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Hizb al-Bahr(Prayer of the Sea)

A unique prayer made of Quranic verses and supplications, is attributed to Mawlana Abul Hassan Shadhilid (d. 656/1241). Sidna Shaykh, al-Qutb al-Maktum, Mawlana Ahmed ibn Mohammed Tijani al-Hassani (may Allah sanctify his secrets) had Hizb al-Bahr recited in his morning and evening wirds at the order of his grandfather (peace and blessing be upon him) who himself taught the litany to Shaykh Abul Hassan Shadhili (may Allah be pleased with him).The litany contains the Greatest Name of Allah (al-Ism al-A adham)and the reading of it draws forth extraordinary majestic epiphanies. Hence the disicple should receive anijaza(licence) from his muqaddam to benefit from it. On the litany, the Shaykh Abul Hassan 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 (peace and blessing be upon him) 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. On the virtues of the Hizb al-Bahr, the noted Imam of Qarawiyyine Mosque, the Shaykh Sidi Ibn Abbad ar-Rundi al-Andalusi (d. 792/1377) said, 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. Further, the grand master Sidi Ahmed Zarruq al-Fasi (d. 899/1484) clarifies, As for bringing about effects with this litany, it is commensurate with one's aim and aspiration that one has command of it to draw or repel, intending what is desired when ones say, And subject to us this sea. wa sakh-khir lan; hadhl Bahr

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