True the heart is the qibla not mecca, it is like an inner Jihad one has to conquer themselfes before going on to greater things.
As for the guide heres the bit where I get confused! You see I believe most of us need the guide.. however some can achieve union with Allah the beloved without a guide, but how do they get that spiritual rank or knowledge without a guide?
You see I have read a lot of sufi literature, but there are certain concepts I don’t understand, I know a teacher his guide was a descendant of gilani, and I will discuss some points you brought up here with him further. I think the problem people have with the “guide” is they don’t see them as merely a teacher one loves respects and has a close relationship with but as an object of worship which he is not.
[quote]
Originally posted by logical:
** Your opinion of 'what is a muslim' is not shared by esoteric sufis and the agakhani ismailis. For them Islam encompasses all revelations and Islam or muslims are not the chosen of Allah free to abuse any & all in His name.
**
[/quote]
This posting is going astray. Let me make it clearer. R_B_B has a a good interest going. All I meant to say was that lets not mix the ISM with "Deen". Logical you sound very angry when you defent your point. Seems like your afinity/defending and reading of sufiism did not really teach you much. Muslims by no means can treat non-muslims in a bad way. Muslims have been taught to even treat their enemies of war with the equality to themselves.
The minute other influences such as Sufiism come into play the meaning of tru islam is lost. Islam is a very loving religion but at the same time lets not all of start smoking POT and become overly affectionate like some one the sufis.
I have friends that are really into sufiism but at the same time they dont pray regularly ( or as often as they can ) and they dont read the Quran { or the translation ) as much as they read the Sufi book. Get my drift? Your interest in other interpretations can cause another sect to be created eventually....ooops I am too late. lol there is already Muslims that are no Muslims but believe in Sufism. Does anyone agree and understand what I am trying to say.
[This message has been edited by fayax (edited February 18, 2002).]
I agree completley. And I think maybe you got this thread wrong, or see people who have an interest in this as being in someway against the mainstream principles of Islam, that is not the case.
Words are just pretexts. It is the element of sympathy that attracts one man to another, not words. If a man should see a thousand prophetic or saintly miracles, it will profit him nothing if he does
not have sympathy with the prophet or saint. It is that sympathetic element that unsettles and disquiets.
----Rumi
God does not speak to everyone, just as the kings of this world do not speak to every weaver. They appoint ministers and representatives so that through them people may find the way to them. In the same way
God has singled out certain servants so that everyone who seeks Him may find Him within them. All the prophets have come for this reason. Only they are the Way.
---Rumi