Old Sufic Notes And New Encounters

Un sabio sagaz se fue a China

2008-01-08T08:46:00.000+08:00

“Un sabio sagaz se fue a China en busca de un maestro, (y le dijo):
“Acláranos sobre la verdad”.
Aquel maestro de la vía espiritual le contestó:
“En verdad la realidad se divide en 10 capítulos, yo te diré más si estás atento,
poco hablar compone el primero, callarse los nueve siguientes”

porque calla el halcón se posa en el puño del rey, porque canta el ruiseñor se mantiene en la jaula, si tu alma adquiere la costumbre de callar cada átomo te hablará, incluso cuando murmuraras como una fuente, si te callas te convertirás en mar, el que de ese mar quiere la perla, para sumergirse, debe contener el aliento
El Libro de los Secretos

Farid ad-Din Attar
“El Paraíso se encuentra a los pies de la madre”
Hadith del Profeta

Our True Face Never Speaks

2008-01-02T12:16:00.000+08:00

From Rilke Poem: Our True face Never Speaks

Daring to put life to test
I draw water and fire
to rekindle deep love
for Rilke admirer in the east :

Our true face never speaks
in language of duality
thick masks of nihilism
engulf the new age

In fear of colored others
suppressing sacred voices
the asssembly of puppets
disguising renaissance

Tame and ride
the tiger of time
julius evola warned us
or we will be eaten up

No one lives his life
when he missed the
secret of the Yin of Beauty
and the Yang of Majesty
in Oneness of the Real

Fasubhanallazi bi-yadihi
Malakutu kulli syain
Wa ilaihi turjaun..
Kullu syaiun Fanin
Wa yabqa Wajhu
Dzul Jalali Wal-Ikram

Broken Jug in Rumi Garden

2008-01-02T12:05:00.000+08:00

You are the sunshine
of mercy, generous giver
the pristine fog floating
over my mountain
of witnessing

Falling as dew drops
your blessings never stop
becoming streams rivers
touching nature with love
meandering journeying
forth to Ocean of Unity

My jug was broken
long ago in rumi garden
thirsty cups going around
O friends o lovers
this fragrant jasmine
a veil of essence
that free all spirits !

Unfolding Rose Petals

2007-12-18T11:21:00.000+08:00

The reason I had come to Afghanistan in the first place was my love for Afghan culture. I could never forget the sincerity and kindness that I first felt with my Afghan friends in the United States. I was aware of the rich heritage of Afghan culture that reached back into earlier centuries.

For a number of years I had been studying the Persian classics, some of them written by Afghans like the now-famous Jalaluddin Rumi. Later in my journey, I was astonished to find people in the rural valleys of northwestern Afghanistan that still speak a Persian almost identical to the language of Rumi’s masterpieces.

Long before traveling to Afghanistan, I had been deeply moved by the English translations of these poems. And so I had come to Afghanistan searching for traces of this high-minded culture that had kindled the flame of my hopes and dreams. As I rode up the trail on my lethargic horse, I thought about how this brilliant culture of Islamic spirituality was quickly disappearing in the face of the suffering caused by the war. Traditional Afghan culture was being eroded by the fanaticism of the Wahabis. It struck me that this small-minded extremism was incompatible with the Islam that was, at one time, vast enough to hold and cherish the knowledge of the world it had conquered. That world stretched from the Atlantic Ocean into the reaches of China.

I rode along replaying the memory of my chance meeting three years earlier, in 1986, with the extraordinary Afghan poet laureate and mystic, Ustad Khalilullah Khalili. My brief friendship with him near the end of his life had been deeply influential, largely because he openly manifested the wisdom, broad-mindedness, and religious tolerance described in the classical literature of Sufism. He too had voiced the fear that these values were disappearing from Afghanistan.

Riding up the steep, narrow trail, I remembered our warm conversations. Once, out of concern that as a Christian I wouldn’t be able to understand Islamic mysticism, I asked him, “Does a person need to be a Muslim to grasp the spirituality of Sufism?”

“The heart of the lover of God should become purified and polished,” he answered. “Then he would see the meaning of the Qur’an written on the unfolding rose petals of his own heart. Whoever has such a heart as this is a Sufi and a real Muslim.”

I recalled that the Sufis often carry the sobriquet of jasus al-qalb, “the spy of the heart.” I thought of how Ustad Khalili had immediately grasped my essential self. He had sensed my yearning and my disillusionment. He knew that I had come to Afghanistan in search of the meaning of life.

Des Himmels Weise ist wolthun

2007-11-20T22:30:00.000+08:00

Celestis Tao natura diat omnes,

Nemini nocet.: Jesuit version.

Il est utile aux etres,

et ne leur nuit point.: Julien version –page 124.

Des Himmels Weise ist wolthun

und nicht beschadigen : V.von Strauss version.

‘The sage does not accumulate (for himself)

The more that he expends for others

The more does he possess of his own;

With all the sharpness of the Way of Heaven

It injures not; with all the doing in the

Way of the Sage, he does not strive’ –page 122

The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu translated by James Legge,

first published in 1891,Graham Bash Ltd, Singapore

Kao Wan’s playing on the Lute,

Shih Kwang’s indicating Time with his staff,

And Hui Tze giving his insights while leaning

Against a Tree (were all extraordinary).

The knowledge of the three men was nearly perfect.

Therefore the scintillations of light from the midst

Of confusion and perplexity are indeed valued

By the sagely man.

Who knows the argument that need not words,

And the Way that is not to be trodden ?

Relearning Islam From China To Kuala Lumpur

2007-10-23T10:35:00.000+08:00

We thanked Allah tabaraka wa taala for His generosity that enabled the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association (MACMA) for two consective years in 2005 and 2007 to host the 6 months training, visit and dakwah programmes for 30 imams from various provinces of China.
They were also given special lectures and dialogues with scholars such as Ustaz Uthman Muhammady, Dr.Fuad Yeoh, Dato' Mustapha Ma and lecturers from International Islamic University of Malaysia beside visits to States of Kelantan, Sarawak, Terenganu, Johor, Perak, Kedah and Selangor.

Last week on 22 October 2007 , they were attending a special talk at Masjid al-Bukhari of Kuala Lumpur and listening to salawat, prayers and qasidah of Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib, the great alim and sufi of Morocco who taught and transmitted the pure Islam and Tasawwuf to many of his murids and fuqara in the West until it reached Spain, England, Germany, Malaysia and Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa etc today.

“ O Allah, let us receive Your mercy by the esteem of the Vast Quran and make it our guide, leader and source of light. O Allah, remind us when we are forgetful of the Quran, teach us what we ignorant of, inspire us to read, act and understand it day and night, O Lord of the Wolrds ! “

The people of baraka and wisdom

2007-10-19T09:14:00.000+08:00

'We ask Allah, subhanahu wa taala, to keep us

in the company of the Arifin (gnostic).

We ask Allah , subhanahu wa taala to let the people

of this dhikr spread out through the whole of Africa

and take the Deen to all of Africa.

We ask Allah , subhanahu wa taala to make the people

of this circle people of baraka, people of wisdom

and people of teaching.

We ask Allah subhnahu wa taala to give benefit

to all the people who see the fuqara and meet the fuqara

so that they love them and respect them.'

Doa by Shaykh Dr.Abdal Qadir as-Sufi

after the tafsir discourse at al-Jamia Mosque

Claremont, Cape Town

May 29th, 2004

Extra prayer from Qasida Tafakur

Diwan Sh.Muhammad ibn al-Habib :

Then you would accept the reality of Tawhid

with all your being, and you would turn away

from illusions, uncetainty and otherness

And you would say, ' My God, You are my desire,

my goal and my impregnable fotress against

evil, injustice and deceit

You are the One I hope will provide all my needs

and You are the One who will rescue us

from all evil and wickedness

You are the Compassionate, the One who answers

all call on You. And You are the One

who enriches the poverty of the faqir

It is to You, O Exalted, that I have raised all

my request, so swiftly bring me the Opening,

the rescue and the secret, O my God

By the rank of the one in whom we hope on the Day

of Distress and Grief-that terrible day when

people come to the Place of Gathering-Masyar

May Allah's blessings be upon him as long

as there is an Arif who reflects on the lights

of His Essence in every manifestation

and upon his family and Companions and everyone

who follows his excellent Sunna in all its

prohibitions and commands'.

The Self At Peace

2007-10-09T07:31:00.000+08:00

The Goal of Ihsan : an-nafs al-mutma'inna: the self at peace

Finally there is the self at peace which is illuminated and acts according to the good and is therefore liberated "O self at peace, return to your Lord, well-pleased, well-pleasing. Enter among My servants. Enter My Garden." (89:27)

Shaykh 'Ali al-Jamal, a Moroccan wali (sometimes translated as saint, but which really means a friend of Allah) said when he experienced this,

"A certain state came over me so that the attributes of Allah appeared in manifestation in myself and in all creation...I began to love myself and to love all creation. Whoever I saw, man or woman, old man or child, I loved...I also began to love animals, rivers, trees, birds, the sky and the stars, and the earth and its stones....whatever loved me and I loved whatever did not love me because I saw that my essence contained existence, high and low, and existence was part of me. It was like my limbs and extremities. My love of them appeared to me to be only love of my essence and attributes."

What Mencius Said About Superior Man

2007-10-06T23:03:00.000+08:00

Our Master Mencius was asked – what do you mean

by a Superior man ? a Real man ?

The reply was undoubtly beuatiful, profound and
similar to our islamic views as below:

A man who commands our liking (instinctual nature/fitra)

is what called
A superior –Good man.( Muslim)
He whose goodness (husni khuluq)
Is part of himself is what Called a Real Man (Mu’min)

He whose goodness has been filled up
(in his whole being) is what called a Beautiful Man ( Muhsin).
He whose completed goodness
is brightly displayed is what
called a great Man ( Ta Ren/ Rijal al-kabir)

when this great man exercise a transforming influence
he is what called a Sage. ( Sheng ren-Wali/Sufi)

when the Sage is beyond our knowledge he is what
is called a Spiritual Man ( Hsien Ren/ Insanul Kamil)

2007-09-29T07:22:00.000+08:00

DISCOURSES AT THE 1996 MOUSEEM

GATHERING IN ISTANBUL, TURKEY

Bismi’Llahir-Rahmanir-Rahim.

This gathering is a gathering of baraka and kararnat. The baraka of this gathering and the karamat is by the blessing of the people whom have come here for the sake of Allah. It is very important that you know that in all the Muslim world the people of this great nation and this great city are the leaders of spirituality in the Muslim world. One alim from Morocco said when you go on Hajj the people of Turkey are the hosts of Makkah and Madinah. There is today in this blessed country a very high spiritual power. There is a light from here that shines all around the world. The truth is that we spiritually now can see again that Istanbul is the capital of all the ummah. And maybe we could say that Fatih (mosque) is the Topkapi (centre) of Istanbul because with the people in Fatih you see in the streets, madrasahs and in the mosques you see living Islam. This is by karamat and this is by barakat.

Saving Islam For The Future

If the great shuyukh of Naqshbandiyya had not struggled through these years this would not be the case. The shuyukh of Naqshbandiyya are the people who have saved Islam for our time and for the future. I remember when I went on Hajj over 30 years ago, meeting at the House of Allah meeting Shaykh Sami Affendi RA. My shaykh, Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib RA had died on his way to Hajj and found myself at the wall of the Kaaba and was led by Turkish fuqara to Shaykh Sami Affendi and from that moment a connection between us was born. For all the frrst part of my development in Islam as a Muslim I sought the company of the shayukh living and dead. It was Moulay Abdal Qadir al-Jilani who called me into Islam from the unseen which is why I took his name. Shaykh Moulay Abdas Salam ibn al-Mashish called me. Shaykh Shadhili called me. This was in the days I was studying the fiqh and studying the the Qur'an as a student of it.

As I saw the suffering of the Muslim people and I saw the degradation of the Muslims in the Arab lands then my spiritual light changed and other voices called, other presences came from the unseen Sultan Abdal Hamid RA called me here to Istanbul. Now the doors of this blessed mosque of Sultan Salim RA has brought us to this gathering. The celebration of Sultan Fatih, I was called to attend it. But they too are wali of Allah as are the shayukh.. These great sultans are all wali Allah. And then I realised that the Ummah of Islam is in need. It is calling out for leadership. Now there is no door we can knock on in the Arab world. Because you see the state of the Arabs. The Arabs are broken, the Arabs have been disgraced, they do not know their deen anymore. And we know what has happened in Arabistan with the shayateen of the Saudi regime. So now the ummah is turning to you.

The Real Struggle

The interesting thing is that for the last 40 years the Muslims have understood only to struggle only by young men going out and being killed and never to have success. The Syrians ask us to fight in Syria for jihad. The Egyptians ask us to fight against their leaders. In Algeria, you know the list it goes on and on. Everyone of these causes is a national cause. Now the phrase ummatun wasatan is not a spiritual term, not a batini term it is a political term. Now the bringing together of the Muslims to accept one leadership will not be done by struggle and in fighting among Muslims. Already too many young men have died for nothing. The people of this nation are all Muslims. Some may not call on Allah when they are healthy but they call on Him when they are sick. They may not call on Allah when they are sick but they turn to Allah when that person dies. What now we will see is something else, another struggle.

I wanted to say one thing important that you must understand about the kuffar. Russia was defeated without one missile or one bomb being dropped on them. This enormous state, this great powerful state was broken in pieces because they pulled the paper ruble from under their feet with the paper dollar. The kuffar say they want to make one world and of course that means it will be dominated by this one paper currency of the dollar.

Gold Dinar and Zakat

Allah subhanahu wata'ala says in Qur'an, you were one nation but we meant you to be separate. Now the power of the kuffar on the muslims is this magic of this worthless paper and by that paper the khalifate of Osmaniyya was destroyed. Sultan Abdal Hamid RA paid back the debt and paid back the debt but he had to pay in gold and they gave back in paper. He had almost completely paid the debt at the time he was deposed. Now today that same debt has increased to these trillions you read about in your daily papers. The sword of Islam today is not a scud missile of Saddam Hussein, the sword of Islam is that gold dinar that has been ordered in wahi –revelation of our deen which will cut the dollar. The rejection of the dollar is the beginning of the liberation of all the muslim lands. There will not be a conflict with the state and the republic and the Muslims. All these political conflicts are out of date. The founder of the republic created four banks. These banks will be privatised shortly. Already their capital is not is Turkish hands. And after privatisation none of this will be in Turkish hands. The people of Uzbekistan have declared no one will buy and sell their currency. Zakat has been abolished by the absence of the dinar. Zakat must be taken not given, it is not sadaqa. It must be taken by force. The best I pray for is the the shayukh that you trust in this country begin to take the zakat with zakat collectors in the waiting for that time when the change goes from this secret committee government to another kind of Islamic government.

I want to make a dua now for this great country and its people. And also there was a very old Turkish lady, she rang up, her name is Shukran. She is a very old lady who is now not able to make salat. We will begin the dua by asking Allah's mercy on this old lady Shukran that Allah make the last of her days the best of her days. We ask Allah to protect all the armed forces of this great Turkish nation. We ask Allah to protect the Turkish soldiers and officers against the intrigue of the Americans and the Greeks. We ask Allah as he gave Sayyedina Muhammad salla’Llahu alaihi wasallam Umar from among the strong people of Quraish to give us from among the high command of the army a man who will enter Islam with love and passion for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We ask Allah to protect the government and to give it good Islamic guidance and to understand the intrigues of what is happening on the frontiers of the Republic and to protect us against our enemies who want to take a piece of the Turkish land away from Turkey. And give the baraka from Allah that Turkey can open its arms and become greater and take in Muslims under the authority of Istanbul. Unify Turkey with Turkic speaking Republics beyond the frontiers. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give a great light to the people of Istanbul and we ask for baraka and the light from the presence of Sultan Salim and from the tomb of Sultan Abdal Hamid RA. To release a great secret from the tomb of Sultan Abdal Hamid in our time and to protect the family of Uthman. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to give blessing to this mosque and its imam. And we ask that by this gathering that there will be a new opening from the muslims in all the world. Allah accept our dhikr and accept our brotherhood in Islarn, Strengthen us by this gathering. Al fatiha.

The Next Events

I tell you what may happen. The Americans think that they have this enemy that is Islam and they must fight Islam, I tell you America will collapse from inside. America will collapse internally. America is already in civil war, it is decadent beyond anything you can Imagine. There are 30 million Muslims in Europe. This is not how history will go. Maybe it will go like this, Allahu alim But I see that the Turkish nation will expand, will embrace the Turkish Republic, will take in the Europe that will collapse after the European Union and then you will see the enemy is between the Muslims led by the Turks and the Chinese kuffar. That is the great battle of the future. The real battle will be between the Muslims led by Turkish leadership ? This is what may await your children and this is what we must prepare for. But Allah knows best.

SECOND ISTANBUL DISCOURSE AFTER DHIKR

BismiLlah. Shahada- La ilaha illa Allah

Look at the miracle of this gathering, look at it in the perspective of the passing years. And look at the miracle and power of Allah subhanahu wa ta' ala. La hawla wala quwatta ila billahi alayhi al-adheem. Allah has power over everything. There is no power except the power of Allah. And in the age of darkness what you must know is everything is under the power of Allah. The people who love Allah are the slaves of Allah. But the people who hate Allah are also the slaves of Allah. Allah makes his miracles not only by the friends of Allah but by the enemies of Allah. I am going to give you a proof that takes you around the world.

Transformed By The Love For Jalalludin Rumi

Lessons From The Story of Abu Lahab

Look at the most hated person in the history of Islam Abu Lahab. Allah in Qur'an says Abu Lahab will destroyed/finished. The most dreaded enemy of Rasul salla’Llahu alaihi wassalam. Abu Lahab was the power, he was the state, he was the Quraish leader, he was all the things against Rasul s.a.w. . Rasul s.a.w with his people was weak and Allah subhana wa ta'ala turned everything around. And Rasul s.a.w entered Makkah in triumph. And from this the great deen of Islam unfolded.

But what in this world is the destiny of Abu Lahab? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sends down ayat on Rasul saws and the name Abu Lahab becomes part of the blessed Qur'an al Karim. So this most hated of people's name becomes blessed because it is ayat Quranul-Karim of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala's revelation. If the fly falls into the honey slowly, slowly it becomes completely honey. And So Abu Lahab becomes the absolute servant of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and a perpetual dhikr of Allah for all time.

So this changes our understanding of existence. The other day I was sitting with a blessed shaykh of the Naqshbandi tariqa, may Allah give him long years and increase his secret. And a man in his company spoke things against the way the talk was going with the shaykh. But you see when the shaykh heard what the matter was, he withdrew into himself; to his heart. The other man made the argument and very forceful, and very clever. And then after a time the shaykh sat up and he said this matter is very important. So in saying this he confirmed what was to be said and negated this gentleman. So then he said 'Do it'. So I said 'Look what has happened', the heart of the Shaykh has moved, the tongue of the Shaykh has spoken and now action will come. This is how things happen.

The Power of Baraka

The beginning of Qur'an Surat al-Baqarah. This Book is for the people who believe in the ghayb. Things come from the ghayb into the material world. As with you the impulse comes from your heart which is invisible and the act is. visible. So the hidden dominates the visible. The awliyya after their death cannot act, but they do not sleep, they have presence. And this we call baraka. Now if the heart is alive it can taste the baraka. This is not magic. Let me explain it to you in a very simple way. It is of baraka but of its opposite of trouble, stress. If in a family two people have had a row in a room and then you open the door and you come m but as you open the door they become silent and they do not move. Nothing has happened but you then say 'what is wrong?' because your spirit knows there is something not there but it is hidden. When you visit the Shaykh it is the opposite. If your heart is in a good state then Rasul saws said the mumin is the mirror of the mumin but the Shaykn's heart is polished so it is a clear mirror. So then you go and you do not see him you see you.

Secret of The Murid

My second Shaykh, Shaykh al-Fayturi RA (Benghazi, Libya) , he was 97 years and he was very feeble but you would see strong men come in, they would see him, and they would break down and weep. Why did they break down and weep? Not something about him but by him they saw themselves and they did not like it and they cried. Not for the Shaykh for themselves. But then the murid who wants something more, who wants knowledge of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, who wants to taste something of the presence of Allah. Hadrat al rabbani. Then something else happens. The ignorant or the beginner look at the shaykh and see themselves but the traffic is the other way.

With the murid who desires knowledge of Allah. Then the shaykh looks on the murid and that looking fills him up like pouring water from a jug into a cup and it can go on fling up till the cup overflows. So you can't see where the cup stops and where the water stops. And these waridat these openings, these illuminations come by the one who desires knowledge of Allah subhanahu wa ta' ala.

Shaykh ibn Ajiba, one of the scholars of this knowledge, said that the metaphor of this is like the turtle which lays its eggs in the sand and then the mother turtle exhausted having laid the eggs crawls back into the ocean and then just before going into the ocean, the mother turtle turns and glances at her eggs and goes back into the ocean. This he said is like the shaykh when he looks on the murid. The look of the mother turtle is to tell the eggs to come into the ocean so when they hatch they know to head for this great ocean. And this glance is like the glance of the shaykh on the murid to call him into the ocean of divine love.

The Nature and Task of The Khalif of Allah

My first Shaykh, Muhammad ibn al Habib said in his Diwan, if a man knew the meaning of his secret he would shed a tear with every breath he took. Because the real message of tawhid and of the power of Allah is not to make you feel low but to raise you up. And then we find that Allah has said in the Qur'an about man, we have made you a khalif on the earth. So that the real nature of the human being, if he knows from Allah who he is, then his real nature is that he is khalif. He is the representative on earth of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Khalifa in Arabic means the one who stands in in the absence of the King. Now this means that you are not something low but you are something very high with Allah. There is no one more important than you. Allah has made all of creation for you. He has made all of the stars for you. He sent the Prophets for you. They were sent for you. Their business with Allah is complete, it is finished. They came to let you complete your business with Allah. This is the difference between the kuffar and the muminun, that you know that you have a contract with Allah. Allah says in Qur'an, they will ask you 'who created the earth?' and the kuffar will say Allah. That is not what creates the kuffar, this is not what makes the kuffar. The kuffar is that. they cover up, that their destiny is under the power of Allah. They think they are outside the process. They think they will live forever or they say, 'I do not believe.' Not because they are brave on the face of nothingness but because they are afraid of the destiny. That is why properly speaking you cannot be a soldier and an atheist. Not possible. That is why a handful of Chechens defeated the whole Russian army. They should not have won. But they destroyed the Russians because the Russians thought we have our tanks, we have our guns and we are generals and soldiers. And they said these people are wolves. And the whole of Chechnya is one enormous tekke ( place/house of dhikr). They said no, we are khalifs of Allah. Allah knows something about us that the angels do not know. And they cried Allahu Akbar and the blood of the Russians turned to vinegar and they defeated them.

So you see with us, there is no politics. Once you know that you are khalif in the haqiqat, in the truth, then we remember that Rasul s.a.w said that 'As you are so you have people set over you.' So once you know that with Allah you are khalif~ then you will be governed by khalif. And so you see then you find that Allah says in Qur'an that 'Allah did not change a people until they changed what is in their heart.' Once you know that this instrument is alive, this thing called the heart is alive, everything changes.

What I have seen in Fatih, that has more power, borrowed attribute from Allah than all the kuffar if they came against it could defeat. But it doesn't need a battle because what is spreading is honey. And the people will say I like this honey I twill cure my sickness. But our honey is not the honey of the bee, our honey is the knowledge we get from Qur'an al Karirn. And Allah said Qur'an is a healing for the muminun. And Allah has said in the Qur'an that by the dhikr of Allah the heart of man is made tranquil, the heart is made tranquil.

So this change that is coming in the world is the awakening of Islam from the inward to outward. And this person who knows that they have been appointed to a great task by Allah, they clear everything out of the way. Now I must obey Allah and his Messenger. So what do I have to do? Shahada, salat, zakat, sawm, hajj. So I must confirm my Islam which is to make it public, do not hide it. And also you are a muslim because you are m a register, you are a muslim because you have been witnessed by muslims. Then you find salat, then you find for salat someone must stand in front of you. Who stands in front? The one with the best knowledge of Qur'an and it:is never a.problern you saw you are the Imam. Jamaat makes the Irnam. Not someone in a distant town. And the mosque is not the property of anybody just to close it or open it. Qur'an says - inna masajadi li’Llahi, the mosques belong to Allah.

Establishing Islam

So then you have shahada, salat, now there comes a point of Ramadan and zakat and at that -point you need an Arnir. In all our history, in the great history of the Osmaniyya and the muslims before it, the confirmation and the order of Ramadan came from the Amir after the witnessing of the moon had been confirmed in front of the Qadi. So you need someone over you who is himself the ordering Muslim leader. And that man is the one who says this one and this one are honourable men, they will collect the zakat. And the zakat must be paid in gold and silver. The great Shaykh Allish of Cairo at the time when the paper money came said it is haram to pay zakat by paper money. It is only worth the price of the paper. Something we would all now agree with.

Then for Hajj that power of authority must control Makkah and Madinah to fullfil the orders of Hajj. And this is what we call Sultaniyya. But this will be because of the people who love Allah. And say these things will happen in my lifetime not after my lifetime. We have to answer for what we know. Once you know there is no excuse and that is why we are people of success. And that is why when I sat with the great Naqshbandi shaykh and we were discussing this matter he was filled with great joy and he said 'We are ahlal dhikr, and we have met on the sirat al mustaqeem, so we will have success.' And by this he meant all of us.

Our Supplication To Allah:

May Allah give us success in this world and the next.
Allah increase in knowledge and Allah give us fear of him
and Allah take from us all fear of this world. Allah protect us from the enemies of Islam.

Allah raise up the station of this great Turkish nation. Allah make the people of this land the leaders of all the Muslims. By it bring back great wealth to this country, wealth of this world and the next. Allah restore to us the day when from Istanbul to Makkah /Madinah the caravans go out laden with gold for the Governors of Makkah and Madinah.

We ask Allah to purity the Arabistan from the rabbis and kuffar of the Americans. We ask Allah to give back to this great country those lands that it lost. Allah make it that to be a Turkish nationalist is to be a nationalist of a nation that stretches to the limits of the ummah. Allah give us the victory with Him. And Allah bless all of the people of this great city.

And Allah bless its police and awaken in them love of Allah and obedience to Allah. And help by them to purity this town of things that are forbidden by Allah. Allah bless its mothers and its children. Allah bless its teachers. Allah bless Shaykh Mahmoud Affendi and the great Naqshbandi shaykhs.

Allah give victory to all the muslims in this time. And as you are hosts in Makkah and Madinah Allah make you hosts in Istanbul to all the muslim ummah. Allah bless the son of Othman al Ghazi. Allah waken love in our heart for them.

Allah give light to the tomb of Sultan Abdal Hamid ulu haqan. Allah give us desire to say fatihah for him at his tomb. We now make fatihah that we ask a blessing that covers all the muslim world. Al-Fatiha

2007-09-29T06:59:00.001+08:00

Sufism Against Zionism:

Letter of Sultan Abdal Hamid Khan II
To His Sufic Teacher Before Fall of Khalifate:

This message of Abdul-Hamid Khan, the last Sultan (d.1924)

having real power over the Ottoman Empire, was written in the times when the Sufi knowledge was so authoritative that each Islamic Ruler/Sultan/Governor and most of his subjects had their own Murshid (Spiritual Teacher). Unfortunately today not only the rulers, but also a great part of the Muslims, do not even know that it is the duty of every Muslim to follow the Sufi Sheikhs, according to the words of the great Imam Al-Ghazali.

Her is its text:

In the name of Allah the Compassionate, the Merciful! Let Allah, the God of the Worlds, be praised. Let there be peace and blessings upon the Prophet Mohammad, Messenger of Allah , Lord of All the Worlds.

I address the respected Sheikh of the Shazali Tariqat Mohammad Efendi Abu Shamat, the healer of the souls and the flasher of the hearts, the outstanding man of his times. After the greetings I want to say that I got your message of this May 22 and I thank Allah that you are in good health.

My lord, God being my helper, I devote days and nights to reciting wirds and I ask to always remember me in Your prayers. Let me share with You, and with lucid-minded people, my worries in respect of one very important question:

I left the post of the ruler of Caliphate only because of the obstacles and threats on the side of people who call them "Young Turks". "The Committee of Unity and Progress" (Ataturk was one of its leaders, the comment of the translator) obsessively insist on my agreement to form a national Jewish state in the sacred land of Palestine. But in spite of their obstinacy I strongly refused them. In the end they offered me 150 mln English pounds in gold, but again I refused and said the following to them.

" If you offer me all the gold of the world adding it to your 150 man, I won´t agree to give you the land. I have served the Islam and the ummah of Mohammad, peace and blessings be upon him, for more than 30 years, and I won´t cloud the Islamic history, the history of my fathers and grand fathers Ottoman sultans and caliphs".

After my definite refusal they decided to remove me from power, and after that they told me that they would transport me to Salonika and I had to resign. I praise my benefactor who didn´t let me bring shame on the Ottoman state and the Islamic world. I want to stop at this. I praise the Almighty once again and finish my letter.

I kiss your noble hands (my Sheikh) and hope that you won´t refuse my respect for you.

Greet all our brothers and friends, oh, my Excellent Teacher. Forgive me for such a long letter but I wanted you to be informed.
Peace, blessings and mercy of Allah upon You.

Verger of the Believers,

Abdul-Hamid ibn Abdul-Majid.
29 Ramadan 1329.
September 22 1911.

The Resume of the Letter :

- The Sufi sheikhs are not only teachers on the way of spiritual perfection, but also in usual daily life of the Muslims. And Sheikh Mohammad Abu Shamat (of Shadzili-Darqawi Tariqa) , who worried about the wealth of the Muslims no less than about the matters of the Almighty worshipping, which proves the inseparability of religion and the state in the Ottoman Caliphate, is an example of such behavior.

- The West trying to speed up the process of the Ottoman Islamic statehood began to form in its center an extremely aggressive Zionist state. At the same time the colonizers pursued a policy of division of the former Caliphate territories between local leaders who began to build their own authoritarian regimes afterwards. As a result Middle East remains the center of instability and political contradictions.

- The Zionist plan to occupy Palestine and to reinforce their influence was realized by making Ottoman Caliphate weak. The bribery of high-ranking officials and even state leaders is one of the Zionist methods.

- In his letter sultan Abdul-Hamid refused to cahoots with the Jews in order "not to cloud the Islamic history". But today we can see that many politicians have done the contrary by agreeing to partition Palestine.

The Discourse on Tawhid of Allah , Cape Town 2004

2007-09-27T22:46:00.000+08:00

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim

For example, the Shah of Iran in his heyday held a great pagan, pre-Islamic celebration in Iran and he gave all his guests golden lavatories, and he exalted them in the most vulgar way. When one sufi saw that one said, “Now he is absolutely finished,” but they said, “Why? It is not possible! He has the CIA, he has the American support, he has the worst secret service in the world, Savak, he cannot be defeated.” “But he has gone too high, so he will be defeated when someone goes into sajda, because that is the opposite, and the thing will turn over.”

So things are hidden in their form. That is what inspires the people of this spiritual quality to have wara’, to be careful. You want to be careful because you want that the form you are on is not one which is going to crash. That is why it is said that the true Sufi is like a black insect on a black stone in a room in the middle of the night — you do not even see him, because his carefulness, his wara’, his scrupulousness is his protection against the inexorability of the world’s actions.

Thus you will realise causes, and at last you will step on the path of iskat. You will step onto the path of being able to cast away the viewing of new events. This is an extraordinary statement: “The casting away of new events.” The people who see new events think that the world is in command of itself, that things are being determined by other people’s actions whereas the reality is that the new event has no newness and there is no reality of events — Allah is the Actor. Allah is making it happen. So what looks like a victory is a defeat, and what looks like a defeat is a victory.

When the Mongol armies came pouring down from Asia into the Subcontinent towards Europe, on the face of it, it was the greatest catastrophe possible. When Rumi’s father, who was a very great ‘alim, got to Baghdad he went to warn the people, but they did not listen. He told them this thing was happening. When the great Khan came and slaughtered these people, he mounted the mimbar and made his famous statement, “I am the scourge of Allah.” He did not say that he was the scourge against Allah, but, “I am the scourge of Allah.” He had the tawhid which they had lost! — because it was a punishment from Allah.

Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, “The child is the hidden secret of the father,” and the grandchild of the Mongol leader became the first of the Muslim rulers who then dominated the whole world. All the Moghul inheritance came from his sons. So what had looked like a disaster had in fact, hidden in it, this tremendous event.

Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi puts it another way, he says, “There is nothing in this world that is not a blessing for one person and a curse for somebody else.” He said, “The sultan dies and some of his family are executed and the others are mourning and they lose their positions, their palaces, and at the same time the new sultan comes and he gives amnesty and hundreds of prisoners are released from prison.”

So the one event, for some it brings them low and for others it raises them up. This is the tawhid of the khass and it comes with fana’ and it is clarified by jam’. Jam’ is a very important word for the Sufis, and it means gatheredness. It is when the slave does not experience himself as separate and distinct, but where all existence is somehow gathered together in his experience, so his reality does not end with his limbs or his intellect.

This knowledge will be one which attracts those who aspire to tawhid. In other words, the people of the elite are like the red sulphur. They draw to them those people who wish to have this same quality of knowledge. This understanding of tawhid is something that transmits, and the model of this is Rasul, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, who poured out this knowledge onto the people around him, and it pours from the people of knowledge onto the ones who desire this knowledge. It is an alchemical process that transforms the hearts.

Allahumma! Oh Allah give us an Iman that is lasting.

O Allah, give us knowledge throughout our life that draws us near to You.

We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, to keep us among the company of the Salihun.

We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, for a taste of the company of the Salihun.

We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, to keep us in the circles of knowledge,

to keep us in the company of the people of knowledge.

We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, to make us lovers of Him.

We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, to give us a destiny

which draws us always nearer to Him.

We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta’ala, to give us a great expectation

of His mercy and His light.

The Gold Thread : Confucian or Sufic Way

2007-09-27T06:57:00.000+08:00

Through The Wheat Fields of China and Fez –(Robert Luongo, New York 1995)

(Note: Subtle warning. This essay is a long reflection, abstruse, true and misleading.

It is real plus fictional encounters from multi-sources.At the end, the reader had to make a choice. Be free or perplexed. A seeker with six masks. Ask Wu Ming, Shabistari, Hafiz or Chuang Tzi. Attar is too fragrant. )

This morning after Dawn Fajar prayer at 5.38 am Nov.2006, as the seeker goes down to his Library room and his eyes fall unto a little grey Book. In the centre, two Strange Chinese characters in Red appear in a Green background. Bingo…Nothing is Coincidence as my forward oriented Friend from Jakarta named his avatar.

Published by Stranger Press c/o Portobello Books, 328 Portobello Road, London W10 5RM.
Library of Congress Catalog No.95-0722311.

ISBN 0-9631722-4-7 Remember this book. Will quoted later as ..GT.RL.SQ. Not written for the over fed. Guide To Kulchur, printed in 1938. Ezra Pound- Cantos/Confucian Way

One two-one two flowing football run with Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott will kick your nuts to arrived at Jakarta sufi teahut. Nothing is true Today. We all lived in a world of Netscape..controlled by a tiny usurocracy elite. Their best joke is..the Bankers are laughing all the way to Hollywood. Throw away your worthless US dollars. Buy and use Gold dinars instead.

All Money is False. Replace first number with first alphabet. 1221 and ends with Special letter no.19. Guess it, then you can read those blogs.

( Are you confused. Enter the wrong page. Where reality start and fiction ends. Jean Rufin Globalia revisited by Abu Bakr Rieger).

BismiLlahir- Rahmanir- Rahim, a sufi pointed out it consist of 19 Letters and cover 24 Hours if counted in romanized scripts. Try it. No Coincidence. We had met before and we will encounter you soon.

Our best Grammy award this 2009 Year of the Phoenix goes to Satria Neo. The rejunevated Matrix filasufer. Much older now at age eighty eight minus two. Why, Sidi Oracle had annihilated his alter ego and cold storaged from 2003-2005 to the Nusantara Archipelago Orchid Farms at remote Bandung mountains. While the Trilogy Ring hobbits conjured up the Desert Storm operation at faraway which costs millions of innocent Iraqis women and children lives. Two years ..is a long time in Politics. Now it is Time ripe for Bliar and Blush to go fishing at Cape Bloom. Lots of salmon and bears at the Mckenzie River. Enron USD30 billion collapse hardly noticed. Where all the iraqi men gone ? Bombing and killing each others. Civilians are only collateral casualties. Lebanon suddenly wrecked by 200,000 tonnes of missiles and bombs and need USD50.0 billion from IMF,World Bank and UE funds to rebuild.

Ask the I Ching hexagram number 86: May be IMF Rule No.74. In mandarin means, Quick Death. Refer to Joel Yap weekly Feng Shui column in STAR:

1. Rebels must be dealt harshly.

2. Sage kings or Amirs cannot be disobeyed.

3. The Empire shall be attacked by quitoxic hackers..

4. Yunus Emre can sing and travels freely in Anatolia and Riau

5. China hold USD300.0 billion US Treasury Bonds. Poorer every day.

6. (Oxford Dictionary on azzuri : tied up, not free, slavery, spies)

7. USA National Debt stands at US100.0 Trillions, just a guess.

8. Let us remake Wagner Trilogy of the Rings.

Now this is my Acknowledgment to the old company of Fez fuqara :

Credit is to Dr. Abdal Alim Palmer for his assistant with the etymology of the Chinese characters.

( Who can get me a copy of his book-

The Pattern of Man, maybe published in New York in 1980)

I would like to thank Abdassamad Clarke of Norwich, England and Nick Feher of Northern California, two talented and exceedingly patient proof readers and editors, for their help in preparing the manuscript for print.

Appropriately left to Last, as the single most important influence and aid in my own life’s Journey, is my Sufic Master Shaykh Dr.Abdal Qadir as-Sufi , whom I thank for his pre-eminent contribution toward my accomplishing this study of Ezra Pound. His first novel The Book of Strangers-1972, Luzac, London planted the seeds of this literary adventure almost like Szuma Chien- Record of The Historians.

Miftah al-Wird: Key to the Source. Now we are going to unravel the 2 Chinese characters at

The ideogram depicts the sun’s silk descending as tensile rays:

Making Clear (bayan), Discriminating (furqan),

Revealing ( kasyfu), Manifesting ( izhar ):

descending light held taut between the Celestial

and the Terrestial ( samawi /ardhi ), intersecting

with Leaves or layers of shale, as horizontals:

descending warp threads as they cross the woof.

An elite is distinguished by those who, while seeking that ‘blinding light’, recognized that they are charged in this world with stabling ‘order’ and ‘brotherly deference’. Hence, no Taozers mooching about, begging for alms to build gold palaces for the ‘Bhud’. And since young Sidhartha rejected all that and set out to travel, what makes them think he would want that place. ‘No Monkery’, said the Prophet. Confucius, too were not no taozer, while he was on the Tao(Path) of the Ancients. Unlike the passive interpretation that led to a spiritual decadence, Master Kung Fu Tze and rulers who followed him in his mobilized understanding were concerned with ‘order-tao’ and ‘brotherly deference’.

At the end of his life, Pound believed he didn’t know much. He was freed of a great illusion.

Do not Move ( oh seeker )

Let the Wind speak ( put forward by the One )

That is Paradise (of Gnosis- Gatheredness without Frontier)

: Notes and Fragments ( p.112)

Post Face (page 113)

There was a great man of the 18th century by the name of Mawlay al-Arabi ad-Darqawi who said an extraordinary thing. This man who is called Shaykh of Instruction, said about the path (the Way) of Knowledge that lies through the Wheat Field. He meant by this that the way (tao or tariqa) is Service : serving people. In this we can hear the words of the ancient Chinese sages who, while occupied with the rectification and purification of their hearts, simultaneously were engaged in establishing justice, maintaining the granaries (food supply), facilitating irrigation and cultivation of the land and proctecting the channels of distribution and commerce.

They were the preservers of the forms of courtesy (adab) and noble character (khulq) through the remembrance of the still more ancient odes and rituals. It is precisely by turning away (tajrid) from the self and its arena of worldly ambition (zuhd) together with turning towards the needs of the others (pillar of zakat) and accepting ( and taking) authority (amirship) that real leadership (khalifate-sultaniyya) comes about.

Living today there is a teacher who is the inheritor of this knowledge and is the heir of Shaykh ad-Darqawi. Having benefit and privilege of sitting in his company I will relate what he explained as a further clarification of the line by the Master ad-Darqawi:

‘the Way leads through the Wheat Fields’

Paraphrasing from memory, the understanding gathered was this:

‘Those people who seek that knowledge which leads

on to perfection of Absolute Being in which all existence

other than the Existent (Real)

is annihilated are like growing field of wheat.

These people, bowing and bending in the wind, rising up

and standing golden brown in the summer’s sun are the shafts

that will make the autumn’s harvest.

Now this wheat must be cut, threshed and the chaff separated, then ground under the weight of enormous stones to be turned into flour. This flour must be salted and yeasted, allowed to rise, then punched down to rise again. The dough is then molded and shaped and put into ovens and baked under s great heat. What come out is bread that now must be sliced and given to people to eat.

The kernel of this metaphor is that those people of Knowledge are the leaders : they establish governance based on justice; they clean up and purify the trading markets, I mean by prohibiting usury, fraud and any form of monopoly.

Such a people, no longer driven by ambition and pride, no longer imagining that they are creators of their actions, are set Free.

This is the condition of those that rule and are caretakers of traditions and the preservers of language’.

Ezra Pound recognized the existence of this quality of being in the great Chinese sages and to, a somewhat more limited degree, in other of his heroes who appear in the Cantos.

It cannot be said however that Pound possessed the Science how to make men and women who are able to change both themselves and the world around them. That is another matter. The fact that he was able to see some of the triumphant possibilities that belong to man, expressing their deepest nature, raises him up as signpost on the road side. Herein lies the epitaph of the poet.

The analogy of the wheat field is drawn from a source that affirms a knowing of how to guide and instruct, through the steps of transformation, those people who desire it. This is the highest knowledge. My teacher Shaykh Abdal Qadir as-sufi who

encouraged me to write this book (in mind of the need of future

Eastern disciples), is such a rare model teacher.

The knowledge that is gained, as I understand it, changes one’s inwardness as well as how one lives. How are we in our homes, how we transact in the world, the money we use, must all be different.

The gold thread in the pattern goes on and on. We must realize our Need and it must be Great. Unable to accept being a slave to tyranny, man needs courage to change.

The terra firma of our very existence is under siege. How we transact in our lives, what in Arabic called Deen, must be freed from the impediments of ignorance and tyranny.

I keep hearing the lines from the Cantos LXXXI ’. The man saw it all ! exclaimed my campanero’ as we sat in the Cypriot café across from Kensington Garden. London, England. Hold your breath. Whisper :

‘Andiamo’. Fa ayna tazhabun. Antumul fuqara.

The ideogram ‘hsien’ a pierching light, is enormously important to the understanding of Pound. It is the light that descend upon man, Dante’s Divine Intellect. ..the pre-Socratic philosophers and Ibn Rushd and Ibn Sina and al-Kindi come into it. The Neo-Confucian sages, also, of course, are present. These are the men of great intellect within the discourse of The Cantos IV.

From the well planned gardens of the Confucian China,

through the date groves of Madinah and on into Andalucia

(Averroes was born in Cordoba), a well Trodden Path can be Found.

At the age of sixteen, this seeker set off for the University of Pennsylvania. Hilda said: ‘ He was immensely sophiscated, immensely superior, rough and ready..One would dance with him for what he might say !’. He publish his first volume of poems- A Lume Spento. He also met T.S.Elliot, who also endured trials of brotherhood and intimate collaboration that spanned more than 50 years. He nailed a notice of the Wall Street:

A NATION

THAT WILL NOT GET ITSELF

INTO DEBT

DRIVES THE USURERS

TO FURY

‘I o venni in luogo d’ogni luce muto’

This corrupting the ‘word’, abuse of ‘real money’ in its deepest Confucian sense, give rise to usury. Aristotle said;

‘ Money is not energy nor it is procreative.

You cannot inseminate (sexualize) with it or plant it.

Money is not a commodity and therefore not to be rented

(what do we say today about Loan, Credit, Treasury Bills, Future-Junks Bond, Stocks and Shares that fluctuate its values every seconds on

the Dow Jones, Nikkei, LSE, NasdaQ… currencies cyber robotic numbers moving across the world to suck up men women children bloods, sweats and tears. More Mr. Smiths replicate and enter into your friends bodies and troubling us unknowingly. Kill the self. Wipe out the Nafs. Get unwired from blue rated Mirrors to your desires.

In Malaysia, one advert proudly said : Get your Islamic Platinum Mastercard. No compounding interest monthly, Unsurpassable spending power to Muslims world wide..”. Islamic bond markets worth RM1.5 trillions are ripe for takings.

PART TWO – THE GOLD THREAD – ROBERT LUONGO

Nine Sages taught us : ‘ Keep to silent, when in unknown spiritual states. But only One Sage whispering to us : Speak little, swim in your own ocean, before emerging to flash your Dragon-like wisdom Fire’.

Canto XCVIII :

The Praiseworthy in sympathy : ‘is part of Religion’

It’s passion would be ‘ seeking knowledge even unto China.

The strength of men Kuan Nine decrees, 8th essay.

Is in grain Tzu Canto CVI.

The ideogram Kuan = To Govern.

Second ideogram Tzu = the Master

( Very close the the meaning of Khalifa in Arabic. Ba’aya is to obey/give authority-power to a ruler, demanded by Shariat/Sunna).

When joined give us the acronym name for the Neo Confucian

Kuan Chung, minister (Wazir) of one Province. ( Is he both a Ruler and

A Sagely man who wrote the 9th Decrees (Fatwa)

The Prophet said in sixth century C.D. ;

‘ Leadership is a responsibility Binding on good men’.

‘ His wanting it disqualified him from having it’.

Making a Scene Shift, a literary device or trick as Ezra called them

To show two correlatives in history (two ends of one tally stick).

Consequently we will ask:

Why are Scottish and Irish people are not allowed

To have free lands ? Why, with both Spain and

France being great leaders of democracies, are

The neighboring people of the Basque nation

Not allowed to exist as such ? Not free to Govern my own people.

Mencius , the Confucian who lived 100 years after the Master, said :

‘ None of our Sages ever wanted or sought public office. They took it as obligation binding upon them. When out of office, they returned to their original work of rectifying (purification-illumination) their hearts ‘

Motto : It is a bank privilege to earn interest

On money which it create out of nothing.

Ask the International Hedge Fund Managers – reported by NST 12 September 2006 and praised by Sekuntrate Fizance Minstor’ , Qarazya welcome the USD300 billions hot money , foreign ventures capital to invest in our local financial Markets.

When the Master was asked about how to rule, Confucius warned ;

“First act of the Government-Rulers is to call things by their Right Names, Ming Qing ’. What is the World Money now ? Can we use any currency we like when we travel ? No. Just a Plastic Card will Do !. Give me your Golden Secret PIN Account Number !.

Gentle Man, your are just a Number and Computer Code. The Matrix has invaded your Consciousness, no way out. May trekking into the Desert of Tafilalet south Maghribi or Rajastan desert , Ajmer Sharif where the great Chistiyya masters used to roam and do da’wah among the poors..

Now in order to Survive, crafty Old Chuang Tzu give us several pathways as follow :

Hold on to the Unwobbling Pivot ( Chung Yung )

Sit with teachers who Instruct from the Great Learning (Ta Hsio)

Few will understand from The Analect (Lun Yun)

Then refer to Ernest Fenollosa, Gaudier Brzeska.

The Century of Usurocracy brought about the final

Destruction of all Europe’s ruling monarchies as well

As the Islamic Caliphate.

Sought the Four Axis (Awtad) who will often have

To speak the Language of the Time, the

Dialect of the Place

( p. 8 first line, no fiction here, check GT.RLSQ)

More Quotation From The Gold Thread

Robert Luongo’s study of Ezra Pound’s reveals a fundamental awareness; that whenever men are truly free they will chose leaders from amongst themselves who have placed self discipline and the preservation of values as their guiding principles. Natural order emerges whereby leadership becomes an ‘ obligation binding on good men’

Returning to an example from Pound’s translation of the Ta Hsio of Confucius, a definitive clarification of the ageless wisdom follows:

‘ The men of old (ancient sages), wanting to clarify and diffuse throughout the empire that light which comes from looking into the heart and when then acting , first set up good government in their own states; wanting good government in their states, they first establish order in their own families; wanting order in home, they first disciplined themselves; desiring self-discipline, they rectified their hearts and wanting to rectify their hearts, they sought precise verbal definitions of their thoughts (tones given off by the heart), wishing to attain precise definition (of words/language), they set out to extend their knowledge to utmost. This completion of knowledge is rooted in sorting things (reality) into organic categories (of meanings/usage).’

The sickness of our age can be traced to the perversion of ‘money, culminating in deaths of countless numbers, the devastation taking place in Brazil, Mexico, Somalia, along with the destruction of the very lungs of our planets (forests)…this all due to humanly and mathematically impossible national debts.

DILIGITE IUSTITIAM QUI IUDICATIS TERRAM.

..that will exist between men of knowledge, regardless of the varying times and places in which they lived, is true, it is imperative

to seek new Terrain.

The highest role for man is to point towards those of knowledge.

“ There came a man running from the furthest part of the city calling: follow the Messengers’ is a verse from the Koran that points to a person who will speak up.

Mencius said : Is there any difference between killing him

With a sword and with a system of government ?”

The Cantos are as much a great telling of history, seen from the perspicacious prow of the poet’s craft , as they are one man’s passionate response to the Divine. His search for knowledge was never divorce from action.

Oh you who believe, fear God

And give up what remains of your demand

For usury, if you are indeed believers.

If you do not, take notice

Of War from God and His Messenger -Quran: 2:275-279

P.104. Without the love of learning, good men become bad ones.

You have heard the Six Words and the Six Becloudings ?

There is love of being benevolent

Without the love of learning, the

Beclouding here leads to foolish simplicity.

The love of knowing without the love

Of learning, whereof the beclouding brings

Dissipation of mind.

Of being sincere without the love of learning

Here beclouding causes disregard of the consequence.

Of straight forwardness without the

Love of learning whereof beclouding leads to rudeness.

Of boldness, without the love of learning, whereof

The beclouding bring insubordination.

The love of firmness with the love of learning,

Whereof the beclouding conduces to extravagant conduct.

Until this lines, reader should realize that Robert Luongo from New York is a daring sophisicated muslim and far more significant he had sat at the circle of the Master as an American faqir.

Meanwhile we heard that Master Izi, Dr.Zuigan and Prof. Anqaravi last year had successfully renovated their Dailin Nur Institute in the hilly Miyazaki Prefecture, Kyoto, Japan. New students intake will begin in summer June 2007. Are you interested or your friends.

Zen Dialogue At Putrajaya Lake Club:Part 2

2007-09-19T12:25:00.000+08:00

1. We wish to recapture the unique encounter with Mr.Shu Ming at Putrajaya Mosque (new capital city of Malaysia situated 40 km from Kuala Lumpur) and Dinner at Perdana Lake Club last Wednesday night (28 .11.2006) for the benefit of posterity.

2. We told him, “ Mr Shu, make tonight meeting the once in a life time experience you never forget ! By the courtesy and sacrifice of my close friend Mr.Lua Baoxin , he brought this new stranger from Beijing, China to see us, to discuss about Islam, about his research and seeking the True Path and to get direct knowledge of Sufism from the wonderful people. The vast freedom, peaceful life and hectic materialism also, and if not careful will be overhelmed by torrents of biased information and imaginative rebranding of islamic institutions and islamic products and labels.

3. Shu Ming was very fascinated by a sufic book presented by Mr.Lua- ‘The Sky Is Not The Limit’ by Amatullah Amstrong describing the spiritual journey of an Australian women in 21st century. Here are the few conversation, questions and aswers that we managed to record from the blessed memory of that night as follow :

Mr.Shu, there is Zen saying, “ If you meet Buddha on the road of your travel for knowledge and seeking the realization of truth, then kill him ! “. The stone bridge of Chau Chao both asses and horses galloping across. Do you see it or it is a wooden bridge ?.

4. Have you heard of this story ? Can you explain why the student/monk was advised to kill the Buddha ? Mr. Shu was smiling, thinking hard and we turned to Mr.Lua, “ Can you explain it , dont worry , as there are not right or wrong answers, just what come across your mind ! “.

5. Rumi said: ‘You are your own bird. You are prey , you set trap. You breaks free !

6. Here is Mr.Lua’s answer : “ You see, what important in the story is that most ordinary monks or students are too engrossed in meditation to attain buddhahood...or as if they really imagine going to meet and encounter the Honored One on the road ! What the Masters taught here : Let destroy this imaganitaion ! - hence –‘Kill buddha ‘. Finish it off, throw away this illusion, this word and this fabricated story. Do you ever think to meet real Buddha in your present realm, your age now ? So where is the real wisdom lies ? Where we can attain this Path, this Truth as one inward reality with our self ?

7. Mr.Lua continues : “ In my humble opinion, the real buddhahood/dharma is inside each person, only he had to uncover it by the right practice, right teaching and the right moment when the seeker are willing to transcend the worldly limitations. The duty of the Masters are merely to assist this process, to push the seekers to the abyss where no escape route is possible. To make a jump of life and death. To cut off attachment, to immerse in the Power of Te’ or Oneness of Tao, annihilated in the inter-play of Yin-Yang life forces. La haula wa quwwata illa bi’Llahil-Aliyyil Azim.

8. There is no change/transformation or action or anything else that can alters what Allah decreed planning and the unfolding of the creational event. If anyone who are doing something in this world without knowing it to accord or against the Divine Orders, then they are still in the guessing game. Glory to the One whose Hands hold the Dominion of Existence and Unto Him are our Returning (Surah Yasin).

9. Mr.Shu Ming told us, he went the Book Shop Kinokuniya at Kuala Lumpur City C entre and suprised at the rich varities of chinese, english and islamic books that satiated his spiritual hunger which he cannot find in Beijing, Shanghai or Hong Kong.

10. We recalled one of Master Izi poem in written in 1998 :

“ Some matters are beyond the gnostic/wali hands.
Some seekers are raw, some old and blind.
Yet they see , hear and can question but got lost.
Honey and Poison both exist in my Tea Garden,
who dare to enter and drink it ? “.

11. One cup of Real Tea refresh the spirit. Ippuku Qing Shan !

The Post Andalucian Notes

2007-08-28T08:24:00.000+08:00

Discourse at Granada Moussem, Spain

From the beginning men (sages) has spoken
about this difficult matter (of Tao/Dharma/Way)
in term of being :

Blown out like a flame,
being pulverized like a mountain,
or being blown away like a cloud..

and all have agreed that this recognition
is based on your Non-Existence !

People say, " Ah, when I listen to Mozart "
And some very exalted people say that when they
listen to Bach - " I feel this Oneness that
the mystics talk about".

But if you experience anything then there are two, so where
then is Unity , where is the Oneness of Allah (Tawhid or Fana) ?
Ibnu Arabi has written much about this phrase :

"Everything perish except the Face of Allah".
And He is the Going-On (al-Baqiu)
Oh Lord of Majesty and Generous Gifts

In America , people often wolud say to me,
" I know what you are talking about.
I am mountain climber and I climb up the great
heights in the Rockies and I look at the horizon
and I am ANNIHILATED.

I feel I am NOTHING before this
greatness of the DIVINE."

They never leave the realm of the SENSORY and so they
do not enter into the realm of MEANINGS.

The modern men say, " I want spiritual knowledge". In other words, I am not interested in this outwardness, I want inward knowledge but I am not interested in all these religions. These all are forms, and I want the essence". And because they have not got a Path of Teaching, these people (psedo-sufis/modernists) end up in terrible disaster. Modern man is in the marshes! What a mess.

Someone said to one of the great shaykhs of the Darqawi tariqa,

" Tell me the greatest Name of Allah". And he said,
" Show me the least thing in the whole universe,
and i will show you the Greatest Name of Allah".

(Note : to practice the calling of Ismul Azim in khalwa
the seekers need special idhin, guidance and protection
in secluded place. Its experience may shatters one unprepared self.
Re-entering the sensory realms from the homeland of meanings
of the spirit is beyond this discourse. Get it from the arifun )

Always To Be In Change

2007-08-20T15:01:00.000+08:00

The Fuqara Must Ask Always To Be In Change- By Shaykh Abdal Qadir as-Sufi

The du'a of the Muslim is, "O Allah, keep me in change." Keep mealways changing because everything is changing and every day Allah ison a new creation.You must be renewing and renewing yourself. You have to always be inchange. You must remember that the company of the fuqara is thehighest company. You must keep each other company.

You must travel toother places where there are fuqara. You must sit with the fuqara inevery place. You must be an example to them and take example fromthem when you meet people of quality. Seek the people of knowledge,seek the people of love of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, and the peopleof love of Rasul, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam. To take the adab ofthe great ones you have to sit with them, you have to sit with thepeople of knowledge. It is by your company that you are purified.

Tasawwuf is keeping company, then tasawwuf is listening, thentasawwuf is acting upon what you hear. There is only one enemy andthat is your self. The nafs has nothing good in it. The worst of allthings to the Sufis is the recognition of their own good qualitiesover and against that of other people – it is what sets them back andsmashes them on the rocks of destiny. You must not look at your goodqualities. You must consider them something that in themselves havebeen spoiled even by your being conscious of them. You do not look atyour self.You do not find fault with others, you find fault with your self.You must look at your self and say, "What is wrong with it?" Harithal-Muhasibi went over his day, then went over his hours and then wentover his minutes, then went over his breath until he had verifiedthat it was pleasing to Allah, that it was acceptable to Allah.

Two great `ulama met in Baghdad and they argued and fought with eachother. At the end one of them said, "Let us meet tomorrow and discussthis matter further and the other one said, "No, let us meet tomorrowand make peace and forget all about it."

This is the way of the Sufis – to begin again.You must not be limited in your forgiveness of the faults of othersbut you must not have any measurement of any attention to yourself.Any consciousness of your self you must turn from. You must turn awayfrom the nafs and the method of turning away from the nafs is not apsychological method, it is dhikrullah. (Surat ar-Ra'd, 28 ) "Only inthe dhikr of Allah can the heart find peace."

You must do dhikr ofAllah. You must remember Allah standing, sitting and reclining onyour side. You must call upon Allah.You cannot afford to be out of the company of the people who loveAllah for any amount of time in this age that we live in. You must bewith the people who love Allah, you need them. You need the people ofAllah because they will remind you of Allah. You need the people ofknowledge because you have to be strong in your Deen and you have tobe correct in your Deen in an age where every mosque has a differentway of going into sajda, let alone the higher things of the Deen.

You must speak well of people and have a good opinion of people. You mustbecome people of futuwwa, you must become these people who are spokenof because of the high aspiration, the high himma you have which ison a universal scale that when you go to the Ka'ba, with all thetroubles that are there, you must look for the people of Allah thereand sit with them. Beware of the people of dunya. Beware of thepeople of dunya until you are safe, and when you are safe it does notmatter where you go. If you are not safe then you must be careful.

You must have taqwa and you must have wara'. You must take care, takecare, watch, until you are on Sirat al-Mustaqim because when thingsgo wrong you have to remember that all you have got is then to turnto Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala.Remember, even tawba is nothing to do with you – it is because Allahhas decreed for you tawba because He wants you, so even that is notyours, it is not your good achievement.Your asking forgiveness is not your good achievement, it is simplyAllah claiming you and you recognising that He has claimed you.

Youbelong to Allah. You have come from Allah and you are going to Allah.This is what you have to tell yourself. You must not be hypnotised bydunya.Remember that Rasul, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam, indicated that thesmall coin of the poor person is as dangerous as the gold of therich, so you must be generous. To be generous is to follow the way ofRasul, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam. You must be generous, you musthave a good opinion of other people, you must not say bad thingsabout other people and if you do say them you must go back and cleanit out and you must ask their forgiveness.

If someone is totally against you and totally in the wrong then you have to forgive themand you have to forget it and you have to go back and put thingsright. This is how the Deen has always been. This is how these greatmen have lived in the past.Just finally to remind you – look what has become of futuwwa – theelders of the organisation of people calling themselves al- Fatah aretying dynamite to youngsters' bellies and shoving them out to blowthemselves up, when the people who fought with Rasul, sallallahu`alayhi wa sallam, pushed the young people aside in order that theycould go and fight fisabilillah, fight in the service of Rasul,sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam.

So the whole Deen has to start all overagain.You are the people who must start it and in this continent is whereit will begin. It is from your people and from your children, but youmust have an adab to them, you must treat them with courtesy. Youmust treat your children with courtesy, you must treat the young withcourtesy just as you must treat the old with courtesy. You mustbecome the people of adab and if you become the people of adab youwill be safe.

If you become people of adab you will be Sufis. At-Tariqa kulluha-adab. The Tariqa is nothing but adab, that is all itis – adab.You must also have some respect for yourself. That respect foryourself is only manifest by the fact that all the people around youare at ease and in harmony with you and pleased that you are there.This is how you must be.

You must be a blessing on the earth. Youmust be a baraka for everybody. You must be ones that when you entera room it all lights up because of your love of Rasul, sallallahu`alayhi wa sallam, your love of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, andbecause your tongue is supple with the name of Allah and not thematters of dunya.Dunya will not fail to happen. All its strategems and spoils will notfail to crash about your ears, they have always done it and they willcontinue to do it.

When the People of the Cave came out, there again faced with the world and all its problems and all its difficulties, but Allah loves the people of tawhid and loves thepeople who love Him
and this is the company, the company of the Sufis.

We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, that we prefer to go
to the company of people who only want to go to Allah
in preference to anyone who may do anything to help
give us advantage in this world.

We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to make us ready for the tests
come so that we can respond to Him and remember to praise Him
in every situation. Alhamdulillahi `ala kulli hal.

We ask Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to bless this mosque
and its imams and its guardians and that it continues
to be a witness for Islam as it has been
in the troubled times of the past.

Amin.

Remembering Sidi Idris Kamaruddin 24 May 2003

2007-08-09T12:36:00.000+08:00

Discourse by Sidi Umar Vadillo , 24 May 2003, Ribat of Kuala Lumpur

Bismillahir rahmanir rahim.

Tonight I am saying something special about Sidi Idris. His death/passing away and the events surrounding it were a great opening to all of us. We ask Allah Taala to shower His bounty and mercy upon him. He has gone ahead of us.

He is a man of wisdom-hikmah and certainty. Things become clear to him and looks settled while for others it is wobbly. He went through life with everything (riches and status etc) and also everything was taken away from him (become poor and stripped away).
In tasawwuf, this process is called annihilation-fana of the slave attributes. He purifies the nafs until it becomes free and pure for the worship of Allah with knowledge.

Sidi Shaykh has conferred highest honor on him by appointing him as his khalifa-representative in the tariqa of Shadhili-Darqawiyya in the region of Nusantara-malay world ( after he had made a difficult trip to England and Spain to meet SAQ in Granada in the month of Ramadhan in the early 1980s. He was well versed in the teaching of malay classical texts-kitab and graduated with an economic degree from Belfast Queen University).

We confirmed him as the wali of Allah. Nobody knows the secrets of the wali as he is buried/ hidden among the community of murids. He takes away this gift with him to the presence of Allah Taala. We witness his great love for Allah and His Rasul sallallahu alaihi wasallam although he try to hide his tears and states in the dhikr session.

The Sufis rejoice whe a mumin dies because he had doine his job and pleased with Allah.
When a baby is born, they-sufis are grieved bcos he is going to face a test of his life. Those who remembers Allah is alive and those who forgot Him are already dead although outwardly they are alive.

Sayyidina Umar r.a. said : Die before you die. It means you must have the knowledge of death which is about the power, decree and secret of Allah’s action while we are alive before facing the real death and ready for Akhirah. Each person build a prison around him while living. The dunya can be a prison if we don’t see its power that masters over the self-nafs. By that we are veiled from the knowledge of Allah.

Tasawwuf is freeing the nafs from this prison which we build by our attachment, fears, love..etc. The awliya has no fear bcos they already went through this matter in the Path. (As instructed by SAQ, the fuqara in kuala Lumpur had recited the Wird, Suratul Yassin and three qasidah from the Diwan of Sh. Muhammad Ibn alHabib (SMH), for the last three days in his illness.
One day before he passed away, we recited the Lakal-Hamd, Counsel of Death and Asma ul-Husna for him in a special gathering. May Allah gave us the mercy, secrets and blessings
of that zikr only to remember His gifts to us in this short life sojourns.

The kafirun hides the news of death. They feel at loss. They don’t know what to do. They fear it and attributed it to worldly causality..this and that events. For the muslims, it is entirely a matter of the Decree of Allah, the Giver of Life and Taker of Death. It does not matter how things are going our way before we die if we accepted our destiny. To live, worship, obey and love Allah Taala. We are all journeying toward our own death and meeting with Him.

Sidi Idris will be remembred by us in the dhikr, dua’ and the knowledges or advice he given to us and his blessed company with us .

We ask Allah taala to give him a high place in the Garden
among the company of the Salihun.
We ask Allah Taala to protect and strengthen his family members
and make great openings for them.

We ask You, Oh Allah, by the rank of our compassionate guide
Sayyidina Muhammad, grant us sciences that will benefit us
in the Day of Rising, strengthen us with lights at every instant
and make us firm at the time of sealing,
the agony of death and in the grave.

Dua’ from the end of Asmaul-Husna Qasida of SMH :

Oh Allah, we beg You by Your Most Beautiful Names
seeking Your approval and lutf in this life and the grave.

And on the Day of Rising and Gathering at the Stopping Place
where creation will taken into account , Oh Knower of secrets !

When the book of actions are taken, and at the Arrival-Masyar
and when we pass over the Sirat.

Oh Vast Goodness-ya Wasial Birri
Give us health in our life transaction, and this world and mercy
in the Two Abodes by Your Overflowing Generosity.

We ask for a seal of goodness (husnul khatimah) at death, and
to be near the Prophet, the praise worthy station of gathering.

May the blessings of Allah be upon him and His peace without end
and on his family and glorious Companions.

Ribat of Sidi al-Banna Retreat
Bukit Keramat Hujung
Kuala Lumpur

Encounters New Fuqara at Masjid Bukhari

2007-06-03T20:39:00.000+08:00

Imam Junayd of Baghdad said:

‘If I had known of any science greater than Sufism,

I would have gone to it, even on my hands and knees’.

The one (sufi) has been robed with the robe of Honour (wilayat)

and is complete. Light upon light. Empty and full.

The heart is Serene. The instant (now) is Present.

The sufi’s task is to recognize the end at the Beginning.

He has gone beyond. He has Rolled up the cosmos

In its turn and obliterated it.

He has reduced and then Eliminated the marks

Of selfhood to allow a clear view of Cosmic Reality.

(The Hundred Steps: page 1)

It is constant Discovery. It is constant Renewal.

It is ever fresh Witnessing of the Beauty and

Ever fresh Bowing to the Majesty.

This brings to birth in the Gnostic a new longing

And joy- to transmit to the sons of Adam the good news

And the warning - and to invite people

To the Way of Self Knowledge (Marifa)

Witnessing (Musyahada) and Wonders

(THS : page 87)

Shaykh Muhammad ibn alHabib said in Robe of Nearness :

‘Strip yourself of all knowledge and understanding

So that you may obtain what the great (awliya) have obtained.

Freely offer up your self/nafs, you who desire union

And follow the Shaykh in whatever he indicates.

Witness the truth (haqiqat) in him, both in your essence

And your heart, annihilate yourself in him:

By him you will win (the gift).

He is the light(nur) of the Messenger from every aspect

And the medicine of hearts, both openly and secretly.

Blessings be upon the Prophet and all his family

And Companions and all who direct people to him

And peace, fragrant with musk and every scent’

Full beauty and unrivalled sublimity.

(From The Diwan of Jewels of Traveling Murid and

Treasures of Gnostic Wayfarers)

Gathering at Masjid al-Bukhari, Kuala Lumpur : 2 June 2007

All praise and thanks to Allah. We never expected a stream of new comers to attend our Saturday after maghrib zikir circle and teaching since the first grand gathering of Maulid in Mac 2007. In fact, some of the fuqara were from different continents and reunited again after more than 20 years.

Such is the case of Sidi Malik Bennet from USA. He met several malaysian fuqara while staying brieftly in Granada Spain in early 1980s. He almost cannot recognize Sidi Dimyati and Amir Zahari, very young and long haired hippied that time who taught him silat melayu.

The second long time faqir to reappear is Sidi Shaarani from Seremban, an close friend to arwah faqir Sidi Sulaiman Lim who worked together in Nestle chocolate company there. The thrid faqir is Sidi Hilmi, after more than 10 years in Pakistan and 10 years in Johor, he was blessed by Allah Taala to be sent near us. Now he worked at Megasteel plant in Dengkil, very near Putrajaya.

What is amazing, many of the fuqara brought along their grown up sons, the new second generation of fuqara to inherit, take over and renewed the struggle, seek knowledge from company of noble muridin and salihun/ulama and travel in the Path of Allah. In many weekly zikir that we attended at Masjid alBukhari, some night, the young fuqara sons outnumber the older ones or their father. We honor them in this posting by putting their blessed names for posterity to recognize, remember and to advance further and taste the fruits and gifts of Allah as the time and future unfolds:

Sidi Malik Bennet who study in ISTAC, UIA travel all the way from Gombak by taxi or LRT/Monorel took his three sons as follow:

Sidi Muhammad Taha Bennet age 16 - email: muhammad_taha513@yahoo.com
Sidi Ibrahim Salahuddin Bennet age 11.
Sidi Mahmoud Yahya Bennet age 10.

Sidi Shaarani should be given the highest marks of dedication, having traveled furthest 60 km away from Seremban to KL. He begin the journey by using KTM commuter train from Seremban, stop and transit at Bandar Tasik Selatan station, take the STAR-LRT and exit at Jalan Hang Tuah station..just walk 200 meters to reach Masjid Bukhari. His pack of young wolves as follow:

Sidi Muhammad Nizamudin Nuaim age 14.
Sidi Muhamad Syamim Nizar age 13
and Sidi Muhammad Nasrul Naim age 16- Form 4,Sekolah Tunku Durah.

Not to be outdone, last night 2 June 2007, our muqadim Sidi Dimyati from Taman Gombak despite heavy rain and traffic jam, managed to arrive at our zikr circle with his three future mujahid and bespectacled fuqara as below:

Sidi Muhammad Ihsan age 20
Sidi Umar islam age 16
Sidi Ahmad Fridaus 14.

Our Amir Zahari of Bukit Antarabangsa, KL did also brought his two young faqir sons Sidi Abu Bakar and Sidi Yusuf (Ahmad Qabil) the previous month and Muqadim Abdal Halim Shin last two week ago take along his son Ahmad Zuhri Shin who stand taller than his father, aged 18 and scored 9A1 at MRSM Tun Ghafar, Melaka, undergone 2 month PLKN at Kuala Kubu Camp in February 2007. He will enroll at Kolej Mara Banting for pre-university IB medical course.

We almost forget to record that Sidi Wan Izni of Education Ministry,last week 26 May also unexpectedly brought along his two young warrior sons:

Sidi Wan Muhammad Yusof age 11
and Sidi Ahmad Ibrahim age 7.

Although they may not able to sit quite in zikr but they do running around and active exploring every corners of the new blessed mosque, rebuilt from a waqaf land by Syed Anwar al-Banna younger brother at cost of RM12.5 millions. Suddenly Sidi Malik Bennet said: ' Ah...I know this name. I met him in Granada, he is very tall man, where is he now ?".

Just to reflect back, in past there weeks, 19 May, 26 May and 2 June of 2007, the fuqara sons overhelmingly outnumber the old fuqara/fathers. Ha ha very encouraging signs. Anyway, the young travellers like to take the KL Monorail, LRT-Star or KTM Commuter rather than suffer the traffic jams especially at Jalan Hang Tuah leading to the crowded popular Bukit Bintang and Puduraya area.

Alhamdulillah, last night we recited Yasin and Tahli after Maghrib with the alBukhari foundation people and feted to a sumptous dinner of beriyani, mutton, ayam merah, dalca and fruits, then after Isyak prayer, we joined the Ba Alawi or alHaddad fuqara in reciting the full Qasida Burda lasting about 45 minutes. We were given opportunity to sing in between Qasida od Ahimu Wahdi from Diwan Shaykh Muhammad ibn al Habib.

So after that event, we hold our short zikr at basement floor joined by Sidi Zainuddin from Shah Alam, a close friend od Haji Azmil who now studying in Syria. Welcome also to Sidi Wan Nordin and wife Nik Mahani from Ampang, who pioneered the minting of Emas Dinar Kelantan with success in Kota Bharu supported by the state government. They are preparing a big Dinar Seminar in July 2007 inviting Sidi Umar Pasha, insya Allah to give lecture. We pray for success all the da'wa work fi sabilillah.

Muqadim Dimyati gave a short talk on his encounter with Shaykh Abdal Qadir as-Sufi in 1978 and his visit to a zawiya in Moroccan Desert. The awliya told them: ' Here Islam is losing ground and being isolated, go to land/place where Islam is growing and in need.' He indicates that our da'wa shall be in land of West or our homeland where the light of Allah are needed by people after being colonialized and secularised. Tasawwuf is the journey of ihsan where we must fulfill our basic Islamic practices/ibadah and our iman/aqida is correct. Sidi Dimyati quote a reply by a Turkish man who said Islam is in the heart !. This is a wrong answer. Islam is outward, iman is inward and unseen, not the other way round. Amir Zahari later informed us the latest development and activity. He asked us to use fully the space and freedom given by Bukhari Mosque for teaching and dawa and meeting with various jemaah.

We end our blessed night with Salawat Najiyya from our Diwan as follow:

O Allah, bless our master Muhammad and the family of Muhammad
with a blessing by which You will save us from every fear and harm.
Supply us with all our needs by it,
and purify us from all evils by it,
and raise us to the highest degrees by it,
Through it, let us attain the furthest goal of good
in this life and after death.

O Allah, in this hour send down some of Your good
and Your baraka on us as You send it down
on Your Awliya- Friends and
send us what is kept for Your Lovers.

Let us taste the coolness of Your Pardon
and the sweetness of Your Forgiveness.
Spread over us Your Compassion which encompass
all things. Sustain us with Your Love,
Your Acceptance, our renewal in You,

Your Counsel, Your response to our asking
forgiveness and well being, taking in the present
and the absent, the living and the dead
in Your Mercy.

O Most Merciful of the Merciful,

O Lord of the Worlds.

Tears of Diamond

2007-05-06T12:09:00.000+08:00

My dearest Charlene :

Let us brighten you up with many prayers which we learned from Maulana Rumi, he said:

Dont grief if the world slip away and sorrow came they are guests of God that bring fortitude and joys
Stand bow and sajda longer in your salat and munajat until tears became your diamonds in His sight
He will bring you out of darkness into light

Learn and recite His Divine Words until it is yours Rabbi habli hukman wa ahiqni bis-salihin
Allahu waliyul lazi amanu yukhriju minaz zulumati ilan nur Anta Waliyyi fid Dunya wa Akhira wa tawaffani musliman

There are billions people outside there dont get this blessing of iman
everyday they running after money and work and enjoyment
our happiness are when we able to wash purify and face Qibla
Allahu akbar..Fatiha..then everything became small and gone
swirling and journeying into His vast mercy of Rahman and Rahim
answering the echo of 'Alastu bi-rabbikum and Irji ila Rabbiki
radhiyyatan mardhiyya.

Sometimes we envy the people of zen who can meditate for hours
in stillness and emptiness of being and at peace with existence
while we muslims agitated just for a few minutes of 5 prayers
why because our hearts are filled with dunya and fear of provision.

Fasting is the food of lovers and patience is fortress of certainty
shake the dry palm tree trunk and dates fell at maryam feets
See and wonder how Allah Taala honored the righteous women
How the mother of Moses forced to throw her baby to the river
and Siti Hajar with a young son were send into deep desert
...the rest of event is history that commemorated by more
than 2 millions believers in the rite of hajji pilgirmage

Make niyyat and doa to be there , insya Allah, my Charlene
will be there exhausted and totally overhelmed one day
beyond words, beyond intellect and beyond pictures.
Fasalamun ala man tabaal huda. Fastaqim kama umirtu.

Note: Charlene is a young and divorced american women
who recently embraced by the light and love of Islam...

Retrieved and edited at the teahut office of Dailin Nur 6 June 2006

Marhaban and Maryah From Turkey

2007-05-06T09:17:00.000+08:00

Just like to say marhaban to Muslima and

Maryah hailed from the blessed land of Turkey :

To begin with when I was fortunate and amply blessed by Allah to perform hajji in 2004 to met a lot of turkish muslims there in Makkah and Madinah. Here are they as listed from my little memory :

Sidi Orhan and Abdal Jalil whom guide me to visit tomb

of late Sheikh Sami Mahmud Effendi in Baqi sanctuary in Madinah

Sidi Abu Bakr Rifaii of Istanbul

Two Turkish hajj at Masjdil haram that gave me a copy of Dalailul Khayrat
and we parted with kisses and warm embraces after Fajr prayer.

Sidi Vahid Bayrak of Madina aged over 70 years at Masjid Nabawi

Sidi Mustafa Sozen and wife who invited me to partake their food

in Masjidil haram and later gave me the copy of Nursi prayers book.

And last, I had to admit secretly that I am a longtime lover and poet apprentice of Maulana Jalaludin Rumi of Konya. His poems and Mathnawi almost dance and rains in my endless seeker encounters. Last month I bought a book by Sefik Can on Rumi, what an illuminating soul he was and helping others to understand and guided by Rumi almost 700 years ago.

Anyway, who is this stranger abuzuhri of malaysia dambling in deep Turkish territory and picking walnuts along with Yunus Emre. Actually twenty years ago I already fall in love with Badeeuzaman said Nursi and all the great Ottoman sultans and ulama awliya than defended Islam from western kuffar dark forces for more 300 years.

May Allah always protect and keep the great generous people and land of

Turkey with pure living and unfolding of islam.

A You Seeker Or Trepasser

2007-05-06T08:40:00.000+08:00

Read in the name of your Creator Zhen Zhu

You will never know your fate Ming Ching

Then set out to discover life of Yin or Yang

The school cannot teach the seeker without a Master

They are programming achievers and engineers

My friend, Do you want a piercing advice ?

From the sage of a hundred generation /Sheng Ren

How can forgot about Mencius or Lao Tzu

Oh Chinese seeker, here here not in China

You will find the answer not in Tao Te Ching

Al-Hujwiri says in Kashful Mahjub Unveiling The Mask

A reality without a name in beginning

Now too many fighting over a sufi name

Find out more from The Book of Stranger

Ming bu fu shi-goes the saying of Lun Yun

The Heaven and Earth cannot contain

My precious secret, only the true ones can bear it

All men within four seas are brothers

China is not the central kingdom anymore

The Tao of Heaven appear everywhere

The Tao of men slowly disappeared

Follow what the Heaven Decrees

Call it- Ming, call it Revelation or Wahyu

Gnosis or Illumination sounds better.

Master Pai Chang say: quick quick grasp it

or your wild ducks fly away from Zen Blue Cliff Mountains !

Try comprehend Tao and Islam as painted Sachiko Murata

In beautiful calligraphic strokes but still not complete

Why not learn the movements of Qigong Taiji

Stand still inwardly in harmony ya Ulil Absari

Embrace the Tiger and return to the Mountain of Arafah

This is your original nature. Consult your Oracle.

Ask yourself why Marx and Mao rise up

To sweep away decadent beliefs of atheist China

The masses cannot think.

‘Old wisdom only in books’

help me oh my seeker friend !

you speak a very different language

like a Sufic-Wu Li dancing Masters (read Gary Zukav

he still on nine beclouded guy unless get re-Rumized)

Openly witness the One Reality

and affirm the Noble Messenger-Glorious Sage

Who honored you before your Ancestors

His wisdom light already in your chest

An Illuminated path neither East or West

Nurun alan-nur, yahdiLlahu li-nurihi man yasyaau.

Wa Allahu bi-kulli syain alim

Translate it for me. Be brave.

The Straight Path is in front of you.

The men of Tao delights in flowing water

The superior men delight in mountains

Why, the wise sages alway in the move, never still

Master Kung says: Set your heart upon the Way.

Support yourself by its power.

The Messenger of Peace says:

Seek knowledge even unto China

A few seconds of reflection is better than a thousand prayers

Your life is a testing journey

To the Garden or the Fire

Do not be cheated by pretenders

All the Gurus self appointed leaders

Shaykh Ibnu Athaillah indicated in Hikam:

Idfin wujuka fil-ardhi khumuli

Enrich yourself in the earth of obscurity

In order to bloom perfectly later

Sidi Nuh Ha Mim Keeler from America

unexpected got it right in Jordan...

assembled The Reliance of The Traveller

Umdat as-Salik in just under 7 years

My Blue Colored I Ching Hexagram Text says:

When the Sage is in a lowly position

Is like a dragon concealed in depths.

One the should nurture/cultivate inner virtues

In obscurity while awaiting the proper time to act.

The rest is your choice.

Yin and Yang, don’t let the Shadow of fears and doubts

Cover your future destiny

Uncover the Light of iman within that will

Lead you to the Garden of Bliss Eternally

Otherwise you get only the sunburns (Yang) or

Remains in the shades (Yin) of cover up forever.

From old Notes Dailin Nur 14 April 2007

talks by Dr.Anqaravi Bursevi

The Reflowering of Islam in China

2007-05-05T13:33:00.000+08:00

Preface Note by Dailin Nur Editor:

A friend told this writer that while performing the Hajj in 2004 at Mecca, he met several Uighur Muslims from Urumqi and Kasghar who openly told him that they are the followers of Bekhtasi and Qadiriyya tariqas but unffortunately back in China, they had to practice it in a hidden way and to survive another day. May Allah proctect the muslims in china, make them strong in brotherhood and the deen and spread the light of Islam to the new lost generations of the kuffar.

Recently a notable muslim leader, businessman, activist lady Rebia Kader who vigorously championed the islamic worship and freedom of ethnic Uighurs was nominated for Nobel Peace prize. She was jailed many years, later exiled to America and still propagating from overseas. Another dedicated East Turkistan muslim leader was Abdal Jalil Karkash where he operate a Islamic center in Germany for exiled and persecuted muslims across central Asia and Europe. We as muslim one ummah must support and help these noble muslims in china to keep the deen strong and may Allah guides them alway, and to produce new scholars, awliya, ulama, leaders and salihun that strive in His Path.

The Second Tide of Islam in China : Spread of Sufic Brotherhood

A young Chinese murid/disciple whom destined to be a great sufi shaykh was told by Nashqabandi teacher Khawja Afaq in 1672, after receiving the initial training in Middle East and Central Asia was told :

“ I am not to be your (complete/perfect) Teacher (yu er fei shi ),
my Ancient Teaching is not to be passed to you, your real Shaykh
has already crossed the Eastern Sea and arrived in Eastern land
(of China). You must therefore return home quickly, and you
will become a famous (sufi) Teacher in the land (later)”.

This student was famously known as Master Qi Jingyi ( Shaykh Hilal-addin)or Qi Doazhu. He was buried in Linxia’s great tomb which became an active center of Qadiriyya Sufism in china. He had preached Islam in the province ofGuandong, Guangxi,Yunnan, Guizhou and Ningxia before his death in 1674. Another record traced that Qi Jingyi had studied in the Prophet Illuminated City of Madina under the renown mystic Shaykh Ibrahim al-Kurani of the Shattariyya-Qadiriyya Tariqa, the same teacher of the Sumatra ulama Abdul Rauf Fansuri ( author of Umdatul Muhtajin).

The main Qadiri teaching are :

“ Those who know their self, clearly will know Allah”
(man arafa nafsahu, fa qad arafa Rabbahu)

and “ The Awliya-saints help us to know-correct ourselves first before knowing Allah (perfectly in worship and devotion)”.

There are three stages of sufic teaching are known in Chinese expressions as

-Sharia / Chang Dao
-Tariqa / Zhong Dao
- Haqiqah / Zhen Cheng / Zhi Dao.

Joseph Flectcher ‘s cogent observation is worth citing : “ many sufi reforms spread throughout china during the decades of Qing Dynasty. Increased travels and communication between muslims both east and west, generated revival and exposition to new teaching.

There are now 4 main menhuan tariqa exist in china : the Tariqa of Qadiriyya (traced back to shaykh Abdal Qadir al-Jilani), Jahriyya and Khufiyya (from Shaykh Bahauddin Nashqabandi) and Kubrawiyya ( from Shaykh Najmuddin al-Kubrawi of Persia). Interesting enough, the sufic text/poems of Mathnawi of Maulana Rumi are still recited/ chanted in Ningxia province until today”.

According to another sufic saying – ‘True Tao/Way are unceasing (Ti tao wu she ) which means that authentic sufic paths will always exist and sustained by the power, decree and overflowing of Allah’s immense knowledge, secrets and lights deposited through His Awliya/Friends. The Khufiyya menhuan preferred silent zikr remembrance of God. It is more suited to the hostile opposition from the Chinese governments which sought to assimilate them.

Shaykh Ma Laichi was the founder of Nasqabandi in china. From 1728-1733, Ma Laichi went to hajj to Mecca, then passing to Yemen and Bukhara wher he studied with several sufi masters. He emphasised on a more active participation in society beside infusion of knowledge, zikr and reverence of past saints. The Nashqabandi Jahriyya was another important sufic order in china founded by Shaykh Ma Mingxin a dynamic leader. His teaching was thought to be novel, heterodox and subject to many conflicts in north west china. He preached the vocal-loud zikr (jahri).

Many of his murids stated that : “ The root of our Way is from Arabia, the branches and leaves are in China” This remind us of the Prophetic Hadith :‘ Seek knowledge even unto China’.

After extensive search, Fletcher discovered that Ma Mingxin spiritual lineage was connected to a Nasqhbandi sufi named shaykh Abu Duha Halik from Yemen. This sufic silsila contained in the documnents found by a missionary FW Martin Taylor who was based in Jinxi, Ningxia.

After him, there are other sufi shaykhs such as Ma Hualong, Ma Jinxi and Ma Yuanzhang, active until the late 1920s. Gellner suggested that , “ Sufism provide a theory, terminology and technique of leadership for the Chinese muslims for future survival”.

At the 1985 Commemoration Ceremony ( Ermaili) on the death of the Jahriyya founder Ma Mingxin, over 20,000 adherents gathered for 3 days at his tomb complex at Langzhou for zikr, prayers and cultural/business activites as well. Eventually, the Chinese Government allowed the Provincial Islamic Society to rebuilt the centre as tourism attraction.

The exclusivity of sufi orders in china illustrates the crucial identity and authority for the Hui Muslims. Anyone can enter the orders through ritual vow (ba’aya) or by birth, but seldom the murids maintain allegiance to 2 menhuan-tariqas at once.

The well acceptance of Islamic teaching by the Ming Emperor can be shown in an imperial edict which read :

“ The Confucian study can order men and complete tasks (in society) but it is inadequate for penetrating the Unseen reality or understandingthe transformation of Nature.

The other similar sufic sayings to attract the Chinese by comparing Confucius
and Lao Tzu to the Messenger of Islam are : “ A thousand sages have only one heart (inner truth) and ten thousands years have only one principle” and “ Their hearts are One, therefore their Ways are the same from (Divine Source)”.

There are another two great Chinese Ulama and Sufi Teachers widely acknowledged in the 1500-1700 century namely Imam Wang Daiyue and Shaykh Liu Chi whom masterly employed the Confucian ethics and Taoist classical philosophy imbued with Islamic light, wisdom and Tawhid/Quranic teachings to replace/renew the lost/decayed Ancients Teaching of the sages. They travelled extensively for da’wa and debate with Chinese scholars and monks, many of them embraced Islam after the illuminating exchanges. They are both proficient in Mandarin, Arabic and even Persian scripts/language. The early kitab on Aqidah by an-Nasafi were translated into Chinese as early in 1300. Dr.William Chittick had recently edited and translated an abridged version of Jami al- Lawaih (Gleams of Spiritual Lights) by Wang Daiyue and Liu Chih into English from mandarin texts.

Insya’Allah, we hope to publish more insightful articles on Islam in China and how the new generation preserved their unique Hui identity and keep the light of Qing zhen Jiao bright and shining. In another encounter with the real Mr.Shu Yumin showed us the potential attracting new muslims only if we are ready to hold genuine dialogue and exchange of understanding on the fragmented Chinese philosophy and delusion of the materialistic atheistic society in need of spiritual awakening.

My Hajj Journal 2004

2007-05-05T13:11:00.001+08:00

Oh Allah, by Your Name I begin my affairs

and by Your Qudra I make my deliberations

and unto You is our returning

If you engage upon travel

You will arrive- and may Allah,

be praise be to Him

Guide you and us !

(The Makkan Revelations –Shaykh al-Akbar)

AlhamduliLlah wa syukriLlah. I would like to thanks the wonderful muslims and fellow hajjis and hajjahs whom gave me inspirations to write this journal. Capturing all their blessed embraces, presence, advice and prayers they uttered for this humble seeker. Here are part of the names and descriptions which I managed to remember:

Sidi Muhammad Ridha Lua

Sidi Abu Bakar of Casablanca

Sidi Yassir Abdullah al- Manooni of Meknes

Sidi Abdul Jalil Ahmad and wife

Sidi Muhammad Muazzam of Kasghar, Xinqiang

(a murid of Bekthasi tariqa)

Sidi Shaji of UAE, Haji Zulkifli Jusoh of Pekan

Sidi Mustafa Sozen- a Nursi/Risalai Nur student of Turkey

Sidi Malik and wife Safia of East London

Sidi Muhammad Jiddan al-Qadiri al-Fulani of Sokoto

Sidi Ahmad Saidi of Banting

Sidi Moazzaz – nuclear scientist from Pakistan

Two noble fuqara of Nasqabandiyya Shaykh Abdul Baqi of Turkey

(who parted with their precious copy of Dalailul Khairat at MH)

Sidi Muhammad Dury of Atleb, Kuryn District Officer of Syria

Sidi Abu Bakar Rifai of Istanbul

Sidi Dato’ Abdur Rahman Ibrahim

An Uighur/Kazak Muslim who prayed incessantly

(At the outer Nabawi Mosque near the Raudhah)

Sidi Vahid Bayrak al-Madani ( over 80 years)

Sidi Luqman Chua of Kota Bharu whom I missed to meet

And Sidi Yusof Ong of Sham Alam, Sidi Ali Yahya al-Aghla al-Jiraini -born in Madinah

A Hajji from Aleppo, Syria, A Senegal student of

(who memorizing Quran in the Nabawi Mosque and corrected my recitation)

Six Fuqara of Shaykh Omar Abu Bakar al-Rifai of Ankara

A Majestic Turkish Sufi at the side of tawaf perimeter first floor

Of Masjidil haram on Friday, Three hajjis from Hotan, China

A Nephew of Dr.Yunus we met on Jabal Qubais

A Mujahidin fund raiser on the roof of MH

A group of Thai Muslims near the Raudhah

A Turkish alim at the Prophet Mosque, A faqir of Abu Ayyub Ansari descendant

(who presented us a copy of Hisbul Haqaiq an-Nuriyyah)

A hajji from Maharasta, India. Sidi Agus of Tasik Malaya, Bandung

Sidi Muhammad Shafii of Yangon, Mynmar

Dr. Shuja Ali of Tyler University, Texas

Three fuqara of Shaykh Sami Mahmud Effendi ( who passed away

and buried in Madinah near Imam Malik at Baqi)- Sidi Abdul Jalil,

Sidi Orhan and Sidi Umar. Sidi Said ibn Zakaria al-Qadiri of Kano

Haji Ramli of Gombak Setia ( Hotel Wardah Andalus roommate in Madinah)

Haji Yahaya of Kuala Lumpur. Three hajjis from Meknes who sang Lakal-hamdu

Sidi Ibrahim Hassan of Kasghar-Nasqabandi Khufiyya.

A Yemeni shopowner (who sold the Darqawi black tasbih in Madinah)

Sidi Muhammad Samin al-Madani (who recited doa for us at Masjid Nabawi

hand as greeting of salam toward the Rawdah) and not the last..

Two hajjis from Makasar, Sulawesi (land of Sh.Yusuf Makassar Khalwati)

The Beginning

1. This seeker journey to Hajj begin more than 25 years ago. One young Chinese economics student had decided that after his final third year exam in University of Malaya in January 1979 is the time to declare the mighty Witnessing of Reality , the Shahada : Ashadu anla ilaha illa Allah, wa ashadu anna Muhammadun rasuluLlah. This is the secret formula to the Door of The Garden. Whoever proclaimed it sincerely deep from his being will be granted by Allah the Garden. He only had to follow the Sunna of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him pecae in fulfilling the five basic pillars of worship. In fact, the seeker had done serious research for 5 years since 1974 in comparative religions. I still remember the magazine Nuggets of Wisdom which I read in the library of Sekolah Alam Shah which contains the excerpts from various sages of the world. Ibnul Arabi the great master said: Engage in travel, you will arrive.

2. 9 Januari 2005- Climb up to the third floor of the Mosque to pray Fajar. Can look down directly at the magnificent House of Allah drapped in black velvet with Quranic inscriptions. Thousand and thousands of pilgrims never stop swirling around it, proclaiming labayka Allahumma labayk. That morning was extra chilling and windy. I was wearing 4 layers of clothing without the outer black jacket. After finish the jamaah prayer, make my way down through the stairs. I saw sleeping figure tucked in one corner at the passageway. May be this is the right man to receive the first sadaqah. Slowly I approach him and tapped him lightly at the shoulder. Assalamualaikum. Allahu akbar, wake up. He turned and opened up the eyes still misty and saw my smiling face. Then I put the money warmly into his hand saying :

“From the Sufis-the Sufis, (meaning) please honor

and think well of the Sufis.”

They looked around for the poor and give out for the Face of Allah without hesitation. He must be poor if not why this arab looking man slept at the mosque with bare possessions, why not in his hotel room ?

I make my way down to ground floor after people had dispersed to get better dhikr position in front of Kaaba. There an ardent mumin praying the nawafil salat or Dhuha almost non-stop facing the House. Up and down may be more than 8 rakaats. Then he stops to raise his hand in prayer just beside me. Suddenly he spread across his hand to lift my copy of Diwan Shaykh Muhammad ibn alHabib without asking my permission. I glanced at him and talked with him several minutes. At last, I gave a black tasbih to him and asked his prayer for the muslims and all the Sufis. He was a student at Cairo and doing his hajj first time.

Two Old Uighurs From East Turkestan and We Are Sufiyye

After this encounter, I moved to another corner of the Mosque to continue my doa, dhikr, salawat and Quran. Two old hajji from Uighur China caught my attention. They are easily discernable by the Chinese Turkic face and wearing the cotton brown jacket. I gave salam and kissed both of them on their cheek, how happy when two strangers muslim meet each with greeting, respect, honor and love of Allah. The elder Uighur said to me : Shariat – Tariqat –Haqiqat and Marifat ! He seems to be a sufi lovers.

Nahnu kullu sufiyyat ! We are all Sufis when travel fisabilillah, we yearn for the Awliya of Allah, we see the lights of iman in their frugal faces. So I prayed for their people in Xinqiang or East Turkestan, may Allah bless you and make their deen strong there. I mentioned all the name of places I know about them : Kasghar, Urumqi and about the tariqas or menhuan: Khufiyya, Jahriyya, Qadiriyya and Nasqabandiyya. They nodded in agreement.before departing, we embraced each other again. Tears almost flowing down their cheeks.

Somewhere in midday, I encountered 3 old Hui women from China in the mosque about the age of 60-70 but still strong and healthy. They smiled at me when I gave greeting of salam, saying that I am Chinese muslim from Malaysia. I put something into their hands- baraka Allah and may Allah bless you all, your family and people at home.

Perfume of Awliya From Tetuoan, Mostaganem and Meknes

Alhamdulillah, met 3 muslims from Algeria, they wore the distinctive jellaba, noble looking and very relaxed sitting at some pillars. I gave salam, approach them and talked with them inquired where they came from : Tetouan-this place sound familiar. So I tell them I know about Shaykh Ahmad Mustafa Alawi of Mostaganem and Shaykh Abdus Salam ibnu Mashish. They are delighted with this news. Again the key word is sufi-tasawwuf seem to unite our hearts. We kissed each other hands and get a warm embrace. I bring out the little green book Diwan of SMH to show them our linkage with the Darqawi-Shadhili tariqa. They happily glanced through the introduction page…..al-Arif biLlah Shaykh Muhammad ibn alhabib al Maghari al-.Hassani. My heart indicated that if a man do dhikr intensely in one right place, it will attract the lovers of Allah to be near him without realizing it or unexpectedly.

Mistakes and Lessons From The Shoppers

During the first week at Makkah before departing to the great plains of Arafa for wuquf, we had many opportunity to wander around the streets and shops. You can see through the shopkeepers greedy look. Come, come ,come , buy, buy..at my shop, cheap, cheap..glitterings goods. The aggressive ones will stop you at your track. Pull you to their side shopwares. I was angry when one of the young arab pulled my hand despite my dislike and strong prostest. I stared my angry face tost them. You want to fight ! Not me ! Realising this nafs ugly clash with others, I quickly retreated. Make a firm resolution- no buying or shopping at Makkah until I finish my hajj !

· Mistakes learned :

a. Don’t haggle over prices.

Don’t set your heart upon the good displayed at the market.
Avoid the road/street that lined up with busy people.
If pulled or held by sellers, don’t fight. Just turn away fast, don’t look at them.
Wear a serious look and don’t loiter slowly inspecting the goods.
Don’t stay too long at top floor of Mosque during Fajar prayer, you will get cold/flu.

Today is Friday, a festival day of dhikr, prayer and gifts from Allah. The faqir had tasted the meaning of being poor, nothing left at the pockets. Emptying out. Yaumul Jumaat, you must be extra generous. Fisabilillah. Not nice to count your tijarah which will never lose. Allah Taala had bought the selves and belongings of the muminun in exchange for His Garden. Read surah at-Taubat : Inna Allaha sytaral minal muminuna anfusahum wa amwalahum bi-anna lahumul-jannah….

Another lesson –even performing a good action can be a trap and distraction. Not you are doing it, not your power or your intellect but the source is from Him. Min fadhliLlah-the overflowing of Allah.

To Be At The Heart of Existence

Shaykh Abdal Qadir as-sufi says in the book –The Way of Muhammad :

Hajj means – “to struggle with, to make a spiritual journey, an argument , a single hajj, a year”. To circle the Kaaba, in the phrase of the Greatest Master, ‘ to be at the heart of existence of the world’. It is clear that to the hajji that the Saee(running in straight line seven times between Safa and Marwa) is about his existence and the Tawaff (around the Ancient House) is about Allah’s reality and the slave non-existence.

The seeker was astonished to find some shops at Makkah are selling exotic teas from the East. As connosoeir of Chinese teas, he bought two packets of Rabea Jasmine Scented Tear. A Khawja Sufi from Persia hundred years ago wrote a masterpiece of story on the hidden secret of the tea where the merchants valued it highly but the common people just treat it as a boiled water with some kinds of leaves and herbs. What important is the Sufis had opened up the Shops of Tea Experience everywhere they traveled to share this divine drink.

Secrets of Hajj From Maulana Rumi

Maulana Rumi tell us something about this merchants in his Mathnawi :

‘And come to us like a caravan. This is not a long road

Can the desert stop the merchants ? The heart travels to Kaaba

Every moment. Who bow his head to the King

Not of this world. You are like the Day of Arafah

And the Day of Idhul Adha. I am at the beginning of month Dzul Hijjah

I can never reach You nor can I cut myself from You.

.Where a re you, where are you ?

The Friend is in this very place (near you), come here

. His wall and yours are one –

Bewildered in the desert, what do

You seek and roam, when you behold

Without forms of this your Friend

Then, the Lord, The House and Kaaba

Will you become yourself.

The most powerful allegory by Rumi about Kaaba and the Qibla of the worshippers are as below:

The longer the Way. The more companions are necessary –

The way to Kaaba is hard. One needs a long caravan and

A Caravan Leader (Shaykh). And how much more difficult is

It to come closer to God through so

Many veils, steep mountains and Highway robbers !

The Kaaba of Jibrail and the spirits Is a Lotus Tree

the qibla of the belly slave is food on the table cloth

The Qibla of the Gnostics.. Is the Light of Arrival,

The qibla of the philosophers.. Intellect is phantasy.

The qibla od the ascetic/zahid Is the Generous Lord (al-Karim)

The qibla of the flatterer is A purse of gold.

To be continued, insya’Allah and still 70 pages

to be retyped from old tattered diary.

Mawlid at al-Bukhari Mosque with Rais Abu Bakr Rieger

2007-04-01T23:20:00.000+08:00

Maulid Celebration With Rais Abu Bakr Rieger at The New Masjid al-Bukhari of Kuala Lumpur 31 Mac 2007

We thank Allah Tabaraka wa Taala for the gift of Islam through His Noble Messenger and the Companions who embodied it, polished it , taught, transmit and struggle/fight to spread this Light to the East and West.

We are honored to be present at the maulid gathering organized by Amir of Kuala Lumpur for all Malaysian fuqara some from Penang, Kedah, Johor, Port Klang and four special guests. One is our dedicated Rais Abu Rieger from Germany also the chief editor of Islamic Zietung weekly paper, President of Muslim Lawyers of Europe. Accompanying him are Amir Abdus Samad Nana of Cape Town.

Then we unexpectedly welcome Amir Ahmad Angka Permadi Wijaya from Tanjung Pinang, Kepulauan Riau and the kindhearted wife Ibu Dr.Yeni. Bapak Sultan Huzrin Hood ex-chief governor of Kepri Riau was supposed to be with us tonight but his vehicle broke down when traveling from Johor. May Allah be kind to him and enable him to arrive tomorrow to finish his great business and task with Rais Abu Bakr Rieger. He already broke the sensory barrier when giving bayat to our Rais while still in the Cipinang Bandung prison in 2004 due to his dynamic struggle for autonomy of Riau Province during Megawati rule.

All praise to Allah, we were instructed to come early before Magrib to the newly built mosque beautifully blue colored and renovated from old waqaf land by the generous funding from Al-Bukhari Foundation. After greeting, salam and many embraces among the fuqara who have not met each other from North, South and Shah Alam, Kuala Lumpur, we recited the Surah Waqiah and Asmaul Husna from the Diwan of Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib which took about 20 minutes. Zoom..just nicely ended before the azan of Maghrib.

With prior permission and blessing of the caretaker of al-Bukhari mosque and accompanied by the Imam, more than 40 fuqara, wives and children and other guests were joining the recitation of Miftah al-Wird. Navigated by Muqaddim Sidi Shamsudin and later we sang the Qasidah Shamail from Diwan of Sh.Muhammad ibn alHabib in praising and blessing our Prophet remembering his mauled, the greatest gift of Allah as mercy and light to heaven and earth, jins, mankind and angels. Many hearts were moved, soften and tears and love were awaken for those who heard and absorbed the zikir, jalal, doa and glorification that pour out from the gathering. After Isyak prayer we continue with the Burdah of Shaykh Busiri.

At the end of the session, in an irresistible moment, suddenly Rais Abu Bakr Rieger took the mike and gave a short rousing speech, thanking Allah for his presence tonight. Thanking Allah for the amazing work of dawa by Shaykh Abdal Qadir as-Sufi that continued and spread wider by his noble fuqara and murid in the Nusantara.

He made doa that may Allah blessed this country with great, sincere and strong muslim leaders, raising up the true ulama and banner of Islam. He remind us only to rely on Allah Taala, to recognize His power and command, to honor/exalt,eagerly learn and obey the Shuyukh and Awliya. We ask Allah to bless our teacher and gave him the best people and resource for acting fisabililah. Amir Pak Angka of Riau was also requested to give a short speech on the murabitun community and da’wa works in Indonesia which now got ribats in medan, Jakarta, bandung and tanjung pinang.

Muqadim Sidi Shamsuddin gave a keynote discourse on as-Shifa of Qadi Iyad. He said: ‘ Our tawhid or shahada is not complete without ..Muhammadun Rasulullah. This is the key, after Quran, we took on, imitate, honor and fulfill all the rights due to Rasul s.a.w, adhering and embodiment of his Sunna, living wisdom and life transaction. Also the sunna of Companions may Allah be pleased with them because they absorbed it , the best transmitters and true inheritors among the early generations of ulama, salihun and awliya. Say if you love Allah, the follow the Rasul. You will be loved by Allah.

What is this love if not based on real knowledge of islam, of taqwa and pure sincerity that give furqan/discrimination to the muminun. By taqwa, false and haqq became clear. Separation is sharia. Following the rules, halal and haram is furqan. Ibadah or worship is also furqan plus deep wisdom and marifa. Those modernists who against Mawlid Celebration of the Prophet, against the Burdah and praise/salawat upon Rasul s.a.w are missing this point. Where are their love. Politics and economic alone cannot solve our dunya problems and conflicts.

We end our notes today with doa from Diwan of our blessed great Master:

O Allah, bless our master Muhammad, Your slave and Messenger, the unlettered Prophet and his family and Companions and grant them peace as great as the number of
Your creations and Your pleasure and the weight of Your throne and
The inks of Your words.

Fill our hearts with the lights of Your marifa
So that we may witness Your all Sustaining Gatheredness overflowing in all created things.

O Allah, open our inner eyes to your watching and contemplation through Your generosity and overflowing, and illuminate our secrets to the tajalliyyat of Your Names and Attributes through Your gentleness and nobility
And annihilate us to our metaphorical existence in Your real existence through Your forbearance and favour.

And make us have baqa-going on by You, not by us, preserving Your Sharia and the Sunna of Your Prophet. You have power over everything and answering becomes You.

The blessed Mawlid of Malaysia and Riau fuqara recorded for posterity with many thanks and embraces before parting are as below:

Rais Haji Abu Bakar Rieger of Germany
Amir Abdas Samad Nana of South Africa
Amir Pak Ahmad Angkawijaya of Riau Islands
Province of Indonesia and wife Dr.Ibu Yeni
Amir Dr.Hj.Zuhaimy of UTM Johor
Wife Dr.Wan Aini UTM
Amir Dr. hj. Hakimi of USM Penang
Wife Dr.Norizan USM and Sakinah
Amir Zahari of Kuala Lumpur
Muqadim Sidi Hj.Shamsudin of Klang
Muqadim Sidi Hj.Halim Shin of KL
Muqadim Sidi Hj.Dimyati
Haji Umar Azmun, Nurul Haqq
Sidi Syed Anwar al-Banna
Sidi Hj. Abdal Rahim of Uniten
Sidi Syukri Yeoh of UKM
Dr.Salmah Ahmad UKM
Sidi Mazli and wife
Sidi Aziz Jamal, Melaka
Sidi Muzammir Idris
Sidi Hakim Sg.Petani
Sidi Ali ,Sidi Mahyudin
Sidi Ustaz Rafidi, Kulim
Sidi Muhammad Hakimi and wife
Sidi Nashrudin, Seremban
Sidi Abu Bakar and Yusuf ibn Zahari
Sidi Imam of Bukhari Mosque
Sidi Zahimi
Sidi Hj.Wan Izni and wife
Sidi Baharudin, Khairudin, Siron of P.Klang
Sidi Haris, Shah Alam
And some others cant remember all but
their presence and zikr are felt.

From Bandung To Moussem in Morocco

2007-03-29T22:47:00.000+08:00

Preface by Abuzuhri shin

In many place and encounters in our postings, several names of Awliya, shuyukh and seekers connected to Morocco always crop up like Sh.Muhammad ibn Habib of Meknes, Sh.Darqawi and Sh.Ali Jamal of Fez, Sh.Jazuli of Marrakesh, Sh.Alawi of Mostaganem, Algeria, Sidi Muhammad Kursi of Tafilalet, Sidi Fudul Huwari of Fez, Sidi Abdal Kabir of Casablanca, Tangier Moussem, Mellila Mousem, Two Zawiyyas of Sh.Ahmad Badawi, Jamal Morelli of USA and finally the dusted tattered faqir abuzhulixin that seemed to know every corner and nooks, ribat, kasbah, ksars, caves, sufi tombs of Maghrib al-Makhzen and As-Siba beyond the Atlas and fringe of Sahara deserts after accumulated more than 10 books related to the last sharifian kingdom in the west in the last 25 years of uncommon travels. Here the story begin...

Invited by Morocco’s American Language Center, author Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore travels the mystical towns of its land to bring his poetry to the children and to portray his love of Islam through his puppet show, “Ameen’s Journey to Qalbiyya” .

If as lovers of Allah you wish to rise
turn to Layla with sincerity in your eyes.

From all who scorn your love turn away
and travel to Allah’s lovers wherever you may.

But if your love is totally sincere
you’ll see Allah’s lovers by staying here.

And if your heart’s vision is pure and fair
You’ll see Her lights shining everywhere

So begins a qasida from the Diwan of Sheikh Muhammad ibn al-Habib of Fez, may God be pleased with him, in a verse version I made from an existing translation as the basis for a puppet play to take to Morocco. Hearing within it the echo of the Qur’anic ayats from God Most High enjoining us to travel the world and see what Allah has done with dif-ferent peoples, joined with the ayats reminding us that wherever we turn, there is the Face of Allah, it makes for a curiously circular adventure as travelers. We end where we begin, in our originally illumined state, if we are open to the heart’s purity of sight.

I was invited with my wife Malika to visit Morocco’s American Language Center in Marrakesh, to begin a tour of its centers beginning there and then north to Meknes, Tetouan, Tangier, and back again to Marrakesh in a three week junket. Initially invited to read my poetry to the students at these centers, the charismatic and imaginative director, Abdurrahman Fitzgerald, got wind of my work with puppets on my website, and wondered if I could also present a puppet play to their younger students of English, some not much more than 10 years old.

I acquiesced, and wrote a play, Ameen’s Journey to Qalbiyya, using puppets I made for a production a few years earlier of The Mystical Love Story of Layla and Majnun. I gave the famous couple cameo appearances in the new play as well, which is essentially the mini-saga of a young hero, Ameen, taking to the Path of Allah, intending to meet people of wisdom on the way to teach him to see Layla’s “lights shining everywhere.” The name Qalbiyya in the title is a made-up place, loosely translated as The Heartland, with the joke in it that if the difficult qaf is mispronounced it becomes Kalbiyya (Dog Town), though I wasn’t sure anyone but me would get the joke, and ultimately few did. I had trouble at first coming up with a story, and emailed the center in Marrakesh asking the students themselves to suggest a story, or at least some characters they would like to see in a play.

The only suggestion was to include the character of Aisha Kandisha, a seductive djinn who apparently is famous for beguiling unsuspecting travelers into falling madly in love with her. Many Moroccan men under her spell even today think of her as their wife, to their ultimate ruin. That was it. One character, no story. But the worldwide web is a true Ali Baba’s treasure cave, and from it I gleaned a Sufi folk tale actually from Marrakesh in which a sultan tricks a wali but the wali overcomes the deception due to his deeper wisdom, and the sultan becomes his disciple. A perfect ending to my puppet play showing Ameen’s successful illumination, and within a few weeks the story was complete. I sent specifications to the carpenter at the center in Marrakesh, and he constructed a stage in three hinged parts, so it could stand on its own, with an opening for the puppets to play in, identical in size to the one of strong cardboard I use from time to time at home.

With sheaves of poems and a large suitcase full of papier-mâché hand-puppets, masks and various props (and worried a bit that immi-gration might think we were smuggling something inside the puppets’ heads), my wife Malika and I took the plane for Marrakesh, a grueling fifteen-or-so hour journey via Heathrow in London, and landed at dusk at the small, quiet, balmy Marrakesh airport, greeted by our hosts, one already known to us, the others new to us but somehow familiar in that uncanny way that often happens, especially with people of dhikr.

The play was entitled Ameen’s Journey to Qalbiyya for a definite reason, as I had been given the name Ameen by a blind wali from Laghouat, Algeria, named Hajj ‘Issa, in the late 70s when I traveled there in the company of five other disciples of our sheikh in Meknes, who died in 1972. And for me this return visit to Morocco after thirty years was a real return to my “heart-land,” to reignite a connection to the tariqa tradition there in Meknes, a tradition that is still vibrant in Morocco in spite of recent fundamentalist encroachments. For Morocco was the first place in which the heart of my Islam was nourished, back in 1970, when I first became Muslim, when we traveled from Berkeley to London and from there to Meknes to attend a giant Mawlid for the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and the Moussem for our sheikh a few days later, sheikh Muhammad ibn al-Habib, then over a hundred years old. And it was in Morocco that I tasted the elegance and refinement of the courtesies (adaab) of Islam, even among rougher Berbers and mountainmen from the high Atlas, the freshly minted behaviors in imitation of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, which were so sincerely and enthusiastically expressed that it seemed as if the Prophet was perhaps just down the street and that the love these people had for him was fresh from his living presence.

So it was with this high expectation that we traveled at the end of April of 2004, the time also coinciding with the annual Moussem in Meknes; a chance to meet the lovers of Allah and His Prophet in a country whose eagerness for courtesy and welcome has not diminished in the transpiring years away. As God Most High says on the tongue of His Prophet, peace be upon him: “I am as My servant thinks of Me …”

From all who scorn your love turn away
and travel to Allah’s lovers wherever you may.

MARRAKESH

Marrakesh is an almost mythic city to my post-Beat poet’s soul. So many of the 60s writers and cultural icons spent time on its rooftops and winding streets, and at the famous Djemma el-Fna, entranced by the smoky decadence of it all, absorbing its exotic delights. This many years later, though, and as a Muslim, I had come not for “beat” pleasures, but to visit students and awliyya, alive or in eternity, and hearken to their songs.

My wife and I moved into an apartment in the annex building of the American Language Center, in a suburb filled with newly constructed and underconstruction villas, three-or-more story buildings, imagined, it seems, as a kind of Moroccan Art Deco. All the buildings, old or new, are of the same pinkish terra cotta color of every building in Marrakesh, thusly hued by law for whatever reason: simple tradition, to blend in, or perhaps to maintain the native adobe desert look, which is actually quite attractive. Each house had a small daring detail of color, cobalt tiles above the main entrance for example, or a bit of tiled frou-frou somewhere on the facade. Looking over the city from our balcony, there is a lovely uniformity and Arab-town honeycombedness, so typical of Muslim cities, though on the street the bedraggled, rundown look is, up close, more acute. Here and there, dusty palm trees prong up into the sky, roadways often running around them, out of deference to the trees’ ancient role as mothers and living beings. Occasional ones spotted lying on their sides look truly forlorn, like dead animals, their lifetime of service having come to an end.

We slept after our journey, visited the country house of our host, being refurbished under the expert gaze of the director’s artist wife, Jamila, with great snowcapped mountains of the High Atlas in the distance, and generally sank into and acclimatized ourselves to the rhythms of Marrakesh. There’s always something amazing about living in a place where the adhan is called five times a day, although they begin a kind of courtesy adhan about an hour or more before the adhan for fajr prayer, which in a state of jetlag is a little unnerving.

In Marrakesh as well as everywhere in the Muslim world it seems, there manifests the same disease of modern Islam: the electrified minaret loudspeaker. What is lovely about the unaided human voice is its aching poignancy, and in cities like Marrakesh, Meknes or Fez muezzins go into almost every minaret to call the adhan, so there would be a natural overlap of their naked voices. Instead, every minaret is wired for sound, and the result is a harsh metallic adhan that almost hurts rather than reminds, like children in supermarkets screaming for attention. Where is the wafting adhan, the evocative adhan, the adhan based not on modern human technology but on the ancient human vocal chords and heart of the muezzin? Sheikh Hamza Yusuf also mentions in one of his talks somewhere that with an unamplified adhan you could guage how far away the mosque is and how quickly to walk to it in order to arrive at the prayer on time. With amplified adhans you might walk for miles thinking the mosque is just down the road, providing, of course, that you don’t already know the city like the back of your hand. Granted, a possible justification for amplification is that modern life has also gotten noisier. Still, I’m always grateful for the adhans, the muezzins in Morocco are the most sublime of singers, and I listened hopefully past the technology when at fajr and maghrib especially, you can hear the various adhans looping and blending their vocal banners across the city as the dawn comes up or the sun lowers itself down through the completed day’s radiant clouds.

In Marrakesh is the tomb of the author of the universally recited Dala’il al-Khayrat, Imam al-Jazuli (d.870 ah), sheikh of the Shadhiliya-Darqawi tariqa, who is one of the Seven Saints of Marrakesh, honored as the spiritual linchpins of the city’s reason for being. The other six are Sidi Qadi Ayaad, Sidi al-Abbas Sabti, Sidi Yussuf Ben Ali, Sidi Abdellaziz al-Tebbaa, Sidi Abd Allah al-Ghazwaani -- nicknamed Moul al-Ksour -- and Imam al-Suhayli (may Allah be pleased with all of them). During our visit there, though we had intended to visit all seven, both my wife and I were only able to visit the tomb and zawiyya of Sheikh Jazuli, Malika one night with other ladies, and myself with one of the language center’s teachers who would be our guide on the journey north, Sidi Hamza Weinman, who took me to the Jazuli zawiyya in his cuddly, banged-up rattletrap Renault I dubbed Zahara (to which he added: el-Miskeena, “the poor thing”), somewhere across town, not far from the Djemma el-Fna.

We walked down a winding alley and went into the very humble mosque, first going into the tomb to greet the sheikh. A lovely tomb, ornately decorated, which I obtained permission from one of the regulars, or the guardian, to photograph, only to have my digital camera jam as soon as I took the picture! I regretted the glitch, though, and wish I had been able to take a picture or two inside the zawiyya of the two lines of mostly old men in djallabas, reciting the Dala’il al-Khayrat, a collection of all the formulae of blessings upon the Prophet, God’s peace be upon him, starting with those mentioned in the sunnah, those composed by the Sahaba, by the Taabi’in, and by countless salihin, in that unmistakable Moroccan fashion, rhythmically fast and musically intense, page after page with very little variation in the phrases and invocatory formulae, page after page, most of the grizzled and very indigent looking men reciting it entirely by heart!

The sweet joy of their faces! Their concentration and light! I was happy to see some young men among them as well, but most of them were well into their elder benignity, no less vigorous however, obviously mentally as sharp as sword-blades, and especially energized in reciting these glorious and lengthy invocations. But my camera was jammed, try as I might, and I had to give it up and let the recitation soak into me, following it where I could in the yellowed booklets of the text one of the men handed us. Afterwards, the leader and some of the others greeted us, and we left the zawiyya back into the darkened alleyway, back to Zahara, with the haunting sing song of the dhikr echoing in our hearts and brains.

The puppet play went well, in the Center’s courtyard, though most of the children really couldn’t follow the words. As it turns out, I had written it about five or six years above their heads. They sat in their chairs, row after row, with perfect attentiveness, many never having seen anything like a puppet play live. The two appearances I made, in masks and costumes exactly like two of the small puppets, created a kind of cathartic shiver up their young spines. The poetry reading two days later, however, was, for me at least, amazingly gratifying, with the audience commenting and questioning some of the poems and their meanings, which I welcome and always find fascinating, discovering how some people perceive them. The sea of excited and interested Moroccan faces as I read these poems (written usually at the side of my bed in the middle of an American night) was overwhelming to me. They caught the meanings, and their love of poetry was palpable.

The students and staff of the school had been studying one of the poems earlier, The Piece of Coal, but I was really surprised when, after just one recitation of the poem, many in the audience in unison were able to supply the final words of each stanza when I repeated them:

Piece of Coal

The piece of coal that wanted to be diamond
said to the earth: Press me.
The succulent grape that wanted to be wine
said to the feet: Crush me.
The cloud that wanted to be thunder and rain
said to a facing cloud: Collide with me.
The mountain that wanted to be level valley
said to the elements: Erode me.
The oyster that wanted to produce a pearl
said to a sand-grain: Irritate me.
The heart that wanted to be filled with light
said to the world: Break me.

DJEMAA EL-FNA
The famous square in the old city of Marrakesh, crossroads of camel-drivers and charlatans, snake-charmers and magicians, the wilder Gnaowa “Sufis” of the deeper south, dancers and singers and musicians deep into the night, Djemaa el-Fna, famous everywhere. Before visiting the place, I wrote a short poem imagining the mesmerizing atmosphere that might prevail there.
FIRE-EATER OF MARRAKESH

When the fire-eater put the firebrand in his mouth
the whole night sky I swear burst into flame

And when he took it out of his mouth extinguished
the night sky blackened and pulled itself tight
around us again

Except for this fantasy, I came very close to not visiting the square at all, but after the poetry reading given at the Language Center I pre-vailed on Hamza to just “pop over and have a look around.” We got into Zahara and she galumphed her way to the nearest side street, around 10 p.m., and we wandered into Djemaa el-Fna. It was dark except for glowing points of light shimmering up from huddled groups of people dotted here and there, and the night sounds of drumming and singing from the various circles.

We first passed a very obsequious man in djellaba and turban holding a kind of large banjo (a guinbri) sitting in the glow of a Coleman lantern, on a large cloth, surrounded by chickens pecking at grain on the ground. He was chatting to some onlookers. Next to him was a brightly painted naif portrait of himself playing the guinbri we saw him with. We wandered away to other groups, a very thin bare-chested man pacing back and forth and shouting in a guttural derajah to the great amusement of the men in the circles -- there were no women here at this hour -- and I suggested to Hamza who, in spite of his passable derajah, couldn’t really follow what he was saying, that he might be a kind of Marrakeshi standup (or pacing) comedian, his monologue probably full of subtle asides and lurid references. We then went to another group where some serious oud playing and drumming was taking place, and lingered for a little while, my hands on my wallet pocket, my camera held close to my body, until the allure wore off. The allure for the Djemaa el-Fna actually wore off rather quickly (I told Hamza that a little of the Djemaa el-Fna goes a long way), and after visually visiting some of the food stalls, where amazing pyramids of fruit and food, including goats’ heads sitting on their necks, were piled up, we tumbled back into Zahara and made our way home.

THE FLOATING LOTUS MAGIC PUPPET THEATER CIRCUS VAN

With the wooden collapsible stage wrapped in canvas and lashed to the roof, and the hired van and driver setting off early in the morning, with a vanful of fuqara who traveled north with us to attend the great Meknes Moussem -- who would be returning to Marrakesh by bus, as the driver, Sidi Hamza, my wife and I, and the suitcase of puppets, continued north -- we took to the open road. The countryside, even rainswept and cloudy, is everywhere majestic and rich, as we drove past sheepherders with small and huge herds, a little shack angling to the earth in the middle of a field, great cascades and gorges appearing around a bend, and glorious green fields with swathes of stunning bright red poppies seemingly strewn across them, or shockingly electric yellow mustard flowers in great wavy bands of color.

MEKNES

Meknes is the city of my soul, perhaps, in the way that Oakland, California is the city of my body. It’s a hilly city, the old city within a great wall around it built by the ruthless Moulay Ismail, who’s buried in a giant, fully tiled and chilly tomb at one of the gates. There’s a secret here too, though. If you go into the vast and echoes hall and ask the muqaddem for the tomb of Abdur Rahman al-Madjdoub, perhaps he’ll take you to a far wall and open a low door with his set of keys. You’ll go into a dark and small chamber, low-ceilinged, somewhat dusty and cobwebby, and in the middle is the simple tomb of one of the great saintly shuyukh of Morocco, a wali poet, whose lines of poetry and aphorisms are often used to impart immediate folk wisdom, and I’m told, to diffuse disputes. On this journey to Meknes, though we weren’t able to visit his tomb, sadly, I was told that he has two collections, or diwans, of poetry, both written in the Moroccan dialect: one more “streetwise” and pungent, the other more seriously Gnostic and sublime. As there never seems to have been a translation of these works into English, I can only guess at their possible magnificence.

I spent many months in Meknes in the 70s, at gatherings of dhikr during and after the lifetime of our sheikh, and passing through once on my way to the town of Rissani, in the Tafilalt. I can’t even remember clearly how long I stayed or exactly when, but the zawiyya, tucked away in an alleyway labyrinth just up from the long wild gardens that run along the old city’s lower wall and the new city, is a place of such deep nostalgia, I can’t explain. Coming into the city by bus from Tangier my heart would always leap with expectation of seeing our sheikh, or being in the company of his disciples.

The city itself would be welcoming, it seemed, with its amazing bustle, its great gates, the smells of cedar wood from the marketplace, the stillness and coolness of its mosques, the Jama Zaytuna mosque, just around the corner from our zawiyya. Even this visit, where we stayed in a luxurious hotel in the modern city, and could look out across the bridge to the old city and see the minaret from the Jama Zaytuna rising out of the rooftops, we felt an exhilaration at just being in Meknes. But of course the Path continues very strongly here, with the old zawiyya and tomb with its barebones simplicity and huge and palpable blessing, and one of our sheikh’s strongest followers, Moulay Hashim ( a faqir of SMH) , and the exalted nights of dhikr at his house which is also a zawiyya, inside a nondescript door not far from one of the main fortress gates of Meknes.

The mornings of Fajr in the old zawiyya thirty years ago, when the men would come together in their woolen djallabas and turbans after the prayer and sit in a circle as the light slowly filtered in through the high small window as the sun rose, reciting the Qur’an and the Wird of our Sheikh, then sometimes going back to sleep with their hoods pulled over their heads along the sides on the thin cushions until breakfast time. Then a low round wooden table would be brought in, and perhaps last night’s couscous would have been reheated and served, with milky coffee. The fuqara might eat in silence, except for some grunted jokes and kidding that might ensue between them, incomprehensible to me in their words but obvious in their intimate affection for each other. I often thought this must have been how the Companions of the Prophet, peace be upon him, behaved, courteously but familiarly as well, knowing each other’s inner states enough to respect their hearts but prodding their nafs with a little gentle taunting to get a reaction. A breakfast among human beings. The last grainy gulps of coffee, cahua hlib, as the mosque room flooded with morning light.

This visit thirty years later began with a giant mawlid at our beloved Moulay Hashim’s house, with men coming from all over Morocco and perhaps farther, to celebrate the Prophet Muhammad, peace of Allah be upon him, and the shuyukh, the tariqas, the Path, and to thank God for every breath we take. The air itself was shaking with ecstasy, and the singing had a way of keeping the atmosphere aloft for hours on end, one coil of singing rounding into the beginning of another, spiraling up, really, to the stars. There’s something so vital, earthy, human and true about this form of worship, the recitation of Qur’an in unison, the songs of the teaching guides, and the many circles of standing dhikr that took place, the hadras, invoking the Presence of the Divine. What a pleasant relief from the stern fundamentalist view, the pure expression of joy of being Muslim, this vigorous, sweet gratitude to Allah! I often think that without this joy I would hardly have been attracted to Islam! Rather than the dour Puritanism alone, the strict observances of dos and don’ts alone, there’s this full flowering of the human heart’s wish to connect with the Creator in an energetic and blissful way.

The fundamentalist radicals who label this form of dhikr haram have in many ways effectively removed the humanity and reality of our beloved Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, from Islam, forgetting his mercy, his lightness of being, as well as the depth of his love for Allah and all His creatures, human and otherwise, to say nothing of large swathes of Qur’an, hadith and hadith qudsi that praise dhikr of Allah in many forms, “standing, sitting and on our sides.” They have even pried away many of the attributes of Beauty and Forbearance of Allah ta’ala, as if God were only a Wrathful, Magnificent, All-Powerful and punishing God, rather than the Kind and Subtle, the Inwardly Hidden and Outwardly Manifest Merciful Lord. If more Muslims understood the spirituality of Islam in this way, perhaps we would not only have less damaging encroachment from so-called “outside” forces, cultural and materialist invasions from alien sources, but also a more balanced Umma that roots out murderous terrorism from within, and resists injustice from both inside and out. I saw in the faces and behavior of these men in these circles of celebration only ecstatic awe and hope in Allah’s Presence and Grace. The hadra is the natural rising to one’s feet in sudden inspiration and yearning, either leading up to or resulting from that state. My wife, who sat above us that night at one of the windows overlooking the courtyard, was afraid her copious tears of recognition would dampen the men’s djallaba collars below. The Mawlid continued far into the night, and its echoes continued in our hearts throughout our journey north and back again, even to Philadelphia, and alhamdulillah, even to this very moment.

The morning after the Mawlid my wife and I visited the tomb of Sheikh ibn al-Habib, may Allah be pleased with him, in the corner of his zawiyya. It is a place of peace and light just up from the gardens running along the bottom of the old city, the Habibiyya zawiyya with its haunting echoes of voices down the alleyway leading to it, the call the prayer here in its mosque from the human throat, and the circle of dhikr after the adhan of the shahada sung three times at highest intensity followed by the greeting all the men offer to each other who sang it by kissing their hands in the circle. I was grateful to be able to revisit these earliest days of my Islam, those first years so poignant for those of us not born Muslim who are later blessed with its embrace.

There was also a marvelously happy encounter there, on my Journey to Qalbiyya, that somehow completed the journey’s circle. I encountered a man in front of the tomb of Sayyidina Sheikh with a group of fuqara from Laghouat, Algeria. This is the very town six of us traveled to in the late 70s, where we met the extraordinary blind wali who had been a French professor and faqir of our sheikh, and who gave me the name Ameen. When I mentioned Hajj ‘Issa of Laghouat to him and asked if he knew him, he said, “Yes; that was my father!” And when I told him I have a photograph of all of us standing with him in his garden, he said, “Yes, I took that picture.” Then I recognized him as the wali’s grown-up son after thirty years, who was still a teenager when I saw him last. Amazed, we fell into each other’s arms.

MOULAY IDRISS TOMB

Winding through hills and valleys, loopy roads wide enough for two daredevil drivers to pass uncomfortably, our little van scuttling along between sheep herds and gorges, we arrived at Moulay Idriss in the early noon in a drizzle to visit the great patron saint of Morocco and have a kebab or two. The town’s sewer pipes seemed to be under construction, a great ditch threading precariously along the market fronts to the mosque entrance, which we navigated through slightly muddy terrain, the gray sky boding more merciful downpour to come.

The Mosque and tomb of Moulay Idriss, though, is worth the slog for sure. It was time for the noon prayer, which we’d just missed, so Malika and Hamza did it on rush matting in a side courtyard, while I caught the eye of a muqaddem and he let me in the just-vacated mosque before closing it up until ‘Asr. I had it all to myself, and walked across the matting past pillars and pillars to the mihrab at the front, and did the Dhuhr prayer in silent privacy. The walls are stellar in their geometric tile work, and being in the vastness of space you get a little dizzy from all the almost spinning patterns which are of such pure brilliance and clarity.

We visited the tomb of Moulay Idriss and browsed for a while in its baraka, contributed to by the reverence given him by all the people who have visited the tomb over the centuries. While it may not have the incredible warm and buttery atmosphere of the tomb and mosque of Moulay Idriss II in Fez, the building complex with its mosque halls and courtyards we had to cross in our bare feet, open to the sky -- so we often were wading through water -- is a very sweet expanse to let one’s heart and mind flow into.

CHECHAOUEN

Or just Chaouen, is a glowingly spiritual town nestled in the high Rif mountains with a rushing river crashing through one end of it whose vistas are truly alpine, especially in the chilly time we were there. The peaks visible from almost everywhere were topped with snow. And the winding alleyways are made vivid by the ice-blue lime whitewash they paint along the lower halves of many of the buildings, so that the impression is being in an almost blinding Antarctica of color, glacial in its high-pitched blueness. One mosque we entered was up some rickety steps next to a weaving shop where woven blankets and sweaters were sold. We got in out of the rain, and found ourselves in a very intimate mosque where the men who remained after the Maghrib prayer were reciting Qur’an, some looking through thick smudgy glasses, their djallaba hoods over their heads, leaning against the side walls. We performed the prayer, nodded our greeting and left.

Later, for ‘Isha, we entered a larger mosque off a large square, one with actual pillars and a more serious mihrab. There may have been about five or six prayer lines. Leaving, I noticed men doing their sunna prayers behind the various pillars. We met a man who sings for all the tariqa gatherings, who has a Sheikh from the ‘Ajibiyya Tariqa of Ibn ‘Ajiba, but who is welcomed at all the tariqa gatherings because of his voice and fathomless repertoire of qasa’id a miraculous gift especially honored among these people. We went to his house for dinner, and his diabetic, blind mother, sitting in a corner, whispering continuous remembrance of Allah, made a very long and special prayer for us, even singing a song herself, she being, Muhammad told us, the source of his expertise: melodic wisdom from his mother’s milk. The meal was sparse but nourishing, begun with a very tasty lentil-like soup, specialty of Chaouen, for these people were obviously poor, their house bare of furniture except for some sofas and a table, but their hospitality ranking with those of royal spirit, something we find here over and over.

TETOUAN, TANGIER AND MEKNES AGAIN

We performed the puppet play in the upper corridor of the American Language Center in Tetouan, the Moroccan children chattering and restless during the performance, asking each other what was happening, though when I came out as Majnun in sackcloth and mask identical to the puppet some hair shot straight up and some audible gasps were gasped. Later, after the puppet play, with a few hours in between, I read poetry in the poetry presentation, one of the teenage students reading the prepared Arabic translation sight-unseen, maneuvering adeptly around all the classical words, some without diacritical marks, actually leaning into the poems with passion and conviction, his hands gesturing for emphasis, though he was reading them for the first time.

Before the performance, after the stage was set up, we took a fifteen minute ride to see the Mediterranean, to walk on the beach and even wade in up to our calves (I say “we” though it was only the director of the Tetouan Center and our stalwart guide, young Sidi Hamza, who rolled up their cuffs and walked into the soft blue gentility of the sea). Bracing and balmy, it was a short, sweet visit to the other side of the continent.

From Tetouan we journeyed to Tangier, staying in a fine hotel around the corner from the American Language Center there, and the director, an old American Tangier hand who had been living in Tangier since his Peace Corps days for over twenty years, took us to the docks for a succulent fish cookup lunch the like of which I’d never seen nor tasted. The fish came fried on top of each other in a giant platter, and it was a kind of archeological repast, eating down past the shrimps and squid to the actual fish below. The afternoon fishermen were mending their nets which were spread out along the docks like an art instillation by Christo, the strings all dyed a bright cobalt blue in order to become invisible in the water.

Something sweet about Tangier, nestled in its hills and looking out at the Atlantic ocean! Something gentle in the city, arranged like colored boxes up and down the hills leading to the shore. The nighttime lights out from the port twinkle like golden lanterns in the dark, and the nighttime sky comes down in pastel swatches.

In the evening I wrote this poem on the little terrace outside our room at the hotel:

…..each of us an occasional winged landing and a
taking off again to unknown territories
having left a fluttering shadow for a moment on the open page
our original names alone surviving us

RETURN AND FAREWELL TO MARRAKESH

While we were in the market in Marrakesh before we took off on the Floating Lotus journey, Sidi Hamza took us to a little square where the woodworkers ply their trade, because I had said I would like someone to make a Darqawi tasbih, one of those tasbihs very rarely seen anymore, with flat disk counters instead of round beads. We walked into the square and up to a man sitting on the ground on a stool, with a lathe in front of him and his foot doing all the work. The lathe is run by a bow, like a violin bow, with the thick twine bowstring wound around the lathe mount that the woodworker pulls back and forth at whatever speed he desires to make the wooden piece he’s going to cut from turn. He clutches a square, sharp blade between his bare toes and so cuts and shapes and tapers the wood piece he wants, then cuts it off the end to make either a kohl bottle with a lovely base and tall neck (many of them were on display by his side on a little table for sale) or in my case, a tasbih bead. He tried out a few, some too small or too big, until we got one that was perfect as the model for all the ninety-nine, and I left him a deposit to pick up the tasbih in a week or so, before we left Morocco. While we were up north on our junket, Hamza’s wife collected the tasbih and it was waiting for me at their apartment when we returned to Marrakesh.

It’s a treasure. Dark wood, each thin disk has three edged ridges running around its edge, weighty but not heavy, and a deep pleasure for doing the Wird of Sheikh ibn al-Habib or counting the Divine Names after the prayer. It’s more than a memento of Morocco, it’s a remembrance machine, a dhikr in itself, a jewel plucked from the blessing of Sheikh Darqawi, quintessential Moroccan sheikh, a pearl plucked from the entire oyster of our time there, remembering His Grace in the deep-hearted people we met everywhere, and especially the director and staff of the American Language Center in Marrakesh, and the branches that we visited, the glowing tasbih in my room now in Philadelphia, clicking through my fingers to thank Allah for all His Bounty, and prayers that it continue for all of us, in this world in a state of peace and endless gratitude, and into the sweet Garden pathways of the next.

At the end of the puppet play, Ameen’s Journey to Qalbiyya, I come out from behind the stage wearing the mask of an old man with long beard and hair (a life size version of one of the hand-puppet characters in the play), carrying a rod with a red bird on top of it with flapping wings that make it look as if it’s flying, and he says (again, adapted from the Greater Ode of Sheikh ibn al-Habib, may Allah bless his secret):

Remember Allah all of the time,
it erases faults and makes you sublime.

Serve the Best of creation and imitate him,
Prophet Muhammad, peace upon him.

Everywhere see the Creator’s Light,
He makes everything turn out right.

Everything in this world comes as a sign—
Follow Allah and His Prophet—you’ll shine.

Beware of evil, beware of you!
What you believe is what you do!

Endnotes:
All praise to Allah tabaraka wa taala, many years ago in late 1970s actually a group of four or five malaysian student from england managed to undertake a long journey and trekking across Morocco where they managed to meet, kissed, embraced by and sought the doa and baraka of the old wise fuqara of Darqawi Shadhilyya Tariqa. We wish to protect their names and identity so that when the time and condition are ripe, the unfolding of such lights and baraka will benefit many seekers who genuinely trodden the path in the East and West. Just to highlight an unique event that the Diwan (zikr and sufic qasida collection) of late Sh.Muhammad ibn alHabib (d.1971) had been published many times in unlikely countries like England, Spain, Algeria, Lebanon, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Travel far and the less one know .

2007-03-29T20:06:00.000+08:00

Two prominent Chinese muslim scholars namely Imam Wang Daiyue and Shaykh Liu Chi completed this da’wah mission to the future Chinese generation by writing several Islamic books and comparative religion/sufic texts drawing heavily from Confucian, Buddhism and Tao principles. Here, a Chinese seeker take a relook at two chapter of Tao Te Ching with a sufic insights after several hundred years.

And Today 27 Mac 2007. to fill my precious time while traveling from Putrajaya on the ERL-KLIA Transit to KL Sentral, I opened an old book titled Lectures on The Tao The Ching by Professor Cheng Man Jan. Published in 1981 North Atlantic Books, California. Out the window, I could see the beautiful fields, lakes and orchards of University Putra, Serdang in the morning sun. Here are the tit bits for your cup of tea :

Page 157, Chapter 47 of Lao Tzu Sayings

“Without leaving his door, one can understand the world.
Without glancing out the window
One can see the Tao of Heaven.
The further one travels the less one knows.

That is why the Sage (a Sufi or Wali in Islamic tradition)
Does not travel and yet understands,
Does not look and yet (can) names (things)
Does not act and yet completes (the affairs).

Page 159 ,Chapter 48

In pursuing knowledge, one accumulates daily.
In practicing Tao, one loses daily.
Lose, lose and lose, until one reaches Wu-wei(Non-action)
Non-action, yet there is nothing left undone.
To win the world one must not act for gain.
If one acts for gain, one will able to win the world.

( a little commentary : in constrast, practitioners of Tao
Desire to reduce desire,’ lose and lose and lose’, until
They reach the state of Non-action..those who act
Rebel against the Tao. Those rebels against Tao
Lack the means to win over the world.

Wu wei can also means complete surrender or submission
of the self before the Overpowering Reality.
Total annihilation or fana and
After this event, came illumination of the spirit and
Divine unveilings to the blessed seeker.

The nafs, lower desire, The rebel force, nafs ammara
and nafs lawwama had crushed.
What emerge is the light and wisdom of the serene self.

The seeker in another sense was being honored and elevated
To the alam malakut where he sees wonders of Unseen.

He leaves His body, intellect, will, power, opinions
etc and fly without wings ! )

Encounter With Mr Shu Ming at Putrajaya Mosque

2006-12-17T08:02:00.000+08:00

Encounter With Mr.Shu Ming at Putrajaya Mosque

Dear Matrix Friends,

Last night 29 November 2006, we are blessed by Allah Taala to welcome a visit by Mr Shu Ming from Beijing, China. He got a twin pair of sons, one now studying Brisbane and another at England. Who brougt him to Master Izi Tea Hut in western Lake of Zhuhai ? How old is this seeker who dared to Travel on the Express Path or Rail that eventually lead him to a Lake ?. 'Master Izi, are you free tonight, we got a friend interested to talk about Buddhism, Sufism and Tao ?".

Just to flash back. Around Asar time, my little Ronin son Athaillah was despatched to Az-Zahra to sharpen his Sword of Manhood. Where ? In Big Bang Galaxy or Garden of the First Step where many rich fuqara once tasted the White Rabea Jasmine Tea. It Was sold in Makkah and Madinah. Imagine if Mr Shu was caught by someone at the Putrajaya Mosque (Malaysia capital city) while following the Maghrib prayer just like Taiji movements. He did not Fatihah, neither he know about anything of Quran in arabic. Our architect friend Mr.Lua wanted to leave him at the mosque as-Souq walkway while we rushed to join the Maghrib prayer. The old 15 years Proton full of Sagacious Blue Cliff Records had to be parked at the Dataran Bourlevard facing majestically the Prime Minister Green domed office facing the northen direction. Do Mr Shu overhelmed by this unexpected sights ? He only twice to Malaysia many years ago, very short stopover at Kuala Lumpur and to Malacca visit the renowned Admiral ZhengHe muzium.

After doing the Purification by Water at the lower level, we quickly went up to join the prayer. We abandoned the idea of leaving Mr.Shu at the mosque entrance. He passed the Main Gate of Peace easily. Nobody checked him or us. Now he prayed between two friends in the gloriius company of the faithful believers. Even the residents of Putrajaya also not always willing took the long 3km detour around the lake to pray in this beautiful mosque, almost floating at the lakeside, shimmering in the early night. We just forgot to collect our Shoes which we left at the Right side of the mosque when wanted to Stream out after enjoying the cool lakeside view at the left wall of the mosque.

Master Izi commented-" Many seekers in haste to get enrolled at the Dailin Nur College forgot to wear the proper Shoes.Some still wear their expensive useless Bally or Culdini or Nike shoes..where the muddy Path to the college will teach them the first lesson in Humility. Walk in the Mud and Wet fields. Second lesson, dont carry a Big Bagge of your worldly belongings. Each student individual huts only measured 4 feet x 8 feet ! Four in one of the chinese tonal meanings (SHI) is Death ! And another meaning of Eight (FATT) can also means- Blessed/Prosperous !.

In all above mix of stories, characters and events, what STAND OUT as the most RADIANT PATH and PURE SOURCE OF OUR DRINK ? Master Izi insights into the 28th Letter of Shaykh Darqawi which the fortunate fuqara managed to jolt down two weeks ago are as follow :

a. How you will ever LEARN if you as students dont bring along your PEN and NOTES !

b. If you manage to remember all the bits of wisdom, how long you can HOLD IT ?

c. We dont talk about those fuqara who are LOST, ABSENCE or FEAR TO COME.

d. Shaykh Darqawi ask us to KNOCK on ONE DOOR, my questions are which TEA HOUSES and which DOORS to knock ? In Masjidil Haram in Makkah, there are about 30 DOORS or more, not even the seasoned Hajjis and Hajjah can remember HALF of its NAMES. What more to enter or passing through.

e. Many seekers speak about Shuyukh and Awliya in the East and West, when a few passing by through our GARDENS and BACKYARDS, we cannot RECOGNIZE ! Those who RETREATED to the MOUNTAINS, dont ask me. Go, make your CLIMBS.

f. Many fuqara dig big HOLES, make NOISES and abandon it a FEW DAYS LATER.

g.Some of the students who sit with me many years are STILL UNRIPE. They afraid to EXPOSE to the sulights of TAO, I CHING, ZEN and CHUNG YUNG. They ask questions to expect easy and quick answers. How mistaken. My durian TREE still not yet flowering.

h. If people FIGHT you because of or over a NAME, POSITION, POWER or KNOWLEDGE, then throw all those THINGS into the LAKE. If they STILL want it, go take a PLUNGE.

i. At the end of this 28th Letter, it speak about DRINK and GIVING OUT DRINKS. If my students dont like TEA, why in the first place, they come to get ENROLLED ?

j. What happens to the ENCOUNTER of Mr. SHU MING and Mr.LUA that night.? We heard that he is GIVEN THREE BOOKS...for LIFE STUDY. Allahu akbar. We sang a VERSE of LAKAL HAMD and make DOA for him before Mr. Lua take him to the STATION to JOURNEY ONWARD and RETURN TO CHINA SOON.

We like to end with a verse from the Divine Book –First Chapter of al-Baqara :

“ Those who possess light of iman

and those who suffered exile (make hijra or travel for truth and openings)

and fought ( jihad- strove and struggled, wage war on self and enemies)

in the Path of Allah – they have the Hope or Reward of Mercy of Allah

and Allah is Oft Forgiving, Most Merciful “

Recorded and posted

by the advice of Abu Zhulixin

Attendant of Dailin Nur Institute

The Tea Hut Discourse on Stilllness (Yin-Shade)

2006-12-17T07:57:00.000+08:00

THE TEA HUT DISCOURSE
ON STILLNESS ( YIN –SHADE)

Last week we are blessed by Allah Taala to be invited and hear the discourse of Master Izi, the founder and sagely caretaker of Dailin Nur Tea Institute, Miyazaki Prefecture situated in South east of Kyoto, Japan. He asked one of his Malaysian student Zuigan to read several passages from the renown modern sufic text – The Hundred Steps written by a contemporary Darqawi Sufi Master from the West – Shaykh Abdal Qadir as-Sufi which he personally met and granted the special idhin or permission to revive the old decayed and remnants of Zen Shobozenbo school in the East.

Master Izi other close associates and occidental Japan scholars in the early 1970s are T.Izutsu, D.Suzuki, Dr.Sachiko Murata, Nakura Nakajima, Narushi Kawabata and Eka Kurashowa. Here are the excerpt of discourses that jolted down and retype again by petit Masako San :

One – Between Madness and Stillness

Sidi Zuigan read the text from page 38 of The Hundred Steps :
“ Sufism or the Path begins as a madness; its middle is a science (specific knowledge);
its end is stillness”. In arabic, it is junun, funun and sukun.

Master Izi commented – ‘How are we going to define what is madness in our society today ? Do we had to rely on descriptions by medical doctors, the psychiatrists and the psychologist like Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Boss, RD Laing and Eric Fromm ? Or we can learn from the famous sufic metaphor of madman Majnun and his lover Layla ? In the European, we also had the Italian version of Romeo and Juliet. Is madness relative to what we want to see and what destruction or confusion it brought on its initially unsuspected encounters ? Eric Fromm book got its famous title as ‘The Sane Society’. The great German thinker philosopher F.Nietzsche who finally succumbed to madness had written several brilliant books such as – Thus Spoke Zarathustra (A book for everyone and no one), Ecce Homo , Beyond Good and Evil, The Gay Science and The Wanderer and Its Shadow. How we wish to walk, travel, listen and response to Zarathusra sagely sermons !

“One can be silent and sit still only when one has arrow and bow (long reach);
otherwise one babbles and quarrels. May your peace be a victory !
I do not spare you, I love you from the deep heart, my brothers in war ! “

It is destroyers who set snares for many and call it STATE: they hang a sword and a hundred desires over them. The state is the coldest monster. Coldly it lies, too and this lie creeps from its mouth: ‘ I , the state, am the people !’. Now open your ears, for now I shall speak to you of the death of peoples.

In wickedness, the arrogant and the weak man meet. But they misunderstand one another. I know you. Here the metamorphosis, your spirit becomes a lion; it wants to capture freedom and be a master in its own desert. A light dawned on me : I need companions, living ones.

Sidi Zuigan read on : “ Kufr itself is a madness, a refined one because it cannot see itself wrong. The state as told by Nietzsche will be manipulated by later forces to bring destruction upon mankind, no religions can hold against this tribe called democracy and free market capitalism. Their power lies in a magic formula. A Ring of Niuebeliung as subtly depicted by Wagner”.

The Quran warned us : ‘ they have eyes but cant see, they have ears but cant hear and they have hearts but cannot perceive…the divine command/realities’. When it was told –don’t spread destruction on the earth (la tufsidu fil-ardh), they answered- we only intend good action (islah) or progress and development ! They treat mankind as equal, one man one vote..the way to mass madmen and to bring down the elites, nobles and sagely rulers, kings and sultaniyya !

The science fiction film- MATRIX – unfold this deception, entrapment and freedom that the hacker hero Neo must submit, learn, deceive, fight and discover the mystical power from Oracle, Morpheus and Trinity in order to escape and defeat the forces of agent Smith and the vast network of Matrix simulated world that none can break out, except death and transformation of self subtle Qi.

So what the next step this Path opens up to the seeker ? The faqir has now entered into the arena of contemplation and its fruits. Hal (spiritual lights) does not come from event, or from outside or from feelings, or from nafs in any of its modalities (appearances that distract the seeker).

The faqir must learn to move with its motions as the sailor changes sail with the winds. Do not tell what comes on the heart to others..he can only report this inner experiences to his Shaykh or to a recognized one among the salihun. Hal put in motion what was still, then it calms it and finally gives it rest. These are the effects of love (from Allah and His Awliya). Now only now, can we talk about love for the first time. (Matrix must fall in love with Trinity to realize his folly and subtle feelings and be free from it)

Master Izi says- ‘ One cup of real Tea refresh the spirit. Two cups of drink will indicate the host is appreciating your travel, your struggle, your trust and friendship’ . Zen masters take elaborate preparation to set up a tea hut meeting with guests, always with several tea attendants or disciples to serve and take notes of exchange of knowledge and wisdom of Tao’. No weapons are allowed inside the tatami tea hut and the tea pot, cups, boiled water and some cakes are arranged to indicate each guest/host ranks.

Shaykh Abdal Qadir as-Sufi further elaborated about this seeker ‘warid-refreshing experience’: “ It is the lights from the Absolute Lord of Majesty and Generous Gifts ( Dzal Jalali wal Ikram ). He may still think it flows from him to existence, but in truth, flows over existence that engulfing him. All actions becomes his actions, all other have his spirits. This is the first dissolution of the barriers of separation. He is temporarily without time, space melts, and he tastes from the Sea of Oneness “.

Nietzsche says in Thus Spoke Zarathustra : “ Shatter, shatter the good and just ! O my brother, have you understood this saying too ? Do you flee from me ? Are you afraid. Do you tremble at this words ? Now you shall be sea farers, brave, patient seafarers ! The sea is stormy ! “.

We go back to topic on The Stillness of Hundred Steps –Sukun (page 98). This stillness is the heart of the Wali, is not a state, but his condition, filling him both in jihad and in contemplation ! He may taste the excitement of battle (or war) but his stillness (marifa) rules him and he drinks the vision of the Face and he glorifies Allah. Oh what praise and what glorification may pour from the heart of a man (like this- a perfected one )

Master Izi commented : “ What a poor copy of box office films heroes like Neo, Jet Li Hero, Harry Potter, Lord of The Rings, James Bond, Brave Hearts, Hidden Tiger and Crouching Dragon, Dances With Wolves, BenHur, Genghis Khan and poor elected Popes and all dead canonized Saints. Once time they were burned and hanged alive when they challenged the church powers. Now the Modern State bestow the highest awards to its most loyal, richest, obedient politicians and senile citizens..some pothomously (after many years of death- ghosts titles) for contributions to the State (almost sacred/supreme entities, legally cannot be changed except by force and revolution and wars). This is the opposites of madness and stillness (enslavement of life in our current society where the billions and trillions of false wealth and banking power elites hold mankind in ransom and enthralled).

They have only one ENEMY, that is a free man that will bring their RULE and STATE to pieces. Or we don’t need them. We survive, we hide, we speak language of separation and gatheredness, we trade, we teach, we submit, we lose small wars but prepare for Big War, we do zikir and Ismul azim. Some in the seat of powers, some trained in elite groups and mergers warfare, some teach in universities, some get annihilated and some returned with robes of honour.

The People of Wisdom
The people of this Wisdom, call it Islamic Zen or Tao of Islam or I Ching of Tawhid or The Middle Path or Sufism, The Life Transaction, The Straight Path… some of them have retreated to mountains, others became rulers and scholars, imams and shuyukh, some are rich in their poverty, mighty in their helplessness, some exiled and cast out, some moved in the sea of sensory and the sea of meanings. Do you want to become a Warrior in His Path ? Are you satisfied with what the State offers ? Are comfortable in your High Offices ? Are you still not Rich enough ? Set out.

“ If you seek power or renown or reward from men by this Noble Path then knowledge that is has in it nothing but sorrow for you. One who knows that will be content with with tajrid (stripping away) and rich in it, a king even if Allah puts him in rags, as he will remain a faqir (one of the poor in the Tariq) even if Allah robes him in the robes of a king.

Every king dies like a faqir while every faqir dies like a king. The sufi is universal. He has reduced and then eliminated the marks of selfhood to allow a clear view of the Cosmic Reality. “
He has rolled up the cosmos in its turn and obliterated it. He has gone beyond.

It is the self chosen pattern of life one has adopted in order to deepen knowledge until one reaches one’s own source, one’s spring of life, to drink of the Water of Illumination.

Shariat is submitting.
Tariqat is handing over.
Haqiqat is victory.

It is coming out from the safe place of ordinary existence into the alien existence of search. It means the abandoning the autobiographical project of fame and fulfillment, for the self/nafs has become for the seeker, an enemy..until it is transformed into its luminous reality which is pure spirit-ruh.

The time is short. It must be seized. Cut through !
Breaking norms is the Path. Its fruits are witnessing and illumination.

The Darqawi Way fuqara are sober as they are majestic/beautiful. They are beggar /kings as they are warrior/saints….what more do we want and desire ? “ Wake up Sidi Zuigan ! , take this empty tea cups away and bring in the lotus moon-cakes from Xi-an and the dragon red fruits from Mr. Malik’s Bandung highland farm !. Masako San, lift up the left bamboo window for morning sunlight to enter ! Mr. Shuyu Min and Ridha Lua, we sincerely hope you may visit us again next summer.

Shaykh Abul Abbas Mursi said :
‘ It is difficult to reach a Teacher. It is easy to reach Allah (vast sign/indications leading to such men and friends of Allah). The pleasure of life is only in the company of the fuqara-they are the sultans, the masters and the princes’ (Madinah Press 1998) .

Dailin Nur Tea Hut 5th December 2006.

The Bamboo Koans For Chinese Seekers

2006-12-17T07:54:00.000+08:00

First Bamboo Koan : A Quarter, Half and One Sufi

A Quarter Sufi speaks to Half Sufi while traveling through the Zen Forest of Schizuan Province. Look, we put to test :

“ Don’t believe in that One Sufi ahead of us from the West”. Two wandering Eastern sufi who happen to pass nearby heard this remark at the road junction of Lu Xun and scolded the quarter, half and one sufi , “ All Sufis are charlatans, beware ! From North and South, they pretend to drink the Tea of Ecstasy, while the Oolong and Pue erh Tea leaves still not dried in the Summer”.
Three sufi are too much and too heavy for my words to carry.
Exposed. Broken. Collapsed. What more to understand ?

(Rabbi habli hukman wa ahiqni bis-salihin)

A woodcutter non-sufi who still alive today recounted this events to Master Izi and he ordered tea hut attendant Zuigan of Eastern Lake Precint of Kuang to record this in the Blue Bamboo River Koans Collection.

Abuzhuli xin Commentary :

Many seekers are being called travelers of the Path,
but no one can claim to be a full sufi yet.
A traveler may arrives or get lost on the Way.

The Forest of Dunya is never kind to travelers
who enter it without a tested Guide.
Without a Weapon of Tawhid.
Without a Light of Discrimination-Furqan.

Buying sufic books and reading many old jawi
or Arabic kitab/texts of commentaries cannot help one
to see in the night of modernists anti-sufi.

On daytime the goats from the University Farms
will attack and chew up the green books
because they are very hungry and not trained well
by their Masters and Dukturs who prefer to feed
them with spiritual empty grasses
and syllabus from the Orientalist wastelands.

Neo-Hsue Tou Verses

Nizami Mountain collect clouds
Shattari Mountain pour the rains
Half falls north of River Osama Abuya
Half falls into Bayan and Reformasi Valley
Others may be stuck at Pondok Madrasah

(Wa man yataqqi’Llah yaj-allahu makhraja
Wa man yataqqi’Llahu yaj-allahu furqana
Inna Awliya Allahu la khaufun
alaihim wa la hum yahzanu)

Do not say I have not warned you
A sufi a zen a monk still a name
Forest, desert and mountains
They cheat people most time
Or make them fight in politics

Sichuan Lu Xun Pur Erh
The Tea of China never Smells
Three sufi will make loud Noise
One solitary wali sat facing a city Wall
Music and drums they sell Tariqats

Dr. Abdad ar-Rauwi is my Friend
Leave all books journal and papers
Took the Sun burning Path
Where Universities cannot teach
Tea Hut or Tea Shop, most welcome.

Dr. Fuad Yeoh got Three Degrees
With envy I wrote it with gold
Master in Engineering and BA
Quranic studies from Yarmuk
Islamic Ph.D from Aberdeen !

He leave all and he possess all
Children and wives full of energy
Chinese, Malay and Maghrib
Wisdom and light shines through
Still remember the Night of Melawati
(La Syarqiyya wa la Gharbiyya
Kaukabun dhurriyun …Nurun alan nur
Yahdi’Llahu li-nurihi man yasyaau
Wa Allahu bi-kulli syain Alim)

We ask Allah ,the Majestic, the Exalted to
Enlighten our hearts and life journey…

Second Koan : Many Doors of A Tea Hut

Sufism is a science of madness and stillness.
It depend where you are and how rich you are.
Ha ha ha , only the poor speak this Way.
Dust, dust..kuntu turaba . A sufi hut had many doors,
why none dare to seek, travel and make a visit ?
To enter and drink Tea is another matter.

To test, we put this question to you :

Master Dogen asked his students one day in the assembly hall – who got a new sms today ? Where does he built his Dailin Nur College ? Do the Japanese Government approved his spiritual teaching overseas ? How many students from Granada, Weimar, Zurich, Cape Town, Jakarta, Bandung, Johor Bharu and Penang recently get enrolled for an eight weeks course in Blue Heiddegerian Studies and to organize an seminar called ‘The Time of I Ching ‘ ?

Here is the Maxis Message from Dr. Abdad Rawi of Penang University, Grey Rock Garden (Taman Batu Uban lah) former chief editor of Nusantara Journal received on 8.00pm dated 2 of Dec. 2006 :

‘This piece of koan need fathom.
When the door opens, whirl follows you.
You cross the line, feel that touch on the shoulder
by one that beckons.
The cups are there all the time
Perfumed wine waiting for the lips

The second whirl arrives and the touched
Shoulder warming up to a larger circle.
The flirting fire ambers till dawn
The whispering hearts need no filled cup now.

Another door yonder closing in
Sufi doors opens more of whirl,
cup , touch, heart and wisper.

Suddenly Master Izi attendant Masako San brought an old message jumbled up in Chinese mandarin from our old Melawati garden Companion Dr. Muhammad Fuad Yeoh, Deputy President of Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association (Macma) after a quick translation by Sidi Zuigan…it is decided to be included in this Blue Bamboo Collections as follow :

‘Traveller has not been endowed with the honour
to enter any of Master’s doors for the chosen only
is able to taste and be intoxicated by Master’s spirits, wisdom, aura and fun.
It is not a question of fear but simply to whom the bounty the Almighty grants .
For which Traveller unfortunately is not one ‘.

Attendant Sidi Zuigan Commentary :

We are extremely thankful to Allah Tabaraka wa Taala this blessed morning where two of our long time Companions and ardent readers of Zen and Sufism send us their warm greeting of peace beside penning out new koans for all of you ! You shall not forget to record this in your diary.

When you finished this short course, go seek and pay visit and respect to them on my behalf.
My old bones and feets not strong enough to make travels to Malaysia, Indonesia, Europe or Africa this winter.

Bow three times to this two wise scholars, we feels that their Islam and Sufism are our true ally and will transform our future Way and revive the lost Wisdom !

Attendant Yung Ming Versify thus :

To sit in sunlight or to sit in shade
It doesnt matter the sun is East or West
This light from the blessed oil and Olive
From the star, the lamp and niche
Allah guides to His light whom He will
One man enrich a whole community

Let wage war against Number and Papers
O Sages of China and Nippon let appear!
The Time of Spring is here. A Tea Hut.
One traveller falters, ten will comes !
Once the door shut, the hut is gone !

By order of Master Dogen and Master Izi

Oh my new readers and are you my friend now
Do you understand that this Path under your very foot
Path that leads to Makkah and Madinah
A blessed sanctuary and an illuminated city.

Make your journey oh seeker, you will see wonders !
May i lend you the Haji Abu Zhulixin Journal of 2004
Thirty three days full of dusts, sweats and lights
Names, embraces, kisses and doa/prayers you never forget
in your life..where we received oud green Dalailul Khayrat

Where we pray and do zikir at top of Jabal Syubaykah in Makkah
Where we met Sidi Muhammad al-Kuryn of Damascus,
Sidi Abu Bakar ad=Darqawi from his father izin of Fez
Sidi Abdullah al-Mouneni of Meknes and his doa and
recitation from heart the Salawat Shaykh Ibn Mashish :

Oh Allah, we cannot thank You
by our every breath
and every glance and
every letters and words
we put forth and what is lost
and unwritten.

Alhamdulillah wa syukriliLlah.

Zuigan Added Another Jambu Koan No.Four:

Kill one, two will appear
Endgame you win and nobody lose
Bow four time times before retreat
Bow three times to cut off your enemy
Still we owe him two bow… ha ha what ?

Our venerable and wise Master Izi commented :

Confucius says the more one attack the false systems, the stronger it will becomes.
Democracy is a multi-headed monster. You cannot weakened it by blowing up buildings, Shooting the presidents and leaders. It merely make the government more repressive and curtailing its citizen freedom.

What is our endgame – to put our trust in the Economy, the Government, the Law and the Free Market and the United Nation ? What a pity people cannot see beyond the paper money and number currencies as real wealth, a source of power ? The usurious system that make money grow itself by a mathematical sacred formula –interest rate, compound interest and credit based derivates…will destroy this planet and enslaved its population…we are just another numbers and economic unit of consumer, producer or customer to the market and production system.

Bowing four times is the Islamic fardh night prayer of Isyak consist of 4 (ruku/rakaat) bowing and 8 sajda (prostration face touching the ground). After this late night prayer, normally the muslims can retire peacefully to bed, to sleep or to continue doing extra nawafil prayer, to do extra Quranic recitation or various zikirs…to polish the heart, deepen the slave yearning and supplication to the Generous and All Hearing Lord . Some fuqara will do extra salawat –prayers on the Prophet in various forms. The most famous and lengthy salawat compiled is the Dalailul Khayrat by Shaykh al-Jazuli, a sufi master from the Shadhilyya Path in north Africa. Millions of muslims and Sufis/fuqara still reciting some part of this old texts everyday, every week or every month or every joyful occasion like marriages, births of children, aqiqah, celebrating the Maulid and Awliya annual gatherings etc.

Bowing three times refer to rakaat of Mahgrib prayer, very important to seek protection of Allah for the beginning of the night from evils of shaytans, whisperings and whatever harms from creation that Allah Taala created and in His Knowledge and Power.

There are endless enemies among mankind also. Those who are jealous and envy and hypocrisy and direct enemies among the kafirun. The muslims still owed another prayer consist of two rakaat/bowing….that is Salatul Fajr or Subuh in the morning before sunrise as commanded in the Quran. As-salatul fajri kana masyhudan. The Angels of Daytime begin to record the affairs of the day after exchanging duties with the Angel of the Night from maghrib time.

(reproduced from Blue Diary of Zuigan dated Nov.2006)

Maulana Rumi Discourse and Sidi Khairuzin

2006-10-02T15:24:00.000+08:00

We cannot recall what year this discourse text was handed over to poor memory of abuzuhri. But what we cannot forget is that one malaysian student Sidi Khairuzin whose father was a chinese muslim from Johor, Malaysia had stayed more than 15 years in England and learned many wisdom of Maulana Rumi through genuine masters such as Hajji Issa Bryce, Hajj Abdal Haqq Bewley, Sh.Abdal Aziz of New York who embrace Islam in Konya that had recounted to us the amazing stories from Rumi. He was given 6 volumes of Mathnawi edited by Nicholson.

He even got izin and learned the whirling dervish Melvlevi dance. One day his teacher in Norwich bought a six volume translation of Rumi poems Mathnawi and presented to him : 'It is yours, read it and we will going through its commentaries every week after the dhikr'. He was dumbstruck but manage to survive and blessed with opportunity to attend one annual meeting in Istanbul with the murids of Sh.Abdal qadir as-sufi.

He went to Hajj in 1990s with Hajj Abdal Aziz, the man who drawn into islam by the baraka and love of Rumi. Here is the beginning of such great journey blazed by a perfumed presence from Konya.

The Mevlevi Discourse – Instanbul, Turkey

Maulana, our Master Maulana Rumi , tells of this instance. There was a kafir master who had a slave, who was Muslim, and the Muslim slave was walking in the street with his master and they passed the mosque. And the slave said to him, "Please just let me go into the mosque to do two raqats." And the kafir said, "I will wait outside. Go and do your two raqats." So he went into the mosque, but he did not come out until the kafir put his head into the mosque and said, "Come out at once." And he heard the slave say, "I cannot come out, this thing is beyond the bounds." And the kafir said, "I do not believe you. Who is stopping you from coming out?" The Muslim said, "The same one who is stopping you from coming in." Here Maulana shows the secret of the destiny and the proof of the Deen.

You see, we have to recognise the life of the awliyya and the knowledge of existence that Allah has given to these awliyya and it is unconquerable, indestructible. Look at the miracle of the unseen world that has brought us all together today. Look at the connection that we have to the tariqa of Maulana. Look at the connection you have from Konya with Maulana, the master of Konya. Now, we know there was an attempt to destroy it utterly. We know the names of the blessed men who were hanged because of no other thing than that they were the masters of this secret.

The great tekkes were shut, they were turned into museums and their libraries were rendered unreadable by changing the alphabet. What an amazing thing that the man who holds the army under his command is afraid of these fuqara turning round and round and round yearning for Allah. What a tremendous thing, what a great thing, what a great light Maulana Rumi, radhi"allahu anhu. What spiritual power was released in those days and those nights in Konya. Kuffar came on their hands and knees to taste something of this. But though they see the tree they do not understand the root.

This is the miracle of the great wali Jalaludin, our master. And this is the miracle by which, drawn to this light, one of our brothers came all the way from America and went to Konya to learn with Suleiman Dede, radhi"allahu anhu. Shaykh Aziz, radhi"allahu anhu, studied under Suleiman Dede and his two sons are here.

Shaykh Aziz went on Hajj and after the Hajj he had a dream and he saw the earth just bursting with flowers. Flowers burst out of the earth and Rasulullah, salallahu alayhi wa salem, came to greet him. He got to Madinah. He fell ill. When they saw he was very ill, they said, "We must take you to hospital." They said, "Do not worry you will soon be well." He said, "I am very very happy. I have seen the Rasul, salallahu alayhi wa salem, and he has told me something." They took him to hospital, the next morning he was dead. He was buried in Baqi alongside his Imam, Imam Malik, and close to Sayyedina Uthman. Two hundred people fought to carry his body to the grave.

So the light of this knowledge and the love of this knowledge was not dead. And the destiny had taken this servant of Maulana to Madinah to unite him with Rasul, salallahu alayhi wa salem. But one thing has happened, and that is that they have shut the book of the Maulana, they have shut Mathnawi.

The tariqa will recover by the turning and by the opening of Mathnawi. Because there is a special message to the lovers of Allah in the Mathnawi and it is that you are unconquerable, that the world belongs to you, both the worlds belong to you.

This is the message to those ones who love Allah. When I came out of khalwa my Shaykh said to me, "Now" he said, "no hand is over your hand." It is this freedom of slavery that is that power from Allah that the kafir fears because he cannot get it, cannot take it, cannot conquer it, so that even when the Shuyukh of the Mevlevi were hanged their bodies on the rope turned to Qibla.

This path of knowledge is the path of the power of Allah. It is a great, great thing in this world because it is indestructible while the world is here. Look what it is founded on. They shut the tekkes, but what were they going to do, kill everybody? There had awakened in a man and awakened in a woman, a desire for Allah that cannot be destroyed.

But once you realise that you have been taken by Allah all the people are raised up by you. The reality of Maulana"s tariqa was the glory of the Sultan and his government. His Shaykh, Shaykh al-Islam, his Qadis, his army, his order to Jihad. It was the dynamic of the Mevlevi that gave the dynamic to the court of the Sultan. The elite of the country were turned to Allah, they were not turned to the gaining of the victory. They were free from that.

So when the Mevlevi were strong the whole of the Sultaniyya were strong, the whole "Ummah of Islam was strong. The Shari'at was strong because the Haqiqat was strong. So the ones who follow the path of this are the ones who will restore the Shari"at to its glory, not because they think it is a great thing, but because they know it will be pleasing to Allah and Rasul, salallahu alayhi wa salem. And victory will come because to the faqir this world is a little thing. But we must make it clean for Allah, we must give Allah what He wants. And what does Allah want? He wants "ibada, He wants the poor to be protected, He wants the Zakat to be collected by force,

He wants a Sultan to rule his people in the image of the Topkapi like the shepherd looks after his flock. He wants an army of Jihad to follow the orders of Rasul, salallahu alayhi wa salem. He wants His juma"ah to be complete with his dua for his Sultan. How does he achieve it? Because he (Fqdir) does not care, he does not care about this world. He has moved from fear of creation to fear of Allah. And the kuffar, the enemies of Islam, they care and their care weighs them down. And that is why the victory is with the people who love Allah.

When I was last in Istanbul, I said, "I want to speak in the mosque, I want to hold dhikr in the mosque." Everyone said, "Do not do it, it is impossible. We cannot do it." We sent a representative to Istanbul, spoke with various people and suddenly the Imam of the mosque of Sultan Salim, radhi"allahu anhu, said "Yes, you can have the dhikr here." They then said, "You will not get the State permission." The permission came from Istanbul. The permission came from Ankara. And we said, "Look! Sultan Salim has done this." If he could take Makkah and Madinah alive is he not going to open the door of his own mosque from the grave?

When we came to Sultan Salim's mosque I said, "I will not set foot in it until I go to greet him in his tomb." They said, "you cannot, the guardian is gone, he lives on the other side of Istanbul." I said, "I cannot go until I have greeted him." They said, "but it is impossible." "I must greet him." Suddenly they said, "Look! Amazing. Here he is. He has come back." He said, "I was just going to catch the tram and I thought I had to come back." He opened the door and took us in and then he showed us on the wall a plaque. He explained that when Sultan Salim reached Damascus, at that time the grave of Ibn al-Arabi had been desecrated and no one knew where it was. Sultan Salim then had said, "We must find it, we must honour this wali." They walked around and everything was covered with filth and dirt. He said, "What is that piece of metal, what is that plaque?" And they cleaned it and there was something written in Arabic. It said, "What you are looking for is under your feet."

Now look at this, Shaykh al-Akbar, Muhiddin ibn al-Arabi, leaves instructions noticeably put by his grave and he is put under the earth. What is this meaning for us? Why does he want this for us? He was buried honourably in his place. The time passed, the tomb was desecrated and covered with grass but the message was waiting. Who was it waiting for? Sultan Salim Yavuz. Look how Yavuz was. Commotion comes into his heart and he says, "Find it! Find it!" And it happened with Sultan Mehmet and the guardian of the banner of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa salem, Moulay Ayyub. That was the same, was it not? And so he restored the grave of Ibn al-Arabi, built the tomb, recovered his final testament where he had ordered a waqf by which every day the poor should be fed a bowl of soup and a certain weight of meat. So he re-established the waqf. And from that day until this, in Syria, in Damascus the poor are fed from the waqf of Ibn al-Arabi.

This is why the kuffar are afraid. They are afraid that we will not come out, and they know that by their fear, they cannot go in. Victory is with the Muslims. The establishment of the Khalifate will be by the hands of the people who love Allah, not only by an army with swords, but also by the passionate love and yearning of the people who love Allah. Open the Mathnawi. The more he goes into the knowledge of Marifa, the more he recognises the reality and importance of the Shariat and of the Sultan, because the Muslim moves in two worlds. He moves in the world where he is under the orders of the Shariat and that is the necessary condition of this exalted event which is the turning. So it is by this that we will turn everything upside down. This is why by turning, the faqir is let loose, he is set free. Like you open the cage of the tiger. Passionate desire for knowledge of Allah. And with this everything will change. Look what happened to Maulana Jalaludin Rumi, raheemallah. He was an Alim, he was a Sufi, he was perfectly behaved and then through the doors came a wild half-crazy-to-the-world faqir, Shams at Tabriz and the world turned upside down. Tariqa turned upside down. Maulana turned upside down. His Sultan turned upside down. His fuqara turned upside down. He was gone. There was no price to pay, he was gone. If that had not happened, this could not happen. Without that drunkenness there would not be this sobriety. This is the truth and this is the inextinguishable. And once it awakens it never will be put out and such a man does not die, he does not die. He leaves this world but he continues working in the Unseen. Awliya work continuously.

How is it that when we meet among us there is recognition? Rasul, salallahu alayhi wa salem, said, "If there is recognition in the world of bodies it is because there was a meeting in the world of spirits." We are from before the worlds. Maulana Jalaludin said to the "ulama who were arguing about whether the world was created or eternal, he said, "You cannot prove it is eternal, but we can prove it was created because we were there before it was created. And Allah said to us, "Alasta bi rabbikum?" "Am I not your Lord? And all of us said, "Yes!" Where was the world then? So we know what you do not know."

Now, by this path everything opens to you. Understanding of the Message. The most difficult thing to know, knowledge of Allah by His opposite meanings. The maqam of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq who when he was asked in an illness, "Who made you better?" replied, "The same one who made me ill." Allah had manifested by majesty, but He then recognised when He manifested by beauty, because it was the same. One of the great sufis said, "I reached Allah by His opposite Names." Rumi explained, he said, "What is joy? It is the end of suffering. What is the suffering? It is the end of joy." The suffering needs the joy and the joy needs the suffering, but you do not understand them until you realise that they are both from Allah. This is the commotion set up by love of Allah in the faqir. It is crazy but it is not mad. It is not mad by Shariat, but it is mad by the wisdom we know, which is why wildness of the heart is draped in the somber, majestic robe of black. All that happened to Maulana, was that he was set ablaze and then suddenly the source of it vanished.

And then people tell the story that after that he turned in grief for the loss of Shamsuddin. This would not last a thousand years! No! Shams had done it! Shams had won! He had set him free! He says himself in his Mathnawi, "When you get to Makkah where do you go?" When you are Hajji you struggle and struggle but when you get to Makkah where do you go? What do you do when you have got there? Maulana explains that one who is on a journey has a goal, the one who has reached the goal is free, the bonds are broken. So he stood. What did he do? He turned round his own heart, like the Hajji who has arrived at the Kaaba. He cannot go in, it is Allah's house. So he goes round and round and round. Go to Makkah, go to the Kaaba. I have seen a man do tawaf until he was on his knees and falling on the ground. But is that not what this is? This is a tremendous thing.

Now one last thing. Who were those who could best realise the power of this? The people whose days were worn out and weighted with the responsibility of the world. They saw, "This has attained what I have not attained. One sip of this glass will refresh me." Though I do not turn, their turning will refresh me." So the Bey and the Beylerbey and the Wazir, they saw from this that Allah was the Mighty. The Qadi, the Shaykh al-Islam, he heard the remonstrance of Maulana that is not anything but the inscription of the knowledge. So all these people are lifted up by the turning of the Mevlevi and this is the great victory.

Please take from this place to Konya the greetings of your brothers and sisters here. Tell them we are not stopped from anything by the laws. Allah has done it to awaken us to a great passion. And when our hearts burst open, the tekkes will burst open. When the tekkes burst open then the mosques will fill up with people who will say, "Not just the mosque but also the awqaf to look after the poor. Not just sadaqa but zakat." Until again there is someone in Yildiz for all the Muslims.

Konya is the guardian of the future of Islam in all the world. You are the ones who by the light that Allah gives you will change the whole face of the Muslim world. You will not believe what you will see. Inshallah you will live to see great things. Because victory of Konya, is the victory of Maulana, Shams at-Tabriz, and it is the victory of their master Rasul, salallahu alayhi wa salem.

We ask Allah to increase the light of Konya.

We ask Allah to open the gates of the tekkes to allow the turning
to be spread throughout all of the Muslim world.

We ask Allah to bless all the Effendis, and all the Salihin and
all the Tariqa of Mevlevi through the ages since this terrible tragedy.

I ask Allah's blessing on Suleiman Dede.

We ask Allah to bless Shaykh Aziz and give him light
in the grave and we ask Allah to put his sons on the Tariqa of the Mevlevi.

We ask Allah to bless all of the Shuyukh in this age
and Allah to give light to the tomb of Sultan Abdalhamid.

By the light of the dhikr restore all the Muslims under one leader.

We ask Allah to give safety and protection for all
of the brothers from Konya who have come to visit us.

And we ask Allah to increase and
overflow the lights of those who do the turning.
We ask Allah to give them baraka from the act of the turning.

By their having come here solely for the sake of Allah,
to make them leaders in the land, to spread the teaching of Maulana.

And we ask Allah's protection on this mosque,
restore it to its position as a place of leadership.

And we ask Allah's blessing on all the Muslims of Turkey
who are working towards the establishment
of the Deen in Turkey and Arabistan.

Endnote:
Tabarakallah, until now our Dailin Nur teahut library already stacked with 3 fine essays and poems related to Maulana Rumi, Master Izi, Dr.Anqaravi and Dr.Abdad ar-Rauwi. We hope to edited and repost more such gems old notes by many of our Rumi lovers in Nursantara.

The Difficult Journey : A Review

2006-09-29T17:37:00.000+08:00

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)

Tuscon Discourse and Faqir Abdullah Koya

2006-09-26T00:33:00.000+08:00

Preface by Abu Zuhri Shin of Dailin Nur

In early 1980s, my friend from Petaling jaya, Malaysia named Sidi Abdullah Koya got his father blessing to study in Baytudeen Zahra Institute, San Antonio, Tuscon, USA. He was a great servant among the younger students and children in the small sufic community established by Sh.Fadhllah Haeri. However as Divinely decreed, he passed away and buried there due to a drowning incident. He cannot swim but in reality his spirit fly to the highest realm. His father Hajji Koya Kutty was an active publisher of islamic books and magazines such as Reading of Islam, Islamic Crescent weekly and Islamic book trust. May Allah shower His mercy and forgive Sidi Abdullah Koya and place him among the righteous.

This accompanying discourse by a travelling sufic master many years earlier had briefly visited this small community in a caravan style da'wah trip that finally ended at the coast of Berkeley, California USA. We dedicated all the baraka and affected hearts by this excellent discourse to our readers especially from Malaysia. We were informed one chinese faqir from Penang named Sidi Hashim Lee had also studied briefly at this center in 1990s since then no more news from him but a letter which he stated: " I hope to die in the land of my Teacher'.
Here are the opening lines for you...

Tucson/USA Discourse May 1978 : The Path
Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim

Fuqara'- faqirat. I would like, insha'llah, to say something about Tariq of Allah, the Path to Allah. It can be talked about in different ways, and it can be talked about in different languages, different vocabularies. It is can be talked about using the language of the Qur'an, the language of Allah tabaraka wa ta'ala. It can be talked about using the special language of the people of the Qawm, of the Folk, who have created their own technical vocabulary to describe their ahwal wa'l-maqamat, their inner states and their stations with Allah; the inner states, that only they know about and the maqamat that only Allah knows about, and that the awliya' recognise in them. In other words, they do not recognise their maqam, but they know their hal. You can talk about it in this way.

You can talk about its extraordinary exterior, turuqs: Naqshbandiyya, Shadhiliyya, Darwaqiyya, Chistiyya; about shuyukh: this shaykh and that shaykh; about karamat, about the maqam of this one and the maqam of that one; about Aqtab, Awtad, Salihun – all these different ways you can talk about Tasawwuf. Or you can make up your own story and still talk about it, no one will contradict you. Shaykh al-Fayturi said, "We're not interested in wirds; we're not interested in wazifas, this shaykh and that shaykh, the sadiqun are only interested in one thing: ma'rifa. Recognition of Allah tabaraka wa ta'ala. Nothing else matters. One of the Sufis of the east in Pakistan has said, "Shuyukh do not fly; their murids make them seem to fly. The shuyukh do not fight each other, their murids make them seem to fight each other." In other words, the ahl al-haqiqat, the people of reality, are in complete agreement, in complete harmony, there is no debate between them.

So how are we going to talk about Tariq, about the Way? There is Tariq, and there is Sabil, Sabilillah, fi-sabilillah, in the way of Allah. The tariq, tariqa sufiyya, properly speaking is sabil. Sabil is from a root which means rain. Rain comes out of non-existence, out of the cloud-form and becomes rain. It was cloud, it becomes rain, and it disappears. It completely disappears, and only its results are seen, which is grass and flowers, and food for others. Imam Junayd, radiya'llahu 'anhu, the Imam of the 'Arifeen, and the People of the Tariq, the Tariq of Allah, said, "The Sufi is like dung, turf on the earth and all the different seeds are thrown onto it, and from this, roses and all the beautiful flowers spring up and bloom.

If we want to understand the Tariqa, the Way properly, we must remember the hadith of Sayyiduna Muhammad, salla'llahu 'alayhi wa sallam. He said, "From my time till the end, there will be no time that is not worse than the time before it." He also said, "If anyone in my time omits one of ten things that are commanded, he will go to the Fire" because he has this tremendous example before him of Sayyiduna Muhammad, salla'llahu 'alayhi wa sallam. "But a time will come when, if anyone does one out of ten things, he will achieve the Garden." So we have to things to understand. There is a diminishing of knowledge, a diminishment of knowledge, a disappearance of knowledge off the face of the earth. Also Allah ta'ala's baraka, Allah ta'ala's karamat, the fadl of Allah is so overflowing. Shaykh Ahmad al-Badawi said, radiya'llahu 'anhu, "The fadl of Allah lies in increase." His overflowing is increase. More, more more. This meaning is in an ayat of Qur'an al-Karim, "He never removes an ayat, a sign, but he replaces it with one equal to it, or better than it," meaning in one of its meanings, that when a wali is removed, he is replaced with another wali as good or better than the one who has been.

In this meaning, Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib, radiya'llahu 'anhu, said, "My maqam..." and because of his high station, he spoke of his maqam. But this is not the way of the people of understanding, but he said in a moment of delight, "My maqam, when I was teaching at the Qarawiyyin," this was therefore at the whole beginning of his affair, when he was just begun, on the tariqa sufiyya. "My maqam, when I was teaching at the Qarawiyyin, has never been equalled by any wali except Moulay 'Abdal-Qadir al-Jilani, radiya'llahu 'anhu. Moulay Abdal-Qadir al-Jilani is the great Qutb, to whom we all turn, and to whom we all trace our footsteps. He was indicating by this, that according to the darkness of the age and the ignorance of the age, Allah ta'ala increases blessings among His people. The wali of Bahlil, radiya'llahu 'anhu, said one day while talking with us, "This is an age of shuyukh and no murideen." It's an age of teachers, teachers by the idhn of Allah, and no one will follow them. They are here, there and there, and nobody wants to know. One of the people of the Way used to go into the city and beat a drum and say, "There's knowledge going, who wants knowledge? Come out!" to see who would come, and a few people would come.

Another story told by the men of knowledge is that a faqir was travelling, and he recognised by his heart a great man of Allah coming towards him, and the man was running out of the town, and he said, "Don't go in there." He said, "What is the matter? Is it the plague?" He said, "No, there is a town in which people do not want knowledge." I am speaking in the language of the people of tasawwuf, knowledge, to the people of tasawwuf as we were talking about this morning with one group, is not contained within the realm of information. Information is the lowest, most limited, and first degree of knowledge after which there are two degrees, each one of them higher than the other, each with its own language, each with its own science, and each with its own zone in which it may be experienced. And people do not know it exists, and when they hear it exists, only a small group of people want to have this experience, to have this knowledge. Why is this? Because we are in an age of outward expansion, and inner contraction. People want to expand outwardly, and therefore they contract inwardly. It's an age where people have no adab, as we say, they have not got manners; and manners are the Path: "at-Tariqa, kulluha adab."
The tariqa is nothing but good manners, and people do not have good manners. They are not able to sit properly. They sit like babies, like children in perambulators: they lounge. Why? Because they are outwardly free. Why? Because they are inwardly imprisoned. Islam is Shari'at. Islam is shahada, salat, siyam, zakat, hajj. All of which are imprisoning, all of which have their conditions, all of which trap you, all of which shrink you, all of which constrict you outwardly, and all of which have their expansion inwardly.

This is an age of freedom. People are free: "I do this. I do that. I go with the flow. I do what I like. It doesn't suit me. I don't like it. I have an opinion." What is opinion? Opinion is something you have been taught by others to have, imagining it is from yourself. Sufis say, "beware of opinion". Why? Not because it is evil or bad or dangerous, but because it gives you kingdom. It enthrones, and it enthrones you in ignorance. Speculation is the way of ignorance. You speculate when you do not know. Tasawwuf is science. Science is from knowledge, and it has no speculation: in its beginning, in its middle, or in its end.

So here we have something called the Tariq of Allah, which has always been used about it, a special vocabulary. This vocabulary has divided people into three groups: the common, the elite, and the elect of the elite, and in every definition the sufis say: the common have this understanding, and the elite have the opposite understanding, and the elect of the elite have both understandings. We have three knowledges, but who takes these knowledges? Who takes them? Who wants them? And where will he get them, and where will he get them? And where will he know he is not getting rubbish? Where will he know he has got the right thing?

Abu'l-'Abbas al-Mursi, radiya'llahu 'anhu, said, "The murid will get the shaykh in accordance with the quality and degree of his himma and his yearning. One shaykh was asked, "Who is the perfect shaykh?" He replied, "Bring me the perfect murid and I will show you the perfect shaykh." Why? Because it's all in the hand of the muridin, but who are the muridin? Murid is from a root which is irada, and irada means will, and it means one who has handed over his will completely to another, that the murid has handed his will completely to his shaykh. Where can you find such people? Only a handful of people. Good weather obedience is no use to anybody. It is only of use when the nafs is constricted, and the nafs rebels and it still obeys: that is the murid. And in that conflict, and in that obedience, is the victory, and the gnosis is glued on to it, by the secret of Allah. And where is that person? That is the murid. That is the one who has the secret already right there at that point, that is the rajulu'llah. It is a tremendous thing. It is a tremendous, tremendous thing.
If I start now, I could go on and never finish, with simply singing the praises of the murid; because all the love of Allah is on him. He is the lover, moving to the Beloved; why is he called the elite if he is not the elite? They are the elite. "The fuqara'," Shaykh Abu Madyan, radiya'llahu 'anhu, said, "are the Sultans." They are the princes. If you are this person, you are this. If you are not, you are not. If you are outwardly a Sultan and outwardly a prince, then know you are not this, because these are sultans of the inward and princes of the inward. Outwardly they are dust and inwardly they are gold. What a rare person that is now.

Imam Junayd, radiya'llahu 'anhu, walked through the streets of Baghdad and said, "Where will I find one man in the whole of Baghdad?" One man is all of Baghdad, at the time of Shibli, Hallaj and Junayd, and all these great awliya', radiya'llahu 'anhum. Al-Hujwiri, radiya'llahu 'anhu, speaking about the time the Companions, said, "Sufism is a name without a reality." So what is it now? "I am this tariq, or I am this tariq. I have this shaykh, or I have this shaykh." Now you have something that is the opposite of Imam al-Junayd. In the days of al-Junayd, if Junayd was there, you clung to him, you would cleave to him, you would not be separate from him, except under his order, and then you wept, and fought, and resisted being separated from him.
And in this age I crossed Islam from one end to the other, and then everywhere in the Umma, I meet people who say, "Oh, I go to Damascus." They say, "I have a shaykh in Cairo. I go to Cairo," and they say, "I have a shaykh in Pakistan. I go to Pakistan." They say, "I have a shaykh in Morocco." What is this? Is this tasawwuf? It's just a picture on the wall. What is that? "I want to be near you." "Go and do your business." "Then we can leave our business and come back": That is the lover. "I don't want to be separate from you." "Go, you have to." Then in going there is a secret, but otherwise you cleave to the shaykh.

Why? Why should you cleave to the shaykh? Is what they say about the Sufis true? Then is it all bida', and someone is being interposed between a man and Allah? No! Who are the Sadiqun? They are those who when you see them, remind you of Allah. They are a mirror for you, in which you may reflect more deeply on the reality of existence, on the truth of existence. What a big thing it is, and when you see these people, when you meet these people, and when you sit with these people. What is it? What is it that passes between you. Someone said to me, "If they knew what we had, they would try to steal it from us." But you cannot steal it. How can you steal it? But what is the murid? Let us go to the source. 'Abdal-Qadir al-Jilani, radiya'llahu 'anhu, is the source of teaching, of tasawwuf. He says, "Be with the shaykh like the dead body is in the hands of the washer." This he says in the 'Ayniyya. Who is this? Who is this person? This is the one who is interesting.

When Hajj 'Isa came out of the khalwa, Shaykh al-Fayturi said to him at the very point that he had arrived at knowledge, gnosis and lights, "Now you are a slave and servant of the fuqara'." When I made Abdal-Kabir muqaddim, and he went to the wali of Bahlil who had told him in advance that he would be made muqaddim, and there was no sign of him being made muqaddim, and he was a perfect nuisance, and he went to him and said, "Now what do I do?" and he said, "The muqaddim is before the fuqara' like a donkey on which all the fuqara' place the load of their troubles and their burdens, and he is behind the fuqara' like a dog, who runs behind them protecting them without them even knowing it. And what is muqaddim? It means the one who goes ahead, and it is a name of Allah, al-Muqaddim, and it is a name of Sayyiduna Muhammad, salla'llahu 'alayhi wa sallam.
What a tremendous name, and in it are the secrets of 'ubudiyya, in it are the secrets of slavehood, because everything that has an attribute of Allah, exalts Allah, and when it relates to us it brings us low. Because He cannot be associated with anything. He is Exalted and High, and we are low. The Lord is the Lord and the slave is the slave. Look at this, can you do this in five minutes? Can you reach it in five minutes? Can you get me this in five minutes?

Can you put a hat on it and be it? Can you give a hand? I have met again, again, and again people who say, "Oh, I've given my hand to a shaykh." Well, what is he doing with this collection of hands? Is he keeping them in a box? What is this? Is this tasawwuf? Where is your heart? I'm not interested in your hands. I don't want one-handed people. Shari'a tells me you are a thief! Shari'a tells me you are a thief! This is not ba'yat. You cannot say it. Lovers hide their love. Real lovers hide their passion. They do not speak about it. False claimants boast about their amatory adventures. The lover hides, quiet, when everyone else is talking, because they are drinking the experience of love. I have given my hand to a shaykh: What use is that to him? What is he to do with it? It is a big thing.

After Moulay 'Arabi ad-Darqawi, radiya'llahu 'anhu, his khalif was Shaykh Ahmad al-Badawi of Fes. This great wali had two zawiyyas: one zawiyya in Fes, and in this zawiyya there were a group of men who great, great awliya' and salihun, the most exalted among the 'arifeen. There was Sidi Tayyib, Sidi Muhammad ibn Huwari. These men were all very exalted walis, and they were all in the zawiyya of Ahmad al-Badawi, radiya'llahu 'anhu. The shaykh was quite old, and one day as happens in the nafs of the great, there rose up in them this desire for leadership, and they started to question who would be the next shaykh, and by ishara the shaykh knew and became very angry. He came in and he said, "All of you fuqara' here get up. I want you to sweep and clean the zawiyya so that there is not one speck of dust." So they rolled up their burnooses and their djellabas and they took the broom and swept the zawiyya until it was spotless. He came down and said, "This is disgusting. Do you call that clean? Look at that over there - it's filthy. Clean it." And they cleaned it. He came down and said, "Tut, tut, tut. You haven't listened to me. What is this? Are you making fun of me? Look at that. Look at that there. Clean it up. Clean it up or you'll all be thrown out," and he went away. And they scrubbed, and they scrubbed, and they scrubbed, until the thing was like mirror. The shaykh came back and said, "What is that? Look there's dust," and the heart of Muhammad al-'Arabi was breaking in his breast, as he got down on his knees and he swept the floor with his beard, and it was by this that Ahmad al-Badawi saw his khalif and his inheritor, and it was this moment the ahl as-sufiyya said in Morocco, at this moment was demonstrated the greatest manzil with Allah that could be shown on the face of the earth. And on this action his name spread right across North Africa, all the way into the Hijaz, to Makka.

Do you understand? Do you understand what I am saying? Not obedient: in love. It is poetry. It is a song. What a thing to do from the heart! How beautiful! It is Majesty becoming beauty. This is tasawwuf. This is knowledge. Where is that out there in the mall? How, where would you begin? What are you to talk of? What are you to talk of? Haqiqa? To savages? Sayyiduna Muhammad, salla'llahu 'alayhi wa sallam, said, "Speak to people according to their understanding."How the understanding of Sufiyya, the understanding of ahl al-haqiqat is so great, is so tremendous, their intellects begin where everybody else's intellects stop.

Not by ratiocination, not by thinking, but by hal, by dhawq, by khawf, by fear, by weeping, and by trembling, and by darkness and dhikr in darkness, outward darkness, inward light, By muraqaba. Muraqaba is watching. You cannot talk about it until there are people who are attuned to it. You cannot attune to it if you cannot even sit down. You cannot attune to it if you cannot sit still. Shaykh Sidi al-Jamal, radiya'llahu 'anhu, used to say, "Fold your hands, lower your eyes, don't move, or I'll fly away and leave you." Do you see? Outwardly you do this, inwardly you do that. That is all. But who can do it for a minute, for five minutes?

How interesting, how fascinating for the human creature is that he wants something he is not prepared to pay for. He would not do it in the mall. He would be arrested, but he will try to do it with haqiqat. You can steal the object, but you cannot steal the subject. Knowledge is not given away, It is already yours. You discover you have it. How do you discover you have it? By adab. at-Tariqa kulluha adab. Manners. You have to start from the beginning. There are groups of Sufis from here to Karachi, from Karachi to Bangladesh, from Bangladesh to Malaysia, from Malaysia to Indonesia, back around to California. But this, a few, just a few, but it is nothing new. There have always been a few. Why are they called the elite?

Shaykh Abu'l-'Abbas al-Mursi, radiya'llahu 'anhu, said, 'It is easy: it is easy to find Allah. It is easy to be gnostic, but it is very difficult to find the shaykh." In other words, when you have found the shaykh, he means then the meeting with Allah is an easy business. Allah is hidden in the matter of the finding of the shaykh. And who is the shaykh? Shaykh Sidi Muhammad ibn al-Habib, radiya'llahu 'anhu, said openly who they are: "There is a light before he speaks, and by the dhikr of la ilaha'llah he removes temptation from you, and he lifts you up. He lifts up your hal, just by a glance, just by looking."

Shaykh Ahmad al-Badawi, radiya'llahu 'anhu, said, "One glance from the shaykh wipes out a thousand wrong actions." But for whom? There is beauty in the glance, and there is majesty in the lowering of the eyes. And the murid is a lover who flutters between beauty and majesty, now looking, and now hiding, stealing glances of the shaykh; and the shaykh, according to Ibn 'Ashir, radiya'llahu 'anhu, makes du'a, presenting his slave to his Lord when he encounters Him, the shaykh puts his slave before his Lord in supplication, that is why Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib, radiya'llahu 'anhu, said, "If you see me you will reach Allah. If you see one who has seen me, you will reach Allah. Because it means this is your mirror. You are the eye looking into your mirror, the world is before you as a mirror, and if you have come to look here, you have come to look into yourself, to see into your heart, that you are the gnostics of Allah. That you are the elite, that you are the selected ones, that you are the beloved ones, of whom Allah ta'ala has made this special compact, and of whom the ordinary ones among you speak of nearness for that would imply two. That would imply dualism, and not tawhid.

These are knowledges, these are awarenesses, these are experiences. Look at the title of al-Makki's book Qut al-Qulub, Nourishment of Hearts. Is your heart nourished? From where will it be nourished? From where will it be nourished if not from the light of Allah? Are you animals or are you khalifs of Allah? Are you khalif? Are you really khalif? One who stands in? In the absence of Allah. What a tremendous thing Allah has made you. Do not belittle yourselves.

The fuqara' they are the princes, they are the sultans. Abu Madyan says, "When will my ear have news of them? When will my eye have the sight of them? "This yearning, this longing for fuqara', why? Because they are the dhakireen, they are the people who love Allah, who speak Allah, who yearn for Allah, whose life is for Allah, who love Allah, who act by Allah, whose existence is by Allah, who cannot settle for dunya, cannot settle for shirk, cannot settle for idolatry, despite themselves, because of themselves, despite themselves, and because of Allah. Because you belong to Him. Even if your love of Him is His decree, gnosis is a gift, but you are a gift, what are you to say of this? Where are you in it? Do you yearn for a gift being already a gift? What place have you? What right have you? What claim have you on anything? Nothing exists except Allah.

Haqiqa is tremendous. If I went out now to the mall and said this, I would be arrested as a lunatic, not as an evangelist. You cannot declare this except to the lovers. When he talked of matters to do with gnosis, Imam Junayd, radiya'llahu 'anhu, locked seven doors. He did not speak until he had locked seven doors. They were behind seven doors before he opened his mouth. Why? Because it is pure knowledge of hadith, because obeying orders of the Allah, "speak to people according to their knowledge," and more than that from that, from the hadith of Abu Hurayra, radiya'llahu 'anhu, in the Sahih collection of Imam al-Bukhari when he says, "I have two bags. I took two bags from the Prophet, salla'llahu 'alayhi wa sallam. One of them I have told you. If I revealed the other to you this throat would be severed from my body."

Shaykh al-Akbar Muhyid-din Ibn al-'Arabi, radiya'llahu 'anhu, says in reference to the throat indicated that he was talking about dhawq, about taste, because the throat is the organ of taste, and so he meant these: I took from him, salla'llahu 'alayhi wa sallam, the knowledge, dhawq, that if I had spoken these, I would have been killed." It is the Sufis who say, 'If he speaks these things, he is halal meat for us." These are the Sufis who say this, not the people of the Shari'a. Outside Shari'a, inside haqiqat. Zawiyya in Thursday, Jumu'a on Friday. The true tariqa sufiyya do not go to their own place on Jumu'a. They go with the people because they are 'abd, they are slave of Allah. Everything confirms Shari'a outwardly. They pray with them, and they fast with them, and they pray 'ids with them. Because all this is nawafil, all this is extra, all this is nobody's business. It is Allah's business. If you speak about it in the market-place, you are not speaking about it among the people of Allah.

Tasawwuf has three rules. One is keeping company, which is what we are doing, sitting, because by this everything happens, transformation of the inner awareness happens. The lubb is transformed by keeping company. Two: listening, listening means that you do not move, not a muscle, that you sit like a slave, not a child, not like a prince. Listening means you listen with your ears and your knees, all of you. Thirdly, acting on what you have heard, in other words when it comes your way and it is for you, you do not spit it out. That's tasawwuf, finish. Who is ready for that? Who wants that? A handful of people. Shaykh Ahmad Zarruq, radiya'llahu 'anhu, shaykh of our shuyukh, has said, "There is nothing worse than an ignorant Sufi." Who is an ignorant Sufi? An ignorant Sufi is a Sufi, say I, who is unbridled, who is not tied up.

When Sidi Muhammad ibn al-Habib, radiya'llahu 'anhu, took a faqir, he said, "I put a halter around your neck. Will you accept it?" That was his opening. If they said, "Yes," there was a contract between them. What a tremendous thing, what a wonderful thing, and how utterly incapable of access to those whose hearts are not desirous of the face of Allah. Al-'Aziz. Huwa'l-ÔAziz, al-'Azizu. 'Aziz means "the Hard of Access, Difficult of Access, Mighty," and the 'Aziz is the Hakim, the Wise. There is wisdom in this, because ma'rifa is for the 'arif, as honey is for the bee, filth is for the fly and honey is for the bee, so the advice of Ahl as-Sufiyya is to advance quickly when you hear this news from the realm of thinking and talking to the realm of action.

Shaykh al-Fayturi says, "Quickly move to deeds. Quickly move to action." What is action? It is to move into the practice of dhikrullah. "Ya ayyuha'lladhina amanu'dhkuru llaha dhikran katheeran wa sabbihuhu bukratan wa asila." (33:41) Dhikr, dhikr, dhikr, with the tongue, dhikr with the members, until you have dhikr of the heart. But dhikr is dhahir, dhikr is outward, on the tongue. Fikr is inward: move from the sensory to the meaning, from the hiss to the ma'na, that you move from ma'na to sirr, from ma'na to secret. This is our business.
It is tiered, it is built on stages, and what are the stages? The stages are service of the fuqara', adab among the fuqara', adab with the shaykh, and the highest adab: adab with the shaykh, and adab with the ikhwan. Then you will arrive at knowledge, you will reach the goal in a short time, Shaykh al-'Alawi, radiya'llahu 'anhu, said, "We do not ask years of you." But to whom does he say this? Not to the common people, but to those people who yearn, at the cost of their life's blood if necessary. Many people have a romance of Sufism, because when they read the thoughts of the east, they thought it was poetry. When they read that the cost of this was tears of blood, they thought it was poetry, romance, and how beautiful, and yes, yes, we all love Allah. And they meant it. Until you're broken, until you're finished, until there's nothing left of you, you are a lover.

[NOTE: The transcription ends at this point, which was not the end of the talk.]

Dallas College Cape Town 2005 and Dailin Nur

2006-09-26T00:06:00.000+08:00

An Introductory Note by Abuzuhri of Dailin Nur affiliated Teahut of Miyazaki :

Recently in early 2007 our friend Assoc.Professor Dr. Hakimi Ibrahim , Science University of Penang visited us in Putrajaya enroute to KLIA airport. Together with wife Dr.Norizan , they are travelling to visit Dallas College in Cape Town, south Africa and to present a paper in a youth seminar organized by its director Dr. Abdal Basir Ojembara. This college is unique due to its combination of islamic, sufic and contemporary subjects taught and inclusive of leadership cum service training to produce a new core elite capable of understanding the kufr forces and transformation of the self-heart and society. Here we give a glimpse of this hope.

Dallas College Opening Speech By Rais Abu Bakr Rieger
Cape Town , October 2005

One of the weaknesses of the recent Western analyses from Heidegger to Rufin is that despite the obvious urgency of the situation, they fail to define any guidelines for action. Asked about the possibility of action, a concerned Heidegger proclaimed in an interview with Der Spiegel: “Only a god can save us!”

It is here that the masterwork of Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir, ‘Technique of the Coup de Banque’, comes into its own. The book adds to the numerous modern analyses by clearly and boldly naming the ‘invisible hand’ in European history: the Banking Elite. The book completes the story of the much-vaunted Enlightenment by a portrait of the power-games of the financial elite. As in Aristotle but in the modern context, the ‘princip contra naturum’, usury, is openly described in its effects and consequences. After reading this book, the thinking man becomes open to the Qur’anic categorical imperative on the Muslims: Trade is permitted - usury forbidden. The guideline has been found, the lost unity of knowledge and action once again made possible. The European question of how to limit unbridled capitalism is revealed in Islamic Law, since only there is the endless increasing of capital forbidden.

In this place - and here we have Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi to thank - the transmission of knowledge will once again become possible. With the help of the Qur’an and the Sunna, the zone of action of this College and its areas of study in this moment in history can be illuminated:

- In the field of language we move within the contrast between language as Revelation and language as excessive information on the internet.
- In the field of geopolitics we move within the contrast between World Statism and the possibility of order and location.
- In the field of law we move within the contrast between genocidal oligarchies and a just nomos for the Earth.

It is in the field of technology in particular that we confront modern nihilism, which Heidegger described as “a confrontational challenge to the creation”. Of course, this College will also teach all the modern methods of information technology, but in a way which Heidegger defined as “composed”. Only with inner and outer laws can man escape the modern law of technology, a law which Heidegger expressed as follows: “Man believes he has technology in his hands, while in reality it is the other way around.” In other words - in our words as Muslims - man is either a slave of Allah or a slave of the technical project.

This attitude of “Yes” and “No” towards technology is portrayed by Heidegger in his book Gelassenheit, a book which moves unusually clearly towards the Sufic outlook on life. In it he says:

“We can say yes to the inevitable use of technical objects, and we can say no at the same time, in that we refuse to allow them exclusively to make demands on us, and thus bend, confuse and finally make barren our innermost nature.”
Heidegger was asked thereupon, if we are to simultaneously say “Yes” and “No” to the technical objects in this manner, will not our relationship to the technical world become ambiguous and unsure? Heidegger answered as follows - and here his viewpoint peaks in a Sufic confirmation of our relationship to the “Dunya” :

“Quite the opposite. Our relationship to the technical world becomes simple and calm in a most wonderful way. We allow the technical objects into our daily life, yet we leave them out of it at the same time. That means we leave them to be as things; not as something absolute, rather as entities reliant on something Higher. I would like to describe this attitude of a simultaneous Yes and No to the technical world by means of an old word: ‘Composure, in regard to things’.”

The overcoming of the dominance of technology is undoubtedly an inner and an outer project. Every Muslim has the knowledge to undertake it. It requires that we remember Allah and establish a just economic order. It is also doubtless the project of all of the authentic Tariqas and their traditional, living knowledge which peaks in the creative insight that man already knows everything, but that he must remember it.

Even the German founder of the kindergarten, Friedrich Fröbel, was aware of this foundational principle of every education. He taught that “Education means having to bring something out of man, not put something in.”

It is one of the basic principles of our world-view to see people, and especially young people, as our true capital. Above all else, Islam and its great communities bring about People. In this, every Muslim is a knower. Foucault was of course absolutely right when he saw the end of every society and every politique in the establishment of christian, pastoral power. In the secular State this depoliticising function continued with the idea of representation, in the end resulting in the consumer, devoid of meaning and offering up his affairs. Our political thinking is the old platonic concept of the Political embodied in the image of the weaver. The process of weaving does not separate, it joins, reconciles opposites, founds societies, brings about unity, thus revealing in the pattern of the cloth the invisible Hand of Allah ta’ala. So it is that the graduates of this College will not represent - they will weave.

The College, therefore, prepares the last stages of education. “Education,” Mark Twain once said, “is what’s left over when the last dollar is gone.”

I wish the teachers and the students and the community in Cape Town every conceivable success. As Allah says in Ayat 282 of Surat al-Baqara: “Have taqwa of Allah and Allah will give you knowledge. Allah has knowledge of all things.”

Prayer of Ibnu Abbas

2006-09-25T04:36:00.000+08:00

We would like to dedicate this excellenet prayer-doa from the Prophet s.a.w related by Companion Ibn Abbas ( in as-Shifa p.41) to all those who seek knowledge and truth in order to live according to the Divine Command and in the footsteps of Rasul al-Mustafa :

“Oh Allah, I ask You for mercy from You
By which my heart will be guided,
My scattered affairs joined together,
My affairs put straight, my unseen part put right,
And part of me that is visible elevated,
My actions purified, by which I will be inspired
To right guidance, my intimacy will be returned ,
And by which I will be proctected from every evil,

Oh Allah ! I ask You for good outcome (husnul-khatima)
In the Decree (Qadha’), (to gain) the food of Martyrs
The life of the blissful and victory over my enemies!”

Maulana Rumi, Master Izi dan Dr.Anqaravi

2006-09-13T08:56:00.000+08:00

KISAH DR.ANQARAVI DAN MAULANA RUMI

Kita mesti mencari kitab Maulana Rumi dalam terjemahan bahasa Jepun sekarang. Musim gugur akan tiba dua minggu lagi. Rumah usang the ditepi lereng pekan kecil Miyazaki semakin sibuk. Beberapa tetamu dari Morocco dan Malaysia akan bermalam disitu. Kenji berpesan pada Masako: ‘Jangan lupa masak sup qusqus dan masukkan lebih terung serta Kentang ! Bubuh sedikit gula batu’. Hanya mereka menjilat lidah dari bekasan mangkuk-mangkuk porcelain zaman Shogun Shirata selepas makan akan merasa keberkatan rezeki Ilahi. Dinegeri matahari terbit, tiada lebih mahal dari silau satori. Lupakan semua politik Koizumi dan matawang yen jatuh lagi.

Sementara itu, Atiqako sedang mengemaskan bilik tatami dan memanaskan air. Hidangan teh china shu shien bercampur jasmine akan menjadi pembuka bicara. Chanado memang kaya dengan unsure mistik Tao dan zazen yang mengelirukan akal. Diluar pohon-pohon sakura mulai diselaputi warna kuning dan coklat. Daun-daun akan gugur kebumi dipijak para pendita Zen, murid-murid, tetamu asing dan seorang professor Furuzanfar Anqaravi dari Konya. Institut Andallas Nuri diasaskan oleh Bapak Abu Uraira Shan kira-kira 40 tahun lalu. Sudah beratus-ratus pelajar Malaysia menerima segulung ijazah dan pulang ketanah pertiwi selepas lulus dengan kelas ming-qing. Ada seorang dua anak ulamak sufi berjaya memikat gadis Nippon-nin, dijadikan isteri salihah lagi wara dan dibawa pulang ke semenanjung emas. Ada yang bertemu jodoh disana ketika bunga sakura mengembang dimusim autumn. Ming bu fu shi, hui jia. Sayang aku hanya tahu dua patah : sayonara dan kura-kura !

Masako, gadis berkulit putih merah dari Kyushu sudah dua tahun mengaji dan memasak di Andalllas. Dia amat meminati siri tv Iron Chef dimana 3 Master Chef dibidang masakan China, jepun dan barat akan diuji dan dipertandingkan dengan para pencabar istimewa. Guru Masako bernama Izi Kurosawa berumur hamper 80 tahun mengajar subjek falsafah Zen dan Confucius. Kini di Amerika tertubuh beberapa istitut zen antarabangsa, satunya di Big Sur, California yang sentiasa riang dipukul deru ombak dan tempias angina lautan pasifik. Disanalah 5 tahun dulu aku berkenalan dengan ibu Masako, Nafisa Wan. Gadis kacukan Yunnan dan Melayu Patani. Bapanya telah meninggal semasa menunaikan haji ke Mekah pada tahun 1960. Ibunya amat meminati bahasa dan sejarah China kuno, segala perabot rumah besar pekan Kutan Ali dipenuhi bahan klasik china dan seni kaligrafi dinasti Ming.

Satu malam pada bulan Julai ketika menziarahi sahabatnya di Setapak Indah, Dr.Zulhilmy membongkar rahsia isterinya yang berdarah china satu perempat. Sebab nenek Masako adalah wanita keturunan China yang dikawini oleh Atuknya seorang alim yang pernah mengembara hingga ke Kwangtung, Fujian, Shanghai dan Beijing. Dia hidup sezaman dengan Sheikh Ahmad al-Fatani dan Sultan Abdal Hamid Khan, pemerintah-khalifah Uthmaniyya yang terakhir. He said: ‘ look deeply to your father, there are jewels of knowledge hidden in him. If you managed to acquire even ten percent of his vast erudite wisdom, count yourself lucky’. The river of Knowledge flows endlessly. From whom, where, when and who receives it.

Aku risau, pondok jamuan teh disebelah bangunan zawiya pengetua Izi Kurosawa masih belum disapu bersih dari daun-daun kering dan sampah sarap yang ditiup ribut kecil dua hari lalu. Cuaca musim ini tak menentu. Minggu lepas hurricane Pasifik melanda Taiwan, harta benda rosak teruk dan ramai hilang rumah. Sahabatku Iqrami menelefon dari putrajaya bahawa asap mini tsunami telah melanda lembah klang dengan teruk. API mencapai 500 mata. Sekolah di port klang dan kuala selangor terpaksa ditutup. Lapangan terbang Subang ditutup dan Menteri Eka Firada sakit lutut terjatuh dari tangga ketika menaiki kereta Perdana Execuitive WZA 444 di Bukit Fraser. Aku pernah bermalan di Silver Clouds Park Resort semasa berkursus pada tahun 2000. what a majestic view and sunset beside chilly coldness. At that time, Athaillah still one year old baby wrapped in thick rabbit clothes.

Sayyida Aisha Bewley menukilkan kira-kira 20 tahun lalu:’ A butterfly fluttering its wings in Fez can caused a thypoon in Kyoto, how to explain ?. One thing leads to another in chain reactions across the world. Not atom is destroyable, it only changes form, to energy, movements or disappear into Unseen and reemerged as karma.’ Very sad to hear that a great philosocuter Irtan Nings just passed away in London weeks ago. Maka, Uhan Fajar bekas ketua pengarang NST yang kini bertapa di Ulu Kuang dengan computer Streamyx menukilkan, ‘ seorang pemimpin jatuh dan dijatuhkan atau terjatuh sama saja, dia akan rasa sakit. Dia orang lain dapat menolong. Jika buah tak jatuh kebumi mana ada bibit atau anak pohon baru akan tumbuh menggantikan pokok tua yang hampir reput akarnya dimakan anai-anai’. Maulana Rumi 800 tahun dulu telah menasihati kita : ‘ Hantuk kepalamu ke tembok, hantuk lagi hingga engkau faham bahawa jika orang munafik berkata yang halal itu tidak boleh dipraktik dalam zaman ini kerana yang haram telah dihalalkan.

Ketika menatap Majalah elit inggeris berjudul Islamica Summer 2005, dicetak diTurkey, beribu pejabat di Amerika dan sidang editornya di Amman, muka surat dua: “ HSBC provide the foremost and wide ranging Islamic financial service to customers around the world’. Khwaja Ali Yusuf Hamadhani juga telah berkata: ‘ zaman ini tiada orang mengetahui rahsia nikmat teh timur hakiki, sebab pokok teh pur erh hanya ada dinegeri China. Apa yang manusia jual hari ini adalah teh tiruan. Campur dengan gula dan susu, dipetik dengan tangan-tangan kotor yang tamak, restoran dan kilangnya dibina dengan hutang riba. Pemiliknya Four Seasons adalah elit yahudi bercampur Swiss dan belanda. Titus Bekharth, Frizoj Zuon and Rine Guenun, semua sepakat mempromosi faham mistik Sophia perinnis. Comparative philosophy.

Menjelang esok pagi, Isnin 15 Ogos 2005, semua makanan dan minuman sempurna disiapkan dan disusun rapi dekat pondok Tatami. Tunggu dicurahkan air panas dan sup dituangkan kedalam mangkuk kecil biru. Dr.Anqaravi, Izi Kurosawa, Masako, Atiqato, Sidi Fudul, Amir Rieger dan Nafisa Wan, ah terlupa diriku sendiri Athaillah Shintaro, pencatat nyanyian setia dan pencinta Rumi. Kami akan memasuki pondok Tatami pada pukul 9.00 pagi ketika cahaya Dhuha memancar terang menembusi dinding buluh dan atap bata-bata bakaran gunung berapi Fuji dan lantai kayu cengal yang diimport dan digergaji dari ulu Long Passia,Borneo Utara. Nasib baik Bruno Manser hilang tanpa berita selepas masyur diEropah menentang pembalakan hijau di Sarawak.

Dong …dong .. dong..ding…ding…ding. Loceng besar setinggi 5 kaki dibuat dari tembaga dan besi dipukul oleh sidi Fakirato tepat 9.00 pagi. Tuk..tuk ..tuk, Atiqato knock slowly at the door of room 108 of Western View Block. She greeted the honored occupant: Zhao shan ! Dr. Anqaravi san, we are pleased to invite you to attend the tea ceremony at the request by Master Izi. You will be joined later by Sidi Fudul and Amir Rieger from Fez. Two other Malaysian students of zen and eastern philosophy, Athaillah Shintaro and Masako Arifu will also present to serve you and record your blessed discourse with Master Izi. May I assist you in carrying you brief case and the large painting by Sifu Kitaro ? Arigato..hsie-hsie ni. Wo hen hao.

Sebenarnya pada jam 7.00 pagi, aku mengintai ke arah balkoni Western View tingkat 3 dan mendapati dicelah kabus putih halus dan udara nyaman sejuk kebanggaan penduduk Miyazaki Prefecture sesuatu pergerakan ala tai ji quilin qigong. Kedua tangan diangkat keatas perlahan, membuka dada melayang ke kiri dan kanan, kaki diangkat sebelah melengkung. Sedut nafas dalam-dalam dan hebus diakhiri gerakan bangau. Crouching tiger and the hidden dragon. Baju ala mao tze dong warna biru muda yang pakai oleh Dr. Anqaravi memang unik. Separuh jelabah dan separuh jubah Maharaja Ching, hanya membezakannya lukisan pepohon dan bunga halus pada baju sutera tersebut. Seluar warna coklat tua yang longgar dan lebar memang sesuai untuk senaman pagi dan amalan qigong. Shaykh Alawi, seorang guru sufi pernah berkata:
‘the clothes that the fuqara wear will definitely have effects on them, be careful of what you are wearing.’ Pride, arrogant, humility, wealth, sensuality or detachment can be reflected from what they wear ’ ooops, ini tambahan fiktif dan tiada dalam nota draf cerpen .

Menjelang jam 9.05 pagi, semua tetamu telah masuk dan mengambil tempat khas dalam pondok Tatami. Master Izi disebelah kanan dan duduk betul-betul ditengah meja Tazkiyaten yang tingginya satu kaki dan panjangnya 10 kaki. Lapan cawan teh kecil dan dua teko Kahfizika. Dr.Anqaravi disebelah kiri, Amir Rieger dikanan dan diikuti Sidi Fudul, Masako ditempatkan dihadapan sudut kiri, Nafisa Wan dan aku disudut kanan jauh sekali. Penuang teh adalah Masako dan Nafisa pula akan mengangkat kuih halveti dan biskut oriyagi untuk setiap tetamu dua keping. Tiada gula untuk teh. Lukisan dinding pondok dihiasi potret abstrak zaman Seljuqi Turki abad ke1300. Berpetak-petak empat segi dan Master Izi pernah 3 tahun lalu membisik pada ku : ‘ Jika engkau dapat membaca dan meleraikan maknawi dari lukisan mantra ini yang dikaitkan dengan mistik Bayazid Bistami, aku akan berkan kamu hadiah istimewa !’. Sampai saat ini aku masih belum faham lukisan itu.

Setahun lalu, sahabat karibku Sidi Ridha Lua dari Universiti Urumqi, Xin Qiang, China telah menghantar surat padaku menegaskan :’ Mantra itu mungkin berisi ayat-ayat Quran yang ditulis secara empat segi atau kata hikmah orang sufi. Aku pernah terlihat mantra mirip yang engkau ceritakan dalam sebuah buku terbitan Diwan Press, London, 1974 bertajuk –The Way of Muhammad’. Cuba saudara cari buku ini di Men tzi Bookstore, Ronin Street No.7, Kota Fukuoka. Tuan punya kedai bernama Muhammad Ali Nayabashi adalah kawan rapat kepada mendiang bapaku, Sidi Ariffin Bey. Terdapat sebilah pedang Sahabat Nabi dipamirkan atas dinding kedai buku ini yang diukir dengan perkataan ‘Dzulfiqar dan Qurratul ain’. Aku tersentak bila Master Izi berteriak: ‘Masako, sila tuangkan teh untuk tetamu terhormat kita. Athaillah, biskut dan kuih sila letak dekat sini ‘. Selepas itu…Masako berehat dan termenung sebentar ditepi dapur pondok tatami. Titisan peluh mula mengalir dari wajahnya yang comel merah putih. Mungkin lama tak kena sinar cahaya mentari musim sejuk yang agak panjang tahun ini. Baju kimono warna biru cerah dan bunga-bunga sakura merah halus memancarkan lagi kejelitaannya. Tiba-tiba dia teringatkan Buku ChainnanDo karangan T.Suzuki yang tersimpan dalam beg kecilnya untuk dihadiahkan kepada tetamu istimewa pagi ini.

….bersambung jika ada inspirasi

To seek the lost heart

2006-09-08T10:40:00.000+08:00

Seeking The Lost Heart : Notes of Abuzuhri 1995

The Beginning Steps

The Prophet as depicted by chinese scholars –Chin Sheng means
‘the glorious-Eminent Sage’ and ‘Teacher of a thousand generations’.
Shaykh Liu Chih write thus :
The inhabitants of Heaven knew him and his name
was inscribed at the Gate of the Garden’.
All creation originated from his light.
He is a mercy to all the worlds.

Hadith related from Ibnu Abbas from Rasul s.a.w :

Allahumma laka aslam-tu
Wa bika aman-tu
Wa alaika tawakkal-tu
Wa ilaika anab-tu
Wa bika khosam-tu
Wa ilaika hakam-tu
Faghfirli ma qoddam-tu
wa ma akhar-tu
wa ma asrar-tu wa ma a’lan-tu
Antal-Muqaddimu
Wa Antal-Mu’akhiru
La ilaha illa Anta

( Oh Allah, I put my submission, trust, reliance,
returning, protection, judgement with You,
unto You and upon You
forgive me of my future actions
my past actions
what is seen and unseen
Verily You are the Foremost One
And the Last/End of all affairs)

Now we shall compare what the Chinese philosophers say
about this Sage in their ancient texts of Lao Tzu, Mencius,
Confucius, I Ching, Ta Hsue and Chung Yung.

Seek you will find them (Tao)
Neglect you will lose them.
Hold it fast and it remains with you.
Let it go and you will lose it –

p.862 (James Legge: The Four Chinese Classics-
Ta Hsue,Chung Yung, Analects and Mencius)

When a scholar feels that his friendship with all the virtuous scholars
at the empire is not sufficient to satisfy him, he proceeds to ascend to study-
emulate the MEN OF ANTIQUITY (SAGES). p.850

The end of learning is nothing else but to seek
for the lost mind-heart ( marifa/tawhid/fitra) –p.879

One of the Qing scholar says:
‘ The ten thousand words and ten thousand sayings of the sages
and men of wisdom are simply to LEAD MEN to get hold
of their LOST MINDS (DIVINE KNOWLEDGE)
and make them enter again their bodies’.

Mencius said :
Those who follow that part of themselves which is great
are great men, those who follow that part which is little
-low are little men (hsiao ren).

Master Kung said :

To walk slowly by keeping behind his elders,
is to perform the part (duty) of a younger man.

To walk quickly and precede his elders,
is to vilate the duty of a younger brother.

Now, is it that a man cannot walk slowly ? p.896

(there is a riwayat of Sayyidina Ali r.a. being late to attend the group prayer of fajar at the Prophet Mosque in Madina. On being questioned, he said :
This morning, on my way to the mosque, I passed through a narrow street, there was an old jew man infront of me. So I thought to overtake him and then it would upset him. His days are over, being old, slow and no longer respected by the younger ones. So I restrained myself and follow him quietly behind until he was out of the street, thus I arrived late for the fajar prayer. But the Prophet s.a.w commended him for this supreme action and he get all the rewards of the group prayer’). At another time, Our Sufi Master tell his encounter of walking behind an old Chinese man in a garden in England with one of his murid. He says : ssshhh, keep quite and let his noble old man take his strides and practice the tai chi exercise infront of them. After a few steps, this old sensed something behind him and suddenly turned around with a defensive stance, face to face with him and his murid ! The Master make a friendly gesture and smiling to him. Then he understood, he was not in danger being tailed by some strangers. They parted ways in good spirits kow tow to each others.

This story was told by to us about more than 12 years ago while the Venerable Master summoned us to his presence at a private meeting in Bukit Tunku. He had high regards for the noble fitra of Chinese people. He commanded us to study the Chinese language and calling them to Islam. We presented him a Chinese book magnum opus or lexicon of basic meanings and characters. We also informed him that we had read the book of Dr.Isutzu on The Comparative Study of Taoism and Sufism Between Lao Tzu and Ibnul Arabi. He commented this Japanese scholar had not understood Sufism or Islam at all, you are better because you are Muslim ! You possess the secret of iman that Allah Taala put in your heart, not him. We nodded in agreement and had to reflect deeply on this matter.

Alhamdulillah, he saw through our hearts sincerity and later granted the Idhin-Authority as MUQADDIM especially to serve the Chinese people in the East. This is part of fulfillment of what Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib (SMH) envisioned more than 30 years ago that his DIWAN will be sung in the WEST and EAST, although that time in year 1968 there were hardly any murid from the East of Middle East.

When we read first book titled THE BOOK OF STRANGER (Luzac, London) published in 1972 , our wildest dream was fulfilled. The question of are there any Chinese sufic scholars or follower of this spiritual teaching until today were indicated metaphorically in the letter of a Chinese Sage to his disciple unfolded side by side with another letter of Shaykh Abul Hassan as-Shadhili who venture out to seek a Sufi Master. The Chinese sage digusted with the decay and decadent of the Empire (3 Kingdoms) and city life of Beijing, take a journey to the west and in fulfilling the gatekeeper request he wrote the wisdom aphorisms of TAO TE CHING comprise of 3,000 words for future generations. All this happen due to the encoded mantra BARAKATU MUHAMMAD.

Another stronger confirmation coming from our Master was the poem published entitled IHSAN in 1978 in the Journal of Darqawi Institute vol.2. Here the message was mentioned specifically about the intention and action of a man of marifa/hikmah to hunt for new murid in the West and East using the famous Chinese metaphor of A TIGER OUT THE CAVE MATCHING THE WORLDLY STRIPES.

Just remember, this chinese seeker was still not a muslim in 1978 ! Anyway, we found another powerful and secondary booster book entitled THE WAY OF MUHAMMAD in Jubilee Book Store in Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman with the strange kufic design on its cover. Several Chinese philosophical terms were quoted in this book such as : YIN YANG, TAO, CHI , FENG SHUI,
I CHING HEXAGRAM etc.

Back to the poem IHSAN, about dedicated 3 paragraphs using the historical Chinese characters and names to highlight that this ancient sufic teaching were ALMOST SIMILAR to the TAO and the public rejected it. Only a few grasped this wisdom teaching. He called the seeker to the OPEN SPACE OF OPEN SPACE. FEAR NO ONE. GAIN THE FREEDOM- WISDOM !

Salam From Kazakstan

2006-09-07T11:27:00.000+08:00

A Reply To Salam from Kazakhstan Message :

Salam Sidi Nurmakhan Joldabeskov,

We just coming back from this year 2004 Hajj after 44 days in mecca and madinah. Alhamdulillah, greatexperience never forgotten until Day of Rising. Sealed and delivered. Not thetitle of Haji so and so..but deep in our heart we know that He is our sourceof life juorney, knowledge, wills,power and wisdom to move on. His Awliya and salihun are closest to us to reflect and being guided. They had travelled beyond the sensory into the unseen and know all the traps that clouded us...unless we choose to be a faqir. Antumul fuqara ...wa Allahuhuwal-Ghaniyyul Hamid. this world-dunya,wealth,women,family,works etc are endlessly never finished business but our heart must never stop yearning for Him.

Oh Allah, open our inner eyes to Your Muraqaba
and Musyahada by YourEndless Gift and Generosity..
and enlighten our secrets with the tajalli
of Your Noble Names and Attributes
bi-hilmika wa karamika.

Sidi Ghany Abezkhanov is getting well into the cake business with Ibu Stefi, forgot all about the business ventures with people not tested by the fuqara. Be patient and upright, then he bring along his boxer brother to Msia, we dont what he sholud do other than to learn and acquired islam firmly and return to Kazakstan for a new fight fisabilillah. Our Master said there are no greater adventure for a youth than to discover his destiny with His Creator manifested thru His noble creation/beings. Reflect over surah Yusuf,Muzammil,Luqman, Kahfi and Anbiya. To face the enemies, we shall read and apply the instructions/guidance lights from Surah alBaqara,Taubah,Munafiqun,al-Jinn etc where Allah taala mentioned the tricks of shaytan,nafs, jinn, evil rulers, fasiqun, munafiqun,kafirun,dunya,women, wealth,pride,leadership,
usury-riba etc

But Sidi Nurmahan, you will never acquire istiqamah in your deen and certainty unless you are in the company of the Sadiqun/Salihun as many times appear in the blessed ayats. Who are they and where and how I going to meet them ? Ask Allah to open your heart and keep/write a diary as I advised so that you can keep track what happened last few years/months...when you meet us and many other fuqara/strangers.

Generosity is a sign of ikhlas andtawadhu' and Sidi Umar Vadillo strongly recited this ayats : Wa man a'tha wataqa, wa,saddaqa bil-husna, fasanuyasiruhu lil-yusra. Wa man bakhilawastaghna, wa kazzaba bil-husna, fasanuyassiruhu lil-usra.

...So marriage is a sign of trust and generosity bcos we gave our wive her needs and struggle to upkeep the family. All our works are fisabilillah to keep our family in strong Islam and never stop for knowledge and love for the Awliya, ulama,sufis and salihin,those who loved dhikr,salawat,Quran and learning of deen.During hajj we met many people/sufis of Bekhtasi, Nasqabandi Khufiyya and Rifai tariqa from Turkey,China,Tajikstan and Chistiyya from Pakistan.We exchanged kisses,embraces,salams,dua and love for each other. We sang qasidas from Diwan SMH and selawat of Rasul until they eyes almost filled with tears. We as fuqara taught by our Master never afraid to venture out and makefriends with other hajjis. We met people from Meknes, Morocco where Sh Muhammad ibn alHabib had his zawiya and sang the same Qasida Nahnu fi Raudhati Rasuli hudurun-talibina ridha wa husna qabuli...then they cotinue with the second bayt ! Allah..Allah ..Allahu Rabbi..Auni wa Hasbi..Mani Siwahuuu.
Ya Rabbi..salli ala Muhammad, wa alihi waashabihi thuuran.

Sidi Nurmahan, please go and make dua at the tomb of the great Teacher Sh.Ahmad Yasavi- he isthe guardian of sufic knowledge for your regions, may Allah opens up the lands and people to revive such bountiful knowledges and marifa/hikmah granted to the past Awliyas. Pay respect to them and connect with the living Shaykhs, then you are ready for everything. No works, passports/visas ormoney will stop you from travelling for Allah. Or we will travel to help and strenghten you in the vast land of Kazaks and Uzbeks or Tartars. We have fuqara or communities in Germany, Turkey, Emirates and Spain that can easily fly to Kazakstan if you are ready. Recite the Miftah al-Wird given to you, fully or partly or whenever possible, then ask Allah to shower His help thru the creation. Read the homepage of Shaykh Abdal qadir as-sufi in the internet or in Aisha Bewley homepage, Muslims in Europe homepage by Abu Bakr Rieger and you will see wonders if attuned to this spreading light of islam and wisdom of its people and will yearn for more.

The muqadims are the ones who strive forward and along they bring strangerst o the path of Allah and to recognise/surrender to the Shaykh. Too unlucky if you still have doubts about the wilayat and transmission of this sufic teaching. Clear it by constant dhikr and supplications. The modernists and shayatin in human forms are averse to sufism or tasawwuf bcos here their ignorant and evil intents are exposed.They seek to gain and bind their followers by names of Ikhwani,islamic movements,tablighi,haraki etc. We are satisfied being faqir and muridin and salikin..alhtough a tough task at first.

Warmest greeting and to your wife and family.
wassalam cai jian

-----Original Message-----From: Joldasbekov Nurmahan [mailto:nurmahan76@yahoo.com]Sent: Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Salam from Kazakhstan!

Assalamualeikym dear all my brothers in Malaysia !

I am Nurmakhan from Kazakhstan. I have arrived homesafely,everything thanks to Allah good.
How are you all, I hope that everything in Malaysia is fine.
I would like to congratulate all with the coming ofRamadhan!
Salamat Puasa! MAy Allah accept our Ibadaat
and guide us on the Sirotal Mustaqiim!
Amin!
Please make Doa for me.Thank you!
Wassalam,
Nurmakhan.

Kisah Malam Jumaat Di UIA

2006-09-07T11:24:00.000+08:00

KISAH MALAM JUMAAT
DI KAMPUS UNIVERSITI ISLAM ANTARABANGSA

-Abu Zuhri Shin

Cahaya suria masih merah dikaki langit disulami kehijauan Banjaran Titiwangsa disebelah utara kota Kuala Lumpur. Entah macamana, disuatu malam Jumaat dalam bulan April tahun alaf 2000, aku tergerak hati ingin ziarah sahabatku bernama Ikmal dikampus UIA Gombak. Tiada agenda khas kecuali aku mencintai saudaraku macam diri sendiri dari segi perjalanan sufiyya dan limpah baraka dari para guru Awliya. Jenerasi muda kini jauh dari kefahaman ilmu tasawuf. Nak kenal orang sufi lagi susah. Sebab ada beranika pendapat, pandangan dan kritikan terhadap ilmu sufi dan amalan yang salah. Imam Ghazali sudah menerangkan golongan yang tersasar dan terpedaya dalam bab al-ghurur dalam kitab Ihya. Dicampur dengan kemunculan puak modenis , wahabiyya dan pseudo sufi dibarat , ilmu tasawuf dianggap satu bidaah. Alhamdulillah, aku telah menempuhi detik getir dan kekalutan ini pada tahun 1970an. Dengan berkat doa serta bimbingan guru yang arif bi’Llah , kini aku sedang menyusuri jejak para salikin dan muridin dengan istiqamah.

Lepas salat maghrib dirumah dikaki banjaran titiwangsa, aku pun berwirid secara ringkas dan berdoa :

Allahumma ainni ala zikrika
wa syukrika wa husni ibadatika
( Ya Allah , beri pertolongan bagi
diriku berzikir mengingatiMu,
memanjat syukur pada nikmatMu dan
memperbaiki ibadatku kepadaMu ).

Kemudian aku membaca salawat Kanzul Haqaiq dari nukilan Shaykh Muhammad ibnul Habib, Shaykh pertama kepada guruku seperti berikut :

‘Allahumma salli ala sayyidina Muhammadin abdika wa rasulika nabiyyi ummiyyi wa ala alihi wa ashabi
wa sallim tasliman
adada khalqika wa ridha-a nafsika
wa zinata arasyika wa
midada kalimatika’.

Mudah-mudahan dengan zikir dan selawat ini membantuku dalam perjalanan fisabilillah malam jumaat. Orang lain mungkin sibuk baca yasin dan tahlil ,mendengar ceramah politik atau kempen reformasi. Yang lain mungkin menonton forum islam perdana dalam kotak tv. Dimanakah keberkatan malam ini berada ? Malam kebanyakan orang mukmin dan salihin berzikir ,bermunajat dan berwirid mahu mendekati Hadrat Ilahiyya. Mereka mahu mensucikan nafsu dan qalbu dari kesibukan duniawi dan tarikan sensasi manusiawi, media hiburan dan kelalaian waktu yang membunuh rohani.

Maka, beruntunglah mereka yang memulakan langkah pertama sang sufi. Apakah aku layak mengikut jejak mereka, para imam, shaykh ,awliya dan arifin macam imam ghazali , imam nawawi, ibnu athaillah, imam junaid, shaykh abdul qadir jilani, shaykh daud fatani, shaykh abdul samad palembani, ibnul arabi dan hamzah fansuri ?

Aku memecut perlahan kereta kancilku ditepi lebuhraya taman melati menuju kampus UIA, Gombak. Nama glamour sebab ramai teringin masuk ‘U’ tapi hanya dapat sebut ‘ I and you’. Sayang, setelah aku singgah dan jenguk bilik G33 diblok B, sahabatku Ikmal tiada didalam. Mana pergi dia agaknya ? Salat berjemaah dimasjid atau pergi jumpa kawan ? Tak apa, asal niat aku ikhlas kerana Allah Taala dapat pahala biar pulang dengan tangan kosong. Allah. Allah . Allah. Ya Hayyu ya Qayyum. Ya Dzal Jalai wal-Ikram. Ya Arhamar Rahimin. Engkau maha Mengetahui disebalik urusan sang hamba dhaif ini.

Dengan hati sedih, aku pun putar balik keretaku turun bukit menuju kemasjid baru uia yang jarak hanya 0.5 km dari asrama. Hebat juga masjid ini ,menaranya nampak dari jauh. Boleh isi lebih 50,000 jemaah. Warna biru langit. Waktu hampir masuk salat Isyak. Jadi aku ambil peluang salat jemaah dan buat zikir senyap disebalik tiang masjid. Orang tak nampak. Tiada gangguan. Juga aku boleh sandar. Habis juga Miftah al-Wirid aku baca dalam masa 20 minit lepas Isyak. Sekitar masjid, ramai siswa lelaki buat kelompok usrah atau muzakarah. Ada seorang dua khusyuk berdoa dan berzikir sendirian. Ini mesti ada wirid khas dari guru kesayangan mereka. Mungkin wirid Imam Ghazali atau Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani macam aku temui disebuah pondok diKelantan bulan April lalu. Siapa sangka ditahun 2000 ini kita dapat menilik kitab arab al-Fayudhat Rabbaniyya awrad amalan Tariqa Qadiriyya cetakan Darul Maarif tahun 1960an dulu.

Aku tak puas hati lalu bertanya kepada ustaz Mukhtar yang empuya pemilik kitab ini. ‘ Ustaz , masih adakah pewaris tariqat atau guru yang mengajar atau mengamalkan kitab ini di Malaysia pada zaman sekarang ? ‘ Dia menjawap dengan sedih, ‘ Aku jumpa kitab ini kat kedai, orang dah tak nak benda ini lagi. Halamannya sudah uzur dan kuning. Tapi masyaa’ Allah , isinya memang untuk mereka yang dahagakan pengisian rohani. Tuan punya pewaris ilmu ini mungkin sudah tiada lagi’. Aku turut simpati dengan keterangan ustaz tersebut.

Diakhir zikir dalam masjid, aku berdoa hiba dalam hati : “ Ya Allah, malam ini aku tak berhasil menemui sahabatku yang dihajati dikampus ini. Maka, pertemukan aku dengan sesiapa saja yang mencintaiMu dari kalangan pelajar yang ada’. Dalam hati, aku teringat nama saudara azmi kelantan , saudara ibrahim atau redhuan dari korea. Mungkin mereka boleh mengisi kekosongan ini . Aku tak pasti mana blok asrama mereka tinggal. Susah nak cari. Nak tanya semua orang, rasa segan.

Aku pun melangkah turun ditangga bucu kanan depan masjid. Turun tangga nak menuju tempat parking keretaku. Alhamdulillah, tepi koridor bangunan masjid ada sebuah kafe ala barat. Aku pun jenguk, biar aku rehat nikmati rezeki chicken soup dan teh tarik. Ya Allah ,aku telah pertama kali menghabiskan bacaan wirid melalui izin muqadim sidi umar pada tahun 1979 dimasjid UIA ini , maka tunjukkanlah rahsia barakaMu. Aku tak mengetahui langkah seterusnya. Aku teringat wirid fajar yang berbunyi:

Ya Awwalu ya Akhiru ya Zahiru ya Batin
–biyadika khair, yuhyi wa yumit.
Inna Allaha ala kulli syain qadir
(Ya Allah ..ditangan genggamanMu
terletak segala kebaikan . Engkau maha berkuasa menentu segala urusan)

Aku mulai mencecahkan sudu ke sup ayam cendawan dengan bacaaan BismiLlah. Tiba-tiba sekonyong-konyong ,muncul saudara Ikmal berjalan betul-betul dihadapan mejaku ! Masya Allah, sungguh cepat doaku ditunaikan Allah Taala. Aku mencari Ikmal atau dia yang mencari aku setelah hati kami digerakkan Allah ? Kenapa pertemuan dikafe bukan dibilik asrama atau dalam masjid ?

Rupanya Ikmal memang ada tujuan mulia singgah dikafe ini selepas selesai usrah dengan pelajar lain diasrama. Pelajar UIA memang diwajibkan berusrah dalam kurikulum. Rupanya Ikmal pergi kesana untuk ambil 2 naskhah fotostat buku- The Darqawi Way – dikedai berhampiran. Satu untuk dirinya dan satu lagi untuk sahabatnya bernama Azmi berasal dari Kelantan. Sama-sama belajar jurusan kejurute-raan tahun tiga.

‘ Assalamualaikum , Ikmal ! Allahu akbar. Dapat juga jumpa saudara walaupun aku gagal jumpa diasrama tadi !’ Lepas bersalam , aku peluk dia dengan erat dengan dakapan ukhuwah. ‘ Sila duduk, ikut sama aku makan atau minum. Sila buat pesanan , aku bayar ! Dia pun minta dari pelayan kafe itu dua keeping chicken pie dan segelas air milo panas.

Aku membelek buku fotostat bercorak sufi dalam bahasa Inggeris. Dia pinjam dari jemaah Murabitun Kuala Lumpur . SubhanaLlah , inilah tanda seorang faqir atau murid yang ikhlas mengaji. Dia dahagakan ilmu. Dia mahu tahu apa syarat dan rahsia jalan tariqa Darqawiyya Shadhiliyya yang masyur diAfrika dan Timur Tengah. Pengarang buku ini bernama Mulay Arabi ad-Darqawi hidup pada zaman 1700an seorang sufi besar dan pernah mendidik hampir 40,000 anak muridnya yang diberi izin membimbing manusia kejalan Malikul Haqq. Dia dikurnia Allah Taala menyibar marifa diBarat dan Timur. Ini satu kelebihan awliya tertentu dan dia juga insan unik dizamannya. Bagaimana jalan sufi ini sampai keMalaysia ? Dan dibincangkan oleh dua orang fuqara, seorang melayu dan seorang berbangsa china muslim ?

Mukadimmah buku – The Darqawi Way ini ditulis oleh Shaykh Abdul Qadir as-Sufi yang berbangsa eropah. Dia menerima Islam di Masjid Fez, Maghribi dan berguru dengan Shaykh Muhammad ibnul Habib. Kemudian berguru dan menghabiskan suluk sufiyya ditangan Shaykh al-Fayturi diBenghazi, Libya pada tahun 1977. Aku berbicara dengan Ikmal darihal ‘transmission of sufic teaching from one shaykh to another’. Semua ini telah didokumenkan dan dicatitkan dengan teliti oleh para shuyukh dijalan Darqawi Shadhiliyya kami. Tiada orang boleh menolak atau menjumpai kecacatan sanad atau dakwaan palsu/rekaan nafsu sendiri dalam perkara penting . jika seorang guru sufi berbohong maka senang kita kenal. Dan kita kena tinggalkan dia, kemudian cari guru lain yang bias membawa kita kehadrat keagungan ilmu, qudrah dan hikmah kurnia Allah Tabaraka wa Taala.

Aku mulai bicara dengan bertanya :
‘saudara Ikmal , cuba kau baca sajak pada mukaddimah buku ini dan beritahu apa yang kau faham ?’.

Oh Mulay al-Arabi ! I greet you.
The West greets the West.
Although the four corner had gone
And the season are joined
In the Tongue of the People
I welcome you –the man of the time.
Wild, in rags, with three hats
And wisdom underneath them.
You flung dust in the enemy’s face
Scattering them by the secret
Of a rare sunna the ulama’ forgot.
Oh Mulay al-Arabi ! The Pole greets the Pole
- the center is everywhere.

Aku pun memberi keterangan kepada bahasa isyarat yang dipakai orang sufi. Mereka jarang mahu menggunakan perkataan – aku, diriku atau dia. Mereka telah menfanakan dakwa atau wujud nafsu diri, maka mereka akan membicarakan kurnia Allah dan rahsia yang mereka rasai atau tempohi.

Ayat sajak diatas bermaksud : sang Guru Barat sekarang memberi salam dan penghormatan lansung kepada Mulay Darqawi yang juga berasal dari barat iaitu negeri Maghiribi. Mereka adalah mercu ilmu dan pemimpin agung dizaman masing-masing. Tanda mereka sudah mencapai makam sufi sejati. Jadi , apa pilihan atau tindakan sang murid sekarang setelah mengenali hajat yang terpendam ?

Baris sajak seterusnya berbunyi :

‘This is one hadra, one circle
one grain of sand beneath
the sandal of Muhammad
sallaLlahu alayhi wa salam’

Ayat diatas meletakkan semua ilmu dan kemuliaan serta rahsia jalan sufi yang dilalui dan diajarkan kedua Guru Shaykh ini adalah berasal dari limpahan keagungan Nabi sallallahu alayhi wa salam. Macam sebiji debu halus dibawah tapak kasut Nabi kita. Mereka begitu merendah diri, tawadhuk bila berhadapan dengan ukuran dan hubungan rohani atau zahir dengan seorang Rasul al-Mustafa.

Ada seorang sufi lain berkata –
‘ cukuplah jika aku dapat menjadi seorang yang mengikat tali kasut Rasulullah bagi merasakan kemuliaan yang Allah curahkan kepada hamba yang berkhidmat kepada seorang Rasul yang dikasihi Allah Taala’.

Shaykh Muhammad ibnul Habib pernah menulis dalam Kitab Diwannya :

‘Ukuran ilmu / makam / nur seorang wali qutub dengan Nur Rasul seperti satu titik air dari lautan samudera yang luas tak bertepi’.

Jadi semua dalil dan bahasa isyarat sufi adalah bagi mengukuhkan keyakinan dan himma sang murid supaya terus maju dan mujahadah bagi mencapai matlamat agung yang menanti, sesuai dengan seruanNya :

‘Ya ayyatatuhal nafsul muthmainna
Irji ila Rabbiki , radhiyyatan mardhiyya
Fadkhuli fi-ibadi , wadkhuli jannati’

Dan ayat :

‘Allahu waliyyul lazina amanu
Yukhriju minaz zulumati ilan-nur’.

Alhamdulillah, selepas habis minum, kami pun balik kebilik asrama Idrus. Kemudian berjumpa dengan Azmi , Fauzi dan Ibrahim. Sempat juga aku nasihatkan mereka agar sentiasa menilik apakah disebalik perjalanan orang sufi dizaman moden ini. Agar kita tidak diperlekehkan oleh jemaah politik, birokrasi, intelektual akademik yang gersang rohani, alim secular dan alim tablighi yang hilang peta dan izin guru sufiyya. Pendekata tidak mudah untuk pelahar universiti keluar dari jerat maklumat dan gelaran imej akademik yang mengabui ilmu haiqat sebenar.

Aku juga berpesan agar mereka menatap kembali apa doa Shaykh Daud Patani amalkan diakhir kitab Munyatul Musalli . aku hanya ingat sebaris saja :

Allahumma inni as-aluka taufiqa
ahlul-huda wa amala ahlil-yaqin
wa munasahata ahlit-tauba
wa azma ahlis-sabri
wa jiddan ahlil-khasyiati
wa irfana ahlil-ilmi hatta akhafaka.

Jam didinding blik Ikmal sudah melebihi jam 12.00 malam , maka aku pun minta diri untuk beredar. Esok kena kerja makan gaji dan punch kad jam 7.30 pagi. Tapi sebenarnya kita boleh mencuri atau membelahi masa yang lembut dengan gerak hati dan amalan zikir sirr serta menyembunyikan wujud kerdil ini dengan langkah seribu tatkala insan lain terlupa kepada saat-saat mustajab siang dan malam. Aku akhiri majlis muzakarah malam itu dengan ayat Quran –kenalilah para guru dan arifun yang meniru jejak Rasul iaitu :

‘Ya ayyuhan nabiyyu
Inna arsalnaka syahidan
wa mubasyiran
Wa naziran wa daiyyan
ilaLLahi bi-iznihi
Wa Sirajan muniran’

Yakni mereka yang menyeru insan atau mengajar ilmu al-haqq dengan penuh kesaksian dari Allah , dari Rasul , dari Awliya dan Imam besar. Mereka menyaksikan alam nasut dan malakut.

Kemudian ,mereka memberi khabar gembira akan kemuliaan insaniah yang Allah sembunyikan dalam tiap diri jika digali dan di suburkan dengan mujahadah ikhlas pasti bersinar hati mereka dengan furqan dan petunjuk. Mereka juga memiliki ilmu menilik perkara yang menyesatkan dan membinasa-kan manusia, jadi mereka beri amaran halus dan keras ikut keadaan.

Ramai umat sekarang tersalah anggap dapat Islam warisan datuk nenek dan ustaz pondok sudah cukup. Dapat salat dan berjemaah disurau atau masjid serta dengar pengajian/syarahan agama sudah hebat. Sudah selamat. Tapi belum lagi. Guru atau awliya yang menyeru kita kepada hadrat Allah amat menakutkan nafsu yang cintakan dunia. Mereka berpegang dengan amal atau kekayaan atau ilmu yang secebis..tapi bagi alim ulamak muhaqiqin mereka adalah laksana lampu bercahaya gemilang ( sirajan munira atau matahari bercahaya). Yakni ilmu dan ihwal rohaniah insan begini menerangi jalan hidup kita dengan kasih sayang, adab dan bertanggung jawab. Kena bersahabat dan bermuzakarah dengan mereka yang maju dihadapan.As-sabiqunal muqarrabun.

Jadi, tilik diri kita apakah sudah bersedia menjadi muridin , salikin, faqir ilaLlah atau salihin, muttaqin , siddiqin dan sehingga mencapai taraf tertinggi sang ariffin. Tak ada nama pun selamat asalkan ada ikatan hati dan nur dari mereka yang kita terima didikan kerana Allah Taala. Aku ingin mengakhiri catatan ini dengan ungkapan bernas Jalaluddin Rumi tokoh sufi Parsi dan Turki yang terkenal dengan kitab Mathnawi seperti berikut :

You are your own bird , you are your own prey and you are your own trap. You got the whole thing.

Beliau memberi isyarat bahawa setiap muslim yang beramal dan berjalan menuju keridhaan Tuhan boleh terbang tinggi , bebas dan mencapai maqam rohaniah para sufi jika kita ikhlas berjuang. Kita juga akan tersekat menjadi mangsa sendiri apabila dunia atau hawa nafsu menguasai diri yang rendah. Kita juga memasang perangkap sendiri dengan khayalan dan cita-cita duniawi yang menghalang kita dari menjejaki tariqa menuju Allah Taala. Tiada orang lain dapat menolong jika kita ambil keputusan untuk tidak berguru , berzikir , mengembara dan berkhidmat kepada para awliya serta alim ulama.

AlhamduliLlah, alam melayu kini tidak kurang dengan kebangkitan jemaah sufiyya yang tulin mengabungkan jihad ekonomi dan politik sunna. Islam tidak terpisah dari arus cabaran perdana yang melanda dunia. Rumi juga berkata :’islam is war and terror’ bermaksud islam ditegakkan atas jihad dan kuasa, baik menakluki musuh zahir atau batin. Yang batin kita sedia faham iaitu nafsu , syaitan dan seribu satu penyakit hati –nifaq, takut mati, kedekut, riyak dan berbagai lagi. Musuh zahir mungkin sulit ditewaskan kerana terlampau banyak ! Terpulanglah kepada pilihan saudara untuk memulakan langkah pertama.

Imam Ghazali berkata : orang yang baru menjejaki tariqa sufi ibarat bintang. Dia yang sudah jauh dihadapan ibarat bulan. Mereka yang sudah sampai kehujung tariqa ibarat matahari. Siapa yang jahil dan tak kenal jalan sufi ini , hatinya ibarat batu, keras degil dan susah diperbaiki.

Discourse of Umar Vadillo

2006-09-07T10:50:00.003+08:00

DISCOURSE
BY SIDI UMAR VADILLO
24 MAC 2005 PUTRAJAYA (as recorded by sidi kharazi al-juhuri)

Bismillahi rahmanir rahim.
First, we thank the host of gathering in honor for the presence and visit of sidi umar from cape town to kuala Lumpur, muqadim abu zuhri shin tonight who gave a short speech on the important of following the shaykh, his khalifa/muqadims and the amirs with proper adab and acceptance of their instructions. Any fuqara who argue or debate or having contrary actions with them are in danger of falling out and causing conflicts. He related the teaching of Shaykh Ali alJamal which two times reject and fiercely chasing out Sh.darqawi (a faqir then) from his zawiya with the broom just to test him and broke his pride/nafs. He returned the third time, the shaykh accepeted and embraced him as the perfect murid. He then became a great shaykh, a qutb/pole of his time.

The same happened with sh.shadhili , an alim and faqih who went to makkah and madinah but to be told go back to morocco. Your shaykh is waiting for you in the mountain ! He climbed the high mountain, reach the top and meet a guardian of the wali, only to be told : you are still dirty, go down to clean yourself before fit to see the shaykh. The second time he was still rejected. At the third attempt, he wash himself at a spring at the mountain base, ghusul major purification and says: Oh Allah, I washed myself from all my previous knowledge, my reputation as alim and faqih, I have nothing before this wali of Yours, please guide me and take me to my desired goal. He went up again with humility and broken hearted. Sh Ibnu Mashish then accepted him as a murid, entered a cave for khalwa, doing the Ismul Azim and finished his suluk/marifa opening. From this overflowing, we honored our tariqa by his name which spread to the West and East by the idhin of Allah through his Awliya.

What is the lessons for us. Those who come with pride and thinking they possess actions, power, knowledge and reputation before the fuqara are totally missing this knowledge. A faqir thanks Allah for all His gifts- his life, his wealth, his family, his striving, his knowledge, his company with the awliya – all proceed from Allah loves and generosity to his slave. We cannot make any claims that we achieved this through our own actions. We must have patient, patient and to see the unfolding events before us. We come and travel for Allah, we don’t care about our jobs, our buildings, cars or the number of people following us or how successful our outward projects. I had poured out this matters from my heart and now invite sidi umar to guides us further and enlightening us by his blessed company with sidi shaykh.

Alhamdulillah, those desire this knowledge as outlined earlier, shall take notice how we must grasp this knowledge with full concentration and valued it highly as nothing is comparable. It is our pivot of existence. Why, if don’t know we came from Him and this knowledge coming from Him to draw us closer, then don’t expect everybody understand what this path all about. Without this knowledge, the world will collapse. How ? Because all existence come Allah and He sustains it by His qudra and set it up bil-haqq. By the truth, it means with must live within His shariat and a embedded law. This is halal and that is haram does not change with what people says and how they act. Riba is haram whether you discover it or not, whether you use money or not, the finance system engulf us all. We live under the law of Allah, so if we do it correctly it bring knowledge and opening to unexpected things.

Sh Darqawi says amazing things in his letters –Rasail –about the nafs. The faqir look at the world differently from others. He sees people problems as created by their own illusions and limitations. When you greedy to want more, then you busy with the world until you have little time for dhikr and reflection. For being poor before Allah means you want something not of this world. What is it ? We thanks Allah taala when He gave us a man who had gone beyond and wish to impart this precious knowledge to us.

Sh.Muhammad ibn alHabib was very angry when a man said infront of him : ‘ today there is no more awliya or people of marifa’. He answered the man : Don’t dare you said that, if not for these people (awliya), the sustenance or existence of this world will last any longer. But it is not easy to recognize this man of knowledge if we judge ourself or our goal in terms of material things and what our nafs wanted.

Shaykh abdal qadir told us this story. A man come to the zawiya and visited sidi shaykh and asked for real sufic knowledge. I mean the special knowledge, the secrets of the unseen ? The shaykh said : recite and study the wird of SMH. What, this wird I know already and this is not what I want ? The shaykh was angry with this man. Look, do you even understand one word from this wird that will take you to Allah ? Had we understand the secret of La haula wa la quwwata illa biLlahil aliyyil azim ? Had we submitted to the power and qudra of Allah or tasted it like no one before ? For us, this matter of dhikr and desire for nearness to Allah can make us cry like babies for 3 days. This neediness and brokenness is our attribute before Him and then He gave the overflowing so the slave can move forward. He can shrug off all this time and place limitations.

Our sign of need for Him is like day of festivals where gifts were overflowing. We will not survive if the tests face by this people of Allah were similarly placed on us. When we see huge problem and difficulty, they see it as great opportunity and openings. Why, because Allah has placed the wisdom existence in their opposites. Only the Sufis saw through this barriers, veils and illusions set up by people own opinions and limitations. Oh I cant do this and do that. I only do so much, this is what we can act now. So many obstacles outside, this rule, that rule, regulation and that authority and that system had set it that way. Our stance are, forgot about others, how powerful and how dominant they are, we have nothing to lose by acting on the command of Allah who said –this things are halal, therefore do it. We don’t wait for the governments to declare this dinar is valid and practical. Once we done our job and the dinar spread, we withdraw again to the zawiya/ribat for dhikr and tasting.

This knowledge changes our life, the way we deal with the world. SAQ send his murid out, go and go, don’t sit in the zawiya. Get out. He forced them to taste this knowledge in real battlefields. How can I tell people this secret of the nafs so overhelming and nothing of this dunya can satisfy me. We can only get this knowledge face to face. By keeping company with a man of Allah and he get it from another people of Allah, the awliyas. It is not the books or the information in your heads. We cannot pretend to have or faked this knowledge and soon it will exposed when we go into action.

People now make use of islam are marketing products/tools, to gain profit by selling the Islamic labels of dubious transactions, all haram with riba. If a thing does not make you close to Allah, it will make far from Allah. Do you understand ?
So with a dinar, a business, a house or governing a state. There is nothing wrong with the dinar or the house or businees you do, but how is your heart with these things ? How is nafs is cleaned from attachments to material things, reputation or the ibadah you do. Everywhere this sort of man goes, he cause troubles and mess things up. He had not tasted the sweetness of this surrender, giving up of choice and management to Allah taala in the face of impossible tasks. Like bringing down the dollar or super powers. It is not our action counts but our obeying Him and borrowing His attributes to deal with creation or existence that He sets up. So He will give the knowledge of existence to those not veiled by it.

This knowledge is not easy if we have bad adab or opinion of the fuqara. Beware, they are the least of people who want to meddle in your endless private problems. Three men came from faraway Iraq to the desert of Morocco to see a shaykh. They reached the village and entered the zawiyya, they announced : we want to see the shaykh, convey our message to his people. They were given food and lodging at the zawiya. Do dhikr and sit with the fuqara, chanting qasida after qasida, more food and drinks. But they were exasperated, asked : where is the shaykh ? We had wasted our time for 2 days still no news of the shaykh ? This people are useless and had bad adab to us not fulfilling our goal of traveling here. Where are the Sufis ? On the third day, they left the zawiyya. What they don’t know were that man serving them for 3 days was sidi muhammad ibn kursi who were specially instructed by SMH to be hidden in the desert away from the trouble makers. He guarded this knowledge like a candle light blown by strong winds.

We must cling to the shaykh like a desperate exhausted man to be rescued , hoping to taste a drop from his deep being. From the presence of hadratu rabbani. How can we measure this knowledge whereas all other knowledges you can give away but not this. This world will not last if deprive of the people with this high maqam and love of Allah and Rasul sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. All our knowledge come from this source, face to face since the beginning. Some may not be taught openly. Only very few come near to this matter. This is our trademarks wherever we goes, knowledge embedded deep and we express it to the seekers, the right people at the corners of zawiyya.

Like Malaysian government fascinated with technology, progress …wawasan 2020 more technology for better society. All this cannot replace the deen as our core business. We live here by the mercy of Allah a very short time. This dunya will melt away, Akhira is so near. Our homeland is there, not here. Look at the ruh/spirit where it comes from and flying back.

But we have business of Sharia to do, establish the dinar, the market, qirad, education, da’wa and apply the rules of fiqh. Make sure things are halal, not what they say is halal. Islamic banking, this and that. Imam Junayd says that if men know, they will crawling toward this knowledge.

We ask Allah to bless our shaykh abdal qadir as-sufi. To him give all his needs in doing works fisabilillah. We ask Allah to make us worthy of receiving his tremendous knowledge and wisdom and spreading it. We ask Allah to give and open us more to the knowledge of the deen. We ask Allah to enable us to keep company of the Awliyas and give awakening to the muslims.

We ask Allah taala to advance on the path and proctect us from the enemies. We ask Allah to teach us adab toward the shuyukh and awliya and amirs in order to obey and fulfill their instructions. Amin.

Later the gathering of fuqara sang the qasida of
Lakal-Hamd and Salamun ala hima from the Diwan of Shaykh Ibnul al-Habib.

About 30 seekers from all over Malaysia : Penang, Johor,Klang, Shah Alam and Kuala Lumpur were present at the blessed night of Jumaat which include two Kazakstan friends namely Sidi Ghany and his brother Sidi Rustam, Amir Redhuan Oon and Dr.Daud Fattah Batchelor of Australia.

Bulan Sabit Nusantara

2006-09-07T10:50:00.002+08:00

Bulan Sabit Di Nurnusantara - Dr.Abdad USM,Penang

Maka berbisiklah pulau beribu
KasihNya di riak air danauKu
CintaNya di alun ombak menderu
Shahadunya dalam angin malam bergema
Ertinya dalam sinar fajar purnama
Bangkitnya dalam firasat para nakhoda
NurNya ikat roh dalam jasad berganda
Batinnya dalam gah pelautraja
Bakanya nyior menghampar pulau merata

Jambak suffina menjadi tamrin
Bunganya diboi wangi semusim
Bersama deguknya jantung iklim
Bersama dua kalimahnya lima paksi
Bersama azan laungnya berganti
Bersama roh shuhada para wali

Dari Kampong Som ke Teluk Fathani
Dari luknya ke Sabang meranti
Taman suffina merentas Tahan-Andalas
Semananjung emas pancaran Fansuri berbalas
Disambut kraton tujuh wali tarikas
Ambunnya tercairlah Marauke
Itulah Bulan Sabit di Nusantara kake

Brunei-Mindanao acuan bintang
Dua sahabat bertindis kerdipan
Disambut ribuan pulau taulan
Dalam irama kicauan fiona wadisis
Ledak bumi lontar metamorphosis
Tumbuh hijau tunjang naluri
Naluri pelautraja naluri baktisejati.

NurNya pancaran sabit pancaran bintang
Dari tujuh langit Nurnusantara terentang.
Berbaktilah ia perantara benuaKu
Singgahnya fakir fuqara mencari jalanKu.
UmmahKu kaya pancaran batinya
Getaran Musim uratmuka mukminnya.

Nurnusantara
Salam Antara Benua Kita.

Abdad/REDEEM/6.9.05