Machine summary:
In his "Anfasul Arifin'' Shah Wali gives details of their deep interest in mystic practices and the position they had attained in them.
His spiritual contacts with the great sufis like Shaikh Adam Banauri, Shaikh Ahmad Sarhandi, Khwaja Khurd and others, and his miraculous powers, are mentioned by Shah Wali at various places in his writings.
About a hundred years before Shah Wali, Shaikh Ahmad of Sar hand, himself a great sufi, had denounced altogether the theory of cc wahdatul wujud '' in favour of his own wahdatush-shuhudB (Apparentism).
, the mystic awakens first to the 'reality' of his 'Ana' (Ego), and then through it he acquires the knowledge of God (marifat-i-ilahi), In course of his journey on the path, he passes through several stages 1ike Jana (annihilation), baqa (resuscitation),jadhb (unconsciousness), tawhid (Unity) etc.
Foua STAGES OF MYSTICAL DEVELOPMENT IN lsLAM The periods into which Shah Wali divides the spiritual progress of the mystics represent the four stages of the mystic path, although· to the sufis of each stage he assigns the same position: and status in regard to their relation with God. In status they are all equal as all of them are devotees of the Lord.
. Everyone of the sufis of all these stages attained a special position on the path of spirituality which remained intact even after his death and the people of the following generations could take advantage of their attainments by contacting them in meditations or dreams.