The Blood Stained Shirt of Husayn ibn 'Ali, Istanbul, Turkey

Al Tabari writes, “On the night of the day upon which Amr b. Said had given the public notice of the killing of al Husayn b. ‘Ali, peace be upon them, in Mecona, in the middle of the night the Medians heard a voice calling out. They listened to the voice but they did not see any person. The voice called out:

O men who ignorantly killed al Husayn; hear the news of
punishment and chastisement

You have been cursed by the tongue of the Son of David,
and (that) of Moses and (that) of the Master of the
Gospels.

Reference: The History of al Tabari: Volume XIX: The Caliphate of Yazid b. Muawiyah Translated by I.K.A Howard

Online: Tragedy of Karbala as Reported by Al Tabari

The mosque of Husayn ibn 'Ali on the Day of Ashura

Question: I want to know the status of beating backs with knives (Zanjeer) on the day of Ashura? What is it status in Shia Fiqh?

Answer by Board of Istifa, Office of Grand Ayatollah Sistani: The philosophy of mourning during ‘Ashura’, is to respect the symbols of religion and remember the suffering of Imam Hussain (as), his companions, and his uprising to defend Islam and prevent the destruction of the religion by Bani Umayyad dynasty. These rites must be done in such a way that in addition to serving that purpose, it draws the attention of others to these lofty goals. So those actions which are not understandable and causes misunderstanding and contempt for the religion must be avoided.

Ayatollah Khamenei: Practical Laws of Islam

Q1430: What is the view on beating the drum and cymbal, blowing the trumpet, and lashing oneself with chains with blades during the processions of the commemoration of the martyrdom of Imam Husayn (a.s.)?

A: If the use of such chains leads, in the eye of the public, to defaming our school of thought or inflicting a noticeable harmful effect on the body, it is not permissible. There is no harm in using the drum, cymbal, and trumpet in the traditional way.

Q1439: Is there any basis in religion for piercing one’s body with weights dangling therefrom, all in the name of commemorating the martyrdom of the Imam Husayn (a.s.)?

A: These acts, which are, inevitably, bound to portray our school of thought in a negative shade, are impermissible.

Q1449: In commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Husayn (a.s.) on the tenth of Muharram, some people hit themselves with a machete, or walk bare-footed on fire. Such actions defame Shi’ism and put it in a bad light, if not undermine it. They cause bodily and spiritual harms on these doing it as well. What is your opinion in this matter?

A: Any practice that causes bodily harm, or leads to defaming the faith, is Haram. Accordingly, the believers have to steer clear of it. There is no doubt that many of these practices besmirch the image of Ahlul Bayt’s (a.s.) School of Thought which is the worst damage and loss.

Q1450: Is hitting oneself with swords Halal if it is done in secret? Or is your fatwa in this regard universal?

A: In addition to the fact that it is not held in the common view as manifestations of mourning and grief and it has no precedent at the lifetime of the Imams (a.s.) and even after that and we have not received any tradition quoted from the Infallibles (a.s.) about any support for this act, be it privately or publicly, this practice would, at the present time, give others a bad image of our school of thought. Therefore, there is no way that it can be considered permissible.

Source: http://www.ezsoftech.com/mazloom/zanjeer.asp

Mawlana Shaykh Nazim with Mawlana 'Abd Allah Daghestani

“There are forty one Tariqat’s, forty springing from the heart of Imam Ali, and one, the Naqshbandiyya Order, coming from Abu Bakr As Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with them. The Prophet had 124,000 Companions. Who was the grand companion? It was Abu Bakr. The Prophet said, “The whole of what Allah entrusted to me on the Night Journey, I put in the heart of Abu Bakr”. This is well known among real Tariqat Shaykhs. They respect the Naqshbandi Order as the first one. Real Shaykhs, not those giving titles to themselves. All the great Shaykhs, Jilani, Rumi, Darqawi, Rifa’i, they were knowing the real station of the (Khwajagan) Naqshbandi Order. Now, if a person is in one of these Tariqats, they may take Tariqat Naqshbandiyya and remain free to follow those exercises or the Naqshbandiyya exercises…The chain of Shaykhs ends in one. Our GrandShaykh is the last link in the Golden Chain and he is holding that position…

For Naqshbandi Shaykhs, we are waiting for them to renew their baiah with us or else they are only putting titles on themselves. Al Mahdi (AS) and his seven grand wazirs, forty Khalifas, ninety-nine counting those forty who are next to the wazirs and three hundred and thirteen Grand Murshids are all in the Naqshbandi Tariqat.

In this time, there is no power for other Tariqats to carry people all the way to the ultimate goal. All are invited to renew baiah to our GrandShaykh and they may observe their improvement. In our time, there may be one thousand Naqshbandi Shaykhs, but one GrandShaykh. Bringing them together, who will be the leader? If bringing 124,000 Sahaba together, who is leader? Abu Bakr.

Each Shaykh must appont one Grand Deputy. Mevlana Khalid Baghdadi appointed Shaykh Ismail but so many Naqshbandi Orders lost him in their silsila and lost also the secret of our GrandShaykh. Now so many Naqshbandi Shaykhs in Damascus, Aleppo and Homs cannot find a successor. Except for our GrandShaykh, no one has pointed to a Deputy. This is because we have Shaykh Ismail in our Silsila”.

The entrance to Khwaja 'Abdullah Ansari's tomb in Herat, Afghanistan with the names of the Twelve Imams in Kufic script. Khwaja 'Abdullah was initiated by Khwaja Abul Hasan 'Ali Kharqani, sucessor to Bayazid al-Bistami, the sixth Grand Shaykh in the Golden Chain.

An Islamic rendering of Iblees, Satan, from Kitab al-Bulhan

The author of Rashahat writes, “One day, the subject of the jinn was being discussed. The venerable Mawlana [Jami] quoted a saying of the venerable Shaykh Muhyi-d-Din ‘Arabi: “Is Satan the father of the jinn, or is he not? There is disagreement on this question.” Mawlana [Jami] also said:

“The truth of the matter is that the father of the jinn is other than Satan, although Satan does belong to the species of the jinn. The father of the jinn is a hermaphrodite [khuntha]…There is no benefit in spending time with them, and their company is positively harmful. Since they are created of fire and air, their principal attributes are pride and rebelliousness. Those who frequent them are thereby infected with arrogance and conceit…Warfare amongst them is not rare, since their essential attributes are boastfulness, asserting superiority over one another, arrogance and overbearing tyranny…On the Day of resurrection, those of them who deserve punishment are thrown in to the cold hell, since they are not affected by fire.”

Click here for the book in PDF.

Excerpted from: Rashahat ‘Ain al-Hayat [Beads of Dew from the Source of Life: Histories of the Khwajagan: The Masters of Wisdom]. Translated by Muhtar Holland. Al-Baz Publishing. P. 174,208.

[The venerable Mawlana 'Abd al-Rahman Jami said],

-”Today I recieved an insight that I had not seen anywhere before. The manifestation of Reality [Haqiqah] is the form seen in the mirror, not the mirror itself. This quality does not exist in the mirror…

[The venerable Mawlana 'Ala ad-Din said],

-”When Husain ibn Mansur [al-Hallaj] said: “I am the Truth [ana'l Haqq],” he was referring to his own reality. When Pharaoh said: “I am your Lord [ana Rubu-ka],” he was describing his own apparent form. If Pharaoh had understood his own reality, his saying “I” would also have been acceptable”.

Tomb of Husain ibn Mansur al-Hallaj, Baghdad, Iraq

Excerpted from: Rashahat ‘Ain al-Hayat [Beads of Dew from the Source of Life: Histories of the Khwajagan: The Masters of Wisdom]. Translated by Muhtar Holland. Al-Baz Publishing. P.194-5, 201-2.

“Mawlana Ala’ ad-Din Abizi was also one of Mawlana Sa’d ad-Din Kashghari’s companions. He came from a village called Abiz in the vicinity of Kuhistan. After the death of the venerable Mawalana Sa’d ad-Din, he continued in the service of the venerable Mawlana Jami, who treated him with great care and attention, and likened his character to fresh and pure soil.

…The venerable Shaikh ‘Abd al-Kabir once asked Mawlana Ala’ ad-Din: “When your Shaikh was ill at ease, what did he say to you?” Mawlana replied: “When you come to my side, you collect yourself and remember Allah. Even if you are far away from me, you must not forget, so that you do not fall apart!”

The Shaikh then asked him: “And how did you respond?” He said: “With silence.” The Shaikh said: “That was very inconsiderate of you! You ought to have said: ‘We cannot know Allah, but we do know you!”

According to the author of the Rashahat:

One of the great saints has said: “The disciple sees himself in his own mirror, but he does not see himself in the mirror of his Shaikh.” In Samarqand, I heard the venerable Khwaja ‘Ubaidu ‘llah say: “Since you have not been able to see Allah while I am still alive, what will you do after I have died?” The saying of Shaikh ‘Abd al-Kabir must also be understood in this sense. What the venerable Shaikh sought to convey is not that one cannot recognize and know Allah from the fundamental standpoint, and that spiritual knowledge of the Divine [ma’rifa Ilahiyya] is of little importance. It is rather intended to show the seeker the method of concentration, and to establish him in this practice. The pilot of those who learn by direct experience, the venerable Amir Husain, says in his works: “The seeker must become annihilated [fani] in his concentration on his spiritual guide, so that inner knowledge may be revealed to him from the countenance of his Shaikh.”

If the seeker strives to reach his goal by ways of the Shaikh alone, he will reach his goal… the seeker must therefore remind himself, the one road to Allah’s good pleasure is the good pleasure of the Shaikh, and he must act accordingly The route to arrival at the Truth, and to contact with the Truth, passes through the heart of the Shaikh. In reality, the heart of the Shaikh is the home of Allah…This means that the wisdom contained in the saying of the venerable Shaikh ‘Abd al-Kabir -“We cannot know Allah, but we know you!”- is also related to this subtlety. It is tantamount to saying: “You are the door that leads to Allah! The house is entered through the door!” It shows the seeker the way to his goal.”

Excerpted from: Rashahat ‘Ain al-Hayat [Beads of Dew from the Source of Life: Histories of the Khwajagan: The Masters of Wisdom]. Translated by Muhtar Holland. Al-Baz Publishing. P. 118-119.

Khwaja ‘Abdu’llah Isfahani was yet another of the venerable Khwaja Ala ad-Din’s affiliates. He said: When the venerable Khwaja first honoured me with his company, he recited these verses to me:

Let no trace of you remain;
In this alone perfection lies.
In Oneness make your being naught;
Communion lies in this alone.

Khwaja ‘Abdu’llah Isfahani wrote a very useful treatise on the Order of the Masters of Wisdom, under the patronage of a distinguished descendent of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace). We shall now present some excerpts from this work:

“The principle rule of this Order [Tariqat i-Khwajagan] is the following: From whichever perfect guide the seeker receives initiation, he must preserve the guide’s image in the treasure of his heart, until the time when he begins to demonstrate how his heart has been affected by the warmth and quality of that connection. As for what is necessary after that, it is not to abandon that same image, but to embrace it much more tightly than ever. The seeker must rivet that image to his heart, with his eyes, his ears and all his faculties.

What is called the “heart” is the centre of the comprehensive human reality, of which all the higher and lower elements of the universe are detailed particulars. The seeker must exert himself to experience the substance of that lofty reality, by expressing the affirmation of Oneness in his heart, using the formula: “There is nothing in existence, other than Allah!” By making this effort, whatever temptation may be whispered, he will consider it as being from Allah and existing because of Allah. This is because that whispered temptation is also one of the mental entities, and also like so many things that are false and absurd, it actually represents a manifestation of the Truth. If this procedure is followed, an ardour will arise in the heart, putting an end to trouble and dispelling dangers.

Even when whispered temptation departs, it is essential to cling to the same relationship. If whispered temptation still refuses to go away, the seeker must pronounce the word “Allah” in a slowly drawn-out manner, while striving to establish the meaning of Oneness in the heart. He must continue to pronounce the word “Allah” until the moment when boredom and weariness overcome the lower self. If signs of tiredness and exhaustion appear, he must desist.

As the spiritual traveller is obliged to know and understand, while he is making progress in the state of detachment from himself, and in his relationship with the great saints, attention to other things amounts to something resembling unbelief [kufr].”

To be in oneself is unbelief [kufr],
while transcending oneself is true faith [iman].

“Look, I am not speaking from myself. I am always in contact with the Spiritual Power Center. The Prophet’s servant Anas Ibn Malik once said the following about his life with the Holy Prophet – and from his description you may know whether our methods resemble his, on whom be Peace, or whether we are following some other way. Anas reported: “I served the Messenger of Allah for ten years, and never once did I hear him object to any of my actions, saying ‘Do this’ when I hadn’t done something I should have done, or ‘Don’t do this’ or ‘Why did you do this?’ when I had done something wrong.”

Now do you understand, or not? This is proof that comes down to us from the Prophet; and just as that tradition is still intact that we may refer to it today, so also the inner spiritual authority passed down from the Prophet to our Grandsheikh and then to us remains intact. That spiritual authority for the guidance of people has come down to me, has been given to me. I am not such a person who appoints himself to be a guide for people – no, rather I have been given authority by those who have authority to give.

Our way is a way of authority and integrity, and a way that is safe for a seeker to follow. Because of the high rank that this Path holds among the various ways, the seeker who wishes to follow this path must abandon himself to the discretion, wisdom and understanding of the Sheikh. Our Grandsheikh often said to me: “O Nazim Effendi, don’t put my words and actions in a scale and weigh them. Don’t say ‘Why is that Sheikh saying such-and such or doing so-and-so’. If you are thinking and evaluating in such a manner you will never be able to derive any benefit at all from your teacher, and we will leave you on your way and go on ours. In order to follow us you must follow without judging or objecting. Only if you can follow in this manner may you come to know anything of our realities.

Why did Allah Almighty tell the story of Moses and Khidr in the Holy Qur’an? What does that story have to tell us about using our minds to judge that is beyond our understanding? What is our position when we think that we know so much whereas we actually know nothing?

Yes, that tale was told so that we might take wisdom from it, not just for amusement, for people to read and enjoy such an entertaining story. It is an undisputable fact that hidden wisdom may be found in the actions of Saints, even if those actions appear to contradict our idea of how things should be done. For your own good you must learn how you can acquire the attributes necessary to go with such people.

As far as the actions of your Sheikh are concerned, don’t try to weigh and evaluate them with your mind, even if you be the Prophet Moses! For if you be a Moses, someone else may be a Khidr, and so despite your station, he may be above you and may be able to teach you. Moses kept weighing Khidr’s actions (Peace be upon them both!) and Khidr kept saying: “Don’t confront me or object to anything I do until I explain its meaning to you.” Finally, when Moses found it too difficult to keep these instructions and objected to the actions of Khidr which were beyond his understanding, Khidr told him: “You will never be able to be patient with me – go on your way.”

So, all that the follower of a Sufi Path may do is to try and learn from the Sheikh’s way of dealing with people and from the Sheikh’s attributes in general. A follower can never fully understanding the meanings and implications of an authorized Sheikh’s actions. He cannot know what orders may be coming to the Sheikh from the Holy Prophet. He who has the guidance of the Holy Prophet has been given the wisdom and authority to catch people from the road of self-destruction and degradation and bring them to the Path of Eternal Happiness.

Source: Mercy Oceans: Pink Pearls, p. 44-48