The Tree of Spiritual Knowledge and States- Zaid Shakir

Session 3
Shajara al-Ma'arif w'al-Ahwal : “The Tree of Spiritual Knowledge and States” by Al-'Izz bin 'Abd as-Salaam- (RIS Retreat)
-notes by Br.Suleyman

Al Izz passed away on the year 660 Hijri, His life coincided with Imam Nawawi. His life was 1219 to 196 C.E

His students were Ibn Taqeeq and Sharfudeen.

He wrote a book: Shajara al ma’arif wal ahwal.

He was from Egypt, before him, all the shaykhs would give fatwa. When he arrived, no one dared to give fatwa in his presence. so he was a great scholar.

He was originally from Syria, but got banished so he went to Egypt

One time, Salih Ismail, the sultan of Damascus was in a power struggle with his nephew, who was the Egyptian sultan. As a result he allied with the crusaders. Because of this, al Izz gave fatwa against him, so the sultan banished him, and he went to Egypt, where Najumuddin, salih’s nephew was. He was appointed the chief judge.

Al Izz was not afraid of anyone and stood up for justice and against corruption. He told Najmuddin that Allah has given you this dominion and yet you allow alcohol and other transgressions in it. This forced him in to destroying a wine establishment.

Al Izz said, he is not afraid of people because whenever he compares them to Allah, the person is like a pussy cat.

Starting of the Book Reading
Opens with a section dealing with the ettiquettes of the Quran.

1. To adorn oneself with the characteristics of worship to Allah, i.e humility, ikhlaas etc.

2. To adorn oneself with some of the attributes of ruboobiyah, i.e justice and goodness.

The attributes of Allah are of two types:

1. Those which are specific to him (pre-existing nature, eternal)

2. Those which can be adorned by humans.

For example, Allah is beautiful and he loves beauty.

Next Section

-The fruits of Knowledge and its benefits

Knowledge means two things:

1. Knowledge that is acquired
2. Knowledge whose manifestations can be perceived, but it, itself can not be perceived, i.e knowledge of Allah’s essence. no one knows what Allah looks like, it can not be perceived.

The most virtuous acquired knowledge, is the knowledge of Allah.

This knowledge commands every good.

To have knowledge of the quranic rulings and commands, will help to make you obedient to Allah. Knowledge of the quranic references to faith will make you have more Iman.

Knowledge causes elevation of state, lofty speech and pleasing actions.

At the level of sharee'ah, the world is something to be enjoyed, within the limits.

The best enjoyment is a virtuous spouse.

The fruit of the knowledge of the lowliness of the dunya is hastness to going to the here after

So there are different fruits for different knowledge, as mentioned before (i.e strong faith, obedience)

One of the purposes of divine knowledge is to realize your true nature which is that you have a spiritual being, as well as a physical being. But the main being is your spiritual one. The physical being is shared with the animals, but we have a spiritual being as well. People who don’t have divine knowledge, do not enjoy the fruit of realizing you have a spiritual state.