Imam Nawawi's Dhikr

Bismillah walHamdulillah wassalatu wassalamu 'ala Rasulillah.

In Al-Maqasid, Imam Nawawi (may Allah be pleased with him and benefit us through him and through you), includes a beautiful chapter on Tasawwuf (sufism), with daily dhikr from the Sunnah.

This translation by Sheikh Nuh Keller (Allah preserve him!) has the Arabic, translation and transliteration, so we have plenty to be getting on with - may Allah grant us tawfiq, whilst we eagerly await the forthcoming translation of Kitab al-Adhkar, by Turath Publishing, may Allah grant them success. al-Fatiha.

The importance of fiqh

Without fiqh there is only opinion.

Shaikh Abdal-Hakim Murad, Contentions 2

Perspicacity

Bismillah walHamdulillah wassalatu wassalamu 'ala Rasulillah.

Nothing that the Prophet (saws) has brought us is without consequence;
nothing he brought is is a MERE something.
Everything is Light,
Everything is Guidance
Everything is Closeness
Nothing is insignificant.

- LAH111

Knowledge is the Most Valuable Thing

Bismillah wassalatu wassalamu 'ala Rasulillah.

Imam Bukhari (may Allah benefit us through him and through you), explained in his Sahih that knowledge comes before speech and action and that the Scholars are the inheritors of the Prophets. Knowledge comes to us through people, not from reading books.

Chapter 3: The Book of Knowledge

X. On knowledge [is preconditional] before speaking and action according to the words of Allah, "Know then that there is no god but Allah," (47:19) where He begins with knowledge.

• The people of knowledge are the heirs of the Prophets and and they inherit knowledge. The one who takes knowledge is taking an ample share.
  
• And if someone travels a path in quest of knowledge, Allah will make his path to the Garden easy.
  
• Allah says, "Only His slaves who have knowledge fear Allah," (35:28) and "Only those with knowledge will understand it," (29:43) and "They will say, 'If only we had really listened used our minds, we would not have been the Companions of the Blaze." (67:10) and
• "Are they equal: those who know and those who do not know?" (39:9)

• The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "If Allah desires good for someone, He gives him understanding in the deen. Knowledge is gained by learning." Abu Dharr pointed to his neck and said,
  
• "If you were to put the sword here and I thought that I could finish one sentence which I heard from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, before you finished me, I would say it." Ibn 'Abbas said [in the tafsir of 3:79],
• "Be people of religious knowledge (rabbaniyun), people of forbearance and fiqh." It is said that the rabbani is the one who instructs people with simple knowledge before deeper knowledge.

wa billahi tawfiq

Lesson Notes: Who are the Awliyah?

Bismillah wassalatu wassalamu 'ala Rasulillah.

ALLAH subhanaHu wa ta'ala has mentioned in the ayah that talks about the friends of Allah or the saints of Allah:

"Behold! verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve;
Those who believe and (constantly) guard against evil;-
For them are glad tidings, in the life of the present and in the Hereafter;
no change can there be in the words of Allah. This is indeed the supreme felicity." (10:62-64)

The Awliyah are those who Allah has special concern for. He is the One protecting them from His wrath by keeping them on the Staright Path. A Wali is someone who Allah draws close, plural Awliyah. The Akhirah is what counts after all - forever - the most significant portion of a person's existence - It matters.

Who? Those who believed, who had that complete IMAN, certitude in the Revelation of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger. What does it mean to believe? It means that one practices, it means that one does, avoids the haram. When you reach for the haram, it is something that is gross and unacceptable, something that is not from the adab of the Shari'ah, something that the Prophet (saws) would have been disgusted by, you find your hand pulls back and doesn't want that thing. This is what IMAN means, full IMAN, complete IMAN, the conviction that Allah has not revealed any of this for His own benefit, but for my benefit. This is the IMAN.

"Wa kanu yattaqoon..." - it has a relationship with godfearingness, TAQWA, meaning that one avoids that which is disadvantageous to one, so the more the IMAN, the more the TAQWA, the more the TAQWA the more the IMAN.

And when somebody does something that entails they blew it, like they did something disgusting, and they threw it back like they were throwing their TAQWA away completely, their IMAN takes a pounding also, at the same time, and this is something everybody knows. Do something that is wrong, and you know it's wrong, particularly if it has several successive steps that lead up to the haram, the gross, the revolting, what happens your IMAN decreases; a person who persists in it becomes shaky and his very IMAN gets shaken. And also if you hang around people who have no IMAN, pretty soon you find that your TAQWA diminishes, this is acceptable and that is acceptable and on it goes by degrees until one finds that it was less than one was before...

Allah says, "There's are the great good tidings in this world and the Next. There is no switching the words of Allah. That is the mighty triumph." - May Allah make us and you of them, ameen

So what are the signs? IMAN and TAQWA. We find all kinds of decisions which have to be made. Shall I do this, shall I not do this? How shall I organise my time? This is the practical way of gaining IMAN and TAQWA, that Allah can make us one of the awliyah, this is the way of Sufism. It is not one of those fake books that try to sell you secrets. But this is the means, by which IMAN and TAQWA come about in a complex and variegated world, and when Allah wants, He will manifest His Favour and His Bounty to the individual that is striving. This Path, tariqa, sirat, minhaj, all these are metaphors of the road, but there isn't any distance, it is a transformation of the self..."


Wa billahi tawfiq