Salam alaykum:

Mawlana just spent an hour in his Damascus house of which your brother Gibril has custody. He came with six or seven of his companions. I served Turkish coffee and lemonade with other things. He asked me: Kayfukum huna? I said: Bi alf ni`ma. He said: Alf ni`ma wa al-hamdu lillah. I presented him with my Hajj Journal. He read the first few pages at length and then he said: Barak Allah fik. Then he asked that this hajj journal be distributed, in the US and England. I showed him my other book on Isra’ and Barzakh which contains Fada’il al-Sham. I conveyed him salam from Sayyid Muhammad bin Alawi of Mecca and Sayyid Habib Omar Ba Alawi of Hadramawt. He asked if the latter was the former’s son! I said no, but that he was the tongue of the shaykhs of Tarim although quite young. He said: Like you? I said: I mean, under 50. He said: Like me then! He made this du`a for me: Allah yaftah `alayk, ja`alak Allah min al-waratha al-muhammadiyyin `ala tariq al-Qawm. I wept trusting in Allah’s where and how to place His friendship. Ya Muhawwil al-qulub ma li `amal?! Then Mawlana visited his books and told me a few other good things. I said to him: The first and biggest blessing for us here in Damascus was to be your house-guest. He replied: “It was a blessing that you were to care for the house.” I have Shaykh Hisham to thank for both blessings.

On Jum`a two days ago Mawlana said this at Shaykh Ahmad Kuftaro’s mosque: – “Those who consider Religion and followers of Religion backward, are the refuse of human beings.” (zibal al-nas). – “Christians consider the coming century theirs, but nothing is left of Christianity nor Judaism, they have been completely abrogated. The next century and millenium are Islam’s.” – “Are you seeking dunya or akhira? Akhira? No. You are seeking dunya. If you truly seek akhira, then sit with those who truly seek akhira and remind you of Allah.” – “May Allah gather us with his awliya both in this world and the next.”

In the dhikr that followed in Grandshaykh’s Maqam Mawlana said: Too many complainers, not enough thankers. Look at yourself in the mirror every day and say: Allah an`am `alayya. Then go out in the street and shout it. Then he recited: Wa qalilun min `ibadi al-shakirun.

There were other things but I cannot remember more at present. Wa sallallahu `ala sayyidina Muhammad wa alihi wa sallam. Pray for your weak brother