Hadrat Oways al-Qarni Radiallahu Anhu and his Mother

The great Saint Uways of Qaran! Was presented the blessed cloak of Rasulullah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam on the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam's instruction. It is preserved in Istanbul, Turkey. He reached his Spiritual status due to obedience to his mother.

Uways Radi allahu Anhu was from the village of Qaran, in Yemen. He had asked his mother's permission to visit Allah's Most Beloved Messenger Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam, and she said: "You have my permission to go, see him once, and come straight back. If the Messenger Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam is at home, you may meet with him; if not, come straight back here." Uways made a journey of three months on foot, from the Yemen to Madinah the Illuminated. When he reached Rasulullah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam's house, he knocked on the door and Hadrat Aisha Radi allahu Anha, wife of the Chosen Prophet and Mother of the Believers opened the door. She told him that Rasulullah Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam was in the Masjid.

Hazrat Owais Al Qarni (Ra)

Uwais al-Qarni or "Oveys Gharani" (Arabic: أويس القرني) (died 657 A.D.) was a Muslim resident of Qaran in Yemen who lived during the lifetime of Muhammad. His grave is in Baykan, Siirt Turkey. Although his life was insignificant from a worldly point of view, he is renowned and honored among both Shia and Sunni Muslims, Sufis in particular, for his piety, practice of zuhd (asceticism), and love for Muhammad(PBUH).

Life of Uwais Al-Qarni

Uwais embraced Islam during Muhammad's lifetime but he could not present himself before Muhammad(PBUH) because he looked after his elderly, blind mother and thus remained deprived of the honour of companionship. It is said that he spent his hours in solitude, fasting, night vigil and salat (prayers). In honour of Muhammad(PBUH), who at the Battle of Uhud in 625, had lost two of his teeth, Uwais al-Qarni drew out his own teeth. Muhammad(PBUH) called him the best of the Tabieen (successors) and he advised his companions to, “Get him to pray for your forgiveness.”

Abu Amar Owais Bin Harb Bin al Muradi bin al Qarn [d.37H/657CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

 

His name was Owais, he was known as Owais al-Qarni because he lived in a town called "Qarn" in Yemen. Hadrat Owais Qarni (Allah be pleased with him) was a very pious and noble person. Although his life was insignificant from a worldly point of view, he is renowned and honoured amongst all Muslims, Sufis in particular, for his piety, practice of zuhd (asceticism), as well as a deep love and affection for the Beloved Messenger of Allah (Peace & Blessings upon him). It is said that he spent all his hours in solitude, fasting, night vigil and salat (prayers).

He had embraced Islam while the Beloved Prophet (Peace & Blessings upon him) was still alive. He naturally had a very strong desire to see the Prophet but since his mother was very old and she needed his constant care and attention, he could not visit the Beloved of Allah. As a reward of his service to his mother, he was treated as a Sahabi (Companion of Prophet) by the Prophet (Peace & Blessings upon him) even though he could not see him personally. His name entered the list of Sahaba only because of his strong intention to see the Allahs Beloved Messenger (Peace & Blessings upon him). 

Al-Qasim ibn 'Uthman al-Ju'i 'alayhi al-rahmah wal-ridwan (d.248H / 862CE)

One of the great saints of Damascus who took hadith from Sufyan ibn 'Uyayna. Ibn al-Jawzi relates in 'Sifat al-safwa' that al-Ju'i explained that he got the name al-Ju'i ('of the hunger') because Allah had strengthened him against physical hunger by means of spiritual hunger. He said:

Even if I were left one month without food I would not care. O' Allah, you have done this with me: Therefore complete it for me!

SHAMS AL-DIN AL-DHAHABI writes about him in 'Siyar a'lam al-nubala':

Hadrat Shaykh Maroof al-Karkhi 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan (d.200H/815CE)

Muqtada-e-Ahl al-Tariqat, Rahhuma-e-Raahe Haqiqat, Hadrat Shaykh Maroof Karkhi radi Allahu anhu is the ninth Imam and Shaykh of the Silsila Aaliyah Qaderiya. He attained all his knowledge under the watchful eye of Imam Ali Raza radi Allahu anhu. He became mureed of Hadrat Habeeb Raa'ee, and was blessed with Khilafat from Hadrat Habeeb Ra'ee, Hadrat Ali Raza and Hadrat Awliyah Ta'ee Allah be pleased with them all.

He passed away on a Friday or Saturday, on the 2nd of Muharram, 200 Hijri. After his demise, Hadrat Muhammad bin Abul Hussain radi Allahu anhu says, that he saw Hadrat Maroof Karkhi radi Allahu anhu in his dream and he asked him how Almighty Allah had treated him. He said;

Almighty Allah pardoned me, not because of my piety but because of what I heard from Hadrat Samaak radi Allahu anhu in Kufa, when he said, 'He who leaves all ties and turns towards Allah, then Allah Almighty Allah sends his Mercy towards him and he turns all his servants in his direction.' I followed this advice of his and turned completely towards Allah, and with the exception of the khidmat of Hadrat Ali (Raza) radi Allahu anhu I left everything else.

Sufyan ibn Sa'id ibn Masruq Abu 'Abd Allah al-Thawri al-Mudari al-Kufi 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan (d.161H/778CE)

Sufyan al-Thawri al-Mudari al-Kufi [97-161], the Godfearing, wise, grief-stricken, Mujtahid Imam, "Commander of the Believers in Hadith" – the highest level in hadith Mastership –, "Shaykh al-Islam, the Imam of hadith Masters, the leader of the practicing Ulema in his time, the author of the Jami' " (SHAMS AL-DIN AL-DHAHABI). His father was a junior Tabi'i Muhaddith and he thus began his scholarly career at home. Abu Ishaq al-Sabi'i recited when he saw Sufyan coming: (And We gave him wisdom when a child) (19:12). His Shuyukh number 600. Ibn al-Jawzi claimed that his students number over 20,000 but al-Dhahabi said: "This is preposterous, they hardly reached 1,000. I know none of the hadith Masters from whom more narrated than Imam Malik, and those number 1,400 – including the liars and the unknown!"

And now permit us to mention what Ibn Taymiyya, mentioned about the definition of Tasawwuf.

"Alhamdulillah, the pronunciation of the word tasawwuf has been thoroughly discussed. From those who spoke about it were not just the the Imams and Shaykhs, but also included were Ahmad bin Hanbal, Abi Sulayman ad-Daarani, As-Sirr as-Saqati, al-Junayd, M'aruf al-Karkhi, Abdul Qadir Jilani, Bayazid al-Bistami and many others. This is a term that was given to those who were dealing with that kind of science [tazkiyyat an-nafs and Ihsan]. And it is like when one uses the term "from the Quraishi family" or from the Madani people or from the Hashemi family. It is a lineage (nasab), just as we say Hashemi for the descendants of the Prophet (Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam) or Quraishi for his tribe and Madani for those of his city, we say Sufi (nisbatan) indicating the relationship of those people to that science."

He continues,

"the majority of the scholars (jumhour al-'ulama), did not deny that science since it complies with the Shari'ah and the Sunnah and they were supporting it."

Ibn Taymiyya says:

"thumma at-tasawwuf 'indahu haqaiqun wa ahwaalun...[man saffa min al-qadari wa amtala'a min al-fikri wasstawa 'indahu adh-dhahab wal-hajjar. At-tasawaffu kitmaanul ma'ani wa tarku-da'awi'"

"Tasawwuf has realities and states of experience which they talk about in their science. Some of it is that the Sufi is that one who purifies himself from anyting whihc distracts him from the remembrance of Allah and who will be so filled up with knowledge of the heart and knowledge of the mind to the point that the value of gold and stones will be the same.to him. And tasawwuf is safeguarding the precious meanings and leaving behind the call to fame and vanity in order to reach the state of Truthfulness, because the best of humans after the prophets are the Siddiqeen, as Allah mentioned them in the verse:

'Fa-ula'ika ma`a alladheena an'amm-Allahu `alayhim min an-nabiyyin was-siddiqeen wash-shuhada'i was-saaliheena wa hassuna 'ula'ika rafeeqa"

'(And all who obey God and the Apostle) are in the company of those on whom is the grace of Allah: of the prophets, the sincere lovers of truth, the martyrs and the righteous; Ah! what a beautiful fellowship.'" (an-Nisa', 69,70)

Ibn Taymiyya continues:

"as-Sufi hua fil-haqiqa naw'un min as-siddiqeen. Fahua as-siddiq alladhee ikhtassa bil-zuhadiwal-'ibada."

This translates:

"And the Sufi is in reality a kind of Siddiq (Truthful One), that Siddiq who specialized in zuhd and worship."
Ibn Taymiyya continues,

"some people criticised Sufiyya and Tasawwuf and they said they were innovators, out of the Sunnah, but the truth is they are striving in Allah's obedience [mujtahidin fi ta'at-illahi], as others of Allah's People strove in Allah's obedience. So from them you will find the Foremost in Nearness by virtue of his striving [as-saabiq ul-muqarrab bi hasab ijtihadihi]. And some of them are from the People of the Right hand [Ahl al-Yameen mentioned in Qur'an in Sura Waqi'ah], but slower in their progress. For both kinds, they might make ijtihad and in that case they might be correct and they might be wrong. And from both types, some of them might make a sin and repent. And this is the origin of tasawwuf. And after that origin, it has been spread and (tasha'abat wa tanawa'at) has its main line and its branches. And it has become three kinds:

1. Sufiyyat il-Haqa'iq - the True Sufis
2. Sufiyyat il-Arzaaq - the Professional Sufis (those who use Sufism for personal gain)
3. Sufiyyat il-Rasm - the Caricature Sufis. (Sufi by appearance only).

His admirers cite this jurist and hadith master of the Hanbali school as an enemy of Sufis, and he is the principal authority in the campaign of 'Salafis' responsible for creating the present climate of unwarranted fanaticism and encouragement to ignorance regarding tasawwuf. Yet Ibn Taymiyya was himself a Sufi. However, 'Salafis' are careful never to show the Sufi Ibn Taymiyya, who would severely hamper their construction of him as purely anti-Sufi.

Ibn Taymiyya's discourse is riddled with contradictions and ambiguities. One might say that even though he levelled all sorts of judgments on Sufis, he was nevertheless unable to deny the greatness of tasawwuf upon which the Community had agreed long before he came along. As a result he is often observed slighting tasawwuf, questioning his Sufi contemporaries, and reducing the primacy of the elite of Muslims to ordinariness, at the same time as he boasts of being a Qadiri Sufi in a direct line of succession to Shaykh `Abd al- Qadir al-Gilani, as we show in the lines that follow.

It should be clear that the reason we quote the following evidence is not because we consider Ibn Taymiyya in any way representative of tasawwuf. In our view he no more represents tasawwuf than he represents the `aqida of Ahl al-Sunna. However, we quote his views only to demonstrate that his misrepresentation by Orientalists and 'Salafis' purely as an enemy of tasawwuf does not stand to scrutiny. Regardless of the desires of one group or another, the facts provide clear evidence that Ibn Taymiyya had no choice but to accept tasawwuf and its principles, and that he himself not only claimed to be a Sufi, but also to have been adorned with the cloak (khirqa) of shaykhhood in the Qadiri Sufi Order.

We have already mentioned Ibn Taymiyya's admiration for `Abd al- Qadir Gilani, to whom he gives the title 'my Shaykh' (shaykhuna) and 'my Master' (sayyidi) exclusively in his entire Fatawa. Ibn Taymiyya's sufi inclinations and his reverence for `Abd al-Qadir Gilani can also be seen in his hundred-page commentary on Futuh al-ghayb, covering only five of the seventy-eight sermons of the book, but showing that he considered tasawwuf essential within the life of the Islamic community.

In his commentary Ibn Taymiyya stresses that the primacy of the Shari`a forms the soundest tradition in tasawwuf, and to argue this point he lists over a dozen early masters, as well as more contemporary shaykhs like his fellow Hanbalis, al-Ansari al-Harawi and `Abd al-Qadir, and the latter's own shaykh, Hammad al-Dabbas:

The upright among the followers of the Path - like the majority of the early shaykhs (shuyukh al-salaf) such as Fudayl ibn `Iyad, Ibrahim ibn Adham, Ma`ruf al-Karkhi, al-Sari al-Saqati, al-Junayd ibn Muhammad, and others of the early teachers, as well as Shaykh Abd al-Qadir, Shaykh Hammad, Shaykh Abu al-Bayan and others of the later masters -- do not permit the followers of the Sufi path to depart from the divinely legislated command and prohibition, even were that person to have flown in the air or walked on water.

Elsewhere also, such as in his al-Risala al-safadiyya, Ibn Taymiyya defends the Sufis as those who belong to the path of the Sunna and represent it in their teachings and writings:

The great shaykhs mentioned by Abu `Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami in Tabaqat al-sufiyya, and Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri in al-Risala, were adherents of the school of Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jama`a and the school of Ahl al-hadith, such as al-Fudayl ibn `Iyad, al-Junayd ibn Muhammad, Sahl ibn `Abd Allah al-Tustari, `Amr ibn `Uthman al- Makki, Abu `Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Khafif al-Shirazi, and others, and their speech is found in the Sunna, and they composed books about the Sunna.

In his treatise on the difference between the lawful forms of worship and the innovative forms, entitled Risalat al-`ibadat al- shar`iyya wal-farq baynaha wa bayn al-bid`iyya, Ibn Taymiyya unmistakably states that that the lawful is the method and way of 'those who follow the Sufi path' or 'the way of self-denial' (zuhd) and those who follow 'what is called poverty and tasawwuf', i.e. the fuqara' and the Sufis:

The lawful is that by which one approaches near to Allah. It is the way of Allah. It is righteousness, obedience, good deeds, charity, and fairness. It is the way of those on the Sufi path (al-salikin), and the method of those intending Allah and worshipping Him; it is that which is travelled by everyone who desires Allah and follows the way of self-denial (zuhd) and religious practice, and what is called poverty and tasawwuf and the like.

Regarding `Abd al-Qadir's teaching that the salik or Sufi wayfarer should abstain from permitted desires, Ibn Taymiyya begins by determining that Abd al-Qadir's intention is that one should give up those permitted things which are not commanded, for there may be a danger in them. But to what extent? If Islam is essentially learning and carrying out the Divine command, then there must be a way for the striver on the path to determine the will of Allah in each particular situation. Ibn Taymiyya concedes that the Qur'an and Sunna cannot explicitly cover every possible specific event in the life of every believer. Yet if the goal of submission of will and desire to Allah is to be accomplished by those seeking Him, there must be a way for the striver to ascertain the Divine command in its particularity.

Ibn Taymiyya's answer is to apply the legal concept of ijtihad to the spiritual path, specifically to the notion of ilham or inspiration. In his efforts to achieve a union of his will with Allah's, the true Sufi reaches a state where he desires nothing more than to discover the greater good, the action which is most pleasing and loveable to Allah. When external legal arguments cannot direct him in such matters, he can rely on the standard Sufi notions of private inspiration (ilham) and intuitive perception (dhawq):

If the Sufi wayfarer has creatively employed his efforts to the external shar`i indications and sees no clear probability concerning his preferable action, he may then feel inspired, along with his goodness of intention and reverent fear of Allah, to choose one of two actions as superior to the other. This kind of inspiration (ilham) is an indication concerning the truth. It may be even a stronger indication than weak analogies, weak hadiths, weak literalist arguments (zawahir), and weak istisHaab which are employed by many who delve into the principles, differences, and systematizing of fiqh.

Ibn Taymiyya bases this view on the principle that Allah has put a natural disposition for the truth in mankind, and when this natural disposition has been grounded in the reality of faith and enlightened by Qur'anic teaching, and still the striver on the path is unable to determine the precise will of Allah in specific instances, then his heart will show him the preferable course of action. Such an inspiration, he holds, is one of the strongest authorities possible in the situation. Certainly the striver will sometimes err, falsely guided by his inspiration or intuitive perception of the situation, just as the mujtahid sometimes errs. But, he says, even when the mujtahid or the inspired striver is in error, he is obedient.

Appealing to ilham and dhawq does not mean following one's own whims or personal preferences.(6) In his letter to Nasr al-Manbiji, he qualifies this intuition as 'faith-informed' (al-dhawq al-imani). His point is, as in the commentary to the Futuh, that inspirational experience is by nature ambiguous and needs to be qualified and informed by the criteria of the Qur'an and the Sunna. Nor can it lead to a certainty of the truth in his view, but what it can do is give the believer firm grounds for choosing the more probably correct course of action in a given instance and help him to conform his will, in the specific details of his life, to that of his Creator and Commander.

Other works of his as well abound in praise for Sufi teachings. For example, in his book al-ihtijaj bi al-qadar, he defends the Sufis' emphasis on love of Allah and their voluntarist rather than intellectual approach to religion as being in agreement with the teachings of the Qur'an , the sound hadith, and the imja` al-salaf:

As for the Sufis, they affirm the love (of Allah), and this is more evident among them than all other issues. The basis of their Way is simply will and love. The affirmation of the love of Allah is well-known in the speech of their early and recent masters, just as it is affirmed in the Book and the Sunna and in the agreement of the Salaf.

Ibn Taymiyya is also notorious for his condemnation of Ibn `Arabi. However, what he condemned was not Ibn `Arabi but a tiny book of his entitled Fusus al-hikam, which forms a single slim volume. As for Ibn `Arabi's magnum opus, al-Futuhat al-makkiyya (The Meccan divine disclosures), Ibn Taymiyya was no less an admirer of this great work than everyone else in Islam who saw it, as he declares in his letter to Abu al-Fath Nasr al-Munayji (d. 709) published in his the volume entitled Tawhid al-rububiyya of his Fatawa:

I was one of those who, previously, used to hold the best opinion of Ibn `Arabi and extol his praise, because of the benefits I saw in his books, such as what he said in many of his books, for example: al-Futuhat, al-Kanh, al-Muhkam al-marbut, al-Durra al- fakhira, Matali` al-nujum, and other such works.

Ibn Taymiyya goes on to say he changed his opinions, not because of anything in these books, but only after he read the Fusus.

'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak (d.181H/797CE) 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

He was the client of the Banu Tamim, then the Banu Hanifa. His kunya was Abu 'Abdu'r-Rahman. He listened to Ibn Abi Layla, Hisham ibn 'Urwa, al-A'mash, Sulayman at-Tamimi, Humayd at-Tawil, Yahya ibn Sa'id, Ibn 'Awn, Musa ibn 'Uqba, the two Sufyans, al-Awza'i, Ibn Abi Dhib, Malik, Ma'mar, Shu'ba, and Haywa ibn Shurayh, and he studied with Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala', al-Layth and others. Ibn Mahdi, 'Abdu'r-Razzaq, Yahya ibn al-Qattan, Ibn Wahb and others related from him.

Qadi Abu'l-Fadl said that as-Sadafi mentioned, "When Ibn al-Mubarak came of age, his father sent him 50,000 to use for commerce. He sought after knowledge until he had spent the money. When it was gone, his father met him and said, 'What have you bought?' He brought out his books for him and said, 'This is my trade.' His father went into the house and gave him 30,000 dirhams more and said, 'Take this and follow your trade with them,' and he spent them." Ibn al-Mubarak said, "I studied adab for thirty years and I studied knowledge for twenty years."

Ibn Hanbal said, "In the time of Ibn al-Mubarak, there was no one who sought after knowledge more than him. He went to the Yemen, Egypt, Syria, the Hijaz, Basra and Kufa, and whoever related knowledge and was worthy of it. He wrote from young men and old men. He omitted what was rare. He gave hadiths from books." Ibn Waddah said, "Ibn al-Mubarak related about 25,000 hadiths. He was asked, 'Up until when did you study knowledge?' He said, 'I hope that you will find me doing that until I die."

Ibn al-Mubarak used to say ;

"The beginning of knowledge is the intention, then listening, then understanding, then action, then preservation, and then spreading it."

It was said, "He went on hajj one year and raiding the next year. Whenever he came to Madina, he said to its shaykhs among the people of knowledge and decrease. Whoever wants to go on hajj, come out with me. Their provision is enough for them. He did the same when he went on raids."

Al-Fasawi the worshipper said, "I was with Ibn al-Mubarak raiding on a cold, rainy night. He wept and I said, 'Are you weeping for the like of this?' He said, 'I am weeping for the previous nights which did not have the like of this hardship so that we could be rewarded for them.'"

Ibn al-Musayyab said, "Ibn al-Mubarak sent 70,000 dirhams to Abu Bakr ibn 'Ayyash and said, 'Use it to stop the lack of censure of you.'" Nu'aym ibn Hammad said, "Ibn al-Mubarak used to stay in his house a lot. He was asked, 'Are you isolating yourself?' He said, 'How can I isolate myself when I am with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and his Companions?'

He related that Iblis came to Ibn al-Mubarak when he was doing wudu' and said, "You did not wipe.'" He said, "I did wipe." He said, "You did not wipe." He said, 'You are a claimant, so present your proof.'" Ibn al-Mubarak said to one of his companions, "Do not neglect a day which Allah has mentioned in 63 places in His Book.

A man said to Ibn al-Mubarak, "Yesterday I read the entire Qur'an in a single rak'at." Ibn al-Mubarak said, "But I know a man who did not cease to recite 'Rivalry' (102) yesterday until the Subh prayer. He could not get past it," i.e. himself.

Some of His Wisdoms, Poetry and Wit

He said;

Fight your tongue. The tongue is quick to kill a man.
The tongue is the posting of the heart. It shows man his intellect.

He said;

I see that some people are content with the least of the deen
but I do not see them pleased with meagerness in this life.
Be rich with Allah, independent of the world of the kings
as the kings are free of the deen with their worldly things.

He said:

People's enjoyment of worship and taqwa is the sweetest bliss
not the pleasure of the wine.
Their sources enjoy it for all their lives, and they, by Allah,
have provision until they reach the graves
In a moment they obtain might and taqwa.
Does not the enjoyment of life lie in piety and steadfastness?

He said:

I see every life as unhappy and miserabl
except for planting the spear in the shade of the horse
And standing in the dark nights, vigilant,
guarding the people in the furthest outpost.

A man came to Ibn al-Mubarak and said to him, "May Allah be pleased with you! Describe for me those who are wild and distracted by love of Allah. He replied, "They are as I will tell you;

Alert, on mounts as if they were a caravan desiring to pass,
that is how they are moved.
Their limbs are restrained from every foul action.
Truthfulness is their school, as well as zuhd and fear

Another person asked him to describe the fearful. He said:

When the night is darkest, they endure it,
and it travels from them while they are still bowing.
Fear dispelled their sleep, so they stood alert while the people of security
in this world were sleeping peacefully.
While they are prostrating under the cloak the darkness,
their groan pierces their ribs.

They are mute in the day by the length of their silence
They have tranquillity from their humility

He also composed:

Seize the two rak'ats of nearness if you are free and at rest.         
When you desire to speak about the false, put glorification in its place.
Seizing silence is better than plunging
even if you are eloquent in speech.

Ibn al-Mubarak has a lot of poetry in more than one subject. He had a short poem in rajaz-metre on the Companions and the Followers and long qasidas on constancy and jihad which are famous. He has the Kitab ar-Raqa'iq which is famous, and The Book of the Objectives of Jihad.

Ibn al-Mubarak was asked, "Who are the people?" "The scholars," he replied He was asked, "Who are the kings?" He said, "The men of detachment (zuhd)." He was asked, "Who are the rabble?" "Harthima and Khuzayma ibn Hazim," he answered. It was said, "Who are the fools?" He said, "The one who sells the Next World for the worldly portion of someone else.

He used to say ;

"The trace of ink on the garment of the master of hadith is better than the perfume on the bride's garment."

He was asked, "Which person has the best state?" He said, "The one who devotes himself to his Lord."

Ibn al-Mubarak said, "I passed by a weaver when I had broken the throng of my sandal and he gave me with a strap. I asked, 'Did you do it for pay?' He said, 'Yes.' When I passed by him, I leaned towards him and greeted him. Then I missed him and found that he had closed his shop. I asked one of the neighbours about him. I said, 'If he is sick, I will visit him. If he is busy, I will help him. If he is poor, I will share with him.

"They said, 'We have no knowledge of him.' I asked permission to enter his house and he came out to me. I asked him, 'What has kept you from your shop?' He said to me, 'You, Ibn al-Mubarak. People see you inclining to me, so they have put a shirt on me which I do not deserve.'

"I took his sleeve and went with him to the graves. I said, 'This is the grave of so-and-so. His business was such-and-such. This is the grave of so-and-so. His business was such-and-such.'

"He said to me, 'Ibn al-Mubarak, I do not know what you are saying. The man is not all the man whom the tongues describe and the man is not all the man whom the eyes see. The man is the one whom Allah veils in his life and makes him enter the grave veiled and then He brings him out on the Day of Rising when there is no abasement or rebellion on him. That is the man.'"

Abu Bakr al-Khatib related that al-Hasan ibn 'Isa ibn Masrajis used to pass by Ibn al-Mubarak while he was a Christian. Al-Hasan had a very beautiful face. Ibn al-Mubarak asked about him and was told, "He is a Christian." He said, "O Allah, provide him with Islam." Allah answered his supplication and al-Hasan became an excellent Muslim. He was one of the scholars of the Community and one of those who travelled in quest of knowledge and the Sunna in all regions and people studied with him. He possessed scrupulousness, intellect and reliability.

One of the men who kept the company of Ibn al-Mubarak inclined to this world and kept the Sultan's company. He met him one day and greeted him. He said to him;

      "My brother!
       All is from rice, wheat and barley bread,
       And it crushes. O person! Allah has guided you from the amir's abode
       So do not visit it! Avoid it it! They are false sparks.
       It takes away the deen and brings you near to great wrong action."

The man was ashamed and left the Sultan's company and returned to his company.

Concerning his position in riwaya and hadith

One of the Sufis who had heard him say that one of the transmitters of hadith was weak, said to him, "Abu 'Abdu'r-Rahman, do you slander?" He said, "Be quiet. If we do not clarify, who will know the true from the false?"

Ibn al-Mubarak died in Hit, returning from a naval expedition and was buried in Hit in Ramadan in 181. Al-Bukhari said that he was born in 118.

When he was near death, he told Nasr, his client, "Put my head on the earth." Nasr wept. He said, "Why do you weep?" He said, "I remember what you had in it of blessing and now you are dying a stranger and a pauper." He told him, "Be quiet. I asked Allah to let me live the life of the rich and to make me die the death of the poor." Then he said, "Put me down and do not address me again unless I speak again. Put me down so that it is my last words."

When Sufyan ibn 'Uyayna was told that Ibn al-Mubarak had died, he said, "May Allah have mercy on him. He was a man of fiqh, knowledge, worship, asceticism, and generosity. He was courageous and a poet." He also said, "No one has come to us like Ibn al-Mubarak and Ibn Abi Ziyada." Muhammad ibn al-Mu'tamir said, "When ath-Thawri died, I asked my father, 'Who is the faqih of the Arabs?" He replied, "Ibn al-Mubarak." Al-Awza'i said to Abu 'Uthman al-Kalbi about him, "If I had seen him, I would have been delighted." An-Nasa'i said, "There was not known in the time of Ibn al-Mubarak anyone more glorious or excellent than him nor anyone who had more virtues than he possessed." Salam ibn Muti' said, "No one like him came in the east afterwards. I prefer Ibn al-Mubarak to ath-Thawri." Ibn Waddah said, "I listened to a group of the people of knowledge relate, 'Knowledge, taqwa, hadith, recognition of the men, poetry, generosity, worship and scrupulousness were comibined in Ibn al-Mubarak.

Shaykh Sari al-Saqati: (d.253H/867CE) 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

One of the friends and companions of BISHR AL-HAFI Radi Allahu anhu, Sari al-Saqati was one of those who bore affection for the creatures of God and of those who preferred others above themselves.

In his book Wafayat al-'a'yan, Ibn Khallikan writes that Sari once said, "It is thirty years that I have been seeking forgiveness for one phrase, Praise be Allah's, that I allowed to pass my lips." When asked to explain he replied, "One night the bazaar caught fire, and I left my house to see if the fire had reached my shop. When I heard that my shop was safe, I said, 'Praise be Allah's'. Instantly I was brought to my senses with the realization that, granted my shop was unharmed, should I not have been thinking about others'?"

Sa'di is referring to this same story (with slight variations) where he says:

One night someone's chimney kindled a fire, And I heard that half of Baghdad had burnt down. One said, thank God that in the smoke and ashes, My shop has not been damaged. A man who had seen the world replied, O selfish man, Was your grief for yourself and no other? Would you be satisfied that a town should burn down by fire, If your own dwelling were left unscathed?

Shaykh Sari as-Saqati was the pupil and disciple (murid) of MAROOF AL-KARKHI, and the teacher and maternal uncle of JUNAYD OF BAGHDAD. Sari has many sayings on mystical unity (tawhid), love of God and other matters. It was also he who said: "Like the sun, the 'arif shines on all the world; like the earth, he bears the good and evil of all; like water, he is the source of life for every heart; and like fire he gives his warmth to all and sundry." Shaykh Sari as-Saqati died in [d.253H/867CE] at the age of ninety-eight.

Shaykh Sari as-Saqati Radi Allahu anhu also states:

"Tassawuf is the name of three qualities:

1. His 'Nur of Marifah' (Knowledge of Allah) must not extinguish his 'Nur of Wara' (Piety).
2. Never speak from the knowledge of Batin (Interior) that may contradict the Zahir (Exterior) -Qur'an al kareem and Hadith.
3. Do not let Karaamats (Miracles) caste a veil on those things which Allah has made Haraam."

Imam Abu'l-Fadl Ahmad Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani (d. 852H/1448CE) 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Abu'l-Fadl Ahmad ibn Hajar's family originated in the district of Qabis in Tunisia. Some members of the family had settled in Palestine, which they left again when faced with the Crusader threat, but he himself was born in Egypt in 773, the son of the Shafi'i scholar and poet Nur al-Din 'Ali and the learned and aristocratic Tujjar. Both died in his infancy, and he was later to praise his elder sister, Sitt al-Rakb, for acting as his 'second mother'. The two children became wards of the brother of his father's first wife, Zaki al-Din al-Kharrubi, who entered the young Ibn Hajar in a Qur'anic school (kuttab) when he reached five years of age. Here he excelled, learning 'Surat Maryam' in a single day, and progressing to the memorization of texts such as the 'Mukhtasar' of Ibn al-Hajib on usul. By the time he accompanied al-Kharrubi to Makkah at the age of 12, he was competent enough to lead the Tarawih prayers in the Holy City, where he spent much time studying and recalling God amid the pleasing simplicity of Kharrubi's house, the Bayt al-'Ayna', whose windows looked directly upon the Black Stone. Two years later his protector died, and his education in Egypt was entrusted to the hadith scholar Shams al-Din ibn al-Qattan, who entered him in the courses given by the great Cairene scholars al-Bulqini (d.806) and Ibn al-Mulaqqin (d.804) in Shafi'i fiqh, and of Zayn al-Din al-'Iraqi (d.806) in hadith, after which he was able to travel to Damascus and Jerusalem, where he studied under Shams al-Din al-Qalqashandi (d.809), Badr al-Din al-Balisi (d.803), and Fatima bint al-Manja al-Tanukhiyya (d.803). After a further visit to Makkah and Madina, and to the Yemen, he returned to Egypt.

When he reached 25 he married the lively and brilliant Anas Khatun, then 18 years of age. She was a hadith expert in her own right, holding ijazas from Zayn al-Din al-'Iraqi, and she gave celebrated public lectures in the presence of her husband to crowds of ulema among whom was Imam al-Sakhawi. After the marriage, Ibn Hajar moved into her house, where he lived until his death. Many noted how she surrounded herself with the old, the poor and the physically handicapped, whom it was her privilege and pleasure to support. So widely did her reputation for sanctity extend that during her fifteen years of widowhood, which she devoted to good works, she received a proposal from Imam 'Alam al-Din al-Bulqini, who considered that a marriage to a woman of such charity and baraka would be a source of great pride.

Once ensconced in Egypt, Ibn Hajar taught in the Sufi lodge (khaniqah) of Baybars for some twenty years, and then in the hadith college known as Dar al-Hadith al-Kamiliyya. During these years, he served on occasion as the Shafi'i chief justice of Egypt.

It was in Cairo that the Imam wrote some of the most thorough and beneficial books ever added to the library of Islamic civilization. Among these are al-Durar al-Kamina (a biographical dictionary of leading figures of the eighth century), a commentary on the Forty Hadith of Imam al-Nawawi (a scholar for whom he had particular respect); Tahdhib al-Tahdhib (an abbreviation of Tahdhib al-Kamal, the encyclopedia of hadith narrators by al-Mizzi), al-Isaba fi tamyiz al-Sahaba (the most widely-used dictionary of Companions), and Bulugh al-Maram min adillat al-ahkam (on Shafi'i fiqh).

In 817, Ibn Hajar commenced the enormous task of assembling his Fath al-Bari. It began as a series of formal dictations to his hadith students, after which he wrote it out in his own hand and circulated it section by section to his pupils, who would discuss it with him once a week. As the work progressed and its author's fame grew, the Islamic world took a close interest in the new work. In 833, Timur's son Shahrukh sent a letter to the Mamluk sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay requesting several gifts, including a copy of the Fath, and Ibn Hajar was able to send him the first three volumes. In 839 the request was repeated, and further volumes were sent, until, in the reign of al-Zahir Jaqmaq, the whole text was finished and a complete copy was dispatched. Similarly, the Moroccan sultan Abu Faris 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Hafsi requested a copy before its completion. When it was finished, in Rajab 842, a great celebration was held in an open place near Cairo, in the presence of the ulema, judges, and leading personages of Egypt. Ibn Hajar sat on a platform and read out the final pages of his work, and then poets recited eulogies and gold was distributed. It was, says the historian Ibn Iyas, 'the greatest celebration of the age in Egypt.'

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajar departed this life in 852 Hijri. His funeral was attended by 'fifty thousand people', including the sultan and the caliph; 'even the Christians grieved.' He was remembered as a gentle man, short, slender, and white-bearded, a lover of chess and calligraphy, much inclined to charity; 'good to those who wronged him, and forgiving to those he was able to punish.' A lifetime's proximity to the hadith had imbued him with a deep love of the Messenger (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), as is shown nowhere more clearly than in the poetry assembled in his Diwan, an original manuscript of which has been preserved at the Egyptian National Library. A few lines will suffice to show this well:

    By the gate of your generosity stands a sinner, who is mad with love,
    O best of mankind in radiance of face and countenance!
    Through you he seeks a means [tawassala], hoping for Allah's forgiveness of slips;
    from fear of Him, his eyelid is wet with pouring tears.

    Although his genealogy attributes him to a stone [hajar],
    how often tears have flowed, sweet, pure and fresh!
    Praise of you does not do you justice, but perhaps,
    In eternity, its verses will be transformed into mansions.

    My praise of you shall continue for as long as I live,
    For I see nothing that could ever deflect me from your praise.

Within the spiritual tradition, there is a map of the terrain held within the writings and the teacher's memory. Books, stories, discussions and direct experience are all part of this map. As one traverses the path, understanding of various methods become clear. 

The purpose of the shaykh is to show you the path. To take the student to the curtain of unity. Beyond the curtain is the student's destiny. The student must humble himself/herself to the observations of the teacher, examining those aspects of oneself that needs to be purified. Remember you cannot pass through the curtain by 'yourself'. Just by joining the Sufi Order you are not going to go to Allah. You should do what the shaykh suggests to you. He is not ordering you to do these things, he is just showing the way. Therefore the mureed should have outmost respect for the teacher as he takes the student to the gate of knowledge and beyond that.

Tasawwuf or sufism (the translation usually preferred in the West) is the name of the ways sufis follow to reach God, the Truth. While the term tasawwuf usually expresses the theoretical or philosophical aspect of the search for truth, its practical aspect is usually referred to as 'being a dervish.'

Tasawwuf has been defined in many ways. According to some, tasawwuf is Almighty God’s annihilating man with respect to his ego and self-centredness and then reviving him spiritually with the lights of His Essence; in other words, God's annihilating man with respect to his own will and then directing him by His Own Will. Another approach to tasawwuf sees it as the continuous striving to be rid of all kinds of bad maxims and evil conduct and acquiring virtues.

Muhammad Baha'uddin Shah Naqshband
May Allah Bless His Secret and Sanctify His Soul

"The turtle-dove sings its lament at dawn, and weeps.
My tears disturb her sleep and her tears disturb mine.
When she and I complain, we understand not each other.
But I know her grief and she knows mine."

Abu Bakr ash-Shibli (247/861 - 334/946), a famous Sufi and Maliki faqih

The shaykh of the Sufis and Imam of the people of knowledge of the inward about whom there are miraculous reports and rare traditions. He was one of those with great skill in the sciences of the Shari'a. There is a disagreement about his name. It is said to be Dulaf ibn Jahdar or Ibn Ja'far. Other things are said.

His family was from Khorasan, from a village there called Shibla. He was born in Samarra or Baghdad. He grew up in Baghdad.

Muhammad al-Ghazali (450AH/1058  – 505 AH/1111 CE)

Muhammad al-Ghazali remains one of the most celebrated scholars in the history of Islamic thought. His exceptional life and works continue to be indispensable in the study of jurisprudence, theology, philosophy and mysticism. The tens of books that he left behind were the result of an inquisitive mind that began the quest for knowledge at a very early stage. In the introduction to his autobiographical work Deliverance from Error (Al-Munqidh min al-Dalal, p. 81), al-Ghazali said:

“The thirst for grasping the real meaning of things was indeed my habit and want from my early years and in the prime of my life.  It was an instinctive, natural disposition placed in my makeup by Allah Most High, not something due to my own choosing and contriving. As a result, the fetters of servile conformism fell away from me, and inherited beliefs lost their hold on me, when I was quite young.”

    Abul Hassan `Ali ibn Ja`far al-Kharqani
    May Allah Sanctify His Soul

    "Mayest Thou deign to be sweetness and let life be bitter!
    If Thou art content, what matter that men be angry.
    Let everything between me and Thee be cultivated,
    Between me and the worlds let all be desert!
    If Thy love be assured, all is then easy,
    For everything on earth is but earth."


He was the Ghawth (Arch-Intercessor) of his time and unique in his station. He was the Qiblah (focus of attention) of his people and an Ocean of Knowledge from which saints still receive waves of light and spiritual knowledge.

He devoided himself of everything except Allah's Oneness, refusing for himself all titles and aspirations. He would not be known as a follower of any science, even a spiritual science, and he said: "I am not a rahib (hermit). I am not a zahid (ascetic). I am not a speaker. I am not a Sufi. O Allah, You are One, and I am one in Your Oneness."

Of knowledge and practice he said:

        "Scholars and servants in the lower world are numerous but they don't benefit you unless you are engaged in the satisfaction of Allah's desire, and from morning to night are occupied with the deeds that Allah accepts."

About being a Sufi he said:

        "The Sufi is not the one who is always carrying the prayer rug, nor the one who is wearing patched clothes, nor the one who keeps certain customs and appearances; but the Sufi is the one to whom everyone's focus is drawn, although he is hiding himself."

        "The Sufi is the one who in the daylight doesn't need the sun and in the night doesn't need the moon. The essence of Sufism is absolute nonexistence that has no need of existence because there is no existence besides Allah's existence."

He was asked about Truthfulness (Sidq). He said, " Truthfulness is to speak your conscience."

Of the heart he said:

        "What is the best thing? The heart which is always in Remembrance of God (dhikr Allah)."

        "The best of hearts is the heart which contains nothing but the presence of Allah, Almighty and Exalted."

        "Today it will have been 40 years that Allah has been looking in my heart and has seen nothing except Himself. I have had nothing in my heart nor my breast except Allah for 40 years; and while my ego is asking for cold water and a drink of milk, I have not allowed it that for 40 years in order to control myself."

        "The vision with the eyes of the head doesn't bring happiness, but the vision with the eyes of the heart and the secret that Allah gives to the soul will bring out that happiness."

Of Bayazid he said:

        "When Abu Yazid said, 'I want not to want' that is exactly the wanting which is real desire (irada).

        He was asked, "Who is the appropriate person to speak about fana' (annihilation) and baqa' (permanence)?" He answered, "That is knowledge for the one who is as if suspended by a silk thread from the heavens to the earth and a great cyclone comes and takes all trees, houses, and mountains and throws them in the ocean until it fills the ocean. If that cyclone is unable to move the one who is hanging by the silk thread, then he is the one who can speak on fana' and baqa'."

        One time Sultan Mahmoud al-Ghazi visited Abul Hassan and asked his opinion of Bayazid al-Bistami. He said, "Whoever follows Bayazid is going to be guided. And whoever saw him and felt love towards him in his heart will reach a happy ending." At that Sultan Mahmoud said, "How is that possible, when Abu Jahl saw the Prophet and he was unable to reach a happy ending but rather ended up in misery?" He answered, "It is because Abu Jahl didn't see the Prophet but he saw Muhammad bin `Abdullah. And if he saw the Messenger of Allah he would have been taken out of misery into happiness. As Allah said, "You see them looking at you but without clear vision" [7:198]. He continued with the saying already quoted, "The vision with the eyes of the head..."

Other sayings of his:

        "Ask for difficulties in order for tears to appear because Allah loves those who cry," referring to the advice of the Prophet to cry much.

        "In whatever way you ask Allah for anything, still the Qur'an is the best way. Don't ask Allah except through the Qur'an."

        "The Inheritor of the Prophet is the one who follows his footsteps and never puts black marks in his Book of Deeds."

Abul-Hasan al-Kharqani died on Tuesday, 10th of Muharram in 425 H. (1033 CE). He was buried in Kharqan, a village of the city of Bistam in Persia. He passed on the Secret of the Golden Chain to Abu `Ali al-Fadl bin Muhammad al-Farmadhi at-Tusi (q).

1. Prior to his reformation, he was the proud king of Balkh. (Balkh today is a province of Afghanistan.) Hadhrat Junaid Baghdaadi (rahmatullah alayh) said: "Ibraahim Bin Adham is the Key of the Knowledge of the Auliyaa."

2. Once when he visited Imaam Abu Hanifah (rahmatullah alayh), many in the gathering viewed Ibraahim Bin Adham with contempt. Imaam Abu Hanifah said: "Sayyiduna Ibraahim!", and greatly honoured him. In surprise someone asked: "How has he become our leader?"
Imaam Abu Hanifah said: "He is always in the remembrance of Allah, while we are engrossed in remembrance of the world."

Faridi-ul-Din Attar (or Faridudin)

Faridi-ul-Din Attar (or Faridudin) was born in Nishapur, in the Iranian province of Khorasan and died in the same city. He has often being referred as Farid-ul-Din of Nishapur. The word 'Attar' (perfumist) derives from Arabic/Persian word 'Itur/Atur' meaning perfume. Attar therefore refers to profession of Farid-ul-Din which eventually became more of his pseudonym.

Farid-ul-Din left his profession to travel for the ultimate question of discovering oneself. It is being reported that he was at his shop when he encountered a sufi saint at his shop. The event influenced his life so much that he abandoned his perfume sgop and went on a spiritual pilgrimage to Kufa, Mecca, Damascus, Turkistan, and India, meeting with Sufi sheikhs - and returned to Nishapur promoting Sufism. Ilahi nama and Manteq al-Tayr are his greatest works.

Abu Zakariyya Yahya Ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi [d.677H - 1278CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

He was popularly known as al-Nawawi or Imam Nawawi. He studied in Damascus from the age of 18 and after making the Hajj in 1253 he settled there as a private scholar. In 1267 he succeeded Abu Shama as professor of hadith at the Ashrafiyya school in the city. He died at Nawa at a relatively young age, having never married.

Imam Nawawi Rahmatullahi alaih was one of the great Sufi scholars, strictest latter-time hadith masters, and most meticulous of jurists, Shaykh al-Islam Imam Muhyiddin Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi is with al-Rafi'i the principal reference of the late Shafi'i school. His books remain authoritative in the methodology of the law, in Qur'an commentary, and in hadith. His commentary of Sahih Muslim is second only to Ibn Hajar's commentary of Sahih Bukhari. Allah gave his famous compilation of Forty Hadiths more circulation and fame than possibly any other book of hadith, large or small, and has allowed Nawawi to be of immense benefit to the Community of Islam.