| The Great Shaykh Abdur-Rahman Ash-Shaghouri |
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by Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi
Peace be upon you and the Mercy of Allah and His Blessings. What could a tongue say and what could a pen write better than the words of Allah, which mean, "To Him alone do we belong and to Him alone do we return?" It is a calamity that is heavy on the whole ummah to bear, let alone you, dear sons and students. An aperture in Islam has been opened and it will not be closed but by one similar to him and how could time allow a similar to our late sheikh? It is a loss that breaks the shoulders of all Muslims so how could the heart of this weak servant who has immense love for the sheikh be able to carry it? The calamity of his departure is a calamity that visited Islam. His loss is a loss of a community not a loss of a single man. His absence is the absence of a generation and his departure is a departure of a library not of a single scholar. And more important than all, is that he, may Allah show him Mercy, was foremost in practice, an exemplar in following the sunnah, teaching through his state before teaching by his words. If he spoke, he practiced what he said, when he admonished, he reminded of Allah, and when he guided, he ushered people to Allah. We have no doubt that he, may Allah be satisfied with him, was one of the pillars of wilaya and ma'rifah on the face of the earth. One of those, whom when Allah Ta'ala glances at, He is content, such that He removes calamities from the world. There has gone the Pole of irshad, the star of bliss, the shaykh of knowledge, and the imam of practice of the remaining righteous salaf, and the exemplar of the true seekers of the people of devotion. No wonder the Ummah upon his departure is like a widow. The calamity is painful and Allah is Merciful. As I said in his presence in a eulogy of his late son Hassaan sixteen years ago: Power belongs only to the Most Merciful, as He does what He wills And our sheikh is the servant of the Most Merciful We ask Allah Almighty to bestow on his children, his students and his lovers all, patience and condolence and we beseech Him to wrap our sheikh with His Mercy and satisfaction, and that He give us of his barakah and that He allow us to benefit from him after his death more than what we benefited from him during his life. For you, the sons of the sheikh and his students, we send you the condolences of our brothers and sisters and our students in the USA, Europe, the Middle East and the Far East. May Allah bless you. At the end, the best quote I have is what Shaykh al-Islam Ibn al-Sabouni said in his eulogy of al-Imam Abul Qasim al-Qushayri, They said that the Imam departed this life And the herald cried loudly that he is no longer alive I said, 'It's not about a person who left We are of a whole community indeed now bereft.' We pray to Allah that He resurrect us in the group of our sheikh together with our late sheikhs and fathers. May Allah be satisfied with them all. The servant of the people of knowledge
Muhammad Abul Huda al-Yaqoubi al-Hasani
[Shaykh Shaghouri, rahimahullah t'ala, returned to his Lord on Tuesday 8th June 2004]
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