TEACHINGS
Traditional Sufi Tariqa
Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Verily, this Quran has descended with sadness. If you recite it, then weep. If you cannot weep, then make like you are weeping. Recite in a melodious tone, for whoever does not use a pleasant voice is not one of us.”
Sunan Ibn Mājah 1337
These 10 Companions of the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وآله وصحبه وسلم are promised Paradise.
1} Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (573-634 C.E)
2} Umar bin Al-Khattab Al-Faruq (584-644 C.E)
3} Uthman bin Affan, Dhun-Nurayn (577-656 C.E)
4} Ali bin Abi Talib (600-661 C.E)
5} Talha bin Ubaidullah (596-656 C.E)
6} Zubair bin Al-Awwam (596-656 C.E)
7} Abdur-Rahman bin Awf (580-652 C.E.)
8} Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas (600-675 C.E)
9} Sa’id ibn Zayd (593-673 C.E)
10} Abu Ubaidah Aamir bin Abdullah bin Al-Jarrah (583-638 C.E)
It is related that al-Sari once said: “For thirty years I have regretted that I once said: ‘Praise be to God!’ Someone asked him how this could be. He answered: ‘Once there was a fire in Baghdad. I came across a man who told me that my shop had survived the fire, to which I said: ‘Praise be to God!’ For thirty years now I have had regrets about having said this, because I wished for myself a better lot than that which had befallen my fellow Muslims.” Abdallah b. Yusuf told me: I heard Abu Bakr al-Razi say: I heard Abu Bakr al-Harbi say: I heard al-Sari say that.
Al-Qushayri's Epistle on Sufism pg 24
I was three years old when I began to pray all night. My uncle Mohammad ibn Sawwar wept to see me pray "Sahl, go to sleep. You make me anxious," he said. I kept watch on my uncle secretly and openly. Then matters reached the point that one day I said to him, "Uncle, I have a hard state to contend with. I seem to see my head prostrate before the Throne." "Keep this state secret, my boy, and tell no one," he advised. Then he added, "Recollect when you are in your bedclothes rolling from side to side. As your tongue moves, say, 'God is with me, God is watching over me, God is witnessing me.' " I used this formula, and informed my uncle so. "Say the words seven times each night," he counselled me. I informed him that I had done so. "Say them fifteen times." I did as my uncle directed, and a sweetness invaded my heart therefrom. A year passed. Then my uncle said, "Keep my instructions and continue that practice until you go to the grave. The fruits thereof will be yours in this world and the next." Years passed, and I used the same formula until the sweetness of it penetrated my most secret heart. "Sahl," said my uncle, "when God is with any man and God sees him, how can he disobey God.' God watch over you, that you may not disobey." Sahl ibn Abd Allah al-Tostari from Muslim Saints and Mystics - Attar pg 197,198