Laylatu-l-Mir'aj | Commemorating the Night of Ascension

Vision of Miraj

A`udhu bi wajhillahi al-Karim
wa bi kalimatillahi al-tammat
al-lati la yujawizuhunna barrun wa la fajir
min sharri ma yanzilu min al-sama'
wa min sharri ma ya`ruju fiha
wa min sharri ma dhara'a fi al-ard
wa min sharri ma yakhruju minha
wa min fitani al-layli wa al-nahar
wa min tawariq al-layli wa al-nahar
illa tariqin yatruqu bi khayrin ya Rahman

I seek refuge in the Face of Allah the Munificent
and in Allah's perfect words
which neither the righteous nor the disobedient overstep
from the evil of what descends from the heaven
and the evil of what ascends to it
and the evil of what is created in the earth
and the trials of the night and the day
and the visitors of the night and the day
except the visitor that comes with goodness,
O Beneficent One!
- Prayer of the Prophet during the Journey of Ascent

There are three glorious and significant Celestial Nights of Lights in the terrestrial calendar of events for entire humanity. Such luminous points are placed in our human existence like guiding stars as a source of blessing and opportunity to remember what is Real. If one to look around their surrounding, regardless of which hemisphere of the planet they live in, they will find that majority of people are immersed in perpetual forgetfulness (of the reality), in utter denial of their appointed meeting with their Lord and captured in the net of deception of the material world which binds and binds more who enslave themselves after its mirages. For the entire humanity its a great blessing to come across such luminous nights in which blessed servants were given drinks from the cup of divine fountain and in such generous giving by the Most Generous, al Karim, these nights are marked till the end of days as occasion to remember and as mediation for grace, blessing and forgiveness and also as opportunity for those who yearn for the Face of the Divine to raise themselves up more towards the Divine Intimacy.

Fa-itha faraghta fainsab,

Wa-ila rabbika fairghab.
So when you have finished [your duties], then arise, 

And to your Lord direct [your] longing.
- The Quran 94:7-8

The three glorious and significant Celestial Nights as unveiled in the last cycle of Abrahamic Revelations of Humanity, that is in Islam, are called: Laylatul Miraj, Laylatul Bar'aat (Nisfu Shabaan) and Laylatul Qadr, which appear respectively in the month of Rajab, Sha'ban and Ramadan. Some places on the planet it is tonight which will be observed as Laylatul Miraj, the Holy Night of Ascension and in other places it will be tomorrow night, based on the lunar calendar.

At present the month of Rajab is passing us and on the 27th Night of Rajab, a very significant enlightening event occurred in the Kingdom which is known as Miraj or Ascension of the Holy Prophet. The Holy Prophet was taken while alive in the heaven to travel the Heavens, to meet earlier Divine Messengers, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, John the Baptist and Jesus and finally he traveled further, beyond the last boundary and experienced the Ultimate Experience of Meeting the Divine, Face to Face.

As the famous Sufi Qawwali Allah Hu sings and commemorate this event in the words of the Sufi poets:

Pahunche Miraj me, Arsh Tak Mustafa
Jab Na Mabud O Bande me Parda Raha.

In the Night Ascension Mustafa arrives the Intimate Divine Presence

When there was no veil between the Master and Servant.

Tab Malaik Ne, Hazrat Se Chup Kar Kaha
Sari Makhluq me, Haq Numa Tu hi Tu.

Then angels said secretly to Prophet,

Cosmic totality holds this truth alone: Only You, Only You!

Allah Hu, Allah Hu, Allah Hu

Only That Existence alone Is.

Allah who is the Most Merciful and Most Compassionate longs that Her Creation remembers Her and it is Her good pleasure that each human being live a pure life (hayyatut-taiyyaba). The act of sending the select and elect Divine Informers and Messengers Allah was also an act of Mercy; similarly there were special events that occurred in the life of these enlightened guides of humanity which were not only special wayfaring station for their own journey to the Lord of the Glorious Throne, but made into holy occasion for the rest of us to walk along their guided path.

Ihdinas Siratul Mustaqim!

Through the secret of unity, all that happened in the life of a chosen and elect friend of God (Awliya Allah), elect Divine Messenger or Informer of God (Rasul and Nabi) has the potential to manifest and unfold in the life of any other individual who are connected to them, who has made relation with them by the invisible golden thread of love (sohbet, bayah and nisbat). Each person is a microcosm, each Man is Adam and hence what happens in each, has a cosmic relationship to the rest, for indeed in truth, the Existence is without two or partner. The hint of this secret can be traced here:

Creating and resurrecting all of you, o humanity, is just like creating and resurrecting a single soul. Truly, God hears all and observes all. - The Quran 31:28

For this reason, the special occasion through which enlightenment were given to the elect friends and divine informers, special event of experiencing divine nearness - opens up the field of possibility that such experience or its traces could be given as a gift to those who love the ones who are loved by God and it was only through love (hubb) they were given what they were given which no eyes have seen, nor any being on earth has experienced other than their destined recipients.The station of love (hubb) is through which the Chosen one became Divine Beloved (Habib Allah) and was granted what no other were granted as the experience of Miraj.

The great Mujaddid Ahmad Sirhindi, may Allah hallow his secret, wrote in his Maktubat (as translated by Irshad Alam) touching upon the experience of Miraj and how such state is also bestowed upon others (in this case him):

You should know that among those contingent beings who have realized the station of nearness (qurb) of divinity (ilahi), those who have stepped their feet out side the circle of contingentness find the beginningless beginning and the endless end unified together. 

While on the station of ascent (maqamtul uruj) on the night of Heavenly Ascension (miraj), Hazrat the Seal of Messenger (salaam) found Hazrat Jonah in the belly of the fish. And he found the storm of Hazrat Noah taking place and he saw the people of paradise in paradise and people of hell in hell. He found five hundred years (of earthly time) equal to half of a day after entering the paradise. The Prophet saw a rich companion named Abdur Rahman ibn Auf entering paradise late, so Hazrat asked him the reason for coming late and he gave news of his own trials and tribulations (that he suffered on the way). He saw all that in one moment - there was neither past nor future.

Through the grace of (Prophet Muhammad) the Friend of Allah, I have experienced such "states" (i.e. unveiling and mystic visions), I (the Mujaddid) saw the angels prostrating before Adam and at that time their heads were not raised from the prostration. I saw the angels of the Highest Paradise (illiyin) not performing these prostrations, they were not ordered to prostrate. In my vision, they were absorbed (in seeing that. All these past events as well as) that will happen in the last world, they were all seen in that same (one single all inclusive) moment.

According to individuals station and their striving (mujahada) different mystical experiences with similar traces of cosmic experience of miraj is bestowed. As one dervish experienced during a zikr session in which the servant of God reached an absorbed state while beholding, remembering and uttering the Name of God and in one instant he was transported from the gathering of remembrance in a mosque to the far horizon where with every turn of his external face while saying "la ilaha illa Allah" he was shown the expansive horizon of the cosmos and the experience lasted for only few seconds in worldly time's measure but its intensity and experience was surreal. 

Ya Qaribu, Ya Qaribu, Ya Qarib
Ya Latifu, Ya Lafitu, Ya Latif
Ya Mujibu, Ya Mujibu, Ya Mujib

O Thou Who is the Near Most! Make us near to Thou.
O Thou Who is the Most Subtle, be Gracious to us.
O Thou Who Responds! Please respond to our calling.

Laylatul Miraj is one of the most special night in which the Divine Messenger, Muhammad Mustafa, upon him be abundant peace and blessings, were given an unparalleled spiritual experience of supreme Divine Nearness. About which the Final Testament reveals:

Glory be to Him Who took His slave on a journey by night
from the Masjid al-Haram to the Masjid al-Aqsa,
whose surroundings We have blessed,
in order to show him some of Our Signs.
He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.
- The Quran, 17:1

In mystical words of the Quran, the event is further described in chapter 53:

The Lord of Mighty Power has taught him, The Lord of Strength; so he attained completion, While he was in the highest part of the horizon: Then he drew near, and came closer till he was at a distance of but two bow-lengths or (even) nearer; And God revealed unto His slave that which He revealed.

The heart was not untrue in seeing what he saw. What! do you then dispute with him as to what he saw? And certainly he saw him in another descent, By the lote-tree of the utmost boundary, Near it is the Garden of Abode. Behold, the Lote-tree was shrouded (in mystery unspeakable!)

The eye turned not aside nor yet was overbold. Certainly he saw of the greatest signs of his Lord.
- The Quran 53:5-18

For the mystics this journey signifies the journey that is made possible, from the world of limited horizon to the world of unlimited horizon and the two mosques in the above verses of the Quran in the beginning of Suratul Isra, in a level of meaning stands for symbol of those two horizons. To the people of haqq, this even of Miraj is of extreme important because by verification of the Prophet, this experience of Miraj of nearness to the Supreme Soul is bestowed and made possible to approach to the seekers through deep prayer of the heart, the salaat. "Salaat" as the blessed master has transmitted, "hold the secret of miraaj and for the believers it is the miraaj."  This again is a verification that what come to pass in the heart of the elect, opens up the possibility of entering into the same domain by those who come to love the elects. This is because "the movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love", as affirmed by the Sufis.

In North America, the Lailat al Miraj in 2011 is on Tuesday, the 28th of June. Note that in the Muslim calendar, a holiday begins on the sunset of the previous day, so observing Muslims will celebrate Lailat al Miraj on the sunset of Monday, the 27th of June. The dates provided here are based on the dates adopted by the Fiqh Council of North America for the celebration of Lailat al Miraj. (Credit)

I have also received communication from fuqara's in London, UK that (according to Noor & Takbeer TV Channels) 27th Rajab is tomorrow evening in the UK (i.e. Tuesday night 28th June) and is therefore the anniversary of the Prophet's (Peace be upon him) night journey. A blessed night that should be devoted to worship and it's recommended the following day be spent fasting (27th Rajab - Wed 29th June).

It is recommended to have ghusl (bath) on this  day & observe fasting. This day is one of the four days that are dedicated to fasting among the whole year. The reward of observing fasting on this day is equal to seventy years fasting.

It is recommended to repeat very frequently the salwat ie sending blessings upon Prophet Muhammad and his Household. ie Recite Salwaat  "Allahooma Salle Alaa Mohammadin wa Aale Mohammad," as many times as possible, the meaning of which is, "O Allah send your peace and blessings upon Muhammad and his holy family." So wherever you are in the world, you may consult your local mosque or Islamic resources to find out whether its tonight or tomorrow night and try to pray, meditate and spend time with your Beloved. May we direct our longing and turn our faces and heart to the Real on such night and may we seek our own Miraaj. Ameen.

As Sidi Ibn Arabi, may Allah hallow his secret advices: "If you want to enter the presence of the Truth and receive from Him without intermediary, and you desire intimacy with Him, this will not be appropriate as long as your heart acknowledges any lordship other than His. For you belong to that which exercises its authority over you." So may in such blessed nights we strive to remove from our heart all that is other than the longing for the Divine Face.

Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee, the Khalifah of Shadhili Sufi Way in North America, may Allah bless him and give him long life, gave an important discourse on Spiritual Travel (Safar) and below is a selection from his talk that can be watched and listened below. Click play on the video.

(Notice: This site may autoplay certain music / invocations. To play the Youtube, please stop / pause the existing audio first that may be playing. From the right menu please locate "Listening with Heart" and click stop sign on the music interface.)

Travel Further:

Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee speaks on al Isra wal Mi'raj


Watch and listen to the rest of the parts via Youtube:
Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 (End Part)


Resources on Technology of the Heart
* Secret of the Spiritual Ascension (Miraj) of Prophet
* Symbology of the Prophets Ascension (The Miraj)
* Miraj | the mystical night journey | holy ascension to the Ultimate Divine Presence
* God Maker and Prophet's Ascension | From Omid Safi's Speech
* Ascent of spiritual state | miraajul maqam
* Perfecting the preparation for our own ascension to the Lord of Majesty and Glory


Deen Islam website makes available few useful resources on the significance of this night and its devotions.
* The Spiritual Significance of Isra and Mi`raj 
* Dua's for 27th Rajab is the Month of God - Isra and Mi`raj

Also read:
* COMMEMORATING THE PROPHET'S RAPTURE AND ASCENSION TO HIS LORD
* Part 2
* Part 3
* Ascension of his holy and prophetic lordship, Sallallahu alaihi wa Sallam, his attaining the dignity of Intimacy, and his hearing Divine Words concerning the mysteries of both worlds.

Night of Lights
> Download and listen to Sohbets by Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee on the Night of Lights via Green Mountain School

Further Reading
. The Significance of Rajab
. Isra and Miraj via wikipedia
. Dua of Laylatul Miral
. Amal of Shab e Miraj
. IslamOnline.net - Al-Israa' & Al-Miraj
. The Muhammadan Reality | The Holy Ascension of Prophet
. The Thirty - First Word - Rasale i Nur
. Miraj: A physical or spiritual journey
. Ibn Arabi Society | Miraj
. Ibn 'Arabi and the Mystical Journey | The Journey to the Lord of Power 

Pin It Now!

He is the One who presents the knowledge of Himself to you

If the Divine opens a door for you, thereby making the Divine Self known,
pay no heed if your deeds do not measure up to this.

For, in truth, Hu has not opened it for you
but out of desire to make the Self known to you.

Do you not know that He is the One
who presented the knowledge of the Self to you,
whereas you are the one who presented Him with deeds?

What a difference between
what He brings to you and what you present to Him!


~ Shaykh Ibn Ataillah, may Allah be pleased with him

Ya'lamu ma bayna aidihim wa ma khalfahum,
Wa la yuhituna bishayin min ilmihi illa bi masha'a.

The Ultimate Source abiding beyond time,
always remains perfectly aware of what deeds they bring from their past and what is after them.  
 

And, human beings can comprehend nothing of His encompassing knowledge

except what Allah Most High transmit to them as gifts of Grace.

~ From the Verses of the Throne, Ayatul Qursi, The Holy Quran 2:255 ~

Pin It Now!

How to know, "What is my station with God?" - someone asked

Someone asked, "I feel this restlessness  in the heart and I so long to know what is my position with God? How am I in the eyes of God?"

Generally to understand what is your condition with God, the Divine Informer, may abundant peace and blessings of Allah be with him, has transmitted this knowledge of the Unseen through the sacred tradition where the Divine voice speaks: "I Am with My servant as he or she perceives Me."

The full version of this tradition is: "I Am as My servant thinks I Am. I am with him when he makes mention of Me. If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make mention of him to Myself; and if he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an assembly better than it. And if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a fathom’s length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running." (transmitted by Abu Hurairah, collected in Bukhari and also found as hadith qudsi)

The creation is a mirror of Divine Qualities (sifat) and nothing can contain God except the heart of the faithful. Thus God manifests in the heart according to the capacity and ways the inner heart within the breasts of man perceives the Divine, Glorious is Hu.

Thus the great sages of the Path have always advised to have sound knowledge of God (gnosis), to have good and pleasing opinion about God.

In order to have gnosis, one must humble one's self and ask God to remove Her veils so that the heart can perceive Her in Her Infinite manifestations, in this very world, in this very life - for the disclosure of God is only granted those who are guardian of faith and who comes before God with humility and devotion. The disclosure of God is not something which is granted just like any other object or phenomena in the world - it is from pure grace and only those who have purified themselves and strive to purify themselves are blessed with such vision.

A practical means by which the Sufis train their pupil to come to the unveiling of the Divine while living in this world is by knowing, understanding, contemplating and internalizing the Divine Attributes. These Divine Attributes are transmitted through the Asma-ul-Husna, the Beautiful Names in the sacred tradition of Islam. The Names are like ladder with many rungs and each helps the seeker reach higher and higher in his or her own unveiling of the One Who is Ever Manifest (az-Zahir), yet Ever Hidden (al-Batin) from ordinary consciousness.

The Beautiful Names, about which the Divine Informer has informed us that he or she who internalizes them, enters the Paradise. Which is to say, those who internalize the Names shall reach the Divine Presence. The Names take one to the Named, for Allah encompasses everything, including the Names and nothing encompasses Allah. And Allah knows the best and unveils according to the servant's station of walking upon the Path.

Wahiduddin.net, a beautiful Sufi site has the a list of the Beautiful Names and the practice of Wazifa (the remembrance practice of the Sufis using the Names) which can be useful for seekers (click here to access). You may read the Names according to their Numeric order.: Allah, ar-Rahman, ar-Rahim, al-Malik and so on until the 99th one, which is as-Sabur (here is the list). Also Sufism.org also has the Beautiful Names and relevant verses from the writing of Mevlana Rumi and Quranic Signs (ayah) concerning such disclosures (click here to access).

After or parallel to the practices of knowing God through His Unveiled Names, the seeker should always always have good or lofty opinion of God. And one of the best way to achieve this way station of the heart of having good opinion about God is to know in every state and every affair that God is the Beloved (al-Wadud) Who is the Most Merciful, Most Compassionate (ar-Rahman ar-Rahim) and also that God is the Most Tender (al-Latif) and the Most Generous (al-Karim) and One Who is Ever Forgiving (al-Ghafur) and like a mother She is the Ever Concealer of the faults of Her Servants (al-Gafir). As God promises, "Remember Me and I will remember you," remembering Him with lofty opinions about God also invoke lofty opinion about the servant in the Kingdom. God also commands, "Be thankful to Me" and God admonishes saying, "Do not be ungrateful."

We have sent among you
a Messenger of your own
to recite Our revelations to
you, purify you and teach you
the Book and wisdom, and to
teach you what you did not know.

So remember Me;
I will remember you.

Be thankful to Me
and do not be ungrateful.

You who believe, seek help
through patience and prayer;
surely, God is with the steadfast.
- The Quran 2:150-153

God is the jealous Beloved and every beloved wishes to be held in the heart of his or her lover with beautiful reflections. In the same fashion, manifestation of divine attributes within happens according to the reflections with which God is held in the heart. The duty of the seeker is to have always and if that is difficult, to have good opinion about God as much as possible. Human vision is myopic and hence his opinions based on the events of very small scale often lead to lose hope, to become ungrateful. This is because the grand mercy of the Most Merciful sometime is concealed within the trials and tribulations and it is the right of the Creator to test and try Her creation. But those who are steadfast and who abide at the station of faithfulness (mu'min) never rush from contentment to denial, from thankfulness to ungratefulness - for their faith is stable, by Allah and they know that their Lord is the Most Generous and the Most Tenderly Loving to the believers.

So even if temporary trial and tribulations befall them, they know that they are still in the Ocean of Mercy and the agitating waves are only but temporary. Whenever hard times befall them, their heart utter, "Indeed we are God's, and truly to God is the final return." (inna li-Llahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un). They thus rest in the embrance of divine reliance (Tawakkul).

"Indeed we are Allah's" - behold this statement of Truth. Enter into it and make yourself completely soak in the truth encapsulated in that very Sign: inna li-Llah, "Verily we are God's", "Indeed we belong to God". What a lofty maqam, what a lofty station to be exclusively for God's!

Ya Shadhdhuli,
when shall you be
solely for Me?!

Verily everything and every object in the heaven and the earth belongs to God and human being who submits to the Divine is the pinnacle of creation and is the most desiring to God. Allah says, "I have created everything in the cosmos for Man and I have created Man for Myself, so be for Myself and for nothing else."

In our forgetfulness, our negligence of our true nature, every human being time to time wrongs themselves and whenever we wrong ourselves by committing mistakes, by deviating from the Path, from Truth, Beauty and Harmony - our spirit hides gradually from the Self-Disclosure of God. Like the primal story of Adam in the Garden, when Adam became conscious of his mistake, his disobedince; he hides. Similar tendency we have inherited from our original father. Whenever we wrong ourselves (zalamtu nafsi) we instinctively hide from the Mercy of God. And this causes the light of God become more and more veiled from the heart to the extent that we no longer abide in the bliss but run around like mad touched by afflictions who have forgotten what is peace, what is happiness and what is contentment.

Even then the servant must have good opinion about God, for Beloved awaits ever patiently for Her lover. Inna-Llaha Ghafurur Shakur, wa Allahu Sabur. Indeed God is Ever Forgiving, Ever Grateful of Her servants turning (tawba) to Her and Allah is the Most Patient through Her Divine Patience (as-Sabur).

But from those who repent
and mend their ways and make
known the truth, I will certainly
accept their repentance: I am
the Ever Relenting, the Most Merciful.
- The Quran 2:160

So returning to the original question of the seeker, may Allah increase her iman and islam and may Allah perfect her ihsan, of how to know one's situation with God, how is one in the eyes of God - to find the answer one has to ask, "How is God in the eyes of your heart," "What opinion do your heart beholds for your Maker?", "Is your heart with God or with the things other than God / objects veiled from God." "God is Nearmost, closer to us than our own being, but are we close to God, is our heart in intimacy with God?"

Was bir li hukma Rabbika
Fa innaka bi a'yuninna ...

So be patient with your Lord's judgment,
for indeed you are
in Divine Eyes.
- The Quran, 52:48


Another way to know the station with the Khaliq (Creator) is the reflection from the makhluqat (creation). What and how is the opinion of people around you, is a Sign of how your condition is with God, but among this "opinion of people" the best indicators are those who are the nearmost, one's own family, after than one's own friends and circle of influence and finally those who know you in the society. The beloved Master of the mystics, Sayyidina Ahmed has thus said, "the best of you is the best to his wife and family."

Also the validity of creation's attitude being the reflection of that of the Creators can be understood again from another sacred tradition (hadith) where the Prophet transmits, “When Allah the Most Glorious, loves someone, he calls the archangel Gabriel and Allah then says, ‘Ya Jibreel! Inni uhibbu fulan! (Oh Gabriel! Verily, I love such and such a person, so love him!)’”

And Allah names that person and then Jibreel loves that person. Then Jibreel calls out to all the angels of the heavens and he says, “Allah loves so and so, so love him!”and so all the angels love him. And then Allah places pleasure in the hearts of the people towards this person (and that person is loved by people on earth)!”

So the ones  who are loved by people who know him or her is a Sign of Allah's love for him and this love of other people are not for the material wealth or worldly fame or temporal power but for the quality of his or her heart, character and disposition. Indeed successful is that person who has a pure and sound heart (qalbin saleem).

Again in another hadith we find, "Allah is pleased with that son, upon whom his father is pleased." This is also another indication that the nearmost family carries the Sign of how we are with Allah. May we be among those who are given a perfumed heart so that everyone who come in contact with us is perfumed with the beautiful qualities which are again qualities borrowed from the Most Beautfiul (al-Jamil). May we be generous and magnanimous and loving to those who are near us, specially that of our closest family, our parents, our partner and our related ones. So be it, ameen.

May we strive to find means and strive to find people of remembrance (ahlel zikr) who are possessor of tranquil heart, for they know the secrets of heart that is perfectly content with God the Most High. May we ask for removing every preoccupation of the world from our heart so that it can only behold the attributes of the Most High - and indeed Divine Mercy is the most foremost and the most overpowering attribute of Allah. Thus we begin and touch everything that we touch with that beautiful quality as we say, Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim: We begin with the Name of our Most Compassionate Lover.

May Allah grant us the vision necessary to know and love Him. Indeed Allah is the Hidden Most Treasure of the Heaven and the Earth and Allah longs to be known and  longs to be loved. May Allah include us in the circle of His lovers who are pleased with their Lord and Allah is well pleased with them.

And salutation of peace and blessings to the Praised one and his spiritual heirs and to every men and women who walk upon the path of surrender.

- Sadiq Salim

Dhaka, 2011

Pin It Now!

Spiritual Discipline in the Sufi Path | Shaykh Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

If you know what I know,
you would laugh little
and weep much.
- Muhammad the Messenger of God

 

Spiritual discipline is part and parcel of Islamic spiritual embodiment. From daily practice of salaat (heart prayer) to sawm (fasting with goal to attain Godly consciousness, taqwa) on the 9th lunar month to various other spiritual practices are embedded in Islamic spiritual life. The best exemplar of this spiritual discipline in Islam is none other than the Master of Mystics, Muhammad Mustafa, peace be upon him who was a deep ascetic in his heart who would keep prolonged night vigil, who would go for solitary retreat in the wilderness, who would eat very little and fast very frequently. All such practices were done while living in the world, performing every single other duties and moreover being the guide of the whole community where everyone's need has to be attended. Model of the Prophet himself, who did not adopt the secluded life of the monk nor preach the virtue of celibacy but it was integrated in the life of this world, but above it. Muhammad was clearly well-versed in at least some ascetic practices and exhibited such Sufi attributes as scrupulous abstinence and wara’ (spiritual reticence), sabr (patience), faqr (poverty), and taw'du’ (humility), as well as such dispositional and psychospiritual qualities as ‘ibada (worship-fulness), shukr (gratitude), and tawakkul (complete trust in and reliance on God). Muhammad epitomized the zuhd (self-discipline) and nusk (renunciation) at the core of both asceticism and mysticism. Such beautiful example of discipline is carried over in the Sufi Path.

 

Among the western born Sufi Teachers of present time, Shaykh Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee is one of the most important figure. He carries the spiritual heritage of a particular Naqshbandi Sufi lineage through his teacher, Ms. Irina Tweedie, (born in Russia, in 1907) who was initiated in India in the silsila which is an unbroken initiatory chain of the sufis that connect one master to the other going back all the way to Master Mystic, Muhammad Mustafa, upon him be the choicest of divine blessings and peace. The training, position and role Shaykh Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee holds is quite unique, since both he and his teachers were both western born and their primary scope of work revolves around western disciples having no or very little background of traditional form of Islam. I have personally received tremendous blessing and grace through the teachings, talks / discourses of Shaykh Vaughan-Lee, a natural mystic and this is equally true for many of his other students.

It became my regular spiritual practice back in 2006, 2007 to listen to Shaykh Llewellyn's talks via the Golden Sufi website audio archive when I began my deep interest in studying Sufi Tradition, His own innate nature as a Mystic made it very natural to shed light on various aspect of the Sufi Path from the deep mystical point of view which is very traditional mysticism in its orientation, and yet very fresh in its presentation. It  was through listening to many of his talks via the internet that my own journey benefited from.

After a while I was drawn to visit the Golden Sufi Audio Archive and the talk that I would like to share and recommend to listen to is titled: Discipline. The talk was delivered last year.

In this particular discourse the Shaykh emphasizes on why Discipline, physical or spiritual or otherwise is important. Here is a highlight from the talk:

"This afternoon's talk came from a dream I had in which I was giving a talk to the group, first about importance of time and then about discipline...And when I woke up I realized that in about twenty years I had never given a talk about discipline, which I suppose is interesting in itself because generally on this particular path, people are expected to discipline themselves, it isn't something until now has been taught specifically.

In a way you can not practice adab without discipline.

Discipline provides a container and I think in the next few years it is more and more important to have a container for one's own spiritual practice that stops it from becoming contaminated by forces, energies, attitudes of the collective.

Really without discpline, one's container is too easily fractured or diluted, unable to withstand the energy that is already present in the collective which is sometimes particularly antagonistic towards spiritual lives.

Lot of the work on the (Sufi) Path has to do with nourishing the spiritual light that is one is given. Light rises towards light, and light comes down towards light and it is light upon light.

It is important to create a container so that one is contaminated as little as possible by any energy that goes against one's spiritual journey. We dont live in an isolation way, we are part of life. This is the sufi practice. We dont live in a nunnery, in an ashram or remote a cottage in Scotland or Himalayas, even though we might like to. And so we are influenced by much more than we are aware of by the energy present in collective. And so discipline is important.

This is a path of mature human being, so one is expected to discipline one's self. But it seems that there is a need in this time to give an extra attention to discipline."

Click to Download and listen in full | Discipline: Part 1 | Discipline: Part 2

May the talk illuminate your mind and heart and help us on our journey to our true Homeland.


# Further:
* Spiritual Training with Irina Tweedie
* Audio Archive of Golden Sufi

Pin It Now!

the great friendship | meditative quranic verses

The believers, both men and women, are friends, helpers, supporters (auliya) to each other; they enjoin what is right (al-ma'ruf) and forbid what is wrong (al-munkar), they establish prayer and give the obligatory poor-dues (zakat) and obey God and His Messenger. On them God will have mercy.

Indeed Allah is the exalted source of ever flowing wisdom (inna Allaha azizun hakim).

God has promised the believers, both men and women, Gardens through which rivers flow, wherein they shall abide eternally, and beautiful dwelling in the Gardens of Paradise.

The blessed acceptance of Allah is even greater (wa ridwanum minAllahi akbar). That is the success supreme!

- The Quran, 9:71-72

Pin It Now!

Contemplating Hafiz: Voice of the Unseen Mystery

 How did the rose
ever open its heart
and give to this world
all its beauty?

It felt
the encouragement
of Light
against its being.

~ Hafiz




Legend of Hafiz

Shamseddin Mohammad Hafiz Shirazi, better known by his pen name: Hafiz, may Allah be pleased with him, was twenty one years old in 1341, and was still working in the bakery and studying at night. He had memorized the Koran and had adopted the pen-name for the occasional poem that he wrote but until this time had not gained much success as a poet. He had become skilled in jurisprudence and had learnt all the sciences, including mathematics and astronomy. For the past ten years he had been constantly studying all of the great poets and the lives and works of the great Spiritual Masters.

Then, one day at the bakery, one of the workers who delivered the bread was sick, and Hafiz had to deliver the bread to a certain quarter of Shiraz where the prosperous citizens lived. While taking the bread to a particular mansion, Hafiz's eyes fell upon the form of a young woman who was standing on one of the mansion's balconies. Her name was Shakh-i-Nabat which means 'Branch of Sugarcane'. Her beauty immediately intoxicated Hafiz and he fell hopelessly in love with her. Her beauty had such a pro- found effect on him that he almost lost consciousness. At night he could not sleep and he no longer felt like eating. He learnt her name and he began to praise her in his poems.

Hafiz heard that she had been promised in marriage to a prince of Shiraz and realized how hopeless was his quest for her love. Still, the vision of her beauty filled his heart, and his thoughts were constantly with her. Then one day he remembered the famous 'promise of Baba Kuhi.' Baba Kuhi was a Perfect Master-Poet who had died in Shiraz in 1050 A.D., and had been buried about four miles from Shiraz, at a place called 'Pir-i-sabz,' meaning 'the green old man,' on a hill named after Baba Kuhi. The promise that Baba Kuhi had given before he died was that if anyone could stay awake for forty consecutive nights at his tomb he would be granted the gift of poetry, immortality, and his heart's desire. Hafiz, interested in the third of these three, vowed to keep this vigil that no one had yet been able to keep.

Every day Hafiz would go to work at the bakery, then he would eat, and then walk past the house of Shakh-i-Nabat, who had heard some of the poems that he had composed in praise of her. She had noticed him passing her window every afternoon, each day more weary, but with a fire in his eyes that had lit the lamp of her heart for him. By this time Hafiz was in a kind of trance. Everything that he did was automatic, and the only thing that kept him going was the fire in his heart and his determination to keep the lonely vigil.

Slowly he dragged his tired, small ugly body towards the mansion of Shakh-i-Nabat. She saw him coming and left the house; on meeting him, she declared that she preferred a man of genius to the son of a king. But Hafiz could not stop, for all that he was conscious of was that he had to light the lamp for the fortieth time and keep awake until morning. He tore himself from her and stumbled towards the hill.

Early the next morning the Angel Gabriel (some say Khizer) appeared to him. Gabriel gave Hafiz a cup to drink which contained the Water of immortality, and declared that Hafiz had also received the gift of poetry. Then Gabriel asked Hafiz to express his heart's desire. All the time that this was happening, Hafiz could not take his eyes off Gabriel. So great was the beauty of the Angel that Hafiz had forgotten the beauty of Shakh-i-Nabat. After Gabriel had asked the question, Hafiz thought: "If Gabriel the Angel of God is so beautiful, then how much more beautiful God must be." Hafiz answered Gabriel: "I want God!" On hearing this, Gabriel directed Hafiz to a certain street in Shiraz where there was a shop selline, fruit and perfumes that was owned by a man named Mohammed Attar. Gabriel said that Attar was the Perfect Master, a God-realised soul, who had sent Gabriel for Hafiz's sake, and that if Hafiz would serve Attar faithfully, then Attar promised that one day Hafiz would attain his heart's desire.

The Angel left Hafiz as he made his way through the waking city to the shop of the man who was a Perfect Master and who was awaiting his arrival. On entering the shop, Attar embraced Hafiz and congratulated him on keeping the vigil and accepted him as his disciple. He told him to be patient in his quest, to obey him explicitly, to keep on writing poetry and to keep Attar's identity a secret. Throughout the whole of Hafiz's Divan (collection of poems) there is not one mention of his Master's name, but Hafiz is con- stantly singing his praises and in one poem refers to him as 'Rose coloured'...

...Hafiz returned to Shiraz vowing that he would never again leave the city that he loved and never again leave his Master, Attar. During the foll- owing year, 1380, Hafiz constantly complained that he had not yet rec- eived the gift of God-realization that Attar had promised him thirty nine years previously. Again Attar told Hafiz to be patient and in reply Hafiz wrote ghazal 490; couplets 6 and 8:

Bitter is this patience and so fleeting is this life of mine.
How long will I experience this, how long will I remain.

Hafiz, why do you complain if it is Union you desire?
In season and out, griefs cup of blood you must drain.

One day in 1381 Hafiz went to visit Attar. Hafiz's patience had come to an end. When he was alone with Attar he began to weep and when his Master asked him why he was weeping, Hafiz through desperation cried out: "What have I gained by being your obedient disciple for nearly forty years?" Attar replied: "Be patient and one day you will know.',' Hafiz cried: "I knew I would get that answer from you," and left the room.

it was exactly forty days before the end of their forty year relationship. Hafiz went home and entered a circle that he drew on the ground. Through love and desperation he had decided to enter self-imposed 'Chehel-a-Nash- ini,' in which the lover of God sits within a circle for forty days and if the lover of God can succeed in this difficult practice, God will grant what- ever he desires. The love and strength and bravery of Hafiz was so great that he succeeded in never leaving the circle, no matter what God had in store for him.

On the fortieth night Attar again sent to him the form of the Angel Gabriel as he had done forty years earlier, who asked him what was his heart's desire. Hafiz replied: "My only desire is to wait on the pleasure of my Master's wish."

Before dawn appeared on the last day Hafiz left the circle and rushed towards the house of his Master, Mohammed Attar. Attar met him at the door and embraced him, gave him a drink of two year old wine and made him God-realized. Hafiz had finally attained his heart's desire after forty long years.

For forty years I suffered difficulty and anguish, and finally I
Was to find the outcome in wine that for two years was aging.

Immediately after Hafiz regained normal consciousness, after gaining Realization of his own True Self, he composed the following poems which are three of his most famous ghazals. Ghazal 192 couplet 1:

Separation day and severance night from Beloved at last is ended;
This grief, as lucky star has passed and my fortune cast, is ended.

Ghazal 217 couplets 1, 6 and 8:

Praise be to God what wonderful wealth's given to me tonight;
Because my Divine Beloved came to me, quite suddenly, tonight.

My blood will write 'I am The Truth' (Anal Haq) on the earth,
If like Mansur they kill me on the gallows mercilessly tonight.

All the time I'm frightened that Hafiz will be lost, obliterated;
Because each moment I'm in possession Of such ecstasy tonight.

Ghazal 218 couplets 1, 3 and 13:

Last night before dawn, freedom from all suffering They gave me;
In the darkness of night, Water of Life-everlasting, They gave me.

What a fortunate dawn and joyful night was that Night of Power
When the Supreme Authority of God's Commanding They gave me.

Hafiz, rejoice, rejoice then thankfully scatter the sugar of thanks:
Realization of the Divine Beloved, sweetly swaying, They gave me.

During the remaining eight years of his life, Hafiz wrote half of the poems that bear his name. He no longer wrote of his desire for the Beloved, for now he was the Beloved. He wrote of the Unity of God, of the temporality of the world and its works and of the stages of the Path to God-realization and, he gave advice to others how to best avoid the traps of the Path. The poems written after Realization are written from the Authority of Divine Knowledge and have a Perfect detachment and Merciful involvement that sets them apart from the other poems that were written from various stages on the road to Truth.

- An excerpt from the introduction to Paul Smith's translation of the divan of Hafiz


The Symbolism of Wine

Central to the interpretation of Hafiz is the understanding of the symbolism of wine. As Inayat Khan observes, "The word 'wine' is often used, and according to the mystic each person drinks a wine peculiar to himself. Hafiz pictures the whole world as a wine-press, and every person takes that wine which is in accord with his own evolution. The wine of one is not the wine of another. He wishes to express the idea that every person, whether evolved or ignorant, whether honest or dishonest, whether he realizes it or not, whether he has great belief or no belief at all, is in every case taking a certain wine. It is the type of intoxication produced by that particular wine which is his individuality, and when a person changes, he does so by drinking another wine. Every different kind of wine changes the outlook on life, and every change in life is like taking a different wine".

Yet another approach to the understanding of the symbolism of wine is offered by Indian spiritual leader Meher Baba (1989). "The Sufi master-poets often compare love with wine. Wine is the most fitting figure for love because both intoxicate. But while wine causes self-forgetfulness, love leads to Self-realization."

"The behavior of the drunkard and the lover are similar; each disregards the world's standards of conduct and each is indifferent to the opinion of the world. But there are worlds of difference between the course and the goal of the two: the one leads to subterranean darkness and denial; the other gives wings to the soul for its flight to freedom."

"The drunkenness of the drunkard begins with a glass of wine which elates his spirit and loosens his affections and gives him a new view of life that promises a forgetfulness from his daily worries. He goes on from a glass to two glasses, to a bottle; from companionship to isolation, from forgetfulness to oblivion-oblivion, which in Reality, is the Original State of God, but which, with the drunkard, is an empty stupor-and he sleeps in a bed or in a gutter. And he awakens in a dawn of futility, an object of disgust and ridicule to the world."

"The lover's drunkenness begins with a drop of God's love which makes him forget the world. The more he drinks the closer he draws to his Beloved, and the more unworthy he feels of the Beloved's love; and he longs to sacrifice his very life at his Beloved's feet. He, too, does not know whether he sleeps on a bed or in a gutter, and becomes an object of ridicule to the world; but he rests in bliss, and God the Beloved takes care of his body and neither the elements nor disease can touch it."

"One out of many such lovers sees God face to face. His longing becomes infinite; he is like a fish thrown up on the beach, leaping and squirming to regain the ocean. He sees God everywhere and in everything, but he cannot find the gate of union. The Wine that he drinks turns into Fire in which he continuously burns in blissful agony. And the Fire eventually becomes the Ocean of Infinite Consciousness in which he drowns".

The final decision on the meaning behind the poetry of Hafiz must, as with all art, be decided by the patron and observer of the work. Though credited as being "The Interpreter of Mysteries," there remain many mysteries regarding Hafiz that have yet to be solved. As the poet himself had said, "Am I a sinner or a saint/which one shall it be?/Hafiz holds the secret of his own mystery."

A Contemplative Moment with Hafiz

Something about waterfalls is soothing to me. Perhaps it is the flow and the movement, the rainbows that seem suspended in the mist catching the sunlight, and the sound makes the water seem alive. This is a waterfall just outside of Shiraz, which is the home of Hafiz. He loved his Shiraz, speaks of it in his verses, writes of the river and the beautiful gardens as he wrote and shared his heart with us.

I have days I seek his company, and feel his presence through the timeless stream of the depth of his love. The spirit is boundless, and when we come in love, spirit responds. Hafiz tells us he will know the fragrance of love when it comes near, and he will rise from his resting place.

In the body or out of the body,

my soul and spirit are free.

Praise heaven for this mystery

and for the love that dwells within my heart.

The fire in my chest never dies,

and my heart is ever awake.

My outer life has vanished,

but love’s breath still breathes for me.

Last night, within my heart.

I heard your whispers of love,

and my heart is still quivering

to know you were there.

~ Hafiz

The longing for love that is eternal exists deep within us. A hunger for beauty circles within us, a remembrance of the touch that awakened us from sleep. Ah, the dancing flames awaken us….and where the love songs of Hafiz are sung from his gentle heart, they are sweeter than the stars.

The mystics model such a wonderful freedom for us. Who else tells us that our inner being is created to be caressed by Joy?

Hafiz says our intimacy is as pure as the jasmine and the rose. It blossoms from God like the wild rose. What is in your heart is revealed on my tongue, shines from my eyes, and flows through my pen.

Wandering in the beauty of the mystics, feeling the flow of the fountains or standing beneath the waterfalls of the beauty of love that seems to live forever is such a renewing grace.

Wandering in the gardens this quiet afternoon... secrets float on a gentle breeze, and we touch the source of music and poetry anointing us with mist and rainbows in the falling water… and Hafiz says... it is enough for us.

A secure place in the winehouse of the heart... the sweet wine of love... and a tender friend… This is more than enough for us!

- Guest blog by Naomi Stone via New Mother, New Earth Night Songs

# Further:
* Teachings of Hafiz - translated by Gertrude Lowthian Bell
* Hafiz: The Interpreter of Mysteries
* Ghazaliyat of Khajeh Shamseddin Mohammad Hafiz Shirazi

Pin It Now!

la oración del corazón

In Your Name, O You Who is Boundlessly Loving, Boundlessly Compassionate

O Allah You have made us courier of Your blessedness,
Your descent of blessings
and Your ascent of blessings.
Truly all blessedness is Yours.

You are the Source of Beauty,
You are the Source of Perfection,
You are the Source of Harmony,
and You allow Your honored forms to borrow reflections
from that Beauty, Perfection and Harmony,
so allow us o our Fashioner to borrow from Your Infinite Treasure:
beauty, perfection and harmony
in every sphere of our lives.

Allah ke bojhe tomar opar lele?

O You who is beyond comparison, none of us have truly grasped Your Glorious Glory,
none of us have truly comprehended Your baatin (hiddenness),
none of us have truly understood Your zahir (manifestation).
You remain hidden in Your manifestation
and You manifest in your hiddenness.
Give us capacity to approach You in every movement and in every stillness
in our existence that ever drawing us back to You, Who is the Source of all.

O You who have honored the children of Adam by bestowing them
intellect, conscience, heart, soul and spirit -
may your blessing illume all our faculties with which You have give us existence
O Glorious Creator Who brings existence out of non-existence,
You who brings night out of day and day out of night
You who brings life out of dead and resurrect the dead
awaken our heart, soul and spirit
grant us vision to witness Your Signs and Your Glory embedded in all that exists.
 
May this day be blessed for us, for those who walk with us
and for those who shall follow us.

Amen Ya Rabbul Alaamin

Pin It Now!

Praying for Yesterday | Paradox of Past and Destiny

1.

On the eve of the millennium, Dr. Leonard Leibovici, an Israeli professor of internal medicine in Israel and expert on hospital acquired infections, conducted a study of healing prayer's effect on nearly 4000 adults who had developed sepsis while in the hospital. He set up a strict protocol, using a random number generator to randomize the participants into two groups, only one of which would be prayed for, and throughout the study maintained impeccable blinding; neither the patients nor the hospital staff knew who was getting treated - or indeed even knew that a study was being carried out.

The names of all those in the treatment group were then handed to an individual, who said a short prayer for the well-being and full recovery of the treated group as a whole.

Leibovici was interested in comparing three outcomes between the prayed-for and not-prayed-for groups: the number of deaths in hospital; the overall length of stay in hospital; and the duration of fever. When calculating the results, he was careful to employ several statistical measurements to examine the significance of any differences. As it happened, the group that had been prayed for suffered fewer deaths than controls (28.1 versus 30.2 per cent), although the difference was not statistically significant (in fact regular medicine often also have similar range of statistical success when studied). What was scientifically significant, however, were major differences between the prayed-for group and the control related to the severity of illness and the time it took to heal. Those being prayed for had a far shorter duration of fever and hospital stay and, in general, got better faster than the controls.

The subject of Leibovici's research - the healing effects of prayer of course was hardly new. But this study offered one novel twist. The patients had been in the hospital between 1990 and 1996. The praying was carried out in 2000 - between 4 and 10 years later.

The study was meant to be a spoof. The British Medical Journal had published it in its Christmas 2001 issue, which is generally reserved for light-hearted commentary. But Leibovici was not joking. He was trying to make a serious point in the most graphic way he could. Leibovici had a particular affinity for mathematics and statistics, and used them repeatedly in his reviews and meta-analyses when evaluating particular procedures. He had even come to believe that diseases and success of treatment could be predicted through mathematical models.

I have quoted the above study from the book, "The Intention Experiment" by Lynne McTaggart (FSC + Harper Collins). Leibovici had the intention to illustrate that you simply cannot use the scientific method to explain subjective things like prayer. He wasn't so much for studying prayer in medical science, on the contrary he wanted to disprove it, but something different emerged from it. Larry Dossey, who has also written extensively on 'non-local' consciousness and healing, commented that, in a stroke, Leibovici had turned 'conventional notion of time and space, prayer, consciousness and causality' on their heads.

The writer goes on to comment: One of the most basic assumptions about intention is that it operates according to a generally accepted sense of cause and effect: the cause must always precede the effect. If A causes B, then A must have happened first. This assumption reflects one of our deepest beliefs, that time is a one-way, forward-moving progression. This assumption is reinforced every moment of our ordinary lives.

Indeed, the most tangible evidence of time's arrow is the physical evidence of our own aging; first we are born, then we grow old and die. Similarly, we believe that the consequence of our intentions can only occur in the future.

However, a sizable body of the scientific evidence about intention violates these basic assumptions about causation. Research has demonstrated clear instances of time-reversed effects, where effect precedes cause. Leibovici's study was unique among prayer research in that it was conducted 'backward in time'; - the healing intention was meant to affect events that had already occurred. But to many frontier scientists, this experience in 'retro-prayer' simply represented a true-to-life instance of time-displacement effects regularly seen in the laboratory.

Studies like Leibovici's offer up the most challenging idea of all: that thoughts can affect our things no matter when the thought is made and in fact, may work better when they are not subject to a conventional time sequence of causation. There have been other scientific investigation such as time displacement experiments that offer similar kind of past being effected even though intention was made in the future, even on living things such as cell of plant etc.

There are a number of quantum scientists who have studied the effect of observer or more accurately, the effect of consciousness when subject become conscious of the object. Reality and how it interacts with each other behave completely different when something is observed as opposed to when it is not. The famous double slit experience in the field of quantum physics is such an exciting, paradoxical look at how reality changes when consciousness is added into it.

Emergence (River of Sanity), art by Sufi Artist Michael Green

2.

From spiritual vantage point, God is Unity, One, Indivisible and God is Real and God is Truth and universe is an emanation from the Truth Itself. "I have created the universe with haqq (truth)" - declares Allah in the Quran. 

One of the greatest mystery that we have to deal in our existence is Time and the mystical tradition of Islam transmit a profound truth where God declares, "Children of Adam inveigh against Time, but I am Time (Dahr), in My hand is the night and the day" (on the authority of Abu Hurairah, from hadith qudsi). Other version of this sacred tradition mentions, "Do not inveigh against time (al-dahr), for Allah is Time", "Let not any one of you say, 'Woe to time,' for Allah is time." Allah Subhanuwata'la, Glorious beyond comparison, use time as one of His attribute. He who is indescribable, describe Himself by Time.

Through our limited grasp of reality the way we perceive time is only a fragmented view of this reality. Just like many others phenomena of the reality about which we only perceive through veils of illusion (maya) and fail to go beyond the maya. That is why the Precious Master of Mystics, Muhammad Mustafa used to pray, "O Allah, show me things as they truly are." This is because the default range of vision of our physical eyes and degree of comprehension of our conditioned mind, unless the eyes of the heart and inner vision is opened, remains to be extremely myopic. 

The experiment mentioned in the beginning of this post give us a rare glimpse of the fact that time is not fragmented but an indivisible continuum. And if that is the case, it can not be otherwise, then we can, not only affect the future but also the past. This may seem extremely paradoxical and contrary to our ordinary consciousness, yet this understanding is a necessity to unveil the maya that veils phenomena of time. Human being through his consciousness. And prayer is one of the most ancient yet most effective means which give birth to renewed consciousness by invoking the object of prayer which in turn works as seed of consciousness for which invocation is made. And one way of doing it is by awakening our consciousness or by focusing our attention (tawajjuh as it is known in Sufism, spiritual attention)

The reason why the most illuminated human beings who have walked on this earth have meditated, prayed in long prayer, have immersed themselves in undisturbed space and time of heart prayer is not because they wanted to achieve external piety or religiousness but because it is through the exercise of prayer, the consciousness of human being become heightened. And when such heightened consciousness arrive, and something is prayed for either of the present which is constantly moving towards the future - this also affect the past. Wait a second, your mind may stop you. How come past can be affected.

Here is a simplified illustration. Lets say you make a niyyah or an intention (which again is an exercise of consciousness) to pray about something, say you ask for a beautiful job. The moment you make that intention or the moment you make that prayer, since time phenomena is indivisible, your past will be affected and links would have already been made in the past thanks to the prayer in the future which will yield fruit only in the present and in the future because we are swimming in the current of time. So that is how past is affected by events in the future. This is contrary to how we ordinarily perceive the world, but this only confirms all the enlightened traditions of humanity. 

Another example would, lets say you are praying for your good health now, and if you do so, in the past things will be arranged in a way that your biological body will receive such conditions and your physical reality will be shifted in such a way that you will receive good health in the now and in the future. In countless medical research it has been found out that those who are spiritual and religious and observe a religious methodology enjoy much sound health than rest of us. Those who have heightened consume much much less medicine to cope with sleeplessness, anxiety and hundreds of other false diseases that we have invented and named only recently.

What we call destiny, qadr of Allah - the paradox of it is dissolved only by attaining an enlightened view of this reality.

Through the supplication (du'a) the Decree of God (qadr Allah) is changed.
- Saying of the Seal of Prophets (s)

Art by Roya Ma | Spirit Collage by Truth Works

 3.
The wise sage have been saying from the past, "You shall only reap what you sow."

The heir of the wise ones add, "The field in which you sow your seed, it's limitless boundary extends not only in the future, but also in the past. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

For those who worked righteousness in this world, a good reward. God's earth is spacious, and those who steadfastly persevere will receive their recompense generously, without limits. - The Final Testament: 39:10

... their Lord responds to them: 'I will not let the deeds of any doer among you go to waste,  whether male or female - you are both the same in that respect .. The best of all rewards is with God.' - The Final Testament, 3:195

Sadiq M. Alam

Dhaka, June 2011

# Related:

* The Intention Experiment

* Tawajjuh in Sufism: Spiritual Focus and Attention

Pin It Now!

Nothing can befall us | meditative quranic verses

Qul: "lan yuseebana illama kataba-Allahu 
lana Huwa Mawlana,
wa ala Allahi fal yatawakkali al mu'minoon."


Say and penetrate into this deep reality:

"Nothing can befall us, except what Allah has ordained for us. 

Hu is our Supreme Lord.

And upon Allah let the faithful put their trust."

- The Quran 9:51

The above Ayah or Sign from the Quran is simultaneously a protection, healing and a guidance to the truth of higher reality where only Divine Will, Divine Ordination exists. The will of human or any other free-willed-creature is infinitesimally small subset of the Grand Set of Divine Will. The above Ayah is also an invocation for those who aspire to attain a tranquil and reassured heart (hadiyal wa qalb mutmayini).

To those whom God the Most High by His Grace have opened the door of unseen knowledge, understand the secret of faith. The universe is a mirror, so is the inner Heart of Man and in both of these mystical mirror man finds reflected that which he attain faith unto. If a person has faith upon the healing of a saintly soul, simply touching the coat tail of the saint heals him. When such miracle of healing happened in the time of Christ, our blessed Master, may we receive sanctity from his honored station, in simple truth he openly transmitted this secret, "Take heart! Your faith has healed you." Its that simple. The very substance of faith, which appear to be so unsophisticated, because it is a function of innocence - this "faith" holds the greatest power of transformation. The reality changes and transforms in proportion to the degree of faith (imaan). 

Indeed God testifies, as do His Angels, to this that Thy Will (mashi'yatiki) in all-things is the essence (dhat) of the Will of God (dhat mashi'yat'ul'Lah) in Thy rank (fi rutbatiki) and that Thy Volition (iradatiki) is the essence of the Volition of God (dhat iradat'u'llah) within Thy station (fi maqamiki).
- the Bab, Prayer of Visitation for Fatima (ziyara't'ul-zahra'), translation by Nima W. Azal via MS. DLI. (Digital Library of Iran) 12448, p.186

Man is the maker of his reality because Man is God's secret and God alone is Real and God alone is the Totality of Reality. In Islamic sacred tradition (hadith qudsi) we find that God declares, "Man is My Secret and I Am His Secret." One aspect of this Secret of God - the totality of which is beyond words and description - part of it is deposited in Man's Heart. And this Secret operate with man's attainment of faith. Through attainment of faith, man aligns himself closer to the Reality by the Divine Permission.

Such grand is its depth that God is says, "I Am to My Servant as My servant beholds Me in his heart." That is to say, if man holds God as Merciful in the Heart, it is the divine mercy which overflows, if man holds God as only Beloved in the Heart, it is the divine love (hubb) which overtake the heart. Similarly when man understand the reality that there is no other will that operate independent of God's will, then according to that faith and its degree of attainment, he receives from the Divine Treasure. When man holds that it is the Merciful Lord who is in the Sovereign Chargé d'affaires, then nothing but Mercy shall cover man, nothing but grace shall arrive, no matter how from outside things may appear. Then every act transform into an act of overflowing mercy.

Thus as in the above Ayah God is teaching us to enter into this statement of Truth that says, "Nothing befall us except what the Divine has appointed." This is not a statement of fatalistic belief, but this is a statement that empower a human being beyond imagination, to such degree that has no limit, for God is unlimited in His mercy, in His generous giving and in His love. This empowers man because then man has nothing to fear in the earth and in the heaven and man has nothing to hold him anxious. For nothing can befall us except what Allah has ordained for us and servant knows that Allah is the Most Merciful, whose Mercy extends infinitely beyond everything else.What God has ordained for us is more honorary for humanity than what human being can do collectively in their limited knowledge mixed with ignorance (aviddya).

The above mentioned Ayah also describe the perfect station of illuminated souls, the saintly beings.

If man knew how infinitesimally small and weak is his will as compared to God's will, he will only feel honored in understanding the truth when its said, "Nothing can befall us except what Allah has ordained for us." It is through penetrating in such truth, the saints become peaceful like an infant child who sleep peacefully in the arm of her mother untouched by any anxiety, thus also the saints radiate peace like a child illumed by complete trust upon the mother. For the saintly souls it suffice for their complete peace what God has ordained for them, for Allah is the Best of Knower and Best among who gives Mercy, and Allah knows best our true royal nature.

As Hafiz says, "Remember for just one minute of the day, it would be best to try looking upon yourself more as God does, for She knows your true royal nature." And it is more fitting for our royal nature what God, the Supremely Royal has ordained for us. Thus the saints arrive at the tranquility of their heart in knowing and realizing that "Nothing can, and nothing shall befall on them except what their Beloved has ordained for them." This is the secret of attaining a peaceful, serene and tranquil heart.

'lan yuseebana illama kataba-Allahu' ... "Nothing can befall us except what Allah has ordained for us" - say inside of yourself and say outside of yourself and invite faith upon your heart. Say it more than once, say it seven times, say it hundred times, say it as long as it takes until you arrive at its reality (haqiqa) and may we continue to "walk" until we are made to arrive. May Allah increase our capacity to place trust in Him alone, for "Huwa Mawlana", He alone is our Sovereign Master, our Lord. May Allah take us not away until we learn to place trust upon Him in every affair. Indeed all perfection is Allah's and from Allah arrives every perfection.

Allah! Allah! Ya Allah!


Related:
* Guided are the Hearts
* Tawakkul | complete dependence & sacred trust in Allah
* Series on Meditative Quranic Verses

Pin It Now!

In Praise of the Grace | from Bostan of Saadi Shirazi

In the Name of the Lord of the worlds and the Creator of life who is the Bestower of the power of speech and articulation, the Judge, the Supreme Knower, the Forgiver, the Helper, the Acceptor of petition, the Absolver of wrongdoings. He is such a Unique honorer and the Bestower of honor that whosoever in disobedience turned away from His court, has only received dishonor - for true honor and grace flows from the Supreme Source alone. Even the heads of the most mighty earthly rulers and emperors must bow down in front of His awesome court.

But such is His grace and clemency that He does not capture and punish the disobedient and the arrogant immediately. He never oppress in driving away those who surrender to Him, for He is the Acceptor of repentance. If you’ve earned His displeasure in your turning away from Him through wrong doings, even then re-turn to Him again and again through repentance, for He is the Ever Merciful. He will then dismiss your case and show you His boundless mercy and compassion.

According to the way of this world: when a son shows disobedience and dishonor his father, the father becomes displeased and angry with the son. If one relative is displeased with another who may be related by the bond of blood, still he might drive that relative away from his house like strangers. If employee does not perform according to instructions, the employer naturally gets annoyed and irritated and loves not the employee. If a friend is not friendly and affectionate to one another, the tie of friendship becomes loose and relationship fall apart. If a solider desert the service by not obeying the command of his leader, surely his commander will be displeased and give punishment according to military rule.

Yet the Lord of the entire cosmos is so Merciful that He never stops providing sustenance due to the wrongdoing of His creatures. He endlessly covers the mistakes, disobedience, ignorance and forgetfulness of His servants by His infinite patience. The whole expanse of the earth is His, yet when human beings plunder the earth, destroying its resources through greed He is ever Merciful through His Mercy and discriminate none in providing their share of bounty. If He were to take account every oppressor and wrongdoers, who would get respite from His awesome divine fury?

His Holy Essence is forever free from associate, consort or any otherness (ghairullah). He in His Essence is Incomparable (la sharika laHu), His Kingdom is independent from the obedience or disobedience of mankind and any other creature. The carpet of His generosity is so vast that even the tiniest of tiny and the largest of the large get their provision without ceasing. The Real Doer of all Actions, the expander of Mercy, Infinitely Gracious and the fully Aware of every secret. Only He is worthy of Self-Glory and Pride, for His Kingdom is ever-lasting and His Great Being is Independent. He makes whomsoever rich and kings and He takes away wealth, health and resource in an instant. To some He may bestow temporal authority and power and to others he may try with harsh hardship.

He transforms a pit of fire into a bed of flower for Abraham and for another group He takes them from the water of red sea to fire (Pharaoh and his soldiers who pursued Moses and Children of Israel). The first of this is the command of His Mercy and the second informs of His Might.

He observes every single misdeeds and wrongdoings, yet with His own veil of mercy He veils them. If He were to unveil His wrath, even the angels near His Presence would become deaf, mute and dumb in fear. If He were to announce His reward, even the devil would cry out for his share. In His magnanimous court of greatness and majesty, even the greatest of the saints put down their turban of sainthood, for in His Glory no other glory is worthy of existence.

Those who are gentle, He draws them near to His presence through His mercy. He grants the petition of those who cry out to Him. He is the Wholly Aware of all events; the most hidden secrets are manifest to His infinite knowledge. In His infinite power and might, He is the preserver of the heaven and the hearth, the Accountant on the Day of Accounting. No one is free from His all encompassing command and none can interfere to His will. He is forever the Doer of Good and loves those who do good. He is the Artist who draws the fate of every child while they are still in mother’s womb. He has floated the celestial bodies into the cosmos in their destined path and has spread the carpet of earth on the planet making it a place of dwelling.

He has stabilized the earth through mountains and has suspended it without support in the empty space. Such Incomparable Fashioner is He that He brings out beautiful faced human being from a drop of rejected fluid. Is there any other artist like Him?

He hides precious jewels inside hardened rock, He makes infinite colors to bloom on branches of countless trees that draw their nutrients from the colorless earth. He sends rain drop from rain clouds into the ocean, making beautiful pearl out of it and He guide a drop of liquid from the father’s loin into the mother’s womb to Fashion beautifully shaped human child. Every kind of science and knowledge is His and nothing is hidden from His knowing. To Him the zahir and the batin (the manifest and the hidden) is not two but one.

He is the Provider of food even for the creatures who is without hand and without feet (the snakes) and He is also the Provider even for the most tiny and weak (microbes, ants). According to His divine command, existence came into being from non-existence, which again will return to non-existence from this very existence as we know it. From there on He will take them into another existence on the expansive court on the Day of Final Resurrection. The whole of creation are not in denial of His Lordship, but humanity has failed to grasp His Unique Countenance.

Humanity has grasped nothing beyond His Jalal and vision have failed to reach the furthest end of His Jamal. Neither the bird of intellect can fly high enough in the sky of His Unfathomable Being (Jaat), nor can the hand that searches endlessly through mazes of countless human minds can touch His Never exhausting Attributes (Sifat). In this maze of divine paradox many thousands of boats have capsized, not even a single plank has reached the shore.

The author of this writing has spent many countless nights sitting and contemplating and suddenly this indescribable awe has come and overwhelmed me. The Pure Knowledge of Allah is encompassing the entire cosmos, human conception based on temporal reality can never grasp that Reality. Intellect can never reach the root of His Being, your seeking will ever fall short of His infinite attributes. The Holiest of Holy Who has no comparisons, His Haqiqat (Reality) is unreachable.

Many distinguished beings of humanity have run their horses in this path and even the highest Messengers and Avatars and Prophets have become speechless in their attempt to describe what is indescribable. Every course and field is not suitable to run the horse upon. Those who have drunk from this cup of pure gnosis have lost consciousness. A single glance at that Pure Light is enough to blind you for the rest of your existence.

The phoenix who has began this journey, begin with its eyes closed and has not witnessed the Tajalli (Divine Manifestation) yet, while the phoenix who has advanced has its wings clipped, for there is no return to the same place for one who has roamed in the placeness.

If you wish to become a traveler and cross over to the other side of the ocean of ma’arifa (gnosis) then destroy and put ablaze the ship of return. Contemplate upon the mirror of your heart and layer by layer embark upon the grand act of purification, only praiseworthy action to return to the original Face that was your Face before you were born. Perhaps the fragrance of divine love will arrive and capture you and would aspire you to fulfill your promise (from the Day of promise in the pre-eternity when all of humanity answered when God asked, “Am I not your Lord?” by saying, “Yes! We testify that You are our Lord”).

First you shall walk upon this path of purification. From there on you shall fly on the wings of love. After that you shall penetrate the veils of concepts, beliefs and certainty. There shall remain no other veil but the Jalal of the Most High. After this your spaceship of conscience shall come to a halt. Bewilderment will seize it by commanding, “Stop! Here is your limit.”

None has dived in this ocean of gnosis more perfectly reaching its furthest depth except the Seal (s). Any one who has failed to follow this path might have traveled great distance but have only gained exhaustion and confusion. Those who have disobeyed the Master of Mystic, the Praised one, have not reached the station of praise. O friend, never ever allow this imagination that you may arrive at the door of ma’arifa devoid of obedience to the Praised Master, may peace and blessings be upon his soul.

- Non-literal translation from the Bostan of Shaykh Sa’adi Shirazi, one of the most gifted sufi poet and writer and disciple of the Sufi master and gnostic Sheikh Shahabud-Din Sahrawardi, may Allah be pleased with them both.

How could I ever thank my Friend?

How could I ever thank my Friend?

No thanks could ever begin to be worthy.

Every hair of my body is a gift from Him;

How could I thank Him for each hair?

Praise that lavish Lord forever

Who from nothing conjures all living beings!

Who could ever describe His goodness?

His infinite glory lays all praise waste.

Look, He has graced you a robe of splendor

From childhood's first cries to old age!

He made you pure in His own image; stay pure.

It is horrible to die blackened by sin.

Never let dust settle on your mirror's shining;

Let it once grow dull and it will never polish.

When you work in the world to earn your living

Do not, for one moment, rely on your own strength.

Self-worshiper, don't you understand anything yet?

It is God alone that gives your arms their power.

If, by your striving, you achieve something good,

Don't claim the credit all for yourself;

It is fate that decides who wins and who loses

And all success streams only from the grace of God.

In this world you never stand by your own strength;

It is the Invisible that sustains you every moment.

- by Saadi (1207 - 1291), English version by Andrew Harvey

> Dowload Bostan (the Garden) of Shaykh Saadi
* You may download the English translation Garden of Fragrance via Scribd
* Persian Version and other translations are available here.
* Poem and Biography of Saadi Pin It Now!