Love of Allah

In al-Qur’an, Allah distinguishes between those He does not love:

“Allah does not love the aggressors” (2:190)

“Allah does not love corruption” (2:205)

“Allah does not love the ungrateful” (2:276)

“He does not love the unbelievers” (30:45)

And those whom He does love:

“Allah loves those who work goodness” (2:195)

“Allah loves those who are patient” (3:146)

“Allah loves those who are just” (5:42)

“Allah loves those who struggle in this Way” (61:4)

 

In all the above cases the Arabic word that is used in derived from the root HaBaBa which means love, affection, effacement. It also means ‘to seed’. Implicit within that meaning is the development of the seed into a mature plant. Those who have deeply concerned themselves with the clarification and definition of the degrees and levels of this ‘love’, through direct experience, have enumerated certain distinct and precise phases in the progression from affection to annihilation. Each of these stages has been divided and delineated by the tracers of the ravished and broken hearted into minute subdivisions of refined meaning as a result of their own ecstatic joyful sufferings on the way to Allah, from ‘compatibility’ through ‘intimacy’, ‘attachment’, ‘tenderness’, through ‘ecstasy’, ‘enslavement’, ‘effacement’ to, at last, communion and permanence.

 

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Manifestations of the Shadowless Presence

Inasmuch as he existed in this world, yet he existed before this world was, and before there was any existence in this earthly form. By saying this in no way do we deny him his earthly presence, but we realize that even when he walked the earth many of those who were his own kith and kin never saw anything but the orphan son of ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abdu-l-Muttalib. Even those who were as close to him as his own beloved cousin, Sayydina ‘Ali, Allah cherish his essence, replied when ‘Uways al-Qarani, Allah be content with him, asked him, “How many times did you see the Prophet, blessings of Allah and peace be upon him?”, “Oh ‘Uways. I only saw him once in my entire life.” In that one moment he knew forever that, truly and in reality (haqiqah) “Muhammad, blessings of Allah and peace be upon him, is the heart of the divine presence.”

 

It is this dimension of his pre-eternal existence that we must speak of if we hope to more fully understand his blessed being and, in reality, the true meaning of our own being and the Way we have been so generously given. This is the subject of this essay.

 

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Reflections on the Possibilities of Perfection

A Muslim believes that perfection, in so far as it can be said to have manifested in finite and limited form, (and for that reason always understood to be relative to true Perfection, which can only be the domain of Allah, all praise to Him) can only be found in the form of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him. He was the seal of the prophets, and the unlettered narrator of the oral transmission of the Final Testament, the Generous Qur’an, which has been and is being delivered to every soul who has ears to hear. This essay explores how the practice of the ancient rites which were enlivened and delivered by the Prophet can possibly lead us through open doors to worlds in which one can humanly hope to relate and co-operate with others in attempting to erase disbelief and oppression.

 

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The Recital of the Quran as a Spiritual Practice

The first comman of Allah when He wished to revive Islam some 1400 years ago was, “Recite!” (‘Iqra!), when the Angel Jibril embraced the Prophet and pressed him to his bosom and taught him to read from mouth to ear, heart to heart. Thus from then until now one’s teacher has learned it from the lips of his teacher and he from his (or her) teacher until, as with all the spiritual teachings within ‘Islam, it traces back to the Prophet, who learned it from Jibril.

 

This essay explores both the process of learning to read and some of the openings, blessings and insights that can result from the steadfast study of the Qur’an. The Prophet said, “Stick to the recital of the Qur’an because it is Light in this life and Provision in the Final Life.”

 

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Timeless Spirituality and its Relation to the Temporal Practices of Islam

There exists a Divinely revealed synergistic series of acts of worship in the form of various practices, exercises and devotions. When put into practice, these exercises or disciplines have the possibility – not a direct certainty but a tested possibility – of bringing about or eliciting in the practitioner a state of timeless spirituality which, from another perspective, might be seen as a state of complete transparency. This paper discusses both how these practices can lead to the timeless transparent state and some aspects of that effulgent state of being.

 

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Truth in Advertising or The Selling of Sufism

It is not ethical to tell people that you are teaching Sufism when you are not. Sufism is the internal mystical dimension of ‘Islam, and not a catchall or generic term for any and all kinds of esotericism, gnosticism or mysticism. In the same way that Sufism exists at the very heart of Islam, so too all of the earlier dispensations have had, and do have, their own unique mystical dimension. It is, however, a mistake to call the mystical dimension of another tradition or religion “Sufism”.

 

Just as Kabbala is a mystical dimension of Jadaism, or Tantra is an esoteric dimension of Hinduism, or Zen is an esoteric dimension of Buddhism, Sufism is the mystical dimension of ‘Islam, and one cannot rightly say that it is the mystical, esoteric, gnostic dimension of any religion other than ‘Islam. Neither is Sufism something isolated unto itself nor is it a new religion. If one is a Dominican, one is by definition a Christian, just as if one is a Chassid, one cannot really be anything else but a Jew. Similarly it is not possible to be a Sufi unless one is a Muslim.

 

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Some Personal Thoughts on Muslim-Christian Dialogue

This essay has two premises. One is that there is an insurmountable difference between the Muslim view of the Qur’an as the Word of Allah and ‘Isa as a prophet of Allah – and the christian view of Jesus as the Word of God and God Himself. The second premise is that, given we will not resolve the above difference by argument, the best course is to proceed, as Allah says, to “vie with one another in good works”, and Allah will sort it out in the end. We do this knowing that the labor of any one of us will always be rewarded.

 

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Some Possibilities for Muslim-Jewish Dialogue

“Oh People of the Book, [let us] come to an agreement between us and you that we shall worship none but Allah and ascribe no partner to Him and none of us shall take as lords other than Allah.” (Qur’an, Surah Al’Imran 3;64)

 

This essay begins from the understanding that there are so many parallels between the Qur’an and the Torah that there can be no real question of our shared beliefs and their common origin. These include many injunctions from the God regarding moral behavior and articles of faith as well as historical references. Many examples from both Jewish and Muslim scriptures and scholars are cited.

 

However, in conclusion Shaykh Nooruddeen is not overly optimistic about common understanding unless there is a will to understand, perhaps in the realim of intimate personal dialogue between secure believers who can see through to the common source of our differing beliefs.

 

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Sacred Inscription as Cosmology: Glimpses of ‘Ilmu-l-Huruf

The Qur’an (41:53) speaks of the macrocosm and microcosm as consisting of signs (ayat), just as its own individual ‘verses’ are also known as ayat. Thus the world may be thought of as a vast tapestry of signs that make up the “Qur’an of Engendered Existence (al-Qur’an al-takwini).” Indeed such a view is to be found in Islamic esotericism along with various contemplative methods based on Qur’anic chanting (tajwid) and an esoteric understanding of the Arabic alphabet that may be termed ‘letter mysticism.’ We examine aspects of such letter mysticism in the Futuhat al-Makkiyya of Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-‘Arabi (d.638/1240), the contemplative methods of a branch of the Shadhdhuli Sufi Tariqa and the ‘theory’ of the prophets of inner being of ‘Ala al-Dawla as-Simnani (d.736/1336) upon which some of these contemplative practices are based.

 

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At Peace in a Time of Wars

Four essays on peace written by Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee in Alexandria, Egypt in the year 1411/1991. These papers were written in the period between the Gulf War and the collapse of the USSR. They were presented at four different inter-faith conferences that were convened by the International Religious Federation for World Peace and held in Asia, Europe and North America. At these conferences various learned practitioners and committed representatives from the different religious traditions of the world spoke on various subjects having to do with peace in the light of their own traditions and understanding. Every conference included a number of presenters from each tradition so that a diversity of ‘schools’ within each tradition was also represented. The general purpose of the meetings was to share with and clarify for one another their various insights and understandings as to how peace, individual and collective, might possibly be reached, given that so many conflicts in the world are seemingly generated by religious differences.

 

Allah is as-Salam. As-salam means, roughly, the same as the English word peace, but with overtones of soundness, well being, unimpairedness, security and safety. Allah says of Himself, “He is Allah, other than Whom there is no god. He is the sovereign, the Holy, the Peace,” (Q 59:23) and greets us with the words, “Peace – such is the greeting from the All-Compassionate Sustainer.”(Q 36:58)

 

Our basic working premise concerning the subject of peace: Allah is by nature of His Being – Peace – there is no other place to get it from.

 

Our basic insight concerning world peace: any power, any system, any ideology, any organized or centrally controlled religion is by nature oppressive and usurping of the Divine Prerogative, regardless of either the doctrine upon which it is founded or the sincerity of its devotees. Any attempt, political, economic, military, scientific, philosophical or religious, to re-establish a world of knowledge (‘ilm), justice (‘adl) and mercy (rahmah) in the period stretching between the time of the death of Muhammad, the last prophet, upon whom be blessings and peace, and the appearance of al-Mahdi is ineluctably doomed to fail.

 

Our basic insight concerning individual, familial and communal peace: the Prophet said, “You will not have secure faith (‘iman) until you love one another and have mercy on those who live upon the earth.” He also said, “He who has no mercy will receive none.”

 

Our recommendation is to seek peace where — and only where — it can be found. We believe, based on direct experience, that anything else is a waste of time.

 

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Dhikr Allahu ‘Akbar – Remembrance as recorded in Quran and Sunnah

by: Dr. Muhsin Ibrahim ‘Abdul-Majid al-Libani

translated from the Arabic by: Ibrahim al-Faqir

edited by: Shaykh Abdullah Nooruddeen Durkee

A very important and exhaustive essay which discusses the consciousness (wa’i) of Allah as present, existing, hearing, seeing, watching, and the means of realizing and reaching that consciouness, such as divine invocation (dhikr) and reflective thought (fikr); which define, without doubt, the moral behavior (suluk) of the person, and open up his higher horizons and faculties.

 

Allah says: “O you who believe! Invoke Allah with much remembrance, and glorify Him early and late. He is the One Who sends down blessed glory upon you, and His angels (also), that He may bring you out from the darknesses into the Light, and He is to the believers most merciful indeed! Their salutation the day they meet Him will be peace, and He has promised for them a generous and noble reward. (Q33:41-44) And He said: “O you who believe! Let not your wealth and children distract you from the rmembrance of Allah. Whoever does (such a thing) is most assuredly (among) the losers.” (Q63:9)

 

Dr. Muhsin says, “I have composed this book because many of my students and friends have asked me to write something on the reality of the meaning of the invocation (dhikr) of Allah and its relation to the general understanding of the Way (din) of al-Islam….what is called today the modern Islamic revival (i.e., Salafism), …has come to be restricted and confined to a narrow frame in its goals, as a result of its drawing little upon the (underlying) ideology and spirit of Islam, but drawing heavily and almost exclusively on the outward aspect of Islam. And a more dangerous mistake in our opinion is their understanding of the din as a set of rituals and practices, ignoring its most important truths: namely, the deep intimate relation of the person with his Lord, with that relationship being the most fundamental factor in the perfection of the perception, personality, and moral behavior (suluk) of the person. Also, all that appears of the deficiency of behavior and absence of (inner) harmony in the person of this “modern Islam” (or Salafism) comes, in the first place, from a defective establishment of the basic principles of ‘iman (in him or her), and an understanding of the din of Islam that is clearly lacking in balance and comprehension (in many of their leaders and followers).”

 

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