Shams ul Arifeen – The Sun of Knowers

Shams ul ‘Arifeen شمس العارفين

The Sun of Knowers

 

From the teachings of Mawlana Shaykh Hisham as taught by Shaykh Nurjan Mirahmadi

A’odhu billahi minash shaytaanir rajeem
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Hadith of Rising Sun From The West La Taqomu Sa’atu hatta tatlu’a ash Shamsu min Maghribeha, fa idha ra aahan Nasu Aamana man ‘alayha, fadhaka heena la yanfa’o nafsan Imanuha lam takun aamanat min qablu.
Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, “The Hour will not be established until the sun rises from the West: and when the people see it, then whoever will be living on the surface of the earth will have faith, and that is (the time) when no good will it do to a soul to believe then, if it believed not before.” (6.158

I will start just briefly that Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and all the Prophets of the Divinely Presence are the ‘Sun’ of our life. They are the center of our being. And within their hearts is Allah Azza wa Jal’s Divinely Light. Means that Allah Azza wa Jal can be found in the heart of the Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, in the hearts of the prophets. Our whole life is to circumambulate that reality. And Like the Sun of our dunya, the Sun of our reality is in the understanding of the greatness of Sayyidina Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Means for us to understand when we see it in a circular form and we see it like a Sun, we know that Allah Azza wa Jal’s Divinely Presence is blessing the reality and the soul of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam,. The reality of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam  illuminates all of existence.

Reality of Sun and Stars in our Galaxy

They say that we have a star in our galaxy and they have billions of stars. And they have a star that is for the entire universe, the pistol star, that is hundreds of billions times more powerful than our star (sun). Means each shams (sun) becomes bigger and bigger and bigger. It has a reality that Allah says, “I will show you the sign upon the horizon and I will show you the signs within yourself.”

41:53 – Sanureehim ayatina fil afaqi wa fee anfusihim hatta yatabayyana lahum annahu alhaqqu, …(Surat Al Isra)

“We will show them Our signs in the horizons and within themselves until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth…” (The Night Journey 41:53)

Upon the horizon we see the universe circumambulates the stars. Star is the source of light, is that which is eternal. The planets represent physicality. The moon is a physicality, Shamsi wal qamar, Shamsi wal qamar, Shamsi wal qamar, throughout the Qur’an.

“Huwal ladhee ja’alash shamsa Diya an wal qamara Nooran  wa qaddarahu manazila…”

“It is He who made the sun a shining glory and the moon to be a light (of beauty) and measured out stages for her...” (Holy Quran, Jonah 10:5)

21:33 – “Wa hu wal ladhee khalaqal layla wan Nahara,wash Shamsa wal Qamara, kullun fee falakin yasbahoon. ” (Surat al Anbiya)

“And He (is) The One Who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon, each swimming in an orbit.” (The Prophets 21:33)

Enlightened Heart is the Sun Within You

We taught before in the teaching of Insan Kamil, the perfected personality has to do with opening the reality of the ‘sun within ourselves’. Allah Azza wa Jal describes: see how there is a Sun in your universe and all the planets. And in our galaxy all the planets are going around that Sun. You have within yourself also a sun, which is your heart. And all your organs must be submitting to the heart, but first the heart has to  be ‘enlightened’ and ‘sparked’. If that opens and that reality opens within the heart, then you find a perfection of our life and our reality. Because our organs and the body are like planets, they are waiting and needing a star. They need the ‘sun of our heart’, they need the rays of love and light and Divinely Essence. Without it, a darkened heart is like a universe with no Sun. Means that every breath comes from the reality of the Sun; no photosynthesis. If we have no Sun, nothing green, no air and oxygen to breath.

Allah Azza wa Jal is showing if your heart doesn’t have ‘a sun’, if your heart is not enlightened and your heart not reaching towards its eternal reality, it is as if you can’t breath, like a zombie, the walking dead. You can’t see because the Sun provides vision for us. It has a spectrum which allows you to see through your eyes, through that magnetic spectrum, the electromagnetic waves. It has infinite rays that are coming down. We pull only a small portion of that ray and it gives us eyesight, it gives us vegetation, gives us our breath. Allah Azza wa Jal shows that everything is relying upon that and its power is by Allah Azza wa Jal no doubt. Some people say that, “O everything is Allah,” we know that, but Allah Azza wa Jal has cause and effect, look at your Creation. That it is coming from My Qudrah, but you need that in your lives and for our spirituality, and for our soul, and for our way of progress, we have to enlighten the heart. Then all the organs will fall in place; they will be nourished by the power of that Sun, they will breathe and flourish with that reality.

The Sun of The Knowers – Shamsul `Arefeen

(Reality of First 3 Lunar Months)

On the way of marifa`ah we see the ‘sun of our life’ is the reality of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, the prophetic reality. That if Prophet (saws) is the ‘center’ of our being and that we are moving around that ocean. Ma`rifah معرفة because it has the “Meem م ”. Means the `Arifeen know the reality of the Meem, which is the “Muhammadan Reality”, that our whole existence in this dunya is circumambulating this reality.

First Month – Muharram (9) – Bab e Tawbah (Door of Repentance)

We said that if the Hajj is the sacrifice and the purification means that you gave everything and made your pilgrimage. Muharram is the Baab e Taubah. We don’t want to go into the numbers and why the numbers, but there is a reality in the numbers.
(If you want to know more about secrets of Number 9, refer to article `Reality of Nine 9 – The Perfected Being, Fusion, and Multiplication. )

Muharram means no haram and asking Allah Azza wa Jal that in this year of ma`rifah, twelve months of journeying yaa Rabbi let me to journey in the oceans of reality.

4:59 – Ya ayyu hal latheena amanoo, atiu Allaha, wa atiur Rasola, wa Ulil amre minkum…“ (Surat an-Nisa)
“O You who have believed, Obey Allah, obey the Messenger, and those in authority among you. ” (The Women, 4:59)

Then atiullah is the center, atiur Rasol is the entire ray of the Sun, ulul amri minkum, the ulul amr are the ships that are constantly traversing and moving in the ‘orbit’ of Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So everything they teach is going to be based on these rays, based on this understanding because we are on the circumference.

9th Chapter of Holy Quran – Surat at Tawbah – Repentance

So Baab at-Taubah means that we are coming in to Muharram where we make taubah (repentance), make istighfar, take away the bad characteristic and ask to enter into the oceans of reality. They begin to teach us the Baab Taubah is the ninth surah. So immediately they are teaching that you move into the ninth surah, Surah at-Taubah will explain everything in Muharram. And you begin to read all the ayats of Surah at-Taubah and it gives an amazing understanding of Muharram.

9:104 – “Alam Ya’lam ‘Anna Allaha Huwa Yaqbalu at Tawbata `An ‘Ibaadihi wa Yakhudhus  Sadaqati, Wa ‘Anna Allaha Huwa at Tawwabur Raheem. (Surat at Tawbah)        

 “Do they not know that it is Allah who accepts repentance from His servants and receives their gifts of charity and that Allah is the Accepting of Repentance, Most Merciful? (Quran, The Repentance 9:104)

(For detailed explanation of relevant ayaat of Surat at Tawbah, refer to article `Realities of Bab e Tawbah (Door of Repentance).)

What we wanted to convey is that when this is (written) linear on a piece of paper, people don’t see its reality. So when they designed it like a Sun (Shaykh holds up a pictograph) we understand that we are traversing this ocean.

Just in the understanding of Muharram, it’s the first (month) and Surah at-Taubah is the only surah that has no Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem. Means Bismillah Allahu Akbar, sacrifice your bad characteristics and destroy the bad characteristics and enter into this ocean and the ray that is coming on that month.

9:20 – “Al Ladheena Amano Wa Hajaro Wa Jahado fi SabiliLlahi bi amwalihim Wa Anfusuhim a’zhamu Darajatan `IndAllahi, Wa Olaika Humul Faayizon.” (Surat at Tawbah) 

“Those who believe and suffer exile and strive with might and main in Allah’s cause, with their goods and their persons, have the highest rank in the sight of Allah: they are the people who will achieve (salvation).” (The Repentance, 9:20)

9th Name of Allah (aj) – Al Jabbar

Then put the ninth name of Allah Azza wa Jal, Allah Al-Jabbar, that to understand that if Allah Azza wa Jal’s Essence is the center, it always dresses Sayyidina Muhammad before it comes to you. It can’t come to you without dressing the prophetic reality so that we have no way to Allah Azza wa Jal directly. Allah Azza wa Jal’s every emanation is atiullah wa atiur Rasol, wa ulul amri minkum is going out. Means the center of that Qudra and Power Allah Azza wa Jal is always dressing Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So if we want Ismullah to open, any Ismullah to open, you have to know the ismu Rasol that is taking the dress.

9th name of Prophet is Sayyidina `Aqeb (Free-er from hellfire)

So under that you see on this diagram we drew it and put Ismullah Jabbar and the ninth name of Prophet is Sayyidina `Aqeb. Sayyidina `Aqeeb, is the final Prophet. Also they say that Aqeb is the one who ‘frees from Hellfire’ because it has to do with repentance. Means it gives us an understanding in the way of ma`rifah that yaa Rabbi from the secret of Muharram open, yaa Rabbi ba haqqi surat at tawbah, yaa Rabbi ba haqqi sifat al Jabbar, yaa Rabbi ba haqqi Nabi al Aqeb, the one who frees from difficulty, yaa Rabbi grant me.  By understanding this we understand how to ask Allah Azza wa Jal, if we understand that we are in this ocean, the ship is in that ocean in Muharram.

9th Month`s Zikr – Subhana Rabbiul `Ala (Glory to my Lord Most High)

Then there is a tajalli in which Allah Azza wa Jal dresses Nooru Muhammadi when He created the Light of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Means these are twelve hijabs (veils) in which Allah Azza wa Jal has eternally dressed the reality of that Light. In the month of Muharram, “subhaana rabbiul a`la”  that “Allah Azza wa Jal, Glory to my Lord the Most High.” Means then we know that is the zikr of that month on Nooru Muhammadi. Then every month the same, that you start from this ninth month subhaana rabbi al `a’laa, subhaana rabbiul a’laa, to be dressed by this reality.

Then you see that these awliyaullah (saints) speak of this reality because they are in that ocean. So they begin to speak from taubah, they begin to speak from the reality of these names, from the reality of the surahs, even from the reality of ayats of surahs begin to emanate in that month. You go all the way to the second month, it opens the reality because they are now in the power of nine. The second month will be eighteen (2×9 = 18). The third month will be twenty-seven (3×9 =27).  Then it has the name of Allah Azza wa Jal, the name of Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and the surah that dresses it (represented in each of the twelve segments of the pictogram).

2nd Month – Safar (18) – The Cave – Hayat

The second lunar month, Safar is the reality of nine plus nine equals eighteen. The secret of al-Hayaat (life), and Hayba and all these oceans of eighteen that are opening. You look at the eighteenth surah of the Holy Qu’ran which is Surat al-Kahf. Then they are teaching us that we entered from the Tawbah, moving to ashaab al-Kahf (people of the Cave). We are asking to enter into that Cave, to be dressed from the reality of that Cave.

18:10 – ” Idha aw al fityatu ilal kahfi faqalo Rabbana atina min ladunka Rahmatan wa hayyi lana min amrina rashada.”(Suratul Kahf)

For more information on the month of Safar and Surat al Kahf, refer to the following related articles

• Secrets of the Cave – Realities of the Month of Safar
  
• Reality of Bab e Kahf (Door to the Cave)
• Levels of the Heart and 9 Points and Secrets of the Cave

3rd Month – Rabbiul Awwal (27) – Birth of Prophet Muhammad (s) – Kingdom

Then the holy month of Rabbi al-Awwal which is the third (month of Hijri), so Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam’s tajalli and the ship is moving into the third ray. You see that opens the power of twenty-seven which is Surah al-Naml. This is then the reality of Sayyidina Sulaiman and the Mulk (kingdom) of Sayyidina Sulaiman. It is not a coincidence that Allah Azza wa Jal on Rabbi al-Awwal, when we are celebrating Milad an-Nabi. The humble Prophet of Allah Azza wa Jal didn’t want his Mulk to be known, but `Arifeen were given the code that it is the twenty-seventh surah. And in 27th Surah (chpater of Quran), is where you find the hidden Bismillah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem. Innahu sulayman wa innahu bismillahi ar-Ramaan ar-Raheem.

27: 30 – “Inna Hu min Sulaymana Wa inna Hu Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem” (Surat an Naml)                   

“Indeed, it is from Solomon, and indeed, it reads: ‘In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. (Holy Quran, 27:30)

The whole surah is a description of the Mulk, the Kingdom that Allah Azza wa Jal has given to Sayyidina Sulaiman, which is not even a drop in the Kingdom of Sayyidna Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Because the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has such humility, he didn’t want to show that power, didn’t want to show that he talked to all creatures, to the birds, to ants and all living things that Sayyidina Sulayman had communication with. He had power over the winds, had power over ifreet, had power over Malaaikah (angels). Again if Sayyidina Sulaiman has that power, imagine the power Allah Azza wa Jal has given to Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? Means in that Mawlid month,  we are reading from that surah, taking from that dressing, taking from that reality.

12th Month – Dhul Hijja (108) – Drink from Kawthar

Then reading all of these (12 months), they are the rays that are dressing all the way to the twelfth month. In that twelfth month, which is the 108th surah, Surah Kawthar. That the `Arifeen and people of ma`rifah know in the month of Hajj, Allah Azza wa Jal was giving them to drink, not only from the Zamzam that people are drinking from but, the reality of Zamzam being the Kawthar which is the river of Paradise, that is the fountain in Paradise. Means that every reality, every ocean that they are traversing is based on one understanding of this ‘Sun’. To making this Sun to be the center of our universe, means that traversing the reality of Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and to be dressed from the lights of the Muhammadiyoon and to be dressed by their blessings.

Our Sun has 12 Moons Phases – Every Moon has 2 Sides

Every sun has twelve moons. And every moon has a side that you know and a side that you don’t know. They are the side in the face of the moon that faces, and those are the twelve khalifas of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and everyone knows not their reality but knows about them, these are the Sahaabah. But every moon has a side that is not known and these are the twelve imams of the Ahlul Bayt, and they carry the secret of Sayyidina Muhammad’s sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam’s family and their responsibility is known by Prophet (saws), what they are responsible for.

We pray that Allah Azza wa Jal grant us a year in which to traverse these realities and to draw nearer and nearer to the light of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. That Allah Azza wa Jal has ordered us in `kuntum tohibbona Allaha fatabioonee…`

3:31 – Qul in kuntum tuhibbon Allaha fattabi’onee, yuhbibkumUllahu wa yaghfir lakum dhunobakum wallahu Ghaforur Raheem. “

“Say, [O Muhammad], “If you should love Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” (Surat Al ‘Imran 3:31)

That we are doing this to seek the love of Allah Azza wa Jal. Allah Azza wa Jal says, “If you want My love follow Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. I will love you,”. Means this is the way of Divinely Love and Divine Realities.

Subhaana rabbika rabbil izzati `amma yasifoon wa salaamun `alal mursaleen wa ‘l-hamdu lillahi rabbil `aalameen. Bi hurmati Muhammad al-Mustafa, bi sirri surat al-Fatihah.