ar-Rabita

Concerning the bond with the Shaikh and the nature of that bond

The practice known as rabita [bonding with the Shaikh] is superior to the practice of remembrance [zikr]. It involves keeping in one's mind a representation of the likeness of the Shaikh. For the disciple [murid], this is more beneficial and more suitable than the practice of remembrance [dkikr] because the Shaikh is the medium [wasita] by which the disciple attains to contact [wusul] with the Lord of Truth [Glorious and Exalted is He]. The greater the increase in the links connecting him with the Shaikh, the greater will be the increase in the emanations [fuyudat] from his inner being [batin], and he will soon arrive at his desired goal. It is necessary, first of all, for the disciple to experience personal annihilation [yufna] in the Shaikh. He may then attain to annihilation [fana] in Almighty Allah [Exalted is He]. Allah knows best, of course. [Emanations of Lordly Grace: Al-Fuyudat ar-Rabbaniyya, a treasury of Qadiri prayers and wisdom based on the Arabic text compiled by Sayyid Ismail ibn M. Said al-Qadiri and translated by Muhtar Holland]

J.S. Trimington cites this passage from al-Fuyudat, in his interesting discussion of the term rabita and the practice it represents. He also notes that rabita, according to as-Sanusi, "is a general custom of the eastern orders, and refers to this form of meditation as a guard against random thoughts...conjuring up the image of the Shaikh in a vision, seeking protection in him from the attacks of the wild beasts in the valleys of destruction." [page 213, The Sufi Orders in  Islam]

Rabita is also a means that could lead to knowledge of God in the teachings of some Naqshbandi masters. That is the link or bond that associates a murid with a shaikh or spiritual guide. Already at an early stage of the Naqshbandi order we find rabita being practiced by Shaikh Hasan al-Attar, a grandson of Kwaja Baha al-Din Naqshband from a female lineage. Attar used to instruct his disciples to link with his image. Rabita he explained to them, could be a means for loss of consciousness of this world. This stage is called in mystical terms adam or ghaiba (non-existence and unawareness). It is reached at, by evoking the image of the preceptor into the imagination and then transmitting it to the heart followed by surrender of will. The more one is dominated by this state the more he looses awareness of this world. [Rashahat, p. 76; al-Hadaiq al-Wardiyya, p. 148]

Kwaja Ahrar gave a similar interpretation and we find him defining 'rabita' as an 'association of love" (nisba hubbiyya) between the murid and his Shaikh who should be 'worthy of mediation between the worshipper and God.' Kwaja Ahrar justified rabita by interpreting the Quranic verse 'Kuna ma'a al-Sadiqin' [keep the company of the righteous or the truthful] as to be with one's Shaikh in person, that is, to associate with him and keep his company by way of suhba, and to be with him spiritually by way of rabita, that is, to link the heart with him. Through suhba he enlightens himself with his attributes and manners, and through rabita he observes his company permanently whether present or absent. In other words suhba and rabita form one principle in Kwaja Ahrar's (may Allah be pleased with him) view and rabita is a form of suhba.

Like Kwaja Ahrar, Imam Ahmad Sirhindi (may Allah be pleased with them), as well, defined rabita as a link of love, (rabita al-mahabba) to a perfect Shaikh "who is taken as exemplary" (al-muqtada bihi). When the rabita occurs to the murid without artificiality, he added, it shows that the connection has become perfect and the murid is ready for spiritual training.

A contemporary of Shaikh Sirhindi's, from India, Shaikh Taj al-Din Zakariyya al-Uthmani who was like him a disciple of Kwaja Baqi Billah (may Allah be pleased with them all), gave rabita a primary place in his teaching. A murid, he wrote, should preserve the image of his Pir in his imagination in order to acquire his attributes. If he does not feel progress in this manner, he should transmit the image of his Pir from his imagination through his right shoulder to the heart as a positive means of spiritual intoxication (sukr) or loss of consciousness (ghaiba). This is a spiritual path that leads to knowledge of Almighty Allah.

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