Sidi Ahmad Zarruq's Commentary on Shaykh al-Shadhili's Hizb al-Bahr

Description

Hizb al-Bahr (Litany of the Sea) a unique litany made of Quranic verses and supplications, it is a powerful invocation read by multitudes throughout the Muslim world, it was taught by the Prophet to Sidi Abul Hasan al-Shadhili - the renowned Wali'Allah ("Friend of Allah") whilst travelling to Hajj. On the litany, the Shaykh Abul Hassan al-Shadhili said, "By Allah, I did not utter it except as it came from the Holy Prophet, from whose instruction I learned it. 'Guard it;' the Holy Prophet(SAW) said to me, 'for it contains the greatest name of Allah.' It is not recited in any place without security reigning there. If it had been with the inhabitants of Baghdad, the Tatars would not have taken the city." "Whoever recites it every day at sunrise, Allah hears his prayer, relieves his distress, raises his standing among people, expands his breast with knowledge of the divine oneness, facilitates his concerns, lifts his hardship, keeps from him the evil of man and jinn, and protects him from the harm of mishaps of the night and day." Review: Good book for the advanced and tariqah reader - Good edition of a translation of the book, recommended for advanced reader andctariqah members. Review: Very esoteric, and not basic stuff - This is perhaps the only primary text from Sidi Ahmed Zarruq available in English. It is a beautiful edition, worth the price. It includes a good introduction to the author's life and works; the original Arabic of the Hizb al-Bahr with facing page translation and clear vowelled print; and the commentary. This is not, though, for the faint-hearted. I'd read it with someone with ijaza. If you actually believe in Sufism, and in the power of texts like these, you won't mess around with this sort of thing too lightly.