Hamzah: The Sound of Silence

29 Letter Arabic Alphabet

The Arabic language consists of 29 letters. Twenty-eight letters represent consonantal sounds while one, the Hamzah, is the sound of silence.

29 Day Lunar Cycle

The Moon goes through a 29 day cycle. for 28 days the Moon reflects light, but on the day of the New Moon, there is no light at all. The Moon is invisible. The invisible Moon is a correlation to the silent letter Hamzah.

They ask thee concerning the New Moons.
Say: "They are times appointed for
humanity and the Hajj. And it is not
righteousness that you enter the houses
by their backs, but the righteous is he
who is God-conscious. And enter the houses
by their gates, and be conscious of Allah
so that you may be successful.
Quran 2:189

28 Constellations

Ancient Astrology focused upon 28 constellations. Each Arabic letter corresponds to a constellation. Chinese Taoist Astrology remains a 28 constellation science.

Solar and Luna Letters

Fourteen Arabic letters are considered solar and 14 are considered lunar.

The solar letters elide, i.e., they double up in pronunciation and replace the consonant that precedes it. For example, the Arabic greeting, "As-Salaam Alaikum" is actually written "Al-Salaam Alaikum." The "s" in salaam, being a solar letter, elides into the preceding "L" and gives the sound "As" instead of "Al."

Fourteen Kau (Transformations) of Ra

The Egyptians represented the apotheosis of energy as Ra. Ra is not the Sun God, as some "experts" claim. He is, however, symbolized by the Sun glyph since the Sun was the most prominent and visible symbol of energy.

Ra was the ancient Egyptian word for kundalini, chi, prana and the subconscious mind.

Egyptian teachings discuss the 14 kau (plural of Ka) of Ra. The ka is the personality. Ra’s 14 kau are reflected in the 14 Sun letters. Each letter is a mantra and the mantra contains the power to create a transformation.

Chanting the letter/mantra "ta" (Tam) and observing the laws of health can transform one from a state of illness to a state of health.

Each letter/mantra contains specific powers.

Sound Units of Power

A letter symbolizes a sound. The sound is, itself, symbolic of a kind of energy.

Various spiritual systems have worked with the units (letters) that make up the words (mantras) of power.

The Hebrews worked with 22 powers and these 22 letters accord with the 22 Hebrew letters, 22 Major Arcana Tarot cards, 22 Book of Revelation chapters and 22 amino acids.

The Dravidians of India (founders of yoga) worked with the 50 letters of the Sanskrit alphabet.

The combination of sound units makes a mantra. A.U.M., for example, makes the life-force mantra "aum" (Om).

Mystic Letters: al-muqatta-aat

Fourteen letters, in various combinations, begin 29 Surahs of the Quran. These letters are called muqatta-aat or mystic letters. The various scholars seem to have missed the fact that they are mantras.

In Quranic terminology, mantras are called dhikrs. Surah 2, for example, begins: "Alif Laam Meem (A.L.M.). That is the Book."

Each letter has above it an elongated fatha, i.e., an "a" sound that’s dragged out in pronunciation. So A.L.M. is the mantra "Alllaaaaaaammmmmmm."

Those letters symbolize "the Book" that’s called the Akashic Record in yoga.

Chanting Alif Laam Meem can put the chanter into touch with the Akashic Record.

Gods & Goddesses of Antiquity

Modern physics posits that everything is energy and that energy has two fundamental modes, positive (masculine) and negative (feminine). The Taoists call this polarity yang and yin.

The Arabic letter system expresses the same. The 14 solar letters are yang (masculine) and the 14 lunar letters are yin (feminine).

All the letters symbolize "gods" and "goddesses," i.e., energies.

"Scholars," utterly ignorant of the ancients’ manner of thought, mistook the various "gods" as some sort of pagan polytheism.

A "god" was a positive energy while a "goddess" was a negative one.

The words god, angel, spirit, ghost, diva, neter, loa, orisha and energy are virtually synonymous.

The 28 letters (14 positive and 14 negative) depict universal yin/yang polarities. The Hamzah was neutral. Atomically, it corresponds to the neutron.

Manaazil: Mansions of the Moon

And the Moon, We have ordained for it
mansions (to traverse) until it comes
back again like the ancient date-stalk.
Quran 36:39

The ancient 28 constellation zodiac was based on the Moon’s passage through 28 houses called Mansions of the Moon. The end of the waning phase and the beginning of the waxing phase was marked by the disappearance of the Moon from the sky. That corresponded with the Hamzah.

The Hamzah & Khumbaka

The Hamzah is a guttural stop between sounds. For example, the word for angels "malaa-ikat," contains a hamzah. It is the slight pause represented by the hyphen in transliteration: "malaa" (pause) "ikat."

That stop or pause is made by slightly contracting the lower abdominal muscles (at the Tan Tine) while exhaling.

This is exactly the type of yogi breathing that brings on trance and eventually results in the thought-free state. In yoga pranayama, the guttural stop is called Khumbaka. The thought-free state (samadhi) results from kevale khumbaka, i.e., automatic restraint of the breath conducted by the parasympathetic nervous system.

After kevale khumbaka occurs, the mind begins to empty itself of thoughts. One becomes conscious of being conscious.

This cessation of thought is the mental silence of which the Hamzah is a symbol.

Pot-belly breathing

The Hamzah not only symbolizes mental silence, it also graphically depicts the breathing method that achieves that silence.

The Hamzah looks like the English letter "c" with a short line beneath the curve. This is a symbol of a yogic breathing method that’s practiced in Tibet called "pot-bellied breathing."

Pot-bellied breathing is accomplished by pushing out the lower abdomen during inhalation and pulling it in during exhalation. Prior to the exhalation the lower abdomen is slightly tensed and the exhalation is pulled against that tension. That type of breathing is intended to accomplish prana (breath) restraint (yama). It also serves to lengthen the time between breath cycles. The word yama also means "lengthening."

In addition, that type of pranayama also places pressure on the pneumograstric nerve in the abdomen which causes a reflex action in the heart and the R-complex (waking center) of the brain. When that is accomplished, the heart is stabilized and the person awakens internally. This is the "awakening" that’s sought in esoteric Buddhism as well as the "coming forth awake" that’s the subject of the Pert em Hru (so-called Egyptian Book of the Dead).

The Gods Hu and Sa

In Egyptian metaphysics, two Gods subsisted before the manifestation of creation (what we’d call, today, the Big Bang). Those were the twin deities Hu and Sa.

Hu represents the divine will and Sa represents consciousness.

Hu is also said to be the tongue of Ptah.

These gods symbolize aspects of consciousness in the thought-free state. Hu became the master mantra used in many esoteric systems (Hung, Hum, Hua).

Among magicians the Hu/Sa became the Hum-Sah which is said to be the natural sound of the breath. It is said that during meditation a person can hear the breath making the sound Hum-Sah and that the kundalini force will become activated upon hearing that sound.

After the thought becomes stilled, an unusual high-pitched sound is often heard. This high-pitched sound is called "the Flute of God" by Eckankarists. It has been known as many other things.

The Christian Church bells symbolize the sound of this "flute."

Some people have even heard the "flute" of the Hum-Sah (Hamza) while using drugs such as cocaine. Marvin Gaye once wrote a song called "the Bells" (which was recorded by the Originals). It is possible that the affliction tinnitis is related to a premature stimulation of the Hum-Sah.

The Hum-Sah became known as "the swan" in esoteric schools and some artists depicted the process by a swan bird. The swan is a bird that is comfortable around water and the water was a symbol of the god Nu who was depicted as an infinite expanse of water.

The Egyptians didn’t use a swan to depict this, they used an ibis bird. The ibis was the hieroglyphic for the wisdom-god (faculty) Tehuti (Thoth). In fact, Tehuti’s name conceals the mantra hu within it.

In the Arabic system, Hu and Sa (Hum-Sah) became the Hamzah.

In the Quran, seven surahs begin with the mystic letters Ha Meem (H.M.) Together they make the mantra (Haam). While some Buddhist schools spell their chant Haam, they actually pronounce it "Huum" while chanting.

Suraha 40-46 of the Quran begin with Ha Meem. The fact that there are seven Ha Meem surahs symbolizes the connection of the Hum-Sah with the kundalini force.

Hu: the Divine Will

In the Egyptian system, Hu meant will. But the Arabic system associated Hu with Sa to the point that the Arabic word for Sa (Shay) came to mean will.

The Egyptians understood that two wills operated in woman and man. The "ordinary" will was symbolised as Heru (Horus) while the divine will was symbolised as Tehuti. It was the work of the initiate to bring the Heru (human) will into accord with the Hu (divine) will.

When the two wills were at odds, the result was (in Arabic) shaytaan. Shaytaan (Satan) actually means "two wills". (The word shayt means will and "aan" means two).

Hamzah: Meditation Code

The Hamzah, then, is a coded symbol for a meditation process, samadhi (trance) consciousness and kundalini activity at the highest levels.

The Nation of Islam and the 29 Letters

In America, one of the most prominent Muslim teachings are those of the Nation of Islam (so-called Black Muslims). Like all other spiritual movements, the real truth of the Nation of Islam is veiled in symbolism. To this day, no one has fully unveiled the deep symbolism within the teachings of Master Fard Muhammad and his student, the Hon. Elijah Muhammad.

Elijah Muhammad once told his followers at a Saviour’s Day convention that "I’m down here in the mud and nobody can see me."

What he meant is that his true body of knowledge was buried beneath material-sounding doctrines (mud) and that no one was yet able to see the deep universal truth he was conveying behind the shocking things he appeared to be teaching.

He also once said, "I’m a preacher. My ministers will be the teachers." What he meant was that he was instructed to just teach what he’d learned, uncut, for 40 years but that after him, his ministers would see what he was really teaching and that they’d teach people accordingly.

So far that has not occurred.

Elijah Muhammad was a mason. His followers like to discount that, but he himself announced it during one of his Theology of Time lectures. In fact, "honorable, is a Masonic title. So is "master" and so is "noble."

As a mason, Mr. Muhammad had to take a vow of silence.

A vow of silence doesn’t mean that you can’t speak, it means that when you speak the esoteric truth, it has to be done in symbolism, parables and other such code.

All of the great teachers spoke in code, including Jesus.

The Nation’s Student Enrolment asks, "How much useful land is used every day by the total population of the planet earth." The answer is: "The useful land that is used every day by the total population of the Planet Earth is 29,000,000 square miles.

The 29 million square miles of "useful land" is code for the 29 letters (sound units of power) of the Arabic language.

To represent that he’d attained the knowledge of the Hamzah, Mr. Muhammad gave the name "Hamzah" to one of his ministers (Theodore Hamzah of Cleveland).

Twelve of Mr. Muhammad’s ministers were, symbolically speaking, "wives of the prophet."

Just as physics has begun to break down matter to its most primary units, so also are all the old religious codes, customs, ceremonies and rituals intended to be broken down and placed to use in a spiritual technology that can benefit humanity.