Sufiblog| Sufi meditation|muraqaba

What is Muraqaba?

By
Shaykh Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi
Patriarch,
Sufi Order of Azeemia

When we try to learn a new skill or try to gain knowledge about a specific subject, we follow a guideline or a system, which demands that we pay attention to the subject to fully understand it. Our mind becomes curious to know the where, how and what of it. When we pay attention to the minor details, that minor point itself gains value. However, when we ignore the most important part and do not pay any cognitive attention to it then even that major point loses its value and importance. Through contemplation we gain knowledge about any object and the deeper that knowledge, the more we learn about that object and its qualities.

Muraqaba (Sufi meditation) is the name of that contemplation through which man is able to gain the knowledge which is the primordial knowledge of his Ego, Self, or Soul. After gaining that knowledge, any man can gain access to his Ego or Soul.

It appears that the person performing Muraqaba (Sufi meditation) is simply sitting in a pose with his or her eyes closed. However, merely shutting the eyes and assuming a specific pose does not serve the purpose. Muraqaba (Sufi meditation) is in fact an angle of perception through which the person doing the Muraqaba (Sufi meditation) frees himself or herself from outward senses and begins their journey in the inward senses.

Now we are going to look into whether or not the Muraqaba (Sufi meditation)-like conditions or states exist in us, without adopting the specific pose of Muraqaba (Sufi meditation).

Freedom from outward senses happens in our daily life, both involuntarily and voluntarily. For example, we go to sleep and while sleeping our brain disconnects from outward senses. It is true that this disconnection is temporary however; this condition could not be termed as anything but disconnection from outward senses. Hence, we can say that Muraqaba (Sufi meditation) is in fact a way of imposing a state of sleeping without going to sleep.

Every human being, from the time of birth to death spends life in two states. In other words, in the human mind there are two types of conditions that prevail every moment of our life. One of these conditions or state is wakening and the other sleeping or dreaming. In the wakening state, they are trapped in Time and Space while during dreaming they are free from the confines of spatiotemporal limitations. This freedom of Time and Space is sought through Muraqaba (Sufi meditation) by converting the state of sleeping or dreaming into an awakened state. Because during Muraqaba (Sufi meditation), a person goes through the same conditions that he or she goes through while sleeping or dreaming.

The notion that dreams are nothing but thoughts is not correct. In all scriptures including the Quran (Koran), dreams have been mentioned. The dreams that were mentioned in the Quran show that the realm of dream is free from the restrictions imposed by Time and Space. When a person tries to impose the state of dreaming through Muraqaba (Sufi meditation), they free themselves from that spatiotemporal boundaries and they journey through the realm of dream the way they travel while fully wake. All existing things need foundation; without it they could not survive. This is not something that is hard to comprehend. For example the foundation of a chair is its legs. A house remains erect only when inside the earth its foundation is laid. Similarly, we can only learn a subject or a branch of knowledge when we know its basics. These basics (or formulas) are considered as the foundation of any branch of knowledge. God has revealed it in the Quran,

Al-Lah is the Light of the heavens and earth.

In this Universe, there are several worlds and galaxies. The Essence and Reality of God is something only God knows or those with whom He has shared His Secrets. How much of this information God has shared with His chosen servants is not our concern. However, we do know that God created this entire universe for us humans. It is stated on several occasions in the Quran that the foundation of this universe is the Light (nur) of God. Based on this fact it is imperative that Man and all of his abilities be centered on one foundation.

It is our daily observation that not all of our actions, motions, whims, thoughts, imaginations, and feelings are dependent on the body of bones and flesh. Because when the Spirit disconnects its link with the physical body then this body of bones and flesh is unable to act on its own. As long as the Spirit is attached with the body, all the needs, and functions necessary for life are present. In other words, Spirit (ruh) is the foundation of the body.

According to the Quran(Koran), a limited knowledge of the Spirit is given. Nevertheless even this limited knowledge is still knowledge. What we are trying to emphasize is that what we consider Man is a body of bones and flesh, though that Man is nothing but fiction. The real Man is the one that protects that skeleton of flesh and keeps it in motion, whom the Quran calls ruh (Spirit). This ruh, in order to fulfill the needs of life uses a medium. We call this medium, chromosomes. In the Quran, God has said that, We poured Our ruh in him (Adam). In other words, ruh created a medium and after that gave him the senses. ruh is in fact a component of the Divine and in it all the knowledge of Divine Discretions and Attributes are present, which God so Willed. Just how this knowledge was acquired by the component, is a Divine Mystery, which could never be explained.

There are eleven thousand generators (latifa, plural lataif) at work inside the Man. According to Sufism, there are eleven thousand Divine Names as well. Every Divine Name is an Attribute and every Divine Attribute is knowledge (ilm). This knowledge further expands into more and more spheres to become a manifestation of the Divine Attributes.

To enter the unseen world (al-ghayb) or to behold anything beyond Time and Space, we have to first free ourselves from the clutches of spatiotemporal restrictions. This is only possible when the vision that sees Time and Space frees itself from its boundaries. To activate that vision, certain exercises have been created through which even if the human mind is not totally free at least it is able to come close to it.

Now the next question is to how and when the human senses could be freed from that restriction. One example is the state of dreaming. Sleeping actually is getting freedom from the diurnal senses, which are Time and Space. When we go to sleep then our senses are transferred to a realm where the state of Time and Space do exist but not in the chronological order in which we spend our life. The Second way is that while wake human mind could focus on any object with full concentration. For example when we read an interesting book, we often lost track of the time. When we finally look at our watch, we then realized that so much time had elapsed, though we were not aware of it.

In the Quran, the event of Moses receiving the Torah is mentioned in the following verse,

And We promised Moses thirty nights and fulfilled it in forty nights.

Day and night are mentioned in Quran in the following verses,

And We enter night into the day and let the day enter into the night.

We take the night out of the day and take the day out of the night.

We cover the day onto night and night into the day

When we contemplate these verses of Quran, we realized that day and night are in fact two senses. In other words, our life is divided into two senses. One of the senses is day the other one is night. During the day senses (diurnal senses) restricted with Time and Space while during night senses (nocturnal senses) we are free from these restrictions.

The Divine Statement that We promised Moses thirty nights and fulfilled it in forty nights, is interesting. Because Moses did not simply spend forty nights there, his entire stay was forty days and forty nights. It was not that he was spending the nights at the place and coming back during the day. He did spend his entire stay at the Mount. Interestingly God did not mention days in the verse instead mentions only night. It clearly suggests that during those forty days and forty nights, Moses was under the influence of nocturnal senses. The same nocturnal senses, which free us from the restrictions of Time and Space.

Hence, anyone who would impose the nocturnal senses during the period of day and night on themselves would be free from the confinement of Time and Space. This freedom from spatiotemporal restriction is the way to exploring the unseen realm and getting intuitive information.

During a battle, an arrow injured Amirul Momineen Ali ibn abi Talib. It had entered his thigh and the pain was excruciating. The surgeons could not operate on it. Because of extreme pain he would not let them even touch it. One of his companions suggested to surgeons that they wait until Imam Ali began his prayer. When Imam Ali began his prayer, the surgeons were able to operate on him without him showing any sign of pain. By the time he was done with his prayers, Imam Ali realized that the surgeon had already performed the surgery and the wound had already been stitched. This event is another example of the negation of Time and Space. When Imam Ali started his prayers, his senses went from diurnal state into nocturnal state. The moment his mind entered the nocturnal senses his focus was shifted away from the diurnal senses (restriction and pain). The foundation of Spirituality is based on the reality that Man has two senses, two brains, and two lives. Just like the two sides of a coin, it has two sides.One life is restricted; the other one is free. Constrained life is day, wakefulness, and consciousness. On the other hand, free life is the name of night, joy, peace and the contentment of the heart.

To gain that life the easiest method in Spirituality is Muraqaba (Sufi meditation). Muraqaba (Sufi meditation) is in fact the name of an exercise, effort and the angle of perception. Through it, anyone can enter the nocturnal senses while keeping the diurnal senses active as well.

What is Muraqaba?

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