Sufi Principles of personal search

.….we have the knowledge that Islam is Allah’s final message to mankind, the Holy Quran His final Book, and Muhammad, may peace be upon him, His last and final Prophet. These are the fundamental principles of faith enshrined in the Shahada and the Tawhid therein, which bind the Ummah in an eternal bond of unity. With other Muslims, they are continuously reaffirmed by the Shia Ismaili Muslims of whom I am the forty-ninth hereditary Imam in direct lineal descent from the first Shia Imam Hazrat Ali ibn Abi Talib through his marriage to Bibi Fatimat-az-Zahra, our beloved Prophet’s daughter…..

…..Our historic adherence is to the Jafari Madhhab and other Madhahib of close affinity, and it continues, under the leadership of the hereditary Ismaili Imam of the time. This adherence is in harmony also with our acceptance of Sufi principles of personal search and balance between the zahir and the spirit or the intellect which the zahir signifies.”

— Mawlana Hazar Imam’s Message to The International Islamic Conference, Amman, Jordan, July 4-6, 2005