The Key to the Inner Secrets
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Description
About The Book
About the Contributor(s)
About the author
Abu Bakr ibn Salim: Abu Bakr ibn Salim rahimahullah (d. 992 AH/1584 CE) was a Hadrami scholar, Sufi master, and sayyid of the Ba'Alawi tradition, born in the village of 'Inat in the Hadramawt, Yemen. He traced his lineage to the Prophet ﷺ through the Banu 'Alawi of Tarim, a family long distinguished for combining outward Islamic scholarship with inward spiritual cultivation. He studied under leading scholars and Sufi masters of the Hadramawt, mastering the religious sciences and the spiritual path of the Ba'Alawi order. He settled in 'Inat and dedicated his life to teaching students who came to him from across the Islamic world. His writings address the inner dimensions of worship, the purification of the soul, and the etiquette of the spiritual path. His work translated as 'The Key to the Inner Secrets' exemplifies his approach of guiding seekers toward sincerity and awareness of the Divine. He is venerated among the great saints of the Ba'Alawi tradition and his tomb in 'Inat remains a site of visitation.
About the translator
Abdullah Salih: Abdullah Salih is a contemporary English translator of Islamic works drawn from the living scholarly tradition of Tarim, in Yemen's Hadramawt Valley. He embraced Islam in 2003 and soon afterward set out in search of sacred knowledge, settling at Dar al-Mustafa in Tarim, the seminary founded by the scholar Habib Umar bin Hafiz. There he immersed himself in Arabic and the religious sciences, studying Prophetic biography (Sira), Qurʾanic exegesis, hadith, and tasawwuf in the company of teachers whose chains of transmission reach back to earlier generations of the Baʿalawi sayyids. He holds a graduation certificate from the Badr Arabic language program and a testimonial of attendance from Dar al-Mustafa, and his work spans Arabic translation, interpretation, and teaching. Salih's translations make the devotional and instructional writings of the Tarim scholars accessible to English readers. Among them are Habib Umar bin Hafiz's "Prayers Upon the Beloved," a collection of salawat upon the Prophet; the question-and-answer primer "Who is the Prophet Muhammad"; and "Towards a True Spiritual Connection," gathered from Habib Umar's teachings. Through this body of work he carries the counsel and litanies of the Baʿalawi tradition into plain, readable English.
About the foreword writer
Umm Layla: Umm Layla is a contemporary English-language author and translator working within the Ba ʿAlawi tradition of Tarim, the city in Yemen's Hadramawt valley long honored as a center of Islamic scholarship and spiritual devotion. Writing under a kunya rather than a personal name, she devotes her work to rendering the teachings, supplications, and biographies of Tarim's scholars into accessible English for a Western readership. Her writing draws on the words and example of the city's renowned teachers, among them Habib Muhammad al-Aydarus and Habib ʿUmar bin Hafiz, founder of Dar al-Mustafa. Among her titles are "Secrets of Tarim," which gathers insights into the sacred history and inner life of the city, and the children's "Awliya of the Ummah" series, published under Nur al-Iman Publishing, which retells the lives of saints and scholars for young readers, including volumes on Habib ʿUmar bin Hafiz and Habib ʿAlawi al-Aydarus. She has also produced devotional and seasonal works such as collections of supplications and salawat and Ramadanic reminders, and she contributes forewords to related titles. Little is publicly documented about her personal background, as she writes under her kunya. Her contribution lies in making the spiritual heritage of Tarim, its awliyaʾ, and its tradition of love and knowledge available to English-speaking readers, young and old.
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