Shams Part 6

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Invincible ﴿1, ﴾ The King said: Bring it to me, I will take it for my private service. And when he saw how he spoke to him, he said: You are today by my side, respected, safe ﴿2, until His saying, exalted be He!, ﴾ God is Invincible in His command ﴿3, ﴾ and we gave Him means to obtain anything ﴿4, ÆSWM, ﴾ We worship You and We ask You for help ﴿5, alsā’a, al’aŷal, ﴾ a help from God and a coming victory. Gladness for the believers ﴿6, there is no power or strength except in God, the Most High, the Exalted.”

This spell and this surah are useful for settling troubling matters, for defeating armies, defeating enemies, and for gaining victory over the envious and the hateful. If you recite it, it will be of benefit and value, and you should mention what you want to get rid of. There are thirty verses, so be aware of its power, for in it is one of the most magnificent divine benefits. We have only clarified and pointed out some of its peculiar virtues, God is wiser!

IINVOCATION OF THE SURAH ﴾ HAVEWE NOT OPENED YOUR BREAST? ﴿7.

You must know, may Allah help us to obey Him and to understand the secrets of His Names, that the recitation of this surah has wonderful properties. When you want to make use of it, you shall fast to serve Allah for three days, you shall utter the invocation seventy times, also the noble Fāti¬a seventy times, and the noble surah seventy times. And you will say “Mu¬ammad, Mu¬ammad…” seventy times, for the servant [of the Surah] will really grant you that abundance with which you can do without the rest of the creatures. And if you order him to take you to Mecca as quickly as possible, or anything you ask of him, he will grant it to you and comply with it quickly, God willing, exalted be he! The servant’s name is Daryā’īl, and this is the incantation you will pronounce:

“I beseech thee, O Light of divine illuminations that precedes times and perishable ages, the Efficient Essence without comparison, the Most Holy, the Pure, the Most High, the Victorious, the One
Who contains no place and Whose position is not questioned, Who makes the spaces,
the ages and the moments to be, Blessed are you in the essence of divinity and perpetual and eternal lights!
O Lord, cover me with the fountain of life of spiritual entities who are distinguished by the power raised to and indescribable. O Creator, O Producer [of all creatures] and of the imperceptible magnificence of
Thy Power, not even the cherubim8 can remove from their faces the veils of Thy Light. I beseech Thee, O
Lord in eternal subsistence, in the Grandiosity of the power of the Divinity and in the strength of Lordship,
to deliver me from the sea of this perishable creation, to reveal to me the true secrets which are hidden from creatures, [thou art] Who favoreth with them those of Thy servants whom Thou lovesst most, those
who aspire to the abode of Perpetuity, those who leave the abode of perdition, those who are

1 Cor. LVIII:20.
2 Cor. XII:54.
3 Cor. XII:21, so it is an incoherence, since this verse is earlier.
4 Cor. XVIII:83.
5 Cor. I:4.
6 Cor. LXI:13.
7 Cor. xciv.
8 The cherubim angels (alkarrūbiyyūn) are the closest to God, for they are said to be found around

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to the Throne.

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akin to pure spiritual realities. My God, cast out from me mortal diseases (alamrāÅ al fāniya)1 with the creative force of Your power, with the greatness of Your essence, and with the Light of Your face in the sanctity of Your illuminations. Put me together with the elect (alafrād), prevent me from falling into the worship of other deities who want to resemble and associate you, and reveal to me the subtle (al-la’if) and hidden realities. O Who causes to perish for the fulfillment of His promise and for the Greatness, O Most High, O High One, O Origin of the origins, verily Thou canst do all, ﴾ He is God, the Creator, the Innovator, the Shaper ﴿2 to the end of the surah.”

Then you shall take a comb, perfume it, and comb your beard with it, for everyone who sees you will love you intensely and obey you. The incense will be made of benzoin incense. Be God-fearing and be aware of the earthly benefit that is granted to you, We have only opened the door for you, be prudent, hide its secret, and thus you will attain your goals and peace.

IINVOCATION OF [THE SURAH] ﴾ HAVEWE NOT OPENED YOUR BREAST? ﴿ FOLLOWING ANOTHER PROCEDURE

Know, brother, may God guide us to his obedience and to the understanding of the secrets of his Names, that I have taken this noble invocation from the noblest teachers, and has wonderful virtues of which we will speak later. This is the way to perform the noble invocation, you will say:

“In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. My God, I beg you for ﴾ Have we not
opened your breast? 3 O my God, open my bosom with the Name with which You opened the heart
of Your Prophet Muhammad, God bless him and save him! O Pacific 3 times, O Faithful 3 times, O Allāh 3 times, I beseech You by the right of our Lord Muhammad, to whom You addressed with Your words ﴾ and
We have delivered You from Your burden ﴿4. O Allāh, O Allāh, O Allāh, I beseech You by Your eternal diction and by Your
noble Prophet, upon whom You sent down ﴾ and that which weighed on Your back ﴿ 5. I beseech Thee, O Allāh,
O Allāh, O Visible, O Hidden One, from Whom my situation is not hidden, O He Whom the eyes do not reach, hide me from the eyes of the wicked and deliver me from the evil of all Thy creatures.
O Allāh, O Allāh, O Allāh, I beseech Thee by Thy Name whereby Thou didst raise the dignity of Thy servant and the righteousness of Thy creature and the chief of Thy messengers, [the Prophet], for Thee is not remembered except he is remembered with Thee, and [by whom] Thou didst reveal in him the appearance of the greatness of Thy Grace, ﴾ And
have we put your mention in a high place? ﴿6. O Who elevates, O Who appoints [a high place for
His Prophet], make me remembered in the mention of those who remember [Your Name], ﴾ those who remember God standing, sitting and lying down, and reflect on the creation of the heavens and the earth

1 It refers to spiritual defects that cause his soul to perish. 2 Cor. LIX:24.
3 Cor. xciv:1.
4 Cor. xciv:2.

5 Cor. xciv:3. 6 Cor. xciv:4.

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saying, “Our Lord!” You didn’t create all of this in vain. Glory to You! Preserve us from the punishment of Fire﴿1.
O Allāh, O Allāh, O Allāh, deliver me from the wickedness of the wicked and save me from the wickedness of the enemies and
the envious, by the holiness of the best of all Thy creatures, our Lord Muhammad, may God bless him and save him, seal of the prophets, to whom Thou didst reveal — for verily with narrowness there is relief. Yes, along with narrowness there is relief ﴿2. O O Who decreeth narrowness among those who live in ease, put my relief in all straits, my relief in all scarcity, and my remedy in all worry, by the right of our lord Muṣmad, the most gratified [of Thy servants] and chief of earthly and heavenly creatures, upon whom Thou didst send down these verses, ﴾ So, when you have finished, strive for more and yearn for your Lord ﴿3. I beseech Thee, O my God, by our Lord Muṣṣṇd
and his brethren the prophets, the messengers and the angels closest to God, by the family of our
Lord Muṣṇd, his companions, his followers (altābi’ūna) and the rest of Your devoted servants, to turn me away from the gaze of the wicked, to deliver me from the wickedness of the enemies and the envious, and to subordinate to me the spirituality of this Sura to obtain my means of subsistence and to incline the
affection of hearts to me. And that you provide me with reasons for joy and avoid that which will cause me
any harm. O Allāh, O Allāh, O Allāh, O Subtle, O Guardian, O Lover, O Living, O Subsistent, O Initiator, O Who restores life, O Lord of the majestic Throne, O Who works what
he wills, O Lord of immense strength. I beg You, my God, by Your Glory that cannot be fought
and Your Sovereignty that cannot be wronged, I beg You by Your Light that spreads existence, I ask You by
Your Power with which You decreed all Your creation, I ask You by Your Clemency that You extend to all things,
there is no God but You, I seek help in Your Clemency, O Helper of those who cry for help, ﴾ and ®ūlNūn when he left angrily without thinking that we were going to put him in trouble. Thus he cried out in the darkness, “There is no god but Thee, Glory be to Thee.” Verily I have been of the unrighteous until His saying, we saved the believers ﴿4. O Living One, O Subsisting One, in Thee I seek help, O Helper of those who implore help, grant that all my affairs prosper and do not abandon me to my own care even for a moment, O most Gracious of the merciful. My God, I beg you, for every singularity that

You have and every peculiarity that You display, and by Your generosity overflowing in them, that You grant integrity, virtue, success, and prosperity to me, to my family, to my children, and to those whom I will have to support. Protect us from every disease, save us from every misfortune, and keep us from every difficulty, adversity, and loss. O Lord of the gifts scattered like dust, O One Who stretches out his hands with Mercy and the gift, may God bless and save our Lord Muhammad with the best of dwellings, his family and his companions!”

You should know about this highly effective invocation that we have only mentioned some of its virtues. Whoever recites this noble surah to settle any matter that Allah approves, let him recite it twenty-one times after praying two rak’at. Then you will sit down in the Turkish style and recite it the mentioned number of times. When you have finished, you shall recite the invocation three times and pray to Allah, may He be exalted, for your need, for it will certainly be resolved for you, God willing, may He be exalted, for His favor and His generosity. God speaks the truth and He leads the way.

1 Cor. III:191.
2 Cor. xciv:56. 3 Cor. xciv:78. 4 Cor. XXI:867.

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1 Cor. II:244.

MENTIONOF THE FIVE NOBLE VERSES IN WHICH THERE ARE TEN LETTERS QĀF.

Know, may God guide you and me to his obedience, that a certain sultan of the ancestors had a minister whom he wanted to kill, and had ordered the executioner that when the minister arrived and he
gave the signal to kill him, his head should be cut off. When the minister went to the sultan, that
hatred disappeared by order of God, exalted be He!, […] within him, so he ordered the executioners to leave until the next day. The sultan remained in this situation for many days, for every
day he ordered [the executioner] to kill the minister, but when the minister came in to see him and they were face to
face, God, exalted be He, made that first attitude disappear, until a certain day when the
king went out to ride a horse and the minister accompanied him. They rode out together, and when they were at
a certain part of the way the king came up to the minister, put his hand on the minister’s neck, and said to him,
“O minister, I want to ask you something, but do not be afraid of me,” and the minister said, “O our
Lord Sultan, ask whatever you please, for I will be sincere in whatever you ask me, God willing, exalted be He!” The sultan said: “Know, O minister, that there is not a day in
which I do not order your death and destruction, and in which I do not hide the executioner by my side and say to him, ‘When
the minister comes in and gives you the sign, cut off his head.’ But when you come to see me and I see you in front of me, that hatred disappears immediately without a trace. Tell me and tell the truth, for I have already forgiven you and there is no trace of hatred for you left within me: do you have any prayer (wird) or prayer with
which you invoke [your protection]? Speak!” The minister said: “O our lord sultan, you must know that I had
an alfaqi who taught me the Qur’an, and the alfaqi said to me one day: “Memorize these five verses, because
each of them contains ten letters qāf. And whoever continually recites these five verses
before sunrise and sunset, Allah, exalted be He, observes [protecting] him. If aking or a sultan recites these five verses, God, exalted be He, increases his dominion and protects him from his retinue and
his subjects.
If a poor man recites them, God, exalted be He, enriches him. If they are recited by one who has a need and invokes Allah, exalted be He, continually repeating the recitation, Allah, exalted be He, resolves his need on the spot. And whoever recites them continuously is wanted and loved by the rest of the
people, his words are heard and everyone who sees him respects him.” These are the five verses:

The first verse, in the surah of the Cow, is His words: ﴾ Have you not seen those nobles among the children of Israel, after Moses, when they said to a prophet that they had?: Appoint a king among us to fight in the way of God.

He said, “It may be that if you are commanded to go and fight, do not do so; They answered, “How could we stop fighting in God’s way when we have been driven from our homes and separated from our children?”

However, when he was ordered to fight, all but a few backed down. God knows the unrighteous ﴿1.

The second verse, in the surah of The Family of ‘Imrān, is His saying: ﴾ And so it was that Allah heard the word of those who said: God is poor and we are rich.

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We will write down what they said and who killed the prophets for no reason: Taste the punishment of incineration!

That will be because of what their hands have presented and because God is not at all unjust to the servants ﴿1.

The third verse, in the Surah of the Women, is His saying: ﴾ Have you not seen those who were told, ‘Hold your hands, fulfill your prayer, and give alms?

And when they were commanded to fight, some of them feared men as one fears God, or even more, and said, “Our Lord! Why do you command us to fight? What if you gave us a short deadline?

Say: The possession in enjoyment of this life is a small thing; the Hereafter is better for the one who is fearful. Not a wisp of injustice will be done to you ﴿2.

The fourth verse, in the Surah of The Table, is His saying: ﴾ And tell them the truth of the story of the two sons of Adam, when they offered a sacrifice and it was accepted to one but the other was not. He said: I will kill you! He answered: God only accepts those who fear Him ﴿3.

The fifth verse in the Thunder surah is His saying: Say: Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth? Say: Allah. Say: Will you take away from Him protectors who are not even masters of their own harm or benefit? Say: “Are the blind and the seeing alike?” Or are darkness and light the same? Or do they attribute to God associates who have created as He has done, and that creation seems similar to them? Say: God is the Creator of all things, and He is the One, the Invincible One (4).

And you should know, God help us to obey Him and to understand the secrets of His Names, that when someone from the ruling class wants to fight against a people (qawm), if it is time to enter into combat and his purpose is to defeat them with the help of Allah, exalted be He, then let him perform ablutions and pray two rak’at. Then he will pick up seven stones from the ground the size of a chickpea, [assigning] to each stone he picks one of the letters of FQŶ MJMT. Then he will put them in the palm of his left hand, take one of them in his right hand, and read the first of the verses with it ten times. Then he will raise his right hand with the stone on which he recited, saying: ﴾ Deaf, dumb and blind, they do not… ﴿5, and he will throw it in front of him. Then he will take another stone with his right hand and read the second verse with it ten times. Then he will raise his [right] hand saying: ﴾ Did you think that we created you only for amusement and that we did not… ﴿6, and he will throw it after him. Then he will take another stone with his right hand and read the third surah with it ten times. Then he shall lift up his [right] hand, saying: ﴾ We have put a barrier in front of them and another behind them, and we have kept a veil over them, no… 7 and throw the stone at his right hand. Then he will take a stone with his right hand and read the fourth verse with it

1 Cor. III:1812.
2 Cor. IV:76.
3 Cor. v:29.
4 Cor. XIII:178.
5 Cor. II:17. Omit the last word, yarŷi’ūna.
6 Cor. xxiii:116. Omit the last word, tarjŷi’ūna. 7 Cor. XXXVI:8. Omit the last word, yub1⁄2irūna.

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ten times, [then he will raise his hand] and say: ﴾ Jinn and men together! If you can get out of the confines of heaven and earth, do it. But no… ﴿1, and throw it to his left. There will remain in his hand three stones and he will put it on his head [under the turban] and enter the battlefield, for he will come out of it without any harm happening to him, God willing, exalted be he!

Another of its virtues is that if you are afraid of an enemy and you are in a place that scares you, you shall take seven stones from the ground and say as you pick them up [one of the letters of] FQŶ MJMT. Then he will throw a stone at himself after reciting what was said before, and he will throw them to his right, to his left, behind and in front of him as mentioned. Then he shall sit on the ground and say ﴾ Kāf hā yā’ ‘ayn 1⁄2ād ﴿2 with the fingers of his right hand until he closes his hand, and he shall say ﴾ ©ā’ mīm ‘ayn sīn qāf ﴿3 with the fingers of his left hand until he closes his hand. Then he will be silent and will not speak, for even if a multitude of men and jinn go to meet him, they will not see him, and God, exalted be He, will hide him from them. And everyone who sees him will respect him and consider him someone important. Allah, praise and exalted be He, knows better.

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This is the blessed square of enormous power4:

Fig. 61

1 Cor. LV:31. Omit the last three words, tanafu2ūna illā bisulÐān.
2 Cor. XIX:1.
3 Cor. XLII:1.
4 Apparently, the next square harmonizes the letters of Cor. XLVIII: 29.

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BDIVINE ENEFICE (FĀ’IDA)

“In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. My God, I beseech Thee, for the sublime of
the eternal, of the sacred, of that which Thy Names treasure. By the kinds of varieties of kinds of combinations of the variegated forms of Thy lights. By the glory of the vigor of Your Glory, by the might of the power of the intensity of Your strength. By the capacity of the power of Thy Omnipotence, by
the authority of the glorification of the embellishment of Thy greatness. By the superiority of the level of
the height of Your high dignity. For the subsistence of the perpetuity of Thy eternity. For the benefit
of the favor of the indulgence of Your forgiveness. By the elevation of the excellent, the insurmountable of Your authority. By the blessing of the benevolence of the extension of Your Clemency. By the flashes of the sparks, of the lightnings, of the roar of light, of the radiance, of the brightness, of the brightness of Your light. For the victory of the dominion of the blessed omen of Your Oneness. By the fury of the tossing of the waves of Your
sea that contains the world of Your Sovereignty. Because of the breadth of the expanse of space of the intermediate worlds of Your footstool. For the dignity of the spiritual essences of the angels of Thy Throne. By
the angels of the spirits in charge of the spheres of the stars. For the longing for peace of those who aspire
to Your forgiveness. By the ardours of the sighs of the steps taken by those who fear Thy onslaught. By the covenant
of duty of those who strive for Thy pleasure. By the glorification of the exaltation of those who lead
to Your obedience. O First, O Last, O Visible, O Hidden, O Eternal, O Permanent, destroy
with the power (Ðilsam) of ﴾ BismilLāh al-Ra¬mān alRa¬īm ﴿, by the secret of […] the hearts of our enemies and of your enemies. Crush the ringleaders of unbelief with the sharp
blows of the swords that are the source of Thy wield’s victory. Cover us with Your protective veil from the gaze that their eyes throw upon us, weakened by Your might and strength. Pour Your favor upon us through the pipes of the gutters of divine help (altawfīq) night and day. Immerse us in the
pure water of Your land and Your Mercy, and bind us with the chains of salvation (alsalāma) so that we will not
fall into disobedience to You. O First, O Last, O Visible, O Hidden, O Eternal, O Permanent,
O Patient, O Omniscient. My God, minds are stupefied, intellects are blocked, conjectures are
vain, opinions change, thoughts are bewildered, and intelligences
are incapable of comprehending in essence the nature of what is manifested in the spontaneity of the illuminations of the miracles of Thy Omnipotence, except for him who is touched by radiance
of the brightness of Your appearance. My Godor, Who causes movements, Who alters quiescences, Who
breaks the solidity of the hardness of the rocks of immovable mountains, Who causes water necessary for creatures to spring from
them, Who gives life to all animals and plants, Who knows what the secrets of ants contain in the expression of the hidden signs of their languages. Who is exalted, sanctified, glorified, acclaimed, and magnified in the glory of the perfection of the Throne of the Throne of the Blessed Sacraments.

Know that, may Allah guide us to the understanding of His secrets, that whoever recites the surah of Event1 after the evening prayer (ala1⁄2r) fourteen times, as well as the [ninety-nine] Most Beautiful Names of God, will then recite this blessed invocation and persist in the recitation of it for one or two weeks, for God, exalted be He, will open the door of abundance for him and provide for him without limitation. This is the blessed invocation of enormous power, you will say:

1 Cor. lvi.

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angels of Your seven heavens. Put us in this blessed hour among those who call upon You and are cared for, who beg You and are granted, who beseech You and receive Your Clemency, and who ask forgiveness for their sins and are forgiven by Your favor and Your benevolence. O Generous, O Lord of favor, generosity and eternal benevolence.”

[Then] you will recite seven times: “My God, treat us in the way you are worthy, and do not treat us in the way we are worthy. Truly You are Worthy of being feared and given to forgive. My God, we cannot conceive of a praise from Thee as that praise which Thou didst address to Thyself, glorified be Thy face, exalted be Thy nearness, glorified be Thy praise! God does what He wills with His Omnipotence and decrees whatever He wills with His Magnificence. O Living One, O Subsisting One, O Creator of heaven and earth, I beseech Thee, O Lord of Majesty and Bounty. There is no power or strength except in God, the Most High, the Sublime, God bless and save our Lord Muhammad, his family and his companions!

MENTIONOF THE NOBLE CIRECLE [OF THEUCES] AND THE MAGNIFICENT AND PORTENTOUS SECRETS IT CONTAINS

You must know, God help us to obey Him and understand the secrets of His names, that this noble circle is called “the Circle of Lights,” and it is a wonderful secret, so have great faith in it. When you want the person you want to come to your house, draw this circle as I will indicate on a piece of paper, and draw on it the name of the person who is the object and the name of his mother in the small circle. Then you will put the leaf on a wall facing east, stick a small iron nail in the letter alif and recite the incantation seven times making an incense of frankincense, unpowdered saffron, ruegrain 1, musk sukk and benzoin incense. If the desired person is late in arriving, put the nail in the letter bā’, and so on from letter to letter, burning the incense and reciting the incantation, until the person who is the subject of the ritual appears with one of the letters, for his servant spirit will cause him to appear. Then you will invoke him with that letter and with his servant at all times when you want him to appear before you. If the desired person is traveling, put a nail in each letter, recite the incantation seven times and calculate the distance of the road, because he will really come.

You should know that this circle does not depend on any specific time or time, as it is exempt from the heart. Draw it, invoke your desired person [writing his name] in the center, and after the incantation say “O King, O Eternal” two hundred and sixty times, and thus you will achieve your goal, God willing, exalted be He! This spell is the spell of the letters that you must say:

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“In the name of God, the Holy, the Pure, the Most High, MŠL©Ŷ, He is the Victorious, Lord of a ŠYŠLJJ, ŠLŠLGLÆĀŶWRB, Lord of the times of endless ages, Who predestines the moments, The One whose Sovereignty does not change or cease, Lord of high Glory and haughty Majesty.

1 We read ¬abb al¬armal instead of ¬abb alraml, ‘grains of sand’, as it appears in the original.

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With His Names I invoke you, O Lord of all spiritual beings who partake of the natural qualities of the luminous letters, that you obey and take it upon yourselves to attract So-and-so son of So-and-so to So-and-so, by the right of these luminous Names YÆFR, ÆYHĀÆF, HYŠFÆŠHWH, HLFYÆ, RY©YF, ÆYHWB, HYZ, LJŠÆF, everything is illuminated by His name and every living thing is answered by calling upon Him. ÆRFQŠ, HŠRĀÆ, and an all-dominating force, HLNĀNY’, ĀSLLYMWT, JW’ÆŠÆWHN, ŠHFYG, ŠFW1⁄4, ĀSÆ’ÆNŶ, You are the origin of the life of every spirit. ©ŶHŠ’ÆLYĀLF, no spirit hears Your name and disobeys it without being struck down and consumed. TŠ’LĀYT©, JÆHYÆH, ĀRJÆYHYRÆHYH. Answer, O noble spirits, servants of these sublime letters, by the right of that with which I conjure you. Take care, O Æūniyā’īl, and you, O ‘Ašlahiyā’īl, and you, O Æafiyā’īl, and you, O ‘Am1⁄2ā’īl, to command the servants of these noble letters to meet my needs and to bring the one whom I appointed you in this circle, to attract So-and-so son of So-and-so. ﴾ Wherever you are, God will gather you all. God is Mighty over all things ﴿1, “Hehas power to gather them all together whenever He wills ﴿2, hayā, hayā, alwa¬ā, alwa¬ā, al’aŷal, al’aŷal, alsā’a, alsā’a. By the right of the Names and of the spiritual angels that I recite to you, may the blessing of God be with you and in you.”

Know that, O aspirant, may God be praised and exalted, help us to obey Him, that this chapter is very important. Do not do with it except for what is permitted, and beware of making it available to the ignorant, for it is the book of saints and devotees. Fear Allah, praise and exalted be He, and if you use it for what is not permitted, you will be responsible for it before Allah, praise and exalted be He! I abstain from all responsibility and now it is your responsibility, O one who enters this sublime circle. God speaks the truth and He shows the way.

This is the noble circle:

1 Cor. II:147. 2 Cor. XLII:27.

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ON THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISE OF THE SURAH OF THE CHAPTER1]

You must know, may God help us to obey Him and to understand the secrets of His names, that the spiritual exercise of the surah of The Cult and its invocation is of enormous power, and it is a question of some of its peculiar virtues that were transmitted by the favored (alfuÅalā’). It is related of the šayj ‘Abd al-Wā¬id al-Andalusī2, may Allah be pleased with him!, who said: “I remained for years asking the people of science about the ascetic exercise of the surah of the Cult, and a person told me that in Makkah there was a šaykh named Abū ‘Abd Allāh al’Irāqī3, who had been dwelling in the Noble Sanctuary for years, and to whom this ascetic practice is due. I took provisions to make the pilgrimage from the Maghreb to Egypt, and from there I went to the land of ©ijaz, where I stayed for a year. I came to the man, gave him a magnificent donation (hadiyya), and remained for some time in his company

1 Cor. CXII.
2 Unidentified. 3 Unidentified.

Fig. 62

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without talking about it at all. The friendship between the two of them being great, one day we sat down to talk about this ascetic exercise, and we talked about what some saints had mentioned to me, God be satisfied with them, about the method of carrying it out, and that the basis of these matters is the
fear of God, exalted be He, purity of intentions, sincerity and the search for the Other Abode and

of the high position ﴾ together with those whom God has favored: the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous, what excellent companions! ﴿1.

Then the šayj said to me, God have mercy on him when he is in front of his soul!: “By God, brother ‘Abd al-Wā¬id, that whatever makes me well and blessed is the ascetic practice of the surah of the Cult.” Then I smiled, and he said to me: “What makes you smile by despising what I am telling you?”, and I said: “God keep me from such a thing, how could I take the attribute of the Clement as a mockery? For God’s sake, the reason for my smile is that that’s precisely why I came from the Maghreb to see you and make friends with you.” And he said, “Do you assure me by the truth of the Lord of this House?” I nodded, and then he said to me, “The Messenger of Allah said, God bless you and save you!”, “Honouring the one who comes to see us is our duty”, and I follow his words which contain his law (šarī’a). And since you came to me, honoring you is an obligation for me. No doubt you are a good and devoted people, you are an educated man, you have really come to me from a distant country, and you have excellent patience, for some time has passed without your letting me know the reason for your company, which is indicative of your great intelligence and the excellence of your wisdom. I, by the Lord of this House, will not deny you his explanation.” Then I kissed his hand and he kissed my head. Then he said, “Tomorrow morning, God willing, I will show you and teach you how to do it.”

I prayed [to God] to grant him a happy outcome [in the Hereafter], and I could not sleep that night of joy. When dawn broke, I left early for the Ka’aba, prayed the dawn prayer, and went around the enclosure (albayt). Not long ago the šayj had sat in his place, so I went to him, kissed his hand and said, “Do you know what I’m going to tell you and what I’m going to show you?” I said, “Oh my God, no.” Then he said: “By God my teacher ‘Abd al1⁄4amad alJwārizmī 2 taught me those Names that I recite ten times when I go to sleep. Then I pray for the Prophet, God bless and save him, ten times, and I pray God to reveal to me what I desire, and He reveals it to me by the blessing of these noble Names. Tonight I did that and asked God, exalted be He, about your business. I asked if your purpose with this ascetic practice is worldly and if I was acting correctly in granting it to you. Then I saw my teacher ‘Abd al-1⁄4amad al-Khwārizmī in a dream, and he said to me: “Abū ‘Abd Allāh, you ask concerning ‘Abd al-Wā¬id, and why he intends to perform the noble ascetic exercise. Do not deny him, for he is a good man and is worthy of it. But make him commit himself to preserve it and hide it from whom he is not worthy, and tell him that when the intention of its use is different, his servant spirits will cause him immense harm, we pray to God for protection and well-being!” Then he told me: ‘Send him my memories.'”

1 Cor. IV:68.
2 Unidentified.

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‘Abd al-Wā¬id said: “I wept intensely and knelt giving thanks to Allah, may He be exalted! Then he made me promise by the Black Stone not to divulge this sublime secret to anyone who was not worthy of it, and he commanded me to fear God. Then he gave me a sheet of paper on which was written the way to perform the blessed practice. In it I read that whoever wants to carry out the ascetic exercise of the surah of the Cult, must perform it with total dedication and rendering a sincere worship to God. He must purify himself, perform ablutions, and sit in a place where there is no one, so he will not speak to any of the creatures of Allah, may He be exalted, in the interval of time mentioned. His servant must be a devout and helpful man who watches over the purity and cleanliness [of the place and its owner]. To perform the ritual, you must fast on the first Thursday of the month. He will maintain ritual purity and hygiene as well as his fasting for fifteen days, during which he will abstain from taking that in which there is vital breath. He will break the fast with barley bread, salt and oil. He will recite the noble surah five thousand times every day, a thousand times at the end of each of the obligatory prayers; and at night a thousand times, all for fourteen days, so that the total number of times will be eighty-four thousand. The rest of the time he will remain reciting all the verses, a2kār and supplications for the Prophet, may God bless him and save him, as possible. The incense will be burned night and day, and the incense will be composed of nadd, rosemary and benzoin. And when it is the evening of the last Friday and he has completed the six thousand recitations, he will pray with this blessed prayer, saying:

“My God, I beseech Thee, O One, O Singular, O Eternal, O Who taketh neither mate nor son, O Who hath neither begotten nor begotten, and there is none like Him.”2 I beg You to order the servant spirits of this noble surah to obey Me in whatever I wish, You really do what You wish.”

Then you will say: “I conjure you, O spirits servants of this noble surah, by the right of that of which you have absolute certainty, that you may hasten to come.” Then three angels will come to you, whose faces will be like the moon on a full moon night, but their faces will be great, like suns whose light dazzles the eyes. They will say to you, “Peace be upon you, O devoted servant, the Mercy of God and His blessings. We are the servants of this sublime sura, what do you want from us?” You will return the greeting and say: “I want you to honor, glorify, and magnify Him who has made this noble surah His attribute, and to serve Me and obey Me in whatever I command you, while I ask of you only those things that please the Lord.”

They will answer you, “Your orders will be carried out. We find your oath authentic and respond to your invocation. But we must make it a condition that from this very day and this very moment you do not fall into sin, that you do not lie, that you do not eat garlic, onion or fish, that you always fast on Thursday and that you recite the surah during that day and that night, which will be Friday, ten thousand times and conferring its merit (£awāb) on the dead of the Muslims3. Don’t break the fast of the

1 In the original it says “sixteen thousand”.
2 Cor. CXII:34.
3 That is, he will confer the merit or reward corresponding to such recitation in favor of the souls of the

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dead Muslims, or praying for them.

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Thursday, except when it is a religious holiday, do not forget the ablution on Friday, and visit the graves every Saturday before sunrise, reciting it eleven times and conferring its merit on the dead of the Muslims.”

You’ll accept by saying, “All right, and God is a witness to it.” At that moment they will shake your hand and say, “Now you are one of our brothers, whatever matter you ask of us, we will solve for you, God willing, exalted be He!” You will say to them, “Give me each one a sign with which I can summon you.” The first will say to you: “My name is ‘Abd al-Wā¬id: recite the surah, say ‘O ‘Abd al-Wā¬id!’ and I will answer you. And you have the right to take you to Mecca and return you to your home in a single hour.” The second will say to you: “My name is ‘Abd al1⁄4amad: recite the surah, say: “O ‘Abd al1⁄4amad!” and I will answer you, God willing, exalted be He! You have the right to bring you whatever you want of food, drink, silver and gold that is found in the land without an owner.” And the third will say to you: “My name is ‘Abd al-Ramyan: recite the surah, say: ‘O ‘Abd al-Raman!’ and I will answer you. You have the right to impose three tasks on me: to make the water of the cisterns boil, to hide from the eyes of the people and to bring you the news of the different nations.” Then you will kneel before God giving thanks for this sublime favor, and you will say: “May God, exalted be He, thank you for your effort and reward you for it.” Preserve it and don’t show it to fools, let it be a secret between you and me.

NEWSECTION ON THE INVOCATION OF THE SURAH OF THE BODY

To carry it out you will retire to a place without people, clean your clothes, your body and the place where you are, and you will sit remembering Allah, exalted be He! Then you shall utter the stigfāra a hundred times, and the ta1⁄2liya a hundred times. Then you shall pray two rak’ats, reciting in the first the Fatia once and the surah of the Cult five hundred times, and in the second the Fatia once and the surah of the Cult fifty times. Then you shall pray to God with fervor and total dedication, and you shall burn the incense, which shall be frankincense and benzoin. After that you will bow your head on your knees and recite the Surah of the Slanderer1 hundred times with correct aspiration and total sincerity, and you will inflict harm on whomever you want and in whatever way you want to represent him, [in a wax figure] like a wild animal, like someone brandishing a sword or whatever you wish, and you will repeat the operation until your problem is solved. Allah, praise be to Him, is the One Who grants success.

NEWSECTION ON THE SURAH OF THE BODY

Know, may God help us to obey Him and to understand the secrets of His Names, that when you want to use the recitation of this noble surah, clean your clothes, your body, and the place where you are. You shall fast for three days, abstaining from taking anything in which there is a vital breath or that proceeds from it. You will start on a Tuesday, and when it is Friday night you will recite the surah a thousand times and recite the next prayer. When your recitation is over, he will come before you . . . , do not be afraid of him.

1 Cor. Civ.

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When he greets you, return the greeting and treat him with gravity, for he is an angel of great power and condition. He will say to you, “What do you want, devout servant?” Ask Him for whatever you need and desire, and He will fulfill it. Ask him for one of his servants to be of your obedience in all that he can control, and take a password, so that when you want to settle a matter, reciting the surah and pronouncing his name he will present himself to you. Have it for whatever you want, and the incense will be benzoin incense. Fear God and worship Him sincerely.

This is the blessed invocation, you will say: “My God, I beseech you by the qāf of Omnipotence (al qudra) and absolute Domination (ali¬āāa), by the lām of the Tablet (allū¬) and Subtlety (alluÐf), by the hā’ of Reverential Fear (alhayba) and of Right Guidance (alhidāya) and by the wāw of Authority (alwilāya), that You put in me capacity and dominion over the subtle entities of the Tablet, exultant for the yā’ of Fear (alhayba), well guided and guided by whoever desires Your Right Guidance, You are the Guide of those who ask to be guided. O He whose cover is above all assertions and negations, accidents and alterations, equivalent and opposite, division and quantification: Say: He is God, One ﴿1. O One in the perpetuity of His eternal Sovereignty, without transformation or materialization. O my God, I pray to You by the wāw of Oneness (alwa¬dāniyya) and Oneness (al wā¬idiyya), and the conjunctive alif (ma’Ðūf) 2 which is the basis of cyclic creation3, by the ¬ā’ of eternal Life (al-ayāt), by the dāl of perpetuity (aldawām). He who has no limit, no time, no measure that encompasses Him, has no wife or son. You are God, the One, the One, the Eternal. My God, make me one of the units and the singular of the singular, strengthen me with one of the generations of the spirituality of the conjunctive alif, so that with the help of that I may enter the seas of the elect closest to You. Revive my soul with one of the breaths of Thy wisdom and with the longest spirituality, so that I may find myself hopeful among the blessed and the favored, and occupy a high position among Thy servants until the Day of Return. My God, I beg you, by the 1⁄2ād of Truthfulness (al1⁄2idq) and of Constancy (al1⁄2apr), by the mīm of Sovereignty (almulk) and Glory (al maŷd), by the yā’ of Awakening (alyaqÞa) and Certainty (alyaqīn), to make me a truthful, sincere, upright, stately, majestic and venerated person, reborn in Awakening4, persuaded by Certainty and strengthened in the magnificence of Your Generosity with the probity of Your angels, to which I turn for my prosperity in this life and in the Hereafter. Appoint for me a helper who is never hindered, ﴾ has not begotten or been begotten, and there is none like Him ﴿ 5. O my God, protect me with the kāf of Thy sufficiency (kifāya), so that I may seek refuge in none of Thy creatures except Thee. Enlighten me with the luminosity of it, so that I may obtain success and salvation with it together with Your closest servants. You are truly capable of anything and you are worthy of answering. By Thy mercy, O most Gracious of the merciful!

1 Cor. CXII:1.
2 It refers to the alif wa1⁄2l with which definite nouns begin.
3 Alnaš’at aldawriyya, a concept that designates the continuous generation of human beings and other beings.

It also implies that all creation will return to its primordial state, returning to God in the Last Creation or Resurrection (alnaš’at alājira. Cf. Cor. XXIX:189, XXXVI:78 and LIII:46, where both concepts are reflected).

4 Awakening signifies the end of neglect and is one of the spiritual abodes of mystics (see NURBAKHSH, Sufi Symbolism, v, pp. 195197).

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5 Cor. CXII:34.

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The following square is helpful for what we have mentioned regarding this noble surah. We have summarized his explanation so as not to lengthen the discourse, and this is his disposition:

Fig. 63

A DIVINE BENEFICE (fā’IDA).

It is narrated in the sacred saying that a man came before the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and save him, and said: “O Messenger of Allah, the world turns its back on me and my goods are scarce,” and replied: “To what extent do you involve yourself in the blessings of the angels [the Prophet] and the praises of God of the creatures, by virtue of which they are provided?” He said: “What is that, O Messenger of Allah?” And he said, “Praise be to God, the Exalted, praise be to Him Who is immune to all might and strength to stand against Him, praise be to Him Whose glorification serves as an inspiration to Him who leans upon Him, praise be to Him Whom all things glorify with praises, praise be to You, there is no god but You in praise, O He Whom he glorifies all things, he remedies my wants, for I am distressed. Then ask God’s forgiveness, praise and exalted be He, a hundred times, and you will do that between the dawn prayer and the Friday prayer.”1

And it is said of the Messenger, God bless and save him!, that the angel Gabriel said to him, “Say, My God, cover me with Thy safety in this life and in the Hereafter.“2 And he said, “Whoever says a hundred times every day, ‘There is no god but Allah the Evident Truth’ the gates of sustenance are opened to him, poverty disappears from him, he knocks at the gates of paradise, in them he takes refuge from the torment of the grave, the earthly world is hateful to him, and God, exalted be He, creates by every word an angel who praises Him and asks forgiveness of their sins.”3 And with that we put an end to what is transmitted from the Prophet. God speaks the Truth and shows the way.

1 We do not find this tradition in the collections cited.
2 See alTirmi2ī, no. 3518; Abū Dawūd, no. 4412; Ibn Mājāa, no. 2948. 3 Not located.

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CHAPTER FIFTEEN
ONTHE RULES INDISPENSABLE TO CERTAIN PERSONS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE FIRST DEGREES TOWARDS THE LIGHTS OF THE LAST SPIRITUAL DEGREES

Know that, may God help us to obey and understand the secrets of His blessed Names, that Allah, may He be praised and exalted, created the angels who bear the Throne, those who surround the footstool, those who are in charge of the Calamus, and those who search the Tablet. And He created for them various kinds of remembrances of the Divinity and different ways of consecrating themselves to His service, just like the heavenly angels, except that the remembrance of the angels of the supreme rank, who are the [bearers] of the Throne, is “Most Holy, Most Holy” (Quddūs Quddūs), and the remembrance of the angels of the footstool is “Most pure, Most Holy (Subbū¬ Quddūs), Lord of angels and the Spirit”.

And you should know that the meaning of His Name ‘the Most Holy’ (alQuddūs) is that God will make visible to the one who pronounces it proficiently in His way the subtle realities of the world of the higher Imperative (aljabarūt ala’là). In this sphere of the Imperative is the Lotus of Limit1, the enclosure of Holiness in intimate dialogue with God, the veils of mystical illumination, the seas of lights, the upper carpet (alrafraf ala’là), the pavilions of the extreme limit, the science of constituent letters, and the end of spiritual realities. The lights of these eight entities in the higher sphere of the Imperative are too high to be perceived in the form of intellectual concepts.

One of the peculiarities of His Name ‘the Most Holy’ (alQuddūs) is that to it is added the Name ‘the Most Pure’ (alSubbū¬), saying “Most Holy, Most Pure”, and because of this the world of the upper Kingdom (almalakūt ala’là) is discovered, and in the world of the higher sovereignty there are eight [entities]: the Throne, the Footstool, the Chálamo, the Tablet, the higher council [of the angels], the plane (al mustawà), the tablets and the calamos that correspond to his saying, God bless and save [the Prophet]!: “I ascended to the plane where I heard the chirping of the calamos”2.

And one of the peculiarities of His Name ‘the Sanctism, the Purism, the Lord of the angels and of the Spirit’, is that in Him the Kingdom (almalakūt), the Imperative (aljabarūt) and the Sovereignty (al mulk) are manifested. In the world of lower Sovereignty there are eight [entities]: the Footstool and the seven heavens; and in the world of the lower Imperative are the seven lands. And in [the world of] Sovereignty there are eight [entities]: heat, moisture, cold, dryness, inanimate body, animal, vegetable, and mineral. This remembrance is that of the bearers of the Throne and that of the Holy Spirit, peace be upon him, who is a sublime angel, for Allah, exalted be He, after the Throne created nothing more sublime than himself, and is in charge of divine inspiration (alilhām). It has been said that the Holy Spirit is the angel Jibrīl, peace be upon him, and it is the reality of the descent of divine revelation, according to His words,

1 Cf. Cor. LIII:15. Nurbakhsh (Sufi Symbolism, ii, p. 382) translates “the Tree at the edge of the world.” 2 Bujārī, no 336, 3094; Muslim, no 237; A¬mad, no 20326.

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Exalted be He: ﴾ Say: The Holy Spirit has sent him down ﴿1. And this remembrance is also that of the chief angels of the higher council. So Sanctification, the lights of Sanctification, and the Holy Spirit are gathered in the Precinct of Holiness (¬aÅirat alquds)2, and this constitutes the theophany of the realities of faith in pure hearts, which is divine inspiration (alilhām). This Hall of Holiness is located next to the Lotus of the Limit; and holiness implies the absence of imperfection. Moreover, I will say that holiness implies the absence of the attribute of perfection which is supposed to be in creatures, that is, the perfection of their attributes, from which it is said that the ignorant, the blind, etc., are imperfect in their essence. But God, exalted be He, is above those attributes which they recognize.

[IINTERPRETATION OF THE SURAH OF THE BODY]

And you must know that the ultimate treasure of Oneness as well as its clearest source (mašrab) are to be found in the surah of the Cult and in what is found in it. That is why it is equivalent to one third of the Qur’an, for the Qur’an contains stories, decrees (a¬kām) and [proclamation of] divine Oneness. From it one derives its explanation and the understanding of its mystery [of Oneness], from which rational perception [of this concept] takes place. We will limit ourselves to explaining the most important meanings and aspects of its content, the most obvious and the most excellent for their meaning.

I say, and I ask Allah for help, about His truthful saying: ﴾ Say: He ﴿, that ‘He’ is that which constitutes the Ipseity (Huwiyya) of His Essence, for He is a Being who necessarily exists (wāŷib alwuŷūd) since existence is precisely His Nature (Māhiyya) 4. So the Necessary Being is the One Whom there is no god but Him, it is the One whose Ipseity is His Essence, He is ‘He’ and His Essence alone is constituted by Him. That Ipseity and Exclusivity is a concept without a proper name, and that ‘He’ is the Being of the Divinity as deity, for the Divinity is that which is attributed only to Him, and by ‘He’ we mean only Him. The absolute deity is that which is together with all existing beings, but the attribution to Him of that which is not ‘He’ is an addition (iÅāf ī ) [to His Ipseity], for His Self has no relation to that which is not Him except in negation. And since divine Ipseity cannot be interpreted by anything other than Him because of His greatness and His sublimity, then He said: ﴾ Say: He ﴿.

Below we will explain this Ipseity by its concomitants (lawāzim), which will be additional (iÅāfiyya) or negative (salbiyya). Addition is less approximate than negation, but the most approximate is the concomitant quality that brings together both types: addition and negation. That

1 Cor. XVI:102.

2 Cf. NURBAKHSH, Sufi Symbolism, ii, p. 385: “The precinct of holiness is the sanctuary of the holy spirits, where the lights of holiness are manifested […]”

3 This means that holiness implies not only the absence of imperfection, but also the absence of that which is considered perfect from the point of view of beings.

4 This is the philosophical concept developed by Avicenna, in which the essence and existence of God are unified, which has no place in the remains of beings, whose essence is independent of their existence, while in God their existence is not an existence added to His essence (see F. SHEHADI, Metaphysics In Islamic Philosophy, New York: Caravan Books, 1982, p. 85). This insists on the existence of God as the unique and determining feature of His essence.

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5 That is, Ipseity is only defined by what it is not.

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constitutes the being of that Ipseity as a Deity, for no body results from His saying ﴾ He ﴿ by mentioning that it is ﴾ Allāh ﴿ (the God)1 so that it is ﴾ Allāh ﴿ that which reveals the meaning of the term ‘He’, as its explanation. And since the explanation of that Ipseity by its concomitant attributes results in Him being One Being, which is the extreme of Oneness, then Divinity is the extreme of Unity and the limit of its extension, which the intellects cannot fully embrace or conceive without the sources of radiation of His lights. Praise be to Allah, how sublime is His Essence and how powerful His authority through it!, for ‘He’ is the One Who constitutes the final goal of all desires and to Him is due the attainment of the objectives, without anyone being able to relate to Glory, Sublimity and Bliss that only possesses the closest of characteristics or the closest of attributes, but most of it is impossible to mention, and what little is possible is found in His glorious Book ﴾ is there any doubt about Allāh?”2. That is His Nature (māhiyya), blessed and exalted be He, and really no one apart from Him can come to know it except by the proper extent of the addition [of attributes to His Ipseity], of which He is aware, exalted and exalted be He! That is why he did not describe this Nature and limited himself to mentioning the characteristics concomitant with it.

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Then we will say that the primordial origin has nothing that precedes it, it is unique and invariable, there is no room for increase in it or a where (ayniyya) in which its origin takes place, so we do not know in its essence anything previous. Moreover, we know nothing of its essence except an invariable Ipseity (huwiyya), simple and free from any increase from any point of view. To these views correspond the concomitant qualities, and when Ipseity is mentioned and explained by the nearest concomitant qualities, excluding the most general, the absence of precedents is intuited, for if it had precedents, it would not be a Necessary Being in Itself, and its existence would depend on its essence. And when he says “One ” he emphasizes the divine Unity, which turns out to be true because
he does not conceive of a more solid and perfect unity than the former, since what makes up a unity is likely to be the result of a grouping of the inferior to the unity formed, but the unity that does not
is divisible under any point of view, it is the primordial origin, alien to the unity that is divisible under
some point of view. The proof of this is that the ipseity which results from the grouping of its constituent parts is subject to the presence of these parts, and therefore does not imply ipseity in itself,
and He alludes to this in His words, Exalted be He: Say: He is God, One ﴿, so that He does not consist of God
.Its Ipseity does not depend on concomitant characteristics.

And his saying: ﴾ The absolute Lord ﴿ (al1⁄4amad) has two interpretations: one of them is ‘the One Who does not have a center’ (jaawf)3, and the second is ‘the Lord’. The first is an indicative negation of the divine essence, for everything that has an essential nature (māhiyya) has a center and an interior, which is precisely its essential nature, but that which has no interior and exists must be the Deity, without it being the same as that of the Godhead.

1 That is, the closest concomitant quality to Ipseity is Divinity, and therefore he says ﴾ Di: He is Allāh (the God) ﴿ . “Allāh” additionally denotes what “He” is, from which follows everything that “He” is not, and thus constitutes an attributive and negative concomitant.

2 Cor. XIV:12.
3 That is, it does not have a concavity or space in which a central point can be located.

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nothing is observed in its essence except the existence devoid of limits. The second interpretation of its meaning is an affirmation: His Being is the absolute Lord and the absolute Source, which implies that the All is a dispersion of Him and that the All depends exclusively on Him.

With his saying, exalted be He!: ﴾ He has not begotten nor has he been begotten ﴿, what is evident is that Everything finds its cause in Him, that He is the One who grants existence to all existing things and that He is the one who floods all existing things. It follows that it is impossible for him to have begotten anything like him, for everything that is originated by something similar to him has an essence associated with that which is not, and his individuality is constituted by the mediation of matter, of its bond (‘alāqa), of determination (alta’yīn) and of imposition (altaqlīd). being that everything material or that is linked to matter is originated by what is not itself. Thus is found the right weighting of the words ﴾ He has not begotten ﴿, because he has not been begotten. And since it has no essence that defines Him other than the estimation that it is ‘He’, ‘He’ is the first thing that is mentioned at the beginning of the surah. Thus His Ipseity is so by itself, for it has not been originated by that which is not Him. If His Ipseity were derived from that which is not Him, He would not be Him by Himself.

In this we can see a sublime secret, which is the threat found in the Qur’an about the one who kills the child or the spouse. We shall continue with this secret later, and that is, that which is begotten (al-walad) is divisible, and if its peculiar nature were not manifold, being that because of matter, as we have explained, for in everything that is material its essence does not correspond to its identity, then nothing other than it would be begotten by it, and neither would it have been begotten by that which is not.

His saying, exalted be He!: ﴾ And there is none like Him ﴿, means that which has nothing to equal it in the virtue of existence. As for that which has an equal in its peculiar nature, it is excluded from his words, exalted be He: He has not begotten nor has he been begotten ﴿, for every nature associated with that which is not itself has a material existence, which has been originated by that which is not itself.

ONTHE SUPERIORITY OF THE WORDS ﴾ THEREIS NO GOD MORE THAN LLĀH ﴿ OVER THE REST OF THE SENTENCES

I will then explain the superiority of the surah of the Cult and the verse of the Throne over the rest of the surahs and verses, I will explain the reality of the divine Oneness as far as words go, and I will explain to you its secrets, the wind that will cause your banners to be extended to the highest Companion and you will find your joy in the tents set up on the edges of the Al’Aqīq valley1, in the protected area (al¬imà ) and in the nearby pavilions (alqibāb) at a distance of two arches or less2, where the Majesty of ﴾There is no god but Allāh ﴿.

1 A valley to the west of Medina, which Muhammad said was a blessed valley. 2 In reference to Cor. LIII:9.

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On the contrary, ﴾ There is no god but Him ﴿ is the door that opens only to those who crave Him most, and hides Himself by virtue of His height from the eyes of observers and the minds of all creatures, for not every secret can be divulged nor every connection with God (wa1⁄2l) can be developed
or aroused. However, the hearts of those who consecrate themselves to God are the tombs of secrets,
for the divulgation of the mystery of Lordship (alRubūbiyya) is a blasphemy recognized by those who know God, exalted be He!

And since the divulgation of the mystery of Lordship is blasphemy, the divulgation of the mystery of the mystery of Coexistence (alma’iyya), of Ipseity (alhūwiyya) and of Unification (alittiād) must be a more serious and evident blasphemy, and it is not hidden from those who know God, exalted be He, that the increase of blasphemies is caused by the entrustment of secrets to those who are not worthy of God. they. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless and save him) alluded to this, saying: “There is a certain part of Science which remains hidden and which is not known by anyone except by those who know God and by those who desire it with passion.”

So listen, O yearning one, that if you were to annul your existence and erase it, if you were to abandon yourself and abandon the perception of yourself, and your perception were to pass from you and from that which is on its level and to yours, the secrets of the divine breaths (alanfās) alluded to would be revealed to you, for in your words that do not support the perpetuity of your existence there is a rational contradiction and an abusive blasphemy. Try to understand and you will find the secret of the extraordinary allusion. As for the other [who is the knower of God], for in him takes place the appearance of the dawn of proximity and the visionary revelation (almukāšafa) of the effects of eternity and necessary existence through the different paths of the wisdom secrets, excluding that which has been restricted by the decree of the Singularity of the Lord of Oneness, of symbols and secrets.

What results from the first source is desert ground, while from the second source flow numerous gifts, for in the first flows the torrent of realization (alta¬qīq), and in the second the fountain of verification (altanqī¬) abounds. The one who drinks from the first source is like ®ūlQarnayn, and the one who drinks from the second is like Al-Jiår, peace be upon him!, for the former received a promise of annihilation2, while the latter bore a promise of perpetuity3. The first is a sign of Sovereignty (almulk) and the second is a sign of the heavenly Kingdom (almalakūt), the first being the house of Holiness and the second the house of Oneness and Intimacy.

1 He uses the verb 2ahaba “to go,” and implies the annihilation of the mystic and the absence of his own perception (cf. NURBAKHSH, Sufi Symbolism, i, p. 344).

2 Cf. Cor. XVIII:94.

3 According to Muslim legend, al-Jiår became an immortal being after drinking from the fountain of eternal life (v. F. AUBAILESALLENAVE, “AlKhiÅr, “l’Homme au manteau vert” en pays musulmans”, in Res Orientales XIV (2002), pp. 1135).

4 Broadly speaking, the first path is that of self-emptying (fanā’) or the annulment of the individual in the divine essence, and the second is that of subsistence (baqā’) or the presence of the servant in God.

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In ﴾I am Allāh, there is no god except Me ﴿1, ﴾ Allāh: there is no god but Him, the Living One, the Subsisting One ﴿2, ﴾ Allāh, there is no god but Him, His are the most beautiful Names ﴿3, different faces of Allāh are made known in ﴾ Has the story of Moses reached you? When he saw… ﴿4: This confirms the Vision in it. Then he dropped the veil of concealment (alijfā’), the one that covers the secrets of the longing, by saying: ﴾ [when he saw] a fire ﴿. And he said: ﴾ O Moses ﴿, ﴾ I am Allah ﴿; then he laid out the cover and said ﴾ [I am] Your Lord ﴿5. The secret of this outpouring (inbisāÐ) and these proofs is revealed in the allusion of His words, exalted be He!, ﴾ I am Allāh, there is no god but Me: worship Me ﴿6, in which the principles of the covenant of Union are established in Oneness, and the end of the seal (alchatm) in obedience7.

I will inform you of a symbol of His Gnostic knowledge in the first place, of the knowledge of what is equivalent to Him in the second place, and of the secret of the words in the allusion made to you of the impossibility of anything being equivalent to it, so that you may obtain the pleasure (la22at) of the secrets in His saying ﴾ I am Allāh ﴿. If you are not like Moses, peace be upon him, in his time [with God] and in the form [of His intimacy], you will not attain the pleasure of the call of the Beloved, nor taste the taste of the Coming to Him. Have you not reflected on the words of Mūsà, when he was asked how he had recognized that the call of Truth really came from Him? He said: Because the pleasure of the call fascinated and overwhelmed me, oppressing every part and every hair of mine, since I was being challenged by an appeal that came to me from all sides. Then I was surrounded by the pavilions of Glory, I was dominated by respect for God, and therefore I recognized that the message that came to me came from God, exalted be He! Then I said: You are the One Who did not cease to exist and will not cease to exist, You are the One for whom Moses has no abode (maqām) next to You, and does not articulate a word that You do not keep in Your perpetuity or belong to Your messengers.” So [if you reach the state of Moses] you will be the one who calls and who is called together. From this view we were informed by the Messenger of God, God bless you and save you!, for God will say [on the Day of Judgment]: “My servant, I was sick and did not come to see me.“8 So ﴾ I am Allah is given in both cases, and He loves the one who comes to visit you when you are sick and forgives you when you commit an offense.”

What is drawn from this allusion is that you must separate yourself from your nafs by renouncing everything that separates you from your Beloved. Make your heart His house, your presence His Mecca, your witness the Enclosure (al-aram) and your circumambulation around the Ka’aba (albayt) an intimate circumambulation in which you will find God in the place of the Ka’aba. So go with Him alive by the contemplation of the

1 Cor. xx:19.
2 Cor. II:255; III:2.
3 Cor. xx:7.
4 Cor. xx:89.
5 Cor. xx:11.
6 Cor. xx:13.
7 Uncertain translation of these lines. We interpret the concealment (ijfā’) to be that of the secrets that God

it awakens His longing, and is the product of God’s jealousy (cf. NURBAKHSH, Sufi Symbolism, vi, p. 52). Therefore He cloaks His essence in the terms of fire and Lordship. On the other hand, the Outpouring is the loss of reserve and timidity between the longing and the longing one (vi, p. 38), and corresponds to Moses’ vision of the divine Face, as well as to the words O Moses, I am Allāh.

8 Muslim, no 4661; A¬mad, no 8874. In the rest of the story, God identifies with the sick, the hungry, and the thirsty.

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Living, the Subsistent. The sign of that is the transformation of existence into Existence, and the fluctuation of attributes and the concealment of states in these allusions indicate the solidity of the Singularity of Deity free from principles and boundaries and the purity of allusion.

APARTADO [INTERPRETATION OF COR. III:18].

You should know that among the peculiar features of the Qur’an, [there is the verse]: ﴾ God testifies that there is no god but Him; the angels and the possessors of knowledge, acting with equity, say: There is no god but Him, the Mighty, the Wise ﴿, for in this verse reside three concepts:

The first is that God begins Himself by Himself, and this presupposes the confirmation of a Necessary Being by the obligatory nature of His existence. And the Necessary Being must be so in pre-eternity, because of the impossibility of considering what coexists with Him in equality of essence and attributes, and because of the possibility of a being coexisting with that which surpasses Him in attributes but not in essence, because of His magnificence and the greatness of His essence and attributes, which prevent something coexisting with Him from being conceived in terms of equality1.

The second is that God, exalted be He, disposes in the second place the angels, who confirm His condition of Existence. That of the angels is a testimony linked to Existence and a visionary gnosis, and it is impossible to conceive in a formal way the disposition of this degree, due to the purity of the angels, exempt from the covering of the soul, from the tyranny of forms and from the clay framework.

The third is that Allah, exalted be He, appoints in the third place His servants distinguished with Science, who act with equity, that is, in the confirmation of Him, because true confirmation is only in the knower [of Science].

Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said that Allah bears witness to Himself, and that no one bore witness to Him except Him, since there is no god but Him. And the angels ﴿ bear witness to that very thing. And by His saying “the possessors of knowledge” He means the prophets and believers who bear witness to it, so that they act with equity (alqis), i.e.,
with justice (al’adl), because they are the people of justice. And the meaning of justice is to put
everything in its rightful place, which would not take place without Science. ﴾ There is no god but
Him, the Mighty, the Wise ﴿: the Mighty One (al’Azīz) by the grace that drives away those who do not believe in Him. The Sage (al-akīm©) in decreeing2 that the believers bear witness that there is no god but Him, that they worship no
one but Him, and that the only religion that Allah approves of is Islam.

1 Translation uncertain.
2 Al-akīm©also means ‘the Judge’ or ‘One Who decrees’.

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Know that the reality of the testimony of the Divine Oneness is that the Truth bore witness to Itself by Itself, for He is a Witness of His own essence, and He puts as a test those of His creatures who bear witness to Him before His creation, thereby realizing that He is Knower of all that exists. So His own testimony is a testimony of truthfulness1. And by
this the Truth makes known to His creation that the testimony of the Truth takes place only among the truthful
who profess Oneness, those who will be favored, those who will know Him, unite with Him, and be witnesses
of His divinity and Lordship, saying: ﴾ God testifies that there is no god but Him; the angels and the possessors of knowledge, acting with equity, say: There is no god but Him, the Mighty, the Wise ﴿.

The testimony of the angels is a necessary testimony because they witness the greatness of His Sovereignty and the effects of His sublimity, and because they were created for it.

Then he said: ﴾ the possessors of science ﴿, i.e., the scholars who are experts in knowing the realities hidden in the truths of Oneness, who allude to Detachment (altafrīd), who express the meanings of mystical states, who isolate themselves from the Wholeness by the Singularity, join the Eternal One, who know the meanings of the Names of Truth and the realities of Its attributes, and they see with their own eyes the invisible entities. So they are the test of God in the different nations, and in them the servants of God are to seek refuge, stopping at the stop of the Presence and rising with them in dignity to a place of true rest, together with an Almighty Lord.

And Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said that God made this testimony two thousand years before He carried out His Creation, according to another version, twelve thousand years before, each of them having three hundred and sixty days, and each day of them being equivalent to a thousand years.

According to the Ijwān al1⁄4afā’3, it is preferable to avoid entering the sea of signs, because this necessarily leads to deviation, and rather one should immerse oneself in the seas of understanding and meanings that result from listening to the words of Allah, exalted be He: ﴾ Allah testifies ﴿. For this is the place of prostration (alsujūd) in the face of the annihilation of existence. They gain insight into the world of testimony (alšuhūd) by the realization of existence by Existence, which is the key to the secrets of His Ipseity: He is the First in the beginning and the Last in the end. After that, it is convenient to immerse oneself in the sea of secrets of ﴾ there is no god but Him ﴿, because they are of a gustatory character (2awqiyya).

And you should know that the Qur’an is divided into three parts: one third refers to the knowledge of the essence of God, may He be exalted, of His attributes, of His Oneness and His Holiness (taqdīs). Another concerns matters of the Law, and the third alludes to the knowledge of eschatological questions. There is no doubt about

1 Translation uncertain.
2 Cor. LIV:55.
3 “The Brothers of Purity”, a secret society formed in Basra and Baghdad around the eleventh century, whose

adepts were the authors of an encyclopedic compendium entitled Rasā’il Ijwān al1⁄4afā’, composed of 52 epistles on various subjects.

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that the sign of the solidity of God’s essence and attributes which resides in the trait of necessary Existence, Oneness and Holiness is equivalent to the other two-thirds which are signs of Decree and Judgment and of Promise and Threat.

APARTADO [ON THE MEANINGS OF THE VERSE OF THE THRONE].

Know that the signs that constitute the verse of the Throne comprise six of the attributes of the divinity of God, exalted be He! The first of these is the denial of an associate (šarīk) with His saying: ﴾ There is no god but Him ﴿. The second is the solidity of Life, which is the condition on which the rest of God’s attributes are to be erected: ﴾ the Living One ﴿. The third is the Subsistent One () Ibn ‘Abba, about whom Ibn ‘Abbas said that He is the One who subsists by Himself, the One Who does not need anyone but Him, and the One Who does not need a place or anything to determine Him. The fourth is the lack of physical limitations by His saying, exalted be He: ﴾ Neither drowsiness nor sleep Affect Him ﴿. The fifth alludes to the perfection of the Divinity by saying: “Yours is all that is in the heavens and the earth,” that is, the Creation and the Decree that reside in them. The sixth alludes to His Lordship (siyādat) when he says: ﴾ Who will intercede with Him except with His permission? ﴿.

On the other hand, by His words God refuted seven types of heresy: the followers of Dahriyyaand Dualism (al£anawiyya)2, the worshippers of idols and the two stars, polytheists (al-mušrikūna), Jews, Christians, and Sabians.

By saying ﴾ Allāh ﴿ he denies the Dahriyya. With His words – there is no god but Him – He refutes Dualism and the doctrine that associates God with a companion or a son, Jews and Christians. By His saying ﴾ the Living One ﴿ He denies the worshippers of idols and stars. By His saying ﴾ the Subsistent One – He gives the lie to the polytheists and to the doctrine that gives credence to place and space, to non-existence (al’adam) and to the denial of His attributes (alta’İīl). And by His words – neither drowsiness nor sleep affect Him – He belies the Jews and Christians, who hold to the divine character of ‘Īsà b. Maryam and ‘Uzayr3 as well as their need, the act of eating, drinking, sleeping, and all other deviant ideas. By His saying “That is all that is in the heavens and the earth” He refuted the Sabians and the worshippers of idols and stars, since the heavens and the earth and all that is between them are but created beings. And in His words ﴾ Who will intercede with Him except with His permission? ﴿ lies the refutation of those who say: “We only worship them [the stars] so that they may bring us closer to God by their proximity, for they are our intercessors with God.”

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And Salman al-Fārisī4 (may Allah be pleased with him) said that the Prophet said: “Whoever recites the verse of the throne, may Allah, may He be exalted, avoids the agonizing moments of death, and the angels do not
pass before a house in which the verse of the throne is written without being stunned, nor do they pass before the Prophet.

1 Medieval doctrine or sect of a materialistic and atheistic nature.
2 A denomination that includes numerous religious groups, such as the Manichaeans or the Zoroastrians.
3 This is the biblical Ezra, and it is an allusion to Cor. IX:30, where it is said that the Jews considered him to be the son of

God.
4 Companion of the Prophet and authority in many traditions.

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He is God, One ﴿ without prostrating, nor passing before the end of the surah of The Meeting 1 without being made to kneel.”2

[CONDITIONS FOR OBTAINING GNOSIS]

The sign of those to whom Allah, may He be exalted, has made known the Truth of His gnosis is that if it is not found in His mystery, then there is no true knowledge of Him, and that is the Gnosis behind which there is no more gnosis. For God, exalted be He, has favored some men over others by making this condition accompany them.

On the other hand, when you want God, exalted be He, to show you what are the visible parts of your existential signs, for they are indeed the limbs (aljawari) in the face of laziness, the soul in the face of weariness, the intellect in the face of controversy, the heart in the face of error, the spirit in the face of hope, the secret in the face of the perception of the act and the relationship of the mystical state and the spiritual situation.

APARTADO: the basis of Verification (alta¬qīq) is only found in the allusion to Providence (altawfīq): ﴾ To whom God wants to guide, he opens his breast to Islam ﴿3, facilitating his mission4. In addition to this, God has appointed to the servant four principles, which are those which unite the servant [with His Lord] in need, and the basis on which the purpose of attaining the intuitive Insight (dawn1⁄2īra) rests. They are absolute dominion (ally), Good, Devotion and Perception. These four principles are the basis of the foundations and the path of the intellects. Verification is based on absolute Mastery, and the return to it takes place through Instruction and Warning. He who ascends through them to the summit of Verification will have attained human perfection, spiritual purity, and the temperament of Clemency, so that with these qualities he will pour himself into all that he finds in himself.

Practice retreat (jalwa) frequently, leave your body empty and walk as if you were gliding disembodied, stripped of the natural coverings and substituting the bodily attributes for the Totality, for it is then that you will find yourself inserted in your own essence, alien to all physical things, withdrawn into yourself and with attention turned towards yourself. And you will perceive in yourself such benevolence, splendor, excellence, and praise that they will leave you amazed and amazed. Then you will understand that you are part of the superior World of the Imperative, of a Life that penetrates everything and of immovable divine goods. At this point, you will feel Absolute Mastery (ally), you will be captivated by God’s Love, and you will become strong in the center and in spiritual expansion. Then you will see in yourself a light and a splendor that you will not be able to witness nor will you be able to materialize its presence. Because of it you will return frustrated and with your mind exhausted to the world of reflection and vision, leaving that light hidden.

1 Cor. lix.
2 We do not find this saying among the collections cited. 3 Cor. VI:126.
4 See also Cor. xx:245.

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Then you will tend to attain that state until you make it your spiritual dwelling place from which you will not descend, without decay taking place through the praise of God, and imposing this state in the dispute with reason that leads back [to the lower world].

[APART OF SOME INVOCATIONS AND PRAYERS ANSWERED]

APARTADO: Muqātil b. Sulaymān said: whoever is distressed about anything, let him perform ablutions at night, let him enter the innermost room of his house, let him pray two rak’at, and when he finishes he will fall prostrately, he will pray for the Prophet, God bless him and save him!, and he will say: “My God, you are really an Almighty Lord, the Decree you desire is fulfilled because you are really capable of all things. My God, if my offenses precede me, if my intentions are not right, if my crime is important, if my sins are many and prevent me from being able to solve my problems, then I beseech You by the majesty of Your face and the magnificence of Your forgiveness, I beseech You by Your Prophet Muhammad, God bless him and save him! that you forgive me, have pity on me and relieve me”.

Then you shall say with a voice raised: “O Muṣammad, O Aṣmad, O AbūlQāsim!1, I beseech and ask you to intercede for me before God so that he may forgive me, have mercy on me, meet my needs, and relieve me.” And if you can’t hold back the tears, it will be a sign that you have been heard, but if not, then repeat it a second night and a third, for it is [an invocation] of proven validity, and only God grants success and peace.

APARTADO: taken from Muqātil b. Sulayman is this prayer answered, and it is the invocation with which ‘Īsà, peace be upon him!, raised the dead, thanks be to God, exalted be He! Muqātil said: “I was looking for [that invocation with which ‘Īsà raised the dead] until I found it in a religious and devout man. When you want to invoke with it, then after praying the dawn prayer (at 1⁄2ub¬) and sitting down at the end of the prayer you will say a hundred times: “In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful. There is no power or strength except in God, the Most High, the Sublime. My God, I beg you, O Eternal, O Perpetual, O Singular, O Odd, O One, O Everlasting, O Living, O Subsistent, O Lord of Majesty and Generosity.” And if you are not answered, curse Muqātil whether he is alive or dead.

A PARTADO: Whoever is distressed by something or some concern that represents an insurmountable obstacle to his spiritual and earthly affairs, let him perform ablutions at the time of the sunset prayer (almagrib) on Friday. Then he will abandon himself to God, may He be glorified and exalted, and he will not speak to anyone until the prayer of the night. And when he is praying the witr, he will say in the last prostration of those prayers: “O Allāh, O Lord, O Living One, O Subsistent, I implore help from You, O Allāh,” a hundred times, and you will pray for your need, for thus it will be resolved thanks to Allah, may He be exalted, and to His power.

According to the Šayj, Imam Abu ‘Isà alTirmi2ī, may Allah be satisfied with him!, the Prophet said: “When you have any need of Allah or of any person, pray two rak’at, and say this prayer: “There is no

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1 Three of the Prophet’s names.

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more god than Allāh, the Patient, the Bountiful, praise be to the Lord of the glorious Throne, praise be to God, Lord of the two worlds! I beg You to grant me the effects of Your Mercy, the confirmation of Your indulgence, the reward for every generous deed and the safeguard against all evil. Leave not one of my sins unforgiven, not one of my worries unrelieved, not one of my needs unresolved, by Thy Mercy, O most Gracious of the merciful.“1

And this is a prayer to solve the needs, which you will say after you have prayed two rak’at with sincere intention, praise to Allah, ask for forgiveness and beg for the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless and save him! Then thou shalt say, “My God, O Who gathereth together the scattered parts, O Who causes plants to sprout, O Who restores to life bones and mortal remains, O Who hearkens to prayers, O Who solves problems, O Who relieves anxieties and rises above seven heavens, O Who opens the chests of generous gifts, O Who possesses those needs of those who pray, with Whose ear hears their voices, and Whose knowledge embraces all. I beseech You by Your power over all things, by Your sufficiency above all Your creation, by Your Loa and Your Glory, that You will be generous in solving my problem, which is such and such,” and You will name it. You will repeat the invocation seven times by seven or three times by three, for your prayer will be answered, God willing, exalted be He!

They asked ‘Ali, may Allah honour him, the gateway to the Prophet’s city of knowledge, may Allah bless him and save him, for that which he could invoke to meet the needs, and he said: “Recite the first six verses of the Iron Surah: “Everything in the heavens and on the earth glorifies Allah, He is the Mighty, the Wise. as far as it says He is the Knower of what is enclosed in the breasts ﴿2, and the last part of the surah of The Meeting, [from which it says]: ﴾ He is God. There is no god but Him. He knows the unknown and the testimony. He is the Gracious, the Merciful ﴿3 to the end of the surah. Then you will say, “O Who is So-and-so [recalling His attributes], make my affair such and such,” and you will mention what you need, for you will certainly be taken care of, God willing, exalted be He!

Abūl©asan b. Sālim4 said: My grandmother had a blindness that prevented her from seeing at all, but a person came to her and said: “Do you want to know some of the Names of God with which you can pray so that God will restore your sight?” She said yes and the man said, “Hide it and don’t report it to anyone.” She agreed, he made it known to her, and then said, “Stretch out your hands, lift them up to heaven, call upon Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, with it, and then lay your hands on his face.” He did so and God restored his sight. Then she saw in front of her an old man standing away from her. And though it was within her power to obtain abundant goods by what she had learned, she refused [to use the invocation to enrich herself]. My grandmother told my father when she died, for she told him, “Recite the Surah of the Iron,” he recited its beginning, and she said, “Some Names [of the invocation] have been mentioned.” Then he said to him, “Recite the last part of the Surah of Reunion,” and when he came to the end of the Surah he said, “The rest of the Names were mentioned,” and told him what had happened.

1 AlTirmi2ī, no. 441; Ibn Māŷa, no 1374.
2 Cor. LVII:16.
3 Cor. Lix:22.
4 Abūl©asan A¬mad b. Mu¬ammad b. Sālim (d. 909 CE), disciple of al-Tustarī and founder of the school

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mystic known as Sālimiyya.

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And they asked ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) about those Names to which the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless and save him, had referred more particularly, and he said: “I did not think that anyone would ever ask me.” Then he said: “When you want to pray to God for a need, you shall recite the first six verses of the Iron Surah, where it says: ﴾ He is the Knower of what is in the breasts ﴿1, and of the last part of the Surah of Reunion, from which it says: ﴾ If We had brought this Qur’an down to a mountain ﴿2, to the end of the surah, and then you will say, “O Who is in such a way remembering His attributes, do such a thing,” as we said earlier.

One of the prayers of the saints is that of Šayj Abū al-Asan©al-Šā2ilī3, may Allah be pleased with him!, who said: “I spent a night in deep concern and the inspiration came to me to say: ‘My God, You inspire me with faith in Oneness and with obedience, while You surround me with earthly passions, of indifference to religion and sin. You cast my soul into the sea of darkness, where it is darkened and where your servant is oppressed, sad, distressed and worried, where the longing for You consumes him and cries out to You with the call of the one who is hindered and imprisoned, that of Your servant Yūnus b. Mattā: ﴾ There is no god but You, Glorified art you! True, I have been among the unjust ﴿4. Then you respond to him as you responded to him. Guide me with the power of love to the abode of Singularity, Oneness and Oneness, cause the bushes of Grace and Compassion to sprout in me, for indeed You are the Compassionate and Pleasing King, and I have none but You, only You without associating with anyone. You do not fail in the promise made to those who believe in You, for You really said, and Your words are the truth: ﴾ And We answered him and delivered him from distress. This is how we save believers ﴿5. May God bless and save our Lord Muhammad, his family and his companions!”

APARTADO: Muṣmad b. Idrīs said in his book al-Kabīr 6 that the imam AbūlQāsim b. Harūn alQušayrī7 spoke in his Risāla of a merchant, of whom AbūlQāsim does not give the name – and it is Zayd b. ©āri£a8 according to Muṣmad b. Idrīs, whom a thief wanted to kill. He said to him, “Prepare to die,” and [Zayd] said, “Give me time until I pray two rak’at.” The thief replied, “Others before you have prayed them, and their prayer has been of no avail to them.” So Zayd made the ablutions, prayed two rak’at, and supplicated with this prayer: “O Lover, O Lover, O Lord of the Glorious Throne, O One Who does what He wills, I beseech Thee by the light of Thy face that floods the foundations of Thy Throne, I beseech Thee by Thy Omnipotence with which Thou didst decree all Thy creation, and by Your Mercy that extends over all things. O Helper, help me, O Helper, help me, O Helper, help me 3 times.” And [Zayd] called upon God three times with this prayer. Then the thief approached him raising his spear

1 Cor. LVII:6.
2 Cor. LIX:21.
3 One of the greatest figures of Sufism and founder of the Šā2iliyya. Of Moroccan origin, he died in Egypt

in the year 1258 A.D. 4 Cor. XXI:86.
5 Cor. XXI:87.

6 See above, p. 207.

7 This would be AbūlQāsim ‘Abd alKarīm b. Hawāzin alQušayrī (d. 1072 AD), theologian and mystic who is the author of a well-known Risāla on the principles of Sufism.

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8 See above, p. 12, n. 2.

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to throw it at him, when suddenly a rider came galloping up and shouting not to kill him. Then he turned and saw the rider approaching with a spear, with which he struck him by knocking him off his saddle. Then he went up to Zayd and said, “Zayd, go to him and kill him,” and Zayd replied, “I don’t kill anyone.” So the rider turned to the thief and killed him. Then he said, “Zayd, when you recited the invocation the first time, the angel Gabriel said, ‘Who is willing to help this person who is mourning?’ I volunteered, and then I was in seventh heaven. When you recited the invocation a second time, I was in the heaven of the earth, and when you recited it a third time, I came before you. And you must know, Zayd, that no one invokes in the way you did without me answering him in the same way I responded to you.”

When Zayd returned to the city, he told the Messenger of Allah, may God bless him and save him, and he said to him: “O Zayd, Allah has inspired you with the Supreme Name, that Name by which the one who prays is answered, and to whom he asks is granted.” Subsequently, Mu¬ammad b. Idrīs mentioned this invocation in a chapter of his book, entitled ‘The Names That Make Angels Tremble’, and God knows better!

APARTADO ON A WONDERFUL RITE OF INCUBATION1.

When you want to know the consequences of a problem or how to get out of it, you will pray two rak’at after the night prayer (al’išā’), each with three salutations (taslīmāt). The first with the Fāti¬a and the Surah of the Smoke2. the second with the Surah of The Fig Trees3, the third with ﴾ Have we not opened your breast? ﴿4 after Fate, the fourth with Fate, the fifth with Fate, and with Earthquake Surah6, and the sixth with Fate, and Sixth with Fate, and Destiny Surah 5. When you finish your prayer, you will write in a missive (barā’a): “To the Lord Allime, the Glorious, the Bountiful, the Lover, the Mighty, the Almighty, the Proud, of His servant So-and-so son of So-and-so, the poor servant, the humble, the needy, the wretched, the beggar, the destitute, the one who has only You to meet his need, begging and asking for such and such a problem you will appoint them. My God, I beseech Thee, O Lord, O Allāh, O Living One, O Enough, O Noble, O Mighty One, O Almighty, Thy weak and poor servant begs Thee and asks for such and such. My God, I pray Thee for every Name Thou hast held, for every One by which Thou calls Thyself, every one whom Thou didst bring down in Thy Book, every one whom Thou didst make known to any of Thy creatures, and every one whom Thou didst shut up in the knowledge of that which remains hidden beside Thee, [I beg you] to put in my problem a consolation, a way out and an unequivocal explanation8“.

1 The Arabic text writes the terms ¬alūma and istijāra, both designating the rite of incubation (DOUTTÉ, Magie et Religion, p. 413), an invocation after which one intends to see in dreams the decision to be taken in a delicate matter, or else one intends to see about this matter the aspects that the subject does not know.

2 Cor. xciii.
3 Cor. xcv.
4 Cor. xciv.
5 Cor. xcvii.
6 Cor. xcix.
7 Cor. CXII.
8 This refers to the vision he will have in dreams.

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This way you will solve your problems. Mention what you want in relation to attracting a person’s heart and affection and love, obtaining clemency, or explaining what is difficult for you to understand. Or use it if you want to know the consequence of an issue and have it shown to you instantly. [To attract a person’s heart] you shall fumigate your writing after [invocation] with lozenges of good frankincense, fold it, coat it with virgin white wax, and then throw it into the stream of water. Or you will put the writing inside a quiver of Persian reed, the opening of which you will blind with white wax. You shall tie it at the bottom with a sturdy cord and tie it to a tree or a stake, and leave the quiver in a stream of water saying, “I give to the stream the heart of So-and-so son of So-and-so.” For the second purpose mentioned you will put [the waxed writing] in a container of water, place it next to your head and sleep in a state of ritual purity, for what you requested will actually appear to you in dreams. There is no power or strength except in God, the Most High, the Sublime!

APARTADO [ON CERTAIN INVOCATIONS].

Concerning the following invocation, ‘Abd Allāh b. Abī Zayd al-Qayrawānī 2, may Allah, be exalted, have mercy on him: “I have seen numerous invocations, but I have never seen or tasted one so magnificent or with such a prompt response as this invocation. It is the same with which the šayj, the alfaqui Abū Is¬āq alTūnisī3 to protect himself from every tyrannical governor, from every aggressive thief and from all misfortunes, adversities and misfortunes. Whoever is made known to him, let him hide it, for it is the invocation of the elect (al jawā1⁄21⁄2), and no one implores with it except the God-fearing, for it is a proven invocation. And it is the following:

“My God, O Who gives place to all suffering, Who is the Witness of all confidence, Who is Knower of every secret, O Who unravels the trials of faith that he desires, O Savior of Mūsà, O Who chose to favor Muhammad and Ibrāhīm, God bless and save you all! I call upon Thee, O my God, with the prayer of Him to whom Thou hast increased his poverty, weakened his strength, and shortened his means. The prayer of the misunderstood, the dismayed, the sorrowful, the anguished, that of the one who finds no one to make his concerns clear to him but Thee, there is no God but Thee, O most Gracious of the merciful! Tell us the evil that descends upon us in relation to Your enemy and our enemy, the stoned Šayān, and the evil of those who do unrighteously, or of So-and-so if it is only one person. O Lord of the worlds, verily Thou canst do everything, succor, succor, succor, O Allāh, O Allāh, O Allāh, succor, O Allāh! My God, O originless Originator, O Eternal without being consumed, O Living One, O Riser from the dead, O Who remains vigilant over every soul, attentive to what he hasacquired. My God, You are Allāh, there is no god but You, the One God, I beseech You by the perfect words [of Your Book, grant me] peace, forgiveness, health in this life and in the Hereafter, for me and my family, and the good state of the material, of the riches, the health of the people.

1 Quiver or container for arrows, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom. This object was often used in divinatory rituals during the time of pre-Islamic Arabia.

2 Ibn Abī Zayd alQayrawānī (d. 996), well-known jurist of the Maliki school. 3 Unidentified.
4 Cf. Cor. XIII:34.

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children and that of all Muslims. O Lord of the worlds, verily Thou canst do all things, have mercy on me with Thy Mercy, O most Gracious of the merciful, make the evil that descends upon me in every worry and harm be shown and all that Thou desirest [to be shown to Thee in dreams], bring me a beautiful deliverance.”

Your intention must be devout, for the divine benefits are found in the dogmas of faith, may God bless and save our Lord Muhammad, his family and his companions, God speaks the Truth and shows the way.

TOPART

You must know, may God help us to obey Him and to understand the secrets of His Names, that the secret of letters is inscribed (marqūm) on the tablets of the hearts (1⁄2udūr) of the scholars. The secret of the Night Journey (alisrā’) is traced (marsūm) in the intellects of the sages. The secret of alchemy is kept (makhzūn) in the precinct of the pioneers’ treasury (al qudamā’). The secret of [spirits’] subordination lies hidden (maknūn) in the confines of the hearts of the saints. The secret of the Names is reflected (marmūz) in the mirror of the superiority of the prophets. And the secret of the Word is buried (maknūz) in the Throne of the spirit heaven. Try to understand these expressions concerning the Throne, these holy allusions, these revelatory subtleties, and these gratifying knowledge, for from them you will derive enormous pleasure in the concepts of the Aftertaste and the meanings of Longing. God speaks the truth, and He leads the way.

And know that every prayer with one of the divine Names is a door through which to enter, a ladder through which to ascend, a spirituality with which to rise, and a limit reached by invocation. The answer to the prayer goes out through that door and descends that staircase in the hands of the angels. It is at that moment that the response is precipitated. Try to understand that.

[APARTADO SOBRE EL RCUENTO (ali¬1⁄2ā’)]1

Know, may God make known to you the spiritual realities of His Names and grant you the highest positions of the Count, that since the abodes (almaqāmāt) of religion are three: the abode
of submission (alislām), that of faith (alimin) and that of benevolence (aliṇn); for the degrees of the paradisiacal gardens produced by the Count are three: The Garden of Acts2, the Garden of Heritage3 and the
Garden of Those Who Have Been Favored4. And there are three types of Counting: dependence on the abode of
submission, harmonization in the abode of faith, and realization in the abode of benevolence.

1 According to J. Nurbakhsh (Sufi Symbolism, ii, p. 218, although he uses the term “isāb”), “the Count is the traveler’s recognition of his acts and works,” and in the case of the present section it also has to do with the enumeration of the divine attributes in relation to the acts, works, and temperaments of the traveler or the Gnostic.

2 In reference to Cor. III:56; III:122; vii:42, etc.
3 Cf. Cor. vii:42; XIX:63; XLIII:72.
4 Lit. “the garden of boundless reward (janna alimtinān)” probably referring to the prophets (cf.

Cor. VI:54, XIV:14; xxxvii:114, LXVIII:3) and the saints or the most devout believers (Cor. XLI:8; lii:25; LXXXIV:25; xcv:6).

5 On the difference between Islam, Faith and Benevolence for some Sufi thinkers, see NURBAKHSH, Sufi Symbolism, ii, p. Question 50.

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The counting of dependence (alta’alluq) on the level of Islam takes place when the traveler on the path seeks the effects of each Name in his soul, in his body, in all his virtues, in all his organs, in all his parts, in all his states, in all his spiritual and bodily development. in the patience of his fasts and in the ways of purifying himself. In this way he will perceive all those designs
and effects derived from these divine Names, and will apply to each effect the fruit that corresponds,
such as gratitude for divine gifts and perseverance in the face of trials, etc. This Account is related to the Garden of Acts, which is the place where the mystery of accidents in immutable essences resides. And it is that garden of which Ibrāhīm, peace be upon him, said, which consists of plains, and that the plants that sprout in them are sub-Allah, and al-amdu liLlāh 1.

Counting by harmonization (altajalluq) on the level of Faith takes place in the person whose spirit aspires to rise to the spiritual realities of these divine Names, to their meanings and concepts. Harmonization with each of His Names is what the Prophet informed us of in his words, “Act in harmony with the temperaments of God,”2 so that harmony with that Name may take place, that is, by influencing your actions by the temperament or attribute that resides in the Name. In the case of this Countdown, the attunement either takes you into the Garden of Inheritance, which is above the first garden, or it is its hidden part that descends to the inn of the world of the celestial Kingdom from the world of Sovereignty3. And it is the Garden to which he alluded with his words, peace and blessings be upon him!: “There is none among you who does not have his dwelling place in Paradise and in Hell, and when anyone dies entering Hell, those who deserve Paradise inherit their rightful place there, and when someone dies entering Paradise, those who deserve Hell inherit their place. If ye desire [Paradise], recite ﴾ They are the heirs, who shall inherit Paradise where they shall be immortal ﴿.”4

And Counting through realization (ta¬aqquq) on the level of Benevolence takes place through the displacement and distancing from all that forms and meanings reside and manifest in you and that designate the eventual (al¬udū£). Also through the illumination of the true Presence and the delight in its veils and its archetypal entities. God knows best!

I hid myself in my time under the shadow of His wings
, so that I contemplate my age without being seen. And if you were to ask a few days later what my name is, they wouldn’t know, they wouldn’t even know where I am.

And in the case of this Count, one who is in harmony (almutajalliq)5 enters the Garden of the Favored, which is the abode of the mystery of the Invisible (algayb) to which [the Prophet] alluded with his words, God bless and save him!: “In him shall be gifts which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, and

1 Cf. alTirmi2ī, no. 3384. Ibrāhīm reported this to Muhammad in a night apparition. 2 We do not find this saying of the Prophet.
3 Uncertain translation.
4 Cor. xxiii:1011. The ¬adī£ is found with some variants in Ibn Mājaa, no. 4332.

5 So in the original, and we think it should say “the one realized” (almuta¬aqqiq).

and

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which the human heart has never before perceived,”1 and which is also alluded to in His words, may He be exalted!: ﴾ Verily, the fearful will be in gardens and rivers, in a place of true rest, with an Almighty Lord ﴿2.

[ONHARMONIZATION WITH THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES AND VIRTUES OF THE TWO]

I say: the devout ancestors ascended only to the spiritual realities of the world of the heavenly Kingdom and to the wonderful creations (‘ajā’ib) of the world of the Imperative by Realization by Harmonization with the Names, after each of the Names had been transformed into the most worthy of their spiritual abode and the Supreme Name by all the gifts of God and subtleties of Authority they perceived in it. So everything you hear about the Supreme Name from the mouths of these people refers to this reality. When they complete [harmonization with all] the Names, superior Names are assigned to them, and this takes place in the perfection of the spiritual abodes and at the limit of the extremes, for there is not a single Name left whose temperament they have not adopted. It is then that they are characterized in the Name of the Essence, which is Allāh, by which Decree 4 takes place, as He said: ﴾ Say: Allāh. Then let them play in their useless babble ﴿5. After that there will be no doubt. And it is then that the acts correspond to the different spiritual goals and the spiritual effort of the Gnostics at their different levels tends to purity of heart, to the principles of charismatic acts and to the fluctuation of mystical states. To those who walk the path of the Names and climb the steps of spiritual ascent (alirtiqā’) the secrets of the world of the heavenly Kingdom and the most precious concepts of faith are revealed as soon as possible, the lights of Authority are shown to them in the subtleties of the sciences and the realities of the gifted knowledge of the Kingdom. And that is the goal of the path through Realization and the path of purity and sincerity.

APARTADO: There is no unanimity of opinion as to whether the term ism (name) is derived c from alsumuww (height), or from alsima (mark). And in this lies a subtle allusion to the possessors of spiritual realities, God be satisfied with them!, and that is that those who go towards God, exalted be He!, are of two types: the established teacher (murād muqām), and the situated disciple (murīd qā’im). As for the situated disciple, every divine name is erected in him in such a way that the attribute is
reflected in him outwardly and inwardly. In this case, the Name is properly a mark or attribute (wasm), since it is an attribute that finds its dwelling in it, so the term ism derives from wasm.
And if it is a teacher, or a disciple who has ascended to the rank of the former, then the Names elevate him, and when he is immersed in them, he remains in contemplation of the lights of the Theophany which

1 Muslim, no 5053; A¬mad, no 21760.
2 Cor. LIV:545.
3 It refers to the fact that the Supreme Name for this person will be the Name whose temperament predominates in the

spiritual dwelling in which he finds himself.
4 That is to say, that the Gnostic, having harmonized with the Name of the Essence, becomes the seat of the

Decree.
5 Cor. VI:92.

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it resides in the meanings of the Names. In this way he rises to the extent of the path of the Names. And in this case “the name” derives from “the height”, taken from a sky to which they rise. Then an allusion arises in the manifestation of the Names, and that is that the final destiny in the Hereafter is perpetuity, and the final destiny in the earthly life is disappearance. Therefore your attributes in this life are ephemeral in relation to the earthly world, but God, exalted be He, granted you the perpetual Names so that you may be a witness with His truths of the Perpetuity promised through the passing of the witness.

He said [Jaa’far] al1⁄4adīq, may Allah be pleased with him: “May the veil be removed and the certainty increased, for you call on Allah with your names, so that you call on the Perpetual with the perishable, and if you are in yourself you are in Him who was not, and if you are in Him you are in Him Who does not cease to be. So great is the difference between the two Names and the distance between the two divine precepts, for God said, Exalted be He: ﴾ Flee to God. I am a clear warner for you ﴿1, that is, flee from yourselves and from the names of your attributes. And he said: ﴾ Allah has the most beautiful names, pray with them ﴿2, which is another allusion [to both types of names], and that is that Allah remembers you in His pre-eternity and post-eternity with your most beautiful names, when He said, Exalted be He: ﴾ Truly to the Muslims and to the Muslims, to the Believers and to the Believers until the end of the verse﴿3, and then He commanded you to remember Him with His most beautiful names. Then your reality wanders the seas of passion and your mind wanders through the deserts of inability, but God takes pity on You leading you by Grace, Mercy and Compassion. And he said, Exalted be He: ﴾ He is God, Who is no god but Him, the King, the Holy One, the Peacemaker, the Guardian of faith, the Protector, the Mighty, the Almighty, the Great ﴿4. So get the most beautiful of the Names by which He has named you, for that is His favor.

It will be then that you will remember His most beautiful Names whose Mercy is an allusion to His words: ﴾ Glorify the Name of your Lord, the Sublime ﴿. Glorification (tasbī¬)5 is prayer, and prayer is Glorification, for the name of the object has been expressed by that which has an attached meaning. And it means “pray through the secret of Glorification,” the truth of which is Transcendence (tanzīh) free from all accidental attributes, and thus a bond results from the name, as well as in the meaning of the named, if we consider the difference between the name and the named. The glorification of God (tasbī¬), that is, Transcendence, is realized sometimes with words and sometimes with full faith (ali’tiqād), and this only takes place after the Gnostic knowledge is reaffirmed and the secrets of the Trial are revealed, after the Annihilation in independence [of one’s ego] and Realization in detachment [from the earthly]. And this is achieved only by the people of Truth, who know Her with the trait of Majesty and describe Her with the badges of Perfection, so that they surrender to His Lordship and abandon themselves to the Servitude which they owe Him. And it won’t be authentic

1 Cor. Li:50.
2 Cor. VII:180.
3 Cor. xxxiii:35, where God refers to believers with ten different adjectives.
4 Cor. Lix:23.
Glorification (tasbī¬) represents the worship of God in His pure essence, free from transience and transience.

imperfection in His essence and attributes. 6 Translation uncertain.

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your Glorification of God until you cast off from your soul all reprehensible passions and free your faith from deficient acts, your mind from earthly desires, your spirit from its natural inclinations, your heart from the darkness of negligence, and your body from vices, transgressions, the eating of forbidden foods, and doubtful conduct (alšubahāt).1. It will be then that each Name of the attributes, the Essence and each Name of the attributes of the Acts will be reflected in you with all its grandeur and power.

In connection with all this, Ibrāhīm al-Jawwā1⁄22, God be pleased with him, said: “Having already erased from my heart the love of earthly pleasures except my inclination to eat pomegranates, I spent a day in front of a man who was afflicted with a very serious illness and who was being devoured by wasps. So I greeted him and he waved back, and then referred to me by name without knowing me. Then I approached and said: I see that you have a spiritual state close to God, call on Him and you will get rid of the wasps. And he answered: I see that you also have a spiritual state with God, O Ibrāhīm. Call on him and you’ll get rid of your passion for eating pomegranates. Certainly if wasps leave marks on bodies, passions leave marks on hearts.”

That is the education that comes from the stories, and among those [who come to know God] there are those who follow the example, as is narrated of one person who said: “On one occasion I saw a young man covered with a cloak carrying a cup in his hand, and he said to me: ‘I am the most obstinate person in abstinence (alwara’).3, for I eat nothing but what people throw away, and sometimes I find some food but the ants have found it before, what should I do, should I leave it or take it to eat?”

I said to myself: there is no one on earth who can reach that level of abstinence. And doubting him I observed him, when suddenly the man, standing on a ground of pure silver, said to me: “abundance (gunya) is sin” and disappeared from my sight.”

These are the people whose consciences God guards, whose memories he cleanses and whose perceptions he illuminates, for they know the mystery of the Names and their Glorification, the Transcendence and Superiority that resides in the lights of their contemplation, as well as the illumination in the exaltation of the meanings of the Names, as their vision of the lights of those meanings takes place.

ADMONITION: the term tasbī¬ (Glorification) comes from alsab¬ (journey), which implies ‘departure’ and ‘arrival’. God said, exalted be He: ﴾ During the day you have a long journey (Sat) ﴿4, that is, a way to and from. And a certain Gnostic said: “He who glorifies God (almusabbi) travels with the secret of his inner truth and the freedom of attributes in his thought through the open space of the marvelous entities of the heavenly Kingdom and the subtleties of the realities of the Imperative. The Traveler (alsālik)

1 The term designates those actions that are between what is prohibited and what is permitted.

2 Abū Is¬āq Ibrāhīm alJawwa1⁄2 (d. 904), a Muslim saint famous for his long journeys in the desert (v. 904), a Muslim saint famous for his long journeys in the desert (v. 904). AL NABHĀNĪ, Ŷāmi’ karāmāt alawliyā’, Beirut: Dar AlKotob alilmiyah, 2002, i, pp. 3157).

3 Abstinence symbolizes distancing from all that is doubtful for fear of falling into the forbidden (NURBAKHSH, Sufi Symbolism, ii, p. 166).

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4 Cor. LXXIII:6.

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sails with his Remembrance through the seas of the heart. The disciple sails with his heart through the seas of thought. The lover (almu-ibb) sails with his spirit through the seas of love (al’ishq). The Gnostic sails with his inner consciousness (sirr) through the seas of the invisible. And the friend (al1⁄2adīq) sails with the secret of his inner consciousness through the secret of the seas of holy lights that are emitted from the meanings of the names of the attributes, which takes place when spiritual stability is consolidated in the different mystical states.

Try to understand that, for the extreme of contemplation in every traveler who finds himself traversing the planes of the Names is that Name which constitutes his vision, that is, the contemplation which results from that plane. And it is by virtue of his contemplation that he obtains the full knowledge of what corresponds to the planes of the Names. And contemplation will not be complete as long as it does not cause him incapacity1 and perplexity before the Object of said contemplation, in such a way that through both the expression of what is contemplated is an unknown and his perception pure incapacity. It is at that moment that the most able of creatures would say, “I cannot estimate how great my praise to Thee shall be,”2 and say, “My God, increase my perplexity in Thee.” And among the most beautiful Names of God there is not a single Name that designates His essence except His Name “Allāh”, no other, since the Name of an essence is the expression of what constitutes its reality without any accessory meaning, and for this we have only this Name. It has also been said that the divine Essence has no word to designate it without implying our subjective interpretation. Each of these two theories has a reason for being since it is the result of a complete wakefulness (kašf) and a total perception. And God is the one who helps to achieve the goals by informing the purposes of the people of the Truth, God put us among them!

On the other hand, you should know that the Names of Deeds are of two kinds: the first is the name which appears as a mention of His act without His name, such as the wrath (sujÐ) of God3, the
anger (gaÅab) of God4, the curse (la’na) of God5 and the favor (faÅl) of God6. The other type of name is
the one that appears so that both [action and subject] are mentioned, such as ﴾ God creates what
he wills ﴿7, ﴾ God is the Creator of all things ﴿8, etc.

And you must know that these realities of His Names are of two kinds: the first lacks the visible and expressible representation by which it is indicated to us, and it is that to which the Prophet alluded with
his words: “My God, I pray thee for every name that belongs to thee and by which thou makest thyself called, every name which Thou didst bring down in Thy Book, which Thou didst make known to any of Thy creatures, or which Thou hast
held beside Thee in the treasury of the hidden things of Thy knowledge.“9

1 The inability (al’ajz) is that of the Gnostic to perceive intellectually the realities that the heart contemplates (cf. NURBAKHSH, Sufi Symbolism, v, p. 234).

2 Muslim, no. 751; Abū Dawūd, 754, 1215; Ibn Māŷa, 1169, etc. 3 Cf. Cor. v:82.
4 Cor. IV:92; xxiv:9; XLVIII:6, etc.
5 Cor. II:88, 160, etc.

6 Cor. II:63; IV:82, 112, etc. 7 Cor. xxiv:43.
8 Cor. XIII:18; xxxix:59.
9 A¬mad, no 3528, 4091.

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The second class comprises the Names of which we have been given a representation expressible in words or numbers, and are the Names which do indicate to us their realities. These in turn are of two kinds: the first composed of pronouns, such as “he”, “I” and “we”, the kāf of the allocution or the tā’ ‘1, the pronoun of the absent and the plural. And on the other hand, those that have an explicit meaning, such as Allāh, ‘the Wise’, ‘the Creator’, etc.

A PARTADO: You must know that the existence of every human and non-human being corresponds to a universal or specific Name of the Names of the divinity. Try to understand that and you will get the revelation of the hidden secret and preserved science. And Allah, may He be praised and exalted, has some men called “the men of the Names” (rijāl alasmā’), and they are ninety-nine persons plus one who brings them all together, who is called “the Helper” (algaw£), “the One” (alfard), “the Pole” (alquÐb), “the All-Encompassing” (aljami’), whom none of these ninety-nine men knows, despite constituting the basis of its perpetuity.

Whenever the separate letters or numerical values of one of the Names of the Essence of God are harmonized in a magic square, for this will form a Supreme Name in its reality, having the same effect as if it were the Supreme Name itself. Try to understand that: it is not possible for me to delve into its explanation since I am not allowed to reveal this secret.

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And I heard a certain šayj of the Gnostics say: “Every person who invokes God with one of his Names is in relation to the Supreme Name. Thus [the Supreme Name] of ‘Ayyūb was “the Most Gracious of the Merciful”2 (Ar¬am alrā¬imīn), that of Sulaymān was “the Giver”3 (alWahhāb), that of Zakariyyā’ was “the Best of the heirs”4 (Jayr alwāri£īna), and that of
Yūnus was ﴾ There is no god but Thee. Glorified art thou! True, I have been among the unjust ﴿5“. This takes
place to the extent of the spiritual state of the one who invokes, and not of the harmony of the Name to which one is envoked
in the invocation. This doctrine is very plausible, it is the doctrine of the great majority of our Sufi teachers
and my guide on the path of realization and dignity6.

The šayj, the imam, the Gnostic, the scholar Muhammad al-Khwārizmī7, whom God welcomed into His glory after He died in Makkah in 670, said: “Whoever knows God by the unique Name that corresponds to his spiritual state and level, then he has known the Supreme Name of God which is specific to Him. And know that Allah, praise and exalted be He, by His favor made manifest their Names in different forms, each Name of them indicating one of the qualities of their acts and their ways, of

1 The kāf as an allocution particle is the pronominal suffix of the second person, and with the tā’ it refers to the prefix of verb forms, which also indicates the second person.

2 Cor. XXI:82.
3 Cor. xxxviii:34.
4 Cor.xxi:88.
5 Cor. XXI:86.
6 The Berlin manuscript attributes this anecdote to an author named alÆarā’iq, perhaps referring to A¬mad b.

‘Abdūs alÆarā’ifī (d. 958).
7 This would be Fajr alDīn alJwārizmī (see supra, p. 180, n. 1)

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so that everyone who walks the Path finds an easy and proper path for him, which is the Supreme Name that corresponds with him at the goal of his spiritual state. When he knows it, he prays with him in the spiritual moment that is in relation to the Name, for to the knowledge of the spiritual moment (waqt)1, of the relationship and of the Name that corresponds to the moment and the proper need of the Name, he will have to unite the total attention (tawajj) of his heart in the request for the quality sought, especially the speed of the response. In this way, the one who invokes according to these rulings will be attended to on the spot, and that is what is alluded to in the words of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and save him!: “During the days of your lives God causes breaths [of His mercy] to emanate from you, let them reach you!”, and the breaths (alnafaṇt) constitute the correspondence of the appropriate time with the object of the search and the proper Name for the purpose. These are the secrets that are revealed to the people of the Divine Solicitude (ahl ‘ināyat Allāh), such as the Messenger Prophets and His closest servants, so that they get the answer quickly according to their dignity.

APARTADO: You should know that the absolute mystery and the most important definitive concern about the invocation [with the Names of God] is that you will take the letters of the divine Names whose 2ikr you undertake, for example, ‘the Subtle’, and ‘the Sagacious’ (al-LaÐīf al-Jabīr), and you will not count the letters of the article, but you will take the letters of LaÐīf and Jabīr. You will get the numerical value of both Names according to the masters of secrets, add them up, and multiply the result by the number of days of the week elapsed. Then you will begin your 2ikr in a state of purity and prayer, finding yourself in a place without noise, with total aspiration and inner purity, for you will really find the secret of the answer at the moment. He was cautious with this, because it is red sulfur and the supreme triaca.

One of the greatest masters of intuitions said: “The best kept secret and the treasure of science about the invocation (2ikr) of Names is that you must count the number of letters that make up Names and calculate the numerical value of their letters. For example, the name Allāh has
four letters and the numerical value of the four added together is sixty-six, the result of the sum of
both values being 70. Then you will implore help with the name Allāh seventy times, then you will ask for your need, and finally you will recite His Name again the number of times equivalent to the numerical
value of the name of the object of supplication. You will do all this in an empty place, with total aspiration and presence of the heart, for you will truly be attended to instantly. Be cautious about it, for it is
one of the best-kept secrets and one of the most precious treasures, thank God, exalted be He!

And you must know that each Name has a peculiar virtue whose scope it does not exceed and which he who invokes with it cannot exceed. Be careful with this, because it is the Mystery of God in the world of the heavenly Kingdom and of Sovereignty, and the divine laws cannot be modified.

1 On this concept, see NURBAKHSH, Sufi Symbolism, iv, pp. 148153.

2 The Berlin manuscript adds that these doctrines are largely due to Zayn alDīn alKāfī, an author whom we have not been able to identify, and which the base manuscript will cite several times in the next chapter also on the Divine Names.

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And you must know that among the Names of God, there are those whose particularity is not found in any other Name exclusively, and there are those that unite two or three names with the same meaning. In it lies a wonderful secret and an extraordinary decree, praise be to God, the Wise, the Bountiful!

You must also know that the peculiar virtues of each Name are derived from Him, and the use of them is due to Him Who permits it: this is the enigmatic mystery that is revealed to every contrite servant, ﴾ but this is achieved only by those who have patience, it is obtained only by the one endowed with an immense fortune ﴿1. Whoever opens this door will have obtained the great fortune of science from the family of Muhammad.

A PARTADO: each of the Names of God, exalted be He, if it has an odd number of b letters it is suitable for separation and dispersion, and if it is an even number of letters it will be suitable for
union, marriage, affection and love. And you must know that each Name corresponds to letters
and numerical values, and that each number has a magic square. Whoever gathers in a magic square the letters of each Name and their harmonized numerical values2 obtains the unveiling of the Mystery.

And each Name has a spiritual entity (rū¬ānī) whose body is in the omni-morphic air (mutašakkil). I will refrain from delving into it because of the unveiling of the mystery that it entails and its enormous importance, since in it extraordinary secrets and wonderful entities are made visible. It is to whom God has distinguished with His gift that the truth of the magnetic magnet and the attractive ruby that is transmitted in secret is shown: ﴾ He sends down the Spirit of His command
upon whom He wills from among His servants ﴿3. So dive in if you find yourself sailing, and expel yourself if
you find yourself free, for this is the pearl of allusions found in the shells of words.
And since the spiritual realities of the higher worlds descend into the domains of the lower worlds, then acquire them for a low price before they disappear, and offer as a dowry for them the
best part of your fortune before you drink from the cups of those who sigh for the jars of our Lord, saying: “Let us return that we may act uprightly, not as we have acted,”4 for in the realm
of degradation you will encounter a terrible threat: ﴾ Did we not grant you a long life in
which one who did so might come to your senses, and did not warnings come to you? ﴿5. How insufferable will be
the gnashing of teeth, and how bitter the taste of their torment! Try to understand this and meditate on these words: ﴾ God makes those who want to hear, and you cannot make those who are in the graves to hear. You are nothing
more than a warning ﴿6. If the person who observes these words would reflect and act on them, he would acquire magnificent knowledge.

1 Cor. XLI:34.

2 That is, the one who joins the square with the letters of the Name and the square with its numerical values in a single square.

3 Cor. XL:14.
4 Cor. xxxii:12.
5 Cor. xxxv:37.
6 Cor. xxxv:223.

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Know, may God grant us the help He gives to the Gnostics, and guide us on the path of the disciples, that the conditions for operating with the Names are very numerous, as well as the conditions for recitation (2ikr) and invocation with them. Among them there are some that concern all people and others that only concern some. I will mention all of this in the next section, God willing!

AFIRST PARAGRAPH: ON THE INDISPENSABLE CONDITIONS FOR ALL PERSONS [in the use of the divine names]

Constancy in dealing with the brethren (aljaamā’a) is indispensable, then full and adequate faith for the clearest vigilance, and constancy in keeping in the state of correct purification and help. Then the exercise of reflection by meditation on the meanings of these Names through their consideration and deep study, so that this may result in full certainty, knowledge of their secrets, and total conviction of the influence of all of them. Finally, harmonization (altajalluq) is indispensable, as mentioned above.

Know that whoever wants to obtain a total arrangement (ta1⁄2rīf)1 of the Names, must carry out this harmonization with the totality of the Names, so that he obtains the virtue that each of them contains. This will be achieved by the renunciation of all attributes and the absence in the place of all objects. [Once that has been attained], when he desires the disposition of a Name, he tends to the plane of that Name, ready to receive the radiant lights emanating from it by the absence of any object in the abode. This is because there should be no room in it for anyone who is not Him, for He is He in act and disposition.

Thus by harmonization with a single Name a total disposition is obtained, and this may have two causes: either because that Name is one of the totalitarian bases, or because this harmonization involves an outburst of intuitive perception in the Object of Vision, to the extent of the plane on which that Name is found. so that his vision does not need the reunion with the rest of the Names. In this way it is said that the šayj Abūl’Abbās alSabtī2 obtained a perfect disposition thanks to his harmonization with the Name of God ‘the Generous’ (alAwwād), in such a way that he used to say: through the Generous One the Meeting (alwuŷūd) takes place. And it is also said of Abū Mūsà alSadrānī3, who imposed on himself the litany (wird) of reciting the Qur’an seventy thousand times day and night in order to obtain harmony with the Name of God ‘Who extends (sustenance)’ (alBāsiÐ).

1 According to T. Fahd (“La magie comme “source” de la sagesse”, p. 92), the term ta1⁄2rīf designates the exploration of its virtues. In our opinion, it refers rather to the internalization of these virtues and their disposition in the world of Creation.

2 We believe that this is the famous Maghreb saint Abūl’Abbās A¬mad b. Ja’far alSabti, who died in Marrakech in 601 AH (ALNABHĀNĪ, Ŷāmi’ karāmāt alawliyā’, i, p. 408). On the other hand, T. Fahd (“La magie comme “source” de la sagesse”, n. 101) suggests that it could be Abūl’Abbās b. Mas’ūd alSabtī (d. 698 / 1298), author of some writings on zā’irŷa.

3 This could be Mūsa Abū ‘Imrān alSaydarānī, a contemporary of Ibn ‘Arabī (ALNABHĀNĪ, Ŷāmi’ karāmāt alawliyā’, ii, p. 408).

and

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And among those who mention [the provision] by harmonizing with the whole of all the Names are AbūlQāsim alQušayrī1, Abūl©ākim alBurŷānī2, Abūl Barakāt ‘Abd al-Qādir
al-Ŷīlānī 3, Abū ©āmid al-Gazālī4, Abūl©asan al©arrānī5, Abū ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Arabī6, Abūl ‘Abbās alUqlīšī 7, Abū ‘Abd Allāh alKūfī 8, and many others of whom only Allah, exalted be He, can
keep count. Let those who want to delve into the subject meditate on what these teachers have said, because in
their words we find the confirmation of what we have just said.

And know that man is the Supreme Name of God, and he who knows Himself knows His Lord. Abu Asan©al-Šā2ilī (Allah be pleased with him) said: I was one day in front of my master ‘Abd al-Salām b. Mašīš9, and there was a little boy next to him whom I sat on my lap. Then I began to ask my teacher about the science of the Supreme Name, when the boy pulled my beard and said, “Uncle, you are the Supreme Name, or said, “The Supreme Name is in you.” Then the teacher said, “The boy has answered you.”

ASECOND PARAGRAPH: ON THE INDISPENSABLE CONDITIONS FOR ONLY CERTAIN PERSONS.

and

It is necessary to take the pure material to engrave [the harmonic square of the Name or Names], choose the right time for the request, make incense with the appropriate incense, and wear the specific clothes for the ritual. All these are the conditions that must be followed by those weak who are not able to reach the level of Men10.

And you should know that it is imperative for one who is in the degree of the imposition of these conditions to choose a place (bayt) intended exclusively for recitation (2ikr) and not to be the place chosen by any other. The dimensions must be only those necessary to remain seated and standing, without more space being left over. There should not be a single crack through which any light or noise enters, and it should sit directly on the ground, but if necessary, it may be placed on those products that spring from the earth. He will not sleep except when sleep overcomes him and he will burn pleasantly smelling incense almost constantly.

1 See above, p. 278, n. 7
2 This would be Abūl©akam Ibn Barraŷān (d. 1141 AD), a well-known Andalusian mystic.
3 Sufi and theologian ¬anbalī author of numerous writings. He died in 1166 AD.
4 One of the most outstanding thinkers and theologians of Islam. He died in 1111 AD. C.5
Unidentified, and unlikely to be ¢ābit b. Qurra, Abūl©asan al©arrānī (d. 901), featured

mathematician and astrologer, also author of a well-known treatise on the making of talismans. His name is not usually linked to that of the rest of the Sufi authorities.

6 It is none other than the famous Mu¬yī adDīn Ibn ‘Arabī (d. 1240 AD).

7 Abūl’Abbās A¬mad alUqlīšī (d. 1155), Andalusian mystic and author of a K. alAnbā’ fī ¬aqā’iq al1⁄2ifāt wal asmā’ (ISMĀ’ĪL PASHA, Hadiyyat al’Ārifīna, i, p. 85).

8 Unidentified, see below, p. 343.9
Famous Maghreb saint who was assassinated in 12267 AD
10 I do not know if he is referring to the Men of Names (see above, p. 287), or if it is simply a matter of a

appellation of the saints (see NURBAKHSH, Sufi Symbolism, iii, p. 239).

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A certain teacher was asked about the meaning of isolation (al’uzla), and he said: “Its characteristic feature alone accounts for its meaning, and its form makes us aware of its own content.” That is to say, to those who choose isolation correspond Magnificence (al’izz)1. And collective isolation (almajlis) 2 is said to be the most excellent3.

And you should know that […] the retreat (aljalwa) is the nexus of the people of purity, and the retreat comes from the emirates of the Union. Try to understand that, for to God belongs the merit of saying:

In the abode of holiness there are [four] pillars,
in which our teachers are numbered among the Substitutes (alabdāl).4

Between silence and continuous solitude,
between hunger and wakefulness is the most wholesome.

And the Prophet, God bless him and save him, said: “Silence brings about the knowledge of God, exalted be He! Isolation allows us to know the earthly world, hunger causes the knowledge of the Devil and wakefulness allows us to know the soul”5.

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[APART ON FASTING AND PURITY]

Know, may God help us to obey Him and to understand the secrets of His Names, that the sages of antiquity were unanimous in affirming that the end of the Divine Opening (fat¬) and the Unfolding of unitary Eternity (al1⁄2amadiyya) only takes place in the person in whose stomach there is not a single crumb of food, which supposes the end of bodily eternity. There are different opinions about the number of days of abstinence necessary for this: it is said to be two weeks, but most believe that it is only completed when reaching forty days, which is the amount that Allah, may He be exalted, imposed on His confidant Mūsà b. ‘Imrān, peace be upon him!6, that his interior might be cleansed of the remains of food, his spirit might be strengthened, his heart might be purified, his mind might be strengthened, and his soul might be healed. This is the predisposition to Eternity (al1⁄2amadiyya) of the spirits. And the ancestors maintain that after sixty days [of fasting] is when the wonderful essences of the world of the heavenly Kingdom, the subtle entities of the world of the Imperative, and the secrets of the world of Sovereignty are perceived.

As for the predisposition of Eternity of the minds together with their human essence, it is obtained after seventy days, which is the limit of days imposed by those who perform the exercises of

1 It is a play on words: “al’uzla al’izz lahu”, and therefore he says that the meaning lies in its form.

2 It refers to the isolation in society of the convent or confraternity, and is usually prescribed to mystics with more advanced spiritual development (J. S.PENCER TRIMINGHAM, The Sufi Orders in Islam, Oxford University Press, 1971, p. 30).

3 The Berlin manuscript attributes these indications to the aforementioned al-Qušayrī.

4 The Substitutes are those Men of God who are in one of the highest degrees of holiness, and who when they die are replaced by other saints who take their place in that spiritual hierarchy (see GOLDZIHER, “Abdāl” in EI 2; NURBAKHSH, Sufi Symbolism, iii, pp. 215222).

5 This saying is not found among the collections cited. 6 Cf. Cor. II:51; VII:142.

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mortification (alriyāÅāt). And from this a different spiritual development is obtained, for his interior rises with special lights that are not recognized among the masters of spiritual states or at the different levels of acts. Then the secrets are revealed to him and he himself lifts the veils, and that is the person who dies in annihilation (fanā’) and revives in subsistence (baqā’). This is the highest degree of predisposition to Eternity that the human being can attain on all planes and types of theophanies.

You should know that natural inclinations are only eliminated after fasting that empties the stomach completely, as is the habit known in mortification practices. And as for the tendency towards unitary Eternity of man’s natural qualities (Ðabā’i’), it is obtained after an abstinence of twenty-eight days. And the traveler who is on his way to the principles of the secrets of unitary Eternity must abstain for at least fourteen days.

As for the person who is shocked by the effects of this habit after a week, for [his teachers] are compelled to expel him from the retreats, limiting him to the fountains of Lordship and the gifts of faith, being aware that such practices devastate his interior.

Some people gradually decrease their food intake each day. Others do not use gradual tapering but gradual postponement, that is, they first abstain for seven days, then ten days, and so on until they reach forty. And there was a certain person who substituted a wet stick for the food, and each night his intake decreased as the stick dried.

And Sahl [b. ‘Abd Allāh al-Tustarī] said: “Whoever fasts for forty days, the Power is manifested in him in the world of the heavenly Kingdom.” We have already revealed the secrets of the Tour, try to understand and you will prosper.

[AMATTER OF GREAT BENEFIT]

And we will conclude this noble epilogue and this subtle prolegomenon with an extraordinary recitation (2ikr) and a wonderful litany (wird) in which the suns of their meanings and the subtleties of their forms shine. This is the flower of excellent aroma and it is the resplendent secret that God does not reveal to any servant without emancipation thereby, to any slave without freeing himself, to any prisoner without being freed, to no fearful person without finding security in him, to no poor person without his needs being resolved, nor anyone who is humiliated without being strengthened. And in him resides a magnificent quality to repress the powerful and eliminate the unjust.

Whoever writes it and hangs it will humble himself before him, every powerful rebel and every obstinate demon, and whoever sees him feels affection for him. If he recites it continuously, God revives his interior with the light of Gnostic knowledge as well as his exterior with the spirit of subtleties, protects him with His presence in those around him and in himself, and saves him from all that he fears.

No sovereign recites it continually without his kingdom being enlarged and his commands obeyed, for in it is the Supreme Name of God. Whoever recites it in front of an angry tyrant calms his anger, and God, exalted be He, grants him what he asks.

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One who knows the way to attain Attention (altawajjuh)1 with this hidden secret and it is buried pearl, can do without a large number of derivative recitations (a2kār). It involves an exercise of intense spiritual retreat known to the lords of intuition, and its 2ikr is that of the omnisignificant Name in the case of those who are in the higher levels of Passion (walah), and ©ayy Qayyūm in the case of the lords of the first spiritual degrees.

If a person wants to have the mysteries of this shining diamond and this dazzling sapphire clarified to him in terms of its numerical secrets, its literal correspondences, its luminous Names and its harmonious arrangement, let him study them with all his effort. It is fitting that kings, princes, ministers, devotees, the most virtuous sages, and the most intelligent scholars, should thereby employ their attention in the early hours of Friday, Sunday, or Monday, or on the day of Arafa, or on one of the feast days, or on the day of ‘Ašūrā.4, or on the night of the fourteenth to the fifteenth of the month of Ša’bān, or on the night of the 27th day of the month of Ramadan, or on the first day of each month, or in the evenings for the rest of one’s life. He will do this after praying six taslīmāt, and when he is seated at the end, he will say:

“Praise be to Allah (sub¬āna Allāh), praise be to Allah (al-amdu lillāh), Allah is greater, there is no strength and there is no power except in Allah, the Most High, the Sublime! O Allah, bless and save the Prophet Muhammad, his family and his wives, the mothers of the believers, their descendants and their relatives, just as you saved Ibrāhīm and his family, you are praiseworthy, Glorious5.”

Then he will exclaim, “Allāhu akbar,” prostrate himself, and in that position he will recite the Fetia of the Book seven times, the verse of the Throne seven times, and “There is no god but Allāh, only Him, without an associate. To Him belong Sovereignty and Praise, He Capable of all things” ten times. Then he will say:

“My God, I beseech Thee by the joints of the Glory of Thy Throne, by the extremity of the Mercy of Thy Book, by the Truth of Thy Supreme Name, by Thy unattainable limit, and by Thy perfect words.”

After that he will pray for his need, then he will lift up his face and pronounce the taslīma to the right and left. Then, if possible, he shall slaughter a ram that is well fattened and fit to be slaughtered in an empty place, slaughtering it according to the law and facing Mecca. And when he slaughters him he will say: “My God, this creature comes from You and belongs to You. It is my sacrifice for salvation, accept it from me.”

Then a breach will be made in it, it will be allowed to bleed on the ground, and it will be cut into sixty pieces, some of the skin (aljhild), some of the head, and some of the belly. He will distribute them among the poor and the needy, thus feeding sixty of them. Or if he prefers, he will give a dirham of alms to seven poor people. Try to understand, for I have only opened the doors for whoever wants to enter, and God grants His favor to whom He wills, He is the Lord of immense Favor and the One Who grants success!

1 Attention is focusing on God externally and internally so that no other object of attention remains (NURBAKHSH, Sufi Symbolism, i, p. 355).

3 The Feast of Immolation (10 of ®Ūl©yŷŷa) and the Feast of the Breaking of the Fast after the month of Ramaṇan (1 of Šawwāl).

4 10 of Mu¬arram. 5 Cf. Cor. XI:6872.

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And this is the great litany:
“In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful; there is no power or strength except in God.” “My God, bless and save Muhammad and the Muhammad family, in the same way that

you saved Abraham and his family in both lives, you are praiseworthy, Glorious.”
﴾ There is no god but You, Glorified art You! True, I have been among the unrighteous ﴿1, 126 times.

God is enough for me, there is no god but Him, I entrust myself to Him, for He is the Lord of the immense Throne, seven times.

“In the name of God, when His name is mentioned nothing on earth or in heaven can cause harm, He is the Hearer, the All-Knowing,” three times3.

• Peace: the word of a compassionate Lord •4, sixteen times.
“There is no power or strength except in God, the Most High, the Sublime,” ten times.

And finally you will say, “O Lover, O Lover, O Lord of the Glorious Throne, O Initiator, O Riser, O Who does all that wills, I beseech Thee by the light of Thy face that floods the foundations of Thy Throne, I beseech Thee by Thy Omnipotence with which Thou didst decree all Thy creation, and by Thy Mercy which extends over all things. There is no God but Thee, O Helper, help me 3 times.

My God, O Most High, O Sublime, O Protector, O All-Knowing, O Compassionate, O Compladent, O Merciful, O Gracious, O Gracious, O Loving, O Praiseworthy, O Forgiving, O Forgiving, I beseech Thee by Thy hidden Name to reveal to me, through the emanation of Thy purest kindness and Thy immeasurable perfection, a luminous secret and a divine Name, with which he can influence souls, bodies, hearts and spirits, awakening in them love and affection. O One with whom the sorrowful rejoice, Companion of the desolate, I beseech Thee by the secret of the copulative alif which is the beginning of letters. O Giver, O Seeking, O Forgiving, O High One, [I pray Thee to infuse me] with a desire that will lead me to Thee and a light that will lead me to Thee, that Thou mayest make me worthy of the rest and bountiful provision [of Paradise],5 and that Thou wilt please me with the peace and pleasure that proceed from Thee.

I beseech Thee, O Who spreads sustenance, O One, O Glorious, O Omnipresent, Allāh, Allāh is my Lord, I associate nothing with Him. My God, if anyone wishes me harm or harm, shake his head, lock his tongue, stop his mouth, prevent his cunning and interpose between him and me. O Lord, O praiseworthy One, O One Who hearkens to prayers, O Glorious, for the holiness of Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, M¬ammad, Muṣammad, O Glorious, for the holiness of Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Muṣammad, Mu�

1 Cor. XXI:86.
2 Cor. IX:130.
3 According to the Prophet, whoever recites this formula three times avoids suffering any harm during that day and night (al.

Tirmi2ī, no 3310; Abū Dawūd, no. 4425; A¬mad, not 444, etc.). 4 Cor. xxxvi:57.

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5 In reference to Cor. LVI:92.

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O my God, I beseech Thee by the universal Secret and by the resplendent Light, to grant me a proof (furqān) from Thee whereby my bosom [to Islam] may be opened and my rank raised. You are the end of
my path, to You is the return and the destination, you help the defeated and defeat the powerful, there is no god
but Allāh, the Sublime, the Patient!, there is no god but Allāh, Lord of the Sublime Throne!, there is
no god but Allāh, Lord of the seven heavens and of the earth and what is between them, Lord of the Noble Throne.

My Allah, the God of Ŷibrīl, Mikā’īl, Isrāfīl and ‘Azrā’īl, of Ibrāhīm, of ‘Ismā’īl and of Is¬āq, forgive me, and do not turn any of Your creatures against me, nor allow it to happen. O Who hears the prayer, O Who hears the supplication, ﴾ God is sufficient for you against them, He is the Hearer, the All-Knowing ﴿1, I place my trust in the Living One, Who does not die2, ﴾ praise to God, who has not taken a son or has no sharer in the sovereignty nor needs anyone to protect Him from humiliation. Exalt Him by proclaiming His greatness! ﴿ 3. God is greater, God is greater, God is greater, more powerful than all of His creation put together, God is greater than all that produces fear, more Awesome. I take refuge in God, there is no god but Him, Who sustains heaven ﴾ so that it does not fall on the earth, unless it is by His command! 4, from every rebellious tyrant and every stubborn demon.

My God, I pray Thee to save me from the denial of Thy precepts, safe from estrangement from Thee, safe from spiritual poverty, safe from the blameworthy, safe from anguish, safe from affliction, safe from baseness, safe from ignorance, safe from falsehood, safe from the sinking of the earth under our feet and safe from the violent shock (alraŷf)5. My God, bring all our affairs to a good conclusion and protect us from the vileness of the world and the punishment of the Hereafter.

My God, I beseech Thee by Muṣmad, the master, the perfect, the conqueror, the seal [of prophecy], the light of the lights of the knowledge of God, the secret of the secrets of the Gnostics, the best of Thy creatures, the mystery of Thy science, the mirror of Thy essence, and the reflection of Thy attributes. I beseech Thee by the light of Thy countenance, by the breadth of Thy mercy, by the seven and the eight and their secrets connected with Thee, O Allah, O Allah, O One, O Eternal, O Living One, O Subsistent, make of me knowledge, act and intellect of Thy knowledge, spirit of Thy Life, authority of Thy will, influence of Thy might, eloquence of Thy words, understanding of Thy ear, discernment of Thy perception, support of Thy absolute dominion (i¬āÐa). Grant me then a secret from Thee before which the heads of the arrogant bow, and to which the souls of tyrants are guided. To Thee are the praises, O Benefactor, at the beginning of everything, to Thee are the thanks, at the conclusion of all. Verily Thou art Who is Sufficient, the Glorious, the One Who is sufficient, the Praiseworthy. My God, lay me on Your bed.

1 Cor. II:136.
2 In reference to Cor. XXV:58. 3 Cor. XVII:110.
4 Cor. XXII:63.
5 Cf. Cor. LXXIX:6.

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Mercy with Thy favor, protect me with the guardian of Thy vigilance and Thy protection, wrap me in the robe of respect, make me sit on the throne of greatness, wearing the crown of splendor, place upon me the roof of protection, hoist upon me the banners of glory, fill my interior with awe of reverence and mercy, and my exterior of grandeur and solemnity. Transfer to me the dominion of the forehead1 of every rebellious tyrant and every obstinate demon, prevent me from committing sin and fault, and help me in word and deed.

My God, I beseech You, for Your sake and for that which Your essence contains and which none of Your creatures knows but You. I beg thee to bless the essence and subtlety of Muṣmad, the sun of the heaven of mysteries, the outward aspect of the lights, the pole of the sphere of beauty, and the center of the orbit of Majesty. My God, by His secret that belongs to You, by Your secret in it, calm my fear, lessen my errors, make my greed and sorrow disappear, make up for my deficiencies, take me to You, make me need no one but You, 2 Do not abandon me in my self-centeredness and hindered by my physical senses, and reveal to me every hidden secret, O Living One, O Subsisting One, then regale me with the gift by which the spirits of the saints rejoice and by which the souls of the blessed are enthusiastic. To Thee belong the most immense Glory and absolute Sovereignty.

My God, I beseech Thee for every priority Name in Thy science, for Thou hast certainly not prevented Thee from being supplicated with it, and Thou dost not frustrate him who begs Thee with it, I beseech Thee to solve the need for all that I need of Thee, and thereby make me enjoy good health. You really know what I want, you have the solution to the problems and you are Almighty.

My God, I beseech Thee by the mystery of ﴾BismiLlāh al-RamĬmān alRa¬īm ﴿, to cover me with the garments of Thy lights that dazzle the eyes of enemies and render their hands useless, to envelop me in all that procures me the splendor with which the spirits of those who reason rejoice, on which those capable of perceiving fix their eyes and with whom the thoughts of those who know God are pleased. Truly You know exactly the hidden things and You Who make them known, You are the One Who reveals the secrets and the One Who makes them understood, You must praise and glorify, in Your hand is success and victory.

My God, bless and save Your prophet messengers, Your nearest angels, Your most devoted saints, and all the people of Your obedience, pay them our greetings and respects, and allow them to intercede in our prayers and desires. My God, I place my hopes in Your noble face and I hope with optimism for Your sublime forgiveness, then have mercy on me, on my father and […]. Do not turn me away from Your side by frustrating my hope, and do not make my optimism about Your forgiveness false. My God, how could I leave Your door disappointed, for You want me to put my trust in You? How could You disappoint me by denying Me Your gift, when You have commanded me to call upon You? O most gracious of the merciful, O Lord, when my time comes and my time is up, when I put on my shroud and

1 Cf. Cor. xi:55 ﴾ There is no creature that He does not have a hold of the lock of His forehead ﴿ . 2 Lit. “Make me need no of myself.”

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leave my earthly dwelling, O Lord of lords, O Origin of causes, O Who frees slaves, O Who turns away punishment, evil has touched my soul, have mercy on me, Thou art the most Gracious of the merciful. In the name of God, the Purifier, in the Name of God, the Sufficient, in the name of God, the Pure, Alif lām mīm rā’, Kāf hā’ yā’ ‘ayn 1⁄2ād, Æā’ sīn, ©ā’ mīm, Qāf, Nūn, ﴾ God is the best Protection, He is the most Gracious of the merciful ﴿1“.

Then you will say, “There is no god but Allāh,” 100 times. And you will say “O Subtle (LaÐīf)” 129 times; you will say “O Enough (Kāfī)” 111 times; you will say “O Patient (©alīm)” 88 times; you will say: “O One Who Answers the Prayers (Mujīb); you will say “O Peace (Salām)” 131 times; and you will say “O Protector (©afīÞ)” 998 times.

The noble litany ended. So treat this red sulphur and this supreme triaca with caution, for the ray of light of the science of Names and letters, the secrets of numbers and the meanings of concepts known only to the lords of secrets and lights, will shine before you, ﴾ but this is achieved only by those who have patience, it is only reached by the one endowed with immense luck ﴿2.

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1 Cor. XII:64. 2 Cor. XLI:34.

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CHAPTER SIXTEEN
ONTHE MOST BEAUTIFUL NAMES OF GODAND THEIR MAGIC SQUARES OF PROVEN USEFULNESS.

Know that, God guide us, this chapter is the journey from the river of purity to the Gospel of Heaven. the tightly closed enclosures, the telltale signs, the Hindu numerals, the literal subtleties, the numerical knowledge, the luminous names, the definitive truths, and the harmonious spiritual relationships. God allow us to enter the garden of secrets and the garden of lights!

I say, with God’s help, the revelation and verification of His secrets proceed from Him!, God grant us to enter the Haunted Temple (albayt alma’mūr)1 and guide us to the subtleties of the Unrolled Scroll (alraqq al.manšūr)2!, that you should know that the most beautiful Names of Allah, may He be exalted!, are formed on the basis of the texts of the Qur’an and the Sunna. Either in the form of a noun, or in the form of a verb [of which God is the subject], a Name of God is derived from it. And those who have been revealed by the masters of the spiritual realities of the Names, by finding in one of them the attribute of perfection, for they are an enormous number, for if we count ‘alQāhir’ and ‘alQāhhār’, or ‘alŠakir’ and ‘alŠakūr’ as two different names, then they would be close to reaching three hundred names, and it has even been said that they would reach six thousand names. With this, what we propose is to summarize and point out this secret science and this hidden secret in order to warn anyone who wants to investigate it. He who is destined to taste a small part of the pleasure that derives from it, hastens to overcome the obstacles that prevent him from taking the Path, to abandon reprehensible and vulgar conduct, and to behave in the most praiseworthy and beautiful manner of which the Truth is worthy, praise and exalt him! It is then that he arrives at the ideals of these conditions to receive science, leaving behind earthly death3. God said, exalted be He: ﴾ No soul knows the joy that awaits him hidden as a reward for what they have done ﴿4.

Therefore I will begin the discourse on the ninety-nine Names thinking it expedient to base myself on that list of Names which has been transmitted to us in the Adadiness. Then we will address each Name separately, once we have underlined the secret of its counting.

1 Mentioned in Cor. lii:3, is a temple or building in heaven, parallel to the Ka’aba, into which seventy thousand angels enter every day, or according to other authors, perform the circumambulation around it.

2 Cor. lii:2, referring to the Qur’an.

3 Lit. “dying of death”. “Death symbolizes nipping in the bud the passions of the nafs” (NURBAKHSH, Sufi Symbolism, iii, 190).

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4 Cor. xxxii:17.

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I say, God help me!: In the adī£ collected by al-Tirmi2ī, according to Abu Hurayra the Prophet, b God bless and save him!, 1 said: “God has ninety-nine names, and whoever knows them by heart will enter Paradise. They are these names: He is Allāh, there is no god but Him, the Gracious, the Merciful, the King, the Most Holy, the Peace, the Guardian of the Faith, the Custodian, the Mighty, the Almighty, the Great, the Creator, the Producer, the Former, the Former, the Forgiving, the Dominator, the Giver, the Breadwinner, the Victorious, the Knower, the Shortener, the One Who extends sustenance, the
One Who bends, the One Who elevates in dignity, the One Who gives might, the One Who humbles, the Hearer, the Seer, the Judge,
the Just, the Subtle, the Shrewd, the Patient, the Sublime, the Forgiving All, the Grateful, the Most High, the Great, the Protector, the One Who Grants Food, the All-Reckoning, the Majestic, the Bountiful, the Guardian, the Answerer of Prayers, the Immense, the Wise, the Lover, the Glorious, the Riser, the Witness, the Truth, the Organizer, the Strong, the Unbreakable, the Helper, the Praiseworthy, the
All-Keeping Account, the Initiator, the Recreator of Life with the Resurrection, the Life-Giver, the
One Who Gives Death, the Living, the Subsistent, the Finder, the Full of Glory, the One, the One, the Singular2, the Eternal, the Capable, the Almighty, the Near, the Far, the First, the Last, the Visible,
the Hidden, the Governor, the Exalted, the Kind, the One Who Accepts Repentance, the Avenger,
The One who grants forgiveness, the Merciful, the Lord of the Kingdom, the Lord of Majesty and Generosity, the Equitable, the Grouper, the Sufficient, the Enricher, the Defender, the Afflictor, the Favorer, the
Light, the Guide, the Innovator, the Perpetual, the Heir, the Right-Way, the Tolerant.”

These are ninety-nine Names that the Messenger of Allah listed among the whole set of God’s names. It has already been made known to you that the Names of God are many more, and these are the Names that the Prophet underlined by his mention, as they are those that contain the meanings that make up the [ninety-nine] degrees of Paradise, for therefore he said that whoever knows them by heart will enter Paradise. And the Prophet did not mention a hundredth Name, for that is the Name by which he himself was distinguished, for its meaning carries the highest degree of Paradise, which does not belong to any of the creatures except the most perfect of them all, our Lord Muhammad, God bless and save him!

And know that whoever enters the treasury and leaves with the lowliness of disappointment dies consumed by the fires of lamentation, and when he is brought back to Him, his face is blotted out.

He cries with joy who has parted with his nafs all his life, and has not a single quota or portion left of it 4.

1 The “addendum” to which he refers is that of al-Tirmi2ī, no. 3429. A different version of this list is found in Ibn Māŷa, no. 3851.

2 These last two names (alA¬ad al-Fard) do not appear in the quotation from alTirmi2ī, although they are commonly included in the list of the ninety-nine, and must be counted as a single Name together with the one that precedes them, ‘the One’ (alWā¬id), alluding to the same concept of oneness and unity.

3 Cf. Cor. IV:46.

4 The quota (na1⁄2īb) represents the part of desire that is proper to the nafs and corresponds to the earthly passions (NURBAKHSH, Sufi Symbolism, i, p. 341).

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