A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The following is extracted from “The Way of the Lover: Rumi & the Spiritual Art of Love”, by Ustadz Ross Heaven ( r.a. ).   Shaykh Muhyi ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Arabi ( q.s. ) said:   “I follow the religion of Love; Whatever way Love’s camels take, That is my religion and my faith.”   “The people of taswawwuf , the Sufis are lovers of the Divine.  The great Sufi masters like Shaykh ibn ‘Arabi ( q.s. ) and Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi ( q.s. ) are beacons lighting the way for all travellers on the path of love.  This path begins at the heart and ends at the heart.  But the ways of God are strange and so are the ways of man, which is only fitting if you consider that Sufis believe man was made in the image of God, and so this pathway to love and the Divine may not always be simple or clear.   In the old days, for example, in the city of Gangowah, India, there was ...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Muhyi ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Arabi ( q.s. ) wrote, in his Tarjuman al-Ashwaq , a masterpiece of Arabic poetry translated in many languages, the following poem to the Ka’bah.   This is taken from the Futuhat al-Makiyyah as well.   “In the place of refuge my heart sought refuge, shot with enmity’s arrows. O Mercy of Allah for His slaves, Allah Placed His Trust in you among all inanimate forms. O House of my Lord, O light of my heart, O coolness of my eyes, O my heart within, O true secret of the heart of existence, my sacred trust, my purest love! O direction from which I turn from every quarter and valley, From subsistence in the Real, then from the height, from self-extinction, then from the depths! O Ka’bah of Allah, O my life, O path of good fortune, O my guidance, In you has Allah Placed every safety from the fear of disaster upon the Return. In you does the noble Station flourish, in ...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The follow is the Hizb al-Wiqayah , “Litany of Protection”, by the philosopher’s stone, greatest teacher and magnanimous guide, Shaykh Muhyi ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Arabi ( q.a. ).   In the Name of Allah, the Universally Merciful, the Singularly Compassionate  . O Allah, O Ever-Living, O Self-Subsisting; with You I have taken Refuge, so Protect me with the protection of the safekeeping of the fulfillment of the reality of the proof of the preservation of the security of: “In the Name of Allah.”   Admit me, O First, O Last, to the hidden secret of the mystery of the sphere of the treasure of: “Whatever Allah Wills!   There is no strength but with Allah! (18:39)”   Drape over me, O All-Forbearing, O All-Shielding, the wing of the screen of the veil of the preservation of the salvation of: “And hold fast, all of you together, to the Lifeline of Allah.   (3:103)”   Construct, O All-...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The following is extracted from a swuhbah by Shaykh Tu’sun Bayrak al-Jirrahi ( q.s. ).   What does it mean to be in the world but not of it?   Shaykh Muhyi ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Arabi ( q.s. ), who is considered to be the greatest shaykh in Sufism, was traveling to Makkah, and he passed through Tunisia.   In Tunisia he was told that there was a holy man living there who he must visit.   This holy man was a fisherman who lived in a mud hut on the beach, and caught three fish a day, no more, and he gave the bodies of these fish to poor and hungry people.   He himself boiled the heads of the fish, and just ate the heads.   He did this day after day, year after year.   He lived the life of a monastic person, a person who had divorced himself from the world totally,   and, of course, Shaykh ibn ‘Arabi ( q.s. ) was very impressed with this discipline.   So he spoke to the fish...