Alhamdulillah! Alhamdulillah! Alhamdulillah!
Allah, subhanawatAllah, is so generous and so kind to us...to me...even though we (me) are so unworthy! Last night, He (swt) blessed me with another opportunity to sit with Sheikh Abdul Hakim Murad (may Allah grant him increase and success).
As you may know, the
Sheikh was in town for a conference last week, where I got a chance to see him and alhamdulAllah "break pita" with him afterwards in a small group. After his program here, he flew to Phoenix for another work thing, and then came in last night to grant the VERY blessed and fortunate people who came to the Mustafa Center, before he leaves back to Turkey today. Literally he has been "go-go-go" since the day he got off of the plane, and literally came from a long, arduous flight straight to the masjid. The program was supposed to be from 9 to 11 pm, but the poor sheikh didn't arrive until 11:45 AND he still talked until about 12:45 and then answered question and then was, as usual with our poor, generous teachers, besieged by individual questions for Allah-knows-how-long, I had to leave since I had to get up by 6 Am and come straight to work today.
Athletes often talk about endorphins or adrenaline, one of those, kicking in during intense workouts. I think there is something similar for students of knowledge (or wannabe ones like me). You sit, in traditional gatherings, usually on the floor for long periods of time with altering lower limbs going numb, and if like me with a natural restlessness, it can be actually very, very hard. Last night, we were so very blessed to have
Sidi Yahya Rhodus give a talk prior to the Sheikh's arrival. The talk, which was very timely, was about the Middle Way, what that means and why we need to always ensure we are on it. One of my favorite parts was his description about how the cardinal virtues (courage, justice, temperance and wisdom) are all actually middle ways between negative extremes...and how the four Khulafa Rashideen (may Allah bless and have mercy on them all) each represented one of these four virtues best. Can you guess? ;-)
He also did Q&A, and though instructed not to get to controversial with the questions by the moderator (partially due to the fact that the Sheikh was due any minute by that point), three people in three parts of the room went straight for the gut and asked about the Afghan convert situation. Actually the Sheikh exposited on that beautifully at the Georgetown talk, I wish it could of been recorded and just replayed. It's like the "O'Reilly factor" (haha, I made that up and just realized that's the name of the show!) . Meaning, this sensationalist factor that people grab onto. Here we are learning about such beautiful things, gaining sacred knowledge, and somehow there is always that person, or two, who injects that "Fox News Flash." I know I should be more merciful, but it IS irritating sometimes, like we can never get away from this chafing sensationalist edge...but alhamdulAllah. AND THIS is exactly why I am not a sheikha/wali...Allah has given those positions alhamudulAllah, with the teachers that I am familiar with, to people who ARE worthy and esp have that third cardinal virtue - temperance. They hear the most foolhardy outlandish thing, or sometimes that pseudo-intellectual that asks peripheral esoteric, "comparative Religion 501" types questions that are 5 tiers above the heads of most people in the room, and still manage to deal with them diplomatically, kindly and basically keep the peace. It's really like having a Prophetic disposition.
This, ultimately, is why I try to sit with the scholars. No rocket science or new ground breaking idea here. This has been known from the first days of Islam until now, although the modern world, particularly the West, does not provide for easy access to knowledge this way. Simply put, there is something you will get you get from actually sitting (particularly on the floor, in close proximity) with a teacher, that you cannot get from a lecture hall, from reading books on your own, and even online learning. Although, I am hardly knocking
Sunnipath with that last one, because for people who are unable to travel or do not have ready access to a reliable teacher in their area, SP is an Allah-send. We NEED help elucidating texts, particularly the classical works. It's not enough to pick up some non-Muslims (or none observant Muslim's) translation of some Ghazali, or esp. 'Ibn Arabi's work and expect that you can real tangible, sustained spiritual growth from it. Rather, you could actually
hurt your iman by delving into books that weren't meant to be just translated and put out without a teacher or commentary to help us understand, and more importantly, put into practice what we gain from them.
Okay, so that was a nice little tangent. So alhamdulAllah, that was my wonderful evening. The crowd, mashAllah may Allah reward them, was very hardcore. People tried to stay later and later, but by the time the the sheikh came, there were maybe 50 people total which is GREAT for 11:45PM Monday night, and having been there for 3 hours already. Also because MOST people didn't even know him, they just kept hearing. Maybe 1/3 of the people knew of him or heard or studied with him. The rest kept getting hyped up by the first 1/3rd. It was kind of funny, the moderator kept giving updates on the status of his flight, the trip from the airport, how far away. I am sure some people's interest in who this figure could be, eliciting all this devotion and interest, and more importantly, the invitation from Allah swt to stay and benefit from the sheikh kept them there. I have to say, when he finally arrived, I was just hit with all that emotion that comes whenever I have the blessing to see an 'awliya. AlhamdulAllah. Can you THEN imagine how it felt for the Sahaba (may Allah bless them all), sitting with the PROPHET, salAllahu alayhee wasalaam! If our teachers give us a taste of that feeling, then what of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon his BEAUTIFUL and MUBARAK face??
AlhamdulAllah the talk was beautiful and was actually on Love and Beauty and how they are an
integral part of our deen, of spiritual realization....I think I might actually try to post choice pieces from the talk. But later, inshAllah. I got a little carried away with what should have been a 2-minute post....must learn time management...must learn time management...must learn time management.
Alhamdulillah!
