Title: How to Attain True Healing

Transcription

1 February 2, 2011 Wednesday Title: How to Attain True Healing DVD title: Healing and Learning how to Heal On the Journey of Self-Purification Interestingly enough, Tasawwuf probably could be known as the science of change against the foundation of no change, in the sense that the Sufis have always been involved in correctives (which by definition is change). It is on the foundation of tawhid, which is absolute and non-changing. Also, from a more subjective point of view, since we always say that Tasawwuf is about personal experience, I think we could also say that a person who accepts this journey, chooses and accepts it, is on a journey of personal truth. It is not just truth, as if you are learning some philosophical truth, but experiencing truth from a very personal point of view, subjectively, toward the absolute Truth that is objective. Third, we could say that in this science or this journey the science of corrective or change and the journey of truth toward truth, haqiqah one will become more and more aware of their nearness or distance to the eventual state of fana and baqa. One becomes more aware as they approach the state of annihilation and the state of total return, baqa. Thinking about it in this way gives us another way of understanding the concept of Sufism was once a reality without a name, and now it is a name without a reality. In this sense, we understand that Tasawwuf is about at-tazkiyā/ purification, a series of moments or events where you become aware more and more that everything happens with the permission of Allah when one accepts and traverses this path, surrendered in Islam under the guidance of a mature, authorized guide. 1

2 In the early days, it was a reality without a name because it is what happened. That s what happened. It didn t need a name. A person, as a means of self-purification, took guidance, walked that path and didn t need to identify what it was. The identification wasn t necessary; the doing of it was necessary. Now this process was spread not by just words or philosophy, but by the heart. In a way, the early Sufis were sent, and have been sent throughout history to different lands and different places to assess the people and their needs, and to then create the appropriate teaching for those people at the level of their understanding and capability, and adapt what the Sufi knew of the teachings to meet the needs of that culture or group, and thereby establish in different places acceptable means and standards by which Sufism would flourish. Those people who participated would, over time, become people who were elevated in their moral or ethical or intellectual capabilities, and became more and more exemplary in their virtues and the qualities of Allah (swt). Their transformation had a transformative effect on their societies. We can see that today, even amidst all the craziness that s going on, especially amidst the Muslim world today. I think you see the effects of Sufism on the people of Egypt today, who are protesting in the way they are doing it (as opposed to the ones who are fighting them in the streets for money or for power). You see it in societies where there has been some lasting effect of Tasawwuf on institutions like Al Azhar or on societies like Egyptian society. In a strange way, what we are seeing on television is like the struggle between good and evil, or right and wrong. This is how the teaching spread. I don t remember who said this, they came to visit me once: SUFI stands for Suddenly you Find Islam. It is a means of transforming what are undesirable qualities in our own selves and society to desirable qualities or attributes. In this context, what works is real. It is these practices and this philosophy, this unique approach to life that becomes the practical means through which transformation takes place. This is why I call it Applied Sufism. It is applicable. It is practical. 2

3 For generations it has been said that there is a mujaddid every hundred years. Mujaddid al-alf ath-thānī Shaykh Ahmad Farūqī Sirhindī (ra) was the alf alf, thousand-year shaykh. These individuals were a standard upon which success in Sufism was measured. It was the duty and obligation of those who accepted Tasawwuf, who gave bai at and practiced and walked the sayr ul suluk, to search for this person because that person was the qutb, the center or axial point. This person had the key to the door of the teachings for that age, the unity of people, without which there would be no real, practical, outward galvanizing point or teaching. That person also was often the source of tremendous love, hikma/wisdom and rahmat/mercy. That person has been seen to be, over generations, the singularly most important khalifa of Prophet Muhammed (sal). There is no reason to believe that tradition has ended. As we see, Sufism is spreading. People who have no idea about Islam are now talking about the Sufis as being the Muslims to pay attention to. They are the good guys. Among the awliyā and the teachers, there is some being through whom the fount of love, peace, and mercy flows to the world. We should keep it in the back of our minds that this is not only tradition, but it may be the truth. We should always be seeking that individual, not to be their murīd, because you are not the murīd of the qutb. To seek them is to have a Geiger counter: finding direction, seeking the place where the fountain of knowledge is coming. What you find, usually around that person, is some revolutionary new approach or ideas that fit the time, the place, and the people. This is all a bit of an introduction. The way one seeks this fount of knowledge and mercy is through prayer, dhikr, fikr, contemplation, muraqabah, spiritual actions and behavior which transform us and tune us at least to the direction from which this energy is coming. It is sort of like the sun rising over the horizon in the morning: you feel the warmth and see the light before you see the sunrise. In today s world, I think that we will find that the most efficacious and effective 3

4 teaching (I m telling you what I believe) is not just a purely Eastern teaching, but a mixture of the realities of the Western world and those Eastern teachings. I think that for Sufism to be really accepted and flourish here in the United States, it has to be that. It has to be filled with an understanding of the West as well as a deep commitment to Eastern thought, practices, and tradition. There is no doubt that there is a plethora of Sufi teachers around these days. Some hold very high positions, spiritual stations, and high knowledge. They offer Islam and Sufism as a way out of the vicissitudes of life, and the difficulties and dangers of Western culture. But at the heart of Tasawwuf is the reality and practice of spiritual transformation. Whoever doesn t take advantage of that really cannot answer honestly and truthfully what the purpose of their life is. You can just sort of melt into checkout line at Walmart, living from moment to moment, eating bad food, drinking bad drinks you know what I mean. But if we understand this path of Tasawwuf in terms of the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi way, what we use in the Five Orders which is in the foundation of indirāj an-nihāyah fi l-bidāya (the end is in the beginning), then we understand that in most cases this journey is left to the student. The Shaykh used to talk about that in the old days, you would be with the shaykh, and in one moment he would glance at you and you would be lifted. But in modern times, he would say, you walk on this journey. It s up to the student to learn by themselves. Even though the maqamat/stations of the way might be able to be read about, described or talked about without the deep understanding of the Love and Mercy of Allah and our guides, really the student is left to have to discipline their own self, exercise their own self control and discipline, rather than to just wait for the transformation to be given to them. The acceptance of Islam alone has great potential to help each one of us with this personal responsibility. It is not just the study or reading of Qur an, or the understanding 4

5 of the life of the Prophet (sal) and Hadith, but it is understanding that within the whole framework of reciting Qur an, reading the stories of the Prophet, bringing up our children, living in a community situation, having suhbat, there is the foundation of both physical and spiritual healing. By aligning our actions and speech, our thoughts and energy with this Divine plan called Islam and Sufism, we alter the course of our life. Everyone in this room had their lives altered. Or they have chosen to alter their life, or their lives were altered by some circumstance that put you here, like you were born because your parents made a choice. It altered the course of your life. It changed your life from one which would be inevitably more degenerative and destructive spiritually, to one that was regenerative and constructive. That s the most fundamental form of spiritual growth, and also the fundamental basis of healing. The true murshids and awliyā have always been blessed, inevitably involved in, healing healing with Divine Energy. Musa and Nasr and I were in Turkey with Shaykh Osman Sirajuddin an Naqshband. He was continually involved with healing, healing energy. One of the shaykhs, Shaykh Ibrahim I think, would sit and make taweez when he wasn t doing anything else, sending that energy through taweez to people all around the world. To some degree or other, some of us are more involved overtly in healing, and others less. Shaykh Kaftaro had the one-month fast that Mohammed Ali took, and also Warith Deen went to Syria for that. Shaykh Kaftaro was the Grand Mufti of Syria, and he wasn t known for that, but people inevitably come to shaykhs for healing. Understand that what we are involved in is tawajjuh: it means to face with intention. Pay attention with an intention. For what? To send energy. Love is energy towards something. Main mutawajjuh huum qalb kiteraf. This power empowers not only the murshid /pirs, who are the representatives or khalifas of the Prophet (sal), but also it s a means of dispensing the Divine Attributes. The shaykh is like a pharmacy. You go to the 5

6 shaykh and present the prescription, and the prescription and prohibitions come from the Shariah, from the Qur an, and then they are filled. Throughout history, there have been those who have been given a bigger pharmacy and more energy, like the Prophet Isa, who was known for healing and raising the dead. How is it given? By ijāza and idhn. If I say to Nuradeen, I d like you to speak with someone, he has idhn to do that. He is taking the energy I have and filling the prescription for me. He is the assistant for a certain thing in the pharmacy. This energy is an integral part of contemporary as well as classical Sufic teaching. It is specifically known to the Naqshbandiyya, the Khwaja Khwajagan, and the Shadhiliyya especially. Receptivity is very important. It s my experience that what heals best happens when a person consciously, intentionally and purposefully recognizes that the Divine Energy exists. Most of the healing is dealing with the consequences of unconscious behavior. In other words, healing is the art of correcting underlying assumptions and habits that are the causes for unconscious behavior that blocks the healing. Yet, below the surface (and I don t want to start dealing with Freudian terms like subconscious and unconscious) there is a sort of subconscious receptivity to that energy. We have to separate some of those unconscious habits we have established from the natural, subconscious attraction or receptivity to that energy. Over the years in modern times, people have tried to transform that energy into other things, like the Rafe machine or radionics or laser therapy or electric acupuncture, or forms like Reiki. It has been recognized that this energy exists. But the greatest thing is to understand that energy that heals is a pathway to discovering of the Truth, Marifah. The need for healing puts you on the pathway to the ultimate Truth. When these kind of causal relationships are recognized, then we can correct our behavior and the lesson is learned and the healing takes place. I don t know if there is such a thing as a complete cure other than eternity, but we can discover causes and bring them into our conscious recognition. 6

7 If you discover that you have a bad attitude about something you are too critical or angry or whatever it is and you recognize that in your conscious mind, then because you have brought it so your consciousness, the energy that is coming to you. Whether it is energy coming from the Qur an, dhikr, the attention of the shaykh, the suhbat, it can be absorbed and the transformation takes place. In order to have at least the most effective cure (and I don t know if it would be a complete cure) bring these causes into your conscious mind, and see that as a symptom, and then draw attention to the source of it. The healing is a way to look at the manifestation, the consequence of that attitude or that habit or that state or situation, and arrive at some kind of clear understanding of the cause. You learn the lesson meaning you see the truth of the situation and relief comes. With that comes gratitude. The illness has served its purpose. There is no need for it anymore; you yield. It draws attention to something you didn t have your attention on before. You live your life with your habits, say what you say, and do what you do, act the way you act. Every once in a while you see that you are being too grumpy, too selfish, too angry, too this or that. But now you focus on it,and you see that it has caused this disruption, this illness whether emotional, mental, or physical. Once it has come to the surface, you are grateful for it, and the lesson has been learned. That process of healing has another name: it is called forgiveness. This is actually what forgiveness is: a process of healing energy. When a person makes tawbah to Allah, they are opening up the doorway to healing: forgiveness. From that position, you receive some relief and some gratitude; and you come to an understanding that these distorted causes and motivations that brought about the illness, the pain, the suffering, whatever you want to call it, have become clear. Then deep understanding comes, and that is forgiveness. A deep understanding of a cause of emotional disturbance will invariably reveal how it was motivated by some distorted interpretation of life, of love, of desire, or 7

8 the desire to express emotions or love, or fears. You realize that though you thought it was the proper way, it was distorted and it caused eventual illness. Now that you have come to that understanding, you forgive yourself. Allah forgives you (we say in shortspeak), and that energy comes and you change. The point of spiritual practices and methods, then, on one level is the liberation of our Divine Knowledge and Awareness, our awareness of the Divine Attributes, from the grasp of our emotional and physical slavery / bondage. The emotional bondage or attachment is the root cause of resistance. These emotional bonds are located deep within us and we may attribute them to something that happened in our childhood, something that once happened to us, or some experience we had, but that was just the link to this emotional weakness. It s usually an emotional bondage that impedes our body from complete surrender to the control or the peacefulness of our rūh/soul. When our body is surrendered, the soul is free then to explore the treasure house of true love and the happiness of the heart. That s where happiness emerges; that s where that energy is condensed, and that s where the healing comes from. We are drawing the light from the rūh into our body, and we begin to embody now the Divine attributes of Allah, or the attributes that are within us begin to flow through us without being tempered or filtered or interrupted. But we have to surrender in the moment. In a strange way, you say that you surrender to the circumstance, but you allow the light and the faith to cleanse the body, mind, soul and heart. This fayd, the over flowing energy, locates the emotional bonds; it locates the place of illness; it locates the tumor, the cancer, the heart condition, the whatever it is, the unhappiness, the misery, the pain, the all of it, most of which are psychologically attached to associations of the past. But we don t have to get into that. All you have to do is practice what you know how to practice. 8

9 What happens is you find, and it s uncomfortable indeed, that those hidden things, those chronic conditions or whatever, come to the forefront and become acute. But remember, they are just coming to conscious recognition. Only when they come to the conscious level can they be cured. Remember, they come up for the purpose of being cleansed. That s the means by which they are released. So bring those emotional wounds or those fears or anxieties, the lack of self confidence, the arrogance, whatever it may be that comes in a form of physical illness, or mental and emotional strain to the conscious level, and understand their causes and things that compel them. That s the means by which they are healed. Normative or natural behavior is restored, permanently. The only thing that prevents us from doing this is our fear of doing it, our doubt. Real understanding begins with compassionate concern and the knowledge that underneath every energy of fear, doubt, pain, frustration, anxiety, or whatever word you want to use, there is a cause that is fundamentally benevolent. Fundamentally it is healing in nature, because the goal of the whole system is balance and healing. Deep down we all seek this understanding. It can be felt from the inside out. It can be visualized, and it puts hope in our heart. When we receive even the least bit of good news, our hope comes. That s the proof. Receiving help externally from those who love us, and internally from Allah (swt) who loves us, validates our life and the effort we put into it. It helps us to heal our hearts and prepares us not only to be well, but prepares us to help others and pass that knowledge on. As we receive help, we get a sense of balance and rightness, and that balance is passed on to others. This is fallah. This is success. This is real honesty honesty with ourselves. People think they are being honest with each other can be harming each other. When we are honest with ourselves, it means bringing these unconscious states up to conscious recognition. It is a way of being successful on the path. It is the way of the Sufi. Healing and learning how to heal is appropriate for this time and place. We question why we behave the way we do, and we may have to change our behavior. But real success lies in 9

10 trying to act rightly and appropriately, given the place, circumstance and people, and given yourself. It is appropriate behavior not just for the society you live in and the community you are a part of, but how to be appropriate to your own self, to your own body, and to your own mind and heart. That s very, very important. That can take place in a safe and secure place, Islam, and among the sacred brotherhood and sisterhood friendships in suhbat. That s where we can ask Allah (swt) to show us the secrets of our hearts and of our past, and we can purify our history from those distortions. We can bring to our conscious mind the events that caused fears, anxieties, emotional attachments and detachments. We can generate from within ourselves a du ā for help and understand as we make that du ā, and look at ourselves in this way and affirm our healing, we can understanding that we are answering our own prayers. The process we are doing is answering our own prayers, because Allah (swt) is as near to us as our jugular vein. We are healing the sick person within us, balancing the imbalanced person within us. For that, it takes compassion for ourselves and others, and to understand the energy we are dealing with. That s all tonight. Asalaamu aleikum. 10