Sufis of Andalusia av sheikh Ibn `Arabi

Sufis of Andalusia eller Ruh al Quds av Muhyddin Ibn `Arabi ble skrevet som svar på et utsagn om at verden ikke lenger hadde mennesker med høy spiritualitet og oppriktighet.

Boken omhandler opplevelser og personer Ibn `Arabi møtte i sin reise til Allah gjennom livet sitt.

Under følger et utdrag fra boken om Sheikh Abu Ya’qub Yusuf B. Yakhlaf al-Kumi som Ibn Arabi møtte da han var ung. Sheikh Abu Ya`qub hadde vært student av sheikh Abu Madyan.

One day the Shaikh mounted his horse and bade me and one of my companions follow him to Almonteber, a mountain about three miles distant from Seville. Accordingly, when the city gate had been opened in the morning, I set out with my companion who had with him a copy of al-Qushairi’s Epistle. We climbed the mountain and found the Shaikh at the top and his servant holding his horse.

Then we entered the mosque at the top of the mountain and performed the ritual prayer. When we had finished he turned his back on the mihrâb and gave me the Epistle, telling me to read from it. My awe of him was so great that I could not put two words together and the book fell from my hands.

Then he told my companion to read it and expounded upon what was read until it was time for the late-afternoon prayer which we performed. After the prayer the Shaikh suggested that we all return to the town. He mounted his horse and set off, while I ran alongside holding onto the stirrup: Along the way he talked to me of the virtues and miracles of Abu Madyan.

As for myself, I was so absorbed by what he was telling me, looking up at him all the time, that I was completely oblivious to my surroundings. Suddenly he looked at me and smiled and, spurring his horse, made me run the more quickly to keep up with him.

Then he stopped and said to me, ‘Look and see what you have left behind you!’ When I looked back I saw that all the way was waist-high with thorn bushes and that the whole ground was covered with thorns. Then he told me to look at my feet and my clothes. I looked and found not a single trace of the thorns.

Then he said, ‘This is the result of the spiritual grace engendered by our talking of Abû Madyan; so persevere on the Way, my boy, and you will surely find salvation.’ Then he spurred his horse on and left me behind. I learnt much from him.