Aim of Tasawwuf
Shaikh Khalil Ahmad Saharanpuri (may Allah have mercy on him) said,
‘The aim and objective of spiritual path (sulook) is to make the heart of the seeker yearn for Allah’s pleasure similar to the body’s demand for food. That is, the desire to worship becomes similar to the craving for food and water.
This can only happen when the heart is,
– filled to the brim by the majesty and love of Allah and
– empty from the desires of all that is other-than-Allah (ma-siwa Allah)
Until this love of other-than Allah exists, to the extent that it resists the love and awe of Allah, one can not be true in his search for the Divine pleasure and be able to abstain from all sinful activities thoroughly.
In summary, two things are essential. Firstly, cleansing the heart (takhliya) from all that is ’other’ (-than-Allah) and finally adorning (tajeliya) it with the love and awe of Allah.
Successful accomplishment of these two things results in bestowment of (spiritual) illuminations and other honors from Allah. This is known as taheliya.
Source: Al Ihsan
11:07 am
Peace be upon you, brother i agree with the points that the love of Allah and the love of worldly desires cant exist in the same heart, and it is a very glorious goal for any Muslim to strive to achieve the absolute love for Allah {subhannahu wa ta’alaa} and to pursuit what pleases HIM {azza wa jal}, but since when this was a goal solely taught by Sufism, this title of Sufism spread enough misunderstanding and disunity between the lines of Muslims and non Muslims alike, so please brother just for my sake because i was a very old subscriber and active reader to your wonderful posts; read more hadiths about divided sects in islam and the danger of following them, even if you think that Tassauwwuf is a school of thought then that by it self is an insult to the teachings in the Qur’an, because Allah {a w} said read this book and understand {it} not something else, and Allah {a w} also said obey Allah and obey the Messenger and the rightful guardians (notice to the repetition of the word obey proceeding Allah and the Messenger in the Ayah). so if you read the Qur’an alone it will be enough for the ideal soul and heart purification techniques, and then if you refer to the Hadith of the Prophet {peace be upon him} it will give you more clarity on this matter {purification of the heart}. and salaam brother. please tell me if there is something i don’t know about in the Qur’an and Hadith relating to this issue {tassawuf}. and peace be with you dear brother of faith.
10:53 pm
Asalam Alaykum,
Jazakallah for your comment.
People get hung up about the terms Tasawwuf and Sufism, and they dismiss the true real purpose of them based on the actions of a few who claim to be following the path of Tasawwuf and Sufism.
After this, we need to look at what the Ulama and traditions handed down from generation to generation from the time of the Prophet regarding Tasawwuf or Tazkiyyah is. For this I would suggest reading ‘Shariah and Tasawwuf’ http://books.themajlis.net/node/538. Inside you will see that the whole basis for Tasawwuf is grounded upon the Quraan and the Sunnah and not upon what the errant Sufis claim.
Jazakallah
3:44 pm
Jazak Allah al khayr for this nice article akhy Ahmed. I agree with you about the negative effects of wrongdoers on Tasavvuf.
Alhamdulillah we can reach to the books of old scholars like Sheikh Abdulqadir Jilany (ra), Imam Ghazali (ra), Muhiddeen Ibn Arabi (ra) and many more.