Who is Sidi?
Our Guide Sidi Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal ar-Rifa’i ash-Shadhulli was born in Tulkarm in the Holy Land in 1935. He is descended in his spirit from the line of the Shadhdhuliyyah and in his body from the line of Shaykh Ahmad ar-Rifa’i. Both of these lines lead back through Sayyıdina Husayn, to Alı Ibn Abü Talib, to the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah’s Peace and Blessings be upon all of them. His home and his zawiyyah is on the Mount of Olives in the Holy City of Jerusalem where he had lived since 1957. He is the inheritor of the Shadhulli line through his spirit from Shaykh Abd ar-Rahman Abü Risah of Halab in the land of Syria of the Shadhulli Yashruti line.
Relationship to the Guide
This is for those of you who are asking for some thoughts on our relationship to the guide, so I thought I would share from my heart what I feel about this. I can only share my own relationship, and I ask Allah that it may be of help.
The light and love of Allah is so powerful that only the prophets have been able to contain this light. That is why Sidi teaches us that the way of the prophets is so important, and the three holy books, our beloved Koran, the bible and the torah are the books that best transmit the illumination we are seeking. As there are no more prophets, the next station that can contain and transmit this light is that of the guide. For me Sidi is the most complete expression of divinity that I have ever experienced in the human form, and we are graced by his presence, which serves as a beacon towards the full possibility of who we might become.
Purposes of the Prophets
One of the purposes of the prophets is that they were sent to teach people so that the word of god would spread from mouth to mouth and heart to heart. As with most information, the teachings tend to get a bit distorted as the people add their own interpretation. Divine revelation does not have nafs (self) attached to the message, and the prophets could take the message and without distortion disseminate the teachings in a complete and undiluted form. The difference between a guide and a teacher is that the guide has the ability for a purer form of transmission, so that the love of Allah imbues the message and it is the quality, the depth and intensity of the love that carries this message from the heart of the guide to the heart of the beloved.
There are many teachers in the world, but few guides. Sidi carried the blood of the prophet, peace and blessings upon him, and as a lot of you are involved in energy healing I don’t think this needs any further explanation. Transmission through fluids is evident and the key to many things, in the universe as well as in our own individual bodies. One is born with this special quality of this blood and you either have it or you don’t, and this is a bloodline that has carries within it divine reverence. Then there is the silsila, the lineage of the guide and you can also trace this through the teachings, and in the seeking, finding and study of this you will deepen
your walking and strengthen your spirit. By following the message of our guide, and walking through the 28 stations, you will also learn how to make yourself stronger in order to contain the illuminated essence of pure spirit. By observing and practicing the five pillars of Islam and the other practices that Sidi shares with us, you will build a framework strong enough to contain the light of Allah, the most merciful and compassionate, for if too many veils were lifted at once we would be burned in the fire of His magnificent radiance. And our guide, who sees with the deep eye of Allah, knows just how much we can contain and hold, and feeds us with the kindness and grace that we are able to receive.
Infinite Patience and the Deepest Heart
For me, whether it is day to day or one seemingly isolated moment, the relationship with Sidi stays the same. Is it necessary to ask about every decision you are to make? Only if you feel it that this is what you need. Even in the smallest, and what might seem insignificant question, one can learn where to source the answers from within oneself and from our own eternal heart.
Allah’s love flows unimpeded through all of creation, and Sidi is always present as the guide. So is one question really more valuable than another? I have always felt Sidi looks at my heart and my intention and does so with infinite patience and the deepest heart.
I have never felt that there is right or wrong with Sidi, and as each person’s walk is different, how much or how little to ask Sidi things will fluctuate. When we are in the deep polite it is hard to conceive of doing something inappropriate , and so we ask, how can we know if we are in the deep polite? And my answer for myself is if it feels right in my heart. As Sidi says, Allah sees the black ant on the black rock in the moonless night, so nothing escapes our Beloved’s gaze. And if so each action is taken with the knowledge that we are always naked before His gaze, then we will choose appropriate action. As Sidi is an extension of this Divine eye, he too sees everything we do, and he watches us and guides us with the same unconditional love that Allah does. When we learn to love in this manner, love ourselves and others, unconditionally and without judgment, we cease to worry about right or wrong as we live in a station of gratitude, expressing a constant flow of love. And as we are then a true extension of our creator and our guide, we are at peace and in the unity.
So with all this in mind, what might be right for one is not necessarily going to be right for another, and so the answers to the questions your hearts can be asking can become part of the Divine mystery, which can be loved and appreciated, passionately, without outside understanding but inside adoration, and the relationship with the guide can grow more and more as the veils are lifted and we are blessed to experience his infinite heart and his unquestionable blessings.
I ask Allah that these words, from my heart to yours, serve in some useful way and reflect nothing of me but only contain the essence of the guidance of our beloved Sidi, the guide of the love and the peace and the mercy.
