Imitating the Shaykh in the Way

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Shaykh ‘Ala ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Bukhari (q.s.) said, “I guarantee to anyone who seeks this Way, that if he imitates the shaykh with sincerity he will eventually find its reality.  Shah Naqshband ordered me to imitate him and whatever I did in imitation of him immediately brought its results.” 

However, he also warned, “The masters of our Way cannot be known except in the Maqam at-Talwin.  Whoever imitates their behaviour in that station will succeed.  Whoever imitates their behaviour in their station of perfection, however, will be corrupted.  He will be safe from corruption only if his master has mercy on him and reveals to him the Reality of that station.” 

What he means, and Allah (s.w.t.) knows best, is that the seeker cannot reach perfection until he has been Perfected.  Maqam at-Talwin, the Station of Colour and Changes is the one in which the seeker struggles hard by fasting, by worshipping, by seclusion, and by maintaining steadfastness in his love and respect for his master from one difficulty to another.  Imitating his master in this manner will bring him success, because his master excels in all these efforts.  However, if he imitates the master when the latter is in his state of Perfection, he will be in danger, just as if he tried to fly without first growing wings.  It is necessary for the seeker to climb the mountain first before he enjoys the view at the top. 

To climb the mountain, the seeker must journey from the lower world to the Divine Presence.  He must travel from the ego’s world of sensual reality to the soul’s consciousness of the Divine Reality.  To make progress on this journey, the seeker must bring into his heart the picture of his shaykh, taswawwur, as it is the most powerful means of detaching oneself from the hold of the senses.  The shaykh becomes, in his heart, the mirror of the Absolute Essence.  If he is successful, the state of self-effacement, ghaybah or absence from the world of the senses, appears in him.  To the degree that this state increases in him, his attachment to the world of the senses will weaken and disappear, and the station of the Absolute Void of Unsensing Other-than-Allah (s.w.t.) will dawn on him.



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