Part 3 of a series on the spiritual path of the Ṭarīqa ʿUlamāʾ Makka
There are different levels of attachment to the ṭarīqa and to the shaykh, with different connections appropriate at different levels. Affiliation, or receiving the barakah of being affiliated (intisāb) to a shaykh or ṭarīqa is accepted if one or all of following things happen:
One receives the recurring transmissions (tasalsulāt) of the Shaykh, like talqīn al-dhikr or tanāwul al-sibḥa (which in practical terms means the receiving of the prayer beads or the rosary); the wearing of the garment (which might often be a shawl of the shaykh) (libs al-khirqa); al-ḥadīth al-awwalīyya bi al-raḥma (the famous Prophetic ‘mercy narration’, which is typically the first hadith that will be told to a student) and so forth. There are many of these blessed connections (tabarrukat)—the shaykhs of the Zāwiya have more than 70 of these, as an example.
Or, it may be that one read the books or parts of the books of the chain (sanad) of a shaykh or ṭarīqa without commentary—just reading. Many still practise this—this is called ‘affiliation by transmitting’ (intisāb bi-riwāya).
Others read these books with commentary from the shaykh: this is called ‘affiliation by comprehension’ (intisāb bi-dirāya).
And others still read the works with commentary and instruction from the shaykh, which is the deepest relationship of intisāb. In this relationship, one moves from just hearing knowledge (ʿilm) to receiving instruction from the shaykh. The following pattern usually then takes place: the shaykh sees whether the murīd is genuine (ṣādiq) in his desire to learn and come closer to Allah; he then also checks whether the murīd is free from attachments to the world (dunyā), meaning having or not having fame, wealth, power is all the same to him. Once the shaykh ascertains this, he instructs the murīd to lessen sleep in order to rise for tahajjud; to lessen talking, eating, mixing with people, and to generally observe solitude (ʿuzlah) to gain control over his thoughts. The Shaykh may give the murīd a small compilation of litanies to recite daily or weekly, until the Shaykh sees clearly strength in the murīd. The murīd is consistent, gains strength over hunger and over his thoughts, and so forth. When this happens, further spiritual practices are provided, until spiritual openings are evident. That is until existence reflects clearly in the mirror of the heart of the murīd, and he starts gaining insights into the Qur’an and hadith, and life in general, not available to him before this training.
It is also said intisāb is also sound by just reading a wird of a Shaykh. This is because Imam al-Shādhulī said, “He who just read our awrād, to him as it is to us, and on him as it is on us.”
Some of the Shaykhs say: In our time when the determination is lower than in earlier times, sitting with a Shaykh and reading the ijāza recommended books from cover to cover, can have similar results as the above remonstrative efforts (mujāhada). So, training (tarbīyya) in this latter scenario is done via intention (niyya) and companionship (ṣuḥba); not necessarily with the same hardships as was the case in earlier times.
Ijāza Tabarruk
So, to proceed: the first level of attachment is one that is open to anyone, which is simply to visit the shaykhs of the ṭarīqa and ask for their supplication (duʿāʾ). If anyone were to learn from the teachings of Islam from the shaykh at this level, then one could consider the shaykh to be a shaykh of learning (taʿlīm) or a teacher.
A deeper type of commitment in this regard would be to take an open, direct and official pledge for blessings (bayʿa bi-tabarruk). Alternatively, one might consider this as the license for blessings (ijāza tabarruk), in the sense that this is a figurative licence (majāzī) to further the shaykh’s teachings and practices within one’s own life. If one were to engage in this kind of connection, it would be considered a metaphorical cloak (khirqa), but, again, a majāzī one. This is bestowed by the shaykh of the order, purely for the sake of obtaining the blessings of the order, while in no way qualifying the recipient of the ability to induct or initiate anyone else into the ṭarīqa, including themselves.
More often than not, the recipient at this level receives the talqīn al-dhikr, which confers the right to perform the dhikr, though not the permission (idhn) to pass it on unless so stipulated.
The purpose of the ijāza bi-tabarruk has both a sacred aspect and a practical function. Its sacred aspect of spiritual influence (baraka) is considered necessary to evoke a sense of sacred identity with the uttered litanies. Its practical function is to ensure that—in the absence of competent adepts—the dhikr will be passed on from generation to generation. In other words, ijāza bi-tabarruk is a type of minimal guarantee that will ensure the perpetuation of the various litanies as sacred forms.
A further stage of attachment will entail everything mentioned above, but will also include the talqīn al-dhikr, and an instruction to read the awrād and remembrance formulae of Allah (aḥzāb) of the ṭarīqa. It is from adab that the reader asks for idhn or be provided with it without asking. If one comes across the awrād and aḥzāb without contact with a shaykh, then one might read them once for the baraka, but it is not advisable to make it a continued practice if one has no access to a shaykh who can provide idhn.
A deeper level of commitment in this regard would be the attendance of the shaykh’s lessons. The attachment to the ṭarīqa in this instance, by reading the awrād and attending the lessons, is real—and in many different contexts, one might be affectionately described as a murīd.
In reality, nevertheless, one at this level is connected (muntasib), but that is not procession on the path. This is not without benefit—on the contrary. Good manners with the shaykhs, as with all teachers, is warranted at this stage, all of which can be described as different levels but not exceeding the first stage, as at any level. One can take as many shaykhs as one wants at this stage, and it is advisable to do so—for the student’s knowledge will expand.
Ijāza Nawāziyya
The second and next stage of attachment is when one has been inducted into the path, at the hands of a shaykh or a representative of his that he has authorised. If one wishes to enter the ṭarīqa, and is accepted as such by the shaykh, then one may be then bestowed with the licence and permission to enter the order (ijāza jawāzīyya).
This ijāza is bestowed upon a neophyte who has recently entered the order and attaches themselves to the shaykh. Such an individual is often referred to as a traveller (sālik). An aspirant at this stage will be described as having donned the cloak (khirqa jawāzīyya) with the khirqa symbolising here the permission to enter the order. The shaykh in this regard will be described as the scholar of refinement (shaykh al-tarbīyya), the scholar of [self] purification (shaykh al-tazkiya) or the scholar of [religious] guidance (shaykh al-irshād) for that particular aspirant.
The aspirant ought to limit one’s shaykh in this regard to one, possibly two, while benefiting from others, with the proviso that they are familiar with each other, or have deemed the aspirant appropriate for such a relationship. The aspirant should focus their heart on the shaykh in this regard with a particular importance and have a good deal of trust and confidence in the shaykh for the aspirant’s spiritual progress, at least to a point, will be overseen by that shaykh.
At this level, one has taken a certain pledge and different responsibilities apply. His pledge is to proceed on a path of sulūk and the nature of the relationship between the one being guided (murīd) and the one who is guiding (murshid) is a deeply personal one.
It is important to note: the shaykhs of this ṭarīqa do not consider it from the etiquette of their way to seek out murīds, nor to take just anyone who wants to embark on the way as a murīd. On the contrary, as Imam al-Shaʿrānī (d. 1565/973) has reported from the righteous: “If there was genuinely only one true disciple for the shaykh in his entire life, he would be more precious than red sulphur.”
But make no mistake—the relationship is a real one, and it is one that finds its origin, as Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jilānī and many others remind us, in the relationship between our Holy Prophet ﷺ and the Archangel Gabriel. Hence, the spiritual genealogical chain (silsila) goes back to the Archangel.
The mashāyikh of our way adopted the ‘old-school’ of the effacement of formalities (maḥū al-rusūm). The nature of these protocols mentioned above should never detract from, as our teachers inspired us to internalise, the reality that this path is about the student and the shaykh, and the way to Allah. As Shaykh Ahmad Hendricks once told us: “Stay near the ground and avoid hierarchies.”[^1] The protocols are meant to keep away the unqualified, the frauds, and worse. Ultimately, the shaykh gives and sustains the conditions and tools of healing, but the success of those tools being used largely depends on the murīd and the ambition (himma) of the murīd.
Ijāza al-Irshād
Following this stage of attachment, another kind of relationship may take place. The shaykh may at this third stage decide to bestow a further ijāza of the ṭarīqa upon the murīd; this is the licence of religious guidance (ijāza al-irshād). This is the permission to not only further the teachings of the ṭarīqa in one’s own life, but to further the teachings of the ṭarīqa in other people. That ijāza will renew the induction of the murīd into the silsila of the ṭarīqa and empower the murīd to perpetuate the ṭarīqa. Such a decision would depend greatly on an assessment of the qualities inherent in that murīd and, secondly, knowledge of the doctrinal and methodological principles of the order.
That ijāza of irshād endows the recipient with the ability—one might even say the responsibility—to be a shaykh of bayʿa and talqīn (i.e., to initiate and instruct). The recipient in this regard is invested with the independent capacity to act as a shaykh or as a representative of the shaykh as a muqaddam. One is then considered to have the cloak of investiture (khirqa al-ijāzīyya).
It is a khalīfa who is imbued with the authority to make seekers muqaddams—a muqaddam is not normally imbued with such independent authority, unless so directed by a khalīfa (in which case it is the khalīfa who would actually be responsible for the investiture).
Openings (Fatḥ), Stations (Maqāmāt), States (Aḥwāl), and the Shaykh al-Fatḥ
Once one advances past the above stages, either the second or the third stage, the aspirant at this stage may then recognise their shaykh as the shaykh of opening (shaykh al-fatḥ), or the shaykh through which one’s deep spiritual awakening may be achieved. That shaykh can only be one person, and the aspirant in reality does not have a choice as to who that shaykh might actually be. The aspirant who has not been given the ijāza of irshād may, nevertheless, receive a fatḥ. The absence of such an ijāza means that one cannot receive an ijāza. The ijāza is an indication of responsibilities—the absence of such responsibilities does not obviate certain levels of spiritual accomplishment.
The word fatḥ relates to the assuming of a certain state (maqām) in the seeker, and the upward progression from one state to another.
These states might be described as three-fold—others go into further divisions in those three. According to one description of those states, there are three stages that the soul (nafs) will go through:
- the inciting soul (al-nafs al-ammāra);
- the reproachful soul (al-nafs al-lawwāma); and
- the soul at peace (al-nafs al-muṭmaʾinna).
According to another detailed description, which might be considered to be further degrees and deeper transformations within these states, there are seven stages that the soul (nafs) will go through:
- the inciting soul (al-nafs al-ammāra);
- the reproachful soul (al-nafs al-lawwāma);
- the inspired soul (al-nafs al-mulhama);
- the soul at peace (al-nafs al-muṭmaʾinna);
- the pleased soul (al-nafs al-rāḍiya);
- the pleasing soul (al-nafs al-marḍiyya); and
- the perfected soul (al-nafs al-kāmila).
The above is the more common description of the soul’s voyage through stations. Sayyid Muhammad b. ʿAlawī al-Mālikī assessed that the fourth stage would precede the third. In any case, the progression from one type of nafs to another comes through a fatḥ, and as such, there will be different futuḥāt that take place.
When one progresses from the nafs al-ammāra to the nafs al-lawwāma, this is considered as the journey towards Allah (sayr ilā Allāh). The following progression to the next stage will be considered as the ‘journey for Allah’; followed by ‘journey with Allah’, then ‘journey under the care of Allah,’ then ‘journey within Allah,’ followed by the ‘journey from Allah,’ and finally the ‘journey by Allah.’
A khalīfa is expected to have reached (wuṣūl) a state where his nafs has at least proceeded beyond the nafs al-lawwāma to either nafs al-muṭmaʾinna, or nafs al-mulhamma (according to the seven-fold description above). It would be unusual, though not impossible, for him to have been appointed as khalīfa, otherwise. Indeed, it may even be that the appointment of a seeker to the position (manṣib) of khalīfa is delayed until the seeker has reached the stage of journeying in Allah. All of these are decisions that are wholly at the prerogative of the shaykh, depending on his assessment.
The journeying in Allah (sayr fī Allāh) is a different type of fatḥ altogether—it is a spiritual opening that causes the heart to be disassociated from all things other than Allah, and truly occupied with Allah—i.e., where the soul is in the fifth state of nafs al-rāḍīya. The spiritual acumen of the seeker in this stage is such that the unseen becomes manifest; i.e., he has a full ability of kashf.
This type of fatḥ, that brings the seeker into the state of nafs al-rāḍīya, is the one appropriately described by al-Ṭabīb ʿUmar b. Ḥafīẓ as such:
“When the people of taṣawwuf talk about it (al-fatḥ), they mean by it an unveiling which allows the person who receives it to witness the spiritual and angelic realm having previously being restricted to witnessing the physical realm. He is thus raised from the state of certainty based upon knowledge (ʿilm al-yaqīn) to the state of certainty based upon witnessing (ʿayn al-yaqīn) [i.e., mushāhada]. An opening may be limited to one area, or it may be an ‘absolute opening’ or a ‘clear opening.’ The latter is the greatest type of opening and it enables the one who has been given it to see things with absolute clarity.”
At the same time, it is important to note: an opening may come by and through the sincerity of the faithful alone, without a direct engagement of a shaykh of opening at all. In that circumstance, it is the preparedness of the aspirant that has attracted him or her to Divine providence. It may even be that a truly realised shaykh has taken responsibility for that particular aspirant, without the aspirant even knowing about it—and that the aspirant benefits greatly from the prayers and supplications of that shaykh. Indeed, it could even be the case that the intense love that the aspirant has for the Prophet ﷺ has made him or her a murīd of the Prophet ﷺ. These possibilities are transmitted—and only Allah knows.
A shaykh delivering irshād may not necessarily be the one who guides the murīd to a particular fatḥ—in such a case, the shaykh may be simply preparing the murīd for another shaykh who will guide to a fatḥ in the future. It is also important to note that a shaykh is also only able to lead the murīd to the type of fatḥ he himself has been led to.
But it is also important to note progression from the second stage to the third stage requires a knowledgeable guide who knows, as Shaykh al-Shabrāwī (d. 1764/1176) states, the path’s waystations and conditions. Moreover, the same applies when it comes to progression from the third to the fourth stage, except that it should be a more knowledgeable and perfected guide. Beyond those stages, progression does not usually require a guide. It is Allah Who grants success.[^2]
Not all shaykhs, regardless of the type, may necessarily be invested with the responsibility of spiritual succession (khilāfa). That is always down to his own shaykh’s assessment of various factors. A shaykh, however, who has been made a khalīfa, and whose soul has reached a certain state has the ability to direct the aspirant (murīd) in the unseen, which means whether physical proximity exists, direction via knowledge of the unseen is a reality.
Footnotes
[^1]: Citation directly from Shaykh Aḥmad Hendricks.
[^2]: For an excellent exposition of the different stages of the soul, see Shaykh ʿAbd al-Khāliq al-Shabrāwī, The Degrees of the Soul (Quilliam Press: United Kingdom, 1997).
