A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) said to Imam Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shadzili ( q.s. ), in a dream, “The sign of love of this world leaving the heart is spending it when it exists and rest from it when it does not exist.   The sign of realisation of descent into the station of trust is stillness and tranquility at the changes of means.   The sign of realisation of descent into the station of gnosis is adab outwardly and inwardly, and good character with every creature.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The following is my answer to a Quora question: “ What is faith according to Islam? ”   There are as many definitions of faith as there are people.   Some say that faith is to believe, but to believe without evidence is superstition.   On the other hand, to believe with all evidence manifest is no longer faith, but certainty.   So, true faith lies somewhere in between.   Faith is the child, when his mother throws him in the air, and he laughs because he cannot conceive that he will not be caught.   This is not blind faith.   The child was born of her, carried to term, and yet, after the pain of childbirth, still receives love.   He has been fed, clothed, nurtured.   Faith in God is to understand that whatever we have good within us, is a reflection of the Absolute Attributes of God.   If we are kind, all that kindness of Creation is a drop in the Ocean of God’s Kindness.   If we are...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The following is my answer to a Quora question: “ Was Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib ( k.w. ) practicing the same Islam as Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) and the rest of swahabah?   If yes, then how did Shi’ah deviate from Sunni Islam? ”   Why would the Islam of the son-in-law of the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) differ from Islam of the father-in-law of the Prophet ( s.a.w. ), when they both followed the same prophet, adhered to the same Qur’an, and worked together?   Slander of Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib ( k.w. ) is an attack against the Prophet ( s.a.w. ), and an act of kufr .   The dispute between the Sunni and Shi’ah branches of Islam arose out of a difference of opinion pertaining to the succession of the Prophet ( s.a.w. ), in ruling the nascent Madinan state.   It was a political difference first, before it became a theological one.   Those theological differences became pronou...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Imam Mahmud ibn ‘Ali al-Qashani ( q.s. ) wrote, in Miswbah al-Hidayah wa Miftah al-Kifayah , “The Lamp of Right Guidance & the Key to What is Sufficient,” that the murid should decline from making his own choices.   The murid is not allowed to undertake anything - neither religious nor worldly, universal or particular - without finding out what the shaykh wants and chooses.   We should not eat nor drink, nor dress ourselves, nor give presents, nor sleep, nor take, nor give but with the permission of the shaykh .   We should not perform any religious practices without the permission and the specification of our shaykh , like for instance fasting or taking food, voluntary devotional practices or limiting ourselves to those practices which are obligatory or the remembrance of Allah ( s.w.t. ), the recitation of the Qur’an and being absorbed in something.   It so happened, one night, that the Messenger ( s.a.w. ) pa...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) said, “Good actions are a guard against the blows of adversity.  Be good to others, that will protect you against evil.  If you expect the Blessings of God, be good to His people.  Every day, nay every moment, try to do some good deed.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ When Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) was dying, he sent for Sayyidina Abu Hafsw ‘Umar ibn al-Khaththab al-Faruq ( r.a. ), and said to him, “O ‘Umar, if you are given authority over the people, remember Allah ( s.w.t. ) and hold fast to what is right.  For the balance of those whose scale pans are heavy on Resurrection Day shall only be heavy for their having followed what is right and its heaviness upon them; and it befits the balance scale when what is right is placed in it tomorrow to be heavy.  And the balance of those whose scale pans are light on Resurrection Day shall only be light for their having followed what is wrong and its ease upon them; and it befits the balance scale when what is wrong is placed in it tomorrow to be light.  And know that there are works for Allah ( s.w.t. ) at night that He does not accept during the day, and that there are works during the day that He does not accept at n...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The bay’ah , in the Naqshbandi thariqa’ , is given to the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) through Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ).   For all other thuruq , the bay’ah is through Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib ( k.w. ).   After the Prophet ( s.a.w. ), all the swahabah , including Sayyidina ‘Ali ( k.w. ), gave bay’ah to Sayyidina Abu Bakr ( r.a. ) as the first of the Khulafah ar-Rashidin .

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) said, “The true believer is Rewarded in everything, even in affliction.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) said, “When it is time for prayer, get up, and extinguish the Hellfire you have kindled for yourselves.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) said, “There are five kinds of darkness, and these are illuminated by five kinds of lamps: The love of the dunya is a darkness, and taqwa is its lamp; sin is a darkness, and repentance is its lamp; the grave is a darkness, and iman is its lamp; akhirah is a darkness, and good deeds is its lamp; and the Swirath is a darkness, and yaqin is its lamp is.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) said, “It is by performing swalah that a person secures Allah’s ( s.w.t. ) Protection on Earth.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) said, “Speaking less is wisdom, eating less is healthy, sleeping less is worship, and socialising less is the recipe for safety.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) said, “Do not look down upon any Muslim, for even the most inferior believer is great in the Sight of God.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) said, “Run away from greatness, and greatness will follow you.  There is greatness in the remembrance of God, contentment in faith of God, and honour in humility.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) said, “Solitude is better than the company of evil people.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) said, “Maybe a thing that you do not like is really in your interest.   It is possible that a thing that you may desire may be against your interest.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) said, “Our abode in this world is transitory, our life therein is but a loan, our breaths are numbered, and our indolence is manifest.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) said, “He who avoids complaint, invites happiness.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) said, “It is difficult to be patient, but to waste the rewards for patience is worse.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sayyidina Abu Bakr ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Utsman asw-Swiddiq ( r.a. ) said, “Man is weak, yet it is astonishing that he is insistent in disobeying the Commands of Allah ( s.w.t. ).”