The Basis of the Ḥaḍra

The ḥaḍra is one of the allusions of the Sufi Tribe. It symbolizes the gathering of the divine Names within the Hāʾ of the all-encompassing Name of the Essence. For those whose inner vision is opened by the kāf of kaʾannaka tarāh, “as if you saw Him,” it symbolizes the eternal Handful (qabḍa abadiyya) that discloses itself through the pre-eternal beauty of the Real. For them, the spiritual world has thus become the material world, and the unseen has become visible, so that they taste the exquisite bliss of nearness and savor the fragrant breeze of arrival.

Mount Uḥud shook with rapture, yearning, and joy beneath the footsteps of the Beloved ﷺ. It quaked in awe of the Muḥammadan beauty until God’s Messenger ﷺ calmed it. Abū Ḥumayd al-Sāʿidī related, “On our way back from the expedition of Tabūk in the company of the Prophet ﷺ, when we arrived near Medina, he said, ‘This is Ṭāba, and this is Uḥud, a mountain that loves us, and we love it.’” (Ibid, # 4097). It is thus clear that Uḥud’s tremors were caused by none other than love. Quivering and swaying, then, are among the disclosures of faith. To this effect, a poet has said:

Do not blame Uḥud for shaking beneath him,

For ecstasy is an involuntary ailment.

Uḥud is beyond reproach, for it is a lover,
And passion is never as intense as when the

beloved arrives.

In reality, trembles are expressions of the surging waves of love. They come about when one plunges into the cold ocean of yearning. These trembles are accompanied by quivering, tears, fearfulness, shivers, being thunderstruck, fainting, and such things.

Do you not see that even the stones hurl themselves from heights and fall down in fear joy, love, and yearning for God? Then your hearts hardened thereafter, being like stones or harder still. For indeed among stones are those from which streams gush forth, and indeed among them are those that split and water issues from them, and indeed among them are those that crash down from the fear of God. And God is not heedless of what you do. (Q Baqara 2:74).

Just as different musical scales of the voice are subtly linked to the levels of the spirit, trembling and swaying are innate reac- tions to beautiful sounds, even for animals and inanimate objects—and an inanimate object is really none other than the one who has no heart to feel the flow of pure meanings. Thus God gave us an example in the Qurʾān: Had We made this Quran descend upon a mountain, thou wouldst have seen it humbled, rent asunder by the fear of God. These are the par- ables We set forth for mankind, that haply they may reflect. (Q Ḥashr 59:21).

If even the mountain, despite its boundless strength and rigidity, would have reacted with humility and fear if the Qurʾān had been sent down upon it, then what should the state of the Sufis be in such circumstances?

The state of divine nearness and arrival is utterly irresistible, even to mighty mountains. Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328) told us of this in his collection of legal opinions (al-Fatāwī): “When Imam Aḥmad was asked about this, he answered, ‘The Qurʾān was being read in Yaḥyā b. Saʿīd al-Qaṭṭān’s (d. 873) presence when he fainted. If anyone were able to resist such a thing, it would be Yaḥyā, for I never encountered anyone more intelli- gent than him.’ Something similar was related from Imam Shāfiʿī, and a similar story about ʿAlī b. al-Fuḍayl b. ʿIyāḍ (d. 803) is well-known. In sum, there are many such accounts from people whose sincerity is not to be doubted.” (Ibn Taymiyya, Majmūʿ al-fatāwī 11/7).

Ibn Taymiyya’s student, Ibn Qayyim (d. 1350), also wrote about the issue of spiritual states (ḥāl) in his work, “The Degrees of the Wayfarers” (Madārij al-sālikīn), saying: “There is a dis- agreement on the issue of inducing spiritual ecstasy (tawājud) and whether or not it is allowed. Scholars are divided into two groups. The first group say that it is not permitted because it amounts to artifice and pretension. The others say it is permit- ted for sincere people who wish to be moved to ecstasy by valid spiritual experiences. In this vein, the Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Weep, and if you cannot weep, then induce a state of weeping.’ In con- clusion, if a person seeks to induce ecstasy artificially for the sake of worldly benefit, passion, or ego, he should not be indulged in this. On the other hand, if someone does it in order to trigger a spiritual state or a station before God, he should be allowed to do so. This depends on the person and what is known of his truthfulness and sincerity.” (Ibn Qayyim, Madārij al-sālikīn 3/324).

He also said: “If all the pleasures experienced by all the people in the world were attained by a single man, it would be nothing compared to the bliss of a man whose heart is entirely focused on God, joyous in Him, consoled by His nearness, and yearn- ing for His encounter. Only the one who tastes this will believe it, because only the one who experiences what you experience will believe you. May God be pleased with the poet who said:

My friend, do you not see their fire?

He answered: You see what I see not;

Passion has quenched your thirst but not mine,

And so you see in your heart what I cannot see.

(Ibid 3/131).

My friend, do you not see their fire?

He answered: You see what I see not;

Passion has quenched your thirst but not mine,

And so you see in your heart what I cannot see.

(Ibid 3/131).

Imam Ghazālī, the Proof of Islam, affirmed this when he said about ecstasy (wajd): “This may occur because of joy or yearn- ing, and its legal status depends on its cause. If the nature of his joy is noble, and if dance increases it, then it is noble. If the nature of his joy is lawful, then so is the dance. If the nature of his joy is dishonorable, then so is the dance.” (Ghazālī, Iḥyāʾ ʿuIūm al-dīn, K. Ādāb al-sāmāʿ, al-bāb al-thānī fī āthār al-samʿ wa-ādābih).

Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ related in his work, “The Antidote” (al-Shifā), that when the Prophet ﷺ was mentioned in the presence of Imam Mālik, his skin color would change and he would rock back and forth in such a way that those sitting beside him would be disturbed by it. (Qāḍī ʿIyāḍ, al-Shifā p. 289).

Imam Suyūṭī said: “The lawfulness of standing and dancing during gatherings of dhikr and singing has been transmitted from many great imams, including Shaykh al-Islām ʿIzz al-Dīn b. ʿAbd al-Salām (d. 1262).” (Suyūṭī, al-Ḥāwī lil-fatāwī vol. 2 pp 222-223).

Sīdī Aḥmad al-Rifāʿī (d. 1182, may God sanctify his secret) said in his book, “The Authenticated Demonstration,” (al-Burhān al-muʾayyad) regarding the different forms of ecstasy:

You invoke God in this room, and in doing so you become ecstatic and sway. Jurists whose hearts are veiled say, “The dervishes were dancing,” while the knowers of God say, “The dervishes were invoking.” He amongst you whose ecstasy is false, whose intention is bad, whose dhikr is merely verbal and sullied with ulterior motives, is indeed a mere dancer as the jurists claim. As for the one whose ecstasy is sincere and his intention righteous, he conforms to God’s words: [Those] who listen to the Word, then follow what is most beautiful of it, it is they whom God has guided; it is they who are the possessors of intellect. (Q Zumar 39:18).

He is one of those who, when they listen to the Word, seek its meaning. This is what it means to answer the pre-eternal divine call, “Am I not your Lord?” They said, “Yea, we bear witness.” (Q Aʿrāf 7:172). At that moment, those who heard, heard beyond all boundaries, forms, and attributes. The exquisite savor of this call has become rooted in them through repetition.

When God created Adam and made his progeny manifest in the world, that preserved and hidden secret was manifested in them. Thus, when they hear a beautiful melody accompanied with good word, their aspirations fly to the origin where they heard that call. Such are the knowers of God, who were knowers even before the Creation, who love one another in Him, and visit one another for Him, who constantly invoke Him and are totally absorbed and intoxicated by Him.

Such a dervish is called an invoker (dhākir), for his spirit dances, his resolve remains sound, his intellect is perfected, and his page is cleared. He took the concealed content from the song, and the secret that was unfolded within him was brought out. For the secret of the song is present within the nature of any person with a spirit who can hear it. Each one hears in the way his nature allows him to, and understands the song in accordance with the limit of his aspiration.

Consider how when a child hears a lullaby, it becomes enraptured and falls asleep, or how when the camel hears the camel-driver’s chant, it forgets the weight of its burden and accelerates its steps. This is the intent of the Sufis when they sing and dance, and this gift is not the same as the unlawful type of dance, as some ignorant jurists have claimed. This gift is attained only by the one who masters his own thoughts, and whose heart is protected from Satan’s disquieting whispers. (Rifāʿī, al-Burhān al-muʾayyad pp 52-54).

After the Prophet ﷺ, the Companions were certainly the most likely to experience spiritual states during the remem- brance of God. It is said that when Sayyidunā ʿUmar—and you know well who ʿUmar was—heard the verses, truly thy Lord’s Punishment shall come to pass, none can avert it (Q Ṭūr 52:7-8), he fell into an illness which lasted twenty days.

Let us conclude this explanation of the ḥaḍra by quoting from Sīdī Aḥmad Ibn ʿAjība’s commentary on Ibn al-Bannā of Saragossa (d. 1321) al-Mabāḥith al-aṣliyya. I shall quote the passage in full, for he summarized the matter quite wonderfully, as he always does, may God by pleased with him.

The author [al-Sarqusṭī] said:

Many have delved into sacred music (samāʿ),

But these folk have therein a meadow.

The Iraqis say it is forbidden,

While the Hijazis permit it.

What he is saying, may God have mercy on him, is that a lot has been said about sacred music (samāʿ), and that some people consider it unlawful while others permit it. As for this group of people, the Sufis, who are in fact God’s people, samāʿ is for them a garden and an intoxicating drink coming from a source that they find in their hearts and innermost secrets. This is why when Imam Junayd was asked about samāʿ, he said: “Anything that unites the heart with God is allowed,” or words to that effect.

He then mentioned the disagreement that exists between scholars, in particular the Iraqis, meaning the Ḥanafīs, who declare it unlawful, and Hijazis, meaning the Mālikīs and Shāfiʿīs, who declare it lawful or reserve judgment. Abū Muṣʿab reported that Imam Mālik was asked about samāʿ and answered, “I have never heard anything about it, except that the men of knowledge in our region do not reject it, nor do they avoid it. Only a foolish ignorant, or an Iraqi ascetic with difficult temperament, can reject it.”

I [Ibn ʿAjība] say that no intelligent person could deny that samāʿ is lawful in principle, given the hadith about the girls who sang and played a drum in the presence of God’s Messenger ﷺ on the day of Eid.

Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī (d. 1021) related that ʿĀʾisha said: “God’s Messenger ﷺ came to my house while my servant girl was singing to me. Then ʿUmar came in, and she fled. God’s Messenger ﷺ began to laugh. ʿUmar asked him why, and he told him. ʿUmar said, ‘I will not leave until I have heard what God’s Messenger ﷺ heard.’ So he asked the servant to sing for him, and she did so.”

Al-Tujībī reported the same version of the hadith adding that al-Sulamī said, “When Dhū al-Nūn (d. 859) was asked about samāʿ, he answered, “It is a genuine inrush (wārid) that trans- ports the heart to the Real. He who listens to it with truth will attain realization, while he who listens to it with ego will become a heretic.”

Al-Sarī (d. 867) said, “Samāʿ produces rapture in the hearts of the lovers, fear in the hearts of the repenters, and melancholy in the hearts of the yearners.”

It has been said that samāʿ is comparable to rain that falls upon dry soil, revitalizing it. Likewise, pure souls bring forth their hidden secrets during samāʿ. Others say that samāʿ stirs the secrets, sorrows, hopes, and yearnings that the heart con- tains, which may lead a person to weep or become enraptured. Still others say that samāʿ contains a due for every part of the body, so that someone might weep, or cry out, or moan, or dance, or faint. It has also been said that the people of samāʿ are divided into three categories: the repentant, the sincere, and the upright.

Others have said that the people who gather together for samāʿ are divided into three categories: those who listen through their Lord, those who listen through their heart, and those who listen through their ego.

Some say that he who participates in samāʿ needs three characteristics: subtlety, tenderness, and a burning passion, as well as the extinction of his own nature and entrance into the esoteric realities. Samāʿ is only for the one whose selfish interests are annihilated while his rights remain, and whose human nature is extinguished.

He [Ibn al-Bannā] continues: the effect of samāʿ depends on the person’s inner purity and the strength of the inrush.

Some Shaykhs have said that samāʿ is allowed only for those whose heart is alive and whose lower self (nafs) is dead. As for he whose lower self is alive and whose heart is dead, it is not allowed for him.

It is said that a saint among the Abdāl [lit. the Substitutes] said, “I saw the Prophet ﷺ and asked Him, ‘’What do you say about the samāʿ done by our companions?’ He replied, ‘It is the purity that is only fulfilled by the greatest knowers of God.’”

Ibn Luyūn al-Tujībī had the final word on this in al-Ināla, where he said: “No one could condemn listening to poetry except one ignorant of the Sunna. Ṣāliḥ b. Aḥmad b. Ḥanbal related that he saw his father listening to the singing coming from his neighbor’s house.” He added, “Anas narrated, ‘We were with the Prophet ﷺ when Gabriel came and told Him, “O Messenger of God, the poor of your community will enter heaven five hundred years before the wealthy, which is half a day.” He rejoiced at this, and said, “Is there anybody here who can recite a poem to us?” A companion of Badr answered, “Yes, dear Mes- senger of God.” Then he recited:

The snake of passion bit my liver,

And I found for it no doctor or healer,

Excepted the Beloved, with whom I am enraptured;

With him lie my healing and my remedy.

“The Prophet ﷺ became ecstatic at this, as did his Compan- ions, until his cloak fell from his shoulders. When they finished, they all returned to their place, and then Muʿāwiya said, ‘What a fine game, O Messenger of God!’ He replied, ‘No indeed, Muʿāwiya! The one who does not move at the mention of the Beloved is not noble.’ Then he divided his cloak into four hun- dred pieces and gave it to those who were present.” Al-Maqdisī and al-Suhrawardī narrated this, and others had much to say about it.

I [Ibn ʿAjība] say that the final verdict on samāʿ is that a dis- tinction must be made: for the folk of esoteric realities (ahl al-ḥaqāʾiq), there is no doubt that samāʿ is lawful for them, or even recommended as we shall discuss presently. The justifica- tion for this is what we have just discussed. As for the folk who follow the outward Law only (ahl al-sharāʾiʿ), if there are no women and children present, it is lawful for the repentant, and disliked for others (The Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya edition of Ibn ʿAjība’s al-Futūḥāt al-ilāhi- yya is missing some words in the Arabic. For the full version, see Kat- tānī’s Mawāhib al-arb (vol. 2, Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya, 2016) p. 404). As for if women and children are present, it should be considered unlawful as a precautionary measure. And God knows best.

The author [Ibn al-Bannā] then alludes to this distinction:

The shaykhs are masters of its arts,

For they made it a pillar of the Path.

It is authorized for ascetics,
And recommended for the shaykhs;

But it is almost unlawful for common people,

According to the eminent masters.

I [Ibn ʿAjība] say: He is saying, may God have mercy on him, that the shaykhs find in samāʿ different arts, blessings, emo- tions, states, and inrushes, and this is why they have made it a pillar to which they may resort without relying on it, because it is only an allowance for the weakest, as we shall see, while the strongest have no need of it. As we saw earlier, when Imam Junayd was asked about samāʿ, he answered, “Anything that unites the servant with his Lord is allowed.”

The final word on the matter is the distinction that the author describes here, which is that samāʿ can be permitted (mubāḥ), recommended (mandūb), or unlawful (ḥarām).

Samāʿ is permitted for ascetics because their lower selves are dead to passions and futile pleasures. There is no reason to forbid samāʿ for them, nor to recommended it, because they have not yet reached the spiritual degrees of realization (taḥqīq) and experiential taste (dhawq).

Samāʿ is recommended for the shaykhs and the knowers of God, because it provokes in them ecstasy and inspiration, which extends to the physical realm and envelops the other attendees so that they receive a share of it. For when someone attains realization of a spiritual state, all the present people taste with him part of that state; and anything that leads to spiritual perfection is itself a perfection.

Samāʿ is forbidden for common people, because it generates passions in them, stirs them to commit sins, and awakens in them abject dispositions and base penchants. But if the attend- ees are not this kind of person, then samāʿ is allowed except in the presence of corrupt people, in which case samāʿ is totally forbidden in order to prevent what is unlawful. In reality, samāʿ is forbidden for common people only because singing is con- sidered a gateway to fornication, and because it creates hypoc- risy in the heart.

It has been said that samāʿ is melodious wine imbibed by the spirit through the cup of the ear. Each person shall reap what they sow in accordance with their intention. “Zamzam water is for that for which it is drunk,” and samāʿ is for that for which it is heard.

It has also been said that he who partakes in samāʿ with a mind for heresy is a heretic, and he who partakes in samāʿ with a mind for spiritual realization will attain it. In matters of love, each will receives what he intends. Someone used to say, “Sing whatever you please, and we shall hear whatever we please.” All success is from God. (Ibn ʿAjība, al-Futūḥāt al-ilāhiyya pp 183-186)

Sīdī Abū Madyan (d. 1198, may God sanctify his secret) said in a poem:

Tell the one who forbids ecstasy to its people,
If you have not tasted the drink of love, then let us be.

While the spirits stir with yearning for the encounter,

The bodies dance.

O you who know not the meaning,

Consider the bird imprisoned in its cage,

When it remembers its homeland, it longs to sing,

Freeing what was locked in its heart through its chirping,

And its soul trembles along with its body,

And it dances in its cage, yearning for the meeting;

No sane man could fail to be moved by its song.

So too it is with the spirits of the lovers:

Longing for the higher world causes them to stir with yearning.

Could we force the bird to remain still
in the midst of its yearning?

Could anyone witness this, and remain unmoved?