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Ringtone: Dome Dome

Jopore Mon lailaha

illallah (MP3)

MAIZBHANDARI SONG

Dome Dome Jopore Mon

(Wave format)

Practice-breathing

in and out-"La ilaha

illallah".

Sufi Journal Alokdhara

January 2008 Web Edition

Maizbhandari Academy

A Forum of Islam and Sufi Studies

MAIZBHANDARI SONGS

              out-"La ilaha illallah".

              Over Maizbhandar

              Kashi

MAIZBHANDARI MOROMI GOSHTI

Foreword

Music is the part and parcel of Maizbhandari Tarika. A quite new style of music evolved centering round Hazrat Gausul Azam Shah Sufi Maolana Syed Ahmed Ullah Maizbhandari (Ka:), the preacher of this Tarika. This style of music was found in the beginning of the 20th century. It created a new trend in the realm of Bengali music. The themes of these songs were praising the great creator, the secrecy of creation, preaching Maizbhandari Tarika loving the respective Murshid etc. “Maizbhandari music not only enchants our soul with heavenly melody but also purifies our soul with sanctity”.  ..............

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Maizbhandari School of Thought: "Tarika-e-Maizbhandari"

Maizbhandari School of Thought is based on the teachings of Quran and Sunnah, together with a clear accent on human development. This School recognises the different components of Allah’s creation and emphasises the maintenance of a harmonious relationship among all of them. In particular, it reminds the human beings with regard to their responsibilities to the society. In essence, the basic thrust of the Maizbhandari School of Thought is to motivate people to build themselves as complete human beings. The most important and significant feature of Maizbhandari School of Thought is its emphasis on humanism. The narrow barrier of religion, cast and status is washed away by the true evaluation of men, the best of all creations, in its right perspective. This is because, this School believes that religion is for men and after all, man is the representative of Allah, In this way, primarily, the Maizbhandari School of Thought highlights the importance of universal aspect of humanism. Furthermore, noncommunalism, nonracialism, and liberalism are also the basic components of this School. It can be traced through many incidents that religious grouping is never considered as barrier in Maizbhandar Sharif. People from all religions go to Maizbhandar Sharif and seek divine blessings. There are instances, where people from other religions wanted to get converted into Islam and expressed their desire to Hazrat Kebla Kaba; but he did not agree to such conversion, and instead advised them to lead an honest life by staying in their own religion. With such move, Hazrat Kebla Kaba indeed recognised more importantly the aspect of humanity rather than any religious division. In fact, it is no wonder that Ramesh Shil (though a Hindu by religion) spent whole of his life at the service of this School. A propounder of folklore, Ramesh Shil had composed perhaps the largest number of Maizbhandari songs. In order to motivate people in the path of Allah, Maizbhandari School of Thought has attached precise importance to the needs of the day. The bridge between the man and Allah can only be consolidated, if man can be motivated to stay in His path. Along with the religious rituals, like prayer, fasting, performing Haj etc, Maizbhandari Philosophy has incorporated religious songs in performing Zikir. Through these songs (popularly known as Maizbhandari Songs), millions of people devote themselves in remembrance of Allah and purify their own mental state. In Maizbhandari songs, as one can notice the importance of devotion towards Allah and love to His creations have been highlighted, which again reminds us about our responsibility to mankind. Manzurul Mannan in one of his research-based article commented, " Maizbhandari spiritualism is one of the latest additions to the Sufi movements of South Asia. This spiritualism has grown to its present spiritual crescendo by synthesizing culture and religion at the end of 19th and beginning of 20th century. This has further contributed a new flavour to the existing syncretistic tradition of this part of the world". Another important aspect of Maizbhandari Philosophy is the "unconditional surrender" to the will of Allah. Studying and observing the life pattern of Hazrat Kebla Kaba, Baba Bhandari, Hazrat Delwar Hossain, Shahanshah, and other Maizbhandari scholars; one can derive that they had complete dependence on Allah. Indeed, there are many occasions, where people were being reminded by Shahanshah to utterly surrender to Allah and thinking the best of Him. One day, when Shahanshah, together with one of his disciples, passing a flooded road in the dark evening; the disciple wanted to lit a match to get some light. Shahanshah got agitated and told his disciple "Why are you worried about light? Is Allah not here? Don’t worry. Depend on Allah". In the Holy Quran, it is mentioned: "Your Lord creates whatever He wills and chooses, and they do not have a choice. Glory be to Allah above what they associate with Him" (28:68).

Tarika-e-Maizbhandari (or Qadiri Malamiah Ahmedia) is a silsila (path or way).  Hazrat Ahmedullah (1826-1906) had established the Qadiri Malamiah Ahmedia silsila.  Since the departure of Hazrat Ahmedullah in 1906, Tarika-e-Maizbhandari has continuously been spreading among its millions of devotees, which is also frequently interpreted as “open tarika” (spiritual method or path).

The open tarika, in principle, reflects a composite nature of spiritualism, which combines three spiritual streams.  The first stream is Qadiri tariqa which uses zikr to purify soul.  The second stream is Chistia tariqa, which use sama (song) as a form of prayer.  The third is Khidhir tariqa, named after Prophet Khidhir (or Khizir), which focuses on the secret and mysterious law of nature.  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 tariqa allows one to understand the keramat (miracles) and mystery of nature. 

The Qadiri tariqa has zikr 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 have pattern.  To purify the nafs, there are seven layers.

   Ø    For nafs-i-Ammara, the zikr is “Lailaha ilallah” [zikr/utterance for 500,000]

Ø    For nafs-i-Lawwama, the zikr is “Allah-Hu”. [zikr/utterance for 78,000]

Ø    For Nafs-i-mulhimah, the zikr is “Hu” [zikr/utterance for 44,000]

Ø    For Nafs-i-mutma’inna, the zikr is  “ya High-yu” [zikr/utterance for 20.000]

Ø    For Nafs-i-Rajia, the zikr is “Wa-he-du” [zikr/utterance for 30,000]

Ø    For Nafs-i-Morjia [instructed by Pir]

Ø    For Nafs-i-Kamela

The foundation of the Maizbhandari School of Thought, established by Hazrat Kebla Kaba is based on the following golden seven-paths:

a. "Fana anil Khalak: To absorb in self-spiritual meditation, arouse selfconsciousness, 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.

b. "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.

c. "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.

d. "Mout-e- Abiyaz" (White death): Practising self-control, continence and modesty, observing starvation, less eating and less sleeping.

e. "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.

f. "Mout-e-Ahmar" (Red death): To control greed, covetousness, sex-impulse and extinct sexual lust, and regulate oneself to internal and external discipline.

g. "Mourt-e-Akhjar" (Green death): To observe absolute austerity, show gratitude and thankfulness, avoid extravagance and lead a simple pellucid life free from foppishness.

If these seven steps are being achieved, one can become very dear 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 Maizbhandari School of Thought is on human development and self-attainment. It should be noted that Maizbhandar Sharif supports a series of social institutions, including educational institutions, and free medical clinic for the cause of humanity.