Biographies of the Naqshbandi Mujaddid Mashaikh
” We praise Him and convey salutations upon His Noble Messenger. Taṣawwuf is a much criticised discipline. The first criticism is that Taṣawwuf did not exist during the eras of Rasūlullāh , the Ṣaḥābah and the Noble Tābiʿūn . The second criticism is that Taṣawwuf causes deficiencies and curtails the spread of Islām. The brief response to the first criticism is that during the era of the Ṣaḥābah , Taṣawwuf was known as Tazkīyah and ʾIḥsān. In a famous Ḥadīth, Rasūlullāh defined ʾIḥsān thus: Iḥsān is that you worship Allāh as if you see Him. If you are unable to see Him, He sees you. Thus the Noble rship Allāh asTaṣawwuf and spirituality as “ʾIḥsān”. The goal of ʾIḥsān and purification is to join one’s heart unto Allāh and that the soul’s association with the Cherishing-Lord of the worlds should be fixed and correct. That is what Taṣawwuf is about. Thus the people of that era knew Taṣawwuf as Purification and ʾIḥsān. ”
