The intent of Mysticism is to establish intimate association with Allah SWT .An individual gets it as a special favour from Him, a result of His pleasure and intimate bonding. One then feels two sorts of states within him. Firstly a feeling of servitude, and secondly of ever attendance.

In servitude, ones reticence, being selfless and a slave develops. As a slave has no rights, what so ever, his only concern is to please his master, and earn His bliss. He is contended over whatever he gets and would not complain if he got nothing. That is why he is always in a state of gratitude. This is the basic difference between an employee and a slave, a worker has certain rights while a slave has none. Employee works for a specific time and a destined job with a contract to get something in return; if the specifications change he may deny the services being rendered. A slave has to accomplish the demands of the master and expects nothing in return, other than the pleasure of the master.

In the feeling of ever attendance, the individual dwells in a stance whereby he visualizes the presence of Allah SWT through the eye of his imagination. This belief gets strong root in the heart, or that Allah SWT is directly watching him. This has been explained in a Hadith Pak :

"You pray to Allah as if you are looking at Him, and if it is not possible, then pray and be sure He is looking at you."

Remember, nothing in these Universes is hidden from His knowledge and Omnipotence. The hidden thoughts in the heart and mind are very well in His awareness. One whose state of mind is such, can he dare to go astray? He is firm that His divine presence is watching him all the time and he would be delightfully tempted to obey His commands, and defiance would become loathsome for him. To leave all offences for the sake of Allah SWT would become very easy for him. To obey Allah for the sake of no reward other than His pleasure would be simple to attain.

To attain these objectives there are certain means. One of them is an endeavour of eating less, continuous fasting. The Mystics (Sufi's) would make their disciples practice to speak less, minimum social intercourse, eat and sleep a little. The purpose was to develop a concentration of mind, so that the objectives could be attained easily. As people have become weak in their instincts now, eating and sleeping less is forbidden; it has to be as per body demands within justifiable limits. Gossiping and chatting, which is neither beneficial for the world here nor hereafter is not recommended. Likewise, the company of unwise friends and running around with them is prohibited.

At the same time two chores are to be done:

a) Useful without risk

b) Useful with risk.

a)    Useful without any risk:

It is remembrance of Allah SWT (Ziker e Elahi), meditation (Maraqaba)  Repetition of the Name of Allah in the Heart (Ziker e Qalbi) there is no risk involved; the more you do the more benefit you draw.

b)    Useful with risk:

These are also helpful to attain the objectives but there are certain risks involved:

i)    Imagination of Sheikh's presence all the time.

ii)    Metaphoric Love

iii)    Ecstasy by music (Sima)

In our Chain of Mysticism, (Naqshbandia Chain) by the Grace of Allah Almighty, we emphasize on the remembrance of Allah and meditation. We accentuate on silent remembrance of Allah, in the heart, and that too depending on the individuals capacity and the circumstances. The main feature is the remembrance of Allah, may be oral or through imagination, by continuous practice the heart will start remaining alert to the Divine presence.

Allah SWT's verdict in Quran e Majeed is:

"You remember me, and I will remember thou"

Can anyone imagine that Allah Almighty considers a humble human being for remembrance, when Allah SWT will consider a humble soul, His divine attention is focused on the individual, what else could anybody dream of?

Remembrance of Allah in imagination (Ziker e Qalbi) is more effective, and helps gain the objective in a shorter span of time. When the inner self is attentive towards Allah SWT the Satan cannot take the liberty of distracting the individual.

The Satan can only cause disruption, when the heart or inner self is inattentive to Ziker and Allah SWT as such, as said in Quran e Majeed:

"Meaning thereby, whosoever, is negligent to the remembrance of Rahman, Allah subdues him to Satan, who becomes his mate."

Now, one can well imagine when the Satan is the companion, how he pacifies after an error has been committed. The Satan does not let one be ashamed for the sinful act, so one might not get inclined to ask for forgiveness. It is its greatest enmity to humans, does not let one repent. (May Allah save us from its evil designs Amen) For this reason too, we need to perform Ziker all the time, so we can save ourselves from his hostility.

We should all the time be praying to Allah SWT, that our attentions get focused from remembrance (Ziker) to the One remembered (Mazkoor) i.e. Allah SWT, and this would be achieved through incalculable remembrance. May Allah SWT also grant us an affiliation to His Name. Amen.

Those who tred on this path, sometimes, pass through different States, which are unintentional and involuntary, and are not the purpose of Ziker and mysticism. We should very clearly understand this phenomenon. If one doesn't pass through any of such experience, and is adamantly following the Sharia, no harm is done. These conditions are according to an individuals taste, and capacity. We should not discuss them in public, as they may distract an individual, and he may start enjoying the ecstasy and thus become stagnant.

The need of time is to present the Mysticism in a manner which is comprehendible to every person; so that he is inclined towards Ziker and love of Allah SWT. These discussions of Spiritual conditions and ecstasy make things difficult and thus unattractive for common man. We don't deny intuition and miracles, but all great spiritual scholars never approved such things, as they were not the targets to be achieved.

In this field of Mysticism, the need of an expert (Sheikh) as a guide and a teacher is essential as is, in other spheres of life. The Sheikh should be well versed in the intricacies of mysticism, and should understand well the tricks of Satan and evil inner self (Nafas), He should be a staunch follower of Sharia and should have spent reasonable time in the company of devout Sheikh, and got a permission from him to teach and train further as his deputy. By spending some time with him, the desire to follow Sharia enhances. We should all pray to Allah SWT that we may see such persons and enjoy their company, so that our lust to live according to Sharia increases manifold.