Since my childhood, with my father and caller to God, my master, the knower of God: Umar ibn Muhammad ibn Salim ibn Hafiz ibn Abdullah, who became famous for his calling and was known for his determination, I have constantly heard praise for his qualities and character, their enumeration and specification, both in poetry and prose, whether in public or private, in his presence or absence.
Yet I never once found him pleased with any of that — whether he heard it directly or it was relayed to him, through speech or writing, in the media or elsewhere. He would immediately turn away from it toward his goal and purpose, preoccupied with the matter at hand.
Nor did I ever hear him speak about himself, or even subtly hint at any of his qualities. However, in my opinion, if there were ever a lesson in which he might have done so, it would be during the lessons from Imam al-Ghazali’s ‘The Etiquette of residing in the World and Religion” during the six days of Shawwal.
Every etiquette he explained to his audience — to the scholar or the student, among his family or his students, at home or outside, with his family or children, with the old or the young, with the learned or the ignorant — I witnessed with my own eyes in his actions, as if through him, I was being reminded of what I observed from him in all his states.
Had he wished to summarize all those lessons for anyone who attended just once in a single phrase, it would have been: “Follow my example.” That would have been sufficient.
I once said to him: “Some people ask us about your behavior and your state, in your home and with your children; how should I respond to them?” He said to me: “Tell them what you see.”
I have found in his very being someone who exemplified: educating with manners before knowledge, and preaching through action before speech.
And perhaps here we are facing a real proof, a key explanatory tool, revealing to us the secret behind the phenomenon of continuous and unabated attraction toward him, unaffected by the passage of time or the upheavals of trials — the effect of a call characterized by a unique strength that finds its way into minds and hearts without preparation or forewarning, secured by complete trust in the caller’s method and sincerity in summoning people to God.
This reality also clarifies the failure of any attempt to attain a status even close to his, let alone surpass it, and the short-sightedness of those who fail to grasp basic, self-evident truths.
It also confirms the correctness of those rare individuals whose actions embodied those noble qualities, and in whom the beauty of those virtues was witnessed by those who saw them — individuals who, through sincerity of intent, refined themselves by accompanying him, and benefited from sitting in his presence.
Whoever knows, knows; and whoever sees, sees — for in this case, the vision is one of fair comparison, without slander; certainty without doubt — like the sight of the sun, leaving no room for flattery or personal whims. Here, sincerity is distinguished from mere claim, even if voices rise, titles dominate, and campaigns diversify. Attention does not last for them, and in the end, realities become clear to the world — and in the morning, the travelers praise the night’s journey.
And God is the Guide to every good.
Muhammad ibn `Umar
(Habib Umar’s Son)
