HIS SUFI TENDENCY
"Those who remember Allah(always and in prayers), standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and think deeply about the creation of the heavens and the earth(saying):'Our Lord! You have not created (all) this without purpose, glory to You! (Exalted are You above all that they associate with You as partners). Give us salvation from the torment of fire." (Qur'an 3:191)
It is expedient to unravel the erroneous belief belief of some Muslims on Islamic perception of spirituality. Sufism is a great spiritual current which has its origin in the Shari'ah. Sufism, the anglicised word for Islamic Mysticism, according to Trimingham is a particular method of approach to reality, making use of intuitive and emotional spiritual faculties which are generally dormant and latent unless called into play through training under guidance. Trimingham further corroborates his stance on his definition of a Sufi as "anyone who believes that it is possible to have direct experience of God and is prepared to go out of his way to put himself in a state whereby he may be enabled to do this". Several verses of the Qur'an and Ahadith lend credence to the features of Sufism like Qur'an 29:69, Qur'an 2:207 among others support the activities of the Sufiyyun. Albeit some misguided elements are polluting the spring of Sufism with absurdities that can not be substantiated by the Shari'ah, nevertheless, it is sacrosanct to admit here that the Shari'ah lend credence to it.(For expantiation on Sufism ,especially Tijaniyyah order, watch out in my book: Who is Shaykh Bulala).
Shaykh Jami'u belonged to the Tijaniyyah order of Sufism. Suffice it to say that his spiritual journey had started when he was at a youthful age in Ilorin. It was gathered that as a youth, he lived a hermit life. Some degree of precociousness was found in him at this stage in life. He had been developing himself spiritually by fasting for many days in a month and liked being in seclusion anytime he was fasting without anyone teaching or directing him how to go about it, all these had been happening at the age of fifteen. It can be rightly deduced that Shaykh was divinely guided in tandem with Qur'an 42:13. The reason for submitting thus is that he was too young for this act, then, nobody was reported to have given him a set of awrad(selected prayers) and lastly, he came from a predominantly dominated pagan family. Hence, it is apt to say that he belonged to the God chosen ones since the spiritual greatness was noticed in him from childhood...(to be continued)
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So far, we have started this series on the Sufi tendency of Shaykh Bulala. Most of our references in this regard is based on Trimingham's. An orientalist who worked stupendously on Sufism. We succinctly conclude here that Shaykh was divinely guided due to a number of reasons mentioned above. Next in the series will be the continuation of this tendency. How was he initiated?, by who...? What were his impacts in the Tijaniyyah brotherhood in Offa... This and many more.. Watch out!!!

it will b interesting to read