Chapter Sixteen: Faith, Knowledge, and Spiritual Well-Being

Spiritual Well-Being: A Holistic Perspective

Spiritual well-being is a comprehensive and overarching concept, encompassing physical health, eternal felicity, and salvation through faith in the unseen and in God. It is an integrative and all-encompassing phenomenon that spans domains such as beliefs, knowledge, religious and revelatory spirituality, prophetic traditions, ethics, and conceptual and intellectual sciences. In the psychology of religion and health, spiritual well-being is recognized as a holistic dimension intricately linked with faith, meaning, and connection to the transcendent, exerting a positive influence on both mental and physical health.

Knowledge as Nourishment

Knowledge and awareness constitute a form of nourishment that, when valid and authentic, is invigorating and exhilarating. Appropriate knowledge contributes to longevity and vitality. I have elaborated extensively on the subject of awareness in my book Awareness and the Divine Human, and thus, I shall not pursue it further here.

Self-Care: Beyond Science

Self-care, in addition to scientific knowledge, necessitates religion and ethics to ensure the health of both body and society. In the context of self-care, religion and ethics are acknowledged as spiritual resources that regulate behavior, reduce stress, and enhance social well-being. Science and knowledge alone cannot manage or restrain human desires and ambitions for dominance, nor can they single-handedly ensure health and security or prevent aggression, violence, injustice, and tyranny. Rather, it is ethics and religion that endow humanity with commitment, structure, a righteous path, and a lifestyle characterized by safety, compassion, sweetness, enduring peace, and mutual respect. These guide human relationships toward connections rooted in the heart, rather than minds driven by profit and self-interest.

Faith and Knowledge: Proximity to the Divine

Faith represents a distant yet reverent proximity to God, upholding His sanctity and boundaries, while knowledge signifies an intimate and direct closeness to the Divine Truth. Faith is grounded in awareness and the intensification of rational faculties. When the intellect becomes a radiant light, capable of discerning truth from falsehood, good from evil, and the valid and expedient paths for both body and soul, it nurtures faith. In the psychology of religion, faith is defined as a conscious belief rooted in understanding, leading to meaning-making and psychological tranquility.

Faith imbued with knowledge—firm and unwavering in its trust in God, the unseen, and His revelation—is an essential need of the inner self, fostering greater proximity and deeper understanding. Faith that embodies respect and love for God grants the believer strength and authority. Conversely, lack of faith weakens an individual, akin to osteoporosis weakening the body, rendering one fragile and susceptible to mental decline.

Spiritual Nourishment and Its Conditions

These meaningful and spiritual matters serve as nourishment for the body and can have medicinal properties, provided that superstitions, charlatans, and impostors do not obstruct the path of specialists and experts in this field, nor confuse the public. Furthermore, individuals must lack predispositions toward negative traits such as deceit, oppression, polytheism, or disbelief to benefit from these spiritual matters.

To partake in faith and knowledge, one must ensure both physical and spiritual health and remove obstacles such as caprice, lust, hypocrisy, sanctimony, and deceit. These impediments may prevent spiritual matters from fostering personal growth or inner progress, potentially darkening, hardening, and solidifying the inner self. Despite outward acts of worship, such as prayer, an individual’s inner being may remain filled with malice, deceit, violence, harshness, arrogance, and wretchedness, rendering their prayers a disgrace to the essence of Islam.

When the conditions for engaging with spiritual matters are not met, their use not only fails to produce positive effects but may also engender malevolence and negative emotions. In contrast, the proper engagement with spiritual matters should, at the very least, cultivate positive thinking and the use of uplifting and motivational language.

Obstacles to True Faith

Numerous barriers within the body, psyche, genome, and mind hinder the efficacy of true faith and practices such as worship and remembrance. Among the most detrimental obstacles to spiritual well-being are rigid imitation and superficial faith. Superficial or formalistic faith is identified in religious studies as a barrier to spiritual growth and self-awareness, often leading to shallow thinking.

In my book Deceit and Divine Religion, I have noted: “The superficial person is merely mind-centric and corporeal. Due to their superficiality and inability to uphold the sanctity and respect for God and His creation, they cannot traverse the inner journey of the heart, love, the truth of religion, or the value of meaningfulness and connection with divine truths. Such individuals remain bereft of knowledge, expansion, and free thought.” In that book, I cited a profound statement attributed to the Buddha: “The person who is free from superficiality and credulity recognizes the Uncreated; such a person has broken all chains.”

Superficial and formalistic faith, as well as personal misguidance, may sometimes be imperceptible even to the individual entangled in shallow thinking. The Holy Qur’an states: “A group He guided, and a group deserved to be left in error, for they took devils as allies instead of God, yet they think they are rightly guided” (Qur’an, Al-A‘rāf: 30).

Such individuals lack ears to hear and possess a peculiar confidence in their own guidance: “And whoever turns away from the remembrance of the Most Merciful, We appoint for him a devil, and it becomes his companion. Indeed, they avert them from the way, while they think they are rightly guided. Until, when he comes to Us, he says, ‘Oh, would that between me and you were the distance of the two easts—what an evil companion!’ And it will not benefit you today, since you have wronged, that you are partners in the punishment. So can you make the deaf hear or guide the blind or one who is in clear error?” (Qur’an, Az-Zukhruf: 36–40).

An individual afflicted by a devilish companion becomes enamored with their own embellished actions, perceiving a grandeur in their deeds that captivates and bewilders them, blinding them to any other truth. This illusory grandeur leads to their bewilderment until the cry of torment overtakes them: “Indeed, those who do not believe in the Hereafter—We have made their deeds pleasing to them, so they wander blindly. Those are the ones for whom there is the worst of punishment, and in the Hereafter, they are the greatest losers” (Qur’an, An-Naml: 4–5).

Such individuals, lost in their disbelief or superficial faith, are among the most wretched in the hereafter: “Say, ‘Shall we inform you of the greatest losers as to their deeds? Those whose efforts have been wasted in the worldly life while they thought they were doing good. They are those who disbelieved in the signs of their Lord and in meeting Him, so their deeds became worthless; We will not assign to them on the Day of Resurrection any weight. That is their recompense—Hell—for their disbelief and for taking My signs and My messengers in mockery’” (Qur’an, Al-Kahf: 103–106).

The Necessity of True Faith

Faith requires truth and penetration into the heart, much like a drop of water that, over time, seeps into a stone. True, conscious, and knowledge-based faith must continuously flow into the heart and soul. As expressed by Prophet Abraham, one must persistently adhere to Islam and live as a Muslim, so that death does not catch one unprepared, ensuring that one dies in a state of submission: “And Abraham instructed his sons, and so did Jacob, saying, ‘O my sons, indeed God has chosen for you this religion, so do not die except while you are Muslims’” (Qur’an, Al-Baqarah: 132).

Knowledge-based faith is the most significant factor in dispelling fear, dread, and anxiety, fostering security. This is because conscious faith establishes a connection to a supreme and all-encompassing power capable of warding off any harm. Faith prevents and alleviates numerous anxieties and tensions, which is why God holds His believing servant in gratitude for the gift of faith bestowed upon them: “They consider it a favor to you that they have accepted Islam. Say, ‘Do not consider your Islam a favor to me. Rather, it is God who has favored you by guiding you to faith, if you are truthful’” (Qur’an, Al-Hujurāt: 17).

God is a force that operates through love and never abandons His creation. The weaker one’s faith, the more fear and other disturbances afflict the individual. Faith and religious beliefs have been confirmed in psychological research as effective coping mechanisms against anxiety and stress.

Spiritual Nourishment of the Inner Self

The inner self requires nourishment and sustenance, which may derive from malevolent sources, such as Satan and negative spiritual influences, or from the Divine Truth and positive spiritual sustenance. Just as Satan can infiltrate the human digestive system and pervade the entire body, one can also reach the inner heart and, through inner and cosmic journeys, partake of God’s grace and the purity of His manifestations. By removing obstacles, one can attain divine proximity, allowing God and His manifestations to permeate and nourish the self. Spiritual nourishment is recognized in positive psychology and religious studies as a source of psychological growth and holistic well-being.

Human sustenance and provision are not limited to tangible, material food. Rather, humans can derive nourishment from the divine realm, spiritual delights, intellectual and spiritual insights, knowledge, love, heartfelt and rational perceptions, inner attachments, and proximity to God, as well as connections with individuals or spiritual entities such as angels. At times, associating with a person, partaking in their breath, or being in the flow of their energy or what they have consumed can cause one to feel satiated longer or become hungry sooner, bringing either satisfaction or hunger.

Proximity to God, benefiting from unseen lights, divine manifestations, divine names, spiritual attractions, and the beauty of God, constitutes divine nourishment, energizing like physical food. This merciful strength and capability alleviate the excessive activity of the stomach and body, granting them rest.

Every phenomenon and manifestation can serve as human nourishment, just as even tangible phenomena in the material world—ranging from physical foods to abstract, manifestational, and divine nourishments, as well as God’s actions, reflective, vibrational, or convulsive foods—each align with a specific disposition, nature, and corresponding sustenance.

An individual may consume their food—other phenomena—either with greed, avarice, and agitation, or with negligence, leading to loss of health and a shortened lifespan. Alternatively, one may consume with love, attaining purity. Sustenance and strength should be characterized by purity, not greed, desire, or covetousness.

One who feeds on faith, awareness, and love regards their food with attention and care, nourishing themselves with the delicacy and spirituality of the food. They elevate the food to the realm of intellect, perception, and memory, or to the heart, attraction, and attainment. By saying “Bismillah” (in the name of God), they activate the spiritual and divine essence of the food, infusing it with love, purity, and God, thereby deriving life, vitality, energy, and both spiritual and physical well-being.

Spiritual nourishments can sustain a human’s eternal needs, granting them spiritual, divine, and even celestial authority. Such an individual is free from complexes, regrets, greed, agitation, or asceticism and enjoys divine abundance and descending and ascending energies. Practices such as spiritual meditation and the repetition of divine remembrances can enhance mindfulness, reduce amygdala activity, alleviate anxiety, and promote spiritual tranquility.

If an individual lacks spiritual and meaningful energies and vibrations, the body must meet its needs through material means, and excessive reliance on matter diminishes its speed and capacity, rendering it weak and sluggish. Conversely, one who can connect with and consume abstract energies, harmonizing with them, can circulate these energies within themselves and influence other entities. If such a person possesses spiritual well-being, they become a focal point for sublime phenomena, attracting attention, care, and even love, as well as special divine favor and God’s love.

Consuming God and Faith

Among humanity’s spiritual needs is the consumption of God—a God who embodies love, beauty, sweetness, and purity, whose essence can be perceived through the heart’s faculty of understanding. Consuming God entails upholding His sanctity, showing humility, and serving Him. To illustrate this concept, I liken a fraction of God’s purity to the story of Joseph and Zulaikha.

God is the source of tranquility for hearts, possessing grandeur, majesty, sanctity, and reverence. Creation and action are intrinsic to His essence, devoid of ulterior motives; thus, God is the embodiment of love, not fear or terror. His greatness, firmness, and inherent goodness inspire humility and reverence in the individual, not fear. The essence of servitude and worship lies in preserving and attending to this truth.

If an individual possesses pure channels, a sound heart, and sincere worship, and can establish a proper and respectful relationship—namely, a love free from greed—with God, His creation, and themselves, they will derive health, firmness, and authority from God’s pristine and virtuous creation, becoming empowered. Connection with the transcendent through worship and faith is affirmed in psychological studies of religion as a source of psychological strength and tranquility.

The criterion for worship and prayer is respect for God and His creation, measured by renouncing greed and cultivating pure love for the source of life, awareness, authority, and beauty of all creation—the Lord of the universe—and attaining divinity. An individual’s strength depends on their capacity for a loving, greed-free connection with phenomena and God.

Through consuming God, one may achieve insight, proximity, and even union with Him, provided that sanctity is upheld. Consuming God requires no fear or apprehension; rather, it leads to tranquility, gentleness, expansion, firmness, and strength. Multiplicity, negligence, and polytheism strip away tranquility and softness, hindering one’s ability to partake of God.

The Need to Consume God

A person endowed with innate and natural religiosity, upon choosing God, develops an inner structure that necessitates consuming God, making it a constant and enduring need. This need is fulfilled through faith in God and His remembrance. Faith in God and the practice of divine remembrance constitute the spiritual sustenance of the religious individual. However, a religious person who does not properly consume God inevitably draws nourishment from non-divine sources, such as superstitions and distortions, leading to illness and disorder, as they require spiritual nourishment from God.

Seeking God is an intrinsic need for the religious person, reflected in the notion that humans possess a God-seeking nature. This innate God-seeking disposition signifies the religious individual’s inherent need for God, just as the body requires food, drink, light, and air. The Holy Qur’an states: “So direct your face toward the religion, inclining to truth—the nature of God upon which He has created people. There is no change in the creation of God. That is the upright religion, but most people do not know” (Qur’an, Ar-Rūm: 30).

The religious person must, through purification, clarity, intimacy, remembrance, love, vision, knowledge, proximity, and union with God, become God-consuming. Their outward and inward senses should daily draw sustenance from God through faith, servitude, and divine remembrance, nurturing these within their being. Such an individual becomes empowered, enraptured, and vibrant through consuming God. One who does not consume God, faith, or proximity to Him, despite maintaining physical hygiene and health, will experience weakness in body, tranquility, fulfillment, and will, as mere physical health cannot fully protect or sustain them.

God-consuming—proximity to a God who is equally present with His essence, names, and attributes to all—brings strength, firmness, expansiveness, will, aspiration, purity, love, unity, and fulfillment, freeing the individual from attachment to transient worldly matters and their illusions. Notably, God’s saints consume only divine sustenance and love for Him, and all their consumption is true and divine.

Humans can draw sustenance from God, His phenomena, and their energies through intimacy and connection, enhancing their capacity for resolve, will, aspiration, and empowerment. This is the true, divine, and lordly inner power that can activate the body’s natural and external strength through spiritual well-being, harmony, compassion, magnanimity, and the ability to form loving, greed-free connections with God and creation. However, the negligent person’s focus on external power confines them to materiality, constriction, and astonishment.

Nourishment, Enjoyment, and Fulfillment

Nourishment, enjoyment, and fulfillment can be material, spiritual, perceptual, visionary, or unitive. Association with others is a form of nourishment. Relational nourishment can bring satiety or hunger; associating with one person may hasten hunger, while another may delay it, much like different waters vary in their digestive potency, some hastening and others slowing digestion.

Through association, one can perceive the hunger of another and feel hungry themselves. Humans can consume God and attachment to Him, attaining richness and independence. One who does not find God and proximity to Him within their being turns to false substitutes, inclining toward polytheism, disbelief, or embellishments, artificially and unnaturally fulfilling their need for true and divine sustenance with distortions, resulting in disorder and dissatisfaction.

Spiritual problems cannot be resolved with wealth, but God can resolve spiritual dilemmas. Through persistent remembrance—such as glorification, praise, magnification, or the fourfold remembrances—one can attain purity, love, blessed sustenance, strength, and physical empowerment. For the health of body and psyche, one must draw from God. God-consuming, prostration, prayer, and gratitude to God with a quiet mind and a firm, receptive heart grant divine empowerment.

Faith in God and Managing Anxiety and Weakness

Faith in God and consuming the Divine Truth dispel weakness, fear, apprehension, anxiety, complexes, self-doubt, and resentment. The individual can courageously navigate life’s challenges with hope in God’s infinite power, facing difficulties without despair, sorrow, or weakness.

One who lives with faith in God, leading a rational and enlightened life, can feel empowered and fearless. Hope in God prevents the infiltration of illusion, weakness, and fear. One must believe and attain faith that God can be sustenance, inner strength, healing, purity, love, grace, and nobility, and that one can connect with Him through pure, greed-free love, free from doubt or condition, seeking God’s assistance and special grace to reach His unity.

An individual lacking faith in God or intimacy with Him, or whose faith is weak and lacking firmness, either dwells on the past with despair or fears the future with cowardice. One of the ways to manage fear is through faith in God. Faith in the unseen and in God grants security. Faith is an active and practical attribute. With faith, dread, fear, and anxiety diminish.

When faith takes root in one’s inner being, the air of worry dissipates. A faithful person becomes trustworthy, and with the authority of trustworthiness, they not only protect their body and psyche but can also uphold God’s religion. Such a person is immune to calamities and sorrows; though they may break, they remain untainted and unblemished. A heart devoid of faith in God and intimacy with Him is vulnerable to stress, worry, and doubt, becoming distressed and disordered.

Faith requires assurance and dispels all doubt and uncertainty. Doubt is a form of weakness and affliction. Faith without knowledge, awareness, nobility, and magnanimity is not true faith. In the light of true and conscious faith, a believer attains such greatness that they behold all of God yet reveal nothing. Greater faith requires greater nobility, and God does not welcome those afflicted with inferiority complexes, who remain inseparable from worry, anxiety, and envy.

For greatness, one must have lawful and pure income, delightful consumption, expansiveness, freedom, truthfulness, and love. Lawful wealth brings security, while illicit wealth strips away health and safety. A noble, free-spirited, expansive, and loving person, free from greed, is secure and does not infringe upon others’ security. They perceive others’ physical or spiritual afflictions and secrets but maintain such resolute discretion that they assume a position of silent righteousness and victimhood, yet, cloaked in divine veils, they reveal nothing, ensuring no one feels unsettled or insecure.

When such a person offers the salutation of prayer, saying, “As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa rahmatullāhi wa barakātuh” (Peace be upon you, and the mercy and blessings of God), they declare themselves a sacrifice for every manifestation, offering themselves to all divine phenomena. With this salutation, they express their belief in the purity of every manifestation and the truth glimmering within each, doing so with love.

This salutation signifies that one must not accuse God and should avoid violence toward creation, even enemies, while upholding the principles, boundaries, and righteousness of faith, sanctity, and propriety, loving God’s creation and embracing every manifestation, even an enemy.

In personal development, one can reach a state where they view their enemy as God’s dependent, approaching them with chivalry and nobility, refraining from the slightest humiliation or disrespect.

God can be the sustenance of one capable of drawing nourishment from divine matters, breathing through His divine names. If a person does not consume God, His names, attributes, or divine remembrances, they are lifeless. Such a person lives with love and purity, free from greed, sorrow, falsehood, and injustice, though their emotions and efforts remain vibrant.

God, with His boundless, free, accessible, and swift energy, is available to all. One must purify and cleanse themselves with lawful remedies, possessing truthfulness, love, expansiveness, and knowledge to receive pure truth. A tainted vessel contaminates its contents.

Satisfaction with God

A servant who accepts God’s will and is content with it finds every action or occurrence sweet, as God’s taste has settled in their own, overpowering their personal inclinations. This occurs when the servant’s heart is wholly focused on God and His satisfaction, even His love, entering a state of divine affection free from judgment or evaluation.

Such a servant no longer regards an event as a mere occurrence to be displeased with; rather, every event is cherished because its agent is the sweet, beloved God, from whom they draw energy and warmth. Thus, the act is pleasing to God, even an expression of His love. The sweetness of the agent far surpasses the taste of the event. This knowledge reveals roots and essences. Through knowledge of God’s essence, the servant focuses on Him, enduring bitter events through love for Him and harmonizing with them.

When God’s satisfaction, or even His love, resides in a person’s heart, they do not focus on the sweetness of the event but on the sweetness of God’s satisfaction and love, derived from the beautiful, beloved agent. One who is content with God’s satisfaction or lives for His love finds tranquility in that satisfaction, whether it manifests as love and peace or wrath and strife, whether in proximity or distance. Loving God so deeply, they cherish His will and choices with divine love, remaining in a state of equanimity where wrath and mercy are indistinguishable, as love is free from judgment.

In satisfaction, the servant willingly follows God’s path, joyfully and lovingly fulfilling His commands without hardship. The warmth of love and affection so envelops the servant that they remain oblivious to the pain of wounds or the bitterness of trials.

Unity of Existence and Singularity of Manifestation

God’s existence is without distinction, as distinction exists only between two existences, and God’s existence is unified, admitting no basis for differentiation. The unity of existence requires no proof; rather, the proponent of multiplicity must provide evidence. Thus, gradation in existence is untenable, and there is no hierarchy or disparity in God’s existence. The unity of existence has been explored in Islamic philosophy and mysticism as a metaphysical perspective on the oneness of being.

Manifestation, like existence, possesses unity. Unity, akin to distinctiveness, pervades all manifestation, meaning that manifestation is not separate from its distinctiveness, unity, knowledge, power, or other perfect attributes. Rather, manifestation, with all its perfect attributes, assumes a singular determination, realizing itself with the unity of all attributes.

Since the attribute of unity pertains to true, non-numerical existence without limitation, its manifestational determinations and aspects are infinite and endless. Moreover, manifestation, endowed with true unity, is capable of infinite transformation and change. It is the aspects of manifestation that vary, but determination, as the container of levels, remains immutable, unchanging, and consistent. Thus, every manifestation is itself. The system of existence and manifestation is based on unity, distinctiveness, determination, and the coexistence of manifestations, incapable of composition, connection, or separation. God and the servant are intertwined, with God accompanying the servant, not identical to them.

Humanity is an infinite determination, extending from matter with infinite facets to the abstract, also with infinite facets, through the heart, soul, and spirit. In the material world, humanity’s unique feature is its infinite distinctiveness and determination, characterized by both acceleration and density.

Humanity possesses a collective determination. Material and mental awareness pertains to the material world, matter, nature, and those endowed with soul. Wisdom pertains to luminous intellect, knowledge to the heart, soul, and those with empowerment, and truth is existence itself, attainable through non-determination. The determination of intellects and angels is sacred, that of jinn is awe-inspiring and powerful, and that of humanity is collective and all-encompassing.

Necessity of Existence and Greedlessness of Manifestation

Manifestation, in any realm, is necessary, and poverty afflicts neither existence nor manifestation, though manifestation is neither a cause nor an inheritor, never possessing ownership. This truth is the strongest reason for renouncing greed and negating determination.

The path to attaining God is to shed all levels and determinations until nothing remains but God Himself, His essence free from levels and determination. Renouncing greed and negating the self means abandoning desires, expectations, deceit, and corruption, embracing pure, non-judgmental love, not forsaking the world’s splendor, respect for divine manifestations, or the flow of health, blessing, goodness, grace, and energy for compatible phenomena.

Manifestation, with all its perfect attributes, is neither parallel to existence to create similarity, nor alien to it, nor sequential to it. Rather, it collectively possesses all attributes of existence through its manifestation without achieving independence. Thus, instances of manifestation share no unity with God, and God’s manifestation is His own.

Determination is either divine (unique and singular) or created. Divine and nominal manifestation possesses inherent identity, but in creation and manifestation, there is no identity; the essence accompanies it with concomitance, not identity. God possesses an inherent identity tied to His essence, not a locus of manifestation or a vessel of descent.

Pervasive Identity and Sustaining Concomitance

Inherent identity has two facets: pervasive identity, the inner essence of manifestation, and sustaining concomitance, its outer aspect. The intermediary, connector, and locus of all phenomena’s manifestation is pervasive identity, which, alongside sustaining concomitance, reveals God within and through itself, while both pervasive unity and sustaining concomitance are themselves manifestations of His inherent identity.

Sustaining concomitance belongs to God’s essence, and even divine names and attributes are its divine determinations, possessing identity with God, not concomitance. Actual phenomena and created manifestations are loci of pervasive identity, with every particle emerging from its core and residing within sustaining concomitance. Thus, God never abandons any manifestation, guiding it to its natural and manifestational goal.

Sustaining concomitance, with a specific order, imbues all realms and phenomena with a state of transformation, philosophically termed “becoming,” such that in this system, one cannot speak of “being” but must exist in the moment and state. Each aspect accepts another, transitioning into it, characterized by transformation and change. In all realms, the lordly and manifestational sustaining attribute grants phenomena transformability and sustains them in this quality.

The essence of existence, through pervasive identity, accompanies manifestation, but manifestation, from its own perspective, can only achieve proximity to pervasive identity, not concomitance. God’s descent and inherent identity become pervasive identity, and manifestations are its loci. Inherent identity, with all these loci, exists through identity and sustaining concomitance without separation or loss, and God is present with manifestation through this intermediary.

God’s essence, through pervasive identity, determines every manifestation and accompanies all, yet it is not determined by anything and remains unbroken. Every manifestation must recognize its pervasive identity and intermediary to reach its ultimate perfection. If manifestation attains this awareness, proximity, and disposition—acknowledging that it is a locus and cannot exist without a manifester—it reaches union with God and affirms it. Pervasive identity is the truth of monotheism.

In the station of absolute unity and singularity, both God’s essence and His manifestation exist, with these two stations possessing a relative consideration of the essence and being identical to it. These stations are not creation but solely manifestation.

Emanation of Fixed Archetypes

In emanation, namely the station of fixed archetypes, there is no consideration of the essence; archetypes are solely manifestation, and God’s essence is not with them, as fixed archetypes are not identical to the essence but are created knowledge. In the second manifestation, where the essence manifests for attributes and singularity, fixed archetypes appear, marking the onset of emanation.

Nominal manifestation is identical to God’s essence, with no otherness or action involved, though it is both manifestation and emanation. Every emanation is a manifestation, but not every manifestation is an emanation, as emanation pertains to creation. Divine emanation is a perpetual, necessary, eternal, and everlasting manifestation. Thus, scientific loci are necessary, eternal, and everlasting.

God’s knowledge is not confined to scientific loci (fixed archetypes). It transcends archetypes in the station of singularity, beyond that in absolute unity, and even further in the essence. God’s knowledge is not distinct from external realities; rather, it is the reality of knowledge that descends and realizes manifestation.

Created manifestation and emanation are both loci and possess a manifester but lack an inherent essence. Instead, they have an essential identity (pervasive identity) and an accompanying essence (sustaining concomitance), a descriptive essence accompanying emanation. The manifester’s identity accompanies the locus, not preceding or following, which would lead to multiplicity.

Concomitance here differs from philosophical concomitance, which requires opposition between two parallel entities. Sustaining concomitance exists without duality and is aligned with unity. God’s essence, indescribable without considering determination, possesses two determinations: absolute unity and the first manifestation, and perfect singularity and the second manifestation.

Pervasive identity is the manifestation of absolute unity and the consideration of oneness (“my God”), while sustaining concomitance is the manifestation of singularity and the consideration of multiplicity (“our God”). A single truth, with these determinations, is in a different state each moment.

Attaining expansion and capacity aligned with the fixed scientific archetype, when free from mental and inner impurities and realized with inner purity, manifests the truth in the individual. However, if tainted by mental and inner impurities and self-centeredness, it obstructs the manifestation of truth, producing false egoism that masquerades as truth but is falsehood. Attributing actions to God, when accompanied by well-being, becomes truth. Actions attributed purely to manifestation, neglecting the collective system, are false, and assuming any essence or independence for manifestation is, in any case, a false notion.

The truth and essence of every manifestation lie within it, not elsewhere, defined by its station and manifestational capacity. Whoever follows their nature and essence reaches their truths. For instance, the spiritual realm of the earth lies within the earth, and that of the heavens within the heavens.

Creative Emanation and Manifestation

The divine realms and the primary stage of creative emanation, designated for the exalted beings and the expansive emanation, possess a state of supra-transcendence. Subsequently, the realm of transcendence, namely the Jabarūt (the domain of intellects and angels), is reached, though their transcendence is not absolute. The higher intellects, lacking perfect transcendence and completeness, are characterized by a continuous yearning for attainment, transitioning from one act to another. This yearning should not be interpreted as a desire to transition from potentiality to actuality, as the system of potentiality and actuality lacks external reality. Instead, the true ontological system is one of interiority and exteriority, concealment and manifestation, contraction and expansion—in a single, eloquent term, “manifestation.” Manifestation is never annihilated or reduced to non-existence. It is neither created nor fabricated but is an inseparable, inevitable, and perpetual necessity, indeed an essential attribute of the Exalted Truth.

The Exalted Truth is the source of all perfection, encompassing life, motion, warmth, progression, and love. Thus, through knowledge of and connection with the Exalted Truth, one can attain every perfection, even an infinite, unending, and boundless perfection.

The notion that each human possesses a singular personality and identity is erroneous. Every individual harbors infinite personalities, inclinations, potentials, orientations, and tendencies, each conferring a new distinctiveness, crafting a novel type in every stage and circumstance. It is possible that a person may not become aware of certain aspects of their personalities in this world and may only discover themselves in the afterlife, perhaps after thousands of years, realizing and recognizing their true identity. In that life, the human unfolds and gradually discovers themselves.

The intricate layers of manifold distinctiveness within a human, if not unveiled and accessed in this world, prolong the afterlife until the Great Resurrection and Judgment, granting the individual the opportunity to find and truly know themselves. One who lacks inner self-knowledge and leaves their inner capacities and potentials untouched and unactivated in this world must cultivate them under the guidance of otherworldly teachings. Yet, the blossoming of these same stages in the limited opportunity of the material world (nāsūt) is marked by swiftness and coherence, allowing them to manifest in the shortest time.

Ignorance of the principles and foundations of self-knowledge has estranged humanity from itself:
“Seek scarce water to quench your thirst,
So that your water may surge from high and low.”
“High and low” refer to the inner realms and divine truths, scientific and intuitive, latent and concealed within the human. Humanity must pursue its hidden and virtuous distinctiveness. Those afflicted with madness, freed from the confines of the brain’s prison, resemble a wagon detached from a locomotive, derailed from its tracks. They sometimes perceive hidden faces, traits, and entities—either in imagination or reality—elements inaccessible to the sane, which constitute part of their identity and personality.

The Identity of Genius and Divine Belovedness

In the material world (nāsūt), where humanity reigns over appearances, it is generally unable to uncover its true identity and inner essence, attending instead to superficial, accessible, and limited matters such as food, drink, lust, inclinations, and bodily sensations, perceived with minimal breadth, limited depth, and imprecise clarity. Genius, intuitive knowledge, unveiling, and miracles represent only a fraction of humanity’s inner identity. However, a genius requires a mentor, for one endowed with intense passion and lofty love cannot grow solely through nature, nor are their needs naturally met. The risk of affliction entering their tools of awareness and their susceptibility to madness is considerable. Similarly, a genius cannot suffice with a single spouse due to the intensity of their bodily passion and their capacity for connection with higher subtleties. In contrast, a divinely beloved saint is supported by their Lord, with their natural needs necessarily provided, ensuring their benefit and spiritual health along the path.

The hidden and esoteric elements in the Noble Qur’an, which constitute the inner distinctiveness of humanity, are a priceless treasure that, regrettably, has not been adequately perceived or addressed academically. Distinctiveness, a philosophical term, in the material world is a voluntary and free act, contingent upon human choice and selection. It shapes human identity based on their ultimate purpose and goal, rooted in their motivation, intention, and life’s objective, granting them a personality—a relatively stable pattern of traits, relatively fixed and predictable in their existential dimensions and interactions with their environment, aligned with their divine, innate, genetic, and environmental predispositions. As noted, the scope of human will, freedom, and discretionary options expands with the advancement of industry and knowledge.

Observing Sanctities and Respect

Observing sanctities and respect bestows spiritual health upon individuals and society, rendering them reverent and religious. A society attains peace and sanctity, becoming religious, only when sanctities are upheld. These sanctities encompass respect for scientific principles, laws, religion, parents, teachers, mentors, the Noble Qur’an, the Infallible Imams, chastity, and family. A violent society cannot be religious or divine, as sanctities are not preserved within it. An individual who neglects the objects around them and fails to respect their sanctity—for instance, trampling their shoes—incurs a debt and obligation toward their rights.

Fear should stem from one’s own deeds and actions, not from God, who is not a terrifying entity. In His presence, fear transforms into reverence, which is the observance of sanctities, coupled with nobility and dignity. Often, a cowardly person becomes wild, aggressive, and insolent, breaking every sanctity and transgressing against others, even with a sharp glance, due to a lack of self-care and self-restraint.

One endowed with high intelligence or access to the unseen moves with great speed. Without a system of self-care and spiritual health, such a person may acquire vast amounts of cryptic information in their intelligence and misuse it. Intelligence must be accompanied by strengthened will, inner purity, and steadfastness to avoid leading to prying, meddling, or the misuse of information.

Purity from Oppression and Falsehood

Among the most critical conditions for engaging with spiritual matters and the prerequisite for spiritual health is the body’s purity from oppressing others, greed, and lying. Contamination by tyranny, harming others, falsehood, and a disposition toward greed obstructs the efficacy of worship, particularly prayer and remembrance (dhikr). Consequently, the prayers and rituals of oppressors, the greedy, and liars do not bring guidance or success but may even provoke negative reactions and intensify their resentment.

If the body and psyche are tainted with resentment toward the saints of the Exalted Truth, they lose the ground for guidance, mocking divine guides and their guidance, and obstinately denying the clearest truths. To be freed from resentment, one must first adopt an open-minded spirit, free from unwarranted prejudice, avoid rigidity, and pursue the path of fairness and compassion.

Positive spiritual matters and practices have no effect on a body laden with resentment, oppression, falsehood, or greed. Prayers, ablutions, ritual baths, and even the faith and awareness of such a tainted individual are rendered void and futile. Such a person may pray yet easily insult others, particularly their spouse, and act disrespectfully. To engage with spiritual matters and benefit from spiritual health, one must possess their prerequisites.

Spiritual matters and nourishment, when accompanied by the necessary prerequisites and conditions, elevate the body and psyche to ascension, purity, the unseen, vision, unveiling, miracles, revelation, witnessing, and observation. However, they do not grant permission for ascension, elevation, or entry into inner realms to the oppressor, the tyrant, the one who harms others, breaks the delicate hearts of others, inflicts psychological wounds, or is greedy and deceitful.

The Logic of Spiritual Health

Faith transforms into detachment from greed, purity, and proximity to God only when an individual harbors goodwill toward God’s servants and creatures and walks the path of divine compassion and benevolence. Such a heart grasps the profound meaning of guardianship (al-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm), the reality of prayer, and the essence of worship, ascending through the engagement with these spiritual matters. However, in the oppressor, spiritual matters activate their inclination toward tyranny, absorbing all spiritual reactions and energies and redirecting them toward perverse efficacy. Such a person, while praying, schemes to harm another. By reciting prayers, the oppressor activates and intensifies their tyranny, becoming even more oppressive.

The Noble Qur’an designates purification, cleansing, and inner sanctification as the condition for eternal salvation:
“By the soul and He who proportioned it, and inspired it with discernment of its wickedness and its righteousness, he has succeeded who purifies it, and he has failed who buries it.” (Qur’an, Sūrat al-Shams, 7–10)
The logic of spiritual health and the necessity of engaging with spiritual matters, which possess the power to purify and sanctify the inner self and elevate humanity beyond unlovely traits, is encapsulated in this noble verse.

If one does not purify and cleanse their body and inner self from wickedness, audacity, rebellion, and recklessness in violating sanctities, these vile traits sever the connection between them and God—their exclusive Lord—and the divine decree specific to them. This disconnection results in the loss of revelatory insights, divine favor, and spiritual health, confining them to a material, bodily existence steeped in deprivation. However, engaging with spiritual matters, which entails connecting with the divine direction and the inner realm of the divine kingdom (malakūt) after fulfilling the necessary prerequisites, can transform a person from corporeality to divinity, fostering the expansion of the divine kingdom within them.

Engaging with spiritual matters without their prerequisites is harmful and deprives one of spiritual health. It is improper to invite those afflicted with impurities such as falsehood, oppression, greed, and resentment to remembrance, supplication, or recitation of the Qur’an without first urging them to establish the prerequisites. An example is the engagement with spiritual matters during the Nights of Qadr, where a spiritual pharmacy is consumed in a single, inappropriate combination overnight for hearts that may be tainted with oppression, ill-will toward others, and engrossed in abundant greed. Similarly, in the prayer of Eid al-Fitr, after a month of fasting, a comprehensive purification is sought from God: “O Allah, deliver me from all evil.” If one possesses this prerequisite, they may then ask: “O Allah, admit me into all good.”

Health, faith, love, and knowledge must be for God, His proximity, and His pure, disinterested love. Spiritual health has obstacles and prerequisites that must not be overlooked. Until the barriers to spiritual health and spiritual matters—such as harshness, aggression, impurity, and evils, especially oppression, falsehood, and greed—are removed, and until one reaches the stage of pure, judgment-free love and universal benevolence, seeing all creation as pure, endowed with divine sanctity and beauty, subject to the most perfect system with an intelligent system of retribution and full recompense, expressing gratitude to those who do good, seeking forgiveness from all, and imploring God’s pardon, some positive spiritual engagements and worship may produce adverse effects.

Even the dimensions of time and place are influential in engaging with spiritual matters. Not all spiritual matters are suitable or consumable for all individuals.

The Effects of Spiritual Nourishment

Spiritual matters, as part of faith in the unseen, have been present in all divine religions and legal codes, both as obligatory and non-obligatory practices, recommended for their merit. Performing prayers five times daily existed in the earliest historical religion, Zoroastrianism. The execution of this duty and the performance of five daily prayers were necessary for the body and the expansion of the inner self, producing unique effects, which God mandated for humanity across all religions. However, the content and value of prayer lie in the knowledge of God and awareness, which are constant across all religions, while their varied forms pertain to different legal codes and sects.

Distancing oneself from religious rituals, faith, knowledge, and spiritual matters, or failing to engage with them correctly and free from superstition, leads to adverse effects such as doubt, suspicion, delusion, stagnation, and obsession. An individual who does not provide their inner self with the necessary spiritual nourishment and does not allocate sufficient and appropriate time for it loses the capacity for resilience and stability, compromising their health.

Incantations and remembrances are not mere symbolic rituals; they are effective, potent, and nourishing for the human inner self when used correctly, not naively or with self-referentiality. Engagement with spiritual matters must be conscious, within a system of self-care, guided by a skilled mentor and the instructions of an experienced teacher.

Spiritual matters are divided into general and specific categories. General spiritual matters, such as sending blessings upon the Prophet (ṣalawāt) or glorification (tasbīḥ), are consumable by all healthy and balanced individuals free from oppression and tyranny without requiring specific authorization.

Neglecting general spiritual matters leads to the weakening and frailty of the body and psyche, rendering one unable to resist challenges, incidents, and accumulated burdens. The body and soul become afflicted with heedlessness, forgetfulness, rebellion, and transgression. Souls deprived of positive spiritual matters may descend into a state of degradation, finding pleasure in decorating their homes with plastic flowers instead of enjoying natural ones. This is a consequence of the body’s weakness in relation to spirituality and spiritual matters. Engaging with general spiritual matters fortifies an individual against sins, troubles, and malevolent forces.

Remembrance Therapy

By observing bodily hygiene and adhering to the principles of bodily self-care, physical health and tranquility are achieved. Following the realization of tranquility, the stage of faith and belief is reached, followed by divine worship and the utilization of spiritual systems such as remembrance therapy, and subsequently, the relinquishment of greed within the structure of prayer, need, and ultimately, the attainment of pure love and unity.

Remembrance, divine verses, and the names of God possess energy and potency, transferable and consumable if the body has attained tranquility, security, and health, and the inner self is pure. Otherwise, remembrance, like holding a burning ember, will cause severe harm to the individual, intensifying their malevolence instead of purging diabolical effects. An impure heart, being corrupt, corrupts even remembrance, turning it into mire. Remembrance is ineffective for such individuals.

“Remembrance” denotes emergence, manifestation, visibility, and expression. It is called remembrance because it can reveal the hidden layers of the inner self, express latent and dormant talents, activate innate natural endowments, manifest the principal and ultimate personality and the individual’s Lordly name, and consequently sustain and stabilize inner life.

Remembrance is a practice for being with the Truth and transcending illusory and imaginary non-entities. One who attains remembrance first removes the veil of self and the rust of non-entities from their inner self, making their heart a locus for the manifestation of divine light, where God becomes a companion, confidant, and guest of the heart. One who holds the remembrance of the Truth walks with His remembrance; indeed, it is with the Truth and by the Truth that they step and proceed, and it is the Truth’s steps that guide them step by step along the path. One who practices hidden remembrance makes the Truth a guest in their heart and the strength of their inner strength, consuming the remembrance of God and making the Truth the nourishment of their soul, for God is in companionship with everything and everywhere.

The primary purpose of engaging in the remembrance of God’s names or Qur’anic passages is protection, safeguarding, and self-care, creating the groundwork for spiritual journeying, building spiritual capacity, achieving inner purity, and sanctifying inner movement for proximity and attainment of supernatural and sacred phenomena, particularly the attainment of the Exalted Truth.

Remembrance is spiritual nourishment and sustenance for the human psyche and soul, just as the body requires and consumes food. The soul’s sustenance is remembrance, a provision that imparts purity and sincerity to the inner self.

The Primary Virtue of Remembrance

The foremost virtue of remembrance is that it fosters inner purity, spiritual sincerity, sanctification, and inner elevation for proximity to God, even for attaining Him. Purity possesses a unique structure that manifests through remembrance therapy prescriptions. Purity is the factor that attracts divine success and special favor. One who holds the remembrance of the Exalted Truth finds God as their companion, who shelters them in health, security, intimacy, companionship, and His love.

Moreover, through remembrance, particularly verse therapy and healing revelation, certain illnesses and disorders can be treated by specific interventions in nature with great power and speed, special enablement, repositioning against the ebbs and flows of the unseen, transcendental reflections, aligning with the speed of unseen phenomena, and the boundless power and swiftness of the Exalted Truth. This enables healing, treatment, relocating phenomena or energies, or acquiring knowledge, information, and news by connecting to the unseen realm.

Remembrance possesses both informational power and operational capacity, granting the individual the ability to acquire knowledge and exert power and enablement for specific desires or requests. Thus, through remembrance, benevolent aspirations (seeking good) or averting evils (calamities) can be fulfilled based on supernatural powers, particularly through diverse ways of seeking from the Exalted Truth.

Specialized and conscious use of remembrance is akin to using a car or airplane for transportation, effortlessly delivering the practitioner to their destination and purpose. One without remembrance is a pedestrian enduring the pressures of a long journey. Conversely, ignorant use of remembrance can utterly destroy an individual, ruining their inner self and leading to malice and hard-heartedness.

The term “therapy” in remembrance therapy does not pertain to common ailments addressed by medical science, psychologists, or psychiatrists, where their expertise suffices, and remembrance is not needed. Rather, therapy encompasses a vast domain of the special relationship between creation and God, extending to the attainment of the Exalted Truth.

Informative and Constructive Intent

Divine names are akin to Qur’anic verses, and the method of intimacy with them mirrors that of the Qur’an. Just as merely looking at the text of Qur’anic verses and reciting their words fosters intimacy, so does the use of articulated divine names, which can be taken as remembrance.

Divine names can be approached in two ways: informatively and constructively. Remembrance of divine names, when accompanied by constructive intent, gains the capacity for fulfillment. Remembrance brought with constructive intent is no longer general but specific, bearing a connection between its form and content.

Informative remembrance carries general permission, allowing any name to be recited at any time and in any quantity without needing a link between form and meaning. However, constructive remembrance requires specific authorization and skill in forging a link between form and meaning, creating an ontological realization. In constructive intent, it is crucial to know the full meaning of the name and remembrance in all its dimensions, as construction cannot occur without possessing the correct meaning. Without grasping the meaning of the name and remembrance, one cannot intend construction in its recitation.

Only one who has fully attained the remembrance and its meaning can intend construction, aligning and refining their intention accordingly. Otherwise, the slightest semantic error alters the address and code of the remembrance, failing to reach the goal of fulfillment.

In constructive intent, the individual recites the remembrance in their own language, and achieving results and efficacy depends on applying their inner power and the proximity and esteem they hold with God, which grants it value, quality, and influence.

In realizing constructive remembrance, refining intention is paramount. Success in constructive remembrance belongs to one free from selfish and greedy objectives, whose intention is pure and sincere with the Exalted Truth, aligned with the path of His pure love.

In processing divine names constructively, the compatibility of the names with the individual must be considered, recognizing the Lordly name that truly governs them in all dimensions, enabling them to follow the path of perfection and growth in harmony with its guidance.

Correct understanding of each name’s meaning is a condition for constructive intent, and the effect and ruling of each name cannot be applied without possessing its true meaning.

In the constructive method, the name embraces the practitioner, piercing their heart, while the practitioner hosts the name in their heart, achieving its effect through intimacy and persistence.

The Complex Process of Constructive Remembrance

Constructive remembrance is a complex process involving a web of diverse situations and conditions, not merely verbal speech or utterance. Beyond its verbal front, remembrance demands specific inner positioning, possessing the essence of prayer, certain external conditions—such as the capacity for need and financial charity—and the ability for subtlety. Thus, purposeful and specific effort is a condition for the efficacy of remembrance.

With careful consideration, it becomes clear that constructive remembrance does not lead individuals to idleness, unwarranted hopes, or reliance on vain wishes. Rather, the plant of remembrance grows in a soil cultivated by specific efforts, guided by an experienced and specialized teacher of meaning, with tailored prescriptions in both remembrance and other purposeful endeavors and work.

In constructive remembrance, observing time, place, number, lawful therapy, lawful sustenance, unity, solitude, darkness, avoiding excessive light, an experienced and inspired mentor, freedom from greed and impurity, cleanliness of body and clothing, bodily lightness, avoidance of lethargy and stagnation, maintaining bodily balance, using pleasant fragrances—especially natural scents of trees, flowers, and fruits that invigorate the soul—and adhering to the style of prayer, need, and subtlety are conditions for the efficacy and enhancement of remembrance.

The Purpose of the Science of Remembrance

The science of remembrance is tasked with training the practitioner to reach a state where they can emulate God’s divinity, rely on God’s divinity, seek aid from God’s divinity, and expend effort in it. Such an expansive state is realized for a practitioner with a vast and open heart, free from narrow-mindedness, limitation, closure, or contraction—one who has lived and embodied the subtleties of absolute expansion.

Another objective of the science of remembrance is to provide suitable protective charms for self-care and unconscious self-preservation against dangers arising from spiritual phenomena, particularly their illusory suggestions. Since sleep is the prime opportunity for the infiltration of malevolent forces and negative spiritual agents, it is beneficial to place oneself under divine protection through remembrance before sleeping. Sleeping in an unfavorable state grants spiritual phenomena opportunities for infiltration, manipulation, and influence.

Against malevolent spirits and jinn that attack humans hostilely, humans gain resilience through remembrance, enabling them to prevail over them. This human capability stems from their collective station, allowing them to surpass all forces and powers by harmonizing any other phenomenon—limited, conditioned, and movable in a specific direction—with themselves, achieving superiority. Jinn lack this collective station and domain. It is the human who can move in all directions and from every angle.

Conditions of the Remembrance Practitioner

A successful remembrance practitioner is one who is not narrow-minded, cowardly, timid, miserly, retentive, or limited. They must sit in greatness and grandeur, unastonished by anything, with the highs and lows of life equal to them, standing at the equator between kindness and wrath, in a state of negating greed and pure love, free from judgment.

Remembrance is effective on the practitioner’s inner self and in manipulating other phenomena when they harbor love and respect for God’s servants in their heart, speak no ill of them, oppress no one, and cause no harm.

A practitioner blessed with success feels God in their heart and in every particle, thus maintaining the etiquette of presence, refraining from disrespecting God’s servants, and loving them with subtlety and without greed.

One with effective and potent remembrance attains intimacy with God and His manifestations as God’s fruits. A heart tainted with malice, rage, hatred, or anger toward others, and incompatible with them, cannot have fulfilled or effective remembrance. Remembrance is effective for one who can purify their heart with others.

Mastery of fulfilled and effective remembrance requires observing all general and specific conditions of remembrance to achieve success in realizing its content.

The practitioner must possess purity, cleanliness, sincerity, and inner clarity. One who lies finds that remembrance also lies to them, leading them astray. One who consumes the unlawful finds their remembrance unlawful, dissolving like cotton candy in their mouth, if not afflicting them with cruelty and deprivation.

Remembrance is both intelligent and resolute yet vulnerable. It is harmed and subdued by the unlawful, falsehood, hypocrisy, tainted greed, and certain sins. One must first possess a truthful tongue and keep the inner self free from the unlawful before engaging in remembrance; otherwise, falsehood and the unlawful neutralize and render remembrance ineffective, even producing contrary and adverse effects.

Inner purity, spiritual health, and a joyful heart are conditions for remembrance’s efficacy. The practitioner must harbor no resentment toward any of God’s servants in their heart. Before engaging in remembrance, the practitioner must sit in darkness, solitude, and seclusion, settling their accounts with God and His servants.

One who harbors ill feelings toward others finds their spiritual and constructive remembrances ineffective. The slightest malice, enmity, or opposition to a servant locks the inner self tightly, preventing any opening to the unseen. The agents of the unseen do not permit entry to one who holds resentment toward a servant and cannot forgive and show leniency toward God’s servants.

A wayfarer is one who can honor all phenomena to the extent of God, for all are manifestations of the Lord. One must first purify their relationship with God’s servants before turning to remembrance.

Remembrance is effective and potent on a pure and sanctified heart, not one polluted with the mire and filth of sin, resentment toward others, or efforts to deceive and lie to them, lacking clarity, sincerity, and transparency.

For remembrance, one must possess inner purity to become unburdened. Remembrance is uplifting for one who harbors love and affection for divine phenomena and God in their heart.

Foundations of Heartfelt Remembrance

The heart cannot attain heartfelt remembrance without purification and transparency. The primary purification required is lawful therapy and abstaining from the unlawful. As long as the slightest unlawful element remains in one’s body, remembrance slips and does not settle in the heart.

Affliction with the unlawful and sins renders the inner self so slippery that it cannot accept any perfection, and no matter how much remembrance is brought, it does not take root to produce any effect. Thus, lawful therapy and eliminating inner slipperiness—which renders the will ineffective and strips authority and enablement—are indispensable for benefiting from spiritual matters and remembrance.

Contamination with sins confines remembrance to the level of form and appearance, stripping it of content, rendering it formal and verbal. If verbal remembrance does not reach the level of heartfelt remembrance and gain its support, it lacks vitality and potency.

Remembrance therapy without appropriate physical exercise, healthy breathing in open air, and amidst bodily ailments, intoxications, stomach gases, fullness, and intestinal impurities lacks spiritual efficacy, as somatic and psychosomatic disorders are meaning-destroying. Spiritual foods and meaning-based remedies are usable and institutionalized only after the knowledge of health and a healthy lifestyle. Thus, the expansion of spirituality and meaning-orientation requires advancements in hygiene, health systems, psychotherapy, and the development of somatic treatment.

Until bodily hygiene and health are observed within a self-care system, not only is it impossible to achieve effective spiritual nourishment and spiritual health, but such an individual is also deprived of truthful mental awareness and valid judgment and reasoning, sinking into a swamp of misconceptions and false illusions, losing accurate perception of truths and alertness.

Consequences of Arbitrary Remembrance Consumption

Uninformed, inappropriate, unbalanced, and unmeasured use of spiritual remedies without establishing the necessary foundations and prerequisites is akin to the arbitrary consumption of chemical drugs without a specialist’s prescription. Spiritual health is achieved through specialized spiritual awareness. Spiritual matters must be obtained from those who possess meaning. In this highly critical matter, no negligence or leniency is permissible, nor should one “extend a hand to every hand.” A single incorrect prescription can ruin a life, permanently diverting an individual from the path of health and happiness, rendering their eternity void, in the darkness of deprivation, or in the fire of loss.

Clumsy mixing of spiritual matters sometimes nullifies their effects or renders the combination harmful. Certain self-initiated remembrances or uninformed use of spiritual matters can cause the loss of a precious life—not with a lethal weapon but with a consumed spiritual matter or remembrance embedded in the individual’s essence. Some remembrances, due to incompatibility, produce no effect or result. Unscientific and clumsy use of certain remembrances disrupts the practitioner’s life, weakens their nerves, or leads them to obsession and ill-heartedness.

Principles of Engaging with Spiritual Matters

Among the principles of engaging with spiritual matters is that their subject is the human—a human who does not oppress, does not consume the unlawful, and possesses inner purity, the power of essential prayer and worship, need, financial charity, and, most importantly, “subtlety” and an affectionate embrace of others’ harms and life’s adversities.

Remembrance is suitable for individuals who are patient, steadfast, and resolute, capable of performing multiple tasks simultaneously without interference, possessing the ability to switch roles and faces, high adaptability, flexibility, and softness, so as not to disintegrate when facing diverse situations but to endure. These are individuals who, entering any furnace, resist, remain patiently within it, and, with the power of transformation, become a superior, stronger substance.

Manipulating the inner realm of the universe through spiritual matters, particularly remembrance, requires inner compatibilities. The alignment of an individual’s inner self with the unseen realm causes the artifice of nature to manifest in remembrance and other spiritual matters, aligning and familiarizing the practitioner with nature, granting them the power to manipulate it.

For remembrance practice, one must have talent and compatibility, and it is not the case that anyone at any stage of growth and perfection can use any remembrance and benefit from it.

Every spiritual matter has foundations, requirements, and conditions for efficacy. For instance, some must be performed covertly as remembrance or overtly as incantation, some individually and others collectively. The realization of these conditions is a consequence of human intelligence in choice and subject to freedom in the material world.

Certain spiritual matters are spiritual exercises that, when used appropriately and in measure, ensure the health of the soul. Verbal remembrances are of this kind, recited openly so that the ears hear and perceive them.

With persistence and continuity in reciting verbal remembrances, the individual becomes inwardly a person of remembrance, such that if they do not recite them, they feel discomfort, lethargy, heaviness, and hardship, lacking a harmonious and balanced structure. Similarly, if a person does not exercise, they become prone to oversleeping, lack discipline, and become frivolous in thought and reckless in action, potentially committing any improper act if given the chance.

Scientific Insights on Remembrance Therapy

Remembrance therapy and spiritual exercises, such as remembrance and supplication, by inducing deep tranquility and reducing the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, contribute to anxiety reduction and improved mental health. The effects of spiritual meditations on reducing amygdala activity (the brain’s anxiety center) have been confirmed.

Studies have examined the practice of silent, inner remembrance without vocal articulation during meditation, concluding that it enhances mental focus and improves psychological health.

Creative Emanation and Manifestation

The divine realms and the primary stage of creative emanation, designated for the exalted beings and the expansive emanation, possess a state of supra-transcendence. Subsequently, the realm of transcendence, namely the Jabarūt (the domain of intellects and angels), is reached, though their transcendence is not absolute. The higher intellects, lacking perfect transcendence and completeness, are characterized by a continuous yearning for attainment, transitioning from one act to another. This yearning should not be interpreted as a desire to transition from potentiality to actuality, as the system of potentiality and actuality lacks external reality. Instead, the true ontological system is one of interiority and exteriority, concealment and manifestation, contraction and expansion—in a single, eloquent term, “manifestation.” Manifestation is never annihilated or reduced to non-existence. It is neither created nor fabricated but is an inseparable, inevitable, and perpetual necessity, indeed an essential attribute of the Exalted Truth.

The Exalted Truth is the source of all perfection, encompassing life, motion, warmth, progression, and love. Thus, through knowledge of and connection with the Exalted Truth, one can attain every perfection, even an infinite, unending, and boundless perfection.

The notion that each human possesses a singular personality and identity is erroneous. Every individual harbors infinite personalities, inclinations, potentials, orientations, and tendencies, each conferring a new distinctiveness, crafting a novel type in every stage and circumstance. It is possible that a person may not become aware of certain aspects of their personalities in this world and may only discover themselves in the afterlife, perhaps after thousands of years, realizing and recognizing their true identity. In that life, the human unfolds and gradually discovers themselves.

The intricate layers of manifold distinctiveness within a human, if not unveiled and accessed in this world, prolong the afterlife until the Great Resurrection and Judgment, granting the individual the opportunity to find and truly know themselves. One who lacks inner self-knowledge and leaves their inner capacities and potentials untouched and unactivated in this world must cultivate them under the guidance of otherworldly teachings. Yet, the blossoming of these same stages in the limited opportunity of the material world (nāsūt) is marked by swiftness and coherence, allowing them to manifest in the shortest time.

Ignorance of the principles and foundations of self-knowledge has estranged humanity from itself:
“Seek scarce water to quench your thirst,
So that your water may surge from high and low.”
“High and low” refer to the inner realms and divine truths, scientific and intuitive, latent and concealed within the human. Humanity must pursue its hidden and virtuous distinctiveness. Those afflicted with madness, freed from the confines of the brain’s prison, resemble a wagon detached from a locomotive, derailed from its tracks. They sometimes perceive hidden faces, traits, and entities—either in imagination or reality—elements inaccessible to the sane, which constitute part of their identity and personality.

The Identity of Genius and Divine Belovedness

In the material world (nāsūt), where humanity reigns over appearances, it is generally unable to uncover its true identity and inner essence, attending instead to superficial, accessible, and limited matters such as food, drink, lust, inclinations, and bodily sensations, perceived with minimal breadth, limited depth, and imprecise clarity. Genius, intuitive knowledge, unveiling, and miracles represent only a fraction of humanity’s inner identity. However, a genius requires a mentor, for one endowed with intense passion and lofty love cannot grow solely through nature, nor are their needs naturally met. The risk of affliction entering their tools of awareness and their susceptibility to madness is considerable. Similarly, a genius cannot suffice with a single spouse due to the intensity of their bodily passion and their capacity for connection with higher subtleties. In contrast, a divinely beloved saint is supported by their Lord, with their natural needs necessarily provided, ensuring their benefit and spiritual health along the path.

The hidden and esoteric elements in the Noble Qur’an, which constitute the inner distinctiveness of humanity, are a priceless treasure that, regrettably, has not been adequately perceived or addressed academically. Distinctiveness, a philosophical term, in the material world is a voluntary and free act, contingent upon human choice and selection. It shapes human identity based on their ultimate purpose and goal, rooted in their motivation, intention, and life’s objective, granting them a personality—a relatively stable pattern of traits, relatively fixed and predictable in their existential dimensions and interactions with their environment, aligned with their divine, innate, genetic, and environmental predispositions. As noted, the scope of human will, freedom, and discretionary options expands with the advancement of industry and knowledge.

Observing Sanctities and Respect

Observing sanctities and respect bestows spiritual health upon individuals and society, rendering them reverent and religious. A society attains peace and sanctity, becoming religious, only when sanctities are upheld. These sanctities encompass respect for scientific principles, laws, religion, parents, teachers, mentors, the Noble Qur’an, the Infallible Imams, chastity, and family. A violent society cannot be religious or divine, as sanctities are not preserved within it. An individual who neglects the objects around them and fails to respect their sanctity—for instance, trampling their shoes—incurs a debt and obligation toward their rights.

Fear should stem from one’s own deeds and actions, not from God, who is not a terrifying entity. In His presence, fear transforms into reverence, which is the observance of sanctities, coupled with nobility and dignity. Often, a cowardly person becomes wild, aggressive, and insolent, breaking every sanctity and transgressing against others, even with a sharp glance, due to a lack of self-care and self-restraint.

One endowed with high intelligence or access to the unseen moves with great speed. Without a system of self-care and spiritual health, such a person may acquire vast amounts of cryptic information in their intelligence and misuse it. Intelligence must be accompanied by strengthened will, inner purity, and steadfastness to avoid leading to prying, meddling, or the misuse of information.

Purity from Oppression and Falsehood

Among the most critical conditions for engaging with spiritual matters and the prerequisite for spiritual health is the body’s purity from oppressing others, greed, and lying. Contamination by tyranny, harming others, falsehood, and a disposition toward greed obstructs the efficacy of worship, particularly prayer and remembrance (dhikr). Consequently, the prayers and rituals of oppressors, the greedy, and liars do not bring guidance or success but may even provoke negative reactions and intensify their resentment.

If the body and psyche are tainted with resentment toward the saints of the Exalted Truth, they lose the ground for guidance, mocking divine guides and their guidance, and obstinately denying the clearest truths. To be freed from resentment, one must first adopt an open-minded spirit, free from unwarranted prejudice, avoid rigidity, and pursue the path of fairness and compassion.

Positive spiritual matters and practices have no effect on a body laden with resentment, oppression, falsehood, or greed. Prayers, ablutions, ritual baths, and even the faith and awareness of such a tainted individual are rendered void and futile. Such a person may pray yet easily insult others, particularly their spouse, and act disrespectfully. To engage with spiritual matters and benefit from spiritual health, one must possess their prerequisites.

Spiritual matters and nourishment, when accompanied by the necessary prerequisites and conditions, elevate the body and psyche to ascension, purity, the unseen, vision, unveiling, miracles, revelation, witnessing, and observation. However, they do not grant permission for ascension, elevation, or entry into inner realms to the oppressor, the tyrant, the one who harms others, breaks the delicate hearts of others, inflicts psychological wounds, or is greedy and deceitful.

The Logic of Spiritual Health

Faith transforms into detachment from greed, purity, and proximity to God only when an individual harbors goodwill toward God’s servants and creatures and walks the path of divine compassion and benevolence. Such a heart grasps the profound meaning of guardianship (al-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm), the reality of prayer, and the essence of worship, ascending through the engagement with these spiritual matters. However, in the oppressor, spiritual matters activate their inclination toward tyranny, absorbing all spiritual reactions and energies and redirecting them toward perverse efficacy. Such a person, while praying, schemes to harm another. By reciting prayers, the oppressor activates and intensifies their tyranny, becoming even more oppressive.

The Noble Qur’an designates purification, cleansing, and inner sanctification as the condition for eternal salvation:
“By the soul and He who proportioned it, and inspired it with discernment of its wickedness and its righteousness, he has succeeded who purifies it, and he has failed who buries it.” (Qur’an, Sūrat al-Shams, 7–10)
The logic of spiritual health and the necessity of engaging with spiritual matters, which possess the power to purify and sanctify the inner self and elevate humanity beyond unlovely traits, is encapsulated in this noble verse.

If one does not purify and cleanse their body and inner self from wickedness, audacity, rebellion, and recklessness in violating sanctities, these vile traits sever the connection between them and God—their exclusive Lord—and the divine decree specific to them. This disconnection results in the loss of revelatory insights, divine favor, and spiritual health, confining them to a material, bodily existence steeped in deprivation. However, engaging with spiritual matters, which entails connecting with the divine direction and the inner realm of the divine kingdom (malakūt) after fulfilling the necessary prerequisites, can transform a person from corporeality to divinity, fostering the expansion of the divine kingdom within them.

Engaging with spiritual matters without their prerequisites is harmful and deprives one of spiritual health. It is improper to invite those afflicted with impurities such as falsehood, oppression, greed, and resentment to remembrance, supplication, or recitation of the Qur’an without first urging them to establish the prerequisites. An example is the engagement with spiritual matters during the Nights of Qadr, where a spiritual pharmacy is consumed in a single, inappropriate combination overnight for hearts that may be tainted with oppression, ill-will toward others, and engrossed in abundant greed. Similarly, in the prayer of Eid al-Fitr, after a month of fasting, a comprehensive purification is sought from God: “O Allah, deliver me from all evil.” If one possesses this prerequisite, they may then ask: “O Allah, admit me into all good.”

Health, faith, love, and knowledge must be for God, His proximity, and His pure, disinterested love. Spiritual health has obstacles and prerequisites that must not be overlooked. Until the barriers to spiritual health and spiritual matters—such as harshness, aggression, impurity, and evils, especially oppression, falsehood, and greed—are removed, and until one reaches the stage of pure, judgment-free love and universal benevolence, seeing all creation as pure, endowed with divine sanctity and beauty, subject to the most perfect system with an intelligent system of retribution and full recompense, expressing gratitude to those who do good, seeking forgiveness from all, and imploring God’s pardon, some positive spiritual engagements and worship may produce adverse effects.

Even the dimensions of time and place are influential in engaging with spiritual matters. Not all spiritual matters are suitable or consumable for all individuals.

The Effects of Spiritual Nourishment

Spiritual matters, as part of faith in the unseen, have been present in all divine religions and legal codes, both as obligatory and non-obligatory practices, recommended for their merit. Performing prayers five times daily existed in the earliest historical religion, Zoroastrianism. The execution of this duty and the performance of five daily prayers were necessary for the body and the expansion of the inner self, producing unique effects, which God mandated for humanity across all religions. However, the content and value of prayer lie in the knowledge of God and awareness, which are constant across all religions, while their varied forms pertain to different legal codes and sects.

Distancing oneself from religious rituals, faith, knowledge, and spiritual matters, or failing to engage with them correctly and free from superstition, leads to adverse effects such as doubt, suspicion, delusion, stagnation, and obsession. An individual who does not provide their inner self with the necessary spiritual nourishment and does not allocate sufficient and appropriate time for it loses the capacity for resilience and stability, compromising their health.

Incantations and remembrances are not mere symbolic rituals; they are effective, potent, and nourishing for the human inner self when used correctly, not naively or with self-referentiality. Engagement with spiritual matters must be conscious, within a system of self-care, guided by a skilled mentor and the instructions of an experienced teacher.

Spiritual matters are divided into general and specific categories. General spiritual matters, such as sending blessings upon the Prophet (ṣalawāt) or glorification (tasbīḥ), are consumable by all healthy and balanced individuals free from oppression and tyranny without requiring specific authorization.

Neglecting general spiritual matters leads to the weakening and frailty of the body and psyche, rendering one unable to resist challenges, incidents, and accumulated burdens. The body and soul become afflicted with heedlessness, forgetfulness, rebellion, and transgression. Souls deprived of positive spiritual matters may descend into a state of degradation, finding pleasure in decorating their homes with plastic flowers instead of enjoying natural ones. This is a consequence of the body’s weakness in relation to spirituality and spiritual matters. Engaging with general spiritual matters fortifies an individual against sins, troubles, and malevolent forces.

Remembrance Therapy

By observing bodily hygiene and adhering to the principles of bodily self-care, physical health and tranquility are achieved. Following the realization of tranquility, the stage of faith and belief is reached, followed by divine worship and the utilization of spiritual systems such as remembrance therapy, and subsequently, the relinquishment of greed within the structure of prayer, need, and ultimately, the attainment of pure love and unity.

Remembrance, divine verses, and the names of God possess energy and potency, transferable and consumable if the body has attained tranquility, security, and health, and the inner self is pure. Otherwise, remembrance, like holding a burning ember, will cause severe harm to the individual, intensifying their malevolence instead of purging diabolical effects. An impure heart, being corrupt, corrupts even remembrance, turning it into mire. Remembrance is ineffective for such individuals.

“Remembrance” denotes emergence, manifestation, visibility, and expression. It is called remembrance because it can reveal the hidden layers of the inner self, express latent and dormant talents, activate innate natural endowments, manifest the principal and ultimate personality and the individual’s Lordly name, and consequently sustain and stabilize inner life.

Remembrance is a practice for being with the Truth and transcending illusory and imaginary non-entities. One who attains remembrance first removes the veil of self and the rust of non-entities from their inner self, making their heart a locus for the manifestation of divine light, where God becomes a companion, confidant, and guest of the heart. One who holds the remembrance of the Truth walks with His remembrance; indeed, it is with the Truth and by the Truth that they step and proceed, and it is the Truth’s steps that guide them step by step along the path. One who practices hidden remembrance makes the Truth a guest in their heart and the strength of their inner strength, consuming the remembrance of God and making the Truth the nourishment of their soul, for God is in companionship with everything and everywhere.

The primary purpose of engaging in the remembrance of God’s names or Qur’anic passages is protection, safeguarding, and self-care, creating the groundwork for spiritual journeying, building spiritual capacity, achieving inner purity, and sanctifying inner movement for proximity and attainment of supernatural and sacred phenomena, particularly the attainment of the Exalted Truth.

Remembrance is spiritual nourishment and sustenance for the human psyche and soul, just as the body requires and consumes food. The soul’s sustenance is remembrance, a provision that imparts purity and sincerity to the inner self.

The Primary Virtue of Remembrance

The foremost virtue of remembrance is that it fosters inner purity, spiritual sincerity, sanctification, and inner elevation for proximity to God, even for attaining Him. Purity possesses a unique structure that manifests through remembrance therapy prescriptions. Purity is the factor that attracts divine success and special favor. One who holds the remembrance of the Exalted Truth finds God as their companion, who shelters them in health, security, intimacy, companionship, and His love.

Moreover, through remembrance, particularly verse therapy and healing revelation, certain illnesses and disorders can be treated by specific interventions in nature with great power and speed, special enablement, repositioning against the ebbs and flows of the unseen, transcendental reflections, aligning with the speed of unseen phenomena, and the boundless power and swiftness of the Exalted Truth. This enables healing, treatment, relocating phenomena or energies, or acquiring knowledge, information, and news by connecting to the unseen realm.

Remembrance possesses both informational power and operational capacity, granting the individual the ability to acquire knowledge and exert power and enablement for specific desires or requests. Thus, through remembrance, benevolent aspirations (seeking good) or averting evils (calamities) can be fulfilled based on supernatural powers, particularly through diverse ways of seeking from the Exalted Truth.

Specialized and conscious use of remembrance is akin to using a car or airplane for transportation, effortlessly delivering the practitioner to their destination and purpose. One without remembrance is a pedestrian enduring the pressures of a long journey. Conversely, ignorant use of remembrance can utterly destroy an individual, ruining their inner self and leading to malice and hard-heartedness.

The term “therapy” in remembrance therapy does not pertain to common ailments addressed by medical science, psychologists, or psychiatrists, where their expertise suffices, and remembrance is not needed. Rather, therapy encompasses a vast domain of the special relationship between creation and God, extending to the attainment of the Exalted Truth.

Informative and Constructive Intent

Divine names are akin to Qur’anic verses, and the method of intimacy with them mirrors that of the Qur’an. Just as merely looking at the text of Qur’anic verses and reciting their words fosters intimacy, so does the use of articulated divine names, which can be taken as remembrance.

Divine names can be approached in two ways: informatively and constructively. Remembrance of divine names, when accompanied by constructive intent, gains the capacity for fulfillment. Remembrance brought with constructive intent is no longer general but specific, bearing a connection between its form and content.

Informative remembrance carries general permission, allowing any name to be recited at any time and in any quantity without needing a link between form and meaning. However, constructive remembrance requires specific authorization and skill in forging a link between form and meaning, creating an ontological realization. In constructive intent, it is crucial to know the full meaning of the name and remembrance in all its dimensions, as construction cannot occur without possessing the correct meaning. Without grasping the meaning of the name and remembrance, one cannot intend construction in its recitation.

Only one who has fully attained the remembrance and its meaning can intend construction, aligning and refining their intention accordingly. Otherwise, the slightest semantic error alters the address and code of the remembrance, failing to reach the goal of fulfillment.

In constructive intent, the individual recites the remembrance in their own language, and achieving results and efficacy depends on applying their inner power and the proximity and esteem they hold with God, which grants it value, quality, and influence.

In realizing constructive remembrance, refining intention is paramount. Success in constructive remembrance belongs to one free from selfish and greedy objectives, whose intention is pure and sincere with the Exalted Truth, aligned with the path of His pure love.

In processing divine names constructively, the compatibility of the names with the individual must be considered, recognizing the Lordly name that truly governs them in all dimensions, enabling them to follow the path of perfection and growth in harmony with its guidance.

Correct understanding of each name’s meaning is a condition for constructive intent, and the effect and ruling of each name cannot be applied without possessing its true meaning.

In the constructive method, the name embraces the practitioner, piercing their heart, while the practitioner hosts the name in their heart, achieving its effect through intimacy and persistence.

The Complex Process of Constructive Remembrance

Constructive remembrance is a complex process involving a web of diverse situations and conditions, not merely verbal speech or utterance. Beyond its verbal front, remembrance demands specific inner positioning, possessing the essence of prayer, certain external conditions—such as the capacity for need and financial charity—and the ability for subtlety. Thus, purposeful and specific effort is a condition for the efficacy of remembrance.

With careful consideration, it becomes clear that constructive remembrance does not lead individuals to idleness, unwarranted hopes, or reliance on vain wishes. Rather, the plant of remembrance grows in a soil cultivated by specific efforts, guided by an experienced and specialized teacher of meaning, with tailored prescriptions in both remembrance and other purposeful endeavors and work.

In constructive remembrance, observing time, place, number, lawful therapy, lawful sustenance, unity, solitude, darkness, avoiding excessive light, an experienced and inspired mentor, freedom from greed and impurity, cleanliness of body and clothing, bodily lightness, avoidance of lethargy and stagnation, maintaining bodily balance, using pleasant fragrances—especially natural scents of trees, flowers, and fruits that invigorate the soul—and adhering to the style of prayer, need, and subtlety are conditions for the efficacy and enhancement of remembrance.

The Purpose of the Science of Remembrance

The science of remembrance is tasked with training the practitioner to reach a state where they can emulate God’s divinity, rely on God’s divinity, seek aid from God’s divinity, and expend effort in it. Such an expansive state is realized for a practitioner with a vast and open heart, free from narrow-mindedness, limitation, closure, or contraction—one who has lived and embodied the subtleties of absolute expansion.

Another objective of the science of remembrance is to provide suitable protective charms for self-care and unconscious self-preservation against dangers arising from spiritual phenomena, particularly their illusory suggestions. Since sleep is the prime opportunity for the infiltration of malevolent forces and negative spiritual agents, it is beneficial to place oneself under divine protection through remembrance before sleeping. Sleeping in an unfavorable state grants spiritual phenomena opportunities for infiltration, manipulation, and influence.

Against malevolent spirits and jinn that attack humans hostilely, humans gain resilience through remembrance, enabling them to prevail over them. This human capability stems from their collective station, allowing them to surpass all forces and powers by harmonizing any other phenomenon—limited, conditioned, and movable in a specific direction—with themselves, achieving superiority. Jinn lack this collective station and domain. It is the human who can move in all directions and from every angle.

Conditions of the Remembrance Practitioner

A successful remembrance practitioner is one who is not narrow-minded, cowardly, timid, miserly, retentive, or limited. They must sit in greatness and grandeur, unastonished by anything, with the highs and lows of life equal to them, standing at the equator between kindness and wrath, in a state of negating greed and pure love, free from judgment.

Remembrance is effective on the practitioner’s inner self and in manipulating other phenomena when they harbor love and respect for God’s servants in their heart, speak no ill of them, oppress no one, and cause no harm.

A practitioner blessed with success feels God in their heart and in every particle, thus maintaining the etiquette of presence, refraining from disrespecting God’s servants, and loving them with subtlety and without greed.

One with effective and potent remembrance attains intimacy with God and His manifestations as God’s fruits. A heart tainted with malice, rage, hatred, or anger toward others, and incompatible with them, cannot have fulfilled or effective remembrance. Remembrance is effective for one who can purify their heart with others.

Mastery of fulfilled and effective remembrance requires observing all general and specific conditions of remembrance to achieve success in realizing its content.

The practitioner must possess purity, cleanliness, sincerity, and inner clarity. One who lies finds that remembrance also lies to them, leading them astray. One who consumes the unlawful finds their remembrance unlawful, dissolving like cotton candy in their mouth, if not afflicting them with cruelty and deprivation.

Remembrance is both intelligent and resolute yet vulnerable. It is harmed and subdued by the unlawful, falsehood, hypocrisy, tainted greed, and certain sins. One must first possess a truthful tongue and keep the inner self free from the unlawful before engaging in remembrance; otherwise, falsehood and the unlawful neutralize and render remembrance ineffective, even producing contrary and adverse effects.

Inner purity, spiritual health, and a joyful heart are conditions for remembrance’s efficacy. The practitioner must harbor no resentment toward any of God’s servants in their heart. Before engaging in remembrance, the practitioner must sit in darkness, solitude, and seclusion, settling their accounts with God and His servants.

One who harbors ill feelings toward others finds their spiritual and constructive remembrances ineffective. The slightest malice, enmity, or opposition to a servant locks the inner self tightly, preventing any opening to the unseen. The agents of the unseen do not permit entry to one who holds resentment toward a servant and cannot forgive and show leniency toward God’s servants.

A wayfarer is one who can honor all phenomena to the extent of God, for all are manifestations of the Lord. One must first purify their relationship with God’s servants before turning to remembrance.

Remembrance is effective and potent on a pure and sanctified heart, not one polluted with the mire and filth of sin, resentment toward others, or efforts to deceive and lie to them, lacking clarity, sincerity, and transparency.

For remembrance, one must possess inner purity to become unburdened. Remembrance is uplifting for one who harbors love and affection for divine phenomena and God in their heart.

Foundations of Heartfelt Remembrance

The heart cannot attain heartfelt remembrance without purification and transparency. The primary purification required is lawful therapy and abstaining from the unlawful. As long as the slightest unlawful element remains in one’s body, remembrance slips and does not settle in the heart.

Affliction with the unlawful and sins renders the inner self so slippery that it cannot accept any perfection, and no matter how much remembrance is brought, it does not take root to produce any effect. Thus, lawful therapy and eliminating inner slipperiness—which renders the will ineffective and strips authority and enablement—are indispensable for benefiting from spiritual matters and remembrance.

Contamination with sins confines remembrance to the level of form and appearance, stripping it of content, rendering it formal and verbal. If verbal remembrance does not reach the level of heartfelt remembrance and gain its support, it lacks vitality and potency.

Remembrance therapy without appropriate physical exercise, healthy breathing in open air, and amidst bodily ailments, intoxications, stomach gases, fullness, and intestinal impurities lacks spiritual efficacy, as somatic and psychosomatic disorders are meaning-destroying. Spiritual foods and meaning-based remedies are usable and institutionalized only after the knowledge of health and a healthy lifestyle. Thus, the expansion of spirituality and meaning-orientation requires advancements in hygiene, health systems, psychotherapy, and the development of somatic treatment.

Until bodily hygiene and health are observed within a self-care system, not only is it impossible to achieve effective spiritual nourishment and spiritual health, but such an individual is also deprived of truthful mental awareness and valid judgment and reasoning, sinking into a swamp of misconceptions and false illusions, losing accurate perception of truths and alertness.

Consequences of Arbitrary Remembrance Consumption

Uninformed, inappropriate, unbalanced, and unmeasured use of spiritual remedies without establishing the necessary foundations and prerequisites is akin to the arbitrary consumption of chemical drugs without a specialist’s prescription. Spiritual health is achieved through specialized spiritual awareness. Spiritual matters must be obtained from those who possess meaning. In this highly critical matter, no negligence or leniency is permissible, nor should one “extend a hand to every hand.” A single incorrect prescription can ruin a life, permanently diverting an individual from the path of health and happiness, rendering their eternity void, in the darkness of deprivation, or in the fire of loss.

Clumsy mixing of spiritual matters sometimes nullifies their effects or renders the combination harmful. Certain self-initiated remembrances or uninformed use of spiritual matters can cause the loss of a precious life—not with a lethal weapon but with a consumed spiritual matter or remembrance embedded in the individual’s essence. Some remembrances, due to incompatibility, produce no effect or result. Unscientific and clumsy use of certain remembrances disrupts the practitioner’s life, weakens their nerves, or leads them to obsession and ill-heartedness.

Principles of Engaging with Spiritual Matters

Among the principles of engaging with spiritual matters is that their subject is the human—a human who does not oppress, does not consume the unlawful, and possesses inner purity, the power of essential prayer and worship, need, financial charity, and, most importantly, “subtlety” and an affectionate embrace of others’ harms and life’s adversities.

Remembrance is suitable for individuals who are patient, steadfast, and resolute, capable of performing multiple tasks simultaneously without interference, possessing the ability to switch roles and faces, high adaptability, flexibility, and softness, so as not to disintegrate when facing diverse situations but to endure. These are individuals who, entering any furnace, resist, remain patiently within it, and, with the power of transformation, become a superior, stronger substance.

Manipulating the inner realm of the universe through spiritual matters, particularly remembrance, requires inner compatibilities. The alignment of an individual’s inner self with the unseen realm causes the artifice of nature to manifest in remembrance and other spiritual matters, aligning and familiarizing the practitioner with nature, granting them the power to manipulate it.

For remembrance practice, one must have talent and compatibility, and it is not the case that anyone at any stage of growth and perfection can use any remembrance and benefit from it.

Every spiritual matter has foundations, requirements, and conditions for efficacy. For instance, some must be performed covertly as remembrance or overtly as incantation, some individually and others collectively. The realization of these conditions is a consequence of human intelligence in choice and subject to freedom in the material world.

Certain spiritual matters are spiritual exercises that, when used appropriately and in measure, ensure the health of the soul. Verbal remembrances are of this kind, recited openly so that the ears hear and perceive them.

With persistence and continuity in reciting verbal remembrances, the individual becomes inwardly a person of remembrance, such that if they do not recite them, they feel discomfort, lethargy, heaviness, and hardship, lacking a harmonious and balanced structure. Similarly, if a person does not exercise, they become prone to oversleeping, lack discipline, and become frivolous in thought and reckless in action, potentially committing any improper act if given the chance.

Scientific Insights on Remembrance Therapy

Remembrance therapy and spiritual exercises, such as remembrance and supplication, by inducing deep tranquility and reducing the activity of the sympathetic nervous system, contribute to anxiety reduction and improved mental health. The effects of spiritual meditations on reducing amygdala activity (the brain’s anxiety center) have been confirmed.

Studies have examined the practice of silent, inner remembrance without vocal articulation during meditation, concluding that it enhances mental focus and improves psychological health.

Connection with Divine Power

Remembrance strengthens the will through the inner self to overcome sin and provides the capacity to restrain oneself from committing vile and evil acts. An average individual, without persistence in general remembrances, cannot find faith, preserve it, or elevate it.

Just as one who does not partake of physical sustenance, such as meat, suffers bodily deficiencies, weakened memory, reduced capacity for comprehension and deduction, and an inability to act powerfully, neglecting the sustenance of remembrance similarly weakens an individual’s ability to gather strength and focus energy for tasks. A person disconnected from remembrance and from partaking of God cannot perform their actions with firmness.

Gathering strength is the constitutive element of will. A novice inherently possesses weak and limited capacity and, without acquiring a concentrated and amplified energy, cannot engage in an endeavor with the requisite quality to ascend to the supra-material realm and its forces. This necessary energy can only be obtained through strengthening the will, gathering strength, and the capacity to connect with the inner self.

Gathering strength entails unifying all accounts of power and personal forces in one place, concentrating and condensing them for expenditure toward a specific goal in an orderly manner, based on the natural and existential principles related to the particular intention.

Utilizing the collective system of the universe—wherein all work together—and combining the forces of others with one’s own enhances the capacity for gathering strength. This can be achieved through showing mercy and kindness to God’s creatures, winning their hearts, or assembling suitable individuals for collective supplication in a gathering, or through seeking proximity, intercession, or similar means. For instance, one may console their spouse and children and hold collective supplications with them. The more forces an individual can align with themselves, the greater their capacity for gathering strength.

In gathering strength, all faculties, as well as the diversions of the mind and intellect, must be locked so that the heart can draw near to unseen phenomena, connect its power to theirs, and achieve a fulfilled remembrance.

Regarding remembrance, the capacity for gathering strength and the ability to lock the body, external senses, and control the diversions of the mind, imagination, and even the calculations of the intellect are necessary for remembrance to align with the heart. One who lacks the ability to focus their thoughts and control their mind and body exhibits different actions and thoughts in every situation, lacking unity of conduct, order, and harmony in their life.

Engaging in remembrance is not the responsibility of the senses or the intellect, for the primary focus in specific remembrances lies in the heart. The heart, an inner entity, can be heedless or mindful, soft or hardened, sighted or blind. An individual must acquire the ability to control the mind, silence it, and surrender it to the heart, managing mental obstacles in the path of expanding the heart and soul.

Gathering strength to draw power is achieved by establishing equilibrium with the rapid movement, vibration, and progression occurring in the realms of creation. Even God is a truth with intrinsic vitality, in constant motion and progression. An individual intending to reach supra-material, inner, and spiritual forces and draw near to God aligns themselves with these infinite forces moving at boundless speed through the aid of gathering strength and the power of remembrance. This enables them to synchronize their progression with the speed of creation, connecting to the transcendent realm and God to draw upon its power.

Only one whose sense of consuming remembrance is alive and dynamic, and whose inner self possesses the receptivity and capacity for remembrance, can utilize remembrance and gather strength for its consumption. In religious law, possessing the sense of remembrance or worship is termed “intention of proximity” (qasd-e qurbat). One lacking this sense cannot intend proximity to the sacred divine presence while reciting remembrance, nor do they possess the necessary tranquility to perform it. Consequently, their will does not accompany or align with the act of remembrance, depriving them of the capacity to gather strength. Such an individual cannot combine their power with that of the possessors of unseen forces, align their orbit of movement with theirs, or acquire the necessary acceleration to connect with those forces—especially the origin of existence—to enhance their capacity and achieve a fulfilled remembrance. One in whom the sense of remembrance arises feels the lack of remembrance and their inner need for it, just as hunger and thirst press upon them, suffering from this deficiency. By consciously and expertly engaging in the necessary remembrance, they gain energy and vitality.

Immersion and Detachment in Remembrance

To achieve a fulfilled remembrance, one must truly attain seclusion. This requires the power of detachment and immersion in remembrance to free the mind from the inevitable clamor of urban, mechanical, and industrial life, such that auditory disturbances do not affect the body.

The power of detachment entails the ability to disregard the surrounding environment and control mental diversions, especially illusory temptations and data, and to gather all external and internal energies scattered in the past, immersing oneself in remembrance or one’s task.

One engaged in prayer, if focused on the prayer they are performing, or one undertaking intellectual or mental activity, expending all their energy to solve a problem, cannot observe or monitor the actions of those around them or even hear their sounds. This state, also called immersion, is the power of detachment. The power of detachment is a prerequisite for gathering strength.

The constitutive element of detachment, gathering strength, and its foundation is singular devotion in love and affection. One who pursues numerous objects, attaching their heart to different people or things daily, cannot free themselves from all distractions. Even loving two individuals results in a divided heart, for one heart cannot accept more than one love. Similarly, a mind that wanders aimlessly lacks the power of detachment and gathering strength, requiring seclusion, sitting on a prayer rug, solitude, darkness, distance from light, and direct connection with the night sky to regain the capacity for detachment and immersion in remembrance.

Protective Charm of Remembrance

Remembrance of God is a source of safety, a protective charm, and a fortress that grants the ability to confront the commanding self, devils, and psychological disorders, as well as life’s hardships and challenges. The Noble Qur’an states:
“And whoever turns away from My remembrance—indeed, he will have a depressed life, and We will gather him on the Day of Resurrection blind.” (Qur’an, Sūrat Taha, 20:124)

One without remembrance is vulnerable to the assault and malice of devils who seek to keep them in turmoil. Through remembrance, one can place themselves under the protection of the merciful God and benevolent protective forces, preserving their body and material life in health.

The malice and influence of devils may manifest as temptation, weakness, obsession, forgetfulness, or manipulation of auditory words. Devils sometimes adopt the guise of misguidance, at times posing as mentors or guides, issuing commands or teaching, tempting or adorning. The Noble Qur’an states:
“And whoever is blinded from remembrance of the Most Merciful—We appoint for him a devil, and he is to him a companion.” (Qur’an, Sūrat al-Zukhruf, 43:36)

The devil is the evil companion who diverts a person from their inclination toward goodness. At times, it reminds them of something or causes them to forget, or traps them in doubt and uncertainty, playing with them as a cat plays with a mouse, taking pleasure in it.

Jinn and devils generally derive pleasure from humans, particularly from children around seven years old, who are especially charming, as well as from human knowledge, awareness, and beauty, from which they derive the greatest enjoyment. This pleasure can be harnessed to treat certain human ailments. Psychologically, if parents or any rational individual continuously gaze upon the beauty of such children, free from corruption or lust, their inner self gains vitality, and certain ailments and disorders are alleviated. Beauty possesses therapeutic potential. For instance, one at risk of a stroke can avert it by beholding beautiful countenance.

Jinn and devils take pleasure in human beauty, especially the tenderness of children. Interaction with jinn is easier in childhood, as they more readily accept children, engaging with humans through them.

Beyond beauty, jinn also derive pleasure from true and authoritative knowledge, gold, and the accumulation and hoarding of wealth. They enjoy wealth by gazing upon it, claiming it as their domain, preventing its consumption or reduction. If an individual attempts to use their hoarded wealth, unless they are a sovereign respected by jinn, they may suffer harm.

Human perception is stronger than that of jinn, and jinn take pleasure in these potent human perceptions, consuming and sensing them. They are enamored with scholars and human perceptions, finding knowledge sweet. However, heretical or disbelieving jinn or devils harbor enmity and occasionally clash with scholars.

Development of the Soul through Remembrance

Remembrances, especially if short and continuous, intertwine with the body and soul in a complex process, fostering the development of the inner self, akin to the propagation of plants, provided they are performed within a correct system and with adherence to foundational principles.

The body first connects with short remembrances, gradually preparing the ground for engaging with complex, meaningful matters and longer, intricate remembrances that resonate with it.

Remembrances initially form a linguistic bond with the body, then become hidden, soulful, and later manifest, ascending to such heights that they become Lordly and divine.

A remembrance that bonds with the body engages the practitioner not only in sleep, actively and vibrantly processing remembrance, but some remembrances form such a bond with the soul that they persist beyond death, with the soul embodying them thereafter.

One whose inner self, after prolonged engagement with remembrance, embodies it, with the remembrance intertwining with their body and soul, finds that abandoning it causes distress to the soul and exhaustion or wilting of the body.

The embodiment of the body and soul with a remembrance is the lower degree of remembrance. In higher degrees, the agent, manager, or spirit of the remembrance may become active, such that if, after persistence and embodiment, the practitioner omits it one day, the agent of the remembrance recites it on their behalf.

Just as it is recommended to say Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm before eating food, this invocation serves as an opening and catalyst for consuming spiritual and meaningful sustenance, igniting the inner self with warmth and love, becoming sustenance for the soul and initiating inner development.

A remembrance to which the practitioner becomes embodied, reciting it autonomously or intentionally during other tasks without ever abandoning it, may be overt or, over time, transform into a hidden, inner remembrance.

In hidden remembrance, the practitioner’s heart is engaged in remembrance, even if their tongue is occupied with other speech. If remembrance reaches the Lordly and divine degree, God recites the remembrance on behalf of the individual. If the individual perceives this state, it is etched in their heart.

If the individual’s will is activated, they recite remembrance even in sleep, or angels may recite it on their behalf, or even God recites it for them, as their inner self is bonded with remembrance. This state occurs for one who has not confined themselves to appearances.

Meaningful remembrances and spiritual sustenance bring perfections, empowerment, and proximity for a healthy individual, repelling viruses, delusions, and obsessions from the soul, just as sin induces heedlessness and corrupts remembrance. Remembrance crushes sin, engaging intimately with base desires, breaking them.

With the embodiment of remembrance, the law of attraction comes into play. A remembrance bonded with the soul connects to the remembrances of spirits, angels, and the divine saints, amplifying the practitioner’s remembrance. This amplification persists after death, like an ongoing charity, with its rewards reaching the practitioner.

General, short remembrances should be repeated continuously after prayers, before sleep, and while walking or heading to work.

General remembrances should not be recited hastily or rapidly but with tranquility, in appropriate quantities, with each general remembrance recited approximately ten to fifteen times daily. Over time, with persistence, these remembrances become embodied, shaping the individual like a mold, connecting them to the path of guardianship (al-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm) and drawing them to this divine path. A remembrance bonded with the soul creates a framework and divine path for the inner self and body, transforming it into Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm, preventing the individual from engaging in every act, succumbing to evil inclinations, or remaining in loss. The first step of being a Muslim is entering this path by possessing the divine code and striving to realize it. One who lacks general remembrance in their daily life is not guided to the divine path and remains heedless of the Exalted Truth.

Remembrance: The Anthem of Servitude

Remembrance should be regarded as the anthem of servitude before each of the infinite aspects of God, an anthem whose meaning and essence is divine action, where servitude is identical to Lordship. Divine action is the ultimate expression of love and the pinnacle of servitude. This is another expression of meeting, connection, and attainment, which, if it reaches unity and subsistence, is wholly Lordship in both its inner and outer dimensions. This means, with absolute devotion, it is only God and He alone:
“Allah—there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of existence.” (Qur’an, Sūrat Āl ‘Imrān, 3:2)

The unique and exclusive vitality, decree, and identity of each individual, as well as their personality, can be discerned from the appropriate remembrance they adopt—one that aligns with their body, psyche, beliefs, faith, purity, love, affection, expansion, harmony, absence of harm, and the meaningful content of their inner self. When these human constructs are aligned, the remembrance becomes effective and constructive.

Through remembrance, one can attain vitality of the heart, authority, and the expanse of dominion, gaining safety from polytheism, hypocrisy, weakness, fear, and abasement. With therapeutic remembrances, one can stimulate or reduce appetite.

To achieve spiritual health, remembrance must be integrated into one’s breath, becoming so ingrained in the body that it is recited autonomously even in sleep.

If one can intertwine remembrance with their breathing, they become “perpetually mindful” (dā’im al-dhikr), always engaged in remembrance without it interfering with necessary or obligatory tasks.

Each remembrance has a specific effect. Some are therapeutic, suitable for bodily and psychological health, others strengthen faith and trust in God, some facilitate the individual’s path after death, and others remove obstacles and align conditions to fulfill needs and tasks.

Para-psychological disorders arising from the interference or collision of a meaningful phenomenon with an individual, impairing the mind’s ability to perceive reality, can be treated and repaired through remembrances. Numerous religious documents support this, which can be compiled scientifically, methodically, and systematically.

Just as one requires clean air, physical activity, proper nutrition, and sleep hygiene, daily engagement with general remembrances, with persistent continuity, is necessary until they bond with the soul. The sign of this bonding is that the remembrance manifests even in sleep.

Engaging in general remembrances daily, during or outside prayer, brings tranquility to the psyche and body, fulfilling their spiritual nourishment.

A body devoid of general remembrances succumbs to heedlessness of the unseen and disconnection from partaking of the Exalted Truth, resulting in forgetfulness, obsession, delusion, fear, negative imaginations, and destructive, incompatible emotions.

An individual heedless of the Exalted Truth and His remembrance cannot draw energy from the unseen realm due to severed inner connections, leading to apathy toward spirituality, laziness in religiosity, skepticism toward divine saints, and lethargy, which weigh heavily on the body like a nightmare. Such individuals often live in heavy delusions or psychosis.

Delusion in some becomes so dominant that it drives them to suicide or self-harm. Suicide occurs in those deprived of partaking of God, despairing and cold, having lost God and unable to draw warmth, energy, or motivation for effort.

One who commits suicide has first become a disbeliever and then taken their life, facing confinement and painful torment in the afterlife. Partaking of God, drawing sustenance from Him, and beholding His warmth among creation grants energy and warmth, dispelling despair and hopelessness.

Remembrances are the spiritual and meaningful sustenance of the human soul. They act as pillars and ropes, upholding the tent of the body and providing it with structure and guidance.

A tent requires pillars. The pillars of individual development on the straight path of faith and guardianship are general remembrances, of which prayer is an example. Remembrances illuminate, clarify, and purify the inner self, enabling accurate and truthful perception, distinguishing the path from the pit in the deceptive, illusion-filled material world.

General remembrances should be recited between daily tasks, with the necessary need and affection incorporated, meaning one must show love to others and engage in financial charity to strengthen humanity, spirituality, and divinity. Just as a glass gives shape to liquids, remembrance provides structure and, in religious terms, a path to the individual.

Possessing this path means one does not succumb to obsession, doubt, uncertainty, or delusion in their religious journey.

A single general remembrance can repel a multitude of meaningful factors, such as devils or destructive delusions. One who does not engage in remembrance has a broken framework of religiosity, faith, and knowledge, becoming erratic in beliefs and reckless in actions, unable to move easily on al-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm.

If the inner self and body gain structure and a path through remembrance, the individual no longer commits every act.

Remembrance During Pregnancy

Lack of engagement with remembrance during pregnancy deprives the child of gentleness and tenderness, fostering aggression and violence.

Nutrition during pregnancy is of utmost importance, as it forms the foundation of the body, shaping its quality for an entire worldly life. If a mother lacks a varied, complete, and balanced diet, the child will continually grapple with deficiencies, disorders, and ailments.

The absence of remembrance during pregnancy similarly impacts the child’s disposition, inclining them toward harshness rather than softness.

Hidden Heartfelt Remembrance

The initiation of remembrance is verbal, gradually becoming heartfelt and inner, and ultimately divine. The goal of remembrance is the continuous and sustained focus on the Exalted Truth. This goal may manifest as verbal remembrance, intellectual contemplation, silence, seclusion, reflection, wonder, heartfelt inner attention, or unity of the rememberer, remembrance, and the remembered at the level of the spirit, becoming Lordly and divine.

When verbal remembrance transforms into heartfelt remembrance, with the heart secretly and inwardly engaged, it is as if it has matured from childhood to youth, progressing, ascending, and expanding. Beyond heartfelt remembrance lies spiritual remembrance, where the rememberer is united with the remembrance, its owner, and the remembered, with their manifestation wholly God’s remembrance in the context of love and unity.

For remembrance to rise from the muddy ground of verbal recitation and take flight from the heart’s runway, the body and inner self must first be prepared by harboring no resentment toward others, forgiving every wrongdoer or oppressor, and adopting the distinct style of prayer, need, and affection.

The true power of remembrance lies in heartfelt remembrance. Verbal remembrances, given the heights and challenges of spiritual wayfaring, lack significant effect or potency and cannot fuel the journey or elevation.

Remembrances performed at the level of bodily senses, mental intellect, or the scope of the soul are general, while the specific remembrance sought by remembrance therapy, particularly heartfelt specific remembrance, is distinct.

At its highest level, remembrance therapy aims to train individuals to fully attain specific heartfelt remembrance—remembrances with the power of fulfillment, capable of aligning with the divine realm.

The primary goal of remembrance is to make it heartfelt, with the body and soul fully aligned with the heart, institutionalizing remembrance within it.

The first remembrance to practice to reach hidden remembrance is Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm. It should be brought to the heart, not the mind, during inhalation without tongue movement, and repeated during exhalation, such that two Bismillāhs are recited in one breath cycle.

Once remembrance becomes heartfelt, it knows no bounds, unlike worship such as fasting or pilgrimage, which have defined limits. Heartfelt remembrance is tied to the heart’s vitality and remains active as long as the heart lives. Verbal remembrance, however, is not perpetual but intermittent, interrupted when the tongue engages in other speech. Verbal remembrance is initial, overt, and manifest, while heartfelt remembrance is hidden, inner, and secret, uninterrupted even by speech, without one interfering with the other.

Hidden and heartfelt remembrance is performed systemically and automatically by the inner self (heart or spirit) without requiring specific volition, operating unconsciously under general, continuous will, just as walking a path does not require specific volition for each step, being guided by general, continuous intent.

Once remembrance takes root in the body, becoming a companion and confidant, it governs the practitioner’s sleep, bringing them to the station of perpetual remembrance and granting them heartfelt remembrance.

To attain specialized, continuous heartfelt remembrance, one must first engage in initial, general verbal remembrance and overt, intermittent remembrance. Under the guidance of an experienced, inspired mentor, one must practice time-bound overt remembrance for several years to reach timeless heartfelt remembrance, making it an inseparable part of the inner self.

One with heartfelt remembrance does not abandon it even during medical unconsciousness, recalling their inner companions—heartfelt remembrances—unless the heart suffers complications, in which case the remembrance remains in the deeper layers of the inner self, accompanying them even in the Resurrection. The best companion and refuge during the throes of death is heartfelt remembrance, which even death cannot obstruct.

In remembrance, an individual holds a distinguished, professional status if they have attained hidden remembrance. Such a person never loses their remembrance, regardless of time, place, or the most challenging work conditions, with their inner self ensuring no remembrance is missed. This remembrance is embedded in their breaths, occurring autonomously, just as breathing does.

Only one who has practiced seclusion in wakefulness, undergone prolonged austerities under an experienced mentor, and acquired resolve—or received it as a divine gift—can possess heartfelt remembrance. Such a person harbors hidden remembrance even in their laughter.

Those who attain mastery can embed hundreds of inner remembrances in every smile or chuckle, remembrances with no outward manifestation. Ignorant individuals, especially those focused on appearances, may deem them heedless or devoid of remembrance, unaware that for every overt remembrance they perform, such a person holds hundreds of profound, sincere inner remembrances, rich with purity and love, untainted by hypocrisy or pretense. Unlike the remembrances of appearance-focused individuals, these are performed with the heart, compatible with all actions, never abandoned, guaranteed in continuity, and immune to heedlessness or forgetfulness.

The characteristic of heartfelt, hidden remembrance is that it is free of desire, serving as nourishment and strength for the heart and a creator of the divine kingdom. The heart’s inner vitality depends on it. The following noble verse highlights heartfelt remembrance:
“Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured by the remembrance of Allah. Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured.” (Qur’an, Sūrat al-Ra‘d, 13:28)

The capacity for remembrance to become heartfelt demonstrates that remembrance is a living phenomenon with vitality, capable of growth and elevation. Its vitality can vary in intensity or be extinguished. Certain sins can not only strip remembrance of its vitality but also the heart’s, reversing the purifying effect of remembrance and leading to impurity and hardness.

Difference Between Divine and Creaturely Remembrances

Remembrances are broadly divided into divine and creaturely types. Divine remembrances express a perfection of the Exalted Truth without the servant playing an active role, being affirmative and ascendant.

Creaturely remembrances express the servant’s deficiencies, declaring the Lord free of these imperfections. They are negatory, pertaining to the manifestation and emergence of the creature and servant, and are descendant.

In creaturely remembrances, the individual is fully present, which limits and materializes them.

Creaturely remembrances are suitable for those not pursuing spiritual wayfaring or attainment of the Exalted Truth, seeking only to be faithful, virtuous servants of God, avoiding sins and prohibitions while enjoying worldly benefits. For example, one who repeatedly recites the remembrance of seeking forgiveness gains strength to avoid sin to some extent, though this creaturely remembrance cannot fully restrain all diversions or prevent all lustful inclinations.

Divine remembrances are suitable for spiritual wayfaring and elevation. In these, the individual has no presence. Remembrances such as lā ilāha illā Allāh (testimony of unity), al-ḥamdu lillāh (praise), Allāhu akbar (glorification), and subḥān Allāh (exaltation) are free of any individual or creaturely intervention. The framework of spiritual wayfaring is realized through these remembrances, suitable for professional wayfarers.

Remembrances follow a sequence and hierarchy. Initial remembrances are predominantly creaturely, focusing on repentance and purification. Blessings upon the Prophet, seeking forgiveness, and exaltation are general, initial remembrances that aid in avoiding sin in sinful environments or facilitate repentance if a sin is committed.

After initial remembrances, perfecting remembrances follow. Their prerequisites are faith and righteous deeds, referred to in this text as the essence of prayer, need, and affection.

Some remembrances are for attracting specific divine favor. A remembrance that brings favor may embed itself in the heart, immersing the individual in a luminous state and drawing them to a proximity where they do not forget God even in sleep. Embodiment with favor-inducing remembrances ensures that remembrance remains inseparable from the individual during life, death, and beyond.

Certain remembrances are for achieving specific benefits or averting calamities, such as attaining wealth, housing, employment, a suitable spouse, healing for the sick, or longevity with health and dignity. In effect-oriented remembrances, the practitioner seeks the benefits of remembrance, not the remembrance itself. They recite God’s remembrance to attain the advantages of divine attention, seeking a God who remedies their pain.

Conditions for the Efficacy of Dhikr

We have stated that spiritual matters, particularly dhikr (remembrance of God), require the fulfillment of certain conditions to be effective, some of which were previously mentioned. Other conditions for the efficacy of dhikr include:

1. The body must have fulfilled all its material nutritional needs and maintained hygiene according to the previously outlined principles. Dhikr is ineffective when practiced with overeating, stomachs contaminated with waste or excrement, or consumption of forbidden (haram) substances.

2. Spiritual matters should not be engaged in out of habit but must be undertaken with intention, choice, and resolve, leading to their internalization. Just as in physical medicine, habituation to a drug diminishes its efficacy, compelling the physician to prescribe a new drug or increase the dosage periodically to prevent the affected organ from losing sensitivity and self-regulation, the same applies to spiritual matters. For instance, if a practitioner of dhikr reduces it to a habit, that dhikr will have no effect on the body or the inner self.

Certain habitual prayers, dhikr, and recitations of the Holy Quran by an unjust or oppressive individual not only fail to foster inner growth and development but may increase the individual’s malevolence. The Holy Quran explicitly states that oppressors and impure individuals with satanic intentions and malicious profiteering are led to deprivation and loss, rendering the Quran ineffective or even harmful for them: “And We send down of the Quran that which is healing and mercy for the believers, but it does not increase the wrongdoers except in loss.” (Al-Isra, 82).

A single act of minor oppression, which destroys the foundation and framework of spiritual matters and the individual’s existential structure, can render millions of salawat (invocations of blessings upon the Prophet) ineffective. One who engages in dhikr and other spiritual practices without adhering to the principles of spirituality, lacking inner purity, intellectual conscience, fairness, and abstention from oppression, may fall into hardness of heart, cynicism, obsession, isolationism, aversion to others, self-interest, and egotism. Over time, this can lead to various forms of obsessions or mental disorders, compounding stagnation and feelings of fatigue.

An individual lacking inner purity, when engaging in worship and spiritual matters, becomes preoccupied with their impurities. If uncontrolled, such practices may lead to deprivation, estrangement, and increased greed.

The literalist jurist, bound by rigidity and habit in the sources of Sharia, deems the abandonment of certain spiritual practices impermissible under any circumstances. In an environment dominated by such inflexible jurists, the proliferation of domes, minarets, and printed copies of the Holy Quran diminishes spiritual purity, mystical love, divine proximity, and intimacy, rendering individuals increasingly alienated from one another.

In holistic and gnostic self-care, a skilled mentor may prescribe the temporary cessation of a spiritual practice for an individual, substituting it with another. However, a non-comprehensive jurist, unaware of the rationale, remains confined to textual sources detached from the spiritual reality of the Infallible Imams.

In the system of self-healing, every action must stem from intention or become second nature, not from habit, which neglects the element of will and renders the action merely formal and devoid of substance.

Habitual dhikr is akin to lifting an image of a weight or dumbbell instead of the actual object, deluded into believing one has become a professional athlete. Worship performed out of habit is a semblance of worship, not worship itself, and yields no effect. It is like a business without profit or gain, merely a waste of time and resources.

Dhikr is effective only when performed with the practitioner’s attention and intention, seeking divine grace. It is fitting to supplicate: “O God, grant me the dhikr or whatever is suitable for me through Your grace, so that I may fully benefit from the nourishment of my soul!”

The practitioner of dhikr must meticulously evaluate its outcomes and effects, monitor their mental impressions and heartfelt inspirations, and heed the inner voices and calls. In this process, the faculty of imagination, followed by the faculty of fancy, plays a significant role. It is like a dry riverbed filled with debris; when rain falls and water flows, it initially carries a mass of refuse. With perseverance in dhikr, the flow of its water stirs the debris in the practitioner’s mental channels, gradually cleansing and purifying the mind through dredging.

Beginners engaging in dhikr may experience mental frequencies that induce impure and negative thoughts. Some, aware of the intensity of their mental and inner impurities, may succumb to despair and lethargy. A skilled mentor can guide them through these illusions, leading them to mental and inner purity. As the mind is cleansed of delusions and fancies, its receptivity and inner strength increase, enabling it to perceive and hear subtle, unseen voices that guide the practitioner.

3. The use of specific spiritual matters and spiritual nourishment, pursued for particular and non-general purposes, must be accompanied by consultation and examination.

4. General dhikr should begin with the shortest invocations, practiced continuously. In dhikr practice, one should start with short, verbal invocations performed consistently without a fixed count to progress to higher stages of dhikr and worship. Some of these short invocations include:

a. Bismillah (In the Name of God).

b. Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God).

c. Subhanallah (Glory be to God).

d. Astaghfirullah (I seek forgiveness from God).

e. La ilaha illallah (There is no god but God).

The two invocations of istighfar (seeking forgiveness) and tahlil (declaring God’s oneness) remove many afflictions and problems from one’s path. In this perilous era, these two powerful invocations are essential to avoid retribution and turmoil. They can transform calamities, ensuring no harm befalls the individual and sustaining their life.

Among invocations, the continuous practice of three dhikrs holds great significance: Allahumma salli ‘ala Muhammad wa ali Muhammad (O God, send blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad), Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim (In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful), and La ilaha illallah (There is no god but God).

With these three dhikrs, if internalized within the heart, one can attain greater hearts and reach divine love. The possessor of love gains the power of spiritual flight and transcendence, unaffected by malevolent phenomena, even those inherently oppressive, due to their inner strength. No phenomenon feels burdensome or distressing to them.

When a person sleeps, their body and inner self are exposed to environmental phenomena, requiring protection and safeguarding. The dhikr of salawat is the best fortress and armor for the sleeping body and its inner self. Salawat protects all aspects of life—wealth, home, children, knowledge, intellect, consciousness, soul, faith, and even the harms of other dhikrs—granting the individual strength, self-immunity, and the capacity for self-care. Salawat is highly effective in alleviating weakness and obsession, restraining the soul’s desires and whims, and dispelling hypocrisy, ostentation, pretense, heart’s impurities, doubt, and delusion.

Salawat can purify heart’s impurities and defilements, refine intentions and the inner self, and even purify and perfect other dhikrs.

Salawat has the quality of clarifying the inner self and fostering purity, taming, controlling, and harmonizing emotions, and rendering the movements of the soul and inner self smooth and balanced.

In its substance and content, salawat is a furnace of heat and warmth that propels the inner self into motion.

The most distinguished merit of the dhikr of salawat is its heat-generating, love-inducing nature and its possession of the fiery warmth of divine guardianship (wilayah). Due to this heat, if someone without proper preparation approaches the possessors of guardianship or serves them, they may fall among the worst of people, as described by the phrase: “Our servants and caretakers are the vilest of God’s creation.” This furnace reveals the disbelief and inner corruption of those who are impure toward God and religion. However, if such an individual recognizes their flaw, perseveres in obedience to the possessors of guardianship, overcomes their impurities, and remains steadfast, they can purify their errant inner self under the guidance and supervision of a spiritual mentor, compensating for deficiencies stemming from impure sustenance or origin. These deficiencies and disorders primarily manifest as doubt, temptation, obsession, cynicism, and suspicion toward divine saints.

The dhikr of tahlil is among the unifying invocations, breaking multiplicity and leading worldly attachments and material desires to the slaughterhouse, guiding the individual to the truth of divine unity and revealing the reality of tahlil.

The significance of bismillah lies in the fact that any action not begun with Bismillah is lifeless and impure. A slaughtered animal becomes pure and permissible through the invocation of God’s name. When a believer recites God’s name over a slaughtered animal, it becomes associated with God’s name and attains purity; otherwise, even a non-believer may perform the slaughter, but without invoking God’s name, it lacks purity. When eating or drinking, if Bismillah is recited, the food becomes associated with it, with the food representing the body and Bismillah its inner essence. Food consumed without Bismillah lacks this essence, becoming merely a lifeless carcass.

Bismillah is one of the best invocations for attracting divine grace and success. Success is the acceleration of means to achieve a phenomenon.

It is preferable to recite it at least seven times in the morning. Daily perseverance, especially in the morning, for forty times over forty days or forty cycles of forty days, can bring illumination to the heart, divine proximity, and inner attainment. Additionally, the practitioner will foresee significant future events and incidents before they occur. Bismillah is among the knowledge-imparting invocations.

If someone has weak resolve, succumbs easily to sin or rebellion, is impatient, or suffers from any weakness, persistent recitation of bismillah expands and broadens the practitioner’s heart, strengthens their resolve, doubles their aspiration, and remedies impatience, weakness, temptation, and obsession.

If the practitioner is afflicted by multiplicity, they should recite tahlil more frequently. If plagued by heart’s impurities, desires, or whims, they should recite salawat abundantly. If intending to undertake a significant task, they should rely on the powerful invocation of bismillah.

After these three invocations, one should prioritize tasbih (glorification). Tasbih is uplifting in times of sorrow. The dhikr of Subhanallah (Glory be to God) is nourishment for the human soul. Tasbih enhances the body and inner self’s capacity to absorb and attract surrounding and environmental forces. Thus, one who consistently engages in this dhikr feels less hunger and thirst, as it becomes a source of sustenance.

Those who are preoccupied solely with the material world, neglecting the spiritual realm, divine truths, and God, and lacking inner nourishment and divine remembrance, find little satisfaction in worldly sustenance. Their senses are closed, admitting nothing. Closed senses gradually lead to delusion and obsession, causing frequent errors in analyzing events, misguided thoughts, and perilous deviations. Astonishingly, they may even develop delusions of grandeur and narcissism.

Subhanallah is a dhikr of gentleness, heart-expansion, inner lightening, and significant broadening. It enables the practitioner to love others, dispelling suspicion, enmity, opposition, and other delusions, fostering a positive outlook.

An individual with foundational joy can succeed in their appropriate endeavors. A key pillar of joy and vitality is harmony and gentleness in both body and inner self. Subhanallah achieves this, alleviating sorrow and bringing joy.

Tasbih can remove sins, impurities, heart’s defilements, deficiencies, and sorrows. This dhikr relieves grief just as bathing, cleanliness, using pleasant scents (not cologne), wearing diverse clothing with cheerful colors, leisurely walks, sports—especially aerobics or bodybuilding—and even sports like boxing, which involve physical exertion, promote joy and exhilaration. Bathing is necessary to cleanse the body of sweat, eliminate waste, and prevent internal diseases and inner withering, which cause the body to harbor decay.

When reciting this dhikr, one must avoid conflating it with salawat, reciting salawat at a different time. This dhikr is recited on the inhale, not the exhale.

Following these invocations, the Yunusiyya dhikr and the dhikr of Ya Hayyu Ya Qayyum (O Ever-Living, O Self-Subsisting) rank among the best for spiritual elevation and progress.

5. General invocations should not be self-prescribed with a specific count or recited with a fixed number.

6. To enhance the efficacy of spiritual matters and worship, one should rely on short, continuous, and uncounted invocations. Lengthy invocations lead to aversion and fatigue from spiritual matters.

7. Gradually, invocations should transition from habitual and formulaic recitation to intentional and limited recitation.

8. Specific, prescribed invocations by a skilled spiritual healer and trained mentor, recited with a particular count and intentionally, are potent and effective, imbued with the sacred breath of such a divine mentor. While reciting surahs like Al-Kawthar, Al-Takathur, and Al-Waqi‘ah may bring blessings and increase financial provision, determining their suitability for an individual seeking greater income requires consultation and prescription by a skilled mentor.

Specific intentional invocations for intermediate practitioners are prescribed in limited counts, considering the practitioner’s spiritual level. While advanced practitioners may recite istighfar seventy times daily, intermediate practitioners will have a count less than the fingers of one hand.

9. For dhikr to be effective, it must be practiced with continuity and perseverance, without interruption even for a single day. With persistence, dhikr integrates with the soul and body, becoming ingrained.

10. Within a single day, no more than two or three different invocations should be practiced, lest they cause adverse effects instead of benefits.

11. Reciting dhikr and praying in clean, cool air is more suitable and effective for body and soul.

12. Maintaining dietary compatibility with dhikr and spiritual nourishment, using the freshest and highest-quality foods, contributes to enhancing dhikr’s efficacy. If one fails to provide the body with necessary and suitable nutrition, their dhikr weakens.

Dhikr requires proper nutrition to gain strength, responsiveness, and empowerment. For the practitioner, both undereating and overeating are harmful, and they must balance their diet with their dhikr. For example, using spices like saffron, cinnamon, and ginger, sometimes combined with honey, aids in eliminating waste and compensating for deficiencies. However, consuming more than one tablespoon of a mixture of honey, pistachio, walnut, and date is harmful, unlike kuku sibzamini (potato frittata) with basil, which can be eaten in fifteen to twenty bites depending on the individual’s capacity. This book discusses spiritual nourishment.

Enhancing the Efficacy of Dhikr

Attributes and states that can enhance dhikr’s efficacy include the practitioner’s poverty, intercession, proximity, oppression, and dire need. These states prepare the individual for proximity to metaphysical realms and their phenomena. By reciting suitable dhikr, having distanced themselves from the material world, the individual can more easily experience inner layers and the empowering effects of dhikr.

A poor and deprived individual, especially if hungry, can have a more effective dhikr. The poor are recipients of God’s mercy and hold special reverence for Him, prompting His zealous protection against their harm.

Proximity includes the sanctuaries of the Infallible Imams, the graves of God’s saints, and mosques.

An intercessor may be a parent, a heartbroken or weak individual, a poor person, an oppressed person, an orphan, a martyr’s child, a mentor, a teacher, or one of God’s saints. Certain archangels can also be chosen as intercessors based on the task at hand. For instance, to overcome an adversary or thwart a malevolent person, one may seek the intercession of the Angel of Death (Azrael) before God.

Those capable of connecting with phenomena can designate any phenomenon as an intercessor before God.

Intercession is a connection with a proximate intermediary. This connection requires proximity, which necessitates spiritual harmony and compatibility with the intercessor to attract their attention and grace.

Dire need is among the most effective states. It occurs in an individual trapped in desperation and predicament, with no refuge or solution, lacking strength or power, akin to a watermelon adrift on water, spinning with every wave’s pressure. A person in dire need lacks the capacity for resolve or demands, and this state, resembling mystical annihilation and divine proximity, empowers and guarantees the efficacy of their dhikr.

Therapeutic Dhikrs

Some dhikrs have therapeutic effects on the body and psyche when prescribed and used correctly. These dhikrs must avoid conflicts with other dhikrs, food, or medicine, and their suitability, compatibility with the body and inner self, and dosage must align with the patient’s capacity. The combination of therapeutic dhikrs is determined through personal examination, not generic prescriptions. Many diseases and disorders can be treated with dhikr, love, and gnosis. The civilization derived from religion, even in treatment and medicine, differs from other civilizations. In religious medicine, God, His names, attributes, and verses from the divine book play a central role in revitalization, healing certain disorders and diseases, or acting as analgesics or strengtheners for the patient. Crucially, this field, like conventional medicine, must have a scientific logic, a therapeutic protocol, an authorized center for issuing permits, and skilled mentors, grounded in empirical science, standardized knowledge, laboratories, and intersubjective references.

The meanings and effects of some therapeutic dhikrs, based on personal experience and trial and error, are presented below, not substantiated by religious texts or narrations.

It should be noted that the specific conditions for the efficacy of each dhikr must be learned from a skilled mentor with specialized expertise in the knowledge of dhikr and the divine names (asma al-husna). A dhikr is effective and potent for one whose inner state aligns with the content of the dhikr and its spiritual level.

Dhikr: Al-Salam – Calming, controls anger and irritability, cooling.

Dhikr: Allahumma salli ‘ala Muhammad wa ali Muhammad – Calming and nerve-strengthening.

Dhikr: Al-Rahim – Calming, relieves anxiety, stress, and apprehension, regulates heartbeat and pulse, reduces blood pressure, treats skepticism.

Dhikr: Arham ar-Rahimin – Calms nerves, alleviates irritability and negative emotions.

Dhikr: Inna Lillahi wa Inna Ilayhi Raji‘un – Grants patience in calamities, treats fear of darkness, obsession with worldly appearances, and greed for wealth accumulation.

Dhikr: La Ilaha Illallah – Calming, relieves stress and weak resolve, dispels negative thoughts, alleviates grief and sorrow from calamities, mitigates psychological trauma, energizing, treats inner corruption.

Dhikr: Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim – Empowering, energizing, and fortifying, protects against disturbing and frightening dreams and satanic influence during sleep.

Dhikr: Hasbiyallah – Repels malevolent individuals.

Dhikr: Hasbuna Allahu wa Ni‘ma al-Wakil – Strengthens and empowers the inner self.

Dhikr: Al-Ahad – Alleviates fear, terror, and agoraphobia.

Dhikr: Al-Wahid – Purifying, dispels hypocrisy, resentment, and doubt.

Dhikr: Alhamdulillah – Calms nerves, fosters inner purity and strength, dispels doubt, relieves shortness of breath, balances the body.

Dhikr: Anta Mawlana – Fosters trust in God, dispels hypocrisy, improves illness.

Dhikr: Ila Allahi Marji‘ukum wa Huwa ‘ala Kulli Shay’in Qadir – Enhances sexual potency and confidence in expressing love.

Dhikr: Ayat al-Kursi (Al-Baqarah: 255) – Energizing and empowering, controls hunger and thirst.

Dhikr: Huwa – With ritual purity, reduces appetite.

Dhikr: Inni Ma‘akum – With the intention of intimacy with God, dispels sorrow and calms.

Dhikr: Al-Hayy al-Qayyum – Alleviates weakness, fear, anxiety, and depression, uplifting, empowering, strengthening, extends lifespan.

Dhikr: Ya Hayyu Ya Qayyum Ya La Ilaha Illa Anta – Suitable for protection against or immunity from the evil eye if recited over water 41 times daily for 41 days between two sunrises and drunk, or recited 41 times over an agate stone.

Dhikr: Hab Lana min Ladunka Rahmatan – Suitable for those frequently ill.

Dhikr: Rabbi Adkhilni Mudkhala Sidqin wa Akhrijni Mukhraja Sidqin waj‘al Li min Ladunka Sultanan Nasira – Strengthening, empowering, alleviates poverty and unemployment.

Dhikr: ‘Indi Khaza’in Allah – Increases provision.

Dhikr: Wa Ufawwidu Amri ila Allah – Empowers the body and enhances inner strength.

Dhikr: Innama Amruhu Idha Arada Shay’an an Yaqula Lahu Kun Fayakun – Empowering, strengthening, alleviates weakness.

Dhikr: Yadu Allahi Fawqa Aydihim – Empowering, strengthening, alleviates weakness.

Dhikr: Al-Rabb – Alleviates fear, bad temperament, and dogmatism if the individual continues saying Ya Rabb until breathless.

Dhikr: Al-Awwal – Empowering, purifying, uplifting, yields results.

Dhikr: Al-Akhir – Improves illness and provides immunity if recited with firm conviction and patience.

Dhikr: Ya Zahir Ya Nur, Ya Zahir Ya Badi‘, Ya Musawwir Ya Zahir – Recited by the mother in early pregnancy, ensures a beautiful child, determines gender, and fosters virtuous traits, preventing dullness, stupidity, folly, or congenital defects.

Dhikr: Al-‘Alim – Consistent recitation during pregnancy with proper modulation grants the child flourishing talent, capability, and inner purity, preventing harm to others.

Dhikr: Al-Musawwir – Determines fetal gender, genetic correction, lineage improvement, and romantic fulfillment.

Dhikr: Al-Batin – Expands and broadens the heart.

Dhikr: Ya ‘Alim Ya ‘Allam – Without elongation or in cool air at night, calming and fosters gentleness.

Dhikr: Ya Latif – Alleviates inner heart issues, mental doubts, skepticism, hypocrisy, haste, hyperactivity, nerve weakness, vascular diseases, regulates blood pressure with persistent repetition 129 times per session.

Dhikr: Ya Latif Ya Ra’uf – Softens the heart and attracts success in endeavors.

Dhikr: Al-Hakim – Dispels whims, instability, anxiety, and grants heart’s insight.

Dhikr: Al-Hasib – Fosters independence and trust in God, dispels negligence, and prevents sin.

Dhikr: Ya Man Huwa Hasbi wa Kafa – Grants inner strength and fortitude.

Dhikr: Ya Katib – Low-dose use effective for alleviating forgetfulness, Alzheimer’s, and reducing errors.

Dhikr: Al-Hafiz – Balances behavior and reduces mistakes.

Dhikr: Ya Hafiz Ya Hafiz – Protects against scholarly errors with inner purity.

Dhikr: Al-Qarib – Alleviates hardness, fear, malice, delusion, despair, and weakness.

Dhikr: Al-Dhakir – Enhances strong memory and heart’s expansion.

Dhikr: Al-Qadir – Fosters faith and assurance that God alone is effective.

Dhikr: Al-Muqtadir – Alleviates inner weakness, energizing, enhances focus, and strengthens control over tongue and eyes.

Dhikr: Ya Fa‘il Ya Fa‘‘al – Alleviates distress, lethargy, despair, and weakness.

Dhikr: Ya Fa‘‘al lima Yurid – Treats general and severe illnesses with personal consultation for proper dosage.

Dhikr: Al-‘Azim – Generally resolves problems.

Dhikr: Al-Fatir – Expands the mind, strengthens thought, alleviates irritability and despair.

Dhikr: Ya Fatir Ya Ra’uf – Improves frail and weak patients, alleviates irritability, worry, and despair in cool air.

Dhikr: Al-Faliq – Retrieves knowledge, strengthens resolve, repels evil eye and distress.

Dhikr: Al-Basit – Generally alleviates illnesses and fosters inner expansion.

Dhikr: Al-Ba‘ith – Alleviates weakness, despair, and lethargy.

Dhikr: Ya Ba‘ith Ya Warith – Alleviates sorrow and lethargy, uplifting.

Dhikr: Ya Barr Ya Latif – Fosters patience, alleviates haste and impulsiveness.

Dhikr: Al-Barr – Combined with names like Latif and Karim, effective for treating personality disorders, controlling anger, and negative emotions.

Dhikr: Al-Malik – Calming, fosters adaptability and connection with created phenomena, alleviates anxiety, instability, weakness, nerve issues, and nervous tics.

Dhikr: As-Salam – Improves psychological issues and various forms of insanity.

Dhikr: Ya Mu’min Ya Latif – Calming, prevents sleep disturbances.

Dhikr: Al-Mu’min – Preserves youth and delays aging if recited secretly as Mu’min without deceit or falsehood.

Dhikr: Al-Jabbar – Repels weakness and empowers in old age or surgery if recited in even counts.

Dhikr: Ta‘ala – Alleviates weakness and excessive menstruation alongside medical consultation.

Dhikr: Ya Latif al-Muta‘al – Immediate energizer, suitable for pregnant women if dosage aligns with her name, surname, age, and body temperature. Engraving Latif al-Muta‘al on crystal, pearl, or silver agate becomes cherished.

Dhikr: Ta‘ala – Suitable for weak women, those with excessive menstruation, postpartum, or ill, especially if aligned with her name, weight, and weather temperature.

Dhikr: Kabir al-Muta‘al – Protective and safeguarding if engraved on a silver agate ring, strengthening and empowering.

Dhikr: Al-Qasim – Energizing, strengthening, repels weakness.

Dhikr: Al-Ghalib – Strengthens and regulates sleep and eating.

Dhikr: Al-Mu’ti – Treats illness, nerve weakness, and distress.

Dhikr: As-Samad – Empowers and alleviates physical weakness.

Dhikr: Al-Mu’allif – Alleviates malice, skepticism, cowardice, fear, aggression, and harshness.

Dhikr: Al-Mudil – Empowers and strengthens.

Dhikr: Ya Mu’akhkhir Ya Mu’akhkhir Ya Mu’akhkhir – Alleviates sleep disorders, weakness, fear, anxiety, acts as a sedative, calming, and energizing.

Dhikr: Al-Mubdi’ – Alleviates despair, weakness, lethargy, calming, and uplifting.

Dhikr: Ya Latif Ya Karim – Protects against sudden changes and consequences of oppressing the weak.

Dhikr: Al-Mubarak – Dispels aggression and irritability, softens, and fosters kindness.

Dhikr: Ya Bani Ya Rabb – Alleviates sorrow and infertility.

Dhikr: Ya ‘Asim Ya Latif – Protective, safeguards the body from illness.

Dhikr: Ya Mujir – Provides immunity during epidemics.

Dhikr: Al-Mujib – Empowers, alleviates weakness, lethargy, nerve issues, and extends lifespan.

Dhikr: Wa Mahhilhum Qalilan – Dispels arrogance and pride from the affluent and those with virtues like knowledge or beauty.

Dhikr: Ad-Dunya – Alleviates sorrow, distress, and forgetfulness.

Dhikr: Al-Badi‘ – Dispels delusions and psychological complexes.

Dhikr: Shukran Lillah – Alleviates distress, complexes, regret, despair, and nerve weakness.

Dhikr: Fala Khawfun ‘Alayhim wala Hum Yahzanun – Dispels fear in children if they recite it themselves.

Dhikr: Wa Kadhalika Nufassilu al-Ayat wa La‘allahum Yarji‘un – Prevents illness, infection, and aging.

Dhikr: Inna Allaha Yahkumu ma Yurid – Strengthens resolve and comprehension.

Dhikr: La Uhibbu al-Afilin – Controls attachment to worldly matters.

Dhikr: Ya Man Yubdi’u wa Yu‘id – Alleviates despair, weakness, and lethargy.

Effects of Adhan, Iqama, and Prayer’s Follow-Up Practices

Adhan (call to prayer) and iqama (prayer establishment) serve as a warm-up for the body before prayer, akin to preparing for physical exercise, connecting the prayer to the inner self and embedding it within the worshiper’s soul.

Just as the body requires warming up before exercise and cooling down afterward, prayer necessitates preliminaries and follow-up practices. Adhan and iqama dispel the intoxication of worldly matters, preparing the worshiper for a prayer free from worldly distractions, enabling entry into God’s presence through the gateway of divine sanctity.

Prayer is a weighty act, except for the humble, who prepare their souls with suitable and necessary dhikrs before prayer, warming up for ascension and spiritual elevation through the profound act of prayer, whose pinnacle of servitude is prostration.

If prayer is performed without its conditions, involuntarily, or habitually, it leads to increased desires, inclinations, pleasures, hardness, wretchedness, and estrangement instead of inner purity and divine proximity.

Divine proximity equates to a healthy life in this world, felicity in the hereafter, traversing the straight path, embodying goodness, refinement, and inner purity. Inner refinement and purity make an individual agile and resilient, enabling them to endure and resolve any challenge or pressure without losing balance or succumbing to unpredictability, breakdown, or defeat.

Children, with their abundant refinement and flexibility, are more receptive to spiritual matters. Thus, children can be more easily introduced to mysticism than adults, who are rigid and attached to their possessions. If a child with mystical potential is trained from childhood for intimacy, proximity, and attainment (not knowledge), their agility accelerates personal development and divine growth. However, if this potential is unrecognized and its temporal opportunity missed, their capacity for truth-seeking and attainment may remain unrealized in their worldly life, closing the door to spiritual realization.

Prayer serves as essential inner nourishment for humans, not merely a devotional obligation in Sharia.

Engaging with spiritual matters and consuming spiritual nourishment must be prioritized in every individual’s life, akin to economic endeavors.

Method for Success in Performing Prayer

One of the goals of dhikr practice is to prepare the individual for prayer. One who does not engage in dhikr becomes estranged from prayer. Dhikr integrates with the human soul and body, shaping the individual’s identity and providing a unique framework or path, preventing the practitioner from acting arbitrarily or forming baseless likes or dislikes. The adhan and iqama recited before prayer are dhikrs that imbue the individual with disposition, structure, and a guiding path!

When someone is praying, others should not create auditory disturbances or interference but must respect the prayer and maintain silence. The sound of a television, radio, music, or speeches during another’s prayer constitutes harassment and is forbidden.

Dhikr grants the capacity to perform the night prayer. At minimum, one should perform three rak‘ahs of the night prayer: two rak‘ahs of Shaf‘ and one rak‘ah of Witr. The night prayer can be performed validly even after the morning prayer until sunrise. If one performs these three rak‘ahs before sunrise, they can claim their night prayer has not been neglected.

Dhikr begins verbally and, with repetition, becomes heartfelt and then manifest, flowing from the heart to the tongue. Such dhikr becomes intoxicating, inducing spiritual ecstasy. Dhikr brings intoxication, ecstasy, love, purity, proximity, grace, nobility, and faith to the practitioner! Dhikr has the power to purify and cleanse the soul, removing its residues. Dhikr is the spiritual and meaningful nourishment of the soul, provided its conditions for efficacy—especially inner purity and freedom from resentment, impurities, and falsehood—are observed.

The Master Key of Prostration

Prostration signifies placing one’s forehead on the ground in servitude, acknowledging one’s incapacity and submission before God, confessing that He is the cause and source of all goodness and the granter of every success. The phrase Al-‘Afw (O Pardoner) in prostration declares this content.

Entering prostration differs from other devotional movements like standing or bowing; prostration is the highest form of divine salutation and the ultimate position of servitude. Prostration need not be within prayer and can be performed independently.

Persistent prostration grants the individual a guardian and protector.

Prostration removes residues, pride, arrogance, base desires, and egotism. At times, prostration may allow one to see or perceive something, or it may reveal something in a dream or vision.

Prostration has such power in elevating dhikr that it can transform certain invocations into master keys. Indeed, prostration itself, by pressing the forehead to the ground, is a master key unlocking any barrier. One can place their head in prostration without saying anything and achieve the effects of master-key dhikrs.

In prostration, one may say Subhanallah once and, a minute later, recite another. If a single Subhanallah in prostration—itself a master key—can bring light upon light, five Astaghfirullah in prostration surpass a thousand in qunut, or three Subhanallah in prostration are superior to thirty in bowing. The act of prostration itself sanctifies, fosters intimacy, brings proximity, and leads to attainment.

Through prostration, one reaches a state where they find nothing but God. Even if there is a desire, it ceases to exist, and one seeks nothing but God, though even toward God, they relinquish ambition. In this station, prostration is solely for God. If Iblis, who refused to prostrate to Adam, had justified his rebellion by saying he prostrates only to God instead of self-superiority, it could have been said he manifested a degree of monotheism and servitude, though his disobedience and rebellion remain.

Among the most exalted dhikrs to recite in prostration, ideally intertwined with it, is: Subhanallah, walhamdulillah, wala ilaha illallah, wallahu akbar (Glory be to God, praise be to God, there is no god but God, and God is greater). Neglecting this dhikr leads to estrangement from God. Base desires and negative inclinations cannot be restrained or managed without meaningful self-care in the system of dhikr and spiritual nourishment consumption. Just as lemon juice or vinegar dissolves fatty food residues, prostration clears inner residues. Without daily prostration, whether in prayer or independently, these residues cannot be removed.

The prostration of gratitude, one form of prostration, is among the finest spiritual nourishments, rendering the believer inwardly invincible.

Follow-Up of Contemplation

Humans possess innate and a priori teachings in their subconscious, forgotten when immersed in the material world’s pleasures, multiplicities, chaos, and problems. These teachings can be recalled by freeing the mind, emptying thought of multiplicities, silencing the mind, and purifying the inner self from distress, impurities, resentment, and malice through ascetic practices that grant the power of solitude and retreat. This process is akin to remembering a dream seen years ago, restoring awareness and returning to one’s monotheistic nature and divine love.

To recover these teachings and innate talents, one must reflect and recall their past. The best time for contemplation is after prayer.

It is advisable to sit on the prayer rug for a while, striving to empty the faculty of comprehension and thought of all ideas, controlling the mind’s inputs and outputs to retrieve trained skills from the subconscious to the conscious.

Monotheism and religiosity are existential and innate truths, not conventional or arbitrary. Religion refers to this authentic, deep-rooted knowledge embedded in the core of chosen individuals for religiosity. Thus, guiding humans means awakening them from heedlessness and directing them to their innate nature and essence.

The religious nature plays a predisposing role for God-consciousness and monotheism, not a definitive, inevitable cause. If this predisposition encounters obstacles like oppression, falsehood, hedonism, improper upbringing, tyranny, ignorance, or greed, it may remain unmanifested, lying dormant and inactive within.

Quranic Dhikrs

Dhikr can be Quranic. In the past, particularly among merchants, businesses commenced with the recitation of Quranic verses, and customers waited respectfully during the recitation.

Besides general and short dhikrs, certain verses are considered dhikrs, though they may be lengthy and complex. The Infallible Imams recommended their persistent recitation. Failing to engage appropriately with them daily causes knots and afflictions in life and increases bodily susceptibility to diseases. Tyranny, oppression, and improper bodily and psychological inclinations cannot be restrained or managed without dhikr consumption.

Some dhikrs in this category include:

1. Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim (In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful).

Bismillah is a complete dhikr. It can provide strength, fortitude, insight, problem resolution, and groundwork for future endeavors. Bismillah strengthens the soul, energizes, and resolves inner knots and constrictions, particularly polytheism, hypocrisy, disbelief, and malice.

It can be recited independently in prostration or qunut during prayer, or in prostration outside prayer, up to ten or twenty times.

This dhikr should not be considered solely in relation to a specific surah.

2. La Ilaha Illallah (There is no god but God).

Tahlil is the best dhikr for divine proximity and liberation from polytheism, hypocrisy, and pretense. If bismillah is an opener, tahlil purifies from polytheism, hypocrisy, and disbelief. Tahlil distances oppression and tyranny from the individual, acting as a liberating and purifying force, cleansing, clarifying, purifying, and sweetening the inner self. Tahlil is essential for purity and human health, effective in dispelling harmful delusions, destructive thoughts, and doubt.

Before persistent recitation of tahlil, one should practice short, verbal general dhikrs to prepare for the heavy dhikr of tahlil, lest it become perilous. If recited in controlled conditions, its physical effects can be observed.

This dhikr can be recited with or without Ya. When used with Ya, as Ya La Ilaha Illallah, the vocative Ya is integral to the structure and foundation of the name. As this dhikr is heavy, it should initially be recited with Ya.

Tahlil is a general dhikr, not exclusive to the elite. The narration “Say La Ilaha Illallah and you will prosper” confirms this. This universal dhikr is a fundamental and perpetual human need, necessitating its general use. Though heavy due to its inner significance, its consumption is essential.

The dhikr of La Ilaha Illallah clears inner residues and issues. If not recited daily, one is likely to succumb to delusions or residues causing negative feelings or faith-related problems.

This dhikr is monotheistic and purifying, not concerned with worldly prosperity, unlike bismillah, which facilitates worldly endeavors.

Persistent verbal recitation of tahlil can incline a disbeliever toward faith. One lacking tahlil is devoid of inner essence and lifeless.

Tahlil is unsuitable for those with obsessive tendencies, as it may exacerbate their condition.

3. SubhanAllah (Glory be to God).

Tasbih is an essential dhikr. It can be recited as Subbuh Quddus, which, if performed intentionally, removes all inner impurities. These two tasbih dhikrs can be recited in qunut or prostration during prayer or in prostration outside it. Tasbih is akin to istighfar in purifying the inner self, with the distinction that it lacks any trace of egotism or self-centeredness.

4. Tasbihat of Lady Fatimah (peace be upon her).

Among the exalted canonical dhikrs, highly emphasized and the heaviest in terms of recommended frequency and content, are the tasbihat of Lady Fatimah Zahra. Here, the quantity and count of the dhikr reflect its quality and high caliber.

This dhikr is recited after adhan, iqama, and prayer as a follow-up practice, when the soul has gained immense strength from high-quality, intentional worship.

5. The Fourfold Tasbihat.

Among the finest dhikrs is the fourfold tasbihat. A traveler who does not recite it in shortened prayers should recite it in the second prostration of the second rak‘ah and not neglect it.

6. Huwa Allah (He is God).

Some dhikrs are secret (khafi), to be recited inwardly with the inner tongue. The dhikrs Huwa, Allah, and Huwa Allah must be secret.

The dhikr Allah is initially recited with Ya, then without. An inner self attuned with Ya Allah or Huwa, and a soul internalized with it, will recite this dhikr in life and death. Such a person faces no questioning or terror in the grave, as no angel asks, “Who is your Lord?” because they were already reciting the dhikr of the Beloved of their soul.

Huwa and Allah, without the vocative Ya, are master keys among dhikrs, unlocking any barrier and opening any closed door. With years of persistence, these dhikrs connect the human inner self to the divine system of revelation, opening the gates of the unseen and descending revelation.

If, through persistent recitation, the guardian of these dhikrs becomes active for the practitioner, any obstacle or sabotage by malevolent forces is deflected by this guardian as a protective shield, not affecting the practitioner. Even if the practitioner falls, they do not reach the ground, as the guardian catches and protects them beforehand. Depending on the quality of dhikr practice, these secret dhikrs must be recited for several years to activate their guardians and provide protection.

Through meaningful self-care, one can benefit from various guardians in the complex and collision-prone material world.

The Divine Names (Asma al-Husna)

The knowledge of the divine names is a unique and comprehensive path to knowing God. The essence of God has no determination or designation and is inconceivable or graspable by concepts, but attaining Him is possible through His divine names. The divine names are the pathway to God. Intimacy and sincere engagement with these names can bring proximity, vision, contemplation, meeting, and ultimate attainment.

One who knows God through all His names reaches the station of peace, becoming a source of peace for themselves and all phenomena. They have no hypocrisy or concealment and attain the name ‘Alim (the All-Knowing) of God. Such a person cannot rebel and does not neglect God’s majestic and wrathful names. They are neither despairing, reckless, nor fearful but maintain balance in awe and hope. They see God’s hand everywhere and find no place devoid of the governance of divine names. They witness both God’s wrath, saying to some, “Be gone therein and speak not to Me” (Al-Mu’minun, 108), and His all-encompassing compassion, such that no place is empty of Him or requires proof.

Likewise, one who knows the divine names understands the compatibility of phenomena’s names, their specific rulings, and effects.

God grants this knowledge to His chosen ones according to their capacity and manifestation, enabling their attainment of that realm.

The divine names are objective realities. Here, “name” refers to the reality denoted, with the title reflecting its conceptual aspect. The significance of the name and concept lies in its referential connection to the denoted reality. The true existence and denoted reality of the names is God.

Only God’s existence, possessing essence, can have names that are essential, real, and without the slightest deficiency. Only God has true and essential names, and only He is free of any imperfection. If a name is applied to a phenomenon, it is solely by virtue of being a manifestation. No phenomenon has an essence, independence, or reality separate from God. Thus, a “name” entails an essential consideration, denoting an essence intertwined with attributes, whereas an attribute merely conveys attachment, relation, or a characteristic without essential consideration. However, the station of essence is indeterminate. In their manifesting role, names are God’s attributes, and in their manifested role, they are attributes of phenomena. A name is not confined to verbal denotation; every determination and phenomenon, in any capacity, is a name.

God’s attributes, by virtue of denoting God’s reality, are called “names.” Thus, anything that denotes God is His name.

Intimacy and proximity with the reality of names are the constitutive elements of learning the divine names. The reality and essence of each name are attainable through friendship, intimacy, proximity, gnosis, maintaining name compatibility, and reciting the conceptually denotative but reality-referring name suitable to the practitioner’s character intentionally. The divine names are love-infused realities that bond with their loyal friend, allowing one to visit their intimate companion in dreams or wakefulness, converse with them, hear their voice, and become their confidant.

The knowledge of the divine names is a bestowed and granted science to God’s special saints, which can be formalized and taught. This heavy and complex science is a prerequisite for entering critical divine and guardianship sciences such as the science of guardianship, exegesis, divination, occult sciences, magic, miracles, and interpretation. Mastery of the divine names enables the bestowed opening of the gate of guardianship, without which this science remains arduous and unestablished.

In the knowledge of the divine names, the meaning of each name, the method of achieving proximity and intimacy with names, and the effects and consequences of using them as dhikr—especially their therapeutic and medicinal properties—are discussed. These are highly significant, as even the slightest improper use can be dangerous and harmful.

The divine names have therapeutic properties in the material world, acting as healers, and possess keys to the unseen in metaphysical and divine realms.

Every science is governed by a specific name. Entering various sciences without regard for the governing names makes learning them difficult and protracted, lacking compatibility and success. Persistent engagement and intimacy with names can lead one to receive a guardian and strength from them, aiding in suitable tasks.

Every phenomenon in creation, through a simple divine act, embodies the divine names, and a phenomenon is nothing but the reality of those names. Thus, every phenomenon is a pathway to the divine names and God, just as one can access that realm through their inner self and become intimate with it. Intimacy with any phenomenon grants purity, strength up to the level of miracles, and a path to its names. Passionate presence with the Holy Quran, the book of gnosis, and the inherently beloved saints, who are the true possessors of guardianship, can lead one to God.

The Governance of Names

God possesses absolute totality, and His totality necessitates that one name encompasses all names and God Himself. Thus, God is indivisible, but His heavy totality divides names into governing and governed, granting “governance” to one over another. In the governance of names, while all divine names are complete without deficiency, the most complete names govern the complete ones. A name’s completeness compared to a most complete name does not entail deficiency.

The governance of names differs from the reality of names, their denoted essence, and the indeterminate station of essence. The reality of names is identical to the essence and singular, but their governance varies, with each name having a unique function and effect based on its governance.

Names and attributes, in the station of unity, are identical to the essence. All attributes are identical to the divine essence, its manifestations, and governance of one over another exists only in manifestation, not in the station of essence. In this station, no name is delegated to another, and no intermediary exists with the essence; all names are identical to it. However, in manifestation, divine names assume high, intermediate, and low ranks, voluntary and involuntary, beautiful and majestic, with differing governances.

All names have manifestations and governance, and neither the manifestation nor governance of any name, at the level of attributes or action and emanation, perishes or expires; they are eternal and everlasting. The divine names and their manifestations, even their material manifestations, are necessary, objective, essential, universal, permanent, eternal, and perpetual. No manifester or manifestation perishes. The process of manifestation is fixed with God, and all manifestations are necessary to the divine names and essence. This is God’s essential and perpetual preservation.

Divine names do not manifest or function independently; in God’s essence, they are one reality and identical to the essence. Thus, all names collectively manifest a phenomenon, but each establishes a distinct governance for each phenomenon in manifestation, with one name prevailing, creating differences for non-beloved ones in an existential system while preserving will and choice.

The “absoluteness” and “restriction” of names determine their “governance,” specifying which names a name governs. Names with governance limit the reality and effects of subordinate names.

For beginners and intermediates in spiritual wayfaring, names with limited governance are recommended as dhikr. A skilled mentor never prescribes the comprehensive and complete name Allah, which denotes the station of essence, for a beginner but guides them toward names with limited governance.

While every phenomenon has the potential to become anything, the prevailing potential of manifestations varies according to the governance of names.

Prevailing potential, based on environment, rank, proximity, or distance in becoming and transforming into what suits them, is existential. The dominant potential in a phenomenon indicates the dominance of a name’s governance.

No phenomenon is alien; wherever it turns, it faces God’s countenance. Every phenomenon loves its manifester, and every name governs its manifestation, with manifester and manifestation perpetually engaged in a governing relationship, all stemming from God, who alone orchestrates the arenas: “All is from God” (An-Nisa, 78).

Rabb (Lord) is among the Quran’s multiplicative names, used in 970 instances. This frequent usage continually reminds the servant of God’s lordship and that He is their Lord, preventing feelings of loneliness, alienation, weakness, or despair, and protecting against sorrow, instability, or hopelessness. Rabb, with an atmosphere of inclination, attraction, freedom, and choice, oversees the servant and loves them, making it the name of divine love and affection.

The Holy Quran employs the governance of the name of nurturing and guidance 970 times, urging each individual to heed their eternal destiny in this material journey by turning to their loving Lord and joining eternity through His attractions.

Discovering the Name Rabb

Among the divine names, the name Rabb and finding compatibility with one’s manifestational structure play the most significant role in an individual’s life. The name Rabb aligns with each person’s inner self, governing them in a free and attractive environment.

To discover the name Rabb and name compatibility, one can consult a skilled mentor specialized in the divine names or spend time in intimacy with the names, observing which name evokes affinity, attraction, and delight, stirring the heart.

One whose inner self aligns with majestic names excels in military or disciplinary roles, finding joy and vitality from intimacy with a name like Jabbar (the Compeller). One with a gentle and soft inner self delights in intimacy with Latif (the Subtle).

The name Rabb may align with the manifested name chosen for a phenomenon in the material world or differ due to a lack of scientific culture.

The name Rabb is the name through which a phenomenon holds its manifestational reality and specific ruling, becoming a manifestation of a divine name with a foundational and unique essence.

Meanings and Effects of Dhikrs

The meanings and effects of some divine names, based on personal experience, are presented below.

Name: Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim – Sublime initiator – Dhikr of commencement, protective, energizing.

Name: Allah – All essence and perfection – Gathers and absolves names, annihilating.

Name: Allahumma Ya Allah – Swift and certain resolver of problems.

Name: Ilah – Beloved, universal object of worship – Binds and frees the tongue.

Name: La Ilaha Illallah – True collective dhikr, all truth – Dispels polytheism, brings proximity and annihilation.

Name: Ar-Rahman – Supreme authority and universal mercy – Empowers, satiates the soul.

Name: Ar-Rahim – Stability in specific mercy – Dispels stress, brings stability and dignity.

Name: Ahad – Unique – Alleviates terror, fear, and preoccupation.

Name: Wahid – One – Purifies, dispels hypocrisy, resentment, and doubt.

Name: As-Samad – Great, steadfast, revered – Swiftly fulfills requests.

Name: Surah Al-Ikhlas – Unity of God – Protective fortress, empowering.

Name: Al-Hayy – Pervading existence – Strengthens the heart.

Name: Al-Qayyum – Self-subsisting essence, sustainer – Heals, grants access to the unseen.

Name: Al-Awwal – First – Uplifting, purifying, result-yielding.

Name: Al-Akhir – Last – Concludes matters, repels malevolent forces.

Name: Az-Zahir – Manifest – Reveals lost or hidden things.

Name: Al-Batin – Hidden – Expands and broadens the heart.

Name: ‘Alim – Revealer, illuminator – Additional applications, certainty-inducing.

Name: Al-‘Alim – More stable revealer – Vision-inducing.

Name: ‘Allam al-Ghuyub – Knower of hidden realities – Purifies, fosters spirituality.

Name: Al-Mu‘allim – Revealer – Inspires.

Name: As-Sami‘ – Constant hearer – Fosters solitude and engagement.

Name: Al-Basir – Constant seer – Grants detailed awareness.

Name: Al-Latif – Subtlety, precision, finesse – Strengthens and nourishes the heart, fosters gnosis.

Name: Al-Khabir – Definitive knower of details – Awareness of thoughts and the future.

Name: Shahid – Direct, objective witness – Recognizes specific effects of phenomena.

Name: Shuhud – Objective witnesses – Aligns opponents.

Name: Ash-Shahid – Collective, objective witness – Dispels anxiety.

Name: Mashhud – Witnessed – Transforms psychological states.

Name: An-Nazir – Precise, profound observer – Prevents sin.

Name: Ar-Ra’i – Absolute seer – Resolves doctrinal issues.

Intimacy with Manifestations: The Path to Knowing Names

The simplest way to know a name is through intimacy with its manifestation. Contemplating and loving a manifestation opens the path to its manifester. Given the totality of names and God, and the totality of His manifestation, everything exists within everything else. From a single particle or phenomenon, one can find all infinite particles and phenomena, traversing from a mosquito to an elephant, from an elephant to a fly, seeing the Kaaba as a stone and a stone as the Kaaba, without the slightest difference, flaw, weakness, or deficiency: “You see no discrepancy in the creation of the Merciful. So look again: do you see any flaw?” (Al-Mulk, 3).

Manifestations of names also have governance, and each manifestation is ranked according to its scope in manifesting names. Some, like the inherently beloved saints, are collective manifestations of the divine names, as Imam Hasan Askari (peace be upon him) said: “By God, we are the divine names.” Others manifest God’s beauty or majesty, from one to several names, depending on their manifestational scope.

This narration means that the inherently beloved saints are manifestations of God’s essential names, possessing collective manifestational perfection and the greatest manifested name, not the manifesting names identical to God’s essence.

The criterion for recognizing a phenomenon’s perfection and proximity is comparing its attributes to God’s names and attributes. If a phenomenon has an attribute present in God, it possesses perfection, goodness, and a degree of proximity. If it has an attribute absent in God, it suffers decline, estrangement, and affliction with deficiency and evil. The goodness and evil of each individual are measured by this criterion.

Absolute perfection belongs solely to God, so no individual is purely good or absolutely white, prohibiting idolatry. Since absolute evil cannot manifest, no phenomenon is absolutely rejected or black, prohibiting absolute negativity.

Since trust in individuals must align with their perfections, one cannot fully trust a phenomenon that is not purely good and from which evil may arise. Relationships must be regulated based on their perfections, with necessary measures for information protection and discretion, provided they do not conflict with inner purity. The principle of withholding absolute trust from everyone—friends, family, spouses, children, or others—is a governing principle of life.

Mastery and dominance in recognizing the governing name of an individual reveals their talent. Recognizing talent protects one from aimlessness and wandering, particularly in securing stable employment, satisfaction, and joy in life.

To utilize some effects of the leading names, one must use governed names under their authority, as the leading name alone may not achieve the intended effect. The effect and governance are realized through subordinate names under its command. For example, one may not attain desired provision with Ya Rahman alone, but combining it with Razzaq or Raziq, governed by Rahman, may yield provision. Similarly, combining Badi‘ with Rahman may enable clear, informative dreams.