any offers of official positions. Neither stand surety for anyone nor be yourself
litigious.Avoid the company of rulers and princes.Do not construct a
khanqah.
Turn a deaf ear to too much mystic music, but do not condemn it entirely.
Eat only what is lawful.To the extent possible, do not marry a woman who
hankers after the comforts and convenience of a worldly life. Laughter
corrodes the heart.Your heart should be grief-stricken, your body like that
of a sick man, and your eyes filled with tears.You should be sincere in whatever
you do, particularly in saying your prayers.You should dress in threadbare
clothing and keep company with dervishes.Your only wealth should be your
poverty, your home should be the mosque and God should be your friend.’
2
He also formulated eight principles to be observed by the disciples:
1.
hosh dar dam:
‘Awareness of every breath.’The Sufi must remember God
and remain in a state of total awareness while breathing, for he should never
let air in and out of his lungs without giving proper thought to what he is
doing.
2.
Nazar bar qadam:
‘Watching every step.’A s
alik
(one who treads the Sufis’
spiritual path) must evaluate all his actions, for every move he makes should
be in the direction of fulfilling some divine purpose.
3.
safar dar watan:
‘Traveling to the homeland’ or introspection, that is, the
practice of scrutinizing one’s inner self in order to fully appreciate the state
of one’s own psyche.
4.
khalwat dar anjuman:
‘Solitude in an assembly’ or solitariness when in the
company of others, that is, engaging externally with one’s fellow men, yet
all the while remaining internally alone in a spiritual conclave with the
Almighty.
2
see
Rashahat Ainul Hayat
, Kanpur, 1911, p. 31
Th e Na q s h ba n d i Or d e r 154
