Islam Sufism Tariqa Qadiriya Boutshishiya Sidi Hamza

04-25-2010, 10:34 PM

علي الشريف احمد

المُشرف العام

علي الشريف احمد is on a distinguished road

Islam Sufism Tariqa Qadiriya Boutshishiya Sidi Hamza

أنا : علي الشريف احمد

سجل معنا لتتمتع بهذه الخاصية

True Knowledge can only be acquired through humility. The path towards this knowledge is like a person’s wanting to drink from a stream: he has to lower himself to be able to drink. Water seeks the lowest level, thus we have to imitate water.

To know God is without limit. Every step of the journey is hence more beautiful and marvelous than the one before it.

We all came out of the same light. There is no distinction, there is only union. We make the distinction between one another, but in reality we are united in One. We cannot attain this view unless we pass through every step of the path.

We perceive the exterior of things, but the interior is concealed from us and is occult. The body is of this world, but the soul is of another dimension, another kingdom. The access to this kingdom is the entire path.

Do not seek the Truth; first try to purify yourself.

Beware of the limits of mental comprehension. There exists a sensible intellect and a luminous intellect. The first intellect has a limit. To transcend this limit, we have to cultivate ourselves and seek the company of the men of God. Only God can transform the intellect from sensible to luminous, an intellect illuminated by the light from the heart.

The two royal gates that give access to God are invocations (dhikr) and generosity.

God elevates he who lowers himself.

Some amongst you find it difficult to be service to others, but if they make the effort, they can little by little liberate themselves of the shackles that hold back the soul.

When we live in a brotherly relationship (which I do not mean to be a brotherhood in the general sense, but that of brotherhood invested in love, where the hearts are in phase and the spirits are in affinity), there flows such a wonderful wine of love! This is truly the kingdom of God!

There exists only one light. The ego (nafs) has an exterior envelope that prevents the light from penetrating. The ordinary man sees is kept from seeing past this shell. But once the shield is dispelled the light that dwells in the heart mixes with the Light of God and we will only see this Divine Light: "Wherever you turn, there is the face of God."

The world is like a ephemeral shadow. When the sun rises on an object, there appears a shadow for a short while, and then the shadow dissipates. That is the case for this world in relation to Reality.

God’s emissaries do not have a shadow. Only men still unaware perceive them as beings gifted of shadows. It is in this context that we must understand what was reported of the Prophet Muhammad: The fact that he had no shadow.

He who perceives only Unity will see only Unity. He becomes aware that all habitual forms, including human forms, are only illusions.

Gratefulness and gratitude are links to Grace.

Nothing is outside of God. He encompasses all things. We contemplate this after the Realization. This Realization is something given. In this domain, the outward sciences serve no purpose. A scientist has the habit of measuring, evaluating and weighing everything. He who is beyond this approach sees no problem to be solved.

He who tries to find his way from the writings of Ibn Arabi or of other soufi masters of the past is only following their "djellabas" (garmets). He will remain at the surface of things. Methods differ as a function of the conditions of the period in which we live. Only a living master holds the key to initiate progression.

To a certain degree, the need for God becomes comparable to the need of assistance felt by a drowning person desperately calling for help. This need erases all desires except the one for God.

The one that understands the value of the Shaykh knows that his relationship with him does not depend on words. "You see me and I see you, " is largely sufficient.

Oral teaching is not necessary. What is most important is the transformation of hearts. As such, Sidi Boumedienne rarely spoke.

The day God wants to make his servant benefit from his Grace, He makes a breeze of love penetrate his heart. This way, the servant, despite being well involved in the business of the world down under, permanently feels a rapport with his Lord. Prophets, too, worked as we do, but their work did not dominate their hearts which stayed firmly rooted in God.

Knowledge is not acquired through books. It would be too easy to bend down and collect all of the books dealing with soufism to acquire it. The science of truth will come to you from inside, from your heart. Only the heart understands. It understands that nothing is outside of God.

Defect and ugliness are not in things or beings, but in the impurity of our vision of them. The more the soul is peaceful, perfect and pure, the more it will become disposed to see in all beings a Luminous Divine manifestation: All is beautiful. Only the non-polished heart of the disciple renders things ugly.

The Divine Light circles around the heart of the disciple. In order for a plane to land, the runway must be clear. Likewise, if our hearts are filled with desires and passions, the Light will not fine a way to land.

Wisdom is in the heart. He who wants to find water in his well must dig. The deeper he digs, the more abundant the water; if he stops digging, the water will not exceed the initial amount. The one that digs this well should not say nor believe that all the water has been found; he must continue to dig, for this well has no limit.

Everyone must be watchful of his own heart. Negative suggestions must be rejected. One must reject what is harmful and attempt to open up to all of the Divine Graces; that which is positive and favorable to the Path and that which enables progression. But how do we reject negative thoughts? When we feel them on the way, we must blame our ego and make it aware that it holds all of the faults it sees in others. "It is I that is wrong. When I see fault in others, I am only recognizing what is in me, otherwise I wouldn’t have seen it."

Two things are necessary and compliment one another in practice: Invocation and orientation. When we possess a mirror that is dirty and rusted and we desire that it will perfectly reflect the sun, we must do two things: polish the mirror (and this polishing takes the form of invocation) and orient it towards the sun. We can spend hours in invocation, but if we are not oriented towards the master, it is all wasted time. It is as if we desire that a bowl collects water from the sky, but we put it face down. It could rain and pour, but the bowl will not collect a single drop.

Invoke until they say: He is mad! (Hadith)

Regularly practiced invocation will progressively make desires and impure thoughts disappear. Likewise, if hunters go every morning to the forest and shoot their guns, all the animals, in fear, will flee when they hear the shots. They will return a little later in the day, but if the hunters come back every day, the animals will change location.

The answer is in the invocation. Because of it, you will have the intuition to do what is proper in every situation. The important thing is to be present, set roots and last in the path.

The spiritual state is the manifestation of the attraction of the disciple, including his body, towards the Spirit. The heart reacts as such because it is not accustomed to the Divine Light. The Light impacts the entire being, including the body.

You have many different states. Water is one, but flowers are many.

The opening (fath) is the sudden unveiling of the Divine Reality and therefore the end of illusion. It is like a snow ball thrown into the ocean. The snowball symbolizes the ego and the ocean Divine Reality. The snowball is nothing but frozen water; once thrown in the ocean, it becomes liquid and a small drop in the ocean. The ego has only one ephemeral and illusionary existence if we consider it in itself, cut off from its origin. Likewise, the snowball, if one judges it in its present state, at its momentary consistence, it seems very different from water. It appears to be of an original nature, other than that of the ocean; in reality it is nothing but a few drops of water, similar to all other drops in the ocean. There is only one water and many different states of the same water.

It is impossible to have pretensions of Divine Love while there are attachments to material things of the lower world dwelling in the heart. This is how we can test the lover: True love goes in step with true generosity. Sidi Boumedienne told often the following story: "A man pretended to love God and His Prophet. To test the sincerity of his love, God sent him an angel in human form who asked him: ‘Oh, you who pretend to love God and His Prophet, give me your coat.’ The man acquiesced. The angel asked him again, ‘give me your frock.’ The man gave him that, too. All he had left were his trousers and the angel asked for them, too. The man hid out of sight and threw his trousers over to the angel. He was left with nothing. He then heard a celestial voice that said to him: ‘If you pretend to love God and His Prophet your pretension is genuine.’"

I hold on to love more than to nay other thing. Let us pray that God will not take it away from us. Love between disciples and between the foqara and the master is infinite. It grows unceasingly.

This love is due to the spiritual secret(sirr) and is real for we congregate just for God. This love knocks down all cultural differences. It is love that sets hearts to work, to movement which makes one act. It is the setting of all minds and souls; through love we know all things.

When love inhabits the heart, nothing appears difficult and one draws profit from anything that happens. Thankfully, this comes from the fact that love erases the veil that separates us from Reality. As this veil becomes thinner and thinner, one experiences a profound joy that emanates from this proximity with Reality. One is captured by the perception of beauty.

It is love that causes a wound, a cry. Cries only he whose master is intoxicated. Love all beings no matter their religion, race or opinions!

Everyone is where God meant him to be and it is not appropriate for us to be judgemental. Sidi Boumedienne forbade any readings about soufism to his disciples, except "the Hikam" de Ibn Ata Illah: It is better to experience things first hand than to have preconceived ideas about them which shield them with a veil. Our path is the middle of the road.

When God loves his servant he covers his qualities with His Qualities. It is just as if one is invited by a king and one has no proper attire worthy of the king’s abode. The king then clothes him with his own garments and brings him into his palace.

One is attached to one’s own qualities: The scientist feels superior to all because of his knowledge; the rich man draws glory from his wealth – thus they remain with their disease. They can only be set free through spiritual education.

The ego (nafs) always refuses what we impose on it and begins to transmit suggestions to enable it to go far into what can satisfy it. The Path has the opposite effect: when something attracts us towards the lower world, the path prevents us from answering the call.

Within the Path, one should avoid getting bogged down on points of fixation and one is better off letting events take their course according to the will of God. Remain firmly anchored to one’s practices.

He whose intent (niya) is not pure shall not evolve, even if he spends a lifetime in the company of the Prophet. Someone’s forte is someone else’s deficit, thus one has to help others overcome their difficulties.

One has to disallow negative suggestions from entering one’s heart, lest it may become like a soiled stable.

One should try to keep one’s soul clean and pure. The dhikr cleans any impurities that may subsist.

Be constant with your personal dhikr and take part in collective services! Do not make any excuses! Though professional, familial and social obligations are heavy, that is the law of life and it is the lot for all of us.

Even when I speak of your garden, I speak of Unity! Respect for Divine law (shari’a) prescriptions plays the same role as the sealant wax on the bottle cork that makes it leak proof. A receptacle may fill with water, but if its bottom is ripped open all of its liquid will be lost. Regardless of any number of attempts to refill it, nothing is retained. This metaphor illustrates the case of a disciple who does not apply Divine Law.

Work is paramount in this world because Divine Law requires that one has to provide for one’s family. It is equally important to take care of one’s family, spouse and children. One also has to remain well focused on work for the Path. One therefore has to reconcile these three areas which constitute the hallmarks of one’s life. Progressively, with the practice of dhikr, one shall develop the intuition of what is a proper action to take in every situation.

Give care to your parents, even if they bear concepts totally the opposite of yours. Provide for their needs as is necessary. One of the shames of the modern world is to send one’s parents to an old age home to get rid of them.

When one reads the biography of the Prophet, one is struck by the similarity between the bonds that linked him to his community and what we are living today in the Path. In fact, it is one and same teaching that still goes on.

Conflicts between various ethnic and religious communities are linked to the past and one should not be concerned with these.

Do not seek spiritual states, ecstasies, proposals or visions! Seek only the knowledge if God. Desires and visions may shield us from this knowledge. Internal advancement must spring out and impact external behavior.

One must not take notice of someone else’s faults and be drawn in criticism and judgment. Otherwise, one ends up ignoring one’s own faults.

The Path is similar to a large hospital where the master (shaykh) is the only physician. How can a patient blame another patient for not feeling well? It is therefore important to magnify each other’s best qualities.

Look at you brothers as being perfect, if solely for their link to the Path. Progressively you will notice that the entire Divine Creation is perfect. He who sees a fault in the other only notices his own faults.

Be your heart’s keepers. Make it clean and pure like a place of prayer! The journey must be gradual so as the disciple may not become arrogant. He who gives and announces it, is worse than one who does not give at all. To brag is to annul all the fruits of the gift.

When a bee-keeper sees a swarm of bees, he brings a hive in which he lays sweet and perfumed things. When the bees sense the perfume they enter the hive. If the abode is well prepared then they will appreciate it and settle in. Otherwise they will only stay a day or two and the leave for good. The same phenomenon applies to the Divine Secret: if it finds the heart clean and perfumed, it shall settle in permanently and produce a Divine elixir.