Beads of Dew from the Source of Life

by Muhtar Holland (Translated)

This is a first class translation of the ‘Rashahat ‘Ain al-Hayat’, which is the ‘Histories of the Khwajagan – The Masters of Wisdom’, originally written by Mawlana Ali ibn Husain Safi.

The main subject of the book is to describe the spiritual states and exploits of the twentieth Shaykh of the Golden Chain, Mawlana Shaykh Ubayd Allah al-Ahrar. Shaykh Ubayd Allah is one the Shaykhs that were called the Khwajagan, which is a Persian title for ‘the Masters’. These were the Shaykhs that lived in Central Asia from the 10^th to the 16^th century, that form part of the Naqshbandi Golden Chain, that also included Khwaja Bahauddin Shah Naqshband (who gave his name to the Order), Khwaja Adbul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani, Khwaja Yaqub Yusef al-Hamadani and Khwaja Sayyid Amir Kulal. These were a group of outstanding spiritual guides that had a profound effect on the Naqshbandi Order.

There is an intimacy in the stories of this book that transcends the time gap of their telling. It illustrates that many of the Naqshbandi teaching principles that are as applicable today in the West as they were in the 10^th century in Central Asia, and that human nature has remained essentially the same over the centuries. Consequently, there is much to be learnt from this book, which adds interest to the setting and period of these true stories.

‘Beads of Dew from the Source of Life’ has been dedicated to the great British Naqshbandi Shaykh, Shaykh Abdullah Sirr Dan al-Jamal by his students, which includes the following quote from Shaykh Abdullah:

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“Behold with awe the Majesty of the Name within this name,
And remember with each heartbeat to repeat it always with love
And true devotion
Thus ecstasy, in harmony with that state
Where all is absolutely still, will flood your being
To drown both time and distance with all your senses, in the Ocean of His Mercy
Where that love which lies behind the Beauty of his Majesty
Is Truth and Truth alone.”