Sheikh Nazim

                      CONNECTING TO SHEIKH

                                     leads to

                 THE DIVINCE CONNECTION

                                               The Technique of Rabita

Our Pir of the Tariqa Shah Bahaudeen Naqshaband said:

?Allah looks at the hearts of His Saints with His Lights, and whoever is around that Saint will get the blessings of those Lights.?

?Whoever is initiated by us and follows and loves us, whether he is near or far, wherever he is, even if he is in the East and we are in the West, we him nourish from the stream of Divine Love and give him Divine Light in his daily life.?

?Tafakkur sa?atin khayrun min ?ibaadati saba?in sanatin? ?Reflective thinking for one hour is better than 70 years of superogatory worship.

Make Ghuzul or Wudhu and put on clean clothes if possible.  Pray two Rakaath ?Tahiyatu?l Wudhu.?  Then sit down in a silent private place and face the Qiblah. Close your eyes and try to stop all movements, thinking and wishing.  Imagine yourself in the presence of your Sheikh and him sitting in front of you.  For that purpose you can try to remember a moment you had with the Sheikh which was pleasant or impressive to you, or use a picture of him to remember his face.  Connect with him through your heart, turning in love towards him.

?Sincerity is to worship Allah as if you were seeing Him; and even if you don?t see Him, He is always looking to you.?  The Sheikh is the representative of the Holp Prophet Muhammad (sal) who is the Caliphatullah.

Remember that the Sheikh is always looking to us, that he is always with us, even though we may not be able to see, hear or feel him.  This is why we are not with him and forget him.  Imagine yourself always in his presence, he being at your side, no matter what you do.  This will protect you from misbehaving.

To connect with Sheikh, read 3 x Surathu?l Ikhlas and 1x Surathu?l Fatiha.  Dedicate them to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sal) and to the soul of our Grandsheikh Abdullah ad-Daghestani.  Then ask for Maulana Sheikh Nazim.

You can imagine the heart of the Sheikh like an ocean of Divine Faiz - Blessings, and your own heart like a vessel which is being filled with that Faiz running from the Sheikh?s heart to your own heart.

Or you can imagine your Sheikh covering you like a tent under which you are sitting.  On its four sides the Divine Faiz (blessings) are raining down.

You can also imagine yourself swimming in the ocean of the Sheikh?s heart, like a fish or a drop of water.

If you are getting disturbed by other pictures, open your eyes quickly. They will disappear and then you can continue to concentrate.  If disturbing thoughts are coming to you, say:

?La haula wa la quwatta illa bi?illai?l ?Aliyu?l ?Azim?, (there is no power nor strength with me except that which is coming from Allah, the most High, the Magnificent) and/or:

?Audhu bi?llahi mina shaitan I rajim?, (I seek refuge in Allah?s Presence from the cursed Shaitan), 100 times or more, until they disappear.  Our Grandsheikh Shah Naqshaband said: ?The seeker in this way must be busy in rejecting evil whisperings and the ego?s demands, either before they reach him, or after they reach him but before they control him?.

A seeker who doesn?t reject them until after they have reached him and controlled him cannot get any fruit, because at that time it is impossible to take the whisperings out of the heart.?

When practicing the silent Dhikr of the heart keep the tongue on the upper palate and the teeth on top of each other

To deepen the concentration while listening to the heart?s Dhikr you can imagine the Name of Allah from light being engraved on your heart.

Everything has been created for man except for his heart.  The heart is for Allah alone, so that He can make it His Throne.  The ?Naqsh? is Allah?s stamp or seal on the heart.  During the training in the Naqshabandi Order Allah?s Name is being perfectly engraved in the heart of the seeker or disciple.

Our Grandshikh Abdulah ad-Daghestani said: ?I will teach you a way to approach me quickly.  Whenever you do your prayers, make Dhikr, read Quran, anything that you are doing, make the following intention?:

Navaithul arbain, navaithul khalwa, navaithul itikaf, navaithul uzla, navaithul riala, navaithul suluq, il?llaha ta?ala fi haazal jaami I? ( I am intending to perform the 40 days of retreat, isolation, solitude and to follow the path and spiritual practices for the sake of Allah Almighty in this place of worship.)  Your worshipping with this intention will be deducted from the 40 days of Seclusion, which are obligatory for a Naqshabandi Murid.

Our Grandsheikh Shah Bahaudin Naqshaband said:

?Intention, ?Niyat?, is very important.  It consists of three letters: ?Nun?, which represents the ?Nur Allah?, the Light of God; ?Ya?, which represents the ?Yad Allah?, the Hand of God; and ?Ha?, which represents ?Hidayatullah?, the guidance of Allah.  Niyat is the breeze of the soul, coming from the unseen world, not from the material.?

On the way of Truth, Tariq-i-Haqq, two methods are being used:  Tariqats follow either the Tariq-i-Nafsani, the way on which first of all the Nafs, the ego, is educated in order for the soul to be saved, or they follow the Tariq-i-Ruhani, the way on which first of al the Ruh, the spirit or soul is purified.

The Tariq-i-Nafsani is heavy.  Always you have to do the opposite of what your ego wants from you.  It is a big fight.  The Tariq-i-Ruhani is easy.  Sheikh says that on our way you can use the best of everything under the condition that you also do your best in worshipping Allah.  On this way first of all the spirit or soul is purified, with no regard to the ego.  After the Ruh has found its original attributes the ego, willingly or unwillingly, must follow the Ruh and obey its orders.

The Sheikh opens from his heart to the heart of the Murid a spring of Faiz, Divine Blessings from the Divine Oceans of Faiz.  He increases the love for Allah in the heart of the Murid and in this fire of Divine love all worldliness is burnt.  Through this Faiz the heart is cleaned.  Then the state of the Murid changes.  It is through the Baraka and the spiritual power of the Sheikh that the Murid progresses from the lowest level or state of his soul to the highest.

There are two sides in the Children of Adam which are always fighting:  The Ruh-u-Hayvaniya, which is always against Allah and rebellious, and the Ruh-u-Sultaniya, which is always obedient to Allah and finds its pleasure in worshipping Allah.  If the lower self is absolutely in control, one?s characteristics can be worse than a wild animal.  If the higher Self is absolutely in control, one?s characteristics can be better than those of the Angels.  To become an Insan Kamil, a perfected human being, one must undergo a training at the hands of a perfect Master, because the Nafs (soul, self, ego) must develop.

The End

Note:-

To read another lecture by Moulana Sheikh Nazim relating to the same topic of Rabita go to the following link:-

Click the following link ?  Spiritual Possibilities