Waj'd

WAJ'D (Spiritual Ecstasy) (Spiritual Trance)

Human being is composed of two physical entities:

1.Spirit

2.Body

The body holds no power unless the spirit enters the body by the word of Allah whereas the body becomes lifeless when the spirit leaves the body. Therefore spirit is main source of energy for the body and the human being as a whole. Some people refer to spirit as conscience, some as mind, some even refer to spirits of dead people as ghosts. So spirit has many meanings.

I refer to spirit as Soul or Rooh.   

In Sufism, every aspect revolves around spirit of the person. The teacher concentrates on the spirit of the disciple and through training the spirit of the disciple he makes disciple a better person who is then loved by Allah.

A person's spirit is weak because its not fed properly. The feed of spirit is zikr of Allah, recitation of koran, visualizing/observing the teacher and some other factors like helping humanity, feeding humanity. 

Feeding humanity is itself a topic and i will write on Lunger (free food) as a topic down the lane.

Spirit needs guidance from a spiritual teacher to nurture itself. The words uttered through tongue of a teacher, the eyes of a teacher, even the presence of a teacher has a direct impact on the spirit. The spirit of a disciple identifies the teacher and knows the importance and value of the teacher, even if the disciple as a human  thinks of teacher as a mere common human being (which a teacher is certainly not).

I have laid down the basics of spirit, its feed and disciples spirit's relation with spiritual teacher, now coming to Waj'd.

What is waj'd?

Waj'd is a state of spiritual ecstasy where the spirit and the body become two completely separate entities. The spirit while remaining inside the body forces the body to whirl, dance, cry, move, twist, turn, rotate and jump. The spirit goes into joy as soon as it sees its love (spiritual teacher directing towards God) and wants to be set free but is locked inside the body. On the other hand, the body wants its comfort, it doesn't want to move, it knows movement will cause pain and sore muscles. 

Spirit is made stronger through love( divine love,humanitarian love) and zikr of God(recitation of koran, salah, prayers etc). Body is nafs(worldly desires like eating, sleeping etc), spirit is formed of light(noor) of God. Body has to go through its impurities and will be shed off after death, spirit is pure when in divine love. 

Who can experience Waj'd ?

Any disciple who is not in doubt about his teacher or his silsila. who doesn't have questions in mind, who has given himself wholly and solely to his teacher, trusting his teacher with his life and obeying all what is instructed to him by teacher. There are many disciples sitting in own frame of mind, with worldly thoughts, some sitting in own ego, some just looking at others and thinking that the disciples in waj'd are acting and pretending. Such disciples are just wasting their time looking around. 

How does the state of Waj'd start?

Waj'd is triggered by a few factors. 

1. At its extreme, when the disciple in divine love sees his teacher, waj'd starts instantly. This is rare but it does happen to a disciple who visualizes his teacher not as a human but a Wai-Allah of God walking on earth.

2. Normally Waj'd starts through zikr of God. The teacher starts a zikr using darood shareef or a word like Allah. He starts off slowly as the disciples recite with him and then he increases the speed. The heart beats become faster and the effect of the words of zikr starts to land on hearts of disciples and the state of Waj'd takes over.

3. Qawali (mehfil e sama): The beats of qawali and the wordings directly enter the hearts of disciples creating an intense feeling which affects the spirit and the disciple starts whirling in divine love. 

Can teacher Control the Waj'd of a disciple?

Yes, the teacher commands hearts of disciples. He is skillful with the knowledge of heart, spirit, body and everything related to waj'd. He can control waj'd of a single disciple or multiple at the same time. 

Why should the teacher control the Waj'd of a Disciple?

During the state of Waj'd, the disciple's heartbeat goes very fast, breathing goes very high.

The teacher knows the intensity of tuning of a disciple's heart, low intensity,medium of high intensity.He knows how much the body of a disciple can bear; the amount of movement of body and the rate of heart beat. He knows exactly where the pressure of breathing is going inside the body. This is why some disciples have don't go into state of waj'd, some go into mild state, some go into full state of waj'd. 

How does the teacher control the Waj'd?

The teacher is sitting on a chair/sofa while the disciples are on ground facing him. He keeps an eye on every disciple. He controls the state of Waj'd of every disciple with his eyes by concentrating on the disciples heart. he doesn't need to stand up, go or touch the disciple.He controls the whole atmosphere sitting on hid seat, changing direction now and then, keeping vigil eye.

Ghous Paak, Ghous Al Azam, Hazrat Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jillani R.A used to control thousands of disciples experiencing Waj'd after his sermon finished.  

  

Effects of Waj'd

1. Waj'd gives the spirit its food, it makes the spirit active and stronger than the body.

2. During state of Waj'd the spirit of disciple is seeing the noor of God in spiritual teacher, and it cannot control itself when it witnesses such a sight. The spirit then strengthens the conscience in disciple to stop him from comitting sins.

3. At this point, the spirit is very close to God, so if the disciple is alert (which is very rare as disciple is absorbed in divine love and has no idea of his surroundings), the disciple can offer a dua (prayer) and it comes true.

4. It cleanses the mind from any negativity as spirits of sufis( who have left the world but are affiliated with that particular silsila) enter the body of disciple and remain for a few seconds in the body and leave after leaving their positive effects.

5. If the disciple is affected by black magic, the effects of magic wear off and wash away.

Hazrat Laal Shahbaz Qalander R.A would whirl in divine love (what most people call dance) during Wajd on the beat of dhol (drum).

Can Waj'd cause death?

Yes, if the teacher is not strong enough to control the state of disciples, Waj'd can cause death. Such teachers are not given powers to let disciples go into the state of Waj'd. During the state of Waj'd, the spirit wants to leave the body out of love to meet its Creator. This is why if some disciples are prone to going in fast state of wajd by visualizing the teacher and listening to qawalis at home, the teacher warns those disciples not to listen to qawalis at home or in car.  

Hazrat Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki R.A, lost his life during the state of waj'd during a qaawli. The Qawwal saw this esteemed sufi saint going in trance of Waj'd but even on constant requests of Hazrat Kaki R.A's favourite disciple, hazrat Baba Fareedudin Masood Ganjshakar R.A to stop, the qawwal kept repeating the same sentences of Qawwali that elevated Hazrat Kaki R.A spirit into spiritual ecstasy and since he is a Wali-Allah and his spirit was already strong, he accepted this way of leaving the world, through visualizing his teacher and seeing God's Noor.