Tasawwuf in simple terms means to adhere to the laws of Allah in every facet
of life. Kindly forward us your postal address for some literature on the
subject matter.
And Allah Taãla Knows Best.
Was salaam
Mufti Ebrahim Desai
FATWA DEPT.
Respected Brother-in-Islam
Assalaamu Alaykum Wa Rahmatullaahi Wa Barakaatuhu
In answer to your questions and in order for you to get a better
understanding, we should be sending you a book, ‘Shariat and Tasawwuf’.
Kindly send us with your postal address.
1. Regarding Bay’at, see page 9 onwards
2. Regarding the saying of thousands of wise ones, we should take advantage
of their experience and wisdom and heed to their advise. The more friends
one has the more he will mingle, and the more he mingles the more he will
speaks. We don’t have to elaborate on how loose our tongues are. Not a
meeting goes by without us speaking of a third person which in most cases is
tantamount to backbiting, slandering, etc. which are all detrimental to our
spiritual lives.
3. Meaning befriend people who are such that looking at them reminds you of
Allah Ta’ala, listening to their talk increases your knowledge of Deen and
associating with them makes you remember the hereafter and prepare for it.
4. If we command someone to do something and he does it, then we befriend
and take a liking to him for listening to us. In the same way, we all agree
that obeying the commands of Allah Ta’ala is Fardh upon us. And if we obey
him, we will definitely become his friend. If one did not become Allah
Ta’ala’s friend then it means that he didn’t obey him which was Fardh upon
him. thereforem obeying Allah Ta’ala and becoming his friend both go hand in
hand and are Fardh.
5. Shaql is a type of ‘medication’ for the spiritual body which needs to be
‘taken’ with the guidance of a spiritual doctor (Shaykh).
6. Yes, recalling their childhood will be of assistance to them in
protecting them from the evil of pride because they must have also committee
sins before reacting the lofty stages that they are upon presently.
Secondly, it will allow them to tolerate the mishaps of their Mureeds and
adopt patience in their (i.e. Mureeds) slow progress.
7. Saalik – one treading the path of Sulook or Tasawwuf (the path towards
Allah Ta’ala).
8. A true human being is one who respects and honours the dignity of the
next human being and nor does he cause harm to the next human being in any
way (physically, verbally, etc.) How many of us despite our titles of
Haafidh, Molvis, etc. have this quality in us?
9. A spiritual doctor is called, ‘Shaykh’ and his surgery is called,
‘Khanqah’. The Khanqah is normally where the Shaykh resides, delivers his
lectures and Mureeds come to stay with him for different periods of time for
their spiritual upliftment.
Finally, we request you to make special Du’a for our Shaykh, Moulana Farouk
Saheb (RA) who suddenly passed away in May this year (1999)