Riyadat an-Nafs

I arrived back in Jordan recently and the next day my friend took me to visit the ruins of Qasr al-Hallabat, which includes a fort, a mosque, houses, a water reservoir and a cistern. It had been a Byzantine fort that was rebuilt by the Ummayads with additions. The mosque was rebuilt recently by a Spanish archaeologist who rebuilds ruins in different countries, so much credit is due to the Spanish embassy.

I prayed Asr in the mosque, by putting my jacket in front of me where my head rested, because the ground was all rock and pebbles, and after I started wondering how many years it’s been since the mosque’s walls last heard the iqama and takbira. Allahu A’lam.

The bad news is I cant get the pictures right now for “The Crowned Son” post, but I’ll try to get them sent to me, we’ll see.

Until the next post I leave you with a couple lines from a beautiful poem, related to the previous posts:

ومن زار الكرام ولم يشاهد

مآثرهم فإنا قد لقينا

لهم علم وإجلال وفضل

بمدح الله صاروا مكرمينا

ـ الشيخ صالح الجعفري، روضة القلوب والأرواح

Yesterday I went out on an 11-hour “march” all over Cairo, to say my final goodbye to its most important people- that people that make it so special. But I wasn’t alone, I was part of a group of more than 100 people, at certain points of it many more, but the number fluctuated as the day, and night, passed by. This group, the the Jaafari Ahmadi Muhammadi Tariqa (al-tariqa al-Jaafariyya al-Ahmadiyya al-Muhammadiyya) does this on the day after each of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, every year.

We started at seven in the morning at al-sayyida Zaynab (r.a.) and ended at night at her older brother sayyidna al-Husayn (r.a.), and all the way we would chant songs in praise of the Prophet (pbuh) and his family and companions.

Many of those we visited I had visited earlier, and I talked about who they were and described them in the earlier post, Farewell Visits 1, and they are: Zaynab bint Ali, Zaynul Abidin Ali bin al-Husayn, Sukaya bint al-Husayn, Fatima al-Nabawiyya bint al-Husayn, Ruqayya bint Ali al-Rida b. Musa al-Kadhim b. Jaafar al-Sadiq, Nafeesat al-Ilm (sayyida Nafeesa), Aisha bint Jaafar al-Sadiq, and al-Husayn, radi Allahu anhum.

As for the others, some I had visited earlier, and some for the first time. They are:

- The companion of the Prophet (pbuh), Uqba bin Aamir al-Juhayni (r.a.), who narrated hadiths from the Prophet which are in Bukhari and Muslim, and famous as “the narrator of the hadith of the Hawd“. Fixed into the wall near his tomb was a wide slab of semi-precious stone that, according to the custodian of the tomb, was given to him as a gift by the Prophet (pbuh). Thus people touch it for baraka, because the Prophet (pbuh) had touched it. We were told by the leader of our group that when he had to cancel this trip one day many years ago (in the reign of Sadat), on that very night as soon as he fell asleep sayyidna Uqba appeared to him and said, “Why didn’t you come? I was waiting for you”.

- Ahmad al-Dardir (d. 1787), known as “Little Malik”, a great Maliki scholar and wali.

- Al-Imam al-Shafii, whose tomb was built by Saladin. The above-mentioned shaykh al-Dardir used to see the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) in his sleep a lot; some say every night. So one time another shaykh of the Azhar said to him, “They say that you speak with the Prophet, can you ask him about me?” So al-Dardir did and answered him the next time he saw him that the Prophet said of him “he is a good man, but in him is jafwa“. This is the same word, meaning coldness toward someone or antipathy, that the Prophet used in more than one hadith to describe those who do not visit him when they go to Hajj. So the shaykh cried and cried and said, “The Prophet means that I do not visit him, but I am an old man and I cannot possibly go now, what shall I do?” So Ahmad al-Dardir asked the Prophet the next time he saw him in a dream vision and the Prophet answered him, “I am at the tomb of al-Shafi’i every Friday from Asr until Fajr, so let him come to me there.” And after that it became the habit of the Azhar scholars to go there every Friday, one group after the next, but this was back when scholars were real ulama, and students were real tullab.

- Zakariyya al-Ansari. His tomb is in the hallway between the tomb of al-Shafii and the adjacent mosque. When you hear someone giving a lesson in Shafi’i fiqh and he refers to “Shaykhul Islam”, then he is referring to Zakariyya al-Ansari.

- The Maliki Masters (Al-Saada al-Maalikiyya)- Three of the companions and students of Imam Malik, as well as other great Malikis of Egypt from later times.

- The Sultan of the Scholars, Izz al-Din bin Abd al-Salam. I was so happy to see his name painted on the ruins of a medieval structure, and when we went inside, one person from the group was asked to give us a lecture on the importance of acquiring ilm, and then the gates of the Heavens opened, and it poured down on us a truly blessed pouring, and we raised our hands high, wide smiles of thanks to Allah on our faces, and prayed with certainty that our prayers will be answered. It was beautiful.

- Shaykhul Islam, the Qadi al-Qudat the mujaddid of the seventh century, Ibn Daqiq al-Eid, the first person to refer to his shaykh, Izz al-Din b. Abd al-Salam, as Sultan al-Ulama.

- Ibn Ata’illah al-Sakandari, the great sufi and scholar who wrote the great Hikam or Aphorisms, upon which there have been countless commentaries.

- The Sultan of the Lovers, the great sufi poet Ibn al-Farid.

- “The Sultan of the East and the West” Ibn Abi Jamra, author of a famous commentary on a selection from Sahih al-Bukhari. While he was writing his commentary, he would see visions of the Prophet (pbuh) expressing his approval of what he wrote, and sometimes others would see those visions instead and relate them to him.

- Al-Saada al-Wafa’iyya, a very famous family of sufi shaykhs that was very influential and powerful in Cairo, and they had their own tariqa- there were 13 tombs there. Two of them in particular are very famous as great awliya.

I think that’s it, and it took us eleven hours as I said, to walk to each one, recite some poetry in praise of the Prophet, his family and companions, listen to a small speech about adab, ilm, or fiq, and how to properly visit such places, and move on. We also had lunch in sidi Uqba bin Aamir’s moque.

We were supposed to also visit the “Faqih of Egypt” al-Layth, who had his own madhhab at the time of Imam Malik, and Rabi’a al-Adawiyya and Dhul Nun al-Misri, the ancient and famous sufis, but we didn’t have the time.

May Allah accept from us our striving to visit His chosen servants, and inspire us to be like them, and reward us with a visit to His Beloved, sayyidna Muhammad salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam. And alhamdulillah for allowing me to seal my three-year stay in Egypt with this great final goodbye.

هذا الحسين وهذه أنواره

فاحت على زواره أعطاره

هذا الحسين وهذه أنواره

لاحت على زواره أسراره

الشيخ صالح الجعفري -

Today, I saw the face of sayyidna Abu Bakr al-Siddique, and I saw sayyidna Umar wrapped in a cloak, sayyidna Ali riding a horse with sword in hand, and sayyidna the prophet Solomon, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon them all, and endless praise and thanks to Allah for allowing me to see their faces. But before I get to explaining how this happened, and no it wasn’t in a dream or vision, and you will see them too inshaAllah, let me begin my story from its very beginning, and tell its details just how I heard them from my closest relatives, and show you what I saw, all in its proper order.

Our story begins with the battle, or massacre, of Karbalaa, in which the small force led by the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson al-Husayn was defeated by the Umayyad army of the caliph Yazid, to whom al-Husayn’s severed head was brought to see, before it was buried in Damascus. At this point, his sister the sayyida Zaynab and others of his family left to settle for Egypt. Some of the Prophet’s descendants were even hunted and killed there by Umayyad agents, and we’ll get to two of them soon. When the Shiite Fatimids took control of Egypt and Palestine, they brought the head of al-Husayn to Cairo, as well as the bodies of other Ahlul Bayt, descendants of the Prophet, peace be upon him.

I wrote about most the Ahlul Bayt that are buried in Egypt earlier , describing all the most famous ones and my visits to them, but I left out one very important descendant, Al-Hasan al-Anwar (the most radiant), because I had not visited him that day. Who is al-Hasan al-Anwar? He is the son of Zaid al-Ablaj, son of al-Hasan, son of Fatima al-Zahraa, daughter of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon them all. His daughter is al-sayyida Nafeesa, one of the most famous and beloved of the Ahlul Bayt in Cairo, and I talked about her in my above-mentioned post.

I have a relative here in Cairo, who has taken the Khaliliyya Tariqa, and visits all the Ahlul Bayt here regularly. One day, a structure in the building that houses the tomb of al-Hasan al-Anwar collapsed, and as soon as this relative heard that reconstruction was being carried out there, he rushed into the reconstruction site, found his way inside the building, and filled a plastic bag with sand from deep under the ground, meters below the surface, around the tomb. He took this sand home and until now he has it, and years since, it still possesses the most powerful and beautiful scent, the same scent that covered the streets of that area when the building collapsed. He also has a stone from when the marbling at sayyidna al-Husayn’s tomb was being changed, and its scent is different from the one of al-Hasan al-Anwar.

This was years ago, but now we come to something new, something amazing. The headquarters of the above-mentioned Khaliliyya Tariqa are in a city called Zagazig, about 1.5 hrs away from Cairo. One of the shaykhs of the order, being the son of the founder Abu Khalil, used to always point at a certain house in the city on his way to the mosque and say, “many blessings will appear from this house, many blessings will appear from this house.”

That house, to which he pointed, belonged to a local government official. Two and a half years ago, this man saw, in a waking vision, a man appear to him and say, “I am Yahya al-Mutawwaj (the Crowned) son of al-Hasan al-Anwar, son of Zaid al-Ablaj, son of al-Hasan, son of Fatima al-Zahraa, wife of Ali ibn Abi Talib and daughter of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), and I am buried beneath your house”. This Yahya is known as “al-Mutawwaj bil Anwar al-Muhammadiyya“, Yahya “who is crowned by Muhammadan lights”. He and his daughter, Zaynab al-Jawhara (the Jewel), were killed by Umayyad agents, and their tombs had never been discovered.

Yahya told the owner of the house to dig him out and give him a proper burial, so he and his family dug in their house for more than a year until they found him six meters underground, his body as fresh as the day it was buried more than a thousand years ago, producing a most beautiful scent. They took it out, they prayed the funeral prayer over it, and re-buried it properly. Then the owner of the house, undertook under his own expense, to make that room in which he was buried more befitting of its inhabitant, by building a beautiful white dome over it, and covering the walls with white marble, in order to honor the person buried there.

One day he woke up, only to find that many forms have formed all over the marbles on his walls- the lines and spots on the marble had formed well-defined images- there was a 3-dimensional Kaaba, the name “Muhammad” in ancient Kufic script, and many human figures. Yahya al-Mutawwaj appeared to him again and explained to him who every person was- there was Abu Bakr, Umar, Ali, the Prophet Solomon, Nafeesa, al-Husayn, and many others, and he pointed at one large figure and said, “this is Zaynab al-Jawhara, my daughter, and she is also buried under your house” but as he did not give him permission to dig her out, they have left her alone; they await permission, or idhn, to dig her out and bury her, and many people have requested to be there when the permission comes.

Zaynab al-Jawhara appears, however, when dhikr is done at the house, and can be seen by all.

Then my relative’s two daughters went to Zagazig and visited the house. They recognized the powerful scent there instantly- it was identical to the scent from the sand of the tomb of al-Hasan al-Anwar, Yahya’s father. And there was no perfume used in that place, and no incense, but this same powerful smell has covered that house ever since they dug up the body.

They brought me back pictures of all the images taken, with their cellphones, from the marble walls- and they are absolutely clear. There was the face of Abu Bakr al-Siddique, looking straight at you, and there was the figure of Umar ibn al-Khattab, sitting, wrapped in a cloak. There was Ali ibn Abi Talib, riding a horse, and the Prophet Solomon, wearing a very long turban and holding the staff mentioned in the Qur’an. There is sayyida Nafeesa and sayyida Zaynab bint Ali, facing each other, with their faces veiled except their eyes. And there was Zaynab al-Jawhara, in a very large image, but curiously her head is not covered, and her hair is arranged as if she was a bride. I saw these myself, and I intend to post them here once I am able to send them from the phone to my computer, so you can see them for yourselves.

Al-Jazeera also sent reporters there, and they said they would like to bring in a German expert to analyze the images. The owner of the house said, “bring your expert, and bring someone to try to wash out the images, and if they wash out in any way, or if your expert says they’re false, feel free to hang me! I have nothing to gain from this, and have spent a large share of my fortune on fixing this place to suit those resting in it.”

And so Allah has chosen to reveal new signs to His servants. May Allah whelm His greatest sign, His messenger Muhammad, with peace and blessings, and likewise whelm his pure family, wives, descendants, and companions.

And may He allow me to visit this crowned son of the Prophet and his jewel of a daughter, but until then I offer them this humble gift:

هذا المتوج قد لاحت أسراره

من النبي محمدٍ أنواره

من صلبه الجوهرةُ المصونةُ

لكل عاشقٍ هناك تظهرُ

هذا المتوج قد لاحت أسراره

فاحت على زواره أعطاره

[The great shaykh Ibn Ajiba, in his large commentary on the Fatiha says,]

Know that Allah’s beautiful names are all suitable for ta’alluq (attachment, relationship), takhalluq (adoption, appropriation, cultivation), and tahaqquq (realization).

As for ta’alluq: it is seeking for that name’s meaning to happen.

As for takhalluq: it is striving in the works that bring about this meaning.

And tahaqquq: is its happening and taking root in the heart until it takes hold of it, and does not leave it most of the times.

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AL-MU’MIN

It has been said, “the musaddiq (verifier of the truthfulness) of His messenges with miracles”, and it has been said, “the One who secures His servants from the Great Fright, or His placing in them a sense of security and reassurance.”

And the Proof of Islam [Abu Hamid al-Ghazali] said: No security in the world comes except through causes that He alone creates and guides to their use, therefore He is the Absolute cause of safety.

And ta’alluq to it, according to the first meaning: To ask Him to give you belief in Him, and in His promises and threats, and His prophets and messengers, and His awliya.

And according to the second meaning: To ask from Him safety from His dissatisfaction by the achievement of true repentance, and correct manners, by conformity to the Sunna, and the abandonment of innovations.

And takhalluq according to it: is for your truthfulness to increase, for your faith to strength so that no doubts mix with it, or false beliefs, and that no worry or comes to it, and that all of creation feel safe from you, for his saying, peace be upon him, “I swear by Allah that he does not believe…he from whom his neighbor feels no security,” and to believe all those who want to give you advice and tell you that in which you will find your righteousness and right guidance.

And tahaqquq with it:  that the light of certainty shines in your heart, so that the hereafter is too close to you for you to leave for it, and to see this world with the eclipse of perishing apparent on it, and that which was unseen to you becomes witnessed, and that which was to come becomes now, and that your sidq (honesty) is so great that you believe in what is normally impossible.

It has been related that sayyidna Isa , upon our prophet and upon him be peace and blessings, saw a man stealing, so he said, “you have stolen, oh so-and-so?”, so he said, “No, by Allah I did not steal, oh spirit of Allah”, so Isa peace be upon him said, “I believe in Allah and disbelieve in my eyes.”

So if your honesty is realized, and you are firmly established in it,  you are written down with Allah as one of the siddiqeen (the verifiers), the muqarrabeen (those brought near), may Allah raise us among them (on the Day of Judgment), Amen.

[the end]
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Note: sidq means truthfulness, honesty, sincerity, and faithfulness. Thus it carries a meaning that goes both ways: it is both the quality of being truthful and of believing in the truthfulness of others. A siddique is someone who is both truthful and verifies the truth of something (the prophet, Allah, etc). Thus the name al-Mu’min is closely tied to the word sidq, because he who has the quality of mu’min is truthful,has faith in Allah, and believes those who give him good counsel or advice. That is why the first meaning mentioned above for Allah’s name al-Mu’min is al-musaddiq for His messengers with miracles, meaning: the one who show their truthfulness. That is why Ibn Ajiba says that he who has great honesty will more easily believe what may sound miraculous or impossible, as if both qualities come from the same essence.

It was said to al-Hasan al-Basri regarding something he said, “Oh Abu Sa’eed, I I have never heard any of the fuqaha say this,” so he said, “And have you ever seen a faqih? The faqih is he who wants nothing from this world, longs for the hereafter, and is devoted to worship. And I have never seen a faqih try to please anyone- he spreads the wisdom of Allah, and if it is accepted he praises Allah, and if it is rejected he praises Allah.”

إلهي أذقني حلاوة الإيمان، حتى أشهد أني نلت خير نعمة بالفضل والإحسان، واحفظني بفضلك من الشيطان، فهو يحاربني في هذا الكنز المصون، إلهي… تجلّ لي بنور اسمك المؤمن، حتى آنس بك في سري وعلني، في ظاهري وباطني، فإن كل نعمة نورانية هي قبس من تجلي اسمك المؤمن، فكل أمن وأمان هو منك موهوب، وإليك يرجع الأمر كله يا علام الغيوب، فنور إيماني من تجليك، ونور أذكاري من هدايتك وعنايتك، وحالي غير خاف عليك، فاحفظ علينا الإيمان، وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم

The book from which I got this dua says that it comes from a book called Al-Anwar al-Qudsiyya, and that it is by a shaykh called Al-Aqqad.

We are now in the ten days of Dhul Hijja, which are believed to be the holiest ten days of the entire year (including Ramadan!). It is recommended to fast if possible on the first 9 of the ten days, or whatever one is capable of. But the tenth is the Eid and it is haram to fast on Eid. The day before the Eid, the 9th of Dhul Hijja, is the Day of Arafa, the day when the pilgrims in Mecca stand on the Mountain of Arafa- the most important part of the Hajj. That day, especially for someone in the Hajj, is probably the greatest day of the year.

What can we who are not in Hajj do that day? The most important thing is to fast, for the Prophet (pbuh) said that he who fasts on the Day of Arafa, all his sins from a year before that day until a year after that day will be forgiven.

But I recently finished reading the travels of the Andalusian Ibn Jubayr, and he described the practice of the scholars (and other people) of Damascus at that time, on the Day of Arafa. It highly impressed him and it definitely impressed me. He said on that day, after the Asr prayer at the mosque, they would take off whatever is on their heads as a sign of humility and in imitation of the people of the Hajj, and they would remain standing in the mosques, praying to Allah, asking to receive a portion of the blessings of the people standing in Arafa, or to be able to do the Hajj in the future. And they would remain thus standing, supplicating, until Maghreb when the Pilgrims leave the mount of Arafa.

May Allah give us a share of the blessings of the Pilgrims on that Day and may He bless us with many many pilgrimages.

Recently I’ve been having this new thing for breakfast. Not many people know it, even in Jordan and Palestine, which are probably two of a handful of places where you can find it. In Arabic its called izha. You buy the izha in a jar at the store, but it can’t be eaten as it is, you have to mix it with honey first. The izha itself is made from the Black Seed (as it is known in Arabic), roasted and ground up, and mixed into sesame oil or something that would make it more liquid than solid. The end result is something that has the same color, look, and consistency as petrol straight out of Iraqi oil fields, though probably even thicker. You mix it with honey, and there you have ready-to-eat izha, which you eat with bread.

Nigella Sativa is known as the Black Seed in Arabic, also the Seed of Blessings, and many others. In English it’s usually called Black Cumin. The Prophet (pbuh) is reported to have said that it cures everything but death, and it has been shown to strengthen the immune system when taken over time. The great Ibn Sina lists among its benefits, besides its healing of different illnesses and disorders, the fact that it “stimulates the body’s energy and helps recovery from fatigue or dispiritedness.” (I don’t think that’s a direct quote from Ibn Sina but you find it all over the net). So, it gets the check for one of the healthiest foods as described in hadith. Combine that with honey, which is one of the healthiest foods as described in the Qur’an (I think the only thing specifically mentioned for its health benefits in the Qur’an), and you end up with izha: a truly great breakfast! Eat it with bread, and you’re set!

In The Amazing Qur’an, Gary Miller makes an interesting comment about honey’s description in the Qur’an which I think is fitting to quote,

Another example of what one might expect to find in an “old book” that touches upon the subject of health or medicine is outdated remedies or cures. Various historical sources state that the Prophet (s) gave some advice about health and hygiene, yet most of these pieces of advice are not contained in the Qur’an. At first glance, to the non-Muslims this appears to be a negligent omission. They cannot understand why Allah would not “include” such helpful information in the Qur’an. Some Muslims attempt to explain this absence with the following argument: “Although the Prophet’s advice was sound and applicable to the time in which he lived, Allah, in His infinite wisdom, knew that there would come later medical and scientific advances which would make the Prophet’s advice appear outdated. When later discoveries occurred, people might say that such information contradicted that which the Prophet (s) had given. Thus, since Allah would never allow any opportunity for the non-Muslims to claim that the Qur’an contradicts itself or the teachings of the Prophet (s), He only included in the Qur’an information and examples which could stand the test of time.” However, when one examines the true realities of the Qur’an in terms of its existence as a divine revelation, the entire matter is quickly brought into its proper perspective, and the error in such argumentation becomes clear and understandable.

It must be understood that the Qur’an is a divine revelation, and as such, all information in it is of divine origin. Allah revealed the Qur’an from Himself. It is the words of Allah, which existed before creation, and thus nothing can be added, subtracted or altered. In essence, the Qur’an existed and was complete before the creation of Prophet Muhammad (s), so it could not possibly contain any of the Prophet’s own words or advice. An inclusion of such information would clearly contradict the purpose for which the Qur’an exists, compromise its authority and render it inauthentic as a divine revelation.

Consequently, there was no “home remedies” in the Qur’an which one could claim to be outdated; nor does it contain any man’s view about what is beneficial to health, what food is best to eat, or what will cure this or that disease. In fact, the Qur’an only mentions one item dealing with medical treatment, and it is not in dispute by anyone. It states that in honey there is healing. And certainly, I do not think that there is anyone who will argue with that!

And regarding its spiritual benefits, I will quote the great shaykh Ahmad ibn Idris,

“Eating it cures the spiritual diseases if it is eaten with that intention, and gives one gnosis and lights, by the traces of revelation in it, as God says, “Your Lord gave revelation to the bees” (16:68)…. until “Therein is a remedy for men” (16:69). Indeed the sweetness of the divine address became infiltrated into bees and has remained in their progeny who inherit it from generation to generation. They eat bitter things that become sweet in their stomach, as one observes. Thus therein is a remedy for men both physically and spiritually because its fundament is the divine address which is the Qur’an, the word of God. And the Qur’an is a remedy for what is in man’s breast, and right guidance and mercy for the believers.”

In the name of Allah, al-Rahman al-Raheem, and all praise is due to him for guiding us to the fastest way of drawing near to Him, that being al-Salaat, the Muslim prayer, whose name derives from the root word s-l-t, meaning: connection. And all praise is due to him for creating around His messenger great men who would preserve His Messenger’s practices and teachings. And may He whelm His Messenger- who taught us this Salaat and told us to pray as he did- and whelm likewise his family and companions with peace, blessings, and ridwan.

Recently I wrote down some of my thoughts on the Prophetic hadith that the Salaat is the Mu’min’s Mi’raj, or Ascension. Today insha’Allah I wish to write down my thoughts about the saying of his companion, sayyidna Abu Hurayra, ridwan Allah alayh: assalatu qurban.

The word qurban comes from the root word q-r-b, meaning proximity or nearness. The literal meaning of the word is “something with which you come closer to” (Allah Most High). But the word qurban actually refers to an offering to God, usually in the form of animal sacrifice. Now we know that the Qur’an criticized the pre-Islamic Arabs for thinking that their offerings at the Kaaba reaches God, saying that it is not the blood that reaches God but the act of sacrifice. Thus Islam accepted the practice of qurban and encouraged it, but made its purpose the feeding of the poor, and rewarded man’s sacrifice of his animals, and thus of his property and wealth, for the sake of feeding the poor. This was the Islamic qurban, not the jahili qurban of leaving food for the Gods to eat, exalted is Allah above such a thought.

But how is our salaat a qurban? There are many possible meanings of this. The first meaning is the one provided by Abu Hurayra himself in the same hadith, explaining that “Salaat is like when a man needs something from a leader (imam), and so offers him a gift.” Thus we offer the Salaat to Allah (swt), as a gift, in order to be allowed to come nearer to Him, or to be given what we desire.

This “gift” can simply be seen as a qurban in the sense that it is something that you offer to Allah, to draw nearer to Him. However, I see in it the other meaning of qurban, the meaning of a sacrificial offering. This is because in order to do the Salaat you have to sacrifice your time in order to obey the command of Allah. You have to plan your day about the 5 salaat prayers, which become like the axis of your day. In this is a great sacrificial offering.

But I see another deeper level in which the Salaat is a sacrifical offering, and before I come to this I must first keep Abu Hurayra’s hadith on the side and explain the second verse of surat al-Kawthar, the 108th, and shortest, sura of the Holy Qur’an.

“Wa Sallee li-Rabbika w’anhar” (108:2)

This verse says two things: The first part commands the Prophet, and also the believers, to do the Salaat prayer to our Lord. The second says “and inhar“. The word inhar is the imperative form of the word nahr, so what does nahr mean? As a noun, nahr simply means “neck”. However, nahr is also a verb, signifying the act of cutting an animal’s neck.

So what then does this verse mean? According to Ibn Kathir, it means to do the Salaat prayer only to Allah, and then to sacrifice animals only to Allah, not to any other gods. However he and most other Quran commentators present all the different interpretations of the word inhar, many of whom see the act of nahr here not as a sacrifice of an animal, but as one of the movements of the Salaat. Thus, Ibn Kathir reports that Muhammad al-Baqir explained nahr as the act of raising one’s hands at the beginning of the Salaat, because they come near the neck. Another interpretation, attributed to the Prophet’s cousin Ibn Abbas (r.a.) and others, says that the nahr is the act of pointing one’s neck toward the Qibla, as happens during the Rukoo’.

This brings me to what I think is one of the levels of meaning of this verse, and of the teaching of Abu Hurayra (r.a.).

Sometimes when I’m praying, I don’t think of the Rukoo’ movement as a bowing before Allah, as one bows before a King, for example, as I used to always do. While I do think of it this way a lot, I mostly see myself in the Rukoo’ as doing something different, may Allah guide me to the correct path if I am wrong. But I see in the word nahr in that verse, beside its primary meaning of giving sacrificial offerings only to Allah, a command to sacrifice one’s self to Allah. Thus in prayer, one is sacrificing not just his time but his own will and his own ego, for the sake of Allah. We are essentially submitting and saying, “I bow down before you, my Lord”, despite the ego’s pride which does not want to bow down before anyone, and does not want to sacrifice its time for the sake of prayer. I see an expression of this in the Rukoo’ movement, in which we bow down until our back is so straight that you could put water on it and it does not spill, for that is how our Prophet (pbuh) did it. And this conjures up in my mind two images: First, I see the Prophet Isma’eel (Ishmael), who obeyed his father and stretched out his neck in order to be cut as per the dream. And second, the straight back of the sheep who are to be sacrificed as qurban. Thus whenever I bow down in Rukoo’, I think of the verse 108:2, and of “assalatu qurban“, and I stretch out my neck toward the Kaaba, as if to say, “Here is my neck, oh Allah, stretched out, as I sacrifice myself, my nafs, to You.”

And it is this act of submission, of islam, which made me add the word Muslim in the title, making Salaat the Mu’min’s Mi’raj and the Muslim’s qurban. May Allah make this submission and this sacrifice real, because I don’t think that for me they go beyond the realm of imaginings and wishes.

May Allah accept from me my prayers, and may He guide us all to His proper worship, and correct our interpretations of His commands.

Wassalam.