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Feeling A Personal Connection With God Just Like Sufis
As we know Sufi’s try to reach a personal connection with Allah, a connection in which they can feel the presence of God. I know their ways are wrong but is there any alternate way in which one can feel a personal connection with Allah in its true essence, psychologically and spiritually?
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10 Replies
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Feeling A Personal Connection With God Just Like Sufis
updated 1 year, 9 months ago
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10
Replies
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Whilst l disagree with your assertion on Sufis being misguided. I will quote one of the most important lessons l have learned on achieving closeness.
The Quranic verse , ” So Remember me, l will remember you ” should be understood in reverse. Your remembrance of God is caused by his remembrance of you. Our heart is between the fingers of the merciful one. This realization will bring you extremely close to God and you will realize that he is closer to you than your jugular vein as referenced in Quran. God does interfere with our heart ( understood as the emotive part of brain which also has cognitive content )
Sufis call this inspiration (ilham)
Abdullah ibn Amr reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, the hearts of the children of Adam, all of them, are between the two fingers of the Merciful as one heart. He directs them wherever He wills. O Allah, the Director of the hearts, turn our hearts to Your obedience.”
Those who still insist on denying ilham need to explain how God turns the heart of his servant without insinuating ideas, feelings and intentions ( all of which are ilham when from God ) in the mind.
Here’s another hadith Narrated Nafi’: from Ibn ‘Umar, that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “Indeed Allah has put the truth upon the tongue and in the heart of ‘Umar.” He said: “And Ibn ‘Umar said: ‘No affair occurred among the people, except that they said something about it, and ‘Umar said something about it'” or he said – “Ibn Al-Khattab” – Kharijah (one of the narrators) had a doubt about it – “except that the Qur’an was revealed in line with what ‘Umar had said.”
Suppose God stopped ilham except for revelation which the Prophet (pbuh) recieved as it’s claimed and If it’s an infringement on Prophethood to claim ilham is still being recieved after the passing away of the Prophet (pbuh) then it surely was the same when he was alive as the seal of the Prophets, right from the declaration of Prophethood. But from the narration and asbab e nuzul of certain verses, we know God placed the truth in the heart and on the tongue of Umar (ra). The only difference is it was verified by the revelation of Quran. Revelation has stopped but we can always judge ilham by the Quran and Sunnah. The blessings of Prophethood are still being recieved but no one will receive the station of Prophet anymore. No one can call on the people to accept his ilham as a matter of faith. You can watch a clip of Maulana ishaq on this topic if you are still not convinced.
If you accept the proposition that we can still receive ilham then you need a spiritual teacher to separate inspiration of the ego and satan from the ilham of God. Once you get to experience this phenomenon, you will find yourself conversing with God in the heart and you will taste the pleasure of closeness.
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I have experienced closeness before but without any methods that are preached by Sufism, I followed no Tareeqat.
And it was a closeness of such a level that at times I had 100% yakeen that if I ask Allah for a thing, it would happen and often times it happened too. I don’t know if it was my expectations being met or something else but it felt really peaceful and that feeling was otherworldly.
As I said, I hadn’t followed any tareeqa or a specific way, I was at the end of my teenage and was brought closer to Islam through Molana Tariq jameel’s bayanaat. I didn’t have much knowledge about Islam but I practiced all that I knew with complete honesty, prayed as if I was standing in front of God. May be that did somethings.
Anyways, afterwards I got introduced to western philosophy and the questions of atheists, got inspired by them as they made more sense then the Islam I knew then so I got away and stopped believing at all.
Now thanks to Ghamidi Sb, I am believing again, this time by understanding Islam and seeing its actual beauty. But for now, I am unable to feel that same connection most probably because I am unable to practice it like I used to, remembering God all the time and making sure my every act is exactly how he wants it to be (I was really conservative).
The ways of Sufis and the whole system of Murshad’s and Sheikhs don’t make sense to me. And when I read the Quran myself, I don’t find any such guidance.
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Strictly speaking, we can’t prove the existence of God with philosophical arguments. The Quran as a miracle of literature is only accessible to a very small group of people in the world, even then the criteria is subject to personal aesthetic understanding. The only way to prove the existence of God is to receive a response from God, not in an imaginary sense but a direct response, in the form of beatific vision. This was the conclusion reached by Ghazali, Rum and Iqbal many centuries later. But after reading the work of Mujadid Alif Thani, I think we have to believe in God in the sense of Iman Bil Ghaib, God is beyond comprehension by vision or intellect.
As for shaikh and mureed relation. We don’t really need a proof. It’s meant as a teacher student relationship. This relationship is found in every serious endeavor and besides a prodigy, everyone is need of a teacher. You don’t need to join a tareeqah but it’s good to take advice from the people of Sufism. Personally speaking, l am disappointed and dissatisfied with the current Sufi tareeqahs so l am forced to read classical sufi books to gain the neccessary psycho-spiritual knowledge. If you want a very traditional treatise on Sufism, you can read Madarij Al Salikeen, which is a balanced sufi-ethic book devoid of excess asceticism found in work like Risala al Qushayriya or Qut al Quloob and the theosophy of Ibn Arabi in books like Fusus. Avoid speculative sufism and focus on ethics based sufism. No one will condemn this approach, not even Javed Ghamidi sb.
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But won’t a direct response from God end the scheme of examination? If that starts happening then it will be like 2+2=4 and everyone would believe.
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This is a good argument but the response usually given goes as follows : In order to have beatific vision of God in your heart, you need to cross all the stages of the path, this in itself requires a person to undergo an incomparably greater test than the ordinary believer. There are 70000 or 70000×4 spiritual stations according to certain Sufis and you only get to have a beatific vision ( with the eyes of the heart ) in the end of the path.
Nevertheless, an exam can contain hints and clues to help a student answer a difficult question. The Quran hints at the signs God will show to those who believe in him to make them more firm in faith to the point it won’t remain a test, ie they will attain certainty.
“We will show them Our signs in the universe and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that this ˹Quran˺ is the truth. Is it not enough that your Lord is a Witness over all things?” (41:53)
The test of love in the path to God is infinitely more difficult than the test of faith. Here’s a Hadith , Abu Dharr reported: He came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and he said, “Indeed, I love the people of your house!” The Prophet said to him, “By Allah? Then prepare to endure poverty, for poverty quickly approaches those who love us faster than a torrent flows from the highest hillock to its lowest part.”
Source: al-Mustadrak 8014
Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to Al-Albani
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Note : This notion that the test becomes invalid if God communicates with a person is false cause the Prophets despite receiving divine revelation experienced the greatest trials and tests. There are various stages of “examination”. People want to reduce everything to their own level which is unjust.
God obviously won’t send revelation but the door to beatific vision is still open, that’s why the Quran says God will show them signs in themselves….
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We are required to believe in God who is in Ghaib. Any claim of tangible experience ends the scheme of Iman bil Ghaib. In fact, there is no such reality as experiencing some tangible connection with God. These are self-conceived ideas and experiences of Sufis, they are nothing but self created mental images.
Ilham does work, but the difference between Wahi and Ilham is the source of Ilham cannot be verified. It is reported from Umar bin Khattab, that once he dictated a letter for one of his governors in which there was some advice for him. The scribe added, this is what God put in my heart. Umar removed the addition saying, that he knew not, whether this idea came from God or devil. The prophet clearly stated that the status of prophethood is no more. However you will receive true dreams.
To believe in God and to feel association with Him we need to follow the way our intellect shows us and this is the way adopted by Quran. The signs of God, and the presence of God proven in the history of Bani Israel and the Bani Ishmael (The nation of Prophet Muhammad) leaves no doubt in the existence and work of God. The Bible and the Quran tells how God works and what He demands from us. The rest is speculations.
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We are required to believe in God who is in Ghaib. Any claim of tangible experience ends the scheme of Iman bil Ghaib. In fact, there is no such reality as experiencing some tangible connection with God. These are self-conceived ideas and experiences of Sufis, they are nothing but self created mental images.
Let’s suppose the spiritual experience of all Sufis for 1400 years was based on delusion. Intellectual integrity and consistency demands that we extend the same skepticism to the spiritual experience of the Prophets. The brain of the Prophets doesn’t differ from the non-Prophets and the same region of the brain is responsible for the spiritual experience. Whilst Prophethood isn’t acquired but given, it is still experienced and determined organically in the brain. Following this reasoning, we should cast a doubt on all kinds of religious experiences. If 1400 years of experience isn’t a guarantee of authenticity, why should we trust the experience of the Prophet, who is only an individual and we haven’t even met him.
As for Iman Bil Ghaib, it is a relative term. The companions saw the Prophet (pbuh) recieving revelation. For us, it is Iman bil ghaib. In the same way, you can know something of the ghaib and still have belief in the unseen. The Quran mentions how there is a knower above every knower. Many companions even saw angels on the battle of Badr, or Jibrael (as) in the famous hadith of Jibrael. I have also mentioned how the test of God isn’t restricted to Iman Bil Ghaib and how there is a test of patience, devotion, sacrifice and love after the test of faith.
Ilham does work, but the difference between Wahi and Ilham is the source of Ilham cannot be verified. It is reported from Umar bin Khattab, that once he dictated a letter for one of his governors in which there was some advice for him. The scribe added, this is what God put in my heart. Umar removed the addition saying, that he knew not, whether this idea came from God or devil. The prophet clearly stated that the status of prophethood is no more. However you will receive true dreams.
We need to reconcile the two hadiths, one confines the last remaining part of Prophethood to dreams, the other relates Umar (ra) recieving ilham in a wakeful state, ie the truth is placed in the heart and on the tongue. The first hadith is related to the Prophethood and the second hadith is related to sainthood, ilham is a characteristic of sainthood. There’s no conflict here. Ilham is useful in personal matters when you can weigh it against Quran and Sunnah. Sometimes, it can be beneficial to the community also if a scholar (like Ghazali) is inspired to save Islam from intellectual attacks. I disagree with Sufis who claim ilham is infallible but l also disagree with people who want to throw it out of Islam
To believe in God and to feel association with Him we need to follow the way our intellect shows us and this is the way adopted by Quran. The signs of God, and the presence of God proven in the history of Bani Israel and the Bani Ishmael (The nation of Prophet Muhammad) leaves no doubt in the existence and work of God. The Bible and the Quran tells how God works and what He demands from us. The rest is speculations.
Many people actually use this as a evidence to discredit the 3 Abrahamic religions. The argument goes as follows ; is it more likely that the Abrahamic religions were a product of Middle eastern environment or that God specifically select a tribe from mankind ( after Abraham ) and left the rest of mankind to no guidance ? What was the fault of the Indian, Chinese and European people ? The response of some people ( Akram Nadwi ) to this question is that, the middle eastern people didn’t have any preconceived notions or civilizational ideals, so they were more suited to receive revelation. So God was incapable of sending revelation to a more sophisticated civilization , not capable of guiding them and the revelation is best understood by ignorant people, isn’t this an insult on God ?
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We believe in the experience of the prophets of receiving Wahi not because we can share his experience, still, it will stay doubtful, as experience can be true or false according to Sufism or it can be faked by someone. We believe in the prophets because they proved their truth through tangible observations of ours. Their statement on the very first day of their revelation that they will be triumphant and their opponents will be destroyed, all their predictions come true without any ambiguity. The Quran called the day of Badr Furqan because on that day it was made clear for all, that the prophet was true. And this became Bayyina to believe him to be the true prophet. The previous prophets had been believed for the same reasons and it became a tradition to acknowledge prophethood as a divine institution. It does not make Sufi alham a corollary or offshoot of prophethood on its own, unless we are told by God that it is, even after the end of prophethood.
secondly, we cannot base our beliefs or conviction on traditions, narrated by people, about which we cannot be sure that they comprehend the matter correctly or not. The established practice of Ijtihaad by the companions itself is evidence that they rely upon their intellect for solving matters either personal and collective matters and did not wait for voices to come to them.
Thirdly, it makes not matter if people deny the above-mentioned historical arguments, they can deny any evidence even miracles do not work for them. Such people have more reason to deny the subjective experiences of Sufis which cannot be provided as proof for someone who does not believe in this system.
accept my apology for further discussion. we just made our points clear.
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