Abu Darda' then said, "l heard
the Messenger of Allah say: 'Whoever travels a path seeking sacred
knowledge, Allah will place him on a path leading to Paradise. The
angels lower their wings for the student of sacred knowledge, pleased
with what he is doing.”
Now that the blessed month of Ramadan
is over, it's time to think about the year ahead. Our iman is high
and we want to keep that peaceful happy feeling. Have you ever
wondered why we are so happy in Ramadan? It's because we do what we
were created to do. While we went without food, we were nourishing
our soul. What will keep your spirituality alive in the months to
come?
There are two ways to judge if
something is alive. One is through the existence of emotions and the
other is physical response. If you have ever had the pleasure of
watching a young child explore nature, then maybe you have observed
them determine whether a creature is alive or dead. What do they
instinctively do? They watch to see if it's moving or not. Then they
might poke at it with a finger or a stick. They are eager to know how
life works. The philosophical tale of Hayy ibn Yaqzan takes us
through this thought process. An feral child named Hayy
ibn Yaqzan, drifts ashore on an uninhabited island in a sealed ark.
Alone on the island, the boy is adopted by a gazelle. When he is 7,
the gazelle dies. The child, who previously knew nothing about death,
wishes that the gazelle were alive again. In an effort to find the
part of his gazelle-mother that is not working correctly anymore, he
opens up the chest of the gazelle and examines the lungs and heart.
He finds the heart to be an empty compartment that is missing
something and concludes that the soul is missing. He further
concludes that the real person is the soul and not the body. Thus he
comes to understand the meaning and origin of the life-force and its
transitory entry and exit from any animated body. Hayy's sense of
solitude is altogether profound: it is a craving to know who and what
he is. Next, Hayy finds patterns and order in the natural world. He
observes that sustenance is provided to living creatures and
concludes that the sustainer is benevolent and caring. Imitating
benevolence, he frees plants from choking vines and assists and feeds
animals in distress. He imitates the purity of the stars by keeping
himself washed and clean. Noticing the obedient movement of the
heavenly bodies, he traces circles in his daily walks and spins,
imitating their orbit. He comprehends that the whole universe is
Muslim. It surrenders to the divine purpose. At the end of his
enquiry, Hayy truly expresses the meaning of his name - “Living son
of the Awake One”.
For our spiritual heart to stay awake,
we need to fill it with understanding. How do we make every thought
and action a prayer? Just like Hayy, we need to pay attention. To
know and experience the divine attributes of Allah (swt) in the
world, we must become a spiritual traveller. Wakefulness is essential
on the spiritual journey. “And
He it is Who spread the earth and placed mountains and streams in it
and inserted in it two pairs of the each kind of fruit. He covers the
day with the night. Certainly, there are signs in these matters for a
people who reflect.”
(Surah Ar-Rad verse 3) There are so many things we can do to
polish our hearts on our journey. First we need to do some personal
accounting to manage the 168 hours in a week. Finding time in a busy
work week requires a bit of planning. A good practice is to remember
and understand one or two of His beautiful names per week. Another
practice is to choose an ayat and learn all you can about it's
meaning. Khutbas are readily available from modern scholars and it
takes only 10-15 minutes a day to listen to one on the drive to work.
What do you do on your 15 minute break? How about tasbih while your
tea cools? And after your tea cools, savour each sip. Take a walk in
a nearby park, enjoying and reflecting on nature. Write your thoughts
down in a journal. Consider your role models and how you can be more
like them. Doing a little extra spiritual work each day will change
the way we pay attention to the particularities and distinctiveness
of our actions.
It is important to understand that
contemplation has many grades and many types. Tasbih, muraqaba,
taffakur and murabita are the four recognized Islamic forms. As usual
it is always important to approach contemplation with logic and
humbleness. The origin of Islamic meditation comes from the practice
of the Beloved Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s peace and blessings
be upon him, who would frequently resort to the Cave of Hira at night
to seek comfort in the Remembrance of Allah. The Beloved Messenger of
Allah says in a Hadith, “…If your state of mind is always the
same as it is at the time of dhikr (remembrance of Allah), the Angels
would shake hands with you and would greet you on the path by saying,
‘Assalamu alaykum.’” [Muslim: Book 37, Hadith no. 6624]
Reflection for us is a progress on our
travels through this life. Reflection is to watch the heart and fill
it with thoughts of Allah so that Allah's remembrance dominates the
heart and soul and becomes ones natural state. Muraqaba is sometimes
for lack of a better word translated as “meditation”. The goal of
Budhist meditation for example is to still the mind and essentially
stop “thinking”. The use of unsolvable riddles called koans –
most famously “what is the sound of one hand clapping?” exercises
the mind away from reality. The purpose of muraqaba is not a mind
exercise, but an exercise of the heart. In this way it differs from
what is commonly understood as meditation. We can examine Shaykh
Sayed Nurjan Mirahmadi's instructions:
One
begins by first praying 2 raka’ Tahiyyatul Wudu. It is important to
keep in mind the purpose and meaning of the prayer, its movements and
inner aspects. The perfection of prayer is in Sayyidina Muhammad (S)
and in the very state of his being. The actual movements correspond
to the letters of his divine name, “Ahmad.” When standing one is
in the position of the Alif. In ruku, the letter Ha is formed. Sajda
is the Meem. And jalsah, or sitting, is the Dal. Thus, one must seek
to become one with the reality of the prayer, which is nothing other
than the reality of Sayyidina Muhammad (S).
An
often sited argument against these explanations is that metaphors are
used to the detriment of plain fact. When everything becomes
metaphorical, there is no sharia and this affects the deen
negatively. Imam Al-Ghazali's rebuttal was that meaning is not held
in metaphors only, or facts only but outward and inward understanding
must be given equal and balanced value.
“He
is the First and the Last, and the Outward and the Inward, and He is
the Knower of all things.” (Qur'an
57:3)
Murabita involves connecting with our Prophet Mohammad or a Friend of God and considering their beautiful character and nearness to Allah. Send greetings, peace and blessings to them expecting to be dressed with beautiful character, wisdom and understanding by virtue of association. In this sense we reflect on positive role models which offer enriching paradigms to emulate as well as motivate and inspire us to positive action.
Now that the blessed month of Ramadan
is over, it's time to become wayfarers on a spiritual journey seeking
knowledge to enhance our daily practices. We are given the means to
choose the right tools to remove the barking dogs from our house so
the angels may enter in. Muraqabah
is making Hijra from one’s self to Allah (swt). Experiencing
and enjoying the practices and applications of Islamic meditation
compound the depth of realization. Each person who strives toward an
awake state will perceive truths according to their capability. Each
person, a differently colored jewel will reflect the same light but
with a different intensity and hue.
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