Zikirullah – Method , an excerpt

 

Tasbih Dhikr Meditations
In Islam the main practice of tafakkur is through recitation of the divine Names, dhikrullah, because the Names are the qualities and ‘energies’ of Allah. It is a proof of Allah’s love to us that they are revealed and known, for one only shares oneself with one’s beloved. Each Name is a light and a power streaming from the Source of Reality. By lovingly repeating them we merge with their light and are returned and dissolved into our Source. We should learn all of the Names and feel them flowing through our hearts. The recitations of Holy Quran and the Litanies are in themselves forms of contemplation for they consist entirely of the Beautiful Names.
Among the Names most recommended to recite are La ilaha ilallah Muhammad rasulallah, Allah, Hu, Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim, Subhanallah, Alhamdulillah, and Allahu Akbar, the Names given in one’s personal tasbih, and the names and phrases in the litanies.
La ilaha ilallah is the sword of light which cuts through illusion, clearing the ‘courtyard of the heart’ from all obstruction so that the light of the heart shines forth. This clearing restores the heart to its original station of Truth, and love is released from its bondage to the world and finds its true home in Allah. Our eye is healed so that we see with the divine eye and we are naturally and spontaneously in constant divine presence.
Allah is the Name of power (Ismi Jalal). Through reciting this name we increase our longing and burning for Allah, and it is to the degree that we long that we are answered. In reality, our longing is Allah’s longing and our calling is Allah’s calling. This mutual longing is the fire that becomes the light that reveals the face of Allah as our own essential face. We call on Allah knowing that Allah is nearer to us than our own life breath. Allah is the source and matrix of our existence, the unity of our being, the embrace of all that we are, the fulfillment of all desire. In calling Allah’s name we reach our true self.
Hu is the name of Essence beyond all the Names. It exists before the Names and after them, it exists as the essence of all, and beyond all. Hu is the divine merciful breath which contains in Itself all forms and all beings of the entire creation, while Itself remains uncontainable and ungraspable. Hu also has the meaning ‘He’, and for the Sufis this is a very intimate name. This ‘He’ is not a gender indication but calls on the One Who is adored. Therefore Hu combines both intimacy and inconceivability, what cannot be reached by the intellect. Only the heart can know Hu. In reciting this name one is very quickly brought to a state of blessed bewilderment in which mind and body dissolve and one merges into the divine breath. This state is a beautiful taste of tafakur.
Following are two different forms of meditative tasbih:
Shaykh Nur recommended beginning with the recitation of La ilaha ilallah, Allah, or Hu in an audible voice, then lowering the invocation to a whisper, then bringing it into the heart so that it is outwardly inaudible but inwardly heard. In the final step, leave the name and go into the open space beyond the name. Remain there for the time you desire, or until thoughts begin stirring. It could be a moment or a prolonged time. Then return to the name, at first silent in the heart, and then audible on the tongue. Continue this cycle, going into silence and open space and then out again for a set number of repetitions. As long as you recite the name, use the tasbih to count so that you offer one of the recommended nubers: 11, 33, 100, 165, or 500.
Repeat the name at a very rapid pace, then gradually reduce the tempo until the repetition entirely ceases and one remains suspended in a state of radiance.
Breath Meditations
An immediate way to awaken your heart is to focus on the breath. Allah Who creates what He wills has joined the heart and lungs together in the breast. The path of breath leads to the heart. With each in-breath and out-breath gratitude arises naturally in the heart, and the breath reveals itself as pure praise of Allah. In the realm of the body the breath has the place of Spirit, the Ruh which brings holy inspiration to the heart. When we offer breath meditation we can do so simply by following the breath in and out, or we can join it with a divine name. Remember that the out-breath is always approximately twice as long as the in-breath.
A special way of meditatiing on La ilaha ilallah is to inhale on La ilaha and exhale on ilallah, or inversely inhale on ilallah and exhale on La ilaha.”
Another tasbih of breath is practiced with the name Allah. Inhale on the A and and exhale on the -llah. Both are silent. You may visualize a luminous Arabic letter Alif* entering your heart as you inhale. With the inbreath you draw in Allah’s love. With the outbreath you extend this love to all beings.
Another meditation is to sit in tranquility, relax the mind and drop into the depth of your heart. Allow the Names to flow into this open space. Follow the Name which enters and repeat it in the heart, or let it repeat itself, until another comes in, so that there is a flow and succession of Names each calling out itself.

 

Taken from: SUFI