Most countries have laws. For the most part, the criminal statutes within a country tell you what not to do, and the punishment for what happens if you do those things. They’re quite explicit and quite technical as to defining crimes, and explaining what happens if you commit those crimes. You could call it a Shariat of criminal conduct.
In religion, there’s also a set of laws. Each one of the religions has a code of conduct, and a code of how and what you’re supposed to do in certain circumstances, and a lot of it has to do with the specific rituals within that religion. For instance, in Islam, there’s a methodology for prayer, and that methodology is explained. As a matter of fact there are five different schools that explain five different, but similar, ways of conducting the prayer. And before you do the prayer, there’s an ablution, and there are specific instructions as to how to do the ablution. In all of the religions, there are specific instructions as to how to pray, when to pray, what to pray about, and how to act.
Sufism is an attempt to take all of this to another level. Allah is constant in His way. Allah doesn’t change. Allah is an amalgam of all of His qualities which all function simultaneously and together at once and different aspects of His qualities come to the forefront but each one of them contains all the others. So whatever quality seems to be in play at the moment, we have to remember and understand that all of the other qualities are in play with that quality at the same time.
If justice is being handed out, that justice also has mercy in it, that justice also has compassion in it, that justice also has gratitude in it, that justice also has the greatness of Allah’s power. These things don’t act individually, they act in unison, but different portions are at the forefront at different times.
Within Sufism, there are states of progress. Those states are known as Shariat, Tariqat, Haqiqat, and Marifat; the different levels of progression as a being. What do these different levels of progression indicate? They indicate various degrees of closeness to Allah…
