Al-Alim- The Knower,
Allah the All-Knowing One
Allah Most High has revealed for humanity this prayer through the heart of the Prophet Muhammad, the one unlettered in human instruction, and taught by Allah alone:
O precious Lord, increase and advance me in spiritual states and mystic knowledge.
Our dervish life is childlike spontaneous affirmation of Allah’s love and ceaseless searching to increase our knowledge of Allah’s Being. Love and knowledge are the two wings of the dervish. Love fuels our desire to know Allah and knowledge increases the depth of our love. Love and knowledge are actually one. Love is the essential core of existence, and knowledge is the prism of realization of this existence. Love grows eternally deeper and vaster, while knowledge is continuously overturned, shifted and formed anew.
True knowing comes directly into the heart from Allah. The dervish heart is an open book whose pages are inscribed by the Divine Pen. Seek knowledge there, through opening your heart to the shaykh. Seek knowledge there through your tasbih and salat, through your meditation and practice of selfless generosity. Then the deeper meanings of Quran, Hadith and mystic books will come to you. Then you will be able to read the book of creation and the books of all human hearts. You will come to realize the truth of the Prophet’s words:
Know yourself and you will know your Lord.