|
submit
articles |
| Muraqabah
(Self-Supervision) Fethullah Gülen Meaning watching, superintending,
controlling and living in consciousness of being controlled, murâqabah
has been defined by the sufis as setting one’s heart solely on God
without attachment to anything other than Him and holding one’s
carnal self back from all
forbidden things and acts in the conviction that the Divine Knowledge
encompasses all things, and
living in accordance with Divine commandments. We can also interpret murâqabah
as trying to observe whatever God wills and leading a life in utmost
sincerity, in the consciousness of being always supervised by God
Almighty. This is possible through conviction that the Almighty sees
whatever man does, hears whatever he says, knows whatever he conceives of
and occurs to him and records it whatever issues from man. In the verse,
In whatever state you may be, and whichever part of the Qur’an you
recite, and whatever deed you do, We are witnesses over you when you are
deeply engrossed therein (10.61), the Qur’an reminds us of this. If murâqabah means that the heart of man
remains closed to all recollections displeasing to God and the thoughts
and conceptions separating him from God and making him heedless to the
fact that God always supervises him, and to the disagreeable
considerations which affect man’s behavior, and that all the channels of
the spirit open to receive the radiances coming from eternity are kept
open to Divine gifts and favours if murâqabah
has all these meanings, then we must keep closed what we must and keep
open what we must. The first step to murâqabah is to accept as great what
God has decreed as great and to consider as of no value what He has
decreed as worthless and prefer His will and desires over our own.
Thinking of the depth of God’s Mercy increases and strengthens man’s
love of God and desire to worship Him, and considering fear and awe of Him
causes the loss of appetite for sins and forces man to live a careful
life. As for murâqabah, it leads man, like filtering some liquids to
purify them, to discard all considerations and intentions occurring to his heart which damage worship. Muraqabah
is an effort of man to be
able to keep pure all his thoughts, considerations and intentions, even at
the times when he is alone, in the consciousness that he is always
supervised. Muraqabah is one of the most important of
the ways directly leading to God without needing a guide. It has the color
of the great or major sainthood attained through succession to
the Prophetic mission which is conveying the Divine Message to people, without following a spiritual order. The travelers on the
path of murâqabah can turn to God at any time or place in awareness of
their helplessness and destitution before
God and be admitted to a ‘private meeting’ with God by the document of
neediness. While they are watching nature, they feel God’s
constant supervision of them and keep aloof from consideration of whatever
is other than God; while they are hearing things, they keep deaf to all sounds and voices not related
to Him; while they are talking about
existence, they sing the praises of His Beauty and Grace and regard it as
useless to mention something
dissociated from Him. As a matter of fact, if the eyes do not remind one
of His Seeing, the ears of His Hearing, and the tongue of His Speech, what
will the use of these organs be other than as pieces of flesh? Jalal
al-Din al-Rûmi says: ‘God
Almighty described Himself as the All-Seeing in order to warn you against
evils; He described Himself as the All-Hearing to admonish you not to say
anything bad, and He described Himself as the All-Knowing to inform you
that He knows you and therefore to exhort you to be alert to corrupt
thoughts and considerations.’ Al-Rûmi regards self-supervision as a
protecting screen from evil emotions, thoughts, passions and acts, and
considers it as the safest way to be attentive to Divine rights. The first step in self-supervision is
submission to Divine Will and wishes in the conviction that He is present
everywhere and is aware of all our thoughts, considerations and deeds. It
is certainty of the fact that God is Watcher over all things
(33.52). The second step in self-supervision is that
an initiate should turn to God with a heart at rest, and patiently
anticipate the flow of Divine gifts and effulgences into his heart. Such
turning to Him does not require the attachment to a guide and building a
connection with him from or through the heart and regular recitation of
God’s Names. However, if an initiate wishes to follow a guide
and regularly recite God’s Names in accordance with rules of Shari‘a,
it will certainly be much better. To the extent that an initiate, whether
he be on the first or second step, can act according to the meaning of the
Prophetic Tradition, Perfect goodness is that you worship as if seeing God. Even if you do not see Him, He certainly sees
you, and that, always seeing himself as helpless, destitute and needy
before God, he believes Him to be his sole point of reliance and source of
help, he may be travelling safely on the path of self-supervision and
therefore be regarded as secure against deviations. In the souls of those who can follow the
path of self-supervision to that extent, there will appear over time a
faculty which we may call peace of heart, by means of which their
conscience will always remain open to Divine gifts and receive radiances
from the One of Unity. One of the most important mechanisms of self-supervision is muhasabah (self-criticism). By means of self-criticism which is man’s controlling himself and accusing himself of his sins and faults in awareness of the factors and impulses inciting him thereto, an initiate can find the truth in his heart and represent it in his conduct. In his spirit, the meaning and mystery of Glory be to Him Who sees me, knows my place and hears my speech, manifests itself, and he deeply feels that the Divine Knowledge and Will always keep him under control. Wherever he is and whatever he does, he pursues God’s good pleasure and tries to always act in accordance with His wishes. |