The Lantern of Guidance  

Chapter 4, Section 2

Jam’ (Togetherness) & Tafraqa (Partition)

Apercu   Discussion    Join  


In Sufism the word Jam’ (Togetherness) connotates the elimination of any & all things that are not the Shuhud (Eye-witnessed Presence) of Sublime Singleton Haqq (The Absolute Reality & Truth, Allah). And the word Tafraqa (Partition) is when the Haqq (The Absolute Reality & Truth, Allah) is discerned from the Creation by means of the physical world, the accentuation and emphasis of the Divinity. The (claim to, belief of) Jam’ without the essence of Tafraqa (Partition) is atheism, and Tafraqa (Partition) without Jam’ (Togetherness) is utter retardation.

Both Jam’ (Togetherness) and Tafraqa (Partition) are the concomitants of correct and sound ideology. Since the concept of Jam’ (Togetherness) belongs to the Soul—indivisible and free of discernable components—and yet Tafraqa (Partition) belongs to Qāleb (Physical Biological Mold, a Matrix containing/shaping our existence, with discernable distinct components).

For as long as the Jam’ (Togetherness) and Tafraqa (Partition) are inexorably entangled, Jam’ (Togetherness) and Tafraqa (Partition) as concomitants are the necessary perquisite for Wujud (Being).

Therefore Aref (Divine Cognoscente), veraciously seeking researching for Truth, perpetually in touch with the Soul that is the place for Mushāhidah (Divine Perception), is dwelling within the state of feeling the essence of Jam’ (Togetherness), and yet stationed within the Maqām (Stationary State of the Heart) that of Tafraqa (Partition) employing the instruments of Qāleb (Physical Biological Mold, a Matrix containing/shaping our existence) the instruments of exertion of effort and struggle (Jihad). And Junaid’s poem best render this meaning:

For sure found You within and secrets upon my tongue
Togetherness for some meaning and Partition for other

If due to Majestic Grandeur You are absent from my eyes  (Tafraqa)
Yet with yearning and consciousness Your Nearness inside  (Jam’)

Wāseti said: If you glanced at your Nafs (Psyche, Self) then you are in state of Tafraqa (Partition) and if you glanced at your Lord then you are in state of Jam’ (Togetherness) and if you are in a state subsisting upon other than your Self, indeed you are Fān (Evanescing): Without Jam’ (Togetherness) and without Tafraqa (Partition). Therefore whomever during the worship or obeisance looks at his own Self i.e. desiring rewards or self-admiration then he is in the state of Tafraqa (Partition), yet whomever during the worship or obeisance looks at the virtues and generosity of the Lord then he is in the state of Jam’ (Togetherness), and whomever is completely evanescing from his own Self and his own deeds he is in the state of what Sufis call Jam’el-Jam’.

Abu Ali-Daq-qāq said: All things related to you is/causes Tafraqa (Partition) and whatsoever taken away from you is/causes Jam’ (Togetherness).

Junaid said: Qurb (Divine Nearness) caused by Wajd (Divine Consciousness) is Jam’ (Togetherness) and its absence vis-à-vis human being-ness is Tafraqa (Partition).

In summary, cloaking and absence of creation via the overwhelming conquest of Zuhur (Divine Manifestation) and Shuhud (Eye-witnessing the Divine Presence) is Jam’ (Togetherness) and vice-a-versa cloaking and absence of Haqq (The Absolute Reality & Truth, Allah) via the presence of creation is Tafraqa (Partition).

Abu-Sa’id Kharrāz said: The meaning of Jam’ (Togetherness) is that Allah—The Praiseworthy One—causes the feeling of an experience a consciousness as a conduit for a new form of Divine Being-ness within the Nafs (Psyche, Self) as was the Human Being-ness within the Nafs (Psyche, Self) yet indeed (The Jam’) causes the ‘Adam (Non-Beingness) of Human Being-ness within the Nafs (Psyche, Self) until their Wujud (Being-ness) is subsisting (solely) upon Hu (IT) (not on their own Self any longer) and this is the explanation of Hus (ITs) words “I will be his hearing, vision and hand, by Me shall hear by Me shall see and by Me shall strike”. For they used to be directed by their Nafs (Psyche, Self) towards their own Nafs but now (after Jam’) they are directed by Haqq towards Haqq (The Absolute Reality The Truth, Allah)”.

End.





Apercu 
The concept of Jam’ (Togetherness) more than often receives misguided interpretation, however in best of the Sufi hearts, it is the following:

Hadith Qudsi 25:
Messenger of Allah said: Allah (mighty and sublime be Hu) said:

Whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him. My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him. When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it. I do not hesitate about anything as much as I hesitate about [seizing] the soul of My faithful servant: he hates death and I hate hurting him.

In this state of Jam’ (Togetherness) human being is not transformed into a demigod or some such misinterpretation, instead he has evanesced: He is no longer. The latter is the Reality while Human Being-ness was just a dream. Jam’ (Togetherness) is to wake up from the dream of Being Human, to awakened consciousness of evanesce—The Reality. The Absolute Truth is an Absolute Reality when we are no longer.


© 2005-2002,  Dara O. Shayda