He’s lost some weight, our boy. Earlier, I had been trying for some time to get him to drink – he doesn’t drink easily. I approached, as usual, head-on from the front – and then I remembered: “This is how I do it,” he said. “Watch.” Wisdom is like that:…
After recognizing the benefit of the companionship of a shaykh [i] who is connected to the Prophet (pbuh) by the transmission of his Light; a noble guide who lives by both sharī’ah [ii] and Truth – for the sincere murīd [iii] who hopes to arrive at the Divine Presence; the…
In The Diwan of Shaikh Husain Ash-Shadhili Ad-Darqawi, a diwan of three languages: Arabic, Indonesian and English, the pantun Al-Qur’an stands alone in one language only: Indonesian. This eloquent pantun [i] is a poem based on the Noble Qur’an, the sunnah (prophetic tradition) and ilham (inspiration). Direct quotations from the…
Naturally, the passage of time is the courier of change. But just as with the global warming of Islam, when change begins to eclipse Essence, it is time to attend to the damage being inflicted, to heed the warning symptoms of a process gone awry, and act… الْكَوْنُ كُلُّهُ ظُلْمَةٌ…
The way of words is a journey from the written to the read, from the spoken to the heard. As travelers 3: writer, word, and reader (or speaker, word, and listener), we venture, en rapport, from heart to words to heart. The wonder of this adventure is that something subtle…
These wise words have been extracted in their original language, Bahasa Indonesia from The Sunday Series: Majlis Tafsir Al-Qur’an with Shaikh Husain at the Foundation of The Happy Heart Zawiyah in Parung, Indonesia. The Pantun Al-Qur'an is from ilham (inspiration). Although Shaikh Husain is originally from Malaysia and of Chinese…
Shaikh Husain is among those who aim for the essence. As long as I have had the honor of knowing this noble man - before he received his Shadhili-Darqawi idhn from Shaykh Fattah in 1998 (he also received idhn in the Rufa’iyyah and Chistiyyah tara’iq) - he has had the gift…
Ja'afar As-Sadiq (may Allah be content with him) describes the noble station of ma'rifah (gnosis): The 'arif (person of gnosis) is with the people, while his heart is with Allah. If his heart were to forget Allah for the time it takes to blink an eye, he would die of…
How do I find someone to learn from; who truly knows Islam in its depth? He who truly knows is the one in whom sound actions, pure supplications, truthfulness and precaution speak out; not his tongue, his debates, his comparisons, assertions or claims. ~Ja'afar As-Sadiq (ra) When we want to…
Have you ever wondered if your Living Islam in the Modern Times Operating System was running as efficiently as it should? Have you ever wished that you could enhance your user experience while remaining compliant with the Universal OS Author/Designer’s authentic standard? Have you ever felt confused by the often…