Sidi Rafael Alejandro (Allah have mercy on him) said,

“From forests fair and feral my fragrance
Carries to every corner of the world,
From ancient India where I was found
To holy shrines around which pilgrims whirled.
From ancient jungles mythic and renowned
Across the isles of the East that surround
The Bay of Bengal and the China Sea
Come my treasured scents subtle and profound.
Breathe the centuries I hold, breathe deeply
And rare glimmers of the endless soul see
Within the wooed heart of my devotee
And such as I bestow on them freely.
In the Song of Solomon I was writ,
Saints and kings sought me. Will you claim your bit?”

Source: The Wandering Troubadour

Shaykh Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah (Allah have mercy on him) said,

“If you come across a poor person at a gathering, or a poor person visited you at home or at work, do not look down upon him or her. Poverty is not a defect or a fault to be ashamed of, while lack of kindness and generosity is. Treat poor acquaintances or guests with honour and respect. Talk pleasantly to them, using the best of language. Again, poverty is not a vice, many who are poor are more honourable than the wealthy, and many who are penniless are preferred to the rich.”

[Shaykh Abd al-Fattah Abu Ghuddah, Islamic Manners (translated by Shaykh Muhammad Zahid Abu Ghuddah)]

A righteous old man (Allah have mercy on him) related the following story about Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent’s encounter with a Sufi on a boat,

“‘How I yearn to have the peaceful heart that you have. My worries are ceaseless, my kingdom troublesome,’ said the sultan.
‘Do you really want inner peace?’ asked the Sufi.
‘Yes!’ replied the sultan. ‘Can you offer it to me?’
‘Pass me that ring on your finger,’ said the Sufi.
Looking puzzled, the sultan removed his diamond ring and handed it over to the Sufi, half hoping that this was the price of inner calm. The Sufi stared the sultan in the eyes and, without warning, dropped the priceless ring into the sea.
‘How dare you?’ yelled the sultan in a frenzy.
The Sufi smiled, unperturbed. The sultan called upon the members of his entourage to dive overboard and recover it. The Sufi raised his hand, indicating that the sultan should hold back his courtiers. Calmly, the Sufi put his hand into the water and miraculously pulled out the ring.
‘As long as this ring is of any worth to you, O Suleiman, you will not have inner peace. Inner contentment is derived from our detachment.’”

[Ed Husain, The Islamist]

Imam Maqqari (Allah have mercy on him) said,

“I saw in the handwriting of some of the senior (scholars) regarding that which is desired from writing are seven:
-something which has not been written before and is authored
-something written incompletely and is completed
-or is incorrect and is corrected
-or is difficult and is explained
-or is lengthy and is condensed/abridged
-or is not in one place and is gathered
-or is prose and is versified.”

[Imam Maqqari, Azhar al-Riyad]

Source: Dar al-Hadith

Sidi Aaron Haroon Sellars (Allah preserve him) said,

“Before Islam I was lost
And after Islam I was lost
Between this and that group
Was I tossed

A bookstore Shaykh
Not even worth a dollar
With do-it-yourself Islam
Who needs a scholar?

Tossed so much
Might as well been a salad
I was quoting Hadeeth
But my wudu was invalid

If I can’t purify my outer
Then what about my inner?
Piles of books
But still a big sinner

What I know, doesn’t show
And now I know better
That’s what happens without the spirit
And only the letter

So attach myself I must
To scholars with unbroken chains
For this is the means
By which pure knowledge remains”

Source: Reflect On This

Imam Birgivi (Allah have mercy on him) said,

“It must not be forgotten that a coin has two sides. Money has a good and a bad side: the good aspect of it is to be praised, while the bad aspect of it is to be condemned. The danger of material wealth is that it may render the wealthy arrogant and cause them to forget God, death and the Hereafter. Then they rebel against Him, neglect religion and responsibility, and become world-bound, immoral, selfish, and mean.

It is very difficult to realize that our possessions are not our own, but a gift of God lent to us to be spent on our needs and needs of others. Yet to believe that our wealth is purely the result of our own efforts and belongs to us to keep, rather than treating it as a trust from God, is a sin. It signifies either that one does not believe in God, or else that one belittles God’s generosity as the Sustainer of His creation, and is unthankful.

God says:

‘If you are grateful, I will give you more, and if you are ungrateful, My chastisement is truly severe.’ (Qur’an, 14:07).”

[Imam Birgivi, Tariqa al-Muhammadiya; Shaykh Tosun Bayrak, The Path of Muhammad]

Also see: Syposium on Islamic Finance - Mufti Taqi Usmani

O Allah, grant blessings and peace upon our Master Muhammad, the opening of what had been closed, and the Seal of what had gone before, and the helper of the Truth by the Truth, and the guide to Your Straight Path, Allah’s blessings be upon him and upon his Family and his Companions; may (this prayer be) equal to his immense position and grandeur.

Benefits of the Prayer

Shaykh Ahmad at-Tijani (Allah have mercy on him) reported that the Prophet (Allah bless him & give him peace) said to him,

“If someone invokes it (Salat al-Fatih); one time, he will receive the reward he would receive if he offered every invocation of blessing ever offered in the universe by all the jinn, human beings and angels, six hundred thousand times, from the beginning of time until the moment when he utters its invocation.”

Source: Red-Sulphur

Shaykh Sa’ad Peters al-Attas (Allah preserve him) said,

“There are three people on a journey. Muslim says its enough that I know that there’s water over there. Muhsin and Mu’min say lets climb the mountain then Mu’min said it is enough that I can see the water. The Muhsin is the one who goes to the water and brings it to others.”

Source: Sheikhy Notes

Part 1

Part 2

Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi (Allah have mercy on him) said,

“The Shari`ah has three parts: knowledge, action, and sincerity of motive (ikhlas); unless you fulfil the demands of all these parts, you do not obey the Shari`ah. And when you obey the Shari`ah you obtain the pleasure of God, which is the most supreme good in this world and the Hereafter. The Qur’an says: ‘The pleasure of God is the highest good.’ Hence, the Shari`ah comprehends all the good of this world and the next, and nothing is left out for which one has to go beyond the Shari`ah.

The tariqah ['way'] and the haqiqah ['reality'] for which the Sufis are known, are subservient to the Shari`ah, as they help to realize its third part, namely, sincerity. Hence they are sought in order to fulfil the Shari`ah, not to achieve something beyond the Shari`ah. The raptures and ecstasies which the Sufis experience, and the ideas and truths which come to them in the course of their journey, are not the goal of Sufism. They are rather myths and fancies on which the children of Sufism are fed. One has to pass over them all and reach the stage of satisfaction (rida) which is the final goal of suluk ['travelling', i.e. the Sufi path] and jadhbah ['overwhelming love']. The purpose of traversing the stages of of tariqah and haqiqah is nothing other than the realisation of ikhlas which involves the attainment of rida. Only one out of a thousand Sufis is graced with the three illuminations (tajalliyat sih ganah) and gnostic visions, given ikhlas and elevated to the stage of rida.”

Source: SunniPath Answers

Also see: Minority Fiqh - Shaykh Muhammad Sa`id Ramadan al-Buti (Arabic) & Fiqh of Minorities and the New Islam

Found via: Seeker’s Digest

Hizb al-Bahr text

Shaykh Faraz Rabbani (Allah preserve him) said,

“I consulted a number of leading Hanafi scholars, including Mufti Rafi Usmani (Grand Mufti of Pakistan), about this. Their response was that it is permitted for Hanafis to pray witr behind Shafiis even if they pray it differently from the Hanafi three rakats–such as two-plus-one. This is based on a followable position within the Hanafi school that what matters is the imam’s prayer regarding the validity of his prayer.”

Source: SunniPath Answers

The Prophet (Allah bless him & give him peace) said,

“When a Muslim visits his brother Muslim, he is among the khurfa of the Garden until he returns.” They said, “Messenger of Allah, what are the khurfa of the Garden?” He said, “Its gathered fruits.”

[Muslim]

Sayyiduna Ali (Allah be pleased with him and ennoble his face) said,

“I heard the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) say, ‘No Muslim visits a Muslim in the morning without a thousand angels praying blessing on him until evening, or visits him in the evening without a thousand angels praying blessing on him until morning and he will have fruits in the Garden.’”

[Tirmidhi]

The Prophet (Allah bless him & give him peace) said,

“A Muslim does not encounter fatigue, tiredness, concern, sorrow, injury or grief, or even a thorn which pricks him without Allah expiating his errors for him by that.”

[Bukhari, Adab al-Mufrad]

The Prophet (Allah bless him & give him peace) said,

“Affliction will continue to trouble the believers, men and women, in their bodies, their families, and their property until they meet Allah Almighty purified of every wrong action.”

[Bukhari, Adab al-Mufrad]

Abd al-Rahman ibn Sa’id reported that his father (Allah be pleased with them) said,

“I was with Salman when he visited a sick person in Kinda. When he went in, he said, ‘Good news! Allah makes the illness of the believer an expiation for him and a restoration, whereas the illness of the corrupt person is like a camel whose people hobble it and the let it go. It does not know why it was hobbled or released.’”

[Bukhari, Adab al-Mufrad]