Majzoob

Based on Sufi thought, for the seeker of truth – or the salik – the journey or the path towards truth (haqiqa) ends with an absorption into love (majzoob). The absorption into love after traversing a long and arduous journey or path (sayr-o-suluk) and overcoming all its difficulties and obstacles is ultimately something which is bestowed upon the seeker or the one who has traversed the journey or path. The journey or path of the Sufi is a “methodical travelling” which amounts to a “return” to the essence and thus the source of existence. To be absorbed in love (majzoob) and to have completed the methodical journey and path is to be “externally sane and internally mad” and “externally sober and internally intoxicated.” It follows that absorption is the outcome of a “science of all the internal elements of the way.” There is a “chemism” or “chemical process” involved in absorption which cannot be explained empirically or scientifically. 

Thus, to become absorbed (majzoob) amounts to the completion (wassil) of the journey or path and after having acquired knowledge to the point where the one who becomes absorbed becomes himself a conduit or source of knowledge in their society. Any condition or state (hal or maqam) higher than the state of absorption and all its gifts and powers would require a guide who would enable the one who is absorbed to become complete from a material, intellectual, and spiritual standpoint (kamil). The absorbed ones (majzoob) are “those who offer the water of life to believers for the health of their spiritual life, a water with which they will quench their thirst for eternity.” Thus, in a sense, the majzoob are the healers of their societies, and it requires special attributes, experiences, and qualities in order to become a healer. 

To become absorbed (majzoob) and to complete the methodical journey and path also has its challenges which are separate from the challenges faced through the journey or path towards absorption. The path itself begins when “the world and all of its things are converted to torment and test for the seeker” and as a result, the seeker is prompted into the journey and path through no choosing or decision of their own. It is the seeker (salik) who is being sought, given that the seeker becomes a seeker as a result of choices, circumstances, and situations which are beyond his control or volition. At times, the seeker is bestowed with what is being sought without the seeker going through all the rites and rituals prescribed by the exoteric dimensions of religion. 

In turn, the methodical journey and path “guides the walker to wisdom, so that he can avoid rushing when it is necessary to restrain himself, and make possible a valiant action when it is tempting to abandon oneself.” Ultimately, to become absorbed is to suffer “for the beloved’s sake.” And it is absorption and in turn suffering for the beloved’s sake which is the only correct way of living. As Rumi said:

O you who are seeking the world;

you are like a day laborer in this world;

And you, lover of Paradise,

are also far distant from truth.

O you, who are unaware of the truth

and pleased with the two worlds,

You are excused, for you have not felt 

the pleasure of suffering for the Beloved’s sake.

In short, to become absorbed and in turn sacrifice a little bit of sanity for the sake of intoxication is to enter into divine grace and mercy, and it is through divine grace and mercy which explains both the completion of the methodical journey and path as well as the outcomes of the methodical journey and path.