بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
و الصلاة و السلام على أشرف المرسلين
و على اله و اصحابه أجمعين

The true bay’a

We heard Shaykh Muhammad Fawzi al-Karkari (قدس الله سره) saying during a Mudhakara on Saturday 07/10/2017:

Whoever comes and asks for the Light, we give it to Him, without giving any importance to his past, whether good or bad. Then, know that the Murid can never remain permanently in the vision of the Light because this vision is a presence (Udhur), yet we make sure that these moments of presence are more numerous than moments of carelessness. Know, O Mourid, that the Bay’a under the shadow of the tree is the most important thing for the Muslims. When the companions contracted their commitment (bay’a) under the tree, the Prophet ﷺ asked them if they knew the different conditions of the bay’a? he said unto them, Worshiping Allah, the One, with no associate, the destruction of the idols, the struggle and the striving in the way of Allah, even if it were concerning their own parents.

When the Murid comes to me and asks me to give him bay’a, I do not consider him as asking for the bay’a but rather, it is as if he said to me: “show me the Light, please”. Only the one who has spent a long time in my company and who applies to the letter what is required of the Sunnah, that one, then may be considered as having taken the Bay’a. Know that the Bay’a is an immense reality, the bay’a is not to stay with your legs lying on your couch, all you loose that you are, and to come to the shaykh that when you have a few days of leave! The bay’a is for those who provide the efforts, who get tired and who suffer for the Way! And how to recognize those who really took the bay’a? When they encounter the greatest trials, the greatest troubles, you find them right in the Path. Those I only count on the fingers of one hand although thousands have, in the day of today, seen the Light of Allah. If tomorrow the shaykh would show his anger on the mouridine … who could bear it? Maybe one … or two … no more. The reality of the bay’a is that you stay firm in the Way and this in the very heart of hell! Not that you follow a Way leading to hell, but that you hold it there, even if it was the price to pay.

At first, when the Murid comes to us, we give him the Light as a gift! This is a gift! O death, do not forget it! You did not make any effort, and we did not ask you for part of it but if you want the real bay’a, that of the pleasure then know that I will take everything that you hold the most… we will ask you what you have most dear… if you love your children … give me your children … if you love pecuniary goods, I will take them… if you love your nafs, I will take it too! I will make you taste a series of trials until your nafs is entirely withdrawn from you. And when you have given us what is most dear to you, then we will say to you: “Welcome among the people of the bay’a (ahl al Bay’a).”

That’s why when someone comes to us and says, “Give me the bay’a!” We answer: “The difficulty is not to take the bay’a, but to know if we will keep our commitment”. The bay’a is for those who travel, who forsake this world and know that the bay’a is not to make any way appear, but to make appear in this world the traces of the Prophet ﷺ. This is where the disciple makes a huge mistake when he imagines that the Way belongs to the Shaykh … know that the Shaykh has no right in “creating” or founding any Way … This is the path of Allah!

By the disciple Jamil Zaghdoudi