Three Projects For Charting Your Personal Spiritual Search During Holy Ramadan

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful

Ya Ali Madad and Ramadan Mubarak. I have found the following gem in the book ‘A Code of Conduct’, a Treatise on the Etiquette of the Fatimid Ismaili Mission edited and translated by Verena Klemm and Paul E. Walker, published in 2011.

In his book, Ahmad b.Ibrāhīm al-Naysbūrī has written the following gem:

Knowledge of the absolute Oneness is the goal; it is most glorious of the sciences and the most illustrious of the legal impositions. All acts of worship and knowledge are based on it. The soul’s recognition of it is a thing imposed on the human being. By means of it, he attains an understanding of absolute Oneness.

Klemm, V. and Walker, P. E., A Code of Conduct—A Treatise of the Etiquette of the Fatimid Ismaili Mission, p.44

There is a large body of literature on the the Absolute Oneness of Allah. However, there is a great insight in the above quotation: The recognition of absolute oneness is the highest level of illumination which is infused into the soul. This is an example of inspired knowledge (ilm-i laduni). The illuminated, spiritual heart which experiences this also performs the prostration of the heart. Let us us focus on the pinnacle of our spiritual journey during this Holy Month.

Holy Ramadan

Holy Ramadan is a month of piety, supplication, devotion and much effort is given to purify the soul and seek higher spiritual enlightenment. Each believer charts his/her path through a set of personal activities. However, for this Holy Ramadan, we have created three projects for charting your personal spiritual search .

1. Thirty Holy Ginan Gems Augmented with Dhikr

The motivation for this 30-night project is to increase the intensity of prayers during the month of Holy Ramadan. For this purpose, a schedule page and 30 posts for each auspicious night of Holy Ramadan have been prepared. Each post consists of four parts:

1. A Foundational Holy Ginan or Selected Verses of a Granth;
2. A dhikr tasbi for each night;
3. Angelic Salwat; and
4. Global prayers and Three Grand Aspirations.

In the South Asian Ismaili Tradition, we have grown up with these Holy Ginans and have internalized the knowledge, wisdoms, ethics and code of conduct and personal practices. My selection of these Holy Ginans is focused on higher spiritual enlightenment and I hope these would be useful to you in your personal search.

2. Thirty Purification Gems from Pir Pandiyat-i Jawanmardi augmented with Dhikr

The book ‘Advices of Manliness’ (Pandiyat-i Jawanmardi) was translated from Persian to English by W. Ivanow and published as The Ismaili Society Series A No. 6. It has the teachings of Imam Noor Mowlana Shah Mustansir bi’l-laah II. The original text is very repetitive so I selected content and organized it into 40 Enlightenment Norms posts in 2006. For this project, I have selected 30 gems for this project so that each post has five parts:

1. A gem of knowledge from Pir Pandiyat-i Jawanmardi, or “Advices of Manliness” of Imam NOOR Mowlana Shah Mustansir bi’l-laah II;
2. A verse from a Holy Ginan or Granth;
3. A dhikr tasbi for each night;
4. Angelic Salwat; and
5. Global prayers and Three Grand Aspirations.

In order to seek higher spiritual enlightenment, one has to follow to continually improve one’s standing in terms of ethics, practices and higher knowledge. These gems have been very useful to me in my personal search and have me insights into the Persian or the Farsi tradition of our Holy Faith.

3. Thirty Traits of an Ismaili Dai augmented with Dhikr

For this project, I have used the book ‘A Code of Conduct’, a Treatise on the Etiquette of the Fatimid Ismaili Mission edited and translated by Verena Klemm and Paul E. Walker, published in 2011. This book is a critical edition of the Arabic text and English translation of Ahmad b.Ibrāhīm al-Naysbūrī’s ‘al-Risāla al-mūjaza al-kāfiya fī adab al-duat. This Arabic book was written in the Fatimid Period and all references go back to the Holy Quran. For this project, each post consists of five parts:

1. Enlightenment teachings from the Holy Qu’ran;
2. Excerpt(s) from ‘A Code of Conduct—A Treatise of the Etiquette of the Fatimid Ismaili Mission’;
3. A Dhikr tasbi;
4. Angelic Salwat; and
5. Global prayers and Three Grand Aspirations.

We are now in globalized environment so the knowledge component from this project takes back to the Holy Quran. Thus, our identity has to incorporate this knowledge as well. This is also the remarkable achievement of Noor Mowlana Hazar Imam to bring all this literature forward through the Institute of Ismaili Studies.

By presenting all the above knowledge is small nuggets, it will be easier to sample knowledge across different time periods of the Ismaili Tariqah.

Let us also reflect on a deeper meaning of prostration:

The heart of a murid who witnesses the light of divine names prostrates itself.
Explanation: Prostration of the Spiritual Heart

May Noor Mowlana Hazar Imam expand every murid’s spiritual heart, fill it with his NOOR and enable it to perform the spiritual prostration of the heart in this Holy Month.

Ramadan Mubarak.

Ardent Prayers for Holy Ramadan

Angelic Salwat Supplication

Let us now start supplicating with angelic salwat, Allâhumâ salli alâ Muhammadin wa âle Muhammad (O Allah! Bestow Peace on and through Muhammad and his Descendants) to our beloved NOOR Mowlana Shah Karim Al-Hussaini Hazar Imam for mushkil aasan for material and spiritual upliftment.

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful