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Khanqaahs : An institution against Allaah's edicts. Zikr and Tazkiya nafs : The purported objectives. Devious methods of zikr. Multiple rejection (kufr) in one afternoon session. |
Khanqaahs : An institution against Allaah's edicts.
I have never visited a permanent khanqaah and, therefore, I can only narrate what I have heard from the learned persons, who have closely observed it.
Khanqaahs are buildings housing elders (shaikhs) as its chiefs and their disciples, the mureeds. The purported objects of this institution is Tazkiya nafs (purification of the self), with Zikr (remembrance) of Allaah, as its main activity.
Once I attended the opening of a new mosque adjacent to a madrasa near Madras. After the maghrib prayer, a speech was delivered by the principal of the madrasa. During his talk, he extolled the institution of khanqaah.
Narrating the earlier days of Islaam in northern India, he said that wherever muslims went, they first built a mosque, even before they built their own houses. And wherever a mosque came up, a madrasa was built next to the mosque. And wherever a madrasa was built, a khanqaah was built beside it. He said that a society that had these three institutions would develop into an ideal society.
He said that in the days of the prophet (peace upon him), the prophet's mosque in Madeena was an example of this combination of three institutions.
Whatever be the activity he had in mind, it is not correct that an activity which originated in the prophet's mosque is started in a separate building, then an innovative name - khanqaah - is given to that institution and then to say that the activities of khanqaah took place in the masjid-e-nabavi, in order to justify whatever wrong acts are committed in that premises.
Zikr and Tazkiya nafs : The purported objectives.
Let us study whether the two purported activities, Zikr and Tazkiya nafs as practised in the khanqaahs, has the sanction of Allaah.
1) Zikr : By holding the zikr activity in a separate buidling other than a mosque and publicizing it as a place dedicated to zikr, people are drawn away from the mosques to other places. Allaah says:
Al-Baqarah : 114 "And who is more unjust than he who forbids that in places for the worship (prostration) of Allah - the mosques - His name should be celebrated (remembered or repeated) ? Whose zeal is (in fact) to ruin them? It was not fitting that such should themselves enter them except in fear. For them there is nothing but disgrace in this world, and in the world to come, an exceeding torment. "
Apart from drawing people away from mosques, the intention is to carry on incongruous and inappropriate methods of zikr, which they cannot conduct publicly in the mosques. You will read some of these methods in a moment.
2) Tazkiya nafs : Qur-aan talks about Tazkiya nafs, the purification of the self, in the following verse :
" Allah did confer a great favour on the Believers when He sent among them a Messenger from among themselves, rehearsing unto them the verses - Signs - of Allah, and sanctifying them, and instructing them in Scripture and Wisdom, while before that, they had been in manifest error. Al-i-'Imraan : 164
The method taught to the messenger of Allaah, for purifying the believers, is revealed very plainly in the above verse : he rehearses unto them the verses - Signs - of Allah, sanctifying them, and instructing them in Scripture and Wisdom, while before that, they had been in manifest error.
Thus, we come to know that the method prescribed for and adopted by the messenger of Allaah for purifying the believers, and to bring them out of manifest error, and to instruct them in scripture and wistdom, is to recite unto them the verses of Allaah. The method adopted in the khanqaahs, that of inducing the would-be disciples into making confessions and making them agree to do certain methods of zikr, etc. has nothing to do with the method of the prophet and on the other hand take a person into manifest error.
Devious methods of zikr.
Now let us study the devious methods of zikr done in the khanqaahs.
In order to avoid suspicion, the devious methods of zikr are not taught
alone. Normally, they will first teach normal zikr and then intersperse
them with unacceptable utterances.
An example is :
Even in mentioning the whole kalimah twayyibah (the good sentence), a pause is introduced in between Laa-ilaaha and illallaah, using various techniques, so that one good sentence becomes two bad sentences. Remember, separately uttered, Laa-ilaaha means " no god " and illallaah means "except Allaah".
The disciple is told that his heart is filled with worldly things ; so he has to negate it all by taking his head away from his heart, towards his right shoulder, thinking that he is emptying what it is filled with, while uttering Laa-ilaaha (no god). In the return direction, he has to say illallaah (except Allaah) while he hits his head/chin upon where his heart is.
While the disciples blindly follow this, they never realise that while generally a muslim's heart may be filled with worldly things, the faith in Allaah also occupies a prominent, if not yet a predominant, position in his heart. When he is told to empty his heart by uttering "Laa-ilaaha (no god)" , he is emptying his heart of everything but, most lamentably, that includes his faith in Allaah. On the return direction, what he hits or fills his heart with is : "illallaah (except Allaah)" an expression intended to be worse than shirk (including or equating things or persons with Allaah), so that it excludes Allaah and includes everything else. (O Allaah, saves us all from these!).
One thing to be noted in the manner of this exercise is that a pause has been introduced in between the kalima and thus it is broken into distinct utterances, to produce two abominable sentences.
Though I have been told of this practice by a friend who was a victim
himself, and I have seen some people do it, and also had it confirmed by
some learned persons who intimately know it, still I was looking for some
published material confirming this procedure. I found a very similar procedure
mentioned in the web-page : http://naqshbandi.org/topics/principl.htm .
The text of the relevant paragraph is as under :
| " The Dhikr by negation and affirmation, in the manner of the Naqshbandi Sufi Masters, demands that the seeker close his eyes, close his mouth, clench his teeth, glue his tongue to the roof of his mouth, and hold his breath. He must recite the dhikr through the heart, by negation and affirmation, beginning with the word LA ("No"). He lifts this "No" from under his navel up to his brain. Upon reaching his brain the word "No" brings out the word ILAHA ("god"), moves from the brain to the left shoulder, and hits the heart with ILLALLAH ("except The God"). When that word hits the heart its energy and heat spreads to all the parts of the body. The seeker who has denied all that exists in this world with the words LA ILAHA, affirms with the words ILLALLAH that all that exists has been annihilated in the Divine Presence." |
A learned man told me that various methods of such zikr are in practice in the khanqaahs. In one of the methods, two persons, presumably the teacher and his disciple, sit in front of each other. The first one says Laa-ilaaha and the other one says illaallaah, so that the first man keeps repeating "no god" and the other one repeats "except Allaah" , thus each one of them, responsible for his own actions, and independent of the other man's actions, utters words of kufr. This particular method, involving two persons, clearly violates Allaah's command to do remembrance "in your soul", in the verse quoted later in this article.
The methods of introducing a slight pause between Laa-ilaaha and illallaah to make them distinct from each other while uttering them, have permeated even into our prayers. Our learned men instruct us to raise our index finger while uttering Laa-ilaaha at the time of reciting tashahhud and to drop the finger while uttering illallaah. Anyone concentrating on practicing it correctly is bound to pause a little between the two parts of the sentence.
Multiple rejection (kufr) in one afternoon session.
In a mosque in our vicinity in Vellore district of south India, sufi shaikhs arrive from abroad or from northern India for the month of Ramadan and stay there during the month. During the month, the mosque is turned into a virtual khanqaah. They take bai'ath from the disciples and conduct zikr-e-jahree.
The zikr-e-jahree takes place in the afternoon. Some thirty to forty people sit in a place inside the mosque and the participants do zikr, some very loudly, shaking their heads.
In this one act, several commands of Allaah are violated. Let us see how.
Allaah says in Sura Al-a'araaf verse 205:
" And remember your Lord in your soul, with humility and in reverence, without loudness in saying, in the mornings and evenings; and be not of those who are unheedful. "
In the above verses, Allaah details the method of remembering Him.
But here,
Thus, in a single act, each and every command of Allaah in the above cited verse is violated.
Muslims in general are not aware of these minute points involving serious violation of Allaah's commands. The common man deems it all as virtuous deeds. The khanqaahs became infamous because of certain other glaring violations committed by their inmates, which even a common man can recognize as wrong. A place where shirk is practised, committal of other major sins is not a wonder. Instead of digging deep into what all happens in the khanqaahs, it is enough if we understand that even its purported objectives - as practised by them - have no sanction in Islaam.
Our elders seek to link the institution of khanqaah and sufism itself to our prophet Muhammad (peace upon him). The sufis' "golden chain" tracing the predecessors of the present elders of sufism runs right upto prophet Muhammad and he is declared as " the first sufi ". I wonder as to why prophet Ibraaheem and before him prophet Nooh (peace upon them) do not qualify for this title, whose guidance our prophet is asked to follow. (6:90).
It is all an old trick to mislead the believers. They take one or some of the required or permitted activity of the religion. Create an institution or group having this permitted activity as its main feature, so that nobody could point an accusing finger. Draw adherents based on this purported objective. Then teach them unacceptable things and spoil them.
Although the Tableegh Jamaa'ath does not directly take its adherents to khanqaahs on its tours, the khanqaahs and the sufis are extolled to such an extent in its fazaail books that its adherents unconsciously develop respect and awe for these.
For example : Shaikh Zakariyya writes in Fazaail A'amaal : " Today let the people deride the occupants of the khanqaahs to their hearts' fill, but tomorrow when the eyes are opened, they will come to know what the inhabitants of the khanqaahs took away. "
In the Ramazan month, in Dec.2000, a sufi elder came down to Melvisharam and resided in a mosque. (Simultaneously, another elder from the Tableegh Jamaa'ath head-quarters in Delhi came and resided in the mosque and he used to give daily speeches, providing all the 'jamaa'ath companions' a reason to visit the mosque.) The Tableegh Jamaa'ath members took bai'ath with the elder and they were also made to hold a rope. Although to a few of them it seemed strange to hold a rope, little did they realise that this again was a method to involve them in a ridicule of Allaah's verses :
Allaah says : in Aal-i-'Imraan : 103 :
" And hold fast, all together, by the Rope which Allah (stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves ; and remember with gratitude Allah's favour on you ; for you were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His Grace, you became brethren; and you were on the brink of the Pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus doth Allah make His Signs clear to you: that you may be guided. "
Allaah tells us all to hold fast together the rope which He has extended. Here, people are made to hold a rope which a sufi elder extends.
Thus, those who are involved in the Tableegh Jamaa'ath are slowly drawn towards sufi influence, while they are made to believe it as a 'higher virtue' or another step forward into spirituality.
Old members of the Jamaa'ath, who were accustomed only to the regular activities of the Jamaa'ath, find the sufi methods a bit strange. They are encouraged to participate in the same, saying that Tableegh, Tasawwuf, Tasneef and Taqreer, all aim towards propagating the deen, . i.e.,
While real Tableegh is what everyone is expected to do, Tasneef (writing) and Taqreer (speech) are the medium for doing Tableegh. The Tasawwuf (the sufi methods) do not fit into the scheme anywhere. Tasawwuf is nothing but a ploy by our ill-wishers to trick us into committing shirk, so that all our (good) actions are wasted, just as they wasted theirs.
Allaah had warned the prophet (peace upon him):
But it has already been revealed to you , - as it was to those before
you - "If you were to join (gods with Allah), truly fruitless will
be your work (in life), and you will surely be in the ranks of those who
lose (all spiritual good)." Az-Zumar : 65.
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