Sadia Dehlvi

Last week I travelled to Saharanpur for the annual Urs, the death anniversary of my Dada Pir, the Master of my Master, Shah Inamur Rehman Qudoosi of the Chishti silsilah, order. My shaykh, Shah Muhammad Farooq Rahmani, belonged to Delhi but migrated to Karachi after Partition.

I took the ba’ya, oath of allegiance, in 1978, at the insistence of my mother whose search for the perfect Master lasted over two decades. Repeating the shijrah (spiritual lineage) of the Rahmani Chishti Order while the Master held one end of a long scarf and I the other, was an overwhelming experience.
Shah Muhammad Farooq Rehmani remained a true ashiq-e-rasul (lover of Prophet Mohammad). He had internalised prophetic qualities of compassion, generosity, gentleness and the yearning for Allah. The Prophet was alive in his heart and found expression in his conduct. Although my shaykh’s soul left the world in 1983, I feel his constant presence and guidance. Sometimes I feel driven to accomplish certain things and often, the heart intuitively warns of harmful actions.
Prophet Mohammad said, “When someone has no shaykh, Satan becomes his shaykh”. In another saying he proclaimed, “A shaykh in his group is like a prophet amongst his people”.
Sufi masters — called shaykh, pir or murshid — guide seekers on their spiritual journey. They nurture the murid, disciples, by monitoring meditations, interpreting dreams and keeping track of the Sufi aspirant’s progress. Sufi orders are like spiritual families and once the oath of allegiance to a shaykh is taken, the disciple becomes his spiritual child.
The shaykh appoints the most deserving disciple as his khalifah (successor), formally signing a khilafatama (a document that functions as a licensing authority permitting the deputy to initiate disciples independently).
A close association between Master and disciple is an integral part of the mystic discipline. Sufi scholar Abu Hafs al-Suharwardi of the 13th century said, “When the sincere disciple obeys the Master, keeps his company and learns his manners, a spirituality flows from the Master to the disciple, like one lamp lighting another”.
Sufi manuals are laden with anecdotes narrating the devotion of renowned sufis to their Masters. Baba Farid once headed from Ajodhan to Mecca with the desire of performing the Hajj pilgrimage. On reaching Uch, it occurred to the mystic that his Master, Khwaja Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki, had not performed the Hajj. So, instead of travelling to Mecca, Baba Farid presented himself at the tomb of his spiritual mentor in Delhi.
The Sufi path requires a disciple to submit to the Sufi Master. Mevlana Rumi’s life presents a compelling tale of submission. Once, Shamsuddin Tabriz asked Mevlana to procure a woman for him. When Mevlana offered his wife, Shams proclaimed her to be a sister. The Master then demanded a youthful boy and Mevlana offered his son. Shams commented that he thought of the boy as a son. Shams then spoke of a desire for wine; Mevlana hurriedly fetched a glassful, but Shams threw it away, revealing that he was simply testing his disciple’s obedience.
Rumi was a religious scholar rooted in the laws of the Shariah. Meeting Shams made him realise the limitations of intellect and led him to acquire knowledge of the heart. Rumi writes, “Companionship with the holy makes you one of them. Though you are rock or marble, you will become a jewel when you associate with the man of the heart”. In the Mathnawi, Rumi says: “Whoever travels without a guide, needs 200 days for a two-day journey”.
Tasawwur e-shaykh (concentrating on the image of the shaykh) is an important meditation method of the Sufi path. The disciple first annihilates himself in the mentor, a state that is called fana fi’l shaykh. The next stage, fana fi’l rasul, is self-annihilation in the love of Prophet Mohammad. The final stage, fana fi’l Allah (annihilation in the love of God), leads to the state of baqa, where the Sufi ceases to exist and his soul finds eternal continuance in Allah.

— Sadia Dehlvi is a Delhi-based writer and author of Sufism: The Heart of Islam. She can be contacted at sadiafeedback@gmail.com