Answered by Sayyidi Habib Umar bin Hafiz (may Allah protect him and benefit us by him)
The intellect (‘aql) is a faculty which enables us to understand reality. It is unique to humans and through it they are able to access things which other creatures are unable to access. The intellect is a gift and secret which Allah bestowed upon mankind. Allah said about its origin: I breathed into him of My spirit (15:29) Continue reading What is the Intellect?
As the 1436 Dowra came to a close, Sayyidi Habib Umar bin Hafiz (may Allah protect him and benefit us by him) gave this advice to students returning home to their communities. The advice is specific to those who attended the Dowra but it also applies to those who followed the lessons online and is general advice to the Ummah:
Sayyidi Habib Umar bin Hafiz (may Allah protect him and benefit us by him) met with a number of students who have been attending this year’s Dowra from South Africa, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
The students spoke of the sacrifices they had made coming to Tarim and what they had learnt in the Dowra. A student from Thailand said that all he possessed was three cows but he had sold them in order to buy a plane ticket to Yemen. A student from South Africa talked about the difficulties he had experienced on the journey to Tarim. He said that every hardship had been a means of purification and that in one of the first lessons he attended, Habib Umar explained the meaning of Allah’s saying in Surat al-Balad: We have created mankind in hardship. Continue reading Dowra Gathering
Insights from Sayyidi Habib Umar bin Hafiz (may Allah protect him and benefit us by him)
Any action which is heavy and hard upon the lower self (nafs) will be weighty when your good deeds are weighed on the Scales on the Day of Judgement. Any action which is easy for the lower self will be light upon the Scales.
When someone’s soul becomes tranquil (al-nafs al-mutma’innah), however, they no longer find any hardship or difficulty in acts of obedience. Continue reading Weights and Measures
Advice from Habib Ali al-Jifri (may Allah protect him and benefit us by him).
In our interactions with others, there are two methods we can adopt: Continue reading Advice on Interacting with Others
Here are two ways of preserving the gifts that Allah has bestowed upon us in these blessed times:
Advice from Habib Ali al-Habashi (may Allah have mercy upon him and benefit us by him).
You must show good character to all people. Through good character you may attain the stations of the people of immense truthfulness (al-siddiqun) and ascend to the highest levels of certainty. Be the most gentle and forbearing of people. Pardon those who wrong you and give to those who refuse to give you anything. If someone treats you badly, treat them well and forgive their wrongdoings however great they are. Continue reading Keeping the Company of the Poor
You must keep the company of pious people, display the same etiquettes that they display and seek to benefit from their deeds and words. You do this by visiting both the living and dead amongst them in a state of great reverence for them, truthfully having the best opinion of them. This is how visitors benefit from those that they are visiting and receive spiritual assistance from them. Continue reading Benefiting from the Pious
Words of wisdom from Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad (may Allah have mercy on him and benefit us by him).
Etiquettes (adab) are what beautify one’s actions. One’s actions are not complete without etiquette. Etiquette is ihsan and ihsan is one of the three foundations of the religion mentioned in the hadith of Jibril. Ihsan is to perform one’s actions with etiquette and this is a means for those actions to be accepted. Continue reading Etiquette is Ihsan | Wisdoms of Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad
Advice from Habib Kazim al-Saqqaf (may Allah protect him and benefit us by him)
To be raised by Allah, one needs to lower oneself and realise one’s weakness and one’s slavehood to Allah.
We should repeat this prayer which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ taught the Companion, Buraydah. He said to him: “Shall I not teach you words that Allah teaches to the one for whom He wants good, and then never allows him to forget them? Continue reading Finding Strength in our Weakness
