This book answers many of the questions often asked by seekers of inward illumination.  What are the real implications of the doctrine of divine unity?  How can proper concentration be achieved during spiritual exercises?  When should one avoid participating in Sufi gatherings?  What is the relationship between the tongue, the mind, and the heart?  How is one to understand visions received in sleep?  The work also includes the author’s commentary on a poem on inner wayfaring which speaks of the most exalted stations of the path and goes on to explain a number of paradoxes of the Way, such as the reason as why the saints usually refuse to deploy their miraculous powers, preferring to concentrate on self-scrutiny and the compassionate guidance of others.  These points are illustrated with references to the famous mystical poems of Ibn al-Farid and Abu Madyan.

The author Imam Abdallah Ibn-Alawi Al-Haddad (d. 1720), lived at Tarim in the Hadramaut valley between Yemen and Oman, and is widely held to have been the ‘renewer’ of the twelfth Islamic century. A direct descendant of the Prophet, his sanctity and direct experience of God are clearly reflected in his writings, which include several books, a collection of Sufi letters, and a volume of mystical poetry. He spent most of his life in Kenya and Saudi Arabia where he taught Islamic jurisprudence and classical Sufism according to the order (tariqa) of the Ba'Alawi sayids.

See also by Fons Vitae:

Sufi Sage of Arabia - Imam al-Haddad - NEW

The Book of Assistance, Imam al-Haddad

The Lives of Man by Imam Abdallah Ibn Alawi Al-Haddad.

Also available:

Key to the Garden by Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad

Mostafa al-Badawi author of the Fons Vitae Imam al-Haddad Spiritual Masters series is a disciple in the Sufi order of Imam al-Haddad. Mostafa al-Badawi is one of the world's premier translators of Islamic spiritual texts. He is a Consultant Psychiatrist and member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He studied under many shaykhs, foremost among whom is the late Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad. His other translations include: Book of Assistance, The Lives of Man, Two Treatises, The Prophetic Invocations, and Degrees of the Soul. He is also the author of Man and the Universe: An Islamic Perspective, recently published. He resides in Madinah.

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Excerpts from 'Gifts for the Seeker' by Imam al Haddad:

The Dhikr of La Ilaha Illallah

You should know that this phrase is the most comprehensive and profitable of all invocations; the nearest to bringing about the Opening and illumining the heart with the light of God. It is also the most suitable of invocations for all people, since it includes the meanings of all other invocations, such as al-hamdu li'Llah, subhan Allah, and so on. Each believer should therefore, make it his inseparable wird, his constant dhikr, without, however, abandoning the other invocations, of each of which he should have a wird.

Every human being is either a traveller, and arriver, or a non-traveller, and all three should hold unceasingly to this invocation. Travellers and non-travellers, since they perceive objects and attribute to them an existence of their own- something which may lead to subtle forms of hidden shirk- can only expel these from their souls by constantly repeating this phrase. As for the man who has arrived, this invocation is again the most appropriate for him, because although he perceives things by God, and unceasingly summons them to Him, he is not entirely free from perceiving his own self from time to time, and from reprehensible thoughts unworthy of his rank. It has been handed down to us that Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, may God be pleased with him, used to insert this phrase into his conversation: he would utter a few words, say la ilaha illa'Llah, and then resume what he was saying. This pertains to the Station of Subsistence (baqa) which follows that of Extinction (fana). As we said earlier, there is no invocation more appropriate for a man constantly to use than this; however, when the traveller reaches the initial stages of extinction, and is liberated from perceiving any of the worlds (as autonomous), then the most appropriate thing for him at that time is to keep to the Name of Allah. This is what the people of gnosis have advised.

All the above is from the point of view of choosing the best and the most appropriate alternative, for otherwise all the invocations are the paths leading to God. The shaykhs, may God be pleased with them, have many methods of uttering this honorable Phrase, whether aloud or silently, and have set conditions which the invoker who would expose himself to the Dive effulgence and the Lordly Opening needs to fulfil. These are explained in those of their treatises which deal with them specifically, where they can be found by whoever wishes to thread the path of such men. It is best that those who are able to find in their time a shaykh of authority should receive these from him directly, since books are a last resort for those who are unable to find (such a teacher); and what a difference there is between a man who receives the Path from a gnostic of authority who will take him to God, and one who only picks it up from a book!

God guides to what is right. To Him is the return, and success is from Him and in His Hand.

Tasbih and Hamd

You should know that to attribute Transcendence is to attribute holiness as well as exaltation. Its meaning is for the heart to be convinced that in His Essence, Attributes and Acts, the Real (Majestic and High is He!) transcends all resemblance to created beings. He is Holy, Transcendent, and High above partners, likenesses, contingencies which begin and end, aims and causes, and limits of time and location. He transcends any form that may arise in one's mind or imagination, and is beyond being apprehended by thought; for what He is lies beyond the scope of intelligence and the reach of knowledge.

Exaltation [ tasbih ] is often mentioned in the Qur'an when the Real affirms His freedom from everything that deviators [mulhidun ] attribute to Him that is unworthy of His impregnable perfection. Examples of this include His saying:

O people of the Book! Go not beyond the bounds in your religion, and say not anything but the truth concerning God, up to God is but one God; Transcendent is He, above having a son. [4:171] They have taken their rabbis and monks as lords up to Transcendent is God above what they empartner. [9:31] Is it not of their own calumny that they say: God has begotten? They are truly liars up to Transcendent is God above what they describe. [37: 15 1-9 ]

As for 'praise' [ thana'], this is to laud and extol, in other words, to make mention of the qualities of perfection that befit the Praised One, His attributes of loftiness, nobility and majesty, and the gifts and attainments that flow from Him to those who praise Him as well as to others, and His protection of them against various kinds of hardships and opposition. All of these things are to be accompanied by reverence and awe.

One of the acts of worship that most completely contains the various aspects of praise is to utter the phrase al-Hamdu li'Llah ['praise is for God!']. Know that God the Exalted is the [only ] one who is absolutely transcendent and worthy of praise, in every way and in all senses. This is uniquely and exclusively His, since He is free from all imperfections, and to Him belongs the whole of perfection, because He is the Source of all good; and every attainment, transcendence and praise is real only in His case, and [merely] figurative for others.

In effect, neither transcendence nor praise can ever be truly attributed to another, literally or metaphorically; for any creature who either achieves a kind of transcendence or does something which is deserving of praise, never does so by his own power and ability, but only by God's power, will, grace, and mercy; which come from God and belong to Him. The attributing by some people of transcendence by praising or extolling a created being who is indeed free of that which they say he is free of, is but the [ manifestation of the] imperfection that belongs to this being's kind.

And when they praise him for a quality of perfection that is actually his, they are but attributing transcendence and praise to God. This is known to some people, and quite unknown to others. Know, also, that God the Exalted stands in no need of anyone's attribution of transcendence or praise to Him. Those who do so neither free Him from imperfections-for He has none, and it is inconceivable that he have any-nor establish His perfection by their praise--for perfection was ever His, and eternally remains so. The man who attributes transcendence to his Lord, and praises Him, is only attracting benefits and good to himself; and God, in His grace, has promised this to him.

The Prophet has said, may blessings and peace be upon him: ' AI-Hamdu li'Llah fills the Scales, and Subhan Allah wa'I-hamdu li'Llah fills the distance which is between heaven and earth. '

And he said: 'God is pleased with a servant who, when he eats a morsel of food, praises and thanks Him for it, and when he drinks a drink, praises and thanks Him for it. '

The material bequeathed to us concerning Subhan Allah and al-hamdu li'Llah is both too voluminous and too well-known to be repeated here.

Those who strive, do so for themselves; for God is surely Independent of the worlds. [29:6]

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