WALÎ MEANS TO BE CLOSE TO ALLÂHU TA’ÂLÂ (I)

Hadrat Imâm-i Rabbânî says in the 92th letter of the second volume of his Maktûbât:

May our hamd be to Allâhu ta’âlâ! Our salâms be to those people beloved to Him! I have been praying for the good health of my most beloved brother, Sayyid Mîr Muhammad Nu’mân. Attaining the Wilâyat [being a Walî] does not require occurrence of khâriqas and karâmats. As it is not necessary for Islamic scholars to exhibit khâriqas (wonders), likewise it is unnecessary for the Awliyâ to make a show of khâriqas. For, Wilâyat means qurb-i ilâhî [being close to Allâhu ta’âlâ], and Allâhu ta’âlâ bestows this qurb [closeness] upon His Awliyâ after Fanâ [that is, after forgetting everything other than Allâhu ta’âlâ]. He may bless a person with this closeness and yet may not inform him with unknown things in this world. Someone else may be both given this and informed of the unknown. And a third person may be given none of this closeness but may be informed of the unknown. The third one is a man of istidrâj. His nafs being polished, he is being informed of unknown things, thus being made to fall into the pit of heresy. The state of such people is declared in the eighteenth âyat of the Mujâdala Sûra: “They think they are doing something good. You should know that they are consummate liars. Shaytân has deceived them and led them astray. He has made them forget Allâhu ta’âlâ to such an extent that they neither mention nor remember Allâhu ta’âlâ. They have become the soldiers, the servants of Shaytân. You should know that these people who are in Shaytân’s group have missed the inexhaustible blessings. They have been caught by endless torment.” People in the first and second groups who have been honoured with the fortune of qurb are Awliyâ. Informing about the unknown does not increase or decrease their Wilâyat. The difference between them is in respect of the grade of closeness. A Walî who has not been informed of anything unknown may be more advanced and higher on account of the qurb bestowed upon him. Hadrat Shihâbuddîn ’Umar Suhrawardî ‘quddisa sirruh’, author of the book ’Awârif-ulma’ârif, is one of the greatest Awliyâ. All the other Awliyâ like him. After explaining karâmats and khâriqas in his book, he says: “A Walî of high grade may be given no karâmats or khâriqas. For, karâmats are given in order to increase yaqîn (belief). A person blessed with yaqîn does not need karâmats or khâriqas. All these karâmats are inferior to the dhikr of Dhât-i ilâhî and to the heart’s being ornamented with this dhikr.”