What is Bayah?

What is ba’yah

 

It is mentioned in Fawaaid Ul Fawaaid Majlis 21^st that the person who gives his (or her) hand in the hand of a Shaykh is making a pledge before Allah Most High and should remain steadfast on it.  And if that person finds it difficult, he (or she) should remain as they are, what is the use of grasping the hand of the Shaykh.

 

After this, the Khaja related an incident:  I gave my pledge to Hadhrat Fareeduddin (May Allah shower His Mercy on him).  While returning, I felt extremely thirsty.  The day was very humid and water was afar.  I was going on all the same that I saw a person whom I knew.  I went to him and asked:  I am thirsty.  Can I get water here?  He eagerly handed over a vessel and said:  Here!  Take this and have some water.  I saw that there was some intoxicant in it.  I refused to drink it.  That man said:  Here, there is no water for miles around and neither will you find it further in your journey.  If you don’t drink this water, you will die.  I said:  I will die, so be it.  Whatever has to happen, will happen, but I will not drink this water.  Because, I have given my hand in the hand of the Shaykh and have promised him that this will never happen!  I said this and walked away.  At some distance, I found water.

 

After this, the Khaja said:  After giving his pledge to Hadhrat Khaja Moinuddin Chishti (May Allah shower His Mercy on him), when Khaja Hameed returned to his house, his old friends and acquaintances gathered and said:  Let us have some fun.  Khaja Hameed said:  I have tied my loin cloth so firmly that I will not open it on the Day of Judgment even to the damsels of paradise.

 

It is written in Majlis 20 that Hadhrat Mahboob-e-Ilahi (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) said:  There was a courtesan, Qamar, who was hugely famous for her beauty.  She gave her pledge to Hadhrat Shihabuddin Suharwardi (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) and went for the pilgrimage to the Ka’aba.  When she returned, the king of Hamadan summoned her.  She said: I have repented from this deed. The king didn’t accept it.  At last, she went to Hadhrat Shaykh Yousuf Hamadani (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) and related all this to her.  The Shaykh said:  Tonight, I will engage in your affair and will inform you tomorrow.  The next morning, she came to the Shaykh again.  The Shaykh said:  Still one sin is left in your fate.  The woman despaired and the king’s servants took her to the palace.

 

        She was given a musical instrument.  She wound it, started playing and had sang only a few couplets that everyone was overwhelmed.  The king was the first person to repent.

 

Now think, how effective was the Ba’yah that one is ready to die but drinking anything which goes against the Shariah is not acceptable. For this reason, their pledges would have such an effect on this.  Hadhrat Mahboob-e-Ilahi (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) was to be seated on the station of love and dearness, in fact he was a beloved since the beginning of time.  If he had such moral courage, it is no wonder.  But look at that courtesan!  After giving the pledge, she never thought of committing the sin again.  It was this moral courage and steadfastness on that pledge that even if she did commit a sin, that sin ended up persuading the king and his courtiers to repent.

 

The benefit of taking a Shaykh as a spiritual mentor

 

In the same way, a perfect Shaykh is close to Allah, he takes his disciples to Allah Most High and the disciples are drawn to him…the disciple gets so close that the intervening means vanish from his (or her) sight.  In spite of the distance, the heart is so attached that virtually, the disciple is close to the Shaykh.  The necessary and first duty of a spiritual mentor is to connect the disciple to the actions and attributes of Almighty Allah so that the disciple considers all the actions and movements to be the works of Almighty Allah.

[Excerpted from Maqasid Ul Islam, Vol. 7 and 8]