A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ‘Isa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) said, “If only a single verbal declaration of Allah’s Oneness would become pure from me, I would not worry about anything afterwards.”

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 Bayazid Thayfur ibn ‘Isa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) asked, “My Rabb, how do I know you?”   And he was Told, “Leave yourself and come.”   In the same vein, we are also told, that Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib ( k.w. ) said, “He who knows himself, knows his Rabb.”   It is also written, in the Tao Te Ching, “No one can see their reflection in running water; it is only in still water that we can see.”   These two positions are not contradictory, but two parts of a process.   In the first part, it is to recognise the self, and the nafs , the Divine spark that Allah ( s.w.t. ) Blew into Adam ( a.s. ), and by extension, all humanity; the part of us that is Called Home and wants to Return.   And that is why a child cries when it is born.   It recognises where it is from before he forgets, and that is why Man is an-naas , “he who forgets.”   However, deep down, we all know, and we all yearn.   So...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh Najm ad-Din Abu al-Jannab Ahmad ibn ‘Umar al-Kubra’ ( q.s. ) said that the salik should always have the expression of humility, poverty and abasement before the Lord of the world.   Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ‘Isa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) said that sarush , a voice, called from within and said, “O Abu Yazid!   There are many servants in Our service.   So, if you seek Us, bring humility and neediness.”   Shaykh Bayazid ( q.s. ) further said, “You know for certain that you are in a crying need of your Lord at every hour on many counts; so, you are needful of His Guiding Light as well as His Merciful Glance, Guidance and His Sustenance at every moment.   And also, you are in need of Him at the time of death so that the light of Islam and its knowledge are kept intact in your heart.   In the grave too, you are in need of Him so that you successfully answer the questions asked by Munkar ( a.s. ) and Nakir ( a....

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ‘Isa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) said that sarush , a voice, called from within and said, “O Abu Yazid!   There are many servants in Our service.   So if you seek Us, bring humility and neediness.”tasw   Shaykh Bayazid ( q.s. ) further said, “You know for certain that you are in a crying need of your Lord at every hour on many counts; so you are needful of His Guiding Light as well as His Merciful Glance, Guidance, and His Sustenance at every moment.   And also, you are in need of Him at the time of death so that the light of Islam and its knowledge are kept intact in your heart.   In the grave too, you are in need of Him so that you successfully answer the questions asked by Munkar and Nakir.   It is He Who will be your friend in the terrors of the grave.   The greatest of all of your needs is your dependence on Him in the Day of Judgement, the day of regret and remorse, so that Alla...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ As recorded in Rawnaq al-Majalis , it is said that one day, while Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ‘Isa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) was lying down with his feet outstretched, a man came by and deliberately put his foot on that of Shaykh Bayazid’s ( q.s. ) and went away.  Another man who saw it, objected and informed the offender that it was the foot of Shaykh Bayazid al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) that he had trampled.  The man said, ”So what?” and went on his way.  When that man was about to die, both his feet turned black.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ‘Isa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) once asked Allah ( s.w.t. ), in prayer, “O my Lord, how can I come to You?”   Allah ( s.w.t. ) Said, “ Ya Abu Yazid, I am but one step away from you.  Leave yourself and come to Me!”   When the self is absent, the Divine is present.  There can only be one ilah .  As long as we perceive ourselves, the seat of the heart is occupied with the self, and we are veiled from the Divine.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ‘Isa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) said, “ Taswawwuf is to give up rest and to accept suffering.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Mu‘in ad-Din Hasan Shishty ( q.s. ) said, “It amounts to devotion and worship on the part of a son to cast a look on the faces of his parents.  All the sins committed by the son who kisses the feet of his parents are extinguished.  Bayazid al-Bisthami once said, ‘Whatever position of distinction I have attained, it is a legacy bestowed upon me by my parents.’”  He was referring to Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ‘Isa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ).

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ʿIsa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) said, “I saw my Lord in my dreams, and I asked, ‘How am I to find You?’   He Replied, ‘Leave yourself and come.’”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sulthan al-‘Ariffin , Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ‘Isa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ), said, “The Signs of the Love of Allah ( s.w.t. ) is the Bestowal of three attributes on His lovers: a generosity like the ocean, a kindness like the Sun, and a humility like that of the Earth.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn  ‘ Isa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) said:   “O Allah!   It is not strange that I love You because I am a weak servant, But it is strange that You Love me when You are the King of Kings.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ʿIsa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) said, “I have come to know Allah ( s.w.t. ) through Allah ( s.w.t. ), and I have come to know what is other than Allah ( s.w.t. ) with the Light of Allah ( s.w.t. ).”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ʿIsa al-Bisthami ’s ( q.s. ) supplication was, “I desire not to desire, for my will is without value, since I am ignorant in any case.   Therefore, You Choose for me what You Know to be the best, and do not put my perdition in what autonomy, and free choice prefer.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ʿIsa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) said, “If the eight Paradises were Opened in my hut, and the rule of both worlds were Given in my hands, I would not give for them that single sigh, which rises at morning-time from the depth of my soul, in remembering my longing for Him.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ʿIsa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) said, “I went to a wilderness, love had rained, and had covered the earth, as feet penetrate snow; I found my feet covered with love.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ‘Isa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) said, “The things we mention may never be found by seeking, yet only seekers find it.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ‘Isa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) said, “As long as the servant thinks that there is, among the Muslims, someone lower than himself, that servant still has pride.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ʿIsa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ) said, “For twelve years, I was the blacksmith of my soul.  I thrust my soul into the furnace of discipline and made it hot in the flames of arduous endeavour, then I placed it upon the anvil of reproach and hammered it with the hammer of self-blame, until I had fashioned out of my soul a mirror.  For five years, I was my own mirror, and I polished that mirror with every manner of godly service and obedience.  After that, I gazed upon my own reflection for a year, and I saw about my waist an infidel girdle of delusion and coquetry and self-regard, because I relied upon my own acts of obedience and approved of my own conduct.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Sulthan al-‘Arifin , Shaykh Bayazid Thayfur ibn ‘Isa al-Bisthami ( q.s. ), once asked Allah ( s.w.t. ) in supplication, “O my Rabb, how can I come to You?”   Then he heard a Voice Saying, “Ya Abu Yazid, I am but one step away from you.  Step on your ego and come to Me!”