Sayings of 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: Sufi quotations
Contents
Moulay ’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (1077-1166), of Baghdad, is the master claimed by the Qadiriyya, the path of which the Tariqa Qadiriya Boutchichiya is a branch. He was one of the greatest preachers of his time and remains the most invoked saint in the Muslim world.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: remain permanently in effacement
Remain permanently in effacement and assert yourself in nothing except the commandments and prohibitions, for it is He who confirmed you at that level.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: …the prayer of the heart
The second part of Allah’s commandment concerning the middle prayer refers to the prayer of the heart, because the heart is in the middle, at the centre of the being. The aim of that worship is to reach the peace of the heart… True worship is the worship of the heart. When the heart is inattentive to true worship, the ritual prayer falls into disorder. When that happens, the peace one hopes to obtain from the ritual prayer is not realised. That is why the Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) said: ritual worship is only possible with a peaceful heart.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: profit from the gate of good while it is open
The Prophet (may God grant him grace and peace) said: “Let him who sees a gate of good open before him profit from it, for he does not know when it will close for him.” You who hear me! Profit from the gate of good while it is open! Seize the occasions of doing good while you are capable of them! Profit from the gate of repentance and cross it while it remains open for you! Cross the gate of invocation, for it stands open before you! Cross the gate of emulation with your pious brothers, for it is open for you! You who hear me! Rebuild what you have dismantled! Wash what you have soiled! Set in order what you have spoiled! Purify what you have corrupted! Give back what you have taken! Come back to your Lord from your flight and your escape!
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: he takes outward appearances for gods
“When they were told: ‘No deity apart from Allah’, they swelled with pride and said: ‘Are we to abandon our deities for a mad poet?’” (Qur’an 37, 35-36). Such is the state of the ordinary man, for whom outward appearances, including his own outward existence, are gods.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: he who intends to enter into seclusion
He who intends to enter into inner seclusion must put out of the gate of his heart all pride, arrogance, vindictiveness, tyranny, anger, envy, intolerance, calumnies and other things of that kind. If one of these feelings enters the one in seclusion, his heart is soiled. He is no longer set apart from the world, and his solitude has no more worth. When filth enters a heart, it loses its purity and all good is abolished. God said: “What you have produced is sorcery! Allah will annul it” (Qur’an 10, 81).
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: have compassion for creatures
Hold fast to the reality of islam, which is to surrender oneself trustingly to God. Have compassion today for creatures, so that tomorrow God may take you in His mercy. Be merciful towards those who are on earth, so that He who is in heaven may be merciful to you.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: faith grows with obedience and dwindles with disobedience
When repentance is confirmed, faith grows and is confirmed in the eyes of the followers of the sunna. For faith grows and dwindles. It grows with obedience and dwindles with disobedience.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: to fast is also to stop sinning
And do not let your appearance suggest that you are with Him while your heart is completely empty. For to have an outward appearance contradicting one’s inward state is a kind of raving. Have you not heard the messenger of God (may God grant him grace and peace) say: “He has not kept the fast who has not ceased to slander”? The messenger of God (may God grant him grace and peace) showed that fasting is not only depriving oneself of food, drink and what breaks the fast. To fast is also to stop sinning. First of all, beware of slander, for it consumes good deeds as fire consumes logs.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: have compassion for the poor by sharing your food
The Prophet (may God grant him grace and peace) said: “The people of my community will suffer no reverse so long as they honour the month of Ramadan.” To honour this month consists in observing reverential fear during it, in accomplishing the fast for God while respecting the prescriptions of the religious law. O novice, observe the fast. And when you break the fast, have compassion for the poor by sharing your food with them. Do not eat alone: for the one who eats alone and does not share his food, poverty and misery are to be feared. O you who hear me, you stuff yourselves with food while your neighbours are hungry! And you claim that you are believers!
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani
Death is the end of sorrows and rejoicings, of wealth and poverty, of hardships and prosperity, of illnesses and pains. He who dies sees his resurrection arrive and sees draw near what was far off for him. All that you know in your life is madness. Withdraw from your state with your heart, your intimate secret and your inward being. The lower world moves towards a known term, and the future life towards an indefinite one.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani
Your islam has no foundation. You say “There is no God but God” and you lie. In your heart there is a whole host of deities. You fear your prince, and the deities govern your reality: you count on your earnings, your profits, your strength, your power, your hearing, your sight and your brutality, which are your idols. To conceive that creatures can harm you, profit you, give to you or withhold from you constitutes deities within you. Many people entrust themselves to all that in their hearts while outwardly pretending to entrust themselves to God (exalted be He). Their mention (dhikr) has become a habit practised by their tongue, not their heart.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani
Inner purity can be lost more often than outward purity. It is lost through bad character, vile conduct, damaging acts and attitudes such as pride, arrogance, lying, idle talk, calumny, envy, anger…
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: ridding oneself of the cares of the world
Our Prophet (may God grant him grace and peace) used to say: “Rid yourselves of the cares of this lower world as much as you can.” O novice… Ask God to grant you certainty, to familiarise your heart with His presence and to occupy your limbs and your faculties in obeying Him. Ask all that of Him, and of no one else. Do not abase yourself before any creature such as yourself. Show humility before Him, and before no one else.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani
Turn away from the goods of the lower world, and if you have a family, draw upon it for your family, not for yourself. The messenger of God (may God grant him grace and peace) would take the proceeds of gifts and alms and distribute them to the poor, the needy and the fighters; then he would go into his wives’ apartments and say: “Has there been a gift? Have we received anything?” If they answered no, he would say: “Then I continue my fast.” By that withholding he knew that God willed him to fast.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani
For invocation (dhikr) is a pole held out to the drowning man, a skylight for the prisoner before deliverance and access to the King.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani
You have a poor neighbour, you have poor relatives, you have goods on which the legal alms is due, you have profits that multiply day by day and you have a surplus exceeding your own needs. To deprive them of these gifts therefore comes down, for you, to accepting that they remain in want and poverty. Whereas if you do not let yourself be dominated by your concupiscent soul, your passions or your demon, you can easily do good. But you suffer from a mighty greed, you harbour many vain hopes, you are too attached to this lower world, and you feel little reverential fear and little faith. You are a polytheist, through yourself, through your goods and through creatures.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani
What you hold in your hands does not belong to you. It is something common to all. The neighbours are your partners. It was placed in your hands to be given and accounted for. “Spend (give in alms) that of which He has made you the dispensers” (Qur’an 57, 7). “…and then He will see how you act” (Qur’an 7, 129).
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani
If you neglect the prayer, your bonds with God will be broken. That is why the Prophet (may God grant him grace and peace) said: “It is when he prostrates that the servant is nearest to his Lord.”
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani
Prayer takes you halfway along the road, fasting sets you down before the gate, and almsgiving ushers you into the dwelling. So says one of the masters. To travel the road to God, help yourselves with constancy and prayer.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani
Check yourself, catch yourself and reform your intention so that it is vowed to Him alone. Strive not to swallow a single mouthful, not to take a single step and to accomplish nothing at all except on the basis of a good intention. You will become fit to serve God if you reach that point.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani
Let nothing occupy you and turn you away from Him. Let not creatures enslave you by turning you away from Him. Yet you are bound to speak to them, according to their intellectual capacities, and to give them alms by sparing their feelings, in accordance with the Prophet’s saying (may God grant him grace and peace): “To spare men’s feelings is an alms.” You give them of what your Lord gives you. You generously offer them a share of what the divine generosity has showered upon you. You are kind and indulgent towards them. You treat them with gentleness, so that your good character may conform to God’s goodness and your deeds proceed from His commandment.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: the benefit hidden behind the trial
Do not flee the threshold of God on account of a trial He has imposed on you. For He knows better than yourself your own interest. He tries you only for a benefit and a wisdom that escape you. When He tries you, stand firm: remember your sins, multiply the asking of forgiveness, and ask Him for constancy and steadfastness to bear the trial. Put yourself in His hands, cling to the hem of His mercy, and ask Him to deliver you from it and to show you the benefit hidden behind this trial.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: our Lord is witness of all things
When your servanthood to Him is confirmed, He loves you. His love grows in your heart. He comforts you with that love and draws you near to Him without effort, without your needing to seek the company of others. You will be content with Him in all circumstances: even if He narrows the earth, so vast around you, and closes before you the widest gates, you will not grow angry with Him, you will not approach a threshold other than His, you will not eat of food coming from another than Him, and you will be like Moses (peace be upon him)… Our Lord is witness of all things, He is present to all things, He watches over all things, He is near to all things. You cannot do without Him.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: the generous rake
’Isa (Jesus), peace be upon him, asked Iblis which creature was most pleasing to him and which most displeasing. “The most pleasing to me,” Iblis answered, “is the miserly believer, and the most displeasing the generous rake… for I hope the miserly believer’s avarice will lead him into disobedience, and I fear the generous rake’s sins may be effaced on account of his generosity.”
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: true repentance
Repent and stand firm in your repentance. For what matters is not repentance itself but its firmness. What matters is not the plant but its vigour, its rootedness and its fruits. Hold fast to conforming yourselves to God in trials and adversity, in poverty and in wealth, in hardship and in ease, in sickness and in health, in good fortune and misfortune, in giving and in withholding. I see no other remedy for you than to entrust yourselves to God.
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: be compassionate towards the poor
Be compassionate towards the poor by giving them a share of your goods. Do not send a beggar away if you can give him something, no matter whether it is much or little. Take example from God and His love of gifts, and thank Him for having predisposed you to give and allowed you to give. Woe to you if the beggar was a gift from God and you had the possibility of giving him! For how could you return the gift you received to the One who gives it?
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: on the Day of Resurrection
On the Day of Resurrection, man will remember the good and the evil he did in the lower world, but regrets will be of no use to him there, and neither will remembering at that moment. What matters is remembering now, before death. To speak of ploughing and sowing at the moment when people are at the harvest will be of no profit. It is reported that the Prophet (may God grant him grace and peace) said: “This lower world is a field of sowing for the future life. He who sows good will reap joy, and he who sows evil will reap repentance.”
’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: do not complain of the Creator to creatures
Do not complain of the Creator to creatures. Complain rather to Him. For it is He who is powerful, not the others. Among the treasures of beneficence is keeping silent about secrets, trials, illnesses and the alms one has given. Give alms with your right hand and see to it that your left hand knows nothing of it.