Mercy Oceans, Book 10 (239 pages, 18/21)
https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6152
If you are asking to follow the Prophet's steps and you are sincere in your intention, you may find light in the footsteps of the Prophet, p.b.u.h. If those who have lights in their hearts look at the places where each prophet has walked, in their footsteps there is light, nur.
For awliya, also. Once people sent Sultan al-'Arifin Abu Yazid al-Bistāmī, may Allah bless him, from his town to the capital, and they said things that were not good about him; because sometimes awliya are speaking about Reality. The outside view is one thing, but when you enter inside, there is a new view; the inside view is not like the outside one. Therefore, those who go inside see something and sometimes they may speak about it. Then the outward-looking people say, "Oh, what are you saying? We never saw, we never heard of such a thing! From where is this? We do not accept it".
Therefore, in Abu Yazid's time, also, scholars accused him of being a heretic. They put chains on his feet and sent him to the capital for the sultān to execute him, to cut off his head. And he was walking along slowly because of the chains.
That night the sultān dreamed that the Prophet, p.b.u.h., said to him, "O Sultan, now Sultan al-'Arifin is coming, from among my ummah. He is on the way, coming to your palace. You must go and receive him and bring him
147 is established upon the Throne. (XX:5)
here. You must respect him as you would receive and respect 124,000 prophets, including myself."
Then the sultan got up from his bed and ordered two horses, and let the horses go into the dark night. In the darkness he saw a lighted figure approaching. When the sultan reached it and saw a person coming with his feet in chains, he quickly broke those chains, giving his respects to Abu Yazid and taking him by horse back to the palace. And he put him to rest.
The sultan sent away the guards and he himself guarded Sultan al-'Arifin. Then, after one hour - knock-knock-knock, knock-knock-knock, knock-knock- knock, so many people came. "Who are you?" the sultan asked.
They said, "We are murids, students, of Abu Yazid." "How did you know to come here?"
"O Guardian, o Sultan, you are asking such a question? How did you see him?"
"I saw him as a lighted figure."
"We saw lights where had walked and followed his lighted footsteps. We saw that the light of those footsteps finished here and we know that he is here, our grandsheikh.".
It is enough. May Allah give us from His divine lights so that our hearts and our bodies will be in light.
MAKING OUR HEARTS SUITABLE FOR OUR LORD ALMIGHTY
May Allah Almighty teach us good manners. We are in need of that. Because we are going to His Divine Presence, we must have good manners. If no good manners, you can't enter the Divine Presence.
Satan had so much knowledge, so much worshipping, but no good manners. Then he was cast aside. Therefore we are asking from our Lord humbly, humbly, to grant us good manners. And Allah Almighty sent His prophets, all of them, with good manners, and the most excellent one for good manners was the one who said, "Addabni Rabbi fa-ahsana tadibi148" - the Seal of the Prophets, Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h. We can acquire excellent good
148 My Lord trained me in the most excellent good manners. (Hadith)
manners from Muhammad, p.b.u.h., Allah Almighty making him the most excellent example for the Sons of Adam in everything.
Therefore, the one who can acquire good manners, adab, is going to be in peace during this life and the eternal life. On the Day of Resurrection, no discussion, no argument, with him, all the doors opening for him to enter. Therefore argument is no good, neither among ourselves, nor between you and the prophets, nor between you and your Lord Almighty, because the one who is accustomed to arguing, his argument will go up to his Lord Almighty. Therefore we must stop argument.
My Grandsheikh, may Allah bless him, said, "O my son, don't argue with anyone. Even though you may be in the right, don't argue, because argument extinguishes the light of faith." Therefore the Holy Qur'an, the Glorious Qur'an, says, "Lakum dinukum wa lia din149."
“Don't argue," Allah Almighty says to the Prophet, p.b.u.h. "If people accept, they may accept. If not accepting, don't argue." Through argument no one accepts anything; no. "I never force My servants," says Allah Almighty. He gave us will, will power, so that, "O My servants, you are free to do as you like, but you will never do as you like except as I like. But I give you freedom through your will. As you like, go ahead. Don't force."
Allah does not force us. We are free in our actions. If a person accepts your way, you may tell him about it. If not accepting, leave him alone. Even with the Prophet, p.b.u.h., although he brought heavenly powers, miraculous powers, from his Lord in his hand, yet Abu Jahl, who was the imam of kufr, the leader of the disbelievers, never accepted, and the Prophet never had an argument with him; he left him alone. But whoever came to the Prophet, p.b.u.h., asking about haqq, about Reality, the unchangeable realities - if asking, no one left the Prophet's presence without faith. Whoever asked for something, the Prophet had to give, but to those who did not ask, closed-up people, nothing was given. They said that our hearts are locked up150; they meant to say that no matter how much you may talk, it will never come in, locked. But the one who comes open may take everything from the Prophet, p.b.u.h., and from the awliya.
Therefore, in our time you may meet all kinds of people. They may object to you, but don't argue with them. If someone asks, give him; if not asking and rejecting you, leave him alone. Allah Almighty said to His Prophet, p.b.u.h., "O My beloved Muhammad, you are going to destroy yourself because of
149 To you your religion, and to me mine. (CLX:6)
150 See XLI:5 and XLVII:24; also II:7, XLV:23, and many other verses of the same purport
those people who do not believe in you or in Me, but don't do that151. Leave them. You must give to whomever asks from you; if they do not ask, don't give. To those who take, you may give. Those who do not take, leave them. Don't argue with them."
And in our time so many people are arguing with each other. They may be friends but when they argue they become enemies. What is the benefit? No. "O my brother, you believe in that way; keep your belief. You are going to your Lord's Presence. I am free, also, to believe or to refuse. My beliefs are these. If you accept them, it is all right. If not accepting, I am not going to believe as you believe. 'Lakun dinukum wa lia din' - your faith to you, my faith to me; your beliefs to you, my beliefs to me.
"And you and I, our destination is the same. If you believe in Him, I believe in Him, also. One day we will return to Allah Almighty, to His Divine Presence. And we have been informed that when we return to His Divine Presence, He will ask us, "What did you bring?' And you may tell what you brought to Him, and He will look at what you brought and will also look at what I brought to His Divine Presence.
"We must know what Allah Almighty is asking from everyone - when He will gather everyone in His Divine Presence, what He will ask from them; we must know it so that when He asks we may, give it. 'I made this ready,' you may say. It is not something to make an argument, to make a quarrel, to make a fight about among us here. Important is to make ready that thing which Allah Almighty will ask from you, from us, from everyone.
"You may claim anything during this life; you may say, 'I am on the right path.' Yes, continue.. We shall see you, and everyone will see himself, on the Day of Resurrection when the scales are balanced. Then Allah Almighty will address you: 'O My servant, come. Give Me what you have brought.'" He is asking from His servant the best thing, and we must present to Him Almighty our best, not simply anything that is going to be available; no. The most excellent manners that the Prophet, p.b.u.h., taught his nation was to bring into the Divine Presence to present to their Lord their best - the best thing that they may take from here to His Divine Presence.
We are here, quarreling, fighting, arguing: Muslims, Christians, Jews, everyone; every madhhab, school of thought, and every tariqat, Sufi order, or other groups. We say, "I am the best." You say, "No, I am the first one." He says, "I am the first one, I am the best one."
151 See, for example, XVIII:6 and related verses such as XXXVI: 76 which speak of the Holy Prophet's grief at the rejection of Allah's Message by the unbelievers
Those claims never give benefit. You may understand this when the Last Day comes and you are in the Divine Presence. Therefore the Seal of the Prophets, p.b.u.h., taught his ummah to make ready their best thing for Allah Almighty. And the best thing is qalbun salim: qalbun salim, the golden, golden heart, the pure, pure heart. That is what Allah Almighty is asking. And all our actions are only means, not ends. The end is qalbun salim, to bring to the Divine Presence a pure heart.
Do, don't argue! Use every means to make your heart a pure heart, that Allah Almighty may give you from His divine lights and illuminate it so that your heart is going to be the Throne of your Lord Almighty. The hearts of the Sons of Adam were chosen by their Lord to be His Throne because they are the deputies of Allah Almighty, and He gave them such a heart that if the whole universe is thrown into it, it will be lost, becoming such a small thing compared to the wideness of our hearts. Therefore, Allah Almighty chose our hearts to be for Him.
Imam Ghazālī, Muhammad al-Ghazali, may Allah bless him, was a "king- sized" scholar and also a "king-sized" wali. He is a well-known scholar in the Muslim world and in Western countries, also; in many Western universities there are chairs for his teachings. He stated in his books that no one can put a limit on knowledge. Only our understanding or our capacity is within limits, but there are no limits for knowledge because knowledge goes on and on, and ends in the main source from which it came. Knowledge is a grant from Allah Almighty to His servants, and as much as He is pleased with His servants, He is going to grant them more and more..
Therefore, don't suppose that knowledge is only written in books; no. That knowledge which is written in books is concentrated in the hearts of the obedient servants of our Lord Almighty. You may carry a seed, a little seed, but you can't carry that big tree. Therefore the concentrated knowledges. which Allah Almighty grants to His sincere and beloved servants is never- ending, and it is impossible to write it all and finish.
"Qul: Lau kana-l-bahru midādan li-kalimati Rabbi, la-nạfida-l-bahru qabla an tanfada kalimatu Rabbi, wa lau jina bi-mithlihi madada152" - that is a verse explaining something about our Lord's knowledge. As an example, Allah Almighty says that if all the oceans were to be ink for writing down the knowledge of your Lord, those oceans would be finished, and if you brought
152 Say 10 Muhammad): 'If the ocean were ink for the words of my Lord, the ocean would be exhausted before the words of my Lord were exhausted, even if we added the like of it for its aid."" (XVIII:109)
another ocean it would not be enough, also. It means that because limited things cannot write unlimitedly, our mental capacities are within limits. But our spiritual powers extend on and on.
Therefore Allah Almighty grants to His awliya such knowledge that, if anyone were sitting and telling about it, it would be impossible to write everything.
Sayyidina 'Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "O people, if I were to sit here and talk about the meanings of al-Fatehah, the Surah of Opening consisting of seven verses, I could say so much about the meanings of those seven verses that you could load one hundred camels with books and it would not be finished."
We say that we are scholars, very knowing people. One hundred camels - how would they enter this place? Full-up, yes? Therefore, we must know that we have been given something, but, as our Lord says, "Wa ma utitun nina l- 'ilmi illa qalila153" – O people, don't be proud of your knowledge; as much as you may have been given, it is only a little. It will always be like a drop in an endless ocean, or in endless oceans. Don't suppose that you have been given so much. No, you have been given within limits, always.
Therefore Imam al-Ghazālī, may Allah bless him, was saying, "Why do I say a thing like this154?" Because there are some people who argue with such a thing; if a person does not know, he says, "We do not accept that.' Instead you may say, 'This is the limit of knowledge which I have reached,' and you must leave the matter for someone else with more knowledge. As Allah Almighty says, 'Wa fauqa kulli dhi-'ilmin 'alim155,'over every scholar there may be one more knowledgeable than himself."
Imam al-Ghazali said that if a dead person is carried in a coffin, people putting it on their shoulders or carrying it like this with their hands or carrying it by car - during his journey to his grave, Allah Almighty will ask that person forty questions, without using any interpreter. And he said that one of the questions which Allah Almighty will ask is, "O My servant, you always used to make your outward appearance elegant, so smart" - everything is all right, looking like this, like that; ladies and gentlemen, all of them making themselves look good. "You did that for My servants because they looked at your outward appearance. Yes. Did you ever think about Me, that I was looking at your heart - to make it suitable, the best, for My gaze? Did you ever think about that point?"
153 And you have not been given of knowledge excepting a little (XVII:85)
154 Refers to his earlier statement that no one can put a limit on knowledge; rather it is our capacity to grasp and to comprehend which is limited
155 And above each possessor of knowledge is a knower (of more) (XII:76)
That is the first question that Allah Almighty will ask His servants. You work hard; you work hard. When Allah Almighty asks you, "What about for Me? Any ornaments for Me on your heart?" what will be your answer, you may know. Yes, it is important. And it is enough for anyone who may think about himself.
QALBUN SALĪM, THE PURE HEART
"Allahumna, alhimnā rushdana, wa a'idhna min shurruri anfusina 156 - this is the Prophet's prayer, asking from Allah Almighty and teaching us. If a person has even a little bit of mind, he can understand that that word, that saying, that prayer, could never come except from a prophet. And who is a prophet? We shall see what is coming down from our "Spiritual Centre."
Who is a prophet - you or I or he? No. A prophet is one of the Sons of Adam in his physical form but he is completely different from the inside.
He must be, because a prophet must have a relationship to the Heavens; if the wires are broken, he can't bring tidings of the Heavens.
The one who brings tidings of the Heavens is going to be a prophet. And our Prophet, Muhammad, p.b.u.h., the Seal of the Prophets, is the last one: by creation he is the first one but in the order of his coming among people he is the last; he is the first of the prophets by creation but in relation to when he was sent he is the last one. The first must be perfect and the last must also be perfect. Yes; that perfect one must be at the first and must also be at the last so that all the other prophets may be kept between the two powers.
And he is the most perfect one, also, because his prophethood, his absolute prophethood, is for all time and for all space. And all the prophets are students of the Seal of the Prophets, p.b.u.h., because our Prophet has been given "ulumu-l-awwalin wa-l-akhirin, the knowledge of the first and of the last.
That is the proof that the Last Prophet, beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., was given knowledge which extends from the beginning of creation up to his death, as well as from his own time up to the end - the knowledge of what was before and after himself. When man was created, when creation was just taking place and creatures were being created, that knowledge about them, and after him, also, he was given.
156 Our Lord, inspire us with your guidance, and we take refuge (with You) from the evils of our egos." (Du'a, supplication, of the Prophet)
Therefore, every one of the prophets was given something of knowledge; other prophets were given it before the Last Prophet came. And he was sent at the end of our period, the period of the Sons of Adam, when the last period of the time of this world had arrived and the Last Day was approaching. And because his time is the most difficult time, he is Nabi al- Akhir Zaman, the Prophet of the End-time.
We are not philosophers to speculate that there will be millions of years more for this world. Rather it is going to end, our period in this world, because for every beginning there is going to be an ending. But even if Muhammad's period were to go on after our time, also, even for millions or billions of years, his prophethood would be over people like the skies.
No one can pass above the skies' space; always we see that covering us, on us, over us. Therefore, although the minds of people and their knowledge may improve, no matter how much they may be able to know or to become more intelligent or intellectual, they are still on earth. The Heavens are over them; the earth down, the Heavens up. Therefore, as much as peoples' knowledge or technology may improve, it is still impossible to reach the Heavens. The Heavens are something else. They are not a material thing. no; they are something else.
In the same way, our Prophet's, beloved Muhammad's, prophethood is absolute, and even if the world goes on for a billion years, we will be in need of keeping his method and ways and Sunnah for reaching the Heavens, the divine territory. That science is not suitable, just as our bodies are not suitable.
We have been given authority to reach the Heavens through our spiritual power. Although you can't reach them through science, you can reach them through spiritual authority. And spiritual authority has been given through the prophets, not through scholars and scientists and technology.
And the last one, the perfect one, beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., is inviting people, "O people, come and take your authority" - yes, calling, inviting. "Come and take authority for reaching." But people are drunk, heedless - heedless. They are drinking the wines of dunya, the wines of Satan, the wines and spirits of ego, their heads turning. They can't look up, always sitting down below, saying, "This is a good place, full of wine. Drink and sleep here! No need to get up."
Each of the prophets, peace be upon them all, called and invited people: "Take your authority, or take your ticket, and go. Take your invitation and go into the Divine Presence." And the last one, also. He came with universal, absolute prophethood; he called not only Arabs or Turks or Eastern people,
but his prophethood is for all people, for all the Sons of Adan. "O people, come here. Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Confucians - come here. Take your authority and go." Don't say, "I am a Christian, I am Jewish. What about my Heavens?" The Prophet is inviting all people to reach their stations in the Divine Presence.
We recited a du'a, a supplication, at the beginning. The Prophet, p.b.u.h., was indicating something important in that du'a, "Allahumma, alhimna rushdanā, wa a'idhnā min shurruri anfusinā." That is a key for people, taking them to the way of the Heavens. You can understand that our Prophet is teaching all people and that he knows everyone's secret, the secret of the Sons of Adam. He knows their situation very well, and he is the chief one who knows perfectly how to arrange our inner lives for reaching the Heavens.
By this du'a he is indicating to us that firstly, o people, you must know that you have a friend. Your friend is a never-leaving friend. It is your nafs, your ego, and you must know about that ego, your nafs.
You must know that it is the source of evil. If you don't know what a person is, you are never going to keep yourself from his traps. Therefore, you must know about your ego and you must ask protection from it from your Lord, Allah Almighty. If you do not ask protection from your Lord Almighty, by yourself it is impossible to keep the sharr, evil, of your ego from harming you.
And secondly, you must ask your Lord Almighty to give you from His divine inspirations to your heart, to make you hear His divine inspirations, because the divine addressing is always going on. Now, there are some stations broadcasting the Holy Qur'an twenty-four hours a day; at any time you open them you may listen. Just like that, Allah Almighty's "broadcasting" from the Heavens is coming among people - in the East, in the West, in London, in Mecca, in Medina, in Istanbul, in Baghdad, in Syria, anywhere you may be. In the Pacific Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean's depths, in deserts - everywhere you may be able to hear that divine or heavenly broadcasting.
But we have some new stations here in London called pirate radio, broadcasting but people cannot understand. Who does that? Some stations come in and prevent people from listening, also during wartime coming and jamming. You cannot understand what they are saying, if they say "Go straight," you understand "Go back."
If you do not guard your most precious organ, your heart, then Satan comes and makes too much noise in it, so that you can't understand anything, you can't hear. If you are even listening to your heart, at least you must hear that your heart is saying, "Allah-Allah-Allah-Allah"; if anyone is able to listen, he
must hear that his heart is going on with dhikr: "Allan-Allah-Allah." Without dhikr, without tasbih, glorification, our hearts cannot work. Don't suppose that blood makes our hearts to work. No; that dhikr does.
If you leave your heart without guarding it, then Satan and his volunteers come and make an assembly inside, making more noise in it than a discotheque, so big an assembly. If no one is inside and no guardian, they enter. Then how can you hear the divine broadcasting?
Therefore the Prophet, p.b.u.h., says, "Ask from your Lord. His heavenly broadcasting may come to you, making you to hear." But you must put a guardian to guard your heart. .
The most precious organ of a person is his heart - and we are leaving it without a guardian. When you say "Allah-Allah" in your heart, angels come for protection; then Satan and his volunteers cannot approach you. And therefore purification is the first fard, command, of Allah Almighty. He is asking, "O My servant, make your heart clean and pure; make it pure because I am coming." He does not walk; no need to walk, to sit, to get up. But He says, "I am in a pure heart, a clean heart; I am there. Whoever is asking for Me, Where is my Lord?' he may find me in pure and clean hearts. I am there."
Therefore the Prophet, the Seal of the Prophets, p.b.u.h., taught all the Sons of Adan, "O Sons of Adam, leave d'awat ananiyah157 - leave egotism, leave off claiming anything, saying, "I am this one, I am that one. I am a bishop, I am a patriarch, I am a pope, I am a priest, I am a sheikh, I am a scholar, I am a big man." Don't claim anything. It is not acceptable,
Allah Almighty is asking from you a golden heart; He means a clean and pure heart. He is asking His servants to cleanse and make pure their hearts because He is going to be there. No claiming that we are Christians, we are Muslims, we are Jews. Allah Almighty is asking from everyone, from every kind of person who is claiming anything, "Where is your clean heart? It is not enough to say that I am Muslim, I am a sheikh; I am a Christian, I am a pope; I am..., and so on. I am asking you, "Did you prepare for Me, did you clean your heart and make it pure for Me, or not?" That is one question; don't have so many questions. It is one question only: "Where is your heart for Me? I am saying that I am with you "
Therefore, we must know about our Prophet and about his prophethood, and for what it is the absolute prophethood, because from the Sons of Adam is wanted, wanted by their Lord, a clean and pure heart, not anything else,
157 Calling attention to or making claims concerning oneself; self-aggrandizement
"Yauma la yanfa'u malun wa la banun, illa man ata-Llaha bi-qalbin salim158”. this verse says that Allah Almighty will ask you, "Where is qalbun salim, the golden heart, the pure heart, the clean heart, made ready for Me - where is it?" On the Day of Resurrection, the Judgment Day, He will ask it from everyone.
Everyone must think about himself and he must think about his Lord Almighty: to where is my Lord coming to me? Coming to my heart. Make it clean and pure. And we have means. If a person wants to wash his hands and his body, there are now so many soaps and shampoos; so many shampoos - apple shampoos, egg shampoos, banana shampoos. (I am understanding that they are for drinking; for what are they saying "Apple Shampoo"?) Yes, they are using so many kinds. For what? For washing, for cleaning? But for the heart - no means, nothing? Or we must drink?
Therefore, everything needs some means, and all the prophets just came to teach people how they may be able to prepare their hearts, to make them clean and pure. And fasting is one of the strongest means for making our hearts pure and clean. It is a short time, only one month, and three weeks have already gone; now we have only one-and-a-half weeks left. We must take as much as we may be able from the barakah of this holy month, and ask from Allah Almighty to give us the means to act for the sake of His love only.
ATTAINING PERFECTION DURING THIS LIFE
In our life there is no long time; all of it is a short time. Even one year is a short time because during this life everything is short. What is long is endless.
Therefore it is a good tidings for the Sons of Adam to know that it is a short life and that everything that comes to them of either happiness or of troubles must be ended. On the one hand, it is a warning, and on the other, it is a good tiding for those people who have troubles in their lives, and troubles may be of any kind. The one who knows that they are not going to continue forever, that they must be ended, who knows that troubles, also, are going to be of short duration, finishing, is the one who makes his troubles tasteful.
158 The Day on which neither wealth nor sons will be of benefit, but only that one who brings to Allah a sound heart." (XXVI:88-89)
It only makes troubles long from our side because we are without patience; that makes time long, and for good things, for the greed of the nafs, for asking for more, it makes it shorter. Maybe our egos are saying, "This is too long," and at the same time, "That is too short," but ordinarily all dunya is a short time. And we are in need to be patient in our lives. The one who can be patient during his life, his life is going to be sweet or tasteful, be
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If you are asking to follow the Prophet's steps and you are sincere in your intention, you may find light in the footsteps of the Prophet, p.b.u.h. If those who have lights in their hearts look at the places where each prophet has walked, in their footsteps there is light, nur.
For awliya, also. Once people sent Sultan al-'Arifin Abu Yazid al-Bistāmī, may Allah bless him, from his town to the capital, and they said things that were not good about him; because sometimes awliya are speaking about Reality. The outside view is one thing, but when you enter inside, there is a new view; the inside view is not like the outside one. Therefore, those who go inside see something and sometimes they may speak about it. Then the outward-looking people say, "Oh, what are you saying? We never saw, we never heard of such a thing! From where is this? We do not accept it".
Therefore, in Abu Yazid's time, also, scholars accused him of being a heretic. They put chains on his feet and sent him to the capital for the sultān to execute him, to cut off his head. And he was walking along slowly because of the chains.
That night the sultān dreamed that the Prophet, p.b.u.h., said to him, "O Sultan, now Sultan al-'Arifin is coming, from among my ummah. He is on the way, coming to your palace. You must go and receive him and bring him
147 is established upon the Throne. (XX:5)
here. You must respect him as you would receive and respect 124,000 prophets, including myself."
Then the sultan got up from his bed and ordered two horses, and let the horses go into the dark night. In the darkness he saw a lighted figure approaching. When the sultan reached it and saw a person coming with his feet in chains, he quickly broke those chains, giving his respects to Abu Yazid and taking him by horse back to the palace. And he put him to rest.
The sultan sent away the guards and he himself guarded Sultan al-'Arifin. Then, after one hour - knock-knock-knock, knock-knock-knock, knock-knock- knock, so many people came. "Who are you?" the sultan asked.
They said, "We are murids, students, of Abu Yazid." "How did you know to come here?"
"O Guardian, o Sultan, you are asking such a question? How did you see him?"
"I saw him as a lighted figure."
"We saw lights where had walked and followed his lighted footsteps. We saw that the light of those footsteps finished here and we know that he is here, our grandsheikh.".
It is enough. May Allah give us from His divine lights so that our hearts and our bodies will be in light.
MAKING OUR HEARTS SUITABLE FOR OUR LORD ALMIGHTY
May Allah Almighty teach us good manners. We are in need of that. Because we are going to His Divine Presence, we must have good manners. If no good manners, you can't enter the Divine Presence.
Satan had so much knowledge, so much worshipping, but no good manners. Then he was cast aside. Therefore we are asking from our Lord humbly, humbly, to grant us good manners. And Allah Almighty sent His prophets, all of them, with good manners, and the most excellent one for good manners was the one who said, "Addabni Rabbi fa-ahsana tadibi148" - the Seal of the Prophets, Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h. We can acquire excellent good
148 My Lord trained me in the most excellent good manners. (Hadith)
manners from Muhammad, p.b.u.h., Allah Almighty making him the most excellent example for the Sons of Adam in everything.
Therefore, the one who can acquire good manners, adab, is going to be in peace during this life and the eternal life. On the Day of Resurrection, no discussion, no argument, with him, all the doors opening for him to enter. Therefore argument is no good, neither among ourselves, nor between you and the prophets, nor between you and your Lord Almighty, because the one who is accustomed to arguing, his argument will go up to his Lord Almighty. Therefore we must stop argument.
My Grandsheikh, may Allah bless him, said, "O my son, don't argue with anyone. Even though you may be in the right, don't argue, because argument extinguishes the light of faith." Therefore the Holy Qur'an, the Glorious Qur'an, says, "Lakum dinukum wa lia din149."
“Don't argue," Allah Almighty says to the Prophet, p.b.u.h. "If people accept, they may accept. If not accepting, don't argue." Through argument no one accepts anything; no. "I never force My servants," says Allah Almighty. He gave us will, will power, so that, "O My servants, you are free to do as you like, but you will never do as you like except as I like. But I give you freedom through your will. As you like, go ahead. Don't force."
Allah does not force us. We are free in our actions. If a person accepts your way, you may tell him about it. If not accepting, leave him alone. Even with the Prophet, p.b.u.h., although he brought heavenly powers, miraculous powers, from his Lord in his hand, yet Abu Jahl, who was the imam of kufr, the leader of the disbelievers, never accepted, and the Prophet never had an argument with him; he left him alone. But whoever came to the Prophet, p.b.u.h., asking about haqq, about Reality, the unchangeable realities - if asking, no one left the Prophet's presence without faith. Whoever asked for something, the Prophet had to give, but to those who did not ask, closed-up people, nothing was given. They said that our hearts are locked up150; they meant to say that no matter how much you may talk, it will never come in, locked. But the one who comes open may take everything from the Prophet, p.b.u.h., and from the awliya.
Therefore, in our time you may meet all kinds of people. They may object to you, but don't argue with them. If someone asks, give him; if not asking and rejecting you, leave him alone. Allah Almighty said to His Prophet, p.b.u.h., "O My beloved Muhammad, you are going to destroy yourself because of
149 To you your religion, and to me mine. (CLX:6)
150 See XLI:5 and XLVII:24; also II:7, XLV:23, and many other verses of the same purport
those people who do not believe in you or in Me, but don't do that151. Leave them. You must give to whomever asks from you; if they do not ask, don't give. To those who take, you may give. Those who do not take, leave them. Don't argue with them."
And in our time so many people are arguing with each other. They may be friends but when they argue they become enemies. What is the benefit? No. "O my brother, you believe in that way; keep your belief. You are going to your Lord's Presence. I am free, also, to believe or to refuse. My beliefs are these. If you accept them, it is all right. If not accepting, I am not going to believe as you believe. 'Lakun dinukum wa lia din' - your faith to you, my faith to me; your beliefs to you, my beliefs to me.
"And you and I, our destination is the same. If you believe in Him, I believe in Him, also. One day we will return to Allah Almighty, to His Divine Presence. And we have been informed that when we return to His Divine Presence, He will ask us, "What did you bring?' And you may tell what you brought to Him, and He will look at what you brought and will also look at what I brought to His Divine Presence.
"We must know what Allah Almighty is asking from everyone - when He will gather everyone in His Divine Presence, what He will ask from them; we must know it so that when He asks we may, give it. 'I made this ready,' you may say. It is not something to make an argument, to make a quarrel, to make a fight about among us here. Important is to make ready that thing which Allah Almighty will ask from you, from us, from everyone.
"You may claim anything during this life; you may say, 'I am on the right path.' Yes, continue.. We shall see you, and everyone will see himself, on the Day of Resurrection when the scales are balanced. Then Allah Almighty will address you: 'O My servant, come. Give Me what you have brought.'" He is asking from His servant the best thing, and we must present to Him Almighty our best, not simply anything that is going to be available; no. The most excellent manners that the Prophet, p.b.u.h., taught his nation was to bring into the Divine Presence to present to their Lord their best - the best thing that they may take from here to His Divine Presence.
We are here, quarreling, fighting, arguing: Muslims, Christians, Jews, everyone; every madhhab, school of thought, and every tariqat, Sufi order, or other groups. We say, "I am the best." You say, "No, I am the first one." He says, "I am the first one, I am the best one."
151 See, for example, XVIII:6 and related verses such as XXXVI: 76 which speak of the Holy Prophet's grief at the rejection of Allah's Message by the unbelievers
Those claims never give benefit. You may understand this when the Last Day comes and you are in the Divine Presence. Therefore the Seal of the Prophets, p.b.u.h., taught his ummah to make ready their best thing for Allah Almighty. And the best thing is qalbun salim: qalbun salim, the golden, golden heart, the pure, pure heart. That is what Allah Almighty is asking. And all our actions are only means, not ends. The end is qalbun salim, to bring to the Divine Presence a pure heart.
Do, don't argue! Use every means to make your heart a pure heart, that Allah Almighty may give you from His divine lights and illuminate it so that your heart is going to be the Throne of your Lord Almighty. The hearts of the Sons of Adam were chosen by their Lord to be His Throne because they are the deputies of Allah Almighty, and He gave them such a heart that if the whole universe is thrown into it, it will be lost, becoming such a small thing compared to the wideness of our hearts. Therefore, Allah Almighty chose our hearts to be for Him.
Imam Ghazālī, Muhammad al-Ghazali, may Allah bless him, was a "king- sized" scholar and also a "king-sized" wali. He is a well-known scholar in the Muslim world and in Western countries, also; in many Western universities there are chairs for his teachings. He stated in his books that no one can put a limit on knowledge. Only our understanding or our capacity is within limits, but there are no limits for knowledge because knowledge goes on and on, and ends in the main source from which it came. Knowledge is a grant from Allah Almighty to His servants, and as much as He is pleased with His servants, He is going to grant them more and more..
Therefore, don't suppose that knowledge is only written in books; no. That knowledge which is written in books is concentrated in the hearts of the obedient servants of our Lord Almighty. You may carry a seed, a little seed, but you can't carry that big tree. Therefore the concentrated knowledges. which Allah Almighty grants to His sincere and beloved servants is never- ending, and it is impossible to write it all and finish.
"Qul: Lau kana-l-bahru midādan li-kalimati Rabbi, la-nạfida-l-bahru qabla an tanfada kalimatu Rabbi, wa lau jina bi-mithlihi madada152" - that is a verse explaining something about our Lord's knowledge. As an example, Allah Almighty says that if all the oceans were to be ink for writing down the knowledge of your Lord, those oceans would be finished, and if you brought
152 Say 10 Muhammad): 'If the ocean were ink for the words of my Lord, the ocean would be exhausted before the words of my Lord were exhausted, even if we added the like of it for its aid."" (XVIII:109)
another ocean it would not be enough, also. It means that because limited things cannot write unlimitedly, our mental capacities are within limits. But our spiritual powers extend on and on.
Therefore Allah Almighty grants to His awliya such knowledge that, if anyone were sitting and telling about it, it would be impossible to write everything.
Sayyidina 'Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "O people, if I were to sit here and talk about the meanings of al-Fatehah, the Surah of Opening consisting of seven verses, I could say so much about the meanings of those seven verses that you could load one hundred camels with books and it would not be finished."
We say that we are scholars, very knowing people. One hundred camels - how would they enter this place? Full-up, yes? Therefore, we must know that we have been given something, but, as our Lord says, "Wa ma utitun nina l- 'ilmi illa qalila153" – O people, don't be proud of your knowledge; as much as you may have been given, it is only a little. It will always be like a drop in an endless ocean, or in endless oceans. Don't suppose that you have been given so much. No, you have been given within limits, always.
Therefore Imam al-Ghazālī, may Allah bless him, was saying, "Why do I say a thing like this154?" Because there are some people who argue with such a thing; if a person does not know, he says, "We do not accept that.' Instead you may say, 'This is the limit of knowledge which I have reached,' and you must leave the matter for someone else with more knowledge. As Allah Almighty says, 'Wa fauqa kulli dhi-'ilmin 'alim155,'over every scholar there may be one more knowledgeable than himself."
Imam al-Ghazali said that if a dead person is carried in a coffin, people putting it on their shoulders or carrying it like this with their hands or carrying it by car - during his journey to his grave, Allah Almighty will ask that person forty questions, without using any interpreter. And he said that one of the questions which Allah Almighty will ask is, "O My servant, you always used to make your outward appearance elegant, so smart" - everything is all right, looking like this, like that; ladies and gentlemen, all of them making themselves look good. "You did that for My servants because they looked at your outward appearance. Yes. Did you ever think about Me, that I was looking at your heart - to make it suitable, the best, for My gaze? Did you ever think about that point?"
153 And you have not been given of knowledge excepting a little (XVII:85)
154 Refers to his earlier statement that no one can put a limit on knowledge; rather it is our capacity to grasp and to comprehend which is limited
155 And above each possessor of knowledge is a knower (of more) (XII:76)
That is the first question that Allah Almighty will ask His servants. You work hard; you work hard. When Allah Almighty asks you, "What about for Me? Any ornaments for Me on your heart?" what will be your answer, you may know. Yes, it is important. And it is enough for anyone who may think about himself.
QALBUN SALĪM, THE PURE HEART
"Allahumna, alhimnā rushdana, wa a'idhna min shurruri anfusina 156 - this is the Prophet's prayer, asking from Allah Almighty and teaching us. If a person has even a little bit of mind, he can understand that that word, that saying, that prayer, could never come except from a prophet. And who is a prophet? We shall see what is coming down from our "Spiritual Centre."
Who is a prophet - you or I or he? No. A prophet is one of the Sons of Adam in his physical form but he is completely different from the inside.
He must be, because a prophet must have a relationship to the Heavens; if the wires are broken, he can't bring tidings of the Heavens.
The one who brings tidings of the Heavens is going to be a prophet. And our Prophet, Muhammad, p.b.u.h., the Seal of the Prophets, is the last one: by creation he is the first one but in the order of his coming among people he is the last; he is the first of the prophets by creation but in relation to when he was sent he is the last one. The first must be perfect and the last must also be perfect. Yes; that perfect one must be at the first and must also be at the last so that all the other prophets may be kept between the two powers.
And he is the most perfect one, also, because his prophethood, his absolute prophethood, is for all time and for all space. And all the prophets are students of the Seal of the Prophets, p.b.u.h., because our Prophet has been given "ulumu-l-awwalin wa-l-akhirin, the knowledge of the first and of the last.
That is the proof that the Last Prophet, beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., was given knowledge which extends from the beginning of creation up to his death, as well as from his own time up to the end - the knowledge of what was before and after himself. When man was created, when creation was just taking place and creatures were being created, that knowledge about them, and after him, also, he was given.
156 Our Lord, inspire us with your guidance, and we take refuge (with You) from the evils of our egos." (Du'a, supplication, of the Prophet)
Therefore, every one of the prophets was given something of knowledge; other prophets were given it before the Last Prophet came. And he was sent at the end of our period, the period of the Sons of Adam, when the last period of the time of this world had arrived and the Last Day was approaching. And because his time is the most difficult time, he is Nabi al- Akhir Zaman, the Prophet of the End-time.
We are not philosophers to speculate that there will be millions of years more for this world. Rather it is going to end, our period in this world, because for every beginning there is going to be an ending. But even if Muhammad's period were to go on after our time, also, even for millions or billions of years, his prophethood would be over people like the skies.
No one can pass above the skies' space; always we see that covering us, on us, over us. Therefore, although the minds of people and their knowledge may improve, no matter how much they may be able to know or to become more intelligent or intellectual, they are still on earth. The Heavens are over them; the earth down, the Heavens up. Therefore, as much as peoples' knowledge or technology may improve, it is still impossible to reach the Heavens. The Heavens are something else. They are not a material thing. no; they are something else.
In the same way, our Prophet's, beloved Muhammad's, prophethood is absolute, and even if the world goes on for a billion years, we will be in need of keeping his method and ways and Sunnah for reaching the Heavens, the divine territory. That science is not suitable, just as our bodies are not suitable.
We have been given authority to reach the Heavens through our spiritual power. Although you can't reach them through science, you can reach them through spiritual authority. And spiritual authority has been given through the prophets, not through scholars and scientists and technology.
And the last one, the perfect one, beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., is inviting people, "O people, come and take your authority" - yes, calling, inviting. "Come and take authority for reaching." But people are drunk, heedless - heedless. They are drinking the wines of dunya, the wines of Satan, the wines and spirits of ego, their heads turning. They can't look up, always sitting down below, saying, "This is a good place, full of wine. Drink and sleep here! No need to get up."
Each of the prophets, peace be upon them all, called and invited people: "Take your authority, or take your ticket, and go. Take your invitation and go into the Divine Presence." And the last one, also. He came with universal, absolute prophethood; he called not only Arabs or Turks or Eastern people,
but his prophethood is for all people, for all the Sons of Adan. "O people, come here. Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Confucians - come here. Take your authority and go." Don't say, "I am a Christian, I am Jewish. What about my Heavens?" The Prophet is inviting all people to reach their stations in the Divine Presence.
We recited a du'a, a supplication, at the beginning. The Prophet, p.b.u.h., was indicating something important in that du'a, "Allahumma, alhimna rushdanā, wa a'idhnā min shurruri anfusinā." That is a key for people, taking them to the way of the Heavens. You can understand that our Prophet is teaching all people and that he knows everyone's secret, the secret of the Sons of Adam. He knows their situation very well, and he is the chief one who knows perfectly how to arrange our inner lives for reaching the Heavens.
By this du'a he is indicating to us that firstly, o people, you must know that you have a friend. Your friend is a never-leaving friend. It is your nafs, your ego, and you must know about that ego, your nafs.
You must know that it is the source of evil. If you don't know what a person is, you are never going to keep yourself from his traps. Therefore, you must know about your ego and you must ask protection from it from your Lord, Allah Almighty. If you do not ask protection from your Lord Almighty, by yourself it is impossible to keep the sharr, evil, of your ego from harming you.
And secondly, you must ask your Lord Almighty to give you from His divine inspirations to your heart, to make you hear His divine inspirations, because the divine addressing is always going on. Now, there are some stations broadcasting the Holy Qur'an twenty-four hours a day; at any time you open them you may listen. Just like that, Allah Almighty's "broadcasting" from the Heavens is coming among people - in the East, in the West, in London, in Mecca, in Medina, in Istanbul, in Baghdad, in Syria, anywhere you may be. In the Pacific Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean's depths, in deserts - everywhere you may be able to hear that divine or heavenly broadcasting.
But we have some new stations here in London called pirate radio, broadcasting but people cannot understand. Who does that? Some stations come in and prevent people from listening, also during wartime coming and jamming. You cannot understand what they are saying, if they say "Go straight," you understand "Go back."
If you do not guard your most precious organ, your heart, then Satan comes and makes too much noise in it, so that you can't understand anything, you can't hear. If you are even listening to your heart, at least you must hear that your heart is saying, "Allah-Allah-Allah-Allah"; if anyone is able to listen, he
must hear that his heart is going on with dhikr: "Allan-Allah-Allah." Without dhikr, without tasbih, glorification, our hearts cannot work. Don't suppose that blood makes our hearts to work. No; that dhikr does.
If you leave your heart without guarding it, then Satan and his volunteers come and make an assembly inside, making more noise in it than a discotheque, so big an assembly. If no one is inside and no guardian, they enter. Then how can you hear the divine broadcasting?
Therefore the Prophet, p.b.u.h., says, "Ask from your Lord. His heavenly broadcasting may come to you, making you to hear." But you must put a guardian to guard your heart. .
The most precious organ of a person is his heart - and we are leaving it without a guardian. When you say "Allah-Allah" in your heart, angels come for protection; then Satan and his volunteers cannot approach you. And therefore purification is the first fard, command, of Allah Almighty. He is asking, "O My servant, make your heart clean and pure; make it pure because I am coming." He does not walk; no need to walk, to sit, to get up. But He says, "I am in a pure heart, a clean heart; I am there. Whoever is asking for Me, Where is my Lord?' he may find me in pure and clean hearts. I am there."
Therefore the Prophet, the Seal of the Prophets, p.b.u.h., taught all the Sons of Adan, "O Sons of Adam, leave d'awat ananiyah157 - leave egotism, leave off claiming anything, saying, "I am this one, I am that one. I am a bishop, I am a patriarch, I am a pope, I am a priest, I am a sheikh, I am a scholar, I am a big man." Don't claim anything. It is not acceptable,
Allah Almighty is asking from you a golden heart; He means a clean and pure heart. He is asking His servants to cleanse and make pure their hearts because He is going to be there. No claiming that we are Christians, we are Muslims, we are Jews. Allah Almighty is asking from everyone, from every kind of person who is claiming anything, "Where is your clean heart? It is not enough to say that I am Muslim, I am a sheikh; I am a Christian, I am a pope; I am..., and so on. I am asking you, "Did you prepare for Me, did you clean your heart and make it pure for Me, or not?" That is one question; don't have so many questions. It is one question only: "Where is your heart for Me? I am saying that I am with you "
Therefore, we must know about our Prophet and about his prophethood, and for what it is the absolute prophethood, because from the Sons of Adam is wanted, wanted by their Lord, a clean and pure heart, not anything else,
157 Calling attention to or making claims concerning oneself; self-aggrandizement
"Yauma la yanfa'u malun wa la banun, illa man ata-Llaha bi-qalbin salim158”. this verse says that Allah Almighty will ask you, "Where is qalbun salim, the golden heart, the pure heart, the clean heart, made ready for Me - where is it?" On the Day of Resurrection, the Judgment Day, He will ask it from everyone.
Everyone must think about himself and he must think about his Lord Almighty: to where is my Lord coming to me? Coming to my heart. Make it clean and pure. And we have means. If a person wants to wash his hands and his body, there are now so many soaps and shampoos; so many shampoos - apple shampoos, egg shampoos, banana shampoos. (I am understanding that they are for drinking; for what are they saying "Apple Shampoo"?) Yes, they are using so many kinds. For what? For washing, for cleaning? But for the heart - no means, nothing? Or we must drink?
Therefore, everything needs some means, and all the prophets just came to teach people how they may be able to prepare their hearts, to make them clean and pure. And fasting is one of the strongest means for making our hearts pure and clean. It is a short time, only one month, and three weeks have already gone; now we have only one-and-a-half weeks left. We must take as much as we may be able from the barakah of this holy month, and ask from Allah Almighty to give us the means to act for the sake of His love only.
ATTAINING PERFECTION DURING THIS LIFE
In our life there is no long time; all of it is a short time. Even one year is a short time because during this life everything is short. What is long is endless.
Therefore it is a good tidings for the Sons of Adam to know that it is a short life and that everything that comes to them of either happiness or of troubles must be ended. On the one hand, it is a warning, and on the other, it is a good tiding for those people who have troubles in their lives, and troubles may be of any kind. The one who knows that they are not going to continue forever, that they must be ended, who knows that troubles, also, are going to be of short duration, finishing, is the one who makes his troubles tasteful.
158 The Day on which neither wealth nor sons will be of benefit, but only that one who brings to Allah a sound heart." (XXVI:88-89)
It only makes troubles long from our side because we are without patience; that makes time long, and for good things, for the greed of the nafs, for asking for more, it makes it shorter. Maybe our egos are saying, "This is too long," and at the same time, "That is too short," but ordinarily all dunya is a short time. And we are in need to be patient in our lives. The one who can be patient during his life, his life is going to be sweet or tasteful, be
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