Searching For a Murshid – Healer of the Hearts

June 22nd, 2011

I woke up to the harsh reality of being alone in this entire world. All my fellow passengers were no more with me. And, I could find no trace of any being near me. I walked for miles and kept on walking on the trodden trails until I reached a spring. I sat on a large rock and put my legs in the freezing water. The icy water was giving me refreshing feelings and let go of the heat escaping through my eyes, hair and from the back of my neck. It was relaxing. I closed my eyes and felt like drowning in the serene numbness. It was reaction of the cold mountain water. My mind was no longer attentive to the pains and the aches. Everything was fading away.

I was losing memories of what had happened to me all these times while I was in the journey. My pains were leaving my body as it turned cold and numb. At last, I am where I meant to be – relaxed – not aware of my surroundings – tired but still keeping little hope inside me. I was near to my destination. Yes, I am finally there.

I had forgotten my path. I was astray but now I feel I am there. The fountain oozing out of the mountainous grounds will take me directly to where I need to belong. I need to belong to those valleys of love where springs and lakes give birth to idyllic banks. I need to belong to those high wild mountains where flowers in vivacious colors bloom at dawn. Where I can touch the clouds and feel the wind beneath my arms, caressing the sides of my body as I spread my arms – I am ready to embrace the realities – no more give me pain – I am ready to jump in the ocean of rainbow colors –  I am absorbing all the energies like a sponge in water. I am flying and flying and flying again.

When a person wakes up after long sleep, he finds out that all he saw or did was in his dream. A long dream that sometimes looks so real. Waking up also means getting rid of false ego – false notions – false truths. The world with its so much charm is nothing more than but beautiful illusion. No one can live in his or her dreams forever. So, one day every being or nafs wakes up to find him all alone in the jungle. He is left alone because all those who were with him left behind, as they could not break the spell. Like that, story where the people were warned not to look back and if they did they would be turned into stones. Same way if the person cannot give up the thoughts of what he left behind he can lose his track and concentration – turn into a stone.

That trodden path or trail is the same track many people before him had walked on. It is full of dangers and risks. It is not easy but every person who wanted to reach the destination had to be on it. Perhaps, the right path is the most difficult thing to follow but those who wanted to reach the fountains of real knowledge or ilm had never left their heart. The springs of Noor or Divine Light ooze out of the illuminated heart. Those who had given up on their Nafs or Ego are the owners of such illuminated hearts. From their heart comes out the wisdom – the true words – the real love and blessed are those who reach to them for the connection of their heart to them.

When the seeker finds the true healer of hearts or Murshid he knows he has come to his final destination. His worldly lust will now leave him forever and he will find peace in the feet of his master or Murshid. The search for Murshid keeps him perturbed and he remains anxious after the awakening begins.  His curiosity never subsides until he drowns him in the waters of spring. He feels calm and relaxed and wants to start from scratch. Knowing only this time he is going to find a way to please Him SWT at last. His quest begins in the dark corners of his heart and ends in the bright circle of Noor. After finding the Murshid he has done him a great big favor and now he can find some time to relax.

The true Murshid will intoxicate him with the true love and let him drown in the ocean of Noor. The real Murshid can adorn his heart with wisdom – let him recognize the true path to reach Falah or the higher level of tranquility and peace. The one who is sent by Allah SWT will release the heart of the seeker of all doubts, fears, and illusions and inform him of the unseen and hidden qualities, attributes and capabilities. He shall remove the veils of darkness and falsehood and at the same time prepare him for the eternal realities.

The seeker will now feel no more lonely and alone. He will find more like him and they are his true relations made by heart. Every seeking heart for truth shall connect the other heart beseeching Divine. The one who has the questions in his or her heart to know the reality of his or her being, presence on earth and the true spirit of Deen should find them true masters to keep them safe. Satanic interventions are stronger in the heart of true seeker so he or she may refrain from all those activities that bring him or her in a problematic situation.

Get in touch with your real healer of heart and get cured by his words, his intentions and prayers. To seek the true healer, Murshid, or teacher there is a way. First of all, Ask Allah ji SWT for the trace of real Murshid for you and then search the person who is following Quran and Sunah in the highest manner and who is soft spoken, well versed with Fiqa, Tafseer and Shira, equipped with latest scientific knowledge, psychology, philosophy, social sciences. The real Murshid will have all the qualities to be superior to others and he will be the true successor of Aqa Kareem our Beloved Prophet Sallalaho alay hi wasalam.

Journey of A Nafs Part 3

June 12th, 2011

His heart has turned into the heart of one who is caring for humankind. He has been blessed with satisfaction to his soul and this time he is so sure of the source. His life is perfect with no chains of worldly passions and he has learned to live according to the will of Allah SWT.

Did you wonder if this was the final developmental stage of nafs or this is as far as it can go? Then you are very wrong. It was just the awakening – just the beginning of another life – another realm – another world. This is not the end of the story.

His heart is beginning to attune with the nature and the Creator. He finds him free of so many chains and now is the time to fly with no weight of sins upon the shoulder – the biggest sin for him from this point onwards will be to be disobedient.

His disobedience will be to remain ignorant of the feeling of his Beloved Lord. His absence or ignorance from observing the name of Allah SWT could cost him to pay a lot in form of regrets and bring his heart to the remorse. Now he will not cry for the unfulfilled desires, broken promises, and loss of health, wealth or love. These were all worldly desires. He comes out of the shadows of pain and sheds no tears except for the sake of his separation from his Beloved Allah SWT.

When he is in pain, he would not complain because he feels it is meant for his good. He objects to nothing and never develops regrets. He is grateful, and thankful and obliged all the time. He has surrendered his will for the Will to Allah SWT and fully turned towards His Lord Allah Almighty SWT. This is called the Nafs of Radiyah.

The moment he crosses the 5th stage of nafs strange development starts happening in him. All of a sudden, he is selected to be given the awareness of true realities. He is at an exalted place and now he is in position to receive the direct orders from his Lord. He is told to spread the knowledge – the real knowledge of the true path – the blessed knowledge of the blessed path. He sees the worldly desires come in front of him and he turns his face away.

He has everything yet he owns nothing. He has all power given by Allah SWT and yet he does not use his power unless permission granted by Allah SWT. He could be Murshid/Shiekh or the teacher and have many obedient pupils.

He could be very rich, very highly educated or simply an illiterate person working in the fields. Nobody can know the real identity of this person. He has grown fond of silence and he hardly says anything but what his Allah SWT allows him to utter. He remains indulged in the beauty and charm of his true Beloved and the inner realms. The rest seems of no interest or values so little.

He must have been born lucky or perhaps some sort of act or good deed has brought him far. He was alone in this long journey. But these are just manmade assumptions. We can never be able to know how/why/when. All we can say that he wished and was chosen as per the order of the Generator – The Orator – the Designer – in short, Allah Subhana Wa Tallah. He is now at the stage of Nafs of Mardiyah. He is now a teacher, a healer, a contemplator, a believer and a true lover.

The final and the highest stage that a nafs can achieve and bear is by selecting the highest degree of attainment and perfection as this stage is called the Nafs of Pureness. Not many can reach to this stage so high and exalted. It is not in the hands of any person to bring anyone to this final destination and stage of nafs. It is only the will and order of Allah SWT to choose anyone among His SWT servants.

The stage that the person has reached with all the efforts and obedience – the place where there is nothing but the Noor of Allah SWT. His heart illuminates with the blessing and kindness of Allah SWT.

He is now ready to take on the responsibilities imposed by Allah SWT. He can be a Saint of some high order or somebody not visible to the people. He prays and his prayers are heard. He thinks and he is granted. He is given without wanting. He is rewarded with the true love from the Allah SWT. He knows and shares all the secrets of hearts. He is given the strength to sow the seed of love in an unfertile womb.

He is given the strength to change the things to benefit others by supplication and he is given the highest place among his fellowmen. Only a few could come this far and some of them went further. Beyond the limits of this world, there is another world where the advanced knowledge is and there seems to have no limits. It is only the Creator and slaves of His SWT servants of Allah SWT know.

Nafs of the man has immense powers and strengths given by Allah SWT. The person can explore and expose some of them. Use the powers but only if one has given up on the ego and surrendered his will, his desires, his dreams and his ego in front of Allah SWT. He has to be ready to serve and stand in front of his Lord and Beloved, from dawn till dusk. Allah is One and Only, and only He SWT can bring the tranquility and peace of mind. The rest Allah knows the best.

Journey of A Nafs Part 2

June 12th, 2011

The negligence towards the Divine caused him a lot of suffering. At one point of his life, it made him pay a lot. He accuses his own heart, confesses, repents and asks for the forgiveness. The Creator listens to his prayers and contemplations. He is being heard well and the veils on his heart are lifted.

The person comes under new light and he can see the new picture. A picture that he painted himself – only this time his Lord want him to take the brush, load it with opaque color and start repainting. He covers the canvas and prepares a new base. He loads his brush again but this time he is wise. He selects the beautiful subtle shades. All the colors of nature around him and those that he just became aware of – hues of red, blue and yellow – with lots of pure white to create all the new tints of life.

He has come to know of the One and Only God, Allah SWT. He starts getting his inspirations from everything around him. From the plants – from the wind – from the sun, stars and moon – from his son, daughter and friends – from strangers – from the pets – from the books, movies and songs – from the poems and prose – He can see the signs of His sovereignty everywhere. His heart has reached the third stage called the nafs of Mulhamah.

Allah SWT has given to his heart the strength it needed to break free the chains of selfishness, anger, resentment, jealousy, regrets, sadness, falsehood and break all the idols he once formed in his heart knowingly and unknowingly. He is blessed with the insight to go beyond the limitations of his hands and feet and all of the five senses. He can feel with his sixth sense and the barren land of his heart has become fertile enough to sow the seed of love for cultivation.

His heart has got all the ingredients to grow the seed and now he waits for the gardener to water and let the sprouting begin. This small seed of love will need lots of care, patience and constant attention of the gardener to grow into small plant. With regular care and effort, the small plant will turn into a huge tree with roots deeper in the soils of his heart. His roots will be able to suck all the water from deep below to use it for the nourishment of his soul.

He can survive for days without the food but may not rest long to get food for his soul. At the current stage and later on he would have no fear to put him in melancholy. He is granted the real knowledge with amalgamation of his beliefs. The blend is perfect with information, experience and patience he has collected over the years. From the first stage to the third followed by the fourth the person goes through awesome, tiresome and of course, rewarding journey of his nafs and soul.

He has now entered the fourth stage of nafs called the Nafs of Mutmainnah. He has turned his dissatisfaction in to tranquility and his nature has transformed from the unrest to serene. The fruit of his efforts is now about to grow on the tree he planted so long ago. He has reached to the state of calmness, Gayan, Nirvana and found his salvation. He did not have to quit the world and go to the jungles. All he needed to do was to realize his own self and explore.

Only the self-realization has done the trick and it has brought him to where he is. He is no more a victim of depression, possessed by worldly desires, haunted by his own consciousness. He has broken the idols in his heart and now he will live as a free man. He bows down to supremacy of Allah SWT and gives up his will to please Him SWT.

Continue Part 3…

Journey of A Nafs Part 1

June 12th, 2011

The spirit of the person grows inside his body. For some people this growth is slow and gradual yet for other few the growth of the spirit is at fast pace. The growth of the spirit means the awareness through real knowledge – self-realization – that comes to the illuminated heart and purified soul.

Without body, the spirit or soul of the person is like someone with no legs. The body is the transporter, a container or simply legs of the spirit. The eyes, ears and rest of the senses are tools that help in exploring, cultivating experiences through observations and are the hands of the spirit. The heart is the place where your spirit resides.

Blind heart can never see the reality and thus remains busy in the worldly desires. The spirit with body and five senses remains crippled due to the ill treatment of soul given by heart. The heart full of desires is your nafs and lowly. The spirit of such person remains standing at a station where there is no traffic and the trains never run on those tracks. His state would be like the passenger with luggage in hand but nowhere to go. He is lost in the jungle of his own desires. This is the first stage called the Nafs of Ammarah where the person finds himself – all so addicted and attracted towards the worldly desires.

This stage of Nafs of Ammarah is very dangerous. His own body, hands, feet, tools to contemplate, and logic has gone against him and – his will – his mind – his soul is enslaved. This slavery continues and the person remains lost amidst the flow of his emotions in the heart. He feels angry and loses temper more often. He hardly can resist from being a spendthrift. All that matters to him is his arrogant and ignorant ego.

He is self centered and far away from the point of self-realization. He fights with or without any reason and destroys whatever that comes his way or bothers him. His conscious mind whispers to him no more. He hardly follows any religion or believes in what he says at all. His heart goes rusty – he has lost the tranquility and satisfaction to keep him relaxed – Nothing but repentance can release him off his aches and pains.

Soon the person finds him a solution and an end to his ailment. His spirit or soul has learned its lesson, grew tired of the less mobility, and wanting to break free the cage. New thoughts and ideas are striking his mind. He has his hands on more information and knows about new realities. It includes shown to him the real faces of his beloveds. The people whom he considered his friends turn out to be his biggest enemies.

He meets tragedies in life and knows of the bitter realities now. This is the time he is about to enter the second stage of nafs. It is called the Nafs of Lawamma. This is the stage where regrets develop and painful remorse grows. His heart begins to think of his Creator and the One whom he always had ignored. He wishes to get rid of his cowardice – lies – entrapments of desires to get freedom his heart ached for. This is when he finds him standing at a fork all the time. The heart begins to heal and start growing the wings to have the first flight outside his self-created realm and false universe.

This is the time he needs support. He is still not that strong. He needs to support and being told that he can do it if he struggles a little more. He needs to listen to the magical worlds that say ‘Everything is going to be ok.’ But this condition can be very much unpredictable. He might quit on what he received today and you might find him back to track next day. Following the next day, you find him on the same track and in the same cumbersome situation again.

His will power is not much stronger to support him to do the right thing and take the right step. So, he is still in the danger zone. One wrong word – a single wrong step – a small unlucky event, bad incident or mishap – can make him forget what he was told. This leads him back to the same point where he was standing a while ago. This is the state of confusion.

Continue for Part 2…

What is nafs?

June 9th, 2011
by Sufia

I was not conscious where I was. That sharp pain brought me back to conscious. I did not know for how long I remained there unconscious. I opened my eyes and saw the clear blue sky and the glare of sun made my eyes shut again. The sun was too sharp and brutal to my eyes.

I put my arm on the eyes to protect them. I could feel the warm sand beneath me.

My chapping lips, dried without water, badly needed few drops of water to wet them. “Water!” I could hardly hear my plea. This time I was a bit louder “Water!”

I gathered my courage, tried to sit on my elbows, and lifted my head. All I could see was sand all around me. I was in the middle of nowhere. The scorching heat was melting the juice of my brains. I forgot the situation I was in and frantically looking around to see if I had anything to soak my drying throat. It was like thorns grown in my gullet.

There was no flask around me to quench my thirst. I was longing for chilled drink. Perhaps this was the beginning of end or I was having the worst nightmare of my life.

“Is it real?” I shook my head in disbelief.

“No! No! This can’t be”

“But then what happened?”

“Where am I?”

“Why am I here in the heart of waterless ocean? Not even a single drop of water. What the hell happened to me?”

The realization of being alone suddenly went through my soul and I shuddered. I was scared like a goat about to be sacrificed to please the angry gods. “Am I being reprimanded or is it the price I pay for my sins?”

This is exactly how the person with uncontrollable nafs or worldly desires feels at some point of his life. The cruel nafs or the heart full of desires can never allow the inner self to contemplate. It only brings shame and the person to unwanted ill situations. Nafs is like a wild horse and unless you put the reins on it and tame it – it goes on running wild without knowing what its master is going through. It will drag you to the deserted land of sand where you will long for a drop of water. Unless you harness the horse with firm hold on the reins, it will not stop but drag you towards unknown dangers.

Your nafs or heart can be purified with a single drop of tear from your eyes in repentance. You can put reins of Shira on your nafs and tame it strongly by following the Quran and Sunah. Once it is tamed, it will become your slave and take you towards the right destination. The above nightmare can turn into a reality and the materialistic desires can lead you to the middle of nowhere.

The Reality of Sufism

June 9th, 2011
by Sufia

sufism 0721 The Reality of SufismTotal understanding of the religion you are following is very important. It does not matter if you have just embrace Islam or were a born Muslim. The best way to understand Islam is to learn it from those people who have walked on the path of Islam and adopted completely without any prejudice or conditions.

The people who believe in following the true path and remain stable with faith in their hearts are the blessed ones. The blessed souls appointed by Allah SWT are meant to provide guidance to the ignorant hearts. They are known as Saints or Wali Allah and they are the friends of Allah SWT. Their path or the way of preaching is to teach Islam for the illumination of hearts by following Quran and Sunah. This is the Sufism.

Sufism is not something that you cannot understand. By understanding Sufism, it does not mean you are a Sufi. There is so much information available in the books and on the portal of internet.

Lot of People who have read and shared information about Sufism or Tasawaf are not necessarily the true followers or leaders. Not every religious person and practicing Muslim can be declared as the real Sufi because Sufism is not merely fulfilling the obligations or unusual practices. Sufism is the real understanding of Islam and adaptation of Deen after lot of meditation, contemplation, acceptance with all your senses present from the heart.

Sufism teaches never to believe without asking question. It is not something that invites the follower to walk blindfolded. Sufism is the reality of religion and the true spirit of Islam. It is not based on personal perceptions but its foundation is laid on the complete comprehension of Islam.