Prelude
Sufism, or the pillar of Ihsan (worshipping Allah as if you saw Him, for if you do not see Him, yet He sees you) is the soul of religion, and the ignition of the vehicle fuel of religion. Joining between attaining it and its existence in the legitimate pure aspect is the very same adhering to the strong tie. The Exalted:
Whoever submits his whole self to Allah, and is a doer of good, has grasped indeed the most trustworthy hand hold (Luqman, 22).
But the weakness of the spiritual torch and the distortion of the practical image made the movements of Sufism lose their effective role. Hence, reconsideration of the issue has become indispensible with the hope of regaining truth and renewing purity.
I have divided my research into four axes:
1- Contemporary cultural and knowledgeable crises in our Ummah.
2- Contemporary behavior of the movements that belong to Sufism between the trivial and the valuable.
3- Great purposes of Sufism in its educating and knowledge.
4- Desired development in the system of Sufism work.
First – Contemporary Cultural and Knowledgeable Crises in our Ummah
Nowadays, our Islamic Ummah lives in cultural, behavioral, educational and knowledgeable crises. The graphic line of sciences flourished in the Islamic Ummah from the time of the Prophet (PBUH) till the 4th c. H., then it went straight till the 7th c. H., after which it began to go down slightly till the 9th c.. After this date, it began to go down quickly and deteriorate till in the 13th c., and in the beginning of the 14th c., it reached the bottom. Consequently, our Islamic world has undergone too many crises, the most important of which are the following:
1-Military and colonial hegemony, as well as cultural, political and economic captivity that followed prevailed in most of the Islamic countries. In the beginning, this hegemony was in the form of impertinent occupation through which wealth was plundered, people were enslaved, and the occupied countries were conjoined to the arrogant aggressive ones. But when these aggressive countries realized that they would be dismissed, and that they had to go out of the occupied countries after a short time as a result of the liberation of these countries by their nations, the colonists put far-ranged schemes that would guarantee the existence of allegiance and subordination of these occupied countries to them after their going out. In their schemes, they intended to disperse the united rows of the Muslim nations, in addition to securing continuous benefit and interests for themselves. Consequently, the colonialists did their best to change the cultural identity of the Islamic Ummah. They exerted a lot of effort to invent human tools that would be advocators of their plans; the plans that were contrary to and inconsistent with the construction of our Ummah.
After the colonialists were compelled to go out of the Islamic countries, they supported these human tools till they made them be in authority, in the headquarters of decreeing and making decisions. Consequently, subordination to the culture of the old colonialists continued in most Islamic countries, and instead of renaissance that was expected after the departure of the colonialists, Islamic nations relaxed and became indolent.
Hasty cultural progress was not achieved as is the case with some other defeated countries such as Japan and Germany. On the contrary, invented intellectual conflicts took place, and the contagion of party disputes and group clashes as well as the lust of attaining authority spread at the expense of scientific research and technical and industrial development.
As a result of the above mentioned, Islamic nations fell in economic captivity and commercial need to import recent products that were manufactured in the countries of the old colonialist. With the weakness of faith and the subsidence of the spiritual torch the result was cultural and political captivity of the Islamic Ummah.
2-Ignorance of Islamic Fundamentals Al Mustafa (PBUH) Presented
Cloning imitation and repetition of the honored preserved heritage produced by the distinguished people of invention in the past centuries spread on a large scale in this Ummah. Comparison became non-existent because of the discrepancy of circumstances these results were based on, as well as the contemporary complex circumstances after new issued that needed comprehensive study of the new conditions had been added, such as the Sultanic rules on which legitimate politics was based on and some new recent economic dealings, in addition to the concepts of the House of Islam and the House of War, and similar delicate issues that the distinguished elite should re-study. This is on the level of the one who studied knowledge and repeated it.
But on the level of the common people, what happened was something terrible. Knowledge was missing due to the negligence of learning on the part of the individuals, either because of idleness or because of indifference. Moreover, a lot of proselytizers, scholars and the people of Sufism failed in spreading knowledge through all the means they had. In some places, this process was restricted to the level of stirring religious emotions and exciting the listeners with thrilling tales that were far from the rules of religious knowledge and its foundations.
3-Discord and enmity appeared in the Islamic environment or the environment that belonged to Sufism that was expected to be remote from self-frivolity. Consequently, some preferred high positions of prestige, while some others became far away from consultation and coordinating work in their Sufist or proselytizing circles. They became heedless of the ties of the Islamic Ummah and the obligation of fiducial and illuminated brotherhood. As a result, the light of honesty and sincerity in the hearts faded.
4-Information chaos and frivolous openness of information made man lose the privilege of receiving knowledge from specialized persons that were entrusted with religion. Muhammad Ibn Serin, Malek Ibn Anas and other predecessors used to say:
"This knowledge is a religion , so see from which source you take your religion".
The Hadith of Al Mustafa (PBUH) confirms this matter when he said to Ibn Omar (ABPWH):
Oh Ibn Omar, your religion, your religion. It is your flesh and blood, so see where you receive it. Take it from the righteous, and do not take it from those who have got astray .
Information openness is something positive to whoever receives knowledge from its real people so that he be able to distinguish the trivial from the valuable, the beneficial from the harmful, the original from the alien. But nowadays, knowledge comes from people who have studied knowledge from a confused mixture of information that leaves no trace of original education nor valuable knowledge.
5-New Globalization aimed at making all people kneel before it to glorify the innovation it presented. Therefore, it sought to dominate universal headquarters, take possession of the sources of power and establish one pole that would employ the world for its own interests motivated by the Zionist dream that pushed the Radical Right of major countries to make the world encounter disasters and catastrophes. In spite of the financial crises these countries encountered, they went on exploiting the world wealth and forcing the world to be responsible for their hideous errors. But the most dangerous matter in this new phenomenon is their coercing the others to be culturally subordinated to them, and their cancelling the cultural identity of the others and imposing the dissolute corrupted image on the world nations in general, and concentrating this process on the Arabic and Islamic world in particular.
6-Growing provocation of the Muslims by Western radicalism took place by repeated aggression on Islamic sacredness and the honored Prophet, and inventing crises that the wise would refrain from doing. Sorrowfully enough, this provocation was not issued by the Western rabble and its insolent people only, but by high political and religious levels too.
7-Spreading of Intellectual radicalism that is blown up in the minds of some youth in the Islamic sphere helped in increasing the above mentioned crises. What made things even worse was scientific ignorance about the Islamic fundamentals that deal with the treatment of these crises. Moreover, what made the reaction of radicalism increase was violent governmental response to this radicalism aiming at preserving security. On the other hand, the elements of Islamic educational and scientific sphere were not given appropriate time to treat this radicalism by dialogue and comprehension, though some obstinate radicals insisted on refusing dialogue, but some others accepted it and turn away from their radicalism.
Undoubtedly, with the benevolent connotations of the original Sufism that spring from the soul of the Qur'an and the guidance of the Mustafa, Al Adnan (PBUH), the way of solving a lot of these crises will have been possible if only this Sufism were given an opportunity to do that. But being away from the reformation movement, and its shrinking away from its original educational role and its knowledgeable enlightened illuminations, left a great vacuum. Consequently, people's souls that are muddied by their chaotic frivolity went on floundering and they became lost. In addition, they made the others get lost too. Accordingly, righteous purposes of Islamic movements deviated from desiring the Countenance of the Exalted Allah, and blemishes that corrupt sincerity abounded. With the loss of the sincerity of turning to Allah and the rarity of the illumination of honesty, Islamic activity was changed into party movements that did not make calling to Allah its major priority as much as it makes hasty desire of occupying high position in authority and owning the control of the outside affairs its priority, though the Exalted Allah connects the change of the Islamic conditions with the change of the Muslims' interior:
Verily never will Allah change the condition of a people until they change it themselves {with their own souls} (Ar Ra'ed, 11).
From the above mentioned, there is pressing necessity to reconsider the methods of Islamic religious work. Moreover, the new circumstances make it necessary for a general reconsideration of all what is taking place in the Islamic sphere, not excluding Sufists who, undoubtedly, constitute an important section in our contemporary Islamic world.

Secondly – Contemporary Behaviorism that Belongs to Sufism between the Trivial and the Valuable

But what about the reality of the Sufist contemporary work? When we experience self-criticism with transparency and honesty, we find that the present Sufism is in a state in which what is original and derived from the soul of the Holy Qur'an and the states of Al Mustafa (PBUH) and the righteous predecessors is mixed with elements that are alien to Al Mahajjah (method) whose night is like its day. This alien blemish is clear in many issues some of which I shall summarize in the following:
1-Spreading of the ignorance of legitimate knowledge that should not be disregarded, the knowledge that deals accurately with the Islamic doctrine on the one hand, and, disciplines behavior according to the practical ruling of Fiqh on the other. In other words, leniency in these legitimate rulings has become widespread to a certain degree that some of inconsistent faith called it the peel that can be done without if one seeks the core. In doing that, they destroyed the structure of religion and deformed the image of its body on the pretext of attaining interest in the soul and its states. They are ignorant or pretend to be ignorant of the fact that the soul cannot be seen but in the form of the body. So is the case with the body that is valueless without the soul. Al Hareth Al Muhasibi (MBUH) said:
"The one who reforms his interior by self-observation and genuine devotion, will ornament his exterior with self-struggle and following As Sunah .
Al Juneid (MBUH) said:
Our knowledge is intertwined with the Hadith of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH).
Abu Najib As Sahrawardi narrated that some said:
The one who makes himself subordinate to As Sunnah in speech and deed, will utter wisdom; but the one who makes himself subordinate to his whim in speech and deed, will utter heterodoxy .
Abu Najib also said:
Whoever is more adept in Fiqg, his soul will become more responsive and more obedient to the elements of religion, and more fortunate in getting the light of certainty .
He also said:
Every truth that contradicts Shari'a (Islamic law) is heresy .
Imam Ahmad Ar Rifa'I said:
This frock is defiled by a liar who said: 'the interior is different from the exterior'. The Gnostic would say: 'The interior is the interior of the exterior, and its essence is sincerity' .
Abul Hasan Ash Shadhili said:
Every knowledge in which inner notions occur to you hastily, the self becomes inclined to it, and disposition feels pleased with it, should be thrown away even if it is true. If you take hold of the knowledge of Allah revealed to His Messenger (PBUH), and follow the Orthodox Caliphs, the Companions and the Successors of the Companions, you will be secured against doubts, suspicions, illusions and the false misleading claims that are far away from guidance and its truths .
He also said:
If your Kashf (vision, unveiling of the invisible) contradicts the Holy Book and As Sunnah, adhere to the Holy Book and As Sunnah, relinquish Al Kashf and say to yourself: 'Allah has guaranteed infallibility to the Book and the Sunnah, but He has not guaranteed it to kashf, nor to inspiration or to Mushahadah (witnessing heavenly visions) .
But the observer of the circles of Sufism today does not see this phenomenon. It is replaced by another one, namely, satisfaction with listening to songs about Allah charged with gentle emotions and accompanied by a lot of indulgence or trifling with many legitimate rulings. They might perform a lot of supererogatory acts but they fall short of the obligations decreed by the Exalted Allah for His salves. Mercy be upon the owner of Al Hikam Al 'Ata'iyyah (The Book of Wisdom) who said:
A sign of compliance with passion is haste in supererogatory deeds and sluggishness in fulfilling obligatory deeds .
The spreading of this phenomenon that assumes the name of Sufism is noticed in European countries and in the U.S.A.. Such practices are not restricted only to public assemblies in Islamic countries. They rather move to, or are manufactured in the West countries. So this state becomes close to the Christian reality that is lenient with the legitimate rulings, or it lacks the law of fiqh that disciplines behavior. They do not follow the law of our Master Christ (PBUH), because the latter legalized the law of Moses (PBUH). He made lawful some of what had been prohibited for them before, as is indicated in the Holy Qur'an. After Christ (PBUH), the reality of Christianity changed. Its followers became interested more in emotions rather than integration between emotions and behavior. The result of the absence of the legitimate knowledge in Christianity was extravagance in emotions, the known doctrinal deviation, and drifting away from monotheism into trinity.
Talking about the alien blemish in most of the Sufist circles, I do not mean all of them, for some of these circles preserve their originality and their interest in religious sciences, and the followers of Sufism in these circles reveal piety, straightforwardness, righteousness and good understanding. The Exalted Allah said:
Say: are those equal, those who know and those who do not know? (Az Zumur, 9).
They join Shari'a to Haqiqah (transcendental truth) referred to by the Exalted Allah:
For Allah is with those who restrain themselves, and those who do good (An Nahl, 128).‏
It is no secret to say that our Sufism Renaissance in Syria originally came from our brother-Algeria. The two Sheikhs, Sidi Muhammad Ibn Yalles, and Sidi Muhammad Al Hashimi At Tilmisani (MBUTH) who came from Algeria to Syria had a great influence in establishing this scientific Sufism renaissance. What aided this movement is the communication of these two Sheikhs with two citizens of Mustaghanem in Algeria, namely, Sidi Al Buzidi, and Sidi Ahmad Ibn Mustafa Al 'Allawi (MBUTH).
Today, we try our best in our country to be occupied in our assemblies with remembrance of Allah, memorizing the Book of Allah and reciting it, and lessons on doctrine, fiqh, Sirah (biography of the Prophet, PBUH) and Hadith (Prophetic Tradition) so that we avoid the dangerous mistakes some assemblies make, mistakes we hear about such as shaking hands of men and women in the assemblies of remembrance. It goes further to the level of touching the woman's body with the excuse of recitation of spiritual invocations with the aim of incantation. Thus, ignorance of Shari'a and non-commitment to it have led to behavioral deviations that Allah and His Messenger denounce and original Sufism refuses.
2-Common Exaggerations that Reach the Level of Superstitions
When such exaggerations that are far away from reality and wise scientific methods spread, man falls in the trap of illusion and the way of his thinking becomes confused. Al Badi' As Nawrasi (MBUH) said:
If the metaphor turns from the hand of knowledge into the hand of ignorance it changes into reality, thus the door of superstitions becomes open… if metaphors and similes are snatched by the dark ignorance of the left from the illuminated knowledge of the right and they continue in this state for a long time, they change into truth that is void of any tenderness and moistness. Thus truth changes into a mirage after it has been a delicious drink. It is changed into a hag after it has been a fascinating maiden. What makes me be acquainted with this truth is that once, when I was a child, I asked my mother about the cause of the lunar eclipse. She said: 'A serpent has swallowed the moon'. I asked: 'why is the moon still seen'. She said: 'Because the serpents of the sky are semi-transparent' .
He also said:
The entrance of a group of the Israelites and part of the Greek philosophy into the circle of Islam and its appearance in the apparel of a beautiful religion confused the minds .
Some proselytizers published a number of objective texts with good aim depending on the rule that said:
We lie for the Messenger of Allah, but we do not lie to him.
Some of the words of Al Badi' An Nawrasi:
A grain of truth is preferred to a threshing floor of fantasy .
Exaggeration makes things confused and mixed up, because one of man's natural characteristics is mixing imagination with reality aiming at getting more pleasurable words and desiring to give full rein to random words in description and be attracted to exaggeration in what is related .
and
An ignorant friend might harm religion the same as the enemy does .
In his book Al Burhan, Imam Rifa'i (MBUH) warns against the problem of exaggeration. He said:
Oh gentlemen, determine the ranks and beware of exaggeration. Assess people according to their statuses. Generally speaking, the most honored of mankind are the prophets (PBUTH), and the most honored of the prophets is our master Muhammad (PBUH), and the most honored after him are his family, his Companions, and after them come their followers. Particularly speaking, adhere to the text, and beware of believing in personal opinion, for the nations before you were annihilated because they depended on their opinion .
Exaggerations surround people as well as imaginative explanation of actions and exaggerated attraction to the extraordinary. The following beautiful tale is related by the writer of Hilyet Al Awliya' (The ornaments of the Saints), from Abil Hasan An Nuwari who said:
There was some inclination within myself to these signs (i.e., willingness and desire to have extraordinary deeds). Thus, I took a stick from the lads and stood between two boats and said: 'By Your Glory, if You do not make me catch a fish that weighs three pounds, I'll drown myself'. He said, 'a fish that weighed three pounds went out of the water'. When Al Juneid heard about that, he said: 'He should have caught a serpent instead of a fish to sting him' . Al Juneid's blaming of An Nuwari's seeking the extraordinary is an indication that the Sufist should be above desiring the extraordinary, because the resolution of the Sufist should be attached only to Allah.
Imam Ar Rifa'I (MBUH) said:
Do not make your utmost desire and your final goal to be able to walk on water or fly in the air, for the whale and the bird can do what you ask for, but fly with the wing of your resolution to the infinitive. To the adept Gnostic, all the universe, beginning from the earth till the Throne are no more greater to him than his delight of being with his Lord .
From the above mentioned, it is understood that Sufists were committed completely to the clear method of Sahri'a, and their behaving within the framework of the rulings of the causative wisdom of Allah that does not agree with man's keenness of exaggeration and his seeking the extraordinary.
3-Alien Practices have no existence in the fundamentals of Sufism. Some stabs himself with a piece of iron, another swallows fire or glass into his belly, another is occupied in accompanying snakes and scorpions, but when these practices change into being the final goal, man's resolution deviates from the path decreed by the Exalted Allah. The Gnostic's goal should be the Countenance of his Patron, and everyone who deviates from this purpose is a highwayman and he is veiled from Allah. Al Juneid (MBUH) said:
Most impediments, barriers and preventives are because of the corruption of the beginning. In the beginning of his journey, the disciple needs sound resolute intention. Resolute intention means purifying the soul from the requirements of the passion and every worldly desire that the soul wishes, so that his travelling would be solely for the sake of Allah only .
The writer of Al Hikam Al 'Ata'iyyah (The Book of Wisdom) said:
That which the Gnostic seeks from Allah is truthfulness in servanthood and performance of the rights of Lordship
Some exaggerated in formalities that sometimes reached the level of sanctifying because of the accumulation of customs and traditions. Ibn Al Banna As Sarqasti did well in his Mabahithihil As Liyyah when he described such people in the following lines:
Know that the people of this time
Are occupied with novelties.
They invented an idiom among themselves
In it, I found no goodness for religion.
They arranged rulings among them
Most of which are unlawful for them.
At listening (to hymns), the door was closed
But now, it is as wide as the Basins of Solomon (it is open wherever you go).
All people's beliefs today,
The beliefs of the pretenders of poverty are erroneous.
They revoked the fundamentals and the pillars
And made them buried in the earth humiliated.
They became disgraced, and they concocted idioms (for Sufism).
So that what was right (in Sufism) has become faulty.
Whoever denounces them has full right to do so,
For everything they reveal is abominable.

In such self-criticism, As Sarqasti aimed at making Sufism regain its original soul and its luminous image.
Al Qurtubi, the interpreter of the Holy Qur'an, said:
-Abu Muhammad Al Karkhi, the nephew of Mu'ruf, came to Abil Hasan Ibn Yasar wearing a woolen Jubbah.
Abil Hasan said to him: Have you made your heart woolen or your body? Make your heart woolen and put on any nice soft clothes.
-A man said to Ash Shibli: Some of your companions have arrived and they are in the mosque.
When As Shibli met them and found them wearing patched and woolen clothes, he recited the following line:
As for the tents, they are like theirs
But the women of the quarter I see are unlike his .
Imam Ar Rifa'I said:
Do you think that you can inherit this Sufi order from your father; a chain from your grandfather? Do you think that it comes to you in the name of Bakr and Amrou wrapped for you in the document of your descent; embroidered for you on the pocket of your frock or on the edge of your crown? Do you believe that it is goods of hair dress, a crown and a stick…a big turban and a nice attire? No, by Allah. Allah does not care about all that…. Oh you poor, do you wear the clothes of the community while you don't behave as they do…!
The above mentioned indicates the keenness of the predecessors of Sufism to make the hearts be directed to Allah, the Truth, and move from empty formalities to attain the status of tasteful Ihsan in which the Exalted Allah is worshipped as if He were seen.
4-Lack of Estimating the value of the produced work that is an integral part of the obligation the Exalted Allah charges man with, and some of the meanings related to making man the successor on this earth. The Exalted Allah said: "It is He Who hath produced you from the earth and settled you therein" (Hud, 61). This task is replaced by satisfaction with individual worship and recitation of regular spiritual invocations which are aspects that do not agree with the practices of earlier Sufists.
Sahl Ibn Abd Allah said:
Dependence (on Allah) is the state of the Prophet (PBUH), and earning one's living is his Sunnah. Whoever follows the Prophet's state will not relinquish his Sunnah .
Ya'qub Ibn Al Maghirah said:
We were with Ibrahim Ibn Adham in the harvest in the month of Ramadan. It was said to him: "Oh Aba Ishaq, if only you let us enter the town and fast the last ten days of Ramadan in it so that we may attain the Night of Decree". He said: "Stay here, be industrious in what you are doing and you will attain the Night of the Decree in every night" .
Abul Hasan Ash Shadhili was working in farming. He owned fields and plants. In addition, he took great care of the affairs of the Muslims in their wars. He was even most of the time participating with the army and the soldiers in the battlefield. Moreover, he took great care with fulfilling the needs of the weak and poor Muslims, and exerted his utmost effort to make easy what was difficult for them by the aid of Allah, and to solve for them what was complicated, and relieve their troubles however hardships he faced concerning the ruler's injustice or the indifference of the officials in authority .
From all the above mentioned, the value of the productive work seems to be valued by Sufism scholars and the honored followers.

Thirdly – Great Knowledgeable and Educational Purposes of Sufism

Sufism ( Ihsan), is the state of the close devotees among the slaves of the Exalted Allah. The state of every Prophet taught by the Exalted Allah, or a Messenger sent by the Exalted Allah, was Sufism, because it is the state of verifying slavery accompanied with the state of presence in glorifying the Worshipped.
The Companions of the Prophet (PBUH) received Sufism (Ihsan) in behavior and state from him (PBUH). This was the common state of the Companions, the followers and the righteous predecessors, as Ibn Khaldon stated in his Muqaddimah:
After the interest in worldly affairs spread in the second century, H. and thereafter, and after people tended to be interested in this life, those who were devoted to worship specialized in the name Sufism .
Some orientalists, such as Nicholson, raised an issue that some panting behind what the West produced followed. They believe that Sufism is a new creed, the followers of which are about to exempt themselves from religious obligations, and most of its beliefs are philosophical trends that are far away from Islam . But induction proves something different, for in the preceding centuries and the centuries that followed, the elite of Sufists were greatly committed to the Islamic law. When the jurist industrious Imam, Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, heard about the death of Bishr Al Hafi , he said: "He was peerless" .
Dhun Nun Al Masri said :
The signs of the lover of the Exalted Allah is following the beloved of the Exalted Allah (PBUH) in his manners, in his deeds, in his orders and in his Sunnah" .
Abu Yazid Al Bustami said:
If you see a man given Charismas so that he becomes able to fly in the air, do not be deluded by him till you test him and see how he stands commandments and prohibitions, how he preserves the limits ordained by Allah and adheres to Shari'a .
Sahl Ibn Abdul Allah At Tastari said: "Our fundamentals are six", and to him, the first is: "Adhering to the Book of Allah and following the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH)" .
Imam Al Juneid Al Baghdadi said:
All the roads are blocked for people unless one follows the traces of the Messenger and his Sunnah, and adheres to his method, then all the ways of welfare will be open for him .
The contemporary German researcher, Anni Marie Schimmel (deceased) said:
Muhammad (PBUH) is the first ring in the Spiritual Sufist chain .
She also said:
Tolok realized that Sufism doctrine was born with the Sufism of Muhammad (PBUH), and that it should be clarified through him .
The means of Sufism are reformation of the will. The Exalted Allah said:
So give what is due to kindred, the needy, and the wayfarer. That is best for those who seek the Countenance, of Allah, and it is they who will prosper (Ar Rum, 38).
But the goal of Sufism lies in two matters: knowledge of Allah, and self-purification.
In the beginning and means of Sufism, the disciples concentrate on repentance for sins, and train themselves to obey the orders of Allah by being disciplined by the restrictions of Islamic Fiqh, the matter that is usually hard for the beginners, but it is mild for the adept in sufism. When Yahya Ibn Mu'adh saw a man pulling out stones form the mountain on a very hot day while he was singing, he said:
"How poor the son of Adam is! Pulling out stones is easier for him than giving up sins .
In the method of education and spiritual promotion of Sufism, the community follows either of the two following creeds:
-The first creed is illuminative. It depends on self-struggle setting out from self-purification as a prelude for the knowledge of the spirit.
-The second creed is determinative. It depends on credence knowledge heading towards tasteful knowledge of witnessing, and from the status of witnessing, spirituality overwhelms the soul so that the soul becomes purified by means of (concealing description by description).
Sahl Ibn Abul Aallh At Tastiri referred to the preludes of the first creed saying:
When the Exalted Allah created the world, he made disobedience and ignorance in satiety, and knowledge and wisdom in hunger .
In this first creed , they care for stations of asceticism, dependence, honesty and the other stations of self-promotion.
On the other hand, the people of the second determinative creed criticize the Salek (wayfarer) for his staying in the states and stations. To them, asceticism is giving up something non-existent and has not any consideration to them. Concerning this purport, Abu Yazid said:
Asceticism has no station, because I spent three days in it. On the fourth day, I went out of it. In the first day, I gave up the world and what it contains. On the second day, I gave up the Hereafter and what it contains. On the third day, I gave up everything but Allah. On the fourth day, nothing remained for me but Allah .
The people of this determinative creed believe that there is no need for being away from disposition. Therefore, Ibn 'Ajibah (MBUH) stated that:
The further the traveler to Allah turns away from his disposition by contradicting his disposition, the quicker his arrival will be to Allah .
The people of the determinative creed care about directing the souls to the Truth and their absence from any other object. They do not originally turn to the self because, to them, purifying it is a natural result.
Al Juneid expresses his opinion about this idea when he defines knowledge saying:
Removing doubt in the scene of the invisible , .
Describing the meaning of love, he also said:
Substituting the qualities of the lover for the qualities of the beloved .
When Ruwaym Ibn Ahmad Ibn Yazid Al Baghdadi (MBUH) was asked about monotheism, he said:
It is wiping off the traces of humanity and (replacing them with) absoluteness of Deity , .
Concerning this meaning, some said:
In monotheism, there are no creatures, and no one professes the Oneness of Allah but Allah .
Absence from anything but Allah might be included in absorption in observing Him. The Exalted Allah refers to this meaning saying: said:
By no means! My Lord is with me! Soon will He guide me (Ash Shu'arah, 62).
He also said:
Knoweth he not that Allah doth see (Al 'Alaq, 14).
This absence from anything but Allah might mean witnessing Him. It is referred to by the Exalted Allah in the following verse:
But keep in remembrance the name of thy Lord and devote thyself to Him wholeheartedly (Al Muzzammel, 8).
That is, be devoted wholly to Him so that you become absent from anything else, and according to the adepts, the name is the very same named.
It is narrated that Hatem Al Asam said:
We were with Shaqiq in rows fighting the Turks on a day we saw nothing but heads fly, and spears broke. Shaqiq said to me: 'Oh Hatem, how do you find yourself on this day? Do you find it as the day of your wedding to your bride?' Hatem said: 'By Allah, no'. Shaqiq said: 'By Allah, I have the exact feeling that I had on that day in that night (his wedding).'
Then he slept among the rows and his shield was put under his head till I heard his snoring .
Such a state may not be felt by anyone whose heart is occupied with people. It is a state that could be felt only when one becomes absent from the creatures and is engrossed in the Truth.
In our Shatheli taste, we belong to this determinative doctrine. We travel along its paths. It is a creed that negates the presence of anything with the Truth, the One Who has no partner. The creation of the creatures does not mean their presence with Him, because, in effect, they derive power from and depend on His Ability in every instant, and the moment this supply is cut from them, they become worthless. The presence of the objects with the Truth does not mean that the Truth is capable of being fused in the objects or uniting with them. The Exalted Allah is far above them, and all Sufism scholars unanimously renounce the principle of Helul (fusion) and Ittihad (identification) . Al Juneid (MBUH) said:
Monotheism is distinguishing between Pre-eternity and the creature " .
Ibn 'Ata' As Sakandari clarifies this matter saying:
The universe is permanent through His making it permanent, and it is annihilated by the unity of His Essence" .

Fourthly – Required Development in the Method of the Sufist Work
In the past, the Sufi order played a great role in reforming Islamic societies and making them restore their good conduct. Badi'z Zaman An Nawrasi insinuated to the favor of the people of the path at times of ordeals. He said:
Nothing is more indicative of the preservation of faith than that of the people of the Sufi order at times of the attack of the people of perversion. An ordinary loyal follower of this path preserves himself more than any one who alleges to have knowledge. He is able to save his faith due to the spiritual taste of the Sufi order he belongs to, and by virtue of the love he feels towards the devoted saints .
An Nawrasi attributed the steadfastness of the people of the Sufi order to:
fiducial power, spiritual love and eagerness bursting from the Divine knowledge while they reiterated 'Allah…Allah' in cloisters and monasteries, the places that complete the mission of the Jame' (a large mosque in which Friday prayer is performed) and Masjed (a smaller mosque in which people pray, but Friday prayer is not performed). Cloisters and monasteries are tributaries that supply these praying places with streams of faith .
An Nawrasi used to say :
We should not forget the favor of the people of the Sufi order in preserving the Islamic Caliphate 'in Istanbul' throughout all five hundred and fifty years" .
If we want the Sufi order to preserve its educational and reforming role, development in its contemporary work should be effected. I'd like to refer to some important issues related to this subject in this research, some of which are:
1-We should differentiate between the specialty of the obligation of the knowledgeable tasteful education that needs taking long-ranged and forbearing care of the states of individuals who have pure readiness, and the obligation of proselytizing that is open to all people, so that we can give every circumstance of the two its full right. Tasteful education has specific circumstances that have all the elements of specialty, and proselytizing has also its own circumstances that necessitate scientific and practical opening to all the spectrums of the Ummah on the one hand, and to all the inhabitants of the world, on the second.
Consequently, in the circumstances of the knowledgeable education, only few persons who have specific readiness are privileged with this knowledge. It is a case similar to what happens in all developed countries when some scientific researches are restricted to specific persons. The Prophet (PBUH) privileged some of his companions with specific knowledge (such as Hudhaifah and Abi Hurairah) that the other companions did not have. In such a way, specialization indicative idiom is applied properly. But when unintelligible expressions even to the people of Sufism themselves are circulated, the result will be mistrust of the saints of Allah. In such cases, Sufist expressions are turned away from their original monotheistic meaning and change into doctrinal aberrations such as the principles of Hulul (Fusion) and Ittihad (Identification) that the Exalted Allah is far above, and His saints are infallible of saying them.
Our master Ali (ABPWH) used to say:
Talk to people on accordance with the ability of their understanding. Do you want Allah and His Messenger to be discredited .
Ash Shafi'I used to recite the following lines:
Shall I strew pearls upon the roaming cattle?!
Shall I compose poetry to the grazing cattle?!
By my life, my being lost in an evil town
Is like losing my valuable words among them.
If the Kind Allah relieves me by His Kindness
And I met people who deserve knowledge and wisdom
I would distribute the beneficial and gain their cordiality
Otherwise, I'll keep my knowledge stored and hidden.
Whoever bestows knowledge upon the ignorant, he wastes it
And Whoever keeps knowledge from the worthy, he oppresses them.
My Professor Abdul Rahman Ash Shaghouri described his Sheikh, Al Ha Shimi Al Tilmisani in an elegy saying:
I wish he had uttered a word
That would foretell the secret of truth from a world.
But to Shar' he adhered,
And in keeping secrets and eagerness, he was the best.
When the Gnostics' revelation of truths is emitted from true taste on their part, truths will not be denied by the people of knowledge even if the latter are unable to reach the level of understanding it. This is verified by what happened to Abil Abbas Ibn Sureij who was the best jurist of his time in language, in knowledge and in comprehension. When he passed by the assembly of Al Juneid and heard his words, he could not understand him in spite of his wide erudition. When he was asked:
"What do you say for these words?"
He said: "I do not understand what he said, but I can see that his words have influence unlike that of falsehood" .
On the other hand, dealing with the truths of knowledgeable monotheism without being verified by it raises a lot of dispute and denial. Abu Yazid Al Bustami said:
Whoever talks about Pre-eternity needs to have the lamp of Pre-eternity with him .
That is, if one wants to talk about Pre-eternal Divine truths, he needs to have the illumination of the lights of these truths shed upon his soul before dealing with them.
On the other hand, the circumstances of Islamic proselytizing should be open to all people, using all the means of publication. By doing that, moving of tastes from the breasts and publicizing knowledge into written lines will be effected.
2-One of our aspirations is perceptive promotion. It is that every Sufist assembly disciplined by the Book and Suunah should be one of the rows in a huge school situated all over the world that is made pure earth and a Masjed for the Messenger of Allah (PBUH), and that the headmaster of this school and its general leader should be our master Muhammad (the best blessings and salutations be upon him), and that the appointed Sufist Sheikh should be the teacher who accurately achieves general order. By doing this, we shall get out of the crisis of the illusion of having multi-schools, and variety of inventions. Abul Hasan Ash Shadhili said:
Whoever calls to Allah with something different from what the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) called to, he is a heretic .
My Master, Ahmad Ar Rifa'I said:
The true Sheikh is the one who makes you be committed to the Book and Sunnah, and turns you away from innovations and heresy .
3-What we hope for and earnestly wish that the elite of Sufism adhere to the soul of Sufism that is the very same pillar of Ihsan in our religion, and give up some inherited subsidiary marginal traditions if the latter prove to cause Islamic internal crisis, because there has been an urgent need to re-unite the rows dispersed here and there, and care anew for the great common Islamic issues so that the Ummah may, for the second time, realize its holding fast to the cord of Allah that is the axis of its unity at every time and every epoch. This should be realized before enthusiastic hurrying to international Muslim dialogue with those who belong to other religions outside the circle of Islam take place. Interest in educational approximation in the sphere of Islamic Ummah is closer and more obligatory, because the present state is critical and the issue is grave.
5-At present, we have to admit that concentration on the personality of the Sheikh and his role have exceeded the limits of what was prevalent with the predecessors of Sufism. The question of the guiding leader has transgressed transmission and plausible limits. Some exaggerated in making the known common statement: "Whoever has no Sheikh, the devil will be his Sheikh", be raised to the level of the Qur'an. Perusing the books of the Sufists, we find that Imam Ghazali inquired about how man could attain knowledge and closeness to his Patron. He asked:
…Could that happen to man without a spiritual teacher?"
Then he answered saying:
Know that the spiritual teacher is an opener and facilitator. With him, attaining truth is easier and more relieving, but the Exalted Allah may bestow His favor on whoever He wills from His slaves. Thus, He becomes their spiritual teacher .
Abu Hamed believed that the perfect Sufist is possible to exist without a Sheikh. Imam Ghazali added saying:
Know that unnecessary knowledge that sometimes settles in the heart has various forms of states in its getting in. Sometimes it attacks the heart as if it were thrown into it from somewhere one is ignorant of. At another time, it is acquired by way of deduction and learning. The knowledge that is not acquired by searching for a proof is called inspiration. But that which takes place by way of deduction is called consideration and discretion .
Al Ghazali emphasizes the possibility of getting knowledge by the way mentioned above. According to the belief of the scholar Sheikh Ahmad Zarruq:
Receiving knowledge and work from Sheikhs is more perfect than receiving it without them .
Sheikh Ahmad Zarruq makes the mediation of Ash Sheikh a condition for perfection, not for attaining. This matter opens the door for whoever wants to adhere to piety and travel along the path of self-struggle to turn away from deviation and push the self to the Exalted Allah by following the Beloved, Al Mustafa (PBUH), and close the door of puzzlement concerning choosing the inevitable Sheikh, as it was believed, and rivalry for epithets, away from sincerity in turning to Allah.
Abdul Qader Al Jaza'iri (MBUH) clarifies his matter saying:
Perfection of the received knowledge by way of a Sheikh is beneficial in the denotative meaning that it makes one attain the goal. Anyhow, the Sheikh does not give the disciple but what the disciple's readiness makes him receive. Accordingly, the disciple's readiness exists in him and in his deeds .
In this concern, Prince Al Jaza'iri directs the attention to the source of readiness in the disciple, his pure deeds and the noble manner that follows.
5-The door of ecstatic utterances should be closed however great the status of the Sufist is, because such utterances are said by either of the two men: one who deviates from Shari'a, or one who is drunken and is absent from himself in a spiritual state, and in both cases, they should neither be transmitted from, nor be followed.
It was said to Sahl at Tastari Ibn Abdul Allah (MBUH):
What do you say for a man who says, 'I am like the door that does not move unless it is moved by someone'?
Sahl said:
This statement is said by either a devoted saint, or a heretic" .
Sufists used to order their disciples not to object to such people, but they should not follow them .
In his Qawa'ed, the scholar, Ahmad Zarruq said:
Exaggerating Sufists are like the people of the whims of the Essentialists. They are also like the defamed and pretender jurists whose words are rejected and their deeds are avoided (not imitated). The true steadfast creed (Sufism) should not be relinquished because they are ascribed to it and they assume its aspect .
6-We hope that contemporary Sufists would be committed in their method to the principle that says: "Seclusion is in company". This principle is referred to by Al Jariri when he was asked about the meaning of seclusion. He said:
seclusion is to go through the multitude while you keep your interior quite isolated .
It was said by some:
If people are restricted to cloisters
We see all the universe your cloisters.
Out of this perspective, the Sufist moves in the universe, for he considers all the universe a Sufist cloister, in which everything remembers Allah, glorifies and praises Him. The angels circumambulate around the circle of Dhikr (remembrance of Allah) roaming in the heights. The planets, suns and stars are radiant with the bestowed lights and Divine bonuses, and eternal gifts saying to their Imam, man, we are behind you in the circle of Dhikr passing through the stations of love.
The one who is unaware of this honorable status and position of his, will retreat from this status in the circle of cosmic Dhikr and look for another one among the grazing unmindful animals or in a cave among hyenas and beasts of prey.

Conclusion
From the above mentioned, it is evident that the contemporary situation with all its various crises and the observed dispersion of the Ummah, requires great serious effort on the part of the scholars of Sufism to comprehend the situation. I repeatedly and frequently call for establishing a closed workshop in which only the scientific elite that are comprehensive of recent changes participate, so that we might share in the reformation and the renaissance our Ummah is waiting for impatiently today.