Knowledge and Wisdom Paperback: 132pgs Imam Abdallah ibn Alawi Al-Haddad Translator: Mostafa al-Badawi Imam al-Haddad, a gifted scholar and spiritual sage, distills in 40 short essays pinpoint reminders about what we need to focus on during the moments, hours, and days of our brief lives. The core issue the book raises revolves around the unrelenting presence that looms above all humanity, namely, the Hereafter, the ultimate destination of all people -- believers and deniers alike. Imam al-Haddad provides advice, inspiration, and reality checks so that we may stay focused on the path that leads to felicity in the Hereafter, God willing, the eternal abode. Toward this most noble of ends, Knowledge and Wisdom imparts the kind of counsel and perspective that can literally change a persons life. Life is short, time is precious, death near, and the distance to travel great, while the moment of standing before God to account for everything, however insignificant, is daunting and hard, writes Imam al-Haddad. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Imam al-Haddad Imam Abdullah ibn Alawi al-Haddad lived at Tarim in the Hadramawt Valley between Yemen and Oman. He is widely accepted as the mujaddid (or renewer) of the 12th Islamic century. He is a direct descendant of the Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace) through Imam al-Husayn. His illustrious ancestors, the Alawi sayyids, had for centuries produced generation after generation of great scholars, gnostics and summoners to the Straight Path. A celebrated scholar of the Shafii School of Jurisprudence, Imam al-Haddad was renowned for the breadth of his knowledge and the profundity of insight. He is also known for compiling litanies of dhikr taken from the Quran and the Prophet. These litanies are widely practiced all over the world. His influence on the Islamic world is reflected by the fact that his books are still in print and have been translated into many languages. He endeavored to produce concise and clear texts. His concern for brevity is manifest throughout his books, many of which are abbreviated adaptations of Imam al-Ghazalis monumental work, Revival of the Islamic Sciences (Ihya Ulum al-Din ). Imam al-Haddad died in 1132 A.H., after having spent his life helping people draw closer to their Lord through the Imams personal teachings, written works, and his exemplary life. He was buried in a simple grave in a cemetery at Tarim. ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR: Mostafa al-Badawi Mostafa al-Badawi is one of the worlds premier translators of Islamic spiritual texts. He is a Consultant Psychiatrist and member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He studied under many shaykhs, foremost among whom is the late Habib Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad. His other translations include: Book of Assistance, The Lives of Man, Key to the Garden, The Prophetic Invocations, and Degrees of the Soul. He is also the author of Man and the Universe: An Islamic Perspective, recently published by Wakeel Books. He resides in Madinah. Excerpt Imagine that you are to die the next day and return to God to stand before Him and be asked to account for your knowledge, behavior, and all your affairs and states, subsequently to be taken to either the Garden or the Fire. What you see there as most important and useful to you is precisely what you must now give priority and attachment to; whereas what you find useless, unimportant, frivolous, or simply of no great necessity is what you must neither pursue nor occupy yourself with. Meditate on this matter and reflect well; it is of tremendous benefit to those who have discernment and are concerned about their appointed time, their return to God, their salvation, and their success in the Hereafter, which is better and more enduring (Quran, 87:17). Success is in the Hand of God, to whom belong all graces, for He bestows them on whomever He wills; and Gods graces are immense. As it is incumbent upon you to excel in everything that you do for the sake of God, such as good works and devotions, so it is incumbent upon you to excel in abstaining from evil, forbidden and doubtful things, and from cravings-for the sake of God. Excellence in such circumstances is to refrain from such things out of sincerity, reverence, modesty, fear, and awe of God the Exalted, and not out of shame, dissimulation, or fear of people. You must also add to your outward abstention the inner abstention which is abstaining from thinking about, liking, or wishing for such things. Excellence in abstention is also to avoid situations where one may lapse and to avoid the company of such people as are likely to drag you along with them. Know this! All success is from God.