Letters from a Sufi Teacher

Letters from a Sufi Teacher
By Sharafuddin Maneri (trans. Baijnath Singh)

Letters from a Sufi Teacher collects the correspondence of Sharafuddin Maneri, a 14th-century Sufi master of the Firdawsi order in Bihar, India, whose letters to disciples are considered classics of Islamic spiritual instruction. Written with warmth and directness, they address the practical stages of the spiritual path — discipline, sincerity, love of God, and the dangers of pride — in language accessible to seekers at every level.

This edition is Baijnath Singh's early 20th-century translation from the Persian, published under the Theosophical Society, introducing this South Asian Sufi voice to English readers.

A public-domain work, offered as a free digital edition by Nile Book Store.

Excerpt

Masters of the path have divided monotheism into four stages. The first stage consists in repeating, vocally, without any inner conviction, “There is no God save Allâh.” This is hypocrisy, and does not profit on the day of resurrection. The second stage consists in repeating the said logion vocally with an inner conviction based upon conventional imitation (as in the case of ordinary people), or some form of reasoning (as in the case of an intellectual theist). This is verily the visible body of monotheism, frees one from gross polytheism and from hell, and leads to heaven. This second stage, though safer than the first, and less unstable, is for all that a low one, fit for old women.