Insight Editions · No. 154
A Prayer for Spiritual Elevation and Protection
al-Dawr al-a'la (Hizb al-wiqaya) of Ibn 'Arabi
Suha Taji-Farouki · Study and translation by Suha Taji-Farouki
Suha Taji-Farouki studies and translates Ibn 'Arabi's devotional prayer al-Dawr al-a'la, tracing its manuscript transmission, recitation, attributed virtues, and reception across Sufi communities.
A study guide to A Prayer for Spiritual Elevation and Protection by Suha Taji-Farouki, study and translation by Suha Taji-Farouki. Shared free for personal reading; not for sale and not endorsed by the authors or publishers. Please read and buy the original.
About the Book
A Prayer for Spiritual Elevation and Protection is Suha Taji-Farouki's Anqa (2006) study of al-Dawr al-a'la (also Hizb al-wiqaya), a short prayer attributed to Ibn 'Arabi (1164-1240), with a foreword by Michel Chodkiewicz. Transliteration, bibliography and index stay out, as in the lean map.
In one sentence: a small prayer absent from Ibn 'Arabi's own lists has been recited without break for four centuries, by a hidden network of ijaza and by public print, and its carriers include both uncompromising Sufi devotees and salafi-leaning reformers, so the modern Sufi-salafi split looks anomalous when this text is followed through time.
Argument Map
Chapter Map
Ten Ideas
| # | Idea |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ibn 'Arabi is a Lebemeister: short prayers teach how to live, not only how to think. |
| 2 | Attribution rests on tradition and manuscript majority, not on his own bibliographies. |
| 3 | The Dawr leads a double life: hidden ijaza and public print side by side. |
| 4 | An ijaza unlocks secrets, protects, and sets personal times and counts. |
| 5 | Six chains and 40+ Istanbul copies map four centuries of use. |
| 6 | Nine child-ijaza links fit a short protective prayer children could memorise. |
| 7 | Reformist ulama and Sufi defenders overlap in the same chains. |
| 8 | Claimed powers mirror a world of plague, travel danger and jinn; sincerity is the condition. |
| 9 | Each of 33 verses joins two Names, a request and a Qur'anic scene, and ends on "Allah". |
| 10 | Use the Names in obedience; ask for God and receive the rest as consequence (al-Tafilati). |
Introduction: A Liturgical Ibn 'Arabi
Scholars have edited and translated Ibn 'Arabi's metaphysics at length, but his prayers have drawn little attention. Taji-Farouki takes a single short one, al-Dawr al-a'la, and follows it through living practice, four centuries of manuscripts and the text itself. The liturgical side, she notes, has been neglected; Padwick's survey had no real follow-up.
Collections and Titles
The largest collection of prayers attributed to Ibn 'Arabi is in Gumushanevi's (d. 1894) Majmu'at al-ahzab. Later printings claim to be critical editions but rarely name their manuscripts, and no critical edition of his prayers exists. The full title of this one is al-Dawr al-a'la al-muqarrib ila kull maqam al-a'la, "The Most Elevated Cycle that brings one close to Every Station of The Most High". It is also called Hizb al-wiqaya, the Prayer of Protection. A title variant adds li-man arada al-wilaya: "prayer of protection for one who strives for close friendship [with God]".
Why "dawr"
A dawr is a turn or revolution, and no other prayer is known by that name. Copies use it both for the whole prayer and for each verse, and some number the verses "first dawr, second dawr". The commentator al-Damuni explains: it turns upon the Name of God the Ever-Exalted, "from Whom all things begin and to Whom is their end", and its secrets circulate with the reader "day and night... awake and asleep... in this life, the hereafter and the barzakh". Taji-Farouki rejects McGregor's reading of dawr through Egyptian choral song as "unsustainable".
| Plan of the book | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Chapter 1 | Present life: Damascus, Istanbul, Britain |
| Chapter 2 | History in manuscripts; six chains; cultural windows |
| Chapter 3 | Properties, composition, translation, Arabic, transliteration |
| Appendix | Manuscripts and chains (copies A-M) |
Chapter 1. The Dawr Today
Like every Sufi liturgical text, the Dawr now leads a double life. One life is hidden: a shaykh authorises a disciple to recite it through an ijaza. The other is public, a product of print, new media and mass literacy breaking up traditional transmission. Three sites show both: Damascus, Istanbul and the United Kingdom.
The prayer turns up in many popular collections but is less well known than comparable prayers. Padwick's 1950s survey of prayer manuals includes it without counting it among their best-known contents, and it is less used in Shi'i contexts than in Sunni ones.
Damascus
The Dawr is recited collectively at the weekly gatherings of blessing on the Prophet (majalis al-salat 'ala al-nabi) in the mosque beside Ibn 'Arabi's mausoleum in the Salihiyya district. In 2003 it was read at two of the eight weekly gatherings. One, founded in 2001, meets on Friday between the noon and afternoon prayers. The other, before dawn on Saturday, is old. It was founded more than seventy years ago by the Rifa'i Hashim Abu Tawq (1847-1962), who led it for forty-five years before handing it in 1960 to Salim al-'Amm. The Saturday gathering is known for Mustafa al-Bakri's Wird al-sahar.
The text is easy to get. A photocopied sheet sits in the imams' room, and pamphlets owned as endowments by the gatherings include it. It is also printed in the collection of former Mufti Abu'l-Yusr 'Abidin (d. 1981), in a free Turkish-Syrian collection, in the margin of al-Jazuli's Dala'il al-khayrat, and by the Egyptian shaykh Mahmud al-Ghurab (born Tanta 1922). Al-Ghurab calls his version a critical edition but names no manuscripts. 'Abidin advised reading Ibn 'Arabi daily, especially the Futuhat.
Yet the older mode survives. An ijaza unlocks the prayer's secrets for the disciple, protects him from possible harm and keeps the secrets for those prepared. It usually prescribes time and frequency, and it may set the prayer within a cluster of other formulae or add words at fixed points. These rules are tailored to the disciple, may come to the shaykh in a dream, and change as the disciple advances.
| Shaykh | Disciple | Prescription |
|---|---|---|
| Ahmad al-Harun (d. 1962) | Mahmud al-Ghurab | Once every 36 hours, with the Awrad |
| Ahmad al-Harun | Mamduh al-Nass | Once every 24 hours, with the Awrad |
| Mamduh al-Nass | his son Muhammad Samir | Daily, after al-Nawawi's Hizb, then the Fatiha for the Prophet, Ibn 'Arabi and al-Harun |
| Ibn 'Arabi, by karama | 'Abidin's grandfather | Twice daily, after the morning and sunset prayers; three times after the afternoon prayer for a matter of importance |
(b. 1900) was a Salihiyya stonemason who learned to read late in life. He was famed for
cures, wrote a commentary on
Ma la yu'awwal 'alayhi, and worked outside any formal order.
Muhammad Samir al-Nassis a
US-trained doctor, an imam and a teacher of Qur'an recitation. Another Damascus line runs Shadhili al-Hashimi (d. 1961) to Rifa'i al-Durra to his son.
Some instructions have moved from esoteric transmission into print. 'Abidin prints a full rite. Before the prayer come the Fatiha with the basmala four times, each in one breath, the first three verses of al-An'am, a blessing formula seven times and a prologue. After it come al-Inshirah three times, a blessing, and the Fatiha for the Prophet and Ibn 'Arabi.
Istanbul
The first printings were Istanbul, late 19th century: Gumushanevi's Majmu'at al-ahzab and editions of the Dala'il, which carry al-Nawawi's Hizb in the margin. In 1998 Kitsan, the Sufi publisher founded in 1980 by Remzi Goknar, issued the first modern Turkish transliteration. It gave the Arabic and a Turkish explanation, and the translator was the Syrian-Turkish doctor Kemal Osmanbey (acupuncture, interest in the spirit world). By 2004 more than 30,000 copies had been given away free by internet request, bookshop and mail-shot, with a reprint every few months. Readers include the outwardly "cok-modern". The free distribution model (internet request, bookshop, mail-shot) is itself a chapter in the prayer's public life: Kitsan reprints every few months and treats the booklet as a gift of baraka, not a commercial title.
The hidden mode continues here as well. The Naqshbandi Ahmed Yivlik (d. 2001), a civil servant described as "a spiritual son and lover of Ibn 'Arabi", gave ijazas to read it twice a day, for some after the Awrad. He read the Fusus and Futuhat continuously and led about twenty disciples, illiterates among them. His chain was Naqshbandi. One of his disciples, Sukran Goknar, paid for 1,000 free copies of the Awrad usbu'iyya in 2004.
The United Kingdom
Rauf became the central figure of Beshara, a movement formed in southern England in the early 1970s. To young counterculture seekers he taught Ibn 'Arabi as a "monistic, experiential and supra-religious" spirituality through courses in "esoteric education". When students asked for the Dawr in transliteration, an Arabic-reading student rendered it first into Hebrew script, his native tongue, and then into English letters. Rauf corrected it. He gave no rules for recitation but stressed its protective effect. The Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society (MIAS) published it in 1981 (reprinted 2003) with the Arabic; the Wird had appeared in 1979.
| Hidden | Public | |
|---|---|---|
| Access | Shaykh's ijaza | Print, photocopy, internet, free copies |
| Rules | Personal times, counts, additions | Printed rites, or none (Beshara) |
| Use | Spiritual ascent, protected | Group recitation, requests, amulet |
| Sites | Damascus lines; Yivlik in Istanbul | Majalis; Kitsan; MIAS website |
The MIAS website says the prayer "protects its recipient. In microfiche form, it is frequently carried as an amulet." Beshara members wear it in a silver case on a neck-chain, fix it above the inside of the front door, or frame its first page. Some read it daily, others only in difficulty.
| Site | Hidden mode | Public mode |
|---|---|---|
| Damascus | Harun, Nass, 'Abidin lines; dream prescriptions | Majalis at the mausoleum; photocopies; pamphlets |
| Istanbul | Yivlik Naqshbandi ijazas twice daily | Late 19th c. prints; Kitsan 30,000+ free |
| United Kingdom | Rauf as transmitter of a family copy | Beshara transliteration; MIAS 1981; microfiche amulet |
Chapter 2. A Prayer across Time
The Suleymaniye Library in Istanbul holds more than forty copies of the Dawr. Together with six chains of transmission attached to them, they let Taji-Farouki trace the prayer back to its author. The chains run through some of the greatest names in Islamic learning. They show that a deep commitment to Ibn 'Arabi could sit alongside a reformist, even salafi, outlook.
The Manuscripts
About half the copies are dated. The earliest is from the late 11th/17th century and most are from the 13th/19th, so all are late, and older copies may exist in Damascus, Cairo, Rabat, Paris and Berlin. There are seven commentaries, four in Arabic and three in Ottoman Turkish, the earliest probably from the late 12th/18th century. The copies come from dervish lodges, mosque madrasas, pashas' libraries and sultans' endowments, a fair picture of the prayer's readers in the late Ottoman period.
| Commentary on the Dawr | Date and note |
|---|---|
| Al-Tafilati, al-Durr al-aghla | Arabic; copy B (Medina, AH 1251); copy A 4305 also held |
| Al-Damuni, al-Durr al-thamin | Arabic; cited here on the prayer's properties (C) |
| Al-Hisari, Kashf al-kurub | Written AH 1205; copy dated AH 1282 (K) |
| 'Ali al-Wasfi | AH 1261; Ottoman |
| M. Amin al-Jundi | AH 1280; Ottoman (A) |
| Al-Qawuqji, al-Tawr al-aghla | Prayer printed with it, Damascus AH 1301 (D) |
| Anonymous | Undated; Ottoman, 20 folios |
Copying was itself devotional: people copied texts for baraka, out of love, or to feel the author's presence, and some copied in a state of ablution. Ibn al-Jawzi asked that the pens he had used to copy hadith be heated in water to wash his corpse. Even the gilded copies, such as one of AH 1318 with gold-leaf borders, belong to this piety. The commentary genre is old. The first sustained commentary on a Sufi prayer has been suggested to be Ibn Bakhila's (d. 733/1332) on al-Shadhili's Hizb al-bahr.
| Setting | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Gilded single copies | Made for important patrons; one has gold-leaf borders and eight lines a page |
| Beside non-devotional works | Sometimes bound with other Ibn 'Arabi texts (Mashahid al-asrar, K. al-Ba') |
| Prayer compilations | With the Awrad and prayers of al-Shadhili, al-Nawawi, Ibn Mashish, Abu Madyan |
| Personal notebooks | Among favourite verses, supplications, talismans and numerological codes |
The Transmitters
Figure 25. Six chains (A to F) of the Dawr, simplified: hadith scholars carry it out of the 7th/13th century, Cairo and Medina hubs pass it on, and travelling Sufis spread it.
7th/13th century. Three of the first links are firm figures. One is Ibn 'Arabi's second son Sa'd al-Din Muhammad (b. Malatya 618, d. 656/1258), a poet and hadith student. Another is Radi al-Din al-Tabari (636-722/1322), Shafi'i imam at the Maqam Ibrahim in Mecca, a post his family held exclusively from 673/1274. The third is al-Qasim Ibn 'Asakir, of the great Damascus clan, who received ijazas from Ibn 'Arabi for other works and perhaps studied with Qunawi.
8th-9th/14th-15th centuries. The chains pass through the hadith elite:
- Sharaf al-Din al-Dimyati (613-705/1306) and his famous dictionary of authorities.
- Nasir al-Din al-Harawi (d. 781/1379), a soldier who served as the sultan's axe-bearer.
- Al-Tanukhi (709-800/1398), "shaykh of Egypt" with ijazas from 300 to 400 authorities.
- Ibn Muqbil (d. 870/1466), "the most important hadith transmitter on earth in his time".
- Isma'il al-Jabarti (d. 806/1404), who with his disciple al-Jili spread Ibn 'Arabi's works in Rasulid Yemen.
- Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani (d. 852/1448), author of Fath al-bari and Chief Judge for twenty-one years. Knysh calls him a critic of Ibn 'Arabi yet "agnostic", since he passed no verdict of unbelief.
10th/16th century. Al-Suyuti (d. 911/1505) wrote a defence of Ibn 'Arabi against al-Biqa'i's charge of unbelief. Zakariya al-Ansari (d. 926/1520), Shafi'i grand judge for twenty years, kept his spiritual life hidden. When the sultan asked his view during the 874/1469 Biqa'i affair, he defended Ibn 'Arabi and Ibn al-Farid. Al-Sha'rani (d. 973/1565) defended Ibn 'Arabi through the "deliberate interpolation" thesis, that problem passages had been slipped into the Fusus. Badr al-Din al-Ghazzi (904-984/1576) studied five years in Cairo under al-Ansari and became mufti of Damascus.
11th-12th/17th-18th centuries. The centre moves to Medina:
- Abu'l-Mawahib al-Shinnawi (d. 1028/1619) led the Naqshbandiyya there and openly held the Oneness of Being.
- His son-in-law Safi al-Din al-Qushashi (d. 1071/1661) studied with perhaps a hundred shaykhs. He was "the imam of all those who believed in wahdat al-wujud" and claimed the Seal of Muhammadan Sainthood.
- Ibrahim al-Kurani (1023/1615-1101/1689), "the doyen" of Medina's scholars and "undisputed leader" of Ibn 'Arabi's school, taught Indonesian disciples such as 'Abd al-Ra'uf of Singkel. In 1682 he answered Indian scholars' request for a ruling on Sirhindi.
Al-Kurani's influence ran far beyond Medina. Shah Wali Allah of Delhi, who sat in the circle of his son Tahir in 1731-32, was marked for life by the stay; his son called it a turning point in his career. Another of Tahir's students, Muhammad Hayat al-Sindi, taught hadith in Medina for twenty-five years, and one of his pupils was Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Wahhab. In the Sirhindi affair al-Kurani replied himself and asked his student al-Barzanji to reply too; al-Barzanji wrote two treatises (1682, 1683) against him, and Hijaz scholars judged Sirhindi's ideas a serious deviation, though al-Kurani probably would not have called him an unbeliever. He advised reading Ibn 'Arabi only with belief in the Qur'an's ambiguous verses plus "nothing is like Him", and held that a rigid kalam reading was fruitless. Nabulusi disagreed with him profoundly on the doctrine of acquisition (kasb).
In Damascus, Najm al-Din al-Ghazzi (d. 1061/1651) was mufti for thirty-five years and taught the young 'Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi (d. 1143/1731). Nabulusi was Ibn 'Arabi's self-declared spiritual son, attacked for teaching his works to common people.
13th/19th century. These links include:
- Ibrahim al-Nabulusi (d. 1222/1807), the grandson in whom several Futuhat chains converge.
- The Jundis of Ma'arrat Nu'man. The father had followed Khalid al-Naqshbandi. The son, Muhammad Amin (d. 1285/1868), was Hanafi mufti of Damascus and wrote an Ottoman commentary on the Dawr in 1280. He was a close associate of Amir 'Abd al-Qadir and joined him in rescuing Christians.
- Yasin al-Mirghani, who taught al-Sanusi and raised the founder of the Khatmiyya.
- Al-Qawuqji (1810-1888), "most important hadith transmitter of Greater Syria", whose commentary was printed in Damascus in AH 1301.
Chains and Authorisations
An ijaza was "an emblem of a bond to a shaykh". It joined the holder to the learned elite, carried their authority, and passed on baraka, and pedigrees came to rival blood-lines. Most links fit known dates, teachers and travels. Nine rest on "child ijazas", granted to children below the age of reason, often brought by their fathers.
| Child-ijaza links | Chain |
|---|---|
| Ibn 'Arabi to Radi al-Din al-Tabari; Ibn 'Arabi to al-Wani | D; F |
| Al-Ansari, al-Suyuti to Badr al-Din al-Ghazzi | A; E |
| Al-Dimyati to al-Harawi to Ibn Muqbil | E |
| Badr to Najm al-Ghazzi to Nabulusi to his grandson Ibrahim | A, E |
The chains are corroborated by Yahya's lists for other works. Chain E, from Ibn 'Arabi to al-Suyuti, recurs in four chains attached to the Futuhat, Fusus and others. Chain F recurs to al-Qushashi, which fills the gap in chains B and C. When al-Tafilati and al-Damuni cite Qushashi's chain without spelling it out, the phrasing implies it was well known. Al-Qushashi's own Akbari line, supplied by Chodkiewicz, runs through al-Sha'rani and al-Suyuti to 'Izz al-Din al-Faruthi and Ibn 'Arabi.
The prayer's routes run through the Hijaz, Damascus, Cairo and Jerusalem. Al-Budayri linked the Hijaz with Cairo and Jerusalem, and al-Bakri linked Damascus, Cairo and Jerusalem. From the 17th century the figures lean Naqshbandi and Khalwati, though belonging to several orders was the norm. Prayers by an order's founder usually stay inside that order. The Dawr belonged to none, and its author's saintly stature carried it into many.
| Order lean | How it shows in the chains |
|---|---|
| Naqshbandi | Al-Shinnawi, al-Qushashi, al-Kurani; later Yivlik in Istanbul; Khalid's circle near the Jundis |
| Khalwati | Mustafa al-Bakri revived it in the Arab east; Hifnawi spread it at al-Azhar |
| Shadhili / Shattari / Qadiri | Multiple affiliations the norm; Qushashi held several; Nabulusi taught with little tariqa frame |
| Rifa'i / Ahmadi | Damascus majlis founder Abu Tawq; Shinnawi Ahmadi line into chain F |
Windows onto Islamic Culture
The chains mix uncompromising defenders of Sufi culture with reformist ulama. These reformers insisted that Sufism and the Law depend on each other and that the Qur'an and Sunna come first. They favoured hadith scholarship and often admired Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328).
| Figure | Sufi side | Reformist side |
|---|---|---|
| Ibn Hajar | Took the prayer's baraka through the chain | Ambivalent on Ibn 'Arabi; favourable to Ibn Taymiyya |
| Al-Sha'rani | Defended Ibn 'Arabi | First of a line of salafi-leaning Sufi scholars |
| Al-Kurani | Leader of Ibn 'Arabi's school | Reread the Oneness of Being through Qur'an, Sunna, Ibn Hanbal and Ibn Taymiyya: "a salafi foundation for Sufism" |
| The Jundis | Khalidi Naqshbandi; commentary on the Dawr | Allies of Amir 'Abd al-Qadir, whose followers launched Syria's Salafi reform |
Al-Kurani advised reading Ibn 'Arabi only with someone who believes in the Qur'an's ambiguous verses together with "nothing is like Him". Under modernity the salafi strand of this blend took over, and the modern salafi banner became anti-Sufi, with Ibn 'Arabi as a main target. Through the eminent scholars who carried it, this small prayer shows how anomalous the "uncompromising salafi-sufi dichotomy" of some contemporary circles really is.
Chapter 3. The Prayer: Properties, Text and Translation
Four centuries of commentators and copyists say what the Dawr does, how to recite it, and what makes it work. Taji-Farouki sets their claims in the pre-modern world of jinn, plague and talismans. She then builds a stable text from thirteen copies and reads its thirty-three verses as a necklace of Divine Names and Qur'anic scenes.
How to Recite It
Sources urge reciting it as a wird, a fixed daily devotion: morning and evening, mornings only, three times in the morning, or in times of distress. Some tie it to Ibn 'Arabi's Awrad. One copy builds a fourteen-part cycle of an opening prayer, a numbered text, the day's or night's wird, the Dawr and a closing prayer, and owners of Awrad copies sometimes add it by hand. Many copies give their own preliminaries: Hamid Wahhab 76 times, ya Hayy ya Qayyum 174 times, or a "keys" prayer with Ya Latif 129 times. Others prescribe closing formulae, such as al-Inshirah three times. Only one copy's closing supplication names Ibn 'Arabi as intercessor.
| Pattern | Source note |
|---|---|
| Morning and evening as a wird | Standard advice across commentators |
| Mornings only; or three times in the morning | Beyazid 7880; some before dawn |
| In distress | Anytime of need |
| Inside a 14-part cycle with the Awrad | Opening hizb, hisar, day/night wird, Dawr, closing |
| Keys beforehand | Hamid Wahhab x76; ya Hayy ya Qayyum x174; Ya Latif x129 |
| Close with al-Inshirah x3 and salawat | Several copies; one names Ibn 'Arabi as intercessor |
What It Is Said to Do
| Domain | Claimed effect |
|---|---|
| Body | Migraine, toothache, palsy, convulsions, fevers, scorpions, snakes, plague |
| Unseen | Spirit companions (qarin), female jinn, rebels, whirlwind jinn, the "red wind", baby colic |
| Travel and war | Robbers, shipwreck, enemy armies; "always victorious" |
| Society and trade | Esteem and affection; obedience "in earthly and heavenly realms"; buying and selling |
| Soul | Good dreams, repentance, the grave's two angels, closeness to God |
Conditions. Benefit follows sincerity and firm belief. Al-Damuni adds that results come only through the "breaths" received from masters. Without them practice is "a wall without a foundation", though anyone lacking a perfect guide may still gain something with pure intention. That concession shows recitation without an ijaza was accepted by the late 18th century, foreshadowing the prayer's later popularity. Al-Tafilati warns against using the Names only for worldly gain. Worship God as the goal, he says, and requests are met as a consequence. To al-Damuni the Names are "the keys to the locked doors".
One copyist renders the title "prayer of protection for one who strives for close friendship [with God]", playing on wiqaya and wilaya.
Establishing the Text
A living prayer has a stable text and accepted variants, not a single original. Differences built up where oral and written transmission met, and commentators recorded variants as equally valid. Copies differ even in Qur'anic wording, some through legitimate readings and others through inaccuracy, and there are pious and explanatory interpolations. Taji-Farouki aims at a usable "standard" text and notes only real variants. She has two reasons: reciters deserve an accurate text, since current printings contain grammatical and spelling errors, and a stable text lets the author's motifs be mapped. It rests on 13 copies, chosen for a chain, an early date or a known owner, with two fully vowelled copies checked closely. Five of the copies sit inside commentaries, where errors creep in more easily.
More than a third of the Qur'anic texts are God speaking to a prophet or words on a prophet's tongue. Moses appears most often, then Abraham and Joseph.
| Prophet scene | Verses / anchors |
|---|---|
| Moses (most frequent) | 28:31 bush ("fear not"); 28:81 Qarun swallowed; 20:25-28 unloose the tongue; 2:67 cow; 2:60 twelve fountains |
| Abraham | 6:81 firm feet; face surrendered (3:20) |
| Joseph | 12:31 women cut hands; 12:38 grace of Allah; 12:107 enveloping chastisement |
| Muhammad | 48:8-9 witness and bringer of good news; honour (10:65); lower voices (49:3) |
Verse 13 shows the craft. It quotes the women who cut their hands at the sight of Joseph: "This is no mortal; he is no other than a noble angel!" (12:31). The supplicant asks, through the Names of Majesty (al-Jalil, al-Kabir), for a vision of Divine Beauty: awe before a Beauty that discloses Majesty. The plea to be "clothed in the robe" recalls Joseph's cloak and the Sufi mantle (khirqa).
The Thirty-Three Verses
| Verses | Movement | Qur'anic anchors |
|---|---|---|
| 1-5 | Shelter: protection, the hidden treasure, wing, wall, guard over soul, faith, family, home | Basmala; 18:39; 3:103; 7:26; 58:10 |
| 6-10 | Defence: oppressors seized, sealed, swallowed; pair 9/10 asks delight for self, ruin for enemies | 12:107; 45:23; 28:81 (Qarun); 28:31; 6:45 |
| 11-15 | Honour and love: security, crown, robe of majesty, hearts turned in love | 10:64-65; 12:31; 2:165; "He loves them and they love Him" |
| 16-21 | Strength: surrendered face, eloquence, sword, opened breast, tranquillity, steadfastness | 3:20; 20:25-28; 94:1; 30:4-5; 13:28; 2:249 |
| 22-28 | Guard and provision: angels in six directions, firm feet, the Prophet's support, healing, sustenance, Oneness | 13:11; 6:81; 2:67; 48:8-9; 59:21; 2:60; 47:19 |
| 29-33 | Friendship and end: wilaya, forgiveness, a good death, the Garden | 12:38; 49:3; 3:135; 39:53; 10:10 |
Verse 6 is the first of several imprecatory verses, asking harm for those who deserve it. Several Names fall outside the classic ninety-nine, among them al-Sattar, al-Dafi', al-Talib, al-Ghalib and al-Shafi. Some of these appear in the Qur'an or in Ibn 'Arabi's Awrad. The coda repeats "O Allah", "O Pure Beneficence", "O All-Compassionate" and "O Sheer Mercy" four times each. It then asks, "through the sacred sanctity of these Names, Verses and Words", for strength, livelihood, a joyful heart, knowledge, good works, a luminous grave, an easy reckoning and Paradise.
Verse by verse (summary)
| # | Names (sense) | Request / scene | Qur'an |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hayy, Qayyum | Protection of the basmala | Basmala as hirz |
| 2 | First, Last | As God wills; no power save in God | 18:39 two gardens |
| 3 | Clement, Veiler (al-Sattar) | Hold fast to the bond | 3:103 |
| 4 | Encompassing (al-Muhit) | Wall; garment of godfearing | 7:26 |
| 5 | Observant, Responsive | Guard soul, faith, family, home | 58:10 |
| 6 | Protector, Repeller (al-Dafi') | First imprecatory verse | 12:107 |
| 7 | Abaser, Avenger | Seal on hearing (turned conditional) | 45:23 |
| 8 | Seizer, Vanquisher | Qarun swallowed | 28:81 |
| 9 | Subbuh, Quddus | "Come forward and fear not" | 28:31 Moses |
| 10 | Harm-inflicter, Life-taker | Pair with 9: delight / ruin | 6:45 |
| 11 | Peace, Giver of Security | Good tidings for God's friends | 10:64 |
| 12 | (crown) | Honour belongs to Allah | 10:65 |
| 13 | Jalil, Kabir | Robe; Beauty through Majesty | 12:31 |
| 14 | (love) | Hearts guided to me | 2:165 |
| 15 | Manifest, Hidden | "He loves them and they love Him" | 5:57 (Arberry) |
| 16 | Eternal Refuge, Essential Light | Surrendered face | 3:20 |
| 17 | Originator | Eloquence; unloose the tongue | 20:27-28; 39:23 |
| # | Names (sense) | Request / scene | Qur'an |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | Severe in Assault, Compeller | Sword | 3:126 Uhud |
| 19 | Expander, Opener | Opened breast | 20:25-26; 94:1; 30:4-5 |
| 20 | Subtle, Kind | Tranquillity | 13:28 |
| 21 | Forbearing | Steadfastness; small over large | 2:249-250 |
| 22 | Preserver, Trustee | Six directions; attendant angels | 13:11 |
| 23 | Qa'im, Da'im | Plant firm feet | 6:81 Abraham |
| 24 | Best Protector, Helper | Refuge (Moses and the cow) | 8:40; 2:67 |
| 25 | Demander, Prevailer | Prophet as witness | 48:8-9 |
| 26 | Sufficer, Restorer (al-Shafi) | Qur'an on the mountain | 59:21 |
| 27 | Bestower, Provider | Twelve fountains | 2:60 |
| 28 | Wahid, Ahad | Word of Oneness | 47:19 |
| 29 | Wali, 'Ali | Close friendship | 12:38 |
| 30 | Rich, Noble | Lower voices before the Messenger | 49:3 |
| 31 | Turner in Forgiveness | Forgiveness | 3:135 |
| 32 | Compassionate, Merciful | Seal my days; do not despair | 39:53 |
| 33 | All-Hearing, Ever-Near | The Garden | 10:10; 3:133; 34:50 |
Taji-Farouki ends by placing the prayer, like Ibn 'Arabi's other works, inside traditional Muslim piety, rooted in revelation's themes of human dependence and vulnerability and of the nobility of human aspiration.
Appendix: Manuscripts and Chains
Thirteen copies (A to M) underlie the standard text. The appendix records each copy and, where present, its chain as written, odd spellings included. Only chains D and G had been printed before. Turkish collections form the most important manuscript base for Ibn 'Arabi; earlier copies may still exist in Damascus, Cairo, Rabat, Paris and Berlin.
| Copy | What it is | Chain / note |
|---|---|---|
| A | Muhammad Amin al-Jundi's Ottoman commentary, AH 1280 | Via Bakri, Nabulusi, the Ghazzis, Ansari, Ibn Hajar, Tanukhi, "Qasim b. 'Askar" (sic); ijaza to 'Abd al-Nafi' |
| B | Al-Tafilati's Arabic commentary; Medina copy AH 1251 | Qushashi chain; copyist misreads al-Hifni as "al-Hanafi", al-Bakri as "al-Kubra" |
| C | Al-Damuni's commentary, 83 folios, undated | Via Mahmud al-Kurdi and Hifnawi; asked by Husayn al-Hisni; waited days for IA's permission |
| D | Al-Qawuqji's printed commentary, Damascus AH 1301, 160 pp | Meccan Tabari and Ibn Fahd chain; one of two printed before |
| E | Prayer alone, fully vowelled | Chain through IA's son Sa'd al-Din, added later by 'Ali Efendi |
| F | Musawwid Zade al-Tarabzuni's personal notebook, AH 1169 | With Banat Su'ad, names of Badr's fighters, signs of the Mahdi |
| G | Gold-decorated compilation, AH 1164 (Laleli 1520) | "Open" ijaza; chain via 'Ali al-Qunawi and the long-lived Shah Mas'ud al-Isfara'ini; source of printed facsimiles |
| H | Kurani's treatises recorded in his presence in Medina, 1086-1094 (Hamidiye 1440) | Dawr is the only prayer and only non-Kurani text; likely copied 1089 (earliest among the thirteen). H2 (Ragib Pasa 1464): final copies at his house by Bab al-Rahma, 1094 |
| I | Ibn 'Arabi compilation (Pertev Pasa 644) | Version apparently received from al-Qushashi |
| J | Personal notebook, AH 1203 | Owner's working copy |
| K | Al-Hisari, Kashf al-kurub (written 1205; copy 1282) | Calls it al-Hizb al-qur'ani |
| L | Collection, AH 1220 | Mixed compilation |
| M | Resid Efendi 501; full vowels, marginal alternatives | Possibly from Nabulusi's lifetime (before 1143) |
| Group | Copies | What they give |
|---|---|---|
| Commentaries with chains | A, B, C, D, K | Text plus sanad and explanatory material |
| Prayer alone / vowelled | E, M | Cleaner vocalisation; E's son-line chain added later |
| Compilations and notebooks | F, G, I, J, L | Use-context: personal piety, open ijaza, Qushashi reception |
| Earliest dated block | H (c. 1089), G (1164), F (1169) | 17th-18th c. floor of the surviving witnesses |
Synthesis
What one short prayer reveals about Ibn 'Arabi's afterlife, about how authority and blessing travel, and about the ties between Sufism and reform. Takeaways, frameworks, a closer look, Who's Who, and practice points that stay inside the book's own framing of use.
Across the chapters
Chodkiewicz opens by placing short prayers inside a life-teaching, not a side-cult of magic. The Introduction sets titles, the neglected liturgical file, and the attribution problem. Chapter 1 shows the Dawr alive in three sites under a double life of ijaza and print. Chapter 2 rebuilds four centuries from Suleymaniye copies and six chains, testing each link and reading the Sufi-salafi blend as historically normal. Chapter 3 gathers properties, conditions, the thirteen-copy text, and the thirty-three-verse necklace, with the translation folded in. The Appendix lists A-M. Synthesis keeps A closer look items visible and grounds practice points only in what commentators and field sites already say.
Twenty takeaways
| # | Takeaway |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ibn 'Arabi was a teacher of how to live. Chodkiewicz: short prayers are inspired invocations on Divine Names; effect needs purity of intention, not magic. |
| 2 | Attribution by tradition. The Dawr is in none of his bibliographies; most copies name him and none names anyone else; Sufi circles report a "consensus". |
| 3 | One prayer, two lives. Hidden ijaza continues beside public print: Damascus photocopies, 30,000 free Turkish booklets, Beshara transliteration and microfiche amulets. |
| 4 | The ijaza is personal. Times, counts and additions are tailored: every 36 hours for al-Ghurab, every 24 for al-Nass; rules may come in a dream and change as the disciple advances. |
| 5 | Print absorbs esoteric rules. 'Abidin's printed rite puts once-private instructions into general practice. |
| 6 | Lineage outweighs the text alone. Receiving the prayer through a chain joins the reciter to a spiritual genealogy anchored in the author. |
| 7 | Child ijazas are credible for small prayers. Nine links rest on them; a Qur'an-trained child can memorise a short protective text fathers want for protection. |
| 8 | The chains run through the scholarly elite. Hadith masters, jurists, polymaths and Medina's leading Sufis all carried it. |
| 9 | Nexus figures spread it. Al-Budayri and Mustafa al-Bakri linked Hijaz, Cairo, Damascus and Jerusalem; al-Tafilati took it from Cairo onto his travels. |
| 10 | Reform and Sufism overlapped. Ibn Hajar, al-Sha'rani, al-Kurani and the Jundis combined devotion to Ibn 'Arabi with salafi-leaning reform. |
| 11 | Today's Sufi-salafi split is anomalous. The modern salafi banner turned anti-Sufi; the prayer's carriers show a long history of inclusion. |
| 12 | No single order owns it. The author's saintly stature carried it into Naqshbandi, Khalwati, Shadhili, Qadiri and Rifa'i circles. |
| 13 | Properties mirror a precarious world. Lists of cures and protections reflect plague, quakes and jinn, with saints' texts "at the front line". |
| 14 | Power comes from the Names and the Qur'an. Commentators call the Names "the keys to the locked doors". |
| 15 | Sincerity is the condition. Benefit follows sincerity and firm belief; ideally also a perfect guide's "breaths", though pure intention alone may earn some. |
| 16 | Ask for God, receive the rest. Al-Tafilati: use the Names in obedience, not for worldly gain alone. |
| 17 | A stable text, not an original. Living liturgy has accepted variants; the standard rests on 13 copies and corrects print errors. |
| 18 | Each verse is a small drama. Request + two Names + noun chain + Qur'anic scene + "Allah"; Moses is quoted most. |
| 19 | Majesty and beauty meet. Verse 13 asks, through Names of Majesty, for the women's awe before Joseph, so Beauty discloses Majesty. |
| 20 | The prayer includes imprecation. From verse 6 the supplicant asks God to seize unjust enemies; verses 9/10 pair delight for self with ruin for oppressors. |
Frameworks and mental models
| Framework | What it says | Use it when |
|---|---|---|
| Double life | Esoteric ijaza and public print run side by side | Studying any modern afterlife of a Sufi text |
| Vertical / horizontal chain | Continuity across generations; networks across places | Reading an isnad or silsila |
| Plausibility test | Check dates, teachers, travels and ijaza type | Weighing a claimed transmission |
| Ijaza as bond | Authority, lineage and baraka, not only proof of study | Judging "formulaic" ijazas |
| Stable text with variants | Living liturgy has equally valid versions | Editing oral-written devotional texts |
| Verse anatomy | Request + two Names + noun chain + Qur'anic scene + "Allah" | Reading or reciting the Dawr |
| Ta'alluq, tahaqquq, takhalluq | Need for a Name, realising it, taking on its trait | Relating to Divine Names (via Kashf al-ma'na) |
| Names as keys | Door and keys to locked doors; not tools for fortune alone | Hearing Damuni and Tafilati on use |
Five windows at a glance
| Window | What the prayer shows |
|---|---|
| Liturgical Ibn 'Arabi | Short prayers as Lebemeister teaching, neglected beside metaphysics |
| Double life | Ijaza and print, majalis and microfiche, coexist without a single "decline" story |
| Elite chains | Hadith and legal giants carry a protective liturgy; child ijazas fit a short text |
| Sufi-salafi blend | Same carriers can love Ibn 'Arabi and admire Ibn Taymiyya |
| Names and scenes | Thirty-three verses necklace; power in Names and Qur'an; sincerity the condition |
A closer look
Who's Who
| Name | Role |
|---|---|
| Ibn 'Arabi | Shaykh al-Akbar (1164-1240); attributed author |
| Suha Taji-Farouki | Author: fieldwork, manuscripts, text, translation |
| Michel Chodkiewicz | Foreword; supplied al-Qushashi's Akbari chain |
| Sa'd al-Din Muhammad | Ibn 'Arabi's son; first link of chain E |
| Radi al-Din al-Tabari | Imam of Maqam Ibrahim; chain D (possible child ijaza) |
| Ibn Hajar, al-Suyuti, al-Ansari | Hadith and legal giants in chains A, E, F |
| Al-Sha'rani | Defender of Ibn 'Arabi; early reformist Sufi |
| Al-Qushashi, al-Kurani | Medina masters of Ibn 'Arabi's school; hub of B, C, D, F |
| Nabulusi, Mustafa al-Bakri | Damascus devotee; Khalwati reviver and nexus |
| Al-Tafilati, al-Damuni, al-Hisari, M. Amin al-Jundi, al-Qawuqji | Commentators on the Dawr |
| Ahmad al-Harun, al-Ghurab, Abu'l-Yusr 'Abidin | 20th-century Damascus transmitters |
| Ahmed Yivlik, Kitsan, Kemal Osmanbey | Istanbul: ijazas, free booklets, translation |
| Bulent Rauf, Fatma Hanim | The London copy; Beshara and MIAS |
Applying It (practice, from the book's own framing)
| Point | Grounding in the book |
|---|---|
| Recite as a wird | Morning and evening, mornings only, or in distress; some tie it to the Awrad |
| Prefer authorisation when available | Ijaza unlocks secrets, protects the disciple and sets personal times; by late 18th c. recitation without ijaza was already countenanced |
| Sincerity first | Benefit follows sincerity, certainty and the aim of pleasing God; objectors "gain distress" |
| Names in obedience | Tafilati: worship God as the goal; worldly requests follow as consequence, not as the aim |
| Three levels with each Name | Need (ta'alluq), realisation (tahaqquq), assuming the trait fitly (takhalluq) |
| Protection as lived use | Damascus majalis; Istanbul free booklets; Beshara amulet, door, framed page; Qawuqji: carrying the text; buried with the dead |
| Read the verse as scene | Each Qur'anic quote supplies a drama (Moses at the bush, Joseph before the women, angels in six directions) |
Glossary of Key Terms
Terms as the study and translation use them. Short glosses only; see the chapters for argument and evidence.
| Related title in the volume | Note |
|---|---|
| al-Durr al-aghla | Al-Tafilati's commentary on the Dawr |
| al-Durr al-thamin | Al-Damuni's commentary; source of the property list |
| al-Tawr al-aghla | Al-Qawuqji's commentary; printed Damascus 1301 |
| Kashf al-kurub | Al-Hisari; calls it al-Hizb al-qur'ani |
| Kashf al-ma'na | Ibn 'Arabi on the Beautiful Names; threefold reading used in the translation |
| Majmu'at al-ahzab | Gumushanevi's large prayer collection |
| Dala'il al-khayrat | Al-Jazuli; Dawr appears in the margin of some prints |
| Wird al-sahar | Mustafa al-Bakri; Saturday majlis in Damascus known for it |
About this book
A Prayer for Spiritual Elevation and Protection: al-Dawr al-a'la (Hizb al-wiqaya) of Ibn 'Arabi by Suha Taji-Farouki, 2006. This is a chapter-by-chapter study of the book, with summaries, maps, tables and diagrams; short quotations keep their page references. It is shared free for personal study, is not for sale, and is not endorsed by the author or publisher. Please read and buy the original.
Insight Editions · rajeshrmahapatra.com/insight-editions