Tuesday, October 23, 2007
TAHAJJUD PRAYER: UNITING LOVE WITH THE BENEFICENT GOD
at 10:55 PM
Tahajjud (al hujud) itself in the perspective of lughawi means to sleep. Meanwhile, the meaning of the term "tahajjud prayer" is a sunnat prayer done after sleeping at night. Unlike istikharah prayer and hajat prayer whose communication materials with Allah are already definitive, tahajjud prayer is done not because of any conceptualised wish, but it is a prayer that really has a function as a media for approaching Allah, taqarrub ilallah. Tahajjud prayer is a time in which a slave wants to express his longing, devotion, intimacy to God, The Creator. Tahajjud prayer is a forum between two lovers, a longing mukmin, with Allah (The Beneficent). Therefore, ethically tahajjud prayer is done while others sleeping soundly and not done together (in a jamaah) so that the atmosphere between the two isn't disturbed.In the tahajjud prayer, a lover may cry, laugh, complain, and unite his love. Tahajjud prayer is really is a plus (nafilah) of a slave's obedience to his God. Other prayers have definitive amounts of rakaats, while tahajjud prayer may be done in accordance the necessity of the person doing it, depending on the person uniting his love, depending on how long his longing to meet his lover is met. Tahajjud prayer may be done in 2, 20, or 100 rakaats, depending on its level of intimacy (al inbisath wa al âuns). In the tahajjud prayer a mukmin may travel crossing the border between this world and the unlimited spiritual world, in what may be called the mikraj of a mukmin.
Journey to the spiritual world
Journey here means that one is departing in searching for something, but in this case also means returning to the original place. In the first meaning, one is more influenced by his wish, while in the second, one is more influenced by his belief. Invisible world means the area that can't be seen. Things can't be seen since they are blocked by space and time or blocked by different dimensions. The invisible world is the world behind the visible world. The visible world can be detected by technology, while the invisible world can be detected only spiritual tools. Dream world, barzakh world (the world in the grave) and the day-after world are invisible worlds. Peak of the invisibilities is the Most Invisible, Allah.
We can travel to the dream world, we can even arrange a kind of "teleconference" in this dream world, but the travel can't be confirmed except by the one experiencing it. There are two kinds of dreams, ruâya al haqq and adhghotsu ahlam. The first is guaranteed to be right and has a kind of reason, while the second kind has no reason and doesn't cause any belief. Spiritual travelling may lead us to the destination, but we also can mislead in it. Therefore, a musafir (traveller) should equip himself with map and compass and a guide (mursyid) if required. Artists, shaman, philosophers, and mutadayyin can be these spiritual travellers.
Returning to the blessing of Allah
Returning refers to original place, therefore returning to the blessing of Allah (to die) means return to one's original place, in the lap of Allah, the Merciful. The phrase "returning to the blessing of Allah" is inspired by the sentence "inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi raji`un", verily we are belong to Allah and we will go back to Him. However, there are some people intentionally program their lives to go back to him, while some others never program their lives and then feel shocked when suddenly "drawn from the circulation" or die.
Why we returning to the blessing of Allah?
The concept of returning comes from the concept of creation. There are two theories explaining how mankind is created, which is al faidh (endowment) theory and isyraqi (shining) theory. According to the first theory, man is an endowment and blessing of Allah. Allah has abundant blessings, one of them is mankind. Furthermore, there are men themselves have different doses of affections. The peaking power of blessing in mankind causes a longing to return to the blessing of Allah.
Meanwhile, according to the second theory, man is the shining of light (nur) of Allah. Therefore, in man there is a power of truth light that can't lie, we call it nurani. As a creation of The Most Perfect God, man is tajalli (manifestation) of blessing of Allah. Therefore, Allah is the Holy and there are aspects of holiness in man. Allah is the Beneficent and the Merciful, so that there is affection in man. Allah is the Most Great, so that in man the trait of overly proud (takabbur) sometimes emerges. Essentially, all traits of Allah (the Most Perfect) show their traces imperfectly in man He creates.
Like the sun heat that always tries to return to its original heat up there, consciously or unconsciously man often longs to return to his original light, Allah. The programmed journey of returning is called taqarrub ilallah, approaching Allah.
Three Ways of Returning
If we realise that we have to return to God, then we have to consider the route map, which route to pass: shortcuts, highway, or alternative road.
1. Highway. Highway is an ordinary, conventional road whose direction and traffics are clear, so we don't need any guide. This kind of highway in the science of tassawuf is called thoriqat al akhyar (the road of good persons) or also may be called thariqat as syar`i (the shariah road).
2. Shortcut. Shortcut here means a not-complicated road, it may be shorter that the highway but it takes an extra power. This kind of road in tassawuf is called thariqat ahl az zikr, the road of master of zikr. The master of zikr's way of thinking is similar to political way of thinking. If we want to quickly arrive to destination, then we have to own access to political rulers or to be perceived as political supporters. If we want to pass crowd of PDI mass safely, just shout "Long live Megawati, then we will pass them safely. If we want to pass crowd of PKS mass, just shout "Long live Adang Dani, then we will pass the crowd safely. If we want to pass crowd of PKB mass, just shout "Long live Gus Dur", and we will pass safely, and so on. However, the real ruler of this world is Allah, then if we want to be safe in approaching Him, just do zikr uttering His names, then we will be safe.
3. Alternative road. This road is usually farther, but we can see many beautiful sights during the trip. Some people wouldn't mind to pass the alternative road. Although it is far and hard, but they feel happy passing it. According to the science of tassawuf this road is called mujahadat as syaqa, a road full of difficulties. They who choose this road are ashamed of sleeping in the bed, eating delicious foods, wearing luxury clothes, travelling by planes since they feel that they don't sufficiently thank to God who had given them feet and other things. They do hajj by riding bicycles or by walking. In essential, they choose the hard ways but they enjoy them.
Climbing Stairway to Approach Allah
The word "climbing" here refers to a position, that man is low and Allah is the Most High, therefore man has to climb to approach Him. Position of Allah is so high and so far so that we can't approach Him only through one trip. We have climb through stairs or through stations or maqamats. The stations are
1. Station of Tawbah with three tickets we have to buy:
a. Ticket of repentance
b. Ticket of promise
c. Ticket of proof
After buying these three tickets, we will find the second station:
2. Station of Zuhud; with requirements:
a. Keep away from material world
b. Live a simple life
c. Don't be seduced by world delight and material delight
After passing station Zuhud, we will pass the following station, which is
3. Station of Wara` with a characteristic that here we keep away for syubhat (doubtful) things.
Then we will the next station:
4. Station of Faqr, with characteristics
a. low level of basic necessities
b. don't ask for anything except as necessary
c. don't ask for a thing although we don't have it
5. Station of Patience (Sabar)
a. Patient in doing religious services
b. Patient in facing disasters
c. Patient in doing obligations
Patience here is tolerating by not complaining or upset:
- in facing trials and obstacles
- for a certain period
-in order to achieve a goal
6. Station of Tawakkal
Here we:
a. Completely surrender to God's will
b. Do not necessities (materials) for the future
c. Feel sufficient about things that are available at present
d. Feel restful although don't have much things
e. If we have something, we feel that other may need it more
7. Big Station for al Muqarrabin
After passing through the stairway of stations (maqamat), we will arrive at the last station of the journey that contain of ma'ridat, ridlaa, and love. Those who have achieved this stage are categorised as persons who are near to Allah (al muqarrabin). The three conditions only can be known through spiritual experiences.
Ridla means happy and satisfied about any thing given by God, so that person who is ridla always be cheerful and bright.
Ma'rifat means familiar with someone, not only knowing him/her.
Love. If we are familiar with someone, we may be in love with him/her. If we love someone, everything coming from the beloved one will always make us happy.
When climbing, a mutasawwif feels fear God and worries about Him, but after get closer to Him, he feels that Allah is not a God who tends to be angry to His slaves, but a God who loves and cares about His slaves. Therefore, his fear disappears and instead of it, his love feeling to God emerges. In the station of Ridla, his love to God is burning in his heart, at that time a mutasawuf arrives at the station of live, and he becomes a sufi.
Characteristics of his love are
1. Obeying God and hating any attitude against Him
2. Surrendering himself to God the Beloved One
3. Empty his heart from anything else that the Beloved One.
In the highest level, the sufis unite with God, like mentioned in the following conditions:
Ittihad, man succeeds in achieving the highest level so that he unites with his God, after experiencing fana dan baqa
Hulul, God chooses His selected servants in whom He manifests His divine traits or characteristics. In tassawuf, terms "nasut" and "lahut" are known. Nasut is divine traits, while lahut is humane traits. God has nasut and lahut, meanwhile man has lahut and nasut. Al Hallaj and Syekh Siti Jenar once experienced the hulul. Allah Hall once said "I am the Truth (ana al Haqq) or I am Allah. Sufis who has achieved this level are called insan kamil, the perfect persons.
This level is also called wahdatul wujud or wahdatus syuhud. The first terms means uniting in existence, while the second terms means they (God and man) seem as if they are in union but in fact they are not.
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