Divine Meditation [Dhikr] - Allah The Eternal Refuge

On behalf of my beloved father, Abdul Hameed, who passed away two years ago February 10, 2022 [9-Rajab-1443]. May God bless all of our parents who have passed away, and may God embrace them in His illuminating light. And may those lights of gnosis illuminate our hearts and efface the shadow of Dajjal that has been cast over us in these times and banish the devils that assault our hearts. And also, in honor of our scholars and teachers, the spiritual masters of the golden chain who are said to be the inheritors of the Prophet ﷺ, and whose door was said to be reopened by Shaykh Abdal Qadir al-Jilani ع, who is both Hasani and Husayni, the doubly blessed one. May the blessings of God be upon them all.

It is found in ibn al-Husayn al-Sulami's book, "The Way of Sufi Chivalry, a saying of the Prophet ﷺ, “Everyone's refuge is the place where he has taken refuge.”

Say: “He is Allah, [who is] One;
Allah, the Eternal Refuge;
He neither begets nor is born;
Nor is there to Him any equivalent.”

And so, strive towards Allah, the Eternal Refuge and the Final Home. Strive utterly within yourself, towards the depths of your heart. Belief is a doorway to reality, and so be careful what beliefs you open unto yourself.

On his deathbed, the Holy Prophet ﷺ said to Abu Bakr, "Do you have anything you would like to ask?" And he said, "O Messenger of Allah ﷺ, your appointed time has drawn near. It has drawn very near indeed. It is a blessed place to which you are going. If only I knew where we would go." And then the Holy Prophet ﷺ, with a strength that filled all with hope and optimism, announced the destination, saying "To Allah, and to the Lote Tree of the Furthest Boundary, to the Garden of the Refuge, the Highest Paradise, and the Cup that flows over."

A grieving heart is fertile ground for the seeds of belief, so be careful what seeds you plant therein. These seeds represent the very basis of our cosmogony, that is, the foundation of our manifested existence.

The seeds of disbelief, of illusory-falsehood, are planted in the [false] belief that life ends after physical death, and it gives birth to the fruit of the materialist paradigm. This is a death-bringing fruit that only increases one's hunger, the taste of which is the bitterness of forlornness, meaninglessness, and despair. Such is the refuge of the disbelievers, for they have taken disbelief as their refuge; the seeds of [true] belief, of reality, are planted in the belief that life continues after physical death, and it gives birth to the fruit of the metaphysical or spiritual paradigm. This is a life-giving fruit that fills you with light, the taste of which is the sweetness of hope and optimism because it is grounded in the soil of [true] knowledge of reality. Such is the refuge of the believers, for they have take [true] belief as their refuge.

The hunger that is increased by the fruit of disbelief yields ignorance of God, and therefore, distance from one's true nature [fitra], as if being severed from the prospect of ever returning to one's home. But the fulness and health that is increased by the fruit of [true] belief yields knowledge of God, and therefore closeness to one's true nature [fitra], as if one is able to look forward to returning to the warm company of one's loved ones in the all embracing presence of God; philosophically, the prior causes one to assert that matter precedes consciousness while the latter that consciousness precedes matter; the prior asserts that existence precedes essence while the latter that essence precedes existence; the prior asserts that mathematics is a reflection of the universe while the latter that the universe is a reflection of mathematics; the prior constricts one's Being to the prison of temporary form, the latter expands one's Being beyond it; the prior, when eaten, only increases one's hunger while the latter instead satiates one's appetite forever. Indeed, the fruits of disbelief grow from none other than the Tree of Zaqqum while the fruits of belief grow from the Heavenly Lote Tree.

And what is the Heavenly Lote Tree of the Furthest Precinct? It is beyond that which only the Light of God may abide, for all else is effaced. It is the boundary of reality beyond which one passes way into non-Being, where only the Light of God may exist. it is the place where only Muhammad ﷺ, and not even the highest of angels, could go. It is the place of perfect intimacy with Allah.

And thus we have the du'a passed down to us from the Prophet ﷺ through the golden chains of our sacred tradition, "O Allah, place within my heart light, and upon my tongue light, and within my ears light, and within my eyes light, and place behind me light, and in front of me light, and above me light, and beneath me light. O Allah, bestow upon me light!"

"Allah has the Most Beautiful Names. So call upon Him by them..." [7:180]

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