Lataif-e-Sitta

In addition, individual Sufi teachers (see Sheikh (Sufism)) sometimes understand aspects of laṭā’if theory and practice according to how the laṭāʾif have been uniquely revealed to them.

[5][6] In the process of spiritual development, the Sufi student is understood to “ascend” back through these levels progressively (see ontological Arcs of Descent and Ascent in Sufism).

[8] The reception of each laṭīfa’s “spiritual energy” from its corresponding cosmic realm is interpreted symbolically through the prophets and messengers in Islam, similar to the interpretation of the Kubrawi order: In this understanding, the laṭāʾif all have their physical association in the chest and so are said to be “of the Heart” (Qalb, the potential human “Organ of Evolution” (see: Disambiguation: Qalb (Heart) or Laṭīfa).

For example: In the Kubrawi tradition, Sufi Ala ud-Daula Simnani (1261–1336) describes a dhikr type practice that involved certain postures, the rotation of attention and breath to different parts of the physical body, and the recitation of a Quranic credal formula.

In the Punjab tradition, Idries Shah describes a type of muraqabah in which the student concentrates awareness on the part of the body that is associated with a laṭīfa.

[25] The laṭāʾif are experienced primarily as colors seen surrounding the name of Allah at the physical location associated with each laṭīfa, as described by Rifa‘t Bey.

[27] Unlike other Sufi orders, however, the Punjab tradition understands the laṭāʾif to also be spiritual organs/capacities that underlie ordinary forms of human consciousness[28].

[32][33] And it was subsequently adopted by Sufism to refer to various aspects of reality that are not gross, material qualities of the physical world (see, for example, Disambiguation: Ten, five, or six laṭāʾif)[34].

English language authors use three methods when referring to specific laṭā’if: Laleh Bahktiar[5] uses both a transliteration and a translation: Idries Shah also[35] uses both a transliteration and a translation: Hameed Ali[36] uses a transliteration and an interpretation: In the version of Sufi cosmology proposed by Ahmad Sirhindi (1564–1624),[37] God created the universe in three stages: In this usage, then, there are ten laṭā’if in two categories: In contrast, in most Sufi usages outside this cosmological one (including most of this webpage), there are either: The Nafs in Sufism is considered to be a person's egoic consciousness[38] or egoic "Self", the subtle (laṭīfa) quality of God's Creation that becomes individual and can undergo a spiritual development.

[54] Unlike the Gurdjieff/Ouspensky Fourth Way, the Diamond Approach uses various mental, emotive, and somatic methods for realizing the laṭāʾif, as a central part of its overall teaching and practice.

The general concept of spiritual “subtle centers” originated within Persian Sufism: Junayd of Baghdad (835–910), al-Hallaj (858–922),[57] Al-Ghazali (1058–1111), and Shahab al-Din Abu Hafs Umar Suhrawardi (1145–1234).

[58] Kubrawi Sufi Najm al-Din Razi (1177–1256) proposed five “inner means of perception” (Qalb, Ruh, Sirr, Khafi, and Ikhfa) that parallel the five outer senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.

[60] From the 17th to 19th centuries, the Indian Mujaddidis, beginning with Ahmad Sirhindi (1564–1624), returned to a standardized interpretation of five experiential laṭāʾif and associated their locations with parts of the physical body.

[61] The Punjab tradition within the Naqshbandi in the late 19th and 20th centuries continued with five laṭā’if but identified the experience of their physical locations differently and viewed them as spiritual organs/capacities that also underlie ordinary forms of human consciousness.

[28] It is thought by some[62] that, just as with the nominal 99 Names of God in Islam and their underlying Divine Attributes,[63] the number of laṭāʾif and their potential realization by humanity might actually be unlimited.