SUFI STORIES (also posted in FACEBOOK/amirfarid.isahak)

Today’s long story began 50 years ago. I have mentioned about the two Pak Engkus who were my first spiritual mentors. The elder Pak Engku Karim was the one who first got messages from beyond for me. Today’s story is about the exploits of his younger brother, Pak Engku Jalil. Pak Engku Karim died a few years ago. Pak Engku Jalil is still alive today. He is now 83 years old. In 1970, Pak Engku Jalil went for the Hajj in Makkah with his father. He was 33 years old. Although he was married with kids, they did not accompany him. He went by ship, which took two weeks each way (although there were already Hajj flights then, regular Hajj flights from Malaysia started only in 1976). It was usual for the pilgrims to stay there for a few months. One day (in Makkah), he met a Shaykh who invited him to his house and gave him religious and spiritual lessons. Thereafter he went to the house at the appointed time regularly for his private lessons. On one occasion, the Shaykh asked him if he missed his...

I continued in that state of frequent fasting, incessant recitation of Al-Fatihah and yearning for the Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) for many months . Soon I realized that I was getting answers whenever someone asked important questions, including about the future. When some people found out about this ability of mine, they would ask me for advice. Some asked me about the pending major examination results of their children. When the answers came (instantaneously), I realized I had a dilemma. If the results were good, then everyone was happy to hear. But if the results were bad, then I was only causing them extra months of sadness. If they had waited for the results to be officially released, at least they would have not been miserable for several months earlier. But the cruncher came when a lady friend asked me to confirm if her husband was having an affair with another woman. The answer came immediately, and it was affirmative. I was in a fix. If I told her that, ...

Among the instructions I received from Pak Engku Karim (see Sufi Stories #2) was that I needed my Mother’s forgiveness and blessings before God’s Blessing, Grace and Mercy will descend upon me. Although my Mother had told me that she had forgiven me for everything that I had done or said that may have hurt her, Pak Engku Karim said the instructions he received was that my Mother had to do certain things for me to receive God’s favours . My Mother was in our hometown (Kota Bharu, KB) at that time. She decided to go and ask her own spiritual adviser, Tok Guru Haji Zain (may Allah bless his soul), if all that was told by Pak Engku Karim was true. He lived in Pasir Puteh, a town not far from KB. To her surprise, not only did he confirm that those instructions were true, he also advised my Mother to rush to Kuala Lumpur (KL) and comply with those instructions immediately. So she took the late night flight to KL that very night! It was a one hour flight. By the time she arrived at my house, ...

  My entry into Sufism was accidental. I wasn’t searching for God. I was searching for answers for my personal problems. Back in 1988 my personal and business lives were in a mess. One afternoon, a pious Qur’an teacher, whom I called Pak Engku (full name Raja Abdul Karim, may his soul rest in Peace), told me that he had received messages for me – that I am to be more disciplined in practising the pillars of Islam (the prayers especially) if I wanted God to solve my problems. It so happened that I had planned to go to Medan (in Sumatra, Indonesia) the following week with Pak Engku’s younger brother (Raja Abdul Jalil, who I call Pak Engku Jalil). He was bringing a group of people to meet a pious old man there. We were seeking the old man’s advice for our respective problems. When it came to my turn, the old man said that nobody in this world could help me. I had to turn to God and seek His help. Upon my return to Kuala Lumpur, Pak Engku Karim told me that he had received more message...

  I entered the Sufi Path in 1988. In 1998 I received instructions to spread the message of Sufism openly. The first person (a medical colleague) I told that I am a Sufi promptly gave me two books to read: 1) The Danger of Sufism, and 2) Why Sufis are Deviants (both in the Malay language). The second person (a fellow Muslim activist) I told immediately questioned my credentials, as I do not have a strong Islamic background and I am certainly not an Islamic scholar. These two early experiences made me realize that I have to find other ways to spread the message. Then in 2003 The Star newspaper requested that I write a fortnightly column on Qigong (a Chinese health & healing exercise which I practise and teach). After 6 months (which was the original request), I was asked to continue writing. I soon ran out of topics to write about Qigong, and started writing about many other things, including snippets about Sufism. My "Art of Qi" and later "Art of Healing" column...