Presence

Being present with God with one’s entire self. Peace. Tranquility. Serenity.

“Being before an important authority or person.”¹⁾

“Presence means special attention to what comes to the heart of the servant. Thus, the servant is in the presence [with his full consciousness] with that thing. In the meantime, it is necessary to remain unaware of everything other than what the attention is directed to [abscence]. (Presence is the opposite of abscence).”²⁾

“Be aware that it is in the remembrance of, and whole-hearted devotion to, God that hearts find rest and contentment.” (Ra’d, 13:28).

“Adab (the rules of good manners or courtesy) is the remembrance of the travelers on the path of Sufism that they are in the presence of Lord, Who is closer to them than themselves, every moment, while they are asleep or awake, and to do and say all their actions and words in accordance with decency.”³⁾

“Repentance is the first thing with which a servant enters into the presence of God Almighty.”⁴⁾

“Mukashafa (spiritual discovery) is the presence that cannot be described by discourse.”⁵⁾

“Presence is the heart's witnessing the unseen with the clarity of certainty, as if it is present. Although He is unseen to the servant, the servant feels being present with Him.”⁶⁾

“‘So-and-so is present’ means ‘He is in the presence of his Lord with his heart, he is not heedless of Him, he has not neglected Him, or he is always remembering Him.’”⁷⁾

“Our king, you who nurture us with your bounty, show us the origin and true form of these examples and shadows you have shown us. Draw us close to your seat of rule. Don’t let us perish in these deserts, but rather admit us to your presence. Have mercy on us. Feed us there on the true form of the exquisite bounty that you have caused us to taste here. Don’t afflict us with despair and banishment, or leave your yearning, thankful, and obedient subjects to their own devices. Don’t cause us to be annihilated.”⁸⁾

“… the All-Majestic One, the Lord of the command Be! and it is, for Whom the suns and stars are like obedient soldiers, is nearer to all things than themselves, while all things are infinitely far from Him. If you wish to enter His Presence of Grandeur directly, you would have to pass through seventy thousand veils of darkness and light (i.e., material and physical veils as well as those of the Divine Names and Attributes), transcend thousands of particular and universal degrees of each Name’s manifestation, rise through the most elevated levels of His Attributes, and ascend as high as His Greatest Throne, which is favored with His Greatest Name’s manifestation. If God does not favor you by drawing you to Himself, you would have to strive and journey spiritually for thousands of years.”⁹⁾

“The reality of the Prayer (a kind of Ascension) is like a soldier being admitted to the royal presence as a pure favor; it is being admitted to the Presence of the All-Majestic One of Grace, the All-Gracious One of Majesty, the True Object of Worship, as an instance of pure mercy.”¹⁰⁾

“… the All-Mighty, Who is the All-Just and Omnipresent, answers His servants’ prayer and changes their loneliness into the pleasure of His company.”¹¹⁾

“O soul! If you want endless accomplishments with regard to your afterlife during your short life here, if you want to see each minute of your life as fruitful as a whole life, and if you want to transform your ordinary deeds into acts of worship and your heedlessness into constant awareness of being in God’s Presence, follow the Prophet’s exalted Sunna.”¹²⁾

“… it is not possible for anything to be hidden from Him. Just as it is not possible for objects on the face of the earth to face the sun with no barrier and not see it, so is it a thousand times less possible, it is impossible, for things to be hidden from the light of the All-Knowing One of Glory’s knowledge. For they are in His presence. That is, everything is within the range of His sight, is before Him, is within the compass of His witnessing; He penetrates into all things.”¹³⁾

“Another important means of attaining sincerity is that, based on certain, verified belief and the lights of belief-guided reflective thought on God’s works of art—the whole creation—which leads to knowledge of the Maker, we can experience the omnipresence of the All-Compassionate Creator, and without seeking the acceptance or attention of any other than Him, and understanding that by looking to others for help in His presence is not right conduct in His presence, we can be saved from ostentation and attain sincerity.”¹⁴⁾

“Literally meaning growing larger and deeper, spreading and expanding, Sufis use inbisat to signify the relaxing of one’s heart, to the extent allowed by the Shari‘a, so that it can embrace everybody and please them with one’s gentle words and pleasant manners. In the context of one’s relationship with God Almighty, it denotes a spiritual state that combines fear and hope. Those who have attained this state are awed by being in the Presence of God, and feel exhilarated by the breezes of delight and joy blowing in His Presence. They are awed while inhaling, and feel delight when exhaling.”¹⁵⁾

“The profundity of recitation is proportional to the depth of feeling for God. Sufis call this ‘peace of heart,’ or ‘vision’ or ‘spiritual observation.’ Some mention God Almighty and reach Him in their hearts via a mysterious way; others know Him through their consciences and feel His constant company by means of the points of reliance and seeking help in their inner worlds. Since they remember Him uninterruptedly, always mentioning Him with their heart and conscience, always feeling Him in their being, and living fully aware of His constant presence, they regard mentioning Him verbally at certain times as being a sign of heedlessness and ignorance of Him.”¹⁶⁾

“A believer gifted with serenity is not shaken by worldly fear, grief, or anxiety, and finds peace, integrity, harmony between his or her inner world and the outer world. Such a person is dignified, balanced, confident, assured and solemn, and self-possessed and careful in his or her relations with God Almighty. Egoism, vanity, and pride are abandoned; every spiritual gift received is attributed to God; humility and self-discipline are exhibited while thanking Him; and all dissatisfaction and uneasiness is ascribed to personal weakness and examined in the light of self-criticism.”¹⁷⁾

“Presence and absence change places, one turning into the other, only when initiates separate themselves from everything else other than the lights of His Essence. In this state, they feel and think of Him only and restricts their eyes to observing His manifestations exclusively. By so doing, they feel enveloped in His Presence completely and no longer see or hear whatever takes place and whatever is said.”¹⁸⁾

“Feeling enveloped by His Presence is sometimes understood as being synonymous with witnessing Him in His manifestations, sometimes as witnessing His signs, and sometimes as self-supervision.”¹⁹⁾

“There is absence in intoxication and in sobriety there is peace (presence) and rest.”²⁰⁾

“Always turn to that Most Exalted Being in humility, and with utmost poverty and helplessness; to the extent that even if yourself were to give it up, your heart should never falter and should remain fast in its place. This is what people of truth call ‘presence,’ And this is the reason why we always mention Him.”²¹⁾

“You can find in such people, who have taken off toward nothingness and carnal non-existence, neither anxieties, worries, nor grief. They are occupied with the Eternal Friend, they feel His intimacy, and live free from uneasiness and troubles because of the peace they find in His presence.”²²⁾

“Initiation is another way of discovering and experiencing the truths of belief and being a Muslim in accordance with their true nature. The initiate recognizes them partly while they are a seeker, and became familiar with some of their manifestations at different degrees while they are the one who wills. Peace of heart, the elixir of which many talk without knowing its true essence, is drunk by the glassful during initiation.”²³⁾

“The other is the true affirmation (of Divine Unity). By seeing His Power’s stamp, His Lordship’s seal, and His Pen’s inscription on everything, one opens a window directly onto His light from everything. The person then confirms and believes, with almost the certainty coming from direct observation, that everything comes into existence by His Power’s hand, that He has no partner or helper in His Divinity and Lordship and His absolute Sovereignty. Through this, one attains a degree of permanent awareness of the Divine Presence.”²⁴⁾

Attention

Consciousness

Heedlessness

Peace

Peter Senge, Presence: An Exploration of Profound Change in People, Organizations, and Society

Rupert Spira, Presence, Volume I: The Art of Peace and Happiness

Tyler Tritten, Beyond Presence

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