The Foundation of Religion Islam
The real foundation of religion Islam is devotion, sincerity and ardent love for Almighty Allah and His Prophet Mohammad and following all the outward and inward aspects of Prophet’s life. Contrarily, these days people focus on following only the outward aspects of his life. If religion was based merely on the physical deeds then prayers, fasts, zakat etc. would have been made compulsory right after the sacred Companions of Prophet Mohammad accepted Islam but we see that all such physical worships became obligatory after the Holy Prophet’s migration to Madina. Before that, the religion of sacred companions was only the ardent love and loyalty for their beloved Prophet. Their prayer was to engross in the sacred vision of the Holy Prophet and there fasting was to have patience against the oppression of the infidels.
The Essence of Religion
- The essence of religion is that the soul becomes dominant over the desires of physical body. It is indicated by the state when every thought and action of a person is directed towards Allah.
- Every sect has named their cult as the true religion. Allah has promised to give dominance to the religion not cult.
- Preaching is a part of religion.
- The basis of Islam is Faqr and gnosis of Allah. The basis of infidelity is worldliness, basis of tyranny is love for the material world and the basis of righteousness is Divine love.
- Religion cannot be understood until a person gets awareness about the inward.
- The crux of religion is ‘recognition of the human essence (soul) and its accomplishment’, which means recognizing the true integrity of human and trying to achieve it. In other words, we can say that self-recognition and self-mastery is religion.
- Religion cannot be understood unless Allah, the Creator of the religion, Himself elucidates it. Religion is implemented on the human soul.
- True religion is that which covers all the aspects of individual, collective, social, state and community affairs.
- Religion cannot be disseminated by power. Power can conquer only the physical bodies not the hearts. Love is the only key to win the hearts.
- It is very important to invite towards the true religion; bestowing righteousness is the job of Allah. Those who remain deprived of righteousness, in fact do not want to have it.
The Successful Group
“Those who saw Prophet Mohammad in the state of faith are called the sacred Companions. The fellow contemporaries of the sacred Companions who got education from them are called Tabi’un. While, the fellows of generation after Tabi’un who got education from them are called Tabi-Tabi’un. These three groups are the triumphant because they were blessed with the true essence of religion i.e. the Divine vision.
The true religion based on the Divine vision remained common till the generation after the contemporaries of the sacred Companions. After that it was separated from the religion based on outward deeds and the former continued in the form of spiritual orders. Those on the path of Faqr follow the religion based on Divine vision while the religious literati follow the religion based on outward deeds. Faqr is the true religion. The religion of outward deeds can be attained from the books and that of Divine vision from the perfect Fakirs. It is only through the benevolence of these perfect Fakirs that the seekers get presence in the Mohammadan Assembly where they are blessed with the privilege of seeing the sacred countenance of Prophet Mohammad and reach the station of annihilation in Allah.”
The Movement of Spiritual Orders
Of all the religious movements in the history of Islam, the movement of spiritual orders has been the strongest, most credible and successful as well as having long lasting effects. This is because it is related with the inward i.e. with the gnosis and nearness to Allah which directly touch the soul. Islam has an esoteric and an exoteric aspect. Sharia is the exoteric while mysticism is the esoteric aspect which leads to the path of Divine reality and gnosis of Allah.
Above mentioned is a brief collection of selected quotes extracted from Sultan-ul-Ashiqeen’s books or noted during his gatherings. However, for gaining in depth knowledge of his teachings, click the following links to his books:
