Doctor Nur

Doctor Nur

Thursday, July 19, 2007

Witnessing Allah

Some quotes I made on Witnessing:

Witnessing Allah

Witnessing is the seeing of the Haqq by the Haqq.[1]

…you will be using perceptions that combine outward and inward sensory perceptions… The necessary condition for having this combination is a light…[2]

Witnessing is connecting the seeing of the heart with the seeing of the outward. “Worship your God as if you see Him.”[3]

When the seeker is in the state of witnessing and he is under the influence of the tajalli and he tastes the satisfactions, the lights of the unseen become manifest to his heart.[4]

So the process of ascension of the Sufi in states begins from the state of the ego-self to the state of the heart without the basic human nature being aware of the change; then it moves from the state of the heart to the state of the state of the secret (sirr) without the ego-self being aware of that change; then from the state of the secret to the state of the spirit (ruh) without the heart being aware. So when the traveler on the path (salik) arrives to the state of the spirit he acquires unveiling (mukashafa) and witnessing (mushahada).[5]

Whoever witnesses the permeating flow of the divine power in the activity of the decrees, then it is said that this one has passed away from having any consideration or regard of the creation’s (apparent) ability to cause or bring something about …whoever is conquered by the dominant authority of the Reality (Haqiqah) until he does not witness from the alterities…subsisted by the Real.[6]

peace and blessings,
Doctor Nur


[1] Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal, The Path to Allah, Most High, page109.
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid, page 110
[5] Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal, How the Arrival is Realized O People of Hearts and Souls and Intellects, page 100
[6] Ibid, page102

Sunday, June 3, 2007

The Sufi Path

The Sufi Path: Catalyst for Individual and Planetary Healing

(First published in Whole Life Times, a Los Angeles magazine)


By " Dr. Nur" , M.D.


Part I


Islam: The Foundation of Sufi Mysticism



Today, as our society and the entire planet undergoes a momentous shift, many people are seeking a deeper spiritual connection with God and their fellow human beings. Awakening a spiritual essence requires that we see beyond the superficial outward reality - an illusionary world which more often than not invites misunderstanding, conflict, and divisiveness. Religious stereotyping and bigotry are manifestations of this divisiveness, and in some parts of the United States, Islam has become the unfair target of social prejudice.


Many Americans are ignorant of the historical background of Islam and its close ties to Judaism and Christianity. These three religions share a common cultural heritage. All can be traced to the prophet Abraham, peace and blessings upon him (or Ibrahim in Arabic transliteration) and all of them revolve around the one true God which, in Islam is called Allah, the Merciful and the Compassionate (two of 99 names). Allah is said to have 99 names, among them, Allah the Knower, Allah The Holy, Allah the Magnificent. Allah is the personal name for God and it comes from the Aramaic language, the sister tongue of Arabic. Aramaic is the language that Jesus spoke.


Muslims recognize Muhammad, peace and blessings upon him, born in 570 in the Arabian city of Mecca as the last prophet sent to earth by God. Muhammad detested idol worship and, commanded his people to give up paganism and pantheism by surrendering to the Creator. Although Muhammad ushered in a new dawn for humanity, he was only a messenger of Allah. This is why Muslims worship Allah and not Muhammad.


Muslims also believe in the prophets recognized by both Christians and Jews - Jesus, Adam, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and John the Baptist, among others, peace and blessings upon them all. According to Islam, the path of the Prophet Muhammad, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus are one and the same. Muslims believe that Adam and Eve followed the principles and practices of Islam, even though Islam had not yet appeared as an organized religion during their lifetimes.


Islam literally means "self-surrender to the will of God". Muslims thus are those who have surrendered themselves to the Creator. Today, Muslims number about one billion people, or nearly twenty percent of the world's population. While they are generally linked to Middle Eastern Nations, Indonesia, and Malaysia, they also comprise a large proportion of the people in Russia, India, and Eastern Europe.


Judaism, Christianity, and Islam share common roots and all revolve around the concept of surrender to the One God. However, many Western writers, including some journalists, have distorted Westerners' appreciation of Islam. For example, although Jihad is often translated as "holy war", its literal and historical meaning is "any form of striving". In a strict sense, Jihad does not refer to religious or holy wars between groups of people. Instead, it pertains to a greater individual struggle to tame the enemy within.


Sufism, the esoteric side of Islam, provides a window into Islam's spiritual core. By revealing the mystical center of Islam, Sufism gives us insight into the true nature of this religion that can help dispel false stereotypes and bigoted views. In the Islamic faith, Allah is the One, the Omnipotent Creator who has given people of all races, classes, and religions a prescription for living in peace and harmony.


Islam is sometimes harshly criticized for its treatment of women. It is true that women are oppressed in certain Muslim societies, but people with extremist beliefs are responsible for the inexcusable atrocities that occur. Islam itself is not the oppressor. In fact, when Islam first appeared, it elevated the status of women throughout the Middle East. Prior to that time, women were stigmatized as inferior sex objects without legal rights who could be bought and sold as property. Islam brought a new and favorable image to women. According to the Qur'an, the religious text of Islam, it is unfair to blame Eve for tempting Adam to disobey God. In contrast to the classical Biblical interpretation, the Qur'an says that both Adam and Eve disobeyed God's command. Islam challenges the idea found in some Christian accounts that women are a source of evil.


In its pure form, Islam, perhaps more than any other world religion, is the great equalizer. Islam teaches that each follower must not only forge a spiritual bond with God, but also honor every other human being as an equal in the eyes of Allah. Surely those who harm, let alone murder, others indiscriminately are not true Muslims who have surrendered their nafs to the will of Allah. Nafs, a pivotal concept in Islam, are desires and traits linked to the ego, or self.

Every faithful Muslim follows the five pillars of Islam: believing in the Oneness of Allah and His Messenger Muhammad, performing daily prayers, giving alms to the needy, purifying the self through fasting, and taking a pilgrimage to Mecca, if able to do so. For Sufis, the most direct way to reach God is to pray five times daily and to make zikr - a remembrance of God. In Parts II and III, we will examine the core of Sufism, the mystical arm of Islam.



Part II


The Sufi Way: The Direct Path to God

Ironically, in the midst of our present day spiritual renaissance, Islam in general and Sufism in particular offer some of the most profound teachings available to anyone on a spiritual journey to find God. Sufism represents the mystical, esoteric dimension of Islam. As in the case of Christian, Jewish, and Hindu mystics, Sufis believe that it is possible to attain a direct experience of Allah - God -- while living. In Sufism, the goal of our existence is to uncover first-hand knowledge of the unseen reality, or what is called The Reality, through a relationship with God. However, this is not easy to achieve. The path to God is ridden with obstacles that stem from our own nafs, or egos. And yet, when we surrender our ego-selves to God with love and gratitude, we open ourselves to a higher reality that eventually can bring us peace and enlightenment.


The penultimate experience for Sufis is to become enraptured with the love of God by becoming a lover of God. This means lighting the flame of love's fire that sparks our remembrance of God. Although there are several Sufi orders throughout the world, all embrace these fundamental principles of Remembrance of God and Love.


Sufism provides a solid spiritual foundation for understanding and expressing healing in all its manifestations - physical and psychological, individual and familial, social and religious. Its roots in Islam make it much more than a spiritual path. It is a way of life -- a social religion as much as a personal one.


Sufism, also known as Tasawoufs, is a key to understanding the nature of true reality as knowledge. This is more than a cognitive or mental understanding because in its quintessence, to know God is to experience the oneness of the universe through a blissful merging with the Creator.


During the time of Allah's messenger Muhammad, peace and blessings upon him, a group of scholars known as the "People of the Suffe" would meet with Muhammad to discuss revelation and the unity of all things. These people, who became known as the Sufis, focused on the inner, or esoteric, dimensions of Islam rather than the outward public beliefs and practices of traditional Islam.


As in the Eastern and Western mystical schools, the Sufis believe that the Creator and all creation are interconnected through a fundamental unity that pervades the universe. This Unity is, quite simply, the Divine. As mortals, however, our perceptions of the world are constrained by the thick density of the material plane. We cannot know the external unity of Being - or Reality - unless we purify our heart, mind, and body through meditation and correct living. For Sufis, proper living includes attributes such as positive mental attitudes, sound emotional balance, and physical care of the body. Modern science has shown that these qualities are the key to a healthy mind, body, and spirit.


Even more importantly, the Sufi strives to be removed from himself while ever-present with God. He strives to lift the veil that separates himself as a human from God so that he may peer into the Unseen - the realm of true Reality. When we see the world through the eye of our heart, the veil vanishes and we witness the interconnectedness of all things, animate and inanimate. This interconnection is both the essence and a reflection of the fundamental truth of all things.


Throughout history, the notion of the unity of all things has captured the imagination of mystics and sages universally. Even some quantum physicists have embraced this idea, pointing out the vast parallels between the mystical view of the world as the unity of all things, on the one hand, and on the other hand, the scientific perspective of modern physics in which matter and energy are seen as interconnected.


Genuinely accepting the Unseen, not as a mere intellectual musing, but as a vibrant living Reality and the source of our creation or existence is easier said than done. To achieve this awareness, Sufis practice prayer, self-purification, and conscious remembrance of God to bring them closer to the Unseen, even if their rational minds resist Its presence. We move into closer proximity to God only when we abandon negative psychological states such as arrogance, envy, hatred and replace them with inner states of love, kindness, mercy, and empathy.


Steadfast and disciplined spiritual practice turns us inward, at first illuminating us little by little until we eventually reach that quintessential state of transcendental consciousness described by mystics and sages since the dawn of humanity. This is the experience of Divinity, known in Sufism as the Reality, in Buddhism as Enlightenment, and in Hinduism as the Absolute. It signals a direct communication with God.


The Sufi Way is one of the most gentle, straightforward, and pristine paths to the Divine. Anchored firmly in the Islamic concept of universal brotherhood, Sufism graciously offers a refuge from a bitter and fragmented outer world, and at once reenergizes us. By realigning body, mind, and spirit, Sufism allows us to see through benevolent eyes and to act with renewed conviction so that we can successfully surmount our individual inward strivings, or Jihads, and become conscious spiritually-realized individuals.



Part III


Healing Through the Heart: The Secret Essence of Sufism


In Sufism, the mystical side of Islam, surrendering to God means that we not only control our thoughts and behaviors, but also that we stop doubting God's existence. The struggle to overcome the frailties and limited knowledge of our own ego is called a Jihad. A Jihad is not a religious battle or holy war. It is a spiritual struggle to conquer the dark forces within us and ultimately surrender to the Light, or the Divine Love of God.


The cardinal principle in Islam is surrendering self to God. This means letting go of nafs -- needs and desires -- and instead, focusing on building a relationship with God in which you and the Creator - you and Allah - are one. As the esoteric dimension of Islam, Sufism is a path to the Divine.


On first glance, Sufism may appear similar to many of the psychospiritual techniques of self-help psychology, but the resemblance is superficial. Psychospiritual techniques emphasize knowing yourself but this is not the same as knowing yourself as God. When we find God deep within, our thoughts and behaviors dramatically change for the better, becoming increasingly calmer, more peaceful, more respectful. Feeling love toward the Creator, toward ourselves, and toward others becomes second nature. This transformation takes place only in the heart, however. It does not occur in the mind. Spiritual insights that come to us only through the mind are concepts. By contrast, spiritual wisdom is born in the heart and although it may manifest differently in each person, it inevitably makes us more loving and caring and insightful people.
The Shadhilli Sufi Order was established in the thirteenth century, A.D. by Shaykh Ali Abu-l-Hasan as-Shadhilli. The current Guide of this order, Sidi Shaykh Muhammad Said al-Jamal ar-Rifa'i, known as the Guide of the Peace, introduced Shadhilli Sufism to the West. His American protégés include Ibrahim Jaffe, M.D., a spiritual healer and founder of the University of Spritual Healing and Sufism.


According to Sidi Shaykh Muhammad Said al-Jamal ar-Rifa'i, the path of love allows us to penetrate the veils of illusion and find true Reality, or God within. And the straightest path to God, he assures us, is through the heart. Sufism gives us a roadmap to transcend our human nature and actualize our spiritual nature.


In his book, Music of the Soul, Sidi Shaykh Muhammad Said al-Jamal ar-Rifa'i speaks about the dichotomy between the human and spiritual realities. The spiritual represents the unseen hidden world that is veiled by the illusion of the physical plane. Healing, whether of mind or body, requires removing this veil. Sufis believe that Allah instilled his deep secret essence in Adam. Like Adam, our mind, heart, body, self and soul are both veil and vehicle - both the thing that conceals reality and the means to pierce through "the concealer".


Everything we perceive around us is intimately intertwined with us. We may not like our reality, but our perception of that reality is a reflection of our inner state. As Sidi notes, "…the realities of [the ranks of your existence] which you see are only apparent to you because they are you yourself which you see, through yourself."


Our perceptions color the meanings we attach to things and events. The meanings become the lens through which we view our surroundings. Once we recognize that the world is a mirror of our existence, we can take the first step to overcoming our problems. It is important that we witness our own weaknesses. And yet, unlike some philosophical approaches, simply imagining that we have no defects may be escapist, leaving us in denial about our own shortcomings and burying ourselves further in our defects.


Once we have shifted to the witness state in which we view the world from a higher state of consciousness than our ego, we find perfection in all existence - even our shortcomings. We must confront our defects but at the same time we must realize that our shortcomings have no reality-basis in true Existence. When we reach this realization, the veil that previously clouded our perceptions of the world transforms into the vehicle. And it is the vehicle that transports us to a new reality where we experience the beatitude of Divine Love, and the sense of awe and joy of feeling oneness with all things.


Love begets Love. The more certain we are of God's existence, the more perfected we become in our own existence as part of God. Sufi Masters such as Sidi Shaykh Muhammad Said al-Jamal ar-Rifa'i are mirrors in human form of our perfected state. The more we love an authentic master such as Sidi as an expression of divinity, the more love we can receive from him or her. This two-way feedback circuit - the exchange of spiritual love between the seeker and the master as a manifestation of the Creator - is crucial because it is only through love that the veil over the heart fades away.


Unconditional love free of all expectations, judgements, and qualifications is the source of all healing. We are willing, ready, and able to receive and give unconditional love when the veil of illusion is lifted before our eyes. This is not the intoxicated sense of passion we feel during physical love for another person. Rather, it is the hidden love that awakens within us once we have elevated our consciousness and spirit to perfection. Unconditional love begins with purification of the heart. It culminates in purification of the mind.


In Sufism, the heart is the deeper energetic center where true connection to God and other people is felt. When love emanates from this center, it becomes Divine Love. We experience remembrance of God through the soul, or deep heart. Real walking on the Sufi Path of love occurs in the secret heart - the deepest division of the heart where God's essence resides. This is the place of unity where all of us long to return. For most of us, it is far and distant. And yet it becomes fully within our grasp once we embrace an authentic, time-tested spiritual path such as Sufism.


The Sufi Path of the Heart is also the source of all healing. In many religious traditions and in many lands, the greatest spiritual healers work while in a state of surrender to God and while clinging to the essence of God. They ask God to be the healer through their hands so that they can perform "Healing with the Hand of God". Regardless of whether or not we are professional healers, all of us are in need of healing on some level. All healing is a spiritual process that reaches its highest manifestation when we have merged our heart with God's heart and witnessed Divine revelation for ourselves. Today, more than ever, Sufism can guide us toward God-Realization by showing us the Path of the Heart



peace and blessings,
Dr. Nur