Sufi Realities, Prayer Manual for Tariqah ash-Shadhdhuli by Dawud Miracle

The Teachings of Sidi Muhammad al-Jamal ar-Rifa'i ash-Shadhdhuli, Shaduli, Shadhuli, Shadhili, Shadhiliyya, Shadduli, Shadhuliyya

About SufiRealities

As-salaamu 'alaykum

First, I'd like to thank you for visiting sufirealities.com. By Allah, I pray that you've gained something beneficial from the materials on this site.

The idea for SufiRealities grew out of the development of A Prayer Manual of Tariqah ash-Shadhdhuliyyah. In 2003, shortly after moving back to Michigan from California, I saw the need for a book to use at our twice-weekly dhikrs. At the time we had a few new beloveds in our group and had a steady, yet small, stream of new people coming to dhikr to "check us out."

It quickly became obvious to me that our group needed some sort of a "dhikr manual." This manual could make learning some of the practices easier for our new beloveds while also serving as a follow-along aid for those who were coming to check out our dhikr.

The first version included wudu, al-wird, the Names and Attributes of Allah (as-sifat), and the Wadhifah.

With that first manual, I thought is was important to have a consistent Arabic-English transliteration system. I figured this would make it easier to learn how to recite the practices. Just before completing the first manual, I came upon the transliteration system used by Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee. This was the first time that I had found a means for transliteration that made it possible to approximate Arabic sounds using English letters. So, I studied this system and began updating the manual.

As I was updating the transliteration system, I was also taking feedback from people who has seen and used the manual around our Tariqah. All the feedback was positive...and people seemed to want more - especially something about learning Salah.

By the summer of 2003 I had a good idea that the manual wasn't finished. So I stopped working on it directly for a while and began to ask Allah for guidance about what to include. In no time at all, alhumdhulillah, it became clear to me that I needed to create a Prayer Manual that included Adhan, Salah, Tasbih and the Fasting in Ramadan, among other topics. I also sensed that including the Arabic script for each section (wherever possible) was also very important. And so that simple, dhikr manual grew into the Prayer Manual that you see on this site today.

Once completing the Prayer Manual I put my focus on getting the word out about it. In October of 2004, I visited the Jaffe Institute (pre-University), with Allah's Grace, to share the Prayer Manual with the students and faculty. The Manual was warmly received by all and I began to sell them through the Gift Shop, subhanallah.

Before I went to the Jaffe Institute School session, it was clear to me that this would be the beginning and the end of my "publishing career." The Prayer Manual was a lot of work, alhumdhulillah, and I was definitely looking forward to being done with publishing anything for quite a while.

However, as things often go, I found this to be just the beginning.

While at the Jaffe Institute session, we made an all-night khalwah with our Guide, Sidi. After completing the khalwah I was praying fajr back in my hotel room when I was moved with another idea for a book. That book, inshaallah, will be completed some time in the near future. However, in the weeks following and in the time leading up to this writing, I've gotten ideas for many more materials that could, inshaallah, be beneficial to people.

From this story comes the inspiration to develop a website (which I do as a profession) to share and promote materials - print, audio and video, inshaallah, to help beloveds learn more about Sufism in general, the Shadhdhuliyyah Way, Islam and related topics.

At the same time, I want to know what people are needing, so I created a page on the site where you can request/suggest materials that you feel would be of benefit. Inshaallah, and through His Strength, I'll have the ability to create these materials and more.

My goal with SufiRealities is that this website and the materials that come from it can be of assistance and benefit to all those who wish to learn more about Sufism - Sufi, Muslim, Spiritual Seeker, Curious Heart, etc, alike. I ask Allah, the Most Generous, the Most High, to make this effort a success in the way He deems necessary and useful. May He guide my mind, my heart and my spirit to give to anyone who wishes to know about the Sufi Way - from what He teaches me. Amin.

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