RITES 129

 

of the present cycle of humanity.! To understand the
scope of this method we must recall that, according to
the revealed expression, the world was created by the
Speech (al-Amr, al-Kalimah) of God, and this indicates
a real analogy between the Universal Spirit (ar-Riuh)
and speech. In invocation the ontological character of
the ritual act is very directly expressed : here the simple
enunciation of the Divine Name, analogous to the
primordial and limitless “enunciation’ by Being, is the
symbol of a state or of an undifferentiated knowledge
superior to mere rational “knowing.”

The Divine Name, revealed by God Himself, im-
plies a Divine Presence which becomes operative to the
extent that the Name takes possession of the mind of
him who invokes It. Man cannot concentrate directly
on the Infinite, but by concentrating on the symbol of
the Infinite, attains to the Infinite Itself. When the in-
dividual subject is identified with the Name to the point
where every mental prejection has been absorbed by
the form of the Name, the Divine Essence of the Name
manifests spontaneously, for this sacred form leads to
nothing outside itself ; it has no positive relationship
except with its Essence and finally its limits are dis-
solved in that Essence. Thus union with the Divine
Name becomes Union (al-was/) with God Himself.

1. This cycle begins approximately with what is called the ‘““historical®’
period. The analogy between the Moslem dhikr and the Hindu japa-yoga and
also with the methods of incantation of Hesychast Christianity and of certain
schools of Buddhism is very remarkable. It would, however, be false to at-
tribute a non-Islamic origin to the Moslem dhikr, first because this hypothes:s
is quite unnecessary, secondly because it is contradicted by the facts and
thirdly because fundamental spiritual realities cannot fail to manifest them-
selves at the core of every traditional civilisation.

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