Hizb al-Bahr (Litany of the Sea) a unique litany made of Quranic verses and supplications, it is a powerful invocation read by multitudes throughout the Muslim world, it was taught by the Prophet to Sidi Abul Hasan al-Shadhili – the renowned Wali’Allah (“Friend of Allah”) whilst travelling to Hajj. On the litany, the Shaykh Abul Hassan al-Shadhili said, “By Allah, I did not utter it except as it came from the Holy Prophet, from whose instruction I learned it. ‘Guard it;’ the Holy Prophet said to me, ‘for it contains the greatest name of Allah.’ It is not recited in any place without security reigning there. If it had been with the inhabitants of Baghdad, the Tatars would not have taken the city.”

“Whoever recites it every day at sunrise, Allah hears his prayer, relieves his distress, raises his standing among people, expands his breast with knowledge of the divine oneness, facilitates his concerns, lifts his hardship, keeps from him the evil of man and jinn, and protects him from the harm of mishaps of the night and day.” Ibn Ayyad.

Ahmad Zarruq was one of the most important scholars to come out of the Maghrib, a prominent hadith scholar, expert in aqidah, and one of the most eminent Maliki faqihs combined with a mastery of the inward sciences of Tasawwuf. He joined the elite ranks of the masters of the Shadhili Tariqa that has traditionally been the Tariqa of the Scholars, with adherents like Imam al-Suyuti, Imam al-Sakhawi, Izz ad-Din Abd al-Salam to name but a few. The Shadhilis have always taught spiritual heights can only be reached by rigorous application of the Shariah. This is Ahmad Zarruq’s brilliant work in explaining this phenomenal invocation. With the publication of this translation another masterpiece of traditional Islamic literature is now available to the English speaking world.