THE SEARCH FOR A
SPIRITUAL GUIDE…
Translated Lecture of Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Shafee Okarvi-
[Rahmatul Laah Alaieh]-South Africa.
Hazrat Saiyyidinaa
Khawaajah Saiyyid Mu'een ud deen Hasan
Chishti Ajmeri Sarkaar Gareeb Nawaaz [Rahmatul Laah Alaieh]-
Hazrat Khawaajah Saahib had acquired the external knowledge and now set out to acquire a Spiritual Guide. Near Neshapur was a village called Harwaan or Haroon. In this village resided a renowned Walee who was the Cardinal Pole (Qutb) of the time, Hazrat Khawaajah Usmaan Harooni
[Rahmatul Laah Alaieh]-
On the very first meeting
with Hazrat Khawaajah Usman Harooni having never met or seen each other before,
Khawaajah Usmaan stated, ‘Mu’een ud deen! I have been waiting for you. Come to
me!’
He became a disciple (mureed)
and was then consigned to a Hujraa to ‘worship Allaah Kareem’ (Ibaadat)
and ‘strive on the path’ (Riyaazaat). Remember nothing is attained
without, sincere worship, striving and a concentrated effort. Allaah Kareem (Almighty
and Glorious is He) says in the Holy Qur'aan in the 29th Soorah,
al-Ankabuut, Verse 69:
And those who strive in
Our way (to know Us and Our Attributes), We will certainly guide them to Our Paths.
One must strive on this
path. The Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him, his family and his companions), despite
being the beloved of Allaah Kareem and the Cause of Creation still worshipped
and strove. He stood so still at night for such long durations that the blood
capillaries on his blessed foot used to swell.
Allaah Kareem (Almighty and Glorious is He) had to tell him in the Holy Qur'aan, in the 73rd Soorah, al-Muzzammil, Verses 1to 3:
O thou folded in
garments! Stand (to prayer) by night, but not all night, half of it, or a
little less,
And, also, in the 20th
Soorah, Ta-Ha, Verses 1 and 2:
Taa-haa (O Fourteenth
Moon!) We have not sent down the Qur’aan to thee to put you in difficulty,
The Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him, his
family and his companions) strove in the path of Allaah Kareem. The Mother of the Believers,
Hazrat Aishaah Siddeeqah [Radiyal Laah Anhaa]-says,
‘I observed the extent of
the Mujahidah, Ibaadaat and striving of the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him, his
family and his companions) and at times I wept. Then I enquired as to why he put himself
through this difficulty, for he is the beloved of Allaah Kareem?’
The Holy Prophet replied,
‘Should I not be a grateful servant of Allaah Kareem?’ So, one has to strive on
this Path of Return to Allaah Kareem. Without effort nothing is attained.
Let me explain something
for your understanding. Raw Gold cannot adorn a neck as jewelry unless and
until it burns itself in a blazing fire. Gold loses its hard arrogance and
becomes humbly soft in fire.
Then it can be molded
into jewelry. Still as jewelry it is not left alone. It is now rubbed and
polished till it loses its outer skin, shines. Initially it was gold and it
still is as a jewel, but it had to burn in fire and lose its skin to increase
its beauty, worth and value. First it was just gold but now it is worthy of
adorning the neck of the beloved.
The Auliyaa Allaah are
full of worth but more shine is added after Mujahadah, Ibaadaat and Riyaazaat.
Their worth is increased. The eye-make-up (surmah) is a stone that
becomes worthy of being put onto the eye after being grinded and made fine. It
becomes a source of beautification and increase of sight for the eye.
Thus, without striving in
the path of Allaah Kareem, one’s value does not increase.
One must strive on this
path, burn, and annihilate oneself. One must mix into the soil and become soil.
Let me tell you a Soofie Anecdote:
A log if it is buried in
the ground will decompose. The same log if it is burned and made into coal and
then buried will retain its composure even after a thousand years. Thus, those
who burn themselves in the Fire of Divine Love (Ishq e Illaahie), even
when they are buried, their bodies remain intact.
Those who have not burned
in the Fire of Divine Love will not understand. Khawaajah Mu’een ud deen Hasan
Chishti [Rahmatul
Laah Alaieh]-strove in the path of Allaah Kareem performing Spirituals
Practices Striving [Riyaazaat] for three years.
After a year, his
Spiritual Master called him and asked him as to what he could see and he
replied, “I can see the seven heavens and the seven earths and whatever is on
them.”
Hazrat Mu’een ud Deen Chishti himself records
this. So, he replied, “I can see the seven heavens and the seven earths and
whatever is on them.” Khawaajah Usmaan Harooni [Rahmatul Laah Alaieh]- said, “You are not ready
yet.” and sent him back into the Hujraah Shareef. [Private Chamber]. Another
year passed and he was asked as to what he could see, and he replied, “I can
see the abyss of the earth (tahtus sudraa) and up to the Divine Throne (Arsh).
Again, he got the reply
“You are not ready yet” and was sent back into the Hujraah. Another year passed
and on being questioned by his Peer O Murshid he replied, ‘I can see up to the
Glorious Veil (al-Hijaab e Azmat) that veils the Creator from us and
beyond the veil.”
Khawaajah Usmaan Harooni [Rahmatul Laah Alaieh]- then held out two fingers
and asked him to look through them and say what he sees. He replied, “I can see
the 1800 universes.”
Allaah Kareem says, in
His Sacred Saying, reported by the Holy Prophet [Sallal Laahu Alaieh Wa
Sallam] Allaah Kareem says:
“When My servant loves Me
and proceeds towards Me with the intensity of love by leading a Righteous, Religious,
and Pious life beyond what I have prescribed as obligatory, then he arrives at
the stage where I come to love him. When I make him My Beloved, I become his
faculty of audition by which he hears, and his faculty of sight by which he
sees, and the hands with which he holds, and the feet with which he walks and
the tongue with which he speaks.
And Baihaaqi added:
And the mind with which he
thinks."
In the light of this
Hadees it is possible to partially understand this transformation in Khawaajah
Saahib. He penetrated the thin line separating the material world from the
unseen: the inner organs of perception opened and so did his universe expand…To
be continued.
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