Introduction

Syed Noor Alam Misbahi

The noble Sufis (may Allah have mercy on them) rendered outstanding services to Islam and the Sunnah in every age, as every thoughtful person knows. That is why the hearts of common people and the elite alike are seen brimming with devotion and love for them, and tongues and pens shower pearls of praise upon them. This tradition endured as long as the banner of Islam stayed high. But ever since the caravan of free-spirited men was plundered and the West gained dominance, and, having studied Islamic history closely, discovered the causes and factors behind its propagation and spread, they have made every possible effort to demolish every foundation from which a renaissance of Islam could arise, whether it be the treasure of love for the Messenger ﷺ or attachment to the Sufis. For the past two centuries every kind of effort has been made to bring these pillars to the ground, and today this is being pursued relentlessly at a far greater pace than before.

What is astonishing is that at first the enemies of Islam had this work done through their own sympathisers; then gradually this affliction became so widespread that, from among the people of Islam themselves, a campaign of disrespect and insolence toward the noble predecessors (aslaf) grew very heated. Now, under the patronage of several wealthy and so-called Islamic states, it has reached such a point that, let alone the mention of the people of Allah and the Sufis, they cannot bear even the sight of their shrines and domes, which are being demolished with extreme cruelty.

Alas! All these hideous deeds are being done in the name of serving Islam. It seems as if the work of every department of the religion has been brought to completion, and nothing remains to be done except to show enmity and hostility toward the predecessors, which is why this is being done; whereas other

nations are remembering their benefactors in ever new ways and offering tributes of devotion at their court. That is why, despite Islamic rule over more than half the globe for several centuries, our generation today is not as familiar with the great sons of Islam as it is with outsiders.

It is the truth that the noble Sufis, forgetting the comforts of their blessed lives and solely for the pleasure of Allah, made the tree of Islam into a mighty tree in every age with all their heart and zeal. The full treasury of no nobleman, minister or king could buy them, nor did they ever sell their conscience. Their broken mats were dearer to the common people than the carpets of royal palaces; whatever was sold here became priceless. It is as though the dervish-hood (qalandari) of these people of the heart was no less than any Alexander's sovereignty. Leave aside their company: merely by reading their blessed biographies, who knows how many people have been enriched with the treasure of sincerity.

How good it would have been had the blessed lives of these holy souls been made a guiding light! But the worshippers of the commanding self (nafs ammara) deliberately made the piety, purity, excellence and perfection of the Sufis a target of reproach and abuse, so as to collect from the common people the tribute for their preaching rounds. That is why this superficial group has opposed the noble Sufis so firmly.

The refuge of guidance, Bahr-ul-Irfan Hazrat Mufti Afaque Ahmad Mujaddidi (may his sacred blessings endure), is a meeting place of the two seas. He has great love for the noble Sufis (may Allah have mercy on them), which is why his sermons and addresses are filled with the achievements of the Sufis and the masters (mashaikh). The following books of his on Sufism (tasawwuf) and the Sufis have been printed and published:

1. Sufism and Its Benefits 2. Etiquettes of the Path (Adab-e-Tariqat) 3. Practices of the Path (Ashghal-e-Tariqat) 4. Remembrance and Reflection (Dhikr-o-Fikr) 5. Al-Salah wal-Falah 6. The Naqshbandi Order and Its Spiritual Journey (suluk), and others.

An important link in this series is this treatise, “The Sufis and Their Gnosis” (Sufiya aur unke Ma'arif), which, though brief,

nevertheless contains many important meanings and gnostic insights (ma'arif).

While the treatise was being edited, a sheet of paper was found on which important headings, with page numbers, had been noted from Kitab al-Luma' (Urdu) and Kashf al-Mahjub (Urdu). From this it was understood that the revered master (Makhdoom) perhaps wished to include these in the treatise as well. For some reason they could not be included in this edition, but they are reproduced exactly so that they may be included in a future edition, or so that the reader may turn to the original book and study it.

Title of the book: Kitab al-Luma'

Divine unity (tawhid) and the one who affirms it. p. 61

The classes of the Sufis, their views and states, and their characteristics and virtues. p. 38

Some accusations against the great Sufis and their refutation. p. 44

Why the Sufi is called a Sufi. p. 52

The noble Sufis and the understanding of the Quran. p. 136

The Sufis and following the Messenger (peace be upon him). p. 175

Sufi explanations. p. 178

The People of the Bench (Ashab al-Suffah). p. 224

The etiquettes of the Sufis. p. 238

The Sufis' etiquettes of purification and wudu. p. 238

The Sufis' complete self-sacrifice (ithar) for their companions. p. 307

Worldly gifts and the noble Sufis. p. 310

The Sufis' etiquettes of earning a livelihood. p. 314

The way of the Sufis regarding receiving and giving, and kindness to the poor (fuqara). p. 317

The Sufis in solitude and in company. p. 327

The Sufis' etiquettes of going hungry. p. 326

The Sufis' etiquettes in illness. p. 328

The Sufis' etiquettes of departing from the world. p. 341

The various views of the Sufis on questions of Sufism. p. 375

The letters of the Sufis. p. 380

Some introductory excerpts from the books of the Sufis. p. 393

Poems of the Sufis based on spiritual states and allusions. p. 401

The counsels of the Sufis to one another. p. 439

The various sayings of the Sufis about spiritual audition (sama') and its meaning. p. 449The Sufis and the etiquettes of prayer. p. 249

The Sufis and the etiquettes of Zakat and charity. p. 256

The etiquettes of fasting and the noble Sufis. p. 262

The Sufis' etiquettes of Hajj. p. 269

The Sufis' etiquettes and mutual relations when travelling and when at home. p. 280

The Sufis' etiquettes of love. p. 284

Scholarly discussions and the etiquettes of the Sufis. p. 288

The practices of the Sufis concerning gatherings of hospitality and food. p. 293

The Sufis and the etiquettes of ecstasy (wajd) and audition. p. 298

The Sufis' etiquettes of dress. p. 301

The Sufis' etiquettes of travel. p. 304

The conduct of particular accomplished Sufis regarding audition. p. 485

Those Sufis who do not consider audition, reciting the Quran in a singing manner, poems and odes, and ecstasy and dancing to be correct. p. 495

The Sufis' display of miracles (karamat) for the training of disciples (murids). p. 537

Subtle states of the elect Sufis that surpass miracles. p. 541

The technical terms of the Sufis and their explanations. p. 545

Ecstatic utterances (shatahat) and sayings of the Sufis that appear objectionable but are in fact correct. p. 624

Title of the book: Kashf al-Mahjub (Urdu), Chapter 3

Subject: On Sufism. pp. 209–238

A Few Points

1. The Divine Essence comprises all perfections, and every good and perfection belongs to It essentially, without beginning, without end and without limit.

2. He draws His servants near to Himself and, according to their nearness, bestows perfections on all of them: the nearer one is, the more one benefits from perfections and is enriched by them.

3. The perfections that follow from nearness (qurb) are of two kinds: (1) the perfections of prophethood (nubuwwat) and (2) the perfections of sainthood (wilayat).

4. The Prophets (blessings and peace be upon them) combine both, and they differ in nearness according to their ranks.

5. Perfections are also divided in another way: (1) perfections of knowledge and (2) perfections of action. In all of these the people of perfection differ according to their capacity and aptitude, and each receives a share in keeping with his capacity.

6. The Prophet ﷺ, master of the Prophets and Messengers (blessings and peace be upon him and upon them), surpasses every creature in every perfection and excellence, both in number and in degree and abundance.

7. The perfections of Allah Most High are infinite, and by His grace and mercy He has bestowed many perfections upon His servants as well. Accordingly He placed in them the capacity and aptitude for them and bestowed them. For the clearest example of how much a servant can be granted, look at the blessed person of the Prophet ﷺ, who combines all the divine perfections; and if you wish to see examples of the gnosis of sainthood, consider the great saints (awliya) of this Ummah (may Allah be pleased with them) and the gnosis, realities and perfections they have described.

Furthermore, the masters (may Allah Most High sanctify their secrets) say that the names of Allah Most High, called the Most Beautiful Names (al-Asma' al-Husna), which reveal the divine attributes and character, were manifested to creation by the Lord of the universe, Majestic and Exalted, in order to invite and call His servants to become characterised by them; and they also indicate that Allah Most High has placed in His servants the capacity and aptitude to take on these qualities. In some books of Sirah nearly one thousand blessed names of Allah Most High are recorded, and likewise of the Prophet ﷺ, leader of both worlds. From this one can gauge how comprehensive in perfections and qualities our master and patron ﷺ was.

The Greatness of the Noble Companions

The companions of all the Prophets (blessings and peace be upon them) combine the perfections of their leaders more fully than others, and they rank above the rest of the Ummah.

8. The divine perfections reach the Prophets (blessings and peace be upon them) without an intermediary, and reach the Ummah through an intermediary. Since the Prophets (peace be upon them) combine outward and inward perfections, perfections of knowledge and of action, and the perfections of prophethood and sainthood, their followers receive a share of both.

9. Just as beliefs and the fundamentals of the religion do not change, so praiseworthy morals and qualities do not change either, and abrogation (naskh) does not apply to them. Abrogation occurs only in legal rulings. That is why the scholars and masters have stated explicitly that all the Prophets (peace be upon them) agree on the fundamentals of the religion (beliefs): the beliefs of Hazrat Adam remained the beliefs of all of them. Likewise, the qualities of perfection and praiseworthy morals that were held to be perfect in that age remained so afterwards. The reason is evident: the Prophets (peace be upon them) were manifestations of the divine perfections, and their

followers, through their mediation, became manifestations of (the perfections of) Allah Most High, and there is no change in the attributes and perfections of Allah Most High. Knowledge and gnosis were a perfection yesterday and are so today; their opposite, ignorance, was a deficiency yesterday and is a deficiency today. Life, existence, power, will, hearing and sight, speech and the like were perfect attributes yesterday and are so today; their deficiencies were deficiencies yesterday and are deficiencies today.

10. Anyone who has read the pure lives of the Prophets (upon our Prophet and upon them be blessings and peace), and the aspects of their lives and accounts mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah, will, if he has any discernment, realise that the following qualities and morals were present in all of them: (1) Firmness and strength of faith, such that in no matter whatsoever did doubt, hesitation or decline come near them even by an atom, and they remained fully steadfast upon it until their last breath. (2) Obedience and servitude to Allah Most High: they always acted upon what was commanded and kept away from what was prohibited and forbidden; at no stage did their steadfastness waver, and adopting what pleases the Truth was always their way. (3) Purity of heart, to such a degree that there was not the slightest stain of love or attachment to anything other than the Truth on the hem of their hearts. Hence they remained entirely pure and free of all base qualities: rancour and envy, greed, avarice, inclination and desire for the world, love of the world and what is in it, love of praise, love of rank and position and the like. Even though they lived very long lives, their steadfastness never slipped in any way in this matter. (4) Possessing purified souls: their holy souls are so purified and cleansed that they are safe and free from every mischief of the self (nafs), small or great. (5) Night vigils, sighs and lamentation, weeping and crying, restlessness and sleeplessness in the love of Allah, repentance and turning back to Him (inabat), patience and gratitude, fear and hope, contentment and trust in Allah (tawakkul), bravery, resolve and courage, truthfulness and fearlessness, generosity and liberality, self-sacrifice and offering, pardon and forbearance,

a cheerful face, gentle speech, sweet words, sympathy and compassion, and other good qualities and morals were found in these noble ones in perfect measure. They were filled with such abundant zeal for calling to Allah and for enjoining good and forbidding evil that tongue and pen cannot describe it. Free of every fear and every power, it was their way and habit to declare the truth fearlessly before even the greatest tyrant. Whatever was fit to be stated and made known they declared openly, and whatever they were commanded with they fulfilled completely. The hardships, afflictions and harm from people that these noble ones bore in the course of their teaching and guidance, with such courage and cheerfulness, are without parallel.

(8) Purification (tazkiya) and refinement (tasfiya) remained the most important work of these leaders. They knew with certainty that the place from which evils and mischief are born, and from which all vices and defects arise, is the commanding selves and the unrefined hearts.

Hazrat Mujaddid (may his secret be sanctified) says that the purpose of sending the Prophets (peace be upon them) was solely the purification of souls. Wherever in the Holy Quran the Lord of the universe, Majestic and Exalted, has described the purposes of sending messengers, He has mentioned purification among them, and He has promised Paradise for restraining the commanding self from its mischief and from evil. Without purification, morals and deeds never become sound.

Ways of Purification

(9) Hazrat Mujaddid (may his secret be sanctified) described only two ways of purification: first, the company of a perfect and perfecting spiritual guide (shaykh) together with divine attraction (jadhb); second, spiritual struggles (mujahadat) and austerities (riyadat). The Prophets (peace be upon them) are born with purified souls, and their communities, through following them and by virtue of the graces and blessings of their company, attain the station of sincerity (ikhlas) and excellence (ihsan). Therefore they all

remain pure and free of weaknesses in belief and practice.

(10) In these perfections of nearness, of prophethood and of sainthood, all the Prophets (blessings and peace be upon them) share; beyond that there is a difference of ranks and degrees of precedence among them. The Prophet ﷺ, master of the Messengers (may Allah Most High bless him and all of them), came as the seal of them all, the highest and most exalted of all, the nearest of all and the most perfect of all, forever. Therefore his Companions, then the Successors (Tabi'in) and their successors (Tab' Tabi'in), the scholars, jurists and imams, the Quran commentators, hadith scholars and theologians, and the saints and Sufis, are the most numerous of all and excel in perfections, morals and lofty qualities, and they surpassed the other communities in every way. Their verifying scholars carried the sciences and arts and the perfections of nearness to the very highest point of ascent in comparison with other communities. Whether you look at austerities and struggles, calling and preaching, purification and refinement or many other respects, you will find them superior in all. Their Prophet (blessings and peace be upon him) is the last Prophet, and the Holy Lord Himself has graciously taken upon Himself the survival and protection of their religion. By virtue of this, of the scholarly and gnostic heritage that this Ummah still possesses today, not even a tenth of a tenth survives with anyone else; rather, compared with it, that of others is as good as non-existent.

11. Keeping their covenant (promise) was an essential quality of theirs; they neither broke a promise nor violated a covenant. The Caesar of Rome asked Hazrat Abu Sufyan (may Allah be pleased with him), “Does he act treacherously?”, that is, whether he breaks covenants. At that time, when (his) enmity and hostility (toward the Prophet ﷺ) had reached its height, he plainly denied it: he had never broken any covenant nor ever acted against an agreement.

12. Being content with as much of the world as suffices. They were such renouncers of the world that they never paid it any heed; nor did they occupy themselves with it even outwardly for the sake of calling to the religion; nor did they ever

waste their time; nor was anything of the world ever spoken of in their blessed gatherings in a way that might create a desire and inclination for the world in the hearts of the listeners. They perceived the outward adornment of the world, its glitter, its attraction and its allure more keenly than anyone, and they were the wisest of all about its defects and faults. In their gatherings they always condemned it and described its faults and ugliness, which produced aversion and dislike for it in people's hearts. The Prophet ﷺ, knower of the unseen, says: “I do not fear for you that you will commit shirk, but that you will become desirous of the world as those before you became desirous of it, and then the world will destroy you just as it destroyed those before you.” (Bukhari and others, in meaning)

Let this point be kept in mind: all the perfections and praiseworthy morals and qualities of the Prophets (blessings and peace be upon them) are bestowed (wahbi), that is, gifted by Allah Most High, not acquired (kasbi) through effort and acquisition. Hence their every manner, every perfection and quality is a reflection and radiance of the perfections and character of Allah Most High, and all of it is beloved and pleasing. Therefore these noble ones are the standard, and following them in perfections, qualities and morals is the guarantee of the Truth's pleasure and of success.

13. The companions of the Prophets (blessings and peace be upon them), who received grace from them directly, are superior to the rest of the Ummah and are generally foremost in following and obedience. After these Prophets (blessings and peace be upon them) depart from the world, their lights begin to recede, and in general hearts and souls no longer retain the purity that their companions had. To the degree that the light of these noble ones begins to leave hearts, innovation (bid'ah) in belief and practice begins to arise in its place. Any

person can see this in the context of changing eras.

14. After the companions, people generally divide into different classes. One class adheres fully to following the Prophets (blessings and peace be upon them) outwardly and inwardly. It acts completely upon their Shari'ah and conduct, guards the inward lights through its struggles, austerities and following, and strives to develop within itself the perfections, qualities and morals that belonged to its leaders. Books of history and Sirah show that in various eras there have generally been world-renouncing and accomplished people. A group of rabbis and monks always possessed these perfections and qualities, and the churches and chapels were filled with them. This group of monks, through abundant struggles and the like, also possessed spiritual unveiling (kashf), as is evident from the accounts of Bahira and others. These rabbis and monks did not confine their lives to remembrance (dhikr) and worship alone, but properly carried out the work of calling and preaching for the reform of deeds and beliefs. Bukhari and others have narrated about Hazrat Waraqah ibn Nawfal (may Allah be pleased with him) that he had turned away from idol worship and accepted the Christian religion, and he used to translate the Holy Gospel into Arabic and other languages. Obviously its purpose could be nothing other than calling to the religion.

The books of the imams and masters show that the austerities and struggles adopted by people of other religions, through which they came to possess unveiling of the self, and the extraordinary matters that appeared from them, were learned from these very noble ones, and all of it is counted as their legacy.

15. Those who are called the noble Sufis are in fact this very group that, with respect to its Prophets

(peace be upon them), fully practises their ways, their sayings and actions, and their morals, deeds and states. It is another matter whatever task they may be assigned. This shows that these Sufis existed in every age, followed their leaders completely and dedicated themselves to this.

16. The temperaments, capacities and civic life of the people of each age differ considerably, and rebellion and transgression too generally take distinct forms and ways. It was a special grace of Allah Most High that He sent different Messengers and Prophets (peace be upon them) in different eras, through whom He gave different rulings to different nations. These rulings kept changing on account of the matters mentioned above; not all of them changed, but some certainly did. Secondly, the divine will required that they be granted different perfections. Moreover, after a Messenger had come and given rulings, Prophets (peace be upon them) continued to be sent to reform the corruptions of belief and practice that later arose in their communities, and to purify souls and morals. With the Prophet ﷺ, master of the Messengers (may Allah Most High bless him and them and grant them peace), the divine blessing was completed and the religion perfected; the door of prophethood and messengership was closed, and his religion became the final religion for as long as this world remains inhabited. Moreover, he was sent to every nation and community of the whole universe; thus the breadth that came to this Ummah in every respect was granted to no other community. Its population, too, had already spread widely and was yet to spread further, and change in its beliefs and practices was inevitable. Therefore Allah bestowed a favour on this Ummah, and the work that the earlier Prophets (blessings and peace be upon them) used to do became the responsibility of the renewers (mujaddids) and reformers of this Ummah. This final religion had to face various nations and communities, spread throughout the world and endure forever; it also had to be made acquainted with new sciences and knowledge,

and different perfections had to be granted in different times, suited to each age. In short, the detailed exposition and explanation of the Book and Sunnah, and their outward and inward aspects, required people for different fronts. Therefore the Lord, Majestic and Exalted, created different classes in this Ummah for these tasks, placed in each one's heart the work He intended to take from them, and turned them toward it. The Quran had to go forth from the valley of Arabia and reach the non-Arab lands (Ajam), and the non-Arabs were unfamiliar with the particular accent and tone of the Arabs; so He raised up a body of reciters (qurra'), who spread throughout the world and saw to it that the Quran is recited in the very modes and accents in which it was revealed. For the interpretation and explanation of the verses came the commentators (mufassirun); for the preservation of the hadiths, the hadith scholars (muhaddithun); and for new issues, and to make clear the universality and all-round comprehensiveness of the perfect religion, the mujtahids and jurists (fuqaha).

When philosophy and logic were transmitted from Greece to Arabia and their inquiries began to cause doubt about Islamic principles in the ordinary reader, the Most Merciful, Most Generous Master, Majestic and Exalted, raised up the theologians (mutakallimun). The Quran and Sunnah in many places demand excellence (ihsan) and good character from the servants; moreover, the Quran requires that the servants purify their own souls and those of others, establish the servants in the station of servitude, fulfil the purpose of creation, and hand over their outward and inward selves to their Creator, Majestic and Exalted. For this He raised up the saints and the great Sufis (may Allah Most High be pleased with them all).

Just as the classes of scholars mentioned above compiled principles and subsidiary rules for their purposes and codified their respective sciences, so too the class of Sufis laid down principles and rules for their purposes in the light of the Quran and Sunnah, and in their light carried out the work of reforming hearts and souls, as the explanations of the verifying Sufis bear just witness.

If one wishes to see a glimpse of this, one may also look at the treatise ‘Maqal-e-Urafa’ by the Imam of the Ahl al-Sunnah, A'la Hazrat Ahmad Raza Khan Fazil-e-Barelvi (may Allah have mercy on him). And just as these classes of scholars took words from the lexicon and assigned them technical meanings, so too the noble Sufis (may Allah Most High have mercy on them) expressed in suitable words what they saw and came to know through their unveilings (kushuf) and inspirations (ilhamat), and the lights, divine manifestations (tajalliyat), spiritual states (kayfiyat) and inward experiences (waridat) they encountered because of their perfection in following the Sunnah and Shari'ah and their particular struggles and austerities. When the terminology coined by other scholars cannot be faulted, why should faulting the noble Sufis be permissible?

17. The people of every class are not equal in knowledge and excellence, piety and God-fearing, purity of heart and purification, nearness and gnosis, and so on. The hadith scholars have classes, as do the commentators, the mujtahids and the ordinary scholars and jurists. Man is compounded of error and forgetfulness; everyone makes mistakes, and neither is every word and deed of everyone accepted nor is it all rejected. The only exception to this statement is one most holy person: the knower of what was and what will be ﷺ. Lesser scholars have pointed out the scholarly errors of greater ones, but on the basis of such scholarly and verbal errors their greatness and all their scholarly merits cannot be denied. And if there were no errors, why would there be any need for renewers and reformers at all? So the situation of those who bear the outward sciences is the same as that of the saints and great Sufis. The people of the outward (ahl-e-zahir) make errors of reasoning and inference; the class of Sufis makes errors of unveiling. The first class is bound by reasoning and inference, and its sciences are inferential; the second class is bound, in its knowledge and perceptions, by unveiling and witnessing (kashf o shuhud).

The extent of the disagreement within every class of the outward scholars, and the

differences in belief and practice among them, are well known to people of knowledge. Among the Sufis too there is disagreement in unveiling, arising partly from states and conditions and partly from other things. We have explained this to a considerable extent in our book Kashf-o-Ilham aur Shatahat aur unke Asbab (Unveiling, Inspiration, Ecstatic Utterances and Their Causes), and at the end of this treatise, Allah Most High willing (in sha' Allah), a brief discussion will be set down in writing.

A Review of “Mutala'a-e-Tasawwuf” (A Study of Sufism):

Now, concerning the greatness, perfections, morals and qualities of the noble Sufis (may Allah be pleased with them), we quote the thoughts and impressions of those who have looked at them with the eye of criticism rather than of love and devotion, examined and tested them in the light of the Quran and Sunnah, made Sufism and the Sufis a target of much criticism, and often went to extremes in their criticism. How far they arrived at a sound opinion in this criticism is a separate discussion. In this connection we quote a few excerpts:

First we quote from the dissertation of Mr Ghulam Qadir Lone Kashmiri, “Mutala'a-e-Tasawwuf Kitab-o-Sunnat ki Roshni Mein” (A Study of Sufism in the Light of the Book and Sunnah). This dissertation runs to about 570 pages and has been printed by Markazi Maktaba Islami Publishers, New Delhi. From this it is clear that he is in some way connected with, or influenced by, the Jamaat-e-Islami. In the light of this Mujaddidi faqir's limited study, the greatest enemy of Sufism and the Sufis today is the group of the Ghayr Muqallidin, and after them, if any name can be mentioned, it is the Jamaat-e-Islami of Maulana Abul A'la Maududi. From this one can gauge what mentality Mr Ghulam Qadir Lone may have.

In addition, in the course of his criticism his authorities are people such as the most notorious insolent figure of the Ummah, Ibn Taymiyyah, and Ibn al-Qayyim and Ibn Hazm. From this too one can gauge the level of his

research and criticism. He is such an admirer of the people mentioned, especially Ibn Taymiyyah, as if in his view every word and deed of Ibn Taymiyyah were supported by divine revelation. Despite all this, regarding the noble Sufis (may Allah be pleased with them), Mr Lone is compelled to make the following admissions. At the end of the dissertation he set up a heading, “Hunarash Niz Bago” (Mention His Merits Too). Under it, in an essay of 28 pages, he mentioned the services of the Sufis, their qualities and morals, their following of the Quran and Sunnah, and so on. A few brief excerpts may be seen; he writes: