The Shattariyyah teaching is close to the interpretation of Ibn al-Arabi’s ideas on the relation between the inner world, or batin, and outer world, or lahir. Theoretically, the Shattariyyah agrees that the external world is the manifestation of the internal world. However, as I discussed in Chapter 6, the Shattariyyah tries to solve the problem of batin and lahir by proposing the modality taken to come close to God. His knowledge and power make everything that exists and is revealed. The external world is part of the inner world, but nevertheless, they argue, the outer world exists only by God’s Grace. Thus, the external world is dependent upon God.
Hence, the objective of the Shattariyyah is to ‘enter the inner world’ and finally to ‘approach’ the Ultimate through the practice of cleansing the heart. ‘To approach the Ultimate’ is the most moderate interpretation for the Wujudiyyah teaching. For the followers of Wujudiyyah such as Hamzah al-Fansuri, the Unity of Being is conceivable. The master of the Shattariyyah in 17th century Sumatra, Abd al-Rauf, to the contrary, stated that “the essence of the world is something other than al-Haq. (see Faturahman, 2001) This means that the Shattariyyah takes a slightly different position to the Wujudiyyah doctrine, which had been part of the previous Shattariyyah practice in India. The Pamijahan Shattariyyah is similar to Sumatran Shattariyyah in terms of its ‘softness’ or moderateness vis-à-vis the Wujudiyyah. The implication of the doctrine can be found in the practice of mystical chant (dikir). For Wujudiyyah, dikir is a method to find Unity, but for the Shattariyyah in Pamijahan it is to witness His Glory, or nyaksikeun, with a pure of heart.
The followers of the Shattariyyah, like other Sufis, believe that if the heart is dirty it will generate dirty deeds in return. Because the heart is scrubbed clean by the Light, it can render the inner world in which the mystic can ‘come close’ to Allah. (Trimingham 1998: 201-203; Faturahman 1999; Beben’s manuscipts) To comprehend the relation between the lahir and the batin, the Shattariyyah develop their own method, which is slightly different to other tarekat in Tasikmalaya.
The Shattariyyah followers have to practice their personal dikir every time after finishing each of the five daily obligatory prayers, or shalat lima waktu, and they also have to take part in communal dikir such as the tabarukan sessions guided by Beben. The dikir is complicated, since it is recognised as a special means for the journey into the inner world.
Manuscripts of the Shattariyyah, as also quoted by Beben in his explanations to me, mention that the dikir can be divided into two general classes based on its methods. The first is a mental dikir, that is a dikir ‘spoken’ silently in the heart. The second is dikir spoken out loud. The mental dikir adopts Indian Sufi practices by applying breath control similar to that of Yoga. The practice centres on the phrase ‘there is no God but Allah’, or la ilaha illa Allah, and the practice symbolically represents the process of the inhalation of the name of Allah and exhalation of sins. This process is clearly explained in the manuscripts. According to Beben, the mental dikir controls the recitation of la ilaha by following the rhythm of breathing. La ilaha is a statement of negation meaning ‘there is no…’ The disciples should exhale the breath while mentally declaring the negation. After that, the murid should inhale and pronounce illa Allah or ‘but Allah’ mentally. This dikir should be practiced over and over by the novice. The function of the dikir is to bring the murid to the realisation that there is only One Reality, or al-Haq.
A second type of mental dikir is to recite ‘He’ or Hu. The believers have to concentrate on the word ‘He’ which refers to ‘He is Allah’. If the novice has mastered these first and the second recitations, he then proceeds to the third dikir called dikir l-lah, “Allah –Allah”, and continue with Allah Hu or ‘Allah is He’ finishing with Hu Hu or “He He”. These latter two are considered for advanced learners. The same recitation could be pronounced aloud, a practice called dikir al-zahri. There is an even more advanced dikir, which can only be acquired personally from the master, and should be undertaken only under strict guidance.
What should be noted here is that the dikir, whether performed personally or communally, has various meanings for the villagers. From the framework of ibadah, the followers do not hesitate to regard the congregations, tabarukan, or khataman, as a form of servce to God within a Sufi framework. From a different perspective, I found that other doors to the blessing, barakah, are being opened to the villagers. If the pilgrims from outside Pamijahan have to spend a lot of energy and money to become the guests of the Wali (see Chapter 9), it does not mean that the villagers only receive barakah from their role as the host of the pilgrims, or nampi tamu. They also can ‘tap’ the blessing from the mystical congregations, as they do in tabarukan sessions. Even Beben tends to give special status to his activity ‘to seek barakah with barakah’. The rituals of the khataman, tabarukan and dikir themselves are already radiated by the blessing because the text and recitation used have been touched by the holy masters enumerated in the silsilah, and for this reason the barakah that may be tapped is doubled. More than that, Beben also indicates that it is his association‘s objective to make the inner journey and to find good in God’s sight. In short, it seems to me that the Wali’s blessing not only flows into the village through pilgrimage and the custodianship, but also through the Sufi Order.