Salat al-Mashishiyya
Salat al-Mashishiyya was transmitted by the great saint and Gnostic Abd al-Salam Ibn Mashish. Of the well-known formulas of prayer, this is one of the best, and its virtues are immense. It is effective for forging a special connection (nisbat) with the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and for seeing him in dreams. It is considered the most important prayer upon the Prophet ﷺ in the Shadhili Tariqa.
Arabic, Transliteration and Translation
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَىٰ مَنْ مِنْهُ انْشَقَّتِ الْأَسْرَارُ ❁ وَانْفَلَقَتِ الْأَنْوَارُ ❁ وَفِيهِ ارْتَقَتِ الْحقَائِقُ ❁ وَتَنَزَّلَتْ عُلُومُ آدَمَ فَأَعْجَزَ الْخَلَائِقِ ❁ وَلَهُ تَضَاءَلَتِ الْفُهُومُ فَلَمْ يُدْرِكْهُ مِنَّا سَابِقٌ وَلَا لَاحِقٌ ❁ فَرِيَاضُ الْمَلَكُوتِ بِزَهْرِ جَمَالِهِ مُونِقَةٌ ❁ وَحِيَاضُ الْجَبَرُوتِ بِفَيْضِ أَنْوَارِهِ مُتَدَفِّقَةٌ ❁ وَلَا شَيْءَ إِلَّا وَهُوَ بِهِ مَنُوطٌ❁ إِذْ لَوْلَا الْوَاسِطَةُ لَذَهَبَ كَمَا قِيلَ الْمَوْسُوطُ ❁ صَلَاةً تَلِيقُ بِكَ مِنْكَ إِلَيْهِ كَمَا هُوَ أَهْلُهُ ❁ اَللَّهُمَّ إِنَّهُ سِرُّكَ الْجَامِعُ الدَّالُّ عَلَيْكَ ❁ وَحِجَابُكَ الْأَعْظَمُ الْقَائِمُ لَكَ بَيْنَ يَدَيْكَ ❁ اَللَّهُمَّ أَلْحِقْنِي بِنَسَبِهِ ❁ وَحَقِّقْنِي بِحَسَبِهِ ❁ وَعَرِّفْنِي إِيَّاهُ مَعْرِفَةً أَسْلَمُ بِهَا مِنْ مَوَارِدِ الْجَهْلِ ❁ وَأَكْرَعُ بِهَا مِنْ مَوَارِدِ الْفَضْلِ ❁ وَاحْمِلْنِي عَلىٰ سَبِيلِهِ إِلَىٰ حَضْرَتِكَ ❁ حَمْلًا مَحْفُوفًا بِنُصْرَتِكَ ❁ وَاقْذِفْ بِي عَلَى الْبَاطِلِ فَأَدْمَغَهُ ❁ وَزُجَّ بِي فِي بِحَارِ الْأَحَدِيَّةِ ❁ وَانْشُلْنِي مِنْ أَوْحَالِ التَّوْحِيدِ ❁ وَأَغْرِقْنِي فِي عَيْنِ بَحْرِ الْوَحْدَةِ ❁ حَتَّىٰ لَا أَرَىٰ وَلَا أَسْمَعَ وَلَا أَجِدَ وَلَا أُحِسَّ إِلَّا بِهَا ❁ وَاجْعَلِ الْحِجَابَ الْأَعْظَمَ حَيَاةَ رُوحِي ❁ وَرُوحَهُ سِرَّ حَقِيقَتِي ❁ وَحَقِيقَتَهُ جَامِعَ عَوَالِمِي بِتَحْقِيقِ الْحَقِّ الْأَوَّلِ ❁ يَا أَوَّلُ يَا آخِرُ يَا ظَاهِرُ يَا بَاطِنُ ❁ اِسْمَعْ نِدآئِي بِمَا سَمِعْتَ بِهِ نِدَآءَ عَبْدِكَ زَكَرِيَّا ❁ وَانْصُرْنِي بِكَ لَكَ ❁ وَأَيِّدْنِي بِكَ لَكَ ❁ وَاجْمَعْ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَكَ ❁ وَحُلْ بَيْنِي وَبَيْنَ غَيْرِكَ ❁
الله الله الله ❁
According to some, each “āh” in الله should extend for approximately 12 counts.
إِنَّ الَّذِي فَرَضَ عَلَيْكَ الْقُرْآنَ لَرَادُّكَ إِلَىٰ مَعَادٍ ❁ (28:85)
رَبَّنَا آتِنَا مِن لَّدُنْكَ رَحْمَةً وَهَيِّئْ لَنَا مِنْ أَمْرِنَا رَشَدًا ❁ (18:10)
This marks the end according to older copies of the prayer. Some have added the following verse.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا ❁ (33:56)
Allāhumma ṣalli ʿalā man minhu n-shaqqati l-asrār(u), wa-n-falaqati l-anwār(u), wa fīhi r-taqati l-ḥaqā’iq(u), wa tanazzalat ʿulūmu Ādama fa-aʿjaza l-khalā’iq(i), wa lahu taḍā’alati l-fuhūmu fa-lam yudrik-hu minna sābiqun wa lā lāḥiq(un), fa-riyāḍu l-malakūti bi-zahri jamālihi mūniqah(tun), wa ḥiyāḍu l-jabarūti bi-fayḍi anwārihi mutadaffiqah(tun), wa lā shay’a illā wa huwa bihi manūṭ(un), idh lawla l-wāsiṭatu la-dhahaba kamā qīla l-mawsūṭ(u), ṣalātan talīqu bika minka ilayhi kamā huwa ahluh(u), Allāhumma innahu sirruka l-jāmiʿu d-dallu ʿalayk(a), wa ḥijābuka l-aʿẓamu l-qā’imu laka bayna yadayk(a), Allāhumma alḥiqni bi-nasabih(i), wa ḥaqqiqnī bi-ḥasabih(i), wa ʿarrifnī iyyāhu maʿrifatan aslamu bihā min mawāridi l-jahl(i), wa akraʿu bihā min mawāridi l-faḍl(i), wa-ḥmilnī ʿalā sabīlihi ilā ḥaḍratik(a), ḥamlan maḥfūfan bi-nuṣratik(a), wa-qdhif bī ʿala l-bāṭili fa-admaghah(u), wa zujja bī fī biḥāri l-aḥadiyyah(ti), wa-nshulnī min awḥāli t-tawhīd(i), wa aghriqnī fī ʿayni baḥri l-waḥdah(ti), hattā lā arā wa lā asmaʿa wa lā ajida wa lā uḥissa illā bihā, wa-jʿali l-ḥijāba l-aʿẓama ḥayāta rūḥi, wa rūḥahu sirra ḥaqīqatī, wa ḥaqīqatahu jāmiʿa ʿawālimī bi-taḥqīqi l-ḥaqqi l-awwal(i), Yā Awwalu Yā Ākhiru Yā Ẓāhiru Yā Bāṭin(u), ismaʿ nidā’i bimā samiʿta bihi nidā’a ʿabdika Zakariyyā, wa-nṣurni bika lak(a), wa ayyidni bika lak(a), wa-jmaʿ baynī wa baynak(a), wa ḥul baynī wa bayna ghayrik(a).
Allāāāh Allāāāh Allāāāh.
Inna lladhī faraḍa ʿalayka l-qur’āna la-radduka ilā maʿād. (28:85)
Rabbanā ātinā min ladunka raḥmatan wa-hayyi’ lanā min amrinā rashada. (18:10)
Inna Llāha wa-malā’ikatahu yuṣallūna ʿala n-nabiyyi yā ayyuha lladhīna āmanū ṣallū ʿalayhi wa sallimū taslīma. (33:56)
O Allah, send prayers upon the one from whom the spiritual secrets were sundered, and from whom the lights burst forth, and in whom the ultimate realities arose.
The one in whom descended the knowledge of Adam and thus stymied all of creation, and before whom all understandings dwindled, thus none of us before or after has ever realised his true essence and none of us ever will.
The gardens of the dominion (malakut) are fair with the flowering of his resplendent beauty, and the pools of the omnipotence (jabarut) pour forth through his ever-flowing illuminations.
And there is nothing except that it is conditioned by him, since if not for the means, the end — as has been said — would have gone.
Send upon him such a prayer that truly befits You — from You unto him as is deserving to him.
O Allah, indeed, he is Your all-embracing secret, the guide unto You, and Your Supreme Sentinel standing for You, before You.
O Allah! Connect me with his lineage, realise me through his excellence, grant me knowledge of him — knowledge through which I attain salvation from the streams of ignorance, and by which I may sip from the streams of bounty.
And carry me on his path unto Your Divine Presence — with a carrying surrounded by Your aid.
And hurl me against falsehood so I smash it, and plunge me into the seas of Absolute Oneness, and pluck me from the mires of affirming unity, and drown me in the centre of the sea of oneness until I neither see nor hear nor find nor sense anything but by it.
O Allah! Make the Supreme Sentinel the life of my spirit, and make his spirit the secret of my reality, and make his reality the connector of my realms, by the realisation of the first truth.
O First! O Last! O Outward! O Inward!
Hear my plea as You heard the plea of Your servant Zakariyya.
And grant me victory through You and for You, and aid me through You and for You, and join me and You, and come between me and other than You.
Allah, Allah, Allah!
Verily the One who has enjoined the Quran upon you shall most certainly bring you back to a return. (28:85)
O our Lord! Grant us a mercy from You, and grant us rectitude in our affair. (18:10)
Indeed, Allah and His angels send prayers upon the Prophet. O you who believe! Send prayers and abundant salutations upon him! (33:56)
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Salat al-Mashishiyya Benefits
About Salat al-Mashishiyya, the erudite Sayyid Muhammad Ibn Abidin, a prominent scholar and jurist from Syria, and author of the famous Radd al-Muhtar ala al-Dur al-Mukhtar, said in his thabat:
I have also received the prayer of the Shaykh and Imam, the Pole and knower of Allah and guide unto Him, the possessor of the luminous spiritual path and tremendous and radiant spiritual states, the one of Prophetic lineage and excellent character, our master and liege lord, scion of the Prophetic Household, Abd al-Salam Ibn Mashish — pronounced with a ba or a mim — al-Husayni al-Maghribi (d. 622 AH).
This prayer was mentioned by al-Shihab Ahmad al-Nakhl and his student al-Shihab al-Manini and their respective thabats. Al-Nakhli mentioned that he received the prayer from Shaykhs Ahmad al-Babuli and Isa al-Tha’alabi. He said, “He [Shaykh Isa] instructed me to recite it once after the Dawn Prayer and once after the Sunset Prayer…. I also saw in some annotated copies of the prayer that it should be recited three times daily: after the Dawn Prayer, after the Sunset Prayer and after the Night Prayer. So great are the lights and secrets obtained from this prayer that only Allah knows their reality. In reciting this prayer there comes divine succor and the lordly spiritual opening (al-fath al-rabbani). The one who makes it his regular practice to recite this prayer will remain in a state of truthfulness and sincerity; his breast will be expanded and his affair will be made easy, and he will enjoy the protection of Allah from all travails, tribulations, and sicknesses, inwardly and outwardly; he will be granted victory against all foes; he will receive Allah’s tremendous divine assistance in all of his affairs; he will be looked upon with the eye of Allah’s solicitude and concern — the Generous and Bestower — and the solicitude of His Messenger, may Allah send prayers and peace upon him and his Family and Companions. The benefit of this prayer will manifest when it is recited regularly and with truthfulness, sincerity, and God-consciousness — and whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger and fears Allah and keeps conscious of Him, then it is they who are the triumphant. (24:52)
Further Reading
References
- The Muhammadan Litanies: Prayers upon the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ for Invocation and Reflection — From the works of Shaykh Yusuf al-Nabahani. Translation and Notes by Abdul Aziz Suraqah.
- The Salutation Upon The Best Of Creation — Ahmad ibn Ajiba al-Hasani. Translation by Abdul Aziz Suraqah.
Line by Line
Salat al-Mashishiyya line by line for memorisation purposes.