sciences. He was convinced that ignorance was the greatest curse and once
likened human beings without knowledge to fossils.
3
He believed that when
a person well-versed in the law acted against its provisions, he committed
one sin. But an ignorant person breaking the law was guilty of two sins, the
one of breaking it and the second of ignorance.
He maintained that the
shariah
and
tariqa
were interrelated, just as the
body and soul are.Treading the path of God and the Prophet meant severing
all relations with anything that was not God. That is to say, man should
ideally pass each and every moment immersed in thoughts of God, and all
his words and deeds should conform to the will of God. If one were involved
in the world, one would not be able to concentrate solely on God. Having
said that, the question of human beings having a physical existence and
needing worldly things for their sustenance could not be ignored. They
could not cut themselves off from ordinary existence and still survive. On
this score, the Sufis maintained that they were allowed to take from the
world only what was necessary for their survival.
Hamiduddin was against hoarding anything, even for the next day. He
felt that this was the mentality of greed that could never be abated. No
matter how much wealth one were to hoard, one would always be looking
for more. Therefore, one should stop looking for contentment in worldly
riches, and set one’s sight on spiritual gain, for that alone could give true
fulfillment. This would be beneficial not only in this world but also in the
hereafter. As Hamidudin followed strictly what he preached, his shaiykh,
Muinuddin Chishti, bestowed on him the title of ‘King of Hermits’ (
Sultan
ul Taarikin
).
Hamidudin was thus very clear in his views on wealth: he detested
hoarding, and accumulation of wealth was anathema to him. He corresponded
with Shaykh Bahauddin Zakariya of the Suhrawardi
silsila
in Multan to
