Conceit is itself the distortion of the compassion that is a requisite for an approach toward the path of self purification, which is the path of love, but a love that is understood within the context of the impenetrable unity of our Lord. This becomes clearer as the human is less the object of their own focus, which is possible as they cultivate in love through the understanding of the primordial kinship of man, that we are the act of love.

With humility, the wayfarer can identify when they’re projecting their presumptions upon spiritual experiences and the state of their faith and how trustworthy their understanding of a belief/practice may be. This can be crucial, to develop the ability to remain consistent in one’s practice even when we are weak in faith, to seek/recall/contemplate the advice of our murshid, and turn toward worship as a refuge without allowing it to become a burden.

“However, it must be understood that the path is a station within the religion, one that we are granted permission to enter, not one in which we offer ourselves a place.”

The fear of Allah is a protection, the thing that guards you from harm. Allah’s protection is the strongest of all armor, of all fortifications; no harm can penetrate it. That is what divine fear secures for you. The Prophet of Allah, whom He sent as His mercy upon the universe, himself took refuge in his lord. Praying to Him, he said, ‘I take refuge in Your pleasure, in Your beauty, in Your gentleness, from Your wrath and Your strength. I take refuge in Your divine mercy and compassion, from Your punishment. I take refuge in You from You.’

“Through this practice without faltering, the wayfarer will steadily become more attuned with reaction of the lower self to worship and remembrance of God, how it resists and manipulates our perception, and so influences our actions.”

“…this point evolves and takes on a human form, which, by its sheer radiance, brings forth the horizon of a new world in perfect harmony with the place one occupies in eternity.”

“I am chosen by Allah’s Messenger, and I am his successor, his friend and he who possesses his sayings and secrets. He gave me knowledge of the Book, of the past and the future. “

“…the key for that house shall be asceticism in the world.”

“…He knows Himself and we know Him not.”

Existence is defined through how humans have experienced it, an experience that can only be attributed to our consciousness, and thus God’s trust. Our lives are the divine intention.

How many place their trust in it, depend upon it! But it oppresses them with its bonds, binds them with its tethers, over comes them with its strangling rope, and enmeshes them with its cords.

God consecrated creation with suffering, and embodied this principle of suffering within the lives of the Prophet Muhammad (s) and his Ahlul Bayt (as). For those devoted to their way the tragedies that would befall the Prophet and each Imam in succession, as well as their immediate family and companions, provide a powerful comprehension of life’s inherent quality as the vehicle of the principle of suffering.

During such moments the traveler on the path of God feels new blood in his veins, and under the effect of that very Divine attraction, decides to go beyond the reals of multiplicity, and by all possible means, prepares provisions and starts a journey to free himself of this tormented and perilous tumult. In the terminology of the gnostics this journey is called sayr wa suluk (or, wayfaring and spiritual journeying).

Having acknowledged/recognized their call to ‘the path’, the heart/mind is steadily conditioned to bear the weight of one’s vows and the relentless conflict with the desires and temptations that test the human being.

Religion is an act, one of remembrance and a process of binding oneself to that process. It is perfected within the Islamic model through the theology of “ever perishing/creating”. Islam confronts not merely the suggestion of more than one deity, but the concept of the deity itself, a post-agricultural invention.

The wayfarer gives the entirety of their being to God, in the effort of understanding the conditions that facilitate the patterns of sin and redemption by purifying the mind/heart of the temptations of sin and seeking refuge in the redemptive acts.

Islam confronts not merely the existence of that which would equal God, but the concept of godhood itself. God gives Himself no name, but demonstrates His absoluteness/perfection in taking the very concept of divinity as it was conceived by the human being’s attempt to comprehend their connection to an immutable and undeniable presence of a seemingly conscious natural law, that when engaged with through contemplation and rites of restraint/sacrifice would “respond” through signs and revelation.

The faith of Bektashis is service to creation, and their religion is one that is obligated toward humanity. Not by what the conventional condones nor condemns, but by what is instinctual to a heart purified of misunderstanding and prejudice.