HILYA-I SA'ADAT

After giving his Sahaba advice,
Master of worlds said, "After my demise,

A person who my Hilyaipak [1] sees,
Has in fact seen my very face, likewise.

And the more he sees me,
The more will he turn towards me lovewise.

And he will desire to see me the more,
The more will my love fill his heart this wise.

Hell will then be forbidden from him,
Paradise will my Rabb [2] give him giftwise.

Haqq [3] will not bring him to Judgment Place naked,
He will to him be more compassionwise."

It is said, if a person writes
About the HilyaIRasul [4] lovewise;

Haqq shall make him secure,
Be the whole earth boil disasterwise.

Nor shall his skin know any illness,
All his body shall be safe diseasewise.

However sinful as that man may be,
Hell shall be allowed to touch him nowise.

For him the world to come shall be safety,
And his life shall be easy thisworldwise.

Rabbijalla [5] shall rise him in the Hereafter,
With those who saw the Messenger likewise.

Difficult as it is to describe the HilyaiNabi, [6]
We shall attempt, though, if things be goodwise.

Trusting ourselves to the Zuljalal, [7]
We attempt the description humblewise.

All the connoisseurs agree as to that
The Fakhrialam [8] was white, reddish.

His blessed face was pure white,
Like a rose it was, somewhat reddish.

The sweat on his face was like pearls,
Gracing the already lovely jewel.

Whenever that source of felicity sweated,
His beautiful, radiant face became the waves.

His eyes looked as if tinged,
So beautiful, they fascinated hearts.

The whites of his eyes were real white,
In ayats praised him, his Creator.

His black irises were not at all small,
Distance made him no difference at all.

Wide, lovely were his eyes, and graceful,
His radiant, elegant face, always blissful.

Hadrat Mustafa's very powerful sight
Would not discriminate between day'n night.

Whenever he meant to look at something,
His pure body would turn towards that thing.

To his blessed head he consigned his innocent body,
As long as he lived on this terrestrial body.

Although his body was all material,
He can be said to be a soul corporeal.

So elegant he was, and so affable;
To his Creator, a Messenger so lovable.

As Malik and Abu Hala were concordant,
His eyebrows were open, like a crescent.

Between his eyebrows was pure white,
Visible like silver, it was so bright.

His blessed face was round a bit,
With so bright a skin, almost limpid.

Between his blessed black eyebrows
Was the Qibla [9] for the entire universe.

His blessed nose in profile,
Looked a little higher in the middle.

So fine, so neat, so attractive it was,
To define it, beyond anyone's power it was.

Between his teeth was somewhat sparse;
They shone, like a string of pearls.

Whenever his front teeth appeared,
All around the place haloes covered.

Whener he smiled, the Master of both worlds,
The Prophet of all, living or lifeless, in all worlds;

His front teeth appeared, so chaste,
Like hailstones polished with paste.

Ibni Abbas said, the Creator's Most Beloved
Was too bashful to laugh aloud.

So shamefaced that symbol of Islam was
That he never laughed aloud, the saying was.

Polite was the Messenger of Allah, and so shy
That he would never look up at the sky.

His face was roundish, like the harvest moon,
A mirror that reflected the Mawla's [10] boon.

So lightsome was his auspicious face,
It was dazzling to look at him in the face.

So fascinating to the hearts was that Nabi,
In love with him were a hundred thousand Sahabi.

Those who dreamt of him only once,
Said nothing was so enjoyable as that nonce.

His cheeks, symbols of sweet beauty,
Were not plump, nor at all too meaty.

Him JanabiHaqq had created
White faced and broad foreheaded.

The haloes of his neck would gleam
Through his hair, like a source of beam.

Of his blessed beard, the hairs that were gray
Were no more than seventeen in number, nay.

It was neither curly, nor at all too long;
Wellshaped, like all limbs that to him did belong.

The Rasuliafaq had a throat quite pure,
In color it was white and very clear.

Among the goodmannered Sahaba many expressed
That his abdomen and his chest stood abreast.

Had it been possible to open his blessed chest,
The treasure of knowledge would radiate divine zest. [11]

A chest where divine love would rise
Could by no means be otherwise.

His blessed chest was expanded;
'Ilmiladunni there descended.

White and limpid was that great chest;
Those who saw thought it was the moon harvest.

Profound love for the Eternal Being
Had set fire to that exquisite being.

Everyone knows, young or old, no matter,
Softhearted was the universe's master.

Upper part of his back was somewhat fleshy;
Munificent, and a symbol of magnanimity.

His silver skin was extremely delicate;
A big seal on it said he was the Prophet.

Seal of the Prophet was on his back, high,
And on the righthandside it would lie.

Those who with the matter was acquainted
Said a big beautyspot was the Seal of Prophet.

It was black, yellowish in shade
As big as a pigeon's egg in grade.

Surrounded, as if with a border line,
By small hairs in a circular line.

Those who knew that Noblest Pedigri
Said, bigboned was the great Nabi. [12]

Each of his bones was big, and round in shape,
Exquisite, both in essence and in shape.

Each of his limbs, which were so blessed,
Suited by creation, wherein firmness was stressed.

All the blessed limbs of the Prophet's
Were as elegant as the Qur'an's ayets.

The palms of that stately being
Were wide, pure, fine, and darling.

So lovable were also his soles,
Fragrant and pretty, like a fresh rose.

So elegant, the connoisseurs expressed,
Were those miraculous hands, and so blessed.

Whenever the Prophet greeted someone,
His sweet smile would soothe anyone.

A couple of days after the event, nay,
Even several months, we should say,

Among crowds the fortunate fellow
Would be known from his smell so mellow.

His crystalline skin was white, hairless;
What words could praise a beauty so faultless!

To see the Beloved always and forever,
That blessed, fine body was eye all over.

So perfect was that delicate complexion,
Whereon Creator manifested His divine creation.

No hairs on his abdomen or chest,
Pure white, like a silver plate.

Only, from the midchest downwards,
A line of hairs went waistwards.

This black line looked on his body, so blessed,
Fine like a halo around the moon harvest.

The blessed limbs remained throughout his life
The same as they were in his early young life.

As time passed, the Prophet grew in age, naturally;
Like a bud, however, he was renewed physically.

Never presume that the Sultan of Universe
Was a bit above the normal size in fatness.

Neither thin nor fleshy was he;
Medium in size, and quite mighty.

Those people who are deeply learned in the matter,
Neither too lean, nor above the normal or fatter.

The Maker had made that splendid body,
With divine justice and equality.

On his pure skin precision reigned;
On his entire body haloes rained.

The Champion of Sidra [13] was of medium stature;
With him did the world attain its peaceful order.

Those who saw his miracles and wonders,
Said to praise him was beyond their powers.

We have never seen such rosy beauty,
In height, in manners, in features, so lovely.

The Prophet was of medium height; yet,
When a tall man walked with the Prophet,

However tall that man might be,
The taller one the Prophet would be.

The Prophet, with the tall man compared,
Would be as taller as the palm of hand.

Whenever he walked, in dignity,
Rather fast was he in velocity.

As he walked, his habit was, let us say,
To bend forward, in a singular way.

Like walking downwards, that is to say,
He would lean forward in a slight way.

So high was he in honor and personality,
The soul of Halil [14] was proud of his nobility.

When Huda [15] loves a person, certainly,
All his limbs will be perfect in beauty.

As the Messenger of Allah walked quietly,
If a person confronted him suddenly,

That person would be stricken with fear;
Such would Allah's Messenger to him appear.

If a person talked with the Prophet continuously,
And listened to his sweet voice piously,

The flavor in his words would affect him so much,
He would be the Prophet's slave, if accepted as such.

The Eternal Creator had decked him with such beauty,
Peerless in all sorts of moral quality.

O, thou, Rasulallah! [16] I am short of lauding thee;
We all were created for the sake of thee.

O, thou, the king of the zone with faith rife;
For thee I wish to sacrifice my life!

FOOTNOTES

1. The beautiful, pure face of the Messenger of Allah.

2. Allahu ta'ala.

3. Allahu ta'ala.

4,6. Telling about theMessenger of Allah.

5. Allahu ta'ala.

7. Allahu ta'ala.

8. The Master of Worlds, i.e. the Messenger of Allah.

9. Direction where to a Muslim turns his face during namaz; Kaba.

10. Allahu ta'ala.

11. Thw word used in the original text is fayz (or faidh), which means occult, inexplicable, invisible rays of spiritual knowledge which the blessed heart of the Messenger of Allah radiates continuously, and which will be radiated as long as life on earth continuesly, and which will be radiated as long as life on eart continues. If a Muslim adapts himself perfectly to the teachings of the Qur'an al-karim and to the Islamic priniples of behavior taught by the Messenger of Allah, which in turn can be learned from those true Islamic scholars called Ahl as-sunna(t) wal Jama(t), or from their books, the heart of that fortunate Muslim begins to receive those spiritual rays. The flavor enjoyed while receiving those rays cannot be described to a person who has not tested them yet. One day, Husain Hilmi Isik Effendi, the master of the humble translator of this book, said, "If a person has never eaten honey, of how much help could the taste of jam be describing honey to him?

12. The Prophet 'sall-Allahu ta'ala alahi wa sallam.'

13. Sidra-t-ul muntaha: a tree in the sixth sky. No creature, except for our Prophet 'sall-Allahu ta'ala alahi wa sallam', has gone farther above the Sidra-t-ul-muntaha. One year before the Hijrat (Hegira), when our Prophet 'sall-Allahu ta'ala alahi wa sallam' was fifty-two years old, on the twenty-sixth night of the blessed month of Rajab (on the night between the twenty-sixth and twenty-seventh days), the Archangel Jabrail (Gabriel) 'alaihissalam' took the Messenger of Allah 'sall-Allahu ta'ala alahi wa sallam' to the Kaba, wherean unknown person cleaved his chest, took out his heart, washed it with Zamzam water, and put it back in its place. Then the Prophet and the Angel mounted a Paradise animal called Burak and rode to the Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem, which took them only a moment, thence ascended to the sixth sky, in one moment again. When they came to the Sidra-t-ul-muntaha, Jabrail 'Alaihissalam' said hecould not go any further, for he would be burnt into ashes if he did. The Prophet went on alone. He went beyond the Sidra and beyond the Arsh, and entered Paradise. He saw Allahu ta'ala in an ineffable, incomprehensible, inexplicable manner, without time and without direction. Then he was taken back to the earth. This ascent of the Messenger of Allahu ta'ala is called Miraj. Muslims celebrate this blessed event yearly on the twenty-sixth night of the blessed month of Rajab.

14. The Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) 'alaihissalam.'

15. Allahu ta'ala.

16. The Messenger of Allah.