In The Name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Merciful.
Futuwwa - The Way of The Spiritual Warrior
The Code of The Futuwwa (Youth & Chivalry Honor Code)
Summary
Meaning youth and chivalry, Futuwwah, as a term, is a composite of virtues such as generosity, munificence, modesty, chastity, trustworthiness, loyalty, mercifulness, knowledge, humility and piety, and it is one of the stations a traveler on the path to Allah passes by and a dimension of sainthood.
Sum of the four virtues:
• Forgiving when one is able to punish.
• Preserving mildness and acting mildly and
gently when one is furious.
• Wishing even one's enemies well and doing them
good.
• Always being considerate of the well-being and
happiness of others first even when one is needy.
more at: <fethullahgulen.org>
24.2 ) "Futuwwah is knowing that others can be forgiven for their misdeeds,
but you yourself are always at fault;
that everyone and everything else is complete,
while you yourself are lacking.
Futuwwah is showing understanding and compassion equally to what appears good
and what appears bad.
The highest form of Futuwwah is when nothing occupies you but Allah."
Abu `Abdullah al-Sajazi in FUT-99
Detail
Futuwwa, defined as youth and chivalry, is really a composite of such
virtues as generosity, munificence, modesty, chastity, trustworthiness, loyalty,
mercifulness, knowledge, humility, and piety. It is a station on the path to God
as well as a dimension of sainthood, and also signifies that one has made
altruism and helping others one’s second nature. It is an important,
indispensable dimension of good conduct and a significant aspect of humanity.
Derived from fata’ (young man), futuwwa has become a symbol of rebelling against all evil and striving for sincere servanthood to God:
They were young men
who had believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance. And We
strengthened their hearts, when they rose up and declared: Our Lord is the Lord
of the heavens and Earth; we will not call upon any god beside Him, or then we
had spoken an outrage. (18:14) expresses this eloquently. They said: We
have heard a youth talk of them (the idols); he is called Abraham (21:60)
expresses the position and influence of one who has achieved perfect futuwwa
in his or her community, one who has sought to guide humanity to truth. By
contrast, the young men mentioned in the verses: With him there came into the
prison two young men (12:36) and: (Joseph) told his young (servants) to
put their merchandise (with which they had bartered) into their saddle-bags
(12:62) were ordinary young men without chivalry.
As many people have
written on or talked about futuwwa since the Age of Happiness, the
concept has been defined in many ways: not despising the poor or being deceived
by the rich and riches; being fair to everybody without expecting fairness from
anyone; living one’s life as a pitiless enemy of one’s carnal self; being
ever-considerate of others and living for them; smashing all idols or all that
is idolized, and rebelling against falsehood so as to be wholly devoted to God
Almighty; bearing whatever evil is done to oneself but thundering where the
rights of God are violated; feeling remorse for the rest of one’s life for
committing even a small sin, but overlooking others’ sins regardless of how
large they are; seeing oneself as a poor, lowly servant while considering others
as saintly; not resenting others while maintaining relations with those who
resent you; being kind to those who hurt you; and serving God and the people
more than anyone else, but preferring others to oneself when it is time to
receive one’s wages.
Some have summed up
futuwwa in the four virtues mentioned by Haydar Karrar ‘Ali, the fourth
Caliph and cousin of the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings. They are:
forgiving when one is able to punish, preserving mildness and acting mildly and
gently when one is furious, wishing one’s enemies well and doing good to them,
and being considerate of others’ well-being and happiness first, even when one
is needy.
‘Ali was one of the greatest representatives of futuwwa. When he was stabbed by Ibn Muljam while leading the morning prayer in the mosque, his children, who saw that their father would die, asked him what he wanted them to do with Ibn Muljam. He did not order his execution in retaliation. During a battle, ‘Ali threw his enemy to the ground and then released him. His reason: When ‘Ali was about to kill this man, the latter spat in ‘Ali’s face, which angered him. Fearing that his motive for killing the man was now confused and sullied, ‘Ali released him. He felt sincere grief when Zubayr ibn ‘Awwam, a leading Companion and his staunch enemy, was killed. Since he always considered others first even when he was in need, he usually wore summer clothes in winter and trembled with cold. It was said about him that there cannot be a young, chivalrous man like ‘Ali, and there cannot be a sword like Dhu al-Fiqar (‘Ali’s sword). ‘Ali lived with the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, and was raised by him. He lived a perfectly honest, pure life without any taint, and embodied God’s answer to the Prophet Moses, upon him be peace, about futuwwa: It means that you are able to return your self to me as pure or untainted as you took it from Me.
The signs of a fata’
(young, chivalrous one) are that the individual’s, created with the potential to
accept Divine Unity and Islam, is totally convinced of Divine Unity; that it
urges him or her to live according to the requirements of this conviction; that,
without being captivated by carnal or bodily desires, he or she lives a pure,
spiritual life; and that he or she always seeks to please God in his or her
deeds, thoughts, and feelings. One who cannot be saved from the temptations of
the carnal self, Satan, appetites, love of the world, or attachment to the
worldly life cannot climb upward to the peak of futuwwa.
Futuwwa is a treasure obtainable by climbing high beyond
all the “highest mountains of the world”;
What business have those who fall tired
even on a smooth road with such a treasure?
The following lists contain first names and surnames that I have seen in the Isnad to al-Sulami's Futuwwah, composed before the early 11th century (Futuwwah or The Book of Sufi Chivalry, Muhamed ibn al-Husayn al-Sulami, trans. Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti, pub. Inner Traditions International Inc., NY 1983). The transliteration system is Shaykh al-Halveti's and does not distinguish between certain English consonants and Arabic consonants which have no English equivalent. I have made no attempt to translate the surnames. Al- is "the", ibn is "son of", abu is "father of".
Editors' note: This article was originally published in the Herald's Proceedings of the Caidan Heraldic Symposium (SCA Inc., 1989) under the title Arabic Personal Names from the Futuwwah. It has been re-typed from the proceedings. One names appeared in the proceedings as Dubays?. As we are not sure whether the question mark is an error or an unexplained notation, we have chosen to omit this name.
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Islamic Chants