TAFAKKUR – تفکر

 

Literally: Thinking. Pondering. Reflecting. A thought. A reflection.

Reflecting on the universe and the beings within it, which are the creational âyahs of Allah, and the wondrous art and disposal of Allah that can be seen in the universe in order to know As-Sâni’ with His attributes and Names and understand the Ilahî hikmahs of the creation.

 

“the way of tafakkur which the Qur'an of Miraculous Exposition commands with such âyahs as, لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَفَكَّرُونَ ٭ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ ٭ اَوَلَمْ يَتَفَكَّرُوا فِى اَنْفُسِهِمْ مَا خَلَقَ اللّٰهُ السَّمٰوَاتِ وَ اْلاَرْضَ ٭ َلآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ ٭ ,1 تَفَكُّرُ سَاعَةٍ خَيْرٌ مِنْ عِبَادَةِ سَنَةٍ  2 The Hadith states that on occasion an hour's tafakkur may be equivalent to a year's ‘ibâdah. It also offers powerful encouragement for tafakkur.” The Flashes ( 380 )

 

Such a man's fundamental duty is to proclaim his impotence, poverty and fault in the form of ‘ubûdiyyah by seeing his duties turned towards infinite aims, and to witness the tasbîhât of beings with his universal eye by observing them, and to offer shukr by seeing the help of Ar-Rahmân within the ni’mahs and to do tafakkur the miracles of the Qoudrah of Ar-Rabb on the creatures with art by looking at them with an eye receiving the lesson.

The Twenty-Third Word/Third Subtle Point

 

“وَاِنَّ لَكُمْ فِى اْلاَنْعَامِ لَعِبْرَةًۜ نُسْق۪يكُمْ مِمَّا ف۪ى بُطُونِه۪ مِنْبَيْنِ فَرْثٍ وَدَمٍ لَبَنًا خَالِصًا سَٓائِغًا لِلشَّارِب۪ينَ3 until,  ف۪يهِ شِفَٓاءٌ لِلنَّاسِۜ اِنَّ ف۪ى ذٰلِكَ َلاٰيَةً لِقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ 4

These âyahs point out that Janâb-i Haqq makes creatures of His like sheep, goats, cattle, and camels into springs of pure, delicious milk for man, and artefacts like grapes and dates into cauldrons and trays laden with deliciously sweet ni’mahs for him, and tiny miracles of His Qoudrah like the honey-bee into makers of a sweet, health-giving sherbet, and then conclude with the words, اِنَّ ف۪ى ذٰلِكَ َلاٰيَةً لِقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ 5 thus urging man to tafakkur and take lessons and compare these with other things.” The Words (433-434 )

 

“The Qur’an teaches us this argument:6 فَارْجِعِ الْبَصَرَ هَلْ تَرَى مِنْ فُطُورٍ By commanding us to tafakkur on creatures and mentioning their uses or benefits as ni’mahs, the Qur’an seeks to establish this proof (proof of ‘inâyah) in the human mind and then calls upon reason to ponder over them in the conclusions and divisions of âyahs. It illuminates the role of mind (aql) and stirs up the conscience in such âyahs as: 7 اَوَلاَ يَعْلَمُونَ، اَفَلاَ يَعْقِلُونَ، اَفَلاَ يَتَذَكَّرُونَ، فَاعْتَبِرُوا Al-Mathnawi Al-Nuri (374)

 

“KNOW, O FRIEND, that the decoration, perfection, beautiful spectacle, and majesty of Rubûbiyyah, as well as the splendour of Ulûhiyyah, seen in the universe require an observer to observe them in amazement. When doing tafakkur on them, such an observer must move from there to the Majesty (Jalâl) of their Sâni’ and Mâlik, and to His Power and Perfection.” Al-Mathnawi Al-Nuri (261)

 

“KNOW, O FRIEND, that tafakkur is like nûr, for it melts your frozen ghaflah. Being careful and attentive is like fire, for it burns your dried rubbish of doubts. However, when you tafakkur on your nafs, tafakkur deeply, as the Name Al-Bâtin wants you to do so. The perfection of art is seen in its details and ramifications. When you tafakkur on the âfâk8 , do so briefly and superficially, for you only need to understand the foundations upon which it is based. This is what the Name Adh-Dhâhir requires, for the splendour of art becomes more evident and more dazzling when looked on and examined as a whole. The outer world is very spacious and has no shores. If you dive into it, you may drown.

If you go deep in your nafs, but make a brief and fast journey in the outer world, you can approach wahdah. Individual parts acquire wholeness, compounds become composites, and composites become unified. From this unity issues the nûr of yaqîn (certain knowledge of wahdah). If you only make a brief and superficial examination of your nafs while going into detail during your travels in the outer world, the diversity of things will engender confusion and doubt. This will strengthen your ananiyyah and ingrain ghaflah in you, developments that will make you incline to naturalism and, eventually, away from the diversity of things and to dhalâlah. O Allah, do not include us among the people of dhalâlah! Amen.” Al-Mathnawi Al-Nuri (202 )