Shaykh 'Abd al-Hakeem - Remembering Allah

[shaheediyan]

Some of you may already know, but the administrator of the Nur al-Imam website and founder (one of ?) the Nurwayniyyah Sufi Tariqah, Shaykh 'Abd al-Hakeem Carney, has just recently, tragically passed away.

A small mention: http://islamichouseofwisdom.com/

Personally, I had only been communicating with Shaykh Carney for a short while, but in that little time I developed a great respect and brotherly love for him.

He was an highly intelligent, spiritual, open-minded and courteous person, who was genuinely interested in helping people and erasing divisions.

I pray he has reached that most sublime destination.

As a small tribute, I am sharing one of Shaykh Ji's beautiful forum posts on Dhikr - Simran. Please forgive and correct any mistakes in the above.

Shaykh 'Abd al-Hakeem Carney

If one meditates on the Light long enough, one becomes the Light. Without the Naam (name) of God, we are nothing, and by continual reflection on the Naam, we become merged with the Light. Then one realizes that one is the worshiper and the worshiped, that one is the sea and the boat that sails upon it, that one is the sun and its rays, and that Ik Oankar does not just mean that God is one, but that all is one. One will feel oneself meld with the entire cosmos and hear it singing that God is one, and hear it calling Ya Ali, Ya Ali, Ya Ali.

Attune yourself with the dhikr of everything. As Allah says, یسبح لله ما في السموات و ما في الأرض, "Everything in the heavens and earth glorifies Allah," and تسبح له السموات السبع و الأرض و من فيهنّ و إن من شيء إلا يسبح بحمده و لكن لا تفقهونهم إنه كان حليماً غفوراً, "Everything in the seven heavens and in the earth and what is in them, and there is nothing in them that does glory Him with His Praise, however you do not understand their praise, indeed Allah is Forbearing, Forgiving." This verse has deep ta'wil (esoteric interpretation) symbolism to it.

Firstly, the word for "them" when it speaks of the heavens and earth is the feminine plural, which is only used for an aggregate of female sentient beings in Arabic. The heavens and earth represent the celestial and terrestrial hudud, the "limits" that form the esoteric hierarchy. There is an esoteric hierarchy in the heavens and an esoteric hierarchy in the earth. The esoteric hierarchy in the heavens consists of ten intellects ('uqul), each one emanating from the one before it up until the first which is created ex nihilo (from nothing) by the eternal Divine Command, which is Pure Being itself, created by the Divine Essence which transcends Being and Non-Being. The esoteric hierarchy in the Earth consists of the ten degrees of initiation within the religion, with each person representing one of the ten intellects above. They are all described here as being feminine because they are subordinate to the Divine Command, who is manifest in the form of the Imam, who is the hujjat al-amr ("Proof of the Command").

Secondly, the seven heavens are described because the Ismaili Imams come in cycles of seven, up until the final Imam, the seventh seventh, or 49th Imam, which is the present Imam, Mawlana Hadir Imam Shah Karim al-Husayni, his peace be upon us. After him comes the return of Imam al-Mahdi, his peace be upon us.

Third, why does the verse end by saying He is forbearing and forgiving? Because there is nothing other then Himself. He is Nirvair, without enmity. So He is all-forgiving.

Every one of the hudud praises Allah, who is the First Intellect. Everyone they rule over praises Allah, because everything in creation only exists through the esoteric hierarchy. They sustain the world, and without them the world would not and could not exist. When you remember Allah by reciting one of His Names or a verse from His Book or the Names of one of His Imams or Gurus you meld yourself with the celestial hudud. You keep reciting until your ego is taken away from you and smashed into a thousand pieces, and the pieces are absorbed back into the Source from whence they came. Then, I swear by Allah, you will *feel* everything chanting Ya Ali, Ya Ali, Ya Ali You will feel an ecstasy that you have never known before. You will realize that you are Him and He is you, and that your consciousness is nothing but a finite manifestation of the Infinite Consciousness that is God. Remove the finitude, and there is nothing left of the illusion of "yourself," but all that remains is God in His Infinity. You will be one with the cosmos as He is, pervading everything. This I promise you.

Another reason to remember Allah constantly is to attain to your True Will and your Perfect Nature. Your True Will is what it is that you were destined to do and what it is that you truly want to do. Failure to realize your True Will will result in failure in your life, and you will be forced to come back until you fulfill your True Will. There is no Law beyond do what thou wilt, but it is that thou wilt? What is it that you will, truly? It is not just what you want in your conscious mind; it is what you want in your ruh, your inner spirit. By closing down your conscious mind and entering into a state of fana' (annihilation in God), you will come to understand what it is that you are here to do.

Know that you are nothing else other then God. You are a finite manifestation of His Infinite Consciousness. You are Him manifesting Himself to Himself, and the universe you dwell in is nothing but you manifesting yourself to yourself, and is therefore nothing but Him manifesting Himself to Himself through you. You are the flute on which He plays, so let Him play through you! Be that which you were destined to be.

Your Perfect Nature (الطباع التام/at-tiba' at-taam), as Hermes called it, is your higher self. It is very closely related to your True Will. It is the image of you in the 'alam al-khayal, the world of the imagination. It is your True Beloved, and the vision of your Perfect Nature is one of the most important steps on the spiritual path. It is a vision of your personal Lord, your personal rabb (ربّ), which is the specific face of God that is turned towards you. This vision will help you to understand your True Will, but is also your gateway to understanding Allah in His Infinity. Once you become one with your Perfect Nature, with your personal Lord, then you will become one with Allah, who is the Lord of Lords (ربّ الأرباب/rabb al-arbab). This is the way to spiritual success. Hail victory.

Ya Ali Madad

و كلّ شيء أحصيناه في إمام مبين

And everything we have encompassed in a clear Imam.

Vahe guru ji ka khalsa, Vahe guru ji ki fateh!

Chivalry. Honor. Beauty.

The Code of the Nurwaniyyah

[shaheediyan]

http://www.nuralimam.net/forums/index.php?...e=post&id=4

Also, above is a link to an excellent article written by Shaykh Ji on Imamate and romantic love, which was published in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion.

Many aspects of this are true for all faiths...

[amardeep]

A beautiful article by a beautifil man. May he rest in peace.

Lets talk about simran and help each other in how to "do it"

i personally dont feel anything when doing simran and it does'nt take more than 20 sec before my mind keeps wavering into all directions and then i ultimately stop trying because im to focused on other things. What do you do in order to discipline your mind, and how does one do a "good simran session" ? please give an "simran for dummies" explanation as i would really like to know how to do simran correctly

[golestan]

Be name Khoda

As much as I may appreciate people reading my friend's work I have express a strong warning against any misinterpretation of his thought.

There is no doubt that Hojjat-ol Islam-ol Muslimîn Shaikh 'Abdul Hahkeem Carney was very respectful of the great religious traditions of India especially Tibetan Buddhism.He was greatly appreciative of Baba Nanak Shah's (ra) inspired poetry. Nevertheless I would hate to see his articles and thoughts being used by some in the name of some wishy washy "all is one" sort of perspective.

The Shaikh did not believe modern Sikhism to have anything to do with Baba Nanak Shah (ra) whom he consider a Muslim dervish. He had in Baba Nanak Shah's (ra) poems precise elements of batini Shi'a thought only to be found in the Ismaili ginans and Persian Sufi-Shi'a literature. The fact that Baba Nanak Shah (ra) is mentioned in the ginans left no doubt for that Baba Nanak Shah (ra) was a Muslim.

As a member of the Shi'ite clergy he believed in dialogue for sure with authentic religious traditions but of a reductive kind. Religions are not the same and yes he consider Shi'ism to be the pinnacle of humanity's spiritual development. If anything he wished Sikhs to realize their Islamic roots and reintegrate their place within Islam.

To deform his thought in the name of some"all religions are one" perspective would indeed be a gross caricature.

please recite surah al fatiha for his soul

kind regards

Bahadur Ali Shah

[amardeep]

does anyone have a copy of the @Imamate and romantic love@ article as the link does not work any longer

[Sukhraj]

Amardeep,

First off congratulations for recognising that your mind is separate from your true self. You've got to start somewhere - 20 seconds isn't bad.

Can you read Gurmukhi? If so, I recommend you read Sant Isher Singh Ji's diary "Ishwar Amolak Lal" at the link below. I've tried many many different ways of Simran but this works best for me. Everyone starts at different stages depending on previous kamaii etc so we have to find what works for us. ( The diary is long but read the whole thing if you're serious)

Before starting simran, ALWAYS do Ardas for Prema bhagti and Ik munn, Ik chit.

For concentration (Ik Munn Ik Chit), you MUST have 100% faith that you are on the right path. This where 'comparative religion' can be a hindrance - your munn doesn't know which boat to take. Also, concentration increases slowly, as you wash away the mal from the mind by reading Gurbani (and then following it!), doing sewa and of course, simran.

Sewa really helps. Also, if you spend all day arguing about something, you can rest assured that when you sit for simran, your mind will go back to the arguments etc. This applies to everything elso as well, which is why it's good to try to keep doing simran throughout the day.

Guru Ji says " Kaljug Meh Kirtan Pardhaana" - the mind is attracted to music and 'tiks' easily during kirtan. You can try putting on a kirtan cd and doing simran by losing yourself in the kirtan.

I could go on and on but don't have time right now - how about starting another thread just for sharing Simran techniques and experiences?

The diary can be downladed from here: (choose "Iswratmak Amulaya Lal) http://www.rarasahib.com/downloads.htm

OR from here:

http://www.bhorasahib.com/Diary.htm

[Kam1825]

anyone know how sheikh cerny passed away?

[shaheediyan]

Amardeep, Shaykh 'Abd al-Hakeem Carney was greatly inspired by Bhai Ragbir Singh Bir's Bandagi-nama, this may inspire you on your journey through meditation also:

http://www.westernssa.com/resources/docs/B...%20Synopsis.PDF

[Sukhraj]

If the above link for Bandagi Nama doesn't work for you (it didn't for me), try this: http://www.gurmat.info/sms/smspublications/Bandgi%20Nama.pdf

[amardeep]

i thought it was bandagi nama of Bhai Nand Lal

i'll download it, thank you very much veerji

[tonyhp32]

If Bahadur is right about that Sheikh chappie's views about Guru Nanak and I have do doubt he must be as we all know birds of a feather stick together then I see no reason why this Sheikh is worthy of any praise. No doubt Bahadur will come back with some superlatives about his departed friend but the crux of the matter is that he was wrong about Guru Nanak. I wonder if it was the chela who convinced the guru or the other way around.

[golestan]

Be name Khoda

The Shaikh died last summer in tragic circumstances. It would be welcome if for once you would refrain from commenting about him the way you do. It shows you have no respect for the dead. His family and close friends are still shaken by his sudden and tragic death and the last thing we need right now is to have some random people commenting non sense about his death. Even though I disagreed on his views regarding dual Imamate and vilayat e faqih the fact remains that he was respected by his academic colleagues and students. I ask the moderators to close this thread so as to avoid any further random and insensitive comments by people who obviously have no respect for the grief that his family and close friends have gone through.

Please recite Fatiha for his soul.

kind regards

Bahadur Ali Shah

[Mithr]

If Bahadur is right about that Sheikh chappie's views about Guru Nanak and I have do doubt he must be as we all know birds of a feather stick together then I see no reason why this Sheikh is worthy of any praise. No doubt Bahadur will come back with some superlatives about his departed friend but the crux of the matter is that he was wrong about Guru Nanak. I wonder if it was the chela who convinced the guru or the other way around.

I think the problem with us as a quam is that our people get so impressed when we see a Muslim praise Guru Nanak that we jump all over in excitement. Personally I've never been excited over such things. We respect Muslim fakirs without calling them Sikhs, but it is only a few Muslims who would have the Aql to praise Guru Nanak without calling him a Muslim. We begin praising anyone who just once said anything remotely good of our Guru. I’m glad Bahadur Ali has intervened in this thread and shown some here not to get too impressed by any tom dick and harry of the Islamic faith who was gracious enough to have said something of praise of our Guru.

[amardeep]

Actually Sheikh Ji praised all the Gurus and did an ardass wherein he mentioned all the Shia Imams along with the Sikh Gurus and showering Gods praises upon them...

[shaheediyan]

Mithr and Bahadur both have good points.

But I will say Shaikh had a deeper love of Sikhi, the Guru's and Gurbani then Bahadur lets on, quite ironic as it was bahadur that introduced Shaikh to Sikhi and faciliated Shaikh taking amrit, thereby showing his love for Sikhi (whichever form that was).