Sublime Treasures: Answers to Sufi Questions

Imam Abdallah al-Haddad, Mostafa al-Badawi (tr.)

Paperback

9781887752343

This volume contains Imam Al-Haddad’s answers to letters he received posing questions on easily confusing and subtle Sufi matters, presented in Imam Haddad’s inimitable style of succinct clarity. Included are questions pertaining exclusively to Sufism, such as those concerning the Pole of Time and the Circle of Saints, the Afrad- who are the solitary saints said by some to be outside the jurisdiction of the Pole and in direct contact with al-Khidr, the definition of the siddiq, that of the majdhub, the states of extinction and subsistence, various technical points concerning the relationship between the master and the novice, Sufi courtesy with God and His saints, the worlds of Mulk, Malakut, Jabarut, and Lahut, which are the degrees of universal existence, and how to deal with obscure passages in the works of such esoteric writers as Ibn Arabi. There are also questions of a more general tenor, such as those concerning the degrees of the Garden and its gates, the merits of recitation of the Qur’an over awrad, the respective merits and courtesies of poverty and wealth, and of fame and obscurity.