A Brief Account from Shaykh Muhammad al-Hafiz’s Jihad Against the English
[Translated from the biography collected and written by his son and successor Shaykh Ahmad Muhammad al-Hafiz]
Shaykh Abd al-Majīd al-Sharīf went back in his memory to the year 1919 CE, and recounted: “Despite the Shaykh's preoccupation with dhikr and worship, this did not cause him to neglect jihād in the way of Allah with weapons when the situation called for it.
He—may God be pleased with him—was one of the leaders in the 1919 revolution in Egypt against the British, and he fought them with great fierceness. He was among the commanders of one of the battles against them in Asyut (some 400 km south of Cairo). He mentioned to us the technical error that they made concerning the site of the battle, where the British managed to open the bridge and divide the revolutionaries on opposite sides of the Nile. Had it not been for this error, the British would not have been able to remain in Asyut.
The English arrested him [after this] and threw him in one of their prisons. He himself told me: 'They threw me into the prison cell, but I did not feel anything at that time.' He was in a state of one overwhelmed by the abundance of dhikr, the state of one who is overcome by ecstasy and thus does not feel any [pain or distress], the state of one whose spirituality prevails over their material nature. It was known that whoever entered this particular prison would not leave it. [The Shaykh continued], 'I entered the cell, they locked the door behind me, and I continued walking forward until I exited [the prison] from the other side of the cell.’"
[Shaykh al-Hāfiz] was right in front of them and yet they did not see him, as our shaykh himself informed me, may God be pleased with him.
Note: Shaykh al-Hāfiz was just around 22 years old when this occurred
(All translations — including any possible errors therein — are my own. Any good or benefit found in this piece is from God alone)
