Sayings of Sidi Hamza on the wayfaring and the heart

By Sidi Hamza al-Qâdirî Bûtshîsh · July 12, 2022 · 4 min read

A collection of sayings by Sidi Hamza, may God sanctify his secret, on the spiritual wayfaring, the purification of the gaze and the vigilance of the heart.

On the day God wishes to bestow His graces on His servant, He makes a breath of love penetrate his heart. From then on, even though he remains caught up in the affairs of this lower world, the servant perpetually tastes the flavour of his Lord. The prophets, too, worked as we do, but their work did not dominate their heart, which remained firmly attached to God.
Fault and ugliness are not in things and beings, but in the impurity of our gaze upon them. The more serene, perfect and pure the soul is, the more disposed it will be to see in every being a manifestation of the divine light: all is beautiful; only the disciple’s unpolished heart renders things ugly.
The divine light circles around the disciple’s heart. For an aeroplane to land, the runway must be entirely clear. In the same way, if our heart is filled with desires or passions, the light will find no place to alight.
When a beekeeper sees a swarm of bees, he brings a box into which he puts sweet and fragrant things. When the bees smell this perfume, they enter the hive. If the bees love and appreciate the place prepared for them, they settle in it. Otherwise they will stay only a day or two and then be gone. The same occurs with the divine secret: if it finds the vessel of the heart clean and fragrant, it will dwell there durably and produce a divine honey.
Beware of mental understanding alone. There is a sensory mind and a luminous mind. The sensory mind has a limit. To go beyond it, one must work on oneself and keep the company of the men of God. God alone can transform the sensory mind into a luminous mind, a mind illumined by the light of the heart.
He who does not have a pure intention (niyya) will make no progress, even if he spends his whole life in the company of the Prophet (peace and blessings upon him).
This path is God’s path: avoid all hatred and every form of dissension; God does not visit a hateful heart. The conflicts between the different ethnic or religious communities belong to the past, and we must not be concerned with them.
Do not desire spiritual states, ecstasies, unveiling or visions! Desire only the knowledge of God. The desire for ahwal (spiritual states) and visions may veil us from that knowledge.
One must not point out the faults of others and let oneself be drawn into criticism and judgement. Otherwise one ends up forgetting one’s own faults. How could one sick man reproach another sick man for not being in good health? What is called for, then, is magnification. Look upon your brothers as perfect, for the simple reason that they are linked to the path. Little by little, you will come to see that the whole of divine creation is perfect. He who sees a fault in the other in fact sees only one of his own faults. Be the guardians of your heart and keep it clean and pure like a place of prayer!
Recognition and gratitude hold grace captive.
He who gives and says so is worse than he who has done nothing. Boasting amounts to annihilating all the fruits of the gift.
Do not seek the truth; seek first to purify yourselves.
Inner progress must spill over into outward behaviour.
The ego (nafs) often refuses what is imposed on it and then begins to emit suggestions to go further into what may satisfy it. The path has the opposite effect: when something draws us towards what is worldly, the path prevents us from answering that call. Within the path, one must avoid becoming stuck on this or that fixation, and it is better to let events unfold of themselves by the will of God, whilst remaining firmly anchored in one’s practices.
Each person must watch over their heart. Every suggestion must be rejected. One must reject what is unhealthy within oneself and try to open up to all the divine graces, to what is positive and furthers the wayfaring and the progress. But how are negative suggestions to be rejected? When you feel them coming, tell your ego that it is in the wrong, and that it is the one who bears all the faults, not the others: ‘It is I who am at fault. If I see the fault in the other, it is because it is in me; otherwise I would not have seen it!’

Sayings of Sidi Hamza on the wayfaring and the heart

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