Sufism

Abdul Qadir Gilani taught that the seeker must first fear God, then love God, then know God

Gilani lays out a developmental sequence for the seeker, insisting reverent fear must come first or the love and knowledge that follow will be built on nothing solid.

In the opening discourse of Futuh al-Ghayb, Abdul Qadir Gilani (1077-1166), founder of the Qadiriyya order and one of the most widely revered figures across the Sunni Muslim world, lays out fear (khawf), love (mahabba), and knowledge (ma'rifa) as successive stages rather than interchangeable attitudes. Fear disciplines the seeker away from sin and complacency; only once that discipline is established can love arise safely, since love without fear risks becoming presumption; knowledge, the final stage, is the mature fruit of a heart both restrained by fear and warmed by love. Futuh al-Ghayb collects sermons Gilani delivered in Baghdad and later transcribed, aimed at practical spiritual guidance for ordinary seekers rather than abstract metaphysics. The sequencing pushes back against any shortcut to ecstatic love that skips the harder, unglamorous work of moral self-correction.

Abdul Qadir Gilani's Qadiriyya order, founded in twelfth-century Baghdad, became one of the most widespread Sufi orders, with branches extending across Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.

Futuh al-Ghayb