Shaykh Ahmad ibn 'Ajiba (Qutb)-Darqawiyyah: Basic Research

The seventh rule concerning travel and visiting Shaykhs

Know that travelling has courtesies which are requested at the beginning and courtesies which are requested afterwards. The courtesy of the beginning is 'Istikhara' because the Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, said, 'The one who does Istikhara will not be turned away, and the one who asks counsel will not regret it.'

Al-Bukhari said from Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, used to teach us Istikhara in the same way that he taught us the Fatiha.

He said that if anyone wants to do something important, let him do two raka'as and then say, ' O Allah, I seek good from You by Your knowledge, and I ask You for strength by Your power. I ask You for some of Your great and sublime overflowing. You have power and I do not. You know and I do not know, and You are the Knower of the unseen. 0 Allah, if You know that my situation is of benefit to me in my Deen and in my life, and my final end, be it sooner or later, then decree it for me and make it easy and bless me in it. But if you know that my situation is bad for me in my Deen and the rest of my life, then divert it from me, and divert me from it, and destine the good for me wherever it may be and accept it from me. You have power over all things.'

The two raka'as must be done using the Surah of the Kafirun and the Surah Ikhlas and Istikhara must be repeated three times, or seven times if the matter is very important.'

And one must ask counsel if one has a Shaykh, and must not travel without his permission, and if one does not have a Shaykh then it is best to seek advice from someone who is known for right action among the right-acting scholars, and from the parents.

One must travel with good intention and must not travel for this world and just to make an excursion. We will speak more about this if Allah wills. There is goodness according to intention.

The Pole, Shaykh al-Mashish said to Abu'l Hasan, 'Do not move your feet except where you expect the turning of Allah. Do not sit except where you are safe from disobeying Allah. Do not keep company except with the one who will help you to obey Allah. Do not choose for yourself anyone except the one who will increase you in certainty, and they are very few.'

Part of the courtesy of travelling also is to take a companion. In some hadith it is said, 'Take the companion before the path.' The Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, advised against travelling alone. He said, 'A single rider is one shaytan. Two riders are two shaytans, and three are a procession.'

He must not travel except with his own people, nor keep company with any except those who bring him near his Lord. In the hadith, when the Companions asked, 'Who shall we keep company with, 0 Messenger of Allah?' He said, 'The one who when you see him reminds you of Allah, and whose speech increases your knowledge, and whose actions remind you of the next world.' The meaning of 'to sit with' is to keep company with in general, and is applicable to travelling.

Another part of the courtesy of travelling is to pay debts and to return what has been left with you, or if there is no hurry, to leave someone in charge of it. If he has done something wrong, he should go and free himself of it, because he does not know whether he will return or not. He should also be prepared to take a skin of water from which to do wudu.

As-Salmi said, 'The traveller must take a water-skin for purification.' Then he said, 'I heard my father, may Allah have mercy on him saying, "One of the Shaykhs, if he met travellers, used to greet them. Then he would check their hands and fingers to see if they had the traces of carrying the water-skin and if he found these traces he would welcome them well, but if not, he would not welcome them well." '

One of the sufis said, 'If you see the sufi and he does not have water with him, then know that he is determined to leave the prayer and to reveal his private parts, whether he wants to or not.'

The traveller must also take with him the stick, needle, thread, scissors, knife, those things that will help him fulfil his obligations as he is requested. If he wants to travel he must also go around his brothers and tell them of his journey, and say goodbye to them. He must also visit the ones with whom he has been keeping company. This was the courtesy of the Shaykhs with regard to what was required at the beginning of travel.

Also required was four raka'as of prayer before beginning. Adh-Dhilmi reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, when he wanted to travel used to pray four raka'as, and in every raka'a he read Surah Fatiha and Surah al-Ikhlas.

When he had said the salam he used to say, '0 Allah, I come nearer to You by them so make them my khalif for my family and my wealth.' When he rose from sitting down to travel he said, '0 Allah, by You I spread, and towards You I am oriented, and by You I am immune. 0 Allah, You are my trust and my hope.

O Allah be enough for me above what bothers me and that with which I am not bothered and above what You know better than me, and give me a provision of taqwa of You, and forgive me my wrong actions and direct me towards goodness wherever I turn.' Then he would read the Surahs al-Kafirun, al-Ikhlas, and the last two surahs. He would say goodbye to his family and Companions and neighbours. He would say, 'I leave you in the hands of Allah, and whatever is stored with Him is not lost.'

They would say to him, 'May Allah provide you with taqwa and forgive your wrong action and make goodness easy for you wherever you are.'

This is how we learned it from our Shaykhs. And our Shaykh added ten repetitions of 'In the name of Allah the Merciful the Compassionate', and said it must be said after the prayer on the Prophet.

This wird is a protection and a fortress in every travel, it is said, even if it is only a short trip. It is better to say it before saying goodbye.

If he has a mount, he says when he puts his foot in the stirrup, 'In the name of Allah', and when he is seated on its back Praise belongs to Allah. Glory be to the one who provided this for us, and to our Lord we will return. Glory be to You, I have wronged myself. Forgive me no one forgives wrong actions except You.' This is how at-Tirmidhi reported it.

Another one added, 'Praise be to Allah who carries us on land and sea and has provided us with goodness and has preferred us over much of what He has created. O Allah, we ask You in this, our travel, right action and taqwa and actions with which You are pleased. O Allah, make our travel easy and make us obedient after it. O Allah, You are our companion in travel, the Khalif of our family O Allah I seek refuge by You from the hardships of travel and the sadness of the return, and from bad vision in wealth and family'

He must then say, 'Allah is Great' and 'Glory be to Allah' and 'Praise belongs to Allah Thirty three times each and sav There is no God but Allah' once When he has started to travel he is requested to invoke Allah and to reflect and to look at the Majesty of Allah.

As soon as he sees some thing, he knows Who made it, and Who is its Master. If he goes up on a high hill he says, 'Allah is Greater’ and when he descends into a valley he says, 'Glory belongs to Allah’ .

If his mount slips away from him, he says, 'O slaves of Allah, stop it’. If he sees a village or a town he says, 'O Lord of the seven heavens and what they shade, O Lord of the seven earths and how insignificant they are and the Lord of the Shayateen and how they have strayed off the path, and 0 Lord of the wind and what it has blown, I ask of You the benefit of this village and of its people, and I seek refuge in You from its evil and the evil of its people and whatever evil there is in it.'

Once he arrives at the town or village he puts his hand on its wall and reads three times Surah al-Quraysh If he says that, his body will remain sound until he leaves it.

When he enters it he says, O Allah, bless it for us' three times, 'O Allah provide us with its fruits and protect us from its contamination, and make us likeable to its people and make us like the right-acting one among its people.'

continued..

4. The fourth reason that the sufis travel is to acquire the hadith of the Prophet may Allah bless him and give him peace. To travel in order to acquire these hadith is like travelling to acquire knowledge, because they are the source of knowledge. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, said, 'May Allah give excellence to a man who has heard from us something and transmitted it as he heard it. Perhaps, the one who transmits it is more aware than the one who hears it.'

5. The fifth reason to travel for the sufis is to stop wrong action. To travel for this purpose is an obligation, and for the faqir it is Deen or a settlement, or one of the rights of the rights of the slaves. He travels to stop it or to free himself of it. This is how as-Salmi mentioned it. He went on to say, 'Then to seek hadith and to reflect, then for the exercise of the self, and then for hidden invocation.' Shaykh Zarruq said in his interpretation, 'To stop some slaves from wronging others and to change evil for good is for those who can, as long as it does not diminish them in Deen.'

I say that if he explained it as to stop the matter with forgiveness and putting things right, it would have been nearer. That is for the perfect ones among them. Then he said, 'One wants to flee from wrong-action because the mumin does not diminish himself. And Allah the Exalted said, " O My slave, those who have trust - My earth is vast, so worship Me." And he also said, "Is not the earth of Allah vast, that you may travel in it." One wants to flee from the place where wrong action happened, like Ibrahim ibn Adam's flight, may Allah be pleased with him, from his land, and others.'

There is a hadith about the man who killed ninety-nine people. When he killed the hundredth, he was guided to turn to Allah, and it was said to him, 'Leave your land. It is a land of evil.' All of this is acceptable, but what the author has said is the purpose. And Allah the Exalted knows best.

6. The sixth reason that the sufis travel is contemplation of what he sees in his travel of mountains, rivers, springs, oceans, trees, fruits, different created beings. We have already seen that he must intend this at the beginning of his travel.

7. The seventh reason that the sufi travels is for the purpose of burying himself in obscurity or to negate reputation. Sincerity is not realised until a man is diminished in the eyes of people, and they are diminished in his eyes. There is no doubt that if a man is alone in lands where he is not known, he will be secure from appearance. To bury oneself in obscurity is the purpose of the sufis in the beginning. It is noticed in the end.

8. The eighth reason for which the sufis travel is to negate reputation. This is very near to burial in obscurity. The difference is that the one who is buried in obscurity is one who has no reputation anyway, and wants to remain like that, and to negate reputation is for the one who has a reputation and wants to remove it. If he travels to a place where no one knows him, then his obscurity is realised. He must keep his name secret and hide his state so that he is not known. If he is known, whatever he fled from will come to him. The meaning of 'harmful reputation' is what is not straight or the reputation from which one fears evil or occupation or the reputation to which the self inclines. To be content under the shade of might is a great obstacle.

9. The ninth reason for which the sufis travel is to visit the Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace. This is one of the great nearnesses and the highest degrees. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, said, 'Whoever visits me in Madinah must have my intercession.' And the one upon whom we ask blessings and peace also said, 'One does not get ready for travel except for three things: The mosques of Makkah, Madinah and the 'Aqsa.'

10. The tenth reason the sufis travel is to visit the House of Allah and to stand on 'Arafat, and this is an obligation for whoever can, and is desirable for the others, once they have performed the other obligations. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, said, 'Whoever comes as a pilgrim to this House and was not immoral or obscene, will leave his wrong actions until he is like the day he was delivered from his mother.' Shaykh Zarruq, may Allah be pleased with him, said, 'All of these things need the renewal of the intention to realise the purpose, because the self is treacherous, and there are disasters.' Contemplate this in the story of Ahmad ibn Arqam.

His self sought Jihad and he became amazed, and he said, 'Really, my self, you are ordering me to good. This is amazing.' Then he asked Allah the Exalted, saying, '0 Allah I believe in what you say, that the self bids to evil and that it lies. So reveal to me the reality of this matter.' Then the self said, 'O Ahmad, you kill me so many times a day that nobody notices me, so I wanted one death so that it might be said, "He died as a Shahid."' The Imam Abu Hamid, may Allah have mercy on him, said, 'Look how it accepted pride after death.'

I say that one of the benefits of travelling is good health of the body and of the heart. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, said, 'Travel and you will gain good health and you will find goodness.' Another of the

benefits of travel is to die as a stranger. The Prophet, may Allah bless him andgive him peace, also said, 'The stranger is a Shahid and his grave becomes vast.

more to come yet ..!!

Then the author mentioned the courtesies of arrival, and he said:

When they arrive it is better that they go to the Shaykh and then to the fuqara.

I say that part of the courtesy of the fuqara is that if they arrive in a place, whether it is the land where their Shaykh is or not, first they should go to visit its Shaykhs and great ones, and then they should go to visit its fuqara.

To visit someone first is a mark of respect, according to his Station, and the one who does not show respect will not be respected. If the fuqara go to visit a Shaykh, they must not enter his presence except believing the perfection of his wilayat. They must not enter in order to test, for then they would be deprived of the baraka. Whoever goes to see the awliya with a scale in his hand gains nothing but deprivation. Whoever goes to see them with respect and excellence of belief will get from Allah perfection of love and excellence of affection.

He must separate himself from his knowledge and his deeds and his states in the same way that he does this with his own Shaykh. He must do the same with the fuqara. He must not go to them except believing their perfection, and he must step aside from his knowledge and deeds and follow their actions and what they indicate. He must not pretend to that knowledge in their presence but must see that they have actions which are more perfect than his and a knowledge which is more perfect than his, and that he depends upon them, even if he is higher than them in the outward. He must see their deeds as more complete than his own, even if he has more completion in them.

Everything depends upon the realities, and they are inward, in the heart. He must drink from them according to his belief. He must take from their support, according to his sincerity. What we have mentioned applies to the cases where there is choice, but if there is no choice, then the fuqara must be visited first. The author's phrase 'it is better that' means that it is definitely proper courtesy to visit the Shaykh first and the fuqara afterwards, and Allah the Exalted knows best.

Then the author mentions the courtesy of meeting the Shaykh and sitting with him and speaking with him. He said: The People have courtesy here because they make their speech an answer. If the Shaykh asks them to say something, they speak, otherwise, silence is best. I say that meeting with Shaykhs has its own courtesy. When the fuqara come close to his house, they recite, 'There is no god but Allah' and invoke Allah with loud voices, and they continue in this until they arrive at the Zawiyya. That is because they glorify the relation with the sufis. Also, they do this when they are near to villages because it wakes the forgetful and the shayateen.

Part of the courtesy also is to wait for the Shaykh to come out without calling him and without sending a messenger to him, because Allah the Exalted said, 'Those who call to you from behind walls, most of them have no intellect.'

Another part of the courtesy is to kiss the hand of the Shaykh. It is a mark of respect and it is an instruction in courtesy and fear, and the poet said,

O you who want the wine of love
Take it from me, it is permitted
O you who want to drink a draught of it
Lower yourself to the feet of men
I have lowered my head to every Shaykh
They are the Lords, they gave me a cool drink.

Another part of courtesy to the Shaykh is to sit between his hands in stillness and respect with a lowered voice and their heads and eyes lowered. They do not speak to him until he begins to speak to them.

Shaykh Harraq said, may Allah be pleased with him, 'If one of the fuqara is requested to speak, and if the speech is ordinary, then he should speak with a low voice. If the speech was about knowledges and realities, he should reflect and if his self is pre- sent, he should leave it, otherwise he should speak about it with the fewest words possible, because speech in the presence of the teacher is aversion.'

Then he said, 'One of the most amazing things that I have seen was that some people come to the man of perfection so that they may benefit from him, but then employ their tongues speaking about realities thinking that perhaps by that they would be near to his heart and be loved by him. I do not know whether that is because they believe that that will bring them nearer to him or whether it is to show him that they understand and taste.

All of it is ignorance, may Allah protect us from it.' I say, that in the state of discourse there is no harm if he speaks from his knowledge to help the Shaykh, but this must be done with humility and humbleness, and he must not go against his speech. If he does not understand the speech of the Shaykh, or thinks that it is against his point of view, he should say, 'I am sorry, I have not understood this. It appears to me like this and that, and so-and-so has said this and that', and all this expecting an explanation from them, not going against them.

If there is a disagreement between the Shaykh and some of the fuqara or others, he must support the Shaykh as much as he can, because this can bring affection from the Shaykh to him. If the Shaykh asks one of the fuqara to speak, then the least should be said, with humility, otherwise, silence is better. I have indicated this courtesy with some additions in my 'Aynia which I composed about courtesy. I said,

With the Shaykh there is a courtesy, if the murid does not
have it, he is lost in the river of separation.
Humility, fear, sincerity, love, intellect,
and perfection is gathered in him.
Do not raise your voice if he is present
Do not laugh, there are disasters in laughter.
Do not ever go against him, he is following by
the light of the witnessing of the inner sight.
Do not glance at a water other than him,
Or you will be thrown, broken, wasted with thirst.
Do not leave the cover of an instruction which
Supports you with lights from it, successively,
Until you see that the time of maturity has come
And in fixity you have become known.
You will be supported by lights from every aspect
And you will give drink to the people
who are following.

more to follow...

Then the author indicated that awrad must be continued during travel, and he said:

They dislike preventing him from doing his awrad, how could they do this when he came for increase?

I say that awrad are what is made a practice for the murid by the Shaykh or whatever the murid has taken as a practice for himself. The meaning here is that whatever he used to do before travelling he should continue to do when he travels. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, said, 'The most loved action to Allah is what is done regularly, even if it is a little.'

This of course is according to what is possible as otherwise travelling would be very difficult. Something becomes difficult during travel which was not difficult when at rest. He will have his reward anyway, even if he does not do it.In the hadith we find, 'If a man is sick, or travelling, he must do whatever he used to do when he was healthy or at rest.' Yes, reflection and consideration must not be left if he is one of its people.

The same is true of discourse. How can he leave his awrad completely when he is travelling to seek inward increase? One of the Shaykhs used to say, 'Invoke Allah when you are in expansion, and reflect when you are in contraction, and praise Allah in every state, and do not leave your wird. If you miss it at night, then make it up in the daytime. If you travel, do all the invocation of your wird, or leave it.'

Then the author said:

He who travels for the desire of the self will be ordered to remain seated.

I say that this is very clear. We have already seen this meaning many times, especially in the narration concerning Abu'l Hasan ash-Shadhili, may Allah be pleased with him. In most cases, the one who does not have a Shaykh of Instruction travels for the desire of the self, except for the extraordinary. No one leaves the desires of the self except by keeping company with the one who has left them, and Allah knows best. As-Salmi said, 'If the faqir enters a town in which there are many Zawiyyas, he must go to the biggest one, where the most fuqara are.' I say that this is if they are all part of his Tariqa.

Otherwise, he goes to the people of the same Tariqa as his. The faqir must camp in places where there are pure places and running water. I have heard from Abu Tahir al-Ashqar who said, 'I have a fine faqir who keeps me company. Every time we go to a place, he goes to check on the places of purification. If he finds them clean and sound, he feels at ease in the place and will eat whatever food he is given. If he does not find it this way, he does not eat the food of the place, and says, "This is a disaster, there is no lavatory here." '

If he enters a town in which there are no fuqara, he goes to the ones who love fuqara and have the best trust in them and the strongest inclination. If he enters a house, he must take a place and take off his clothes in secret. When he removes his clothes he must begin with the left hand side, and then the right hand side, and when putting them on he must begin with the right hand side. The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and give him peace, said, 'If one of you puts on his shoes, let him begin with the right one, and when he removes them, let him begin with the left.'

Then the faqir must go to the place of purification and do wudu and then he must pray two raka'as. If there is a Shaykh there, he must go to him and kiss his head, unless the visitor is an adolescent, in which case he must kiss his hand.

Part of the courtesy of travelling is that whoever wants to travel must learn the wisdom of travelling. This refers to shortening the prayer, the rules of tayammum, etc. of what is necessary to the traveller. Shaykh Abu Yaqub as-Soussi, may Allah be pleased with him, said,

'The traveller needs four things in his travel, otherwise he should not travel:

1. The first is knowledge that will regulate him.
2. A scrupulousness that will veil him.
3. Behaviour that will protect him.
4. A certainty that will carry him.'

Abu Ru'aym was asked about the courtesy of the traveller, and he said, 'His yearning must not precede his footsteps, wherever he stops is his house.' Part of the courtesy of travelling is, if there is no Muqaddim among them and no Shaykh, they must choose one as Muqaddim to which they refer.

As-Salmi said, concerning the courtesy of keeping company, 'Part of their courtesy if they gather is that they bring someone forward so that they can refer to him and rely upon him. He must have the best intellect, the highest yearning and the highest state. He must be the one with the most knowledge of the School and the noblest.' The Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, said, 'The Imam of the people is the one who most reads the Book of Allah. If they are all equal, then the one who has more knowledge of fiqh.

If they are all equal, then the oldest. If they are all equal, the one who migrated earliest, then the one with the most excellent behaviour and the most perfect courtesy.' Following this, we would say that the one who met the Shaykh first should lead. Part of the courtesy is that none of them say, 'This is mine and that is yours', or 'if it were not for this, that would not have happened' or 'perhaps...', or 'why did you do this and why did you do that...' and so on.

This is the behaviour of the common people. There is no exchange of insults among the sufis. It is said that the sufi neither insults nor is insulted, and fighting does not happen among them, nor heated discussions, nor mockery. Everyone among them is like a son of a great one or like the father of a small one, and to the equal like a brother, and to the parents and to the teachers like a slave.

This is not merely specific to travel but is the courtesy in keeping company all the time. But it applies especially to travel because travelling reveals fault and defect. No one remains in his state during travelling, except the truthful ones.

Part of the courtesy of travelling is that when one is near a town he says, 'There is no god but Allah alone, with no associates. And He is powerful over all things. To Him belongs the Kingdom and to Him belongs the praise. Returning, worshipping, prostrating to our Lord, and Praising Him. Allah is truthful with His promise, and He gives victory to His slaves and defeated the parties alone.' The traveller continues to say this until he enters the town itself. When he enters the town he says, '0 Allah, give us stability in it and give us Ihsan.' When he enters upon his family he says, 'Returning to our neighbours, according to what is possible for him.

He should enter at the beginning of the day and not at night-time. If this is not possible, he must send a messenger to tell his family. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and give him peace, counselled against visiting one's family at night, and Allah the Exalted knows best, and success is with Allah.

Then the author indicated the eighth rule, which is the rule of begging, and he said: ………………