Question:
Is Shaykh Ibn al-Mubarak’s book ‘al-Ibriz’ a reliable work of tasawwuf? People often criticize it for being “shameless” on account of some stories contained in it, such as the one where Shaykh Dabbagh reprimands one disciple for sleeping with his wife while another one of his wives is in the room. When the disciple asks the shaykh how he learnt of this, he says, “Who do you think was in the other bed?”, suggesting that he was miraculously present but invisible.
Answer:
Shaykh Abd al-Aziz Dabbagh died before the age of 40, he was humble and never married, he had a pure soul and led a blameless life, he never cared about the pleasures and treasures of this world, he was illiterate but because of his truthfulness Allah opened up to him the secrets of heaven and earth, may Allah be well-pleased with him and grant him the Highest Paradise.
“Who do you think was in the other bed” is a rhetorical question plus hyperbole to emphasize to the student that on that night the suffering and humiliation of the second wife was felt by his shaykh to the core, in all its intensity, and the shaykh was so angry with him, so he should feel shame, shame, shame before his shaykh, and before Prophet (saw), and
before the angels, and before Awliya and before Allah Most High.
Our shaykh is nearer to us than our own soul but we harm our own soul and our kith and kin, our children and communities, and people at large constantly. We wander more aimlessly than the blindest of the blind, harming and hurting others without mercy like a feral beast, and then we puff up thinking we know some sacred law, or own some spiritual title and position, and we turn around and start blaming Awliya like the shaytan we have become. Subhan Allah.
Hajj Gibril Haddad
