The Sufi Path of Love (Shaykh Nazim, 15 sohbets, 90 pages, 6/8)
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it that you bowed in front of that priest (who represents a religion that failed to recognize the Holy Prophet of Islam)?” In Islam, bowing is a gesture generally reserved for the worship of Allah, other signs of respect being used more commonly.
Then Mevlana answered them, on a level that accorded with their understanding: “That priest was humbling himself in front of us. He is Christian, we are Muslim; and Islam represents the completion of every goodness found in Christianity. Therefore, if he is humble we must strive to be even more humble”.
This explanation is true, but on a deeper level, this reciprocation may be understood as respect to the real personality, the Divine Personality of that priest - and it is only He Allah Almighty who dresses His servants in differing outward forms and predisposes them for different kinds of actions. Mevlana recognized that it was his Lord who dressed him as a Sheikh and dressed that man as a priest; and if He wills, He can cause them to change roles, for each of their hearts to cling to the other’s religion in the blink of an eye; and who can say what Allah will do? What is beneath all these clothes but the throne of Allah, in a unique personality manifestation?
In the Holy Quran it is related that, when Allah Almighty created Adam, He ordered all the Angels to prostrate in front of him. Do you think Allah Almighty was ordering them to worship other than Himself? All of the Angels were able to perceive that Divine Manifestation in Adam, and bowed down to their Lord by prostration in front of Adam. But also in attendance was Satan, who was veiled by envy, and said: “What is he that I should worship him: I worship God alone”. But Satan could not see what was inside of Adam: all the Holy Names of Allah that were to be manifested by all of his descendants. Were those veils of envy to be lifted, he would have been the first to obey. Envy blinds us to this vision, and, unhappily, it prevented many of those who represented earlier revealed religions from recognizing the Prophet Muhammad (sal) when he came, the veritable brother of the Prophets they venerate.
If we can remember that the presence of this Divine secret is in people’s hearts, and look past their outward forms and actions, we may learn from everything and everyone and increase in wisdom. Only with this vision can we aspire to a magnanimity that will cause good actions to appear from people, for a ray of their Divine Essence to shine through and encourage the veils of ego to be lifted. Respect of the Divine Nature in man leads to familiarity between people, and familiarity opens the way to love, and all love belongs to our Lord.
Our main responsibility in life is this: to clean off the bad characteristics that cover our Divine Personalities, and once we have accomplished this to help others free themselves of that heavy burden. We must always remember the sacrosanct nature of souls. Look, Sayyidina Umar, who was to become the second Khalifa of Islam, came to the Holy Prophet (sal) with the intention of killing him, but left that meeting with a heart full of love and goodness. He was the same man, the essence of his being never changed, only his attitude did. So, we must always beware of saying: “So-and-so is a bad person”. You can’t say that of his real essence, no.
Although we regard the essences of people, we don’t accept their bad actions, but “fire upon” them the same way that a surgeon removes a tumor from a patient and leaves healthy tissue inside of him: He knows to distinguish healthy tissue from cancerous tissue and removes only what is dangerous..
That is the method practiced by all the Prophets of all revealed religions from the beginning to the end. To help people purify themselves of destructive characteristics was the mission of Moses, of Jesus and also of the Seal of Prophets Muhammed (sal), who was ordered by his
Lord: “Purify them”. They all worked to this end and never despaired of success, as they had certainty that a treasure remained buried in people’s hearts.
Look, if you have a precious diamond and then it falls into the toilet, are you going to flush it down with the dirties? Would anyone suggest such a thing? Perhaps some proud or weak- stomached people might call for a servant to do it, but no one in his right mind would flush it away. Then, when you retrieve that diamond you are going to wash it with soap and water thoroughly, perhaps dip it in rose oil, and then return it to your finger. No one is then thinking that diamond is dirty. Diamonds do not absorb the qualities of what they fall into - souls are the same.
In our time many people are searching for common ground upon which followers of all religions may stand, a school of thought which may trace its thread through all true inspiration. This is that common ground: aspire to a deeper understanding through your religion, an understanding that will open your eyes to the presence of the One in all things that will reveal to you the respectability of all creatures, especially human beings, and enable you to desist from hating evildoers even while opposing their plots.
This view will distance us from such a strong identity with labels that evoke fervor or enmity, as: American, Russian, German, Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc… and draw us closer to the realization that our Lord has honoured us all equally through the universal presence of His Divine Essence in our hearts. From that vantage point we will see that our Lord has given us through that Essence wonderful and unique characteristics, and made each and every one of us a manifestation of His Divine Attributes, of Himself.
Then it will be clear to us as well, that the veils of ego that cover our essence are as varied and subtle as the differences in the manifestation of the Essence; every one has unique “ego traps” designed to catch his own unique soul - and to avoid or escape these traps is at the heart of the knowledge of the Way. Only the one who approaches his Lord with sincere piety may discover that way, and that sincerity is what our Lord desires of us, what is of real value, as He says in His Holy Book: “The best (or most honourable) of you is the most sincerely pious and god-fearing”. In other words, our Lord has honored us all, but reserves His highest honors for those who strive towards Him.
The Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, was endowed with the widest understanding of the significance of the Holy Verse: “We have honoured all the Children of Adam”, the understanding of the presence of the One in the many. Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi was given the distinction of declaring these realities most openly to all Nations, inviting all people unconditionally through an open door, saying:
Come, come, whoever you may be,Come again. And be you non believer,Magian or idolater, Come again. Ours is not a Dergah of despair!
Though you may have broken Your repentance a hundred times Come again.
As Allah Almighty opens His doors to all His servants, so do we accept our Lord’s servants. We are not fanatics who spend their lives interrogating those who seek to quench their thirst at the fountain. This is the way of our Grandsheikh, who declared: “I am an advocate for all the Children of Adam on the Last Day”. When someone arrives at our doorstep, we know who sent him, so we can’t turn him away.
9-THE LOVE CENTRE OF THE HEARTS
and the LOVE OF THE MOST BELOVED OF ALLAH
Oh Allah Almighty, give me your love,
and the love of those whom you love and the good actions that will lead me to your love.
(a prayer of the Prophet Muhammad sal)
May Allah Almighty make us to be with his friends. It is difficult to be a friend of Allah as it may be too big for us, but at least we must try to be a friend to his friends. I never claim that I am a friend of Allah and I am ashamed to say, “Oh my Lord, make me one of your friends” but I am asking from Lord Almighty Allah that He grants me to be with His great friends, and to be the friend of His friends. This is the lowest point of Iman and below this level there is no level. As for him who loves the friends of Allah, even if he does not do any other good actions it should be a reason for his safety. It is impossible for that person to die, having a bad end (inhatima). Yes, he is never going to have a bad end. That Muhabba, that love, which is through his heart, keeps him with the friends of Allah. Islam was built on the foundation of love from the beginning to the end.
Firstly Seyyedina Muhammad (sal), he is the beloved of Allah. Allah loves him and therefore his composition is mixed with Divine Love. He became Habibullah (the most beloved of Allah). Almighty Allah granted to him from His Divine Love. Seyyedina Muhammed (sal), was taking from Almighty Allah this Muhabba, this Divine Love and giving from this to his Sahaba (the Companions of the Prophet). If he was not giving this Divine Love to his Sahaba, his Sahaba would not have been able to love him.
Hazarat Omar who loved the Prophet Muhammad (sal) so much told him one day, “Ya Rasoolullah (Oh Messenger of Allah), I love you, I love you more than my family and my children excepting for the love that I have for myself.” Then the Prophet (sal) said to him, “Ya, Omar, till you love me more than your own being, you will not be able to reach to kamal ul iman (Perfect Iman)”. The Prophet (sal) by saying this, made Seyyadina Omar to improve from the level that he was in, into what the Prophet (sal) was asking of him. This is a miraculous power of Rasoolullah (sal) Mujizah). From that very instant, in that very moment, he made Seyyadina Omar to say that he loved him more than his own being. Rasoolullah quietly took him to that point. All the Sahaba loved Rasoolullah (sal) from their souls. Don’t think that the above was only for Seyyadina Omar, no, it is open for the whole Ummah of the Prophet Muhammad (sal) and for all the nations. Yes, any one may be able to love the Prophet Muhammad (sal) even more than his own soul.
The Sahabas were full of love for the Prophet Muhammad (sal). They were full of this Divine love. Muhabbah. It was with this feeling of being fully in love with Rasoolullah (sal), that they traversed through the East and West giving the Prophet?s message to all people. They did not know their languages when they preached through all nations. When they were
preaching, people gathered around the Sahaba and listened to them even though they did not speak their language, but the love centre in their hearts were speaking to them. May be they recited only the Holy Quran but that love through their reciting reached to the hearts of the people. It was because of this that it was possible for Islam to spread from East to West even in such a short period of time of a quarter century, twenty five years. That is a miracle. If the Europeans had the intelligence to think on this point they would have submitted to Islam.
They would have said “Ashadu An La Ilaha Illallah Wa Ashadu Anna Muhammad ur Rasoolullah”(I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and I further bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah).
Such a revolution had never happened on the face of this earth so that in such a short time a new religion became established through the East and West throughout powerful nations.
Rasoolullah (sal) changed nations and this was a big miracle, but today these fanatical unbelievers and fanatical enemies of reality (mutassim) never think on this point. How is it possible that one illiterate person, through an unknown desert, and who came from an unknown people, was able to get up and say “la ilaha illahllah” and also to say “I shall be victorious, I have come to destroy falsehood (batil)” and he destroyed it, and was also victorious. But the Europeans are not able to think on this point as they want haqq (truth) to come from themselves not through Islam.
Yes we were saying that Muhabbat ‘ love made Islam enter into the hearts of all these nations. The Sahaba went all over the world from the far East to the far West. Perhaps to more than seventy nations and preached to people who spoke more than one hundred languages. The Sahaba only knew to speak Arabic. How did they address them. How did they make Da’wah (preach), and Islam go into their hearts? You speak, only with the tongue and not from the heart and therefore no one listens to you. But your hearts must say “minal kalbi minal dalwish a lilaa”. We are trying to bring that method back to the Umma today through the tariqats. We want to bring love back to the Ummah, (nation of the Prophet) because without love you won’t be able to make them into one people, in the land.
If you are unable to give Muhabba ‘ love to the hearts, you won’t be able to connect up one world with another. Our aim is to make the Ummah to love each other. It is impossible for the Ummah to love each other without meeting on the love of Allah. Only the one who meets on the same lines can be together. There shall be no jealousy, no hatred and no enmity among themselves. When a person meets another through the Divine Love Oceans how can there be jealousy, hatred, enmity and envy. It is impossible. Yes, it is impossible.
I am foreigner to this country and yesterday I met some people and they were all new ones to me. They were all fighting to get to me, pushing this way and that, kissing my hand and trying to get something from me. How is this love coming through them for me. I have never seen them before. They meet me only once and they are trying to attack me with their love.
From where is this love coming? It is coming from the secret power of Iman, from a secret line of the Prophet (sal), and it is coming from heart to hearts. Only hearts will understand what I say. Yes that is important. We are asking that this love would be common through the whole Muslim community. They must be in love.
The leaders of the Quraish came up to the uncle of the Prophet (sal) and said to him, “Tell your nephew that we will give him anything that he may ask for. We will give him what he wants from our properties and from our daughters. Yes we will make him to be even our king. The only condition is that he should stop his preaching”. The uncle of the Prophet
conveyed this to him and the Prophet replied, “Even if they give to me the sun in my one hand and the moon in the other I shall not stop my preaching, and I am not asking anything from them in return, for my preaching”.
That was the foundation of Islam and the Prophet (sal) trained his Sahaba in this fashion. They only say “illahi antha maksoodi” (Oh our Lord, Allah we are asking only for Your pleasure so that You may be pleased with us, that is our aim, nothing else). In Da’wah we are not asking for anything from you, neither for us or for the people of our country. My aim is to make that Divine Love that is in my heart to be able to reach to the hearts of believers. Do you think that this love contained in our hearts is not enough for all nations? Don’t be in doubt. Even if one heart reaches to Divine Love, the love from that heart is enough to reach to the hearts of the people of all nations.
Have you heard about the well of Zam Zam. Even if all nations were to use its water it would not empty. It is impossible. Likewise hearts, that is more important. The Divine Love that runs through our hearts is enough and more for the hearts of the people of all the nations. If Allah is willing (Insha Allah) we hope that this is a grant from Allah Almighty to me, and to you, and we hope that we can make Divine Love to reach to the whole of mankind and through this to make them alive, never to die and to have everlasting life.
The End
10-KNOW YOURSELF to find THE HIDDEN IDENTITY
Don’t allow your mind to be busy with the world (dunya). Let yourself be with Allah Subhana wa Tala. Let your thinking and everything else be of Him. You are a human being and as such, the highest and most valuable of all creatures. You are honour to Allah, because you are created to be His servants. Honour is only for those who are in servant hood, and they will have many people coming after them, trying to make them back off and to turn them away from their way. This is all they will ever be able to do, as they cannot take your heart in their grasp with their hands. They may reach to your physical body and take that away, but the Iman (certitude or belief) in your heart they cannot even touch.
Your heart must either be with Allah, or with dunya (the world). One or the other. If it is with dunya, then their hands may reach to squeeze you. But if your heart is with Allah Subhana wa Tala then they cannot reach to you. He will protect you so that they are not able to reach to you. If your heart is with Allah, then your physical bodies’ actions will never harm you.
Never!
You cannot imagine being close to Allah Almighty, physically, but when you are keeping your soul (heart) with Allah Almighty, then you become closer to His Divine Presence, and that carries your body to be also in the Divine Presence. But if you follow your physical desires, your soul cannot carry you to the Divine Presence. Those really alive are living with Allah.
At least when we pray we must try to be with Allah Almighty, then it will be spreading after the prayer, and the blessings will be running through all of our actions throughout the twenty- four hours in a day. Honour is for “alive people”. We made an oath on the Day of Promises, to Allah, that we would be with Him, and not leave Him. But now that we are here, we are leaving Him. Honour for believers, depends on their Nur (Divine Lights). Their rank and closeness to Allah, here and in the hereafter, depends upon it. So we must look for Nur.
There is not one moment even be it for the duration of a blink of an eye that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sal) is not with Allah. If he is not with Allah, then with whom should he be?
What else is there more important than to be with Allah? Is there anything that gives higher honour that to sit with Allah? Allah Almighty is saying, “I am sitting with the one who is remembering me” (hadith). If you are with Allah, Allah will be with you and this is what is required from you. Say, “O my Lord, You are that which I am asking for.” This should be your aim. Someone who is intending to go somewhere, always has his destination as his aim and in his sight. Your aim must be to reach to the Ocean of Unity.
All difficulties and problems are due to being distant from Allah. The one who is far from Allah, is not with Allah. The reason for all difficulties, sins, depressions, worries and all dangers in this world, and in the hereafter, is from being far away from Allah. All problems and complaints come from being far away from Allah.
As for him who reaches to the Oceans of Unity, it becomes that he is with Allah. It is like a drop of water falling into the ocean, coming closer and closer to the ocean, and when it enters the Ocean, nothing is left of this drop of water.All Sufi Orders, especially the Naqshabandi Tariqa, encourages people, to ask to be with Allah. He is with you, but you are not with Him. He didn’t forget you. He is with you, wherever you are. Even in barzakh, on the Day of Judgment, or in Paradise. There is no place where He is not with His servants.
The time with Allah is of the highest rank, and is of the greatest value. Be with Allah. Where is Allah? Allah is the Creator. His existence is forever. He has no beginning and no end.
None one can be like Himself. He is the Only One. You cannot ask, “Where He is?” However you may ask, “Where is He not?” “Where is He not present?” “Is there anywhere or any place that you are able to find without Allah?” Absolute existence is for Himself only. His existence fills everywhere. Do you know this to be the case, or not?
Allah is ordering us, “Don’t think about Myself (His Essence).” “You can not.” “t is prohibited to try and think about how I am” No! Forbidden. “You can think about that which I created.” At least you may think about your own personality.
You are now like one of those stone pyramids in Egypt. People, look at them and think that are only built from stone, with no doors or windows. “Impossible!” “For what purpose?” “No gates or holes!?” But the time is coming when people will think seriously about how it is. And they will say, “We must look into it and find out.” Then when they get deep into thought about it, the Lord of heavens will open a space to find a way inside.
Now you are like a pyramid, thinking that you have no gates, no holes and no way to heavens. That you are like a stone building on earth. Running around, coming, going, eating, drinking and then finishing. But the Lord of heavens says that if you take serious care to find a way from you to you, you will find it. When He opens it, you should find your Lords way. But if you are not opening yourself, and knowing, then you cannot find a way to your Lord. (Or to know Him).The gateway to your Lord is through yourself. You are the door which you must open, and then find your Lord’s Divine Presence.
He is with the smallest piece of mass. Even if it is smaller than an atom, yet He is with it. If He is not with it, then, there is no existence for it. Allah must be with everything of what He created. Therefore you may ask from Him. He is not away from you, but perhaps you are far away from yourself. This is because you do not know yourself, physically or spiritually. No- one knows his personal identity and no-one knows what his ego (I-ness) is, or his soul. Yet your spiritual being is hidden from you. The road is long and the work difficult, in order to reach to its hidden identity. This must be done patiently, step by step.
Allah Almighty likes for His servants to cry, shout and ask from Him, always. He likes for us to be like lions. The one with his Lord is like a lion and the one with his ego is like a jackal. The jackal is a dirty and harmful animal. The Lion is the king of the jungle. When he growls, everyone is in fear. The Lion never fears. All animals live in groups, but the Lion is single and doesn’n t accept another in its area. Groowwl!
The End
11-THEE ALONE WE WORSHIP AND FROM THEE ALONE WE SEEK HELP
When a Sheik orders you to do something you must obey him. When a Sheik orders you, do you say, “yes,” to him or “no,” to him. Do you question him, “Why did you order me so”.
Does a soldier ask the reason for an order coming to him from his officer. Does he tell his officer that he will not obey him, or ask the reason for this order? The attitude that a soldier has towards his officer should be the attitude that a Mureed must have towards a Murshid. This is the lowest level of Tariqa. The Mureed must not question his Sheik. It should not be like Sayyidina Moosa (alai) questioning the wisdom of Sayyidina Khidr (alai). These are the orders that a Sheik gives his Mureed so that he would become a good servant to Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), and to Allah Almighty.
If a Mureed does not have Adab with his Sheik, he will not learn to have Adab with the Prophet (on whom be peace). This means that he will also not learn to have Adab with Allah Almighty. The foolish Wahabi’s are denying this Tharbiya. When a person does not accept to be the servant of Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), they are also not accepted to be the servants of Allah Almighty because Allah Almighty shall not accept their servant hood.
Allah Almighty says “Go to my Praised servant Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), first, be his servant and then come to me, give your respect to him and then come to me. If you do not respect him I shall not accept your respect to me. I Allah Almighty am giving Divine Respect to my beloved servant Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), then how is it that you deny giving respect to my beloved One “.
This is the real Adab that Tariqat’s give, and for which we are in need today. Yes, it is easy to understand this, but these square headed people do not understand. They say that respect to Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), is Shirk (associating partners with Allah). They say that we are associating partners with Allah Almighty.
How can they say this when Allah Almighty himself gives His Divine Respect to Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace). How can you say that you cannot give respect to Prophet (on whom be peace). They say that he is dead and therefore there is no need to give respect. What is this foolishness. Allah Almighty gives everlasting respect to Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), and they say to Allah Almighty, “why is it that Allah Almighty is giving respect to Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), who has now died”. Those who say this are kafirs, no worse than the kafirs. Yes, you must first try to be a servant of Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), if not Allah Almighty will not accept your servant hood.
Allah Almighty threw away the worship of Iblis because he did not accept to be the servant of Adam (alai). He was ordered to respect Adam (alai) as the Noor Muhammedi was carried by Adam (alai). Allah Almighty ordered all the Angels to give their highest respect by prostrating, making Sajda to Adam (alai), as Adam (alai) was carrying the Noor of Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace). Iblis did not accept to do Sajda to Adam (alai) and due to this he was chased away.
We know that no one of mankind would be able to reach to the level of Iblis’ s worship to Allah Almighty. He worshipped Allah Almighty for thousands and thousands of years. But when he refused to be the servant of beloved Muhammed (on whom be peace), when he refused to bow down before Adam (alai) he did not reap any benefit from all his worship.
This is because Adam (alai) was carrying the light of Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), the Noor Muhammedi.
Why are some people refusing to give respect to Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace). Everyone is refusing to do Sajda to Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), today. Take the example of Yakoob (alai). He was a Prophet, and his sons were also Prophets. They made Sajda to Yousuf (alai). Did they commit the sin of Shirk.
The Wahabi’s are angry when people kiss my hand or kiss the hand of some other respectable person. What about the eleven brothers of Sayyidina Yousuf (alai) who prostrated before Yousuf (alai). All eleven of them were Prophets and Sayyidina Yakoob (alai) being the father and also a Prophet bowed to Sayyidina Yousuf (alai) and made Sajda to him. Is anyone denying this. Then wh
Link: https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6057
it that you bowed in front of that priest (who represents a religion that failed to recognize the Holy Prophet of Islam)?” In Islam, bowing is a gesture generally reserved for the worship of Allah, other signs of respect being used more commonly.
Then Mevlana answered them, on a level that accorded with their understanding: “That priest was humbling himself in front of us. He is Christian, we are Muslim; and Islam represents the completion of every goodness found in Christianity. Therefore, if he is humble we must strive to be even more humble”.
This explanation is true, but on a deeper level, this reciprocation may be understood as respect to the real personality, the Divine Personality of that priest - and it is only He Allah Almighty who dresses His servants in differing outward forms and predisposes them for different kinds of actions. Mevlana recognized that it was his Lord who dressed him as a Sheikh and dressed that man as a priest; and if He wills, He can cause them to change roles, for each of their hearts to cling to the other’s religion in the blink of an eye; and who can say what Allah will do? What is beneath all these clothes but the throne of Allah, in a unique personality manifestation?
In the Holy Quran it is related that, when Allah Almighty created Adam, He ordered all the Angels to prostrate in front of him. Do you think Allah Almighty was ordering them to worship other than Himself? All of the Angels were able to perceive that Divine Manifestation in Adam, and bowed down to their Lord by prostration in front of Adam. But also in attendance was Satan, who was veiled by envy, and said: “What is he that I should worship him: I worship God alone”. But Satan could not see what was inside of Adam: all the Holy Names of Allah that were to be manifested by all of his descendants. Were those veils of envy to be lifted, he would have been the first to obey. Envy blinds us to this vision, and, unhappily, it prevented many of those who represented earlier revealed religions from recognizing the Prophet Muhammad (sal) when he came, the veritable brother of the Prophets they venerate.
If we can remember that the presence of this Divine secret is in people’s hearts, and look past their outward forms and actions, we may learn from everything and everyone and increase in wisdom. Only with this vision can we aspire to a magnanimity that will cause good actions to appear from people, for a ray of their Divine Essence to shine through and encourage the veils of ego to be lifted. Respect of the Divine Nature in man leads to familiarity between people, and familiarity opens the way to love, and all love belongs to our Lord.
Our main responsibility in life is this: to clean off the bad characteristics that cover our Divine Personalities, and once we have accomplished this to help others free themselves of that heavy burden. We must always remember the sacrosanct nature of souls. Look, Sayyidina Umar, who was to become the second Khalifa of Islam, came to the Holy Prophet (sal) with the intention of killing him, but left that meeting with a heart full of love and goodness. He was the same man, the essence of his being never changed, only his attitude did. So, we must always beware of saying: “So-and-so is a bad person”. You can’t say that of his real essence, no.
Although we regard the essences of people, we don’t accept their bad actions, but “fire upon” them the same way that a surgeon removes a tumor from a patient and leaves healthy tissue inside of him: He knows to distinguish healthy tissue from cancerous tissue and removes only what is dangerous..
That is the method practiced by all the Prophets of all revealed religions from the beginning to the end. To help people purify themselves of destructive characteristics was the mission of Moses, of Jesus and also of the Seal of Prophets Muhammed (sal), who was ordered by his
Lord: “Purify them”. They all worked to this end and never despaired of success, as they had certainty that a treasure remained buried in people’s hearts.
Look, if you have a precious diamond and then it falls into the toilet, are you going to flush it down with the dirties? Would anyone suggest such a thing? Perhaps some proud or weak- stomached people might call for a servant to do it, but no one in his right mind would flush it away. Then, when you retrieve that diamond you are going to wash it with soap and water thoroughly, perhaps dip it in rose oil, and then return it to your finger. No one is then thinking that diamond is dirty. Diamonds do not absorb the qualities of what they fall into - souls are the same.
In our time many people are searching for common ground upon which followers of all religions may stand, a school of thought which may trace its thread through all true inspiration. This is that common ground: aspire to a deeper understanding through your religion, an understanding that will open your eyes to the presence of the One in all things that will reveal to you the respectability of all creatures, especially human beings, and enable you to desist from hating evildoers even while opposing their plots.
This view will distance us from such a strong identity with labels that evoke fervor or enmity, as: American, Russian, German, Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc… and draw us closer to the realization that our Lord has honoured us all equally through the universal presence of His Divine Essence in our hearts. From that vantage point we will see that our Lord has given us through that Essence wonderful and unique characteristics, and made each and every one of us a manifestation of His Divine Attributes, of Himself.
Then it will be clear to us as well, that the veils of ego that cover our essence are as varied and subtle as the differences in the manifestation of the Essence; every one has unique “ego traps” designed to catch his own unique soul - and to avoid or escape these traps is at the heart of the knowledge of the Way. Only the one who approaches his Lord with sincere piety may discover that way, and that sincerity is what our Lord desires of us, what is of real value, as He says in His Holy Book: “The best (or most honourable) of you is the most sincerely pious and god-fearing”. In other words, our Lord has honored us all, but reserves His highest honors for those who strive towards Him.
The Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, was endowed with the widest understanding of the significance of the Holy Verse: “We have honoured all the Children of Adam”, the understanding of the presence of the One in the many. Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi was given the distinction of declaring these realities most openly to all Nations, inviting all people unconditionally through an open door, saying:
Come, come, whoever you may be,Come again. And be you non believer,Magian or idolater, Come again. Ours is not a Dergah of despair!
Though you may have broken Your repentance a hundred times Come again.
As Allah Almighty opens His doors to all His servants, so do we accept our Lord’s servants. We are not fanatics who spend their lives interrogating those who seek to quench their thirst at the fountain. This is the way of our Grandsheikh, who declared: “I am an advocate for all the Children of Adam on the Last Day”. When someone arrives at our doorstep, we know who sent him, so we can’t turn him away.
9-THE LOVE CENTRE OF THE HEARTS
and the LOVE OF THE MOST BELOVED OF ALLAH
Oh Allah Almighty, give me your love,
and the love of those whom you love and the good actions that will lead me to your love.
(a prayer of the Prophet Muhammad sal)
May Allah Almighty make us to be with his friends. It is difficult to be a friend of Allah as it may be too big for us, but at least we must try to be a friend to his friends. I never claim that I am a friend of Allah and I am ashamed to say, “Oh my Lord, make me one of your friends” but I am asking from Lord Almighty Allah that He grants me to be with His great friends, and to be the friend of His friends. This is the lowest point of Iman and below this level there is no level. As for him who loves the friends of Allah, even if he does not do any other good actions it should be a reason for his safety. It is impossible for that person to die, having a bad end (inhatima). Yes, he is never going to have a bad end. That Muhabba, that love, which is through his heart, keeps him with the friends of Allah. Islam was built on the foundation of love from the beginning to the end.
Firstly Seyyedina Muhammad (sal), he is the beloved of Allah. Allah loves him and therefore his composition is mixed with Divine Love. He became Habibullah (the most beloved of Allah). Almighty Allah granted to him from His Divine Love. Seyyedina Muhammed (sal), was taking from Almighty Allah this Muhabba, this Divine Love and giving from this to his Sahaba (the Companions of the Prophet). If he was not giving this Divine Love to his Sahaba, his Sahaba would not have been able to love him.
Hazarat Omar who loved the Prophet Muhammad (sal) so much told him one day, “Ya Rasoolullah (Oh Messenger of Allah), I love you, I love you more than my family and my children excepting for the love that I have for myself.” Then the Prophet (sal) said to him, “Ya, Omar, till you love me more than your own being, you will not be able to reach to kamal ul iman (Perfect Iman)”. The Prophet (sal) by saying this, made Seyyadina Omar to improve from the level that he was in, into what the Prophet (sal) was asking of him. This is a miraculous power of Rasoolullah (sal) Mujizah). From that very instant, in that very moment, he made Seyyadina Omar to say that he loved him more than his own being. Rasoolullah quietly took him to that point. All the Sahaba loved Rasoolullah (sal) from their souls. Don’t think that the above was only for Seyyadina Omar, no, it is open for the whole Ummah of the Prophet Muhammad (sal) and for all the nations. Yes, any one may be able to love the Prophet Muhammad (sal) even more than his own soul.
The Sahabas were full of love for the Prophet Muhammad (sal). They were full of this Divine love. Muhabbah. It was with this feeling of being fully in love with Rasoolullah (sal), that they traversed through the East and West giving the Prophet?s message to all people. They did not know their languages when they preached through all nations. When they were
preaching, people gathered around the Sahaba and listened to them even though they did not speak their language, but the love centre in their hearts were speaking to them. May be they recited only the Holy Quran but that love through their reciting reached to the hearts of the people. It was because of this that it was possible for Islam to spread from East to West even in such a short period of time of a quarter century, twenty five years. That is a miracle. If the Europeans had the intelligence to think on this point they would have submitted to Islam.
They would have said “Ashadu An La Ilaha Illallah Wa Ashadu Anna Muhammad ur Rasoolullah”(I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and I further bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah).
Such a revolution had never happened on the face of this earth so that in such a short time a new religion became established through the East and West throughout powerful nations.
Rasoolullah (sal) changed nations and this was a big miracle, but today these fanatical unbelievers and fanatical enemies of reality (mutassim) never think on this point. How is it possible that one illiterate person, through an unknown desert, and who came from an unknown people, was able to get up and say “la ilaha illahllah” and also to say “I shall be victorious, I have come to destroy falsehood (batil)” and he destroyed it, and was also victorious. But the Europeans are not able to think on this point as they want haqq (truth) to come from themselves not through Islam.
Yes we were saying that Muhabbat ‘ love made Islam enter into the hearts of all these nations. The Sahaba went all over the world from the far East to the far West. Perhaps to more than seventy nations and preached to people who spoke more than one hundred languages. The Sahaba only knew to speak Arabic. How did they address them. How did they make Da’wah (preach), and Islam go into their hearts? You speak, only with the tongue and not from the heart and therefore no one listens to you. But your hearts must say “minal kalbi minal dalwish a lilaa”. We are trying to bring that method back to the Umma today through the tariqats. We want to bring love back to the Ummah, (nation of the Prophet) because without love you won’t be able to make them into one people, in the land.
If you are unable to give Muhabba ‘ love to the hearts, you won’t be able to connect up one world with another. Our aim is to make the Ummah to love each other. It is impossible for the Ummah to love each other without meeting on the love of Allah. Only the one who meets on the same lines can be together. There shall be no jealousy, no hatred and no enmity among themselves. When a person meets another through the Divine Love Oceans how can there be jealousy, hatred, enmity and envy. It is impossible. Yes, it is impossible.
I am foreigner to this country and yesterday I met some people and they were all new ones to me. They were all fighting to get to me, pushing this way and that, kissing my hand and trying to get something from me. How is this love coming through them for me. I have never seen them before. They meet me only once and they are trying to attack me with their love.
From where is this love coming? It is coming from the secret power of Iman, from a secret line of the Prophet (sal), and it is coming from heart to hearts. Only hearts will understand what I say. Yes that is important. We are asking that this love would be common through the whole Muslim community. They must be in love.
The leaders of the Quraish came up to the uncle of the Prophet (sal) and said to him, “Tell your nephew that we will give him anything that he may ask for. We will give him what he wants from our properties and from our daughters. Yes we will make him to be even our king. The only condition is that he should stop his preaching”. The uncle of the Prophet
conveyed this to him and the Prophet replied, “Even if they give to me the sun in my one hand and the moon in the other I shall not stop my preaching, and I am not asking anything from them in return, for my preaching”.
That was the foundation of Islam and the Prophet (sal) trained his Sahaba in this fashion. They only say “illahi antha maksoodi” (Oh our Lord, Allah we are asking only for Your pleasure so that You may be pleased with us, that is our aim, nothing else). In Da’wah we are not asking for anything from you, neither for us or for the people of our country. My aim is to make that Divine Love that is in my heart to be able to reach to the hearts of believers. Do you think that this love contained in our hearts is not enough for all nations? Don’t be in doubt. Even if one heart reaches to Divine Love, the love from that heart is enough to reach to the hearts of the people of all nations.
Have you heard about the well of Zam Zam. Even if all nations were to use its water it would not empty. It is impossible. Likewise hearts, that is more important. The Divine Love that runs through our hearts is enough and more for the hearts of the people of all the nations. If Allah is willing (Insha Allah) we hope that this is a grant from Allah Almighty to me, and to you, and we hope that we can make Divine Love to reach to the whole of mankind and through this to make them alive, never to die and to have everlasting life.
The End
10-KNOW YOURSELF to find THE HIDDEN IDENTITY
Don’t allow your mind to be busy with the world (dunya). Let yourself be with Allah Subhana wa Tala. Let your thinking and everything else be of Him. You are a human being and as such, the highest and most valuable of all creatures. You are honour to Allah, because you are created to be His servants. Honour is only for those who are in servant hood, and they will have many people coming after them, trying to make them back off and to turn them away from their way. This is all they will ever be able to do, as they cannot take your heart in their grasp with their hands. They may reach to your physical body and take that away, but the Iman (certitude or belief) in your heart they cannot even touch.
Your heart must either be with Allah, or with dunya (the world). One or the other. If it is with dunya, then their hands may reach to squeeze you. But if your heart is with Allah Subhana wa Tala then they cannot reach to you. He will protect you so that they are not able to reach to you. If your heart is with Allah, then your physical bodies’ actions will never harm you.
Never!
You cannot imagine being close to Allah Almighty, physically, but when you are keeping your soul (heart) with Allah Almighty, then you become closer to His Divine Presence, and that carries your body to be also in the Divine Presence. But if you follow your physical desires, your soul cannot carry you to the Divine Presence. Those really alive are living with Allah.
At least when we pray we must try to be with Allah Almighty, then it will be spreading after the prayer, and the blessings will be running through all of our actions throughout the twenty- four hours in a day. Honour is for “alive people”. We made an oath on the Day of Promises, to Allah, that we would be with Him, and not leave Him. But now that we are here, we are leaving Him. Honour for believers, depends on their Nur (Divine Lights). Their rank and closeness to Allah, here and in the hereafter, depends upon it. So we must look for Nur.
There is not one moment even be it for the duration of a blink of an eye that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sal) is not with Allah. If he is not with Allah, then with whom should he be?
What else is there more important than to be with Allah? Is there anything that gives higher honour that to sit with Allah? Allah Almighty is saying, “I am sitting with the one who is remembering me” (hadith). If you are with Allah, Allah will be with you and this is what is required from you. Say, “O my Lord, You are that which I am asking for.” This should be your aim. Someone who is intending to go somewhere, always has his destination as his aim and in his sight. Your aim must be to reach to the Ocean of Unity.
All difficulties and problems are due to being distant from Allah. The one who is far from Allah, is not with Allah. The reason for all difficulties, sins, depressions, worries and all dangers in this world, and in the hereafter, is from being far away from Allah. All problems and complaints come from being far away from Allah.
As for him who reaches to the Oceans of Unity, it becomes that he is with Allah. It is like a drop of water falling into the ocean, coming closer and closer to the ocean, and when it enters the Ocean, nothing is left of this drop of water.All Sufi Orders, especially the Naqshabandi Tariqa, encourages people, to ask to be with Allah. He is with you, but you are not with Him. He didn’t forget you. He is with you, wherever you are. Even in barzakh, on the Day of Judgment, or in Paradise. There is no place where He is not with His servants.
The time with Allah is of the highest rank, and is of the greatest value. Be with Allah. Where is Allah? Allah is the Creator. His existence is forever. He has no beginning and no end.
None one can be like Himself. He is the Only One. You cannot ask, “Where He is?” However you may ask, “Where is He not?” “Where is He not present?” “Is there anywhere or any place that you are able to find without Allah?” Absolute existence is for Himself only. His existence fills everywhere. Do you know this to be the case, or not?
Allah is ordering us, “Don’t think about Myself (His Essence).” “You can not.” “t is prohibited to try and think about how I am” No! Forbidden. “You can think about that which I created.” At least you may think about your own personality.
You are now like one of those stone pyramids in Egypt. People, look at them and think that are only built from stone, with no doors or windows. “Impossible!” “For what purpose?” “No gates or holes!?” But the time is coming when people will think seriously about how it is. And they will say, “We must look into it and find out.” Then when they get deep into thought about it, the Lord of heavens will open a space to find a way inside.
Now you are like a pyramid, thinking that you have no gates, no holes and no way to heavens. That you are like a stone building on earth. Running around, coming, going, eating, drinking and then finishing. But the Lord of heavens says that if you take serious care to find a way from you to you, you will find it. When He opens it, you should find your Lords way. But if you are not opening yourself, and knowing, then you cannot find a way to your Lord. (Or to know Him).The gateway to your Lord is through yourself. You are the door which you must open, and then find your Lord’s Divine Presence.
He is with the smallest piece of mass. Even if it is smaller than an atom, yet He is with it. If He is not with it, then, there is no existence for it. Allah must be with everything of what He created. Therefore you may ask from Him. He is not away from you, but perhaps you are far away from yourself. This is because you do not know yourself, physically or spiritually. No- one knows his personal identity and no-one knows what his ego (I-ness) is, or his soul. Yet your spiritual being is hidden from you. The road is long and the work difficult, in order to reach to its hidden identity. This must be done patiently, step by step.
Allah Almighty likes for His servants to cry, shout and ask from Him, always. He likes for us to be like lions. The one with his Lord is like a lion and the one with his ego is like a jackal. The jackal is a dirty and harmful animal. The Lion is the king of the jungle. When he growls, everyone is in fear. The Lion never fears. All animals live in groups, but the Lion is single and doesn’n t accept another in its area. Groowwl!
The End
11-THEE ALONE WE WORSHIP AND FROM THEE ALONE WE SEEK HELP
When a Sheik orders you to do something you must obey him. When a Sheik orders you, do you say, “yes,” to him or “no,” to him. Do you question him, “Why did you order me so”.
Does a soldier ask the reason for an order coming to him from his officer. Does he tell his officer that he will not obey him, or ask the reason for this order? The attitude that a soldier has towards his officer should be the attitude that a Mureed must have towards a Murshid. This is the lowest level of Tariqa. The Mureed must not question his Sheik. It should not be like Sayyidina Moosa (alai) questioning the wisdom of Sayyidina Khidr (alai). These are the orders that a Sheik gives his Mureed so that he would become a good servant to Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), and to Allah Almighty.
If a Mureed does not have Adab with his Sheik, he will not learn to have Adab with the Prophet (on whom be peace). This means that he will also not learn to have Adab with Allah Almighty. The foolish Wahabi’s are denying this Tharbiya. When a person does not accept to be the servant of Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), they are also not accepted to be the servants of Allah Almighty because Allah Almighty shall not accept their servant hood.
Allah Almighty says “Go to my Praised servant Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), first, be his servant and then come to me, give your respect to him and then come to me. If you do not respect him I shall not accept your respect to me. I Allah Almighty am giving Divine Respect to my beloved servant Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), then how is it that you deny giving respect to my beloved One “.
This is the real Adab that Tariqat’s give, and for which we are in need today. Yes, it is easy to understand this, but these square headed people do not understand. They say that respect to Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), is Shirk (associating partners with Allah). They say that we are associating partners with Allah Almighty.
How can they say this when Allah Almighty himself gives His Divine Respect to Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace). How can you say that you cannot give respect to Prophet (on whom be peace). They say that he is dead and therefore there is no need to give respect. What is this foolishness. Allah Almighty gives everlasting respect to Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), and they say to Allah Almighty, “why is it that Allah Almighty is giving respect to Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), who has now died”. Those who say this are kafirs, no worse than the kafirs. Yes, you must first try to be a servant of Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), if not Allah Almighty will not accept your servant hood.
Allah Almighty threw away the worship of Iblis because he did not accept to be the servant of Adam (alai). He was ordered to respect Adam (alai) as the Noor Muhammedi was carried by Adam (alai). Allah Almighty ordered all the Angels to give their highest respect by prostrating, making Sajda to Adam (alai), as Adam (alai) was carrying the Noor of Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace). Iblis did not accept to do Sajda to Adam (alai) and due to this he was chased away.
We know that no one of mankind would be able to reach to the level of Iblis’ s worship to Allah Almighty. He worshipped Allah Almighty for thousands and thousands of years. But when he refused to be the servant of beloved Muhammed (on whom be peace), when he refused to bow down before Adam (alai) he did not reap any benefit from all his worship.
This is because Adam (alai) was carrying the light of Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), the Noor Muhammedi.
Why are some people refusing to give respect to Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace). Everyone is refusing to do Sajda to Sayyidina Muhammed (on whom be peace), today. Take the example of Yakoob (alai). He was a Prophet, and his sons were also Prophets. They made Sajda to Yousuf (alai). Did they commit the sin of Shirk.
The Wahabi’s are angry when people kiss my hand or kiss the hand of some other respectable person. What about the eleven brothers of Sayyidina Yousuf (alai) who prostrated before Yousuf (alai). All eleven of them were Prophets and Sayyidina Yakoob (alai) being the father and also a Prophet bowed to Sayyidina Yousuf (alai) and made Sajda to him. Is anyone denying this. Then wh
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