'Narrated by the glorious scholars' (qasida 15:47)

This is the motto of this section, which is for preserving and the knowledge about the valuable books of our great religious predecessors.

You can find all special expressions in the Glossary. We need your comments to develop this site for you.

Great Ancestors' Books

Since we are constantly in need for the non-distorted books of our predecessors, and since some irresponsible groups had intentionally or unintentionally printed distorted books and spread them either in the markets or on the internet, there aroused an insisting need to find reliable sources for the books and knowledge of the virtuous predecessors. So, we are nominating to you some sister sites that choose accurately every book they present. This way you can easily find the books and texts of our predecessors which some people tried to hide and conceal, but Allah will complete His guidance, even if biased people dislike.

We will mention some of the books, from these sites, that sheikh Fakhr Eldin quoted from in his books and lessons. More information about these sites are in the library page in our main site. 

A book from the library:

The Letters of ibn Arabi

The book of the Lettersof ibn Arabi by the great sheikh Mohyeddin Mohamed ibn Ali ibn Mohamed ibn Ahmed ibn Arabi al-Hatemy al-Ta'ey. This book contains 28 book about the high Sufi meanings. Some of it are: vanishing in witnessing, majesty and beauty, the Oneness, majesty word of Allah, the days of affair, and others. Imam ibn Arabi is from the Tay tribe, and was born and lived in Andalusia with his father, in an environment of Allah's fear, Sufism, Hadith, and Fiqh. He studied on the coeval scholars from Andalusia. It was told that he once got very sick with fever. During that sickness, he saw in a dream that he was surrounded with the powers of evil, then a knight came and banished them all away until there was no trace of them. Then he asked this knight who he was. The knight answered that he was the Sura of Yasin. When he woke up, he found his father sitting by his head reciting the Sura of Yasin. That was when started his spiritual path. He became immersed in the lights of disclosure and inspiration. He became aware of the secrets of Sufism at the age of 20. He was ordered to travel to Maccah where he had his enlightening and he wrote his most important book 'Al-Fetouhat al-Macciya' [The Maccaian Disclosures]. Then he moved between countries; Egypt, Iraq, Sham, and Turkey, and he met al-Sahrawardy. He continued with his spiritual path in learning and writing. He mentioned 70 of his sheikhs and was not finished. He also mentioned 230 of his books with sizes from a notebook to a hundred volumes (binders).

The researcher of his book says that he has found a book mentioning many books other than what ibn Arabi mentioned himself. The researcher wrote ibn Arabi's biography and made a research about him and about his books. He also related the mentioned verses to its source and gave the word meanings.

The book’s link in Al-Turath site

Introduction by the Editors

Translated by Ahmed

Note: to download & use these books, you need to down the compressed files (rar files) of the book and place it in the same folder and do not change their names. Then open any compressed file and you will find the book which may comprise of one (pdf) file or several ones which in turn will be decompressed to a one folder and do not change any of their names. Now you open any of them using the acrobat reader

A Selection of brother’s readings:

The Knowledgeable Glorious Scholars

Thanks to Allah who has made the knowledgeable scholars successors to the prophets to inherit their manners and became role models for everyone. Many people got strayed and got away from the guidance of the Beloved [PPBUH] when they did not take the great old knowledgeable scholars of this nation as their source of knowledge, instead they became addicted to taking from the recent simple ones. This way they got away from what their righteous ancestors used to have and what was settled by the Islamic nation for decades and centuries.

The Prophet [PPBUH] said: (People are still in blessing as long as they took their knowledge from their knowledgeable elders. When they start taking from their young unknowledgeable ones then they are doomed). The Prophet [PPBUH] also said: (This religion is knowledge, so be careful who to get from). He [PPBUH] also said: (When the knowledgeable scholars die, people will choose their leaders from unknowledgeable ones. When they ask them, they will answer without knowledge, so they will lead astray and mislead everyone, and there is no strength no power but from Allah).

sayydi Fakhreddin Mohamed Osman [AAH] said:

[If you were asked: What is the book? It is       from what is narrated by the great scholars] (qasida 15:47)

All scholars agreed that no one can disparage any word from the Prophet [PPBUH] or judge it as being fabricated or weakly narrated, unless he has an absolute proof from Qur'an or Sunna of the Prophet [PPBUH]. From the start of the first century and up until now, great scholars [AAT] have taken the mission of preserving Turath of our true religion [inherited knowledge from the Prophet, His companions, and our great scholars]. They have been preserving it the same way as the Prophet [PPBUH] wanted them to do. That is how the authentic Hadith, true interpretations, and Historical events from the start of Mohammad' Message till our current day, were preserved and predicated honestly and truthfully. One of the main glorious scholars, with a great resume, is:

Sayydi Mohyeddin ibn Arabi [AAH]

The time between his birth and his death [AAH] is 560-638 Hijri. A great religious scholar who had a philosophical school and a doctrine whose scientific effects are remaining till now. He was born in Marsiya in old Andalusia (in Spain) which was a great Islamic city built during the time of bani Omaiya. He is related to the Tay tribe in the Arabian Peninsula which is considered the cradle of genius and superiority in the old and Islamic days. He had a nick name of Abu-Bakr and was called Mohyeddin (the reviver of the religion). They call him ibn Arabi in the east to differentiate between him and judge Abu-Bakr al-Arabi. His father was an ascetic man of piety and an Imam of Fiqh and Hadith. His grandfather was one of the scholars and judges of Andalusia. So ibn Arabi had a pure righteous growing-up in an environment filled with the lights of Allah's fear.

At the age of 6, he moved with his father to the city of Ashbilia which is one of the capitals of knowledge and civilization in Andalusia. He grew up in this city where his father sent him to the dean of Fiqh scholars, Abu-Bakr ibn Khalaf where he learnt Qur'an with the seven readings. At the age of 10, he was prominent in the readings and inspired in the meanings and interpretation. His father sent him again to a group of Fiqh and Hadith scholars. That is why he heard from lots and lots of great scholars during his early youth. At the age of 20 or even before this age, he had all kinds of knowledge, yet he continued to strive and acquire more knowledge. At the age of 38, he was at the top of his maturity and one of the most prolific, knowledgeable, and broad-minded Muslim authors. He used to continuously mention his teachers with good words, and he had many of them. He used to say about his first teacher: "He had the unreachable degree and the unpreceded advance in literature".

At this age stage, he left Andalusia and went to the Islamic east, due to a vision (dream) he saw. After passing Tunisia, Alexandria, and Cairo, he had interrupted stays in Iraq then in Maccah where he worked hard on his great encyclopedia 'Al-Fetouhat al-Macciya' [The Maccaian Disclosures]. After that he stayed in Damascus from the year 620 to 638 Hijri.

At the age of 60 he was so famous all over the Islamic world that all Kings and princes at that time were fighting to host him, but he had to settle due to his health status, and he could not find a better place than Damascus to stay in. He stayed in Damascus until he died and he was buried there.

When sayydi Mohyeddin [AAH] talked about his books, he said: "They are a lot, the smallest of them is a notebook and the biggest is like a hundred volumes (binders)". One can not imagine that all this number of books came from the same author.

From the point of view of size and quantity, he authored 289 books and letters, and that is from his own words. Al-Sha'rany said they were 400, in his book the Jewels and Rubies. However the differences between the writers were about the number and sizes of his books, there is no doubt that this man was one of the most prolific knowledgeable Muslim authors. He was also one of the most broad-minded and closest to genius and renovation of these authors, in a field that was explored by many others, but no one could get what he got. There is no argument that his writings are over 200 in the least estimation, one of it is the book of 'Al-Fetouhat al-Macciya' [The Maccaian Disclosures] which is a great Sufi encyclopedia that has not been given the sufficient care and study that it is worthy of. He also did the Interpretation of Qur'an, about which the author of Past the Deaths said that it was 95 volumes (binders). Among his books are the famous books of: the Cloves of Wisdom, Lecturing the Reverent, Composition for the Reverent, the Interpreter of the Yearning, the Phoenix of Morocco, and many others.

From the point of view of the quality, the books of sayydi Mohyeddin [AAH] are only in one field which is the Sufism. This was the field that he was committed to, and lived through it; theory and practice. He did not write in philosophy, medicine, or mathematics like ibn Sina did. He did not concern himself with the problems of philosophers and other atheists and how to answer them. He did not write in the principles of Fiqh, logic, or speech as Imam al-Ghazaly did. He devoted all his efforts to write in Sufism in all its sides and aspects. He started with the special subject books like: Divine Arrangements about the human kingdom and the encounter between mankind and knowledge, Position of Stars about the basis for the people following the path, the Message from the Solitude about advices to the seeker, and Phoenix of Morocco about the saints.

Then he wrote the long comprehensive books about all aspects of Sufism, theoretical and practical, like the Maccaian Disclosures which he wrote from the year 598 to 635 Hijri, collecting numerous kinds of knowledge representing the Islamic culture in its broadest meaning and he assembled it all to serve the basic science that he was dedicated to; Sufism.

Finally he wrote the the Cloves of Wisdom which contained the essence of his doctrine, the one that kept glowing in his soul for more than 40 years without being able to declare it as a whole or in complete coherent writing until he did at the end in this book. When this book was introduced to people, they were stunned with different contradicting feelings. They were puzzled, doubtful, admiring, and appreciating.

May Allah accept sayydi Mohyeddin, gratify him, and accept us for him. 

Edited By G. Salah

Translated by Mohamed