Addendum

[This  short  addendum  has  great  importance;  it is beneficial for everyone.]

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

The ways leading to Almighty God are truly numerous. While all true ways are taken from the Qur’an, some are shorter, safer, and more general than others. Of these ways taken from the Qur’an is that of impotence, poverty, compassion, and reflection, from which, with my defective understanding, I have benefited.

Like  ecstatic  love,  impotence  is  a  path  which,  by way  of  worship,  leads  to winning God’s  love; but it is safer.  Poverty too leads to the divine  name  of All- Merciful.  And, like  ecstatic  love,  compassion  leads to  the  name  of All- Compassionate, but it is a swifter and broader path. Also like ecstatic love, reflection leads to the name of All-Wise, but it is richer, broader, and more brilliant path. This path consists not of ten steps like the ten subtle faculties of some of the Sufi paths employing  silent  recollection,  nor  of  seven  stages  like  the  seven  souls  of  those practising public recitation, but of four steps. It is reality (hakikat), rather than a Sufi way (tarikat). It is Shari‘a.

However, let it not be misunderstood. It means to see one’s impotence, poverty and faults before Almighty God, not to fabricate them or display them to people. The method of this short path is to follow the practices of the Prophet (UWBP), perform the religious obligations and give up serious sins. It is especially to perform the prescribed  prayers  correctly  and  with  attention,  and  following  them  to  say  the tesbihat.

The verse, “Therefore, do not justify yourselves,”(53:32) points to the first step. The verse, “And be not like those who forget God, and He therefore makes them forget their own selves,”(59:19) points to the second step.

The verse, “Whatever good happens to you is from God, but whatever evil befalls you is from yourself,”(4:79) points to the third step.