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Principles of Sufism in the Story of

Sayyidina Musa (a) and Sayyidina Khidr (a)

Ramadan Series 2014, Vol 11

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

9 July 2014 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan




As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.

Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen, wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `alaa ashrafi 'l-mursaleen Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa alihi wa sahbihi ajma`een . Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa rasooluh.

In the previous session, we summarized the meeting of Sayyidina Musa (a) with Sayyidina Khidr (a) by Allah’s Order and Allah said in the Holy Qur'an, relating the story of Sayyidina Musa (a) and Sayyidina Khidr (a), that it was a test for Sayyidina Musa (a) when he said, “I am the biggest `alim and there is no one above me in knowledge.” So Allah wanted to show him, “No, if I give, I give to anyone I like, so it is not ‘above you’ or ‘below you.’” It is up to Allah (swt), The Creator, as He can do whatever He likes, even test His prophets. Allah made tests for prophets--they were tortured by their tribes, their nations, communities--and the one most abused was Sayyidina Muhammad (s). Look how much they are coming against the Prophet (s) when they say, “Don't follow Ahlu ‘s-Sunnah wa 'l-Jama`ah, they do too much salawaat on the Prophet (s).” For them that is bida` and shirk, although Allah ordered all angels to do continuous, non-stop salawaat on the Prophet (s) and ordered the Believers the same! (33:56)

Sayyidina Musa’s Journey for Knowledge

So Sayyidina Musa (a) went on the Gnostic road in search of Sayyidina Khidr (a) and he became so tired and exhausted, but he continued, he didn’t stop, and when he got tired and exhausted he said to his helper, “Let us eat.”

The helper said, “Oh! The whale (or fish) I had jumped into the ocean!”

Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “Let us continue then, there must be a wisdom.”

Moses said, “That is what we were seeking!” So they retraced their footsteps, following (the path they had come). (Surat al-Kahf, 18:64)

Fartadda `ala atharihima qasasa, “That the fish went into the ocean is what we want as this is the sign, so let us go back and see.” And they found Sayyidina Khidr (a) waiting for them and they took the boat with Khidr (a). Look at the humbleness of Sayyidina Musa (a) in this case, where he said to Khidr (a), hal attabi`uka `alaa an tu`alimaninee mimma `alimta rushda, “May I follow you so that you will teach me what our Lord has taught to you?” So he admitted that Khidr (s) has a different knowledge, he admitted there is a hierarchy, that he is in a higher state:

فَوَجَدَا عَبْدًا مِّنْ عِبَادِنَا آتَيْنَاهُ رَحْمَةً مِنْ عِندِنَا وَعَلَّمْنَاهُ مِن لَّدُنَّا عِلْمًا

So they found one of Our Servants, on whom We had bestowed Mercy from Ourselves and whom We had taught knowledge from Our Own Presence. (Surat al-Kahf, 18:65)

“There is heavenly knowledge that I need to know about. Let me come with you and learn from what you have been given of heavenly knowledge.” The contract between them was not to question, so this will give us an idea that you don’t question, you don’t ask. It is like the army, can you question? First you act according to the order, then you question if you want to. So in relation to the shaykh, how can you question him? Your knowledge is hundreds of times lower than the knowledge of the shaykh.

Sayyidina Khidr (a) told him, “Don't question me!” which means, “My knowledge is different than yours, so if you question it means you are not accepting what I am doing, then you will not benefit.”

It is said the perfection of the shaykh in knowledge is to have his mureed accept all his orders, because he reached the State of Perfection. If the mureed has questions or objections or complaints, it means the mureed did not understand anything. Today we are hearing too many complaints from different branches of tariqats, many tariqats, and all of them connected to one, wa kullun min rasoolullahi multamisan, all of them are taking from the Prophet (s) and all of them meet within Prophet (s), they meet in that group because all of them are pious and sincere. For that reason, the Prophet (s) said:

أصحابي كالنجوم بأيهم اقتديتم اهتديتم



Sayyidina al-Khidr’s (a) Conditions

And if it is a strong or weak hadith it is okay, because in the best of your actions, fadaa'il al-`amaal, you can take any hadith even if it’s weak. Fa in ittaba`atanee fa laa tasa'alnee `an shayin hattaa uhdith laka dhikraa, “If you want to follow me, don't ask me about anything until I speak about it,” not that you get the answer immediately; no, it doesn’t work like that. When the shaykh says to you to do something, you do it and you find the wisdom later. Don’t measure things according to your mind as it is not going to work. There is no measure to tell you how far you are from reaching the threshold of awliyaullah, no one can detect that except them.

They know how much to give you to reach their threshold, as in the story we mentioned of Shah Bahauddin Naqshband (q), where he could smell a nice smell and he followed that smell until he found his shaykh and then he came to his threshold, and then they threw him out. That was his test! So he didn’t run away after too much struggle with his ego, with his self, he came back to the threshold of his shaykh and put his head there and waited until Fajr time and his shaykh came out and placed his foot on his head and crushed it. That was not easy, it was difficult.

So Sayyidina Khidr (a) said, “Don’t ask me!” that’s it, no other thing. Sayyidina Musa (a) was agitated because he wanted to know everything immediately; he was not patient, he had the tajalli of jalaal, majesty, of Allah’s Attributes and he was strong. Prophet (s)’s tajalli is jamaal, beauty. There is no beauty in this world, no life; beauty is everything and that is why Prophet (s) is that Beauty! So Ahlu ‘s-Sunnah wa 'l-Jama`ah, Allah (swt) is pleased with you as the lovers of Prophet (s) and that is what is important!

The beauty of this dunya is Prophet (s) and the beauty of Akhirah is Prophet (s): from him comes all beauty and without beauty there is no life. When Allah sent Sayyidina Adam (a) to dunya, this planet had no life like other planets, there was nothing, but when Sayyidina Adam (a), whose feet had been in Paradise and then he stepped on dunya, that heavenly beauty that is Paradise immediately reflected on dunya and suddenly the Earth became full of life and became green and blue with flowing fountains, rivers, oceans, creation of fish everywhere and whales of all kinds. Dive and see the magnificence of ocean life, all from the beauty of Prophet (s)! This is Ahlu ‘s-Sunnah wa 'l-Jama`ah, congratulations to all of them for following the love of Sayyidina Muhammad (s)!

So Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “I agree,” f ’antalaqaa, and they moved.

فَانطَلَقَا حَتَّى إِذَا رَكِبَا فِي السَّفِينَةِ خَرَقَهَا قَالَ أَخَرَقْتَهَا لِتُغْرِقَ أَهْلَهَا لَقَدْ جِئْتَ شَيْئًا إِمْرًا

F ’antalaqaa hattaa idhaa rakiba fi ’s-safeenati kharaqahaa qaala akharaqtahaa litughriqa aahlahaa laqad ji’ta shayan imraa.

So they both proceeded until, when they were in the boat, he scuttled it. Moses said, "Have you scuttled it in order to drown those in it? Truly you have done a strange thing!" (Surat al-Kahf, 18:70-71)

Sayyidina Musa (a) was not Able to Keep His Contract

As soon as they went on the boat, Sayyidina Khidr (a) began to drill a hole, and Sayyidina Musa (a) was not able to keep quiet. He said, “Oh! What are you doing?”

Khidr (a) said, “Did I not tell you you would not be able to be patient with me? How are you going to be patient when you are not aware of what I am doing?”

He admits that Musa (a) cannot be patient, it is difficult. That is why the struggle of the mureed’s actions when the shaykh gives him order, because he cannot admit it immediately, it takes time, that is the teaching of awliyaullah: they have to give you something to clean the inside. Sometimes when someone is sick they say, “Give him an antibiotic.” What is an antibiotic? It is a medicine taken from the bacteria that is inside you, to kill the bacteria, and it is the same bacteria that is in your body; it gives you poison to kill the bigger poison inside your body. So he wants to show him that, “You have to keep the knowledge that you know and you have to add this,” because this is the center of everything. That is why Maqaam al-Ihsaan, the status of Ihsaan is to worship Allah as if you are seeing Him, which is the highest level, how you will be in a complete state of Khushoo`, complete submission to Allah (swt) out of love and fear.

So Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “Why are you drilling the boat? You will sink it!”

Sayyidina Khidr (a) said, “Did I not say you cannot be patient with me?”

Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “Forgive me, I forgot. If Allah wishes, you will find me patient and I will not disobey you.”

And then they went and he killed the boy. Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “What is this?” First was nukra, this is imra! This is worse.”

Sayyidina Khidr (a) said, “Didn’t I tell you don't follow me as you cannot be patient with me in any way? So don’t bother me, it’s too much!”

Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “No, no, no! Forgive me, this time I will not object and if I am not patient then I will leave you.”

فَانطَلَقَا حَتَّى إِذَا أَتَيَا أَهْلَ قَرْيَةٍ اسْتَطْعَمَا أَهْلَهَا فَأَبَوْا أَن يُضَيِّفُوهُمَا فَوَجَدَا فِيهَا جِدَارًا يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَنقَضَّ فَأَقَامَهُ قَالَ لَوْ شِئْتَ لَاتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا

Then they proceeded until, when they came to the inhabitants of a town, they asked them for food, but they refused them hospitality. They found there a wall on the point of falling down, but he set it up straight. (Moses) said, "If you had wished, surely you could have demanded some recompense for it!"

(Surat al-Kahf, 18:77)

And they continued on until they reached a village and went they inside and they were hungry, and the general principle in those times was if you entered somewhere they should host you, but they didn't as Allah veiled them to give a lesson to Sayyidina Musa (a). So they didn’t give them food or lodging and they were stranded, where we don’t know. And then they found a wall and two orphans, young ones, whose father left them property, but the wall of the property was falling down.

Sayyidina Khidr (a) immediately said, “Yaa Musa! Bring bricks and mortar and a ladder and let us repair this wall.”

Sayyidina Musa (a) was holding himself and holding himself, but in the end he was not able to hold himself and he said, “What is this? How come you are fixing the wall when they refused to host us?” and Sayyidina Khidr (a) did not even charge them anything (for payment)..

Sayyidina Khidr’s (a) Explanation

Sayyidina Khidr (a) said, “Look! This is the splitting between you and me, but let me explain to you what I did.”

أَمَّا السَّفِينَةُ فَكَانَتْ لِمَسَاكِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ فِي الْبَحْرِ فَأَرَدتُّ أَنْ أَعِيبَهَا وَكَانَ وَرَاءهُم مَّلِكٌ يَأْخُذُ كُلَّ سَفِينَةٍ غَصْبًا

As for that boat, it belonged to some needy people who toiled upon the sea, and I desired to damage it because [I knew that] behind them was a king who wants to seize every boat by brute force.

(Surat al-Kahf, 18:79)

“The first was the ship, the boat, that on the other side was a tyrant who was taking every boat and confiscating them. Since we were going in that direction we had the tyrant, if we were going another direction we might not find that tyrant,” but they didn’t go in a different direction as he wanted to teach Musa. So they were going in the direction of that tyrant who was going to take all the boats. “Since this boat was owned by poor people who have nothing else, I made a hole so that the tyrant will not take it, that it would sink before he arrives and they can pull it from its place where it will sink and they cannot sail with it.” That means they didn’t sail with it as it sank by the shore because there was a hole in it; the tyrant did not take the ship from those poor people. “That you didn’t know and that is why I opened the hole, to save them.” That is Safeenat an-Najaat, the Ship of Safety. “To save it I needed to make a hole, then the tyrant was no longer interested in it.”

Sayyidina Khidr (a) continued his explanation, “Secondly, the boy: it was Allah's Will for that boy to die in order that Allah (swt) will grant his parents a better one who is completely a worshipper in the Way of Allah (swt) and does not go left or right. That boy was going to make difficulties for his parents and the whole community, so he was eliminated according to Allah’s Will.”

وَأَمَّا الْغُلَامُ فَكَانَ أَبَوَاهُ مُؤْمِنَيْنِ فَخَشِينَا أَن يُرْهِقَهُمَا طُغْيَانًا وَكُفْرًا . فَأَرَدْنَا أَن يُبْدِلَهُمَا رَبُّهُمَا خَيْرًا مِّنْهُ زَكَاةً وَأَقْرَبَ رُحْمًا

As for the youth, his parents were people of faith, and we feared that he would grieve them by obstinate rebellion and ingratitude (to Allah and man). So we desired that their Lord would give them, in exchange, (a son) better in purity (of conduct) and closer in affection. (Surat al-Kahf, 18:80-81)

“We wanted and wished that Allah will give them another boy, by Allah's Irada, because they killed the badness in that boy, or else it would be a very tough situation for everyone.”

وَأَمَّا الْجِدَارُ فَكَانَ لِغُلَامَيْنِ يَتِيمَيْنِ فِي الْمَدِينَةِ وَكَانَ تَحْتَهُ كَنزٌ لَّهُمَا وَكَانَ أَبُوهُمَا صَالِحًا فَأَرَادَ رَبُّكَ أَنْ يَبْلُغَا أَشُدَّهُمَا وَيَسْتَخْرِجَا كَنزَهُمَا رَحْمَةً مِّن رَّبِّكَ وَمَا فَعَلْتُهُ عَنْ أَمْرِي ذَلِكَ تَأْوِيلُ مَا لَمْ تَسْطِع عَّلَيْهِ صَبْرًا

As for the wall, it belonged to two youths, orphans, in the town; there was beneath it a buried treasure to which they were entitled: their father had been a righteous man. So your Lord desired that they should attain their age of full strength and get out their treasure a mercy (and favor) from your Lord. I did it not of my own accord. Such is the interpretation of (those things) over which you were unable to hold patience. (Surat al-Kahf, 18:82)

“Under the wall was a treasure. If the wall fell the treasure would come out and then people will run for it and confiscate it and take it. So we wanted to hide that treasure and wait until the orphans grow up and then they find that treasure. So these are three lessons that you were not able to follow me.”

The Importance is in What You Take from the Shaykh, not only What You Heard Him Say

These were the three issues and Sayyidina Musa (a) was one of Five Great Prophets, Oolu ‘l-Azam, and he could not take it! So between the mureed and the shaykh are too many obstacles, and the importance is not what the shaykh teaches you only, it is what you take and apply from what the shaykh teaches you. It is not as many today sit in an association of the shaykh and listen to him and that is it, they don't apply it. It is not what you hear from the shaykh it is what you take from the shaykh! You might hear a lot and take only a little. So according to how much you take is how much you are near the shaykh, but for Sayyidina Musa (a) three incidents was enough.

You Must Jump on Safeenat an-Najaat, the Boat of Safety

What happened in the spiritual meaning of that realm is when they rakiboo, got on the boat, which means when you got on the boat of awliyaullah, like Sayyidina Khidr (a) and Sayyidina Musa (a) got on the boat, you have to go on the boat! That boat is the Boat of Safety, Safeenat un-Najaat. If you go on it you will be saved. Don't say, “I went in tariqah and did not see anything,” as that is because you don’t want to go on the boat and take the responsibility.

That is like the story of the man who was with his shaykh 27 years and complained finally, “I did not see anything from what you said we can see.”

His shaykh said, “That is because you are blind! You don’t want to do the work, you think you know `ilm,” because he was an `alim, “so go to the door of the masjid and take a basket of walnuts and sit there. Anyone who comes to the door, give him your shoes and say, ‘Hit me once and I will give you one walnut, hit me twice I will give you two walnuts, hit me thrice, you get three.’”

He said, “I have to do that?”


“I’m not doing that,” because the ego is so huge. No confidence.

When the shaykh is there you have confidence that everything will be going smoothly, but you want to create a division and a problem. So many, when the shaykh goes they make so many problems, so many divisions in tariqah, not just the Naqshbandi but in all tariqats. You have to jump on the boat! Do you want to jump on the boat? [Yes!] Yes! If we don't jump, what is benefit? If we want to jump we have to let our ego down, not immediately, like these two roosters (mureeds) always picking on each other! That is a good sign from them, that they are always picking on each other to test their patience, but they are hiding themselves, they don’t want to say.

So Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “Why are you opening a hole in the boat? We jumped on the boat, Safeenat an-Najaat, the Boat of Safety.”

Sayyidina Khidr (a) said, “Yes, that is true, so I drilled because I want to empty the bad desires from the ego.”

Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Took the Boat of Safety All Around the World

That body that Allah gave to you is your boat, so the shaykh is drilling in your heart to take all these bad desires from you; rhe shuyookh are trying to take the bad desires from hearts of their mureeds because they already jumped on the boat of Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil (q)! Until today I don't believe he died, we were so attached to him and that’s why it’s very difficult to understand the wisdom, but it’s Allah’s Will. So all the mureeds around the world jumped on that boat with no fakhr, pride! The Naqshbandis of America of the servant, and servants of the servants of servants, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil (q) did the major work since 20 years until today around the world, to promote the tariqah and to give the teachings for anyone interested. Seven PhD dissertations have been written on the Naqshbandi-Haqqani Order, which we now call Naqshbandiyya-Nazimiyya Sufi Order, while the rest were sleeping! And the American mureeds put 90% of the work and the others maybe 10%, not saying it with pride. Show me who else has put books? Very few.

Look what they did, they said that Mawlana Shaykh (q) does not like conferences! What? He was happy with the conferences and he spoke from highest podiums, saying things that no one dares to say! He did the same in England, in the Far East and in Indonesia. Who was working behind that? The American mureeds and Indonesian mureeds and Singaporean mureeds. Who went to South Africa? Who built these infrastructures everywhere? The Americans, meaning those who live there; they might not be Americans, those who live in this country.

But all of us around the world jumped on the boat of safety of Mawlana Shaykh (q) and that drilling...when you are on the boat he begins to work on you, opening a hole in order that all these bad desires will go out, disappear. But it’s a struggle; in order to make it disappear completely, Sayyidina Khidr (a) killed the boy. That means if you follow, the second step after drilling a hole in your heart is to kill your self, your ego; not to kill yourself physically, but to submit completely, to have no desires, nothing, not good (desires) nor not bad (desires), taslimiyyat al-mutlaqa, absolute submission.

Sayyidina Musa (a) asked Sayyidina Khidr (a) three questions and he also got fed up and said, “Oh! You are asking me too many questions!” Listen to Sayyidina Musa (a) as he is higher than you in prophecy, he is a prophet of high caliber, so even if he asks three times, make it ten times! Why only three chances? Awliyaullah give you an infinite number of chances as their door is so wide.

Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q) opened his doors as is mentioned, for everyone, Muslim and non-Muslim, to come to him and that was 1000 years ago. And in this era, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil (q) opened his doors from East to West. It is the work of the mureeds: they go back to their countries, becoming ambassadors to the shaykh, and collect 10,15, 20 people and take them to Mawlana's place, dargah, and then they multiply, they multiply over the years. It is the work of the mureeds who are far away. They listen to the shaykh, they become ambassadors to him, going around showing the love and the peace and the acceptance and tolerance and harmony and peace of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) to everyone.

So Sayyidina Khidr (a) gave a second chance to Sayyidina Musa (a) and he killed the boy. It means if the mureed wants to surrender to the shaykh, the shaykh will eliminate the bad desires and even the good desires, his desire is to love Allah (swt), love Prophet (s), make salawaat on Prophet (s) and love his shaykh.

The third issue is what? “There were two young men in the city who were orphans and they had a treasure and because their father was pious, He wanted that treasure to be kept for them until they grew up.” We are orphans, so our treasures are kept; awliyaullah are hiding your treasures under the wall. They are not revealing it for you until you build the wall, which is the Wall of Safety between Hellfire, punishment, and Paradise. Build a wall there that cannot be destroyed.

فَوَجَدَا فِيهَا جِدَارًا يُرِيدُ أَنْ يَنقَضَّ فَأَقَامَهُ قَالَ لَوْ شِئْتَ لَاتَّخَذْتَ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرً. قَالَ هَذَا فِرَاقُ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنِكَ سَأُنَبِّئُكَ بِتَأْوِيلِ مَا لَمْ تَسْتَطِع عَّلَيْهِ صَبْرًا

Then they proceeded until, when they came to the inhabitants of a town, they asked them for food, but they refused them hospitality. They found there a wall on the point of falling down, but he set it up straight. (Moses) said, "If you had wished, surely you could have demanded some recompense for it!" He answered. "This is the parting between me and you. Now will I tell you the interpretation of (those things) over which you were unable to hold patience.” (Surat al-Kahf, 18:77-78)

The Relationship of Mureed and Shaykh

You have to build the wall up, don’t see it falling and not rectify it. The shaykh looks at his mureeds' wall falling down so he has to bring him back into power.

Sayyidina Khidr (a) said, “So that is what you were not able to understand, and I did that for the benefit of the ummah at that time.”

This is typical of the relationship of the mureed and the shaykh, the shaykh says things that the mureed does not know its wisdom until after some time. If he complains he loses and if he submits and says, “Yes, sir!” he wins. So what do we have to do? We have to submit to Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s), then the answer comes, as Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q) said to Allah (swt), “How can I come to You?” Kayf alwusoolu ilayk. We are asking the same thing, how we can come, but he saw Allah in the dream. We didn’t see anything, at least he had the first step, insight, but he said, “How I can reach you?”

Allah (swt) said, “Leave your self and come.”

We have to leave our self. Not every thing is for my self and then who cares? Today they are ...the direction of the whole ummah today, everyone is saying “myself, myself,” but this is dunya, it is not Akhirah. In Akhirah:

يَوْمَ يَفِرُّ الْمَرْءُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ وَأُمِّهِ وَأَبِيهِ وَصَاحِبَتِهِ وَبَنِيهِ

On the Day when people will run away from their brothers and sisters, from his mother and his father and then from wife and children. (Surat `Abasa, 80:34-36)

In Akhirah, on Judgment Day everyone will run away from his father, his mother, brother and sister, children, and all will say, “Myself, (take care of) myself!” They are doing this in dunya now. In dunya, people are equal:

االناس سواسيه كااسنان المشط

People are equal like the teeth of a comb.

Listen to that! “People are equal like the teeth of the comb.” Don't say, “I am a mureed of the shaykh,” meaning, “I am superior.” No, you are a mureed of the shaykh. Don't think he can help you if you don't pray and fast and so on. The shaykh can save you after you do all your obligations and learn Fiqh and Tafseer and Hadith, then you come ready and get Tasawwuf. But if you don't have anything and say, “Give me baya`,” what kind of meaning is that?

I will give you an example of such a baya`, it happened to me. I was in London in the center there and alhamdulillah there were a lot of people, perhaps 500-700, and we were going out, and the program finished around 11:30 p.m. and one person came running to me, he is a good person, and said, “There is one person who wants to take baya`.”

So he brought him and I looked at him and said, “You want to take baya`?”

He said, “What is baya`?”

I said, “Ask your friend, he says you want to take baya`.”

He said, “No, I don’t know what is baya`. I saw him on the street outside, this person came and said, ‘You want to come in? They have nice sweets inside.’ I came inside and he said to take baya`, but what is baya`?”

Today baya` is so cheap! Before they were not giving baya` to anyone. Let someone tell me to how many people Grandshaykh gave baya`, if you know. So baya` is important in tariqah, yes, but there are conditions and inshaa-Allah we will come to that later in Ramadan if we still have time.

So we have to learn from the examples that Allah (swt) gave in the Holy Qur'an in order to understand where to go and where to come. May Allah guide us on the Right Way and direct us. O Ahlu ‘s-Sunnah wa 'l-Jama`ah! You are the ones succeeding in the love of the Prophet (s), winning the love of Prophet (s) because of your belief! May Allah keep us always with the Prophet (s) and with our shuyookh, especially with Grandshaykh `Abdullah al-Faiz Daghestani (q) and Sayyidi Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil (q), and may the others in other tariqats to be with their shuyookh.



