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Declaration of 17 January 1997 His Excellency Hajj Dr. Nour Ali Tabandeh Majzoub Ali Shah
Hu
121
7 Ramazan 1417
28 Day 1375
17 January 1997
In
the Name of God, the Creator of the soul,
The
Sage, Creator of speech in language.
Dear Brethren[1],
Upon
the passing of our great Master (Mawla) Hazrat Mahbub ‘Alishah, we have
all become saddened. May God grant us the success of being patient and bearing
the pain of separation, and may the spirit of that great man find joy and be
pleased with us. We beseech the Glorious God that this paltry speck may be
successful in the performance of the duties which the great master has assigned
to this humble man, and in order to comply with this request, I beg the prayers
of you, my brethren, for help and intercession.
The
practical instructions that have been written in the epistle, Salih’s Advice,
and also the decrees of the past great masters, are to be read repeatedly,
referred to constantly and put into practice. In this way, God will be pleased
with you, and the success of this humble man will be secured. For the time
being, I will repeat some points that have been mentioned.
i.
Precepts of the shari‘ah which must be obtained by taqlid
(imitation) from a completely qualified mujtahid (expert in Islamic law);
and the discernment of such a marja‘[3]
is
the duty of every responsible person himself.
ii.
Precepts of the tariqah which are to be obtained from the current
Master, and instruction in gnosis (‘irfan) is also to be found in the
books of the great gnostics (‘urafa).
iii.
Personal precepts to be discerned by the person himself, in the sense
that God, the Exalted, wants the spiritual powers of His servants to be put into
practice, and to be exalted, and since He, the Sublime, has bestowed them, it
becomes a duty that aside from the two areas mentioned above one should
personally discover one’s responsibilities by one’s own religious thinking and
reasoning.
[signature]
[1]
This proclamation was written on the occasion of the passing away of
Hazrat Mahbub ‘Alishah by his successor, Hazrat Majdhub ‘Alishah.
[2]
The Arabic word hijab literally means ‘cover’; the requirement to
observe modesty in dress according to Islamic Law, such that in the
presence of those outside her immediate family, a woman’s body is to be
entirely covered except for the face, hands and feet. [Tr.]
[3]
The word marja‘ literally means “source” and is used for an
expert (mujtahid) in matters pertaining to shari‘ah
authorized to serve as a model of imitation (taqlid) for
non-experts. [Tr.] |
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