Rabita, three Fanas, biat & Seven Planes

By Shaykh Ezra Ahmed Muhsin

(published in Vol I #3 Newsletter.....Halka al Hazrati, Qadiri Rifa'i Inayati Order of Grass Valley, Ca., talk E)
"Toward the one, the perfection of love harmony and beauty, the only being, united with all the illuminated souls who form the embodiment of the master, the spirit of guidance"...........................Allahu Samad !
Excuse me while I establish rabita. That is the inner spiritual connection you have with a master. It is a heart connection, it is what is referred to in Sufism, when during your meditation you are asked to take a moment to get into the consciousness of your teacher. The root of the word rabb with two "b's" is lord...or, rab with one "b" means to bind. In a hadith of the Probhet saws, he said:

"Trust in Allah, but tie your camel."

In the symbolic "language of the birds,"(the travelers) that means the camel on one level of interpretation represents the Sufi. You have trust in Allah, but you bind yourself, in order to establish the link through the chain of transmission of "all the illuminated souls who form the embodiment of the master." Or, you could look upon it on the completely animal level, trust in God, but bind your animal nature so that it doesn't manifest itself. The idea of "rabita" establishing this link is expressed in the arabic word tawajih, when a person is in a state of "rabita" they are sharing in the magnetism and spiritual baraka of the lineage. Understand that each one of these spiritual topics we are covering could be the subject of a ten day retreat.

What the Sufis do is delineate stages of annihilation. They call it fana, and the end result of fana is baqa, which is establishment, duration or resurrection. But the idea of fana is to become completely annihilated in God, one with God...."Whose feet are these walking ?"

There are three states of annihilation, Fana-fa-Shaykh the teacher, Fana-fa-Rasul the Prophet, and the final one Fana-fa-Allah,or God consciousness. Some Sufi Orders say there is a fourth fana, it is Fana-fa-Sultan/Awilya/Murshid, which is working with rabita upwards through the chain of illuminated souls in your order or lineage.

As we celebrate the Urs of Hazrat Inayat Khan, we began by looking at the invocation, and what we were talking about was how you can become united with all the illunimated souls, and we said, that is "rabita "taking the time to get into the consciousness of the masters. It is that establishment of rapport that is called spiritual attunement, a heart connection, it is even beyond that, it is a sharing of the spiritual power and baraka of the lineage.

We discussed the stages of fana of the Sufis, and I don't know of any mystical school, Buddhist, Hindu, whatever, where the link is not made to the chain of the teachers. This is true of all of them. That is the initial link that must be forged in any school of spiritual transmission. biat is more than just a situation where you say, "Well, I want to join your club.." There is a lot that must go into initiation. We say that Mohammed saws establishes the link between God and His children, who are striving to reach Him. And he also acts as a filter, because the total full connection between a person and God, when it is established, is indeed an annihilation !
Some people start on the level of the shaykh, and the next thing they know they could be catapulted to the highest level. Some people have to work for it for years, and others just get taken. "Well, lucky guy/gal, he/she was taken." Lucky heck ! Maybe they were totally unprepared for what they got. There is a preparation. When biat is given, the person you link with first is your teacher. He may be your teacher for the rest of your life. In the case of Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, he initiated so many murids he could not personally guide them all. So a Khalifat must be established. It means literally viceregency. You talk to the viceregent. I remember one man who said to the Khalifa he wanted to talk to the Murshid, and the reply was, "You are talking to him." You see, that inner link is real ! It says in the Korani Kerem:
"When My people come to you O'Mohammed, they are coming unto Me, and your

hand shall be on their hand, and My hand shall be on yours."

That is a holy hadith qudsi, which means, it was a saying of Allah which was reported by the Prophet Mohammed saws. The idea of silsila is one of the things that it is so important to know. So many people try to travel alone. You might do O.K., but you have to make that inner connection. Because when it is there, it is a conduit to what the Sufis call baraka. It is very real. Many times if you are a spiritual individual, and there is someone near who is an initiate and linked to it, things happen that don't happen if that link is missing. This is true of all the traditions. So, what is this link supposed to do ? Is it just to hook you up to Allah ? How do you get hooked up ?

There are stages on the path, there are seven distinct planes that the spiritual person travels through. Interestingly enough, they also correspond to the seven levels of the nafs. Seven degrees of ego that the person has to transcend in order to travel through these planes. Traveling through the planes and defeating of the ego is the goal.

Again we turn to Mohammed PBHU, because he is the most modern of the great religious messengers. What was he ? He was a shepherd, merchant, soldier, exile, hermit, husband, lover of Allah, prophet, king, statesman, and an orphan, he was also unable to read. Pir Taner said:

"If Mohammed saws can do it, you can do it."
When you become annihilated in the teaching, you become annihilated in what the teacher is annihilated in. The teacher is annihilated in his teacher (the lineage holder), and the one who began that particular lineage, going back to the Prophet Mohammed saws. When you become annihilated in the Prophet, you might be linked to Hazrat Ali, Moses, Jesus, John the Baptist, Maryam, or Abraham. Then they would be your guides on the inner planes.
Huston Smith who is a great professor of world religions writes about Islam and the Sufis. He is connected up with the Mevlevis. It is interesting that he is a Methodist, but since his exposure to the Sufis, he does the Muslim prayers five times a day, and participates in the Zikr

Louis Massignon was Pir Vilayat's teacher. He wrote many books on Islamic mysticism. He introduced al Hallaj to the western world. He was traveling in the east and saw a sign in Arabic which read in part:
" You must do your ablutions in your own blood."
He asked, "Who said that ?" The answer, "Al- Hallaj." Who is he ?" "Oh...he was a heretic !" He had to find out more about him. Once in his travels he got on a ship crossing the Red Sea. He studied Islamic mysticism, but he was a Christian. A terrible storm came up and smashed the ship, and he washed up on the beach in southern Arabia. The people found him and thought he was dead and they were making preparations to bury him. He woke up and he was laid out on a bier, being carried to a Muslim cemetery. He said. "Wait just a minute, first of all, I am not dead.......and secondly, I am not a Muslim !" The people replied, "We find that really hard to believe, because when you washed up on the beach, the last words you spoke were, 'La illaha illa llah!' We are sorry, the next time we'll take you to the proper cemetery." This story shows that you don't know what will happen when you are annihilated.
In the Qur'an, Mohammed saws, went on the Miraj (ascent). First he was transported to Jerusalem from Mecca. Then he began the ascent to the seventh heaven. When he got to the sixth heaven Gabriel said, "I'm sorry, you cannot take Boraq, and I cannot go with you." He had to go up by himself, to the seventh plane. Then he had to come back and make the descent.

Once you ataain the seventh heaven, the plane where unity exists, it is perfect and complete, whole. Everything is there, so nothing can go in, the only way to go in is to leave yourself outside. Then you can enter. We call it, "Going through the eye of the needle."

It is expected that we who are on the Sufi Path will make the Miraj (ascent) through the seven planes. This is how to do it. You must defeat your nafs. You go through the Plane of Nasut, which is the world of mankind, the animal level, it is even considered a hellish realm. But for all intents and purposes because we are all here, this is our world as we see it, a material plane. The next is the Alam al-Mithal, it means world of myth. It is a word the Greeks got from the Semetic tongue. A world of archetypes, it corresponds to the astral plane, a plane of dreams, genius, artistic invention, the psychic plane. Because it is a higher level than the material plane, some people think "Hey, far-out ! I have really arrived." But it is only one step up. The nest step is the Malakut, which is the angelic plane. Then the next is the Jabbarut, which is one of the ninety-nine names, the Compelling One...because it is the plane of power, force, splendor, light and spiritual dominion. The next level is Lahut, the sixth plane, of the Masters, Saints, and Prophets. The final plane is Hahut, the plane of Allah ( Glorious and Exalted is He). These planes correspond the the levels of the nafs. Ammara, Lawwama, Mulhama, Mutmaina, Radiyya, Mardiyya and finally Safiyya.

When initiation takes place you travel through these planes with the guidance of your teacher. This is the map, it is a guideline, everything is well outlined, much has been written about it. But "The map is not the territory." When you actually start on the ascent, you will find all kinds of things there that are not on the map. That is why you must have a spiritual guide. I recommend very highly to anyone on a serious spiritual quest, that they should be initiated and establish a link with a spititual guide.