This letter, written to Sayyid Mīr Muhammad Numān, informs of the value of namāz and the virtues peculiar to namāz:
I thank Allāhu taālā. I send my prayers and salām to His beloved Prophet Muhammad alaihissalām, and I pray for you. My Dear Brother! May Allāhu taālā promote you to true ranks! Know that namāz is the second of the five pillars of Islam, of the five fundamentals of the dīn. It has accummulated all other kinds of worship within itself. Though it is one-fifth of Islam, it has become Islam itself owing to this accummulative quality. It has become the first of the deeds that will make man attain love of Allāhu taālā. The honour of ruyat, which fell to the lot of the Master of Worlds, the Highest of Prophets alaihi wa alaihimussalātu wassalam, in Paradise on the night of Mirāj, was granted to him, in namāz only, suitably with the state of the world, after returning to the world. It is for
this reason that he stated: Namāz is the Believers mirāj. He stated in another hadīth: It is in namāz that man is closest to Allāhu taālā. Namāz has the greater share from that fortune of ruyat which falls to the lot of those great people who have adapted themselves precisely to his way, to his path. Yes, it is impossible to see Allāhu taālā in this world. The world is not suitable for this. But those great people following him has been enjoying a share from ruyat. Had he not ordered us to perform namāz, who would raise the veil from the beautiful face of the purpose? How would the lovers find the Beloved One? Namāz is the taste-giver of worried souls. Namāz is assuagement for the afflicted. Namāz is food for the soul. Namāz is
medicine for the heart. The hadīth, O Bilāl, cheer me up, [which commands the adhān] indicates this fact, and the hadīth, Namāz is the bliss of my heart, the pupil of my eye, points out this desire. If any of the dhawqs, wajds, knowledge, marifats, maqāms, nūrs and colours, talwīns and tamqīns in the heart, comprehensible and incomprehensible tajallīs, qualified and unqualified zuhūrs happens outside namāz and if nothing is perceived from the inner nature of namāz, whatever happens comes from the reflections, shades, and appearances. Perhaps it is nothing but an illusion, a delusion. A mature person who has perceived the inner nature of namāz, when he begins namāz, sort of goes out of this world and enters the life of the Hereafter,
thus attaining something from the blessings of the Hereafter. He enjoys a flavour and a share from the origin without the
reflections, illusions interfering. For, all the perfections and blessings in the world issue from reflections and appearances. It is peculiar to the Hereafter for them to issue directly from the origin without the interference of the shades and appearances. To receive from the origin, mirāj is necessary in the world. This mirāj is the Believers namāz. This blessing is peculiar to this Ummat only. They attain this by obeying their Prophet. For, their Prophet sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam went out of the world and ascended to the next world on the Night of Mirāj [on the twenty-seventh night of the blessed month of Rajab]. He entered Paradise and was honoured with the fortune of ruyat. O our Allah! Thou bless that great
Prophet sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam, on our part
with the goodness suitable with his greatness! Also, Thou give favours, goodness to all the other Prophets alā nabiyyinā wa alaihimussalawātu wattaslīmāt, for they have invited people to know Thee and to attain Thine love, and they have guided people to the way which Thou likest. Most of the followers of the way of tasawwuf looked for the medicine for their diseases in other places because they were not informed of the inner nature of namāz, because they were not taught the virtues peculiar to namāz. They held fast to other things in order to get to their purpose. Some of them even considered namāz as extraneous to this way, as having nothing to do with the purpose. They considered fasting superior to namāz. The author of the book Futūhāt [Hadrat Muhyiddīn-i Arabī quddisa sirruh]
said: Fast, being an abstinence from eating and drinking, is to be qualified with Allahs attributes, to approach to Him. But namāz is to become different, to get away, to establish the difference between the worshipper and the worshipped one. This statement, as it is seen, arises from the matter of tawhīd-i wujūdī, which is a manifestation of the intoxication by the Divine Love. Many others who could not realize the inner nature of namāz looked for the passification of their sufferings and for the consolation of their souls in music, in rapture, in becoming unconscious. They supposed that the Beloved One was behind musical notes. For this reason, they held fast to dancing. However, they had heard about the hadīth, Allāhu taālā has not created a healing effect in harām. Yes,
an inexperienced swimmer who is about to drown will snatch at any herb. Love of something deafens, blinds the lover. If they had been made to taste something of the virtues of namāz, they would never mention music, nor would they even think of rapture. A line:
Not seeing the right way, they have strayed into the desert.
O my brother! The perfection originating from namāz and the sorrow caused by music are as far from each other as the distance between namāz and music. He who is wise enough will infer much from this denotation! This is such a superiority that it appears a thousand years after our Prophet sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam. It is such an end which resembles the beginning. It may be for this reason that our Prophet said, Which is better, the beginning or the end? instead of saying the beginning or the middle? This means to say that seeing that the last ones are more like the early ones he preferred the sceptical side and said so. In another hadīth he stated: The most useful ones of this Ummat are the early ones and the last ones.
Between these two it is blurred. Yes, among the last ones of this Ummat there will be those who are very much like the early ones. But they are few. They are very few. The intermediate do not resemble them so much, yet their number is great. They are very many. But the fact that the last ones are few has increased their value even more, thus making them resemble the early ones all the more. Our Prophet stated: The Islamic dīn began gharīb [forlorn, poor, needy and alone]. And its end will be gharīb again. Good news to these gharīb people! The end of this Ummat began a thousand years after our Prophets sallallāhu alaihi wa sallam death, that is, with the second millennium [in the hijri year 1011]. For, there will be a great
change in people and a strong alteration in things with the elapse of a thousand years. Since Allāhu taālā will not change this dīn until the end of the world, He will protect it against being defiled despite the efforts of the enemies of the dīn; the freshness of the early ones has been seen on the last ones. He is strengthening His Sharīat at the beginning of the second millennium. To prove this word of ours, we will point out Hadrat Îsā alā nabiyyinā wa alaihissalāt wassalām and Hadrat Mahdī as strong witnesses.
O my brother! These words might hurt the feelings of many people. They might sound unreasonable to them. But if they assess these pieces of information and marifats with reason, and if they compare them in view of the Sharīat, they will see which respects and reveres the Sharīat more, and thus they will admit the fact.
In all my books and letters, this faqīr has written that the tarīqat and haqīqat are serving the Sharīat, that prophethood is higher than wilāyat, and that even the wilāyat of a prophet is
lower than his prophethood. I have informed that the grades of wilāyat, when compared with the perfections of prophethood, are not even a drop of water compared with a sea, plus many other facts. If they see how I have explained tasawwuf, especially in a letter which I sent to my son [first volume, two hundred and sixtieth letter, which the great scholar wrote to Muhammad Sādīq], they will come to reason. My purpose in writing this is to manifest the blessings of Allāhu taālā and to encourage youngsters. They are not intended to make a show of superiority to others. May Allah protect me against such a presumption. It is harām for a person who recognizes Allāhu taala to deem himself superior to a Frankish disbeliever. Then, what would become of a person who would deem himself
superior to the superiors of the dīn? A poem:
If the Sultan picks me up from the earth,
It will be proper if I think my head is above heaven.
I am the earth which the Aprils cloud pities,
And then it showers upon me its fruitful rain.
Even if my body had hundreds of tongues,
How could I ever fulfil the thanks worthy of Thee?
If upon reading this letter a desire arises in you to learn the real essence of namāz and to attain to some of the perfections peculiar to it, and if the desire becomes too strong to endure, perform istihāra and then come over to this part (of the country) to spend one part of your life learning about namāz. Only Allāhu taālā shows men the right way and the way to endless bliss and guides them. May Allāhu taālā give salvation to those who walk along the right path and those fortunate people who have been honoured with adapting themselves to Muhammad Mustafā alaihi wa alā ālihissalawātu wattaslīmāt.