Shah Wali Allah and Devotion to the
Prophet (saws) Part 2 -Dr.Marcia Hermansen
In the second volume
of the author’s most famous work ,Hujjat
Allah al-baligha ( The Conclusive Proof from God ), under the topic of
Spiritual Practices ( ihsan ),
specifically the form of remembrance ( dhikr
) of sending blessings on the Prophet ( saws ), he discusses several well
known hadith on this theme:
The Prophet
(saws) said.” Whoever sends one salutation to me, I salute him in return ten
times” and “The closest person to me on the Day of Resurrection will be the one
who has sent the most salutations to me.” I say “The inner meaning of these
hadith is that human souls must turn to the divine states. There is nothing
more effective in this {endeavor} than turning towards the lights of God’s process of drawing nearer to
us ( tadalliyat ), turning towards
the emblems of God on His earth, opening ourselves to receive them and reflecting
deeply on them and especially on the spirit of those who have drawn near to
Allah. They are the best among the Higher Angels and are intermediaries of
God’s generosity to the people of the world, in the sense already mentioned. Remembering
the Prophet (saws) with reverence and
seeking Allah’s good things for him are a sound means of turning to God, due to
their element of preventing deviation-in so far as a person is only remembering
the Prophet (saws) in order to seek mercy for him from God Exalted.
The spirits of perfected ones, once they have separated from
their physical bodies, become like a restrained wave. They are unshaken by a
changing will or a chance motive, while the souls who are below them can become
attached to them through concentrated zeal (himma)
so that they become clothed in light from them and in form appropriate to the
spiritual.
This is what is expressed in his saying (saws) “There is no person
who sends salams to me but that God
returns my spirit to me so that I can return salams to him.” I have witnessed such things on innumerable occasions
during my voyage to Medina in the year 1144/1732.”
In Fuyud al- haramayn
some of these occasions are recorded. Fuyud
al- haramayn means “The Emanations of the Two Holy Cities,” and the
majority of emanations refer to the person of the Prophet (saws) in the role of
a spiritual guide who answers questions about Islamic doctrine and spiritual
practice posed by the Sufi during waking visions and dreams. These demonstrate
the sense of the Prophet (saws) as a living presence who continues to inspire
and guide his followers directly. In some visions the Prophet (saws) mentions
the high rank of the Ulama (scholars)
and the muhaddithun (scholars of
hadith), and in a number of others he refers specifically of familiar conflicts
which are causing tensions in the Muslim umma (community) at the time of Shah
Wali Allah (r.a). Some of these issues were, for example which of legal schools
should be preferred, the ranking of early caliphs, and the wahdat al-wujud (unity of existence) versus wahdat al-shuhud (unity of awareness). In his answers one sees the
tendency to moderate and resolve such disputes, a tendency which Shah Wali Allah
(r.a) adopted in his major works, legal opinions, and fatwas (formal declarations about sharia).
Al-Durr al-thamin
The treatise al-Durr
al-thamin fi mubashsharat al-Nabi al-amin is an unusual work since it
contains forty reports which were received directly from the Prophet (saws)
during the visionary experiences of either Shah Wali Allah (r.a), his father or
his spiritual teachers. The first section records the compiler’s own visionary
experiences and repeats some of the visions found in the work Fuyud al-haramayn. Two of the reports of
his father’s visionary experiences are especially relevant to the theme of this
conference:
#16- The durud
(prayer of benediction) he received from his father. “My father commanded me to
say the following salutation on the Prophet (saws), Allahumma salli ala muhammadin al nabi al-ummi wa alihi wa barik wa
sallim.’ And I received this in a dream and saw that the Prophet (saws)
approved of this salutation.”
#22- On the celebration of the mawlid, “My master, my father, informed me, saying, “On the mawlid days I used to have food prepared
in honor of the Prophet (saws). One year I did not have anything to make the
food with except fried chick peas, so I distributed these to the people. Then I
saw him with those chick peas in front of him, and he was smiling delightedly.”
Atyab al-nagham
The work
Alyah al-nagham fi madh Sayyid al-‘arab
wa-al-‘ajam is comprised of four Arabic poems and their explanations in
Persian, composed by the author at the request of his disciple, Muhammad Amin
Kashmiri. He begins the work by stating, “This poor person. Wali Allah, may God
forgive him, says that praising the Master of the Prophets (saws) and recording
his outstanding traits (manaqib) are
important ways of honoring his presence and remembering his Prophetic mission.
Therefore I agreed to compose a qasida on
this topic.” What follows is a description of each of these four poems.
1)
The first qasida is the one which he
calls Ayab al-nagham fi madh Sayyid
al-‘arab wa-al-‘ajam (The Best of Melodious Recitations in Praise of the
Master of the Arabs and non-Arabs). He states that it resembles the Arabic qasida of Sawad ibn Qarib, one of the
Companions. The themes elucidated in the poem progress through twelve sections
and feature difficult Arabic terms which are explained in the Persian
commentary. The commentary is said to have been completed on 24 Rabi’ al-thani
1156 (17 June 1743).
2)
The second of the Arabic poems is the “Humziya,”
a form of verse in which every couplet ends in the letter “hamza” (the glottal stop of the Arabic
alphabet). It is in the form of na’t (a
poem in praise of the Prophet (saws). According to Baljon the poem was written
in 1157/1745 and the commentary in 117/1762.
3)
The third is called “ta;iya,” a verse
form in which every couplet ends in the letter “ta’.” Its orientation is mystical. In the commentary, Shah Wali
Allah (r.a) mentions the subtle spiritual evolution of the world (adwar).
4)
The fourth is “lamiya,” a verse form
in which every couplet ends in the letter “lam.”
The
poem, “Atyab al-nagham,” is divided
by the author into twelve sections. For each couplet he has provided a Persian
commentary which explains the difficult words and the internal references to
Koran or hadith.
The
first section is the commencement of the poem, in which he mentions some
difficult circumstances of the times, for which help must be sought for the
spirit of the Prophet (saws).
The
second section explains the most outstanding trait (manqaba) of the Prophet (saws), which is intercession for the
community on the Day of Judgment- as described in the sahih(sound) hadith collections.
The
third section puts forth some of the evidence (dala’il) of Muhammad’s prophecy foretold by previous prophets such
as Ibrahim, Ismail, and Isa (upon them be peace).
The
fourth section clarifies another dimension of the evidence of prophecy,
evidence gained by contemplating the qualities (shama’il) and virtues of the Prophet (saws), such as the following:
moderation of the character, eloquence, bringing benefit to humanity,
temperance, nobility, great zeal, courage, a forgiving nature, patience,
asceticism, and so on.
Section
five points out another type of evidence of prophecy which includes the
situation of the Arabs and non-Arabs and their religions before the mission of
the Prophet (saws). It reflects on the state of the “Illiteracy” of the Prophet
(saws) and the fact that he did not frequent the company of scholars. The
manner in which the Prophet improved the situation of his people also
constitutes a proof of his authenticity.
Section
six explains yet another type of evidence that becomes apparent when reflecting
on the divine law, which constitutes guidance for establishing worship,
refining the soul, managing the household, and governing the state.
Section
seven concerns the evidence of the Prophet’s miracles.
Section eight features a prayer for
the family and companions of the Prophet (saws).
Section nine recalls and prays for
the generations of Muslims who have firmly preserved the religion century after century.
Section ten discusses the love of
the Prophet (saws) and the Uwaysi
connection.
Section eleven
completes the qasida with the
supplication (ibtihal) for the
Prophet (saws).
In all, the poem
and commentary are about twenty three pages.
In his work al-Tafhimat al-ilahiya, Shah Wali Allah (r.a) also discussed the practice of sending
salutations to the Prophet (saws):
“Praise be to
God, Lord of the Worlds, and may salutations and blessings be upon our Master,
Muhammad (saws), and upon his family. If someone were to hold that there is no
benefit in sending salutations to the Prophet (saws), because the meaning of
salutations is seeking mercy, ennobling, and confirming, and because the
Prophet (saws) has already reached a limit which cannot be surpassed, then this
would be oppose the [hadith] text
which says “Whoever sends salutations to me once, I will salute them ten
times.” Thus this benefit returns to the one who sends salutations.
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From this brief introduction we learn that Sha
Wali Allah (saws) who is recognized as one of the great Muslim scholars, both
advocated and practiced sending salutations to the Prophet, commemorating his
noble birth (Mawlid), and
experiencing him as a living presence and spiritual guide. Watch Video at Youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EbuTK2zm4w