Articles
The Inner Pilgrimage
Every heart is searching. Hearts are aching, to find comfort, to know the peace that passes all understanding. It is written in the Qur’an that “human beings were created anxious. It is the nature of the human experience that hearts would long relieve their anxiety.
The tariqa, the path, is the means to find what the heart truly desires. It is the form and the vehicle to travel quickly to what is sought. It has been called the “ship of safety.” It is a way to know our Lord. And it is the seekers duty to make this journey. It is the seekers obligation to make the pilgrimage.sufiradio.com
Now there are two types of pilgrimages. The physical, outer pilgrimage is to actually travel to Mecca. The seeker has to board a ship or plane and travel to the holy city, cut the hair, wear the garment that isn’t sewn and circumambulate the Kaaba. The physical hajj is essential for all Muslims if they have the means at least once in their life.
The inner pilgrimage is a journey through the heart. In inner Hajj isn’t a once in a life-time event. It is ongoing. It is a journey in which the traveler’s heart, mind, and soul are pulled back an forth. Just as in the outer Hajj where the seeker follows the footsteps of Hager and runs back and forth between the mountains of As-Safa and Ar-Marla, in the inner pilgrimage the traveler is pulled, prodded, and pushed to and fro between the mountains of Jamal and Jelal. Sometimes we are in the beauty, and then we find ourselves being ground through the difficulty.
And when we’re in the difficulty, and the severity of Allah has come crashing down like a torrent of overwhelming water, sweeping us to who knows where- it is easy to feel lost. We ask, “why me?” or “What is happening to me?”
But Allah, the Almighty asks that we not despair. Rather, we are called to cleave to Allah. We run to Him, with all of our troubles and pain. We are asked to remember that, “nothing hits us that could have missed us.” Meaning that if we believe in Allah that everything in his creation is working for our good. Life is between His hands. He sees the black ant, on the black rock, in the darkest of nights, and He gives it not what it wants, but what it needs.
So we must travel though seemingly darkness surrounds us. We must walk through the stations of the self, circumambulating the black cube. And we are called to run between the twin mountains of the heart ignoring the difficulty and not becoming too attached to the ease. Next, we must scale Mount Arafat and stone our soul’s shaytan, killing all that isn’t Allah. Finally, we return to make seven trips round the Kaaba and penetrate the secret.
We do all this until nothing exits, and no smallest glance falls on anything that isn’t Allah.
Such is the Pilgrimage of the heart!
Oh, gracious, merciful Allah, You are the Secret beyond all Secrets. Hold us. Protect us. Grant us Your Peace….salaams.
Habib Laman