1832] the followers of Syed Ahmed. 495 



this, that created things are not to be considered as actually one with 

 the Deity (eyn i hagq), though they have their stability and perma- 

 nence in him, and are the muzahir i sifdt, the media in which he has 

 chosen to manifest his qualities. 



The foundation of spiritual progress in the school of Syed Ahmed, 

 as with Sufis generally, is an entire abstraction from personal or worldly 

 reflections and interests, and an ardent and unceasing adoration of, and 

 love for, the Deity. But it is held to be important to distinguish between 

 two kinds of love, of which our nature is capable, and which are of sepa- 

 rate characters, though, with a true saint, like Syed Ahmed, they may 

 exist, and be cultivated in full vigour together ; and the difference be- 

 tween these and the relative value of the two are stated to have been too 

 much lost sight of, especially in these later days. The one designated 

 hubbi ishki, has its origin in feeling and passion, in the longing 

 of the soul to rejoin its divine source ; the other, termed hubbi 

 imdni or hubbi aqli, (to which an indirect preference is given,) 

 springs from the intense admiration and affection, with which it is 

 inherent in the constitution of man's reason and perceptions, that he 

 should regard a Being possessing all the qualities of beneficence, power, 

 and infinite perfection, which are combined in God. Of the former love, 

 the aim and reward are a certain mystical absorption in or junction with 

 the Deity, accompanied by the highest degrees of spiritual knowledge 

 and dignity. Of the latter, the result is an entire devotion of thought and 

 purpose to the service of God, which is recompensed by its possessor 

 being employed as an inspired and prominent instrument for work- 

 in** the divine will, or promulgating the divine commands, in the world. 

 The former is declared to have been the special state and ornament of 

 the Oulia or saints, and the exercises by which it is to be perfected 

 are therefore termed the rdhi wildyat y the latter was the peculiar at- 

 tribute of the various Ambia, or prophets and messengers to man, and 

 the modes of acquiring and strengthening it, to the degree to which it 

 can now be carried, are termed the rdhi nabuwat. 



So much of introduction explanatory of the nature of these fanciful 

 opinions has been necessary to render intelligible the following ab- 

 stract of the history of Syed Ahmed's progress towards the perfec- 

 tion of the saintly character. It will seem strange, that such wild de- 

 lusions should ever have received* acceptance, which it must be sup- 



* It is not known, that the Siratul Mustaqim, though printed, has any ex- 

 tensive circulation. The pretensions which it puts forward for Syed Ahmed, are 

 however, the same as those which he actually advanced for himself, and on which 



2 R 



