dimanche 2 octobre 2011

Shaykh Muhammad Al-Yaqoubi in Paris 7,8 & 9 octobre 2011

Anyone who needs accomodation or any information please contact +33 (0)6 76 41 27 45 or abdelmalik75@gmail.com

dimanche 24 mai 2009

Maryam

To Allah we belong and to Him we shall return. I got to know Maryam through milk... Al Haaj Fahfu's family are herders, and as a matter of fact, he must possess perhaps 100 cows or more or less...
Slowly slowly I noticed that students were getting some milk every evening. As I love milk so much, after enquiring, I discovered that students were getting their fills under the tent of Murabit al Haaj!
Salik, the grand son of Murabit told me: "if you want some milk, go and see Maryam?" I thought, who is Maryam..?
Indeed Maryam was a very discreet old woman... Anyway, I was told to go and see her after my dinner with an empty recipient. Which I did.

I walked to Murabit's tent. On the open side of it, 10's of recipients were on the floor. Maryam, always wearing dark clothes, was sitting behind them all, and as I arrived, I bent down and habded over my wooden recipient. She looked at me, wondering who I was. Her grandson arrived to the recue: "It's Abdelmalik, the foreign student!", he told her, in Hassaniya.
There was not one day I missed my meeting with Maryam. Standing in front of the tent while she was pooring some milk into my container was always a mystical moment: here she was sitting down on her rug, with 10's of bowls in front of her, some big, some smalls, some empty, some filled to the brim with still a warm milk fresh from the cows! I could always hear Murabit at the back, in the darkness of the tent, mentionning always always the name of Allah. Bamba, a freed slave, was coming forth and back with the milk he just had from milking the cows 50 metres away.

I never understood the exact system she was using; why she had so many bowls in front of her, that she was always placing in specific order. One day I couldn't find my own bowl, so I came to her with the recipient of a friend; although it was a normal metallic bowl no different to others, when I put it in front of the tent for her to fill it, she took it, touched it and said: "This is mine". When I went back to my tent, I told my friend what Maryam had said, and he said: "What what she'd said is true". I was then realisng that she knew exactly every single bowl she had in front of her: to whom it belong, how much people will drink from it, hence how much she should put in it...

I never got to speak much with her.
She was very reserved and desinterested mashallah.

One of the things that stroke me when I first got to Twemret, was the how loud the imam, shaykh Hadd Amin, was reciting the prayers, especially the takbirs throughout the prayer...
I later on realised that it might be because Maryam was praying with us, from behind a tent. It seems she was showing strenght and endurance in prayer with the jamaat mashallah.

Perhaps I can say that her husband, murabit al Haaj, and her brother, Shaykh Khattry, perhaps indicate the excellent quality of person that she was.
Visitors always enquired about her, addressing her as "alwâlidah", the mother.

She was always quiet, ready to answer people's questions, but never speaking first.

Shaykh Hamza have paid an emotional and moving tribute to "alwâlidah"; and her disappearance is a great loss to Twemret, its people and its students.
She was living for the mahdhara and was an integral part of it.

We ask Allah to forgive her and to grant her Jannah; may he also grant her family relieves and give them patience in that difficult period. Amin

samedi 10 janvier 2009

Israel-Palestine conflict

Muhammad Mekki est né en Afrique du Sud ou il a vécu un temps avant d'aller vivre en Israel. De confession juive jusqu'à novembre 2008, Muhammad s'est finalement converti à l'islam. Il nous livre ici, en anglais (traduction disponible dans peu de temps), ses impressions au sujet de l' état hébreux et de la situation abominable depuis le début de la guerre à Gaza, qui a déjà fait des centaines de morts et des milliers de bléssés:

"When I was at university in South Africa, my country of birth, the then Israeli Ambassador came to give a talk about the situation in the Middle East to students of politics. The talk was extremely narrow in scope and she used nothing but bible scriptures to back up Israel's right to be in the Middle East. This immediately made me understand Israel's belief on conflict as the stories quoted from the bible were about conquering and war; i.e. they see it as their religious right to kill for land which they believe their god has given them. This mentality actually contradicts proper Judaism, as proper Judaism holds the belief that Israel is a spiritual state which will only take on a physical form with the arrival of a messiah at the end of days who will lead the people into the land. Zionism jumps the gun and suggests that Israel has a geographical reality today, undermining religion and deceiving people if not also exaggerating the numbers dead in the
Holocaust to inspire compassion.

Have a look into the Israeli psyche and you will not find any faithfulness to the bible of how Jews should behave, it is only used against their enemies or opponents or those who dare to challenge their abuses of human rights. Israelis preach peace but well know that according to their religion Israel is by no means allowed to make peace with most of the Arab nations as this has been forbidden by prophets of old. The implication of this is complete annihilation of the Arab world as the Biblical State of Israel includes most of her Arab neighbours; part of Syria,Jordan,Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and so on. This ancient map could be found on the back of some agarot coins which is the equal of cents in the west.

Furthermore it is well-known that Israel is nothing but a police station for America in the Middle East, which is why it has its almost complete backup and continues to exist. As a past practitioner of Kabala (Jewish Mysticism), I came across a plan in which the globe was cut up into sectors for military operation. Israel fell within the 20/40 geographical window and its sectors name is Archangel Michael. The belief held by Jews is that non-Jews are not completely human because they are not chosen or obedient to the One God and this gives rise to the justification of killing in the name of State and God. This belief in the supremacy of a nation backfired in Germany in the 40's and manifested in South Africa shortly afterwards with the apartheid system and is now evident in Israel’s behaviour in Gaza and the West Bank. According to religious beliefs non-Jews are last on the existing level in this physical world as well as the meta-physical. First there
is God and the Council of God and then the Angelic creatures, then Jews and animals of all kind. After this come the satanic or demonic fallen world and last you have the goy (non-believers) i.e. non-Jews. Israelis claim to be the people chosen by God for a reason not explained by anyone but it is becoming clear that this has dark implications for the future of this planet.

Should you have a closer look on the situation in the Middle East it is evident that the real war is not only for the land, nor just for Jerushaliam but a war between Darkness and Light, people who have elevated and exalted themselves above ordinary humans. Israel is a proper manifestation of this most evil of human tendencies and the West stands arms folded while which might escalate into a holocaust happens on its very doorsteps. The war in the Middle East is not against a Jewish state called Israel. The war in the Middle East is between the children of the Light, the rightful owners and inheritors of this planet and the proud people, followers of Satan himself."
(Muhammad Mekki)

vendredi 9 janvier 2009

Retours Vers Le Futur

De retour à Paris après une dizaine d’années à l’étranger, dont les deux dernières dans le désert, le temps semble s’être étrangement accéléré ici.Le temps, cette créature magnifique qui nous échappe, nous lance un duel perpétuel.Ici, les gens se sont rendus à l’évidence que le temps les dépasse.Inutile de me demander pourquoi je suis revenu. La nécessité bien des fois nous apporte à faire des choix…de second choix.Les signaux perçus m’interpellent, moqueurs et perturbants : une personne ne s’arrête pas quand je lui demande l’heure, le climat hivernal impitoyable me menace et me dit « va t’en loin ! », un métro s’enfuit a mon arrivée sur le quai, et mon appartement pète un plomb, et plonge dans l’obscurité. Même le camembert fait des siennes, fabriqué avec des produits toxiques… Le message est clair et sarcastique : « cher Abdelmalik, bonne chance ».Mon âme aussi s’est rangée du cote des forts! Elle me disait l’autre soir de retourner immédiatement en Mauritanie. C’est très bien, elle a le droit de me proposer des initiatives ; mais je me suis souvenue peu après sa suggestion que, en Mauritanie, a maintes reprises, elle m’avait faite : revenir a Paris. Elle m’avait dit que je devait quitter ce pays désertique entre le Maroc et le Sénégal à cause de la chaleur. Et lorsque je lui ait répondu que je patienterai, elle avait même parler de la nourriture trop simple et trop difficile pour mon estomac, où encore de ma famille qui devait souffrir de mon absence. Je l’ai réprimandé, et lui ait dit de grandir un peu, car des qu’on a des difficultés tout les deux, elle me laisse toujours me débrouiller tout seul : Elle me lance des « tu vois, je t’avais dit », ou encore des « tu n’y arriveras pas, laisse tomber ». Je ne pouvais l’écouter d’avantage, et, sous les menaces, elle s’était tue pendant un temps !Paris. Ce qui m’a particulièrement attire l’intention, c’est l’incroyable pluralité ethnique des parisiens : arabes, noirs africains, asiatiques et autre gens crées avec une palette de couleurs des plus étonnantes. Ils se côtoient, de jour comme de nuit, de métro en magasin, de rue en immeuble. C’est étonnant, et très particulier a la capitale française. Je me souviens de Londres, et je ne puis parlé de cette même diversité. Certes son façonneur est le même, mais c’est à croire qu’il n’a pas utilisé la même palette de peinture pour les deux villes. Certes, Londres est pluriethnique, mais, durant mes trajets dans le underground, le métro londonien, cette multiplicité n'avait jamais été aussi frappante. Chez eux (c’est un peu chez moi aussi, pour y avoir habiter plus de 7 ans; ma mère d’ailleurs est anglaise !), il y a cependant multiplicité dans l’indifférence totale: L'anglais aurait-il un coeur remplit de tolérence? Certes, beaucoup parleraient d’une certaine hypocrisie culturelle, peut-être assez caractéristique des anglo-saxons. Cependant, là-bas, le regard que l’on pose sur l’autre est léger et spontané. Celui d’ici est lourds, analytique est plein de représailles. Leur système n’est pas aussi contraignant que le système français.Si, dans le pays de Shakespeare, les portes de opportunités sont grandes ouvertes pour les jeunes – musulmans et autres -, elles attendent, en revanche, d’être ouverte dans le pays de la déclaration des droits de l’homme.Pour finir, je dirais que l'on ne peut douter que c’est Dieu qui donne le succès. Je demande ce succès, de la vie de l’au-delà et d’ici bas, et cultive la conviction que, tous ensemble, ces portes s'ouvriront. Les français comprennent mal l’islam, car il est mal représenté. Notre génération est une génération charnière de l’histoire, et, avec une approche sage et tolérante, les français finiront par tolérer mieux cet islam qui refuse de céder a un matérialisme trop exigent pour l’homme, puisque dénudé de toute spiritualité, aspect pourtant fondamentale pour la croissance saine et productive de l’être humain.

vendredi 26 décembre 2008

La douceur

“Sache que la douceur est préférable, souhaitable et conseillée en toute chose, et que cela est dicte aussi bien par la loi divine que par l’intelligence. Par elle, on obtient des résultats et des bienfaits que ne sauraient produire ni la violence ni l’agressivité. La douceur est la caractéristique des sages, des miséricordieux qui sont les élus de Dieu par mi ses serviteurs. Pour décrire Son Prophète, le seigneur des êtres humains, Dieu, exalte soit-il, adit : Tu as été doux a leur égard par une miséricorde de Dieu. Si tu avais été rude et dur de cœur, ils se seraient séparés de toi (Coran 3 :159). Opte pour le pardon, ordonne le bien, écarte-toi des ignorants (7 :199) …les serviteurs du Miséricordieux, ceux qui marchent humblement sur terre et qui, quand les ignorants leur parlent, disent : « Paix ! » (25 :63)

Et le messager de Dieu, que les bénédictions et la paix de Dieu soient sur lui,a dit : « Dieu est doux et Il aime la douceur en toute chose. » Et il a dit, que les bénédictions et la paix de Dieu soient sur lui : « La douceur embellit toute chose, et lorsqu’on l’enlève, toute chose s’enlaidit. » La douceur consiste a prendre les choses avec gentillesse, facilite, gravite et réflexion.’’

(Imam al-Haddad, Livre du Savoir et de la Sagesse, ALBOURAQ, 2002, tr. Van den Broeck, p. 81

samedi 13 décembre 2008

tu es ce que tu manges!

J'ai eu l'honneur de rencontrer M Salim Khan, un homeopathe, où "hakim" en arabe, qui exerce sur Leceister, GB. Ses paroles sont remarcables, et il m'a fait notemment réaliser combien l'expression en anglais "you are what you eat" (tu es ce que tu manges) est vrai!
Paraît-il qu'un corps humain régénère toutes ses cellules en 7 ans. Et oui, tous les sept ans, on aurait un nouveau corps, forcément régénérer par ce que l'on mange et boit.
Vu de cette perspective, inutile de vous cacher que je me réjouis de ne pas manger de porc ni de boire de l'alcool lol!


La véritable évolution de l'homme

samedi 27 septembre 2008

Sufistic tourism

I left Fez for Oujda on Saturday 19 Ramadan 1429. I took the 10.55 train with Sherif and Maryam, both from Fez. I embarked on this journey on their invitation, thinking it would be nice to visit the new Alawi zawiya of Oujda. I sat silently in the train, continuing my daily remembrance. After an hour of silence (I was really tired after a sleepless night), I asked Sherif what was the plan and who would receive us. To my surpise he replied that no one was expecting our arrival! That is something that would not have surpised me back in Mauritania, where people do not expect to be told when they will have guests, but I had the idea that in Morocco the protocol was a bit more sophisticated. Alas I had boarded the train, there was no going back!


This is the only photo I took of Oujda, and to be honest, I didn't see much more than that, except the Zawiya of course!


Upon our arrival, we quickly jumped in a taxi. Maryam said to the driver: "Al Hudud!", meaning the border! Indeed Oujda is only few kilometres west of the border with Algeria; and the new zawiya is on the road going to the country of Sidi Ahmed Alawi.


Very fortunately - a miracle some would call it- Sidi Nabil, the muqaddam, was actually in the zawiya, as if he was waiting for us. He welcomed us and made us sit on the floor. We talked a bit inside the new place built for remembrance of God: a big room with a few pillars, a nice carpet and a few cushions around the walls. Very simple and modest, with no photos and a few dozen quran on a shelf at the back of the room, painted in white and tiled half way up the wall if I remember...


We broke our fast in a random place, haha I mean I have no idea who the host was! We then came back to the zawiya and prayed Isha and night prayers.


The following day, 'The Fez group' completely split up! Sherif went back to Fez, Maryam stayed, and I decided at the last minute to go to Nador to visit some friends and Sidna Buzidi. I took a bus at around midday.


When I reached Nador, Si Ismail and two of his "wahhabi friends", as he sometimes called them, came to pick me up.
I was initially thinking of taking a bus back to Fez the following day, or the day after at the latest. It has now been close to a week! I should be on my way back tomorrow God willing.


Although the city of Nador itself lacks beautiful buildings and history, in comparison with Fez for example, the surrounding countryside is absolutely amazingly beautiful! The sea and the mountains, two amazing features of God's creation, make the location of Nador unique. Property developers and investors know it, and the place is becoming apparently really expensive! But it's ok, just take out a mortgage with one of the Moroccan banks!



Throughout my time here, I have been visiting Sidna Buzidi in his zawiya, where I had the oportunity to ask him few questions, like what is the barzagh, can a shaykh tarbiyah be fully shaved, can we shake hands with a marriageable sister, or what does one have to do to see the Prophet in one's dream, and if it was possible to see him in a wakeful state? I finally asked him permission to visit the shaykhs of the past from our spiritual lineage, Moulay Abdes Salam bin Mashish, and Moulay Darqawi. Sidi Buzidi is a very humble and simple man, and you will not get much out of him, except if you are looking for someone that talks about God and sufism!



I went to Melilla twice. The first time to break fast at Sidi Ahmed's, a relative of the Shaykh, with a beautiful voice mashallah! He is the second from the left in the photo beneath. The second from the right is Haaj Maymoon, a son of bilHaaj and the shaykh of the zawiya of Melilla.


The first thing that struck me in Melilla was the immense wire fence all around the city! Melilla is indeed a Spanish town on Moroccan lands. This fence strangely reminded me Palestine... I felt sad for a moment, as sidi Ahmed was driving me around the city, thinking about the sinister situation the Muslim community is in... Melilla is also very clean compared to Morocco. A sad fact, since we know that Muslims are more entitled to cleanliness...


The second time I went to Melilla, last Wednesday evening I believe, was because a Moroccan from Melilla was throwing a party. 50-odd brothers attended the gathering. I had a really nice time, listening to the qasidas and chanting the chorus with everybody.

Prior to the gathering, we all went to pray tarawih in the zawiya of sidi Muhammadi bilHaaj, one of the Shaykh of the initiatic chain of sidi Buzidi. The zawiya is absolutely beautiful, and as one of the mureeds of Nador told me, as we were walking towards it: "Zawiya is big, but fuqara are little". Indeed the tariqa Alawiya has moved from Melilla to Nador, and not much of it remains, apart from this majestic building, the entrance of which can be seen below.

It is now Saturday 26 Ramadan, and the night of decree, as some scholars have said, could be tonight! Some people will come to the zawiya of sidi Buzidi from afar, for tonight's gathering, that seems to be very promising. We hope Allah accepts everybody's deeds done solely for his countenance in this blessed month of Ramadan! Amin.