Super Shaykh to the rescue!

 Super Shaykh by my definition: A spritual guider and successor who strives only to achieve the love of the divine and the prophet.  (Amen to that! J)

 Do we need a super duper shaykh in our lives to guide us?

 For those who are unfamiliar with giving baya to a shaykh it may seem  obvious to ask why do we need a shaykh in the first place?  Some are under the view that we have all the knowledge and guidance already ordained for us by the prophetic sunnah and quran so there is no room to speak of relying upon the assistance of a holy other. In all fairness this view is valid and there are many muslims following this and living their normal day to day lives with the absence of a shaykh.

On the contrary some would beg to differ and would highly recommend the need for a shaykh Here are few short pointers as to why Sufis feel the need for a guide:

·         One cannot make this spiritual journey alone, the experiences and knowledge of a shaykh is most needed in order to travel this path correctly.

·         The shaykhs are blessed with esoteric knowledge handed down to them from their spiritual lineage.

·         There is a deep spiritual connection with the shaykh which can impact on our hearts, seek nearness to the divine.

The prospects of having a guide can be quite favourable yet at the same unnecessary for some (so I guess all those in favour of the latter I have lost your vote already!) It is crucial for us to question the legitimacy of shaykhs especially when it is solely involved with online contact. I mean how many of us have had encounters with dodgy, misleading fake shaykhs in the real world let alone in the web?

Some suggested sites for further reading:

1.      Do you need shaykh? Translated by Abdullah bin Hamid Ali  

2.      Shakyh & Mureed Relationship

3.      Tasawwuf-The Importance of a Sheikh

Following up on the love for ones shaykh and the importance of having a shaykh this video is an indication of how sufis deeply respect and love their shaykh, all of which reinforces the importance and the need to give inititation to a shaykh.

A beautiful poem I came accross illustrating the love for a shaykh:

The world was full of beautiful things until an
old man with a beard came into my life and set my heart
aflame with longing and made it pregnant with love.
How can I look at the loveliness around me,
how can I see it, if it hides the face of my Lover?

— PERSIAN SONG

A very short video but good account on whether we need a Shaykh today by Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller, (The famous scholar of Islamic (Shafi'i) law and (Shadhili) spirituality) 

I hereby give baya.....till internet provider do us apart??

So here's the thing I search the web for background knowledge on sufism till I stumbled across this new notion of pledging allegiance online. Personally I have given initiation to the Shadhilli tariqa so this is something quite important and close to me. For years I have read upon how sacred this bond is and the necessity of doing this in person as it involves a direct spiritual experience so honestly speaking the concept of an eshaykh completely threw me. Is it truly possible to gain a deep and strong relationship with your shaykh if you have never seen or been in their presence? Surely the path of suluk involves travelling together on the spiritual journey. It's amazing how with the increase of technology everything has become web based, from virtual churches, mosques to virtual shaykhs. How would one gain the ultimate eshaykh experience?

A Google search on this immediately leads one to the Naqshbandi tariqa who offer this service online for remote believers. This website is an illustration of how informal the initiation process has become, simply by reading a few selected verses from the quran one has ultimately become a follower of Shaykh Nazim (the successor of this particular tariqa). I wish to find out to what extent this method of giving initiation is scared and valid. Can the same spiritual rewards be attained? Undoubtedly anyone can stumble across the website and read out aloud the verses required to give baya without the intention of actually giving initiation so would that mean they have now pledged allegiance to this particular shaykh? And if not, is it right to publicly display this as not everyone will understand what giving baya  involves? It is true that a lot of  traditions are under the view that once someone pledges allegiance they under oath to that particular tariqa and obliged to follow- in other words there is no turning back! Would that mean our simple browsers and passer byers are now stuck??? 

Thus throughout this blog I intend to delve into the online world of mureeds and eshaykhs. The first few posts will be concentrated on the love, importance and need for a shaykh as this will help to create an understanding of why people take online initiation.