Stray Reflections

Dr Umar Abdullah of the Nawawi Foundation has produced another interesting and thought provoking article focusing on the needs of the Muslims in the West (esp in America). This is I believe his sixth article written with a view to addressing these needs. You can read all of the articles here. An extract form Living Islam with Purpose:

Living Islam With Purpose
The earlier Nawawi Foundation paper Islam and the Cultural Imperative addressed the necessity of establishing an authentic indigenous Muslim cultural presence in America. Living Islam with Purpose complements that paper by offering an operational framework for accomplishing the task. This framework consists of “five operational principles,” which are discussed at length and illustrated with examples:

• Trusting reason
• Respecting dissent
• Stressing societal obligation
• Setting priorities
• Embracing maxims

These five principles are central to the Islamic tradition and embody the practical wisdom and consummate sensibility of the Prophetic teaching. The paper emphasizes the need for American Muslims as a whole to become directly involved in their self-definition and the construction of their future as individuals and communities. This task cannot be left to others or to chance; the five operational principles provide an invaluable resource for determining the way forward. Living Islam with Purpose focuses on the American Muslim community but is relevant to Muslims everywhere, especially those in the West.

Read Full Article.

Here’s a recitation of the famous darood sharif by Sidi Abd-as-Salam aMashish (RA). He was the master of the great Imam of tasawwuf Sidi Abul Hasan as-Shadhili (RA) and regarded as the Qutb of his time. It’s a beautiful litany summarizing the sufi understanding of the greatness of the rank of the Blessed Prophet (upon him be Peace and Blessings). God willing, I’ll post the words in the future. Do listen.

May God fill it with Light and elevate his rank. He continues to be an inspiration.

 
The teapot and utensils of Hz Mehr Ali Shah (RA).

My dear brother Green Sufi has outdone me again! In a recent post he enumerates the virtues of my favorite beverage chai (tea). A coup from chaiwala’s point of view but I’m not going to complain. Read his post here.

Jaane Saqi ki ankhon ne kiya ishara kar diya

aaj hum ne nazar-e-Saqi zuhd-o-taqwa kar diya

Kaabe walon se jo puchi mein ne manzil Yaar ki

buthkade ki janib chupke se ishara kar diya

( I know not what the Saqi’s eyes signalled

but we have rendred up our abstinence and piety in His honour.

When I asked of the Kaaba dwellers the home of the Beloved

a secret gesture pointed the way to the idol-house.)

I heard these at an urs gathering and they have never failed to remind of the “one thing needful”.

An excellent article on the Shaykh al-Akbar’s hermeneutics and the immense adab that he shows for the “letter” of the Qur’an from the Ibn Arabi Society website. An extract:

Recent studies of the work of the Shaykh al-Akbar have been bringing more and more clearly to light the fact that his doctrine is rooted in the Qur’an and the Sunna.[1] His major, and sometimes minor, works demonstrate by their means of exposition, and sometimes by their structure, links obvious and subtle with the text of Revelation.[2] Rigorous respect for the letter of the Qur’an and the prophetic model on the one hand, and unlimited grasp of Reality on the other, must balance. Moreover, the Book which came down to Man speaks to him in terms of transcendence and of likeness; it distinguishes the servant and Lord, while calling Man back to the Unique One. Only the heart, receptacle of the Divine Word, can unite all these aspects. Do we not find, in the middle of those verses a Revelation announcing Its principle, intermediary, and the one to whom it is sent, the new and the ancient form:

This is the descent (tanzîl) brought about by the Lord of the worlds. The Faithful Spirit brought it down. Upon your heart so that you might be among the Warners. In a clear Arabic tongue. And it is found in the writings of the Ancients. (Qur’an)

The heart of the Seal of the Prophets (upon him may grace and peace descend), and him alone, is endowed with such comprehension and comprehensiveness. Receptivity to the Word, then, exerts an action of balancing, and consequently inspires the right attitude in any situation, whether it be a matter of doctrine, path of initiation, religious practice or of comportment towards any being whatsoever. Arab and Islamic tradition name this attitude by the term ‘adab‘.[3]There is then nothing surprising in the fact that it often occurs in the writings of the Shaykh al-Akbar. But, while the classical literature of tasawwuf makes rather more use of the term to express the quality of the attitude which it should be observed in respect of God, or in relation between master and disciples (adab al-subha), Ibn ‘Arabi places it on the level of doctrine. He particularly insists on respect, as he himself states it, for the prophetic and Quranic message, and adab towards the text quickly becomes, as we shall try to show, one of the keys to his understanding.

Although there are some typographical mistakes and an edginess of expression at times due to it being a translation from the French (I think) it is still well worth reading. The full text is here.

Love is a ship for the elect:
it is deliverance from disaster.
Sell intelligence and buy bewilderment:
your intelligence may be opinion,
while bewilderment may be naked vision.
Sacrifice your understanding in the presence of Muhammad:
say, God suffices me.*

Masnavi Bk4 1406-1408

* from Qur’an.

…

A chilling documentary on the present state of affairs in Gaza. When people are forced to live in inhuman conditions will their humanity not suffer? If it does ( and it surely does) then they are not the only ones to suffer the consequences. See it for yourself here.

An excellent article by one of the great masters of recent times Shaykh Ahmad al-Alawi of the Shadhili tariqa from Algeria. It answers a question that I have often wondered about namely the true meaning of darood sharif, the prayer of blessings on the Prophet (saws). An extract:

It was requested from the great master of the Path, famous for the transmission of the invocation of the Supreme Divine Name, Mawlānā Abu’l Abbās Shaykh Sīdī Ahmad ibn Mustafa al-‘Alawī al-Mustaghānimī, may Allah grant us and the Muslims his good-pleasure and extend his life, that he compose some words dealing with the prayer of benediction (salawāt) upon the Prophet [sallallahu `alahyi wa sallam], explicating its profound meanings. So he responded to this request - may Allah be ever-pleased with him - saying:

The full text is here.