Bismi'llâhi'r-Rahmâni'r-Rahîm
There are very many books teaching Islam. The book Maktûbât, written by Imâm Rabbânî and consisting of three volumes, is the most valuable. Next after that book is another book with the same title, Maktûbât, and consisting of three volumes, yet written by Muhammad Ma’thûm (Imâm Rabbânî’s third son and one of his most notable disciples). Hadrat Muhammad Ma’thûm states as follows in the sixteenth letter of the third volume of his Maktûbât: “Imân means to believe both of the facts stated in the (special expression of belief called) Kalima-i-tawhîd, which reads: Lâ ilâha il-l-Allah, Muhammadun Rasûlullah.” In other words, being a Muslim requires also belief in the fact that Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ is the Prophet. Allâhu ta’âlâ sent him the Qur’ân al-kerîm through the angel named Jebrâ’îl (Gabriel). This book, the Qur’ân al-kerîm, is the Word of Allah. It is not a compilation of Hadrat Muhammad’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ personal views or of statements made by philosophers or historians. Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ made a tafsîr of the Qur’ân al-kerîm. In other words, he expounded it. His expoundings are called hadîth-i-sherîfs. Islam consists of the Qur’ân al-kerîm and hadîth-i-sherîfs. The millions of Islamic books worldover are the expoundings of the Qur’ân al-kerîm and hadîth-i-sherîfs. A statement not coming from the Qur’ân al-kerîm cannot be Islamic. The meaning of Îmân and Islam is to believe the Qur’ân al-kerîm and hadîth-i-sherîfs. A person who denies the facts stated in the Qur’ân al-kerîm has not had belief in the Word of Allah. Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ conveyed to his Sahâba the facts which Allâhu ta’âlâ had stated to him. And the Sahâba, in their turn, conveyed those facts to their disciples, who in their turn wrote them in their books. People who wrote those books are called scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat. Belief in those books of Ahl as-Sunnat, therefore, means belief in the Word of Allah, and a person who holds that belief is a Muslim. Al-hamd-u-lillah, we are learning our faith, (Islam,) from books written by the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat, and not from fallacious books fabricated by reformers and freemasons.
Rasûlullah ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated: “When fitna and fesâd become rife among my Ummat (Muslims), a person who adheres to my Sunnat will attain thawâb (blessings, rewards in the Hereafter) equal to the total sum of the thawâb that will be given to a hundred people who have attained martyrdom.” Adherence to the Sunnat is possible only by learning the books of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat. The scholars affiliated in any one of the four Madhhabs of Muslims are scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat. Imâm a’zam Abû Hanîfa Nu’mân bin Thâbit was the leader of the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat. The anti-Islamic campaigns which the British had been carrying on for centuries for the purpose of Christianizing at least one Muslim ended in outright failure. In their search for new methods to achieve their goal, they established the masonic lodges. Masons deny Hadrat Muhammad’s ‘alaihis-salâm’ words as well as all heavenly religions, and such basic religious facts as Rising after death, and existence of Paradise and Hell.
Note
The Turkish original of the book Se’âdet-i Ebediyye consists of three sections, all of which add up to more than a thousand pages. In the first section we have written in full detail how to perform all acts of worship according to the Hanafî Madhhab. However, we did not cover that material in the first fascicle; it can be found in the other fascicles. The other two sections, in addition to “Final Word of Se’âdet Ebediyye,” which is in the end of section three, make up the presently existing first fascicle.
This fascicle, along with the others, has been prepared so that our noble readers may obtain great use from them. In order for our books to reach our dear readers, we pray for Allahu ta’âlâ’s help and assistance.
Publisher’s Note:
Permission is granted to those who wish to print this book in its original form or to translate it into another language. We pray that Allâhu ta’âlâ will give them a reward for this beneficial deed of theirs, and we thank them very much. However, permission is granted with the condition that the paper used in printing will be of a good quality and that the design of the text and setting will be properly and neatly done without any mistakes.
A Warning: Missionaries are striving to advertise Christianity, Jews are working to spread out the concocted words of Jewish rabbis, Hakîkat Kitâbevi (Bookstore), in Istanbul, is struggling to publicize Islam, and freemasons are trying to annihilate religions. A person with wisdom, knowledge and conscience will understand and admit the right one among these and will help to spread out that for salvation of all humanity. There is no better way and more valuable thing to serve humanity than doing so.
The following is a translation of the Arabic eulogy written at the beginning of the fifth edition of the book Se’âdet-i Ebediyye (Endless Bliss) by the late great religious scholar, the virtuous Hadrat Sayyed Ahmad Mekkî Beg[1]:
Bismillâhirrahmânirrahîm ve bihî sikatî
All praise be to Allah who bestowed upon us what we did not know from beyan (expression and rhetorics). Peace and blessings be on our Sayyed Muhammad (alaihissalâm), who is the best and highest of all those who were given Fasl-ı khitâb and wisdom, and on his pure Ahl-i-bayt and companions who were chosen for him!
I have examined the book Se’âdet-i Ebediyye written by the most virtuous of our age and the best of our time. I have found the knowledge of kalâm, fiqh, and tasawwuf in this book. I have seen that all of these were collected from the books of those who obtained their information from the source of prophethood. There is not a piece of information or word which does not conform to the creed of the Ahl-i Sunnat wal Jamâ’at in this book. May Allah reward the efforts of the Ahl-us-sunnat scholars and the author of this book! Amen!
O innocent youth! Obtain your religious and cultural knowledge from this fine and unique book which does not have and perhaps will not have a rival.
O my Lord! Make Huseyn Hilmi Işık, the son of the late Muhammad Sa’îd bin İbrahim Effendi of Lofça, the writer of this valuable book, happy, blessed and prosperous! Amen! O my Allah! Be pleased with his mother, and father and his late and kind teacher. For the sake of the highest of all the prophets, accept this prayer! Amen!
7th July, 1967 29th Rabî’ul-awwal, 1387 Jum’a
The lowest of Born Servants,
Servant of Islâmic Scholars
Muftî of Kadıköy, Istanbul,
Descendent of Arwasîs
Assayyed Ahmad Mekkî Üçışık
SE’ÂDET-İ EBEDİYYE
ENDLESS BLISS
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST FASCICLE
There are two hundred and forty (240) chapters in Se’âdet-i Ebediyye, and it consists of three parts. Forty-one of the ninety-eight chapters in the first part, thirty-four of the seventy-two chapters in the second part and thirty-three of the seventy chapters in the third part are the translations of letters in the Persian origin of Maktûbât (The Letters) by Hadrat Imâm-i Rabbânî. A few of them are translations of letters by Hadrat Muhammad Ma’sûm (rahmat-Allahi ’alaih). The remaining chapters are taken from many valuable books. Maktûbât by Hadrat Imam-î Rabbânî (rahmat-Allahi ’alaih) consists of three volumes (I, II, III) and they contain five hundred and thirty six letters. All of them were published in two volumes in Pakistan in 1392 [1972 A.D.], and it was printed by offset in 1397 [1977 A.D.] in Istanbul. Maktûbât by Hadrat Muhammad Ma’sûm, his son, is also of three volumes (IV, V, VI). The volume number and the number of each letter translated is given below. The parts that are added by the translator are written in brackets.
HÜSEYN HiLMi IŞIK
'Rahmat-allahi alaih’
Hüseyn Hilmi Işık, 'Rahmat-allahi alaih’, publisher of the Waqf Ikhlas Publications, was born in Eyyub Sultan, Istanbul in 1329 (A.D. 1911).
Of the one hundred and forty-four books he published, sixty are Arabic, twenty-five Persian, fourteen Turkish, and the remaining translated books consist of French, German, English, Russian and other languages.
Hüseyn Hilmi Işık, 'Rahmat-allahi alaih' (guided by Sayyid Abdulhakim Arvasi, ‘Rahmat-allahi alaih’, a profound scholar of the religion and was perfect in virtues of tasawwuf and capable to direct disciples in a fully mature manner; possessor of glories and wisdom), was a competent, great Islamic scholar able to pave the way for attaining happiness, passed away during the night between October 25, 2001 (8 Shaban 1422) and October 26, 2001 (9 Shaban 1422). He was buried at Eyyub Sultan, where he was born.