Salaat Azeemiyya

The Salaat Azeemiyya

Translation: Oh Allah, I ask You by the light of the Face of Allah the Great, Which filled the pillars of the Throne of Allah, the Great, And by it are upheld the worlds of Allah, the Great, To send blessings upon our master Muhammad of worth so great, And upon the family of the Prophet of Allah the Great, As much as the greatness of the Essence of Allah, the Great, In every glance and breath, as many times as all that is contained in the knowledge of Allah, the Great, A salaat that is perpetual in the perpetuity of Allah, the Great, In glorification of your worth, oh our master Muhammad, oh you of a nature most great, And send peace upon him and his family just as much, And join him with me, just as You joined the soul with the nafs, Outwardly and inwardly, in wakefulness and in sleep, And make him, oh Lord, a soul for my body in every respect, In the here and now, before the world to come, oh Allah the Great.

Transliteration: Allāhumma innī as’aluka bi-nūri wajhillāhil ‛aẓīm, alladhī mala’a arkāni ‛arshillāhil ‛aẓīm, wa qāmat bihī ‛awālimullāhil ‛aẓīm, an tuṣallī ‛alā mawlānā Muḥammadin dhil-qadril ‛aẓīm, wa ‛alā āli nabiyyillāhil ‛aẓīm, bi-qadri ‛aẓamati dhātillāhil ‛aẓīm, fī kulli lamḥatin wa nafasin ‛adada mā fī ‛ilmillāhil ‛aẓīm, ṣalātan dā’imatan bi-dawāmillāhil ‛aẓīm, ta‛ẓīman li-ḥaqqika yā mawlānā yā Muḥammad yā dhal-khuluqil ‛aẓīm, wa sallim ‛alayhi wa ‛alā ālihī mithla dhālik, wajma‛ baynī wa-baynahū kamā jama‛ta baynarrūḥi wannafsi, ẓāhiran wa bāṭinan, yaqẓatan wa manāman, waj‛alhu yā Rabbi rūḥan li-dhātī min jamī‛il wujūhi, fiddunyā qablal ākhirati, yā ‛aẓīm

The Keys to the Heavens and the Earth: Shaykh Ahmad ibn Idris, may Allah be pleased with him, had a meeting in the waking state, with the Prophet Muhammad, salla Allahu alayhi wa Alihi wa sallam, and alKhadir, alayhi assalam. The Prophet said to al-Khadir: “Ya Khadir: teach him that which joins together all of the dhikrs, salawat, and prayers for forgiveness of sins, and is superior in reward, larger in number, more exalted in worth, and greater in obtaining assistance.” Al-Khadir, alayhi assalam, said: “What is that, oh Prophet of Allah?” And so the Prophet, alayhi assalatu wassalam, taught him the Idrisi Tahlil, the Salaat Azeemiyya, and the Istighfar al-Kabir. Shaykh Ahmad ibn Idris says: “And so I repeated these after them both and I was clothed in Muhammadan lights and power and was nourished with the divine springs. Then the Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, said to me: ‘Oh Ahmad, you have been given the keys to the heavens and the earth, which are the dhikr, the salaat, and the istighfar. If you say them once, they are equal to the world and what is in it many times over.”

The Dhikr (The Idrisi Tahlil):

Laa ilaaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasool Allah, in every glance and breath, as many times as all that is contained in the knowledge of Allah.

Transliteration: Lā ilāha illallāh Muḥammadun rasūlullāh, fī kulli lamḥatin wa-nafasin, ‛adada mā wasi‛ahū ‛ilmullāh

Its Merit: The Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, said to shaykh Ahmad ibn Idris: “I have saved it for you, oh Ahmad. No one has received it before you. Teach it to your companions so that with it they will surpass those who came before.”

The Istighfar Kabir

Translation: I seek the forgiveness of Allah the Great, there is no god save He, the Living, Sustainer of Life, the Forgiver of sins, the Majestic and Generous. And I turn to Him in repentance from all acts of disobedience, and all sins and offenses. From every sin that I have committed intentionally and unintentionally, openly and in secret, in word and deed. In my every action and my every stillness, my every thought and my every breath, always and forever and eternally. From the sin that I am aware of and the sin that I am unaware of. To the number of all things contained in His knowledge, registered in the Book, written down by the Pen, and to the number of all that His omnipotence has created, and His will chosen, and as much as the ink of Allah’s words. As it befits the Majesty of the Face of Allah, and His Beauty and Perfection, and as our Lord wishes and as He pleases.

Transliteration: Astaghfirullāhal ‛aẓīm alladhī lā ilāha illā hū, al-ḥayy al-qayyūm ghaffār adh-dhunūbi, dhal-jalāli wal-ikrām wa atūbu ilayhi min jamī‛il-ma‛āṣī kullihā wal-dhunūbi wal-āthām wa min kulli dhanbin adhnabtuhu ‛amdan wa khaṭa’ā, ẓāhiran wa bāṭinā, qawlan wa fi‛lā fī jamī‛i ḥarakātī wa sakanātī wa khaṭarātī wa anfāsī kullihā dā’iman abadan sarmadā min adh-dhanbilladhī a‛lam wa min adh-dhanbilladhī lā a‛lam ‛adada mā aḥāṭa bihil ‛ilmu wa aḥṣāhul kitābu wa khaṭṭahul qalamu wa ‛adada mā awjadat-hul qudratu wa khaṣṣaṣat-hul irādatu wa midāda kalimātillāh kamā yanbaghī li-jalāli wajhi Rabbinā wa jamālihī wa kamālihī wa kamā yuḥibbu Rabbunā wa yarḍā

Its Merit: Shaykh Ahmad ibn Idris wrote about the Istighfar Kabir: “I sent it to one of the awliya, so he wrote me a letter in which he said: ‘I read the istighfar that you sent me one time and Allah forgave me all my sins so that nothing of them remained.’ And this means that he knows that Allah forgave him, a real and true knowledge, otherwise how could he have said: ‘He forgave me’ ?”

Commentary on the Azeemiyya: And join him with me, just as You joined the soul with the nafs The sayyid Muhammad ibn Ali as-Sanusi wrote that the Prophet Muhammad, salla Allahu alayhi wa Alihi wa sallam, appeared to him once, and with him were his two noble Companions, sayyidna Abu Bakr as-Siddiq and sayyidna Umar al-Farooq, may Allah be pleased with them both. The Prophet then praised shaykh Ahmad ibn Idris to imam as-Sanusi and said to him: “And that is why we frequently show you how his self/body is united to my self/body, and how he is mixed with me, and united.” Then the Prophet turned toward his two Companions and said to them: “Do you bear witness to this?” They said: “Allah bears witness to it, and His angels and His prophets and His messengers and the righteous among the believers.” In commenting on this, the sayyid Muhammad bin Ali al-Yamani al-Idrisi, the greatgrandson of the sayyid, writes in Risaalat al-Awraad al-Idrisiyya: “I say: And the meaning of this unity (ittihaad) is the strength of the connection between them, so let not poor misunderstanding make you think of the intermixing of their bodies or selves, or any such similar falsehoods.”

Shaykh Saleh al-Ja’fari, may Allah be pleased with him said: Bism Allah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem, wa salla Allahu ‘alaa sayyidina Muhammad wa ‘alaa alihi wa sallam. The explanation of “And join him with me, just as You joined the soul with the nafs” : And join within myself between his perfect attributes, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, and between the deficient attributes of my self, just as you joined the attributes of the perfect soul with the attributes of the deficient nafs, and when that joining takes place, erasure happens. Because his attributes of perfection, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, are like the day, and the attributes of the self/nafs are like the night, so the shining of the sun of the lights of his perfections, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, erases the darknesses of the attributes of the dark nafs. So the person is moved from the darkness of the night of his self in which he can see nothing, to the light of the day of his enlightening lights, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam. And so he, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, engulfs him with these lights. “We have erased the sign of the night, and made the sign of the day to enlighten.”(Q 17:12) And so he will witness him, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, with the eye of baseera (inner vision), and so the joining of witnessing happens. And after that the real joining happens. For the first joining/meeting is that of the sleep, and it is the

biggest way that leads to the joining of witnessing, then the joining of witnessing happens, then the real joining. And the shaykh, may Allah be pleased with him, referred to the first by saying “in sleep”and to the second by saying “inwardly” and to the third by saying “and in the waking.” And the fourth witnessing is the highest of the types of witnessing, to which referred by saying:

“And make him, oh Lord, a soul for my body in every respect.” As sayyid Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi may Allah be pleased with him said: “If the Messenger of Allah, salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, was absent from me for the blinking of an eye, I would not count myself among the Muslims.” And as sayyidi Umar ibn al-Farid may Allah be pleased with him said: Grace me with the destruction of my soul in the love of a gazelle Of most beautiful descriptions, he is mixed with the souls So the saying of sayyidi Ahmad ibn Idris, may Allah be pleased with him, “And make him, oh Lord, a soul for my body” and the saying of sayyidi Ibn al-Farid, may Allah be pleased with him, “he is mixed with the souls” are united in meaning, though different in wording. As for the saying of the sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris, may Allah be pleased with him: “I met with the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam and with sayyidna al-Khadir alayhi assalam a corporeal meeting,” that means: a real meeting, and it is the meeting we mentioned earlier. And in the year 1385 A.H. a man from Upper Egypt came to me and said, “I have something to tell you which, had I not been commanded to tell you by a higher authority, I would not have told it to you: Know my brother that I was sitting in your lesson at the Azhar Mosque after the Friday Prayer, and you were saying in your lesson, ‘Jalaluddin al-Suyuti used to study the science of hadith with the Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, and al-Suyuti would ask him about the correctness of the Prophetic hadiths.’ And then I saw the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam in the waking state, sitting next to me, and he said, peace be upon him, ‘Tell this son of mine to strive hard as did al-Suyuti in order to see me as he did.’ Then a man came and was about to pass between us and I wanted to stop him but he said, peace be upon him, ‘Let him for I am Light.’” So when he said this to me I was greatly astonished and surprised, so he said to me, “I swear by Allah that had I not been commanded to, I would not have told you what I just told you.” And he said this to me in the courtyard of the Azhar Mosque, so I saw a man sitting called Ahmad Mahmoud from the town of Moosha in Asyut so I took him to him and said, “Listen oh shaykh what this man is telling me”, so he repeated what he said to him.

My shaykh the muhaddith shaykh Muhammad Habib Allah ash-Shanqiti spoke of alSuyuti’s, may Allah be pleased with him, seeing of the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam in the waking and speaking with him, and I heard it from him many times. And among the things that Allah graced me with is that I stayed with him for almost 15 years, and I was his reciter in the lesson of his book Zad al-Muslim, a commentary on the hadiths that are in both Bukhari and Muslim. And he used to start with the hadith, then dive into the ocean of the biographies, and the commentary of the hadith, and then bring in the tafseer of Quranic ayas and matters of fiqh and creed, and other things. And he used to memorize the Quran in its different recitations, and he had an ijaza in that from his homeland, and he wrote a book called: Tayseer al-’Aseer (The Easing of What is Difficult in the Sciences of Tafseer), and he has a poem on the seven recitations that solved some of the difficult words of shaykh ash-Shatibi may Allah have mercy on him, and he has a poem on the proofs of Tawassul, and he used to say to me: “Read my commentary Zad al-Muslim for I did not leave anything out of it, big or small.” And And I used to give a lesson to the brothers who were present before his arrival at the Ḥusaynid Mosque, and if anyone objected to me or gave me a hard time, he would whisper in my ear after coming and sitting on his chair: “They give you a hard time but you are better than them” as if he was with me! And then in his lesson he would correct everything that I had erred in or missed in my lesson, as if he had been sitting with me listening to what I was saying, and this happened from him many times. And he used to have a great love for mawlana the sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris may Allah be pleased with him, and for his descendants. I say: I also heard the story of al-Suyuti from my shaykh, shaykh Yusef Nasr ad-Dijwi may Allah be pleased with him, And he was also one of the scholars who were knowers of Allah, and I regularly attended his lesson after the Fajr prayer at the noble Azhar Mosque in the Abbasid Hall for seven years. And whenever sayyid Hasan al-Idrisi would come from Sudan, he would meet me at his lesson, and after the lesson would greet the shaykh, which would make the shaykh most happy and he would say: “The sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris is a Qutb unlike other Qutbs!” And shaykh ad-Dijwi had taken the Idrisi tariqa from my shaykh sayyid Muhammad ash-Sharif, may Allah be pleased with him, and shaykh ad-Dijwi was from the Council of the (great) Scholars of the Azhar, and he had many greatly beneficial writings, and most valuable articles in the al-Azhar magazine. And I attended his lessons of Quranic commentary from the Sura of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) until the end of Surat an-Nas, after which he began commenting on Sahih al-Bukhari. And he used to memorize the Qur’an with the proper tajweed and all its recitations, and mention the sayings of the Quranic commentators, and explain the grammar of each aya of the Qur’an very precisely and clarify its terminology, and would, while doing so, present the different jurisprudential rulings of the four schools of Law, and would recite the hadith with its complete chain, and give a short biography for each of the men in the chain. And he would mention many great and valuable proofs of tawassul by the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, most of which he mentioned in the

Azhar magazine, which was then known as Nur al-Islam.” So you must read this magazine because of the sayings of this shaykh, for they are most beneficial. A story: He was once, may Allah have mercy on him, reading the hadith of the questioning of the grave in Sahih al-Bukhari. And I had studied the commentary of al-Kirmani on alBukhari, and saw in it that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, appears to the one being questioned when the angel says to him: “What do you say about this man?’”And after the lesson I kissed his hand and said to him: Shaykh al-Kirmani says that, he peace and blessings be upon him, appears to the one being questioned. So he poked me in my chest and said to me: I studied the commentary of al-Kirmani and read that matter in it, so why did you not remind me of it in the lesson so that the people would hear it from me? And he was once speaking about the vision of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, in the sleep. He said: “The Shaytan does not take his form, peace and blessings be upon him, if he came in his original form. And the correct opinion is that he also does not take his form in other than his original form.” So I said to him: “Our shaykh the sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris may Allah be pleased with him narrated in his book Ruh as-Sunna that he, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said: ‘He who has seen me has truly seen me, for I appear in every form.’” So he rejoiced greatly at this and said to me: “This hadith is the evidence that the Shaytan does not take his form, even if he were to come in other than his original form! You are blessed oh shaykh Saleh! May Allah benefit the Muslims by you!”

[The meanings of “And join him with me”are:] 1) The joining of islaah (correcting, fixing, making right), as the soul corrected the nafs after their union. He said Most High: “The one who purifies it succeeds.”(91:9) Among its meanings, and Allah knows best, is: He who purifies his nafs by his soul succeeds, if he lets the lights and wishes of his soul overpower the darknesses and desires of the nafs. 2) The joining of the warding off of punishment. He said Most High: “But Allah would not send them punishment while you [o Prophet] are amongst them.”(8:33). Among its meanings, and Allah knows best, is: while you are with them, like His saying Most High: “And His Messenger is among you” (3:101) which means: and the Messenger of Allah is with you. And all the types of joining that have been mentioned before are included in the state of being with the Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wa Alihi wa sallam. 3) The joining of learning and wisdom. As He said Most High: “And he teaches them the Book and the wisdom” (62:2). And that might happen by way of the Muhammadan Light. Shaykh ash-Shanqiti may Allah have mercy on him said: “Whenever a bedouin used to come from the desert, if he saw the light of the face of the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, he would speak with wisdom.” And then

he quoted this line of poetry of the scholars of Shanqit (Mauritania) that praises the Companions of the Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam: Because of the light of the Prophet, they did not need to learn to spell, And horses are not like limping mules. The Sufis say: And an example of this is the question that a bedouin asked the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam about his camel: should he leave it untied and rely on Allah, or should he tie it and rely on Allah? So it is by way of the Muhammadan Light that he learned how to ask, and that it is not against reliance on Allah to use the means that bring something about. 4) The joining of purification. He said Most High: “And he purifies them” (62:2). Among its meanings, and Allah knows best: is the purification of the soul by his soul in the worlds of the aforementioned joining. 5) The joining of the deep concern of the Prophet for the soul of the believer [as in His saying Most High: “He is deeply concerned for you” (9:128)], and this is general and specific, and what is meant here is the specific kind, especially for those who take the Ahmadiyya [Muhammadiyya] Tariqa, because their shaykh asked the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam to be their guarantor: to take care of their spiritual upbringing and to guide them, to watch over them and protect them. And perhaps that is among the special merits of this path about which its shaykh used to say, may Allah be pleased with him: “This path of ours is the Muhammadan Path, this path of ours is the Book and the Sunna.” 6) The joining of what is best. And it all happens because of the joining with him who is the best, for he is the most complete, and the most beautiful, and the greatest, and the most knowledgeable, and the most generous, and the most noble, and the most elevated, and the bravest, and the most beneficial, and the most compassionate, and the most fearful of doing what is wrong, and the most righteous, and the most pure, and the most refined, and the first and the last. And that is all part of the meaning of His saying Most High: “There came to you a Messenger, from the best of you”(9:128), as per the reading that says “anfasikum” [and not anfusikum, and it is the reading of Abdallah bin Qusait alMakki] 7) And the joining of ‘izza, and it is the meaning of His saying Most High: “There came to you a Messenger from among yourselves [or from the best of you], ‘aziz....” (9:128), and among the meanings of ‘aziz: The one who has no equal, and the one who cannot be defeated by anyone. And so the one who has this joining might surpass all his peers in his age and overcome his enemies, by the permission of Allah. 8) The joining of the Muhammadan compassion that is in His saying Most High: “To the believers he is compassionate” (9:128). And so he is surrounded by the

Muhammadan Compassion which cannot be equalled by the compassion of any of the creation in this world. 9) The joining of the mercy that is in His saying Most High: “To the believers he is compassionate, merciful” (9:128) and in His saying Most High: “It is by a mercy from Allah that you are gentle with them” (3:159). And this is the mercy that is specific [to the believers]. As for the general mercy, it is in His saying Most High: “We did not send you but as a mercy to the worlds” (21:107). And so he joins to you in this joining two mercies: the general and the specific, which surround you like the two wings of a bird, and with them you fly in the wonders of the gardens of the blessings of the Muhammadan Mercy. And our shaykh of the most precious knowledge, sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris may Allah be pleased with him, alluded to this [in his wird] in his saying: “And so that he becomes the tongue of my mercy from all my directions, reciting in all the directions of the creation the aya of Absolute Divine Mercy: ‘And my Mercy encompasses all things.’(7:156)” 10) The joining of the witness, so that he salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa salam becomes a witness for you on the Day of Rising for your obedience and good deeds, and it is the greatest testimony for you. 11) The joining of bushra (glad tidings) that happen to you from him, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, in every joining, whether in the waking or in sleep. And this bushra is specific, only for those about whom Allah Most High said: “For them there is bushra in this life and the next” (10:64). As for the general bushra, it is in His saying: “Give the believers the glad tidings that great bounty awaits them from Allah”(33:47) and in His saying Most High: “So give glad tidings to My servants who listen to what is said and follow what is best”(39:18). So you will have the general and specific types of bushra, and they will cause you to rise toward your goal like the rising of the thirsty toward a fresh spring of water. 12) The joining of the warning that is in His saying Most High: “And a warner” (33:45 and elsewhere). So the light of his majesty will warn you about disobeying his sayings, and he salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam is the possessor of the beauty that is surrounded by majesty. As sayyidi Umar ibn al-Farid may Allah be pleased with him said: For a beauty that You veiled with majesty He fell in love, and found the torture there most sweet 13) The joining of illumination, which illuminates your heart and lights its lantern, and that is in His saying Most High: “And a shining torch/lantern” (33:46), meaning: The one who lights with his lights the unlit lanterns of the hearts. And by him the Earth of your body is lit by the light of its Lord, as sayyidi Ahmad ibn Idris may Allah be pleased with him said [in his wird]: “And the Earth of my body will shine with the light of its Lord, and the Book will be placed, the book from which none of the Effusions (tajalliyyaat) of His Self are missing.” [In reference to aya 39:69 “And the Earth will shine with the lights of its Lord and the Book will be placed]. And this Book is not recited except by way of the Muhammadan Light, and what is

meant by it here is the Ilm Ladunni (the knowledge that comes from Allah), which comes through the Muhammadan medium. 14) The joining of the great character that is in His saying Most High: “And you are upon a great (most noble) character” (68:4), so some of his great character, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, flows from him to the person of the joining, so that he is given a beautiful character. And this flowing is like the flowing of water in the branches of the trees, and because of it he will have the Muhammadan character traits. 15) The joining of the Pledge to Allah that is in His saying Most High: “Those who pledge loyalty to you are actually pledging loyalty to Allah- the hand of Allah is placed on theirs”(48: 10). And so you will get the virtue of the Pledge when you shake his hand with your hand, in any of these types of joining. And here is an experiential witnessing for the people of the hearts, it cannot be understood except by the hearts, and cannot be written on paper, but only descends from Allah upon the hearts of those that He chose for this guarded secret and hidden treasure, and it is the secret of His saying Most High: “Those who peldge loyalty to you are actually pledging loyalty to Allah”and the meaning is: It is as if they are pledging loyalty to Allah. 16) The joining of the istiqama (staying on the right course) that is in His saying Most High: “So keep to the right course as you have been commanded, together with those who have turned to Allah with you, and do not overstep the limits” (11:112). And so the secret of uprightness upon the Muhammadan Path will happen to you, without deviating or overstepping the bounds, and it is what is meant by the saying of our shaykh the precious Qutb the sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris may Allah be pleased with him [in his wird]: “So that I am upon the sure footing that is not shaken by any obscurity (or doubt) in any way.” 17) And the joining of the appearance (tajalli) of the [Divine] actions happens to him also, which is in His saying Most High: “And you did not throw when you threw, but Allah threw”(8:17). And it is the meaning of the saying of our precious shaykh, the sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris may Allah be pleased with him [in his wird]: “So that I do not see in myself and in everything and in nothing except You!”

The Ijaza: Sayyidi Shaykh Saleh al-Ja’fari wrote:

I the poor slave Saleh bin Muhammad bin Saleh al-Ja’fari al-Husayni say: I saw the Messenger of Allah salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam in the sleep, in his noble Rawda, so I greeted him and recited the Salaat Azeemiyya of the great scholar and muhaddith, the shaykh and sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris, may Allah be pleased with him. So I said to him: Oh Messenger of Allah, shall I recite salaat on you with this formula? So he said, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam: “With it and with others.” So I considered this an ijaza for me from him, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam. I give ijaza in it to everyone who sees it among the believers, as I was given it by the Messenger of Allah, salla Allhu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, and I consider it to be one of the greatest of ijazas. And I was also given ijaza in it in the waking by my shaykh the knower of Allah, the sayyid Muhammad, from his father the sayyid Abd al-Aali, from his father the sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris, may Allah be pleased with them all. And it is known as Seeghat al-Futooh (The Formula for Openings) among the masters of the Mirghaniyya, Sanusiyya, and Rashidiyya tariqas. And sayyidi Muhammad Uthman al-Mirghani, may Allah be pleased with him, began his book of salawat with it, and urged people to read it. And it is said that its recitation causes one to hold firmly to the Prophetic Sunna and to become near to the Messenger, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam.

Its Merits:

Shaykh Ibrahim ar-Rashid, one of the main students and successors of sayyidi Ahmad ibn Idris wrote in a letter: “As for the Azeemiyya, the Messenger of Allah salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam was asked about its virtues. He said: ‘It outweighs Dalai’l al-Khayrat by a thousand thousand thousand thousand thousand times.’ He said “a thousand” twenty times. And it is greater and more than that, but this is to make it easier for us to understand. Understand the secret of his saying: “in every glance and every breath, as many times as all the things contained in the knowledge of Allah, the Great.” Shaykh Ibrahim ar-Rashid also wrote a treatise on the life and great rank of his shaykh sayyidi Ahmad ibn Idris, and in it he wrote: “And among his karaamaat, radi Allahu anhu, is that one of his murids died in Mecca, may Allah Most High honor it, and was buried in the Mu’alla. And there was a man from the brothers, from the people of kashf, of illuminated baseera (spiritual vision), standing there during the burial. He saw sayyidna Azrael alayhi assalam, who came with bedding from Paradise and great lamps, and expanded the grave as far as the eye can see, and prepared the bed for the dead man and put the lamps for him. The man who saw this said to himself: I wish if I died Allah would honor me with such an honoring (karaama). So sayyidna Azrael alayhi assalam turned to him and said: Each and every one of you will have like this karaama, by the blessing of the Salaat Azeemiyya.”

And shaykh Ahmad ibn Idris wrote in a letter to shaykh Muhammad al-Majdhub: “We mentioned to you that you should send into the khalwa those in whom you see zeal and determination. For the Messenger of Allah, salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, has urged us to send some of the brothers to the khalwa, and that they enter it reciting the Salaat Azeemiyya. And so they entered it and the gate opened between them and between Allah and His Messenger.”

Professor Mark Sedgwick wrote in Saints & Sons: “Ibn Idris’ prayers are generally regarded by Sufis today as extraordinary, especially the central prayer, the Azimiyya...The Azimiyya has become popular far outside the orders deriving from Ibn Idris. It is used, for example, by Shadhilis in Tunis with no known connection to Ibn Idris, and by [Ba] Alawis (an ancient order of Hadramawti origin) in Singapore, and perhaps elsewhere. Non-Ahmadi appreciation of the Azimiyya is illustrated by a story told by an [Ba] Alawi: One day, an [Ba] Alawi shaykh who was traveling with some companions passed another caravan. He insisted on stopping the other caravan and on opening the saddle bag of a slightly surprised old man. Inside he found some clothes and a piece of paper, on which was written the Azimiyya. ‘Ah,’ he said, ‘I wondered where that strong light was coming from.’” I say: And it is also included in the wird of the Shadhiliyya Habibiyya tariqa in Morocco and I have seen it in the wird of a tariqa in Syria that I was told was a Shahdiliyya-Rifa’iyya tariqa.

The Merit of “In every glance and breath, as many times as all that is contained in the knowledge of Allah”: Shaykh al-Amin Saleh at-Tawim, who was one of the greatest students of shaykh Ibrahim ar-Rashid, wrote in his Risala fi Ta’meer al-Awqaat: “And this is the Salaat about which is said: that the Mahdi alayhi assalam would use it to recite salaat upon the Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam:

‫اﻟﻠﱠﻬُﻢﱠﺻَﻞﱢ وَﺳَﻠﱢﻢ وَﺑﺎرِك ﻋَﻠَﻰ ﻣَﻮﻻﻧﺎ ﻣُﺤَﻤﱠﺪٍ وَﻋَﻠَﻰ آﻟِﻪِ ﻓﻲ ﻛُﻞﱢ ﶈَﺔٍ وﻧَﻔَﺲٍ ﻋَﺪَدَ ﻣﺎ وَﺳِﻌَﻪُ ﻋِﻠﻤُﻚَ آﻣﲔ‬ And none of the other salawat can equal it, except those that also have in them: ‘In every glance and breath...etc.’”

Guidance: In the tariqa Ja’fariyya, the Salaat Azeemiyya is recited once after every Prayer, and above that one can say it as much as they are able to. And in the Ta’meer it says: If you are finished with all your awraad and there is still some time left in the night, then busy yourself with the Azeemiyya until Fajr. Great Advice from Shaykh Saleh al-Ja’fari, may Allah be pleased with him: “You must act upon this advice which is more precious than gold and silver, and will make you race ahead of the horse riders in the race track, and that will, by the permission of Allah Most High, take you to what you desire, to what no eye has seen nor ear heard, nor has occurred to the heart of man. It is: If you wanted to read the Azeemiyya or any of the other Ahmadiyya salawaat, you must have wudu and sit facing the Qibla, sitting on your knees, looking down, directing your heart and soul to the Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, imagining his Muhammadan image in your heart, looking at him the looking of real witnessing. And by that the veils between you and the one being witnessed, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, will be removed, and he will look at you as you look at him, and love you as you love him, and he will give you from his sublime glances and his luminous soul, and so your soul will shake like the green twig shakes when it is given water. This is especially if it is in an empty place after the Fajr salaat or in the depth of the night. So if anything appears to you, do not tell anyone of it except your shaykh, the one from whom you took the path, and if you do not see anything then be patient until you become fully consummate and you deserve it. He said Most High: “And when he reached full maturity and became consummate in form, We gave him wisdom and knowledge.” (28:14) So hold on to this unique and powerful point of advice, especially if you are in alMadina al-Munawwara in his masjid, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, for that will be better and faster and nearer to what you desire.

Top left: Imam Muhammad ibn Ali asSanusi, khalifa of shaykh Ahmad ibn Idris. Top right: Shaykh Muhammad ash-Sharif alIdrisi, grandson of shaykh Ahmad ibn Idris. Bottom right: Shaykh Saleh al-Ja‛fari.

- Completed by the grace and favor of Allah Most High -