SANKORE' Institute of Islamic - African Studies The Support of the Dedicated Worshippers and Skilled Professionals by Shehu Uthman Dan Fuduye’ Arabic Text Edited and Translated by Abu Alfa Umar MUHAMMAD SHAREEF bin Farid Brooks 1 Copyright © 1418/1997 Muhammad Shareef Published by SANKORE' Institute of Islamic - African Studies International The Palace of the Sultan of Maiurno Maiurno, Sennar, Sudan www.sankore.org / www.siiasi.org Book design by Muhammad Shareef All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without written permission of the publishers 2 In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Merciful. Peace and blessings be upon our master Muhammad, his family and Companions.1 Says the poor slave in need of the mercy of his Lord,2 Uthman ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman,3 who is known as Dan Fuduye’4, may Allah engulf him in His mercy Amen5.. 1 The author, Shehu Uthman ibn Fuduye`may Allah be merciful to him begins with the basmalla as all the scholars initiate their compositions following in that the Book of Allah and the words of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace as related by Abd‟l-Qaadir ar-Rahaawi in his al-Arba`een on the authority of Abu Hurayra: “Every affair of importance which is not begun in the name of Allah, then it is severed.” He then says following the words of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace as related by at-Tabarani in his al-Awsat on the Authority of Abu Hurayra: “Whoever sends blessing upon me in a book there will remain an Angel seeking forgivness for him as long as my name is in that Book.” Thus: In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. There is no power or might besides Allah, and may Allah bless our master Muhammad, the Noble Prophet, his family and all his Companions. Says the most needy slave of his Magnificent Independent Lord, Abu Alfa Umar Muhammad Shareef bin Farid, the sinful, powerless, worthless and foolish: that this is a summarized marginal annotation which I composed upon the book of the Light of the Age, the Sultan of the science of social reformation, my spiritual master, the learned Shehu Uthman ibn Fuduye`, the courageous, the renewer of the religion, the Amir’l-Mu’mineen, may Allah engulf him in His mercy, Amen. I made it as a commentary in footnotes in order to clarify to the Jama`at of the Shehu who truly follow him, and to aquaint the students from the rest of the Muslim regarding the meanings and secrets of this book: the `Umdat‟l-Muta`abideen wa‟l-Muhtarifeen. I have named it The Equipment of the Combat- Ready and the Sincerely Loyal Regarding the Commentary Upon the Support of the Dedicated Worshippers and Skilled Professionals My objective is to clarify all of the legal rulings of the individual obligations, outwardly and inwardly; and to extract the secrets that have been concealed in the text for the People of the Path to Allah, those alert and ready, those faithful to their solemn oath to the Shehu, the Amir’l-Mu’mineen Shehu Uthman ibn Fuduye`; and those whom Allah wills from His sincere servants; in order that benefit can be gained from the baraka of the sciences of the Shehu after his death as an on going charity from him to us. The Prophet, may blessings and peace be upon him said: “When a person dies all of his actions or cut off except three: an on going charity; knowledge which brings benefit; or a righteous child who supplicates for him.” So here, I stand as a substitute for a righteous son to him. This is because the spiritual father is greater in rank than the father of birth. Thus, I am an abstract child of his with respect to the outward oath of allegiance given to the Sultan from his discendents and with respect to the inward covenant taken from the Shehu from his Qaadiri spiritual chain. With the praises to Allah I was made an Amir from the amirs of Shehu Uthman ibn Fuduye`,.from his helpers, aids , partisans and one of the flagbearers in his Jama`at the Muhaajiruun who are the remnant of his authority, in whom reside his baraka, and with whom are his banners. Their station with Allah is immense because they are among those who will gather with Imam al-Mahdi and give the oath of allegiance to him as they gave it to Shehu Uthman ibn Fuduye`. We praise and thank Allah ta`ala for making us among his Jama`at and partisans in these Last Days and Times. I have arranged the commentary into 313 spheres in accordance with the number of the People of Badr and in accordance with the number of the Amirs who will assist al- Mahdi. I ask Allah to make us from among them and that He make this text and its commentary purely for His Generous sake and that he make it a proof for us and not against us, presently and until the Day of Requittal; and that He gathers us together with its author in the Paradise of Ease; O Lord of the words. 2 Here the Shehu, may Allah be merciful to him recognizes his total absence of ability and power in every state, whether it be from his essential qualities or non essential qualities. Allah ta`ala says: “O mankind you are weak and dependent upon Allah and Allah is the Absolutely Rich Independent and Praiseworthy.” Shaykh al-Hatimi said: “The impoverished one is he who is in need of everything and nothing is in need of him. In the opinion of the realized ones the impoverished one is the pure absolute slave, whose state in the reality of his existence is the same as his state in the reality of his non-existence.” Shaykh Ibn al-Hajj said regarding the impoverished one: “He is the one who has left worldly affairs behind him and has turned towards his Hereafter in preoccupation with his Lord; and has embarked upon the correction of his soul and purifying it of „otherness‟. For each heart in which there resides other than Allah is in the realm of abandonment and dejection. And in each heart in which nothing resides besides Him, glory be to Him the Exalted there occurs spiritual openings, Self manifestations and intimate converse in his secret in congruence with the strength of his spiritual state.” The Wali Abu Yazid al-Bustami, may Allah be merciful to him said: “The Absolute Being once said to me: „Draw near to Me with that which is not Mine: humiliation and impoverishment‟.” Shaykh Ahmad ibn `Ajiba, may Allah be pleased with him said: “As for the trully dependent and impoverished he is deficient of everything except Allah. He has rejected everything which preoccupies him from Allah. It is for this reason that the masters of this station say: „The trully impoversished one is he who does not control nor is he 3 “All praises are due to Allah the Lord of the worlds.” The best blessings and most abundant peace be upon our6 master Muhammmad7 his family8 and Companions - all of them.9 controlled.‟ This means that he does not own any created thing and no created thing owns him. The prerequisites of the person of this station are four: [1] elevated spiritual purpose; [2] excellent service; [3] extolling that which is sacred; and [4] piercing determination.” 3 He was Shaykh al-Islam, the symbol of erudition, the spiritual scholar, the spiritual savior, the discloser of the highest spiritual ranks, Abu Muhammad Sa`d, Uthman ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman ibn Saalih ibn Haarun ibn Muhammad Ghurdu ibn Muhammad Jubba ibn Muhammad Sanbu ibn Maysiran ibn Ayyub ibn Buba Baba ibn Abu Bakr ibn Musa Jokolli ibn Imam Dambube` at-Turuude'. This Musa Jokolli is the one who fled with his ethnicity, the people of Turuudi to the lands of Konni in Hausaland. They are originally from the lands of Futa Toro and their origin is from the Christians of Ruum and before that from the Banu Isra’il. The armies of the Companions reached them and their king accepted Islam and married his daughter to Uqba ibn Nafi`, the Companion, military commander and Amir of the west. It was from this marriage that the famous Fulbe` ethnicity called Turuudi were born. They are the most important ethnicity regarding the dissemination of the religion of Islam, its sciences and its civilization in the whole of the Bilad as-Sudan. More than a third of the captured and kidnapped Blacks imported from West Africa into the Caribbean, Central and South America and especially the southeastern states of the United States of America from North Carolina to east Texas were from this ethnicity, and are known today as the Gullah and Geeche Nations. As for the mother of the Shehu, she was Hawwa bint Sayyidat Fatima bint Muhammad as-Shareef ibn Abd‟s-Samad ibn Ahmad as-Shareef ibn Ali al-Yanbui` ibn Abd‟‟r-Razaaq ibn as-Saalih ibn al-Mubaarik ibn Ahmad ibn Abu‟l- Hassan Ali as-Shadhili ibn Abdallah ibn Abd‟l-Baar ibn Tamim ibn Hurmaz ibn Hatim ibn Qusay ibn Yusef ibn Yusha` ibn Wardi ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Isa ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hassan as-Sabt ibn Ali ibn Abi Talib and Fatima az-Zahra the daughter of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace and upon his pure family and pleasing Campanions.