School of Sufi Teaching

United Kingdom

Naqshbandi, Mujaddidi, Chishti, Qadiri & Shadhili practices

Support the Sufi School
Sufi School is a non-profit charity involved in creating awareness about Sufism and providing authentic Sufi teachings to sincere seekers.

All the teachings are given free of cost and students are not charged for attending our weekly gatherings for teaching, mentoring, discussions and group practices.

Our activities are carried out through voluntary donations. We request you to donate generously to support our work. Any amount of donation to help us to continue this good work will be appreciated and thankfully accepted.

PayPal
Use PayPal to send a donation to the School of Sufi Teaching. You can also add a payment reference.

If you don't have a PayPal account, use this link to make a donation via credit card.

Wire transfer
For transfers in the UK (in GBP) use the details below.

Name: School of Sufi Teaching
Account Number: 11397222
Sort Code: 40-03-16
Bank: HSBC UK

International transfers
Preferred option for cheap international transfers: Send money to our WISE account.

‘Abdul Khaliq al-Ghudjwani (r.a.)

This summer I was blessed to visit the seven pirs of Bukhara in Uzbekistan. It is proper adab to visit the eldest first, so the first of these Naqshbandi saints to visit was Hazrat ‘Abdul Khaliq al-GHudjwani (r.a.). His shrine is beautifully restored and has a busy flow of wedding parties, locals paying their respects, and people making pilgrimage from further afield. There is a mosque nearby and a madrassa, restored but unused. Helping us with the August heat, we were blessed with a cooling breeze and a shaded bench from which to offer our salams and sit in muraqabah.

Hazrat ‘Abdul Khaliq (r.a.) was born to an Anatolian princess, a descendant of Imam Malik, and Shaykh ‘Abdul Jamil, (r.a.), one of the most famous scholars of Byzantine times. He was a master of silent dhikr and the first in the silsila to use it. He studied the traditional Islamic sciences throughout his childhood, then jihad an-nafs (the spiritual struggle) under Shaikh Yusuf al-Hamadani (r.a.). He established a school in Damascus where his students mastered fiqh and hadith alongside spiritual practices.

The book al-Hada’iq al-Wardiyya describes how he was inspired by the ayat, “Call unto your Sustainer humbly, and in the secrecy of your hearts. Verily, He loves not those who transgress the bounds of what is right,” [7:55], to ask his teacher Shaykh Sadruddin about the nature of silent dhikr. He asked: “In loud dhikr you have to use your tongue and people might listen to you and see you, whereas in the silent dhikr of the heart Shaytan might listen to you and hear you, since the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) said in his holy hadith: ‘Shaytan moves freely in the veins and arteries of the Sons of Adam.’ What, then, O my Shaykh Sadruddin, is the reality of ‘call in the secrecy of your hearts’?” His Shaykh replied, “O my son, this is a hidden, heavenly knowledge, and I wish that Allah Exalted and Almighty send you one of his saints to inspire on your tongue and in your heart the reality of secret dhikr.” Hazrat ‘Abdul Khaliq (r.a.) waited for the prayer to be fulfilled until one day he met Khidr who told him, “Now, my son, I have permission from the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) to inspire on your tongue and in your heart the hidden dhikr with its numbers.” He ordered him to submerge himself under water and to begin making dhikr in his heart (la ilaha illa Llah muhammadur rasul Allah). He did this form of dhikr every day, until the Light of the Divine, the Wisdom of the Divine, the Love of the Divine and the Attraction of the Divine were opened to his heart. Because of those gifts people began to be drawn to Hazrat ‘Abdul Khaliq (r.a.) and sought to follow in his footsteps, and he took them to follow in the footsteps of the Prophet (s.a.w.s.).

May Allah (s.w.t.) inspire in us such understanding and advancement.
Adbul Mateen

Total
0
Shares
Previous Article

Companionship of the Group

Next Article

'for those involved in remembrance and devotional practices'

Related Posts
Read More

As the flute…

  We are as the flute, and the music in us is from thee; we are as the mountain and the echo in us is from thee. We are as pieces of chess engaged in victory and defeat: our victory…
Read More

Personal Transformation

The Indian master Khwajah Moinuddin Chisti (r) said, “Sufism is neither knowledge nor form, but a particular ethical discipline.” A discipline is a way of life, not an armchair study. Sufism is not simply or exclusively about attending lectures, reading…
Read More

A Poem

“Everyone who comes into this worldbrings a reason for living with them.Those who strive notwith deeds towards itare among the living dead. Drench this universewith the rain of your actions.Only those who sow the seedsof actionreap the fruit of bliss.…
Read More

Am I fit to follow the Sufi path?

(Notes from listening to Hazrat Asad Rasool ( circa 1996) 1. Do not believe Shaitan (or your doubts) when he says, “you are not fit for this”. Use will power to sit regularly in meditation. 2. We are separated from…