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ILLUMINATING GUIDANCE ON THE DROPPING OF SELF-DIRECTION
Book Title Illuminating Guidance On The Dropping Of Self Direction
Book AuthorIbn Ataullah Iskandari
Total Pages126
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Illuminating Guidance on the Dropping of Self-Direction by Shaykh Ibn ‘Ata’illah as-Sakandari Translated by one who is poor before his Lord and endlessly enriched by His Bounty, Dr. ‘Ibrahim Hakim

ILLUMINATING GUIDANCE ON THE DROPPING OF SELF-DIRECTION

For gaining a better understanding of the book, a summary of its contents is provided below:

Chapter One: The author quotes proof-texts (dalil) from the Qur’an and Sunnah, showing how they form the foundation of the main theme of the book. He then analyzes the first of the Quranic verses, listing a number of elegant interpretations that can be derived from it.

Chapter Two: The author continues by analyzing the other proof-texts he originally quoted, demonstrating how the theme of tadbir is fundamental to living a life according to the principles of Qur’an and Sunnah.

Chapter Three: The author first lists the nine abiding stations (maqamat) of certainty (yaqin), and then explains how each one of them is not valid without the ceasing of self-management.

Chapter Four: After demonstrating the importance of the theme of the book in the first three chapters, the author gives a series of means or ways to actualize the ceasing of tadbir. He also illustrates certain lessons that can be derived from the stories of Adam peace be upon him and of the Children of Israel, and discusses the nature of servitude.

Chapter Five: In this chapter the author calls the reader to cease self-management and self-direction, and explains why this is the noblest of the Divine charismatic gifts which are given to the friends (Awliya) of Allah ﷻ. He explains how, when one directs his or her aspirations to Allah ﷻ and is content with His management, at that point Allah ﷻHimself takes charge of his safety, protection and well being.

Chapter Six: The author discusses the Prophet Ibrahim peace be upon him as a model of pure surrender and servitude. The chapter ends with a beautiful poem.

Chapter Seven: The author differentiates between praiseworthy and blameworthy tadbir, and how one can safely deal with the world and its wealth without becoming impure.

Chapter Eight: The author first discusses the difference between having worldly means of livelihood and being divested of them, and then goes on to discuss how the one with means should live and work, and the proper courtesies associated with having a living.. Finally, the author explains how to overcome the suggestions and insinuations of blameworthy tadbir, and the value of contentment.

Chapter Nine: This very short chapter explains the wisdom behind the creation of tadbir in the servants.

Chapter Ten: At this point, the author shifts focus slightly and concentrates on daily provision and sustenance (rizq) and tadbir in it. He also discusses the wisdom behind the existence of human need, and illustrates this with examples from the life of the Prophet Musa peace be upon him.

Chapter Eleven: The author explains the purpose behind the creation of mankind, and how Allah ﷻ

has taken the responsibility of providing for His slaves.

Chapter Twelve: Now begins a series of five chapters, each centering around a key verse of the Qur’an, focusing on the subject of daily provision (rizq). In this specific chapter, the author explains the uselessness of having anxiety over one’s sustenance, since Allah ﷻ has already guaranteed it.

Chapter Thirteen: The second chapter on the subject of rizq. In this short chapter, the author shows how creation and provision are paired in the Qur’an, and concludes that if one is certain that Allah ﷻ is the Sole Creator, one should be certain that He is the Sole Provider.

Chapter Fourteen: The third chapter on the subject of rizq. The author demonstrates how the arrival of Divine sustenance comes after and as a consequence of commanding the family to prayer and patient persistence in it.

Chapter Fifteen: The fourth chapter on the subject of rizq. This short chapter goes further into the concept of the Divine guarantee of provision. The author argues here that if Allah ﷻ, provides for all of creation, as can be plainly seen, and if the human is the noblest of the creation, then how could He neglect the human?

Book’s Introduction

The Shaykh, imam, gnostic, exemplar, verifier of truths, crown of the knowers, tongue of the speakers,

the leader of his time and unique one of his period, the proof of the early righteous ones and leader of the later followers, example for the voyagers to Allah ﷻ, and the argument of the God-fearing: Shaykh Ahmad Taju-d-Din Abu’l Fadl Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Abdul Karim ibn ‘Ataillah as-Sakandari may Allah be pleased with him said:

All praise belongs to “Allah, the Sole One in Reality and Regulation, the Only One in ordaining and decree, the Sovereign King like Whom there is none, and He is the Hearing and Seeing. There is no one for Him in His kingdom who can take responsibility for His duties.

  • King (Malik): outside of His kingdom there are none, big or small,
  • Holy (Muqaddas): in the perfection of His attribute from having or taking unto Himself a similar,
  • Purely Transcendent (Munazzah): in the perfection of His Essence from having a form or likeness,
  • Knower (‘Alim): Nothing in the conscience of man is hidden from Him. “Does He not know Who created, and He is the Subtle, the Aware” (Q67:14),
  • Omniscient (‘Alim): whose knowledge encompasses the beginning and end of all affairs,
  • All-Hearing (Sami’): for Whom there is no difference between declared sounds and concealed,
  • All-Provider (Razzaq): the Giver to creation by bringing to them their sustenance,
  • Self-Subsisting (Qayyum): the One responsible for it in all its states,
  • Bestower (Wahib): and He is the One Who bestowed upon the selves the existence of their being,
  • Capable (Qadir): the One who brings it back after the arrival of its final term,
  • Accounter (Hasib): Who rewards it the day of its coming before Him according to its good and evil deeds.

Glorified be such a Lord, Who gave the servants through His generosity before existence, and took charge of their sustenance regardless of their states of acceptance or denial of Him, and sustained all beings by His giving. He Who, by His Being, has maintained and preserved the being of the world by the support of His everlastingness, Who is manifested on earth by His order and in heaven by His power.

And I bear witness that there is no god but Allah ﷻ, One without a partner, the witnessing of a slave committed to His Decree, submitted to His order and command. And I bear witness that our liege-lord Muhammad ﷺ. His slave and messenger, the favored over all His Prophets, the chosen by His immense grace and bestowal, the opener and seal (and that is for none other than him), the intercessor for all servants on the day when He will gather them for the enactment of His decree.

Blessings and peace be upon him and all the prophets, and his family and companions.

As to what follows:

Know, my companion, may Allah make you to be from among His lovers and enrich you with His

nearness, and cause you to drink from the cup of His beloveds, and safeguard you from His absence  by His perpetual presence, and unite you with His servants whom He chose for His communion and message, those servants whose crushed hearts He consoled and comforted when they realized that their perceptions could not attain to Him due to the glorious lights of His manifestations.

He opened for them the gardens of proximity and from them granted their hearts the inspirations of the fragrant breezes of His bestowal. He caused them to witness His pre-eternal planning for them, so that they submitted confidently to Him, and He revealed to them the secret distillation of His subtle mercy in His actions, so they left off contention with Him.

 They are therefore submitted to Him, dependent upon and trusting Him in all affairs, knowing that no

servant reaches contentment except through contentment and no one attains to sincere servitude except by complete submission to the decree. So they are not influenced by others, nor are they touched by turbidity, as one has said:

“The evils of the times are not guided to them, and the bridles of the great misfortunes are in their hands.

His orders flow over them and they are subservient to His sublimity, and surrendered to His commands.”

So know that he who wishes to arrive to Allah ﷻ should enter from His door by the means He has

provided. The most important of these is that he should purify himself from the existence of his own planning and his contesting the will of Allah ﷻ.

For this reason I have composed this book and named it “Illumination on the Cessation of Self- Direction”, so that the very title should make clear the subject and the words should agree with the meaning.

And I ask ‘Allah to make it solely for His noble countenance, and to accept it by His extensive grace, and to benefit by it the elite and the common, by Muhammad, upon whom be the greatest blessings and peace.

Indeed He is capable of what He wills, and fit to answer. as-Shaykh Ahmad Taju-d-Din Abu’l Fadl Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abdil Karim ibn as-Sakandari

 Chapter Sixteen: This chapter is the last in the series dealing with the subject of rizq. It specifically

discusses the Divine ‘swearing’ upon the guarantee of daily provision, and provides argument after argument for why it is unnecessary and a sign of the lack of faith to be in doubt about one’s provision. Chapter Seventeen: This chapter deals with the wisdom behind and the benefits of taking a means of livelihood. It also discusses the proper courtesies in seeking one’s provision from Allah ﷻ.

Chapter Eighteen: This important chapter discusses the nature of relying upon the Divine as well as saving up provision for the future (iddikhar). The author explains that it is better, according to the dictates of certainty and reliance upon Allah ﷻ, not to hoard and save. He also discusses how to withhold the provision properly, namely, that one should withhold for the sake of Allah ﷻ , and not out of a selfish lack of trust.

Chapter Nineteen: This chapter is an explanation of certain passages from the litany (hizb) of Shaykh Abu’l Abbas al-Mursi (the author’s Shaykh).

Chapter Twenty: This chapter is a series of examples and parables which illustrate the necessity of abandoning both tadbir and worry over provision.

Chapter Twenty-One: This is the final chapter of the book, and is perhaps the most beautiful and eloquent of the Shaykh’s writings. It is taken from the point of view of Allah Himself, ﷻ, and consists of ‘Divine munajat,’ or an intimate Divine soliloquy directed to the slave, calling him to cease tadbir.

The book ends with a concluding supplication.

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