GRADES IN FOLLOWING RASULULLAH "SALL ALLAHU 'ALAIHI WA SALLAM" (PART 2)

Today, bid'ats [1] have invaded the whole world, and sunnats [2] have been lost; so much so that it is beyond possibility to recover the sunnats and adhere to them and to save oneself from this ocean of bid'ats. However, customs cannot build up the religion or the Shari'at [3], no matter how widely they have settled and spread or how beautiful they look. Things that are haram [4] or cause disbelief can never be halal [5] or jaiz (permitted), even if they are customarily done or used. [This means that to reach this grade it is obligatory today to advance on the way of tasawwuf [6]. In the early centuries of Islam it was easy to follow all the sunnat. There was no specific need for tasawwuf then.] The fifth grade is to adapt oneself to the perfect, high qualities peculiar to Rasulullah (sall Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam). These qualities cannot be obtained through knowledge or worshipping. They come only through Allah's blessing. In this grade are great Prophets (salawatullahi ta'ala 'alaihim ajma'in) and very few great ones of the ummat [7] of Rasulullah (sall Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam). The sixth grade is to adapt oneself to the perfect qualities of mahbubiyyat and ma'shuqiyyat in Rasulullah (sall Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam). This is peculiar to those whom Allahu ta'ala loves very much; it cannot be obtained through blessings, muhabbat (love) is necessary. The seventh grade involves all the motes of a man's body adapting themselves to him. The follower is so similar to the one followed that a state of imitation no longer exists. He, too, as if like Rasulullah, takes everything from the same source. Source:Turktakvim

GLOSSARY

[1] bid'at: (pl. bida') heresy; false, disliked belief or practice that did not exist in the four sources of Islam but which has been introduced later as an Islamic belief or 'ibada in expectation of thawab (blessings) ; heresy. [2] Sunnat: 1- (when used alone) The Shari'at; 2- (when used together with the name Book) The hadith of the Prophet. 3- (when used together with the word Fard) Any action, word or thought liked and commanded by the Prophet. [3] Shari'at: (pl. of Shari'a) i) rules and commandments as a whole of the religion. ii) religion. [4] Haram: an action, word or thought prohibited by Allahu ta'ala. [5] halal: (act, thing) permitted in Islam. [6] Tasawwuf: (Islamic sufism as defined by Islam) knowledge and (after adapting oneself to fiqh) practice of the manners of the Prophet ('alaihi 's-salam) which strengthens iman, makes the practice of fiqh easy and provides one to attain ma'rifa; 'ilm at-tasawwuf. [See the book Maktubat by Ahmad al-Faruqi as-Sirhindi (rahmatullahi ta'ala 'alaih)]. [7] ummat: (pl. of umma) the community, body of believers, of a prophet.