Dargah Sufi NIZAMUDDIN AULIA (R.a)

Dargah Sufi NIZAMUDDIN AULIA (R.a)

Friday, June 18, 2010

RAQS/ HADRAA/ SUFI DANCE/ JHUMNAA

Its been really long that i wrote any blog just because i went for UMRAH(pilgrimage to mekka and medina munawara) . After coming back as my daily routine reading books and articles, i came across a totally different thing which i never read nor thought will get so easily but i was sure to put it here. While being with many Pirs/ Sheikhs of different Sufi orders it was in my mind to know about raqs,hadraa,whirlings which are so unique and different from each other though they all convey only one messege that is of pure Devotion and Love for ALLAH almighty. Since i came back i was busy with life at Dargah sharif then people coming to meet me as well as because of Urs/ANNIVERSARY OF HINDAL WALI KHWAJA GHARIB NAWAZ r.a. I'm writing it today. Please read it to get the answers for those who dnt have proper knowledge and people who claim that raqs/ hadraa/ sufi dance is prohibited in islam?? It is not true find it yourself now.


Dancing/ hadraa/ raqs is divided into three categories:


1. The Forbidden.
2. The Permissible.
3. The Recommended.

1. The forbidden category is the dancing of the common with ladies and youths present. This
can lead to spoiling and uncontrolled lower natures, and satanic selves and so on. Its purpose is
to show off and to exhibit a state which is not real. This is also forbidden. This is why certain
people have said that dancing is forbidden.

2. The permissible category of dancing is the dancing done by the right-acting ones and the
fuqara without ecstasy or finding. They do it as a relaxation to the self and energy for their hearts,
fulfilling the conditions of time and place and the brothers. No women participate in it, nor
youths. This is permissible, and it does not call for prohibition, because the causes of forbidding
dancing are what was mentioned before. The latter case is free of these conditions. If this dancing
is compared to what the Samiris did when they worshipped the cow, it is seen that their dancing
was forbidden because theirs was spoiled. Their purpose was to glorify the calf, and to be happy
with it. This is kufr. If their dancing had been free of that it would not have been forbidden for
them.
It is confirmed that Ja’far ibn Abu Talib  radhiallaho taala danced in the presence of the Prophet , when he
said to him,
“You resemble me in my creation and my behaviour.”
This was mentioned by Shaykh Sanusi rehmatullah alaiy in his musrat al -faqir.

Ibn Layun at-Tujibi said,
“As for dancing in the mosque, it is in the sahih muslim collection from A`isha radhiallaho taala anhuma  who said,
‘An army came from Ethiopia beating drums on the day of the feast in the
mosque. The Prophet invited me and I put my palms on his shoulders and
watched them play.’”
Ibn ‘Aynia said that ‘zafaf’ was to dance. So it is confirmed that dancing is permissible. If it was
forbidden in its essence, it would not have been done in the presence of the Messenger of Allah
.
3. The category of dancing which is recommended is the dancing of the Sufis, the people of
taste and state, whether they are in ecstasy or seeking ecstasy, whether that is in the presence of
the dhikr, or in sama’. There is no doubt that the cure of the heart of forgetfulness and gathering
with Allah is sought by whatever means there are, as long as they are not forbidden with a
clear and definite declaration of them as forbidden. We have seen the speech of al-Junayd baghdadi rehmatullah alaiy when
he was asked about sama’.
Al-Fasi said in his sharh al-hissn from [Shaykh al-Islam] al-Suyuti that he [al-Suyuti] said:
“How can one condemn making dhikr while standing, or standing while making dhikr, when
Allah says, “. . . those who invoke Allah standing, sitting, and upon their sides” 4.
And A`isha radhiallaho taala anhuma said, ‘The Prophet used to invoke Allah at all of his times.’  And if dancing
is added to this standing, it may not be condemned, as it is of the joy of spiritual vision and
ecstasy, and the Hadith exists6 that Ja`far ibn Abi Talib radhiallaho taala danced in front of the Prophet
when the Prophet told him, ‘You resemble me in looks and in character,’ dancing from
the happiness he felt from being thus addressed, and the Prophet did not condemn him for
doing so, this being a basis for the legal acceptability of the Sufis dancing from the joys of
the ecstasies they experience.”
Among these people are great Imams, and one of them was the Shaykh of Islam, ‘Izzuddin
ibn `Abdul Salam,rehmatullah alaiy as is mentioned in the ihya 8. This is also confirmed by the hadit
reported from A`isha radhiallaho taala anhuma  , and the people from Ethiopia who were dancing. The Prophet ,
said to her, “Would you like to look at the dance of the Ethiopians?” Ibn Zakri mentioned it in
the commentary of the nasihaj.
It is reported from previous times, from both the east and the west that the Sufis used to
gather to remember Allah and that they used to dance. It is not reported that any of the
worthy scholars denied them. I have seen in Fez, in the Zawiyya of as-Siqilli, a group who
used to do dhikr and dance from the `asr on the day of jumu`a until the isha, with a lot of
scholars around. No one denied what they were doing. It has reached me that our Shaykh,
the Shaykh of the group Sidi at-Tawdi ibn Suda used to be present with them sometimes.
He did not deny anything to the fuqara, except someone who was a cold imitator or an
argumentative competitor.