The Innermost Secret, al-Sirr
The innermost secret (al-sirr) is the subtle reality of divine mercy (laṭīfat al-raḥma al-ilāhiyya). This virgin reality is hallowed beyond the aspirations of servanthood which may deflower it. It is deposited within the kernel of the seed of the heart. The fruit that it yields is the eye-witnessing of the life-breaths of God’s exclusive singularity (aḥadiyya) that flow through the locus of manifestation of the Essence when it first became determined as a distinct entity.
This subtle reality is the Divinity (lāhūt) that flows through all things. It appears in an imaginal form in proportion to the life that is deposited within that thing. For it is the joining together of the name and the Named, and it is the lower self’s road of ascension to the Spirit (rūḥ).
This virgin subtle reality is free from contact with any aspirations of fantasy and imagination. For indeed, it is the oil of mystical knowledge (zayt al-maʿrifa) that is cleared of the husk of all-things-other-than-God. A reality so subtle that it is exalted above verbal expression, cannot be delimited by letters, nor exemplified by a representative designation. It is sheer fruitional experience that is only tasted by those who plunge the depths of the kernel of the heart.
As for the kernel (lubb), it is the preserved tablet of knowledge. Therein lies the root of the intellect, illumined by the holy light and the vision of the pupil of the eye of the heart.
Only those who possess strong resolve directly experience the innermost secret. They entirely orient themselves in pursuit of pure meaning, are seated on the steed of willpower, and possess both a strong spiritual essence and the power of passionate love. They drink from the wellspring of life whose waters flow down from the mountain peaks of the pretemporal covenant of Alastu, Yes, indeed [Thou art our Lord]—peaks that the breezes of the Cloud (ʿamāʾ) of the Breath of the All-Merciful blow gently across. Whoever is in such a state, and is accepted in pre-eternity, will witness the life-breath of the spirit of the divine command with his own eye. This spirit precludes all plurality and stands forever alone, without being determined as a distinct entity, in a state of total nondelimitation that is independent even of all nondelimitation, where the Essence stands apart from the fetters of nonexistence and immutability.
Know, moreover, that the innermost secret cannot be discoursed by the tongue. Rather, it is a realization of the presence of the Real. It is the descent of the Real to the servant, and the ascent of the servant to the Real. It is a state, and a direct experience through unveiling. It is a certainty that is curtained by the “As if” (the Kāf) of “As if you see Him (ka-annaka tarāh).”
Attaining the innermost secret means to draw near to the Presence by a handspan (shibr), such that the Presence draws near to you by the length of a forearm (dhirāʿ). Reading the books of the Sufi Tribe and imagining that you possess the innermost secret will not advance you. Neither will the lower self’s imagination and supposing that unveiling has occurred. Rather, unveiling occurs by truly recognizing your own soul, and recognizing all things through your own self-recognition. God says: The gaze did not swerve; nor did it transgress. That is, the beloved’s (ṣ) gaze did not swerve from his innermost secret at the Station of Two Bows’ Length (maqām qāba qawsayn), nor did it transgress [the boundaries] his true nature. Thus, he (ṣ) recognized none other than his true nature, and saw none other than his own essence.
Now, in order for you to know the innermost secret and to stand at the station of the People of the Innermost Secret, you must first and foremost find its wellspring. By this I mean a Shaykh who will teach you how to reach God (al-Shaykh al-mūṣil), and whose very sight inspires in you an understanding of the seriousness and severity of this affair. As for the seeker who cannot find the waters of realization, he is to perform the dry ablutions (tayammum) and use dust as his entry into a state of ritual purity (ṭahāra turābiyya); a state of purity for those who are ill. He must adhere to the outward level of the revealed Law as it is understood by the average believers, and profess God’s perfect transcendence, while surrendering to the People of God.
You must also know that the innermost secret is a station. It is not a discourse. It is a knowledge that is beyond the spirit. Far be it from the lower soul to sense it, or from the delimited intellect to witness it. It is beheld neither by angels nor by devils. It is a knowledge that is covered and stored away. None touch it save those made pure. The blessed Messenger of God (ṣ) says: “Verily, there is a type of knowledge that is hidden, and is known only by the knowers in God, exalted.” Verbal expression does not encompass it and therefore cannot disclose its mystery. It neither pertains to the sensory domain nor to the domain of pure meaning, yet it is at once the sensory domain and the domain of pure meaning. So understand!
To directly experience the innermost secret, you must learn to live it: you must clothe your states in it, sleep with it, and wake up to it. You must smell, taste, and feel it. You must pray and fast with it. You must observe all the prescriptions mandated by the Law while practicing presence with it in your experiential state and in your witnessing until it yields to you the fruit of your incapacity (ʿajz). This incapacity will then take you to a higher level of understanding of the innermost secret, until you arrive at the farthest limit of your spiritual aspiration. At that point, the secret of the innermost secret begins (sirr al-sirr).
Furthermore, the innermost secret occurs in the letters’ locus of disclosure (majlā al-ḥurūf) in the guise of two letters: one that is visible above the line, and the other that is hidden beneath the line. Thus, for the possessor of the innermost secret, the letter of his body (ḥarf jismihi) is fixed in the outer realm of the revealed Law, while the letter of his spirit (ḥarf rūḥihi) is submerged in the multiple worlds of reality. He embodies the revealed Law in himself, and attains a realization of what is outside himself.
Thus, the innermost secret is to witness existence in a state of non-duality. It is to be neither close nor far. It is to be incapable of invoking Him, and to recognize Him without a trace. It is both to not recognize Him and to not not recognize Him. It is to not speak about Him, and to not stay silent concerning Him. It is to neither be dead nor to be alive. It is to bring together the two opposites, to drink the two oceans, and to be their meeting place. It is to recognize who you are, and who He is, and who I am, and who we are. The innermost secret is to negate all things, then to affirm them. It is to see that all things are immersed in proclaiming that nothing is as His like.
— From Sh. Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari's "Kaf al-astar"
