Shaykh Dr. Ahmed Saad Al-Azhari

قال الخليل بن أحمد الفراهيدي رحمه الله

ليسَ بعلمٍ ما حوى القِمَطرُ
العلم حقا ما حواه الصدرُ


Knowledge is not what is in a book chest,

Knowledge is truly what is in the breast


(Al-Khalīl b. Ahmad al-Farāhidi)

By the grace of Allah, the faqir has now completed the takhmis of al-Qasīdah al-Muhammadiyyah and by that the three sisters (Al-Burdah, Al-Mudariyyah and al-Muhammadiyyah) are now mukhammassah. I pray that they are accepted by the Beloved ﷺ and that the barakah of this madīh touches the hearts of those who read, listen, sing, look at or love it. May it even touch the hearts of those who have not heard madīh before so that they start loving it.
At Ihsan Institute, we hope to produce exquisite collection of the long poems of praise which will contain in addition to these three also, the poem of the Names of the Prophet ﷺ by the faqir known as Shifa al-Siqam and couple of other long poems (each at least 50 lines). We hope to publish that and make an audio to go along with it sometime next year. Keep us in your du’ā and email us your suggestions at: [email protected]

Here is a sneak peek of the first page of muhammadiyyah takhmīs.

قال المتنبي:

أَعَزُّ مَكانٍ في الدُنى سَرجُ سابِحٍ
وَخَيرُ جَليسٍ في الزَمانِ كِتابُ


The most glorious place in the world is the back of a galloping horse;
And the best companion in life is a book


(Al-Mutannabi)

Absolute magnificence and iconic beauty.

https://youtu.be/LqJEAGUFM5I

حيوا ربيب العلا الشيخ طه الفشني (بديع جدا)

https://youtu.be/kikGC6-Zxjw

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/Yl0XBTXBUhY

Utmost Beauty. May Allah elevate Shaykh Mahmūd Khalil Al-Hussary

Integrity of Opinion:

Living at the age of social media gives people a false sense of understanding everything and knowing everyone. But the truth is, we are impaired by what media delivers to us and what we hear without verification.

Our judgment thus becomes unfounded, wrong and we are deprived of much good because of our judgment of certain things and certain people that we can derive benefit from. Equally, we become victims of things and people such that we live in delusion for a long while if we ever even wake up.

The Qur’an teaches us to ‘verify’ and ‘clarify’ what we hear. Verify the source by talking directly to individuals, using our faculties and ‘clarify’ by asking questions to remove our pre-conceived opinions and challenge our limitation of understanding.

We have a responsibility to “our opinion”. We need to ensure it is sound and fair. Otherwise, it will not be an opinion, it will be ‘whim’ or ‘assumption’ that is divorced from truth. The Arabic word for opinion is rāi (رأي) taken from رؤية vision which relates to sight/eyes. Anything can blur or obstruct your vision and thus we cannot tell about things clearly because we cannot see them clearly. This can lead to catastrophes that damage us and others forever. We commit this everyday when we allow our blurred opinions (blurred by assumptions) or blocked ones (blocked by pre-judgments) to dictate our views of people of things. If blurred vision can lead to death, we do the same with our wrong assumptions that assassinate people intellectually by vilifying them and elevating others.

The way forward is to remove the obstructions and reduce blurriness. If we wear glasses to get better view and precision, we should do the same with our opinion. The glasses here are; consultation, verification and clarification. We should remove the obstacles that obstruct our vision by getting close to things and people and finding out for ourselves; to maintain fairness and integrity of opinion.

May Allah help us see truth as truth and follow it. May Allah help us see what is false as false as avoid it.

أبدت سليمي لأهل الودِّ ما تُبدي * ومن رياض الصفا والعفو ما تهدي
منها الوصال وإني عائذ خشِعٌ * بذلت قلبي وما استجمعت من جهدي

فالعفو منها عن التقصير غاية مَن * يهوى هواها لتسري الروح في الجسد

خاطرة صباحية
وكتب أحمد سعد الازهري

جا ء في ترجمة العارف بالله الشيخ عبد الجواد محمد الدومي الخلوتي تحدثا عن بلاغته ودروسه؛

فيها الحقائق والرقائق والهدى * فيها الرغائب والمنى والسول
هي في الحقيقة محض فضل ظاهر * لا الكسب أنتجها ولا التحصيل

هذا صباح الجمعة الميمونة * فاتبع أخيَّ طريقة مسنونه
هجَّر، تطيب، واغتسل والبس بياضَ ثيابك المأمونة
واسمع خطيبك مخبتا واحرص علي * سنن بشرع المصطفى مضمونه
وأدم صلاتك والسلام على الذي * أهداك أبواب الجنان مصونة

وكتب عفو الخاطر الفقير لعفو الغني
أحمد سعد الأزهري المالكي الحسني
الجمعة ٦ من جماد الأولى ١٤٤٦
٨ نوفمبر ٢٠٢٤

A poem of praise, it started as praise of ‘humility’ and turned into a praise of the Best of Creation, the imam of all those who are humble ﷺ.

رأيت صورة شيخ مشايخ مشايخنا إجازة العلامة مفتي الديار المصرية الشيخ محمد بخيت المطيعي الحنفي رحمه الله تعالى فجرى خاطري بهذه الأبيات:

شيخ الشيوخ بلا منازع * العالم العلم المدافع
مفتي الديار بقية الأسلاف والخطبا المصاقع
بأكفه دفع اللئام عن الحقيقة والشرائع
في مذهب النعمان عمَّ نواله كل البلاقع
فأعادها فيحاء يزهو زهرها بين المزارع
ذاك المطيعي الهمام بذكره تُجلى المسامع
أعلاه ربي في الجنان فإنهُ للعلم رافع
وسقاه من حوض النبي فإنه أصفى المنابع
ثم الصلاة على النبي وآله ثم المتابع
ما أيقظ الليلَ النهارُ وأينعت خضرُ المرابع

وكتبه تحية للسادة الحنفية
أحمد سعد الأزهري المالكي 

قال الحكيم:

والحرص في الرزق والأرزاق قد قسمت * بغي ألا إن بغي المرء يصرعه
(ابن زريق- العينية)

Sage’s Say:

Greed for provision while provision has already been predestined * is injustice; truly man’s injustice leads to his destruction

(Ibn Zuraiq- the Ayniyyah poem)

جاء في ترجمة العلامة الكبير أبو العلاء علاء الدين علي بن أبي الحزم القرشي المعروف بابن النفيس المولود سنة ٦٠٧ هـ والمتوفي ٦٨٧ هـ أنه كان إذا أراد التصنيف توضع له الأقلام المبرية ويدير وجهه للحائط ويأخذ في التصنيف إملاء من خاطره ويكتب مثل السيل إذا انحدر، فإذا كلَّ القلم وحفى رمى به وتناول غيره لئلا يضيع عليه الزمان في بري القلم. وكان مقدما في الفقه الشافعي والفلسفة والتاريخ وأعجوبة في الطب عرف بابن سينا الثاني والإمام والرئيس والصدر وعاش ثمانين سنة غير متزوج منصرفا للعلم بكليته رحمه الله تعالى.

In the biography of the polymath, great physician, jurist and philosopher Abul Al-‘Alā ibn Al-Nafīs (607- 687 AH) that when he wanted to author, they would leave bamboos all sharpened and ready next to him. Facing the wall, he would start writing from his memory like a flowing stream and when a bamboo is no more useable, he would throw it away and pick up another one without losing a moment in sharpening or preparing. He was an expert scholar in Shafi’i fiqh, philosophy and an icon of medicine. They called him, the Imam, the leading scholar, the second Avicenna. He live 80 years and never got married, fully dedicated to knowledge. May Allah shower mercy upon him.

A Standard for Physicians:

Hippocrates mentions seven characteristics that should exist in a physician:
1. He should be of complete stature, acumen, sane and good natured.
2. He should be well-dressed, clean in body and attire and of good smell.
3. He should be trustworthy and keep all the secrets of his patients.
4. His keenness on curing his patients should be greater than his concern for financial payment and his concern to treat the poor is no less than his concern to treat the rich.
5. He should be focussed on serving people and benefitting them.
6. He should be of clean conduct, virtuous and chaste not covetous to money or other desirous things.
7. He should be keen on saving life; never prescribe a dangerous medicine without knowledge and should treat his enemies as sincere as he treats his friends.


Source: Egyptian Physicians Through Islamic Epochs by Kamaluddīb al-Batanūni

A recent discussion on the thought of Habib Abu Bakr al-Mashhūr (rahimahu Allah) based on Shaykh Dr. Ahmed Saad’s Phd. Full discussion in Arabic with Bahasa Indonesia translation on Muwasala youtube.

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/lqWspoMX3No

15 Takeaways From Shaykh Dr Ahmad Saad Al Azhari Al Maliki’s Session On “Idols & Ideas: Lessons on Quranic Stories” held at Nur Innai Bookshop, Malaysia on 26th October 2024.

https://m.youtube.com/live/wCzEzvrcmBQ?si=BswfQ8M1Ma5acdak

New course for sisters with Ustādha Saffiya starting tomorrow with Ihsan Institute: www.ihsaninstitute.co.uk/Guidetomenstruation

3. Technics and Civilization
by Lewis Mumford

- Explores Mumford's observations of the interplay between technology, society, and culture, tracing the development of modern civilization from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution.
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4. Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World
by Nicholas Ostler

- Ostler explores the various lingua francas, examining their rise, fall, and impact on human civilization.
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Some of the books mentioned by Shaykh Dr Ahmad Saad Al Azhari Al Maliki’s Session On “Idols and Ideas: A Reading in Qur’anic Stories”, Wed, 23 Oct 2024, SingPost Auditorium.

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1. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
by Neil Postman

- Explores the critique of Postman of the detrimental effects when politics, journalism, education, and even religion become subject to the demands of entertainment in modern societies.
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2. Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology
by Neil Postman

- Explores the critiques of Postman for the unchecked dominance of technology in modern society.
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