Witnessing Light on the Spiritual Path

10 Sep

Light is the very material substrate of creation. The created forms of existence are cleaved within and subsist through His light. For «God is the Light of the heavens and the earth» (Allah nur al-samawat waʾl-arḍ), and it is through His light that the forms of creation are brought into existence. Moreover, existence is real insofar as it partakes in God’s light, and the accumulated layers of darkness, or the rust of other-than-God, is dispelled by the oneness of the Light. For the witnesser, everything is light, and the lights of God’s oneness shine forth brilliantly through all of His names and their properties. Light thus subjugates the darkness of multiplicity, and witnessing the light is the standard of spiritual traveling.

The provision of the Supreme Pen is light. The root of the human being is light, and his purpose is to acquire light. The veils between God and His creatures are light, and those who deny the light are journeying through the light. For where could there be darkness? Lo! Darkness is nonexistence, and nonexistence does not exist!

Light, moreover, is what makes things manifest, and God’s manifestation is infinite. Thus, God’s lights are infinite. Darkness itself is light at a certain level, because for a blind bat, darkness is the light that enables the bat to perceive.

Human beings are endowed with a light of inward vision (nur al-basira) as part of their innate human disposition. However, a stronger light is the light of unveiling (kashf) and witnessing (mushahada), and direct visionary witnessing is what determines the station of the spiritual traveler. However, to witness God’s light, the eye of the spiritual traveler must be identical to the reality of the light, since «faculties of sight do not perceive Him» (Q 6:103). So you must abandon eyesight in order to see His light. The people of certainty inhabit the presence of the lights. God adorns their inward vision with light of unveiling, and they read through the name of their Lord.

Adapted from the works of ʿAfif al-Din al-Tilimsani (d. 1291), a student of Ibn ʿArabi and Qunawi

More Teachings

Is the Path for Everyone? Yes — here’s why

Choose a Path for yourself. You can be an Adamic human being by virtue of the inblowing of the Spirit within you…or a bestial human being by virtue of the dominance of your bestial body, so that the Spirit’s influence weakens within you. You will then become ignorant of your reality, and you will not draw out the treasure that is buried within you.

The Path and the Name

The seeker must journey from the Haʾ of the Name back to the Alif, bearing in mind their differing levels. Entering unto the singular Alif is achieved through the attributes of the saint, not through those of the believer. Attaching to the elevation of the Alif enables the knower of God to taste the reality of servanthood.

God’s Light is Real — Not Metaphorical

When you strive against your lower self, the reality of this world becomes evident to you, you know that it is non-existent; that it has no existence except through God. Then God provides you with light, and through that light you come to know how close He is to you.

The Mantle of Divine Majesty

A mantle conceals the upper part, whereas a garment conceals the lower part. The higher part of the divine mantle is an allusion to Lordship (rububiyya). This mantle of Lordship comprises two sides: the outer side is the aspect of Lordship, and inner side is the pre-cosmic reality of the Cloud (al-ʿamaʾ).

Three Levels of Being within the Microcosm and Macrocosm

the sensorial human being is the one whose heart is stamped by the forms of the sense-objects. He is marked by a dominant love for the herebelow. Moreover, the spiritual human being is the one whose inward vision (basira) has opened up so that he perceives what lies beyond the sensorial realm.

Fasting the “White Days” of the Lunar Month

The Prophet (s) recommends fasting during these blessed days, and it is said that Ibrahim (s) fasted them as well. The early Arabs called these days the “White Days” (al-ayyam al-biḍ) because the moon is brightest during this period and it achieves its most complete perfection.

Finding a True Master

With manifold arguments and no shortage of nagging, my teachers, father, family, friends, and loved-ones, sought to hold me back from cutting my worldly ties and setting off alone in search of God and a true master; and in their efforts to do so they would attempt to clinch the matter with various rational and religious objections.

Why is the Divine Name the Mirror of the Spiritual Traveler?

The spiritual traveler’s journey through the Name, however, must begin at the last letter Haʾ, which we call the Haʾ of Divine Identity (haʾ al-huwiyya).

Knowledge of God Inspires Reverential Fear of God

Reflective thought that is devoid of the remembrance God (fikr duna dhikr) is a transgression. For true reflection only occurs in the wake of long periods of remembrance (dhikr tawil), once your time has been filled with the invocation.

“I am the Dot”

And this is the dot that is ascribed to the all-inclusive names and divine realities because it is through the basmala that God takes charge over the servant who has realized the station of servanthood and upon whom His names and attributes have become manifest in both his knowledge and his state.

Yousef Casewit

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