As with most human endeavors, some parts of the path are rough and some are smooth. A traveller cannot control this, but he can control the manners he needs to travel it, and this is what is meant by the words of the sheikhs “The path is wholly manners”—towards Allah, towards one’s fellow Muslims, and especially towards those from whom the path is taken. Ibn ‘Ajiba says:

Know that this knowledge we speak of is not attained by the prattling of the tongue: it is nothing besides direct experiences and ecstasy. It cannot be taken from papers, but only from the people who possess the experiences. It cannot be reached by gossip, but only through the service of its men and keeping the company of the perfected. By Allah, no one who succeed­ed has succeeded except by keeping the company of someone who succeeded” (Iqadh al-himam, 9–10).

The following sections cannot deal with all aspects of adab, but only those most needful, within the compass of brevity.

Manners of Those Looking For a Path

(1)  Those looking for a tariqa should not to be misled by people, whether ulama of the outward sciences or others, who say that there is no more Sufism in the world today. All it means is that they have never met a true sheikh of the way, and find it farfetched that anyone else should have either. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) has told us, “Allah Most High says, ‘I am as My servant thinks of me’” (Bukhari, 9.147–48: 7405. S), so whoever thinks Allah’s door is closed should wonder if they have not thereby closed it on themselves.

   What masters of the path in every age have intended by expressions like the words of Abu Bakr al-Wasiti (a student of al-Junayd who died after 320/932) “The spiritual path has gone and so have its people, and nothing remains but regrets”—though the centuries after him saw sheikhs of the path such as ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jaylani (d. 561/1166), Abu Madyan (d. 594/1198), Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 638/1240), Jalal al-Din al-Rumi (d. 672/1273), al-‘Arabi al-Darqawi (d. 1239/1823), Ahmad al-‘Alawi (d. 1353/1934), and many others—is first to warn seekers that pretenders exist who do not fulfill the conditions of a true sheikh; second, to apprise of the dangers of straying from the principles (usul) of the path; and third, to keep themselves and others from feeling complacent with their own states compared with those of the earlier generations. Whatever exceeds this is but the whisperings of the Devil, making as it does a dead letter of a large portion of the religion of Islam.

(2)  The seeker of Allah, if he wants to reach Him, must take the path from a sheikh who is a guide (murshid), who inspires him with his state, and who directs him to Allah with his words. Among the sayings of the Sheikh al-Akbar is “Whoever does not take the tariqa from its men only goes from one absurdity to another,” and Hakim al-Tirmidhi says, “People have been prevented from attainment by nothing except their rushing down the path without a guide, gobbling up their desires, and taking dispensations and making symbolic interpretations.” Others have simply said, “The dhikr must be one, the guide one, and the aim one.”

(3)  A seeker must know what he is looking for, that a tariqa means a sheikh and a disciple. Masters of the path have recorded conditions for both, of which we can mention a few: