Can be viewed in high-resolution at

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Canes are for the old and weak
charge your new cell phone, its the new accessory.

Feminism is erecting its head
since we can’t find ‘em,  we don’t need real men.

Turbans are donned only for weddings
whats the point of these again?

Business suits for walima only please.
dont be backwards, sir… you are being seen!

Lets be friends with all groups,
Too many choices, so there is no Siratul Mustaqeem.

Moonsighting occupies our time
don’t you know? your holiday is a crime.

Trim that beard and wear blue jeans
wait, wait, my daughter is wearing what?

Subtlety and metaphors are too complex for us
crassness works better.  What is Allah saying?

Prayer doesn’t help until you help yourself, so
its redundant and we’ll just stop doing that now.

Our Imams need to eat,
now no money means no ‘knowledge’.

Celebrating the Prophet (S) is dubious to us,
did you register for the next convention?

There is no music in Islam,
so we need new rock stars.

Ebay that miswak, its for the children.
“No fee“, doesn’t apply to me.

Ramazan its the time to be holy
so lets keep our bellies empty. Hey, whats tarawih?

Injustice everywhere, time to protest, argue, and suggest.
lets ask for help from lucifer press.

Islam is just as we are now,
This was what was meant to be.

Rubbing of the two eyes with the back of the index fingers at the time the muadhdin says ‘I bear witness Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’ assured the Prophet’s intercession

Daylami has recorded this report in his Musnad al-Firdaws, tracing it through Abu Bakr (R)

Wahabis reject its meaning since it is not a hadith of the Prophet (S).   To them I say, the words of Abu Bakr (R) are closer to our hearts than yours.

Ramazan Kareem, Ramazan Mubarak!

The entrance to the Apartments of the Holy Mantle, which opens to the Inner Courtyard, is called the fountain Gate. It was restored during the reign of Ahmed III (1703-1730).  Above the door hangs a calligraphy, Kalima al-Tawhid (Proclamation of God’s Unity), written by the sultan, who was a gifted calligrapher. There are two lines of script, one on each side, in the shape of a tugra (sultan’s monogram). The line on the right reads “Lord of the World, Glorious Ruler,” and the one on the left reads “Devotee of the Shari’a, Sultan Ahmed.” A smaller monogram of Sultan Ahmed III is engraved above these lines. On each side of the monogram are two lantern brackets from bronze supports.

ref: Aydin, Hilmi  (2005). The Sacred Trusts (pg 17). New Jersey: The Light Publishing

Reverting to what early Ottoman Naqshbandis made of the rabita, we may begin with the following description by Mustafa al-Sadiqi (R).

Rabita requires that the practitioner attach himself in obedient service (khidma) to a shaykh who has reached [the station of witnessing], and that he keep the shaykh’s company (suhba) continually, fill himself with utmost attentiveness to him, cement his love for him in his heart, and [learn to] preserve the shaykh’s visual form (sura) in his imagination. Thus is generated between them such a bond and union that the emancipation of divine energy (fayd) reaching the shaykh can pour forth to the disciple without a need for a great deal of ascetic exercises (mujahada wa ijtihad). When the rabita occurs and [the practitioner] feels its effect in his heart, he should strive to preserve it. Whenever there is slackening of that [effect] he should return to companionship with the shaykh, time after time, until the effect returns to him and becomes a natural disposition (malaka).

ref: Le Gall, Dina (2005). A Culture of Sufism: Naqshbandi’s in the Ottoman World, 1450-1700 (pg 113) New York: State University of New York Press.

665. Ibn ‘Umar said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, say, ‘Anyone who removes his hand from obedience will meet Allah on the Day of Rising with no proof. Anyone who dies without having given Bayat will die the death of the Jahiliyya.’” [Muslim]

Riyad us Saliheen - Imam Nawawi