Book Review

The Children of the Truth
 By Shaykh Muhammad Said al-Jamal ar-Rifa`i and Maryam Muhammad Abdullah
 Publisher: Petaluma, CA: Sidi Muhammad Press,: 1998.
 ISBN 1-892596-0

In The Children of the Truth, Maryam Muhammad Abdullah relates the stories and sayings of fifteen Sufi masters who lived between the eighth and the fourteenth centuries. It is inspiring to read of their struggles, their willingness to sacrifice, and, above all, their restlessness to meet their beloved Lord. They lived their lives with a single driving purpose: to leave all traces of self behind and be united to God.

The author is a practicing Sufi, a disciple of Shaykh Muhammad Said al-Jamal ar-Rifa’i in the Shadhdhuli lineage of Sufi masters, based in Jerusalem. The shaykh writes an extended introduction to her book, welcoming the reader to the feast of spiritual wisdom embedded in the teachings and life incidents of these early Sufis. He begins his introduction:

This is the Table of Allah for the one who has searched for the real food to know himself and to know his heart and to know his spirit. If he is ready, he can open the door and cross the threshold into the Heart of God. He can sit at the Table and find the real food of love and peace and mercy through deep knowing. This Table is for all of my beloveds of all backgrounds.

The shaykh begs the reader, “Oh my beloved, listen for his Song, the song of peace and mercy, and be what he asks and give what he asks. Then he will give you everything that you have been waiting for.”

The book is arranged chronologically, beginning with Rabi’a of Basra in eighth-century Iraq, then Bayazid al-Bistami in ninth-century Persia. Much of the material on these early Sufis is in the form of questions and answers. Rabi`a often stressed the need for absolute sincerity in the relation to God.

It was related how one day one of her followers said in her presence, “Oh Allah, may You be satisfied with us!” Whereupon Rabi`a said, “Are you not ashamed before Him to ask Him to be satisfied with you, when you are not satisfied with Him?” Then this was followed by the question to her, “When then is the servant satisfied with Allah Most High?” She replied, “When his pleasure in misfortune is equal to his pleasure in prosperity.”

Answering questions from seekers, the love-intoxicated mystic often raises the questioner’s understanding of love to another level. For example:

Someone once wrote to Bayazid al-Bistami: “What do you say of one who drinks a single drop of the Ocean of the Love and becomes intoxicated?” Bayazid replied, “What do you say of one who, if all the oceans in the world were filled with the Wine of the Love, would drink them all and still cry to satisfy this thirst?”

The book continues with chapters on each of six Sufi masters who lived in Baghdad from the ninth to eleventh centuries, collectively called the Baghdad School: Sari al-Saqati, Junayd, Nuri, Mansur al-Hallaj, Shibli, and Jilani. The writings of Junayd explore the meaning of annihilating the self and finding union with God:

Unification is this: that one should be a figure in the hands of Allah, a figure over which His Decrees pass according as he, in his Omnipotence, determines. One should be drowned in the Sea of his Unity, being annihilated from the self and dead alike to the call of mankind to him, and to his answer to them.

The writings of Jilani, founder of the Qadiri Sufi order, explore the meaning of true surrender:

The sign that your will has been merged into his will is that you seek nothing for yourself or of yourself, because the Will of Allah is working in you. Surrender yourself into the hands of Allah like the dead body in the hands of the one who washes it, or like the child at his mother’s breast.

In the chapters on the Sufis of Baghdad, the execution of Mansur al-Hallaj - one of the most perplexing and disturbing moments of Sufi history - is viewed from several angles. This was a time when Sufism was highly suspect, and revealing the mystic teachings was dangerous. Junayd, who was a respected judge and scholar as well as a Sufi master, taught that the Sufi must maintain the balance needed to hide his ecstatic states. His disciples Nuri, Shibli and Mansur al-Hallaj, however, were often unable to control their speech or behaviour while in a state of ecstasy. Mansur al-Hallaj’s statement “I am the Truth” brought upon him the death sentence, and Junayd, in his role as judge, was called upon to sign the decree. The complexity of this moment is neither dismissed nor explained in this book, but rather explored by many of the sayings and incidents in these chapters.

Next the book moves to a number of Sufi masters of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula from the twelfth to fourteenth centuries, among them Rifa’i , Abu Madyan, Ibn al- Arabi, Ibn Mashish. The final three Sufis discussed are Shadhdhuli, the founder of the Shadhdhuli Sufi Order, his successor Mursi, and Mursi’s own successor Ibn ’Ata illah. The story of Shadhdhuli meeting his master Ibn Mashish shows how the spiritual teacher deepens the disciple’s understanding. Shadhdhuli was told that the greatest master of his times lived in the Rif mountains in North Africa. Accordingly, he sought all through the Rif mountains, and when he perceived a light emanating from a mountain, knew he had come to the right place. Seeing a spring at the foot of the mountain, Shadhdhuli made his ablution as prescribed by law (shari`a), and then climbed to the summit where he met Ibn-Mashish. The master asked if he had made his ablution. Though Shadhdhuli answered that he had, he was told to go back and try again. Again he went to the spring at the foot of the mountain, washed, and again climbed to the summit. Again, he was told that he shouldn’t come in a state of impurity and to go make his ablution. This was repeated several times, before he suddenly understood the meaning of purifying himself:

This time, as he made his ablution, he emptied himself of everything that he knew, or thought he knew, or that he had learned and taken in from other teachers, and he destroyed all his attributes, pictures and prejudices, until he knew that he was left with only a vast space of nothingness inside him which was waiting to be filled.

This time, when he climbed again to the summit, he was embraced and accepted for initiation by his master.

This incident between Shadhdhuli and Ibn Mashish was much discussed by later masters in the lineage. One explained, “The first of what the seeker of this path needs is that he casts himself on the shaykh…. He does not resist the shaykh when he understands something to be lacking, even if it is not [required by] the Law (shari`a).” Another explained, “Make ablution with the Water of the Unseen, if you carry the secret. For with this he [the disciple] clings to him [the shaykh] and keeps him company until the shaykh is dearer to him than himself, his property and his children. Until if he commanded him to do the impossible, which cannot be thought of in the mind, he would do it without weariness or turning away.”

The author provides a bibliography of sources, listing many respected scholarly works on Sufism including reputable English translations of some of the earliest recorded traditional sources. Within each chapter, however, she does not give citations for each quotation, and at times it is hard to tell where she is supplying her own narrative or paraphrasing a source. Despite these limitations, The Children of the Truth may be commended for offering readers a rich compilation of inspiring material on Sufi saints, some of whom may be little known to readers outside the Sufi tradition. As diverse as these saints are, one word might characterize them all: intensity. These are individuals who gave their all in the quest for oneness with the Lord.

_{Book reviews express the opinions of the reviewers and not of the publisher.}