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'Le souvenir de l'être profond' by Faouzi Skali: a review

By Rédaction soufisme.org · February 10, 2023 · 8 min read

Contents

Faouzi Skali, éditions du Relié, 2012.

The book’s cover photo, a portrait of Sidi Hamza

This book gathers and synthesises talks given by Faouzi Skali between 1998 and 2005 at public events organised in France. It also includes a number of articles written for the journal Soufisme d’Orient et d’Occident. It is thus an approach to the Sufi tradition from several angles, usefully complementing a previous work by the author on the subject, Le face à face des cœurs, published in 2000 and then reissued in paperback. For whereas in Le face à face des cœurs Faouzi Skali set out the foundations of Sufism in fairly general terms, here he clarifies certain aspects closely bound up with the experience of this path in the particular context of contemporary society. The author shows how Sufism constitutes, still today, a living tradition, addressed to every seeker of truth and offering a spiritual teaching anchored in daily life. This teaching rests on no particular erudition, nor on a prior knowledge of the Arabic language, but is addressed to all those, men and women, who are in quest of the deep meaning of their existence. It acts directly on the disciple’s spiritual heart, which is gradually led to refine its perception of an inner presence, subtle and profoundly transforming.

Faouzi Skali is an active spokesman for a message of openness which forcefully demonstrates that Islam can foster the emergence of spaces of exchange as soon as it is approached in its spiritual dimension. For more than forty years he has indeed been a disciple of the Qadiriya Boutchichiya brotherhood and has received the teaching of living spiritual guides, Sidi Hamza then Sidi Jamal al-Qadiri Boutchich, in whose presence he regularly renews himself. This long experience of full participation in the most concrete specificities of the Sufi path gives Faouzi Skali a particular skill in illuminating the perspectives proper to all initiatory quest. If echoes of the great figures of the past can prove useful for better grasping certain issues proper to Sufism, it is nevertheless precious for today’s reader to have the testimony of a disciple who has himself plunged into the heart of a brotherhood and who knows perfectly the workings of contemporary society.

A spiral construction

The eleven chapters composing this work bring a particular light to bear on the quest for oneself through the medium of the Sufi tradition, and make it possible to sketch out a path leading the reader progressively towards an ever deeper and more subtle perception of what resides at the heart of the being. They are arranged so as to escape a rigorously thematic classification, favouring instead an alternation of angles of approach that allows an aspect to be revisited several times and thus apprehended more broadly. This constructive device, in which repetitions are not merely inevitable but sought after, can be compared to the repetitive practices performed by the Sufis during their invocation sessions, in which the same formula is recited a great number of times. If such repetition certainly appears monotonous and tedious from an outside point of view, it in fact allows the soul to be immersed in a presence which progressively opens the doors of self-awareness. The repetition is therefore only apparent, for it is above all a matter of fostering a process of deepening aimed at awakening the remembrance of the universal being which lies dormant in each one of us.

Beyond the chronology adopted, each chapter is designed to be self-contained and can therefore be read independently of the others, at the reader’s free choice. In matters of spirituality, each person’s dispositions and sensibility vary greatly and constitute a basic datum which must not be relativised. For such a work does not have as its prime aim to pad out the reader’s general culture and erudition: it seeks rather to make new spaces of meditation and questioning spring forth within him, capable of triggering awakenings of awareness at the deepest level. It is a question here above all of evoking what the Sufis call a “useful science”, that is, aspects of knowledge of which each one can take advantage in his personal quest, knowing that such a science is of an order so subtle that it infinitely surpasses the limitations inherent in the words used to try to describe it.

Four main axes

To situate more precisely the axes that Faouzi Skali has chosen to develop in this work, one could count four main themes which are so many anchor points for approaching a particularly vast subject:

The chapters entitled “What is Sufism?”, “Reviving faith” and “The question of meaning” illustrate the particular place Sufism occupies at the heart of the Muslim tradition. Far from being marginal within the Muslim world, the Sufi puts himself in the disposition of setting out to meet the most essential dimension of religion, the one which unveils the ultimate meaning of the mystery of creation and which procures, day by day, perceptions that partake of a true consciousness of self. This goal does not lie in a process of appropriating a knowledge in which one could glory, but resonates with a progressive divesting of the attributes of the ego until an unconditional state of inner surrender towards the divine purpose is reached. For a Sufi disciple, faith must be able to be fully incarnated in everyday acts and to be vivified by the subtle link which binds him to a spiritual guidance.

Practice and companionship

On the plane of spiritual practice, the supports of meditation include notably prayer, as the chapter “Prayer, an expression of gratitude” details, and the repetition of certain divine names or formulas, individually or collectively. The chapter “The fruits of invocation” shows the importance this practice takes on in the lived experience of the Sufi disciple: it accompanies him in his daily life and contributes to inner transformation through an effect of pacification of the heart. The disciple’s approach is part of an active process in which it is a matter of truly “plunging” into the heart of the teaching. This inner adventure can be pursued seriously and successfully whether in the East or the West, for the effects of globalisation have allowed an authentic dissemination of the paths on every continent, as the chapter “Commitment to the path” recalls. On the individual plane, progress along the Sufi path goes hand in hand with attention paid to the rightness of one’s own behaviour. Thus the chivalric ideal exalting the cardinal virtues of generosity and loyalty finds a powerful echo in the companionship proper to the Sufi brotherhoods. The chapter “The gift and uprightness” brings this echo into particular relief. In the end, the particularity of the Sufi approach finds its full accomplishment when it touches the universal: it is indeed a path of wisdom from which every man and every woman are led to leave the prison of the ego and to move towards the kingdom of the spirit, where unconditional freedom is tasted, intermittently at first, then permanently.

The spiritual guide

The Sufi path is generally not lived in a solitary fashion and requires the presence of a being who has already travelled the way to its end and who is designated by divine Providence to accompany the disciple. Such a being then embodies the function of spiritual guide and will help his disciple foil the many pitfalls strewn along the path. He is thus par excellence “the travelling companion”, provided vigilant attention is paid to each of his indications. This presence of the guide does not, however, substitute for the work the disciple must do upon himself: it is an intangible landmark and shows the direction to follow, as the chapter “The gate of Knowledge” evokes.

Faouzi Skali’s words touch a rare flavour when they restore, in the tone of personal testimony, the encounter with a spiritual guide of the present time, Sidi Hamza al-Qadiri Boutchich. The author confides to us that “the imprint of Sidi Hamza” is fully perceptible to the one who has chosen to journey under his guidance. That imprint is at once an irradiating light and a burning love which bring an unexpected dimension to life: all the events that occur are so many signs for advancing in the consciousness of self and for making grow the love one bears towards the whole of creation. It is indeed “in the presence of a living guide” that it becomes possible for a mere human being, weighed down by his own faults, to rise beyond his limitations by surrendering with his whole being to a call that comes from the deepest place. This call is in fact rather a reminder, for it is none other than the emergence of the remembrance of our true nature, which lay buried in the meanders of our soul and which only a plunge into the present instant allows us to reach. This nature is light. It is love. It is eternal life.

Further reading

Further reading