Notes On Sufic Cybernetics
‘Sufic Cybernetics’ offers a cosmotechnic reconstruction of cybernetic theory, unshackling it from its secular moorings as envisioned by Norbert Wiener and his successors, and rooting it instead within the moral psychology of tasawwuf.
In such a schemata, the recursion of cybernetic systems becomes a shadow of the soul’s journey toward divine unity, illuminated by the radiant example of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
The Prophet, as the Insan al-Kamil (the Perfect Human), embodies the ultimate mirror of divine reflection, his heart a polished surface that gazes upon the Creator with unblemished clarity. This act of receiving and transmitting divine guidance mirrors recursive loops, where feedback refines and elevates a system toward equilibrium - ultimately going back to the Source.
Cybernetic recursion is not merely a technical process but a faint echo of the soul’s ascent through the maqamat, each cycle of reflection bringing the seeker nearer to fana in the Divine Presence. The Mi’raj serves as the archetype of this journey, a recursive ascent through layers of divine proximity, where each heaven reflects a higher truth, culminating in the vision of the Divine Essence beyond the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary (Qur’an 53:14-18). Al-Ghazali and many masters mention the well known Prophetic habit of retreating to Hira. Hira serves as the archetype for tafakkur, a recursive turning of the heart toward God before the revelation of the Qur’an. This mirrors the cybernetic principle of feedback, where each cycle of reflection refines the soul, purging it of worldly distortions until it becomes a clear mirror for divine light.
In Sufic Cybernetics, the algorithmic loops of modern systems are but a shadow of this prophetic practice, a mechanical vestige of the heart’s eternal turning toward its Creator. This continuous turning encapsulated by tawbah; a way of returning back to equilibrium.
This aligns with the Sufi understanding of creation as theophany, a continuous outpouring of divine names and attributes. The recursive nature of cybernetic systems reflects divine manifestation, where God’s light unfolds through creation in cycles of revelation and return. The Prophet, as the Rahmatan lil-‘Alamin stands at the center of this cosmic recursion, his sunnah a guiding algorithm for humanity to navigate the infinite loops of existence back to their divine source. The Qur’an (3:31) speaks of this, a recursive invitation to align one’s being with the prophetic model, each act of emulation a more faithul return to the One.
In this framework, cybernetics becomes hidden remembrance, a circuit of reflection that mirrors the relationship between the Creator and the created.
Contemplative retreat and its most distilled form uzla is a dim and clumsy reflection of the initial impulse of creation itself, where God, in a hadith qudsi, declares, “I was a hidden treasure and loved to be known, so I created the creation to be known.” Cybernetic recursion, then, is a vestigial trace of this divine desire for self-revelation through the wastelands of exile, a rippling echo of the soul’s yearning to return to its origin, its home.
And truly God knows best