Hazrat Ali Hajveri was born in the last decade of the tenth or first decade of the eleventh century. It was the time of the great Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna. He had traveled far and wide to acquire knowledge. He had died between 465 and 469 AH. He had spent the last stretch of his life at Lahore, converting many people to faith. Lahore still celebrates the kindness and deliverance he offers, calling their city “Data ki Nagri” – The abode of the benevolent.

Ali Hajveri had been a Sunni Hanafi Muslim, but he had reconciled his strong commitment to theology with his great love for mysticism like many Sufis before him. In his theory, “annihilation” (fana) holds a dominant place, but he scarcely goes to such extreme lengths as would justify us calling him a pantheist.

He has strictly resisted and has pronounced as heretical the doctrine that human personality can be merged and extinguished in being of God. He has compared annihilation to burning by fire, which transmutes the quality of all things to its quality but leaves their essence unchanged.

He has also stressed and warned his readers again and again that no Sufis, not even those who have attained the highest degree of holiness, are exempt from the obligation of obeying religious law.

Ali Hajveri has explained Sufi doctrines in explicit detail. He has made expert use of his expository skills. Though in some cases, sharp controversy arises, he is not carried away with it; he is quite conscientious in arriving at synthesis rather than giving way to whims of personal ideology. It has been his most remarkable achievement that has earned him respect and grace over time and again. He does not leave his readers bewildered. With the skill and art of the most accomplished Master, he relieves his disciples of all doubts while explicitly answering their questions to their heart’s content. He maintains an impartial air of deep respect for the thoughts and practices of accomplished Sufi Masters like Bayazid, Dul Nun, Sahl, and Mansur.

The objective of the book seems quite clear: to set forth a complete system of Islamic Sufism, carefully separating non-monotheistic elements from it. It starts as a response to questions from one of the most accomplished Sufis, his junior companion, Abu Sa`id Al-Khair, and a teaching tone is maintained throughout the book.

No doubt arising out of the religious feat of 40 days at his Shrine Hazrat Moeen-ud-Din Chishti – Khawaja Ghareeb Nawaz of Hind had exclaimed:

Thou art treasure, real manifest of the bounty of God, Spreading light across

Thou art real Master for a novice; and for Masters thou art but simple guide.

Human attributes are a predicament of individual differences, while Essence is essentially a unity. His Essence does not admit to annihilation as it is eternal. Kashaf-al-Mahjub Ali Hujwary indicated, “A man’s will (ikhtiyar) is an attribute of himself. And he is veiled by his will from the will of God. Therefore, human attributes veil them from God. Necessarily, the Divine Will is eternal, and the human will is phenomenal; hence, annihilated human will diminishes personal initiative. But God knows best (p.171). This is something so close to the psychological principle: Change the behavior not the person. Many Sufis work in this domain and build a step by step framework for self improvement. This is the reason of choosing this book as the main lead of Sufism. This is the heart, and I will add other pieces to show how heart and mind work in coordination of eachother for a complete human. I am avoiding the phrase perfect because I believe nobody is perfect except Zaat e Bari Ta’ala. May Allah inspire us all to walk on the right path. Ameen