The Wisdom of the Prophets

Prayer is a secret call exchanged between God and the adorer. It is then also an invocation (dhikr), (this term meaning either: invocation, mention, call, rememberance). But whoever invokes God, finds himself in the presence of God, according to the Divine Word (hadith qudsi) faithfully transmitted since the Prophet: "I witness the invocation of the one who invokes me" (ana jalisu man dhakarani). And he who finds himself in the presence of He whom he invokes, contemplates Him, If he is endowed with intellectual vision.

That is the contemplation (mushahadah) and the vision (ru'ya); but he who does not have intellectual vision (basar) does not contemplate Him. It is by this actuality or absence of vision in the prayer that the adorer can judge of his own spiritual degree. If he does not see Him, let him adore Him by faith "as if he saw Him" according to the definition that the Prophet gave of the ihsan, the spiritual virtue "is to adore God as if thou didst see Him, and if thou doest not see Him, He however sees thee". Let him imagine Him in front of him (literally; in his qiblah, ritual orientation)

140 pages, hard back