THE REALITY OF PLEDGE [BAY’AH] In the Qur’an al kareem it is stated ; “Lo! Those who plight their fealty to you, their fealty are actual fact with Allah and the Hand of Allah is over their hands.” [al- Hand of Allah is over their hands.” [al-Fath: 10] Fath: 10] This verse refers to the pledge - Bay’ah. We also come to know that to take or give a pledge Bayat is the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and to give the hand on the Messenger’s [salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam] hand is as if he has pledged with Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala. Unfortunately we are unable to pledge directly upon the hands of the Messenger of Allah, salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, but we can do it through the khulafa’; vicegerents. If you are unable to give your hand of pledge directly to the Messenger, salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, then give your hand of pledge Bayat to the hand of the khalifah; vicegerent – mentor [Shaykh]. This is because you can take the services of all things that you would by its actual things. i.e. from the thing to which or who he is a Naib – vicegerent. For example, the vicegerent of wudu – ablution is tayammum. After performing tayammum one can do everything that one can after having done the ablution wudu. Therefore, to be connected to a Naib; vicegerent of the Messenger, salla Allahu ‘alayhi wasallam, is in reality a connection to the Messenger and by the means of the Messenger we will be connected to Almighty Allah. We learn that when a seeker – murid gives his hand upon the hands of a mentor [Shaykh] and pledges with him this is because he is a vicegerent of a Prophet – meaning that in reality he is pledging to non other than the Messenger. By pledging to a Shaykh or Pir the Seeker repents for his sins and makes a firm commitment of loyalty to Allah and His Messenger and he makes the Shaykh his guarantor for his firm intention who holds the post of vicegerent; khalifah of the Messenger of Allah, salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. After pledging the seeker should annihilate himself to the Shaykh i.e. Fana fi ash-Shaykh, meaning the Murid – Seeker must sacrifice his needs before the priority of his Shaykh’s needs, he does not act against the advice of the Shaykh, shows obedience to the Shaykhs instructions and self-annihilates his being in the Shaykhs being; to occupy day and night according to the Shaykhs advice and hold consistency to the benediction given to him. He practices acts of worships and commits serviency – adopts – Allah-fearingness, self-avoidance and fulfils all of the Shaykhs orders, this occurs when the murid – Devotee makes him self-annihilated, totally devout and a true devotee-seeker of the Shaykh. Then the Shaykh will bestow his specific compassion and hence take hold of his hands and move him forward in the presence of the Messenger, salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. Now the Seeker-murid will by the means – wasila of his Shaykh – Mentor self-annihilate himself to the Prophet, salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and attain devotional annihilation in the Messenger, salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and when the Seeker attains this level of devotion, the Messenger, salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, will hold out the hand of the specific devotee and with all confidence pass him on before the presence of the Almighty Allah and make his self [nafs] annihilated in the love of Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala. In reality, this condition is the recognition of Allah’s Unity [tawhid] i.e., the consciousness of the fact that there is no real being in the world other than He. To attain the level of Fana fi’ Shaykh and Fana fi’ Rasul it takes great effort and strain and a long time to attain but after becoming Fana fi’ Rasul it does not take long to become Fana fi’Allah because it is Rasul Allah, salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, who helps the devotee to attain the level of Fana fi-Allah – a task much easier for our beloved Prophet Muhammad, salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, to fulfil. Source: Lectures & Majlis of Shaykh al-Islam wal Muslimeen Hazrat Allama Sayyad Muhammad Madani Miya Ashraf Al-Jilani.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 01:45:29 +0000
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