The Gnostic accepts that Allah is The Almighty and because of His Almightiness anyone who happens to have a glance of Essence is destroyed. Allah had commanded in the Quran to the effect:

When Musa came to the place appointed by Us, and his Lord addressed him, he said: “O my Lord! show (Thyself) to me, that I may look upon Thee.” Allah said: “By no means canst thou see Me (direct); but look upon the mount; if it abide in its place, then shalt thou see Me.” When his Lord manifested His glory on the Mount, He made it as dust, and Musa fell down in a swoon. When he recovered his senses he said: “Glory be to Thee! to Thee I turn in repentance, and I am the first to believe.”⁵⁷

Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had said to the effect:

Veiling Him are the Veils of Light and if these Veils are lifted whosoever see Him will be destroyed.⁵⁸

Hence we can only know Him through His Manifestation and that refers to His creations. Our Islamic scholars of old and the recent forbid us from investigating about The Essence because there is no way to learn about Him⁵⁹. Abu Bakar As Sadiq even said that His private door is totally shut there is no way we can learn about Him.⁶⁰ Allah had commanded in the Quran to the effect:

On the earth are Signs for those of assured Faith. As also in your own selves: will ye not then see?⁶¹

Once the Gnostic has the Gnostic Knowledge, he readily accepts that the main reason Allah created Genie and Mankind is to worship Him. Allah had commanded in the Quran to the effect:

I have only created Jinn and men, that they may serve Me.⁶²

In order to worship Him without ascribing partner to Him knowingly or subtly, a Gnostic must remember Him with a focused mind. There is no reason why we cannot do just that when we can focus at a soccer game or a soap opera on Television for hours. Allah had commanded in the Quran to the effect:

And remembrance of Allah is the greatest without doubt. ⁶³

And remember Allah much that you may prosper⁶⁴

And for men and women who engage much in remembering Allah, for them has Allah prepared forgiveness and great reward⁶⁵

Then do ye remember Me; I will remember you. ⁶⁶

If he (Jonah) not one who remembers Allah much, he would remain in the belly of the fish until the Day of Resurrection.⁶⁷

Many of the Companions opined that the greatest act of worship which may assist us in the hereafter is Remembrance of Allah (Zikrullah).⁶⁸Muadh Bin Jabal had said to the effect:

There is no act of worship which can save a son of Adam from Hell other than the Remembrance of Allah (Zikrullah).⁶⁹

In respect of the mind, according to Imam Ghazali much of the revelations in the Holy Quran touching on the “Heart” or “Qalb” actually refer to the “Mind” or “Aql”.⁷⁰ To substantiate his point, he pointed out to the verses in the Quran where Allah has commanded to the effect:

They all have a heart but they chose not to use it to understand Allah’s words. ⁷¹

Their hearts are sealed and so they understand not.⁷²

And We put coverings over their hearts lest they should understand the Quran⁷³

Do they not travel through the land, so that their hearts may thus learn wisdom and their ears may thus learn to hear?⁷⁴

When remembering Allah, there should not be any form, shape, writing, sound, light, colour and others in our mind. All these are not Allah but rather they are creations. Remembering Allah is like remembering one’s name. You do not visualise yourself nor spell your name in your mind whenever someone calls you. Instead, you will respond to the call immediately. Hence when remembering Allah, you must not visualise Him nor spell His name. Just remember Him as you remember yourself (when someone called you). Allah had commanded that there is nothing whatsoever like Him and that no vision can grasp Him.⁷⁵ In short, He is the Unseen God.⁷⁶

In order to have the remembrance of Allah all the times in our mind, we must first clear our mind of all impurities. A corrupted mind hindered the spiritual enhancement of the mind. As the Holy Prophet had said that in the body of the children of Adam there is this organ and if this organ is well so too will be the owner and this is organ is the heart (mind). To clear the mind of all impurities, do the following:

1. Closed both eyes and (with your eyes closed) focus both eyes internally in the direction of the mind. Having done that, try to pull the eyelids apart. You will find that the eyelids are stuck. This shows that your eyes are now internally focused. Your eyes which are internally focused are sometime refers to as the mental eyes.
2. Now using your mind read the whole of verses (in the Quran) of Al Ikhlas, Al Falaq, An Nas and Al Fatihah once mentally. If after reading these verses your mental eyes denote that your mind still is not clear and empty then repeat the reading of these verses (mentally) until your mental eyes note that your mind is now clear or empty.
3. Once your mind is clear or empty, place the remembrance of Allah or remember Allah promptly in your mind and then focus your mental eyes to it.
4. Remain focused as long as you can. If you continue practicing this, the remembrance of Allah is entrenched in your mind.
5. Once your mental eyes are focused at the remembrance of Allah in your mind, slowly open your eyes but at the same time maintain your mental eyes focusing at the remembrance of Allah in your mind. Your mental eyes should not be distracted in any way whatsoever with what your eyes are seeing. Practice this until you are able to do so.

Once you are able to maintain your mental eyes focusing at the remembrance of Allah in your mind with your eyes open, you should then practice alternating it with your eyes closed. Alternate it for about 10 minutes each. If you continue this practice, ultimately your mental eyes are capable of focusing at the remembrance Allah with your eyes close or open all the time. Maintaining the remembrance of Allah in your mind is just like a lighted candle. Make sure it is alight all the time because everytime it is extinguished Satans will romp your mind.

Now with your mental eyes you are able to see externally “The Little Essence” encompassing all and the same time you are also able to focus mentally at the remembrance of Allah in your mind. This is the station of “Ihsan” which Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had said:

Pray as if you see Allah otherwise know that He is seeing you.⁷⁷

The Bibliography