Part 4 of a series on the spiritual path of the Ṭarīqa ʿUlamāʾ Makka
The Path as Prerequisite
Our way is one path—and there are others. Imam ʿAbdallāh b. ʿAlawī al-Ḥaddād (d. 1132/1720), one of the great sages of the Bāʿ Alawī path, reminds us of what Imam Abū al-Ḥasan al-Shādhulī says: “If anyone finds a sweeter spring than this [our path], let them drink from it” (i.e., let them find their sustenance elsewhere).
Shaykh Ahmad Hendricks said: “The Bāʿ Alawīs avoid adopting symbols and lay greater emphasis on strict compliance to the sunna.”
One of the shaykhs said, in commentary on this point, “This path is the furthest from spiritual fascism.” No one is forced to be of this way. If one wishes to be on it, then may Allah give him or her success (tawfīq) in the blessing of it. If one does not wish to embark upon it, then may Allah guide them to a path that is more appropriate and fitting for that person. If one wishes to depart the way, then let him depart it as he ought to have traversed it—with adab, with etiquette and good manners. There is no blessing that will be accrued by behaving with poor comportment with one’s teacher, irrespective of what one may think of him.
When one is on the way, to benefit at all, a prerequisite—and not a sufficient condition—is adab. Adab relates to one’s relation to the path; one’s relation to the shaykh of the path; to all Muslims; to all human beings; to all of creation; to the Prophet ﷺ; to Allah.
One of our friends and colleagues, Shaykh Afifi al-Akiti, related: “The rulings of the Sharīʿa (fiqh) are easy to study, and the adab is what takes a lifetime to understand.”[^1] How true these words are, so ponder!
The Character of the Way: Creed, Dress, and Effacement of Formalities
It is clear from the precedents of our forebears that knowledge of one’s relationship to Allah is to be learned in accordance with the undeviating creed of the community of Sunnis (Ahl al-Sunna wa al-Jamāʿa), according to the knowledge transmitted through the three approaches in the Islamic creed of belief (the two major ones of the Ashʿarīs and the Māturīdīs, the one minor one of the true Ḥanbalīs/Atharīs), the four extant legal schools (the Ḥanafīs, the Mālikīs, the Shāfiʿīs and the Ḥanbalīs), as well as the realised among the Sufis.
The shaykhs impress upon the murīds the need to ensure that the tradition (turāth) is viewed as a liberating mechanism. It is not meant or intended to be a straitjacket that limits one’s movement or flexibility; but rather, as a protective garb that defends one against the deleterious elements that surrounds one, so that one can move forward, as opposed to being constantly knocked down.
This way does not know of distinctive dress or apparel. Sīdī Abū al-Ḥasan al-Shādhulī’s students did not, for example, dress in patched clothes, which some Sufi adepts of his time did. One of the shaykhs gave the reminder of being mastūr—or being akin to invisibility or transparency in respect to the world.
Shaykh Abū al-Ḥasan abjured his disciples from adopting a way of dress that would set them apart from people. Rather, their dress was to be decent, honourable, and ought to express their serenity with their Lord, while at the same time being comfortably dignified in the surroundings in which they resided.
This is similar to the notion that Sayyid ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. ʿAbdullāh b. ʿAḥmad Bil-faqīh of the Bāʿ Alawīs stipulated, when he said: “Their formalities are the effacement of formalities.”[^2]
Adab Towards the Path
Some of the general points suggested for the student on the way, with regards to the way itself:
- The disciple has a choice with people in general. The choice is generally, as a rule, twofold: to give the benefit of the doubt about people in general (ḥusn al-ẓann) as one speaks; and the second choice is to remain silent, while also maintaining ḥusn al-ẓann. Silence is the only option when one has nothing solid, beneficial, wise, and well-meaning to say to others—indeed, continuous silence is one of the foundational principles of the path.
- The peak of adab, as Imam al-Ghazālī mentions in his book Dear Beloved Son[^3], is that you do not burden people according to your own pleasure, but that you burden yourself according to their pleasures, so long as they do not violate the sacred law. As such, the disciple does not foist themselves upon anyone, nor do they burden anyone else—they burden only themselves. This is the general rule, and there may be exceptions.
- Do not be pleased with the self: do not be pleased with it, nor with its actions, nor its knowledge, nor its states. All of those are traps that must never be taken lightly—even if those actions, that knowledge, or those states seem to be of good standing. Do not be pleased with them.
- Avoid the spiritual traps that are endemic in the possession of all low thoughts.
- Certainty for success is an instruction of the Noble Messenger—so one should supplicate accordingly: “Supplicate while being certain of the answer. Know that Allah does not accept a supplication from a distracted heart.”[^4] That applies to one’s supplications within the ṭarīqa as much as anything.
- Do not complain to anyone besides Allah. This is a general rule—there might be exceptions, and it is important to revert back to one’s spiritual counsellor to understand this and other advices in depth.
- Do not take pride in the ṭarīqa or try to impress others with it. This ṭarīqa is not a football club where we have jerseys; it is not a political party where we try to recruit. Rather, it is our way to Allah.
- Seek to perpetually return to Allah, through everything, in everything, from everything.
The Relationship Between the Student and the Teacher
There are some general points to be considered when it comes to the relationship between the student and the teacher. Much of this general section is inspired by or taken from the work Etiquette with the Qur’an (Kitāb al-Tibyān fī Ādāb Ḥamalat al-Qur’an)[^5], written by the goodly Imam Abū Zakarīyyā Yaḥyā b. Sharaf al-Nawawī, notably the fourth chapter. However, it is not a reproduction of that work, which offers general principles for the teacher and the student. This present work is specific to a particular relationship.
First, the student and the teacher should engage in this endeavour to gain the pleasure of Allah Most High. Allah Most High says:
“And they were ordered no more than to worship Allah sincerely, keeping religion pure for Him, being upright, to establish the Prayer, and to give obligatory charity. And that is the worthy religion.” (98:5)
“Worthy religion” here meaning the undeviating creed of that which the Prophet ﷺ brought.
It is related that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Actions are only [valued] according to their intentions, and each person has only what he has intended.”[^6] This Prophetic narration is one of the foundations of Islam.
We relate that Ibn ʿAbbās (d. 68/687) (Allah be pleased with him) said, “A man is protected only to the degree of his intention.” Another has said, “People are only given to the degree of their intentions.”
Neither the student nor the teacher should allow for anything to interfere in their intentions. They must not allow their intentions to be for some worldly objective, such as wealth, leadership, influence, rising above their peers, gaining people’s praise, or drawing people’s attention to themselves. One must not dishonour one’s pursuit in this way by hoping to obtain some favour—by way of an influential student if one is the teacher, or by way of an influential teacher if one is the student. That is the case whether the favour is in the form of property or some service, however small, or even a gift that they would not have received had it not been for the relationship.
Abū Hurayra (d. 57/677) (Allah be pleased with him) stated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “Whoever learns knowledge by which one customarily seeks the pleasure of Allah Most High but learns it in order to obtain one of this world’s riches, he will not find the scent of Paradise on the Day of Judgment.”[^7]
Anas b. Mālik (d. 91/710), Ḥudhayfa b. al-Yamān (d. 36/656), and Kaʿb b. Mālik (d. 50/670) (Allah be well pleased with them all) stated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Whoever seeks knowledge so that he can contest fools, vie with the scholars, or attract attention toward himself occupies his seat in the Fire.” Al-Tirmidhī related it from the account of Kaʿb b. Mālik (Allah be pleased with him) that states, “…it puts him into the Fire.”^8
On Sincerity
The master Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī (d. 465/1072) (Allah Most High grant him mercy) said: “Sincerity is to single out the Real [Allah] in obedience with full intention: meaning, through obedience, [a worshipper] desires only to draw near to Allah Most High—nothing else: not ostentation for the sake of others, gaining praise with people, loving praise from them, or something else that shows [an objective] other than drawing closer to Allah Most High.” He also said, “It is correct to say that sincerity is purifying the action from being observed by people.”^9
Ḥudhayfa al-Marʿashī (d. 207/822) (Allah Most High grant him mercy) said, “Sincerity is the worshipper’s actions being identical in what is manifest and what is hidden.”^10
Dhū al-Nūn al-Miṣrī (d. 245/859) (Allah Most High grant him mercy) said, “Three signs of sincerity are when praise and censure from the masses are equal; forgetting to see your involvement in deeds; and wanting reward for one’s actions in the Hereafter.”^11
Al-Fuḍayl b. ʿIyāḍ (d. 187/802) (Allah be pleased with him) said, “Leaving an action for the sake of others is showing off. Acting for the sake of others is [a kind of] idolatry. Sincerity is Allah protecting you from the two.”^12
Sahl al-Tustarī (d. 283/896) (Allah Most High grant him mercy) said, “The astute have looked into the meaning of sincerity and have found none other than this: that one’s motion and stillness, in what is secret and what is public, be solely for Allah Most High. He mixes nothing with it: not ego nor whim—nothing of this world.”^13
Abū al-Ḥasan Sarī (d. 253/867) (Allah grant him mercy) said, “Do not do anything for the sake of others, and do not abandon anything for their sake. Do not cover anything for them, and do not reveal anything for them.” Al-Qushayrī said, “The most superior truthfulness is when the secret and public are equal.”^14
Al-Ḥārith al-Muḥāsibī (d. c. 243/857) (Allah grant him mercy) said: “The truthful one is he who has no concern if the estimation people have for him were to depart from their hearts—so as to maintain the soundness of his own heart. He does not like people inspecting an atom’s weight of his excellent actions, but he does not mind people inspecting his evil deeds. If he were to dislike the latter, this would indicate that he loves greater esteem on their part, and this is not the proper behaviour of the truthful and trusting saints (ṣiddiqīn).” Another said, “If you seek Allah Most High through truthfulness, He would give you a mirror by which you could see every wonder of this world and the next.”^14
Allah Most High says: “Whoever seeks the harvest of the Hereafter, We shall increase his harvest; and whoever seeks the harvest of this world, We shall give him of it here, but in the Hereafter he will have no portion” (42:20); “Whoever desires the immediate [gains of this world], We hasten what We will to whomever We will” (17:18).
Every effort should be made to be sincere, since the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Religion is sincerity: towards Allah, His Book, His Messenger, the leaders of the Muslims, and the common folk.”[^15]
Muḥammad b. Sīrīn, Mālik b. Anas, and other Righteous Forebears have said, “This knowledge is religion, so examine well he from whom you take your religion.”
The spiritual guide is the one who loves what is best for you more than you know, and the one whose function it is to instruct you on the path. Different shaykhs are called by different names in different cultural contexts. In this regard, one is not showing respect to the person of the shaykh, but to his function and duty.
It is rigorously authenticated that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “In the body there is a morsel: when it is sound, the whole body is sound; and when it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt. [This morsel] is the heart.”
The one who said the following has done well in saying: “The heart is made wholesome for knowledge, just as the earth is made wholesome for cultivation.”[^16] The function of the spiritual guide is precisely to aid in the soundness of the heart.
Your path in this regard is not for worldly benefit. Yes, it may result in worldly benefits, but your path is not intended for worldly benefit; rather, it is for the life to come, and your relationship with Allah. If you come with any notion of worldly benefit, you will be ruined in the end. If you come with some of that in you, then you must rectify this.
Etiquettes to Be Observed
There are certain etiquettes to be observed. Some of them are mentioned here^17 and others are learned from the shaykh in accordance with one’s inclinations:
The student should show humility towards his teacher and be well behaved with him, even if the teacher is younger than him, less famous, of less known lineage, less righteous, and so on. He shows humility with regard to knowledge and attains it by means of his humility. Some have said in verse: “Knowledge destroys the arrogant youth, like the torrent erodes high ground.”
The student should look to his teacher with the eye of respect, since this makes it more likely that one will benefit from him. One scholar from the earlier generations would give something in charity whenever he went to his teacher and say: “O Allah, cover my teacher’s faults from me, and do not take the spiritual blessing of his knowledge away from me.”
Likewise, in addition to general advices that apply to the relationship between the student and the teacher, there are specific ones that ought to be emphasised in terms of spiritual training relationships—or the connection between the murīd and the shaykh.
The adab of the relationship can be summed up in three basic points:
- Ḥusn khidma, or proper service to the shaykh
- Ṣidq al-maḥabba, or genuine love for the shaykh
- Ḥifẓ al-ḥurma, or maintaining proper respect. The least of this is to leave a company where one’s shaykh is mentioned negatively. Other details are usually left to the student to determine as time goes on, as per the relationship with the shaykh.
In our way, the relationship is flexible—and a truth about people is that different people show respect in different ways to the shaykh. The most important thing about companionship (ṣuḥba) with the shaykh is that the murīd learns and inherits knowledge (ʿilm), wisdom (ḥikma), insights (baṣīra), manners and spiritual etiquette (adab), and states (aḥwāl) from the shaykh, exactly as he has learnt those from his own shuyūkh. For instance, the shaykh loves knowledge, and as such the murīd starts to love knowledge. The shaykh has profound love for the Prophet ﷺ, and as such the murīd starts learning love for the Prophet ﷺ. The shaykh has a deep glorification (taʿẓīm) for Allah, and the murīd learns to magnify Allah—and so forth.
The shaykhs reject spiritual fascism—they embrace strong connections of care and concern. Allah has placed this particular shaykh in the murīd’s path, and He has chosen the murīd for the shaykh, and the shaykh has taken the murīd in his charge. The murīd has made that commitment. In order for the murīd to benefit, the murīd has to ensure that trust of the shaykh is real and viable. The more trust and confidence the murīd has, the more the murīd will be able to follow the shaykh’s instructions and advice, and the more the murīd will benefit. If the murīd has doubts in this regard, the murīd will not benefit, and the instructions will pass through the murīd and come out the other side.
Visiting the shaykh when one is able is important; for otherwise, how will one take instruction and benefit? And when that happens, the teacher should be kind to whoever comes to him, welcoming him and being well-mannered in accordance with an individual’s circumstances. Abū Hārūn al-ʿAbdī said: “We would come to Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī (d. c. 74/693) (Allah be pleased with him), and he would say, ‘Welcome to the beneficiaries of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.’ The Prophet ﷺ said, ‘People rely upon you. Men will come to you from the earth’s regions to acquire religious knowledge. When they come to you, make them your concern.'”[^18]
One should make an effort to attend classes given by the shaykh. If one is unable to attend due to work or pressing commitments, then one is unable to do so. One’s intention is fundamental in this regard. If your intention is not sound—if you are not sincere in your desire—then benefit will be bereft.
One should be present in the moment with one’s shaykh. It may be that there is a time when he is so oriented towards you and your state that he may identify something you benefit from, but if you are distracted or fail to recognise this, it may pass you by.
It is recommended that the student be fully committed to receiving guidance in sitting with his teacher, preferring it over his personal worldly matters that are not critical. It is recommended that he empty his heart of all preoccupying matters—and they are many and known—while sitting for counsel. The teacher should give each student what is suitable for him, that is, he should not give a greater load to one who cannot bear the increase, nor should he lessen the load for one who can indeed bear the addition.
During the provision of direction and counsel, the student should not fidget with his hands, and he should keep his eyes from needlessly glancing about. He sits, while having ritual purification if possible, facing the direction of prayer (qibla), and sits with dignity, his clothes clean and decent.
The student’s etiquette includes moreover avoiding any concerns that preoccupy him from achieving his objectives, except that which is unavoidable because of necessity. He should purify his heart from any impurity so that it is fit for receiving the advice, memorizing it, and profiting from it. It has been said, “Whoever is impatient with the humiliation of learning will spend his life in the blindness of ignorance. And whoever is patient with it, it will eventually lead to the glory of this life and the next.”
The student’s etiquette encompasses the famous statement from Ibn ʿAbbās (Allah be pleased with them both): “I was humble when I studied, so I was respected when I was sought.”[^19]
How excellent is the one who said: “Whoever does not experience the taste of humility for an hour will spend eternity humiliated.”
The student’s etiquette includes his determination to study, incessantly doing so any time the opportunity arises. He is not satisfied with a little when much is possible. Yet he does not burden himself with what is overbearing to him out of fear of boredom and losing what he has gained. This varies according to different people and conditions.
The student should take it upon himself to strive hard to achieve all he can while he is free of responsibility and energetic, the body strong, mind alert, and occupied by few things, before the hurdles of heroism and high rank come. The Commander of the Faithful, ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb (d. 23/644) (Allah be pleased with him), has said, “Become learned (faqīh) before you become a master,” meaning, strive to attain complete competence while you are subordinates, before you become masters. When you become masters with a following of students, you will be prevented from further learning because of your high rank and numerous preoccupations. This is the meaning of Imam al-Shāfiʿī’s statement (Allah be pleased with him): “Become a faqīh before you become a leader, since when you are a leader there is no path to becoming a faqīh.”^20
A student is obliged—and is highly advised to heed—that he not harbour envy toward his peers, or anyone else for that matter, because of some good quality that Allah the Generous has given one. Likewise, the student should not wax proud over what he himself achieves. The way for the student to remove pride is by remembering that his achievement did not occur through his own power and strength; rather, it was only through Allah’s grace. The way to remove envy is to know with certainty that it was the wisdom of Allah Most High that brought a good trait to a person. So one should never object to it, and certainly not dislike the wisdom that Allah Most High willed.
As part of respecting the shaykh’s function, one should be aware that when instructions are given, they must necessarily be of the permissible. Being permissible does not mean that they are obligatory, ordinarily speaking—it only means they are permissible. When such instructions are given, if they are instructions on the path (ṭarīqa) (and this will be clear), they should be followed. If one is not sure that they are instructions, one may ask for clarification. If one is not sure that one can carry it out, owing to one’s ability, then one may explain one’s circumstances so that the shaykh can reassess. If one does not want to carry it out, then this is immaterial and irrelevant to the actual carrying out of the instruction. It may be pertinent to discuss why one does not want to carry it out, and the shaykh is there to answer questions. But if the shaykh, following the assessment, delivers the instruction, then the student should follow the instruction.
Visiting other shaykhs of other spiritual paths is not forbidden in our way. Other shaykhs may have a different perspective in this regard, but in our way, it can be a blessing, with certain provisos. The first is that it is from the moral comportment of the ṭarīqa that one has permission from the shaykh to visit other shaykhs—this will guide one towards more spiritual blessings. Moreover, if it happens in this way, then the spiritual blessings that come from a meeting with that other shaykh may be compounded to the life-giving energy that comes from the connection with one’s own shaykh. The alternative is that the result or impact of the engagement with the other shaykh becomes dissipated. The second proviso is that instructions or recommendations from any other shaykh should revert back to one’s own shaykh. This is not a slur upon the station of the other shaykh, but only recognition that one’s spiritual purification and edification process has been placed as a responsibility of one’s own shaykh. This can be compared to medical doctors who need to know what medication has been prescribed for one’s own patient, so as not to add too much or remove too little.
The same applies more generally to the reading of litanies and remembrance formulae. If they are general litanies and remembrance formulae from the Prophet ﷺ, such as the litanies after the prayer, then there is no harm if one is sure of their veracity. But even then, it would be advisable to refer back to the shaykh for recitation, to check authenticity. When it comes to reading Qur’an, this is always the Prophetic practice, but it is also good to consult with the shaykh over how much and how often. This can give the spiritual seeker the opportunity to become advised on how one can arrange one’s time, and how to find more spiritual blessings in one’s day.
Beyond this, however, when it comes to the recitation of litanies and remembrance formulae from shaykhs of the path or any path, one should revert back to the shaykh for consultation and prescription. One might do a particular practice once for the spiritual blessings—perhaps—but one should always revert to the shaykh. That is his job—if one does not consult with him about such basic points, then what does one consult with him about? Indeed, it may lead to one reading something that one is not ready for.
Gentleness and humility are the rules for the student and the teacher. Many well-known accounts have been related about the importance of having humility with ordinary individuals; so how is it with those who are like one’s own parents, especially given what they are doing—occupied with drawing you closer to Allah? It has been related that the Prophet ﷺ said, “Be gentle with your student and with your teacher.”[^21] Or, to put it another way, a summation of the adab is one that exemplifies service (khidma) and love (maḥabba), which naturally also leads to praying for one’s shaykh.
Footnotes
[^1]: Shaykh Afifi al-Akiti, Explanation of Praying Ṣalāt al-Khayr on mid-Shaʿbān according to the Shāfiʿī madhhab.
[^2]: ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Shaʿrānī was an Egyptian Shāfiʿī scholar and mystic, founder of an Egyptian order of Sufism, eponymously known as Shaʿrāwiyya.
[^3]: Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad al-Ghazālī, Dear Beloved Son (Ayyuhā al-walad), partial translation by Seraj Hendricks.
[^4]: Narrated by Imam al-Tirmidhī.
[^5]: Abū Zakarīyyā Yaḥyā b. Sharaf al-Nawawī, Etiquette with the Qur’an (Kitāb al-Tibyān fī Ādāb Ḥamalat al-Qur’an), trans. Steven (Musa) Woodward Furber (Islamosaic Publishing, 2013).
[^6]: Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd, A Treasury of Hadith: A Commentary on Nawawi’s Forty Prophetic Traditions, trans. Mokrane Guezzou (Kube Publishing Ltd, 2014).
[^7]: Nawawī, Etiquette with the Qur’an, trans. Musa Furber (Islamosaic Publishing, 2013). Abū Dāwūd related it with a rigorously authenticated chain.
[^15]: Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd, A Treasury of Hadith, trans. Mokrane Guezzou (Kube Publishing Ltd, 2014).
[^16]: Nawawī, Etiquette with the Qur’an, trans. Musa Furber (Islamosaic Publishing, 2013).
[^18]: Tirmidhī, Ibn Mājah, and others related it. Something like it was related in Musnad al-Dārimī by way of Abū al-Dardāʾ.
[^19]: Nawawī, Etiquette with the Qur’an, trans. Musa Furber (Islamosaic Publishing, 2013).
[^21]: Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad al-Ghazālī, Islam and Rationality: The Impact of al-Ghazālī, ed. George Tamer (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2015), 193.
