Tasawwuf and Character Building
SECTION 2
CHAPTER 9
MEDITATIONS - AN OVERVIEW
The basic lesson of Sufism, that is the brief explanation of the lataif has been given in the last chapters, and it has been made clear that when these lataif are illuminated by the Divine Name, the practical life of the devotee is influenced. When the heart is connected directly to ALLAH the desire for the obedience of the Sunnah arises deep inside, as a result the character and conduct of a person change and the environment where he lives is also influenced by him.
Now his goal in life changes from the worldly pleasures to a successful life in the Hereafter. He feels a desire to serve mankind to the extent that he cannot even bear to see anyone in pain and sorrow. Thus by going through these details, it seems that all the efforts which are being made for the eradication of social evils, all the organizations which have been set up for this purpose, all the time and money which is being sacrificed, could be saved if, the people were taught the lessons on tasawwuf. If they are taught the lataif, then all the social evils would automatically vanish from the environment and man can finally live in peace and harmony.
After the lataif, the meditations are taught to the devotee. The three meditations are taught one after the other as the devotee starts to acquire strength of flight in the spiritual world. The literal meaning of meditation is to wait, to observe, and to secure, the salik with deep concentration waits for ALLAH ,the Divine power to guide him, to bless him and to receive the Divine Lights in his heart, and for all this he should create a receptive attitude so that his heart becomes a source of guidance for his own self and for others, and by ALLAH’s blessings his existence becomes a source of peace for the mankind and if ALLAH wills, he shall be blessed by the Divine Lights and Divine guidance, which will adorn his innerself as well as his apparent self. The devotee should keep a strict watch that no emotions or ideas should distract him from ALLAH ,and should protect the spiritual treasure that he has acquired in the form of lataif. He shall also entreat the protection of ALLAH Almighty against Satan, be it from the humans or amongst the jinn. In the words of Sufism, Maulana Thanvi expresses the reality of meditation as follows:
To concentrate strongly on a given subject for sometime so that a person starts feeling the results inside him, to visualise the matter is called meditation. Such an action is directly related to the feelings of the heart.
The following Hadith is a proof of this fact. Ibn-e Umar
relates that the Holy Prophet
once held my shoulder and said, “Live in this world like a traveller or like a person who is passing to the next destination, and consider yourself to be among the dead.” Including oneself among the dead is an act by the heart, and the positive results of this act are that, the love of the material world starts to diminish from his heart and he starts trusting in ALLAH and accepts happily whatever ALLAH has in fate for him.
Atanother point, Maulana Thanvi writes:
“To turn the thoughts with deep concentration towards ALLAH and His Divine Attributes or any other such subject and to visualise it from the inner depth of your heart is called meditation.”
There is another Hadith which supports this point. Hadhrat Abu Bakr As Siddiq once said to the Prophet,
“O the Messenger of ALLAH
at which the Holy Prophet
replied:
“Yes, that is so, as Surah Hud and Surah Waqi‘ah have made me old.”
It is obvious that deep concentration and fear of ALLAH are the factors which can turn a person old. Therefore, the proof for the act of meditation is quite clear in this Hadith.