Mercy Oceans, Book 10 (239 pages, 10/21)
https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6144
ask the Angel Israfil." When he asked Israfil, he said, "Let me ask Allah Almighty"; this is mentioned by Imam Sh'arani. And Allah Almighty answered, "Ikhlas sirru min asrari - that is a secret treasure from among My treasures, and I give it to those who ask and who are trustworthy for that treasure. If anyone asks for ikhlas, which is from among My secret treasures, I give it to him."
We must ask, because without ikhlas we are rubbish, going directly to the dustbin. Allah Almighty is asking only for ikhlas, and with ikhlas everything is going to be all right. Without ikhlas, everything that you send to your Lord's Divine Presence is like plastic bananas, plastic grapes, plastic oranges, Who gets any benefit from plastic fruits? Even if I fill this whole place with all kinds of oranges and bananas, but plastic, and leave a person inside, saying, "Eat these, and don't die," will that person live if he eats all that plastic fruit?
Therefore you must know: if we have ikhlas, that sincerity, no more quarreling. We will respect each other, because every divine attribute that Muhammad, p.b.u.h., was given can live in our hearts by means of ikhlas.
There is a pond here. If no water, no fishes live in it. Ikhlas is like an ocean. The Prophet, p.b.u.h., may give us every divine attribute that he was given, but he looks at our hearts, if there is ikhlas there. If no ikhlas, finished; he will never give, because it is going to die, to dry up. Every good characteristic, good attribute, good behaviour, good manners, lives with ikhlas. Without ikhlas, nothing.
We have lost it and we are in trouble. The Muslim world's peoples are fighting each other. In Islam it is not right for two people to quarrel; a mukhlis, sincere, person is never going to quarrel, to fight. He says, "If you are quarreling for this, O my brother, take it. You are more valuable than
this," because in the sight of Allah Almighty, the value of the whole world will never be more than one wing of a mosquito86."
How much will you give me if I fill up this whole place with wings of mosquitoes? How much will you pay? Nothing! A wing, one wing; each mosquito has four wings, but even one - the whole world's value is less than one wing of a mosquito! And you are going to quarrel for this low world, while the Shari'ah says that iman, faith, means to respect what Allah Almighty respects and to disrespect what Allah Almighty makes unrespectable.
Dunya, this world, is unrespectable in the sight of Allah, but still you are fighting, you are quarrelling, for this unrespectable thing! Where is iman?
Iman is with ikhlas, dwells with ikhlas. Iblis, Shaytan, prayed in the Seven Heavens, in each one for 40,000 years, and each year was like 40,000 of our years; you can calculate how much that is. But all his worshipping was without ikhlas.
Without ikhlas it was rubbish, "habaan manthura87." What does it mean? Rubbish; put it there, in the dustbin. Who was more of a worshipper than Shaytan was among the angels? No one. But it was all lost, disappeared. No ikhlas; if he had had ikhlas, he would have kept it. No ikhlas - gone away, habaan manthura.
Therefore, the most important thing for every Muslim is to look for ikhlas, and then everything is going to go in the right way and heavenly doors will open to him. When you leave this life and the angels take your soul toward Heaven, there come orders: "See if My servant has ikhlas or not. If he has ikhlas, open for him to come in. If no ikhlas, let him go down." And he falls down.
You must acquire ikhlas during this life. Ikhlas opens to you eternal Paradise's doors forever. On the Day of Resurrection you will be asked about ikhlas. It is qalbun salim, a pure, sound heart, full of ikhlas. A little ikhlas is more useful to you in bringing worshipping and prayers than the value of this entire dunya.
86 A paraphrase of a hadith which states that in the sight of Allah, the whole world and all that is in it is not worth as much as the wing of a mosquito.
87 Wind-scattered dust (XXV:23)
Try to do everything with ikhlas - to do everything for the sake of Allah Almighty, for the love of Allah Almighty, not for anything else. For You only, O my Lord; You gave me Your divine love and I am Your obedient servant. - Nothing fills his eyes except his Lord. That is ikhlas.
CONCERNING TRUSTWORTHINESS
All the prophets came to make people believe in their Lord, Allah Al mighty, and without believing in prophets, you can't believe in Allah.
You must believe in a person; then you can believe what he says. Therefore, it is something related to our hearts: no matter how much you may listen, if your heart does not say "Yes," there is no belief. Your heart must say, "That is true." When your heart says "Yes" to a person, if that person is amin, trustworthy, then your heart is opened to him and accepts what he says.
All prophets have some perfect attributes from their Lord Almighty. One of them is to be trustworthy. This means that those who believe in their prophet, his followers, must also be trustworthy. And when you are trust worthy, peoples' hearts are going to accept you, are going to be pleased with you, may trust you, may trust what you say, and then you may ofter your way to them.
The Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad al-Amin, p.b.u.h., lived among his tribe, among the Quraish. Allah Almighty was preparing to build Islam. He sent Muhammad, p.b.u.h., among an ignorant tribe and he lived among them up to the age of forty years. He was well-known as trustworthy. From the beginning up to the age of forty, when prophethood came to him, he was called Muhammad al-Amin, Trustworthy Muhammad, by his people, so that there was no doubt about his invitation, his saying, "Come to me. Come to Allah Almighty, come to your Lord."
Therefore, throughout his whole life he was trustworthy. And his Companions were given what he transmitted to them, and therefore, in our belief, all the Companions of the Prophet, 124,000 Sahabah, were trustworthy.
That is important to know. We know that every Companion of the Prophet (putting aside anything that happened among them; that is not for us to judge) was trustworthy. The Prophet himself was innocent, and the Companions, also, Allah put under protection from evil and from devils. All of them took that attribute from the Prophet, p.b.u.h.; all of them were trustworthy. As he said, "My Sahabah are like stars. Whichever of them you
may follow, you will have been guided on the right path." And we are Ahl as- Sunnah wal-Jama'ah88; we are followers of the Prophet, p.b.u.h., and we have also been ordered by Allah Almighty to be trustworthy people.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING HUMBLE
Up to this day, man is an unknown territory belonging to Allah Almighty, such an unknown area. Ten centuries ago, America was unknown, undiscovered. Man is still undiscovered. People write so many books; thousands or even millions of books have been written about man, but still man is an unknown being in the universe, particularly to himself. -
Who knows about man, about mankind? His Lord, His Creator, and He gives, He opens, that knowledge to His prophets. And the inheritors of the prophets, awliya, also know something about man, about the Sons of Adam.
Man has something of his Lord Almighty; he carries a light from his Lord's divine light. That is our soul. And when the Prophet, p.b.u.h., was asked about the soul, he replied only, "It is by the order of Allah; it is only by the command of your Lord," and gave no further description of it, because it is something like an ocean, and man brings only a little cup and says, "Put the ocean into this".
"Wa ma utitum mina-l-'ilmi illa qalila89." As much knowledge as we may have been given, it must always be within limits; as much as we may learn, there is more than what we have learned. Therefore, you can't put any limit on knowledge.
Abu Yazid al-Bistami, that grand-wali, said, "When you say, 'I know,' you stop. When you ask for more, you improve. Divine knowledge opens for those who ask for more, but the one who says, 'I know,' remains on the same level, never improving." Therefore, the one who recognises that he is always ignorant is given more, but the one who says, "I know, I am a scholar" - he has so many degrees from Oxford University - is finished and full-up; he stays there, with no improvement. Therefore, although your capacity is always going to be within limits, you must not deny the existence of that total knowledge, claiming that it is only I who know it. You must leave an opportunity for everyone's knowledge.
88 People of the (Prophet's) Sunnah (Practise) and Community; that is, Sunni Muslims
89 And you have not been given of knowledge except a little. (XVII:95)
Therefore, we are saying that man is still an unknown being to himself. Allah Almighty knows him because He is the Creator. I don't know this tape recorder. Who knows about it? The one who made it, he knows best.
Therefore the Creator is the one who knows man completely, and after Him, those who have been given knowledge by their Lord know, also.
During the Night Journey, when the Prophet, beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., ascended to the Seven Heavens in the Divine Presence, Allah Almighty gave him so much. And He declared to His Last Prophet, within view of all the prophets, "O Muhammad, if I were to give every one of My servants the chance or opportunity or authority which I gave to Pharoah, no one would hesitate to be a Pharoah. But I am keeping it back, I am not giving that chance to everyone."
This is the Creator's declaration to the Prophet during the Night of the Ascension; He says this. Therefore, when I say that every ego is proud, it is correct. Everyone's ego is as proud as it can be. If there is even one stripe here - oh, look at that! and he becomes a corporal; yes. If there are stars, so much pride; if an eagle, too much; if swords, even more than this; if a crown
- oh!!! Yes? We know about pride from ourselves. None or us can cheat the other.
Therefore humbleness is the most lovely characteristic of people. Everyone likes humble people and everyone dislikes proud people; even if we are proud ourselves, we never like others to be proud. Yes - we are proud on our level; if anyone above our level is proud, we are not satisfied with him, saying, "He is a proud person." You are also proud. Therefore the Prophet, p.b.u.h., said, "Ijlis kama yajlisa-l-'abd wa kul kama yakulu-l-‘abd - I sit as a slave sits and I eat as he eats, because I am also a slave to my Lord." And therefore Islam just fought against slavery, Islam came to make people free.
Now we may speak or the humbleness of Abu Yazid al-Bistami. He was one of the most humble people among the saints and he said. "I respected everyone. I never expected respect from anyone, but I obliged myself to give respect to everyone and I never asked anyone to give his respect to me - "Oh, I am a sheikh a grandsheikh, you must respect me. It never came to my heart to expect respect from one who was a young person. I am an old person, an old sheikh; you must respect me.' No. I respected him and did not expect, did not wait for anyone to respect me”.
He said this, teaching his disciples that you must respect an old person or one who is elder than you, and you must respect younger people, also. And people said, "We understand that you must give respect to older people, but what about young ones?".
"O my sons," he said, "you must respect elder people because you must consider that this old person began to obey and to worship my Lord so many years ago. He has had so many years more of worshipping my Lord than me; therefore I must keep respect for him. But what about young people?
Then you must say to your nafs (because it is objecting, "I understand about old people, but what about younger ones? I am an old person; why should I respect young people?!) - you must say to your proud ego, 'Because they are young and their books have no dirt written on them, black marks. But you
- so much! Therefore you must make much of children, you must respect them.
The loveliest characteristic to our Lord is to be humble, and all prophets' teachings were for that: to make our egos to be humble, to accept. Wa khuliqa-l-insanu dhaifa90" - it means that we are weak, with no power; "fa subhana-l-ladhi bi-yadihi malakutu kulli shay91" - all power is in His hands. We are only between two breaths; if breath does not come in, if breath does not go out, you will die, leaving your life, so weak. He who is powerful is proud; to be proud is his right, not anyone else's. We must be humble.
Every fitnah, every badness or evil, appears from pride. The first sin itself came from pride; Shaytan was so proud, and pride caused that sin. And up to the end, every sin comes from being proud, while humbleness is from Adam.
Shaytan was created from fire. Fire goes up, like this; therefore he was proud. Adam was from earth, from clay, and he signifies humbleness, earth. Therefore, Shaytan said, "O Allah, You are making me to be proud and causing me to commit that sin, causing me not to obey Your order," while Adam expressed themselves, saying, "Rabbana, dhalamna anfusina92 - 0 our Lord, we have wronged ourselves." Therefore humbleness caused Adam to return to his first station, the real Homeland, Paradise, but pride prevented Shaytan from returning to his Homeland once again.
QUESTION: Are we actually mistaken, Maulana, when we identify our selves with our egos? Are we the same? Are we the ego, or is the ego some thing else? We are not the ego, are we?
90 And We created man weak." (IV:28)
91 Then glory be to Him in whose hands is the dominion of all things (XXXVI:83)
92 Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves. (VII:23)
SHEIKH: The ego always represents itself, and the soul is always in the background, running to represent itself, while our ego says, "I am. I am Sheikh Mustafa, I am Sheikh Ibrahim." Although in reality the ego is our horse and we are the riders, people now are generally horses for their egos, not riding on them but carrying them instead. Yes, now everyone keeps his horse on his shoulders instead of riding on it.
There is a tale suited to this subject about Luqman al-Hakim93. Who knows about Luqman? He lived in the time of Prophet David, p.b.u.h. - Luqman, the famous doctor, hakim, who had been given divine wisdoms.
One day he was riding his donkey and his son was walking beside hin, going along. And some people came by looking and saying, "Subhanallah, glory to Allah Almighty! That person is riding on the donkey, leaving the little boy to walk. No mercy with that person! He can walk while that little boy rides on the donkey."
Then Luqman said, "O my son, you come and ride on it. I can walk."
They were walking. Then some other people came and said to each other, "Subhanallah, glory to Allah Almighty! No respect in our time; respect is finished. We are always complaining now that our sons don't give respect to us."
And the other person said, "Oh-h! No respect in our time. Sons don't respect their fathers. That son is riding and letting his father walk. Not proper!"
"O my son, you come and ride, also, with me." And son and father rode on the donkey and went along.
Then some other people came and they said, "Subhanallah, glory to Allah! Those people - no mercy! What cruelty! One donkey, two people. That person is like a giant, like a bear, and the son, also, on one donkey! What is this cruelty?"
Then Luqman al-Hakim said, "Get down. We can walk." The two of them walked, and the donkey was too happy, running around.
Then some people from another group were looking on, saying, "What foolish people! They have a donkey but they are running after it and no one is riding it."
93 A physician of antiquity on whom Allah had bestowed divine wisdoms. The thirty- first surahn of Qur'an is named for him, and a narrative concerning him is to be found in verses 12-19 of that surah
Yes. And we, also. Such a person is showing us wisdom; that Allah Almighty gives mankind ego, nafs, so that, as the Prophet said, "Your nafs is your mount" (the Prophet said it elegantly; just for understanding I am saying "donkey").
Everyone has a donkey. If you leave your donkey, going on alone and not after it, it is more clever; but we carry it as well, a heavy burden. We say, "What a pity! Let me carry it," and then put the donkey on our shoulders. "Poor donkey! So you won't be tired, may I carry you?" And you are carrying it. That is so. Therefore, every day sufferings and troubles are mounting, problems are increasing, until people throw their donkeys off their shoulders.
Now, what is the connection between this and that? Yes, you must understand, because when you carry your ego, its desires are endless, never giving you rest, always asking. You can't find any limit to make your ego be satisfied and say "Enough"; no - always more and more. Therefore troubles and sufferings are increasing; but when people take their donkeys and throw them down, each one will be satisfied with everything that he has been given.
If you are given a good job, you look for another one. If you are given a good business, you ask for another. I heard a person talking about someone who has fifteen hundred shops. I was thinking about how he controls fifteen hundred shops and then that person said, "This is just a small thing. There are more than these, all around the world".
If he is given a palace and he sees that Buckingham Palace is more desirable than his palace, he asks for it. If he is given a car, it must be a Rolls Royce. If the Rolls Royce is a black one, he asks for a white one (white is better, yes?). If you are given a beauty queen, you look for another. That is an edebsiz, ill-mannered, nafs,
Therefore, you may be given everything but yet you are looking for other things. You are within limits but your desires are unlimited. A person must be foolish, absolutely foolish, to ask for unlimited things with limited power. If you are given the whole of this country, can you keep that, can you enjoy yourself? Never! Therefore, the connection between these realities is that people are carrying their egos on their shoulders; they are obedient servants to their egos, and their egos' desires are unlimited. Therefore, if anyone is given the whole world, he can ask for a way to the moon, to other planets, also, to get them, never saying "Enough."
Therefore the prophets, including the Seal of the Prophets, peace be upon them all, were always calling people to zoh d, simplicity. The luxurious life is killing people, destroying everything, going on without limits. Therefore, you
must agree to a simple life, as much as you can; then you will be in rest and peace and satisfaction. Otherwise you will go into "Suffering Oceans," making people sink down, falling and sinking and never getting out.
THE HOLY PROPHET'S PRESCRIPTION FOR ILLNESSES
.When physicians can do nothing for a pain or for an illness, we must do as the Prophet, p.b.u.h., advises us. He says that you must cure your illnesses by giving sadaqah, charity.
You can have a box. Every day you can put something in it and do as Rasulallah, beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.n., said: "O my Lord, I am giving this sadaqah." And when it is a bigger amount, if anyone is in need you can give it to him.
If no one is in need, you can send it to your country, your homeland: otherwise you can give it to the mosque for charity. But you must do this every day, morning or evening. One shilling, two shillings, four shillings. 10 pence, 50 pence, one pound: as much as you are able to give, give. It is important. When physicians can do nothing for illnesses, you must use this advice of the Prophet, p.b.u.h.
He also says, "Alaikum bi-shifalain, al-'asi wal-Qur'an94"? - O my nation, you must take care to cure your illnesses by means of two health giving things. One of them is honey and the second is the Glorious Qur'an. Therefore, you may also use honey for your pain and you may recite the Holy Qur'an, as we are now doing, and keep this sadaqah box with you, also, in the hope that Allah Almighty may give you health.
HOW TO GIVE CHARITY
A person may ask something from someone. It is halal to ask and take if he gives, but if he gives without being asked, that is excellent - the best.
Therefore, the people of old times did not leave the poor to come to their places to ask something for the sake of Allah; rather they went around for the sake of Allah, asking who might be in need in order to give their charities to them.
94 There are two cures for you, honey and the Qur'an (Hadith)
It is an incompleteness, deficiency, to make poor people come to rich peoples' doors to ask for something. Allah Almighty looks at his rich servants to see if they are taking from their ni'mat, the favours they have been given, to poor people, not waiting for poor people to come to their doors to ask something for charity, no. And the Prophet, p.b.u.h., says, "Ightanimu ghanimah95" : when you give your charity to a poor person, you must take the opportunity to give it to him when he is very pleased with your favours, saying, "O my Lord, give him more." That takes away from you heavy burdens.
It is a very important point. So many people are not in peace, they can't enjoy themselves; no pleasure and no happiness for them, and they do not understand what is the way. And they go among physicians and psychiatrists, asking, "How can we be happy? So much tension, troubles, here - this kind, that kind"; so many millions, now.
It is only a very simple thing to do: give pleasure, take pleasure. Make people pleased with you and people will make you pleased; make your Lord pleased with you and He will make you pleased. The Prophet's saying, that one hadith, takes from people all their burdens, their heavy loads, their unhappiness: "Look, o people! Take your charity to poor people and make them pleased". And when they are pleased with you and they say, "O our Lord, make him pleased," Allah Almighty, the Lord, looks at their prayers for you.
Quickly those heavy burdens will go from you. No need for psychiatry; it cannot do anything, nor physicians. The chief of them, the Prophet, p.b.u.h., teaches them, "Ightanimu ghanimah" - ghanimah, the spoils of war that you take from the enemy, booty. You must look upon those prayers of poor people when you take your charity to them as booty; it is such a rare booty. This is so important for you, o people.
When there is less in your hand - when your own portion becomes less, your business goes down - quickly go and give charity. That makes the door open for you. When you feel something inside yourself making your heart imprisoned - unhappiness, no peace, no satisfaction, no mercy - quickly run and give your charity. No need for any new plans to make your business bigger; useless. Only this: Quickly go and give charity, as much as you can.
If your certainty is perfect, you may give everything for charity and you may await what comes from your Lord. Abu Bakr Siddiq, may Allah bless him, brought everything to the Prophet, giving everything. And when the Prophet asked, "What remains for your family?" he replied, "Allah wa Rasulallah - I
95 Seize your booty. (Hadith)
have left for them Allah Almighty and His Prophet." Sayyidina Umar, may Allah bless him, also brought something, and when the Prophet asked him, "What did you leave for your family?" he said, "O Rasulallah, I have brought half of my money, my property. I have brought half of it to you and half I have left for my family".
Abu Bakr Siddiq's certainty was perfect, Umar's certainty was half. Therefore you may follow the way of Siddiq; if you have complete certainty, you may give everything and you may wait. If you don't have such perfect certainty, give half to charity, or a quarter, or ten percent. But you must give charity.
That opens doors. It is impossible for a person to give a charity and doors close on him. No, charity opens cłosed doors. Whoever gives for the sake of Allah, Allah will give him more.
RAMADAN'S MERCY OCEANS
Now, alhamdulillah, the nineteenth night is finishing, and our egos are saying, "One more is gone, one more is gone of Holy Ramadan. Our souls are crying but our egos are laughing, enjoying so much: "Oh; fasting is going quickly. Then, after Ramadan finishes, every day we can eat - two times, three times, five times a day, like animals; ten times - eating, enjoying." But our souls, our spirits, are crying. They are taking this divine manifestation, these Mercy Oceans, which are coming now. When Ramadan goes, that will stop because it is only for one month.
The one who can carry with him the same actions, the same intentions, as during Ramadan, will be in the same manifestation of mercy during the whole year; but the one who leaves them, that mercy will leave him, also. Therefore, you must be careful when Ramadan is finished, asking from our Lord, "O my Lord, leave me, leave my heart, to be with Ramadan. Bodily I am going away from Ramadan, but let my soul be in those Mercy Oceans that you opened during Ramadan." Then you will swim in those Mercy Oceans until the next Ramadan, and that next one will be more than this one because our Lord's giving is not like ours or like what we understand. His giving is out of our imagination, and this year's mercy is more than that which passed away one year ago. This rahmah, these Mercy Oceans, are so great that the past Ramadan's mercy is only one drop beside the Mercy Ocean of this year.
He is Allah; He gives. You must understand from this how Allah Almighty gives - gives without end; yes. This year's mercy is only a drop beside the next Ramadan's Mercy Oceans, always increasing.
Allah Almighty never likes a person to be on the same route every day. Every day you must grow, must become more, ask more. And we are asking, "O our Lord, give to us from Your Mercy Oceans. We do not know what to ask. As much as we may ask, it is nothing beside what you are giving us. Then you give to us, o our Lord."
BEING FREE FOR YOUR LORD
We are asking our Lord Almighty to make us understanding people. The worst person is the one who never understands. And who has no understanding? The one who is a slave to his ego, never listening to his Lord or to His Prophet, p.b.u.h.
Look at that little boy. When you are going to be like him, you will be able to put one foot on earth, one foot in the Heavens. When your attributes will become as they were when you were little, when you are going to be as you were in childhood, you will be awliya, friends to Allah Almighty.
Children have the same status as prophets: they are ma'sum, innocent. Prophets grow up innocent and children, till reaching the age of maturity, are innocent, also. Therefore we must try to be as we were in our childhood.
What are children's attributes? That little boy is never going to have hasad, envy, which makes our faith useless, and, if quarrelling, after one hour that boy is going to be as before, forgetting and not keeping enmity in his heart; yes. But we are keeping, we are nurturing, we are feeding envy.
We people are feeding envy, feeding enmity, feeding pri
Link: https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6144
ask the Angel Israfil." When he asked Israfil, he said, "Let me ask Allah Almighty"; this is mentioned by Imam Sh'arani. And Allah Almighty answered, "Ikhlas sirru min asrari - that is a secret treasure from among My treasures, and I give it to those who ask and who are trustworthy for that treasure. If anyone asks for ikhlas, which is from among My secret treasures, I give it to him."
We must ask, because without ikhlas we are rubbish, going directly to the dustbin. Allah Almighty is asking only for ikhlas, and with ikhlas everything is going to be all right. Without ikhlas, everything that you send to your Lord's Divine Presence is like plastic bananas, plastic grapes, plastic oranges, Who gets any benefit from plastic fruits? Even if I fill this whole place with all kinds of oranges and bananas, but plastic, and leave a person inside, saying, "Eat these, and don't die," will that person live if he eats all that plastic fruit?
Therefore you must know: if we have ikhlas, that sincerity, no more quarreling. We will respect each other, because every divine attribute that Muhammad, p.b.u.h., was given can live in our hearts by means of ikhlas.
There is a pond here. If no water, no fishes live in it. Ikhlas is like an ocean. The Prophet, p.b.u.h., may give us every divine attribute that he was given, but he looks at our hearts, if there is ikhlas there. If no ikhlas, finished; he will never give, because it is going to die, to dry up. Every good characteristic, good attribute, good behaviour, good manners, lives with ikhlas. Without ikhlas, nothing.
We have lost it and we are in trouble. The Muslim world's peoples are fighting each other. In Islam it is not right for two people to quarrel; a mukhlis, sincere, person is never going to quarrel, to fight. He says, "If you are quarreling for this, O my brother, take it. You are more valuable than
this," because in the sight of Allah Almighty, the value of the whole world will never be more than one wing of a mosquito86."
How much will you give me if I fill up this whole place with wings of mosquitoes? How much will you pay? Nothing! A wing, one wing; each mosquito has four wings, but even one - the whole world's value is less than one wing of a mosquito! And you are going to quarrel for this low world, while the Shari'ah says that iman, faith, means to respect what Allah Almighty respects and to disrespect what Allah Almighty makes unrespectable.
Dunya, this world, is unrespectable in the sight of Allah, but still you are fighting, you are quarrelling, for this unrespectable thing! Where is iman?
Iman is with ikhlas, dwells with ikhlas. Iblis, Shaytan, prayed in the Seven Heavens, in each one for 40,000 years, and each year was like 40,000 of our years; you can calculate how much that is. But all his worshipping was without ikhlas.
Without ikhlas it was rubbish, "habaan manthura87." What does it mean? Rubbish; put it there, in the dustbin. Who was more of a worshipper than Shaytan was among the angels? No one. But it was all lost, disappeared. No ikhlas; if he had had ikhlas, he would have kept it. No ikhlas - gone away, habaan manthura.
Therefore, the most important thing for every Muslim is to look for ikhlas, and then everything is going to go in the right way and heavenly doors will open to him. When you leave this life and the angels take your soul toward Heaven, there come orders: "See if My servant has ikhlas or not. If he has ikhlas, open for him to come in. If no ikhlas, let him go down." And he falls down.
You must acquire ikhlas during this life. Ikhlas opens to you eternal Paradise's doors forever. On the Day of Resurrection you will be asked about ikhlas. It is qalbun salim, a pure, sound heart, full of ikhlas. A little ikhlas is more useful to you in bringing worshipping and prayers than the value of this entire dunya.
86 A paraphrase of a hadith which states that in the sight of Allah, the whole world and all that is in it is not worth as much as the wing of a mosquito.
87 Wind-scattered dust (XXV:23)
Try to do everything with ikhlas - to do everything for the sake of Allah Almighty, for the love of Allah Almighty, not for anything else. For You only, O my Lord; You gave me Your divine love and I am Your obedient servant. - Nothing fills his eyes except his Lord. That is ikhlas.
CONCERNING TRUSTWORTHINESS
All the prophets came to make people believe in their Lord, Allah Al mighty, and without believing in prophets, you can't believe in Allah.
You must believe in a person; then you can believe what he says. Therefore, it is something related to our hearts: no matter how much you may listen, if your heart does not say "Yes," there is no belief. Your heart must say, "That is true." When your heart says "Yes" to a person, if that person is amin, trustworthy, then your heart is opened to him and accepts what he says.
All prophets have some perfect attributes from their Lord Almighty. One of them is to be trustworthy. This means that those who believe in their prophet, his followers, must also be trustworthy. And when you are trust worthy, peoples' hearts are going to accept you, are going to be pleased with you, may trust you, may trust what you say, and then you may ofter your way to them.
The Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad al-Amin, p.b.u.h., lived among his tribe, among the Quraish. Allah Almighty was preparing to build Islam. He sent Muhammad, p.b.u.h., among an ignorant tribe and he lived among them up to the age of forty years. He was well-known as trustworthy. From the beginning up to the age of forty, when prophethood came to him, he was called Muhammad al-Amin, Trustworthy Muhammad, by his people, so that there was no doubt about his invitation, his saying, "Come to me. Come to Allah Almighty, come to your Lord."
Therefore, throughout his whole life he was trustworthy. And his Companions were given what he transmitted to them, and therefore, in our belief, all the Companions of the Prophet, 124,000 Sahabah, were trustworthy.
That is important to know. We know that every Companion of the Prophet (putting aside anything that happened among them; that is not for us to judge) was trustworthy. The Prophet himself was innocent, and the Companions, also, Allah put under protection from evil and from devils. All of them took that attribute from the Prophet, p.b.u.h.; all of them were trustworthy. As he said, "My Sahabah are like stars. Whichever of them you
may follow, you will have been guided on the right path." And we are Ahl as- Sunnah wal-Jama'ah88; we are followers of the Prophet, p.b.u.h., and we have also been ordered by Allah Almighty to be trustworthy people.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING HUMBLE
Up to this day, man is an unknown territory belonging to Allah Almighty, such an unknown area. Ten centuries ago, America was unknown, undiscovered. Man is still undiscovered. People write so many books; thousands or even millions of books have been written about man, but still man is an unknown being in the universe, particularly to himself. -
Who knows about man, about mankind? His Lord, His Creator, and He gives, He opens, that knowledge to His prophets. And the inheritors of the prophets, awliya, also know something about man, about the Sons of Adam.
Man has something of his Lord Almighty; he carries a light from his Lord's divine light. That is our soul. And when the Prophet, p.b.u.h., was asked about the soul, he replied only, "It is by the order of Allah; it is only by the command of your Lord," and gave no further description of it, because it is something like an ocean, and man brings only a little cup and says, "Put the ocean into this".
"Wa ma utitum mina-l-'ilmi illa qalila89." As much knowledge as we may have been given, it must always be within limits; as much as we may learn, there is more than what we have learned. Therefore, you can't put any limit on knowledge.
Abu Yazid al-Bistami, that grand-wali, said, "When you say, 'I know,' you stop. When you ask for more, you improve. Divine knowledge opens for those who ask for more, but the one who says, 'I know,' remains on the same level, never improving." Therefore, the one who recognises that he is always ignorant is given more, but the one who says, "I know, I am a scholar" - he has so many degrees from Oxford University - is finished and full-up; he stays there, with no improvement. Therefore, although your capacity is always going to be within limits, you must not deny the existence of that total knowledge, claiming that it is only I who know it. You must leave an opportunity for everyone's knowledge.
88 People of the (Prophet's) Sunnah (Practise) and Community; that is, Sunni Muslims
89 And you have not been given of knowledge except a little. (XVII:95)
Therefore, we are saying that man is still an unknown being to himself. Allah Almighty knows him because He is the Creator. I don't know this tape recorder. Who knows about it? The one who made it, he knows best.
Therefore the Creator is the one who knows man completely, and after Him, those who have been given knowledge by their Lord know, also.
During the Night Journey, when the Prophet, beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., ascended to the Seven Heavens in the Divine Presence, Allah Almighty gave him so much. And He declared to His Last Prophet, within view of all the prophets, "O Muhammad, if I were to give every one of My servants the chance or opportunity or authority which I gave to Pharoah, no one would hesitate to be a Pharoah. But I am keeping it back, I am not giving that chance to everyone."
This is the Creator's declaration to the Prophet during the Night of the Ascension; He says this. Therefore, when I say that every ego is proud, it is correct. Everyone's ego is as proud as it can be. If there is even one stripe here - oh, look at that! and he becomes a corporal; yes. If there are stars, so much pride; if an eagle, too much; if swords, even more than this; if a crown
- oh!!! Yes? We know about pride from ourselves. None or us can cheat the other.
Therefore humbleness is the most lovely characteristic of people. Everyone likes humble people and everyone dislikes proud people; even if we are proud ourselves, we never like others to be proud. Yes - we are proud on our level; if anyone above our level is proud, we are not satisfied with him, saying, "He is a proud person." You are also proud. Therefore the Prophet, p.b.u.h., said, "Ijlis kama yajlisa-l-'abd wa kul kama yakulu-l-‘abd - I sit as a slave sits and I eat as he eats, because I am also a slave to my Lord." And therefore Islam just fought against slavery, Islam came to make people free.
Now we may speak or the humbleness of Abu Yazid al-Bistami. He was one of the most humble people among the saints and he said. "I respected everyone. I never expected respect from anyone, but I obliged myself to give respect to everyone and I never asked anyone to give his respect to me - "Oh, I am a sheikh a grandsheikh, you must respect me. It never came to my heart to expect respect from one who was a young person. I am an old person, an old sheikh; you must respect me.' No. I respected him and did not expect, did not wait for anyone to respect me”.
He said this, teaching his disciples that you must respect an old person or one who is elder than you, and you must respect younger people, also. And people said, "We understand that you must give respect to older people, but what about young ones?".
"O my sons," he said, "you must respect elder people because you must consider that this old person began to obey and to worship my Lord so many years ago. He has had so many years more of worshipping my Lord than me; therefore I must keep respect for him. But what about young people?
Then you must say to your nafs (because it is objecting, "I understand about old people, but what about younger ones? I am an old person; why should I respect young people?!) - you must say to your proud ego, 'Because they are young and their books have no dirt written on them, black marks. But you
- so much! Therefore you must make much of children, you must respect them.
The loveliest characteristic to our Lord is to be humble, and all prophets' teachings were for that: to make our egos to be humble, to accept. Wa khuliqa-l-insanu dhaifa90" - it means that we are weak, with no power; "fa subhana-l-ladhi bi-yadihi malakutu kulli shay91" - all power is in His hands. We are only between two breaths; if breath does not come in, if breath does not go out, you will die, leaving your life, so weak. He who is powerful is proud; to be proud is his right, not anyone else's. We must be humble.
Every fitnah, every badness or evil, appears from pride. The first sin itself came from pride; Shaytan was so proud, and pride caused that sin. And up to the end, every sin comes from being proud, while humbleness is from Adam.
Shaytan was created from fire. Fire goes up, like this; therefore he was proud. Adam was from earth, from clay, and he signifies humbleness, earth. Therefore, Shaytan said, "O Allah, You are making me to be proud and causing me to commit that sin, causing me not to obey Your order," while Adam expressed themselves, saying, "Rabbana, dhalamna anfusina92 - 0 our Lord, we have wronged ourselves." Therefore humbleness caused Adam to return to his first station, the real Homeland, Paradise, but pride prevented Shaytan from returning to his Homeland once again.
QUESTION: Are we actually mistaken, Maulana, when we identify our selves with our egos? Are we the same? Are we the ego, or is the ego some thing else? We are not the ego, are we?
90 And We created man weak." (IV:28)
91 Then glory be to Him in whose hands is the dominion of all things (XXXVI:83)
92 Our Lord, we have wronged ourselves. (VII:23)
SHEIKH: The ego always represents itself, and the soul is always in the background, running to represent itself, while our ego says, "I am. I am Sheikh Mustafa, I am Sheikh Ibrahim." Although in reality the ego is our horse and we are the riders, people now are generally horses for their egos, not riding on them but carrying them instead. Yes, now everyone keeps his horse on his shoulders instead of riding on it.
There is a tale suited to this subject about Luqman al-Hakim93. Who knows about Luqman? He lived in the time of Prophet David, p.b.u.h. - Luqman, the famous doctor, hakim, who had been given divine wisdoms.
One day he was riding his donkey and his son was walking beside hin, going along. And some people came by looking and saying, "Subhanallah, glory to Allah Almighty! That person is riding on the donkey, leaving the little boy to walk. No mercy with that person! He can walk while that little boy rides on the donkey."
Then Luqman said, "O my son, you come and ride on it. I can walk."
They were walking. Then some other people came and said to each other, "Subhanallah, glory to Allah Almighty! No respect in our time; respect is finished. We are always complaining now that our sons don't give respect to us."
And the other person said, "Oh-h! No respect in our time. Sons don't respect their fathers. That son is riding and letting his father walk. Not proper!"
"O my son, you come and ride, also, with me." And son and father rode on the donkey and went along.
Then some other people came and they said, "Subhanallah, glory to Allah! Those people - no mercy! What cruelty! One donkey, two people. That person is like a giant, like a bear, and the son, also, on one donkey! What is this cruelty?"
Then Luqman al-Hakim said, "Get down. We can walk." The two of them walked, and the donkey was too happy, running around.
Then some people from another group were looking on, saying, "What foolish people! They have a donkey but they are running after it and no one is riding it."
93 A physician of antiquity on whom Allah had bestowed divine wisdoms. The thirty- first surahn of Qur'an is named for him, and a narrative concerning him is to be found in verses 12-19 of that surah
Yes. And we, also. Such a person is showing us wisdom; that Allah Almighty gives mankind ego, nafs, so that, as the Prophet said, "Your nafs is your mount" (the Prophet said it elegantly; just for understanding I am saying "donkey").
Everyone has a donkey. If you leave your donkey, going on alone and not after it, it is more clever; but we carry it as well, a heavy burden. We say, "What a pity! Let me carry it," and then put the donkey on our shoulders. "Poor donkey! So you won't be tired, may I carry you?" And you are carrying it. That is so. Therefore, every day sufferings and troubles are mounting, problems are increasing, until people throw their donkeys off their shoulders.
Now, what is the connection between this and that? Yes, you must understand, because when you carry your ego, its desires are endless, never giving you rest, always asking. You can't find any limit to make your ego be satisfied and say "Enough"; no - always more and more. Therefore troubles and sufferings are increasing; but when people take their donkeys and throw them down, each one will be satisfied with everything that he has been given.
If you are given a good job, you look for another one. If you are given a good business, you ask for another. I heard a person talking about someone who has fifteen hundred shops. I was thinking about how he controls fifteen hundred shops and then that person said, "This is just a small thing. There are more than these, all around the world".
If he is given a palace and he sees that Buckingham Palace is more desirable than his palace, he asks for it. If he is given a car, it must be a Rolls Royce. If the Rolls Royce is a black one, he asks for a white one (white is better, yes?). If you are given a beauty queen, you look for another. That is an edebsiz, ill-mannered, nafs,
Therefore, you may be given everything but yet you are looking for other things. You are within limits but your desires are unlimited. A person must be foolish, absolutely foolish, to ask for unlimited things with limited power. If you are given the whole of this country, can you keep that, can you enjoy yourself? Never! Therefore, the connection between these realities is that people are carrying their egos on their shoulders; they are obedient servants to their egos, and their egos' desires are unlimited. Therefore, if anyone is given the whole world, he can ask for a way to the moon, to other planets, also, to get them, never saying "Enough."
Therefore the prophets, including the Seal of the Prophets, peace be upon them all, were always calling people to zoh d, simplicity. The luxurious life is killing people, destroying everything, going on without limits. Therefore, you
must agree to a simple life, as much as you can; then you will be in rest and peace and satisfaction. Otherwise you will go into "Suffering Oceans," making people sink down, falling and sinking and never getting out.
THE HOLY PROPHET'S PRESCRIPTION FOR ILLNESSES
.When physicians can do nothing for a pain or for an illness, we must do as the Prophet, p.b.u.h., advises us. He says that you must cure your illnesses by giving sadaqah, charity.
You can have a box. Every day you can put something in it and do as Rasulallah, beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.n., said: "O my Lord, I am giving this sadaqah." And when it is a bigger amount, if anyone is in need you can give it to him.
If no one is in need, you can send it to your country, your homeland: otherwise you can give it to the mosque for charity. But you must do this every day, morning or evening. One shilling, two shillings, four shillings. 10 pence, 50 pence, one pound: as much as you are able to give, give. It is important. When physicians can do nothing for illnesses, you must use this advice of the Prophet, p.b.u.h.
He also says, "Alaikum bi-shifalain, al-'asi wal-Qur'an94"? - O my nation, you must take care to cure your illnesses by means of two health giving things. One of them is honey and the second is the Glorious Qur'an. Therefore, you may also use honey for your pain and you may recite the Holy Qur'an, as we are now doing, and keep this sadaqah box with you, also, in the hope that Allah Almighty may give you health.
HOW TO GIVE CHARITY
A person may ask something from someone. It is halal to ask and take if he gives, but if he gives without being asked, that is excellent - the best.
Therefore, the people of old times did not leave the poor to come to their places to ask something for the sake of Allah; rather they went around for the sake of Allah, asking who might be in need in order to give their charities to them.
94 There are two cures for you, honey and the Qur'an (Hadith)
It is an incompleteness, deficiency, to make poor people come to rich peoples' doors to ask for something. Allah Almighty looks at his rich servants to see if they are taking from their ni'mat, the favours they have been given, to poor people, not waiting for poor people to come to their doors to ask something for charity, no. And the Prophet, p.b.u.h., says, "Ightanimu ghanimah95" : when you give your charity to a poor person, you must take the opportunity to give it to him when he is very pleased with your favours, saying, "O my Lord, give him more." That takes away from you heavy burdens.
It is a very important point. So many people are not in peace, they can't enjoy themselves; no pleasure and no happiness for them, and they do not understand what is the way. And they go among physicians and psychiatrists, asking, "How can we be happy? So much tension, troubles, here - this kind, that kind"; so many millions, now.
It is only a very simple thing to do: give pleasure, take pleasure. Make people pleased with you and people will make you pleased; make your Lord pleased with you and He will make you pleased. The Prophet's saying, that one hadith, takes from people all their burdens, their heavy loads, their unhappiness: "Look, o people! Take your charity to poor people and make them pleased". And when they are pleased with you and they say, "O our Lord, make him pleased," Allah Almighty, the Lord, looks at their prayers for you.
Quickly those heavy burdens will go from you. No need for psychiatry; it cannot do anything, nor physicians. The chief of them, the Prophet, p.b.u.h., teaches them, "Ightanimu ghanimah" - ghanimah, the spoils of war that you take from the enemy, booty. You must look upon those prayers of poor people when you take your charity to them as booty; it is such a rare booty. This is so important for you, o people.
When there is less in your hand - when your own portion becomes less, your business goes down - quickly go and give charity. That makes the door open for you. When you feel something inside yourself making your heart imprisoned - unhappiness, no peace, no satisfaction, no mercy - quickly run and give your charity. No need for any new plans to make your business bigger; useless. Only this: Quickly go and give charity, as much as you can.
If your certainty is perfect, you may give everything for charity and you may await what comes from your Lord. Abu Bakr Siddiq, may Allah bless him, brought everything to the Prophet, giving everything. And when the Prophet asked, "What remains for your family?" he replied, "Allah wa Rasulallah - I
95 Seize your booty. (Hadith)
have left for them Allah Almighty and His Prophet." Sayyidina Umar, may Allah bless him, also brought something, and when the Prophet asked him, "What did you leave for your family?" he said, "O Rasulallah, I have brought half of my money, my property. I have brought half of it to you and half I have left for my family".
Abu Bakr Siddiq's certainty was perfect, Umar's certainty was half. Therefore you may follow the way of Siddiq; if you have complete certainty, you may give everything and you may wait. If you don't have such perfect certainty, give half to charity, or a quarter, or ten percent. But you must give charity.
That opens doors. It is impossible for a person to give a charity and doors close on him. No, charity opens cłosed doors. Whoever gives for the sake of Allah, Allah will give him more.
RAMADAN'S MERCY OCEANS
Now, alhamdulillah, the nineteenth night is finishing, and our egos are saying, "One more is gone, one more is gone of Holy Ramadan. Our souls are crying but our egos are laughing, enjoying so much: "Oh; fasting is going quickly. Then, after Ramadan finishes, every day we can eat - two times, three times, five times a day, like animals; ten times - eating, enjoying." But our souls, our spirits, are crying. They are taking this divine manifestation, these Mercy Oceans, which are coming now. When Ramadan goes, that will stop because it is only for one month.
The one who can carry with him the same actions, the same intentions, as during Ramadan, will be in the same manifestation of mercy during the whole year; but the one who leaves them, that mercy will leave him, also. Therefore, you must be careful when Ramadan is finished, asking from our Lord, "O my Lord, leave me, leave my heart, to be with Ramadan. Bodily I am going away from Ramadan, but let my soul be in those Mercy Oceans that you opened during Ramadan." Then you will swim in those Mercy Oceans until the next Ramadan, and that next one will be more than this one because our Lord's giving is not like ours or like what we understand. His giving is out of our imagination, and this year's mercy is more than that which passed away one year ago. This rahmah, these Mercy Oceans, are so great that the past Ramadan's mercy is only one drop beside the Mercy Ocean of this year.
He is Allah; He gives. You must understand from this how Allah Almighty gives - gives without end; yes. This year's mercy is only a drop beside the next Ramadan's Mercy Oceans, always increasing.
Allah Almighty never likes a person to be on the same route every day. Every day you must grow, must become more, ask more. And we are asking, "O our Lord, give to us from Your Mercy Oceans. We do not know what to ask. As much as we may ask, it is nothing beside what you are giving us. Then you give to us, o our Lord."
BEING FREE FOR YOUR LORD
We are asking our Lord Almighty to make us understanding people. The worst person is the one who never understands. And who has no understanding? The one who is a slave to his ego, never listening to his Lord or to His Prophet, p.b.u.h.
Look at that little boy. When you are going to be like him, you will be able to put one foot on earth, one foot in the Heavens. When your attributes will become as they were when you were little, when you are going to be as you were in childhood, you will be awliya, friends to Allah Almighty.
Children have the same status as prophets: they are ma'sum, innocent. Prophets grow up innocent and children, till reaching the age of maturity, are innocent, also. Therefore we must try to be as we were in our childhood.
What are children's attributes? That little boy is never going to have hasad, envy, which makes our faith useless, and, if quarrelling, after one hour that boy is going to be as before, forgetting and not keeping enmity in his heart; yes. But we are keeping, we are nurturing, we are feeding envy.
We people are feeding envy, feeding enmity, feeding pri
Link: https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6144