Haj of a Quthb
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
The following was kindly provided
by Ustadz Fakhr ad-Din Uwaysi al-Madani.
We share here some of Shaykh Ibrahim ibn ‘Abdullah Niyas al-Kawlakhi’ (q.s.) experiences during his first haj in 1937, as described in his al-Rihlah al-Hijaziyyah, “Travelogue of the
Hijaz.” He described his inward experience
of the haj thus:
“I
removed my clothes today to adorn the ihram,
And
my heart removed all other than You, in honour of You.
And
indeed, when I circumambulate around the Noble House,
O
My Lord! My heart has encamped around Your
Being,
And
my running between the two mountains (of Swafa’ and Marwah),
Is complimentary to my running between Your
Attributes (of Jalal and Jamal).”
Upon looking at the Blessed
Ka’bah for the first time, Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.)
said, “O Allah! I intend to draw closer
to You by looking at Your Sacred House with the same intention by which Your Prophet
(s.a.w.) used to look at it.”
The Shaykh (q.s.) also used to read his
Divinely-Inspired du’a, the Kanz al-Awliya’ in front of the Sacred
Door of the Ka’bah. About the holy
plains of ‘Arafah, Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.)
wrote:
“I
pronounce the Labbayk of a one who
has known and arrived
From
Kaolack, the furthest point of the world to ‘Arafah.
And
all praise, in this and that, is for the Lord.
For the slave has no say in the matter, if
he only knew.”
Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) would also make this du’a when shaving the hair of his head
after the pilgrimage:
“O Allah! This is my forehead in Your Hands! So Recompense me for every hair, a light on
the Day of Judgment. Bless my
livelihood, Forgive my sins and Accept my actions.”
As for the City of the
Prophet (s.a.w.), Madinah al-Munawwarah,
Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) had written
thousands of couplets in praise and yearning for it. More than half of his Diwan is about that. Ustadz
Fakhr ad-Din translated a few couplets from the days of his visit to Madinah ath-Thaybah:
“O
Thaybah of the Chosen Prophet! How sweet
is your fragrance!
Indeed, all beauty is encompassed in your appearance!
You
have surpassed Makkah, as Makkah is Honoured by the House,
And the House was ordained by Thaha (s.a.w.), so glad tidings to you!
So
accept greetings from me to you,
As long as the angels of Allah roam around
the shrine of the Prophet (s.a.w.).”
Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) also recited Sirr az-Ziyarah when he visited the Blessed tomb of the Prophet (s.a.w.).
Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) also wrote,
“And among the signs of the Acceptance of our du’a and Fulfillment of all our desires was that whenever we would
lift our hands for du’a, the rain
would pour. This happened with the ‘abd al-faqir by the Ka’bah, by ‘Arafah,
and by Mina. And there were other
matters which I cannot reveal.”
The noble caretaker of
the Holy Ka’bah, Shaykh ‘Abdullah ash-Shaybi (q.s.) also gave Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.)
the rare permission to be alone inside the Holy Ka’bah with some of his
disciples.
His Eminence, the Emir of
Kano, Sulthan Abdullahi Bayero, prayed to meet the Quthb al-Ghawts of the Tijaniyyah
in the precincts of the Blessed Ka’bah, and then immediately saw Shaykh Ibrahim
(q.s.) before him. Thereafter, he took the Thariq at-Tijani from Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) in front of the Maqam Ibrahim and invited him to make his
visit to Nigeria, where tens of thousands entered the thariqa’.
Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) mentioned that a person in Jeddah,
whom he recognised as Khidhr (a.s.),
informed him that he was a quthb of
the age. He also mentioned that a
Moroccan Sharif from Fez greeted him at the corner of the Holy Ka’bah and told
him that he was informed by one Makkan wali
that he would meet the ghawts of the age
at the corner of the Ka’bah during the haj
that year, and because of the presence of the ghawts, everyone else’s haj
would be Accepted. Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) asked the Sharif, “So who did you
meet at the Corner of the Ka’bah?”
The Sharif replied, “You.”
Shaykh Ibrahim (q.s.) also mentioned that in the holy
plains of Mina, a wali met him and
told him, “You are a man who has inherited the maqam of a man from the
town of Fez.”
In Makkah as well, he was
also given the glad-tiding by the Moroccan wali
who migrated from Fez to Madinah, ash-Sharif Ahmad at-Tibir (q.s.), “I have seen you take over all
the masharib,” referring to the methods
and knowing of the Path.
All of this and more is ar-Rihlah al-Hijaziyyah, in which he
documents his first haj as well as
his first visit to Morocco. It is must
read for anyone who wishes to know more about the early years of the Faydhah.
The travelogue itself contains numerous ud’iyyah and actions for every point of the haj and ziyarah, from
leaving home to entering it again. It
also includes much of Shaykh Ibrahim’s (q.s.)
experiences during his amazing journey to Makkah, Madinah and Fez.
Shaykh Ibrahim Niyas (q.s.) wrote that what he did not mention
in his work is far more than what he did:
“And
what I have concealed and cannot reveal
Is multiple and multiple times more than
what I write.”
رضي الله عنه أرضاه
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