MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
“A profoundly written and moving guide, Muraqaba: The Art And Science Of Sufi Meditation is an introduction to the healing practice of Muraqaba, Sufi meditation. Presenting a 16-week program that the novice can follow to improve memory and general well-being, and offer a guideline to enlightenment, author Shaykh Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi, the Patriarch of the Sufi Order of Azeemia and renowned spiritual scholar, walks the reader through both the techniques and the underlying ideas behind them, with sample exercises each step of the way. A profoundly written and moving guide, as much about God and human's place in the cosmos as about mental relaxation, Muraqaba is especially recommended to broaden the experience of novice and experienced practitioners of meditation, yet also a welcome addition to religious reference and studies shelves."
FOREWORDreview.com
A quick glance at the headlines of any newspaper will confirm the claim that
human beings only use about ten percent of their brain, leaving fully
another ninety percent of potential untapped. Author Khwaja Shamsuddin
Azeemi, patriarch of the Sufi Order of Azeemia, believes we can learn to
access and employ much more of ourselves through the Sufi meditation of
Muraqaba. To orient the reader, Azeemi first explains the esoteric thought
behind Muraqaba. He covers such general concepts of spirituality as unity,
subtle and atmospheric bodies, species mind, and so on. He maintains these
transcend any one particular world religion and help guide the reader on the
extraordinary journey of learning to live consciously.
Human consciousness, says Azeemi, is similar to the receiver on a
television,through the right tools it picks up information stored in the
depth of the mind itself. We can receive this information in a variety of
forms such as pictures, words, sensations, sudden cognition, or even sounds.
The five senses have limits in the physical realm, he says, but are
limitless in the spiritual realm. Generally those spiritual senses remain
dormant until will or intention activates them. Once that occurs, they
become independent of any boundaries or confinement of distance. The ear
sounds of any wavelength and speech no longer finds itself in need of any
words. Thus, when our spiritual senses are ignited, our human ones grow
correspondingly keener—colors look brighter, touch is more sensitive, and
so on.
The book is not simply a treatise on the why of Muraqaba, for Azeemi
also includes the how with instructions for a 16-week program he has
designed. If practiced faithfully, he maintains it will also help a wide
variety of petty and not-so-petty health problems by lowering blood
pressure, improving heart function, boosting immunity, ending depression,
reducing stress, building production of red corpuscles, improving sleep, and
easing fear and doubt, all of which current research supports.
Azeemi has a gift for precise analogy, and this is where the book excels.
With this understanding, much can be mined here. It is especially useful for
those looking for unity rather than fundamentalism, coherence instead of
dissonance, and for a spiritual practice whose rewards are demonstrably
many.
Robin Ireland
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