Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim
Iqra Islamic Publications
Welcome to Islam
Accept Islam for your salvation
Live according to Islam for your spiritual progress

THE DHIKR OF ALLĀH: AN ENDURING LEGACY OF

IMĀM ‘ABDALLĀH BIN ‘ALAWĪ AL-HADDĀD

Rady Allāhu ‘Anhu

Recite the Qur’ān and Do Dhikr of Allāh

The fulfilment of farāid (obligatory duties) like the five times daily salāh (prayers) is first and foremost. Next in importance is the daily recitation of the Holy Qur’ān Karīm, and in this connection, Mawlānā al-Haddād has recommended in his kitāb Risālat u’l Mu‘āwanah (The Book of Assistance) that the least a Muslim should do is to have a wird of reciting one juz (part) of the Qur’ān every day (to complete the Qur’ān recitation in a month) and the most is to recite ten juz everyday (to complete the Qur’ān recitation in three days). As he does this continuously, in time he comes to recite more and more adhkār and awrād from a kitāb like Wasīlat u’l ‘Ibād ilā Zādil Ma‘ād. In this way, he takes both the Qur’ān and the Sunnah to his heart.

Alhamdu Lillāh, millions of Muslims have done just that over the ages and in fact the demand for these adhkār and awrād keeps on increasing. Wasīlat u’l ‘Ibād was printed for the tenth time in 1397 H/1977 C.E and it has been printed and reprinted in Mombasa, Delhi, Singapore, Istanbul and Cairo, among other cities.

The spiritual benefits of dhikr are well recognized by the shuyūkh (spiritual masters) and such is their esteem that many spiritual luminaries have written whole books of explanation (sharh) on these adhkār. Shaykh ‘Abdallāh bin Ahmad Bā Sawdān has written a sharh on Wird u’l Latīf, Wird al-Kabīr and Rātib al-Haddād while others who have written a sharh are al-‘Allāma as-Sayyid Fadl bin ‘Alawī Jamālullayl al-‘Alawī, and al-‘Allāma AbūBakr bin ‘AbdirRahmān bin Shihābuddīn al-‘Alawī (on Wird u’l Latīf), and al-Habīb ‘Alawī bin Ahmad bin al-Hasan bin ‘Abdallāh al-Haddād (on Rātib al-Haddād) as already mentioned earlier. These shurūh (plural of sharh: appreciative explanation) trace the source of each of the supplications and invocations to the Blessed Hadīth (Sayings) of Prophet Muhammad Sallallāhu ‘alayhi wa Sallam. They also explain the spiritual benefits and heavenly reward of each supplication.

In Miftāh u’l Jannah (The Key To Paradise), Sayyidī wa Murshidī al-Habīb Ahmad Mashhūr bin Tāhā al-Haddād, Rady Allāhu ‘Anhu (1325-1416 H), the spiritual inheritor of Mawlānā al-Haddād expounds on the spiritual benefits of dhikr and offers the following nasīha (advice):

“If you wish to obtain all of these benefits and attain to the highest ranks, then you should search for a litany (wird) that includes all these kinds of invocations and prayers. You are sure to find them in the litanies of our master Imām ‘Abdallāh ibn ‘Alawī al-Haddād, such as al-Wird al-Latīf, al-Wird al-Kabīr, al-Rātib, the Hizb al-Fath and his Hizb an-Nasr.” (Translation by Dr. Mostafa al-Badawi, p. 113)

Surely, Allāh Ta‘ālā Himself has blessed the adhkār and awrād of Mawlānā al-Haddād, Rady Allāhu ‘Anhu. Their nūr (spiritual light) has spread across the world, illuminating homes, hearts and the foreheads of the muttaqīn (those in reverential awe of Allāh), the ‘ābidīn (worshippers of Allāh) and the dhākirīn (those who do dhikr of Allāh). Allāhummaj‘alnā minhum: O Allāh, make us among them, Āmīn Yā Rabb al-‘Ālamīn.

Siddīq Osmān Noormuhammad
Toronto, Canada
Dhu’l Qa‘dah 1417 H/1997 C.E
Updated: Dhu’l Qa‘dah 1424 H/2004 C.E

References

  1. Imām Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazālī, Ad-Da‘awāt u’l Mustajāba (Supplications That Are Answered by Allāh), Book 9 of his Ih’ ‘Ulūm al-Dīn (The Revival of Religious Sciences), Maktaba Ishā‘at al-Islām, Delhi, 1405/1985.
  2. Imām Muhyiddīn Abū Zakariyya Yahyā bin Sharaf an-Nawawī, Al-Adhkār (Supplications to Allāh for All Occasions), Al-Maktaba Ath-Thaqāfiyya, Beirut, Lebanon, 1983.
  3. Imām ‘Abdallāh ibn ‘Alawī al-Haddād, Risālat u’l Mu‘āwanah (The Book of Assistance), translated by Dr. Mostafa al-Badawi, The Quilliam Press, London, 1989.
  4. Al-Habīb ‘Alawī bin Ahmad bin al-Hasan bin Abdallāh bin ‘Alawī al-Haddād, Sharh Rātib al-Haddād (An Appreciative Explanation of Rātib al-Haddād), a compendium of the adhkār and awrād of Imām ‘Abdallāh ibn ‘Alawī al-Haddād, published under the supervision of Shaykh Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Zayn bin Sumayt, Pustaka Nasional, Singapore, 1417/1997.
  5. As-Sayyid ‘Alawī bin Muhammad bin Tāhir al-Haddād, Wasīlat u’l ‘Ibād ilā Zādi’l Ma‘ād (A Means For People To Provide For The Hereafter), a compendium of the adhkār and awrād of Imām ‘Abdallāh ibn ‘Alawī al-Haddād, Maktaba Ishā‘at al-Islām, Delhi, 1397/1977.
  6. Al-Habīb Ahmad Mashhūr bin Tāhā al-Haddād, Miftāh u’l Jannah (Key To The Garden), translated by Dr. Mostafa al-Badawi, The Quilliam Press, London, 1990.
  7. The Prophetic Invocations, compiled by Imām ‘Abdallāh ibn ‘Alawī al-Haddād, translated by Dr. Mostafa al-Badawi, The Starlatch Press, Chicago, 2000.

< Return