Mercy Oceans, Book 10 (239 pages, 17/21)
https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6151
veryone would have carried a candle in his hand, but unlighted.
Everyone is created as a creation which can be lighted. If we take a piece of iron, it cannot be lighted, but a candle can be. And each one of the Sons of Adam, of mankind, is in a condition suitable for lighting.
In our time, those people who are carrying divine lights through the Prophet, p.b.u.h., are still in existence. Therefore we are in need to follow a holy person, to catch one of them, in order to acquire divine lights. And who is a holy person?
The one who is carrying divine lights, he is a holy person. Don't think that just anyone who is a scholar, who is a learned person or a religious figure, is a holy one. Particularly in our time, religious people are officials,
141 Has thou seen the one who takes his desires as his God? (XXV:43)
functionaries, and most official people can't be holy people and those who follow them are just following them officially. Therefore, official people can't give you holiness.
In Islam scholars and religious people are of two kinds. One kind are traditional scholars, officials. The second kind are holy people-heavenly people, heavenly scholars. They are carrying divine lights, and if you can follow them, you can take from them holiness and divine lights; otherwise you will remain in darkness here and Hereafter.
Therefore Allah Almighty says in the Holy Qur'an that on the Day of Resurrection those who have not obtained lights during this life will call to those people who are carrying lights, "O brothers, sisters! O believers! Stop for us and give us from your lights142." And they will be in darkness; they will not be able to see their way because they never asked for lights during this life.
If anyone asks for lights, he may be given. But don't ask for rubies from a grocery shop. You must know where they can be had and you can take them from the one who has them. Otherwise you will waste your life and go in darkness to darkness.
Therefore, every believer must follow a holy man.- If you can find a holy man among Christians, that is all right; if finding him among Jewish rabbis, that may be, also. The real aim is to find someone who has heavenly lights and he may give to you. Or you may find him among Muslims.
We are not saying that anyone is going to be a holy person, no, but holy people may be found among all people; in every part of this world, among every nation, you may find them. The aim, the main purpose is to find a holy person and take your light from him. Let him light your candle, whether you find him among Christians, among priests, among rabbis, among sheikhs.
Yes, if you find him, go and take.
But to find those holy people is so difficult, because religious people are mostly officials with diplomas; so proud of their diplomas, putting them here, showing people this. Therefore you can't find holiness among official religious people; no.
You may try. Try, and come and tell me. Come and say to me that I found an official; he is a holy man. And you are free. But if you can take lights from an official, it will be a strange thing.
142 See LVII:12–13
Yes, it is so difficult. But if you believe that on the Day of Resurrection there will be no sun nor moon - it will be a very dark day and everyone will need light on that day - don't be like those people who will go to the Day of Resurrection without getting nur, lights, from this life, and who will ask that day to get lights from those who have them. Here your not having lights may be hidden, but on the Day of Resurrection it will be clear who is carying lights. On that day every secret will appear.
This means that if a person is asking for heavenly lights, he must go where they are - must go and get them. Don't wait to go on the Day of Resurrection, and when you see the divine lights which people have, you say, "Give to us now." No. You must get your lights here; otherwise you will waste all your life and go away dark; without lights. The one who believes in the Last Day must look after himself here, now. That is what Allah Almighty is asking from His servants: to get lights and come to His Divine Presence.
Now, we are living in the last part of the period of ummata Muhammad, the nation of Muhammad, p.b.u.h. Therefore, everything is going to be easy and, at the same time, so difficult. Getting our light may be so close to us; if we turn like this we may find it. It is so easy but it is also so difficult because our ego, our nafs, never wants to turn its face in that direction but instead closes its eyes and says, "It is in that other direction," and runs after itself.
Therefore it is so easy and at the same time so difficult to acquire lights in our time.
When conditions are more difficult, Allah Almighty's mercy approaches His servants more. But we are running away; according to our egos and their desires, we are leaving what is near at hand and running after distant goals. It is easy, it is only one step; yet our egos will never agree with us to take that one step - so proud, our ego, saying, "You must follow Me." We are asking it to follow for only one step but it does not agree with us. If our nafs agrees to take one step with our soul, it may be caught. That trap will catch it; it can never go around it. Therefore, nafs, our ego, likes to escape.
That is important now. Don't say that perhaps only a very few people have lights, you can count them on your fingers. No worry; if all the holy people on earth are finished and you ask earnestly, from the Heavens, not an ordinary angel may come, but Allah Almighty may send Archangel Gabriel to take you from here to the Heavens.
Therefore, this is something relating to our desire for spiritual development. As much as we may be serious in asking lights from our Lord Almighty, it is going to be easier. But if you are a follower of your ego, you can't follow a holy man.
Leave your ego, leave your nafs, and come. Come! It is so easy. Then holiness will come upon you as a garment, your Lord dressing you. And the Lord Almighty, Allah, never leaves the Sons of Adam without holy people.
When all the prophets had come and gone, no more prophets, Allah Almighty made for the nation of Muhammad, p.b.u.h., as many holy people as anbiya, prophets. There were 124,000 anbiya; then Allah Almighty made for the nation of Muhammad, p.b.u.h., 124,000 holy people, awliya. They are on earth; one foot is on earth and one foot is in Heaven. That is a holy one! They are not those people who do not yet know how to walk on the earth; the one who is not yet able to walk on the earth and to walk on the seas cannot put his footstep into Heaven. The one who can walk on the seas, on the oceans - that is the one who puts his footstep in Heaven. That is the sign.
Don't ask, "Who is that?" You may know who he is. They have signs, but in our time they are keeping back their signs from showing to people; they are keeping back their powers, and the only signs are that you can find light and also you can be in satisfaction with them, you can feel refreshment with them. Yes; if they were walking around performing miracles, it would be a show and people would turn away, but if you can take that refreshment into your heart, into yourself, from a person, that is a holy man. Keep him.
May Allah give us from His divine lights. We are praying for that; but then, how can we find them? As much as you can be humble, you are going to find them easily. As much as you are proud of your worshipping, of your knowledge, you are going to be late in finding them ("late" means you will never find them if you are proud).
And when you find such a person, you must try to follow hin. Don't do anything without consultation. Consultation in everything is for those people who are like shadows for that holy man, who follow him like his shadow. But if a person is like us, he must agree to follow that holy person in three things. Important!
Whoever claims to be a follower of a holy person must at least ask him about three important questions. One is about marriage: when he is going to marry, he must ask his permission, must consult with him. Even after finding someone, he must bring her to his sheikh and say, "I would like to marry this one"; at least he must inform him.
And secondly, as a follower, he must ask if he is going to divorce. Before the official registration, before going to court for a divorce, you must consult about it with your sheikh or with your holy person.
And thirdly, for a long journey you must ask permission. Without permission, it is prohibited in our tariqah to move from one country to another; even for visiting your sheikh you must ask permission by phoning or writing, and if he gives permission you may come. For business, for visiting other countries, for pilgrimage, also, Hajj143, - yes, for all of them you must ask. If he gives permission it is all right, because he is not going to give permission by himself. He will ask from the Prophet, p.b.u.h., and he will ask from Allah Almighty.
HOW ONE MAY ATTAIN REAL PEACE
When is a person going to find peace within himself? That is the question; yes, that is the thing that our sister has in her heart.
Rivers run until they reach oceans, struggling, running, until reaching an ocean or a sea. Then - finished. And whoever asks to find peace within himself must also reach an ocean or a sea, or at least a lake - doesn't matter, because a lake is also firm in its place. But moving, struggling.
Therefore, everyone is running, every day; everyone, from morning to night or from night to morning, is running, struggling.
There are two ways in which a person may attain rest. One of them is through natural death. Until death, a person struggles. When he dies, his arms and legs are spread out, no more struggling. Depending on his station, he has reached peace.
Yet his peace by natural death is only for his physical body, but still he has not reached real peace in his spiritual life. Therefore we must ask for peace from both sides - for our physical bodies and our spiritual bodies. Our physical bodies are going to reach peace by death, natural death, when the body is going to be in peace, no movement, no struggling. But we must look after our soul, whether it has reached peace or not, whether struggling is still going on or not.
Therefore, the Prophet, p.b.u.h., says, "Mūtu qabl an tamutu144": that is what makes a person reach spiritual peace and satisfaction, real peace and satisfaction. Our physical body may die, but as yet we haven't reached our
143 Since to perform Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in a lifetime if possible is one of the five "pillars" or religious obligations prescribed by Islam, what is to be consulted about with one's guide is not wether to yo, since this is obligatory, but the advisability or going during a particular year or under particular circumstances
144 Die before you die. (Hadith)
spiritual peace. Therefore, the one who is asking for real peace within himself must try the ways of those who have reached real peace in their spiritual bodies, and the Prophet's advice to his nation, to ourselves, is to die before natural death comes upon us. ,
Only few people may be equal in their bodily peace and spiritual peace, because most people are destroying their spiritual peace by running after the physical body's peace, and it is impossible for a person, without reaching his spiritual peace, to reach bodily peace until natural death comes. But there is no benefit at that time: you are finding peace in your physical body but your spiritual body is still struggling and suffering. And then, from the day of one's death up to the Day of Resurrection in his hayat barzakhi, the intermediate life between the eternal life and this world's life, those troubles and struggles may continue. Perhaps it may continue even on the Day of Resurrection, and that may not be enough, also. He may be in Hell, struggling and suffering for a period until he reaches the Ocean he was given in pre- eternity.
Therefore, the most important thing that we must know concerns our absolute peace - when it is going to be. Until you reach that Ocean which Allah Almighty gave you in pre-eternity, you are going to struggle and suffer; and you may be in hell during this life and in the grave and on the Day of Resurrection, and then, finally, in Hell itself, also, because it is impossible to find peace without reaching your Homeland in that Ocean, and you are always running.
We are giving sufferings to ourselves because we are using wrong, wrong methods to acquire peace or to reach peace. Sometimes scientists are preparing a rocket to go up but it turns and falls back. So many people are using wrong methods, so that instead of going up, they are coming down - a crash landing, falling back. Only some small thing, even a simple wrong thing, may do that. Therefore we must be very careful, when we use a method, whether it is perfect or not.
We are trying to give a perfect method to everyone who is asking to reach peace, real peace, real satisfaction, and we mean to say that peace is everyone's destination. You may take a train from London up to Edinburgh and on your way there may be one hundred stations, and at each station some people get out because everyone knows his destination. If you get out before Edinburgh you will not be satisfied; you will say, "Oh, we came to some other place. This is not my destination." And if you get caught and remain in that station, you are going to suffer forever because you have reached a wrong destination.
Therefore, we must know our destination, and then we must take a ticket for that station, not before it and not after it; both kinds of those who lose their destinations suffer, here and Hereafter. Then, a person must do something to save himself from that first wrong station; he must do something, he must suffer long, in order to find a way back to his original destination. It is therefore terrible and dangerous for a person not to look out for his destination; he must look out for his destination and must use the right method to reach his destination. If not reaching his destination, he will not attain peace; he will never attain it.
And in our time, people are using so many wrong methods. They do not understand, or they do not even know, what is the beginning and what is the end; from where they are beginning and to where they are reaching, as a blind person never understands where he is or where he is going to be. And most important for a person throughout his life is a true guide.
A true guide can be known when your soul is in peace and satisfaction with a person. That is the sign, the real sign: to feel peace and satisfaction with him in your heart. If you are still in doubt, hesitant, it means that something is wrong with that person and you must look for another.
If your heart is not in peace with his method, you must not follow that way. There are so many ways. You must try for another one until you reach peace in your heart, so that it should be all right for you.
Then, this is the way to reach peace, to die before dying. This means that when you find a guide, you must be with him. You must not carry a different personality from his but must agree to be one with him, one unit. You can't carry another personality from your guide's; you must melt your personality in his personality and you must appear as himself. Then you will be all right.
Once a person came to a grandsheikh and knocked at his door. The grandsheikh asked, "Who is there?".
. "Ibrāhim," the man said. "It is I." (I, I, I - always saying "I.")
"I?" the grandsheikh said. "My place is only for one, not for two.Go away."
And that person went away. After one year he tried again, coming and knocking at the door. "Who is there?" the grandsheikh asked.
"You, you."
"If you are saying 'You,' now you may come in."
Therefore, the first condition for a person who is asking to reach real peace is that he must give himself, all that he is carrying, to put into his guide. His guide can take it and carry it. When you are going to be in your guide, that is the way to reach your destination.
There is an airplane. It can hold one hundred or two hundred or three hundred passengers, but when it flies you can see only one jet plane. You do not see five hundred persons inside; you can see only that it is a plane, flying. The plane is taking all those people into itself, finished. Therefore, when you take a guide to your destination, you can be in him; you can give yourself, your selfhood. You must consider yourself as a drop. Then it reaches its ocean and no more drop - finished; you leave that drop and are going to be an ocean.
That is peace. When that drop falls into the ocean, can you take it out, can you find it? Finished; it is all ocean. Therefore, peace is not to be found without leaving your drop in that ocean. And your guide' may be a lake or he may be a sea, but they run into oceans, also.
That is important, to say "Die before you die"; that is the meaning of how we can die before the natural death145. You give your personality to your guide; you throw your personality into your guide's personality and then you say, "I am no longer in existence, finished." When you look at your guide you see yourself in him and when he looks at you, he looks at himself, and we - we reached our spiritual peace.
You may find it during your short lifetime in this life. But if you do not use true, correct methods and you go wrong, you will always go far away from peace. Instead of running toward oceans, you will be running toward deserts. Therefore, anyone who thinks about peace and happiness and satisfaction and pleasure and endless enjoyment must look after his spiritual life's peace, and this is impossible for a person if he does not find an ocean and run into it, because our egos are always too proud to surrender.
That is the most difficult proposition that can be made to our nafs; the most difficult thing for the nafs is to put its personality aside and agree to be with another's. It holds onto its personality very strongly, never liking to lose it. Therefore, we are fighting.
145 See VI:122: "Is the one who was dead and then We brought him back to life, and made for him a light with which to walk among men, like the one who is in darkness from which he cannot emerge?"
Between our souls and our egos a fight is raging, our souls wanting to reach that Ocean and our egos saying, "No!" It is like a bottle containing water, which is thrown into the ocean. The water wants to reach the ocean but the bottle prevents it. And our nafs is just like that bottle, never' agreeing to be broken and to be nothing, and to let that water go into the ocean. Therefore quarreling and fighting are going on between our soul and nafs. The one who may be successful in defeating his ego and making it agree to take the same personality as his guide is happy and has reached final peace - real peace, eternal peace, eternal happiness and eternal existence.
We are happy or we take enjoyment from our existence. The greatest grant of our Lord to us is existence, but real existence can be gained only when we give up our false existence or being. If we give up our fani, transitory, temporary, existence, we may acquire permanent existence. As much as we hold on to it so strongly, not agreeing to give it up, it is difficult to reach the permanent and real existence.
Therefore, we must try to reach our destination, and the one who reaches his destination has truly reached real existence, eternal existence. And you must give this life in return for eternal life, in exchange for eternal existence. As much as we hold on to this temporary existence, real existence departs. Then natural death takes that temporary existence from us. But it may still be a long way for us yet to travel, a way of suffering to reach eternal existence - through the grave and the Day of Resurrection or in Hell so that we can reach the ultimate existence. But if you agree here, during this life, to use true methods that come from our Lord to His servants, it is the easiest and most simple way to reach real peace.
We are living during a time in which there are hundreds and thousands, maybe millions, of ways, but they are altogether wrong ways, ways of suffering, perhaps taking people to a wrong destination, bringing them to wrong stations and saying, "This is yours." And then that person takes out his address book and looks here, looks there, but, no - wrong! In our time there are millions of wrong ways.
Therefore, the one who is asking seriously about his destination must be serious about his guide and his guidance; otherwise his life is going to be full of sufferings. And those sufferings will continue after he leaves his physical body because such sufferings belong to our souls, and the soul is going to suffer because he has never reached his Ocean. Until he reaches it, he must pass through so many canals or wrong courses.
This is so important for anyone who is not drunk, since people now in our time are mostly drunk, not only by drinking liquor and wine, no; but most of them are drinking and are drunk on this world's life, for this temporary life's
works and deeds and problems and troubles. Problems of livelihood are particularly making people preoccupied by heavy conditions, and then they are like drunk people, with no time to look after themselves because they are struggling, they are fighting; no time for millions to ask for a guide.
Therefore, up to the end, their troubles continue, and when they die their bodily struggle is finished, their physical bodies are in peace, but not yet their souls. Their souls cannot reach peace and happiness; therefore their troubles and sufferings continue after death, also, until they reach their real destinations in the Divine Presence.
Allah knows best how a person may reach his destination after death, also, when he sees that he has disembarked at a wrong station. Then people are running like this, running like that, to find a way to get out, but it is not easy. Therefore, take your care as much as you can during this life, if you are not drunk; if drunk, you can't take care, you can't look after anything.
You may ask from your Lord: "O my Lord, I am asking from You. I am asking a guide to reach you, the Ocean of Oceans. I am asking for You." Ask from your Lord sincerely. When you ask sincerely, He may send you one of His beloved servants to take you to your destination.
REST IN OUR HEARTS
When a person feels restful, in comfort, he may be able to follow everything easily.
Now we are sitting restfully, but rest is in our hearts; it is not something related to sitting on a throne or in a comfortable place. When your heart feels rest and comfort, then, if you are sitting on a stone, if you are sitting in prison, if you are sitting on fire, no worry - doesn't matter.
What gives comfort to people? Their hearts. And people now are leaving their hearts; most people are interested in their physical bodies and physical pleasures, and all the prophets, from the beginning up to the end, just came to arrange our hearts. They are the engineers of hearts. No one else can look after hearts except the prophets and their inheritors, the awliya.
THE LIGHTS OF A MUMIN'S FAITH
Allah Almighty gives us sufficient honour through this holy month, and we are saying, "Alhamdulillah, thanks to Allah Almighty."
It is a grant granted by Allah Almighty to us. Among millions of people, we have been chosen to be here and to listen to the holy words that are granted to us by our Lord Almighty. May Allah make our hearts lighted with the lights of faith, with divine lights.
We are asking for divine lights, and divine lights never come to a heart which is engaged by this world. Whoever gives his heart to his Lord, hiş Lord sends His divine lights to his heart, because Allah Almighty always looks at our hearts, not looking at your hair, your turban, your moustache; no. If you are a black one, a white one, a brown one, a yellow one, a red one, hearts' colour is the same.
Allah Almighty looks at our hearts and asks, "My servant's heart - by whom is it engaged?" If He looks and finds in the heart of His servant Himself Almighty, then He sends lights. It is like an airport, with flights always coming down; then, in the hearts of such servants, angels are always coming, always coming. We say about Heathrow Airport that every two seconds one plane comes or one plane goes, but heavier traffic than this takes place in our hearts from angels. Angels are coming from the Divine Presence, landing on your heart - and your heart is not like this (gestures to show the form of a heart). This is only its physical shape; yes, just this. But our heart - Hu-u-u! - our Lord's Throne is in our heart; He chose the hearts of the Sons of Adam to be the place for His Throne. The whole universe is too narrow for Allah Almighty to be in it, but the hearts of the Sons of Adam are so wide; you can't see the side, you can't see the end, of the hearts of the Sons of Adam.
We do not know who we are; we do not know. We are ignorant people until Allah Almighty opens our hearts to us, giving us a key for opening, But if He is not pleased with you, He will not give you that key to open. You must make your Lord pleased with you, and when He is pleased with you, you are going to be pleased with Him.
Yes. We must be pleased with Him so that He may be pleased with us; then He will give us that, key for opening. Allah Almighty says, "Inna fatahna laka fathan mubina146." This was for the Prophet, p.b.u.h., but he asked whether it was for his ummah, also, or not; he always asked every honour that he was given for his nation as well. "Yes, if they go in your footsteps they have fathan mubina, also; they are not deprived or prevented from attaining that.
146 Truly, we have granted thee a clear opening (or, victory) (XLVIII:1)
Everything you have been given, o My beloved Muhammad, peace be upon you, is for your nation, also."
Then, when Allah Almighty looks at your heart and sees that it is engaged by anyone else but Himself, He is not pleased with you. When you give your heart to your Lord, His Throne is in your heart and Allah Almighty 'ala-l-'Arsh istawa147 - on that Throne you may see a divine manifestation, a divine appearance, specially, privately, for yourself. And likewise for everyone, because the manifestations, tajaliyat, of our Lord are endless, and He appears to every one of His servants according to their faith and love for Him.
Then, those angels are always coming, coming, in your heart, and your heart becomes lighted. Therefore, awliya say, if the lights in the heart of a mumin were to appear, there would be no darkness in all the universe; it would be filled with lights if the light of a single mumin's heart were to appear. But it has been kept in our hearts, sometimes giving off from your face. If you are walking in darkness, you may be seen as a figure of light passing through.
Therefore we are asking from our Lord a little bit of light so that we may see in front of us, where we are walking.
Link: https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6151
veryone would have carried a candle in his hand, but unlighted.
Everyone is created as a creation which can be lighted. If we take a piece of iron, it cannot be lighted, but a candle can be. And each one of the Sons of Adam, of mankind, is in a condition suitable for lighting.
In our time, those people who are carrying divine lights through the Prophet, p.b.u.h., are still in existence. Therefore we are in need to follow a holy person, to catch one of them, in order to acquire divine lights. And who is a holy person?
The one who is carrying divine lights, he is a holy person. Don't think that just anyone who is a scholar, who is a learned person or a religious figure, is a holy one. Particularly in our time, religious people are officials,
141 Has thou seen the one who takes his desires as his God? (XXV:43)
functionaries, and most official people can't be holy people and those who follow them are just following them officially. Therefore, official people can't give you holiness.
In Islam scholars and religious people are of two kinds. One kind are traditional scholars, officials. The second kind are holy people-heavenly people, heavenly scholars. They are carrying divine lights, and if you can follow them, you can take from them holiness and divine lights; otherwise you will remain in darkness here and Hereafter.
Therefore Allah Almighty says in the Holy Qur'an that on the Day of Resurrection those who have not obtained lights during this life will call to those people who are carrying lights, "O brothers, sisters! O believers! Stop for us and give us from your lights142." And they will be in darkness; they will not be able to see their way because they never asked for lights during this life.
If anyone asks for lights, he may be given. But don't ask for rubies from a grocery shop. You must know where they can be had and you can take them from the one who has them. Otherwise you will waste your life and go in darkness to darkness.
Therefore, every believer must follow a holy man.- If you can find a holy man among Christians, that is all right; if finding him among Jewish rabbis, that may be, also. The real aim is to find someone who has heavenly lights and he may give to you. Or you may find him among Muslims.
We are not saying that anyone is going to be a holy person, no, but holy people may be found among all people; in every part of this world, among every nation, you may find them. The aim, the main purpose is to find a holy person and take your light from him. Let him light your candle, whether you find him among Christians, among priests, among rabbis, among sheikhs.
Yes, if you find him, go and take.
But to find those holy people is so difficult, because religious people are mostly officials with diplomas; so proud of their diplomas, putting them here, showing people this. Therefore you can't find holiness among official religious people; no.
You may try. Try, and come and tell me. Come and say to me that I found an official; he is a holy man. And you are free. But if you can take lights from an official, it will be a strange thing.
142 See LVII:12–13
Yes, it is so difficult. But if you believe that on the Day of Resurrection there will be no sun nor moon - it will be a very dark day and everyone will need light on that day - don't be like those people who will go to the Day of Resurrection without getting nur, lights, from this life, and who will ask that day to get lights from those who have them. Here your not having lights may be hidden, but on the Day of Resurrection it will be clear who is carying lights. On that day every secret will appear.
This means that if a person is asking for heavenly lights, he must go where they are - must go and get them. Don't wait to go on the Day of Resurrection, and when you see the divine lights which people have, you say, "Give to us now." No. You must get your lights here; otherwise you will waste all your life and go away dark; without lights. The one who believes in the Last Day must look after himself here, now. That is what Allah Almighty is asking from His servants: to get lights and come to His Divine Presence.
Now, we are living in the last part of the period of ummata Muhammad, the nation of Muhammad, p.b.u.h. Therefore, everything is going to be easy and, at the same time, so difficult. Getting our light may be so close to us; if we turn like this we may find it. It is so easy but it is also so difficult because our ego, our nafs, never wants to turn its face in that direction but instead closes its eyes and says, "It is in that other direction," and runs after itself.
Therefore it is so easy and at the same time so difficult to acquire lights in our time.
When conditions are more difficult, Allah Almighty's mercy approaches His servants more. But we are running away; according to our egos and their desires, we are leaving what is near at hand and running after distant goals. It is easy, it is only one step; yet our egos will never agree with us to take that one step - so proud, our ego, saying, "You must follow Me." We are asking it to follow for only one step but it does not agree with us. If our nafs agrees to take one step with our soul, it may be caught. That trap will catch it; it can never go around it. Therefore, nafs, our ego, likes to escape.
That is important now. Don't say that perhaps only a very few people have lights, you can count them on your fingers. No worry; if all the holy people on earth are finished and you ask earnestly, from the Heavens, not an ordinary angel may come, but Allah Almighty may send Archangel Gabriel to take you from here to the Heavens.
Therefore, this is something relating to our desire for spiritual development. As much as we may be serious in asking lights from our Lord Almighty, it is going to be easier. But if you are a follower of your ego, you can't follow a holy man.
Leave your ego, leave your nafs, and come. Come! It is so easy. Then holiness will come upon you as a garment, your Lord dressing you. And the Lord Almighty, Allah, never leaves the Sons of Adam without holy people.
When all the prophets had come and gone, no more prophets, Allah Almighty made for the nation of Muhammad, p.b.u.h., as many holy people as anbiya, prophets. There were 124,000 anbiya; then Allah Almighty made for the nation of Muhammad, p.b.u.h., 124,000 holy people, awliya. They are on earth; one foot is on earth and one foot is in Heaven. That is a holy one! They are not those people who do not yet know how to walk on the earth; the one who is not yet able to walk on the earth and to walk on the seas cannot put his footstep into Heaven. The one who can walk on the seas, on the oceans - that is the one who puts his footstep in Heaven. That is the sign.
Don't ask, "Who is that?" You may know who he is. They have signs, but in our time they are keeping back their signs from showing to people; they are keeping back their powers, and the only signs are that you can find light and also you can be in satisfaction with them, you can feel refreshment with them. Yes; if they were walking around performing miracles, it would be a show and people would turn away, but if you can take that refreshment into your heart, into yourself, from a person, that is a holy man. Keep him.
May Allah give us from His divine lights. We are praying for that; but then, how can we find them? As much as you can be humble, you are going to find them easily. As much as you are proud of your worshipping, of your knowledge, you are going to be late in finding them ("late" means you will never find them if you are proud).
And when you find such a person, you must try to follow hin. Don't do anything without consultation. Consultation in everything is for those people who are like shadows for that holy man, who follow him like his shadow. But if a person is like us, he must agree to follow that holy person in three things. Important!
Whoever claims to be a follower of a holy person must at least ask him about three important questions. One is about marriage: when he is going to marry, he must ask his permission, must consult with him. Even after finding someone, he must bring her to his sheikh and say, "I would like to marry this one"; at least he must inform him.
And secondly, as a follower, he must ask if he is going to divorce. Before the official registration, before going to court for a divorce, you must consult about it with your sheikh or with your holy person.
And thirdly, for a long journey you must ask permission. Without permission, it is prohibited in our tariqah to move from one country to another; even for visiting your sheikh you must ask permission by phoning or writing, and if he gives permission you may come. For business, for visiting other countries, for pilgrimage, also, Hajj143, - yes, for all of them you must ask. If he gives permission it is all right, because he is not going to give permission by himself. He will ask from the Prophet, p.b.u.h., and he will ask from Allah Almighty.
HOW ONE MAY ATTAIN REAL PEACE
When is a person going to find peace within himself? That is the question; yes, that is the thing that our sister has in her heart.
Rivers run until they reach oceans, struggling, running, until reaching an ocean or a sea. Then - finished. And whoever asks to find peace within himself must also reach an ocean or a sea, or at least a lake - doesn't matter, because a lake is also firm in its place. But moving, struggling.
Therefore, everyone is running, every day; everyone, from morning to night or from night to morning, is running, struggling.
There are two ways in which a person may attain rest. One of them is through natural death. Until death, a person struggles. When he dies, his arms and legs are spread out, no more struggling. Depending on his station, he has reached peace.
Yet his peace by natural death is only for his physical body, but still he has not reached real peace in his spiritual life. Therefore we must ask for peace from both sides - for our physical bodies and our spiritual bodies. Our physical bodies are going to reach peace by death, natural death, when the body is going to be in peace, no movement, no struggling. But we must look after our soul, whether it has reached peace or not, whether struggling is still going on or not.
Therefore, the Prophet, p.b.u.h., says, "Mūtu qabl an tamutu144": that is what makes a person reach spiritual peace and satisfaction, real peace and satisfaction. Our physical body may die, but as yet we haven't reached our
143 Since to perform Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in a lifetime if possible is one of the five "pillars" or religious obligations prescribed by Islam, what is to be consulted about with one's guide is not wether to yo, since this is obligatory, but the advisability or going during a particular year or under particular circumstances
144 Die before you die. (Hadith)
spiritual peace. Therefore, the one who is asking for real peace within himself must try the ways of those who have reached real peace in their spiritual bodies, and the Prophet's advice to his nation, to ourselves, is to die before natural death comes upon us. ,
Only few people may be equal in their bodily peace and spiritual peace, because most people are destroying their spiritual peace by running after the physical body's peace, and it is impossible for a person, without reaching his spiritual peace, to reach bodily peace until natural death comes. But there is no benefit at that time: you are finding peace in your physical body but your spiritual body is still struggling and suffering. And then, from the day of one's death up to the Day of Resurrection in his hayat barzakhi, the intermediate life between the eternal life and this world's life, those troubles and struggles may continue. Perhaps it may continue even on the Day of Resurrection, and that may not be enough, also. He may be in Hell, struggling and suffering for a period until he reaches the Ocean he was given in pre- eternity.
Therefore, the most important thing that we must know concerns our absolute peace - when it is going to be. Until you reach that Ocean which Allah Almighty gave you in pre-eternity, you are going to struggle and suffer; and you may be in hell during this life and in the grave and on the Day of Resurrection, and then, finally, in Hell itself, also, because it is impossible to find peace without reaching your Homeland in that Ocean, and you are always running.
We are giving sufferings to ourselves because we are using wrong, wrong methods to acquire peace or to reach peace. Sometimes scientists are preparing a rocket to go up but it turns and falls back. So many people are using wrong methods, so that instead of going up, they are coming down - a crash landing, falling back. Only some small thing, even a simple wrong thing, may do that. Therefore we must be very careful, when we use a method, whether it is perfect or not.
We are trying to give a perfect method to everyone who is asking to reach peace, real peace, real satisfaction, and we mean to say that peace is everyone's destination. You may take a train from London up to Edinburgh and on your way there may be one hundred stations, and at each station some people get out because everyone knows his destination. If you get out before Edinburgh you will not be satisfied; you will say, "Oh, we came to some other place. This is not my destination." And if you get caught and remain in that station, you are going to suffer forever because you have reached a wrong destination.
Therefore, we must know our destination, and then we must take a ticket for that station, not before it and not after it; both kinds of those who lose their destinations suffer, here and Hereafter. Then, a person must do something to save himself from that first wrong station; he must do something, he must suffer long, in order to find a way back to his original destination. It is therefore terrible and dangerous for a person not to look out for his destination; he must look out for his destination and must use the right method to reach his destination. If not reaching his destination, he will not attain peace; he will never attain it.
And in our time, people are using so many wrong methods. They do not understand, or they do not even know, what is the beginning and what is the end; from where they are beginning and to where they are reaching, as a blind person never understands where he is or where he is going to be. And most important for a person throughout his life is a true guide.
A true guide can be known when your soul is in peace and satisfaction with a person. That is the sign, the real sign: to feel peace and satisfaction with him in your heart. If you are still in doubt, hesitant, it means that something is wrong with that person and you must look for another.
If your heart is not in peace with his method, you must not follow that way. There are so many ways. You must try for another one until you reach peace in your heart, so that it should be all right for you.
Then, this is the way to reach peace, to die before dying. This means that when you find a guide, you must be with him. You must not carry a different personality from his but must agree to be one with him, one unit. You can't carry another personality from your guide's; you must melt your personality in his personality and you must appear as himself. Then you will be all right.
Once a person came to a grandsheikh and knocked at his door. The grandsheikh asked, "Who is there?".
. "Ibrāhim," the man said. "It is I." (I, I, I - always saying "I.")
"I?" the grandsheikh said. "My place is only for one, not for two.Go away."
And that person went away. After one year he tried again, coming and knocking at the door. "Who is there?" the grandsheikh asked.
"You, you."
"If you are saying 'You,' now you may come in."
Therefore, the first condition for a person who is asking to reach real peace is that he must give himself, all that he is carrying, to put into his guide. His guide can take it and carry it. When you are going to be in your guide, that is the way to reach your destination.
There is an airplane. It can hold one hundred or two hundred or three hundred passengers, but when it flies you can see only one jet plane. You do not see five hundred persons inside; you can see only that it is a plane, flying. The plane is taking all those people into itself, finished. Therefore, when you take a guide to your destination, you can be in him; you can give yourself, your selfhood. You must consider yourself as a drop. Then it reaches its ocean and no more drop - finished; you leave that drop and are going to be an ocean.
That is peace. When that drop falls into the ocean, can you take it out, can you find it? Finished; it is all ocean. Therefore, peace is not to be found without leaving your drop in that ocean. And your guide' may be a lake or he may be a sea, but they run into oceans, also.
That is important, to say "Die before you die"; that is the meaning of how we can die before the natural death145. You give your personality to your guide; you throw your personality into your guide's personality and then you say, "I am no longer in existence, finished." When you look at your guide you see yourself in him and when he looks at you, he looks at himself, and we - we reached our spiritual peace.
You may find it during your short lifetime in this life. But if you do not use true, correct methods and you go wrong, you will always go far away from peace. Instead of running toward oceans, you will be running toward deserts. Therefore, anyone who thinks about peace and happiness and satisfaction and pleasure and endless enjoyment must look after his spiritual life's peace, and this is impossible for a person if he does not find an ocean and run into it, because our egos are always too proud to surrender.
That is the most difficult proposition that can be made to our nafs; the most difficult thing for the nafs is to put its personality aside and agree to be with another's. It holds onto its personality very strongly, never liking to lose it. Therefore, we are fighting.
145 See VI:122: "Is the one who was dead and then We brought him back to life, and made for him a light with which to walk among men, like the one who is in darkness from which he cannot emerge?"
Between our souls and our egos a fight is raging, our souls wanting to reach that Ocean and our egos saying, "No!" It is like a bottle containing water, which is thrown into the ocean. The water wants to reach the ocean but the bottle prevents it. And our nafs is just like that bottle, never' agreeing to be broken and to be nothing, and to let that water go into the ocean. Therefore quarreling and fighting are going on between our soul and nafs. The one who may be successful in defeating his ego and making it agree to take the same personality as his guide is happy and has reached final peace - real peace, eternal peace, eternal happiness and eternal existence.
We are happy or we take enjoyment from our existence. The greatest grant of our Lord to us is existence, but real existence can be gained only when we give up our false existence or being. If we give up our fani, transitory, temporary, existence, we may acquire permanent existence. As much as we hold on to it so strongly, not agreeing to give it up, it is difficult to reach the permanent and real existence.
Therefore, we must try to reach our destination, and the one who reaches his destination has truly reached real existence, eternal existence. And you must give this life in return for eternal life, in exchange for eternal existence. As much as we hold on to this temporary existence, real existence departs. Then natural death takes that temporary existence from us. But it may still be a long way for us yet to travel, a way of suffering to reach eternal existence - through the grave and the Day of Resurrection or in Hell so that we can reach the ultimate existence. But if you agree here, during this life, to use true methods that come from our Lord to His servants, it is the easiest and most simple way to reach real peace.
We are living during a time in which there are hundreds and thousands, maybe millions, of ways, but they are altogether wrong ways, ways of suffering, perhaps taking people to a wrong destination, bringing them to wrong stations and saying, "This is yours." And then that person takes out his address book and looks here, looks there, but, no - wrong! In our time there are millions of wrong ways.
Therefore, the one who is asking seriously about his destination must be serious about his guide and his guidance; otherwise his life is going to be full of sufferings. And those sufferings will continue after he leaves his physical body because such sufferings belong to our souls, and the soul is going to suffer because he has never reached his Ocean. Until he reaches it, he must pass through so many canals or wrong courses.
This is so important for anyone who is not drunk, since people now in our time are mostly drunk, not only by drinking liquor and wine, no; but most of them are drinking and are drunk on this world's life, for this temporary life's
works and deeds and problems and troubles. Problems of livelihood are particularly making people preoccupied by heavy conditions, and then they are like drunk people, with no time to look after themselves because they are struggling, they are fighting; no time for millions to ask for a guide.
Therefore, up to the end, their troubles continue, and when they die their bodily struggle is finished, their physical bodies are in peace, but not yet their souls. Their souls cannot reach peace and happiness; therefore their troubles and sufferings continue after death, also, until they reach their real destinations in the Divine Presence.
Allah knows best how a person may reach his destination after death, also, when he sees that he has disembarked at a wrong station. Then people are running like this, running like that, to find a way to get out, but it is not easy. Therefore, take your care as much as you can during this life, if you are not drunk; if drunk, you can't take care, you can't look after anything.
You may ask from your Lord: "O my Lord, I am asking from You. I am asking a guide to reach you, the Ocean of Oceans. I am asking for You." Ask from your Lord sincerely. When you ask sincerely, He may send you one of His beloved servants to take you to your destination.
REST IN OUR HEARTS
When a person feels restful, in comfort, he may be able to follow everything easily.
Now we are sitting restfully, but rest is in our hearts; it is not something related to sitting on a throne or in a comfortable place. When your heart feels rest and comfort, then, if you are sitting on a stone, if you are sitting in prison, if you are sitting on fire, no worry - doesn't matter.
What gives comfort to people? Their hearts. And people now are leaving their hearts; most people are interested in their physical bodies and physical pleasures, and all the prophets, from the beginning up to the end, just came to arrange our hearts. They are the engineers of hearts. No one else can look after hearts except the prophets and their inheritors, the awliya.
THE LIGHTS OF A MUMIN'S FAITH
Allah Almighty gives us sufficient honour through this holy month, and we are saying, "Alhamdulillah, thanks to Allah Almighty."
It is a grant granted by Allah Almighty to us. Among millions of people, we have been chosen to be here and to listen to the holy words that are granted to us by our Lord Almighty. May Allah make our hearts lighted with the lights of faith, with divine lights.
We are asking for divine lights, and divine lights never come to a heart which is engaged by this world. Whoever gives his heart to his Lord, hiş Lord sends His divine lights to his heart, because Allah Almighty always looks at our hearts, not looking at your hair, your turban, your moustache; no. If you are a black one, a white one, a brown one, a yellow one, a red one, hearts' colour is the same.
Allah Almighty looks at our hearts and asks, "My servant's heart - by whom is it engaged?" If He looks and finds in the heart of His servant Himself Almighty, then He sends lights. It is like an airport, with flights always coming down; then, in the hearts of such servants, angels are always coming, always coming. We say about Heathrow Airport that every two seconds one plane comes or one plane goes, but heavier traffic than this takes place in our hearts from angels. Angels are coming from the Divine Presence, landing on your heart - and your heart is not like this (gestures to show the form of a heart). This is only its physical shape; yes, just this. But our heart - Hu-u-u! - our Lord's Throne is in our heart; He chose the hearts of the Sons of Adam to be the place for His Throne. The whole universe is too narrow for Allah Almighty to be in it, but the hearts of the Sons of Adam are so wide; you can't see the side, you can't see the end, of the hearts of the Sons of Adam.
We do not know who we are; we do not know. We are ignorant people until Allah Almighty opens our hearts to us, giving us a key for opening, But if He is not pleased with you, He will not give you that key to open. You must make your Lord pleased with you, and when He is pleased with you, you are going to be pleased with Him.
Yes. We must be pleased with Him so that He may be pleased with us; then He will give us that, key for opening. Allah Almighty says, "Inna fatahna laka fathan mubina146." This was for the Prophet, p.b.u.h., but he asked whether it was for his ummah, also, or not; he always asked every honour that he was given for his nation as well. "Yes, if they go in your footsteps they have fathan mubina, also; they are not deprived or prevented from attaining that.
146 Truly, we have granted thee a clear opening (or, victory) (XLVIII:1)
Everything you have been given, o My beloved Muhammad, peace be upon you, is for your nation, also."
Then, when Allah Almighty looks at your heart and sees that it is engaged by anyone else but Himself, He is not pleased with you. When you give your heart to your Lord, His Throne is in your heart and Allah Almighty 'ala-l-'Arsh istawa147 - on that Throne you may see a divine manifestation, a divine appearance, specially, privately, for yourself. And likewise for everyone, because the manifestations, tajaliyat, of our Lord are endless, and He appears to every one of His servants according to their faith and love for Him.
Then, those angels are always coming, coming, in your heart, and your heart becomes lighted. Therefore, awliya say, if the lights in the heart of a mumin were to appear, there would be no darkness in all the universe; it would be filled with lights if the light of a single mumin's heart were to appear. But it has been kept in our hearts, sometimes giving off from your face. If you are walking in darkness, you may be seen as a figure of light passing through.
Therefore we are asking from our Lord a little bit of light so that we may see in front of us, where we are walking.
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