Seadet-i Ebediyye - Endless Bliss Third Fascicle

They all meted out justice; injustice to anyone? Never!
As for vying for caliphate to please their own nafses? Never!
Nor did they ever fight, or even hurt one another for it.
They had attained highest grades, each and every one a mujtahid.
32 — A LETTER ABOUT THE PRESENCE
OF SOULS
This letter was written by Sayyid ’Abdulhakîm Arwâsî
‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’. It explains how the souls of Awliyâ will come
to one’s help everywhere:
Dear Alî Bey, my brother in both worlds!
I have received your last letter. It has pleased me very much. I
add my salâms to my benedictions over you. In an utterly beautiful
manner you ask a question at the end of your letter.
Question: It is written in Baba Dağ›, [1]
which is the Turkish
version of the book Halabî, and in Birgivî Vasiyyetnâmesi, [and in
the fatwâ of Bezzâziyya:] “If a person says that the souls of Awliyâ
are present here, he becomes a disbeliever.” On the other hand,
the statement, “The soul of our master is present and overlooking
here,” is famous among men of Tasawwuf. How can these two
words be reconciled?
Answer: Sir! What these two books say is right. Both books are
valuable. Explaining the statement, “The early scholars said: ‘A
person who claims that the souls of shaikhs are present, so they
know, will be a disbeliever,’ ” Kâdî zâde Ahmed Efendi
‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’ says in his annotation to Birgivî
Vasiyyetnâmesi: “This statement is true because the soul’s being
present is a ghâib (unknown event). The person becomes a
disbeliever because he expresses a firm conviction about
something which is ghâib.” In fact, as is seen here, what causes
disbelief is to say that the souls are present, not to believe that the
souls will be present. That is, he becomes a disbeliever, because,
even though he does not know that the souls are present, he gives
a report about the ghâib by saying that they are present. In order
to explain that this is so, they say that Allâhu ta’âlâ is present and
overlooking all the time and everywhere. However, Allâhu ta’âlâ
[1] Rendered by Ibrâhîm bin ’Abdullah.
– 151 –