The Practice of Intent

As outlined by Shaykh Ebrahim Schuitema Compiled by Saleem McGroarty

All actions are by their intentions - Prophet Muhammad

Introduction
This matter of ours is about freedom. It is a freedom of such magnitude, that its price is everything in existence and its prize is the whole of existence. There is no higher aspiration and it is therefore worthy of utterly single-minded commitment. In the face of this quest all other pursuits are trivial. By me having accepted the role of a Shaykh or teacher the first thing you should understand is that there is very little I can do for you. There is also not a lot you can do for yourself, other than to cast yourself into practice with single minded intent. In this pursuit you will discover that success lies on the other side of failure and it is always brought to you by a design which is utterly inexplicable and completely outside of your ingenuity. You have to have expended all of your own resources first though, before you can really say in your heart of hearts 'I give up, I submit'. In other words, 'I am in the state of Islam'. To be graced by this patterning of intent is to encapsulate the whole of existence in the Totality of the Self. Not to discover this, is to spend a life in terror from the inevitable crushing by the Totality of the Other. This journey is about the cultivation and polishing of intent. In this process the first thing one needs to do is take the flying carpet called the musallah (prayer mat) off the wall as an object of adoration and stand on it. The deen of Islam is a technology of transformation, and it is ruined in the hands of the sanctimonious who seek to turn it into a cultural identity. As a technology of transformation it is staggeringly powerful. So, a good place to start is with the basics. If you are not praying regularly then do so, five times a day, also maintain all the other pillars of Islam, fasting, paying of alms, pilgrimage if possible etc. Beyond this I recommend that you start keeping a daily journal or diary (any voyage of discovery has a ship's log). The effect of this is to deliberately pull you out of the minutiae of day to day events and to see things from an increasingly higher perspective. I would also recommended a daily meditative practice to help silence inner dialogue and to facilitate a

change in that dialogue from an ambience of resentment to an ambience of gratitude. We do not exist as individuals. Acting in the best interest of the other is acting in your own highest interest. This is the key to the world that we are going into. The epoch of competitive self interest has brought us to the brink of catastrophe. We either act consistently with the highest possibility of our own intent or we are done for. That said the key issue with practice is that it is about individuals and not about collectives, the idea running alongside this is that there is only so much that we can do as individuals. A healthy society can only be created when its members are sound individuals. We are living in critical times and these times demand that everybody becomes the authority. If you find any of the following practices useful it is imperative that you pass them on to others as this matter is about the survival of our planet. We must try to get as many people as possible to give up their own agenda and learn how to be receptive, so that they can see what Allah is bringing to them. Islam or submission means that you forego what you are focussing on and your own agenda and you allow, or open up, your attention to see what Allah is bringing to you. Our position can be summarised thus, as the cultivation of receptivity and gratitude, illustrated with the simple formulae: We are here to give, not to get. We are here to serve Other, not Self. This is essence of our journey and the purpose of the following practices.

Shaykh Ebrahim Schuitema

Salah (the formal prayer) What is life but the five daily prayers and waiting for death.
Method
When you walk onto the musallah (prayer mat) become present by bringing your attention into the room. Look around the room and visually identify three things in the room, then identify three sounds, rest your attention on both. Then look down, identify three points on your prayer mat, rest your attention on them. Feel your feet on the prayer mat, your toes sinking into the rug or the sole of your feet against the mat. Register that you are standing on the musallah. Then say your niyyah. You will notice an immense increase in your concentration while doing your salah.

Explanation
Salah is more than language and recital. It is like an action exercise. If one wishes to increase concentration in salah, then one must start concentration in wudu (ablution). Try doing wudu with cold water. Feel the water and the movement of your hands with the water during wudu. The essence of the salah is in the postures. If we execute the postures mindfully we cultivate awareness. A persons salah is accepted, accepted meaning transformative and useful to them, if they do the postures deliberately, because the postures say something to you entire Being. Ruku is saying something to your entire Being, sajdah is saying something to your entire Being. Where we are trying to get to, is a place where our awareness functions super-rationally, on an absolutely intuitive level of seeing. That place is not to be found on the other end of a rational discourse. This seeing essentially begins to operate when you stop thinking. The Arabic recitation in the salah cultivates this effect. The reason why we put our attention into the room is in order to become present. Being present is being present in the room, in the place where you are. The salah is only meaningful if the person doing the salah is actually present doing the salah. If you are not present, then the person performing the salah is absent, so what does that salah mean? It has no meaning. With this method you will notice a profound effect that it will have on your salah, by making sure that your attention is on the musallah

before you say you takbir, it becomes a totally transformative salah. You can use the shortest surahs that you like, do it minimalistically and you will find that it will be of more benefit than the way that you were performing it before. In terms of the Arabic I would suggest a little experiment. Find a recording of some well recited Arabic Quran and listen to it alone for maybe 15 or 20 minutes. Don't try to understand it or read anything at the same time. Just sit comfortably, keep your eyes closed and rest your attention on the recitation. Let it flow through your being without interrogating it, judging it or seeking to understand it. Do this twice a day for a few days and reflect on how you feel afterwards. What I would also suggest is that you work with a very limited set of surahs at the outset (Surah Al Fatiha and the three Quls, for example) and learn what the Arabic means so that you can muse reflectively on the meaning while you are reciting it in the Arabic. Use these for a number of months until the meanings become absolutely intuitive and second nature. After having done that add one more to your repertoire. Only recite those surahs that you have included in your being understood category for your salah. You can also recite once or twice a day after your salah the Wird of Shaykh Ebrahim (Appendix 1)

Meditation Deliberately pull yourself out of the minutiae of day to day events to see things from an increasingly higher perspective. Shaykh Ebrahim
Method
Make sure that you are sitting comfortably, sit on a pillow if you like, cross your legs and keep your back straight. Look around the room and visually identify three things in the room (they can be red/black/green), then close your eyes and identify three sounds, the furthest away first, then bring them closer. Breath deep from the belly through the nose. Scan the body for any tension, if you find any let it go, after this process finally bring your attention to your breathing. Then breath in with the syllable Al and breath out with llah, thus forming the full word Allah. Dont articulate the name with your tongue. It is as if you are hearing it being whispered on your breath. When your attention wanders to something else, bring it back to your breath. Try to slow down your heart rate and relax, try to quieten your mind. Sit for minimum 20 mins, ideally 40 mins. Take a minute or so to come out. The ideal time for this is just before of after the Fajr salah. (See Appendix 2)

Explanation
This practice seeks to achieve two things: (1) silence internal dialogue, (2) change the nature of whatever internal dialogue is left into something benign. The key to meditation is resting your attention and not focussing. When you rest your attention on the three sounds dont focus on them we are listening rather than looking at the sounds. If we liken this to computer programs we want to have the three programmes running in the back-ground, not being used, but still present. Then we rest our attention on the sound of our body. We listen to what our body is telling us, its present story. This conversation takes the form of sensations in the body. We are resting and not focussing in order to let go, in order to develop a receptive way of using our attention. When your attention wanders in

the meditation just bring it back and this is in the spirit of, when you forget, remember, because when you forget, remember has no judgement in it, you are not a bad person if this happens, just pull it back and get back in the saddle again. Through this process we are putting a bridle on an animal that has never been ridden before. Very few people try to ride their attention in this manner, so it will resist you, it will try to buck you and it will be a long period of befriending, domesticating and breaking in this wild horse. The aim of the meditative practice is to learn to silence or find the dimmer switch of our internal dialogue. We want to turn the volume of: our senses right up, our inner dialogue right down, to then rest in the silence of Being. This is in order to learn how to completely withdraw all attention from thought, so that we can give full attention to what Allah is putting in front of us in the moment that we are in. This practice should give an eloquence and skill working with your attention which can be applied to all aspects of your life, especially your Islamic practices like salah, dhikr, fasting etc. It is also recommended at this time to engage in some kind of energy activity e.g. Martial Arts or Yoga, but keeping as little text running around our mind as possible. When we commit to process instead of results its by-product is the effect of quietening us down, it roots our attention in the present and this affects the quality of our consciousness in a positive and transformative way.

Keeping a Journal Your day is a letter of correspondence from Allah to you, the moments are his words and the flow of the day is His grammar. Shaykh Ebrahim
Method
At the end of each day try to make an entry into a journal or diary for as long as feels right for you about what happened to you that day that was significant to you. To write a little consistently is better than writing a great deal inconsistently. At the end of the week read your daily entries, then write a summary of that week. Every month read the 4 weekly summaries and write a summary of that month. Then every quarter read the three monthly summaries and summarise them Then every year read the four quarterly summaries and summarise the year.

Explanation
The basic assumption that lies behind the intention of keeping a journal of your daily experience is that your life is a conversation with Allah. The Other that He presents to you in the moment you are in are the words He uses and Time is the grammar or syntax. So when you walk through life assume nothing that happens to you is arbitrary (determined by chance, based or subject to individual will or judgement). There is a constant conversation going on between you and your Rabb (Lord.) We are constantly walking through patterns of meaning, everything around us is meaningful at any given time. The world is Allahs text to be read and learn from. So what the journaling does is it gives us the opportunity to abstract, to literally pull ourselves back from day to day events, it allows us to pull back further and further in order to see the much bigger picture. Most of us cant see the wood for the trees because we are stuck with our faces pressed up to the glass of the events and experiences of our lives.

With the journaling we are trying to learn to see the wood and the trees. Another outcome of journaling, similar to the meditation, should be to try and change the nature of our internal dialogue from having any resentment or ill feeling, into that of a feeling of gratitude. Its by-product is to see the blessing that is always present. Journaling over a period of time colours the register of internal dialogue from an ambience of resentment, which is the nature of 21st century man, to an ambience of gratitude.

Attention
He who flows [attentive] with the changes that come upon him is free, whereas he who is reliant [focused] on things is their servant and existence owns him. Shaykh Ali al Jamal
The following is applicable and relevant to all of the practices described above and to daily life. The phrase rest your attention used above was very deliberate, because when we focus on something it is very difficult to keep our attention on anything else. The moment that we focus, many things suddenly appear and clamour for our attention. One of the effects of this is that we notice how much of a competition there is going on for our attention. We can only focus on one thing at a time, whereas we can give our attention to many things at the same time. When we focus on one thing we have to fight to keep other things out, but we can rest our attention on many things at the same time. Therefore attention and focus are not the same thing. For example you can focus on one thing but also pay attention to something in your peripheral vision. In other words you can give attention to something you are focussed on or something in your periphery vision. When it comes to attention it can be used it in two different ways, receptive or predatory. To understand the difference between the two let us look at the following two statements: He is listening to me. and He is looking at me. They can be classed as follows: Receptive He is listening to me Predatory He is looking at me

When we use our attention in a predatory way we principally use our eyes. When we use our attention in a receptive way we use all of our other senses, as they are principally geared to be receivers rather than senders or penetrators.

The nature of the way attention works can be illustrated with the following scenarios: Q: When he (other) is looking at you (self) who is penetrating who? A: Other is penetrating self, or they are penetrating you. For example when somebody is looking at you from across the street it feels slightly predatory because other is penetrating self. When we use focussed vision we are using our predatory sense. Q: When he (other) is listening to you (self), who penetrates who? A: Self is penetrating other, or you are penetrating them. If he is listening to you he is letting you in, his attention is receptive. We live in world where the predatory use of attention is overused. As a result we get completely concerned with what we are trying to get rather than what is coming to us, what Allah is presenting to us, the blessing that is constantly present. So if we want to start to understand what Allah is showing to us we have to understand and explore the receptive way of using our attention. It is like learning to give attention to what is in our peripheral vision rather than what you are looking at or focussed on. Many people have had the experience of walking into a glass door, this happens not because we did not see the door, but because our attention was trapped behind our eyeballs, trapped in the discourse that we were having with ourselves. You cannot see what Allah is putting in front of you when you are caught up in your own internal dialogue. So we need to learn how to find the volume dial of our internal dialogue and turn it right down. If we have noise in our heads try to make it compassionate, learn how to completely withdraw all attention from thought in the moment so that we can give full attention to what Allah is putting in front of us. For most people their assemblage point of attention is behind their eyeballs, therefore they are using their predatory sense of attention most of the time, but when our attention is working in a receptive way we function from behind our solar plexus (the area just below your sternum.) We have three main areas of concentration of neural tissue, the first is in the head, the second is in the cardial sack that holds your heart and the third is in your viscera, in your guts. This concentration of neural tissue implies the ability to think not just in our heads but from these other areas as well. Consequently we have three sites where our attention can work

from: The head, the heart (behind the chest) and lastly the stomach. The balance you are aiming for on this path is for your attention to function from behind your chest. We can see this has a physiological parallel in nature. If we look at a Lions eyes they are in the front of its head as they are designed to see what it is trying to get, its goal. Deer on the other hand, their eyes are on the side of their head. So for the deer it is not about what it can get but what is coming to it, i.e. the lion.

V
Intent as Divine Energy present in the Universe.
If one assumes that energy implies movement, and at that all movement implies a from and a to, a separation from here and there, then one can describe intent as an energy. All intent implies a from and a to. What one has to add to this movement for the word intent to work is a degree of consciousness and deliberateness. In so far as Allah is the All Knowing, in other words, the One who is Aware, no movement or energy can happen without His knowing, indeed, without His decree. We can therefore say that all energy or movement in the universe is deliberate, which means that the universe is a matrix of intent borne on the bed on Attention. Allahs Attention.

Postscript
Describing his form of practice Shaykh Mawlay al Arabi Ad Darqawi, the student of Shaykh Ali Al Jamal said: Whoever does Dhikr as we have prescribed and pays close attention to its conditions as we have said, Allah will lift the veil between Himself and them in three weeks or less. Whoever does this dhikr as we have described and does it for more than seven weeks and Allah has still not lifted the veil between Himself and them, they have no intention, no true sincerity, no love, no resolution and no certainty and Allah is the authority for what we say. - The Darqawi Way. What this implies about practice is that you should see immediate and transformative effects. It is not something that we need to study for years in a traditional environment, it is as simple as just having the right intention. This path is about ease, not imposition. It is not about acquiring information but attaining transformation. It is about the arrival not the journey. May you have an easy journey and a swift arrival. May Allah grant us success on His Path May Allah grant us nearness to Him May Allah grant us Annihilation in Him May Allah grant us death before we die. May Allah grant peace and blessings on our Prophet Muhammad {S} Ameen.

Appendix: 1 The Wird of Shaykh Ebrahim Schuitema

Astughfir ullah x 33 Masha Allah x 33 Subhaan Allah x 33 Hasbun Allah wa nimal wakil x 33 La Illaha il allah x 100 Salawat x 10 (Allahumma salli ala sayyidina Muhammadin wa ala aalihi wa salam) Surah Al Ikhlas {112} x 3 Surah Al Falaq {113} x 1 Surah An Nas {114} x 1 Surah Al Fatiha x 1

Dua for whatever you wish, your Shaykh & all of the Darqawi Shaykhs
A recitation of the Wird can be found here: http://www.zawiaebrahim.googlepages.com/shadhili-darqawiaudio

Appendix: 2 Meditation By Adnan Al Adnani

Meditation is not concentration it is relaxation into oneself, awareness. Accept thoughts, no denial, no tension, no rejection, no struggle, and no conflict. Meditation is not introspection. Introspection is thinking about yourself. Introspection is analysing, judging, and rationalising a situation (reaction) not the self. Meditation is simply awareness of yourself (remembrance). Awareness of a reaction (e.g. anger) before it materialises will dissipate the reaction. Meditation is not an experience, it is a realisation, it is a stopping of all experiences. Experience is something outside of you. The experiencer is your being. False spirituality is concerned about the experience. Experiences continually change the experiencer is changeless (real). Awareness cannot exist with duality, and mind cannot exist without duality. The mind wants to be somewhere else, something else, to become. The mind does not allow being. The mind is becoming and the soul is being. Time exists only with becoming (desiring). Future exists because you desire.

Mind cannot stop out of effort. Mind stops out of understanding, awareness. Watch and understand the cause of these thoughts. Through looking deeply into those causes those causes disappear, then mind slows down. Witnessing is the beginning of meditation, and no-mind is the completion. Witnessing is the method to reach no-mind. Witnessing is in your hands, but no-mind is beyond your control. No-mind means that the higher self is in control of the mind. Mind is a medium for external communication that is used when needed. No-mind is enlightenment, is liberation, is freedom from all bondage, is the experience of immortality, is the Higher self.

Appendix: 3 Aphorisms of Intent

The world we experience is a reflection of the register of our internal dialogue. If you want something from someone else their capacity to withhold what you want from them makes you manipulable. I have been made by other than me to be enchanted with other than me. You are walking through text: Read it! Significance is not the attribute of the self. Significance is the attribute of the other. No bank account is big enough to fill the hole in the chest called insecurity. Attention is superior to Intention. The world is too big and complex to deliver what you want at any given point in time. If you construct your security on the basis of what you want to get or have, you stay insecure. Control and trust are mutually exclusive conditions. Your Intent and Attention determines your engagement with the Other. The more control you impose the less control you have If it's about the outcome then it is pointless. A person demonstrates their maturity by what they pay attention to in the world

You have no power over what you get. That sits in the hands of the other. The most significant achievements are feats of perception. Our attention is made for the other, not ourselves. When we complain it is like a vessel objecting when the water finds the cracks. All power is rooted in the willingness to lose unconditionally. The root of our squalor lies in self pity. We are here to be impacted on rather than to have an impact. Perception is above action. The self is the inward, the seer and the subject, while the social other is the outward, the seen and the object. How can the universe be hostile to me when everything I am made of has come from it? The degree to which you are able to disavow your expectation in a situation is the degree to which you are free in that situation. Gratitude transforms the experience of the vastness of the other from terror to awe. You give someone power over you with the extent that you want something from them. To act justly means to do what is right when it is inexpedient to do so. Any transaction where someone gets something for nothing is fundamentally usurious and unjust. We are mostly held hostage by our own expectations. The itch called insecurity scratches from the inside.

Maturity means pleasurably doing the appropriate when catastrophic failure is inevitable. Results focus sacrifices process for outcome. Death is not our problem, it is our lack of skill at dying which is. To do the work of finding what there is to be grateful for is to cultivate a habit of contentment. You can't see what is in front of you when your attention is occupied with what is around the corner. When I trust you I assume that when you are faced with the distinction between what is right and what is convenient you will do what is right. If seeing things as they are is not good enough for you, you are not seeing things as they are. Being here to serve is consistent with the shift of attention from outcome into process. Negation that is not based on affirmation is brutality. The self has no significance. It's purpose is to affirm the significance of the other. All aspiration in front of the window of perception produces suffering. Since death is inevitable the only competency which is of any value is an eloquence in loss. The competency that we require in dealing with death is an eloquence in loss rather than a skill in accumulation. All control is about the intent to produce predictable outcomes. It is about what you want to get. One of the attributes of freedom is to remain courteous when provoked.

Co-operation is a product of the degree to which the self sets the other up to succeed. A successful relationship does not require two. It requires nothing more than a benevolent self You are the product of your life. Everything else is a means to that end. Beware of loud protestations of guilt or innocence. My experience that I exist separately from other is an illusion. We are not here to fix things, we are here to witness that they work. Behind the window of perception is the place of no suffering. When you want something from the other their ability to withhold what you want gives them power over you. When you give attention to what you want to get you become weak. Being here to serve is consistent with the shift of attention from outcome into process. Mind your aspiration is not caught on the outside when death permanently closes the window of perception. To do the work of finding what there is to be grateful for is to cultivate a habit of contentment. The gardener prunes the rose out of love. You only have licence to grow if you care. Your history let's go of you based on the degree to which you let go of it. The intent to serve unconditionally does not require love, it produces it.