The Introduction to the Dīwān

The great Sufi master and Friend of Allah, Shaykh Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥabīb al-Amghārī al-Idrīsī al-Ḥasanī—may Allah be pleased with him—said:

All praise is due to Allah, Who in every age has raised up unique individuals to revive His path, and has lavished upon them from the Muhammadan Lights, from which all who follow them in love, whether in company or alone, draw their spiritual sustenance. We praise Him, the Glorified and Exalted, for the secrets with which He has distinguished us, and for the sciences, gnostic insights, and illuminations He has poured upon us. We thank Him, may His majesty be exalted, with a gratitude that encompasses all the blessings that have reached us and all of Allah's servants, both the enslaved and the free.

We bear witness that there is no god but Allah, alone, without partner, the testimony of those who have reached the state of annihilation in the Divine Unity from among the close ones. And we bear witness that our master, Muhammad, is His servant and His Messenger, whom Allah sent as a mercy to all the worlds. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and upon his family and his companions, who sacrificed their selves and their wealth in the revival of his path and the establishment of his tradition, paying no heed to the harm of the hypocrites and the veiled.

And so, know with a knowledge of certainty, O assembly of brethren from the Darqāwī-Shādhilī Order, and all others who wish to follow as servants of our Lord in all the lands of Allah and among the servants of Allah, that Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, has appointed for this blessed path in every era one who rectifies its deviations and brings forth its secrets and its lights.

He is the Shaykh who unites the Divine Reality (al-Ḥaqīqah) with the Sacred Law (ash-Sharīʿah), commissioned by Allah and His Messenger, and by all the saints of Allah. And he is the Muhammadan Solitary (al-Fard al-Muḥammadī), of whom there is but one in any given time. And though the shaykhs of his age may be many, the ultimate authority belongs to that Solitary one, whether they are aware of it or not.

Indeed, many have falsely claimed the Station of Solitariness with lies and deception, seeking leadership and striving to acquire this fleeting world. This claimant is unaware that whoever lays claim to what is not in them will be proven a liar by the touchstones of trial, for it is by them that a person is honored or debased.

The truthful Shaykhs were content with Allah’s knowledge of them and were attached to none but Him. And if anything did manifest from them, it was by way of speaking of the blessings of Allah. As Allah the Exalted says, “And as for the blessing of your Lord, proclaim it.”

And so, here is the servant in need of his Master, who through Him is rich, independent of all else—Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥabīb, of Amghārī and Ḥasanī lineage, from Fes in origin and abode—who says, by way of speaking of Allah’s blessings:

The commission has been granted to us from Allah, from His Messenger, and from all the saints of Allah. And He has singled me out with sciences and secrets that are not to be found except with the Muhammadan Solitary. And were we to elaborate upon what Allah has bestowed on us, we would require volumes.

However, we will mention to the aspirants what my shaykh and my teacher, Sīdī Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī, distinguished me with. When he assumed the leadership of the order—may Allah be pleased with him—I wrote him a letter to renew my covenant with him, as I had previously taken the path from the Shaykh and Knower of Allah, Sīdī al-ʿArabī ibn al-Hūwwārī. He wrote back to me—may Allah be pleased with him—and commanded me to come into his presence. So, I complied with his command and traveled to Marrakesh.

When I entered his presence, may Allah be pleased with him, such joy and happiness overcame him that it cannot be measured, and he told me, “Your coming to me was the coming of the entire order.”

And he told me on another occasion, in a long presage, “You are to us, in our order, of the same rank as Ibn ʿAṭāʾillāh was to the Shādhilī order. For just as Allah revived the Shādhilī path through Ibn ʿAṭāʾillāh, so likewise will Allah revive this blessed path through you, if Allah wills.”

And Allah has indeed realized his hope in us. For by Allah, and again by Allah, we have not passed through a city, nor a village, nor a desert encampment, except that its people testified to the arrival of spiritual succor (madad) to them and the flowing of life into their hearts. And that is the secret of the commission (idhn). And no spiritual aspirant (faqīr) has sat with us—praise be to Allah—except that he increased in knowledge he did not possess and attained humility and brokenness. And no seeker (murīd) of the path has sat with us except that his innate disposition was strengthened and his aspiration (himmah) was elevated in seeking the gnosis of Allah. And no shaykh from the shaykhs of the age has sat with us except that he increased in spiritual tasting (dhawq) to his tasting and benefited from us with something he did not possess. And all of that is from the secret of the commission and its blessing.

Ibn ʿAṭāʾillāh said in his Ḥikam: “He who is given commission (idhn) to express, his expressions are understood in the ears of creation and his allusions are made clear to them.” And the commissioned one is he who speaks by Allah and for Allah, and for that reason his speech has an effect on hearts, and every chosen and beloved one is drawn to him.

And the shaykh of our shaykh, Sīdī Muḥammad al-ʿArabī—may Allah be pleased with him—said: “By Allah, none comes to me except the accepted one.” And I say, speaking of the blessings of Allah: “By Allah, none comes to me except the beloved one.”

And the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said to me in a glad tiding: “Know, O my son, that Allah will honor you with waters, fresh and sweet.” I said: “O Messenger of Allah, are these waters the waters of Islām, Īmān, and Iḥsān?” He—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said to me: “They are.” I said: “O Messenger of Allah, will I drink these waters alone, or I and everyone who follows me?” He—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: “You will drink them, you and everyone from my nation who follows you.” And Allah has indeed realized for us what he—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—promised us. For by Allah, we have indeed drunk these waters, and everyone who accompanies us with sincerity drinks them in the shortest time.

So, praise Allah, the Exalted, O my masters, and thank Him for what your Master has honored you with in your time. Allah the Exalted said: “Whatever Sign We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We bring a better one or similar to it.” And Allah the Exalted placed “better” before “similar” as an indication that the perfect saint (al-walī al-kāmil), his heir must inevitably appear, even if after a while, and he will be more perfect than him in knowledge and gnosis of Allah the Exalted, as an honor for that perfect saint, and because the spiritual succor (madad) of Allah the Exalted and His effusion (fayḍ) are ever-increasing. Our Shaykh, our master and patron Aḥmad al-Badawī—may Allah be pleased with him—said:

And Your effusion (fayḍ) is ever-increasing,
And Your generosity is continuous.

And I have alluded in a poem of mine to some of what Allah has distinguished me with, speaking of the blessings of Allah, and its text is:

The remembrance of the Beloved has clothed us in beauty,
And splendor, and eminence, and joy.
And we cast off restraint at the moment of drawing near,
And proclaimed openly the One we love, in pride.

And it is a famous poem mentioned in this blessed Dīwān, in it are twenty verses, study it and you will find what I have alluded to for you.

After the passing of Shaykh Sīdī Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with him—the commission (idhn) was renewed in me, while I deemed myself insignificant and saw myself as unworthy of that station (maqām). Until the four Shaykhs came to me, and they are Sīdī Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī—may Allah be pleased with him, and Sīdī al-ʿArabī ibn al-Hūwwārī—may Allah be pleased with him, and Sīdī Muḥammad al-ʿArabī—may Allah be pleased with him, and Sīdī Aḥmad al-Badawī—may Allah be pleased with him. And they commanded me to emerge to the creation and guide them to the True King. And they said: “Indeed, the water which you drank from us is the freshest and sweetest of waters, so extend your hand to the East and the West, and fear no one.” Then after this, the commission (idhn) came from the Chosen One—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and the directive to emerge became emphatic. So I emerged to the creation by Allah and for Allah, saying as Ibn ʿAṭāʾillāh said in his Ḥikam: “My God, You have commanded the return to the created things; so return me to them clothed in lights and guided by insight, so that I may return to You from them as I entered upon You from them, my innermost being (sirr) preserved from looking at them, and my aspiration (himmah) raised above relying on them. Indeed, You have power over all things.”

And know, O my masters, that taking a living Shaykh is obligatory upon every seeker aspiring to the Divine Presence. And the proof of this obligation is His saying, the Exalted: “O you who believe, fear Allah and be with the truthful ones.” And “being with” necessitates companionship in body, not just in spirit. And He, the Exalted, said: “And follow the path of him who has turned to Me.” So, He, the Exalted, commanded in this verse the child to follow the father of spirits, not the father of bodies, because the father of the spirit nurtures the inner reality (maʿnā), while the father of the body nurtures for you the sensory (ḥiss). And what a difference there is between one whose aspiration (himmah) is the sensory and one whose aspiration is the inner reality.

And the Messenger of Allah—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said: “A man is upon the religion of his close friend, so let each of you look to whom he takes as a close friend.” And there has been consensus from this Muhammadan nation, from predecessors to successors, that the first thing obligatory upon the seeker after awakening from heedlessness is to turn to a sincere, guiding Shaykh, knowledgeable of the defects of the soul, its inclinations, and the remedies for its illnesses. Free from the task of refining his own soul and its aims, he makes the seeker see the defects of his soul and brings him out from the circle of his sensory perception (ḥiss). For whoever does not have a Shaykh to lead him to the path of guidance, Satan will inevitably lead him to the path of perdition. And murīd is derived from irādah (aspiration/will), and its attachment is sincerity (ikhlāṣ). And the reality of the seeker is that he is divested of his own will for what Allah wills from him, which is the worship of Allah the Exalted, due to His saying, the Exalted: “And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.”

The seeker is weak in purifying his own soul while alliance in the inner realm is to the soul and Satan, so if he is under the authority of the Shaykh, under the wing of his spiritual guardianship (wilāyah), he aids him in obedience to Allah and His worship through his effective aspiration (himmah) by Allah's commission (idhn), and his impactful speech by Allah's grace. So, it is obligatory upon him to cling to one in whom his good intention is established from among the Shaykhs of the age.

And Sayyidī ʿAbd al-Wāḥid ibn ʿĀshir said:

He accompanies a Shaykh, a knower of the paths,
Who protects him on his way from perils.
He reminds him of Allah when he sees him,
And connects the servant to his Master

Look at what the commentators have said about these verses, and ambiguity will be removed from you.

Ibn ʿAṭāʾillāh, may Allah be pleased with him, said in his Ḥikam: “Do not accompany one whose state does not uplift you and whose speech does not guide you to Allah.” For the uplifting of state and the guidance of speech are from the results of companionship. So, whoever does not find this state from his companion, let him leave him for Allah's sake, and let him search for one who has this quality, for he will attain him according to his sincerity and the strength of his resolve. And Allah is the One whose help is sought.

I said in a tāʾiyyah poem of mine, in which I mentioned the qualities of the nurturing Shaykh:

And a haylalah (Lā ilāha illa Allāh) that banishes all whisperings
By the instruction of a Shaykh, a knower of the Reality (al-Ḥaqīqah)
And his signs are a light that shines outwardly

And a secret that has appeared from the inward, along with aspiration (himmah)

And an elevation by a glance before an utterance

And if an utterance comes from him, it comes adorned

And I mean by it the secrets that flow swiftly

To the heart of the seeker of the Truth, without partnership

And his renunciation of the created worlds is the mainstay of his journey

And preoccupation with singling out the Beloved in vision

And his clear declaration of the commission (idhn) from the best of nations

Upon him is the reliance of the truthful, the eminent

So, if the intended goal is achieved from what I have mentioned

Then hasten and give the soul without delay

And consider nothing other than what I have outlined

For in it is what suffices and all delight

And al-Junayd, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

Purify yourself with the water of the Unseen, if you possess a secret

Otherwise, perform tayammum with dust or rock

And put forward an Imam whom you were in front of

And pray the noon prayer at the beginning of the afternoon

For that is the prayer of the knowers of their Lord

So, if you are one of them, then sprinkle the land with the sea

He—may Allah be pleased with him—commanded the seeker to purify himself with the water of the Unseen. And it is understood from this that purification is of two types: sensory purification, which is with sensory water and its concern is the entire body if the state of ritual impurity is major, or the specific limbs if the state of ritual impurity is minor. And this is not what the author—may Allah be pleased with him—intended. And the second type is spiritual purification, which is the purification of hearts from the illnesses that veil them from the presence of the Knower of the Unseen. And this purification is only with spiritual water, which is the water of sciences, gnostic insights, and secrets, flowing from the presence of the Unseen to the heart of the Shaykh, the knower of Allah, purified from defect; which the Shaykh effuses upon the seeker, so his heart is purified from ‘others’ (al-aghyār) and filled with gnostic insights and secrets. And this is if the seeker possesses a secret—meaning, inner vision (baṣīrah)—by which he reaches one who takes him by the hand, and he is the Shaykh who draws from the presence of the Unseen, as we have mentioned before. And if the seeker does not possess a secret and inner vision, then let him perform tayammum with the dust of outward actions and formal sciences until Allah opens for him the secret and inner vision.

And he—may Allah be pleased with him—indicated by his saying, “And put forward an Imam whom you were in front of,” that it is obligatory upon the seeker to put forward an Imam, a Shaykh, a knower of Allah, whom he follows in the spiritual prayer which is the witnessing of the presence of the Worshipped King, just as it is obligatory upon the one being led in prayer to follow his Imam in the prayer of bowing and prostration. And his saying, “whom you were in front of,” he—may Allah be pleased with him—indicated by it that the seeker does not follow a Shaykh from the Shaykhs unless mutual recognition has occurred between them in the world of spirits. The Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—said: “Souls are conscripted soldiers; those of them that recognize one another, unite, and those that do not, differ.” So, the meaning according to this is: “And put forward an Imam in the world of bodies whom you were in front of in the world of spirits.” And because of the meeting and recognition that occurred in the world of spirits, harmony occurred in the world of bodies.

And his saying, may Allah be pleased with him, “And pray the Ẓuhr (noon) prayer at the beginning of the ʿAṣr (afternoon)”: by the Ẓuhr (noon) he means the manifestation (ẓuhūr) of what is in your will for your Lord—which is the continuous witnessing of the presence of the Worshipped King, as mentioned before. And by “at the beginning of the ʿAṣr (afternoon),” he means at the outset of your contemporaneous association (muʿāṣarah) with your Shaykh and your divestment of will for him. And he—may Allah be pleased with him—did not intend the noon and afternoon prayers which include bowing and prostration, because the known noon prayer is required to be prayed at the beginning of its time, not at the beginning of the afternoon. Therefore, we interpreted it as we have mentioned. So, understand, and you will be guided. And Allah oversees our guidance and the guidance of all worlds, Āmīn.

And his saying—may Allah be pleased with him: “For that is the prayer of the knowers of their Lord,” which is the continuous witnessing of the presence of the Worshipped King. So, their prayer is not interrupted because they are from those who are “constant in their prayer,” meaning, they are persistent in their witnessing of their Lord.

And his saying—may Allah be pleased with him, “So if you are one of them, then sprinkle the land with the sea.” If you are from the knowers—and they are those who are not veiled by creation from the Real, nor by the Real from creation—then sprinkle, meaning, spray the land of your Sacred Law (ash-Sharīʿah) with the sea of your Reality (al-Ḥaqīqah), and be from those who combine them both. As our Imam Mālik—may Allah be pleased with him—said: “Whoever adheres to the Sacred Law (tasharraʿa) and does not actualize the Reality (yataḥaqqaq), has become corrupt (tafassaqa). And whoever actualizes the Reality (yataḥaqqaq) and does not adhere to the Sacred Law (tasharraʿa), has become a heretic (tazandaqa). And whoever combines them both, has become realized (taḥaqqaqa).” Meaning, he has realized the two servitudes: the servitude of obligation (ʿubūdiyyat al-taklīf) and the servitude of Gnosis (ʿubūdiyyat al-taʿrīf).