The kashfs that appear in the heart and dreams are not dependable.
What we should depend on are the Book and the Sunnat, which are the sources
that guide mankind to eternal happiness. [These two sources are the Qur’ân al-kerîm and (Rasûlullah’s utterances, which are called) hadîth-i-sherîfs, and also the books written by the
scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat and which elucidate and expound the two sources. A
person who wishes to learn the Book and the Sunnat will have to read these
books written by the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat. People who read books written
by holders of bid’at, by people not affiliated in one of the (four) canonically
sanctioned Madhhabs, or by
people
who advocate that Islam should be reformed, will drift down into perdition.] We
should learn the Book and the Sunnat [from the books written by the scholars of
Ahl as-Sunnat] and perform our acts of worship in a manner they prescribe.
Dhikr (remembering and mentioning) of the name of
Allâhu ta’âlâ is something which the Sharî’at commands. Do dhikr very
much and continually! The highest grade of Wilâyat (being a Walî, pl. Awliya)
is to attain the ma’rifat of Allâhu ta’âlâ [Ma’rifat means to comprehend the Attributes of
Allâhu ta’âlâ. It is realized after attaining the spiritual grade termed Fanâ.]
There are two stages of Fanâ: The first stage of Fanâ, called Fanâ-i-qalb, means the heart’s forgetting about
everything except Allâhu ta’âlâ. Once a person has attained this grade, his
heart will not remember anything except Allâhu ta’âlâ, try
hard as he may to do so, and love of Allâhu ta’âlâ has
permeated through his heart so as to leave no place for love of anything else.
The second stage, termed Fanâ-i-nafs, is
a person’s forgetting about his own existence as well. A person who has
attained this grade can no longer say, ‘I.’ To remember or love anything but Allâhu ta’âlâ is a poison for the ’ârif, (i.e. a
person who has attained ma’rifat of Allâhu ta’âlâ); it is a desease which will
drag the heart to death. Once Fanâ has been attained, the heart will free
itself from loving the mâ-siwâ [everything (with the exception of Allâhu
ta’âlâ)]; it will attain real îmân, and it will be easy and pleasant (for the
person who has such a heart) to adapt himself to the Sharî’at. Ikhlâs will be
attained. The nafs will get rid of its (evil attribute called) ammâra,
attaining (the blessed attribute called) itmi’nân. The nafs-i-ammâra is hostile
towards the Sharî’at, [i.e. Allâhu ta’âlâ’s commandments and prohibitions.]
Once it has attained itmi’nân, it will take pleasure from obeying the Sharî’at.
The state attained is termed Islâm-i-haqîqî (true,
real Islam). In short, Tasawwuf means sayr and sulûk. Its target is to make one
attain Fanâ and Baqâ, to make one a true slave of
Allâhu ta’âlâ, and to purge the nafs of its wayward, disobedient and
pleasure-seeking attributes. One’s purpose in Tasawwuf, therefore, should not
be the opening the sight of one’s heart so that one can see nûrs, souls, angels
and genies, to join their world, or [to learn what is naturally unknown (to
other people) by asking those invisible creatures]. It is not something
reasonable to try to learn about the unknown by means of the heart’s sight,
turning away from the scientific phenomena,
which
can be perceived by the senses and found by calculation and experimentation.
Both the types of phenomena, i.e. those found by scientific methods as well as
the ones that will be perceived by the hearts’s sight, are Allâhu ta’âlâ’s
creatures. All of them were nonexistent. Allâhu ta’âlâ created
all of them afterwards. Allâhu ta’âlâ cannot be
seen in the world. He will be seen in the Hereafter. The suppositional
perception (of Allâhu ta’âlâ) which can be experienced in the world and after
which one believes that one has seen Allâhu ta’âlâ, (though
one actually has not,) is called îqân.
In short, the purpose in (undertaking the onerous spiritual process called) Tasawwuf, or Tarîqat, should be to attain an immaculate and delectable obedience to the Sharî’at in the world. It should not be to attain a state of seeing or approaching Allâhu ta’âlâ. These things will be attained in the Hereafter. Then, our primary concern should be to try to obey the Sharî’at, not to be remiss in [spreading the Sharî’at, which is called] amr-i-ma’rûf and nahy-i-munkar, and to resuscitate those commandments of the Sharî’at which people have forgotten about. In case some kashfs and other spiritual states occur in our heart, we should not tell anyone about them. These states and dreams are not dependable. What is the use of a person’s dreaming himself as, say, a Sultan or the chief of Awliyâ? What is of value is to attain these things as one is alive. However, valuable as it is, what is its use, either? Will it save one from torment in grave or in Hell? A wise person will not attach any importance to such things. He will try to do things which Allâhu ta’âlâ approves of. He will hold fast to the blessing of hubb-i-fillâh (love for the sake of Allah) and bughd-i-fillah (enmity for the sake of Allah). [First of all, it is necessary to learn the creed of Ahl as-Sunnat and the teachings of the Sharî’at, to adapt your belief to that creed and to adhere to the Sharî’at.]