[IbnMardhiyah]

This thread was and still is, nilla'riffic.

jazakiyallahu alfe khayr VW.

[vanillawafer]

You must, improve your inward aspect until it becomes better than your virtuous outward appearance, for the former is where the gaze of the Real obtains, while the latter is where the envious gaze of creation is to be found. God never mentioned the inward and the outward in His Book without beginning with the inward. And the Prophet used to pray, (may peace and blessings be upon him) "O God! Make my inward better than my outward, and make my outward virtuous."

When the inward is good the outward is inevitably so, for the outward always follows the inward, whether for good or evil. The Messenger of God, (may blessings and peace be upon him) has said: "In the body lies a small piece of flesh; when it is good the rest of the body is good also, and when it is corrupt the rest of the body becomes corrupt also; It is the heart." [The Book of Assistance]

salam

[zzze]

assalamu alaykum

Originally Posted by Ayooshi

Asalamu Alaikum,

I just bought this book. Its heavy reading. I have the other one Key to the Garden. You should quote that one too, its really good.

Fi AmanAllah

I LOVE the Key to the Garden, and that reminds me i need to get my copy back! The Book of assistance is SO hard to find, I need to go to sufi book shops. I want mine to have the picture of the old (sudanese man?) man in the green jubba by his doorway.

[wheelworks]

Originally Posted by zzze

assalamu alaykum

I LOVE the Key to the Garden, and that reminds me i need to get my copy back! The Book of assistance is SO hard to find, I need to go to sufi book shops. I want mine to have the picture of the old (sudanese man?) man in the green jubba by his doorway.

Is the 'Book of Assistance' and 'The Poor Man's Book of Assistance' the same?

Sh. Hamza Yusuf did an audio Series on 'The Poor Man's Book of Assistance'. I loved it donchaknow

[vanillawafer]

Know that the one who claims to have a thriving inward but whose outward has been corrupted by his abandoning outward acts of obedience is a pretender and a liar.

The one who exerts himself in the reform of his outward aspect by caring about the way he dresses and appears, speaks, moves, sits, stands, and walks, but leaves his inward full of repellent attributes and vile traits, is one of the people of affection and ostentation, who have turned away from the Lord.

Beware, of doing in secret that which if seen by people would make you ashamed and worried about being censured. If you cannot make your inward better than your outward, the least that you can do is to make them equal, so that you behave equally well privately and publicly in obeying God's injunctions, avoiding his prohibitions, respecting what He has made sacred, and hastening to please Him. This is the first step a servant takes on the path of special knowledge. Success is from God. [The Book of Assistance]

salam

[zzze]

assalamu alaykum

Originally Posted by wheelworks

Is the 'Book of Assistance' and 'The Poor Man's Book of Assistance' the same?

Sh. Hamza Yusuf did an audio Series on 'The Poor Man's Book of Assistance'. I loved it donchaknow

I do know now@! I don't know whether they're the same. Hamza Yusuf is amazing masha Allah, may Allah preserve our righteous scholars , ameen.

[vanillawafer]

Originally Posted by wheelworks

Is the 'Book of Assistance' and 'The Poor Man's Book of Assistance' the same?

Sh. Hamza Yusuf did an audio Series on 'The Poor Man's Book of Assistance'. I loved it donchaknow

"The Book of Assistance" is by Imam Abdallah al-Haddad

"The Poor Man's Book of Assistance" is by Sidi Ahmed Zarruq, translated by Hamza Yusuf.

salam

[wheelworks]

Originally Posted by vanillawafer

"The Book of Assistance" is by Imam Abdallah al-Haddad

"The Poor Man's Book of Assistance" is by Sidi Ahmed Zarruq, translated by Hamza Yusuf.

salam

Ah ok. Do carry on

[vanillawafer]

You must fill up your time with acts of worship so that no period of time lapses, whether by night or by day, without being used in some act of goodness. This is how the baraka within time is made manifest, the purpose of life fulfilled, and the approach to God the Exalted made constant.

Know that no state can be sound in the presence of neglect, and no wealth useful in the presence of heedlessness. Know that awrad have a great effect in illuminating the heart and controlling the senses, but these only appear and become established with perseverance and repetition, and their performance at specifically allocated times.

Assign to yourself some awrad to persevere with at specific times that you make up for it if missed, so that your soul becomes accustomed to keeping to them; when your soul despairs of your abandoning them altogether when you miss them, it will hasten to perform them in time. The arrival of blessings depends on the awrad; therefore, the man who outwardly has no wird has no inward aspect [of any consequence]. [The Book of Assistance]

salam

[vanillawafer]

You must hold fast to the Book and the sunna. Take refuge in them, for they are the upright religion of God, and His straight path. Those who adhere to them find safety, profit, guidance and protection, while those who deviate from them go astray, grieve lose, and are broken. Let them govern you and control what you do, and consult them in your every affair, in obedience to the counsel of God and that of His Messenger.

If it pleases you to be well-guided along the white road in which there is neither crookedness nor curvature, then measure all your intentions, traits, acts, and words against the Book and sunna, then retain whatever conforms to them and abandon whatever does not. And always be cautious and follow the better alternative. never innovate in religion, nor follow the ways of the non-believers, or else you will lose both this world and the Hereafter. [The Book of Assistance]

salam

[vanillawafer]

Know that God has put much good into supererogatory (nafl) devotions, through His grace, for many imperfections occur in obligatory worship. However, imperfection in an obligatory act can only be redeemed by an act of supererogation of the same kind: prayer by prayer, and fasting by fasting. Obligations are the basis and acts of supererogation are dependent upon them.

The one who performs the obligations, avoids the prohibited things, and does not add anything to this is better than him who performs acts of supererogation but neglects some obligations, Beware therefore, of neglecting any obligations while occupied with acts of supererogation, for you would thereby sin, and by abandoning your obligations your acts of supererogation will become unacceptable to God.

An example of this is the man who occupies himself with acquiring a kind of knowledge which is, for him, supererogatory, and neglects acquiring the kind which is, for him, obligatory, either outwardly or inwardly. Another is the man who is able to but neglects working for a livelihood and busies himself with supererogatory devotions, leaving his children to beg from others. [The Book of Assistance]

salam

[vanillawafer]

Know that you will never attain to the performing of obligations, the avoiding of the prohibited things, and the performance of supererogatory acts that He has laid down for you to draw nearer to Him, save through knowledge. Seek it then! Knowledge makes you aware of what is a duty, what is recommended, what is forbidden, how to perform your duties and recommended acts, and how to avoid what is prohibited.

Therefore, you must have knowledge and cannot dispense with it; for on the practice of it your happiness in this world and the Hereafter depends. How many a worshiper has tired himself out in worshiping while persistently committing a sin which he believed to be an act of obedience or (at any rate) not a sin! Those who want security and gain must not initiate any act or continue in something already initiated until they know God's ruling in this regard: whether it is obligatory, recommended, just licit, or prohibited. Everything will fall into one of those four groups. This must surely be a duty for every Muslim. [The Book of Assistance]

salam

[vanillawafer]

You must take care of your outward and inward cleanliness, for the one who is completely clean becomes inwardly and in his spirit a spiritual angel, although in his body and outward form he remains a physical human being.

Inward cleanliness is achieved by purifying the soul from vile traits of character such as pride, ostentation, envy, love of the world, and other similar things, and by adorning it with noble traits of character such as humility, modesty, sincerity, generosity, and so forth.

As for the outward cleanliness, this depends on avoiding transgressions, and keeping to obedience. The one who adorns his outward with perseverance in good works, and his inward with taking on praiseworthy attributes, has completed his cleanliness. Otherwise, he would only have a share of it proportionate to his remoteness from reprehensible traits and acts, and nearness to good ones. [The Book of Assistance]

salam

[vanillawafer]

Adhere to the good manners of the sunna outwardly and inwardly; make them habitual to you and you will have perfected your following and emulation of the Messenger of Mercy, the Prophet of Guidance. Know that the one who observes the Prophetic good manners in his everyday activities is preserved by God from trespassing into the base attributes and behavior that are outside them, and obtains the worldly benefits that God has set, through His wisdom, within them.

Anyone who would be pleased to become completely free and clean of impurities and human passions should make all his outward and inward motions and times of stillness conform to the Law, and follow the dictates of both Law and reason. Begin everything you do with the Name of God; if you forget the Name at the beginning, say when you remember: "In the Name of God at its beginning and its end." [The Book of Guidance]

salam