Page:A Moslem seeker after God - showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century (IA moslemseekeraft00zwem).pdf/244



mere instruction, but only by transport, ecstasy, and the transformation of the moral being " (p. 41, "Confessions").

"Among the teachings of the Sufis was that of the preexistence of Mohammed the Prophet in the Essence of Light. According to the Traditions, I was a prophet while Adam was yet between earth and clay, and There is no prophet after me/ Sufis hold that Mohammed was a prophet even before the creation and that he still holds office. This identification of Mohammed with the Primal Element explains the names sometimes given him, such as Universal Reason, the Great Spirit, the Truth of Humanity, the Possessor of the Ray of Light the Nur-i-Muhammadi from God’s own splendour."

Absorption in God, therefore, or union with Him is the goal of all the Sufi teachings and prac tices. The entire negation of self clears the way for the apprehension of the Truth. This journey towards God has its stages which are generally given as eight in number: service, love, abstraction, knowledge, ecstasy, truth, union, extinction. Some of the Sufis went so far as to set aside external religion, and showed an utter indifference to the ritual as well as to the moral law. Al-Ghazali was not of their number. He teaches, however, that the ordinary theologian cannot enter on the mystic path, for he is still in bondage to dogma and wan
 * " Essays on Islam," by Rev. E. Sell, Madras, 1901, p. 13.