'make me one of those who will see your blessed face'

salams

a reply to a brother who emailed questioning the following lines in 'Allahu' from the album 'Songs of Innocence:'

Oh Lord of the Worlds, full of mercy and grace
Make me one of those who will see your blessed face'


Question:

Just want to ask the Nur Al Habib team.... if they know much about this artist: Talil Al Habib?.......because i have listned to one of his track and in it this Talil Al Habib says something something 'face of Allah' is that not a wahabie thing to say? by putting human like attributes to Allah? the lyirc is in Track 4 it goes: 'Make me one of those who will see your blessed face....'
Please someomne correct me if i am wrong...... i hope to hear your opinions....Jazakallah


Answer:

as salamu alaykum brother

Nur al-Habib Productions have passd this email on to me (talib) for answering. Jazakallah for your question, and for having the adab to ask it of me rather than others.

Firstly, it should be noted that the lyrics of each song - especially Allahu (which concerns aqida) - were submitted in advance of recording them (2 years ago now) to senior ulama including Shaykh Gibril Haddad (Syria - a specialist in Ahl as-Sunna aqida) and Allama Rasul Baksh Sa`idi (Birmingham, UK - my teacher) for proofing. They were also approved by Hazrat Ghulam Muhyi ad-Din Kazi al-Chishti (South Africa - my shaykh) .

To get on to your question: there are two issues here.

1. Seeing Allah
2. Allah's 'face'

In terms of the first, it is stated in the Quran that the believers will see Allah on the Day of Qiyama (explicitly) and in Paradise (implicitly). 'On that Day faces will be radiant, gazing at their Lord (ila rabbiha nazira)' (75:22-23) is the explicit reference; and 'for those of ihsan will be beauty and even more,' (10:26) where the commentators have mentioned that 'beauty' refers to Paradise and 'extra' is the vision of Allah (I heard this directly from Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqubi). Regarding the connection between the two verses, Imam Qurtubi narrates in his Tafsir al-Jami li-Ahkam al-Quran the hadith of Suhayb from Sahih al-Muslim:

" ibn Umar used to say [in commentary of the verse of Sura Yunus] that, 'the most honoured with Allah of the people of paradise are those who will look upon His 'face' (wajh) morning and evening. Then he recited the ayat, 'verily faces on that day will be radiant, gazing at their Lord.' [This was confirmed by al-Hasan and Ikrimah]. It is also said that 'gazing' means 'expectant of reward from their Lord' as related by ibn Umar and Mujahid. " This meaning is also confirmed by the hadith of ibn Umar narrated by Tirmidhi, which also specifically mentions that the people of Paradise will see the Face of Allah (yanzur ila wajhihi).

It goes without saying that the 'seeing' referred to is bila kayf (without concept of the modality or the 'how-ness' of the seeing).

In regards to the 'face' (wajh) of Allah, then this too is a phrase that recurs frequently in the Quran. Please refer to, for example: 'Wheresoever you turn, there is the Face of Allah' (2:115), 'whatever of good you give benefits your own souls, and you shall only do so seeking the Face of Allah' (2:272), and 'all upon it shall perish, save for the Face of your Lord, full of grace and majesty' (55:27).

Each of these usages, of course, indicates a sligthtly different meaning. The word 'wajh' is unquestionably among the mutashabihat (those words whose meaning can never be properly understood by the intellect). However, one does find that the phrase 'ibtigha wajh Allah' - or 'seeking the face of Allah,' is used as a metaphor to mean 'to purely seek the pleasure of Allah.' This is the sense in which it is used in the second ayat quoted, as well as throughout Islamic history.

The words in question, therefore, are both a dua to be among the people of ihsan on the Day of Qiyama, as well as to be among those who sincerely seek to earn Allah's good pleasure. By the 'wahhabi' aspect, I assume you mean the danger of tajsim (anthropomorphism). May Allah preserve us from this. It is not incorrect to attribute a 'wajh' to Allah, as He has attributed this to Himself. What is incorrect, from a doctrinal point of view is to, is to delineate human-based parameters and pre-conceived understandings to the word 'wajh,' such as explaining this as 'a round fleshy countenance with two eyes, a nose and a mouth...'

As mentioned, it is not supposed to be taken in this context, for Allah is glorified beyond all mortal understanding, but rather as explained above. I trust that this explanation meets with your approval, and I sincerely seek forgiveness from Allah if what I have said is incorrect.

wa ma taufiqi illa billah
jazakallah khayra jaza'

was salam
talib al-habib

The Sunna as Primordality

salams all

Is there a more brilliant writer scribing today than Shaykh AH Murad? If so, please let me know!

http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/ahm/sunnah.htm

Please read through this long but profound article. Don't be put off by the beginning, where you may find yourself wondering 'where is he going with all this?' In fact, print it out and absorb it piecemeal. It's one of those essays that builds and builds in power and subtlety. Then tell me your iman, your love and reverence for Rasulullah (s) is not increased!

An excerpt:

Let us remind ourselves of the lifestyle of the Prophet (s). We live in a time of ‘lifestyle choices’; but for us, in fact, there is only one appealing ‘lifestyle choice’. Modernity holds up to us a range of ideal types to imitate: we can be like Peter Tatchell, or Monica Lewinsky, or Alan Clarke, or Michael Jackson. There is a long menu of alternatives. But when set beside the radiant humanity of Rasulullah (s.w.s.), there is no contest at all. For the Prophet is humanity itself, in its Adamic perfection. In him, and in his style of life, the highest possibilities of our condition are realised and revealed. And this is beauty itself: the word jamil, beautiful, which is one of his names, refers also to virtue. Ihsan, the Prophetic state of harmony with God, means the engendering of husn, or beauty.

Here is a condensed recollection, a kind of verbal icon, of that Prophetic beauty. It is paraphrased from a passage by Imam al-Ghazali, in Book 19 of his Revival of the Religious Sciences, Ihya Ulum al-Din.

‘The Messenger of God (s) was the mildest of men, but also the bravest and most just of men. He was the most restrained of people; never touching the hand of a woman over whom he did not have rights, or who was not his mahram. He was the most generous of men, so that never did a gold or silver coin spend the night in his house. If something remained at the end of the day, because he had not found someone to give it to, and night descended, he would go out, and not return home until he had given it to someone in need. From what Allah gave him [...] he would take only the simplest and easiest foods: dates and barley, giving anything else away in the path of Allah. Never did he refuse a gift for which he was asked. He used to mend his own sandals, and patch his own clothes, and serve his family, and help them to cut meat. He was the shyest of men, so that his gaze would never remain long in the face of anyone else. He would accept the invitation of a freeman or a slave, and accept a gift, even if it were no more than a gulp of milk, or the thigh of a rabbit, and offer something in return. He never consumed anything given in sadaqa. He was not too proud to reply to a slave-girl, or a pauper in rags. He would become angered for his Lord, never for himself; he would cause truth and justice to prevail even if this led to discomfort to himself or to his companions.

‘He used to bind a stone around his waist out of hunger. He would eat what was brought, and would not refuse any permissible food. If there was dates without bread, he would eat, if there was roast meat, he would eat; if there was rough barley bread, he would eat it; if there was honey or something sweet, he would eat it; if there was only yogurt without even bread, he would be quite satisfied with that.

‘He was not sated, even with barley-bread, for three consecutive days, until the day he met his Lord, not because of poverty, or avarice, but because he always preferred others over himself.

‘He would attend weddings, and visit the sick, and attend funerals, and would often walk among his enemies without a guard. He was the most humble of men, and the most serene, without arrogance. He was the most eloquent of men, without ever speaking for too long. He was the most cheerful of men. He was afraid of nothing in the dunya. He would wear a rough Yemeni cloak, or a woolen tunic; whatever was lawful and was to hand, that he would wear. He would ride whatever was to hand: sometimes a horse, sometimes a camel, sometimes a mule, sometimes a donkey. And at times he would walk barefoot, without an upper garment or a turban or a cap. He would visit the sick even if they were in the furthest part of Madina. He loved perfumes, and disliked foul smells.

‘He maintained affectionate and loyal ties with his relatives, but without preferring them to anyone who was superior to them. He never snubbed anyone. He accepted the excuse of anyone who made an excuse. He would joke, but would never say anything that was not true. He would laugh, but not uproarously. He would watch permissible games and sports, and would not criticise them. He ran races with his wives. Voices would be raised around him, and he would be patient. He kept a sheep, from which he would draw milk for his family. He would walk among the fields of his companions. He never despised any pauper for his poverty or illness; neither did he hold any king in awe simply because he was a king. He would call rich and poor to Allah, without distinction.

‘In him, Allah combined all noble traits of character; although he neither read nor wrote, having grown up in a land of ignorance and deserts in poverty, as a shepherd, and as an orphan with neither father nor mother. But Allah Himself taught him all the excellent qualities of character, and praiseworthy ways, and the stories of the early and the later prophets, and the way to salvation and triumph in the Akhira, and to joy and detachment in the dunya, and how to hold fast to duty, and to avoid the unnecessary. May Allah give us success in obeying him, and in following his sunna. Amin ya rabb al-alamin.‘

This moving portrait by Imam al-Ghazali depicts our role model, and simultaneously our ideal of humanity lived in the form of absolute beauty. His was a life lived in fullness. There was no aspect of human perfection that he did not know and manifest. And his perfection also indicates the nature of specifically masculine perfection. He was a great warrior; a sound hadith narrated by Imam al-Darimi tells us, on the authority of Ali, that

‘On the day of Badr I was present, and we sought refuge in the Prophet (s.w.s.), who was the closest of us all to the enemy. On that day he was the most powerful of all the combatants who fought.’One of the Companions described him riding his horse, wearing a red turban and holding his sword, and said later that never in his life had he seen a sight more beautiful.

In 23 years he became undisputed ruler of Arabia. Through his genius and charisma, and the attractive force of his personality, he united the Arabian tribes for the first time in their history. He took his people from the depths of idolatry into the purest form of monotheism. He gave them a law for the first time. He laid down, in his mosque in Madina, a system of worship, self-restraint and spiritual fruitfulness that provided the inspiration and the precedent for countless generations of later worshippers and saints. In affirming the Ka‘ba, he affirmed beauty; so that all else that he did was beautiful.

And in all this, he attributed his success only to Allah. He was, as Imam al-Ghazali records, the most humble of men. He was forbearing, polite, courteous, and mild. He paid no attention to people’s outward form, but assessed and responded to their spirits. He forgave constantly. He was indulgent with the simple Bedouin of Central Arabia, the roughest people on earth. When one of them. who wanted money, pulled his cloak so violently that it left a mark, he merely smiled, and ordered that the man be given what he wanted.

All of this came about through his detachment. The veil of self and distraction was gone: he saw by the Truth. He knew his own prophetic status, but was not made proud by this. He said: ‘I am the first around whom the earth shall split open at the Resurrection - and I do not boast’. He knew his worth, but because he knew his Lord, he was not proud.

And the most perfect peace and blessings, without number or end, upon the Soul of mercy, the Quintessence of existence, the Beloved of Allah and His creation, Sayyidina Muhammad, his family, companions and inheritors - such blessings that will be a source for our salvation on the Day of Rising!

Allah! Allah! Allah!

was salam
`abd da`if
talib al-habib

Reponses to the Pope

salams

Three responses to Pope Benedict, pointing out the fallacies of his lamentable speech.

The first, courtesy of Islamica, is a telling response to the Pope by 40 of the most prominent traditional ulama of our time. It is a concise but excellent analysis of several extremely important concepts in Islam, some of which are particularly relevent to our troubled times. Quite apart from its content, its beautiful adab, eloquent style and penetrating wisdom illustrates the Prophetic (s) manner of discourse with non-Muslims, as well as the central qualities of 'returning evil with good,' and 'inviting with wisdom and beautiful preaching.'

http://www.islamicamagazine.com/online-analysis/open-letter-to-his-holiness-pope-benedict-xvi.html

The second - sharper and more pointed - is from Imam Zaid Shakir:

http://www.zaytuna.org/articleDetails.asp?articleID=107#_ftnref5

Lastly, a more philosophically inclined, point-by-point analysis by Aref Ali Nayed. This article additionally illustrates the Pope's inclination towards an exclusivist Euro-Centric, Hellenized Christianity seemingly defined by its opposition to everything non-European (and therefore irratonal?). This appears to be the Catholic / European version of the self-aggrandizing Americus Imperius model of Evangelist Christianity currently being courted by the Bush Administration. The former sees the way of Jesus Christ as referring exclusively to European norms; the latter binds it inextricably with America's Star-Spangled Banner. Courtesy of www.masud.co.uk

http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/misc/commentary_on_benedict.php

What a pity that nuanced, intelligent and well-grounded responses such as these do not find their way into the mainstream media, whilst the slatherings of Ayman al-Zawahiri and co make front-page headlines! La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah!

was salam
talib

What is worship

a pome of sorts. Based on a conversation with my shaykh (may Allah bless him and give him good health) a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away... :)

Insha-allah, something to think about at the terminus of this blessed month of Ramadan

What Worship Is

And I asked you in my silence, ‘what is worship?’
You smiled in your heart and said:
It is that you journey with God, through God, to God, for God.
That your very breath be because of Him.

That you awake each morn in thankfulness,
With a song of praise on your lips.
That sleep be the wakefulness of your spirit
And your dreams, as winged flights unto Him.

It is that you weep for another man’s sadness,
And drink deep from the cup of his joy.
Strengthen his hand when he falters,
Restrain it, when he rushes to wrong himself.

It is that you see in his sin, your own frailty,
And in his righteousness, that which you may yet become.
That you grasp the thorns of your enemy, flung in your path
And, by forgiveness, fashion of them roses to adorn his house.

Let your work be service – not of your self or of your fellows,
For Allah suffices for all, beyond means and cause –
But of Him, through the service of his creatures.
No more, no less does He ask of you.

Give one who asks freely, begrudge him not your pennies,
And be grateful for the blessing he has gifted you.
For every beggar is a benefactor;
He fills your soul when you fill his cup;
And food given to the hungry will quench your own thirst
On the Day when wealth and power will not avail you.

It is that you look beyond colour and wealth and fame,
Further still, past man’s virtues and vices,
To the inner soul that bowed with you before God in awe
And worshipped Him without words or doubt
On that First Day before memory and beyond thought.

Veil from all strangers not only your body,
But the deeper beauty of your goodly deeds;
For, in the same action, will you tear down the veil
That lies between you and your Beloved.

And when you stand for prayer,
It is that you cast yourself from your Self
Deep into the ocean of His Majesty and His Unity,
And drown in your helplessness.

That you do not read His Word,
But hear Him speak to you;
That you prostrate your very heart in his presence
And surrender all that you are unto Him.

Let your feet tread in the footsteps of the holy and the saintly,
And let your light be taken from their lamp.
Live not as if God’s beloved (s) watches you,
But as though you are him.
Let your words be echoes of his voice;
And your deeds be shadows of his radiance.
Then will you truly taste the sweetness of his blessed Way.

It is that you pass your days and nights, restless,
Yearning for the meeting with Him,
That you water your faith with tears of regret,
But rest content in the certainty of His mercy.

What is worship?
It is that you perfect all this, yet regard yourself
As more insignificant than a grain of sand in the trackless desert,
And more unworthy than the most wretched of men in your eyes;
Until you have become nothing, and a stranger to yourself.

Then, when you have sacrificed your Self on Love’s altar,
When you have forsaken this world for the sake of the next,
When you have abandoned the next world for the sake of God Alone,
Then will you die unto yourself,
And in dying find eternal existence in Him.

Then will you live in God, with God, through God, for God;
A drop in His ocean, a reed-flute at His mouth.
Then, when you transcend both heaven and earth,
When all has perished, except for the vision of Him,
Then will you worship.

Ramadan Karim
was salam

the passing of two great Mustafas

salams all

'Allah does not take away knowledge by removing it from the hearts of scholars; rather He takes it by removing the souls of the scholars...'

Two great masters of the internal and external paths have been taken to the enfolding embrace of Allah's mercy less than a month apart from each other. One on the Night of Mercy (Laylat Nisf Sha'ban); the other in the month of mercy.

Shaykh Mustafa Turkmani of Damascus.

http://www.zaytuna.org/articleDetails.asp?articleID=103

Shaykh Mustafa Basir al-Darqawi
by Shaykh GF Haddad

We belong to Allah and unto Him we shall return. Sayyidi Muhammad al-Mustafa Basir ibn Sayyid Ibrahim ibn Sayyid Imbarak al-Basiri al-Hasani al-Maghribi al-Susi al-Muqri' al-Maliki al-Shadhili al-Darqawi passed away in his zawiya in Bani A`yaat (Middle Atlas region of Morocco) on the night of mid-Sha`ban 1427 (night of 7-8 September 2006), at the age of 67.

He is survived by many sons and daughters and countless murids. His eldest son, Sidi Isma`il, continues to be in charge of running the affairs of the zawiya which is heavily frequented by the Fuqara and the Bearers of the Qur'an at all times of the year and which I had the honor of visiting for a month, as I described in my article "From Blessed Morocco: World of the Qur'an."

http://www.livingislam.org/n/wqm_e.html

During my time there, I was blessed to read with him the `Aqida part of the Risala al-Qushayriyya, Ibn Juzay's tafsir of Surat al-Fatiha, and pages from Sayyid Ahmad Zayni Dahlan's Mi`raj al-Wusul ila Ma`rifat Allah wal-Rasul.

When I gave Sidi Mustafa a copy of the large arabic volume of Mawlana al-Shaykh Nazim's talks, published in Lebanon under the title Jami`al-Irshad al-Sharif, he held public readings from it in his zawiya for weeks. A year or two later, when his son-in-law drove him to Damascus,they took me with them on a memorable visit of Mawlana al-Shaykh in Cyprus, at which time the latter vested Sidi Mustafa with his jubba. The least benefit of travels around the seasoned Shuyukh of irshad is that they strip one bare of such amounts of pretense that if one were a tree one might muse whether one consists exclusively of dead bark.

Sidi Mustafa often visited Damascus on his way to Hajj or `Umra and graced the homes of those who loved him with his gracious presence - visits which left such homes in awe at his simplicity and good humor. He commanded attention and attraction wherever he went, especially for the North African students who turned his gatherings into the most special "all-sufi all-memorizers of the Qur'an" circles. Among them the noble stand most learned of them by agreement of those who met him, the adib,usuli, and sufi Shaykh Farid ibn `Azzouz al-Hasani al-Jaza'iri (who spent over ten years in Damascus and is now back in Algeria) bore special love for the Shaykh, who gave him ijaza in Tariqa.

I remember a visit with Sidi Mustafa to Shaykh Muhyi al-Din Ibn `Arabi's grave in Damascus, after which men and women flocked to him for advice and help but he said to them: "The Shaykh is here so there is no need for me," i.e. Shaykh Muhyi al-Din. Another time, we visited the Hadra of Shaykh Mustafa al-Turkmani in Jami` al-Ward. After the Hadra, as people took their seats and tea was distributed, Shaykh Mustafa al-Turkmani gave Shaykh Muhyi al-Din Ibn`Arabi's book of Wasaya to Sidi Mustafa and asked him extemporaneously to give the dars for him. Smile for smile, Sidi Mustafa Basir obliged. I remember the latter's commentary on the wasiyya that we should not sleep before washing mouth and hands after eating lest we feed our shaytan: "The point is not to strengthen your shaytan but to weaken it." Another time, Sidi Mustafa took us to Amman, where we visited Shaykh Nuh Keller in his zawiya, who gave him his Shadhili works and led the hadra. In his last visit to Damascus he was hosted by Abu al-Nur Institute, where we visited him.

One of Sidi Mustafa's favorite repartees in his exchanges after enquiring after the health of his friends was: "Bi-khayr, wa-fi khayr, wa-`ala khayr!" He smiled often and his friendly, unassuming manner hid from our sight, much of the time, the fact that he peered into the spiritual states of people and could diagnose their needs before they even voiced them. His family hailed from the desert and he did not caref or appearances. His anger could be fierce and he reserved it, as far as I saw, for the Wahhabis, whom he called "Shalafis" and "Talafis" and for whom he had no tolerance. One time, as we travelled in the Marrakesh region we stopped to pray Maghrib in one of their mosques and one of them had the misfortune of nudging the Shaykh's toes with his toes as they love to do inside prayer. As we went into ruku`, the Shaykh slapped the man below the knee and he retreated.

The senior Shuyukh of da`wa and irshad are never coy about asserting the superiority of Ahl al-Haqq to other schools which they rightly view as the offshoots of modernity and misguidance dressed up as religion. It can never be said of them that they are "neither sufi nor wahhabi" as this would be identical with saying they are "neither guided nor misguided" and is confusion dressed up as moderation. Their successors, on the other hand, are a different story. Another son of Sidi Mustafa, Sidi `Abd al-Mughith, whom I met in Damascus and to whom I owe the honor of meeting his father, authored a large volume entitled al-Nazr al-Yasir min Manaqib Zawiyat Al al-Basir fil-Sahra' wa-Sous wa-Bani A`yat bil-Maghrib ("A Glimpse at the Merits of the Zawiya of the Basir House in the Desert, Sous, and Bani A`yat in Morocco"). He also authored a brief history of the Shadhiliyya and a biography of Imam al-Jazuli accompanied by a new edition of Dala'il al-Khayrat.

I was told, years after first meeting the Shaykh, the story behind his heavy limp and scarred leg. In his early days, a deranged man showed up gun in hand in the school in which Sidi Mustafa was teaching. People took to their heels but Sidi Mustafa did not budge. The man faced him and said: 'Who will protect you from me?' Sidi Mustafa replied: 'Between you and me there is Allah.' The man then shot Sidi Mustafa and kept shooting until the gun was empty but by the grace of Allah, Sidi Mustafa survived and was graced with four wives and the successorship of his father in directing the zawiyas of the Darqawiyya-Basiriyya.

May Allah grant him the highest abode in Paradise next to his forefather, our liege-lord the Messenger of Allah, upon him and his House blessings and peace.

GF Haddad

Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un

No of rakats in tarawih

Salams

The hoary old chestnut of how many rakats in tarawih. I was (yet again) witness to a (mainly civilised) debate about this last night.

I'm going to approach the topic from a slightly different perspective - that of linguistics. Any understanding of shari`a (lit: fiqh ash-shari`a) has to minimally be in keeping with the basic principles of Arabic grammar. For example, if one said, 'muslims have prayers during the day,' it would be understood that this meant more than 1 prayer, as the word used was in the plural.

To wit:

1. The prayer in question is called salat al-tarawih.
2. Tarawih is the (broken) plural of the singluar tarwiha.
3. tarwiha is the verbal noun (masdar) of the verb ra-ha on the scale of taf`il (the second derived verb form pattern).
4. The verb scale ta`fil gives the meaning of 'to effect or cause [the meaning of the root word].'
5. The root in this case is ra-ha, which means, 'to be at rest.'
6. Thus tarwiha means, 'to cause a rest' or 'to have a rest.'
7. The plural in Arabic is numbered as three or more - unlike English which does not have a dual case.
8. Thus tarawih means, 'three or more periods of rest.'
9. And salat al-tarawih means, 'the prayer in which three or more periods of rest are taken.'
10. A rest is taken between each set of 4 rakats by agreement.
11. Mathematically, therefore, in order for the prayer to be validly called, 'salat al-tarawih,' it is necessary to take at least 3 rest periods between sets of four rakats.
12. The minimum number of rakats in tarawih - linguistically - thus has to be sixteen [4 rakats - rest 1 - 4 rakats - rest 2 - 4 rakats - rest 3 - 4 rakats]
13. It is therefore impossible for the prayer to be called 'salat al-tarawih' and consist of 8 rakats.

Allah knows best.
Ramadan Mubarak