Protection

Shaykh Abul Hassan, in his commentary of the Rissalah of Ibn Abi Zaid, in red, in the chapter of Jihad, wrote:

"(And the protection [to a non-Muslim] from the lowest of the Muslims is permissible) [and the lowest of the Muslims] is the miserable man, who, if he is absent, is not awaited for; and if he is present, is not consulted, ([and have to be respected] by the rest of the Muslims), even more so the protection of the noble person; and this [protection] is for a definite number of people, and as to the people of a whole region or a country, protection cannot be granted except by the ruler (sultan); if it is granted by another person than him, he can cancel it if he wishes so.

Note: It is said in “The Jawahir”: The condition for the [granting of] protection is that it does not harm the Muslims, so if a spy or one who is harming the Muslims is granted protection, it cannot be observed.

Protection is made effective with a clear enunciation or [even] by an indirect declaration, or an understandable indication. (And so it is for that of a woman) her protection is permissible (and a boy) like her, it is permissible (if he understand [what is] the protection), namely, if he knows that to violate the protection is forbidden and entails punishment, and its fulfilment is rewarded […]

Sidi Muhammad Ibn Suleyman al-Jazuli

"Ahmed Baba and al-Fasi and others mentioned in “al-Mir’ah” that when they carried [Imam al-Jazuli, author of “Dala’il ul-Khayrat”] to Marrakesh – and the one carrying him was the Sultan Abul Abbas Ahmed known as al-‘A’raj, and that was 77 years after his death (he had been buried in al-Jazulah), they find him not to have changed at all; and the earth did not ate his body, to the point that the trace of shavings from his hair on his head and his beard were still visible as if it had been the day of his death. Some of them put a finger on his face and the blood became concentrated in the spot where the finger were; and if the finger was lifted, the blood was returning as it occurs for the living."

(Al-Talidi, Shaikh Abd Allah Ibn Abd al-Qadir, “Al-Mutrib bi Mashahiri Awliyail Maghreb”, Dar al-Aman, 2003, pp. 146)

Sidi Ahmed Zaruq makes funny marriage scenario!

Muslim jurists sometimes come up with funny examples to illustrate the issues they are treating!
What follow was taken from Sidi Ahmed Zarruq’s commentary of The Rissalat of Ibn Abi Zaid al-Qayrawani, a book of jurisprudence of the Maliki school of thoughts, one of the four Orthodox schools of Islamic law.

Imam Ibn Abi Zaid – May Allah be pleased with Him - says:
“And [it is permissible] for him (i.e., a man) to marry the daughter of his father’s woman [that she had] from another man, and [it is similarly permissible] for a woman to marry the son her father’s wife [she had] from another man.”

Sidi Ahmed Zarruq – May Allah be pleased with him and make us benefit from his books and his spiritual legacy – says, commenting on the above sentence:
“Meaning, [it is permissible] because each one of them is a foreigner to the other (i.e., not blood related); then, if a child is born after that from the father with the mother, he [the new born baby] would be the brother of them both [the two non-blood related who can marry], thus saying: “My brother married my sister!” […]

Our beloved imam of the two sciences, inward (tasawwuf) and outward (shariia), has also the talent to make his readers smile mashallah! May Allah rewards him!

Mosque building project in Nabbaghiyya

The Prophet (P.B.U.H.) said: "Who builds a Mosque for God (S.W.T.), even if it was as small as a birds nest, God would then reward him by building him a house in heaven".

Is there any Mosque that small? The answer is of course not. But the meaning is that if you participated in building a Mosque, even for a couple of pounds, God would then build you a house in heaven. See how God, with His mercy, did not leave this reward open just for rich people! The reward can be achieved by poor people as well. This is by participating in good deeds as much as they can! And God blesses their participation; He is the Bounteous and Generous.

Please donate generously for this mosque project! Find all the detail on
http://hottestguruzone.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html

The Path

Sidi Buzidi, Shaykh of the Shadhili-Darqawi-Alawi tariqa in Morocco

Last December, as I was about to jump on my train to Marrakesh from his local train station near Rabat, my friend Khalid said: "And try to write an article on your blog about your meeting with Shaikhna". I replied: "Inshallah", as my train was departing.
As I sat near the window in a second class compartment, I felt glad to be alone. I was realising that almost a year in the depth of the Saharan desert in Mauritania left me quite unsociable. Those few days among the sufis of Morocco was rather challenging for my ego... But after all, wasn't I looking to master this ego??
My time in Mauritania, seeking knowledge, raised to me some questions. Where the truth lies? What is the correct path? What is the fastest and easiest and most righteous way to get nearer to our Creator?
Is it through the study and memorisation of texts of jurisprudence? Or is through the company of a sufi Shaykh? Or is through following our natural intuitions and find a way of its own? After all, didn't Imam Ghazali was travelling his own path without a tariqah? I was confused...
Confusion started essentialy because Allah showed me how deceptive jurisprudence can be. How can it be that someone who has memorised all the texts of the Maliki school of thought and still does not make Iqamah before his prayer? How can someone knows by heart the conditions to make permissible tayammum, yet do it without fulfilling those very conditions?
I noticed my deen was not complete. I needed something more... Could it be tassawuf? Could it be that I was in need of entering a sufi order in order to approach further The Almighty?
I remembered Shaykh Idriss, a British convert who studied 8 years in Fez, explaining me last August a basic point about those two different aspects of our deen, fiqh and tasawwuf. As we were drinking coffee on the terrace of a cafe in the new city of Fez, he told me: "fiqh is tadqiq and tahqiq (exactitude and verification), while tasawwuf is taslim (submission". Our discussion really had an impact on me, and when I got back to Twemret, it was never the same again. Ramadan was few days away; I was alone in the desert, with a big problem to solve in my hands: what should I do?? I was in the midst of a spiritual crises, with no one to seek help from; the vastness of the desert closed up on me to the point I felt I could not breath anymore!
At the time I was reading Ibn Ashor to Shaykh Hadd Amin. Towards the end of Ramadan, I reached the last chapter of this text, a concise counselling and explanation of the purposes and conditions of Tasawwuf. The text in itself is very basic, but the commentary written by Shaykh al-Mayyarah is very detailed and full of wisdom. A striking element of his commentary was when he said that the practice of sufism is a duty upon every Muslim. My decision was made. Although the practice of tasawwuf do not necessarily implies taking a shaykh, I felt it was the right time for me to do so, except that I was stuck in Mauritania for the next two months because of the studies!
Those two months were long. I knew I needed to see Sidi al-Buzidi Bujafri in the North of Morocco.
My meeting with him happened early Decembre 2007. In his zawiya near Melilla, Morocco. I went with my Khalid and the muqaddam of Oujda. We sat down. The Shaykh was not there yet. Food was served to us: lamb tagine! I love it! As I was having fun eating the excellent food, Sidi Buzidi walked in from behind my back. I saw on the face of Nabil, the muqaddam, and Khalid, that the Shaykh was behind my back. He moved his hand, telling us to carry on eating. I was happy to see him, although my ego was telling me: "Abdelmalik, you have been studying under great scholars! Do you think this Shaykh knows this or that?" It would not shut up!
I was introduced to him; he made me feel very welcomed. As he was sitting down, local young and old people were saluting him. Turning towards us, he started speaking, telling us stories of pious people, and some advices. His Arabic was mixed with his local dialect, so I did not understood most of it. I remember when he mentionned a verse of the Quran (this is my translation of its meaning): "O Yahya take the book with strenght!", upon which Sidi Buzidi that it was in a nutchell exactly what the tariqa is all about. He was then told I and a young brother from Oujda wanted to join the order and take him as our spiritual guide. He said he would give us the wird of the order and make the spiritual agreement between us (the Bai'ah) later on in the evening, during the gathering we were going to.
The gathering was such an uplifting experience. Perhaps 60 or more people attended it. The Shaykh gave the attendees some advices, people recited some Quran, the munshids sang some praises to the Prophet SWS. At the order of Sidi Buzidi, people got up in a circle, making a steady movement from back to front, focussing on remembering their Creator.
After the hadra, people sat in groups. I was called to join the group of the Shaykh. Delicious Moroccan couscous was served.
Sidi Buzidi then called me. He explained to me few basic principles of the tariqa, and handed me the wird, or litany. He explained to me how to recite it, morning and evening.
Then Nabil made us understood it was time to go. We got up to salute the Shaykh. As I kissed his forehead, I asked him to invoque the Lord for the guidance of my parents. He made us sit back down and told me the story of a sufi (can't remeber his name) who bought ten kufi hat and put them on the head of jews. The sufi the prayed to God: "O God, I have changed their outwards, but only you can change their inwards." All the Jews became Muslims. We left the gathering.
The funny thing is that on that night, I had a new hat on me, that Nabil had given me. In the car, Nabil was laughing: "O Abdelmalik, I changed your outward, and the Shaykh changed your inward!"

I remember...

I remember few years ago I was having lunch in the garden with my family. Islam was on the table again, can't remember why...

I was telling them (May God guide them), that for every mosque they'll see around the world, at least one person in it knows the complete Quran by heart...

I remember my father in law was amazed! He could not believe it!

It's all good

The reward and advantages for having memorised Quran are uncountable. What we do not realise is the memorising process in which children of the umma have to go through…

And it could go without saying, in traditional countries, like Mauritania, children get beaten up. It is part of the learning process. For them, it's like that, no other way...

I realised that quite early into my stay in Mauritania. And let me tell you, when they get beaten up, it is real!

The question that could be raise is, is that beating legal under Islamic law? I do not hold the definite answer, and I suppose there are differences of opinions among the scholars in that matter.
However, from what I have gathered, I’d say no.
Ibn Abi Zaid Al-Qayrawani in his famous book of Maliki jurisprudence, Al-Rissalat, says that a child should be beaten up (it is mandoob, not wajib!) if he refuses to pray at the age of 10. This ruling has come from a hadith of the prophet, Peace and Blessing be upon him, that said: “Order your children to pray at the age of 7 and beat them for it at the age of 10”. (Narrated by Abu Dawud, An-Nissai and Tirmidhi who said of it hassan sahih).

However even amongst the scholars of the Maliki madhab, we have for example Ibn Nafi’i, a student of Imam Malik I think, who forbid this beating on the ground that it is oppression since nothing is obligatory upon them (Sharh Rissalat of Sidi Ahmed Zarruq). The beaten should be light, no crying involved.
This is for prayer. It is arguably the only legal reason to beat a child.

However, I would like to bring here two important points. On one side, you have the nicest, most spiritual and easy going Mauritnians, that beat children. Once, in Twemret, I thought of a brother: “That person would never beat a child”. Few days later I saw him beating the ache up his little brother for not memorising fast enough.
And on the other side, the children are totally submitting to this beating and find it absolutely normal. I was once with a guy in Twemret memorising in the rocks, when he started to beat his little brother so hard I became heart broken and left the 13 year old kid crying out loud. When I saw the kid again, he told me I should not have left just because his brother was beating him up. I thought: “O yeh of course!”

Since that episode, I try to hold back my feelings and think nothing of it.

I now live in Nabbaghiya, in a room inside the Quranic school. A bunch of children come every morning from 5.30 to 8.30 and every evening from 5 to 7. Their numbers vary from only a few individuals to up to 30, all between the age of 7 to 13. And they get beaten up. No joke.
Their teacher, Sayyd, is really nice and soft mashallah. He is a close student of Shaykh Bah. You would not picture him beating children. But he does. Here it is a cultural thing, nothing big, like nowadays in the West, were hitting a child, even your own, is forbidden under law!

From time to time, when a kid feel his “time” is near. He just gets up and runs as fast as possible to the door and then run away in the village, usually with the Quran still in his hand.

The photo I posted just above is such an event. The small kid in the middle ran away with a red Quran in his hand. He tried to run as fast as possible on the sand, but the Quran in his hands slowed him downed considerably. The teacher sent two other students to catch him and bring him back, which they did with great pleasure. The kid on the right is actually the runner’s cousin.

I make it sounds horrible, although this particular event was actually hilarious!

I later on was told by one of the kids that in order to study the Quran, beatings is necessary.

So if nobody complain, why should I?

I have this photo as a wall paper on my desktop, and every time I see it, I can’t help my self not to laugh or at least smile.

Whatever we might think, I sometime regret not to have been beaten up as a child. With that methodology, one tends to learn fast!