“Whichever way ye turn, there is the face of God.”
5. Sūratu ʾn-Nisāʾ [(iv.), 125]:—
“God encompasseth all things.”
6. Sūratu ʾr-Raḥmān [(lv.), 26, 27]:—
“All on earth shall pass away, but the face of thy God shall abide resplendent with majesty and glory.”
Some teachers tell their disciples that the heart has two doors, that which is fleshly, and that which is spiritual; and that the ẕikr jalī has been established for the opening of the former, and ẕikr k͟hafī for the latter, in order that they may both be enlightened.
To the uninitiated such a ceremony appears but a meaningless rite, but to the Ṣūfī it is one calculated to convey great benefit to his inner man, as will appear from the following instructions which are given by a member of the Order respecting the ẕikr, which he says is a union of the heart and the tongue in calling upon God’s name. “In the first place, the Shaik͟h, or teacher, must with his heart recite, ‘There is no God but Allah, and Muḥammad is the Prophet of Allah,’ whilst the Murid keeps his attention fixed by placing his heart opposite that of the Shaik͟h; he must close his eyes, keep his mouth firmly shut, and his tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth; his teeth tight against each other, and hold his breath; then, with great force, accompany the Shaik͟h in the ẕikr, which he must recite with his heart, and not with his tongue. He must retain his breath patiently, so that within one respiration he shall say the ẕikr three times, and by this means allow his heart to be impressed with the meditative ẕikr.”
“The heart,” the same writer continues, “in this manner is kept constantly occupied with the idea of the Most High God; it will be filled with awe, love, and respect for Him; and, if the practiser arrives at the power of continuing to effect this when in the company of a crowd, the ẕikr is perfect. If he cannot do this, it is clear that he must continue his efforts. The heart is a subtle part of the human frame, and is apt to wander away after worldly concerns, so that the easier mode of arriving at the proceeding is to compress the breath, and keep the mouth firmly closed with the tongue forced against the lips. The heart is shaped like the cone of a fir-tree; your meditations should be forced upon it, whilst you mentally recite the ẕikr. ‘Let the “La” be upward, the “Ilaha” to the right, and the whole phrase “La ilaha illa ʾllahu” (There is no God but Allah) be formed upon the fir-cone, and through it pass to all the members of the whole frame, and they feel its warmth. By this means the world and all its attractions disappear from your vision, and you are enabled to behold the excellence of the Most High. Nothing must be allowed to distract your attention from the ẕikr, and ultimately you retain, by its medium, a proper conception of the Tauḥīd, or Unity of God.
“The cone-shaped heart rests in the left breast and contains the whole truth of man. Indeed, it signifies the ‘whole truth’; it comprises the whole of man’s existence within itself, and is a compendium of man; mankind, great and small, are but an extension of it, and it is to humanity what the seed is to the whole tree which it contains within itself: in fine, the essence of the whole of God’s book and of all His secrets is the heart of man. Whoever finds a way to the heart obtains his desire; to find a way to the heart is needed by a heartful service, and the heart accepts of the services of the heart. It is only through the fatigues of water and ashes that the Murid reaches the conversation of the heart and the soul; he will be then so drawn towards God that afterwards, without any difficulty, he may without trouble, in case of need, turn his face from all others towards Him. He will then know the real meaning of the Tark (the abandonment of the world), the Haqiqat (the truth), the Hurriyat (the freedom), and the Ẕikr (the recital of God’s names and praises).”
As a curious instance of the superstitious character of this devotional exercise, the Chishtīyah order believe that if a man sits cross-legged and seizes the vein called kaimās, which is under the leg, with his toes, that it will give peace to his heart, when accompanied by a ẕikr of the “nafī wa is̤bāt,” which is a term used for the Kalimah, namely:—