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Ghazali_Letters_To_Statemen, page : 57
predisposed to failure; because it involves the impossible task of bringing together two
attitudes which are not only diametrically opposed to each other, but have no common
basis of discourse, and each of which resolutely closes the door upon anything like
genuine inquiry and examination. One cannot achieve Tawhid by simply saying "Allah is
One." That such introversion is not any easy thing, that it involves a habit of
concentration and attention against which flesh and spirit alike rebel is known to all the
mystics who have tried to reach it.
Mystical oneness (Tawhid) and the Tariqah or Path consist of acquired virtues and
mystical states. You will find in so and so, a person well known to you, as having
acquired such mystical virtues. He is a respectable classical scholar and thoroughly
conversant with Arabic and Persian, and is an ardent student of mysticism with ideas
on the subject that have affected his whole attitude towards life. There are deeper
strata
of life in him than any logic of this era could fathom or than he himself could explain.
Whatever he says is so full of information, and character, and he is so good natured,
kind and frank that I have never felt myself more interested in any man's company. He
is one of the finest conversationalist of our time and has, without doubt, been visited by
attitudes which are not only diametrically opposed to each other, but have no common
basis of discourse, and each of which resolutely closes the door upon anything like
genuine inquiry and examination. One cannot achieve Tawhid by simply saying "Allah is
One." That such introversion is not any easy thing, that it involves a habit of
concentration and attention against which flesh and spirit alike rebel is known to all the
mystics who have tried to reach it.
Mystical oneness (Tawhid) and the Tariqah or Path consist of acquired virtues and
mystical states. You will find in so and so, a person well known to you, as having
acquired such mystical virtues. He is a respectable classical scholar and thoroughly
conversant with Arabic and Persian, and is an ardent student of mysticism with ideas
on the subject that have affected his whole attitude towards life. There are deeper
strata
of life in him than any logic of this era could fathom or than he himself could explain.
Whatever he says is so full of information, and character, and he is so good natured,
kind and frank that I have never felt myself more interested in any man's company. He
is one of the finest conversationalist of our time and has, without doubt, been visited by