The Great Importance of Tasawwuf in the Light of Fiqh

By:

Maulana Abu Yahya Tameem Ahmed Sahib (DB)

Khalifah Mujaaz-e-Bay’ah of Hazrat Hakeem Akhtar Sahib (DB)

Allamah Ibn Abideen Shami (Rahimahullah), the great Hanafi jurist, writes about the importance of the sacred science of Tasawwuf in his extensive footnotes on the Durrul Mukhtar:

“It has been written in Tabyeenul Maharim: There is no doubt that the knowledge concerning the five fundamentals of Islam (Imaan, Salah, Zakah, Fasting and Hajj) and the knowledge of ikhlas (true sincerity) is a fardh ain (required and compulsory individual duty of every Muslim). The reason for this is because the acceptance of an action is dependant upon sincerity.

The knowledge of that which is permissible and unlawful and recognition of riyaa (showing-off) is [also included in those sciences which are required for every Muslim to have knowledge of].

This is because a worshipper and devotee of Allah are deprived of the rewards of his worship if he is showing-off.

And to have the knowledge of hasad (jealousy) and ujub (self-conceit) (is also required and mandatory) because they devour the good deeds just as the fire devours dry wood. ..”

He goes on to quote Imam al-Ghazali who writes in the Ihya’ul Uloom:

“A person is at all times effected and surrounded by the diseases of the heart and those things which can lead a person to everlasting destruction in the next world. Therefore it is absolutely necessary for a person to attain so much knowledge concerning these destructive inclinations which he is in need of to save himself thereby.

And the removal of these diseases is fardh ain (a mandatory individual duty of every Muslim). But the removal of these diseases is not possible except by recognizing its limits, causes, symptoms, and remedy. For he who has not recognized danger shall fall therein.

(Raddul Muhtar; Vol. 1, Pg. 122: Daru-Ihyaa at-Turath version, 1997)

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