Advice to the Spiritual Wayfarer
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The Egyptian wayfarer, Sayyid Abu al-Wafa’ ibn Muhammad ‘Isa al-Wafa’i ( q.s. ), requested that ,Imam ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Alawi al-Haddad ( q.s. ) make a special pact of brotherhood with him and initiate him on the spiritual path. Imam al-Haddad ( q.s. ) agreed to this and then gave him a series of counsels. He begins by mentioning taqwa and other obligations and finishes with the counsels mentioned below. He gives the advice to himself first, then to Sayyid Abu al-Wafa’ ( q.s. ) and then to any true seeker or spiritual wayfarer. He said, “I counsel myself and him to have sincerity in all his states, deeds and words; to trust fully in Allah, to surrender his affair to Allah, to rely upon Allah and to return to Allah. I counsel him not to be attached to this dunya and to be content with a small amount of worldly things – food, clothing, accommodation and other things. Let his state be that of a serious travelle...