A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad ash-Sha’rani, ( q.s. ) was of the people of tawakkul , those who trust in their Lord totally.   He said, “Once I was travelling, and it was near maghrib .   I saw a dome and walked toward it.   When I entered it, I saw that there was a tomb in it, under the dome, in ruins.   After a short while, some peasants came and said, ‘O shaykh , you must not stay here.   Come with us.   Our village is nearby.   This is a terrible place, particularly at night.   So many snakes, big snakes, come out and if anyone sleeps here, in the morning we find only his body, nothing else.’”   Shaykh ash-Sha’rani ( q.s. ) said to the peasants, “O my brothers, when you told me that, I cannot move even one step out of this place.   When you warned me about those big snakes, my ego was afraid of them, and I am ashamed before my Lord because my nafs is frightened of snakes, and not of Allah (...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad ash-Sha’rani ( r.a. ) said, “An example of the spiritual battles that I waged without the guidance of a s haykh , was that I would peruse the books of the folk such as Risalah al-Qushayriyyah , ‘Awarif al-Ma’arif , al-Qut of Abu Thalib al-Makki, and al-Ihya’ of al-Ghazali.  I would act in accordance with the understanding shown to me, and after a period of time, I would see things differently, and leave off what I was doing, and go to the next thing.   I was like one who entered a narrow mountain pass, unsure of when it would become expansive.  If he saw it become expansive, he would continue his journey, and if not, he would go back.  If only such a person would seek the counsel of one who is aware of the mountain passes before he undertakes such a journey, he could save him from much fatigue.  This is the similitude of he who has no shaykh .  The benefit of the shaykh is that he c...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad ash-Sha’rani ( r.a. ) said, “Make more supplications for your brethren than for yourself; you will receive what you would normally ask for yourself, and more.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Imam ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad ash-Sha’rani ( q.s. ) said, “Only the one who has acquired extraordinary depth in the knowledge of shari’ah , after reaching its furthest height, can taste the reality of the fact that the knowledge of taswawwuf is a drink from the fountain of shari’ah .”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad ash-Sha’rani ( q.s. ) wrote, “An example of the spiritual battles that I waged without the guidance of a shaykh , was that I would peruse the books of the folk,” referring to the Sufis, “such as ‘The Epistle of al-Qushayri’, ‘Awarif al-Ma’arif, al-Qut of Abu Thalib al-Makki, and al-Ihya’ of al-Ghazali.  I would act in accordance with the understanding shown to me, and after a period of time, I would see things differently and leave off what I was doing and go to the next thing.   I was like one who entered a narrow mountain pass, unsure of when it would become expansive.  If he saw it become expansive, he would continue his journey, and if not, he would go back.  If only such a person would seek the counsel of one who is aware of the mountain passes before he undertakes such a journey, he could save him from much fatigue.   This is the similitude of he who has no shaykh .  The bene...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad ash-Sha’rani ( q.s. ) wrote, “If it were true that the spiritual path of the folk,” meaning the Sufis, “can be reached with understanding alone and without recourse to a shaykh who takes the aspirant, then the likes of the Proof of Islam, Imam al-Ghazali and Shaykh ‘Izz ad-Din ibn ‘Abd as-Salam would have been in no need of taking their manners from a shaykh .   This is despite the fact that before they entered the spiritual path of the folk, both of them used to say, ‘Anyone who claims a path to knowledge different from what we have, he has invented a lie against Allah ( s.w.t. ).’  Afterwards, when the both of them entered the spiritual path of the folk, they said, ‘We wasted our lives in idleness and being covered with veils.’  They both affirmed and praised the path.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad ash-Sha’rani ( r.a. ) said, “I asked my shaykh about the generality of the message of Prophet Muhammad ( s.a.w. ): Is it exclusive to the ummah to which he was Sent, or is it inclusive of all of the souls and past nations?   He replied, ‘It includes the souls and past nations, for all of the Messengers, from Adam to his time, are his representatives, in the same arrangement found with the ministers of a kingdom and the generals of armies.’”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad ash-Sha’rani ( q.s. ), referring to the gnostic, Shaykh Ahmad ibn ‘Abdullah az-Zawawi as-Suhrawardi ( q.s. ), said, “The wird of Shaykh Ahmad az-Zawawi used to consist of forty thousand invocations of blessing, and he once said to me, ‘Our procedure is to make frequent invocations of blessing upon Allah’s Messenger ( s.a.w. ), to the point where he keeps us company in a state of wakefulness, and we associate with him like the companions.  We then ask him about the affairs of our worldly life.  We also ask him about those Prophetic traditions which the hafizh has reported to us on weak authority, and we act in accordance with what he has to say about them.  When that experience does not come about for us, it must mean that we are not among those who make a frequent practise of invocation of blessing upon him’”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ In Lawaqih al-Anwar al-Qudsiyyah fi al-Uhud al-Muhammadiyyah , Shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad ash-Sha’rani ( q.s. ) said, of the Prophet ( s.a.w. ), “If you make a frequent practice of invoking blessing and peace upon him, perhaps you will attain to the station of witnessing him.  That is the practice of Shaykh Nur ad-Din ash-Shinwani, Shaykh Ahmad az-Zawawi, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Dawud al-Manzalani, and a company of the shuyukh of the era.  Not one of them ever ceases to invoke blessing upon Allah’s Messenger ( s.a.w. ), to make a frequent practise thereof, and to cleanse himself of all sins, so that he may come together with him in a state of wakefulness at any moment he wishes.  If someone does not experience this coming together, he has not yet practised the invocation of blessing upon Allah’s Messenger ( s.a.w. ) with the frequency required in order to attain to this station.   Shaykh Ahmad az-Zawawi told me that, when he...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad ash-Sha’rani ( r.a. ), speaking about the Prophet ( s.a.w. ), said, “If you make a frequent practice of invoking blessing and peace upon him, perhaps you will attain to the station of witnessing him.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is taken from An Attempt to Desecrate the Tomb of Shaykh Muhyi ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Arabi ( q.s. ) .  This was originally sourced from Jami’ al-Karamat al-Awliya’ .   Imam Yusuf ibn Isma’il an-Nabhani ( q.s. ) wrote that Shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad ash-Sha’rani ( r.a. ) stated, “Our brother, Shaykh Swalih al-Haj Ahmad Halabi informed me that his house was in the vicinity of the blessed mausoleum of Shaykh Muhyi ad-Din ibn ‘Arabi.  It was visible from his house.  One night, after ‘isha’ prayer, a person carrying fire advanced towards the tomb, with the intention of burning the bier.  When he was eight or nine metres away from the grave, he started sinking into the ground, so much so that he disappeared into the ground.   Later that night, when his family members could not find him anywhere, they started looking out for him.  When the shaykh narrated to them the entire ...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad ash-Sha’rani, Sayyid Ibrahim ibn Ahmad al-Mathbuli ( r.a. ) was an ‘arif .  He met many of the ‘arifin and ‘ulama of his time.  His shaykh was Shaykh ‘Ali al-Khawwas ( q.s. ), student of Sayyid Ibrahim al-Mathbuli ( q.s. ).  He once asked his shaykh how it is that the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) would give different answers to some questions posed to him by the swahabah even though the questions were similar.   Shaykh ‘Ali al-Khawwas ( q.s. ) answered that the mind cannot comprehend the reality of the Prophet Muhammad ( s.a.w. ) in tajalliyyat , spiritual experience.  His spirit is always in mi’raj , ascension.  If every person in the world asked him the same question, the Prophet ( s.a.w. ) would answer each person according to his maqam .  That is why on the Day of Judgement, nobody will be able to attain his maqam .  Just like the Qur’an, the ahadits also have an ocean of mean...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is extracted from Shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhab ibn Ahmad ash-Sha’rani ( r.a. ) in his Thabaqat al-Kubra , as quoted by Shaykh Ibrahim ibn ‘Abdullah Niyas al-Kawlakhi ( r.a. ) in his Kashif al-Ilbas . Know that the science of Sufism is a knowledge kindled in the hearts of the saints, until the practical application of the Qur’an and the sunnah completely illuminated their hearts.   For anyone who puts the religion into practice like this has such sciences kindled in him, along with moral virtues, secrets, and divine realities that tongues are incapable of enunciating. This is similar to the way in which the scholars have had knowledge kindled in their hearts from studying the legal rules, and they likewise have put into practice what they have learned.   Consider how the sciences of rhetoric and eloquence are the cream of the knowledge of grammar.   Similarly, Sufism, provided the servant is free from false pretexts ...