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All the practices associated with sufism such as " Dhikr Remembrance " and " Khalwa
/ Spiritual Retreat" and most of Al-buni's writings attest to this very strong sufi
connection and the fact that he was a spiritual master to several students even
after his death which is sometimes said to have been in the year 1225 ?. But other
times we see the years 1231 or 1232 nonetheless after his death his tomb became a
place of pilgrimage which show proces the kind of status he had as a sufi teacher
and that he was maybe even seen as kind of Saint or Wali.
Ahmad al-buni also left behind writings which have collectively come to be called
the " Corpus Bunianum" by academics. And it is here that we find those occults and
esoteric aspects that he has become so strongly associated with.
Now most of al-buni's writings are simply books on Sufism. Similar to many other
book from that tradition talking about these stages of the sufi path practices like
the good and as well as the powers of reciting the divine names. Even books that
are more quote - unquote occult or magical which do exist are all essentially
within a sufi framework. Specifically speculative sufi traditions associated with
The Islamic West as we saw the problem with these writings at least in relation to
the subject of this episode is that none of them are the Syamsul Ma'arif. At least
not as we know it.
Recent scholarship by people like Noah Gardner and John Charles Colon have studied
the ibonian corpus and it's relationship with the popular Syamsul Ma'arif and
suggest that around 5 works attributed to Al-buni can with some certainty be
considered to be hus authentic work. These include works of a more traditional sufi
nature such as the element " Ilm al-huda wa asrar al-ihtida' fi sharh asma' Allah
al-husna a commentary on the names of God. There is "Mawaqif al-gayat fi asrar al-
riyadat" and " Hidayat al-qasidin wa-nihayat al-wasilin".
Al-buni writings also include books that are decidedly more occult and which deals
with topics that are associated with things like esotericism. And maybe even that
controversial word magic which of course al-buni himself would not have used as a
name for what he was doing.
These are primarily the " Lata' if al-isharat fi I-huruf al-'ulwiyyat " the
subtleties of the signs : On the Celestial Letters
And in the ledd and this is where it gets interesting a work entitled the " Shams
al-Ma'arif wa-lata'if al-awarif ".
That most famous book whose title translates to something like " The Sun of
knowledge and the subtleties of elevated things ".
More often know simply under the shorter title " Shams al-Ma'arif ". The Sun of
Knowledge.
So Ahmad al-buni did write a book called The Shams al-Ma'arif and according to
certain medieval sources it seems that this might have been his most famous and
widespread work.
The problem is this is not The Shams al-Ma'arif that we have today indeed they
differ in some dramatic ways actually. The Shams al-Ma'arif as we know it today and
which is so famous were infamous around the world is a large text that is often
seen as a cursed book as the most dangerous book in the world and for those of you
out there that take that stuff seriously you should know that I will be quoting
from this book in this video in a English translation so not the original Arabic
but in an English translation it will be pretty clear when I am quoting from it but
that's my warning to you so you can either choose to just not watch the video if
you are legitimately concerned about that or just sort of.
Keep a lookout for when I'm going to court these passages. Don't be mistaken though
al-buni's is definitely a work including descriptions of practical occult sciences
indeed al-buni himself writes in the introduction that the book contains and here
I'm quoting quote.
" Secrets of the wielding of occult powers and the knowledge of hidden firces "
( fi dimnihi min lata if al-tasrifat wa-awarif al-ta'tirat) ". - Ahmad al-buni