Journey to Allah

Reviewed by: Hanan Basher, Cardiff University, UK

Published by: Nottingham: Invitation Publishing, 2022 (2nd ed.), 225pp. ISBN: 978-1902248035.

The main body of the book under review is the translation by Musharraf Hussain of the book ‘Guidance of Mankind Towards the Path of Wisdom’ by Hafiz Abdul Karim (1848-1936). The latter is a summary of the Naqshbandī ṭarīqah which describes methods of self-purification in pursuit of Divine nearness. The author, Hafiz Abdul Karim, was a spiritual guide and teacher and the translator, Musharraf Hussain, is a scholar and an author. As explained by the translator in the introduction, the author wrote the book as a summary of the Naqshabandī Sufi tariqah and a manual for his disciples. The book includes six appendices dealing with the life and works of the author Hafiz Abdul Karim, his daily prayers and spiritual lineage and a brief account on the life and merits of Shaykh Aḥmad Fārūqī of Sarhind and Shaykh Abū’l-Ḥasan al-Shādhilī. The last appendix is a short account on Eidgah Shareef, which is an institution for spiritual retreat founded in 1896 by Hafiz Abdul Karim.