What is Muraqaba (Meditation)?

Dear Brother / Sister,

Author: İslam Ansiklopedisi,

Muraqaba is a sufi term that means fear, to inspect, to watch over, to take care of, to control, to look at one’s inner world, to be entranced, to think of the aim at all times, to look at Allah with the heart at all times, to keep the soul under control in order to protect the heart from bad deeds, to know that Lord knows every state of a person, to dismiss everything from one’s mind and be ready to receive inspiration from Allah by kneeling down and closing the eyes.

The real muraqaba is obtaining the habit of worshipping Allah as if one sees Him because our Lords says, " Allah doth watch over all things " (al-Ahzab 33/52).

There is a reference to muraqaba in the hadith of Jibril. Jibril said to Hazrat Prophet (pbuh); "Tell me about ‘ihsan’." The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, "Ihsan means to worship Allah as if you see Him. Even if you do not see Him, he sees you."

Jibril:

"What you have said is true." (Bukhari Iman, 38; Muslim, Iman 1). According to sufism, the muraqaba of ordinary people is the fear of Allah and the muraqaba of the distinguished people is hope. Muraqaba forms the foundation of every good deed and it is related to all phases of life. Thanks to muraqaba, man evaluates the past and corrects the situation he is in, is always on the right path, checks his heart thoroughly in his relations with his Lord and he never forgets about Him; he knows that Allah always watches him and is very close to him, that He sees what he does and hears what he says. Thus, he becomes a useful person for himself and for the society; he becomes happy in both this world and the hereafter.      

Ahmed ARPA

Questions on Islam