There Are No Essential Differences Between Sufi Tariqas

"As for the paths of other sound sufi tariqas, apart from that of the Sadat Bani 'Alawi, they do not differ from it in their essentials, nor in the reality of travelling (on the spiritual path) and attainment, but only in forms, appearances, and different drinking sources, all of which are aimed at making the seeker's road shorter. The most that can be said is that these differences are similar to the differences in non-essentials between the different schools of fiqh (law), differences in secondary matters and small details, and therefore one can say that in reality there is no difference. The one who attains certainty through realisation sees that the truth is one, that there are neither differences nor distinctions between the people of truth and reality, and that no matter how many details there are, the essence is unitary.

They are agreed that a mourid (disciple) should not be allowed to take different paths and move from one shaykh to another, this may do him harm by fragmenting his determination (himma), and dispersing his collectedness. For in his beginnings his heart is as if wounded and would thus suffer if exposed to changes and different winds, until it heals and closes at the hands of the physician it had become attached to, the healer who knows by realisation the cure for it".