How Do You Become a Student of Sufism?
If you wish to walk the Sufi path toward Allah and become part of our community, taking Sidi as your guide and the Murshids as your teachers, then you need to take a special oath called “The Promise.” Taking the promise is transformative–in just a few moments you change from the person you’ve been into a new creation. It may take a few days for the changes to be noticeable to others, but you will quickly notice some of your old habits, mistakes, misconceptions, and misperceptions are gone. Many people feel as if they have a new lease on life or as if they’ve been deeply cleansed.
The general oath Sidi would ask students to take is below, but Sidi would tailor it to his new student(s) as needed and the murshids do this, as well.
Sidi would preface the Promise with:
“Put your hand in my hand. Repeat after me. Bismillah…”
The Promise
I promise Allah
to carry His religion,
the religion of all the prophets.
I promise Allah
to be one from His people.
I promise Allah
to give my body,
my heart,
my soul,
for the Face of Allah.
I promise Allah
to be always for His Face
and to carry His message,
the message of all the prophets.
And to be honest,
to be sincere,
to walk straight,
for the Face of Allah
all my life.
And [you, Sidi] to be my father,
to carry your message:
peace and love and mercy and justice [and freedom and equality],
the message of Allah.
To walk Your way,
the Sufi way,
the Shadhiliyya way.
Amin.
Then Sidi would recite this ayah:
What People Say About Taking the Promise
Receiving Your Name
When you take the promise for the first time you will receive your “Sufi name.” This is an Arabic name that will help you in your walking. Sidi said that receiving a new name was a great blessing, because it gives you a new creation. It’s like being reborn into a new reality, the Divine Reality. After taking the promise and receiving a name, people often feel as if they’ve been given a new lease on life–they’re energized, inspired, and excited to dive into the spiritual teachings and transformation of the Sufi path.
The Divine qualities and life lessons contained in your name will define your walking. For instance, if you are given the name Musa (Moses), the life path and life lessons of the Prophet Moses, alayhi-s-salam, will mirror your life path and life lessons. The qualities the Prophet Musa carried are qualities that you also carry. If you are given the name Rahima, which means Divine Mercy, it will be important for you to understand the exact nature of the Divine Name ar-Rahim and how you can embody it even more deeply than you already do. Using that quality in your remembrance and prayers will be especially powerful.
When people call you by your Sufi name, it will invoke the qualities it contains within you. Because you already contain all of the qualities and lessons within your name. Your job now is to continue to purify and clean them until they shine out of your eyes and your whole body and energy field.
Giving a Sacrifice
After taking the promise, whether it is your first time or fiftieth time, you are expected to give a sacrifice. A sacrifice is a financial donation of $500 used to slaughter a sheep and distribute the meat to the poor. If you don’t have $500 and you would have to go into debt (or greater debt), or you wouldn’t be able to afford essentials for yourself or your family, then give what you can.
The Deep Meaning in Ibrahim’s Vision
There is a deep meaning in giving a sacrifice when you take the promise. Giving a sacrifice helps your walking and your spiritual growth. It purifies your body, heart, mind, and spirit. It protects you, your family, and your loved ones.
This excerpt from the book Secret of the Spirit, a book of teachings Sidi gave in the summer of 2007, explains the origin of the sacrifice:
Translator: Why we offer a sacrifice. Who is Ibrahim (the Prophet Abraham), alayhi-s-salam? Ibrahim is the father of all the prophets, and one time Allah inspired Ibrahim while he was sleeping. After he woke up, Ibrahim explained to his son that in his sleep he had a vision in which he was slaughtering him. Ibrahim saw his son not in a dream or a daydream, but in a true state of seeing…It had a deep meaning. It had a very deep meaning, which was:
I am slaughtering all of the animal qualities within myself.
I am slaughtering the physical diseases;
I am slaughtering the psychological diseases,
and all the selfish and non-godly qualities.
And, when [his son] was old enough to walk with him, he [Ibrahim] said: “Oh my son! I have seen in a dream that I am slaughtering you (offering you as a sacrifice to Allah), so what do you think!”
His Son’s Complete Surrender
His son said: “Oh my father! Do that which you are commanded, insha’allah (if Allāh wills), you will find me to be one of the patient ones” (Qur’an 37:102). The child of Ibrahim was also a prophet…He understood that what Ibrahim was telling him was, “I want to purify you.” So he said, “Purify me; do as you were commanded,” because he believed that the one who commanded his father was Allah…
When Ibrahim took his son to the mountain of Arafat…[he] took his son and put him on the altar and took the knife in his hand. People thought that he was truly going to kill his son, but who could ever kill his son? What happened to the sharp knife edge at this point? It became water. It was moving as water moves…He kept trying to use the knife, but it kept turning to water. When the knife turned to water, it could not slaughter his son.
Can a Knife Affect Light?
Ibrahim’s name…means to become the merciful father, which means to become absent from everything except Allah. It means to be absent from your animal self and to get in touch with your divine essence. The divine essence is far from the animal essence; it is the Godly essence. In this instance, Ibrahim’s hand was a divine hand, his hearing, his seeing, all of his senses were luminous. He was full of light. All of his senses were full of light and he was a luminous being. His son was also full of luminous light. Can a knife really slaughter light? It cannot go through light and hurt it. So, they became light, and that is why the knife couldn’t slaughter him.
If You Want to Be an Ibrahimic Being, Surrender
Do you truly want to be like that, to be an Ibrahimic being or an Ishaq-like (Isaac-like) being or an Isma’il-like (Ishmael-like) being? Do you want to be like those beings, to be one with them? So, do what Ibrahim’s son did. He said, “My father, I surrender fully to you. Do as you were commanded by Allah.” He surrendered to all the commands of Allah. But he did not surrender to Ibrahim as a human being, no. He surrendered to the divine essence, to Allah as reflected in Ibrahim. He surrendered to the divine image, to the divine reflection that was coming through Ibrahim.
Then Allah sent down archangel Jibril (Gabriel), alayhi-s-salam, and Jibril gave the message: “Oh Ibrahim, you were truthful and you believed in the vision. You were doing what We asked, and We will ransom your son with a great sacrifice.” And Allah made the sacrifice a lamb [instead of his son] as a way of purifying Ibrahim.
The Lamb Symbolizes the Human Sacrificing Himself for Allah, Most High
So a great lamb came from the heavenly Garden and was used as a sacrifice to purify the human being…This method of purifying oneself became the way of purification that we must follow. But it is not as people understand; it is not to just slaughter an animal and eat it. It is a way of granting sacrifice and purification. That is why anyone who wants to walk this path must also offer a sacrifice on behalf of his physical being, his heart, his soul, and his spirit. This is the first step to walking the path of purification, the path toward Allāh, in the way of the people of Allāh, the people who walk in the way of purity.
Who Can I Take the Promise With?
If you decide to become a member of our community, you must take the promise with an authorized teacher. If you don’t know anyone who can give you the promise, contact us and we will connect you with the person closest to you geographically or we will help you connect with someone online.
May Allah Bless You
We pray you receive many blessings on your spiritual journey and that you always receive Divine guidance and peace. May Allah bless you.
