ASFA Forum

Re: To Ruslan - to Jawad- to Abdur-Rahman

From: Ruslan
Date: 12/12/97
Time: 6:31:29 AM

Comments

Wa alaikum as-salaam, brother Abdur-Rahman

Well then, I will try to address this in a small way in response to your request, and I hope that I will be able to do that in a way that is satisfactory.

The basis and aim of the latihan kejiwaan of Subud is the worship of the One Almighty God. Latihan kejiwaan is an Indonesian term meaning spiritual exercise. However, it is not an exercise that one does, it is an exercise that one receives. I will explain more about this further along.

Understand that I will describe this in terms that will be familiar to a Muslim, because I am a Muslim, and you and those on this forum are Muslims. There are other ways to talk about what happens in the latihan of Subud, but here we are and this will do.

This business of ours, if we want to call it that, has four stages; the Shari’a, the Tariqa, the Haqiqa and the Ma’rifa. The first two are the uttermost boundary that we can reach by means of our own striving. Thereafter it depends upon the grace of Allah to His creature.

So then, what is the Haqiqa ? Is it a further kind of teaching to which one graduates after long years of progress in the Tariqa ? The answer to that question, is that no, it isn’t. The Haqiqa is the living grace of the All-Merciful, and He bestows it upon whom He wills of His creatures. It is also something that operates beyond the reach of the heart and mind.

It is actually the pearl beyond price, and at all costs a human being needs to try to find his way to it. So, look for someone who can pass on the contact (wusul) or give you the opening (fath) to the Haqiqa, because it is very seldom that it is bestowed directly, no matter how ardently one may long for it, or pray for it.

You should understand that the opening does not depend on efforts of your own, or visualising certain symbols or words, or certain prayers, or fasting. The opening is a simple matter and the contact with the Haqiqa is passed on from one who has already been opened, by permission of Allah.

The Haqiqa is always there, and it always was, the whole of your life; what veils you from it is the nafs, that useful servant given us by Allah (Exalted is He) to serve our needs during our sojourn in this world. When that veil is pierced, we are able to receive for ourselves the direct experience of guidance for our lives, both inwardly and outwardly, in a way that carries its own proof, and all that remains is to live one’s life with care.

Not that the Haqiqa replaces religion; rather it provides a content for it, and the prayers become a delight, accompanied as they are by the One to whom they are addressed. There is nothing in this practice to take anyone away from their religion, it is rather than that something which brings one closer to it.

Having given this very brief outline, I will end off for now by saying that there is no claim by anyone that Subud is the only way to get the opening; there may well be others who are able to pass it on. I can only say from my own experience that the latihan is where I found what I had inwardly hungered for all my life, and the flower and fruit of following the latihan, among other things, was that it brought me to Islam.

Just to close, brother Abdur-Rahman, since I know that there will probably be others from this Forum that will read this posting, I want to remind the dear readers that I never brought up the subject of Subud, and that I have talked about this only because I was asked.

May Allah open up your way to Him, brother. Amin.

wa’s-salaam

Ruslan