The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship

From The Golden Words of a Sufi Sheikh, Word#857.

The Sufi gnani says: My son, you can learn some things by looking at the world. You can learn from religions and religious scriptures. You can also learn from looking at mind and desire and creation.

But no matter what you learn, not all of it can be called wisdom, not all of it is ‘ilm, or divine knowledge. Most of it is like a blind man learning by touch. It is not complete, and it will not be beneficial. This is why the Rasulullah (Sal.) has said, “Go even unto China to learn ‘ilm.” There is a very broad meaning to this. Allah bestowed ‘ilm upon His Rasul (Sal.). ‘Ilm is to learn without learning, pray without praying, understand without understanding, know without knowing, see without seeing, hear without hearing, eat without eating, and taste without tasting. The learning of God’s three thousand gracious qualities, the learning of His ninety-nine powers, the learning of His actions, conduct, behavior, and duty, is like this.

It is the learning of Allah’s essence, the wealth of the ocean of profound knowledge. The learning and understanding within this ocean is the explanation of the learning of rahmatul-‘alamin, which is the mercy and compassion of all the universes. Allah is the One who rules with mercy and compassion, and the learning is about this. It is not written in books, nor is it a show. It is found in wisdom within wisdom, light within light, faith within faith, certitude within certitude, determination within determination, heart within heart, soul within soul, resplendence within resplendence, and in Allah within Allah. This is what we have to learn.

The Rasul (Sal.) repeatedly said that we must go even unto China to learn ‘ilm. What is ‘ilm? That is what we must learn. From time to time it is taught by prophets, sheikhs, olis, and qutbs. Learn it from them. One with wisdom and faith should teach wisdom and faith. You must learn about light from olis, who are the lights of God. If we learn in this way, we can learn about the ocean of divine knowledge. If we can get even the taste of one drop of this ocean of divine knowledge, we will be very fortunate; we will become good. This is the only way one can ever learn ‘ilm. It is the only way one can reach Allah, who is within ‘ilm.

M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen