Tārīkh Dimashq

https://youtu.be/FWzKApD2c14?si=ivoF9jUoPxB27cig

Abu al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī narrates in his Risālah that Imām al-Sūfiyyah Abu al-Qāsim al-Junayd said:

“The Murīd who enjoys Samā‘ has remnants of idleness”

Samā‘ (listening to nashīd) here is that which is Halāl, not one with instruments

What is meant by this is that the Walī does not need Samā‘ to remember Dhikr, he is always in a state of Dhikr. So those who require it have remnants of idleness of the heart

Very high Maqām he is speaking about here. As for us, we require Samā‘

A Mujarrab supplication of Shaykh Ahmad al-Hārūn for the fulfillment of needs:

اللهم أنت لها ولكلّ حاجة فاقضها بحق {بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم ؛ ما يفتح الله للناس من رحمة فلا ممسك لها}

Then you read al-Fātiha

Shaykh Usāmah al-Rifā‘ī said:

“My father [Shaykh ‘Abd al-Karīm al-Rifā‘ī] took the Naqshbandī Tarīqah from Shaykh Amīn al-Zamalkānī, and he would always do the Naqshbandī Awrād until the last day of his life”

‘Abd al-Karīm al-Rifā‘ī → Muhammad Amīn al-Zamalkānī → ‘Isā al-Kurdī

Shaykh Hasan Hito حفظه الله has been admitted into the hospital

دعواتكم

Shaykh Dr. ‘Abd al-Fattāh al-Yāfi‘ī: The solution to problems and burdens:

1. Prayer: At least 2 units of Nafl (as in the Hadīth of Salāt al-Hāja)

2. Repentance: 100x, for example (in the Hadīth: He who persists on Istighfār, his burdens will be alleviated)

3. Salawāt: 100x, for example (in the Hadīth: Shall I devote to you all my supplications? He ﷺ said: Then you will be freed from your worries)

4. Qur’ān (in the Hadīth: O Allāh make the Qur’ān a remover for our burdens)

Additional point: Ibn ‘Atā’ says in his Hikam: Get to know Allāh while in good health, and He will know you when you are burdened

https://youtu.be/ni3ImKo4tKk?si=fOtKQ4_9p_anCpNX

Shaykh Makkī al-Kittānī with his sons

Rare picture of a young Shaykh Abu al-Yusr ‘Abidīn

Wird instructed by Shaykh Mullā Ramadān al-Būtī to his son Shaykh Dr. Muhammad Sa‘īd:

Before Fajr Adhān sounds, repeat (100x):
أستغفر الله العظيم وأسأله التوبة

After Fajr Adhān sounds and before you pray Fajr, repeat (100x):
سبحان الله وبحمده سبحان الله العظيم

After you pray Fajr, repeat (100x each):
لا إله إلا الله
اللهم صل على سيدنا محمد

Then you read Qur’ān until the sun rises, and you pray Duhā

This may be not feasible to do daily for most of us, but you should at least attempt it once so that you can benefit from its reward. As al-Imām al-Nawawī said (and this is a famous principle): It is necessary for you to act on a virtuous action you have heard of, even if it is only once, to fall under it (al-Adhkār)

Shaykh ‘Abdullāh Sirāj al-Dīn used to read {ربنا لا تزغ قلوبنا بعد إذ هديتنا وهب لنا من لدنك رحمة إنك أنت الوهاب } after the Fātiha in the 3rd Rak‘a of Maghrib prayer (which is Khilāf al-Asl of not reciting anything in the 3rd or 4th)

When he was asked about this, he said: “This is a Siddīqī Sunnah, Abu Bakr al-Siddīq used to do it”

The Hanafīs, Shāfi‘īs, Mālikīs, and Hanbalīs all said that this action is Mustahabb, as was narrated from Abu Bakr al-Siddīq (Muwatta’ Mālik)

However they differed: Do you read it on the basis of it being a verse or as Du‘ā? According to their different opinions

In a time of rampant misguidance, it's recommended we act on this

Shaykh ‘Abd al-Fattāh Abu Ghuddah says:

“May Allāh's mercy be upon the ‘Allāmah, Shaykh Jamāl al-Dīn al-Qāsimī. He has gathered in this one place many statements which are similar in meaning yet spread across different places, leading to a complete logical beneficial discussion. And it is with this skill that he was distinguished in his writings, may Allāh have mercy on him”

Most editors these days are awful if not horrible. For some of them, editing books is simply their job and source of income, not a craft they have to master before practicing. And this is multiplied by most bookstores being driven by profit and money also. Bookstores don't care about quality = anything goes so long as it makes me money. And this problem goes further into kitmān (suppression) of knowledge if they don't monetarily benefit from it. No doubt there is benefit from a surplus of average editors (like more books being readily available), but the negatives immensely outweigh the positives when this becomes 95% of editors

Gone are the days of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Fattāh Abu Ghuddah and Shaykh Nūr al-Dīn ‘Itr. There are still amazing editors today no doubt, the likes of Shaykh Muhammad ‘Awwāmah, Shaykh Hasan Hīto, Shaykh Anas al-Sharfāwī, Shaykh Nizār Hammādī... But for each great editor there are 200+ atrocious ones

Shaykh Anas is working on a book which had already been edited and printed as someone's PhD paper in the past. I had it, and so he requested it from me so he could take a look at his work on it. When he was handing it back to me I said: Hopefully you benefited from it, Shaykh? So he shook his head and told me: My work on the book is immeasurably better than this, even though it's for a PhD. It's riddled with mistakes, mixing up names and books, and confusing different issues, لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله

Children playing and making noise during Samā‘ of Hadīth

Ibn Kathīr said:

It reached me about al-Qādī Taqī al-Dīn Sulaymān Ibn Hamza that children were reprimanded for playing during his lesson, so he said: Do not reprimand them, for we were playing just like them during lessons (Samā‘)

Ibn al-Muhibb al-Hāfidh said:

That's how we were when we were young. Our voices may have even been raised while the reader is reading, and no one would reprimand us from those in attendance from the great Huffādh, like al-Mizzī, al-Birzālī, al-Dhahabī, and other scholars

Fath al-Mughīth (2/51)

As for alternate chains to al-Bājūrī, Shaykh Anas al-Sharfāwī transmits from → Shaykh Adīb al-Kallās → Shaykh Sālih al-Farfūr → Shaykh Badr al-Dīn al-Hasanī → ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Khatīb → Ibrāhīm al-Bājūrī

This chain is valuable because it contains Shaykh Anas al-Sharfāwī (Mutakallim), Shaykh Adīb al-Kallās (Mutakallim), Shaykh Badr al-Dīn al-Hasanī (major Mutakallim), to al-Imām al-Bājūrī, author of Tuhfat al-Murīd and countless other Kalām works

Most chains to al-Bājūrī today have at least 4 if not 5 and 6 connections

But the shortest is of Shaykh Dr. Mutī‘ al-Hāfidh, from → Shaykh Abu al-Khayr al-Maydānī, from → Shaykh ‘Isā al-Kurdī, who went to Egypt and took from al-Bājūrī

Making it only two connections, and three for his students, which is still the highest possible

Ahmad Ibn ‘Asim al-Antākī (d. 239) said: “If you sit with the truthful ones, then sit with them in truth; for they are spies of the heart, they enter into your heart and leave without you realizing”

al-Junayd (d. 298) once was preaching, when a Christian dressed as a Muslim stood up and asked: “O Shaykh, what is the meaning of the Prophet's ﷺ words: (Beware of the believer's Firāsah, for he sees with Allāh's light)?” al-Junayd put down his head, then raised it, and told him: “Accept Islām, for your time to believe has come”. So the man accepted Islām

al-Risālah al-Qushayriyyah (cited by Ibn al-Qayyim in Madārij al-Sālikīn)

Some people mistakenly think that this picture of Shaykh ‘Abd al-Razzāq al-Halabī is from the moment he passed away

That is wrong. In this picture he simply fell asleep while reading Qur’ān

Shaykh Salāh al-Dīn Fakhrī and Shaykh Amīn al-Kurdī with Shaykh Muhammad ‘Awwāmah in Beirut

These are Shaykh Sālih al-‘Aqqād and Shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhāb al-Hāfidh (Dibs wa Zayt)

Shaykh Sālih al-‘Aqqād was called al-Shāfi‘ī al-Saghīr, and Shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhāb was called Abu Hanīfa al-Saghīr. Each was a master of their Madhab and an authority in Damascus

علّامة الشام الشيخ أديب الكلاس

Shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahmān al-Shāghūrī, Shaykh Ahmad al-Shāmī, and Shaykh Fātih al-Kittānī in one picture

I previously shared how Shaykh Shukrī al-Luhafī would get up from gatherings to go outside and organize people's shoes

To my surprise, I found out that his teacher, no other than Shaykh Muhammad al-Hāshimī al-Tilimsānī, would do the same thing!!

When leaving the Masjid, you should begin with your left foot then your right. But when you put on your shoes, you should begin with your right then your left... So which Sunnah should you prefer when leaving the Masjid? Exiting with your left or wearing your shoes with your right?

Ibn ‘Allān solves this apparent contradiction by saying: To combine between both Sunnahs, exit the Masjid with your left foot and place it above your shoe, then place your right foot inside the shoe. And do the opposite when you are to enter the Masjid

al-Futūhāt al-Rabbāniyyah