Would Muslims of that age even recognize the innovated shortened Azan that we hear today?
The calls during the night are long chants, that of the daytime
is much shorter. Mr. Lane renders it thus: ”
God is most Great ” (four times repeated). “I testify that
there is no deity but God ” (twice). ” I testify that Mohammed
is God’s Apostle ” (twice). “Come to prayer ” (twice). “Come
to security ” (twice). “God is most Great” (twice). “There is
no deity but God.”The muezzin whom I hear when the first faint light
appears in the east, has a most sonorous and sweet tenor
voice, and his chant is exceedingly melodious. In the perfect
hush of that hour his voice fills all the air, and might well be
mistaken for a sweet entreaty out of heaven. This call is
a long one, and is in fact a confession and proclamation
as well as a call to prayer.It begins as follows: “[I extol] the perfection of God, the Existing forever and
ever” (three times) : ” the perfection of God, the Desired, the
Existing, the Single, the Supreme: the perfection of God, the
One, the Sole: the perfection of Him who taketh to Himself,
in his great dominion, neither female companion nor male
partner, nor any like unto Him, nor any that is disobedient,
nor any deputy, nor any equal, nor any offspring. His
perfection [be extolled]: and exalted be His name. He is a
Deity who knew what hath been before it was, and called
into existence what hath been; and He is now existing, as He
was [at the first]. His perfection [be extolled]: and exalted
be His name.”And it ends: ” O God, bless and save and still beatify the
beatified Prophet, our lord Mohammed. And may God,
whose name be blessed and exalted, be well pleased with thee,
0 our lord El-Hassan, and with thee, O our lord El-Hoseyn,
and with thee, O Aboo-Farrag, O Sheykh of the Arabs, and
with all the favorites [' the welees'] of God. Amen.”The mosques of Cairo are more numerous than the churches
in Rome; there are about four hundred, many of them in
ruins, but nearly all in daily use.– “Mummies and Moslems”, Travelogue By Charles Dudley Warner Published 1876
Now one may compare this type of Azan to what one may hear in the company of Naksibendi Mureeds:
Arabic
——
Allahumma Salli ‘alaa Sayyidina Muhammad
Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar
Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar
Ashhadu an la ilaha illallah
Ashhadu an la ilaha illallah
Ashhadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullah
Ashhadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullah
Hayyi ‘alas salah
Hayyi ‘alas salah
Hayyi ‘alal falah
Hayyi ‘alal falah
Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar,
La ilaha illallah
As-Salatu was salamu ‘alayk,
alayka ya Sayyidiyya Rasullullah
As-Salatu was salamu ‘alayk,
alayka ya Sayyidiyya Habbibullah
As-Salatu was salamu ‘alayk,
ya man arsalahu-llahu ta’ala rahmatan lil-’alamin
As-Salatu was salamu ‘alayk,
alayka ya Sayyidiyya Awwalin wal Akhirin
As-Salatu was salamu ‘alayk,
wa ‘ala alika wa ashabika ajma ‘in
As-Salatu wa s-salamu ‘alaykum,
ya Anbiya wa Awliya Allah.
Alhamdulillahi Rabbil Alamin!
(Du’a)
Allahumma Rabba hadhihi da’wati tamma’ was salatil qa’ima, ati Muhammadan al-wasilata wal fazilata wad darajatir rafi’atal ‘aliyya, wab’athhu, ya Rabbi, al-maqamal mahmudal lazi wa’adtahu, warzuqna shafa’atahu yawmal qiyama, innaka la tukhliful mi’ad
English
——-
O Allah! Shower blessings upon Sayyidina Muhammad
Allah is Greatest
(four times)
I bear witness that there is no god but Allah
(twice)
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah (twice)
Hasten to the prayer
(twice)
Hasten to salvation
(twice)
Allah is Greatest (twice)
There is no god but Allah.
Blessings and peace be upon you,
O Messenger of Allah
Blessings and peace be upon you,
O Beloved of Allah
Blessings and peace be upon you,
O you whom Allah Most High sent as Mercy to the Worlds.
Blessings and peace be upon you,
O Master of Here and Hereafter
Blessings and peace be upon you,
and upon all your family and your Companions.
Blessings and peace be upon you,
O Prophets and Friends of Allah
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds!
O Allah! Lord of this perfect supplication and of this established prayer, grant Muhammad the means and the exellence, and the sublime and supreme rank. Raise him, O my Lord, to the Praiseworthy Station which You promised him, and grant us his intercession on the Day of Judgement, for You do not fail Your promise.
One of the most powerful ways to understand things is through a lens of historical context.
When examining Shariat (Divine Law) we often think of the historical context, even if it is involuntary. We may understand the Shariat as a need that came to a people of lawlessness and injustice. We may further understand the books of Hadith through the need to capture and maintain the traditions of the Prophet (Sallalahu’alaiheewassalam) for future generations. While we know that Tassawuf (also known as Tazkiyat and Tariqat) much like Shariat, existed for all times with different names and slightly different means, we can certainly examine the rise of Tassawuf in an Islamic and historical sense.
Where do we put the spiritual sciences, Tassawuf, or the Tariqats in the larger context of history?
The best way to come to build a historical context for the Tariqat is to examine the society around the great saints and namesakes of the Tariqats.
All of these high saints and their large bodies of students came from societies very different from the one we live in today. They were surrounded by Muslims, they lived in societies where praying in Jamaat was the norm. This is where everyone in the country (and beyond) was fasting and giving their zakat. Pilgrimage was much more arduous, yet performed by thousands. If someone didn’t rise for Tarawih, they became the talk of the town.
It is within this environment that we see the great Saints of Islam rising and gather students. Teacher of the likes of Sheykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (R), Shah Naksiband (R), Moinuddin Chishti (R) were all living in the reality of a ubiquitous Shariat, when the laws of Islam were being canonized. They lived in the type of society of Imam Ghazali (R), from whose writings we can witness the high level and respect that religious scholars of Islamic Law and doctrine were given. In fact, we can see from his writings in the “Deliverance from Error” how the people considered him insane for leaving his high teaching position in order to pursue the inner side of Islam.
Tassawuf, and Tariqat flourished in this environment. What was about its message that was so uniquely fitted within this time period?
Read More Post a comment (6)Some people are able to take a recipe and create the meal perfectly. Most often, these are people who themselves have years of experience in cooking. I am definitely not one of those people. When I cook, recipes often turn into completely different dishes from the original intent. Some taste good, most are (not surprisingly) disasters. Either way, it’s certainly a gamble.
Why is it that even following simple directions ends up in disaster? It may have to do with the nuances and need for interpretation that is found within recipes. The examples could fill libraries: a “pinch” of salt here, a “dash” of this there, “reducing heat” to a “simmer”, being careful not to “over-mix”.
The truth is that recipes are an attempt at capturing the reality of a person’s practice and experience. We are not ‘creating’ a meal, we are attempting at ‘recreating’ it.
The best cooks are those who after real training are able to apply a ‘sixth sense’ in determining what these nuanced phrases mean. The interpretation of the recipe becomes key. With proper interpretation a recipe may unlock within another chef a means to create the same delicious dish.
Better yet, one recipe may yield two equally delightful, but certainly different dishes, based off of the interpretation of the chef, as long they both have a fundamental training in how to make good meals.
At this point one may be thinking, did I land on yursil.com or cooking.com? Don’t worry… you are at yursil.com!
The truth is that Islam is just like a good dish, a dish that will be ready on the day of our death. After that, there is little we can do to add to that dish or take away.
So, when we look at our so-called “recipes of life” (Quran and Hadith or Fiqh manuals), are we certain we are able to understand the nuances of those instructions? Like recipes, these books of instructions are necessary tools to “recreate” the reality that existed during the Prophet’s (Sallalahu’alaiheewassalam) time. But are we able to apply the proper interpretation and context to all of those words or will we end up with a deflated souffl of deeds to present to our Lord?
We are fortunate that we don’t need to be so specific as a recipe when dealing with life. We are also fortunate that we have many chances to go back and fix what we have erred in.
Although, to go back and make the same mistakes in interpretation over and over again is a sign of madness, but that is really what we end up doing.
So, isn’t it better to learn from a “master chef” or in our case, a shaykh?
Why try to deal with recipes when you can opt for personalized instruction? We are lucky we are discussing Islam and Tariqat instead of cooking, since, unlike food, teachers and guides are even able to work on hearts from far distances away.
So time to put that batter down, turn off the Food network, and get connected with your teacher.
Who needs “Iron Chef”, when you have life?
One of the aspects of the Islamic faith that has been lost has been our history. We have sites which are devoted to current problems, however, very few focus on understanding of our past.
A major part of the problem is the curriculum of modern Islamic teaching institutions and youth groups. Such groups focus on the Prophet’s life (Sallahu’alaiheewassalam) and immediately jump into modern day understanding of Fiqh (law) and principles of Aqidah (doctrine).
What happened in between?
We have about 1400 years of scholarly progress which has suddenly gone up in smoke!
Alhamdulillah, some groups are looking to rectify this, but one piece is missing from this equation. Spiritual progress. Muslims are forgetting that while Fiqh was helpful is solving disputes and determining the exact position of ones hands in the obligatory prayers, little is being remembered of the personalities who were deeply impacted by the tradition of purification of the self which is also part of Islam.
Without realizing it we are forgetting the greatest of the greats of our religion, as we become knee deep in legal texts and linguistic differences, we have forgotten the heart of our religion. Character, Manners, Love of Allah.
Sainthood.
Sainthood in Islam is a special concept, unlike Catholicism, Muslims do not debate over whether someone is a saint in committee. In fact, the word itself is awkward for use in English. The actual Arabic word: Awliya or Wali, means Friends/Friend (as in Friend of God).
In Islam such great people receive their titles from heavenly sources, and while some remain hidden from public eyes, some become popularized through their words or deeds which they have been ordered to do.
So the question now becomes, why is it that we are so quick to forget the greats of Islam? Why have they become the equivalent of Muslim fairy tales that our fathers and mothers tell their children? In fact, just recently when I mentioned Sheykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (rad) to someone, all the person could remember of the name was a story his mother told him some time ago of how a group of robbers repented at his hands.
This is a sad state of affairs for those of us looking to lay the bricks of strength, tolerance, hope and peace of Islam for the future. We have to know what our foundation is made of.
It is through understanding these Saints of Islam that Muslims can learn about how Islam was taught to their ancestors and how it has now reached them. We need this so we can learn about picking up from where we left off, rather than trying to tread unknown paths in the darkness.
It is also through understanding these Saints that Non-Muslims can learn what characteristics and values are important to Muslims, and how the study of the life of the Prophet (Sallalahu’alaiheewasalam) is -supposed- to impact our lives.
In closing this brief introduction, I leave you with the retelling of Sheykh Abdul Qadir Jilani’s experience with the group of robbers.
Here is the actual retelling of his experience:
How seasoned highway robbers were moved to repentance at the hands of Shaikh ‘Abd al-Qadir.
“‘I traveled with a small caravan, bound for Baghdad. When we had reached the vicinity of Hamadhan, and found ourselves in a stretch of rugged terrain, sixty men on horseback suddenly attacked us from an ambush, and seized the caravan. None of them took the slightest notice of me personally, until one of the brigands turned to me in passing, and said: “Hey there, poor beggar, what do you have with you?” So I told him: “Forty dinars,” and he said: “Where are they?” “Stitched in the lining of my coat,” I replied, “underneath my armpit.” He assumed that I was testing his sense of humor, so he left me alone and moved elsewhere. Then a second brigand passed by me, and when he asked me the same question, exactly as the first had asked it, I repeated the answer I had given the first time, and so he also left me alone.
“‘Then the pair of them got together in the presence of their leader, and they told him what they had heard from me. “Bring him here to me,” said the leader, so they brought me to him. They were up on a hill, sharing out the goods they had robbed from the caravan. “What do you have with you?” he asked me, so I said: “Forty dinars.” He then asked: “Where are they?” and I told him: “Stitched in the lining of my coat, underneath my armpit.” So he commandeered my coat, ripped the stitching apart, and discovered that it did indeed have forty dinars inside the lining. “Whatever prompted you to make this confession?” he wanted to know, so I told him: “My mother made me promise to commit myself to truthfulness, and I would never betray my binding covenant with her.”
“‘As soon as he heard these words, the chief brigand began to weep, and he said through his tears: “You did not betray your mother’s covenant, whereas I, for so many years up to this present day, have been betraying the covenant of my Lord!” He thereupon repented at my hands, and his fellow brigands said to him: “You have been our leader in highway robbery [qat' at-tariq], and now you shall be our leader in repentance [tawba].” So they all repented at my hands, and they restored to the caravan whatever items they had seized from the travelers. They were thus the very first of all those sinners who have by now repented at my hands.”‘
His works, his life, and his miracles are accessible here: http://www.al-baz.com/shaikhabdalqadir/
Two promising books that I found in my searches, both to-be-released within the next few months.
They are quite expensive, but they may be worth it!
From al-Andalus to Khurasan
Documents from the Medieval Muslim World
Edited by Petra M. Sijpesteijn, Lennart Sundelin, Sofa Torallas Tovar and Amalia Zomeo
Description from Publisher:
As in many areas of pre-modern history, the study of medieval Islamic history has been critically hindered by the lack of available evidence. Unlike many parallel fields, however, the shortage of contemporary documentary evidence for medieval Islam has less to do with the survival of documents and archives as with their accessibility.
A rich documentary legacy survives, but because of its inaccessibility and unfamiliarity to all but the most specialised scholars in the field, it has remained sadly underutilised. This volume contributes to the redressing of that problem. It collects papers given at the conference “Documents and the History of the Early Islamic Mediterranean World,” including editions of unpublished documents and historical studies, which make use of documentary evidence from al-Andalus, Sicily, Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, Syria and Khurasan.
Till God Inherits the Earth
Islamic Pious Endowments in al-Andalus (9-15th Centuries)
Alejandro Garca Sanjun
Description from Publisher:
Till God Inherits the Earth deals with the origins and evolution of the Islamic institution of pious endowments in al-Andalus, analysing its juridical basis and its social-economic role.
Evidence is primarly drawn from Andalusi Maliki jurisprudence and from narrative and biographical traditional sources as well.
Separate chapters examine private and public donations and special importance is given to the analysis of the public goals of the institution, namely, charitative, religious (mosques, rabitas), educational and for the jihad. The book is completed with several appendices including complementary information, translations of Arabic texts and figures.
This study provides us with a complete knowledge of several and important issues such as the relevance of Islamic jurisprudence as an historical source, the structure of economic property, the idea of charity, the Islamic concept of general or common interest and the social and juridical role of men of religion.
the truth on 
m.a.kidwai,CME/IND.RLY.(retd.) on 
