In the Mystic Footsteps of Saints, VOLUME 1 (Shaykh Nazim, 153 pages, 10/10)
https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6029
: it lives too ane sces that you are approaching to kul it, feels fear and ities to escape. It feels pain and fears death, therefore it runs away. You must remember that it too glorifies the Lord, and so if it doesn’t haem you, you mustn't kill it, and if you do you will be held accountable. The message of Islam is metcy for all creatures, and mercy is the underlying theme of the teachings of all Sufi teachers. Mystic Footsteps
§ The Disappearance of Virtue From the Face of the Earth
When the Angel Crabriel made his last visitation to the Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon both of them, he imformed the Prophet: “This is the Jast time | shall come to you with revelation, and, furthermore, with your passing, prophethood will be a closed book: no more will ] come to earth with divine commands.” ‘The holy Prophet then asked hin “Is it really to be so that you, who have brought divine Guidance to Allah’s prophets throughout history will never again visit the earth?” Gabriel replied: “indeed | wall return m accordance with my Lord’s divine Command, not to deliver guidance, but to take back, one by one, all of the virtues that have flourished through divine Guidance. This is my Lord’s plan: that the spiritual condition of mankind should deteriorate before the coming of the great events of the Last Trmes.”
“Test, T will come to take away divine knowledge, so that ignorance will cover the earth ke an ocean, and the people of that time will fall inte it in hordes. Those people will not declare, “There is no god but the One True God, Allah’, burt will claim, “There is na God’. (This is the epitome of ignorance, for you may koow everyding, bur if you don’t recognize the Ovnter of all and the Creator or your own being, you are ulumately ignorant). Yes, | will come to remove the knowledge of all higher realms and leave them in the darkness of ignorance.”
“Phen, again Twill come and take away “barakah’” (Barakah means being blessed by God with adequate sustenance, and consequently feeling contentment with our allotted portion). Nowadays, people’s needs have proliferated to such an extent that
126 Shaykh Nazim Adil Al Haqqani
no one cau begin to possess a tenth of what they imagine themselves to need, Despite the fact that their pockets are bulging with money all they can be heard saying is: “Not enough, not enough.” T can remember, during my chidhood that people used to carn about three piasters a day — it was just a small silver cou. Now in our country T don’t think chat one can subsist on five pounds a day ~ and what about here in England! Yet, im countries where there are kings and queens there is still more “barakah” than in republics. There used to be shepherds who earned only one piaster a day plus food and shelter for themselves and their families, and they were happy ~ for what does a humble person teally need heyond food, shelter and some money for clothing etc.? But those are bygone days... “barakah” has been taken up and people are swimming in an ocean of discontent.
Then Gabriel said: “T wil come to take away mercy from the earth.” Por example, [saw in the newspaper yesterday that some people who looked lke robots went on the rampage at a football game and killed many people. Surely their heads are like footballs, full of alr, and their hearts like rocks, containing no mercy. This is but a simple cxample of how beastly man can become when there resides no metey in his heart, and indeed, worse than beasts, for beasts kill for food, not for fim. Islan always opposes such barbarism, as our pt ophet i is the Prophet of mercy; but look, in our ame, two Islamic countries have been engaged in a useless, protracted and bloody war, mercy has been taken from their hearts ag well, and they also can Doast of having attached footballs to their shoulders where the head should he.
“And finally,” continued Gabriel, “T wil come to take away enodesty and chastity.” [t is rot difficult to see that this has been accomplished already. Nowadays, people walk the streets in attire that their mothers and grandmothers would have been ashamed to wear in their bedrooms.
And this is what the Angle Gabriel infornied the holy Prophet of fifteen centuries ago, and he, in turn, informed us that the time we ate living in ts virtually bereft of the qualities that make human
12? Mystic Footsteps
hfe human. Aud, indeed, we find ourselves living i such a time as he described. There is no more knowledge leading peopie to goodness, to honesty, to honor, here and hereafter. People are study ing, but to what end? They are only learning to support the kingdom of Satan on earth, to help perpetuate that state of affairs that is rapidly bringing the whole world to the brink of disaster, and creating such alienation in people that so many would rather throw themschves out of windows than go on living, and so many others Ive only to inflict suffering on others. Even im religious schools, where the elements of godly Iwing should be taught, that knowledge has been distorted out of recognition and soured, like a glass of milk. into which a lemon has been squeezed, so that even those with a basis in divine knowledge can barely distinguish right from wrong anymore, what to speak of dome what ix right.
Islam brought the world respect and mercy, but we have lost them both. And despite the ockds we face, we tast ever strive to develop those virtually extince good chatactetisties in oursebves. Aad we are comforted by the knowledge that our Merciful Lord will not fail to judge us lentently, as we ate toying our best to sce something through the obscurity of these ames, and we are looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.
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*§ The Heavenly Homeland
The homeland of the soul is the heavenly realm, past as the homeland of our human personaliues is wherever we were born aud raised. People have tried to describe the goal of the SuG Path iii so many ways, but the bese description is to say that it is the way by which the soul may return to its homeland. Our seuls long for that heavenly homeland, just as we may dream of returning to the scenes of fond ehildhood memories. That attachment to our childhood homes is a reflection of the soul’s longing for its original homeland, therefore, its existence is a sign of faith, and the holy Prophet, peace be upon him in a tradition, is ta have saich “Love of one’s homeland is of faith.”
Therefore, you may come to spend Ramadan here ia Loudon, and you may feel by the end of your time here a longing for your homelands. The same holds true for pilgrims to Meeca and Medina: Allah plants in people’s hearts a love that cnables them to bear all of the hardships of the journey and the pilgrimage, so that people may do their duty to their Lord: then He changes that longing s for the holy places to a longing ¢o rerarn quickly home.
It is normal that a person should long for his homeland. We have a saying: “You may put the mghtiogale in a golden cage but it won't be happy, and will lament: “Oh that I were back in the nest I made from sticks and straw.” One may see this in the community of cur Cypriot immigrants here in London, or with other groups, that have come secking “strects lined with gold.” Vou may hear them moaning: “Oh our village, our mountains, our nivers, our seas, our old friends!”
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That longing is only the longing of the personality and the physical body fora place i it associates with pood memories; but the longing of the soul gocs much deeper. And just as it may sadden a petson who returns to the home of his youth, and finds not there the people he loved, so, for the soul Heaven is empty without the countenance of the Lord. Foreign dignitaries dom: go to Buckingham Palace unless the queen is there — for what sheuld they go, othemvise for sightseeing?
Aud yourselves: you would ast come to London to this humble place unless the person you love is here. Would you come ftom Canada to London for at least the filth time to take a sightseeing tour? London is empty for you if that person is not here. But now London is full for you, aud ever if that person were to be sitting in a cave, London would be full for you because you have found that person. The longing of the soul is for its Lord: whatis the divine tealm without Hine
730 Shaykh Nazim Adil Al Haqqani
| How the Ant With the Broken Leg Got to Mecca
[every person from among marikind may attain divine stations. Vhe Way is not barred to anyone: we are all candidates for the position of “Deputy of Ged on earth.” The holy verse is clear crough: “Oh man, verily you are striving towards your Lord, and you will meet Him,” therefore, whoever makes a serious attempt to reach, must reach. But if we consistently take one step forward and two steps back, and make ourselves fr Allah Alomghty’s description: “They believed, then fell into disbelief, believed again, and once more fell,” then we will find oursehes fost.
Steadfasmess is the quality that will aid our progress, even if that progress is slow. Be steadfast and you may reach your goal and even of you dort, yorr Lord perceives your sincere intention and may convey vou towards your goal, fust when you have despaired. Qur grandshaykh said that such perseverance in the face of immense odds is most difficuh. Imagine that a person has been told: “There is a treasure waiting for you inside the earth, a fourth of the way to China — vou must dig and take it, Here is a broken pick and a spade with a broken handle, now you may start digems.” Imagine being ordered to such a task with such tools! You must start don's say: “Lt is impossible! Ewen an oi dail can’t reach down that farl? No, you must say: “My Lord has ordered me to proceed and Te has given me these instruments with which to proceed wath my task, so I must start digging.” ‘Then you dig, and when you collapse fron exhaustion your Lord may deliver that treasure up to you in the blink of an eve.
Perhaps an ant with a broken lee may mtend to travel from London to Mecea im order to perform the rites of pligrimage. He may intend such a jourticy and start on his way, but do you think
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that there is any hope of him arriving? Allah Almighty sends a pilerim who set down his handbag; as the ant crawls in to sec if there is any food to be found for the way, the pilgrim comes, picks up the bag and gets into the taxt to the airport. When the pilgrim urtives at Jeddah, he boards 4 bus to Mecca, then a taxi to his hotel. At the hotel he leaves his other bags, but takes this valuable one with him to the holy Mosque to make his ‘Tawaf of the Kaba... After big Tawat he sits down to read Quran, and the terrtfied ant slowly emerges, only to find himeelf in front of the Kaba.
Allah Almighty made a way for that ant because it firmly intended to teach that unattainable station, with its broken leg and all and he helped it arrive quickly, too. Se don’t lose hope! W'e are tke thet ane we are directing our faces towards the Divine Presence and asking to attain to it. He may take us to that state, but we can never make it on our own.
Gaetior Is keeping our war imi the non supportwe surroundings of the West also like thisr
Séayée Nasiv These surroundings are like a whettmg stone that serves to make our faith sharper and stronger. Our erindshaykh used to say to me: “Ob Nazim Effendi, if you can go to the downtown area of Damascus and retara to thig mountain without indulping vour cyes, without casting your glance here and there, that is a greater feat and of more value than staying forty yeats in seclusion #1 4 cave.”
Yes, a man may go to Mecca and Medina for a months, fasting Ramadan there in the scorching heat and suffering thirst he never imagined when he fasted at home; he may stay through the Hajj season and experience overcrowded conditions unparalleled on the face of the earth, He may perform so many ritual prayers and rites with sincenty and may feel his faith renewed, but just as he is leaving the holy chics and thetr constraming atmosphere, and bourds the plane at Jeddah, a seductive stewardess grects bim, saying: “Welcome aboard...” Then his eto catches him and wrestles him to the ground.
”
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Therefore, here in the West where conditions are difficult, you are offered the challenge of controlling your ego under conditions exactly contrary to those ends, but the reward is greater and of mote lasting benefit. Here you may lose it all or you may reach your goal quickly. Yes, itis difficult to lead a chaste hfe under such ciclumstances, bat you must not make excuses for yourselfl You may live in surroundings that ensure that you are never for one moment allowed to forget sexuality, and you may Eecl that you will never be able to resist such an onslaught, but you nuust only intend sincerely to keep yourself and He will help you attain that goal — just remember the ant with the broken leg!
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§ The Lion is a Harmless Pussycat, Until...
Allah Almighty seat every kind of trial to the holy Prophet and his companions — why? He Almigi aty willed that Islan become a great world religion, an International way of life, so He made sure ta impart the perfect education to the Prophet and his companions, as they were to be the foundation upon which that preat building ~ comprising all nations and races — was to rest. All training is based on trials, to ascertain whether each lesson has been well learned. One trial which Allah sent upon this first group of bellevers in Islam was hunger, since hunger is a powerful motive for our epos to rebel. People are very quick to anger when they are lungry: therefore, we have a saying: “The lon is a harmless pussycat -— unul it gets lungry!? When the lon is funpry it will attack, and the same is true of our egos. Whoever is able to control himself when hunpry is proven to be trustworthy: whoever loses his self control at the first pang cannot be trusted.
The Prophet and his companions were tested in this way and found to be strong, and it wag a teaming that helped them endure every hardship and keep their self control, Whenever the companions were hungry for three days the Prophet was hungry for four, when they were hungry for two days he was hungry for three. Once, when the Prophet has not eaten in three days, he went to Abe Bakr’s house only to find that he had been hungry for nro. Then both of taem went to the house of Limar and found him in the same condition, but content and pot complaining. How is it with ug? If the meal arrives five minntes late we are digoruntled., With what right? Look, if a young lady says to her impassioned suutor “Tf vou remain two days without food I will come to you,’
134 Shaykh Nazim Adil Al Haqqani
he will say: “Por your sake three days!” This is a sample example: if a young person may Dear hunger for three days for the sake of the love of a creature, then why should we not be able to endure for out Creator, gay, even give our lives to Him, as He may make us content, With Him the thirsty knows no more tharst, the huagry knows ao more hunger, the dead are no longer dead. That is the power of the leve of God that bas been transmitted to our heart.
Out brother bere has opened his house to all of us: that is abo a trial for him. It is impossible for the people of our times to have sixty of seventy guests in their homes. For our brother and his tamily this may be a spacious house, but such a throng must certainly be an imposition, and his welcoming us must be a sign of his strong daith. And tf his house could accommodate one thousand peaple, his faith would cause him to open it to all of them, whether he knew them or not, as he only secs that they arc all his Lord’s servants. It makes no difference to bim whether they are members of the Bundestap or peasants, Germans or Africans, because, through his faith, he has attained to the knowledge that the Lord is the Lord of the worlds, of all the Children of Adam, and that, as the Lord states in the holy Quran:
“We have honored all the Children of Adare.”
Allah Almighty has respected us without distinction, and it is an attribute Me catls on us to emulate.
Faith has setded in our brother’s heart, so that he may take every burden upon his shoulders. Allah supports hom and will prov ide, for whoever giv es freely is never going to become poorer asa result of i We ate in need of such faith, for without faith our hearts become narrow and we can tolcrate less and less the burdens we ate asked to carry, But when we believe, our hearts expand and we can bear much joyfully.
And nowadays, when faith bas been entitely lost, people cannot even bear the burdens of their own existence and commit suicide. The real cause of depression is only loss of faith, When faith is lost darkness descends on our hearts. We are in need of
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people who can bring the light of faith to people’s hearts more than we are in need of psychiatrists to deaden people’s feelings with their psycho Pharmacia. | am only a weak servant, and 1 am
asking our Lord’s help to bring us and the people of our time out of darkness.
736 Shaykh Nazim Adil Al Haqqani
§ The Source of Wisdom is the Heart, Not Any Book
A Wise man may utter words of wisdom, but once they are recorded they join the body of knowledge that is generally available to Hsteners and readers far and wide, Once words of wisdom have been transferred to the realm of knowledge throug): such mediums as books and tapes, they lose something essential, OF course one may derive so much benefit from them still, but they can’t replace. the draught of wisdom from the gushing sorree — that source is the heart, and what comes from the heart of a wise man passes through his words directly into the heart of the seeker.
Where may one find wisdom? Not necessarily in the same place one would find a wealth of knowledge. A source of wisdom may be a Shaykh, a scholar or a professor, but may also be a plumber, a peasant or a totally iterate person. Treasures are mosdy sought in ruling, not in modern skyscrapers; buried under layers of debris, not sitting in the open, lying on the counter. And when the searcher finds some broken pottery of bits and pieces of a treasure that serves to enlighten him as to the realities of what he is excavating, he does not concern himself with the fact that these relics are not intact, for how could he expect to find that? And if you offer him brand mew items from a supermarket that correspond in use to those ancient ones he found, he will not even consider your offer, and think you to be just joking, saying: “Tow do these two compare?”
Therefore, take wisdom wherever you may find it, and don’t ask. for wiles or diplomas. Remermber that your Lord may erant you wisdom through any means, so don’t turn your nose up at anyone,
13? Mystic Footsteps
but take a look at what he is offering, ancl ifit be from ruins or ina ruimous state you must be ready to salvage it,
Wisdom belongs to the realm of the heart: once it has been grasped it is never lost. One of our grandshaykhs, Abu Yazid ai Bistamt, once addressed seckers of knowledge as follows: “Oh scholars, you are carrying your knowledge lke a horse carries a load of books, vou are loaded down and ever ting, and you know that the holy Prophet said, ‘Forgetfulness is the destroyer of knowledge’. As a termite comes and devours a piece of wood, so does time and age consume all you know. As long as you are in the hands of your egos your memory will decline with age, but the heart of hearts, once it has been awakened, strengthens with age. ‘The heart is a source of wisdom that never dries up; but beware if you have not sought and received divine powers, for in the end your cup, which aow runneth over will be as dry as a bone.”
My grandshaykh, may Allah bless him, was over one hundred years old but his memory was rernarkable. This wakefulness of mind was a result only of his spititual condition, otherwise it would have been impossible.
As meet mote and more Westerners I find that they are very avid readers of books. | have never seen people who read so much! Centuries ago Muslitns used to read, but now all that cemaims is that some people read the holy Quran, but when that practice is lost they usually stop reading altogether. But to the West, your hobby is reading, and perhaps, if you are seeking wisdom through books, you have asked yourself: “Perhaps | have read one thousand books, and I hope to read another thousand yet, but for what? To what end am 1 reading and reading and reading?” Then it may occur to you thar vou are seeking something clse through your reading, something that reading draws you close to, but cannot get Fou to.
And when, as a result of this soul searching you begin to read from books of Sufi knowledge, of the Prophet, of Abu Bakr and Ali, of Rami, of Attar, you only feel your longing more strongly and feel that you are even thirstier. Through all this reading you
138 Shaykh Nazim Adil Al Haqqani
have casted only a cickle, just enough to know how sweet a spring this is, By now you must realize that books are not the best vessels for wisdom of the heart, for the heact itself ts the vessel, and the precious draught ts passed from heart to heart. Where may such heart springs be found in a ime that has turned verdant fells into desert wastes? Wandering through hupe desert wastes, how many of us may just happen to stumble upon an oasis? Mirst you may stumbic upon onc hundred merages! But you naust keep on, don’t turn back saying, “I have found only illusions.” No, no one said you have embarked on an easy journey, so you ost be perseverant.
Because of the immense challenge involved in this quest for inser wisdom, for fineciog the bubbling spring tn the desert wastes, so many people choose to totally ignore this most important facet of human life, and either devote themselves to the pursuits of worldly gain, or, if “rchgiously tached”, to the accumulation of religious hnowledye. Imam al Ghazzal, a world farnous fipure in the history of Islam, was simultaneously a great scholar and a Sufi master. He wrote so many books that, to read all of them in a lifcume is challenge enough. It ts satd about his master work, “Ihya (lum ud Din”, “The Revival of Religious Sciences”, that if all other books written by Islamic scholars throughout history were lost, this back alane would be enough to preserve all the essential knowledge of the centurics of Islam, and enough to keep Islam strong and vital. As his heart was opened to divine wisdom, he was able to expand our understanding of the holy Quran and the prophetic traditions through his writings.
According to Imam al Ghazzali, when a person dies, he is as a sleeper who has awakened. Whee he thus passes from the world of images to the world of realtty, he faces ummediately an evaluation
of his time mn this life. Even betore he is buried in his grave the Lord will put forty questions to him. The first and most important of these questions is, “Oh My servant, during your life you were so careful to care for your appearance, to ornament yourself for the sake of your fellow creatures: wearing fine clothes, and : arranging your hair. But did you bother to artange your heart for your
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meeting with Me? You knew thar 1am not concerned with your physical beauty, the color of your hair or skin, or whether you are short or tall, You knew that | wanted from you only to purify your heart and to come to My Presence prepared, with your heart turned towards Me and not back to that place which you have left and which you knew you must eventually leave?”
In the holy Quran, Allah Almighty declares: “A man cannot have two hearts in the hollow of his breast.” Theretore, the goal of all Sufi endeavors is to rid the heart of extraneous pre occupations, and turn towards Allah fully. This is the perifeation of the heart, and when this is accomplished, the light of Allah’s Eternal beauty will shine on, and from the mirror af your heart. This is why, for those who have attained the inner reality to live up to such a practice, the meaning of fasting is not only what it implies, for the normal believer, Le. abstinence from food, drink, indulgence and anger for a certain period oF timc, but the total absorption in the Divine Presence. Vherefore, whenever a worldly whim seems to invade the heart of such people they consider themselves ritually impure and immediately take a shower. That is the level of saints, it is a ptactice impossible to be undertaken by others ~ we would always be wet. Yes, the Lord ts calling us saying: “Oh My servant, why are you trying to escape from Mer If T were to leave you for even one moment you would cease to exist.”
140 Shaykh Nazim Adil Al Haqqani
The Golden Chain of Spiritual Transmission of the Nagshbandi Khwajagan Masters
Link: https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6029
: it lives too ane sces that you are approaching to kul it, feels fear and ities to escape. It feels pain and fears death, therefore it runs away. You must remember that it too glorifies the Lord, and so if it doesn’t haem you, you mustn't kill it, and if you do you will be held accountable. The message of Islam is metcy for all creatures, and mercy is the underlying theme of the teachings of all Sufi teachers. Mystic Footsteps
§ The Disappearance of Virtue From the Face of the Earth
When the Angel Crabriel made his last visitation to the Prophet Muhammad, Peace be upon both of them, he imformed the Prophet: “This is the Jast time | shall come to you with revelation, and, furthermore, with your passing, prophethood will be a closed book: no more will ] come to earth with divine commands.” ‘The holy Prophet then asked hin “Is it really to be so that you, who have brought divine Guidance to Allah’s prophets throughout history will never again visit the earth?” Gabriel replied: “indeed | wall return m accordance with my Lord’s divine Command, not to deliver guidance, but to take back, one by one, all of the virtues that have flourished through divine Guidance. This is my Lord’s plan: that the spiritual condition of mankind should deteriorate before the coming of the great events of the Last Trmes.”
“Test, T will come to take away divine knowledge, so that ignorance will cover the earth ke an ocean, and the people of that time will fall inte it in hordes. Those people will not declare, “There is no god but the One True God, Allah’, burt will claim, “There is na God’. (This is the epitome of ignorance, for you may koow everyding, bur if you don’t recognize the Ovnter of all and the Creator or your own being, you are ulumately ignorant). Yes, | will come to remove the knowledge of all higher realms and leave them in the darkness of ignorance.”
“Phen, again Twill come and take away “barakah’” (Barakah means being blessed by God with adequate sustenance, and consequently feeling contentment with our allotted portion). Nowadays, people’s needs have proliferated to such an extent that
126 Shaykh Nazim Adil Al Haqqani
no one cau begin to possess a tenth of what they imagine themselves to need, Despite the fact that their pockets are bulging with money all they can be heard saying is: “Not enough, not enough.” T can remember, during my chidhood that people used to carn about three piasters a day — it was just a small silver cou. Now in our country T don’t think chat one can subsist on five pounds a day ~ and what about here in England! Yet, im countries where there are kings and queens there is still more “barakah” than in republics. There used to be shepherds who earned only one piaster a day plus food and shelter for themselves and their families, and they were happy ~ for what does a humble person teally need heyond food, shelter and some money for clothing etc.? But those are bygone days... “barakah” has been taken up and people are swimming in an ocean of discontent.
Then Gabriel said: “T wil come to take away mercy from the earth.” Por example, [saw in the newspaper yesterday that some people who looked lke robots went on the rampage at a football game and killed many people. Surely their heads are like footballs, full of alr, and their hearts like rocks, containing no mercy. This is but a simple cxample of how beastly man can become when there resides no metey in his heart, and indeed, worse than beasts, for beasts kill for food, not for fim. Islan always opposes such barbarism, as our pt ophet i is the Prophet of mercy; but look, in our ame, two Islamic countries have been engaged in a useless, protracted and bloody war, mercy has been taken from their hearts ag well, and they also can Doast of having attached footballs to their shoulders where the head should he.
“And finally,” continued Gabriel, “T wil come to take away enodesty and chastity.” [t is rot difficult to see that this has been accomplished already. Nowadays, people walk the streets in attire that their mothers and grandmothers would have been ashamed to wear in their bedrooms.
And this is what the Angle Gabriel infornied the holy Prophet of fifteen centuries ago, and he, in turn, informed us that the time we ate living in ts virtually bereft of the qualities that make human
12? Mystic Footsteps
hfe human. Aud, indeed, we find ourselves living i such a time as he described. There is no more knowledge leading peopie to goodness, to honesty, to honor, here and hereafter. People are study ing, but to what end? They are only learning to support the kingdom of Satan on earth, to help perpetuate that state of affairs that is rapidly bringing the whole world to the brink of disaster, and creating such alienation in people that so many would rather throw themschves out of windows than go on living, and so many others Ive only to inflict suffering on others. Even im religious schools, where the elements of godly Iwing should be taught, that knowledge has been distorted out of recognition and soured, like a glass of milk. into which a lemon has been squeezed, so that even those with a basis in divine knowledge can barely distinguish right from wrong anymore, what to speak of dome what ix right.
Islam brought the world respect and mercy, but we have lost them both. And despite the ockds we face, we tast ever strive to develop those virtually extince good chatactetisties in oursebves. Aad we are comforted by the knowledge that our Merciful Lord will not fail to judge us lentently, as we ate toying our best to sce something through the obscurity of these ames, and we are looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.
128 Shaykh Nazim Adil Al Haqqani
*§ The Heavenly Homeland
The homeland of the soul is the heavenly realm, past as the homeland of our human personaliues is wherever we were born aud raised. People have tried to describe the goal of the SuG Path iii so many ways, but the bese description is to say that it is the way by which the soul may return to its homeland. Our seuls long for that heavenly homeland, just as we may dream of returning to the scenes of fond ehildhood memories. That attachment to our childhood homes is a reflection of the soul’s longing for its original homeland, therefore, its existence is a sign of faith, and the holy Prophet, peace be upon him in a tradition, is ta have saich “Love of one’s homeland is of faith.”
Therefore, you may come to spend Ramadan here ia Loudon, and you may feel by the end of your time here a longing for your homelands. The same holds true for pilgrims to Meeca and Medina: Allah plants in people’s hearts a love that cnables them to bear all of the hardships of the journey and the pilgrimage, so that people may do their duty to their Lord: then He changes that longing s for the holy places to a longing ¢o rerarn quickly home.
It is normal that a person should long for his homeland. We have a saying: “You may put the mghtiogale in a golden cage but it won't be happy, and will lament: “Oh that I were back in the nest I made from sticks and straw.” One may see this in the community of cur Cypriot immigrants here in London, or with other groups, that have come secking “strects lined with gold.” Vou may hear them moaning: “Oh our village, our mountains, our nivers, our seas, our old friends!”
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That longing is only the longing of the personality and the physical body fora place i it associates with pood memories; but the longing of the soul gocs much deeper. And just as it may sadden a petson who returns to the home of his youth, and finds not there the people he loved, so, for the soul Heaven is empty without the countenance of the Lord. Foreign dignitaries dom: go to Buckingham Palace unless the queen is there — for what sheuld they go, othemvise for sightseeing?
Aud yourselves: you would ast come to London to this humble place unless the person you love is here. Would you come ftom Canada to London for at least the filth time to take a sightseeing tour? London is empty for you if that person is not here. But now London is full for you, aud ever if that person were to be sitting in a cave, London would be full for you because you have found that person. The longing of the soul is for its Lord: whatis the divine tealm without Hine
730 Shaykh Nazim Adil Al Haqqani
| How the Ant With the Broken Leg Got to Mecca
[every person from among marikind may attain divine stations. Vhe Way is not barred to anyone: we are all candidates for the position of “Deputy of Ged on earth.” The holy verse is clear crough: “Oh man, verily you are striving towards your Lord, and you will meet Him,” therefore, whoever makes a serious attempt to reach, must reach. But if we consistently take one step forward and two steps back, and make ourselves fr Allah Alomghty’s description: “They believed, then fell into disbelief, believed again, and once more fell,” then we will find oursehes fost.
Steadfasmess is the quality that will aid our progress, even if that progress is slow. Be steadfast and you may reach your goal and even of you dort, yorr Lord perceives your sincere intention and may convey vou towards your goal, fust when you have despaired. Qur grandshaykh said that such perseverance in the face of immense odds is most difficuh. Imagine that a person has been told: “There is a treasure waiting for you inside the earth, a fourth of the way to China — vou must dig and take it, Here is a broken pick and a spade with a broken handle, now you may start digems.” Imagine being ordered to such a task with such tools! You must start don's say: “Lt is impossible! Ewen an oi dail can’t reach down that farl? No, you must say: “My Lord has ordered me to proceed and Te has given me these instruments with which to proceed wath my task, so I must start digging.” ‘Then you dig, and when you collapse fron exhaustion your Lord may deliver that treasure up to you in the blink of an eve.
Perhaps an ant with a broken lee may mtend to travel from London to Mecea im order to perform the rites of pligrimage. He may intend such a jourticy and start on his way, but do you think
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that there is any hope of him arriving? Allah Almighty sends a pilerim who set down his handbag; as the ant crawls in to sec if there is any food to be found for the way, the pilgrim comes, picks up the bag and gets into the taxt to the airport. When the pilgrim urtives at Jeddah, he boards 4 bus to Mecca, then a taxi to his hotel. At the hotel he leaves his other bags, but takes this valuable one with him to the holy Mosque to make his ‘Tawaf of the Kaba... After big Tawat he sits down to read Quran, and the terrtfied ant slowly emerges, only to find himeelf in front of the Kaba.
Allah Almighty made a way for that ant because it firmly intended to teach that unattainable station, with its broken leg and all and he helped it arrive quickly, too. Se don’t lose hope! W'e are tke thet ane we are directing our faces towards the Divine Presence and asking to attain to it. He may take us to that state, but we can never make it on our own.
Gaetior Is keeping our war imi the non supportwe surroundings of the West also like thisr
Séayée Nasiv These surroundings are like a whettmg stone that serves to make our faith sharper and stronger. Our erindshaykh used to say to me: “Ob Nazim Effendi, if you can go to the downtown area of Damascus and retara to thig mountain without indulping vour cyes, without casting your glance here and there, that is a greater feat and of more value than staying forty yeats in seclusion #1 4 cave.”
Yes, a man may go to Mecca and Medina for a months, fasting Ramadan there in the scorching heat and suffering thirst he never imagined when he fasted at home; he may stay through the Hajj season and experience overcrowded conditions unparalleled on the face of the earth, He may perform so many ritual prayers and rites with sincenty and may feel his faith renewed, but just as he is leaving the holy chics and thetr constraming atmosphere, and bourds the plane at Jeddah, a seductive stewardess grects bim, saying: “Welcome aboard...” Then his eto catches him and wrestles him to the ground.
”
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Therefore, here in the West where conditions are difficult, you are offered the challenge of controlling your ego under conditions exactly contrary to those ends, but the reward is greater and of mote lasting benefit. Here you may lose it all or you may reach your goal quickly. Yes, itis difficult to lead a chaste hfe under such ciclumstances, bat you must not make excuses for yourselfl You may live in surroundings that ensure that you are never for one moment allowed to forget sexuality, and you may Eecl that you will never be able to resist such an onslaught, but you nuust only intend sincerely to keep yourself and He will help you attain that goal — just remember the ant with the broken leg!
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§ The Lion is a Harmless Pussycat, Until...
Allah Almighty seat every kind of trial to the holy Prophet and his companions — why? He Almigi aty willed that Islan become a great world religion, an International way of life, so He made sure ta impart the perfect education to the Prophet and his companions, as they were to be the foundation upon which that preat building ~ comprising all nations and races — was to rest. All training is based on trials, to ascertain whether each lesson has been well learned. One trial which Allah sent upon this first group of bellevers in Islam was hunger, since hunger is a powerful motive for our epos to rebel. People are very quick to anger when they are lungry: therefore, we have a saying: “The lon is a harmless pussycat -— unul it gets lungry!? When the lon is funpry it will attack, and the same is true of our egos. Whoever is able to control himself when hunpry is proven to be trustworthy: whoever loses his self control at the first pang cannot be trusted.
The Prophet and his companions were tested in this way and found to be strong, and it wag a teaming that helped them endure every hardship and keep their self control, Whenever the companions were hungry for three days the Prophet was hungry for four, when they were hungry for two days he was hungry for three. Once, when the Prophet has not eaten in three days, he went to Abe Bakr’s house only to find that he had been hungry for nro. Then both of taem went to the house of Limar and found him in the same condition, but content and pot complaining. How is it with ug? If the meal arrives five minntes late we are digoruntled., With what right? Look, if a young lady says to her impassioned suutor “Tf vou remain two days without food I will come to you,’
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he will say: “Por your sake three days!” This is a sample example: if a young person may Dear hunger for three days for the sake of the love of a creature, then why should we not be able to endure for out Creator, gay, even give our lives to Him, as He may make us content, With Him the thirsty knows no more tharst, the huagry knows ao more hunger, the dead are no longer dead. That is the power of the leve of God that bas been transmitted to our heart.
Out brother bere has opened his house to all of us: that is abo a trial for him. It is impossible for the people of our times to have sixty of seventy guests in their homes. For our brother and his tamily this may be a spacious house, but such a throng must certainly be an imposition, and his welcoming us must be a sign of his strong daith. And tf his house could accommodate one thousand peaple, his faith would cause him to open it to all of them, whether he knew them or not, as he only secs that they arc all his Lord’s servants. It makes no difference to bim whether they are members of the Bundestap or peasants, Germans or Africans, because, through his faith, he has attained to the knowledge that the Lord is the Lord of the worlds, of all the Children of Adam, and that, as the Lord states in the holy Quran:
“We have honored all the Children of Adare.”
Allah Almighty has respected us without distinction, and it is an attribute Me catls on us to emulate.
Faith has setded in our brother’s heart, so that he may take every burden upon his shoulders. Allah supports hom and will prov ide, for whoever giv es freely is never going to become poorer asa result of i We ate in need of such faith, for without faith our hearts become narrow and we can tolcrate less and less the burdens we ate asked to carry, But when we believe, our hearts expand and we can bear much joyfully.
And nowadays, when faith bas been entitely lost, people cannot even bear the burdens of their own existence and commit suicide. The real cause of depression is only loss of faith, When faith is lost darkness descends on our hearts. We are in need of
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people who can bring the light of faith to people’s hearts more than we are in need of psychiatrists to deaden people’s feelings with their psycho Pharmacia. | am only a weak servant, and 1 am
asking our Lord’s help to bring us and the people of our time out of darkness.
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§ The Source of Wisdom is the Heart, Not Any Book
A Wise man may utter words of wisdom, but once they are recorded they join the body of knowledge that is generally available to Hsteners and readers far and wide, Once words of wisdom have been transferred to the realm of knowledge throug): such mediums as books and tapes, they lose something essential, OF course one may derive so much benefit from them still, but they can’t replace. the draught of wisdom from the gushing sorree — that source is the heart, and what comes from the heart of a wise man passes through his words directly into the heart of the seeker.
Where may one find wisdom? Not necessarily in the same place one would find a wealth of knowledge. A source of wisdom may be a Shaykh, a scholar or a professor, but may also be a plumber, a peasant or a totally iterate person. Treasures are mosdy sought in ruling, not in modern skyscrapers; buried under layers of debris, not sitting in the open, lying on the counter. And when the searcher finds some broken pottery of bits and pieces of a treasure that serves to enlighten him as to the realities of what he is excavating, he does not concern himself with the fact that these relics are not intact, for how could he expect to find that? And if you offer him brand mew items from a supermarket that correspond in use to those ancient ones he found, he will not even consider your offer, and think you to be just joking, saying: “Tow do these two compare?”
Therefore, take wisdom wherever you may find it, and don’t ask. for wiles or diplomas. Remermber that your Lord may erant you wisdom through any means, so don’t turn your nose up at anyone,
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but take a look at what he is offering, ancl ifit be from ruins or ina ruimous state you must be ready to salvage it,
Wisdom belongs to the realm of the heart: once it has been grasped it is never lost. One of our grandshaykhs, Abu Yazid ai Bistamt, once addressed seckers of knowledge as follows: “Oh scholars, you are carrying your knowledge lke a horse carries a load of books, vou are loaded down and ever ting, and you know that the holy Prophet said, ‘Forgetfulness is the destroyer of knowledge’. As a termite comes and devours a piece of wood, so does time and age consume all you know. As long as you are in the hands of your egos your memory will decline with age, but the heart of hearts, once it has been awakened, strengthens with age. ‘The heart is a source of wisdom that never dries up; but beware if you have not sought and received divine powers, for in the end your cup, which aow runneth over will be as dry as a bone.”
My grandshaykh, may Allah bless him, was over one hundred years old but his memory was rernarkable. This wakefulness of mind was a result only of his spititual condition, otherwise it would have been impossible.
As meet mote and more Westerners I find that they are very avid readers of books. | have never seen people who read so much! Centuries ago Muslitns used to read, but now all that cemaims is that some people read the holy Quran, but when that practice is lost they usually stop reading altogether. But to the West, your hobby is reading, and perhaps, if you are seeking wisdom through books, you have asked yourself: “Perhaps | have read one thousand books, and I hope to read another thousand yet, but for what? To what end am 1 reading and reading and reading?” Then it may occur to you thar vou are seeking something clse through your reading, something that reading draws you close to, but cannot get Fou to.
And when, as a result of this soul searching you begin to read from books of Sufi knowledge, of the Prophet, of Abu Bakr and Ali, of Rami, of Attar, you only feel your longing more strongly and feel that you are even thirstier. Through all this reading you
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have casted only a cickle, just enough to know how sweet a spring this is, By now you must realize that books are not the best vessels for wisdom of the heart, for the heact itself ts the vessel, and the precious draught ts passed from heart to heart. Where may such heart springs be found in a ime that has turned verdant fells into desert wastes? Wandering through hupe desert wastes, how many of us may just happen to stumble upon an oasis? Mirst you may stumbic upon onc hundred merages! But you naust keep on, don’t turn back saying, “I have found only illusions.” No, no one said you have embarked on an easy journey, so you ost be perseverant.
Because of the immense challenge involved in this quest for inser wisdom, for fineciog the bubbling spring tn the desert wastes, so many people choose to totally ignore this most important facet of human life, and either devote themselves to the pursuits of worldly gain, or, if “rchgiously tached”, to the accumulation of religious hnowledye. Imam al Ghazzal, a world farnous fipure in the history of Islam, was simultaneously a great scholar and a Sufi master. He wrote so many books that, to read all of them in a lifcume is challenge enough. It ts satd about his master work, “Ihya (lum ud Din”, “The Revival of Religious Sciences”, that if all other books written by Islamic scholars throughout history were lost, this back alane would be enough to preserve all the essential knowledge of the centurics of Islam, and enough to keep Islam strong and vital. As his heart was opened to divine wisdom, he was able to expand our understanding of the holy Quran and the prophetic traditions through his writings.
According to Imam al Ghazzali, when a person dies, he is as a sleeper who has awakened. Whee he thus passes from the world of images to the world of realtty, he faces ummediately an evaluation
of his time mn this life. Even betore he is buried in his grave the Lord will put forty questions to him. The first and most important of these questions is, “Oh My servant, during your life you were so careful to care for your appearance, to ornament yourself for the sake of your fellow creatures: wearing fine clothes, and : arranging your hair. But did you bother to artange your heart for your
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meeting with Me? You knew thar 1am not concerned with your physical beauty, the color of your hair or skin, or whether you are short or tall, You knew that | wanted from you only to purify your heart and to come to My Presence prepared, with your heart turned towards Me and not back to that place which you have left and which you knew you must eventually leave?”
In the holy Quran, Allah Almighty declares: “A man cannot have two hearts in the hollow of his breast.” Theretore, the goal of all Sufi endeavors is to rid the heart of extraneous pre occupations, and turn towards Allah fully. This is the perifeation of the heart, and when this is accomplished, the light of Allah’s Eternal beauty will shine on, and from the mirror af your heart. This is why, for those who have attained the inner reality to live up to such a practice, the meaning of fasting is not only what it implies, for the normal believer, Le. abstinence from food, drink, indulgence and anger for a certain period oF timc, but the total absorption in the Divine Presence. Vherefore, whenever a worldly whim seems to invade the heart of such people they consider themselves ritually impure and immediately take a shower. That is the level of saints, it is a ptactice impossible to be undertaken by others ~ we would always be wet. Yes, the Lord ts calling us saying: “Oh My servant, why are you trying to escape from Mer If T were to leave you for even one moment you would cease to exist.”
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The Golden Chain of Spiritual Transmission of the Nagshbandi Khwajagan Masters
Link: https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6029