A Muslim Convert Once More

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ This is taken from al-Ghunya li Thalibi Thariq al-Haqq by Shaykh Muhyi ad-Din Abu Muhammad ibn Abu Swalih ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani ( q.s. ).   The Prophet ( s.a.w. ) said to his companion, who is also the 3 rd Grand Shaykh of the Naqshbandi order, Sayyidina Abu ‘Abdullah Salman al-Farisi ( q.s. ), “O Salman, Allah ( s.w.t. ) will surely Erase all the sins from the record of any believing man, or any believing woman, who performs 30 raka’at of sunnah swalah , in the course of this month, reciting in each raka’at , Surah al-Fatihah, followed by Surah al-Ikhlasw three times, followed by Surah al-Kafirun three times.   That man or woman will be Granted the same Reward as a person who has fasted throughout the entire month.   He or she will be Treated as one of those who continue to perform the ritual prayer right through to the following year, and will be Credited every day with a deed as noble as that of one of the matryrs of th...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ During the first seven years of his commitment, Shah Baha’ ad-Din Muhammad an-Naqshband ( q.s. ) lived a life of service.  He served the sick, the needy, the homeless and even caring for wounded animals, to cleaning up the roads that people used.  He expressed the feeling of nothingness that peaked in his heart in the following lines:   “The world is wheat, I am hay, The world is nice, I am bad.”   He also stated that he had achieved the greatest Divine Inspirations during the years of these services.   Because Imam Abu Hanifah Nu’man ibn Tsabit ( r.a. ) refused to issue a judicial opinion upon the personal desires of the caliph, he chose prison instead of being the chief justice of Baghdad.  Thus, he manifested a great example of justice and righteousness at the expense of his own life.   Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Hanbal ( r.a. ) chose to be a tortured prisoner as a result of his opinion in the famo...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is adapted from a swuhbah from Shaykh Muhammad Nazhim Adil al-Haqqani (q.s.) on the 31 st January 2000.   Our food and our provisions are just what Allah ( s.w.t. ) Granted to us.  Everything we consume is Divinely Prepared and Shared from the Creator.  When our provision has finished, we are finished and off we go to the cemetery.  Until it is finished, we here.  Our spiritual provision is also Prepared, and everyone is Given their share.  Now, this is a holy gathering, and everyone is going to take their share of spiritual provision.  Whatever is Written for us to be granted, we keep it.   Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib ( k.w. ) said, “You must try to listen, to hear and to keep.  This is for you a support in this life, and it is a difficult life.”  The thariqa’ and the swuhbah is a path from the shaykh to the salik , to be given.  The salik , the seeker, must be prepare...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The following is from the teachings of Shaykh Muhammad Nazhim Adil al-Haqqani ( q.s. ).   There are nine points are located on the chest of each person and they represent nine different hidden states in every human being.  The conditions related to opening these nine points can only be alluded to obliquely.   The first state involves the power of imprisoning the nafs , the ego.  For the Divine to be Present, the self must be absent.  The key to the second state is the dzikr of laa ilaha illa Allah .  The third state is witnessing, mushahadah , the engraving of Allah’s ( s.w.t. ) Name on the heart of the salik , the naqsh band .  The fourth state relates to the sirr , the meaning, of that engraving on the heart.  The fifth state is to imprint the engraving with our dzikr .  In the sixth state the heart is made to stop and start pumping at will.  The seventh state is to be aware of the nu...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The following is from the teachings of Shaykh Muhammad Nazhim Adil al-Haqqani ( q.s. ).   Tajalliyat , Manifestations, are of four types: Divine Essence, Divine Attributes, Divine Names, and Divine Acts.   The Name of the Pure Essence, Dzat is Hu , “He”, while Allah ( s.w.t. ) is the jami’ , comprehensive, Name for all the Names and Attributes.   Every Created being is a manifestation for a Name or under the tutelage of one of the Divine Names, which that being reveals.   Hence there is no Created being nor glimpse of a second in time that equals another.   From the Dzat appear the Attributes and Names, while the worlds appear from the Acts.   As for Hu , He never appears for He is asw-Swamad, the Self-Sufficient, Impregnable, Eternally Besought of all, Everlasting and Sovereign, Who has no interior nor is circumscribed in a place or direction, and everything in Creation subsists through this quality of His...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi ( q.s. ) wrote:   “Go not there, for I am your Friend. In this mirage of annihilation, I am the Fountain of life. Even though in anger you depart A hundred thousand years from Me, In the end you will come to Me, For I am your Goal. Did I not Say to you, ‘Be not content with worldly forms, For I am the Fashioner of the tabernacle of your contentment’? Did I not Say to you, ‘I am the Sea and you are a single fish; Go not to dry land, for I am your crystal Sea’? Did I not Say to you, ‘Go not like birds to the snare. Come, for I am the Power of flight and your wings and feet’? Did I not Say to you, ‘They will waylay you and make you cold, For I am the Fire, and Warmth and Heat of your desire’? Did I not Say to you, ‘They will implant in you ugly qualities, So that you will forget that I am the Source of purity to you’? Did I not Say to you, ‘Do not say from what di...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is extracted from “The Discourses” of Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi ( q.s. ).   The Amir said, “Night and day my heart and soul are intent upon serving God, but because of my responsibilities with Mongol affairs I have no time for such service.”   Mawlana Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi ( q.s. ) answered, “Those works too are done for God, since they are the means of providing peace and security for your country.  You sacrifice yourself, your possessions, your time, so the hearts of a few will be lifted to peacefully obeying God’s will.  So this too is a good work.  God has Inclined you towards such good work, and your great love for what you do is proof of God’s Blessing.  However, if your love of work were to weaken, this would be a sign of Grace Denied, for God Leads only those who are worthy into those right attitudes that will earn spiritual rewards.   Take the case of a hot bath.  Its h...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is an example of tawaswswul , as experienced by Imam Abu al-Muzhaffar ‘Awn ad-Din Yahya ibn Hubayrah ash-Shaybani ad-Duri al-Baghdadi al-Hanbali ( r.a. ), at the maqam of Shaykh Abu Mahfuzh Ma’ruf ibn Firuz al-Karkhi ( q.s. ).   Imam Shams ad-Din Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khallikan ( r.a. ), in his biographical dictionary, Wafayat al-‘Ayan wa Anba’ Abna’ az-Zaman , mentioned that Shaykh Shams ad-Din Abu al-Muzhaffar Yusuf ibn Kizughli ( r.a. ), the grandson of Imam Abu al-Faraj ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Jawzy ( r.a. ), related in his work, Mirat az-Zaman , that Shaykh ibn Hubayrah al-Hanbali ( r.a. ) had given an account  of his experience .   He had said, “I was in such straitened circumstances that, for some days, I remained without food.  One of my family then advised me to visit the tomb of Ma’ruf al-Kharki, and there, ask God’s Assistance, because all prayers offered up at that tomb were F...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The great Islamic scholar, the proof of Islam, and the mujaddid of the 5 th century after Hijrah , Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali ( r.a. ) wrote in his Iqtiswad fi al-I’itiqad , that Allah ( s.w.t. ) is Mawjud , Existent; Qadim , Eternal a parte ante ; Baqa’ , Eternal a parte post ; and that Allah ( s.w.t. ) is not jawhar , a substance; not jism , a composite body; and neither is He ‘aradh , an accident, nor is He defined.  He is not in any direction, is beyond vision, He is knowable and is One.   Imam al-Ghazali ( r.a. ) also wrote that He does not accept divisibility, and is not quantifiable in definition or magnitude.  He is Perfect, having no equal in any manner either in Essence or in Attributes.  There is no plurality in Allah’s ( s.w.t. ) Essence either through Attributes or otherwise.  He has seven Swifat , Perfect Attributes.  Imam al-Ghazali ( r.a. ) was of the Ash’ari madzhab of ‘aqidah...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Imam Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali ( r.a. ) encouraged dzikr in his Ihya’ ‘Ulum ad-Din .   He explained that the heart has two doors: one opens to this world and the other to the ‘alam al-malakut , that is, the heavenly world of the angels; the ‘Arsh , the Throne; and the Lawh Mahfuzh , The Preserved Tablet.   The recitation of dzikr in abundance erases sins and opens the second door to the ‘alam al-malakut .   To achieve this, Imam al-Ghazali ( r.a. ) exhorted us to do dzikr , remember Allah ( s.w.t. ) continuously.   Dzikr has to be done with such abundance that first, it abides on our tongues and then in our hearts.   The final stage is reached when the dzikr becomes engraved in the heart with its meanings.   Two whole books of the Ihya’ are devoted to this purpose.   These are full of adzkar , supplications, and awrad , litanies.   One such suffices as a ni’ma’ al-hadiyyah , ...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is a story by Shaykh Muzhaffar Uzak al-Jirrahi ( q.s. ), from his book, “Adornment of Hearts”.  He related this story word for word as he heard it from his own teacher, who was present on the occasion.   A qadhi , magistrate, was once appointed to the town of Sivas, and the local dignitaries went to bid him welcome.  In the course of the friendly gathering, conversation turned to the question of affiliation to various Sufi orders.  Some of those present said they were Rifa’iyyah , some Khalwatiyyah , some Naqshbandiyyah , and others Mawlawiyyah .   This discussion left the qadhi laughing cynically, for he did not believe in the Sufi path.  When everyone had stated his affiliation, the new magistrate decided to make fun of his host by claiming to be a Baktashi.  They were all at a loss to understand how a graduate of a formal academy could have become a Baktashi, but politeness restrained their c...