The following is the translation from Persian of the eighty-fifth letter of the book Maktubat by Hadrat Abdullah-i Dahlawi, a great Wali and Murshid-i kamil:

Hamd be to Allahu ta'ala! Salat and salam be over His beloved Prophet, Hadrat Muhammad 'alaihissalam'! This is the letter [written to the Muslims of India] by faqir Abdullah-i Qadiri, Naqshibandi and Mujaddidi, who is well known for his name Ghulam-i Ali. May Allahu ta'ala forgive his sins!

BIAT means to promise and to abide by this promise. It is a word frequently used on the way of tasawwuf. It is the sunnat of the Sahaba to use this. There are three kinds of biat. The first one is to promise in front of a great superior not to commit sins. This is called biat of tawba. When one grave sin is committed, this biat is broken, and a new biat is necessary. It has been doubted (by savants) on whether or not it is broken by backbiting. It is certainly a grave sin to backbite by abhorring, slandering a Muslim. It is not backbiting to let Muslims know and hear about those men of din who talk and write wrong and those men of tasawwuf who hold a belief which is bidat. It is necessary to speak against them so that Muslims will not be deceived by them.

The second kind of biat is to join, to do biat with a Wali or with his real members in order to get barakat. Thus, one gets blessed with the glad tidings they have been given, and with their intercession. For example, Ghawth-uth-thaqalayn Abdul-qadir-i Geilani said, "My murids do not die without doing tawba." [Tawba means to repent for one's sins and to beg for Allah's forgiveness.] In order to attain this glad tidings one must do biat with one of the great superiors of this path. It is not necessary to repeat this biat.

The third kind of biat is done in order to be blessed with the fayd of the Awliya and to get benefits from them. If a person does biat to one of the superiors of tasawwuf, carries out the duties, the dhikrs, the grades of ikhlas prescribed by him, and yet cannot get benefits, it is permissible for him to join another path of tariqat and to do biat with another murshid whether his former murshid consents to it or not. But he must not deny the former murshid. This means that he does not have an allotted share from him. If he sees that his murshid is slack in following the Shariat and the tariqat or finds out that he tries to ingratiate himself with the rich or that he is fond of the world, he must look for Allah's fayd, love and marifat in another murshid. If one, as a child, did biat with a murshid and finds out that he is a true murshid after reaching the age of puberty, he goes on with his biat and duties, or he does biat to another murshid whom he likes.

A murshid is a person who obeys, holds fast to the Sunnat (the Shariat) of Rasulullah 'sallallahu alaihi wa sallam', who avoids bidats whether they are zahir or batin, and who holds the belief of the Salaf-i salihin. He has the same correct belief as that of Ghawth-uth- thaqalayn Abdulqadir-i Geilani and Shaikh-ul-Islam Faridaddin-i Ganj-i Shakar. He knows the knowledge of fiqh as much as is indispensably necessary. He frequently reads the hadith book titled Mishkat-i Sharif and tafsirs of the Qur'an. He reads the books of morals written by men of tasawwuf, such as the books Minhaj-ul- abidin and Kimya-i saadat by Hadrat Imam-i Ghazali, and other books describing the states and words of great men of tasawwuf. Reading these books is very useful in purifying and tranquillizing the heart. A murshid-i kamil is not fond of the world, nor does he stay with those who are fond of the world. He likes loneliness. He does the good deeds that are taught by the Shariat and which he has learned from his murshids. He expects only from Allahu ta'ala his labor's reward in this world and the next. He does not expect anything from anybody other than Him. He reads the Qur'an very often. He has received a share from the fayds and marifats coming to the hearts of those who perform dhikr very much. In everything he does he chooses the way of tawba, inabat (to avoid sinning), zuhd (to cease from what is worldly), wara', taqwa, patience, contentment, tawakkul and Allah's consent. Those who see him remember Allahu ta'ala. Worldly thoughts escape from his heart. A devoted person who stays with a murshid of the tariqat of Chashtiyya feels pleasure, enthusiasm, fervor, ease and loneliness, that is, desire to keep away from those who are fond of the world. Staying with a murshid of Qadiri gives the heart safa (freedom of anxiety), an attachment with the world of souls and angels, and the heart is informed of a lot of past and future events. A person who stays with a murshid of the tariqat of Naqshibandi is blessed with ease, togetherness, yad-i dasht, unawareness of the world, and the jadhbas (attractions) of Allahu ta'ala. His heart and soul are blessed with many things. If the murshid is Mujaddidi, all his latifas are blessed with kayfiyyats, hals, safa, latafats, nurs and mysteries. If these do not happen, the faithful devotee will be quite right however much sorry he becomes for not having found a true murshid. Murid means a faithful devotee. He burns with the love of Allah, with the desire to attain His love. He is bewildered with a love which he does not know, which he does not understand. He cannot get to sleep, nor can he stop his tears. Ashamed of his past sins, he cannot lift up his face. In everything he does he trembles with the fear of Allah. He struggles to do the deeds that will make him attain the love of Allah. He is patient, forgiving in everything he does. In every incompatibility and trouble he finds the fault in himself. He thinks of his Allah in every breath he takes. He does not live in unawareness. He does not quarrel with anybody. He is afraid of hurting a heart. He deems hearts to be homes of Allahu ta'ala. He bears a good opinion about all the Sahaba and says, "Allahu ta'ala loves them all," about them. He says that they are all good. [Now, such a real murid is not present.] Our Prophet commanded us not to talk about the events that happened among the Sahaba. A murid does not talk, write or read about them. Thus, he protects himself from doing any irreverence against those great people. Loving those great people is a sign of loving Allah's Messenger. A murid does not differentiate between the Sahaba with his own point of view by saying that so and so is superior to so and so. Who is superior or higher is understood from ayats, hadiths and the unanimous declaration of the Sahaba. But certainly, the intoxication caused by love is an exception. A lover is excusable.

Sima' means to listen to the poems, qasidas, ilahis, mawlids that are recited by one or more people and which strengthen the faith and iman and beautify morals. The superiors of tasawwuf did sima' and listened to those that were recited without musical instruments and without men and women being together. No musical instrument was ever seen in the sohbats, gatherings of the Sultan-i Mashayikh [Nizamuddin-i Dahlawi]. Those who were in those sohbats would weep inwardly and would be greatly grieved. The books Fawaid-ul- fuad and Siyar-ul- Awliya inform of this fact in detail. Deviating from the path of the superiors of tasawwuf darkens the heart. Those superiors permitted sima' in order to turn the heart's constipation into relief and to increase the state of relief. They said that sima' would increase tenderness, love of Allah in the heart. Sima' is not permissible for the unaware, that is, for those who have no love of Allah in their hearts. Such gatherings of sima' become gatherings of sins. Every Muslim should avoid such meetings of sima'. Some men of tasawwuf said that such musical instruments as reeds were permissible, yet they said so during an intoxication of love. Such words, which the Shariat has prohibited, must not be followed. [See page 174 of the book Maraq-il-falah, an annotation to the book Tahtawi].

They said that dhikr-i jahri, that is, to perform the dhikr aloud, was medicine for heart illness. But dhikr-i hafi, that is, to do dhikr silently, is more useful. It is stated in a hadith that it is better to do dhikr silently. Doing dhikr aloud may be permissible to increase the heart's fervor and to remove slackness. Doing dhikr very much and suffering riyadat will increase the love of Allah in the heart and cause the mysteries of wahdat-i wujud to occur. Wahdat-i wujud means to see the creatures as one being. It does not mean to deem the creatures as Allahu ta'ala. It is not compatible with the Shariat, nor is it reasonable to speak so out of one's own opinion and imagination and to represent oneself as a man of wahdat-i wujud by hearing the words about wahdat-i wujud of those who have this mysterious state called hal, which is formed in the heart by love of Allah. Rukn-ud-din Alauddawla-i Samnani and Mujaddid-i Alf-i Thani Ahmad Faruqi 'rahmatullahi alaihima' and those superiors who followed them have seen and found out the fact that besides the marifat of wahdat-i wujud there is another kind of marifat which came into being in all prophets 'alaihimussalawatu wassalam'.

Being a Darwish means being with Allahu ta'ala, forming good habits and obeying the Shariat. It is dispelling all things other than Allahu ta'ala from the heart and adapting all one's limbs to Hadrat Muhammad Mustafa 'sallallahu alaihi wa sallam'. Being with Allahu ta'ala is called hudur, which is the grade of ihsan informed of in the hadith. A Darwish's heart must be in this grade. Any person who is given this lot must deem it as a great blessing!

Tawhid-i afali means to see all the deeds and actions of creatures to be of the deeds of One Single Maker.

Tawhid-i sifati means to know the attributes, the properties of creatures as the appearances of Allah's attributes, and to see every being as annihilated in Allah's being. The blessed Awliya have always been so.

Ijazat and khilafat means to give permission to a mature person so that he will place dhikr into the hearts of talibs (seekers). The exalted person who has been given the permission is called Khalifa or murshid. The batin [that is, the heart and other four latifas] of the exalted person who is given the permission must have attained the nisbat (closeness to Allahu ta'ala) and hals, and he must have been purified of bad habits and embellished with good habits, and he must have patience, tawakkul, contentment and resignation, and must not be fond of the world. This high grade can be obtained only by following the Salaf- i salihin. It is haram to permit him to recommend dhikr unless these hals and kayfiyyats are formed in his heart. It means to spoil the path of the superiors of tasawwuf. It is both unreasonable and incompatible with the Shariat to make someone arrogant [to cause him to be self-deluded], to deprive a talib, a lover, by causing him to be seized by incompetent hands. [Today, there is no Tariqa, murshid, murid or shaikh in Turkey. One should not believe anyone who says that there is one or that he himself is a shaikh. One should be vigilant in order not to fall in the trap of false murshids or of ignorant men of Tariqa.] May Allahu ta'ala bless you and this old man who has wasted all his life on unnecessary, useless things, with His own love and with the love of His beloved Messenger, Muhammad 'alaihissalam'! May He burn our hearts with the fervent desire of attaining to Him!

We have been ordered by Allah's Prophet to perform namaz in jamaat, to perform it with tumaninat, to fulfill qawma after the ruku' (bowing position during namaz) and jalsa between the two sajdas (prostrations). There are savants who say that qawma and jalsa are fard. Qadihan, one of the Muftis of the Hanafi Madhhab, has informed that these two are wajib, that sajda-i sahw is wajib when one forgets one of the two, that he who omits them on purpose has to perform the namaz again. Also, those who said that they were sunnat-i muakkada said that they were the sunnats that were close to wajib. It is disbelief to neglect the sunnat by slighting it, deeming it unimportant. Various different kayfiyyats and hals are enjoyed during the qiyam (standing position), the ruku', the qawma, the jalsa, the sajdas, and the sitting positions in namaz. All kinds of worship have been accumulated in namaz. Reading the Qur'an, saying subhanallah [which means, "I deem Allah far from any defects whatsoever,"] saying salawat for Rasulullah's soul, saying the prayer of istighfar (begging Allah for His forgiveness) for one's sins, and asking for what one needs only from Allahu ta'ala and praying to Him only have all been accumulated in namaz. Trees, plants stand upright like standing in namaz. Animals represent the position of ruku', and the lifeless, spread out on the ground, represent the qada, sitting posture, in namaz. He who performs namaz does all these kinds of worship done by them. Performing namaz became fard on the night of Miraj. A Muslim who performs namaz with the intention of following Allah's beloved Prophet, who was honored with Miraj at that night, gets exalted to high grades like the exalted Prophet. Those who perform namaz in serenity, having the adab due towards Allahu ta'ala and His Messenger, realize that they have gone up to these grades. Having mercy upon this Ummat Allahu ta'ala and His Prophet bestowed a great blessing upon them, and made it fard for them to perform namaz. Hamd and thanks be to our Allah for this! We send our salawat, tahiyyat (regards) and prayers to His beloved Prophet! The ease and serenity enjoyed when performing namaz is something transcendental. My murshid [Hadrat Mazhar-i Janan] said, "Though it is impossible to see Allahu ta'ala as one performs namaz, some hal is felt like seeing." The great superiors of tasawwuf have said unanimously that this hal does happen. In the beginning of Islam namaz used to be performed towards Quds (Jerusalem). When the Muslims were commanded to give up performing it towards the Bayt-ul-muqaddas and to turn towards the qibla of Hadrat Ibrahim, the Jews became mad and said derisively, "What will become of your prayers which you have performed towards the Bayt-ul-maqaddas?" The hundred and forty-third ayat came down to declare: "Allahu ta'ala will not lose your iman!" So it was informed that namaz would not be left without rewards. Namaz was described with the word "iman." This means that not to perform namaz suitably with the Sunnat is to lose iman. Our Master, Rasulullah, stated, "The light and the flavor of my eyes are in namaz." This hadith means, "Allahu ta'ala manifests and is perceived in namaz. Thus, my eyes feel comfortable." Another hadith stated, "O Bilal! Soothe me!" which means, "O Bilal, give me relief by reciting the adhan and saying the iqamat of namaz." A person who looks for relief in anything other than namaz is not a good one. He who wastes, misses namaz will lose other Islamic deeds all the more.

Talking nonsense and backbiting Muslims remove the thawab earned by fasting. Backbiting does away with the thawab of worships. It is wajib to avoid backbiting. What an idiocy it is to take pains and undergo difficulties worshipping and then destroy its thawab. Worship is offered to Allahu ta'ala. To present backbiting and talking nonsense to one's Owner is impertinence against Him.

It is incompatible with being Muslim to listen to songs, musical instruments, to watch dances or to narrate and write the martyrdoms of Hadrat Hasan and Hadrat Husain 'radiAllahu anhuma' [the event of Karbala]. The shaikhs of our time have turned the tariqat into doing these things. Drawing pictures of leaders of the din, they visit them. "Visiting them makes one attain Allah's love," they say. Such things do not exist in Islam. It is a slander to give the names of the great to the pictures drawn or painted without seeing them. May Allahu ta'ala bless these people with the lot of repenting! Sayyid Ismail Bey, one of the great savants of the blessed city of Medina and an expert in the knowledge of hadith, came from the blessed city of Medina all the way to India to see this faqir, in order to get blessed with tariqat-i mujaddidiyya. I sent this exalted person to the grand masjid [to the mosque of Shah Jihan in Delhi, which is the biggest mosque in Asia] so that he could visit the Asar-i Sharif [the sacred relics]. Coming back after a very short while, he said, "The nurs of Rasulullah exist there, but one can also feel the zulmat of idols." I inquired of the men in charge of the mosque. I learned that a chest in the room contained pictures with the names of the great. Thus, I found out that Sayyid Ismail Bey had been affected by these pictures. When Rasulullah 'sall-Allahu alaihi wa sallam' was shown a picture of Hadrat Ibrahim, he tore the picture up with his blessed hands. This fact is communicated in the hundred and sixth ayat of Yusuf Sura, "Most of them say that they have iman in Allahu ta'ala. But they have no iman. They have become polytheists by worshipping other things." Every kind of playing, such as cock-fight and playing with pigeons, is haram. To dress a piece of stone [into the shape of a foot], to name it Qadam-i Sharif, and to say that it is the Prophet's footprint, is like worshipping pictures and idols.

To celebrate the day of Nawruz [the Persian new year's day, 22 March; and Christmas night] as Magians do is to become like disbelievers. When men of tariqat and the shaikhs do these abominable deeds they will be bad examples and proofs for their murids, who will be seized by this disastrous current. Being murshid and murid is only by taqwa, by avoiding polytheism and harams. The formation of hals in the heart, the kashf and the manifestation of some [unknown] things, and the performing of some astounding acts beyond the limits of scientific knowledge can be done by disbelievers, too. Suffering riyadat, doing certain things as if they were worships, turning it into a profession to write amulets, to cure the sick and the spell-bound by breathing on them are not deeds prescribed by the din. They are done in order to attract the ignorant and the stupid and to earn what is worldly. These have no value or importance in Islam. The only thing that is valuable and important in Islam and which takes man closer to Allahu ta'ala is to obey and follow His Messenger, Prophet 'sallallahu alaihi wa sallam'. This is the way of the Sahaba and the Ahl al-bayt-i izam. The Qur'an is sent in order to guide on this way. May Allahu ta'ala keep us all in the true way of His beloved Prophet, of the Sahaba and the Ahl al-bayt-i izam! Amin.

[It is written on the 481st page of the fifth volume of Durr-ul-mukhtar, "It is haram to give presents on the days of Nawruz and Mihrgan while mentioning their names. It is kufr (disbelief) to give presents deeming those days as feast days. A person who gives an egg to a disbeliever out of reverence to those days becomes a disbeliever. So is the case with buying something on those days. If he buys what he buys everyday, he will not become a disbeliever." It is written in the fatwa of Bazaziyya, "The Nawruz day is the Magians' day of feast. It is kufr to join Magians and to imitate them on that day. If a Muslim celebrates that day, he will lose his iman without even noticing it." It is inferred from this fatwa that a person who imitates disbelievers' festivals and feasts on Christmas day or night or on their Easter or other feast days, will become a disbeliever.

It is written in the explanation of the forty-fourth ayat of Maida Sura in Tafsir-i Mazhari, "A hadith ash-Sharif states, 'I am ahead of all others in doing as Isa 'alaihissalam' did. Prophets 'alaihimussalam' are like brothers of the same father. They have different mothers. Their faith is the same.' Following this hadith, Imam-i azam Abu Hanifa 'rahmatullahi alaih' said that it is wajib for us to practice those rules of previous Shariats that have not been changed by Muhammad 'alaihissalam'. In other words, we are to practice those rules that have been stated by ayats and hadiths to have existed in past Shariats and which have not been stated to have been changed." Our savants of fiqh found out and determined all such rules which we have to practice. It is not permissible for us to practice any worship of the Ahl-i kitab (People of the Book), except those that have been permitted by the savants of fiqh. For, most of the worships Jews and Christians do now have been made up afterwards by them. It will be kufr or haram or makruh for us to practice them. We must learn what is right and what is wrong from books of fiqh! Further, Hadrat Imam-i Shafi'i said that none of the previous Shariats' rules can be documents for us.]

On pages 115 and 202, the annotation book Birghiwi Vasiyetnamesi says, "It will be kufr (disbelief) to wrap round the waist a rope girdle that is called zunnar and which is worn by priests; to worship the cross, that is, two lines intersecting each other making right angles, and to worship statues; to show reverence to the cross and statues; to insult any book which teaches the Shariat; to make fun of any Islamic scholar; to utter or write a word which causes disbelief; to insult what we have been ordered to show reverence to, and to show reverence to what we have been ordered to despise. If one does any of them one's iman (faith) will leave one and one will be a disbeliever. But, in case of committing a grave sin, one does not lose one's iman; one never becomes a disbeliever on condition that one will admit that what one has committed is an evil deed; one will repent for and be sorry about it; and one will be ashamed before Allahu ta'ala. If one with a true belief commits a grave sin which is not a sign of infidelity, one will not become a disbeliever. If one repents for the sin and prays to Allahu ta'ala for forgiveness, one will be forgiven. In case of passing away without repentance, He will forgive one if He wishes. Yet, if He (Allahu ta'ala) wishes, the sinner will be tortured as much as his sins, then he will be put into Paradise. But a holder of bidat and a disbeliever dying without iman will never be forgiven in the Hereafter; they will certainly be burned in Hell. A disbeliever will never be taken out of Hell, but the holder of bidat will."]

Our Master, the Prophet, informed that a person without iman will burn eternally in the fire of Hell. This information is definitely true. Believing this is as essential as believing in the fact that Allahu ta'ala exists and is One. What does it mean to burn eternally in a fire? Imagining being burned eternally in a fire could drive anyone mad with fear. And he would look for a way to secure himself against this horrifying disaster. The way to do this, in its turn, is very simple. What will secure one against this everlasting disaster is merely "to believe that Allahu ta'ala exists and is One, that Muhammad 'alaihis- salam' is His final Messenger, and that all the facts he has informed of are true." If a person says that he does not believe in the threat of burning eternally, that he does not fear such a disaster, that he is not looking for a way to escape that disaster, our challenge is: "Do you have an evidence, a document to base your disbelief on? What knowledge or science keeps you from believing?" Certainly, he will not be able to adduce an evidence. Can a statement not based on documentary facts be said to be knowledge or science? It may be called a supposition or assumption. Would it not be necessary to secure oneself against the horrendous calamity of "burning in everlasting fire" even if it were one to a billion probability? Wouldn't a judicious person avoid such a misadventure? Wouldn't he look for safety precautions against the possible danger of burning eternally in fire? As it is seen, iman is the only choice for any person who has wisdom. Having iman does not require enduring hardships such as paying taxes, donating property, carrying loads, putting up with the onerous duty of worshipping and the deprivation of abstaining from pleasant, sweet tastes. A heartfelt, devoted, sincere belief will do. Nor is it necessary to inform unbelievers about one's belief. Imam-i-Rabbani 'rahimah-ullahu ta'ala' states in his seventy-third letter, "Even if a person does not believe in the fact that there will be eternal burning (for unbelievers), he should at least surmise for prudence' sake." Supposing timeless burning in a fire were a mere possibility, would it not be idiocy, a very grave eccentricity to refrain from the blessing of IMAN, which is its only and definite remedy?]