To read and talk about Sufism, even if systematically, without engaging in the prayers and other spiritual practices, cannot be considered anything more than a ‘hobby.’ It will remain only as a philosophy!
Reading and writing about the philosophy of Sufism does not make one a Sufi!
Repeating the ways of yesterday won’t take anyone further than yesterday.
Hadhrat Ali, the pinnacle of Wilayah, says: “Raise your children for tomorrow, not for today!”
The Divine Book sustains its newness and originality until Doomsday, yet appropriately addresses the people of the past according to their time. Shame on us if we still understand and interpret the Quran in respect to the past!
I write these because… I have come to be 60 years of age… I have two years left to the age at which Rasulullah (saw) left this world… I do not know how long I will live with a healthy brain and intellect… I am not a sheikh or a murshid… I do not claim to be a guru or a master of any kind… I do not have labels… I have no rank or position and do not expect anybody’s recognition… The reason I wrote these things was to help you understand that without engaging in any spiritual practice one cannot achieve significant insight… I am an ordinary thinker who shares his thoughts only with those who are interested… Those who benefit from my views will continue to read my work, and those who find my views contradictory to their existing database can go ahead and live their life as they wish…
I believe I was facilitated by Allah to acquire new insight involving certain new practices (in relation to the three names I mentioned above). And because of this, I say… Every new formation is founded on a new approach. This applies to today and to tomorrow! Even if one has the skill and capacity, with a traditional approach one cannot generate anything but a traditional result.
Religion is the name of Allah’s system. In order to thoroughly discover and evaluate this system, together with all its sublimity and mysteries, one must employ new means in a systematic way!
One cannot dig a well by grubbing the garden a little here and a little there! The fickle one who claims: “there is no water in this garden” after such a whimsical approach will only cause damage to themself.
I am impotent in duly thanking… My Rabb has facilitated and allowed me to realize my servitude and nothingness…
I have no interest in the gossip of other people. The smart one will not waste their time with my gossip, but make the best of their life by engaging in useful practices.
When my time comes, He is going to take me away from my village and enable me to commence a new life, in another dimension…
“We depart from this place, and say ‘salaam’ to those who stay” as Yunus would say…
I have shared with your servants, without any material gain, the knowledge you have disclosed to me; as much as you have allowed me to… They are your servants! The judgment is yours alone, O Rabb of the worlds!
17 June 2005
Raleigh – NC, USA