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THE NINE CLARIFICATIONS ABOUT MUSLIM SUFISM AND FOLLOWING A SPIRITUAL ORDER
In the name of
God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Surely God’s friends–no fear shall be on them, neither shall
they grieve. (10:62)
Sufism
is light-giving, spiritual truth
There is a lovely, light-giving
and spiritual truth variously called Sufism, tariqa (spiritual
order or way), sainthood or being God’s friend, initiation,
following a spiritual order or way. The truth-seeking scholars
among the people of spiritual pleasure and discovery have
so far written thousands of volumes to describe and explain
this sacred truth and taught it to the Muslim community. May
God reward them with much good! All that I will attempt to
do here, therefore, is to show, in accordance with the present
context, a few drops out of that ocean of information.
Question
What is tariqa?
Answer
Tariqa is the name of
the spiritual way by which a man initiated into it seeks to
acquire knowledge of God and attain full perception of the
truths of belief, and by which he is elevated, at the end
of his spiritual journeying, under the auspices of the Prophet’s
Ascension, to the rank of the perfect man.
Since man is an all-comprehensive
index of the whole universe, his heart is like an immaterial
map of thousands of worlds. As the mind of man is, as shown
by sciences, like a center of telecommunications, a sort of
immaterial center of the universe, so his heart is, as explained
in many enlightening books written by countless men of sainthood,
the receiver of in-numerable universal truths, as well as
being their source or seed.
Since, then, the mind
and heart of man are of such a nature – a seed in which are
encapsulated the members of a huge tree and the wheels and
other parts of an eternal and splendid machine – the Creator
of this heart, Who made it so, willed that it should operate
and flourish by putting its potentials into practice. Since
He willed it to be so, the heart will, like the intellect,
work, and the most practical and important means to make it
work is repeating different Names of God in the gradations
toward sainthood and seeking to attain the truths of belief
along with the spiritual journeying.
Reciting God’s Names and reflection
as the two keys to spiritual journeying
The two keys to, or
means of, this spiritual journeying or movement, are repeating
God’s Names and meditation or reflection. The benefits of
this repetition and meditation are too many to count. Apart
from the benefits for one’s afterlife and for the attainment
of human perfections, just one of their benefits concerning
this tumultuous worldly life is as follows:
Every person seeks some
consolation or pleasure for relief amidst the turbulence and
burdensome responsibilities of life; seeks some intimacy to
relieve the solitude and gloom around him. Modern social gatherings
can give to one or two out of ten persons the means of relief
and satisfy the need for a friendly atmosphere, but only in
a heedless and intoxicating way.
Eighty per cent of people
lack true consolation and relief; they are also devoid of
the relief possible through the sort of social gatherings
mentioned, either because of modern attitudes and life-style
or because of the struggle to make a living or because of
other factors such as illness, afflictions and old age which
lead them to turn their thoughts more to the other world than
to this one.
Those people can find
a true consolation and contentment, and a faithful friendship,
by making their hearts work through meditation and remembrance
of God, by repeating His Names and, turning to their inner
selves for intimacy, by coming to understand that everywhere
is full of God’s creatures, visible or invisible, so that
they are not alone wherever they may be. Belief in, and remembrance
of, God lead them to make friends with every creature and
to live a pleasant, contented life. Besides, the feeling that
they are always in the company of God, their Creator and Provider,
gives them the greatest of pleasures and removes all the gloom
and solitude, leading them to be thankful to God.
Sainthood
is a proof for Messengership
Sainthood is a proof
for Messengership and the way or spiritual order (tariqa)
is evidence for the Shari‘a. For a saint experiences with
certainty of seeing the truths of belief communicated by the
Messenger and confirms them through the witnessing of his
heart and the spiritual pleasure he derives. Such confirmation
is a decisive proof for the truth of Divine Messengership.
A member of a spiritual
order is convinced through the pleasure and enlightenment
he gets and the ability of spiritual discovery he acquires,
that the commandments and principles of the Shari‘a which
he is instructed in and follows in his daily life are of wholly
Divine origin and undeniably true. As sainthood and tariqa
are thus proofs for the truth of Messengership and the Shari‘a,
they are also an expression of the perfection of Islam and
a source of its light, and a means for mankind to make progress
and a source to get enlightenment by virtue of attachment
to Islam.
Despite the considerable
significance of this great truth, some deviant sects have
gone so far as to deny it. Being themselves deprived of the
lights of tariqa, they have also led some others to be deprived
of them also. It is most unfortunate that certain scholars
of superficial knowledge among the Ahl al-Sunna wa’l-Jama‘a,
and some heedless of politicians, using as an excuse some
abuses and mistakes witnessed in the conduct of some members
of tariqas, are trying to close down or even destroy this
great treasury, to dry up this pure source of the water of
life. It is, however, a fact that there can hardly be found
in the world any way, order or system without faults, so that
if incompetent and unqualified people are admitted into a
job or an order, they will certainly be the cause of some
abuses. But God Almighty will show in the Hereafter the justice
of His Lordship in calling people to account for their deeds
by weighing the good and evil deeds against each other. That
is, if one’s good deeds weigh more, God Almighty will reward
him; if otherwise, He will punish him. Further, the balancing
of the good and evil deeds will be not according to their
number but according to their quality. It may happen that
a single good deed will outweigh a thousand evil ones and
cause them to be forgiven. Since Divine Justice decides this
way and truth judges so, then a tariqa should not be condemned
because of some abuses by some few of its members. For the
good of tariqa or following a spiritual way according to the
Sunna of the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, is
always greater than its evils. A most decisive proof of this
is that the people of tariqa preserve their faith at the most
critical times when the people of misguidance attack all the
religious values. A sincere ordinary member of tariqa preserves,
through the spiritual pleasure he gets in tariqa and his love
for saints, his faith more than a man of superficial scientific
knowledge. He may be a transgressor on account of committing
some major sins, yet he never deviates to unbelief, nor does
he join the heretics. No power in the world can cause him
to refute a chain of spiritual guides whom he accepts with
a strong love and firm conviction as the spiritual poles of
the world. Since he cannot made to refute them, he does not
lose his trust in them; and since he does not lose his trust
in them, he does not join the party of heresy. It is, however,
difficult for a man, however great a truth-seeking scholar
he may be, to save himself against the intrigues of the modern
people of heresy, if he has no connection with tariqa and
his heart is inoperative.
There is another point
to mention, namely that the tariqa is not to be condemned
because of the evils of some orders which wrongly call themselves
a tariqa, or of some schools which have broken with the circle
of piety and even of Islam. Apart from its very significant
fruits, religious and spiritual and pertaining to the Hereafter,
tariqa has always exerted a foremost influence for the development
and flourishing of brotherhood, the sacred bond in the Muslim
world, as well as being one of the three most important and
firm strongholds of Islam against the formidable attacks of
the world of unbelief and Christian politics aimed to extinguish
its light. The power which protected Istanbul, the center
of Caliphate, for five hundred years against a large world
of Christianity, lies in the lights of monotheism which diffused
from five hundred places in Istanbul and, as a point of support
for believers in that center of Islam, in the strength of
belief of those invoking ‘God, God!’, in the dervish lodges
behind mosques, and their going into raptures with the spiritual
pleasure coming from knowledge of God.
The way of sainthood is both very
easy and, paradoxically, very difficult
The way of sainthood
is both very easy and, paradoxically, very difficult; is very
short and, at the same time, very long; very precious and
desirable, yet quite risky; it is a broad way, but also, sometimes,
very narrow.
It is on account of
such paradoxical aspects of it that those who follow this
road sometimes drown and are sometimes lost. Times even come
when some turn back and cause others to deviate.
To summarize, there are two ways of traveling in tariqa, one
is traveling in the inner world, the other, traveling in the
outer world.
The traveler in the
inner world begins from the carnal self and, without ever
stretching towards the outer world, heads straight for the
heart. He penetrates through egotism and self-conceit and,
by making a way through the heart, reaches the truth. After
the completion of his travel in the inner world, he sets off
in the outer world, where he finishes his travel in a short
period. He witnesses also in this world the truth he has seen
in the inner.
Most of the spiritual
orders that have adopted loud invocation of God’s Names follow
this way of spiritual travel. What is demanded of travelers
in this way is breaking egotism and self-conceit, abandoning
whims and fancies, and destroying the carnal self.
The traveler in the
other way starts from the outer world and, after having observed
the reflections of God’s Names and Attributes in all the objects
of this vast world, enters the inner world. In his heart,
he witnesses to some extent the same lights that he has observed
in the outer world and makes his quickest way into the heart.
When he finally perceives that the heart is the mirror of
God, the Eternally-Besought-of-All, he has attained his goal.
Thus, if those who go
in the first way do not succeed in destroying their carnal
selves, in abandoning whims and fancies and breaking egotism
and self-conceit, they fall from the rank of thanksgiving
to the point of self-pride, and therefrom to vanity. If, besides,
they are in ecstasy because of Divine love, and in a spiritually
intoxicated state because of feeling attracted by God, they
make very excessive, exaggerated claims called shathiya, like
disregarding God’s threats and chastisement or belittling
Paradise, or seeing their own rank as above everybody else’s,
thus bringing harm both to themselves and others.
For example, a lieutenant
who is boastful of his rank of command, and enraptured with
the pleasure it gives, may see himself as if a marshal. He
confuses his small sphere of command with the larger one of
the marshal. Likewise, the reflection of the sun in a little
mirror may, on account of its being a reflection of the sun,
sometimes be regarded as the same as the magnificent reflection
of the sun on the surface of a sea. So, there are many people
of sainthood who, though like a fly in comparison with a peacock,
regard and even see themselves as superior to those much greater
than themselves. I once even witnessed that an initiate who
was awakened to some truths and felt the mystery of sainthood
obtained by himself to a slight degree, considered himself
as, and assumed the attitude of, the greatest spiritual pole
of the world. I said to him:
Brother! As a king
has, through laws and on account of rulership, relations
with, and authority over, all the members of the state from
the prime minister down to a strict governor, because of
which every officer feels connected to him, so the rank
of a spiritual pole has different manifestations or reflections
in countless ranks of sainthood. Each rank has also many
forms of manifestations. You see the greatest rank of a
spiritual pole, which may be likened to that of a prime
minister in a state, reflected in your rank, like that of
a strict governor, and are thereby deceived. What you see
may be true, but your judgment is wrong. For a fly, a bowl
of water is like a small sea.
That person came, by
God’s Will, to his senses and escaped a great danger.
I have also encountered
several persons who know themselves as of the kind of the
Mahdi, and claim that they will be the greatest Mahdi promised
for the period near the end of time. They are not liars, nor
deceivers, but are deluded in so far as they regard their
vision as the ultimate truth. As there are as many degrees
of the manifestation of the Divine Names as the number of
the objects in the universe, material or immaterial, from
the Greatest Throne of God down to a minute particle on earth,
and the objects receiving this manifestation are in as different
degrees as their number, so the ranks of sainthood are of
the same variety. What causes deception or confusion in this
matter is this:
Some ranks of sainthood
have a particular connection with the function of the Mahdi
and are somehow related to the greatest Spiritual Pole and
even to Khadr. Likewise, there are some other ranks related
to some famous saints and thereby called, for example, the
rank of Khadr, the rank of Uways, and the rank of the Mahdi.
It is for this reason
that those who receive a few manifestations of any of those
ranks think themselves to be the owner of that rank, regarding
themselves as Khadr himself, or the Mahdi or the greatest
Spiritual Pole of the time. If those persons have broken their
egotism and do not pursue any spiritual position, they are
not to be condemned for such assertions, and their excessive
claims are to be counted as shathiya. If, by contrast, they
seek a spiritual position to satisfy their self-conceit and
therefore turn from being thankful to God to self-pride, they
will ultimately lapse into vanity and deviate from the truth.
For they begin to regard the greater saints as of the same
degree and character as themselves and, since a soul, however
self-conceited it may be, is aware of its faults, their good
opinion of those saints turns into imagining them to be faulty
like themselves. They may even go so far that their respect
for the Prophets may diminish.
The
relationship between Shari‘a and tariqa:
Those who are captivated
by such state should judge according to the rules of the Shari‘a,
and follow the guiding principles laid down by the scholars
of religious methodology and the instructions of the saints
of meticulous research and truth-seeking such as Imam Ghazali
and Imam Rabbani. Also, they should always reproach their
carnal selves, ascribing to them nothing but defects, helplessness
and poverty. The excessive and exaggerated claims of those
in such a state originate from self-love. For love prevents
the lover from discerning the defects of the beloved. Therefore,
because of self-love, they imagine their carnal souls or selfhood
– as valueless and insignificant as glass – to be as precious
and brilliant as diamond.
A most grievous mistake
likely to be made by those in this state is that they imagine
the meanings inspired to them to be ‘words of God’ and therefore
call them revealed verses. However, this causes them to belittle
the most sacred and exalted rank of Divine Revelation. Indeed,
all the inspirations from those of the honey-bee and other
animals to those of human beings, including the common and
the distinguished among them, are each a word of God. However,
the Speech of God comes through seventy thousand veils according
to the capacity of each receiver, and therefore has innumerable
kinds of manifestation and degrees of reception. Because of
this, it is absolutely wrong to call those inspirations ‘revealed
verses’, as the revealed verse is the proper name given to
each light-diffusing sentence of the Qur’an, which is the
most evident and illustrious embodiment, and the proper name
of the Divine Word and Revelation. As explained and proved
in the Twelfth, Twenty-fifth and Thirty-first Words, what
occurs in the hearts of those people are, compared to the
sun of the Qur’an, which is the direct Word of God, like the
shadowy and obscure reflections of the sun in the colored
mirror in your hand, when compared to the sun itself. Although
the reflections in each mirror are rightly attributed to the
sun and do have some relation with it, the earth will never
gravitate to those mirrors nor revolve around them.
- Even the most
important rules of tariqa are included in the Shari‘a, and
the ranks attained through tariqa, however high they may
be, can never be counted as having been attained outside
the Shari‘a.
The Shari‘a, that
is, the collection of Divine religious principles, commandments
and prohibitions, is the result of the Divine address directly
to man through the Prophet, from the point of His absolute
Oneness and Lordship. Therefore, even the most important
rules of tariqa are included in the Shari‘a, and the ranks
attained through tariqa, however high they may be, can never
be counted as having been attained outside the Shari‘a.
All the types of tariqa being means and steps to reach the
truths of the Shari‘a, the results obtained through tariqa
are included in the confirmations of the Shari‘a. Unlike
the misconceptions of some people of Sufism, the Shari’a
is not a mere outer covering, and tariqa the inner part
and haqiqa (the truth) the kernel or essence. The Shari‘a
flourishes in different degrees according to the different
levels of people; that is, for every level there is a corresponding
degree of understanding and practicing the Shari‘a. The
higher or deeper, the better or more developed a man is
in understanding, practicing and tasting the Shari‘a, the
better and deeper, the more high-ranking a Muslim he is.
For this reason, it is wrong to think of the understanding
and practice of the common people as the Shari‘a, and to
name the level of the Shari‘a practiced by men of sainthood
tariqa and haqiqa. Tariqa is, in essence, the name of a
discipline or technique to practice the Shari‘a in a better
way, and the Shari’a has numerous different degrees of understanding
and practice according to the different levels of people.
It is for this reason
that the more advanced in tariqa the Sufis are, the more
devoted, attached and obedient to the Shari‘a they are.
They regard even a most insignificant commandment of the
Prophet as something absolutely to be obeyed, and perform
it with utmost care. For the rules of the Shari‘a concerning
good manners, which are the fruits of Divine Revelation,
are higher in rank and more important than the good manners
taught in tariqa, which are the products of inspiration,
as Revelation is higher in comparison with inspiration.
For this reason, the most important fundamental of tariqa
is to follow the exalted Sunna of the Prophet, upon him
be peace and blessings.
- Tariqa should
always be regarded as a means and never be accorded more
attention or importance than is accorded to a means.
Tariqa should always
be regarded as a means and never be accorded more attention
or importance than is accorded to a means. If tariqa is
taken as the aim or end in itself, then the commandments
of the Shari‘a and principles of the Sunna are reduced to
mere ceremonies for outward performance, with the heart
turned directly toward tariqa. That is, a man of tariqa
attaches more importance to recitation of God’s Names in
the circle of dervishes than to performing the daily prescribed
prayers; he concentrates more on his daily supererogatory
recitations than on his religious obligations, he refrains
more from any opposition to the good manners taught by tariqa
than he does from the major sins. Whereas the truth is that
not even one of the religious obligations, which are among
the established commandments of the Shari‘a, can be compensated
for by all of the daily supererogatory recitations of tariqa.
Therefore, those recitations and the good manners required
by tariqa should be taken as a means of consolation for
not being able to derive the true pleasure from the religious
obligations, not as the real source of that pleasure. In
other words, his recitations and his observance of manners
in his lodge should be a means for the pleasure and exact
performance of his prescribed prayer in mosque. If one who,
by contrast, performs the prescribed prayer in mosque in
the manner of carrying out a formality in order, thereafter,
to run to his lodge as soon as possible to get the true
pleasure and attain spiritual perfection, is in a grave
loss and deviates from the truth.
Question
Is tariqa possible
outside the sphere of the Sunna and the commandments of the
Shari‘a?
Answer
It is both possible
and impossible. It is possible, for some perfect saints have
been executed with the sword of the Shari‘a. It is impossible,
for the truth-seeking scholars of sainthood are all agreed
on the principle, as expressed by Sa‘di al-Shir’azi:
Sa‘di, it is inconceivable
for one who does not follow the way of Muhammad to find
the lights of the truth.
This is true because
God’s noble Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, is
the Seal of the Prophets and the addressee of God on behalf
of all mankind: therefore, mankind cannot follow another path
than the broad highway of his and therefore should come under
his flag. On the other hand, since people in trance or ecstasy
or spiritual absorption are not counted as responsible for
any acts of theirs contrary to the Shari‘a, and since a man
is not asked to account for his opposition to the religious
commandments when he is under the influence of senses or faculties
which can neither be controlled by will-power and reason nor
be made to take on any responsibility, then when an ecstatic
saint is under the influence of such circumstances or such
spiritual or mental states, he does not lose sainthood. Of
course, such a man should not openly deny, condemn or debase
the rules of belief and the truths of the Shari‘a. Even if
he does not do the prescribed acts, he should admit their
truth. Otherwise, if, overcome by that state of trance, he
acts in a way to suggest – God forbid! – any denial or contradiction
of the established truths of belief and the Shari‘a, this
is a sign of falling off and deviation.
In short:
The
people of tariqa outside the sphere of the Shari‘a fall into
two categories.
- The first category
consists of those who, overcome, as mentioned before, by
trance or ecstasy, or spiritual absorption and intoxication,
or under the influence of senses or faculties uncontrollable
by reason and will-power, leave the sphere of the Shari‘a.
This leaving occurs unintentionally, not because they do
not approve the commandments of the Shari‘a. There have
been, among that group, men of sainthood, even some significant
saints, whom the truth-seeking scholars of sainthood, having
been with them temporarily, have judged to be outside the
sphere not only of the Shari‘a but also of Islam. The condition
for the preservation of their sainthood is that they do
not intentionally deny or contradict any of the commandments
conveyed by the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and
blessings, and any neglect of such commandments comes from
their ignorance or spiritual intoxication, trance and ecstasy.
- The second category
comprises those who, fascinated by the splendid pleasures
of tariqa, esteem the truths of the Shari‘a as tasteless,
as mere ceremonies, since they are unable to perceive their
taste, and become indifferent to them. They go so far as
to think of the Shari‘a as only a superficial covering and
are content with what they have found in tariqa considering
that as the real object of their efforts, and they act in
contradiction to the commandments of the Shari‘a. Those
who are ‘sober’ among this group are held responsible for
their un-Islamic actions; they are reduced to the lowest
rank and even become the object of ridicule by Satan.
Followers
of tariqa outside the Sunna of the Prophet
Some persons among the
people, or belonging to the sects, of deviation are approved
by the Umma, while some others who are apparently of the same
standing are rejected. For example, so radical a Mu’tazilite
as Zamakhshari is not judged to be a heretic or unbeliever
by the meticulous scholars of the Ahl al-Sunna, while the
Mu’tazili leaders such as Abu ‘Ali Jubba’i are rejected and
refuted although they are much less severe in their opposition
to the Ahl al-Sunna wa’l-Jama‘a. This perplexed me for a long
time. Finally, I came to understand, by God’s grace, that
the objections of Zamakhshari to Ahl al-Sunna were due to
his love of and, devotion to, truth. That is, he sided with
the views of the Mu’tazilite School since he, for example,
thought that God could be held free from all defects by attributing
to animate beings themselves the function of creating or giving
external existence to their acts. Because of the importance
he attached to, and the efforts he expended to affirm, the
exemption of God from every defect, he did not accept the
principle of the Ahl al-Sunna concerning the creation of the
acts of animate beings. As for the other Mu’tazilite leaders
rejected by the Ahl al-Sunna, they opposed the Ahl al-Sunna,
not because they sought the truth sincerely, but because they
were unable to perceive the exalted principles of the Ahl
al-Sunna and were too narrow-minded to understand the comprehensive
rules they follow in establishing those principles.
The opposition of some
people of tariqa outside the exalted Sunna of the Prophet,
to some secondary commandments of the Shari‘a comes, as with
that of the Mu’tazilite School to the Ahl al-Sunna in theological
matters, from two different groups:
- The first group become,
as with Zamakshari, indifferent to the secondary commandments
of the Shari‘a, the taste of which they are unable to perceive,
because they are attached to their way with a pure intention
and are overcome by the pleasures they derive in following
that way.
- The other group consider
those commandments inferior to the principles of tariqa
because they are unable to comprehend them or to experience
the profound pleasure they give.
Three
points to be made concerning the way of sainthood:
- The most beautiful,
the straightest and brightest of the ways of sainthood is
following the Sunna of the Prophet Muhammad
The most beautiful,
the straightest and brightest of the ways of sainthood is
following the Example – the Sunna– of the Prophet, upon
him be peace and blessings, in all one’s deeds and transactions,
and obeying the commandments of the Shari‘a.
It is because of this
following and obeying that even one’s ordinary deeds and
actions and natural movements become a form of worship,
and, reminds him of the Sunna and Shari‘a. The remembrance
of the Sunna and Shari‘a causes one to think of the Prophet,
which calls, in turn, God Almighty to mind. This remembrance
gives a kind of peace and contentment. The minutes of life
can thus be counted as being spent in continuous worship.
Being the broadest highway, this way is the way of the Companions
and their righteous followers, who truly represented the
succession to the Prophetic mission, which is the greatest
sainthood.
- The most important
basis of the ways of sainthood is sincerity or purity of
intention
The most important
basis of the ways of sainthood and the schools of tariqa
is sincerity or purity of intention. For one is saved through
sincerity from the implicit forms of associating partners
with God. Whoever has not been able to acquire sincerity
cannot travel in those ways. And, the most direct means,
the most effective and penetrating power in those ways is
love. A lover does not try to find faults with his beloved
and becomes blind to his or her defects; rather, even the
weak indications of his beloved’s perfection are decisive
proofs in the sight of the lover. He always sides with his
beloved.
That is why those
who have directed themselves to knowledge of God through
love, do not give ear to objections and doubts. Even if
thousands of devils come together, they cannot invalidate
in their sight even the least indication to the perfection
of their True Beloved (God). But for this love, they would
have to strive against the resistance of their carnal selves,
against their personal and external devils. In order to
save themselves, they must resist heroically, with firmness,
strong faith, and careful vision and discernment.
Because of this, love
of God originating in knowledge of God is the most important
‘ferment’ in all the steps to sainthood, which changes an
initiate and elevates him to higher ranks, and the remedy
that cures all spiritual illnesses. There is, however, a
risk in the way of love, namely that the lover may turn
from complete modesty, from being a supplicant before God,
to putting on airs and graces and behaving affectedly to
show himself as valued and worthy of God’s love, and he
therein transgresses the measure. When he is inclined in
love to another being than God, he may love him on his account,
that is, for his personal perfections and spiritual grace,
not on account of God or his being a mirror of God’s Names.
This sort of love becomes, for the lover, a poison not a
remedy to cure his spiritual illnesses. The love for other
beings than God, however perfect and great they may be,
which is not in the name of God and His Prophet, will become
a veil before love of God, not a means for it. If, by contrast,
that love is cherished on account of, or in the name of,
God, then it leads the lover to the love of God, and his
love becomes a manifestation of Divine love.
- This world is
the abode of wisdom and service, not the abode of wages
and reward
This world is the
abode of wisdom and service, not the abode of wages and
reward. Everything in this world happens in accordance with
God’s Wisdom, and people will be rewarded in the Hereafter
in return for the good deeds they do and the services they
render in this world. That being so, the fruits of good
deeds done for the good pleasure of God should not be sought
in this world; if they are given, they should be accepted
not with delight, but with sorrow. For it is not reasonable
to use up here in this world the fruits which will be replaced
in Paradise immediately with new ones each time they are
eaten. It is like exchanging a lamp giving permanent light
for one which is extinguished in a minute.
It is for this reason
that men of sainthood warmly welcome hardships, misfortunes,
troubles and services, not complainingly. They always say:
‘Praise be to God in all circumstances and conditions.’
If they are endowed with the capacity of spiritual discovery
and working wonders, and given spiritual pleasures and lights,
they accept them as Divine favors and try to conceal them.
Never proud of them, they increase their thanksgiving and
worship in return for them. Many saints have even requested
God to take those favors back so that their sincerity and
purity of intention will not be adulterated. Indeed, a most
significant Divine kindness or favor for a man approved
by God is that God does not make him feel His favors for
him, so that he should not turn from being in the state
of supplication and thankfulness to God to self-pride and
putting on airs and graces and behaving affectedly.
Because of this, if
those who seek sainthood by tariqa pursue spiritual pleasures
and the capacity of working wonders, which are among the
insignificant fruits of sainthood, and, when given, welcome
these with pleasure, it will lead them – besides eating
up here in this world the permanent fruits of Paradise –
to lose purity of intention and finally sainthood itself.
Risks
of following a tariqa:
Herein are explained
eight dangers which an initiate may face in following tariqa.
- Some initiates who
do not strictly follow the Sunna of the Prophet, upon him
be peace and blessings, may court danger by preferring sainthood
over Prophethood. It has been proved in the Twenty-fourth
and Thirty-first Words how much higher in rank Prophethood
is in comparison with sainthood and how dim sainthood is
when compared to Prophethood.
- They court danger
by regarding some saints of excessive views as superior
to the Companions of the Prophet and even of the same rank
as Prophets. It has been decisively proved in the Twelfth
and Twenty-seventh Words, and in the ‘Addendum’ to the Twenty-seventh
Word concerning the Companions, that they had a very high
rank on account of being the Companions of the Prophet,
upon him be peace and blessings. Also, it is absolutely
impossible for a saint, however great, to attain the rank
of a Prophet.
- Some fanatical followers
of tariqa prefer the daily recitations and the secondary
principles of tariqa to the exalted Sunna of the Prophet
and go so far as to abandon the Sunna in favor of the recitations
of their tariqa. By becoming, in consequence, indifferent
to the supererogatory commandments of the Shari‘a of the
secondary degree, they risk danger.
As proved in several
Words, and proclaimed by the truth-seeking scholars of sainthood
like Imam Ghazali and Imam Rabbani, the reward or degree
acquired by carrying out a single religious obligation is
more rewarding than a thousand commandments of the Sunna,
so also a single principle of the Sunna is preferable to
a thousand secondary acts of tariqa.
- Some followers of
tariqa who go to excess risk danger by regarding inspiration
as of the same kind as Divine Revelation. It has been decisively
proved in some treatises including, primarily, the Twelfth
Word and the Twenty-fifth Word, concerning the miraculousness
of the Qur’an, that Divine Revelation is incomparably higher
in rank and more comprehensive and sacred than inspiration,
and that inspiration is very dim and narrow when compared
to Divine Revelation.
- Some who pretend
to Sufism but are, in reality, unaware of the truth of tariqa,
become engrossed by the spiritual pleasures, enlightenment
and wonder-working – granted (without being desired) to
some followers of tariqa in order to reinforce the weak-willed,
to encourage those lacking in zeal, and to lighten the tedium
and troubles coming from service in the way of God – and
come to prefer these over acts of worship, daily recitations
and services, thus going into danger. However, as stated
briefly in the ‘Third Point’ of the ‘Sixth Clarification’
above, and proved in several Words, this world is the realm
of rendering service, not the realm of wages. Those who
demand their wages here in this world for their religious
acts and services will reduce the ever-lasting fruits of
Paradise to the dying, transient fruits of this life, and,
attracted by a manifestation of the Hereafter in this world
in the form of a limited permanence, cannot look forward
to the intermediate life or to the Hereafter with desire
and longing.
- Some initiates who
are not people of verification and truth run into danger
by confusing the real and universal ranks of sainthood with
their particular examples and shadows. As proved in the
‘Second Branch’ of the Twenty-fourth Word and in some other
Words, the sun is multiplied through its reflections, which,
despite having light and heat like the sun itself, are very
faint in comparison with their origin. Likewise, the ranks
of the Prophets and the greatest saints have some shadows
and reflections. When initiates enter those shadows, or
receive some of those reflections, they see themselves as
greater than the greatest saints and even the Prophets,
and thereby fall into danger.
In order to escape
all the dangers mentioned, including this last one, one
should always take as guiding principles the essentials
of belief and fundamentals of the Shari‘a, and condemn any
visions or experiences in opposition to them.
- Some people of enthusiasm
and spiritual pleasures court danger by preferring vanity,
airs and graces, exaggerated claims, and gaining the love
of people and being a resort for them, to thankfulness and
being in a state of entreaty and supplication to God, and
indifference to people’s love, attention and wealth. It
should, however, be known that he greatest of the spiritual
ranks is the servanthood of Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings, which is exalted with the title or rank of
being the Beloved of God. The foundation of such servanthood
is thankfulness, entreaty, supplication, pious reverence,
perception of human poverty and helplessness and indifference
to people’s belongings, love and attention. Although some
great saints have sometimes displayed vanity, and airs and
graces, and acted in an affected way before God, but unintentionally
and for a temporary period, they are not, however, to be
followed intentionally in this matter, for they are not
guides in this respect, even though they themselves were
guided.
- Some selfish and
impatient initiates desire to ‘eat’ in the world the fruits
of sainthood which will be obtained in the Hereafter, and
thereby fall into danger. Whereas, as proved in many of
the Words and proclaimed in Qur’anic verses such as, The
life of this world is but comfort of illusion, (3:185) a
single fruit of the Permanent World is preferable to a thousand
orchards of this temporary one. So, those blessed fruits
should not be eaten up here. If they are granted without
our desiring them, we should be thankful to God and regard
them not as a reward, but as a Divine grace to encourage
us.
Some
of numerous fruits and benefits of tariqa:
- Through straightforward
tariqa, one can attain, to the degree of certainty of seeing,
full perception of the truths of faith which are the keys
to, and means of, obtaining the eternal treasures in the
Eternal World of happiness.
- By setting, through
tariqa, the heart to work, which is the center and spring
of the human factory, and thereby directing the other human
faculties to their creative functions, one can attain true
humanity.
- By following tariqa,
the believer joins a chain or caravan of saints in the journeying
to the Intermediate World and the Hereafter, and he makes
those saints friends in that way to eternity, thus being
relieved of solitude and benefiting from their noble company
in both this and the intermediate worlds. He also regards
each of his spiritual masters as a support and strong proof
against the attacks of doubts and, relying on their concern
for him, he saves himself from falling into misguidance.
- By experiencing the
pleasure of knowing God through belief and of love of God
coming from the knowledge of Him, he is relieved of utter
solitude in the world and loneliness in the universe. As
explained in many of the Words, the happiness in both worlds,
and the pleasure without sorrow, as well as communion without
loneliness, lie in the truth of beliefs and the Islamic
way of life. As was stated in the Second Word, faith bears
the seed of what is in effect a Tuba tree of Paradise.
- It is through the
training of tariqa that that seed germinates and grows.
- By inwardly feeling,
through tariqa, the truths contained in the religious duties,
through spiritual alertness and the remembrance of God,
he performs those duties willingly and enthusiastically,
not like a slave compelled to a task.
- He attains the station
of reliance on, and absolute submission to, God, and the
rank of being approved and loved by Him, which are the means
for a true pleasure and consolation without grief, and familiarity
and communion without loneliness and separation.
- He saves himself,
by means of sincerity and purity of intention achieved through
tariqa, from disguised association of partners with God
and degrading attitudes like show and pretence. He is also
delivered, by purifying himself through the spiritual operations
particular to tariqa, from the dangers caused by egotism
and the carnal self.
- Through turning in
heart and mind toward God, and spiritual peace and sound
intentions acquired through silent recitation of God’s Names
and reflection, in tariqa, he transforms his everyday acts
into acts of worship and his ordinary dealings and transactions
into deeds related to the Hereafter, thus making good use
of the capital of his life-span in a way to make its minutes
like innumerable seeds to multiply into seed-pods for his
eternal life.
- Through the journeying
by heart and the unceasing struggle against the temptations
of Satan and his carnal self, and the spiritual progress
attained, he tries to be a perfect man. That is, by becoming
a true believer and perfect Muslim, in other words, by attaining
the truth or the essence of faith and Islam, and therefore
reaching, as a representative of the universe, the rank
of being a true servant of God, as well as being His addressee
and friend, and a mirror reflecting His Names and Attributes,
and by demonstrating his being the best pattern of creation,
he proves the superiority of humankind to the angels and,
by flying through the highest ranks of humanity with the
Islamic wings of belief and practices, he gains, or even
experiences, the eternal happiness while in this world.
Glory be to You,
we have no knowledge save what You have taught us. Surely
You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
O God, bestow blessings
and peace on the Greatest Saint of Helping for all ages, and
the Mightiest Pole of Sainthood for all times - our master
Muhammad, the magnificence of whose sainthood and the degree
of whose being beloved by God were manifested in his Ascension,
and in the shadow of whose Ascension are all forms and degrees
of sainthood contained, and on all of his family and Companions!
Amen. And all praise be to God, the Lord of all the Worlds.
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