Questions and Answers about Tasawwuf
Questions of Ahbab Answered by
His Eminence Ameer Muhammad Akram Awan
Sheikh Silsilah Naqshbandiah Owaisiah
Q47: Who were the real inheritors of Prophetic knowledge of the Holy Prophet-SAW? If you say, they were the Companions, even they had differences at that time. If you say, they are the Ulama (religious scholars), they have differences even today. If you name the Aulia (saints, spiritual teachers), each one of them has a different way. If you say that the destination of all is the same, only the paths are different, this is not acceptable to me, because the ‘Straight Path’ is only one.
A47: Please understand a basic principle about inheritance of Prophetic knowledge. The Sahabah (the Companions) are the only link between the Holy Prophet-SAW and the Ummah. The Prophetic heritage reached the Ummah through the Sahabah. If this intermediate link is not reliable, the whole religion is rendered untrustworthy. The question is did Allah Kareem and the Holy Prophet-SAW grade this link as trustworthy? And if they did, it is not correct to doubt it for any reason. More than a hundred verses of the Holy Quran verify that the Sahabah are not only reliable but also the trustees of the legacy of the Holy Prophet-SAW and it is one of their duties to convey it to the Ummah. Addressing his Sahabah on the occasion of ‘The Last Pilgrimage’, the Holy Prophet-SAW assured his Ummah, ‘My Sahabah are like stars; follow any and you will be rightly guided’. Now, it is for the Ummah to either trust Allah and the Holy Prophet-SAW or adopt the opinion of an ordinary person.
Q48: Did the most Exalted Messenger-SAW address any of his Sahabah as ‘Wali, Qutb, Abdal or Ghauth’? Did he assign the Wilayah of any region to someone? Did any Majzoob or Salik exist during his-SAW time? Did any of his Companions experience rapture?
A48: The status of a Sahabi is so high that ‘Wali, Qutb, Abdal and Ghauth, don’t match even the dust raised by his shoes. Therefore, addressing a Sahabi as Ghauth is like calling a President a peon. Experiencing or displaying rapture is a sign of imperfection. It is not possible that rapture can overwhelm an accomplished Wali.
Q49: What is meant by the two Sufi concepts of Wahdat al Wajood (Unity of Existence) and Wahdat al Shuhood (Unification of Observation)? Please
A49: Sufi experience various stages, meditations and feelings. As apparent knowledge proceeds by lesions, the inner (spiritual) feelings also progress by stages. Those who have been blessed with Mushahidah must have noticed that during the meditation of ‘Fana’, everything appears to have disappeared: the whole universe vanishes, leaving behind nothing. When, after that, the meditation of ‘Baqa Billah’ is conducted, the Lights of the Absolute Being, to which everything owes its existence, are seen with everything. Absolute Existence is of almighty Allah alone. Everything else exists because HE is maintaining its existence: it has no independent existence of its own. When the Sufis passed through this stage, they said that in reality, existence is of only One Being, that of Almighty Allah, the Eternal, the Infinite. Everything else is, in fact, equal to naught, it exists because HE maintains its existence and vanishes because HE eliminates it. This view was called Wahadat al Wujood. It maintained that ‘Being’ is only One, the Absolute. When Sheikh Mohayy ud Deen ibn-e ‘Arbi included this idea is his book and discussed it a length, it assumed the form of a definite concept. The people who came later, didn’t posses such a high level of knowledge and spiritual caliber, therefore a false notion set in with this concept. Instead of believing that everything exists because of Allah, it came to be believed that Allah exists in everything. Gradually the concept of Wahdat al Wujood started to align with the Hindu belief, which asserts the presence of Bhagwan ( the Super Being) in everything that appears supernatural or formidable to them. Because of such interpolations, Mujaddid Alif Thani-ruA renamed the concept as Wahdat al Shuhood, signifying that everything is a witness to HIS Oneness: the existence of everything points to the Unity of the Almighty. The concept was thus reformed and the truth refreshed. Every being has its own identity, because Allah has created it, blessed it with life, granted it consciousness and rights. It is as such a witness to Allah’s Perfect Power. The Wahdat al Shuhood concept therefore means that every being is bearing testimony to a single fact; the Perfect Power and Absolute Authority of Almighty Allah. This course was adopted to expel the false views that had crept into the concept of Wahdat al Wujood, due to the diminishing level of men’s knowledge and spiritual caliber. In essence, both concepts are correct: there is no difference in them, except of terminology. These were the topics of discussions of the scholars, those who were blessed with erudition as well as spiritual excellence. When average people discuss such subjects, they try to interpret them according to their own intellect, knowledge and understanding and thus make mistakes. The concept is one, with two names. It is a part of basic Islamic beliefs that only Almighty Allah is Eternal, everything else is ephemeral.
Q50: The struggle for the establishment of an Islamic state and the administration of its affairs is the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet-SAW and of the Khulafa-e Rashideen (the Rightly Guided Caliphs). A person who uses authority justly and correctly can benefit mankind so much that a person without authority cannot benefit. Why is it that the Aulia and Sufis have been avoiding this way so far?
A50: This notion is not correct, they haven’t been avoiding this line. On the contrary, many Sufis have been men of great authority. One of the emperors of the sub-continent, Aurangzeb Aalamgeer had been a great Sufi. Similarly, Sultan Shans ud-Din Altamash was a great Wali Ullah. There must have been many more: we don’t necessarily know the names of all of them. Again, Sued Ahmad Shaheed was a great Sufi and so was Shah Ismail Shaheed. These Sufis laid down their lives in the battlefield. Those, who couldn’t go to the battlefield continued to reform fellow beings throughout their lives. By nature, everyman is not fit for every task. If a person is disposed towards teaching, he will become a Sufi-teacher and not a Sufi-soldier. If a man has the ability to lead, he will become a Sufi-leader. Becoming a Sufi amplifies the natural faculties of a person. You can’t refute the fact about those Sufis, who couldn’t go out to the practical field that they also remained involved in welfare of humanity during their whole lives. On the other hand, their students brought about great revolutions. Mujaddid Alif Thani-ruA didn’t take over the rule, but caused the rule to repent and reform. He was the man of this field! Had he made an effort, he could have dethroned the king, but this was not in line with his nature. His natural disposition was the strength that he stood by the truth all alone, in the whole subcontinent and compelled the king to repent. The fallacious Deen-e Ilahi was in vogue since the time of Akbar and none of the great scholars had been able to halt its practice. When a person joins Tasawwuf, his natural capacities and abilities are further polished. Sufis, most certainly, kept reforming people, propagated the idea of Islamic revolution, kept this cause alive and continued to strive for it.
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