QASEEDAT AL-ISTIGATHA (POEM OF 'AN APPEAL FOR
ASSISTANCE')
By: Shaykh Nur Hakeem (Ilorin, Nigeria)
Translated by: Muqadam Sulayman Odetayo (https://
www.facebook.com/sulaymankaolakh)
1. ##
1. Yaa Shaykhu Ibraahiima Gawthu lil-waraa ##
Githnii bi-gaythika fal-munaa tanfii l-karaa
1. Oh! Shaykh Ibrahim, Succour of the world ##
Assist me with your relief, for aspirations defy solutions.
2. ##
2. Min duuni fadlika laa-u ahilu li-tanaa ##
Wa li-haajati min farti dhanbi qad jaraa
2. Other than your kindness, I yearn/demand not for ##
as endeavours, out of excessive sins, have multiplied.
3. ##
3. Lakinanii aadadtu hubaka sayyidii ##
Fabi-dhaaka fal-haajaati muqdaa laa miraa
3. But i have increased my love for you, my Master ##
For which those endeavours, now successful, would have been doomed
without respite.
4. ##
4. Idh Anta aynu l-ayni man huwa ilatun ##
Lil-kawni man lawlaahu kullu laa yuraa
4. For you (Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse) are the reality of the source of he
(Prophet Muhammad, SAW) who is The Dot ##
for all existence, but for whose sake nothing would have been made
manifest/obvious/to be seen.
5. ##
5. Nuurun li-Anwaari wa aslu asaalati l ##
Atwaari ruuhu l kaainaati abuu l-waraa
5. The Light of all lights, and the Origin of all origins ##
The Authenticator, Soul of all beings, Father of the world.
6. ##
6. ##
6. Dhaaka r-Rasuulu Abuu-l Batuul alaa turaa ##
Barhaama min aqmaarihi wahuwa ath-thuraa
6. That's the Prophet/Apostle (saw), the father of al-Batul (Fatimah) on
the terrestrial plain, ##
Barham is one of his (Prophet Muhammads) constellations and that's on
the celestial plain.
7. ##
7. Bal Anta Yaa Mawlaaya Shamsu Haqeeqatin ##
Tajila raqazta bi-majmai fatadaa waraa
7. But you, my master, are the Sun/light of reality ##
it's radiance illuminating all in its luminescence.
8. ##
8. Fawadadta min amraadi nafsii lawi-jadhab ##
..ta bi-Himmati ruuhii yaseeru muqamaraa
8. I'd be healed from the ailments of my soul, if am attracted ##
by/to the great presence of a soul already illuminated/liberated.
9. ##
9. Fa-aseeru Nuuru Haqeeqatin bi-midaarihi ##
Dawmaa bi-matlaihi taaraa aw jaraa
9. Then I'd be transformed into a light of the reality in its real essence ##
eternally resplendent in its shiny brightness.
10. ##
10. min yawmi awrathka l-Ilaahu l Mustafaa ##
uurith-ta tasreefa l-awaalimi laa miraa
10. From the day you were investitured with inheriting the Chosen One
by God (saw)##
you inherited the manipulation of the universal cosmos without doubt.
11. ##
11. afaradta gaytha bal warith-ta Muhammadan ##
Dhaataa wa nuuran kayfa yarqaa yaaturaa
11.You maintained the solitude of Succour, nay you inherited
Muhammad's (persona) ##
in essence and in its light, how can it then be cured/separated, Oh you
the cynosure.?
12. ##
12. Ruqayya n-Nubuwati bayda ana l mustafaa ##
Khatama al-latii khutimati fa-gayruka laa-yuraa
12. The purity of prophethood rests in the Chosen elect (saw) ##
a seal other than yours will never be found.
13. ##
13. baada siwaa l-khatimi t-Tijaanii Ahmada ##
Idh nahjuhu nahju salakta ilaa adh-dhuraa
13. Except for the Ahmadan Tijani Seal (of sanctity) ##
since his path is that which you tread till the end.
14. ##
14. fa-bimaa s-stagathta bihi agithnii sayyidii ##
Hataa ugith fa-guztu lil-fawqi dh-dhuraa
14. With what you have been imbued, assist me, oh my master ##
till I become truly succoured and beneficial to all above the terrain.
15. ##
15. fa-bimaa s-stagathta hataa s-stugithta agith agith ##
Miimaa wahaadaalaa wa nuunaa wa awaraa
15. With what you've been made a succour, assist me, assist! assist! ##
with it's mim and divergents, nay it's noon and all it strikes?
16.
##
16. Al-Hamdu li-llahi hadaanaa idh hadaa ##
Qawmaa ilaa Barhaama wahuwa alaa th-thuraa
16. Praise/thanks be to Allah, Who guided us to what He sometimes
guides ##
a people unto (i.e) Barhaam, who towers above all on land.
17. ##
17. Allahu Akbar huzta fadlaan faadilaan ##
Min fadli Rabika fuqta fuqta bilaa miraa
17. Allah is the greatest. You got favours upon favours ##
From the favours of your Lord your came tops, outstandingly without
stress.
18. ##
18. Inna r-rajaa qabla l mamaati la-qurbuhu ##
Wal fawzu bil-maamuuli yaqzaa ani l-kiraa
18. The yearning of aspirations is to get close to him before death# and
the greatest of profits/benefits of hoping,is in it's actualization devoid of
repulsion.
19. ##
19. wa bi-alfi alfi min Salaati l-faatihi ##
Fii kulli lahazin li r-Rasuuli Abii-l-waraa
19. By thousands upon thousands of Salatil Fatih ##
in every moment, upon the messenger the father of existence (saw).
20. ##
20. Githnaa wa qum bil-jabri kulla kasuurinaa ##
Yaa ash-Shaykhu Ibraahiima Gawthu lil-waraa
20. Succour/assist us, and splint/repair all our fractures ##
Oh Shaykh Ibrahim, the succour of creatures.
21. ##
21. wa bi-khayri dhikri yadhkuruuna bihi l-waraa ##
Yaa habadhaa sayra n-nahaari ami s-suraa
21. And by the best of remembrances ever rendered by creations ##
Oh how lovely is the movement of its day or its eminence!
Ameen thumma Ameen!
COMMENTARY ON QASEEDAT AL-ISTIGHATHA
Qaseedat al-Istigaathah is the name Shaykh (Nuru Hakeem) gave the
poem, for which it became popular.
It was written by him after he returned from al-Azhar University, where
he had first met Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse, who told him to move further
from thence as his Ma'rifah exceeds such mundane knowledge.
However, on getting to Kaolakh, he (shaykh Nuru Hakeem) was not
opportuned to present the poem to Shaykh, despite his having a former
junior and fellow student at Shaykh Uthman Lanase's school in Ibadan,
now as one of the protocol officers, as Shaykh Ali Cisse's aide de camp.
It was not until Imam Hasan Cisse, whom he had befriended (though a
young man) took him by the hand to Shaykh Ibrahim's bedroom, by-
passing all protocols, that he was finally able to present the poem
(qaseedat al-istigatha) to Shaykh Ibrahim Niasse.
That was the turning point in his life, as Shaykh Ibrahim took notice and
bequested him certain divine mysteries there and then.
All these I heard direct from him (shaykh Nuru Hakeem), on several
occasions.
This poem (qaseedat al-istigatha) thus became popular to the extent that
Shaykh Hamzah Agbarigidoma, another prodigious bard and poet (of
Ilorin, Nigeria) wrote a similar copy of it which also became popular too
(i.e. Yaa Shaykh Ibrahim Fayda lil-waraa).
CONCEPT OF ISTIGAATHA
There is an hadith of Rasul in Qastallani's collections where he (SAW)
said "Ask assistance from the men of Allah when you are in difficulty, for
Allah has men (rijaal) that you do not see positioned for that task".
by: Muqadam Sulayman Odetayo <
[email protected]>
More Commentary on the poem will come soon.insha Allah!
