What is Itteba (Imitation) of Prophet Mohammad?

When people celebrate Eid Milad al Nabi (Birthday of Prophet Mohammad), they create a festive atmosphere, they decorate the mosques; they put up lights. But this occasion should be associated with happiness of the heart; happiness of the arrival of the Prophet Mohammad into this world. But happiness is related to emotions so how can one celebrate happiness?

Prophet Mohammad said, addressing his Ummah, ‘none of you shall become Momin until I [Prophet Mohammad] am dearer to you than your parents, children, all of humanity and even your own Self.’

Now many Ulema say this Prophetic Tradition says you should love Prophet Mohammad more than anyone or anything else! How? All these Muslims seemingly love Prophet Mohammad, but what kind of love is this where they write the holy name of Prophet Mohammad inside the sketch of his sandals? The sandals of Prophet Mohammad are sacred for us but to write the Prophet’s name inside his own sandals is blasphemous to the Prophet. This is absurdity and nobody raises their voice on such issues! 

On Eid Milad al Nabi people wear new clothes, make food, they decorate their homes and mosques, yet their hearts are darkened and void of Emaan. It is said: Learn to love Prophet Mohammad and sacrifice your life for the love of the Prophet. Where is the love of Prophet Mohammad and how is it learned? 

Tahir ul Qadri has been teachings his followers for 32 years, but not one follower has become an Aashiq-e-Rasool (Lover of Prophet Mohammad). Thirty-two years and not one has been connected to the Prophet and Prophet Mohammad established the entire Sultanate of Islam in 23 years and left this world. In this short time, people like Abu Bakar and Hazrat Ali came and Prophet Mohammad connected Hazrat Ali to God. The Quran and Hadith have given the formula for obtaining the love of Prophet Mohammad.  

Quran:

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

 (Surah Aal Imran [3:31])

The Quran says, ‘Say unto them: If you want to love God, follow me [Prophet Mohammad] and God will love you and forgive your sins for you.’

There are two things as a result of this Itteba (Imitation) of Prophet Mohammad. God will begin to love you AND because of this love he shall forgive all your past and future sins. His Divine Eminence Ra Gohar Shahi said the same.

HDE says, ‘If one has Divine Love in his heart yet does not belong to any religion, it is okay. If you practise a religion but your heart is void of God’s love then the dogs are better than you because a dog loves his master and because of this love he acquires nearness of his master. Otherwise, a dog cannot be compared to a divinely ordained human being.’

Worship and austerities are good things but God’s love cannot be acquired through them alone. Only those obtained Divine Love who’s inner and outer became dyed in the colours of Prophet Mohammad’s love. These are the teachings of the Quran and the teachings of HDE Gohar Shahi but those who have enmity for the Friends of God and Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi shall speak ill of them.

What is Itteba of Prophet Mohammad? People have misunderstood Itteba (Imitation) and Ita’at (Obedience) to have the same meaning. To obey the teachings of Prophet Mohammad such as offering Salat, fasting, refraining from sins, etc. all fall under Ita’at. But Itteba is something else. Anything that the religion allows one to do but wasn’t the custom of your Spiritual Guide and your Nafs disapproves such an allowance, that is Itteba. Ita’at is doable, whereas Itteba is adopted. In Itteba, one dyes his souls with the colour of love. It is the same system as guidance through Noor (Divine Light). The main ingredient of Itteba is love.

Going back to the Prophetic Tradition, ‘none of you shall become Momin until I [Prophet Mohammad] am dearer to you than your parents, children, all of humanity and even your own Self.’ The Prophet is not saying to love him, rather, he is saying to keep him dearer than all else and the philosophy of the Quran says that Itteba of Prophet Mohammad is the way to acquire God’s love. But have you ever heard Ulema lay emphasise on Itteba of Prophet Mohammad? All of their emphasis is on physical Salat. The Quran says offer Salat, so offer it. But why do you disregard the way to obtaining God’s love mentioned in the Quran? When the Ulema do not emphasis Itteba of Prophet Mohammad, how would they explain what Itteba is? 

In the Muslim society of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh people speak of the Sunnah (Customs of the Prophet) related to Prophet Mohammad such as eating Halwa (sweet), keeping a beard, etc. But did Prophet Mohammad not love God also? How did he become the Beloved, through offering Salat? Being the Beloved means that the Prophet had the expertise in love, he had reached a stage that nobody else had. But can you see this act of loving God, that you can do the same?  

Prophet Mohammad, ‘My eyes sleep but my heart does not sleep.’ 

Is this not a Sunnah? How would you act upon this Sunnah? There are hundreds of Customs of Prophet Mohammad that a lot of clerics talk about however HDE Gohar Shahi spoke about a few only and those few Customs of the Prophet take one to the culmination of Spirituality. 

Islam revolves around Prophet Mohammad and a true Muslim revolves around Prophet Mohammad. Imam Mehdi is giving the gist of Islam. If somebody wants the gist of Islam and the Quran then this one ayah is enough for them (‘Say unto them: If you want to love God, follow me [Prophet Mohammad] and God will love you and forgive your sins for you’).

Hadith: If you commit a sin, then perform a good deed to wash away the sin.

There is a Hadith that says when one commits a sin it is written down in their book of deeds and at the same time a black spot is placed upon their heart. The question is what kind of good deed will wash away the black spot? There is a machine within you, the heart that must be activated in order to wash away the black spot. When the heart is activated it begins to engage in the Remembrance of God (Dhikr Allah) and thus the spots of sins are washed away with Divine Light (Noor) produced by the name of God.

The number of times a heart engages in Dhikr Allah varies from heart to heart. Some hearts remember God 10,000 times a day, some 30,000 times and some 40,000 times and then the hearts become quiet. Now, when the heart is quiet and you have committed a sin, you must do a good deed to generate Noor and wash away the sin. What is that good deed?

The Quran says, ‘O’ believers, when you have committed an act of indecency, seek help from Prophet Mohammad and he shall ask God for forgiveness for you.’

In the company of Prophet Mohammad or in the company of a Perfect Spiritual Guide, the Theophanies of God (Tajjali) are falling and those who keep their company come under these divine showers and thus their sins are washed away. Again, this ayah proves that Islam revolves around Prophet Mohammad.

Now what exactly is Itteba of Prophet Mohammad? To imitate Prophet Mohammad, first you must enlighten all your Lataif (subtleties of the breast) with Divine Light and become successful in purifying your Nafs. Then your Spiritual Guide will take you to the court of Prophet Mohammad and he enters one of the auxiliary souls of his breast into your breast and then your souls become dyed with the colours of Prophet Mohammad’s love. All of your souls perform Bayt upon this auxiliary soul of Prophet Mohammad and you are granted the rank of Fana Fee Rasool. Acquiring this rank of Fana Fee Rasool is true Itteba of Prophet Mohammad. 

Currently this knowledge is being dispensed by Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi who possesses the Arzi Arwah (terrestrial souls) of Prophet Mohammad in His Being and Mehdi Foundation International is inviting all humanity to embrace this knowledge! 

Imam Mehdi Gohar Shahi: The religion of Islam revolves around Prophet Mohammad and Islam enters one who has entered into Itteba of Prophet Mohammad. If this is not the case then you may be Shiite, Sunni, Wahhabi but you are not an Ummati (follower of Prophet Mohammad).

Presently it has become extremely necessary to spread this truth amongst the Muslim World that Islam is obtained through Itteba of Prophet Mohammad, Divine Love and salvation are granted through Itteba of Prophet Mohammad and to dye one’s souls with the colours of Prophet Mohammad’s love is Itteba.

According to the Divine Laws, you can only love one and in the Quran God said,

مَّا جَعَلَ اللَّهُ لِرَجُلٍ مِّن قَلْبَيْنِ فِي جَوْفِهِ

 (Surah Al Ahzab [33:4])

‘I have not kept 2 hearts in one chest.’ If you love somebody in this world it is with your Nafs not with your heart. The heart is designed to love God only.

HDE Gohar Shahi says, ‘You begin to love whoever enters your heart.’

Is it possible to bring a human being into the heart? It is said that the Qalb (heart) of a Momin (true believer) is the house of God and that the heart of a Momin is the throne of God. So then how can a human being be brought into the heart? Therefore, we understand that the heart is the place of love and love is for God only. Love for all else is due to the Nafs.

Then there is an ayah in the Quran where there is a competition of love. If you want to acquire God’s love then sacrifice the thing you love most: 

لَن تَنَالُواْ الْبِرَّ حَتَّى تُنفِقُواْ مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ

(Surah Aal Imran [3:92])

‘You will not obtain Birr [the top-most virtue] until you sacrifice what you love the most.’ On one hand you want to obtain God’s love but you must go through the process of sacrificing what you love most to obtain it, otherwise God would not grant you his love. 

What is it that we love the most? Some people say they love their children the most while some others might say they love their wife the most, but if the wife begins to quarrel we get fed up, etc. It can be agreed upon that we ‘love’ all our relations but when it comes down to it, there is nothing that we love more than our ego, our Self (Nafs). Therefore, those who sacrifice their egos, their Nafs, for God, are the ones who are granted God’s love. 

How is the Nafs sacrificed? First, the Nafs must be weakened and purified. Fasting may help in the purification of the Nafs but it cannot purify it. When we shower, we use soap to get rid of dirt similarly the soap of the Nafs is Divine Light (Noor).  Number one, the Spiritual Guide purifies the Nafs of the disciple with his Merciful Glance (Nazar). Because the diet of the Nafs is Naar (evil energy), the supply of Naar must first be cut off and this can only be done by a Perfect Spiritual Guide. The Guide creates a wall of Divine Light around the Nafs with his Merciful Glance that prevents any Naar from reaching the Nafs. Because the Nafs does not receive its food, it becomes hungry and begs for food. The Guide says to the Nafs: we do not have your diet of Naar; the only diet we can provide you with is Noor. Some Nafoos are stubborn and they choose to die rather than having a diet of Noor. But those who opt for Noor are told to recite the Kalima (Declaration of Faith). As the Nafs recites the Kalima, Noor is generated and the purification process begins and the stage of the Nafs changes from Ammarah (Commanding Self) to Lawamma (Blameworthy Self) and then further to Ilahama (Inspired Self).

Now in order to keep the purification process going, the disciple must also refrain from the committance of sins. However when the Nafs reaches the stage of Lawamma, it regrets the sins that it commits. We see a lot of people commit sins and feel bad but only those truly regret their sins who have a wall of Noor around their Nafs, otherwise, people only feel bad because they are worried what others might think of them. They are only worried that people have witnessed them sinning and will now defame them. True regret happens when the Nafs has a wall of Noor around it created through the Merciful Glance of the Spiritual Guide. Such a Nafs regrets its sins because it realises that it has committed a sin, yet the Naar of the sin is not reaching it therefore it does not approve of the sin and this is original regret. The more you sin the stronger the Nafs becomes therefore you must refrain from sins if you want to be in servitude to the Lord. 

Once the Nafs has been purified and the sub-spirits of the Nafs have been taken out by the Spiritual Guide then one no longer has carnal desires. The Spiritual Guide assigns those sub-spirits of the Nafs which are essentially Jinns (Nafs is a Jinn and belongs to this realm known as Nasout) to work for him. When one obtains this stage and divorces his Nafs, this is considered sacrificing the thing you love most. Because the Nafs no longer belongs to you, the thing responsible for loving the world is gone and now God shall love you.

HDE Gohar Shahi has said that the pure name of God and Divine Light cannot settle in an impure place and Nafs-e-Ammarah is impure thus God’s name and Noor cannot settle within.

In order to obtain God’s love, one must be in Itteba (Imitation) of Prophet Mohammad and Itteba of Prophet Mohammad cannot be obtained without first purifying the Nafs. Without the purification of the Nafs one cannot obtain love of God or the love of Prophet Mohammad nor will Noor settle within the heart.