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The History and Practice of Tariqat ash-Shadhuli
By Shaykh `Abdullah Nooruddeen Durkee
Praise be to Allah,
Lord of all the worlds, Who, through His Eternal Word, does not cease to be
praised: We further bear witness that our liege-lord Muhammad r is the
Perfected (‘insanu-l-kamil) Worshipper (`abdu-l-llah), His Slave and the
Final Prophet and Messenger chosen from the seed of pure nobility, selected
from a family of honor whose virtues falls short of describing.
The authenticating line
of transmission of this Tariqat ash-Shaduliyyah stems from the Prophet r to
his spiritual successor (khalifah) Imam Ali, and then splits into three
lines, headed by Imam al-Hasan ibn Ali, Imam al-Husayn ibn Ali, and Sidi
Hasan al-Basri.
The Silsila of Early
Shaduliyyah Shuyukh (Chain of Shaykhs)
The Hassani line descends to Sidi Abd
ar-Rahman al-’Attar, whilst the Husayni line and the Hasan al-Basri line
join in Sidi Ma`ruf al Kharkhi. These are followed by Sidi as-Saqati, after
whom the line splits into the Nurriyyah line, terminating in Sidi Yallanur
ad-Dukkali, and the Junaydi line, terminating in Sidi Muhammad al-Daqqaq.
These two were the teachers of Sidi Abu Madyan al-Ghawth, who, along with
Sidi Abd ar-Rahman al-`Attar, taught Sidi Ibn Harazim and Sidi Abd as-Salam
ibn Mashish, who taught Sidi ‘Ali Abu-l-Hasan ash-Shadhuli, the eponymous
founder of the tariqat [593-655/1196-1258
The line then proceeds
on through his khalifah Sidi Abu-l-Abbas al Mursi and then splits again
into what may be thought of as the line of written transmission, which
comes down through Sidi Ibn `Ata’ Illah as-Sakandari, and the line of oral
transmission, which descends through Sidi Yaqut al-Arsh-al Habashi.
There is also a third
more overtly Maghribi line stemming from an early murid, Sidi Abdullah
al-Habibi of Tunisia. This descends to the present time through Sidi
Muhammad al Jazuli, author of the Dala’il al-Khayrat. A case can be made
that this line, often termed “Madyani” rather than “Shadhuli”, represents the
earlier teachings of the Shaykh, whilst the lines of Sidi ibn Ata ‘Illah
and Sidi Yaqut represent the later and fully articulated dimensions of the
Shaykh’s final Alexandrian and long haul travel teachings.
The author inherits
through all of these lines but his practice is mainly informed by the
teachings transmitted in Alexandria, which is where the tariqat became a
ta’ifah (organization) and spread throughout the wider world.
The Spread of
Shaduliyyah
Branches exist
throughout the entire Muslim world but are found mainly in Egypt; North
Saharan and East Africa; Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, the Hijaz and
Hadramawt; and, via the monsoon trade and Hajj routes, in the Malaysian
archipelago, as well as the coastal lands of Africa south from Lamu and
Mombassa to Dar as-Salam, and the islands of Zanzibar, the Comoros and
Mauritius in the Indian Ocean.
Circles of Shadhuli may
also be found in Turkey, India and, at least in terms of doctrinal
influence, in Iran. Some of these circles, however, seem to be only
nominally Shadhuli in terms of practice, and the silsila often tends to be
Uwaysi, with the result that some shuyukh teach more on the basis of
inspiration and personal affinity to Shaykh Abu-l Hasan than on the basis
of the traditional Shadhuli means and methods.
The Shadhuli as a
tariqat and ta’ifah in general has the reputation of being very shari’ah
oriented. Many of its shuyukh were members of the ‘ulama prior to becoming
‘sufis’. It is also heavily involved in da’wah and social service [khidmat],
which in Egypt most often takes the form of preparing and serving food to
the poor, especially during the holy month of Ramadan and during the times
of the mawlid.
Jihad, both inner and
outer, is enjoined upon all members following the example of Shaykh
Abu-l-Hasan who, along with many of the well known ‘ulama and awlia
(saints) of his time, was in the ranks of the mujahidin fighting in the
front line at the Battle of Mansurah when, by the Qadr of Allah I (Divine
Power), the Crusaders under King Louis of France were defeated and captured
in their attempt to invade Egypt in 1250 C.E..
Practitioners and
Authorized Teachers
It should be emphasized
here, in spite of some recent claims to the contrary, that there is no
tradition of any such office as a ‘Grand Master’ among the Shadhuli, though
there have been, and are, many luminous and well-known shuyukh. Neither is
there a tradition of large social organizations. Rather, the Shadhuli
tradition has almost always been transmitted by hundreds of independent and
entirely autonomous shuyukh, each with their ijazat [permission to teach]
signed by their own immediate shaykh, who have purposely scattered, often
to obscure villages and towns of the Muslim world as well as to the
non-Muslim frontiers, to transmit the way to those seekers whom Allah I
sends. Historically most people drawn to the way of Shaykh Abu-l- Hasan
come from the professional, teaching and administrative classes.
The origin of tasawwuf
is in the station of al-’ihsan
Exceptions exist, especially during the
past 200 years in areas that were subject to the forces of colonization
which radically skewed certain patterns in the traditional world. In that
period some Shadhuli shuyukh developed a large cadre of often many
thousands of muridun, muqaddimah and local shuyukh, with widely spread
sub-branches. Examples of this include the branch in North Africa that was
brought into being by Shaykh al-Darqawi; the branch of Shaykh al-Haddad
originating in Hadramawt and the Hijaz which spread into East and coastal
south Africa; and the branch of Sidi Salamah ar-Radi in Egypt
Shadhuliyyah in
Practice
For the most part what
we now think of as the school of Abu-l-Hasan ash-Shadhuli manifested in
Alexandria--and it is important to comprehend that whilst it was thoroughly
rooted in Qur’an and Sunnah--the understanding of what that means is
multi-dimensional. For as much as there is a Junaydi dimension to the
tariqat so too there is a Nuriyyah dimension, which is exclusively oral and
stems from the reality of the tajalliyyah rahmaniyya in which one knows
Truth without being outwardly taught [min ladunna ‘ilma]. (al-Kahf 18:65)
Of all the Ways there
are two: Travelling [suluk] and Attraction [jadhb]
Indeed the Shaykh said, “Of all the Ways
there are two: the Way of Travelling [suluk] and the Way of Attraction
[jadhb]. Our way is the way of jadhb. Our beginning is their end and their
beginning is our completion.” A later shaykh, Sidi Ahmad az-Zurruq,
commented on this saying that, “The variety in a branch is due to the
variety of its origin. The origin of tasawwuf is in the station of
al-’ihsan and it is split into two: ‘to worship Allah as though you see
Him’ and ‘knowing that though you do not see Him, but that He sees you.’
The first is the way of the knower and the second is the way of the seeker.
The folk of the Shadhuli revolve around the first and the folk of
al-Ghazali revolve around the latter.”
Of the Way of Jadhb or
Attraction, Sidi Ibn Ata ’Illah as-Sakandari, a successor of Sidi
Abu-l-’Abbas al Mursi, said, “Do not think that the attracted one has no
path. He has a path, but it has been folded up [bi-tawa] by the solicitude
of Allah so that his way has been speedily expedited.”
The Shaykh himself
said, “If anyone spends three days with me and doesn’t get it, let them go
elsewhere.” He also said of his way, “If anyone finds a sweeter spring than
this, let them drink from it.”
In truth it pains me to
have to write fleetingly of so many events and teachings, of the heavy
opposition Sidi `Ali Abu-l-Hasan endured from the extremists of his time,
of the many circles of remembrance that were formed and the deep
transformations that took place. May the Shaykh forgive me for this
brevity, for it is not by my own choice.
Life Sketch of Sidi
`Ali Abu-l-Hasan
By way of a very brief
biography of the Shaykh (and I urge the interested reader to procure a copy
of our book on the Madrasah Shadhdhuliyyah for more complete details), it
is known that Sidi ‘Ali Abu-l-Hasan was born in the village of al-Ghumarah
in the Rif Mountains in what is now Morocco, toward the end the 6th hijri
century. He was from the family of the Prophet r from the lineage of Imam
al-Husayn (r) on his mother’s side and, some say, from the lineage of ‘Imam
al-Hasan (r) on his father’s side.
His early education was
at the hands of his mother, father and the local imam. When he reached
puberty, or thereabouts, he was sent to the madrasah of Qarawwiyin in
al-Fas [Fez] to study shari’ah under Sidi ‘Abdullah Ibn Harazim, to whom he
later gave his first bay’ah as a talib in the way of Allah.
It was during his
studies in al-Fas that he was inspired to seek the Qutb [Pole of the
saints] of the age, and, in pursuit of this goal, took his first great
journey to the East, traveling some 3000 miles by foot, ship and camel
caravan to reach al-Iraq. There, according to his biographer as-Sabbagh,
`Ali Abu-l-Hasan gave his bay`ah to Shaykh Abu-l-Fath al-Wasiti, the
khalifah of Shaykh Ahmad ar-Rifa`i, in Bata’ih among the marshes of
southern Iraq.
After a number of trials
in which he was initially rejected by the Shaykh, he was finally accepted
by the Qutb of the Time and, as a mature seeker, gave Shaykh ibn-Mashish
his bay`ah which marked, as he said, “the end of my beginning.” Abu-l-Hasan
was directed to a mountain in Tunis near a village called Shadhila, where
the Shaykh said he should live until he received an inspiration. This would
be his signal to go to the capital of Tunis where he would be opposed by
zealots until an event transpired which would move him to the East, where
he, in turn, would “become the Qutb.”
The final words of the
Shaykh to Abu-l-Hasan were, “Ya `Ali, Know that Allah is Allah and people
are people. The remembrance of Allah will live in your heart. The guidance
of Allah will always be with you. Do not refer to people other than as
Allah commands you. Refrain from dependence on them and keep your heart
from inclining to them. Your spiritual sovereignty [wilayah] has been
perfected by Allah.”
He followed the
instructions of his Shaykh and everything happened accordingly until in
time, and after many unveilings, struggles, retreats and advances, he came
to live in Alexandria on the shore of the Mid-earth Sea. There he entered
into the fullness his Shaykh had seen in him and became the Pole of the
people in that time. I should also mention, very importantly here, that the
Shaykh left behind, in Tunis, Sidi `Abdullah ibn Salamah al-Habibi, who
some Maghribi Shadhuli regard as his very first khalifah.¹
And the first part of
this article for TMM we discussed the lineage of the Shadhuli, some aspects
of the life of the Shaykh including his teachers and some of his students.
We concluded by discussing the way of Jadhb [attraction by Allah] and Suluk
[travelling to Allah] noting:
Indeed the Shaykh said,
“Of all the Ways there are two: the Way of Travelling [suluk] and the Way
of Attraction [jadhb]. Our way is the way of jadhb. Our beginning is their
end and their beginning is our completion.” A later shaykh, Sidi Ahmad
az-Zurruq, commented on this saying that, “The variety in a branch is due
to the variety of its origin. The origin of tasawwuf is in the station of
al-’ihsan and it is split into two: ‘to worship Allah as though you saw
Him’ and ‘knowing that though you do not see Him He sees you.’ The first is
the way of the knower and the second is the way of the seeker. The folk of
the Shadhuli revolve around the first and the folk of al-Ghazali revolve
around the latter.”
The two ways
Of the Way of Jadhb or
Attraction, Sidi Ibn Ata ’Illah as-Sakandari, a successor of Sidi
Abu-l-’Abbas al Mursi, said, “Do not think that the attracted one has no
path. He has a path, but it has been folded up [bi-tawa] by the solicitude
of Allah so that his way has been speedily expedited.”
The Shaykh himself
said, “If anyone spends three days with me and doesn’t get it, let them go
elsewhere.” He also said of his way, “If anyone finds a sweeter spring than
this, let them drink from it.” His is the way beyond all forms of spiritual
fascism.
Please realize we are
not denying here the necessity for training (tarbiyyah) which is what the
Shaykh does and did.
There was no aspect of
tarbiyyah that the Shaykh did not touch on: sincerity [al-ikhlas],
intention [an-niyah], seclusion [al-khalwah], struggle, inner and outer
[al-jihad], service and worship [al-‘ubudiyyah], obedience [at-ta’at],
scrupulousness [al-wara’], abstinence [az-zuhd], reliance [at-tawakkul],
contentment [ar-rida’], love [al-mahabah], and their like. He also taught
the Qur’anic sciences [qira’, hifdh and tafsir], supplication [du`a],
remembrance [dhikr], recollection [muraqabah], and the practice of presence
[al-hadrah].
In the realm of adab
and akhlaq he stressed the need for transparency and the cessation of self
direction.
An idea of what is
meant by transparency can be gleaned from a statement of Shaykh ‘Umar
‘Abdullah of the Comoro Islands, when he said one day as we were getting
into a taxi in Jeddah, “If we were better Muslims they would never even
know that we are Sufis.”
Regarding the falling
away of self-direction Sidi Ibn Ata ‘Illah wrote succinctly, “Rest yourself
from self direction. For what Someone Else has carried out on your behalf
you must not yourself undertake to do.”
Here the reader should
know that neither Shaykh Abu-l-Hasan nor Shaykh Abu-l-’Abbas ever wrote a
book.
When asked, “Where are
your books?”, Shaykh Abu-l-Hasan said, “My students are my books.” He also
said, “All the words in all the books are but a few scattered drops from
the ocean of realisation.” Indeed it wasn’t until a generation later that
Sidi Ibn Ata ’Illah, the Maliki jurisprudent and the Cairene khalifah of
Sidi Mursi abu-l-’Abbas, wrote a thorough exposition of the doctrine,
though earlier students had transcribed bits and pieces from lessons and
the ahzab [litanies], adhkar [pl. of dhikr] and aurad [pl. of wird, daily
recitations] of the Sidi Abu-l-Hasan were, and continue to be, widely
recited and memorized.
What is now known of
the mature teaching of the Shaykh stems mainly from the written works of
Shaykh Ibn Ata ’Illah, whilst the oral teachings handed down in the line of
Sidi Yaqut al-Arsh form a further dimension of the teaching, both passing
through Sidi Abu-l-’Abbas al-Mursi.
Oral teachings
We cannot speak but in
passing of that oral transmission but we will let this slip from our
fingers. One time the Shaykh was questioned about Love by a student who had
taken the path “to heart” and asked, “Now that I have come to love, tell me
what is the drink of love, what is the cup of love, who is the cupbearer,
what is the tasting, what is the drinking, what is repletion, what is
intoxication and what is sobriety?”
Our Shaykh said, “The
drink of love is the light radiating from the beauty of the Beloved. The
cup is the distillation of subtle mercy [lutf] which brings that light into
contact with the lips of the heart. The cupbearer is He who befriends the
greatest of the elect and righteous from among His worshippers [`abeed]. He
is Allah, the one who knows the capacities and affairs of His friends. If
to anyone there is disclosed that beauty; if they enjoy it for a breath or
two, and then the veil is dropped, they are the yearning ‘taster’. If one
continues for an hour or more one is the ‘drinker’. If the experience
becomes continuous and the drink lasts until all ones veins and being are
suffused with the treasured lights of Allah, then that is repletion.
Sometimes one becomes unconscious of sense and mental perceptions so that
one knows not what is said or heard and that is intoxication. Sometimes the
cup circulates among the lovers, states differ, and they are turned back to
dhikr, to ahwal - states, to furud - obligations. They are not veiled in
spite of having drunk as much as they could and that is sobriety, the
broadening of vision and the increase of works. So by the stars of
knowledge and the moon of unity they are guided across the night, and by
the sun of spiritual knowledge they obtain light.
They are the partisans
of Allah — and truly the partisans of Allah [hizbullah] are successful.’”
[Mujadalah 58:22]
Written teachings
This is a taste from
the oral teachings. The written teachings can best be tasted in the Hikam
of Ibn Ata ’Illah as translated by the late Shahduli teacher and
translator, Sidi Abdu-l-Jabbar Dr. Victor Danner. For anyone interested in
the pure pith of the teachings of Shaykh Abu-l-Hasan this book is an
absolute must as is, The Falling Away of Self Direction, now under
translation by S. N. Ahmed for Fons Vitae.
The Key to Salvation,
translated by M. Danner-Fadae, gives some idea of the procedure and
practices of the Shadhuli Way but without a living Shaykh to explain them
these books are in the end nothing but empty words .
The Hikam, like the
Mawaqif of al-Nifari, exists in another dimension. It is a thing in itself
and works deeply on one, especially when repeatedly read over many years as
is The Meaning of Man by Sidi ‘Ali al-Jamal, Allah sanctify their secret
and all mentioned. Certain strands emerge out of these readings and the
teachings. The first is the absolute insistence that Qur’an and Sunnah are
in Truth not only the basis but the very means of the spiritual life. Along
these lines Shaykh Abu’l Hasan said, “If your own insights [kashf]
contradict Qur’an or Sunnah then hold on to the Qur’an and Sunnah and leave
your personal insights aside. Allah, the Exalted, vouchsafed the
infallibility of the Qur’an and the Sunnah, but kashf is not so warranted,
neither inspiration [ilham] or vision [ru’yah].”
Following this thread
it is easy to understand how it came to be that the late Shaykh of Azhar,
Dr. Abdu-l-Halim Mahmud, was also a teaching shaykh of the Shadhuli order
who affirmed the values of tasawwuf to a society which after colonization,
revolution and war, was in need of a deeper understanding of Islam.
Among his many works
are the biographies of Shaykh Abu-l-Hasan and his khalifah Sidi Abu-l-Abbas
al-Mursi which are presently translated and awaiting publication in Volume
Two: Origins of the Shadhuliyyah.
The Shaykh dressed well
but never conspicuously, his object being disappearance, though on festival
days [al-‘idayn] and the festivities associated with the mawlid of our
blessed Prophet r he would appear handsomely dressed riding one of the
beautiful horses which he raised and trained on his farm outside
Alexandria.
The Shaykh’s passing
and successorship
His love of horses
opens out another dimension of his teaching which involves long distance
journeying. In this connection he took students on the Umrah and the Hajj
every other year. He also had a habit of, from time to time, suddenly
leaving family and students for a couple of weeks at a time to disappear on
horse-back into the open country side on long solitary rides. When asked he
always said he went “nowhere”.There is so much to say and so little room to
say it in but I must, at least, mention his blessed death.
He was in his 60’s and
it was in a year upon which he took the muridun for Hajj. He died in the
desert of Aydhab which is three days by camel from the Nile at Idfu and two
days further until you hit the Red Sea.
He had a good
intimation that he was going to die, because he had ordered that a shovel
and shroud be packed when they were preparing for that particular Hajj.
When they reached the mid-way point, which is the well at a place called
Humaythirah, it was clear he was going. He spoke to all of the students and
enjoined upon them the reading of Hizb ul-Bahr [The Litany or Orison of the
Sea] saying, “Teach it to your children for in it is the greatest name of
Allah [ismu-l-`adham].” He talked in private with Sidi Abu-l-Abbas al-Mursi
and told all of the students, “When I am dead look to Abu-l-Abbas for he is
the khalifah to succeed me.”
In this context it is
important to understand that this practice of publicly announcing one’s
successor[s] or khulafa’ as well as giving them a written ’ijazah (license)
is a practice of the Shadhuliyyah down to the present day. Very rarely is
ru’yah (vision) or ilham (inspiration) accepted as a substitution for
public proclamation and a signed ‘ijazah. Between sunset and dusk the Shaykh
asked one of his murids named Muhammad to bring him a jug of water from the
well. Muhammad said, “Sidi, it is salty.” The Shaykh said, “My intention is
other than what you think.” So Muhammad brought him a jug of water from the
well. The Shaykh drank some, rinsed his mouth and then spat into the jug,
saying, “Put it back in the well.” He put it back and the water turned
sweet, fresh and abundant by the permission of Allah Y. To this day the
water of that well is sweet.
“The Shaykh passed the
night orienting himself to Allah in the recitation of dhikr. I heard him
saying, ‘Allaahi, Allaahi, Allaahi’ and when the Fajr time arrived he was
still. Thinking he was asleep we shook him and found him dead, may Allah
have mercy on him. We called Sidi Abu-l-‘Abbas and he washed him and we
wrapped him and prayed over him and buried him in Humaythirah and continued
on for Hajj.”
This, and more, is all
recorded in The Pearl of Secrets and the Gem of the Devoted Ones by ibn
Sabbagh and was related by Shaykh Sharaf ad-Din, son of Sidi Madi bin
Sultan.
The Shadhuliyya tariqat
today
The Shadhuli in the
present appear to be a diverse lot but if you look closely you will
generally frnd they are very active on many levels in the teaching and
propagation of Islam [and sufism which is at its heart] in line with the
hadith, “A single learned Muslim is harder on the Shaytan than a thousand
worshippers”.
Among some notable
westerners of the present time, many of whom returned to Islam through the
open door that is tassawuf, are men like Shaykh Abdul Qadir as-Sufi, now
called al-Murabit, who through his training of murids, writing and
political analysis helped break the chains of the orientalists and restored
our awareness of a vibrant sufism and its inextricable connection to Islam,
not as an abstraction but as a living reality.
Or Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim
Keller who has, in his great translation of The Reliance of the Traveller,
provided the community with the vital means to lay to rest so many of the
false arguments of the Wahhabis and the psuedo-Salafis. As Allah Y says,
“Are those who know and those who don’t know equal?” [Zumar 39:9]
On another front if you
travel to al-Madinah and look at some of the work that has been recently
carried out on the masjid of the Prophet r, you should know that much of it
was designed and executed by members of a branch of the Shahdhuli who, in
the accord with the doctrine of transparency, desire to remain transparent.
It was to these same architects and
designers that Islamic authorities in Central Asia turned when they needed
to preserve and repair their traditional madrasahs after years of communist
neglect; again, when authorities finally woke up to the need to preserve
crumbling libraries in the heart of the Muslim world, they turned to members
of the Shadhuli orders. In any number of major universities, both East and
West, you will find the Shadhuliyyah teaching; sometimes with Eastern names
sometimes with Western names.
Year after year, out of
the many students who pass though their classes, there are a few who,
sensing something ‘different’ in their teachers, begin to ask questions and
wind up returning to Islam, again, most often through the open door of
Sufism.
Two well known elders
of this branch of the Shadhuli school are Sidi Dr Seyyed Hossein Nasr and
Sidi Abu Bakr Siraju-d-Deen Dr. Martin Lings, who as educators, and authors
of numerous works on Islam, Qur’an, sirah of the Prophet r, tassawuf,
culture, science, art and aesthetics have helped open the eyes of many
generations of Muslims and non-Muslims to both the universal and particular
dimensions of Islam and Sufism. Their very lives serve as a beautiful
example [‘uswatun hassanah] of what it might be to be a “sufi”.
Yet another shining
example of the men [rijal] of the Shahduli way is Sultan ‘Abdu-l-Hamid II,
student of Shaykh Muhammad al-Madani of the Madaniyyah-Darqawiyyah, may
Allah Y sanctify their secret.
I cannot begin to
enumerate the many recent luminaries of the Shadhuli way some of whom, like
Shaykh ad-Darqawi, Shaykh al-Alawi, Shaykh ibn al-Habib, Shaykh Ahmad Ibn
‘Ajiba, Shaykh al-Haddad, Shaykh al-Fayturi, Shaykh Maliki al-Alawi, Shaykh
Ali Nooruddeen Yashruti and his daughter, Shaykhah Fatimah Yashruti, Shaykh
Hazim Abu Ghazalah, Shaykh Muhammad al-Jamal, Shaykh Abdul-Wahid Yahya,
Shaykh ‘Isa Nooruddeen Ahmad, Shaykh Umar Abdullah, Shaykh Abd al-Wakil
Durubi, Shaykh Abdu-l-Jalil Qassem, Shaykh Hassan Abbas Zaki, Shaykh Yusuf
Rifa’i, Shaykh Hasan at-Tihami, Shaykhah Hajjah Zakkiyya, Shaykh Ali Komi
and others, known and unknown, may Allah Y sanctify their secret, who have
had such a strong influence here in the West either directly or through
their khulafah and students.
My Shaykh
My own shaykh, Sidi
Ibrahamin Muhammad al-Battawi, may Allah give him long life and good health,
could serve as a fairly typical example of how one contemporary Shahduli
shaykh conducts his life and teaching.
In accord with the
instructions of his shaykh, Sidi Salama ar-Radi, who named him Shaykh
al-Afandi whilst he was still in his twenties, he concentrated, first at
Cairo University and later at al-Azhar, where he taught the works of
al-Ghazali for twenty-five years, on teaching the many foreign students
drawn to these institutions
Out of each yearly
intake he would identify a few receptive students and begin to teach them
privately at the zawiyah a few blocks from the Azhar. He taught, and still
teaches, through the traditional method in which the student reads from one
of the great books of the Islamic canon to the shaykh and the shaykh orally
comments on and opens out the meaning of the text for the student.
For almost forty years
now he has conducted the hadrah (dhikr performed standing) on the eve of
al-Jouma in that same zawiyah. On the Jouma he often gives the sermon
(khutbah) in the masjid of Sidi Ibn Ata’Illah under the Muqattim Hills in
Cairo or wherever else he may be invited to speak. Following in the
footsteps of Sidi Abu-l-Hasan, he travels with his friends and students on
yearly trips to Makkah and al-Madinah. He himself has personally built and
helped build a number of masajid, most often in raw new neighborhoods of
Cairo. These masajid almost always include a clinic and a small madrasah
with rooms for students. I should mention, though he never would, that
every penny he ever earned as a professor was always given back to his
poorer students, of whom I was privileged to be one. He earns his living as
a publisher and seller of Islamic books and also as an importer and seller
of agricultural and irrigation machinery. The food on his table comes from
his family farm in a small village in the Delta and is always fresh and
always halal. I love to walk with him at dawn to the masjid for Fajr
prayer.
He is married with
seven children, all of whom are educated and work for a living. His sons
mainly work in education, publishing and printing. His eldest daughter is a
teacher trained at the Azhar and his youngest is studying multi-lingual
translation at Azhar.
Of his many students,
many return home to serve as ‘ulama’ and teachers in their own countries.
This is how the way is spread all over the earth. He is, as are all the
purified shuyukh, may Allah be pleased with them all and sanctify their
secret, a link in a living chain that is completed when you put your hand
in the hand of the man who put his hand in the hand of the man who put his
hand in the hand of the man a of whom Allah Y says, “Those who swear
allegiance to you swear allegiance to Allah; the hand of Allah is over
their hands. The one who breaks [his oath] breaks it only to the loss of
his own self. And whoever keeps his oath with Allah, upon him there shall
be [bestowed] an immense reward.” (al-Fath 48:10)
In closing I should
mention that Shadhuli is a name given to Sidi Abu’l-Hasan by his Lord whom
he heard say in a ru’yah, “I have extracted you to Me.” sha dhu li. And
that’s the way it is. Anything I have written that is of use is from my
Lord, and any mistakes are my own. And Allah knows best - Wa Allahu ‘alim
Pasted From : http://sajadaliuk.blogspot.com/2012/10/history-and-practice-of-tariqat-ash.html
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