and the synthesis of all the different attributes. The bow is associated with the nearness to Allah‘s Throne, the knowledge and satisfaction one has from knowing.
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Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid December 7, 2011 www.circlegroup.org Wednesday Suhbat
Then what? You stop for dinner, go out for a nice Italian dinner, and come back and finish the journey. The last contemplation of the dhāhir involves nuzul / returning, descending, back to this created world, which you have negated and now you are included in as you travel toward Allah in intimation of the Prophet (sal) and his companions. One returns to the world and the spiritual journey in order to guide others.
In our Mujaddidi line there is one more degree, called walayat awliyā. This degree of closeness of ‗the highest angel/al māla al Allah‟ involves earth, fire, water, and air. You contemplate the inner / bātin… I don‘t know how to talk about it. I have permission to teach it, but I don‘t know how to discuss it. It is said that in these three transmissions, even the angels cannot go, because the most subtle body of light can only reach this level. For a human being to reach this is really a blessing by Allah. You don‘t even know you reach it, so I don‘t know why we talk about it. It is, however, discussed in the Qur‘an when Allah said, “And behold, We said to the angels, „Bow down to Adam,‟ and they bowed down.” That is the state where the angels cannot even look. They have to bow down. But Iblis rejected doing that, and the whole drama of life began.
It is this contemplation that is associated with the distance of the two bows length [from the throne]. It alludes to the fact that Prophet Muhammed (sal) was at this exalted station, being only two bows length or even nearer to the throne. Some people have distinguished that as meaning the two eyebrows on your head are the two bows, and between them is where the Prophet (sal) bowed down.
It was discovered, as we discover also in the times we are living in, that this is a very long journey, and you need shortcuts. In the early days, it was said that a person had to achieve a very high state of haqiqah before they could even begin this journey, but there was a short cut. On was called the path of the qayyums (like we recite al hayyu al qayyum). It is there for certain very special travelers. For special travelers, the shaykh would recognize in someone the ability to receive many transmissions, and the person 12
Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid December 7, 2011 www.circlegroup.org Wednesday Suhbat would achieve very quickly a deep opening or understanding. I think I told someone the other day that just because the door is open doesn‘t mean you walk through it. You have to understand this. You have this gift from Allah that opened the door, but it doesn‘t mean you are going to walk through it. You have to create the discipline to do that. Mujaddid al-alf ath-thānī Shaykh Ahmad Farūqī Sirhindī (ra) focused people on Qur‘an. He created a bit of a ruckus, I should say. He declared the reality of the Qur‘an and the Ka‘ba, what he called the ―haqiqat ka‟ba rabbani‖ to be above that of the Prophet Muhammed (sal). It caused a lot of problems, especially among the ulema and certain Sufis of the Hejaz, who objected to the Ka‘ba having a higher exalted state than Rasulallah (sal), which the Wahabis have taken as a level.
The principle contenders in this argument were Hazrat Khwaja Adam Banūri (ra) who was one of our shaykhs. He was the khalifa of Alif Thani Shaykh Ahmed Farooqi Sirhind al-alf ath-thānī Shaykh Ahmad Farūqī Sirhindī (ra)i. And one of Imam Rabbani‘s major successors, Kishashi, took the other part. Al-alf ath-thānī Shaykh Ahmad Farūqī Sirhindī (ra) argued that the reality of the Prophet (sal) is superior to any other creature. The real Ka‘ba you can prostrate to. It was not created. It is covered with a veil of non-existence. It is this Ka‘ba that comes from the essence of Allah. It has no physicality. Hazrat Imam Rabbani was referring to the Reality of the Ka‘ba, not the physical cube sitting in Mecca. He was talking about from where it came and what it represented. It is a black stone cube, emptied out to be filled with nothing to represent the undefinable of Allah (swt).
These contemplations led to the contemplations of the perfections of the prophetic lines and Hazrat Khwaja Abdullah Wahadat Sirhindi (ra) acknowledged that among the Sufis, when you sit in muraqabah and meditation and surrender to Allah (swt), you go past all of these associations with the material world, even if it is just for a moment. You don‘t get caught up in the interpretation, even of the letters of Shaykh Ahmad Farūqī Sirhindī (ra). You have the experience yourself.
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Shaykh Ahmed Abdur Rashid December 7, 2011 www.circlegroup.org Wednesday Suhbat
One aspect of the Mujaddidi practice always remains in the oral /mental tradition: that the transmission is given by the shaykh to the murīd. It is not written in a letter. You can‘t get it from any other way. You can only get it through that transmission. We only know that living shaykhs, using Khwaja Shāh Naqshband‘s methods, trained people to as far as maiyyat / accompaniment. In some of the khanaqah, after the ‗asr prayer, the shaykhs would gather before maghrib (from ‗asr to maghrib) and sit in a circle and perform the contemplation. The individual contemplations were recommended to be done then and in the morning, right after the fajr prayer. Each of these intentions, which all of you know, were given to us so that you and I, individually, can make the choice to follow the path through the open doorways, and be able to see the origin of the Sifat / Attributes of Allah, to sit and receive the effulgence and that light, and bring it into your day to day life.
We went through a lot tonight to tell you this. I‘m not going to do it again, maybe in my whole life time. At least you have heard it. (Recites an ‗āyat in Arabic): “Remember Me and I will remember you.” What does it mean? It has another part: ―And thank Me and don‟t reject Me.” It says, ―Remember Me‖ – keep saying dhikr; and as you keep making dhikr, I‘m going to remember you while you are doing that. Don‘t remember Me and stop and wait. Keep making the dhikr. You remember Me, and I‘ll be remembering you. What do you think is the inner meaning of that? You will hear it through your own voice, your own memory, your own mind, His reply. “And thank Me and don‟t reject Me.” What is rejecting Allah? Well, you go home and don‘t make a prayer before you go to bed. You don‘t say, “Shukran Allah.” You don‘t pray on time. You don‘t pray at all. You don‘t do this or that; you make excuses for yourself and you live with those excuses. And because the sky doesn‘t open up and the lightning bolt doesn‘t come and kill you, everything‘s fine. So I leave you with a question: Who are you? Asalaam aleikum.
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