Naf-i-asbat
or “negation and affirmation” is yet another method of
practicing
dhikr
.The worshipper sits in the posture of prayer facing Makkah.
He imagines that he is bringing up
la ilaha
from his navel, and then he
expels his breath by a jerk in the direction of his right shoulder. He then
utters
illa Allah,
jerking his head towards his heart, as if imprinting these
words upon it.
Dhikr
was followed by meditation to allow the individual thoughts of
the Sufis to emerge and envelop their mind. Generally, a dervish meditated
on some particular verse of the Qur’an and at the same time the image of
the
pir
was recalled to mind.
Muraqaba
, the Arabic term used for meditation, literally means
“vigilance” or “awareness”, which is further defined as an aspect of
contemplation (
tafakkur
), waiting upon a spiritual presence, a permanent
state of attentiveness. The Prophet said: “My eye sleeps, but my heart is
awake.” According to another
hadith
, he said: “Worship God as though you
see Him, for even if you do not see Him, He sees you.” Anyone who feels
sure that God is always watching over him will devote himself to
contemplating God and no evil thoughts will find their way to his heart.
This is how the practices accompanying
muraqaba
(deep contemplation)
are carried out as expounded in the chapter on
Dhikr, Muraqaba,Tauhid, Daur
and
Halat
(“Remembrance, Meditation, Oneness of God, Whirling and
Ecstasy”) of ‘
Awariful Ma’arif
24
by Shihabuddin Suhrawardi (d. 1234):
“The exercises of
muraqaba
(fearful contemplation) and of
tauhid
(the
unity of God) are as follows:
24
See chapter:
The Dance of the Sarna’,
pp.297-298, in
The ‘Awariful Ma’arif
of Shihabuddin Suhrawardi
in tr. of H.W. Clarke, Delhi, 1984.
Th e Su f i C on c e p t o f Me d i t a t i on 210
