| RECOMMENDATIONS
BY HADRAT AHMED ZIYAUDDIN GUMUSH-KHANEWI QS (Translated from Mehmed
Zahid Kotku, Tasavvufî Ahlâk, Istanbul: Bahar, 1972, vol. 1, pp.118-121)
1. Consider yourself uninformed (ignorant) and ordinary at all times as required for humbleness and modesty. 2. Be scholars for your deeds, education, manners, and conduct. Tell people as much as they can comprehend. 3. Do not turn your backs to one another, nor do hate one another. Stay united as brothers. Do not envy one another. 4. Do not be an oppressive and stubborn scholar. 5. Increase your knowledge and study to find and reveal the truth. 6. Participate attentively in the congregation, Friday prayers, and Eid prayers; do your daily readings and dhikr duties. Keep your promises and pledge. 7. Stay away from those who abandon the congregation, zakah, Hajj, fasting, trust, and the duty of ordaining the good and forbidding the evil. 8. Stay away from those who display parts of their body that have to be covered and from the youth who have no facial hair. Do not look like women [i.e., opposite sex]. 9. Stay away from those who build firm and strong buildings and make their graves with stones and cement. Do not slaughter animals for the buildings. 10. Do not consume anything that is obtained through interest or unlawful ways or from the property of an orphan. Stay away from those who do consume such things. 11. Do not consume anything that has been obtained by force, nor be close to those who seize goods or property by force (i.e., usurpers) 12. Do not annoy the scholars, shaikhs and parents; do not break their hearts or be stubborn towards them. 13. Do not shave or shorten your beards. Do not imitate Jews and Christians as individuals or in groups. 14. Stay away from adulterers, homosexuals, panderers, and people who indulge in obscenities and bribery. 15. Stay away from the groups that have deviated from the truth, atheists, sorcerers, lazy people, and from people who believe in metempsychosis (a soul's passing at death into another body of the same species, a form of reincarnation). 16. Stay away from soothsayers, astrology, fortune-tellers, and people who deal with djinns and demons. 17. Stay away from people who control spirits, write talisman or charm (to be folded in a triangular form and carried on the body), or claim to know the secrets. 18. Stay away from the knowledge of magical spells, philosophers and philosophy. 19. Stay away from those who consume wine and other intoxicants. 20. Stay away from the medicine and good that comes from the non-Muslim countries. (It means you must produce yourselves.) 21. Stay away from painters, actors, and musicians. 22. Stay away from people who have tattoos and have their hair dyed black. 23. Do not stare or look at women who are not your close relatives and stay away from them. 24. Stay away from the meet of animals that have been slaughtered by infidels, pagans, and those who associate partners to Allah. 25. Stay away from those who use improper language towards the companions of Prophet Muhammad, the awliyâullah, great scholars, and the descendants of the Prophet. 26. Stay away from those who run away from the battlefield and from a place that has the plague or an epidemic fatal disease. Also, stay away from those who disobey their shaikh and their legitimate ruler or leader. 27. Stay away from [the feasts of] food and innovations in the funerals. 28. Stay away from the backbiters and those who make concessions with anything but the Qur'an and the Hadith. 29. Stay away from wastefulness and from those who waste. 30. Stay away from the oil, sugar, and other foodstuff as well as containers and clothing that come from the non-Muslim countries. (It means you should produce it yourselves.) 31. Stay away from oppressors and from the places where you are susceptible to commit sins (beaches, discos, night clubs, ballrooms, and alike). 32. Stay away from the property that is donated to a charitable organization and later put up for sale by the charitable organization. Do not get involved in alteration and misuse of such property. Also stay away from the improper business transactions and trading of fruits that are not ripe. 33. Stay away from keeping a show-bird (some pigeons, doves, and birds of pray such as a hawk or a falcon). Also stay away from individuals who claim to have a healing power in their breath and who could summon djinns and spirits. 34. Avoid the infidel, European and unlawful words [and titles] (such as "the king of the kings"). 35. Avoid being a ruler, a leader, or a judge. Do not be an instrument in removing the righteous individuals from their positions and appointment of oppressors. 36. Do not urinate while standing; do not urinate on roads and blessed grounds. 37. Do not block the roads or throw garbage or alike that may disturb people who use the road. 38. Never claim that you are a pious and God-fearing person, you are a saint, you have the knowledge of unseen, you have special powers, you receive revelations from Allah, or you have seen Allah and His Prophet. 39. Avoid high buildings, mansions, expensive rides [horses, camels, cars], ornaments and anything useless. 40. Do not raise your voice in mosques; do not let small children, insane people or beggars into them. 41. Do not greet with your hand or head [use words "as-salamu alaikum -- peace be with you"]. Do not kiss anybody's hand except for scholars. Do not bow to anybody or grab anybody [to beg or request for something.] 42. Do not keep show-birds, slaughter baby lambs, or keep a dog in the house. 43. Stay away from muftis and hadith scholars who strayed from the truth, doctors who do not know Islam, merchants who went bankrupt. 44. Stay away from thieves, traitors, those who steal from the spoils of a war, those who run away from the battlefield, those who abuse the property of an orphan, and those who have an unlawful income. 45. Do not keep a cane and stay away from the customs of disbelievers. 46. For the happiness and salvation of the country, do the politics correctly and justly. 47. Provide help for carrying out the rules of the Sharia and the principles of Islam. Also help the oppressed. 48. Stop committing offenses and turn to Allah in repentance for your wrongdoings. 49. Seek the consent of people who may have some due rights on you [pay them back if you owe them anything]. Never hurt or belittle anybody. 50. Correct your deeds and intentions.
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