A Brief Biography of Shaykh ‘Ala ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Bukhari (q.s.)
بِسۡمِ
ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Shaykh ‘Ala ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Bukhari (q.s.) is a star from among the perfect saints. He was one of the scholars who acted on what they know. He is known as the Fruit of the Tree of Divine Knowledge, the Life of Spiritual Knowledge, the Eraser of Darkness, the Guide of the noble and common people alike, the Fountain that Never Dries Up, the Best Guide to Enlightenment on the Path to the Lord. He was first in removing the thorns of falsehood from the Path of Truth. He stands in the Centre of the Realm of the Poles, Aqthab, and he carries the burden of the spiritual khilafah. He raised the souls of his brothers until the whole universe was calling him and remembering him. The external and internal knowledge of religion flourished because of his truthfulness.
He left everything that
he had inherited from his father to his two brothers and devoted himself to
study in the schools of Bukhara. He
became accomplished in all arts, especially in the knowledge of Sufism and the
Islamic sciences. He proposed to the daughter of Shah Baha’ ad-Din Muhammad an-Naqshband (q.s.). Shah Naqshband’s (q.s.) answer came one day, after
midnight, when awakening from his sleep in Qaswr al-‘Arifan, he went quickly to
the school in Bukhara, where Shaykh ‘Ala ad-Din (q.s.) lived. There he found
everyone asleep except Shaykh ‘Ala ad-Din (q.s.),
who was up reading the Qur’an by the light of a tiny oil lamp. He came up behind him and tapped him on the
shoulder but Shaykh ‘Ala ad-Din (q.s.)
did not respond. He prodded him more but
still he did not react. Then, through
his spiritual vision, Shah Naqshband (q.s.)
perceived that Shaykh ‘Ala ad-Din (q.s.) was not present but was in the
Divine Presence. He then called him
spiritually, and Shaykh ‘Ala ad-Din (q.s.)
immediately looked up and replied, “O my Shaykh.”
Shah
Naqshband (q.s.) said, “I have had a
dream in which the Prophet (s.a.w.) accepted
your proposal for my daughter. For that
reason, I have come to you by myself, late at night, to inform you of the good
news.”
Shaykh
‘Ala ad-Din (q.s.) said, “O my
Shaykh, I have nothing to spend on your daughter or myself, because I am very
poor, having given all my inheritance to my brothers.”
Shah
Naqshband (q.s.) replied, “O my son,
whatever Allah (s.w.t.) has Written for you on the Day of Promises will
accrue to you. So, do not worry, Allah (s.w.t.)
will Provide.”
He
said, “One day a shaykh asked me, ‘How
is your heart?’ I said, ‘I do not know
how my heart is.’ He said, ‘I know my
heart, and it is like the Moon in the third night.’ I related this story to Shah Naqshband who
said, ‘He answered according to his heart.’ When he said this, he stepped on my foot and
pressed on it. Immediately I left myself
and I saw that everything in this world, and this universe was in my heart. When I awoke from that state of
unconsciousness, he was still standing on my foot, and he said, ‘If the heart
is like that, then no one can describe it. What do you think now about the hadits: ‘Neither My earth nor My Heavens
can contain Me, but the heart of the Believer contains Me.’ This is one of the hidden secrets you must
come to understand.’”
Then
Shah Naqshband (q.s.) took full
responsibility for him. He raised him
from one state to another and prepared him to appear in the Divine Presence and
to ascend the lofty towers of spiritual knowledge and leave behind all kinds of
ignorance in order to reach the state of Reality. He became unique among the many followers of Shah
Naqshband (q.s.). The Shaykh
ordered him, during his lifetime, to enlighten some of the Shaykh's followers also. Thus,
Khwaja Muhammad Barsa (q.s.) followed
him as well. Khwaja Muhammad Barsa (q.s.) wrote that he heard from Shaykh ‘Ala
ad-Din (q.s.): “I was given a power
by my shaykh, Shah Naqshband, such
that if I were to focus on everyone in this universe, I would raise all of them
to the state of perfection.”
One
time, the scholars of Bukhara had a disagreement concerning the possibility of
seeing Allah (s.w.t.) in this world. Some of them denied the possibility and some
of them affirmed it. All of them were
followers of Shaykh ‘Ala ad-Din (q.s.). They came to him and said, “We need you to
judge on this matter.”
He
replied, “Those of you who have denied the possibility of seeing Allah (s.w.t.) in this life, stay with me three
days, keeping ablution at all times, and remaining silent.” He kept them in his presence for three days,
directing his spiritual power on them, until they all beheld a very powerful
state, causing them to faint.
When
they regained consciousness, they came to him crying out, “We believe, and we
confirm that it is true!” and kissed his feet. They told him, “We accept what you said, that
it is possible to see Allah (s.w.t.)
in this life.” They devoted themselves
to him, never leaving him and making it their custom to kiss the threshold of
his door. They composed the following
verse:
“Out
of blindness they asked,
‘How
can we reach the Divine?’
Put
in their hands the candles of purity.
They
will know that the possibility
Of
seeing is not impossible.”
Shaykh ‘Ala ad-Din (q.s.) was very dear and special to Shah
Naqshband (q.s.), just as Prophet
Yusuf (a.s.) had been dear to the
heart of his father, Prophet Ya’qub (a.s.).
He
said, “The intention of seclusion is to leave the earthly connection, and to
direct the self to the Heavenly Truth.”
“It
is said that the seeker in external knowledge must hold tight to the Rope of
Allah (s.w.t.), and the seeker in internal knowledge must hold tight to
Allah (s.w.t.).”
“When
Shah Naqshband got new clothes, he would give them to someone else to wear. After they were used, he would borrow them
back.”
“When
Allah (s.w.t.) Makes you forget both worldly power and the Heavenly
Kingdom, this is Absolute Annihilation. And
if He Makes you forget Absolute Annihilation, it is the Essence of Absolute
Annihilation.”
“You
have to be at the level of the people around you and to hide your state from
them, because the Prophet (s.a.w.) said,
‘I have been ordered to speak with people according to what their hearts can
contain.’”
“Beware
of hurting the hearts of Sufis. If you
want their company, you must first learn how to behave in their presence. Otherwise you are going to harm yourself,
because their way is a very delicate way. It is said, ‘There is no place in our Way for
the one who doesn't have good manners.’”
“If
you think you are behaving well then you are wrong, because seeing your own
behaviour as good is itself a form of pride.”
“The
benefit of visiting the graves of your shuyukh
depends on the knowledge you have of them.”
“To
be near the graves of pious people has a good influence, although to direct
yourself to their souls is better and carries with it a higher spiritual
influence. The Prophet (s.a.w.) said, ‘Send prayers for me
wherever you are.’ This indicates that
you can reach the Prophet (s.a.w.)
wherever you are, and it applies to His saints as well, because they take their
power from the Prophet (s.a.w.).”
“The
adab, or proper way, of visiting
graves is to direct yourself to Allah (s.w.t.) and to make these souls your
means to Allah (s.w.t.) humbling yourself to His Creation. You humble yourself externally to them and
internally to Allah (s.w.t.). To
bow before human beings is not allowed unless you look on them as appearances
of Allah (s.w.t.). Then that
humbleness will be not directed to them, but it will be directed to the One Who
is appearing in them, and that is Allah (s.w.t.).”
“The
way of contemplation and meditation is higher and more perfect than the way of dzikr by laa ilaha illa Allah. The
seeker, through contemplation and meditation, can reach the internal knowledge
and will be able to enter the Heavenly Kingdom. He will be authorised to look at Allah’s (s.w.t.)
Creation and he will know what is passing in their hearts, even the slightest
gossip or whispering. He will be authorised
to enlighten their hearts with the light from the essence of the essence of the
state of Oneness.”
“Silence
is the best state, except under three conditions: you must not keep silent in
the face of bad gossip attacking your heart; you must not keep silent in
directing your heart to the remembrance of Allah (s.w.t.); and you must
not keep silent when the vision inside your heart orders you to speak.”
“To
protect your heart from evil thoughts is very difficult, and I protected my
heart for twenty years without letting in a single whisper.”
“The
best deed in this Way is to punish the whispering and gossip in the heart.”
“I was unhappy with some
of my followers, because they do not try to keep the state of vision that
appears to them.”
“If the heart of the murid is full of the love of the shaykh, this love replacing all other
loves of the heart, then the heart will be able to receive the transmission of
the Heavenly Knowledge, which has no beginning and no end.”
“The murid has to tell all his states to his shaykh, and he has to believe that he will never reach his goal
except through the satisfaction and love of his shaykh. He must seek that
satisfaction and he must know that all doors are blocked, internal and
external, except the one door, which is his shaykh.
He has to sacrifice himself for the sake
of his shaykh. Even if he has the highest knowledge and the
highest mujahadah, he must leave all
that and feel as though he has nothing in front of his shaykh. The seeker must give
the shaykh authority in all his
affairs, religious and worldly, in such a way that he has no will before the will
of his shaykh. The duty of the shaykh is to look at the daily activities of the murid and to advise and correct him in
his living and his religion, to help him find the best way to reach his
reality.”
“To
visit saints, is a sunnah wajibah, a
duty on every seeker, at least every day, or every other day, while keeping the
limits and respect between you and your shaykh.
If the distance is great between you and
your shaykh, visit him at least every
one or two months. Do not rely only on
your connection with their heart, lest you become disconnected.”
“I
guarantee to anyone who seeks this Way, that if he imitates the shaykh with sincerity he will eventually
find its reality. Shah Naqshband ordered
me to imitate him and whatever I did in imitation of him immediately brought
its results.”
However,
he also warned, “The masters of our Way cannot be known except in the Maqam at-Talwin. Whoever imitates their behaviour in that
station will succeed. Whoever imitates
their behaviour in their station of perfection, however, will be corrupted. He will be safe from corruption only if his
master has mercy on him and reveals to him the Reality of that station.”
What
he means, and Allah (s.w.t.) knows best, is that the seeker cannot reach
perfection until he has been Perfected. Maqam at-Talwin, the Station of Colour
and Changes is the one in which the seeker struggles hard by fasting, by
worshipping, by seclusion, and by maintaining steadfastness in his love and
respect for his master from one difficulty to another. Imitating his master in this manner will bring
him success, because his master excels in all these efforts. However, if he imitates the master when the
latter is in his state of Perfection, he will be in danger, just as if he tried
to fly without first growing wings. It
is necessary for the seeker to climb the mountain first before he enjoys the
view at the top.
To
climb the mountain, the seeker must journey from the lower world to the Divine
Presence. He must travel from the ego’s
world of sensual reality to the soul’s consciousness of the Divine Reality. To make progress on this journey, the seeker
must bring into his heart the picture of his shaykh, taswawwur, as it
is the most powerful means of detaching oneself from the hold of the senses. The shaykh
becomes, in his heart, the mirror of the Absolute Essence. If he is successful, the state of self-effacement,
ghaybah or absence from the world of
the senses, appears in him. To the
degree that this state increases in him, his attachment to the world of the
senses will weaken and disappear, and the station of the Absolute Void of
Unsensing Other-than-Allah (s.w.t.) will dawn on him.
The
highest degree of this station is annihilation, fana’. Thus, Shah Naqshband
(s.a.w.) counselled his muridun, “When that state of self-effacement
comes on me, leave me alone and give yourself to that state and accept its
rights on us.”
Of
this journey, Shaykh ‘Ala ad-Din (s.a.w.)
said to his muridun, “The shortest
path to our goal, which is Allah (s.w.t.), is for Allah (s.w.t.)
to Lift the veil from the Essence of the Face of His Oneness that appears in
all Creation. He does this with the
State of Erasure and Annihilation in His Absolute Oneness, until His Majestic
Essence Dawns upon and Eliminates consciousness of anything other than Him. This is the end of the Journey of Seeking
Allah (s.w.t.) and the beginning of another Journey.
At
the end of the Journey of Seeking and the State of Attraction comes the State
of Self-Effacement and Annihilation. This
is the goal of all mankind as Allah (s.w.t.) Mentioned in the Qur’an: ‘I
did not create jinn and mankind except to worship me.’ Worship here means Perfect Knowledge.”
سُوۡرَةُ
الذّاریَات
وَمَا
خَلَقۡتُ ٱلۡجِنَّ وَٱلۡإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعۡبُدُونِ (٥٦)
I have only Created jinn
and men, that they may serve Me. (Surah adz-Dzariyat:56)
On the 02nd of
the month of Rajab, 802 AH, Shaykh ‘Ala ad-Din (q.s.) said, “I am going to leave you to go to the other life and no
one can stop me.” He passed away on the
20th Rajab 802 AH. He was
buried in the city of Jaganyan, one of the suburbs of Bukhara. He passed his secret to one of his many khulafah, Ya’qub ibn ‘Utsman Ghaznawi ash-Sharkhi
(q.s.).
"Alas, today we take the label ‘Muslim’ for granted. Labels commonly used, or are attached to us, but without any real understanding on our part as to what it really means. When we say we are Muslims, we are in fact asserting a claim. But are we fully cognizant of this claim? What is being Muslim all about? Is it a heritage, which our forefathers have left to us, just as being Malay is? And we may even ask, “what is Malay?” Such self-searching questions are indeed an important start. Too much confusion has arisen nowadays in the use of these labels, without any real attempt at educating the masses regarding its true definitions, meanings and import. Not many are concern as to whether the common understanding of these terms amongst people are correct or have they become blurred and corrupted. Who is there to clarify and correct? Has the ambiguity (if any) been clarified? In the absence of this effort, the media can easily manipulate and create stereotypes leading to Islamaphobia. What is even worst is that there are hybrids of terminology that are being coined by people nowadays and it only compounded the confusion. Any superficial responses to this only reflect our own superficiality. Being apologetic sometimes lead many Muslims into agreeing to the ‘strawman’ which non-Muslim tried to use against Islam. Example there are some who advocate that Muslim should follow “Moderate Islam” as though there can be many versions or forms of Islam in the various shades of extremity! The term, which the community of Muslims is recognised by the Qur’an is already defined as “balance and moderate” (ummatan wasotan[14]) as clearly stated in al-Baqarah: 2:143. This clearly shows that Islam, as a religion, is one advocating justice, balance and moderation; in essence Islam is a moderate religion. To agree to the additional usage of the adjective ‘moderate’ to the word ‘Islam’ is denying this obvious inherent characteristic of Islam. The implication of wanting us to agree to this new label (i.e. Moderate Islam) is that with our acceptance of it, now they can demonise Islam and they (secularist) are clamouring for Muslims not to be too religious, but practice their religion ‘moderately’! But actually, if Islam is already a moderate religion, to be extremely religious is rather good and should be welcomed i.e. ultimately that Muslim is becoming extremely moderate!"
ReplyDeleteAssalamu'Alaikum Ustadz,
ReplyDeleteInsha'Allah, I'll be at your place with the rest this Sunday. In any case, I hope you read the post on Da'wah in Darul Arqam
Wassalam
Assalamualaikum wr wb
ReplyDeleteThere are a few issues here that needs to be sorted. But if it is about organisational effectiveness, there is a checklist on the net that can be used to see if a. customer service is up to mark b. service excellence can be enhanced c. organisational effectiveness can be improved.
The other areas I dare not ponder on. I think Ustaz did hit the nail on the head when he talked about the worldview of the immediate people who are around converts.
Wallahu'alam
Wassalam
Faizal Abdollah
Wa'Alaikumus Salaam Faizal,
ReplyDeleteDArul Arqam hired Ernst & Young to do the consultansy. As far as I'm concerned (We're business consultants too), it was a colossal waste of SGD30,000 (AR/Final Accounts).
What they need to change is the mindset first. Maybe these people should go back home & try telling thier family they're going to change their religion to get a feel of it.
Wassalam
*Nodding profusely-in-silence* to paras 5 and 7 and beyond... :)
ReplyDeleteThose memories are still etched in my brain, for God knows what reasons it might be.
I still remember that there was one time i ran into a difficult issue at home and the only place i could think was darul; but all i could do for myself was to leave a voice message and go home with a dreaded feeling of not knowing what to do.
Back then, the catalyst of my conversion couldn't do much because he was too busy to be bothered with my personal affairs.
Alhamdulillah
Assalamu'Alaikum,
ReplyDeleteThank you for validating my point.
Wassalam