17/12/2017
KHALWA
A BRIEF EXPLANATION ON ITS BASIS
BY
Aliyu Umar
IN THE NAME OF ALLAH THE MOST HIGH, ALL PRAISES ARE FOR THE MOST EXCELLENT SERVANT OF ALLAH, THE HEAD OF HIS WORSHIPERS,THE POLISH OF HEARTS,THE IMMUNIZATION AGAINST HYPOCRISY WHO CAME WITH THE SEVEN KIND OF ZIKRULLAH AS
dhikr of the eyes, which consists in weeping (buka');dhikr of the ears, which consists in listening (isgha');dhikr of the tongue, which consists in praise (thana');dhikr of the hands, which consists in giving (`ata');dhikr of the body, which consists in loyalty (wafa');dhikr of the heart, which consists in fear and hope (kawf wa raja');dhikr of the spirit, which consists of utter submission and acceptance (taslim wa rida')."the spirit, which consists of utter submission and acceptance (taslim wa rida')."Sayyadina wa maulana Rasulullahi sallallahu alaihi wasallam. May this blessings stretches to his companions, ahlilbayt and our sheikhs(Al Auliya) the custodians of the divine secrets.
Says the poor servant UMAR IBN ALIYU (BOLOGI) to my friend Mallam Saidu Bamimore on Khalwa( Seclusion). I ask Allah to overlook my shortcomings and continue to guide us on the path of Muhammad.
The write up is very brief in nature to give a surface analysis on the concept and take away misconception on khalwa. Khalwas where the name of God is not to be cited was the condemned khalwa but unfortunately in our today Muslim world, there arise some who uses verses used on unbelievers on Muslims. I pray Allah will accept this work and also ask him to guide us to the straight path.
May Allah be pleased with us all.
Seclusion is a kind of isolation, that can only be prescribed by the sheikh. Its shortest time limit is 40 days, as mentioned in the Holy Qur'an about Sayiddina Musa (s), "And remember We appointed forty nights for Moses" (Surah al-Baqarah, 51). Muslim narrated that the Prophet (s) made seclusion in the cave of hira for one complete month. Its aim is to clean the heart of connection to this world of material pleasures, and to bring it to a state of remembrance of Allah, Almighty and Exalted. In it countless visions occur, and it elevates the murid to a state of knowing the self, and from there to a state of knowing Allah.
Seclusion requires the seeker to disconnect himself from people and to disengage himself from all material interactions for a set period of time. His heart must be engaged only in God's Remembrance, and his mind relaxed from daily concerns. Seclusion is not an innovation but is an order of Allah, Almighty and Exalted, in his Holy Book and in the example of the Prophet (s). The Prophet (s) used to make seclusion in the cave of Hira in the mountains of Makkah, remembering Allah, Almighty and Exalted. It is indicated in the Qur'an, in Surat al-Muzzamil, (73, 8): "So remember the name of thy Lord, and devote thyself to Him with full devotion."
Allama Abu Sacad in his commentary on the explanation of the Qur'an by Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi, volume 8, p. 338, says, "The meaning of this verse is to keep secluding yourself from anyone other than Allah, Almighty and Exalted, remembering Him day and night, by tasbih, tahmid and tahlil, and to disconnect yourself, by all the power you have, and approach Him through the meditative stations such that you will not see anyone except Him. Meditation here rests on seclusion. The proof for this in the Qur'an can be found in the story of Maryam (s), the mother of Jesus (s): "So her Lord accepted her with a gracious acceptance, and caused her to grow an excellent growth, and made Zakariyya (s) her guardian. Whenever Zakariya visited her in her seclusion he found with her provision. He said, 'O Maryam, whence hast thou this?' She replied, 'It is from Allah. Surely, Allah gives to whomsoever He pleases without measure.'" (Ali Imran, 37)
Allah said in the Qur'an, in Surat al-Kahf (ayat 16), mentioning the story of the companions of the cave, they were ordered, "Betake yourself to the Cave: your Lord will shower His mercies on you and dispose of your affair towards comfort and ease." and be away from connections to other than Him through that meditation."
Allah also said in the Quran "O Zakariyah! Verily, We give you the glad tidings of a son. His name will be Yahya . We have given that name to none before him."
He said: "My Lord! How can I have a son, when my wife is barren, and I have reached the extreme old age."
He said: "So (it will be). Your Lord says, It is easy for Me. Certainly I have created you before, when you had been nothing."
Zakariyah said: "My Lord! Appoint for me a sign."
He said: "Your sign is that you shall not speak unto mankind for three nights, though having no bodily defect."
Similary, seclusion has a proof in the sunnah. Bukhari reports that Ayesha said, "The Prophet loved to make seclusion. And he was secluding himself in the Cave of Hira."
Imam Nawawi, explained the hadith of Ayesha, "To be alone with the one you love is the real seclusion. It is the way of the pious and it is the way of knowers."
He said, in his explanation of Sahih Muslim, "The Prophet (s) said, 'Seclusion was made to be loved by him,' because with it the heart will be empty of all this materialistic life, and it will be in peace. It helps to deepen the meditation on Allah's Divine Presence, and with it his attachments to dunya will decrease, and with it his reverence will increase."
Silent dhikr is the dhikr of the servant who secludes himself away from people. Narrated Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri: A bedouin came to the Prophet and said, "O Allah's Apostle! Who is the best of mankind?" The Prophet said, "A man who strives for Allah's Cause with his life and property, and also a man who lives (all alone) in a mountain path among the mountain paths to worship his Lord and save the people from his evil." (English Bukhari, Volume 8, Book 76, Number 501)
Dhikr in isolation or seclusion (khalwa) is corroborated by the hadith in Bukhari: "Seven people will be shaded by Allah..." The seventh is: "A person who remembers Allah in seclusion (dhakara Allaha khaaliyan) and his eyes get flooded with tears."
In Tirmidhi: `A'isha relates: "In the beginnings of Allah's Messenger's Prophethood, at the time Allah desired to bestow honor upon him and mercy upon His servants through him, he would not have any vision except it came to pass as surely as the sun rises. He continued like this for as long as Allah wished. Most beloved to him was seclusion (al-khalwa) and there was nothing he loved more than to be alone in seclusion." Tirmidhi narrates it and said: hasan sahih gharib. Bukhari and Muslim narrate something very similar through different chains and the word khala' is used instead of khalwa.
Ibn Hajar said in Fath al-Bari in the commentary on Bukhari's chapter on seclusion:
Ibn al-Mubarak relates in Kitab al-raqa'iq from Shu`ba from Khubayb ibn `Abd al-rahman from Hafs ibn `Asim that `Umar said: "Take your part of fortune from seclusion." However, what is usually retained is that it is a saying of Abu Dharr or Abu al-Darda'. Ibn Abi `Asim cited it... al-Qushayri said in his Risala: "The method of the one who enters seclusion is that he must have the belief that he is keeping people from his evil, not the reverse, for the former presupposes belittlement of himself, which is the attribute of the humble, while the latter indicates that he considers himself better than others, which is the attribute of the arrogant.
the case of nana maryam
SCHOLARS
Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani said, in explaining the hadith of 'Ayesha, "The seclusion is emptying the heart of everything except Allah." [Fath al-Bari, v.1, p. 18]
Abul Hasan ash-Shadili said, "There are ten benefits from seclusion:
1. Safety from all misconduct of the tongue, because there is no one to talk to in seclusion
2. Safety from all misconduct of the eyes, because there is no one to see from human beings
3. Safety of the heart from all kinds of show, and other like illnesses
4. It will lift you to the state of asceticism
5. It will save you from accompanying evil people
6. It will give you free time to do dhikr
7. It will give you the sweet taste of worship, and prayers and supplication to the Divine Presence
8. It will give satisfaction and peace to the heart
9. It will keep your ego from falling into bad manners
10. It will give you the time to meditate and make account of yourself, and to make your goal the Divine Presence.
That is what the Prophet mentioned in his hadith, narrated by Bukhari, in the book of Riqaq. Abu Huraira reported that the Prophet said (s), "There are seven who will be kept under Allah's Shadow, on the Day when there is no shadow other than Allah's Shadow... One of them is a man who makes dhikr in seclusion, and the tears are coming from his eyes."
WAssalam.
