Ten Rules - Shaykh Abdulqadir Jilani

This is some amazing advice for a mureed by Shaykh Abdulqadir Jilani. He gave the following ten rules to his mureeds who wanted to be in control of their nafs (ego, desires) as well as maturing on the path. insha'allah theres are ten things i hope to implement! One day. Please pray for me.


1. Jokingly or seriously, don't lie, because once your tongue avoids lying, Allah the Most High enlarges your chest and purifies your understanding and ilm (knowledge). That person becomes as if they don't know what a lie is. Everything becomes truth to him. When he hears other people lie, the mureed should pray for them not to lie.

2. The mureed should avoid cursing or harming humans and other created beings (from bugs to Jinn) because avoiding to curse and harm is the character of the good and loyal friends of Allah. If a person is like this, then Allah protects him or her and their end will be good. They will reach to a high level in Allah's presence. Allah will protect them from being destroyed and protect them from harm. Allah rewards this person with being a blessing to human beings and close to Allah's essence.

3. The mureed has to keep his promise at all times unless he has a very good excuse. He must avoid not keeping his promise because not keeping a promise is in the same class as lying. As long as the servant of Allah tries to keep his/her promise the doors of generosity and blessings open to him/her. Loyal lovers of Allah love these people and they get a high station in Allah's presence. It is better that he avoids the habit of making promise, so that he may not be guilty of the breach of promise.

4. Even though a person has harmed or wronged him/her, the mureed should not pray for harm to come to him or curse him. Even if the mureed is wronged, he/she should not damn anyone, whether by word or action. The mureed should put up with this and be patient for Allah's sake. This virtue takes the owner to high stations in this world and the hereafter. Such a person will be loved by far and near ones.

5. The mureed should not blame other believers with attributing partners to Allah, with disbelief or cause trouble between people. This attitude is close to mercy and assists the mureed to to reach high spiritual levels.

6. The mureed should not sin inwardly (in the heart) or outwardly. He/She should avoid eating things that are not halal and protect all the organs of his body from sin. This state is the best achievement in this world that a mureed can cultivate for the eternal life.

7. The mureed should earn his own livelihood and not be a burden to people who are independent of him/her. He should bear not only his own burden but also that of other people. Because of this virtue, the fear of Allah will make their worship complete and honorable.

8. The mureed/dervish must not or should not expect anything from people or desire what belongs to others. He should be unmindful of things which he needs, for to have no need is the mark of honour and the distinguishing trait of piety of the pious. The biggest honour and wealth and the highest level is to put one's whole trust in Allah only. Only with this attitude can the dervish be pious. Worship matures with this attitude. This is the state and action of one who give himself to Allah.

9. A mureed/dervish should not, either truly or falsely, intentionally or unintentionally, by mistake or on purpose take Allah's Name in vain or swear by the Name of Allah.

10. The mureed/dervish should take to hospitality and humility. With humility, the dervish reaches high levels of spirituality and stays at this high level. This is the base of goodness and the highest level of goodness. Because of this quality the lovers of Allah stay with him in troubled times. The Walis (Saints) visit him in the unseen and aid him in his difficulty. Humility is seeing everybody you meet as higher than you and thinking that they might be closer to Allah than yourself.

If the mureed meets a person that is younger than himself/herself, he/she should say:
"This person did not rebel against Allah; I did. I am sure he/she is better than me."

If the mureed meets a person who is older than himself, he/she should say:
"This person has worshipped Allah longer than I have . He might have reached levels I have not been able to reach. Maybe Allah has let him know things I haven't been allowed to know yet."

If the mureed meets an ignorant person, then he should say:
"This person rebelled against Allah because he was ignorant; I rebelled against Allah knowingly. I dont know what is going to happen at the end to me or to him/her."
If the mureed meets a person who is a disbeliever or agnostic, he should say:
"Maybe one day this disbeliever or agnostic will become a Muslim and do better deeds than myself and he might end up in a better place than I would and I might be misled and end up in a worse place than him."


If a mureed acts with humility like this, then Allah the Most High saves him/her from hardships and makes the mureed reach to the levels of those who give advice for Allah's sake. He will be the closest friend of Allah the Most High.

Update:

Oops I haven’t written anything down for a few days, I was meant to post on Tuesday night but no luck. =(

On Sunday we went moonsighting as planned which was very exciting. The turnout was great as a lot of people had turned out to join us in sighting the new moon for commencement of ramadhan. The weather was so amazing, the sky was very clean and it was relatively warm until we got up to the hill which was very chilly and windy.

The sun setting was absolutely beautiful! The clouds which were covering the sun turned to a beautiful but scary golden orange with tinges of red and yellow. I used my friend’s dad’s telescope to get a better look and subhanallah it was very frightening as it reminded of what jahanama (hell) could possibly look like. But in saying that I was completely in awe, the sight of the sky decorated with various colours and the clouds glowing reminded me of the magnificent glory of creation!

We stayed there until the reported time of moon set but we sadly we had no luck of sighting the moon. All of us who were present lined up to pray the Maghrib (sun set) prayer and it was very captivating. There is something about praying out in the open with a warm breeze gently touching your face as everything stands still for those brief moments as everyone is only focused on praying.

As a result of not sighting the moon it was concluded that ramadhan will start on Tuesday (which I had a feeling it would).

Today (Thrusday) is the third of ramadhan and alhamdulilah I feel even more excited today compared to the start of ramadhan.

The first day of ramadhan was very exciting but tiring at the same time, I think my body is getting used to waking up earlier and alhamdulilah for the middle term break other wise I would have missed a few classes by now. On Tuesday night I went to taraweeh prayer very beautiful and serene (other than the screaming kids who were running around). Its such an amazing feeling to be gather around people late in the evening for the only purpose of worshiping God. It creates a sense of a deeper understanding of our purpose in life as well as a reminder of what worship itself means.

The second of Ramadhan (yesterday) was a bit better than the first day. I did more worship compared to the first day alhamdulilah and I hope it continues. The only problem was that I went to bed very late which did not help as I could not get up for suhoor (but I did eat before sleeping which was a wise more *grins*). I was also meant to meet up with this girl but I called the place she was staying at and they told me she had left but Insha’allah I will try to call again today.

Late night rants

Its 10.15pm and i have been up since 6am. This morning after i took my sister to the shops we decided to stop over at the supermarket to buy some groceries for ramdan. I could not believe the selection of food varieties there is subhanallah, as i was going through the baking section to buy baking soda and yeast i could not believe the variety of yeast that was available ( i mean yeast is yeast). That got me to thinking about how ungrateful we are and how much food we waste every year, people in Africa are starving while we chuck out food. While they have absolutely nothing to eat while we stock up on food and whatever our nafs desires.

The sadly reality of the situation really makes me think about the part i am playing in all of this and how i will be taken into account for it. I might not be fully aware of what is happening but i know enough to understand that while im eating and enjoying life other people are trying to gather whatever food they can if any. something depressing to think about especially at this time but nonetheless, its thought provoking and important.

On a lighter note, i was keeping an eye out for the moon tonight but no luck as there's an overcast here tonight. Seeing the moon uplifts my spirit and makes me appreciate the natural beauty of Allah's creation. Insha'allah i hope i see the moon tomorrow but seeing it on Sunday at the ramadan moonsighting will do.

Malik ibn Dinar

Malik ibn Dinar (may Allah be pleased with him) was asked about the reason behind his repentance. He said: 'I use to be a policeman and an alcoholic. I then acquired a maid who was very good to me. She bore a daughter of ours to whom I became very attached. I became even fonder of her when she started to crawl. Whenever I used to serve myself wine, she would come and drag my tumbler away from me and spill everything over my clothes. Our daughter died when she turned 2 and I was devastated.

The 15^th of Shaban came along that year on a Friday. I went to sleep drunk and without offering my prayers. I saw in a dream that the Day of Judgment had come about; the Trumpet was blown; graves were resurrected about people were gathered and I was among them. I heard a hissing noise behind. I turned around and saw that I was being approached by a huge black and blue snake. I started to run away as fast as I could trembling with fear. I then encountered an old man who was well dressed and wore good perfume. I greeted him and asked him to help me. The old man cried and said that he was very weak and the snake was much stronger than he. However, he did tell me to keep on running in the hope that I would find something that would save me from the snake. I continued to run and climbed on top of an elevated area.

I found myself on top of a valley of fire. The horror of the fire alone made me almo

st fall into it. Then, I heard someone shouting: 'Get away from there. You don't belong there.' I found security in that shout and ran further with the snake still at my heels. I found the old man again and pleaded with him to help. Again, he started to cry and say that he was very weak and that the snake was far stronger than he. Then, the old man directed me towards a hill where he said I might find a deposit of mine that could help me. I looked at the hill, which was circular and made of silver. In the hill were pierced windows and hanging curtains.

Every window had two golden panels and each panel was adorned with silk curtains. I quickly ran towards the hill. An angel then cried: 'Raise the curtains. Open the panels and look. Perhaps this afflicted person has some sort of d

eposit here that can help him.'

I then saw faces of small children who were like small moons peeping out from the windows. Then one of them shouted: 'What's wrong with you all. Come quickly. His enemy has almost come upon him.' So they came and looked from their windows - hundreds of them. Then, I saw the face of my daughter who had died. When she saw me, she cried and said, 'By Allah! That is my father.' She then shot out of the window like an arrow from a bow and jumped into a pool of light (nur). She then appeared in front of me and extended one of her

hands to me. I grabbed and hung onto her. She put her other hand in front of the snake and drove it away. She then made me sit down and sat herself in my lap, stroked her right hand through my beard and said:

O father, Is it not time for believers to subject their hearts to the remembrance of Allah.

I started to cry and asked how she knew the Qur'an. She said they (the children) knew more than they (in the world) did. I then asked her about the snake that ran after me. She explained that it represented my bad deeds, which would drive me into Hell. I then inquired about the old man. She said he was my good deeds, which had become so weak that they were unable to defend me against my bad deeds. I then asked what they were doing inside this hill. She informed me that they were the deceased children of Muslims waiting for their parents on the Day of Judgment. Malik said: 'I woke up in a fright. I smashed all my wine containers and repented. This was how I repented.' (Ibid:49)

Friday, 30th August .

Ok, so i know that rather than posting and writing about personal experiences i have mostly been posting material that i have read. But insha'allah with ramdan approaching i start posting my thoughts and reflections. ^_^

Today is Friday, 3oth August and i have so much to get done. I promised to take my sister to the mall and few other shops in preparation for ramdan, although, i don't feel like driving 'a promise is a promise' i guess. Insha'allah latter on around maghrib we will be hosting a documentary screening which deals with issues of interfaith, conflict resolution and finding common grounds between ourselves in an ever changing society that consists of diverse beliefs and communities.

Insha'allah, although it is not confirmed yet, if there is dars on tonight i might be going to that too =D can't wait!

Right now i'm contemplating on whether or not to go to jummah prayers as i have alot to get done but i might just go seeing as ramdan is around the corner.


Verily, with every difficulty, there is relief, verily, with every difficulty, there is relief

Holy Qur'an, The Expansion, 5-6

The words of the wise:

'He who looks to the fellowship of creatures will sometimes be crooked
and sometimes straight.But he who looks to The Creator is bound to
the straight path both inwardly and outwardly.'

Do not hasten in taking revenge from a person.Do not delay in
benefiting and doing good to any person.

The Wisdom of Islam

Oh Mankind!
We have created you from a Male
and a Female,
and made you into nations and tribes,
So that ye may know one another...
(Glorious Quran 49:13)