Salat Al-Azeemiyah, The Idrisi Tahleel

and
Astghfaar Al-Kabeer
Shaykh Ahmad ibn Idris, may Allah be pleased with him, had a meeting in
the waking state, with the Prophet Muhammad, salla Allahu alayhi wa Alihi
wa sallam, and al-Khadir, alayhi assalam.

The Prophet said to al-Khadir: Ya Khadir: teach him that which joins
together all of the dhikrs, salawat, and prayers for forgiveness of sins, and
is superior in reward, larger in number, more exalted in worth, and greater
in obtaining assistance.

Al-Khadir, alayhi assalam, said: What is that, oh Prophet of Allah?

And so the Prophet, alayhi assalatu wassalam, taught him the Idrisi Tahlil,
the Salaat Azeemiyya, and the Istighfar al-Kabir.
Shaykh Ahmad ibn Idris says: And so I repeated these after them both and
I was clothed in Muhammadan lights and power and was nourished with
the divine springs.
Then the Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, said to me: Oh Ahmad, you
have been given the keys to the heavens and the earth, which are the dhikr,
the salaat, and the istighfar. If you say them once, they are equal to the
world and what is in it many times over.

The Dhikr (The Idrisi Tahlil):

Translation:
Laa ilaaha illa Allah ,Muhammad Rasool Allah in every glance and breath ,
as many times as all that is contained in the knowledge of Allah.

Transliteration:
L ilha illallh Muammadun raslullh, f kulli lamatin wa-nafasin,
adada m
wasiah ilmullh

Its Merit:
The Prophet ,salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam ,said to Shaykh
Ahmad ibn Idris:
I have saved it for you, oh Ahmad. No one has received it before you.
Teach it to your companions so that with it they will surpass those who
came before.

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Translation:
Oh Allah, I ask You by the light of the Face of Allah the Great,
Which filled the pillars of the Throne of Allah, the Great,
And by it are upheld the worlds of Allah, the Great,
To send blessings upon our master Muhammad of worth so great,
And upon the family of the Prophet of Allah the Great,
As much as the greatness of the Essence of Allah, the Great,
In every glance and breath, as many times as all that is contained in the
knowledge of Allah, the Great,
A salaat that is perpetual in the perpetuity of Allah, the Great, In
glorification of your worth, oh our master Muhammad, oh you of a nature
most great,

And send peace upon him and his family just as much,
And join him with me, just as You joined the soul with the nafs,
Outwardly and inwardly, in wakefulness and in sleep,
And make him, oh Lord, a soul for my body in every respect,
In the here and now, before the world to come, oh Allah the Great.
Allhumma inn asaluka bi-nri wajhillhil am,
alladh malaa arkni arshillhil am,
wa qmat bih awlimullhil a__________m,
an tuall al mawln Muammadin dhil-qadril am,

wa al li nabiyyillhil am,
bi-qadri aamati dhtillhil am,
f kulli lamatin wa nafasin adada m f ilmillhil am,
altan dimatan bi-dawmillhil am,
taman li-aqqika y mawln y Muammad y dhal-khuluqil am,
wa sallim alayhi wa al lih mithla dhlik,
wajma bayn wa-baynah kam jamata baynarri wannafsi,
hiran wa binan, yaqatan wa manman,
wajalhu y Rabbi ran li-dht min jamil wujhi,
fidduny qablal khirati, y am

Commentary on the Azeemiyya:

And join him with me, just as You joined the soul with the nafs

The sayyid Muhammad ibn Ali as-Sanusi wrote that the Prophet
Muhammad, salla Allahu alayhi wa Alihi wa sallam, appeared to him once,
and with him were his two noble Companions, sayyidna Abu Bakr as-Siddiq
and sayyidna Umar al-Farooq, may Allah be pleased with them both. The
Prophet then praised shaykh Ahmad ibn Idris to imam as-Sanusi and said
to him:

And that is why we frequently show you how his self/body is united to my
self/body, and how he is mixed with me, and united. Then the Prophet
turned toward his two Companions and said to them: Do you bear witness
to this?

They said: Allah bears witness to it, and His angels and His prophets and
His messengers and the righteous among the believers.

In commenting on this, the sayyid Muhammad bin Ali al-Yamani al-Idrisi,

the great-grandson of the sayyid, writes in Risaalat al-Awraad al-Idrisiyya:
I say: And the meaning of this unity (ittihaad) is the strength of the
connection between them, so let not poor misunderstanding make you
think of the intermixing of their bodies or selves, or any such similar
falsehoods.

Shaykh Saleh al-Jafari, may Allah be pleased with him said:

Bism Allah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem, wa salla Allahu alaa sayyidina

Muhammad wa alaa alihi wa sallam.

The explanation of And join him with me, just as You joined the soul with
the nafs:

And join within myself between his perfect attributes, salla Allahu alayhi
wa alihi wa sallam, and between the deficient attributes of my self, just as
you joined the attributes of the perfect soul with the attributes of the
deficient nafs, and when that joining takes place, erasure happens. Because
his attributes of perfection, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, are like
the day, and the attributes of the self/nafs are like the night, so the shining
of the sun of the lights of his perfections, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa
sallam, erases the darkness of the attributes of the dark nafs. So the person
is moved from the darkness of the night of his self in which he can see
nothing, to the light of the day of his enlightening lights, salla Allahu alayhi
wa alihi wa sallam.

And so he, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, engulfs him with these
lights. We have erased the sign of the night, and made the sign of the day to

enlighten.(Q 17:12)
And so he will witness him, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, with the
eye of baseera (inner vision), and so the joining of witnessing happens. And
after that the real joining happens. For the first joining/meeting is that of

the sleep, and it is the biggest way that leads to the joining of witnessing,
then the joining of witnessing happens, then the real joining. And the
shaykh, may Allah be pleased with him, referred to the first by saying in
sleepand to the second by saying inwardly and to the third by saying
and in the waking.

And the fourth witnessing is the highest of the types of witnessing, to which
referred by saying: And make him, oh a soul for my body in every
respect.

As sayyid Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi may Allah be pleased with him said: If the
Messenger of Allah, salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, was absent from me for
the blinking of an eye, I would not count myself among the Muslims.

And as sayyidi Umar ibn al-Farid may Allah be pleased with him said:

Grace me with the destruction of my soul in the love of a gazelle

Of most beautiful descriptions, he is mixed with the souls

So the saying of sayyidi Ahmad ibn Idris, may Allah be pleased with him,
And make him, oh Lord, a soul for my body and the saying of sayyidi Ibn
al-Farid, may Allah be pleased with him, he is mixed with the souls are
united in meaning, though different in wording.

As for the saying of the sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris, may Allah be pleased with
him:

I met with the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam and with sayyidna alKhadir alayhi assalam a corporeal meeting, that means: a real meeting, and
it is the meeting we mentioned earlier.

And in the year 1385 A.H. a man from Upper Egypt came to me and said, I
have something to tell you which, had I not been commanded to tell you by

a higher authority, I would not have told it to you: Know my brother that I
was sitting in your lesson at the Azhar Mosque after the Friday Prayer, and
you were saying in your lesson, Jalaluddin al-Suyuti used to study the
science of hadith with the Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, and alSuyuti would ask him about the correctness of the Prophetic hadiths. And
then I saw the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam in the waking state,
sitting next to me, and he said, peace be upon him, Tell this son of mine to
strive hard as did al-Suyuti in order to see me as he did. Then a man came
and was about to pass between us and I wanted to stop him but he said,
peace be upon him, Let him for I am Light.

So when he said this to me I was greatly astonished and surprised, so he

said to me, I swear by Allah that had I not been commanded to, I would not
have told you what I just told you. And he said this to me in the courtyard
of the Azhar Mosque, so I saw a man sitting called Ahmad Mahmoud from
the town of Moosha in Asyut so I took him to him and said, Listen oh
shaykh what this man is telling me, so he repeated what he said to him. My
shaykh the muhaddith shaykh Muhammad Habib Allah ash-Shanqiti spoke
of al-Suyutis, may Allah be pleased with him, seeing of the Prophet salla
Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam in the waking and speaking with him, and
I heard it from him many times. And among the things that Allah graced me
with is that I stayed with him for almost 15 years, and I was his reciter in
the lesson of his book Zad al-Muslim, a commentary on the hadiths that are
in both Bukhari and Muslim.

And he used to start with the hadith, then dive into the ocean of the
biographies, and the commentary of the hadith, and then bring in the
tafseer of Quranic ayas and matters of fiqh and creed, and other things. And
he used to memorize the Quran in its different recitations, and he had an
ijaza in that from his homeland, and he wrote a book called: Tayseer alAseer (The Easing of What is Difficult in the Sciences of Tafseer), and he
has a poem on the seven recitations that solved some of the difficult words
of shaykh ash-Shatibi may Allah have mercy on him, and he has a poem on
the proofs of Tawassul, and he used to say to me: Read my commentary
Zad al-Muslim for I did not leave anything out of it, big or small. And And I
used to give a lesson to the brothers who were present before his arrival at
the usaynid Mosque, and if anyone objected to me or gave me a hard time,

he would whisper in my ear after coming and sitting on his chair: They
give you a hard time but you are better than them as if he was with me!
And then in his lesson he would correct everything that I had erred in or
missed in my lesson, as if he had been sitting with me listening to what I
was saying, and this happened from him many times. And he used to have a
great love for mawlana the sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris may Allah be pleased
with him, and for his descendants.

I say: I also heard the story of al-Suyuti from my shaykh, shaykh Yusef Nasr
ad-Dijwi may Allah be pleased with him, And he was also one of the
scholars who were knowers of Allah, and I regularly attended his lesson
after the Fajr prayer at the noble Azhar Mosque in the Abbasid Hall for
seven years. And whenever sayyid Hasan al-Idrisi would come from Sudan,
he would meet me at his lesson, and after the lesson would greet the
shaykh, which would make the shaykh most happy and he would say: The
sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris is a Qutb unlike other Qutbs!

And shaykh ad-Dijwi had taken the Idrisi tariqa from my shaykh sayyid
Muhammad ash-Sharif, may Allah be pleased with him, and shaykh adDijwi was from the Council of the (great) Scholars of the Azhar, and he had
many greatly beneficial writings, and most valuable articles in the al-Azhar
magazine. And I attended his lessons of Quranic commentary from the Sura
of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) until the end of Surat anNas, after which he began commenting on Sahih al-Bukhari. And he used to
memorize the Quran with the proper tajweed and all its recitations, and
mention the sayings of the Quranic commentators, and explain the
grammar of each aya of the Quran very precisely and clarify its
terminology, and would, while doing so, present the different
jurisprudential rulings of the four schools of Law, and would recite the
hadith with its complete chain, and give a short biography for each of the
men in the chain. And he would mention many great and valuable proofs of
tawassul by the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, most of which
he mentioned in the Azhar magazine, which was then known as Nur alIslam. So you must read this magazine because of the sayings of this
shaykh, for they are most beneficial.

A story:
He was once, may Allah have mercy on him, reading the hadith of the
questioning of the grave in Sahih al-Bukhari. And I had studied the
commentary of al-Kirmani on al-Bukhari, and saw in it that the Prophet,
peace and blessings be upon him and his family, appears to the one being
questioned when the angel says to him: What do you say about this
man?And after the lesson I kissed his hand and said to him: Shaykh alKirmani says that, he peace and blessings be upon him, appears to the one
being questioned. So he poked me in my chest and said to me: I studied the
commentary of al-Kirmani and read that matter in it, so why did you not
remind me of it in the lesson so that the people would hear it from me?

And he was once speaking about the vision of the Prophet, peace and
blessings be upon him and his family, in the sleep. He said: The Shaytan
does not take his form, peace and blessings be upon him, if he came in his
original form. And the correct opinion is that he also does not take his form
in other than his original form. So I said to him: Our shaykh the sayyid
Ahmad ibn Idris may Allah be pleased with him narrated in his book Ruh
as-Sunna that he, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, said: He
who has seen me has truly seen me, for I appear in every form. So he
rejoiced greatly at this and said to me: This hadith is the evidence that the
Shaytan does not take his form, even if he were to come in other than his
original form! You are blessed oh shaykh Saleh! May Allah benefit the
Muslims by you!

The meanings of And join him with me are:

1)

The joining of islaah (correcting, fixing, making right), as the soul

corrected the nafs after their union. He said Most High: The one
who purifies it succeeds.(91:9)
Among its meanings, and Allah knows best, is: He who purifies his
nafs by his soul succeeds, if he lets the lights and wishes of his soul
overpower the darknesses and desires of the nafs.

2)

The joining of the warding off of punishment. He said Most High:

But Allah would not send them punishment while you [o Prophet]
are amongst them.(8:33). Among its meanings, and Allah knows
best, is: while you are with them, like His saying Most High: And
His Messenger is among you (3:101) which means: and the
Messenger of Allah is with you. And all the types of joining that
have been mentioned before are included in the state of being with
the Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wa Alihi wa sallam.

3)

The joining of learning and wisdom. As He said Most High: And he

teaches them the Book and the wisdom (62:2). And that might
happen by way of the Muhammadan Light. Shaykh ash-Shanqiti
may Allah have mercy on him said:

Whenever a bedouin used to come from the desert, if he saw the

light of the face of the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam, he
would speak with wisdom. And then he quoted this line of poetry
of the scholars of Shanqit (Mauritania) that praises the
Companions of the Prophet, salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam:

Because of the light of the Prophet, they did not need to learn to
spell, And horses are not like limping mules.

The Sufis say: And an example of this is the question that a bedouin
asked the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam about his camel:
should he leave it untied and rely on Allah, or should he tie it and
rely on Allah? So it is by way of the Muhammadan Light that he
learned how to ask, and that it is not against reliance on Allah to
use the means that bring something about.

4)

The joining of purification. He said Most High: And he purifies

them (62:2). Among its meanings, and Allah knows best: is the
purification of the soul by his soul in the worlds of the
aforementioned joining.

5)

The joining of the deep concern of the Prophet for the soul of the
believer [as in His saying Most High: He is deeply concerned for
you (9:128)], and this is general and specific, and what is meant
here is the specific kind, especially for those who take the
Ahmadiyya [Muhammadiyya] Tariqa, because their shaykh asked
the Prophet salla Allahu alayhi wa sallam to be their guarantor: to
take care of their spiritual upbringing and to guide them, to watch
over them and protect them. And perhaps that is among the special
merits of this path about which its shaykh used to say, may Allah
be pleased with him:

This path of ours is the Muhammadan Path, this path of ours is the
Book and the Sunna.

6)

The joining of what is best. And it all happens because of the

joining with him who is the best, for he is the most complete, and
the most beautiful, and the greatest, and the most knowledgeable,
and the most generous, and the most noble, and the most elevated,
and the bravest, and the most beneficial, and the most
compassionate, and the most fearful of doing what is wrong, and
the most righteous, and the most pure, and the most refined, and
the first and the last. And that is all part of the meaning of His
saying Most High: There came to you a Messenger, from the best
of you(9:128), as per the reading that says anfasikum [and not
anfusikum, and it is the reading of Abdallah bin Qusait al-Makki]

7)

And the joining of izza, and it is the meaning of His saying Most
High: There came to you a Messenger from among yourselves [or
from the best of you], aziz.... (9:128), and among the meanings of
aziz: The one who has no equal, and the one who cannot be
defeated by anyone. And so the one who has this joining might
surpass all his peers in his age and overcome his enemies, by the
permission of Allah.

8)

The joining of the Muhammadan compassion that is in His saying

Most High: To the believers he is compassionate (9:128). And so
he is surrounded by the Muhammadan Compassion which cannot
be equalled by the compassion of any of the creation in this world.

9)

The joining of the mercy that is in His saying Most High: To the
believers he is compassionate, merciful (9:128) and in His saying
Most High: It is by a mercy from Allah that you are gentle with
them (3:159). And this is the mercy that is specific [to the
believers]. As for the general mercy, it is in His saying Most High:
We did not send you but as a mercy to the worlds (21:107). And
so he joins to you in this joining two mercies: the general and the
specific, which surround you like the two wings of a bird, and with
them you fly in the wonders of the gardens of the blessings of the
Muhammadan Mercy. And our shaykh of the most precious
knowledge, sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris may Allah be pleased with him,
alluded to this [in his wird] in his saying: And so that he becomes
the tongue of my mercy from all my directions, reciting in all the
directions of the creation the aya of Absolute Divine Mercy: And
my Mercy encompasses all things.(7:156)

10)

The joining of the witness, so that he salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa

salam becomes a witness for you on the Day of Rising for your
obedience and good deeds, and it is the greatest testimony for you.

11)

The joining of bushra (glad tidings) that happen to you from him,
salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, in every joining, whether in
the waking or in sleep. And this bushra is specific, only for those
about whom Allah Most High said: For them there is bushra in this
life and the next (10:64). As for the general bushra, it is in His
saying: Give the believers the glad tidings that great bounty awaits
them from Allah(33:47) and in His saying Most High: So give glad
tidings to My servants who listen to what is said and follow what is
best(39:18). So you will have the general and specific types of
bushra, and they will cause you to rise toward your goal like the
rising of the thirsty toward a fresh spring of water.

12)

The joining of the warning that is in His saying Most High: And a
warner (33:45 and elsewhere). So the light of his majesty will
warn you about disobeying his sayings, and he salla Allahu alayhi
wa sallam is the possessor of the beauty that is surrounded by
majesty. As sayyidi Umar ibn al-Farid may Allah be pleased with
him said:

For a beauty that You veiled with majesty

He fell in love, and found the torture there most sweet

13)

The joining of illumination, which illuminates your heart and lights

its lantern, and that is in His saying Most High: And a shining
torch/lantern (33:46), meaning:

The one who lights with his lights the unlit lanterns of the
hearts. And by him the Earth of your body is lit by the light of
its Lord, as sayyidi Ahmad ibn Idris may Allah be pleased
with him said [in his wird]: And the Earth of my body will
shine with the light of its Lord, and the Book will be placed,
the book from which none of the Effusions (tajalliyyaat) of
His Self are missing. [In reference to aya 39:69 And the
Earth will shine with the lights of its Lord and the Book will
be placed]. And this Book is not recited except by way of the
Muhammadan Light, and what is meant by it here is the Ilm
Ladunni (the knowledge that comes from Allah), which
comes through the Muhammadan medium.

14)

The joining of the great character that is in His saying Most High:
And you are upon a great (most noble) character (68:4), so some
of his great character, salla Allahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, flows
from him to the person of the joining, so that he is given a beautiful
character. And this flowing is like the flowing of water in the
branches of the trees, and because of it he will have the
Muhammadan character traits.

15)

The joining of the Pledge to Allah that is in His saying Most High:
Those who pledge loyalty to you are actually pledging loyalty to
Allah- the hand of Allah is placed on theirs(48: 10). And so you
will get the virtue of the Pledge when you shake his hand with your
hand, in any of these types of joining. And here is an experiential
witnessing for the people of the hearts, it cannot be understood
except by the hearts, and cannot be written on paper, but only
descends from Allah upon the hearts of those that He chose for this
guarded secret and hidden treasure, and it is the secret of His
saying Most High: Those who pledge loyalty to you are actually
pledging loyalty to Allahand the meaning is: It is as if they are
pledging loyalty to Allah.

16)

The joining of the istiqama (staying on the right course) that is in

His saying Most High: So keep to the right course as you have been
commanded, together with those who have turned to Allah with
you, and do not overstep the limits (11:112).

And so the secret of uprightness upon the Muhammadan Path will

happen to you, without deviating or overstepping the bounds, and
it is what is meant by the saying of our shaykh the precious Qutb
the sayyid Ahmad ibn Idris may Allah be pleased with him [in his
wird]: So that I am upon the sure footing that is not shaken by any
obscurity (or doubt) in any way.

17)

And the joining of the appearance (tajalli) of the [Divine] actions

happens to him also, which is in His saying Most High: And you
did not throw when you threw, but Allah threw(8:17). And it is
the meaning of the saying of our precious shaykh, the sayyid
Ahmad ibn Idris may Allah be pleased with him [in his wird]: So
that I do not see in myself and in everything and in nothing except
You!