Naqshbandi Way

The Practices – Wazaif

ByAbdul Ghani

The Practices – Wazaif

In the Name of Allah, the Beneficient, the Merciful.

There is no Power and no Strength except in Allah, the Exalted, the Mighty:

 

We shall set the foundation of this counsel by using the distinguished Basmalah and the formula which explains the absence of all strength and power which does not originate in Allah, who is Exalted and Mighty.

Allah (Who is Powerful and Sublime) taught the Prophet Muhammed (Peace be upon him!) good manners, for which reason the Holy Prophet said:

‘My Lord taught me good manners and perfected His teaching.’

 

And so, we must be persistent in keeping to the Adåb of the Order, until we obtain knowledge of the fruit of the Shari’ah and Tariqah.

First of all, we should repeat that we have not stumbled outside the Order, and we shall rush to enter it. Having decided this we shall begin with the Wazå’if.

The beginner must always begin at the beginning, and he should recognise the difference between Shari’ah and Tariqah.

Knowing the Shari’ah is to know a reality which is obligatory for every believing man and woman. Practically speaking the Shari’ah is to practice everything which was ordered by Allah (Who is Powerful and Sublime) and avoiding that which He has forbidden.

Whoever keeps to these two things, Allah (Who is Powerful and Sublime) will be his teacher. This is the Shari’ah.

 

Now Tariqah is the firm intention (‘Azimah) of the Shari’ah, that is to say that the Murid shall put his belief in the one who is his Shaikh and Guide, and should proceed as indicated by him. The Murid may not ask his Shaikh any question referring to anything which he may order him to do.

The second description of Tariqah is that the Murid should be ready to take orders from the Shaikh. Just as the Prophet used to await the coming of Divine Inspiration (Wahy) from Allah (Who is Powerful and Sublime), in the same way the Murid must follow his Murshid’s orders, carrying them out to the letter*. And he must have the Adåb of Anticipation, that is to say that he must constantly await the orders of his Guide; he must adopt the attitude of a hunter to his prey, being oblivious to all other directions. His sight, hearing, existence and thoughts should be ready to receive orders and he should always be prepared to carry out some new order. Such a man will be a master of the Adåb of the Exalted Naqshbandi Order and this Tajalli will become manifest in him.

 

see footnotes

* The Holy Qur’an tells us:

“Verily in the Messenger of Allah do you have a perfect example.”

Through this verse we are encouraged to emulate the Holy Prophet’s behaviour in every aspect of our lives. The Prophet never made any major decision nor answered any important question except with the help of Divine Orders: he would wait for the Angel Gabriel to arrive with a revelation from Allah Almighty, and only then would he speak or act.

One may ask how we, being that we are not Prophets, and are therefore not visited by the Angel of revelation Gabriel, may emulate this Sunnah of the Prophet. We may understand this if we truly understand that Allah does not leave sincere seekers without guidance. The Angel Gabriel was the Guide of the Prophets and the Prophet was the Guide of the Companions. As the Prophet awaited revelation (Wahy), so the Companions awaited guidance from the Prophet. Before the Prophet left corporal life he perfected his training of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq, according to the Hadith.

“Everything that Allah poured into my heart I have poured into the heart of Abu Bakr”,

 

and thus was he able to provide guidance for the whole Ummah. When the Muslims of that time made the oath of allegiance (Bay’ah) they were, in effect, recognizing Abu Bakr as the one through whom Divine Guidance would come to them that they wouldn’t act according to their personal whims and opinions in opposition to his orders.

Allah Almighty has never allowed for a generation to pass — from the time of Abu Bakr on without the Inheritor of the Holy Prophet being able to complete his training of one to succeed him in carrying the trust of guiding true seekers to the truth. This is the meaning of the Qur’anic Verse :

“And follow the Path of he who has turned his heart to Me.”

 

What it means is that we must follow our Guide the way that the Companions followed the Prophet — and they followed the Prophet like the Prophet followed Gabriel

 

 

Pages: 1 2

Similar Posts