The Search for a Spiritual Guide

Translated Lecture of Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Shafee Okarvi- [Rahmatul Laahi Alaieh]-South Africa

Hazrat Saiyyidinaa Khawaajah Saiyyid Mu’een ud deen Hasan

Chishti Ajmeri Sarkaar Gareeb Nawaaz (Radiyal Laahu ‘Anhu)

Hazrat Khawaajah Saahib had acquired the external knowledge and now set out to acquire a Spiritual Guide. Near Neshapur was a village called Harwaan or Haroon. In this village resided a renowned Walee who was the Cardinal Pole (Qutb) of the time, Hazrat Khawaajah Usmaan Harooni (May Allaah Kareem be well pleased with him).

On the very first meeting with Hazrat Khawaajah Usman Harooni (May Allaah Kareem be well pleased with him), having never met or seen each other before, Khawaajah Usmaan stated, ‘Mu’een ud deen! I have been waiting for you. Come to me!’

He became a disciple (mureed) and was then consigned to a Hujraa  to ‘worship Allaah Kareem’ (Ibaadat) and ‘strive on the path’ (Riyaazaat) .Remember nothing is attained without, sincere worship, striving and a concentrated effort. Allaah Kareem (Almighty and Glorious is He) says in the Holy Qur’aan in the 29th Soorah, al-Ankabuut, Verse 69:

And those who strive in Our way (to know Us and Our Attributes), We will certainly guide them to Our Paths

One has to strive on this path. The Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him, his family and his companions), despite being the beloved of Allaah Kareem and the Cause of Creation still worshipped and strove. He stood so still at night for such long durations that the blood capillaries on his blessed foot used to burst.

Allaah Kareem (Almighty and Glorious is He) had to tell him in the Holy Qur’aan, in the 73rd Soorah, al-Muzzammil, Verses 1to 3:

O thou folded in garments! Stand (to prayer) by night, but not all night, half of it, or a little less,

And, also, in the 20th Soorah, Ta-Ha, Verses 1 and 2:

Taa-haa  (O Fourteenth Moon!) We have not sent down the Qur’aan to thee to put you in difficulty,

The Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him, his family and his companions) strove in the path of Allaah Kareem. The Mother of the Believers, Hazrat Ayeshaah Siddeeqah (may Allaah Kareem be well pleased with her) says,

‘I observed the extent of the Mujahidaah ,ibaadaat and Riyaazaat striving of the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him, his family and his companions) and at times I wept. Then I enquired as to why he put himself through this difficulty, for he is the beloved of Allaah Kareem?’

The Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him, his family and his companions) replied, ‘Should I not be a grateful servant of Allaah Kareem?’ So one has to strive on this Path of Return to Allaah Kareem. Without effort nothing is attained.

Let me explain something for your understanding. Raw Gold cannot adorn a neck as jewelry unless and until it burns itself in a blazing fire. Gold loses its hard arrogance and becomes humbly soft in fire.

Then it can be molded into jewelry. Still as jewelry it is not left alone. It is now rubbed and polished till it loses its outer skin, shines. Initially it was gold and it still is as a jewel but it had to burn in fire and lose its skin to increase its beauty, worth and value. First it was just gold but now it is worthy of adorning the neck of the beloved.

The Auliyaa Allaah are full of worth but more shine is added after Mujahadah, Ibaadaat and Riyaazaat. Their worth is increased. The eye-make-up (surma) is a stone that becomes worthy of being put onto the eye after being grinded and made fine. It becomes a source of beautification and increase of sight for the eye.

Thus without striving in the path of Allaah Kareem, ones value does not increase.

One has to strive on this path, burn and annihilate oneself. One has to mix into the soil and become soil. Let me tell you a Soofie Anecdote:

A log if it is buried in the ground will decompose. The same log if it is burned and made into coal and then buried will retain its composure even after a thousand years. Thus those who burn themselves in the Fire of Divine Love (Ishq e Illaahie), even when they are buried, their bodies remain intact.

Those who have not burned in the Fire Of Divine Love will not understand. Khawaajah Mu’een ud deen Hasan Chishti (May Allaah Kareem be well pleased with him) strove in the path of Allaah Kareem performing Riyaazaat for three years.

After a year his Spiritual Master called him and asked him as to what he could see and he replied, “I can see the seven heavens and the seven earths and whatever is on them.”

Khawaajah Mu’een ud Deen Chishti himself records this.So he replied, “I can see the seven heavens and the seven earths and whatever is on them.” Khawaajah Usmaan Harooni (May Allaah Kareem be well pleased with him) said, “You are not ready yet.” and sent him back into the Hujraa.[Chamber]. Another year passed and he was asked as to what he could see and he replied, “I can see the abyss of the earth (tahtus sudraa) and up to the Divine Throne (Arsh).

Again he got the reply “You are not ready yet” and was sent back into the Hujraah. Another year passed and on being questioned by his Peer O Murshid he replied, ‘I can see up to the Glorious Veil (al-Hijaab e Azmat) that veils the Creator from us and beyond the veil.”

Khawaajah Usmaan Harooni (May Allaah Kareem be well pleased with him) then held out two fingers and asked him to look through them and say what he sees. He replied, “I can see the 1800 universes.”

Allaah Kareem (Almighty and Glorious is He) says, Sacred Hadee (Qudsi) or Allaah Kareem’s Sacred Saying, reported  by the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him, his family and his companions) Allaah Kareem says:

“When My servant loves Me and proceeds towards Me with the intensity of love by leading a righteous, godly, and pious life beyond what I have prescribed as obligatory, then he arrives at the stage where I come to love him. When I make him My beloved, I become his faculty of audition by which he hears, and his faculty of sight by which he sees, and the hands with which he holds, and the feet with which he walks and the tongue with which he speaks.

And Baihaaqi added:

And the mind with which he thinks”

In the light of this Hadees it is possible to partially understand this transformation in Khawaajah Saahib. He penetrated the thin line separating the material world from the unseen: the inner organs of perception opened and so did his universe expand.