Tasawwuf

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
اَلْحَمْدُللهِ وَالْصَّلاَةُ عَلَى رَسُوْلِ الله


These Hidayah is for NAQSHBANDI Seekers, Please do not start this yourself.


But You can do this  Zikr even if you have not did bayt with Hazrat Mufti Sahab or anyother Shayikh


What Is Tasawwuf ?
Tasawwuf is a branch of Islamic knowledge which focuses on the spiritual development of the Muslim.

Allah sent His final messenger, Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) , as a source of knowledge for the entire ummah. He was the fountain of Quran, Hadith, tafsir, rhetoric, fiqh, and so on. After the Prophet (s.a.w) , the scholars of this ummah carried and propagated each of these branches of knowledge. Because no one person can attain the perfection of the Prophet  (s.a.w)  , who single handedly assumed all of these roles, various branches of the Islamic sciences developed. For example, Imam Abu Hanifah preserved the science of fiqh and after him thousands of scholars continued in his footsteps. Hence these scholars preserved the fiqh of the Prophet  (s.a.w)  . Similarly Imam Bukhari and the other famous scholars of Hadith, preserved the words of the Prophet (s.a.w) . The scholars of tajweed preserved the recitation of the Prophet  (s.a.w)  . And, the scholars of Arabic grammar preserved the language of the Prophet  (s.a.w) .

Along these lines, the Prophet  (s.a.w) was the model of spirituality for the world. His God-consciousness, deep spirituality, acts of worship, and love for Allah were preserved and propagated by an Islamic science called Tasawwuf. The aim of the scholars of this science was purification of the heart, and development of consciousness of Allah through submission to the shariah and sunnah.


How is Tasawwuf Related to Sufism?

Studying the life of the Prophet  (s.a.w) , the scholars who propagated the science of tasawwuf understood that a requisite for approaching Allah was abandonment of the common pursuits of the world. They often wore wool because of its simplicity and low cost. In Arabic the word for wool is suf and thus, those who wore it became known as the Sufis. Another possible derivation of the word comes from the root word safa, which means “to clean.” Because the scholars of tasawwuf focused on cleansing the heart, they later became known as the Sufis.


Lesson 1 (PDF book)

This essay describes the first in a series of lessons of the Naqshbandi Mujaddidi order. Derived from the principles of the Quran and Sunnah, each lesson focuses on developing a particular aspect of an individual’s spiritual connection with Allah . (Updated 9/1/2004)
Adhkar List – The list of Adhkar read silently at Mehfil-e-Dhikr of Naqshbandi Mujaddidi order.


Daily Routine (PDF book)

 – Excerpted from Wisdom for the Seeker, this special letter describes a daily regimen of dhikr and reflection.


Attaining fina-e-qalbi: Annihilation of the Heart
Translation of a talk given by Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahmad
(damat barakatuhum)

Download Full Audio about Fanae Qalbi
“And that person who was dead, we gave him life and we granted him a light because of which he walks amongst people.” (Surah al-An’am, Verse 122)

A heedless person is like a corpse, whereas truly alive is the one who is constantly engaged in remembering Allah. Through the abundant remembrance of Allah the heedless heart of a person is transformed into a living one. Hence, this light of nisbah (spiritual connection) is such a blessing that it gives life to the heart that was once dead and devoid of the remembrance of Allah.

Different people display different signs of the attainment of this light. This light in the language of our mashaikh (spiritual elders) is also called faidh, barakah, rahmah, and noor. All these words point to the same blessing. Attainment of faidh means the attainment of illumination. When a person gives bayt (pledges allegiance) to a shaykh and engages in the remembrance of Allah (dhikr) he attains faidh through this dhikr and his heart fills with noor. His heart attains peace as a result.

Light and darkness cannot coexist in the same space. Whenever noor enters the heart of a person he achieves tranquility, and whenever his heart is engulfed by darkness he is in a state of perpetual anxiety. Darkness causes unrest and confusion while noor brings peace.

Engaging in dhikr and muraqabah, praying, and coming to the mosque are all righteous acts that attract the noor of Allah which makes us feel light and at ease. This inexplicable happiness is because of the attainment of faidh and cannot be adequately expressed in words. We experience this elation despite the overwhelming amount of worries in our life. Who is there in this world that is not plagued by problems? Indeed, this world is the very place of troubles. One has to face different difficulties at different stages of one’s life but attaining tranquility in the heart despite these worries and challenges is a proof of the attainment of faidh.

At times a person has pleasant dreams in which he may be visited by the auliya (friends) of Allah, the Prophet, or even by Allah Himself. For the majority of the time such dreams are indicators of the attainment of faidh and noor. On the other hand, if the person lives a life of heedlessness then his dreams may be very frightening. He may dream that various animals are chasing and attacking him, and is likely to be persistently haunted by such bizarre and frightening dreams. Hence, a sign of the attainment of faidh may be that a person receives mubasharaat (glad tidings).

In some people the faidh causes the fire of the love for Allah to burn so intensely that its heat can be felt throughout the body. Sometimes an indication of the attainment of faidh is that at times seekers experience a sleep-like state while in muraqabah. In reality this is not sleep but rather it is a drowsiness that is called nuaas in Arabic. Allah says in the Holy Quran:

“Remember he covered you with a sort of drowsiness (nuaas), to give you calm as from Himself” (Surah al-Anfaal, Verse 11)

On the night of the Battle of Badr, Allah sent His sakina (serenity) down onto the Prophet and the Noble Companions. This sakina took the form of nuaas, about which Allah says:

“But Allah did pour His calm (sakina) on the Messenger and on the Believers.” (Surah at-Tauba, Verse 26)

The descent of this kind of sakina is a mercy, and we also know from the sayings of the Prophet that a deep tranquility descends upon those who remember Allah. When sakina descends it overwhelms the heart and the person experiences a state akin to drowsiness that an ordinary person mistakenly assumes is sleep as he cannot distinguish between the two.

However, sleep is different from the drowsiness felt due to the descent of the mercy of Allah. A person who consumes an intoxicating drug might experience a state mirroring the effects of sleep. The person is not physically experiencing sleep but the drug is altering the state of his mind. Similarly a person’s mind can attain a state of drowsiness because of this rahmah.

This is one reason why our elders have said that one should not worry if one experiences drowsiness during muraqaba because it is in fact a sign of the mercy of Allah. The example of such a person is like that of a beggar who waits outside the door of a rich and generous person in the hope of being given something. He waits there all day and during that time drowsiness or even sleep may overtake him. Now when the owner of the house asks his attendants the length of time that the beggar has been sitting at his doorstep, will they subtract from their estimate the one or two hours that the beggar might have dozed off or rather say that he had been sitting there since Fajr? Indeed they will say that he came after Fajr and the time he napped will be included in his waiting time.

Similarly, even if a person dozes off after having sat down with the intention of muraqaba, the time he dozed will be included in his muraqabah. These days it is even easier to understand this concept. If we connect our cell phones with a charger it makes no difference whether the screen is on or off because the charging takes place in either case. Similarly in muraqabah whether the screen of the person is on or off he continues to benefit from the faidh because the connection has been established.

Other manifestations of faidh are that hearts become more attentive towards the Hereafter; towards the grave, resurrection and Paradise. Furthermore, faidh softens a person’s heart and it overflows with the love and remembrance of Allah. Now what are the consequences of the attainment of this faidh on the heart of the believer?

If a person regularly and abundantly engages in dhikr a time comes when his heart becomes jaari (set in motion). What is meant by the heart becoming jaari? This has several meanings.

One is that a person experiences a movement in his heart. Just as we may feel a muscle in our body quiver at times, the heart muscle of a person also gains some movement because of dhikr. His heart experiences intense attention towards the name of Allah. It is important to distinguish between the regular palpitation of the heart and the heart being jaari. The beating of the heart is the pumping of blood seventy to eighty times a minute, but movement due to abundant dhikr is two to three times faster than the beating of the heart and is experienced as a delightful tickling in the heart. This is referred to as taharruk (movement) which soon after transforms into tazakkur (remembrance) where the person actually perceives his heart calling out the name of Allah.

The heart is the control center of the body and the limbs respond to the decisions that the heart processes. Hence the limbs will act righteously only if the heart is pure and vice versa. Consequently some elders have said that the heart becoming jaari means that the commands of the righteous heart are accepted by every other part of the body and thus the body becomes subservient to such a heart. Another opinion is that a heart becomes jaari when a person’s body begins to obey the commands of Allah, the shariah.

If a person thinks that his heart is jaari he should see if he is obeying the commandments of Allah. It is a blessing if he is but if not, then what is the use of dhikr if it does not take one towards the inculcation of the sunnah of the Prophet? These blessings are attained with muraqabah and and we should try to perform dhikr abundantly so that Allah will bless us with His favors.

Once a heart becomes jaari one attains such immense pleasure that he cannot forget Allah for an instant even if he tried. We should all ask Allah for this blessing because this is a grand station from which there is no return. About this our elders have said that a fani (one who has achieved annihilation) never returns.

Some people raised objections to this and asked why it is that a fani cannot return. To this objection our elders responded by asking whether a fully ripened fruit can ever return to its former stage of growth? Can a child ever return to infancy after having attained maturity? The answer to both these questions is negative. Similarly, once a person has attained this blessing Allah protects him from sin in such a manner that the question of him falling back into error does not arise. This is called fina-e-qalbi (annihilation of the heart) and we should all pray to Allah to grant us this blessing.


Tasawwuf Ka Hasil Allah ke Mae’et Ka Hasool ( Audio Mp3 bayan) 

(The purpose of Tasawwuf – Being in the presence of Allah )
A talk in Urdu by Shaykh Zulfiqar (db) on the essential purpose of Tasawwuf.


Download Qalb Jari Hone ke Alamaat (MP3 Audio) 

-(Signs of the Heart being in constant remembrance of Allah )
A talk in Urdu by Shaykh Zulfiqar (db) on the signs of the heart being in constant remembrance of Allah.


The Indispensability of Abundant Zikr and Muraqabah for the Seeker
Translation of a talk given by Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahmad (damat barakatuhum)

Download Audio Mp3 about Muraqbah

The first lesson in the esteemed Naqshbandi Silsilah is Latifa-e-Qalb. Upon this, the seeker traveling the spiritual path (salik) engages in the spiritual exercise of muraqabah, where he or she sets aside some private time to sit and reflect on Allah. In this exercise the salik strives to empty the heart of all thoughts and imagines the blessings and mercy of Allah entering the heart and erasing its darkness. As if in gratitude to being cleansed of darkness the heart joyfully calls out the Name of Allah over and over again… Allah! Allah! Allah!

A general scientific principle states that whenever a vacuum is created, something comes in to fill it and therefore the vacuum does not stay as is. Similarly when we sit and strive to remove all thoughts from our heart the aim is to create a void that will hopefully be filled with thoughts of Allah.

Darkness and light cannot coexist in the same space. Hence the more we strive to rid our hearts of filth, the hope is that divine light, goodness and blessing will enter to replace the darkness that was there. This is why it is extremely important to do muraqabah in abundance. Wherever in the Holy Quran we find the command to practice dhikr, the word is accompanied with the adjective signifying abundance (dhikr-e-kathir).

O you who believe! Celebrate the praises of Allah, and do this often [33:41]

What then is meant by abundant dhikr? At all times a person is either lying down, sitting or on his feet. Abundant dhikr refers to remembering Allah at all times in all these states.

To clarify this, the elders usually present the example of a man who falls ill and is running a high fever. Under this scenario his doctor prescribes antibiotics three times a day for seven days, so that it would take a total of 21 pills to cure the fever. Now, if this person breaks this sequence and has one pill every 3 days, even if he were to have a total of 22 his illness will not be cured.

Why then is the illness not cured even though the person takes more of the medication? Despite the accuracy of the diagnosis and the effectiveness of the medicine, it was not taken in the quantity prescribed by the physician and so the person remains ill. This indicates that quantity counts for a lot in some matters, especially here. Thus even if a patient skips a dose of his medication just one time, the doctor tells him to start the course again from the beginning for the sake of effectiveness.

Consequently, quantity in dhikr is absolutely crucial for a seeker on this path. A little dhikr does the seeker no benefit.

Little do they hold Allah in remembrance [4:142]

The result of this is;

(They are) distracted in mind even in the midst of it, being (sincerely) for neither one group nor for another whom Allah leaves straying, never wilt thou find for him the way [4:143]

A person whose dhikr is insufficient becomes a victim of doubt. He does not tread with confidence the path that leads him to his destination – his feet falter and he constantly changes direction. On the other hand, abundance of dhikr eliminates the darkness of the heart. It is thus that our elders tell us that the filth of thought (fikr) is only removed by the abundance of remembrance (dhikr).

How can a person tell whether a particular thought is inspired by Allah or the Devil (Shaitan)? Remembrance (dhikr) and piety (taqwa) reveal this distinction. The Holy Quran says Allah grants furqan to whoever has taqwa.

He will grant you a criterion (to judge between right and wrong) [8:29]

Furqan is the ability to distinguish between right and wrong, the insight that distinguishes between good and evil. While there may be no apparent basis for making this distinction, this internal light [1] allows a person to differentiate between righteousness and wickedness. This furqan is a blessing that Allah grants to those who engage in plentiful dhikr.

So we must strive to remember Allah lying down, sitting, and whenever we are on our feet. The hearts of the believers should be connected with their Lord in every situation until the very traces of sinfulness are erased from every vein and muscle of their bodies. Constant remembrance leads to spiritual connection (nisbah) to Allah, and cleanses a person completely when it permeates the body. Such a person submits his entire being to Allah and his life and death become only for Allah, and Allah does not let down a person who so completely gives himself up to Him. The Glory of Allah is His alone, and He never abandons the one who submits to Him, but rather protects His servant.

The basic rule for one who seeks to gain all this benefit is to engage in abundant dhikr, and this is one criterion that the majority of seekers fail to meet. They give bay’ah [2] and most of them even change their lifestyle and appearance, but fail to do sufficient dhikr. If they sit for muraqabah at all it only lasts five or ten minutes, and they fail to realize that Allah is not found through mere minutes of muraqabah! Even the world cannot be gained with just a few minutes of effort, so how can we expect to reach the Lord of the worlds by such a meager attempt?

It is commonly understood that if one wishes for a meeting with someone of importance, then he or she will have to wait in line for one’s turn just because of the high rank and demand of the individual or party sought after. For example, people line up for hours and sometimes days for an audience with a famous movie or sports star just because of that individual’s high status in society. Now if people are required to wait for a meeting with another human being, then surely a meeting with Allah the Lord of the Worlds mandates a waiting period also. This waiting time is fulfilled through muraqabah.

A person who thus spends his life sitting with his head lowered yearning for a meeting with Allah , fulfills his waiting time on the Day of Judgment. Consequently the one who does not do this in the world will have to spend the necessary wait time in the Hereafter. But the wait time in the Hereafter is indeed grueling! Someone will have to stand in wait for a thousand years – someone for a thousand more.

Abundance in dhikr is so important that Allah ordained it upon His Prophets. Allah commanded Prophet Musa:

Go, you and your brother, with My Signs, and slacken not either of you in keeping Me in remembrance [ 20:42 ]

Whenever our elders say or command something their words carry potency and weight. How incredibly important must dhikr be in our lives if Allah is issuing the command and on the receiving end are two prophets?

So if we want the love of the world and the darkness of sin to be erased from our hearts, the only way to achieve this is through abundant dhikr. Just like the earth is cleansed when rain falls upon it, hearts are purged when mercy rains down upon them through abundant dhikr.

Hadrat Shah Waliullah Muhaddith Dehlvi (may the mercy of Allah be upon him) has written that there are two ways in which the earth regains purity if there is filth upon it.

1. Water pours down in such abundance that the filth is completely washed away.
2. The sun shines down so intensely that all trace of filth is burned away.

Similarly, there are only two ways to attain purification of the heart. One way is to engage in so much dhikr that mercy rains down upon one’s heart to such an extent that it eliminates the filth and cures the diseases of the heart. The other is to remain in the company of a righteous Shaykh and serve him, and like the sun the heart of the Shaykh shines its rays upon his heart. The resulting blessing (faidh) removes all signs of the filth and a person’s heart is rendered pure.

Thus, we should be frequent and regular in our dhikr so that Allah grants us annihilation of the heart (fana-e-qalbi), a blessing attained after the heart is purified in which a person is forever occupied in the remembrance of his Lord. However, this does not mean that he always sits in prayer and forsakes all other responsibilities. Rather the opposite is true and he takes care of all his worldly and family responsibilities but with a constant awareness of and a deep connection with Allah.

The love of the world has taken over our hearts and we are constantly thinking about it! Even if we make the firm intention not to think about worldly affairs during prayer or throughout the day we cannot let go of these thoughts. This is called annihilation in the world (fana-fid-duniya). Today we are so absorbed in the world that despite our best efforts we are not able to rid our hearts of preoccupation with it. If only we would gain such a level of annihilation in Allah (fina-fillah) that we wouldn’t be able to forget Him even if we tried. Such is the station that we aspire towards, and how pitiful is our present state! It is our prayer that Allah grants us this lofty station, so that our life is spent upon goodness and our feet remain firm on the path that leads us to Him. Ameen.

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[1] A saying of the Prophettells us “Beware of the insight of a believer, for he sees with the light (nur) of Allah”

[2] Students begin their spiritual journey by taking an oath (bay’ah) with a spiritual master (Shaykh). This oath entails seeking forgiveness from Allah for past sins and renewing a lifetime commitment to living according to the Holy Quran and the example (sunnah) of the Prophet. The Messenger took such pledges from many of his companions, and hence the act of bay’ah is classified by traditional scholars as a sunnah.


Some Question and Answer Session about Tasawwuf with Hazrat Molana Peer Zulfiqar Ahmad Naqshbandi (D.B)

Download now in Audio mp3