This letter was written by Sayyid Abdulhakim Arwasi 'rahmatullahi 'alaih'. It explains how the souls of Awliya will come to one's help everywhere:

Dear Ali Bey, my brother in both worlds!

I have received your last letter. It has pleased me very much. I have added my salams to my benedictions over you. In an utterly beautiful manner you asked a question at the end of your letter.

Question: It is written in Baba Dagi, which is the translation of the book Halabi, and in Birghiwi Vasiyetnamesi, [and in the fatwa of Bazaziyya,] "If a person says that the souls of Awliya are present here, he becomes a disbeliever." On the other hand, the saying, "The soul of our master is present and overlooking here," is famous among men of tasawwuf. How can these two words be reconciled?

Answer: Sir! What these two books say is right. Both books are valuable. Explaining the statement, "The early scholars said, 'A person who claims that the souls of shaikhs are present, so they know, will be a disbeliever,' "Kadi zada Ahmad Effendi 'rahmatullahi ta'ala 'alaih' says in his annotation to Birghiwi Vasiyetnamesi, "This statement is true because the soul's being present is a ghaib (unknown event). The person will be a disbeliever because he speaks surely about something which is ghaib." In fact, as it is seen here, the thing which causes disbelief is saying that the souls are present, not to believe that the souls will be present. That is, he will be a disbeliever, because, even though he does not know that the souls are present, he gives a report about the ghaib by saying that they are present. In order to explain that this is so, they say that Allahu ta'ala is present and overlooking all the time and everywhere, However, Allahu ta'ala is not with time or with place. Then, this statement is not as it seems to be, but it is a metaphor. That is, it means that He is present [exists] and overlooking [sees] without time and without place, that is, without Him being at any place. Otherwise, Allahu ta'ala would be considered to be with time and with place, whereas He is not.

Allahu ta'ala, being Hayy, 'Alim, Qadir and Mutakallim, always exists and always sees in infinite time. As His Attributes, Life, Knowledge, Power and Speech are without time and without place, so His being present and overlooking is without time and without place. So is the case with all the attributes of Allahu ta'ala. Neither before them nor after them is there nonexistence. For example, He is present, and He was not absent before this presence. And after this there will not be a lifelessness, that is, death, or unawareness, nor will there be absence. Like Him, His attributes are eternal in the past and in the future, too. That is, they always exist. No one else's attributes are like His attributes.

Angels, the souls of prophets 'alaihimussalam' and of Awliya, and the souls of pious Muslims are present at any place where they are summoned to, no matter who calls them, where and in what state he is, and they help him. An example of this is Hadrat Khizir's going to the rescue of those who are in trouble. So is the case with Fakhr-i alam's 'sall- Allahu alaihi wa sallam' going to the rescue of each of his Ummat, especially at the time of death. So is the case with Hadrat Azrail's reaching everywhere every moment in order to take away the souls [lives]. And so is the case with each Murshid-i kamil's reaching to rescue his disciples; these are with time and place and they are not eternal in the past or in the future. Nor are they continuous. They were nonexistent before being present. And they will cease to exist after a while. There is a great difference between Allah's being present and souls' being present. No one is present like Allah's being present. So are all the attributes of Allahu ta'ala. Neither an angel nor a nabi nor a Rasul nor a Wali nor a pious Muslim has any share from any of Allah's attributes.

Devotees who had not reached the grades of the knowledge of being a Wali used to be taught that the souls of murshids would come to their rescue wherever and whenever they were called. The soul was absent before it became present there. And it would be absent some time later. Allahu ta'ala is present not like the presence of souls. For such a presence is with time and with place. Nor can souls be present like the presence of Allahu ta'ala. For, Allah's presence is not with time or with place, but it is eternal in the past and in the future.

Such valuable books as Birghiwi Vasiyetnamesi and the like mean to say that:

If a person says that his murshid is present "eternally in the past and in the future," he will become a disbeliever. But they mean to say, "Allahu ta'ala has given my murshid's soul such a power that he will be present to rescue me wherever and whenever I call upon him."

As it is seen, from that time till today, whenever he has been called by anyone, especially by owners of kashf and shuhud, at any part of the world, Fakhr-i alam 'sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam' has arrived to rescue them. Hadrat Khizir's soul has come to the rescue of some of those who called him. Angels are present whenever and wherever they want at the same moment to take away souls [lives]. It is written in the book Mizan-ul-kubra that Abul- Hasan Ali Shadhili 'quddisa sirruh', leader of the path of Shadhiliyya, said, "Every moment the blessed face of our Prophet 'sallAllahu alaihi wa sallam' is present before my eyes." [The fact that when the souls of Awliya are called they will hear it and they will be present at the place where they have been called is clearly revealed by Allahu ta'ala through the Hadith Qudsi which is written in chapter 46 in the first fascicle of Endless Bliss.]

What the books write is true. Yet what the men of tasawwuf say is different. That is, it is disbelief to say that the souls of Awliya are present like Allahu ta'ala. Nobody is knowing, powerful, speaking, or present like Allah's being knowing, powerful, speaking and present. Allah's knowledge, or life, or power, or speech, or presence is a knowledge, a life, a power, a speech, or a presence which is suitable for Allahu ta'ala, and so are all His other attributes. But creatures' life, knowledge, power and speech are like themselves, of recent occurrence, with time and place, transient, and dependent upon various conditions. Nevertheless, it is said that prophets 'alaihimussalam', Awliya 'alaihimurridwan', Ulama 'alaihimurrahma' and all Muslims 'asla ha-humullah' are knowing, living, powerful, present and existing. But it does not mean that they are like Allah's being knowing, alive, powerful, present and existing. There is great difference between Allah's being present and the Awliya's souls' being present. At the time when these books were written those ignorant men of tariqat had been saying such words. They had been saying that their masters were present and overlooking in order to represent themselves as men of tasawwuf. The savants of the din, authors of the books of fiqh prevented this grave sin from spreading by writing so. However, our imams of din, who are greater than these, explained the matter more generally, in more detail and more properly. Nobody is Allah's partner in His attributes. All these are included in the expression La ilaha il-lallah. That is, there is nobody worthy of worship but Allahu ta'ala, who has no partner in any of His attributes. If this meaning is pondered over well, the problem will be solved on this basis.

Sir! I have written the answer in detail and so clearly. For, many people have fallen into uncertainty about this matter. The shaikhs of Turuq-i aliyya should be deeply learned so that they may solve such doubts in such a way that everybody will understand them. Recently the tekkes (Darwish convents) have been left in the hands of the ignorant. Those who know nothing of the din and faith have been called shaikhs. And the enemies of din, seizing upon the waffles and jests of these so-called shaikhs, have said that superstitions have been mixed up with the din and the din has been defiled. Indeed, it is quite wrong to think of the words and the actions of (these sham) men of tariqat as the din and to mistake them for the great men of tasawwuf. It means not to know, not to understand the din. Being an authority in the din requires knowing the savants of the Ahl as-sunnat, reading and understanding the books of these great people well, and doing what one knows. In the absence of scholars in this capacity, the enemies of the din will find the opportunity to disguise themselves as men of din. Organizing insidious offensives camouflaged under religious admonitions and treatises to pilfer the iman of the younger generations piecemeal, they will seduce the people into perdition and lead the country into destruction.