We had time with As-Sayed Nurjan and Ali Al-Sayyid from Naqshbandi USA for a historic weekend. The webmaster of www.nurmuhammad.com was here explaining Sufi meditation techniques, and everyone here certainly learnt a lot.
As-Sayed's Nurjan's presentation especially caught me off guard. I've always known him - in fact all of us here - as the quiet man who followed Shaykh Hisham in his tours around the region for years. His speech and confidence during the whole sessions impressed me-he definitely wasn't talking from himself.
I think he's made this process of Sufi meditation one that is simple and straight-forward. He cleared misconceptions about Sufi meditation vis-a-vis other forms of such practice. Of course when you go to his string of sites the whole thing look confusing. But that also explains that such things as these cannot be fully learnt and understood by simply reading them off-hand; we need someone to show us and to explain it to us. Nurjan did just that.
From the breathing techniques, to even the seating positions, the secrets and wisdoms of our body, mind, spirit, and all of the cosmos became much clearer for most people with his explanations. I cannot possibly elaborate everything that he has spoken: you have to visit the website or read his book "The Healing Power of Sufi Meditation", which should be available at Wardah Books.
What I can say though is the dhikr. For three nights the Naqshbandis here were given a rousing dhikr that knocked the roofs off! Ali Al-Sayyid's angelic voice humming away the qasaid during the dhikr brought everyone together. Ahmad Krambo's whirling was slow but steady and focused. And we had Fedly, Yasin, and Sharfudin doing the whirling too! Well, they collapsed after that, except for (surprisingly!) Yasin! Overall it was powerful, physical, and quite "violent".
To top it off, we had our first Hadrah on Sunday evening. You could say it just got out of hand. I was standing and clapping my way thru the dhikr when I looked at some brothers (who actually hinted at me to whirl: I can whirl but chose not to do it) that I moved forward (and they were thinking I was going to whirl), grabbed a couple of guys and started the standing Hadrah. In a matter of seconds everyone was standing up, holding hands and making the same movements! It was unbelievable! I released myself, pulled everyone up (including Shaykh Zakaria and Dr. Tahir) and led them. Ali Al-Sayyid and Sayed Nurjan joined in with their qasidah and the night ended spectacularly. No one believed that they've made the Hadrah; an experience they will want to repeat. We even had one brother who literally dived to the floor during the hadrah, b'cos he said he saw beautiful flowers and a puddle of water in front of him. I believe he saw Jannah.
They're going to Indonesia next. So hope to catch up with them when they return here for the transit to the States. Masha Allah, it was a great experience for everyone-we loved it. Thank you Naqshbandi-Haqqani Singapore. Thank you Mawlana Shaykh Nazim!
As-Sayed's Nurjan's presentation especially caught me off guard. I've always known him - in fact all of us here - as the quiet man who followed Shaykh Hisham in his tours around the region for years. His speech and confidence during the whole sessions impressed me-he definitely wasn't talking from himself.
I think he's made this process of Sufi meditation one that is simple and straight-forward. He cleared misconceptions about Sufi meditation vis-a-vis other forms of such practice. Of course when you go to his string of sites the whole thing look confusing. But that also explains that such things as these cannot be fully learnt and understood by simply reading them off-hand; we need someone to show us and to explain it to us. Nurjan did just that.
From the breathing techniques, to even the seating positions, the secrets and wisdoms of our body, mind, spirit, and all of the cosmos became much clearer for most people with his explanations. I cannot possibly elaborate everything that he has spoken: you have to visit the website or read his book "The Healing Power of Sufi Meditation", which should be available at Wardah Books.
What I can say though is the dhikr. For three nights the Naqshbandis here were given a rousing dhikr that knocked the roofs off! Ali Al-Sayyid's angelic voice humming away the qasaid during the dhikr brought everyone together. Ahmad Krambo's whirling was slow but steady and focused. And we had Fedly, Yasin, and Sharfudin doing the whirling too! Well, they collapsed after that, except for (surprisingly!) Yasin! Overall it was powerful, physical, and quite "violent".
To top it off, we had our first Hadrah on Sunday evening. You could say it just got out of hand. I was standing and clapping my way thru the dhikr when I looked at some brothers (who actually hinted at me to whirl: I can whirl but chose not to do it) that I moved forward (and they were thinking I was going to whirl), grabbed a couple of guys and started the standing Hadrah. In a matter of seconds everyone was standing up, holding hands and making the same movements! It was unbelievable! I released myself, pulled everyone up (including Shaykh Zakaria and Dr. Tahir) and led them. Ali Al-Sayyid and Sayed Nurjan joined in with their qasidah and the night ended spectacularly. No one believed that they've made the Hadrah; an experience they will want to repeat. We even had one brother who literally dived to the floor during the hadrah, b'cos he said he saw beautiful flowers and a puddle of water in front of him. I believe he saw Jannah.
They're going to Indonesia next. So hope to catch up with them when they return here for the transit to the States. Masha Allah, it was a great experience for everyone-we loved it. Thank you Naqshbandi-Haqqani Singapore. Thank you Mawlana Shaykh Nazim!
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