Feeling A Personal Connection With God Just Like Sufis
Whilst l disagree with your assertion on Sufis being misguided. I will quote one of the most important lessons l have learned on achieving closeness. The Quranic verse , ” So Remember me, l will remember you ” should be understood in reverse. Your remembrance of God is caused by his remembrance of you. Our heart is between the fingers of the merciful one. This realization will bring you extremely close to God and you will realize that he is closer to you than your jugular vein as referenced in Quran. God does interfere with our heart ( understood as the emotive part of brain which also has cognitive content ) Sufis call this inspiration (ilham) Abdullah ibn Amr reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, the hearts of the children of Adam, all of them, are between the two fingers of the Merciful as one heart. He directs them wherever He wills. O Allah, the Director of the hearts, turn our hearts to Your obedience.” Those who still insist on denying ilham need to explain how God turns the heart of his servant without insinuating ideas, feelings and intentions ( all of which are ilham when from God ) in the mind. Here’s another hadith Narrated Nafi’: from Ibn ‘Umar, that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “Indeed Allah has put the truth upon the tongue and in the heart of ‘Umar.” He said: “And Ibn ‘Umar said: ‘No affair occurred among the people, except that they said something about it, and ‘Umar said something about it'” or he said – “Ibn Al-Khattab” – Kharijah (one of the narrators) had a doubt about it – “except that the Qur’an was revealed in line with what ‘Umar had said.” Suppose God stopped ilham except for revelation which the Prophet (pbuh) recieved as it’s claimed and If it’s an infringement on Prophethood to claim ilham is still being recieved after the passing away of the Prophet (pbuh) then it surely was the same when he was alive as the seal of the Prophets, right from the declaration of Prophethood. But from the narration and asbab e nuzul of certain verses, we know God placed the truth in the heart and on the tongue of Umar (ra). The only difference is it was verified by the revelation of Quran. Revelation has stopped but we can always judge ilham by the Quran and Sunnah. The blessings of Prophethood are still being recieved but no one will receive the station of Prophet anymore. No one can call on the people to accept his ilham as a matter of faith. You can watch a clip of Maulana ishaq on this topic if you are still not convinced. If you accept the proposition that we can still receive ilham then you need a spiritual teacher to separate inspiration of the ego and satan from the ilham of God. Once you get to experience this phenomenon, you will find yourself conversing with God in the heart and you will taste the pleasure of closeness.
We are required to believe in God who is in Ghaib. Any claim of tangible experience ends the scheme of Iman bil Ghaib. In fact, there is no such reality as experiencing some tangible connection with God. These are self-conceived ideas and experiences of Sufis, they are nothing but self created mental images. Ilham does work, but the difference between Wahi and Ilham is the source of Ilham cannot be verified. It is reported from Umar bin Khattab, that once he dictated a letter for one of his governors in which there was some advice for him. The scribe added, this is what God put in my heart. Umar removed the addition saying, that he knew not, whether this idea came from God or devil. The prophet clearly stated that the status of prophethood is no more. However you will receive true dreams. To believe in God and to feel association with Him we need to follow the way our intellect shows us and this is the way adopted by Quran. The signs of God, and the presence of God proven in the history of Bani Israel and the Bani Ishmael (The nation of Prophet Muhammad) leaves no doubt in the existence and work of God. The Bible and the Quran tells how God works and what He demands from us. The rest is speculations.
We are required to believe in God who is in Ghaib. Any claim of tangible experience ends the scheme of Iman bil Ghaib. In fact, there is no such reality as experiencing some tangible connection with God. These are self-conceived ideas and experiences of Sufis, they are nothing but self created mental images. Let’s suppose the spiritual experience of all Sufis for 1400 years was based on delusion. Intellectual integrity and consistency demands that we extend the same skepticism to the spiritual experience of the Prophets. The brain of the Prophets doesn’t differ from the non-Prophets and the same region of the brain is responsible for the spiritual experience. Whilst Prophethood isn’t acquired but given, it is still experienced and determined organically in the brain. Following this reasoning, we should cast a doubt on all kinds of religious experiences. If 1400 years of experience isn’t a guarantee of authenticity, why should we trust the experience of the Prophet, who is only an individual and we haven’t even met him. As for Iman Bil Ghaib, it is a relative term. The companions saw the Prophet (pbuh) recieving revelation. For us, it is Iman bil ghaib. In the same way, you can know something of the ghaib and still have belief in the unseen. The Quran mentions how there is a knower above every knower. Many companions even saw angels on the battle of Badr, or Jibrael (as) in the famous hadith of Jibrael. I have also mentioned how the test of God isn’t restricted to Iman Bil Ghaib and how there is a test of patience, devotion, sacrifice and love after the test of faith. Ilham does work, but the difference between Wahi and Ilham is the source of Ilham cannot be verified. It is reported from Umar bin Khattab, that once he dictated a letter for one of his governors in which there was some advice for him. The scribe added, this is what God put in my heart. Umar removed the addition saying, that he knew not, whether this idea came from God or devil. The prophet clearly stated that the status of prophethood is no more. However you will receive true dreams. We need to reconcile the two hadiths, one confines the last remaining part of Prophethood to dreams, the other relates Umar (ra) recieving ilham in a wakeful state, ie the truth is placed in the heart and on the tongue. The first hadith is related to the Prophethood and the second hadith is related to sainthood, ilham is a characteristic of sainthood. There’s no conflict here. Ilham is useful in personal matters when you can weigh it against Quran and Sunnah. Sometimes, it can be beneficial to the community also if a scholar (like Ghazali) is inspired to save Islam from intellectual attacks. I disagree with Sufis who claim ilham is infallible but l also disagree with people who want to throw it out of Islam To believe in God and to feel association with Him we need to follow the way our intellect shows us and this is the way adopted by Quran. The signs of God, and the presence of God proven in the history of Bani Israel and the Bani Ishmael (The nation of Prophet Muhammad) leaves no doubt in the existence and work of God. The Bible and the Quran tells how God works and what He demands from us. The rest is speculations. Many people actually use this as a evidence to discredit the 3 Abrahamic religions. The argument goes as follows ; is it more likely that the Abrahamic religions were a product of Middle eastern environment or that God specifically select a tribe from mankind ( after Abraham ) and left the rest of mankind to no guidance ? What was the fault of the Indian, Chinese and European people ? The response of some people ( Akram Nadwi ) to this question is that, the middle eastern people didn’t have any preconceived notions or civilizational ideals, so they were more suited to receive revelation. So God was incapable of sending revelation to a more sophisticated civilization , not capable of guiding them and the revelation is best understood by ignorant people, isn’t this an insult on God ?