Introduction: On the Explanation of Bay'ah
مقدمہ در بیان بیعت
Method of Bay'ah (طریقہ بیعت)
The Shaykh must first examine the sincerity and correct intention of the prospective mureed (disciple). He should also perform the Istikhara prayer on the mureed's behalf. The simple method of Istikhara is as follows: recite Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barik 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala ali Muhammad (eleven times) with the Bismillah (ten times), holding the intended matter in mind while repeating the aforementioned salutations, until the heart settles into certainty. If a pleasant fragrance or a sense of ease comes, this indicates a favourable Istikhara — though it is not necessary that something appear in a dream, for the hadith states: 'Seek a verdict from your heart.'
Once the Istikhara is positive, the mureed is received into the brotherhood of the silsilah. The method of bay'ah is as follows:
First, instruct the mureed to perform two rak'at of voluntary prayer (nafl) and dedicate its reward to the noble Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace).
After the prayer, he should recite the Istikhara supplication as narrated in Sahih al-Bukhari from Jabir ibn 'Abd Allah (may Allah be pleased with him):
اَللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْتَخِيرُكَ بِعِلْمِكَ وَأَسْتَقْدِرُكَ بِقُدْرَتِكَ وَأَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ فَضْلِكَ الْعَظِيمِ، فَإِنَّكَ تَقْدِرُ وَلَا أَقْدِرُ، وَتَعْلَمُ وَلَا أَعْلَمُ، وَأَنْتَ عَلَّامُ الْغُيُوبِ. اَللَّهُمَّ إِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا الْأَمْرَ خَيْرٌ لِي فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي فَاقْدُرْهُ لِي وَيَسِّرْهُ لِي ثُمَّ بَارِكْ لِي فِيهِ، وَإِنْ كُنْتَ تَعْلَمُ أَنَّ هَذَا الْأَمْرَ شَرٌّ لِي فِي دِينِي وَمَعَاشِي وَعَاقِبَةِ أَمْرِي فَاصْرِفْهُ عَنِّي وَاصْرِفْنِي عَنْهُ وَاقْدُرْ لِي الْخَيْرَ حَيْثُ كَانَ ثُمَّ أَرْضِنِي بِهِ
O Allah, I seek Your guidance through Your knowledge, and I seek Your ability through Your power, and I ask of You from Your immense bounty. For indeed You have power and I have none, and You know and I know not, and You are the Knower of all unseen things. O Allah, if You know that this matter is good for me in my religion, my livelihood, and the outcome of my affairs — then ordain it for me, facilitate it for me, and bless me in it. And if You know that this matter is harmful for me in my religion, my livelihood, and the outcome of my affairs — then turn it away from me and turn me away from it, and ordain for me what is good wherever it may be, and then make me content with it.
Then the following Quranic verses pertaining to bay'ah and covenant are recited:
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُبَايِعُونَكَ إِنَّمَا يُبَايِعُونَ اللَّهَ يَدُ اللَّهِ فَوْقَ أَيْدِيهِمْ
(1) 'Indeed, those who pledge allegiance to you are pledging allegiance to none but Allah. The Hand of Allah is above their hands.' (Surah al-Fath 48:10)
هُوَ الَّذِي يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةَ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ
(2) 'He it is Who accepts repentance from His servants.' (Surah al-Shura 42:25)
وَمَن يَعْتَصِم بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ هُدِيَ إِلَىٰ صِرَاطٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ
(3) 'And whoever holds fast to Allah has indeed been guided to a straight path.' (Surah Al 'Imran 3:101)
لَّقَدْ رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذْ يُبَايِعُونَكَ تَحْتَ الشَّجَرَةِ
(4) 'Allah was certainly pleased with the believers when they pledged allegiance to you under the tree.' (Surah al-Fath 48:18)
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا تُوبُوا إِلَى اللَّهِ تَوْبَةً نَّصُوحًا
(5) 'O you who believe, turn to Allah with sincere repentance.' (Surah al-Tahrim 66:8)
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَابْتَغُوا إِلَيْهِ الْوَسِيلَةَ وَجَاهِدُوا فِي سَبِيلِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ
(6) 'O you who believe, fear Allah and seek a means of approach to Him, and strive in His path, that perhaps you may succeed.' (Surah al-Ma'idah 5:35)
After the recitation of these verses, the mureed is asked three times whether he accepts the bay'ah. Upon his assent, the bay'ah is completed and he is received into the brotherhood of the Qadiri silsilah.
Investigation of 'The Hand of Allah' (ید اللہ کی تحقیق)
The hadith narrated in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī from Abū Hurayra (may Allah be pleased with him): the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, ‘By the One in Whose hand is my soul, none of you truly believes until I am more beloved to him than his father and his son.’ The phrase 'hand' (yad) here refers to the 'grip of divine power' (qabda-e-qudrat). The first interpretation is that it denotes sovereignty and rule. The second — which is the position of Imam Abu Hanifa — is that it refers to the grasping of power. The hand of the believer placed in the hand of the murshid in the bay'ah corresponds, by way of sacred analogy, to the Hand of Allah Most High above the hands of the believers.
The Station of the Shaykh (شیخ کا مقام)
After the bay'ah has been taken, it becomes obligatory upon the mureed to submit all his movements and moments of stillness to the Shaykh, just as the sacred text states: 'The Shaykh among his people is as the Prophet among his community.' The Shaykh is both the exoteric and the esoteric father of the mureed — he is the father of his bodily life and the father of his spiritual life. Before annihilating oneself in the Shaykh, one cannot enter the divine kingdom. The mureed must follow the Shaykh's counsel in all matters, as Sayyidunā ʿAlī (may Allah ennoble his face) has said: 'Whoever is born twice — once from the earth and once from the heaven — he who has no guide cannot enter the divine realm.'
A couplet from the Mathnawi of Jalal al-Din Rumi (may Allah have mercy upon him):
کارپاکاں را قیاس از خود مگیر گرچه ماند در نوشتن شیر و شیر
'Do not judge the affairs of the pure ones by your own measure / for though the words may look alike in writing, one means lion and one means milk.' (Persian couplet from Rumi's Mathnawi)
The Prophets Are Infallible (انبیاء معصوم ہیں)
All the Prophets of Allah (peace be upon them all) were infallible ('isma), because they were bearers and conveyors of divine revelation. This is the very meaning of prophethood (nubuwwa) and messengership (risala). The scholars of Islamic theology ('ilm al-kalam) define 'isma as the protection of the Prophet from major sins (kaba'ir) and minor sins (sagha'ir), both before and after the commencement of prophethood. This protection is a precondition of the prophetic mission, for without it the transmission of the divine message could not be trusted.
وَكُلُّهُمْ كَانُوا مُخْبِرِينَ وَمُبَلِّغِينَ عَنِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى لِأَنَّ هَذَا مَعْنَى النُّبُوَّةِ وَالرِّسَالَةِ
'All of them were reporters and conveyers from Allah Most High, for this is the meaning of prophethood and messengership.'
It is established by scholarly consensus (ijma') that the Prophets are protected from all major and minor sins alike, for they are the trustees of divine guidance to creation.
The Awliya Are Protected (اولیاء محفوظ ہیں)
The awliya (saints) of Allah are protected (mahfuz) — their station is the interior realm (batin). They do not persist in sins. Allah Most High has said:
وَسَارِعُوا إِلَىٰ مَغْفِرَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ
'And hasten toward forgiveness from your Lord.' (Surah Al 'Imran 3:133)
The distinction between the Prophets and the awliya in this matter is that the Prophets are infallible by the very gift of prophethood — they do not sin at all. The awliya, by contrast, are protected through their constancy in worship, their turning in repentance, and the divine assistance that encompasses them — so that even if they slip, they do not persist in disobedience but return at once to Allah in repentance and rectification.
The Necessity of Single-minded Devotion for the Mureed (مریدکویکسوہوناضروری ہے)
It is necessary for the mureed to give his undivided attention and complete allegiance to his Shaykh. He must not allow his heart to be distracted by attachment to the world, to wealth, to status, or to anything other than Allah and the guidance of the Shaykh. The mureed who is divided in his loyalties will not progress on the path — for the path of suluk demands total sincerity (ikhlas) and complete surrender (tawakkul).
The Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) has said (as narrated from 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar): 'Two masters in one heart are like two swords in one scabbard — they do not both fit.' Thus, the mureed must be wholly devoted to the guidance of his Shaykh, just as a sick man is wholly in the hands of his physician.
Types of Bay'ah (بیعت کے اقسام)
Bay'ah is of several types: (1) Bay'ah of Islam — the pledge made when entering the fold of Islam; (2) Bay'ah of Jihad — the pledge to strive in the path of Allah; (3) Bay'ah of Suluk — the pledge of spiritual initiation and wayfaring; (4) Bay'ah of Tawbah — the pledge of repentance. The bay'ah of the Sufis belongs to the third category, and it is this bay'ah that is discussed here.
Bay'ah of the Sufis (صوفیہ کی بیعت)
The bay'ah of the Sufis is the covenant of spiritual initiation on the path of suluk. Through this bay'ah, the mureed enters the silsilah (chain of transmission) that links him — through his Shaykh and the Shaykh's Shaykh, link by link — all the way back to the noble Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). This chain is the living artery of spiritual blessing (baraka) and guidance. Its authenticity and continuity are essential conditions for the validity of the bay'ah.
Five Conditions of the Murshid (مرشد کے شرائط خمسہ)
The conditions that must be met by the one who takes the bay'ah as a murshid (spiritual guide) are five:
1. He must be Muslim, sane, and adult. 2. He must possess full knowledge of the essential religious sciences ('ulum-e-shar'iyya). 3. He must himself have taken the bay'ah from a qualified Shaykh in an unbroken chain (silsilah muttasila) going back to the Prophet. 4. He must have completed his own spiritual wayfaring under the guidance of his Shaykh and received permission (ijaza) to initiate others. 5. He must be sound of character, free of manifest moral transgressions, and known for righteousness and sincerity.
Conditions for the Mureed (شرائط مرید)
The conditions required of the mureed (disciple) before taking bay'ah are:
1. Islam: The mureed must be a Muslim. 2. Sound belief: He must hold correct Islamic beliefs. 3. Observance of the Shari'ah: He must be observant of the obligatory duties and the avoidance of the forbidden. 4. Sincerity of intention: He must intend the bay'ah purely for the sake of Allah and the betterment of his soul — not for worldly gain, fame, or social status. 5. Readiness to obey: He must be prepared to follow the guidance of the Shaykh wholeheartedly.
Method of Bay'ah for Women (عورتوں کی بیعت کا طریقہ)
The method of bay'ah for women is the same as for men in terms of spiritual intention, the recitation of Quranic verses, and the conditions of sincerity and readiness — except that the physical handshake between the Shaykh and the female mureed is not permissible according to the Shari'ah. In its place, the bay'ah is conducted through a cloth or veil (a barrier between the hands), or the Shaykh takes the bay'ah verbally, instructing the mureedah to repeat the words of the covenant. Some Shuyukh have the woman's close male relative (mahram) act as an intermediary. The spiritual blessing (baraka) and validity of the bay'ah are in no way diminished by this accommodation.