Q.—What do you mean by counterfeit faith?
A.—It is that which an ordinary person has derived from his forefathers, or from the teachers and preachers of his own day, without knowing why it is essential that a man should believe in these six articles for his soul’s salvation. For example, a person may be walking in the public streets and find a precious jewel which, perhaps, kings had sought for in vain, and rulers who had conquered the whole world had sought for and yet had not found. But in this precious jewel he has found that which is more effulgent than the sun, when it is so bright that it obscures the lesser light of the moon; or even he has found an alchemy which can convert copper into gold. And yet, perhaps, the finder knows not the value of the precious jewel, but thinks it a counterfeit jewel, and one which he would give away even for a drink of water if he were thirsty.
Q.—What is the establishment of faith?
A.—The establishment of faith consists in a search being made for the true origin of each of these six pillars of faith, until the enquirer arrives at al-Ḥaqīqah, “the Truth.” Many persons pursue the journey for ten, or twenty, or thirty, or even forty years, and, wandering away from the true path, enter upon the path of error, and hence there are known to be seventy-three ways, only one of which is the way of Salvation. [[SECTS].] At last, by a perfect subjection to the teaching of the Murshid, or guide, they find out the value of the lost jewel which they have found, and their faith becomes manifest, and you might say that, with the light of a lamp, they have reached the sun. They then find out that the T̤arīqah, or journey of the Ṣūfī, is consistent with the Sharīʿah, or law of Islām.
Q.—In matters of faith and worship, to what sect are the Ṣūfīs attached?
A.—(To this reply the author says, speaking, of course, of his own people, that they are chiefly of the Sunnī sect. But he does not notice that mystic doctrines are more prevalent amongst the Shīʿahs.)
Q.—When Bāyazīd al-Bist̤āmī was asked of what sect he was, he replied, “I am of the sect of Allāh.” What did he mean?
A.—The sects of Allāh are the four orthodox sects of Islām. [Here our author departs from true Ṣūfī teaching.]
Q.—Most of the Ṣūfīs, in their poems, use certain words which we hear and understand as showing that they were of the Metempsychosians. They say, “I am sometimes Lot, sometimes a vegetable, sometimes an animal, at other times a man.” What does this mean?
A.—Brother! the prophet has said: “My people, in the future life, will rise up in companies”—that is, some as monkeys, others as hogs, or in other forms—as is written in a verse of the Qurʾān, [Sūrah lxxviii. 18]: “Ye shall come in troops,” which has been commented on by al-Baiẓāwī, who cites a tradition to the effect that, at the resurrection, men will rise up in the form of those animals whose chief characteristics resemble their own ruling passions in life: the greedy, avaricious man as a hog; the angry, passionate man as a camel; the tale-bearer or mischief-maker as a monkey. For though these men, while in this life, bore the human form externally, they were internally nothing different from the animals whose characters are in common with their own. The resemblance is not manifest during the life, but becomes so in the other existence, after the resurrection. Let us avoid such traits; repentance before death will free us from these evils. The Prophet said with regard to this: “Sleep is the brother of death. The dying man sees himself in his true character, and so knows whether or not he is, by repentance, freed from his ruling passion of life. In like manner, he will see himself during his slumbers, still following in the path of his passions.” For instance, the money-calculator, in sleep, sees himself engaged in his all-absorbing occupation; and this fact is a warning from God not to allow himself to be absorbed in any animal passion or degrading occupation. It is only by prayerful repentance that anyone can hope to see himself, in his sleep, delivered from his ruling carnal passion, and restored to his proper human, intellectual form. If in your slumbers you see a monkey, consider it as a warning to abandon or abstain from the passion of mischief; if a hog, cease to seize upon the goods of others; and so on. Go and give yourself up to an upright Murshid, or spiritual guide, who will, through his prayers, show you in your slumbers the evil parts of your character, until one by one they have passed away, and have been replaced by good ones—all through the power of the name of God, whom he will instruct you to invoke [[ZIKR]]: at length you will only see in your slumbers the forms of holy and pious men, in testimony of that degree of piety to which you will have attained. This is what is meant by that expression of certain poets, referring to one’s condition previous to the act of repentance, when the writer says, “I am sometimes an animal, sometimes a vegetable, sometimes a man”; and the same may be said by the Ṣūfīs, in application to themselves, as of any other part of creation, for man is called the āk͟hiru ʾl-maujūdāt, or “the climax of beings”: for in him are comprised all the characteristics of creation. Many mystical books have been written on this subject, all showing that man is the larger part, and the world the smaller part, of God’s creation. The human frame is said to comprise all the other parts of creation; and the heart of man is supposed to be even more comprehensive than the rainbow, because, when the eyes are closed, the mental capacity can take in the whole of a vast city; though not seen by the eyes, it is seen by the capacious nature of the mind. Among such books is the Ḥauẓu ʾl-Ḥayāt, or the “Well of Life,” which says that, if a man closes his eyes, ears, and nostrils, he cannot take cold; that the right nostril is called the sun, and the left the moon; that from the former he breathes heat, and from the latter cold air.