World of Tasawwuf

Shaykh al Islam Taj al-Din al-Subki [d. 771] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Shaykh al-Islam Taj al-Din al-Subki, the son of Shaykh al-Islam al-hafiz Taqi al-Din al-Subki (d. 756) who was a student of IBN ATA' ALLAH, mentioned in his book 'Mu'id al-Ni'am' under the chapter entitled Sufism:

Shaykh Abu Muhammad al-Juwayni (Imam al-Haramayn's father) said: They are among Allah's people and His elite. His mercy is sought through their remembrance of Allah, and rain descends with their invocation. May Allah be pleased with them and may Allah be pleased with us for their sake.(2)

Muhammad Baha 'al-Din Uways al-Bukhari Shah Naqshband [d.791h] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Muhammad Baha 'al-Din Uways al-Bukhari Radi Allahu anhu, known as Shah Naqshband, the Imam of the Naqshbandi Tariqat without peer. He was born in the year 1317 C.E. in the village of Qasr al-'arifan, near Bukhara. After he mastered the shari'ah sciences at the tender age of 18, he kept company with the Shaykh Muhammad Baba as-Samasi Radi Allahu anhu, who was an authority in hadith in Central Asia. After the latter's death, he followed Shaykh Amir Kulal Radi Allahu anhu who continued and perfected his training in the external and the internal knowledge.

The students of Shaykh Amir Kulal Radi Allahu anhu used to make dhikr aloud when sitting together in association, and silent dhikr when alone. Hadrat Shah Naqshband Radi Allahu anhu, however, although he never criticized nor objected to the loud dhikr, preferred the silent dhikr. Concerning this he says, "There are two methods of dhikr; one is silent and one is loud. I chose the silent one because it is stronger and therefore more preferable." The silent dhikr thus became the distinguishing feature of the Naqshbandiyya among other tariqats.

Shah Naqshband Radi Allahu anhu performed  Hajj (Pilgrimage) three times, after which he resided in Merv and Bukhara. Towards the end of his life he went back to settle in his native city of Qasr al-'Arifan. His teachings became quoted everywhere and his name was on every tongue. Visitors from far and wide came to see him and to seek his advice. They received teaching in his school and mosque, a complex which at one time accommodated more than five thousand people. This school is the largest Islamic center of learning in Central Asia and still exists in our day. It was recently renovated and reopened after surviving seventy years of Communist rule.

Shah Naqshband's Radi Allahu anhu teachings changed the hearts of seekers from darkness to light. He continued to teach his students the knowledge of the Oneness of God in which his precedessors had specialized, emphasizing the realization of the state of ihsan (excellence) for his followers according to the hadith of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu Ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam, "Ihsan is to worship God as if you see Him."

When Shah Naqshband Radi Allahu anhu died he was buried in his garden as he requested. The succeeding Kings of Bukhara took care of his school and mosque, expanding them and increasing their religious endowments (awqaf).

Succeeding Shaykhs of the Naqshbandi Tariqat wrote many biographies of Shah Naqshband Radi Allahu anhu. Among them are Mas'ud al-Bukhari and Sharif al-Jarjani, who composed the Awrad Baha 'al-Din which describes him and his life's works including his fatawa (legal decisions). Shaykh Muhammad Parsa, who died in Madinah in 822 H. (1419 C.E.) wrote Risala Qudsiyya in which he talks of Shah Naqshband's Radi Allahu anhu life, his virtues, and his teachings.

Shah Naqshband's Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu literary legacy included many books. Among them are Awrad an-Naqshbandiyyah, the Devotions of Shah Naqshband. Another book is Tanbih al-Ghafilin. A third book is Maslakul Anwar. A fourth is Hadiyyatu-s-Salikan wa Tuhfat at-Talibin. He left many noble expressions praising the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu Ta'ala 'alyhi wa Sallam and he wrote many legal rulings. One of his opinions was that all the different acts and kinds of worship, whether obligatory or voluntary, were permitted for the seeker in order to reach reality. Prayer, fasting, zakat (paying the poor-tax), mujahadat (striving) and zuhd (self-denial) were emphasized as ways to reach Allah Almighty.

Shah Naqshband Radi Allahu anhu built his school on the renewal of the teachings of the Islamic religion. He insisted on the necessity of keeping the Qur'an al-kareem and the teachings of the Sunnah. When they asked him, "What are the requirements of one who follows your way?" he said, "To follow the Sunnah of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alyhi wa Sallam." He continued saying: "Our way is a rare one. It keeps the 'Urwat ul-Wuthqa, the Unbreakable Bond, and it asks nothing else of its followers but to take hold of the Pure Sunnah of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu Ta'ala 'alyhi wa Sallam and follow the way of the Sahaba (Companions of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu Ta'ala 'alyhi wa Sallam in their ijtihad (efforts for Allah).

Ghawth al 'Alam Mahboob-i Yazdani Sultan Sayyad Makhdoom Ashraf Jahangir Simnani [d.807H] '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:

Source: Mas'ud Khan's Ahl as-Sunnah Website

copyright: Abdal Hakim Murad

His full name was Abu Abdullah Muhammad, son of Sulayman, son of Abi Bakr al-Jazuli al-Simlali. He was a descendant of Prophet Muhammad, praise and veneration be upon him, via his grandson Hasan, son of Ali, may Allah be pleased with them. 

Imam al Jazuli alayhir rahman belonged to the Berber tribe of Jazula that settled in the Sus area of Morocco which lies between the Atlantic ocean and the Atlas mountains. When he was young he studied in Sus, then continued his studies in the Madrassa as-Saffareen in Fez. Al-Jazuli was ''frequent in reciting litanies (awrad), observant of Allah most High in all his states, not exceeding the boundaries Allah established, and exerting himself in following the Book of Allah and the example of his beloved Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace).” He founded the Shadhiliyya Jazuliyya order, with Dala'il al-Khayrat [Guidance to Righteousness] at its core, and its disciples received spiritual training (tarbiya) at his hands. After the completion of his studies in the Madrassa he left Fez and spent the next forty years between Makkah, Madina and Jerusalem. It was after this period that he returned to Fez where he was blessed to complete his great work of the 'Dala'il ul Khayrat'.

Imam al Jazuli alayhir rahman was a very pious man and the foremost Judge of his town. One day, while on a journey he became very thirsty and also needed to renew his ablution but his water skin was empty and there was no water in sight. In his search for water he found a well, however the well had neither a bucket nor a rope with which to draw the water. Al Jazuli was very distressed by the situation, the water was so near and yet so far, and he did not know what to do. Shortly after finding the well a young girl approached and upon realizing al Jazuli’s dilemma spat dry air into the well and the water miraculous rose to the top. Imam al Jazuli alayhir rahman was astounded by this miracle and asked the girl how such a miracle was possible. To this she replied "I was able to do this through my asking Allah for 'peace and blessings upon' Prophet Muhammad."

Having witnessed the blessed benefit of asking for blessings upon the Prophet, may Allah praise and venerate him, and give him peace. Al Jazuli decided to compose 'Dala'il ul-Khayrat' by gathering and selecting material from a multitude of authentic Islamic references that praise and supplicate for blessings upon the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa Sallam. When one reads these supplications on the Prophet, praise and veneration be upon him, Allah showers not only His Prophet with blessings but also its reader.

This great work has been, and still is acclaimed by all the lovers of Prophet Muhammad, praise and veneration be upon him, as being the foremost book to praise him. Dalail was later explained by Imam Al-Fasi and subsequently all authentic references were added at the end of each statement in his famous explanation of Dalail. However, one must not suppose that this work contains all the authentic prayers that praise the Beloved Prophet, they are so numerous that they would exhaust volumes of writing; but they are the most precious.

The Sufi Shadhili Path:

Nur al-Din Abd 'ar-Rahman Jami [d.897H - 1492CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan

Jami poetry at www.chishti.ru

In his biography of the famous men of his time entitled al-Daw' al-lami' al-Sakhawi reveals that his father Zayn al-Din 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Muhammad (d. 874) was a Cairo-born Sufi of great piety, and a member of the Baybarsiyya Sufi community where Ibn Hajar, Sakhawi's teacher, taught for forty years.(1)

In the section of his 'al-Jawahir al-mukallala fi al-akhbar al-musalsala' devoted to the transmission of hadith through chains formed exclusively of Sufi narrators, al-Sakhawi states that he himself had received the Sufi path from Zayn al-Din Ridwan al- Muqri' in Cairo.(2) In the same work Sakhawi also mentions several of his teachers and students of hadith who were Sufis. Here are the names of some of them, together with the words used by him to describe them in his biographical work al-Daw' al-lami':

* Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad al-Hishi al-Halabi al-Shafi'i (b. 848) the head of the Bistamiyya Sufis in Aleppo, the mother trunk of the Naqshbandi Sufi order affiliated with BISTAMI, ABU YAZID. He spent two years in Makkah with Sakhawi, who wrote him an ijaza or permission to teach. In this ijaza Sakhawi calls him: 'Our master, the masterful Imam of merits and guidance, the Educator of Murids (students in the Sufi path), the Mainstay of Wayfarers in the Sufi path, the Noble Abu Bakr al-Hishi al-Halabi, may Allah preserve him and have mercy on his gracious predecessors (i.e. the chain of his shaykhs in the Sufi path), and may Allah grant us and all Muslims their benefits.'(3)

* Badr al-Din Hussayn ibn Siddiq al-Yamani al-Ahdal (d. 903): al-Sakhawi gave him a comprehensive ijaza granting him permission to teach all of his books.(4)

* Abu al-Fath Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Madani al-Maraghi (d. 859): Sakhawi took hadith from him. He was head of two Sufi khaniqas in Cairo, the Zamamiyya and the Jamaliyya. He led a life of seclusion for the most part, and wrote a commentary on Nawawi's manual of Law Minhaj al-talibin, and an epitome of