Falah · Naqshbandi Mujaddidi · Daily Practice
Daily Practice
What a seeker does each day, what each practice is for, and how to do it.
Contents
- Wuqoof e Qalbi
- Muraqabah
- The three tasbeehaat
- Shajrah
- Raabita in the book
- Aadaab in the book
01Wuqoof e Qalbi
To keep watch over your own heart. Not the organ, but the spiritual heart, where feeling and thought gather. Holding its attention on Allah, and keeping it there through an ordinary day, is what wuqoof e qalbi means.
How it is done
You live in the awareness that Allah is watching, and that nothing you do is outside His knowledge. So you keep the heart turned toward Him, not once in the morning, but through the hours.
Why it is asked of you
A day fills the heart with things that do not belong there. Idle thought, worry, whatever the hours throw up. Practised steadily, wuqoof e qalbi clears that away and leaves the heart free for the remembrance of Allah.
02Muraqabah
The word comes from Raqib, the Watchful One, which is among the names of Allah. He watches over you always. Muraqabah is that you, in turn, keep watch over your own heart.
How it is done
- Fix a time in the day when nobody will disturb you. Turn the phone off. This is why it is asked for.
- Let your stomach be empty. An hour or two since you last ate is better.
- Set aside 25 to 30 minutes to begin with. Over a few weeks, build it up to 45 minutes.
- Make wudu. Sit facing the qibla, cross-legged or as the Sunnah has it.
- Close your eyes and your mouth, and rest your tongue against the roof of your mouth so it does not move.
- Empty the heart of every other thought. With full attention and adab, turn your thoughts toward the heart, and the heart toward Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala.
- Hold in mind that Allah is able over all things, perfect in every attribute, and free of any flaw or want.
- With those thoughts, and your eyes closed, picture the light of Allah reaching the blessed heart of the Prophet, peace be upon him, and through the hearts of the Naqshbandi Mashaikh into your own heart. Your heart being cleared by that light of every darkness and every stain. Your heart saying Allah, Allah, Allah. And you, listening to it.
That last picture, the light arriving in the heart, is only for the first few seconds. After it, stay with the heart and let it do the remembering.
Why it is asked of you
In tasawwuf, and in the Naqshbandi way above all, muraqabah is not an optional extra. It is where the seeker rises through the stations, and where, walking that road, he comes near to Allah.
03The three tasbeehaat
Read each of these one hundred times, twice a day. Once between Fajr and Maghrib, and once between Maghrib and Fajr.
Keep one fixed time for all three together if you can. If the day does not allow it, complete them whenever you are able.
Istighfar
100 times
اَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ تعالىٰ رَبِّىْ مِنْ كُلِّ ذَنْبٍ وَّاَتُوبُ اِلَيْهِ
Durood Shareef
100 times
اَللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلىٰ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَّعَلىٰ آلِ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَّبَارِكْ وَسَلِّمْ
The third kalima
100 times
سُبْحَانَ اللهِ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ وَلَا اِلٰهَ اِلَّا اللهُ وَاللهُ اَكْبَرُ
Once, after the third kalima is completed
once, at the end
لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ اِلَّا بِاللّٰهِ الْعَلِىِّ الْعَظِيْمِ
Note: the five daily prayers and the recitation of the Qur’an are part of a seeker’s day, not something added on top of it. Establishing the Sunnah in your life matters just as much. These are the ground everything else stands on.
These practices are taken from Rahnumaye Salik by Hazrat Shaykh Muhammad Humayun Hanif Naqshbandi Mujaddidi. The full book also carries the shajrah, raabita, the etiquettes with the Shaykh, sahib e nisbat, the diagram for muraqabah, and the seven lessons of the Naqshbandi order.
One request: begin these practices and the lessons under the guidance and permission of your own Shaykh. This page is here as a reminder, not as a substitute for him.
Silsila Aaliya Naqshbandiyya Mujaddidiyya Ghafooriyya · falah.org