The Effects and Power of the Transmissions in the Circles The Fusion of Light and Truth in the Latā if (Hazrat s writings referenced) Bismi-Llāhi-r-Rahmāni-r-Rahīm. The powers, Hazrat said, are very, very powerful transmissions. The more you pay attention to them, the more your meditation on these powers will be strong, and you will be strong from a spiritual point of view. These are the most important. Even when you go to sit in rūh, the power is the most important transmission. Then you will be sitting in rūh. When you sit with the Shaykh, these transmissions continue. When you go to rūh instead of qalb, then you use the word rūh and then khafee, akhfā and nafs, but the transmissions are the same. They are very, very important and you should follow them. The transmission will protect you from certain things. Let s say we are sitting in these powers. What can happen? Let s say the Shaykh comes in, for example, with a headache. You are sitting in these powers. Hazrat says, The shaykh will be cured, and you will get the headache (which is probably the reason why you don t come to meditation). There is no need to make intention to absorb; it will happen. The person who comes before you will be all right, even though you are not making an intention that the person will be all right. So it s very, very important. One man who was not in our order, and not a student of my shaykh, heard that if he could sit with the Sufis, he would be cured. The man came to the masjid and sat inside. My shaykh (Mohammed Sayed Khan) was sitting in muraqabah and stood up to go out. The man came 1
up and said, Asalaamu aleikum. Just then and there he was changed, and my shaykh became ill. It took him 3 or 4 days to get rid of that illness; it was very, very hard. So sitting in muraqabah in the powers is very, very important. The techniques are experiments of the great shuyukh and our teachers. According to their experience, they develop things to purify the heart. One shaykh saw nafs in between the eyes. The poles of the great shuyukh could change things by the will of Allah. Some saw nafs in the chest. Some did dhikr khafī, some made dhikr jahri. There are also suggestions in the Hadith of different methods to achieve the goals, but the object is to be with Allah. The methods differ due to the experiences of the teacher. As you have a syllabus or curriculum for formal education first grade, second grade, university so there is a curriculum. There are different parts. The circles are parts of the study. We call it circle because it has no sides and no width; it has no height, no depth. It has no end and no beginning. We have seven circles, and you try to complete the circles. With the help of muraqabah, you try to attain and to purify yourself. As you have a curriculum, you have one for spiritual development. There was a student who used to live in the tekkia for 10 or 15 years. The student went wherever he wanted to go, but it was a lengthy process. He wanted all the teachings he could possibly have. Bahā uddīn Naqshband (ra) asked Allah Swt. He said he saw these people struggling with this long and difficult process, and asked them for a simpler way, and Allah Swt answered his prayers. He answered his prayers by revealing to him all the latā if, and gave him the three practices he added to the previous ones of the Naqshbandi Order. With the help of these shuyukh, and the latā if, and the different faculties, one can attain to this absorption or fana. Hazrat said in a later point: 2
Don t be confused. These are experiments of masters (meaning experiments being done by scientists, not just by common people; people are testing and trying out things). You are a teacher of history. As you know, new discoveries can change the way things are taught. With the advent of psychology, many methods of teaching have changed. First of all, we used to teach the alphabet, then words, then sentences. Then a certain psychology came in and we tried to prove that man thinks in wholes, not in parts. So instead of teaching alphabets first, they use story methods, and from stories to sentences, and then words, and then alphabet. History has not changed, but methods change. The aim of the salik is always the same, however. There are different methods to attain it. This is why when I asked Hazrat about making dhikr jahri, his answer was, You re the shaykh. You decide. He didn t do it. So I had the question, what should I do? But he didn t answer the question. I think I knew what he would have said if he did. Our technique is based on these principles, and these latā if are based on these transmissions. Training through these transmissions is a shorter way in time to achieve or reach, what Hazrat used to call, the destination, or to make progress. He went on to say, In the old days, we used to make fana fi shaykh. The student came to the shaykh, and the shaykh asked him, Have you ever loved anyone? And the student said, No, not really. The shaykh said, Go and love someone first, because you cannot love Allah unless you love a human being first. So have the experience outwardly and then come back. Then you will love me and love Rasūlu-Llāh (sal) and love Allah Swt. 3
These are the revelations that come from the words of our shuyukh. Allah Swt revealed to the Prophet Mohammed (sal) a very important thing in the hadith quds. He said, I was a hidden treasure wanting to be known, so I created this creation. He was not just referring to the physical world. He was referring to the world of the nafas ar-rahmat, the breath of compassion and mercy. After all, it was with breath that he created Hazrat Adam after creating him out of clay, and with the breath that he created Prophet Isa in the womb of Maryam. This is the breath of rahmat. In the world of nafas ar-rahmat, the breath of compassion and mercy is the essence of life. All people who undertake this Sufic practice find they develop not only more and more understanding, but more and more of a sense of compassion and mercy. It s not just your compassion and mercy, but the compassion and mercy of Allah Swt. The dhat / essence we turn our attention to is that pure essence. In pas an fas, when you hold your breath and recite the Name of Allah Swt an odd number of times, it s like you hold it until you cannot hold it any longer, then you exhale. That moment of exhalation, before you take the in-breath again, is like the fayd. When Allah exhales on this creation, all this creation is created, on the out-breath. That exhalation comes into our latā if, and everything a human being can understand and perceive, and everything a human being can name (like the Prophet Adam (as) named things) comes from Allah Swt, comes from that moment when Allah Swt exhales onto that creation, that clay. The originator of all capacity, of all thought, knowledge, beauty, of all action, is in that out breath. It is not just, for example, when Allah breathes into the womb of Maryam. It puts a spirit, and everything that can possibly be understood and grasped, every conception of beauty and knowledge or perception itself, basira/insight, is breathed into that Prophet Isa (as). The latā if now are not just receptacles of the fayd, they 4
also have another quality: they are lenses. Each is a lens that allows you to look slightly differently at life through each latifa, and each has a hidden or secret aspect to it. When we talk about the harmony between the inner life and outer life, between the batin and the dhahir, the reality that is manifest as the Prophet Muhammed (sal) is both a physical and external, and a mystical reality. Just like the Prophet (sal) is both a physical and a mystical reality. The physical reality of this man Muhammed Abdullah (sal) is one thing. The life of a human being who has achieved nearness to Allah becomes more perfected, like the Messenger became perfected. The mystic reality of the Prophet (sal) is this effusion of light/fayd and the fusion of light and truth within each one of us. It s where the light of knowledge and truth comes. In English we say, We are suffused with light, and it creates a fusion between the light and the receptacle of that light. That mystic reality is the fusion of the truth within us. This is known as the Haqiqah of Muhammad, of the Muhammadean truth. It is how you see those Divine Attributes interacting in the physical world, as if you were looking at atoms, at subatomic particles flying through the air. Everything would be radiating in this dynamism. The latā if allow us to understand what a Sufi really is, as a reflected expression of that Light of the Prophet Muhammed (sal). That is to say, a Sufi is a compassionate human being, understanding human being, serviceful, kind, patient, and just human being, a princely and humble human being in the dhahir. But in the batin, it is a person who is in harmony with that light of Rasūlu-Llāh (sal). That light becomes bright in that individual so that others can see it. A series of events takes place, physical realities take place in our life: pain, happiness, grief, comfort, different perspectives on knowledge and truth. What a Sufi accomplishes through these transmissions and in muraqabah is an acceptance and development and awakening of the latā if through this fayd, this projection of light. 5
Each [latifa], as you know, is associated with a prophet or two, and brings us a special and unique attribute of that prophet, until we begin to see that there is a template, a plan in all this. With each latifa, there is not just a prophet that accompanies it, but the attributes and qualities that prophet had to manifest in order to bring the next level of creation to happen. What the Prophet Adam (as) had to manifest in order to bring the reality of the world of Nūh and Ibrahim; and what did they have to go through and manifest in order to bring the reality of the following prophets, Daoud or Musa and Isa, and the Prophet Mohammed (sal)? Each one had their qualities, like love and kindness and trust. The names and attributes became active expressions through the latā if of that participant or practicant. We talk about the sayr ul suluk in this life. Like a fish travels in water, we are traveling in energy. We are traveling in this fayd. Our meditation becomes more apparent to us. We receive from the world of command these guidances, and the essence, shapes, forms, and names of Allah Swt create effects on our personality and character, just like anything we focus on has an effect on us. It has a social or psychological or emotional effect on us and on our conditioning. That s why in the practice of Tasawwuf, certain shuyukh used to say that you have to unlearn before you can learn how to learn. Once you learn how to learn, you can learn (Idries Shah). You have to unlearn things because the conditioning stands in the way. Beginning with muraqabah, we are able to contemplate from the very beginning some of the deepest aspects of human life, beginning with the first transmission of the heart. We don t encourage the idea of just thinking about the names and forms, or the prophets or the colors; but these things come to us in the silence of our muraqabah. It s good to understand what is happening. When we are in ghunoodgi, drifting, a peacefulness, a sense of unity, that gentle rain or mist that descends upon 6
us when we are in that state, the latā if open. The consciousness that is linked with the names becomes a reality. For example, when we are sitting in the Names and Attributes of Allah Swt, we are not just memorizing those names and saying them over and over though it is wonderful to memorize them and contemplate them at other times in our lives we are opening ourselves to this fayd. The names become a reality to us. As we see the linkage between all these latā if and the transmissions, what happens is we get a stronger sense of the collective, the ummah. When we are sitting together in meditation, the jam is really a collectivization of energy and attention. Some Sufis talk about jami jam, a much higher state of gathering that comes from the teachings of Ibn Araby, Shaykh al-akbar. The human being gains strength and health, a collective way of seeing, a sense of community, a sense of humanity, a sense of humaneness, a sense of service and humility. Because of this light that is now illuminating us, it illuminates the world around us. We see things other people don t see. We feel things other people don t feel. The attitude of a person who has been sitting in muraqabah has to be one who is waiting patiently for the beloved to come. A person who is living as a result of that muraqabah through the latā if is a person who is patient. In this case, sabr moves from being patient and waiting for the beloved, waiting for the response, to perseverance. Now in the outer sense, you have taken the benefits of the muraqabah and persevere in your faith and belief, in your work, in your sacrifice and in giving your energy over to what needs to be done. Bahā uddīn Naqshband (ra) said, One should contemplate being together with Allah. 7
What does being together with Allah mean? It means to travel these circles, and realize that these circles have a center everywhere and a circumference nowhere. That is to say, each circle has its specific prophet, but also a specific characteristic or quality. For example, in the first circle, which is Hazrat Adam, the khalifa of Allah, has the quality of being a khalifa/deputy of Allah. The second transmission of the second circle is the circle of Nūh (as) who was najil of Allah. That circle has the quality of being a confidante of Allah Swt. Each circle, even though we don t contemplate those terms, has an awakening within us. I know you want know what the rest of them are. The third circle is Ibrahim (as), Khalila-Llāh, the Friend of Allah. The fourth circle is Musa (as), the Conversant ( the one who speaks with Allah). The fifth circle if Daoud, the Intimate of Allah. The sixth is Isa (as), the Kalimata-Llāh, the Word of Allah. The seventh is Muhammed (sal) Habiba-Llāh, the Beloved of Allah. These are also the qualities that manifest in these circles. You have the stories in each of these prophets that show it, and give you a familiarity with it. Some of you have experienced, and most of you know, the two transmissions in maiyyat and maiyyat al hubbi in the second circle: the accompaniment with Allah and being near to Allah in love. Then we come to the boundaries of each circle, and find ourselves traveling sayr-i-llah, toward Allah. When you come to the boundaries of all these circles, at the end of the seventh circle, you find yourself now equipped, and you realize you are traveling toward Allah. As we travel toward Allah, we travel near Allah, and in Allah, sayr-i-llah, sayrfī-llah, sayr-ma -Llah, until we realize we are never, ever in this world far from the Divine Presence. We are always near the Divine Presence. This becomes such a miraculous understanding. Most of us have it momentarily, as a hal, if we have it at all. But when you have it, you can also experience a supreme kind of separation 8
when you don t have. This is why all this preparation is important, so that when you experience this Divine Presence, and realization that you are never far from Allah, that you are always in the presence of that light, then the next challenge, the next state, becomes I don t want to say easier but more open. The love of Allah Swt, compared to any other kind of love, overtakes us. Traveling to Allah, traveling in Allah, traveling with Allah is something many shaykhs take years before they allow their students to do. Once you experience that nearness, I ll quote from Hazrat again: The success one feels in one s identity in the presence of Allah as compared to the challenges one finds in one s work and success, these things can be tremendous shocks in the world to the mind and emotions. Traveling to Allah, in Allah, with Allah is something that many shaykhs take years before they allow their students to do. Once you experience that nearness to Allah in this way, not in the way of fayd coming into the latā if, and you are seeing things different, not in the way of just being compassionate and merciful in your day to day life, but when you get to the point in your meditation where you can be traveling with Allah, near Allah, in this maiyyati hubb, in the deeper sense, first in qalb, then in rūh, then sirr, then khafī, then akhfā, then nafs, then you get to a place at the end of that long journey where you are given an instruction of the sayr-i-llah and the other niyyat. If you are not prepared for that state and that station, it can drive you crazy. This whole concept of Islam of tawhid should start to make sense to you. Unity, not just one God, just start to make sense to you. There has never been anything but unity and nearness. There has never been anything but total compassion and total mercy. There has never been anything but forgiveness. Allah makes it a state, not a station, and gives us a taste of it. If you want more, you have to get the hierarchical 9
mind working in such a way that it says, I want to take the next step and the next step. Of course, you put Allah first and you have the experiences that you have; but all that you do, all the good works and help you give to people, and all the generosity and charity you give, you understand now is a necessary process as a khalifa in order to divest yourself of everything other than the trust and nearness to Allah Swt. As far as I know, that s the end of what I am going to tell you about the circles. I don t know if you have learned anything; it s been a long journey. I will actually talk about them more again when I talk on the Shadhili teachings. Any questions? Question: I was thinking about inner and outer, manifest and not manifest, and had a thought that the relationship of the latā if and the circles is like a helix, a spiral like the DNA. Sometimes in meditation I feel I am traveling through a wormhole into another dimension, but don t know if that s just my imagination and how I relate to things. Is that thinking valid? Shaykh: Of course. Why now? How many times have you heard me speak about the world being a metaphor and is reflected in the outer world? As subtle as DNA and genes are, they are still part of the outer world. I think you can go back at least 35 years in my talks and hear me speak about spirals. I gave talks on the chambered nautilus and the Golden Mean in the yogic days. When DNA was discovered, I was alive and talking at that time. I was telling exactly the same story. In those days we were practicing a lot of yoga, so it became interesting. I remember talking about the caduceus, the medical symbol of the snake the ida and the pingala and the spine. As we travel around in the spiral, it seems like we are coming to the same place, in another dimension, and it never ends. I remember speaking about how it is reflected. When you put them together, the two spirals go on infinitely. One goes inward and one goes outward. Inwardly you see the chains of the DNA. Even deeper 10
into the subatomic particles, you see the spiral nebula within the human genetic coding and molecular structure. It s the same thing you see in the universe: As above, so below. It s in the one. That s the recursive reality of tawhid I was speaking about today. You see it in yourself, and you see it off the horizons. When you get to nafs in this process, because indirāj an-nihāyah fi l-bidāya (we begin where others end), we are not ending in just the physical world of the ego. We are ending in the subtleties of the cosmic reality, the molecular reflective reality of the self. We see that Allah put the whole universe in us, because Allah is as near to us as our jugular vein. That s the tawhidic moment, where you realize when Allah says kun faya kun, creates Adam and breathes life into him, that it is eternity, a noncontingent reality, breathing into what seems to be a contingent reality. It s the unlimited supposedly being contained by the limited. But it is not the limited containing the unlimited; it is all within the unlimited. If this is the way you see it and relate to it, it s fine. The truth is the truth. To me it s always very encouraging and exciting to see how the batin and the dhahir are reflective of each other. At that place where they meet is the place where the soul departs every night, and Allah decides which ones to send back and which ones to keep. That s in the Qur an. When I speak about Hazrat Adam, I ll quote that to you. If you say, Not everybody dies in their sleep, then don t be so limited in the way you look at things. Everyone who passes closes their eyes somewhat like that and leaves the body. Question: As you were talking about the circles and the prophets they represented, you said something to the effect that each one represents a stage in the spiritual evolution of inner refinement. My portion of Qur an tonight was the story of Musa 11
and Khdir. It seems as though many qualities of Musa in the different stories seem to be pointing out his shortcomings. For instance, his fear of Pharoah, and Allah tells him not to fear; his inability to control his nafs while traveling with Khidr. It is confusing to me that the Quran seems to be pointing out the shortcomings of these prophets. Is it so we have examples of our own challenges and the work that lies in front of us? Or am I seeing this completely wrong? Shaykh: I don t know that I would call them shortcomings. They are just human traits. You are seeing a person who was chosen as a messenger who had human traits. He was not masūm. According to the Torah, he is not even allowed to enter into the Promised land of Canaan. I think you see a human being. Every prophet has a human quality. The Prophet Noah (as) failed, after 950 years, to convince his own family. He couldn t even convince his own children. Was Sidna Ibrahim weak because he was disturbed by the fact that he was supposed to take the life of Ishmael, his son? He s human. Out of desperation, Daoud goes to Walmart and buys a slingshot. It s the only place I know you can buy a slingshot. It s out of desperation. Prophet Isa (as) doubts. Why have you forsaken me? You have the manifestation of doubt in his companion Thomas. Then you come to Prophet Muhammed (sal). What do you find there? You find certain qualities. When he got the revelation in the cave, he returned to Khadija fearful, scared. He thought maybe he was crazy. Then, when he didn t get another revelation for a long time, he wondered maybe if there was something wrong with him. Doubt is part of human life, but you persevere. Allah Swt blesses you with the will to persevere, until the doubt goes away; until the latā if come into harmony, until the outer vision and the inner vision are one; until you achieve that state where you are beyond even those qualities, those names and attributes, and all you see is the oneness of Allah swt. None of those doubts stopped any of them. I guess 12
you can make a strong case for the fact that if Sidna Musa never questioned Khdir, and if Jesus was never doubting and fearful; and if Isaac didn t wrestle with Shaytan in the river, and if Job and Yunus didn t go through what they went through, you wouldn t have the level of faith and trust to be models and messengers of a higher message. Obviously, it was necessary for the Prophet (sal) to be married to Khadija for such a long period of time, and to have her strength and encouragement, for him to fully manifest who he was by birth and by destiny. Obviously, she played an integral role in his life. He was not like the Prophet Micah who came out of the desert, delivered a warning, and then disappeared into the desert again. He had to engage with human beings and human issues, like the Prophet Musa (as), and Adam (as), who is the progenitor of all the problems and challenges. Prophet Yusuf had all the attributes of beauty and strength, yet look at the trials he had to go through. Does that address your question? Yes. These are just human challenges. 13