Dhun-Nun al- Misri - (796 - 859)

Sheikh Thawbaan Ibn Ibrahim a.k.a Zan-noon also known as Abul-Faydh or Abu-Abdullah was one of the Sufi Sages of 3rd century of Islam around 800 (CE). In the beginning of his life he was a slave but later on freed. He has been renowned amongst the Sufis as a pious, righteous, scholar and a literary figure. He also was an expert in Alchemy and medical sciences of the time. He was the student of the luminary Malek Bin Anas, the founder of the Maleki Mazhab of Islam and his name is mentioned in the Mowatta the guiding book of Maleki followers. He is the founder of Sufism in Egypt and one the first preachers of the principles of Sufism in that country. His origins are from a vast region called Nobeh (Nubia?). Nubeh is a region between Egypt...

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Posted in: Sufi figures

Is Allah in the Sky?

No. The literal sense of being “in the sky” would mean that Allah is actually in one of His creatures, for the sky is something created. It is not permissible to believe that Allah indwells or occupies (in Arabic, hulul) any of His creatures, as the Christians believe about Jesus, or the Hindus about their avatars. What is obligatory for a human being to know is that Allah is ghaniyy or “absolutely free from need” of anything He has created. He explicitly says in surat al-‘Ankabut of the Qur’an, “Verily Allah is absolutely free of need of anything in the worlds” (Qur’an 29:6). Allah mentions this attribute of ghina or “freedom of need for anything whatsoever” in some seventeen verses in the Qur’an. It is a central point of Islamic ‘aqida...

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Posted in: Sufi

Walis of Allah

Aulia's are the chosen friends of Allah. They are the one who have drunk from the fountain of eternal life during their life time on earth. They are those devotee and sincere bondsman on the earth who remember Allah ceaselessly and spend their life seeing inner purification through endeavor, toil, abstinence and prayer. They are the one who cease to depend on the "creation" and give them selves unto the creator, seeking sustenance from sources unimaginable, attain nearness to the divine light through constant worship and service to humanity. Their journey is endless. They are shore less sea with out any bottom and craving for Allah with out any limits. Each part of their body is completely rid of non-divine influence. Their heart become...

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Posted in: SUFI GLOSSARY