13th LETTER

This letter was written to Mirzâ Shamsuddîn. Itanswers his letter and explains the states of savants of zâhîr, of men oftasawwuf, and of those distinguished savants who have reached perfection inknowledge and who are the inheritors of prophets:

Hamd be to Allâhu ta'âlâ and blessings and salâm beupon His prophets! I send my salâm to you and to those who are on the right way.My dear brother Shaikh Muhammad Tâhir has delivered the valuable letter you sentso kindly. We have been pleased to read it. You say that you have been and willbe reading my letters of advice in Maktûbât until we see each other. MyDear Sir! Giving advice is our primary duty in the dîn and is to adapt ourselvesto the highest of Prophets ''alaihimu-s-salawâtu wa-t-taslîmât'. What thesavants obtain of the dîn and their following Rasûlullah is first theircorrecting their belief. Next comes their learning the teachings of the Sharî'atand practising what they have learned. And what the men of tasawwuf obtain ishâls, wajds, pieces of the knowledge of tasawwuf and ma'rifats, together withthose that are attained by the savants. And as for what the 'Ulamâ-i râsikhîn obtain of the dîn who have been blessed with the glad tidings that they areprophets' inheritors, along with the fact that they have been blessed with thelot of obtaining all of what the savants of the dîn and the men of tasawwuf haveobtained, they have been blessed with many a piece of secret and subtleknowledge. These pieces of secret and subtle knowledge are indicated by theconcealed and covered âyats in the Qur'ân, which are called mutashâbihât. They have been explained by means of ta'wîl. It is these superiors withrâsikh (perfect) knowledge who adapt themselves to Rasûlullah 'sall-Allâhualaihi wa sallam' fully. These only are the inheritors of Rasûlullah'sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam'. Since they adapt themselves to Rasûlullah'sall-Allâhu alaihi wa sallam' precisely, and being prophets' inheritors, theyget a share from the blessings bestowed upon prophets. They, too, are made tohear secret knowledge peculiar to those great people. They, therefore, have beenhonoured with the glad tidings:"The savants of my Ummat are like theProphets of the sons of Isrâil." [Imâm-i Yâfi'î, in his book named Nashr-ul-mahâsin, reports that this hadîth sherîf is sahîh. In manybooks, for example, in the letters number 268 and 294 of Maktûbât, and inthe letter number 121 in the third volume by Imâm-i Rabbânî, and also at thebeginning of the book Letâif-ul-minen, this fact is written clearly.

It is written in the book Al-hâmilu fil-fulk, too.] Then, you, too,should hold fast to the way of the highest of prophets, of the beloved one ofthe Creator of all classes of beings! And you should struggle to attain thegrade of being an inheritor, which is the uppermost of the grades of happiness!