Ishkhan Vali, who came to Syria from Turkestan, owned an extensive arsenal of techniques (superficial people called this arsenal his “wisdom”), which allowed him to revive the Sufi teachings, which had by that time become ossified.
He, for example, convincingly showed that Sufi schools became isolated - to the detriment of the holistic education of Sufis - on their adherence to traditions and veneration of a certain Master. They had in use exercises and views that were intended for another people, another time and place.
Vali's approach made a great impression on people, and some offered to help him, without having the slightest idea about his methods of work. Among the latter were Mustafa Ali Darazi, Ali Muhammad Husseini and Tawil Tirmidhi. Their testimonies have survived to this day.
Ishkhan Vali told his volunteers:
- If you look at such meetings from the outside, then, even without paying attention to the fact that these schools are essentially like millstones that grind the same thing, there is no way to distinguish those who are capable of learning from those who are incapable. As you know, I pointed out their unsuitability for work. Now the question is different: which of them is able to be reborn to life again?
He pointed to a row of palm trees that had suffered from the drought:
— If we are limited in water, which tree should we water? I have pointed out to you what you were not aware of: they have dried up. Now I will show you a way to check whether these trees can be reborn or not.
To show how this method is used, Ishkhan Vali met with all the sheikhs of the schools involved in self-repetition - most of them greeted him kindly and showed their readiness to accept his help in restoring the essence of the teaching. He didn't promise them anything.
After completing the meetings, he wrote to each of them the following:
“I have almost nothing to say to you and absolutely nothing to say using you as a medium for my words. This means that I need permission to communicate with your followers without intermediaries. So, I will still be able, albeit indirectly, to communicate with them. But if you refuse, you will become an apostate, and I will no longer be able to communicate with you any further. I assume responsibility for all of you - or I do not undertake this at all - and therefore I also cannot assign the role of an intermediary to you, since I have the opportunity to communicate with you directly. Since you are so closely connected with your community, I must essentially consider you a member of the community, so I cannot work with you separately.”
He explained to his assistants that those sheikhs who would stoop to the position of a simple student would head the schools that were destined to be reborn.
Some sheikhs responded with understanding to this proposal, others showed sharp distrust of Ishkhan Vali's approach.
Although he found understanding among those sheikhs who managed to reduce themselves to the position of his disciples, along with his own students, even the most immature ones, he grieved over the withered growth.
Ali Muhammad Husseini told him:
- Is it necessary to grieve for something that has shown signs of death?
He replied:
- They didn't all die. Only suspicion makes them act as if they were already dead.
In response to these words, some sheikhs of the seceding schools, as if hearing them with their inner ears, changed their minds and laid down their turbans at his feet.
Majub, one of the sheikhs who had previously shown misunderstanding, subsequently said:
“I felt it as if something oppressive had disappeared. I knew that it was my fear and mistrust.
Ishkhan Vali explained what happened:
“This happened thanks to the prayers of the “hesitant” sheikhs themselves. Their prayers turned out to be stronger than fears and suspicions, and prompted them to join us and accept what we proposed. In fact, this is entirely a credit. Was it possible to gain merit by following the state of affairs known to us? In the past, merit was gained by cultivating good qualities. But in the case when the virtues are hidden under a layer of rust, polishing the mirror of understanding occurs only when you go against your nature.
And so it happened that the suspicious sheikhs retained their authority within their schools and even gained even greater respect from their students. The few sheikhs who remained aloof from what was happening found that their disciples were experiencing increasing inner turmoil or were becoming adherents of Wali, although he wrote to them:
“I am not going to entice your students to join me - not for reasons of politeness, but because without understanding the needs of the body as a whole, an individual organ is not able to function. Your fears that because of me you will lose all your students are in vain, because I am not able to help them and I am not going to hide this. What really scares me is the situation you find yourself in.”
The dried shoots, with the exception of a few, did not respond to this beneficial rain.
Now, of course, there is not a trace left on earth of the followers of those sheikhs who were not helped by the methods of Ishkhan Vali, which he put in place during his stay in Syria.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru