Concentrating Your Mind [Jam'-i Khatir]
The Sufi technical term jam’ that I have translated by the word “concentration” is more literally translated as “the state of being gathered”or “collected,” sometimes even being rendered as “union.” It is often used in contrast to the term tafriqa (separation). Concerning them Qushayri wrote, “Affirming created existence (khalq) comes about through ‘separation;’ and affirming Allah (Haqq) derives from ‘concentration’ or ‘gatheredness’. The servant must have both ‘concentration’ and ‘separation.’ Whoever has no ‘separation’ has no servanthood; and whoever has no ‘concentration,’ has no gnosis (ma’rifa).’”Thus “concentrating one’s mind,” as we find in the poem, is more than simply the kind of concentration that one uses in one’s day to day activities in the world. “Concentrating one’s mind” for the folk of Tasawwuf implies the transcendental knowledge of Allah Almighty that is called gnosis (ma’rifa).
