Sufism and Breath
by
Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani
From the Life of the Sufi Master Jafar as-Sadiq:
"I saw someone sitting beside me invoking God saying 'Ya Allah, Ya Allah...'
repeatedly until he lost his breath. He then continued by saying 'Ya Hayy,
Ya Hayy...' I asked..., 'who is that?' He replied, 'that is the great
Imam, Ja'far as-Sadiq.' I ran after him to find him but he had disappeared."
Unveiling the Heart's Eye
Most Sufi paths offer aspirants a gradual unveiling of the heart's eye,
accomplished trough the practice of Dhikr. The commemoration of Allah.
This spiritual exercise may contain repetition of various of Allah's Holy
Names. Some of them involve practices design to break the spell of mundane
consciousness and propel the practicioner into a state of altered awareness.
Such practices may includes repetition of many thousands of holy phrases
sometimes connected with breathing exercises and often with physical
movements. Without a doubt through the steadfast and dedicated practice
of these methods the aspirant may experience spiritual states and attain
stations unimaginable in a normal state of consciousness: may feel himself
to be flying towards the heavenly goals, beholding the wonders of the
mysterious and hidden aspects of creation.
Conscious Breathing ("Hosh dar dam")
Hosh means "mind." Dar means "in." Dam means "breath." It means,
according to Master Abdul Khaliq al-Ghudjdawani "for the wise seeker to
safeguard his breath from heedlessness which makes the heart always
in the Divine Presence. And to revive his breath with worship and
servitude and to dispatch this worship to His Lord full of life. Because
every breath which is inhaled and exhaled with Presence is alive and
connected with the Divine Presence, and every breath inhaled and exhaled
with heedlessness is dead, disconnected from the Divine Presence."
Sayiddina Ubaydullah al-Ahrar said,
"the most important mission for the
seeker in this Order is to safeguard his breath, and who cannot safeguard
his breath it would be said of him 'he lost himself.'"
Shah Naqshband said,
"This Order is built on breath. So it is a must
on everyone to safeguard his breath in the time of your inhalation and
exhalation and further, to safeguard the breath in the interval between
the inhalation and exhalation."
Shaikh Abul Janaab Najmuddin al-Kubra said in his book Fawatih ul-Jamaal
said,
"Dhikr is flowing in the body of creatures by the necessity of their
breath, because through their breathing, the letter 'Ha' of the Divine
Name 'Allah,' is the very sound made with every exhalation and inhalation
and it is a sign of the Unseen Essence serving to emphasize the Uniqueness
of God. Therefore it is necessary to be present with that breathing, in
order to realize the Essence of the Creator.
God's name 'Allah' encompasses God's ninety-nine Names and Attributes and
consists of four letters, 'Alif,' 'Lam,' 'Lam' and 'Hah' (ALLAH). The people of
Sufism express that the absolute unseen Essence of God, Glorious and Exalted,
is expressed by the letter 'Hah' which represents the Absolute Unseen
which is the same letter 'Hah' which is used in the name 'Allah' which
encompasses the ninety-nine Names and Attributes. That name, as we said,
consists of four letters: the letter 'Ha' which is 'Ha' and 'Alif', and it
represents the Absolute Unseen of Allah. The first 'Lam' is for the sake of
identification and the second 'Lam' is for the sake of emphasis.
Safeguarding your breath from heedlessness will lead you to the Complete
Presence and the complete presence will lead you to the complete vision
and the complete vision will lead you to the copmlete manifestation
of God's 99 Names and Attributes. This leads you to manifest God's
Ninety-Nine Names and Attributes and all His other Attributes, in
affirmation of the Saying:
"Allah's Attributes are as numerous as
the breaths of human beings."
It must be known by everyone that securing the breath from heedlessness
is difficult for seekers. Therefore they must safeguard it by seeking
forgiveness.
Seeking Forgiveness
Shaykh Nazim says:
"Seeking forgiveness is to feel remorse for neglect of the rights of God,
the rights of human beings, the rights of the planet and all creation,
because seeking forgiveness will purify it and sanctify it and prepare
the seeker for the Real Manifestation of God everywhere. When one sees
the Light of God in every being, at that time that Light will penetrate
your own heart. Then the reality of God's Saying "I was a Hidden Treasure
and I wished to make Myself known, so I created Creation," will dawn in
the seeker's heart. When the dawn of that Light appears, the seeker will
no longer see himself as existing but will only manifest the existence
of the One, seeing himself as one with all existence, subsumed in the
Manifestation of God's Existence."
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