Some thoughts and goals before leaving

Rock Palace, Sana’a, originally uploaded by lazy3

I can’t remember being this nervous, it has been a long time since I have left my comfort zone. I feel almost dizzy with a mixture of exhilaration and fear. I haven’t been overseas for over twelve years. I have never been overseas with small children. I have never been to Yemen!

oh deep breaths!

I feel quite a lot like I did, before I said my shahada, sensing that things are going to change in unprecedented ways. Whether that is reading too much into things, I’m not sure. I just know that it feels like stepping over the edge. And I know that I don’t wish to continue living in the manner that I have been.

Shahara Bridge uploaded by Eric Lafforgue

I also know that I don’t want to write much about how it feels. Rather, I’d like to outline some goals.

The first is consistency and determination in approach. This means stopping my ongoing internal debates and analysis of stuff and replacing it with prayer, dhikr, developing taqwa. Thinking is not beneficial to me anymore.

originally uploaded by abschied

Finding joy in routine and cultivating patience. Learning to stay indoors IS a spiritual challenge for me. I can also understand the blessing in it. I find it almost impossible in Australia, not just because of practical issues like shopping, but because we are not living in a village. We have to go out in order to stop being totally isolated. Lately I have tested myself, I have had so much to organize, but I find that every time I enter a shopping centre, I find it very difficult to stay focused on Allah. I understand that we need to live Islam in the world. But I also feel that there are periods when we require seclusion. Obviously sharing a house with others is not seclusion, but simplifying our lives and cutting out all the superfluous stuff is a start.

Sana’a, uploaded by NYGUS

Framing my worldview. For a while now, my questioning has seen me operating in freefall. In Yemen, I wish to discover the value in dogma. Because it DOES have value, although it is far from politically correct or acceptable for a thinking person to say so. This is a result of not understanding what dogma is and in an Islamic context, not recognizing or appreciating the enormous amount of scholarship involved. I have been aware of the latter, but as I quoted from Imam al Ghazali already

“In other words, if we are to arrive at pure spiritual truth, we must put away, for the time, knowledge which has been acquired by, external processes and which too often hardens into dogmatic prejudice.”

I have become so distressed and dare I say it, angered, by encountering so much of this dogmatic prejudice, it requires a lot of self-control not to want to run screaming in the other direction and refuse to take knowledge from anywhere.. At the same time, I have been aware that this just leads me into a cave with my nafs (lower self/ego). As Khurram Murad writes in his introduction to “Inner Dimensions of Islamic worship“, a translation of a section from Ghazali’s ‘Ihya Ulum ad-Din’ translated by Muhtar Holland.

“Indeed almost all the leading Sufis - like ‘Abdul Qadir al jilani, Shahabuddin Suhrawardi, Abu Ahmad Chisti, Ahmad Sirhindi - emphatically stressed the absolute need of observing the ‘outward’: without obedience one cannot get near to Allah.

Just as fuqaha, were Sufis, the leading Sufis were pillars of fiqh. To mention a few names: Hasan Basri, Sufyan Thuri, Da’ud Ta’i, Abdullah ibn Mubarak.

“The Law without the Truth”, says Hujwari, “is ostentation and the Truth without the Law is hypocrisy. Their mutual relation may be compared to that of body and spirit: when the spirit departs from the body, the living body becomes a corpse, and the spirit vanishes like the wind.”‘

Shibam, uploaded by lazy3

The crux of the matter for me, has always been not that the Outer is necessary, this is obvious, but how to determine which form the Outer takes. It must and has been formulated by men/women based on their understanding and interpretation of the primary sources - Qu’ran and Hadith, but whilst the sources are not time based, human beings are. Can we step outside of our cultural conditioning and the attitudes of our times, in order to reach conclusions that are totally pure and independent of cultural bias?

I still don’t know the answer to this question, but the time that I have taken dwelling over this, has just distracted me from the main task, which is Closeness to Allah. So as it says in the Qu’ran

“Then ask those who possess the Message (Ahl adh-Dhikr) if you do not know.” (Quran, 21:7 and 16:43)

I believe that the scholars in Tarim are Ahl adh-Dhikr and it is with a great sense of relief and gratefulness that I find myself on my way to learn from them. InshaAllah.

Almost on the way……inshaAllah

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We have plane tickets waiting to be picked up.

We have visa’s issued and on their way to us.

We have accommodation organized.

We are making du’a that fighting near Sana’a does not get any worse.

We are trying to sort out flights into Seiyun.

InshaAllah. I have said it so many times, but it has never had so much potency.

InshaAllah.

Self-knowledge

‘He who knows himself knows God‘ a saying of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.

Self-knowledge is not about culture. In my view, culture is a veil, something that stands between us and Allah subhana wa ta’ ala, but I’m not equipped to talk about veils, so I move on!

In my view, I, Me…..that terribly important human that I am. Is it possible to talk without resorting to this language? It’s difficult for a self-centered being with their feet firmly planted in this life. But the self, that such a being refers to is not the Self spoken about by our prophet, again, may Allah’s peace descend upon Him and all those who seek to follow him.

My Self is not tied up in my Australian-ness, nor is it entirely connected to my gender. It isn’t how I own the labels Muslim, Mother, Wife of an Arab, Revert, Environmentalist, almost Pacifist, sometimes Conservative, sometimes Liberal, always Pensive, Over-Analytical, advocate of the Mentally Ill, lover of Art and Beauty. These are all ways of defining the manner in which an ego relates to the world around it, and ways of defining how the world responds in turn. I am tired of discussing my lower self, tired of defending why I make certain decisions, tired of falling into fruitless discussions, tired of being upset when I cannot make this nafs of mine understood.

It is mostly a diversion from true Self-knowledge. The lower self cannot seek justice because it does not know how to discern, it can only react. And it reacts through a filter of the labels above.

Self-Knowledge is only acquired through seeking God, only then can a person understand what is truly just. Sometimes people seek God and Self-knowledge through only the outer forms of religion. For these people, religion is added to the filters of lower-self. Along with Muslim and Conservative, they add Definer of the Halal and Haram. As Imam al Ghazali has said

“Besides mere incapacity, there are other hindrances to the attainment of spiritual truth. One of these is externally acquired knowledge. To use a figure, the heart may be represented as a well, and the five senses as five streams which are continually conveying water to it. In order to find out the real contents of the heart these streams must be stopped for a time, at any rate, and the refuse they have brought with them must be cleared out of the well. In other words, if we are to arrive at pure spiritual truth, we must put away, for the time, knowledge which has been acquired by, external processes and which too often hardens into dogmatic prejudice.”

All acquired knowledge can be detrimental, and this includes enculturation. But we have to exist on the earth and communicate with one another and understand how the path of the soul coexists with daily behaviour and actions. Faith does have to exist within social mores. Imam al Ghazali follows on to say

“A mistake of an opposite kind is made by shallow people who, echoing some phrases which they have caught from Sufi teachers, go about decrying all knowledge. This is as if a person who was not an adept in alchemy were to go about saying, “Alchemy is better than in gold,” and were to refuse gold when it was offered to him. Alchemy is better than gold, but real alchemists are very rare, and so are real Sufis. He who has a mere smattering of Sufism is not superior to a learned main, any more than he who has tried a few experiments in alchemy has ground for despising a rich man.”

Imagine what he would think of our time!

Instead of asking from where do we take our knowledge, we need to ask, what is the knowledge that we are looking for? I am seeking true Self-realization, from people who understand what that means. The filters that surround them in daily life are not of major concern to me. This is why some things that may seem paradoxical are actually not so. If I live a cultural pattern that may rub against my idea of female emancipation, then so be it….because it is a pattern….it is the way that the lower self lives.

And the lower self cannot discern.

Call me an arabophile, a pseudo-orientalist! I don’t mind, because you are talking to my lower-self, and that is really not a place that I wish to give much attention to anymore. And if I was the kind of human being that I aspire to be, I would not even waste words in defense!

May Allah truly lead me to sit with those who Know, so that I may learn from them, and leave these old habits behind. May He find in me sincerity amongst all the rubble and arrogance. So that one day I may know my Self. Amin.

“We will show them Our Signs in the furthest horizons, and within themselves, until it becomes manifest to them that this (the Qur’ân) is the truth” 41:53

I know that the travel referred to in some of the following quotes, is not of the literal kind specifically! However, I often think of the verses in the Qu’ran

{Oh mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may know each other}* (Al-Hujurat 49:13)

{See they not how Allah originates creation, then repeats it: Truly that is easy for Allah. Say: “Travel through the earth and see how Allah did originate creation; so will Allah produce a later creation: For Allah has power over all things.”}* (Al-`Ankabut 29:19-20)

The angels ask those they take while they are wronging themselves, ‘What were your circumstances?’ They reply, ‘We were oppressed on earth.’ They say, ‘Was Allah’s earth not wide enough for you to have made hijra elsewhere in it?’ The shelter of such people will be Hell. What an evil destination!

An-Nisa 4:97

Travelling in the earth for Allah’s sake, is something which is recommended, particularly if you find yourself in a state of stagnation, which may cause you to wrong yourself.

Transform yourself into a stranger! Travel! It is the only way to renew yourself.
From a poem by Abu Tammam

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The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.

Ibn ‘Arabi, Fusûs al-Hikam

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This life is short. I pray that I can learn from expanding my horizons literally.

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The sema is exquisitely beautiful, as I am drawn to Yemen, I am drawn to Turkey. I would like to learn calligraphy and also traditional ceramic decoration. Perhaps a stop-over!

I keep thinking that I must keep things simple, settle on a simple path and focus on discipline, rather than seeing the possibilities in everything. Often, I have felt overwhelmed, wondering how to do this, and this can only be due to my trouble letting go, and my need to persuade myself that I am in control of my path.

And I am aware that his holds me back, how can I come close to surrendering even slightly, with a mentality like this?!!

The realization that I am about to embark on this trip fills me with so much joy and anticipation. Because it is unknown, I have to let go and trust. There is no other option but to let myself fall…..into a discipline!

The irony is that I am going to be indoors most of the time, without a view from the windows. My only option will be to look within, and to focus, and for the first time in my life, develop self-control. InshaAllah,

The Programme for this year….

The Dowra 2008

The Place

In a hadith related in Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet (sallahu alayhi wasalllam) pointed towards Yemen and said; “Imaan is there.”

Also related in another hadith the Prophet (sallahu alayhi wasalllam) said: “Faith is Yemeni, and (Religious) Understanding is Yemeni and Wisdom is Yemeni.”

Sayyiduna Abu Bakr as-Siddique (RA) made three duas for Tarim; “Allah make plentiful it’s water, and make it prosperous/ cultivated till the Day of Judgment, and may the Righteous blossom in its lands as plants/harvesting blossom/grow from water”

This is truly from one of the blessed lands. It has a tradition of over 900 years of scholars and awliya living and teaching the true Prophetic way in every sense, ready to be passed on to those willing to take, from attending these blessed 40 days, and carry it as shining lamps to those in the midst of darkness.

The Dowra is aimed to give brothers and sisters from all parts of the world and different backgrounds an insight and experience into one of the rarest Prophetic Traditions alive in the world today. Taking from scholars who have direct traces linking back to the Master of Mankind (sallalhu alayhi wasallam) through lineage and knowledge.

It is an intensive in its whole meaning, teaching Islamic sciences and Purification of the heart, Da’wah and Prophetic etiquettes along with addressing modern issues faced in the modern world today. Students also have the opportunity to visit many historical and holy sites, tasting a real prophetic environment, outwardly and inwardly, and sitting at the feet of the men of Allah in one of the most preserved and traditional places on the planet, Tarim, Hadramaut, Yemen.

The Program

The Dowra has been set to start on the 1 st July –10 th August 2007 / 16 th Jamaad al-Aakhir – 27 th Rajab 1428 H.

The day starts before Fajr, where students busy themselves for the night vigil prayers and litanies, concentrating on the spiritual aspects that can be gained in a place such as Tarim. After Fajr Salaah and litanies, there will be 3 periods of classes, each period lasting 45 min’s – 1 hour, with breaks in between, where refreshments will be available and the opportunity to pray the Ishraq / Doha prayer.

The morning classes generally consist of Hadith (Prophetic Traditions), Hanafi / Shafi Fiqh and Prophetic Etiquettes.

Students then are advised to take the morning siesta, known as the qaylulah, as practiced by the Prophet (saw), until Dhohr, as the schedule can prove tiring if one does not take this time to rest.

After Dhohr prayer, students generally arrange themselves into circles of Qur’an, reciting with someone well grounded in recitation and rules of tajweed. This helps students to improve their recitation and reading of the Qur’an in general. Those who wish to have further private classes may do so, at the availability of time and teachers. Likewise some may want to concentrate on memorization, which they can do. Again this is generally 45 minutes, which after that lunch is served, and students rest until Asr. Asr prayer is performed at Dar al-Mustafa, after which Habib Umar bin Hafidh gives a discourse to all the students, concentrating on the sciences of the heart and spiritual wayfaring.

The discourse finishes approximately 30 minutes before Maghrib prayer which is enough time for students to freshen up and get ready for the evening classes.

After Maghrib until Isha, Habib Ali al-Jifri and Habib Kadhim as-Saqqaf teach on alternate days. After Isha, students either go to Dar al-Mustafa to attend a lesson by Habib Umar or Habib Ali al-Jifri, again this is on alternate days. On the remaining days Habib Umar gives a lesson specifically for the Dowra students, concentrating on spiritual wayfaring and Prophetic Etiquettes.

The day ends with dinner and revision, with students expected to have lights out by 11:00pm as to be ready for the early start.

Students will study the following subjects either via English/Arabic translation or directly through the medium of the English language;

(Please note, list below is the list of subjects studied in the 2007 Dowra and is meant as a guide only. Subjects for the 2008 Dowra have yet to be confirmed).

• Hanafi Fiqh
• Da’wah Methodology
• Prophetic Traditions
• Shama’il (Prophetic descriptions)
• Spiritual Wayfaring
• Prophetic Etiquettes
• Controversial Contemporary Issues
• The Prophetic Biography (Sira)
• Muslims’ Issues of the West

Confirmed teachers

• Habib Umar bin Hafidh
• Habib Ali al-Jifri
• Habib Kadhim as-Saqqaf
• Shaykh Umar al-Khatib
• Sidi AbulKarim Yahya

Course Texts

Note: To be confirmed on arrival. Below are from the past Dowra and for guidance only.

Tarbia and Spiritual Development
Awarif al-Ma’arif by Al-Imam Al- Sahrawardi Shama’il
Shamaail Al-Tirmidhi (selected chapters)

Sira
Al-Sira al-Shamiyya

Prophetic Traditions
A Selection of Prophetic Traditions.

Hanafi Fiqh
Mukhtasar al-Quduri

Although it sounds like all work and no fun, students do get to relax every week with pool gatherings, nasheeds, visitations to the Haba’ib and significant landmarks, not to mention the visitation of the Prophet Hud (AS). Please see Activities for details of visitations and trips.

Students do not necessarily have to have had experienced past Dowras or deen intensives nor have a background of knowledge etc. We are purely expecting students to have a desire and strive for exhorting themselves for the duration of this intensive program, thus he/she gains as much benefit for themselves and the communities they are to return to. However good educational background and references will be to your advantage.

As Habib Umar constantly mentions, students receive according to their level of sincerity, intentions and endeavour they bring with them for the 40 days. They can receive the same as one who has been in Tarim for 4 years, or more, within this short period of 40 days. Whether this is in the realms of knowledge, or personal skills, or spiritual gain and closeness to the Divine, or purification of ones inner-self. Tarim is a place that has many jewels and secrets that cannot be gained elsewhere, so this is what is available for students to receive, if you adhere to the conditions mentioned by Habib Umar bin Hafidh (may Allah preserve him).

as seen on the website

about the teachers in Hadhramout

Habib Umar bin Hafiz

Having memorized the Qur’an at a very early age, Habib Umar also memorized the core texts in fiqh, hadith, Arabic Language, and other religious sciences. He studied many sciences including spirituality from his father Al-Habib Muhammad bin Salim, acquiring from him a deep love and concern for da‘wah and religious counsels in the way of Allah.

Habib Ali Al Jifri, Mohd Alawi Al Maliki, Shaykh Al Bouti, Habib Omar Bin Hafeez

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Habib Ali al Jifri

Whoever has a position in life should use it for its most exalted purpose which is service in Allah’s way. A Muslim should look at himself and ask “… What have I given the Muslim community? What have I given my society? What have I given my family?” And finally, we should live a life based on looking at creation through the eye of mercy, which was how the Beloved Mustafa looked upon both Muslims and non-Muslims.

Loving the Beloved- a lecture in England

Habib Ali’s website

as Sayed Mohamed Al Alawi Al Maliki and Habib Ali

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Beginnings…

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