Sufi Way

A decade later I met Lex Hixon, also known as Sheikh Nur al Jerrahi, at a spaghetti dinner in Boulder, Colorado and took hand as a dervish in the Ashki Jerrahi Sufi order. Under Nur’s guidance, mypractice of Dhikr began. Remembrance makes people desire   Dhikr means remembrance, and is a process of remembering Allah through his ninety-nine beautiful names. There are two ways of practicingremembrance, the audible Dhikr which is done in community and the silent Dhikr which each dervish practices at home, using a tespe, Islamic prayer beads. Communal Dhikr often involves movement in a circle,accompanied by drumming and song. It is a collective experience of ecstatic devotion. Courageous dervish dancers whirl   Typically dervishes meet weekly for communal Dhikr, while silent remembrance isa daily practice. Formal silent Dhikr involves recitation of la ilaha illallah, ‘nothing exists apart from Allah.’ This recitation helps establish the dervish in unity consciousness. Along with thiscentral divine name, each aspirant recites specific names as guided by their Sheikh. One pronounced effect of Dhikr practice that I experienced over several years was an outpouring of mystic dreams,as well as an enhanced ability to interpret the spiritual dreams of others. The Sheikh or Sheikha uses the dreams of the dervishes to guide them to the divine names that are most suitable for them torecite for their spiritual development. Formal recitation is just the beginning of the path of remembrance. Gradually remembrance enters deeper levels of the seeker’s soul, heart and innermost heart.Divine remembrance becomes a permanent state, even when the aspirant is asleep. My eyes are asleep yet my heart is awake, never asleep, as the Prophet, peace upon him, said. Gradually a dervish comesto see that love alone exists and is all in all. This is unity consciousness. The following poem expresses my experience of oneness in love through the path of remembrance. To whom shall I prostrate?...