THINGS TO BE OBSERVED

Hadrat [1] Muhammad Ma'sum says in the 14th letter of the first volume of his Maktubat: O my lucky, fortunate brother! Since you have been desiring to walk on the way of Allah's beloved slaves, you should observe the conditions and adabs [2] of the way! First of all, it is necessary to hold fast to the Sunnat-i saniyya [3] and avoid bid'ats [4]. For, these two are the essence of the way that makes one attain Allah's love. You should adapt your deeds, words and moral qualities to the words and books of those pious slaves who know and love Islam. You should be like the pious slaves and love them. Your sleeping, your eating, your talking should be temperate rather than excessive. You should strive to get up by the time of sahar [at the end of each night before imsak]. You should know it as a great chance to say istighfar (repentance), to weep, to beg Allahu ta'ala at such times. You should long to keep company with the pious. Do not forget the saying: "One's faith is like one's friend's faith!" Be it known that those who want the next world [endless bliss] should not be fond of mundane flavours. If you cannot cease from those flavours which are mubah (permitted), avoid, at least, the forbidden and dubious ones so that your salvation in the Hereafter may be hoped for. You should pay zakat [5] and fitra [6] willingly to the people prescribed by the Shari'at [7]. You should visit your relatives, or please their hearts by writing to them. You should observe the rights of your neighbours. You should be charitable to the poor, to those who want to borrow money. You should not spend your property, your money on anything prohibited by the Shari'at, nor should you waste it on anything permitted. When these are well cared for, your property will be protected against harm, and what is worldly will be for the Hereafter. And maybe they will no longer be called worldly. Source:Turktakvim -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GLOSSARY [1] Hadrat: title of respect used before the names of great people like and Islamic scholars. [2] Adab: there is a special adab in doing everything. The adab of doing something means to follow the conditions necessary for doing it in the best way. [3] sunna: act, thing that was, though not commanded by Allahu ta'ala, done and liked by the Prophet ('alaihi 's-salam) as an 'ibada (there is thawab if done, but no sin if omitted, yet it causes sin if continually omitted and disbelief if disliked; the Sunna; i) (with fard) all the sunnas as a whole; ii) (with the Book or Qur'an al-kerim) the Hadith ash-sharif; iii) (alone) fiqh, Islam. [4] 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. [5] zakat: (fard duty of giving annually) certain amount of certain kinds of property to certain kinds of people, by which the remaining property becomes purified and blessed and the Muslim who gives it protects himself against being (called) a miser. See chapter 1 in Endless Bliss V. [6] fitra: alms (2 kg of wheat or silver of equal value) given after every Ramadan, the ninth month of Muslim calendar. [7] Shari'at: (pl. of Shari'a) i) rules and commandments as a whole of the religion. ii) religion.