UNIVERSAL MYTHS MISTAKEN AS UNIVERSAL REALITIES (10th Myth "The Distinction of Sharia and Tariqa") BY GHULAM AHMED PARWEZ,

Myth 10: The Distinction of Sharia and Tariqa

Please refer hack to the verse from Sura AI-Tauba (9:34) where the Quran mentions two groups of people: ahbaar (priests) and ruihbaan (spiritual guides). This duality springs from ,mother interesting myth.
God revealed His system (set of eternal values. meant to he the basis of human societal life, enshrined in the Quran) to Man for his guidance in a very clear and simple language and style, The code of life needed to be implemented practically in a system in which men obeyed God and not their fellow-men. But power-hungry men succeeded in overthrowing the divine system and establishing their own rule over men, thus degrading human honor and respect. In addition to these temporal

rulers (kings and emperors) of men, there emerged the 'religious' rulers.. They claimed their authority on the premise that: 'a political set-up is for earthly life alone; the Hereafter can only be taken care of by following God's Law; so, men have to obey God through obeying priests; otherwise, men will end up in Hell.' Scared, the simple-minded masses submitted in obedience to these ahbaar (religious scholars). Thus, free Man was doubly shackled by temporal as well as religious rulers (men of sharia -scholars who have the self-claimed right to interpret religion). This situation prompted yet another group of ambitious men strive for their share of supremacy and control over fellow men. These were the men of lareeqa [the mystics (the sufi's)]. They asserted their claim on the thesis that: 'the state deals with worldly matters while the priests deal with religious affairs, but the thing that really matters is the SOUl/spirit which neither of the two groups mentioned know anything about; the domain of the soul is dealt with through arcane knowledge which cannot be obtained through conventional education; this can be done through private tutelage of men, dead or living, who arc 'close to God'; one can avoid the longer route of religious rituals to God and take the direct -and the shortest -way; for that, one needs the blessings of a lIIurshed (spiritual guide). Lazy men were strongly attracted to this idca and submitted themselves to shackles of the third kind, the spiritual guides --dead or living!
Originally a Judaic practice (their mystics were called ruhbaan), this tradition was termed tareeqa [literally, a 'path' (to God)] in Islam. Thus were established, in addition to the temporal government, two rival governments in the realm of religion. The sharia rulers kept the masses bound by the carrot of houries (beautiful maidens) in Paradise and the stick of Hellfire. But, that pertained to the Hereafter. The tareeqa people, on the other hand, performed 'miracles' right here in this earthly life to cater for the masses. Naturally, the common man was attracted more to tareeqa than to sharia. Tombs and monasteries became more popular than mosques. The sharia people possessed, as their best tool, the practice of supporting their views by the sayings of renowned imams (religious scholars), or even the Prophet himself. The tareeqa people did one better on them by claiming to have direct communion with God! Thus was created the myth of kashf or ilhaam (the Lesser Revelation).
The Arcane Knowledge According to the Quran, God sent His messages to His prophets through a process termed wahy (Revelation). The reception of wahy is exclusive to God's chosen men (prophets) and this mode of communication between God and Man was permanently suspended with the death of Mohammed, the last of the divine messengers. Now, the only way for men to know God's Will is to read the Quran because the finality of Mohammed's prophethood means that no man after him will ever receive wahy (direct messages from God). Mystics, however, claim to receive messages directly from the Creator, essentially in the same manner as wahy but term it kashf (discovery) or ilhaam (inspirational thOUght). Moreover, they insist that Lesser Revelation is to continue till the end of the world. Thus, the door of Revelation, closed shut by the Quran, was reopened. One of the top leaders of tareeqa, Elder Sheikh Mohicddin ibn Arabi, the great mystic of 11th century Spain, writes in his Fusul al Hakam (Bezels of Wisdom):
'The sharia people rule by the Quran and the [Prophetic] Tradition. [ill When they cannot find clear instructions there, they conjecture and confer but their basis remains the same. On the other hand, among us [mystics] there are those who can obtain the same thing directly from the Almighty via kash! and ilhaam. Therefore, in a way, the source of kashf and ilhaam, and that of the Prophet's way is one and the same. This puts the kashf man in the same category as the Prophet as far as obtaining knowledge from God is concerned.'
Thus the great reality of Divine Revelation was replaced by the most sacred myth of kash! / ilhaam. By terminating the line of prophets, God had blessed Man with unprecedented intellectual freedom but, the mystics managed to enslave Muslims anew so successfully that even to this day a vast majority of 'believers' so very sincerely bow to their magical spell. The mystics are successful because they claim to fulfil people's desires in return for offerings, The prospect of having one's wishes granted without having to work for it is simply magnetic. That is why a great number of Muslims all over the world have taken to amassing wealth by unfair mcans in an effort to become millionaires overnight. That is one big reason for the proliferation and success of sacred tombs and monasteries in certain areas of the Muslim world.