Few humans on the planet have ever achieved the nearness to Allah that Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani did. Of those who did, most were prophets. He was the mujaddid (reformer) of the 6th century of the Islamic Calendar and arguably the greatest saint Islam ever produced. He was a descendant of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw) from both his mother’s side through Hadhrat Hussein (ra) and his father’s side through Hadhrat Hassan. (ra) Both his parents were very pious and thus his spiritual pedigree was beyond reproach. He further developed his Love, Ishq, and Fear of Allah throughout his life and left behind a wealth of vital Divinely-Bestowed knowledge in his discourses which were transcribed and saved.

Purification of the Mind is one such collection of his discourses.

The book is unlike any other book, even by other saints like Ibn Arabi, an esteemed mystic in his own right, because of its lay accessibility and simplicity. It is not spoken with difficult concepts or confusing metaphors because it is not a book about the experiences of the mystic. This is a book about the rigorous spiritual discipline required to receive full Divine attention, to be enveloped in Divine Love & Protection and to taste fully of Allah’s sweet converse to the limits inherent in your own soul.

As such it is far more useful for many such striving “seekers” of Allah who find it difficult to “sit with the Truthful” (9:119) in the modern age where true, loving, and sincerely righteous people are few and far between. The Sheikh encourages us to use solitude to our advantage and curb our unnecessary speech which should be replaced with dhikr (remembrance) of Allah:

“Oh seekers of this world, the world is ephemeral and tiring. Seek the everlasting paradise which is the place of comfort, the place of bliss, the place of thankfulness.”

Turn your hearts away from your families, children, and property. Renounce all the creatures of your Lord and do not rely on any of them in trivial or important matters” (pg 32)

The good Sheikh implores us endlessly to fight the striving of the lower, animal self (nafs e amaarra) by means of strict dietary discipline, strenuous spiritual exercise, and constant watchfulness of our thoughts, words, and actions. This process will ultimately result in bringing about a death to our own passions, whims and will to create a vacuum into which Allah will settle Himself on His throne in the seat of our hearts to the exclusion of everyone and everything else including our own interest in ourselves.

Abdul Qadir Jilani didn’t come to speak sweet nothings to our souls and allow us to remain unpolished in our weaknesses and pretense. He strongly desired complete reformation of our behaviors, morals, and belief in order to mass-produce lights of Allah who upon reaching true enlightenment could guide others to the Sublime One. Even in prayer he stressed the importance of begging from Allah good for other creatures more so than one’s self:

“You behave with impudence with Allah for the sake of your benefit while the people of Allah behave impudently with Lord only for the sake of the creatures. They appeal to Him on behalf of the creatures and persistently repeat their appeal for their (the creatures’) sake. They are those who have already bidden farewell to the creatures and purified their hearts from the creatures so that not a single atom of the creation is left in them. They exist with Him, by Him, for Him. They are in total relaxation with no tension, total honor with no humiliation, total receiving with no deprivation, total fulfillment with no withholding, total acceptance with no rejection, total happiness with no sorrow, capability with no powerlessness, strength with no weakness, and favor with no anger.” (pg 25)

Ultimately, I couldn’t stop dropping passages of this book on you, because the ENTIRE book is one gigantic quotable. This is a book I will come back to many many times in the future, inshallah, because it is a vast storehouse of spiritual guidance. No nonsense, no mystical mumbo jumbo, just the goods and methods to enable seekers to unite with All-Pervasive, Mighty Creator.

This book is highly recommended to all seekers of God from any walk of life and any religion. It is especially recommended to Muslims who understand that the true purpose of Islam is far above the ritualistic outer shell of the law and the pillars which are just the first stepping stones to True Union with the Almighty.

This is easily one of the top 5 books I’ve ever read. I’m about to start on “Revelations of the Unseen” and “Removal of Cares” by the same venerable patron saint of Allah.

I’ll leave you with one last quote to ponder:

You are in a deep sleep, unaware of the bliss of the people of Allah. O you who are forgetful of the bliss, you who are unaware, absent and unconscious! While you are knowledgeable in dealing with the affairs of the world you are totally ignorant of the affairs of the hereafter. You are bogged down in mud so the more you move, the more you sink. Stretch out your hands to Allah while being truthful in seeking Him, repent and apologize so He will rescue you from your situation

I am calling you to stand firm against your lower selves, passions, natural inclinations, and lustful desires and to endure with patience the loss of worldly things. Respond to my call and then you will sooner or later come to see the results. I am calling you to the red death in the name of Allah. Who will attack? Who will advance? Who will dare? Who will take the risk? It is death that is followed by everlasting life. (pg 84)

Peace & Blessings

-KV

There are very few independent books on my community, The Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam. Yohanan Friedman wrote a book, called Prophecy Continuous about us a while back that attempts to identify the midieval origins of Ahmad’s (as), the Promised Messiah and Founder of Ahmadiyyat, beliefs on eschatology, the identity of the Messianic leader, continuation of prophecy in Islam, and the possibility of subordinate prophets coming after the Holy Prophet Muhammad (saw).

Another book was written by Antonio Gualtieri called The Ahmadis which is a sympathetic book written heavily about the author’s personal experiences with Ahmadis and a few doctrinal nuances that are particular to them. It doesn’t offer much in the way of a thorough analysis of Ahmadi beliefs and practices but it does give the reader a great view inside one of the most dynamic religious groups in modern history. The Ahmadiyya movement has changed the course of history through its captivating individuals like Zafrullah Khan who single-handedly clarified the Palestine issue in the UN resulting in the rejection of the creation of Israel. “The Ahmadis” does carry weight with its poignant anecdotes from the author’s experiences with the community, specifically in Rabwah, Pakistan.

Gualtieri also authored a short book about the persecution of the Ahmadi community called Conscience and Coercion. (<-- Available Online)

This latest book on our community by Simon Ross Valentine, “Islam & the Ahmadiyya Jama’at” fills a gap that has not been previously explored in any depth. It provides a very thorough analysis of the community’s activities, charities, motivations, beliefs, social structure and hierarchical organization.

The book starts by an acknowledgement by Mr. Valentine that it will be difficult to remain neutral seeing as how he has been educated as a “Methodist Preacher”, who is “Christian in outlook”, that was “raised in a Christian family, in a country that, although secular, has been greatly influenced by the Bible and Christianity.”

Indeed within the first few pages he tries to minimize the significance of the Tomb of Jesus in Kashmir, saying, “the building looked bland, non-descript, uninteresting.” (pg 27) I wonder if Pope John Paul II had similar remarks when he visited himself.

Later he tries to align the claims, and by inference, status of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad with false prophets whose movements were either totally insignificant or who themselves had suffered early deaths, which is in stark contrast with the Life of Ahmad and the now global movement he left behind.

After summarizing events from the lives of the likes of Reverend Moon, David Koresh and Joseph Smith, Mr. Valentine claims that “Mirza Ghulam Ahmad”… “was one such leader declaring his credentials as a messenger of God” (pg. 38)

Once his own antagonizing reaction to the vociferous attack on Christianity by Hadhrat Ahmad and his attempts to rationalize the doctrinal irregularities of Christian theology that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had exposed, had subsided, he began a lengthy and uninterrupted analysis of the Ahmadiyya Movement, its beliefs and practices. For this he should be commended.

The book provides a good resource for many who are uneducated about the Ahmadis, who wish to learn more from someone completely outside of the community who has an insider’s look. It is seasoned throughout with personal anecdotes and experiences which exemplify the significance of the Ahmadiyya Movement. He does unfortunately, unabashedly attempt to dispute the wholly puritanical outlook and behavior of the community by citing individual cases of Ahmadis who strayed from the well-established norm of a very moral, very spiritual group.

No human organization is without flaws and Mr. Valentine may have felt a bit uneasy about only relating his many positive experiences and the impressive instances of righteous conduct found within our community, thus necessitating, in his view, the relation of individual cases of unscrupulous or immoral behavior.

I would recommend this book to Ahmadis as one to be aware of, however, I still maintain that in order to find out about the Ahmadiyya Movement, there is no better resource than our own literature, especially the books of Ahmad, the Messiah, and his successive Khalifas. These sources are used and cited liberally in Mr. Valentine’s book and direct quotes from them, in fact, form the bulk of the informative portions of “Islam and the Ahmadiyya Jama’at.” Almost all books that we have available for purchase are also available online, usually in PDF form at the following link:

Ahmadiyya Books online

Not to mention the hefty price tag on Amazon which is $50 for a new copy and $45 (last time I checked) for a used copy.

My copy is also for sale: $39.99 which is the cheapest price you can find anywhere at this time. And its essentially in perfect condition.

contact me via email if you’d like to purchase: khanversemc@yahoo.com

I give the book 3.5 of out 5.

A highly interesting fellow, David Livingstone has written two great books, one of which is available in its entirety online and in PDF - Terrorism & the Illuminati and the other can be purchased at its website, The Dying God

Here are a couple of interviews with him

David Livingstone & Chris Jon Bjerknes - mp3

David Livingstone & Henry Makow - mp3

I will be discussing Islamic eschatology and my own personal beliefs which, as a result of fulfillment of prophecy, are at variance with David’s, in the next few weeks in some audios on the subject. Stay tuned

-KV