Journeying through the Divine Name

The wayfarer’s journey begins by reading the levels of the name through direct tasting. He enters into the Haʾ of Ipseity by struggling against the lower self until he passes away from it and from everything other-than-God. The subtle grace of the innermost secret that flows through every existent then manifests itself, and the wayfarer comes to naught in the lights of Haʾ. When he becomes established in this station, the sun of the Lam of Contraction (lam al-qabḍ) shines upon him till its rays reveal the reality of the center of the Haʾ. For it is from this center that the circle of the Haʾ is configured, and it is through it that the Haʾ comes into manifestation.

His heart does not swerve from this sun, and he is overpowered by the assault of “Lam-Haʾ” (for Him, له). For this sun becomes the qibla of his spirit and his heart. Then the pure meanings of the Lam of Gnosis manifest themselves to him through his extinction in love and yearning. He then returns “to God” (Lam-Lam-Ha, لله ), breathing the fragrance of “to God we belong and to Him we return” (inna liʾLlah wa-inna ilayhi rajiʿun Q 2:156). When the wayfarer gains firmness in this station, and he understands the pure meanings, celestial realities, and the divine disclosures of “to God” (liʾLlah لله), then the banners of union are raised for him and he is cast into the ocean of the names of beauty till he becomes joyful and happy (farihan masrura), he returns to the ocean of separation where he tastes the realities of the names of majesty. For the genuine servant must discover the Real in majesty and in beauty until his circle of gnosis (maʿrifa) reaches its perfection.

Sh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari, Afanin al-sujud