'Let it be known that Allah's people always do good deeds' (qasida 62:11)

This is the motto of this section, which is for talking about the the people of Allah who are the people who are constantly preoccupied with Allah

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Sufi Poetry or Qur'an?! 2

Let’s continue what we have discussed before:

Allah, Glory to Him, has proved in the verse [And as for the poets, it is the erring ones who follow them] ash-Showara' 26: 224, that those are the obscene ones, who have gone astray from the way of the right guidance, and Allah showed us that they do not stick to one way in what they say or what they do. He excluded from them the people of faith, the people of guidance, who stick to the path of the Truth.  

[Dost thou not see how they wander distracted in every valley] ash-Showara' 26: 225. He means the poets who are lost in the valleys of words and sayings, the ramifications of imagination and illusion, and the ways of straying and sins. Abu al-Sawud [AAH] said "Allah then excluded the faithful poets, saying [Save those who believe and do good deeds] ash-Showara' 26: 227. such as Hassan ibn Thabet, Abdullah ibn Rawaha, Ka'ab ibn Zuheir and Ka'ab ibn Malak".

[And did much Allah's Dhikr] ash-Showara' 26: 227. means that, for them, the Dhikr of Allah and the Qur'an were more dominant than poetry. Their poetry is in the oneness of Allah, praising Allah, wisdom, advice, asceticism, manners, praising the Prophet [PPBUH] and the saints of Allah, and satirizing those who deserve it the most which are those who accused the Prophet [PPBUH] of lying and satirized him.

Kaab ibn Malak said that the Messenger of Allah [PPBUH] said to him (Satirize them! I swear that your satire is harder on them than the arrows). The Prophet [PPBUH] used to say to Hassan (Say! and the Holly Spirit is with you). So imagine what would someone, like Hassan, say in his poems when the Holly Spirit, who is Gabriel [PBUH], the one who revealed Qur'an to our honorable Prophet [PPBUH], is with him. Surely, all his poems will include the Dhikr of Allah, monotheism, good advice, and wisdom.

We have proved in the previous article with the Hadith that (some poetry is wisdom), as Allah says [He grants wisdom to whom He wills, and whoever is granted wisdom has indeed been granted abundant good; and none would be reminded except those with cores] al-Baqara 2: 269. Al-Imam al-Qushary described “wisdom” as being directed by the inclination to the Truth not by the caller of the falseness. It is said that "wisdom is the rightness". Also "wisdom is the witnessing of the truth". In Sufi terms: they express the lights of the self as the power, and the lights of the merits as the wisdom. It is also said that "wisdom is the Sunna". Allah says [It is He Who has raised, among the Ommiyyn, a Messenger from among themselves, who recites unto them His Verses, and purifies them, and teaches them the Book and wisdom, although they had been, before, in manifest misguidance ¤ And others from among them who have not yet joined them. He is the Almighty, the Wise] al-Gom'a 62:2-3, the word [Ommiyyn] in Arabic have two meanings: the illiterate and the source of nation. The Prophet [PPBUH] will teach those [others from among them] i.e. after those [Ommiyyn] who were in his time - who are the companions - [others from among them who have not yet joined them] i.e. have not yet joined them and will join them, and those are the ones who would come after the companions up to the Day of Judgement.

Therefore, the Prophet teaches the Book and the wisdom up to the Judgment Day, and also all the meanings of the Quranic verses mentioned for Imam Ibn Agiba, Imam al-Tabary, Imam al-Qushairy, Imam an-Niasaboury, and others. Then the poems of the people of Allah are full of the meanings of Qur'anic verses and of what purifies the Muslim's heart and soul and what quenches the hearts from the wisdom springs.

The following is some verses from a poem of Sidi Qarib-Allah which are easy to understand:

[Leave people and enter the presence of Allah

I swear you will find no one but Allah]

[I swear with Allah, that no rich man can enrich you

in any matter, and no powerful man can protect you]

[No one can harm you but Allah

So, believe in only Allah and do not associate partners with Allah!]

[Don’t say that this Dhikr is a heresy!

Be careful of the sayings of the people who obstruct you from Allah]

[Those people are deceived by a blind impostor

Heedless, toying, forgetful of Allah, al-Mohaymen]

[The Dhikr in the heaven is mentioned

in a divine speech narrated from Allah by the Guiding Prophet] 

[Whoever remembers and do Dhikr of Allah on earth is

remembered in the high divine world by Allah]

[Perform your ablution and enter with calmness!

Into the Hadra of the Dhukr and intend to get closer to Allah]

[And be faithful to Allah without a purpose!

And close your eyes and only seek to see Allah!]

This is just a part of a long poem which talks about Allah's Dhikr in a group, which is called “Hadra”.  It is Allah only whom one should be occupied with, as no one can harm or benefit you but Him. It also mentions the divine speech which supports this poem, and it urges us to abide by etiquette of “Hadra”.

Here are also, some verses for Imam Fakhreddin:

[You are an everlasting master, while others have gone

And they have all joined your Honorable side] 48/1

[You are generous, merciful and an Imam

You are great and nothing can be said about you] 48/2

[Any safety away from your fortress is an illusion

Any guidance away from what you said is deception] 48/3

All these verses are talking about Prophet, the Chosen, [PPBUH]. They describe him as being everlastingly remembered, a mercy, an Imam, a generous giver, a secured fortress and so on ... and as we see, the meanings, in these verses, are clear.

However, many of the Sufi poems, which discuss high special meanings of the Qur'anic verses, the path to Allah, the advices, and the wisdom, need an understanding of the terms used by the people of Allah. Some of those poems are published in the Group Study section of almagalla where you can read an explanation for some verses of these poems to understand the great meanings they include of the Quranic verses and words.

An example of such difficult to understand poems, which are not recommended to get into without having a guiding Sheikh from the people of Allah, is a the verse of the poem of Imam Fakhreddin that says:

[They are disbelievers, those who accused, with disbelief, someone

that worshipped the Merciful until he is covered] 13/18

Note that the words “disbelieved” and “covered” are both expressed in Arabic using the same word; “Kafar”! The covering here is a high rank in the path to Allah in which the servant receives knowledge and secrets which he has to hide. 

There are examples in the Qur'an where one word has two meanings, such as [There is not upon the blind [any] constraint] an-Nour 24:61, and [But whoso is blind in this world will be blind in the Hereafter] al-Esraa 17:72.  In this example, the first blindness is the physical one, whereas the second blindness is the blindness of the heart and the insight.

The previous verse of the Imam tells us that it is a disbelief to accuse the worshippers of the Merciful by being disbelievers. Those worshippers have learnt knowledge of the Qur'an which they have hidden for a divine wisdom. Al-Khidr, for instance, insisted that Moses did not ask him questions. When Moses asked him for the third time, he said to him [This is parting between me and you] al-Kahf 18:78. If people accuse such a saint, whom Allah has taught from his name, the Merciful, of disbelief, they will be themselves disbelievers. The Prophet [PPBUH] said (Whoever accuses a Muslim of disbelief is a disbeliever) and in another narration (Whoever accuses a Muslim of disbelief then one of them gets it). Then the second “Kafar” in the Imam’s verse means “covering” or “hiding”, not disbelief. Some people accuse Sufists of saying “Dogs and pigs are nothing but our Lord”. This is not true. It is “Dogs and pigs are nothing but to here”, whereas “here” means the earth. In other words, they will end up being dust, which is a mishearing of the words in Arabic. So lying and false accusations are easy, but their outcome is Allah’s punishment – Allah forbids, rather we should seek the people of Dkhir in order to learn. Sayydi Omar ibn al-Khattab said “O Sareya, the mountain!” When he was asked about what he said, he replied “These were words that Allah made me say”. This means that these are the words of Allah in the tongue of Omar, so speculate. When sayydi Ibrahim said in Hadra “I am Allah”, people accused him of disbelief.  He gave them a sword and asked them to kill him if he repeated this again. When he repeated this, they tried to kill him, but the sword was passing through his neck as if passing through the air. When they told him what happened, he said “The one who said that was Allah but in my tongue. I never claim I am Allah”. 

Allah says [And it is not for any human being that Allah should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a veil or by sending a messenger to reveal with His permission ...] ash-Shoura 42:51. In line with this meaning we would say that sayydi Omar was the veil behind which Allah talked to Sareya, and sayydi Ibrahim was the same.  Allah is one anywhere and anytime. He reveals the truth in the tongues of his saints to prove their high rank and their truthfulness. May Allah gives us their love and the love of whoever loves them, Amen.

Therefore, the poems of the Sufi saints, which they say, while they are absent from the creatures by witnessing the Creator, reveal nothing but the truth. When we hear them, we are encouraged to increase our Dkhir of Allah, His obedience, and our love to al-Mostafa [PPBUH] and his family.  They, in fact, go along with the Qur'an, takes from its intrinsic meanings, explains from its exterior meaning, wonders around in its border, and circles in its escalation. As it expresses the drinks of the saints from the "sealed scent". Let the competitors compete in this! 

Edited by Mohamed Maqbul

Translated by Nahed Aboel-Hasan

Whoever wants to get more about this, can browse the pages of Sufism in the official site of tariqa Burhaniya.

The Editors Team