A Guide to Tasawwuf and Sufism

There is a branch of knowledge called tasawwuf which is a part of wisdom. Many of the early Malay doctors were students of tasawwuf or sufism. They were wise, their lives were disciplined, and they took a positive approach to life and as practising doctors.

The two Singaporean early Malay doctors were people of tasawwuf and were very involved with such activities. Until today, their descendants are also students of a tariqat.

There are many tariqats but the active ones I have heard about are the Nashqbandi and Tijaniyah. I can't tell which is which.

Here is a video I just found on Tawakal. It is quite clear.

Shaykh Umar Vadillo - The Journey of Tawakal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vp78YX2OmsI

This one is a story about being pious and repentance. The text is simple.
http://www.haqislam.org/two-paths-leading-to-allah/

Selawat Faatih / Selawat Fatih / Selawat Al-Faatih
Here is Selawat Fatih from a book that belongs to my husband who's from the pondok in Batu Uban, Pasir Mas, Kelantan. I don't know if the publisher is still around today or where to locate it. I would like to get a brand new copy if possible. I browsed the old copy and found many other very good doa in the book. I'm reproducing it here because I can't find a good image of Selawat Fatih elsewhere. The language is Indonesian.

This is a good introduction to Islam for people who don't know Islam and people who need a refresher. It is well-written and is a simple text. Read the entire document and not half way. It will make you think about your life and where you're heading. It makes more sense about the life we have today and will have after today. It is written for thinkers or people who like to reflect on life. Most people, not counting race or creed, will come around and start asking questions about their lives - where they came from , who are their parents & grandparents, what happened in the past, who's who, where do we go from here, what can we hope for, are we alone, etc. It is best read when you are alone at night or in the wee hours of the morning when everyone is sleeping, a quiet time, where you can practically hear your own heartbeat. That's when to reflect and read this passage. Don't read it when you're hurrying. It will make no sense to you when your life is just hurry, hurry, hurry! Read it again every 5 years and you will stand to gain the deeper message in the passage. Remember, Islam was never made for a useless purpose. It is for to enrich the human experience. The concepts are very important. People criticise Islam because they don't understand the full breath and depth of the concepts mentioned in the passage. So it is best to just ignore the critics and get to the core of Islamic knowledge. Give them the link below so they can learn something about Islam. Read the article below too so you become a thinker, and a thinker in Islam is a Sufi - a source of knowledge, not just simple knowledge but knowledge of knowledge (which is wisdom, truth from truth, haqqi bil haqq). The word philosophy comes from the Arabic word falsafah, whose root word is sufi or safah, and similar. Arabic does not have a letter 'p' so falsafah becomes philosophy in another language; Persian has a lot of 'p' words; Sanskrit has a lot of 'b' and 'w' words. Arabic has a lot of 'th' and 'gh' words. So, that's how to tell the words and source languages apart. Anyway, read the passage below.

Islam - Its concepts and meanings:
http://www.cssforum.com.pk/islam-its-concepts-meanings.html