How Many Types of Knowledge Are There?
Books are filled with knowledge.
Tons of knowledge.
Knowledge is one thing and gnosis is another.
Knowledge is to know.
And gnosis is to obtain [God] through experience and observation.
According to a Prophetic Tradition, there are two types of knowledge.
One type of knowledge is known as 'Ilm-e-Hujjat (The Knowledge of Arguments).'
The other is 'Ilm-e-Nafay (The Beneficial Knowledge)'.
Ilm-e-Nafay refers to knowledge that is beneficial.
Outer knowledge is mentioned in the Prophetic Traditions as Ilm-e-Hujjat. It is an argument from God to humanity.
And spiritual knowledge is referred to as Ilm-e-Nafay.
Outer knowledge is found in the books.
Spiritual knowledge is transferred esoterically from chest to chest.
It has been some time since spirituality was seen in practice.
Those who obtain spiritual knowledge
became grand saints of God.
They became the elite of the religion.
But when spiritual knowledge became extinct,
and people started to just show off in the name of Sufism,
then, due to sectarianism, Sufism was also given a bad name.
So a long time has passed. Now we only read about the grand Sufis in the books.
People like Data Ali Hajweri and Khwaja Gharib Nawaz.
Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani.
Junaid Baghdadi, Bayazid Bastami.
All these grand Sufis -
- we only read about them in the books.
We don't run into such people in real life.
We haven't run into them.
In Pakistan -
- I was born in Pakistan.
I grew up there and reached my adolescence.
I searched high and low [for Sufis].
I saw sectarianism but not Sufis.
People were Wahhabis, Sunnis, Shiites,
Deobandis and Barelvis - this is what I saw.
Some people tell you to ask [what you seek] from God directly.
Another sect tells you to use the intermediary of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) to do so.
You can also seek help from the saints.
Some sects tell you to only ask from God.
They claim that it is shirk (to appoint a partner with God) to ask anything from Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
One sect says that Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is a human being and another says that he is purely divine energy.
One sect says Imam Hussain was a victim.
And that Yazeed was a tyrant.
Another sect says - God forbid - that Imam Hussain was a rebel.
And that Yazeed will go to paradise.
Now we live in a world where it is impossible to find the truth,
there are so many sects and so many [differing beliefs] wherever you look.
[Some say], 'Serve humanity and you will go to paradise.'
Some others say, 'Kill human beings and you will go to paradise.'
The world is in such a strange state.
We cannot differentiate between the truth and falsehood.
We can't tell who is right and who is wrong.
Those who spent their lives in the company of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) -
- we know them as Companions -
- even if we look at that era [of the Prophet], we see that they were divided into two separate parties.
Bibi Aisha was on one side with Amir Muawiya.
On the other side was Moula Ali. They fought a war.
Who do we consider right?
One on side was Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)'s wife.
We are obligated to respect her.
On the other side is Moula Ali whom we are obligated to respect as well.
The Messenger of God said, 'For whosoever I am Moula, Ali is also their Moula.'
But both parties stood against each other.
So who is right?
Is Bibi Aisha right or is Moula Ali?
It is very difficult.
We can't tell what the truth is.
His Divine Eminence Gohar Shahi said:
'Forget all these things. God is to be found through the heart.'
'If divine energy enters your heart and God's name resounds within its chambers, then your heart is connected to God.'
'Once your heart is connected to God, just engage in invocation of God's name.'
'Forget about who was right and who was wrong.'
'God's name enters the heart only with God's permission.'
'No human being has the authority to do it [without God's permission].'
It is only if God wishes to befriend you that his name will enter your heart.
It is not in the hands of any human being.
And when you are connected to God,
then you have reached your destination. This is the Straight Path.
But for the heart to be enlightened with the invocation of God's name -
- it is not in the hands of any human being.
For this, you need a personality who has been delegated by God for this task.
Someone appointed by God.
And then, with God's permission and will,
that person appointed by God teaches the hearts of people to invoke God's name.
This is a Custom of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).
He said, 'My eyes sleep but my heart does not sleep.'
What does the heart do? It constantly engages in invocation of God's name.
When Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) came to the world,
before he announced his prophethood,
he would go sit in solitude in a cave every day.
Known to us as the Cave of Hira.
He would go and sit there.
And sitting there, he would perform spiritual journeys.
What happened was, when Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was 7 years old,
he was in Kaaba at the time.
And Gabriel came to him.
And Gabriel opened his chest and took out his heart.
And he placed a Tifl-e-Noori (Body of God's Light) in it.
When the Tifl-e-Noori entered his heart,
the invocation of God's name began within his heart due to its presence.
After that, Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) enjoyed solitude.
He liked to be alone.
The more time passed the more he enjoyed solitude.
And in a few years, the invocation of God's name that had begun in his heart
after that incident [when he was 7]
his entire body began to engage in invocation of God.
His entire body began to engage in invocation of God.
After that, he used to sit in the Cave of Hira.
He would spend the entire day in the cave, focused on his heart.
One day, he was sitting in this way when Gabriel came to him again.
And the first verse of the Koran was revealed. 'Affirm with the name of God.' - Koran 96:1-2
Meaning, 'The name of God that is running through your veins - now has come the time to announce it publicly.'
Now has come the time to announce it publicly.
Koran 96:1-2
'Now has come the time for you to declare it publicly.'
'And tell people what is happening to you.'
This is the first verse of the Koran.
In response, Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) said, 'I will not read it.'
I will not read it.
He said it three times.
And three times, [Gabriel] embraced him.
And the last time he embraced him, he transferred the treasure of the Personal Name of God
into Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)'s chest.
And then he said, 'Affirm with the name of God.'
This is how Islam began.
This is what should have happened with every Muslim.
The Personal Name of God should have entered their hearts first.
And their hearts would become purified with the divine energy of God's name.
This is what the Prophet did.
Whoever accepted Islam would first be told to recite the Motto of Faith verbally
and then the Prophet would have their hearts recite the Motto of Faith.
When the hearts began to be enlightened with the Motto of Faith and invocation of God's name,
then their characters began to be reformed.
Salat was sent down quite later after the Prophet went to the Night of Ascension.
They did not offer Salat before the Night of Ascension.
So what did they do? They always engaged in the invocation of God's name.
And with the invocation of God's name their hearts and Lower Selves began to be enlightened and purified.
Thereafter, when Salat was sent as an obligation on the Night of Ascension,
and when the Companions offered Salat, their Salat was not confined to lip service.
Their Salat entered directly into their hearts.
Therefore, their Salat became the Culmination/Ascension of Devout Believers.
The Sufis, Companions of the Prophet and all those who came in the eras after the Prophet continued this system of Islam.
All those who followed this method of Islam became Devout Believers.
However, when the eras of the Companions and those who came after the Companions passed
and when the eras of the Sualiheen, Saints of God and Dervishes passed,
that is when the religious clerics took over.
They did not have the spiritual power to bring God's name into the hearts of people.
Those who obtained this power did not remain to be religious clerics, they became Mevlana Rumis.
And those who didn't possess it would create feuds among one another.
They are the ones responsible for creating the divisions of Sunni, Shiite, Barelvi, Deobandi, etc.
Tell me, were there any Sunni, Shiite, Wahhabi or Barelvi in the era of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)?
They were all true followers of the Prophet. Why don't we call ourselves true followers of the Prophet today?
Why do we call ourselves Sunni, Shiite, Wahhabi, Deobandi, Barelvi, Ahle Hadith? This is wrong.
The Nation created by the Messenger of God is the only thing which is right.
We have to become true followers of the Prophet.
Only those will have the desire to become true followers of the Prophet who have divine energy in their hearts.
Those who have the Devil in their hearts will not become true followers.
They will only become Sunni, Shiite, Wahhabi, Barelvi, etc.
A true follower is one in whose heart divine energy has settled.
Muslims today don't actually read the Koran.
They just follow what the religious clerics say.
They will find out what Islam truly is if they begin to recite the Koran once again.
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