The Difficult Journey : A Review

THE DIFFICULT JOURNEY
by Haji Ahmad Thomson
( Taha Publisher,London 1994)

Book Review by Abuzuhri shin

I bought this book in 1995 at Saba Media Bookstore, Setiawangsa Branch. Its owner Hajjah Sabariah Abdullah was an active and dedicated chinese muslim to the causes of da'wa around Kuala Lumpur. Saba Media had in the past successfully invited many renown islamic speakers to lecture to the public and educational institutions. Just to add a little spices, Haji Ahmad Thomson is no stranger to us. He travelled to Malaysia and stayed briefly with us at the Bukit Kerinci Apartment near University of Malaya, KL in 1980.

This book review was written mainly to show an important aspect of the author journey to perform Hajji or Pilgrimage to Makkah which encompassed his his understanding, guidance, connection and transmission of the living Islam from his Sufic Master of amazing european background. The author himself was a British citizen raised up in Zimbawe, Africa and studied Law at Exeter, Oxford University. He embraced Islam at the blessed presence of sufi Raja Mahmudabad a descendant of the mughal rulers of India. To discover who were this two men blessed by Allah Tabaraka wa Taala and how life changed around them, we need to read more books or encounter the men who actually meet them. He also the author of other books such Jesus The Prophet of Islam, Dajjal The Emperor Without Clothes, The Way Back and Blood On The Cross. He visited Malaysia in 1980, gave talks, attending dhikr circles , visited the pondoks in Kelantan and unsuccessfully attempting his land trip back to Europe through Thailand, Burma and India.

Life is but a journey of return to Allah. I will not using my own words to review this wonderful book but merely make a selection of passages by the author. Each passages or quotations are indicated by the sub-title of the chapters and events related to the journey. The most important thing to remember is to see Ahmad Thomson as a faqir, murid, seeker and traveler on the Path Allah so we may experienced differently the moving nature of the story. Not as a travel book but the reflection of a seeker going out to test his resolve and trust in his sufic teacher and Allah’s vast mercy and gifts along the Way. This book was available in most muslim bookshops in Kuala Lumpur (e.g Saba Media at Setiawangsa and Specialist Bookshop at KLCC).

A Short Preamble : London , Spring 1994

This book would not have been written had it not been for Shaykh Abdal Qadir as-Sufi who showed me the beauty and majesty and truth of Islam and who sent me out on the hajj.

Author’s Note

Most of the definitions in the glossary of Arabic Terms are taken directly
or derive from the books listed.. ..which should all be read in oder to arrive at an understanding which is beyond the scope of this book. They are from the overflowing wisdom of Sidi Shaykh , by the permission of Allah and His Messenger, may Allah bless him and his family and his companions and all those who follow in his footsteps, and grant them peace.

Preface

Each of us lives in a different world, in a different universe, each one true, in a subtle unified patterning that can only be described as perfect. We travel through life, learning as we go, and sometimes we pause.. it was in the summer of 1977 that Abdal Jalil ( another faqir) and I decide to set out to go on the Hajj, the pilgrimage to the House of Allah in Makka, the Difficult Journey as it called. ( I bought the book in 1995 at RM 32.50 . I had read it many times. Ahmad Thomson had traveled to Malaysia in 1980 to visit the fuqara and two muqaddim of sidi Shaykh. He stayed a few days with us in KL. we had gathering of dhikr, sung the Diwan of shaykh Muhammad ibn alHabib and doing the hadra with the students of Yayasan Anda. He also visited the pondok of Tar Tujuh in Kelantan.Now Sidi Ahmad Thomson actively serve at the Europe Muslims Lawyer Society and wrote many books and contributes to magazines etc)

London

‘what do you want ? Shaykh Abdal Qadir looked keenly at me and through me as he spoke, as if he already knew exactly what I wanted to, but was just asking the question so that I would discover the answer for myself. I looked into my heart…I seemed to be living in books. I was tired of words, especially printed ones. I wanted action. I wanted adventure. I wanted to be out on the open road , traveling in the way of Allah. ‘ I want to go on hajj – on foot’, I replied. ‘ it would take far too long! Grinned sidi Shaykh with delight, and that seemed to be that….our only instruction from Sidi Shaykh were to visit the awliya and to sing the Diwan wherever we went. ( There is a malay translation of the Diwan for personal use of the fuqara. UKM is editing a new version to be published soon). We have ticket to Athen and visas to enter Egypt..somehow we quite not sure to make our way to Alexandaria and then down to Sudan, trusting in the truth of shaykh Muhyiddin ibn arabi’s words,’ whoever engages in travel will arrive !’ ( this quotation was found in the the Sidi Shaykh book- The Way of Muhammad 1974. I bought a copy before embracing islam in 1978).

Athens

Accordingly I passed much of the time singing my heart out, sometimes singing my favorites pop songs, sometimes reciting what little Quran I knew by heart, sometimes singing from the Diwan, and sometimes repeating the various forms of dhikr which Sidi Shaykh had given me to do, such as :

Astaghfirullah
Hasbuna Allahu wa ni’mal wakil
La ilaha illa Allah
Allahumma salli ala sayyidina muhammadin abdika
wa rasulika nabiyyil ummiyyi wa ala alihi
wa ashabihi wa salim taslima.

Shaykh Abdal Qadir once said that the effect of reciting ‘ Astaghfirullah’ on the heart is like sweeping away dust with a brush, and that the effect of repeating the prayer on the Prophet on the heart is like washing clothes by hand, and that the recitation of ‘la ilaha illa Allah’ purifies one’s innermost secret.

Having found a secluded spot, we held a short gathering of dhikr, singing from the Diwan of shaykh Muhammad ibn alHabib for an hour or so, and the doing a long strong Hadra – which is the invocation of the name of Allah al-Hayyu done standing. Al-Hayyu means the Living, the Alive, the One who gives Life. Having completed the hadra, we sat down in a small circle, and I recited the ayatul –kursi in the calm serenity that always follows the invocation of Allah.

Alexandaria

In no time at all we had been swallowed up in Alexandaria’s busy street. We have arrived. Alhamdulillah wa syukrillah. We decided that the best and first thing to do was to to go to the tomb of shaykh Abul Abbas alMursi, one of the exalted teachers in the long line of teachers that stretched , without a break in the chain of transmission of wisdom, from the Prophet sallaLlahu alaihi wasallam, and all his true followers, to our teacher (Abul Abbas alMursi was the teacher of Shaykh ibn Ataillah, author of the famous book Hikam ).

We spent the rest of the day resting and catching up with ourselves, not exactly sure what to do next, but in no particular hurry, soaking in the baraka of the presence of abul abbas almursi’s ruh, which is undeniably there. The baraka of the awliya is subtle energy which emanates from the ruh which is pure light. Whoever is near the ruh of a wali, whether it is be in his body or in his grave or in a true dream, experience its baraka, just as those who stand in the sunlight feel its energy, and just as those who dive in the ocean feel its wetness. It was during this resting space, we decided that we must visit the tomb of Shaykh Abul Hassan Shadhili, the renowned teacher of shaykh Abul Abbas alMursi, although we have no idea where he was buried.

Cairo

Perhaps our most memorable meeting in Cairo was with khalifa Ibrahim, the representative of Shaykh al-Fayturi (the second teacher of shaykh Abdal Qadir after shaykh Muhammad ibn alhabib passed away in 1971 ) who was in Benghazi, in Cairo. Just as all the world’s political leaders have representatives in different countries, so do the world’s true spiritual leaders. Just as the world’s embassies are characterize by formality and protocol, so the world’s zawiyyas are characterized by sincere courtesy and good behaviour.

At last we arrived at the tomb of Shaykh Ahmad Ataillah, and the beautiful mosque which had only recently been built there by a wealthy businessmen who loved Allah and His Messenger and His Awliya.

Humaysara

This was a rough country. It is said that it is never easy to reach a great Wali, and that the greater a Wali is, the more difficult the journey is to reach him. If this was true, I thought, then Shaykh as-Shadhili must be a very great wali ! Humaysara was an extraordinary place. We had traveled all day through the desert ,without seeing another living being, and yet here, in the middle of nowhere, suddenly tere was life: a tomb, a mosque, a small village, and people…Like many great walis, shaykh Shadhili knew when he was going to die. When the time was close, he summoned his closest murid, Abul Abbas al-Mursi, and told him to prepare two camels for a long journey. ‘ What for ?’ asked Abul Abbas.’ You will see in Humaysara’ replied his shaykh. Shaykh Abul Hassan as-Shadhili spent the rest of his life on the top of a small hill immersed in the remembrance of Allah.

Aswan

Shaykh Abdal Qadir once said that outwardly the fast of Ramadhan is like an illness, while inwardly it is a journey. We were well and truly on on our way to the Sudan in the all pervading baraka of Ramadhan. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace said that those who fast have two rewards: One when they break their fast, and one when they meet their Lord. The custom official looked at us, at our passports, at our declarations, and back at us again. ‘ No money ?’ He said. ‘ Yes , we had no money’. He paused significantly, looking at our documentation, perhaps s not quite sure what to do about us, and in that moment a bearded turbaned man on the other side of the barrier called out, ‘ Shaykh Abdal Bourhani !’ in a clear strong voice. ‘Yes, I replied, ‘Shaykh Abdal Bourhani’ . ‘ Good’, he said firmly, stamping our passports and letting us through the barrier as if there was nothing more to say. The man who opened the way for us was the muqaddem of the Bourhaniyya zawiya in wadi halfa, and had receive a message from hajj Mustafa in alexandaria that we were on the ferry.

The flat desert reminded me of the descriptions I had read of what will be like on the Last Day, when the oceans have all dried up, and the mountains have disintegrated into dust and dissolved like clouds, so that all that remains is a very vast silvery plain of sand, on which all the people who have ever lived will be brought back to life and gathered together and then separated between the Garden and the Fire.

Omdurman

Only one task remained: before we had left England, Shaykh Abdal Qadir instructed us to visit the awliya and to sing the diwan of shaykh Muhammad ibn alHabib wherever we went. This, to our best ability, we had done. Sidi Shaykh also asked Abdal Jalil to bring him back a hand written Quran from Sudan. This we still had to acquire. Strangely enough, the matter had been clarified for us when we had been in the crater of Daribe. During that very cold night I had a dream just before dawn, that a figure wearing a white robe and turban and holding a tasbih had said to me’ ‘ Whatever you do , don’t visit shaykh Hamza again’. On first awaking, I had not really had time to reflect on the dream….on rerunning the dream through my mind, I had realised what struck me as being rather strange about it. Although the figure in the dream had been dressed like a muslim, there had been fire in his eyes. It must have been shaytan trying to deflect us off course, audhu bi’Llahi minas-syaitanir rajim.

Accordingly, now that we were back in Omdurman, we went round to visit shaykh hamza one vening after maghrib, and told hm what our shaykh had requested. Shaykh Hamza paused. ‘ Hand written Quran are worth a lot of money ‘, he said. ‘ we have only 6 pounds between us’, replied abdal jalil. ‘ keep your money’, he replied’. ‘I was testing your sincerity’. You rea welcome to have one of my hand written Quran. Please give it to your shaykh with my greeting. Only a couple of weeks ago I had a dream in which I met Shaytan riding on a camel . ‘where are you going off now ?’ I asked him. He replied that he was going to England. ‘why there ?’ I asked. He replied, ‘The people over there are intelligent, so I have more work over there than in places like here where people are half asleep !’. Shaykh Hamza who was a large man, laughed heartily. Now we could leave Sudan without regret.

I spent some time making dua , asking Allah for all that I wanted, including a safe journey to Makka, and an acceptable hajj and a safe return to England. I also asked for a wonderful life and an easy death, and peace in the grave, and no fear on the Last Day, a swift entrance into the Garden, both for myself and for everyone that I loved and everyone that I met. Finally, I asked to be given what all the the true Awliya are given, the highest deepest knowledge that there is, gnosis of Allah. We had just left the tomb when the adhan of maghrib rang out.

Perhaps we were just tired from our travels, or perhaps we had just enough of visiting awliyas, whether in their bodies or in their graves. After all the meeting we had had along the way, I knew for certain that the only shaykh with whom I really wanted to be was my own Shaykh. Although one should not really be concerned with comparing different shaykhs, for it is like comparing different mirrors- whatever their outward forms, they are bound to give you basically the same reflection - I met no one who was as balanced or as knowledgeable or as wise or as correctly behaved as Shaykh Abdal Qadir as-Sufi. I realized how pure an Islam it was that he embodied and transmitted, and just how accurate and perceptive and truthful his words were. I could not wished for a better guide and teacher.

Everyone Is Right

The beauty of it all is that every sincere follower of a Shaykh is certain that his or her shaykh is the best Shaykh in the world – and they are all right, for every one is given the Shaykh that they deserve, in accordance with their own sincerity and strength of resolution, the Shaykh who is best suited to guide them along the path that leads to knowledge and wisdom. One may visit many Shaykhs for the baraka and for spiritual gifts and knowledges, but one only takes one Shaykh as one’s spiritual healer and guide along the path that leads to self knowledge and gnosis of Allah.

Loyalty to one’s shaykh and trust in him is part of sincerity. One of the gifts of our journey so far had been the realization and confirmation of this basic truth. I had always trusted Shaykh Abdal Qadir from the first moment that we had met, but it was good to realize more fully just how good and realible a guide he was, and to know with greater certainty that I had no desire or need to look for any other shaykh.

Perhaps also, I realized soon , insya’Allah , we would be visiting the tomb of the man through whom all the Awliya receive their knowledge and wisdom, and without whom there would not have been any Shaykhs to visits or any Hajj to do…even the greatest Shaykh is only a drop compared to the ocean of the Prophet ..further more ,beyond all these considerations was the fact that in only a few more days we would be in Makka, insya’Allah, immersing ourselves deeply in the worship of the One who is the Source of all the Prophets and all the Awliya and indeed everyone and everything in creation. (p.195)

Khartoum

Suddenly, swiftly at the speed of light, time had flashed by. We were at Khartoum airport, waiting for our flight to be called. It had been truly wonderful. Never knowing what would happen next or whether we would ever make it, the adventure had unfolded, permeated with baraka and rahma, until finally , here, we were safe, sound and just waiting to make that short hop over to the Arabian peninsula ! I felt as if I was the most fortunate man in the world !

(review not complete)