The difference between the the friend of God, Cabdul--Qaadir (qs) and Paul the Aposle.

[Khadafi]

All Somalis have heard of the Sayyid Cabdul-Qaadir Jeylaani. (qadasallahu sirrahu) We have heard our Islamic scholars talk about him and seen and heard the islamic students (xerowyaasha) chanting his eulogies in the dusty semi-desert plains of Somalia. I will not dwell into the history of this friend of Allah but I will illustrate a beautiful short story that highlights the difference between those who have truly attained the firm belief in God and those who claim in it. Within the eternal struggle in the inner dimensions of of every human being their is a constant struggle between evil and good. God says in the Quran:

 

”By the Soul, and the proportion and order given to it; And its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right;- Truly he succeeds that purifies it, And he fails that corrupts it!” (Qur’an 91: 7-10)

 

For those materialists in this forum who only believe in what they can see or hear or sense., Those who are limited to believe only on their own perceptions their will be another thread to them. But for those who truly believe beyond this realm I hope that this short story will show the un-unshakable faith that the friend of God took when he was tested by God in comparison with the christian Apostle Paul.

 

The Munaaqib of the Shaykh teaches us that once, the Sayyid was teaching the prestigious darul-Hikma of Baghdaad.

He saw one of the most learned scholars of his time and thousands of students but the shaykh (nafcallahu bih) felt that something was missing in his inner dimension. He felt that he was yearning for God and asked the sultan the appoint someone else as the grand shaykh. The Sultan suprised by this asked Cabdul-Qaadir and said him " Yaa Cabdal-Qaadir, we have benefied from you, why is it so that you want to leave this honorable post. The Shaykh answerd : "What is the point ya khalifatul muslimin for me to be here while their are other knowledge persons that can replace me? The Sultan answered and finally gave Cabdul-Qaadir his permission to spread the call of God.

 

 

 

One cold night in the deserts of Iraq while Sayyid Cabdul-Qaadir was all alone making dhikr and big cloud opened up for him. He saw a shining light (but it was really a hidden demon) speaking to him and saying "oh Cabdul-Qaadir, I am your lord and I have revealed you from all of your duties from Islam" The Sayyid answered with no fear his beloved tongue " shut up oh enemy of God" The light in the heavens then replied

"Oh Abdul-Qaadir, I fooled many before you, but I could not deceive you". The Sayid then answered " Shut up once again, You did not fool me by strength, you could not fool because of God only not because of my wisdom or strength"

Another similar story happened to Apostle Paul, in his words he says in the new testament "I saw a light calling upon me and and telling me that Jesus is the lord and son of God. Paul continued saying that the light continued and saying we made it lawful for you what was not before lawful before Jesus". See the difference between of Paul and Abdul-qaadir. Whil Cabdul-qaadir was not fooled by satan while Paul failed.

 

Such character was the friend of God, waliyullah Sheekh Cabdul-Qaadir Jeylaaani alle ha u naxariisti, acmaalkiisna aan ku anfacno, Rabbina ha naga aqbalo tawasulkiisa.

 

God knowes best.

[Coofle]

I will consider this post is only talking about the Great Muslim Scholar Abdul Qadir al Jaylaani and not with a hidden disturbing agenda.

on a side note, Sufism is a path you take when you have gained sufficient amount of Islamic (fiqh and Caqiidah) knowledge, if not then you are a lost cause. I was fascinated with matters of inner faith and Sufism (not xeraw) for many years, The basic milestone is to Worship Allah as if you see him Remembering Allah sees us but leads to a treacherous maze and requires one to have a concrete knowledge of Caqiida. .. Anyways this is not the discussion for Sufism and Inner faith....

[Mad_Mullah]

Take that Sufi nonsense out of here man. Dancing in Masjids was never part of our religion and never will be. These fake stories should also be stopped from being propagated by Sufis. You can also notice the difference between the real Ulama like Hanafi, Shafaci etc. They were just humans no nonsense stories about clouds opening up etc.

 

Alxamdulilah that the Somali sufis aren't as bad as the Pakistani/Asian ones, they believe their Shaykhs can fly and what not.

[RoccaLittorio]

Mad_Mullah;976042 wrote:

Alxamdulilah that the Somali sufis aren't as bad as the Pakistani/Asian ones, they believe their Shaykhs can fly and what not.

Actually there's this book widely read by sufis in Somalia which I was having a look at. Well, it tells this story of shaykh Abdulqaadir and one shaykh Badawi playing hide and seek. Supposedly, badawi hides in the sun, however Jilani finds him in no time. Then Jilani goes to hide. Badawi looks and looks but to to no avail. Finally, he gives up, defeated. And then suddenly, jilani comes out from Badawi's eye¡

 

There were sufis in Somalia who were never seen praying, but instead claimed that they prayed their five prayers in the Haram. Marka dadkani lunsan meel waliba wey joogaan.

[Khadafi]

Man_Mullah, I really do not have any comment to your bigoted attitude, calling those who spread islam in somalia and deep in to the horn of Africa with deep wisdom and patience as"sufi nonsense". Whats the "the fake" story that I mentioned sxb. One thing I do not do is speak of things that I have no knowlidge of, you should also take that example. This story is widely accepted in orthodox sunni teachings. Even the scholar Ibn Tayymiya and his student Ibn Qayim acknowledged the existence of karamaat (divine intervention among pious believers). Even Imaam Taxaawi said in his book (the universal accepted sunni codex of theology) said that karamaat is part of our faith.

 

An example of an karamaat that Siid-Cumar Faaruq (rc) made in his life is of-course when he from his minbar in Madina warned the army of Qaadisiya in Iran, should we reject that also?

 

The main point of my post if you read it again is to show how Paul was misled by satan while our Shaykh withheld the divine law and rejected satans temptations. That is how simple Paul misled Christanity. nBy the way Mad mullah I think should stick to your other thread about morrocan music:D Baaba suufiyaasha dhibka dhaaf,

 

Roccalittoria, dadkaasi adi ma aragtay? Hadaadna aragtay those people are utterly wrong, simple as that.

 

Coofle: Well said, yet again though, I could have formulated the thread better but my point was how one single man, Paulwas misled by satan while our noble shaykh stood fast upon the divine law.

[Mad_Mullah]

There's a difference between Kiramat and demons speaking through clouds and people hiding in people's eyes. These stories can be found on Youtube and their books, wallahi they'd give The Matrix a run for their money.

 

Plus Sufis become gradually worse, there's a big difference between first gen. Sufis who believed that they should abstain from Dunya matters, so they would spend their times in the desert etc. and their followers who believed that their sheikhs walked on the moon.

[Naxar Nugaaleed]

There are crazy people everywhere who believe all kind of crazy things. If view Sufism that way, we can all say that all Salafis or even Orthodox Muslims are terrorist.

[Warmoog]

Khadafi and Coofle, I appreciate what you two said. The inner dimension of Islam is immensely fascinating and I love learning about it. It would be good to see more discussions of it on this forum.

 

It's well-known that Sheikh Abdul-Qadir Jilani (rahimullah) was one of the great Muslims who were given the ability to perform extraordinary acts, but the story in the OP isn't an account of his wonders. It's an account of one of his struggles on the spiritual path and it's recorded in the many biographies of him. The Sheikh also wrote firsthand accounts of his struggles on the path in his own works: the story Gate of Poverty is one of them and it clearly addresses both the inner and outer dimensions of the struggle for spiritual transformation.

 

In terms of its relevance to inner spiritual development, which is what the topic here is about, I think story in the OP can also be viewed as a warning about the ego traps along the spiritual path. A reminder that the ego doesn't suddenly become tame as soon as we experience our first spiritual awakening or realization, but that it cunningly reasserts itself in new ways in order to take over our new ideas/aspirations/experiences and keep us under its control. In other words, our spiritual journeys can turn into ego trips, if we're not careful.

 

I marvel at the twisted logic of people who, on the one hand, would criticize spiritual aspirants for their esoteric interpretations and their propensity to look for deeper layers of meaning in things while, on the other hand, assuming that spiritual aspirants would always (and only) take stories like that in the OP literally. Let me rephrase that for the usual suspects. You ridicule people for thinking and perceiving the world differently than you do, yet you also assume that those same people think just like you do--and you ridicule them for that too! Do you not realize how perverse that is?

 

Here is a little something that puts a revealing light on things. I googled a few of the keywords in the title of this thread and immediately found this video clip in which a certain speaker tells the story in the OP and cites a narration by Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimullah). Some of you may recognize the voice of the speaker, who happens to be Anwar Al-Awlaki. Hmmm. Now isn't that interesting? I find this hilariously ironic. 'Cause I'm sure that if a thread were started with that video or a telling of the same story from a similar speaker, the predictable and inane trolling and 'Sufi' bashing would not occur.

 

It goes to show that some people look not at what is presented to them, but at who is presenting it, and they base their judgements and reactions on that alone. It goes to show that such people do not know how to think. May Allah guide them, and all of us, to that which benefits.

[Khadafi]

Warmoog;979920 wrote:

Khadafi and Coofle, I appreciate what you two said. The inner dimension of Islam is immensely fascinating and I love learning about it. It would be good to see more discussions of it on this forum.

 

It's well-known that Sheikh Abdul-Qadir Jilani (rahimullah) was one of the great Muslims who were given the ability to perform extraordinary acts, but the story in the OP isn't an account of his wonders. It's an account of one of his struggles on the spiritual path and it's recorded in the many biographies of him. The Sheikh also wrote firsthand accounts of his struggles on the path in his own works: the story

Gate of Poverty

is one of them and it clearly addresses both the inner and outer dimensions of the struggle for spiritual transformation.

 

In terms of its relevance to inner spiritual development, which is what the topic here is about, I think story in the OP can also be viewed as a warning about the ego traps along the spiritual path. A reminder that the ego doesn't suddenly become tame as soon as we experience our first spiritual awakening or realization, but that it cunningly reasserts itself in new ways in order to take over our new ideas/aspirations/experiences and keep us under its control. In other words, our spiritual journeys can turn into ego trips, if we're not careful.

 

I marvel at the twisted logic of people who, on the one hand, would criticize spiritual aspirants for their esoteric interpretations and their propensity to look for deeper layers of meaning in things while, on the other hand, assuming that spiritual aspirants would always (and only) take stories like that in the OP literally. Let me rephrase that for the usual suspects. You ridicule people for thinking and perceiving the world differently than you do, yet you also assume that those same people think just like you do--and you ridicule them for that too! Do you not realize how perverse that is?

 

Here is a little something that puts a revealing light on things. I googled a few of the keywords in the title of this thread and immediately found

this video clip

in which a certain speaker tells the story in the OP and cites a narration by Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimullah). Some of you may recognize the voice of the speaker, who happens to be Anwar Al-Awlaki.

Hmmm.

Now isn't that interesting? I find this hilariously ironic. 'Cause I'm sure that if a thread were started with that video or a telling of the same story from a similar speaker, the predictable and inane trolling and 'Sufi' bashing would not occur.

 

It goes to show that some people look not at what is presented to them, but at who is presenting it, and they base their judgements and reactions on that alone. It goes to show that such people

do not know

how

to think

. May Allah guide them, and all of us, to that which benefits.

Wisdom is when one sees what Allah loves and what he/she/it does not. I guess some here are not proud of there Sufi background unless Awlaki or another "non somali" mentions it. Just as warmoog explained in detail The thread was about how your own ego can lead you to a path without God. Paul misled the followers of Jesus by his ego while the servant of God Cabdul-.Qaadir became more firm on his path to God.

 

In conclusion, Jeylaani (qs) guided others to the truth by conquering his own Ego. Pail misled others when his own ego overcame him. One misled and the other guided.

 

Ilaahay ha u naxariisto Sheekheena Cabdul Qaadir Jilani,

[Haatu]

Anwar al Awlaki was a misguided fellow and a terrorist. Hardly an authority on religious matters.

 

Khayr, one question. Do you believe iimaan increases and decreases or is it static and one level?

[Warmoog]

^ Brother, I used that video clip to make a point about blind prejudice. The point was/is that some people would reject a story when it's told by an orthodox Sunni--not only reject it, but go out of their way to offend that person and insult the spiritual tradition of Islam--yet if someone like Al-Awlaki told them the same story, they would probably swallow it whole. In case your question was directed at me, iman is a dynamic and divisible entity. But the discussion is about inner spiritual development ('Ilm ul-Ihsaan), not 'aqeedah, so we should stay on topic.

[Haatu]

Warmoog;980082 wrote:

^ Brother, I used that video clip to make a point about blind prejudice. The point was/is that some people would reject a story when it's told by an orthodox Sunni--not only reject it, but go out of their way to offend that person and insult the spiritual tradition of Islam--yet if someone like Al-Awlaki told them the same story, they would probably swallow it whole.

Anyone who takes anything without proof is setting themselves up to fail. Taas shaki kuma jirto.

 

In case your question was directed at me,

iman is a dynamic and divisible entity

. But the discussion is about inner spiritual development ('Ilm ul-Ihsaan), not 'aqeedah, so we should stay on topic.

Indulge me for a while ina adeer and explain what you mean by this. I am a plain Somali and big words give me a headache.

[Warmoog]

^ Pardon me, but I won't indulge you any further and I have already stated the reason why.

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Abdulqadir Gilani was one of the best islamic scholars and he wrote fantastic Kitabs

 

Muslims needs to stop calling themselves sufi suni shafici hanifi jamac islamiya salafiya wahaabiya Shicii. divisions divisions division.

 

Having said that spirituality is part and parcel of Islam

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

Abdulqadir Gilani was one of the best islamic scholars and he wrote fantastic Kitabs

 

Muslims needs to stop calling themselves sufi suni shafici hanifi jamac islamiya salafiya wahaabiya Shicii. divisions divisions division.

 

Having said that spirituality is part and parcel of Islam