The following post is about the secrecy and withholding of some information- now I promise this has some relevance at least to giving baya online. It raises the question of whether we should publish knowledge/materials explicitly online or keep it as restricted material.As you may or may not know the great sufi masters retained the deep secrets of tasawwuf for over decades.
I will take the opportunity here to highlight that by the word ‘secret’ I do not imply that Sufis hide knowledge. This is far from it, if anything their knowledge and spirituality is as accessible as any other faith groups. There is a tendency though for disciples to refrain from disclosing certain matters e.g. dreams, spiritual progression, certain wird practises etc. The reason may be valid, for example they do not have permission from their shaykh to disclose such information. Or the most obvious reason being that it is an internal affair that people like to keep personal.
A deep and thorough search led me to the Deenislam site. The website is a personal reflection of knowledge dedicated to Sufism. But the peculiar thing to me was the idea of the founder of the website explicitly stating the secrecy of their tariqa…
‘I'm officially not allowed to mention the name of my Shaykh or Tariqah, on 'DeenIslam.co.uk' as Deenislam is a personal site which reflects my personal thoughts and comments, for information about or to Join my tariqah please email me […]’
Having said that the website is contradictory as immediately beneath it there are links that direct one exactly to the tariqa that this person is affiliated with:
I understand some disciples are reserved to revealing specific information about their shaykh or tariqa but as we have explored in previous posts this is the contrary. It could be said that those websites who do openly share their resources and materials create a sense of community and reinforce the concept of ummah.
The question then, is what should be secret or not?
There are some institutions that although do not offer online initiation have ‘private murid sections.’ Thus specific tariqa knowledge remains restricted to only the disciples. An example of this is the Shahdhili tariqa who limit their access of certain material to murids only:
The benefits of course is that the knowledge is kept restricted, therefore only being burdened upon to the initiated disciples. Material such as the wird audios, spiritual guidance is usually what occupies the murid section. (I know this because I have my own murid login.) I wonder if the material was made available to the public would make a difference in terms of enlightening certain individuals who wish to seek knowledge and delve into this matter further. Would it increase the groups members?
Personally, I feel that giving baya requires as much training, knowledge and experience as possible. If such websites or people share these aspects, then it can only benefit the one who wishes to know more about giving baya- take for example my blog! J
The Deenislam creator although hiding their tariqa identity provides us with a wealth of information. Withholding our experiences or knowledge I believe will only hinder our choices to giving baya. So my suggestion to anyone looking to initiate themselves with a particular shaykh or tariqa, search for those secret pearls of knowledge, and anyone who has something to share please do so openly!
A really interesting blog here. One should not hide ones allegiance but should in fact advertise it, in my personal opinion. If you’re hiding this, it looks like you are ashamed of something regarding your Shaykh or tareeqa.
ReplyDeleteUnless there is a genuine threat to one’s life or property, I don't see the reason for hiding which tareeqa one belongs to.
Regarding hiding the wird or wazeefas from non-mureeds, I do not see the point in this. After all this was neither the practice of the Auliya of the early times nor their mureeds. The only hikma I can think of is if the particular wazeefa or wird is specifically meant for that individual person for whatever purpose.
Tareeqas are like chalices from which all those that have a spiritual thirst, drink. Auliya give faidh to people and those that hide are stingy in giving to others what Allah has rewarded them with.
Tareeqa Al Naqshbadeeyah,
ReplyDeleteSometimes the wird is restricted material in some tariqas in terms of the 'hizb ul bahar.' This is a specific wird which requires special permission from the shaykh if one wishes to read it. My point being, as long as restricted material is not published then it is fine to publish generic wirds or material of that nature. You are correct in saying awliyahs are not stingy as it is not in their nature to hide knowlegde and guidance. Nor should one hide their baya, this does not imply you should advertise it but if someone asks you about it you should not refrain from speaking of it, for your experiences could be of great value or help to someone else.
Hope that makes sense!