A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh al-Wasithi ( q.s. ) entered Nisabur and asked the companions of Sidi Abu ‘Utsman al-Hasani ( q.s. ), “What did your shaykh used to enjoin you to do?”   They answered, “He used to enjoin us to stick to acts of obedience while seeing shortcomings in them.”   Shaykh al-Wasithi ( q.s. ) replied, “He enjoined you with pure fire worship.  He should have instead commanded you to be absent from your works by seeing the One Who Makes them come about.”   Imam Abu al-Qasim ‘Abd al-Karim ibn Huzan al-Qushayri ( q.s. ) commented on this, “Shaikh al-Wasithi  only wanted to save them from possible self-pride in actions.  He did not mean to invalidate the act of seeing shortcomings or to break one of the proper manners.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Imam Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn ‘Abbad ar-Rundi ( r.a. ) wrote Sharh al-Hikam ‘Atha’illah , a commentary on Shaykh Taj ad-Din Abu al-Fadhl Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Atha’illah as-Sakandari’s ( q.s. ) Hikam .   Shaykh ibn ‘Atha’illah as-Sakandari ( q.s. ) wrote, “He has Cut Off those travelling to Him and those who have Reached Him from seeing their good actions and spiritual states.  As for the travellers, it is because they have not realised sincerity with Allah in them.  As for those that have reached Him, it is because He has Made them absent from them by their gazing towards Him.”   Imam ibn ‘Abbad ar-Rundi ( r.a. ) wrote, “Allah Blessed both of the above mentioned parties by Cutting them off from seeing their actions and states.  Doing so, He has Made them remain with Him and not with other than Him.  He has Done such with those that have reached Him with their accord and with the t...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Musa al-Wasithi ( q.s. ) spoke excellently saying, “The closest thing to abomination is he who attends the self and whoever considers the self’s beautiful actions to be beautiful and meritorious because that habit will necessarily lead to him approving of those actions of the self that are offensive.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Imam Abu al-Qasim ‘Abd al-Karim ibn Huzan al-Qushayri (r.a.) recorded, in his Risalah al-Qushayriyyah , Shaykh Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Musa al-Wasithi ( q.s. ) originally came from Khurasan, from the region of Farghana.  He studied with Imam Abu al-Qasim al-Junayd ibn Muhammad al-Baghdadi ( q.s. ) and Shaykh Ahmad ibn Abu al-Husayn an-Nuri ( q.s. ).  He was a great scholar. He resided in Marw, where he died after 320 AH.   Shaykh al-Wasithi ( q.s. ) said, “Fear and hope are two reins that restrain the servant from behaving improperly.”  He said: “The quest of compensation for the acts of obedience springs from the forgetfulness of Beneficence.”   Shaykh al-Wasithi ( q.s. ) also said, “When God wants to disgrace His servant, He throws him into this perversity and rotting corpses.”  He meant the companionship of the youth.   Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ( r.a. ) said he heard Imam Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-‘...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Abu Muhammad Ruzbihan al-Baqli ( q.s. ) was a poet, mystic, and Sufi from Fasa in Fars.   He was a noted ecstatic and of the ahl al-hal .   Shaykh al-Baqli ( q.s. ) wrote a commentary of the Qur’an on the subject of fasting.   It is a difficult read but well worth it for those of gnosis in fasting.   The translation is by Dr. Alan A. Godlas.   سُوۡرَةُ البَقَرَة يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ كُتِبَ عَلَيۡڪُمُ ٱلصِّيَامُ كَمَا كُتِبَ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبۡلِڪُمۡ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تَتَّقُونَ (١٨٣)   O you who believe!   Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you that you may (learn) self-restraint. ― (Surah al-Baqarah:183)   According to Shaykh al-Baqli ( q.s. ), this is a call to the companions of the hearts, ashab al-qulub and an address to the seekers of the crescent, hilal , of witnessing in the regions of the heavens, of the unmanifest realms.    For t...