Sat Night with Sidi Faiz

Alhamdulillah! It was indeed revitalizing to be in a gathering of zikir led by Sidi, after so long of not meeting him.

Before I left my house, a friend of mine called, asking whether or not I would be coming to Sunday’s Majlis at Maqam. I said yes insyaAllah, he asked Majlis aper ah? I told him it will be a majlis zikir, he asked again, yang banyak anggok-anggok eh? I laughed and told him that it will be a majlis zikir, and asked him to come along with me.

I came to cpt kassim’s place for maghrib, with sidi faiz as imam. After solat ba’diyah, the majlis began. I sat (uncomfortably) close to sidi, not that I wanted to, but sidi came up and wanted to face the kiblah throughout zikir so he changed his seat and sat beside me. I was kinda scared scared but at least I could hear clearly what he was speaking later on in the middle of the zikir.

As usual, zikir led by Sidi is always revitalizing and full of energy.

At one point, he paused and explained quite a lengthy about some zikir, amalan we ought to do and he mentioned so many awliya in one majlis!

Sidi reminded us to keep up with Quranic recitation, khatamkan quran sebulan sekali ke, dua bulan sekali. Amalkan surah munjiyat, dukhan, insan, mulk, waqiah, ya sin, sajdah etc, banyakkan doa tolak bala. Solat nawafil also must have, tahajjud, tasbih, hajat, isyraq, dhuha.

Then to those who have taken bai’ah in TAI, hendaklah selalu baca Tahlil Khusus, Salawat Azhimiyyah and Istighfar Kabir, sidi noted that Shaykh Muhammad Said recited 70x istighfar kabir for every sahur. Always be in a state of physical purity, wudhu.

Sidi again emphasized the need to thank the Prophet saw, and that our giving him thanks can never be enough, hence we implore God to thank and reward the Prophet saw, with ‘Jazallahu anna nabiyyana muhammadan ….wasiahu ilmullah’ can be found in the ahzab of Sidi Ahmad Ibn Idris.

Sidi Faiz also mentioned that Sidi Abu Hasan Ash-Shadhili mentioned that during azan, the doors of the heavens are opened, so make listen to the azan and make your doa!

Then Sidi Faiz shared about the saints, he mentioned that Egypt and Morocco has a lot of saints, and he described the roads to the maqams of the saints, Sidi Abu Hasan Ash-Shadhili, Ibn Ata’illah Iskandari, Sidi Salim, Shaykh Solih Jafari,Sidi Ahmad Badawi, Sidi Ibrahim Ad-Dusuqi (I realized this name was familiar, it was from the book about rahsia huruf hijaiyah) Ibrahim Adham, about Shaykh Abdul Qadir jailani and Shaykh Ahmad Rifai in Iraq.

Sidi Faiz also mentioned Sidi Abdul Aziz Ad-Dabbagh as the teacher to Sidi Ahmad Ibn Idris.

It was a peculiar night, one in which so many names of saints were mentioned by Sidi Faiz, not something he does often.

That got me amazed, particularly at how TAI is so closely related to the Shadhili Tariqah, I’ve got to read Enigmatic Saint again!

Supper was great, epicurean I should say! Delectable Briyani Dhum, and sup Tulang, with bandung as drink, the fresh grapes, then the many desserts! Alamak, I guess I ate too much ooops! The hospitable host even ensured that all leave with a pack of briyani and a door gift of a cd recording of the group Qaafilah Zikrullah, whose members are close to Sidi Faiz.

I really look forward to Sunday’s Majlis at maqam, and then next sat Shadhili Hadrah at Malabar!And shaykh Hisyam is coming next month!