This heart lotus is like a wish fulfilling tree. Whoever meditates upon anahata becomes capable of protection and destruction, like Shiva himself…One who activates anahata becomes most lovable to everybody. One wins over the sense organs, and becomes capable of higher levels of consciousness (concentration and focus). Thus, one becomes Lord of Yoga (the Enlightened embodiment of Shiva) and Lord of Knowledge (the Enlightened embodiment of Shakti)
NOTE: This series on the system of chakras is meant to provide an analysis through the lens of spiritual lens of Islam, which is rooted in the purifying principle of One. It is not an endorsement of polytheistic systems, which the Yogic system denies anyways, nor is it an endorsement, guide, or instruction for any spiritual practices or prescriptions. Where practices are mentioned, it is only informational. While the theme of these posts is to see the principle of One that pervades all revealed religions as a proof of God, it does not imply the doctrinal teachings of the school of Perennialism (different from “perennialism”).
Prelude to Anahata: The Muhammadan Frame
This post on the heart chakra is of particular interest to me due to its profound overlap with Islamic spirituality and its emphasis on the centrality of the spiritual heart. For this reason, this post will place extra emphasis on using Islamic metaphysics, especially through the archetype of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, to articulate and to demonstrate the spiritual reality of anahata. This is because the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is the master of the way of the Heart, and thus, is the manifested embodiment of the perfected energy of the anahata chakra, which is mercy and compassion. In extolling his ﷺ virtues, we honor the Living Light that is the secret of his ﷺ Being, which is the secret that lies in between worlds that the heat chakra leads to. The corollaries between both the Yogic and the Islamic tradition that point to a shared understanding, despite being separated by thousands of years, is truly thought profound and, at the very least, thought provoking.
The path of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was understood as the Path of The Heart. He had taught that the way to know The Divine Reality was by knowing your own Heart because it contains within its center the secret of secrets (sirr al-sirr), which is the Divine Principle. Existential success and salvation, both in this world and the next, was determined by having a “sound Heart”, as stated in the Qur’an:
"The Day when there will not benefit [anyone] wealth or children, but only one who comes to Allah with a sound heart (qalbun salīm)."
The Prophet ﷺ taught that the Heart is the true Kaaba (House of God), the Seat of Consciousness within which is the Throne of God itself. It is the center of conscious experience without which there is no existence. And then of course there is the famous saying attributed to Jesus the Son of Mary, who said that the true Kingdom of God is in the heart.
In the Yogic tradition, cultivating Anāhata would result in all of the other chakras becoming prosperous, but if it remained unsound then the rest of the chakras will become unsound and polluted as well. From the Yogic perspective therefore, it could be said that the spiritual path of the Prophet ﷺ revolved around the cultivation of the Anāhata heart center since we find this exact same metaphysical parallel of the heart described in a hadith where the Prophet ﷺ is reported to have said:
"Verily, in the body there is a morsel of flesh which, if it is sound, the whole body is sound, and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. Verily, it is the heart."
Another obvious correspondence between the esoteric reality of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ according to Islam and the Yogic description in Schlokas 26-27 of the one who has full realized and opened Anāhata is the quality of becoming “most lovable to everybody”. This is because the very name “Muhammad” denotes being loved by all of creation as an expression and sign of being loved by God, that is, as the beloved of God. The name Muhammad [محمد] is derived from the Arabic root ح-م-د [ḥ-m-d], which relates to praise as the essential quality. The name itself means “the one who is praised” or “the praiseworthy”, but it also denotes ongoing praise that is constantly elevating the one being praised. In the Qur’an, there is a verse that says:
“Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet ﷺ: O ye that believe! Send ye blessings on him ﷺ, and salute him ﷺ with all respect.”
When God acts upon a person on an essential level – that is on the level of ontology and thus fundamentally what they are – according to a particular quality or Divine Name, that quality becomes universalized within that person, meaning that this quality becomes the universal, essential, and defining nature of that person. Because it is God who sends blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ – as an act of pure love – then he as the beloved of God is ontologically defined by Divine Love. And thus, he alone holds the title of Habib Allah (Beloved of God). This is the essence of Rasulallah ﷺ; perfect love has no conditions, not even the conditions of time, space, or temporality have any bearing on it. Therefore, as God is eternal, this act of praising Muhammad ﷺ is also eternal, and thus as mentioned earlier, fulfills the definition of the name “Muhammad” as “the one who is (constantly being) praised; the name necessitates ongoing and eternal praise, and thus alludes to the secret of the Muhammadan Light, a deeply esoteric secret known only to the mystics, that has existed from anterior eternity to posterior eternity, transcending the lower world in its entirety as the penultimate created dimension of reality, and thus underpins it as its substratum. The name “Muhammad” is said to be stamped on the heart of creation itself, which is why those whose hearts are open recognize the countenance of his light when they witness it. The name “Muhammad” therefore symbolizes universal love and all of its expressed forms such as reverence and praise, which is constantly in every moment manifesting God’s Divine Love in the world through created beings, both animate and inanimate. The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is regarded as “Rahmatan lil-Alameen” (the mercy to all worlds) whereby his mere presence, either physically or spiritually, wards off Divine Anger and confers and brings upon the one who has opened their heart and established within it the presence of Rasulallah ﷺ the lights of Divine Love. It is thus the modality of pure ascendancy.
The Dual Metaphysical Principles of Anahata
"O humanity! Be mindful of your Lord Who created you from a single soul, and from it He created its mate, and through both He spread countless men and women."
Each chakra is associated with a corresponding “god” and “goddess,” to use the common language of the Hindus. But as the Yogic masters understand it, these are not “gods” or “deities” but are in reality descriptions using symbols ascribed to the dualistic cosmic masculine and feminine principles that emanate forth from the “single soul”, the First Being mentioned in the Qur’an created by God; Islamic mystics have explored this concept, understanding it by various names including al-‘aql al-awwal (the First Intellect) and the Supreme Spirit or the Universal Spirit. It contains the traces of Knowledge and Power, with Power representing the Divine Masculine Principle and Knowledge representing the Divine Feminine Principle, which through their mutual interaction brings about myriad forms that make up the multiplicity of the world but which are in fact nothing other than the operation of the constellations of Divine Attributes (ṣifāt) and Divine Names (asmāʾu llāhi l-ḥusnā)., all expressing the principle of One. Therefore, these references to “gods” and “deities” as personifications of the masculine and feminine principles are not actually independent gods to be made into idols but symbolic focal points through which the practitioner contemplates the unfolding of Divine qualities within the microcosm of the human being. Similarly to how Qur’anic description of God creating with “His two hands” or grasping the universe with his “right hand” are symbolic representations of deeper metaphysical realities not to be taken literally as images, so too are the descriptions of the various masculine and feminine personifications.
The personification of the Divine Masculine energy in Anāhata is represented by Isha, the form of Shiva that means “Lord,” “Ruler,” or “the One who possesses supreme power and authority.” This corresponds to the Divine Attribute of Al-Rab (The Lord); one of the fundamental aspects of Lordship is that He commands and prohibits. The Lord, in the Islamic spiritual tradition, is understood as that which governs the heart, and thus, commands being. This means that dominion has necessary correspondence with Lordship, and Lordship has necessary correspondence with commanding. Therefore, there is necessary correspondence between dominion and command. This is where the secret of religion and sacred spirituality abides. In order to obey the commands of the Lord, the subject must first be in a state of surrender [Islam], where the dominion of their heart belongs to God alone, ultimately recognizing God as the Lord and the Master of one’s heart, and thus of one’s very being. When one has instantiated this Divine Attribute within themselves, being reformed under the command of the Lord of the Heart, then one’s heart becomes adorned with its qualities and its traces manifest outwardly in one’s life, which is something we see unique for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ among all Prophets, Messengers, and all other spiritually realized and awakened beings. What this ultimately means is that one becomes a Lord in this world who commands vast armies and at whose feet kneel an entire nation, but also at the same time, sits atop the throne of spiritual authority as its highest master. It is the combination of material authority and spiritual authority that makes it truly unique. One is manifesting most fully the Divine Attribute of Lordship, which encompasses not just the internal spiritual dimension of Lordship but also its external material dimension, ultimately becoming the shadow of God on Earth as His Khalifat (viceregent). This corresponds to the statement of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ:
"I am the master of the children of Adam, and I do not boast."
In the heart chakra, Shiva in the form of Isha represents the spiritual dimension of the energy of compassion and mercy (dayā and karuṇā). Unlike the ashen form of Rudra in Maṇipūra, who represents God’s rigor in the form of purification through the act of burning away the impurities that defile the ego in the all-consuming fire of purification, Isha represents the consequence of Maṇipūra as the “city of jewels”, alternatively translated as “resplendent gem” or “lustrous gem”. Interestingly, the Prophet ﷺ described himself, according to well known ahadith, as “the city of knowledge” where knowledge is often described as a resplendent light that illuminates. Furthermore, as Isha represents the embodiment of compassion and mercy, so too has the Prophet ﷺ been described as such. In one narration, the Prophet ﷺ is reported to have said, “I am Muhammad…and the Prophet of Compassion.” The famous title, “Mercy to All the Worlds” is rooted in this foundational verse that establishes the Prophet ﷺ as a universal mercy encompassing all of creation because “the worlds” (al-ʿālamīn) includes human beings, jinn, animals, and all of existence. The mercy of the Prophet ﷺ is described as an emanation of Allah’s own mercy. Allah is the possessor of vast mercy (Qur’an 6:147), and He sent His Prophet ﷺ as a mercy and blessing to humanity
"And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad], except as a mercy to the worlds."
Isha is described as having a bright white or camphor-blue complexion, which is a symbolic metaphor for spiritual purity and transcendence beyond the material world, not being entangled in it, and abiding with the spiritual dimensions of reality even while have an existence here. At once, we might be reminded of a well known saying of the Prophet ﷺ that embodies the spirit of non-attachment, “What to this world am I, and what to me is this world? My likeness in the world is that of a traveler who had taken rest beneath a tree and who is thus gone from it.” Isha is depicted as being seated on a tiger skin, which represents mastery over the ego and its lower animal drives. The one who has tamed the wild beasts of thought, emotion, and impulse sits upon them as a throne, where now, as we see in Islamic thought, the ego has become an obedient riding animal whereby one may now traverse the metaphysical planes towards the Divine Presence. In one hand, Isha holds the trident, which symbolizes mastery over the three guṇas (the qualities of nature: sattva, rajas, and tamas) and over the three aspects of time (past, present, and future). The one who has reached the heart chakra is no longer bound by the fluctuations of material nature nor trapped in the linear progression of time, rather, they abide in the eternal now; from an Islamic framing, one has become the ibn al-waqt (the son of the moment), for it is said that in the miracle of the present moment one finds God since the present moment is to experience reality whereas the past and the future are simply illusory projections that do not have the attribute of existence. In this way, the Prophet ﷺ was understood as a timeless prophet who when alive in this world had moments where he glimpsed with clear vision the past and the future as a present unfolding experience, able to describe the ancients who came before them in time with intimate detail to his Companions and also able to describe future events with striking accuracy in order to leave guidance and a message of hope for the followers of his nation who would arrive in the future. After his physical departure from this world, he remains ever-living in the ‘realm of the grave’ helping those of his nation to reach guidance.
Isha represents the spiritual dimension of the energy of compassion and mercy manifesting in the world. In one hand he holds the fear dispelling mudra and in the other hand he holds the boon providing mudra, which denotes a blessing or a gift. To this, the Prophet Muhammad described himself as:
"O people, I am but a gift of mercy."
The Divine Feminine energy in Anāhata is represented by Kākinī. Kākinī’s complexion is radiant and luminous, described variously as golden, yellow, or rose-colored. This color is said to reflect the heat of compassion, the fire of love that does not burn but instead illuminates and revitalizes. This very aptly describes the gnostic experience of the “Nur Muhammad” (Muhammadan Light) by the knowers of the path, which they have described as the golden flame of Divine Love that burns in ecstasy, representing the overflow of God’s infinite love for His beloved.
In one hand, Kākinī holds a noose, which represents the energetic bonds of worldly passions, relationships, and emotional dependencies that tether us to the material world. For it to be in her hands represents control over the lower three chakras (Mūlādhāra, Svādhiṣṭhāna, and Maṇipūra), which pertain to the physical world, the emotional world, and the world of egoic will, all which underpin attachment as the root of base desire. In another hand, Kākinī holds a skull, which represents detachment from the ego and the illusory world. To hold it symbolizes liberation, specifically liberation through the upper three chakras (Viśuddhi, Ājñā, and Sahasrāra), which pertain to the spiritual world. From an Islamic perspective, we could say that the skull symbolizes fanā’ (annihilation), the death of the ego, the dissolution of the false self, as the Prophet ﷺ is reported to have instructed, “die before you die” as the process for detachment from this world. In some depictions, Kākinī holds a sword. This represents discernment (viveka), which pertains to the power to cut through illusion, to distinguish the real from the unreal, the permanent from the temporary, the Divine from the false claimants to divinity, which we understand ultimately as the false idols that take root in the heart. From an Islamic perspective, this pertains to basira, the faculty of the inner eye that governs discernment whereby truth and falsehood are seen clearly and distinguished from each other. The sword of discernment is the wielding of Lā ilāha, “There is no god”, to everything that is not God. In other depictions, she holds a shield, which represents the spiritual protection of the heart in the form of sacred boundaries. Sacred boundaries are established through sacred law (shari’ah), both internally, which pertains to personal moral behavior, and externally, which pertains to moral behavior that is public and in relation to others, and thus also has a legal dimension to it. Together, by adhering to them, especially when it is felt as disagreeable to the ego – such as due to fear or lust – sacred boundaries become established and reinforced within the heart that not only protect the light of truth that abides within it from becoming corrupted by the lower desires of the animal self, but also reforms the self according to these boundaries thus giving rise to the sacralized self. This is what leads to the state that Kākinī’ is said to be in, which is a state “softened by the nectar of amrita”. As a result of the lower chakras being purified and under control, the nectar drips down from the crown chakra (Sahasrāra) into the open heart of the seeker who has been purified, symbolizing the downpouring of Divine Light as a gnostic reality that consumes the seeker in the golden flames of Divine Love, which is a totalizing experience of pure bliss, joy, ecstacy, and peace.
All together, the symbol of the unification of Isha and Kakini describes the person who has attained Enlightenment and is thus intoxicated by Divine Love, which has permeated their entire existence. In this state, bliss and joy emanate from within, they become a light that illuminates the path for others out of compassion and mercy. What is interesting about this state of Being is that, despite the immense trials, tribulation, pain, loss, and suffering experienced by the Prophet Muhammad, he was said to be a man who was always smiling, uplifting others with his joyous countenance, and as such, became known as “the smiling Prophet”.
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was described as the master of both worlds, this world and the next. In the Qasidah al-Burdah (The Poem of the Cloak), Imam al-Busiri recites, “Muhammad is the leader of both worlds and both creations (man and jinn).” The symbol of Kakini as control and liberation is immense in this regard. The Prophet ﷺ came with Sacred Law (shari’ah), representing control over the lower world by the spritual principles of higher world. It is through this control that the intellect is free and the irrational soul is made rational, ultimately denoting the state of Enlightenment or Liberation. This state of intoxication ascribed to Kakini describes the underlying reality of the Prophet ﷺ, which is a state of total bliss due to the constant proximity with God and the constant descending of God’s pleasure upon him. Thus his name, his reality, is a perfect embodiment of its meaning as “the praised one”, which in Arabic denotes a constant state of praise, and thus, in a constant state of being loved.
The Essence of Anahata - The Unstruck Sound
In Sanskrit, anāhata means “unstruck” or “unbeaten,” referring to the Vedic concept of the sound that arises without the collision of two objects, understood as the eternal vibration of the celestial realm, the sound of “Om” itself, or – from the perspective of Islamic mystics – the sound of “Hu.” The heart beats with life, and just as our life begins with a heartbeat, created reality also began with a beat. This is the sound that the Sufis call Nida-i-Asmānī (the sound of heaven) and Kalām-i-qadīm (the ancient, eternal sound). All sound in the manifested universe is produced by the vibration of atoms. Every object has a natural frequency or set of frequencies at which it vibrates. Every object, the universe itself, therefore has a sound, a heartbeat, a voice. However, the primordial sound, which issues from beyond this material world, is unstruck. It does not emanate from the vibration of atoms, it is the source of vibration, the source of sound itself, the source of the created world. Therefore, the unstruck sound pertains to all of created existence – its voice speaking to all things and its beat at the heart of all phenomena – and thus can animate or destroy everything. The Sufis say that if the veils were lifted, you would hear the atoms vibrating in ecstacy repeating the name “Allah”. The significance of sound in revealed religion is clear. In Islam, it is the origin point of existence, an ongoing process by which God maintains the world, and, signified by the sound of trumpets, the point that ushers in its death and total destruction.
In the Mahayana tradition, the Śūraṅgama Sūtra records that the Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara declared that he attained Enlightenment through concentration on the subtle inner sound. The Buddha then praises Avalokiteśvara and affirms this as the supreme way. The sutra states:
"How sweetly mysterious is the Transcendental Sound of Avalokiteshvara! It is the pure Brahman Sound. It is the subdued murmur of the seatide setting inward. Its mysterious Sound brings liberation and peace to all sentient beings who in their distress are calling for aid; it brings a sense of permanency to those who are truly seeking the attainment of Nirvana's Peace . . ."
All the Brothers in this Great Assembly, and you too, Ananda, should reverse your outward perception of hearing and listen inwardly for the perfectly unified and intrinsic sound of your own Mind-Essence, for as soon as you have attained perfect accommodation, you will have attained to Supreme Enlightenment."
One of the most direct accounts of a Buddhist figure attaining realization through the anāhata nāda is the story of the Mahasiddha Vinapa (“The Musician”). According to the Masters of Mahamudra, Vinapa achieved mahāmudrā-siddhi through contemplation of the “unborn, unstruck sound.” His own verse records the realization:
"With perseverance and devotion I mastered the vina's errant chords; but then practicing the unborn, unstruck sound, I, Vinapa, lost my self".
The ordinary, struck sound of the vina (the āhata nāda) was to be used as a gateway to the anāhata nāda – the “unstruck sound” that arises without any external cause, the primordial vibration of reality itself. The commentary explains that his mastery of the “unborn, unstruck sound” was made audible by eradication of concepts, judgements, comparisons and criticism that obscure cognition of the pure sound of the instrument. This is the negation of all conditioned things, in this case, in relation to sound. As Bikkhu Bodhi explained, “Impermanent, alas, are conditioned things! Their very nature is to arise and vanish. Having arisen they then cease. Their subsiding is blissful!“
Here we see a direct parallel with the Islamic spiritual practice of taḥannuth, a practice that was associated with the Prophet Abraham ع. Given that the Rasulallah ﷺ was a direct descendent of the Prophet Abraham ع, this is significant because it is a sign of the inheritance of the covenant that God had given to Prophet Abraham ع. From before he was born, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was rightly guided in the way of receiving or inheriting the covenant and the legacies of his pure ancestors who never were idolators. As such, this practice is profound as the pre-revelation meditation of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, which he conducted in occultation in the depths of the Cave of Ḥirāʾ on the Mountain of Light overlooking Mecca. Taḥannuth is derived from the root ḥ-n-th and refers to a pre-Islamic practice of devotion, seclusion, and spiritual seeking. It is often translated as “a turning away from idolatry”, symbolized in the Qur’anic story of Abraham ع turning away from all forms of idols, from the moon, the stars, and the sun, idols made of rock and wood, and then also the conceptual idols of the heart. Just as the Buddhist practitioner eradicates concepts and judgments that obscure pure cognition, taḥannuth is a practice of negation – the extrication from the heart of all else besides God. Both traditions recognize that the conditioned world of multiplicity (saṃsāra; al-dunyā) is characterized by impermanence and that attachment to its discrete objects fragments the self, binding it to suffering (duḥkha; ḍīq, constriction). In both, the path begins with negation as the deliberate and sustained turning away from the false claimants to Divinity and existential reality, away from contingent “things” and dependent Being as having inherent reality and independent Being, whether they appear as judgments upon sound, as attachments to material objects, or as the internal idols of ego, desire, and pride. There is a turning away by perceiving with the mind’s eye their unreality, their lack of inherent reality, which causes it to vanish at once from within the heart.
This is to say that in the awareness of the vanishing of all impermanent things in relation to sound as the point of meditation, distinction between sound and the hearing subject vanishes automatically and at once. The unstruck sound is the sound of silence and is the auditory equivalent of phenomenal emptiness or sunyata. It is absolute sound; it is the potential sound of everything composed and waiting to be composed. Lost in this non-sound, the sense of self becomes infinitely diffused in emptiness. But in emptiness, as the scholars describe, it actually denotes absolute fullness.
"When Avalokita says that our sheet of paper is empty, he means it is empty of a separate, independent existence. It cannot just be by itself. It has to inter-be with the sunshine, the cloud, the forest, the logger, the mind, and everything else (that lead to its existence). It is empty of a separate self. But, empty of a separate self means full of everything…Form is empty of a separate self, but it is full of everything in the cosmos.”
From an Islamic perspective, this same metaphysical movement of being and grounding insights appear in the twin movements of the Shahada: Lā ilāha illā Allāh (“There is no god but God”). These two movements are not sequential in a merely temporal sense but simultaneous and interdependent. One cannot affirm the Real without first negating the unreal. Yet as the Real is glimpsed within the mind’s eye, even as a beginning stage as the most subtle of intuitions, it effaces the unreal, which in turn allows for an even greater and clearer glimpse of the Real. Then, this in turn reinforces at a greater degree the unreality of all else besides God. This cyclical movement within, the “polishing of the heart”, occurs until all illusions of the inherent reality of individual things have been totally effaced and one becomes consumed in The One.
What occurred in the practice of Vinapa describes this, which was that his individual sense of self, defined by judgments upon sense perception, was erased because the distinction between the perceiver and the perceived had vanished. Sound is just one example of a sense perception that represents the totality of impressions of sense perception upon the intellect, which together constitute what we call the material world, or in Islam the dunya, the illusory world. The sense of self that reflects integration into the illusory world is the illusory self, and so this narration of Vinapa pertains to the erasure of the illusory self. In the example of negating an individual sound as having inherent reality, one in a sense “becomes one” with sound, not the individual sound but the possibility of sound itself, hence the experience of fullness as mentioned in the narration of Avolokita on how “Form is empty of a separate self, but it is full of everything in the cosmos”. However, this speaks to the Buddhist notion of “form is emptiness, emptiness is form”. This is to say, the sentiment of Avalokita is not about becoming one with the myriad particularities of the universe, as many often interpret, with every “thing” in the cosmos. Rather, it is a sense of returning and uniting with the ontological ground of Being that qualifies the existence of all “things” in the first place, all of which exist interdependently in relation to each other, but all together dependently in relation to the singular ontological ground of Being. The realization is not the pantheistic merging with every discrete object but the recognition of the ground (āśraya, dharmatā) from which all particularity arises and into which it dissolves. It is the recognition of the Oneness of Pure Being that underpins the apparent world of multiplicity and contingent Being.
The Lā ilāha is the negation, it is the emptying of the heart of all false attachments, all idols (whether carved from wood or constructed from concepts and false judgments), all reliance on anything other than the Real. As the Sufi masters teach, Lā ilāha “expels” the perception that anything other than God has inherent reality, independent existence, or Lordship, which is said to be a subtle form of hidden shirk (associating partners with God). This is precisely the same function as the Buddhist eradication of concepts, judgments, and distinctions (vikalpa) that obscure pure cognition. Both traditions recognize that the conditioned world of multiplicity (saṃsāra; al-dunyā) is characterized by impermanence (anicca; huduth), and that attachment to its discrete objects fragments the self, binding it to suffering (duḥkha; ḍīq, constriction). In both, the path begins with negation as the deliberate and sustained turning away from the false claimants to ultimacy – whether they appear as judgments upon sound, as attachments to material objects, or as the internal idols of ego, desire, and pride.
The illā Allāh is the affirmation, it is the filling of the now-emptied heart with the presence of the One, the realization that emptiness of a separate self is simultaneously fullness of the Divine Presence itself. This echoes the wisdom of Shaykh Abdal Qadir al-Jilani ع that creation veils you from your ego, and your ego veils you from God. Lifting these veils reveal the esoteric understanding of what it means to become a “slave of God’, which denotes existential dependence on God in an absolute sense by perceiving the necessary unreality of “things” in themselves. Just as the Buddhist practitioner, having eradicated distinctions, hears the anāhata nāda – the unstruck sound that is the auditory equivalent of śūnyatā (emptiness-as-fullness) – the Muslim mystic, having emptied the heart through Lā ilāha, experiences illā Allāh as the direct living presence of the Real. The illā Allāh establishes the heart in the presence of the One, signifying a return to the fulness of the ontological ground of Pure Being. This is not a merely theological proposition or mere theory but a lived spiritual transformation that has verifiable and experiential effect: it is felt as the release of the heart from the weight of idols, the release of the tension of attachment that constricts the heart resulting in its expansion (inqishāḥ al-ṣadr) as those attachments to idols are effaced through true perception.
The metaphysical structure underpinning these spiritual traditions is nearly identical in their negation of conditioned things as the means for revealing the unconditioned ground; the erasure of distinction between perceiver and perceived reveals the non-dual Real. The death of the false self through annihilation (fanā’) opens the door to subsistence in the True (baqā’). The experience in these traditions, although perhaps clearer when observed through the metaphysical lens of Islam, is not one of pantheistic merging with every discrete object, but the recognition of the ground from which all particularity arises and into which it dissolves, which is the recognition that, as the Qur’an declares, “Wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah” (2:115). All myriad particularity, in every moment, is engaged in an ongoing instantiation of the principle of One. The wave does not “become one” with the ocean by losing its distinctiveness; it recognizes that it was never anything other than the ocean, temporarily configured into a wave by conditions, and that its true identity is not “wave” but “ocean-appearing-as-wave.”
Echoing this sentiment of his true identity in relation to the Absolute, which conveys the spirit of non-attachment, the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is reported to have said:
"What to this world am I, and what to me is this world? My likeness in the world is that of a traveler who had taken rest beneath a tree and who is thus gone from it."
Jamgon Kongtrul, the great master of Tibetan Buddhism, identifies “primordial sound” (nāda) as a synonym for the “primordial indestructible great vital essence”, which is also known as Mahāmudrā (the Great Seal). As “the Great Seal”, it indicates that all phenomena are stamped by emptiness; nothing exists independently, and everything is interconnected. Rather than focusing on objects, breath, or visualizations, practitioners rest in open, non-dual awareness, observing thoughts without grasping them or pushing them away, aiding in the clear-light mind where emptiness is experienced directly, which is the fulness of Divine Light.
From an Islamic perspective, the name Mahāmudrā is especially interesting because it corresponds with the name Muhammad and his explicit title of “the Seal of Prophethood” (Khātam al-Nabiyyīn). Jamgon Kongtrul’s characterization of Mahāmudrā as “the Great Seal” signifying “the quintessence of mind itself” and “the supreme attainment of buddhahood” finds a resonant parallel in the Islamic understanding of Muhammad as the “perfect human” (al-insān al-kāmil) and as the identity of the Supreme Spirit – the one in whom all prophetic qualities reached their fullest expression and from whom their manifestations originated. Just as Mahāmudrā is not merely a concept but the realization of mind’s true nature, the Seal of Prophethood is not merely a title but the realization of the True Self manifesting in the world as “the quintessence of mind itself.” Mind and consciousness are one, and consciousness is the substratum, the ocean of light in which all existent things swim, abide, arise and cease, and express according to their capacities. This is Muhammad ﷺ as the “quintessence of mind itself”; therefore, his mere presence intensified the expression of consciousness from all existent things when brought into the orbit of his supreme aura, which some Companions could see and would describe as an aura of intense light.
According to various narrations mentioned in Qadi Iyad’s work, al-Shifā’, the Prophet ﷺ could see and perceive the material world in supernatural ways, such as being able to see behind his back as well as he could before him, or perceive stars in the sky that were inhumanly possible except through a telescope . In other narrations, rocks would seemingly come alive in his presence and could be heard vibrating and even chanting the name of God. Then there is the famous story of the weeping tree—a palm trunk that moaned like a camel out of longing for the Prophet ﷺ after he stopped leaning on it during sermons until he placed his hand upon it and it became still . Qadi Iyad records that the Prophet ﷺ said of this trunk: “It is weeping at the remembrance of what it has lost” . These strange phenomena, from a Dharmic perspective, highlight that mysterious “voice of all things” by which certain awakened people could hear and commune, the mystery of the “unstruck sound.”
This mystery is rooted in the “unstruck sound” as, according to the Yogic tradition, the Seed of Purusha, which represents the source from which Purusha emanated, and may be analogous to the Abrahamic concept of the Divine Command of God, “Be” (Kun). Purusha is the Pure Mind, the Cosmic Being, the Pure Consciousness from which the created world has arisen. The Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad describes this reality:
Splendid and without a bodily form is this Purusha, without and within, unborn, without life breath and without mind, higher than the supreme element. From him are born life breath and mind. He is the soul of all beings.
In Islamic metaphysics, this corresponds to the First Being (kawn) from which male and female souls are said to have been created; it is the Supreme Spirit or the First Intellect (al-‘aql al-awwal), of which the material world is an emanation. It is Ātman, the True Self, and from an Islamic perspective, the Muhammadan Light (al-Nūr al-Muḥammadī) of the True Self. When the Prophet ﷺ taught that “whoever knows their self (nafs) knows their Lord (rabb),” he was referencing the self-knowledge of one’s true identity, the Muhammadan Light, which is the Supreme Spirit that is only realized upon the annihilation of the ego or the false self. This is why the root of disbelief (kufr) is arrogance, and where arrogance is the foundation of the ego or the false self.
It is said that the Spirit is in a constant state of direct witnessing of the Beatific Vision of God, that is to say, it is always facing its Lord. In this regard, Ibn ‘Arabi uses a striking metaphor: he describes it as a form of cuckoldry (dayyūthiyyah) to allow one’s own soul (nafs), which he defines as the female principle, to look at other than the Spirit, the male principle, since that would entail looking away from God and thus at other than God. It was said of the Prophet ﷺ that his heart was in a constant state of witnessing God, and thus was constantly receiving the beatific light of gnosis (ma‘rifah). The character of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was therefore the perfected manifestation of the true identity of Ātman, of Purusha, of the True Self. Its secret is the ontological ground or essence of Being, precisely because it is always facing its Lord.
The Yogic texts support this metaphysical understanding, mentioning the presence of Jivan Jyoti, the Living Light, the Divine Spark. It is said to be located on the borders of the world of manifestation (the material world) and the world of the spirit. The Anāhata chakra is said to be the door through which we may reach this Living Light. When we have glimpsed this Light, then we actualize, then we become real. It is as if our consciousness becomes one with Purusha, with the True Self, with the Supreme Spirit, and we feel as if we are now flowing within the Ocean of Consciousness that permeates the universe. This is, from the Islamic lens, to become absorbed in the Muhammadan Light as the manifestation of God’s Love. When consumed in this fiery light, all of existence becomes seen as an obvious expression of the Divine Attributes, and so now God is seen as the Real (al-Ḥaqq) and is self-evident to us. It represents the profoundest of transformations.
The Element of Anahata
The heart chakra is associated with the element of air (vāyu tattwa). Unlike the solidity of earth (Mūlādhāra), the fluidity of water (Svādhiṣṭhāna), or the transformative intensity of fire (Maṇipūra), air represents expansion, freedom, lightness, and the pervasive presence of consciousness. In Yogic physiology, air is the element of touch (sparśa), the sense that most directly bridges the self and the world, dissolving the boundary between “inside” and “outside”, between “distant” and “far”, and thus represents connection and union. To touch the Divine Presence with your heart is to satisfy the longing of the heart for God. While air cannot be seen, it can be detected by tactile sensation, representing the modality of the physical body itself as the vehicle for knowing the spiritual world.
From an Islamic perspective, this highlights the understanding that the physical world, when seen for what it really is, is no longer the abode of delusion and illusion (dunya) but the instrument of knowledge (‘alim). Air corresponds to the manifestation of Divine Will as a subtle yet all-pervasive presence. Just as air is invisible yet essential, sustaining life without being seen, it represents the constant ongoing presence of the Will of God in creation.
Air is a symbol of the Ocean of Consciousness in which all of existence swims, what is called the Bahr al-Wujūd (Ocean of Being) in Sufi metaphysics, the substratum of consciousness from which all forms arise and into which they ultimately dissolve.
Interestingly, in both Yogic and Islamic traditions, air is intimately connected to the breath (prāṇa; nafas). The Qur’an describes God as having “breathed into man from His Spirit” (15:29, 32:9, 38:72). This Divine breath is the link between the transcendent and the immanent, between the body (jism) and the soul (nafs), and then between the soul (nafs) and the spirit (rūḥ), which gives life to the clay of the body. In Yogic physiology, prāṇa vāyu (the inward breath) and apāna vāyu (the outward breath) meet at the navel, but their balancing, the samāna vāyu, is centered in the heart. The breath is thus the vehicle of consciousness while the heart is the doorway into the transcendent. As the Sufi mystics say, “the secret is in the breath”.
The symbol or yantra of the air element is the hexagram (ṣaṭkoṇa), formed out of the intersection of the upward-facing triangle and the downward-facing triangle. The upward-facing triangle pertains to the upper three chakras (Viśuddhi, Ājñā, Sahasrāra), which are concerned with the spiritual world and the downward-facing triangle, which pertains to the lower three chakras (Mūlādhāra, Svādhiṣṭhāna, Maṇipūra), concerned with the material world or earthly realm.
The upward facing triangle represents our will to ascend, oriented towards the transcendent and thus associated with the heavens. It is the longing of the soul to return to its Source, it is the secret contained within the fitrah (original nature) of the Divine Presence. This triangle symbolizes Shiva, the personification of the Divine Masculine Principle, which is the upward ascending will of pure consciousness, transcendent awareness, the still witness that abides within. The downward facing triangle represents our will to be expressed through manifestation, that is, to create, which ultimately is orientation towards the immanent and thus associated with the earthly. It is the will of the Divine Feminine Principle, which is the downward descent of Divine energy into form, the creative impulse that brings into being the universe, cultivating and nurturing it with that spirit of the mother. This triangle symbolizes Shakti, the personification of the Divine Feminine Principle, which is a dynamic energy, creative power, the immanent presence that animates all things. This corresponds perfectly with Islamic metaphysics, particularly as articulated by the Chinese-Muslim theologians, namely that the Earth represents the feminine principle while the heavens represents the masculine principle, or the relation between the Divine Pen and the Divine Tablet. This is the metaphysics of sacred hierarchy that governs the relationship dynamic between the masculine and the feminine, and when this dynamic is in its proper arrangement, there is balance and harmony. The heart chakra, from an Islamic perspective, represents the fitra (primordial nature) in perfect balance and harmony. Anāhata is the place where both triangles intersect in proper alignment, meaning that the will of the Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine unify to create the ṣaṭkoṇa.
Signs of a Blocked Anahata
The Qur’an speaks of the misguidance of the tyrants as having a seal placed on their Hearts, indicating a completely blocked Anāhata. When Anāhata is blocked, uncultivated, and allowed to become polluted, then all of the other chakra centers above and below it also become polluted and corrupted. From the physical to the metaphysical, corruption manifests, which is related to why in Islam cleanliness, both in terms of physical purity and also in terms of one’s character and morality, are connected to the reality of iman (faith).
“Wealth is in the Heart and poverty is in the Heart. Whoever is wealthy in his Heart will not be harmed no matter what happens in the world. Whoever is impoverished in his Heart will not be satisfied no matter how much he has in the world.”
Anahata is the gateway to the higher chakras, meaning that a closed heart chakra prevents total balance and spiritual awakening. Because the heart chakra is the door to the Divine Presence, the essence of Being, for it to be blocked is to be cut off from the basis of one’s own fundamental reality, that is, it is for the gate of salvation to be shut. It thus represents the deepest of metaphysical trauma, which is defined by disconnection from the very Source of one’s existence, that is, from God. This is the true poverty of the heart that no amount of accumulation of wealth or pleasurable experiences can fill or compensate for, except as mere temporary distraction that leads to an even greater abyss of impoverishment, desperation, and addictive cycles of ever increasing destructive behavior. It is to be ‘forgotten’ by God, and thus as the Qur’an say, they were made to forget God. This “to be forgotten by God” has many signs and symptoms, but among the most significant ones is the “forgetting of the hereafter” and the perception of this outer world, as mentioned in the Qur’an, as all that there is. In other words, it is the materialist ontological perception of reality, which underpins Atheism, characterized by a life orientation that is not just focused purely on material concerns but also places ontological value on them. This metaphysical state of affairs explains, at bottom, why the most corrupt in the earth are the ones who tend to occupy the seats of power and hoard all the wealth: it is fundamentally a sense of need to compensate for what they are missing. The more that they are bereft of, the more they feel they must accumulate of wealth, status, and power along with its symbols. And the more they accumulate, the more superficialized they become, ever reducing themselves to mere froth on the surface of the sea of phenomena, impermanent and subsiding.
A completely blocked anahata is the characteristic of tyrants and oppressors, whether they are the tyrants of military might and oppression or economic tyrants who manipulate government in order to advantage themselves while depriving the nation of its wealth and destroying entire economies and lives. The fundamental traits of a blocked anahata is fear and insecurity, loneliness and isolation, a sense of insignificance and smallness, and fundamentally a lack of existential meaning and value. These all are rooted in the machinations of the illusory self, which cascade to sub-characteristics that underpin dysfunction, such as feelings of jealousy, contempt, and conceit. These then lead to overcompensatory personality traits, such as arrogance and a sense of grandiosity and superiority, where entitlement masquerades as confidence and selfishness as healthy self-esteem. When the acquisition of power, wealth, status, and so are confined to their fantasies and imagination, and cannot be achieved by them, the result is a victim identity complex, which we typically associate with covert or vulnerable narcissism. Such labels are not required however when we understand them from within the framework of spirituality and the metaphysics of Being. This is the ego on fire, and it must be fought against and disciplined and made humble.
When the Qur’an speaks of tyrants and oppressors, those who are on the path of misguidance, they are always described as having blocked Hearts and characteristics where there is a lack of mercy and compassion.
An interesting trait of narcissism, whether grandiose or vulnerable, is a lack of creativity, depth, and insight, which are the fundamental premises of wisdom. These typically arise from our self-reflective and introspective capacities, which requires us to look inwardly. The more that our heart chakra is blocked, the less we are able to direct our will inwardly to be self-reflective. Also interesting to note is how the demonic cannot create, they can only corrupt or poorly imitate what already exists. This is because when you have become superficialized, it means that you lack the depth required for creativity. This is the lack of a quantitative faculty, and so such people are only able to focus on quantity, efficiency, and productivity – all common terms that seem to be guiding the direction of society today by those with closed hearts.
Signs of an Open Anahata
This chakra is understood as the center of love and compassion because when one’s Anāhata energies are active, then one is able to identify with that all pervading Ocean of Consciousness, which results in the arising of the True Self. It represents Awakening from the illusion of particularity and separateness, which is the basis of the ego, to the reality of universality and connection, which is the basis of the True Self. If one is identified with the all pervading Ocean of Consciousness then one becomes absolutely inclusive of all existence, seeing all things as manifestations of the Divine Attributes and Names of God. Describing the Prophet ﷺ, the scholar say that even while he was at war with the likes of Abu Sufyan, Abu Lahab, enemies who were bitterly averse to him and committed to his destruction, even as they were responsible for the torture and killing of his friends and family, he did not hate them. Instead, his efforts towards them, even in his striving against them, whether through dialog and debate or through warfare and open martial combat, it was out of mercy and compassion. This explains why, even after their defeat at his hands, the Prophet accepted their repentance with great joy and brought them into the community of believers. With regards to the inclusiveness of the Anāhata, it means that you don’t simply accept everything as good and equal, rather it means that you discern, judge, and act with compassion and justice, which ultimately means to place things in their correct place. This is part of what it means for the depiction of Shiva and Shakti in the form of Isha and Rakini in symbolizing the dispelling of fear and the bestowal of mercy, life and death; it is the representation of perfect balance.
When your energy is dominant in the anahata, it is said that you may start to hear sounds that you could not hear before, such as the ringing of a bell. You will start to hear or perceive the language of the birds, the animals, the trees, the Earth, and the atmosphere. Hearing these things comes from Anāhata because, being connected to the “unstruck sound”, it is connected to the sound of all things. Again, these signs that exist within the Yogic tradition corroborate and point to the reality of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ as the embodiment of the awakened Heart.
The Anāhata chakra is said to contain the Bana Lingam, which is the sacred symbol of Shiva. It has within it the highest frequency of vibrations, which is said to shine with a golden light. This reference to a shining golden light is especially interesting because it appears to correspond to the golden flame of Divine Love that is often shown in depictions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. That golden flame of light is a metaphysical reality that is experienced by those who have awakened to the Muhammadan Reality. It represents an illuminated Heart overflowing with God’s Divine Love and Pleasure. Divine Love is the substance of universal consciousness, and so it represents the awakening of the universal within the particular, and thus, it is beyond egoic Being and separation. When one resides in this state, the reality of unity and oneness is perceived directly from within the depths of Being and in the externally perceived universe itself. This is what the heart chakra, resplendent with green, represents. In every moment of the ongoing recollection of the Divine, one sees the face of God wherever they turn. Such a person never feels alone for they are in the company of God in the Divine Presence. The greater the degree to which one’s heart has become alive in the remembrance of God, the greater the power of this connection is.
The Prophetic Archetype – The Fully Opened Anahata
As with the Buddha, the Prophet ﷺ was described as hearing the sound of the ringing of a bell when revelation would descend to him while in deep meditation; he was known to perceive the language of the trees and the animals, who would sometimes complain to him about being mistreated or would express their love for him; he was known for his kindness and warmth, taking care of the elderly and even those who would ridicule him; he was known for his honesty and generosity, even to the extent that his enemies would entrust him with their wealth over their own kinfolks; he was known as the embodiment of compassion and mercy, from taking care of the elderly and the orphans who had nobody to forgiving his most terrible of enemies who even participated in the killing of his family members and companions, even though he had at last attained total dominance and material power over them; he was known as a healer who, through the touch of his hand and soothing words, would remove anxiety and mental disturbance from others, even dispelling demons and healing physical ailments; he was known as the most noble and magnanimous person, and even though he resided at the top of all social dominance hierarchies, in his presence even the destitute felt that their lives had value and worth and nobility; he was known for his forbearance and as a courageous protector who would be the first to answer the call of the oppressed; he was regarded as the most just, where any man who was wronged would find not just his attentive ear but also his impassioned heart that moved with action; he was known as the bravest of men who was always the first onto the battlefield and the last to leave; he was known as both strong and soft, described as a perfect balance of masculine and feminine capacities.
Upon becoming Enlightened, he experienced the arrival of the Archangel Gabriel ع, which was described at first as an intense and destabilizing event that constricted his very being, as if the gravity of the world was placed upon him. But it was soon mastered thus becoming an expansive and blissful experience that culminated in his awakening as the Messenger of God – it was the arising of the Last Prophet. This pattern –initial fear and constriction, followed by expansion and peace – is the signature of authentic angelic encounter across not just the Abrahamic traditions but universally in all spiritual traditions.
According to the Biblical tradition, this perfectly describes an angelic experience; while a demonic experience is characterized first by an experience of bliss and expansion, it soon inverts into fear and constriction. The Navajo also describe a similar dynamic of what demonic experiences are like, explaining that demons cannot actually create true bliss, peace, joy, and confidence. They can only temporarily mimic it imperfectly, where the temporarality of it is part of its imperfection. It is used precisely to lure in the seeker, to quickly hook them and then ensnare them in their web of demonic power. On the other hand, an angelic experience is the opposite of this; it begins with fear and anxiety because it is the constriction of the ego. Once the ego has been sufficiently ordered, then the purity of the angelic realms open up to the purified self.
The Prophetic archetype is the greatest example that can be used to demonstrate the signs of a fully opened heart chakra. In this way, from a Yogic perspective, it could be said that the Prophet ﷺ represents the embodiment of Isha and Rakini, which together as the perfect harmonic balance of the masculine and feminine principles, unifies in the personification of the secret of the heart, which is the True Self that the Yogis call Purusha or Atman, the Living Light, the consciousness of the Supreme Spirit, the single soul from which God had created the male soul and the female soul, and through their intermingling, all other souls, and thus it pervades the material universe. And so the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is the instantiation of that archetypical principle through which the spirit of creation, the created universe itself, witnesses itself. He is the embodiment of Atman, the Supreme Spirit that is always facing its Lord, who when he speaks he speaks with the speech of God and not with the speech of a man. For this reason, the central principle of Islam with respect to creation is that all sentient creatures are a part of one community, like a single body which is identified as the nation of Muhammad ﷺ. Expressing this profound spirit of empathy and compassion, the Prophet ﷺ said:
"The example of the believers in their mutual love, mercy, and compassion for one another is that of a single body. When one part of it is afflicted with pain, the rest of the whole body responds to it with sleeplessness and fever."
What makes this saying all the more significant is that, according to classical commentary, this applied to all people regardless of religion, and not just to people, but also to the plants and the animals too. Islamic ethics with respect to nature is premised on this universal principle, which thereby bestows inherent rights upon everything in creation, including the rocks. This inclusivity is highlighted in various sayings of the Prophet, including:
"Beware, if anyone oppresses the one with whom one has an agreement (muʿāhid), or diminishes his right, or forces him to work beyond his capacity, or takes from him anything without his consent, I shall plead for him on the Day of Judgment."
The great contemporary scholar Shaykh Tabraze Azam explains that “the social rights of non-Muslims are the same as those of Muslims; and it is a personal and public duty for Muslims to safeguard the rights of others. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was sent as a mercy to humanity, not just the Muslims”
The Isra (Night Journey) and Miraj (Ascension) into Anahata
It is said that to fully open the heart chakra, one must possess a profound capacity for discernment and psycho-emotional stability, to use modern parlance. Fundamentally however, it represents a pure heart, a heart that has been made stable through the profound rootedness in sound first principles, which because first principles pertain to metaphysics – that is to architecture of reality – a person is thus rooted in reality. They therefore have a stable foundation. From an Islamic perspective, metaphysical first principles are, at bottom, rooted in theology because they necessarily emanate from the first principle of first principles, that is, the principle of the Necessary Being. For the principle of the Necessary Being to be instantiated within your heart, which is the foundation of knowledge, one must have pure yearning for God alone. But this can only happen when, as we’ve seen in the narration of Vipana and Avalokitesvara, all impermanent forms have vanished from the heart, their illusion dispelled by perceiving their true nature through the discernment of the spiritual eye. And so we see the beginning of the al-’Isrā’ wal-Miʿrāj (The Night Journey and the Ascension) of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ into the transcendental realms beyond this world begin with the Qur’anic verse:
"By the stars when they fade away!"
This is what the The Night Journey and the Ascension of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ fundamentally was, it was the journey beyond the veils of materiality, piercing both time and space and dimensionality, neither horizontal nor vertical but internal, transcendentally into the expansive universes that unveil from within the depths of the heart beyond the veils of death. It was the journey to the Lord of Reality. However, it happened only after a life of great trial and tribulation precisely because it was only through overcoming trial and tribulation that the pure self, the True Self – baptized in the fires of spiritual purification – defined by the boundaries of sacred law is made truly instantial. The life of the Holy Prophet ﷺ was a process of the manifestation of the Supreme Spirit in the instantial world through the carefully formed vessel of Rasulallah ﷺ; in this way, the Messenger is the message, which is also precisely why the Qur’an was revealed in conjugated stages with his own life as it unfolded and fashioned according to Divine Will. These sacred boundaries, upheld by intellect and by courage and will, on the level of Being, are represented by theological first principles, to use the rationalistic language of philosophy. You could even say they represent the link between the abstract realm of pure metaphysics and the concrete realm of the physical world. Since we exist in the physical world while our souls are in the spirit world, they provide for us here in this world a way to hold our soul, to direct it, to formulate it and to train it, where without which, drowning in the endless freedom of the abstract, we become submerged in the anxiety of chaos; the masculine principle – through limit – is required to hold and give firm structure to the feminine principle so that the feminine principle may produce music instead of chaotic noise.
Theology, as first principles, represents the concrete boundaries in which the intellect may abide coherently even while diving into the depths of the abstract imaginal realm. The discipline and the strength to abide within these principles establishes sacred boundaries within us that set the stage for a new self, the rational self, to emerge. This rational self is what enables a person to traverse the abstract imaginal realm while still remaining rational, and thus, avoiding the duplicity of demonic forces, what some in modern non-traditional circles call, amongst a variety of other names, “goblins” or “machine elves”. But this strange and otherworldly phenomenon that is experienced universally across time and cultural context is nothing new, and our scholars and spiritual masters have already written about these at length, especially regarding what the common pitfalls are and how to avoid them. For example, when you hear the patronizing voices of goblins praising you as “God” in order to cause your ego to manifest as an idol, you are to turn away from them at once by disbelieving them, castigating them, and seeing them as insignificant. Again here we see the importance of the meditative practice of tahannuth mentioned earlier as a sort of training of the mind for such moments where the mind is at once made raw and vulnerable to direct spiritual influence.
These boundaries are sacred boundaries established through sacred law (shari’ah), not just the external shari’ah, which is fundamentally important because it pertains to the ego’s inclinations particular to relations with others, but also the internal shari’ah that we must practice when alone, which pertains to the qualities of the ego particular to isolation. As we practice maintaining these sacred boundaries, especially as temptation and fear presses upon them in this world as trials and tribulations, the irrational soul is disciplined and thus made to be rational and obedient to the intellect. In this way, it will be less susceptible to the intimations of the demonic forces in the next world. This marks the beginning of the emergence of the sacred self, the True Self, which is able to express and instantiate in the world by virtue of those sacred boundaries that you have reinforced thus far. The irrational soul is the animal soul, thus it is inherently irrational for it merely obeys who or what it perceives as its master, whether its own instincts and impulses, or a demon or an angel. But and when it has become obedient to the rational self, and ultimately to God, it now becomes rational as well, and so it becomes the riding animal of the True Self that allows us to traverse the metaphysical realms more easily and with greater safety and control.
Interestingly, the vāhana (vehicle or animal sign) of the heart chakra is said to be a mystical antelope-like creature as the personification of the breath of life (prana-vayu), and therefore, the personification of directed will. The direction of the will upwards in order to ascend and the direction of will downwards in order to manifest creates a third direction, which is to go inwards towards the sacred precinct of the Divine Presence. In the Yogic tradition, this mystical riding animal is characterized by the lightness of its stride and its ability to reach far distances in single bounds. The antelope’s leaping quality represents the capacity of directed will to transcend the material world easily, without the burden of heavy attachments or the sluggishness of the lower chakras. Where the bull of Mūlādhāra represents stability and the ram of Maṇipūra represents assertive force, the antelope of Anāhata represents swift, light, and graceful transcendence. This mystical animal only appears to the one whose heart is pure and open, and sincerely yearning for God alone.
Remarkably, this symbol finds a precise parallel in the Islamic tradition through the figure of the Burāq (البراق), the supernatural steed-like riding animal that carried the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ during the Night Journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and the Ascension through the seven heavens. According to some scholars, the name Burāq derives from the Arabic root barq (برق), meaning “lightning,” referring to the creature’s blazing speed and its ability to cover vast distances in an instant. While many of the features of its popular depictions that we find today, such as having a human head on the body of a steed-like animal, are from the 11th CE, the most canonical features are limited to that of a mystical riding animal that focus on its ability to traverse physically impossible distances. Descriptions of the Burāq in the ḥadīth literature emphasize its extraordinary leaping ability just like in the Yogic descriptions. In Sahih al-Bukhari, the Prophet ﷺ describes it as “a white animal which was smaller than a mule and larger than a donkey…The animal’s step (was so wide that it) reached the farthest point within the reach of the animal’s sight” and “whenever he faced a mountain his hind legs would extend, and whenever he went downhill his front legs would extend”.
This mystical riding animal is ultimately the vehicle for easily traversing the vast transcendental dimensions that open up to us through the heart, which is a portal that takes us beyond the material realm. The heart is the entry into the depths of consciousness itself, beyond the ephemeral forms that merely occupy the surface of reality. Passing into the heart, we enter the barzakh [برزخ], often referred to as the life of the grave, it is the entry point into the alam al-mithal [ألم المثال]. In its broadest definition a barzakh [برزخ] is that which separates two things, that which is neither one thing nor another. It is the dream world that partakes of both life and death, the image in the mirror that both is and is not the observer, the unperceivable instant between past and future, the dawn and the dusk when it is neither fully light nor dark, and the moon as it waxes and wanes in its cycle, forever in between the crescent and the void. As Chittick notes, it is that which stands between and separates two other things, yet combines the attributes of both. Within it are all possible things. He goes on to say, “Existence itself is a barzakh (a liminal state) between Being and nothingness.” Between the One unchanging Being and the equally unchanging nothingness (‘adam) lies the barzakh [برزخ] of the ever-fluctuating existent things.
Then Allah revealed to His servant what He revealed.
As the barrier between the spiritual world and the material world begins to dissolve as one traverses into the heart, one begins to perceive supersensory phenomena, from strange worlds that defy the ordinary mechanisms of earthly life to creatures that enthrall and terrify us. As Shaykh Hamza Yusuf said, the earthly realm is the world of meaning set up in images, but as we ascend through the dimensions of reality, we are journeying more deeply into the world of pure meaning; their manifestations are more powerful, direct. This interstice world stands as a mesocosm between the spiritual world and the material world. It is the “interworld”, as Henry Corbin calls it, the place where “psycho-spiritual events including miracles, spiritual ascents, and theurgical operations take place.” Powerful energies that personify as what some cultures might regard as deities, or as angels and demons, may come to you, as if being drawn to the ringing of a bell, or perhaps to the fragrance – or the tepid stench – of your soul. While discrernment and emotional stability are conjoined with a pure heart and luminous soul, an impure heart is largely devoid of these qualities, and without discernment and emotional stability, when one’s lower irrational ego is too powerful and muddies the light of the soul, one may become terrified, disturbed, and thrown into a deep confusion, which may manifest on the level of ordinary consciousness as false belief, such as polytheism or even self-deification. One must possess, therefore, the absolute steadiness of intellect, that is, a pure heart whose spiritual eye does not waver or become trapped in the illusions of confusion.
The ˹Prophet’s˺ heart did not doubt what he saw.
This discernment and internal balance is rooted in and made possible through training all aspects of your Being, which for Muslims is all addressed in the comprehensive paradigm of Islam as a whole, both the inward and the outward, not as separate fields or areas of life but which are inextricably linked together, each supporting one another, each a path into the other through inherent overlap and relatedness and mutual insights born from life experience. In this way, the spiritual path of the heart is a life experience, a lived reality, not merely ritualistic practices one engages in at certain periods of time without giving due thought to the rest of one’s life. One cannot be spiritual while also being lustful and gluttonous or unjust. This paradigm fundamentally pertains to all dimensions of the human being because one must internalize sound first principles (‘aqida), adhere to sacred law (shari’ah), purify the heart (tazkiyyah), which is the science of the Sufis, and act with honorable and chivalric conduct (futuwwa) in our dealings with others and alone with God. Without these, one will not transform into a creature that is able to distinguish between what is real and what is illusion, what is memory and what is imagination, what is true experience and what is egoic fabrication, what is angelic and what is demonic. And even in the case where you have true visions of the higher realms, if you are under the influence of your ego because, up to this point, you have too strongly identified with it and fed it through narcissistic self-indulgence, because the ego is manipulated by the devils that very often infest the perimeter of the heart, then very easily can the influence the thoughts you use to frame that experience in order to invert it from having a sacralizing effect on you to a profaning and debasing effect; in a sense, truth becomes falsehood, and the cure becomes the disease. The thoughts that come to your mind are not always your own, sometimes they are from angels and sometimes they are from demons. If we are unable to distinguish the nature of these voices and discern what has significance and what does not, then our experiences will be at the behest of forces that are not so kind to us. In this way, the worst state of affairs for a seeker is to have true spiritual experiences when they are not ready. According to Yogic scholars, Anāhata is said to be a place where you see and hear things that could make a reasonably stable person insane. Indeed, many are those who have returned from gazing into the abyss believing they are gods.
All spiritual traditions hold that the state between wakefulness and sleep is the entry point of the spirit realm. This dimension of barzakh [برزخ] is the “interval between the present life and that which is to come, from the period of death to the resurrection”. And so, it is commonly understood universally that it is between wakefulness and sleep, between life and death, that revelation descends from and that contact with the Spirit, the Rūḥ [روح], in all of its infinite manifestations, may occur.
Anāhata is thus the site of the union of the transcendent and the immanent, of longing and the object for which one longs, this world and the hereafter. As one journeys into the heart, one may arrive at the horizon. The horizon separates this world from the next, this moment from the next. For the one who has become totally pure, this horizon at the edge of reality between Being and non-Being begins to disappear. As the horizon within the heart disappears, like the horizon between the ocean and the sky at dusk, the sacred realm of the Divine Presence (al-Ḥaḍrah al-Ilāhiyyah) begins to reveal itself through the manifestation of a mysterious ethereal tree.
"In the heart there is a small lotus, the Hrit, of eight petals. It has three circles: the sun-circle of vermilion colour, the moon-circle of white colour, and the fire-circle of deep-red colour. Within it shines the Kalpavriksha (the wish-fulfilling tree)."
Interestingly, this same esoteric phenomenon is found both in the Yogic tradition and in the Islamic tradition as they articulate this gnostic experience of the afterworld of the heart. In the Yogic tradition, this tree is referred to as the Kalpavriksha (कल्पवृक्ष), the “Wish-Fulfilling Tree”, the “Divine Tree”, the “Sacred Tree” or the “Celestial Wishing Tree”, thus Anāhata is described as the seat of the Kalpavriksha. In the Islamic tradition, it is called the Sidrat al-Muntahā (سدرة المنتهى), the “Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary.” Because the horizon represents the purest manifestation of duality, its disappearance represents transcendence beyond the realm of duality into the unknown realm of unity or non-duality. In verse 22, we see that familiar theme of the masculine principle represented by the sun and the feminine principle represented by the moon, together highlighting the principle of duality that underpin created reality. Between both, the realm of pure consciousness emerges, which being pure and unmixed, transcends duality.
The appearance of this tree is not mere symbol, it is an experienced reality, far more real than what we are experiencing of the ordinary world. It is a gnostic reality perceived by the seeker whose inner eye – that faculty of basira – has been awakened, whose heart has now been oriented fully to God alone. As such, it is not a place one can travel to by one’s own means and effort, neither physically nor spiritually. The more one tries to approach this tree, the more one finds their efforts futile, for it is impossible to approach unless permission has been granted and one has been invited. It is thus a reality that God unveils to the purified soul that has been illuminated in the light of desire for God, pure and unmixed with desire for others, even one’s own self. As Shaykh Abdal Qadir al-Jilani ع taught, leaving your self-interest behind is the essence of the spiritual path to God. The tree represents the lifting of the veils of duality – the false distinctions between self and other, between this world and the next, between the seeker and the Sought. One must therefore be willing to sacrifice even one’s own self at the altar of God. As Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad once said, there is a secret in this: as one arrives closer and closer to the Divine Presence of God, the veil is lifted and the separation between the will of God and the will of man becomes an illusion.
In some traditions, the Kalpavriksha is described as residing in a smaller lotus called the Ānandakanda (आनन्दकन्द), the “Root of Bliss,” although located just below the Anāhata chakra, it is actually considered an outer layer; Swami Radha described this lotus as the inner courtyard to the Anāhata chakra, where the inner courtyard represents “the experience of the manifestation of psychic energy, while the Anahata chakra houses the tabernacle of the Most Holy”. For the heart to enter this realm of the Ānandakanda with the qualities other than that of pure submission to God, and thus destabilized by the states of egoic self-love such as lust, anxiety, or malice, all which are conjoined to desire for other than God, then the wish-fulfilling nature of the space instantly manifests those chaotic mental states into their reality. Not only is one unable to pass through the courtyard, but they are also punished in the manifested fires of their own soul. According to the classical text, Ṣaṭ-Chakra-Nirūpaṇa, the Anāhata lotus is “like the celestial wishing-tree (kalpa-taru), bestowing even more than the supplicant’s desire”. When this tree fructifies, whatever you truly desire comes true.
In the Islamic tradition, at the climax of the Prophet Muhammad’s ﷺ Miʿrāj (Ascension) through the metaphysical realms, he was brought near – until he was two bow-lengths away or even closer [53:9] – to the Sidrat al-Muntahā. The name Sidrat al-Muntahā literally means “the Lote-Tree of the Extreme Limit” or “the Sacred Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary”. When the Prophet ﷺ arrived at this tree, it was “covered with that which covered it”, which commentators explain as Light (al-nūr), Splendor (al-bahā’), Beauty (al-ḥusn), and Purity (al-ṣafā’) – “so delightful that there is no end to its depiction”. The Prophet ﷺ himself described its immensity, “If a horseman were to gallop for seventy years across its shadow, he would not be able to traverse it; a single leaf of it can cover an entire nation”. He ﷺ also reportedly said that he saw upon every one of its leaves an upright angel glorifying God, the entire tree covered with a canopy of worship. The Qur’an describes this encounter with profound esoteric meaning:
…at the Lote Tree of the utmost boundary.
near which is the Garden of ˹Eternal˺ Residence.
When the Lote-Tree was covered by that which covered it of nameless splendor [light upon light].
His eye neither wavered nor did it stray.
Verily he saw [with clear discernment] one of the greatest manifested Signs of God.
The Sacred Tree is also identified as the shajarat al-nubuwwat, the “Tree of Prophethood”. According to a narration attributed to Imam `Alī ع, the nafs (Divine Logos-Soul) is equated with this tree, indicating that it is a symbol of the Supreme Spirit itself, which again in Islamic metaphysics is the ‘First Being’ created by God, the True Self. In a hadith, the Prophet ﷺ said, “The first thing that Allah created was the light of your Prophet from His Light.” This indicates that the true identity of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is the Supreme Spirit, sometimes called ‘aql al-kull (the “Total Intellect”). Imam al-Ghazali mentions a hadith in his Mukhtasar Ihya’ ‘Ulum ad-Din where the Prophet said, “‘Intellect was the first thing God created. He told it to approach Him, so it did; then told it to retreat, and it did. So He said: “By My Majesty and Might, I have not created a creation more generous to Me than you – by you I take, and by you I give; by you I reward, and by you I punish.” And he ﷺ said, ‘I asked Gabriel what is the su’dud? He said ‘The Intellect.’ In his book, Secret of Secrets, Shaykh Abdal Qadir al-Jilani ع writes, “The soul of Muhammad ﷺ is the essence of all beings, the beginning and the reality of the universe. He indicates this with the words, ‘I am from Allah and the believers are from me’. Allah Most High created all souls from his soul in the realm of the first created beings, in the best of forms. ‘Muhammad’ is the name of all humanity in the realm of souls (‘alam al-arwah). He is the source, the home of each and every thing.”
The symbolic manifestation of “The Intellect”, the “Supreme Spirit”, is therefore the ethereal Lote Tree mentioned in the Qur’an as God’s “greatest manifested sign”. This implies that the greatest manifested sign of God is Muhammad ﷺ himself, who in his corporeal form contains in his heart the light of the Supreme Being, which is the light of the manifestation of God. For the Prophet ﷺ to witness directly the illuminated countenance of the ethereal Lote Tree was in fact for him to gaze into the mirror of his pure heart and see with clarity his true reality as the light of the manifestation of God, the Muhammadi Light.
Remarkably, this metaphysical structure of the spiritual journey in Islam corresponds perfectly to the Yogic understanding of the relationship between the Sacred Tree and the self (Jīvātman) in reference to the ultimate goal of the spiritual path. The Taittirīya Upaniṣad (2.1) states that the heart is the center where the energy of desire (Prana Vayu) and individual consciousness (Jīvātman) abide together constituting the embodiment of a self that identifies with a specific body, mind, and ego, that experiences the world as a construct in the world. Through this vehicle of the self, the human being travels inwardly in order to ultimately attain to the realization that this Jīvātman is identical with the Paramātman, which in the Yogic tradition is the Supreme Self, the highest manifestation of God. Similarly, in a divine tradition revealed to the Prophet ﷺ, God said, “I have created the soul of Muhammad from the light of my Manifestation (wajh)”. From a Yogic perspective, for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ therefore to have stood before the Celestial Wishing Tree was for him to witness the Muhammadi Light, which represents the uniting of his self (Jīvātman) with the reality of his true identity (Paramatman) through the realization that his true identity is that of the Supreme Spirit, the manifestation of the Light of God.
"It may be that your Lord will raise you to the Praiseworthy Station [of Being]"
The Praiseworthy Station (Maqam al-Mahmud), which classical scholars including Ibn `Abbas and al-Hasan al-Basri, unanimously identify as the Grand Intercession (al-Shafa’ah al-Uzma), represents in Islamic metaphysics the highest station of realized being, analogous to the Paramātman in the Yogic tradition, the Supreme Self manifesting as mercy for all creation. All major classical commentators agree that this verse refers specifically to the Grand Intercession. Therefore, there is a direct correspondence between the Prophet’s realization of his true identity as the Supreme Spirit, his manifestation as “Rahmatan lil-‘Alamin” (“The Mercy to All the Worlds”), and the Grand Intercession. Approaching the sacred tree, every step unveiling the light of his true being as the Supreme Spirit, standing at last at the standing place of the sacred precinct before his Lord, a wish was made and a wish was granted:
"Indeed Allah, the Almighty, awakened me and said: O Muhammad! Verily, I have neither sent any Prophet nor a Messenger without a wish to which I respond and that I now grant you too. So O Muhammad! You should also ask Me something which would be given to you. The Prophet ﷺ said: My wish is an intercession for my followers on the Day of Resurrection., Abu Bakr asked: O God's Messenger ﷺ! What is intercession? The Prophet ﷺ responded: I will say: O Lord! My intercession is the pledge I have kept with you. Thereupon, the Lord will say: Yes. Then my Lord will take out the rest of my followers from Hell and admit them into Paradise."
"He, the blessed Messenger of God ﷺ, raised his hands and said, 'O Allah! My Nation! My Nation!' and he wept."
This beholds the secret of iman (faith) in Islamic spirituality, which scholars say is a light that is placed in the heart, rooted in love for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and encapsulated in his statement, “No, by Him in Whose Hand my soul is, you will not have perfected [the light of] faith till I am dearer to you than your own self.” From a Yogic perspective, this represents for the seeker their realization of their true identity as [part of] the Paramātman.
"Under that tree there is a jeweled altar, and on it is a throne which is constituted of the fifty letters of the alphabet from A to Kṣa. This throne is the seat of the Supreme Deity."
The verses of the Ṣaṭ-Chakra-Nirūpana continue to describe this realm beyond realms. Surrounding the Sacred Tree is the Throne of the Most Holy, adorned with the sacred Mātṛkā letters. Mātṛkā (meaning “Little Mother”) refers to the phonemes or letters of the Sanskrit alphabet, which is not viewed as a human invention but as the vocalized womb of the cosmos, the primordial frequencies of sound that form the substratum of the fabric of created reality. These letters are the very fabric of creation, the vibrational matrix upon which the universe is woven. From an Islamic perspective, the fabric of reality, in all its frequencies and resonances and dimensionality are cascading permutations of that original command of God, “Be”. According to the Śaiva Tantras, Mātṛkā is the “source of all mantras, all śāstras, and in general, of everything that is made of words”. This corresponds precisely to the Islamic concept of the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawḥ al-Maḥfūẓ). The Qur’an declares: “Nay! It is a Glorious Qur’ān, in a Preserved Tablet” (85:21-22). Classical commentators explain that the Preserved Tablet is the archetypal repository of all divine decrees, the celestial script upon which are inscribed “the archetypes of all things, past, present and future”. According to a tradition from Ibn `Abbās, the Preserved Tablet was the first thing God created, made of white pearl, containing all that has been and ever shall be until the Day of Resurrection. Above this foundational Tablet is the Throne of God (al-ʿArsh).
Then the verse finally mentions the Throne as the seat of the Supreme Deity, which in Islam is called the ‘Arsh (Throne). This ties into another name for the Sidrat al-Muntahā as the “Lote Tree beyond which none may pass” because of its special proximity to the Throne of God. In a famous narration of ibn Abbas and Ka’b al-Abhar, found in Tafsir al-Tabari, it was stated that “It is the Lote Tree in the center of the ‛Arsh. At this, the knowledge of every learned man comes to an end; whatever is beyond it is known to none but Allah”. Beyond it lies the al-Ghayb al-Muṭlaq (the Absolute Unseen), which none can know but God. Yet the Prophet ﷺ was brought to this very threshold and in that standing, he received what no other created being has ever received: the direct vision of the Divine Presence, the gift of intercession (shafā’ah), and the station of Qāba Qawsayni (of two bows length indicating nearness and intimacy).
"The Yogi who, with devotion, contemplates this sacred precinct, enters through the pathway of the sun, moon, and fire into the Supreme Abode. This is the way of approach to the Most Holy, the innermost sanctuary of the Divine Presence."
What is described as the pathway of the “sun, moon, and fire” are deeply esoteric symbols with profound metaphysical significance related to the manifestation of the Supreme Spirit. In the Yogic tradition, the sun, the moon, and the fire correspond to the three principle nadis, which are depicted in the body as running from the base of the spin to the head. The three pathways include the Ida on the left, the Pingala on the right, and the Sushumna in the center.
The Ida and Pingala represent the basic duality of material existence or created reality, with Ida represented by the moon as the feminine (eartly) principle, and Pingala represented by the sun as the masculine (earthly) principle. Sushumna, the central space, unlike Ida and Pingala, remains dormant. However, Sushumna is the most significant aspect of human spiritual physiology because it is the path into the deepest realm of the heart, and thus, into our true nature that lies in the realm beyond duality, and thus, Being itself; it is the hidden path that appears only to those invited by God to enter into the Divine Presence. Only when the two energies dissolve into Sushumna does its path appear to us, which corresponds to the fire mentioned in verse 24. This fire is the golden flame of Divine Love that burns in ecstasy for the Beloved of God. As the true identity of the Supreme Spirit, the Beloved of God, emerges within us through pure realization – through pure submission to God where we leave even our own selves behind – we are then taken to the Divine Presence. One must sacrifice their self on the chopping block of the ego. Fundamentally, Sushumna is attribute-less, it has no quality of its own, and sometimes therefore called the “pathless path”. It represents emptying yourself of all accretions of a self that one clings to , which consequently is an obstruction to turning towards God alone and letting go of all attachments.
In this context, we can get a deeper understanding of the Prophetic statement, that “whoever knows their self knows their Lord”. This is because the True Self is the Supreme Spirit, which as was mentioned earlier, was explained by the Prophet ﷺ in another hadith as the light of the manifestation (wajh) of God. This underpins the Islamic spiritual path as being rooted in love as the uniting or binding of hearts with the heart of Rasulallah ﷺ in order to actualize in the realization of the essential reality of the Muhammadan Light to the individual soul; hence the saying of the Prophet ﷺ, “…I am from God, and the believers are from me”. This is very much so analogous with the concept of the Tathāgatagarbha (“Buddha Nature”), what we would call the al-Ḥaqīqah al-Muḥammadiyyah (“Muhammadi nature”).
The heart of the believer is the Throne ('Arsh) of the All-Merciful (qalb al-mu'min arsh al-raḥmān).
The ‘Arsh is not a place where God “sits,” for He is beyond space and time. Rather, the Throne is a symbol of His absolute sovereignty and authority over reality, therefore, whoever God places on the ‘Arsh represents God as the one through whom God issues the Divine Command over creation. In Sufi metaphysics, at its deepest of levels, it is said that it is the one named “Muhammad” who ascends the ladder of Being and is seated on the Throne whereupon he is adorned with the name “Ahmad”. This signifies the full manifestation of the supreme created being – the Supreme Spirit – as the Beloved of God, whom God has brought about through the process of creation as the goal and purpose of all that exists. The famous ḥadīth captures this reality:
"When Allah created the Throne, He wrote on the leg of the Throne: Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets"
These mystical words correspond to the Mātṛkā letters as the fabric of created reality, but not as pure latent potential but as as the first expression of a teleology, precisely the teleology of creation – the mystery for why God created the world. The spiritual path towards the center of the heart is ultimately a quest to understand the answer to this question, not rationally but experientially.
In the articulated metaphysics of the mystics, the purpose of all creation is none other than the manifestation of the Beloved. In a famous ḥadīth qudsī, God addresses His Prophet ﷺ:
"Were it not for you, were it not for you, I would not have created the celestial spheres" (Law lāka, law lāka, mā khalaqtul aflāk).
This narration establishes that the Nūr Muhammad (Muhammadan Light) is the first emanation from the Divine, the primordial reality from which all other creation unfolds. The authoritative scholar Shaykh `Abd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī explains that “God created everything from him. He is the Reality of every reality”. He further states: “Bodies are from spirits. Spirits are from the Light of Muhammad ﷺ, which is from the Light of God”. This concept is known in Sufi metaphysics as the Ḥaqīqah Muḥammadiyyah (the Muhammadan Reality). The early Sufi master Sahl al-Tustarī (d. 896 CE) elaborated on this idea, teaching that Allah created the Nūr Muhammad as the first creation and that all things subsequently emanated from that light . The renowned scholar Ibn ‘Arabī also discussed this cosmic principle extensively, describing the Muhammadan Reality as the “first determination” and the intermediary between the Divine and creation. The Chinese Islamic scholar Ma Zhu (1640-1711 CE), drawing from the works of al-Jīlī and al-Nābulusī, wrote in his Qīngzhēn zhǐnán (清真指南, “The Guide to Islam”): “Heaven and earth, the body and the soul, all are from the light of the Sage; the Sage is indeed the source of all things”. The scriptural basis for this concept is often derived from the āyat al-nūr (the Verse of Light), where Allah says: “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth” (Qur’an 24:35). Sufi exegetes interpret the “likeness of His Light” mentioned in this verse as the Muhammadan Light — the first created manifestation of the Divine, through which all other lights of creation are projected. As one Sufi author summarizes: “The origin of all creation and all beings consists of the spirits of men, and the origin of the spirits of men is the pure Muhammadan Spirit… this some refer to as Nūr Muhammad or the Muhammadan Reality”.
This narration establishes that the Nūr Muhammad (Muhammadan Light) is the first emanation from the Divine, the primordial reality from which all other creation unfolds. This Nūr Muhammad is the first emanation from the Divine – the primordial reality from which all other aspects of creation unfolds as the descent of the macrocosm into the microcosm of the heart, making him not only the purpose of creation but its very seed and source. His being is itself the fruit of the Kalpavriksha, the luminous origin of the Sidrat al-Muntahā. Thus, when the seeker arrives at the tree of the heart, they discover this light of the Beloved, the manifestation of God’s love.
The Color of Anahata
The color that represents and activates anahata is green. Interestingly, to add to the list of Islamic-Yogic correspondences, green has traditionally been understood as the color of the Prophet ﷺ. In Buddhism as in Islam, green symbolizes the “Middle Way” and balance, which is what Islam and the way of the Prophet ﷺ were called. He was known to favor the color green, and would often wear a green turban and cloak, and when he passed from this physical world, was covered in a green garment. In one hadith, the Prophet ﷺ stated that he enjoyed gazing at greenery. In another hadith, it is said that on the Day of Judgement, when he ascends to the position of intercession, the manifestation of his highest state as the “Ahmad”, he will don a green cloak.
From a color psychology perspective, green is also the color of growth, the color of spring, of renewal and rebirth. It is an emotionally positive color, giving us the ability to love and nurture ourselves and others with a newborn sense of vitality and life. Green is said to represent a natural peace-maker. Interestingly, the birth of the Prophet ﷺ occurred in Rabi’al Awwal, which is the third month of the Islamic lunar calendar which means “The First Spring”.
Green promotes a love of nature, and a love of family, friends, pets and the home. It is the color of the garden, which is a reference to an intuitive connection to the metaphysical garden of Eden.
The heart chakra is different from the lower three chakras in that teachers tended to avoid its activation except for few students because of how powerful its energies can be. The practices for opening this chakra go well beyond a mere set of practices and into the realm of entire spiritual-religious systems and disciplines. Islam for instance is a spiritual discipline that is primarily dedicated to the cultivation and the activation of the heart chakra center. It includes both inward and outward forms of activity in order to create a stable foundation. A stable foundation is predicated on the Principles of spiritual growth, which are detachment and unveiling rooted in sound metaphysics and first principles (theology). This is the unification of the masculine and the feminine, that is, of the rational and the emotional, the material and the spiritual, the concrete and the abstract. There must be balance between these two. When there is imbalance, it can lead to destruction, both individually and societally. Detachment is a skill that enables one to prevent identification with thoughts and emotions, with mental fabrications, and thus pertains to the disciplining of the ego. Unveiling, which pertains to experiencing the manifestations of Divine Love within one’s Heart, enable a person to continue their journey into transcendence. Overall, one must be both cautious and serious when it comes to this chakra center, and really entails an entire lifestyle. Meditation is not just about sitting silently, it entails all of the activities that make up your lifestyle.
Although I did not plan it this way, the date of this publication happened to fall on the day of the birth of the Holy Prophet ﷺ. This edited version which has expanded the details significantly has been published on Yawm al-Arafat.
References
Complete Description & Activation of Anahata Chakra- Heart Center
[2] Anahata Chakra – What Does it Take to Explore Anahata?
[3] Anahata: Heart Chakra Meditation For Healing and Balancing
[5] Empowered By Color – The Color Green
[7] Yoga Journal – Chakra Tune-Up: Intro to the Anahata
[8] The Qualities and Symbols of the Anahata Chakra
[9] Color From the Perspective of Hadith: An Overview
[10] Asana Internaltional Yoga Jounral – Anahata Chakra (The Heart Chakra)
[12] Wikipedia – Vayu
[13] Tantra Kundalini – Anahata Chakra
[14] Theophilelancien – Anahata-chakra, part 3, Antelope symbolism
[15] Sri Kamakoti Mandali – Saundaryalahari – Verse 1
[16] Islam And The Divine Feminine
[17] The Threshold Society – Feminine Symbols in Islam
[18] Sunnah – 40 Hadith Qudsi – Sahih Bukhari
[19] Maram al-Hidmi – Illustration of the Isra and Miraj
[20] FATĀWĀ DĀR AL-‛ULŪM ZAKARĪYYĀ – Narration of ibn Abbah and K’ab al-Ahbar
[21] The Shurangama Sutra: Hearing is not Sound
[22] The Two Wings of the Intellect – Omid Safi
[23] Buraq | Wikipedia
[24] 110 Hadith Qudsi, Chapter: 110 Ahadith Qudsi (Sacred Hadith)
[25] The Celestial Wishing Tree’ Teaching Theme
ماشاء الله
You are blessed with discernment. This stuff is over my head, I enjoyed reading it nonetheless.
Your posts are always fascinating. Do you have a reading list?
Trully reminded me of this painting by Ithi Anderson, could find it here: https://visionaryart.io/product/anahata-framed-matte-paper-poster/