The Way Letter

My friend, look at the sun, look at the earth, look at the water, look at clouds, but do not look behind… It doesn’t matter who comes, it doesn’t either matter who does not come… Remember that the wayfarer changes, the way changes, but the destination does not change.

Do not recognize the way by the wayfarer. Look at the way and recognize the wayfarer, assess the wayfarer according to it. It is not the way’s having no wayfarer but the wayfarer’s having no way that is perilous; having no way, no aim, no purpose, bewildered, inconstant and fluid...
Those who say “the safest way is the way having no thorns” deceive you. They are the bewildered ones who look under the street lamp for that which they have lost in their dark houses. Never mind. The thorns that hurt your feet are the herald of the rose that you seek. Those who speak about tolerating the thorns behave as if they loved, but as to those who truly love, they love the thorns, too.

My friend, ways are for walking. But, never forget the following truth: one cannot reach by walking, but those who reach are the walking ones. All along the road you will see those who set out on a journey but do not walk, those who sit on the way and trip passers-by up, those who enjoy themselves using metaphysical narcotics on the way, those who pace up and down the way which they have enclosed with wire fences and made into a dungeon for themselves, those who enter the marathon speedily like a hundred-metre runner and lie on the way at the fiftieth metre, those who, having seen that the walk is long and hard, throw dices on the journey, those who give a distorted view of the way, the wayfarer and the destination, those who make out a bill for a single thorn which has hurt their feet and who boast about it all their life, those who gaze unconsciously into space watching for a saviour on a white horse, those who get angry with false guides and sell the way.

Never mind, walk on. Do not attach on your breast any other amulet but your heart. Let the Divine Revelation be your map, let the Holy Prophet (SAWS) be your guide, let reason be your compass, let faith be your capital, let action be your provision, let love be your fuel, let morals be your character, let good manners be your accessory, let mercy be your quality, let honour and respect be your name. The right way is not the way that most follow, but it is the way of those who think and have genuine intelligence.

You must take every breather which you have on the way at the stop of self-criticism. Remember that repentance is self-criticism. He who calls oneself to account is rescued from being called to account by others. It is essential for you to check at every breather that you are on the way and that you walk in the direction of the destination to which you must go so that you do not feel regret. It can often be necessary to find the direction. The most reliable place where you can keep the map is your heart. One more thing: Keep the compass away from false magnetic fields and parasitic disturbing objects. You may not even notice them diverting the needle of your compass.

Consciousness comes first among the conditions that are necessary for the way’s security. You must keep away from any sort of narcotics which can distort your consciousness. You must calculate carefully the diversionary effect that your hobbies, your phobias and your fears have on your consciousness. If you fear others besides Him (SWT), you must know it for certain that you will be obsessed by that which you fear. The biggest trap that you may fall into is the trap of groundless fears, that is to say the trap which your own conceit sets for you.

Have a good journey, my friend.

(Mustafa İslamoğlu)