The 15th Night of the sacred month of Shabaan, (Lailatu nisfi sha’abaan), on the 8th month of the Islamic calendar, is a blessed one for the believers. It is one that reminds us that repentance is possible if done in good faith, with utmost sincerity and with honest supplications not to repeat the same blunder over again.
The Almighty is divine and forgiving. Our (good) actions on this night meet with undisputable grace. It is a moment to ponder upon the mysteries of life and death, and seek refuge from the evils around us. It is a night where no amount of prayer or supplication is ever enough towards seeking atonement for our sins.
But the philosophy behind the celebration of this night is not well understood by many. It demands a whole range of heightened knowledge and understanding to realize that as humans we are but a minute creature in the vast world of souls and spirits. We understand what we can touch. We make speculations and try to extrapolate, not always successfully, where our senses meet with the threshold of the invisible.
Naturalists and philosophers have laid much stress on natural law and yet become more and more dependent on intellectualism and rationalism. What is considered to be rationalism merely pertains to the mind’s systematic and logical interpretation of factual experiences. This attitude tends to direct them to explore abstract nature in the field of reason and intellect which is certainly unattainable.
Divine Cosmic order could be understood only through para-psychology which deals with psychical facts and phenomena and supra-naturalistic origins within the frame of experimental faith and practice. All religions converge on the following notion: once the physical body is dissolved, another dimension of existence takes place. According to the Islamic terminology this stage is called “Barzakh”. Its literal meaning is ‘the intervening space” which is considered as the intermediary between the material and phenomenal world and the world of soul and spirit. The soul which becomes illuminated through the light received from the spirit.
Death is not the end of existence. Man should know that normal human nervous system and metabolism function normally along with ordinary state of consciousness. At this stage it does not cover the realm of soul and spirit. Hence it cannot be comprehended with our conventional observations and experiments in our traditional laboratories through our ordinary categories of senses and understandings.
Death is the transition from one level of consciousness to another higher level of consciousness in the realm of soul and spirit. Dumb intuition and chop logics have downgraded man’s soul to such an extent that he denies the belief of another dimension of existence beyond matter, time and space.
Man is an epitome of the cosmos and a microcosmic representation; and the Lord of the universe is Cosmic Consciousness and absolute Eternity. Man originates from four elements – fire, air, water and earth – of which all bodies in the world, mineral, plant, magnet, ether, radium, waves, metallic and atomic elements and countless other appliances far from human’s sight emanate from the terrestrial, atmospheric, celestial and marine and non-spatial spiritual world. All function harmoniously according to Will of Nature.
The relation and interconnection between the Eternal and the changing, that is between the Lord of the universe and the world is extraordinary. The more so between the two changing series, for example, the movement of the heavenly bodies and the phenomenal changes which are occurring on a permanent basis to make life possible not only in the material and physical world but also maintaining the same trend in the invisible world of soul and spirit.
These interconnections never fail even after one’s departure beyond the boundaries of the worldly existence. As a miniature kingdom, man is a part and parcel of the celestial, atmospheric, terrestrial and marine and also of the Eternal Light of the Divine Kingdom.
The 15th Blessed Night of the Sacred Month of Sha’baan heralds another dimension of communication network that exists beyond the horizon of the physical world and touches the realm of soul and spirit and bears testimony to a type of consciousness and experiences which cannot be described either in terms of ordinary categories of senses or logical understandings. Our conventional intellects cannot grasp, comprehend and communicate with supra-rational experiences emerging from different dimensions of abstract consciousness.
As the Beloved Prophet Muhammad Sawllalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam stepped in Jannat–ul–Baqee’ (Garden of Paradise) on the sacred Night, He had the favours of an exalted level of communication between the living and the departed souls from this world to the next. He opened the windows to the mystical and vivid world of soul to enable communication through what we call “Issal-e-thawaab” supplying spiritual energies to recharge the departed soul via powerful voiceless prayers and supplication provided by pure and Divinely crystalized and enlightened heart of loyal devotees.
It is a state where we are opened to the world of soul and spirit either by sharp-sighted vision or by experimental unconditional faith. Believers are being connected with the mystical non-spatial world which is touching a larger field beyond the physico-chemical existence.
The visit of our Beloved Prophet Muhammad swallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam at the graveyard of Jannat–ul–Baqee’ (Garden of Paradise) seems to appear normal but in reality it was carried out by the most enlightened Creature who has been qualified as Nuur (Light) by Allah. He is one who is permanently linked with the rest of the Cosmic Consciousness. At the same time He has opened all the avenues which may lead His followers to have direct access to the inorganic invisible world that neither electron nor proton can provide.
Our Beloved Prophet Muhammad Swallalhu ‘alaihi wa sallam has strongly laid emphasis on the need to pay respect while stepping in graveyards. He advised His followers to express salutations to the dwellers of the graves: “Peace be upon you O dwellers of graves”. Instead of the blunt term “dead” he affectively and respectfully utilized the term “dwellers”.
He taught us how to send greetings and salutations to the dwellers of the soul and spiritual kingdom. It enables us to exercise our potentialities and dig deeper and deeper in the invisible world.
Soul and spirit never die. They are the permanent residents of the soul and spiritual world which is beyond the understanding of materialism or atheism.
Let us open our heart and spirit to receive the rays from the Divine Flame; and let the tremendous Flame illuminate the whole complex of our physical, mental and spiritual existence and unlock our extra-sensory powers to enable us visualize the Eternal truth on that auspicious Night. Ameen!
HAFIZ ILMUDDIN KHAYRATTEE