Fairness and grace (sabahat o malahat)

Hazrat Mujaddid (may his secret be sanctified) says in a letter: "The Essence of Allah, the Real, Glorified be He, is beautiful in Itself, and essential beauty and loveliness are established for It. This is not a beauty and loveliness that could come within the circle of our unveiling (kashf) and perception, or be contained in our imagination and intellect. Despite this, there is within the Holy Essence a rank so great and sacred that, because of its majesty and grandeur, even this beauty and loveliness cannot reach it, and that rank cannot be described as possessing beauty and loveliness. The first determination (ta'ayyun-e-awwal), which is the existential determination, is the determination and first shadow of this essential perfection and beauty; and of that most holy rank, where even perfection and beauty have no room, this existential determination has no share or portion, because, owing to its utmost majesty and grandeur, that rank cannot be determined by any

determination.

Despite this, a secret and a quality from that most holy rank have been deposited in the centre of the circle of this first determination, and a sign of That which is without sign has been hidden there. Just as the first determination is the source and origin of the Khalili sainthood (wilayat), so that secret and quality placed in the centre of this determination is the origin and source of the Muhammadan sainthood, upon its possessor be blessings and peace. And that essential beauty and loveliness, of which the first determination is the shadow, resembles fairness (sabahat), which in the metaphorical world is of the kind of the beauty and loveliness of the cheek and of a beauty mark (mole).

And that secret and quality deposited in the centre has an affinity with charm (malahat), which, apart from gracefulness of stature, fairness of cheek, beauty of the eye and loveliness of the mole, is a matter of inner taste (dhawq) that cannot be perceived without tasting it.

That beloved possesses a certain 'something' that is all there is;

the rivals go seeking that 'something': where is it to be found?

From this the difference between the Ibrahimi sainthood and the Muhammadan sainthood should be understood. Although both sainthoods arise from nearness to the Holy Essence, Exalted and Sanctified, the one (the Ibrahimi sainthood) returns to the perfections of the Essence, while the other (the Muhammadan sainthood) ends in the Essence of Allah Most High alone. And since charm is above fairness, arrival at charm can only be conceived after traversing the degrees of fairness. So as long as arrival at all the degrees of the Ibrahimi sainthood has not been attained, arrival at the reality of that sainthood which is the lofty summit of the Muhammadan sainthood cannot be attained, upon its possessor be blessings and peace." (Maktubat, Volume Three, Letters 88, 93 and 94)

Let it be known that what you have read regarding the first determination, that it is existential and is the Lord of Hazrat Khalil (upon our Prophet and upon him be blessings and peace), was an earlier finding (tahqiq). The conclusion that Hazrat Mujaddid (may his secret be sanctified) finally reached after this is as follows: "The Reality of Muhammad (upon its possessor be blessings and peace), which is the Reality of Realities, and which was finally unveiled to this faqir after traversing the degrees of the shadows, (is this: that the said reality) is the determination and manifestation of love (ta'ayyun-e-hubbi), which is the source of all manifestations and the origin of the creation of created beings. In the well-known hadith qudsi it is stated: 'I was a hidden treasure...' (to the end of the hadith). The first thing to come forth from that hidden treasure onto the stage of manifestation was love, which became the cause of the creation of creatures." (Letter 122, Volume Three)

A few lines further on in the above-mentioned letter he says: "It should be known that when one looks closely into the first determination, which is the determination of love, it becomes known by the grace of the Holy Lord that the centre of that determination is love, which is the Reality of Muhammad (upon its possessor be blessings and peace); and its circumference, which in the world of images ('alam-e-mithal) is like a circle and is like the shadow of that centre, is khullat (intimate friendship), which is the Reality of Ibrahim (upon our Prophet and upon him be blessings and peace). So love is the original and khullat is like its shadow, and this combination of centre and circumference, which is a single circle, is the first determination."

(A few lines further on:) "Since the centre is the origin of the circumference, inevitably the circumference has no recourse, in attaining union with the Sought One, except through the mediation of the centre, for arrival at the Sought One is by way of the centre, which is the origin of the circle and its beauty. From this explanation the union and affinity of Hazrat Habibullah with Hazrat Khalilullah should be understood, upon them both and upon all the Prophets and Messengers be blessings and peace."

And since, in the arrival of the shadow at the Sought One, the original is the intermediary, Hazrat Khalilullah (peace be upon him) sought the means (wasila) of Hazrat Habibullah ﷺ and longed to be included in his ﷺ Ummah."

In this same letter he has explained that after the Reality of Muhammad comes the rank of non-determination (la ta'ayyun), and that there can be no ascent beyond the Reality of Muhammad (upon its possessor be blessings and peace).

If detailed information is needed, study the above-mentioned letters of Hazrat Mujaddid (may his secret be sanctified). You will see in them such fragrant gardens of the greatness and loftiness of prophethood and messengership that the heart, and the world of belief and faith, will be perfumed by them.

Muhammad and Ahmad

In Letter 96 of Volume Three he says: "Muhammad and Ahmad are the blessed names of our Prophet ﷺ, and both blessed names are mentioned in the Holy Quran. Allah says: 'Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah'; and also, in recounting the glad tidings given by Hazrat 'Isa Ruhullah, it is said: 'His name is Ahmad.' The sainthood of each of these two names is distinct.

Although the Muhammadan sainthood arises from his station of belovedness (upon him be blessings and peace), pure belovedness is not established here; rather, it also has an admixture of the quality of lovingness (muhibbiyyat). Although this admixture is not originally established for it, it nevertheless stands in the way of the station of pure belovedness. The Ahmadi sainthood, by contrast, arises from pure belovedness, which has no trace of lovingness."

This sainthood is ahead of the first sainthood and one stage nearer to the Sought One,

and is more desired by the lover, because the more beloved the beloved is in his belovedness, the more perfect his self-sufficiency and independence will be, the more beautiful and charming he will appear in the lover's eyes, the more he will draw the lover towards himself, and the more he will make him enamoured and bewildered.

It is not his beauty alone that has consumed me;

my affliction comes from his indifference.

(In this verse,) "affliction" means excess in love and passing beyond the limit, which is what the lover seeks.

Subhan Allah! Ahmad is a wondrous name, composed of the sacred word ahad (One) and the ring of the letter mim, which is among the secrets of the Divine mysteries in the world beyond quality and quantity ('alam-e-bechun); and in the world of quality and quantity ('alam-e-chun) the expression of this hidden secret admits of nothing but the ring of mim. That is why Allah, the Real, Glorified be He, expresses it by this very means.

Ahad is Ahad, without any partner; and the ring of mim is the collar of servitude and bondage, which has distinguished and separated the servant from the Master. So the servant is that very ring of mim, and the word ahad has come for his honour and has shown his distinction, upon him and his family be blessings and peace.

When the name is such, what must the bearer of the name be!

(Then, a few lines further on:) Question: In what sense is the annihilation and subsistence (fana and baqa) that the masters (mashaikh) have established, and to which they have tied and bound sainthood? And what is the meaning of this annihilation and subsistence that has been spoken of with regard to the Muhammadan determination?

Answer: The annihilation and subsistence to which sainthood is bound is annihilation and subsistence in witnessing (shuhudi). If there is annihilation and passing away,

......................

1. When such is the state of the name, what must be the state of the one who bears it!

it is in respect of sight; and if there is subsistence and permanence, that too is in respect of sight. Here there is a veiling and concealment of the human attributes, not their passing away.

The annihilation of the Muhammadan determination is not like this; rather, here the human attributes actually pass away in existence, and there is a passing over from the bodily determination to the spiritual determination. And on the side of subsistence too, although the servant here does not become the Real and does not go out of servanthood, he nevertheless becomes very near to the Real and attains a greater share of His companionship (ma'iyyat); and because he has become very far from himself, the human rules (ahkam) are to a greater extent removed from him."

It should be known that this Muhammadan ascent ('uruj), which is bound up with the negation of the human attributes, although it took his ﷺ affair higher, brought it to the final summit of loftiness, and freed him from the struggle of 'other' and 'otherness', made matters very hard for his ﷺ followers. His ﷺ light of guidance, which was by virtue of his humanity, diminished; the attention he used to give to the condition of those left behind lessened; and he ﷺ turned wholly towards the true Qibla. Alas for the subjects whose king does not attend to their condition and turns wholly towards his beloved! This is the reason why, after a thousand years, the darknesses of unbelief and innovation (bid'ah) have prevailed and the light of Islam and the Sunnah has diminished.

These brief virtues of the resolute Messengers (ulul-'azm), and especially of the beloved Master, the Crowned King of Madinah, the Consoler of the poor ﷺ, have been quoted from the Letters of Hazrat Mujaddid (may his secret be sanctified), whose words are like sacred verses, with this intention: where does an ignorant one like me have the strength to describe the realities of these noble ones? But I may at least translate the sentences that have flowed from the pen of a knower of realities such as Hazrat Mujaddid;

it may be that the Lord of the Universe will accept this very offering in the court of His Beloved ﷺ, and that good fortune will become our lot. Amin, and again Amin, by the rank of the Master of the Messengers, may Allah bless him and his family and all his Companions.

Bear in mind that I have set down these brief distinctive features of the exalted Naqshbandi Mujaddidi order. Besides these, there are many other distinctive features and matters which are extremely beneficial for advanced wayfarers (salikin) to know. Because the people of this age are distant from and unfamiliar with Sufism (tasawwuf) and spirituality, I had to hesitate considerably even over writing the features mentioned above; but I have presented them, thinking that if people of knowledge read them, this very knowledge may become the means of their attaining these things.