{"id":4748,"date":"2014-02-03T15:34:10","date_gmt":"2014-02-03T15:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.monamagick.com\/media\/?page_id=4748"},"modified":"2014-06-02T01:09:49","modified_gmt":"2014-06-02T01:09:49","slug":"the-fatimiya-sufi-order","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.monamagick.com\/media\/the-fatimiya-sufi-order\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fatimiya Sufi Order"},"content":{"rendered":"

> Media > Up Close Interviews<\/span>
\n<\/a><\/strong>
\nAn interview with\u00a0N. Wahid Azal<\/b><\/span>
\n<\/strong>Founder and present Grand Shaykh of the\u00a0F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya Suf\u012b Order<\/b>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Sufism is generally understood to be the inner, mystical dimension of Islam.\u00a0\u00a0A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as \u2018Sufi\u2019, though some adherents of the tradition reserve this term only for those practitioners who have attained the goals of the Sufi tradition. In my interview with Grand Shaykh N. Wahid Azal, Founder of the F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya\u00a0Sufi Order which synchronously weds the central currents of High Shi\u2019te Islamicate gnosis, esotericism, Kabbalah, and Shamanism, N. Wahid Azal shares knowledge on many topics ranging from Islamic Occultism, the Zoroastrian sacrament known as Hoama, esoteric Shi’a Islam, the Babi\/Bayani Faith, etc. Here you will find a preview and reference to the upcoming video with myself and Shaykh N. Wahid Azal.<\/p>\n

\"N.<\/a>
N. Wahid Azal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Born in Iran N. Wahid Azal is a Sh\u012b\u02bfi S\u016bf\u012b Muslim-Bay\u0101n\u012b, white occultist, independent scholar, cultural commentator, political critic, activist, and an unabashed supporter of BRICS<\/b> multipolarism.<\/p>\n

BAs (UNM, 1994), MA (NELC, UCLA, 1997), LLB (QUT, 2003). N. Wahid Azal is the\u00a0also the founder and present Grand Shaykh of the\u00a0F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya Suf\u012b Order<\/b>.<\/p>\n

Below is a preview interview and reference to the upcoming video with myself and Grand Shaykh N. Wahid Azal:<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

What exactly is the F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b Order, and how does it position itself within Islam?<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In the Name of God the Compassionate, the Merciful!<\/em>
\nPraise be to God, the Lord of all the Worlds! And salutations and blessings be upon Mu\u1e25ammad and His Pure Household! Am\u012bn.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b Order is a Bay\u0101n\u012b (i.e. Azal\u012b B\u0101b\u012b), Neo-Illuminationist (ishr\u0101q\u012b) and Pan-Sh\u012b\u02bfite Islamic S\u016bf\u012b Order. We are devoted to F\u0101\u1e6dima Zahr\u0101\u2019 (upon Her be peace, salutations\u00a0<\/span>and Light), the daughter of the Prophet Mu\u1e25ammad (peace be upon Him), who is\u00a0<\/span>considered by us to be the qu\u1e6db (mystical pole) of our order, i.e. its inner and supreme head.\u00a0<\/span>However F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya and F\u0101\u1e6dima do not just refer to the historical F\u0101\u1e6dima Zahr\u0101\u2019 (upon Her be\u00a0<\/span>the Light of lights) who died a martyrs death in 633 CE. It also refers to the 19th century\u00a0<\/span>Iranian mystic, poet, proto-feminist, B\u0101b\u012b leader and Letter of the Living, F\u0101\u1e6dima Umm\u00a0<\/span>Salma Zar\u012bn T\u0101j Baragh\u0101n\u012b Qazv\u012bn\u012b (d. 1852), known to posterity as \u1e6c\u0101hirih Qurra\u2019tul-\u02bfAyn (the\u00a0<\/span>Pure Solace of the Eyes) (upon Her be Splendor). \u1e6c\u0101hirih Qurra\u2019tul-\u02bfAyn (upon Her be\u00a0<\/span>Laudation) was my ancestor and during Her life and spiritual career as a B\u0101b\u012b leader was\u00a0<\/span>deemed by the B\u0101b Himself (peace be upon Him) to be the \u2018return\u2019 of F\u0101\u1e6dima Zahr\u0101\u2019 (upon\u00a0<\/span>Her be glory). She also died a martyr\u2019s death.<\/span><\/p>\n

The F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b Order is thus a similar attempt as that accomplished by the\u00a0Bekt\u0101sh\u012b S\u016bf\u012b Order several centuries ago with Fa\u1e0dlall\u0101h Astar\u0101b\u0101d\u012b (aka N\u0101\u2019im\u012b) (d. 1395)\u00a0and his Hur\u016bf\u012b (lettrist) movement. Here, however, we claim the legacy of nineteenth\u00a0century B\u0101bism, that is, the Bay\u0101n\u012b gnostic faith (i.e. Azal\u012b B\u0101b\u012b); meaning, the primary\u00a0genealogical focus of our lineage is with Siyyid \u02bfAl\u012b Mu\u1e25ammad Sh\u012br\u0101z\u012b, the B\u0101b (d. 1850)\u00a0(upon Him be Resplendence) <see http:\/\/luvah.org\/pdf\/five\/journey-with-me-unto-the-divine-throne.pdf<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>>\u00a0and his legitimate successor M\u012brz\u0101 Ya\u1e25y\u0101 N\u016br\u012b \u1e62ub\u1e25-i-Azal (d. 1912)\u00a0(upon Him be Radiance). Like N\u0101\u2019im\u012b, the B\u0101b (upon Him be Laudation) is considered by the\u00a0mainstream of Islamic orthodoxy to be one of the foremost heresiarchs in Islamic history,\u00a0particularly given the fact that He claimed to have abrogated the exoteric dispensation of\u00a0Islam and to have been its messianic fulfilment, that is, the Twelfth and Hidden Im\u0101m (upon\u00a0Him be Light from Light to Light upon Light). Yet he was not the first to have done so in\u00a0Islamic history, and, moreover, most of His doctrines, teachings and writings are all as\u00a0sublime testimonies to the possibilities inherent within Sh\u012b\u02bfi Islamic spirituality, gnosis and\u00a0esotericism when taken to their ultimate conclusion \u2013 its apotheosis, as it were. As such,\u00a0whatever the issues of heterodoxy, the Bay\u0101n\u012b gnostic faith very much occupies all the\u00a0cultural, ideological, ideational, paradigmatic as well as practical spaces of Iranian Twelver\u00a0Sh\u012b\u02bfi Islam; and so, whatever the literalist dogmatists or heresy-mongers may hold\u00a0otherwise, we are re-claiming the rich spiritual legacy of the B\u0101b (upon Him be Radiance)\u00a0and His gnostic esoteric creed just as the Bekt\u0101sh\u012bs did with N\u0101\u2019im\u012b and Hur\u016bf\u012bsm several\u00a0centuries ago. Very few, at least officially, will these days dispute the orthodoxy \u2013 and, if\u00a0not the orthodoxy, at least the normativity \u2013 of the Bekt\u0101sh\u012bs within the larger context of\u00a0Sh\u012b\u02bfism. This is what we seek to eventually accomplish as well with the F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b Order\u00a0for B\u0101b\u012bsm.<\/p>\n

Given this, we hold ourselves as belonging to the greater constellation of what\u00a0historian Marshall Hodgson would have termed Persianate Islamicate. In other words, we are\u00a0Sh\u012b\u02bfite Muslims, but Sh\u012b\u02bfite Muslims with a twist. We venerate the Fourteen Infallibles \u2013 that\u00a0is, Mu\u1e25ammad, F\u0101\u1e6dima, \u02bfAl\u012b and the other eleven Im\u0101ms of their progeny (upon them be the\u00a0Light of lights) \u2013 not just as independent historical personalities but also as Cosmic Aeons\u00a0who symbolically together form the Pleroma of a singular Divine hypostasis; namely, the\u00a0celestial Hiero-Intelligence or (in Arabic) \u02bfaql: the Hiero-Intelligence (\u02bfaql) which is\u00a0considered to be the first emanation or divine outflowing of the essence of the transcendent\u00a0godhead in pre-eternity and also known as the Primal Will, the Universal Intellect, the\u00a0Mu\u1e25ammadan Reality, the conjoined pair Logos-Sophia, Adam Qadmon, Anthropos Telios, or\u00a0simply the Eternal Im\u0101m.<\/p>\n

I sometimes also describe us with the neologism post-Islamic. Yet, just as with the\u00a0relation of modernity to postmodernity, post-Islamic does not necessarily mean \u2018beyond Islam\u2019\u00a0or that we are in any way rejecting the integrality of the Islamic Tradition. Heaven forbid!\u00a0Quite the contrary. We are very much an intrinsic part of the greater Islamic Tradition and\u00a0are very much Sh\u012b\u02bfi and Muslim. A study and investigation of the writings of the 20th\u00a0century French Iranologist and Islamologist Henry Corbin (d. 1978) \u2013 whom we all consider\u00a0to be a spiritual Master in his own right, and whose deep philosophical insights into the\u00a0universe of esoteric spirituality guides us as well \u2013 will offer a better gauge regarding this\u00a0typological neologism \u2018post-Islamic\u2019 and what it entails. Some brief comments by me in a\u00a0recently published journal article on the central Bay\u0101n\u012b figure \u1e62ub\u1e25-i-Azal (d. 1912) (upon\u00a0Him be Magnification) <http:\/\/luvah.org\/pdf\/four\/invoking-the-seven-worlds.pdf<\/a>> will\u00a0also shed light on the meaning of post-Islamic.<\/p>\n

All that said, let me reiterate and underscore the point one more time, when all is\u00a0said and done, we are Sh\u012b\u02bfi Muslims. We hold this Tradition to be sacred and venerate its\u00a0central figures as our own. The struggles and aspirations of Sh\u012b\u02bfi Muslims everywhere are\u00a0our own struggles and aspirations. What is dear and sacred to them, is dear and sacred to us\u00a0as well. We are their immediate spiritual family and they are ours. We simply reject the\u00a0U\u1e63\u016bl\u012b ecclesiastical establishment and its interpretations \u2013 as did many Sh\u012b\u02bfite gnostics,\u00a0esotericists and theosophers before us, such as Mull\u0101 \u1e62adr\u0101, Mu\u1e25sin Fay\u1e0d K\u0101sh\u0101n\u012b or Shaykh\u00a0A\u1e25mad al-A\u1e25s\u0101\u2019\u012b (who is a Master of our lineage) \u2013 and view certain matters differently.\u00a0Otherwise we are just like them and hold them dear as our fellow brethren in faith.<\/p>\n

You have quite an impressive background as a scholar, and your position within the\u00a0F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b Order is also well respected of course but as you are also vocal politically\u2026are\u00a0you able to reveal if this has been a progressive involvement for the Order?<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/strong>In some texts of Shi\u02bfite theology and metaphysics, Justice (\u02bfadl) is deemed to be one of the\u00a0highest attributes of God. In fact it is one of six of the highest attributes descriptive of the\u00a0Divine Essence (dh\u0101t) Itself whereby one cannot even talk about Divinity without\u00a0simultaneously also talking about Justice. In other words, Justice and God\u2019s essence are\u00a0coeval, as it were, so to talk about God and Divinity is to talk about Justice, and vice versa.<\/p>\n

That stated, my politics and the politics of almost everyone directly associated with\u00a0me is non-Marxian Left-wing and Anarchist, because one cannot truly be spiritual without\u00a0possessing a social conscience as well, especially because godliness and justice must go\u00a0hand in hand. We also have the example of Im\u0101m \u1e24usayn (upon Him be peace) here to go on\u00a0as well who famously said, \u201cdo not oppress anyone nor allow any tyrant to oppress!\u201d; not to\u00a0mention those verses of the Qur\u2019\u0101n which unequivocally condemn the tyrants and\u00a0corrupters of the earth; thus making resistance to social injustices and those powerful,\u00a0corrupt entrenched elites who perpetuate them a sacred obligation and duty.<\/p>\n

I have been for some years also developing a political theory for esoterically\u00a0inclined people with a leftwing-Anarchist bent, which I have dubbed Theophanocracy. My\u00a0ideas around Theophanocracy are still evolving and being fine-tuned over time; but social\u00a0activism and the greater fight for social justice and liberation everywhere is a central,\u00a0sacred aspect of what a theophanocratic praxis (a \u2018Liberation Theosophy\u2019) looks like. In short, a\u00a0Theophanocratic theory asserts that no power or authority is legitimate other than the\u00a0power and authority of the Spirit Itself; and since the Universe\/Multiverse is the plane for\u00a0the endless Self-Disclosures or theophanies of the Divine, therefore all those who have truly\u00a0realized this fact in its full dimensions and spectrum \u2013 i.e. those who have become pure,\u00a0unsullied and undisputed channels for the divine theophanies – are the only legitimate loci\u00a0for the exercise of political authority in the world. A Theophanocracy is thus a rule or order\u00a0by Theophanies.<\/p>\n

This may surprise some, but to me, engaging with the struggles of Indigenous and\u00a0First Nations peoples is an important facet to any Theophanocratic praxis. My own brief\u00a0involvement with the Native American Navajo Nation of New Mexico during the early 1990s\u00a0first impressed upon me the importance of this. In Australia at the moment the F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya\u00a0there, to my great joy, has become quite actively involved with the Australian Aboriginal\u00a0Sovereignty Movement – and we all stand shoulder to shoulder with that movement, its\u00a0aims, aspirations and goals, and all who are committed to it. As such, indeed, we are also\u00a0committed environmentalists; but to us the cause of First Nations\/Indigenous peoples \u2013 and\u00a0that of Traditional cultures elsewhere \u2013 goes hand in hand with an authentic\u00a0environmentalism because it is these cultures and peoples who have historically been\u00a0attuned in a real, genuine way to the Spirit of Nature: the Spirit of Nature which the\u00a0globalist\/capitalist and colonialist Beast has been bent on destroying!<\/p>\n

Given this, we are obviously quite committed anti-globalists and believe Western\u00a0capitalism in its present multinational, corporatocratic form to be the greatest evil plaguing\u00a0the entirety of our planet from one end to the other including all species upon it, be they\u00a0human or non-human. On the practical geopolitical front, although as yet far from being a\u00a0perfect model, we also stand with the ideals of multipolarism and the BRICS bloc of nations\u00a0(presently composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), which means we are\u00a0steadfastly against the unipolar and so-called \u2018New World Order\u2019 pretensions of the Anglo-American Empire and its allies and those elites behind them. This does not mean that BRICS\u00a0is some utopia counter-force above criticism. It means at this time it is the only force\u00a0capable of putting in check the unchecked power of the unipolar Anglo-American New\u00a0World Order and, praise be to God, to stop it dead in its tracks.<\/p>\n

Our anti-capitalism also stems especially from the teachings of the Bay\u0101n. For\u00a0example, in the eleventh gate (or section) of the ninth unity (or chapter) of the Persian\u00a0Bay\u0101n (a work which the B\u0101b initially began and left unfinished for \u1e62ub\u1e25-i-Azal as His\u00a0successor, upon Them be Scintillance, to continue up to the end of the eleventh\u00a0unity\/chapter), selling, trade and commerce in any of the four elements (i.e. air, fire, water\u00a0and earth) is strictly prohibited and also deemed a sin because these four elements are\u00a0sacred; and, furthermore, on the material plane, these four elements in their principles\u00a0constitute the fundamental building blocks of creation and are placed by Providence for the\u00a0sole use of all creation and so must, by necessity, be free for legitimate utilisation and\u00a0survival of all species while simultaneously respected and protected from greed, hoarding,\u00a0avarice and profiteering. These principles, by the way, are also Indigenous\/First World\u00a0perspectives, not to mention ones that Traditional civilizations held to. The basis of the\u00a0contemporary system of capitalism, however, especially the energy industry which is at the\u00a0very top of the hierarchy of the capitalist industrial chain, exists, revolves and thrives\u00a0precisely upon the commodification, sale and commerce of these four elements of air, fire,\u00a0water and earth. Given this, from our perspective, the entire edifice and inverted, malefic\u00a0guiding spirit of Western capitalism and its industries is at core, from top to bottom, a\u00a0supreme sacrilege against God and all creation alike. Looked at this way, this is not even a\u00a0specifically religious or political struggle. The struggle against capitalism is an ontological\u00a0struggle.<\/p>\n

As Sufis and Sh\u012b\u02bfi Muslims, we are also outspoken critics of Islamism and the radical\u00a0Sunni Islamist movements and ideologies of Wahhab\u012bsm\/Salaf\u012bsm currently ravaging the\u00a0Muslim world; not to mention we are anti-Zionists and stand with the Palestinian people\u00a0and their struggle for self-determination and national sovereignty from the illegal\u00a0occupation of their homeland by the illegitimate colonialist and racist European settler\u00a0apartheid regime which currently occupies it.<\/p>\n

The F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b Order uses certain herbs within it\u2019s rituals, particularly, Haoma\u00a0within sacrament, can you elaborate on the benefit otherwise, receiving gnosis through\u00a0either meditation or possession?<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/strong>Firstly, I don\u2019t recommend any form of possession unless it be a form of divine or theurgic\u00a0possession undertaken by those among the hierarchy of Intelligences in the upper worlds.\u00a0Gnosis and spiritual illumination descends from realms above \u2013 and definitely not from\u00a0chthonic or infernal realms below, whatever some contemporaries may hold otherwise \u2013\u00a0and the realization of the Im\u0101m-of-ones-being, ones angelic double or syzygy, the Hermetic\u00a0Perfect Nature (paredros) or Holy Guardian Angel, the celestial doppelg\u00e4nger, as it were, is the\u00a0only kind of legitimate possession recognized in my ascensional, spiritual diction. Let me\u00a0illustrate what this means via an ecstatic prayer translated and augmented by me, and\u00a0originally by the 12th century Illuminationist (ishr\u0101q\u012b) theosopher Shih\u0101budd\u012bn Ya\u1e25y\u0101\u00a0Suhraward\u012b (d. 1191), whom we claim as a Master in our lineage:<\/p>\n

O Thou, my Lord and Prince, most Holy Angel, my most precious and beloved\u00a0spiritual being! Thou art my father and my mother, the Sun and the Moon, who gave\u00a0birth to me in the world of the Pure Spirit, and Thou art my child and sibling in the\u00a0sublimity of my thought! With divine permission Thou art entirely dedicated to the\u00a0government of my person! Thou art the one whose fervour intercedes for me before\u00a0the Godhead, the God of all Gods, to make up for my deficiencies! O Thou who art\u00a0clothed in the utmost radiance of the divine Lights! O Thou who resides at the\u00a0summit of the degrees of perfection, I implore Thee, through the One who has\u00a0overwhelmed Thee with such sublime nobility, who hast bestowed upon Thee such\u00a0an immense effusion of grace! O precious One, may Thou manifest Thyself to me at\u00a0the hour of the Supreme Epiphany! May Thou showest me Thy resplendent Face!\u00a0May Thou be my mediator before the God of Gods in the effusion of the Siniatic Light\u00a0of mystical Secrets! May Thou lift the veils of darkness from my heart! This I pray in\u00a0the name of the One who hath claim over Thee and ranks over Thee! I call upon\u00a0Thee, O Powers and sublime spiritual Angels, O Ye who art the wisdom of the sages,\u00a0the sagacity of the seers and the knowledge of the wise! Hearken unto me and\u00a0appear before me and bring me near to Thy magisterium! Guide me with Thy\u00a0wisdom and protect me with Thy powers! Make me understand what I do not\u00a0understand, realize what I do not realize and see what I do not see! Turn me away\u00a0from the dangers that lurk in the ignorance, the forgetfulness and the hardness of\u00a0my heart, in order to have me attain to the ranks of the ancient sages and inspired\u00a0prophets, in whose hearts wisdom, insight, vigilance, discernment and\u00a0comprehension made their permanent indwelling! May Thou also live forever in the\u00a0innermost recesses of my heart, and never ever separate Thyself from me! Amen.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Second, we daily practice a selection of Arabic dhikrs (invocation\/mantra) that are\u00a0to be recited for a certain number of times \u2013 which also involves visualization of symbols\u00a0such as the calligram of the Greatest Name\/Dignity of the Sun (al-ism al a\u02bf\u1e93am\/sharaf alshams).\u00a0As well as this we recite certain supplicatory prayers (du\u02bf\u0101) by the Sh\u012b\u02bfite Im\u0101ms, the\u00a0B\u0101b and \u1e62ub\u1e25-i-Azal (peace and salutations be upon Them all), including one by me which is\u00a0to be recited at dawn, and goes as follows:<\/p>\n

In the Name of God the Most Praised, the Most Glorified, the Most Holy in the\u00a0Highest Altitude of the Sanctification of the Glorification of the Holiness of Elevated\u00a0Sublimity and Transcendence!<\/em><\/p>\n

Say, O Thou Who art the Light of all lights Effusing the Illumination of the Radiance\u00a0of Thy Being by the blinding Godly Scintillance of the dazzling Divine Brilliance from\u00a0the Fire of the Morning-Dawn Arisen!<\/em><\/p>\n

O my God, verily I testify at the Throne of the Resplendent Sun of Thy Pre-Eternal\u00a0Oneness which hath ignited the Manifestations of those flames of holiness glaring\u00a0the flares of the mirrored rays of the Revelation of the Unity of Thy Glory SelfDisclosing\u00a0the Theophanic transfigurations of the manifestation of Thy Solitary,\u00a0Most Singular and Unchanging Face which hath already always annihilated all-things!<\/em><\/p>\n

And O Thou Who art That inhabitant Sovereign of the horizons of my self unveiling\u00a0the Singularity of Thy perspicuous Reality within the Selves of my horizon! Thou art\u00a0indeed the Most Manifest and the Most Hidden as the Absolute Manifestation of the\u00a0Ultimately Hidden! I verily, O my God, testify that Thou art That Who hath left Thy\u00a0traces imprinted upon the Talismanic-Temples of Thy Unicity by the vestigial signs\u00a0of the unificating ecstatic attractions of Thy Unicitarianism from a firstness before\u00a0all firstness unto a lastness after all lastness!<\/em><\/p>\n

O my God, I verily testify at the vision effacing nullificative annihilation of the secret\u00a0by the victorious rending of the veils off the secreted mysteries of Thy Secret\u00a0through the apophatic negation of all speculation and the realization of That\u00a0Realized Reality that is Thee Alone, the Truly Real; for I verily, O my God, testify by\u00a0the disclosures of the regalitude of Thy Majesties of Glorification without indication\u00a0from the locus of Thy Post-Eternity to the situs of Thy Everlastingness within the\u00a0axis of Thy Durationless Perpetuity by the unveilings of Thy Endlessness from a\u00a0beginning of no beginning unto an end of no end, for Thou art the Godhead and\u00a0there is no other god but Thee Alone within Thee Alone by Thee Alone from Thee\u00a0Alone and to Thee Alone, Truly, Truly!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We also perform the \u1e63al\u0101t daily (i.e. the five times obligatory, ritual prayer\u00a0performed by all Muslims), but augmented to include further prayers by the B\u0101b as well,\u00a0and like all Sh\u012b\u02bfites we prostrate our heads during the suj\u016bd upon a \u1e6durbah, namely, a clay\u00a0tablet made from the dust of Karbal\u0101 in \u02bfIr\u0101q where Im\u0101m \u1e24usayn (upon Him be peace) was\u00a0martyred in 680 CE and is now buried. For the F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b Order a \u1e6durbah may also come\u00a0from the dust of the shrine of Shaykh \u1e6cabars\u012b in M\u0101zandar\u0101n, Iran, which was the scene of\u00a0the martyrdom of B\u0101b\u012b saints and especially the First Letter of the Living, Mull\u0101 \u1e24usayn\u00a0Bushr\u016b\u2019\u012b B\u0101b\u2019ul-b\u0101b, who died there between 1848 and 1849.<\/p>\n

I also encourage the daily recitation of the 101 names of God in Avestan, i.e. the\u00a0ancient liturgical language of Zoroastrians. And as mentioned above, both the display as\u00a0well as continual visualization of the calligram or symbol of the Greatest Name\/Dignity of\u00a0the Sun (al-ism al a\u02bf\u1e93am\/sharaf al-shams) is central to our Tradition, especially as this symbol\u00a0was first transmitted in the Tradition by the first Sh\u012b\u02bfite Im\u0101m \u02bfAl\u012b (upon Him be peace) in\u00a0the following poem:<\/p>\n

Three sticks in a row after a seal; above them the semblance of a straightened lance\u00a0Then a blind \u2018m\u012bm\u2019 without a tail, then a ladder unto all that is hoped for, but which is not a\u00a0ladder\u00a0Four things like fingers in a row pointing to good deeds, but without a wrist.\u00a0And a \u2018h\u0101\u2019 that has been split, then an inverted `w\u0101w\u2019 like the syphon of a phlebotomist, but\u00a0not a blood-letting cup\u00a0This is the name whose worth is magnified; if you were ignorant of it before, know it now.\u00a0O bearer of the Great Name, take sufficiency in it \u2013 you shall be preserved from misfortunes\u00a0and shall be kept safe.\u00a0It is the secret name of the God, may Its glory be glorified, unto all men, be they Arab or non-Arab!<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Besides the practices outlined above, I also encourage continual, daily meditation\u00a0upon the meaning of the \u1e25ad\u012bth kumayl\/\u1e25ad\u012bth al-\u1e25aq\u012bqa of Im\u0101m \u02bfAl\u012b (upon Him be peace)\u00a0(i.e. the Tradition of Kumayl\/the Tradition of Ultimate Reality), being one of our\u00a0metaphysical proof-texts regarding the nature of the spiritual Path and its consummation,\u00a0which is the famous Zen-like theopathic dialogue between the first Sh\u012b\u02bfite Im\u0101m and His\u00a0disciple Kumayl. The brief dialogue goes as follows:<\/p>\n

Kumayl:<\/strong> O Commander of the Faithful, what is Ultimate (or absolute) Reality?
\n\u02bfAl\u012b:<\/strong> What have you and Ultimate Reality to do with each other?<\/p>\n

Kumayl<\/strong>: Is it not the case that I am already sharing your secrets as a companion?
\n\u02bfAl\u012b:<\/strong> Yes, indeed. But that which sprinkles unto you is billowing through me unto you.<\/p>\n

Kumayl:<\/strong> So what is Ultimate Reality?
\n\u02bfAl\u012b:<\/strong> The disclosure of the Majesties of Glorification without indication!<\/p>\n

Kumayl:<\/strong> Please explain further.
\n\u02bfAl\u012b:<\/strong> The negation of all speculation and the realization of that which can be realized!<\/p>\n

Kumayl:<\/strong> Please tell me more.
\n\u02bfAl\u012b:<\/strong> The nullificative annihilation of the secret by the victorious rending of the veil\u00a0off the mystery of the secret!<\/p>\n

Kumayl:<\/strong> Please explicate further.
\n\u02bfAl\u012b:<\/strong> The attraction of the Divine Oneness by the attributive apprehension of the\u00a0Divine Unicity!<\/p>\n

Kumayl:<\/strong> Please elucidate further.
\n\u02bfAl\u012b:<\/strong> A Light Illuminating from the Dawn of Pre-Eternity and shedding its traces upon\u00a0the tablets of the Talismanic-Temples of Unicity!<\/p>\n

Kumayl:<\/strong> Please disclose more.
\n\u02bfAl\u012b:<\/strong> Extinguish the lamp for the Dawn hath indeed Arisen!<\/p>\n

Gnosis and spiritual illumination can be attained in countless, innumerable ways.\u00a0There is a famous saying by the Prophet Mu\u1e25ammad (peace be upon Him) that says \u201cthe\u00a0paths to God are as numerous as the number of people.\u201d Some paths and methods, of course, are\u00a0more efficacious than others. Discipline, steadfastness, hard inner work, unbreakable\u00a0commitment, an attitude of internal chivalry or heroism, and, above all, the fire of an\u00a0unquenchable desire for union with the divine are obviously very important keys. In the\u00a0F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b Order, on top of our other practices, we utilize Haoma and a few other\u00a0psychoactive plants, such as psilocybin mushrooms and cannabis, as sacraments. The\u00a0Haoma is the Indo-Iranian name for the sacrament sacred to the ancient Mazdaean people\u00a0(i.e. Zoroastrians). Although in dispute among some scholars, in their Haoma and Harmala\u00a0(1989) ethnobotanists Flattery and Schwartz first identified in Western academic literature\u00a0the identity of the Haoma as being in fact the pegamum harmala, i.e. the Syrian Rue, which in\u00a0Iran is known as Esfand (also spelled esphand). The following entry in the Encyclopedia\u00a0Iranica gives one of the best summary descriptions in the academic literature of the\u00a0historical importance of this plant in Iranian religion as well as in folklore and pre-modern\u00a0traditional Iranian medicine: http:\/\/www.iranicaonline.org\/articles\/esfand. Be that as it\u00a0may, the identity of the Haoma as Esfand (i.e. pegamum harmala\/Syrian Rue) has been widely\u00a0known for a lot longer among circles of Iranian mystics and esotericists (especially\u00a0spagyrists, alchemists and herbalists) long before Flattery and Schwartz ever identified it in\u00a0academic print. The Esfand is also the most sacred herb of the Zoroastrian religion and is\u00a0continually burned in their fire temples. It is also burned in most mosques and shrines\u00a0throughout Iran, not to mention b\u0101z\u0101rs and homes. In short, this herb is everywhere in\u00a0Iran.<\/p>\n

My appropriation of Haoma for the F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b Order began with my initial work\u00a0with the Amazonian Ayahuasca for a number of years during the last decade. The F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya\u00a0S\u016bf\u012b Order itself formally came into being in mid 2005 during an Ayahuasca vision where\u00a0F\u0101\u1e6dima Zahr\u0101\u2019 (upon Her be peace) appeared to me in a vision and made me recite a shahada\u00a0formula 13 times within the session: l\u0101 il\u0101ha ill\u0101 all\u0101h f\u0101\u1e6dima wajh all\u0101h\/there is no god but God\u00a0and F\u0101\u1e6dima is the Face of God. I was also explicitly instructed in this vision to add this received\u00a0formula to the existing Sh\u012b\u02bfite one that testies to the unity of God, the apostleship of\u00a0Mu\u1e25ammad and the vicegerency of \u02bfAl\u012b (upon Them all be peace, salutations and the Light\u00a0of Divine Splendor). Then in early 2008 the same Figure appeared once again in another\u00a0Ayahuasca vision and told me this time that it was time for me to stop working with the\u00a0Ayahuasca, and the Amazonian Banisteriopsis Caapi Vine that constitutes it, altogether and\u00a0begin working instead with the plant of my own ancestors which is the Esfand. At this\u00a0point, the sacrament sacred to our Order came into being and we have been working with it\u00a0ever since.<\/p>\n

The Haoma, in a properly supervised and properly prepared and purified sacred\u00a0environment, is capable of imbuing deep noetic visions and unveilings of the Mysteries of\u00a0Being as well as deep spiritual and physical healing when consistently engaged with. The\u00a0Haoma is a divine sacrament with an ancient pedigree among my ancient Iranian ancestors\u00a0\u2013 a Teacher in its own right \u2013 and we treat it as such. It is also a sacrament that needs to be\u00a0respected and should only be approached by a genuine initiate (the Tradition or initiatic\u00a0form does not matter, so long as it is an authentic one) and with a correct attitude. To us,\u00a0the Spirit behind the Haoma is the Simorgh (Celestial Gryphon) who is to us one of the many\u00a0theophanic\/angelophanic forms of F\u0101\u1e6dima Zahr\u0101\u2019 Herself (upon Her be Light), the Divine\u00a0Mother.<\/p>\n

The F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b Order obviously works within mystic depths of the occult such as\u00a0Hayakil (pentegrammic talismans) and with the Tree of Reality. Have you adopted from\u00a0other traditions or has it been the other way around?<\/strong><\/span><\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/strong>The Tree of Reality \u2013 the symbolic kabbalistic representation of the sacred universe\u00a0consisting of 13 Spheres and 36 Pathways \u2013 was the final result of a Working undertaken by\u00a0me in 2005, the very same year the F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b Order was born. It came about as a result\u00a0of some frustrating metaphysical questions that perplexed me for some time regarding\u00a0both the traditional Sephirotic Tree of Life of 10 Spheres and 22 Paths together with the\u00a0model of a 13 Sphere and 30 Path Tree offered by the Andalusian S\u016bf\u012b master Mu\u1e25yyid\u012bn Ibn\u00a0\u02bfArab\u012b (d. 1240) in two of his major treatises, which at the time I found to be deeply flawed.<\/p>\n

The Tree of Reality was both my guided synthesis of the two models as well as my personal\u00a0leap beyond both. This kabbalistic model of the sacred universe is now part of the formal\u00a0metaphysical and cosmological teachings of the F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b Order. I first self-published a\u00a0book around the Tree of Reality in early 2006 entitled Liber Decatriarchia Mystica. But this\u00a0book is now out-of-print, although floating around in PDFs online, and I don\u2019t have any\u00a0current plans to re-publish it in its old version again. I will say, however, that there is an\u00a0angelology associated with the Tree of Reality and that I have also sketched from it the very\u00a0basic outlines of a Tarot system of divination consisting of 101 cards in total. For now,\u00a0however, I may leave any further development of this system to my future successors in the\u00a0F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b Order. There is plenty there for them to work with and assuredly, God willing,\u00a0the Spirit will guide them and reveal deeper knowledge about it far beyond anything I know\u00a0about it.<\/p>\n

The pentagrammic talismans, or hay\u0101kil in Arabic, can be found in many Islamic\u00a0occult texts of white<\/p>\n

\"Surah<\/a>
Surah of Power (97) of the Qur’\u0101n within each of whose inner six houses are written the names of the Archangels of Proximity (mal\u0101\u2019ikat\u2019ul-muqarrib\u016bn) : Mik\u0101’\u012bl, Isr\u0101’f\u012bl, \u02bfIzr\u0101’\u012bl, Jibr\u0101’il, \u02bfAny\u0101’\u012bl and Ruq\u012by\u0101’\u012bl.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

sorcery and magic. The form and symbol of the pentagram was\u00a0especially sacred to the B\u0101b (the Light be upon Him) who wrote many prayers, and even\u00a0some doctrinal works and correspondences, using the form, as did \u1e62ub\u1e25-i-Azal (the\u00a0Radiance be upon Him). I have used the pentagrammic talismans of the B\u0101b (the Splendor\u00a0be upon Him) for my own theurgical purposes for years now long before the F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b\u00a0Order even came about; but also, especially, for our F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya sessions with the Haoma. Only\u00a0recently have I begun formulating new hay\u0101kil using various Quranic verses, prayers and\u00a0the magical cipher letters of the Islamic magical tradition known as the aql\u0101m. As a symbol,\u00a0cryptogram or calligram, in our Tradition the pentagram represents the word H\u016b (he or It,\u00a0as I like to designate).<\/p>\n

H\u016b or H\u016bwa, although the proper Arabic masculine pronoun, as a\u00a0word in this Tradition symbolically represents the totality of the godhead (all the divine\u00a0names and attributes together combined) and in both modalities of\u00a0manifestation\/appearance (\u1e93\u0101hir) and interiority\/hiddenness (b\u0101\u1e6din). It is both the\u00a0symbolization of the Ipseity, or the Divine Essence, as well as the Primal Will\/Eternal\u00a0Im\u0101m\/Hiero-Intelligence who reflects It in eternity. The letters that constitute the word H\u016b,\u00a0the Arabic letters h\u0101\u2019 (=5) and w\u0101w (=6), reflect the outer and inner perspectives of the\u00a0pentagram\/pentalpha. These two letters \u2013 as well as the pentagram itself \u2013 are likewise\u00a0found within the calligram or symbol of the Greatest Name\/Dignity of the Sun which is our\u00a0most sacred symbol. This is why sometimes in the texts of our Tradition the pentagram\u00a0itself as well as H\u016b are referred to as the Greatest Name. You will also find the form of the\u00a0pentagram within the 13 Sphere, 36 Pathway Tree of Reality.<\/p>\n

Given all the goals that the F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b Order has set out to originally achieve how far\u00a0has the order actually come and how much farther would you like to go?<\/strong><\/em><\/span>
\n<\/strong><\/strong>I sort of answered this question above already. But I will also say this, our future is solely\u00a0and completely in the hands of our Divine Mother F\u0101\u1e6dima Zahr\u0101\u2019 (peace, salutations and the\u00a0Light of lights be upon Her). She is in control here, this is Her Order, and we are merely Her\u00a0servants and spatiotemporal mouthpieces. What She determines for the future of the\u00a0F\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya S\u016bf\u012b Order is what will be, insh\u0101\u2019Ll\u0101h (God willing)!<\/p>\n

The Light of lights be upon all those who follow the Illuminations of the Divine Guidance! Y\u0101 N\u016br<\/p>\n

\n

Credits and Links:<\/strong>
\nF\u0101\u1e6dim\u012bya Suf\u012b Order
\nWahidazal.blogspot.co.uk
\n<\/a><\/p>\n