[Tariqas] (no subject)

[IrvingK57 at aol.com]

Peace and Blessings Dear Sister Tania and all Brothers and Sisters:
       Many thanks for clearing up that mystery :)  Tanzen has said that the 
list has been quiet of late, so here is an excerpt from the Sufi novel Master 
of the Jinn to liven things up.  It takes place when Rebecca, a new darvish, 
has just been initiated.

Ya Haqq,

Irving
    
    


           

The ZEKR of Rebecca



I then led her to a quiet corner, to sit and repeat her zekr until the Master 
appeared. 


            This is the time of mohasebeh, the balancing of accounts.  As it 
is written in the Koran:“And verily, whether you manifest what is within you 
or keep it hidden, God will call you to account for it.” Thus we struggle to 
eliminate the selfish and petty deceits of the ego from our thoughts and deeds, 
and to balance God’s gifts with our service. 


After ten or fifteen minutes the Master came down and joined us. All stood as 
he seated himself on the sheepskin rug, and then sat at his command. He 
indicated that Rebecca should sitat his right hand, the Professor and Captain 
Simach next to her, and Ion his left. Ali and Rami sat to my left. When all were 
seated and settled, tea was immediately served to him. He sipped it out of 
courtesy, and then began to speak: 


             “O darvish!”he said, his piercing glance encompassing all 
within the circle. “When God created mankind, all of them claimed to love Him, so 
He created thepleasures of the world, and nine-tenths of them immediately 
desertedHim, and there remained but one-tenth. Then God created the glory 
ofparadise, and nine-tenths again deserted Him, and only one-tenth of thetenth 
remained. And then He imposed upon those that were left oneparticle of affliction, and 
nine-tenths of these also fled from Him.” 


The Master paused to light his pipe, sighing with the exhalation of thesmoke. 
“Such is the lot of humanity,” he said, “torn between pleasure,hope, and 
despair. Yet those that remained, that tenth of a tenth of atenth, are the Elect. 
They did not desire the world, nor seek afterparadise, nor flee from 
suffering. It was God alone they desired, andthough there is imposed on them such 
suffering and terror that even themountains tremble, they do not abandon their 
love and devotion. Theyare indeed God’s servants and true lovers.” 


Many tears answered his words, and he went on: “To follow the path ofLove is 
indeed to be a servant, to Him and to your fellow creatures, sothey may also 
find their way. Thus came the word of God’s Mercy intothe heart of Dhu’l-Nun 
the Egyptian, as it was related long ago. 


“And God said unto him: ‘If there come to you one sick throughseparation 
from Me, heal him, or a fugitive from Me, seek him out, orafraid of Me, then 
reassure him, or wishing union with Me, then showhim favor, or seeking to approach 
Me, encourage him, or despairing ofMy grace, help him, or hoping for My 
loving-kindness, give him goodnews, or with right thoughts of Me, then welcome him, 
or seeking toknow My attributes, guide him. And if one who is injured asks 
help ofyou, give it to him, but if he is doing evil in despite 
ofloving-kindness, then remonstrate him, or if he is forgetful of it,then remind him, and if he 
goes astray, search for him. For you have Ipredestined for My work, and you 
have I appointed for My service.” 


The words filled our hearts to bursting, and burn in my memory evennow. Never 
had I heard such power in the Master, nor his voice somoving. Many cried 
Allah! Allah! and wept openly in supplication andgratitude. 


Professor Freeman held his daughter as she wept, and his own eyes werebrimmed 
with tears. Captain Simach, though, was the greatest surprise.His face and 
arms were lifted skyward, as if he were beseeching heaven,and he seemed to be 
speaking though no sound uttered from his movinglips; and his face was contorted 
as if he were in great pain. TheMaster leaned past Rebecca and Professor 
Freeman and touched the youngman’s shoulder. His hands immediately fell back into 
his lap, and hebowed his head and was still. 


Even as I wondered at this, the Master raised his right hand and thecries and 
weeping subsided. He called for music, and this night Ali’s  ney was joined 
by Rami’s tar, and many others held dafs.  One of the older dervishes even 
brought out an ancient tombeck, a small barrel-like drum made of mulberry wood and 
goatskin, which is held under the arm. 


The ney began to sing it’s longing, and the strings of the tar softlytwined 
its hope around each phrase. Soon the rhythm of thedafs became faster, and 
voices were raised to the beat of many clapping hands. 


             They sang one of the Master’s poems:



                          Hear, O darvish, the song of Love
                          the unending tale of the heart.
                          God whispers “Be!” and infinity
                          takes eternal flight.
                          Love commands the darkness to depart,
                          and the world to arise in light.
                          Mountains, seas and stars bear witness,
                          The east wind cries out on the wing.
                          La Illaha illa Allah,
                          O Sufi, the universe sings.



Forgive the clumsy rhyme of my translation; the original is moreelegant by 
far. What is lost, however, may be heard in the drums andclapping hands and 
every voice raised in the driving harmony, repeatingthe shahada, the bearing of 
witness, that La Illaha illa Allah: There is no God, but God. 


             Ney and tarwere stilled as the rhythm of drums and hands and 
voices went on andon, until the very walls shook with it, and every heart beat to 
it, andeach cell of the body sang in joy and remembrance and longing:

             La Illaha illa Allah! La Illaha illa Allah! 



Ten minutes went by, twenty, thirty, until throats were raw and handswere 
swollen, and tears mingled with the blood of the heart. At last,the Master raised 
his hand and the drums abruptly stopped on the lastbeat. 


The shouts died slowly away, but many wept and their sobs mingled withthe 
moans of those who had been overcome and were being revived. 


             In the first instant of silence the Master calmly lit his pipe 
and began to speak.
             “Why do you weep and tremble so?” he asked.  “For what reason 
do you moan and sigh?” 


             “Allah!” many shouted. 


“Indeed!” the Master replied. “God alone is the ultimate source of theheart’
s joy and sorrow, both the pain and the cure. The soul remembersthis as a 
drop remembers the sea, and so longs the more for thatUltimate Union. All you 
will learn on the path is but a reflection ofthat truth, for all true knowledge 
is remembrance. Thus we polish theheart with tears, that it may reflect only 
the light of His mercy andcompassion."






Excerpted from the book Master of the Jinn: A Sufi Novel, by Irving Karchmar, 
Copyright 2004.  http://www.masterofthejinn.com 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://illuminati.stderr.org/pipermail/tariqas/attachments/20050527/be29e6cc/attachment.htm