Ahmed ar-Rifa'i
Encyclopedia
Early life
Shaikh Ahmed er-Rifai was born in Hasen Region of Wasit, Iraq on a Thursday. This day was in the first half of Recep of lunar months. When he was seven years old, his father Seyyid Sultan Ali died in BaghdadBaghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
. After that his uncle Seyyid Mansur er-Rabbani el-Betaihi took under his protection and educated him. Ahmed er-Rifai's family comes from Husayn ibn Ali
Husayn ibn Ali
Hussein ibn ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib was the son of ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib and Fātimah Zahrā...
, the son of Ali
Ali
' |Ramaḍān]], 40 AH; approximately October 23, 598 or 600 or March 17, 599 – January 27, 661).His father's name was Abu Talib. Ali was also the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661, and was the first male convert to Islam...
, at the side of his mother. On the other hand, at the side of his father, his lineage which goes to prophet Muhammad is as follows: master of the community, husband of Fatimah
Fatimah
Fatimah was a daughter of the Islamic prophet Muhammad from his first wife Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. She is regarded by Muslims as an exemplar for men and women. She remained at her father's side through the difficulties suffered by him at the hands of the Quraysh of Mecca...
who is the base of Imams, a relative of the prophet, Ali; Imam of Muslims, the chief of the mumins (believers in islam) who tried and liked with several troubles and calamities, the martyr of the Battle of Karbala
Battle of Karbala
The Battle of Karbala took place on Muharram 10, in the year 61 of the Islamic calendar in Karbala, in present day Iraq. On one side of the highly uneven battle were a small group of supporters and relatives of Muhammad's grandson Husain ibn Ali, and on the other was a large military detachment...
, Hussein; Imam Zayn al-Abidin; Imam Muhammad al-Baqir
Muhammad al-Baqir
Muḥammad ibn ‘Alī al-Bāqir was the Fifth Imām to the Twelver Shi‘a and Fourth Imām to the Ismā‘īlī Shī‘a. His father was the previous Imām, ‘Alī ibn Ḥusayn, and his mother was Fatimah bint al-Hasan...
; Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq
Ja'far al-Sadiq
Jaʿfar ibn Muhammad al-Sādiq was a descendant of Muhammad and a prominent Muslim jurist. He is revered as an Imam by the adherents of Shi'a Islam and as a renowned Islamic scholar and personality by Sunni Muslims. The Shi'a Muslims consider him to be the sixth Imam or leader and spiritual...
; Imam Musa al-Kadhim
Musa al-Kadhim
' was the seventh of the Twelve Imams of Twelver Shi'a Islam. He was the son of Imam and his mother was Hamidah Khātūn, a student and former Zanjiyyah slave...
; Imam Ibrahim el-Mürteza; es-Seyyid ikinci Musa; es-Seyyid Ahmed; es-Seyyid Hüseyin; es-Seyyid el-Hasen; es-Seyyid Muhammed eb-ul-Kaasim; es-Seyyid el-Mehdi; es-Seyyid eb-ul Mekarim el-Hasen; es-Seyyid Ali; es-Seyyid Ahmed; es-Seyyid Hazim; es-Seyyid Sabit; es-Seyyid Yahya; es-Seyyid Ebul-Hasen Aliyy-ür-Rifai and es-Seyyid Ahmed er-Rifai.
Education
He learnt Quran from Shaikh Abd üs-Semi el-Hurbuni in Hasen, his birthplace. He committed to memory the whole of the Quran when he was seven. During the same year after the death of his father, his uncle Mansur el-Betaihi transferred him and his family to DiklaDikla
Dikla was an Israeli settlement in the northeastern part of the Sinai Peninsula established during Israel's occupation of the peninsula from the end of the 1967 Six-Day War, until that part of the Sinai was handed over to Egypt in 1982 as part of the terms of the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace...
region. His uncle send him to Ebul Fadl Ali el-Vasiti who was an expert in the canon law of Islam, a commentator on the Quran and a preacher.
On the other hand, when he was attending dhikr
Dhikr
Dhikr , plural ; ), is an Islamic devotional act, typically involving the repetition of the Names of God, supplications or formulas taken from hadith texts and verses of the Qur'an. Dhikr is usually done individually, but in some Sufi orders it is instituted as a ceremonial activity...
meetings of his uncle Shaikh Mansur er-Rabbani, he was also attending the courses of his other uncle Shaikh Ebubekir who was a major scientiic figure at the time. He memorized the book "Tenbih" concerning Fikh (Muslim canonical jurisprudence) of Imam Shafi which belongs to Imam Ebu Ishak Sirazi. He also wrote an explanation about such book (this explanation was lost during the Mongul
Mongul
Mongul is the name of two fictional characters that appear in comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the character debuted in DC Comics Presents #27 and was created by writer Len Wein and artist Jim Starlin. The second version first appears in Showcase '95 #85 and was created by...
invasions however).
He dedicated his entire time to learning such religious knowledge to such an extent that eventually even his teachers respected him.
When he was twenty, Ebu Fadl Ali who was the Sheikh
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
of Wasit province and his teacher awarded him a "Sehadetname" (which represented writings of evidences including canonical law and order of dervish
Dervish
A Dervish or Darvesh is someone treading a Sufi Muslim ascetic path or "Tariqah", known for their extreme poverty and austerity, similar to mendicant friars in Christianity or Hindu/Buddhist/Jain sadhus.-Etymology:The Persian word darvīsh is of ancient origin and descends from a Proto-Iranian...
sciences), and a nickname that was the father of external and interior sciences, and also dressed him a his own dervish's cloak. His teachers and his Sheikhs agreed about the greatness of his rank and the superiority of his worth.
He stayed in Nehr-i Dikla for a short time and after that he came back to his father's public guest-house for travelers at Hasen during which time he became very famous. When he was twenty-eight, his uncle Shaikh Mansur bequeathed him to manage the dervish lodge and Caliphs after his death. He also commanded him to live in dervish lodge of Shaikh Yahya en-Neccari who was his grandfather from his mother side. It was during this time he began to preach in this dervish lodge. His uncle died in the year of the bequeathing. When he was thirty-five, the number of his murid
Murid
Murid is a Sufi term meaning 'committed one' from the root meaning "willpower" or "self-esteem". It refers to a person who is committed to a Murshid in a Tariqa of Sufism. Also known as a Salik , a murid is an initiate into the mystic philosophy of Sufism. When the Talib makes a pledge to a...
s was over seven hundred thousand.
He did not neglect teaching the Sunnah
Sunnah
The word literally means a clear, well trodden, busy and plain surfaced road. In the discussion of the sources of religion, Sunnah denotes the practice of Prophet Muhammad that he taught and practically instituted as a teacher of the sharī‘ah and the best exemplar...
of Prophet Muhammad and the details of the Quran to the public as he always believed that the trade of a wise man was to show the way towards God and to direct hearts towards Him.
He give courses in hadith
Hadith
The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....
, canonical jurisprudence, religious precepts and commentary on the Quran (Tafsir
Tafsir
Tafseer is the Arabic word for exegesis or commentary, usually of the Qur'an. Ta'wīl is a subset of tafsir and refers to esoteric or mystical interpretation. An author of tafsir is a mufassir .- Etymology :...
) everyday except for Monday and Thursday. He sat in his pulpit afternoons on Monday and Thursday and preached to intellectuals and the public.
There is an information in the book which is called “Sevad ul-Ayneyn” of Imam Rafii. The writer says that:
"Shaikh Salih Yusuf Ebu Zekeriya el-Askalani, who was a great expert in the canon law of Islam, had told me that: I had gone to Ummi Abide to visit Shaikh Ahmed er-Rifai. More than one hundred thousand people crowded around the guesthouse, some people were managers, scientists, sheikhs and the other members of the public. He provided dinner to all of them and was very friendly to everyone. He started to preach in the afternoon of a Thursday. Preachers of Wasit province, a religious community from doctors of Muslim theology of Iraq and the important people of the province attended the preach meeting. One group of them asked for science of commentary on the Koran, the other group asked for subjects interested with record of sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, the other group asked for Muslim canonical jurisprudence, another group asked for the disagreement between the different religious opinion, and the other groups asked too many questions about different sections of science. He answered more than two hundred questions, and he experienced no anger during his answering of questions. I became embarrassed because of the insensitiveness of people asking questions, and I stood up and said them that; “Is this not enough for you? He will answer all questions about the written sciences, not facing any difficulty, with the permission of Allah.” Because of my words he smiled and said to me that; “Ebu Zekeriya allow them to ask before they lose me. Certainly the world is a house which will become absent. Allah changes whole situations every time.” The people cried because of his answer. The meeting was confused, worried sounds were heard. Forty thousands people became students of him with the spiritual effect of his talk."
Ahmad Rifai's talks, his moves, his behaviors and his every breath were for Allah. He had got always a smiling face and he was modest, good-tempered, enduring suffering, very patient. He didn’t become cross with anyone and didn’t want any help for his own personality. On the contrary, he loves for Allah, and anger for Allah. He doesn’t rebuke somebody who behave that he doesn’t like. He doesn’t see his family and himself superior to other people. Even he said about this subject that; “According to our opinion for Allah, everybody is equal to each other, it doesn’t matter they are close relative or unknown people for us.”
He used to want from people protect themselves overusing the things that neither recommended nor forbidden by religious law like that overeating and oversleeping. He used to recommend doing worship during the nights. He also used to recommend being far away from people who doesn’t know their limit, behave in excessive manner, see themselves superior to others and dispute each other.
He used to do his service by himself, repair his shoes, carry the firewood prepared for him to the house of people who are sick, orphan, fallen and without relations or friends.
He used to turn shoes of blinds, and also take away them to the place that they want to go. He respect to old people and recommend respecting them. He always used to say the words of our Prophet Muhammad; “Whoever respect to an old Muslim person, Allah assign people who respect to them when they are old.”
He used to go to the house of leprous and bedridden people, wash their clothes, bring their meal, sit and eat with them, and wanted them to pray for him. When he heard a patient in his city in a far city, he used to visit them. He also cure the wounded animals, and he said that; “To compass the creatures of Allah is one of the reasons that human being are close to Allah.”
He used to behave very mercifully to orphans, cry for poor people, grow merry with their joy, behave with them with modesty, see himself like one of them and say in meetings that; “If a whole craft owner is a count and every craft owner passes in groups, I prefer to become a poor in the groups of poor.”
Great people of his era said that; “The most important reasons of reaching his great place is his great mercy to all creatures and his looking self down to himself.”
He used to respect the wise and experts in the canon law of Islam and wanted everybody to respect them by teaching that; “The wise are the leaders and fundamentals of the community.”
He had withdrawn from world. He didn’t store any commodity at anytime. Although he possessed big wealth, he didn’t wear two sets of clothes at the same time, neither in the summer nor in the winter. His movable and immovable property was much more than property of governors and famous rich men. He used to distribute the revenue of his real estate to dervishes and people who come to dervish convent. He didn’t leave any commodities to his children."