Mercy Oceans, Book 10 (239 pages, 2/21)
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foolishness is going on most among people in the twentieth century. They are looking at forms, like Satan, who looked at Adam as created from clay -. how could I respect him? - not looking at the meaning of Adam which made him respected by all the universe, by all the angels, all the angels making sajdah to him.
And now Satan has established his sovereignty upon the whole world, making people to look at each other by their forms, their figures. That is a big sin, or the biggest sin, and all must be punished; must be punished, and it is
from the divine punishment that the East is the greatest enemy to the West and the West is the greatest enemy to the East.
Here we are speaking about awliyas' knowledge which they are granting us. Awliya are trying to take away enmity from among people; to take it away, to make people look at each other and see others as crowned, divinely- crowned, fully-crowned people, and to give their respect to everyone.
Therefore, Grandsheikh said, "The meaning of tariqat for me is to give respect to everyone." Keep this, and you are going to be respected among creatures on earth and in the Heavens.
See VII:11-12, XV:29–33, XVII:61, and XXXVIII:72-76 for the Qur'anic
account of Satan's refusal to prostrate to Adam because he felt superior to him.
BELIEVING IN YOURSELF AND KNOWING YOUR RANK
All absolute perfections, absolute attributes, belong to our Lord Almighty, and as He has granted us from His endless favours, we are proud to be His humble servants.
Allah Almighty created the Sons of Adam in numbers, and they have been honoured by their Creator, Allah Almighty, as no one else has
been honoured. Allah Almighty created all the universes and everything in the universes, and everything in the universes He put into man. Man contains or includes everything that is in the universe of jamadat, non-living things; nabatat, plants; haywanat, animals; and then of angels. And there is a secret, sirr, which Allah Almighty made especially, only, for the Sons of Adam. Even though the angels asked from their Lord, Allah Almighty said, "That secret thing from My Divine Presence has been given to the Sons of Adam, to man" - to perfect man and to insan al-qadim, the original man who is no more. "Not for you but for the original man, for mankind."
That is the secret which mankind has been given by its Creator, Allah Almighty, putting them in the most honoured station in the Divine Presence. Allah Almighty gave from His divine lights to mankind: that is the honour and that is the secret reason why Allah Almighty loves the Sons of Adam.
You may respect everyone. Don't look at peoples' temporal garments or ranks, no; without looking at their outward appearance, you may give them every respect and every rank, ranks which are acceptable in the Divine Presence. - As much as you express and give respect, Allah Almighty is pleased. He is not angry when we give more respect to every one of His
servants, no, but Allah Almighty is angry with anyone who puts down or demeans His servants. Allah Almighty never agrees to have His servants demeaned.
"Wa laqad karramna Bani Adam": this informs us that Allah Almighty respects the Sons of Adam, and as much as we may respect and give honour to others, it is impossible to reach the point of Allah Almighty's respect for His servants. The word takrim - karramnä, karamah, to dignify - refers to something which Allah Almighty granted from pre-eternity. He is not a Creator who gives or grants and then takes back; when He gives or when He grants something, He never takes it back. His grants are from pre- eternity up to post-eternity; no one can take away the grants of Allah Almighty to the Sons of Adam, not even Satan. If there were as many Satans as the number of atoms, they could not take away from the Sons of Adam anything of the karamat, of the honour, the dignity, which Allah Almighty granted them.
Therefore Allah Almighty has sufficient trust in Himself. that He says to Satan, "Go after them. If you can take from them what I granted to them, do. Use your infantry and cavalry soldiers on My servants. Go! I am looking to see if you can take something from them." 5
Allah Almighty is sufficiently powerful for Satan and his armies. Only one wali, saint, is sufficient; even if there were to be millions of Satans, one is enough for them all. But we are sinners because we are listening, we are following him; when Satan invites us, we run after him, quickly running like rabbits - yes. And when we fall down we cry, and Satan laughs.
Yet, even though we are sinners, no matter how much we may be sinners, Allah Almighty is going to be angry with His servant if he says that his sins are bigger than his Lord's mercy. Hasha, never! Astaghfirullah! We are sinners because so many times we are followers of Satan; but even though we are followers, we must keep the endless hope in our Lord that all our sins are going to be nothing, "Habaan manthura." It is a good tiding.
Now, Satan works days and nights, never getting to be tired. Always, wherever the ummah, the nation of Muhammad, p.b.u.h., goes, he runs after it. We can't catch that Satan even once; always running, hard worker! Hard worker, but without payment. If they were to make a strike, Satan and his soldiers, it would be better. But they never strike.
5 See VII:16-17 and XVI:99-100
Ye-es, Satan works hard! From the day that Allah Almighty said to him, "Get out!" throwing him out, rejecting him, up to this day, he is hard-working. What does he hope for that he works so hard?
He works hard at making people lazy. Therefore the number of unemployed people is always increasing, Satan saying, "Oh, no need to work. Everything is all right. Don't work!" He works but does not let people work, saying, "You are the Sons of Adam, respectable people! You must sit and everything must be made ready for you."
Satan works hard, and on the Day of Resurrection he will bring so many dirty deeds. And he is making us, the Sons of Adam, his workers, and, as we are workers for Satan, we will come on the Day of Resurrection with such a huge number of dirty deeds.
Do you suppose that Allah Almighty is going to keep all those dirty deeds of Satan and his workers? Never! As He threw out all of Satan's worshipping because he refused His command once, so, on the Day of Resur rection; Allah Almighty is going to order all the dirty deeds that Satan did in this life, and his workers' deeds, to be thrown into Hell. Dirty things you put in a dirty place, useless things you put into the dustbin. When the whole crowd of dirty works appears, Allah Almighty will order them to be thrown into Hell and will say to Satan, "Look at your work and your workers' works - look! I am making them habaan manthura6. Look at them!"
Therefore we are saying to the Sons of Adam that Allah Almighty granted and gave them from pre-eternity something of which He is the Protector. "Inna Nahnu nazzalna adh-dhikra wa inna lahu la-hafidhun"7 He is the Protector; He does not give that to us now before we are prepared to take care of it. It is something like parents' making ready jewelry for their daughter's marriage, not giving it to her when she is a child but keeping it for her when she is grown up, or like giving a little toy to a child and saying, "Give me this diamond necklace," taking it and giving that in exchange.
Therefore, Allah Almighty says, "We are keeping it; We are its Protector. I am looking after My servants whom I have respected. I have honoured them. They may be Arabs, may be English, may be Turks, may be German, may be American, may be Russian, may be Greek, may be any kind; may be black, may be white, may be yellow: I am the Lord of all of them and I granted them something. I do not look at their shapes, at their colours. My
6 "Floating particles of dust." (XXV:23)
7 "Truly, We have revealed the Message, and we will assuredly guard it." (XV:9)
colour I have put on them. Whoever is not happy with My colour may look for another Creator to give him another colour."
You must be proud and happy, yes; Allah Almighty gives, sibghat-Ullah8. And He looks at your original jowhar, essence, that is a secret, like a diamond. Therefore Allah looks at the hearts that He gave us.
And everyone, everyone, is singular in the universe, no second one; everyone is unique in himself. Allah Almighty just created everyone to be a witness to His uniqueness. Therefore, you must believe in yourself first; you can't reach real belief, real faith, without believing in yourself.
We do not believe in ourselves yet. When you believe in yourself, then you will reach real faith in the Divine Presence. If all the universes without men were put in the balance on one side of the scale and one man on the other, that man is more valuable than all the universes without men. But we do not believe that our ranks in the Divine Presence are more valuable than all the universes and every creature included in those universes.
You must believe this; then you may be a respectful servant to your Lord Almighty. "O my Lord, You have honoured me in such a way that my mind can never grasp; it is out of my imagination as well. You are giving me such a greatness, such an honour, as no one can expect and no one
can imagine,"
You must believe in yourself. When you believe in yourself, then you will see everyone else in the same rank. Then you will give your respect to everyone, and your respect for all people passes through respect for the Creator. You are not respecting this person; you are respecting the Creator who created him, and he, the other person, when he respects you, is respecting the one who created you, thereby giving respect to your Creator.
Therefore, alhamdulillah! All respects, all praise, all thanks, all greatness and glory be to Allah Almighty! If you respect someone, it means that you are glorifying your Lord Almighty. And when you give respect, you receive respect, also; you give respect to the servants of your Lord and at the same time receive respect from them and from your Lord Almighty. Your Lord Almighty gives respect to you, and respect comes to you from all creatures. Wild animals, deer and camels and flies, birds, lions, wolves, came to the Prophet, p.b.u.h., and made sajdah, giving respect to the Prophet, and trees
8 "Allah's hue (or colouring!." (II:138)
came and made sajdah to him because he is the Original Man, he is the Perfect Man. And Allah Almighty says, "Look! He is the best example for you. If you follow his way, you' will reach that station."
Every creature must respect that person who has respect for his Lord and has respect for every one of His servants. We must give our respect to everyone. Then Allah Almighty will respect us.
COMPLETING ALLAH'S GIFTS AND HONOURS TO HIS SERVANTS
What is honour for a person and how musť a person who has been honoured try to keep that honour?
The one who belongs to an honourable person is going to be honoured; therefore the one who originally has honour may give honour. All praises and endless honours be to our Lord Almighty; innahu hamidun majid9. Endless honours, endless Honour Oceans, endless Praise Oceans, absolute praises and absolute honours are for Allah Almighty alone. Those honours are from Him to Himself; no one gives Him honour. Rather, everyone has been given honours by his Lord Almighty. If He does not give, no one can gain any honour or become praiseworthy.
Therefore, it is Allah Almighty who gives honour and makes His servants praiseworthy, looking at their capacities and according to their intentions, and as he looks at their hearts, He gives them honour. We have been honoured by our Lord Almighty, and that is an endless grant from Him to us.
That is something concerning among mankind. Now we are among such unknown realities which Allah Almighty gives to us. As we said, mankind is yet unknown. As much as we are occupied with everything except our inner selves, it is impossible for us to discover ourselves. This eye is open for outward-looking, this ear is open for outward-hearing; our hands, our feet, everything that we have in our physical bodies, is occupied with everything around ourselves, completely occupied. And there is one organ in our bodies which is the most important. That is the heart. And we are occupying it, also, with this life's thoughts so that we are completely occupied. How can we be free to look after ourselves with even the capital of our body occupied by the enemy?
Therefore we are trying now, firstly, to know and to give an un derstanding about ourselves. We must know about ourselves so that we may know about the Creator Almighty. If you do not go deeply into yourself, you can't get to know about your Creator and, about His divine position.
9 Truly, He is the Praised, the Glorious
Yes, we mankind have been honoured by our Lord Almighty - when, no one knows except One; the Creator knows when He honoured us, the Sons of Adam. We are not such creatures who are beings in existence only for
a short time; it is an ignorant person who says that the history of the Sons of Adam is a short one, that their existence is only within a brief period.
We must know, firstly, that our period is with Allah Almighty. We were in our Lord's Power Oceans with Him. Only our appearance in our physical bodies is just for a short period but our realities are connected to the reality of the Creator.
The one who has reality, his reality is eternal. We have realities or we are realities: the Sons of Adam are not just an appearance, a form - no.
Everyone has a reality and that reality never changes. Allah Almighty never changes, and, because all realities belong to Him, they are also never- changing.
We have been given realities from the endless Reality Oceans of our Lord Almighty; that is the honour that we have been given. But yet we are occupied by something that is going to be in ruins, our physical bodies, and to pass away. Allah Almighty says that ghutha as-sail, the white of foam, goes, but the real benefit which the river gives remains.
Therefore we are like such bits of foam, appearing and then finishing, going away; but that reality which we have been given - that is forever, for eternity, for post-eternity. From pre-eternity to post eternity we have been given that, without asking; without our asking, Allah Almighty gave us that as a grant.
No one has been honoured with such an honour as the Sons of Adam have been honoured. We should be the most satisfied and happy ones among all creatures. But on the contrary: the most complaining ones among all creatures are the Sons of Adam. The Sons of Adam are those people who do not give true value to the honour that they have been given.
Now, we know that it is the highest degree and honour for ourselves to: belong to our Lord Almighty, to be His servants, His slaves. Maybe "slave" is a little too strong; our egos do not accept it, although they are slaves, so we say, To be şervants to our Lord - that is honour for us. Therefore, "Nurun 'ala nur"10; Allah Almighty gave us from His divine lights and honoured us. But yet He is asking to give us more than this.
10 "Light upon light." (XXIV:35)
We are now in this life for a new grant from our Lord Almighty, a light. He is going to give us more honour than the first grant, also; He is asking to give that to everyone. "I gave you an honour without anyone asking from Me, but now I will give to the one who asks from Me the second nur."
Therefore all the prophets came to give a reminder to the Sons of Adam: "O Sons of Adam, you have been granted an endless honour from pre eternity, but your Lord desires to give you more. That one was without your asking, and now your Lord desires to give you, for the post-eternal life, more than the first one, also. But you must ask."
Therefore it is a good tidings for the Sons of Adam that finally their nur, the light which Allah Almighty gave them without anyone asking from Him, is never going to be destroyed. Instead, Allah Almighty is asking the Sons of Adam to ask for more than what He gave us, another grant, so that it is going to be nurun 'ala nur, light upon light. The one who asks now is going to be given as much as he was given previously; yet those who do not ask any more, forgetting everything and denying everything from post-eternity up to this day, will not lose the first grant of Allah Almighty to themselves.
When Allah Almighty gives something, He does not take it back. In the Shar'iah, if a person gives a gift to someone and wants to take it back, it may be done but it is makruh, a disliked thing. How can Allah Almighty do disliked things? Astaghfirullah; hasha, never! Therefore, when Allah gives, He gives forever. He gave to us and He will never take it back. And He is obliging His servants to ask more and more, and He is angry with them if they do not ask. We must ask.
Therefore, during the period that we have been given in this life, Allah Almighty gives us according to our intentions, not according to our actions. If we could be in this life forever, we would intend to be His obedient servants. Then, when He tests us and sees that our intentions are meant forever, He gives us our rewards, giving those divine lights endlessly.
That is the second honour; the first we have already been given, but Allah Almighty wishes to complete it. Therefore, on the Day of Resurrection, people will run and ask a completion from their Lord: "Rabbana, atmim lana nurana“ – “0, our Lord, please complete our light."
You have been given something like a candle, and you are in need of a match to light the wick. We must try; we must try for this. That is a perfection for the Sons of Adam; we can reach that perfection during the short period of our life in this world. Therefore Allah Almighty sent all the prophets and the
Seal of the Prophets, peace be upon them all, to make everything clear to the Sons of Adam. And now it is clear according to our capacity: we can understand how those lights and those honours are going to be for us.
And we have also been honoured to be of the nation of the Last Prophet, the greatest one, p.b.u.h.; by that we have been honoured. Then, we have been honoured by being in connection with or belonging to one of the chains of awliya; by that we have been honoured, also. And we are asking our Lord Almighty to complete that honour and to make us suitable, worthy, of that honour and to make us keepers of that honour.
That is, if in the Islamic Shari'ah, the divinely-revealed Law, it is disliked to take back anything one has given away, how can it be imagined that the Divine Giver of that Law could take back the gifts which He has freely granted to His servants? "Our Lord, perfect our light for us." (LXVI:8)
You know, those people who have been given even one star, even one stripe - they are so careful to keep that. Why not us? Why are we not taking more care? We must take more care of those honours that we have been granted; we must be so careful about that. And, o honoured brothers and sisters, mumins and muminahs, for every action we are either granted more honours or we are losing those honours.
Therefore we must be very careful about every action: it may be a reason for a new honour or it may make that honour decrease. That is important. The Prophet, p.b.u.h., says, "Ihfadh-Illah" - you must keep to your Lord, you must guard the honour that your Lord granted you. Then Allah Almighty will protect you, protecting that honour with you.
TAKING A GUIDE WHO KNOWS THE TRUE VALUE OF MAN
We are asking from the awliya, saints, that spiritual power which passes from heart to heart.
Grandsheikh says that spiritual power or divine help comes to an assembly according to their asking; according to our inner desires comes divine help. Therefore, as much as we are ready to take more, They give more. When a person comes with a coffee cup, he will be given as much as it holds; if coming with a teacup, he will be given as much as it can take. If a man comes with a soup cup, he will be given more; if a jug, putting in still more. As much as you are asking for, They may give, never finishing. And no one asks for a litre of oil but brings only a coffee cup. Even if he pays money, you cannot put one litre into a coffee cup; it is full, stopping. You say, "Give a bigger cup and I may put it all in." Therefore, there is too much that They
may give us, but, like this, it finishes, stopping. And I am asking more of awliyas' knowledge.
Our hearts, when the light of faith enters into them, are going to be wider, wider, wider; even if you put all the oceans into them, they may hold them. But our present faith is taqlid, imitation, while the other kind of faith is real.
This is imitation, like a figure without a soul, but the first has a soul, also. But that real faith has not yet entered into our hearts. When it enters, the whole world is going to be changed, our view is going to be changed. Understand? Totally changed; everything is going to be changed. When real faith comes into our hearts and lights them, it will be as if a person had been blind, but when his eyes are opened, he sees some thing other than what he was in before. Therefore, don't suppose that now we are in real faith - no, not yet.
Grandsheikh was in the First World War from the beginning up to the end. He made jihad, the lesser jihad and the greater jihad;”
Jihad means "striving." The "lesser jihad" refers to striving on the battlefield, while the "greater jihad" denotes the ceaseless struggle waged within one's being against Satan, against the lower self (nafs), against the attractions of the world (dunya), and against base desires (hawa).
Grandsheikh completed them both. He said to ne, "O Nazim Efendi, if I were to tell you about all that the people and I suffered during the First War, in which I saw so many terrible events and sufferings, this whole place would be filled with books, you could write so many books about it. But everything passes. The events of yesterday are buried, finished; today new ones will come. If they were going to stay with you, all of them not passing, no one could bear this life's heavy burdens. But that has passed away. This is our Lord's will.
"In our division there was an Armenian sergeant. (Sheikh Nazim adds parenthetically, "They (Armenians] lived as neighbours in Muslim towns and villages.")
I asked one of the soldiers, while I was looking on, "What is your name?' "My name is 'Ali.” "Yes.You are Muslim?” "Alhamdulillah, I am Muslim.' "' But if you say that you are Muslim, I can also say that I am Muslim; what I believe is enough to say that I am Muslim. I also believe in one God Almighty and in the angels and the holy books. and the prophets and the Last Day and Qadar, the Divine Decree,” that Armenian sergeant said. "I say what you say. But... is that enough to be a Muslim?! No. Then what is the sign? If it is only saying as you say, I do that, and if you are talking about namaz, prayers, I do then, also." Then Grandsheikh said, "Look, you are asking for a
sign. I am saying to you that it is not enough only to say with your tongue, 'I am a believer, I am a Muslim.' You may even recite the Holy Qu'ran. But the sign of a Muslim and a real believer is that he has a light from his Lord Almighty. When he looks down, he can see up to the end of this world; when he looks up he can see to the end of the universe. If he looks at the East, he can see up to the end of the farthest East; if he looks at the West, he sees up to the end of the Western regions. If he looks toward qiblah11, he sees the K'abah12." Then that sergeant fell upon the hands of Grandsheikh and kissed them.
Grandsheikh was saying that the real sign of belief is that a person has the light of faith in his heart, which comes from Allah Almighty. Nothing can keep back that light. Understand? What can keep back nur-Ullah, Allah Almighty's light? Distance never prevents that person from seeing; darkness never hides anything in it. Therefore, when real faith comes into our hearts, they are going to be lighted. Everything in the universe is going to be in front of us; nothing may be hidden from us. That is the degree of real faith.
Therefore we are always asking for some lights so that we may firmly keep our services in front of our Lord Almighty. The value of a person is according to the lights in his heart, and when lights come into your heart, they make it wider, wider than the whole universe. You can find your Lord in your heart; universes cannot contain their Lord but the hearts of believers may contain their Lord Almighty.
We must know ourselves, because we do not know what we are and what is the true value of ourselves. In the palace of the Ottoman emperors there is a diamond; perhaps it is the most famous diamond in the world, the biggest one. There is a tale about how that biggest, most famous diamond came into the palace.
One day a person in Istanbul prayed Fajr, the dawn prayer, in the mosque and returned. He glanced at a rubbish heap and saw there something like a stone, a strange thing. He took it out from amongst the rubbish, looking at it from all sides. Then, as he was passing through a market, among shops, he saw a person who made wooden spoons and showed him the stone. "What is this? Would you take it, would you buy it?"
11 Literally, "orientation." In common usage, qiblah is the orientation toward Mecca, which Muslims face during their worship because it is the site of the Holy K’abah
12 the first house of worship of God on earth, built according to divine camand by the Prophet Abraham and his son, the Prophet Ishmael.
The spoonmaker looked at it. "Hey, I may give you a spoon for it," he said. "Take this spoon and give it to me."
The man was very pleased with a spoon, a big spoon, a nice spoon, and useful, because dervish people used to keep a dagger at one side and a spoon on the other. When they were called to eat they used it.
What was that stone? Allah knows, but he, that person, did not know. He took the man's spoon and went away. Then that spoonmaker looked at the stone. What if I were to take it to a jeweler or a goldsmith? he thought. And he took it to one of them and said, "See what this is. How much is it worth?".
The jeweler took it. He understood what it was and said, "I don't mind if it costs me a bagful of silver."
That was as much as the value of the spoonmaker's whole shop; all his spoons would not bring one bag of silver. He was also so pleased and happy, and went away.
Then the jeweler was the master of this jewel. He worked on it, cutting it like rays of the sun, and kept it for the grand-wazir, the prime minister of the Ottoman Empire. He sent to him, saying, "I have such a jewel. It is suitable for the grand-wazir." And the grand-wazir paid a large amount of gold, thousands of pieces, for it. Then he presented it to the sultan; it went up to the sultan himself.
I mean to say that all things are well-known by a knowledgeable person; otherwise, they are all going to be the same as stones. The value of human beings is well-known, completely-known, by Allah Almighty, who created them and gave them th
Link: https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6136
foolishness is going on most among people in the twentieth century. They are looking at forms, like Satan, who looked at Adam as created from clay -. how could I respect him? - not looking at the meaning of Adam which made him respected by all the universe, by all the angels, all the angels making sajdah to him.
And now Satan has established his sovereignty upon the whole world, making people to look at each other by their forms, their figures. That is a big sin, or the biggest sin, and all must be punished; must be punished, and it is
from the divine punishment that the East is the greatest enemy to the West and the West is the greatest enemy to the East.
Here we are speaking about awliyas' knowledge which they are granting us. Awliya are trying to take away enmity from among people; to take it away, to make people look at each other and see others as crowned, divinely- crowned, fully-crowned people, and to give their respect to everyone.
Therefore, Grandsheikh said, "The meaning of tariqat for me is to give respect to everyone." Keep this, and you are going to be respected among creatures on earth and in the Heavens.
See VII:11-12, XV:29–33, XVII:61, and XXXVIII:72-76 for the Qur'anic
account of Satan's refusal to prostrate to Adam because he felt superior to him.
BELIEVING IN YOURSELF AND KNOWING YOUR RANK
All absolute perfections, absolute attributes, belong to our Lord Almighty, and as He has granted us from His endless favours, we are proud to be His humble servants.
Allah Almighty created the Sons of Adam in numbers, and they have been honoured by their Creator, Allah Almighty, as no one else has
been honoured. Allah Almighty created all the universes and everything in the universes, and everything in the universes He put into man. Man contains or includes everything that is in the universe of jamadat, non-living things; nabatat, plants; haywanat, animals; and then of angels. And there is a secret, sirr, which Allah Almighty made especially, only, for the Sons of Adam. Even though the angels asked from their Lord, Allah Almighty said, "That secret thing from My Divine Presence has been given to the Sons of Adam, to man" - to perfect man and to insan al-qadim, the original man who is no more. "Not for you but for the original man, for mankind."
That is the secret which mankind has been given by its Creator, Allah Almighty, putting them in the most honoured station in the Divine Presence. Allah Almighty gave from His divine lights to mankind: that is the honour and that is the secret reason why Allah Almighty loves the Sons of Adam.
You may respect everyone. Don't look at peoples' temporal garments or ranks, no; without looking at their outward appearance, you may give them every respect and every rank, ranks which are acceptable in the Divine Presence. - As much as you express and give respect, Allah Almighty is pleased. He is not angry when we give more respect to every one of His
servants, no, but Allah Almighty is angry with anyone who puts down or demeans His servants. Allah Almighty never agrees to have His servants demeaned.
"Wa laqad karramna Bani Adam": this informs us that Allah Almighty respects the Sons of Adam, and as much as we may respect and give honour to others, it is impossible to reach the point of Allah Almighty's respect for His servants. The word takrim - karramnä, karamah, to dignify - refers to something which Allah Almighty granted from pre-eternity. He is not a Creator who gives or grants and then takes back; when He gives or when He grants something, He never takes it back. His grants are from pre- eternity up to post-eternity; no one can take away the grants of Allah Almighty to the Sons of Adam, not even Satan. If there were as many Satans as the number of atoms, they could not take away from the Sons of Adam anything of the karamat, of the honour, the dignity, which Allah Almighty granted them.
Therefore Allah Almighty has sufficient trust in Himself. that He says to Satan, "Go after them. If you can take from them what I granted to them, do. Use your infantry and cavalry soldiers on My servants. Go! I am looking to see if you can take something from them." 5
Allah Almighty is sufficiently powerful for Satan and his armies. Only one wali, saint, is sufficient; even if there were to be millions of Satans, one is enough for them all. But we are sinners because we are listening, we are following him; when Satan invites us, we run after him, quickly running like rabbits - yes. And when we fall down we cry, and Satan laughs.
Yet, even though we are sinners, no matter how much we may be sinners, Allah Almighty is going to be angry with His servant if he says that his sins are bigger than his Lord's mercy. Hasha, never! Astaghfirullah! We are sinners because so many times we are followers of Satan; but even though we are followers, we must keep the endless hope in our Lord that all our sins are going to be nothing, "Habaan manthura." It is a good tiding.
Now, Satan works days and nights, never getting to be tired. Always, wherever the ummah, the nation of Muhammad, p.b.u.h., goes, he runs after it. We can't catch that Satan even once; always running, hard worker! Hard worker, but without payment. If they were to make a strike, Satan and his soldiers, it would be better. But they never strike.
5 See VII:16-17 and XVI:99-100
Ye-es, Satan works hard! From the day that Allah Almighty said to him, "Get out!" throwing him out, rejecting him, up to this day, he is hard-working. What does he hope for that he works so hard?
He works hard at making people lazy. Therefore the number of unemployed people is always increasing, Satan saying, "Oh, no need to work. Everything is all right. Don't work!" He works but does not let people work, saying, "You are the Sons of Adam, respectable people! You must sit and everything must be made ready for you."
Satan works hard, and on the Day of Resurrection he will bring so many dirty deeds. And he is making us, the Sons of Adam, his workers, and, as we are workers for Satan, we will come on the Day of Resurrection with such a huge number of dirty deeds.
Do you suppose that Allah Almighty is going to keep all those dirty deeds of Satan and his workers? Never! As He threw out all of Satan's worshipping because he refused His command once, so, on the Day of Resur rection; Allah Almighty is going to order all the dirty deeds that Satan did in this life, and his workers' deeds, to be thrown into Hell. Dirty things you put in a dirty place, useless things you put into the dustbin. When the whole crowd of dirty works appears, Allah Almighty will order them to be thrown into Hell and will say to Satan, "Look at your work and your workers' works - look! I am making them habaan manthura6. Look at them!"
Therefore we are saying to the Sons of Adam that Allah Almighty granted and gave them from pre-eternity something of which He is the Protector. "Inna Nahnu nazzalna adh-dhikra wa inna lahu la-hafidhun"7 He is the Protector; He does not give that to us now before we are prepared to take care of it. It is something like parents' making ready jewelry for their daughter's marriage, not giving it to her when she is a child but keeping it for her when she is grown up, or like giving a little toy to a child and saying, "Give me this diamond necklace," taking it and giving that in exchange.
Therefore, Allah Almighty says, "We are keeping it; We are its Protector. I am looking after My servants whom I have respected. I have honoured them. They may be Arabs, may be English, may be Turks, may be German, may be American, may be Russian, may be Greek, may be any kind; may be black, may be white, may be yellow: I am the Lord of all of them and I granted them something. I do not look at their shapes, at their colours. My
6 "Floating particles of dust." (XXV:23)
7 "Truly, We have revealed the Message, and we will assuredly guard it." (XV:9)
colour I have put on them. Whoever is not happy with My colour may look for another Creator to give him another colour."
You must be proud and happy, yes; Allah Almighty gives, sibghat-Ullah8. And He looks at your original jowhar, essence, that is a secret, like a diamond. Therefore Allah looks at the hearts that He gave us.
And everyone, everyone, is singular in the universe, no second one; everyone is unique in himself. Allah Almighty just created everyone to be a witness to His uniqueness. Therefore, you must believe in yourself first; you can't reach real belief, real faith, without believing in yourself.
We do not believe in ourselves yet. When you believe in yourself, then you will reach real faith in the Divine Presence. If all the universes without men were put in the balance on one side of the scale and one man on the other, that man is more valuable than all the universes without men. But we do not believe that our ranks in the Divine Presence are more valuable than all the universes and every creature included in those universes.
You must believe this; then you may be a respectful servant to your Lord Almighty. "O my Lord, You have honoured me in such a way that my mind can never grasp; it is out of my imagination as well. You are giving me such a greatness, such an honour, as no one can expect and no one
can imagine,"
You must believe in yourself. When you believe in yourself, then you will see everyone else in the same rank. Then you will give your respect to everyone, and your respect for all people passes through respect for the Creator. You are not respecting this person; you are respecting the Creator who created him, and he, the other person, when he respects you, is respecting the one who created you, thereby giving respect to your Creator.
Therefore, alhamdulillah! All respects, all praise, all thanks, all greatness and glory be to Allah Almighty! If you respect someone, it means that you are glorifying your Lord Almighty. And when you give respect, you receive respect, also; you give respect to the servants of your Lord and at the same time receive respect from them and from your Lord Almighty. Your Lord Almighty gives respect to you, and respect comes to you from all creatures. Wild animals, deer and camels and flies, birds, lions, wolves, came to the Prophet, p.b.u.h., and made sajdah, giving respect to the Prophet, and trees
8 "Allah's hue (or colouring!." (II:138)
came and made sajdah to him because he is the Original Man, he is the Perfect Man. And Allah Almighty says, "Look! He is the best example for you. If you follow his way, you' will reach that station."
Every creature must respect that person who has respect for his Lord and has respect for every one of His servants. We must give our respect to everyone. Then Allah Almighty will respect us.
COMPLETING ALLAH'S GIFTS AND HONOURS TO HIS SERVANTS
What is honour for a person and how musť a person who has been honoured try to keep that honour?
The one who belongs to an honourable person is going to be honoured; therefore the one who originally has honour may give honour. All praises and endless honours be to our Lord Almighty; innahu hamidun majid9. Endless honours, endless Honour Oceans, endless Praise Oceans, absolute praises and absolute honours are for Allah Almighty alone. Those honours are from Him to Himself; no one gives Him honour. Rather, everyone has been given honours by his Lord Almighty. If He does not give, no one can gain any honour or become praiseworthy.
Therefore, it is Allah Almighty who gives honour and makes His servants praiseworthy, looking at their capacities and according to their intentions, and as he looks at their hearts, He gives them honour. We have been honoured by our Lord Almighty, and that is an endless grant from Him to us.
That is something concerning among mankind. Now we are among such unknown realities which Allah Almighty gives to us. As we said, mankind is yet unknown. As much as we are occupied with everything except our inner selves, it is impossible for us to discover ourselves. This eye is open for outward-looking, this ear is open for outward-hearing; our hands, our feet, everything that we have in our physical bodies, is occupied with everything around ourselves, completely occupied. And there is one organ in our bodies which is the most important. That is the heart. And we are occupying it, also, with this life's thoughts so that we are completely occupied. How can we be free to look after ourselves with even the capital of our body occupied by the enemy?
Therefore we are trying now, firstly, to know and to give an un derstanding about ourselves. We must know about ourselves so that we may know about the Creator Almighty. If you do not go deeply into yourself, you can't get to know about your Creator and, about His divine position.
9 Truly, He is the Praised, the Glorious
Yes, we mankind have been honoured by our Lord Almighty - when, no one knows except One; the Creator knows when He honoured us, the Sons of Adam. We are not such creatures who are beings in existence only for
a short time; it is an ignorant person who says that the history of the Sons of Adam is a short one, that their existence is only within a brief period.
We must know, firstly, that our period is with Allah Almighty. We were in our Lord's Power Oceans with Him. Only our appearance in our physical bodies is just for a short period but our realities are connected to the reality of the Creator.
The one who has reality, his reality is eternal. We have realities or we are realities: the Sons of Adam are not just an appearance, a form - no.
Everyone has a reality and that reality never changes. Allah Almighty never changes, and, because all realities belong to Him, they are also never- changing.
We have been given realities from the endless Reality Oceans of our Lord Almighty; that is the honour that we have been given. But yet we are occupied by something that is going to be in ruins, our physical bodies, and to pass away. Allah Almighty says that ghutha as-sail, the white of foam, goes, but the real benefit which the river gives remains.
Therefore we are like such bits of foam, appearing and then finishing, going away; but that reality which we have been given - that is forever, for eternity, for post-eternity. From pre-eternity to post eternity we have been given that, without asking; without our asking, Allah Almighty gave us that as a grant.
No one has been honoured with such an honour as the Sons of Adam have been honoured. We should be the most satisfied and happy ones among all creatures. But on the contrary: the most complaining ones among all creatures are the Sons of Adam. The Sons of Adam are those people who do not give true value to the honour that they have been given.
Now, we know that it is the highest degree and honour for ourselves to: belong to our Lord Almighty, to be His servants, His slaves. Maybe "slave" is a little too strong; our egos do not accept it, although they are slaves, so we say, To be şervants to our Lord - that is honour for us. Therefore, "Nurun 'ala nur"10; Allah Almighty gave us from His divine lights and honoured us. But yet He is asking to give us more than this.
10 "Light upon light." (XXIV:35)
We are now in this life for a new grant from our Lord Almighty, a light. He is going to give us more honour than the first grant, also; He is asking to give that to everyone. "I gave you an honour without anyone asking from Me, but now I will give to the one who asks from Me the second nur."
Therefore all the prophets came to give a reminder to the Sons of Adam: "O Sons of Adam, you have been granted an endless honour from pre eternity, but your Lord desires to give you more. That one was without your asking, and now your Lord desires to give you, for the post-eternal life, more than the first one, also. But you must ask."
Therefore it is a good tidings for the Sons of Adam that finally their nur, the light which Allah Almighty gave them without anyone asking from Him, is never going to be destroyed. Instead, Allah Almighty is asking the Sons of Adam to ask for more than what He gave us, another grant, so that it is going to be nurun 'ala nur, light upon light. The one who asks now is going to be given as much as he was given previously; yet those who do not ask any more, forgetting everything and denying everything from post-eternity up to this day, will not lose the first grant of Allah Almighty to themselves.
When Allah Almighty gives something, He does not take it back. In the Shar'iah, if a person gives a gift to someone and wants to take it back, it may be done but it is makruh, a disliked thing. How can Allah Almighty do disliked things? Astaghfirullah; hasha, never! Therefore, when Allah gives, He gives forever. He gave to us and He will never take it back. And He is obliging His servants to ask more and more, and He is angry with them if they do not ask. We must ask.
Therefore, during the period that we have been given in this life, Allah Almighty gives us according to our intentions, not according to our actions. If we could be in this life forever, we would intend to be His obedient servants. Then, when He tests us and sees that our intentions are meant forever, He gives us our rewards, giving those divine lights endlessly.
That is the second honour; the first we have already been given, but Allah Almighty wishes to complete it. Therefore, on the Day of Resurrection, people will run and ask a completion from their Lord: "Rabbana, atmim lana nurana“ – “0, our Lord, please complete our light."
You have been given something like a candle, and you are in need of a match to light the wick. We must try; we must try for this. That is a perfection for the Sons of Adam; we can reach that perfection during the short period of our life in this world. Therefore Allah Almighty sent all the prophets and the
Seal of the Prophets, peace be upon them all, to make everything clear to the Sons of Adam. And now it is clear according to our capacity: we can understand how those lights and those honours are going to be for us.
And we have also been honoured to be of the nation of the Last Prophet, the greatest one, p.b.u.h.; by that we have been honoured. Then, we have been honoured by being in connection with or belonging to one of the chains of awliya; by that we have been honoured, also. And we are asking our Lord Almighty to complete that honour and to make us suitable, worthy, of that honour and to make us keepers of that honour.
That is, if in the Islamic Shari'ah, the divinely-revealed Law, it is disliked to take back anything one has given away, how can it be imagined that the Divine Giver of that Law could take back the gifts which He has freely granted to His servants? "Our Lord, perfect our light for us." (LXVI:8)
You know, those people who have been given even one star, even one stripe - they are so careful to keep that. Why not us? Why are we not taking more care? We must take more care of those honours that we have been granted; we must be so careful about that. And, o honoured brothers and sisters, mumins and muminahs, for every action we are either granted more honours or we are losing those honours.
Therefore we must be very careful about every action: it may be a reason for a new honour or it may make that honour decrease. That is important. The Prophet, p.b.u.h., says, "Ihfadh-Illah" - you must keep to your Lord, you must guard the honour that your Lord granted you. Then Allah Almighty will protect you, protecting that honour with you.
TAKING A GUIDE WHO KNOWS THE TRUE VALUE OF MAN
We are asking from the awliya, saints, that spiritual power which passes from heart to heart.
Grandsheikh says that spiritual power or divine help comes to an assembly according to their asking; according to our inner desires comes divine help. Therefore, as much as we are ready to take more, They give more. When a person comes with a coffee cup, he will be given as much as it holds; if coming with a teacup, he will be given as much as it can take. If a man comes with a soup cup, he will be given more; if a jug, putting in still more. As much as you are asking for, They may give, never finishing. And no one asks for a litre of oil but brings only a coffee cup. Even if he pays money, you cannot put one litre into a coffee cup; it is full, stopping. You say, "Give a bigger cup and I may put it all in." Therefore, there is too much that They
may give us, but, like this, it finishes, stopping. And I am asking more of awliyas' knowledge.
Our hearts, when the light of faith enters into them, are going to be wider, wider, wider; even if you put all the oceans into them, they may hold them. But our present faith is taqlid, imitation, while the other kind of faith is real.
This is imitation, like a figure without a soul, but the first has a soul, also. But that real faith has not yet entered into our hearts. When it enters, the whole world is going to be changed, our view is going to be changed. Understand? Totally changed; everything is going to be changed. When real faith comes into our hearts and lights them, it will be as if a person had been blind, but when his eyes are opened, he sees some thing other than what he was in before. Therefore, don't suppose that now we are in real faith - no, not yet.
Grandsheikh was in the First World War from the beginning up to the end. He made jihad, the lesser jihad and the greater jihad;”
Jihad means "striving." The "lesser jihad" refers to striving on the battlefield, while the "greater jihad" denotes the ceaseless struggle waged within one's being against Satan, against the lower self (nafs), against the attractions of the world (dunya), and against base desires (hawa).
Grandsheikh completed them both. He said to ne, "O Nazim Efendi, if I were to tell you about all that the people and I suffered during the First War, in which I saw so many terrible events and sufferings, this whole place would be filled with books, you could write so many books about it. But everything passes. The events of yesterday are buried, finished; today new ones will come. If they were going to stay with you, all of them not passing, no one could bear this life's heavy burdens. But that has passed away. This is our Lord's will.
"In our division there was an Armenian sergeant. (Sheikh Nazim adds parenthetically, "They (Armenians] lived as neighbours in Muslim towns and villages.")
I asked one of the soldiers, while I was looking on, "What is your name?' "My name is 'Ali.” "Yes.You are Muslim?” "Alhamdulillah, I am Muslim.' "' But if you say that you are Muslim, I can also say that I am Muslim; what I believe is enough to say that I am Muslim. I also believe in one God Almighty and in the angels and the holy books. and the prophets and the Last Day and Qadar, the Divine Decree,” that Armenian sergeant said. "I say what you say. But... is that enough to be a Muslim?! No. Then what is the sign? If it is only saying as you say, I do that, and if you are talking about namaz, prayers, I do then, also." Then Grandsheikh said, "Look, you are asking for a
sign. I am saying to you that it is not enough only to say with your tongue, 'I am a believer, I am a Muslim.' You may even recite the Holy Qu'ran. But the sign of a Muslim and a real believer is that he has a light from his Lord Almighty. When he looks down, he can see up to the end of this world; when he looks up he can see to the end of the universe. If he looks at the East, he can see up to the end of the farthest East; if he looks at the West, he sees up to the end of the Western regions. If he looks toward qiblah11, he sees the K'abah12." Then that sergeant fell upon the hands of Grandsheikh and kissed them.
Grandsheikh was saying that the real sign of belief is that a person has the light of faith in his heart, which comes from Allah Almighty. Nothing can keep back that light. Understand? What can keep back nur-Ullah, Allah Almighty's light? Distance never prevents that person from seeing; darkness never hides anything in it. Therefore, when real faith comes into our hearts, they are going to be lighted. Everything in the universe is going to be in front of us; nothing may be hidden from us. That is the degree of real faith.
Therefore we are always asking for some lights so that we may firmly keep our services in front of our Lord Almighty. The value of a person is according to the lights in his heart, and when lights come into your heart, they make it wider, wider than the whole universe. You can find your Lord in your heart; universes cannot contain their Lord but the hearts of believers may contain their Lord Almighty.
We must know ourselves, because we do not know what we are and what is the true value of ourselves. In the palace of the Ottoman emperors there is a diamond; perhaps it is the most famous diamond in the world, the biggest one. There is a tale about how that biggest, most famous diamond came into the palace.
One day a person in Istanbul prayed Fajr, the dawn prayer, in the mosque and returned. He glanced at a rubbish heap and saw there something like a stone, a strange thing. He took it out from amongst the rubbish, looking at it from all sides. Then, as he was passing through a market, among shops, he saw a person who made wooden spoons and showed him the stone. "What is this? Would you take it, would you buy it?"
11 Literally, "orientation." In common usage, qiblah is the orientation toward Mecca, which Muslims face during their worship because it is the site of the Holy K’abah
12 the first house of worship of God on earth, built according to divine camand by the Prophet Abraham and his son, the Prophet Ishmael.
The spoonmaker looked at it. "Hey, I may give you a spoon for it," he said. "Take this spoon and give it to me."
The man was very pleased with a spoon, a big spoon, a nice spoon, and useful, because dervish people used to keep a dagger at one side and a spoon on the other. When they were called to eat they used it.
What was that stone? Allah knows, but he, that person, did not know. He took the man's spoon and went away. Then that spoonmaker looked at the stone. What if I were to take it to a jeweler or a goldsmith? he thought. And he took it to one of them and said, "See what this is. How much is it worth?".
The jeweler took it. He understood what it was and said, "I don't mind if it costs me a bagful of silver."
That was as much as the value of the spoonmaker's whole shop; all his spoons would not bring one bag of silver. He was also so pleased and happy, and went away.
Then the jeweler was the master of this jewel. He worked on it, cutting it like rays of the sun, and kept it for the grand-wazir, the prime minister of the Ottoman Empire. He sent to him, saying, "I have such a jewel. It is suitable for the grand-wazir." And the grand-wazir paid a large amount of gold, thousands of pieces, for it. Then he presented it to the sultan; it went up to the sultan himself.
I mean to say that all things are well-known by a knowledgeable person; otherwise, they are all going to be the same as stones. The value of human beings is well-known, completely-known, by Allah Almighty, who created them and gave them th
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