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Normally the Sufism and
spiritualism come under criticism that the Companions of the Holy Prophet (God
be pleased with them) did not take the trouble of compiling the spiritual
sciences in the era of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). And, since the
Companions (R.A) did not properly document the spiritual sciences and no
authority as such is found on the basis of which the spirituality could be
acknowledged. This also is said that this all is an ancient knowledge related
to Hinduism or the mysticism of Judaism or Christianity, who had opted to take
refuge in monastic ways of life after dissociating themselves from the
obligations of the worldly life. And, that God has not created the universe and
its beauties to be avoided, to escape from them and confine in isolation. It
has always been attempted to condemn Spiritualism and Sufism by objections like
these.
The relation of man and jinn with God is basically of
two types. One, when the Beatific Vision of God attracts a person towards
itself and God and the Attributes of God are firmly established in the thinking
pattern of that person and whenever he attends to any worldly matter his
attention should remain directed towards God. This was the thinking pattern of
the prophets of God. One form of this certitude is to practically feel the
presence of God. Holy Prophet has termed this type of certitude as Martaba-e-Ehsan.
As far non-compiling of knowledge
in the times of the Companions of the Prophet is concerned, it was only because
of the fact that the devoted companions were so much in love with the Prophet (PBUH)
that to quench the thirst of their souls the sheer presence of the Prophet (PBUH)
was enough for them. And, they used to remain engrossed, for the most of their time, in the personality, sayings, acts and
deeds of the Prophet (PBUH). They had a special interest in whatsoever the Prophet (PBUH)
used to say and because of their close association with the Prophet (PBUH)
they had developed the ability to have access to the actual meanings of that
what the Prophet (PBUH) had said to them. They used to fully benefit
themselves from the electrifying effect of the personality of the Prophet (PBUH)
and his sayings, upon which they used to contemplate with devotion and love.
This did not let them feel the need to devise any separate mechanism to store
the radiances in their souls by means of any austere exercises or practices.
They were familiar with the charismatic personality, radiant character and the
prophetic approach of thinking of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) without any
significant conscious endeavors on their part.
His Divine Grace Qalander Baba Auliya has stated, “
When I had the opportunity of visiting the celestial realms, I noticed that the
Human Souls (Arcanum and Spirit Subtleties) of the Companions were radiating
with the luminosity of Quran and Ahadiths, that is, they were full of
luminosity of Divinity and the prophethood.”
He also states, “ For this reason, the literature of
that era is found to be devoid of recital and other like materials regarding
the spiritual values. But, when the glow of Quran and Ahadiths started
fading away from the hearts of the people after the third generation of the
Companions, people who had thirst, felt that if they did not strive to pass on
the spiritual knowledge to the coming generation, it would be a great loss. So,
they looked for the means to store the prophetic luminance in their soul to enable
themselves to have the cognition of the Lord and devised rules and evolved a
system so that the every follower of the Prophet (PBUH) could benefit
himself from the spiritual knowledge by using it for the cognition of the soul
and the Lord Creator.
Shaikh Najumuddin and his disciples like Shaikh
Shahabuddin Suharwardi and Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti selected those verses of
the holy Quran and the Appellations of God, which could help in maximum storage
of the luminosity in the human mind.
These things are not found till the ear of Shaikh
Hassan Basri. It is an historical fact that Hazrat Ali had forbidden all the
preachers from preaching except Sheikh Hassan Basri. After the era of Hassan
Basri, a time came when the people started losing their interest in acquiring
the knowledge about God and His attributes, which was there in the era of the
Companions of the Prophet. Therefore the Spiritual scholars devised methods for
developing the spiritual approach of thinking. The method and the system
developed for having the prophetic approach is, technically, known as the
Correlation of Knowledge.
For learning the spiritual knowledge and to enter into
the spiritual realms there are two ways, one is Qurb-e-Nawafil and the
other is Qurb-e-Fariz and both of them are transferred to the spiritual
associates, either from their mentor or from a spiritual person. The spiritual
knowledge that is transferred from the souls of Auliya transfers by means of
Owaisian Correlation.
Hazrat Abdul Qadir Jillani discovered this correlation,
for the first time, during conducting influence. The spiritual knowledge is
transferred to the soul of the Associate, by means of this correlation, from
where it spring up like a fountain. This correlation is still in practice.
Benefits of this Correlation are delivered secretly through the Exalted Angels,
Souls of the prophets or the souls of the Auliya who enjoy the affinity of the
Obligatory rites; Qurab-e-Faraiz. For enjoying the benefits of this
correlation presence of the physical body is not necessary. It is a very
powerful and potent correlation, which is displayed at some later stage of life
and sometimes the person who happens to have this affinity does not know about
it, till it is actually exhibited.
When ain or sabita
are filled with the spiritual knowledge transferred through the souls of
Auliya, prophets or the Exalted Angels, as the case may be, the spiritual
associate enters into a state of Observation and first thing he witnesses are
the Exalted Angels, which include the Group of Gabriel, Michael, etc. These
exalted angels can be witnessed in Baitul Mamoor; The Inhabited
Dwelling, the second last station of the Angelic realm, after the High Throne
or Arsh.
This is the Correlation that was enjoyed by the most of
the Companions of the Prophet (PBUH). As stated earlier, the Companions
had so much interest in the personality of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) that
their ains were filled with the luminosity of the prophethood.
Definition of this correlation is that a spiritual associate is absorbed into a
spiritual person or absorbs a spiritual person in him. After this absorption
the state that prevails upon the associate is know as the Correlation of
Quiescence, which is the out-come of the combination of love and raptness.
This correlation helps in transferring the thinking
approach of the spiritual mentor to the associate and his thinking pattern
changes to such an extent that he also starts thinking in the same terms just
as his mentor does. All his acts and deeds just become the same like the one of
his mentor’s.
Once a person visited a sage and saw bandage tied around
his leg. When inquired, he was told that because of pain he was wearing that
bandage. Then, he went to see one of the disciples of that sage and to his
astonishment, he saw that the disciple, too, had the bandage on his leg because
of the pain identical to his mentor’s.
When the thinking approach of the mentor takes its
roots deeply in the associate, the subtleties of the associate starts getting
toned up. In Sufism, toning means to get away from one’s original design and be
molded into the mentor’s frame of design. When this happens the subtleties of
the associate are showered with the Elohistic Luminescence and the roots of
love of God are established firmly. And, whenever the associate looks into his
subtleties, he witnesses God. In his poetic way, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti said,
I behold the Friend with every breath of mine.
This is the correlation that, for
the first time, was given the name of the ‘Trace of the Untraceable’ by Khwaja
Bahaulhaq Waddin Naqshbandi and the same is now termed as ‘Memory’ by his
followers. In this correlation the mind of an associate is turned toward that
direction where the lights of Eternity prevail and the impressions of
pre-eternity are found. When the pre-eternity impressions; the Mind of God,
becomes the focus of attention, the associate is engulfed by a state whence
none except God is found. He starts witnessing God in everything, existing or
non-existing. It becomes his second nature that in every movement in every
action, in every deed, voluntarily or involuntarily, he starts searching for
God and his mind at its own finds a clue to the unity of Godhead. When this
situation intensifies and the associate is fully entrapped in it and finding no
way out, he surrenders himself at the mercy of the engulfing lights of this
correlation.
Let us consider this example.
We invariably drink many glasses of water daily but
this thing seldom comes to our mind that what this water is, how does it
quenches thirst, from where does the water come, whether this water is from the
well, is it the tape water, is this from a river or a spring? Ordinarily these
things do not come to our mind. We take water when we feel thirsty and that’s
all. But the person enjoying this correlation searches for God even in a glass
of water. He thinks about God who has created water. His deliberates about
water and discover the various resources of water supply to the creatures, for
instance, the ocean, the evaporation turning into clouds, raining and snowing
on the mountains and then melting of snow to flow into rivers.
Similarly is the case of a child born in a family. News
of a new birth pleases everyone around and that’s all. But, when a percipient,
cognizer or an associate of this correlation looks at the new born baby,
unintentionally he starts thinking that God provided the baby all the resources
in the womb of his mother for more than nine months and God, who provided this
baby with sustenance in the womb of his mother to nourish him, is also
providing his share of the sustenance to him and will continue to do so as long
as he lives.
But, contrary to this, a man in his sixties never gives
to it a thought that once he, too, was a day-old-baby. An associate of this
correlation goes over this, again and again, in his mind that God provided him
provisions when he was only a day-old-baby and continued till this day of his
life when he is in his sixties or fifties.
Gradually the effects of this correlation overpowers
him that the mind of the spiritual associate is taken off from everything and
he starts thinking that, in actual effect, he does not have any significance of
his own. God encompasses his existence, he is born under the umbrella of God,
he is reared up under God’s caring supervision and he will be transferred to
another world after spending his life remaining within the encompassing limits
of God’s reach. This state overpowers his conscious, intellect and reasons in
such a manner that all his ego, will and authority fades away in the shades of
this correlation.
KHWAJA SHAMS-UD-DEEN AZEEMI
The book Loh-o-Qalum (The Pen and The Scripturum) was written by His Divine Grace, Qalander Baba Auliya at the behest of the Holy
Prophet; the Prophet
of Islam, (Peace
and Blessings of God
be upon him). This auspicious command was given
to him by the Holy
Prophet directly, in a manner, which is known as the Owaisian Manner.
Possessor of the
Insinuated Knowledge, Knower
of the Secrets
of the Command, “Be!” Proclaimer
of the Reality, the Kind Preceptor, His Divine Grace,
Hassan Ukhra Mohammad
Azeem Burkhiya Qalander Baba Auliya (May the blessings
of God be upon him),
whose saying is the saying
of God though uttered
through the human mouth, narrated
the contents, which
were inscribed on the
screen of my mind, by his strong Spiritual Influence, word by word ……. And, thus, this inspired
writing, stated by Qalander Baba Auliya and penned down by me took the form of Loh-o-Qalum
(The Pen and the Scripturum).
This knowledge of the Spiritual Science is the heritage of mankind and jinns. I, hereby, deliver this trust onto the present and the future generations of man and the jinns.
