Gnostics


All Middle Eastern and European esoteric traditions, including the Sufis, trace their origins back through the Greek Gnostics, the Egyptian Mystery Schools and Abraham, to the Zoroastrian Mages 8000 years in the past.



Three Forms of Knowledge. by the Spanish philosopher
Dr. Maximus (Shaykh Ibn al-Arabi)
(b. 1165 Valencia — d. 1240, Damascus).

There are three forms of knowledge. The first is intellectual knowledge, which is in fact only information and the collection of facts, and the use of these to arrive at further intellectual concepts. This is intellectualism.
Second comes the knowledge of states, which included both emotional feeling and strange states of being in which man thinks that he has perceived something supreme but cannot avail himself of it. This is emotionalism.
Third comes real knowledge, which is called the Knowledge of Reality. In this form, man can perceive what is right, what is true, beyond the boundaries of thought and sense. Scholastics and scientists concentrate upon the first form of knowledge. Emotionalists and experientialists use the second form. Others use the two combined, or either one alternatively.
But the people who attain to truth are those who know how to connect themselves with the reality which lies beyond both these forms of knowledge. These are the real Sufis, the Gnostics who have Attained.


3 Initiations. Shaykh Abil Abbas Ahmed Tijani says, “Oh Seeker on the Path to God, Oh the One who yearns for Divine Love and Divine Presence, know that this Path has three stations; Submission (Islam), Faith (Iman) and Perfect Adoration (Ihsan). Submission is the worship of God, Faith is turning towards God and Perfect Adoration is the contemplation of God. These three stations represent the various degrees of our pursuit on the Path to God, and which correspond to the Sacred Laws (Sharia), the Path (Tariqa) and the Truth (Haqiqa). Knowledge is the result of these three stations because whoever achieves Haqiqa surely arrives at God, and he is called Gnostic ('Arif billah). The word Sharia encloses all stations since it represents every knowledge revealed to us by the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him). On this Path, the 1st category of people includes those who remain satisfied with the first station (first initiation) and think that it is the only one that exists, thus they are called the adepts of the exoteric dimension (Ahl Dhahir). The second category includes those who reached the 2nd station (second initiation) and thus combine the practice of the Sacred laws (Sharia) and that of the Path (Tariqa), they are called Sufis. The third category includes those who reach the 3rd station (third initiation) after completing the first two, they are called Gnostics (al-‘Arifin)."


The Sufis succeeding Hazrat Ali, through secrecy and in spite of persecution from the outer religions, preserved for 500 years the inner teaching, until a remarkable but hidden influence appeared in 12th. Century Europe with the purpose of regenerating the forces behind the Christian, Muslim and Jewish religions. This influence specifically initiated the formation of the Rosecrucians in Europe. Under this same hidden influence, the Sufi tradition flourished in the 12th. and 13th. Centuries producing the great writer teachers: Jelaludin Rumi of Afghanistan, 1207 to 1273, (wrote "Couplets of Inner Meaning"); Attar of Nishapur, 11?? to 1229?, (wrote over 100 books including "Parliament of the Birds"); and Hakim Sanai of Afghanistan, 1069 to 11?? (wrote "The Walled Garden of Truth"). Also notable were Al Ghazali, 1058 to 1111, (wrote on psychology and philosophy including "The Niche for Lights"); Bahauddin Naqshband 13?? to 1389, (founder of the Naqshbandi Sufis); while the teachings of Dr Maximus (Ibn el Arabi, 1165 to 1240) of Spain infused the Christian and Hebrew teachings prevailing in Western Europe. Typically those Sufi teachers operating in areas where Islam was strong, necessarily taught strictly within that religious context. Whenever geographical or sociological conditions allowed (such as in India - Sai baba of Shirdi was a Sufi), they shook off the outer trappings of religion and taught directly. Though many Sufis are unable to free themselves in this way and persist in demanding the connection with the Muslim religion, this is just a product of their attachments and only serves as an unnecessary constraint to themselves and all who train under them. It will hold them back when they approach the higher levels of inner refinement.


Zikhr, 'to remember' is the central method of Sufism. Externally it is practised as remembrance of God through silent or group chanting. Internally it is practised as 'Self Remembering', a strong awareness that issues from the Deep Mind (not to be confused with the relatively superficial awareness that appears when all thoughts subside), centred on the heart and directed towards the Beyond (Divine). This practice is supported by restraint of the body's desires. The aim of the practice is the complete destruction of the personal self or ego, allowing a merging with the Divine. Every teaching talks of Love, the Sufis more than most. Sufi Shaikhs contribute to and can draw on an energy field called 'the Sufi pool of love'. But the superficial concept of love as understood in normal life is far from what is meant. When the Minds are stimulated to act from below - the outer world - the motive, however hidden, is self-centred. When stimulated from above - the Spirit - the action is motivated by universal concern for the evolution of consciousness in all forms, which is Love.


The Heart. Because the deep emotional world is the centre of a persons inner life (between the etheric and the deep mental) Sufi concentration is centred on the Heart. There are 5 points of concentration in the chest of which the first is the tip of the physical heart - 4 fingerwidths under the left nipple. By concentrating on this point within themselves with the intention of connecting to the same point within their student, the sufi teacher is able to enter the inner-world of the student's Soul, experience the strengths and weaknesses, then give individual advice as to the inner-work that student needs in order to proceed on the path. While there is a formal procedure most teachers use for establishing this contact, at a later stage for the more advanced teachers it is accomplished, even at a distance, by a simple effort of directed will.


Exposition of the Universal Worlds and the Five Divine Planes From "Fusus al-Hikam (Pearls of Wisdom)" Ch5, by Dr. Maximus (Shaykh Ibn al-Arabi). Translation: Mukhtar Hussain Ali.

The word 'alam (world) being derived from the word 'alama, lexically signifies "that through which something is known," and technically signifies, "everything other than Allah." This is because what is known through it is Allah, with respect to His names and attributes, since through each individual in the world a name among the divine names is known, because it is locus of manifestation of a specific name among them. Through real substances and types the Universal Names (al-asma al-kulliyah) are known, even through animals considered contemptible by laymen such as the fly, the mosquito, and the flea, etc.— are known names for which they are a manifestation.

The First Intellect is a universal world because of its encompassing universal realities of existence and their forms by way of collectivity; the name, the Merciful (al-Rahman) is known through it. The Universal Soul is also a universal world because of its encompassing the particulars of whatever is encompassed by the First Intellect by way of differentiation; the name, the Beneficent (d-Rahim) is known through it. The Perfect Human (al-insan al-kamil) is a universal world because he unifies them all by way of collectivity with respect to his spirit and by way of differentiation with respect to his heart. Through him the name, Allah is known, which encompasses all the names.

If every individual in existence is a sign for a divine name, and every name being encompassed by the Essence which includes its names, also includes them, then each individual in existence is also a world through which all the names are known. Therefore the worlds are infinite, from this perspective. However, since the divine universal planes are five, there are also five universal worlds, inclusive of everything other than them. The first universal plane is the plane of the Absolute Unseen, and its world is the world of Immutable Archetypes in the plane of the [divine] knowledge. In contrast to it is the plane of the Absolute Visible (al-shahdda)„ and its world is the Kingdom (al-mulk).

The relative Unseen plane can be divided into that which is closer to the Absolute Unseen, its world is the world of the spirits of Invincibility (al-jabarut) and Dominion (al-malakut), that is, the world of immaterial intellects and souls; and that which is closer to the Visible which is the Imaginal Realm (al-mithal). The relative Unseen is divided into the two categories because spirits have imaginal forms corresponding to the Absolute Visible world, and a noetic immaterial form corresponding to the Absolute Unseen.

The fifth [plane] is the totality of the four previous planes, and its world is the world of the human being who is the collectivity of all the worlds and whatever they contain.

The world of Kingdom (al-mulk) is a manifestation of the Dominion (al-malakut), which is the Absolute Imaginai Realm, which in turn is a manifestation of the world of the Invincibility (al-jabarut), that is, the realm of immaterial beings, and it is a manifestation of the Immutable Archetypes, which is a manifestation of the world of divine names and the plane of Unity, which is a manifestation of the plane of the Singularity.

Remark: You must know that these worlds, their universals and particulars are all divine books, for their encompassing His Complete Words (kalimat al-tammat) since the First Intellect and the Universal Soul—both forms of the Mother Book, which is the plane of [divine] Knowledge—are both divine books. It may be said, that that First Intellect is the "Mother Book" for its encompassing things by way of collectivity, and the Universal Soul is the "Manifest Book" for their appearing there as particulars, and the "Book of Effacement and Establishment" (mahw wa al-ithbat) is the plane of the Soul impressed upon the Universal Body, with respect to its association with engendered things.

This book of Effacement and Establishment occurs for individual forms that are in it, with respect to their concomitant states arising from their essences because of their essential receptivity, their appearance conditioned by the configuration of celestial spheres which prepare the essences to clothe themselves in those forms together with their states from the divine emanation of the Name, the Director {al-mudabbir), the Effacer (al-mahi), the Establisher (al-muthabbit), the Accomplisher of what He wills (al-fa’aal li ma yasha), etc.

The Perfect Human is a book comprehending the aforementioned books because he is the replica of the Great World, as mentioned by the divine gnostic Ali ibn Abi Talib (al-Qayrawani),
Your illness is from you but you do not feel it
Your cure is from you but you do not see it
Do you suppose that you are a small particle
While contained within you is the Great World
You are the Manifest Book whose Letters bring forth the hidden.

The Shaykh writes—may God be pleased with him: I am the Quran and the seven verses The spirit of the spirit, not the spirit of vessels My heart resides near the object of my vision. Witnessing Him, though my speech is with you Thus, from the aspect of his spirit and intellect he is the noetic book, called the "Mother of the Book," from the aspect of his heart, he is the "Book of the Guarded Tablet," and from the aspect of his soul, he is the book of "Effacement and Establishment," for these are noble pages, elevated and pure, that none shall touch it nor perceive its secrets and its meanings save those purified from the veils of darkness.

The books that have been mentioned are the essential divine books. As for their branches, they are all that is in existence, consisting of the intellect, the soul, the spiritual and bodily powers, and others, for they are among the things in which properties of existents are inscribed, either entirely or in part, whether in collectivity or in differentiation. The least thereof is the inscription of laws deriving from those books. And Allah knows best.

Another Remark: You must know that the relation of the First Intellect to the Great World and its realities is identical with the relation of the human spirit to the body and its powers, and that the Universal Soul is the heart of the Great World just as the Rational [soul] is the heart of man. For that reason, the world is called the "Great Human."

It should not be imagined that the forms that the First Intellect contains in collectivity, and the Universal Soul contains in differentiation, are other than its realities, such that forms separated from their realities emanate from Allah, the Glorified, to each of those two. Rather, effusion of those forms in both consists of the engendering of those realities in them. All realities that exist in the external world are like shadows of those forms, since they are the ones that appear in the external world by way of manifesting themselves in them [First Intellect and Universal Soul] first and they [intellect and Soul] attain the knowledge of them [external forms] by means of the forms themselves that are emanated to them and not by forms extracted from the external world. Those realities are identical with the reality of the First Intellect; rather they are identical with each world with respect to absolute Being, even if—from the perspective of their entification and state of being known—they are different. For we have mentioned that all realities return to absolute Being with respect to essence, and each of them is identical with the other with respect to Being, even though they are distinct with respect to entification.

Furthermore, [the First Intellect] is the first form appearing in the external world on the divine plane. We have mentioned that the realities of the names at this degree are from one perspective identical with it and are from another perspective distinct from it; such is also the case for its manifestation. The unity of realities in it [First Intellect] is the same as the unity of all of the children of Adam in Adam before their entification, even though with respect to their identities they are disparate at their manifestation. In fact, it [First Intellect] is the true Adam, confirmed by his saying, "The first thing that Allah created was my light."

The distinction by quiddities is like the distinction by identities, for both express that by means of which a thing is what it is. The difference the two is that quiddity is used for universals and identity is used for particulars. ‘It cannot be said that the children of Adam are unified in relation to type (naw’a) because quiddities differ by their essences and cannot be united. Further we have mentioned that quiddities are specific noetic existences that are entitled as discrete universals but are united in Being qua Being. Distinction in the mind between the knower and the known does not negate unity in Being, just as rays of the sun during the day or on a moon-lit night are existentially one, even though the mind judges the light of the sun or the moon to be other than the light of the star. The essential unity of the things known by knowledge and the knower is only the unity of attributes, names and entities in the Real, and nothing else. Such is the case for the forms acquired in every world, whether they are extrapolated or not, for they are not divested from their realities, because just as they exist in the external world they exist in the noetic, the imaginal and the mental worlds. Acquiring the form of a thing—divested from its reality—does not result in knowledge of it necessarily, since the form is other than it, according to the [philosophers].

Man, for his being the replica of the Great World, contains all the realities in it, and they are identical with him, in one respect, for the reasons mentioned above. Nothing veils him from them except the elemental plane. Thus, to the extent that veils are removed realities are manifested in him, so that his state concerning the objects of his knowledge is like that of the First Intellect. In actuality, his knowledge is also active with respect to his station [spirit] and passive from another perspective. In fact, it is more fitting to describe him as having active knowledge than the First Intellect because he is the vicegerent and governs all of the worlds.

The truth of this statement and of what has been mentioned previously will only be revealed for one whose active reality appears for him and the oneness of being manifests for him in the levels of witnessing. Since Allah's knowledge is identical with His Essence as well as the objects of his knowledge, distinction is due only to His particular manifestations. And Allah knows best.


Seeking a Guide. Shaykh Tijani al-Hassani (1735-1815) (may Allah be pleased with him) said in the Jawahir after he described the nature of the Contemporary Sufi Guide, how one should seek and how to behave towards the Guide once found,

"As for how to discover and find the guide whose nature we described then the answer is that such guides are plenty and most will be in major cities as it is their residence. As for discovering and knowing so one can be connected to them then that is more arduous than finding Red Sulphur (al-Kibrit al-A’hmar). Reason being is that they have mixed and confused their image within the general public and they would repel and send away anyone who may inquire about them and swear an oath that they have nothing of what the seeker is searching for. The purpose that necessitates them to act this way is because of the worldwide corruption of the universal system which occurred by the will of the Most High and Mighty, a will that nothing else can appose - and it is that each person only strives for his own vain-desires and needs turning away from the Divine Presence and what it dictates from devotion, rights and manners, in today's world. Generally, a person would not seek the saints (awliya) except for corrupt purposes ranging from wanting to enjoy this world and its pleasures, desires, be rescued from ordeals and hardships during which they insist on living in greatly sinful deeds leading to disastrous situations, sins so obscene their results would be no other than ending up in hell, they do not exit this sphere nor return to enter the divine presence.

So as these saints (awliya) and gnostics ('arifin) have known this situation that befits most people they veiled their selves and expelled people away from them in every way and manner, the wilderness and far away lands would be proper for these saints to live in because of this situation how ever it is the divine desire that imposed on them that they stay in the cities and amongst people for certain purposes the Almighty wanted of them and decreed and nothing stands in the way of what He decrees. Their situation is that they can not break away from being with people and go to the wilderness because of this Divine Decree nor can they find a way to reform people and turn them back to the Divine Presence. So they are like someone who has been made to stay with a group of foolish people who stone him. However they have to be patient and carry on living amongst them that is why they are in pain and suffering and veiled themselves and expelled people in all possible ways.


Divine hierarchy. According to Sufi tradition, the invisible hierarchy of sainthood and authority consists of the 40 "abdal" (substitutes; for when any of them dies another is elected by God from the rank and file of the saints), seven "awtad" (stakes, or props, of faith), three "nuqaba'" (leader; one who introduces people to his master), headed by the "Qutb" (axis, pole) along with "mafatih al-kunuz" (keys of the treasures), or "afrad” (supreme ones) that may exist. The Qutb, sometimes used as a synonym for the "Ghawt" (Nurturer), "al-Qutb al-Jami'a" (the Gathering Pole), or "Qutb al-Aqtab" (Pole of Poles), represents the generative authority of the saint.

Shaykh Tijani al-Hassani (may Allah sanctify his secrets) said, "Allah has said: `Surely the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the one of you who is most truly devout'. And in the whole of Allah's creation, absolutely and without exception there is no one among humankind and the angels after the Prophets, who could possibly attain to as much as one thousandth part of the true devotion of the “Pole of Poles”, however much he might achieve. He is the most excellent of all people in every era, apart from any “Keys of the Treasures” that may exist, for he is superior to them in some respects, and they are superior to him in some respects."