My Journey to the Land of Love: Hadramawt-Tarim

By Umm Soffah Nourellyssa

Tarim is where one can detach from everything to recharge spiritually and to seek knowledge from the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. The land offers an intensive course, rejuvenating the soul for a better understanding of Islamic teachings.

In My Journey to the Land of Love, author Umm Soffah Nourellyssa shares the story of her experiences in Tarim, a beautiful place surrounded by looming mountains, a place that carries the early significance of Islamic history. She tells how she embarked on a spiritual traveling journey as a seeker on the path, going beyond an ordinary mind where extraordinary works of God manifest simultaneously with trials and tribulations.

Motivational and inspirational, My Journey to the Land of Love describes Nourellyssas daily experiences in Tarim as she transitioned from a secular education and years of employment to the gates of this spiritual center of original Islamic teaching. It shares how she came to know a personal relationship with God beyond the practical routines.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Jan 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781482829587

Umm Soffah Nourellyssa

Umm Soffah Nourellyssa traveled to Tarim on a spiritual journey and education and chronicles her experiences in this book.

Book preview

MY

Journey

TO THE Land Of Love

YEMEN: HADRAMAWT-TARIM

UMM SOFFAH NOURELLYSSA

Copyright © 2015 Umm Soffah Nourellyssa. All rights reserved.

ISBN

978-1-4828-2959-4 (sc)

978-1-4828-2958-7 (e)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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01/02/2015

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Contents

Dedication

A Supplication From The Author

Author’s Note

Preface

My Journey To The Land Of Love Hadramawt-Tarim

¹St Ramadhan – 29 June 2014

2Nd Ramadhan- 3⁰Th June 2014

3Rd Ramadhan – ¹St July 2014

⁴Th Ramadhan – ²Nd July 2014

⁵Th Ramadhan – 3Rd July 2014

⁶Th Ramadhan- ⁴Th July 2014

⁷Th Ramadhan – ⁵Th July 2014

⁸Th Ramadhan – ⁶Th July 2014

⁹Th Ramadhan – ⁷Th July 2014

1⁰Th Ramadhan – ⁸Th July 2014

1¹Th Ramadhan – ⁹ July 2014

1²Th Ramadhan – 10 July 2014

1³Th Ramadhan – 11 July 2014

1⁴Th Ramadhan – 12 July 2014

1⁵Th Ramadhan – 13 July 2014

1⁶Th Ramadhan – 14 July 2014

1⁷Th Ramadhan – 15 July 2014

1⁸Th Ramadhan – 16 July 2014

1⁹Th Ramadhan – 17 July 2014

2⁰Th Ramadhan – 18 July 2014

2¹St Ramadhan – 1⁹Th July 2014

2²Nd Ramadhan – 20 July 2014

2³Rd Ramadhan – 21 July 2014

2⁴Th Ramadhan – 22 July 2014

2⁵Th Ramadhan – 23 July 2014

2⁶Th Ramadhan – 24 July 2014

2⁷Th Ramadhan – 25 July 2014

2⁸Th Ramadhan – 26 July 2014

2⁹Th Ramadhan – 27 July 2014

¹St Syawal – 28 July 2014

²Nd Syawal – 2⁹Th July 2014

³Rd Syawal – 3⁰Th July 2014

⁴Th Syawal – 3¹St July 2014

⁵Th Syawal – 1 August 2014

⁶Th Syawal – ²Nd August 2014

⁷Th Syawal – ³Rd August 2014

⁸Th Syawal – ⁴Th August 2014

⁹Th Syawal – ⁵Th August 2014

1⁰Th Syawal – ⁶Th August 2014

1¹Th Syawal – ⁷Th August 2014

1²Th Syawal – ⁸Th August 2014

1³Th Syawal – ⁹Th August 2014

1⁴Th Syawal – 1⁰Th August 2014

1⁵Th Syawal – 1¹Th August 2014

The Other Side Of The World

1⁶Th Syawal 1435H – 1²Th August 2014

Acknowledgement

Bibliography

DEDICATION

To Allah swt and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)

To my spiritual fathers:

Shaykh Ahmad Saad Al Azhari,

Habib Syech Abdul Qadir As-Seggef,

Shaykh Baba Ibrahim As-Syadzhilli,

Habib Kadzhim Ja’afar Assegef,

Habib Ali Abu Bakar,

Habib Umar Muhammad Salim Hafiz,

Habib Salim As-Syathiri

& Abah Habib Al Bar.

To Hubabah Ummu Soleh Al Haddar

Hubabah Ummu Salim Al Haddar

Hubabah Bintun Habib Abdullah Shihabuddin

Hubabah Zahrah Al Junied

To Ukhti Al-aydarus & my Tarim-mates

To my parents

Despite their imperfection.

A SUPPLICATION FROM THE AUTHOR

In the Name of Allah, The Most High, The Most Compassionate and The Most Loving. Praises of peace to His beloved Messenger, our Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him.

Ya Fath Ya Razq (O You who Opens the Door of Mercy & Provider of All Blessings), I plead from You, blessings in every single way You deem fit for us all through the written works of this book. May this book brings benefit to everyone in any ways that helps to face the different challenges in life. May those who seek for You, find You, those who felt alone, embraced by the stories in this book to know they are never alone, those who walk too far from You find the courage to come back to You, those who felt condemned by the judgement or criticism from others, will know that there is no condemnation against them from Your Creation because You are God of Mercy, and Your Mercy encompasses everything in life. You are the Beholder of The Judgement Day.

Ya Ghaffar Ya Rahim (O Most Forgiving & Merciful) May You forgive us where there are heedlessness or lack of understanding in Your instructions. May You bless us with wisdom from the knowledge sought. May You give us the clear understanding and hope to steer us all from what is doubtful that causes us to be led astray. May the troubled hearts find relief and hope, encouragement and glimpse of life to press on ahead. May Your love fills the heart of emptiness. May the sacred knowledge quenched the thirst no human beings could fill. May all those who had fallen or seemed a failure in life, muster the courage to stand up again.

Ya Rabbi (My Lord) I seek refuge in You from the evil eyes and heart of Your creation. May this book come as a blessed gift of love, encouragement, hope and mercy to everyone who seeks for You. May You grant us the wisdom of Truth and open the eyes of our heart. May You help us to present our hearts purely in worship because You are our God, and not in exchange for something we want in life.

Ya Muqallibal Qulub (O Turner of the hearts), I hope in You, for all glad tidings apportionate for all of us written by Your pen, that You help to purify our souls as we grow in life. May You grant us the every good that You deemed fit for us, expel all evil from us, cover us under Your beautiful promises, teach us to Love as You Loves us, guide us to be the servant whom You will be happy with, place us under Your canopy of Grace and Mercy, bring us out from our darkness, replace for us the brokenness within, mould us to be always in the spirit of thanksgiving, heal every of our wounds, forgive us of every transgression and teach us to forgive the others who once hurt us as well.

Ya Hadi (O You who Guides) please Guide those who are not given the chance to know You, to have a chance to seek for You, and protect those who are seeking You from people who may lead them astray from The Truth. May You grant the wishes of those who misses Your Saints in Tarim, to return to the land of Love as many times as we could. Instil in our hearts, the love of Your Saints, and the blessings of Tarim be with us all where ever we go. May You always watch over us with Love and Mercy. Amin Ya Mujib (May You accept this supplication O You Who Grants our prayer.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

In the Name of Allah, The Most High, The Most Compassionate and The Most Loving. Praises of peace to His beloved Messenger, our Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him.

Praise be unto Allah and His Messenger, and all the Prophets and Angels in Heaven. Every single strength that comes into fixing this as a piece of work would not have been made possible without the permission and help of God. Everything comes with His Help, even any stranger that comes into our life just for a short while, is from God’s Knowledge, to bring that moments together.

I hope you will stay and follow me through a portion of my writing journey in Tarim. I am unable to stop any criticism or how anyone feels on each day which I am writing about. It might draw to anybody’s attention about the lack of understanding in knowledge and different opinions about certain matters unless elaborated by teachers. I can never stop anyone from judging.

I am thankful that I learnt from the people who are descendants of the Prophet (May Allah bless him and grant him peace) and see the reality of what had been spoken in history as truly exist in this world.

This imperfect effort to jot down memories is one of my intention as an aid of encouragement when the going gets tough. I do not wish for these steps to be forgotten easily after travelling far to my spiritual love ones. I am not a scholar and has yet to obtain a university qualification by God’s Will, but my intention to write is also to benefit those who are like me, a seeker in search for Truth or God.

To those who has a lot of wonders and questions unanswered or no one suitable to provide guidance, those who are downcast with trials without peer support, those who are rejected when you chose to be better, those who are friendless or feeling abandoned, those who did not have the same opportunity as others who are given religious education since young, those who had always been with cliques of friends who jeered about the lack of religious knowledge, those who had been feeling trapped in life, those being seen as a failure or being laughed at when you had contributed to the success of people. This is for you.

Anyone who wishes to tread on the Path of a Seeker will be reminded by many others who caution it all comes with trials and tribulations. Yes, no doubt. I hope we will remember that anything that is good for God’s sake is always being welcomed with a lot of negativity. If you feel that way, you are not alone.

This book is also for those who has the desire to study in Tarim, who hears stories about Darruz Zahrah School or Darul Mustafa School, the lack of materialism in the country, and so on to know that each people who had been there carries different chapter in life and were given different exposure, blessings, trials and tribulations. Everything in life is not for free. Paradise too.

Coming back from Tarim, one does not only bring blessings proportionate to what Allah deemed fit, but also different kinds of trials. We shall remember that every prophets sent to all nations experienced hurts, pain, rejections, accusations (fitnah), and so on, but I hope we will also remember to cling onto Allah’s Promises when the tunnel gets dimmer in life.

Some of the sisters from Britain or England who had been to Tarim following the English Language medium group had a different experience than those under the Arabic Language. We went different places to seek knowledge. The sisters from other group might have met other female scholars which I may not have met. So this writing is also another additional value of knowing the different exposure one could get depending how God deems fit for you. Trust God. He knows the capacity which is sufficient for you at every point in time.

I hope for this book to reach out to those whom, like me, did not get the opportunity to enjoy life as a university student at 20s, regardless as a part time or full time. This book is also for those who had been made difficult by others in seeking knowledge, had stumbling blocks ahead of them or pressed down by circumstances.

My hope is for you to know that if anyone ever said you have failed after they attained their goals, you have never failed at all. Your contribution leads to their success in attaining what they wanted, and their success is part of an indirect warning from God. He shows He is still patient with them and remind us of His beautiful name, Ya Lathif.

I hope for those who had little sparks in their heart wishing to start knowing God, to keep searching and be protected from falling into the hands of people who made use of religion as a bait that leads others astray. Please do seek knowledge from a recognised institution with qualified teachers. Just as I had once been advised so be it the same to share with you. Look from who you take your knowledge. Do learn from different teachers, because many scholars themselves had multiple teachers before they are moulded as scholars. Do not be tricked by anyone who stayed in secrecy but belittled other teachers out there who preached in public. A teacher will never be busy belittling any other teachers.

May all of you find peace and love from Allah swt and His Messenger Prophet Muhammad (May Allah bless him and peace be upon him) and may those of us, whose hearts longs to return to Tarim, be united once again in Hadramawt. For this little blessings I Praise You, Allah. I believed more will come. InshaaAllah. By God’s Will. Amin.

In no ways these account of my experiences has any affiliation with Darruz Zahrah School, Tarim or the scholars and those who had walked my life with me. Any mistake or imperfection comes from my weaknesses and are none of their fault. The records of the events may not be perfect. In between my days there I might have sunk into sleep while holding a pen facing my writing materials. May Allah swt forgives me for the shortcomings in this writing.

Anything beautiful you read in this book belongs to God. Anything lacking is from my own weaknesses. I am still an imperfect seeker in the Path. I am never above anyone else, not in authority or any forms of power, because the only Mighty and Perfection is in Allah swt. It is He Who Watches over me. Amin.

Leaving you with what one of my beloved spiritual dad once said It is not the number of times you fall, but it is the number of times you keep standing up after every fall.

-Umm Soffah Nourellyssa, 2014

PREFACE

Packing with Intentions…

There are only 3-days to start packing my belongings and yes I am very much looking forward to this journey. From the application to the confirmation date, I had ample time to prepare the packing list. However, I wanted to focus on my niyyat (intentions). Neither it is for a fame of being spoken-about "she was in Tarim, Darruz Zahrah", nor is it for a holiday sight-seeing.

It is about going ‘home’ to my spiritual love ones – The Saints’ and partaking on the barakah (blessings) of the land, and at the same time, learn whatever I could. We will be cut off from gadgets and the busy bustling noise of a rat-race life. As the saying goes, Hadramawt is a land for those who seeks the Hereafter.

My writing this book is as part of being a benefit to others, if I am not written by God’s Pen, to be a religious teacher, evangelist, missionary or other forms of service to Him. Let me start on with my main core intention:

In The Name of Allah, The Most Compassionate, The Most Merciful.

I intend learning and teaching, reminding myself and reminding others, benefitting myself and benefitting others, encouraging people to hold fast to the book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah subhana wa ta’ala; calling people to guidance, guiding people to good, and in doing all these seeking the countenance, pleasure, nearness and the reward of Allah Most High.

– Supplication taught by Imam Abdullah Al Haddad.

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Habib Nuh Al Habsyi, the Grand Saint of Singapore

Today is a day before my departure. I am back to my usual childhood place, Mausoleum of Habib Nuh Al-Habsyi (the Saint in