I have thought for a long time about what it means to be a Sufi.People have searched the history of Sufism and the Arabic lexicon to come up with a definition.It has included the people of Purity(from ‘safa’ in Arabic) to those who wore only woolen clothing(‘suf’ in Arabic) to the people of the bench.But this is the definition I have come up with and believe to be the best.”A Sufi is a Muslim who is preoccupied by the Unitive experience”(also called ‘fana’ and ‘marifat’).Hope that settles the issue once and for all!
Category Archives: Sufism
Dunniya(The world)
From latest nde report()Dec.2016)
“It was clear to me that as wonderful as this heaven was there are many things you can only enjoy on earth. Such as swimming in water, holding hands, soft fur of a pet, sex, kissing, warm wind, FOOD, and so much more.” Intriguing.I’ve actually thought about this before.I’m still digesting it.Perhaps that’s why we are encouraged to work on our zuhd(asceticism) and learn to disconnect from aspects of dunniya(worldliness)- because we will not find them on the other side.That in no way detracts from the magnificence of the heavens.It just puts things into perspective.More contemplation needed on this one.Salaams,Ibrahim.
The Purpose of Life
The Purpose of Life
Hamza Yusuf, the well-known American Islamic scholar, looks into the question of life’s purpose via the Quranic text. He concludes that there are three main purposes, which he defines by the Arabic words Imarat, (cultivation),Khilafat(stewardship) and Ibadat(worship).The first term Imarat is somewhat ambiguous. What kind of cultivation? Does this refer only to agriculture, which seems unlikely, or to personal cultivation? Since this idea was new to me as a purpose of life, I looked into the Quranic references and came to the conclusion that what it is really about is something like ”maintenance” not dissimilar to the goal of the ecological movements we see arguing for sustainabilty or the Native America ideas about honoring and caring for the Earth. If that is indeed the case, then it is really contained already in the idea of khilafat. So we are left with two purposes-Ibadat and Khilafat.
Khilafat, that some Quranic translators translate awkwardly as vice-regency, is a very important concept. Broken down to its essence, it means that man has a managerial role in the Universe .In simple terms we could say God is the Boss and we are the Managers ,answerable to him. Clearly, we are not doing a very good job of this- as we witness environmental pollution and destruction on a scale never seen before on the planet. We, alone, are responsible for that.
The term’ ibadat’ is often translated as worship. But the root word a-b-d is related to service. And there are hadith that mention that service to man is an elevated form of worship. So ,in this term, we have service to man and duties towards God ,two distinct entities but also inter-related ones.
Now if we switch gears and look at the nde (near-death experiences) literature, we get a somewhat different picture. If we take an over-view of the nde accounts, we would come to the conclusion that there are three major purposes to life- learning to love, acquiring fundamental knowledge, which could also be termed ‘understanding’ or ‘wisdom’ and realizing one’s mission in life. That, too, makes perfect, intuitive sense.
Now these two models, at first glance, appear to be different but they are not really contradictory. The Quranic analysis tends to look at the outer aspects while the nders are reporting more of the inner aspects.This is not too difficult to understand as the Islamic scholars, almost by definition, are looking mostly at the outward.
If we now take the Sufis, who are the people of the inner, they begin to understand and unravel the inner Quran. And so they, the Sufis, speak regularly and systematically about love and knowledge .In that way they bridge the divide and complete our understanding of the purposes of life. Briefly stated here are the purposes: Behave well towards your fellow man and your environment, honour your Lord, cultivate Love and seek knowledge. Ah! As I am a stickler for complete understanding, my heart is now,finally, at peace.
N.B Please notice, here, that two erroneous views that are popular nowadays have not been mentioned. The first is the viewpoint promoted by the Hindu-Buddhist traditions that the purpose of life is to attain enlightenment. If you think about this one carefully it makes no sense! That we come from nothing and return to be nothing without anything else being accomplished in the interim is an absurd idea. Yet that is exactly what the Buddhists are proposing. The way I understand this distortion is that the Indian religious traditions are imbalanced in the direction of the other-worldly. They see no point to relative existence, except to escape from it back to where we started.
The other erroneous position is even more popular in the modern world. It says that the purpose of existence is to enjoy oneself and have a good time. Another absurdity but in this case imbalanced in the direction of worldliness. With all the suffering that life entails (the Buddhists got that one right!) and all the tests, how could the purpose possibly be enjoyment?! I can still remember Sheikh Nazim, the Sufi teacher I spent most time with, commenting on a New Age group dancing to rock music in the Swiss Alps: ”They think they are free” he said, “but they are like fish in a net”. Well-spoken, Sheikh. That is the net of dunniya (worldliness).
So I urge everyone to stay on the straight path (of virtue) and the Real Middle Way (of faith and moderation).May Allah help us all!.
The Reality of Allah
(From IANDS- nde of the month)
I had Hodgkin’s disease and was on chemotherapy. I had bad pulmonary toxicity, severe anemia, and fluid around my lungs and heart. I went into respiratory failure while lying alone on the sofa one Saturday morning. Everything, including me, dissipated– became like mist– and I could see beyond the mist, although I wasn’t really seeing anymore.
It was more like knowing what was beyond the mist that made up my body, the sofa, the room, the universe– everything. I slowly realized that these things were insubstantial and that there was only one reality and I could sense the reality behind the insubstantiality of matter. The reality was very strong, overwhelming in fact, and singular. It had consciousness. It was alive. And it had personality– it had characteristics. These were obvious: kindness, joy, love. It was as approachable and immediately lovable as a kitten.
It was clear that the reality was interacting with me, that its attention was directed toward me, although I had the sense that it looked at everything simultaneously in the same way. The reality was not bound by time. Strangely, neither was I. The quality of its attention was like that of a new mother holding her long-awaited firstborn child– love, joy, delight, fascination, indulgence. I got the sense that it was pleased to be perceived.
I did not feel separate from that reality. I felt myself coalesce with it and realized that I had always been embedded within it, bathed in it, cradled by it. As I melted, I was deeply ashamed to have so profoundly underestimated the love and joy of the reality. I wanted to give it something.
I told it that I was sorry to have underestimated its kindness and that I wanted to give it something, anything. I would even go back if it wanted me to, for the tiniest reason at all. I said this because it was the biggest sacrifice I could think of, never ever wanting to feel separate from the reality again, snuggled up so safely and so joyfully in it, I had no desire for anything else ever again.
Time had no meaning. The fog re-formed and rebuilt the world. Gently, I was back in my body. I cried for weeks.
We,the Sufis,call that Reality Allah.That or any translation (Dieu, God,etc.) thereof is its proper name! And the state is called ‘fana'(the annihilation of the small self in the Greater Self)
The Sacred Diet
My last Sheikh,Abu Qassim Bilkhairi often used a medical analogy for his function as teacher and the process of Sufism.He would say that the Sheikh is like a doctor.He makes a diagnosis and then gives a prescription.The prescription involves medicine and a diet(think diabetes-insulin and a sugar -free diet).
In this analogy ,the spiritual practices are the medicine and avoiding negative actions and attitudes(the Buddhists call them klesas or obstacles).Many spiritual practitioners believe that only the practice is important but that is untrue.Self-control and certain forms of abstinence are definitely required.
Some of the most important and difficult ones are the following:1)avoiding irritable outbursts.Our Prophet saws advised us in a very unambiguous way to not get angry.
2)Avoiding desirous glances.This is not easy in our very immodest society which is provoking us-males and females- on a regular basis.Just think about the fact that the most visited internet sites are those on pornography.Let alone the various states of undress all around us.Now secular society tells us that this kind of street-watching from cafés and “checking out” the opposite sex is fine but religion and real spirituality teaches us otherwise.These desirous glances may include those for expensive cars and spacious houses and even people in higher positions at work.All amount to worldly desires.
3)Unnecessay back-biting.I say unnecessary because there are occasions in which it is necessary to speak negatively about someone in order to understand situations and solve problems.One of the ways you know you are on the wrong track is if you are enjoying it too much.”Dissing others” is a blood sport in some communities.Avoid it!For those who have studied Buddhism,the equivalent directives are there.They call them attachment,aversion and avoiding idle talk and gossip. O.K.That’s a good start.Try it out.Tell me about your progress.
The Work of Ramadan
The Work of Ramadan
We are coming to the end of another month of Ramadan. For me, I believe it is the 38th! Alhumdulillah .But I am still working on the process, getting better year by year I hope –in small increments.
Nevertheless, I am still investigating the inner dimensions of this holy month, as the discourses I hear from the scholars rarely give me satisfaction. What is really going on? Yes, I know it is the month of patience and self-restraint. And I believe the rewards are from Allah himself. And I know it is from the order of Allah, to the religions before Islam as well.But what else is happening?
Here are some analogies that I have been entertaining:
- It is like the churning of butter. You keep turning the cream over and over again until you have a sweet material that you can spread on whatever you like or use in other cooking
- The alchemical process where base metals (our nafs with its desires) is converted into gold (the pure soul)
- Panning gold-where you have to go through tons of material( the idle thoughts or ‘khawatir’) to find tiny amounts of the desired metal(hal) and
- the process of producing maple syrup where the liquid sap coming out of the tree tastes quite neutral and only through boiling it slowly for long periods of time do you get the sweet syrup that we love so much.
Each of these metaphors has a particular appeal to my heart. But what they have in common is that there is a lot of work that needs to be done for a seemingly small result. But don’t be confused by the quantities. The product is sublime and the result may well be a lot more substantial then we can ever imagine.
So what IS the work? The work is all those moments of discomfort that you experience during the month. For myself ,I think I have experienced almost every ”minor “ symptom known to man lol- headaches, gastric distress, exhaustion(several times a day), weakness(often) difficulty concentrating and remembering, fever(only once this year) etc.,etc. Sound familiar? Don’t say: ”no” or you will be classified amongst the deniers lol.
N.B. When you say “fasting’ to most people they think hunger and thirst”. Actually those are the easiest to overcome .It is the other physical and mental symptoms that one has to struggle with and struggle it is. Ramadan is jihad-a-nafs. No doubt in my mind. But ,with a firmness of intention and a desire to submit one’s ego to a Higher Power ,our Lord gives us, at least most of us, the capacity to do it and the support to carry out this project to the end.
And what is the gold or sweetness referred to in the metaphors? At times we will feel the “nafahat”(sweet breezes) of a hal in which there are no thoughts and worries but only peace. At other times we will experience openings-to other people, to what the Quran is really saying, to words of wisdom we have heard in the past. And then there are the hidden blessings-barely palpable but real nevertheless. And only Allah Himself knows the extent of them. So benefit now from the last few drops of this potent elixir and Eid Mubarak until next year. Salaams,Ibrahim
The near-death experience of Sheikh Abdullah Daghestani
|
|
|
|||
I saw my mother for only one or two weeks. Then they took me to the battle known as Safar Barlik in the Dardanelles. One day there was an attack from the enemy and about 100 of us were left behind to defend a frontier. I was an excellent marksman, able to hit a thread from a great distance. We were unable to defend our position and were under fierce attack. I felt a bullet strike my heart and I fell to the ground mortally wounded.
As I lay dying, I saw the Prophet salla coming to me. He said, ‘O my son, you were destined to die here, but we still need you on this earth in both your spiritual and physical form. I am coming to you to show you how a person dies and how the Angel of Death takes the soul.’ He presented me with a vision in which I saw my soul leaving my body, cell by cell, beginning from the toes. As the life was withdrawing, I could see how many cells are in my body, and the function of every cell, and the cure for every sickness of each cell. I heard the dhikr of every cell.
As my soul was passing away I experienced what a person feels when he dies. I was brought to see the different states of death: painful states of death, easy states of death and the most blissful states of death. The Prophet salla told me, ‘You are from those who pass in a blissful state of death.’ I was enjoying that passing so much because I was going back to my Origin, which made me comprehend the secret of the Qur’anic ayat, “To Allah we belong, and to Him is our return” [2:156].
That vision continued until I experienced my soul departing on the last breath. I saw the Angel of Death come and heard the questions he would ask. All the kinds of visions that appear to the dying I experienced, yet I was alive during that experience and this enabled me to understand the secret of that state.
Then I saw in that vision my soul looking down on my body, and the Prophet salla was telling me, ‘Come with me!’ I accompanied the Prophet salla , and he took me to a vision of the Seven Heavens. I saw everything he wished me to see in the Seven Heavens, and then he raised me to the State of Maqam as-Sidq (the Station of Truthfulness), where I met all the Prophets, all the saints (Siddiqeen), all the martyrs, and all the righteous (Saliheen).
“Then he said, ‘O my son, now I am going to take you to see the tortures of Hell.’ There I saw everything that the Prophet salla had mentioned in the hadeeth about the tortures and punishments of that place. I said, ‘O Prophet , you who were sent as a Mercy for Human Beings, is there not any way for these people to be saved?’ He replied to me, ‘Yes, my son, with my intercession they can be saved. I am showing you the fate of those people if I did not have the power to intercede for them.’
“Then the Prophet salla said, ‘O my son, now I will return you to earth and to your body.’ As soon as the Prophet salla said that, I looked down and saw my body, looking somewhat swollen. I looked at that and said, ‘O Prophet salla of God, it is better to be here with you. I don’t want to go back. I am happy with you in the Divine Presence. Look at that dunya, I have already been there and now I have left. Why must I go back? Look, my body is swollen.’
“He said, ‘O my son, you must go back. That is your duty.’ By the order of the Prophet salla I went back to my body, even though I did not want to. As I entered my body I saw the bullet in my heart had been encased in flesh and the bleeding had stopped. As I smoothly entered into my body the vision ended. When it ended I saw the medics on the field of battle looking for the survivors among the dead. Then one of them said, ‘That one is alive, that one is alive.’ I had no power to speak or to move, and I realized that it had been seven days that my body had been lying there.”
“They took me and treated me, until I recovered and my health was restored. Then they sent me back to my uncle. As soon as I reached him he told me, ‘O my son, did you enjoy your visit?’ I didn’t say ‘yes’ and I didn’t say ‘no’, as I wanted to know if he meant the visit to the army or the visit in the company of the Prophet salla . Then he asked me again, ‘O my son did you enjoy your visit with the Prophet salla ?’ Then I realized that he knew everything. So I ran to him and kissed his hand and I told him, ‘O my Shaykh I went with the Prophet salla and I must admit that I didn’t want to come back. But he told me that is my duty.”
The Istikhara Prayer
(This is an answer to a request from an old friend for guidance. I have now added an important addendum at the end of the article. Be sure you read it before acting on this guidance! )
This is where Istighara is so important! We can’t figure this out with our mind that knows so little in reality .I am not referring to the usual perfunctory(habitual but superficial) Istikhara.Rather to the deep,soul-searching convinced Istighara. I remember having a discussion about this with a Sheik in Jordan. He was of the belief,and I gather that this is the usual alim position,that no matter what happened after the Istighara prayer, it was the will of Allah so all was fine.! All due respect to Shekh ——,I strongly disagree.That is like taking a hammer and saying no matter how I swing it the nail will go in properly.Wrong! Istighara is a skill we have to develop.
So here’s the teaching.I’m sure you know or can find the dua.That’s the thing the ulema teach first and the part that is least important.What is important is the attitude”Oh,Allah.I am weak.You are All-Powerful.I am relatively ignorant.You are all-Knowing.Guide me in this matter.” It is also very important, if you ask this question to Allah, that you remain open to the answer.If you have already decided what you are doing,don’t do Istighara! Because then if Allah shows you the opposite and you go ahead with your intention,you are in disobedience- “massiya”,big time! So first,humility and open-mindedness.
Then the answer may come in 4 ways(the last one I only discovered in the last few years):
1) Dream symbolism(sometimes people need help with dream interpretation.Be careful who you consult on that level because consultants are often full of prior convictions-no good).
2) Feelings in the heart.Sheikh Nuh seemed to use this one a lot.You ask a yes or no question.If you wake up feeling anxious and constricted,it’s a no.If you wake up feeling expanded and peaceful it’s a yes.Some interpreters feel it’s the same for colours in the dream-green and white are yes ;black and red are no.The heart can give many ,more subtle answers as well.You then need to listen to its soft voice.
3) Facts on the ground.These are the ayats(signs) of Allah.When I was at the beginning of my search and trying to get to India ,I ended up in Sweden visiting some old friends.I was lost because India was under flood alert everywhere.I was watching TV with my friends and a documentary came up about Jerusalem.I knew immediately that was my next step.That’s how I became Muslim.Don’t let the scholars diss TV to you lol.
4) And most recent-third parties sayings or dreams especially if the sayings are out of character for the person.That is a sure sign they are from Allah. In one of my more recent situations a cousin of mine called pleading with me to mediate a quarrel with his sister.I wanted to do it to help the family out and I did Istighara.My brother in NYC had a dream in which I was in an ugly fight with one of the family members and he felt worried about me.I pulled out of the offer and over time it was proven that I had made the right decision.I’ll spare you the details for now.
So do this carefully and follow the Guidance.It will save you a lot of grief.
Salaams,Ibrahim
Addendum: There are actually three types of Istikhara dreams! The first is a dream indicating our desires or wishes. These are the Freudian dreams and should only be used to understand your weaknesses. The second kind of dream is the fear dreams. This represents the projection of your fear-driven psyche.T hey are the dreams our Prophet saws told us to ignore. The third type and the one we can rely on are the Guidance dreams. Those are the truly useful ones. Now, admittedly, the distinction between these three is not always obvious.It takes a certain amount of intuitive discernment to make the distinctions.If you can’t figure it out, you can consult but be advised that the usual Muslim sources of guidance(Imams and scholars) are usually unreliable in this area as they do not understand the components of psychology involved. Psychologists and psychoanalysts are equally unreliable as they usually believe everything in a dream is a projection of our egos! Wrong! So proceed cautiously! Salaams, Sufi Ibrahim
