Al-Awlaqi and the Rebbetzin?

Dave Schuler:

November 4th, 2011 at 2:36 am

I’m still looking for attestations.  The earliest I can find so far is James 4:8

Charles Cameron:

November 4th, 2011 at 7:13 am

Thanks, Dave!
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With that hint (James 4.8, "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you") I can get us back a little further, to:
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Zechariah 1. 3: "Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts."
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and Malachi 3.7: "Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts."

Charles Cameron:

November 4th, 2011 at 4:47 pm

It occurred to me that it might be useful to track down the hadith version that I quoted in my original post, so I have done that, and find that the most authoritative of the hadith collections, the Sahih al-Bukhari, presents the hadith in this form (Bukhari Volume 9, Book 93, Number 502):

Narrated Abu Huraira:

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The Prophet said, "Allah says: ‘I am just as My slave thinks I am, (i.e. I am able to do for him what he thinks I can do for him) and I am with him if He remembers Me. If he remembers Me in himself, I too, remember him in Myself; and if he remembers Me in a group of people, I remember him in a group that is better than they; and if he comes one span nearer to Me, I go one cubit nearer to him; and if he comes one cubit nearer to Me, I go a distance of two outstretched arms nearer to him; and if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running.’ "

It should be noted that within this hadith, the Prophet quotes God speaking directly to him: it is thus a "Hadith Qudsi" — defined as a hadith proclaiming "that which Allah the Almighty has communicated to His Prophet through revelation or in dream, and he, peace be upon him, has communicated it in his own words."

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Furthermore, since this hadith praises the remembrance of God (zikr), I would expect it to be a favorite of the Sufis — and indeed, if you go to this page on Zikr in the Ahadith at SufiZikr.org, you will find it is the first hadith listed.

Articles of the Week – 10/29-11/4 « JIHADOLOGY:

November 4th, 2011 at 6:32 pm

[…] and the Rebbetzin? – Charles Cameron, ZenPundit: http://goo.gl/yTxO9 Share this:Like this:LikeBe the first to like this […]

Charles Cameron:

November 6th, 2011 at 6:34 pm

Many thanks, Aaron.
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I can no longer count the number of note- and quote-worthy articles I have found via Aaron Zelin’s "articles of the week" roundups on his Jihadology blog.

Charles Cameron:

November 6th, 2011 at 6:43 pm

I am indebted to a friend for pointing out to me that Ibn Arabi, as cited in William Chittick’s The Sufi path of knowledge: Ibn al-?Arabi’s metaphysics of imagination, writes (p. 109):

After those who had faith in God came to know Him through considerative proofs, their rational faculties saw that God still asks them to know Him. came to know that there is another knowledge of God which is not reached by way of reflection. Hence they employed ascetic discipline, retreats (khalwa), spiritual struggle (mujahada), cutting off of attachments (qat al-‘ala’iq), isolation (infirad), and sitting with God with the aim of freeing the locus (tafrigh al-mahall) and sanctifying the heart (taqdis al-qalb) from the stains of reflective thoughts (afkar), for these thoughts take engendered things as their object. They heard that the Real descends to His servants and seeks to win them over. So they knew that the path to Him in respect of Him is nearer to Him than the path  of their reflection — especially for those who have faith. They may have heard His words, "When someone comes to Me running,  I come to him rushing," or that the heart of the person of faith embraces God’s majesty and tremendousness. 

Chittick, on the same page, quotes Ibn Arabi citing both Qur’an (2:186) and hadith on the remembrance:

I respond to the call of the caller when he calls to Me

and:

When someone remembers (dhikr) Me in himself, I remember him in Myself.