The Way Of The Sufi.

[Abu Habiba]

As-Salaam alaikum,

The Sufi way is firmly built upon 2 foundations: Islam or Submission to Allah (the practice of the Shari'a) and Imaan (assent in the heart to the basic Islamic teachings concerning Allah, Prophecy and the Last Day). Once a person has gained sufficient ground in these 2 dimensions, then Sincerity, love and spiritual protection can develop. Briefly, the Sufi path is the attempt to achieve Ihsan or spiritual perfection.

It is to try "to try to worship Allah as if you see Him."   Eventually, sincerity and love may take the seeker to the place where the "as if" ceases to apply. In otherwords, the seeker of Allah will worship Him while seeing Him, in the mode of one of the supreme models of Sufi life, Sayyadi Ali Ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: "I would not worship a Lord whom I do not see". Of course this happens when the heart beholds/sees by the light of certainty that which is hidden in the unseen world.

[Abu Habiba]

As-Salaam alaikum,

The Sufi way is firmly built upon 2 foundations: Islam or Submission to Allah (the practice of the Shari'a) and Imaan (assent in the heart to the basic Islamic teachings concerning Allah, Prophecy and the Last Day). Once a person has gained sufficient ground in these 2 dimensions, then Sincerity, love and spiritual protection can develop. Briefly, the Sufi path is the attempt to achieve Ihsan or spiritual perfection.

It is to try "to try to worship Allah as if you see Him."   Eventually, sincerity and love may take the seeker to the place where the "as if" ceases to apply. In otherwords, the seeker of Allah will worship Him while seeing Him, in the mode of one of the supreme models of Sufi life, Sayyadi Ali Ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, who said: "I would not worship a Lord whom I do not see". Of course this happens when the heart beholds/sees by the light of certainty that which is hidden in the unseen world.

An important exercise, when it comes to Ibada (worship) in this way is the Dhikr...Remembrance of Allah, which the Qur'an commands the faithful (believers) to do in several verses. In the Qur'an and in Islamic usage in general, the command to remember Allah also means to mention Allah, so the actual means of remembering Him is the mention of His Name(s), which is considered inseparable from the object named.

Through a gradual process of transformation, the revealed name fills up the mind and consciousness, leaving no room for individual self hood. The content of our consciousness determines our own nature. As Jalaluddin Rumi put it in his famous lines:--

                         ''You are your thought, brother,

                         the rest of you is bones and fibre.

                        If you think of roses, you are a rosegarden,

                       but if you think of thorns, you are fire's fuel." (Rumi 1925-40, Book 2).

Edited 13 جنوری 2020 by Abu Habiba