Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet. O you who have iman,
send blessings on him and ask for abundant peace.
Qur’an 33:56
O Allah, bless and grant peace to our lord and master Muhammad,
the first of the lights emanating from the oceans of the sublimity of the Essence,
with every one of Your perfections in all Your self-manifestations.
In the two worlds - the hidden and the seen -
he realised the meanings of the Names and Attributes.
He is the first to give praise and worship
with every kind of adoration and good action.
He is the helper of all created beings in the world of forms and the world of spirits.
And blessings be upon his family and Companions
with a blessing that will lift the veil from his noble face for us in visions and in the waking state
and will acquaint us with You and with him in all ranks and presences.
Be gracious to us, O Mawlana, by his rank,
in movement and in stillness,
in looks and in thoughts.
'The Treasury of Truths'
Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habb
The following selection, taken from the book, 'The Way of Muhammad' by Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir al-Sufi, has been chosen on the one hand as a defence of the Rasool, peace and blessings be upon him, given the recently publicised film which has distracted the Muslims from who he was and who we should be, and on the other it is an introduction to the the science of tasawwuf.
It is a defence of him, peace and blessings be upon him, inasmuch as it it is an accurate description of him, written by a man of heart and deep reflection, as opposed to the imaginings of a mischievous film maker who could not find a truthful word to say against the Chosen One, Muhammad, peace and blessing be upon him. Any with even the smallest amount of iman cannot help but love him, and it is that love which motivates the Muslims to defend him as best we can. This then becomes a frustration (which all too often results in Nihilism) because we no longer have the Shari'a implemented anywhere in the world because we have no real Amirate and therefore no judicial authority to implement it. This realisation therefore leads us to the conclusion that if we love the Rasool, peace and blessings be upon him, we must address this issue, as without doing so we cannot defend him, the Deen and the Muslims, who in recent times have been abused, humiliated, economically enslaved and massacred across the world.
It is an introduction to the science of tasawwuf, in that it indicates the necessity of a shaykh of instruction, a guide on the path. It is by no means exhaustive list of proofs of this need nor is it a complete description of his nobility and perfection, peace and blessings be upon him. What is hoped is that the Muslims of Leeds will reflect on these words and will be illuminated by them. That illumination, once transformed into outward action and inward serenity will itself be the proof of the perfection of the final Prophet, Peace and blessings be upon him. It will be the driving force for change and will elevate the Muslims beyond the dialectics of moderate and extreme, tolerance and intolerance, democracy and dictatorship. It will cause those of sincerity to take on these most refined qualities themselves.
I also hope by this to introduce this profound and illuminating text to people here in Leeds, especially to those who have not yet discovered it or its author; Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir al-Sufi who is also known as Ian Dallas.
And success is from Allah.
[Beginning of the excerpt]
Let us look more closely at the picture of the man, Muhammad.
His name means the Praiseworthy.
Muhammad was forbearing, honest, just and chaste. His hand never touched the hand of a woman over whom he did not have rights, with whom he did not have sexual relations, or who was not lawful for him to marry. He was the most generous of men. Neither a dinar nor a dirham was left him in the evening. If anything remained and there was no one to give it to, night having fallen suddenly, he would not retire to his apartment until he was able to give this excess to whoever needed it. He was never asked for anything but that he gave it to the asker. He would prefer the seeker to himself and his family, and so often his store of grain for the year was used up before the end of the year. He patched his sandals and clothing, did household chores, and ate with his women-folk. He was shy and would not stare into people's faces. He answered the invitation of the slave and the free-born, and he accepted presents even if they consisted merely of a draught of milk or a rabbit's leg, while because of hunger he would at times tie two stones around his stomach.
He ate what was at hand, and did not refrain from any permitted food. He did not eat reclining. He attended feasts, visited the sick, attended funerals, and walked among his enemies without a guard. He was the humblest of men, the most silent without being insolent, and the most eloquent without being lengthy. He was always joyful and never awed by the affairs of this world. He rode a horse, a male camel, a mule, an ass, he walked barefoot and bareheaded at different times.
He loved perfumes and disliked foul smells.
He sat and ate with the poor.
He tyrannised nobody and accepted the excuse of the one who begged his pardon.
He joked but he only spoke the truth. He laughed but did not burst out laughing. He did not eat better food or wear better clothes than his servants.
The conduct of this perfect ruler was untaught. He could neither read nor write, he grew up with shepherds in an ignorant desert land, and was an orphan without father or mother. He refused to curse his enemy saying, 'I was sent to forgive not to curse.' When asked to wish evil on anyone he blessed them instead.
Anas ibn Malik, his servant, said: 'He never said to me about anything of which he disapproved, "Why did you do it?" Moreover his wives would not rebuke me without his saying, "Let it be. It was meant to happen."'
If there was a bed he slept on it, if not he reclined on the earth. He was always the first to extend a greeting. In a handshake he was never the first to release his hand. He preferred his guest over himself and would offer the cushion on which he reclined until it was accepted. He called his companions by their kunya (surnames) so as to show honour to them, and the children so as to soften their hearts. One did not argue in his presence. He only spoke the truth. He was the most smiling and laughing of men in the presence of his companions, admiring what they said and mingling with them. He never found fault with his food. If he was pleased with it he ate it and if he disliked it he left it. If he disliked it he did not make it hateful to someone else. He did not eat very hot food, and he ate what was in front of him on the plate, within his reach, eating with three fingers. He wiped the dish clean with his fingers saying, 'The last morsel is very blessed'. He did not wash his hands until he had licked them clean of food. He quaffed milk but sipped water.
Sayyedina 'Ali, his closest Companion, said: 'Of all men he was the most generous, the most open hearted, the most truthful, the most fulfilling of promise, the gentlest of temper, and the noblest towards his family. Whoever saw him unexpectedly was awed by him, and whoever was his intimate loved him.'
He himself said: 'I am al-Qautham,' meaning, 'I am the complete, perfect man.'
It is to this man that we address ourselves in the acquiring of the knowledge of tasawwuf, the science of the self. In submitting to the Shaykh we submit to the man who has himself mastered these aspects of his behaviour that were not in accord with his 'vastness of self-form' which is the Messenger's. We are making no mistakes and we are remaining within the zone of existential recognition. The Messenger is not being worshipped, deified, or made into a symbol. He is being accepted as a witness of how-things-are, as being a completely open person in flowing harmonic accord with existence so that he knows it inwardly and outwardly. A man came to him who was over-awed by his presence and became reverential towards him. He said to him, 'Be at rest. I am not a king. I am only the son of a woman of the Quraysh, who eats dried meat.' His answer to his name was 'At your service.' The Shaykh is simply the man who has fully surrendered his self-form and filled himself up with the clear radiance of this perfect behaviour. The Messenger has said, 'I was sent to complete the noble qualities of character.'
It is essential that this starting point is established. We cannot see clearly, we don't know what is happening, we are looking for a witness of the event of existence we may trust. Madmen, poets, occultists we have by our reason rejected: the witness must be disinterested, and he must manifest the highest social and human qualities. It is not enough that he be some kind of a superior being with superior powers, yogic control over the body and the mind, what is essential is that he is completely at peace and that with that peace he can function in the social setting that is man's ordinary quotidian reality. In the Messenger of Reality, Muhammad, peace be upon him, we find a man with all these qualities. He has left behind a book called the Qur'an, and as yet we have not examined or satisfied ourselves as to the meaning and validity of the book [i.e. in this present work - ed.] – for the moment we are persisting in a more direct existential search for what we seek. We are staying with the man. He has confirmed our own recognition that we are in no way well enough to recognise reality but somehow we must trust the validity of this affirmation of his serenity and human-ness. He has said, 'Man is asleep, and when he dies he wakes up.' This confirms our initial experience of being somnambulistic, unawake to the true taste of life, but it has in it no consolation, and could be a mere Roman cynicism. However there is another Tradition of his which tells us, 'Die before you die!'
This infers that there is a science of waking up, therefore, while still in the world of bodies.
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