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Its Praise In Verse
Indeed, Sayyidunal Imam al-Habib Mawlana al-Haddad has composed a whole qasida in praise of Ihya' 'Ulum al-Deen in which he also extols his ancestor Shaykh Abubakr al-'Aydaroos, who as already noted, took to the Ihya' with such devotion. This qasida is in his Diwan (Collected Eulogies) titled Ad-Durru'l Manzun Li Dhawi'l 'Uqul Wa'l Fuhum (Poetic Pearls For Discerning and Understanding Minds, p.315). Here it is in transliteration and translation.
Bi Ihya'-i 'Ulum-id-Deen-i tuhyi qulubanaa
Wa yukshafu 'annaa ghammunaa wa kurubunaa
Kitaabun hawa'l 'ilmulladhee huwa naafi'un
Muallifuhu ustaadhunaa wa tabibunaa
Kitaabun hawaa 'ilmal kitabi wa sunnatin
Wa maa qaalahu awwahunaa wa muneebunaa
Mawaareethu aslaafin lanaa wa a'immatin
Madhaw wa 'alaa aathaarihim mustajeebunaa
Idhaa nushirat a'laamuhu wa 'uloomuhu
Wa absaruhaa 'allaamunaa wa museebunaa
Tahaqqaqa anna'l 'ilma feehi bi asrihi
Wa lam yustarib fee mithli haadhaa areebunaa
Wa qad atnab ash-Shaykh u'l Imami biwasfihi
Abu'l makramati'l 'Aydaroos-i habibunaa
Wa kam ghairihi min 'aarifin wa muhaqqiqin
Wa habrin 'aleemin wa'l Ilaahu Haseebunaa
Wa tammat wa Sallillahu fee kulli sa'atin
'Ala'l Mustafa'l Haadee Shafee'i dhunubinaa
With "The Revival of the Religious Sciences" you rejuvenate our hearts
And remove our grief and sorrow
It is a book containing useful knowledge
Written by our teacher and physician
A book with the knowledge of the Qur'an and the Sunnah
And what he said makes us lamentful and penitent
It is the heritage of our ancestors and Imams
Who passed away and whose footprints we follow
When he unfurls his flags and publishes his knowledge
The best who behold it are our learned and rightly guided
It has been proved that all knowledge is in it
And our people of wisdom have no doubt in it
And its qualities were praised beyond measure by the Shaykh the Imam
The father of miracles our beloved al-'Aydaroos himself
How many such others are there, possessors of direct knowledge
Certifiers of truth, most knowledgeable scholars, and God is sufficient for us
And I conclude by invoking blessings of Allah in each and every moment
On (Muhammad) Mustafa the guide, the intercessor for our sins.
There are various levels of learning in this qasida that call for more study. For example, Mawlana al-Haddad's use of the words "awwah" and "muneeb" in the third verse remind us of the following verse of the Holy Qur'an Kareem.
Inna Ibrahima la haleemun awwaahun muneeb
No doubt, Ibrahim is forbearing, lamentful, penitent (11:75).
In his sharh (explanation) of the Ihya', al-Habib 'Abdulqadir al-'Aydaroos quotes two qasidas on the Ihya', one by Shaykh 'Ali bin Abibakr and the other by Shaykh al-Imam al-Muhaddith Abu'l 'Abbas al-Aqlishi, one of the students of Imam al-Ghazali, Naf'anAllahu bihim.
The qasida by Shaykh 'Ali bin Abibakr has 23 couplets all rhyming in the letter "qaaf", three of which are:
'Alayka bi Ihya' i'l 'Ulum-i wa lubbihaa
Wa asraarihaa kam qad hawaa min daqaaiq
Wa kam min lateefaatin lidhi'l lubbi munhalin
Wa kam min maleehaatin sabat lubba haadhiq
Kitabun jalilun lam yusannif qablahu
Wa laa ba'dahu mithlun lahu fi't taraaiq
You must have with you The Revival of the Sciences and its kernel
How many encompass with its secrets such perfections
And how many are the subtleties that spring forth from it to hearts that receive
And how many are the beauties that conquered the hearts of the intelligent
A majestic book whose author has no comparison
Before him or after him in the sacred quest
The qasida by Shaykh Abu'l 'Abbas al-Aqlishi is from his book An-Najm wa'l Kawaakib (The Star And the Galaxy).
Abaa Hamid anta'l mukhassas bi'l majdi
Wa antalladhee 'allamtanaa Sunan u'r Rushdi
Wada'ta lana'l Ihya' tuhyee nufusanaa
Wa tunqidhunaa min ta'atin naadhighi'l murdee
Fa rub'u 'ibaadaatihi wa 'aadaatihi'l latee
Yu'aaqibuhaa kadduri nazmun fi'l 'iqdi
Wa thaalithuhaa fi'l muhlikaati wa innahu
La munjinn minal halki'l mubarrahi wa'l bu'di
Wa raabi'uhaa fi'l munjiyaati wa innahu
Liyusrihu bi'l arwaahi fee jannati'l khuldi
Wa minhaa ibtihaaju liljawaarihi zaahirin
Wa minhaa salaahun li'l qulubi minal hiqdi
O Abu Hamid your dignity is very special
For sure, you are the one who taught us
about the path of guidance (of the Prophet)
You gave us the Ihya' to revive ourselves
And to save us from obeying shaytaan
The first two volumes about worship and the ethics of daily life
Appear to have been composed like a necklace of pearls
And its third volume about ways to perdition
Saves us from damnation and ex-communication
And its fourth volume about ways to salvation
Lets the souls soar in paradise for ever
In it is happiness that manifests openly on one's self
As well as inner purification of the heart of malice
We find the following couplet on Imam al-Ghazali in the biographical dictionary of Salah al-Deen Khalil al-Safadi (passed away 764 A.H/1363 C.E).
Because of him the lame walked briskly
And the songless through him burst into melody
(Translation by Shaykh Abdal-Hakim Murad, in The Rememberance of Death, p. xv).
Shaykh Uways bin Muhammad al-Barawi al-Qadiri Naf'anAllahu bih does not fail to mention Imam al-Ghazali in his Tawassul.
Wa bi'l Imam-i Hujjatu'l Islam-i
Huwa Muhammad ubnu Muhammad ibni Muhammad-a
And the Imam The Proof of Islam
He is Muhammad son of Muhammad son of Muhammad
The Urdu speaking Muslims love to quote 'Allamah Iqbal's lament about the present state of the Muslim ummah so as to encourage them to put both body and soul in their worship to achieve spiritual excellence.
Reh gaee rasmay azan
Ruhay Bilali na rahee
Falsafaa reh gayaa
Talkeenay Ghazali na rahee
The tradition of azan remained
The spirit which Sayyidina Bilal infused into it vanished
Philosophy remained
The exhortations of Imam al-Ghazali vanished
One approach that the 'ulama (the learned) have taken is to directly praise the Ihya' in a qasida. Another is to summarise its essential message in a qasida. Sayyidunal Imam Mawlana al-Haddad has done it both ways in his Diwan (Collected Eulogies). The opening verse of the qasida by Mawlana al-Haddad (in Diwan, p. 317) that captures the basic teachings of the Ihya' is:
'Alayka bi-taqwallahi fi's sirri wa'l 'alan
Wa qalbaka nazzifhu mina'r rijsi wa'd daran
You must have fear of Allah in secret and in open
And your heart clean it of dirt and rust
Mawlana al-Haddad conveys in verse what Imam al-Ghazali teaches in prose to form an indescribably rich mosaic. May Allah Ta'ala make us benefit from them, Aameen.
Hasbunallahu wa ni'mal Wakeel
Allah is Sufficient for us and (He is) the most excellent Trustee (3:173)