Adab ~Excerpt from The Guide To The Path of Righteousness~

Adab

Amongst the Sufiyya good manners (adab) is a great thing, it is the main foundation within the path to Allah, hence they say, “Adhere to adab or else await destruction!” And, “Maintain adab even if you have ascended to the highest rank.”

This is because of the soundness of the outward indicates the soundness of the inward, whatever is concealed in the inward will manifest upon the outward. The states of the outward comply with the states of the inward, whatever is upon your outward is within your inward, whatever is within the vessel will ooze out and upon the surface its effects will emerge. Therefore, refinement of the limbs indicates refinement of the hearts, and adab of the outward indicates adab of the inward.

Abu Hafs (RA)said:

Sufism (Tasawwuf), all of it is adab, at all times it is adab, in all states it is adab, and at every level it is adab.”

Therefore, whoever maintains adab at all times they will reach the ranks of “rijal”, one who falls short of maintaining adab, he is distant in spite of considering himself near, he is rejected in spite of his thinking that he is accepted.

Ibn Ata’illah (RA) said:

It is the ignorance of the murid when he acts disrespectfully, the punishment for him is delayed, and he is says,” If this was disrespectful (su’al-adab)then the blessings would be cut off from me, and I would be far away!” However, the blessing is cut off from such a person but he does not even realize, and he is very distant but he is not even aware of it, were this not the case he would not be doing as he pleases.

People do not become leaders except by adab towards Allah, towards His Messenger SAW towards their shuyukh and towards all of the muslims.

Adab with Allah is to be compliant to His commands and refrain from His prohibitions.

Adab with the Messenger of Allah SAW is to follow his Sunna, desire his companionship, follow his guidance, adorn oneself with his character.

Adab with the shuyukh is to protect their honour, always serve them with excellence, and have sincere love towards them.

Adab with the Muslims is to love for them what you love for yourself or more.

Adab of time is to occupy it with obedience. There are four aspects of time for a person, as mentioned by Sheikh Abu’l Abbas al-Mursi(RA):

1. The time of obedience

2. The time of sinfulness

3. The time of blessings

4. And the time of tribulations

· The time of obedience requires a person to witness the blessings of Allah.

· The time of disobedience requires a person to repent.

· The time of blessings requires a person to to be grateful and to do shukr.

· The time of tribulations requires a person to be patient.

When a person fulfils all these aspects of adab, then they will receive complete honour and a great rank amongst the general people and the elite by the grace of Allah, exalted be He.

~Excerpt from The Guide To The Path of Righteousness~

The Way Of The People Of The Right

The Way Of The People Of The Right

Tarīqa Ahl al- Yamin

Imam Abdallah al-Haddad (RA) once said:

Spiritual retreats and self disciplining are no longer for these times, since their conditions are no longer met, like eating halāl. However, the one who builds his affair on performing the obligations, leaving the forbidden, performing the superogatory according to his ability, enjoining good and forbidding wrong , helping the weak,favouring the needy, or helping and assisting him  and the like, and remains firm upon this, he will receive that which the others received  through their spiritual excercises and retreats and will receive that which he had missed from performing them.

He (RA) also said: 

Do not ever think that we are upon the Way of the Elect (Tarīqa al-Khāssa), due to the lack of those people who truly seek it with sincerity. We are only upon the way of the common, the Way of the People of the Right.

Sufism is a way which leads people to Allah; that is not complete without softening the density of the nafs until there is no veil before it. The outward means, in order to achieve this, vary from one tarīqa to another; however its inward action and goal is one. For this reason the Imam said: 

Even though the path of sufism is numerous, they are ultimately one. This is to,strive against the ego and abandon everything that it desires, and this is a hard hing to do.

He (RA) also said: 

The path that has been mentioned is an inward path made up of beliefs  and character. It has only been manisfested as an outward pathto be learnt and understood.

He (RA) also said:

The sharia is knowledge, tarīqa is action, and haqiqa is its fruit. Each of these three can be divided further into two, and it is not upon you to investigate its branches. Therefore, if you work outwardly then your fruit is outward, and if you work inwardly then your fruit is inner. Whoever oppresses his heart, and has done works of disobedience , then that is his fruit.

We do not carry people onto the tarīqa of the muqarribūn, and we are not charged to carry many of them upon it. If we do carry them, then we carry them upon the Way of the People of the Right, for people are constantly diminishing. Diminishing, firstly from the category of excellence (ihsān), then from the category of faith (imān), and in this time most of them are almost on the verge of coming out of the circle of Islam.

It is apparent that there are very few people who have the high strength; therefore, they have travelled the way of the elect at the hands of Imam al-Haddad (RA). It has been related from him:

Whoever comes to us, seeking the way of the common... We comfort and console him. And whoever comes to us seeking the way of the elect... We take service from him and try him, comforting the first in accordance to his nature, and testing the second to break his ego.

This indicates that the Imam did not manifest the way of the elect except for those whom were worthy of it.

- excerpt from  The Guide To The Path Of Righteousness-