Sufism Revived: A Contemporary Treatise on Divine Light Prophecy and Sainthood

In this compilation of spiritual discourses (sing. mudhākara) Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari offers a Sufi commentary on the functions degrees and implications of prophethood (nubūwa) messengerhood (risāla) and sainthood (wilāya). Major themes include the identification of the Prophet Muhammad with the supreme intellect (al-ʿaql al-akbar); the manifestation of the all-encompassing Muhammadan Reality through the different prophetic figures; the notion of prophetic inerrancy (ʿiṣma); the doctrine of the Perfect Man (al-insān al-kāmil); and the universality of the Muḥammadan nation.In his discussion on sainthood the Shaykh offers a commentary on the Path to God as expressed in the well-known Holy Tradition (ḥadīth qudsī) narrated in Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī in which God proclaims: Whoever aggresses against one of My friends I declare war on them...My servant continues to draw near unto Me with supererogatory devotions until I love him; and when I love him I am his hearing by which he hears his sight by which he sees his hand by which he clutches and his foot by which he walks. If he asks of Me I will surely give him; and if he seeks refuge in Me I will surely give him refuge. Throughout these discourses the Shaykh offers practical advice for seekers regarding the complementarity between the exoteric Law (sharīʿa) and esoteric Truth (ḥaqīqa); the love of the Prophet and his descendents; and the attainment of unmediated knowledge of God (maʿrifa). Special emphasis is placed by the Shaykh on the seekers visions (mushāhadāt) of Gods Light; recognizing the traces of the Divine Names in creation; and how to derive knowledge of God from ones spiritual experiences.