7/30/2009

IBNU AL AROBI AL HATIMI

Maqam Ibnu Al Arobi
IBNU AL AROBI AL HATIMI

Born.

Ibn Arabî was born at 560 H or 1165 M has been one of the most influential authors in the second half of Islamic history. In the Arabic texts, Muhyî al-Dîn Muhammad Ibn al-`Arabî al-Hâtimî al-Tâ'î he is more commonly called Ibn al-`Arabî (with the definite article). He himself often signs his works in the form Abû `Abd Allâh Muhammad ibn al-`Arabî al-Tâ'î al-Hâtimî. He came to be called Muhyî al-Dîn, “The Revivifier of the Religion,” and al-Shaykh al-Akbar, “The Greatest Master.” He combined the various schools of Islamic thought—jurisprudence, principles of jurisprudence, Kalam, philosophy, and Sufism—into a vast synthesis inspired by the Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet.Ibn `Arabî's inner and outer life has been recounted in detail by the unsurpassed study of Claude Addas, Quest for the Red Sulphur. In brief, his father `Alî was apparently employed by Muhammad ibn Sa`îd ibn Mardanîsh, the ruler of Murcia in Spain. In 567/1172 Murcia was conquered by the Almohad dynasty, and `Alî took his family to Seville, where again he seems to have been taken into government service. Ibn `Arabî himself would have been raised in the environs of the court, and recent research suggests that he underwent military training. He was employed as a secretary by the governor of Seville and married a girl named Maryam from an influential family. When he was thirty he left Spain for the first time, traveling to Tunis. Seven years later, in 597/1200, a vision instructed him to go to the East. In 599/1202 he performed the hajj and met, among others, Majd al-Dîn Ishâq, a scholar from Malatya whose as yet unborn son was to be Sadr al-Dîn al-Qûnawî (606-73/1210-74), Ibn `Arabî’s most influential disciple.Accompanying Majd al-Dîn on the way back to Malatya, Ibn `Arabî stayed for a time in Mosul, where he was invested with an initiatory cloak (khirqa) by Ibn al-Jâmi`, who himself had received it from the hands of al-Khidr. For some years Ibn `Arabî traveled from city to city in the regions of Turkey, Syria, and Egypt, visiting again the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. In 608/1211-12 he was in Baghdad, perhaps accompanied by Majd al-Dîn, who had been sent there by Sultan Kay Kâ'ûs I (607-16/1210-19) of Konya on a mission to the caliphal court. Ibn `Arabî was on good terms with this sultan and wrote him a letter of practical advice. He was also a companion of the ruler of Aleppo, al-Malik al-Zâhir (582-615/1186-1218), a son of Saladin (Salâh al-Dîn al-Ayyûbî).In 620/1223 Ibn `Arabî settled down
permanently in Damascus, where a circle of disciples, including al-Qûnawî, served him until his death. According to some early sources, he had married Majd al-Dîn's widow, al-Qûnawî's mother. Among those who studied with him during this time was the Ayyubid ruler of Damascus, Muzaffar al-Dîn (d. 635/1238). In a document dated 632/1234, Ibn `Arabî granted him permission to teach his works, of which he lists 290; he also mentions seventy of his own masters in the sciences, noting that the list is incomplete. It is clear from this source that Ibn `Arabî had spent long years studying the religious sciences, including the seven recitations of the
Qur’an, Qur’anic commentary, jurisprudence, and especially Hadith.Ibn `Arabî's outward life demonstrates nothing exceptional for a Muslim man of learning, except perhaps the volume of his writings. His special place in Islamic history was determined more by his life's inward events and his encounters with spiritual men. In this respect, his youthful meeting with the great philosopher Ibn Rushd (Averroes) is of symbolic importance, since it demonstrates the wide gulf
that Ibn `Arabî perceived between the formal knowledge of the “folk of rational consideration” (ahl al-nazar) and the visionary and spiritual knowledge possessed by the “folk of
unveiling” (ahl al-kashf). It is significant that Ibn `Arabî says he was a “beardless youth” when the meeting took place. Although certain authorities have inferred from an ambiguous passage in his Futûhât that he did not enter the Sufi path until he was twenty, the meeting with Ibn Rushd certainly took place before he had reached this age, and his account indicates that he had already been taken into the presence of God. Ibn Rushd, he tells us, “had wanted to meet me because. . . of what had reached him concerning the opening [fath] God had given me in retreat [khalwa].” Ibn `Arabî frequently discusses the term “opening,” which he defines as “the unveiling of the uncreated Lights” and describes as a primary goal of the Sufi path. Note also that the title of his magnum opus, al-Futûhât al-makkiyya, means literally “the Meccan Openings,” which is to say that it refers to visions of uncreated lights occasioned by the pilgrimage to Mecca. Ibn `Arabî goes on to describe his meeting with Ibn Rushd as follows: He said to me, “Yes.” I replied, “Yes,” and his joy in me increased. When I perceived why he had become happy, I said, “No.” He became constricted, his color changed, and he began to doubt himself. He asked, “How have you found the situation in unveiling and the divine effusion? Is it the same as is given to us by rational consideration?” I replied, “Yes and no. Between the yes and the no spirits fly from their
matter and heads from their bodies.” The idea put forth by certain Western scholars that Ibn `Arabî was initially guided by al-Khidr is unfounded. In fact, his earliest encounter with the “Men of the Unseen World” (rijâl al-ghayb) was with Jesus, as he states repeatedly, and his first teacher on the path to God, Abu'l-`Abbâs al-`Uryabî, was dominated by Christ's spiritual influence. Ibn `Arabî considered Jesus the “Seal of Universal Sanctity.” He himself, at least in certain passages, claimed to be the “Seal of the Particular, Muhammadan Sanctity,” so his early encounter with Jesus certainly suggests something about how he understood his own calling. In his comprehensive—but now dated—study of the 850 different works attributed to Ibn `Arabî, Osman Yahya estimated that 700 are authentic and over 400 extant. Even though many of these are only a few pages long, many more are full-sized books, and the Futûhât alone contains more words than most authors write in a lifetime. Among his best known works are the following: - Al-Futûhât al-makkiyya. Subjects treated in this vast compendium of the religious and spiritual sciences include the inner meanings of the every detail of the rites of purification, salât, hajj, and alms-giving as legislated by the different schools of the Shariah (the madhhabs); the stations and states that the travelers traverse on their journey to God and in God, the significance and nature of the hierarchical structure of the cosmos, the spiritual and ontological meaning of the letters of the Arabic alphabet, the sciences embraced by each of the ninety-nine names of God, the inner states of travelers on the path to God, and the significance of the differing messages of the various prophets.
- Fusûs al-hikam (“The Ringstones of Wisdom”). This book has always been held in the greatest esteem by Ibn `Arabî's followers, and well over one hundred commentaries have been written upon it. One may thus be inclined to accept Henry Corbin's view that it is “no doubt the best compendium of Ibn `Arabî's esoteric doctrine.” [2]
However, Ibn `Arabî’s foremost disciple al-Qûnawî is more circumspect when he writes in al-Fukûk, a short commentary on the text, that it is “one of the most precious shorter writings of our shaykh.” In it Ibn `Arabî discusses the divine wisdom revealed to each of twenty-seven prophets from Adam to Muhammad.
Basing himself largely on Qur’anic verses and hadiths, he shows how each of them disclosed in his person and prophetic career the wisdom implied by one of the divine attributes.
- Tarjumân al-ashwâq (“The Interpreter of Yearnings”). This short collection of love poetry, the first of his works to be translated into English, was inspired by Ibn `Arabî’s meeting with Nizâm, the beautiful and gifted daughter of a teacher from Isfahan, during his first pilgrimage to Mecca (a somewhat later parallel is found in Dante’s Beatrice). He also wrote a long commentary on the poems to prove to certain of the more narrow-minded ulama that they deal with spiritual truths and not profane love.
Among the many works wrongly attributed to Ibn `Arabî, Risâlat al-ahadiyya (“The Treatise on Unity”) has been translated into English.
Michel Chodkiewicz has shown that it is in fact by Awhad al-Dîn Balyânî (d. 686/1288), a Sufi from Shiraz.
In formulating his teachings, Ibn `Arabî made use of the vast range of Islamic learning available to him, beginning with the Qur’an and the Hadith. He borrowed extensively from the written and oral tradition of Sufism that had been developing for several hundred years. He made free use of the terminology of philosophers like the Ikhwân al-Safâ’ and Avicenna.
He was thoroughly versed in Kalam,especially Ash’arism. But all these schools of thought were so many building blocks that became parts of his own intellectual edifice. His repeated testimony and the very nature of his writings and influence show that his “unveilings” and “openings” gave new form to the material with which he worked.
Most of Ibn `Arabî's books and treatises remain unedited,unpublished, and/or unstudied. The Futûhât was first printed in the nineteenth century, and before his death, Osman Yahia published fourteen of a projected thirty-seven-volume critical edition (the last of these appeared in 1991). Scholars will need to devote years of effort before a thorough analysis of the contents of
the Futûhât can be carried out, and most of his other writings also remain to be studied with care. It is not surprising that many who have attempted to interpret his teachings have pointed out the tentative nature of their endeavors. Nonetheless,certain central themes, highlighted for example in the Fusûs, can be discerned throughout his books and treatises. We can be relatively sure of their primary importance because they were emphasized by his immediate disciples and followers. These same themes have been taken up and elaborated upon by generations of philosophers, Sufis, and theologians.
It is to some of these that we turn our attention here.
Before asking what Ibn `Arabî has to say about God, the universe, and human beings, it may be useful to explain some of the most important characteristics of his path to understanding. In his view, no methodology or standpoint allows for transcending its own limitations save that which recognizes the relative validity of every standpoint and which, at the same time, does not become bound and conditioned by a specific standpoint. He sometimes calls this perspective “the standpoint of no standpoint” or “the station of no station” (maqâm lâ maqâm). He also calls it tahqîq, “realization” or “verification.”
The word tahqîq is derived from the root h-q-q, from which we have two terms of extreme importance for the Islamic sciences —haqîqa and haqq.
Haqîqa is usually translated as “reality,” and a great deal could be said about what it means in Ibn `Arabî's writings and the Islamic sciences in general. The English translation suggests many of the directions in which a discussion of the word would take us. As soon as we pose questions like “What is reality?” or “What is the reality of a thing?”,we fall into the most difficult and subtle of philosophical and theological issues.
However, I want to focus more on the word haqq, which is a noun and an adjective that means truth and true,reality and real, rightness and right,appropriateness and appropriate. As a Qur’anic divine name, it means the Real, the Truth, the Right. From early times, it has been used as a virtual synonym for the name God (Allah). In one common usage, haqq is juxtaposed with khalq, “creation.”
Both haqq and khalq are realities (haqîqa), and taken together the two words designate everything that exists, everything that is real in any respect whatsoever, for all time and all eternity. However, these two realities are by no means equal. The status of al-haqq, the Real or God, is clear, because “There is no god but God,” which is to say that there is nothing truly real, true, right,proper, and appropriate save God alone. In contrast, the status of khalq is by no means clear. If God alone is haqq in a strict sense, where exactly do creation and created things stand? How do they fit into reality as a whole? If they are real,certainly their realness is not of the same order as that of God. And if they are unreal, how does the unreal relate to the Real? Moreover, a second term is also commonly juxtaposed with haqq. This is bâtil,which means unreal, wrong, null, void,absurd. The Qur’an contrasts these two words in a dozen verses, such as,“The haqq has come and the bâtil has vanished” (17:41).
The word haqq, then, is commonly paired with both khalq and bâtil, but the distinction between khalq and bâtil is vitally important. Bâtil is totally other than haqq. It can best be understood as the negation of haqq.
In contrast khalq, though not identical with haqq, is also not completely different from haqq,because creation is certainly not unreal, wrong, vain, and null. As the Qur’an puts it, “We have not created the heavens, the earth, and what is between the two as bâtil” (38:27).
The ambiguity of all of khalq derives from the fact that it hangs betweenhaqq and bâtil—between being and nothingness, real and unreal, right and wrong, proper and improper,appropriate and inappropriate. Sincewe cannot avoid asking ourselves what we are and who we are, the exact status of the created world becomes a primary issue discussed in philosophy and much of theology and Sufism.
Questions about the status of creation bring us to a second question: Is there anything we can do to improve our status? To answer this question,we need to know the divine purpose in giving us existence. Thus we have two basic questions: “What [mâ]?” and “Why [limâ]?” What are we, and why are we here? What is our actual situation, and what should we be doing to fulfill our purpose? Ibn `Arabî and many others call the process of asking these questions, answering them, and then putting the answers nto practice tahqîq, or “giving things their haqqs.” To give something its haqq is to “verify” and “realize” the thing, that is, to understand the thing as it actually is, and then to establish a relationship to it that is exactly what God, al-Haqq, wants from us. Thereby we fulfill our purpose in being here.
In most of Ibn `Arabî's technical terminology, the meanings that he gives to words are rooted in the Qur’an and the Hadith. For the meaning that he accords to tahqîq, one Qur’anic verse and one hadith play especially important roles. The Qur’anic verse is 20:50: “He has given each thing its creation, then guided.” Here we have the beginnings of an answer to the two questions.
“What are we?” Are we haqq or bâtil,real or unreal, appropriate or inappropriate? The basic answer is given by the first clause of the verse, “He has given each thing its creation,” which is to say that God,the Absolute Haqq, has determined and bestowed the khalq. In respect of the fact that al-Haqq has given khalq, He takes away the bâtil, which is the negation of haqq. Hence, khalq is an expression of haqq.
It follows that if we consider God's mmand to His creatures—what Ibn `Arabî and others call His
“engendering command” (al-amr al-takwînî), whereby He says to a thing “Be!” (kun) and it comes to be—then we must conclude that each creature is haqq, which is to say that it real, right, true, and appropriate.
Inasmuch as we are able to see the Real's activity and signs (âyât) in the creature, we have found the haqq expressed in the khalq.
As for the second clause of verse 20:50, “Then guided,” it addresses the question of purpose. First God creates the creatures, then He provides them with guidance, and it is His guidance that gives them a proper goal to pursue in life. In the human case, the Qur’an epitomizes guidance in the verse, “I created jinn and mankind only to worship Me” (51:56).
The Qur’an is God’s explanation of “the straight path” whereby worship should be performed. “Worship” is the means whereby human beings achieve their purpose in creation. The divine guidance that sets down the proper way of achieving human purpose is often called God's “prescriptive” or “emburdening command” (al-amr al-taklîfî). It is the divine commandments, prohibitions, and instructions that pave the way to right knowledge, right speech, and right activity.
The exact nature of God's guidance and its relation with haqq is suggested by the hadith to which I referred earlier as playing a basic role in Ibn `Arabî's understanding of tahqîq.
This hadith has several versions,presumably because the Prophet repeated it in slightly different
forms on a variety of occasions. That it should be an everyday guiding principle for people concerned with the truth and the right should be obvious. The text says, in one typical version, “Your soul has a haqq against you, your Lord has a haqq against you, your guest has a haqq against you, and your spouse has a haqq against you; so give to each that has a haqq its haqq.”
From the standpoint of the first question, “What are we?,” this hadith of the haqqs explains that we and everything that we encounter have haqqs, which is to say that everything without exception has a proper situation, a correct mode of being, an appropriate manner of displaying the Real to us. It does so because “God has given each thing its creation,”and thereby He has established not only its khalq, but also its haqq. As the Qur’an says in several verses, God created everything with the haqq and through the haqq. “We created the heavens and the earth and what is between them only through the haqq”(15:85). In this respect the khalq or “creation” of each thing is identical with its haqq, because the Absolute Haqq has given the thing its khalq from Itself.
In answer to the second question,“What should we be?,” the hadith tells us, “Give to each that has a haqq its haqq.” We should be a khalq that realizes haqq. That is, our every word, deed, thought, and intention should be right, true, appropriate,worthy, and real in keeping with our haqqs and the haqqs of others. Our own selves, God, people, and things have haqqs “against” (`alâ) us, so we will be asked about these haqqs and we will have to “respond.” Each haqq represents our “responsibility.”
Given that only human beings were taught all the names by God, we alone are able to recognize and realize the haqq of everything in existence. God and all of khalq make demands on us.
When we encounter something, we must recognize its haqq and act accordingly. It is this haqq of
things that we must address, because this haqq is identical with the khalq that God has established, and God is Himself the Haqq, the Right, the True,the Proper, the Appropriate. The Reality of God, which makes Itself known through all that exists, is not simply “that which truly is,” but also that which is truly right and worthy.
It makes moral and ethical demands on human beings by the fact that “He has given each thing its creation.”
Given that all things manifest the Absolute Haqq and that each creature possesses a relative haqq; and given that we will be held responsible for the haqqs that pertain specifically to us, we need a scale (mîzân) by which to measure the extent of our own responsibility and to learn how to deal with the haqqs. We cannot possibly know the haqqs of things by our own lights or by our own rational investigation of the world and the soul, because the relative haqq of creation is determined and defined by the Absolute Haqq, and the Absolute Haqq is unknowable except in the measure in which It chooses to reveal Itself. Hence the scale can only come through the prophets, who are precisely the means by which the Haqq has chosen to reveal Its guidance.
The Qur’an is the means that clarifies the haqqs for Muslims: “With the haqq We have sent [the Qur’an] down, and with the haqq it has come down”(17:105).
One can conclude that for Ibn `Arabî,God’s most important commandment—a commandment whereby the question, “What should we do?” is answered most directly—is expressed in the hadith of the haqqs: “Give to each that has a haqq its haqq.” This giving things their haqqs is the very definition of the human task in the cosmos, and it is the meaning of tahqîq or realization”—”to recognize every haqq and to act appropriately.”
Once one understands that the Absolute Haqq is God and that the haqqs of all things depend utterly upon God, one has to employ the divine scale to recognize the realities and the haqqs of both God and creation. The first thing in the domain of khalq whose reality and haqq must be understood is the human self or soul (nafs). Notice that the hadith begins, “Your soul has a haqq against you, your Lord has a haqq against you,” then it mentions guest, spouse, etc. The primacy of soul is not accidental. Without knowing oneself, one cannot know one's Lord. God and everything in the universe have haqqs against us, but in order to give everything that has a haqq its haqq, we first have to know who we are. Otherwise, we will not be able to discern which of the haqqs pertain to us. This helps explain why Ibn `Arabî frequently quotes the saying “He who has known himself has known his Lord,” or “Those who have recognized themselves have recognized their Lord.” In other words, he who has recognized himself as God’s creature has come to recognize the Absolute Haqq and understood the demands that God makes upon his soul.
On the level of the Shariah,discerning the haqqs is relatively straightforward, because it entails only the recognition that the revealed law is incumbent upon us. But the Shariah does not address the whole realm of reality, and Muslims have always acknowledged that only a small percentage of the Qur’an’s verses refers to its rulings and prescriptions. What about the rest of human existence? When God said, “I am placing in the earth a vicegerent”(2:30), did He mean that the only thing He asks from His chosen vicegerents is to obey a few commands and prohibitions? Is there is no need to know Him, or the universe, or themselves? When He said, “God emburdens a soul only to its capacity”(2:286), did He mean that one is free to define one's own capacity by one's own understanding of biology,psychology, history, and politicized religion? How can one decide what this “emburdening” entails unless one knows both the command of God and the capacity of one's own soul? If Ibn `Arabî and many other Muslim sages are correct—and if we simply grasp the implications of everlasting life—then the human self is “an ocean without shore,” an endless unfolding. Surely,dealing with the haqq of such a reality demands more than what is given in your philosophies.
To put this discussion in a slightly different way, the issue of who we are pertains not only to anthropology,psychology, and ethics, but also to ontology and cosmology. To give ourselves our haqq, we must know who it is of whom we are the khalq. Here Ibn `Arabî begins to show his real
gifts as a muhaqqiq (a master of tahqîq), because he plumbs the depths of the subtle mysteries of Absolute Reality and Its relations with the human soul. It is from these contexts that his followers derived teachings that came to be called wahdat al-wujûd (“the oneness of being” or “the unity of existence”), and it is here that he speaks in great detail about “the perfect human being” (al-insân al-kâmil), who is the fully realized form (sûra) of God.
Although Ibn `Arabî has become famous as the founder of wahdat al-wujûd, he does not himself employ the expression, though he often approximates it. In attributing wahdat al-wujûd to him, we need to keep in mind what exactly the expression might mean in the context in which we are using it. In the later literature,different authors understand this single expression in a variety of ways, some of them mutually contradictory. The heated debates that have occurred over this idea—debates that still go on today—are rooted in different understandings of the term’s meaning.[3] Few if any of these understandings have reflected accurately the subtle manner in which Ibn `Arabî himself deals with the ambiguity of the status of khalq,between haqq and bâtil.
In sum, for Ibn `Arabî tahqîq is a term that designates the station of those who have achieved, by divine grace and solicitude (`inâya), the full possibilities of human knowledge and existence. By following the Sunnah of the Prophet on the three levels of activity, knowledge, and inner transformation, they have achieved the station to which he referred when he said, “Our Lord, show us things as they are!” Hence Ibn `Arabî calls tahqîq “the Muhammadan station,” because it is the full realization of the model provided the Prophet. The muhaqqiqs have recognized the haqqs in exactly the manner in which God has established them and the Prophet enacted them.
Through giving each thing that has a haqq its haqq, the muhaqqiqs also give God, who has given each thing its creation, His haqq, and thus realize,to the extent humanly possible, the fullness of God-given knowledge and God-given reality.
Since God bestows on the muhaqqiqs the knowledge of how to give things their haqqs, they alone are able to recognize the haqq of everything in existence. Hence they do not take sides, except inasmuch as the haqq of certain things in certain contexts demands that they take sides. Ibn `Arabî writes that when he takes the standpoint of the Shariah, he judges on its basis, and when he takes the standpoint of reason (`aql), he discerns and distinguishes by its scale. Both reason and the Shariah accept some things and reject others,because each has a specific, limited,and constraining station. However,when he takes the standpoint of the divine unveiling, through which the muhaqqiq is given to see things as they are, he recognizes the legitimacy and haqq of everything that exists,even if both reason and the Shariah lead him to act against it, given that the haqq of a thing may be not only to exist, but also to be acted against.
This is precisely tahqîq,“realization,” or “the standpoint of no standpoint,” that is, of no specific standpoint, given that every defined standpoint will reject the legitimacy of other standpoints. Only God stands beyond every standpoint,giving to each thing its creation, and then guiding it in terms of that specific creation. The role of the muhaqqiqs is to be God's vicegerents by recognizing the rightful place of everything He has created and then examining His guidance in each thing,so that they may also give each thing that has a haqq its haqq. When the Shariah commands an act, they perform it, because that is the haqq. When reason sees a distinction to be drawn between truth and falsehood, they draw it, because that is the haqq. But all the while, they see with a divine light that everything is as it must be, because khalq is none other than a relative haqq given by the Absolute Haqq. They understand that all will be ell in the end, because God’s mercy is infinite and all-encompassing.

Pass Away of Ibnu Arobi.

Ibnu Arobi died in 638 H or 1240 M. Ya Robb..., pouring and overflowing Ridho for him and award the us with the secret which Thou keep at him, Amen.

7/29/2009

GREATEST SUFI POET - FARID AL-DIN ATTAR


Farid al-Din 'Attar
Greatest Sufi Poet

Born.

Farid al-Din 'Attar was born in Nishapur, in northeastern Iran, in 1142.His tomb at Shadyakh is visited by many. There is little information on the formative life of the poet other than he was the son of a prosperous pharmacist and that he received an excellent education in medicine, Arabic, and theosophy at a madrasah attached to the shrine of Imam Reza at Mashhad. According to his own Mosibat Nameh (Book of Afflictions), as a youth, he worked in his father's pharmacy where he prepared drugs and attended patients. Upon his father's death, he became the owner of his own store.
Work in the pharmacy was difficult for young 'Attar. People from all walks of life visited the shop and shared their troubles with him. Their poverty, it seems, impacted the young poet the most. One day, it is related, an unsightly fakir visited the shop. The way he marveled at the opulence of the store made 'Attar uneasy; he ordered the fakir to leave. Looking the owner and the well-stocked shop over, the fakir said, "I have no difficulty with this, pointing to his ragged cloak, to leave; but you, how are you, with all this, planning to leave!"
The fakir's response affected 'Attar deeply. He pondered the fakir's reply for many days and, eventually, decided to give up his shop and join the circle of Shaykh Rukn al-Din Akkaf of the Kubraviyyah order. His new life was one of travel and exploration, very much like the fakir who had inspired him. For a long time, he traveled to Ray, Kufa, Mecca, Damascus, Turkistan, and India, meeting with Sufi shaykhs, learning about the tariqah, and experiencing life in the khaniqahs.
When finally he felt he had achieved what he had been seeking in travel, 'Attar returned to Nishapur, settled, and reopened his pharmacy. He also began to contribute to the promotion of Sufi thought. Called Tadhkirat al-Auliya (Memorial of the Saints), 'Attar's initial contribution to his new world contains all the verses and sayings of Sufi saints who, up to that time, had not penned a biography of their own.
Regarding the poetic output of 'Attar there are conflicting reports both with respect to the number of books that he might have written and the number of distichs he might have composed. For instance, Reza Gholikhan Hedayat reports the number of books to be 190 and the number of distichs to be 100,000. Firdowsi's Shahname contains only 60,000 bayts. Another tradition puts the number of books to be the same as the number of the Surahs (verses) of the Qur'an, i.e., 114. More realistic studies consider the number of his books to have been between 9 to 12 volumes.
'Attar's works fall within three categories. First are those works in which mysticism is in perfect balance with a finished, story-teller's art. The second group are those in which a pantheistic zeal gains the upper hand over literary interest. The third are those in which the aging poet idolizes the saint Ali. During this period there is no trace of ordered thoughts and descriptive skills.
One of 'Attar's major poetic works is called Asrar Nameh (Book of Secrets) about Sufi ideas. This is the work that the aged Shaykh gave Maulana Jalal al-Din Rumi when Rumi's family stayed over at Nishapur on its way to Konya, Turkey. Another major contribution of 'Attar is the Elahi Nameh (Divine Book), about zuhd or asceticism.
But foremost among 'Attar's works is his Manteq al-Tayr (Conference of the Birds) in which he makes extensive use of Al-Ghazali's Risala on Birds as well as a treatise by the Ikhvan al-Safa (the Brothers of Serenity) on the same topic.
Led by the hoopoe, the birds of the world set forth in search of their king, Simurgh. Their quest takes them through seven valleys in the first of which a hundred difficulties assail them. They undergo many trials as they try to free themselves of what is precious to them and change their state. Once successful and filled with longing, they ask for wine to dull the effects of dogma, belief, and unbelief on their lives.
In the second valley, the birds give up reason for love and, with a thousand hearts to sacrifice, continue their quest for discovering the Simurgh.
The third valley confounds the birds, especially when they discover that their worldly knowledge has become completely useless and their understanding has become ambivalent. They cannot understand why both the mihrab and the idol lead to understanding. Devoid of their earthly measures, they lose their ability to distinguish right from wrong.
The fourth valley is introduced as the valley of detachment, i.e., detachment from desire to possess and the wish to discover. The birds begin to feel that they have become part of a universe that is detached from their physical recognizable reality. In their new world, the planets are as minute as sparks of dust and elephants are not distinguishable from ants.
It is not until they enter the fifth valley that they realize that unity and multiplicity are the same. And as they have become entities in a vacuum with no sense of eternity. More importantly, they realize that God is beyond unity, multiplicity, and eternity.
Stepping into the sixth valley, the birds become astonished at the beauty of the Beloved. Experiencing extreme sadness and dejection, they feel that they know nothing, understand nothing. They are not even aware of themselves.
Only thirty birds reach the abode of the Simurgh. But there is no Simurgh anywhere t o see. Simurgh's chamberlain keeps them waiting for Simurgh long enough for the birds to figure out that they themselves are the si (thirty) murgh (bird). The seventh valley is the valley of depravation, forgetfulness, dumbness, deafness, and death. The present and future lives of the thirty successful birds become shadows chased by the celestial Sun. And themselves, lost in the Sea of His existence, are the Simurgh.

SUFISME OF IRAQ


SUFISME OF IRAQ
JUNAIDI AL-BAGHDADI

Born

Al-Junaydi ibn Muhammad ibn al-Junaydi, Abu al-Qasim al-Qawariri al-Khazzaz al-Nahawandi al-Baghdadi al-Shafi`i was born in Baghdad. The Imam of the World in his time, shaykh of the Sufis and "Diadem of the Knowers," he accompanied his maternal uncle Sari al-Saqati, al-Harith al-Muhasibi, and others. Abu Sahl al-Su`luki narrates that as a boy al-Junayd heard his uncle being asked about thankfulness, whereupon he said: "It is to not use His favors for the purpose of disobeying Him." He took fiqh from Abu Thawr - in whose circle he would give fatwas at twenty years of age - and, it was also said, from Sufyan al-Thawri. He once said: "Allah did not bring out a single science on earth accessible to people except he gave me a share in its knowledge." He used to go to the market every day, open his shop, and commence praying four hundred rak`as until closing time.
Among his sayings about the Sufi Path: "Whoever does not memorize the Qur'an and write hadith is not fit to be followed in this matter. For our science is controlled by the Book and the Sunna." To Ibn Kullab who was asking him about tasawwuf he replied: "Our madhhab is the singling out of the pre-eternal from the contingent, the desertion of human brotherhood and homes, and obliviousness to past and future." Ibn Kullab said: "This kind of speech cannot be debated." His student Abu al-`Abbas ibn Surayj would say, whenever he defeated his adversaries in debate: "This is from the blessing of my sittings with al-Junayd." Al-Qushayri relates from al-Junayd the following definitions of tasawwuf:
* "Not the profusion of prayer and fasting, but wholeness of the breast and selflessness."1
* "Tasawwuf means that Allah causes you to die to your self and gives you life in Him."
* "It means that you be solely with Allah with no attachments."
* "It is a war in which there is no peace."
* "It is supplication together with inward concentration, ecstasy together with attentive hearing, and action combined with compliance [with the Sunna]."
* "It is the upholding of every high manner and the repudiation of every low one."
When his uncle asked him to speak from the pulpit he deprecated himself, but then saw the Prophet in his dream ordering him to speak. Ibn Kullab once asked al-Junayd to dictate for him a comprehensive definition of tawhid he had just heard him say. He replied: "If I were reading from a record I would dictate it to you." The Mu`tazili al-Ka`bi said: "My eyes did not see his like. Writers came to hear him for his linguistic mastery, philosophers for the sharpness of his speech, poets for his eloquence, and kalam scholars for the contents of his speech." Al-Khuldi said: "We never saw, among our shaykhs, anyone in whom `ilm and hal came together except al-Junayd. If you saw his hal you would think that it took precedence over his `ilm, and if he spoke you would think that his `ilm took precedence over his hal."
Like the Sunni imams of his generation, al-Junayd hated theological disputations about Allah and His Attributes: "The least [peril] that lies within kalam is the elimination of Allah's awe from the heart. And when the heart is left devoid of Allah's awe, it becomes devoid of belief."
Once a young Christian asked him: "What is the meaning of the Prophet's hadith: 'Beware the vision of the believer for he sees with the light of Allah'?"2 Al-Junayd remained immersed in thought then lifted his head and said: "Submit, for the time has come for you to accept Islam." The young man embraced Islam on the spot. Al-Junayd defined the Knower (al-`arif) as "He who addresses your secret although you are silent." Ibn al-Jawzi cites another example of Junayd's kashf in his Sifa al-Safwa:
Abu `Amr ibn `Alwan relates: I went out one day to the market of al-Ruhba for something I needed. I saw a funeral procession and I followed it in order to pray with the others. I stood among the people until they buried the dead man. My eyes unwittingly fell on a woman who was unveiled. I lingered looking at her. Then I held back and began to beg forgiveness of Allah the Exalted. On my way home an old woman told me: "My master, why is your face all darkened?" I took a mirror and behold! my face had turned dark. I examined my conscience and searched: Where did calamity befall me? I remembered the look I cast. Then I sat alone somewhere, asking Allah's forgiveness assiduously. I decided to live austerely for forty days. [During that time] the thought came to my heart: "Visit your shaykh al-Junayd." I travelled to Baghdad. When I reached the room where he lived I knocked at his door and heard him say: "Come in, O Abu `Amr! You sin in al-Ruhba and we ask forgiveness for you here in Baghdad.

Tausiyah :

Al-Junayd said:- "They are the members of a single household that none other than they can enter."- "The Sufi is like the earth: every kind of abomination is thrown upon it, but naught but every kind of goodness grows from it."- "The Sufi is like the earth: both the righteous and the sinners walk upon it. He is like the clouds: they give shade to all things. He is like the raindrop: it waters all things."- "If you see a Sufi caring for his outer appearance, then know that his inward being is corrupt."
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya related from al-Sulami that al-Junayd said: "The truthful seeker (al-murid al-sadiq) has no need for the scholars of knowledge" and: "When Allah desires great goodness for the seeker, He makes him flock to the Sufis and prevents him from accompanying those who read books (al-qurra'). This is similar to al-Junayd's saying reported by al-Dhahabi: "We did not take tasawwuf from what So-and-So said and what So-and-So-said, but from hunger, abandonment of the world, and severance of comforts." Al-Junayd also said: "Among the marks of Allah's wrath against a servant is that He makes him busy with that which is of no concern to him.
Ibn al-Qayyim in al-Fawa'id asserts the superiority of the struggle against the ego (jihad al-nafs) over all other struggles and quotes al-Junayd:Allah said: {Those who have striven for Our sake, We guide them to Our ways} (29:96). He has thereby made guidance dependent on jihad. Therefore, the most perfect of people are those of them who struggle the most for His sake, and the most obligatory of jihads (afrad al-jihad) are the jihad against the ego, the jihad against desires, the jihad against the devil, and the jihad against the lower world. Whoever struggles against these four, Allah will guide them to the ways of His good pleasure which lead to His Paradise, and whoever leaves jihad, then he leaves guidance in proportion to his leaving jihad. Al-Junayd said: "[The verse means] Those who have striven against their desires and repented for our sake, we shall guide them to the ways of sincerity. And one cannot struggle against his enemy outwardly except he who struggles against these enemies inwardly. Then whoever is given victory over them will be victorious over his enemy. And whoever is defeated by them, his enemy defeats him."
The Imam of the Two Groups,7 our master al-Junayd was told: "Certain people indulge in wajd or ecstatic behavior, and sway with their bodies." He replied: "Leave them to their happiness with Allah. They are the ones whose affections have been smashed by the path and whose breasts have been torn apart by effort, and they are unable to bear it. There is no blame on them if they breathe awhile as a remedy for their intense state. If you tasted what they taste, you would excuse their exuberance."
In his Kitab al-Fana' ("Book of the Annihilation of the Self") al-Junayd states:
As for the select and the select of the select, who become alien through the strangeness of their conditions - presence for them is loss, and enjoyment of the witnessing is struggle. They have been effaced from every trace and every signification that they find in themselves or that they witness on their own. The Real has subjugated them, effaced them, annihilated them from their own attributes, so that it is the Real that works through them, on them, and for them in everything they experience. It is the Real which confirms such exigencies in and upon them through the form of its completion and perfection.

Pass Away of Junaidi Al Baghdadi.

Al-Junayd went on pilgrimage on foot thirty times. On his deathbed he recited the Qur'an incessantly. Al-Jariri related that he told him: "O Abu al-Qasim! Put yourself at ease." He replied: "O Abu Muhammad! Do you know anyone that is more in need of Qur'an at this time, when my record is being folded up?" He finished one khatma then started over until he recited seventy verses of Sura al-Baqara, then he died. Ibn `Imad al-Hanbali said: "If we were to speak of his merits we could fill volumes."Al-Junaydi ibn Muhammad ibn al-Junaydi died in 298 H .

Ya Allah, pouring and overflowing Ridho for him and award the us with the secret which Thou keep at him, Amen.

ABU YAZID AL BUSTHAMI

Abu Yazid Al Busthami

Born.

Little is known of Bayazid's life. He lived most of his life in Bastam, a city in the northeastern part of Iran. He is said to have spent thirty years wandering, during which he completed the Sufi Path, but very little has been recorded of this period. Though he left little if any writing behind, there are many stories and anecdotal sayings attributed to him in Sufi literature, particularly in such classical texts as Hujwiri's The Unveiling of the Hidden (Kashf al-mahjub) and 'Attar's Memorial of the Saints (Tadhkirat al-awliya).
Religious beliefs and rituals, by and large, do not play an important role in our contemporary western culture. Most of us go through our daily routine without thinking about religion or being affected by any aspect of it. But it is important to remember that the situation was very different in Bayazid's time. A person's life then was, to a large extent, determined and governed by religious beliefs and rituals, and one's main purpose and preoccupation in life was to be attuned with the divine either for its own sake, or at a lower level, in order to satisfy worldly or mundane desires.Sufism has always been presented as a practical, yet at the same time, transcendental school: 'practical' in the sense that it deals with disciplines that lead to enlightenment and 'transcendental' in the sense that it transcends the outward aspects of any given religion. In no Sufi more than Bayazid are these two qualities manifested. Among the early Sufis of Islam, Bayazid (d. 875 AD) played a pivotal role in the formation of Sufi doctrines and practices which were later adopted and expanded by Sufis such as 'Attar and Rumi.
Let's begin with Bayazid's understanding of God. The following story appears in Hujwiri's Kashf al-mahjub, the oldest Persian treatise on Sufism:
It is related that Bayazid said: "I went to Mecca and saw a House standing apart. I said, 'My pilgrimage is not accepted, for I have seen many stones of this sort.' I went again, and saw the House and also the Lord of the House. I said, 'This is not yet real unity.' I went a third time, and saw only the Lord of the House. A voice in my heart whispered, 'O Bayazid, if you did not see yourself, you would not have been an idol-worshipper even though you saw the whole universe, but since you see yourself, you are an idol-worshipper blind to the whole universe.
In search of Love I wandered far and wide,From thought to thought and fear to fear I went,Upon the restless steed of foolish pride,A thousand pointless moments I have spent.Until I saw the eyes of one who'd seenThe marvel of Love's light upon your face,And from his look, three clues I toiled to glean:Three gems which pointed to your gentle grace.The first, that 'I' could never travel there;The next, that pride for love must be exchanged;The final clue is buried in your stare:So long as 'I' continues to existThe sun I seek is shrouded in "I's" mist
Hajj is a sacred ritual that all Moslems are obligated to perform at least once in their lifetime. At the time of Bayazid this was perhaps the ultimate goal in life. The journey was extremely harsh and, in fact, most pilgrims didn't know if they would ever come back. Like everyone else, Bayazid takes up this journey with eagerness. But unlike almost everyone else, he also approaches it with utmost seriousness. Since he is going to the house of God, it is only natural for him to expect that he will see God. Anything short of seeing God is not good enough for him. But he arrives only to see an ordinary house built with stones and mud. He is clearly dissatisfied. He makes a vow to himself that he will continue making the pilgrimage to Mecca until he sees God. At this point he has probably immersed himself completely in all sorts of litanies, remembrances, recitations, prayers and anything else that will make him forget the house — the world in other words — and bring him closer to God. After his third trip, he finally sees the Lord, or at least thinks that he has seen the Lord. He is joyous and content at this point, but clearly the Lord is not. God tells Bayazid that He doesn't care if he sees the world or not. He only cares if Bayazid doesn't see himself. And it's only when he ceases to see himself that Bayazid can truly say that he has seen God.
Bayazid repents first from thinking he has seen God, and second he repents from that repentance for this is just another manifestation of his being; finally, he repents from seeing his own existence altogether.
Bayazid comes to understand the difference between the god of one's imagination and the Real God. The former is constructed perhaps by immersing oneself in meditation and contemplation of the divine to the point that one becomes completely oblivious to the rest of the world. Clearly, this is not satisfactory, for the simple reason that one's imagination is self-serving. It constructs a god out of one's psychological need or possibly as a projection of one's ideals. But ultimately it is constructed for one's own sake. Bayazid sees this flaw in his own pursuit of God. The Real God is not self-serving. He is independent of one's wishful thinking and imagination. To make sure that he will not be wrapped up again in his foolish imagination, God lays down the condition for Bayazid's encounter with the Real: Do not see yourself. In another place, Bayazid says: "I saw God in a dream and asked Him what is the path towards You? He replied, Abandon yourself and you are already there." (Attar 1976).
"Do not see yourself!" means pursuing God without any hidden agenda, without making any deals and in particular without any thought of yourself. Yet, at the same time, God is telling Bayazid that the path towards Him is very practical. It's not and should not be muddled by Bayazid's imagination and elliptical thinking. In order to avoid seeing himself, Bayazid has to do something. No amount of thinking and imagining will help him negate his ego. This is the very practical side of Bayazidian Sufism: doing as opposed to thinking and imagining.
But what kind of 'doing' did Bayazid — or for that matter God — have in mind for the negation of the ego? After all, going on a pilgrimage is a form of doing. One has to get on one's feet and travel from one place to another and in those days one had to undertake such an enterprise knowing full well the harshness involved in it. For Bayazid, ritualistic acts, necessary though they may be, are not a good means of abandoning or negating one's ego. In performing a religious ritual one is not putting one's ego on the line. As far as the ego is concerned there is no risk involved. But for Bayazid if one does not challenge or trouble the ego, most likely one is not on the path to God.
How, though, does one go about doing such things? From the stories about him one can gather that there are two ways of going against the ego, though they are not separate but rather very much intertwined. These are selfless service and kindness to others on the one hand and attracting the blame of others on the other. Consider the following story concerning the meaning of selfless service in Bayazidian Sufism. Again, this story happens in the context of yet another pilgrimage to Mecca. This is no accident, as Bayazidian Sufism is always a reaction to conventional ritualistic practices:
In one of his pilgrimages to Mecca there was such a shortage of water that people were dying of thirst. Bayazid came across a place where people were gathered around a well, so thirsty that they were fighting among one another. In the middle of all this commotion he saw a wretched dog that was clearly dying of thirst. The dog looked at Bayazid and somehow conveyed to him that Bayazid's real mission should be getting water for the dog. He came up with a plan and began announcing, "Does anyone want to buy the merit of a hajj pilgrimage in exchange for some water?" Not receiving any response from people, he began to increase his part of the bargain, raising his hajj journeys to five, six, seven and finally to seventy in exchange for some water. At last, someone said that he was willing, giving Bayazid the water in exchange for the merits of seventy hajj journeys. It is at this point in the story that Bayazid's ego gets him into trouble. Right after the transaction took place, he began to feel proud of his action and pleased with himself for doing such a noble act of selflessness. Full of himself and proud of his action, Bayazid put the bowl of water in front of the dog, but the dog did not accept the water and turned away. Now a man of Bayazid's caliber looks for the divine message even from a dog, and Bayazid felt sorely ashamed of himself for his pride. At this point, he heard a message from God, "How long are you going to say I have done this and I have done that? Don't you see that even a dog does not accept your charitable act?" At once, Bayazid repented of his act of self-seeing (Adapted from Aflaki 1983, vol. II, p. 671).
The selfless service alluded to here is not just a charitable act. It is not on a par with giving money to a charity or doing volunteer work for the poor and the needy. It is far more subtle and difficult than that. True selfless service begins when one does not feel proud of one's act of charity and is complete when one is not conscious of oneself as the agent of that charitable act. True selfless service as it was realized by Bayazid is a major way to get rid of the ego.
In the following story, we get yet another example of how Bayazid goes against his ego by means of a simple act of kindness:
One night Bayazid was passing through a cemetery in Bastam when he came across a young nobleman playing a lute. Upon seeing the youth, Bayazid exclaimed, "There is no power and force in the world other than God's." Thinking that Bayazid was criticizing him for playing music in the cemetery, the young man hit Bayazid on the head with his lute thereby breaking both Bayazid's head and his own musical instrument. Upon returning to his quarters, Bayazid summoned one of his disciples and gave him some money and sweets and told him to go to the young man's house and tell him tile following: "Bayazid asks your forgiveness for what happened last night and requests that you use this money to buy another lute and then eat this sweet to remove from your heart the sorrow over the lute's being broken." When he heard this message, the young man realized what he had done and went to Bayazid to apologize (Adapted from 'Attar 1976, p. 117).
To return an act of aggression with kindness is to go against the ego. Our ego wants revenge or at least some kind of compensation when we are wronged. But for Bayazid, to seek compensation is to play into the hands of the ego, thereby becoming further removed from God.
The second major way to overcome the ego for Bayazid is to attract other people's blame and to disgrace oneself in the eyes of society. This may sound pretty silly to us now. Why would anyone want to disgrace himself? In our contemporary western culture, the emphasis is on the promotion and glorification of the ego, not its demise. But first, let's examine an example of what Bayazid means by attracting the blame of others:
In the city of Bastam where Bayazid made his home, there lived a very respected and venerable ascetic. He enjoyed Bayazid's circle, though he never became one of his disciples. One day he said to Bayazid, "0 master! For the last thirty years I have been fasting from the world and keeping vigils at night, but I have to be honest with you: I do not find in myself that knowledge you have been talking about, though I acknowledge your wisdom and I would like to understand it." Bayazid replied, "O Sheikh, even if you continue your ritual prayer and fasting for the next three hundred years, you would still not be able to understand the smallest portion of this wisdom." "Why?" asked the ascetic. "Because you are a prisoner of your own ego," responded Bayazid. "Is there any remedy for my condition?" asked the ascetic. "There is, but you won't be able to do it," replied Bayazid. "I promise I will accept whatever you suggest, for I have been seeking this knowledge for years," insisted the ascetic. "Then," continued Bayazid, "You must first take off your ascetic clothes and wear rags instead; let down your hair and go sit with a bag full of walnuts in a neighborhood where people know you best. Then call all the children around you and tell them, I will give a walnut to whoever smacks me on the face, two walnuts for two smacks and so on'. After you finish with that neighborhood, go to other neighborhoods until you have covered the whole town. This is your remedy." Completely bewildered and shocked the ascetic cried, "Glory be to God! There is no god but God," which was a way of expressing amazement in those days. "If an unbeliever had uttered these words," Bayazid declared, "he would have become a Moslem, but by uttering such words you have become an unbeliever!" "But why?" asked the ascetic. "Because in saying those words, you worship yourself not God," replied Bayazid. "Please give me some other counsel, Bayazid," pleaded the ascetic. "This is your only remedy, and as I said, you would not be able to do it," responded Bayazid (Adapted from 'Attar 1976, pp. 112-113).
In Bayazidian Sufism, one has to get rid of the pseudo-personality that one has created for oneself. We all want to be accepted and respected by others. Most of the time we are led by society and our own cultural norms to create a false sense of ourselves. In our modern culture, not many people care to create a superior moral personality for themselves on the basis of religion. But in Bayazid's time the acceptable personality that everyone aspired to was a religious one. Our own culture, however, does not promote religion or being pious. Success is defined and measured differently now — in terms of wealth, fame and position in society. To follow Bayazid in his search for the Truth, we have to demolish this pseudo-personality, and his way of demolishing it is by means of public disgrace. Everyone should judge you a madman, phony, or hypocrite. This is the price one has to pay for the Bayazidian Truth.
Bayazid is not saying that a person should drop out of society — for him that is the easy way out. On the contrary, he is asking people to continue doing whatever they are doing and do it to the best of their ability. 'Seeing the world' is nothing other than enjoying the world, appreciating the beauty of the world. God doesn't want Bayazid to be an ascetic. "See the whole world, but don't see yourself," was what God told Bayazid. And here we see a profound ethical principle: Do what you may, but do it selflessly.Another example of Bayazid's shattering of the acceptable image created for him by his society is provided in the following story:
Upon hearing that Bayazid was returning from his pilgrimage to Mecca, the people of Bastam went to the city's gate to welcome him with honors and reverence. For a little while, Bayazid went along with what the crowd expected of him, but he soon realized he had to put a stop to it. It was the month of Ramadan and everyone was fasting, so of course, they expected Bayazid to be fasting as well. Instead, he took a piece of bread from his bag and began eating it. No sooner did he do this than all the people around him left in disgust (Adapted from Hujwiri 1976).
Bayazid is warning us here about the dangers of identifying with what we do or what we project about ourselves. The only way we can make sure we are not attached to the sense of self that we have created for ourselves is to attract other people's blame, to make ourselves disgraceful. According to Bayazid, if it is the Truth we are after, then we should let others shatter this false image we have created for ourselves.
I have been talking so far as if it is up to the individual to act disgracefully. Yet there is another crucial factor in this process of ego-annihilation in what I have coined 'Bayazidian Sufism', and that is the role of a master or guide. The manner in which an individual is blamed or disgraced in a given society cannot be chosen by the individual himself because when it comes to dislodging our own ego's hold, we have no idea what the best way is to accomplish this. We may be tricked by the ego itself into choosing an easy way out, or the disgrace may turn out to be so harsh that we can no longer function as a productive member of the community. It is the master, and the master alone, who has the wisdom and foresight to prescribe the right dose of blame for us, just as Bayazid did for the ascetic.
This also holds true of Bayazidian selfless service. Without the love of another — in this case one's master — it is impossible to embark on the path of selfless service. It is no accident that in great love stories, the lover always engages in a number of selfless acts solely for the sake of the beloved, sometimes risking his or her own life without any hesitation or fear. Our love for another person makes us blind to our own selfish desires and egotistical tendencies. The spiritual path is no different. It is the love of our master or guide that allows us to embark on the path of selfless service. If this love is taken away, we will be faced with our own ego's false piety and pride in the service we may do for others, the way Bayazid was when he put the water in front of the dog. The importance of having a master in Bayazidian Sufism is emphasized in the following story with which I would like to end this article:
Rumi has said that the true disciple always puts the master above everyone else. Someone once asked one of Bayazid's disciples: "Who is greater, your master or Abu Hanifa?" "My master," replied the disciple. "Who is greater, Abu Bakr or your master?" "My master," again replied the disciple. "Who is greater, the other companions of the prophet, or your master?" "My master," replied the disciple once more. "Who is greater, the prophet Muhammad or your master?" "My master," replied the disciple yet again. "Well then, who is greater, God or your master?" "I have seen God in my master and know of nothing other than my master," replied the disciple for the last time (Aflaki 1983, vol. I, p. 297).

Pass Away of Abu Yazid Al Busthami.

Bayazid died in 875 AD in his hometown of Bastam where Islam, as in other parts of the Islamic world, played a major role in people's lives; almost everyone then tried to live in accordance with its rules and rituals. Daily ritual prayer, fasting, pilgrimage to Mecca and giving alms were as important and real to those people, as for example, it is to us that our children have a good education. Bayazid felt that this sort of religious life was far too superficial and hypocritical, for it was all geared towards the salvation of the individual in this world and the hereafter. For Bayazid, the conventional religious attitude is tainted with self-interest and ego, for it is ultimately construed for the sake of one's ego. But, according to Bayazid, the realm of the ego is the opposite of that of God.

Ya Allah, pouring and overflowing Ridho for him and award the us with the secret which Thou keep at him, Amen.

SAYID MUHAMMAD BIN ALWI AL MALIKI


SAYYID MUHAMMAD BIN ALWI
BIN ABBAS AL-MALIKI AL-HASANI

Born

Al-Sayyid Muhammad bin Alawi al-Maliki was was born in 1946, one of the foremost traditional slamic scholars of contemporary times and without doubt, the most highly respected and loved cholar of the holy city of Makkah. He was a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad SAW , leader of the Ahl ul- Bayt, the Imam of Hadith in our age, an authority of the four Madhabs, a spiritual leader of the highest caliber, caller to Allah, and unparalleled in his standing in the world of traditional Islamic scholarship. A visit to him was one of the musts for the Ulama who visit Makkah.
The Sayyid descends from a noble family that is directly connected to the blessed Prophet (Sall Allahu ?Alayhi Wa Sallam) himself. He is a scion of the famous Al-Maliki Al-Hasani family of Makkah, who are descendants of the Prophet (Sall Allahu ?Alayhi Wa Sallam) through his grandson, Imam al-Hasan bin Ali, may Allah be pleased with him. The Maliki family is one of the most respected families in Makkah and has produced great scholars, who have taught in the Haram of Makkah for centuries. Five of the Sayyid's ancestors have been the Maliki Imams of the Haram of Makkah. His grandfather, al-Sayyid Abbas al-Maliki was the Mufti and Qadi of Makkah and the Imam and Khatib of the Haram. He held this position during the Ottoman then Hashemite times, and continued to hold it after the Saudi Kingdom was established too. The late King Abd-al-Aziz bin Sa?ud had great respect for him.
For more about him, check Nur al-Nibras fi Asanid al-Jadd al-Sayyid Abbas by his grandson al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Maliki. His late father, al-Sayyid Alawi al-Maliki was one of the greatest Ulama of Makkah in the revious century. He taught the various traditional Islamic sciences in the Haram of Makkah for nearly 40 years! .Hundreds of students from all over the Islamic world benefited from his lessons in the Haram and many hold key religious positions in their lands today. The late King Faisal would not make any decision on Makkah without consulting al-Sayyid Alawi.
For more about al-Sayyid Alawi, check his biography called Safhat Mushriqah min Hayat al-Imam al-Sayyid al-Sharif Alawi bin Abbas al-Maliki by his son, and our author?s younger brother, al-Sayyid Abbas al-Maliki. Sayyid Abbas is also a learned scholar but is better known for his beautiful voice and as the topmost Qasidah reciter of Saudi Arabia.
The work contains articles written on al-Sayyid Alawi by scholars from all over the Islamic world. The Maliki family has produced many other scholars also, but we have only mentioned our authors eminent father and grandfather. For more information on this noble family, check works on the history of Makkah and its scholars in the last few centuries. One will find enough.
He was fortunate to have as his father, the most learned scholar of Makkah. His father was his first and primary teacher, teaching him privately at home and as well as at the Haram of Makkah, where he memorized the Holy Qur?an at a young age. He was educated by his eminent father from childhood and was authorized to teach every book he studied with him. With his fathers instruction, he also studied and mastered the various traditional Islamic sciences of Aqidah, Tafsir, Hadith, Fiqh, Usul, Mustalah, Nahw?etc at the feet of other great scholars of Makkah, as well as Madinah, all of whom granted him full Ijazah (certification) to teach these sciences to others. By the age of 15, the Sayyid was already teaching the books of Hadith and Fiqh in the Haram of Makkah to fellow students, by the orders of his teachers! After finishing his traditional education in his hometown of Makkah, he was sent by his father to study at the esteemed al-Azhar University of Egypt. He received his Ph.D. from the Azhar at the age of 25, making him the first and youngest Saudi to earn a Ph.D. from there. His thesis on Hadith was rated excellent and highly praised by the eminent Ulama of the Azhar at that time, such as Imam Abu-Zahrah.
It has been the way of most great Ulama to travel in pursuit of knowledge. The Sayyid was no exception to this rule. He traveled from a young age to seek knowledge from those who possess it. He traveled extensively in North Africa, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and the Indo-Pak sub-continent to learn from great scholars, meet the Friends of Allah, visit the Mosques and Shrines, and collect manuscripts and books. In each of these lands, he met the great Ulama and Awliya and benefited immensely from them. They in turn were also very impressed by this young student from Makkah and gave him special attention. Many already had great respect for his learned father, so were honored to have the son as their student.

Tausiyah and Ijazah

The Traditional system of education is based on Ijazah or the ?permission to transmit Knowledge?. Not anyone was allowed to teach, only those who had certified Ijazahs from well-known scholars.For every branch of knowledge and for every book of Hadith, Fiqh, Tafsir... etc, there were Sanads or chains of narration that went back to the author of the book himself through his students and their students. Many important Sanads, such as those of the Qur?an, Hadith and Tasawwuf go back to the blessed Prophet SAW himself.
Sayyid Muhammad is honored to be the Shaykh with the largest number of Ijazahs in out times. He also possesses the closest/shortest ?chain of narration? to his ancestor, the Prophet Muhammad SAW.In his Arabian homeland and in the course of his travels, the Sayyid obtained more than 200 Ijazahs from the greatest scholars of his time, in every branch of Islamic knowledge. His own Ijazah which he used to grant to his students was thus the most prestigious and rarest in the world, linking his students to countless great scholars.
One would not like to use the word ?career? for the Sayyid?s teaching activities, as it is very closely connected to material gains. The Sayyid however, like all traditional Shaykhs, and like his ancestors before him, teached solely for the sake of Allah and expects no material gains at all. In fact, he hosts a large number of students at his own residence, providing them with food, drink, shelter, clothes, books and everything else they need. In return, they are only required to follow the rules and etiquette of students of sacred knowledge. These students usually stay with him for many years, learning the various branches of Islamic knowledge, then return to their lands. Hundreds of students have learnt at his feet and have become savants of Islamic knowledge and spirituality in their countries, particularly Indonesia, Malaysia, Egypt, Yemen and Dubai.After returning from the Azhar however, he was also appointed professor of Islamic studies at the Umm al-Qura University in Makkah, where he taught from 1970.
In 1971, after his father?s death, the scholars of Makkah asked him to accept his father?s position as a teacher in the Haram, which he did. Thus, he sat on the Chair from which his family had taught for more than century. He also taught in the Haram of Madinah occasionally. His lessons were the largest attended lessons in the Two Harams.
In the early eighties however, he relinquished his teaching position in the Umm al-Qura University as well as his ancestral chair of teaching in the Haram, due to the Fatwas of some fanatical scholars of the Wahhabi sect, who considered his presence a threat to their extremist ideology and authority.
Since then, he teaches the great books of Hadith, Fiqh, Tafsir and Tasawwuf at his home and mosque on al-Maliki street in the Rusayfah district of Makkah, and his public lessons, between Maghrib and Esha, were attended by no less than 500 people daily. Many students from the University used to attend his lessons in the evenings. Even the night before he passed away, his lesson was well-attended. Sayyid Muhammad Alawi al-Maliki was highly respected by the Saudi government and was often consulted by the respected King himself on important affairs. He was also nominated as the head judge at the international Qira?at (Qur?anic reading) competition in Makkah for three consecutive years.
The Sayyid was a prolific writer and has produced close to one hundred books till now. He has written on a variety of religious, legal, social and historical topics and many of his books are considered masterpieces on the subject and are prescribed textbooks in Islamic institutes around the world. We mention here some selected works on various subjects: Aqidah:

1) Mafahim Yajib ?an Tusahhah

2) Manhaj al-Salaf fi Fahm al-Nusus

3) Al-Tahzir min al-Takfir

4) Huwa Allah

5) Qul Hazihi Sabeeli

6) Sharh ?Aqidat al-?Awam

Tafsir:

1) Zubdat al-Itqan fi ?Ulum al-Qur?an

2) Wa Huwa bi al-Ufuq al-?A?la

3) Al-Qawa?id al-Asasiyyah fi ?Ulum al-Quran

4) Hawl Khasa?is al-Quran

Hadith:

1) Al-Manhal al-Latif fi Usul al-Hadith al-Sharif 2) Al-Qawa?id al-Asasiyyah fi ?Ilm Mustalah al-Hadith 3) Fadl al-Muwatta wa Inayat al-Ummah al-Islamiyyah bihi 4) Anwar al-Masalik fi al-Muqaranah bayn Riwayat al-Muwatta lil-Imam Malik

Sirah:

1) Muhammad(Sall Allahu ?Alayhi Wa Sallam) al-Insan al-Kamil 2) Tarikh al-Hawadith wa al-Ahwal al-Nabawiyyah 3) ?Urf al-T ?arif bi al-Mawlid al-Sharif 4) Al-Anwar al-Bahiyyah fi Isra wa M?iraj Khayr al-Bariyyah 5) Al-Zakha?ir al-Muhammadiyyah 6) Zikriyat wa Munasabat 7) Al-Bushra fi Manaqib al-Sayyidah Khadijah al-Kubra

Ushul:

1) Al-Qawa?id al-Asasiyyah fi Usul al-Fiqh 2) Sharh Manzumat al-Waraqat fi Usul al-Fiqh 3) Mafhum al-Tatawwur wa al-Tajdid fi al-Shari?ah al-Islamiyyah

Fiqh:

1) Al-Risalah al-Islamiyyah Kamaluha wa Khuluduha wa ?Alamiyyatuha 2) Labbayk Allahumma Labbayk 3) Al-Ziyarah al-Nabawiyyah bayn al-Shar?iyyah wa al-Bid?iyyah 4) Shifa? al-Fu?ad bi Ziyarat Khayr al-?Ibad 5) Hawl al-Ihtifal bi Zikra al-Mawlid al-Nabawi al-Sharif 6) Al-Madh al-Nabawi bayn al-Ghuluww wa al-Ijhaf

Tasawwuf:

1) Shawariq al-Anwar min Ad?iyat al-Sadah al-Akhyar 2) Abwab al-Faraj 3) Al-Mukhtar min Kalam al-Akhyar 4) Al-Husun al-Mani?ah 5) Mukhtasar Shawariq al-Anwar

Miscellaneous:

1) Fi Rihab al-Bayt al-Haram (History of Makkah) 2) Al-Mustashriqun Bayn al-Insaf wa al-?Asabiyyah (Study of Orientalism) 3) Nazrat al-Islam ila al-Riyadah (Sports in Islam) 4) Al-Qudwah al-Hasanah fi Manhaj al-Da?wah ila Allah (Methods of Dawah) 5) Ma La ?Aynun Ra?at (Description of Paradise) 6) Nizam al-Usrah fi al-Islam (Islam and Family) 7) Al-Muslimun Bayn al-Waqi? wa al-Tajribah (Contemporary Muslim world) 8) Kashf al-Ghumma (Virtues of helping fellow Muslims) 9) Al-Dawah al-Islahiyyah (Call for Reform) 10) Fi Sabil al-Huda wa al-Rashad (Collection of speeches) 11) Sharaf al-Ummah al-Islamiyyah (Superiority of the Muslim Ummah) 12) Usul al-Tarbiyah al-Nabawiyyah (Prophetic methods of education) 13) Nur al-Nibras fi Asanid al-Jadd al-Sayyid Abbas (Set of Grandfather?s Ijazahs) 14) Al-Uqud al-Lu?luiyyah fi al-Asanid al-Alawiyyah (Set of father?s Ijazahs) 15) Al-Tali al-Said al-Muntakhab min al-Musalsalat wa al-Asanid (Set of Ijazahs) 16) Al-Iqd al-Farid al-Mukhtasar min al-Athbah wa al-Asanid (Set of Ijazahs)
This was a selected list of the works the learned Sayyid has authored and published. There are many other publications that were not mentioned and many works that are still to be published. We also did not mention the numerous important classical works that the Sayyid has located, researched and published for the first time, with notes and commentary. All together, the Sayyid?s contribution in this field has been great. Many of the Sayyids works have been translated into foreign languages.
The Sayyid was also a keen propagator of true Islamic guidance and spirituality and has traveled all over Asia, Africa, Europe and America calling people to heed to the Words of Allah and His final Messenger Muhammad SAW. In Southeast Asia especially, the Sayyid personally established and runs more than 70 Islamic schools to counter Christian missionary activities. Large numbers of Christians and Buddhists have embraced Islam at his blessed hands-many, only by looking at the Muhammadan Light shining on his face.
Wherever he went, the leaders, scholars and masses of that country receive him with jubilation. He has often addressed crowds of hundred thousand people. He is dearly loved and adored all over the Muslim world, not only because of his Muhammadan Lineage but also because of his immense knowledge, wisdom, humble manners and spiritual charisma. He was known to be extremely generous with his knowledge, wealth and time.
The Sayyid followed and advocated the mainstream majority tradition of Islam, the way of Ahl al-Sunnah wa al-Jama?ah, the hallmark of which is tolerance and moderation, knowledge and spirituality, and unity in diversity. He believed in adherence to the four established Madhhabs, but without fanaticism. He teaches respect for the great Ulama and Awliya of the past.
He was against the hasty condemnation of fellow Muslims as Kafirs and Mushriks, something that has become the trademark of certain sects today. He was very critical of so-called 20th century reformers who wish to simply wash away the Islam of the previous generations in the name of pure Islam.He believed that condemning all Ash?aris, or all Hanafis, Shafi?i?s and, Malikis or all Sufis, as some sects are doing nowadays, means condemning the whole Ummah of Islam for the past thousand years. This can only be the attitude and approach of an enemy of Islam, not a friend.
The Sayyid strongly believed that the great Madhab-following Sunni-Sufi Islamic scholars of the past thousand years, are our connection to the Qur?an and Sunnah, and not a barrier between them and us, as some would like to believe. True understanding of the Quran and Sunnah is one that is based on the interpretation of the great scholars of Islam, not the whims and fancies of modern-day extremists who don?t think twice before condemning the majority of the Muslims of the world. The Sayyid believed that the majority of this Ummah are good. It?s the fanatical minority groups that must check their extremist ideologies.
The Sayyid was also a proponent of true Shari?ah based Sufism, the Sufism of the great Awliya and saints of this Ummah. He himself was a spiritual master of the highest calibre, linked to most of the great Spiritual Orders of Islam, through great Shaykhs of the Tariqah. He believed that reciting Dhikr, alone and in congregation, is an integral part of a Muslims spiritual well being. All his students are required to pray Tahajjud and read morning and evening Awrad.
Finally, the Sayyid believed that Muslims must use their resources to uplift the state of their Ummah, spiritual, socially and materially, and not waste their precious time in fighting over petty issues. He believed Muslims should not condemn each other on matters that have been differed upon by the Ulama, they must rather join hands in combating that which is agreed upon to be evil and sin. The Sayyids views are exemplified in his most famous work Mafahim Yajib an Tusahhah (Concepts that should be rectified), a book that gained wide appreciation throughout the Islamic world, and was highly acclaimed in scholarly circles.
There is no doubt that the presence of Sayyid Muhammad Alawi is was a blessing for this Ummah. He was indeed a biological and spiritual inheritor of the beloved Prophet SAW. The people of Makkah and Madinah dearly loved him, as was displayed in his Janazah.
Anyone one who used to meet him fell in love with him. His house in the holy city of Makkah was open throughout the year for visiting scholars and students, thousands of who throng to him. Generous with guests, he was also fearless in the speaking the Truth, and has gone through extremely hard times for that. Nevertheless the support of Allah always seemed to be with him. Radiy Allahu Anhu wa Ardaah. Ameen. For more on the life and achievements of al-Shaykh al-Imam Dr. al-Sayyid Muhammad bin Alawi al-Maliki, check his excellent biography called Al-Maliki ?Alim al-Hijaz by the famous writer/historian of Makkah, Dr. Zuhayr Kutbi.
He studied in Al-Falah school in Jeddah and the school to memorize the holy Qur'an in Makkah. He traveled to India and Pakistan to learn from Hadith scholars. He got his Masters and PhD from Al-Azhar University in Egypt. He was also trained in Morocco. He taught in the Shariah College of Makkah from 1390 AH to 1399 AH. Maliki took his father's seat in the holy mosque after he died in 1391 AH and taught for many years the Arabic language, history of the Prophet (peace be upon him), Hadith, explanation of the Qur'an and jurisprudence. He participated in many Islamic and international conferences and wrote 37 books on the history of the prophet and jurisprudence. Lutfullah Hatim, a friend of Sheikh Maliki, said he was shocked by the scholar's death. He described him as a great scholar who enjoyed helping people. "The Islamic world is poorer today by his death," he added.
Tens of thousands of students attended the funeral of Sheikh Sayed Muhammad Alawi Maliki who died early Friday morning and was buried in the Al-Malah cemetery in Makkah after Taraweeh prayer. All roads leading to the cemetery were closed because of the large crowd of mourners.
His admirers began flocking to Maliki's house in the Al-Rusefah neighborhood in Makkah after hearing the news of his death. He died of complications from diabetes. Former Information Minister Dr. Muhammad Abdu Yamani, a friend of the sheikh, said the world suffered a tragic loss in his death. He described him as a man with an open mind. His house was open to everyone. "The whole of Makkah is very sad that he died. Hundreds of students graduated under his training. He was in very good condition when I met him early in Ramadan but death was too quick to claim his life," Dr. Yamani said.
More than 200,000 people attended the funeral, most of them people who attended his lectures and others who loved him. More than 600 of his students attended his final lecture, which lasted until 2 a.m., an hour before he died. Sameer Barkah, one of the students close to the sheikh, told Al-Madinah, "He looked very happy the day he died and he was joking with his children and grandchildren. He prayed the entire Taraweeh prayer, though he was suffering severe pain."
The residents of Makkah and the surrounding areas had a great shock when they heard that Muhammad ibn Alawi Al-Maliki Al-Husseini, a great scholar and a Makkah icon, had died. His death comes at a time when we are all in great need of him and his knowledge.
I had heard of Al-Maliki before I met him. My late father talked to me about Al-Malki and his ingenuity in mastering the science of Usool Al-Fiqh (basics of jurisprudence), had told Al-Maliki?s father, Sayed Alawi, also a scholar, that his son was like the branch of a tree that had excelled the trunk.
Al-Maliki went to Egypt where he studied Islamic jurisprudence at Al-Azhar University. When he returned to Saudi Arabia, he had gained a thorough understanding of the meaning of Islam and its various schools of thought, its dimensions and its respect for the views of others. He also studied Islamic knowledge under the scholars in the Holy Haram that in those days was full of scholars of different schools with different ideas and opinions. This reinforced what he had learned in Egypt where people had opened their minds to different views. God Almighty has implanted in our nature a freedom of opinion and a freedom to differ and that is why He created us. This late scholar had wide knowledge and was magnanimous, large-hearted and frank in presenting his views. He stood for truth without caring for criticism. He objected strongly when people, believing in fantasy, thought that they could defeat him through argument and curb his influence.
I have seen him on many occasions, exuding confidence, never raising his voice. He left the hypocrites shivering with the clarity of his arguments and he silenced the sycophants. Nobody could buy him as knowledge is not available for money; unfortunately, some of his colleagues allowed themselves to be bought.
He wrote a number of books and delivered hundreds of speeches in Muslim countries from Morocco to Indonesia. Hundreds of students visited him at his house in Makkah and benefited from his knowledge despite bans and other obstacles.
Many books have been written attacking him and statements with no basis in truth were made by his opponents in order to blacken his reputation; he ignored them and did not bother to respond to baseless criticisms. When one of Al-Maliki?s associates recited a couplet that described his opponents unfavorably, his comment was, ?I will not allow you to describe them like that. They have their opinions and I have mine. What we oppose is the idea that everybody should have the same opinion. Islam is wide and opens its heart to a variety of opinions under the banner of Lailaha Illallah (There is no god but Allah).
Three days before his sudden death, he was my guest at a sahoor party to which I had invited some friends to honor him. We enjoyed exchanging views and opinions and we were so enthralled by his talk that we urged him to say more. He promised me that he would arrange a meeting with one of the Shafie scholars in the Kingdom after he returned from Madinah but he died without having the chance to fulfill his promise.
We, the people of Makkah, have been stunned by two tragedies. The death of Al-Maliki occurred before we had recovered from the shock of the death of Muhammad Hassan Faqi, the poet of Arabism. Faqi was a great thinker but unlike many poets, he was not a sycophant. When he became well known outside the Kingdom, people accused him of apostasy. Now Al-Malki too has left us and we will suffer from his absence. Our consolation must be that his message was the eternal message of Islam, which will continue to shine despite all the smear campaigns.
Al-Maliki?s body was laid to rest in Al-Mualla Graveyard in Makkah beside his father, Sayed Alawi. I was unable to bid him a final farewell, as I was sick in bed. It pleased me, however, to hear that thousands had come for his funeral in the Haram Mosque where they prayed for him and showed him their love and respect. May God?s mercy fall upon this beloved scholar who was also a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Pass Away of Sayyid Muhammad bin Alawi al-Maliki.

He passed away in 1971 and his funeral was the biggest in Makkah in a 100 years! For the next three days after his death, the local Saudi radio stations played the holy Qur?an only. This was something that was done only for him. He passed away on Friday the 15th of Ramadan (and he had wished for dyeing in Ramadan) in a state of fasting in his house in Makkah. His Death was sudden. Here is something I wrote to a friend after his Janazah.The Sayyid was buried next to his Father, near the Grave of his ancestor Sayyidah Khadijah. Before he passed away, he had phoned an old student in Indonesia and asked him if would come to Makkah in Ramadan? When he said no...the Sayyid said : "Wont you attend my Funeral?!! Indeed, he passed away in Ramadan on a Friday Morning...what more sign of Acceptance by Allah does one need?! . Makkah is crying for him, Arabia is crying for him...the entire Islamic World is crying for him Sayed Muhammad Alawi Maliki, a prominent scholar of Makkah, died yesterday morning in the holy city at the age of 60. He was suffering from diabetes. Maliki was born in Makkah and brought up in a religious family. His father, Sayed Alawi Malki, was one of Makkah's well-known religious scholars. He was educated in Makkah inside the holy mosque under the guidance of top scholars, including his father and Sheikh Hasan Muhammad Al-Mashat.
May Allah grant him the highest place in Jannah next to his beloved Grandfather, Sayyidina Rasulollah SAW. Ameen.

Ya Allah, pouring and overflowing Ridho for him and award the us with the secret which Thou keep at him, Amen.

7/20/2009

SALMAN AL FARISI


SALMAN AL FARISI

Kelahiran

Salman berasal dari Isfahan, tepatnya sebuah tempat yang bernama Jai di Persia. Ia dibesarkan dari lingkungan keluarga berkecukupan. Seluruh keperluan hidupnya terpenuhi.Ia anak kesayangan orang tuanya. Bapaknya adalah tokoh berpengaruh dalam kabilahnya, yaitu sebuah masyarakat yang menyembah dan menjadikan api sebagai Tuhan alias Majusi atau Zoroaster.Ayah Salman termasuk penyembah api yang setia. Sebagian hidupnya ia sedekahkan bagi kemuliaan agama leluhur. Merelakan dan menyerahkan dirinya menjaga api untuk tetap menyala.Sebagai orang kaya dan terhormat, orang tua Salman memiliki banyak tanah. Bahkan karena banyak lahan yang dimiliki, ayah Salman tidak mungkin memeriksa tanahnya satu per satu. Kerap ia meminta Salman melakukan pekerjaan mengontrol sawah dan perkebunan itu.
Perjalanan Hidup Salman Al Farisi

Suatu hari, dalam perjalanan menuju kebun, Salman melewati sebuah gereja yang padat dengan jamaah. Mereka tengah khusyuk melakukan ibadah. Heran dan kagum tumbuh dalam hati Salman begitu menyaksikan cara sembahyang yang belum pernah dilihatnya. Cara beribadah lain yang membuat hati Salman penasaran.Ia mengikuti kemauan kakinya melangkah untuk masuk ke dalam gereja tersebut. Makin dalam ia melangkah ke dalam gereja, tiba-tiba hatinya berbisik, menyatakan, cara sembahyang yang dilihatnya jauh lebih baik dari cara masyarakatnya selama ini.Sehari lamanya Salman memperhatikan prosesi ibadah di gereja itu hingga lupa akan tugas yang diberikan sang bapak. Ia bahkan lupa pulang ke rumah sehingga orang tuanya mengutus pesuruh untuk menjemput.Ketika kembali ke rumah gundah hatinya makin kuat terutama keraguan yang muncul dari lubuk hatinya setelah ia menyaksikan cara beribadah agama yang berasal dari Syuriah itu.Sesampainya di rumah, bukan keadaan kebun yang dilaporkan Salman kepada sang bapak. Ia malah bercerita tentang pengalaman yang dijumpainya di gereja. Mendiskusikan dengan bapaknya, bahkan memuji agama baru itu di depan orang tuanya sehingga tak tahan. Ia lantas merantai dan mengurung Salman di sebuah gudang.Perlakuan yang diterima membuat Salman meyakini kebenaran agama Nasrani terutama setelah sang bapak berbuat kasar karena kalah dalam diskusi. Salman lantas mengirim berita kepada jemaah pemeluk agama dari Syuriah itu. Ia menyatakan, dirinya telah menyembah Allah, seperti mereka. Ia juga meminta agar memberitahukan kepadanya bila ada rombongan Nasrani dari Syuriah yang datang agar bisa turut serta dengan mereka bila hendak kembali ke Syuriah suatu hari nanti.Di luar dugaan, permintaan itu dipenuhi. Suatu hari datang kabar dari seorang pembantu Salman yang masih setia. Ia mengatakan, serombongan orang Syuriah akan kembali ke negara mereka. Berita itu sontak membuat hati Salman berbunga-bunga. Ia sangat gembira menerima berita itu. Angannya menerawang, membayangkan betapa ia bakal menjalani perjalanan yang menyenangkan.Dengan sekuat tenaga diputusnya rantai yang membelenggu. Ia mendobrak gudang tempat ia dipasung. Lantas melarikan diri ke Syuriah bersama rombongan yang hendak menuju ke negara asal agama Nasrani itu. Selama menempuh perjalanan, semua hal yang terkait dengan agama Nasrani ia tanyakan kepada rombongan, satu per satu, dengan perasaan yang bahagia.Sampai di sana, Salman menanyakan orang yang ahli dan tekun menjalankan agama mereka. “Orang itu adalah uskup dan pemimpin gereja,” kata mereka memberi jawab. Salman lalu datang kepadanya dan menceritakan kisah yang sudah dijalani, lantas menyerahkan diri dan mengabdi kepada uskup, sang pemimpin agama itu.Setelah beberapa saat, Salman sadar akan perilaku buruk uskup itu. Meski sering berkhotbah, ia selalu menipu umatnya. Uskup itu mengumpulkan harta dengan alasan untuk amal buat dibagikan kepada orang miskin. Tetapi setelah harta itu terkumpul, sang uskup malah menyimpan untuk kepentingan diri sendiri. Hal itu terjadi berulang kali dan diketahui Salman secara pasti. Penipuan tersebut terjadi berkali-kali, terus-menerus, hingga sang uskup meninggal. Sepeninggal uskup, masyarakat mengangkat pemimpin gereja yang baru. Ia orang yang baik dalam berperilaku. Saleh menjalankan perintah agama. Selalu tepat waktu melaksanakan peribadatan.Perilaku ini membuat Salman kagum. Secara pelan tumbuh rasa cinta dan keikhlasan membantu uskup itu mengembangkan agama Nasrani. Terutama karena yang dilakukan dan yang dikatakan uskup sama benar dan baiknya. Sehingga ia rela melayani kebutuhan uskup itu setiap hari dengan ikhlas. Bertahun-tahun Salman melayaninya hingga datang waktu uskup itu menjelang ajalnya. Sebelum datang kematiannya, Salman menemuinya, “Ke mana sebaiknya saya pergi, untuk mengabdi sekaligus belajar agama kepada orang seperti Anda?” tanya Salman dengan suara parau. Uskup itu menjawab, “Aku tidak mengerti ke mana seharusnya kamu pergi, anakku. Tetapi sepengetahuanku, tidak ada orang yang berperilaku sepertiku, kecuali seorang yang hidup dan tinggal di Mosul.”
Salman akhirnya berangkat ke Mosul, wilayah Irak. Sesampainya di sana ia ceritakan kisah perjalanan hidupnya. Ia mengabdi kepada orang yang ditunjukkan uskup sebelumnya sampai datang saat ajal hendak menjemput orang itu. Sebelum uskup itu meninggal Salman telah bertanya, ke mana ia harus pergi sepeninggalnya nanti. Orang itu berkata agar Salman pergi ke Amurian di Byzantium. Sesampainya di sana, Salman segera menemui orang yang ditujunya. Hingga ia tinggal, mengabdi, sembari beternak lembu dan domba.Ketika dia harus meninggalkan Byzantium karena ajal telah mendekati bapak angkatnya, Salman gundah. Ia tak tahu harus ke mana. Sampai akhirnya, ayah angkat itu pun berkata, “Hai anakku, aku tidak tahu siapa orang yang sejalan denganku sehingga aku tidak tahu ke mana kau harus pergi. Tetapi kau sudah dekat dengan masa di mana akan datang nabi pengikut Nabi Ibrahim. Ia akan hijrah ke tempat yang banyak ditumbuhi pohon kurma. Ikutilah dia. Karena dia mudah dikenali. Ia tidak makan sedekah, tetapi ia mau menerima hadiah. Di antara dua pundaknya terdapat tanda-tanda kenabian.”Pada hari berikutnya, secara kebetulan lewat serombongan orang yang menuju ke Jariah Arab. “Aku berikan domba dan lembu ini pada kalian jika kalian mau membawaku ke negeri asal kalian,” kata Salman kepada pemimpin rombongan. Mereka setuju membawa Salman turut serta. Sehingga sampailah Salman di Wadi Al-Quro. Tetapi hati Salman sedih. Ia merasa telah ditipu. Sebab, ternyata mereka telah menjual Salman kepada seorang Yahudi sebagai budak belian. Begitupun Salman masih berharap. Ia yakin, pesan yang disampaikan bapak angkat yang terakhir bakal menjadi kenyataan. Karena dia melihat banyak pohon kurma tumbuh di sekitarnya. Tetapi impian itu ternyata masih jauh dari kenyataan. Karena ia tetap tinggal di Wadi Al-Quro, bersama orang Yahudi yang membelinya.Setiap hari ia harus bekerja sebagai budak. Berbagai pekerjaan berat harus dia lakukan. Sekali saja membantah majikan, tangan, cambuk, atau caci maki, pasti akan diterimanya. Itu berjalan terus-menerus.Kisah hidup yang dilalui Salman dalam meruntut jejak Tuhannya sangatlah berliku. Terpisah dari orang yang dicintai, dirampok, dan menjadi budak. Lalu turunlah rahmat Allah sebagai hadiah atas kesabarannya.Seperti sudah digariskan, beberapa lama setelah itu, Salman dijual pemiliknya. Kali ini ia dibeli orang dari Bani Quraidhah yang tinggal di Medinah. Suatu hari, ketika dia sedang
memetik kurma, datang sepupu tuannya sambil terbirit-birit. Ia mengabarkan, “Aku lihat dengan mataku sendiri, banyak orang berkerumun mengelilingi seorang lelaki yang datang dari Mekah dan mengaku sebagai nabi.”Secara tidak sadar tubuh Salman bergetar setelah mendengar berita itu. Ia bahkan nyaris terjatuh menimpa tuannya yang ada di bawah. Pada malam harinya, Salman segera mengumpulkan barang-barang yang ia punya. Lantas pergi ke Quba, pinggiran kota Yastrib, untuk menemui laki-laki yang disebut nabi itu.
“Saudara-saudara adalah pendatang. Saya yakin, Tuan-tuan memerlukan makanan. Terima dan makanlah sedekah saya ini,” kata Salman. Seseorang dari mereka lantas menerima makanan itu. Lalu ia menyerahkan makanan sedekah itu kepada para sahabat. Sementara Nabi sendiri tidak ikut menikmatinya.
Keesokan harinya Salman kembali menemui rombongan itu. “Saudaraku, semalam saya melihat Anda tidak mau makan sedekah yang aku berikan, terimalah ini makanan dariku sebagai hadiah buat Anda,” kata Salman dengan hati-hati.Tak lama berselang, orang yang semalam menerima itu kembali menerima bingkisan yang dibawa Salman. “Atas nama Allah makanlah hadiah ini,” kata sipenerima sembari ikut menikmati makanan yang diterimanya.
Pada hari yang lain Salman kembali datang. Dillihatnya, orang yang sudah dua kali menerima makanannya mengenakan dua lembar kain dipundak. Sembari membungkuk, Salman mengucap salam kepadanya. Tanpa dinyana, orang itu malah menyingkapkan kain penutup itu, sehingga terlihat tanda-tanda kenabian, seperti yang disampaikan pendeta Nasrani itu.
Lutut Salman lantas bergetar hebat. Ia lantas semakin mendekat ke arah Rasulullah, menangis, seraya mencium tangannya. Menceritakan semua kisah dan kejadian yang telah dia alami. Seketika itu ia menyatakan diri sebagai pengikut Muhammad dan mengucapkan dua kalimah syahadat

Keutaamaan Salman Al Farisi

Salman al-Farisi adalah sahabat Rasul yang mahir mengatur strategi perang. Ia terkenal cerdas, seperti sahabat Nabi lain yang berasal dari Persia. Ini dibuktikan saat terjadi Perang Khandaq.Menghadapi pasukan musuh yang berkoalisi, umat Islam berhasil meraih kemenangan. Dua puluh empat ribu pasukan musuh dibuat porak-poranda. Berkat parit yang diusulkan Salman disertai pertolongan Allah SWT yang mendatangkan angin topan. Musuh-musuh agama Allah itu pulang dengan tangan hampa. Hati mereka kecewa karena kalah. Sejak itu nama Salman makin bersinar di kalangan sahabat. Pemuda dengan rambut panjang dan tubuh kekar itu memiliki kecerdasan akal.

Ya Allah, curahkan dan limpahkanlah keridhoan atasnya dan anugerahilah kami dengan rahasia-rahasia yang Engkau simpan padanya, Amin