Erfaniyat Dar Adab Farsi

Correct attitude (Adab) in Sufism and mysticism is to be bound to limitations, and to follow sanctuary of sanctity not violating them. The one who intends to take his spiritual path to God, according to the great sufists and mystics, ought to follow some correct attitudes and rituals that are necessary for his spiritual progress.

According to the verse "those who keep limits set by Allah", and the Prophet's hadith "God gave me correct attitude, the best correct attitude" the Sufi believe that the correct attitudes of mystical progress have their root in the Quran and prophet Mohammad's  types of deeds. So they defined, classified, and observed those attitudes. In the sufi biographies and mystical writings one can find some conducts and behaviors that show how deeply they were devoted to observe correct attitudes on their mystical journey.  The majority of works about mystical correct attitudes available to us today include different definitions and classifications. Kashf-al-Mahjoob (Unveiling the Veiled) by Hajveri, Manzel al Sa'erin(The Stages of the Wayfarer), Sad Maidan (The One Hundred Fields) by Khwaja 'Abdullah Ansari, and Ibn 'Arabi in Al-Futuhat al-makkiyya (The Meccan Openings) are among the forerunners of the Sufi who classified the correct attitudes. However, Ibn 'Arabi gives heed to more details and delicate issues and classifies correct attitudes into two groups: spiritual state attitude (Adab hal) and spiritual station attitude (Adab Maqam). Then, he divides spiritual station attitude into four categories: correct attitude of the law (adab al-shari'a) correct attitude of service (adab al- khidma), correct attitude of right (adab al-haqq) and correct attitude of truth (adab al-haqiqat) . In the same way, he distinguishes different kinds of spiritual station attitudes such as correct attitude of the law, correct attitude in time, correct attitude in place, correct attitude of condition, correct attitude of numbers, correct attitude of service, correct attitude of right, and correct attitude of truth.

In this article, various meanings of correct attitude are examined, firstly, and then the Sufi or mystical correct attitude is explained.