Sunday, June 20, 2010

TRAN-CE-FORMER



The Quran says, "Observe the Salat for it prohibits evil and vice." [29:45]
If any one would notice, it does not say, if you do namaz or offer namaz you will stop doing sins but Namaz stops from wrong doing. So do we really understand what is Namaz? We begin saying Allahu Akbar and then there are a series of actions/asanas/yogas whatever you call them and some recitation of verses from the Quran. We say Allahu Akbar to start but it begins and should begin much before that.
We all know there is importance allotted to ‘intention’ of every action. Here as well in the case of Namaz we repeat the words taught to us when we were kids to say thus, that I stand here in front of Allah to offer so and so number of rakahs, farz/sunnah/nafil for the time of whichever part of day it is, is mentioned. This is in urdu, pretty much the traditional niyah(intention) taught by the parents/ teachers etc. and much the same in every Indian muslim family. Some people say niyah is of the heart and some say its better to say the words. Now if we go through the actual niyah which is in Arabic and translates to this that, ‘Here I stand before the God, the One, the Lord of the earth and the skies…….. and I detach myself from everything and direct myself to the Only….. I am not one of the Mushrikeens (the ones who associate partners to him)’.
Now what are we on the earth? Not even like a sand particle in the desert. Where does the earth stand in the solar system? The solar system in the so many million galaxies?
Talk of the skies and we haven’t yet known about the lowest of the skies, the first one that has been described thus in the holy Quran, “………decorated with the stars”
So we don’t know about the other skies, the other galaxies, the universe, the scales change when it comes to measuring those distances, etc etc, and then there is the Lord, the cherisher and sustainer of the worlds, how high His glory! No idea can reach, no imagination encompass but He created all these and infront of Him we stand.That should give us that feel of nothingness.
Next about the point of Mushrikeen, its not simply saying I am not one of them to associate partners to Him but its like I won’t bring in any thought whatsoever of anything in this exercise. Total detachment. Not even an idea or thought about the daily chores/business/world etc etc would come in between, now that I am readying myself for Namaz, standing before Allah.
Now I might relate to you several incidents from my experiences in life that would be helpful in understanding of the matter. Its such an important thing this Namaaz and we do it, have been doing it but no transformations, ever thought why? There are men for whom their families, their neighbours would bear witness that they have been going to the mosque, offering Namaaz for fifteen or so years on a regular basis, and even a mufti, given the face of the practice would call the person a Namaazi but then the same person, how do you expect him to be liar? To be dishonest? To pick up fight with everyone? His namaaz is not stopping him from doing all these sins, isn’t something missing there??
That’s the important part we come to, the soul of namaaz is missing here. What do you call a living thing after the soul has left it? We call it a corpse, a dead body!
So today our namaaz has become dead, nothing but corpse.
Some good roting exercise in the childhood and we practice it all our lives not giving it a single thought that Muhammad sallallaho alayhe wasallam called it the mi’raj(ascension) of mumin(faithful).
Without going into the details of the various actions which some call asanas or yogic postures, I first want to introduce the whole concept of what namaaz holds, how it’s a treasure and a term that has gained much currency these days, meditation and concentration exercise.
Once you said the niyah and with a certain action and words Allahu Akbar, you stand in front of Allah, detached from every thing else, complete detachment, ‘hanafa’ is the word used in the niyah, that’s is solely directing to the One, leaving all else.
There is a hadith that says, when you begin your namaaz, feel as if, as if you are seeing Allah, and if you can’t do that, know that He is seeing you.
Now this is that ‘presence’ the Huzuri concept, once practiced and understood in the namaaz reflects in the rest of the actions. You are at your shop selling goods, you know Allah is present, watching you, you are at home with your kids, with your wife, you know He is present, watching your every action. He is everywhere, omnipresent. Namaaz develops this presence aspect.
Suppose you are all alone and there are dark woods to be passed through, you would fear, may be wild animal, some would fear the ghosts, some would think of dacoits, thieves etc. If you had a small child along with you for company, you would have a greater liability towards. Instead of only yourself you have someone else to protect because he entirely depends on you but despite of this fact and helplessness of the child’s company you feel a little less afraid. The company even if its of a baby gives you a feeling of security. That’s about company. I may have to travel through dangerous rain forests, someone sends armed guards to accompany me, I will have a sense of ease, fear going away, security there. But if I don’t know, don’t see them, don’t realize their presence, they be somewhere but keeping a vigil on me and have been assigned the duty of protecting me, I wont be free of fear.
And in the protection, under constant watch of the lord of lords, the Almighty, what fear and what despair can touch you? This is what is said "Behold! verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear nor shall they grieve."(10:62) I wouldn't go into the details of various psychological problems prevalent today, at a very young age our children start sufferring from stress, anxiety disorders. We all have worries and they vary from grade in class to Income tax. But to have a protective friend, always by the side, imagine the peace of mind, the strength from such company.
This becoming of auliya (friend of Allah) is not a difficult thing, a matter of forty days or okay say two months, practice the namaz and the soulful namaz, the namaz Muhammad sallallaho alayhe wasallam taught, that namaz and no more than two and a half months and becoming auliya is no difficult! The same without fear and despair.
In earlier times, the people found it difficult and went to the saints, that we cant concentrate, help us. They gave them an object to concentrate on. Gradually it became stones to idols. Even today you go ask anyone, they will tell you its only for the purpose of concentration, we meditate by focusing our attention to it. We cant see God, how can we?
Muhammad sallallaho alayhe wasallam had said, …if you can’t see Him, know and believe, feel He is seeing you.
In Namaz, its like once you are ready and have the feel of the Presence, its like a state that’s difficult to describe, some may call it like trance kind of. When offering namaz ba jamaat i.e in group, the Imam recites from the Quran, that’s known as the ‘suggestion’ process. Anything that is said in that state, the mind and body starts to believe. The way its with the hypnotizing technique, the mind and body starts obeying to the orders given. In individual namaz, its self suggestion. The words are from Quran. The one who recites, definitely should be clear and pronounce correctly, nice manner and then these are the words of the book, a message is conveyed, the one revealed by Allah. The whole process is just beginning and we see people hurrying up to sajdah and then next rakah and salaam and done, how would such a namaz revolutionise lives?
Now, another important thing is understanding the message, now that’s is in language-Arabic and I deem it necessary that we all learn Arabic. You may go to a mufti and he will very well say its NOT compulsory to learn Arabic but here look at my point. If you don’t understand what you are saying, its more like just any chanting of mantras. We see in the worldly affairs, the career that we deem so important, we study in schools, then college atleast 20 years of our lives and in those 20 years, atleast ten hours a day we study.
Now this Quranic Arabic wouldn’t take even two and a half months to learn, half an hour a day!! and then namaz we only say few verses and some words, any book of salah translation and 4 or 5 days that’s all it takes. Can’t we afford that much even?
One more thing, we all learn to ride bikes. In the beginning we are taught about how the clutch, the accelerator works and soon after practice we become used to it that is to say psychologically, it all goes into our sub conscious mind and we can think of things back at home and yet easily drive through turns and traffic etc. its comes after practice. Now if we would practice our namaaz similarly with the presence aspect, that Allah is watching us….. wouldn’t it become a part and parcel of our lives. After all we pray five times. An ihsanic trance in every rakah!!! Atleast 17 farz and if add sunnah to that, it makes for 33 rakahs by the least. Practice. It not only would reflect in our daily conduct but transform our lives altogether.Going further into how this concentration technique has been used by a certain group and great changes is it bringing in their lives, I will tell you, about them.
There in Pakistan was a man call, some Lekhraj Prajapati who started this Brahmo kumaris mission. Initially, he had women followers but now if you know of them they are real courteous people, very good, impressive in their conduct. I have been to their place twice, once as a guest and on another event as a speaker.
Now what they do is, not the practical aspect of namaz but the soul of concentration and meditation. They have taken both the group and individual meditation techniques and they practice it everyday several times. They call it Raj yog.
I saw there, they use some light bulb as the focus, each one is asked to concentrate on that and forget everything else, complete detachment. Then there is a voice and I call it a penetrating voice that says things like, “I am atma, staged at so and so, I don’t fight with anyone, I am peaceful, …baba loves all his children, he is merciful and kind and wants us to be kind to each other etc etc….
All this is fed into the conscious at a time it has been detached and kind of hypnotized. In psychology terms, it is called ‘suggestion’
The technique helps them a lot in becoming good mannered, peaceful beings but their aqeedah (terms of belief) are not scientific, if you know anything of it but alas its all fed so deep that however hard you try its difficult. Now I was there in the month of Ramadan and I told them I need to fast, they arranged the sehri and I had the option to feast in my room or in the dining hall, I preferred the latter and to my surprise, that time of day (sehri is had before fajr prayers) the tahajjud time and every member was up and risen and into the practice of meditation. They choose that time and further repeat many a times in the day.

I also have a very good friend of mine. When I had first met him, he did not even shake hands with me and yet we traveled together, we had a common friend. During the journey, I was very quiet and they both kept talking. However, our common friend brought up the topic of worshipping practices, which is when I started all this that I am sharing with you today. The man showed a little interest, then started questioning, several questions and when stopped for some refreshments, he said to me, “till today I hated muslims and islam now I don’t, I never knew of such a wonderful exercise. Wouldn’t you accept my invitation of being a visiting professor to the IIM? I was a little taken aback, and said, management? Oh friend I m a man of engineering background, that’s not my forte, he insisted and I had to accept. I thought I will utilize the opportunity to meet up with people and talk on beliefs, the Dawah aspect in my mind.
When I reached there, the friend introduced me to the students and to my surprise he said, “After you have talked to them about management and motivation, I have a request that you tell them about namaaz. And you students! I have met this man before and that day was one of the most memorable and the precious day of my life. I want you all to learn from him the treasure that is `Namaz’.”
I am telling you this, there are people realizing, thousands of them, already understanding, its an age of high intelligence, IQ, pondering. Once they have said the kalma, testified the shahadah, such will be at very high stations!
There was this friend of mine which I met after several years of losing touch and I found him changed and a very different man one fine day when he visited me. I was going to bring him tea when he said, “I have stopped taking tea and anything that leads to addiction” I was surprised the man who so heavily smoked and did what not is saying this!
He went on with his story of some friend of his who took him to some guru. There they sat face to face and the guru had asked him, what do you do? He had replied, “I serve the nation”, referring to his local petty politics he was involved with! The guru’s words were and my friend tells me nothing in the world had humiliated him so much as when the guru had said, “You are such a liar!” LIAR.
“It angered me but I kept quiet, thinking he is a guru”, then after a while the guru looks at me and says, “Do you really wanna serve the nation? What can you do?”
I said, in a fit kind of but that came straight from the heart, “Anything, I can die for my country.” At which the guru said calmly, “no one is asking for your life, just do one thing.”
“What?” I was curious.
“Stop lying.”
That was the day my transformation began. Though I have no more of friends I used to have, the comforts I enjoyed, even my wife left me but I am at peace with myself, something I never knew before! I have never lied since that day and I have revolutionized myself.
What I was saying was... they are realizing. You all know that hadith of rasulullah sallalla ho alayhe wasallam about how he had advised a sinner who came for counseling to quit lying and his whole life was transformed.
And this friend of mine further taught me a great thing. I had given him a copy of Quran (hindi) and later when I visited him in his house, I found him sitting on the floor, the room barely had any furniture and the guy was so used to ACs.. anyway, I sat there beside him and before I could say anything, he began, “I read the Quran at times, from here and there. Can I ask you something?”
Now this question was more like he wanted to tell me something, he had so much to tell actually. I said sure. He began, “do you know what is iman?”
“Have you loved somebody and that gave you restless nights? Anybody, some girl, your children, family anyone? you couldn’t sleep coz of?”
I said “yes!”
He asked, “more than once?”
I said yes. He asked has there ever been a single night that you spent in restlessness, in remembrance, in love with Allah?”
At once so many thoughts burst in my mind. I began to count the times I had offered tahajjud, I had cried even but either that was in repentance, sometimes out of gratitude, sometimes during supplication but you don’t call that love. There was no restlessness in it. That was certainly not crying out of love, no longing.
He asked me again and I sat there with my head hung in shame; I said ,”no.”
That is the point of zikr, I would bring here and Quran says “Ala bizikrillahi tatma innul quloob” ="Only in the remembrance of Allah (swt) will your heart find peace" Quran (Surah 13: Verse 28)
Its taught by practice again, chanting of names maybe but not like you sit down with the rosary and say one lakh times subhan allah subhan allah but you understand, call upon the flawless, faultless, perfect Allah. This is for the practice again so that it sets into the system, whatever you do, you remember Allah, all the time.
This zikr is translated as to remember or to be reminded of but I tell you what its not in your hands, to remember or to miss comes on itself and it is always out of love. Aap yaad nahi karte, yaad aati hai. There is longing, restlessness,impatience.
Take for example a mother whose child has gone somewhere, she keeps busy in the daily chores, tidies the house, cleans, cooks, several other things, she does not put an hour slot to sit and wait for the child, settle down to miss him but in doing all those business and chores in her mind, she is longing for her, she loves her, misses her. This longing and restlessness and love comes after meeting the beloved.
Namaaz is that meeting and rest follows.
There is more that can be said about wudu(ablution) and other actions involved in namaz but time permits me only this much, thank you.

SYED ABDULLAH TARIQ (from Rampur) on importance of Namaz/Salah, at Aligarh, 19th June,2010.


(sorry for any translation errors and some points that i might have missed, but i just hope it conveys the meaning and we all start our transformation through namaz, May Allah guide us all to sirat al mustaqeem.)