Hal (states), Maqam (stations), and Seeking Spiritual Guidance - Part One
An individual wrote about
a powerful spiritual "event" which took place when this person was a teenager.
The description of this event was fairly detailed and, among other things, mentioned both
a deep feeling of oneness with God and the universe during this experience, and an
overwhelming sense of understanding concerning the very depths of reality.
The aforementioned
spiritual episode was infused with a deep, abiding joy, but the individual also
experienced an almost primal fear in conjunction with the experience. Although the
intensity of the event faded, to a degree, with time, the person who underwent this event,
has been trying to gauge its meaning, as well as seeking to integrate that experience into
his everyday life, ever since - mostly without success.
The person’s lack of
success in this struggle is what prompted the individual’s initial e-mail to
SufiCompassion. This led to a series of exchanges of e-mails
During one of these
follow up e-mails, the person raised a number of other issues. These ranged from: wanted
to know if becoming a student within our Order was possible, to questions about the nature
of ‘subject’ and ‘object’, to indicating that the individual had, on
occasion, assumed the responsibilities of teaching others about spirituality . The
following is our response to various themes raised in one, or another, of these e-mails.
I have received and have
read your e-mail to http://abc-of-life.com . I do not know if you will recognize your
reflection in the following, but, nonetheless, as the old rock group Buffalo Springfield
once suggested, take it "for what it's worth" - and oddly enough, there is a
resonance with certain aspects of that song echoing in this e-mail.
Your experience appears
to be one of spiritual kashf or opening- as opposed to worldly kashf, although many people
often confuse, and conflate, the latter with the former - but more on that shortly. And,
while your experience may be quite authentic and legitimate, you seem to be making an
assumption about that experience which is not legitimate.
More specifically, you
have had one opening and appear to have jumped to the conclusion you have reached the
summit of spiritual realities in that experience. This is like someone walking through the
Catskills and being overwhelmed by the beauty there and believing there could be
nothing more beautiful,
intoxicating and illuminating than this set of experiences - never suspecting there are
mountain ranges such as the Rockies, Andes, Alps, Urals, and Himalayas which are higher,
more spectacular, and more overwhelming than anything the Catskills have to offer - as
beautiful and real as they may be.
God is infinite and
cannot be exhausted nor circumscribed by one experience or one series of experiences. What
you have experienced is a beginning - an opening to possibilities - not a terminus.
God, with a flourish of
Divine generosity and barakah, or blessings, has come into your life. Nevertheless, there
is a distinction to be drawn between hal (state) and maqam (station).
To some extent, there are
instances in which hal and maqam merge together in such a way that one cannot tell whether
what is going on experientially is a case of maqam or hal - and, in some ways, and at
certain times, the distinction may be rather arbitrary. On the other hand, there are
certain features which tend to characterize each.
For instance, instances
of hal or states, are considered to come by Divine grace without necessarily having been
earned through spiritual efforts of one sort or another. Instances of maqam, on the other
hand, tend to be preceded by spiritual efforts and rigor of one kind or another.
Moreover, instances of
hal or states, often are relatively short-lived in duration as far as the immediate
intensity of such experiences are concerned, whereas, maqam are, more or less, permanent
and on-going. Now, to be sure, the nature of an experience of hall may be such that it
stays in memory and in
one's heart for the rest of one's life and can have a significant impact on how one lives
one's life, but it does so in a somewhat faded, if you will, manner, whereas there is an
immediacy, accessibility and intensity to instances of maqam or stations which generally
is not present in hal and/or which cannot be sustained over long periods of time in the
latter condition.
As you describe your
experience, it has the properties of hal and not maqam. And, as important as hal may be as
signs on the mystical path, they are not the spiritual way stations which are of
fundamental importance to a true and lasting progress on the mystical journey.
The foregoing points to
something else which you said in your e-mail. You indicated you have achieved something
which many mystical paths - including that of the Sufi way - claim is obtainable only
through initiation into a given Order or silsilah under the guidance of a spiritual
teacher or master.
Naturally, God can give
to whomsoever Divinity pleases, and can give without stint, and God certainly is not
answerable to human beings as to whom can get what, when, and how much. Nonetheless, just
as with everything else in the created universe, there, generally, are principles at work
in the vast majority of cases which govern how things operate and how things must proceed
for the generality of created beings.
There are laws of
physics, chemistry, and biology which constrain, direct and regulate life on earth.
Similarly, there are laws of spirituality which constrain, direct and regulate journeys
along the mystical path, and an individual ignores these laws at her or his own peril,
just as living organisms who try to do an end around the laws of the physical universe do
so at their own peril - even though, on occasion, someone or something, by the grace of
God, seems to get away with pushing the envelope, so to speak, in such instances.
However, one cannot use
the exception as the norm. There are reasons for exceptions just as there are reasons for
the norm, and one cannot suppose that because exceptions do occur, therefore, one can live
one's life on the edge, if not beyond, in expectation of exceptions ruling the day, and
permitting one, somehow, to always come away unscathed. This is the stuff from which
tragedy is often born.
The norm of the mystical
path is initiation. The norm of the path is to seek out and obtain the oasis of the
spiritual guides who are provided by God to nurture and protect the seeker against the
surrounding desert with its predators, brigands, scorpions, snakes and unforgiving
elements.
You, yourself, have
divulged something very telling in this respect. You admit you have no idea what the
ultimate meaning and significance of your experience might be. Furthermore, other than
shaping your life in a broad sort of way so that it is oriented toward Divinity in a
certain vague sense, your experiences have not provided you with intimate, detailed,
certain and precise insight about who you are or what the specific purpose of your life -
as opposed to anyone else's - is.
You also indicate your
experience has not been an unalloyed blessing. You allude to the difficulties you have had
in trying not to be overwhelmed by the Presence which you have felt and being sucked into
a vortex of unknown nature, significance or ramifications.
This is the kind of thing
with which a spiritual guide can help you. This is one of the functions of such an
individual.
In addition, there are
practices which can be done that help strengthen an individual's spiritual condition.
Between a seeker's efforts and the support and help of a spiritual guide, the individual
is gradually introduced into a condition of being through which one can live with, and,
yet, still effectively function, while immersed in, or influenced by, such conditions.
Many people today believe
they can read some books or listen to a spiritual guide, take some of the practices which
are mentioned, and, then, go off by oneself and put it altogether so that neither
initiation, a teacher, nor an Order or silsilah are necessary to achieve spiritual
realization. Some of these people may even have certain sorts of extraordinary experiences
which they take as indication that they are on the right path - when, often times, nothing
could be further from the truth.
As the Qur'an indicates -
'shall I tell you about who are the greatest losers in their works - those whose efforts
go astray in the present life, while they believe they are doing good deeds.' This applies
as much to the realm of mysticism as it does to the world of exoteric litanies. The road
of history is strewn with the bodies - spiritual and physical, of those who thought
otherwise.
In your e-mail, you
indicate that while there is nothing overtly spiritual about your life, you do, sometimes
make certain hidden adjustments of people in the world about you. You don't say what these
adjustments are, but whatever they may be, who has given you the authority to interfere
with these peoples lives in this manner? By what set of criteria are you evaluating the
'goodness' of such adjustments.
According to the Sufi
masters - and God is their authority for what they say, there can be no compulsion in
matters of Deen - Deen being the path which leads to the realization of one's inner,
essential, original nature or fitr. You may feel you are doing these people a favor, but
you are usurping one of the most important elements in all of this - a person's right to
choose how, when, or if, they wish to place herself or himself under such influences.
Toward the very beginning
of this e-mail I alluded to a distinction between spiritual kashf and worldly kashf. Your
original experiences were instances - although God knows best - of spiritual kashf. Your
use of whatever psychic, telepathic or other powers with which you may have been linked
are instances of worldly kashf.
With the exception of
those - Prophets and certain other friends of God - who have been given specific
permission to use gifts of worldly kashf under certain conditions, the Sufi masters have
warned seekers and initiates against the use of such gifts. Such gifts are considered to
be more of a spiritual trial than anything else.
Having a capacity is one
thing. Exercising that capacity is quite another thing.
Each of us has a capacity
to kill, but this doesn't entitle us to kill others. Each of us has a capacity for
sexuality, but this doesn't mean we have the right to exercise that capacity whenever we
choose to do so.
For many of those who are
inclined to the mystical path, there is often a confusion in their minds and hearts about
acquiring and using various 'powers' or 'gifts' of one extraordinary sort or another.
Unfortunately, all too many people pursue these and forget about the real purpose of the
path which is to discover one's original nature or fitr, together with the unique
spiritual capacity and purpose which has been assigned to us by Divinity as part of that
fitr.
Furthermore, the masters
of the Sufi path warn initiates and seekers that a very rigorous and exacting examination
will be conducted of anyone who exercises instances of worldly kashf. My own shaykh has
told me of some very great shaykhs who confessed to him of their wish to be able to go
back and taken another path than the one which permitted them to be seduced by this aspect
of things.
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