THE
THIRD
STATE:
The Third or last stage in the onward
movement of the soul is reached on attaining
to the source of all spiritual qualities.
Really the soul at this stage is, in the
words of the holy Quran, the NAFSI
MUTMAINNAH or the soul at the rest. Thus
only al-QURAN says,
“YA-AYIOHAN NAFSUL MUT MA INNA TURZI-EE ILA
RABBIKI RADIYATAM MARDIYAH. FAD KHULI FEE
IBADI WAD KHULI ZANNATI”
It means: “O thou soul that art at rest and
restest fully contended with the Lord return
to the Lord, thou being pleased with him and
he pleased with the so enter among my
servants and enter into my paradise”. In
fact, at this state the soul is freed from
all weakness and frailty and is braced with
spiritual strength. It is perfectly united
with God and cannot exist in respiration
from HIM.
It is further clear from the words "A SOUL
THAT HAS FOUND REST IN THE LORD, RETURN TO
HIM" that it is in this life and not after
death that this great transformation is
worked that it is in this world and not else
where that access to paradise is granted to
it. Then consequently the law of ALLAH is
its sustenance. This state of man directly
establishes a connection with Great Allah by
virtue of its total annihilation and
immerges in the divine knowledge. Thus
worldly requirement ceased to end. This
distinct state of man is embodied with
salvation.
This Holy state is always engaged in
submissive prayers and dutiful services to
the great Allah and in the blissful vision
of that vast beautiful ethereal creation
known as The Spiritual region. Anger,
avarice, lust and other animal passion and
evil propensities and the intrigues
of Satan, have no existence in that pure and
peaceful sphere.
Different views and definitions were given
by the Saints and Derveshes in the Chapter
of SUFISM.
1. The Holy Quran is the original source of
SUFISM. Further Holy QURAN says:
“SHIFA-ULLI-MA-FIS SUDOOR”. -SURA-E-YOUNUS.
Meaning thereby is that the Holy Quran is a
total cure for all the spiritual ailments.
Therefore, a complete negation of the "NAFS"
was the first principle to be adopted,
through a course of penitence, abnegation
and practice of silence, with a view to
achieve upward transcendence. It is claimed
that Sufis have demonstrated that mankind is
gifted with unlimited potentialities and
when directed to the right path, according
to the traditions of the Prophet (Sallallahu
Alaihe Wassalam) and the commandments of
God, it provides a short cut for entering
the field, from where one can get a starting
point towards his journey in the realm of
spiritual height, ultimately leading him to
the Eternal Bliss. Sufis further say that
immediate reaction of hard struggle with "NAFS"
helps man to acquire the habit and an
attitude of broad sympathy for the common
people, because the motive force of life,
called love, removes all barriers between
man and man, nations and countries.
According to them, this course requires
complete surrender to the Divine Will; thus
enabling man to abstain from all unlawful
acts, which helps in attaining purification
of thought and action, and while working
with simultaneous force, automatically
develops the habit of nonviolence,
truthfulness, chastity, selflessness,
contentment etc. However this path should
not be confused with that now prevalent in
Europe and America because the form which
spiritualism has taken in those countries is
far removed from the path shown by Islamic
tassawuff. In those countries it consists of
'table turning' 'spirit rapping' and holding
communications with the spirits of the dead,
through a medium which is altogether at
variance from what true Sufism teaches. All
such experiences in the realm of spirit have
nothing to do with higher manifestations of
the soul and its mysterious relation with
the Divine Attributes.
The present day hypocrites and mediocre, who
have monopolized this field, have given
birth to new ideas and desires and has
introduced innovations. Thus the seekers
after truth have been deprived of the
benefit of this illuminating order and its
importance has been lost in the fog of
mysticism. There is a general tendency to
believe that Sufism is some sort of the
secret course which, when completed, brings
unlimited advantages, moral and material
both and that a student of this school need
not care for formalism in religion. This
conception is altogether wrong. In fact
Sufistic order stands on thoroughly orthodox
ground. It is based on Quranic teachings and
it has nothing exotic in it. The veil of
mystery drawn over the subject by the Sufis
of the past was due to the fact that the
lessons in Sufism being vigorous were beyond
the reach and endurance of the average man,
and therefore, was imparted to the select
few and only to those who showed a desire
and capacity for spiritual development and
understanding. It was necessary to go
through certain ascetic exercises and
observances under the guidance of a 'Murshid'
(spiritual preceptor), whose main object was
to train his disciples in such a way as to
help them in purifying their minds and
hearts to enable them to attain spiritual
advancement and for this, two important
qualifications are considered essential
namely-
(a) Theological learning.
(b) Zeal and spirit for advancement.
Among other lessons, it was emphasized that
the key of this system was divine and
universal it was only through that medium
that one could see good in all which
ultimately helped to banish prejudices and
hatred. The Sufis claim that when one
identifies himself with the love of God, the
powers of God are manifested through him
unconsciously which result in miracles known
as 'KRAMMAT'.
It will thus appear that there is no secrecy
about Sufistic teachings and there is no
such thing as a secret course. It may be
noted that some Western writers have taken
the view that Sufism was engrafted upon
Islam. This concept is utterly wrong. This
view was probably taken because the East was
famous for its mysticism before the advent
of Islam. Actually the word mysticism
conveys the impression of an illusive
atmosphere; whereas Sufism consists in
training the thoughts and actions of man by
following set laws and a full scheme in
details. It is based on palpable experience
under set circumstances. The basic concept
throughout is to develop a living sense of
the presence of "ALLAH" in the midst of our
struggle for material existence and an
increasing control over passion and
inordinate desires. Sufism is not a
speculative philosophy or a dogmatic
assertion without proof. It is the soul of
Islam. Much what passes for Sufism
now-a-days is not Tassawuff, and if one
could peep behind the curtain of cryptic
words used by the self styled Sufis, and
tried to analyze them in the light of
Quranic teachings, one will be rewarded with
a true picture of this Order.
It will be of some interest to get an idea
about the origin of this Order and its
popularity. It is a historical fact that
during the life-time of the Prophet
(Sallallahu Alaihe Wassalam) and his four
Caliphs people were so much influenced by
the august presence and teachings of those
forceful personalities in their midst that
they did not find any difficulty in
understanding the spirit of ISLAM and in
molding their lives exactly on the same
pattern successfully. But, at a later period
when Muslim Empire expanded and a sort of
Monarchy system crept in, resulting in the
divorce of religion from politics, those who
were exclusively religiously inclined
preferred a life of seclusion and piety and
were called Sufis. It was in the 2nd century
of the Hijri era that Sufism took a strong
root and its doctrines were considerably
developed, which ultimately brought some of
the advanced members of the sect into open
clash with the orthodox ecclesiastical
authorities. However, the yearning of the
inner light seized the heart and imagination
of the Islamic world so much that Sufism
grew into a craze in religious circles. All
early literature on the subject points to
the fact that Sufism was nothing, but to
accept & practice with sincerity and
devotion all the ISLAMIC LAWS based on Quran
and Hadis. But in order to understand and
appreciate this order, spiritual guidance is
considered absolutely necessary to secure
rigid unity of beliefs and practices to help
one to develop Sufistic outlook and that is
why the help of a preceptor (Murshid) is
sought for to help one to the right path.
Selection of a right type of preceptor of
course is one of the most difficult
problems. There are various standards of
judging a real preceptor. But the most
elementary test prescribed is to critically
examine a would be preceptor's private life
and to find out whether he has a sincere and
undiluted outlook in life and whether his
thoughts and actions are pure and straight
in all his dealings with his fellows being
and finally whether he practiced what he
preached. No person without a background of
religious education can claim to be a true
preceptor because one who has no religious
education can have no light within and
without light one is apt to grope in
darkness let alone leading others to the
right path.
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