Sayings of Sidi Hamza on knowledge and the initiatic method

By Sidi Hamza al-Qâdirî Bûtshîsh · December 12, 2021 · 4 min read

A collection of sayings by Sidi Hamza, may God sanctify his secret, on spiritual knowledge, the opening and the initiatic method.

Nothing is outside God. He envelops everything. This can only be contemplated after spiritual realisation. That realisation is a gift; it is given by God. In this domain, the exoteric sciences are of no use. A scholar of the exoteric sciences is in the habit of measuring everything, evaluating everything, weighing everything. He who dwells beyond this approach no longer asks himself such questions.
The spiritual opening (al-fath) is the sudden unveiling of the divine Reality, and thus the end of illusion. It is like a snowball thrown into the ocean. In this image, the snowball represents the ego (nafs) and the ocean the divine Reality (al-Haqq). The snowball is nothing other than frozen water. Once thrown into the ocean, it becomes liquid again. The ego has only an ephemeral and illusory existence if considered in itself, cut off from its origin. The same holds for the snowball: if one goes by its present state, its momentary consistency, it seems different from water, it appears to be of an original nature. In truth it is nothing other than water, a drop like all the other drops of the ocean. There is in reality but one water, and different states of that same water.
There is no other reality than the divine Reality (la ilaha illa Allah).
He who has come to perceive unity sees only Him. He realises that all the customary forms, the human forms themselves, are nothing but illusion.
Understanding is not acquired in books. It would be too easy to stoop and gather up all the books dealing with Sufism in order to acquire it. True knowledge will come to you from within, from your heart. Only the heart is able to perceive the Reality. It understands that nothing is outside God.
Wisdom lies in the heart: he who wants water in his well must dig; the more he digs, the more abundant the water; if he stops digging, the water never rises above the initial level. He who digs this well must not believe that the water has reached its maximum level; he must go on digging, for the well has no limit.
There exists only the Light. The ego (nafs) has an outer envelope that prevents this Light from being perceived. The ordinary man does not perceive this Light; he sees only darkness. But when that envelope has burst, the Light within the heart mingles with the Light of God, and one sees only that divine Light: ‘Wherever you turn, there is the face of God!’ (Qur’an). The world is like an ephemeral shadow. Just as, when the sun rises over an object, a shadow appears for a moment, then that shadow dissolves.
The knowers of God have no shadow, in truth. Only still-unconscious men perceive them as beings endowed with a shadow. It is in this sense that one must understand what was reported of the Prophet Muhammad: that he never cast a shadow.
He who tries to find a path through the writings of Ibn ’Arabi or the other Sufi masters of the past would only be following the hem of their ‘djellaba’. He will remain on the surface of things. Methods vary with the conditions of the ages. Each method is adapted to the era in which it is inscribed. Only a living master holds the keys to initiatic progression suited to his time.
When one reads the Prophet’s biography, one is struck by the likeness between the nature of the bonds uniting him to his companions and that of the bonds between master and disciple that we live today in the path. In truth, it is one and the same teaching, prolonged.
The wayfaring must be gradual, lest the disciple become arrogant.
Each person clings to the qualities proper to himself: the scholar believes himself superior to everyone by his learning; the rich man draws his glory from his wealth, and so they remain with their sickness. Only spiritual education can help them free themselves from it.
‘The knowledge of God has no end. For him who knows God, each stage is more beautiful and more marvellous than the last.’
‘Do not desire the ahwal (spiritual states), the opening (al-fath), visions and the like. Desire only the knowledge of God. The desire for ahwal and visions may veil you from that knowledge.’
‘When you die, everything will pass, except your knowledge of God and your works.’

Sayings of Sidi Hamza on knowledge and the initiatic method

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