individual’s heart pure and thus attuned it to the realm of the Spirit
5
without,
however, losing sight of the separateness of the Creator and His creation.
On the other hand, his analyses of
fana‘
(annihilation) and
baqa‘
(subsistence)
erred on the side of caution, in that they carefully skirted the subject of
pantheism, although many later Qadri saints, such as Miyan Mir (d.1635)
and Mulla Shah Badakhshani (d. 1661) of India were not so scrupulous in
their approach.
Total devotion to God constituted the ideal life for the Shaykh. He
considered that it was for this sole purpose that God created man-kind.The
Qur’an says: “I have not created
jinn
and mankind except to worship Me.”
(51:56). A “God-conscious existence” gives man superior spirituality; it
raises him above the worldly grind; it shows him how hollow are the
supposed “joys of life”; it introduces him to spiritual tranquillity and makes
it possible for him to have access to the true source of spiritual power. The
more a man endeavours to “live for the Lord; the nearer he comes to
realizing the divine purpose of life. One has to surrender his life, his will,
and his material means to God if he aims at divine realization.”
6
Man is endowed with spiritual strength, however, only when he is at
one with the Divine Purpose of Existence and leads his life in accordance
with the Divine Will as revealed in the
sunnah
(sayings and actions of the
Prophet). All those who meticulously follow the
sunnah
in all aspects of
day-to-day living, in effect, submit themselves to the Divine Will.
The Shaykh believed that the world of the hereafter was veiled from
our eyes by the present world. The greater the degree of involvement in
this world and all its attractions, the more dense the veil (
hijab)
between
man and the unknowable world of the afterlife.
7
5
al Fath al rabbani, sermon XIII, p. 133
6
Ibid., sermon XXI, pp.122-125
7
Ibid., sermon XXI, p. 122
Th e Qa d r i Or d e r 120
