العلويون: التُّرابية | الدستور العلوي النصيري — قراءة وشرح عرفاني (القُّداس الأول)

Have you ever thought about how a text can remain present without being accessible? The Constitution in the Alawi Nusayri tradition was like that. It was not a text taken ready-made, nor a book to be acquired. The murid would write it himself, by hand, and keep it. He would go over it word by word, line by line. [Music] It would become part of his very being and the path itself. [Music] A system based on instruction and limited transmission of the text under clear conditions and within a closed circle. The Constitution is not just a text to be memorized; it is a secret that accompanies its owner. What the murid writes remains with him, linked to the moment he entered the path, and to the transition from belonging by birth to belonging by knowledge. The murid, or disciple, here is the one who is instructed, who writes, and who carries this text. As for women, they remained outside this tradition. Access to this text was not easy. It was not enough to be born Alawi; you had to reach eighteen years of age, choose a master sheikh who would become your spiritual father, and go through three stages, each stage lasting nine months. In the first, you learn the secret of Ain, Mim, Sin. In the second, you take oaths and covenants. And in the third, and only in the third, you reach the Constitution. Three stages, each nine months long. In his entry into the secret, the murid was reborn. This reality continued for a long time. But what has changed in recent years is that the Constitution has emerged from this framework. It has been printed, and it has become possible to access and read it, even to compare its versions. When we compare these versions, we notice that differences exist, but they do not affect the essence. [Music] We find them in a word here, a phrasing there, a presentation here, and a delay there. As for the doctrinal structure, it remains the same. The Constitution, or as it is known in some versions as the Fertile Prayer, consists of 16 liturgies in total, which the versions agree upon in their essence, even if they differ in some details. In this podcast, we will not rely on a single version, but we will work with these phrasings together: the Haidari liturgy and what is mentioned in various printed works that have reached us, such as the version of Sheikh Yathrib Ibrahim Suleiman Badr, the version of Sheikh Hussein Ali Al-Abbas, the version of Sheikh Nasr Al-Din Zeifa, and the one issued by the Muhammad ibn Nusayr Brigade, and before that, the version cited by Ali Jabir Al-Ani in his book "History of the Alawi Nusayri Sect in Iraq." From where the light secretly departs, we begin with the first liturgy, the Fatiha, the Eternal, the Earthly. The name here is not a trivial detail; it refers to the epithet of Ali, Abu Turab, and at the same time to the origin. [Music] To the first matter from which we were created, to the beginning. [Music] To the earth. Therefore, the Earthly is considered the Fatiha of the Constitution, not because it is the first text in order, but because it is the point of affirmation. In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. I manifested with the first of my answers by affirming my love for the spiritual sanctity of my master, Ali, the Commander of the Faithful. By remembering him, I succeed, and in him I grew, and in him I began, and in him I ended, and in him I trusted. [Music] And in him I relied, and in him all my believing brothers relied. And I bear witness that he is my Lord and the Lord of my predecessors and successors. And praise be to God for the soundness of religion, the certainty of faith, and obedience to God, Lord of the Worlds. Until we mention our master, Abu Shu'ayb Muhammad ibn Nusayr, and in him you are blessed. He said to Yahya ibn Mu'in Al-Samiri: "O Yahya, if a calamity befalls you in life, or a disaster strikes you before death, then call upon your Lord with a pure, sincere, pious, clean, bright, radiant, luminous supplication, through which you will be freed from the garments of humanity and join the luminous structures." Then say: "O Guide, O Caller to His call, [Music] O Manifest in His power, O Hidden in His wisdom, O Answerer to Himself by Himself, O Speaker to His meaning with His name, His self, His throne, His seat, and His attributes. O He, O All, O First, O Ancient, O Eternal, O Cause of causes, O Originator of the movements of the first, O Annihilator of the movements of states, O Ultimate of ultimates, O Originator of beginnings, O Finisher of ends, O Knower of the secrets of the hidden, O Present, O Existent, O Manifest, O Intended, O Hidden without obscurity, O Commander of the bees, O Ali, O Worshipped, O from whom what returns to Him appeared, and what is in Him shone, and in Him sets without denial, O Illuminator of light after sunset, O He who is named by every name called, and made for every name an attribute, and for every attribute a place, and for every place a door, and for every door an entrance through which one enters to the name and is directed to the name from Him, and is guided to the name from Him. And you, my master, are the guide to it. The name indicates its meaning, and the All is He. O He, O He whom only He knows what He is, and only He knows how He is. I ask you, O Allah, my master, O Ali, O Commander of the Faithful, with the questions of Sin. [Music] Silkun, Silk, Silk, Salik, Silk, with what the questioners asked You, and with the guide of the guided, with our master Muhammad, the seal of the prophets and messengers, to unite our hearts and the hearts of our believing brothers in righteousness, piety, knowledge, faith, and religion. And make us, O Allah, my master, all of them [Music] followers and adherents, so that we may remember Your pure presence, Your overwhelming power, Your all-encompassing mercy, Your obligatory duty, and Your necessary right, which is undertaken by our sheikh and master, Abu Abdullah Al-Hussein ibn Hamdan Al-Khasibi, may Allah honor his station and elevate his person. And join us, O Allah, my master, to his knowledge and his world, for his world is the world of purity, and his place is the place of knowledge, truth, and loyalty. So that we may remember in the name of Allah and the secret of our master Abu Abdullah, who made us know the knowledge of Allah, and there is no knowledge except by Allah. Their secret and the secret of their remembrance. [Music] The righteous, may Allah make them all happy. Here ends the Earthly. [Music] And now we will enter the gnosis explanation. Close your eyes for a moment. Imagine you are standing at a threshold. Behind you is everything you know, everything they taught you, all the names you have carried. And before you is a door that does not open with words. It opens with only one thing: affirmation. This is what the Earthly does: affirmation of love and remembrance. It is older than this body. The liturgy begins with one word: "I manifested." The murid never said "I began" or "I opened." He said "I manifested," meaning "I appear," "I emerge," "I come into existence." But from where? Not from this moment, but from much further back. In the Alawi Nusayri theology, creation did not begin with the body; it began with light. God created creation in its origin as a merciful, luminous spirit that does not eat, drink, or suffer. He appeared to them in their forms and shapes, and made them see Him, hear His words, and know His power. Then He called them to His knowledge and His oneness. The response varied among them: some answered the first call, some lagged behind, and some stopped and were bewildered. When you recite the Earthly today, you are not announcing a new stance; you are remembering a very old stance. So, "I manifested" is not a beginning; it is a restoration of a moment when you were luminous. [Music] You heard the call and answered. And this affirmation you are making now is a renewal of a covenant you made before you had a [Music] name, before you had a body, before you knew you existed. This is what the word "I manifested" carries: the weight of eternity in two words. But why love specifically? Why did I manifest with the love of Ali? Why not with knowledge? Why not with obedience? Why not with fear? Because love in this system is the only path to true knowledge. The divine essence, in its absolute hiddenness, [Music] is known only to itself. No intellect encompasses it, and no thought reaches it. But it manifested its power and its speech, and indicated its oneness through its names and attributes in its manifestation. [Music] And this manifestation is not grasped by the intellect alone, because the intellect analyzes, divides, and searches for boundaries. But love sees the whole. Love knows before it proves. And Ali here is not a human being to be worshipped; he is the locus of the manifestation of meaning in [Music] the world. The manifestation through which creation knew its Lord. And when the murid affirms his love for Ali, he declares that he knows where the light came from, that he does not stand in darkness feeling his way along the walls. So, the affirmation of this love is the first act [Music] of true existence. Before it, you were a form; after it, you are a substantial being. Then comes the mention of our master, Abu Shu'ayb Muhammad ibn Nusayr Al-Numairi. He is not merely a transmitter of a will; he is the third-ranked door in the Alawi Nusayri theological trinity through which knowledge extends and reaches the murid. His presence in this liturgy is not just historical; it is structural, because the door in this system is a condition that cannot be bypassed, and his will is essential. When life becomes difficult for you, when death approaches, do not resort to fear. Free yourself from the garments and join the luminous structures. "Garments" is a distinctly Alawi Nusayri term and deserves a pause. The body is a garment, illusions are a garment, attachment to the world of existence is a garment, and everything that hides the spirit from its truth is a garment. Layer upon layer, accumulated since the first moment man forgot where he came from. The path is to shed these garments, layer by layer. But the destination is not merging into the divine essence, as in Sufism with the unity of existence. The essence in Alawi Nusayri thought is transcendent; it cannot be encompassed, and nothing or no one can reach it. The destination is to reach the highest ranks of luminous manifestation that the murid can attain. Your limit is light, not the essence. And this is not a deficiency; this is monotheism. Then the liturgy takes you on a journey, a journey of glorification that begins from eternity: "O First, O Ancient, O Eternal, O Everlasting." You are now in complete silence, before all names, before all speech, before all creation. Here, the essence in its absolute hiddenness was, and there was no [Music] name, no place, no describer, and no described. Then, [Music] the manifestation begins: "O Cause of causes, O Originator of the movements of the first." From this absolute silence, the meaning willed to be known, so it brought forth from the light of its essence its first manifestation: the name Muhammad, the light of its sanctity, the image of its throne, and the locus of its attributes. Through it, the plan was determined, and the destinies were executed. [Music] And through it, the hidden became knowable. The names and attributes are not the essence; they are means of manifestation, created at the time of invention. For every name there is a door, and for every door there is a destination to be sought from it. [Music] And the name indicates the meaning, but does not encompass it; it points to it but does not surround it. Then the journey extends: "O Originator of beginnings, O Finisher of ends." The complete circle of existence is invoked before you. And this act does not stop at the name but extends through the rank of the door to the lower world, unfolding knowledge and revealing wisdom in its determined forms. Suddenly, the journey stops at one sentence: "O He whom only He knows what He is, and only He knows how He is." Here you breathe. Here you know your limits. The essence in its hiddenness cannot be encompassed, and nothing or no one can reach it. Everything you have known on this journey was a manifestation, an appearance, a door. And the door points to what is beyond it, but it never becomes what is beyond it. This is the heart of Alawi Nusayri monotheism: knowing the manifestation does not mean encompassing the essence. Then the liturgy enters a strange moment. You hear words that do not resemble Arabic. Do not be surprised; they are Greek names, names starting with the letter "S," and therefore they are called the questions of Sin: Silkun, Silk, Silk, Salik, Silk. In reality, they are the names of five luminous spirits, who are the persons of our master Mim. [Music] The name in its greater ranks, which are the Will, the Innate Disposition, the Knowledge, the Power, and the Hidden Grace. And in the human dimension, they are Muhammad, Fatima, Al-Hasan, Al-Hussein, [Music] and Al-Muhsin. They are the persons of prayer and the promise of the knowers at all times and ages. [Music] And Adam was the first to utter the names of Sin. These [Music] words that he received from his Lord, so he sought them, and God turned to him in repentance. And these Sin words continued to be transmitted from soul to soul, carrying in their sounds the remembrance of that supplication. And God taught Adam how to return to Him always, in every new murid and in every new [ __ ] entry. And the Earthly concludes its journey by mentioning Al-Khasibi, [Music] the sheikh of the path and the bearer of the trust. His mention at the end of the supplication is not just personal glorification; it is an affirmation that this knowledge is not attained individually, nor does it come from reading a book or from solitary contemplation. It is transmitted by chain, from soul to soul, from rank to rank. And this is the meaning of the teacher in the [Music] daily human experience: to have between you and the meaning [Music] a person who knows the path and has trodden it before you. This was the podcast "The Alawis: An Incomplete Narrative." And with you was Dr. Helen Abbas, and in another dimension [Music] Aria Star. From where the light secretly departs, we continue.