In the name of God, Most Gracious Most Merciful.

Allah. There is no god but He,-the Living, the Self-subsisting, Supporter of all. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all things in the heavens and on earth. Who is thee can intercede in His presence except as He permitteth? He knoweth what (appeareth to His creatures as) before or after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of His knowledge except as He willeth. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them. For He is the Most High, the Supreme (in glory). (Quran, Al-Baqara 255)

Sayyed Ahmad Rifai kept his word, kept secret, veiled faults, satisfied hungry people, clothed poor people, visited patients, participated in funerals, shared the conditions of poor people, gave everybody advice, helped people in all kinds of their works, greeted people first when he met them, looked down while walking, and behaved modestly. If he sends one to somewhere else, he is the sovereign of the people`s life, property and children of the region.

Sufism: Basis of Sufism is the purification of the “heart” and safeguarding it from any affliction, and that its end product is the correct and harmonious relationship between man and his Creator. So the Sufi is the one whom Allah has enabled to purify his ‘heart’ and to establish his relationship with Him and His Creation through treading upon correct path, a best exemplified by the Prophet Muhammad.

Sufism is based on courtesy which ultimately leads to universal courtesy and awareness. Courtesy starts with the outer, and the true Sufi practices the outer cleansing and keeping the bounds of what is permitted by Allah.

Sufism is primarily concerned with the ‘heart’ that reflects the truth which exists within it, beyond time and in time.

Sufism is an art of beingness through the attainment of divine knowledge. It is not an intellectual exercise for scholarly investigations and postgraduate studies.

Sufism is none other than reliving the Muhammadan way of life.

Sufi: Sufi means who are interested in inner knowledge, those who are interested in finding a way of practice towards inner awakening and enlightenment.

Sufi is concern to be detached from that which is transitory and which distracts him/her from spiritual progress. In order for one to stop being distracted constantly by the mundane aspects of life, one needs a way to deflect the mind from thinking about such matters.

Ahl-i Bayt: Ahl-i bayt is a phrase meaning people of the house, or family, which refers to the household of Muhammad . It consists of his daughter Fatima, his successor and son-in-law, Imam Ali, their two sons Imam Hasan and Imam Husain (peace be upon them all). With the above mentioned verse, known as the Tathir verse, Allah declares Ahl-i bayt as the persons purified by Him.

With the love of Ahl-i bayt hearts are filled with light. To whom Allah gives deeds, to him/her He gives the love of ahl-i bayt, and observes him/her in every situation. This is the result of Prophets law. Who loves Allah, loves his prophet and his Ahl-i bayt.

And Allah only wishes to remove all abomination from you, ye members of the Family, and to make you pure and spotless. Quran: 33:33

The secret was revealed to me when I became mad in love of Allah.
Jafer Sadiq

"He who renounces the love of the world relishes the love of God and attains to it."
Ma`ruf Karhi

The basic concept which underlies Sufi movement is the intention to bring about the development of the whole person, and not a fragment of a person with practice and discipline. Thinking that Sufis are ezotericists is wrong. If some Sufis have emphasized esoteric teachings, it is because they judged that the priority need at the time was the science of understanding the self and inward purification. The real Sufi is not ignorant about the other dimentions of man, such as his role in society and in all matters pertaining to life in general. For man, according to Sufism is a microcosm of the totality of existence.

Being a servant of Allah is highest state of the one can reach. The one aspires to remember Allah in every moment, with each and every breath. This is chanting of the heart.

To attain Allah, abandon your ego; therein lies the way to Him. Whosoever has annihilated his self in the Lord, he finds that He is everything.

All human beings in fact are born in submission to natural reality and therefore in Islam. It is the society and the parents who often then corrupt that innate Islamic state. There are people all over the world who discover Islam in themselves during some period of their lives, and not as a result of having come across the conventional religion of Islam. Rather, it is an echo of something deeper and pre-creational which is centered in the hearts of all human beings. However, the conventions, both behavioral and conceptual, which society, community and personal habit impose upon a person, veil recognition of this reality. Hence we need divine laws to guide us to lead a life which is unified and which leads to knowledge of unity.

All the prophets were in Islam, that is in submission, in the sense that each one had surrounded their self to God. What was brought by every and each prophet was a confirmation and continuation of that brought by his predecessor, of one complimentary divine law. It is like building a city in different phases, in different times. As the city is built, certain rules and regulations become clear, until the entire city is completed. Then all the rules and regulations that have evolved and become necessary in the course of construction are unified and completed, all in accordance with the original master plan.

Islam, the original divinely intended way of conduct which, if adhered to, leads a person towards his Creator, is not a religion that came into existence 1,400 years ago, but rather, is the Adamic way, molded on the first creation from the beginning of humanity. With the rise of Adamic consciousness, these arose parallel to iit an inner crack, or innate knowledge or understanding, regarding how to behave in this existence so as to avoid being confused.

Original Islam has existed right form the beginning of humanity and it was revealed in different degrees until the totality of it was revealed through the Prophet Muhammed in such a way that Allah promised to people that it would be preserved forever.

If people want to see differences, then they see great differences, and this often happens to those who do not have access to their innate nature.

There are some people who have perceived and lived the ethics of Hz. Muhammad (May Allah be well pleased with him). One of those is Sheikh Sayyed Ahmad Rifai (May Allah be well pleased with him) who is the founder of our way. People who belong to this way are called Rifai. This way will open a gate to an another world. If you go through the gate, you can start to comprehend the essence of all things in a better way.

Life of Sayyed Ahmad Rifai >>

Dervish: A real Dervish is he who desires for himself nothing, has no egotism, and is meed and lowly, and willing to accept all things as coming from Allah. The gains of a dervish are seclusion and retirement, refraining from the utterance of all profane language, reflection, contentment, patience, silence, and resignation, and to watch and obey the will of Allah; to keep the commands of the Murshid (Sheikh); to war with his own wild passions; to chance his evil feelings for those which are good, and to be faithful to his Order, according to Quran, xxix.69:"We lead in our paths all those who are jealous in propagating our faith, and God is with those who do good. We make the lesser war (of this world), and also the greater (upon our own wild passions), and this is the true world of God)"

Strong dervish is the one who have the power over his/her nafs (ego). A dervish should have some habits such as: not to claim to have knowledge, otherwise his/her nafs draws him/her to destruction; to be patient and not hoping something from people but Allah; to keep secret and not to complain; to do what he/she does for the sake of Allah. Dervish should be steady, not inconstant and weak.

The Believers! Remember God abundantly. (Al-Ahzab, 41)

Surely, in the remembrance of Allah, all hearts are comforted. (Al-Rad, 28)

Remember Me (God) so that I will remember you.” (Al-Baqhara, 152)

Those who have faith remember God when sitting, standing and lying down in their side and think about the creation of the Heavens and the Earth. (Al-Imran, 191)

Remember the name of your Lord. (Alâ, 15)

The foremost duty is to remember Allah.” (Al-Ankabut, 45)

Sayyed Ahmad Rifai says his disciples that to reach the love of Allah, one should continue dhikr (remembrance/chanting), reflect on Allah`s blessings and favors, strengthen the tie with friends of Allah, obey the command of Allah and pray to Allah for love. He said that learn love from a candle.

Do not think that your task is over with fasting and prayer,
The union for devotee is the Remembrance and Knowledge...

Love: According to Qur’an, the creation began with the divine command, ‘Be!’ (Qur’an 16:40; 19:35; 36;82). Within that command is contained the entire book of Reality. From the Sufi point of view, every ‘heart’ contains a blueprint of truth.

There is something within the core of everyone which reveals the truth. That something does not change, for it is primal and sub-genetic. Physically, everyone appears to be different, but that which is ingrained sub-genetically in man is his innate nature.

The original blueprint of divine laws is preserved in this innate nature of man. If that blueprint is not tarnished or obscured, then it is easier for a man to recognize and acknowledge the messengers and Reality.

Allah also says in the Qur’an that your ‘heart’ never lies. How does one distinguish between guidance coming from ‘heart’, and that which is coming from one’s emotions, desires, fears, and imagination? The innate nature in each one of us has been tarnished to varying degrees, due to family and other influences during our early life. In order to return to our original state of innate nature, we need again the guidance of the outer code of divine law.

Let non dare to enter the Valley of Love,
without the fire of yearning lighted in him.
Love does not welcome him
who burns not like a flame...

The outer law is my action,
The Path of purification is my way
And the inner reality is my state.

Sayings from Sayyed Ahmad Rifai:

Our way is built on three things: not asking anything, not refusing what is given and not accumulating asset.

Allah wills his servant to have three features: 1. Trust in Allah`s promise 2. To take out everything from heart because of Allah`s destiny 3. To be occupied with knocking the gate of Allah.

Worldly things should come secondarily. There is no way to escape from the other world. It is a distress to deal with things other than the ones for the other world.

Welcome and accept whatever comes from the heaven and the invisible world. Try to help people as much as you can. Have compassion for weak and older people, and who became poor after richness; and give them alms.

The shortest way to Allah is to respect His commands and compassion to his creatures.

Who loves Allah, allows himself to become modest, and does not like anything other than Him. Servitude to Allah is an attribute that who has it does not esteem anything other than Him. The perfection of servitude is freedom, which means salvation from submitting yourself to things other than Allah.

Dhikr (Remembrance / Zikr / Chanting)

Different invocations, as well as single-pointed attention directed towards a particular divine name or attribute, or other appropriate forms of remembrance Allah, all narrow the thought process and channel the energies. Obviously, repeating a specific sound helps towards achieving single-pointedness. It is the practice of single-pointedness that enables a person to be less distracted. Single-pointedness is such a desirable state for human beings that we find many recreational activities, hobbies, sports, and indeed all scientific and investigative endeavours, centred around it. By following a golf ball, one is less distracted by other events around and there is therefore less clutter and noise in the mind.

Chanting Divine names (Dhikr/Zikr) and attributes helps a great deal in bringing about the desired states of certainty and tranquility.

But is very important that the prescription comes from the right person. The true spiritual master, if he is good, genuine and in submission, will give his close follower a specific remedy in a specific fashion. It is like instructing someone about where to find a buried treasure. Precise directions and the exact number of steps to be taken are imperative, otherwise an enthusiastic but discourteous seeker may decide to add a few steps of his own and miss the treasure altogether.

When a specific form of remembrance of Allah is individually prescribed by a spiritual master, and is transmitted from heart to heart, then an effective step towards freedom has been taken. Along the spiritual path, remembrance relates to that which is in one’s innate nature. It is the remembrance of the Essence of Allah the Almighty, of the Source of all manifestations and attributes. That source is within everybody.

So, the original remembrance of Allah is already in every heart, whether one is aware of it or not. Through the guidance of a spiritual master, the seeker is led beyond, to a level here there is no remembrance of anything that is mentionable, but that which has always been there, encompassing everything is evidently experienced and witnessed. The purpose of Sufi practices is to be spontaneously aware of the absolute or central reality as well as remaining aware of the physical and material limitations of the phenomenal world, which surrounds us. One is an inner awareness beyond the senses, and the other is an outer awareness which is based on the senses. So the aim of a Sufi Teacher is to give the appropriate practices to his close follower and to watch over the results.

Any awareness during remembrance of Allah is a hindrance to entry into the realm of pure consciousness. Pure consciousness cannot be talked about. It must be experienced. It is the state of beingness.

Generally speaking all mental processes are regarded as lower consciousness (nafs). All physical, material and causal aspects of life are in this category. Abstract thoughts and emotions are regarded as subtler and therefore higher. Within all human perceptions there are scales ou consciousness. There are scale of in our consciousness of hearing, seeing understanding and so on. So consciousness is along a vertical scale. One can sy the same thing about God’s attributes. There are some attributes which have to do with physical mechanisms that govern matter, all of which is permeated by divine order.

When a person verbally acknowledges his belief in reality, Allah’s mercy come upon him to test him. He will also be tried because of his love of knowledge itself, which is one of the last and most difficult veils or barriers to be removed before true awakening takes place.

Sufism and Sufi Dervish

Sufism and Sufi Dervish

Sufism and Sufi Dervish

Sufism and Sufi Dervish