The Virtue of Remembering the Saints

Our great master, Shaykh Alī bin Abī Bakr al-Alawī, may Allah be pleased with him, said:

It is incumbent upon every Muslim who seeks bounty and good to look for blessings and grace, the answering of supplications, and mercy in the presence of the Saints in their company and gatherings, whether they are alive or have passed away. This can be found at their graves, when mentioning them, recounting their virtues, and talking about their excellence. [1]

It is related from Sayyidina Ibn Abbas, who said, "I said, O Messenger of Allah, which of our companions are the best?" He replied, “He whose sight reminds you of Allah, whose speech increases you in knowledge, and whose knowledge reminds of the Hereafter."[2] 

Imam Abdallah b. Alawī al-Ḥaddād said:

Know that to mix with the people of good and to sit with them increases the love of good in your heart and helps with good works, just as mixing with the people of evil and sitting with them plants the love of evil and its works in the heart. Whoever mixes with a people and lives amongst them, he will love them implicitly, whether they are good or evil. A man is with the one he loves in the world and the Hereafter.

Our master Imam Muḥammad b. Zain b. Sumait said:

Sit with those whose vision reminds you of Allah, whose states and energy motivate you towards Allah. Adhere to him if you find him, and cling on to him tightly if you meet him. There is nothing more beneficial to the heart and nothing more in paying dividends than the company of the righteous and the good. There is nothing more harmful than accompanying their opposite from the people of heedlessness and evil.

 It has been related in a hadith, "A man is upon the religion of his friend."[3] It has also been said, "Whoever accompanies the good, Allah will make him from the good even though he is from the evil, and whoever accompanies the evil, Allah will make him from the evil even though he is from the good. If you are unable to see them - as is common in our time - then there is nothing better than perusing through their biographies, narrations, virtues, and traces."[4] 

Our master Imam Aḥmad b. Ḥasan al‐Aṭṭās said:

If there was only one virtue in sitting with the righteous, it would have been enough. That is pulling people’s endeavours, hearts, and intentions, raising them to high ranks, or saving them from bad thoughts. If this isn’t achieved then it would be enough for you that you are saved from disobedience, as long as you are in their presence.

Some of the righteous have said:

Whoever prays behind someone who is forgiven is also forgiven, and whoever eats with someone who is forgiven is also forgiven. Whoever sits with the righteous, his desire for obedience increases. Whoever sits with the scholars increases in knowledge and action.

 

Sheikh Aḥmad b. Uqba was asked, "Is the help of the alive greater or those who are deceased?" He replied, "The help of the deceased, for they are upon the spread of al-Ḥaqq." When Sheikh Alī al-Muttaqī was about to pass away, his student Sheikh Abd ul‐Wahhāb began to grieve, and so he said to him, "Do not be sad, for we are a people who help our murīds after death just as we helped them in life, and even more."

[1] Ma'ārij al-Hidāya

[2] Related on the authority of Abū Ya'lā

[3] Related by Aḥmad, Abū Dawūd, Tirmidhī

[4] Majma' al-Baḥrayn