LECTURE – 14 : CORRELATION OF KNOWLEDGE

Normally the Sufism and spiritualism come under criticism that the Companions of the Holy Prophet (God be pleased with them) did not take the trouble of compiling the spiritual sciences in the era of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). And, since the Companions (R.A) did not properly document the spiritual sciences and no authority as such is found on the basis of which the spirituality could be acknowledged. This also is said that this all is an ancient knowledge related to Hinduism or the mysticism of Judaism or Christianity, who had opted to take refuge in monastic ways of life after dissociating themselves from the obligations of the worldly life. And, that God has not created the universe and its beauties to be avoided, to escape from them and confine in isolation. It has always been attempted to condemn Spiritualism and Sufism by objections like these.

The relation of man and jinn with God is basically of two types. One, when the Beatific Vision of God attracts a person towards itself and God and the Attributes of God are firmly established in the thinking pattern of that person and whenever he attends to any worldly matter his attention should remain directed towards God. This was the thinking pattern of the prophets of God. One form of this certitude is to practically feel the presence of God. Holy Prophet has termed this type of certitude as Martaba-e-Ehsan.

As far non-compiling of knowledge in the times of the Companions of the Prophet is concerned, it was only because of the fact that the devoted companions were so much in love with the Prophet (PBUH) that to quench the thirst of their souls the sheer presence of the Prophet (PBUH) was enough for them. And, they used to remain engrossed, for the most of their time, in the personality, sayings, acts and deeds of the Prophet (PBUH). They had a special interest in whatsoever the Prophet (PBUH) used to say and because of their close association with the Prophet (PBUH) they had developed the ability to have access to the actual meanings of that what the Prophet (PBUH) had said to them. They used to fully benefit themselves from the electrifying effect of the personality of the Prophet (PBUH) and his sayings, upon which they used to contemplate with devotion and love. This did not let them feel the need to devise any separate mechanism to store the radiances in their souls by means of any austere exercises or practices. They were familiar with the charismatic personality, radiant character and the prophetic approach of thinking of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) without any significant conscious endeavors on their part.

His Divine Grace Qalander Baba Auliya has stated, “ When I had the opportunity of visiting the celestial realms, I noticed that the Human Souls (Arcanum and Spirit Subtleties) of the Companions were radiating with the luminosity of Quran and Ahadiths, that is, they were full of luminosity of Divinity and the prophethood.”

He also states, “ For this reason, the literature of that era is found to be devoid of recital and other like materials regarding the spiritual values. But, when the glow of Quran and Ahadiths started fading away from the hearts of the people after the third generation of the Companions, people who had thirst, felt that if they did not strive to pass on the spiritual knowledge to the coming generation, it

would be a great loss. So, they looked for the means to store the prophetic luminance in their soul to enable themselves to have the cognition of the Lord and devised rules and evolved a system so that the every follower of the Prophet (PBUH) could benefit himself from the spiritual knowledge by using it for the cognition of the soul and the Lord.

Shaikh Najumuddin and his disciples like Shaikh Shahabuddin Suharwardi and Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti selected those verses of the holy Quran and the Appellations of God, which could help in maximum storage of the luminosity in the human mind.

These things are not found till the ear of Shaikh Hassan Basri. It is an historical fact that Hazrat Ali had forbidden all the preachers from preaching except Sheikh Hassan Basri. After the era of Hassan Basri, a time came when the people started losing their interest in acquiring the knowledge about God and His attributes, which was there in the era of the Companions of the Prophet so the Spiritual scholars devised methods for developing the spiritual approach of thinking. The method and the system developed for having the prophetic approach is, technically, known as the Correlation of Knowledge.

QURB-E-NAWAFIL : QURB-E-FARAIZ

For learning the spiritual knowledge and to enter into the spiritual realms there are two ways, one is Qurb-e-Nawafil and the other is Qurb-e-Fariz and both of them are transferred to the spiritual associates, either from their mentor or from a spiritual person. The spiritual knowledge that is transferred from the souls of Auliya transfers by means of Owaisian Correlation.

OWAISIAN CORRELATION

Hazrat Abdul Qadir Jillani discovered this correlation, for the first time, during conducting influence. The spiritual knowledge is transferred to the soul of the Associate, by means of this correlation, from where it spring up like a fountain. This correlation is still in practice. Benefits of this Correlation are delivered secretly through the Exalted Angels, Souls of the prophets or the souls of the Auliya who enjoy the affinity of the Obligatory rites; Qurab-e-Faraiz. For enjoying the benefits of this correlation presence of the physical body is not necessary. It is a very powerful and potent correlation, which is displayed at some later stage of life and sometimes the person who happens to have this affinity does not know about it, till it is actually expressed.

When ain or sabita are filled with the spiritual knowledge transferred through the souls of Auliya, prophets or the Exalted Angels, as the case may be, the spiritual associate enters into a state of Observation and first thing he witnesses are the Exalted Angels, which include the Group of Gabriel, Michael, etc. These exalted angels can be witnessed in Baitul Mamoor; The Inhabited Dwelling, the second last station of the Angelic realm, after the High Throne or Ursh.

NISBAT-E-SUKAINA

This is the Correlation that was enjoyed by the most of the Companions of the Prophet (PBUH). As stated earlier, the Companions had so much interest in the personality of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) that their ains were filled with the luminosity of the prophet-hood. Definition of this correlation is that a spiritual associate is absorbed into a spiritual person or absorbs a spiritual person in him. After this absorption the state that prevails upon the associate is know as the Correlation of Quiescence, which is the out-come of the combination of love and raptness.

This correlation helps in transferring the thinking approach of the spiritual mentor to the associate and his thinking pattern changes to such an extent that he also starts thinking in the same terms just as his mentor does. All his acts and deeds just become the same like the one of his mentor’s.

Once a person visited a sage and saw bandage tied around his leg. When inquired, he was told that because of pain he was wearing that bandage. Then, he went to see one of the disciples of that sage and to his astonishment, he saw that the disciple, too, had the bandage on his leg because of the pain.

CORRELATION OF LOVE

When the thinking approach of the mentor takes its roots deeply in the associate, the subtleties of the associate starts getting toned up. In Sufism, toning means to get away from one’s original design and be molded into the mentor’s frame of design. When this happens the subtleties of the associate are showered with the Elohistic Luminescence and the roots of love of God are established firmly. And, whenever the associate looks into his subtleties, he witnesses God. In his poetic way, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti said, I behold the Friend with every breath of mine.

CORRELATION OF RAPTNESS

This is the correlation that, for the first time, was given the name of the ‘Trace of the Untraceable’ by Khwaja Bahaulhaq Waddin Naqshbandi and the same is now termed as ‘Memory’ by his followers. When the mind of an associate is turned toward that direction where the lights of Eternity prevail and the impressions of pre-eternity are found. When the pre-eternity impressions; the Mind of God, becomes the focus of attention, the associate is engulfed by a state whence none except God is found. He starts witnessing God in everything, existing or non-existing. It becomes his second nature that in every movement in every action, in every deed, voluntarily or involuntarily, he starts searching for God and his mind at its own finds a clue to the unity of Godhead. When this situation intensifies and the associate is fully entrapped in it and finding no way out, he surrenders himself at the mercy of the engulfing lights of this correlation. Let us consider this example.

We invariably drink many glasses of water daily but this thing seldom comes to our mind that what this water is, how does it quenches thirst, from where does the water come, whether this water is from the well, is it the tape water, is this from a river or a spring? Ordinarily these things do not occur to us. We take water when we feel thirsty and that all. But the person enjoying this correlation searches for God even in a glass of water. He thinks about God who has created water. His deliberates about water and discover the various resources of water supply to the creatures, for instance, the ocean, the evaporation turning into clouds, raining and snowing on the mountains and then melting of snow to flow into rivers.

Similarly is the case of a child born in a family. News of a new birth pleases everyone around and that’s all. But, when a percipient, cognizer or an associate of this correlation looks at the new born baby, unintentionally he starts thinking that God provided the baby all the resources in the womb of his mother for more than nine months and God, who provided this baby with sustenance in the womb of his mother to nourish him, is also providing his share of the sustenance to him and will continue to do so as long as he lives.

But, contrary to this, a man in his sixties never gives to it a thought that once he, too, was a day-old-baby. An associate of this correlation goes over this, again and again, in his mind that God provided him provisions when he was only a day-old-baby and continued till this day of his life when he is in his sixties or fifties.

Gradually the effects of this correlation overpowers him that the mind of the spiritual associate is taken off from everything and he starts thinking that, in actual effect, he does not have any significance of his own. God encompasses his existence, he is born under the umbrella of God, he is reared up under God’s caring supervision and he will be transferred to another world after spending his life remaining within the encompassing limits of God’s reach. This state overpowers his conscious, intellect and reasons in such a manner that all his ego, will and authority fades away in the shades of this correlation.