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MADRASA AL-HIDAYA |
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MUSLIM SCHOOL OF RIGHT GUIDANCE |
Writings of
GHAWTH AL-A‘ZAM SHAYKH ‘ABD AL-QĀDIR AL-JĪLĀNĪ
Rady Allāhu ‘AnhuTranslated by Muhtar Holland
Concerning the observance of vigil [qiyam] throughout the whole of the night.
As for the keeping of vigil [qiyām] throughout the whole of the night, that is the practice of the strong, of those who have already been assured of providential care [‘ināya] from Him, those for whom custodial protection [ri‘āya] has been permanently established, those whose hearts have been enveloped by enabling guidance [tawfīq], by the light of Divine Majesty [Jalāl] and, then again, of Divine Beauty [Jamāl].
According to traditional reports, ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān (may Allah be pleased with him) used to enliven the night by performing a single cycle [rak‘a] of ritual prayer, in which he would recite the whole of the Qur’ān from beginning to end. We have mentioned this in a previous subsection.
Tradition also tells of forty men, from among the Successors [Tābi‘ūn], who used to keep vigin throughout the entire night, performing the dawn prayer [salāt al-ghadāh] with the ritual ablution of the last evening prayer [wudū’ al-‘ishā’ al-ākhira]. They made this their practice for forty years. The traditional reports concerning them are of verified authenticity, and have been widely disseminated. Here are the names of some of them:
Sa‘īd ibn Jubair, Safwān ibn Salīm, Abū Hāzim and Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir (of the people of Medina); Fudail ibn ‘Iyād and Wahb ibn al-Ward (of the people of Mecca); Tāwūs and Wahb ibn Munabbih (of the people of Yemen); ar-Rabī‘ ibn Khaitham and al-Hakam (of the people of Kūfa); Abū Sulaimān ad-Dārānī and ‘Alī ibn Bakkār (of the people of Damascus); Abū ‘Abdu’llāh al-Khawwās and Abū Āsim (of the people of ‘Abadān); Habīb Abū Ahmad and Abū Jā’iz al-Salmānī (of the people of Persia); Mālik ibn Dīnār, Sulaimān at-Taimī, Zaid ar-Ruqāshī, Habīb ibn Abī Thābit, and Yahyā al-Bakkā’ (of the people of Basra).
It would take too long to list all the others. May Allāh bestow His mercy and His good pleasure upon them all.
Source: Shaikh ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, al-Ghunya li-Tālibī Tarīq al-Haqq (Sufficient Provision for Seekers of the Path of Truth), translated by Muhtar Holland, Al-Baz Publishing, Houston, Texas, U.S.A, 1995, Vol IV, p. 55.