Harrakawa | Anfasu | The Secret of Divine Presence | Yoga | 🧘🏼‍♂️🧘

I went out deeply moved until I found myself among the Qādiriyyah brethren performing Zikr al-Anfās, a remembrance through breath, where every inhalation and exhalation becomes an act of devotion.

Then I realized: whoever seeks Haqqu (Ultimate Truth), whoever seeks peace for his soul, has a unique path that Allah has fashioned for him.

Among us, the Tijaniyyah, there is the recitation of the Diwān—where words become energy for the soul; it’s not mere reading but a journey through words, filled with movement (harrakawa) in the praise that Shehu offered to the Prophet ﷺ:

 أُحَسِّنُ شِعْــــرًا فِي مَدِيحِــــكَ سَيِّــدِي

وَأَرْقُصُ لَوْ أَنِّي فَتًى يُحْسِنُ الرَّقْصَا

“I beautify poetry in your praise, my Master,

And I would dance, if only I were skilled at dancing.”

In the Qādiriyyah, it is Anfāsu breathing as worship, breath echoing through the heart like the pulse of heaven.

Among Christian mystics, there is speaking in tongues where the language of the heart speaks to God without the interference of the intellect.

Among Buddhists and followers of Osho, there is meditation a stillness so deep that everything dissolves until silence itself begins to speak.

Among Hindus, there is Yoga and Mantra where sound becomes the key that opens the spirit.

I saw then that all these paths share one sign: self-forgetfulness.

When one forgets oneself when one moves from “I” to “He,” from “me” to “Him” he touches the secret of tranquility through hudūr (divine presence), the state of being with Allah.

The Qur’an says

أَلَا بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ

“Surely, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest.”

Whether through movement or silence, it all means one thing: the dissolving of the physical self, so that the soul may feel the motion of its Lord.

That’s why every path has its symbol:

– The Tijaniyyah have Diwān, Harrakawa, and Yabo (praise).

– The Qādiriyyah have Anfāsu.

– The Buddhists have silence.

– The Spirit-filled mystics have thunderous ecstasy.

Yet all these paths return to a single origin—Salah (Prayer).

عَلَيْهِ صَــــلاَةُ اللّٰهِ ثُــمَّ سَلاَمُـــهُ

يَتِمُّ بِهَا لِي فِي الصَّلاَةِ حُضُورُ

“Upon him be Allah’s blessings and peace—

By him my presence in prayer is completed.”

Prayer is the system that unites stillness and movement, thought and presence, intellect and soul.

It gathers the remembrance of the tongue and the direction of the heart into one structure—for Salah is the “structure of harmony” that bridges the knowledge of earth and the wisdom of heaven.

So every remembrance, every breath, every movement means Allah.

But prayer gathers them all: where the soul journeys, the body bows, and the heart melts.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

وجُعِلَت قُرَّةُ عَيني في الصَّلاةِ

“The coolness of my eyes has been placed in the prayer.”

From the Zikr al-Anfās of the Qādiriyyah, to the Diwān recitation of the Tijaniyyah, to the meditation of seekers of peace—all travel toward al-Haqq, the Supreme Essence (Zāt al-‘Aliyyah).

Whoever realizes this understands that all of creation is in worship

but Salah is the divine structure that arranges worldly devotion into celestial order.