Sainthood (Wilayah) and Nearness (Qurb).

by Shaykh Ahmad Hendricks

Meaning of Waliyy

Sufism has often been criticized for "excessive" veneration of the saints. The
focus of this critique are the many practices, or as some would say, abuses
associated with visiting the shrines of the saints rather than the station of
sainthood as such. In all fairness, some scholars in our Shafite legacy have
also declared some of these practices either munkar or makruh. Others
developed a more nuanced opinion. Imam Ramli for example holds the
position that should a man throw himself onto the grave of a saint, and he is
clearly motivated by a spiritual condition (hal) or the man is overwhelmed by
an emotion, this act of his is neither munkar, makruh nor, least of all, "shirk".
His condition, the Imam says, is like the situation of Sayyidna Bilal who
rubbed his face on the grave of the Prophet (s), may Allah’s peace and
blessings be upon him, upon his return from Syria. Bilal was in Syria when the
Prophet (s), may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, passed away. The
implication here is that the practice of throwing oneself onto a grave becomes
an abuse (munkar) if people ritualize it. But even here the ruling of "shirk" is
absent.

The new development that has recently appeared in reformist circles in

general - not only Wahabism - is to declare these practices "acts of shirk".
This view betrays a basic confusion between the concepts of "act" and of "
belief". The truth is "acts" can never become "shirk" unless they are
accompanied by a polytheistic mindset. Even then the "act" as such is not
"shirk" - the "belief" or "mental orientation" is. The "act" is called "shirk"
figuratively. It is simply flawed to call any "act" that looks like a bow or a
prostration "shirk". If this was true, Bilal is also a mushrik. The angels in
bowing or prostrating before Nabi Adam and the brothers of Nabi Yusuf in
performing sujud, as the Quran says, before him will have to be similarly
judged.

The purpose of this article however is not to deal exhaustively with the
controversial issues. I want to focus on the core subject of sainthood. Why is
the station of sainthood so sought after? What is a saint and do they perform
miracles? Can someone know that he or she is a saint? People also often ask,
" We hear that the saints are divided into different categories and that they
form some sort of hierarchy, is this true?"

Let us first look at some of the traditions and verses on the subject.

Imam ‘Abdul Karim al-Qushayri narrates a tradition from ‘Aisha, may Allah be
pleased with her, that the Prophet (s), may Allah’s peace and blessings be
upon him, said, "Allah says:

The one who hurts a waliyy has deemed it legal to make war against Me.
And there is nothing better for the slave as a means of coming closer to Me
than performing the compulsory deeds. And the slave never ceases to grow
closer to Me by nawafil until I love him. And I seldom waver in doing
something like I waver to draw the soul of My believing slave; because he
dislikes death and I dislike to harm and there is no escape from death."

In another version of this hadith narrated by Imam Nawawi Abu Hurayrah,

may Allah be pleased with him said, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s
peace and blessings be upon him, said:

Verily Allah has said, the one who hurts my waliyy I have declared war
against him. And there is nothing better for the slave as a means of coming
closer to Me than performing the compulsory deeds. And the slave never
ceases to grow closer to Me by nawafil until I love him. And when I love him I
am his hearing that he hears by and the sight that he sees by, and his hand
that grips with, and his legs that he walks on. If he asks Me I will give and if
he seeks My refuge I will give him refuge.

Both Ibn Hibban and Nisa'i narrates that the Prophet (s), may Allah’s peace
and blessings be upon him said, " There is a group of the slaves of Allah that
even the Prophets and martyrs will envy," Then someone said," Who are
these people perhaps we can love them." And he said, "They are a people
who love each other through the light of Allah not through wealth or family
ties. Their faces are filled with nur (light) and they are on pulpits of light,
neither do they fear when the people fear nor do they grieve when the people
grieve." Then the Prophet (s), may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him,
recited the verse, "Verily the ‘awliya of Allah do not fear nor do they
grieve." [Yunus, v. 62]
‘Awliyah in the verse is the plural of waliyy . This word is used in two broad
senses. In ordinary Arabic waliyy means friend, associate, ally. In this sense
every Muslim is a waliyy of Allah because he believes in Allah and associates
himself with His din. For purposes of adopting the correct attitude towards
Muslims in general Imam Ahmad Zarruq recommends we understand the
traditions quoted above in this sense also. We should keep in mind that Allah
declares war against one who harms or hurts awaliyy. This should be enough
deterrence for us to avoid developing a negative attitude and act negatively
towards other Muslims. Waliyy however also has a more specific meaning. In
this second usage the term waliyy refers to;

a. A Muslim who embraced the ‘ibadah of Allah in a special way. He

regularly performs his ‘ibadaat without committing a sin because he has
succeeded in freeing himself [almost completely] from sin.
b. Or a Muslim who Allah embraced and taken him under His Care as He
says in the Quran, "And He embraces (yatawalla) the pious (salihin)."
[al-A’raf, v. 166] This verse is usually understood to mean that Allah
protects this Muslim from falling into sin. As a result scholars say, the
condition of a Nabi is to be sinless (ma’sum) and of a waliyy to be
protected (mahfudh) from sin.

Primacy of Shari`ah in Attainment of Wilayah

Continuing our discussion from the previous article a relevant and important
quote is Imam Qushairi’s clear ruling on the subject, " And both these
descriptions are obligatory (waajib) for a waliyy to be a waliyy in the first
place: It is obligatory for him to comprehensively observe the rights of Allah,
the Most High, both in depth and breadth, and the protection of Allah in all
circumstances good or bad." And further on in his seminal essay on Sainthood
in his Risalah he says, "And anyone against whom the law (shar’) has an
objection is deluded and deceived"

One of the important points in these quotations is the utter and complete
respect shown to the Shari’ah. Authentic tasawwuf has everything to do with
the Shari’ah. Insinuations to the contrary one sometimes hear coming from
the ignorant or earlier orientalist opinions that Sufism teaches one to
"transcend" the law are simply mistaken and uninformed. There is
no tasawwufwithout the Shari’ah. One of the great features of Islam is that
the Shari’ah and thorough observance and knowledge of theShari’ah is the
means to enter the Divine Presence. The salah, for example, we should see as
the Divinely ordained key and instrument through which we "travel" to His
Presence.

The Prophet (s), may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, is reported to
have said, "The salah is the mi’raj of the Muslim". We should note the very
important comparison the Prophet (s), may Allah’s peace and blessings be
upon him, is making here. Lets think through this point for minute.
The salah is the great spiritual journey of a Muslim. Compared in this hadith
to the great journey of the Prophet (s) as he traveled from the Haram in
Makkah to the Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem up to regions of nearness and
intimacy to Allah where even angels cannot go. This journey of the Prophet
(s) prefigures the eternal quest of the travelers on the road of tasawwuf and
in terms of this hadith should be the quest of every Muslim. Naturally ordinary
men and women like ourselves cannot travel to Allah both physically and
spiritually as the Prophet (s) did. The point is that the salah is a gift from
Allah and his Prophet (s) to every Muslim and is the means to achieve that
unique and blessed nearness and intimacy with Allah, the Most High, similar
to what the Prophet (s) experienced on that night.

Similar remarks can be made of the entire Shari’ah. In a hadith quoted in a

previous essay the Prophet (s), may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him,
reported that Allah, the Most High, said, " There is nothing better (as a
means) for my slave to come closer to me than continuous observance of all I
have made obligatory (ma iftaradtu ‘alayhi) on him". One quick point I want
to make here is we have to remember that salah, fasting, haj, and zakah are
not the only obligations (faraid) in Islam. Some of the other very important
obligations in Islam, are for example, correct behavior towards one’s wife,
children and neighbors; justice and fairness in one’s business dealings; justice
and fairness if we hold the reigns of power in a country; bravery on the
battlefield against the enemies of Islam; purity of mind and the absence of
jealousy, envy, hatred, arrogance and insincerity and so forth.
The Shari’ah deals with all of these matters in great detail. The basic principle
in all of this is, there is no way that Allah will admit us into His Presence nor
allow us to enjoy the great peace of intimacy with Him unless and until we
fully respect and continuously struggle to perfect and realize His Shari’ah in
our lives. The earlier ‘ulama even went to extent of including, in addition to
the obligations (fards), all the sunnah’s of the Prophet (s) and even all
the aadaab of the Shari’ah. Listen to this story of one of the foremost Imams
of our din.
Abu Yazid al-Bistami once went to see someone described as awaliyy by his
acquaintances and students. When he arrived at the "waliyy’s" masjid he sat
down and waited for him to finish-up and leave. As this man left the masjid
he spat, not outside the masjid but inside. Ba Yazid got up and left without
greeting him. Naturally this caused a stir since Ba Yazid was a particularly
prominent visitor, well known in the Muslim world at the time for both his
spiritual status and his scholarship. People feverishly enquired why he did this
obvious public snubbing of the man. Then Ba Yazid said, "This man cannot be
trusted with a singleadab of the aadaab of the Shari’ah, so how can he be
trusted with the secrets of Allah? ".

Love of Awliyah

The saint (waliyy) is at once close (qarib) to Allah, the Most High, and drawn
near (muqarrab). He comes closer to Allah through his own efforts in
observing the Shari’ah, and Allah, the Most High, in turn, assists, protects and
draws the saint close to Him. Abu Hurairah, may Allah be satisfied with him,
narrates that the Messenger, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him, said, Allah says:

I am with the thought of my slave, if he remembers Me by himself, I

remember him by Myself, and if he remembers Me in a group I remember him
in a better group (than his), and if he comes close to Me the length of an out-
stretched hand I draw close to him the length of a fore-arm, and if he draws
close to me the length of a fore-arm I draw near to him the length an arm,
and if he comes to me walking I come to him like a wind,

and in another narration "I am with him if he remembers Me".

This hadith is full of meaning. There is great encouragement here for people
who want to enter the path of inner knowledge and closeness to Allah. " I am
with the thought of my slave" and in the other narration " I am with him if he
remembers Me" implies two basic and important adaab. Firstly, when we
perform our ‘ibadah we ought to do so with the utmost purity of thought
(husn dhann) and good faith towards Allah. Indeed purity of thought itself is
an ‘ibadah. Pure thought towards Allah (husn dhann) also implies complete
acceptance of His Will. The aspirant has to work hard to remove all traces of
sublimated anger towards Him. Allah gives to others and He withholds from
us.
Dissatisfaction with the Will of Allah and indeed seething anger towards Him
is the essence of envy. And secondly, since we are sitting in the Presence of
Allah and He is with us, we have to observe the adab of maximum
concentration on Him. If this is difficult or we cannot focus and concentrate
with our whole being on Allah during our ‘ibadah we are required either to
train ourselves or seek out someone who can train us to achieve that. The
station of nearness (qurb) and the station of sainthood (wilayah) are
inextricably connected. Both of which should be the desire and objective of
every Muslim. According to this tradition, Allah comes to us "faster" and with
greater ‘vigour" than we to Him.

The elevated status of the awliyah is alluded to in the tradition known as

the hadith al-awliyah. Allah takes them into His care and assists them. The
one who loves the awliyah loves Allah. And conversely the one who injures
them, "…Allah declares war against him" [Cited by Bukhari from Abu
Hurairah] and in another version of this tradition Allah says, "… he (the
person who commits the injury) has declared it halal for him to make war
against Me" [Cited by Imam Ahmad and Imam Qushairi from ‘Aishah]. The
versions of this hadith cited by Tabarani differ mainly in the wording.
Tabarani’s narrations also include some very interesting additions not
mentioned by the other narrators. A thorough analysis of these texts will have
to be left for another time and place. Here we need to comment on some of
the points raised by this tradition.

1. One important conclusion we can deduce from this tradition is that love
and respect for the awliyah is obligatory (wajib). And it is prohibited
(haram) to dislike or injure the awliyah. There is no heavier
punishment than Divine War. A punishment of this magnitude is clear
evidence of obligation and prohibition. Allah declares war against the
one who injures the awliyah either by word or deed. Therefore injury to
them is prohibited and the converse, respect and love for them, is an
obligation. They represent the best of Islam and they embody
the Shari’ah in all its fullness. And consequently they are the beloved of
Allah and His chosen slaves.

Abu Turab Nakhshabi expressed a very important point when he said, "
If the heart turns against Allah it is accompanied by criticism and dislike
of the awliyah" [Narrated by Imam Qushairi]. Every Muslim who fears
Allah and cares for his din should be wary of this. The criticism and
sometimes open hostility against the great scholars and spiritual
 masters and above all the against the Sahabah, may Allah be pleased
with all of them, one hears from certain quarters is cause for concern.

Imam Abu Hanifah, Imam Shafi’i, Sayyid Abdul Qadir Jailani, Imam
Ghazali and many others, if they are not awliyah of Allah, who is?
Scholarly critique of their opinions is one thing, but begrudging and
belittling them is an entirely different thing. The often inexplicable
aggression and hatred against some of our own local scholars
and awliyah falls into the exact same category. According to Abu Turab
these are symptoms of a deeper and more dangerous tendency. The
reason for this hate and hostility has to be looked for in the hearts of
the critics rather than in the people they are criticizing.

2. Another basic point in this tradition is that the path to the Station of
nearness is the Shari’ah. " The best way to attain nearness to Me is to
practice the obligations (ma iftaradtuhu alayhi)" and further in the
tradition "… and My slave does not cease to draw nearer to Me by going
beyond the obligations (nawafil) until I love him…" The path to this
station of nearness and sainthood are the obligations (fara’id) and the
supererogatory deeds (nawafil) both of which are exhaustively dealt
with in the Shari’ah. So Shari’ah is the teachings, tariqah is the practice
of those teachings and nearness is the objective. The beginning of the
path is struggle (mujahadah) against the self to implement
the Shari’ah and the end is vision (mushahadah) of the Majesty and
Beauty of Allah in the station of nearness. The first step anyone
interested in following the path of tasawwuf should take is therefore to
make the necessary effort to study the Shari’ah.

I have also indicated in an earlier discussion that salah, fasting and haj
are not the only fards or obligations in Islam. The other important social
and ethical teachings are just as important. In this regard one of the
best books to study and digest is the Riyad as-salihin of Imam Nawawi.

3. The station of nearness (maqam al-qurb) is divided into two types, qurb
fara’id (nearness of obligations) and qurb nawafil(nearness of
supererogatory acts). We will look at these two categories is greater
detail in our next discussion, insha allah.