Sufi Sayings on Rememberence By It’s Masters

[Yusz]

The Sufi aspires to remember God every moment of the day, with each and every breath. The dhikr,the repetition of the name of God,is the fundamental practice of remembrance.

1. Sahl said to one of his disciples: “Try to say continu-ously for one day: ‘Allâh! Allâh! Allâh!’ and do the same the next day and the day after, until it becomes a habit.”Then he told him to repeat it at night also, until it became so familiar that the disciple repeated it even during his sleep. Then Sahl said, “Do not consciously repeat the Name any more, but let your whole faculties be engrossed in remembering Him!” The disciple did this until he became absorbed in the thought of God. One day, a piece of wood fell on his head and broke it. The drops of blood that dripped to the ground bore the legend, “Allâh! Allâh!Allâh!” ( SAHL )

2. When God wishes to befriend one of His servants, He opens for him the gate of His remembrance. When he experiences the sweetness of remembrance, He opens for him the gate of nearness. Then He raises him into the gatherings of His intimacy. Then He settles him upon the throne of unity. Then He lifts the veil from him and leads him into the abode of unicity and reveals for him the divine splendor and majesty. When his eyes fall upon the divine splendor and majesty, naught of himself remains. There-upon His servant is entirely extinguished for a time. After this he comes under God’s exalted protection, free from any pretensions of his self. ABÛ SA‘ÎD AL-KHARRÂZ

3. There is a punishment for all things. The punishment for the mystic is to be cut off from His remembrance. SUFYÂN ATH-THAWRÎ

4. One cannot taste the intimacy of remembrance without having suffered the desolation of forgetfulness. ABÛ ‘UTHMÂN AL-HÎRÎ

5. I make abundant remembrance of You not because I have forgotten You;That is simply what flows from the tongue. DHÛ-L-NÛN

6. Dhikr is, in its reality, the progressive power of the Named on the heart, while the
dhikr itself wears awayand disappears. AL-GHAZZÂLÎ

7. There are different levels of remembrance and each has different ways. Some are expressed outwardly with audible voice, some felt inwardly, silently, from the center of the heart. At the beginning one should declare in words what one remembers. Then stage by stage the remembrance spreads throughout one’s being—descending to the heart then rising to the soul; then still further it reaches the realm of the secrets; further to the hidden; to the most hidden of the hidden. How far the remembrance penetrates, the levelit reaches, depends solely on the extent to which Allâh in His bounty has guided one. ‘ABDU’L-QÂDIR AL-GILÂNÎ

8. God Most High hath said, “I give more to the one who is so occupied with My remembrance that he does not ask things of Me, than I give to the supplicants.”
HADÎTH

9. Whoever recollects God in reality, forgets all else beside Him, because all the creatures recollect Him, as is witnessed by those who experience a revelation. I experienced this state from evening prayer until one third of the night was over, and I heard the voices of the creatures in the praise of God, with elevated voices so that I feared for my mind.I heard the fishes who said, “Praised be the King, the Most Holy, the Lord.” DHÛ-L-NÛN

10. I call to You…. No, it is You who calls me to Yourself.How could I say, “It is You!” if you had not said to me,“It is I?” AL-HALLÂJ

11. A devotee was praying when Satan appeared to him and said:“How long wilt thou cry ‘O Allâh?’ Be quiet for thou wilt get no answer.”The devotee hung his head in silence. After a while he had a vision of the prophet Khidr, who said to him,“Ah, why hast thou ceased to call on God?”“Because the answer, ‘Here I am,’ came not,” he replied.Khidr said, “God hath ordered me to go to thee and say this:‘Was it not I that summoned thee to My service?Did I not make thee busy with My name?Thy calling “Allâh!” was My “Here I am,”Thy yearning pain My messenger to thee.Of all those tears and cries and supplications I was the magnet, and I gave them wings.’”
RÛMÎ

12. Truth has been planted in the center of the heart as Allâh’s trust, entrusted to you for safe keeping. It becomes manifest with true repentance and with true efforts. Its beauty shines on the surface when one remembers God and does the dhikr. At the first stage one recites the name of God with one’s tongue; then when the heart becomes alive one recites inwardly with the heart. ‘ABDU’L-QÂDIR AL-GÎLÂNÎ

13. All the hundred-and-twenty-four-thousand prophets were sent to preach one word. They bade the people say“Allâh!” and devote themselves to Him. Those who heard this word with the ear alone, let it go out by the other ear;but those who heard it with their souls, imprinted it on their souls and repeated it until it penetrated their hearts and souls, and their whole being became this word. They were made independent of the pronunciation of the word,they were released from the sound and the letters. Having understood the spiritual meaning of this word, they became so absorbed in it that they were no more conscious of their own non-existence. ABÛ ‘L-FADL MUHAMMAD IBN HASAN

14. The breath that does not repeat the name of God is a wasted breath. KABÎR

15. Remembrance makes people desire the journey:it makes them into travellers. RÛMÎ

16. Say “Allâh!” then leave them to amuse themselves in their folly.QUR’ÂN

17. There is a polish for everything that taketh away rust;and the polish of the heart is the invocation of Allâh. HADÎTH

 

[SageTree]

:namaste

Thanks for these wise words, Brother Yusz