Sufis of Andalusia-Extracts

[Lathief]

Al-'Uryani, Abu Ya'qub, and Nunah Fatimah
>From Sufis of Andalusia, by Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi

1. Abu Ja'far al-'Uryani of Loule [1]

This master came to Seville when I was just beginning to acquire
knowledge of the Way. [2] I was one of those who visited him. When I
met him for the first time I found him to be one devoted to the
practice of Invocation. [3] He knew, immediately he met me, the
spiritual need that had brought me to see him.

He asked me, 'Are you firmly resolved to follow God's Way?' I replied,
'The servant may resolve, but it is God Who decides the issue.' Then he
said to me, 'If you will shut out the world from you, sever all ties
and take the Bounteous alone as your companion, He will speak with you
without the need for any intermediary.' I then pursued this course
until I had succeeded.

Although he was an illiterate countryman, unable to write or use
figures, one had only to hear his expositions on the doctrine of Unity
to appreciate his spiritual standing. By means of his power of
Concentration [4] he was able to control men's thoughts, and by his
words he could overcome the obstacles of existence. He was always to be
found in a state of ritual purity, his face towards the qiblah [5] and
continuously invoking God's Names.

Once he was taken captive, along with others, by the Christians. [6] He
knew that this would happen before it took place and he accordingly
warned the members of the caravan in which he was travelling that they
would all be taken captive on the next day. The very next morning, as
he had said, the enemy ambushed them and captured every last man of
them. To him, however, they showed great respect and provided
comfortable quarters and servants for him. After a short time he
arranged his release from the foreigners for the sum of five hundred
dinars and travelled to our part of the country. [7]

When he had arrived it was suggested to him that the money be collected
for him from two or three persons. To this he replied, 'No! I would
only want it from as many people as possible; indeed, were it possible
I would obtain it from every-one in small amounts, for God has told me
that in every soul weighed in the balance on the Last Day there is
something worth saving from the fire. In this way I would take the good
in every man for the nation of Muhammad.'

It is also told of him that, while he was still in Seville, someone
came and informed him that the people living in the fortress of Kutamah
[8] were in desperate need of rain, begging him to go there and pray
for them, so that God might bring them rain.

Although there lay between us and the fortress the sea and an eight-day
journey overland, he set off with a disciple of his named Muhammad.
Before they set off someone suggested to him that it would be enough
for him to pray for them without travelling to the fortress. He replied
that God had commanded him to go to them in person.

When they had finally reached the fortress they found themselves barred
from entering it. Nevertheless, unknown to them, he prayed for rain for
them and God sent them rain within the hour. On his return he came to
see us before going into the city. His disciple Muharninad later told
us that when God had sent the rain it had fallen on all sides of them
but that not a drop of it had touched them. When he expressed his
surprise to the master that the mercy of God did not descend upon him
also, the master replied that it would have done so if only he had
remembered when they were at the fortress. [9]

One day, while I was sitting with him, a man brought his son to the
master. He greeted him and told his son to do the same. By this time
our master had lost his sight. The man informed him that his son was
one who carried the whole of the Qur'an in his memory. On hearing this
the master's whole demeanour changed as a spiritual state came upon
him. [10] Then he said to the man, 'It is the Eternal which carries the
transient. Thus it is the Qur'an which both supports and preserves us
and your son.' This incident is an example of his states of spiritual
Presence. [11]

He was staunch in the religion of God and in all things blameless.
Whenever I went to see him he would greet me with the words, 'Welcome
to a filial son, [12] for all my children have betrayed me and spurned
by blessings [13] except you who have always acknowledged and
recognized them; God will not forget that.'

Once I enquired of him how his spiritual life had been in the early
days. He told me that his family's food allowance for a year had been
eight sack-loads of figs, [14] and that when he was in spiritual
retreat his wife would shout at him and abuse him, telling him to stir
himself and do something to support his family for the year. At this he
would become confused and would pray, O my Lord, this business is
beginning to come between You and me, for she persists in scolding me.
Therefore, if You would have me continue in worship, relieve me of her
attentions; if not tell me so.' One day God called him inwardly,
saying, 'O Ahmad, continue in your worship and rest assured that before
this day is over I will bring you twenty loads of figs, enough to last
you two and a half years.' He went on to tell me that before another
hour had passed a man called at his house with a gift of a sack-load of
figs. When this arrived God indicated to him that this was the first of
the twenty loads. In this way twenty loads had been deposited with him
before the sun set. At this his wife was most grateful and his family
well content.

The Shaikh was much given to meditation and in his spiritual states
generally experienced great joy and hope. [15]

On my last visit to him, may God have mercy on his soul, I was with a
company of my fellows. We entered his house to find him sitting and we
greeted him. It happened that one of our company was intending to ask
him a question on some matter or other, but as soon as we had entered,
he raised his head to us and said, 'Let us all consider a point which I
have previously put to you, O Abu Bakr (meaning me), for I have always
wondered at the saying of Abu al-'Abbas b. al-'Arif, [16] "That which
never was passes away, while He Who ever is subsists." We all know that
that which never was passes away and that He Who ever is subsists, so
what does he mean by it?' None of the others in our company were
prepared to answer him so he offered the question to me. As for me,
though I was well able to deal with the question, I did not do so,
being very restrained in speaking out. This the Shaikh knew and he did
not repeat the question.

When he retired for sleep he did not remove his clothes and when he
experienced Audition [17] he did not become disturbed, but when he
heard the Qur'an being recited his restraint broke down and he became
very agitated. [18] One day I was praying with him at the house of my
friend Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad al-Khayyat, [19] known as the starcher
(al-'Assad), and his brother Abu al-'Abbas Ahmad al-Hariri, [20] when
the Imam [21] was reciting the chapter of the Qur'an entitled 'The
Tiding'. [22] When he came to the place where God says, 'Have we not
made the earth a resting place and the mountains for supports...' [23]
I became abstracted from the Imam and his recitation and saw inwardly
our Shaikh, Abu Ja'far, saying to me, 'The resting place is the world
and the supports are the believers; the resting place is the community
of the believers and the supports are the gnostics; the gnostics are
the resting place and the prophets are the supports; the prophets are
the resting place and the apostles are the supports; the apostles are
the resting place and then what?' [24] He also uttered other spiritual
truths, after which my attention returned once more to the reading of
the Imam as he was reciting, '. . . and He speaks aright. That is the
true day.' [25] After the prayer I asked him about what I had seen and
found that his thoughts concerning the verse had been the same as I had
heard him express in my vision.

One day a man rushed upon him, knife in hand, to kill him, at which the
Shaikh calmly offered his neck to the man. The Shaikh's companions
tried to seize the fellow, but the Shaikh told them to leave him alone
to do what he had been urged to do. No sooner had he raised the knife
to cut the Shaikh's throat than God caused the knife to twist about in
the man's hand so that he took fright and threw the knife to the
ground. Then he fell down at the Shaikh's feet full of remorse.

Were it not for the lack of space I would have related much more
concerning this man, of his amazing aphorisms and the discussions we
had on spiritual questions.
FROM AL-DURRAT AL-FAKHIRAH [26]

This Shaikh had turned to God while attending the sessions (maflis) of
the Shaikh Abû 'Abdallah b. al-Hawwâs whom I met and with whom I
established a true companionship. I have omitted his Shaikh from this
selection since he does not come within the category of persons
considered in this work.

Al-'Uryani was well known for his being engaged in Invocation whether
he was awake or asleep; [27] I myself would often watch his tongue
moving in Invocation while he was sleeping. His spiritual states were
intense and the people of the locality were ill-disposed towards him,
so much so that one of the leading members of the community persuaded
them to expel him. [28] It was in this way that he came to us in
Seville.

As a result of their action God sent to the people of that place one of
the Jinn, [29] called Khalaf, who occupied the house of the
above-mentioned leader and forced him out. This Jinn stayed in the
house and called the people of the place to come to him, which they
did. When they had come to the house they heard the voice of the Jinn
asking one of their number if something had been taken from his house
and whether he suspected anyone of taking it. Having answered in the
affirmative to both questions the Jinn told him that he was wrong in
his suspicions and that the name of the real culprit was so and so who
was in love with his wife and had committed adultery with her. The Jinn
then bade him go and see for himself and he found all that the Jinn had
told him to be true. In this way the Jinn continued to expose their
hidden evils and vices to them and their children until he drove them
to despair. When they begged him to leave them alone he replied that he
had been inflicted upon them by 'Abdallah (al-'Uryani). He remained
with them for a period of six months, after which time they came to
al-'Uryani and begged him to return to the town, imploring him to
forgive them for what they had done to him. The Shaikh relented and
returned to that place to relieve them of the Jinn. The affair became
famous throughout ...

One day when I was with him he asked for something to drink. One of his
female disciples got up and brought him a jug in a copper stand with a
lid of copper. When he saw it he said, 'I have no wish to drink what
lies between two unlucky things. [30] I then brought him another jug.
God made of every-thing his senses conveyed to him a means of teaching
him some wisdom.


2: Abu Ya'qub Yusuf B. Yakhlaf al-Kumi [31]

This Shaikh had been one of the companions of Abu Madyan [32] and had
met many of the most prominent Sufis of this land. For a time he had
lived in Egypt and had married in Alexandria. [33] Abu Tahir al-Salafi
[34] had wanted him to marry into his family. On one occasion he was
offered the governorship of Fez, but he refused. He was one of those
who are well established on the Way. Abu Madyan, who was the spokesman
of our order and the one who revived it in the West, said of Abu
Ya'qûb, that he was as a safe anchorage is to a ship.

He was much given to private devotions and always gave alms in secret.
He honoured the poor and humbled the rich, ministering in person to the
needs of the destitute. While I was in his charge he instructed me and
looked after me most excellently.

My companion, 'Abdallah Badr al-H.abashi, [35] knew him well and the
Shaikh died at his house. He used to say of the Shaikh that he could,
if he wished, raise the postulant from the lowest depth to the highest
spiritual height in a moment. His powers of Concentration were
considerable. He followed, for the most part the rule of the
Malâmiyyah. [36] He was seldom to be seen without a frown on his face,
but when he saw a poor man his face would light up with joy; I have
even seen him take one of the poor into his lap and he himself
frequently acted as servant to his followers.

I saw him in a dream on one occasion and his breast seemed to be cleft
asunder and a light like that of the sun shone out from it. In the
dream he called out to me to come to him. I came to him with some large
white bowls which he proceeded to fill to the brim with milk. I drank
the milk from the bowls as fast as he filled them. [37] Wonderful
indeed is the spiritual grace I have received from him, as also from
Abu Muhammad al-Mawruri, whom I will mention later. [38]

At our first meeting, the first question he put to me, with all his
concentration fixed upon me, was, 'What is the sin of him who passes in
front of one praying, the enormity of which is such he would wish he
had stood where he was for forty years?' I answered him correctly and
he was pleased with me. [39]

When I would sit before him or before others of my Shaikhs, I would
tremble like a leaf in the wind, my voice would become weak and my
limbs would shake. Whenever he noticed this he would treat me kindly
and seek to put me at my ease which only increased my awe and reverence
for him.

This Shaikh had a great affection for me, but concealed it from me by
showing more favour to others and displaying a distant manner towards
me, commending what others had to say, but taking me to task at
gatherings and sessions. He went so far in this that my fellows, while
we were all together under his charge and in his service, [40] began to
think little of my spiritual progress. However, praise be to God, I
alone of the whole group achieved real success in my studies with him,
which the Shaikh himself later admitted.

Another experience I had with this Shaikh is worthy of mention.
Firstly, it must be explained that I had not at that time seen the
Epistle of al-Qushairi [41] or any other master, being quite unaware
that any of our Way had written anything, nor was I acquainted with the
proper terminology of the Sufis.

One day the Shaikh mounted his horse and bade me and one of my
companions follow him to Almonteber, [42] a mountain about three miles
distant from Seville. Accordingly, when the city gate had been opened
in the morning, I set out with my companion who had with him a copy of
al-Qushairi's Epistle. We climbed the mountain and found the Shaikh at
the top and his servant holding his horse. Then we entered the mosque
at the top of the mountain and performed the ritual prayer. [43] When
we had finished he turned his back on the mihrâb [44] and gave me the
Epistle, telling me to read from it. My awe of him was so great that I
could not put two words together and the book fell from my hands. Then
he told my companion to read it and expounded upon what was read until
it was time for the late-afternoon prayer which we performed. [45]
After the prayer the Shaikh suggested that we all return to the town.
He mounted his horse and set off, while I ran alongside holding onto
the stirrup: Along the way he talked to me of the virtues and miracles
of Abu Madyan. [46] As for myself, I was so absorbed by what he was
telling me, looking up at him all the time, that I was completely
oblivious to my surroundings. Suddenly he looked at me and smiled and,
spurring his horse, made me run the more quickly to keep up with him.
Then he stopped and said to me, 'Look and see what you have left behind
you!' When I looked back I saw that all the way was waist-high with
thorn bushes and that the whole ground was covered with thorns. Then he
told me to look at my feet and my clothes. I looked and found not a
single trace of the thorns. Then he said, 'This is the result of the
spiritual grace engendered by our talking of Abû Madyan; so persevere
on the Way, my boy, and you will surely find salvation.' Then he
spurred his horse on and left me behind. I learnt much from him.

It was a characteristic peculiar to this Shaikh that when he prescribed
spiritual exercises for the postulant to perform, he always performed
them himself, even if there were two or three of them working on
different exercises. This never seemed to weary him.

One day, when I was sitting with him after the late-afternoon prayer,
he perceived that I was anxious to leave. When he enquired of me the
reason for my unease I explained to him that I had four obligations to
fulfil for certain people, that I had only so much time in which to do
so and that if I stayed with him I would no longer be able to find the
people concerned. At this he smiled and said, 'If you leave me now and
go off, not one of your obligations will be discharged, so sit with me
while I tell you of the spiritual states of Abu Madyan. As for your
tasks I will ensure that they are carried out.' I sat with him and when
the time came for the sunset prayer he said to me, 'Go home now and you
will find that before you have prayed the sunset prayer all your
obligations will have been fulfilled.'

So earnest was I in seeking his company that I used often to wish that
he might be present with me in our house at night to deal with some
problem or other. At such times I would see him before me, whereupon I
would put questions to him and he would answer me. In the morning I
would go and tell him what had happened. The same thing would also
happen during the day when I was at home, if I wished it.

This Shaikh's virtues, powers and expertise were such as I cannot
possibly enumerate here. [47]

This Shaikh of mine provided me with much instruction concerning the
matter of spiritual Union, [48] expounded according to the following
sayings: 'I am the chief of the sons of Adam'; 'Adam and those that
come after him are under my banner'; 'Direction is the half of
livelihood'; 'When God loves His servant He tries him'; 'The heart of
the Qur'an is the chapter "Yasin". [49] None other in our land knew
more than he on this matter and others which I cannot now remember, may
God be pleased with him.


55: Nunah Fatimah Bint Ibn Al-Muthanna

She lived at Seville. When I met her she was in her nineties and only
ate the scraps left by people at their doors. Although she was so old
and ate so little, I was almost ashamed to look at her face when I sat
with her, it was so rosy and soft. Her own special chapter of the
Qur'an was 'The Opening'. She once said to me, "I was given The Opening
and I can wield its power in any matter I wish."

I, together with two of my companions, built a hut of reeds for her to
live in. She used to say, "Of those who come to see me, I admire none
more than Ibn al-'Arabi." On being asked the reason for this she
replied, "The rest of you come to me with part of yourselves, leaving
the other part of you occupied with your other concerns, while Ibn
al-'Arabi is a consolation to me, for he comes to me with all of
himself. When he rises up it is with all of himself and when he sits it
is with his whole self, leaving nothing of himself elsewhere. That is
how it should be on the Way."

Although God offered to her His Kingdom, she refused, saying, "You are
all, all else is inauspicious for me." Her devotion to God was
profound. Looking at her in a purely superficial way one might have
thought she was a simpleton, to which she would have replied that he
who knows not his Lord is the real simpleton. She was indeed a mercy to
the world.

Once, on the night of the Festival, Abu 'Amir, the muezzin, struck her
with his whip in the mosque. She gave him a look and left the place
feeling very angry with him. In the morning she heard him calling to
prayer and said, "O my Lord, do not rebuke me that I was affected by
one who calls Your Name in the darkness of the night while other men
sleep, for it is my Beloved who is mentioned on his lips. O God, do not
censure him because of my feeling against him."

The next morning the jurists of the locality went, after the Festival
prayer, to convey their respects to the Sultan. This muezzin, full of
worldly aspiration, went in with them. When the Sultan enquired who the
fellow might be, he was told that it was only the muezzin. Then the
Sultan asked who had allowed him to come in with the jurists and
ordered him to be thrown out, which he was. However, after someone had
pleaded with the Sultan for him he was let off, although the Sultan had
intended to punish him. Fatimah heard about this incident and said, "I
know about it, and if I had not prayed for leniency for him he would
have been executed." Her spiritual influence was very great indeed.
After this she died.
FROM AL-DURRAT AL-FAKHIRAH

Some of the believing Jinn would sit with her, seeking her
companionship, but she would refuse them and ask them to remain hidden
and would remind them of what the Apostle of God had said the night he
caught the demon, "I remembered the words of my brother Solomon and
used them on it."

At first she had earned her living on a spindle. Then it occurred to
her to earn her keep by hand-spinning, but God caused her spinning
finger to become crippled from the moment she started on the work. I
had noticed the finger and had asked her about it. She then told me the
story and told me that she had, from that day relied upon the scraps of
food thrown from people's houses. She came to the Way while still a
young girl living in her father's house. I met her when she was already
ninety-six years of age.

She had married a righteous man whom God had afflicted with leprosy.
She served him happily for twenty-four years until he was taken to
God's mercy. When she became hungry and no scraps or offerings of food
came her way she would be content and thank God for His favour in that
he was subjecting her to that to which He had subjected his prophets
and Saints. She would say, "Lord, how can I deserve this great position
in that You treat me as You treated Your loved ones?"

One day I built a hut for her of palm branches in which to perform her
devotions. That same night the oil in her lamp ran out, something which
had never happened to her before. I never learned the secret of that
from her. She got up to open the door to ask me to bring her some more
oil and, in the darkness, plunged her hand into some water in the
bucket(?) underneath her. At this she cursed and the water was
immediately changed into oil. She then took the jug and filled it with
the oil, lit the lamp and came back to see from where the oil had come.
When she saw no further trace of oil she realized that it had been a
provision from God.

One day when I was with her a woman came to see her to complain of her
husband who had gone away to Sidonia, two days' journey from Seville.
She told us that her husband wanted to seek another wife in that place,
which she found hard to accept. I asked Fatimah whether she had heard
the woman's plea and begged her to call upon God to restore her husband
to her. She said, "I will make no supplication, but I will cause the
chapter 'The Opening' (Al-Fatihah) to follow behind him and bring him
back." I then said, "In the name of God, the Merciful, the
Compassionate", and she recited the rest of the chapter. Then she said,
"O chapter of 'The Opening', go to Jerez de Sidonia to the husband of
this woman and drive him back at once from wherever you find him and do
not let him delay." She said this sometime between noon and the late
afternoon.

On the third day the man arrived at his home. Then the woman came to
inform us of his arrival and to thank us. I then told her to bring her
husband to us. When he came we asked him what had brought him back from
Jerez, when he had intended to marry and settle down there. He replied
that he had left his house in the middle of the afternoon heading
towards the municipal building for the marriage and that on the way he
had felt a constriction in his heart and everything seemed suddenly
very dark to him. At this he became very anxious. Then he left that
place and arrived in Triana before sunset, where he had found a boat
for Seville. Thus he had sailed the day before and had arrived in
Seville that morning, having left all his baggage and effects behind in
Jerez. He admitted that he still did not know why he had done it. I
have seen various miracles performed by her.


NOTES



[1] Cf. Futûhât, I, p.186; II, p.177; III, p. 539, where he is called
Abû al-'Abbâs. In the Durrah he is called 'Abdallah (see below,
p.68).

[2] He must have come to Seville before the year 580/1184. Cf.
Futûhât, II, p.425.

[3] See Introduction, p. 55.

[4] The power of Concentration (himmah) which results from the
achievement of certain stages of spiritual consciousness, makes it
possible to exert control at various levels of existence. This may
produce effects of a miraculous kind. cf. T. Burkchardt, Introduction
to Sufi Doctrine, Lahore, 1959.

[5] Both ritual purity and the facing towards the qiblah (Mecca) are
necessary conditions for the proper performance of the prayer rite
(salâh). Cf. below, p.86.

[6] By the middle of the twelfth century, Muslim power extended over
little more than Andalusia which suffered constant incursions, great
and small, by Christian bands from the north.

[7] In the somewhat more detailed version of this story in the Durrah,
he and his fellow-travellers were ambushed just three mlles outside his
native town to which he was returning from Seville (Cf. below p.68). It
is also related there that he remained with his captors for six months.

[8] al-Qasr al-Kabir. Cf. Archives Marocaines, II. 2e, p 19.

[9] This story is also told in the Durrah (see Introduction). In that
version al-'Uryani is ordered by God not to enter the fortress and it
is Ibn 'Arabi himself who asks the master why the rain had not fallen
also on him. Cf. Esad Ef. 1777. f93b.

[10] See Introduction, p. 54.

[11] This is the absorption of the inner consciousness of the heart in
the con­templation of God and its abstraction from the world of forms.
Cf. al-Hujwiri, Kashf al-Mahjûb (E. J. W. Gibb Mem. XVII) 191 I, pp.
248-5I.

[12] The relationships here referred to are of a spiritual kind. The
celebrated Fâtimah {see below, p. 173) once told Ibn 'Arabi's mother
that he was, spiritually, her father. CL Futûhât, II, 348.

[13] In as far as every true spiritual master is a channel of divine
grace, his instruction and supervision, as indeed his mere presence
might be said to impart essential benefits to one receptive enough. Cf.
F. Shuon, 'The Nature and Function of the Spiritual Master', Studies in
Comparative Religion, I, pp. 50-9.

[14] The author here explains that each load of figs weighed one
hundred rotls, a rotl being approximately one pound in weight.

[15] The spiritual state (hâl) is the temporary action of a spiritual
grace bestowed upon the Sufi in accordance with his condition and
aspiration. Cf. Introduction, p.54.

[16] This celebrated Spanish Sufi was the author of the Mahasin
al-majalis, ed. Asin Palacios, Paris, 1933. He died in AD 1141.

[17] Audition as a general principle is the awakening of inner
spiritual states through the inner force of some external sound. More
specifically, it is listening to music or poetry in order to induce
such states, as is practiced by certain of the Sufi orders. Cf.
Hujwiri, Kashf al-mahjûb, pp. 393 ff.

[18] Regarded as the Word of God, the Qur'an must necessarily often
evoke responses of this kind in properly receptive listeners.

[19] See below, p.91.

[20] See below, p.95.

[21] The leader of the congregation in prayer.

[22] Qur'an, LXXVIII.

[23] Loc. cit., v.6.

[24] These meditations upon the Qur'anic verse express a hierarchical
view of the universe. A prophet is one inspired by God to proclaim His
messages and an apostle is the bringer of a new divine dispensation.
Thus the apostle is, by implication, also a prophet, whereas a prophet
is not necessarily an apostle. Cf. Sagesse des prophètes, by Ibn
'Arabi, trans. T. Burckhardt, Paris, 1955, p.46.

[25] Qur'an, LXXVIII, 38-9.

[26] Esad. Cf. 1777 f. 916.

[27] The constant practice of invocation (dhikr) of sacred names is a
feature of all the major spiritual traditions. In the Christian
tradition the 'Prayer of the Heart' of the Eastern Hesychasts is the
most noteworthy example of this practice. Cf. T. Burckhardt, An
Introduction to Sufi Doctrine, Lahore, 1959, pp. 124 ff.

[28] He came from 'Ulyâ which is now Loulé near Silves in the
Algarve.

[29] The Jinn are beings of a subtle nature, whether well-disposed
towards men or working against them. Cf. Encyclopaedia of Islam, art.
Djinn.

[30] The word for copper (nuhâs) comes from the root nahisa which
means to be unlucky or inauspicious. The two malefic planets, Mars and
Saturn, are called in Arabic Al-Nahsan.

[31] Cf Futûhât, I, p.251; III, p. 45.

[32] Shu'aib b. Husain Abu Madyan (d. AD 1197-8) was perhaps the most
renowned master of his day and was quite clearly a major influence on
Ibn 'Arabi. His tomb near Tlemcen in Algeria is still the object of
pilgrimage. J.J.J. Barges, Vie du célèbre Marabout Cidi Abou Medien,
Paris, 1884.

[33] The Sufis, unlike the mystics of some other traditions, were not
necessarily celibate; indeed Ibn 'Arabi himself had two sons and a
daughter.

[34] Born at Isfahan in Persia in AD 1082, and died at Alexandia in AD
1180.

[35] See below, pp 119 and 158

[36] This approach to following the Way of God stresses the awareness
of and the discounting of the blame (malâmah) and disapproval of men
in seeking the approval of God in accordance with the verse, 'They fear
the blame of no man... (Qur'an, V, 54). cf. Hujwiri, Kashf al-mahjûb,
pp. 62-9, 183-4.

[37] Milk is often used as a symbol for knowledge.

[38] See below p.101.

[39] Bukhari, Salât, CI.

[40] As with spiritual aspirants of other traditions, those seeking to
follow the Sufi Way would attend upon some noted spiritual master from
whom they would receive guidance and instruction and later, if fitted,
initiation. The postulants would, in return, minister to the master's
external needs, which service in itself constituted an essential part
of the preparation for the travelling of the Way. cf. Hujwiri, Kashf
al-mahjûb, pp. 334 ff.

[41] One of the most important and definitive works on Sufism from the
pen of a Sufi, al-Qushairi (AD 98~I074). The Risâlah was published in
Cairo in four volumes (1290 AH).

[42] It is not certain which mountain is meant here.

[43] The daily ritual prayers are five in number and are performed at
specified times of day in accordance with strict conditions. Each
prayer consists of a certain number of rak'at or cycles of movement and
certain liturgical texts are recited in Arabic. Cf. The Encyclopaedia
of Islam, art. Salât.

[44] A mihrâb is the niche in the wall of a mosque which indicates the
direction of Mecca (qiblah).

[45] See note 3 above.

[46] See above p.69, no.3.

[47] I have omitted here some verses in which the author extols the
virtues of his Shaikh.

[48] The Union here referred to concerns that stage in which the soul
experiences its relationship with its Lord as a relationship between
the lover and the beloved.

[49] Qur'an, XXXVI.

Link:http://www.besharapublications.org.uk/pages/sufis.html