The Sahifah As-Sajjadiyah

Bismi-Llah, Al-Rahmani, Al-Rahim. Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa aali Muhammad [Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa Aali Muhammad]. I wanted to thank the organizers for inviting me to contribute something small with regard to Sahifah as-Sajjadiyah. And I want to dedicate this talk to a very special lady who passed away a couple of months ago. Her name was Zahra Islamia, and she was a devotee to Islam, Ahl Al-Bayt, and Islamic Revolution, not very well-known now in the community because she became withdrawn in later life. But this is dedicated to her.

So I am going to be talking a little bit about terminology in Sahifah as-Sajjadiyah. Some of my research has entailed, critically comparing the emergence of the Sunni-Sufi tradition out of the Imami tradition. What we find when we look into the histories of Islamic mysticism and Islamic spirituality, if you pick up a book on Islamic mysticism or Islamic spirituality, you will most often see this unfolding history of this developing mystical tradition with prominent figures who became known as Sufis, and who were credited with developing a certain type of language and concepts that were used in Islamic mysticism.

But what is often overlooked in these histories, is that this tradition emerged side by side with the Imams of Ahl Al-Bayt, alayhum as-salam, and it particularly started to emerge as a, as a recognized movement during the period of the minor occultation. What has happened, when we we look at writings on Islamic spirituality, is that these early figures from the Sunni tradition, have in short, been credited with using terms and concepts that the Imams of Ahl Al-Bayt, alayhum as-salam, were using much earlier in in their works.

So, one interesting topic that that needs to be considered is that of the topic of love, the topic of 'Mahabba' in the Islamic spiritual tradition. And again, when you read this, the standard histories of the emergence of Islamic mysticism, Islamic spirituality, most historians will say that Islamic spirituality emerged out of the ascetic tradition that arose after the martyrdom of Imam Husayn alayhi as-salam. So, there was this period of asceticism, and then there emerged this period of 'Mahabba' and you know, where people started to express their love for Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala, and introduced this idea of love for Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala.

And these histories will say that it was the the the mystics of Basra, and and Baghdad, and Kufa that that started to talk about 'Mahabba'. Another point, when we look at the history of this period, another thing to bear in mind is that with regard to this subject of 'Mahabba', this was actually a point of conflict during the Abbasid period. So there was a time during the Abbasid period where certain Abbasid caliphs were particularly promoting Hanbali theologians, they were promoting the Hanbali school.

And what they were doing was setting up courts and summoning scholars, including Sunni scholars, to examine the Aqeeda. And if they did not have the correct Aqeeda, then they were sentenced to death. So one of those people who was summoned to the court was Junaid al-Baghdadi, the founder of the Baghdad Sufi school, who incidentally founded the Baghdad Sufi school after spending time in Basra with Mutazilis and Imami Shi'a. He spent time there and then he went back to Baghdad and founded what became known as the Baghdad Sufi school.

And he was summoned to court to justify the idea that it was possible for Allah to love the human being, and for the human being to love Allah, for these expressions of love, from the human being to Allah and vice versa. And as it happened, Junaid was only able to escape execution by denying that he was an 'arif of any kind, and by basically doing taqiyya, and saying, I am just a jurist, you know, I don't know anything about these matters.

And so he was allowed to you know, he was let go, but he had to spend the rest of his life in retirement. So we can see that, and he was actually also living during the period of the minor occultation. This is something else that we need to do when we are researching this early period is compare, what were the early urafa', Sunni urafa', doing in relation to the lifetimes of the Imams? What was going on with regard to the Imams and what was going on with regard to these figures?

So Junaid al-Baghdadi became prominent again during the minor occultation, which was a time when this movement that became known as the Sufi movement, began to really take off, and start to proliferate the concepts and practices that had been taught by the imams of Ahl Al-Bayt, alayhum as-salam. So one of the one of the main concepts that that became a foundation of Sunni Sufism was Walayah. And I have written on this elsewhere, if anyone wants the paper, please do contact me on Facebook and I can send you the paper, because I have done a critical comparison of the concept of wilaya in Imami, Shi'ism and in the Sunni Sufi tradition.

But this other concept that we can see was that of 'Mahabba', love. And as we know, there are verses in Holy Qur'an that actually do confirm that it is possible for that to be this relationship of love between Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, and a human being. So as we have here in Chapter three, 31: "Say, oh, Muhammad, if you love God, follow me and then God will love you" (3:31). That's just one example. There are other examples which I don't have time to go into. So what I will do is go straight into some of the examples from the Sahifah as-Sajjadiyah, some of which were mentioned just now. And what I am going to do is just highlight some of the language that has been used in Sahifah as-Sajjadiyah, that was actually credited to later figures who were the founders of the Sunni Sufi tradition.

So we have again, in as is very well-known in the Sunni Sufi tradition, obviously, this whole concept, I mean, this became the basis, as we know, of so much poetry, this idea of of burning with love for Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, burning up with this love for Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, and this idea of yearning for Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. And so we have certain terminologies here, that became very popular. Again, if you pick up any kind of book from going on from the 13th century onwards written by Sunni mystics, they will be using these terminologies, which we find earlier in Sahifah as-Sajjadiyah.

So we have in the Munajat al-Muftakhirin, the munajat of the utterly poor, that is munajat number, 79, Imam Zayn Al-'Abidin, alayhi as-salam, says: nothing will cool my burning thirst, but reaching You. Quench my ardour, but meeting You. Dampen my yearning, but gazing upon Your face. And so we have these ideas, these ideas, and concepts arising in the language with as an example of the word for ardour, 'lawla, lawlati', my torment, my anguish. So he is already introducing here this idea of the servant of Allah in torment and anguish from being separated from Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. And this concept was, you know, being circulated by Imam Zayn Al-'Abidin, during the time when we still really have what was meant to have been the ascetic tradition, you know, continuing predominantly in the Muslim world.

So he says, lawlati, my torment or my anguish. And then another term that has become elaborated upon in the mystical tradition is the idea of "liqa'", "liqa' Allah", meeting Allah. So this has become again a whole topic within the Islamic mystical tradition. But we see that Imam Zayn Al-'Abidin, alayhi as-salam, is again using this word with regard to Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. This 'liqa', this "meeting with You". Another term that became very popular and circulated in the Sunni Sufi tradition was the term of "Shawq", or yearning. So, again, if you pick up any book on Sunni Sufism, they will use this term for yearning for a, which is "Shawq", and it was it was considered to be a particular station that someone reaches in their journey towards Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. So he used the term the term "Shawqi ilayka", my yearning for You.

And then, of course, the idea of of of gazing upon the face of Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala. I mean, of course, there is also this expression in Arabic, as we know that, you know, is encouraged to embark on a on a good action for the sake of seeking the face of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. So he says, you know, again, he is referring to the wedge, the face of Allah Subhana wa Ta'ala. Then we have also in his Munajat adh-Dhakirin, uh, of course, Dhakarin, coming from the Dhikr, the ones who engage in Dhikr, and of course, Dhikr, being very famous and popularized in the Sunni Sufi tradition. Anne Marie Schimmel has written a lot on that. But again, he is talking about the Dhakirin, the ones who do who do Dhikr in his particular munajat.

So in his Munajat adh-Dhakirin, he says: oh, Allah enraptured hearts are passionately in love with You. Now, bear in mind again, this is coming a couple of centuries before Junaid al-Baghdadi was summoned to court to justify this concept of love between the human being and Allah. So he says: enraptured hearts are passionately in in love with You, and hearts find no serenity except in remembering You. Souls find no rest except in seeing You. So again, of course, he is talking about the hearts, but there are also these different terminologies that are used for love. This is another issue that he doesn't just use one term, one term for for love or desire. You know, it is not just Mahabba as an example, but we also have the expression, so he says: "Ilahi, bika hamata al-qulub, al-walihatu".

So "ham bi" is to is to be passionately in love with, "ham", is to be passionately in love. "Walaha" enthralled, or enraptured. So these are the terminologies that he is using: "ham bi" to be passionately in love with, "walaha" to to be enthralled, or enraptured. And then of course talking about Dhikr as well. The Dhikr Allah hearts find no serenity except:"illa bi Dhkirik", except in Your Dhikr, except in remembrance of You, and mentioning You. And then actually witnessing Allah. So he says souls find no rest in the "ruyak", except in the vision of You. And then we have the next one, Munajat al-Muriddin. This is again very interesting, because in the Sunni Sufi tradition, for those who may have studied it, of course, we know that we have the shaykh, and we have the students of the shaykh who are called "murid", a student of the shaykh in n the Sunni Sufi tradition is called a murid. So we find, again, much earlier on, several centuries, just before a couple of things almost finished.

We find again earlier on before this whole idea of murid, this is another point that I have to quickly put in, is that the tariqas didn't develop until the 12th century. What became known as Sufi tariqas did not actually develop until the 12th century. So this idea of the murid of the shaykh, the one who is searching for Allah, attaching himself to a shaykh, did not develop until then. So again, we see this developing several centuries after we have this concept appearing in Sahifah as-Sajjadiyah by Imam Zayn Al-'Abidin, alayhi as-salam. So he says in Munajat al-Muriddin, the devotees or the ones who are seeking Allah. He says, I ask You to place me among those whom You have raised to a high station with You, and given them a share of Your love. Toward You is my yearning, and in love for You is my passionate longing.

So again, he is using the term for love here, Your love would Decha, "wuddika", "Wadada" or you know, "wadda", meaning love. So he says, give me a portion of Your love. And he says again, using the word "Shawq", towards You is my yearning. "Ilayka Shawqi". Love for You is my passionate longing. "Wa fi mahabbatika wa lahi". So, again we have this, this very openly used term of Mahabba being used by the Imam.

Again, what developed in the Sunni Sufi tradition with the development of the Tariqas because from the 12th century onwards, and we we find this in the one particular tariqa, whose name has slipped my mind, but it developed in in Turkey and in fact they were exiled by the Ottomans and sent over to Bosnia. Can anyone remember the [name], insha'Allah, it will come back to me. So they have this hierarchy within their particular tariqa, and someone who attaches themselves to this tariq will be called a muhib, a lover of Allah. So, again, this idea of Muhib being a muhib or a lover of Allah again, you know, became circulated and popularized in the Sunni Sufi tradition.

But again, like I say, you know, as we find in Sahifah As-Sajjadiyah, several centuries earlier, we find that Imam Zayn Al-'Abidin, alayhi as-salam, is using this term for the lovers of Allah, the muhibbin, been the ones who love Allah. So, he says: my God, who can have tasted the sweetness of Thy love and wanted another place, which we had just read out just now, and wanted another in place of You. Who can have become intimate with Your nearness, and desire distance from You? desire removal from You? So again, what he is introducing here, which was not said to have been introduced again until several centuries later, even Professor William Chittick has said that the idea of love as a way to God didn't develop until the 12th century. He says this in one of his introductory books on Sufism. He says, Love is a way to God was not really recognized until about the 12th century.

But again, as we see several centuries earlier, we find it in this book. And another concept that we find in the mystical tradition that was circulated, which we find again in the work of Imam Zayn al-'Abidin, alayhi as-salam, is the idea of tasting. So you had Shawq, yearning, and after Shawq, comes the thawq, which is which is tasting, actually tasting the presence of Allah, tasting the sweetness of His presence. So he says: "man dhaladhi, thaqa halwa mahabbatika". Halwa, the sweetness of Your your love. So he is already introducing this idea of tasting the sweetness of Your love. I am sorry, but we are running out of time, OK? Yes. I just got one more and then that's it.

And then, another time, which we find another terminology that you will find in all the Sufi Sunni Sufi texts, is the idea of "Uns". "Uns", was a particular station, which is and in fact, if you read Paul Nawia's chapter on the tafsir that is attributed to Imam Ja'far Al-Sadiq, alayhi as-salam, this is in French and I have translated into English and it is not published yet. But he actually maps out an itinerary of stations towards Allah, Subhana wa Ta'ala, that Imam Ja'far Al-Sadiq, alayhi as-salam, was meant to have mapped out.

I mean, we need to authenticate that. But the the twelfth station is Mahabba, sorry, the 11th station is Mahabba. So 12 stations, the 11th station is Mahabba, the 12th station is Uns, which is intimacy. And so we see, and "Uns" obviously became circulated in the mystical tradition, and we find it here where he says: "man dhaladhi anisa, bi kurbika", you know, who can have become intimate? "Anisa, bi kurbika" with Your nearness, and desired distance from You?

So this is just a small sample of terminologies. And I will just conclude with, again, a statement that one of the main figures who popularized or who initiated the Sunni Sufi tradition, was someone called Hakim Tirmidhi from Khurasan. And he is different from the Hakim Tirmidhi, who was the Muhaddath in the Sunni tradition. He was another Hakim Tirmidhi. He traveled down from Khurasan. He went to Mecca and did his Hajj, and then he went back to Iraq. And then, after walking around in Iraq, he then came up with this book called Sirat Al-Awliya', which has been translated into English as the, it is Not the Way of the Saints, but it is by Radka, Rutka and Oken, if you if you want to get that. Yeah, it is called "The Concept of Sainthood in Early Islamic Mysticism.

What is interesting is that Hakim Tirmidhi was the one who developed, you know, the whole science of what was known as Sunni Sufism. But if you compare it to the Ahadith in Usul Al-Kafi, you will see that this has basically been lifted from, to put it politely, from Usul Al-Kaf. So one last time with which Hakim Tirmidhi has been credited in the scholarly works to make it really, really, really just finishing is the term Manzil for station. So so there have been scholars that have actually said this was something unique that Hakim Tirmidhi used when he is talking about the maqam, or the station that you will attain with nearness to Allah.

And he says, actually, Hakim Tirmidhi in terms of the uniquely use the term Manzil, but we find in the first Du'a of Sahifah As-Sajjadiyah where Imam Zayn al-'Abidin, alayhi as-salam, says: praise belongs to God, a praise through which He will illuminate for us the shadows of the Barzakh, ease for us the path path of resurrection, and raise our stations. "Manazilina". "Manazilina", at the standing places of the witnesses.

So that was a quick whizzing through the history. But inshaAllah, hopefully it is just to raise some awareness with an approach to Sahifah As-Sajjadiyah, to read it with an awareness of how its terminologies were developed afterwards in history and became another tradition that has been popularized. And this is a call for, you know, the Shi'i youth to go back to the roots if we want to attain, you know, the authentic 'Ilm Al-Batin. Thank you very much. Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammadin wa aali Muhammad.