Ninth Allusion

Here we shall describe briefly nine out of the truly numerous fruits and benefits of the Sufi path.

The First  is the unfolding and clarification, by means of the Sufi paths that are on the straight way, of the truths of faith, which are the keys, sources, and springs of the eternal treasuries of everlasting happiness; it is their manifestation at the degree of the vision of certainty.

The Second: Since the Sufi path is a means of working the heart, the mainspring of the human machine, and of causing it to stir the other subtle faculties into motion, it drives them to fulfil the purposes of their creation and thus makes a person into a true human being.

The Third: On the journey to the Intermediate Realm and the hereafter, it is to join one of the lines of the Sufi orders, and become a member of its luminous caravan on  the  road  to  eternity.  The  person  is  thus  saved  from  loneliness  and  finds  the friendship  of the other members  in this world and in the Intermediate  Realm; and relying on their consensus and accord in the face of the attacks of doubts and fears, and seeing each of their masters as a powerful support and proof, he repulses through them those doubts and instances of misguidance.

The Fourth is to understand by means of the pure Sufi way the knowledge of God  to  be  found  in  belief  in  God,  and  the  pleasure  of  love  of  God  within  the knowledge of God, and by so understanding, to be saved from the desolation of this world and man’s exile in the universe. We have proved in many of the Words that the happiness   of  both  worlds,  and  pain-free   pleasure,   and  intimacy  untainted   by loneliness, and true delight, and untroubled happiness are all to be found in faith and the reality of Islam. As is explained in the Second Word, faith produces the seed of a Tuba-tree of Paradise. It is through the training and nurturing of the Sufi path that the seed grows and develops.

The Fifth is to perceive through an awakening of the heart elicited by the Sufi path and remembrance of God, the subtle truths contained  in the obligations of the Shari‘a, and to appreciate them. Then the person obeys and performs his worship, not under compulsion, but with longing.

The Sixth is to rise to the station of reliance on God and the rank of submission to Him  and winning His pleasure,  which are the means  of obtaining  true delight, real solace, painfree pleasure, and friendship untainted by loneliness.