Sadia Dehlvi
Fast, pray, cleanse
As a child, I had always looked forward to the month of Ramzan. While the elders fasted, we woke up early to join them at sehri (the pre-dawn meal), treating it like an exciting “midnight feast”. To inculcate the practice of fasting, children were encouraged to observe ek daad ka roza (one-jaw fast), which meant eating carefully through the day from one side of the mouth.
The night of mercy
I have grown up learning about the importance of Shab-e-Baraat, night of mid-Shabaan, which falls on this Sunday night.
Whirling for God’s grace
In recent times, Sufi poetry has gained immense popularity all over the world. Eight hundred years after his death, Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi reigns as the most popular Sufi poet in the West. However, most published translations of Mevlana’s poetry are devoid of his religious discourse — the love that he writes about is often misunderstood as worldly love, and he is presented as a mystic without Mohammad, without Islam.
Master is he who frees
This June corresponds with Rajab, the seventh month in the Islamic lunar calendar. Rajab is one of the “four sacred months”, mentioned in the Quran. It is associated with many events in Islamic history, including the Shab-e-Miraj, the Ascension of Prophet Mohammad to heaven and the birth of Imam Ali.
Ali, the son of Abu Talib ibn Abd al Muttalib, was the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet.
Pilgrimage of peace
Initiated in the Chishti Sufi order, I find Ajmer to be the kaabah of my heart. On the 6th of Rajab, June 9 (the seventh Islamic month), I look forward to participating in the 799th Urs festivities of Khwaja Gharib Nawaz. Along with hundreds of thousands of devotees, I queue for long hours to touch the threshold, usually getting my chance in the middle of the night.
The shaykh & the murid
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.
God’s pleasure, God’s pain
Abu Said ibn Khair, famed mystic of the early 11th century, said: “Sufism is glory in wretchedness and richness in poverty and lordship in servitude and satiety in hunger and clothedness in nakedness and freedom in slavery and life in death and sweetness in bitterness”. Those who love the Lord believe that both afflictions and bounties come from Him and that His kindness embraces all creations.
The beggar of Baghdad
In states of ecstasy, the eccentric Shibli often uttered sentences considered blasphemous: “The fire of Hell will not touch me and I can easily extinguish it”. Shibli is a legendary figure in the history of Mansur Hallaj’s execution, a fellow disciple of Imam Junayd of Baghdad. He remained the martyr’s friend, delivering secret lectures attesting to his affection for Hallaj.
The passion of Hallaj
The most controversial figure in the history of Islamic mysticism is Hussain ibn Mansur al-Hallaj of the 9th century. Hallaj was beheaded for proclaiming “Ana al Haqq” (“I am the Truth” or “I am God”). One of the 99 names of Allah is “Al Haqq”, The Truth. The words, amongst the most famous utterances in Sufi history, mark Hallaj’s spiritual vocation, the cause of his condemnation and the glory of his martyrdom.
Born in south Iran, the quest for philosophy led Hallaj to travel to Tostar, Baghdad, Mecca, Khuzestan, Khorasan, Transoxiana, Sistan, India and Turkestan.
For arrogant, paradise lost
Twenty-three Sufi masters have called “arrogance” and “jealousy” the root of spiritual maladies, for these indicate discontentment with the Divine decree. It was arrogance that led Satan to challenge God and be condemned by Him forever.
The Quran tells the story of Iblis (Satan), who was once a jinn of standing devoted to God. “‘Behold’, thy Lord said to the angels, ‘I am about to create man from clay: When I have fashioned him in due proportion and breathed into him of My spirit, fall ye down in obeisance unto him’.
