Sufi, Sufism, Religion, Spiritualism, Semiotic, Pirs, Murids, Islam, Islamic Anthropology, Islamic Cult, Human, Tarika, Maizbhandar, Chittagong, Bangladesh, Asia. URL: http://www.sufimaizbhandari.org.

MAIZBHANDARI PHILOSOPHY

Maizbhandari philosophy is an important aspect of Belayet-e-Mutlak (liberated Sufism).  The 37th descendant of Prophet Muhammad (s), Hazrat Ahmed Ullah (k) is the founder of “liberated Sufism” in the Islamic world.  Hazrat Ahmad Ullah (1826-1906), the 37th descendant of Prophet Muhammad (s) is recognized as the most powerful Gausul Azam (highest spiritual level) along with Hazrat Abdul Quader Jillani of Baghdad, Iraq.  The great Spanish saint Mohiuddin Ibne Arabi (1165-1240), who in his classical book Fusus al-Hikam(see chapter two, last paragraph) predicted the birth of Hazrat Ahmad Ullah (k).  The great grandson of Ahmed Ullah,  Ziual Huq (1928-1988) carried the spiritual torch and tradition to maintain the spiritual connectivity with origin.  At present, Shayak Syed Muhammad Hasan (m) inherits the spiritual legacy to shape the present.  These spiritual celebrities passed the legacy to their few chosen descendants who in turn empowered and enlightened many spiritual vice-regents to serve millions of devotees across the Bangladesh, South Asia and globe.     

Maizbhandar is located at Fatikchori, which is 25 miles away from Chittagong city, Bangladesh.  The appellation Maizbhabhandar justifies its significance.  The semantic “Maiz” stands for middle and “Bhandar” means repository.  It is located at a lower valley of Chittagong Hill Tracts surrounded by Halda River.  Maizbhandar serves as a repository of spiritualism in an area between the Islamic frontier of South Asia and the periphery of Ancient China.  Chittagong is now transformed into a microcosm of World Religion as religious pluralistic society melts Animism, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam into a pot of composite culture and religion.      

The essence of Maizbhandari philosophy is universal humanity and love.  Humanity and love draws connectivity between the creator and creation that in turn produce conscientious persons to take to care of society and nature.  This inspires Maizbhandari to nurture spirituality rather than religiosity.  Spirituality creates space to accommodate “other” culture, creeds, customs, nations and religions.   The de-emphasis on religiosity emanates from the notion of purity as captured in the nature of child.  Children are a sacred trust given by Allah to their parents.  The Messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (s) said: "Every child is born in a state of Fitrah (purity). It is his parents who will turn him into a Jew, a Christian or a Magian (Sun worshipper)."   Maizbhandari cultivate a just society and establish best practices in order to attract non-Islamic actor who, like Sir George Bernard Shaw, must view, "I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age.   ………………………   I have studied him - the wonderful man and in my opinion far from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the Savior of Humanity."  (Sir George Bernard Shaw in 'The Genuine Islam,' Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936)
 
The librated spiritualism of Maizbhandar put emphasis on religious pluralism within the framework of the Holy Qu’ran and Islam.  This philosophy recognizes everyone has the right to pursue his or her religion as the holy Qu’ran recognises and acknowledges religious pluralism and differences.  Sūra Kāfirūn spells: 

“I worship not that
Which ye worship.
Nor will ye worship
That which I worship.
……..
To you be your Way,
And to me mine.”
(Sūra 109:2-6)

Maizbhandari firmly believes that God has created different nations and religions to observe how they deal, treat and negotiate with each other in order to serve the humanity.  This is indicated in Sūra Ibrāhim, which spells:

“We sent an apostle
Except (to teach) in the language
Of his (own) people, in order
To make (things) clear to them.”
(Sūra 14:4)

One of the focuses of Maizbhandari philosophy is the protection of different creatures in nature.  As a superior human being, it is the duty of human to protect environment, ecology and nature.  It is not only humans who offer prayer to God, but the trees, animals, birds, creatures also are offering their prayer to God.   Sura Hajj spells, 

“Seest thou not that
To Allah bow down in worship
All things that are
In the heavens and on the earth –
The sun, the moon, the stars; the hills, the trees, the animals;
(Sura 22:18)

Maizbhandari spiritualism, along with regular prayer reflected in Shahada and Ibadah, enables devotees to attain a higher level of Gnosis by articulating superior wisdom and knowledge of spiritual truth and reality.  In practice, Maizbhandari philosophy evolves a practice that triangulates zikr (remembrance) rituals, music and dance, and law of nature to sustain ecology and nature.         

Tarika-e-Maizbhandari: Philosophy in Practices

 Tarika-e-Maizbhandari (or Qadiri Malamiah Ahmedia) is a silsila (path or way).  Hazrat Ahmedullah had established the Qadiri Malamiah Ahmedia silsila.  Since the departure of Hazrat Ahmed Ullah in 1906, Tarika-e-Maizbhandari has continuously been spreading among its millions of devotees, which is also frequently interpreted as open tarika(open spiritual method or path).

The Maizbhandari tarika, in support of regular prayer of Islam, synthesizes three spiritual streams of Qadiri tariqa, Chistia tariqa and Khidhir tariqato compose a composite nature of spiritualism to fit the modern age and practice.

• Qadiri tariqa:  Qadiri tariqa is developed after the teaching of Hazrat Abdul Qadir Jillani (r) of Baghdad, Iraq.   Qadiri tariqa uses zikr (remembrance) to purify the seven layers of soul.  Indeed, the purification follows a complex pattern of zikr by using nafs (located at navel/umbilicus), ruh (located on under the right chest), akhfa/demagh (mind) and kalb(located under the left chest).  The zikrs is used to purify the seven lsyersof nafs:.

• For nafs-i-Ammara, the zikr is “Lailaha ilallah” [zikr/utterance for 500,000]
• For nafs-i-Lawwama, the zikr is “Allah-Hu”. [zikr/utterance for 78,000]
• For Nafs-i-mulhimah, the zikr is “Hu” [zikr/utterance for 44,000]
• For Nafs-i-mutma’inna, the zikr is  “ya High-yu” [zikr/utterance for 20.000]
• For Nafs-i-Rajia, the zikr is “Wa-he-du” [zikr/utterance for 30,000]
• For Nafs-i-Morjia [instructed by Pir]
• For Nafs-i-Kamela

Dancing Zikr:  An advancement that Maizbhandari Tarika has is the dancing zikr, popularly called Ilif zikr, to purify whole body. The devotees perform dancing zikr with the rethym of music and song, especially in the premise of shrine.  To perform dancing zikr, the body is divided into two halves (or nafs): upper and lower parts.  The upper half of body covers from head to naval is known as Alam-i-‘ulwi.  The lower half of body covers from naval to feet is known as Alam-i-‘sifli.  Alam-i-‘ulwi disciplines one with all sincerity, purity, good manners, and good dealings.   In  Alam-i-‘sifli, there is observation, purity, and chastity. 

• Chistia tariqa: Chistia tariqa shaped after the spiritual principle of Hazrat Moinuddin Chisti (r) of Azmir, India.  Taking inspiration from Chistia tariqa, Maizbhandar tariqa uses sama (song) as a form of prayer.  Song is used to draw connectivity with human body and soul to God.  

• Khidhir tariqa:  Prophet Khidhir (or Khizir), which focuses on the secret and mysterious law of nature.  Experience of devotes suggests that all spiritual celebrities of Maizbhandar and their vice regents are capable of performimg miracles to bring wellbeing to devotes’s life, but these miracles are based on using “the principle of opposite force to yield the positive result.”   The principle behind the Khidhir tariqa lie on what Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) describes as Din-al-Fitra, i.e. Islam is a religion of nature and ecology.  The Khidhir tariqaallows one to understand the keramat (miracles) and mystery of nature. 

The composite nature of "Tarika-e-Maizbhandari" could be attained through the practice of following “seven methods”:

• "Fana anil Khalak: To absorb in self-spiritual meditation, arouse self-consciousness, attain conviction and self-restraint, know thyself, and achieve self-reliance. In the order of priority, the first principle of Maizbhandari Philosophy is to be self-reliant. This point is highly crucial in the backdrop of socio-economic scenario of the today’s world. If people try to be self-reliant, many of the social ills of the world can be eradicated.
• "Fana anil Howa": To abstain from such deed that gives no good result, avoid slandering at others back, shun vilifying and backbiting. If one follows this principle in letter and spirit, human life becomes facile and anxiety-free.
• "Fana anil Erada": To surrender completely amidst happiness and sorrow, to the will of Allah, the Almighty and become self-complacent. This implies that human being must surrender unconditionally to his Creator and merge one’s will or desire with that of Allah.
• "Mout-e- Abiyaz" (White death): Practicing self-control, continence and modesty, observing starvation, less eating and less sleeping.
• "Mout-e-Aswad" (Black death): To inculcate self-criticism, self-purification, restrain vindictiveness and retaliation, control rage, and accept easily the criticism made by others.
• "Mout-e-Ahmar" (Red death): To control greed, covetousness, sex-impulse and extinct sexual lust, and regulate oneself to internal and external discipline.
• "Mout-e-Akhjar" (Green death): To observe absolute austerity, show gratitude and thankfulness, avoid extravagance and lead a simple pellucid life free from foppishness.

Ifthese seven steps are being achieved, one can become very dearer to Allah with ardent faith in Him and absolute dependence on the Almighty and His Divine unity (Tawhid). Moreover, by following the above principles, many untold sufferings can be avoided. Furthermore, anyone will agree that humanism can be achieved in its best possible way by combining the above principles, and that’s why the major focus of Tarika-e-Maizbhandari is on human development and self-attainment.

NAFS

The Arabic nafs (12:53) is a feminine noun.    Nafs  is a control of mind through which one can reach and achieve different spiritual levels.   There are seven spiritual levels (or state of mind) of which four are very important.  These are:

1. Nafs-i- ammãra (Imperious mind):  

Nafs-i-ammãra is interpreted as“the soul that incites to evil.”    The major external projection of nafs-i-ammãra is dunyã, “the world of matter.”  The dunyã is a famine noun.  When the mind is not subject to the control of its possessor and is always inclined to commit evil deeds without any regard to their bad consequences, it is called nafs-i- ammãra. 

2. Nafs-i- lawwãma [sura 75:2](blaming soul): 

Nafs-i- lawwãma means reproving mind.  When mind is partially under the control of its possessor and frequently gives up an evil tendency in a remorseful mood but again commits an evil deed, it is then called nafs-i- lawwãma.
 
3. Nafs-i-mutma’inna[sura 89:27] (soul at peace):

Nafs-i-mutma’inna means complacent mind.  When a mind is under the full control of its possessor and does not at all commit evil deeds according to the dictates of its propensity and after all assumes a composed, contended, satiated and calm attitude, it is then called nafs-i-mutma’inna.

4. Nafs-i-mulhimah

Nafs-i-mulhimah stand for inspiratory mind.   This is the last stage of mental development, in which a mind can easily draw inspiration from Allah.  It is said that such a mind can fathom the secret of Allah and acts according to the will of Allah only.    

The perfect unity of jamãl and jalãl in the all surrounding kamãl “Perfection of the divine”