Make an effort to attain the lamp of the love of Allah in your heart so that when the lamp of this temporary life is extinguished, the everlasting, emergency lights of Allah Ta’ala ignite from within. The example of this is like the electricity that went off a minute ago and the generator caused the lights to turn on.

There is a consensus among all the well established Sufi masters that the foundation stone of Tasawwuf and spiritual path (sulook) is to cleanse the nafs (lower self) of the blame worthy moral traits (razail).

This is achieved by the aspirant using his determination (himmat) to act against the desires of his nafs.

This acting against the nafs is called the spiritual struggle (mujahidah), endeavor (riyadah) and jihad al-akbar.

The servant is not afflicted with a punishment greater in severity than the hardening of the heart and its being distant from Allaah. The Fire was created to melt the hardened heart, this heart which is the most distant of hearts from Allaah. If the heart becomes hardened the eye becomes dry [and finds no joy or tranquillity].

There are four matters, when the limits are transgressed with regards to them, which harden the heart: food, sleep, speech and sexual intercourse. A body afflicted by disease does not derive nourishment from food and water and similarly a diseased heart does not benefit from admonishment or exhortation.

“Verily, he who has purified the heart is successful and he who has despoiled it has lost.”

A lot of people have misunderstandings about tasawwuf. Many think that it is something beyond Qur’an and Sunnah. Errant Sufis as well as the superficial ulema, although on the opposite ends of the spectrum, are together in holding this mistaken notion. Consequently the first group has shunned the Qur’an and Hadith while the second group has shunned tasawwuf. Actually, although the term tasawwuf, like many other religious terms in use today, evolved later, the discipline is very much part of the Shariah. The department of the Shariah relating to external deeds like salat and zakat is called fiqh while the one dealing with the internal feelings and states of the heart is called tasawwuf.

Narrates Abdullah bin Masud that the Apostle of God [once] recited the Quranic verse, And whomsoever it is Allah’s will to guide He expandeth his bosom unto the Surrender, [vi : 1267], and, then explaining it, he said, “When light enters the bosom, the bosom opens up.” He was asked, “O Apostle of God! Is there a sign from which this state can be recognised?” “Yes”, the Prophet replied. “To lose interest in the world, which is the place of deception, and to develop liking for the Hereafter, which is the permanent dwelling place, and to make ready for death before it comes [through earnest repentance, abstention from sin and abundance of prayers].” -Baihaqi