TRUTH ALONE TRIUMPHS!

The writings of  Makhdoom Sharafuddin  (1263–1380 CE) contain certain concepts and doctrines which are generally believed to have been articulated a few centuries after him. One such mystical doctrine known as  ‘Unity of Manifestation’  ( Wahdat ash-Shuhud ) was propagated in the eleventh century of the Islamic era by  Shaykh Ahmad al-Faruqi  (1564–1624 CE) to contradict the then prevalent concept of  ‘Unity of Being’  ( Wahdat al-Wujood ). It is true that   Shaykh Ahmad al-Faruqi (nicknamed,  Mujaddid Alf Thani ) was  par excellence  the greatest exponent of the doctrine of the Unity of Manifestation but one is surprised to see that Makhdoom Sharafuddin, too, had clearly delineated the fundamental position of this concept about two and a half centuries before it was revived by the Mujaddid. Makhdoom has explicitly stated in his letters, in the light of his personal religious experiences and intuitive knowledge, that was commonly known by Unity of Being or annihilation of every

An erratic concept prevalent for quite a long time among the then mystics was that sainthood occupies a place more exalted and sublime than Prophethood: the saints being always attracted to divine perfection severed all relationship with the world and sentient beings around them while the prophet’s mission being to propagate and expound the revealed truth, the latter had, very often, to remain in contact with their fellow beings. And, since, the fellowship of God was a task more consecrated than the fellowship of human beings, the saints held a more elevated and hallowed place than the Prophets did. Some other mystics, however, made a distinction between the two states of prophets when they were absorbed in Divine propinquity and when they were busy disseminating the divine message among their fellow beings, and thereby concluded that the prophets in their former occupation enjoyed a higher position than when they performed the function of their ministry. Even this view s