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But it may be pointed out that the Sufi practices and spiritual experiences were never taken by Sanusi,s to be the real goal of a believer.Sufism,according to them,is only an add to the realisation of the real objective.This is clear from the emphasis laid by the founder and his grandson,syed Ahmad Al Sharif,on the spiritual identification of a salik with the personality of the Holy Prophet sallallaho alaihe wa sallam.This identification can be attained by mulling over the essence of the Prophet sallallho alaihe wa sallam and by gaining an inner knowledge of him that results from following in his footprints and seeking Divine blessings for him.The contemplation should be so intense that the veneration of the Prophet sallallho alaihe wa sallam pervades the seeker,s heart and soul and he ultimately reaches the stage where he hears only the prophet,s name and has only his form in his inward eye.When he reaches that stage the image of the Prophet sallaho Alaihe wa sallam becomes his sole guide in spiritual matters.Sayyed Ahmad always stressed that 'liqa al Rasul' ie communion with the prophet was the seeker,s pre-requisite before he embarked upon the process of 'Liqa Allah'....and received spiritual perfection.
Another salient aspect of Sanusi Sufism was that the Grand Sanusi and his successors vehemently disapproved of the practices popularly taken to be helpful in realising a communion with Allah but which were alien to it in nature.Therefore they strictly prohibited devices like processions,music,various movements of the body inducing ecstacy and convulsions,hurting the body with sharp items and such other practices which were indeed of a non-Muslim origin.Likewise the sanusi discouraged epicurianism and its methods.Even at the time of Dhikr they avoided bodily movements as well as the use of musical instruments to experience spiritual ecstacy.
The sanusis,no doubt,had simple habits but they were certainly not ascetics.They were Sufi,s but not mystics.Theirs was a prototypal spiritualism,both in its internal and external dimensions and message.They ate good food available to them;They wore good and decent garments and led a life of happiness and satisfaction in this world and yearned for a better one in the hereafter.
(with thanks to Mahmood Ahmad ghazi--- The sanusi movement of north Africa)