Futuwwa: The Spiritual Foundations of Nobility

When I first received the e-mail giving me the title of this conference, I was quite dismayed.
Firstly, futuwwa was a subject I did not know too well and secondly, I was unable to see what relevance it might have for the young people of this era who are the focus of this meeting.
As far as I was concerned, futuwwa was a word that could be loosely translated as chivalry and referred to an idealized and elevated type of behavior that was at first encouraged by the Muslims of late Al-Andalus and then adopted and adapted by the Christian knights of the Middle Ages in a kind of attempt to return to an imaginary golden age that had taken place in a mythical past.
Both the mention of the word futuwwa and the pompous subtitle, “The Spiritual Foundations of Nobility,” reinforced this idea, and I even seriously considered asking for another topic for my lecture.
However, when I began to investigate and discover what it really contained, I was surprised that, far from being something distant and on high, the question of futuwwa was actually something very close and earthly and, far from being irrelevant to the age in which we live was in fact, the master key with which to achieve a deep and meaningful Islam, both for today’s young Muslims and for all others, young and old, who are searching for meaning in their lives in this increasingly nihilistic age.
I discovered first of all, he said: “I have only been sent to perfect the noble qualities of character” – and from one point of view, this, and nothing but this, is exactly what the word futuwwa means. Recall also the well-known hadith of Sayyidatna ‘Aisha, radhiallahu ‘anha, who when questioned by the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said that her character was like the Qur’an, i.e., she fully embodied the good qualities of character that Allah extols in His Book. Thus and according to this understanding, futuwwa consists simply in following the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, not in the generally understood sense of imitating his outward actions, but in embodying those noble qualities of character of which he was a perfect example throughout his life. The word futuwwa comes from the Qur’an, from the root fa ta ya which Allah uses in His Book three times in a very definite way. It first appears in Surat al-Anbiya referring to Sayyidina Ibrahim, ‘alaihi sallam, when Allah says: “They said: We have heard a young man refer to them, they call him Ibrahim.” This appears in the middle of a passage describing the episode in which the young Ibrahim destroys the idols of his people and then is thrown into the fire from which he emerges unharmed. The root fa ta is already used to describe Ibrahim by calling him fatan, which is translated here as “a young man,” or in other words, one who embodies futuwwa. As the context shows us, it does not mean just any young man, and furthermore the passage clarifies several aspects of futuwwa. Sayyidina Ibrahim, ‘alayhi salam, possesses very clear characteristics. First and foremost, he affirms without a doubt the unity of Allah, this being the basis of everything he does; he is intelligent and knows how to act in such a way that his actions are effective; he is courageous and is not afraid to go against the dictates of his society when he knows they are wrong; he is patient and courteous when confronted by serious provocations; and he continues to wish the best for his countrymen in spite of the hostility they manifest against him. These are the basic characteristics of the futuwwa people. Another fundamental element present in futuwwa, is evidenced by the following reference to the root fa ta as it appears in the beginning of Surat al-Kahf when Allah ta’ala says: “When the young men took refuge in the cave and said, “Our Lord, grant us mercy from You and resolve our situation by giving us a right direction!” The root fa ta is already found here in the word al-fityatu, plural of fata, which in this case is translated as “the young men.” The young men in this story were much like Ibrahim, ‘alayhi salam, in that their belief in Allah brooked no concession, as did their refusal to join the idolatrous practices of their society; but instead of doing hiyˆra like Ibrahim, they decided to retire to a cave where Allah ta’ala kept them until it was safe for them to return again to the world. Futuwwa is not something that happens while being isolated; it is a collective phenomenon; it affects a group of like-minded young believers who want something different from the kufr that is all that the society around them offers. They affirm and support each other in their decision to find a way to live according to their beliefs while being immersed in a world that wants to drag them in the opposite direction. They are people who follow Allah’s instructions when He tells us in Surat at-Tawba: “O you who believe! Fear Allah and remain with the truthful.” And in Surat al-‘Imran when Allah says, subhanahu wa ta’ala: “And hold fast to the rope of Allah all together and do not separate.” The other Qur’anic mention of the root fa ta ta already appears also in Surat al-Kahf when Allah ta’ala says: “And when Musa said to his servant: I will not cease until I reach the confluence of the two seas and even if I have to strive for many years.” The word mentioned here is fatahu which is translated as “his servant”. As Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir as-Sufi indicates in his brilliant discourse on futuwwa, this definite reference reveals the highest aspiration and goal of the people of futuwwa, people who will not be satisfied until they reach the confluence of the two seas, the place where haqiqa and shari’at meet, the direct knowledge of the Lord of existence, Allah, tabaraka wa ta’ala. These are the direct allusions in the Qur’an to futuwwa itself, but the multitude of occasions in which Allah speaks of the character qualities that define the muminun have direct bearing on this issue; one particularly relevant passage is the advice that Luqman gives to his son.
First he warns him strongly against committing shirk, i.e., allowing anything to come between him and the worship of Allah.
Then comes a passage in which we are taught to obey and behave correctly and courteously towards our parents, provided they do not try to prevent us from worshipping Allah; he also advises us to take as our guide someone who has turned to Allah, thereby referring to the shaykh of instruction.
Then Luqman goes on to say:

“My son! even the weight of a mustard seed within a rock, or in the heavens or on earth, Allah would bring it up; verily Allah is Subtle, Penetrating. my son! Establish the Prayer, enjoin what is recognized, forbid what is reprehensible, and be patient with whatever comes, it is true that that is part of the affairs that require fortitude. And do not pout at people nor walk the earth with insolence for it is true that Allah loveth not him who is boastful and boastful. Be moderate in your walk and lower your voice, for indeed the most unpleasant of voices is the voice of the ass.”
(31: 16-19)

This passage, in which Luqman conveys to his son the essential characteristics for him to enter the path of futuwwa, adds a new dimension to our understanding of futuwwa.
In the deepest sense of the word, futuwwa is education.
In his discourse on futuwwa, Shaykh Dr. Abdalqadir clearly demonstrates that it is about young people involved in a situation that is focused on teaching and in which they gain authentic and useful knowledge that is absolutely relevant and necessary to have a successful life in this world and in the world to come.
The word educate comes from a Latin word that means to direct or to bring out, and there is no doubt that futuwwa serves to bring out specific characteristics of the people who give themselves to this process.
This is the authentic reality of true education.
Today education is seen as the mere acquisition of information that will then be mechanically repeated in examinations, the results of which, if you are lucky, will be a series of certificates and degrees of various kinds.
At the end of the day, modern education is nothing more than a series of pieces of paper.
Thomas Arnold, the great nineteenth-century English educationalist, would be horrified to discover what has happened to the educational system he had so painstakingly helped to put in place.
His own understanding of education was very different from today’s and extremely close to the futuwwa we are talking about now.
He said, “If when they leave school my boys have four things, then I think I have done my duty. These things are: piety, loyalty, speed and generosity.”
And there is no doubt that the sphere of public service and justice generated by the Rugby School and its numerous imitators were the backbone of the administration of the British Empire for the next century.
No, education is not pieces of paper but the transformation of the people subjected to it, providing them with the discrimination, good character, useful knowledge and patterns of behavior they need to get them safely through the rest of their lives and then on to the Other World.
This is what futuwwa means.
The Qur’anic sources we have studied formed the basis of what eventually became established as the science of futuwwa.
Based on examples from the life of the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and the Companions, radhi’allahu ‘anhum ayˆma’in, and the early Muslims, a code of conduct outlining the principles of futuwwa was established over the centuries that has reached its highest expression in Imam Sulami’s Kitab al-Futuwwa.
In this book, the author describes a number of qualities possessed by futuwwa people.
Here are some of them: – They brighten the lives of their companions and are always ready to meet their needs.
– They forgive the injustices they suffer, but are inflexible when it comes to demanding justice from others.
– They avoid focusing on the faults of their companions and forgive the mistakes they make.
– They are patient with offenses and do their utmost not to cause them.
– With respect to the practice of their Din they are extremely rigorous, but they avoid imposing the same rigor on their companions.
– They are generous and magnanimous.
– They are tolerant with their companions. – They allow their companions to use their things as if they were their own.
– They are hospitable and invite people to share their food.
– They make sure their friends and neighbors have what they need.
– They are satisfied with little for themselves but want a lot for others.
– They always tell the truth.
– They keep their word and protect what is placed in their custody.
– They enjoy sharing the joy of their peers.
– They do not attach importance to themselves or their good deeds.
– They seek out good company and avoid bad company like the plague.
It is now that we are beginning to get a more complete picture of futuwwa.
It implies the presence of a group of young people who live in an environment more or less hostile to Islam and who wish to protect and strengthen their belief in Allah by gathering and supporting each other in order to practice their Din and gain the knowledge they will need for their future lives.
And they do this in a very special way.
First of all, they enjoy each other’s company immensely.
The second thing is that, in their gatherings, they are more concerned about the welfare of others than their own.
This means that they are people who have left childhood behind and are on the way to becoming grown men and women.
In the eyes of children, the world exists only to satisfy their needs; everything revolves around them.
They are not aware of others except as the means to get what they want.
There are many people, especially in the times we live in, who never outgrow this state, who never reach maturity, who remain in childhood for the rest of their lives.
In a real sense, futuwwa is a bridge between childhood and maturity, as well as a gateway to the even greater rewards it contains.
Anyone who has contemplated the anger and anguish of the child who is denied what he or she wants is aware of the illusory nature of sensory gratification.
Likewise, anyone who has practiced actions that put the needs of others before his own is undoubtedly aware of the feeling of sweetness and satisfaction that result from such actions.
And what is the alternative, what else is offered to us?
We all know the answer: this wonderful consumer paradise in which we live that promises instant gratification in every way.
For your life to be complete you only need this one thing – and it satisfies us for five minutes, until the next essential item for your happiness is placed before you that makes you open your wallet once again.
On this path there is no way to obtain self-fulfillment.
I remember one of the muqaddams of Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib telling me that inordinate satisfaction of appetites is like throwing more wood on the fire; the more wood you throw the more the fire burns and the more you have to keep putting; there is no limit to it.
And the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, confirmed this when he said, “The Fire is surrounded by appetites.” This does not only mean that people whose lives are dedicated to self-gratification will go to the fire, although in fact they will, but it indicates that this kind of personal indulgence contains the Fire within and will consequently produce distress and suffering in this world.
And the opposite is also true.
Self-denial leads to the Garden and contains it within so that those who practice it believing in Allah will obtain in this world a foretaste of the delight and satisfaction that awaits them in the world to come.
I want to return now to something I said at the beginning when I stated that, far from being the distant and ethereal matter I thought before, futuwwa is actually something close and very concrete.
If what I have said so far seems to suggest that futuwwa is something abstract, I want to make it emphatically clear that there is nothing theoretical about it.
But it is not about a group of young Muslims getting together, studying the principles of futuwwa and then somehow putting them into practice.
No, futuwwa is something that comes naturally when the right conditions are in place for it to take place.
When a group of young Muslims come together to protect and strengthen their Din and live in a way that pleases Allah, it will result in the practice of futuwwa arising among them.
It is like an alchemical process.
When the necessary ingredients are brought together and the right temperature is reached, an inevitable transformation is achieved.
I will use three examples from our own community to illustrate what I have just said.
In the late 1980s, for various reasons, the Muslim school that had operated for several years in Norwhich had to close.
One of the consequences was that a group of three girls who went to the school-one of whom, incidentally, now lives in Grenada-had to go to high school in the city to continue their education.
After spending a year there, we decided to send some more young people to the same school and I went to see the principal to talk about it.
I explained to him what we wanted to do and I can still remember today the warmth and friendliness of his response.
He said, “Please bring as many young Muslims as you want. If only you knew the transformation that these three young women have brought about in this place. All I can say is that somehow these young women have made this school a better place to be.”
Needless to say, the young women were totally unaware of the effect they had made, but what it does show is the tremendous power of their futuwwa that they had practiced almost unconsciously.
The second example took place when the young men who had been studying in Scotland came to continue their studies at the Zawiyya in Grenada.
There were fifteen or so of them, and they had to live for three months in difficult circumstances, with little space and very limited means.
Despite the many difficulties of their situation, I never ceased to be amazed by the harmonious way they lived and studied together during all that time.
What I can honestly say is that during that period I could see on more than one occasion that the members of that group embodied each and every one of the qualities listed by Sulami in his Kitab al-Futuwwa. And what the situation showed was that this was precisely the natural way to behave.
I have subsequently spoken with some of them and all of them, without exception, remember that period as one of the best of their lives.
On the other hand, all the information coincides in affirming that the same thing happened with the students of the Madrasa of Mallorca, with the exception that there, being a longer period of time, the effect of the futuwwa was even more profound and intense.
The third example is very recent, in fact, barely two weeks.
I am talking about the trip to the moussam of Casablanca and the stay in the house of Hajj Abdalkabir.
The group of boys and girls who returned from that trip were not the same as when they left.
Being together those three days in a situation that was for Allah, attending dhikr nights and practicing Din in company, brought about a perceptible change that, although they themselves might not have noticed, was visible to anyone who had eyes to see.
They went on a journey like other young people of these times, Muslims that is, and returned converted into fitya, young believers ready to embark on the path of futuwwa.
Many of us have been in similar situations and have seen how a period of time, however short, of real fellowship in the way of Allah can bring about a dramatic change in the young people involved.
The point is to increase the opportunities for this to happen so that we can build on them.
And the benefits of this type of futuwwa are so tangible that, once tried, there is no longer any need to encourage anyone to repeat the experience.
And the result is that, gradually, that group will begin to bring about a change in the place where they live.
And this is so because we are talking about something that people in this society do not have, but at the same time many are desperately looking for, something that will give real meaning to their meaningless lives.
Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-Habib once told us, in the early days of the community, that when we became Muslims we had pure gold, and non-Muslims had only a crude metal.
When they saw what we had and compared it with theirs, they would no doubt want to have it.
So when the young Muslims of this age gather in the name of Allah and thereby set in motion the alchemical process of futuwwa, they will not only enjoy themselves in the best possible way, but they will make the pure gold of Islam shine in such a way that non-Muslims, who still have some life in their hearts and come in contact with them, will say, “I want some of that!” and they will become Muslims. Shaykh Abdalhaqq Bewley