Читать книгу A Dictionary of Islam. Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion онлайн

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The individual who desires to enter an order is received in an assembly of the fraternity, presided over by the shaik͟h, who touches his hand and breathes in his ear three times the words, “Lā ilāha illa ʾllāh” (“There is no god but God”), commanding him to repeat them 101, 151, or 301 times each day. This ceremony is called the Talqīn. The recipient, faithful to the orders of his chief, obligates himself to spend his time in perfect retirement, and to report to the shaik͟h the visions or dreams which he may have during the course of his novitiate. These dreams, besides characterising the sanctity of his vocation, and his spiritual advancement in the order, serve likewise as so many supernatural means to direct the shaik͟h regarding the periods when he may again breathe in the ear of the neophyte the second words of the initiation, “Yā Allāh!” (“O God!”), and successively all the others to the last, “Yā Qahhār!” (“O avengeful God!”). The full complement of this exercise is called Chilleh, or “forty days,” a period sometimes even longer, according to the dispositions, more or less favourable, of the candidate. Arrived at the last grade of his novitiate, he is then supposed to have fully ended his career, called Takmīlu ʾs-Sulūk, and acquired the degree of perfection for his solemn admission into the corps to which he has devoted himself. During all his novitiate, the recipient bears the name of Murīd, or “Disciple,” and the shaik͟h who directs him in this pretended celestial career takes the title of Murshid, or “Spiritual Guide.”