Allah says in Quran:
Meaning: O believers! Fear Allah persistently, and remain in the (company) of siddiqeen (i.e. those who uphold the truth). (Surah al-Tawba-119)
Piety means heart‟s state of being close to Allah. The more a person‟s heart is close to Allah the more he will be pious then what it means from the word siddiqeen19 mentioned in the above verse whose company we are ordered to keep. We are all Muslims and majority of us offer salat and in every rakat we recite surah Fatiha. We supplicate Allah in every rakat, “Show us the straight path. The path of those upon whom You have bestowed Your favours, not of those who have been afflicted with Your wrath, nor of those who have gone astray”.
Now the question arises what is the straight path? This is true that the straight path is Quran and Sunnah but every prevailing religion and sect and then every sect within Islam has announced that they are on the right path.
People recite Quran but do not receive guidance, despite reading Quran they do not get marifat, closeness and union of Allah and some peoples‟ direction of thoughts are converted and they go astray like “Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani (the accursed).
Every sect has determined straight path on their own terms and are following the path which they consider right. If Allah wanted, He could have announced in surah Fatiha, “O‟ Almighty! Show me the straight path which is the way of Your Book and the Sunnah of Your beloved”, instead Quran has ordered to follow and pray for the path of those upon whom Allah has bestowed His favour. Now the question arises that who are the one‟s upon whom Allah has bestowed his favour and whose path we are ordered to follow.
Allah says in Quran:
“And those who obey Allah and His Messenger are the people who will be in the company of those (spiritual dignitaries on the Last Day) whom Allah has blessed with His (special) favour i.e. the Prophets, the siddiqeen (truthfuls), the martyrs and the most pious.” (Surah al-Nisa-69)
First group is of Prophets. They are the one‟s upon whom Allah has bestowed his favour without a doubt but there are three other groups who are not Prophets. The second one are the siddiqeen. In the aforementioned verse 119 of surah al-Tawba Quran says to adopt siddiqeen‟s company while travelling the straight path, but who are the siddiqeen?
Ghaus-ul-Azam Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani says:
O man! When you will love Allah Almighty with a true heart, after purgation from the sensual wishes, then He will make your heart such a mirror in which, when you take a glimpse, the secrets and facts of the world and the hereafter will be revealed upon you.
The perfect spiritual guide who is the embodiment of sidq becomes the perfect reflection of Prophethood. He receives beneficence of Allah from the medium of the Prophet Mohammad sall‟Allahu alayhi wa‟alihi wasallam and performs the duty of distributing it among the seekers of Allah.
It is not possible to have union with Allah without the guidance of the perfect spiritual guide. Satan with his army and followers has set an ambush on the door of shariah because the way to gain Allah‟s marifat, proximity and union goes through it. Firstly, he does not let any man come to this level.
If a courageous man reaches to the door of shariah (salat, fast, hajj , zakat) then Satanic group tries to stop him on the inception of shariah and tries to absorb him into its superficial elegance. He lets no one reach its reality (and the biggest problem of today‟s age is that people outwardly comply with shariah but do not try to reach its reality). If a lucky few i.e. the seekers of Allah try hard and cross the basic level of shariah to approach the next levels of marifat of Allah, then Satan tries to stop him and makes him go astray using more of his force. He tries every trick to stop him. When the seeker of Allah reaches the esoteric world crossing the door of shariah then he has to go across the vast and dangerous jungle of inclination from the creation (people incline towards him for the solution of their worldly problems).
At this point, if the seeker of Allah does not have the association and guidance of a perfect spiritual guide then he goes astray in this jungle of inclination of creation and is spiritually halted forever. Like the knowledge of shariah cannot be learned without a teacher, similar to it, gaining esoteric knowledge is impossible without the association of the perfect spiritual guide. The spiritual persuasion and sight of the spiritual guide is such an alchemy which removes all the impurities from the being of the seeker making his heart pure. What do we mean by spiritual teaching and persuasion? Spiritual teaching gives the real knowledge behind the apparent words whereas through spiritual persuasion a man is enlightened with the knowledge of both the physical and esoteric world.
Sultan-ul-Ashiqeen is the Perfect spiritual guide of this era.
To know more about spiritual guide please refer to this book.
