This letter, written to Muhammad Chetrî again, mentions the importance of ikhlâs.
Thanks be to Allâhu ta’âlâ. Prayers and salâm be on His Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’. My son! After passing beyond the grades of jadhba and sulûk, it has become clear that the purpose in jadhba and sulûk, that is, the purpose of the way of tasawwuf is to reach the grade of ikhlâs. To reach the grade of ikhlâs, it is necessary to get rid of worshipping the idols inside and outside of man. Ikhlâs is one of the three aspects of the Sharî’at. The Sharî’at has three parts: ’Ilm (knowledge), ’amal (worship) and ikhlâs (doing everything for Allah’s sake). As it is seen, tarîqat and haqîqat are useful in obtaining ikhlâs, the third facet of the Sharî’at, that is, they are the Sharî’at’s assistants. This is the truth. Unfortunately, not everybody can understand this. Others deceive
themselves being content with dreams and fancies. Like children, they waste their time with walnuts. What could such people ever know of the superiority and subtlety of the Sharî’at? How could they ever know what tarîqat and haqîqat are? Thinking of the Sharî’at as a mere cover, like the shell of a walnut, they say that the walnut’s kernel is the tarîqat and haqîqat. Being unable to see the essence of the matter, they have their attentions distracted by the words which they heard that were memorized about love and dhawq. They ardently desire to attain hâls and grades. They think of these as something. May Allâhu ta’âlâ bless them with seeing the right way. May He give safety to us, to you and to all His devoted slaves! Âmîn.
This letter, written to Naqîb Sayyid Shaikh Ferîd ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’aleyh’, describes the existence and oneness of Allâhu ta’âlâ, explains that Hadrat Muhammad is His Messenger, and proves that these are such obvious facts that there is no need even to think them over.
May Allâhu ta’âlâ keep you on the way of your honoured ancestors. May our prayers and salâm be on the first of them, who is the highest, and on all of the rest! That Allâhu ta’âlâ exists and
is one, that Hadrat Muhammad is His Messenger, and also that all of the commands and information which he brought are true, are facts as conspicuous as the sun. There is no need to think them over or to prove them. But seeing this requires not having a diseased mudrika [comprehension] or any other kind of spiritual illness. When the comprehension is faulty, unhealthy, it is necessary to think, to observe. Yet, if the heart gets rid of its illness and the curtains before the eyes go away, one will see these clearly. For instance, a bilious patient does not feel the taste of sugar. It is necessary to tell him, to prove to him that sugar is sweet. But when he gets rid of the disease, there is no longer any need to verify. The necessity to verify because of an illness does not harm the
fact that sugar is sweet. A squint-eyed person sees one man as two and thinks that there are two men before him. The ophthalmic disorder in the squinting person does not require the one man in front of him to be two. Though he sees two, there is only one man being seen. There is no need to prove that there is one. [A person who has the ophthalmic disorder called Doppelsehen is called ahwal. Today we mostly use the term “squint-eyed,” which is wrong. An ahwal sees one thing as two.]
Not everything can easily be made believable by proving it through mind. For obtaining a certain, conscientious îmân, it is necessary to rid the heart of its illness instead of taking to proving. As a matter of fact, to make the bilious person believe that sugar is sweet, it is necessary to cure him of the disease, rather than attempt to prove it. No matter how well it is proven that sugar is sweet, he cannot form a positive belief. Because he is ill, sugar tastes bitter to his mouth and his conscience deems it bitter.
[Seyyid Abdulhakîm Arwâsî ‘quddisa sirruh’ wrote that the forces of mudrika are of three groups. The first group consists of the forces in sense organs; these exist in animals as well as in human beings.
The second group, mental forces, consists of the forces in the invisible five sense organs, which are called hiss-i mushtarak (feelings), hâfiza (memory), wâhima (power of representation), mutasarrifa (will power) and hazânat-ul-hayâl (imagination). These forces are proper to man; they do not exist in animals.
The third group consists of the spiritual forces peculiar to exalted and distinguished people. The things that are understood through spiritual forces cannot be comprehended by the forces of mind and feelings. If you tried for years, you could not explain the things that can be comprehended through the forces of mind to a
horse, which is the most developed animal. Likewise, these distingushed people could not explain to other men the things that are understood through spiritual forces, e.g. knowledge pertaining to Allâhu ta’âlâ, even if they tried to explain them for years. Higher than these are the distinguished of the distingushed. Higher than these are the Nabîs and higher than the Nabîs are the Rasûls and above these are the grades of Ulul-’azm. And above these are the grades of Kalîmiyyat, Rûhiyyat, Hillat and, lastly, Mahbûbiyyat, which is the highest and proper to our Master Muhammad Mustafâ ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’.]
By the same token, the nafs-i ammâra disbelieves the rules of the Sharî’at because its creation and nature is unsuitable for the Sharî’at. When a man’s nafs and conscience deny the Sharî’at, it will be very difficult to make him believe positively, no matter how hard you try to prove the correctness of the Sharî’at. To form a certain belief, there is no other way than to purify the nafs and to rid it of evil, which is called tazkiya. Without tazkiya it is very difficult to obtain a positive belief. It is purported in the ninth and tenth âyats of Washshamsi Sûra: “He who has done tazkiya to his nafs [that is, he who has purified it of evil and filled it with virtues] has been saved. He who has left his nafs in sins, ignorance and aberration has suffered a loss.”
[It is written in an explanation of Mawâkib: “When the nafs is purified the heart finds tasfiya. That is, when the nafs is purged from evil desires, the heart ceases from being attached to creatures. Translation of a Persian distich:
Unless the nafs ceases from desiring for the harâms,
The heart will never reflect the divine lights!
The evil and filth of the nafs are the things which the Sharî’at dislikes and prohibits.” Today some people call some things fashion, modernism and progress, whereas Allâhu ta’âlâ calls them evil and prohibits them. They call the things which Allâhu ta’âlâ likes and commands ‘bigotry and ignorance.’ There are also those who call those who commit sins artists, modern people, and Muslims reactionary, retrogressive and fanatical. We should not believe them. We should learn the dîn, Islam, from the books of the Ahl as-sunnat savants.]
As it is seen, the person who disbelieves this clear and brilliant Sharî’at is ill, like the bilious who cannot feel the taste of sugar. A Persian line in English:
If a person is blind why should we blame the sun?
The purpose of sayr and sulûk [making progress on the way of tasawwuf] and the tazkiya of the nafs and the tasfiya of the heart is to remove spiritual afflictions and to cure the heart of illnesses. Unless the illness communicated in the tenth âyat of Baqara Sûra, “They have a disease in their hearts,” is cured, real îmân will not be obtained. When such pestilences exist, the îmân which is obtained in this state is only an appearance of îmân, for the nafs desires the opposite of îmân and persists and insists in disbelief. Such îmân is similar to the bilious patient’s believing that sugar is sweet. Though he says that he believes, his conscience deems sugar bitter. When bile becomes normal he will have a real belief in the sweetness of sugar. Likewise, real îmân occurs after the purification and suppression of the nafs. Such îmân will not be lost. The good news: “Be it known that there is no fear of torment or worry of not getting the blessings for the Awliyâ of Allâhu ta’âlâ.” This, the sixty-second âyat of Yûnus Sûra, is intended for the owners of such îmân. May Allâhu ta’âlâ honour us all with this perfect îmân! Âmîn.