LIBERATING THE SOUL, Book 5 (Shaykh Nazim, 199 pages, 7/13)
https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6093
If it is given by people only, those are empty titles, useless.
We must respect everyone. As a sign of respect, we may say “Saint Mark,” “Saint Michael.” And we may think about everyone that he may be a saint; prophethood is clear but sainthood is something secret. Allah hon- ors them, and He likes everyone to give honor to those to whom He gives honor.
Mankind has been honored more than angels. For understanding this, Allah makes two angels around each of us and they are “honored angels”;97 two angels for one person because man has been honored, and, according to this honor, he is carrying responsibility. Therefore, two angels are re- cording our actions like that video camera, also recording my words. This tape is recording words but they are recording everything; they have such video cameras always.
It is reported in hadith books that when a person comes on the Day of Judgment, he will be given seventy records. Each of them is going to go on up to the end of his vision, and when that person looks at them, he will see his whole life reported and recorded on that record. Enough; seventy re- cords will be enough for everyone’s life. They are recording. Their records are more important than that video, recording even each piece of food that reaches our mouths for eating.
Muhiyuddin ibn al-‘Arabi, a giant-sized wali, said, “O mankind, you have been honored. Therefore, give honor to each other. For each piece of food that reaches your mouth for eating, three hundred angels are work- ing and preparing it so that it is suitable. That is a big honor!”
Allah likes, when He honors someone, for him to be honored by oth- ers, also. All of us come under the verse, “Wa laqad karramna bani Adam;98 verily, We respect mankind, the children of Adam.” Everyone comes under that title—every nation, every race, every color, every kind of people; under that title come prophets, saints, believers, unbelievers, obedient and disobe- dient people, all of them.
Everyone’s essence is all honored. As essence we have been honored, but there come on people bad characteristics. You can wear good charac- teristics or bad, like clothes. If you wear good clothes and you are not good, it never changes your essence; if you dress in old clothes, it never changes your essence.
9782:11.
9817:70.
Therefore, Allah is looking at the children of Adam and giving honor to the children of Adam, but, according to our attributes, we are changing [from that honor]. Yet His mercy is coming on people, even if they are unbelievers. And He is asking from His servants to give their respect to each other. That is the most important point: to respect mankind, and He is asking from everyone to give respect to each other.
Allah hides sainthood and hides His saints (prophets must announce themselves but sainthood is secret). Allah Almighty hides His Greatest Name and He hides Khidr ¡, the Green Man;99 He also hides the Night of Power,100 and He has some wisdoms for hiding these important things. If He did not hide His Greatest Name that has miraculous power, if a person asked something for the honor of the Greatest Name, he would have to be given it immediately; miracles may be done with that Name.
Everyone may give respect for every Holy Name, and that Greatest Name works with another Holy Name. Only a few people may be given to know that Name, and we must always ask to be taught that Name. And when someone is trustworthy, he may be given.
Once a shaykh said to his murid, “This is a box. You must take it to that famous shaykh in this city. And this is its key. Take it to that one but don’t open it, and give it to him. He should open it and then he should give to you the secret Name of Almighty Allah.”
When the murid was going on his way, he heard something running in- side the box and he became curious to look. Then he opened it, and a little mouse jumped out and ran into a hole and quickly disappeared.
He closed the box and went to the second shaykh. That shaykh asked, “Where is the key? Where is the trust?”
99The story of Khidr ¡ and Moses ¡ is told in Qur’an, 18:65-82.
100Lailat al-Qadr, the night in which the first revelation of the Qur’an was conveyed to Prophet Muhammad saw by the archangel Gabriel ¡.
He said, “I opened it and that mouse escaped.”
“O my son, you are not trustworthy for bringing even a small mouse! Then how can you carry the Holy Name of the Lord Almighty, because Satan may cause you to use it for something harmful and destroy every- thing.”
[As we were saying], Allah also hides the Green Man, Sayyidina Khidr, may Allah bless him. Up to today, he has prayed Tarawih101 here three nights. He informed me, and up to the end of Ramadan he will complete seven Tarawihs with us. When he comes to a jama’at102 for praying, he gives from his heavenly powers to all the people who are there. When he comes, you may feel more pleasure and refreshment and happiness here.
Sayyidina Khidr ¡ always has miraculous powers, always. He can say “Be!” for a thing and it will be. That specialty has been given to him from the beginning up to the end. He is still alive, and he is going to be the last one to die among believers. He will see Jesus Christ’s ¡ coming and he will be here for fifty years after it.
For forty years there will be no unbelievers, only obedient servants; for forty years the earth, all of it, will be for Allah’s sincere servants. When that period finishes, another period will arrive, and unbelievers will appear and increase quickly. Jesus Christ ¡ will go to visit the Seal of the Prophets [in his grave], and there he will die. He will be buried in the vicinity of the Prophet : Sayyidina Muhammad saw, Abu Bakr , ‘Umar , Sayyidina ‘Isa
¡ [Jesus]; under the green dome of the Prophet , four graves.103 On the
Day of Resurrection, all of them will rise up and go to Damascus.104
101The special nightly prayers of Ramadan.
102Congregation.
103It is mentioned in hadiths that when Jesus saw dies at the end of time, he will be buried in the same grave as the Holy Prophet saw, Sayyidina Abu Bakr and ‘Umar . “The green dome” refers to the green dome of the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina that covers these graves.
104The site of the Plain of Mahshar (Gathering), where, according to traditions, the Last Judg- ment will take place.
When Jesus Christ ¡ dies and is buried, Allah will send a wind from Paradise. Every believer breathing it will die, a most beautiful death, smell- ing Paradise and falling down—all believers. Sayyidina Khidr ¡ will pray over all of them and bury them, and then he will go, also, his task finished.
He is also hidden. Perhaps someone may ask to meet that holy one. He is a divine treasure, he may give precious jewels to you. He may use any form of mankind; you can’t imagine them. He does not have to be in one shape; every kind of ‘dress’ he may use. Allah is asking from His servants to respect everyone. He might be that one.
We must respect everyone so that we may reach eternal happiness. You can’t be Muslim till you want to respect everyone as you respect your- self. That, only Islam brings.
Allah also hides the holiest night, the Night of Power. The time when that Night of Power comes is within a limited period.105 If you can see that manifestation and you ask for anything, you may reach it immediately. We must respect every night! ▲
105That is, during the odd-numbered nights of the last ten nights of Ramadan.
24: ABOUT IHSAN AND DIVINE ‘PROGRAM- MING’
Allah Almighty created man, and the creation of mankind is different from any other creature’s.
Angels—we believe in angels, we must believe in angels. From the beginning up to the end, Allah ordered prophets to tell mankind that there are unseen creatures, angels.
Now, faith is based on something that is not to be proved by ordinary science; if you could prove it, then no one could reject faith. But the mean- ing of belief is different. By seeing, hearing and touching, it is easy to say that a thing is in existence, but faith requires belief in what you can’t see, can’t hear and can’t touch. And Allah Almighty orders us to believe in an- gels. They are not impossible to see, but as long as people are on the low- est-standard level, they can’t see them .106
Allah created angels from His divine lights. Unless they take human form, they are unseen. On some occasions, some sahabah saw angels in the form of men, but to see them in human form is difficult, also.
The Prophet took his sahabah from the lowest standard of mankind to a level at which they could see angels, even in the form of men. In bat- tles, they saw angels coming to support the believers against the unbeliev- ers; in each battle they met angels. Without divine support, the believers were so weak in weapons and numbers.
106Shaykh Nazim here adds parenthetically: “There are jinn, also, not like angels, but they are also not seen.
It is known from traditions that several sahabah saw the angel Gabriel
saw. Once, it is reported by many sahabah, they were praying with the Prophet saw. Then they saw a person coming inside.
He wasn’t one of the known sahabah; it could be seen that he was a foreigner, a new one. No one knew that person. He was dressed in white clothes; no one’s clothes were like that one’s, so white you can’t imagine. And he had a black beard, so black and shining that you can’t imagine it.
He was a stranger, coming from some far country. But although he had to come through the desert, there was nothing on him of dust. There must have been some dust on his beard or his clothes, but he was so clean, no spot on him.
The sahabah were so surprised. He marched up to the Prophet and sat down on his knees in front of him, putting his hands on the Prophet’s
knees and asking him questions about Islam. And the Prophet an- swered, about the pillars of Islam, the pillars of iman, faith.
He asked, like a teacher asking his student, and the Prophet gave answers: “To believe in One God. To make sajdah, to give more high re- spect.”
You can’t give the highest respect without sajdah; it is the height of humbleness from a servant to the Lord, Almighty Allah. If all the treasures of the world are given in charity without doing sajdah, it is nothing, not the same as sajdah, so important a sign of respect.
Therefore, after iman or Shahadah, second comes praying. Each day, during each week, each month, each year, you must put your forehead on the ground and give your most high respect to the Lord, Almighty Allah. A person, if understanding the meaning of sajdah, never leaves it. He likes to do it for every occasion.
The one who knows about sajdah tries to do it more and more. A per- son was asking the Prophet saw for his intercession, and the Prophet said, “You must support my intercession by more sajdah,” the means of reaching intercession and the mercy of Allah Almighty. If a person improves to real
faith from imitation and he tastes the spiritual taste of sajdah, it is impossible for him to leave sajdah. They never leave it but want to do more and more.
“The third pillar is fasting during Ramadan for one month. Then charity, zakat, rich people giving to needy people; that is also obligatory. And to make hajj, pilgrimage,” the Prophet saw was saying.
And that one, the stranger, said, “That is right. You are correct.”
Then he asked about iman, faith, its details (Shahadah is a summary; he asked for more details). “To believe, firstly, in Allah’s Oneness and exis- tence; secondly, in angels; thirdly, in Books coming from Allah, from the Heavens; fourthly, to believe in all the prophets, not making a distinction between them; and fifth, to believe in Judgment Day.”
You must also believe in the sixth pillar: that everything in existence, individually and collectively, is just programmed by Allah Almighty, not coincidence, not chance.107 (I am not occupying my heart with such words. My heart is already occupied; you can’t occupy it again).
Everything is programmed, nothing is by chance. That we must be- lieve. We see people programming something on chips; man programs thousands of words in the smallest space. And DNA is programmed; sci- entists know that that is a program for everyone and each one becomes like his ancestors. Each creature’s movement is programmed. Every smallest bacterium in existence, where it is going, what it is doing, must be pro- grammed—even atoms’ neighbors in six directions, where they should be.
Allah keeps everything in its center by His divine power. Everyone’s destiny is just programmed, and man has not been given any more under- standing than simply to believe in that program. Your mind can’t carry more than that; as long as you are imprisoned in your mind, you can’t carry more than that.
107This is the belief known as qada wa-l-qadar, meaning that nothing happens except what Allah decrees, and that what He decrees could not have been otherwise.
That one [the stranger] listened and said, “Yes, that is the true an- swer.” And he asked also about ihsan.
You can’t find a word like it in any language except Arabic; no other language can bring that divine term. Therefore Allah chose that language for His Last Testament. Turks and Urdu-speaking people also all say “ih- san.”
“Ihsan means to worship the Lord, Almighty Allah, as if you are in His Presence and see Him. But even if you do not see Him, He sees you. To reach that level of belief, that is ihsan,” the Prophet saw said.
The stranger said, “Yes, you are right.” And he asked some other questions as a teacher asks and always said, “Yes, right.” Then, when fin- ishing, he got up and went away, not turning back to him.
He went out the door and the Prophet saw said, “Do you know, O my Companions, who that one was?”
They said, “No one except Allah and His Prophet knows.”
He said, “That was Archangel Gabriel. Go and look for him.” But he had disappeared. “He came to teach you about your faith.”
In whatever rank Gabriel comes and you see him, you are also clothed in that rank. All sahabah were clothed in those divine lights. Some people may be in need of this lesson as a cure for their doubt. When you believe in such things, Allah gives you from His endless blessings and favors. ▲
25: LIMITING OUR EGO’S ENDLESS DESIRES
Do you imagine that, among all creatures, any have been honored and blessed more than mankind? No; you can’t say that there is another crea- ture blessed and honored more than the children of Adam.
Allah Almighty declares in holy books, the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Last Testament, the Holy Qur’an, that for everything, O children of Adam, We have granted to you what you asked.
Everyone asks from someone who is able to give; no one asks some- one who can’t give. You are asking. Some things man can give you, and that is also from Allah’s grant, because if Allah does not move that person’s heart, he can’t give to you. Therefore, if you are granted something, it is right to thank that one who gives it to you. The Prophet saw says that if you do not say “Thank you” to people, you aren’t thankful to Allah. If we say “Thank you,” it goes to Allah.
So many things man can’t give. You must ask that Someone who can give, who has endless Power and Mercy and Favor Oceans, and He may grant endlessly. When you ask something, He should give.
He knows best about you, He knows if something is good for you or not. That little boy may ask to play with a razor blade; you would be crazy to give it to him, either wounding himself or others. Something is given to you if it is suitable or right for you. You can’t know if it is good for you. You may cry, but He does not give if not good.
Sometimes man struggles with his Lord and says, “You must give,” and sometimes He gives as a lesson to others. You can say, “O my Lord, I don’t know. If it is good for me, give. If not good, change my heart from desiring that thing.”
The prophets taught mankind about every kind of life conditions. Man is not allowed to ask to die. Everything—every condition, suitable or not suitable, all kinds of troubles, miseries—man is strong enough to carry. When conditions change and difficulties come and suffering rains on a per- son, he must not become fed-up and ask Allah to bring him death, not to mention not to kill himself (if it is forbidden to ask to die, what about to kill oneself?). If you have been suffering too much, you may say, “O my Lord, if you know that to live is better for me, let me live. If you know that death is better for me than life, then take my soul with faith, by Your favor,” the Prophet saw was teaching.
For everything, you may ask what is best for you to be given, and He gives. He knows the best for you. That is excellent manners, that is from the signs of prophethood.
When you are asking, ask with adab, with good manners. “When My servant asks something, no need to shout. Even if no one listens, even if the angels never hear, I know. And I am giving, I am just giving everything that My servant asks. Even though he may ask for something which is not suitable for him during this life, I am keeping it for him, to give to him later. I must keep My promise. If I do not give during this temporary life, I shall grant it to him in his eternal life.”
Allah just gave you everything that you asked from Him, but He is keeping back some things for the eternal life. You should be happiest that day when He is going to grant that to you. “That is what you asked from Me. I kept it for the eternal life, to give benefit to you forever.”
He says, “O children of Adam, if you ask for something which is not given to you, you should not be upset or angry or sad or unhappy. You are thinking only of that thing that is withheld from you, although it is only one grant, and you will be happy only with that one grant. But, O people, I am granting to you from My favors. If all computers worked to make an ac- count of what I grant to you, it would be impossible!”
Allah is the Most True One for speaking the truth. If only one cell moves from its place, it gives endless pain to your body. Billions of cells in your body are in the right place. What a favor! You can’t imagine what
Allah Almighty has granted us from endless favors. We are thinking only of that one thing that is not given to us, but when your tooth pains, you should understand. Man is such an oppressor, kafir,108 denying the endless favors that he has been given.
Among trillions of creatures, He made you from mankind. Do don- keys complain? No, very happily braying! If he made you a bear, would you complain? Bears never complain! If He made you a rat? They are happy; cats are happy, also. But you couldn’t be happy if He changed you to a rat or a dog. Why are you not thinking about that?
Among millions of creatures, among all of them, the most honored is you. Not enough? Each day we are fighting that He is not giving us all the gold in Central Bank, all for me! But you can’t carry that; you can’t eat the two portions of the food that you can buy with it.
In the Damascus market, when winter came, there were too many clothes coming from Europe to our countries. I saw a person wearing five, six, ten coats, and I thought he must be a rich one, but he said no, and I understood that he was a seller. No one can put one foot in a Rolls Royce and another in a Jaguar; the Queen also can’t be in two castles at the same time. Man is greedy, not thinking, wanting all the money of Central Bank for himself. Night life finishes by morning. What can you take from this world?
Mostly, man is an oppressor and is denying endless favors. And the Prophet saw is teaching people how they can be happy and peaceful in this life, saying, “O man, if you wake up and find money for that day’s provision in your pocket, you must say that I am the happiest person on earth.”
If you are not feeling well, that is a not good, an unhappy day for you. You don’t have anything that keeps your heart from being occupied by fear of poverty or unhappiness. Therefore, if you have something for one day for your family, you must be happy.
108One who denies Allah and His favors, or covers and conceals the truth.
People who are never satisfied, dissatisfied people, never reach a limit where they say, “Thanks to my Lord. It is enough for me,” to be thankful that He is granting us endless favors, and also pouring on His servants more and more. They should pass away from this life tired, and the tired one should be more tired in his grave, his eyes looking back at dunya.
There is time and space for us in the eternal life. You may ask, and you should be given as much as you may ask, more and more, Hereafter. Be patient!
Imam al-Ghazali—he is famous in Europe, also, as an Islamic phi- losopher109—mostly brought evidence as proofs for Western people’s minds. “O people, what if a doctor makes his patient fast for three days without drinking, saying, ‘If you drink, it will endanger your life, but if you are patient, after three days you may drink all your life’—should he be pa- tient, or should he destroy his life?”
O people, this life is only like three days. Why don’t you make your- self obey, restraining your ego? No limit for your desires? Keep desires limited in order to be free in the eternal life.
What says the mind of a clever one? You are seeing in our day, in the twentieth century that is finishing, that day by day people’s desires are in- creasing, but any time they try to reach their desires, troubles are also in- creasing. The nineteenth century’s people were more happy than the twen- tieth century’s people. What do we need in order to say that we are happy? At that time, with three pounds they were happy. Now three million is not enough!
They were happy with one room and a horse. We are living in castles and flying but we are not happy. Make your desires to be less and you will reach happiness; otherwise, you will be tired from endless desires and never
109Here Shaykh Nazim adds parenthetically: “But we don’t want philosophers. Their ideas are always changing—daytime and nighttime, young and old, winter and summer, hungry and full, always changing their minds. They are such proud people, never tying themselves to any prophets. They think that they can find a solution by their minds, never asking from heavenly sources solutions for mankind’s problems.”
get to be happy. That is the sickness of our century. If mankind do not keep minds in their heads, all the world is going to be a mental hospital, all of them crazy!
We are asking Allah to send a blessed one. One is enough, but he will come with so many blessed ones. You must keep a ‘diet’ if you want to reach to that one’s time. Control, put reins! ▲
26: ENTRUSTING OURSELVES TO OUR LORD
Allah Almighty created man, and He made mankind to be in need of eating, drinking and resting. And He created everv creature by divine wis- doms. Nothing is created useless; must be some benefit to people from everything.
Once a person was looking at a cockroach. He said, “For what was that created?” After a while he had a sore and no one knew any cure for that illness, putting everything on it. No help!
After so many days passed, a dervish looked at the sore and said, “It is so simple. No cockroaches in your house?”
“Too many!”
“Take one, kill it and burn it. Put its ashes on it and finished!”
Then that man made sajdah and said, “O my Lord, I will never inter- fere in Your Will any more.”
If even any kind of creature disappears, there must be a balance in na- ture. Everything is created to make a balance for the life of mankind. Other creatures are not important, important is mankind.
Allah Almighty created angels. They are not in need of eating, drink- ing; no sleep, no tiring. But we need; mankind is created in need of every- thing. Breathing, also; He could have created man without breathing, but He made, in twenty-four hours, 24,000 breaths.
Every breath is by the Lord’s command, not in our hands, to show that you are under supreme control. When you sleep, who makes you to breathe, your inner organs to work? Who is that One? And with each
breath you are saying “Hu”; you must say it. (Therefore Allah made the Eng- lish language universal, always saying “Who”).
Man represents the Lord Almighty, and He gives from His divine at- tributes to man. Pride is for the Lord only, not for slaves. Only He is proud, the Most Proud One. He has rights to be proud, but of what are you proud?
Pharaoh was proud of what? Every forty days he only went to the toi- let once; therefore he thought he was something. Allah made us in need of eating and drinking, and in need of the toilet, also. No good for one to be proud who has to go to the toilet! For that reason, Pharoah claimed to be the greatest God.
Allah’s attribute is that the o
Link: https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6093
If it is given by people only, those are empty titles, useless.
We must respect everyone. As a sign of respect, we may say “Saint Mark,” “Saint Michael.” And we may think about everyone that he may be a saint; prophethood is clear but sainthood is something secret. Allah hon- ors them, and He likes everyone to give honor to those to whom He gives honor.
Mankind has been honored more than angels. For understanding this, Allah makes two angels around each of us and they are “honored angels”;97 two angels for one person because man has been honored, and, according to this honor, he is carrying responsibility. Therefore, two angels are re- cording our actions like that video camera, also recording my words. This tape is recording words but they are recording everything; they have such video cameras always.
It is reported in hadith books that when a person comes on the Day of Judgment, he will be given seventy records. Each of them is going to go on up to the end of his vision, and when that person looks at them, he will see his whole life reported and recorded on that record. Enough; seventy re- cords will be enough for everyone’s life. They are recording. Their records are more important than that video, recording even each piece of food that reaches our mouths for eating.
Muhiyuddin ibn al-‘Arabi, a giant-sized wali, said, “O mankind, you have been honored. Therefore, give honor to each other. For each piece of food that reaches your mouth for eating, three hundred angels are work- ing and preparing it so that it is suitable. That is a big honor!”
Allah likes, when He honors someone, for him to be honored by oth- ers, also. All of us come under the verse, “Wa laqad karramna bani Adam;98 verily, We respect mankind, the children of Adam.” Everyone comes under that title—every nation, every race, every color, every kind of people; under that title come prophets, saints, believers, unbelievers, obedient and disobe- dient people, all of them.
Everyone’s essence is all honored. As essence we have been honored, but there come on people bad characteristics. You can wear good charac- teristics or bad, like clothes. If you wear good clothes and you are not good, it never changes your essence; if you dress in old clothes, it never changes your essence.
9782:11.
9817:70.
Therefore, Allah is looking at the children of Adam and giving honor to the children of Adam, but, according to our attributes, we are changing [from that honor]. Yet His mercy is coming on people, even if they are unbelievers. And He is asking from His servants to give their respect to each other. That is the most important point: to respect mankind, and He is asking from everyone to give respect to each other.
Allah hides sainthood and hides His saints (prophets must announce themselves but sainthood is secret). Allah Almighty hides His Greatest Name and He hides Khidr ¡, the Green Man;99 He also hides the Night of Power,100 and He has some wisdoms for hiding these important things. If He did not hide His Greatest Name that has miraculous power, if a person asked something for the honor of the Greatest Name, he would have to be given it immediately; miracles may be done with that Name.
Everyone may give respect for every Holy Name, and that Greatest Name works with another Holy Name. Only a few people may be given to know that Name, and we must always ask to be taught that Name. And when someone is trustworthy, he may be given.
Once a shaykh said to his murid, “This is a box. You must take it to that famous shaykh in this city. And this is its key. Take it to that one but don’t open it, and give it to him. He should open it and then he should give to you the secret Name of Almighty Allah.”
When the murid was going on his way, he heard something running in- side the box and he became curious to look. Then he opened it, and a little mouse jumped out and ran into a hole and quickly disappeared.
He closed the box and went to the second shaykh. That shaykh asked, “Where is the key? Where is the trust?”
99The story of Khidr ¡ and Moses ¡ is told in Qur’an, 18:65-82.
100Lailat al-Qadr, the night in which the first revelation of the Qur’an was conveyed to Prophet Muhammad saw by the archangel Gabriel ¡.
He said, “I opened it and that mouse escaped.”
“O my son, you are not trustworthy for bringing even a small mouse! Then how can you carry the Holy Name of the Lord Almighty, because Satan may cause you to use it for something harmful and destroy every- thing.”
[As we were saying], Allah also hides the Green Man, Sayyidina Khidr, may Allah bless him. Up to today, he has prayed Tarawih101 here three nights. He informed me, and up to the end of Ramadan he will complete seven Tarawihs with us. When he comes to a jama’at102 for praying, he gives from his heavenly powers to all the people who are there. When he comes, you may feel more pleasure and refreshment and happiness here.
Sayyidina Khidr ¡ always has miraculous powers, always. He can say “Be!” for a thing and it will be. That specialty has been given to him from the beginning up to the end. He is still alive, and he is going to be the last one to die among believers. He will see Jesus Christ’s ¡ coming and he will be here for fifty years after it.
For forty years there will be no unbelievers, only obedient servants; for forty years the earth, all of it, will be for Allah’s sincere servants. When that period finishes, another period will arrive, and unbelievers will appear and increase quickly. Jesus Christ ¡ will go to visit the Seal of the Prophets [in his grave], and there he will die. He will be buried in the vicinity of the Prophet : Sayyidina Muhammad saw, Abu Bakr , ‘Umar , Sayyidina ‘Isa
¡ [Jesus]; under the green dome of the Prophet , four graves.103 On the
Day of Resurrection, all of them will rise up and go to Damascus.104
101The special nightly prayers of Ramadan.
102Congregation.
103It is mentioned in hadiths that when Jesus saw dies at the end of time, he will be buried in the same grave as the Holy Prophet saw, Sayyidina Abu Bakr and ‘Umar . “The green dome” refers to the green dome of the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina that covers these graves.
104The site of the Plain of Mahshar (Gathering), where, according to traditions, the Last Judg- ment will take place.
When Jesus Christ ¡ dies and is buried, Allah will send a wind from Paradise. Every believer breathing it will die, a most beautiful death, smell- ing Paradise and falling down—all believers. Sayyidina Khidr ¡ will pray over all of them and bury them, and then he will go, also, his task finished.
He is also hidden. Perhaps someone may ask to meet that holy one. He is a divine treasure, he may give precious jewels to you. He may use any form of mankind; you can’t imagine them. He does not have to be in one shape; every kind of ‘dress’ he may use. Allah is asking from His servants to respect everyone. He might be that one.
We must respect everyone so that we may reach eternal happiness. You can’t be Muslim till you want to respect everyone as you respect your- self. That, only Islam brings.
Allah also hides the holiest night, the Night of Power. The time when that Night of Power comes is within a limited period.105 If you can see that manifestation and you ask for anything, you may reach it immediately. We must respect every night! ▲
105That is, during the odd-numbered nights of the last ten nights of Ramadan.
24: ABOUT IHSAN AND DIVINE ‘PROGRAM- MING’
Allah Almighty created man, and the creation of mankind is different from any other creature’s.
Angels—we believe in angels, we must believe in angels. From the beginning up to the end, Allah ordered prophets to tell mankind that there are unseen creatures, angels.
Now, faith is based on something that is not to be proved by ordinary science; if you could prove it, then no one could reject faith. But the mean- ing of belief is different. By seeing, hearing and touching, it is easy to say that a thing is in existence, but faith requires belief in what you can’t see, can’t hear and can’t touch. And Allah Almighty orders us to believe in an- gels. They are not impossible to see, but as long as people are on the low- est-standard level, they can’t see them .106
Allah created angels from His divine lights. Unless they take human form, they are unseen. On some occasions, some sahabah saw angels in the form of men, but to see them in human form is difficult, also.
The Prophet took his sahabah from the lowest standard of mankind to a level at which they could see angels, even in the form of men. In bat- tles, they saw angels coming to support the believers against the unbeliev- ers; in each battle they met angels. Without divine support, the believers were so weak in weapons and numbers.
106Shaykh Nazim here adds parenthetically: “There are jinn, also, not like angels, but they are also not seen.
It is known from traditions that several sahabah saw the angel Gabriel
saw. Once, it is reported by many sahabah, they were praying with the Prophet saw. Then they saw a person coming inside.
He wasn’t one of the known sahabah; it could be seen that he was a foreigner, a new one. No one knew that person. He was dressed in white clothes; no one’s clothes were like that one’s, so white you can’t imagine. And he had a black beard, so black and shining that you can’t imagine it.
He was a stranger, coming from some far country. But although he had to come through the desert, there was nothing on him of dust. There must have been some dust on his beard or his clothes, but he was so clean, no spot on him.
The sahabah were so surprised. He marched up to the Prophet and sat down on his knees in front of him, putting his hands on the Prophet’s
knees and asking him questions about Islam. And the Prophet an- swered, about the pillars of Islam, the pillars of iman, faith.
He asked, like a teacher asking his student, and the Prophet gave answers: “To believe in One God. To make sajdah, to give more high re- spect.”
You can’t give the highest respect without sajdah; it is the height of humbleness from a servant to the Lord, Almighty Allah. If all the treasures of the world are given in charity without doing sajdah, it is nothing, not the same as sajdah, so important a sign of respect.
Therefore, after iman or Shahadah, second comes praying. Each day, during each week, each month, each year, you must put your forehead on the ground and give your most high respect to the Lord, Almighty Allah. A person, if understanding the meaning of sajdah, never leaves it. He likes to do it for every occasion.
The one who knows about sajdah tries to do it more and more. A per- son was asking the Prophet saw for his intercession, and the Prophet said, “You must support my intercession by more sajdah,” the means of reaching intercession and the mercy of Allah Almighty. If a person improves to real
faith from imitation and he tastes the spiritual taste of sajdah, it is impossible for him to leave sajdah. They never leave it but want to do more and more.
“The third pillar is fasting during Ramadan for one month. Then charity, zakat, rich people giving to needy people; that is also obligatory. And to make hajj, pilgrimage,” the Prophet saw was saying.
And that one, the stranger, said, “That is right. You are correct.”
Then he asked about iman, faith, its details (Shahadah is a summary; he asked for more details). “To believe, firstly, in Allah’s Oneness and exis- tence; secondly, in angels; thirdly, in Books coming from Allah, from the Heavens; fourthly, to believe in all the prophets, not making a distinction between them; and fifth, to believe in Judgment Day.”
You must also believe in the sixth pillar: that everything in existence, individually and collectively, is just programmed by Allah Almighty, not coincidence, not chance.107 (I am not occupying my heart with such words. My heart is already occupied; you can’t occupy it again).
Everything is programmed, nothing is by chance. That we must be- lieve. We see people programming something on chips; man programs thousands of words in the smallest space. And DNA is programmed; sci- entists know that that is a program for everyone and each one becomes like his ancestors. Each creature’s movement is programmed. Every smallest bacterium in existence, where it is going, what it is doing, must be pro- grammed—even atoms’ neighbors in six directions, where they should be.
Allah keeps everything in its center by His divine power. Everyone’s destiny is just programmed, and man has not been given any more under- standing than simply to believe in that program. Your mind can’t carry more than that; as long as you are imprisoned in your mind, you can’t carry more than that.
107This is the belief known as qada wa-l-qadar, meaning that nothing happens except what Allah decrees, and that what He decrees could not have been otherwise.
That one [the stranger] listened and said, “Yes, that is the true an- swer.” And he asked also about ihsan.
You can’t find a word like it in any language except Arabic; no other language can bring that divine term. Therefore Allah chose that language for His Last Testament. Turks and Urdu-speaking people also all say “ih- san.”
“Ihsan means to worship the Lord, Almighty Allah, as if you are in His Presence and see Him. But even if you do not see Him, He sees you. To reach that level of belief, that is ihsan,” the Prophet saw said.
The stranger said, “Yes, you are right.” And he asked some other questions as a teacher asks and always said, “Yes, right.” Then, when fin- ishing, he got up and went away, not turning back to him.
He went out the door and the Prophet saw said, “Do you know, O my Companions, who that one was?”
They said, “No one except Allah and His Prophet knows.”
He said, “That was Archangel Gabriel. Go and look for him.” But he had disappeared. “He came to teach you about your faith.”
In whatever rank Gabriel comes and you see him, you are also clothed in that rank. All sahabah were clothed in those divine lights. Some people may be in need of this lesson as a cure for their doubt. When you believe in such things, Allah gives you from His endless blessings and favors. ▲
25: LIMITING OUR EGO’S ENDLESS DESIRES
Do you imagine that, among all creatures, any have been honored and blessed more than mankind? No; you can’t say that there is another crea- ture blessed and honored more than the children of Adam.
Allah Almighty declares in holy books, the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Last Testament, the Holy Qur’an, that for everything, O children of Adam, We have granted to you what you asked.
Everyone asks from someone who is able to give; no one asks some- one who can’t give. You are asking. Some things man can give you, and that is also from Allah’s grant, because if Allah does not move that person’s heart, he can’t give to you. Therefore, if you are granted something, it is right to thank that one who gives it to you. The Prophet saw says that if you do not say “Thank you” to people, you aren’t thankful to Allah. If we say “Thank you,” it goes to Allah.
So many things man can’t give. You must ask that Someone who can give, who has endless Power and Mercy and Favor Oceans, and He may grant endlessly. When you ask something, He should give.
He knows best about you, He knows if something is good for you or not. That little boy may ask to play with a razor blade; you would be crazy to give it to him, either wounding himself or others. Something is given to you if it is suitable or right for you. You can’t know if it is good for you. You may cry, but He does not give if not good.
Sometimes man struggles with his Lord and says, “You must give,” and sometimes He gives as a lesson to others. You can say, “O my Lord, I don’t know. If it is good for me, give. If not good, change my heart from desiring that thing.”
The prophets taught mankind about every kind of life conditions. Man is not allowed to ask to die. Everything—every condition, suitable or not suitable, all kinds of troubles, miseries—man is strong enough to carry. When conditions change and difficulties come and suffering rains on a per- son, he must not become fed-up and ask Allah to bring him death, not to mention not to kill himself (if it is forbidden to ask to die, what about to kill oneself?). If you have been suffering too much, you may say, “O my Lord, if you know that to live is better for me, let me live. If you know that death is better for me than life, then take my soul with faith, by Your favor,” the Prophet saw was teaching.
For everything, you may ask what is best for you to be given, and He gives. He knows the best for you. That is excellent manners, that is from the signs of prophethood.
When you are asking, ask with adab, with good manners. “When My servant asks something, no need to shout. Even if no one listens, even if the angels never hear, I know. And I am giving, I am just giving everything that My servant asks. Even though he may ask for something which is not suitable for him during this life, I am keeping it for him, to give to him later. I must keep My promise. If I do not give during this temporary life, I shall grant it to him in his eternal life.”
Allah just gave you everything that you asked from Him, but He is keeping back some things for the eternal life. You should be happiest that day when He is going to grant that to you. “That is what you asked from Me. I kept it for the eternal life, to give benefit to you forever.”
He says, “O children of Adam, if you ask for something which is not given to you, you should not be upset or angry or sad or unhappy. You are thinking only of that thing that is withheld from you, although it is only one grant, and you will be happy only with that one grant. But, O people, I am granting to you from My favors. If all computers worked to make an ac- count of what I grant to you, it would be impossible!”
Allah is the Most True One for speaking the truth. If only one cell moves from its place, it gives endless pain to your body. Billions of cells in your body are in the right place. What a favor! You can’t imagine what
Allah Almighty has granted us from endless favors. We are thinking only of that one thing that is not given to us, but when your tooth pains, you should understand. Man is such an oppressor, kafir,108 denying the endless favors that he has been given.
Among trillions of creatures, He made you from mankind. Do don- keys complain? No, very happily braying! If he made you a bear, would you complain? Bears never complain! If He made you a rat? They are happy; cats are happy, also. But you couldn’t be happy if He changed you to a rat or a dog. Why are you not thinking about that?
Among millions of creatures, among all of them, the most honored is you. Not enough? Each day we are fighting that He is not giving us all the gold in Central Bank, all for me! But you can’t carry that; you can’t eat the two portions of the food that you can buy with it.
In the Damascus market, when winter came, there were too many clothes coming from Europe to our countries. I saw a person wearing five, six, ten coats, and I thought he must be a rich one, but he said no, and I understood that he was a seller. No one can put one foot in a Rolls Royce and another in a Jaguar; the Queen also can’t be in two castles at the same time. Man is greedy, not thinking, wanting all the money of Central Bank for himself. Night life finishes by morning. What can you take from this world?
Mostly, man is an oppressor and is denying endless favors. And the Prophet saw is teaching people how they can be happy and peaceful in this life, saying, “O man, if you wake up and find money for that day’s provision in your pocket, you must say that I am the happiest person on earth.”
If you are not feeling well, that is a not good, an unhappy day for you. You don’t have anything that keeps your heart from being occupied by fear of poverty or unhappiness. Therefore, if you have something for one day for your family, you must be happy.
108One who denies Allah and His favors, or covers and conceals the truth.
People who are never satisfied, dissatisfied people, never reach a limit where they say, “Thanks to my Lord. It is enough for me,” to be thankful that He is granting us endless favors, and also pouring on His servants more and more. They should pass away from this life tired, and the tired one should be more tired in his grave, his eyes looking back at dunya.
There is time and space for us in the eternal life. You may ask, and you should be given as much as you may ask, more and more, Hereafter. Be patient!
Imam al-Ghazali—he is famous in Europe, also, as an Islamic phi- losopher109—mostly brought evidence as proofs for Western people’s minds. “O people, what if a doctor makes his patient fast for three days without drinking, saying, ‘If you drink, it will endanger your life, but if you are patient, after three days you may drink all your life’—should he be pa- tient, or should he destroy his life?”
O people, this life is only like three days. Why don’t you make your- self obey, restraining your ego? No limit for your desires? Keep desires limited in order to be free in the eternal life.
What says the mind of a clever one? You are seeing in our day, in the twentieth century that is finishing, that day by day people’s desires are in- creasing, but any time they try to reach their desires, troubles are also in- creasing. The nineteenth century’s people were more happy than the twen- tieth century’s people. What do we need in order to say that we are happy? At that time, with three pounds they were happy. Now three million is not enough!
They were happy with one room and a horse. We are living in castles and flying but we are not happy. Make your desires to be less and you will reach happiness; otherwise, you will be tired from endless desires and never
109Here Shaykh Nazim adds parenthetically: “But we don’t want philosophers. Their ideas are always changing—daytime and nighttime, young and old, winter and summer, hungry and full, always changing their minds. They are such proud people, never tying themselves to any prophets. They think that they can find a solution by their minds, never asking from heavenly sources solutions for mankind’s problems.”
get to be happy. That is the sickness of our century. If mankind do not keep minds in their heads, all the world is going to be a mental hospital, all of them crazy!
We are asking Allah to send a blessed one. One is enough, but he will come with so many blessed ones. You must keep a ‘diet’ if you want to reach to that one’s time. Control, put reins! ▲
26: ENTRUSTING OURSELVES TO OUR LORD
Allah Almighty created man, and He made mankind to be in need of eating, drinking and resting. And He created everv creature by divine wis- doms. Nothing is created useless; must be some benefit to people from everything.
Once a person was looking at a cockroach. He said, “For what was that created?” After a while he had a sore and no one knew any cure for that illness, putting everything on it. No help!
After so many days passed, a dervish looked at the sore and said, “It is so simple. No cockroaches in your house?”
“Too many!”
“Take one, kill it and burn it. Put its ashes on it and finished!”
Then that man made sajdah and said, “O my Lord, I will never inter- fere in Your Will any more.”
If even any kind of creature disappears, there must be a balance in na- ture. Everything is created to make a balance for the life of mankind. Other creatures are not important, important is mankind.
Allah Almighty created angels. They are not in need of eating, drink- ing; no sleep, no tiring. But we need; mankind is created in need of every- thing. Breathing, also; He could have created man without breathing, but He made, in twenty-four hours, 24,000 breaths.
Every breath is by the Lord’s command, not in our hands, to show that you are under supreme control. When you sleep, who makes you to breathe, your inner organs to work? Who is that One? And with each
breath you are saying “Hu”; you must say it. (Therefore Allah made the Eng- lish language universal, always saying “Who”).
Man represents the Lord Almighty, and He gives from His divine at- tributes to man. Pride is for the Lord only, not for slaves. Only He is proud, the Most Proud One. He has rights to be proud, but of what are you proud?
Pharaoh was proud of what? Every forty days he only went to the toi- let once; therefore he thought he was something. Allah made us in need of eating and drinking, and in need of the toilet, also. No good for one to be proud who has to go to the toilet! For that reason, Pharoah claimed to be the greatest God.
Allah’s attribute is that the o
Link: https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6093