The Ritual of Summoning the Spirit in Islam
Question:
One said that if we mentioned or summoned the name of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jaelani, then his spirit would come to us. Their argumentation is chapter Al Baqarah/The Cow:154. I’d like to ask:
What is the real interpretation of that Al Baqarah:154 and what is the connection between it and the spirit of Abdul Qadir Jaelani?
Is it true that if we mentioned or summoned the name of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jaelani then his spirit would come to us?
Answer:
Regarding chapter Al Baqarah:154 that they used as an argument, in fact it contains the prohibition of Allah The Holy and Exalted for men to name the martyrs in Allah’s cause “the dead ones”. Because indeed they are alive in barzakh realm (the after death realm), not as as corpses, but alive and they are given sustenances in Paradise, as said by the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- :
“The spirits of the martyrs are in the wings of a green bird that flies freely as it wish in Paradise, and then perches on a lamp hanging below the Great Throne.” (Narrated by Muslim).
Thus, a man that was killed in Allah’s cause -Glorified and Exalted be Him- is not referred as dead one, but rather as a martyr and he is actually alive in the side of his Lord, in an unimaginable and unseen life by the living ones, although he has been separated from the life in this world. (See: Aysaru at-Tafaasiir li kalaam al-‘Aliyyi al-Kabir, by Abu Bakar Jabir Al Jazairi I/66, published by Maktaba al-‘Ulum wa al-Hikam, Medina al-Munawarah)
After Allah the Glorified and Exalted mentioned about a command to ask for aids through patience in facing every problems, He mentioned an example of a matter that should be carried out with patience, that is joining the Holy War in Allah’s cause (jihad). Jihad is the most excellent of physical obedience and the hardest for soul, due to the difficulties of that deed in the soul’s perception. Jihad may cause one to loose his life, while mostly the aim of men in this world is to achieve all joys of living and desires. They may spend their all to achieve it and to avoid all things that are contrary to it.
And as understood that a sane man would never give up what he fonds of but to another thing that is dearer to him, and larger in impact. Thus, Allah the Glorified and Exalted said, that whoever was killed in Allah’s cause where he aimed to establish Allah’s words, and to make his religion win over others, Not for other meanings, then indeed, he will not loose the joyous living, moreover, he has achieved a nobler and more perfect life than he thought and knew.
Hence, isn’t the living close to Allah the Glorified and Exalted and their joys by His sustenances in the form of delicious foods and drinks, and spiritual foods in the form of joys, and good news, and being free from fear and sadness in this life of barzakh realm, even the happiness and joys that they felt, better in perfection than their life in this world?!
The Prophet even said that their spirits will be living in a body of a green bird that drinks from the rivers of Paradise and eats the fruits inside it and perches on the lamps hanging below the Great Throne. In this saying, there is a great motivation to strive in the Holy War of Allah’s cause and the rewards of it, so that none will avoid it. But the void the knowledge that is believed is the cause of the weakness of spirit and the sounded sleep of those who neglect these tremendous rewards and war booties. No. Whereas Allah the Glorified and Exalted said, which can be translated as,
“He has bought the souls of the faithfuls and their wealth by Paradise because the fought in Allah’s cause, and they killed or being killed.”
Thus, by Allah the Glorified and Exalted, supposed that one has 1000 lives that he lost one by one in Allah’s cause, it will never equals this great rewards. Hence, after the martyrs received the rewards from Allah the Glorified and Exalted, they will not wish anything but to be returned to the world so that they’ll be back to fight in Allah’s cause again and again.
In this verse, there is an indication of graces and torments in the barzakh realm, as mentioned in may verses of the Qur’an and hadith.
That is the interpretation of that we cited from the book titled “Taisir Karim ar-Rahman fi Tafsir Kalam al-Manan”, by Sheikh As Sa’di -may Allah have mercy on him-, and the interpretations of other scholars. None of them related the interpretation of this verse with the spirit of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jaelani -may Allah have mercy on him- or the spirit of anyone else. Even if there are explanations inside it that the martyrs wish to get back to the world so that they can be martyr again and get the multiplied rewards, because they know about the greatness of the rewards for such people. This is based on valid hadith of the Prophet, such as:
“There is no soul that dies, having a good (reward) with Allah, that would like to return to this world, or to have this world and everything in it, except the martyr, who wishes that he could come back to this world and be killed (again) ten times, because of what he sees of the virtue of martyrdom.” (Narrated by Muslim).
But there is no information from the experts in tafseer taken from the past scholars which mention that the meant spirit was the spirit of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jaelani. Whereas the word ‘tamannaa’ (wishing for) in here indicating the excellence of a matter and showing that their wishes are impossible to realize unless Allah the Glorified and Exalted is willing of that to be happened.
In the other side, none is brave enough to say that Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jaelani died in martyr state from a physical war. Whereas the scholars, among them was Imam Bukhari mentioned in a title of a chapter of his hadith book;” chapter: It is not allowed to say, ‘So and so are martyred.” (based on a narration) from Abu Huraira, he said: the Prophet said, “Allah the Glorified and Exalted is more knowing of whoever fought in Allah’s cause and Allah the Glorified and Exalted is more knowing of whoever wounded in His cause.”
Based on these explanations, we can say that the opinion and stance that you mentioned in this question are nonsense and it is termed ‘innovation’ because it has no basis at all. Such innovation might be classified as an innovation which innovator might be considered as an infidel because he asks for help from other than Allah the Glorified and Exalted, thus it is among the great sin from the other great sins. And Allah knows best.
Reference: Elfata magazine, Vol 4 No. 11 2004 (Indonesia)
Article of www.whatisquran.com