09/30/2026
“Desire Allah and Flee from Everything Else.”
We heard Shaykh Muhammad Fawzi al-Karkari (may Allah sanctify his secret) say during a mudhākara on Thursday, 28/09/2017, after the ʿAsr prayer:
Some disciples come to us asking us to give them an authorization (idhn) in ruqyah so that they can provide for their children, their families, and so on. Obviously, we are not going to refuse your request. We will give you the idhn. We will even teach you how the Divine Names operate, how the verses to be recited operate, and which illnesses correspond to them.
However, we say this: let the disciple not come to us with the intention of taking up ruqyah, because, indeed, two loves cannot coexist in a single heart. And to my knowledge, none of those who came to us asking for this authorization succeeded upon the Path.
Among the greatest enemies of the Path is one of our former disciples who, several years ago, came to us asking for authorization to perform ruqyah. We gave it to him on the condition that he give half of whatever wealth he earned from it to the zāwiya, to feed the disciples who live in the zāwiya and devote themselves exclusively to dhikr. Likewise, this was a kind of fidya for him, to counteract the greed with which the nafs is imbued.
This disciple imagined that we were joking with him. If only he had understood that this fidya was precisely the reality of the idhn—that it constituted the connection between the spiritual flows of the Shaykh and the disciple.
Allah (Exalted is He) caused this disciple’s beginnings in ruqyah to result in great financial gains. Alas, he did not give the zāwiya its due. He eventually left the Path and behaved without adab toward those with whom he had associated. That is where ruqyah led him.
Likewise, we do not like performing ruqyah for the disciples. We consider that, through the Light that Allah has allowed him to see, he has already been enriched and therefore needs nothing else. Whatever good you derive from the Path, return it to the Path.
Why? Because greed is the mother of all problems.
Your brother who is present here [editor’s note: a brother who came from Algeria] told us that he had come to take the bayʿa, while in his heart he wanted a ruqyah. It was only after he changed his intention that he was able to receive the Bayʿa. By changing his intention, he not only received the Light, but also left with his ruqyah.
Ask Allah, and what you desire will come to you.
Do not pretend. Do not lie to yourself! Seek with sincerity what is in your heart, and know that your heart will never lie to you.
Why do you pretend before your Lord? Does He not know your every thought?
Why, when you desire the possessions of this world, do you claim that you want nothing but Allah? By acting in this way, not only will you fail to attain Divine Proximity, but you will also have no share in this world!
If, deep within yourself, you desire the most magnificent palaces, then ask for them sincerely. Allah has called Himself al-Karīm (the Most Generous); why would He forbid Himself from giving you what you ask for?
We concern ourselves only with those who truly desire Allah.
Among my disciples there is one whom I took with me on a journey. I took him to a particular place and said to him: “Perform dhikr and seek, through unveiling (vision), what lies beneath your feet.”
He did so and saw mountains of gold and priceless treasures beneath his feet—and this through the path of unveiling (kashf).
I wanted to know whether he was capable of resisting these treasures, whether he was capable of not stopping at this world. And indeed, he took nothing from these treasures.
I took him with me to work on the Manifestation of the Divine Names, not to bring treasures out of the ground. It is the operation of the Divine Name that interests us, not the rest.
But the disciple who comes to us with even the slightest desire for this world will never touch these sciences. And if, after receiving the Sciences through unveiling (kashf), he seeks the dunyā through them, then he is no longer my disciple!
Let him not come saying, “I want to know my Lord.”
Whoever seeks to change the Divine nawāmīs through the sciences he receives through vision—we consider that person a Dajjāl.
As for those who do not stop at such things, these are the ones who sincerely love their Lord. They sleep beneath mountains of gold to which they have access, and despite that, you will see them wearing derbāla [patched/worn clothing] and sleeping on torn rugs.
So be clear about your own intention, even before taking the bayʿa!
Several years ago, a group of Tunisians came to us in Oujda. After introducing themselves, one of them stepped forward and asked me:
“Could you give us the Seal of Solomon?”
[The Shaykh began to smile.]
We said to him: “What do you mean by the Seal of Solomon?”
He replied: “A ring.”
And we answered him: “Do you really think that if I had a ring that enabled me to control the entire universe, I would give it to you?”
Really, people should have at least a little logic in their requests.
And why do they desire the Seal of Solomon? For treasures.
And even if we had the ring and gave it to you, it would not work.
Indeed, we possess the science of the Seal of Solomon. But what exactly is this science?
Sayyidunā Sulaymān (peace be upon him) disappeared into the Divine Presence, causing the physical world (mulk) to become extinguished from him, and it was then that he lost all direction.
Completely absorbed in the Divine Presence (Ḥaḍra), he asked for a mulk.
You, on the other hand, do the opposite: you realize yourself in the mulk and want to remain in the mulk.
The Seal of Sulaymān (Khatm Sulaymān) is an inward (bāṭiniyya) reality by which your niyya—your intention—having become, through the intensity of your closeness to the Light, so intense and pure, manifests in the physical world at the very instant you have decided upon it.
