Dar Al Mahāmid - Ilm, Da’wah, Sulūk

We as Muslims are different. This dunya is not for us. Our realities transcend this temporal reality of the material world.

Islam, thus is filled with mystical and miraculous events surrounding the personality of our Master Muhammad صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم as a reminder of Allah’s greatness.

On a Monday night in the month of Rajab, in the early days of Islam, our Rasūl traveled, from Makkah to Bayt Al Maqdis (Isra) and then led the Anbiyā عليهم السلام in Salāh at the far mosque (Al Aqsā), then he was taken with his body and soul in a wakeful state to be shown the heavens.

If Sayyidinā Muhammad told us it happened; we have no doubt. And we firmly believe everything he had informed us about the unseen world.

When Abu Jahl told Sayyidinā Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه, "Your FRIEND says he went from Makkah to Jerusalem in one night?”, thinking it would make Abu Bakr doubt Rasūlullāh, he replied, “if he said so, then it is true!”

Rasūlullāh informed us, “I was in the Masjid al Harām in the hijr between sleep and wakefulness when Jibreel came to me with the Burāq.”

According to the Ulama, this was a year before the Hijra. This was at a time when Rasulullah and the early Muslims had experienced some of the worst treatment, the social and economic boycott, false accusations, first martyrs, the death of his Uncle and protector Abū Talib and his wife Khadijahtul Kubra binti Khuwaylid. The Rasūl was seeing his protectors, his dunya, the success of his mission, slowly slip away. Many of us would be hopeless in sich a situation.

So this journey was one that would bring certainty and strengthen the resolve of the Rasūl to continue his missiom call and to spread this beautiful deen around the world.

On this event, his blessed chest was once again opened and his blessed heart was cleansed again with zamzam and filled with Imān and hikma. Then the burāq was brought and he was miraculously taken to Jerusalem and then to the heavens to meet Allah.

The ajāib and lessons of these nights are enough to fill books. Our Ulamā will mention them at various masājid tonight Inshā Allah.

The big lesson for us is; that this deen is one which believes in the unseen. Our book is for those who believe in ‘Al Ghayb’.

Allah says in the opening of Surah Al Baqarah, ‘That is the book (Quran) in which there is no doubt… for those who believe the unseen.”

A world outside of our human perception. The real eternal world. While those veiled from these realities scramble to ‘acquire’ as much as they can, it will all be in vain in the next life.

We must never lose touch of these hidden realities. We must connect with the men, the true Prophetic inheritors who will teach us the life and realities of Rasūlullāh; to be reminded that there is something bigger waiting for us in the next life, if we are true to Allah and His Rasūl.

May Allah grant us to benefit from our Ulamā. 🤲🏼

Every Western University established in the last 900 years owes a debt and is unknowingly connected to a small Madrassa in Makkah 1400 years ago.

If all of the western intellectual tradition can be traced back by Western Historians to Ancient Greece, Aristotle, Plato and Socrates; then we as Muslims can trace back the modern University to Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم.

Muslims established the word’s lfirst degree granting university The Qarrawiyyīn in Morocco in 859CE, 230 years before Europe’s first University, teaching from Muslim books. It’s no secret Europeans were emulating the Muslims model for higher education. The madrassa was the blueprint for the modern university. Long before Greek influence, the Prophet Muhammad had his own Madrassa. And every madrassa today can be traced back to Dar Al Arqam, the Prophet Muhammad’s first madrassa in Makkah as early as 1 year after revelation of the Quran.

Dar Al Arqam ibn Abi Al Arqam, the first Madrassa in which the future Khulafa (successors) of Ummahtu Islam, Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthmaan and Ali, the first Islamic ministers, preachers, governors, Quran teachers and Ulamā got trained at the feet of Prophet directly. Here they took knowledge from the best of creation Muhammad, which would lay the seeds of Islamic Civilization and early modern western civilization.

After the Hijra, the Prophet’s Masjid in Madina in Madinatul Munawwarah (The City of Light) continued Islamic education and spread the prophetic light across the Islamic world.

The Europeans soon caught onto the educational system and vast sophisticate and rich intellectual culture of the Muslims and their higher education and decided to emulated it.

Thus every Madrassa and University today can be traced back to a humble little Madrassa where the greatest, most knowledgeable of creation Muhammad the Chosen one taught.

Our teachers encourage us to build ties with Muslims of all walks of life and different madhāhib, madāris or manāhij (methodologies).

The way of the Bā Alawi Masters is التعاون على البر و التقوى or ‘the co-operation in goodness and God fearing.’

Even if it be Salafis, we agree on 99%, so we should stay away from the 1% that could pull us apart. We should focus on what we agree upon and avoid the few minor differences. We can work together with them in doing good works for the benefit of mankind.

As our teacher M***i Abdurahmaan Khan mentioned recently, we must love every Muslim regardless if he hates us or calls us names etc.

We don’t think of ourselves as better than anyone. Our measurement is as Allah says in the Quran,

‘The most honorable of you in the sight if Allah are the one with the most taqwā.’

If a person is learned has beneficial knowledge, we take from what is beneficial. Even if it’s a doctor or a lawyer or a scientist. We don’t just avoid him/her because they don’t wear a turban or they tie their turban differently or they have other Shuyūkh, or no Shaykh, or they are on another Tarīqah or manhaj.

No, we honor them and benefit from them and work together with them. We must work together for the benefit of the Ummah.

This is the way of our teachers. This is what they teach at Dar Al Mustafā.

May Allah grant us understanding 🤲🏼

Today we have people claiming that they are the only ones upon the noble Sunnah of Rasūlullāh.

They claim all the other Muslims have misunderstood the religion and need to return to the pure Quran and Sunnah as practiced by the Salaf as Salih, the first three generations at the beginning of Islam.

The rest of the Muslims are misguided by innovations (bid’ah) and their desires.

However, when we look at the true Prophetic inheritors from the Prophetic household, we will find them to be closer to the noble Sunnah (السنة المشرفة) of Rasūlullāh, inwardly and outwardly, than those who claim they are misguided innovators. And we will also see that the Sahābah wanted to emulate Rasūlullāh’s every action, manner of dress and character.

These are just a few of the Sunnan of Rasūlullāh (see pic) which are clearly found upon our teachers. They make تعظيم of the noble Sunnah and you will rarely see them out in public without emulating him صلى الله عليه وسلم to the best of their ability.

Whilst that brother who is insulting our teachers and calling them all kinds of degrading names, claiming to be upon sunnah struggles to uphold one or two sunnan in his own dress, let alone his character (akhlāq).

Who loves Allah and His Rasūl more?

We show love by following a person. He becomes our exemplar. If he cuts his hair like that, we do it. When he walks like that we do it out of love for him. When he sits, sleeps a certain way, we do it because we love him even more.

How many people love a football player and emulate his hairstyle and dress? How many sleep like him or interact with their families like them? Much less. Yet the lovers of Muhammad follow his way in every part of their life.

And Rasūlullāh said, 'المرأ مع من احب يوم القيامة'

‘A person will be with the one he loves the most on the day of Judgement.’

Our teachers love and follow everything concerned with Muhammad. He is the only one worthy of emulating. Simply emulating (aliqtidā bin Nabi) him is to Love Allah. And so we follow him. And Allah will love us because we follow him. And He will forgive our sins.

This is what they teach us.

May Allah grant us to love his most beloved’s Sunnah more than any other way. Ameen 🤲🏼

For centuries the way of the Bā Alawi Masters was a path of anonymity.

They remained hidden in the Ummah, doing the work of da’wah and teaching, marrying into populations. They were so well hidden, we may not even know they lived amongst us. Today many don’t even know the extent of how they impacted our communities by their teachings.

This is because they are scrupulous about keeping their deeds purely for Allah’s pleasure. They don’t want any reward or praise from other than Allah.

Habib Umar once said, ‘One of the most beloved deeds to Allah is the سجدة الخفي في جوف الليل, ‘the hidden sajdah in the middle of the night’ i.e the sajdah of tahajjud so hidden that even his family doesn’t know he left his bed. He explained that this sajdah because of leaving the comfort of the bed and its being hidden in darkness of night is the one with the most ikhlās because it is purely for Allah’s pleasure. No-one knows as long as he jealously guards it for Allah by not divulging it to anyone. He must keep it a secret between him and Allah.

So their way is that their hidden deeds far outweigh their apparent. They don’t want anyone to know their husn (goodness). They prefer that only Allah knows their true status with Him.

One day the Faqir was on a Dawah trip with some of the brothers and Sayyid Hāmid ibn Habib Umar bin Hafidh was with us. He was around 17 years old at the time. One of the well repected and loved Teachers at the Dar started to compliment him on his good virtues in front of everyone else.

I could see Sayyid Hāmid from the side, and no-one esle could really see his face as he was in the front of the minibus, and I was sitting at an angle where I was the only one who could see him just sitting there quietly crying.

The feeling I had was that he was crying because he didn’t want the praise. Firstly he didn’t want his nafs to become happy with praise from people. Secondly, that he wasn’t hidden, but that Allah had allowed for people to become aware of his virtues. Thirdly that a person he admired (his teacher) had spoke about his virtues i.e he admired him.

These are all doors to riyā and doing things for peoples pleasure.

Rasūlullāh صلى الله عليه و آله وسلم used to make dua,

‘O Allah make my sirr (hidden) better than my outward. A make my my outward sālih.’

This is how the men of Bā Alawi are raised and nurtured. They don’t want our praise or recognition because it will prevent them from the ultimate success. They prefer anonymity so their deeds can be sincerely for Allah.

Ikhlās is usually translated as sincerity. Linguistically it is to purify. To remove impurities until it a thing becomes pure. So we could say it is a preoccupation to purify our deeds at the beginning, during and after, only for Allahs pleasure.

Imagine the high level of sincerity of one who is known to people and has to be an imaam and teach in public.

May Allah grant us to make our deeds purely for his sake. 🤲🏼

Allah says for every Nabi there is an عدو (enemy),

‘And so We have made for every prophet enemies—devilish humans and jinn—whispering to one another with elegant words of deception.’

And the evil person has a nadhr (glance) which is evil. He puts ayn on people by Allah’s will, simply by staring at them.

So the Ulama, say the Wali of Allah has a good nadhr. His/her nadhr has the opposite effect of the evil persons ayn, by Allah’s will.

So we make effort to sit in their gatherings, to be in their company, to get their suhbah, because in their nadhr is khayr.

And to look at the Awliyā and the Ulama who act upon knowledge is a means to attain Allah’s pleasure and it is a means to increases our nūr because they remind us of Allah.

This is because their nūr is from the Nūr of Muhammad. They took that nūr from sound chains, looking at those who looked at those in every generation who looked at Rasūlullāh صل الله عليه و آله و سلم.

And Habib Umar says that to look at an enemy of Allah, or disobedience to Allah, it takes away from out nūr.

And Rasūlullāh informed is that Allah said in a hadith Qudsi, ‘Who takes my Wali (Saint) as an enemy, I have waged war upon Him…’

We only traverse this path with Sharia.

May Allah grant us understanding of these realities. 🤲🏼

We don’t study deen to become the next most famous celebrity Sheikh with millions of followers, the next big world renowned M***i, to give eloquent talks, to convert new Muslims every week, or to be the most well respected and beloved amongst peers.

Sometimes students have a perception of success which takes them down a path of destruction and love for fame and dunya.

If you’re not the best public speaker, the best researcher, best arabic speaker, most fluent reader, memorizer or know obsqure archaic references no-one else does, don’t worry.

Before you attain any of that, you need to work on having the most SIDQ and IKHLAAS.

SIDQ and IKHLAAS will open the doors to openings (Futūhāt) from Allah. You need to be so pure in intention that when you reach a high level of knowledge, it’s purely for Allah’s Pleasure, not for your ego or peoples praise. And if you don’t reach that, your truthfulnessss with Allah and your sincerity will gain you all the rewards of your pure intentions for Allah’s pleasure like the sincere person who reached that level.

How many awliyā of Allah are buried and we dont known their qadr with Allah?
How many have we never heard of who will be VIPs on Qiyama?
How many are amongst us now, but their true status is veiled from our imperfect hearts?

The truth is not always seen in the tangibles. Sidq and Ikhlaas can’t be seen.

So don’t measure youself against the student who has perfect test scores and quotes everything in perfect Arabic etc.

Your level of Sidq and Ikhlaas is what matters most to Allah and His Rasul.

Without Sidq and Ikhlaas, that excellence is of no benefit, but rather a means of loss and destruction.

So study to gain closeness to Allah and His Rasul. So that you can increase in beneficial knowledge for yourself first and practice on it. If Allah Wills you will be of the Faa’izeen.

May Allah grant us understanding of these realities. 🤲🏼

For all those who have said they don’t have access to classes of the Habāib, or can’t visit Tarim, please register here to benefit from Muhammad bin 'Abd al-Rahmãn As Saqqāf.

Habīb is one of the luminaries and foremost inheritors of the path of the Bā Alawi Masters of Hadramout, Yemen. Who is Habib Muhammad bin 'Abd al-Rahman al-Saqqãf? - by Habib 'Umar bin Hafiz https://youtu.be/-CEF-W1nDew

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One of the best advices the Faqir received whilst studying at Dar Al Mustafa, which forever changed the way I approached deen was:

‘Focus on your heart.’

The lessons of the heart are central to the teachings of tasawwuf and the Habāib help us to purify and refine our hearts.

Focusing on the heart is turning inward, safā al bātin (purification of the inner).

Of the ahādīth which we learnt before going to Tarim were,

‘The people of Yemen have come to you… they have soft and fine hearts.’

And

‘In the body is a lump of flesh if it is sound the body will be sound… indeed it’s the heart’

Yet the haqāiq of these ahādīth and the role of the heart didn’t reach me for years until this person told me to focus on purifying my heart. He said most of the students come for fiqh and neglect the tasawwuf.

This was true. Up till that point I had been swept up by discussions like,

‘You’re going to be an Ālim when you go back home.’

‘So and so is a M***i.’ ‘So and so read these books to that Sheikh.’ ‘This one is admired by so and so.’

So seeking sacred knowledge became all about the dhāhir; how you were seen by others, reputation, being known, respect and admiration from peers and seniors, being a Sheikh. None of it was really sincere. It was all for dunya.

But that advice saved the Faqir.

By turning inwards and focusing on the heart, filling it with sidq and ikhlās, everything changed.

Thats why the Habāib say it is the موضع نظر الله تعالى, the place Allah looks at the condition and state of the slave.

The Faqir no longer worried about being accepted or being known. What mattered most was seeking Allah’s pleasure. Turning inward meant all intentions had to be between you and Allah ALONE. What happened on the outside didn’t matter. Outside factors didnt matter anymore. Just Allah seeing the state of your heart and doing actions for His pleasure.

I can’t claim to have sidq and ikhlās.

Thats the thing about ikhlās; if you think you have it, you don’t. So one always has to work on it, constantly checking your intentions and truthfulness to Allah.

May Allah grant us ikhlās. Ameen 🤲🏼

The Traditional Islamic Madrassa System: The Birthplace of the Modern Intellectual World

The traditional Islamic Madrassa system gave rise to some of the greatest intellects in human history.

Nurtured within a Qur’anic and Prophetic paradigm of thought, these brilliant minds—heirs to the Prophetic intellectual legacy—engaged ancient knowledge with ease, systematically and rigorously refining it, and preparing it for the advancement of the modern world.

During the Islamic Golden Age, a new intellectual force was forged in the furnace of the traditional Madrassa system. Guided by the light of the Qur’an and Hadith, Muslim scholars (ʿUlamāʾ) developed revolutionary methodologies to uncover truth and expand human understanding.

The Madrassa system was, in essence, the world’s first university. It trained its students to think critically about all forms of knowledge, cultivating minds that were both deeply spiritual and intellectually fearless. These scholars pursued beneficial knowledge with passion, innovation, and purpose, fusing revelation with reason in a way that transformed civilization itself.

From this system emerged towering figures such as Imām Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad al-Ghazālī—a scholar, mystic, and polymath of unparalleled brilliance. Such was his intellectual power that he studied Greek philosophy independently, critically deconstructing its assumptions and reinterpreting them through the lens of Islamic metaphysics. Though self-taught and without formal degrees, his works on philosophy remain central to Western academic study even today.

This was the spirit of the Muslim polymaths of the Golden Age. They believed with certainty that the Qur’an and their intellectual heritage contained the highest truths, and thus they did not merely imitate Aristotle or Plato—they challenged them. They dissected their ideas to extract what was true and discard what was false, establishing a tradition of intellectual rigor that became the foundation of modern academic and scientific thought.

Muslims must rediscover this heritage. Our scholars laid the groundwork for the methodologies that shaped the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution, and the European Enlightenment. The entire modern intellectual world stands on the shoulders of these giants.

And it all began in the sacred halls of the Islamic Madrassa system.

The Islamic Intellectual Legacy Institute strives to connect modern Muslims to the Qur’an, Rasūlullāh ﷺ, Traditional Scholarship, and Spirituality.

We strive to harmonize modern living in a scientifically and technologically advanced world with a deep spiritual connection to Allah and His Messenger ﷺ, through authentic chains of transmission.

We are a registered non-profit organization dedicated to educating modern Muslims about Islam, Tasawwuf and Traditional Islam. Reg #: 326-866 NPO

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Of the beautiful teachings of our teachers, Habib Umar and the Habāib of Yemen Hadramout, is to advise everyone to always have ٍحسنُ ظن husnu dhon or good opinion.

They advise all the time, over and over that a Muslim should have husnu dhon of everyone and everything attached to deen.

Firstly husnu dhon with Allah, then his Rasūl صلى الله عليه و آله و سلم, his family and companions رضي الله عنهم جميعا, and then Muslims in general.

Rasūlullāh narrated in a Hadith Qudsi that Allah says,

‘I am what my slave thinks of Me…’.

They frequently say حسن ظنَك بالله, that this means that we should always have the best opinion of Allah even if we are going through difficulties and He is testing us.

One of those tests is that sometimes we look at religious Muslims and we have a tendency to zoom into their every action and to be critical of their faults.

We have a tendency to hold them to a higher standard than we hold even our own selves.

So we blame them for our weak adherence to Islam.
‘I don’t go to the masjid because of the people.’
‘I don’t go to the gatherings of dhikr because of the Sheikh.’
‘I don’t like so and so.’
‘He doesn’t like me.’
‘He’s a fake.’
‘He’s a liar.’

Then we leave gatherings of khayr, the people of khayr and all khayr because of our poor opinion of it/them.

The truth is that their faults shouldn’t be the reason for our relationship changing with Allah. It shouldn’t be a reason for us to deprive ourselves of Allah’s bounties. Our relationship with Allah should not be based on how religious people treat us. If we had ikhlās and purified our intentions purely for Him the Eternal, then non of the temporal changes will negatively affect our Imān.

Hence our teachers advise to always have ‘husnu dhon’ (good opinion) of everyone and everything. And we should rather make an excuse for another Muslim.

The beauty of this especially with religious people and religious leaders is that they are already 99.999% there. They make salāh 5 times a day in jamā’ah. Spend their time in dhikr and teaching deen. They give sadaqah. They go on umrah frequently. They are have the most taqwa. They are doing all the farāid plus lots of nawāfil. They are bringing the people together for Allah’s pleasure.

Whilst we who have sū al dhon (poor opinion) are only at 20%.

If Allah removes that .0001 % of their faults, then they are still 80% ahead of us.

So it’s better to be focused on our own faults than that of others.

Shaitān cannot plant the seeds of hatred amongst a people who have a good opinion of their brothers and sisters.

These are the beautiful teaching which one finds in Tarim from the wisdom of our teachers. When you walk in the streets, you feel safe because these people have pure hearts. They don’t judge or look down on people. Rather they look at you with mercy and they are making excuses for you.

What a beautiful foundation of a society.

May Allah grant me to be the first to act on this. 🤲🏼