1.la ilaha illa Allah
there is no other reality but The Singular Reality
2.
Immanent: \Im"ma*nent\ - Adjective
Present within; inherent; indwelling; abiding; intrinsic;
(of God) permanently pervading the universe. [Oxford]
Immanence: \Im"ma*nence\ - Noun
The condition or quality of being immanent. [1913 Webster]
ORIGIN from Latin immanere ‘remain within’.
3.
... And beware, beware if you believe that our Lord is veiled from us by solid or subtle things: by God, no! illusion (wahm, arbitrary imagination which obscures and misleads) is the only thing which veils Him from us and illusion is empty. As the saint Ibn 'Ata-Illah says in his Hikam: "God is not veiled from you by some reality existing apart from Him, since there is no reality outside of Him; what veils Him from you is but the illusion that there can be a reality apart from Him."
We observe - but God is Perfect Knower - that this extinction takes place, God willing, in the least possible time, by means of a certain method of calling upon the Name of Majesty: Allah.
I came upon this method in the work of the Venerable Master, the Saint Abul-Hasan ash-Shadhili (may God be well pleased with him) ... It consists of visualizing the letters of the Name while saying, Allah, Allah, Allah. Each time the letters dissolved in imagination, I revisualized them and if they dissolved a thousand times during the day and a thousand times during the night, I continued a thousand times a day and a thousand times a night to revisualize them.
This method give me moments of immense insight when I practiced it for a little more than a month at the beginning of my spiritual path. It brought me greater knowledge as well as intense awe (haybah, state when the soul experiences in the face of the terrifying Majesty of God, Jalal), but I paid no heed to it, occupied as I was in calling upon the Name and visualizing the letters until the month ended.
Then a thought forced itself in my attention: "God, be He exalted, says that He is the First and the Last, the Outer and the Inner." (Quran LVII, 2). To being with, I turned away from this thought that crept in, resolved not to listen to it, and I continued to do my exercise; my refusal to listen to it, just as I did not accept its way of acting and did not listen to it. But finally, since it would hardly leave me in peace at all, I answered it: "As for His words saying that He is the First and the Last and that He is the Inner, I understand them quite well; but I do not understand His expression that He is 'the Outer', because all I see on the outside are created things."
To this the voice answered: "If by His expression 'The Outer' He meant something other than the outer world which we see, it would not be outside, but inside (that we would have to look for it). But I say to thee: "He is the Outer." Then I realized that there is no reality save God and nothing in the Cosmos but Him, praise and thank be to God.
We observe - but God is Perfect Knower - that this extinction takes place, God willing, in the least possible time, by means of a certain method of calling upon the Name of Majesty: Allah.
I came upon this method in the work of the Venerable Master, the Saint Abul-Hasan ash-Shadhili (may God be well pleased with him) ... It consists of visualizing the letters of the Name while saying, Allah, Allah, Allah. Each time the letters dissolved in imagination, I revisualized them and if they dissolved a thousand times during the day and a thousand times during the night, I continued a thousand times a day and a thousand times a night to revisualize them.
This method give me moments of immense insight when I practiced it for a little more than a month at the beginning of my spiritual path. It brought me greater knowledge as well as intense awe (haybah, state when the soul experiences in the face of the terrifying Majesty of God, Jalal), but I paid no heed to it, occupied as I was in calling upon the Name and visualizing the letters until the month ended.
Then a thought forced itself in my attention: "God, be He exalted, says that He is the First and the Last, the Outer and the Inner." (Quran LVII, 2). To being with, I turned away from this thought that crept in, resolved not to listen to it, and I continued to do my exercise; my refusal to listen to it, just as I did not accept its way of acting and did not listen to it. But finally, since it would hardly leave me in peace at all, I answered it: "As for His words saying that He is the First and the Last and that He is the Inner, I understand them quite well; but I do not understand His expression that He is 'the Outer', because all I see on the outside are created things."
To this the voice answered: "If by His expression 'The Outer' He meant something other than the outer world which we see, it would not be outside, but inside (that we would have to look for it). But I say to thee: "He is the Outer." Then I realized that there is no reality save God and nothing in the Cosmos but Him, praise and thank be to God.
- from: Letters of a Sufi Master
by The Shaikh al-Arabi ad-Darqawi
Translated by Titus Burkhardt
The copy I quoted here is First Edition published by Perennial Books, London, 1969. Presently this precious and rare sufi manual is newly published and made available by Fons Vitae.
4.
'Lo! God is nearer to you than your jugular vein' - affirms the Final Testament.
Divine Reality is Qarib, The Near Most, yet Latif, The Most Subtle.
Alas! He is Nearmost but through our veiled perception, negative maya or illusion it is we, and only we who are far from Him! May God elevate our stations so that we may arrive to realize His Presence wheresoever we turn. Indeed that is the reality of 'Garden' in Islamic tradition or 'Kingdom' in Christian tradition, where His Presence is never veiled or absent.
Divine Reality is Qarib, The Near Most, yet Latif, The Most Subtle.
Alas! He is Nearmost but through our veiled perception, negative maya or illusion it is we, and only we who are far from Him! May God elevate our stations so that we may arrive to realize His Presence wheresoever we turn. Indeed that is the reality of 'Garden' in Islamic tradition or 'Kingdom' in Christian tradition, where His Presence is never veiled or absent.
waosjud, waiqtarib.
.. Bow down in adoration, and bring thyself closer.
- The Quran 96:19
# Previous Post in this Series:
. Ignorant Addiction to Transcendence
. Woes of Addiction to Transcendence
# Related:
. Secrets of the Name and the Named One
. The Tawasin of Mansur Al-Hallaj
. The Hundred Letters of Sharafuddin Maneri
. Thomas Merton's letter to Sufis
. Letter to God
. Ignorant Addiction to Transcendence
. Woes of Addiction to Transcendence
# Related:
. Secrets of the Name and the Named One
. The Tawasin of Mansur Al-Hallaj
. The Hundred Letters of Sharafuddin Maneri
. Thomas Merton's letter to Sufis
. Letter to God
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