Imam Muhammad Ma’sum al-Faruqi (rahmat-Allahi ta’ala ’alaih), who was a specialist in tasawwuf, great ’alim and leader of the awliya’ of his time, wrote in the fifty-ninth letter of the second volume of his Maktubat:

All the paths of tasawwuf come from Rasulullah صلي الله عليه و سلم

“All the outward and spiritual perfections have been attained through Muhammad Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta’ala ’alaihi wa sallam). The orders and prohibitions, which are outward, have been transmitted to us through the books written by our a’immat al-madhhahib. And the hidden knowledge pertaining to the heart and soul have been conducted through the great men of tasawwuf.

It is written in the Sahih of al-Bukhari that Abu Huraira (radi-Allahu ta’ala ’anh) said,

‘I filled two cups from Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta’ala ’alaihi wa sallam). I have explained the contents of one of them. You would kill me if I disclosed the other.’

It is also written in the Sahih of al-Bukhari that when ’Umar (radi-Allahu ta’ala ’anh) died, his son ’Abdullah (radi-Allahu ta’ala ’anh) said that nine-tenths of knowledge had died and, seeing that the listeners were confused, added that he meant not the knowledge of fiqh but the knowledge of knowing Allahu ta’ala.

All the paths of tasawwuf come from Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta’ala ’alaihi wa sallam). The superiors of tasawwuf have attained the ma’arif emanating from the blessed heart of Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta’ala ’alaihi wa sallam) through their rehbers in every century.

Tasawwuf was not made up by Jews or mutasawwifs. Indeed the terms fana’, baqa’, jadhba, suluk and sair-i ila’llah, which were used for attainments on the way of tasawwuf, were first used by the great leaders of tasawwuf.

It is written in Nafakhat that Abu Sa’id al-Harraz (radi-Allahu ta’ala ’anh) was the first one who used the terms fana’ and baqa’. Then ma’arif of tasawwuf came from Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta’ala ’alaihi wa sallam). The names for these ma’arif were given later. It is written in many books that, before he was notified of his Prophethood, he had performed dhikr by heart.

I filled two cups from Rasulullah صلي الله عليه و سلم. I have explained the contents of one of them. You would kill me if I disclosed the other {footnote}Abu-Huraira رحمتاالله علیه - Hadith - Sahih Bukhari{/footnote}

‘Tafakkur’ means ‘(exercise of) discarding absurd thoughts and meditating on the Reality.’ Khidir (’alaihi ’s-salam) taught ’Abd al-Khaliq al-Ghunjdawani (rahmat-Allahi ta’ala ’alaih) that mutasawwifs should perform dhikr by repeating the kalimat at-tawhid

continued in article "Tasawwuf (part 2)" ...

 - Imam Muhammad Ma’sum al-Faruqi
 (rahmat-Allahi ta’ala ’alaih)
fifty-ninth letter of the second volume of his Maktubat,
Reformatted extracts from the book
"Advice for the Muslim - Eleventh Edition", p25+
Hakikat Kitabevi
Waqf Ikhlas Publications
Istanbul, Turkey