Memoirs - At the age of nineteen: part 1

 “Memoirs of a Sufi Traveller in the West,
autobiography of Muhammad Sajad Ali”

 At the age of nineteen: part 1

I can recall this feeling that took hold of me in 1992, I was still eighteen years old and soon to turn nineteen, I didn’t know what that feeling was at the time, but something within me wanted to awaken is all I knew then. Then as soon as I turned nineteen in February 1993 something would change my life drastically, what was that stirring in my soul, it was a burning ember glowing, a spark to become a flame and flame that soon become a fire. 

Spiritual sparks come flying from heavens, an angelic calling a lordly inspiration that is lit deep inside ones heart and soul.  If you have a spark of inspiration, you can inspire others that’s how inspiration works it’s a burst of energy from within. But a spiritual inspiration is a yearning, a call from Allah to Allah and lit by Allah and is called ilham-inspiration.

The interesting thing about the number nineteen is, a Spiritual number mentioned in the  Qur’an number. Whoever wants Allah to rescue him from the nineteen Zabaniyya [tormenting angels within the Fire of Hell], should recite, 'In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, Most Merciful- Bismillah-hir-rahman-nir-raheem ' so that Allah will make each letter a shield for him against one of them. The basmala contains nineteen letters according to the number of the angels of the Fire who Allah says are also nineteen. See (74:30)

The basmala is the crown of the suras, we have been Instructed; write it in your books and letters (for there is only success and blessings in that which is started in Allah’ Name; meaning in Bismillah-hir-rahman-nir-raheem) and when you set it down in writing, pronounce it aloud.

It’s called [Ayatul-amana]- verse of Scripture that Guarantees Protection, The Noble Pen Qalam started with Bismillah-hir-rahman-nir-raheem. On the Noble Tablet – Lawh. Then Allah decreed that this ayat [verse of Scripture] would serve as an assurance of protection [aman] for His creatures, as long as they made a regular practice of reciting it.

Allah has caused this ayat to be effective as a cure for every sickness, an aid to every kind of healing treatment, a relief from every form of poverty, a shield against the Fire of Hell, and a guarantee of security from degradation, misrepresentation and slanderous accusation, as long as they [His believing servants] keep up the practice of reciting it.

Allah swore by His Almighty Glory that His Name would never be uttered over an illness without His healing that illness, that His Name would never be pronounced over anything without His blessing it, and that anyone who ever recited ‘In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate’ would surely enter the Garden of Paradise.

Your ‘awra – Nakedness is hidden from Jinns when you say bismillah when you undress or go to the toilet, otherwise they see you nakedness.

On the Day of Resurrection, the members of my Community will be saying: "In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate [Bismillah-hir-rahman-nir-raheem," and so, when their deeds are placed in the balance, their good deeds will outweigh [their bad deeds ]

No supplication [dua] will ever be rejected if it is prefaced with " Bismillah-hir-rahman-nir-raheem In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate." You will find Allah’s forgiveness in saying bismillah.

Ali ibn Abi Talib looked at a man who had written, "In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, Most Merciful," and told him, "Do it well. If a man does it well, he will be forgiven."

And there I was at the age of nineteen, listening to my heart talk to me, my ilham-inspiration telling to start to pray salah-Prayer and that is how it all started, the awakening shook the core of my soul and without an argument or fight or  refusing I listen and obeyed. I forget parts of the pray and had to re-learn it again as I learnt to pray as a child, but that was many years earlier as a younger child and it was more theory then practise then.

So I set out bought books how to pray salah  from Ghulam Sarwar’s book, it was a useful tool to me and I had my old salah book tatty and old an old companion there too, once used as a child to learn the theory but was never put into practise. I still remember those frustrating nights at home, oh how I  used  hold the book in one hand and read  from it as I had forgotten some of the words and pray with the aid of a book while my other hand was besides my navel, thus in the posture of salah while standing…