Some Shatahat of Abu Yazeed(1) (May Allah be pleased with him)
- Paradise is but a boy’s toy.
- There are some special slaves in Paradise; if Allah veils them from seeing Him, they will cry for help to get out of Paradise exactly as Hell dwellers cry for help to get out of it.” He means that Paradise is not for jest and pleasures but only for seeing Almighty Allah, glory be to Him.
- Once, he heard someone recite the Holy Verse,
And on the Day when We will ceremonially gather the righteous to the Merciful [Mariam 85] Then, he sprang up and said: he, who is with Allah all the time doesn’t need to be assembled
- Paradise is a big veil because its dwellers felt ease with it and forgot Allah. Then, they are veiled with it
- loved Him, and longed for Him. When I grew up, I perceived that He remembered me before I remembered Him, knew me before I knew Him, loved me before I loved Him, and longed for me before I longed for Him.
- I was absent from Him for thirty years because I was rememberin Him. When I stopped remembering Him, I found Him everywhere. (He means that he was remembering Him heedlessly)
- Once, He took me to Him and said: O Abu Yazeed! My creatures like seeing you. I said: adorn me with Your Uniqueness so that they would say when they see me: we saw You. You will be there and I will be nothing.
- Once, he heard someone recite the Holy Verse,
Indeed, the seizing of your Lord is severe. [Al Borouj 12] He said: I swear by Him that my assault is harder than His assault. He was asked: how is it? He answered: Almighty Allah says after it,
It is He who originates and repeats. And He is the Forgiving, and the Loving. [Al Borouj 13, 13] But He said about the people of Aad,
When you assault, you assault like tyrants. [Ash-shu’araa’ 130]
- Once, he said, “Glory be to me, glory be to me”
Commentary:
As to this phrase, some people said it is horrible as it is used only to Allah when we want to deem Him so far above aal His creatures. It means that He is attributed with all kinds of perfection without any defects or deficiency. Then, how can anyone ascribe it to himself?
He answers us when he said, “Once, I said: Subhan Allah (Glory be to Him) but He called me in myself and said: Do I have any defects so that you can exalt Me? You should exalt yourself and not do any sins. So, I set up to do some spiritual exercises until I stopped doing sins; so, I said: glory be to me, as a sign of expressing the bliss I was favoured with.”
Thus, we shouldn’t think ill of the righteous people becuase their bodies are poisonous, which may harm us. When a scholar was asked about the strange words of Abu Yazeed, he said, “He might have said such words when he was in a state of intoxication as a result of his meditation on Allah. He, who wants to be on the rank of Abu Yazeed, must struggle against himself as he did. Then, he may understand what he said.”
What also makes us not understand what he said is that we didn’t reach the rank he reached, so, we don’t know a lot of the facts he knew. Moreover, some of those who reported from him may have made some mistakes in reporting. He, himself said, “Sometimes, I say some words according to my spiritual state, and some people report them from me in their own way and ascribe them to me.” (2)
Some sayings of Abu Yazeed (3)
- 1) Ali Ibn Ja’far reported from Abu Mousa: a jurist said to Abu Yazeed: where did you get your knowledge from? He said: from Almighty Allah. The Messenger of Allah (Prayers and peace be upon him) said, “He, who behaves according to what he knows, Allah will teach him what he doesn’t know.” Your knowledge is reported from tongue to tongue. Mine is inspired from Allah. The man said: but my knowledge in inherited from scholar to scholar up to the Messenger of Allah (Prayers and peace be upon him), from Gabriel, from His Lord (glory be to Him). Abu Yazeed said: but the Messenger of Allah (Prayers and peace be upon him) had another kind of knowledge that is not known by Gabriel or Michael. Don’t you know that Almighty Allah has spoken to Moses? Mohammad (Prayers and peace be upon him) saw Him and He spoke to him and He spoke to Prophets in revelation. He inspires some of His righteous slaves with wisdom so that they will benefit His creatures with it. He inspired Moses‟ mother to throw her child into the sea. He inspired Al Khedr what he did with the ship, the boy and the wall. He said about him
And to whom We had taught knowledge of Ours. [Al Kahf 65]. He also inspired Abu Bakr to know that the woman had a baby-girl before giving birth. And He inspired Omar when he was giving his speech in Al Madina to call loudly to one of his leaders, thousands of kilometers away and say to him: O Saria! Take care of the mountain. At last, the man said: O Abu Yazeed! You have relieved me and made me feel at ease.
- He was asked, “What is Sufism?” It is an attribute of Allah, in which He dresses His slave.” He said.
- Someone asked him, “Guide me to something, which makes me close to Allah” “Love His pious people so that they will love you. He looks at their hearts seventy times a day; when He finds your name there, He will love you and forgive you.” He said.
- Three people may be the farthest from Allah: first, an ascetic man, due to his asceticism because this life is so trivial that it isn’t worth to withdraw from. Second, a worshipper, due to his worship, which is a grace from Allah to him. Third, a knowledgeable man because all kinds of knowledge in this world are nothing if compared to what is written in the Guarded Tablet.
- Dhu Announ Al Masry sent him a messenger, who said to him, “My dear brother, the caravan has gone while you are still sleeping”. He answered, “A real man is not that one who worships Allah all night, but he is that one who sleeps all night and precedes the caravan.” When Dhu Announ heard this, he wept and said, “We haven’t reached this rank yet.”
- A man asked him, “Doesn’t Allah bestow His satisfaction upon His slaves in Paradise?” “Yes, if He gives them His satisfaction, what will they do with Paradise?” He said. This is the same meaning of the Prophetic Hadeeth in which the Messenger of Allah (Prayers and peace be upon him) says, “Allah says to the dwellers of Paradise, ‘O dwellers of Paradise! .I will bestow My satisfaction upon you; and I will never be dissatisfied with you.‟ (4)
- One day, he heard someone say: Allahu Akbar (Allah is the greatest). He asked him: what is the meaning of Allahu Akbar? The man said: He is much greater than anything else. Abu Yazeed said: O man! You have limited Him. There is nothing at all to be compared with Him. The man said: then, what does it mean? He said: it means that He is too great to be compared with anything or realized by our senses.
- Perhaps, a man who is near to us is so far; and a man who is far from us, is so near.”
- He said, “He, who looks at people in view of his knowledge, will detest them, and will flee to Allah, glory be to Him, but he, who looks at them in view of reality (or interior knowledge), will excuse them and he will be their way to Him,”
- He heard some people speak about high prestige and self-esteem. He said. “Believers are without selves” Then, he recited the Holy Verse,
Allah has purchased from the believers their selves and possessions, and for them is Paradise. [Attawba 111]
- He said, “You have sold all that you have for nothing, and bought nothing for all that you have.”
- He said, “Your obedience to Allah has some defects, which is enough to make you not commit any sins.”
- It was said to him: the testimony that there is no god but Allah is the key to Paradise. He said: yes, but on four conditions: a tongue free from lying and backbiting; a heart free from cunning and treason; a belly free from eating ill-gotten food; and deeds free from fancies or heresies.
- Once, he prayed behind an Imam. After praying, the Imam asked him: where do you have your food from? He said: just wait until I repeat my prayer as it is not correct to pray behind someone who doesn’t know Allah, The Provider.
- Once, Dhu Announ Al Masry was sitting with a man when Abu Yazeed came in, the man asked Abu Yazeed, saying: did you see Abu Yazeed? He said: who is Abu Yazeed? I wish I could see him. Dhu Announ wept and said: my brother Abu Yazeed lost himself due to his love to Allah, so, he is looking for himself.
- Some people walk on water and fly in the air, but this is notastonishing. The most astonishing is the saints‟ hearts which are full of secrets, not known by angels.
- It was said to him: the disciples travel so much from place to place. He said: my Friend (meaning Allah) is not travelling and I‟m staying with Him.
- As long as a slave thinks that there are people who are worse than him, then, he is arrogant.
- He said: the nearest people to Allah are those who are most generous to His creatures.
- I found people enjoy food and women in this life and in the Hereafter; so, I decided to enjoy remembering Allah in life and looking at His Gracious Face in the Hereafter.
- He said: remembering Allah with one’s tongue is a kind of heedlessness.
- Abu Abderrahman Assolamy said that Abu Yazeed said: once, I was sitting in the Mihrab and I extended my leg but I heard a voice, saying: he, who sits with kings, should behave courteously.
- He said: all people are afraid of reckoning on the Doomsday, but I ask Allah to set me to account. He was asked: why? He said: He may call me, saying, O My slave! And I will say: Here I am, my Lord! Then, He can do with me whatever He wants.
- He said: I asked myself to worship Allah but it refused, so, I forbade it from drinking water for a year.
- Yahia Ibn Mo‟adh wrote to him: I became intoxicated as I had drunk so much of His love. He answered him: there are some other people who have drunk the seas of heavens and their tongues are still hanging down their mouths of thirst. In this meaning he said:
I wonder when they say: we remember Him, ⁕ Do I forget Him to remember Him?
I have drunk love glass after glass, ⁕ Neither is the drink over nor am I quenched.
- A Sufi is that one who takes the Holy Quran with his right hand and the Prophet’s Tradition with his left hand. He looks at Paradise with one eye and at Hell with the other.
- Blessed is he, who has only one concern, whose heart is not concerned with what he sees or what he hears.
- Sheikh Mohey Addin Ibn Arabi said: Abu Yazeed was asked: does a knowledgeable man commit sins? He said: the decree of Allah is so determined.
Biographers said that Abu Yazeed died in 261 a.h. and was buried in Bustam. His tomb is known there and is visited by many people.
Reference : See: Guidelines on Sufism and the Naqshabandi Tariqa (Questions and Answers) by Counselor Dr. Mohammad Najm Addin Al Kordy, Translation: Taha Ibrahim Badr
- Refer to "Heliat Al Awliaa'" by Abo No'aim Part 10, "Al Mawahed Assarmadia" by Mawlana Mohammad Amin Al Kordy p. 50, and "Shatahat Assoufia" by Dr. Abderrahman Badawy
- "Al Shari'a and Al Tariqa" by Al Kandahlawy p. 188
- Refer to "Heliat Al Awliaa'" by Abo No'aim Part 10, "Al Mawahed Assarmadia" by Mawlana Mohammad Amin Al Kordy and "Shatahat Assoufia" by Dr. Abderrahman Badawy
- Narrated by Al Bukhari No. 2732, Muslim No. 2829 and by Ibn Hebban No. 7440