HAZRAT INAYAT KHAN on WAZIFA

Besides meditation, each Talib is given special instructions suited to his need while journeying the path toward Unity. One such form of instruction is the Wazifa, or repetition of sacred phrases for various purposes.
           
If it be asked what is the purpose, it may be answered that, as the purpose of all rain is to return to the ocean, so the purpose of every soul is to return to God. Some drops unite in little streams, to flow down the river which ultimately loses itself in the ocean. So the practice of each Wazifa may be for some particular purpose, yet all these purposes unite just as the streams unite, and finally come to their destination.
           
Wazifa is both positive and negative, to build up faculties which are necessary and to remove undesirable qualities. So Sufis use Wazifas in purification, but the Sufi always recognizes God as the perfection of love, harmony, and beauty, as the perfection of all qualities, and as the perfection of perfections. If strength is needed, strength comes from God; if love is required, God is love; if one must perform justice, God is Judge and Forgiver.
           
Wazifas may be repeated audibly or silently in the performance of any act or duty in life. By this means the devotee draws from God the help he needs, attuning himself to the qualities of God at that moment. So besides the regular practice of Wazifa, a specified number of times as assigned to the Talib by his teacher, so one may meditate upon the Wazifa at all times and use it even when it is no longer part of one's spiritual exercises.
           
Sufism is not a code of rules. The purpose of Sufism is to bring souls to God-realization. Allah is beyond all attributes and qualities, being all essence. Understanding this, every breath can become a meditation wherein one puts full dependence upon Allah, and there will be no moment which will not be a meditation, no moment of separateness from God.