Sufism and Breath

Sufism and Breath
by
Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabban II


From the Life of the Sufi Master Jafar as --Sadiq:
"I saw someone sitting beside me invoking God saying 'Ya Allah, Ya Allah...' repeatedly until he lost his breath. He then continued by saying 'Ya Hayy, Ya Hayy...' I asked..., 'who is that?'
He replied, 'that is the great Imam, Ja'far as-Sadiq.' I ran after him to find him but he had disappeared."

Unveiling the Heart's Eye
Most Sufi paths offer aspirants a gradual unveiling of the heart's eye, accomplished trough the practice of Dhikr. The commemoration of Allah. This spiritual exercise may contain repetition of various of Allah's Holy Names. Some of them involve practices design to break the spell of mundane consciousness and propel the practicioner into a state of altered awareness. Such practices may includes repetition of many thousands of holy phrases sometimes connected with breathing exercises and often with physical movements. Without a doubt through the steadfast and dedicated practice of these methods the aspirant may experience spiritual states and attain stations unimaginable in a normal state of consciousness: may feel himself to be flying towards the heavenly goals, beholding the wonders of the mysterious and hidden aspects of creation.

Conscious Breathing ( "Hosh dar dam" dam"))
Hosh means "mind." Dar means "in." Dam means "breath." It means, according to Master
Abdul Khaliq al-Ghudjdawani "for the wise seeker to safeguard his breath from heedlessness which makes the heart always in the Divine Presence. And to revive his breath with worship and servitude and to dispatch this worship to His Lord full of life. Because every breath which is inhaled and exhaled with Presence is alive and connected with the Divine Presence, and every breath inhaled and exhaled with heedlessness is dead, disconnected from the Divine Presence."

Sayiddina Ubaydullah al-Ahrar said,
"the most important mission for the seeker in this Order is to safeguard his breath, and who cannot safeguard his breath it would be said of him 'he lost himself.'"
Shah Naqshband said, "This Order is built on breath. So it is a must on everyone to safeguard his breath in the time of your inhalation and exhalation and further, to safeguard the breath in the interval between the inhalation and exhalation."
Shaikh Abul Janaab Najmuddin al-Kubra said in his book Fawatih ul-Jamaal said,
"Dhikr is flowing in the body of creatures by the necessity of their breath, because through their breathing, the letter 'Ha' of the Divine Name 'Allah,' is the very sound made with every exhalation and inhalation and it is a sign of the Unseen Essence serving to emphasize the Uniqueness of God. Therefore it is necessary to be present with that breathing, in order to realize the Essence of the Creator.
God's name 'Allah' encompasses God's ninety-nine Names and Attributes and consists of
four letters, 'Alif,' 'Lam,' 'Lam' and 'Hah' (ALLAH). The people of Sufism express that the absolute unseen Essence of God, Glorious and Exalted, is expressed by the letter 'Hah' which represents the Absolute Unseen which is the same letter 'Hah' which is used in the name 'Allah' which encompasses the ninety-nine Names and Attributes. That name, as we said, consists of four letters: the letter 'Ha' which is 'Ha' and 'Alif', and it represents the Absolute Unseen of Allah. The first 'Lam' is for the sake of identification and the second 'Lam' is for the sake of emphasis.
Safeguarding your breath from heedlessness will lead you to the Complete Presence and the complete presence will lead you to the complete vision and the complete vision will lead you to the copmlete manifestation of God's 99 Names and Attributes. This leads you to manifest God's Ninety-Nine Names and Attributes and all His other Attributes, in affirmation of the Saying:
"Allah's Attributes are as numerous as the breaths of human beings."
It must be known by everyone that securing the breath from heedlessness is difficult for seekers. Therefore they must safeguard it by seeking forgiveness.