Yuck Aga khani shia ismaili SHIRK Imams Nazzar (Glance) THIS IS SO WELL DONE ... The Merciful Glance A Didar Reflection by Khalil Andani During the Didar of the Imam of the Time which took place last weekend, many of us may have been fortunate enough to have seats close to the runners where the Imam walked in the Darbar Hall. Some may notice that as the Imam walks amongst his murids, he often turns his head and actually looks at some murids, making eye contact and moving his mouth by saying khanavadan and other duas which are unknown to us. There is actually a very powerful and profound significance to notion of the Imam glancing upon or making eye contact with his murids in the didar. The glance1 of the Imam which he grants to his murids is called nazar (in Arabic/Persian) and najar (in the Ginans). The word nazar can mean ‘gazing’,‘glancing’, ‘looking’, ‘seeing’ or ‘reflecting’. The word nazar appears in the famous hadith where the Prophet says: al-nazar ila wajhi ‘Ali ‘ibada_ “Gazing upon the face of ‘Ali is ibada.”_- Prophet Muhammad, (quoted in Reza Shah-Kazemi, Justice and Remembrance, pp. 62) If the murid’s glance or nazar upon the face of the Imam – the ‘Ali of the age – is equal to ibada (worship), then one can only imagine the benefit and blessings that the Imam’s glance or nazar upon the face of the murid can bring! Many of us were probably desiring or seeking the Imam to look at our face as he walked during the Didar. This is not really a selfish thought – but actually a form of prayer which is rooted in both the Holy Quran and the Holy Ginans. The Holy Quran states the following regarding the believer’s desire for the Prophet to look upon them: Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo la taqooloo raAAina waqooloo onzurna… “O ye who believe! Do not say [to the Prophet] heed us but say Look upon us (onzurna)…- Holy Quran 2:204 The word onzurna, used in the above verse, shares the same root as the Arabic word nazar (where the word ‘na’ in ‘onzurna’ means “us” or “we”). In other 1 I would like to express my gratitude to several individuals whose help and research were essential to writing this article: Khayal ‘Aly Dhanidina and the late Seth Abd al-Hakeem Carney for the Quranic references, and Karim Maherali for locating some of the relevant Ginanic references. words, the Holy Quran actually commands the faithful believers to pray for the nazar of the Holy Prophet. In a similar sense, the pirs in many Ginans beseech the Imam to cast his glance upon them. Pir Sadr al-Din makes the following plea to the Imam: Eji charan bhetado asa najar medavo pia, Let me touch Your Feet. O let our glances (najar) meet, O Beloved. - Pir Sadr al-Din, Tamku(n) sadhaare so din bahotaj huva re piya, (quoted in Shackle and Moir, Ismaili Hymns from South Asia , pp. 101) In another Ginan, Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din prays: ejee charann te aapnnaa bhettaaddjo sunno maaraa nar haree re ya ali nazar karo moraa shaam akheeyu(n) amee bharee re ya ali “O our Lord! Embrace us at your feet. O my mumins, listen for He is indeed the Master, the Lord Oh Ali. O our Lord! Look (nazar) at us for Your eyes are filled with the water of mercy, Oh Ali.” - Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din, Saahebe farmaan lakhee mokalyaa, Verse 4 It must then be asked – why is the Imam’s glance (nazar) so important and what are its benefits? The glance that comes from the Imam of the Time cannot be compared with the glance that an ordinary person gives to us – such as a friend, family member or colleague. The author John O’Kane, writes in his book, The Feats of the Knowers of God (p.708), that “The glance of a holy man has immense power to transform another person for the better…” Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi in his poetry refers to such a glance as the graceful glance of the Men of God (nazar-i inayat-i rijalu’llah). Mawlana Rumi once declared that one of his close disciples, Shamsuddin Mardini, became a saint (wali) without knowing it because he had received, during his adolescence, a blessed gaze (nazar-i mubarak) from of the saintly men of God (az mardan-i khuda). He had been asked for water by a dervish, he immediately gave the dervish a jug of water and some food, and this made the dervish so happy that he gave him an amazing glance (yak nazar ‘ajab) – a sweet glance (nazar-i shirin) which caused him to be full of ecstacy (zawk-nak). (See John O’Kane, The Feats of the Knowers of God, pp. 266-67) If the glance (nazar) of a Man of God or a Saint (wali) has the power to transform a person for the better and even turn him into a Saint as well, then surely the glance of the Imam, the Saint of Saints (wali al-awliya) and the Foremost (alsabiq) of the Men of God (rijalu’llah) could be a thousand times more powerful. In this regard, the great Islamic philosopher and scientist Nasir al-Din Tusi wrote the following: “The devotees, devoid of all scruples or doubt, but with total confidence and sincere trust, must believe that a single merciful (rahmat) glance (nazar) or sign of acceptance given by the Imam to the supplication and imploration of the creatures from first to last can remit their sins and pardon their faults, transmuting their iniquities into deeds of merit.” - Nasir al-Din Tusi, (The Paradise of Submission, tr. S.J. Badakchani, p. 94) The glance (nazar) which the Imam grants to the murid is an act of mercy, grace and compassion. This glance has the power to forgive all of our sins, polish our souls and transform our vices into virtues and our bad deeds into good deeds. Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din speaks to this same reality in his Ginan: ejee krupaa kareene dukh dareeddhr ttaallo saamee maaraa mahaav mukand muraaree ya shaah tuj trutthe nav na(n)daj paamu shaah jo hove najar tamaaree ”O Lord! Have mercy and remove all the sorrows and (spiritual) poverty. O my Lord! You are the greatest remover of evil, O Lord! If it is Your pleasure, then I will attain the nine heavenly virtues If you set Your merciful sight (najar) upon us.” - Pir Hasan Kabir al-Din, (Aash tamaari sri ho, Verse 7) This explains why the Holy Quran and the Holy Ginans contain numerous prayers for the nazar of the Imam. In fact, the entire Jamat made this prayer in the special intezari tasbihs which were recited in all Jamatkhanas after the Didar announcement. For those of us who were fortunate to have the Imam give us his merciful glance (nazar) during the Didar, it is a golden opportunity to transform and reform our lives. That very image of the Imam glancing at us is something that should be forever preserved in our memories – such that it can be used when we seek the Imam in remembrance (dhikr) and also serve as a means by which we can resist from committing sins in our lives. If we do fail to do this, then the glance of the Imam – which he mercifully granted us – will go to waste and will simply have been forgotten. One should not believe that the glance of the Imam is limited to a physical glance. Most of us were not fortunate to have the Imam’s physical or zahiri glance but we should be assured that in the reality of the batin (esoteric), the Imam glances and looks each and every one of his murids all the time. The Imam is able to do this by spiritual means and the early Shia texts describe the power of the Imam to watch everything that happens in this world by virtue of a special “Column of Light”. “For him the Imam is established a Column made of Light, stretching between the heavens and the earth, and by which he sees the actions (‘amal) of mankind and knows their intentions (niyyatihim)…For him is raised a Column of Light in which he sees all that is between the east and west.” - Imam Jafar as-Sadiq, (quoted in Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide in Early Shiism, pp. 184) Mawlana Hazar Imam states most clearly in his farman made in 1964 in Pakistan that he actually looks at the face of each and every murid when he comes to give us his Didar: My beloved spiritual children,When I leave this evening, I would like that you should remember two things. One that I will take with me in my heart the remembrance of each and every one of you, the face of each and every one of you. Secondly, that my love for my Jamat is a lot stronger than yours can ever be for me and I would like you to remember this, Khanavadan, Khanavadan. - Mawlana Hazar Imam, (Karachi, December 25, 1964) Even if we were not fortunate enough to have the Imam’s physical glance, rest assured we are always having his spiritual glance. And this means that in every moment there can be that opportunity for spiritual transformation that the nazar of the Imam brings the soul. This is why the Ginans have compared the Imam to the Philosopher’s Stone. Just as this Stone can turn copper into gold, the Imam can transform his murids from sinners into saints: Satgur paaras munivar traamba ne Bhete to sovan hoy Ek ji o ji, jirebhai re The True Guide is like the philosophers stone and the followers are like copper. When the copper comes in contact with the philosophers stone, it becomes gold. He is the only Glorious, O brother. - Pir Sadr al-Din, (Sab ghat Sami maaro bharpur betha aaya) _ Let us conclude this reflection with the farman that Mawlana Hazar Imam made in his Golden Jubilee Darbar at San Antonio : My beloved spiritual children, Again, to each and every one of you individually, and your families, and your Jamats, all the way to the end of the hall, I see you there, I give my most affectionate and my best loving blessings. Khanavadan, Khanavadan, Khanavadan. - Mawlana Hazar Imam, ( San Antonio , April 13, 2008) With Ya ‘Ali Madad, Khalil Andani, November 2008
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 03:18:32 +0000
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