Suluk in short

Suluk in short has written by following a sermon of Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse (Ra).

Shaykh Tijānī says in Jawāhir al-Ma‘ānī,
“The reality of oneness (tawḥīd) is not per-ceived, because as long as you continue to speak, you exist and God exists, and so there are two, and then where is the oneness (tawḥīd)? There is no oneness (tawḥīd) except when it is for God, by God, and to God. The servant has no entrance to this, and no exit from it.”

This is only valid for the way of annihilation. For this reason, for the Knowers, their first concern for a seeker is that he finds annihilation in God, then after that he ascends until he arrives at the Shaykh, because he is an attribute of God. The goal of these two annihilations is that the servant will return to this station [annihilation in the attributes], for if he has not met the Messenger of God and the Shaykh [Ahmad Tijani], then he will not know what comes after.

So if he continues in this way, he will return to witnessing the existance, [but] he will see the existance as non-existant and existant at the same time. An example of this is what we see in the cinema. Whoever amongst you, of the Knowers, has not seen a movie, I would love for you to see it even once, for you will witness a thing that is non-existant (mafqūd) and yet is existant (mawjūd). For if it were not existant, you would not see it; but it is in reality, not existant. All existance(everything in existance) are just like a movie.

You witness a thing existing and not existing. And you are like this in your existance: you do good and you know that you are not doing anything, and you avoid bad things and you know that you are not doing anything. God is the one who is the agent. After that the heart of the seeker proceeds through the unseen, in both waking and dreaming; he witness the unseen in which there is no thing until he is drawn a second time, and he returns to God, he knows with certainty that there is nothing but God, not in a state of annihilation, or drunkenness, or rapture, but while being completely awake.

He knows there is nothing but God and he perceives things as they are, and he puts every created thing in its place, in which God placed it. And he knows that he is nothing. He exalts things, while not considering them existant; and he fears things, without considering them existant, and he loves things without considering them existant. And he acquires all good actions, he prays, and he fasts, and he makes hajj, and he tells the truth and he spends his money. And all of that is out of good manners (adab) to God, while he knows that there is nothing there. And if the servant arrives at this, he is connected to God by a real connection—he doesn’t do anything except for God.

• Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse (Ra), sermon given on Shawwāl 1387 AH /January 1968 in Nouakchott, Mauritania

Source: Nasrul Ilm Nigeria