The Recommended Precepts Of Discipleship

(Excerpted from Futuwat namah by Khwaja Husayn Wa’iz Kashifi Sabzawari An Naqshbandi Translated by M. Nur Abdussalam)

If asked: How many are the recommended precepts of discipleship? Say: Five: 

1 The disciple cleanse himself not only of religious and worldly impurities and the forbidden things of the law and the way, but also of all that is apart from God and truth.

2 He should be pure-natured and put aside censure; he should not fear gossip of people.

3 He should have the character of a dervish (qalandar); that is, that he be indifferent to fame and infamy, praise and slander, and the rejection or acceptance by mankind.

4 He should be needful and that he never abandon his need to anyone.