Yilmaz Alimoglu

Imam Abd Allah ibn Alawi al-Haddad born in 1634. He lived his entire life in the town of Tarim in Yemen’s Valley of Hadramawt and died there in 1720 CE (1132 Hijri). In Islamic history, he was considered one of the sages. His works revolve around the attainment of certainty (yaqin), the degree of unshakeable faith in God and Muhammad. Imam ‘Abdallah al-Haddad was the renewer, or Mujaddid, of the twelfth Islamic century. He was renowned, and deservedly so, for the breadth of his knowledge and his manifest sanctity. The profundity of his influence on Muslims is reflected by the fact his books are still in print throughout the Islamic world.

The poem (Qasida): Qad Kafani Ilmu Rabbi
My Lord’s knowledge has sufficed me
from asking or choosing

For my du’a and my agonising supplication
is a witness to my poverty.

For this secret (reason) I make supplication
in times of ease and times of difficulty

I am a slave whose pride
is in his poverty and obligation

O my Lord and my King
You know my state

And what has settled in my heart
of agonies and preoccupations

Save me with a gentleness
from You, O Lord of Lords

Oh save me, Most Generous
before I run out of patience (with myself)

My Lord’s knowledge has sufficed me
from asking or choosing

O One who is swift in sending aid
I ask for aid that will arrive to me swiftly

It will defeat all difficulty
and it will bring all that I hope for

O Near One Who answers
and All-Knowing and All-Hearing

I have attained realisation through my incapacity,
my submission and my brokenness

My Lord’s knowledge has sufficed me
from asking or choosing

I am still standing by the door, so please my Lord
have mercy on my standing

And in the valley of generosity, I am in i’tikaf (solitary retreat)
So, Allah, make my retreat here permanent

And I’m abiding by good opinion (of You)
For it is my friend and ally

And it is the one that sits by me and keeps me company
All day and night

My Lord’s knowledge has sufficed me
from asking or choosing

There is a need in my soul, O Allah
so please fulfil it, O Best of Fulfillers

And comfort my secret and my heart
from its burning and its shrapnel

In pleasure and in happiness
and as long as You are pleased with me

For joy and expansion is my state
and my motto and my cover

My Lord’s knowledge has sufficed me
from asking or choosing

May Allah be pleased with him Imam al-Haddad .