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Our Visit with Shaykh Ibrahim in Egypt, Winter 2007

Bismillahi-r-Rahmani-r-Rahim

Shaykh Ibrahim Muhamad al-Batawy abu-Dhikri visited the US during the winter break of 2005-6, during which time he lectured at length and in depth on the ‘Ihya ulumu-d-din of Imam Abu Hamid al Ghazali (may Allah find contentment with him) and other related subjects.

The shaykh arrived on a very cold day in Washington D.C., and despite being tired from the long trip, and suffering from the effects of a recent fall, he began to teach immediately with a powerful khutbah at the ADAMS center in Sterling, Virginia, at the invitation of Imam Muhammad Majid.

Over the following weekend he accepted visits from individuals and small groups of Shadhuliyyiah from the Washington area, and members of other Turuq us-Suffiyah as well as people interested in better understanding the relation between Islam and Sufism. All were deeply touched by his knowledge and understanding as well as his compassion for both individual and societal problems. Being both an ‘Alim and a Sufi, he knows both the Law and the spirit of the Law, and brings his knowledge of the two to bear on any subject he addresses. He led several sessions of dhikr at various houses, and also gave a talk about the general malfeasance of the Wahhabis (Salafis) and their misunderstanding of the Shari’at due to their rejection of the love of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family. He urged the young students to prepare themselves, to study deeply and not to succumb to the tyranny of the Salafi presence and the oil money that follows it.

 


Khutbah at the ADAMS Center, Sterling, Virginia.

In conversation with Imam Muhammad Majid of the ADAMS Center, Sterling, Virginia


Shaykh Ibrahim, Shaykh Nooruddeen and some students, in the company of the master calligrapher, Ustadh Muhammad Zakaryah (on the left).


Discusssion [sohbet] after Dhikr with members of the Afghan community

Traveling south by car, he visited the Masjid in Charlottesville during sessions of the Islamic Sunday School which Shaykh Nuridin helped found in 1998 and has taught at ever since and the Zawiya across the street from the Masjid where for several nights Shaykh Ibrahim met with students and performed dhikr. During his stay in Charlottesville he also visited the home of Shaykh Nooruddeen on Green Mountain where he rested before traveling on to Bedford to stay (for the second time) at the community established some twenty-five years ago by Shaykh Ahmad Abdur-Rashid, who is the Khalifa of the late Nakshbandi Mujaddidi Shaykh Hazrat Azad Rasool of Dehli (may Allah sanctify his secret and grant him mercy), who held ‘ijazaat in five different Sufi schools


Community dinner at Bedford, with the three shaykhs.

During his visit at Shaykh Ahmed’s community, Shaykh Ibrahim spoke at length on the subject of governance and civil life, a subject to which Shaykh Ahmed has devoted much attention in his writing and the programs organized by the World Community. He also spoke extensively about living one’s life as a Muslim in the context of life just as it is, in accord with the Qur’an and the Sunnah augmented by the actual daily practice of Love and Knowledge, Mercy and Compassion: for one’s self, one’s mother and father, one’s brothers and sisters, one’s spouse and children and one’s neighbor, one’s community, one’s nation and by extension all of Bani Adam in accord with the actions of the Prophet, blessings of Allah and peace be upon him, who is, according to Allah, sent “as a mercy to all creation.”


leaving the community dinner at Bedford, a very happy time.

After a few days in Bedford we departed for the long drive down to Columbia, SC with a stopover in Charlotte, NC to visit family and friends. In Columbia the Shaykh gave the Friday Khutbah at Masjid Dar-al-Huda, which was the venue for his main set of teachings given in America. On Friday night he gave a basic introductory talk, which was followed by a large gathering for dhikr in the company of Shaykh Harun ar-Rashid Faye and his murids as well as many local Sufis from North and South Carolina.

On Saturday the Ghazali retreat, entitled “Revival of the Fullness of Deen”, began in earnest. The Shaykh gave seven hour-long lectures. He did not so much describe the Imam’s teaching as derive from it the essential matters relevant to us today. These lectures are available on CD or MP3. During the three days of the retreat there were also talks by Shaykh Nooruddeen and Shaykh Harun Faye, Dr. Abdul Haq Godlas (on Ghazali’s Alchemy of Happiness), Dr. Abdul Hadi Honnercamp (on Ghazali’s O My Son), Shaykh Ahmed Abdu-r-Rashid (on Ghazali’s  Duties of Brotherhood), and Hajjah Noura Durkee (on Ghazali’s influence on Islamic education). All these talks are presently available on CD.


Shaykh Harun ar-Rasid Faye and Shaykh Nooruddeen with Shaykh Ibrahim

Shaykh Ibrahim with Seyyed Zayn ul Abdin,
founder of the Islamic Study and Research Association, (ISRA),
pioneers in arranging for celebration of the Mawlid an-Nabi in North America
http://israinternational.com

Tea at the home of Dr. and  Mrs Shami 
founders of Masjid Dar-ul-Huda, in Columbia, South Carolina
http://www.darulhuda.org/

The Shaykh’s visit concluded with a return to Washington. It was a remarkable experience for all concerned, especially those who rode with him and participated in the retreat. We ask Allah most High to bless him and to give us more years of his strength, compassion and courage. It was a blessing and an honor to be in his presence and to attend his teachings


On our way back from South Carolina

One year later in February of 2007/1428

Mr. Rashid Minhas, who made the travel arrangements for our trip to Pakistan, was able to arrange for us to stop off at Cairo on our return so we were, alhamdulillaah, able to visit once again with Shaykh Ibrahim, whom we had not seen since he left America a little over a year before.

We were meeting our Shaykh again after a whole year and visiting with his family after many years in which we had been living in Virginia. The reunion was joyous and an occasion of visitation (ziyarah), celebration and feasting. During our five days in Egypt we were overwhelmed with the hospitality, generosity, and humor of the Shaykh and his family and the people of Egypt.

Each evening we gathered around the table of one after the other of the sons and daughters of the shaykh and we found each full of delicious Egyptian food, fruits and delicacies prepared by the family of the one who was hosting us each evening. Over cups of tea and the best homemade sweets, we spent the evenings recollecting the memories and renewing and exchanging news of all family members and students present and absent.

On our first day in Cairo we went to visit Sayidinah Imam al-Husayn, be pleased with him and grant him peace. Shaykh Ibrahim came at the dot of 10 am to pick us up and kept us on schedule as we made our way through the traffic to visit the many Masajid and Maqamat of the Awliya’ in Cairo.


al-Azhar Masjid and the edges of the University Campus (al-Azhar is the oldest university in the world)

The Masjid of Sayiddina al-HusaynAllah be pleased with him and grant him Peace

Inside the Maqam of Sayyidinah al-Husayn
Allah be pleased with him and grant him Peace.

Outside the Maqam of Seyed Hasan al-Anwar
Allah be pleased with him and grant him Peace.

Before we returned to the home of the shaykh we stopped at his office above his bookstore in Maidan Dokki to allow him to review his mail and oversee the day’s events at the bookstore. While he made phone calls we browsed the shelves.

After visiting Imam al-Husayn a second time early on jumu’ah morning we then prayed our jumu’ah prayer at the new masjid and zawiya that the shaykh has recently built on the edge of the desert in a new part of Cairo (Misr Gadeed).

After he retired from Azhar the shaykh began work on this new masjid and uses it as well as the old zawiya on Azhar Street.


in the old zawiya on Azhar Street

Though the shaykh continues to teach, as he has from many years, at the zawiya just down from al-Azhar University, where he taught the works of Imam al-Ghazali, may Allah be pleased with him, for twenty-five years, increasingly now his work is located at the new masjid and zawiya which includes a Qur’an school for neighborhood youth (as well as for anyone who wants to learn), a pharmacy for the poor. In addition to the teacher of Qur’an there is a full time Imam who is usually a graduating student from the faculty of religion at Azhar who carries out his duties under the direct supervision of the shaykh and then returns to his country to be replaced by another graduating student. This has been the pattern the shaykh has followed all of his teaching life and his students are spread across the whole Muslim world.


interior men’s side on new masjid & zawiya

After the Jumu’ah prayers Shaykh Ibrahim arranged for Shaykh Nooruddeen to give a lesson (dars)

Shaykh Nooruddeen met with number of other students of Shaykh Ibrahim and had a wonderful reunion with Dr. Mu’taz, Shaykh Ibrahim’s khalifah in  Egypt and a noted eye surgeon as well as a former member of parliament from Shebin el-Kom.


Shaykh. Nooruddeen with the Imam of the Masjid (on right) and some of Shaykh Ibahim’s students

Shaykh Ibrahim,, Shaykh. Nooruddeen and the translator of his talk

On our next to last day we took the train to Tanta to visit the maqam of Sidi Ahmad al Badawi in the heart of the Delta.


The Delta.

This maqam is a center of deep spiritual power and grace and is visited by literally millions of people every year especially at the time of his mawlid.

Before making our way back to Cairo we stopped at a café just down the street from the maqam and across the street from the railway station, to rest, catch our breath and savor our final moments in Tanta, may Allah continue to bless it and all those who dwell within it.

In Cairo we also had an opportunity to visit our old friends Khaled and Dina Hassouna, pioneers in the Egyptian environmental movement and old friends from the Bedford community of Shaykh Ahmed Abdu-r-Rashid.

On leaving Cairo we flew back to the States via the Gulf and were treated to a magnificent view of the Zagoros Mountians in Persia as we were routed out of the Gulf along the eastern side of the Zagoros on our way eventually over Turkey and across the Med and then Europe and then on across the Atlantic back to North America. A truly beautiful flight.


36,000 feet over Persia looking down on the Zagoros Mountains
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