Category Archive

• This is in no way a review of any sort, just my thoughts. A review would actually require concentration, and with little sleep, I have none.
• Alhamdulilah it was 90 minutes.  I wish it had been longer.
• On the other hand, that meant I was up past 11:00 p.m.  And I’m here at work with 5 hours of sleep.  And I don’t do good on anything less than 8.  Ur.
• loved the muslim version of ring around the rosy: Ring around the kaaba/follow the sahaaba/sajda, sajda/we all bow down.
• MashaAllah those brothers were rocking some awesome beards and thobes
• Ditto mashaAllah rocking those tasbih.
• Didya hear Imam Zaid? I’m pretty sure it was him introducing the event in Chicago.
• I was speculating from the beginning that the masjid was related to Uthman dan Fodio in some way. I was right.  I found an interview with Br. Hamza done last year after watching the movie that mentions it, but can’t find it now.  Dur.
• Now I have an urge to go dig up my african history books from my freshman year of college and reaquaint myself with muslim west africa. 
• Also, need to introduce AbuS to Uthman dan Fodio (ra), cuz he needs to know some kick butt sufis.
• The way Br. Hamza talked about the Prophet (saws) is exactly how I feel about him.  You read more, you change for the better and your love for him increases.
• The dawah Br. Hamza was doing in the prison was awesome.
• Can’t say I’m a fan of gender mixing crowds at hip hop concerts.
• Overall, I thought the movie presented muslims in a very positive light.

From Sunnipath, reproduced here to clear up the formating issues.  Excerpt:

The essence of Salat comprises three basic elements. It is composed of

a) Feeling of respect, reverence and awe in the heart totally,

b) Remembrance of Allah by tongue (word),

c) Showing bodily (physical) respect and reverence to Allah at the utmost degree.

Full article below the cut

Read the rest of this entry »

From Imam ar-Rabbani via Sunnipath:

The Shari`ah has three parts: knowledge, action, and sincerity of motive (ikhlas); unless you fulfil the demands of all these parts, you do not obey the Shari`ah. And when you obey the Shari`ah you obtain the pleasure of God, which is the most supreme good in this world and the Hereafter. The Qur’an says: “The pleasure of God is the highest good.” Hence, the Shari`ah comprehends all the good of this world and the next, and nothing is left out for which one has to go beyond the Shari`ah.

The tariqah ["way"] and the haqiqah["reality"] for which the Sufis are known, are subservient to the Shari`ah, as they help to realize its third part, namely, sincerity. Hence they are sought in order to fulfil the Shari`ah, not to achieve something beyond the Shari`ah. The raptures and ecstasies which the Sufis experience, and the ideas and truths which come to them in the course of their journey, are not the goal of Sufism. They are rather myths and fancies on which the children of Sufism are fed. One has to pass over them all and reach the stage of satisfaction (rida) which is the final goal of suluk ["travelling", i.e. the Sufi path] and jadhbah ["overwhelming love"]. The purpose of traversing the stages of of tariqah and haqiqah is nothing other than the realisation of ikhlas which involves the attainment of rida. Only one out of a thousand Sufis is graced with the three illuminations (tajalliyat sih ganah) and gnostic visions, given ikhlas and elevated to the stage of rida.

Alhamdulilah.  The Lord truly listens and answers His servant’s prayers.   I asked Allah (swt) to guide me and to show me what I need to do in order to strengthen my deen, and alhamdulilah, it’s right there in front of me.  A sheikh and his knowledgable wife visited the twin cities this weekend and it was exactly what I had been looking for.

I just wish I had remembered to bring a notebook and a working pen.  I had to dig out my little hello kitty notepad and the broken pen from my purse to take attempt to take notes.  The bottom line was that sin weighs us down.  It depresses us and takes the good from us.  We need to be constantly making tawbah, for Allah (swt) is All Forgiving and loves to forgive.  And if we ask for forgiveness, inshaAllah tala, Allah (swt) will give it to us.

The sheikh also related a story from Hasan al Basri (ra)  that I have heard before, but that was just as powerful the second time as the first:

Here is a tale of a child raised by his widowed mother in the time of the great Hasan al-Basri. She was a pious, devout Muslim who would regularly attend Imam Hasan’s Quran dars. She valiantly tried to raise her son on the correct path, but unfortunately when he reached the age of adulthood, he gained control of his inheritance and fell in with the wrong crowd.

With seemingly limitless funds at his disposal, he sinned his youth away.

And all throughout, his mother, a devout servant of Allah (swt), would constantly implore him to return to the right path. But he constantly refused, choosing instead to follow his nafsi whims and desires. Many times she brought him to Hasan al-Basri, who would calmly and politely admonish him, but to no avail. Even the words of the great Imam could not bring about the desired affect.

Years passed and Imam Hasan grew to tire of his wayward shenanigans and resolved that maybe Allah (swt) had simply not written for the boy to be guided. Yet, the mother remained steadfast, as only a mother could, in her wishes to reform her one and only child. Every morning, when he would return from his nights of mischief, she would call on him to make amends with his Creator and return to the path of righteousness.

As he got older and due to the effect of his foolhardy ways, sickness befell him and he became bedridden. Having squandered his wealth, seeing the weakness of his once sturdy body, and with death lingering around the corner, only then did he realize the error of his ways.

His unrelenting mother was by his bed, reminding him that it was never too late to repent. Even though his worldly life was wasted, he still had the chance to salvage his afterlife with sincere atonement, she repeated to him.

Sensing his mortality, his heart finally softened and he responded with a query, “After a life of sin, I don’t know how to repent. Can we go to Imam Hasan?”

Sensing a bit of hope, she excitedly replied, “My dear son, you are too sick to walk and I am too old to carry you, but I will rush and beckon him to come here.”

When she reached him and requested his company with her son, he remembered the countless failed efforts and quickly wrote him off, “My dear sister, I have the Quran lesson for which I must prepare. Over a thousand students will come and I owe it to them to properly present my lesson. Besides, your son has consistently ignored my advise, rejected any efforts to reform and basically rejected the message of Islam so many times that I fear he is beyond assistance.

“Should I not spend my time for those who are coming to seek the knowledge, who have shown a keen interest, who are trying to please their Lord? I’m sorry but at this time, I really cannot make it.”

Dejectedly, she quietly whispered to him, “Then at least when the angel of death visits him, can you come to our home and lead the Janaza prayer over him?”

He sharply rebuked her, “Throughout his entire life, I have never seen your son pray a single prayer, fast a single day, attend a single Juma’a. I fear that he has left the ranks of the Muslim and thus, I am sad to say that praying over him would not be permitted.”

With a broken heart, she returned home to inform her dying son of the tragic response by Hasan al-Basri. Upon hearing that even the great Imam Hasan refused to pray the Janaza over him, he burst into tears and made his dying wishes, “Oh my mother, I have lived a life of shameless sin and indulgence. I have wronged everyone that I have known. I have disappointed you and I have disappointed my Lord. So please, when I die please do not bury me in the company of Muslims, for I fear that they will be undeservedly disturbed by my cries of pain and misery.”

And with his weeping mother by his bedside, he continued, “And before you bury me, please take my corpse, tie it to the wild dogs on the street, and let it be dragged through the streets where my final fate in this life will match my eternal fate in the hereafter.”

With that he breathed his last breath.

And at that same moment, a knock came on the door. Startled, the grieving mother got up to answer it and found Hasan al-Basri standing there. He explained, “As I was preparing my lesson, I fell asleep and it was then that I heard a voice say ‘Oh Hasan, what kind of wali are you of Mine, that you have refused to pray the Janaza over another wali of Mine?’”

How amazing is Allah (swt)’s forgiveness, that after a lifetime of complete and total waste, a moment of sincere repentance is enough to become a wali of Allah (swt)?

I really am feeling amazing right now and feel like there is some real direction in my life.  Please make dua for me that this feeling remains and that Allah (swt) continues to guide me.

Via Sufi News and Sufism World Report:

“You’d believe me if I said I was from Minnesota, right?” asks Charlie Sanders, noting his appearance, at the top of his new solo show.  “But if I told you I was raised Muslim. you’d think I was kidding. ”

…
Sanders draws in the audience by recalling, with hilarious acuity, the confusion of his teenage peers in the early ’90s. Spike Lee had just made Malcolm X; when some of the African-Americans at Sanders’s school found out he was Muslim, they accused him of posing, of trying to co-opt something “black.” Then he recited a prayer in perfect Arabic, and they lionized him.

…

The piece teems with misguided characters searching for meaning.  In spite of this – or pehraps because of it – Sanders offers no message.  His disinterest in dogma might mirror a decision to leave behind the religion of his youth (he admits he’s agnostic now).

I’m disapointed by that last bit – would love to see more practicing muslims creating “halal theater.”  The husband is in theater, if only as an accountant for one, lol.  It does mean we get lots of tickets to lots of shows though

Did a little googling, and found that he’s posting as “Bacon Shakin” on an improv board.  It would be interesting to see the show, if only to try to suss out why someone raised in Islam in the same environment I’m in would leave.

I finally got my Eid present. Nope, not the husband’s fault. I ordered Treatise For The Seekers Of Guidance a few days before Eid and promptly forgot about it. A week ago, I remembered and was like, where the heck is that book? Before I had a chance to email and ask, I received an email that it was shipped. It arrived yesterday. Obscenely long processing time aside, I’m uber excited about this book!

When I read, I tend to skim. This works fine if you’re reading a hundred pages a day for a college course, or Harry Potter, but it doesn’t work when you’re studying sacred knowledge. One needs to read deliberately, reflecting on each word. Alhamdulilah, the set up of this book is quite conducive to this. Imam al Muhasibi’s text is in bold, and Imam Zaid’s commentary follows in a normal font. Imam Zaid’s commentary serves as a jumping off point for reflection on the words of the original author.

From page one, this book has tremendous benefit. In fact, these first few sections are right in line with what I’m studying in my Sunnipath course on the Creed of Imam Tahawi. Alhamdulilah.

An excerpt from page one:

All praise is fittingly rendered unto God, the First, the Preexisting, the One, and the Majestic.

Something can be first and also have a beginning. Adam was the first man, but he had a beginning. God is unique that He is the first with no beginning. His existence necessarily precedes all other existence, and all else in existence owes its existence to Him, the Creator. Hence, He alone is preexisting. One holding this unique distinction is deserving of all praise for all else owes its existence to Him. This is the foundation of the most credible arguments for the existence of God. Acknowledging God as preexisting and eternal allows us to avoid the logical problems arising from infinite regress, when trying to account for the origin of creation, and the appearance of an obvious effect, in this case, the creation, without the existence of a causal agent, the creator.

 This book is awesome.  Seriously, seriously awesome.  It’s not something you can sit down and read in large chunks.  I’m going to read a paragraph each night and then just reflect as I fall asleep inshaAllah.  Awesomeness to the nth degree, mashaAllah.

How often do we just sit and think about Allah (swt)?  How much of our day is devoted solely to Allah (swt)?   How much of our day is taken up by the mundanities of the dunya?   Get up, get dressed, go to work, go to the gym, come home, eat dinner, veg in front of the TV or computer.  Make all your salat on time if you’re lucky.  Time for dhikr or reading Qur’an?  Phffft!  Go to bed, get up and start it all over again.

an excerpt with some questions for reflection in purple: 

God alone, and none other, is the true Deity, the Necessary Existent, who is Creator, Producer, Fashioner, Provider, Giver of life and death, and Wise Disposer (Think about each of these names.  What do they mean in relation to you, to the world, to creation, to life itself?); who has perfected everything He has created, and excelled in everything which He has made; who directs all things with ultimate precision, and has determined everything He has decreed (Think about your life.  Every action you’ve taken.  Everything, good and bad, that has happened to you.  How is each thing the best possibility for you?). He alone is the true God, Pre-existent and Eternal, worthy of inward and external worship (What are inward and external worship?  Which of these do you do each day?  What more could you do?), exalted above all blemish, who possesses the most exalted attributes and the most beautiful names. His are might and majesty; none shares in His essence, attributes or actions.  There is no other God than He.

Anyone else have any other questions to spark reflection on this passage?

And they’re not at the same time, so you can go to both

On the authority of Abdullah bin Abbas, who said : One day I was behind the prophet and he said to me:

“Young man, I shall teach you some words [of advice]: Be mindful of Allah, and Allah will protect you. Be mindful of Allah, and you will find Him in front of you. If you ask, ask of Allah; if you seek help, seek help of Allah. Know that if the Nation were to gather together to benefit you with anything, it would benefit you only with something that Allah had already prescribed for you, and that if they gather together to harm you with anything, they would harm you only with something Allah had already prescribed for you. The pens have been lifted and the pages have dried.”
SunniPath is excited to announce a free live event on the 5th October, 2pm GMT with Ustadha Zaynab Ansari.
The event will be an explanation of this hadith focusing on the Prophet’s (Allah bless him and give him peace):
Great concern for young people
His ability to offer encouragement for proper action
How to be successful as a Muslim
The importance of total reliance on Allah Ta’ala and
How the hadith is a balm for hearts in troubled times
Seats are limited.
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So it is perpetually beholding the divine, with a heart that is out of it’s mind with Love for Allah (swt).

Alhamdulilah, I signed up for Introduction to Islamic Belief for the fall semester at Sunnipath.  It’s a birthday present from the husband   He’s so sweet.  He said sign up for anything you want, but not a sufi class.  Ah honey, I need to take those sufi classes to earn the degree inshaAllah.  Oh well, you’ll have to pay for those on your own.  Thus continues the joys of living in a zahari/shafi’i sufi marriage.

However, I must give him credit where credit is due.  Even though he is not a fan of tasawwuf (ok, that’s an understatement), he hasn’t stopped me from exploring that path.  Alhamdulilah.

If anyone is taking this course, let me know.  We could be study buddies.

There is almost nothing quite as satisfying as a great find at a used book store.  Ok, perhaps that betrays what a boring and uneventful life I lead, but if that’s how it is, so be it.

Usually the Islam section at used bookstores are skewed heavily towards the “omg islam is evil11!!1!” genre and books that are written about Islam from an outsiders perspective.  Qur’ans are usually NJ Dawood, with the occasional AJ Arberry thrown in.

Imagine my suprise then, when I found the following books during my weekend book browse.  It was all I could do to stop myself from doing a happy dance and making sajda shukr right there in the store.  Book reviews will be forthcoming, after I finish reading inshaAllah.

From Sufism and Good Character, page 9:

In short, Sufism gives life to both the outward and inward.  As for the outward, it does so through good deeds.  As for the inward, it does so through the remembrance of Allah, leaving reliance on other than Him, adorning oneself with praiseworthy traits [akhlaq] and purifying oneself of the taint of base traits.  This was possible for the early Muslims [salaf] merely through keeping good company, just as knowledge of the Book of Allah and the Prophetic Sunna was gained in this way without the need for books and the sciences recorded in them.  Then, when the situation changed, it became necessary to record the sciences, to compile and transmit them, and to build centers of learning to teach these recorded sciences.  Likewise, when the Sufis saw the change in people’s condition, they introduced spiritual exercises and retreats to dvelop the outward and inward, and they built Sufi hostels [zawiyas] and centers.  It is clear that these are all mere means, as [the recording and systemization of] the Islamic sciences, and the goals [of Sufism] are firmly established by the texts of the Book of Allah, the Sunna, and the sayings of the Companions and the Followers [tabi’in].

Excellent book, a must read.

[rant] 

I’ll say it one time, slowly

sufis

are

not

a

third

sect.

It’s not sunni, shia, sufi.  It’s sunnis who practice the science of tasawwuf, shias who practice the science of tasawwuf.  Are there groups of sufis who seperate themselves from Islam?  Sure.  But then they’re not a third group of muslims because they’re not muslim at all.

[/rant]

Sometimes I happen upon a blog where I get the urge just to sit and read through the entire thing.  I stumbled upon one such blog today – Fatima Hye.  I haven’t found blogs belonging to too many of Sh. Nuh’s students, so it’s a rare treat when I find one.  This sister in particular writes quite a few good entries on sufism, the tariq and the teacher.  I tried to leave a comment, but it didn’t go through.  inshaAllah she’ll find me through the link back, and maybe even contact me   Taking the tariq is still my intention eventually, inshaAllah, and I feel corresponding with people in the tariq would help me to grasp “it” more fully. 

 I’m fairly certain that traveling the path of tasawwuf with a sheikh is something I need to do  (I’m never 100% certain about anything.  Ask the husband – I drive him crazy with “I’m pretty sure…” “I think…”  “maybe…”).  The husband, on the other hand, is totally not convinced.  Despite the fact that I’ve prayed istikhara about this and feel that this is what Allah (swt) wants me to do, he isn’t buying it.

We sat down to have a talk on Wednesday, this time about the possibility of me going to a dhikr session.  He wanted to know what kind of dhikr would be said, and upon learning that it was not something directly said by the Prophet (saws), he got worked up.  Now, the husband is really serious about his deen.  That’s one of the things I love about him, and one of the reasons I married him.  The thing is though, he’s serious about Islam in a quasi salafi/ibn Hazm loving/no qiyas/no bidah hasana kinda way, where as I’ve developed my practice of Islam in a more traditional/madhab oriented manner. 

Imam Shafi’i wrote that:

New matters are of two kinds: something begun that contravenes the Qur’an, sunna, the position of early Muslims, or consensus of scholars (ijma‘): this innovation is misguidance. And something begun of the good in which there is no contravention of any of these, and is therefore something new (muhdatha) but not blameworthy. For when ‘Umar (Allah be well pleased with him) saw the [tarawih] prayer being performed [in a group by Muslims in the mosque] in Ramadan, he said, “What a good innovation (bid‘a) this is,” meaning something newly begun that not had been done before. And even though it had, this does not negate the foregoing (al-Dhahabi, Siyar a‘lam al-nubala’. 23 vols. Beirut: Mu’assassa al-Risala, 1401/1981, 10.70).

While many of the practices of the Shadhili Tariq are directly from the sunnah of the Prophet (saws) – emphasis on fard and sunnah prayers, reading a porition of the quran every day, making all the sunnah dhikr, as well as a strong strong strong emphasis on following the sharia and getting rid of all the haram in your life - others, such as the wirds, the gatherings of the tariq and the hizbs, fall into the bidah hasana category.

And, it’s that stuff in the later category that drives the husband up the wall.   He’s not been brainwashed or brow beaten into his beliefs.  He’s come to his position after quite a bit of study with a knowledgable teacher, and he’s not easy to convince that he’s wrong.  Despite presenting him with well written and well reasoned articles about the permissibility of bidah hasana and religious practices that are bidah hasana, he’s just not seeing it.

Thus, we come to the slight detour in the road.  During our conversation, I explained how I felt something was lacking in how Islam had been presented to me – haram haram haram haram, do this, don’t do that.  The “spiritual” aspect was completely absent.  I had gone looking for this on my own, and found some things that helped me draw closer to God (like some of my favorite books of all time, Purification of the Heart and Sufism and Good Character), but that I really felt drawn to taking a tariq and traveling down the path with the guidance of a sheikh to help me to know Allah (swt).

Alhamdulilah, the husband is totally sympathetic with this.  So now he’s on a mission – a mission to prove to me that “ahl al sunnah wa jamaa” has everything I’m looking for and that I don’t need sufism to help me.  He’s writing up some articles and we’ll look for some books to buy that we’ll study together during this next month.  If, at the end of the month, I still feel that sufism is what I need, the husband will grudingly support me in my taking the tariq.  He won’t be happy about it, but he’s not forbidding it either.

Alhamdulilah.  I *heart* my husband. 

It never fails.  Whether I’m on the phone with my mom, emailing with my sister or catching up with an old friend, I’m inevitably asked what’s up, what’s new?  And my answer is, inevitably, oh, not much, you?

It’s not that I lead a borning existance (ok, well, maybe I do).  More accurately, it’s not that I’m not up to anything, nor that nothing is new.  It’s just that I can’t talk about it with my family and childhood friends.

I’m walking down a spiritual path.  I’m working to impliment the sharia in my life.  I’m trying to get closer to God, so that He becomes my hearing with which I hear, my sight with which I see, my hand with which I seize and my foot with which I walk.

Um, yeah, they’ll understand that, riiiiight.

I wish I could share this journey with them.  I wish there was some way I could convey the joy I’ve finally found in bowing to my Lord in salat, or the peace of heart I have in remembering Him.

*sigh*

Via MMW:

The “Dancing Girls” of Islam – Love the pictures, definately not thrilled about the title.  It totally demeans the purpose of the action – Remembering God.

The article is interesting.  It’s not secret that the Mevlevi order is more lax in terms of gender segregation than muslims in general, but not all tariqas are like that.  While the whirling dervish is probably what most non muslims think of when they hear the word sufi (if they even have any clue at all), they’re not the be all and end all of sufism.  

On a related note, Sh. Nuh’s articles on the Hadra and Sacred Law and the Whirling Dervishes and Orthodox Islam provide a nice balance.

I’ve always felt that movement is essential to worship.  I was probably the only ELCA Lutheran kid to discreating cross herself at random times during Sunday services, because my body felt that it needed to move in order to worship.  That’s one of the reasons I love salat and dhikr with beads.  I can definately see myself doing whirling – if it were something a sheikh recommended for me, and if it were segregated.  No public whirling for me.

 Ah, I can just imagine what kind of heart attack my husband would have if he saw me do that.  Bidah bidah bidah! 

Which will now lead me on another tangent – public presentation of worship.  I know that some turkish Mevlevi groups perform their dhikr publically, like they sell tickets and hold concerts and whatnot.  And the brightly colored whirling of some egyptian “sufis” (“” because I’m not sure if they’re just performance artists or are actually worshiping) are almost a staple of any tour of egypt, alone with the ubiquitous belly dancer.  If you’re selling tickets or getting tips for your performance of dhikr, does that cheapen (or invalidate) the act of worship?

Alhamdulilah, watched Episodes 2 and 3 of the Retreat yesterday, and once again, I was on the brink of tears at several points.  Seriously, the last 20 minutes of episode 3 are a must watch.

Random thoughts:  I would have liked to have seen more of the classes.  If they’re in class every day for 4 weeks, they must have covered quite a bit of ground.  Of course, since it was reality tv, they “needed” to show conflict, and the classes probably didn’t fit that category.  

I was very disapointed at Abdullah’s comments when Aisha didn’t want to hike up her shirt and pants to stomp on grapes in front of the menfolk.   Seriously dude, Islam has rules.  The Qur’an is full of em.  The example of the Prophet (saws) is full of em.  You don’t get to throw them away just because you’re treading the spiritual path.  Balance people, balance.

I’d also like a follow up show.  They had a little “6 months on” thing in the credits, but I would love to see more of how they did (or didn’t) put what they learned into practice in the outside world.

After some digging, I found a wee bit more info about Abdullah.  He’s apparently a murshid of Sh. Hamza al Qadiri al Boutchichi.  Amazing what one can find on the internets.

Alhamdulilah, I had been wanting to watch this for quite some time, but just managed to stumble upon it today.   Well, at least episodes one and three anyways.

I watched episode one this evening, and my overall impression was favorable.  The best part was around the 45 minute mark where a recition of al Fatiha brought a non practicing muslim to tears, which got me all choked up.

I was happy to see that there was a lot of dhikr in the program, although I felt that the leaders could have explained the role of sufism in Islam better.   I don’t know if it was just the parts that were selected for the program, but it would have been nice to hear an explanation of Islam as both a set of rules (like the participant Aisha is focused on) and striving to know Allah (swt).  I wonder if the leaders talk with Aisha about bidah hasana.  It’s not simply enough to say, oh we know the Prophet (saws) didn’t do dhikr like this, and we don’t care, nah nah nah nah nah.  No, explain how the science of tasawwuf developed alongside oher islamic sciences, and how it fits into the framework of traditional islam.

I’m also interested in finding out more about the hosts of the Retreat.  What’s their tariqa?  Who are they  affiliated with?  Who were their teachers? 

And finally, I’ve added Alqueria de Rosales as a place I must visit.   Despite being the granddaughter of dairy farmers, I’ve never felt an attraction to farm life.  But after seeing this video, I can’t help but wonder how my relationship with Allah (swt) would be if I removed myself from the distractions of the modern world and could live in a community devoted to Allah (swt), even if it was on a farm.  I guess at the present, I should do my best to create that atmosphere in my very own home, right here in the frozen metropolitan northwoods of Minne-snow-da.  inshaAllah.

I have a huge stack of documents sitting on my living room floor that I brought home to do over the long weekend, so of course, I decided to go through the Shadhili wiki article and click on all the links instead.  Ah, procrastination at it’s finest.

 In the course of my clicking, I happened upon the article of one Ivan Aguéli, a swedish convert to Islam, sufi and impressionist/symbolist painter.  How cool is that?

Playing follow the links, I then stumbled upon an early 20th century french movement called Traditionalism.   

“The remembrance of God contains the whole Law and it is the reason for the existence of the whole Law”
Frithjof Schuon

 

i.  suck.  at.  praying.  on.  time.

Dudes, seriously, the 40 grand is kicking my butt.  It’s goin good, I’m cruisin along, and them bam, I become complacent and miss a prayer.   It probably doesn’t help that I have the attention span of a nat with ADD either.  At this rate, it will take me until the 2009 subha to finish this thing.

Oh well, tomorrow is a new day.  And Eid is as good as any day to start over again, right?

If any of you could spare 10 seconds, could you please make dua for me?  inshaAllah ta’ala I am starting the 40 Grand today, and I need all the help I can get.

It’s funny (in a kind of ironic way, not ha ha funny), but one of the main reasons I am muslim is because of salat.  It’s a form of worship given to us by God, validated by God, ordered by God, unlike the liturgy/mass/service of the christian churches.  It’s remained unchanged since it was given to our Prophet (saws).  Allah (swt) told the Prophet (saws) that his ummah should pray 5 times a day.  What’s so funny about that, you may ask?  It’s funny because I struggle so hard to make my salat.  I can’t think of a single month since I converted where I’ve prayed all my salat, astaghfirullah.  I get on a roll, then bam, that time of month hits and afterwards, I’ve lost all my momentum.  Sometimes I struggle back up to that level, and sometimes, it takes months to motivate myself again, astaghfirullah.

But this time, inshaAllah inshaAllah inshaAllah, I’m going to do it.  It may take me a year, but I’m going to finish 40 days of salat come hell or high water. 

Please make dua for me.

Sunnipath must have rearranged their answers section, because links are frequently broken.  It’s a shame, because there are several great compilation answers that pull together resources pertaining to a specific subject.  One such answer is their Reader on Islamic Spirituality.  I’ve gone through their archives and updated the links.  Maybe if I volunteer to do this for them for other answers, they’ll give me a tuition discount, lol.

A Reader on Islamic Spirituality (Sufism)
Answered by SunniPath Answer Service Team
I know sufficient Fiqh to fulfil my daily obligations. What I find missing is the spiritual side to this. How would I go abound learning this, are there books you would recommend? What about the Sufi tariqas – are they bida? My Arabic teacher told me that tassawuf didn’t exist in the sahabas time, but that there was zuhd, is this true? Also what books/subjects would you recommend to further my knowledge of fiqh?

Wa alaykum Assalam wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuhu,

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful & Compassionate

The following are a collection of links on Sufism sorted by topic. Articles are from Sidi Masud Khan’s Excellent Site: http://www.masud.co.uk/ and Q&A links are from the archives at www.sunnipath.com 

What is Sufism, is it an innovation? – What is its Place in Islam?

The Place of Tasawwuf in Traditional Islam Sh. Nuh Keller

How would you respond to the Claim that Sufism is bid’a? Sh. Nuh Keller

Islamic Spirituality: the forgotten revolution Sh. Abdal Hakim Murad

What is this “Sufism” that some love and other people hate?

Imam Ghazali on Sufism and the Reality of Spiritual Inspiration

The Meaning of Tasawwuf Sh. Shahidullah Faridi (r.a.)

Is Sufism a ‘Gross Innovation? What is the Reality of Sufism?

Dhikr by Word and by Action

Rumi: True and False Sufis

Jihad al-Nafs (Striving Against One’s Lower Self)

Taking a Shaykh in the Spiritual Path (Tariqa)

Taking a Spiritual guide: Is there something wrong with it?  - can’t find

Taking Bay’a with a Shaykh?

Is taking a shaykh on the spiritual path an innovation?

Meeting with Reality: My Road to Tasawwuf – Qais Arthur

Books

What are good writings on the soul, the stages it goes through, and man’s place in this world?

Sufism and the Shariah

Sufism and Shariah

Tasawwuf and Sharia – Shafiq ur-Rahman

www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/misc/shafiqur.htm

Also Related

The Concept of Bid’a in the Islamic Shariah Sh. Nuh Keller

Spiritual Meaning of Prayers (Worship) Performance of the daily prayers (Salbt)

Calling to Allah: from the best of spiritual works

Have you seen a Faqih? Reason and Knowledge in Islam

Clarification on reciting the names of Allah
May Allah `Azza wa Jall guide us all to the way most beloved to Him, ameen.

Wassalam,

Hanafi Fiqh Team

The husband and I had a rousing discussion last night about sufism.  It didn’t change his views, but at the end of the day, if I feel like I want to join a tariqa then he’ll support me, even if it means I drag him to a suhba.

I’ve revised my game plan.  First and foremost, I’m making istikhara tonight.  Then, if the answer is that I should pursue this path, I’ll start on the Forty Grand.  In the mean time, I’m reading everything on the Shadhili Tariqa website, and have started in on the sufi path and VA suhba lectures.

 Ya Rabb, let’s see how this goes.

I’ve felt drawn to tassawuf since I converted.  Well, perhaps more accurately, I’ve felt that there was something lacking in the way I was learning Islam – introductary books and articles on Islam focus mainly on fiqh.  And, while getting down the halal and haram are absolutely essential to tread the straight path, I was missing something.  I wanted to develop my relationship with Allah (swt).   Not in the cheesy “God is my homeboy” protestantish way I taught as a camp counselor.  No, I wanted to KNOW Allah (swt), to love Him, to worship Him in my every action.

Up until this point, I’ve been dabbling in tassawuf informally – doing random wirds, reading, making lots of dhikr, things that I think good sufis should do.  But, I don’t think it’s enough.  I’m getting to the point where I want to develop a relationship with a sheikh, to make bayah and to be guided in my spiritual development.  But before I get to that point, there are a few things I have to deal with:

 1.  The husband.  Despite the fact that his grandfather (or was it his great grandfather?) was a sufi sheikh, the husband is not a fan of sufism, to put it lightly.  He’s ok with my dabbling in the area, and even jokingly refers to me as a sufi, but he doesn’t feel that it’s necessary to give bayah and to follow a sheikh.   So, to that end, I need to…

2.  Understand sufism in the context of Islamic history and development.  While I am convinced that there is a sufism that is not bidah, etc etc etc, I’d like to be able to convince my husband of that as well.  And since he is well read, I need to be well read in this area as well.  This would all be so much easier if I had his support 100%.  This is not to say that he’s being unsupportive, just skeptical.

3.  Give 110% in ibadah.  I still struggle with salat, although I’ve greatly improved in recent months.  I need to get as close to perfecting it as I can on my own, before I seek to formally study sufism.

4.  Actually find a tariqa/sheikh.  How does one do this?  There are no sheikhs in my area, heck, no sheikhs in the US that I know of that I would like to follow.  There are two sheikhs who’s writings I really like, and who teach a sunnah approved sufism – Shaykh Zulfiqar Ahmad of the Naqshbandi Mujaddidi tariqa and Shaykh Nuh Keller of the Shadhili Tariqa.   I know that there are some mureeds of Shaykh Nuh out there in cyberspace, and inshaAllah I’m going to see if I can get in contact with some sisters to find out more.

5.  Take the Introduction to Islamic Spirituality courses at Sunnipath.  This would allow me a chance to correspond with Shaykh Nuh, as well as get the basics down.

All right, there’s probably more I should do, but for right now, 5 things are probably enough to work on.

Came across this website today, which looks to contain a lot of interesting tidbits, lectures and ebooks. It contains the teachings of a Maulana Yunus Patel, who as best I can tell, traces his teachers back to the Prophet (saws) through Rumi (ra). His biography is quite flowery, but I can’t tell much about him from it, unfortunately. Not much comes up in a google search either. There is a contact us option on the website, so inshaAllah I’ll do that to find out more about him and his teachings. His website is just put together so darn well, it draws a person in.

I’ve downloaded his booklet on ikhlas and tafweez for reading inshaAllah.

From the Daily Star via Mind, Body, Soul.

In the name of Allah , the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful:

A person who counts himself among obedient servants of the Lord must testify to faith in the One God and to acceptance of his prophet (Muhammad, Jesus or Moses, peace be upon them all, depending on the religion one follows sincerely). That person must live according to that faith, and go out from the world with faith in hisheart. He protects faith by renewing it daily.

The Creator plants the seed of faith in everyone. If a person mistreats this gift, then he loses everything – the world and the hereafter. He runs to anywhere that he finds material benefit. One’s words may say one thing, but the intention can be something else, and his actions in life becomes worldly. He may forget his faith easily and drop the lifestyle that Allah and his prophets are ordering.

It’s not enough just to say, “I am a believer.” There are people who claim they are believers. But it is only words if they do not look at how they are living and adjust their actions according to intentions, asking why they are living and what is the purpose of life.

Why go to work? Why sleep? Why eat? Why pray? If we don’t know the answer, our actions cannot reflect and support our faith. Holy Prophet Muhammad said, “There is no difference in the Presence of Allah between Arab and non-Arab, except for those who have more taqwa (awareness of God’s presence throughout one’s life).” Those who have taqwa are in higher stations and are closer to their Lord. That’s what we have to run after.

When the sun sets, the angels wrap up another page for that day. They close it, seal it and it’s gone. Whatever our intentions and actions were, we cannot change anything from yesterday. The angels closed that page until Judgement Day. “How did I live today? What did I do? Where did I run? What did I earn? Did I earn only this world? Or did I earn for life hereafter? Or I didn’t earn either one of them?” If we earned the world, and if Allah gives a chance later, maybe one day we will spend that gain in the way of Allah on something for Paradise. We were created as “Ahsani taqweem,” the most perfect creature on earth. If we earned neither the world nor eternity, then shame to us.

We have no guarantee that we will reach tomorrow. If Allah gave both strong spirit and strong physical form and we waste them in questionable places, we will regret later. Every breath is a chance given for another life. Once it’s ordered for us not to inhale the air, we go out with whatever we collected in life. If someone collected material only, he cannot take it with him. Everyone goes empty handed to the grave. If a person runs after empty goals, then he will find emptiness in the grave. If one
runs after something valuable for hereafter, he will find that value in the grave.

And what is of value? To have declared one’s faith, and to have lived by that faith. If you testify and you live according to faith, there is no worry. But if you are claiming and not living according to that faith, then you may not remember to hold onto that faith when the angel of death comes. In the end, many think that the doctor (or the president) is going to help. But that doctor and president are themselves in need of help.

Sheytan gives value to worldly attractions. Be careful. We must not see beauty in what Sheytan is directing. Beauty and value is in what Allah and his prophets ordered. That is Hakk (the Truth). What Allah and his prophets forbid, that is ugly and haram (forbidden). If admiring something forbidden, the heart is with Sheytan, not shining with faith. With faith, wrong things become apparent and you will live
what you believe.

Even if Sheytan makes you dizzy and you aren’t faithful throughout your lifetime, when the death-rope is around your neck, you may say, “Well, I didn’t live according to my faith, but at least let me go out with the faith.” When the angel of death comes, unexpectedly or not, the angels record the last words that come into your heart and out from your mouth.

The chance is given to us in this life to testify to faith and we must live by it. Billions
of people sitting in their graves are wishing that this breath of life would be given back to them once more, just to come to this life momentarily and to be taken away again _ just one breath of life to be given to them to declare their faith.

Sheykh Abdul Kerim al-Hakkani al-Kibrisi is the imam and spiritual leader of the Osmanli Naks-I’bendi Muslim Dergah in Sidney Center.

Rrrr. First, let me start off by saying I am not a sufi, but rather an admirer of the science of tasawwuf. I don’t have the dedication to completely immerse myself in tasawwuf, but it’s one of the things that I hope to explore later in life, when I get other basics down.

My husband comes from a long line of Egyptian sufis. His grandfather was even a sufi sheikh. My husband, however, has rejected sufism in favor of a more Qur’an and Sunnah based approach found in the works of Ibn Hazm. He is not, however, a salafi. Despite his rejection of sufism, he doesn’t seem to mind (too much) that I carry on a love affair with sufism and with dhikr. He certainly isn’t fond of sufism, but he does read pro-sufism articles from time to time.

I post (on occasion) on Islamway Sister’s forum. While I was aware that they are salafi, I haven’t felt too alienated from them until yesterday. One of my friends posted a link to one of my favorite websites – Sunnipath. It was deleted, because Sunnipath is a “sufi site.” Rrrr. So today, someone else started a thread asking what sufism is. I posted a link to an article by Sheikh Nuh Keller that was a response to claims that sufism is bidah. Now, it just so happened that others on the thread had made the claim that sufism is a bidah. Of course, the mods deleted the link, and proceeded to post how sufism was in fact a bidah, and that Sheikh Nuh is a bidah too.

I’ve encountered this attitude on other salafi leaning sites as well, like LI Islamic Forum, where my links to Sunnipath and Zaytuna have been deleted.

I lurk more than post on Sunniforum, and although this is a very strict madhab based website, I don’t think I’ve ever seen them delete links to salafi based sites. They certainly warn against salafi authors and books, but I haven’t seen anything as extreme as I’ve encountered on islamway and LI islamic forum.

Perhaps my favorite forum out there is Islamicaweb, which I joined shortly after I converted to Islam. It’s populated mainly by teens and 20 something young desis, with a mix of other ummah members thrown in. Most of the posters are muslim, some salafi, some more madhab based, but there has always been a free mix of ideas and exchange of opinions. I like that.

It seems to me that it would be best to present both perspectives, carry on a little debate, and then let people decide for themselves which members of the ulema they would like to follow. That’s what I have in my marriage. DH will talk about Ibn Hazm, I’ll look to a more madhab based approach, we may disagree, but in the end, both points of view are presented.

Meh.