Being an administrator in Chausa (Bihar) he did not have the time to attend
the assemblies of his Shaykh.Therefore, the Shaykh used to write letters to
him. These letters, running into hundreds, cover a wide range of topics
related to Sufism -
tawhid, tawba
(repentance), miracles, revelation,
inspiration, the shariah,
tariqa,
haqiqa, dhikr
, etc. Other Sufis under training
copied these letters and, in turn, spread further the message contained in
them. Thus the Sufi philosophy of Sharafuddin Maneri soon spread all over
north India.
There were several publications of Shaykh Sharafuddin’s letters in the
19th and 20th centuries. These letters clearly show his preference for an
ascetic life. He even criticized one of his disciples, Maulana Sadruddin, for
having accepted the post of a deputy Qazi. To him it was nothing but a
waste of time.
A disciple made a compilation of his collected discourses called
Ma’danul
Ma’ani
. In these he discussed the religious and spiritual duties of Islam, and
the social and ethical responsibilities of Muslims in relation to the verses of
the Qur’an, the traditions of the Prophet, and the sayings of the Sufis.
The Teachings of Shaykh Maneri
As we learn from the letters of Shaykh Sharafuddin Yahya Maneri, the
first stage for the
salik
or the wayfarer on the Path, is
tawba
or repentance.
Tawba
, he explains, consists of a sincere resolution to abstain from sins. It is
tawba
that turns man into a true believer.
As the spiritual path is beset with thorns, a
salik
requires a guide in
order to follow it.‘When a novice begins to associate with a spiritual guide,
he will have to spend three years in three types of training. If he stands
firm in obeying these orders, he can then don the real garb of the seeker,
Th e F i r d a u s i Or d e r 188
