Monday, June 11, 2012

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 and Ethiopia.  (I believe Nub means gold since what we understand today, as the Nubians were the African gold miners under the rule of the Pharaohs)


About the Nickname Zan-noon

People said once Zan-noon was on a ship sailing with number of great wealthy people and a pearl was lost. He was accused of theft thus was humiliated and bothered a lot. Finally he raised his head to the skies and prayed, “Allah you are witness for me (my innocence)” when suddenly many fish put their heads out of the water with a pearl in their mouths. Zan-noon took the pearls and gave it back to the accusers. Therefore his nickname is Zan-noon from Koran [21:87]:

And remember Zan-noon, when he departed in wrath: He imagined that We had no power over him! But he cried through the depths of darkness (fish belly), "There is no god but thou: glory to thee: I was indeed wrong!"

In Arabic Noon means fish and Zan-noon means the possessor or owner of the fish.

(Source: Rayhaanatol Adab)


His Sufi Methodology

His words were all about Tawhid (Oneness) and Tajrid (Yearning closeness to the Divine without the hope for recompense & reward) and believed that secrets of Mahab-bat (Divine Love) should not be divulged to the public indiscriminately.

In meditation, solitude and Ibaadat (worship) was unsurpassed. Once he was found kneeling by a wall for very long period of time and he was asked why? And responded, “In Moshaahedat (Divine Perception) I would like to be slave-like".

(Source: Safinatol-Awlia)


His Sufi Literary Innovation

He is acclaimed to be the first to take Sufism into Egypt. And all the entrances of phraseology of worldly love (beloved, love and yearning etc.) into Sufism are attributed to him. He made a glossary of such terminologies, which was spread around the Islamic world rapidly, and the Farsi speaking poets immediately employed these literary innovations with much skill.

The concept was not to allow the general public to understand the inner meanings of the poems e.g. wine, beloved except those with Sufi training.

(Source: Mulla Sadra, Henry Carbon)


His Reputation

Most of the Egyptians considered him a disbeliever and many were bewildered at his actions. While he was alive most people hated & denied him. After he died people uncovered what he was all about (a true believer) and this was due to his extreme secrecy about his righteousness.

(Source: Tazkertol Awlia)


His Fate

Zan-noon traveled to Makkah and Syria and taught Sufism. Once his words spread around he was convicted of heresy & lunacy therefore enchained & jailed in Baghdad. However later on the Kalif ordered his release and he went back to Egypt.

Ishaaq Ibn Ibrahim Sarakhsi mentioned about the manner of his arrest, “In Makkah, Zan-noon was chained & dragged to jail while people around him overwhelmed with tears and I heard him saying, “These are the bestowals and blessings of my Lord and all It does is wonderful, pure and good and then versed the following:


For You, within my heart a sanctuary
All sufferance on Your path but ease


For You, this whim that gets me killed
Patience from that which I have just nil


End.

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 or faith, and is the reason why it is impossible that Allah could be Jesus (upon whom be peace) or be anyone else with a body and form: because bodies need space and time, while Allah has absolutely no need for anything. This is the ‘aqida of the Qur’an, and Muslim scholars have kept it in view in understanding other Qur’anic verses or hadiths.

Muslims lift their hands toward the sky when they make supplications (du‘a) to Allah because the sky is the qibla for du‘a, not that Allah occupies that particular direction—just as the Kaaba is the qibla of the prayer (salat), without Muslims believing that Allah is in that direction. Rather, Allah in His wisdom has made the qibla a sign (ayah) of Muslim unity, just as He has made the sky the sign of His exaltedness and His infinitude, meanings which come to the heart of every believer merely by facing the sky and supplicating Allah.

It was part of the divine wisdom to incorporate these meanings into the prophetic sunna to uplift the hearts of the people who first heard them, and to direct them to the exaltedness and infinitude of Allah through the greatest and most palpable physical sign of them: the visible sky that Allah had raised above them. Many of them, especially when newly from the Jahiliyya or “pre-Islamic Period of Ignorance,” were extremely close to physical, perceptible realities and had little conception of anything besides—as is attested to by their idols, which were images set up on the ground. ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab mentions, for example, that in the Jahiliyya, they might make their idols out of dates, and if they later grew hungry, they would simply eat them. The language of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) in conveying the exaltedness of Allah Most High to such people was of course in terms they could understand without difficulty, and used the imagery of the sky above them. Imam al-Qurtubi, the famous Qur’anic exegete of the seventh/thirteenth century, says:

The hadiths on this subject are numerous, rigorously authenticated (sahih), and widely known, and indicate the exaltedness of Allah, being undeniable by anyone except an atheist or obstinate ignoramus. Their meaning is to dignify Allah and exalt Him above all that is base and low, to characterize Him by exaltedness and greatness, not by being in places, particular directions, or within limits, for these are the qualities of physical bodies (al-Jami‘ li ahkam al-Qur’an. 20 vols. Cairo 1387/1967. Reprint (20 vols in 10). Beirut: Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi, n.d.,18.216).

In this connection, a hadith has been related by Malik in his Muwatta’ and by Muslim in his Sahih, that Mu‘awiya ibn al-Hakam came to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) and told him, “I am very newly from the Jahiliyya, and now Allah has brought Islam,” and he proceeded to ask about various Jahiliyya practices, until at last he said that he had slapped his slave girl, and asked if he should free her, as was obligatory if she was a believer. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) requested that she be brought, and then asked her, “Where is Allah?” and she said, “In the sky (Fi al-sama’)”; whereupon he asked her, “Who am I?” and she said, “You are the Messenger of Allah”; at which he said, “Free her, for she is a believer” (Sahih Muslim, 5 vols. Cairo 1376/1956. Reprint. Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1403/1983, 1.382: 538). Imam Nawawi says of this hadith:

This is one of the “hadiths of the attributes,” about which scholars have two positions. The first is to have faith in it without discussing its meaning, while believing of Allah Most High that “there is nothing whatsoever like unto Him” (Qur’an 42:11), and that He is exalted above having any of the attributes of His creatures. The second is to figuratively explain it in a fitting way, scholars who hold this position adducing that the point of the hadith was to test the slave girl: Was she a monotheist, who affirmed that the Creator, the Disposer, the Doer, is Allah alone and that He is the one called upon when a person making supplication (du‘a) faces the sky—just as those performing the prayer (salat) face the Kaaba, since the sky is the qibla of those who supplicate, as the Kaaba is the qibla of those who perform the prayer—or was she a worshipper of the idols which they placed in front of themselves? So when she said, “In the sky,” it was plain that she was not an idol worshipper (Sahih Muslim bi Sharh al-Nawawi. 18 vols. Cairo 1349/1930. Reprint (18 vols. in 9). Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1401/1981, 5.24).

It is noteworthy that Imam Nawawi does not mention understanding the hadith literally as a possible scholarly position at all. This occasions surprise today among some Muslims, who imagine that what is at stake is the principle of accepting a single rigorously authenticated (sahih) hadith as evidence in Islamic faith (‘aqida), for this hadith is such a single hadith, of those termed in Arabic ahad, or “conveyed by a single chain of transmission,” as opposed to being mutawatir or “conveyed by so many chains of transmission that it is impossible it could have been forged.”

Yet this is not what is at stake, because hadiths of its type are only considered acceptable as evidence by traditional scholars of Islamic ‘aqida if one condition can be met: that the tenet of faith mentioned in the hadith is salimun min al-mu‘arada or “free of conflicting evidence.” This condition is not met by this particular hadith for a number of reasons.

First, the story described in the hadith has come to us in a number of other well-authenticated versions that vary a great deal from the “Where is Allah?—In the sky” version. One of these is related by Ibn Hibban in his Sahih with a well-authenticated (hasan) chain of transmission, in which the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) asked the slave girl, “‘Who is your Lord?’ and she said, ‘Allah’; whereupon he asked her, ‘Who am I?’ and she said, ‘You are the Messenger of Allah’; at which he said, ‘Free her, for she is a believer’” (al-Ihsan fi taqrib Sahih Ibn Hibban, 18 vols. Beirut: Mu’assasa al-Risala, 1408/1988, 1.419: 189).

In another version, related by ‘Abd al-Razzaq with a rigorously authenticated (sahih) chain of transmission, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said to her, “Do you testify that there is no god but Allah?” and she said yes. He said, “Do you testify that I am the Messenger of Allah? and she said yes. He said, “Do you believe in resurrection after death?” and she said yes. He said, “Free her” (al-Musannaf, 11 vols. Beirut: al-Majlis al-‘Ilmi, 1390/1970, 9.175: 16814).

In other versions, the slave girl cannot speak, but merely points to the sky in answer. Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqalani has said of the various versions of this hadith, “There is great contradiction in the wording” (Talkhis al-habir, 4 vols. in 2. Cairo: Maktaba al-Kulliyat al-Azhariyya, 1399/1979, 3.250). When a hadith has numerous conflicting versions, there is a strong possibility that it has been related merely in terms of what one or more narrators understood (riwaya bi al-ma‘na), and hence one of the versions is not adequate to establish a point of ‘aqida.

Second, this latter consideration is especially applicable to the point in question because the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) explicitly detailed the pillars of Islamic faith (iman) in a hadith related in Sahih Muslim when he answered the questions of the angel Gabriel, saying, “True faith (iman) is to believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, the Last Day, and to believe destiny (qadr), its good and evil” (Sahih Muslim, 1.37: 8)—and he did not mention anything about Allah being in the sky. If it had been the decisive test of a Muslim’s belief or unbelief (as in the “in the sky” hadith seems to imply), it would have been obligatory for the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) to mention it in this hadith, the whole point of which is to say precisely what “iman is.”

Third, if one takes the hadith as meaning that Allah is literally “in the sky,” it conflicts with other equally sahih hadiths that have presumably equal right to be taken literally—such as the hadith qudsi related by al-Hakim that Allah Most High says, “I am with My servant when he makes remembrance of Me and his lips move with Me” (al-Mustadrak ‘ala al-Sahihayn. 4 vols. Hyderabad, 1334/1916. Reprint (with index vol. 5). Beirut: Dar al-Ma‘rifa, n.d., 1.496), a hadith that al-Hakim said was rigorously authenticated (sahih), which al-Dhahabi confirmed. Or such as the hadith related by al-Nasa’i, Abu Dawud, and Muslim that “the closest a servant is to his Lord is while prostrating” (Sahih Muslim, 1.350: 482)—whereas if Allah were literally “in the sky,” the closest one would be to Him would be while standing upright. Or such as the hadith related by al-Bukhari in his Sahih, in which the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) forbade spitting during prayer ahead of one, because when a person prays, “his Lord is in front of him” (Sahih al-Bukhari, 1.112: 406). Finally, in the hadiths of the Mi‘raj or “Nocturnal Ascent,” the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) was shown all of the seven “heavens” (samawat) by Gabriel, and Allah was not mentioned as being in any of them.

Fourth, the literal interpretation of Allah being “in the sky” contradicts two fundamentals of Islamic ‘aqida established by the Qur’an. The first of these is Allah’s attribute of mukhalafa li al-hawadith or “not resembling created things in any way,” as Allah says in surat al-Shura, “There is nothing whatsoever like unto Him” (Qur’an 42:11), whereas if He were literally “in the sky,” there would be innumerable things like unto Him in such respects as having altitude, position, direction, and so forth. The second fundamental that it contradicts, as mentioned above, is Allah’s attribute of ghina or “being absolutely free of need for anything created” that He affirms in numerous verses in the Qur’an. It is impossible that Allah could be a corporeal entity because bodies need space and time, while Allah has absolutely no need for anything.

Fifth, the literalist interpretation of “in the sky” entails that the sky encompasses Allah on all sides, such that He would be smaller than it, and it would thus be greater than Allah, which is patently false.

For these reasons and others, Islamic scholars have viewed it obligatory to figuratively interpret the above hadith and other texts containing similar figures of speech, in ways consonant with how the Arabic language is used. Consider the Qur’anic verse “Do you feel safe that He who is in the sky will not make the earth swallow you while it quakes” (Qur’an 67:16), for which the following examples of traditional tafsir or “Qur’anic commentary” can be offered:

(al-Qurtubi:) The more exacting scholars hold that it [“in the sky”] means, “Do you feel secure from Him who is over the sky”—just as Allah says, “Journey in the earth” (Qur’an 9:2), meaning journey over it—not over the sky by way of physical contact or spatialization, but by way of omnipotent power and control. Another position is that it means “Do you feel secure from Him who is over (‘ala) the sky,” just as it is said, “So-and-so is over Iraq and the Hijaz,” meaning that he is the governor and commander of them (al-Jami‘ li ahkam al-Qur’an, 18.216).

(al-Shirbini al-Khatib:) There are various interpretive aspects to “He who is in the sky,” one of which is that it means “He whose dominion is in the sky,” because it is the dwelling place of the angels, and there are His Throne, His Kursi, the Guarded Tablet; and from it are made to descend His decrees, His Books, His commands, and His prohibitions. A second interpretive possibility is that “He who is in the sky” omits the first term of an ascriptive construction (idafa)—in other words, “Do you feel safe from the Creator of him who is in the sky”; meaning the angels who dwell in the sky, for they are the ones who are commanded to dispense the divine mercy or divine vengeance (al-Siraj al-Munir. 4 vols. Bulaq1285/1886. Reprint. Beirut: Dar al-Ma‘rifa, n.d., 4.344).

(Fakhr al-Din al-Razi:) “He who is in the sky” may mean the angel who is authorized to inflict divine punishments; that is, Gabriel (upon whom be peace); the words “cause the earth to swallow you” meaning “by Allah’s command and leave” (Tafsir al-Fakhr al-Razi. 32 vols. Beirut 1401/1981. Reprint (32 vols. in 16). Beirut: Dar al-Fikr, 1405/1985, 30.70).

(Abu Hayyan al-Nahwi:) Or the context of these words may be according to the convictions of those being addressed [the unbelievers], for they were anthropomorphists. So that the meaning would be, “Do you feel safe from Him whom you claim is in the sky?—while He is exalted above all place” (Tafsir al-nahr al-madd min al-Bahr al-muhit. 2 vols. in 3. Beirut: Dar al-Janan and Mu’assasa al-Kutub al-Thaqafiyya, 1407/1987, 2.1132).

(Qadi Iyad:) There is no disagreement among Muslims, one and all—their legal scholars, their hadith scholars, their scholars of theology, both those of them capable of expert scholarly reasoning, and those who merely follow the scholarship of others—that the textual evidences that mention Allah Most High being “in the sky,” such as His words, “Do you feel safe that He who is in the sky will not make the earth swallow you,” and so forth, are not as their literal sense (dhahir) seems to imply, but rather, all scholars interpret them in other than their ostensive sense (Sahih Muslim bi Sharh al-Nawawi, 5.24).

We now turn to a final example, the hadith related by Muslim that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said:

Your Lord Blessed and Exalted descends each night to the sky of this world, when the last third of the night remains, and says: “Who supplicates Me, that I may answer him? Who asks Me, that I may give to him? Who seeks My forgiveness, that I may forgive him?” (Sahih Muslim, 1.521: 758).

This hadith, if we reflect for a moment, is not about ‘aqida, but rather has a quite practical point to establish; namely, that we are supposed to do something in the last third of the night, to rise and pray. This is why Imam al-Nawawi, when he gave the present chapter names to the headings of Sahih Muslim, put this hadith under “Instilling Desire to Supplicate and Make Remembrance of Allah (Dhikr) in the Last of the Night, and the Answering Therein.” As for the meaning of descends in the hadith, al-Nawawi says:

This is one of the “hadiths of the Attributes,” and there are two positions about it, as previously mentioned in the “Book of Iman.” To summarize, the first position, which is the school of the majority of early Muslims and some theologians, is that one should believe that the hadith is true in a way befitting Allah Most High, while the literal meaning of it that is known to us and applicable to ourselves is not what is intended, without discussing the figurative meaning, though we believe that Allah is transcendently above all attributes of createdness, of change of position, of motion, and all other attributes of created things.

The second position, the school of most theologians, whole groups of the early Muslims (salaf), and reported from Malik and al-Awza‘i, is that such hadiths should be figuratively interpreted in a way appropriate to them in their contexts. According to this school of thought, they interpret the hadith in two ways. The first is the interpretation of Malik ibn Anas and others, that it [“your Lord descends”] means “His mercy, command, and angels descend,” just as it is said, “The sultan did such-and-such,” when his followers did it at his command. The second is that it is a metaphor signifying [Allah’s] concern for those making supplication, by answering them and kindness toward them (Sahih Muslim bi Sharh al-Nawawi, 6.36–37).

The hadith scholar ‘Ali al-Qari says about the above hadith of Allah’s “descending”:

You know that Malik and al-Awaza‘i, who are among the greatest of the early Muslims, both gave detailed figurative interpretations to the hadith. . . . Another of them was Ja‘far al-Sadiq. Indeed a whole group of them [the early Muslims], as well as later scholars, said that whoever believes Allah to be in a particular physical direction is an unbeliever, as al-‘Iraqi has explicitly stated, saying that this was the position of Abu Hanifa, Malik, al-Shafi‘i, al-Ash‘ari, and al-Baqillani (Mirqat al-mafatih: sharh Mishkat al-masabih. 5 vols. Cairo 1309/1892. Reprint. Beirut: Dar Ihya al-Turath al-‘Arabi, n.d., 2.137).

It is worth remembering that al-‘Iraqi was a hafiz or “hadith master,” someone with over 100,000 hadiths by memory, while ‘Ali al-Qari was a hadith authority who produced reference works still in use today on forged hadiths. In other words, each had the highest credentials for verifying the chains of transmission of the positions they relate. For this reason, their transmission of the position of the unbelief of whoever ascribes a direction to Allah carries its weight.

But perhaps it is fitter today to say that Muslims who believe that Allah is somehow “up there” are not unbelievers. For they have the shubha or “extenuating circumstance” that moneyed quarters in our times are aggressively pushing the bid‘a of anthropomorphism. This bid‘a was confined in previous centuries to a small handful of Hanbalis, who were rebutted time and again by ulama of Ahl al-Sunna like ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn al-Jawzi (d. 597/1201), who addressed his fellow Hanbalis in his Daf‘ shubah al-tashbih bi akaff al-tanzih [Rebuttal of the insinuations of anthropomorphism at the hands of divine transcendence] with the words:

If you had said, “We but read the hadiths and remain silent,” no one would have condemned you. What is shameful is that you interpret them literally. Do not surrreptiously introduce into the madhhab of this righteous, early Muslim man [Ahmad ibn Hanbal] that which is not of it. You have clothed this madhhab in shameful disgrace, until it can hardly be said “Hanbali” any more without saying “anthropomorphist” (Daf‘ shubah al-tashbih bi akaff al-tanzih. Cairo n.d. Reprint. Cairo: al-Maktaba al-Tawfiqiyya, 1396/1976, 28–29).

These beliefs apparently survived for some centuries in Khorasan, Afghanistan, and elsewhere in the East, for Imam al-Kawthari notes that the Hanbali Ibn Taymiya (d. 728/1328) picked up the details of them from manuscripts on sects (nihal) when the libraries of scholars poured into Damascus with caravans fleeing from the Mongols farther east. He read them without a teacher to guide him, came to believe what he understood from them, and went on to become an advocate for them in his own works (al-Kawthari, al-Sayf al-saqil fi al-radd ‘ala Ibn Zafil. Cairo 1356/1937. Reprint. Cairo: Maktaba al-Zahran, n.d. 5–6). He was imprisoned for these ideas numerous times before his death, the ulama of Damascus accusing him of anthropomorphism (al-‘Asqalani, al-Durar al-kamina fi a‘yan al-mi’a al-thamina. 4 vols. Hyderabad 1349–50/1930–31. Reprint. Beirut: Dar Ihya’ al-Turath al-‘Arabi, n.d., 1.155). Writings were authored by scholars like Abu Hayyan al-Nahwi (d. 745/1344), Taqi al-Din Subki (756/1355), Badr al-Din ibn Jama‘a (d. 733/1333), al-Amir al-San‘ani, author of Subul al-salam (d. 1182/1768), Taqi al-Din al-Hisni, author of Kifayat al-akhyar, (d. 829/1426), and Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (d. 974/1567) in rebuttal of his ‘aqida, and it remained without acceptance by Muslims for another four hundred years, until the eighteenth-century Wahhabi movement, which followed Ibn Taymiya on points of ‘aqida, and made him its “Sheikh of Islam.” But was not until with the advent of printing in the Arab world that Ibn Taymiya’s books (and the tenets of this sect) really saw the light of day, when a wealthy merchant from Jedda commissioned the printing of his Minhaj al-sunna and other works on ‘aqida in Egypt at the end of the last century, resurrected this time as Salafism or “return to early Islam.” They have since been carried to all parts of the Islamic world, borne upon a flood of copious funding from one or two modern Muslim countries, whose efforts have filled mosques with books, pamphlets, and young men who push these ideas and even ascribe them (with Ibn Taymiya’s questionable chains of transmission, or none at all) to the Imams of the earliest Muslims. My point, as regards considering Muslims believers or unbelievers, is that this kind of money can buy the influence and propaganda that turn night into day; so perhaps contemporary Muslims have some excuse for these ideas—until they have had a chance to learn that the God of Islam is transcendently above being a large man, just as He is transcendently above being subject to time or to space, which are but two of His creatures.

To summarize what I have said in answer to your question above, scholars take the primary texts of the Qur’an and sunna literally unless there is some cogent reason for them not to. In the case of Allah “descending” or being “in the sky,” there are many such reasons. First, a literal interpretation of these texts makes it impossible to join between them and the many other rigorously authenticated texts about Allah being “with” a servant when he does dhikr, “closer to him than the jugular vein” (Qur’an 50:16), “in front of him” when he prays, “closest” to him when he is prostrating, “in the sky” when a slave girl was asked, “with you wherever you are” (Qur’an 58:4), and so on. These are incoherent when taken together literally, and only become free of contradictions when they are understood figuratively, as Malik, al-Awza‘i, and al-Nawawi have done above. Second, the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) detailed the beliefs that every Muslim must have in the Gabriel Hadith in Sahih Muslim and others, and did not mention Allah being “in the sky” (or anywhere else) in any of them. Third, Allah’s being “in the sky” like birds, clouds, and so on are “in the sky” in a literal sense contradicts the ‘aqida of the Qur’an that “there is nothing whatsoever like unto Him” (Qur’an 42:11). Fourth, the notion of Allah’s being in particular places contradicts the ‘aqida expressed in seventeen verses of the Qur’an that Allah is free of need of anything, while things that occupy places need both space and time.

These reasons are not exhaustive, but are intended to answer your question by illustrating the ‘aqida and principles of traditional ulama in interpreting the kind of texts we are talking about. They show just how far from traditional Islam is the belief that Allah is “in the sky” in a literal sense, and why it is not permissible for any Muslim to believe this. And Allah alone gives success.

_____________________


Source : http://shadhilitariqa.com/

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 like a clean mirror reflecting back the reality of things. Their judgment does not err. Being giving the divine light, they see the things in their true perspective. They see every thing including Angles, Souls, Divine Thorns, the "Lohe-e-Mahfooze", the guarded tablet in the seventh Heaven containing records of all events distinct to take place from the beginning to the end of the universe. They see the past, the present and the future before them.

In the Holy Quran Sura "Yunus" Ayat 62 the verse says:-

Behold! Verily on friends of Allah, there is no fear, nor they shall grieve.

Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) has said in Hadith Qudsi quoted below:-

Allah has said " The most value worshiper of my bondsman, seeking my nearness, is the one I have opposed on him; and my servant continues to draws me near Me through the work of supererogation, until I love him. And when I love him, I am his ears so that he hears Me, and his eyes so that he sees Me, and his feet so he walks by Me, I am his hand so that he do work by Me. When he raises his hand in the prayers,I grant his request, when he seeks refuge unto Me, I protect him".

The most Merciful Allah has bestowed powers in them by which whatever Aulia Allah thinks and says become " KUNFA YA KUN" ( be and it become). Hundred of people have been declared as dead have been brought to life by these Aulia Akram back to life again. Dead animal and birds has been also restored to life again although their bodies have been deteriorated since long. Thousand have been cured by them with out medicines including those living far away from them. Prophet like Hazrat Easa and Hazrat Moosa would envy their super-natural phenomena. They all are humble followers of Prophet Mohammed (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) so low before the Prophet how great would be they are. One wonder why people hesitate very much to pay due respect to these great personality, spiritually perfect and enlightened ones------the Saints, who have been laid to rest after their last breath on earth. Such people had a strong feeling that to visit the shrine of a Saint tantamount of a sin of "Shirk".

According to their belief, these Prophet & Saints who have been laid to the rest has gone forever and nothing can be achieved from them. Even their bodies have been eaten up leaving no trace behind the grave. Further they have in their minds as to why should they seek any assistance or fulfillment of their desires from them or from any one else even they have enough of faith on Allah who the giver of Raizaq (food), cure (shifa), IIlm ( knowledge). No one can deny their on Allah of getting all the things from Him, but do they all the things from Allah. If not, then why not? Few example and conversation will convince them for change in their approach. To visit the Aulia's (saints) to go to their Mazar (Dargah, Tomb, Shrines), or to kiss their hand, feet's, or their "Chaddar" covering place on their Mazar or even to their request them for grant of wishes (Murad) or to seek their help to solve the problems does amount to Shirk or Bidat. Remember that Saints are alive and alert and have innumerable powers bestowed to them to them by the Grace of Allah even though laid to rest. Similarly, It have been proved I our other articles " The prove of Aulia (Saints)". A little bit of more explanation will make people overcome the gross misunderstanding in their minds who are allergic in matter of Shirk and Bidat.

Let us start with the following question:-


a) Is it a Shirk to kiss "Ghilaf" the outwards covering of Kaaba Sharif?
b) Is it a Shirk to kiss "Hajra e Aswad" a stone of Kaaba Sharif?
c) Is it a Shirk to kiss the Holy Quran the book of Allah?
d) Is it a Shirk to kiss Hands and Feet's of parents face?
e) Is it a Shirk to kiss Wife, Children, Parents, Face?
f) Is it a Shirk to kiss Trophy Cup or Award?


Now refer A) "Ghilaf of Kaaba is kissed by the visitors performing Tawaf."
Tears are visible in their eyes when they touch the Ghilaf, their lips utter prayers, their hearts throbs with emotion, through each one known that the "Ghilaf" is made of material prepared by human hands and it costs thousand of Riyals. The cost of the material has absolutely no worth before them but real philosophy behind all these kissing's is the Holy place covered with Ghilaf, through Kaaba itself is built of stone and materials.

Now refer B) "Hajra e Aswad" a stone of Kaaba Sharif and is kissed by the visitors performing Tawaf." Here is saying of Hazrat Umar (r.a.u.) is worth quotation. Addressing the "Hajra e Aswad", He said "O! Hajra e Aswad", I know thy worth is no more than a piece of stone but since the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) kissed thee it becomes binding on me to follow in his foot "steps". It has to be kissed either by lips or by show of hands in case o rush.


Now refer C) "HOLY QURAN" is printed on a piece of paper and has it outer thick cover which looks like a book but is kissed by the deepest reverence and emotion for very fact that right inside the revelation from Allah. People don’t kiss Novels and story books, through they are made of same material.

Now refer D&E) Hands, feet, faces are apparently noting but bones covered by flesh, skin and hairs, but to a kisser it has a different meaning he respect and loves those part of the body of beloved persons.

Now refer F) Apparently, Trophies are made of metals and materials and have some monetary value, but to winner of the reward it becomes priceless article. The feeling of honor, respect and enthusiasm when combined together in the mind of the recipient make him kiss the trophy.

Well to a person who have no inside knowledge of the meaning of these kissing's would thing that all these kissing's are ridiculous ceremony, but to a person with sight all such kissing's are formalities is a matter of love, sentiment, respect and honors. It is thus proved beyond doubt that such kisses do not fall in the category of Shirk or Bidah in any manner.

Likewise, kissing of feet or hand, Chaddar of Holy Saints the friends of Allah, to whom all the reverence is due, does not tantamount to Shirk or Bidat from any arguable angle Regarding request, appeal, Wishes, or desires to be granted by Saints also cannot be rightly termed as "Shirk or Bidat" for the very reason that people do request their friends relatives, parents, their bosses, government official and higher up pleading for help. Do the convinced persons not file Mercy Petition to the Head of the State to save their lives? Though the life and death is in hands of Allah? Do not the children, even the grown ups request or demand that religion so rigid that at every step they issue fatwas, especially ruling about "Shirk or Bidat". May Allah guide and make them realistic and sensible in their approach particularly in the manner of faith.

Allah is the prime source, the acts of Aulia-the enlightened Saints, are nothing the attribute of Allah channeled through them.



Proof of Aulia.

Some erroneous type of concept of many people has been developed towards the acknowledgment of Aulia (Saints) in the religion of Islam. Some of them do not know about the reality of this magnificence Aulia Akram (Holy Saints) and some of them say that, These Sufis and Saints are baseless since there is not any type of zikar in Quran and Hadith. For both the type of communities, Allah ALL MIGhtY and His Prophet Mohammed (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) has delineate by giving orders in the Holy Quran and Sunnah.

In the Holy Quran LA ILLAHA ILLAL LA HO WAHDAHO LASHARIQA LAHO Allah (GOD) revealed:
Behold! Verily on the friends Of Allah (GOD) there is on fear, nor shall they grieve; those who believe and (Constantly) guard against evil. For them is Glad Tiding, in the life of the Present, And in the Hereafter: No change can there be in the Words of Allah (GOD). This is indeed. The supreme Felicity. [10:62]

In another words Allah TA'ALA have revealed in the Holy Quran:-
None one can be its guardian except Al-Muttagun (The pious, Saints) But most of them know not [8:34]

Allah TA'ALA declares that:
"Verily, he who has purified the Nafs has attained victory, and he who has despoiled it has lost.

Allah TA'ALA also states that:
"That day of Qiyamat (the day of doom) neither wealth nor sons will benefit anyone, but that person who comes to Allah with a reformed hearts".

Trough these Surrahs reference of Holy Quran it is undoubtedly defined that Aulia Allah (Saints) are not erroneous but also ALL MIGHtY Allah keeps them His comrade. Also Prophet Mohammed (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) has briefly clarified this issue of Aulia Akram (Saints) in Hadith.

Hazrat Saad Bin Abe Waqas (r.a.) has narrated that, Once Prophet Mohammed (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) said that "Allah (GOD) alleviates the nations but through His devotees friends".

In this Hadith which is narrated by Hazrat Saad Bin Abe Waqas (r.a.), Prophet Mohammed (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) has defined that Allah helps the nation as a sum or individually only because of His friends which are Aulia Akram (Saints).

Hazrat Eabad (r.a.) has narrated that once Prophet Mohammed (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) said that" In MY (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) nation there are forty Abdals (devotees) because of whom the system of the world exists. Cause of them rainfalls and due to them you are helped.

Hazrat Annas (r.a.) narrates that once Prophet Mohammed (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) said that "This world will not remain vacant from forty Abdals (devotees). Those who will be from the grandsons and nation of Hazrat Abraham (a.s.) and due to them you will be helped.

All the authentic principals of Aulia Akram (Saints) are to be found in the Holy Quran and Hadith. This clearly untrue the saying, that Aulia Allah (Saints) are baseless or flawed and since there is not any Zikar of these Sufis and Saints in Holy Quran and Hadith is absolutely erroneous and against the teaching of Quran & Hadith. Even though, Allah GE and His propitiate Prophet Mohammed (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) have explicitly defined about these enormous celebrities. As we can see that these Aulia Akram are the major part of Islam and also they are one the most lightened path for the true believers and followers.

The spiritual statue of this Saints Undoubtedly is below the prophets, yet they are recognized as true successor of them. Their spiritual heights and achievements are enormous, glittering and unforgotten as they have attracted the suffering masses to their fold through their supernatural acts and mystic deeds. The suffering humanity not in their life time but even after passing of hundred of years after their breathing the last continues to be blessed even to this day and look up to them relievers of their worldly needs spiritual problems such as incurable, misfortunes, untold, miseries and natural calamities.


Divine Philosophy.

When Allah Almighty (God) created the world, He send the messengers and saints from time to time reform the humanity so as to keep it from evil practices and make it adopt the path of righteousness. These messengers (Prophets) sent by the Allah (God), as the legend goes, number 1,24,000. The four revealed books namely Holy Zaboor, Holy Torah, Holy Bible and Holy Quran speak on the subject with vivid clarity. Of this large number of Prophets, the above-mentioned four books were revealed on the four noted Prophets namely; Holy David, Moses, Jesus Christ and Hazrat Mohammed (s.a.w.s.), respectively. Since according to the precepts of the Holy Prophet Mohammed Mustafa (s.a.w.s.) He is the final prophet, the chapter of prophethood stood closed some 1400 years ago following His birth and shall remain closed till the Doom's Day. According to a true Muslim's belief, acceptance by heart of the three prophets of Allah (God) namely; Holy Holy David, Moses and Jesus Christ from part his religious belief, among others, and his faith is never complete, if he does not sincerely believe in them and in the revealed holy books such a person cannot as such be treated and recognized as a true Muslim.


Next come the Mystics and Saints, a reference to whom is also made in the Holy Quran. The spiritual status of these saints, undoubtedly is below the prophets, yet they are recognized as true successors to them. The spiritual heights and mystical achievements of these saints are great, glittering and many, and they have attracted the suffering masses to their fold through their supernatural acts (miracles) Sufi (mystic) deeds. The suffering humanity not only in their life time, but even after passage of hundreds of years after taking veil from this materialistic world, continues to be blessed even to this day and looks up to them as relievers of their worldly needs spiritual problems such as incurable diseases, misfortunes, untold miseries and natural calamities. Hazrat Syed Baba Tajuddin Aulia (the Crown of Saints) as the title was bestowed upon him by Hazrat Ali Murtaza Muskil-Kusha (Karam Allah Talah Anha), the fourth Caliph of Islam. Babajan (Tajuddin Aulia) was one of the such greatest Sufi Aulia (Mystic Saint) witnessed by the 19th century. In succeeding pages, His (Taj Baba's) birth, His pious life, His family background (Lineage), Sufi Master's (Tajudin's) spiritual or mystical (Sufi) achievements, His benevolence on mankind, His renunciation and detachment with the material gains and worldly pleasures have been dealt with for information and guidance of the readers. It is to be hoped that the readers would get solace, spiritual (sufi) guidance, harmony and eternal happoness after going through these pages and would find the website as a guideline and divine light for drifting towards a spiritually (Sufi) refined life and mysteries of mysticism (Sufism).


Characteristic of Pir.

There are not such instruments, devices, or yard sticks which can indicate the statue of a real Pir or a Fake one. One thing is certain that a moderate striving sheikh must at least possess the following characteristics:-
His way of life will indicate clearly that he has reached a stage of total self-denial; that he has fore shaken secular connection and mortified sensual desires and that he has a full pursuit against personal ego, statue and position.

The Sheikh must be fully acquainted with the spiritual method of inner up grading and inner illumination of the hearts of his disciples. He must be at a stage where he can be termed as Fana-Fil-Rasul.

If he is not in spiritual communion with the Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) who is the basic fountain-head of excellence, the Sheikh is imperfect. Without the communion of Holy Prophet (sallal laahu alaihi wasallam) a communion with Allah cannot be attained.

"The hosen bondsman of Allah are those very sight provokes HIS (Allah'S) remembrance".

He must be an adherent to the Prophet's Sunnah, must posses' inner knowledge of Holy Quran and must stand steadfast in following things

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by:
Shansha Taji.
Balkha Farooq Taji


 
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