alhaddad.org

by Mohsin Badat   source

Recent events and experiences have caused me to question what it means to be a child of today’s west; to look at what is truly given from on high and true to the fitra, and what is shaped by the climate we live in. The Prophet (s) once described the heart as a mirror, and like all metals mirrors are prone to rust. Unfortunately I cannot say that I am an isolated example when I say that far from having a reflective heart, the rust has indeed set in. There is a damp in the air. Living in a society that is not driven towards the Divine comes with it’s own doubts, least of all those whispering and asking whether you can know truth, whether there is a ‘right’ way, whether or not we’re all the same deep down so why bother with anything? By the grace of Allah there are those on His earth who live in a land not troubled by such problems, who breathe the air clean and free and who remain a beacon of light for those who would cast aside the internal cobwebs and begin the long journey toward Him, majestic and august is He! Such a land is Tarim, and this is where my journey begins.

Tarim, a moderately sized town home to thousands of the faithful is nestled in between the towering cliffs that bound the Hadramawt valley in the south of Yemen; old Arabia Felix. A settlement established before Islam’s rise, Tarim first enters our consciousness at the time of Hadhrat Abu Bakr’s caliphate, may Allah be pleased with him. During the so-called ridda, the wars of apostasy when the Yemenis refused to pay the zakat the city of Tarim remained true and paid in full to the Commander of the Faithful. Their reward? Allah’s pleasure and three duas from the Caliph, “Allah make plentiful it’s water, and make it cultivated till the Day of Judgement, and may the Righteous blossom in its lands as plants blossom from water”. And so to this day Tarim’s environs are lush in the midst of aridity, are teeming with the awliya, hearts attached to dhikr and full of water pure, kind to the bowels of foreign visitors wary of sickness! One of Tarim’s names is ‘The Daughter of Medina’, for reasons that make it uniquely special. This we understand from the Hadith: “Love Allah for the blessings He bestows upon you, Love me for the love of Allah and Love my House for my love” (Al-Tirmidhi). Tarim can claim to be home to those who are loyal to this Hadith every waking and sleeping moment. For the truth is that one in three of the thousands of Tarimis claim descent from al-Imam al-Muhajir Ahmad b. Isa, son of Isa, son of Muhammad an-Naqid, son of Ali Uraydi, son of Ja’far As-Sadiq, son of Muhammad al-Baqir, son of Ali Zayn al-Abideen, son of Sayyidina Hussein the Grandson, son of Sayyida Fatima az-Zahra, wife of Sayyidina Ali (may Allah be pleased with them all!) and daughter of The Messenger Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him eternally. This is the real answer to Abu Bakr’s dua – Tarim was destined by Allah’s grace to overflow with the water that emanates from the caliph’s closest friend, The Beloved of Allah Muhammad (s). 1100 years have passed since Ahmad b. Isa’s arrival and Tarim is mother to thousands of Hadhrat Ali’s descendents, the largest gathering of the Ahl al-Bayt in the world. Their grandfather (s) was al-Habib, and his (s) descendents take his name. From the 12 th century onwards the scholars and saints of Tarim became known the world over as the Habaib.

Read the rest of this entry »

Once upon a time, there was a selfish man. He liked everything to be his own. He could not share his belongings with anyone, not even his friends or the poor.

One day, the man lost thirty gold coins. He went to his friend’s house and told him how he lost his gold coins. His friend was a kind man. As his friend’s daughter was coming from an errand she found thirty gold coins, when she arrived home, she told her father what she had found. The girl’s father told her that the gold coins belong to his friend and he sent for him. When the selfish man arrived, he told him how his daughter had found his thirty gold coins and handed then to him.

After counting the gold coins the man said that ten of them was missing and had been taken by the girl as he had forty gold coins. He further commented that he will recover the remaining amount from him. But the girl’s father refused. The man left the gold coins and went to the court and informed the judge there about what had taken place between him and the girl’s father.

The judge sent for the girl and her father, and when they arrived asked the girl how many gold coins did she find. She replied thirty gold coins. The Judge that asked the selfish man how many gold coins did he lose and he answered forty gold coins.

The judge then told the man that the gold coins did not belong to him because the girl found thirty and not forty as he claimed to have lost and then told the girl to take the gold coins and that if anybodyis looking for them he will send for the girl.

The judge told the man that if anybody reports that they have found forty gold coins he will sendfor him. It was then that the man confessed that he lied and that he lost thirty gold coins but the judge did not listen to him.