Travels with Sheikh Nazim
Sheikh Nazim and his companions : Sheikh Khalil Al Hussayri, Prince Ashman de Malaisie and Sheikh Amanoullah - 1990 - travels across Asia to Adam's peak to Srilanka and the maqam al-Khidr.
The eponymous founder of the Naqshbandi way, Bahahu dîn Naqshband said that the essence of the way is companionship. In fact all the divine messengers taught through companionship, "suhba" and those who were taught by our beloved Prophet Mohammad (saw) were called "sahaba" the companions.
In the video, below, Mawlana Sheikh Nazim also talks precisely about this subject during a journey of initiation where I was one of his companions for 70 days and nights.
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He says that the initiatory transmission of the profound teaching is only done in this way, he specifies that he received it in this way from his sheikh who received it from his sheikh who received it from his sheikh and so the whole chain of masters up to the prophetic source which itself receives from God.
In this fundamental custom, this sunna which also became "sunna at-tarîq" (tradition of the way) it is necessary to remain at least 40 days in companionship to receive the complete ijaza which is given in writing, not at the request of the disciple but when the sheikh decides it and writes it by his hand.
After this companionship the authorized disciple becomes a carrier of the grace and spirit of the tariqa "ruh at tariq" (the Spirit of the way) which works in the invisible and carries the madad (spiritual influence) of the sheikh through him.
But before that, still in the practice of tarîqa, according to sunna-at tariq, the disciple is put in the khalwa by his sheikh, again for a minimum of 40 days in order to ensure the final transformation in him as the seed planted in the earth becomes a tree.
The Khalif knows clearly that it is not he who acts but this spirit, this ruh-at-tariq, the baraka of his sheikh expresses itself through him like that of the previous sheikh, like that of the previous sheikh conveying in fact "nur mohammadiya" (the original prophetic light) which comes from God and which has also been expressed through all the divine messengers for the assumption of the whole human consciousness.
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One of the ways to realize the companionship is the "siyâha", (the initiatory journey) in the company of the Sheikh and then his representative. The attached video is an example of a journey with Mawlana Sheikh Nazim in India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. The disciple experienced spiritual states just when the Sheikh by a look or by an intention had transmitted his "Himma" by the tawajjuh, (the orientation of his heart), transmitting this spiritual energy produced by Nûr Mohammadiyya which passes through him and gives itself during the companionship. Each country visited, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Brunei, Turkey, Cyprus, Europe brought its specific taste and teaching.
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In the attached (abridged) video, one can feel the atmosphere of different moments: With the presence of Sheikh Khalil Al Hussayri who is "rais el Qira el Azhar", the head of Quranic recitation at the famous Islamic University of el Azhar, with Prince Achman of Malaysia. Through this journey, I have the example of so many graces received that it is difficult to give an overview. How many times this company we had moments when Mawlana spoke to both of us, alone, in moments of exquisite intimacy as seen on the film. Then sometimes moments of majesty as when we are received with Mawlana at the presidential palace of Sri Lanka by the son of the President accompanied by an elephant who greets Mawlana Sheikh Nazim before the latter waters a tree of Tec in the garden of the palace. It was also in Sri Lanka that we visited the khalwa of Sayyidina l-Khidr, peace be upon him, in Kataragama, as if to confirm our link with the co-founder of the Naqshbandi brotherhood, mentioned in the golden chain as Abu-l-Abbas al-Khidr.
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And the strength of this companionship, besides what the heart received, was confirmed afterwards, by the transmission of the grey Jubba that the Sheikh wears in all his travels as well as his ring (that one recognizes in the pictures) which was also transmitted to me as a sign of an eternal link between us.
Khidr, whose place of khalwa is at Katargama in Sri Lanka
The companionship "suhbat" is the essential purpose of the disciples during which they obey a process of training and spiritual education. My encounter with Sheikh Nazim started with an initiatory journey in Asia: Malaysia, Brunei, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, which was a precious spiritual heritage (collected in my book La genèse de la Sagesse). God is the Supreme Companion. Thus, around the Prophet Mohamed (saw) the "sahabas" practiced the companionship which allowed them to walk in depth and to receive from heart to heart the meaning and the depth of the path and to transmit this tradition in a living way.
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This was the case in this sublime story of Moses and Abû-l-'Abbas, al-khidr. The latter is part of the Nashbandi golden chain, this enigmatic character endowed with a longevity that spans the centuries, appears to Moses in a strange way, then follows a companionship in the course of which the Khidr performs acts that exceed human understanding (cf. Qur'an "al-Kahf" "5") which allowed Moses, through this companionship and the pursuit of the fish, to receive divine knowledge from the confluence of exoteric science and the other more esoteric and mystical dimension.
Sh. Amanullah
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