re/exotic prophetology

--

[saying ‘peace be upon you o prophet ﷺ’]

[...] makes it known that the bondsman has proceeded from witnessing (mushahada) his Lord from the perspective of the absolute (al-itlaq) or in terms of a particular matter - which was in his prostrations - to witnessing the Truth (al-haqq) in the messenger ﷺ, and since he has appeared to him, he sends peace upon him ﷺ specifically.

--
ref. shaykh-i akbar, ibn 'arabi (d.638/1240) in his magnum opus ie. al-futuhat al-makkiyyah, vol.2, pg.77.

re/exotic prophetology -- the secularisation of prophetology often involves stressing the human genius of the prophet, or related qualities like his politico-military leadership and excellent interpersonal skills, especially as something that can be examined…

re/exotic prophetology

--

the companions encountered disclosures of the prophet's humanity in their lives - God's peace and blessings be upon him - to protect them from being blinded by the lights of his preeminence and special qualities which they witnessed directly.

as for today, then prolonging discourse on the humanity of the prophet - God's peace and blessings be upon him - whilst neglecting higher prophetology in light of this sweeping materalism is naught but an ignorance which breeds poor respect and misguidance.

--
ref. dhakir al-hanafi / with adjustments.

re/survivalists

--

abu mas’ud al-haji reported that he heard the hadithist, ibn tahir al-maqdisi (d.507/1113) say:

“i urinated blood twice seeking knowledge of hadith; once in baghdad and once in makkah.

i was walking barefoot in the heat and so that happened. i have never ridden a mount in the search for hadith. i would carry my books on my back.

nor have i ever asked anyone for anything whilst seeking knowledge. i would live upon whatever would come my way.”

and there’s ibn khirash (d.283/896) who said: “i have drunk my urine in this search for < hadith > five times!”

i say: i presume he was forced to do so whilst travelling due to the absence of water, and God knows best.

--
ref. al-hafidh, al-dhahabi (d.748/1348) in his biographic compendium ie. siyar a’lam al-nubala’, §213, vol.19, pg.363 and al-khatib al-baghdadi (d.463/1071) in his biographic dictionary ie. tarikh baghdad, §5351, vol.11, pg.572.

¹ranges vary slightly, but biographers say he would travel somewhere between fifty to sixty miles a day.

re/moon-sighting

--

abu hurayrah reported that the messenger of God - peace and blessings be upon him - said:

"fast upon seeing it and stop fasting upon seeing it; but if it is concealed from you, then complete thirty days."

--

normatively understood as to refer to the crescent moon, al-sha'rani (d.973/1565) offers an esoteric interpretation of the above report which can be read as follows:

"fast [for the sake of] seeing Him and break the fast upon seeing [Him]."

in other words, for the one endowed with the light of certainty, life itself is a ‘fast’ which is ‘broken’ in the hereafter upon - and for the sake of - beholding the Beatific Vision.

--
ref. 'abd al-wahhab, al-sha'rani (d.973/1565) in al-fath al-mubin, pg.48-49 and muslim §1081.

re/the akbarian school

re/the khayrabadi school

re/the seventeenth

--

the truth is that divesting < islam > from the might of the sword, as many pen-carriers and the literati of egypt are swift to do, is to divest < islam > from the great battle of badr.

--
ref. şeyhülislam, mustafa sabri efendi (d.1373/1954) in his magnum opus ie. mawqif al-'aql wa l-'ilm, vol.1, pg.90.

re/qur'an

--

ahmad b. tha'labah reported that he heard salim al-khawwas say:

“i would read the qur’an but i would not experience any sweetness.

so i said to myself: ‘read it as if you are hearing it from the messenger of God - peace be upon him.’

the sweetness increased a little, so i said to myself: ‘read it as if you are hearing it from gabriel when he would convey the qur'an to the messenger of God.’

the sweetness increased a little more. i then told myself: ‘read it—as if you are hearing it from God Himself.’

at that moment, the sweetness enraptured me totally.”

--
ref. abu nu'aym, al-asfahani (d.438/1038) in his hagiographical compendium ie. hilyat al-awliya', vol.8, pg.729.

re/dot

--

muhammad al-bakri (d.994/1586)¹ was a teacher of < mulla > ‘ali al-qari (d.1014/1606) and a younger contemporary of al-sha’rani (d.973/1565).

biographers note that he spoke on the dot under the < ba’ > of < al-basmalah > over two-thousand one-hundred sittings which spanned a period of fourteen years.

al-kattani (d.1382/1962) writes: “i have heard about our < shaykh > al-bakri that he said in some of his gatherings: “if i was to speak on < al-basmalah > for the entirety of my life, it would still not be enough.”

--
ref. musnid al-‘asr, al-kattani (d.1382/1962) in al-taratib al-idariyyah, vol.2, pg.130.

¹al-bakri is commonly known as < al-qutb > and < shaykh al-islam > having taught at al-azhar, al-aqsa and the two sacred sanctuaries. the < salat al-fatih > is commonly attributed to him.

al-sha’rani (d.973/1565), who was older than him, remarked that there was nobody on earth more knowledgeable than him in his time. al-nabhani (d.1350/1932) has an extensive panegyric of him too.

in contemporary times, < sidi > ahmad al-'allawi (d.1351/1934), the < shadhili-darqawi > saint of north africa, also penned a mystical treatise on the dot called < al-unmudhaj al-farid >