Mercy Oceans, Book 10 (239 pages, 7/21)
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d, no-legged mosquito ran after him and got inside, going from there to his brain and eating it. No one can escape. Yes, Allah Almighty makes people to be afraid.
Therefore we are asking forgiveness from our Lord because we are doing too much harm, and it is no good. We are believers. We must think goodness, we must have good intentions. That makes our Lord pleased with us.
CONCERNING ENVY
Give happiness to people and you will be happy. If anyone wants to be happy by himself only, he can't; he will never be happy. But if he is going to share happiness with all, he will be happy.
This is the cause of our trouble and suffering: everyone wants everything only for himself, not for others. If power, he wants it only for himself; if wealth, he wants it only for himself; if knowledge, he wants it only for himself; if beauty, he wants it only for himself; if intelligence, he wants it only for himself, not for any other person. Therefore there are so many troubles for envious people. That is the worst thing for the Sons of Adam, to be envious.
One day Moses, p.b.u.h., was going to Mount Sinai to speak with his Lord, Allah Almighty. A person, a very poor person, said to him, "O Moses, when you go to your Lord and speak with Him, please ask for something for me. I have nothing. Let Him give me something."
Moses said, "Yes, I will." Then he went, and he said, "O my Lord, my neighbour, a very poor person, is asking You to give him something. Anything You give wil be enough for him.”
And God almighty said to Moses, “I accept to give him everything, but tell him that when he asks anything for himself, he should ask for his nextdoor neighbour also. If asking for something, he must say to me, ‘O my Lord, I am asking for an ox for myself and an ox for my next-door neighbour.' Then I will give, so much. This is what I am asking from that person, My servant."
Moses, p.b.u.h., went back, and the man was waiting. "What news, o Moses? What does your Lord say about me?".
after exalting himself like a God, when Allah Almighty permitted a lame mosquito to get inside his head and sting him to death
And Moses said, "Your Lord says, 'When you ask something from your Lord, you must ask for your next-door neighbour as you ask for yourself.'".
Then that person was so angry. "If He is not going to give to me without giving to my next-door neighbour, I will not ask for myself, also! I am not in need."
Look! This gives so much awakening to people. Envious people, the worst people they are. He did not agree that there should be anything good for his next-door neighbour; if he had the same thing, he would not accept it.
Therefore, our ego, our nafs, is asking everything only for itself, not for anyone else, asking happiness also for itself, not for anyone else; and if anyone does not ask for others, God Almighty does not give. You must ask. Therefore we are asking for ourselves and for everyone else, for the whole ummah.
Insha-Allah you will be a father some time. You may have ten children, or twelve or fifteen. Very good. As a father, would you agree that everything should be for you when you sit down to eat - everything for you, and not to give anything to your children?
No, you would make a division. First you would give to your twelve sons and twenty daughters; then, even if nothing remains for you, you would be pleased, also. You are going to envy your sons? Is anyone going to be envious of his or her children? Never!
Therefore, all the prophets looked upon their nations as their sons, their children. "The Children of Israel," they are saying - yes? Israel was Yaqub, p.b.u.h., Jacob. Jacob looked upon all of them as his children, not envying them. But Joseph's brothers became envious; among the twelve children of Israel, envy made them enemies. Look! - even between brothers, between brothers and sisters, envy destroys them. What came upon them and upon their father and upon their brother, so many sufferings - what was the reason? The reason was envy.
If a person is clean from envy he is at the top level of humanity. His claiming humanity will never be correct until he leaves envy finally, completely; if no envy, he has perfect human nature. If anyone feels envy within himself, he must try to leave that bad characteristic; he must try, he must train himself.
How can we be successful? As we said now, if a person is a father, he has no envy for his children, but brothers become envious of each other.
Therefore, don't be like brothers to each other; rather you must be like a father to his children. That is makarim akhlaq, the best good character.
And Allah your Lord looks at your heart. If finding envy, He says, "Go away Dirty person - don't come to Me! Be clean and come. Do I not give you what you ask?”
"Ask from Me," He says. "I will give to you. If I give to another person, does it finish what is with Me? My treasures are never-ending. Ask; I shall give you! Why are you envious of My servants?"
And now everyone has envy. Therefore, troubles, sufferings, fighting, wars, battles - evil, the kingdom of devils, from East to West, from North to South, Darkness is coming on the earth, such darkness that when it is complete, it will be like the darkness of the time when the Children of Israel worshipped the golden calf after Moses, p.b.u.h., went to meet his Lord on Mount Sinai.
You know? Before Moses returned - because he stayed on Mount Sinai for forty days - they made a golden calf. Then their Lord was angry with them and ordered them to kill themselves. All those who had never worshipped the golden calf were to kill the others; but those who were to be killed were their relatives - maybe their sons, maybe their fathers, maybe their brothers, maybe their mothers. Therefore, when Allah Almighty ordered that killing, a dark cloud came down; the whole of that area was like nighttime. No one knew who was killing or who was killed; both sides did not know. That darkness came down and they were killing, up to sunset. Then Moses and Aaron tried to save them, saying, "O our Lord, the Children of Israel are going to be finished. Forgiveness! - Your mercy, Your mercy!" And that dark cloud went away.
That was the time when 70,000 of the Children of Israel who worshipped the golden calf were killed, finished. Now I am fearing a darkness coming on earth, covering from East to West. You are asking about a third world war: that war is coming now. That dark cloud is coming down, covering the whole world so that people do not know what they are doing. They are going to kill each other. That is the Third World War; it is written in holy books.
Of envious people, no one can stay; they will kill each other, envious people. Only those people who do not keep envy in their hearts will be in safety, and the others will go. Therefore Allah Almighty says, "O My servant, ask from Me; I will give to you. As I gave to that one, ask from Me and I will give to you, also. Why are you envious of him? Ask from Me! But envious people say, "Neither for me nor for him!"
That is the worst thing; that is the suffering of the Sons of Adam in our time. Therefore, in the Holy Bible (Injil), the Holy Torah, the Holy Qur'an, Holy Psalms, in every holy book, Allah Almighty, the Lord of the Sons of Adam,
says to His servants, "No envy, no envy! But ask everything from Me. I will give to you."
KEEPING TO OUR LORD
The Last Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h., came and gave us the last message from his Lord Almighty, and after him no one else is coming to be a prophet; prophethood is now complete. And then Allah Almighty has also completed our religion, which is going to be for every one of the Sons of Adam. Even if time goes on, if the Day of Resurrection is far away, not coming quickly, even if it comes after 100,000 years, it doesn't matter; if the Day of Resurrection comes after millions or billions of years, no need for a new prophet. The Last Prophet, the Seal of the Prophets, beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., is the perfect one; from the beginning up to the end, even from pre-eternity up to post-eternity, he is the most perfect one among all the prophets and among all creatures.
Then, the Last Prophet is addressing every one of the Sons of Adam, and at every time he is showing what is the safe way to reach the right path, to reach peace, to reach satisfaction, to reach our Lord's pleasure.
He spoke thousands, perhaps millions, of hadiths, and all the hadiths of our Prophet have come to our time through the reports of trustworthy people. He is such a prophet that no other person's life is as clear as his life; it is even impossible for the life of any other individual from among mankind to be as clear as our Prophet's life.
He was given his name, and his greatness, also, as a good tidings for all nations, beginning with Adam up to the end. Therefore, if all the prophets, all 124,000, could have been present during his time, they would have come under the flag of Muhammad, p.b.u.h.; no other flag for them. And on the Day of Resurrection all people will run after his flag. We can be sufficiently proud to be of his nation; if anyone wants to be proud, he can be proud through saying, "I am from the nation of the Last Prophet, beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h."
The Prophet's traditions57 have come from his time up to today. The first thing that the Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h., called people to do
57 In the compilation of Hadith after the Prophet's death, not only was the most extreme care taken to verify the exact words which were attributed to him, but also
was to proclaim the truth, the eternal truth - to say, "La ilaha illa-Llah." That is the eternal truth forever, and the whole of mankind has been ordered by its Lord to proclaim that there is no deity except God Almighty.
That is the truth. Then, the one who proclaims that truth must be a true person; if he is not true, he can't proclaim that truth. Truth begins by saying "La ilaha illa-Llah" - there is no deity but God, but Allah Almighty. That shows that Muhammad's ummah is a true one because a person with no iman, no faith, will lie. Iman is always going to be with the truth; if we are true, that is iman. And we are proclaiming that eternal truth.
Therefore the Prophet, p.b.u.h., taught his Companions to be true ones, and everything that they heard and listened to and kept in their hearts has come to our day as traditions. And Allah Almighty is the builder of Islam on the strongest base; nothing can shake it, that structure sheltering all nations. If they are asking for a shelter here and Hereafter, they must come under the shelter of Islam, the structure which Allah Almighty has built for us. The ones who run away, no one, no power, can shelter then.
O people, o believers, we are approaching the Last day, the Day of Resurrection, Judgment Day; it is approaching for us. Don't say, "There are so many thousands of years still," not paying attention to these words. You must know that at any time you may be invited to the Divine Presence. He may send His messenger to you, saying, "Give back your amanah, your trust, the One who gave it to you is asking you to return His amanah" - yes, at any time. Don't say, "That is only for old people. We are young people, we are happy now." No; at any time. In our day, death comes to young people more than to old people.
Therefore we must take care for the Last Day. And before the Last Day, there are the days of suffering, the days when the signs of Qiyamah, the Last Day, appear - and we are living in those times.
O believers, we are in need, we are most in need now, to take a shelter. I read that people are making underground cities to build shelters from the evil that will come on them from the skies. Allah Almighty mentions, "Yufuna bi- nadhri wa yakhafuna yauman kana sharruhu mustatira58," indicating that what will come upon them from the sky will be sharr, evil, bombs of death, raining on them. Allah Almighty is showing and informing us.
the character and trustworthiness of the persons through whom they were traced back to God's Messenger, p.b.u.h. That is, his doings (Sunnah) and sayings (Hadith)
58 They (the righteous) fulfill their vows and fear a day, the evil of which is wide- spread (LXXVI:7)
We are in need of a shelter. But nothing in this world can be a shelter for those who do not take shelter with their Lord Almighty. It is enough for the one who believes in his Lord Almighty to take His shelter.
Allah Almighty ordered His beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., to say to his people, to his ummah, "Ihfadh-Illah, yafadhkum59,"' three words only, indicating to everyone, to believers, how they can take shelter with Allah Almighty. "Ihfadh-Illah" - o believers, keep to your Lord. When you keep to your Lord Almighty, Allah Almighty is going to keep you.
How can we keep to our Lord? You must keep to your Lord Almighty for everything, for every order that you know; you must keep the commands that He laid down, saying, "Don't transgress this." Keep to Him, and then He will keep you.
When a government puts traffic lights on the roads, you keep that. We must be at least as respectful to our Lord, Allah Almighty, as we are to those governments. How can we say we are respectful servants and obedient servants to Allah Almighty when we do not keep at least what He has forbidden?
Keep to Him in relation to every forbidden thing. When you keep that. divine protection will come upon you. If East and West send their bombs on you, you may be protected. The Prophet says, from Allah Almighty, "Keep to your Lord, through His commands. Then He is going to keep you."
KEEPING AWAY FROM HARĀM THINGS
Every religion just came to teach people how they may respect their Lord, and Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h., also came as the last prophet to teach all people how they may respect their Lord. And every teaching in Islam is for that purpose: to make people able to keep respect for their Lord.
Worshipping is easy, but to keep orders when Allah Almighty prohibits us from something - that is important. We may pray, we may fast, we may do Hajj, we may give our charities, but to keep ourselves away from harams, prohibited things, when we face them - that is difficult. This holy month of
59 Keep to your Lord. (Then) your Lord will keep you (Hadith)
Ramadan is going to teach us how we may be able to keep ourselves when harams face us or come at us.
You must know that even if you are able to worship your Lord Almighty with the power of 124,000 prophets, and if worshipping is put on one side of the scale on Judgment Day - if, out of respect for your Lord, you leave only one thing that is haram, that is more important than all worshipping. Who is able to worship as the prophets did? We can't do that. But you must think about this point.
Islam just came to make people obedient to their Lord, obedient servants, and you must try to be for Him only, not for anyone else. And the first of those who claim to be partner to our Lord Almighty is our ego, our nafs, which says, "O my friend, you must obey. Me only, not anyone else."
Our nafs is always asking to get into haram, to do haram things; it wants to do every action which is prohibited to you and it forces you. And you say, "As you like," not fighting it; you surrender. You are afraid of your ego, not afraid of Allah.
And Allah Almighty looks: "At what is My servant looking?" Do you know that He is with your looking, or not? You must know! Allah Almighty is with us every time, everywhere. Therefore, to turn your eyes even once away from prohibited things is more important than to bring to His Divine Presence the worshipping of all people.
The Prophet, p.b.u.h., says, "Tarku dharratin min maharim-Illah afdhalu 'ind- Allah min 'ibadatin thakalain60." The Prophet is not speaking on behalf of himself; he is speaking from Allah Almighty's wahy, revelation, heavenly speech. And he says that if a person leaves only a very, very small haram thing (you might say by looking at it that it is the smallest thing, because we say, "It doesn't matter; to leave that small thing doesn't matter") is more beloved, more acceptable, in the Divine Presence than the worshipping of all mankind and jinn, and add to that all the angels’ worshipping.
That is Islam, that is faith, that is iman. We must keep it; we must try. This holy month is going to teach us how we can stop ourselves in the face of harams. In this country you are doing mujahadah, fighting with your nafs. But
60 To leave (even) the smallest part of what Allah has prohibited is better in the sight of Allah than the worshipping of the two species (mankind and jinn). (Hadīth)
don't think that after Ramadan everything will be finished. We must take much power after Ramadan, and we must practise for that.
Now we are living in a time when Islam is only by name; "Islam" is written on our identity card or we keep Islam only by form. But we are in need to keep Islam in our hearts. Hearts are the sultan, the ruler, of our organs. When our heart, our sultan, is with our Lord Almighty, every organ must obey our heart; if you are going to be with your Lord, every part must keep its way, must be obedient to your heart. Therefore there must be an 'alam-ilahi, a divine flag, in our hearts, so that when Shaytan looks at it he runs away.
You must keep your heart, because it is only for your Lord Almighty. You must keep it for your Lord alone.
THE PROHIBITION OF KILLING EVEN THE SMALLEST CREATURES WITHOUT JUST CAUSE
That ant tries to escape from the hands of Khurshid because he may kill it, like this.
You must not kill; you have not come for killing. If you have power to make something alive, give life. Then, because you are going to be accountable on the Last Day for anything you have killed, even any little insect. if you say that I killed it because it was coming to harm me, the Shari'ah gives permission; but without a reason you can't kill, you can't kill.
RESPECTING THE PERSONALITIES OF OTHERS
Islam came to give people perfection, to prepare them for the Divine Presence. And Allah Almighty teaches through His prophets and through the Last Prophet, peace be upon them all, that the Sons of Adam are in need of acquiring good manners from prophets.
There are good manners and, in contrast to them, bad manners. For every bad manner that we take away, a good manner comes in its place. And by himself it is impossible for a person to acquire good manners because if he has been living in the hands of his ego, he can't acquire good manners. He must learn good manners from the prophets and from their inheritors, the awliya.
In Islam you cannot criticise personal features. You can't criticise someone for being a black one, a white one, a red one, a yellow one, a tall one, a small one, a fat one, a thin one; you can't criticise that. All the Sons of Adam,
in the sight of Islam, are respectable personalities; originally everyone has a respectable personality. Islam does not deal with people on the basis of their colours, their nationalities; all these distinctions are nothing in Islam. The Prophet, p.b.u.h., says, "La fadla li-'arabiyin 'ala 'ajamiyin illa bi-taqwa61" - you may not give more respect to a person for being an Arab or being a Turk or being English or being Pakistani or being Ceylonese. Then which thing gives us a high position in the sight of Allah Almighty?
He does not look at your eyes' colour, at your face's colour, but Allah Almighty looks at whether His servant has taqwa. Taqwa means to be more obedient and respectful to our Lord: that person acquires rank in the sight of Allah.
Therefore the things which give value and honour to the Sons of Adam in the Divine Presence are good manners and good character, akhlaq hamidah.
But then there are some other characteristics which make people go down, such as bad manners. The one who has bad manners loses his value in the Divine Presence, and then he loses his respect among people, also, his reputation coming down.
But we must be careful about one point; here, now, we must speak about that. Bad manners make people lose their honour, their respect, among people. Anyone may keep respect for a person, if he is not drunk; if he is drunk, he causes himself to go down - at the least, people laugh at him. Does anyone give respect to a drunk person? No; you give respect to those people who keep respect for their Lord, and the one who has good manners is going to be respected. Therefore, whoever leaves good manners and has bad manners, you are going to be unrespectful of that person.
But you must be careful: when you look at that person, you must put down those bad manners but you must be careful about his personality.
Personality is one thing, and bad manners are something else. The personalities of the Sons of Adam are originally respectable but only the bad maners they have make people running away from them. Like your clothes: if you are wearing clean clothes, you may be honoured and accepted among, but if you fall into a pit and come out dirty people will run away.
They are not running from that person but they are running from those dirty clothes that he is wearing. Or, we can say that people have sympathy for an ill person and look after him, and doctors particularly take so much care; for the worst illness they take even more caew, yes? We can have tolerance, everyone has tolerance, for ill people and pities them. But we haven't
61 There is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab except through taqwa (God- consciousness). (Hadith)
enough tolerance for bad-mannered people. We are quickly angry with them, fighting with them and intending to kill, to destroy them.
It is easy to kill, to destroy. But all the prophets came to cure people of their illnesses, not only the physical body's illnesses but our ego's illnesses. And they have wide hearts, from East to West and more than East and West, so that they can carry their nations.
The prophets are carrying their nations. Inasmuch as they are sinners, every sinner has bad manners; and yet the Seal of the Prophets, p.b.u.h., said, "Ummati, ummati" - O my Lord, I am asking only for my nation, my ummah. And he said, "Shafa'ati li-ahli-l-kabairi minummati62". - I am making intercession for my ummah, particularly for those who are great sinners. How much compassion he had in his heart for his nation, knowing that they are ill people and taking care of them, not saying, "May Allah put them in Hell; let them be in Hell forever!" Rather, he said, "I will enter Hell and take people out." And Allah Almighty has given him permission: "Go and take out as many as you can. I will give you as much as you are asking."
That intercession is for all the people who have that faith, who say that there is a God Almighty and that Muhammad is His prophet and who accept all the prophets. Some of them declare their faith, but some are not permitted to say it during their lives, up to its end. And even if, at the end of their lives, their tongues do not speak but their hearts go to the side of faith, it must be so, and Allah looks and forgives them, His mercy coming upon them, also.
Don't be worried. Our Lord is merciful, most merciful, and He says, "I do not keep My mercy for Myself; I am not in need of My Mercy Oceans. O My servants, it is for you!" And you must look at the Prophet's attribute of mercy, coming from his Lord's attribute.
Every prophet has that attribute. The Christians say that Jesus Christ, out of his compassion for people, sacrificed himself. We believe a different way; we do not believe as they believe. Allah Almighty could sacrifice someone else for the nation of Jesus Christ or for His servants; no need to make His beloved prophet to be accursed. We do not accept that, nor making him say, "How can you leave me, my Lord?"63
No, we do not accept. But Christians know that prophets have compassion for all people. The prophets and their inheritors, awliya, carry in their hearts tolerance and compassion for all people, and they look at those people as if they are ill. But it is not an illness that we know: they are ill from their egos.
62 "My intercession is for the great sinners fran among my ummah." (Hadith)
63 Referring to Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34
And, as believers, we must behave to all people with good manners as much as we can, and we must have tolerance for bad-mannered people and must look upon them as ill people. Don't be angry! But we do become angry, and that is also from our bad manners. We must be tolerant people, with every sinner, with every bad-mannered person, because originally they are respectable personalities in the Divine Presence. Therefore we must be patient with them. If your son or daughter is ill, you are patient with him or with her; you do not throw them out, no.
Therefore, the more a person improves in his spiritual life, the more you can find tolerance with him. And the more he is at the first level, which is equal to the zoo, the animal level, the more he is an angry, difficult person, while we see that good-mannered people are easy with everyone. That is an important point to make to everyone.
As much as they may be tolerant, that is the highest degree for the Sons of Adam. The one who is in a narrow place64 is not able to accept anything because his heart is narrowed, and you can't find iman or faith in a narrow place, because if faith goes through a heart, it makes it wider.
We have been ordered to acquire our Lord's attributes. Look at our Lord, Allah Almighty, God Almighty! We can't look at everyone's actions but Allah Almighty looks and sees everyone's every action. And He is sabur, patient, and gives everything, also, even to the worst person. Allah's attributes are not like our attributes; He does not get angry. He says that He is going to be angry but it is not like our anger, no; His mercy surpasses His anger.
If our Lord's mercy did not surpass His anger, no one could be alive; quickly one lightning bolt would come and take everything away. But Allah Almighty's mercy is endless mercy and His tolerance is endless tolerance. Look at our Lord's favours, how we live, while in this country, every day and every night; millions of people are doing haram, prohibited, things. For one of those haram things Allah's Throne shakes, yet look at our Lord's mercy, coming down! But we look at someone's bad manners and we are on fire with anger.
We must be patient. If you are angry, you must be angry with yourself, with why you are looking at peoples' bad manners. But if we do look at someone's bad manners, we must put the bad manners aside and we must hold his personality in respect: that personality is respectable. Therefore, a person may be an unbeliever but still his personality is respectable because he is our Lord's, a work of Allah's; Allah Almighty created him. Therefore we must be respectful of his personality and we may put his bad manners aside.
64 contracted within himself
If we are going to do anything for curing, we must do it on those bad manners; but we must keep respect for him, as a physician keeps respect for a sick person but cures his illness.
BEARING WITH PEOPLE
What is past is dead and
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d, no-legged mosquito ran after him and got inside, going from there to his brain and eating it. No one can escape. Yes, Allah Almighty makes people to be afraid.
Therefore we are asking forgiveness from our Lord because we are doing too much harm, and it is no good. We are believers. We must think goodness, we must have good intentions. That makes our Lord pleased with us.
CONCERNING ENVY
Give happiness to people and you will be happy. If anyone wants to be happy by himself only, he can't; he will never be happy. But if he is going to share happiness with all, he will be happy.
This is the cause of our trouble and suffering: everyone wants everything only for himself, not for others. If power, he wants it only for himself; if wealth, he wants it only for himself; if knowledge, he wants it only for himself; if beauty, he wants it only for himself; if intelligence, he wants it only for himself, not for any other person. Therefore there are so many troubles for envious people. That is the worst thing for the Sons of Adam, to be envious.
One day Moses, p.b.u.h., was going to Mount Sinai to speak with his Lord, Allah Almighty. A person, a very poor person, said to him, "O Moses, when you go to your Lord and speak with Him, please ask for something for me. I have nothing. Let Him give me something."
Moses said, "Yes, I will." Then he went, and he said, "O my Lord, my neighbour, a very poor person, is asking You to give him something. Anything You give wil be enough for him.”
And God almighty said to Moses, “I accept to give him everything, but tell him that when he asks anything for himself, he should ask for his nextdoor neighbour also. If asking for something, he must say to me, ‘O my Lord, I am asking for an ox for myself and an ox for my next-door neighbour.' Then I will give, so much. This is what I am asking from that person, My servant."
Moses, p.b.u.h., went back, and the man was waiting. "What news, o Moses? What does your Lord say about me?".
after exalting himself like a God, when Allah Almighty permitted a lame mosquito to get inside his head and sting him to death
And Moses said, "Your Lord says, 'When you ask something from your Lord, you must ask for your next-door neighbour as you ask for yourself.'".
Then that person was so angry. "If He is not going to give to me without giving to my next-door neighbour, I will not ask for myself, also! I am not in need."
Look! This gives so much awakening to people. Envious people, the worst people they are. He did not agree that there should be anything good for his next-door neighbour; if he had the same thing, he would not accept it.
Therefore, our ego, our nafs, is asking everything only for itself, not for anyone else, asking happiness also for itself, not for anyone else; and if anyone does not ask for others, God Almighty does not give. You must ask. Therefore we are asking for ourselves and for everyone else, for the whole ummah.
Insha-Allah you will be a father some time. You may have ten children, or twelve or fifteen. Very good. As a father, would you agree that everything should be for you when you sit down to eat - everything for you, and not to give anything to your children?
No, you would make a division. First you would give to your twelve sons and twenty daughters; then, even if nothing remains for you, you would be pleased, also. You are going to envy your sons? Is anyone going to be envious of his or her children? Never!
Therefore, all the prophets looked upon their nations as their sons, their children. "The Children of Israel," they are saying - yes? Israel was Yaqub, p.b.u.h., Jacob. Jacob looked upon all of them as his children, not envying them. But Joseph's brothers became envious; among the twelve children of Israel, envy made them enemies. Look! - even between brothers, between brothers and sisters, envy destroys them. What came upon them and upon their father and upon their brother, so many sufferings - what was the reason? The reason was envy.
If a person is clean from envy he is at the top level of humanity. His claiming humanity will never be correct until he leaves envy finally, completely; if no envy, he has perfect human nature. If anyone feels envy within himself, he must try to leave that bad characteristic; he must try, he must train himself.
How can we be successful? As we said now, if a person is a father, he has no envy for his children, but brothers become envious of each other.
Therefore, don't be like brothers to each other; rather you must be like a father to his children. That is makarim akhlaq, the best good character.
And Allah your Lord looks at your heart. If finding envy, He says, "Go away Dirty person - don't come to Me! Be clean and come. Do I not give you what you ask?”
"Ask from Me," He says. "I will give to you. If I give to another person, does it finish what is with Me? My treasures are never-ending. Ask; I shall give you! Why are you envious of My servants?"
And now everyone has envy. Therefore, troubles, sufferings, fighting, wars, battles - evil, the kingdom of devils, from East to West, from North to South, Darkness is coming on the earth, such darkness that when it is complete, it will be like the darkness of the time when the Children of Israel worshipped the golden calf after Moses, p.b.u.h., went to meet his Lord on Mount Sinai.
You know? Before Moses returned - because he stayed on Mount Sinai for forty days - they made a golden calf. Then their Lord was angry with them and ordered them to kill themselves. All those who had never worshipped the golden calf were to kill the others; but those who were to be killed were their relatives - maybe their sons, maybe their fathers, maybe their brothers, maybe their mothers. Therefore, when Allah Almighty ordered that killing, a dark cloud came down; the whole of that area was like nighttime. No one knew who was killing or who was killed; both sides did not know. That darkness came down and they were killing, up to sunset. Then Moses and Aaron tried to save them, saying, "O our Lord, the Children of Israel are going to be finished. Forgiveness! - Your mercy, Your mercy!" And that dark cloud went away.
That was the time when 70,000 of the Children of Israel who worshipped the golden calf were killed, finished. Now I am fearing a darkness coming on earth, covering from East to West. You are asking about a third world war: that war is coming now. That dark cloud is coming down, covering the whole world so that people do not know what they are doing. They are going to kill each other. That is the Third World War; it is written in holy books.
Of envious people, no one can stay; they will kill each other, envious people. Only those people who do not keep envy in their hearts will be in safety, and the others will go. Therefore Allah Almighty says, "O My servant, ask from Me; I will give to you. As I gave to that one, ask from Me and I will give to you, also. Why are you envious of him? Ask from Me! But envious people say, "Neither for me nor for him!"
That is the worst thing; that is the suffering of the Sons of Adam in our time. Therefore, in the Holy Bible (Injil), the Holy Torah, the Holy Qur'an, Holy Psalms, in every holy book, Allah Almighty, the Lord of the Sons of Adam,
says to His servants, "No envy, no envy! But ask everything from Me. I will give to you."
KEEPING TO OUR LORD
The Last Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h., came and gave us the last message from his Lord Almighty, and after him no one else is coming to be a prophet; prophethood is now complete. And then Allah Almighty has also completed our religion, which is going to be for every one of the Sons of Adam. Even if time goes on, if the Day of Resurrection is far away, not coming quickly, even if it comes after 100,000 years, it doesn't matter; if the Day of Resurrection comes after millions or billions of years, no need for a new prophet. The Last Prophet, the Seal of the Prophets, beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., is the perfect one; from the beginning up to the end, even from pre-eternity up to post-eternity, he is the most perfect one among all the prophets and among all creatures.
Then, the Last Prophet is addressing every one of the Sons of Adam, and at every time he is showing what is the safe way to reach the right path, to reach peace, to reach satisfaction, to reach our Lord's pleasure.
He spoke thousands, perhaps millions, of hadiths, and all the hadiths of our Prophet have come to our time through the reports of trustworthy people. He is such a prophet that no other person's life is as clear as his life; it is even impossible for the life of any other individual from among mankind to be as clear as our Prophet's life.
He was given his name, and his greatness, also, as a good tidings for all nations, beginning with Adam up to the end. Therefore, if all the prophets, all 124,000, could have been present during his time, they would have come under the flag of Muhammad, p.b.u.h.; no other flag for them. And on the Day of Resurrection all people will run after his flag. We can be sufficiently proud to be of his nation; if anyone wants to be proud, he can be proud through saying, "I am from the nation of the Last Prophet, beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h."
The Prophet's traditions57 have come from his time up to today. The first thing that the Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h., called people to do
57 In the compilation of Hadith after the Prophet's death, not only was the most extreme care taken to verify the exact words which were attributed to him, but also
was to proclaim the truth, the eternal truth - to say, "La ilaha illa-Llah." That is the eternal truth forever, and the whole of mankind has been ordered by its Lord to proclaim that there is no deity except God Almighty.
That is the truth. Then, the one who proclaims that truth must be a true person; if he is not true, he can't proclaim that truth. Truth begins by saying "La ilaha illa-Llah" - there is no deity but God, but Allah Almighty. That shows that Muhammad's ummah is a true one because a person with no iman, no faith, will lie. Iman is always going to be with the truth; if we are true, that is iman. And we are proclaiming that eternal truth.
Therefore the Prophet, p.b.u.h., taught his Companions to be true ones, and everything that they heard and listened to and kept in their hearts has come to our day as traditions. And Allah Almighty is the builder of Islam on the strongest base; nothing can shake it, that structure sheltering all nations. If they are asking for a shelter here and Hereafter, they must come under the shelter of Islam, the structure which Allah Almighty has built for us. The ones who run away, no one, no power, can shelter then.
O people, o believers, we are approaching the Last day, the Day of Resurrection, Judgment Day; it is approaching for us. Don't say, "There are so many thousands of years still," not paying attention to these words. You must know that at any time you may be invited to the Divine Presence. He may send His messenger to you, saying, "Give back your amanah, your trust, the One who gave it to you is asking you to return His amanah" - yes, at any time. Don't say, "That is only for old people. We are young people, we are happy now." No; at any time. In our day, death comes to young people more than to old people.
Therefore we must take care for the Last Day. And before the Last Day, there are the days of suffering, the days when the signs of Qiyamah, the Last Day, appear - and we are living in those times.
O believers, we are in need, we are most in need now, to take a shelter. I read that people are making underground cities to build shelters from the evil that will come on them from the skies. Allah Almighty mentions, "Yufuna bi- nadhri wa yakhafuna yauman kana sharruhu mustatira58," indicating that what will come upon them from the sky will be sharr, evil, bombs of death, raining on them. Allah Almighty is showing and informing us.
the character and trustworthiness of the persons through whom they were traced back to God's Messenger, p.b.u.h. That is, his doings (Sunnah) and sayings (Hadith)
58 They (the righteous) fulfill their vows and fear a day, the evil of which is wide- spread (LXXVI:7)
We are in need of a shelter. But nothing in this world can be a shelter for those who do not take shelter with their Lord Almighty. It is enough for the one who believes in his Lord Almighty to take His shelter.
Allah Almighty ordered His beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., to say to his people, to his ummah, "Ihfadh-Illah, yafadhkum59,"' three words only, indicating to everyone, to believers, how they can take shelter with Allah Almighty. "Ihfadh-Illah" - o believers, keep to your Lord. When you keep to your Lord Almighty, Allah Almighty is going to keep you.
How can we keep to our Lord? You must keep to your Lord Almighty for everything, for every order that you know; you must keep the commands that He laid down, saying, "Don't transgress this." Keep to Him, and then He will keep you.
When a government puts traffic lights on the roads, you keep that. We must be at least as respectful to our Lord, Allah Almighty, as we are to those governments. How can we say we are respectful servants and obedient servants to Allah Almighty when we do not keep at least what He has forbidden?
Keep to Him in relation to every forbidden thing. When you keep that. divine protection will come upon you. If East and West send their bombs on you, you may be protected. The Prophet says, from Allah Almighty, "Keep to your Lord, through His commands. Then He is going to keep you."
KEEPING AWAY FROM HARĀM THINGS
Every religion just came to teach people how they may respect their Lord, and Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h., also came as the last prophet to teach all people how they may respect their Lord. And every teaching in Islam is for that purpose: to make people able to keep respect for their Lord.
Worshipping is easy, but to keep orders when Allah Almighty prohibits us from something - that is important. We may pray, we may fast, we may do Hajj, we may give our charities, but to keep ourselves away from harams, prohibited things, when we face them - that is difficult. This holy month of
59 Keep to your Lord. (Then) your Lord will keep you (Hadith)
Ramadan is going to teach us how we may be able to keep ourselves when harams face us or come at us.
You must know that even if you are able to worship your Lord Almighty with the power of 124,000 prophets, and if worshipping is put on one side of the scale on Judgment Day - if, out of respect for your Lord, you leave only one thing that is haram, that is more important than all worshipping. Who is able to worship as the prophets did? We can't do that. But you must think about this point.
Islam just came to make people obedient to their Lord, obedient servants, and you must try to be for Him only, not for anyone else. And the first of those who claim to be partner to our Lord Almighty is our ego, our nafs, which says, "O my friend, you must obey. Me only, not anyone else."
Our nafs is always asking to get into haram, to do haram things; it wants to do every action which is prohibited to you and it forces you. And you say, "As you like," not fighting it; you surrender. You are afraid of your ego, not afraid of Allah.
And Allah Almighty looks: "At what is My servant looking?" Do you know that He is with your looking, or not? You must know! Allah Almighty is with us every time, everywhere. Therefore, to turn your eyes even once away from prohibited things is more important than to bring to His Divine Presence the worshipping of all people.
The Prophet, p.b.u.h., says, "Tarku dharratin min maharim-Illah afdhalu 'ind- Allah min 'ibadatin thakalain60." The Prophet is not speaking on behalf of himself; he is speaking from Allah Almighty's wahy, revelation, heavenly speech. And he says that if a person leaves only a very, very small haram thing (you might say by looking at it that it is the smallest thing, because we say, "It doesn't matter; to leave that small thing doesn't matter") is more beloved, more acceptable, in the Divine Presence than the worshipping of all mankind and jinn, and add to that all the angels’ worshipping.
That is Islam, that is faith, that is iman. We must keep it; we must try. This holy month is going to teach us how we can stop ourselves in the face of harams. In this country you are doing mujahadah, fighting with your nafs. But
60 To leave (even) the smallest part of what Allah has prohibited is better in the sight of Allah than the worshipping of the two species (mankind and jinn). (Hadīth)
don't think that after Ramadan everything will be finished. We must take much power after Ramadan, and we must practise for that.
Now we are living in a time when Islam is only by name; "Islam" is written on our identity card or we keep Islam only by form. But we are in need to keep Islam in our hearts. Hearts are the sultan, the ruler, of our organs. When our heart, our sultan, is with our Lord Almighty, every organ must obey our heart; if you are going to be with your Lord, every part must keep its way, must be obedient to your heart. Therefore there must be an 'alam-ilahi, a divine flag, in our hearts, so that when Shaytan looks at it he runs away.
You must keep your heart, because it is only for your Lord Almighty. You must keep it for your Lord alone.
THE PROHIBITION OF KILLING EVEN THE SMALLEST CREATURES WITHOUT JUST CAUSE
That ant tries to escape from the hands of Khurshid because he may kill it, like this.
You must not kill; you have not come for killing. If you have power to make something alive, give life. Then, because you are going to be accountable on the Last Day for anything you have killed, even any little insect. if you say that I killed it because it was coming to harm me, the Shari'ah gives permission; but without a reason you can't kill, you can't kill.
RESPECTING THE PERSONALITIES OF OTHERS
Islam came to give people perfection, to prepare them for the Divine Presence. And Allah Almighty teaches through His prophets and through the Last Prophet, peace be upon them all, that the Sons of Adam are in need of acquiring good manners from prophets.
There are good manners and, in contrast to them, bad manners. For every bad manner that we take away, a good manner comes in its place. And by himself it is impossible for a person to acquire good manners because if he has been living in the hands of his ego, he can't acquire good manners. He must learn good manners from the prophets and from their inheritors, the awliya.
In Islam you cannot criticise personal features. You can't criticise someone for being a black one, a white one, a red one, a yellow one, a tall one, a small one, a fat one, a thin one; you can't criticise that. All the Sons of Adam,
in the sight of Islam, are respectable personalities; originally everyone has a respectable personality. Islam does not deal with people on the basis of their colours, their nationalities; all these distinctions are nothing in Islam. The Prophet, p.b.u.h., says, "La fadla li-'arabiyin 'ala 'ajamiyin illa bi-taqwa61" - you may not give more respect to a person for being an Arab or being a Turk or being English or being Pakistani or being Ceylonese. Then which thing gives us a high position in the sight of Allah Almighty?
He does not look at your eyes' colour, at your face's colour, but Allah Almighty looks at whether His servant has taqwa. Taqwa means to be more obedient and respectful to our Lord: that person acquires rank in the sight of Allah.
Therefore the things which give value and honour to the Sons of Adam in the Divine Presence are good manners and good character, akhlaq hamidah.
But then there are some other characteristics which make people go down, such as bad manners. The one who has bad manners loses his value in the Divine Presence, and then he loses his respect among people, also, his reputation coming down.
But we must be careful about one point; here, now, we must speak about that. Bad manners make people lose their honour, their respect, among people. Anyone may keep respect for a person, if he is not drunk; if he is drunk, he causes himself to go down - at the least, people laugh at him. Does anyone give respect to a drunk person? No; you give respect to those people who keep respect for their Lord, and the one who has good manners is going to be respected. Therefore, whoever leaves good manners and has bad manners, you are going to be unrespectful of that person.
But you must be careful: when you look at that person, you must put down those bad manners but you must be careful about his personality.
Personality is one thing, and bad manners are something else. The personalities of the Sons of Adam are originally respectable but only the bad maners they have make people running away from them. Like your clothes: if you are wearing clean clothes, you may be honoured and accepted among, but if you fall into a pit and come out dirty people will run away.
They are not running from that person but they are running from those dirty clothes that he is wearing. Or, we can say that people have sympathy for an ill person and look after him, and doctors particularly take so much care; for the worst illness they take even more caew, yes? We can have tolerance, everyone has tolerance, for ill people and pities them. But we haven't
61 There is no superiority of an Arab over a non-Arab except through taqwa (God- consciousness). (Hadith)
enough tolerance for bad-mannered people. We are quickly angry with them, fighting with them and intending to kill, to destroy them.
It is easy to kill, to destroy. But all the prophets came to cure people of their illnesses, not only the physical body's illnesses but our ego's illnesses. And they have wide hearts, from East to West and more than East and West, so that they can carry their nations.
The prophets are carrying their nations. Inasmuch as they are sinners, every sinner has bad manners; and yet the Seal of the Prophets, p.b.u.h., said, "Ummati, ummati" - O my Lord, I am asking only for my nation, my ummah. And he said, "Shafa'ati li-ahli-l-kabairi minummati62". - I am making intercession for my ummah, particularly for those who are great sinners. How much compassion he had in his heart for his nation, knowing that they are ill people and taking care of them, not saying, "May Allah put them in Hell; let them be in Hell forever!" Rather, he said, "I will enter Hell and take people out." And Allah Almighty has given him permission: "Go and take out as many as you can. I will give you as much as you are asking."
That intercession is for all the people who have that faith, who say that there is a God Almighty and that Muhammad is His prophet and who accept all the prophets. Some of them declare their faith, but some are not permitted to say it during their lives, up to its end. And even if, at the end of their lives, their tongues do not speak but their hearts go to the side of faith, it must be so, and Allah looks and forgives them, His mercy coming upon them, also.
Don't be worried. Our Lord is merciful, most merciful, and He says, "I do not keep My mercy for Myself; I am not in need of My Mercy Oceans. O My servants, it is for you!" And you must look at the Prophet's attribute of mercy, coming from his Lord's attribute.
Every prophet has that attribute. The Christians say that Jesus Christ, out of his compassion for people, sacrificed himself. We believe a different way; we do not believe as they believe. Allah Almighty could sacrifice someone else for the nation of Jesus Christ or for His servants; no need to make His beloved prophet to be accursed. We do not accept that, nor making him say, "How can you leave me, my Lord?"63
No, we do not accept. But Christians know that prophets have compassion for all people. The prophets and their inheritors, awliya, carry in their hearts tolerance and compassion for all people, and they look at those people as if they are ill. But it is not an illness that we know: they are ill from their egos.
62 "My intercession is for the great sinners fran among my ummah." (Hadith)
63 Referring to Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34
And, as believers, we must behave to all people with good manners as much as we can, and we must have tolerance for bad-mannered people and must look upon them as ill people. Don't be angry! But we do become angry, and that is also from our bad manners. We must be tolerant people, with every sinner, with every bad-mannered person, because originally they are respectable personalities in the Divine Presence. Therefore we must be patient with them. If your son or daughter is ill, you are patient with him or with her; you do not throw them out, no.
Therefore, the more a person improves in his spiritual life, the more you can find tolerance with him. And the more he is at the first level, which is equal to the zoo, the animal level, the more he is an angry, difficult person, while we see that good-mannered people are easy with everyone. That is an important point to make to everyone.
As much as they may be tolerant, that is the highest degree for the Sons of Adam. The one who is in a narrow place64 is not able to accept anything because his heart is narrowed, and you can't find iman or faith in a narrow place, because if faith goes through a heart, it makes it wider.
We have been ordered to acquire our Lord's attributes. Look at our Lord, Allah Almighty, God Almighty! We can't look at everyone's actions but Allah Almighty looks and sees everyone's every action. And He is sabur, patient, and gives everything, also, even to the worst person. Allah's attributes are not like our attributes; He does not get angry. He says that He is going to be angry but it is not like our anger, no; His mercy surpasses His anger.
If our Lord's mercy did not surpass His anger, no one could be alive; quickly one lightning bolt would come and take everything away. But Allah Almighty's mercy is endless mercy and His tolerance is endless tolerance. Look at our Lord's favours, how we live, while in this country, every day and every night; millions of people are doing haram, prohibited, things. For one of those haram things Allah's Throne shakes, yet look at our Lord's mercy, coming down! But we look at someone's bad manners and we are on fire with anger.
We must be patient. If you are angry, you must be angry with yourself, with why you are looking at peoples' bad manners. But if we do look at someone's bad manners, we must put the bad manners aside and we must hold his personality in respect: that personality is respectable. Therefore, a person may be an unbeliever but still his personality is respectable because he is our Lord's, a work of Allah's; Allah Almighty created him. Therefore we must be respectful of his personality and we may put his bad manners aside.
64 contracted within himself
If we are going to do anything for curing, we must do it on those bad manners; but we must keep respect for him, as a physician keeps respect for a sick person but cures his illness.
BEARING WITH PEOPLE
What is past is dead and
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