TASAWWUF (II)

Dhikr that is done by the tongue and the heart in tandem. Men of Allah and the Awliyâ ‘qaddas-Allâhu ta’âlâ asrârahumul’azîz’ may do this kind of dhikr after having attained certain heights. Dhikr by way of the heart was first practised by the Fakhr-i- ’âlam ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ on the night of Hijrat (Hegira, emigration to Medîna), in the cave named Sawr (or Sevr), where the Blessed Messenger of Allah bid Abû Bakr as-Siddîq ‘radiyAllâhu ’anh’ to kneel down and close his eyes and thereafter coached him for this silent dhikr. The ‘Râbita’, which superior guides of Tasawwuf teach travellers of this path, is a kind of communication that is commanded in the hundred and twentieth âyat-i-kerîma of Tawba Sûra and in the fifty-second âyat-i-kerîma of An’âm Sûra, which purport: “... And be with those who are true,” and “... Try to be with those who seek their Rabb, ...” respectively; and which is done in obedience to the hadîth-i-sherîf that reads: “Remembering the people whom Allâhu ta’âlâ loves will motivate His Rahma.” There are other similar âyat-i-kerîmas and hadîth-i-sherîfs as well. The latest twelve centuries’ greater Asiatic Hanafî scholars from places such as Mâwarâ-un-nahr (Transoxiana) and Bukhâra have all tutored their disciples this kind of dhikr.