MY ROAD TO SALAFIYYAH (EPISODE 1) - Assudaisiy.com

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MY ROAD TO SALAFIYYAH (EPISODE 1)






By

Sulymān Yūnus Olukodo

All praise is due to Allāh who revealed the Qur'ān to his servant, Prophet Muhmmad (May Allāh send blessing and mercy on him), as a light  and guidance to those who search for the truth and its messages.

This initiative of narrating my journey to the path of salafiyyah is not my dream. It was suggested by my brother, Abdullāhi Abdullateef Lanre (known on Facebook as Ibn Abdillāhi As-Sudaisiy Al-Iloori). May Allāh be with him and may this humble effort of mine be a means to Jannatul-Fridaus for him and everyone of us. May Allaah, through this little effort of mine, guide those who are really searching for the truth to the path of Sunnah and manhaj salaf.

At my early age, my Dad (may Allāh's countless Rahmah and Tawfiq be on him) was someone who gave priority to the knowledge of the Deen. In fact, he didn't allow us to start western education on time. His focus was just Arabic and religious knowledge. As a result of this, I had to start my primary school education at the age of thirteen (13).

Myself and the rest of my brothers are products of an effective home-schooling arrangement. We started at home right from our tender ages at a home grown madrasah known as "Khalīlur Rahmān". In that madrasah, I had my basic knowledge of abecedarian Arabic language which is the doorway to the study of the Qur'ān recitation. At this stage as usual, we also learnt some elementary Arabic books.

The home-school at Khalīlur Rahmān was our main foundation for quick understanding of the Arabic text, I ask Allāh to continue to assist and bless those teachers who taught and nurtured us to know Allaah and His due rights.

Consequently, on a sunny morning, I sat down myself, pondering, wondering and wandering in dire confusion, trying to fix out my way forward in Arabic education (Madrasah). I wanted to attend full Arabic  basic classes in pursuit of formal certificate of recommendation for further learning in the future. Alhamdulillāh, after a deep thought, I found myself at a nearby Madrasah, founded by Imām Shabān حفظه الله, Idi-Oronbo, Ilorin. At this point, I cannot forget this quote "ruwāiyda ruwaiydah saral-jabalu baita" رُويدَ رُويدَ صار الجبل بيب
-meaning-"little by little, a mansion is built"

One day, I walked into my brother's room; a blood brother and a father in care, to tell him that I have planned to leave Khalīlur Rahmān for Imām Shabān. He did not think twice before he agreed with my decision.  He spoke with the teachers at Khalīlur Rahmān, especially those of them he knew well. They painfully agreed with our decision and we visited the new Madrasah the following Saturday morning.

I was screened and admitted to the madrasah. But my first few days in the school was full of strange feelings due to my prior beliefs of sufiyyah. For instance, when I first got to the madrasah, I saw on campus students (males and females) dressed strangely. This wasn't the way we used to dress at Khalīlur Rahmān. So, their dressing look so barbaric to men. Then, i never knew that was the proper way of dressing according to Islaamic injunctions.

At this stage, I began to seize every opportunity to inquire into those strange ways of life. The strangeness is not about their dressing alone. Their way of doing dhikr, their syllabus and thoughts were very strange to me. By the time I was fully admitted, I started getting used to their ways, and I started thinking deeply with what I had seen so far.

Despite the strange phenomenon in the school, I still maintained my Sufi stand on all matters. Even in my appearance, no one would ask whether I was a sufi or not. I wasn't shy to boast with sufiyyah anywhere and anytime. I had decided to always come on board with my pseudo rosary of a saint. It was admired and adorned by me. I would not feel myself complete enough as a Muslim without having a rosary hanged somewhere around me. It was around this time that I upgraded from 100 size of rosary to 1,000 size which I enjoyably and confidently used and counted adhkār with at home, both in the daytime and in the night. Then, I did not know any difference between the third and first parts of the night, all I knew was night was night.

...to be continued In Sha Allāh

1 comment:

  1. Salam alaykum warahmotulahi wabarakatuh
    Were are the rest of this
    Dis things are not arrange properly
    U find a story in a file and u av to go and look for d rest in another file.

    ReplyDelete


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