The divine authorisation (idhn): transmission and degrees (1/2)

By Idriss Poughon · September 2, 2024 · 5 min read

Contents

The notion of divine authorisation (idhn rabbani) is of essential importance in the process of transmission and spiritual education.

To illustrate it, we can start from the following Qur’anic verse: ‘He whom God does not will to guide, He will not cause to meet a wali murshid to draw him near to Him’ (Qur’an XVIII, 17). The wali murshid is the spiritual educator-guide (shaykh at-tarbiya), capable of transforming the inner life of his disciples. Note that a genuine spiritual guide is a wali, that is, a friend of God, a saint: yet that state, lofty and venerable though it is, is not in itself enough to make him a guide (murshid).

The guide is the one who has inherited the divine authorisation (idhn rabbani), transmitted by another spiritual master during that master’s lifetime. It is this authorisation that founds the initiatic chain (silsila), which allows the source of spiritual guidance to be traced back to the Prophet and to God.

The idhn is both what is transmitted to a spiritual master and what gives that master the means to lead and protect his disciples in their initiatic journey. This idhn is described as rabbani, divine: the shaykh’s individual will plays no part whatsoever in the choice or the modalities of the transmission of this authorisation.

Thus, for example, a spiritual master who felt his last moments approaching explained that he was ‘handing the keys back to their Owner’, meaning that the Owner (God) had designated no successor. In another, roughly similar situation, a spiritual master who had just received a clear divine inspiration pointed with a smile to one of his disciples, explaining that ‘God has willed no one other than this bald man’. The ‘bald man’ in question was a young disciple who had come to help serve the tea and cakes…

It is therefore easy to understand that, conversely, a saint who has not inherited this idhn will not have the ‘spiritual means’ to lead his disciples towards God, even if keeping his company may otherwise be a source of great blessing.

The operative action of the idhn can only be effected through a living master, who is indispensable for real guidance. As Sidi Hamza al-Qadiri Boudchich once said, ’those who follow the teaching of Ibn ‘Arabi are only following his djellaba’: not that reading and meditating on the works and teachings of the ancient masters is of no interest, far from it; but to pass from learning to true knowledge, to taste and fully experience the spiritual realities described in those works, the spiritual influence of a living guide is necessary (see the article on the spiritual guide).

The degrees of the idhn

We should also make clear that there are several types of idhn, relating to different domains.

Absolute or relative idhn

An authorisation may be ‘absolute’ or ‘relative’, as regards the spiritual degrees (maqamat) to which the guide will be able to lead his disciples. We may refer, for example, to the story of shaykh Sidi Abu Madyan al-Qadiri, who was first educated by a master of the tijani way (Sidi Mohammed bel-‘Aryan): once he had reached a very elevated spiritual station (the fana’, or extinction in God), Sidi Bel-’Aryan confided to him that he ‘could not take him any further’ and that he had to go and see another shaykh to complete his education. He told him where to find that shaykh, who hid his sainthood and his function from others’ eyes: this was shaykh Sidi Mohammed Lahlou, of the shadhili way, who was the head of the tanners’ guild in Fez. When he saw Sidi Abu Madyan for the first time, shaykh Lahlou told him that he ‘had been well served’ by his first master. He transmitted to him simply the recitation of a prayer upon the Prophet, to continue guiding him in his journey. Sidi Abu Madyan was later to receive an absolute idhn and become a great spiritual master in his turn (he was the master of Sidi Hajj ’Abbas and of Sidi Hamza).

Total or limited idhn

An idhn may also be ‘total’ or ‘limited’: the shaykh holding a total idhn will be able to initiate all the people who come to him, whatever their ‘profile’. Conversely, the holder of a limited idhn will only be able to initiate certain people, those who meet particular qualifications. One of the best-known examples is that of shaykh ’Abd ar-Rahman al-Majdhub, who received the idhn for a single disciple only: Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili. The latter was then the initiator of the spiritual way that still bears his name (tariqa shadhiliyya).

General or conditioned idhn

The idhn may be ‘general’ or ‘conditioned’: the general idhn is not limited by contingencies of a geographical order and potentially concerns all five continents (Sidi Hamza said, for example, that his way is kawniyya, that is, universal). The conditioned idhn, by contrast, may concern only one precise geographical region. This has great importance: a general idhn will allow the guide to adapt his teaching to the cultural context and the mental structure of the disciples in his charge.

Idhn encompassing the divine names

Finally, the idhn may or may not encompass the totality of the divine names, of the Qur’an, and of the different prayers upon the Prophet and spiritual litanies. A shaykh may, for example, be ‘watered’ by all or part of the 99 divine names (see the work Paroles d’or, translated by the late Zakia Zouanat). Depending on the idhn of which he is the holder, the shaykh will therefore be able to transmit to his disciples all or part of the divine invocations.