The Joy of Cyprus in the Association of Rajab (Shaykh Nazim, 35 suhbat, 82 pages, 1/4)
https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6070
The Joy of Cyprus in the Association of Rajab
Sufi Discourses of Mawlānā al-Shaykh Muhammad Nāzim al-Haqqānī Allāh Sanctify His Secret
© Dār al-Ahbāb, Damascus, hijra 1422, 2002
Contents
Tassawwuf (Sufism) 6
“Oneness of Being” 7
The Divine Names and Attributes 7
Oneness (al-Ah. adiyya) 8
Remark Concerning Qur’ān Recitation 8
The Distinction of the Creator from the Created 8
The Greatness of the Almighty Creator 9
The Pre-Eminence of Human Beings in Creation 10
The Light of Faith-Informed Reason in the Heart 10
The Intermediary of Knowledge and Its Increase 10
The Offices of Ghawth and Murshid 11
The Golden Chain Holds the Legacy of All the Sufi Chains 12
The Supremacy of Hope in GrandShaykh’s Teaching 12
The Greatness of Allāh Almighty in His Creation
The Physical Smallness of Man in the Universe
Haqqānī Existence and Man’s Caliphate
Limited Knowledge Is Virtually Nil
The Muh. ammadan Light, Adornment of the Believers 14
Nescience Is Without Limits 18
The Sources of Shaykh Muh. yī al-Dīn’s Knowledge 18
Revering the Divine Secret in Man 19
The Excellence of Syro-Palestine and the Invocation of Blessings on the Prophet Loudly after Adhān 20
The Followers and the Master 21
Discernment Is Through Seclusion 22
Seclusion Is Through Sincerity 23
GrandShaykh’s Seclusion in Madīna 23
The Advent of al-Mahdī, upon Him Peace 24
Tyrants 25
Silence and Inquiry 25
The Red Sulfur 25
Honey is not Taken from the Bee’s Mouth 26
Looking Without Learning is a Capital Offense 27
The Divine Attributes Are the Signposts of the Essence 28
The Ever-Expanding Universe 29
“My Foot Is on the Neck of Every Saint” 30
Dalā’il al-Khayrāt 30
IN THE NAME OF ALLĀH ALL-BENEFICENT MOST MERCIFUL
Glory to Allāh Who sent down Gibrīl to His Beloved Elect, took His Servant on a Night Journey from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, and reserved for His Beloved alone the Purest Ascent and Greatest Sign, granting him the Highest Station and Loftiest Standing which can never be measured nor limited! Allāh bless and greet him and his Family and Companions with the utmost greeting!
Our Lord Most High, to You belong all praise, glory, and thanks for Your favors which cannot be counted and for Your blessings both manifest and hidden! Is not the time ripe for the hearts of those who believe to submit to the reminder of Allāh and to the truth which is revealed? (57:16) Your forgiveness, our Lord. Unto You is the journeying (2:285).
Among the greatest favors Allāh grants to the seeker of Truth and the murīd of His Presence in our time is the companionship of the Seal of Sainthood, the Accomplished Guide to the Ways of Holiness, our Master and Patron, Shaykh NĀZ.IM AL-H.AQQĀNĪ
– Allāh sanctify his secret, support him, protect him with His un-failing Fortress, benefit us and all sincere Believers with him, and guide us through him to what He loves and accepts, Āmīn!
Mawlānā gave us a great gift in the light-filled association of the blessed visit that travellers from Divinely-protected Shām paid him in the last two weeks of the sacred month of Rajab in the year 1422 – October 2001 – in his house and zāwiya in the Turkish Cypriot town of Lefke. His discourse shook us, took our souls swimming in the higher orbits, sat king-like on the throne of our minds and hearts!
The writer of these lines felt obliged to keep a memento of this experience and wrote them, first in Arabic, then in English, by way of thanks and rendering of this tremendous trust – although un-qualified – and also for others, perhaps, to benefit and drink from this cool wellspring which the Lord of Daybreak brought forth on the tongue of our Teacher. Lo! this is a conclusive word, It is no pleasantry (al-T.āriq 86:13-14). It was titled . May our Lord make right this transcription and seal it with acceptance by our Patrons, the Saints of the Most Distinguished Naqshbandi Path, the Dispensers of Lordly Wisdoms – Allāh Most High sanctify their purified souls and elevate their stations higher, Āmīn!
Tasawwuf (Sufism)
O ur Exalted Teacher said when he was asked about tasawwuf: “Each defined it according to his experience and according to the time. Shāh Naqshband said – Allāh sanctify his secret! –
‘Our Path is companionship, and good is in the collective.’ Our Master Abū Yazīd al-Bist.āmī said, ‘It is to bear with oppo-sites.’ Our Exalted Master, Mawlāna al-Shaykh ‘Abd Allāh al-Dāghistānī said – Allāh sanctify his secret! – ‘It is the abandon-ment of anger.’ He also said, with regard to the beginner, ‘It is leaving “Why?” with one’s teacher.’” Then someone asked Mawlānā for his own definition but, out of modesty and adab, he would not give one. Instead, he said: “We are servants and followers of these men and hope they will accept us as such!”
M awlānā, one time, reportedly defined tasawwuf as “The foot in the shoe.” Meaning, the placing of each thing in its exact right place in all humbleness and simplicity. Mawlānā defined injustice as “placing something in other than in its right place.”
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Thus tasawwuf is the pinnacle of justice. Imām al-Qushayrī said in his Tafsīr titled Lat.ā’if al-Ma‘ārif, “Whoever trains his sight in its right place shall attain knowledge of Allāh Most High.”
“Oneness of Being”
I told Mawlānā of Sayyid Yūsuf al-Rifā‘ī’s declaration about “Oneness of being” (wah.dat al-wujūd) in Damascus: “None of the Sufi Paths made this doctrine an essential tenet of theirs.” Mawlānā said: “They fought and argued without result. Those that claim oneness of being with Absolute Being (al-wujūd al-mut.laq) are only trying to affirm their own existence together with absolute Existence and this is shirk – partnership with Allāh!”
The Divine Names and Attributes
H e said: The Manifestations (al-tajalliyāt) are of four types: Divine Essence, Divine Attributes, Divine Names, and Di-vine Acts. The Name of the Pure Essence (al-dhāt al-bah.t) is HŪ (“He”) while ALLĀH is the comprehensive (jāmi‘) Name for all the Names and Attributes. Every created being is a manifestation for a Name or under the tutelage of one of the Divine Names, which that being reveals. Hence there is no created being nor glimpse of a second in time that equals another. From the Pure Essence appear the Attributes and Names, while the worlds ap-pear from the Acts. As for HŪ, He never appears for He is al-S.amad – the “Self-Sufficient, Impregnable, Eternally Besought of all, Everlasting Sovereign” Who has no interior nor is circum-scribed in a place or direction, and everything in creation sub-sists through this quality of His (s.amadiyya). Therefore, it is im-possible for even an atom to exist outside of this quality of His. If it were attributed to other than Him, it would be shirk.
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Oneness (al-Ah.adiyya)
H e said that the ocean of the Attributes points to the Essence without being the Essence. Allāh said in Sūrat al-Ikhlās.,
Say: He is Allah, the One! then He said, And there is not, com-parable unto Him, anyone (kufuwan ah.adun) in the nominative but He did not say, “And He does not have a single comparative” (kufuwan ah.adan) [accusative]. The second ah.ad points to the Attributes and to the fact that they are insufficient to completely describe Him. So, if the Attributes are insufficient – and they are pre-eternal and everlasting – then what about created beings?
Remark Concerning Qur’ān Recitation
I n the course of this talk Mawlānā mentioned that some reciters link up the two verses thus: Allāhu Ah.ad-un-iLlāhu-s.-S.amad at which time they thin out the pronunciation of the ā in the sec-ond mention of the Name of Allāh. Then someone may hear this in the wrong way and mispronounce the second mention of the
Name of Allāh, “lillāhu”!
The Distinction of the Creator from the Created
H e said that creation is all from the ocean of the Attribute of Power (al-qudra) and under the heading of the manifesta-tion of the acts. Creation is not “of Allāh” in the sense of being a part from or parcel of Him – never!1 He begets not nor was be-gotten (Ikhlās. 112:3). Meaning, He never gives anything from His Essence nor from Himself (min dhātihi) and is never given anything from someone else. But His command, when He
1A reference to the mistake of Christians who misconstrue the preposition “of” to mean part and parcel in attributions such as “Spirit of Allāh.”
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intends a thing, is only that He says unto it: Be! and it is (Yā Sīn 36:82). Therefore, the existence of all things belongs to the world of the Divine Command (‘ālam al-amr). They appear out of the ocean of Power according to His determination, desig-nation, and timing. Whenever He wishes, they go back to the ocean of Power and disappear – then where is “Oneness of Being” and where is “Incarnation”? Never! Allāh is our refuge.
The Greatness of the Almighty Creator
H e said that if Ādam – upon him peace! – and all his offspring until the Day of Resurrection were gathered together, they would not exceed the size of a pinpoint in comparison to the size of the universes and the constellations and the worlds. We are really something insignificant in comparison to this huge greatness! The power of the Lord of the worlds can even place all of those worlds into that pinpoint! Where is “Incarnation” and “Oneness of Being”? Subh.ān Allāh! Allāhu Akbarul-Akbar!
F urther, the number of galaxies in the cosmos is impossible to assess except to Allāh Almighty. Even so, there exists all around them a huge, deep blackness of unknown limits and end. Perhaps, our constellation is a dot of light that cannot be seen in the midst of these unlimited constellations and boundless space!
A lso, our solar system moves at a speed of eighteen million kilometers per day since billions of years inside our gal-axy, which itself is moving along with the other galaxies in this space, which is one in a limitless number of spaces! All of this is moving at a huge speed that indicates astronomical distances that the mind is unable to compute. But it is all one drop in one ocean of the oceans of His Power – Almighty and Exalted!
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The Pre-Eminence of Human Beings in Creation
H e said: Nevertheless, human beings were allowed to observe these huge creations and understand something of their ex-tent and infinity. The secret of Divine Caliphate (al-khilāfa al-rabbāniyya) was placed in the human being, by which his soul goes to the farthest extent of the cosmos and comes back – not like, but above the angels! Verily We have honored the children of Ādam. We carry them on the land and the sea, and have made provision of good things for them, and have preferred them above many of those whom We created with a marked preferment (al-Isrā’ 17:70).
The Light of Faith-Informed Reason in the Heart
H e said: Science has reached the point of proving that the smallest particle can carry in it the hugest power, like atomic power. And in the human mind (‘aql) there is a small atom-point. Some say it is in the head and some say it is in the heart – this is the correct view because the sultan is the heart. That atom-point of light is able to encompass all that we have said and is able to know Allāh . But if we were to gather together the intelligence of all the wisest philosophers and sages, they would be unable to know this and the worlds cannot carry it. Reflect upon this.
The Intermediary of Knowledge and Its Increase
H e said: All the types of knowledge are also gathered up in a single pinpoint from which all take. Everyone takes his fill and goes sated – then comes back, takes his fill, and goes sated. The Exalted Messenger of Allāh – Allāh bless and greet him and his Family! – is the intermediary. No-one obtains any
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knowledge except from this point, including the unbelievers. As for the next world, the Mu’min will be given the power to never be sated but keep taking and taking. There they have all that they desire, and there is more with Us (Qāf 50:35). Likewise the Stations in Barzakh. They are in perpetual increase. And the Messenger of Allāh always keeps rising and rising higher!
The Offices of Ghawth and Murshid
I asked Mawlānā one time about the saying attributed to some Shādhilī authorities: “All the Qut.bs [Spiritual Poles] and the Ghawth [Arch-Helper] are from our ranks until the Day of Judg-ment.” He replied: “Each speaks according to his level and according to what he sees.” Meaning – and Allāh knows best – all express, according to their capacity and spiritual connection, the patent and certain Divine favors that appear to them in con-formity with the order to speak of His favors: Therefore of the bounty of your Lord be your discourse (D.uh.ā 93:11). We raise by grades whom We will, and over every lord of knowl-
edge there is one more knowing (Yūsuf 12:76).
W e heard this reply frequently, such as with regard to the position of the Seal of Sainthood and the spiritual levels where the Walī might see only himself. Consequently, he might speak in absolute terms. Then Mawlānā said: “And does any-thing remain of true guidance and discipline in the Sufi paths?” I asked him, Are not the Qut.b and Ghawth necessarily connected spiritually? He said, “This is something, and Irshād is some-thing else.” By this he indicated – Allāh knows best – the fact that the guidance of servants to perfection is the highest spiritual office, and the (H.aqqānī and S.iddīq) Shaykhs of the Naqshbandī Path are the foremost inheritors of this office of guidance.
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The Golden Chain Holds the Legacy of All the Sufi Chains
M awlānā told us that one time someone expressed surprise at the light which he said he saw on the faces of the Naqsh-bandis and asked: “From where do you obtain that light?” Where-upon GrandShaykh replied: “This is from your lights.” Mawlānā explained: “This is not a compliment but really is the lights of their Shaykhs and their legacy which was poured into the hands of Sayyidī al-Shaykh. They worked and we inherited. So it is correct to say: This [light] is from your blessings.”
The Supremacy of Hope in GrandShaykh’s Teaching
I asked Mawlānā about the statement of someone who attended the teachings of Mawlānā al-Shaykh ‘Abd Allāh al-Dāghistānī
– Allāh sanctify his soul! – in Damascus and said: “Hope over-whelmed [fear] in him.” Mawlānā said, One time our Master Yah.yā [John the Baptist] met our Master ‘Īsā [Jesus] – upon our Prophet and upon them blessings and peace! – and said to him:
“It seems you feel safe of Divine punishment!” ‘Īsā replied: “It seems you despair of Divine mercy!”
T hen Mawlānā said, The station of elation (bast.) is superior to the station of care (qabd.). However, each is utterly satis- fied with the station given to him by his Lord! T he Messenger of Allāh always smiled. Bast. overwhelmed his gathering. He smiled and made his Companions smile.
As for his saying, “If you knew what I know, you would laugh little and weep much,” it refers to his knowledge of the dissensions and tribulations that would take place among his Companions and in his Community until the Day of Judgment.
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A bout the saying of GrandShaykh, “It is impossible that a servant read the Fātih.a and not benefit from it in the next life, even a disbeliever,” Mawlānā said: Whoever says Lā Ilāha IllAllāh one time, even in jest, receives reward because of the saying of the Prophet : “Whenever the servant says the testi-mony of faith, Allāh Most High creates an angel that makes mention of His Highmost Majesty until the Day of Judgment, and the reward for all this dhikr goes to that servant!”2
M awlānā was asked: Are there not pre-conditions for its utterance and for the servant’s reward, and is the one who speaks in jest rewarded nevertheless? He replied: “What about the one who swallows poison unintentionally? Is he not affected by it? It is the same with the one who does dhikr – intentionally or in jest. And if this is the case for the Shahāda, then what do you think is the case for the Fātih.a – the Mother of the Book and the essence of the Noble Qur’ān?”
I did not find this h.adīth but it was narrated from al-Nu‘mān ibn Bashīr that the Prophet said: “Whatever you mention in reverence of the Divine Majesty such as Tasbīh., Tahlīl, and Tah.mīd, rally around the Throne with a sound like the sound of bees, a reminder of whoever uttered them. Does not each and everyone of you love for him-self to have a perpetual reminder [at the Throne]?” Al-Mundhirī said in al-Targhīb: “Ibn Abī al-Dunyā, Ibn Mājah, and al-H.ākim narrated it, the latter grading it sound per Muslim’s criterion.” Another proof is the h.adīth of Mālik ibn Dukhshum who was considered a hypocrite yet the Prophet said: “None testifies that there is no God but Allāh and that I am the Messenger of Allāh and then enters the Fire.” Anas was so pleased when he heard this h.adīth that he told his son to write it down. S.ah.īh. Muslim.
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The Greatness of Allāh Almighty in His Creation The Physical Smallness of Man in the Universe H.aqqānī Existence and Man’s Caliphate Limited Knowledge Is Virtually Nil
The Muh.ammadan Light, Adornment of the Believerss
A llāhu Akbar. Allāhu Akbar. Allāhu Akbar. Allāhu Akbarul-Akbar! [Allāh is Greatest. Allāh is Greatest. Allāh is Greatest.
Allāh is the Greatest of the Greatest!] Bismillāh al-Rah.mān al-Rah.īm. T.arīqatunā-s.-S.uh.ba; wal-Khayru fil-Jam‘iyya. [In the Name of Allāh all-Beneficent most Merciful. “Our Path is com-panionship, and good is in the collective.”] T he greatness of Allāh! Allāh is great. But the word “great” – that is going to be unable to give anything from the meaning of great – being great – of Allāh.
H e is great. And He is only One. [There] can’t be a second one in existence. They are saying, “Ten millions of galaxies.” They may say one hundred million galaxies. Do you think that space may conclude one hundred million galaxies? What do you say? Can it conclude them? Much more. One billion?
T his is only space. And space is not Allāh. Allāh is Allāh. And this space – can you imagine that you can fill it with galaxies? If I am asking you to, can you fill it, one ocean – leave one ocean; if I am saying to you the Mediterranean Sea just went dry: do you think that you can be able to fill it with a bucket? How many buckets do you need to fill the Mediterra-nean Sea? I am not saying the Atlantic Ocean or the Indian
3This entire section is an almost literal transcription of Mawlānā’s words.
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Ocean or the Pacific Ocean. Do you think that you can fill it?
Not empty it, fill it. Do you think that you can do that?
A nd do you think that space only – and this is one space, I am speaking on one space only, and your Lord – He has countless spaces! Only one space – that – and we are in it. Do you think that billions of galaxies or trillions of galaxies or quadril-lion times quadrillions of galaxies – each one a gigantic galaxy can fill that space?
I am coming to say to you about unlimited numbers of gal-axies may enter, may be swimming through this huge space. At the end it is so dark. Dark––dark. To prove their existence? Through that depthless darkness, do you think that trillions of quadrillion galaxies give any small spot of light?
T his is a grant – to think about that point. For the children of Ādam, that is honor. That is honor we have been granted.
That Allāh Almighty is saying, We have honored the children of Ādam (al-Isrā’ 17:70). Only to think about it gives you honor!
Y our imagination – it is
Link: https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6070
The Joy of Cyprus in the Association of Rajab
Sufi Discourses of Mawlānā al-Shaykh Muhammad Nāzim al-Haqqānī Allāh Sanctify His Secret
© Dār al-Ahbāb, Damascus, hijra 1422, 2002
Contents
Tassawwuf (Sufism) 6
“Oneness of Being” 7
The Divine Names and Attributes 7
Oneness (al-Ah. adiyya) 8
Remark Concerning Qur’ān Recitation 8
The Distinction of the Creator from the Created 8
The Greatness of the Almighty Creator 9
The Pre-Eminence of Human Beings in Creation 10
The Light of Faith-Informed Reason in the Heart 10
The Intermediary of Knowledge and Its Increase 10
The Offices of Ghawth and Murshid 11
The Golden Chain Holds the Legacy of All the Sufi Chains 12
The Supremacy of Hope in GrandShaykh’s Teaching 12
The Greatness of Allāh Almighty in His Creation
The Physical Smallness of Man in the Universe
Haqqānī Existence and Man’s Caliphate
Limited Knowledge Is Virtually Nil
The Muh. ammadan Light, Adornment of the Believers 14
Nescience Is Without Limits 18
The Sources of Shaykh Muh. yī al-Dīn’s Knowledge 18
Revering the Divine Secret in Man 19
The Excellence of Syro-Palestine and the Invocation of Blessings on the Prophet Loudly after Adhān 20
The Followers and the Master 21
Discernment Is Through Seclusion 22
Seclusion Is Through Sincerity 23
GrandShaykh’s Seclusion in Madīna 23
The Advent of al-Mahdī, upon Him Peace 24
Tyrants 25
Silence and Inquiry 25
The Red Sulfur 25
Honey is not Taken from the Bee’s Mouth 26
Looking Without Learning is a Capital Offense 27
The Divine Attributes Are the Signposts of the Essence 28
The Ever-Expanding Universe 29
“My Foot Is on the Neck of Every Saint” 30
Dalā’il al-Khayrāt 30
IN THE NAME OF ALLĀH ALL-BENEFICENT MOST MERCIFUL
Glory to Allāh Who sent down Gibrīl to His Beloved Elect, took His Servant on a Night Journey from the Sacred Mosque to the Farthest Mosque, and reserved for His Beloved alone the Purest Ascent and Greatest Sign, granting him the Highest Station and Loftiest Standing which can never be measured nor limited! Allāh bless and greet him and his Family and Companions with the utmost greeting!
Our Lord Most High, to You belong all praise, glory, and thanks for Your favors which cannot be counted and for Your blessings both manifest and hidden! Is not the time ripe for the hearts of those who believe to submit to the reminder of Allāh and to the truth which is revealed? (57:16) Your forgiveness, our Lord. Unto You is the journeying (2:285).
Among the greatest favors Allāh grants to the seeker of Truth and the murīd of His Presence in our time is the companionship of the Seal of Sainthood, the Accomplished Guide to the Ways of Holiness, our Master and Patron, Shaykh NĀZ.IM AL-H.AQQĀNĪ
– Allāh sanctify his secret, support him, protect him with His un-failing Fortress, benefit us and all sincere Believers with him, and guide us through him to what He loves and accepts, Āmīn!
Mawlānā gave us a great gift in the light-filled association of the blessed visit that travellers from Divinely-protected Shām paid him in the last two weeks of the sacred month of Rajab in the year 1422 – October 2001 – in his house and zāwiya in the Turkish Cypriot town of Lefke. His discourse shook us, took our souls swimming in the higher orbits, sat king-like on the throne of our minds and hearts!
The writer of these lines felt obliged to keep a memento of this experience and wrote them, first in Arabic, then in English, by way of thanks and rendering of this tremendous trust – although un-qualified – and also for others, perhaps, to benefit and drink from this cool wellspring which the Lord of Daybreak brought forth on the tongue of our Teacher. Lo! this is a conclusive word, It is no pleasantry (al-T.āriq 86:13-14). It was titled . May our Lord make right this transcription and seal it with acceptance by our Patrons, the Saints of the Most Distinguished Naqshbandi Path, the Dispensers of Lordly Wisdoms – Allāh Most High sanctify their purified souls and elevate their stations higher, Āmīn!
Tasawwuf (Sufism)
O ur Exalted Teacher said when he was asked about tasawwuf: “Each defined it according to his experience and according to the time. Shāh Naqshband said – Allāh sanctify his secret! –
‘Our Path is companionship, and good is in the collective.’ Our Master Abū Yazīd al-Bist.āmī said, ‘It is to bear with oppo-sites.’ Our Exalted Master, Mawlāna al-Shaykh ‘Abd Allāh al-Dāghistānī said – Allāh sanctify his secret! – ‘It is the abandon-ment of anger.’ He also said, with regard to the beginner, ‘It is leaving “Why?” with one’s teacher.’” Then someone asked Mawlānā for his own definition but, out of modesty and adab, he would not give one. Instead, he said: “We are servants and followers of these men and hope they will accept us as such!”
M awlānā, one time, reportedly defined tasawwuf as “The foot in the shoe.” Meaning, the placing of each thing in its exact right place in all humbleness and simplicity. Mawlānā defined injustice as “placing something in other than in its right place.”
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Thus tasawwuf is the pinnacle of justice. Imām al-Qushayrī said in his Tafsīr titled Lat.ā’if al-Ma‘ārif, “Whoever trains his sight in its right place shall attain knowledge of Allāh Most High.”
“Oneness of Being”
I told Mawlānā of Sayyid Yūsuf al-Rifā‘ī’s declaration about “Oneness of being” (wah.dat al-wujūd) in Damascus: “None of the Sufi Paths made this doctrine an essential tenet of theirs.” Mawlānā said: “They fought and argued without result. Those that claim oneness of being with Absolute Being (al-wujūd al-mut.laq) are only trying to affirm their own existence together with absolute Existence and this is shirk – partnership with Allāh!”
The Divine Names and Attributes
H e said: The Manifestations (al-tajalliyāt) are of four types: Divine Essence, Divine Attributes, Divine Names, and Di-vine Acts. The Name of the Pure Essence (al-dhāt al-bah.t) is HŪ (“He”) while ALLĀH is the comprehensive (jāmi‘) Name for all the Names and Attributes. Every created being is a manifestation for a Name or under the tutelage of one of the Divine Names, which that being reveals. Hence there is no created being nor glimpse of a second in time that equals another. From the Pure Essence appear the Attributes and Names, while the worlds ap-pear from the Acts. As for HŪ, He never appears for He is al-S.amad – the “Self-Sufficient, Impregnable, Eternally Besought of all, Everlasting Sovereign” Who has no interior nor is circum-scribed in a place or direction, and everything in creation sub-sists through this quality of His (s.amadiyya). Therefore, it is im-possible for even an atom to exist outside of this quality of His. If it were attributed to other than Him, it would be shirk.
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Oneness (al-Ah.adiyya)
H e said that the ocean of the Attributes points to the Essence without being the Essence. Allāh said in Sūrat al-Ikhlās.,
Say: He is Allah, the One! then He said, And there is not, com-parable unto Him, anyone (kufuwan ah.adun) in the nominative but He did not say, “And He does not have a single comparative” (kufuwan ah.adan) [accusative]. The second ah.ad points to the Attributes and to the fact that they are insufficient to completely describe Him. So, if the Attributes are insufficient – and they are pre-eternal and everlasting – then what about created beings?
Remark Concerning Qur’ān Recitation
I n the course of this talk Mawlānā mentioned that some reciters link up the two verses thus: Allāhu Ah.ad-un-iLlāhu-s.-S.amad at which time they thin out the pronunciation of the ā in the sec-ond mention of the Name of Allāh. Then someone may hear this in the wrong way and mispronounce the second mention of the
Name of Allāh, “lillāhu”!
The Distinction of the Creator from the Created
H e said that creation is all from the ocean of the Attribute of Power (al-qudra) and under the heading of the manifesta-tion of the acts. Creation is not “of Allāh” in the sense of being a part from or parcel of Him – never!1 He begets not nor was be-gotten (Ikhlās. 112:3). Meaning, He never gives anything from His Essence nor from Himself (min dhātihi) and is never given anything from someone else. But His command, when He
1A reference to the mistake of Christians who misconstrue the preposition “of” to mean part and parcel in attributions such as “Spirit of Allāh.”
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intends a thing, is only that He says unto it: Be! and it is (Yā Sīn 36:82). Therefore, the existence of all things belongs to the world of the Divine Command (‘ālam al-amr). They appear out of the ocean of Power according to His determination, desig-nation, and timing. Whenever He wishes, they go back to the ocean of Power and disappear – then where is “Oneness of Being” and where is “Incarnation”? Never! Allāh is our refuge.
The Greatness of the Almighty Creator
H e said that if Ādam – upon him peace! – and all his offspring until the Day of Resurrection were gathered together, they would not exceed the size of a pinpoint in comparison to the size of the universes and the constellations and the worlds. We are really something insignificant in comparison to this huge greatness! The power of the Lord of the worlds can even place all of those worlds into that pinpoint! Where is “Incarnation” and “Oneness of Being”? Subh.ān Allāh! Allāhu Akbarul-Akbar!
F urther, the number of galaxies in the cosmos is impossible to assess except to Allāh Almighty. Even so, there exists all around them a huge, deep blackness of unknown limits and end. Perhaps, our constellation is a dot of light that cannot be seen in the midst of these unlimited constellations and boundless space!
A lso, our solar system moves at a speed of eighteen million kilometers per day since billions of years inside our gal-axy, which itself is moving along with the other galaxies in this space, which is one in a limitless number of spaces! All of this is moving at a huge speed that indicates astronomical distances that the mind is unable to compute. But it is all one drop in one ocean of the oceans of His Power – Almighty and Exalted!
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The Pre-Eminence of Human Beings in Creation
H e said: Nevertheless, human beings were allowed to observe these huge creations and understand something of their ex-tent and infinity. The secret of Divine Caliphate (al-khilāfa al-rabbāniyya) was placed in the human being, by which his soul goes to the farthest extent of the cosmos and comes back – not like, but above the angels! Verily We have honored the children of Ādam. We carry them on the land and the sea, and have made provision of good things for them, and have preferred them above many of those whom We created with a marked preferment (al-Isrā’ 17:70).
The Light of Faith-Informed Reason in the Heart
H e said: Science has reached the point of proving that the smallest particle can carry in it the hugest power, like atomic power. And in the human mind (‘aql) there is a small atom-point. Some say it is in the head and some say it is in the heart – this is the correct view because the sultan is the heart. That atom-point of light is able to encompass all that we have said and is able to know Allāh . But if we were to gather together the intelligence of all the wisest philosophers and sages, they would be unable to know this and the worlds cannot carry it. Reflect upon this.
The Intermediary of Knowledge and Its Increase
H e said: All the types of knowledge are also gathered up in a single pinpoint from which all take. Everyone takes his fill and goes sated – then comes back, takes his fill, and goes sated. The Exalted Messenger of Allāh – Allāh bless and greet him and his Family! – is the intermediary. No-one obtains any
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knowledge except from this point, including the unbelievers. As for the next world, the Mu’min will be given the power to never be sated but keep taking and taking. There they have all that they desire, and there is more with Us (Qāf 50:35). Likewise the Stations in Barzakh. They are in perpetual increase. And the Messenger of Allāh always keeps rising and rising higher!
The Offices of Ghawth and Murshid
I asked Mawlānā one time about the saying attributed to some Shādhilī authorities: “All the Qut.bs [Spiritual Poles] and the Ghawth [Arch-Helper] are from our ranks until the Day of Judg-ment.” He replied: “Each speaks according to his level and according to what he sees.” Meaning – and Allāh knows best – all express, according to their capacity and spiritual connection, the patent and certain Divine favors that appear to them in con-formity with the order to speak of His favors: Therefore of the bounty of your Lord be your discourse (D.uh.ā 93:11). We raise by grades whom We will, and over every lord of knowl-
edge there is one more knowing (Yūsuf 12:76).
W e heard this reply frequently, such as with regard to the position of the Seal of Sainthood and the spiritual levels where the Walī might see only himself. Consequently, he might speak in absolute terms. Then Mawlānā said: “And does any-thing remain of true guidance and discipline in the Sufi paths?” I asked him, Are not the Qut.b and Ghawth necessarily connected spiritually? He said, “This is something, and Irshād is some-thing else.” By this he indicated – Allāh knows best – the fact that the guidance of servants to perfection is the highest spiritual office, and the (H.aqqānī and S.iddīq) Shaykhs of the Naqshbandī Path are the foremost inheritors of this office of guidance.
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The Golden Chain Holds the Legacy of All the Sufi Chains
M awlānā told us that one time someone expressed surprise at the light which he said he saw on the faces of the Naqsh-bandis and asked: “From where do you obtain that light?” Where-upon GrandShaykh replied: “This is from your lights.” Mawlānā explained: “This is not a compliment but really is the lights of their Shaykhs and their legacy which was poured into the hands of Sayyidī al-Shaykh. They worked and we inherited. So it is correct to say: This [light] is from your blessings.”
The Supremacy of Hope in GrandShaykh’s Teaching
I asked Mawlānā about the statement of someone who attended the teachings of Mawlānā al-Shaykh ‘Abd Allāh al-Dāghistānī
– Allāh sanctify his soul! – in Damascus and said: “Hope over-whelmed [fear] in him.” Mawlānā said, One time our Master Yah.yā [John the Baptist] met our Master ‘Īsā [Jesus] – upon our Prophet and upon them blessings and peace! – and said to him:
“It seems you feel safe of Divine punishment!” ‘Īsā replied: “It seems you despair of Divine mercy!”
T hen Mawlānā said, The station of elation (bast.) is superior to the station of care (qabd.). However, each is utterly satis- fied with the station given to him by his Lord! T he Messenger of Allāh always smiled. Bast. overwhelmed his gathering. He smiled and made his Companions smile.
As for his saying, “If you knew what I know, you would laugh little and weep much,” it refers to his knowledge of the dissensions and tribulations that would take place among his Companions and in his Community until the Day of Judgment.
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A bout the saying of GrandShaykh, “It is impossible that a servant read the Fātih.a and not benefit from it in the next life, even a disbeliever,” Mawlānā said: Whoever says Lā Ilāha IllAllāh one time, even in jest, receives reward because of the saying of the Prophet : “Whenever the servant says the testi-mony of faith, Allāh Most High creates an angel that makes mention of His Highmost Majesty until the Day of Judgment, and the reward for all this dhikr goes to that servant!”2
M awlānā was asked: Are there not pre-conditions for its utterance and for the servant’s reward, and is the one who speaks in jest rewarded nevertheless? He replied: “What about the one who swallows poison unintentionally? Is he not affected by it? It is the same with the one who does dhikr – intentionally or in jest. And if this is the case for the Shahāda, then what do you think is the case for the Fātih.a – the Mother of the Book and the essence of the Noble Qur’ān?”
I did not find this h.adīth but it was narrated from al-Nu‘mān ibn Bashīr that the Prophet said: “Whatever you mention in reverence of the Divine Majesty such as Tasbīh., Tahlīl, and Tah.mīd, rally around the Throne with a sound like the sound of bees, a reminder of whoever uttered them. Does not each and everyone of you love for him-self to have a perpetual reminder [at the Throne]?” Al-Mundhirī said in al-Targhīb: “Ibn Abī al-Dunyā, Ibn Mājah, and al-H.ākim narrated it, the latter grading it sound per Muslim’s criterion.” Another proof is the h.adīth of Mālik ibn Dukhshum who was considered a hypocrite yet the Prophet said: “None testifies that there is no God but Allāh and that I am the Messenger of Allāh and then enters the Fire.” Anas was so pleased when he heard this h.adīth that he told his son to write it down. S.ah.īh. Muslim.
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The Greatness of Allāh Almighty in His Creation The Physical Smallness of Man in the Universe H.aqqānī Existence and Man’s Caliphate Limited Knowledge Is Virtually Nil
The Muh.ammadan Light, Adornment of the Believerss
A llāhu Akbar. Allāhu Akbar. Allāhu Akbar. Allāhu Akbarul-Akbar! [Allāh is Greatest. Allāh is Greatest. Allāh is Greatest.
Allāh is the Greatest of the Greatest!] Bismillāh al-Rah.mān al-Rah.īm. T.arīqatunā-s.-S.uh.ba; wal-Khayru fil-Jam‘iyya. [In the Name of Allāh all-Beneficent most Merciful. “Our Path is com-panionship, and good is in the collective.”] T he greatness of Allāh! Allāh is great. But the word “great” – that is going to be unable to give anything from the meaning of great – being great – of Allāh.
H e is great. And He is only One. [There] can’t be a second one in existence. They are saying, “Ten millions of galaxies.” They may say one hundred million galaxies. Do you think that space may conclude one hundred million galaxies? What do you say? Can it conclude them? Much more. One billion?
T his is only space. And space is not Allāh. Allāh is Allāh. And this space – can you imagine that you can fill it with galaxies? If I am asking you to, can you fill it, one ocean – leave one ocean; if I am saying to you the Mediterranean Sea just went dry: do you think that you can be able to fill it with a bucket? How many buckets do you need to fill the Mediterra-nean Sea? I am not saying the Atlantic Ocean or the Indian
3This entire section is an almost literal transcription of Mawlānā’s words.
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Ocean or the Pacific Ocean. Do you think that you can fill it?
Not empty it, fill it. Do you think that you can do that?
A nd do you think that space only – and this is one space, I am speaking on one space only, and your Lord – He has countless spaces! Only one space – that – and we are in it. Do you think that billions of galaxies or trillions of galaxies or quadril-lion times quadrillions of galaxies – each one a gigantic galaxy can fill that space?
I am coming to say to you about unlimited numbers of gal-axies may enter, may be swimming through this huge space. At the end it is so dark. Dark––dark. To prove their existence? Through that depthless darkness, do you think that trillions of quadrillion galaxies give any small spot of light?
T his is a grant – to think about that point. For the children of Ādam, that is honor. That is honor we have been granted.
That Allāh Almighty is saying, We have honored the children of Ādam (al-Isrā’ 17:70). Only to think about it gives you honor!
Y our imagination – it is
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