Alhamdulillah, I was delighted to see Abuya's photo in the local newspaper today. Abuya is Al-alamah al-muhaddith Prof. Dr. Sayyid Muhammad bin Alawi al-Maliki (1944 - 2004) - a highly esteemed ulama from Makkah al Mukarramah.
You know it is not easy for Sufis or ahlul tassawuf to be given coverage in the mainstream media. Not that they need it but there has always been a lack of awareness and acceptance on sufism or sufi ulama on the part of media practitioners. Anyhow, I don't mean to limit Abuya's authority or credibility to tassawuf/sufism only, because he in fact mastered many branches of Islamic knowledge as can be seen from his titles. So credit must be given to Yayasan Sofa for being granted a column in one Malay newspaper which will feature a review on one of Abuya's publications.
Abuya had written a kitab called Mafahim Yajib an tusohhah.
A direct translation (which I do reluctantly given its limitations) means 'Understanding that requires rectifications'. Mafahim loosely translated into English, means understanding. It means one's comprehension, awareness, knowledge, cognizance or grasp of a particular subject. What Abuya is saying in the book is that some of our understandings or knowledge need to be corrected.
We all have different ideas, perceptions and world-views or rather religious-views. Our mastery of certain religious-views may or may not be correct. One as 'aleem (knowledgable) and 'areef (intelligent/gnostic) like Abuya is in the position to show us which of our understandings need rectifications.
The book has received plenty of acknowledgements from prominent Islamic scholars such as Shaykh Hasanain Makhluf (former mufti of Egypt) and Shaykh Prof. Dr. Muhammad al Toyyib al-Najjar, to name but two. Abuya was a respectable scholar who traveled far and wide, hence obtained a lot of recognition and support from many parts of the world including India, Pakistan and the rest of Asia.
The book is divided into three parts:
i. aqidah (religious stance) e.g. takfir, bidaah, tawassul and shaffaat.
ii. nabawwiyah (on the special ranking of the Prophet s.a.w and tabarruk or seeking barakah from his stature)
iii. other topics e.g. life in the barzakh, celebration of auspicous events etc.
Those topics are common and recurring issues that require clarifications as we may not realize that some of our understandings on certain beliefs may not be so accurate. Abuya was saying, misconceptions ought to be corrected and his sayings carry much authority as he spoke from the tongue of his ancestors, none other than Rasulullah s.a.w, the Prophet, the beloved of Allah.
Sallu alan Nabi!
Salam S.Ezza
ReplyDeleteHow are you? I hope you are in the best of health, and in good spirits - ameen. I am delighted to be writing this post to you today, I thought that this day would never come - but it has. I am wearing the hijab today :))) Shukrahamdillah.
I would like to say thank you for your encouragements and comments through my journey, I feel happy and content - I cant explain it the level of bliss I am feeling at the moment. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, all the fears I had were all in my head, astagfirullah. Would like to say so much more to you - I am feeling rather overwhelmed at the moment. I cant believe its happened, the fact Allah swt has granted me this honour and being able to appreciate the virtue behind it is just humbling. I can say now that 'I hear and obey'. I was going to delay wearing the hijab until Shaban, but then I read this "I have hastened to you my lord, so that you may be pleased", it increased my urge to do it immediately.
I have one question to ask, you mentioned in your earlier posts that a salik must have a murabbi - how does one find one? I live in the UK at the moment, I have no idea how to go about this the right way. I was hoping inshallah you could offer some advice.
May Allah swt bless you lots,