Naqshbandi Secrets of the Sufi Whirling Dervishes

Naqshbandi Secrets of the Sufi Whirling Dervish's
Secrets of Heart of Quran and Surah Ya Seen

God Almighty: I am no where to be found not in the
Heavens nor on Earth but, you may Find Me in the Heart of My Lover

Online Version:
http://www.nurmuhammad.com/NaqshbandiSecrets/naqshbandisecretsofthe...

From The Teachings of Mawlana Shaykh Hisham al Qabbani


36:83 So glory to Him in Whose hands is the dominion of all things..

One day when Prophet (s) was giving a Friday sermon, a Bedouin came
and said, "Ya RasulAllah (s), when will the Day of Judgement occur?"
Prophet (s) did not answer the Bedouin and remained silent for some
time. So the Bedouin asked again, but again Prophet (s) did not
answer. After a period of time the Bedouin asked his question for a
third time. Immediately, the Angel Gabriel appeared before the

Holy Prophet (s) and said, "Ask him what has he prepared for that
day?'

The Bedouin replied "Nothing except my love for you, oh beloved
Prophet of God (s)!!" Prophet (s) then answered, "you will be with
those whom you love." Upon hearing this conversation, Abu Bakr as-
Siddiq asked the Holy Prophet (s),

Will love alone suffice?"

Prophet (s) then said, "Yes. The main thing is love!" Abu Bakr as-
Siddiq was so happy with this answer that he began to whirl. [ The
Opening of the Siddiqia Secret of Love ]



According to the teachings of our Master, Shaykh Hisham Kabbani (may
God bless him and raise his spiritual station higher), the Sufi
whirling technique which was taught by the famous Sufi Master Muhammad
Jalal ad-Din Rumi (qs) contains tremendous realities. The first
interaction that many Western people have with Sufism is often through
the poetry of Rumi, a poetry which sought to explain a Heavenly love
which flowered in his soul, and what our Master wants us to realize is
that while this poetry is nice to read, the "sema" or the practice of
whirling is a technique which can actually open that love, which is
what Rumi is trying to encourage people to do through his poetry. Rumi
was saying in his poetry, "seek the beloved!" and the question comes
to us, "how do I seek Him?" It means that the poetry of love and
Divine attraction is first rooted in the whirling and what was trying
to be taught by the whirling. We are a micro version of this greater
galaxy. Therefore, in order to understand this greater reality we are
taught to look within and understand ourselves. As God says in the
Holy Quran:


"We will show them our signs on the horizon and within themselves,
until it will be manifest to them that it is the truth." (41: 53)

Submit Your Body to the Light within the Heart

Everything in this creation is spinning counter-clockwise, from our
atoms and the electrons that spin around the nucleus to the earth
which spins around itself and moves counter-clockwise around the sun.
As everything is spinning in that love of the Divine and in submission
to the Divine power that is powering all of creation, Sufi Masters
were teaching us to mimic that reality.

Therefore, in Sufi whirling the body represents the earth and the
heart represents the sun. As the earth rotates around the sun, the
Divine is showing you that when you are moving towards that process of
enlightenment you will find God present in your heart because God says
"I cannot be found in Heaven or on earth, but I can be found in the
heart of my believer."

Body = Earth Heart = Sun

It means we govern our life by our heart and not our head. Our
physicality should follow what our heart wants, but most of our lives
we actually do the reverse. We are making the heart to follow the body
and its desires. The heart wants to sit and meditate but the body
wants to go to Las Vegas. To reach towards those realities of light,
however, Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi [Q] was teaching us that all of our
physicality and all of our desires must submit to the light, must
submit to the heart. It is the same reality that Jesus was teaching
because all Prophets taught the same reality, just as all Sufi Orders
are teaching the same reality in different ways.


"Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven."
Thy will be done, not my will be done.


So then the secret of whirling is that the physicality is being
crushed in its whirling, grounded in its whirling, and all of the
contemplation is now focused on the emanation of the Divine light that
is coming to the heart.

The focus in Sufism is always on the heart. Other systems focus on
different chakras and different endocrine, but these are all of
secondary importance in comparison to the heart chakra. If the heart
is sick, the whole body will be sick because the heart is the source
of all power and energy in the body.

That is why many people who are clinically brain-dead live for many
years in a coma because the heart is real source of power. If the
heart is purified, it will send that energy throughout the body and
the entire body will become purified and the other chakras will
activate. But if you focus on activating particular chakras while the
heart remains in a contaminated state, then as you play with these
chakras the heart is continuing to send its negative energy throughout
the body, and the result is that you will be unable to reach the
spiritual stations that the Saints want you to reach. So Sufism comes
to teach us that as you begin to seek that light, forget about these
distractions and focus your energies on purifying and perfecting the
heart. It means that you must stop making your heart follow your body
and instead make your body to whirl around your heart and follow the
desires of your heart.

Then the Seeker begins to turn on their left foot, which is the axis
of their earth, and begins the process of spinning, which means that
you are beginning the process of busying yourself with knowing
yourself.

Who knows themselves will know their Lord, and this is the process of
self-realization. You are spinning around yourself in the process of
trying to understand yourself and wanting to know "what is my purpose
in life? What am I supposed to do and why am I here?" With the Sufi
whirling we are trying to unlock that reality and understand ourselves
and our Creator.


As the whirler spins on their left foot, he/she is making their body
spin around the heart, which is the source of Divine love and Divine
grace. The whirling is, therefore, a reflection of a spiritual
reality; that what deserves to be worshiped and respected is the Light
- not the egoistic desires of the lower self. It is this understanding
that is most important because whirling is not about speed, it is
about understanding that my body must submit to my heart. When we
realize this, then the physical movement of the whirling is now making
that understanding manifest, because there has to be an action
involved in our quest.


Positioning of the Hands when Whirling

"So glory to Him in whose hands is the dominion over all things" (Ya
Seen 36:83)

There are many phrases in English which express the relationship
between the hands and a charitable act, such as phrase "to give a
helping hand". When someone falls down they request help by extending
their hand, saying "I am in a difficult situation, could you please
help lift me up?"

In everything we do in life, we need such support. To graduate from
college, for example, requires the support of many people other than
ourselves. It requires the support of family, friends, teachers and
councilors, all of whom contribute to guiding us on our path to
graduation. If this is true of the material world, it is truer of the
spiritual realm. When a person seeks the path they need Heavenly
support. It is not a path that can be walked alone - even Prophets
were supported by the Angel Gabriel - so what about regular people?
Therefore, as the whirler begins to spin, he/she raises their right
hand asking for Heavenly support and guidance.


Then, Mawlana's teaching for us is that our way is of personal
sacrifice; to want more for your brother and sister than what you want
for yourself ,this is to be selfless.


Sayedena Muhammad (s) taught his companions that when you give of
charity, the right hand shouldn't know what the left hand gave, and
the left hand shouldn't know what the right hand gave.


In the Naqshbandia teachings of whirling, this understanding is
represented by the left hand, which faces down in service to creation
so that the flow of angelic energy which begins to dress the
individual actually flows right through them and is distributed
throughout the room.


In doing so, the whirler makes the intention that,
"my Lord, whatever you send me I am freely
and openly giving that back to creation"

because that energy, that emanation and Divine blessing is coming, but
coming for whom?

For the benefit of all creation!

Then we find our whirling to be physically balanced by outstretched
arms, and our spiritual growth to be spiritually balanced by the
understanding that everything which comes to you is for the benefit of
other people.



Right Hand and the Moon

Sursh Mulk 67:1
Blessed be He in Whose hands is Dominion;
and He over all things hath Power;-

The right hand has another major importance - it symbolizes the
reality of the moon in our creation. Recall that the sun is
represented by the heart, so the whirler looks to their right hand
because it's showing you that you can't look directly into the sun or
it will blind you. It is the source of power for our creation, and you
can't look at the source, you can only look to its reflection - the
moon - which is represented by the right hand. It means that as we are
trying to reach enlightenment, and we begin to ignite the power and
the energy of the heart, the heart is actually energizing and
reflecting its light to the moon. That light and that power is in the
hands, so as the whirler is whirling and ascending towards the
Heavens, the focus is on the hand. The energy is opening in the heart
and shining onto the hand, and the hand is reflecting that light to
the holy face.

The Moon and The Fardani Reality

The Moon is the Light and Perfect representative of The Source of
Light emanating from the Sun or Shams. The Sun is the Fire and The
Moon is The resulting Light.

You look to the right hand because the moon is a symbol of guidance.
The moon has no light of its own, but it has no ego so it is able to
perfectly reflect the light of the sun. The moon has polished itself
and effaced itself to such a degree that it is able to reflect that
light. Similarly, the perfected guide has lost their ego and reached
annihilation serves only as a vehicle for the Divine light to guide
seekers back to God. They never claim to be a source of that light.
You cannot say you have become "one" with the Divine, but you can
witness the light of Divine Presence.

Then the whirler will quickly realize that looking to the right hand
provides balance and guidance. If we take the focus off the hand and
tries to look around the room, we become dizzy and falls down.

The Imam of the Naqshbandi Order said, Tariqatuna as-suhbah wa 'l-
khayru fi 'l- jam`iyyah" - "Our way is fellowship, and the goodness is
in the gathering".

Companionship with the Guide.

Keep the fellowship of the guide and learning the way of the spiritual
path.

"Obey God, obey the Prophet (s) and obey those in authority."

Why? Because the Divine is showing you the importance of maintaining
your focus on your spiritual guide and on your path, rather than on
the material world. If you keep your focus on the guide you will find
yourself in that ascension, quickly moving towards the Divine
Presence. However, if you become distracted by the allurements of the
material world, you will lose your connection with the teacher and
fall away from the path. It is a constant battle against the ego,
symbolized in the hunger of the eyes to see what is happening in the
room instead of focusing on their hand.

Then we move into the numerology of the hands, because each hand is
filled with codes. For example, there are three prominent lines on the
palm of each hand.

On the right hand, those three lines are "18" in Arabic, while on the
left hand, those lines are reversed, showing "81" in Arabic. These
codes point us to the names of God and of Prophet (s). For example, on
the right hand, the 18th name of God is Al-Fattah, meaning "The
Opener", while the 18th name of Prophet (s) is Rasul ur-Rahman, which
means "the Messenger of Mercy". So the whirler is raising their right
hand asking God to open that mercy and dress the whirler in that
attribute of mercy, which is then given freely back to creation.

Then the left hand is 81, and the 81st name of God is Al-Muntaqim,
"The Avenger", while the 81st name of Prophet (s) is Dhul Fadil, "the
Source of Virtue". When we ask for God to dress us with mercy, what
does that mean? It doesn't mean that God should give us money and a
new car. True mercy is to be saved from evilness, especially from the
evilness which lies hidden within the self. So the right hand is
opening mercy by asking God to avenge us against all evilness - to
destroy that evilness within ourselves. That energy is known as Al-
Muntaqim and flows through the left hand. When that evilness has been
destroyed, what is left is dhul fadil, a source of virtue, because the
soul has been empowered.


Shams Tabriz [ Means The Suns Highest Point of Heat ] The Muhammadan
Representative


Mass Attraction, Centrifugal Force & Upward Thrust

All of this is dealing with the secret of ascension, which is to
ground the physicality and park the desires of the physicality so that
the soul can begin its ascension. The secret of the soul`s ascension
is found in the three forces that are working in our existence:

* mass attraction,
* centrifugal force (spin)
* and upward thrust.

It means that by our nature and our atomic reality, our electrons and
all of our form are attracted to the Divine - the mass attraction. The
electrons are wishing to collide with the nucleus, which is the source
of Divine light and nourishment. It wants to come in and it`s looking
for an opening, but it can`t find one. It never stops in its search,
however, because when you truly love something you don't walk away. So
that love is making the electron to want to collide with the nucleus,
but there is no permission for this to occur and that creates the spin
around the nucleus, the centrifugal force. As the electron is trying
to come in, there is no opening, but there is no giving up so it is
constantly looking, looking, looking for the Divine opening to collide
with that reality, to reach back towards that reality and what we call
the fana, the annihilation; to be annihilated in that Divine Presence.
So we have the attraction, which is the love. We have the searching
for the opening, which is the spin, and as a result, the third energy
which is the upward thrust.

All Life is in This Hologram of Love

Our whole existence is based on that secret. All of our electrons are
in love with the Divine nucleus; searching and searching and searching
for a way to penetrate and collide into the center of power, but
because it can't it has upward thrust. So we are holograms of that
love, and science proves that this form is not real - this life is but
an illusion. Your form is just a hologram of all your atoms spinning
at a high rate of speed and giving you an illusion of form. If we were
to slow down that spin, this hologram would no longer exist. It is a
proof for those who contemplate about the magnificence of God's
creation, that if just one atom were to collide with another it would
cause a catastrophic explosion, and yet atoms don't collide. Glory be
to the Creator that everything stays in its own assigned orbit - there
is nothing random because if it were random you could walk into this
room and randomly explode.


36:40 It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor doth the night
outstrip the day.
They float each in an orbit.

So everything is based on love, based on this upward thrust and
looking for an entry to come in. The process of annihilation is to
realize that the form is an illusion and all that is real is this huge
mass of energy that is moving based on love and its desire to return
home to the Divine Presence. So the spin that we practice is mimicking
that reality. And we see this throughout nature, whether we break
something down and look at its microcosm or look at the macrocosm, the
reality is the same. It means that as your electrons are spinning
counter clockwise around the nucleus, as the earth is spinning counter
clockwise on its axis, as the planets spin counter clockwise around
the sun, as galaxy are also spinning counter clockwise, as everything
in creation is spinning and making that circumbulation around the
light, you are spinning around the Divine light that is in your heart.

All of creation is making that spin, but our ego is refusing.

In fact, we even went so far as to invent time and make it spin
"clockwise" while God's creation spins counter clockwise. So Jalal ad-
Din Rumi was teaching us to mimic this reality that is found
throughout creation, and submit the desires of the physicality to the
desires of the heart because the only way we are going to find that
Divine love is to open the heart.


Secrets of Whirling and Surah Ya Seen

All of the realities of whirling are based on the heart and opening
the heart, which is why all of the secrets of the sama can be found in
Surah Yā Sin (Surah 36), which is the heart of the Holy Quran. As the
Messenger of God said,

Everything has a heart and the heart of the Qur'ān is Yā Sin.2

"Ya Seen" is the 11th name of Sayedena Muhammad (s). It means that if
you want to move towards the Divine heart, you must come through the
heart of the Messenger of the Divine (s). When you come through the
heart of Prophet (s), your soul will be dressed with a secret. That
secret is found in Surah Yā Sin:

"The word from a Merciful Lord (for them) is: Peace!" (36:58)

It means that the secret of whirling is to receive that peace. When
you truly submit, and begin to follow Allah / God's will instead of
your will; when you begin to live a spiritual life and leave the
distractions of the material world, God's attribute of mercy will
dress your soul with a feeling of peacefulness that cannot be conveyed
with words. And what happens when you receive peace?

The answer is found at the end of Yā Sin:

"But His command, when He intendeth a thing,
is only that he saith unto it: Be! And it is.

Therefore glory be to Him in Whose hand is the dominion over all
things!
Unto Him ye will be brought back" (Surah 36:82-83).

God is praising the hand that will reach that reality. In that hand is
dominion over all things, and if we reach to that reality, we will be
dressed with those secrets. That is why Saints have Heavenly power.
Because they opened their hearts to that reality, they were dressed
from the Divine heart with the secrets of Surah Yā Sin, and were given
the power of kun fayakuun. If they intend something, they need only
say "be" and it is, because they have a direct line to Divine
Presence.

So Mawlana is teaching that all of the secrets of whirling can be
found in Yā Sin. That surah is also describing the relationship of the
sun and the moon, which is the relationship of the right hand to the
heart:

"It is not for the Sun to catch up to the Moon nor for the Night to
outstrip the Day: each is swimming in its (assigned) orbit" (36:40).


The Divine is describing that one doesn't overtake the other. You will
not find the Divine Presence on your hand because each has an assigned
location. The right hand is only for the moon, and in that
relationship you are able to approach the Divine in a way that would
not otherwise be possible.


The moon also represents the station of maqāmu 'l-fardānī, the "unique
station". In that dialogue with the Divine, the whirler is pleading,
"O my Lord, do not reject me until I reach the unique station." That
station is manifesting in Mawlana. The Sultan of all Saints .

This is another manifestation of Muraqabah. Keeping Vigilance of the
Guide. Therefore, the right hand represents the need to reach to
Mawlana Shaykh's presence to unlock the power of the heart, because
when we find that Divine love and nourish that Divine love within the
heart, it nourishes all of the organs and brings spiritual healing to
all of the physicality. That has to do with Sufi healing. We don`t
need to focus on different chakras and different endocrine, different
points on the body. The most essential point to fix is the heart. If
we fix the heart and energize the heart and bring the Divine Presence
into the heart, then all of the being will be fixed; all of the being
will be nourished and filled with the light of that Divine love.

Fatiha.