Yes, to adhere to the Prophet’s (UWBP) practices is certainly highly commendable and worthwhile, and is even more so when innovations are rife. To comply  with  them  in  even  a  small  matter  of  behaviour,  particularly  when  the Prophet’s  (UWBP)  community is corrupted, signifies a powerful belief and fear of God.  And  to  follow  the  practices  recalls  the  Noble  Messenger  (Upon whom  be blessings and peace) directly, and such recollection is transformed into recollection of the divine  presence.  The  moment they are  observed  in even the  least  significant dealings, in the conduct of eating,3  drinking,4  or sleeping,5  such habitual, natural acts become  meritorious acts of worship in compliance with the Shari‘a. For the person thinks  of  following  God’s  Messenger  (UWBP)  and  conceives  of  his  actions  as conduct  of the  Shari‘a.  Then  he recalls  that  the  Messenger  (UWBP) brought  the Shari‘a, and then his heart turns to Almighty God, the True Lawgiver, and he gains a sort of awareness of the divine presence and a sense of worship.

By  virtue  of  this  mystery,  the  person  who  makes  it  his  habit  to  follow  the Prophet’s (UWBP) practices transforms all his acts into worship, and may make his whole life fruitful and yielding of reward.

SECOND POINT

Imam-i Rabbani, Ahmad Faruqi (May God be pleased with him) said: “I saw while traversing the degrees in my spiritual journeying that the ranks of the saints that were most brilliant, splendid, subtle, and sound were those who made following the Prophet’s (UWBP)  practices the basis of their way. Even ordinary saints of those ranks appeared more splendid than the highest saints of the other.”6

Yes, Imam-i Rabbani, the Regenerator of the Second Millennium (May God be pleased with him) speaks the truth. One who takes the Prophet’s (UWBP) practices as his guiding principles rises to the station of being beloved of God under the shadow of God’s Beloved (UWBP).

THIRD POINT

At a time this poor Said was struggling to emerge from the Old Said, his intellect and  heart were floundering among truths in a terrible spiritual storm resulting from lack of a guide and the pride of his evil-commanding soul. They were being tossed around, rising and  falling, sometimes from the Pleiades to the ground, sometimes from the ground to the Pleiades.

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