Sayings of Sidi Hamza on the path and spiritual practices
A collection of sayings by Sidi Hamza, may God sanctify his secret, on the path and its spiritual practices.
- Our path is a path of the middle way.
- ‘The path is like a cow that feeds its disciples with milk.’
- ‘The dhikr is the food of the heart.’
- Provided it is practised regularly, the dhikr gradually makes desires and impure thoughts disappear. It is like animals that flee hunters and leave the places they haunt: when the hunters enter the forest and fire their guns, all the frightened animals run away at the sound of the shots, then return a little later in the day. But when the hunters come back every day, the animals end up leaving and moving elsewhere for good.
- Do not let negative suggestions enter your heart, or it will become impure, soiled, like a stable that is not kept clean. Try to keep your inner self clean and pure: the dhikr will bring out whatever impurity remains.
- Observing the prescriptions of the divine Law plays the same role as the wax of a stopper that keeps the liquid from spilling out of the bottle. A vessel may be filled with water, but if it is badly sealed, the liquid will escape; try as you may to fill it again, it cannot be kept. This image illustrates the situation of the disciple who practises dhikr but no longer applies the divine Law.
- Applying the prescriptions of Islam is constraining and difficult, but the dhikr makes it easy. The dhakir (the invoker) no longer feels the constraint of these prescriptions.
- It is important to work in this world below, for the divine Law requires that one provide for one’s family. It is also important to look after one’s family, one’s husband or wife, one’s children and, of course, to concentrate on the work of the path too (practising dhikr, showing a spirit of service…). You must therefore reconcile these three domains, which are the landmarks of your life, and little by little, thanks to the practice of dhikr, you will have the intuition of what should be done in each situation.
- Some of you find it hard to put themselves at the service of others, but if they make the effort to do so all the same, they will little by little free themselves from the bonds that fetter their soul.
- The two royal doors for reaching God are invocation (dhikr) and generosity.
- The happy man in this world is the one who is turned towards God and who invokes God. The dhakir is happy, for everything that happens to him is dictated by God; everything he does, he does in the name of God. And God does only good.
- We perceive the outside of things, but the inside is hidden and veiled from us. The body dwells in this world, but inwardness lies in another dimension, another kingdom. Access to that inwardness is the whole path.
- Invocation is the means by which the spiritual bond between master and disciple is established.
Further reading
- Sayings of Sidi Hamza on knowledge and the initiatic method
- Sayings of Sidi Hamza on love and humility
- What is dhikr?
