In the Mystic Footsteps of Saints, VOLUME 2 (Shaykh Nazim, 115 pages, 7/7)
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mblies, “Our way is sohbet, association, and all good things result from congregating.” He furthermore stated that if anyone attended an assembly of the way even for five or ten minutes, he would derive such immense spiritual benefit from that brief encounter as to outweigh the benefits that would be gained by seven years of supererogatory worship.
That is the power of the assembly of the inheritors of the Prophet, and augmenting that power is the unanimity of the participants in that meeting, their joining of hearts in sincerity with the heart of the Shaykh. In such a meeting such a power descends on the hearts of the participants that even the deep roots of hidden idolatry, of ego worship, can be pulled out. You may
observe that with every association the ego’s power is further undermined.
Our grandshaykh explained that without association it is very difficult to catch the ego out in its game, to identify its tricks and escape from its clutches. We are in need of a guide to show us which paths lead over cliffs, as it is particularly those paths that our ego likes to point to, putting up very authoritative looking signs, saying “Through way”, or “shortcut”, and you think everything is alright. The ego comes and advises you, “If you do this, that may result; if that, this. This is suitable, but that not;” and with such “good advice” it seeks to change your heart, to turn you against your Lord Almighty.
But when you are associating with the Shaykh, the ego and its doings are quickly identified and become manifest. The ego’s disguise is snatched off of it so that there, in front of you it stands, naked and exposed. Then you are surprised and exclaim, “That is none other than my ego! It was so well disguised that I took it for a very important and highly qualified advisor; but now I see it is just that same old rascal.”
In this manner association with the Shaykh may help you to perceive your faults, and then, if you can take up the thread and work on those bad characteristics, improving yourself through applied effort, then you will undergo rapid improvement.
Another important point to understand is that whenever any group of our brothers or sisters meet for the sake of Allah Almighty, unanimously joining their hearts with the Masters of this way, that meeting will attain to the level of an association with the kind of beneficial effects just described. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the only beneficial meeting is the one where the Shaykh is physically in attendance. When our
brothers or sisters meet, one of them must be the channel for inspiration to come from the Shaykh, one must speak and the others listen, one must take from the Shaykh. The Naqshbandi Way is the Sufi path adhering most closely to the practices of the Holy Prophet, and association in this manner was his way, and the way of his companions, as he always appointed a leader to preside in his absence.
Yes, one must speak and the others must listen, this way all the meetings of our brothers are blessed. If more than one person speaks, or if there are arguments and contention, then there will be no spiritual power in that meeting and hearts will be left cold. Therefore, if we indicated that one of our brothers should make association in any meeting, you must listen to him. When you listen to him, he will be able to receive the inspirations of our grandshaykh whose heart is in connection with our Prophet, peace be upon him, whose heart is always with the Lord Almighty. In this manner Allah Almighty is going to help that person and pour out on him from His endless Blessings, His endless Mercy, Knowledge and Favor Oceans, so that through his words the attendees of that meeting may be guided towards their destinations.
When a person is asked by the Shaykh to address people anywhere and anytime on the Shaykh’s behalf, there may be one hundred, one thousand or one million people listening to that person’s address, and every one of them will be able to take what he is in need of. It is impossible that someone should address a meeting on the Shaykh’s behalf without anyone drawing any benefit from that association; on the contrary, everyone will take his share.
I was in our grandshaykh’s association for about forty years, and I was accustomed to writing down his words. All in all it came to more than seven thousand
associations. He was so generous with his company and in sharing his wisdom; even if only one person were in attendance he would sit with him and teach him. He addressed people with such ease, never finding himself at a loss of what to say to anyone or any group of people children or adults, men or women, young or old, educated city dwellers or villagers. He was able to address people according to their minds’ capacities, to speak to them on their levels, this despite the fact that he himself was unlettered. This was possible because his knowledge was not derived from books, but from the heart, and through his heart flowed everything we are in need of.
Wa min Allah at Taufiq.
The Love Oceans of Our Lord
(Shaykh Nazim visited a center dedicated to spiritual endeavor. Two groups there were at odds, one claiming that the other was not behaving in a manner befitting a holy place).
The Shaykh said:
The Lord—our Lord, your Lord, their Lord—is One. He created them and planted His divine love in the very yeast of their being. You must know that, although that love may be temporarily covered, it is running through their hearts as a river runs to an ocean. Along the course of that river love may manifest only as temporary human love, and that love current may even seem to disappear completely, like a river that flows under a mountain, only to re emerge on the other side. But there can be no doubt that our Lord has placed in every heart a current that flows irresistibly to His Love Oceans in the Divine Presence. Therefore, don’t imagine them to be cut off from divine love—it must be with them, whether that is now apparent to you and to themselves, or not.
As our heart current flows toward that ocean, the main difference we notice is that our love is not tied to physical beauty. Everyone loves nature, greenery, rushing waters, youthful forms, beautiful people—but what about the others? The Lord gave of His love to people in general, not only to the young and beautiful. And the One who implanted His love in our hearts says, “Oh my servant, as I have given you from My divine love, so have I given it to all creation; so spread your love to everyone, that you may be in harmony with My Will.”
In reality, everything that contains His love is green and beautiful, but to perceive the beauty in all creation
you must transcend outward forms and penetrate to the realm of spiritual reality oceans. First of all, it is important to pass from forms to meanings, from fleeting shapes to eternal spiritual realities, as forms are limited and limiting, whereas spiritual realities are oceans, endless oceans of contentment. To arrive at those oceans will bring you inner peace.
Therefore, I am trying to love everyone. It is easy to say to a person, “I love you” as long as that person has never harmed you, but according to our grandshaykh such is not the measure of real love. He used to quote a famous Daghistani Sufi poet who said, “I don’t accept the love that you claim to hold for me to be real until I have tested you. What is my test? If I put you through a meat grinder and you came out the other end as minced meat—but were still alive—and if then I returned you to your original form, would you still love me?”
What this poet meant was: if I cause you so much suffering, and harm you as no one has ever harmed you before, will you still love me despite all that I have done? That is true love. But if I am with you for forty years, and the, because of one hurtful word I may utter towards you in a moment of stress, you leave me and declare me to be your enemy, denying the love of forty years and saying, “I don’t love you anymore”, that is not the love we are referring to.
Therefore, as I have said, there are levels of love along the way, differing in quality according to their nearness to the goal, the absolute love oceans of our Lord. When one has reached that goal he may take any amount of harm from others and still love. He may say, “I love you for the sake of my Lord, not for any other reason. That love will never change or diminish, as no matter what you do your Lord’s love is with you. You may behave like a wild animal, you may wound me, but
yet, for you to even exist, my Lord’s love must be with you, and therefore I am loving you, too.”
Only the highest and most select of mankind are ever on such a level, and we are trying to reach that point—but it is so difficult. You must know that this is a test for you and an opportunity to gain spiritual ranks. Now you are in a situation where you must be patient with people who may not be upholding the same level of decorum that you are accustomed to. Here is an opportunity for you to advance, as holy people have advised us: rather than avoiding all ill mannered and badly educated people, we should mingle with them and establish contact with them, that they may benefit and that you may test yourself and gain thereby.
They are servants of the Almighty’s will, and we are His servants too. Our Lord is their Lord and their Lord is ours. We must be patient and we will gain, little by little. Cherry trees first yield bitter fruit, but you must wait— little by little, little by little, the tree starts to yield sweet and tasteful cherries.
The holy Masters have promised me that whoever sits with us and listens with his heart full of love must come to the same level. However, their hearts must open to divine love. The Masters are not going to abandon us, and we are not going to run from them, as our hearts have been bound with the strongest of bonds divine love, that strongest form of love that exists between the Creator and His creatures. That relationship is the ultimate goal of existence, and we pray that it may grow stronger always.
Those with whom we sit and whose hearts are receptive to divine love will attain that love. This is a promise from the Masters, and therefore our meeting indicates that your time is approaching, the time when
you will be able to break the bonds that make you slaves to your egos. Soon you will be free to approach your spiritual goals, and that is why everyone here feels himself affected and moved to tears.
If the love that were with me were only transitory love, you wouldn’t even bother sitting with me for a moment. But the love that is with me is real, permanent and divine; and I have extended a ray of it to your hearts to awaken permanent love.
Of Mice and Men
That prophets were sent to their nations to guide them to truth is a well understood fact. What is often overlooked or even denied, however, is that there were always two aspects to their missions: a general and explicit message, and a private, hidden, inner one.
A general spiritual transformation of their people was the goal of their missions of exhortation and instruction, but never could an ongoing transformation be carried on to generations subsequent to the departure of the prophet without the establishment of a line of inwardly purified people. The establishment of such a succession ensures continuity, that there are always inheritors of those prophets alive among their people— true heirs of the light of truth, not merely of words.
If not for the reality of this manner of transmission, holiness would be but a memory ascribed to some inhabitants of the cemetery and described in ancient texts. There would be no sweet honey to give believers a foretaste of felicity; there would be only stings to drive people away from religion altogether. This is not our Lord’s Intention. Therefore, He Almighty assured the Holy Prophet that sanctity would never disappear from the face of the earth, and the Holy Prophet passed these good tidings on to us, when he said, “My nation will never be devoid of representatives of the truth, even up to the Resurrection Day.”
These holy people are often hidden to varying degrees, as their duties don’t require them to be visible. And it is important for them to be discreet and circumspect when imparting divine gifts, as in the hands of the wrong people these can be as dangerous as a whole bottle of potent medicine in the hands of a child. Because
of the unsuitability of the majority of people to accept training at the hands of saints, and, beyond this, their tendency to attack holy people from pride and envy, the Almighty has hidden many of them for their own protection and for the protection of those envious people who would incur great sin by harming holy men.
Allah Almighty has also chosen to hide the Night of Power, the most auspicious night of the year. It is on that night that, if a worshipper is absorbed in ardent supplication of his Lord, the good of what he sought will be granted. He has hidden this night among all the nights of the year, for were He to announce it men would abuse this knowledge by abandoning all other occasions for worship.
The Almighty has also kept the most potent of His holy names secret. Allah’s are the most beautiful names, and they are without number. Of these infinite names and attributes ninety nine are mentioned in tradition (such as the Almighty, Merciful, Forgiving, Sustainer, Judge, Bestower, Overwhelming), but the hundredth name containing unfathomable power, is hidden. Whoso knows this hundredth name may perform miracles, but who should be given such powers except those whose hearts are in perfect accord with their Lord’s Will and are completely trustworthy? You may be sure that the group of those deemed worthy of such a trust is very small indeed.
Once there was a murid (Sufi aspirant) who used to pester his shaykh to reveal the greatest name to him. The shaykh would admonish him, saying, “Patience, oh my son, you cannot yet carry that burden.” But this particular murid was very insistent. Finally the shaykh gave him a box along with its key, and told him to deliver it to a certain shaykh in a neighboring city. “Deliver this box to that shaykh, and don’t open it on the way. When you
have successfully delivered this trust he will impart to you that secret name.”
Then the murid set out on his way with the box. He heard something scurrying around in it and became curious as to what could be inside. His curiosity got the better of him and he opened it up: a little mouse jumped out, ran into a hole and disappeared. He closed the box and continued on his way to that other shaykh, who then asked him, “Where is the box with which you were entrusted?” “Here it is, but I am afraid that I have opened it and let the mouse escape,” replied the murid.
“Oh my son,” enjoined the shaykh, “you are not trustworthy enough to guard a small mouse, so how should you be entrusted with such a holy secret as this? Were you to be given that weapon you might use it for selfish or evil purposes, and destroy yourself and everyone else in the process.”
Familiarity Breeds Enlightenment
Shah Naqshband, the most important pillar of the Naqshbandi tariqat, often said, “The essence of our tariqat is to be found in gathering in the company of the shaykh or of fellow aspirants. Such meetings generate pure goodness.” This kind of gathering is referred to as “association” or “sohbet”, and may involve either the shaykh (or his appointed deputy) addressing the group (after having linked his heart with the chain of shaykhs through which he is connected to the heart of the Holy Prophet), or simply an informal “get together”, a happy occasion for intimacy. (Often a sohbet consists of both aspects, a discourse followed by familiar interchange).
Why does Shah Naqshband assign so much importance to such gatherings? Why does he stress this even more, seemingly, than prayer or dhikr (prayer meditation)? Why? Because the familiarity arising from such blessed gatherings opens our hearts to each other and to our Lord. Gathering people in such an intimate atmosphere was the method utilized by the prophets to soften the hearts of their people, and soft hearts make our worship acceptable in the Divine Presence.
If people cannot bring themselves to defer to another, as when people gather with a shaykh or a deputy of a shaykh, they will grow to be ever more assertive, wild and egoistic. In our assemblies one person must be the symbolic leader and address the others. If he is a deputy of the shaykh, he may be, on the level of everyday life, just one among a group of brothers pursuing a common goal, or he may have already attained spiritual stations which enable him to take on a more comprehensive role in guiding the members of his group.
Whether the former or the latter be the case, when any of our deputies puts his heart in connection with the spiritual transmission for the sake of leading dhikr and delivering a sohbet discourse, he should become the means for that spiritual power and blessings to pervade that assembly.
Divine blessings descend on meetings where one person is presiding humbly and the others are deferring humbly. Such blessings never rest on a group where each is vying to prove the superiority of his views. No, our assemblies should not be debate clubs. If we follow these guidelines, after one person addresses the group and the others defer both outwardly and inwardly, a special atmosphere of intimacy should settle on that meeting, so that everyone feels well inclined towards the other members of the group, and all are able to exchange ideas in a constructive, non confrontational manner.
Our egos rebel against being on an equal footing with others, so how should they feel about showing deference! The ego is a wild creature, constantly seeking to assert its uniqueness and superiority and to belittle others. If we can manage to get the upper hand in the struggle with our egos, they may reluctantly accede to show deference, but they will never do it voluntarily.
Man is subject to conflicting impulses. He wants to be unique, but he is also a social animal. Uniqueness is an attribute of our Lord, and we have all been given a share of that divine attribute in that we are all different physically and in the realm of personality. In fact, there is a unique divine name reflected in each and every one of us, which the Lord has bestowed us a share of to the exclusion of others.
Because of this we have an intrinsic tendency to see ourselves as being unique—because we are—but the
mistake is to see ourselves as being superior to others, for it is in unity with others that we fulfill our potential for completeness, as our unique name is made manifest through the act of joining it to the whole of divine attributes.
The way to the fulfillment of this great potential passes through familiarity with people. Whosoever finds a way to the hearts of mankind finds his Lord’s Divine Presence. This is why the Holy Prophet brought people together in such informal meetings. But don’t think that this is an easy task! The power to draw people together is a gift of Heaven. The prophets and their inheritors have been granted the gift of addressing people’s hearts directly, so that all those whose hearts are not of stone all open hearted people and all those whose hearts are closed but not locked must be affected by their message.
Usually a humble class of people responded widely to the message of the prophets, as being close to nature they were more easily able to distinguish something living from a fabrication. In general, women also were more open to the message of the prophets than men, because women’s hearts are more easily opened. Men’s hearts are often locked tightly.
It is impossible for an open hearted person to reject the guidance of a prophet or one of their inheritors. But as for people who are puffed up with their knowledge, and approach men of God in order to make them accept their ideas rather than accepting divine teachings, such people are likely to lock their hearts to tariqahs (spiritual paths).
The sign of real spiritual transmission is that hearts are affected and softened so that real familiarity and affection grow among the recipients of that transmission. That is the first step towards real faith. You aren’t a real
believer until you want for others what you would like for yourself, until you can put yourself in the shoes even of those with whom you find yourself in conflict. Until you can feel affection and familiarity towards a group of fellow seekers, it is impossible to imagine sympathy for people inimical to yourself.
How is it possible to open up your heart to your fellow man? Your hearts must meet in the heart of one of Allah’s Saints, for in their hearts is divine attraction, and it is that power which enables them to be a medium for the binding of hearts. If there is no connection to the source of all love—the Lord of all beings—then no really durable familiarity can develop between people, only the commonplace surface familiarity that is so easily disregarded when self interest intervenes.
If a person has not undergone training at the hands of an inheritor of a prophet, it is impossible for him to bear with people who inflict trouble upon him. He will become like a thorn bush: unapproachable, always ready to prick whomever approaches, friend or foe. Usually, however, such people are unable to perceive that they are prickly, but attribute the thorniness to others. This is not surprising, as it is a common mechanism of the human psyche to put off on others our own objectionable characteristics. We are all mirrors, but we do not realize that it is our own ugliness we abhor in others.
The Lord sympathizes with His creatures, and whosoever has received a ray of that attribute may find his heart inclining towards people. This familiarity is a transmission from heart to heart. Don’t bother with my words, just receive my transmission.
Familiarity with our fellow men is only the first level upon which divine familiarity is made manifest, for
the truly loving soul evokes affection even from wild animals.
Once I was with my grandshaykh in the countryside. As we approached the house of the person we had gone to visit, a yellow dog started to rush at us with his tail curved between his legs like a scorpion. I thought that we would be torn to shreds, but as the dog came within clear sight of us his whole aspect changed (even though Grandshaykh had never been there before, and therefore, the dog did not recognize him in the ordinary sense of his being a frequent visitor) and he began to wag his tail. Then the dog approached and Grandshaykh rubbed his head. At this the vicious guard dog took on the aspect of a frolicking puppy, rolling on the ground and prancing about. Then Grandshaykh explained to me, “He recognized me. I am no stranger to anyone.”
Even ferocious lions may become pussycats in the presence of the receptacles of divine familiarity. Once, in the early days of Islam, a caravan of pilgrims were coming to visit the House of God in Mecca. All of a sudden the caravan stopped. Abdullah Ibn Umar was with the caravan and when it stopped he went forward to see what was the matter. The people were in a state of great trepidation, for a lion was sitting in the middle of the road, and they were afraid he would attack the pilgrims. Abdullah Ibn Umar made his camel kneel and climbed off its back. He went over to the lion, lifted up its ear, and reprimanded him gently, saying, “Don’t stay here. This is not the place for you; this is a road for the pilgrims bound for the House of God. You must be obedient and respectful and not attack us, as we are under the protection of the Almighty.”
Wa min Allah at Tawfiq.
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mblies, “Our way is sohbet, association, and all good things result from congregating.” He furthermore stated that if anyone attended an assembly of the way even for five or ten minutes, he would derive such immense spiritual benefit from that brief encounter as to outweigh the benefits that would be gained by seven years of supererogatory worship.
That is the power of the assembly of the inheritors of the Prophet, and augmenting that power is the unanimity of the participants in that meeting, their joining of hearts in sincerity with the heart of the Shaykh. In such a meeting such a power descends on the hearts of the participants that even the deep roots of hidden idolatry, of ego worship, can be pulled out. You may
observe that with every association the ego’s power is further undermined.
Our grandshaykh explained that without association it is very difficult to catch the ego out in its game, to identify its tricks and escape from its clutches. We are in need of a guide to show us which paths lead over cliffs, as it is particularly those paths that our ego likes to point to, putting up very authoritative looking signs, saying “Through way”, or “shortcut”, and you think everything is alright. The ego comes and advises you, “If you do this, that may result; if that, this. This is suitable, but that not;” and with such “good advice” it seeks to change your heart, to turn you against your Lord Almighty.
But when you are associating with the Shaykh, the ego and its doings are quickly identified and become manifest. The ego’s disguise is snatched off of it so that there, in front of you it stands, naked and exposed. Then you are surprised and exclaim, “That is none other than my ego! It was so well disguised that I took it for a very important and highly qualified advisor; but now I see it is just that same old rascal.”
In this manner association with the Shaykh may help you to perceive your faults, and then, if you can take up the thread and work on those bad characteristics, improving yourself through applied effort, then you will undergo rapid improvement.
Another important point to understand is that whenever any group of our brothers or sisters meet for the sake of Allah Almighty, unanimously joining their hearts with the Masters of this way, that meeting will attain to the level of an association with the kind of beneficial effects just described. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that the only beneficial meeting is the one where the Shaykh is physically in attendance. When our
brothers or sisters meet, one of them must be the channel for inspiration to come from the Shaykh, one must speak and the others listen, one must take from the Shaykh. The Naqshbandi Way is the Sufi path adhering most closely to the practices of the Holy Prophet, and association in this manner was his way, and the way of his companions, as he always appointed a leader to preside in his absence.
Yes, one must speak and the others must listen, this way all the meetings of our brothers are blessed. If more than one person speaks, or if there are arguments and contention, then there will be no spiritual power in that meeting and hearts will be left cold. Therefore, if we indicated that one of our brothers should make association in any meeting, you must listen to him. When you listen to him, he will be able to receive the inspirations of our grandshaykh whose heart is in connection with our Prophet, peace be upon him, whose heart is always with the Lord Almighty. In this manner Allah Almighty is going to help that person and pour out on him from His endless Blessings, His endless Mercy, Knowledge and Favor Oceans, so that through his words the attendees of that meeting may be guided towards their destinations.
When a person is asked by the Shaykh to address people anywhere and anytime on the Shaykh’s behalf, there may be one hundred, one thousand or one million people listening to that person’s address, and every one of them will be able to take what he is in need of. It is impossible that someone should address a meeting on the Shaykh’s behalf without anyone drawing any benefit from that association; on the contrary, everyone will take his share.
I was in our grandshaykh’s association for about forty years, and I was accustomed to writing down his words. All in all it came to more than seven thousand
associations. He was so generous with his company and in sharing his wisdom; even if only one person were in attendance he would sit with him and teach him. He addressed people with such ease, never finding himself at a loss of what to say to anyone or any group of people children or adults, men or women, young or old, educated city dwellers or villagers. He was able to address people according to their minds’ capacities, to speak to them on their levels, this despite the fact that he himself was unlettered. This was possible because his knowledge was not derived from books, but from the heart, and through his heart flowed everything we are in need of.
Wa min Allah at Taufiq.
The Love Oceans of Our Lord
(Shaykh Nazim visited a center dedicated to spiritual endeavor. Two groups there were at odds, one claiming that the other was not behaving in a manner befitting a holy place).
The Shaykh said:
The Lord—our Lord, your Lord, their Lord—is One. He created them and planted His divine love in the very yeast of their being. You must know that, although that love may be temporarily covered, it is running through their hearts as a river runs to an ocean. Along the course of that river love may manifest only as temporary human love, and that love current may even seem to disappear completely, like a river that flows under a mountain, only to re emerge on the other side. But there can be no doubt that our Lord has placed in every heart a current that flows irresistibly to His Love Oceans in the Divine Presence. Therefore, don’t imagine them to be cut off from divine love—it must be with them, whether that is now apparent to you and to themselves, or not.
As our heart current flows toward that ocean, the main difference we notice is that our love is not tied to physical beauty. Everyone loves nature, greenery, rushing waters, youthful forms, beautiful people—but what about the others? The Lord gave of His love to people in general, not only to the young and beautiful. And the One who implanted His love in our hearts says, “Oh my servant, as I have given you from My divine love, so have I given it to all creation; so spread your love to everyone, that you may be in harmony with My Will.”
In reality, everything that contains His love is green and beautiful, but to perceive the beauty in all creation
you must transcend outward forms and penetrate to the realm of spiritual reality oceans. First of all, it is important to pass from forms to meanings, from fleeting shapes to eternal spiritual realities, as forms are limited and limiting, whereas spiritual realities are oceans, endless oceans of contentment. To arrive at those oceans will bring you inner peace.
Therefore, I am trying to love everyone. It is easy to say to a person, “I love you” as long as that person has never harmed you, but according to our grandshaykh such is not the measure of real love. He used to quote a famous Daghistani Sufi poet who said, “I don’t accept the love that you claim to hold for me to be real until I have tested you. What is my test? If I put you through a meat grinder and you came out the other end as minced meat—but were still alive—and if then I returned you to your original form, would you still love me?”
What this poet meant was: if I cause you so much suffering, and harm you as no one has ever harmed you before, will you still love me despite all that I have done? That is true love. But if I am with you for forty years, and the, because of one hurtful word I may utter towards you in a moment of stress, you leave me and declare me to be your enemy, denying the love of forty years and saying, “I don’t love you anymore”, that is not the love we are referring to.
Therefore, as I have said, there are levels of love along the way, differing in quality according to their nearness to the goal, the absolute love oceans of our Lord. When one has reached that goal he may take any amount of harm from others and still love. He may say, “I love you for the sake of my Lord, not for any other reason. That love will never change or diminish, as no matter what you do your Lord’s love is with you. You may behave like a wild animal, you may wound me, but
yet, for you to even exist, my Lord’s love must be with you, and therefore I am loving you, too.”
Only the highest and most select of mankind are ever on such a level, and we are trying to reach that point—but it is so difficult. You must know that this is a test for you and an opportunity to gain spiritual ranks. Now you are in a situation where you must be patient with people who may not be upholding the same level of decorum that you are accustomed to. Here is an opportunity for you to advance, as holy people have advised us: rather than avoiding all ill mannered and badly educated people, we should mingle with them and establish contact with them, that they may benefit and that you may test yourself and gain thereby.
They are servants of the Almighty’s will, and we are His servants too. Our Lord is their Lord and their Lord is ours. We must be patient and we will gain, little by little. Cherry trees first yield bitter fruit, but you must wait— little by little, little by little, the tree starts to yield sweet and tasteful cherries.
The holy Masters have promised me that whoever sits with us and listens with his heart full of love must come to the same level. However, their hearts must open to divine love. The Masters are not going to abandon us, and we are not going to run from them, as our hearts have been bound with the strongest of bonds divine love, that strongest form of love that exists between the Creator and His creatures. That relationship is the ultimate goal of existence, and we pray that it may grow stronger always.
Those with whom we sit and whose hearts are receptive to divine love will attain that love. This is a promise from the Masters, and therefore our meeting indicates that your time is approaching, the time when
you will be able to break the bonds that make you slaves to your egos. Soon you will be free to approach your spiritual goals, and that is why everyone here feels himself affected and moved to tears.
If the love that were with me were only transitory love, you wouldn’t even bother sitting with me for a moment. But the love that is with me is real, permanent and divine; and I have extended a ray of it to your hearts to awaken permanent love.
Of Mice and Men
That prophets were sent to their nations to guide them to truth is a well understood fact. What is often overlooked or even denied, however, is that there were always two aspects to their missions: a general and explicit message, and a private, hidden, inner one.
A general spiritual transformation of their people was the goal of their missions of exhortation and instruction, but never could an ongoing transformation be carried on to generations subsequent to the departure of the prophet without the establishment of a line of inwardly purified people. The establishment of such a succession ensures continuity, that there are always inheritors of those prophets alive among their people— true heirs of the light of truth, not merely of words.
If not for the reality of this manner of transmission, holiness would be but a memory ascribed to some inhabitants of the cemetery and described in ancient texts. There would be no sweet honey to give believers a foretaste of felicity; there would be only stings to drive people away from religion altogether. This is not our Lord’s Intention. Therefore, He Almighty assured the Holy Prophet that sanctity would never disappear from the face of the earth, and the Holy Prophet passed these good tidings on to us, when he said, “My nation will never be devoid of representatives of the truth, even up to the Resurrection Day.”
These holy people are often hidden to varying degrees, as their duties don’t require them to be visible. And it is important for them to be discreet and circumspect when imparting divine gifts, as in the hands of the wrong people these can be as dangerous as a whole bottle of potent medicine in the hands of a child. Because
of the unsuitability of the majority of people to accept training at the hands of saints, and, beyond this, their tendency to attack holy people from pride and envy, the Almighty has hidden many of them for their own protection and for the protection of those envious people who would incur great sin by harming holy men.
Allah Almighty has also chosen to hide the Night of Power, the most auspicious night of the year. It is on that night that, if a worshipper is absorbed in ardent supplication of his Lord, the good of what he sought will be granted. He has hidden this night among all the nights of the year, for were He to announce it men would abuse this knowledge by abandoning all other occasions for worship.
The Almighty has also kept the most potent of His holy names secret. Allah’s are the most beautiful names, and they are without number. Of these infinite names and attributes ninety nine are mentioned in tradition (such as the Almighty, Merciful, Forgiving, Sustainer, Judge, Bestower, Overwhelming), but the hundredth name containing unfathomable power, is hidden. Whoso knows this hundredth name may perform miracles, but who should be given such powers except those whose hearts are in perfect accord with their Lord’s Will and are completely trustworthy? You may be sure that the group of those deemed worthy of such a trust is very small indeed.
Once there was a murid (Sufi aspirant) who used to pester his shaykh to reveal the greatest name to him. The shaykh would admonish him, saying, “Patience, oh my son, you cannot yet carry that burden.” But this particular murid was very insistent. Finally the shaykh gave him a box along with its key, and told him to deliver it to a certain shaykh in a neighboring city. “Deliver this box to that shaykh, and don’t open it on the way. When you
have successfully delivered this trust he will impart to you that secret name.”
Then the murid set out on his way with the box. He heard something scurrying around in it and became curious as to what could be inside. His curiosity got the better of him and he opened it up: a little mouse jumped out, ran into a hole and disappeared. He closed the box and continued on his way to that other shaykh, who then asked him, “Where is the box with which you were entrusted?” “Here it is, but I am afraid that I have opened it and let the mouse escape,” replied the murid.
“Oh my son,” enjoined the shaykh, “you are not trustworthy enough to guard a small mouse, so how should you be entrusted with such a holy secret as this? Were you to be given that weapon you might use it for selfish or evil purposes, and destroy yourself and everyone else in the process.”
Familiarity Breeds Enlightenment
Shah Naqshband, the most important pillar of the Naqshbandi tariqat, often said, “The essence of our tariqat is to be found in gathering in the company of the shaykh or of fellow aspirants. Such meetings generate pure goodness.” This kind of gathering is referred to as “association” or “sohbet”, and may involve either the shaykh (or his appointed deputy) addressing the group (after having linked his heart with the chain of shaykhs through which he is connected to the heart of the Holy Prophet), or simply an informal “get together”, a happy occasion for intimacy. (Often a sohbet consists of both aspects, a discourse followed by familiar interchange).
Why does Shah Naqshband assign so much importance to such gatherings? Why does he stress this even more, seemingly, than prayer or dhikr (prayer meditation)? Why? Because the familiarity arising from such blessed gatherings opens our hearts to each other and to our Lord. Gathering people in such an intimate atmosphere was the method utilized by the prophets to soften the hearts of their people, and soft hearts make our worship acceptable in the Divine Presence.
If people cannot bring themselves to defer to another, as when people gather with a shaykh or a deputy of a shaykh, they will grow to be ever more assertive, wild and egoistic. In our assemblies one person must be the symbolic leader and address the others. If he is a deputy of the shaykh, he may be, on the level of everyday life, just one among a group of brothers pursuing a common goal, or he may have already attained spiritual stations which enable him to take on a more comprehensive role in guiding the members of his group.
Whether the former or the latter be the case, when any of our deputies puts his heart in connection with the spiritual transmission for the sake of leading dhikr and delivering a sohbet discourse, he should become the means for that spiritual power and blessings to pervade that assembly.
Divine blessings descend on meetings where one person is presiding humbly and the others are deferring humbly. Such blessings never rest on a group where each is vying to prove the superiority of his views. No, our assemblies should not be debate clubs. If we follow these guidelines, after one person addresses the group and the others defer both outwardly and inwardly, a special atmosphere of intimacy should settle on that meeting, so that everyone feels well inclined towards the other members of the group, and all are able to exchange ideas in a constructive, non confrontational manner.
Our egos rebel against being on an equal footing with others, so how should they feel about showing deference! The ego is a wild creature, constantly seeking to assert its uniqueness and superiority and to belittle others. If we can manage to get the upper hand in the struggle with our egos, they may reluctantly accede to show deference, but they will never do it voluntarily.
Man is subject to conflicting impulses. He wants to be unique, but he is also a social animal. Uniqueness is an attribute of our Lord, and we have all been given a share of that divine attribute in that we are all different physically and in the realm of personality. In fact, there is a unique divine name reflected in each and every one of us, which the Lord has bestowed us a share of to the exclusion of others.
Because of this we have an intrinsic tendency to see ourselves as being unique—because we are—but the
mistake is to see ourselves as being superior to others, for it is in unity with others that we fulfill our potential for completeness, as our unique name is made manifest through the act of joining it to the whole of divine attributes.
The way to the fulfillment of this great potential passes through familiarity with people. Whosoever finds a way to the hearts of mankind finds his Lord’s Divine Presence. This is why the Holy Prophet brought people together in such informal meetings. But don’t think that this is an easy task! The power to draw people together is a gift of Heaven. The prophets and their inheritors have been granted the gift of addressing people’s hearts directly, so that all those whose hearts are not of stone all open hearted people and all those whose hearts are closed but not locked must be affected by their message.
Usually a humble class of people responded widely to the message of the prophets, as being close to nature they were more easily able to distinguish something living from a fabrication. In general, women also were more open to the message of the prophets than men, because women’s hearts are more easily opened. Men’s hearts are often locked tightly.
It is impossible for an open hearted person to reject the guidance of a prophet or one of their inheritors. But as for people who are puffed up with their knowledge, and approach men of God in order to make them accept their ideas rather than accepting divine teachings, such people are likely to lock their hearts to tariqahs (spiritual paths).
The sign of real spiritual transmission is that hearts are affected and softened so that real familiarity and affection grow among the recipients of that transmission. That is the first step towards real faith. You aren’t a real
believer until you want for others what you would like for yourself, until you can put yourself in the shoes even of those with whom you find yourself in conflict. Until you can feel affection and familiarity towards a group of fellow seekers, it is impossible to imagine sympathy for people inimical to yourself.
How is it possible to open up your heart to your fellow man? Your hearts must meet in the heart of one of Allah’s Saints, for in their hearts is divine attraction, and it is that power which enables them to be a medium for the binding of hearts. If there is no connection to the source of all love—the Lord of all beings—then no really durable familiarity can develop between people, only the commonplace surface familiarity that is so easily disregarded when self interest intervenes.
If a person has not undergone training at the hands of an inheritor of a prophet, it is impossible for him to bear with people who inflict trouble upon him. He will become like a thorn bush: unapproachable, always ready to prick whomever approaches, friend or foe. Usually, however, such people are unable to perceive that they are prickly, but attribute the thorniness to others. This is not surprising, as it is a common mechanism of the human psyche to put off on others our own objectionable characteristics. We are all mirrors, but we do not realize that it is our own ugliness we abhor in others.
The Lord sympathizes with His creatures, and whosoever has received a ray of that attribute may find his heart inclining towards people. This familiarity is a transmission from heart to heart. Don’t bother with my words, just receive my transmission.
Familiarity with our fellow men is only the first level upon which divine familiarity is made manifest, for
the truly loving soul evokes affection even from wild animals.
Once I was with my grandshaykh in the countryside. As we approached the house of the person we had gone to visit, a yellow dog started to rush at us with his tail curved between his legs like a scorpion. I thought that we would be torn to shreds, but as the dog came within clear sight of us his whole aspect changed (even though Grandshaykh had never been there before, and therefore, the dog did not recognize him in the ordinary sense of his being a frequent visitor) and he began to wag his tail. Then the dog approached and Grandshaykh rubbed his head. At this the vicious guard dog took on the aspect of a frolicking puppy, rolling on the ground and prancing about. Then Grandshaykh explained to me, “He recognized me. I am no stranger to anyone.”
Even ferocious lions may become pussycats in the presence of the receptacles of divine familiarity. Once, in the early days of Islam, a caravan of pilgrims were coming to visit the House of God in Mecca. All of a sudden the caravan stopped. Abdullah Ibn Umar was with the caravan and when it stopped he went forward to see what was the matter. The people were in a state of great trepidation, for a lion was sitting in the middle of the road, and they were afraid he would attack the pilgrims. Abdullah Ibn Umar made his camel kneel and climbed off its back. He went over to the lion, lifted up its ear, and reprimanded him gently, saying, “Don’t stay here. This is not the place for you; this is a road for the pilgrims bound for the House of God. You must be obedient and respectful and not attack us, as we are under the protection of the Almighty.”
Wa min Allah at Tawfiq.
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