Praise be to Allah, the Light of the heavens and the earth, He, the Benefactor, and may prayers and blessings be upon our beloved, Sayiduna Muhammad ﷺ, the standard-bearer of praise on Judgment Day, and may salvation be upon his family and companions.
The Tariqa Karkariya, the Way of Spiritual Education, aims at bringing the servant to the station of Ihsan so that he can then accomplish himself in worship and vision: “That you worship Allah as if you saw Him” [Sahih al-Bukhari], in the path (suluk) and divine knowledge (ma’rifa) until his whole life is only for Allah (lilah), the Lord of the Universes… and that is why following the Qur’an and Sunnah at all times is a sine qua non for the wayfarer. For we firmly believe that behind every law of Sha’ria lies a spiritual secret and a Light which allows the servant to return to his Lord and also to forget all other than Him. However, this is only possible by following an educating Sheikh who will prescribe the appropriate remedy for each pathfinder… in accordance with Allah ﷻ’s saying: “The Merciful, so ask someone knowledgeable about Him (expert = khabîr)” [Sura al Fourqân, verse 59]. Thus, the wayfarer will enter into the worship of Allah ﷻ through the spirit and not through the nafs; his nafs will be purified and he will be adorned with noble characters, his desire for the divine will increase and he will be drawn further to the Creator.
The Tariqa Karkariya is a path in which the Muhammedan Light flows, and this is proof of the authenticity of its chain of transmission, linking the pious predecessors (salaf) to the people of our time. The chain of transmission of this path goes back to the Beloved, sayiduna Muhammad ﷺ via, among others, imam Abu Hassan ash-Shadhili (may Allâh be pleased with him). The chain of transmission is specific to this blessed community… Indeed, Imam Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak said, “The chain of transmission (Isnad) is part of religion and if there were no Isnad, everyone would say what they want”. Among the signs of the validity of a chain of transmission in the path to Allah is the fact that within said path flows the Muhammedan Light. Anyone who binds himself to this type of chain of transmission obtains constant help from the Lord, as well as the vision of his Light… as for the chain devoid of Light, it allows one to draw blessings without, however, spiritual education.
In addition to this, the specificity of the Tariqa Karkariya lies in following the Sunnah through words (aqwal), deeds (af’al) and states (ahwal), as well as in quickly achieving spiritual openning (fath). Indeed, in this path, the aspirant obtains spiritual opening quickly and solely by the Grace of Allah. The beginning of this blessed path is extinguishing oneself into the Light of the Beloved in order to know the meaning of Tawhid al-Jam’, and its end is none other than knowing the Supreme Name of Allah (Ism Allah al-A’dham).
The path is between rapture (jadhb) and the path (suluk), between extinction (fana) and sustenance (baqa), so that the aspirant is simultaneously in a state of extinction and in sustenance (baqa). Elevation in this path is endless, as it is elevation in the various degrees of Ism al-Jami’. This path brings together several schools, and each aspirant finds in it a source from which to quench his thirst, for it is the path of direct vision. Shaykh Sidi Mohamed Fawzi al-Karkari (may Allah sanctify his secret) says on this subject: “Our Tariqa is the Tariqa of awakened vision; he who does not see, I am not his Shaykh and he is not my disciple”.
However, the main purpose of this path is to make people reach Allah and attain His Knowledge through direct vision, as well as to promote love and peace among mankind. This path is thus a means to reconcile the creature with the Creator. Its purpose is also to free the disciple from the shackles of passion and ego (nafs)… but all this is only possible if the disciple applies to himself the fundamental rule of this Tariqa, which is to lower oneself and magnify others. Whoever lowers his own self, whoever sees others as perfect, will have his misdeeds diminishing and his benefits increasing, he will also notice that his Light will intensify.