Articles (5)

Biographies and Personalities

 

Hadrat Imam al-A'zam Abu Hanifa (Rehmatullahi alaih)

Hajjat al-Islam Imam al-Ghazzali (Rehmatullahi alaih)

Hadrat Abu Huraira (Radi Allahu  anhu)

Hadrat Uwais al-Qarani (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu)

Imam Ahmad Rida Khan -
A Versatile Personality (Radi Allahu anhu)

The Last Sermon of A'la Hadrat (Radi Allahu anhu)

Hadrat Sayyad AbdulHakim i Arwasi

Hadrat Sayyad Fahim i Arwasi

Hadrat Sayyad Taha al-Hakkari

Husain Hilmi bin Sa'id Effendi

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Hujjat al-Islam Imam al-Ghazzali
Rehmatullahi alaih

Dr. G.F. Haddad

Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad, Abu Hamid al-Tusi al-Ghazzali [or al-Ghazali] al-Shafi‘i (450-505), "the Proof of Islam" (Hujjat al-Islam), "Ornament of the Faith," "Gatherer of the Multifarious Sciences," "Great Siddîq," absolute mujtahid, a major Shafi‘i jurist, heresiographer and debater, expert in the principles of doctrine and those of jurisprudence. Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi stated that, like ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-‘Aziz and al-Shafi‘i for their respective times, al-Ghazzali is unanimously considered the Renewer of the Fifth Islamic Century. Ibn al-Subki writes: "He came at a time when people stood in direr need of replies against the philosophers than the darkest night stands in need of the light of the moon and stars." Among his teachers in law, debate, and principles: Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Râdhakâni in Tus, Abu Nasr al-Isma‘ili in Jurjan, and Imam al-Haramayn Abu al-Ma‘ali al-Juwayni in Naysabur, from where he departed to Baghdad after the latter’s death. Ibn ‘Asakir also mentions that al-Ghazzali took al-Bukhari’s Sahih from Abu Sahl Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Hafsi. Among his other shaykhs in hadith were Nasr ibn ‘Ali ibn Ahmad al-Hakimi al-Tusi, ‘Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Khawari, Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Muhammad al-Suja`i al-Zawzani, the hadith master Abu al-Fityan ‘Umar ibn Abi al-Hasan al-Ru’asi al-Dahistani, and Nasr ibn Ibrahim al-Maqdisi. Among his shaykhs in tasawwuf were al-Fadl ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Farmadi al-Tusi – one of Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri’s students – and Yusuf al-Sajjaj.

On his way back from Jurjan to Tus al-Ghazzali was robbed by highwaymen. When they left him he followed them but was told: "Leave us or you will die." He replied: "I ask you for Allah’ sake to only return to me my notes, for they are of no use to you." The robber asked him: "What are those notes?" He said: "Books in that satchel, for the sake of which I left my country in order to hear, write, and obtain their knowledge." The robber laughed and said: "How can you claim that you obtained their knowledge when we took it away from you and left you devoid of knowl-edge!" Then he gave an order and the satchel was returned to him. Al-Ghazzali said: "This man’s utterance was divinely inspired (hâdhâ mustantaqun): Allah caused him to say this in order to guide me. When I reached Tus I worked for three years until I had memorized all that I had written down."

Al-Ghazzali came to Baghdad in 484 and began a prestigious career of teaching, giving fatwa, and authoring books in nearly all the Islamic sciences of his day. His skill in refuting opponents was unparalleled except by his superlative godwariness, which led him to abandon his teaching position at the Nizamiyya school four years later, deputizing his brother Ahmad, famous for his preaching, to replace him. Upon completion of pilgrimage to Mecca al-Ghazzali headed for Damascus, then al-Qudus, then Damascus again where he remained for several years, taking up the ascetic life with the words: "We sought after knowledge for other than Allah’s sake, but He refused that it be for anything other than Him."

He came out of seclusion in 499 and travelled to Cairo, Iskandariyya and other places, finally returning to Baghdad where he taught his magnum opus Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din until his death in nearby Tus, occupying the remainder of his time with devotions, Qur’an recitations, prayer and fasting, and the company of Sufis. Ibn al-Jawzi narrated in al-Thabat ‘Inda al-Mamat ("Firmness at the Time of Death") from al-Ghazzali’s brother Ahmad: "On Monday [14 Jumada al-Akhira] at the time of the dawn prayer my brother Abu Hamid made his ablution, prayed, then said: ‘Bring me my shroud.’ He took it, kissed it and put it on his eyes, saying: ‘We hear and obey in readiness to enter the King’s presence.’ Then he stretched his legs, facing the Qibla, and died before sunrise – may Allah sanctify his soul!" It is related that al-Shadhili saw a dream in which the Prophet (s) pointed out al-Ghazzali to Musa (as) and ‘Isa (as) asking them: "Is there such a wise scholar in your communities?" to which they replied no.

The following is a list of some of al-Ghazzali’s works as found in al-Zabidi ’s and Ibn al-Subki’s recensions:

• Four works in Shafi‘i fiqh: the large al-Basit, the medium, seven-volume al-Wasit, and the two-volume al-Wajiz, condensed in al-Khulasa. Al-Wasit received many commentaries and abridgments, among them al-Nawawi’s Rawda al-Talibin.
• Four books on usûl al-fiqh: al-Mankhul, written in the lifetime of his teacher, Imam al-Haramayn; Shifa’ al-Ghalil fi Masa’il [or Masalik] al-Ta ‘lil; al-Maknûn; and al-Mustasfa. "Imam al-Ghazali’s Encyclopedia of Shari‘a Source Methodology, his fourth book on the subject, and his last word, was al-Mustasfa, which has been printed several times in Egypt and elsewhere. Indeed, this is the work he wrote after coming out of his period of meditation and seclusion."
• Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din, among his last works.
• al-Imla’ ‘ala Mushkil al-Ihya’, in which he replied to some of the insinuations made against the Ihya’ in his lifetime. This book is also called al-Ajwiba al-Muskita ‘an al-As’ila al-Mubhita.
• Tafsir al-Qur’an al-‘Azim, now lost.
• Jawahir al-Qur’an.
• al-Arba‘un fi al-Tawhid, originally part of Jawahir al-Qur’an.
• al-Asma’ al-Husna.
• al-Ma’akhidh, on the divergences of jurisprudents.
• Tahsin al-Ma’akhidh, a commentary on al-Ma’akhidh.
• Kimya’ al-Sa‘ada, The Alchemy of Happiness, originally written in Persian.
• al-Lubab al-Muntakhal, on disputation.
• al-Iqtisad fi al-I‘tiqad, in which he said:

"The anthropomorphists (al-Hashwiyya) assert direction for Allah while guarding themselves from divesting Allah of His attributes (ta‘tîl), falling thereby into likening Allah to creation (tashbîh). Allah has granted success to Ahl al-Sunna in establishing the truth. They have recognized the proper goal in establishing their method, and understood that direction is denied and disallowed for Allah because it pertains to bodies and complements them; while vision of Him is firmly established because it directly follows knowledge and attends it as its perfecting component."

• Mi‘yar al-Nazar.
• Mihakk al-Nazar.
• Bayan al-Qawlayn, on al-Shafi‘i’s two schools.
• al-Mustazhiri, a refutation of the esotericists or Batiniyya.
• Qawasim al-Batiniyya, another refutation.
• Tahafut al-Falasifa declaring the disbelief of the philosophers, to which the qadi of Andalus Abu al-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd al-Maliki responded with Tahafut al-Tahafut.
• al-Maqasid fi Bayan I‘tiqad al-Awa’il, also known as Maqasid al-Falasifa.
• Asrar Mu‘amalat al-Din.
• Asrar al-Anwar al-Ilahiyya bi al-Ayat al-Matluwwa.
• Akhlaq al-Abrar wa al-Najat min al-Ashrar.
• Asrar Ittiba‘ al-Sunna.
• Asrar al-Huruf wa al-Kalimat.
• Bayan Fada’ih al-Ibahiyya, against freethinkers.
• Bada’i‘ al-Sani‘.
• Tanbih al-Ghafilin.
• Talbis Iblis, a title later used by Ibn al-Jawzi against al-Ghazzali and others.
• Khulasa al-Rasa’il ila ‘Ilm al-Masa’il, an abridgment of al-Muzani’s Mukhtasar.
• al-Risala al-Qudsiyya fi ‘Ilm al-Kalam.
• al-Sirr al-Masun, a book of Qur’anic invocations against enemies.
• Sharh Da’ira ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, also known as Nukhba al-Asma’.
• ‘Aqida al-Misbah.
• ‘Unqud al-Mukhtasar, an abridgment of Imam al-Haramayn’s abridgment of al-Muzani’s Mukhtasar.
• Rasa’il ("Epistles"), published recently in a single volume, in seven parts, comprising the following epistles:

(1) Al-Hikma fi Makhluqat Allah -- Subhan wa Ta`ala --; Mi‘raj al-Salikin.

(2) Rawda al-Talibin wa ‘Umda al-Salikin [in tasawwuf and tawhîd]; Qawa‘id al-‘Aqa-’id fi al-Tawhid which he included in the Ihya’ in full; Khulasa al-Tasanif fi al-Tasawwuf in which he defines tasawwuf as follows:

Know that tasawwuf is two things: Truthfulness with Allah Almighty and good conduct with people. Anyone that practices these two things is a Sufi. Truthfulness with Allah is that the servant put an end to his ego’s shares in the divine command. Good conduct with people is to not prefer one’s demands over theirs as long as their demands are within the para-meters of the Law. Whoever approves of the contravention of the Law or contravenes it can never be a Sufi, and if he claims he is, he is lying.

(3) Al-Qistas al-Mustaqim; Minhaj al-‘Arifin; Al-Risala al-Laduniy-ya; Faysal al-Tafriqa (fi al-Takfir); Ayyuha al-Walad, originally written in Persian.

(4) Mishkat al-Anwar; Risala al-Tayr; al-Risala al-Wa‘ziyya; Iljam al-‘Awam ‘an ‘Ilm al-Kalam; al-Mad-nun bihi ‘ala Ghayri Ahlih; Al-Ajwi-ba al-Ghazzaliyya fi al-Masa’il al-Ukh-ra-wiyya.

(5) Bidaya al-Hidaya; Kimya al-Sa‘ada; al-Adab fi al-Din; al-Kashf wa al-Tabyin fi Ghurur al-Khalq Ajma‘in.

(6) Sirr al-‘Alamayn wa Kashf ma fi al-Darayn; al-Durra al-Fakhira fi Kashf ‘Ulum al-Akhira.

(7) Qanun al-Ta’wil; al-Ahadith al-Qudsiyya; al-Munqidh min al-Dalal, in which he said:

The Sufi path consists in cleansing the heart from whatever is other than Allah... I concluded that the Sufis are the seekers in Allah’s Way, and their conduct is the best conduct, and their way is the best way, and their manners are the most sanctified. They have cleaned their hearts from other than Allah and they have made them as pathways for rivers to run, carrying the knowledge of Allah.

• Fatawa, in which he states the following responses:

Q. What is the reply concerning someone who considers prayer as a means towards achieving true worship and knowledge of Allah so that, when he achieves the latter, he no longer feels the necessity of prayer although he continues to pray?

A. This deluded person must realize that true worship and know-ledge of Allah are the goals of prayer, but they are not the only goals … Just as the words pronounced and written in the protective invo-cations (al-ruqya) have a specific effect towards protection from snakes – indeed, towards the subjugation of jinns and devils; and just as some of the supplications transmitted to us in poetic forms attract the services of the angels in answer to the one who supplicates; the mind falling short of apprehending the modality and precise character of these invocations, which are apprehended only through the power of prophecy, when Prophets are shown their meaning from the Pre-served Tablet; similarly, the forms of the prayer (al-salât) which entail one bowing, two prostrations, specific numbers [of supplica-tions], and specific Qur’anic utterances that are recited, at various lengths and times upon sunrise, noon, and sunset, have a specific effect in stilling the dragon (al-tinnîn) that nestles in the human breast and breeds many-headed snakes – equal to the number of his traits – biting and snapping at him in the grave. … Its harm extends to the soul, as indicated by the Prophet’s -- Allah bless and greet him -- saying: "A dragon with ninety-nine heads is empowered over the disbeliever in the latter’s grave, doing such and-such etc." There are many such dragons in the human make-up, and nothing subdues them except divinely-prescribed obligations. Those obligations are the deliver-ance from peril, and they are also equal to the number of his bad traits. ?And none knows the hosts of your Lord save Him? (74:31).… O people of permissiveness! It shall be said to you on the Day of Resurrection: ?What has brought you to this burning? They will answer: We were not of those who prayed? (74:42-43).

Q. What is the preferred course of action for someone who has ascertained that he achieves humility (khushû‘) in prayer only when alone, but if he prays in congregation, his energy disperses and he is unable to achieve humility?

A. It is better and more correct for him to pray alone due to the hadith of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him --: "One performs prayer and it may be that not one tenth of it is recorded to his credit." The Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- said: "Con-gregational prayer is twenty-seven times preferable to prayer alone." It follows that if one achieves one instant of humility in congrega-tional prayer, it is as if he had achieved twenty-seven of them in prayer alone. Therefore, if the rate of his humility in congregational prayer is less than one-twenty-seventh of what it is in prayer alone, it is better for him to pray alone, but if it is more, then congregational prayer is better.

Ibn al-Subki comments: "Shaykh ‘Izz al-Din ibn ‘Abd al-Salam gave a similar fatwa concerning one who attends the Congregation out of self-display. … I say, to pray in congregation is better in any case…. Abandoning humility for the sake of following the Sunna is in itself humility, and better than humility which results in the course of isolating oneself. Consider this, for it is a fine point. The gist of it is that the Sunna, even if it is lacking something – in this case, congregation without humility – is preferable to general abandonment of the Sunna for the sake of a particular Sunna which is humility."

This is obviously preferable as congregational prayer is an emphasized Sunna by Consensus and a communal obligation (fard kifâya) whereas humility is part of the perfection of one’s manners in and out of prayer, and Allah knows best.

Ibn al-Subki cited the following opinions from al-Ghazzali’s contemporaries:

Imam al-Haramayn: "Al-Ghazzali is a quenching sea."

Al-Ghazzali’s student Imam Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Mansur al-Naysaburi al-Shahid: "He is the second al-Shafi‘i."

As‘ad al-Mîhani: "None attains the knowledge of al-Ghazzali’s science nor his merit except one who has attained or almost attained perfection in his intelligence." Ibn al-Subki comments:

I like this verdict, for he who wishes to look into the level of one who is above him in knowledge, needs intelligence and understanding…. I heard the Shaykh and Imam [Shaykh al-Islam Taqi al-Din al-Subki] say: "None knows the rank of a person in knowl-edge except he who is his peer and has known him per-sonally, and he only knows him to the extent of what he himself was granted to know." He also used to say to us: "None of his companions knew al-Shafi‘i like al-Muzani knew him, and al-Muzani knew al-Shafi‘i only to the extent of al-Muzani’s strength. Nor can anyone estimate the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- as he deserves except Allah -- may He be exalted --, and each knows him -- Allah bless and greet him -- only to the extent of what he himself possesses. Thus the most knowledgeable in the Community about the Prophet’s -- Allah bless and greet him -- rank is Abu Bakr -- Allah be well-pleased with him -- because he was the best of the Umma, and Abu Bakr knows the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- only according to Abu Bakr’s strength."

As the foremost examplar of the Sufi Ash‘ari scholar of knowledge al-Ghazzali, like his teacher Abu al-Ma‘ali al-Juwayni and Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, has attracted the faultfinding skills of latter-day critics of tasawwuf and Sunni doctrine as defined by Ash‘aris. Ibn Taymiyya peppered his discussions of al-Ghazzali with Ibn al-‘Arabi’s verdict – "Our master swallowed the seas of the philosophers in order to defeat them, but when he tried to throw them up he was unable" – and slighted al-Ghazzali’s Ihya’ as "containing both good and bad, but the good outweighs the bad." Burhan al-Din al-Biqa‘i (d. 885) attacked al-Ghazzali for saying "There is no possibility of anything more perfect than what exists." Al-Suyuti refuted al-Biqa‘i’s insinuations in his epistle Tashdid al-Arkan fi Laysa fi al-Imkan Abda‘u Mimma Kan ("The Buttressing of the Pillars Concerning al-Ghazzali’s Saying ‘There is no possibility of anything more perfect than what exists’") and, after him, al-Haytami who states:

Al-Biqa‘i’s fanaticism led him to criticize the saying of al-Ghazzali the Proof of Islam, "There is no possibility of anything more perfect than what exists." He went vituperating him until people became disgusted. Then, one day, he went to visit one of the scholars of knowledge who was sitting somewhere alone. The latter took his slipper and began to hit al-Biqa‘i with it until he almost destroyed it, all the while scolding him and saying: "Are you the one who criticizes al-Ghazzali?! You are the one who says such-and-such about him?!" until some people came and delivered him, although no-one disapproved of the incident. Following this, the people of his time rallied against al-Biqa‘i and published many refutations against him in defense of al-Ghazzali.

The gist of their replies concerning al-Ghazzali’s statement is that when Allah’s will linked itself to the origination of this world and He originated it, ordaining the abiding of part of it to a set limit and that of its remainder indefinitely – meaning Paradise and Hellfire – this precluded the linkage (ta‘alluq) of divine power to the eradication (i‘dâm) of the entirety of this world. For divine power is not linked except to the possible, while the eradication of the entirety of this world is not possible – not ontologically (li dhâtih) but because of the aforementioned linkage. Since its eradication is excluded according to what we said, it follows that its origination in the first place was the apex of wisdom and completion, and the most perfect of all that can possibly be created, for, as concluded above, there is none other in existence.

Al-Ghazzali’s Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din ranks as one of the most widely read books in Islam, having earned the praise of the scholars and the general acceptance of the Community. Among those who praised it:

- Ibn al-Subki: "It ranks among the books which Muslims must look after and spread far and wide so that many people may be guided by reading them. Seldom has someone looked into this book except he woke up on the spot thanks to it. May Allah grant us insight that shows us the way to truth, and protect us from what stands between us and the truth as a veil."

- Al-Safadi: "It is among the noblest and greatest of books, to the extent that it was said, concerning it, that if all books of Islam were lost except the Ihya’, it would suffice for what was lost."

- Fakhr al-Din al-Razi: "It was as if Allah gathered all sciences under a dome, and showed them to al-Ghazzali."

The Ihya’ was also strongly criticized for a variety of reasons, among them the number of weak or forged narrations cited in it, a list of which is provided by Ibn al-Subki, who stressed that al-Ghazzali never excelled in the field of hadith. Abu ‘Abd Allah al-Maziri al-Maliki said in al-Kashf wa al-Inba’ ‘an Kitab al-Ihya’ that most of the narrations cited in it were flimsy (wâhin) with regard to authenicity, while the Maliki censor Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn al-Walid al-Turtushi (d. 420) exclaimed in his epistle to Ibn Zafir – Abu ‘Abd Allah Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Atiyya: "He has crammed his book full with forgeries." Ibn al-Subki replied:

"Al-Maziri was a passionate champion of al-Ash‘ari’s positions – both the authoritative, the modest, the great, and the small – declaring an innovator anyone who went beyond them in the least. In addition to this he was a Maliki with a strong bias for his school, which he de-fended strenuously. On the other hand, al-Juwayni and al-Ghazzali reached a level of expertise and knowledge which every impartial ob-server can acknowledge as unmatched by anyone after them, and where they may have seen fit to contradict Abu al-Hasan [al-Ash‘ari] in questions of kalâm. Ash‘aris, particularly the Moroccans, do not take kindly to this nor allow anyone to contravene Abu al-Hasan in the least. Further complicating matters is al-Juwayni and al-Ghazzali’s weakening of Imam Malik’s position on certain points, such as rulings inferred from public welfare or the favoring of a certain school over another. … As for al-Maziri’s saying: "al-Ghazzali was not a foremost expert (mutabahhir) in the science of kalâm," I agree with him on this, but I add: He certainly had a firm foothold in it, even if, in my opinion, it did not match his foothold in other sciences. As for al-Maziri’s saying: "He engaged in philosophy before he became an expert in the science of principles," this is not the case. He did not look into phi-losophy except after he had become an expert in the science of usûl, and he indicated this in his book al-Munqidh min al-Dalal, adding that he involved himself in the science of kalâm before turning to philosophy. … As for Ibn Sina, al-Ghazzali declares him a disbeliever – how then could he possibly rely on him? … As for his blame of the Ihya’ for al-Ghazzali’s indulgence in some narrations: it is known that the latter did not have skill in the hadith, and that most of the narrations and stories of the Ihya ’ are taken from his predecessors among the Sufis and jurists. The man himself did not provide a single isnad, but one of our companions [Zayn al-Din al-‘Iraqi] took care to document the narrations of the Ihya’, and only a small amount were declared aberrant or anomalous (shâdhdh). I shall cite them for the sake of benefit ... Nor is al-Ghazzali’s phrasing "the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- said" meant as a definitive attribution to him but only as an attribution that appears definite. For if he were not assuming it true, he would not say it. The matter was not as he thought, and that is all. As for al-Turtushi’s statement concerning the forgeries found in the Ihya’, then – I ask you – is al-Ghazzali the one who forged them so that he may be bla-med for them? To blame him for them is certainly nothing more than inane fanaticism. It is an attack which no serious examiner can accept. " End of Ibn al-Subki's words from Tabaqat al-Shafi`iyya al-Kubra.

Ibn al-Jawzi – a detractor of Sufis – similarly dismisses the Ihya’ in four of his works: I‘lam al-Ahya’ bi Aghlat al-Ihya’ ("Informing the Living of the Mistakes of the Ihya’), Talbis Iblis, Kitab al-Qussas, and his history al-Muntazam fi Tarikh al-Muluk wal-Umam. His views influenced Ibn Taymiyya and others. The basis of their position was also that al-Ghazzali used too many weak or baseless hadiths.

Other moderate hadith masters documented almost every single hadith in the Ihya’ without questioning its usefulness as a whole, accepting its immense standing among Muslims and contributing to its embellishment and spread as a manual for spiritual progress. Among these scholars:

- Zayn al-Din al-‘Iraqi (d. 806): al-Mughni ‘an Haml al-Asfar;

- His student Ibn Hajar: al-Istidrak ‘ala Takhrij Ahadith al-Ihya;

- al-Qasim ibn Qatlubagha al-Hanafi: Tuhfa al-Ahya’ fi ma Fata Min Takhrij Ahadith al-Ihya’;

- Sayyid Murtada al-Zabidi al-Husayni (d. 1205): Ithaf al-Sada al-Muttaqin fi Sharh Asrar Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din in ten massive volumes, each scholar completing the previous scholar’s documentation.

More importantly, the majority of hadith masters hold it permissible to use weak hadiths in other than the derivation of legal rulings, such as in the encouragement to good and discouragement from evil (al-targhîb wa al-tarhîb), as countless hadith masters have indicated as well as other scholars, such as Imam al-Safadi. It must be under-stood that al-Ghazzali incorporated all the material which he judged of use to his didactic purposes on the bases of content rather than origin or chain of transmis-sion; that most of the Ihya’ consists in quotations from Qur’an, hadith, and the sayings of other than Ghazali, his own prose accounting for less than 35 of the work; and that three quarters of the huge number of hadiths cited are authentic in origin.

The Hanafi hadith master Murtada al-Zabidi began his great commentary on the Ihya’ with an explanation that al-Ghazzali’s method of hadith citation by conveying the general meaning without ascertaining the exact wording, had a basis in the practice of the Companions and Salaf:

"The verification of the wording of narrations was not an obligation for al-Ghazzali – may Allah have mercy on him! He would convey the general meaning, conscious of the different significations of the words and their mutual conflict with one another avoiding what would consti-tute interpolation or arbitrary rendering of one term with an-other.

"A number of the Companions have permitted the conveyance of Pro-phetic hadiths in their meanings rather than their wordings. Among them: ‘Ali, Ibn ‘Abbas, Anas ibn Malik, Abu al-Darda’, Wathila ibn al-Asqa‘, and Abu Hurayra – may Allah be well-pleased with them! Also, a greater number of the Successors, among them: the Imam of imams al-Hasan al-Basri, al-Sha‘bi, ‘Amr ibn Dinar, Ibrahim al-Nakha‘i, Mujahid, and ‘Ikrima…. Ibn Sirin said: "I would hear a hadith from ten different people, the meaning reamining one but the wordings differing." Similarly, the Companions’ wordings in their narrations from the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- have differed one from another. Some of them, for example, will narrate a complete version; others will narrate the gist of the meaning; others will narrate an abridged version; others yet replace certain words with their synonyms, deeming that they have consider-able leeway as long as they do not contradict the original meaning. None of them intends a lie, and all of them aim for truthfulness and the report of what he has heard: that is why they had leeway. They used to say: "Mendacity is only when one deliberately intends to lie."

"‘Imran ibn Muslim [al-Qasir] narrated that a man said to al-Hasan [al-Basri]: "O Abu Sa‘id! When you narrate a hadith you put it in better and more eloquent terms than when one of us narrates it." He replied: "There is no harm in that as long as you have fully expressed its meaning." Al-Nadr ibn Shumayl (d. 208) said: "Hushaym (d. 183) used to make a lot of mistakes in Arabic, so I adorned his narrations for you with a fine garment" – meaning, he arabized it, since al-Nadr was a philologist (nahwî). Sufyan [al-Thawri] used to say: "When you see a man show strictness in the wordings of hadith, know that he is advertising himself." He narrated that a certain man began to question Yahya ibn Sa‘id al-Qattan (d. 198) about a specific wording inside a hadith. Yahya said to him: "O So-and-so! There is not in the whole world anything more sublime than Allah’s Book, yet He has permitted that its words be recited in seven different dialects. So do not be so strict!"

"In the hadith master al-Suyuti’s commentary on [al-Nawawi’s] al-Taqrib, in the fourth part of the twenty-sixth heading, the gist of what he said is as follows:

"If a narrator is not an expert in the wordings and in what shifts their meanings to something else, there is no permission for him to narrate what he has heard in terms of meaning only. There is no disagreement concerning this. He must relate the exact wording he has heard. If he is an expert in the matter, [opinions have differed:] a large group of the experts of hadith, fiqh, and usûl said that it is not permitted for him to narrate in other than the exact same words. This is the position of Ibn Sirin, Tha‘lab, and Abu Bakr al-Razi the Hanafi scholar. It is also narrated as Ibn ‘Umar’s position. But the vast majority of the Salaf and Khalaf from the various groups, among them the Four Imams, permit narration in terms of meaning in all the above cases provided one adduces the meaning. This dispensation is witnessed to by the practice of the Companions and Salaf, and shown by their narrating a single report in different wordings.

"There is a hadith of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- relevant to the issue narrated by Ibn Mandah in Ma‘rifa al-Sahaba and al-Tabarani in al-Kabir from ‘Abd Allah ibn Sulayman ibn Aktham al-Laythi [= ‘Abd Allah ibn Sulaym ibn Ukayma] who said: "I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah! Verily, when I hear a hadith from you I am unable to narrate it again just as I heard it from you.’" That is, he adds or omits something. The Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- replied: "As long as you do not make licit the illicit or make illicit the licit, and as long as you adduce the meaning, there is no harm in that." When this was mentioned to al-Hasan he said: "Were it not for this, we would never narrate anything."

"Al-Shafi‘i adduced as his proof [for the same position] the hadith "The Qur’an was revealed in seven dialects."

"Al-Bayhaqi narrated from Makhul that he and Abu al-Azhar went to see Wathila [or Wa’ila] ibn al-Asqa‘ and said to him: "Narrate to us a hadith of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- in which there is no omission, no addition, and nothing forgotten." He replied: "Has any of you recited anything from the Qur’an?" (*) They said: "Yes, but we have not memorized it very well. We sometimes add ‘and’ or the letter alif, or omit something." He said: "If you cannot memorize the Qur’an which is written down before you, adding and omitting some-thing from it, then how about narrations which we heard from the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him --, some of them only once? Suffice yourself, when-ever we narrate them to you, with the general meaning!" He narrated something similar from Jabir ibn ‘Abd Allah in al-Madkhal: "Hudhayfa said to us: ‘We are Beduin Arabs, we may cite a saying without its proper order.’" He also narrated from Shu‘ayb ibn al-Hajjab: "I visited al-Hasan together with ‘Abdan. We said to him: ‘O Abu Sa‘id! Someone may narrate a hadith in which he adds or from which he omits something.’ He replied: ‘Lying is only when someone deliberately intends this.’" … [He also narrated something similar from Ibrahim al-Nakha‘i, al-Sha‘bi, al-Zuhri, Sufyan, ‘Amr ibn Dinar, and Waki‘.] " End of al-Suyuti’ s words from Tadrib al-Rawi as quoted by al-Zabidi, and end of al-Zabidi’s excerpt from Ithaf al-Sada al-Muttaqin.

(*) In al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi’s version in Nawadir al-Usul (p. 389) Makhul asks: "Has any of you stood in prayer at length at night?"

The Imams of hadith are unanimous in accepting the narration in meaning only on condition that the narrator has mastered the Arabic language and his narration does not constitute an aberration or anomaly (shudhûdh), among other conditions. Al-Zabidi’s documentation of the majority position that it is permissible to narrate the hadiths of the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- in their meanings rather than their wordings is also the position of Ibn al-Salah in his Muqaddima, but the latter avers that the dispensation no longer applies at a time when the hadiths are available to all in published books. Shaykh Nur al-Din ‘Itr adopts this latter position: "The last word on this subject is to prohibit hadith narration in the sense of meaning only, because the narrations have all been compiled in the manuals of hadith, eliminating the need for such a dispensation."

A generation after al-Ghazzali’s death, the Ihya’ was burnt in Andalus upon the recommendation of the qadi Ibn Hamdayn who was named Commander of the Believers in Qurtuba in 539 then fled to Malaga where he died in 548. Shortly thereafter, the Moroccans rehabilitated the book as stated by Shaykh al-Islam Taqi al-Din al-Subki – in a long poem that begins with the words "Abu Hamid! You are truly the one that deserves praise." Ibn al-Subki narrated with his chain from Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili that Ibn Hirzahm, one of the Moroccan shaykhs who had intended the burning of the book, saw the Prophet -- Allah bless and greet him -- in his dream commending the book before al-Ghazzali and ordering that Ibn Hirzahm be lashed for slander. After five lashes he was pardoned and woke up in pain, bearing the traces of the lashing. After this he took to praising the book from cover to cover.

Another rallying-cry of the critics of the Ihya’ is that it contains no exhortation towards jihad and that its author remained in seclusion between the years 488-499, at a time when the Crusaders ravaged the Antioch and al-Qudus, killing Muslims by the tens of thousands. Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi replied to these insinuations with the following words:

The great Imam’s excuse may be that his most pressing engagement was the reform of his own self first, and that it is one’s personal corruption which paves the way for external invasions, as indicated by the beginning of Sura al-Isra’. The Israelites, whenever they became corrupt and spread corruption in the earth, were subjected to the domination of their enemies. But whenever they did good and reformed themselves and others, they again held sway over their enemies. He directed his greatest concern toward the reform of the individual, who constitutes the core of the society. The reform of the individual can be effected only through the reform of his heart and thought. Only through such reform can his works and behavior be improved, and his entire life. This is the basis of societal change to which the Qur’ an directs us by saying "Lo! Allah changes not the condition of a folk until they (first) change that which is in their hearts" (13:11).

Shaykh al-Islam Taqi al-Din al-Subki said about the detractors of the Ihya’:

I consider them similar to a group of pious and devoted men who saw a great knight issue from the ranks of the Muslims and enter the fray of their enemies, striking and battling until he subdued them and unnerved them, breaking their ranks and routing them. Then he emer-ged covered with their blood, went to wash himself, and entered the place of prayer with the Muslims. But that group thought that he still had some of their blood on his person, and they criticized him for it.

Among the most famous commentaries of the Ihya’:

- The hadith master Murtada al-Zabidi’s ten-volume Ithaf al-Sada al-Muttaqin Sharh Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din ("The Lavish Gift of the Godwary Masters: Commentary on al-Ghazzali’s ‘Giving Life to the Religious Sciences’") which contains the most comprehensive documentation of the hadith narrations cited by al-Ghazzali.

- ‘Abd al-Qadir ibn ‘Abd Allah al-‘Aydarus Ba ‘Alawi’s Ta‘rif al-Ahya bi Fada’il al-Ihya ("The Appraisal of the Living of the Immense Merits of the Ihya").

- Mulla ‘Ali al-Qari’s Sharh ‘Ayn al-‘Ilm wa Zayn al-Hilm ("The Spring of Knowledge and the Adornment of Understanding") on the abridged version. Al-Qari begins it by stating:

"I wrote this commentary on the abridgment of Ihya’ ‘Ulum al-Din by the Proof of Islam and the Confirmation of Creatures hoping to receive some of the outpouring of blessings from the words of the most pure knowers of Allah, and to benefit from the gifts that exude from the pages of the Shaykhs and the Saints, so that I may be mentioned in their number and raised in their throng, even if I fell short in their fol-lowing and their service, for I rely on my love for them and content myself with my longing for them."

End of biographical notice on Hujjatul Islam al-Ghazzali by Hj. Gibril --

Allah forgive him! -- written out of duty and love, not arrogance. Main source: Ibn al-Subki, Tabaqat al-Shafi`iyya al-Kubra ( 6:191-389 #694).

O Allah! bring us out of the darkness of illusion into the light of knowledge, adorn our manners with gentleness, and grant us deeds that are accepted in Your Presence. Glory to You! Truly we know nothing except what You teach us.

O Allah! benefit us with the Proof of Your Religion, Imam al-Ghazzali, and thank him on behalf of Muhammad's Community -- upon him Your blessings and peace.

Allah's blessings and peace upon the best of prophets and messengers, our master Muhammad, and upon his Family and all his Companions. Praise belongs to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.

Copyright as-Sunna Foundation of America
permission granted to reproduce with author's consent.

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Abu Huraira: The Beloved Narrator

" 'An Abi Huraira radi allahu ta'ala anhu qal, qala Rasul Allaahi, Salla Allahu Ta'ala alayhi wa sallam...."
(On the authority of Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu, he said: Allah's Messenger Salla Allahu Ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam said...)

Through this phrase millions of Muslims from early history of Islaam to the present have come to be familiar with the name Abu Huraira Radi Allahu ta'ala anho, who you expect to find his name in most Hadeeth, Sirah or Fiqh books.

Abu Huraira Radi Allahu ta'ala anho enjoyed a great talent, he was gifted with an extraordinary long term memory to the extent that he would hear a discussion or a speech and be able to reproduce the identical discussion or speech years later without changing or deleting one single word from it.

This great gift that Abu Huraira Radi Allahu ta'ala anho enjoyed could have been the worst thing that could have happened to him as some people used his well known and authentic name to make up false Hadeeth about our beloved Prophet Salla Allahu Ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam, and link these false Hadeeth to Abu Huraira Radi Allahu ta'ala anho  However, through hard and sincere efforts put in by some of the pious scholars who sacrificed their lives to preserve and save our beloved Prophet's Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam Hadeeth (sayings) and save them from any harm by the enemies of Islam who tried to mislead Muslims by adding to them thing that were never said by the Beloved Prophet of Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala, Abu Huraira's Radi Allahu ta'ala anho reputation was saved from their wrong doing until our present day.

Abu Huraira Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu became a Muslim at the hands of At-Tufayl Ibn Amr who was the chief of the tribe to which he belonged. When he submitted to the truthfulness of this religion, he accompanied At-Tufayl to Makkah and had the privilege of meeting the noble Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam. The Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam asked Abu Huraira Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu what his name was, "Abdu-Shams" (the servant of the sun), Abu Huraira Radi Allahu ta'ala anho replied. So he was introduced by the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam to change his name to "Abdur-Rahmaan" (the servant of the Beneficent). However, he continued to be known among people as "Abu Hurrah" (the kitten's father) because of his love for a cat he looked after and fed, and which used to stick to him wherever he went.

Abu Huraira Radi allahu ta'ala anhu lived with his mother who was still a Mushrik. He prayed for her and tried hard to convince her to join Islam, but she adamantly refused. One day when he was telling her about Islam she uttered some words about the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu alayhi wa Sallam which saddened Abu Huraira Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu greatly. He went to the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam, his eyes full of tears and told him about what had happened between him and his mother. He also asked the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam to make supplication to Allaah AJWAJJAL for her to make her heart respond to Islam. The Most Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam responded to Abu Huraira's Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu request and prayed for his mother. When Abu Huraira Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu returned home he was delighted to hear his mother, who had just taken a shower, testifying that there is no god but Allah and that Sayyiduna Muhammad is His Servant and His Beloved Messenger. So he rushed back to the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam with his eyes glowing with joy, and informed him that Allah had answered his prayers, and guided his mother to Islam. He then said: "O Allah's Messenger, Ask Allah to make me and my mother lovable to the believing men and women". So he Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam said: "O Allah, make this servant of yours and his mother lovable to every believing man and woman".

With his great gift and talent, Abu Huraira Radi allahu ta'ala anhu realized that he was able to serve this religion a great deal. He realized that, because many of the early companions who had the most knowledge died in the battles in Allah's cause, this religion needed people to preserve it, as in these days the companions used to write only the Qur'an fearing it might get mixed with the Hadeeth of the Beloved Messenger Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam, if the latter was to be documented too. Even among those who had a great deal of knowledge, many of them were occupied by their trades and didn't have as much free time as Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu to spend with the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam Also the fact that he had an extraordinary long term memory meant that he could hear the Prophet's Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam teachings and be able to ask a writer to write them later knowing that he will not forget any of them. Therefore, during the four years Abu Huraira Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu stayed with the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam in Madinah, he set himself to accompany the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam to gain knowledge and memorize his sayings and teachings in order to preserve the word of Allaah Ta'ala and the teachings of his Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam.  The Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam himself directed Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu to an effective way to memorize his Hadeeths, Abu Huraira Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu said: Allah's Most Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam one day said to us: "whoever spreads his dress until I finish my talk, and then takes hold of it, will not forget anything from what he heard from me".

The fact that Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu set himself to preserve the teachings of the noble Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam, meant that he was always close to the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam in his stay in Madinah, as he had free time at his disposal, unlike the Muhajirin he did not work in trade and unlike the Ansar he did not have a land to look after. This enabled Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu to stay with the noble Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam at Madinah and to go with him on journeys and expeditions.

He loved the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam  a great deal, he was never tired of looking at the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam nor was he tired of listening to him. Often he would praise Allaah Ta'ala for his good fortune and say "Praise be to Allaah who has guided Abu Huraira to Islaam, Praise be to Allaah who taught Abu Huraira the Qur'aan, Praise be to Allaah who has bestowed on Abu Huraira the companionship of Muhammad Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam.

Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu underwent much hardship and difficulties as a result of devoting his life to knowledge and companionship of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam: "One day, my hunger became so severe that I placed a stone on my stomach. I then sat down in the path of the companions. Abu Bakr passed by and I asked him about an Ayah of the book of God. I only asked him so that he would invite me but he didn't".

Despite the fact that Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu set himself to preserving the word of Allah and the teachings of his Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam, he by no means neglected his other duties as much of his time was spend in prayers and devotion to God. He often rotated staying up at night with his wife and his daughter, as he would stay up for a third of the night, his wife for another third and his daughter for a third, this way in the house of Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu no hour of the night would pass without Ibadah and Salaah. Abu Huraira's Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu presence was also felt in the battlefield when needed to protect and establish the religion of Islaam by the sword, as he lived all his life, since becoming a Muslim, as a soldier of Islaam not missing a single battle with the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam

After the death of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam, Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu continued his duties in conveying the teachings of the Prophet  He went on preaching a great number of Ahadeeth, which made some of his friends curious of the large amount of Ahadith that he memorized in such a short time. Although the fact that he was able to memorize so many Ahadeeth was justified by the fact that he was dedicated to staying with the Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam and due to the extraordinary ability to memorize speeches from the first time.

During the caliphate of Umar Alaihi as-salaam, Umar Alaihi as-salaam  appointed him as a governor of Bahrain where he became quiet rich. Umar Alaihi as-salaam, being very scrupulous about the type of persons he appointed as governors, he was concerned that his governors should live simply and frugally and not acquire much wealth even through lawful means. When Umar Alaihi as-salaam heard about Abu Huraira's Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu wealth he recalled him to Madinah, thinking that Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu had acquired his wealth through unlawful means.

When Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu arrived in Madinah, Umar Alaihi as-salaam questioned him about the way he acquired such a fortune. Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu replied "from breeding horses and gifts that I received". Umar Alaihi as-salaam then ordered him to hand his fortune over to the treasury of the Muslims. Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu did as he was ordered and raised his hands to the heavens and prayed "O Lord, forgive Amir ul-Muminin". After a while Umar Alaihi as-salaam called upon Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu and offered him to regain his position as the governor of Bahrain but Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu refused the offer. When he was asked by Umar Alaihi as-salaam why he refused his offer he replied "So that my honor would not be besmirched, and my wealth would not be taken and my back would not be beaten". He then added "I also fear to judge without knowledge and speak without wisdom".

Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu continued to live a righteous life, devoting himself to serve the religion of Islam and being kind to his mother as well as encouraging others to be kind to their parents. One day when Abu Huraira's Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu health was deteriorating quickly and his friends were praying for him to recover, he looked to the heavens and said "O Allah I love meeting you and ask you to love meeting me". He then died in the year 59 after Hijra when he was seventy eight years old.

He died after having accomplished his duty and his desire to preserve and transmit the teachings of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam, leaving Muslims a great debt of gratitude for helping to preserve the teachings of the noble Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam and setting them a perfect example and platform to follow in preaching and conveying to the humanity what he and others had worked relentlessly, facing all sorts of hardships, in order to preserve. We ask Allah Ta'ala to reward Abu Huraira Radi Allahu Ta'ala' anhu and grant him the companionship of the Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam in the hereafter just as he was granted his companionship in this world.

By Br. Hamzah Qassem

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Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Raheem

Hadrat Uwais al-Qarani
Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu
by Shaykh Muhammad Sa'id al-Jamal ar-Rifa'i

from his book,
The Children Around the Table of Allah

In a Hadith Qudsi recorded by the Companion Abu Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him, the Most Beloved Prophet Muhammad (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam) said speaking from his Lord:

"Allah, Exalted and Mighty is He, loves of His creation the God-fearing, the pure in the heart, those who are hidden, and those who are innocent, whose face is dusty, whose hair is unkempt, whose stomach is empty, and who, if he asks permission to enter to the rulers, is not granted it, and if he were to ask for a gentle lady in marriage, he would be refused, and when he leaves the world it does not miss him, and if he goes out, his going out is not noticed, and if he falls sick, he is not attended to, and if he dies, he is not accompanied to his grave."

They asked him, "O Messenger of Allah, how can we find someone like that?" He, (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam), said, "Uwais al-Qarani (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu) is such a one." They asked him, "and who is Uwais al-Qarani (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu)?" He, (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam), answered, "He is dark skinned, wide shoulder, and of average height. His complexion is close to the color of earth. His beard touches his chest. His eyes are always looking downwards to the place of prostration, and his right hand is on his left hand. He weeps about himself with such a flow of tears that his lips are swollen. He wears a woolen garment and is know to the people of the heavens. If he makes a promise in the Name of Allah, he keeps it. Under his left shoulder there is a white spot. When the Day of Resurrection comes and it is announced to the slaves, "Enter the Garden," it will be said to Uwais, 'Stop and intercede.' Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, will then forgive them to the same number as are the people of Rabi'a and Mudhar. (These are the two tribes that Uwais, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu), belonged to). So, O Umar (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu) and O Ali, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu) if you can find him, ask him to intercede for you. Then Allah will forgive you."

Ten years passed by which they inquired about him, but without being able to find him. In the year 21H./644CE, the same year that Umar ibn al-Khattab (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu), the Second Righteous Caliph after the Prophet's death, (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam), Umar (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu) went to the Mountains of Abu Qubays (mountain overlooking Makka) and called in his loudest voice, "O people of the Yemen, is there anyone up there called Uwais (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu)  ?"

An old Shaykh with a long beard stood up and replied, "We do not know who this Uwais is about whom you ask, but my brother's son is called Uwais. But he is too unimportant to be asked about, and too poor and submissive that he should be raised up to your level. He is our camel-herder, and he has no standing amongst our people." But Umar again asked him if he knew Uwais.

The man answered, "Why do you ask about him, O Commander of the Faithful, for by Allah there is not one of us who is more foolish and more needy than he."

Umar, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu), then wept and said to him, "You are so, but not he. For I heard the Messenger of Allah (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam), say, "Those who enter the Garden through Uwais, asking for forgiveness for them, are the people of the tribe of Rabi'a and Mudhar." Umar, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu), asked him where he could find him, and was told, "On the Mount of 'Arafat."

Umar and Ali, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu), then went quickly to Arafat where they found Uwais praying under a tree with camels grazing around him. They approached him and greeted him, saying, "As-salaamu Alaikum wa Rahmut Allahi wa Barakatuh." Uwais cut his prayer short, and when he had finished it, returned their greeting. They asked him, "Who are you?" He replied, "A herdsman of camels and a hired workman for a tribe." They said, "we do not ask you about your tending of animals, nor about your being a hired worker, but what is your name?" He answered, "Abdullah." They said, "All the people of the heavens and the earth are the slaves of Allah, but what is the name in which your mother named you?" He said, "O you two, what do you want from me?" They said, "The Messenger of Allah (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam) once spoke to us about Uwais al-Qarani. He gave us a description of the bluish-black color of his eyes, and he told us that he has a white mark under his left shoulder. So please show us if you have this mark, for then it is you for whom we are searching."

Uwais then bared his left shoulder, and they saw a white mark. They then embraced him and kissed him and said, "We declare that you are Uwais al-Qarani, so ask for forgiveness for us and May Allah forgive you."

He answered, "I cannot even forgive myself, nor one of Adam's children. But there are on land and in the seas believing men and women, Muslim men and women, whose invocations to Allah are answered." They replied, "Surely this is so." Then he said, "O you two, you know about me and I know about my state, but who are you?"

Ali, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu), answered, "This is the Commander of the Faithful (al-amir al-muminin), Umar ibn al-Khattab, and I am Ali ibn Abu Talib."

Uwais stood up straight and said, "As-salaamu alaikum ya 'amir al-mumminin. And you, O Ali, may Allah repay you with goodness for this Community (Ummah)." They said, "May Allah repay you for yourself and your goodness."

Then Umar, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu), said to Uwais, "Your place is here until I return to Madinah, and may Allah have mercy upon you. Then I will bring you help from my provision and some of my clothes. This has been the meeting place between you and me."

But Uwais, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu), answered him, "O Commander of the Faithful, there will be no other meeting place, in the knowledge of Allah, between you and me, but this one. So tell me, what should I do with your provision, and what should I do with your clothes? Do you not see that I am wearing a woolen gown and a woolen wrapper, so when do you see me tearing them? Or do you see that my sandals are worn out and torn? When do you see me out wearing them? Between your hand and mine there is a higher barrier which cannot be crossed by a weighty person, So leave these things, and Allah will have mercy upon you."

When Umar, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu) heard these words, he struck the ground with his stick and shouted out at the top of his voice, "O would that Umar had not been born by his mother, and that she had been sterile!"

Then Umar (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu), returned to Al-Madinah, and Uwais (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu), herded his camels back to his tribe.

Not long after this, Uwais left his work as a herdsman and went to Kufah where he continued in his bondsmandship until Allah, Glory be to Him took him back to Himself.

When Umar ibn al-Khattab, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu), heard that Uwais wanted to go back to Kufah, he said tho him, "Where do you want to go to?" Uwais said, "to Kufah." Umar, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu), then said, "Shall I write a letter for you to its Governor?" Uwais replied, "I would rather be with the people who are near to my heart."

In a sahih hadith of Muslim, it is recorded that Umar (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu) said, "I heard the Messenger of Allah, (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam), say, "Uwais ibn 'Amir will come with a number of the people of the tribe of Mudar from the region of Qarn as if he had a sickness on his skin. He had a mother to whom he was most perfectly devoted, and if he asked anything of Allah it would be granted to him. If you meet him, ask him to ask forgiveness for you."

It was said of the Companion 'Alqama ibn Marthid, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu), that he said, "Asceticism is specially associated with eight people, one of whom is Uwais al-Qarani. His family thought that he was mad, and they built him a room near the door of their house. Days would pass by when they would not see him, and his food was what he took from plants and herbs of the earth which he would sell to buy food for himself.

Also the Companion 'Amar ibn Saif, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu) said, "When a man once asked Uwais al-Qarani, "How did you begin the morning and how did you finish the evening?" He (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu) answered, 'I began in the morning by loving Allah, and I finished the evening in praising Him. Do not ask about the state of a man who, when he wakes up in the morning thinks that he will not see the evening, or when he is alive in the evening thinks that he will not wake up in the morning. Death and its mentioning and remembering does not leave the believer any space for happiness." For, as he then said, "In Allah's Eyes, Exalted is He, what a Muslim possesses does not gather any silver or gold, for one should only be doing what is permitted and avoiding what is forbidden, and whatever does not have leave a believer with a single friend. When we ask them to do what is permitted they insult us, and in that they are helped by the unbelievers and sinful people. By Allah they have thrown terrible things at me, but O Allah I will not leave them until I show them the right way."

One of them said, "A number of people had spoken to me about Uwais al-Qarani, so hearing that he was then living in Kufah, I went there to find him, for I had no other desire except to see him. I found him sitting by the shore of the Tigris, and I recognized him by the description that I had been given of him. A thin man looked at me, and I stretched out my hand to greet him, but he did not return my greeting. I felt discouraged but I asked him, "Are you Uwais:"

His clothes were poor, and he seemed to be in a state of unwrapped isolation, for it was this state of his which led the ignorant people to say about him that he was mad and deranged. But I knew that his ascetic and surrendered state was that of the true faqir, who does not listen to those who say that such a state is contrary to the Sunnah. Such people are ignorant of the true Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam), which is to leave the material world and the business of creation, and to draw near to one's Lord; to leave all bonds which are other than to Allah, Exalted and Mighty is He."

Haram ibn Hayyan continued his account of this meeting by saying, "Then I addressed him saying, 'May Allah have mercy upon you, O Uwais, and forgive you, How are you?' "Then my voice halted. For I could not speak my heart which was moved with deep gentleness towards him when I saw his state and that he had started weeping. I found myself also weeping. "Then Uwais said to me, 'May Allah greet you. How are you my brother, ibn Hayyan, and who showed you the way to me?" "I answered him, 'It was Allah." "He said, 'There is no God but Allah, praise be to our Lord. If it is the Wish of Allah, a thing is done. So this is Allah's Wish." I said, 'How did you know my name, andmy father's named? For my name was Haram ibn Hayyan.' Uwais said, 'The Knower told me, for my soul knows your soul when my self talks to your self.' For the believers know each other in their love for Allah, even if they never met; and when they come to our resting place, they know each other even if they come from somewhere far distant. "I said, 'Tell me about the Messenger of Allah, (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam).' "Uwais said, 'I have never seen the Messenger of Allah face to face and I have never been in his presence, but I would give my life for him. But I do not like to talk about that.' "I said to Uwais, 'Recite me some verses of the Book of Allah, so that I may hear it from you and so that I may learn them by heart from you. For know that I love you in Allah.' "Uwais took my hand, and said, 'I seek refuge in Allah, the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing, from the accursed shaytan.' Then he recited, 'We created not the heavens and the earth and what is between them for mere play.' (44:38) . Then he sighed a deep sigh, and I looked at him with they eye of the Love, for he had become absent.

"A little while later he said to me, 'O son of Hayyan, your father has died and soon you will die, going either to the Garden or the Fire. My brother and friend Umar ibn al-Khattab has died.' I said to him, 'May Allah forgive you, but Umar has not died." "Uwais said, 'Yes, and the people have announced his death, and so has Allah, Mighty and Exalted is He, and He has announced my own death. For you and I are both of the dead." "Then he prayed upon the Beloved Prophet, (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam), and murmured some short invocations. "Then he said, 'This is what I leave you, the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Prophet, (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam), and you should always remember death, and this should never ever leave your heart for a moment. And warn your people when you go back to them, and say to the whole Community, 'Do not forsake the people, for if you do, you will forsake your religion without being aware of it, and you will enter the Fire. So pray for me and yourself.'

Then Uwais, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu), said to me, 'O Lord this is a claim, for he loves me in You, and he has visited me because of You, and permit me to see his face in the Garden, and make him enter the Home of Peace, and protect him in this world, as long as he is alive. Keep him from the material world (dunya) through the walking on the Path, and make him to be thankful for the blessings YOU give him, and give him goodness from me.'

Then he, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu) said, 'As-salaamu alaikum wa Rahmutullahi wa Barakatuh, for I will not see you after this day. May Allah have mercy upon you, but I do not like to be known, and I love to be solitary, for I am in deep anxiety when I am with people. So do not ask about me, and do not call upon me, but know that you are in my heart even if I do not see you nor you see me. Mention me and pray for me, for I will mention you and pray for you, if Allah, Exalted is He, so wishes. So go away from here.'"

Haram ibn Hayyan said, " I deeply wanted to walk with him for an hour, but after that he did not allow me anymore, so I left him and I started to weep, and he also wept.

I kept watching him until he went into a road...After that I asked about him, and I called to him, but no one could tell me anything about him. But then, after a week or so had passed by, I saw him once or twice in my sleep. Uwais said, 'The Messenger of Allah died,' but he did not say, 'The Messenger of Allah, sall-Allahu `Alayhi wa sallam,' although he said it about the Prophets before him. By this he meant that the grace of the Messenger of Allah (Salla Allahu ta'ala alayhi wa Sallam) is well known, and he is known for the perfection of his honor, and he does not need to be praised by people."

Some said that when night came, Uwais, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu) would say, "This night is for prostrating." Then he would prostrate until morning. And also when night came he would distribute the food in his house to the poor, and he would say, "O Lord, if someone dies this night out of hunger, excuse me, and if someone dies naked, excuse me."

Abdullah ibn Salma, the Companion, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu) said, "We went to Azerbaijan in the company of our Mater Umar ibn al-Khattab, (Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu), and Uwais was with us. On our way back he became ill and we carried him, but he did not last long and he died. We went to bury him and found a grave that was already dug. Water was available and everything was ready to receive a dead body. We washed him, put him in a shroud, prayed over him, and then we left. Some of us said that we should go back and mark the grave so that we would be able to find it later. So we returned to the place, but there was no trace of the grave to be found."

May Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'la be pleased with him, and for he himself alone was equal to an entire Ummah (Community). 

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The following article is from a book which a leading Deobandi wrote about A'la Hadrat Mujaddid o Millat  Imam-e-Ahl as-Sunnat As-Shah Imam Ahmad Raza Khan Fadil al-Bareilly

Imam Ahmad Rida Khan Baraylawee
Rehmatullahi alaih

( B1856/D1921 )

A Versatile Personality

By Mawlana Kausar Niazi
(Ex-Member, Senate of Pakistan, & formerly Federal Minister,
Government of Pakistan)

Published by
Jama’at e Ahl e Sunnat UK Publications
Printed By Tandaa Printers
Translated from Urdu into English by Nigar Erfaney Sabiri
with the kind co-operation of Idarah Tahqeqat e Imam Ahmad Rida
(Karachi, Pakistan)

Foreword By M. Bana

The treatise you are about to encounter was presented as a paper by the
Late Mawlana Kausar Niazi, ex-Member of the Senate of Pakistan, and
former Federal Minister of the Government of Pakistan, at a recent
conference held in Karachi, Pakistan. The conference was convened by
Idarah Tahqeqat e Imam Ahmad Rida of Karachi to honour and render
tribute to the greatest Islamic Scholar ever to emerge in the Indo-Pak
Subcontinent - the Mujaddid of Islam Aa’la Hadrat Imam Ahmad Rida
Khan, Alayhi al Rahmah wa al Ridwaan.

This august assembly almost always attracts Scholars of profound
erudition from all over Pakistan and abroad irrespective of their religious
persuasion who consider it an honour to participate in this open forum
projecting their views objectively and in the spirit of fairness and
impartiality.There were some very prominent personalities whose papers
were of a very high standard executing justice to the subject matter at
hand.

It must be borne in mind that Mawlana Kausar Niazi is in no way
connected to the school of thought of Hadrat Imam Ahmad Rida,
Alayhi al Rahmah, on the contrary some of his tutors were Mawlawi
Mawdoodi of Jama’at e Islami, Mawlawi Muhammad Idrees
Kandhaylawee Deobandi,Mawlawi Ubaydul Haq Nadwi and others.
Therefore,the Mawlana’s treatise replete with praises,glorification
and appreciation for Aa’la Hadrat certainly cannot be discounted as
bias or partisan. He has presented his subject as he saw it, independently,
objectively and devoid of any prejudice or jealousy.

It is hoped that this profile would go a long way in eliminating the
cobwebs of doubts and false allegations against the Great Imam,
implanted in the minds of the unwary Muslims by the baseless and
fabricated charges emanating from the Mulla’s and Mawlawis
burning in the fire of jealousy and submerged in a whirlpool of prejudice.

In the Urdu language, whenever the word Aan-Hadrat (literally and
traditionally meaning: ‘that Excellent Man of the Highest Dignity’,
Muhammad, Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam) is used, there comes to
mind ‘the generous existence’ of the Noble Prophet, (Salla Allahu
Alayhi wa Sallam), with the Honour of Finality of Prophethood and
when the word Aa’la Hadrat (literally meaning: the man of excellence)
is used, it brings forth the name of a servant of the Great Master
Muhammad (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam). One can see that Imam
Ahmad Rida Khan, (Rahimahu Allah), did not achieve this position by
virtue of the elegance of Belief from his admirers,but it is due to the
munificence of his immense absorption in the love of his Great, Greatest
Master,Muhammad, (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam), and being an all
-comprising personality.

We know that a number of cyclopaedic personalities have passed in the
Indo-Pak sub-continent, but when an impartial critic takes stock of all
profiles, he finds no other omnigenous person but that of Shah Rida’s
(Rahimahu Allah) versatile and compendious personality.

Which was the Faculty of Knowledge where he had no access? He had
masterly command over the Tafseer (Exegesis of the Noble Qur’aan),
the Aha’deeth (the Prophetic Traditions), the Fiqh (Juristic opinions
of Islamic Sacred Law), Geometry, Mathematics, Science, Philosophy,
Astrology, Jafar (Numerology), Physics, Chemistry, Economics, Geology,
Geography, History, Politics, Ilm al Munaazarah, Algebra, Syntax,
Etymology, Ilm al Ma’anee, al Badee, al Balaghah: meaning,
expression and oratory, Eloquence and Rhetoric (figures of speech;
oratorial), Ilm al Tajweed and the Orthoepy, Tasawwuf, Sulook,
Philology, Poetry and Literature, Khat e Naskh and Khat e Nas’ta’leeq.
His biographers have enumerated almost sixty faculties of knowledge
in which he had full proficiency and command. At a time he was a great
Writer and Speaker, Debater, Dogmatist (Mutakallim),
Traditionalist (Muhaddith) and Exegete (Mufassir), Jurist (Faqeeh)
and Statesman. He is not wrong when expressing gratitude, he says:
"Rida, the kingship of the Realm of Expression is a worth of yours,

Wheresoever you have come, you have established your authority."

(the word "expression" implicates all the faculties of speech)

Due to the tyranny of time, it is also a strange irony of fate that most
of the great personalities of history have been treated tyrannically
though they were popular and in their context they have always
divided the people interested in them. They did not leave anybody
impartial: some have held much admiration for them, while others
have been their opponents to the extent of enmity. In this opposition,
the dust of propaganda has also been thrown upon them. Let us see
Ameer al Mu’mineen, Sayyidina Ali al Murtada, (May Allaah, be
pleased with him). The Nusayries incarnated him as God while the
Kharjites indicted him an infidel. An example of recent times is of
Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Admirers called him Qaid e A’zam (the
greatest leader), while the Fatwa-mongers (the Mawlawis who issued
legal opinions against him) charged him as the Kaafir e A’zam
(the greatest infidel). The same situation has prevailed in the chapter
of Imam Ahmad Rida’s personality.Those who are in recognition of
his personality, maintain that he was the Imam Abu Haneefa of the
sub-continent, while those who opposed him to the extent of enmity
maintain that he was a bid’atee (innovater), a aggresive jurist and
a polemic, and also a Mawlawi who favoured the English.

Contemporaneity has always been a cause of hatred and malice,
but it is regrettable that even seventy one years after his demise,
the horizon of criticism is still filled with the dust storm. The people
who are apt to see things through the colourful optics of prejudice
and bigotry, still do not try to see his bright face with their clear eyes.
Had they demonstrated a justifiable attitude, they would have no
difficulty in adjudjing that the propaganda spread against Imam
Ahmad Rida, (May Allah, be pleased with him) was consequent
of the dust clouds of malice afflicted over their hearts; otherwise
each and every word from the Imam’s tongue and pen, utterances
and actions have been calling this out through the language of the
inner state, that:"I am neither a night nor a night-worshipper, so I
am not talking about a dream,

As I am the slave of a sun (ie. Sayyidina Muhammad, Salla Allahu
Alayhi wa Sallam)so I speak about the sun,(ie.Sayyidina Muhammad,
Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam)."

What an irony of fate? The man who undertook the task of eradicating
the bid’ah (innovations in Islamic Beliefs and Practices) with a naked
sword, was accused of supporting the bid’ah. When we go through
his thoughts and Fatawa’ (legal juristic opinions), we see clearly
that perhaps no one has opposed so bitterly the ways and practices
violating the commandments of the Prophet of Allah,as he did.
(Salla Allaahu Alayhi wa Sallam). When one of his contemporaries,
Khwaja Hasan Nizamee Dahlawee wrote a booklet entitled,
Murshid Ko Sajdah e Tazeemee, (Prostration before the Murshid
in Reverence), Imam Ahmad Rida, (Alayhi al Rahmah), in response
to it wrote a booklet entitled Hurmat e Sajdah e Tazeemee
(The Prohibition of Prostration in Reverence), proving it Haram,
(Unlawfull), corroborating from more than one hundred Verses
and Ahadeeth. People generally think that the Peeree Mureedee,
(the Spiritual Guidance and the Discipleship), is an essential of Islam,
but he has written in his famous book the As-Sunniyah al Aneeqah,
(The Beautiful Sunnism):

"At last for the deliverance, it is enough to know the Prophet of
Allah, (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam), as the Murshid
(Spiritual Guide)."

However, he maintained it correct and useful to accept someone
as a Murshid and to uphold his bay’ah ( oath, allegiance), but only
for the reformation and refinement of the self.

Similarly, our people display illumination over the graves. Imam
Ahmad Rida, (Rahimahu Allah) maintains that the burning of
lamps over the graves is a bid’ah. He allows it only in the event
of the grave lying in the wayside or within the premises of a Mosque
and its light may benefit the way-farers and the Namazis; daily prayer
worshippers. Today it has become customary that shrouds of cloth be
placed over the graves, weighing in maunds or tons; and these shrouds
are generally used for the Dastar bandee (adorning the head with a
turban as a token of honour), of the Ministers and the affluent.
Imam Ahmad Rida, (Alayhi al Rahmah), holds the opinion to the
extent of offering only one shroud over the grave (of Righteous
Scholars and the Awliyaa Allah). He does not think it right to offer
heaps of shrouds as a custom. He writes:

"...........The money which they spend in this (offering), (they) should
give it to a needy person in order to offer this Reward to the auspicious
soul of the Walee al Allah (the Friend of Allah)".

People who are unaware of the Right, also maintain the Qawwalee
(a group of singers with musical instruments), as an identification of
Imam Ahmad Rida’s school of thought, although he has declared
such qawwaalis wrongful which are displayed with the musical
instruments, as we see in his treatise the Masail e Sima’, (Problems
related to the audience of the Qawwalis).

                                         

 

It is said, that Imam Ahmad Rida, (Alayhi al Rahmah), was very severe
and aggravating. In his books, he has indicted the Ulama; Scholars
and dignitaries of high calibre as Kafirs; infidels, but I say that this
is the one thing that distinguishes and identifies him from other schools
of thought.Unfortunately, many people think that he was the founder
of a sect, namely Baraylawee; though he is only a Hanafi, (follower
of the Shar’eey Principles and Methodology of Imam al Azam Abu
Haneefah), and a Salafee, (the follower of the Pious Predecessors of
the Ummah), and he was nothing else. Contrary to him, those who
are called the Deobandee also profess the same viewpoint relating to
Fiqh and most other questions, as Shah Ahmad Rida Khan, Baraylawee,
(Rahimahu Allah), believed and practiced. The Peeree Mureedee is also
found among them (ie. the Deobandis). They also believe in Istimdad
Bi Ghayr al Allah, (The Manifestation of the help of Allah through the
Prophet’s and Righteous Awliya Allah). They also admit the munificence
of the graves. They also oppose the concept of not keeping along the
line of the pious ancestors. They also prefer the Fiqh of Imam Abu
Haneefa to all other schools of Fiqh. The real contention took rise
from here that Imam Ahmad Rida, (Alayhi al Rahmah), considered
the careless writings of some of their dignitaries as objectionable
and since the matter pertained to the Greatness of the Noble Prophet,
(Azmat e Rasool, Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam), they were aimed at
with his Fatawa’s on the basis of  contempt of the Noble Prophet,
(Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam). On studying them, one realises that
these Fatawa’ provide the foundation of a separate identification of
Imam Ahmad Rida, (Rahimahu Allah) and his school of thought.
The rigidity and aggravation which is spoken much of is the
identification of his self and the recognition of his whole life. He was
absorbed totally in the love of the Prophet, (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa
Sallam), as a result, his love was not willing to tolerate even the least
possible contempt of the Noble Prophet,(Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam),
even in the state of doubt. At his last breath, the last "will" he gave
to his inheritors and admirers was:

"If you feel/find even the slightest contempt or blasphemy in the Praise
of Allah and his Prophet, (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam), depart from
him immediately no matter how dear he might be to you. When you see
a person arrogant and impudent in the court/presence of the Prophet
of Allah, (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam), depart from him immediately
no matter how elderly and dignified he may be, throw him out, (of your
circle), like a house-fly, fallen in the milk." (Wasaya Shareef).

I learnt my lessons of the Saheeh Bukharee from a famous Deobandee
Scholar Shaykh al Hadeeth Mawlana Muhammad Idrees Kandhaylawee.
When in discussions, the A’la’ Hadrat was mentioned, Mawlana
Kandhaylawee would say:"Mawlawee Sahib (and this ‘Mawlawee Sahib’
was his expletory word),
Mawlana Ahmad Rida Khan will get deliverance due to these Fatawa’.
Allah, the Almighty will say, "You, Ahmad Rida Khan, You loved our
Prophet, (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam), so much that you did not
forgive even such great scholars. You considered that they had committed
contempt of the Prophet, (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam), so you issued
the Fatawa’ of infidelity against them.Lo! We grant you deliverance
only due to this one deed."

I have heard another story on the same pattern from Mufti e A’zam
Pakistan, Mawlana Mufti Muhammad Shafee Deobandee. He said:

"When Hadrat Mawlana Ahmad Rida Khan, (Rahimahu Allah),
passed away, somebody came to Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawee,
and informed him. Involuntarily Mawlana Thanawee raised his
hands in prayer. When the prayer was over, someone from the
audience asked; "He (Imam Ahmad Ridaa, Alayhi al Rahmah)
had been calling you a Kafir (Infidel) throughout his lifetime and
you have prayed for his deliverance." He (Mawlana Thanawee)
replied, (and this is the point which requires consideration):
"Mawlana Ahmad Rida Khan indicted the Fatawa’s of Kufr
against me because he believed that I was guilty of contempt in
the Honour of the Prophet, (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam).
After having this belief and surety,if he had not passed any Fatwa
a’ of Kufr, he would have himself become a Kafir."

What people call the aggravation of Imam Ahmad Rida, (Rahimahu
Allah), is the result of his homage and vigilance in the court of
Prophethood. When the poet composed the following couplet,
he did not practice poetry, but has interpreted the Sharee’ah
(Islamic Sacred Law);

"The Station of reverence is a place under the sky which is
more fragile than the Arsh,

This is the place when persons like Junayd and Bayazeed arrive
lose their breath (in homage and Vigilance)."

And one of my own couplet is;"Even breathe very carefully for this
is the Court of the Noble Prophet, (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam),

The risk of being even slightly ill-mannered is severely contemptuous
here."

This mode of respect and vigilence is prevalent in each and every
word of Imam Ahmad Rida’s,(Alayhi al Rahmah), writings and speeches.
This is the hidden burning passion which is more dearer to him than
his life. It is the insignia of his Iman (belief). It is the smoke of his
sighs. It is the reward of the whole creation and universe. It is superior
to "this" and "that". It is the peace of the lovers heart. It is the
collyrium of the Saalik, (who follow the path of Spiritual Stations).
It is the translation of the Noble Qur’aan entitled Kanz - al Imaan,
(Treasury of Faith).

Look at the translation of the verse:

Al Qur’aan 93:7

The Noble Qur’aan provides the evidence:"Our Companion neither
went astray nor was misled."

Al Qur’aan 53:2

Dalla ( ) is a verb denoting the past tense. It means that the Noble
Prophet, (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam), did not go astray in the
past. The Arabic language is an ocean. Every word has multifarious
meanings. The translators, in the flow of their beliefs and thoughts,
extract any meaning of these words. The translation of should have
been done with the , the evidence from the Noble Qur’aan completely
in accordance with the Greatness of the Noble Prophet, (Salla Allahu
Alayhi wa Sallam).But one should ask the translators what justice
have they done with this verse of the Holy Qur’an.

Shaykh ul Hind Mawlana Mahmood Hasan, translates thus:"And (We)
found you astray, (then We) taught you the way."

It may be said, that Mawlana Mahmood Hasan was not a literator,
so he made a mistake. Lets turn to the literator, poet, author and
journalist, Mawlana Abdul Majid Daryabadi. His translation is:"And
He found thee wandering, so He guided thee."

Mawlana Daryabadi was an old fashioned literator, let us ignore
the slip of his pen. Now we knock at the door of Mawlana Sayyad
Abul A’laa Mawdoodi, the contemporary writer of the standards
in and around Delhi, his translation runs as:

"And (We) found you unaware of the way, and then (We) bestowed
(Our) guidance (upon you)."

Refuge is in Allah! Bear in mind the hidden temptations and causeless
wranglings in the words,the Prophet’s unawareness of the way and the
bestowment of guidance, and then look in Kanz-al Iman, (Treasury of
Faith), the Translation of Imam Ahmad Rida, (May the Mercy of Allah
be upon him),"Bring forth here, if you ‘know’ how to speak,

The poor dweller of the city has many things to express."

What a Love-inspiring and Ethical translation the Imam has done.
He says,

"And He found you drowned in His Love, therefore gave way unto Him."

What a tyranny! The sectarianists are hesitant to raise their voice and
take a coherant action along side the world Muslims against the non-
sensical writings of (salman) rushdi, lest their masters benefactor
become dissapointed. Yet, contrary to this a ban was imposed on the
Faith preserving translation of Imam Ahmad Rida, (May the Mercy
of Allah be upon him), which is a treasure of Saturated Love for the
Messenger of Allaah, (Salla Allaahu Alayhi wa Sallam), and a Wealth
of encyclopaedic knowledge of Islam."Madness is named wisdom, and
wisdom madness,

Your beauty may conspire whatever wonder it desires."

Poetry is a different field where elements of mannerism and homage,
care and vigilence are often abandoned impudently by the poets.
In the realm of poetry, the category of Eulogy (Naat;Eulogium and
Epithet; in Praise of the Messenger of Allah, Salla Allahu Alayhi wa
Sallam), is a difficult class of poetry wherein each step is on the
Narrow Bridge (Pul Siraat). Here, on the one side is love and on the
other the Sharee’ah (Islamic Sacred Law). A poet describes the scene
of his attendance at the (Sacred) Tomb of the Messenger, (Salla
Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam), in these words;"In what state of fear and
hope is the visit of the Sacred Tomb made,

On the one hand is Love (and) on the other (upholding) Sacred Law."

In fact such a overcoming state is not only relevant during one’s
attendance at the Sacred Tomb of the Messenger, (Salla Allahu
Alayhi wa Sallam). When composing a eulogy in Praise of the
Noble Prophet of Allah, (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam), every poet
is confronted with such a test and trial. Here also, Love is on the one
side, whilst the Sharee’ah is on the other. If only the Sharee’ah is taken
into account, then the couplet loses its poetic charm and it becomes a
sermon and a speech. Likewise, when only the requisites of Love are
fulfilled then each and every word will be convicted a criminal of
wounding Sharee’ah. Urfi Sheerazi describes this critical situation in
one of his couplets in these words;"Urfi, do not walk fast for this is the
ground of Eulogy, it is not a desert,

Walk slowly for you are treading on the sharp edge of a sword."

Imam Ahmad Rida was also fully mindful of this difficulty. He says in
his Malfuzat (Assertions and Advices);

"Composing a Eulogy (Naat) is to walk over the edge of a sharp sword.
If one overstates he arrives in Divinity, and if he understates it is
disparaging."

For this reason, he says in one place;"I have learnt Eulogy from the Qur’an."

Keeping in view this criterion, we look at the piles of Naati’a Poetry,
and only one Poet meets this standard, and he is non other than Ahmad
Rida Khan Baraylawee, (May the Mercy of Allah be upon him), himself.
As you are well aware, I am a student of Literature. I too write couplets.
I have studied Naati’a Poetry in Urdu, Arabic, Persian all three
languages, and have thoroughly studied them. Without fear of rebuttal,
I concede all the Naati’a Poetry of all languages and all ages on the one
side and the (Famous) Salam"(Blessed be Mustafa, Mercy for Mankind),
of Shaah Ahmad Ridaa on the other. If both Naati’a Poetry were to be
put on a scale, then the Salam of Ahmad Rida would still remain weighty.
If I say this Salam is the ‘Qaseedah Burdah’ (‘Poem of the Mantle’) of
the Urdu Language, then there is no exaggeration in this, even the
slightest.The language and expression, the depth of feelings and warmth,
the knowledge and realities of the Qur’an and Aha’deeth, the Secrets
and Wisdoms of the Nobility of Character and Seerah of the Messenger
of Allah, (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam), the Authority and Uniqueness
in the arrangement and mannerism found in this Salam, cannot be
discovered in the Poetry Masterpieces of any other language. I regret
to say that writers did not pay heed to this task, for several books can
be written in explaining one and every couplet.

I recite a couplet, and challenge you, that you will have never heard
the Praise of the Blessed Beard of the Final Prophet, (Salla Allahu
Alayhi wa Sallam), in any form of Poetry, in any language, as this.
Imagine there is a river, surrounded by a green landscape. The beauty
of the river is enhanced by the presence of the green vegetation.
What is the river compared with? The Blessed Mouth of the Noble
Prophet, (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam). Nahr in Arabic literally
means a river. The Blessed Mouth of the Messenger of Allah, (Salla
Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam), is illustrated as a River of Mercy, that is,
there is a River of Mercy which is outpouring from the Blessed Mouth.

A Persian poet has said;"The Blessed Tongue, never uttered the word ‘No’

Except in the Witnessing that there is ‘No’ Deity save Allah."

(Imam) Shah (Ahmad) Rida says;

"What Munificence and Generosity you have O Leader of Makkah,

Your begger never hears ‘No’ ever."

This Blessed Mouth, this River of Mercy, that stones were showered
upon Him in the journey of Taa’if, the Blessed Head bled reaching
the Blessed Shoes. Yet, the Blessed Hands were raised for their
guidance;"O Allah, Give guidance to my people for they do not know."

They have no knowledge. They are unaware of my Station and
Message. So the Blessed Mouth was declared the River of Mercy
and what is the Blessed Hair? The flourishing greenery around
the River of Mercy, which has enhanced the Beauty and Dignity
of the River of Mercy. Now let us reflect upon this beautiful couplet;
"Near the Beard, the Mouth, what sweet harmony,

Blessed be the Verdant, River of Mercy."

Hadrat (Imam Ahmad) Rida goes on further in Praise of the
Messenger, (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam), the Pure Wives and
Mothers of the Believers, the Noble Companions,the Beloved Ahl
al Bayt, the Grand Senior Awliya, in particular, Hadrat Ghawth
al Azam, who is the Imam of the Awliya’, (May the Mercy and
Peace of Allaah be upon them all), finally, submitting words of
concern to his tongue. In this expression there is distinction and
particularity. The request is not personal but collective, it is not
individual but common, it is not only for himself but for the whole
Ummah. He says;"For my sole Mercy I do not petition,

Blessed be the Master’s entire Ummah."

What does he desire for himself? What is his purpose for writing
this Salam and the Eulogy in Praise of the Noble Prophet, (Salla
Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam)? He says;

"The only reward I desire, is that when everyone will be conveying
Salam to you, (the Messenger of Allah, Salla Allahu Alayhi wa
Sallam),the Angels appointed in your service call upon me saying,
‘Ahmad Rida! You too offer Salam, that very Salam, ………………
"Blessed be Mustafa, Mercy for Mankind" ……………………………
Only then will I have earned my reward of servitude."
"On ressurection I wish, when, he arrives,

Abundant Blessings are conveyed in his Grandeur.

Angels of duty entreat me and say, ‘Yes! Rida,

Blessed be Mustafa, Mercy for Mankind."

That which the opponents speak of the aggression of Shah Ahmad
Rida, is in fact not his aggression but his deep Love of the
Messenger, (Salla Allahu Alayhi wa Sallam). It is his vigilence
and care, which extends from the writings of Fatawa’ to the
translation of the Noble Qur’an, and from the translation of the
Noble Qur’an to his Naatiyyah Poetry, which is radiating
everywhere like the sun and the moon.

Who can stop the tongue of those who speak. They (his opponents),
even claim that Hadrat Ahmad Rida in every matter favoured
the British. During all the revolutionary movements; the Khilafat,
the Boycott and the Hijrat Movements, his attitude was based on
the enmity of the revolution.Regarding the question on whether
Hindustan (all India), was the Abode of Islam or the Abode of
War, he maintained a reactionist’s attitude. Hence, his role was
merely negative in the Freedom Movement of the sub-continent
and nothing more.

Firstly, one must understand that Imam Ahmad Rida was not a
Politician, he was a Statesman. He was not a political leader,
his wisdom, insight and integrity was more sublime. Politicians
and political leaders follow the aspirations of the people, whilst
the Statesman and his virtue of insight and sagacity, determine
the direction of the circumstances. There is no doubt that the
aforesaid movements were the overflowing floods of
sentimentalism at their respective times, but what was the
result of these movements?

Commenting on the Hijrat Movement, Mawlana Ra’ees Ahmad
Jaferee Nadwee, writes;

"Then the Hijrat movement emerged.Eighteen thousand Muslims
sold their houses, belongings,
immovable property and household goods, without concern of
profit or loss,………………………..

……………………… most of the buyers were Hindu,emigrating
to Afghanistan.When they could not be accommodated there they
returned. Some died due to the hardships. The rest who returned
safely were ruined, exhausted, helpless, destitute, wretched,
miserable, afflicted and distressed. If this is not death and
destruction,then what is it."(Hayat Muhammad Ali Jinah Page108)

The Hijrat Movement was a logical outcome of the discussion on
whether India was the Dar al Islam or the Dar al Harb. Imam
Ahmad Rida never declared Hindustan Dar al Harb. He knew
this would lead Muslims to partake in interest deals but compell
them to Hijrah and raising the sword.He declared it Dar al Islam
because the Muslims had ruled there for hundreds of years.
Even then peace prevailed and the Muslims faced no obstacles
in observing their religious obligations and commandments.
It is surprising that the people who insisted on declaring Hindustan
Dar al Harb during the days of the British, today do not utter
even a single word to declare her Dar al Harb under the Hindu
rule. The meaning is clear. The Hindu’s had been puppeteering the
threads of the Fatawa’s behind the cover on which Hindustan was
being declared a Dar al Harb,instigating the Muslims to raise the
sword against the English rulers, ultimately leading them to
destruction and death, and those who survive leave this land
forever through Hijrat (migration).If today India was to be
declared a Dar al Harb, the talisman of Hindu Secularism would
be shattering to pieces. In the name of Jihad the Muslims would
be on the battlefields or emigrating.The air from the ballons of
secularism would escape. Hence, today we see the lips sealed of the
supporters of those (reactionist) Mufti’s who declared Hindustan
Dar al Harb. Moreover, through this silent act endorsing the Noble
Fatwa’of Imam Ahmad Rida, (May the Mercy of Allah be upon him).

The matter of the Khilafat Movement and the Boycott Movement
is not much different to this either.

In 1914 the First World War broke out. With a view to carry out
recruitment in India, the British announced to liberate Hindustan
after achieving victory in the war. It is apparent that the Muslims
had no conception of Pakistan then. Had Hindustan been free,
the government would have been of the Hindu majority. That is
why Ghandhiji strongly supported the military recruitment, and
almost two hundred thousand Hindu and Muslim soldiers fought
along with the British armies.Turkey was defeated in this war.
After victory, the English did not fulfil their promise. Now
Ghandhiji was determined to punish the English. For this purpose,
the issue of Khilafat was found. However, it was clear to all that
the Uthmaniyya Sultanate (Ottoman Empire), of Turkey due to
her misconduct,was no more than a stain on the name of Khilafat.
Then, suddenly, it was widely rumoured, (by the contriving Hindu’s),
that the Sultan of Turkey is the Khaleefa of Islam and to end his Rule
and Khilafat is equal to assaulting Islam. The Muslims revolted and
a Movement initiated. However, it was wonderfully ironic that the
leadership of the Movement was in the hands of Ghandhiji.
The man who was not in favour of giving the Muslims a separate 
piece of land in Hindustan, was now working to restore the Muslim
Khilafat on an International level. Imam Ahmad Rida, Alayhi al
Rahmah wal Ridwan), was carefully watching this cleverly 
camouflaged net of unified colours laid by Ghandhiji. He raised his
voice against the One-Nation advocates at a time when even Iqbal
and Qa’id e Azam were captives of her conspiracy. One can adjudje
that Imam Ahmad Rida was the Principal Leader and these two
Nobles were followers of the Two-Nation Theory. The Pakistan
Movement, (Tahreek e Pakistan), would have never prospered,
if Imam Ahmad Rida had not informed the Muslims of Hindu
deceit and conspiracies, many years before.

The circumstances of the Boycott Movement, (Tahreek Tark e
Mawalat), was the same. Ghandhiji was inciting the Muslims
to unite with the Hindu’s, in every sort of Boycott,(against the
British).Imam Ahmad Rida, (Rahimahu Allah), was of the opinion
that the Mawalat, meaning co-operation and friendship, is the
general command under which Muslims abstain from befriending
and co-operating with Polytheists and Infidels. However, this ruling
does not include the abandonment of business and trade. As far
as abstention from friendship is concerned, it is not solely
applicable to the English, it also includes Hindu’s.

It does not suit Muslims to further loving ties with one polytheist
and, simultaneously severe with another polytheist.

Qa’id e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, opposed the Boycott
Movement, yet Mawlana Muhammad Ali and Mawlana Shawkat
Ali, along with many Muslim Leaders supported Ghandhiji in this
very issue. Inspired by the word of Truth spoken by Imam Ahmad Rida,
these political leaders gradually became aware of Hindu diplomacy
and policies. At one stage, even Allamah Iqbal was the President of
the Provincial Committee of the Khilafat Movement, but on realising
the real objective of the Movement, he resigned from the office.
These couplets of Iqbal remind us of those days;

"Are you not aware of History,

For Khilafat, you have started to beg,,

That which we do not buy with our blood,

A Sovereignty as such for Muslims is shameful to accept.

The days when these Movements were occuring, they were occupied
with highly emotional people.Unfortunately however, our Nation
does tend to be extremist. As one poet suggests;

"Pity we walk not a moderate pace,

We either walk insensibly or a frenzy pace."

In such circumstances, disregarding the oppositions and slanders,
remaining uncompromisingly firm on the course of moderation,
and adhering to the prudent Politics of Statemanship and Sagacity
with a view to promote the Two-Nation Theory, (Dow Qawmee
Nazriyya), was the task of a man having ironlike nerves, as Imam
Ahmad Rida Khan, (May the Mercy & Blessings of Allah, shower
upon him), had demonstrated. As to those who allege that his
measures were based on his favouring the British,do so out of sheer
ignorance or otherwise know, but are unwilling to accept. Such a
brave believer,who detested the British Imperialist to such an extent,
that he considered attending the British Law Courts in India to be
Haram, (Unlawful), even when a suit was petitioned against him
he did not attend. He, who whenever writing letters would write the
address upside down on the envelope or card,so as to lower the head
of the British King and Queen.He, who made the following will two
hours before his demise, instructing, throw away all the letters
bearing the Heads of the British Monarchy received in the Post from
this veranda and all the rupees and coins bearing the same, so as to
ease the coming of the Angels of Peace. He, who made another
person (ie. Imam Ahmad Rida, Rahimahu Allah) a paragon in
composing eulogy and declared him to be the Sultan of eulogy
composers, was Mawlana Kifayat Ali Kafi, who in 1857 in the War
of Independence issued a Fatwa’ in favour of Jihad against the
British. He exerted his utmost effort in this regard and in 1858 was
openly hanged at an open square in Murad Aabad.To say about this
person, that he was a supporter of the British is equal to saying, the
sun darkens, the flowers stink, the moon heats, the ocean is dry, the
spring symbolises autumn, the morning breeze is violent, the water
is sharp, the air suffocates and wisdom is the appellation of ignorance.

"He has sewn shoes with the rays of the sun,
Whatever he did, by Allah, it has no parallel."

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THE BIOGRAPHY OF SAYYAD [21] 'ABDULHAKIM-I ARWASI 
Rehamtullahi alaih 

(A disciple of Sayyad Fahim-i Arwasi Rehm.)

He was the greatest alim[22] during the reign of the last Khalifat-ul-Muslimin Sultan Muhammad Wahid ad-din Khan. He was born in the town of Baskal'a near Van in 1281 (1865) and passed away in Ankara in 1362 (1943). During the time when communists, freemasons, Wahhabis, apostates, Rafidis, Jews and Christians were attacking Islam with all their publications, propaganda, imperial powers and wealth in order to deprive Muslim children of their faith, he protected the Ahl as-Sunnat[23] with his lectures, sermons and books against annihilation and, with his appropriate expertise, he cleared away the poisonous lies that had been imposed upon the youth. He suffered terrible difficulties and oppression for this way (rahima- hullahu ta'ala). 'Abdulhakim Effendi's father, Khalifa Mustafa Effendi, was from Sakitan village of Yuksekova, a town of Hakkari (an Eastern Anatolian city).

Sayyad 'Abdurrahman, the great grandfather of 'Abdulhakim Effendi, was the son of Sayyad 'Abdullah. Sayyid 'Abdullah is (buried) at the head-side of Sayyad Fahim in Arwas. When Sayyad 'Abdullah died, for continuation of the Arwasi family, Sayyad 'Abdurrahman's mother persuaded him to get married. He had five sons namely Tahir, 'Abdurrahim, Lutfi, 'AbdulHamid and Muhammad. Sayyad Tahir was the governor of Basra. Sayyad 'Abdurrahim died in 1200 [1786]. He, his son al-hajj Ibrahim and his grandson 'Abdulaziz are (buried) at Ahmad Hani tomb in Dogu Bayazid. Three children of 'Abdulaziz Effendi are Muhammad Amin and 'Omar Effendis and Sayyadat Khadija. The children and grandsons of each of them were a treasure enriched with religious and worldly information. Muhammad Amin Effendi had four sons. Their names were Abdulaziz, 'AbdulQadir, 'Abdulhakim and Mahmud Effendis. Ahmad Effendi, son of 'Abdulhakim Effendi, died in Istanbul on the last day of 1988 [1409] when he was a columnist of Turkiye daily newspaper.

Sayyad 'Abdurrahman was the murshid-i akmal (perfect murshid) of his time. Thousands of lovers of Allahu ta'ala would attend his sohbat (preaching) and attain faid. He would send letters of advice to far countries. His letters in the Persian language to amir Sharafaddin 'Abbasi, one of Irisan amirs, are very valuable. In one of these letters he conveys his salams and makes duas (prayer) for Muhammad Karim Khan, Mustafa and Faizullah begs. Sharafaddin Beg added the following lines to another letter of his: (Mawlana sent this letter to this faqir [he means himself] in 1192 [1778]. He declares that patience is necessary against troubles and explains the value of patience. After a couple of months, my father 'Abdullah han beg died. Mawlana's karamat should be understood from this.) Sayyad 'Abdurrahman is buried in Hoshab.

Sayyad Lutfi Effendi had eleven sons.

Sayyad Lutfi Effendi's first son was 'AbdulGhani, whose son was Mir Haj, whose son was 'Abdurrahman, whose son was Muhammad Said Effendi. Second son of Lutfullah Effendi was 'Abdulghaffar Effendi, whose son was Sharif, whose son was Muhammad Shafiq Effendi. Third son of Lutfullah Effendi was Muhammad, who was step father of Hadrat Sayyad Fahim. His son was Tahir, whose son was Rasul, whose son was 'Abdullah Effendi.

Fourth son of Lutfullah Effendi was Rasul Effendi. His fifth son Sayyad Sibghatullah Effendi was a disciple of Sayyad Taha-i Hakkari. His son was Jalal-ad-din, whose son was 'Ali, whose son was Salahaddin Effendi. His two sons Kamuran Inan and Zaynalabidin Inan became Bitlis Senators and parlimentarians.

His sixth son was Jamaluddin, whose son was Abdulmajid, whose son was Sadullah, whose son was Muhyiddin, whose son was 'Abdurrahman, whose son was Lutfullah, whose son was Nurullah Effendi.

AbdulHamid Effendi had two sons, one of them was molla Safi, whose grandson was AbdulHamid Effendi. His second son was hadrat Sayyad Fahim-i Arwasi, "quddisa sirruh".

Sayyad Muhammad had seven sons and a daughter named Hamida Hanim. Hamida Hanim was the wife of Hurrem Beg of Timur descent. She had three sons named Salih, Mamduh and Said. Said Beg's two descendants were Tawfiq Beg and Amina Hanim. Amina Hanim is the first wife of Makki Effendi. His second wife was Afifa Hanim. First son of Sayyad Muhammad was Mahmud Effendi. He had three daughters named Zubaida, Maryam and Asma. Asma Hanim was the first wife of 'Abdulhakim Effendi and was very devout and pious. His second wife was Aisha Hanim who was the granddaughter of Sayyad Fahim-i Arwasi "quddisa sirruh". She was the mother of Ahmad Makki and Munir Effendis. His third wife was Aisha Hanim who was called Nine (grandma) Hanim and the forth wife was Badriya Hanim. His fifth wife Maida Hanim died in Istanbul in May 1396 [1976].

Sayyad Muhammad's second son was Muhyiddin Effendi. He had two sons and two daughters. Of his daughters, Beyaz Hanim was Faruq Beg's mother and Zaliha Hanim was 'Abdurrahim Zapsu's mother. The sons were Hasan and Mustafa Effendis. Hasan Effendi had seven sons and seven daughters, of them four sons died as children. The fifth son Mazhar Effendi was the husband of Nasibe Hanim. The sixth son Muhyiddin Effendi died in Ankara. The seventh son Najmaddin Effendi was a member of the Court of Appeal. He was the husband of Naima Hanim and son-in-law of Ahmad Effendi. His daughters, Nine (grandma) Aisha Hanim was Abdulhakim Effendi's; Dilbar Hanim was Taha Effendi's wife; Fatima Hanim was Sayyad Ibrahim Effendi's and Sabiha Hanim was Abdullah Beg's wive.

Mustafa Effendi had nine sons and two daughters. The first son was Sayyad Abdulhakim Effendi. The second was Ibrahim Effendi, the third Taha effendi, the fourth Abdulqadir Effendi, the fifth Shamsaddin Effendi, the sixth Ziyaddin Effendi, the seventh Yusuf Effendi, the eighth Mahmud Effendi, the ninth Kasim Effendi. Abdulhakim Effendi was the eldest and died the latest. Three grandsons of Abdulqadir Effendi, Zaynalabidin, Badraddin and Fahraddin are alive. Shamsaddin Effendi had one son and two daughters. One of them, Afifa Hanim, was the wife of Makki Effendi. The other daughter, Nazifa Hanim, died in March 1986. Her son, virtuous Jamal Effendi, was the imam and Hatib (preacher) in Kirazli mosque in Istanbul and had a deep and unequelled learning on Jalaladdin-i Rumi's Masnawi. He died in Istanbul in 1396 [1976]. Son of Yusuf Effendi, Sayyad Faruq Ishaq, was the head of Court of Accounts and a Senator of Van province. He died in Ankara in 1972. Two sons of Faruq Beg, Sayyad Nawzad and Sayyad Ruchan are alive and have sons. Sayyad Ruchan was appointed to the counsellorship of Labor ministry in 1391 [1971]. Mahmud Effendi's mother was Maryam Hanim. All of his other brothers and sisters are the children of Hano Hanim.

Mahmud Effendi's daughter is Ruqayya Hanim. The first daughter of Mustafa Effendi, Mu'tabar Hanim, was the wife of Said Beg of Timur descent and was both paternal aunt and mother-in-law of Ahmad Makki Effendi. She died in 1341 and was buried in Edirnekapi cemetery. His second daughter was Rabi'a Hanim.

The third son of Sayyad Muhammad was Nuraddin Effendi He had two sons named Ma'jid Effendi and Ali Effendi. Majid Effendi's son Izzat Beg was the husband of Nafiya Hanim and he died in Van in 1981. He had four children. Sayyad Muhammad's fourth son was Ahmad Effendi. He had three sons named Ubaid, Shawkat and Shihabuddin.

Sayyad Muhammad's fifth son was Hamid Pasha. He had four sons, Ahmad, Abdullah, Fahmi and Ibrahim, and three daughters, Nafiya, Nasiba and Aisha. Of them Sayyid Ibrahim Arwas was the son-in-law of Abdulhakim Effendi and served as M.P. of Van for years. He died in Ankara in 1965. His son was Sayyad Siddiq and daughters were Gulsum and Hamiyyat. Sayyad Ahmad was the son-in-law of Muhammad Siddiq Effendi and was the father of Naima Hanim. Muhammad Siddiq Effendi was a grandson of hadrat Sayyad Taha, that is, the son of Sayyad 'Ubaidullah and a brother of martyr Abdulqadir Effendi. Nafiye Hanim was the wife of Izzat Beg, Nasiba Hanim of Mazhar Effendi, Aisha Hanim of Muhammad Mathum Effendi.

Sayyad Muhammad's sixth son was Husain Effendi. He had four sons, Jalal, Alaaddin, Sayyad Ghazi and Bahaddin. Sayfaddin Beg, son of Jalal Effendi, was the husband of Ruqayya Hanim and the father of Aydin and Jalal Effendies and Laila Hanim. Aydin Beg was elected M.P. of Van from Anavatan Party in 1983. His sons Junaid, Malih Ruchan, Fatih and Murad Effendis are being raised as worthy successors.

The seventh son of Sayyad Muhammad is Yusuf Effendi.

Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi had three sons and two daughters. Of them Anwar and Shafi'a was of Asma Hanim. Shafi'a Hanim was Salih Beg's wife and died in Musul during migration. Also, Anwar died in Eskishehir in 1336 [1918] while migrating. His second son virtuous Ahmad Makki Uchishik (Isik) Effendi, deeply learned in religious knowledge from arabic and persian books and from his father, died in Istanbul in 1387 [1967]. He was buried in Baglum cemetery. With his dependable fatwas, he was a blessed personage whose equal is hard to find all over the world. He educated many mature and valuable religious men. He used to provide medicine for illnesses of the seekers of science and the spiritual realm. Allahu ta'ala honored and blessed the city of Istanbul and the whole Islamic world with his sacred presence. Sayyad Ahmad Makki Effendi had four sons, Bahik, Baha, Madani and Hikmat and a daughter, Zahida. Each is archetype of conscience and virtue. His grandsons, Taha Uchishik (Isik), Fahim and Muhammad Effendis and his daughter Shafi'a Hanim are being raised as gems. The third son of Abdulhakim Effendi "quddisa sirruh", Sayyad Munir Effendi worked for years in the sales department in the Istanbul municipality and attracted the respect and love of his fellow associates with his honesty, studiousness and beautiful manners. He passed away in 1399 [1979]. He was buried in Baglum cemetery.

In the Rajab month of 1332 [1914], Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi migrated from Bashkala. He came to Istanbul in 1337. He first settled in the Yazili Madrasa at Ayyub Sultan and later in the Murtada Effendi Tekkesi on Gumussuyu Hill. While giving sermons at various mosques and teaching at the Vefa High school and the Sulaimaniyya Madrasa in the Sultan Salim Mosque, he began propagating Islam, silencing and subduing the enemies of Islam. In the firman (Sultan's order) dated-8th-of Dhu'l-Qada, 1337 [August 5, 1919], he was appointed a mudarris (senior professor) at the highest madrasa, the University-level Madrasa of Sulaimaniyya. The firman said:

"Appointed for the following vacant posts at Dar al-Khilafat al-'aliyya Sulaimaniyya Madrasa are Dabrali Wildan Fa'iq Effendi for the mudarris-ship of al-Hadith ash-Sharif; 'Abdulhakim Effendi, one of the 'ulama' of Hakkari, for the mudarris-ship of tasawwuf; ..... and the former Hakkari representative Sayyad Taha Effendi for the mudarris-ship of al-fiqh ash-Shafi'i. For the fulfillment of this al-'iradat as-saniyya (imperial rescript), the Mashikkat al-Islamiyya (the Religious Affairs office) is charged. Muhammad Wahid ad-din."

This firman is written on page 1484 of the Jarida-i 'Ilmiyya, 48 th issue.

Murtada Effendi, who received fayd from Ahmad Yakdast in Makka al-Mukarrama, retired from the shipyard accounting department as head of diaries. He built a mosque in Gumushsuyu near Idris kiosk facing the sea in 1158. He died in 1160 and was buried in the wall facing the sea. His sons were also buried there. After the first imam of this mosque Abdullah-i Kashgari, his son Ubaidullah Effendi was imam for ten years. Isa Effendi, the next imam died in 1206. Salim Khan had a tomb built for him. Later the son-in-law of Abdullah Effendi, Chalabi Ubaidullah Effendi, died in 1208. At last, Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi, who was the treasure of scholarly and hidden spiritual knowledge, was appointed as imam and Hatib (preacher). Till his death in 1362 [1943] he propagated Islam in this and other mosques and schools.

Husain Hilmi effendi said, "Starting from 1347 [1929], after maintaining continuous companionship for seven years and after frequently visiting him for another seven years while I was in Ankara, did I manage to accumulate from that door [of 'Abdulhakim Effendi] all of what I possess for this world and the next. Although I was unable to study Islamic knowledge and was unaware of Islamic virtues and excellences, I attained the honor of understanding something of 'ilm (knowledge) and ikhlas (sincerity in faithfulness) with the patronage, kindness and compassion of that great wali. I saw many conscientious and curious people from all parts of the country and from abroad come and ask many things concerning knowledge and science and leave with full satisfaction concerning the answers. However, there were also those base people who came for worldly advantages or for perpetrating enmity. With his keen insight, he would immediately perceive their intentions, but, because he was gentle, compassionate and long-sighted, he would not discriminate between a friend and an enemy, treating everybody with modesty and mudara (dissimulation). Those who visited with their pure hearts and received faid[24] from scholars of Islam for the sake of Allah have continued in their footsteps and lived up to the rules of Islam. Those who said that they had received faid from their doors but avoided worshipping and busied themselves with the harams[25] and evils, however, are to be regarded as hypocrites and exploiters."

The above mentioned Idris kiosk was built by Idras Hakim bin Husamaddin. A deeply learned alim of the Bayezid and Yavuz era, this person caused the submission of twenty five tribes living along the Iranian border to the Ottoman rule. Thus he contributed greatly to the Chaldiran victory. He was buried on a bank near the fountain which he had built near Bulbul rill. He died in [932]. His wife Zaynab Hatun had built a masjid near Idris Kiosk known with her name. There is Karyagdi tekke (Darwish lodge) which is located in the same area as the masjid. At the back of it, is Gumushsuyu fountain. Karyagdi tekke is also called (Colak Husain tekke). It was built by Mustafa III. Dolanci Darwish Muhammad had built a mawlawihana behind this tekke in 1230.

Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi was very profound in religious knowledge and in ma'arif[26] of tasawwuf. University members, scientists and statesmen would come to ask difficult questions that they thought to be unanswerable but would go out in contentment because they would find the answers -before they would ask for them- within an hour of his sohbat (company, preaching). Those who won his tawajjuh (attention, patronage) and love would see innumerable karamat.[27] He was extremely modest and unperentious. He was never heard to say, "I personally..." He said, "We would not be taken into account... We cannot understand what those superiors have written. We read them only to get blessed with them." Whereas, he, too, was an expert in the same knowledge. Husain Hilmi Effendi's father-in-law, Yusuf Ziya' Akisik, one of his intimates and the Director of the Karamursal Textile Factory, said, "I kissed the palm of 'Abdulhakim Effendi in a dream and went to his house at Ayyub Sultan to tell him about my dream the following day, I bowed to kiss his hand as we always did when we met him. He stretched forward his blessed hand, the palm facing upward, and said, 'Kiss it the way you did last night,' and, as an act of kindness, he explained many things."

Husain Hilmi Effendi, one of those who loved 'Abdulhakim Effendi very much, narrated, "I and Rifqi Effendi, a Turkish teacher at Darussafaqa High school, went to 'Abdulhakim Effendi's house. After night prayer, he sat in silence, thinking pensively. He looked worried. After some time he said abruptly, 'Get up and leave here!' It was very unusual and we used to leave after asking permission. We wanted to kiss his hand as it was the custom when leaving, but he said, 'Hurry up! Go at once!' Rifqi Effendi ran out into the garden and then into the street. I stopped in the garden to tie my shoelaces. Someone approached me and said, 'Why you're still here! Go at once!' I looked up and saw it to be 'Abdulhakim Effendi.' said I was tying my shoelaces. He said I should do it in the street. I jumped out and tied them in the street. The following morning we heard that, a few minutes after we had left the front gate, the police entered the garden through the back gate and searched the house and took 'Abdulhakim Effendi to the police station."

In 1349 [1931], 'Abdulhakim Effendi was taken from his house to a court-martial in Menemen. The daily papers, which were famous for their enmity against Islam, reported the news as "Shaykh 'Abdulhakim, the active commander of the Akhisar branch of the Reaction Gang, has been arrested!" As if a mountain guerilla chieftain was captured after a long fight. These papers had been filling the people all over the country with terrorism and had been spitting fire at Muslims. The concept of crime became uncertain: The houses of the Qur'an teachers were searched; Qur'anic booklets and religious books were collected and burnt. Muslims had to hide them in attics and wells. At drinking parties, the enemies of Islam yelled, "I'll pull the camel shepherd Arab Muhammad out of his grave and cut his legs off!" They were applauded enthusiastically by flatterers and sychophants. When they used up the thousand-lira notes in their pockets by sticking them on the breasts of dancing Russian girls, they began sticking bank bills. With Armenians as intermediators, they brought beautiful boys from Romania to watch them swim in covered pools. In this regard, excessive efforts were made and much confusion was caused. Because the adhan[28] interrupted their pleasure, which was accompanied by music, they said that minarets should be demolished. Allahu ta'ala's commandments were trodden under foot. For example, they forced people out of Islam with such words as "My daughter! Open up your hair! Don't sit like an ogre!" The drunkards expected from one another the creation of a new religion and miracles. A document revealing how terrorism upset wisdom and hardened consciences was reported, with the purpose of educating the youth, in the daily paper Hakikat (2 Ramadan, 1390; Nov. 2, 1970, No. 195), under the heading "Our Distressful Days."

On one of those days, when the enemies of Islam had gone too far in persecuting Muslim, the daily papers wrote the following report about those who had been hung on the preceding day: "The court's decision about 'Abdulhakim and his accomplices will be announced tomorrow." Husain Hilmi Effendi wrote the following about that day:

"I made dhikr and prayed much that night. In fear and worry I fell asleep.. I dreamt that 'Abdulhakim Effendi and I were sitting face-to-face in the balustrade on the left side of the middle gate of the Ayyub Mosque. He was smiling. He took a white package out of the right inside pocket of his overcoat, opened it and gave me a candy. I ate it and woke up. I still feel the taste of that dream and candy. I joyfully waited for the morning to come. I bought a newspaper early and saw in large-point letters the headline: "Attorney General demanded execution, court acquitted." The court-martial's February 12, 1931-dated sentence of acquittal of 'Abdulhakim Effendi and the five people accompanying him was reported at length. I thanked Allahu ta'ala. The good news symbolized by candy in my dream came true."

On one of the visits Husain Hilmi Effendi paid to 'Abdulhakim Effendi, he found him talking, with a man in the garden. He stood at a distance till the man left and 'Abdulhakim Effendi called him. Hilmi Effendi explains what happened afterwards:

"I went to him and sat down respectfully. I always looked in front of me. I could not look at him in the face, and never moved my eyes. He said, 'Do you know this man? He is called Mazhar Tobur. He likes us, and we like him. But he does not listen to us. He teaches chemistry at a high school in Ankara. I advise him and tell him to do so and so. But he does not do what we say. He acts according to his own opinions. Therefore, he tires himself very much preparing the lessons beforehand and reading examination papers. His students, their parents and the school administration do not like him. If he would listen to us, he would be at ease and would be liked by everybody.' After explaining his advice, he looked at my face and said, 'Do not forget this advice of mine. When you become a teacher, remember us. Do what I say! It will be very useful for you.' But I, in recompense for this kindness and fatherly advice, made a great and disrespectful blunder, saying, 'Sir, I am a pharmacist officer and I work in hospitals. Teacher officers are different from us. They teach. We do not teach.' With this unnecessary and impolite answer, I seemed not to accept his advice. I still suffer from the harm of those words of mine. When I remember it, my eyes become tearful and my heart moans. Oh if only... I had behaved politely just for a moment, if only I had said: 'With pleasure, sir!' I wish I had not broken that blessed heart, which, no doubt, was loved much by Allahu ta'ala, a fact He manifested every moment, and which was the treasure of the faid and marifa that had emanated from Rasulullah's[29] heart and traveled to the hearts of Awliya! I even now feel shame and see my baseness.

"Fortunately, that great personage, who was filled with the attributes of mercy, patience forgiveness and benevolence from Allahu ta'ala, repeated pitifully, 'When you become a teacher, do not forget these words of mine. You will benefit from them!' Thanks to Allahu ta'ala, I said, 'With pleasure, sir!' Allahu ta'ala protected me against a second act of disrespect.

"I was appointed to teach chemistry at the Bursa Military High school in 1366 [1947]. Later, I was appointed Director of Teaching Staff. In front of the school, I remembered word by word all the advice of 'Abdulhakim Effendi. Saying to myself, 'He foretold that I would become a teacher. He also showed how I should work in order to achieve this task,' my eyes got wet. I recited Qur'an for his blessed soul and entered the school building. I worked according to his advice until I retired in 1379 [1960]. And I am still following his advice. I have been liked by everybody. I have always won. I have lived in ease and comfort.

"Abdulhakim Effendi did not speak for a few days before his death. The day before he passed away, his eyes were gazing vacantly and he was continuously smiling. He abruptly looked at me and said, 'I saw the 'Arsh al-ilahi (the Divine Space). How beautiful, how beautiful! I have not lost my mind, my conscience. I am explaining these consciously.'"

'Abdulqadir Bey of Kayseri, who was in the cotton trade and served 'Abdulhakim Effendi for many years, told Hilmi Effendi:

"On a summer day, 'Abdulhakim Effendi and I performed the noon salat[30] together in the blessed Ayyub Mosque. Then we entered Hadrat Khalid's [a famous Sahabi[31] shrine. There was no one else. We sat on our knees on the foot-side of the sarcophagus. He told me to sit closer to him and to close my eyes. When I closed my eyes, I saw Hadrat Khalid standing in front of us. He approached us. He was tall, well-built and loosely-bearded. 'Abdulhakim Effendi told me to kiss his hand. I did as I was told. They talked to each other silently. I could not hear them. I respectfully watched them. 'Abdulhakim Effendi told me to open my eyes. When I opened them, I saw both of us sitting by the side of the sarcophagus. We went out. The adhan was being called for the afternoon prayer. He asked me what I had seen. After I told him, He said I should not tell it to anybody until after he passes away. Now twenty-four years have passed since his death. I am explaining it to you because you have inquired!"

FOOTNOTES

[21] Sayyad: a descendant of the Beloved Prophet (Salla allahu ta'ala alayhiwa sallam).

[22] Alim: Muslim scholar.

[23] Ahl as-Sunnat: the true followers of (the Companions of) the Prophet. Jarida-i 'Ilmiyya Majmuasi, no. 48, p. 1484.

[24] faid: marifa .

[25] haram: act, thing, forbidden in Islam.

[26] marifa: knowledge about Allah, inspired to the hearts of awliya': pl. ma'arif.

[27] karamat: miracles Allah works through awliya'.

[28] Adhan: the call to prayer.

[29] Rasulullah: Hadrat Muhammad, (s.a.w.) the "Prophet of Allah.'

[30] Salat: namaz, ritual prayer.

[31] Sahabi: a companion of the Prophet (Salla allahu ta'ala alayhiwa sallam). 

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  THE BIOGRAPHY OF HADRAT SAYYAD FAHIM-I ARWASI Rehmatullahi alaihi.   (A disciple of Hadrat Sayyad Taha al-Hakkari Rehmatullahi alaihi.)

Sayyad Muhammad Fahim bin 'AbdulHamid Effendi was born in 1241 and passed away in 1393 [1895]. His mother was Amine Hanim. He was from the Arwas village of Muks, a district of Van. He was tall and thin. His beard was neither short nor long. His nose was a little high in the middle. His forehead was broad. He had a white-complexion. His teeth were not incomplete. His turban was large. He wore a white dress made of three pieces of cloth, a green or blue robe, wool socks and leather slippers. He used eyeglasses during his last years. He had black eyes. His hair was white for the most part. His eyebrows were connected in the middle. When he traveled, he did so only on horseback until his death. He became so weak during his last days that he carried his turban with great difficulty. He wrapped an abani[32] on his turban when he performed salat. He passed away on the fourteenth of Shawwal. Because he was tall, a tall gravestone was erected by his grave, which was later destroyed by Armenians. He had an awe-inspiring look. People would fear his shadow. Those who saw his shadow could see that he was a beloved servant of Allahu ta'ala. He was matchless in Van and during his time. He was profound in every branch of knowledge, even in agriculture, arts and political sciences. His knowledge was an endowment from Allahu ta'ala. The Governor of Van used to solve his problems by asking him. He missed no congregational salat and no thajjud (supererogatory midnight salat) throughout his life.

While studying religious and scientific knowledge at a madrasa, he also attained the honor of receiving the tawajjuh of al-murshid al-kamil[33] Hadrat Sayyad Taha al-Hakkari, who was the qutb[34] of Eastern Anatolia.

While he was leaving Shamdinan, where his murshid lived, for the village of Abiri, Bulanik, Mus, to study Mutawwal, his murshid said to him, "When you have difficulty in understanding a point in the book, remember (rabita) me! Visualize me!" Later while he was learning Mutawwal from his master Molla Rasul as-Sibki, he could not understand a sentence. His master re- explained it. He asked his master to explain it further in detail. Molla Rasul read the sentence several times and said, "I am tired today, I'll explain it tomorrow." The following day he again could not explain it. While his master was reading it repeatedly, Hadrat Sayyad Fahim closed his eyes and tried to bring into his mind the figure of his murshid. Sayyad Taha appeared to him with a book in his hands. He opened the book in front of Sayyad Fahim. It was the same page of Mutawwal on which the vague sentence appeared. Sayyad Taha read the sentence openly and Sayyad Fahim listened to him carefully and saw that he read an additional waw-i atifa (wa). When Sayyad Taha disappeared, he opened his eyes and saw that Molla Rasul was continuously reading and thinking about that sentence. He then asked for permission and read it to himself adding a 'wa' as he had heard from his murshid. His master said, "Now the meaning is clear." They both understood it thoroughly. Molla Rasul said, "I've been reading and explaining these lines for twenty years, yet without understanding. Now I understand it clearly. Tell me now... Reading it correctly cannot be out of your own ability. I could not understand it for years. How is it that you did? You added a 'wa' and the meaning became clear?" Hadrat Sayyad Fahim told his master, who now rests adjacent to the door of Ala' ad-din Pasha Mosque in Mus, how he learned it through rabita.

Hadrat Sayyad Fahim used to leave Muks once a year and stay in Van for a month or two. Those who loved him would gather around him and receive faid. He usually was the guest of Ahmad Bey, who loved him very much and was the first secretary of the court. The year Ahmad Bey went on hajj,[35] he stayed again at his house. One day late at midnight, he called one of his intimates and said, "Wake your friends! We'll leave here at once and go to the house of..." He was answered, "Sir, wouldn't it be unsuitable to leave at midnight? Can't we go tomorrow?" He said, "No, we'll go now. Tell Ahmad Bey's sons." Ahmad Bey's sons came and begged, "Sir, forgive us if we have committed a fault. Do not leave us. Father will be shocked if he hears it. How could we answer him? Please forgive us." They lamented much. Hadrat Sayyad Fahim said, "No. I am very pleased with you. You' ve fulfilled your responsibilities beyond what was needed. I pray for you. But we have to go now." Ahmad Bey's sons said, "Be it as you command, sir." At midnight they went to the house of another one of those who loved him. The following day, his son Muhammad Amin Effendi told him that Ahmad Bey's sons were deeply grieved. "Father," he asked, "what if we stayed at that house until morning?" Hadrat Sayyid Fahim said, "My son! Don't tell it to anybody now. Ahmad Bey passed away in al-Makkat al-mukarrama last night. The house became a house of orphans. The property became theirs'. We used to use everything, eat and drink everything, because I knew that Ahmad Bey would willingly make all of them halal[36] for us. But afterwards, it was not permissible to use anything that belonged to the heirs with whom we were not acquainted. I left abruptly because it was necessary to abstain from depriving others of their rights." The pilgrims returned a month later. Everybody returned, but Ahmad Bey did not. "He died in Mecca at midnight," they said. It was calculated and coincided with the same midnight.

Once when Hadrat Sayyad Fahim was walking along the shore of Lake Van with his disciples, a priest came out of an Armenian Church on Ahtamar Island and began to walk on the surface of the water. Some of his disciples thought, "While a priest, whom we call an enemy of Allah, walks on water, how come Hadrat Sayyad, whom we know as a great wali and a beloved elect of Allahu ta'ala, cannot do the same but walks all the way around the shore?" Hadrat Sayyad comprehended this thought and took his slippers off his blessed feet and struck them against each other in his hands. Every time he struck them, the priest went into the water. When the priest's body was in water up to his neck, he struck them once more and the priest drowned. Then Hadrat Sayyad turned to those who had contrary thoughts, and said, "He walked on water by using magic. Thus, he wanted to destroy your iman[37] When I struck my slippers, his magic was destroyed and he drowned. Muslims do not use magic but consider it shameful to ask for karama from Allahu ta'ala." He destroyed the priest's magic with his karama.

Abdulwahhab Effendi, who died in 1963 and who was the father of Rifat Bey, a soap manufacturer, said, "When I finished the madrasa in Erzurum, I wanted to study further. It was said that the great scholar I was looking for was 'Abduljalil Effendi, who lived in Bitlis. I went to Bitlis where I was told that he was gone and that I should wait for his return from Van. I could not be patient and went to Van and learned there that I could find him in the Shabaniyya Mosque in the company of a Shaykh of Muks, Hadrat Sayyid Fahim, who had recently come to Van. I went to the mosque where the great scholar Abduljalil Effendi, as I thought on my way, would be speaking at the dais while everybody gained benefit from his lecture. I entered the mosque and saw everybody sitting respectfully, their heads bowed. There was a luminous and affable person sitting high, across from the entrance. Everybody sat facing him respectfully. 'This awe inspiring and effective person must be 'Abduljalil Effendi,' I thought. But there was nobody around to whom I could ask concerning him, for everybody was bowed and looked towards their front. Suddenly, a youth came up to me and asked who I was looking for. When I mentioned Hadrat' Abduljalil, he pointed to someone sitting respectfully bowed in the back row, he said, 'Here he is... You may sit if you like.' I asked who the speaker was. 'Hadrat Sayyad Fahim,' said the young man whom, many years later, I learned to be Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi. A little later the adhan was called. The sunnat[38] salat was performed. Hadrat Sayyad Fahim became the imam[39]. We straightened the rows; then while saying the beginning takbir[40] with the imam, we, the whole jamaat (congregation), trembled as if shocked by electricity. Sixty years have passed since then. When I remember the imam saying that takbir, I tremble and there occurs a sense of upliftment in my heart as it did on that day."

The karamat of Hadrat Sayyad Fahim and the high degree of his status in Allahu ta'ala's view cannot be measured or described appropriately. His greatest and most obvious karamat was his educating an 'arif[41] kamil and wali mukammil such as Hadrat 'Abdulhakim Effendi. "The regularity in the effect indicates the perfection in the cause."

Hadrat Sayyad Fahim, al-Arwasi was one of the great scholars of Islam and one of the Sufiyya al-'aliyya.[42] He was the thirty-third in a Silsilat al-'aliyya.[43] He attained perfection in the sohbat of Hadrat Sayyad Taha al-Hakkari, After Sayyad Taha's passing away in 1269 [1853], he continually visited his brother Hadrat Sayyad Muhammad Salih, who passed away in 1281 (1864). For further information, please read the biography of 'Abdulhakim Effendi and Taha-al Hakkari. His father was Molla 'AbdulHamid Effendi. His grandfather was Sayyad 'Abdurrahman who was the great grandfather of Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi. 'AbdulHamid Effendi, the grand son of Molla Safiyuddin who was the brother of Sayyad Fahim Effendi, passed away in 1967 (A.D.)

Sayyad Fahim Effendi had nine sons and four daughters:

1. Rashed Effendi had a son named Muhammad Bakir and a daughter named Aisha Hanim. Aisha Hanim was the second wife of 'Abdulhakim Effendi.

2. Muhammad Amin Effendi was the most superior of his brothers. He was a scholar, virtuous and a litteratuer. After having returned from Hedges, he passed away at Tur-i Sina. He has a daughter named Fatima.

3. Muhammad Mathum Effendi was a wise and religiously perfect man. He passed away in Arwas before 'Abdulhakim Effendi. 'Abdulhakim Effendi, being one of his eight sons became a member of parliment in 1957 (A.D.). He passed away in Istanbul before joining the parliment and is buried in Edirnekapi cemetery. Taha Effendi, his second son who lived in chatak, passed away during his pilgrimage in Mecca in 1400 Hijri. His sons are Arjumand, Ataullah, 'Ubaidullah and Andar Effendis. He had three daughters as well. His third son, Muhammad Amin Garbi Effendi, was the son-in-law of Ibrahim Arwas Beg. His sons, Murad and Hamid Effendis are in Istanbul. His fourth son Bakir Effendi, passed away in Konya in 1399 (A.H.) He had four children. His fifth son Salim Effendi, died in Arwas in 1392 (A.H.). His son Zaynalabidin Effendi is a teacher in Istanbul. Salahaddin Effendi, his sixth son, passed away in Mar'as in 1939 (A.D.) His son is Yahya and his daughters are Sahabat and Muzayyan. His seventh son is Ibrahim Effendi. Habib, Muhib and 'Irfan Effendis are the sons of his eighth son Badradden Effendi. 4. Muhammad Siddik Effendi was martyred by Armenians while he was Mufti of Van. He was buried in Asa Kaymaz, Gurpinar, Van. His sons Fahmi Effendi and Ma'suk Effendi are imams in the town of Gurpinar.

5. Sayyad Hasan Effendi passed away in Medina in 1388 (1968 A.D.). Of his three sons, Najmuddin Effendi passed away in 1959, Muhammad Rashid Effendi in 1945 and Siddik Effendi in 1982. The first had three sons, the second had a son called Said Effendi and the third had four sons. Muhammad Rashid Effendi was the husband of Hicret Hanim.

6. Molla Husain Effendi was the father of virtuous Kasim Effendi who was the former Mufti of Van, and was the father of Shamsaddin and Ihsan Effendis.

7. Mazhar Effendi. His son is Mazhar, whose son is Abdulahad, and his sons are Muhammad Nuri, Bahjat, Sarwat, Fatih and Najdat Effendis.

8. Muhammad Salih Effendi. His son is Mazhar Effendi.

9. Nezamaddin Effendi. He had two children from one of his wives, namely Sadraddin Effendi and Hicret Hanim.

Sadraddin Effendi passed away in 1393 Hijri in Diyarbakir. He was buried in Van. He had four children, all from his second wife. One of these, Wahbi Effendi, was an agricultural technician at Chemberlitas in Istanbul. Nasiba Hanim is the wife of Certified Public Accountant Hayati Chiftlik Beg. The husband of Asiye Hanim, Abdurrahman Ekinci, has been propagating Islam. Sariye Hanim is in Van. Said Effendi is the son of Hijrat Hanim and virtuous Kasim Effendi is one of four sons-in-law of Hijrat Hanim. The second one is Aydin Beg, who is the son of Rukiye Hanim and is the nephew of Hadrad 'Abdulhakim Effendi. The third son-in-law is pharmacist Fatih Yilmaz Beg, the owner of Kumurlu Pharmacy in Fatih.

The fourth son-in-law is Habib Effendi. Husain and Amin pashas are the two sons-in-law of Sayyid Fahim Effendi. His third daughter Esma Hanim has three sons, namely Shawki, Faruq and Nabi.

Sayyad Fahim Effendi, "quddisa sirruh", was insan-i kamil (perfect human). The highest disciple of his was 'Abdulhakim Effendi, a walliyyi kamil (perfect wali). Sayyad Fahim Effendi in his letter of 17 Jamazil ahir 1300 (April 1883) writes:

My beloved, esteemed Sayyad Ibrahim and Sayyad Taha! May Allahu ta'ala protect you both! I make many duas for you. As you know, your brother Sayyad Molla 'Abdulhakim had been here last Autumn and started to study. This faqir taught his lessons with great care and by checking what I said. He, too, was as much attentive and critical as I, either in his private studies and during lessons. I didn't leave time for him to busy himself with anything except knowledge. Now, he completed all the books he should according to the contemporary method. This faqir has graduated him to teach methodological science, fiqh and hadith knowledge in the same way as I was graduated by my masters. From now on, do not regard him as your brother. In order to be respectful for the honor of 'ilm, show much humility towards him. I am writing these for your good and promotion. Besides, to humiliate for 'ilm means to humiliate for Allahu ta'ala. Apprehend much from this short letter of mine! As-Sayyad Fahim "rahimahullahi ta'ala".

He declares in a second letter: My beloved son, apple of my eye Sayyad Molla 'Abdulhakim! After my countless duas, I submit that my heart aches much since I didn't receive news from you. Allahu ta'ala knows every secret. I can say that my heart is with you almost all the time, He certainly knows. In order for you to free me of my sorrows, you have to inform me frequently about your implicit and explicit conditions. Thus ties of love will be activated. If he, the apple of my eye, will ask about the faqirs here, may hamds and thanks be to Allahu ta'ala! The comfort and assurance of our body and our environs are increasing day after day. May Allahu ta'ala bless assurances to our hearts, the faqirs, and to the hearts of all our brothers! Amin. Please say this faqir's duas to 'AbdulHamid, Hasan and Sayyad Ibrahim! I pray for Taha Effendi and Mazhar Effendi. You are my agent to say this faqir's duas to whomever you deem it suitable. Besides these, write about the state of those in Nehri, be they good or bad. We heard about atrocities of Nasturis (Nestorians) and their killing four hundred Muslims. I want you to inform me about what they did and why they did it. Wassalam. 3 January 1301. Yours prayfully, sinful Sayyid Fahim.

A letter written by Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi to his brother Sayyad Taha Effendi follows:

The young seedling of the mubaraq garden, Taha Effendi! Your beautifully written letter has been received. We like it very much because it has informed us that my beloved son and his companions are safe and this has made us feel the desire and eagerness for the real Matlub (Beloved). A couplet:

It is not for me to leave this spring of life

May Allahu ta'ala increase this thirst of yours! You ask, "Is it necessary for the image of the guide to be exactly as the guide himself."

My beloved son, it is not necessary to be the same. The aim of rabita is to turn the attention toward the vision. It is to think of the vision, and to expect help from the one imagined. It is not necessary to know and to recognize the certain vision. It can be seen as it is imagined or thought. Most of the time, the soul is seen in the form of the body and in other forms because it is accustomed to the body to which it has been tied. Let it be seen in whatever form and state, if the vision is seen in a beautiful, sweet, and joyful manner and if it increases the love and peace (of mind) it is understood that it is rahmani (of Allahu ta'ala). Try as hard as possible to increase your desire and love towards that vision! Extinguish yourself in it! If the vision is ugly, terrible and horrible it is a satanic vision. Do not look at it! Let it go away. You ask what you should do in order to get rid of the other things which come to the mind while making dhikr. My dear, these thoughts will certainly go away and die, by Allahu ta'ala's permission, in two ways. One way is to turn completely towards the vision seen during rabita, the other is to make much dhikr, to do the rabita eagerly and by concentrating all one's power and senses on the heart. 18 October 1308.

FOOTNOTES

[32] Abani: white cotton material embroidered all over with small squares of yellow thread.

[33] Al-murshid al-kamil: the perfect guide.

[34] Qutb: the highest wali in one or several countries, with whom other walis consult about their problems.

[35] Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca.

[36] Halal: permitted, unquestioning.

[37] Iman: faith, belief.

[38] Sunnat: those things done and liked by the Prophet.

[39] Imam: A Muslim leading the congregational salat.

[40] Takbir: the phrase "Allahu akbar" (Allah is the Greatest).

[41] Arif: a great wali whose heart has gained knowledge about Allahu ta'ala's Person and Attributes. One higher among the 'arifs is called "kamil." An 'arif kamil who can pour this knowledge into his disciple's heart is called a "mukammil."

[42] Sufiyya al-'aliyya: the superiors of tasawwuf: Awliya'

[43] Silsilat al-'aliyya: a chain of walis each of whom was a mukammil and who acted as an intermediary for the marifa, nur and faid to come from the blessed heart of Rasulullah to that of a wali. (Every wali, murshid, has a silsila.) 

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THE BIOGRAPHY OF HADRAT SAYYAD TAHA AL-HAKKARI Rehmatullahi alaih    (A Disciple of Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi Radi'allahu anhu)

Sayyad Taha bin Ahmad bin Ibrahim (Quddisa sirruh), one of the great awliya' al-kiram, was a descendant of 'Abd'al-Qadir al-Geilani RA. He was the most perfect successor-deputy (al- Khalifa al-akmal) of Mawlana Diya' ad-din Khalid al-Baghdadi and the treasure of Rabbani (Divine) Knowledge.

His descent continued through his two sons, namely 'Ubaidullah and 'Alauddin, 'Alauddin Effendi is (buried) in the Hizne village of Shamdhinan. His grandson Muhammad Siddiq Effendi married Mariam Hanim after her husband Mustafa Effendi died. Taha Effendi was born from Mariam Hanim. Muhammad Siddiq Effendi, who was one of the sons of this Sayyad Taha Effendi, died in Baghdad while he was Musul Deputy in the Iraqi government. His two other sons Muhammad Salih Daru and Mazhar Effendis who were in Iraq with their properties when the Ottoman Empire was divided, migrated to Turkey in 1400 (1980).

Hadrat Mawlana Khalid, who was the qutb of the thirteenth century of Islam, had been to India (Hindustan) where he had the honor of attending the presence of Ghulam-i 'Ali 'Abdullah ad-Dahlawi, After attaining the virtues (fadl) and perfection (kamalat) proper to and worthy of him, he returned home, Baghdad, to instruct (irshad) human servants of Allahu ta'ala. Since the entire world was illuminated by the anwar (spiritual lights) that radiated from Mawlana's hearts, Sayyad 'Abdullah, who had become a friend of his while they were studying, visited him in Sulaimaniyya and attained perfection at his sohbat and became a Khalifa al-akmal of his. He told Hadrat Mawlana about the extraordinarily high qualities of his nephew Sayyad Taha. Mawlana ordered him to bring his nephew to him during his next visit. Sayyad 'Abdullah took Sayyad Taha to Baghdad; as soon as Hadrat Mawlana saw Sayyad Taha he ordered him to go abruptly to Hadrat 'Abd'al-Qadir al-Geilani 's RA shrine to perform istikhara (divining by dream). Hadrat 'Abd al-Qadir al-Geilani RA informed him that, though his own way (Tariqa) was great, there remained no experts in it at that time, and that Mawlana was the most perfect guide of his time, and ordered him to go to him at once. Upon this spiritual order, Sayyad Taha worked for two suluks, that is, eighty days, near Mawlana and later went to the town of Barda Sur. When Sayyad 'Abdullah passed away, he emigrated to the town of Nehri and began instructing. For forty-two years he emitted faid to his disciples there. Lovers from everywhere gathered like moths around this source of light.

He would perform his 'ibadat in a small house inherited from his father. At other times he would teach aqli (scientific) and naqli (conveyed) knowledge. He wouldn't associate with aghas (squires), begs and politicians, worldly and political talks would not take place in his presence. He would read (Maktubat) everyday. He would imprint the advice (being kind to everybody to be patient against bad actions and not be revengeful, besides, responding with kindness to respect and help superiors and the government) into hearts. All of his masters throughout 1200 years had always taught this good moral of Islam, they had all been respectful to states and laws. None of them had been heard to have rebelled against the government, nor is there a record of such an ugly event in history books. Some antagonistic and jealous people tried to blemish these blessed person with rebellions attempted against governments by feudalistic lovers of worldly property and reputation who could not benefit from these sources of knowledge and beautiful moral values because they were far from them, and also with others' ignorant, excessive and stupid behaviors after their death, so that a few of these virtuous people were sent to dungeons. However, law and justice proved them to be innocent and they were set free with sincere and earnest apologies and great compensatory rewards to appease their blessed hearts and regain their tawajjuh. Such slanderous arrows, which are often seen in history and story books, were cast on hadrat Sayyad Taha also, and those poor unfortunates tried to stain this sun of knowledge and moral by making up imaginary and ugly slanders. But, since the truth can't be hidden, those fortunate and alert people who saw and understood this son of hidaya (the right way) and were not fooled with such slanders, became lovers and admirers of his and attained comfort, peace and endless bliss by being enlightened with the nur (light) radiating from his blessed heart.

Hadrat Sayyad 'Abdulhakim-i Arwasi's great-grandfather, Sayyad Muhammad, was one of those who came from Van and received faid from this source. Sayyad Taha stayed at Sayyad Muhammad's house when he honored Van, Sibghatullah Effendi, who was Sayyad Muhammad's brother Lutfi's son, came from Hizan to Van and attached himself (intisab) to Sayyad Taha. Later he returned to Hizan, where his father lived, and there he became very famous. With hundreds of his disciples he visited Nehri every year. In one of those visits, he took with him his uncle Molla 'AbdulHamid Effendi's son, Sayyad Fahim, who was very young then. Hadrat Sayyad Fahim asked the owner of the house where they stayed for a night on their way what type of man the Governor of Hakkari was. The host said that he was drunk day and night. Sayyad Fahim thought all night whether it would be right to stay in a country wherein the governor was a drunkard. The following day they came to the village of Rasulan, where Sibghatullah Effendi asked its inhabitants what kind of person the Governor was. They said he was a nice person. Sayyad Fahim joined in at once. "My cousin! He is a drunkard. Why is he said to be a good person?" When they were leaving Baskhal'a for Nehri, Sayyad Muhammad Effendi's said to Sayyad Fahim, on the side, "My dear Fahim! Sayyad Taha, whose presence you will enter is a great personage at the highest degree of wilayat.[44] Don't leave him before you receive faid, before you attain perfection!" When they were departing from Nehri, everybody kissed the hand of Hadrat Sayyad Taha, who stood in front of a mosque. Seeing Sayyad Fahim remain behind, Sibghatullah Effendi came back and asked Hadrat Sayyad Taha to permit Sayyad Fahim to return. He did not permit it, but ordered him to remain there. As soon as the travelers left and while they both were on their feet, he gave an assignment to Sayyad Fahim and began to teach him. On a hot day, he had him repeat all of what he had taught. Sayyad Fahim repeated everything as he was taught, except 'hatt-i tuli' instead of 'hatt-i tulani.' Sayyad Taha corrected him right away. In those days Sayyad Fahim was very young and had not completed his madrasa studies. One day Sayyad Taha was sitting against the wall of a mosque when Sayyad Fahim approached him. He made a sign with his blessed hand for him to come, and Sayyad Fahim came. He said, "You are an intelligent student. You should read Mutawwal.' Sayyad Fahim said, "Sir, I do not have that book. Besides, it is not one of those books that are studied in my country." Sayyad Taha gave him his own book. Hadrat Sayyad Fahim, to complete his education, went to the village of Abiri, Bulanik, Mus, where he studied the whole of Mutawwal in the presence of Molla Rasul. And, in order to attain high degrees of wilayat, he went to Nehri, i.e. Shamdinan, twice a year. During every visit, he was honored with various courteous acts by Sayyad Taha. For example, one day Sayyad Taha was reading Maktubat before a dense crowd in the anteroom of a mosque. Standing at a distance, Sayyad Fahim listened. Hadrat Sayyad Taha raised his head from the book and asked him, "Molla Fahim! Is there a murshid on the earth today?" Sayyad Fahim replied, "The likes of the present murshid has not come!" Upon this reply, Sayyad Taha immediately closed the book and went to his room.

After Sayyad Faham attained perfection (kamal) and completed qualifications (takmil) and was permitted to instruct others with a khilafat al-mutlaqa (certificate of absolute deputy), he said he was not competent enough for this duty. Sayyad Taha insisted and made him accept it and then ordered him to honor Arwas, where Sayyad Fahim had been born. Sayyad Fahim left, but, while he was climbing the Nehri Mountain, Sayyad Taha called him back to his presence and, showing Sayyad Fahim's old letters in books, said to him, "Weren't these out of your ikhlas and love? Why do you run away from this duty?" Sayyad Fahim, as he had done before, visited Nehri every year even after he had been honored with the khilafat al-mutlaqa.

Hadrat Sayyad Taha passed away in 1269 (1853). One afternoon, he was given two letters as he was sitting among trees. He had his son-in-law 'Abdulahad Effendi read the letters. He remarked, "The time has come for us to leave this world." His son-in-law said, "Oh Sir, what will we do with these letters which came from Damascus?" After reading a Khatm-i khaja[45] that day, Sayyad Taha went to his room, where he lay ill for twelve days. His blessed soul ascended to the Rafiq[46] al-ala during the time of the afternoon salat. Thousands of lovers who heard the cries were shocked. While he was ill, he wanted his brother Shaykh Salih, who was in the town of Barda Sur, to come to Nehri. He ordered his perfect brother (biradar-i akmal), Sayyad Salih, to perform a Khatm-i khaja and tawajjuh. "My brother Salih is a perfect person. Everybody's head is under his wing," he said. Hadrat Sayyad Fahim accepted Shaykh Salih as his Shaykh-i sohbat.[47] Until Shaykh Salih passed away in 1281 (1864), he visited Nehri twice a year and, after Shaykh Salih's departure, he did not give up this custom and honored Nehri twice a year until he himself passed away in 1313 (1895).

Except Sayyad Muhammad Salih, the most influenced disciple of Sayyad Taha-i Hakkari was Sayyad Sibgatullah Arwasi. Following him was Kufrawi Muhammad. Sayyad Sibgatullah was known by such names as "Ghawth al-alam" and "Ghawth-i Hizani" among his disciples. He passed away in 1287. Of his disciples. Abdurrahman Tahi Nurshini was known by the names "Ustad-i a'zam" and "Sayda". Of all his disciples, nineteen were: Fath-ullah Warksanisi, Abdullah Nurshini, molla Rashid Nurshini, Abdulqahhar who was the grandson of allama molla Halil Siridin, Abdulqadir Hizani, sayyid Ibrahim Asirdi, Abdulhakim Farsafi, Ibrahim Ninki, Tahir Abari, Abdulhadi, Abdullah Hurusi, Ibrahim Cukrushi, Halil Cukrushi, Ahmad Tashkasani, Muhammad Sami Erzincani, Mustafa, Sulaiman and Yusuf Bitlisi, Abdurrahman Tahi died in 1304. Ibrahim Cukrushi collected his sayings under the name "Isharat" (signs). It is a very dependable book. Fathullah Warkanisi died in 1317. Of his disciples, Muhammad Ziyauddin Nurshini, son of Abdurrahman-i Tahi, passed away in Bitlis in 1342 (1924). His book "Maktubat" contains a hundred and fourteen letters. The first of his thirteen disciples was Muhammad Alauddin-i Uhini who collected his master's letters. The second is Ahmad Haznawi. Muhammad Mathum, Sayyad Muhammad Sharif Arabkandi and Abdulhakim Effendi of Adiyaman were disciples of his. The latter one died in 1399 (1978). Muhammad Rashid Effendi was his son.

FOOTNOTES

[44] Wilayat: the status of, state of being a wali.

[45] Khatm-i khaja: certain things recited silently by a murshid and his disciples, after which the names of the Awliya' in the silsila of the murshid are mentioned, and the blessings of what are recited are offered to their souls, whose faid and marifat are then asked for.

[46] Rafiq al-ala: the highest status in Paradise, which was the request of the Prophet (s.a.w) as his last wish.

[47] Shaykh-i sohbat: a wali's second murshid (guide, shaykh) whom he knows to be higher than himself and at whose sohbat (company, lecture) he attends after his own murshid's death (At this sohbat both walis benefit from each other.)

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THE BIOGRAPHY OF HUSAIN HILMI BIN SA'ID EFFENDI
Rehmatullahi alaihi 

(A Disciple of Sayyad 'Abdulhakim-i Arwasi Rehmatullahi alaihi)

He was born in house No. 1 of the Shifa Yokushu, Vezirtekke Sokagi, Servi Mahallesi, Ayyub Sultan, in Istanbul, on the beautiful spring morning of the 8th of March, 1911 (1329 Hijri). His father Said Effendi and grandfather Ibrahim Effendi were from the village of Tepova near Lofja (Lovec), in Bulgaria, and his mother Aisha Hanim and her father Husain Aga were from Lofja. During the War of "Ninety-three" against the Russians (1295 Hijri, Miladi 1878), Said Effendi emigrated to Istanbul and settled at Vezirtekke, where he married. Because of the sufferings caused by war and emigration, he could not attend school, and he was employed as an official of weights control in the municipality, where he worked for more than forty years. He constantly attended the lectures of the famous scholars in the great mosques of Istanbul and gained a profound knowledge in the religion. Due to his experience in his career, he became so skillful in solving four arithmetical operations from memory that he would provoke wonderment. Husain Hilmi Effendi went to the Mihr-i Shah Sultan school, which was between the Ayyub Mosque and the Bostan wharf, when he was five years old. Here he completed the Qur'an al- karim in two years. At age seven, he began his primary education at the Resadiyye Numune Mektebi, which was adjacent to the tomb of Sultan Resad Han. During the vacations, his father sent him to religious schools called Hakim Kutbuddin, Kalenderhane and Abussuud and laid much stress on his good upbringing. When Husain Hilmi Effendi finished primary school with the highest honors in 1924, the goldgilt prizes he was awarded in every subject filled a large album. He was admitted to the Halicioglu Military High school, which had moved from Konya to Istanbul that year, with an "excellent" grade in the entrance examination. He past to the second class of the secondary division as the best student in the same year. After maintaining his status as an honor student every year, he graduated from the Military High school as captain of the class and was selected for the Military Medical school in 1929.

In High school, the geometry master used to have Husain Hilmi Effendi review the lesson at the end of every session. His friends used to say that they understood things better from his review. It was in one of those sessions in the second class of High school that he once paused while explaining a theorem that stated, "In order for the projection of a right angle to be a right angle, it is necessary and sufficient for one of its sides to be parallel to a plane [on which the angle is projected]"; the master Captain Fuad Bey tried to help him, but he said, "Sir, I cannot understand it. I see what you mean, but the two explanations explain each other." Fuad Bey then asked for the opinion of the second best student in the class, who, pleased with his competitor's situation, said, "No sir, Hilmi Effendi is wrong. The textbook, too, writes the same as what you stated." When Hilmi Effendi insisted that he could not understand it, Fuad Bey said, "Please be seated," and added, "Hilmi Effendi, we are human... Perhaps you have worked much today and feel weary. Or you have another problem. You will understand it some other time. Don't worry!" At night, while all the boarders were asleep, the watchman woke Hilmi Effendi up and said that the geometry master was waiting for him in the teachers' room. He got up and put his clothes on and walked confusedly to the room. Fuad Bey said, "My son! I thought things over after I went home. I said to myself, 'Hilmi Effendi repeats every new lesson fluently and can solve the most difficult mathematical problems. There must be a reason that forced him to say that there was a contradiction with the problem.' I pondered over it much. I saw that you were quite right. Hadamar, the French author of the textbook, has written it wrongly, and Ahmad Nazmi Bey, the geometry teacher at Izmir High school, did not notice it, and I have taught it incorrectly for years. You are right, my son. I congratulate you. I am proud to have a student like you. I could not wait till morning to see that you shall sleep quietly and feel joyful." He kissed Hilmi Effendi on the forehead and left.

Hilmi Effendi fasted every Ramadan and performed every ritual salat throughout his education in the Military High school. Among the seniors, it was he alone who could continue to perform the ritual salat. Some teachers, who were deceived or perhaps hired by the enemies of Islam, had been striving to inoculate his classmates with irreligiousness and hostility towards Islam through lies, slanders and false interpretations of science. The geology teacher, Adam Nazihi, the physics teacher, Sabri, the philosophy teacher, Jamil Sana, and the history teacher, Major Bagdadli Galib, went to extremes in their mischievous teachings. But he was not deceived by these teachers. He studied their subjects much more and received perfect scores in their examinations, winning their appreciation.

When he was a senior at the Military High school, his father Said Effendi passed away. The officers, teachers and students of the school attended the funeral. The people of Ayyub were bewildered by the large crowd of those who attended the funeral.

Hilmi Effendi was uneasy when he studied at the Faculty of Science in the delicately ornamented Zeyneb Valide Sultan Hall at Bayazid Square; whenever he attended Friday prayer performed in the Bayazid Mosque, there would be only one row of Muslims behind the imam, and they all were old. He was worried that a few years later there would be no Muslims and was trying to find the cause of this decline. In no way could he make it out. He was filled with despair, but had no friends in the school with whom he could have a sincere talk or receive help from.

One day he left the campus and entered the Bayazid Mosque for the noon salat. After performing the salat, he saw somebody preaching on the left side of the mosque. He sat down. The preacher was explaining the six fundamentals of iman from a thin, small-sized book in his hand. Hilmi Effendi knew all of what was explained, but he did not leave his place for fear that the preacher's heart would be broken with the thought that his preaching did not please him. As a matter of fact, there were only a few old men who were listening. He cut his preaching short and, showing the little books in his hand, said, "Everybody needs these books. I sell them.' His appearance suggested that he was very poor. Nobody bought one. Hilmi Effendi pitied the preacher and, thinking that he would give it to a youth, asked its price. But, when the preacher said it was twenty-five kurushes, he gave up the idea, because neither did he have that much money nor was the book worth that much. The currency of those days was very valuable; an imam and a lieutenant received only 17 and 61 liras[48] respectively. The price of the book should have been five kurushes at most, and he found it unbecoming for the preacher to ask for such a high price. "It should be given free for Allah's sake. Well, if he lives on it, he should ask for five kurushes at most," he thought in disapproval. He walked to the other side of the mosque. The inside and outside of the balustrade on this side were very crowded. An old man seated inside was talking. With difficulty he made his way in and sat down behind him. The old man was reading a book and explaining how Muslims should visit the shrines of Awliya', a matter which Hilmi Effendi did not know but was very anxious to learn. While listening, however, he could not help thinking of the other preacher and said to himself, "One who loves Allah should give religious books freely," repeatedly. Meanwhile, the afternoon salat was begun in the mosque, and the old preacher closed the book he was reading and gave it to Hilmi Effendi while saying, "This is my present to a young effendi for Allah's sake," and began his salat. Though this preacher had not seen Hilmi Effendi, he knew he was sitting behind him. Hilmi Effendi took the book and joined in the salat. After the salat, he looked at the title "Rabita-i Sharifa" and underneath it the author's name "Abdulhakim" on the cover of the book and learned from someone in the Mosque that the person who gave him the book was 'Abdulhakim Effendi and that he preached at the Ayyub mosque on Fridays. He returned to the building called "Bekir Aga Bolugu" near the Bayazid Tower where he stayed.

On Friday, the weekend holiday in those days, he went to the big mosque. He looked for the preacher but could not see him. Then he learned that he was an imam at another mosque and would come after salat. He could not stay inside and went out. He saw the preacher standing beside a bookseller's stand. He approached him from behind looking steadily at him with love. He heard the bookseller say, "Sir, don't stand, sit on this chair," which was covered with snow. When he was about to sit, Hilmi Effendi jumped up close and said, "Please, just a moment," and cleaned the snow off with his handkerchief. He took off his overcoat, folded it and put it on the chair and said, "Please be seated now." He looked at him. His blessed, awe-inspiring face, black eyebrows and eyes and round beard was very beautiful and lovely. 'Abdulhakim Effendi said, "take your overcoat!" and sat on the bare wood of the chair. Hilmi Effendi felt sorry but was pleased when he was told, "Put it on my back." When some people came out of the mosque, he went in and sat on his high cushion on the floor of the right side of the mosque and began his lesson by explaining from a book on the low desk (rahla) in front of him. Hilmi Effendi sat in the first row facing him and was listening carefully. He listened with delight; the religious and worldly information, all of which he had never heard, was very interesting. He was like a poor person who had found a treasure, like a thirsty person who had discovered cool water. He could not move his eyes away from Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi. He was absorbed in watching his lovely, shining face and listening to the invaluable brilliant words he uttered. He had become beside himself and had forgotten about his school, his worldly affairs, and everything. Something sweet moved about his heart; it was as if he was being cleaned, washed with something sweet. It was during the very first sohbat that the first few words had been enough to entrance him as if forming in him the very blessing called fana', the attainment of which takes many years of sufferings. Unfortunately, the sohbat ended in an hour. For Hilmi Effendi, this one hour had passed like a moment. As if awakening from a sweet dream, he put his notebook into his pocket and stood in the line going out. While he was tying his shoe-laces, somebody bent over and whispered to him, "Young Effendi, I love you very much. Our house is in the cemetery. Come visit us. We will talk." Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi was the one who spoke these sweet, inspiring words. The same night Hilmi Effendi dreamt of a clear, bright, blue sky, balustraded like the dome of a mosque. Someone with a shining face was walking in it. When he looked up, he saw that it was Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi, and awoke in delight. A few days later he dreamt of somebody whose face glittered like the moon, who was sitting at the head of the sarcophagus at Hadrat Khalid Ayyub al-Ansari's shrine and for whom people were standing in a line to kiss his hand. Hilmi Effendi joined the line and woke up just as he was kissing his hand.

In those days Hilmi Effendi lived in Fatih and went to Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi's house every Friday. Sometimes he would go before the morning salat and leave unwillingly after the night salat. He would forget everything as if seeing everything afresh. He would always stay close to 'Abdulhakim Effendi, even while eating, praying, resting and visiting. He always watched his manners carefully and listened to him. He tried hard not to waste even a minute. He went to him during every holiday, and whenever he had free time. He never missed his sermons in mosques. Firstly Turkish books and some months later Arabic sarf[49] and nahw[50] were taught. Amsila, Awamil, Simai masdars, Qasida-i Amali, Mawlana Khalid's Diwan and the logic book Isaguji were memorized. A couplet, a line or an Arabic or Persian sentence would be written and explained at every meeting. All of what was written was memorized.

The first work Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi assigned to Husain Hilmi Effendi was the translation from Arabic into Turkish of a small passage from al-Imam al-Baghawi on qada' and qadar. He did the translation[51] at home during the night and took it to his master the following day. His master said, "Very good! You've translated it correctly. I like it."

Husain Hilmi Effendi passed to the second class of Medical school as the best student. While sitting in a garden during a visit with his master at Ayyub, the time happened to coincide with his completion of a course in osteology and he was about to work on a cadavar. His master asked him what he was studying at the university. Upon his answer, Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi said, "You will not become a physician. You had better transfer to the school of Pharmacy." Hilmi Effendi said, "I have the highest scores in the class. They won't let me go to the school of Pharmacy." "You submit your petition. Insha-Allah, Allahu ta'ala will grant it," said his master. After many petitions, Hilmi Effendi entered the school of Pharmacy as a sophomore towards the end of the first semester. Although the curriculum was half over and he had to take some more examinations on the courses given in the first year, he passed all of the examinations at the end of the second semester. He graduated from the school of Pharmacy and completed one year of probation at the Gulhane Hospital with the highest honors. He was first appointed as a Lieutenant Assistant- master at the Military Medical school. He had subscribed to the paper Le Matin, which was published in Paris, by the order of 'Abdulhakim Effendi and increased his knowledge in French while he was a student at the school of Pharmacy. He began studying at the school of Chemical Engineering, again by the order of 'Abdulhakim Effendi when he was an Assistant-master. He learned calculus from Von Mises, mechanics from Professor Prage, physics from Dember and technical chemistry from Goss. He worked with Arndt, a Professor of Chemistry, and evoked his appreciation. In the last six months of the research he carried out under his supervision, he synthesized and determined a formula for ester "phenylcyannitro-methan-methyl." This successful research, which was the first in its field in the world, was published in The Journal of The Istanbul Faculty of Science and in the German chemical journal Zentral Blatt (number 2519, in 1937) under the name of Husain Hilmi Isik. When he received a Diploma of Master of Science in Chemical Engineering (numbered 1/1) in 1936, Husain Hilmi Isik appeared in the daily papers as the first and unique Chemical Engineer in Turkey. Because of this success of his, he was appointed as a Chemist Officer at the Department of Poisonous Gases in Mamak, Ankara. He served there for eleven years, many of which he worked with Merzbacher, General Director of the Auer Factories; Goldstein, Doctor of chemistry; and Neumann, Doctor of Optics. He also learned German from them. He became an expert in poison-gases. He rendered service. For example, England sold one hundred thousand gasmasks to Poland during the Second World War. While the masks were on their way along the Dardanelles, Germans invaded Poland, and the Britons wanted to sell the masks to Turkey. Captain Husain Hilmi Isik examined the masks and, after realizing that their filters leaked poisonous gas, reported them to be "unusable, good for nothing." The Minister of National Defense and the British Ambassador became quite alarmed and did not believe the report. "How could it be possible for a British product to be defective?" it was said. He proved his words. At last he had to give the order that they could be broken into pieces and used a spare parts; thereby, the British were able to get their money.

When Husain Hilmi Effendi worked in Ankara he visited Istanbul on every occasion. When visiting was difficult, he calmed himself by writing to Istanbul. 'Abdulhakim Effendi, in his blessed-hand-written replies, which were written from Istanbul to the village of Mamak, said:

"Dear Hilmi! I thank Allahu ta'ala for the health you enjoy as you write. It pleases me very much to learn that you are teaching [your brother] Sedad the 'awamil.[52] I see it is not without reason that you are ordained to stay away from the city. Both of you will get much benefit... I send my salams[53] and pray for you, your mother and sisters. Write me frequently. Tell me about your state in detail! Write me about your situation immediately after the inspection!"

"My very much beloved Hilmi and Sedad! I have received your lovely letter. It causes me to express thanksgiving and praise to [Allahu ta'ala]... He has translated the 'awamil beautifully. Then, he has understood it. Hilmi will benefit from it. Sedad will benefit from it. The 'awamil has a sharh and a mu'rab. I will send them by someone. In fact, they will suffice in respect to nahw. Then, in addition to being a chemical engineer, you will also become an engineer in sarf and nahw. Other engineers will fall in value as their numbers increase. This branch of engineering, however, in addition to being valuable in itself, will become much more valuable because the experts in this branch have become rare or have disappeared. The reason why you are there then, seems to be to enable you to attain great prosperity (dawlat-i 'azima). We send salams and prayers."

"Hilmi! I felt much pleasure and happiness upon reading your latest letter. I want you to believe in what you wrote. I benefit much from the laxatives. If it is easy, prepare some more and send it to me!"

"Alaikum salam! It is not sunnat[54] to greet (salam) someone while one is reciting the Qur'an. When greeted, however, it is wajib[55] to reply: the reciter pauses and then gives the salam, afterwards he continues to recite, since the recitation [of the Qur'an] is a sunnat while responding to the salam is a wajib. A wajib cannot be abandoned or delayed for the advantage of a sunnat, but a sunnat should be abandoned or delayed for a wajib. As for your second question, read it is you saw and understood it before! In fact, 'esteem' (hurmat) is meant by 'haqq' (right) in this context. 'Bi-haqq-i Muhammad', may Allah bless and save him, means 'bi-hurmat-i Muhammad.' The author of Mawqufat assumed that 'haqq' was a 'haqq-i shar'i' (a legal right) or a 'haqq-i 'aqli' (a logical right). If this had been the case, he would have been right. This prayer has been read this way from days of old. It is true that nothing is in any way, neither legally nor logically, obligatory upon Allahu ta'ala. By 'haqq' this is not meant. Perhaps the interpreter understood it wrongly. My dear! Like you, everybody is troubled with the same trouble, sorrowful with the same sorrow. If it were not so, people would have been distressed in another way. This has been the 'Adat-Allah (the Law of Allah). An Arabic couple says, 'Kullu man talqahu yaskhu dahrahu./Ya layta sha'ri hadhihi 'd-dunya liman?" (Whomever you encounter complains about his state, his time,/Oh, if I ever knew whose world this was.) So you're still better! [Your sorrow is meritorious, and it is a sign of being a good human being.]"

"Hilmi! I am grateful for your letter. I thanked Allahu ta'ala for your good health. You must know that it is a great blessing and endowment to read and understand even part of the book Maktubat [by al-Imam ar-Rabbani Ahmad al-Faruqi as-Sirhindi], the like of which on the religion of Islam has never been written and which will help you the most in your din (religion) and dunya (world)." The handwritten copies of these letters which were sent from Istanbul to Mamak village are kept in the file named [Memorial Letters].

In Mamak, Husain Hilmi Effendi read several times and strove to understand the Turkish translations of al-Imam ar-Rabbani's and his son Muhammad Mathum's Maktubats, each of which was of three volumes, and he compiled a summary-index of the six volumes in alphabetical order. When he came to Istanbul, he read the entire 3846 entries of its summary to Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi, who listened to it for several hours and liked it very much. When 'Abdulhakim Effendi said, "This makes up a book. Give it the title 'Invaluable Writings'," Husain Hilmi Effendi was surprised, but he further added, "Didn't you get it? Can their value ever be estimated?" The entries which were derived from the first volume were later appended to the end of the Turkish Maktubat Tercemesi as an alphabetical index.

In 1359 (1940), Hilmi Isik asked his master 'Abdulhakim Effendi, "Sir, I intend to marry. What will you say?"

"Whom will you marry?" his master asked. "The one whom you permit." "Really?" "Yes, sir." "Then Ziya Bey's daughter is suitable for you." When Hilmi Effendi wanted his curiosity addressed before he returned to Ankara, 'Abdulhakim Effendi summoned Ziya Bey the following day, and, after a long talk, his promise was obtained. A week later, Hilmi Effendi came to Istanbul again, and the engagement ring was placed on his finger by the blessed hands of 'Abdulhakim Effendi, who also carried out the Islamic betrothal according to the Hanafi and Shafii madhhabs after registering at the municipality. The wedding was held two months later. At the feast, 'Abdulhakim Effendi sat beside Hilmi Effendi and, after the night prayer, said a prayer in person. When the couple visited him a week later, 'Abdulhakim Effendi conveyed tawajjuh to the bride and said, "You are both my daughter and daughter-in-law."

When Hilmi Effendi was at home at Hamamonu, in. Ankara, during the autumn of 1362 (1943 A.D.), Faruq Bey's son Barrister Nevzad Isik came to him and said, "Sir, 'Abdulhakim Effendi awaits you at our house." "Are you joking? He is in Istanbul! Why do you say he awaits me?" Hilmi Effendi asked. Nevzad Bey swore and together they went to Faruq Bey's house at Haji Bayram. He learned there that the police had taken 'Abdulhakim Effendi from his house in Ayyub, Istanbul, to Izmir and later to Ankara. After many petitions, he was permitted to stay at his nephew Faruq Bey's house under police supervision. He had become weak and exhausted out of anxiety and travel. He told Hilmi Effendi, "Come to me every day!" Every evening Hilmi Effendi helped him arm-in-arm to his Bedroom, put blankets on him and left after reciting and blowing Suras al-Falaq and an-Nas upon him. The visitors who came during the day would sit on the chairs lined across the room and soon leave. He always let Hilmi Effendi sit at the bedside and conversed with him silently. When he was interred in Baglum, a village near Ankara, Hilmi Effendi went in the grave and carried out certain religious duties upon the command of Ahmad Makki Effendi, 'Abdulhakim Effendi's son. Makki Effendi also said, "Father loved Hilmi very much. He knows his voice. Hilmi shall read the talqin!"[56] This honorable service, too, fell to the lot of Hilmi Effendi. A few years later Hilmi Effendi placed a marble tablet, which he had written in Istanbul, at the head of the grave. He also put a marble tablet on the grave of Hadrat Sayyad Fahim in Van and repaired the shrines of Abdulfettah, Muhammad Amin Tokadi and cherkes Hasan Bey in Istanbul. He lead the funeral prayer of Behice Me'an Sultan, the late wife of 'AbdulHamid Han II, as she had willed, in 1389 (1969 A.D.), and he had a shrine constructed over her grave in the Yahya Effendi cemetery. In the autumn of 1391 (1971 A.D.), he visited Delhi, Diobend, Sirhind and Karachi and, seeing that the graves of Hadrat Sana'Allah and Mazhar-i Jan-i Janan's wife in the town of Paniput being trodden under foot, donated five hundred dollars for their repair and protection.

Husain Hilmi Effendi was appointed as a chemistry teacher at the Bursa Military High school in 1947, where he later became its Principal. Afterwards, he became a chemistry teacher at the Kuleli (Istanbul) and Erzincan Military High schools for many years. After teaching hundreds of officers, he retired following the coup d'etat of 1960. Later he taught mathematics and chemistry at Vefa, Imam-Khatib, Cagaloglu, Bakirkoy and at many other high schools in Istanbul. He trained many faithful youths. Without discontinuing teaching, he bought the Merkez Pharmacy in Yesilkoy, a suburb of Istanbul, in 1962 and served the health of the people as proprietor and manager of the dispensary for many years. While he taught chemistry at the Kuleli Military High school in Istanbul, he learned ma'qul, manqul, usul and furu' as it relates to fiqh, tafsir and hadith from the virtuous Ahmad Makki Effendi, the late Mufti of uskudar (Scutari) and later of Kadikoy in Istanbul. Husain Hilmi Effendi was graduated with the Ijazat-i Mutlaqa (Certificate of Absolute Authority) for religious instruction in 1373 (1953).

He published Se'adet-i Ebediyye (Endless Bliss) in 1956. He founded Isik Kitabevi in Istanbul in 1967, and established the Waqf Ikhlas in 1396 (1976 A.D.) He disseminated throughout the world his Turkish, German, French, English and offset-reproduced Arabic books and received thousands of letters expressing appreciation, congratulations and thanks. Some of his works were translated into Japanese, Asian and African languages. He always said that he had neither the ability nor efficiency, and that all the services done were the results of the spiritual help and grace of Hadrat Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi and the blessings ensuing from his excessive love and respect for the scholars of Islam.

Husain Hilmi Effendi constantly said that he found the taste in the sohbat and words of Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi in nothing else and that the most pleasant moments he enjoys are when he remembers those sweet days he spent with Sayyad 'Abdulhakim Effendi. He said his nasal bones ached out of the grief of separation and yearning when he remembers those days. He frequently recites the couplet:

"Zi-hijr-i dositan, khun shud darun-i Sina jan-i man,

Firaq-i ham-nashinan sokht, maghz-i istakhan-i man!"

(Because I am away from the beloved, my soul cries out tears of blood in may chest, Separation from those I sat together with burns my bone marrow!)

Husain Hilmi Effendi reads books by the scholars of Islam and quotes with tearful eyes the sayings of al-Imam ar-Rabbani and 'Abdulhakim Arwasi. He said, "Kalam-i kibar, kibar-i kalamast." (The words of the superiors are the superior words.) He frequently quotes 'Abdulhakim Effendi is having said:

"Why are you surprised at seeing harm coming from one who was created to be harmful! How can you expect goodness from him? I am surprised at your being surprised! He is a sharr-i mahd (unmixed evil). His vice should not be surprising. If you see him do any good deeds, then you should feel surprised! Say to yourself, how can he do something good?"

"The scholars of Islam were complete human beings. We are mere nothing beside them. If we had lived among them, we would not have been counted as human beings. If we were lost, nobody would look for us!"

"If the tekkes[57] had not been closed, many a wali would have been trained here."

"I could not find the possibility or opportunity to carry out my duty to instruct Muslims."

"If I spoke a foreign [Western] language, I could serve [Islam] much more!"

"The greatest enemy of Islam is the British. They tried to annihilate Islam with all their armies, fleets, uncountable gold coins collected from their colonies, in short, with all their imperial powers. Nevertheless, the harm of all these giant forces of the British to Islam remains secondary; a more frightening enemy of Islam is Shamseddin Gunaltay."

"A sensitive and delicate person cannot eat the food which he himself puts into a new child's brimming chamberpot. He feels disgust when he remembers the discharged matter that is put in it. Using the things that cause disbelief has the same effect. A person whose iman is firm and who is faithful to Islam does not use them however much they are praised by others." "Not everybody can understand al-Imam ar-Rabbani's Maktubat, which resembles neither Hafiz-i ShiRazi's poems nor the Khamsa. We read it not to understand it but to be blessed by reading it."

"Performing salat means to turn towards (tawajjuh) Allahu ta'ala. Realities are revealed to those who perform salat in accordance with the honorable Shariat[1] in this world. Al-'ilm al- ladunni[2] is endowed upon them. This 'ilm (branches of knowledge) is learned at seventy-two varying degrees; the one who is at the lowest degree knows how many leaves there are on a tree at a glance and can differentiate a shaqi (evil) person from a Said (pious) one. Such people perform salat in their graves, too. This kind of salat does not consist of qiyam (standing) or ruku (bowing); it means to turn towards Allahu ta'ala."

The following is the written will prepared by Husain Hilmi Isik on 24 Rabi-al-Awwal, 1410, which coincides with 24 Tashrini awwal, 1989, Tuesday:

There are eight kinds of people in the world:

1- believer who is Salih (pious, good). He says that he is a Muslim. He holds the belief of Ahl as-sunnat. A person who holds the belief of Ahl as-sunnat is called Sunni (Sunnite). He adapts himself to one of the four Madhhabs of the Ahl as-sunnat. Thus in everything he does he is in a state of obedience to the Shariat. He performs his worships in accordance with his Madhhab. He avoids harams (acts forbidden by Islam). If he makes an inadvertent mistake in this respect, he makes tawba by observing its conditions. Before sending his children to elementary school, he sends them to a Salih imam or to a teacher of Qur'an al-karim. He strives for their learning how to read Qur'an al-karim, memorizing the suras of Qur'an to be recited in the namaz, and learning Ilmihal. He sends them to elementary school after they have learned these things. He sends his sons to high school, to a university for education. It is a must that they learn religious knowledge and begin performing daily prayers of namaz regularly before elementary schooling. A father who does not bring up his children accordingly cannot be a Salih Muslim. He and his children will go to Hell. The worships he has done, e.g. pilgrimages, will not save him from going to Hell. The Muslim who is Salih will never enter Hell.

2- A believer who is Aberrant. He says he is a Muslim, and he is a Muslim, too. Yet he is not Sunni. He is without a Madhhab. In other words, his belief does not agree with the belief taught by scholars of Ahl-sunnat. Therefore none of his worships will be accepted. He will not escape Hell. If he does not perform the worships and commits harams, he will remain in Hell additionally for these sins. Because his aberrant belief does not cause unbelief, he will not remain eternally in Hell. An example of such people is the Shiite group called Imamiyya.

3- The Sinful believer says he is a Muslim, and he is so. He is Sunni, too. That is, he holds the belief of Ahl as-sunnat. Yet he neglects some or all of the worships. He commits harams. The sinful believer will suffer Hell fire if he does not make tawba or attain Shafaat (intercession of the Prophet, one of the Awliya, or Salih Muslim) or forgiveness of Allahu ta'ala. Yet even in this case he will not remain in Hell eternally.

4- A disbeliever from birth is a person with parents who are (or were) disbelievers. He has been brought up as a disbeliever. He does not believe in the fact that Muhammad 'alaihi-salam' is the Prophet. Jews and Christians are disbelievers with (heavenly) books. Communists and freemasons are disbelievers without a book. They do not believe in rising after death, either. People who worship idols and icons are called Mushrik (polytheist). Disbelievers will go to Hell and will be subjected to eternal fire. None of the goodness they have done in the world will be of any use, nor will they save them form Hell. If a disbeliever becomes a Muslim before death, he will be pardoned and will become a Salih Muslim.

5- A Murtad (renegade) is a person who abandons Islam and becomes a disbeliever. All the worships and pious acts he did as a Muslim will be deleted and, therefore, will be of no value after death. If he becomes a Muslim again, he will be pardoned and will become an extremely pure believer.

6- A Munafiq says that he is a Muslim. Yet he is not a Muslim. He is in another religion. He is a disbeliever. He pretends to be a Muslim in order to deceive Muslims. A munafiq is worse than an (undisguised) disbeliever. He is more harmful to Muslims. Formerly, the number of munafiqs was rather great. There are next to none today.

7- A Zindiq also says that he is a Muslim. Yet he is not a member of any religion. He does not believe in rising after death. He is an insidious disbeliever. In order to mislead Muslims out of Islam and to demolish their religion from within, he presents his disbelief in the name of Islam. Qadiyanis, Bahais and Baktashis are in this group.

8- A Mulhid also claims to be a Muslim and thinks he is a Muslim. He performs Islam's worships and avoids the harams. Yet he has greatly digressed from the belief held by the Sunnites in his interpretation of Qur'an al-karim, to the extent that some beliefs he holds abrogates his iman and causes disbelief. In this group are Nusayris and Ismailis, two Shiite sects, and Wahhabis. They try to present themselves as believers and the Sunnis, who are actually people with correct belief, as disbelievers. Since a person who calls a believer a disbeliever will become a disbeliever himself, these people are worse and more harmful to Muslims than disbelievers are.

Any wise person would like to live in comfort and peace in the world and to avoid torment and attain infinite blessings in the Hereafter. To this end, I wrote my book Se'adet-i Ebediyye (Endless Bliss). I tried to show the way leading to happiness for all kinds of people all over the world. First, I endeavored to learn it myself. For many years I read hundreds of books. I carried out very stringent research in history and Tasawwuf. I meditated deeply on scientific knowledge. I recognized very well and definitely believed that attaining comfort in the world and eternal blessings in the Hereafter requires being a Salih Muslim. And being a Salih Muslim, in its turn, requires learning the Islamic teachings from books written by scholars of the Ahl as sunnat.. An ignorant person cannot even be a Muslim, let alone be a Salih one. I explained in detail in my book Se'adet-i Ebediyye how a Salih Muslim should be. In short:

1- He should believe as is taught by scholars of Ahl as-sunnat. In other words, he must be a Sunni.

2- Reading a book of fiqh belonging to one of the four Madhhabs, he should learn the teachings of the Shariat correctly, perform his worships accordingly, and keep away from the harams. A person who does not adapt himself to one of the four Madhhabs or selects the facilities in the four Madhhabs and thus makes a mixture of the Madhhabs, is called a 'Madhhabless person. A Madhhabless person has abandoned the way of the Ahl as-sunnat. And a person who is not a Sunni must be either a heretic or a disbeliever.

3- He should work to make a living. He should earn his living through halal means, carrying on his dealings in a manner compatible with the commandments of Allahu ta'ala. We live in such an age that a poor person can hardly protect his faith and chastity, not even his personal rights. To protect these values and serve Islam, he should utilize the latest scientific renovations and facilities. Earning through halal means is a great act of worship. Any way of earning that will not hinder the daily prayers of namaz and which will not cause one to commit harams is good and blessed.

For worships and worldly dealings; being useful and blessed is dependent upon doing only for Allah's sake, earning only for Allah's sake, and giving only for Allah's sake; and in short having Ikhlas. Ikhlas means to love Allahu ta'ala only and to love for the sake of Allahu ta'ala only. When one loves someone, one remembers him very frequently. One's heart always makes (Dhikr) of him, that is remembers and mentions him.

If a person loves Allahu ta'ala, he will remember him very frequently, that is, his heart will always make Dhikr of Him. For this reason, it is stated in the Qur'an al-karim, "Make much Dhikr of Allahu ta'ala." The following hadith ash-Sharifs are written in the book Kunuz-ud- daqaiq: "People with high grades are those who make Dhikr of Allahu ta'ala." "The sign of love for Allah is love of making Dhikr of Him." "He who loves someone will make much dhikr of him." "He who loves Allah very much will be free from mischief." "Allahu ta'ala loves the person who makes much Dhikr of Him." Scholars of Tasawwuf have shown the ways to perform much Dhikr of Allahu ta'ala. The easiest of these ways is to find a Murshid-i kamil, love him, observe the rules of adab about him, and thus receive fayd from his heart.

Murshid-i kamil is an 'Islamic Scholar' who has received fayd from the Murshid-i-kamil preceding him and thus attained the competence of giving fayd. When he attains this competence, he receives a written warrant from his Murshid certifying that he has the qualifications. A succession of Murshids receiving fayd from one another is like the links of a chain that can be traced back to the time of Rasulullah (sall-allahu 'alaihi wassalam). In other words, a Murshid-i-kamil receives the 'fayd's, 'hal's and 'barakats' coming from Rasulullah through a chain of Murshids that flow into his heart; he then pours them into others' hearts.

The Murshid and the Murid who wishes to receive fayid from him have to be Salih Muslims. A person who does not hold the Sunni belief; e.g., who speaks ill of any one of the Ashab-i- kiram or who does not adapt himself to one of the four Madhhabs; or anyone who does not avoid the harams, e.g., who condones his wife's or daughter's going out without covering themselves properly though he can prevent them from doing so; or who does not try to teach his children Islam and how to read the Qur'an al-karim cannot be a Salih Muslim, and all the more impossible, a Murshid. Everything a Murshid says or does will be compatible with the principles of the Ahl as- sunnat and the teachings in the books of Ilmihal. One thousand years after Rasulullah's Hijra (Hegira, Migration to Medina) an era termed Akhirzaman (the latest time) began, and the signs prognosticating the end of the world began to increase in number. During this latest time period, Allahu ta'ala will manifest His Attributes of Qahr (Wrath) and Jalal (Vehemence), and mischief and afflictions will be on the increase. Religious teachings will be defiled, scholars of the Ahl as-Sunnat and Murshid-i-kamils will be on the decrease.

Oral dhikr, i.e. saying, "Allah, Allah," is very thawab (deserving of rewards in the Hereafter) and will prime the pump for the heart's dhikr. However, the heart's dhikr requires one's being a Salih Muslim and performing dhikr for years. If a Murshid-i-kamil teaches a person how to dhikr and extends tawajjuh towards him, i.e., asks his Murshid to help this person's heart to dhikr, his heart will begin dhikr immediately. If a person cannot find a Murshid-i-kamil, he should remember any Murshid-i-kamil (he has heard of or read about). That is, he should imagine seeing him and looking with adab at his face, and beg him through his heart to make tawajjuh towards him. This is called Rabita. The following account is given in the seventeenth page of the book Barakat: "Khawaja Burhan-ud-din, a respectable Indian scholar, endeavored very hard to set his heart upon the act of performing dhikr. Try as he would, he could not attain this blessing. He looked for a Murshid-i-kamil. While visiting Hadrat Muhammad Bakee-Billah in Delhi, he begged him. This great Murshid advised him to perform Rabita towards him wherever he was, that is, to imagine himself looking at his face and ask for fayd. Surprised at his advice, the Khawaja went to the great Murshid's close friends and said, 'This advice would be given to novices coming to him for the first time. I would like a task of a higher level.' They told him he would have no other choice than follow his advice. Because he was fully convicted that this noble person was a Murshid-i-kamil, he imagined himself looking at his blessed face and began to beg him. He lost himself. His heart began to dhikr. He would hear his heart performing dhikr aside from its physiological beatings." The book Hadarat-ul-quds, in its discourse on karamats (miracles occurring through a person loved by Allahu ta'ala) through Hadrat Imam-i Rabbani, relates his fifty-fourth karamat as follows: "Hadrat Mawlana Abd-ul-hakim Siyalkuti, a great Indian scholar whose books and name are renowned world over, states: I had known and liked Hadrat Imam-i Rabbani for a long time. Yet I had not attached myself to him. One night, in my dream, he made tawajjuh towards me. My heart, began to make dhikr. Continuing this dhikr for a long time, I attained many valuable occult blessings. He educated me from a distance in a manner termed Uwaysi. Later, I attained his Sohbat." It relates the sixty-eighth karamat as follows: "One of the relatives of Hadrat Imam-i Rabbani wanted to attach himself to him. Yet he could not tell him about it. One night he decided to tell him the following morning. That night he dreamt of himself standing near a stream. On the other side was Hadrat Imam-i Rabbani, calling him, "Come here, quick, come here, quick! You're late.' When he heard this his heart began to dhikr. The next morning he visited him and told him what was happening in his heart, he said: 'This is exactly our way. Go on with it.' "

Allahu ta'ala declares in the Qur'an al-karim, in the thirty-first ayat of Al-i-'Imran sura, "Tell them: If you love Allahu ta'ala adapt yourselves to me! Allahu ta'ala will love those who adapt themselves to me and will forgive your sins [if you do so]. Allahu ta'ala is forgiving and very compassionate." He declares in the seventy-ninth ayat of Nisa sura: "He who obeys the Prophet will have obeyed Allah." Our Prophet (sall-allahu alaihi wa sallam) stated, "Be on my way and after me on the way of my four Khalifas!" Islamic scholars following the way of the four Khalifas are called Ahl as-sunnat. As it is seen, attaining love of Allahu ta'ala requires having iman as written in the books of scholars of the Ahl as-sunnat and adapting all of one's words and actions to the manners prescribed by them. This comes to mean that a person who wants to attain love of Allahu ta'ala will have to have iman accordingly and lead a life accordingly. If a person does not observe these two conditions, he cannot be a Salih Muslim. He cannot attain comfort and peace in the world nor in the Hereafter. These two values are either learned by reading books, or acquired by rote by imitating a Murshid-i-kamil. The words, looks and tawajjuhs of a Murshid-i-kamil will purify one's heart. And when one's heart is pure one will begin to experience pleasure from iman and from worships, and the harams will seem bitter, ugly and abominable. During those times when Allahu ta'ala has more mercy on His born servants the number of Murshid-i-kamils increases and it is easier to recognize them. The closer we come to the end of the world, the more severe will be the manifestation of Allahu ta'ala's Wrath, the more scarce the Murshid-i-kamils will be, and the existing ones will not be recognized. Ignorant, miscreant, and heretical people will appear in the name of religious men and will mislead people towards disasters, thereby obstructing the way leading to Allah's love.

In such murky times, those who learn iman and the teachings of the Shariat from books written by scholars of the Ahl as-sunnat will attain safety, and people who fall for the cajoling and exciting words in the bogus religious books written by ignorant and heretical people, will slip out of the right way. In such times, for purifying one's heart and setting it to perform dhikr as soon as possible, one should imagine seeing one of the past renowned Murshid-i-kamils wherever one is and whatever one is doing, except when performing namaz. And one should wish that the fayd that flowed into his heart coming from Rasulullah (sall-allahu alaihi wa sallam) will flow into one's heart. One should keep in one's mind that a Murshid-i-kamil is a (spiritual) heir to Rasulullah, and, therefore, Allahu ta'ala permanently manifests His Mercy in his heart. Hadrat Muhammad Mathum, a great Murshid, stated in his fiftieth letter, "Continual rabita will ensure thorough contact with the Murshid. Consequently, fayd will be received easily. Being in the presence of a Murshid has other uses. A Murid who cannot manage rabita in a suitable manner should attend the Murshid's sohbat. It was owing to sohbat that the Ashab al-kiram attained such high grades. Weys al-qarani received fayd from a distance by making Rabita; yet because he could not attain the sohbat, he could not reach the grades attained by the Ashab al-kiram." He stated in the seventy-eighth letter, "For receiving fayd and barakat from a Murshid-i-kamil, it is necessary to attach oneself with a cord of love to him. The Ashab al-kiram received fayd from Rasulullah (sall-allahu alaihi wa sallam) by way of in'iqas [reflection]. By the same token, a person who sits with adab and love in the presence of a Murshid-i-kamil will receive fayd from him. Anyone, no matter whether he is young or old, alive or dead, will receive this fayd. Imagining a Murshid-i- kamil sitting opposite you while you look with love and adab at his face is called Rabita. This Rabita is very useful, for man has dived into harams and his heart has darkened. As long as he is in this state he cannot receive fayd and barakat from Allahu ta'ala. A means is requisite. The means here is a noble person capable of receiving this fayd and giving it to those who demand it. And this person is a Murshid-i-kamil." He stated in the hundred and sixty-fifth letter, "Keeping a Murshid-i-kamil's face in your heart is called Rabita. Rabita is the most powerful link connecting a Murid to a Murshid. When the Rabita becomes firm, he will see his Murshid wherever he looks." He stated in the hundred and ninety-seventh letter, "When the Rabita is firm, there will seem to be no difference between the blessings attained when one is away from a Murshid-i-kamil and those attained when one is in his presence. Yet these two can never be equal. The more powerful the rabita, however, the less the difference."

He stated in the eighty-ninth letter of the fifth volume, "A great scholar has said, 'Allahu ta'ala would not have given the wish if He had not wanted to give the blessing.' The essence of our way is sohbat. With the barakat of sohbat, a talented Murid will receive fayd from a Murshid's heart in proportion to his talent and the degree of love he has for a Murshid. He will be freed from his bad habits, which will be replaced with the Murshid's good habits. It is for this reason that they have said that being fani (extinct, nonexistent) in a Shaykh, (who is the Murshid-i-kamil), is the beginning of (the stage), Fana-fillah (in Tasawwuf). If one cannot attain sohbat, one will receive fayd only by means of love and in proportion to one's tawajjuh towards the Murshid. Loving the people loved by Allahu ta'ala is a great blessing. Through this love one will attain the fayd gushing out of their hearts. One should not miss the blessing of making tawajjuh in a Murshid's absence. One should learn the Shariat and act accordingly. One should not waste one's lifetime playing and merrymaking. Things that are disagreeble with the Shariat are called Dunya. One should think that such things are useless and will be of no value in one's grave or on the Day of Judgement. Safety is in adapting oneself to the Sunnat and abstaining from bidats. [Adapting oneself to the Sunnat means learning the belief of the Ahl as-sunnat, adapting one's belief to it, then doing the commandments and avoiding the prohibitions, and then performing the Sunnat. When the Sunnat is done without observing this successive order, it will not be the Sunnat at all. It will be bidat. For instance, growing beard will not be a Sunnat. It will be a bidat. The beard thus grown will be a Jewish beard, a Rafidi beard, or a Wahhabi beard.] One should not make friends with bidat holders and mulhids, [that is, people without a Madhhab and religious men who are not Sunni]. They are thieves of the faith. They will defile one's religion and faith. [It is stated in a hadith ash-Sharif that bidat holders will be turned into dogs for the people of Hell].

Hadrat Imam-i-Rabbani stated in the hundred and eighty-seventh letter, "If a Murshid-i- kamil's image is shown to a Murid everywhere, this is a sign indicating that the rabita is very strong. Rabita will cause of flow of fayd from one heart to the other. This great blessing will be bestowed on only selected people"

Documents for what has been said so far are the hadith ash-Sharifs: "Everything has a source. The source of taqwa is the hearts of arifs"; "When the Awliya are seen, Dhikr of Allah is made"; "looking at an 'Alim's (scholar's) face is a worship"; "Those who keep company with them will not be shaqi; "Disasters coming upon my Ummat will be due to fajir [miscreant] men of religion," and a number of other similar hadith ash-Sharifs. These hadith ash-Sharifs are written in various books of Hadith, e.g., in Kunuz-ud-daqaiq.

That Hadrat Sayyad Abdulhakim Arwasi was a Murshid-i-kamil is a fact that can be seen as clearly as the sun from the letters of Ijazat written by his Murshids, from the letter written in the hundred and sixty-first page of my (Turkish) book, from the profundity of his knowledge, from his beautiful morality, and from his karamats. His blessed face is easy to remember, once one has seen his photograph. To remember him and receive fayd from his blessed face is a great blessing Allahu ta'ala has bestowed on Muslims. People like us, whose hearts have been blackened with so many sins, are certainly far from attaining the great blessing. Our purpose is to show the way to the desired treasure. Perhaps there will be people to attain it, though we have not. During these last days it will fall to few people's lot to hear these facts, to believe them, and to try to attain these blessings. May thanks be to our Rabb (Allah) for blessing us with the fortune of knowing and loving His beloved ones.

Ya Rabbi! Grave and many as our sins are, Thine forgiveness and compassion are boundless. Have mercy on us and forgive us for the sake of Thine beloved ones! Amin.

F O O T N O T E S

P>[48] 1 lira is 100 kurushes.

[49] Sarf: Arabic ethymology or morphology.

[50] Nahw: arabic syntax.

[51] Husain Hilmi Isik's this first translation is quoted at the end of the fourth chapter of Endless Bliss, II.

[52] Awamil: a famous textbook of nahw.

[53] Salam: Islamic greeting expressing peace and good wishes.

[54] Sunnat: an act done and liked by the Prophet, yet a duty of lesser degree than a wajib.

[55] Wajib: an act never omitted by the Prophet, almost as compulsory as a fard.

[56] Talqin: words telling and making the soul and heart of a dead person hear through the effect of the knowledge of iman.

[57] Tekke: a school where a murshid trains his disciples.

[58] Shariat: the laws of Islam.

[59] Al-'ilm al-ladunni: knowledge inspired by Allah to the hearts of awliya'.

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