Mercy Oceans, Book 11 (183 pages, 1/17)
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Mercy Oceans (Towards the Divine Presence, Volume Two), Book 11
SHEIKH NAZIM EL-QUBRUSI LONDON TALKS, Ramadan-Shawwal 1405 (May-June 1985)
EDITOR'S NOTE
Endless thanks and praise be to our Lord, God Almighty, for giving us the best of all possible guidance and inspiration at the hands of His beloved Friends. We are tremendously pleased and happy when we can be in the company of such people and enjoy the privilege of hearing from them some of the divine wisdoms which their Lord has given to their hearts.
In this vein, we are privileged to present to both Muslim and non-muslim readers who are interested in the inner life, the talks of one such Friend of Allah, Sheikh Nazim al-Qubrusi, given in London during the summer of 1985. While Sheikh Nazim speaks from his perspective as a Muslim, his words and thoughts will certainly speak to the hearts of anyone who is seeking a way of nearness to his Lord, in the midst of the troubled time in which we live.
While these talks have been edited for clarity as needed, every attempt has been made to keep intact Sheikh Nazim's inimitable, superbly eloquent style. Footnotes have been added so that even those readers who are completely unfamiliar with Islam and its terminology may be easily enabled to follow the text, with its many Arabic expressions.
It is our very sincere prayer that the Lord of the Heavens, the Lord of all creatures and of mankind, may use these words which He has granted as inspirations to one of His sincere and beloved servants to inspire and guide seekers on the path to truth, to certainty, and to nearness to their Lord Most High.
'Asr/May 3, 1985 - 1
By the name of Allah Almighty, Most Beneficent and Most Munificent, Time is running, taking everything away. No one can stop it, or no one, up to this day, has tried to stop it. It is our Lord's favor. Time is running and everyone, relative to the speed of time, is running, also; everything in time runs by time. We are running, also. If the speed of the running of time were to appear, no one would be able to bear that vision, but Allah Almighty takes care of that for us, so that we say, "It is all right." Alhamdulillah, thanks to our Lord Almighty.
We feel that time is running, and Islam says, "O people, you must keep guard on time." By what thing can we guard time? Time runs, but you must put something into that time so that your activities, your works, guard time for you. And on the Last Day, all that time that we guarded by actions and by works is going to come to us.
Now, here is a cassette. If it is left alone, it runs without recording anything, but if we speak, record, it is going to be full. Time may only be kept by actions, and you, as your Lord's deputy on earth, have been ordered to fill your time by actions that your Lord Almighty likes because your whole life's cassette will come into the Divine Presence, and He will look. And His Prophet, p.b.u.h.1, and all the prophets are going to look at that, and all the mumins, believers, and all the children of Adam crowding onto that Plain of Mahshar2 will look at them. If we do something secretly, it is going to be open one day, that Day which is coming. Everyone must be afraid of that, because all our actions and words are going to appear. O believers in holy books, every holy book speaks about the Day of Resurrection. Everyone will come and will show his book, his workbook, on that day.
Now, we know that time is passing, running, and our lives are running and passing. But you must look after it - by which thing you are filling your life. As Children of Adam, you have been honored by the Lord of the Heavens to be His deputies on earth. No one has been honored as the Children of Adam have been honored, and from honored people the Lord expects honorable works.
This is a simple thing to understand and to know and to do. When you have been honored, your works must be honorable. But most, the majority, of the
1 Peace be upon him
2 The Place of Gathering for the Last Judgment, in the vicinity of Damascus
Children of Adam are fighting against the prophets, they are fighting against awliya3, attacking them to kill them. At one time, during a single day, one thousand prophets were killed at the time of the Children of Israel, and more than one thousand, also.
What is the reason that people attacked the prophets? Each one was attacked, and Jesus Christ also was attacked or intended to be crucified. Why? What was the reason that the Children of Adam attacked the prophets? They attacked the Last Prophet, the Seal of the Prophets, also. Muhammad, p.b.u.h., was attacked by his nation; they attacked him to kill him. And Nimrod attacked Abraham, the Father of the Prophets. What was his sin, what was his crime?
Why did people rush to attack the prophets? They were pure people, they asked only for the happiness of mankind. Why were they attacked? What is the reason? And we have been honored by the Lord, Almighty Allah. That is honor, to attack His prophets? And all people who are following the ways of the prophets have been attacked, also.
Who is making the Children of Adam be enemies to their prophets? Prophets are pure people, the best and the most merciful to the Children of Adam.
What was the sin of Noah, what was the crime of Abraham, the crime of Moses, of Jesus Christ, of Muhammad, peace be upon them? Who makes human beings be enemies to each other, also? Have you thought about that point? I don't think so. But it is an important point. You have read histories, full of fightings, crimes, full of cruelties. What is this? What makes the Children of Adam enemies to each other and enemies to good people?
There is evil, there must be evil, that makes us be enemies to prophets because the importance of all prophets is to take away evil from the face of the earth. That is their importance; they came to fight evil so that no more evil may be on earth. But our first and most dangerous enemy, the most terrible enemy of the Children of Adam, Satan, produces evil. He produces evil and makes a big market for it from East to West, the evil market now in this world. We have been honored by the Lord, Almighty Allah, but we see that the whole world is now the market of evils. Is it correct or not? Everyone is looking now. After a little, after a while, there will come so much evil, destroying everything on earth, and Satan will say, "Oh, I am very happy.
The Children of Adam are finished!" Yes, that is so.
3 Plural of wali, the holy people of Islam, Muslim saints, the inheritors of the prophets, who have killed their egoes and surrendered totally to God
And people are also sellers and buyers of evil in this big market, dirt-market, evil-markete From East to West, in every place you may put your foot, you can find evil; everywhere you may spread your hand you can find evil; everywhere you may send your gaze you can find evil. We are living in a life or in a world that is full-up with evils, because the Children of Adam are not supporting the kingdom of the Lord, Allah Almighty, but they are supporting the kingdom of Satan on earth.
Now, you must look to yourself; everyone must look to himself. You may say, "What can we do?" Yes, you can do something. When Nimrod wanted and intended to burn Abraham, p.b.u.h., he made a big fire, and its flames and redness could be seen from Damascus, although it was near Baghdad - so big, so gigantic a fire. Only one stick of wood is enough to burn a man, but Nimrod made a gigantic fire because he represented Satan and his kingdom, and he wanted to burn the Kingdom of Haqg, of Truth, the kingdan of the Lord of the Heavens and worlds; for that reason he made such a big fire.
And traditions coming up to our day say that a little ant was running toward the fire and in its mouth it carried a small drop of water. It was seen and was asked, "Where are you running?" And it said, "I am running to take away the fire of Nimrod. I am carrying water to save Abraham, the friend of the Lord, Almighty Allah4." And Allah Almighty rewarded that ant; it is mentioned in holy books and in the Holy Qur'an5," and Allah Almighty made that ant enter into Paradise.
Look, o believers! Don't say, "What can I do?" Don't be an evil-seller or - buyer. You must open your eyes, your mind, your heart. And you can't open your eyes and your mind and your heart without believing. You must believe and you must be able to refuse the kingdom of Satan on earth. That is the most important duty for us now in our time. You can be like a little ant that was rewarded by its Lord Almighty for carrying a drop of water in its mouth to take away that gigantic fire. You, the Children of Adam, can do more than that ant did.
Therefore it is an important point today. We must understand what is happening and what is going to happen in this world by reason of our heedlessness. We are heedless people, not heeding evil, never looking to
4 See Holy Qur'an, IV:125. Abraham and the fire of Nimrod is mentioned in XXI:68– 69
5 A reference to Sūrah Naml, the Chapter of the Ants, (XXVII:18–19), in which ants are mentioned
our selves – what we are doing, whether we are selling evil or buying it. We must be open-eyed, open-hearted.
And which thing opens hearts? That is beliefs. We must believe in our Lord Almighty and we must try to give our support to His kingdom on earth; we must be supporters of His kingdom. That is the honorable work for the honored Children of Adam. If you can do this, you will be honored. Otherwise most people are going to be ashamed on the Day of Resurrection and they will wish that there were a crack in the earth and that it would swallow them up; so many people will wish that on the Last Day, the Day of Resurrection. When they see that all their works, all their actions, are selling and buying evil, they will wish that this earth would crack and swallow them in it.
O people, it is not too far away. As I was coming to Jum'ah prayer6, today, I met a funeral procession and I saw a brown coffin. A man was lying in it and his eyes were closed. And he will open them for that Day. It is only so near; don't imagine it to be too far away. No, only when you' close your eyes, at the next opening you will be in that Divine Presence for Judgement Day. We will all be there. That Day is coming for everyone.
Fill your life's cassette with honorable works because you have been honored by your Lord. That is the word of all the prophets, from the beginning up to the end. But, o Children of Adam, your egos never leave you to do honorable works because our egos always want evil, tasting and living in evil.
Therefore, don't be with your ego; rather you must be with your Lord and with His representatives. Prophets are the representatives of Allah Almighty, and after the prophets, awliyā are the representatives of their Lord on earth, because Allah Almighty created the Children of Adam to be his deputies.
Some of them have reached the true station of being His deputies but most people are still candidates. If you are going to do honorable works, then you will be clothed, also, in the true station of deputy, given the true deputy's crown. And that is all. Think about these words.
Morning/ June 1, 1985
6 The Friday congregational worship, in which a khutbah or serman precedes the prayer itsell
(During this session, Sheikh Nazim was addressing two young brothers who had come from another sheikh and who planned to continue their travels after leaving him)
You don't have forty hands, to go everywhere to take forty sheikhs' hands. Therefore, if you are traveling on a spiritual journey, when you meet with your guide or with your destination, I think it is enough for you at that time to be in one place. But if you are doing it as a pleasure f'or your ego, you may travel from East to West, looking at this, at that.
Sometimes I go to market, looking at this thing, at another, another, from beginning up to end. If you are buyers, you must look for what you want; you must know that you want that thing and you must see where it may be. If you find it, you may buy it and go on because no one can take the whole market and carry it, or all the markets; rather everyone who goes for shopping knows what he is going to buy. Thus your sheikh sent you here, understanding that you are asking for something. If you can find it with someone, names are not important, but important is that you are able to find your desire in him. If you can find the thing you want with that young boy, it is all right; anyone you can find it with, it is all right, and the Lord or the Heavens may put our purposes with anyone. You must not be cheated by someone's outward appearance, passing him by, saying, "Who is that person? What thing can be with that one?" while there may be with him that which you are in need of.
And we are most in need of wisdoms. Knowledge is one thing but wisdom is something else. Knowledge you may find everywhere, and wisdoms are also written, written in books, but when they are written down they are also part of knowledge. Wisdom comes directly from the tongue, from hearts; when it is put as writing in books it becomes knowledge. You may use that, but more important is wisdom. And the Lord may put something from His endless wisdoms with anyone. It may be with a peasant, may be with a boy, may be with a woman, may be with an old man, may be with a young man, may be with a black one, may be with an ignorant one, as you might say; he may not have been educated in schools or universities but he may have been given wisdoms. We have a saying that treasures are mostly under ruins. No one comes and asks for treasures among huge buildings in the center of a city, no. The one who wants to find treasures looks where there are old ruins, from the outside no one could say that there may be something there, but underground, among ruins, you may find them. And that person is pleased if he can find broken cups or other broken things because he says that even
though they are broken, still they are antiques, they are precious, and he takes them, not taking such an unbroken, new thing. If you say, "Do you prefer this or that?" he may say, "No, this. I prefer it thought it is broken. I don't prefer to have this new and whole cup."
Therefore divine wisdom makes wisdoms to be found with anyone. And don't suppose that it must be with people who look suitable from outside; no. The doors of Islam are open from East to West. We can look anywhere. If we can f'ind those wisdoms, we may take them from anyone; no need to be a special person, no. They may be with anyone. The Lord may give them to you. Therefore we must be humble enough to listen to anyone and to look at what his product is, what he is selling. We may take from anyone when we are humble enough.
Allah Almighty gives His wisdoms and He speaks wisdoms. You have knowledge, you have so much knowledge; everyone who comes to me has it
- leamed people, perhaps scholars, because most Western people are educated. But, as we said, wisdoms are more important, more than knowledge. Knowledge can be obtained but wisdoms are something else. We must be humble, we must look amang ruins to get them out.
Yes. Then, you are traveling, seeking wisdoms, and anywhere you may find them, it is all right. Knowledge is like a plane and wisdom is its fuel. Without fuel planes never fly. Thus there are so many scholars but they are still on earth, waiting for fuel. And they are proud of their wings, sometimes they go around like this, like that, on the plane but not flying. And perhaps they say concerning Sufi peoples' knowledge that it is not knowledge, saying that knowledge is only what we read in books.
Mind-products, we say. To the extent that it becomes bigger and bigger, it is a load, heavy on our heads because we are carrying it. But heart products carry us; mind products we must_carry but heart products carry us. For this reason Sultan al-Arifin Abu Yazid Bistāmi, a famous grand sheikh in the Most Distinguished Naqshbandi Order, addressed scholars, saya ing, "O scholars, you carry your knowledge about, and you are always looking to see whether that knowledge is becoming less and less, going down. You are always looking because when you leave it, your knowledge that you got through books, you always carry around those books with you and try not to forget in your minds. You are like horses, putting too heavy a load on yourselves, carrying it around, and you are always tired. But we are not in need of carrying books, to be like a horse bearing so heavy a load. Rather
our knowledge carries us. Therefore you are under a heavy load, while our knowledge carries us along."
For this reason, all mind-products are a heavy load for scholars, and the Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h., said, in the original words of a hadith, "Afet al-'ilm an-nisiyan, the calamity of knowledge is forgetfulness." The thing that destroys knowledge is to forget it. Therefore each scholar is always worried about that point because at every time he is older and at every time his mind's power is weaker; everything it may hold little by little leaves him. Scholars are always thinking about that point, about forgetting, and there are so many things that make our memory weaker and weaker.
And now people, even if they are scholars, are under the command of their egoes; they do as their egoes want and their memories become weaker. And they do not use their hearts. Hearts are never weak. Hearts are strong but we do not use them. My Grandsheikh, may Allah bless him, was about 113 when he died, and he used heart memory. And when the heart's memory is all right, it also never becomes weaker, and such a person may know from the beginning of his life up to its end; he never loses his memory. But for the one who leaves his heart and uses only his mind's memory, it is going to be less and less every day.
Therefore that grandsheikh, Abū Yazid Bistami, was saying to scholars, "If you have no books, you are finished. If you forget what is in your memory, you are going to be empty vessels with nothing in them. You bring from outside and put into your minds' memory; when your minds are finished, they are only like empty cups. But our knowledges are springs in our hearts”.
Therefore you can see that when they are old people, they lose everything, also losing what they say, what they do. But those who have in their hearts those springs of wisdom, it is impossible to stop those springs, and that carries them, also. Wisdom is a divine power; it does not have ordinary properties, no. Divine powers come through wisdoms and may take that person, by his physical body, from East to West in a second, may take him from earth to the Heavens.
I am seeing that there are some desires appearing among Westem people, because I have never seen people who like to read books like Western people. Muslims always tried to read the Holy Qur'an and never got tired of reciting it, the Holy Book. But now most people are occupied by their egoes, also in the Islamic world; therefore they have left off reciting the Holy Qur'an and also they do not much want to read other books, as Western people
read books. You have a hobby of reading books. But for what? A person may say, "I have read perhaps one thousand books and I still want to read more and more, but - for what? What is the main purpose for which I am reading and reading and reading, and am still hungry to read and read?"
Then it comes to their hearts that after all that reading there must be something else. Therefore, now a lot of people are asking about Sufi knowledges, and then also they are beginning to read more and more and more, reading, reading. But yet they feel that they are still thirsty. They are thirsty; even though they say that it is a spring, still it is not enough for their thirst, and now they are asking for real springs, where they may be, as a person in a desert asks for water and springs.
But most people see only illusions, so many illusions. And now in our time, so many Western people are running after such illusions. They imagine that there may be a spring there, water, and run toward it but find that it is only an illusion. It is very rare to find an oasis amidst huge deserts; very rare, but there are so many illusions, mirages. And now, I am sorry to say, Western people are all like a person in a huge. desert and thirsty, and they are looking everywhere, asking for water which gives them life - looking and running and finding, finally, that they are illusions. But still they must run after an oasis.
Therefore our brothers who have come to visit us this morning are among those people who feel that they are in a desert and thirsty, asking to reach an oasis to drink; otherwise they will see only illusions everywhere, I am seeing here in England, in France, in Germany, in Holland, in America - everywhere, everywhere - so many illusions; in India, in Pakistan, in Tibet, in China, in Russia, in the Caucasus, in Iran, in Turkey, in Arab countries - so many illusions but only very few oases. Rather they are full-up with illusions. But the Lord of the Heavens, the Lord of the Children of Adam, says, "La taqnatu7, don't cut off your hope." Therefore whoever seriously asks to find, he must find.
What is the wisdom that He makes it difficult to find? Because everything that man finds easily is cheap for him, while everything that you find with difficulty you may look after carefully; you may say that it is so difficult to
7 Do not despair(XXXIX:53)
obtain it - yes? Therefore, if you are asking for an oasis, it is difficult to find it and you must face every difficulty to find it.
But as long as you are in life, alive, you must walk toward somewhere. There may be one hundred illusions; then you may find, at the end of one hundred, that oasis. Don't say, "I went there and found that it was an illusion. Then I turned to another one and that also was an illusion. I have run after all
ninety-nine and found them all illusions. For what should I try this one?" Don't say it! To the extent that you can walk, you must go on and try it, also. Ninety-nine may be illusions but one may be a real oasis for you because the Lord says, "Don't cut off your hope, don't despair." When you cut off your hope, you are going to die; finished. No one dies until he has cut off his hope of living, but whoever hopes to live may live, whoever hopes to find must find.
'Asr/June 1, 1985
By the name of Allah, All-mighty, All-merciful, Most Beneficent and Most Munificent, who created all the universes and all things; the Lord of the Heavens, the Lord of the worlds, the Lord of the Sons of Adam. And we are His weak servants, and every time we are here in such a meeting we are asking for our Lord's divine help for ourselves.
We are in need of His divine help at every time, at every moment. You can't imagine a unit of time which is so small that you can't count it (you might say one-millionth of a second, if you could make a second into a million parts) - you can't say that the whole universe is without need, in even such a small unit of time, of divine help. If during that time that divine help is cut off, that divine support for all the universes in existence, then all will disappear. No one can bring it back except its Creator, its Lord, Allah Almighty. Therefore you must ask for divine help for every thing, for every time, for every occasion.
As much as you may be with Him, He will be with you; yes. But you lose yourself and forget. Then that divine support goes from you and you are left in the hands of your ego. Therefore we must always ask for divine support, divine help. O my Lord, don't leave us in the hands of our egos, because our ego is proud, so proud, saying, "I am not in need of anyone," while
it is in need at every moment, never without need for that support. That is why we say, "Lā hawla wa lā quwwata illā bil-lah, al-'Ali, al-'Adhim8.". No thing can be done without our Lord's power, nothing can be left without His power and help.
Religion, and particularly Islam, brings belief's to people. It asks you firstly to believe in your Creator who brings you into existence, because no one may be able to bring himself into existence or to keep himself in existence. It is impossible for anyone to claim that he can bring himself into existence or keep himself in existence, so that we must believe that Someone brings us into existence and also takes us from existence. We appear and then disappear.
That is the main point in the Islamic beliefs, as it was the main point for the other religions - to make people believe in their Lord Almighty, who brings them into existence and keeps them in existence and then takes them away from existence, and then secondly brings them to His Divine Presence.
Thererore, the most important pillar for every religion, and particularly in Islam, is to believe in God Almighty, in Allah Almighty, and then to believe that He brings you into the next life, that He returns you to another life. That is the most important thing which every religion makes its followers or believers believe in: that there is Allah Almighty who created all things including the Sons of Adam, and that He is able to bring them back to life after death, to give them their lives again and bring them into His Divine Presence. That must be the belief in every religion.
Then, when we believe, o servants of our Lord, O mankind, we have been ordered to do something and to leave something, and every religion teaches people to do something and to leave off something. Without commands, it is not a religion, because we act, we work, we do things. Therefore the Lord Almighty orders something for action, and all orders that we have been commanded to act upon are for our karamah, to give us honor; every command that we have been ordered to carry out is to make us more honorable in the Divine Presence. And we have been asked also to leave off something, so many things, and that is for protection for ourselves, for safety. Anything for which your Lord says, "Leave it," is only for your safety here and for your protection Hereafter,
8 Th
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Mercy Oceans (Towards the Divine Presence, Volume Two), Book 11
SHEIKH NAZIM EL-QUBRUSI LONDON TALKS, Ramadan-Shawwal 1405 (May-June 1985)
EDITOR'S NOTE
Endless thanks and praise be to our Lord, God Almighty, for giving us the best of all possible guidance and inspiration at the hands of His beloved Friends. We are tremendously pleased and happy when we can be in the company of such people and enjoy the privilege of hearing from them some of the divine wisdoms which their Lord has given to their hearts.
In this vein, we are privileged to present to both Muslim and non-muslim readers who are interested in the inner life, the talks of one such Friend of Allah, Sheikh Nazim al-Qubrusi, given in London during the summer of 1985. While Sheikh Nazim speaks from his perspective as a Muslim, his words and thoughts will certainly speak to the hearts of anyone who is seeking a way of nearness to his Lord, in the midst of the troubled time in which we live.
While these talks have been edited for clarity as needed, every attempt has been made to keep intact Sheikh Nazim's inimitable, superbly eloquent style. Footnotes have been added so that even those readers who are completely unfamiliar with Islam and its terminology may be easily enabled to follow the text, with its many Arabic expressions.
It is our very sincere prayer that the Lord of the Heavens, the Lord of all creatures and of mankind, may use these words which He has granted as inspirations to one of His sincere and beloved servants to inspire and guide seekers on the path to truth, to certainty, and to nearness to their Lord Most High.
'Asr/May 3, 1985 - 1
By the name of Allah Almighty, Most Beneficent and Most Munificent, Time is running, taking everything away. No one can stop it, or no one, up to this day, has tried to stop it. It is our Lord's favor. Time is running and everyone, relative to the speed of time, is running, also; everything in time runs by time. We are running, also. If the speed of the running of time were to appear, no one would be able to bear that vision, but Allah Almighty takes care of that for us, so that we say, "It is all right." Alhamdulillah, thanks to our Lord Almighty.
We feel that time is running, and Islam says, "O people, you must keep guard on time." By what thing can we guard time? Time runs, but you must put something into that time so that your activities, your works, guard time for you. And on the Last Day, all that time that we guarded by actions and by works is going to come to us.
Now, here is a cassette. If it is left alone, it runs without recording anything, but if we speak, record, it is going to be full. Time may only be kept by actions, and you, as your Lord's deputy on earth, have been ordered to fill your time by actions that your Lord Almighty likes because your whole life's cassette will come into the Divine Presence, and He will look. And His Prophet, p.b.u.h.1, and all the prophets are going to look at that, and all the mumins, believers, and all the children of Adam crowding onto that Plain of Mahshar2 will look at them. If we do something secretly, it is going to be open one day, that Day which is coming. Everyone must be afraid of that, because all our actions and words are going to appear. O believers in holy books, every holy book speaks about the Day of Resurrection. Everyone will come and will show his book, his workbook, on that day.
Now, we know that time is passing, running, and our lives are running and passing. But you must look after it - by which thing you are filling your life. As Children of Adam, you have been honored by the Lord of the Heavens to be His deputies on earth. No one has been honored as the Children of Adam have been honored, and from honored people the Lord expects honorable works.
This is a simple thing to understand and to know and to do. When you have been honored, your works must be honorable. But most, the majority, of the
1 Peace be upon him
2 The Place of Gathering for the Last Judgment, in the vicinity of Damascus
Children of Adam are fighting against the prophets, they are fighting against awliya3, attacking them to kill them. At one time, during a single day, one thousand prophets were killed at the time of the Children of Israel, and more than one thousand, also.
What is the reason that people attacked the prophets? Each one was attacked, and Jesus Christ also was attacked or intended to be crucified. Why? What was the reason that the Children of Adam attacked the prophets? They attacked the Last Prophet, the Seal of the Prophets, also. Muhammad, p.b.u.h., was attacked by his nation; they attacked him to kill him. And Nimrod attacked Abraham, the Father of the Prophets. What was his sin, what was his crime?
Why did people rush to attack the prophets? They were pure people, they asked only for the happiness of mankind. Why were they attacked? What is the reason? And we have been honored by the Lord, Almighty Allah. That is honor, to attack His prophets? And all people who are following the ways of the prophets have been attacked, also.
Who is making the Children of Adam be enemies to their prophets? Prophets are pure people, the best and the most merciful to the Children of Adam.
What was the sin of Noah, what was the crime of Abraham, the crime of Moses, of Jesus Christ, of Muhammad, peace be upon them? Who makes human beings be enemies to each other, also? Have you thought about that point? I don't think so. But it is an important point. You have read histories, full of fightings, crimes, full of cruelties. What is this? What makes the Children of Adam enemies to each other and enemies to good people?
There is evil, there must be evil, that makes us be enemies to prophets because the importance of all prophets is to take away evil from the face of the earth. That is their importance; they came to fight evil so that no more evil may be on earth. But our first and most dangerous enemy, the most terrible enemy of the Children of Adam, Satan, produces evil. He produces evil and makes a big market for it from East to West, the evil market now in this world. We have been honored by the Lord, Almighty Allah, but we see that the whole world is now the market of evils. Is it correct or not? Everyone is looking now. After a little, after a while, there will come so much evil, destroying everything on earth, and Satan will say, "Oh, I am very happy.
The Children of Adam are finished!" Yes, that is so.
3 Plural of wali, the holy people of Islam, Muslim saints, the inheritors of the prophets, who have killed their egoes and surrendered totally to God
And people are also sellers and buyers of evil in this big market, dirt-market, evil-markete From East to West, in every place you may put your foot, you can find evil; everywhere you may spread your hand you can find evil; everywhere you may send your gaze you can find evil. We are living in a life or in a world that is full-up with evils, because the Children of Adam are not supporting the kingdom of the Lord, Allah Almighty, but they are supporting the kingdom of Satan on earth.
Now, you must look to yourself; everyone must look to himself. You may say, "What can we do?" Yes, you can do something. When Nimrod wanted and intended to burn Abraham, p.b.u.h., he made a big fire, and its flames and redness could be seen from Damascus, although it was near Baghdad - so big, so gigantic a fire. Only one stick of wood is enough to burn a man, but Nimrod made a gigantic fire because he represented Satan and his kingdom, and he wanted to burn the Kingdom of Haqg, of Truth, the kingdan of the Lord of the Heavens and worlds; for that reason he made such a big fire.
And traditions coming up to our day say that a little ant was running toward the fire and in its mouth it carried a small drop of water. It was seen and was asked, "Where are you running?" And it said, "I am running to take away the fire of Nimrod. I am carrying water to save Abraham, the friend of the Lord, Almighty Allah4." And Allah Almighty rewarded that ant; it is mentioned in holy books and in the Holy Qur'an5," and Allah Almighty made that ant enter into Paradise.
Look, o believers! Don't say, "What can I do?" Don't be an evil-seller or - buyer. You must open your eyes, your mind, your heart. And you can't open your eyes and your mind and your heart without believing. You must believe and you must be able to refuse the kingdom of Satan on earth. That is the most important duty for us now in our time. You can be like a little ant that was rewarded by its Lord Almighty for carrying a drop of water in its mouth to take away that gigantic fire. You, the Children of Adam, can do more than that ant did.
Therefore it is an important point today. We must understand what is happening and what is going to happen in this world by reason of our heedlessness. We are heedless people, not heeding evil, never looking to
4 See Holy Qur'an, IV:125. Abraham and the fire of Nimrod is mentioned in XXI:68– 69
5 A reference to Sūrah Naml, the Chapter of the Ants, (XXVII:18–19), in which ants are mentioned
our selves – what we are doing, whether we are selling evil or buying it. We must be open-eyed, open-hearted.
And which thing opens hearts? That is beliefs. We must believe in our Lord Almighty and we must try to give our support to His kingdom on earth; we must be supporters of His kingdom. That is the honorable work for the honored Children of Adam. If you can do this, you will be honored. Otherwise most people are going to be ashamed on the Day of Resurrection and they will wish that there were a crack in the earth and that it would swallow them up; so many people will wish that on the Last Day, the Day of Resurrection. When they see that all their works, all their actions, are selling and buying evil, they will wish that this earth would crack and swallow them in it.
O people, it is not too far away. As I was coming to Jum'ah prayer6, today, I met a funeral procession and I saw a brown coffin. A man was lying in it and his eyes were closed. And he will open them for that Day. It is only so near; don't imagine it to be too far away. No, only when you' close your eyes, at the next opening you will be in that Divine Presence for Judgement Day. We will all be there. That Day is coming for everyone.
Fill your life's cassette with honorable works because you have been honored by your Lord. That is the word of all the prophets, from the beginning up to the end. But, o Children of Adam, your egos never leave you to do honorable works because our egos always want evil, tasting and living in evil.
Therefore, don't be with your ego; rather you must be with your Lord and with His representatives. Prophets are the representatives of Allah Almighty, and after the prophets, awliyā are the representatives of their Lord on earth, because Allah Almighty created the Children of Adam to be his deputies.
Some of them have reached the true station of being His deputies but most people are still candidates. If you are going to do honorable works, then you will be clothed, also, in the true station of deputy, given the true deputy's crown. And that is all. Think about these words.
Morning/ June 1, 1985
6 The Friday congregational worship, in which a khutbah or serman precedes the prayer itsell
(During this session, Sheikh Nazim was addressing two young brothers who had come from another sheikh and who planned to continue their travels after leaving him)
You don't have forty hands, to go everywhere to take forty sheikhs' hands. Therefore, if you are traveling on a spiritual journey, when you meet with your guide or with your destination, I think it is enough for you at that time to be in one place. But if you are doing it as a pleasure f'or your ego, you may travel from East to West, looking at this, at that.
Sometimes I go to market, looking at this thing, at another, another, from beginning up to end. If you are buyers, you must look for what you want; you must know that you want that thing and you must see where it may be. If you find it, you may buy it and go on because no one can take the whole market and carry it, or all the markets; rather everyone who goes for shopping knows what he is going to buy. Thus your sheikh sent you here, understanding that you are asking for something. If you can find it with someone, names are not important, but important is that you are able to find your desire in him. If you can find the thing you want with that young boy, it is all right; anyone you can find it with, it is all right, and the Lord or the Heavens may put our purposes with anyone. You must not be cheated by someone's outward appearance, passing him by, saying, "Who is that person? What thing can be with that one?" while there may be with him that which you are in need of.
And we are most in need of wisdoms. Knowledge is one thing but wisdom is something else. Knowledge you may find everywhere, and wisdoms are also written, written in books, but when they are written down they are also part of knowledge. Wisdom comes directly from the tongue, from hearts; when it is put as writing in books it becomes knowledge. You may use that, but more important is wisdom. And the Lord may put something from His endless wisdoms with anyone. It may be with a peasant, may be with a boy, may be with a woman, may be with an old man, may be with a young man, may be with a black one, may be with an ignorant one, as you might say; he may not have been educated in schools or universities but he may have been given wisdoms. We have a saying that treasures are mostly under ruins. No one comes and asks for treasures among huge buildings in the center of a city, no. The one who wants to find treasures looks where there are old ruins, from the outside no one could say that there may be something there, but underground, among ruins, you may find them. And that person is pleased if he can find broken cups or other broken things because he says that even
though they are broken, still they are antiques, they are precious, and he takes them, not taking such an unbroken, new thing. If you say, "Do you prefer this or that?" he may say, "No, this. I prefer it thought it is broken. I don't prefer to have this new and whole cup."
Therefore divine wisdom makes wisdoms to be found with anyone. And don't suppose that it must be with people who look suitable from outside; no. The doors of Islam are open from East to West. We can look anywhere. If we can f'ind those wisdoms, we may take them from anyone; no need to be a special person, no. They may be with anyone. The Lord may give them to you. Therefore we must be humble enough to listen to anyone and to look at what his product is, what he is selling. We may take from anyone when we are humble enough.
Allah Almighty gives His wisdoms and He speaks wisdoms. You have knowledge, you have so much knowledge; everyone who comes to me has it
- leamed people, perhaps scholars, because most Western people are educated. But, as we said, wisdoms are more important, more than knowledge. Knowledge can be obtained but wisdoms are something else. We must be humble, we must look amang ruins to get them out.
Yes. Then, you are traveling, seeking wisdoms, and anywhere you may find them, it is all right. Knowledge is like a plane and wisdom is its fuel. Without fuel planes never fly. Thus there are so many scholars but they are still on earth, waiting for fuel. And they are proud of their wings, sometimes they go around like this, like that, on the plane but not flying. And perhaps they say concerning Sufi peoples' knowledge that it is not knowledge, saying that knowledge is only what we read in books.
Mind-products, we say. To the extent that it becomes bigger and bigger, it is a load, heavy on our heads because we are carrying it. But heart products carry us; mind products we must_carry but heart products carry us. For this reason Sultan al-Arifin Abu Yazid Bistāmi, a famous grand sheikh in the Most Distinguished Naqshbandi Order, addressed scholars, saya ing, "O scholars, you carry your knowledge about, and you are always looking to see whether that knowledge is becoming less and less, going down. You are always looking because when you leave it, your knowledge that you got through books, you always carry around those books with you and try not to forget in your minds. You are like horses, putting too heavy a load on yourselves, carrying it around, and you are always tired. But we are not in need of carrying books, to be like a horse bearing so heavy a load. Rather
our knowledge carries us. Therefore you are under a heavy load, while our knowledge carries us along."
For this reason, all mind-products are a heavy load for scholars, and the Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h., said, in the original words of a hadith, "Afet al-'ilm an-nisiyan, the calamity of knowledge is forgetfulness." The thing that destroys knowledge is to forget it. Therefore each scholar is always worried about that point because at every time he is older and at every time his mind's power is weaker; everything it may hold little by little leaves him. Scholars are always thinking about that point, about forgetting, and there are so many things that make our memory weaker and weaker.
And now people, even if they are scholars, are under the command of their egoes; they do as their egoes want and their memories become weaker. And they do not use their hearts. Hearts are never weak. Hearts are strong but we do not use them. My Grandsheikh, may Allah bless him, was about 113 when he died, and he used heart memory. And when the heart's memory is all right, it also never becomes weaker, and such a person may know from the beginning of his life up to its end; he never loses his memory. But for the one who leaves his heart and uses only his mind's memory, it is going to be less and less every day.
Therefore that grandsheikh, Abū Yazid Bistami, was saying to scholars, "If you have no books, you are finished. If you forget what is in your memory, you are going to be empty vessels with nothing in them. You bring from outside and put into your minds' memory; when your minds are finished, they are only like empty cups. But our knowledges are springs in our hearts”.
Therefore you can see that when they are old people, they lose everything, also losing what they say, what they do. But those who have in their hearts those springs of wisdom, it is impossible to stop those springs, and that carries them, also. Wisdom is a divine power; it does not have ordinary properties, no. Divine powers come through wisdoms and may take that person, by his physical body, from East to West in a second, may take him from earth to the Heavens.
I am seeing that there are some desires appearing among Westem people, because I have never seen people who like to read books like Western people. Muslims always tried to read the Holy Qur'an and never got tired of reciting it, the Holy Book. But now most people are occupied by their egoes, also in the Islamic world; therefore they have left off reciting the Holy Qur'an and also they do not much want to read other books, as Western people
read books. You have a hobby of reading books. But for what? A person may say, "I have read perhaps one thousand books and I still want to read more and more, but - for what? What is the main purpose for which I am reading and reading and reading, and am still hungry to read and read?"
Then it comes to their hearts that after all that reading there must be something else. Therefore, now a lot of people are asking about Sufi knowledges, and then also they are beginning to read more and more and more, reading, reading. But yet they feel that they are still thirsty. They are thirsty; even though they say that it is a spring, still it is not enough for their thirst, and now they are asking for real springs, where they may be, as a person in a desert asks for water and springs.
But most people see only illusions, so many illusions. And now in our time, so many Western people are running after such illusions. They imagine that there may be a spring there, water, and run toward it but find that it is only an illusion. It is very rare to find an oasis amidst huge deserts; very rare, but there are so many illusions, mirages. And now, I am sorry to say, Western people are all like a person in a huge. desert and thirsty, and they are looking everywhere, asking for water which gives them life - looking and running and finding, finally, that they are illusions. But still they must run after an oasis.
Therefore our brothers who have come to visit us this morning are among those people who feel that they are in a desert and thirsty, asking to reach an oasis to drink; otherwise they will see only illusions everywhere, I am seeing here in England, in France, in Germany, in Holland, in America - everywhere, everywhere - so many illusions; in India, in Pakistan, in Tibet, in China, in Russia, in the Caucasus, in Iran, in Turkey, in Arab countries - so many illusions but only very few oases. Rather they are full-up with illusions. But the Lord of the Heavens, the Lord of the Children of Adam, says, "La taqnatu7, don't cut off your hope." Therefore whoever seriously asks to find, he must find.
What is the wisdom that He makes it difficult to find? Because everything that man finds easily is cheap for him, while everything that you find with difficulty you may look after carefully; you may say that it is so difficult to
7 Do not despair(XXXIX:53)
obtain it - yes? Therefore, if you are asking for an oasis, it is difficult to find it and you must face every difficulty to find it.
But as long as you are in life, alive, you must walk toward somewhere. There may be one hundred illusions; then you may find, at the end of one hundred, that oasis. Don't say, "I went there and found that it was an illusion. Then I turned to another one and that also was an illusion. I have run after all
ninety-nine and found them all illusions. For what should I try this one?" Don't say it! To the extent that you can walk, you must go on and try it, also. Ninety-nine may be illusions but one may be a real oasis for you because the Lord says, "Don't cut off your hope, don't despair." When you cut off your hope, you are going to die; finished. No one dies until he has cut off his hope of living, but whoever hopes to live may live, whoever hopes to find must find.
'Asr/June 1, 1985
By the name of Allah, All-mighty, All-merciful, Most Beneficent and Most Munificent, who created all the universes and all things; the Lord of the Heavens, the Lord of the worlds, the Lord of the Sons of Adam. And we are His weak servants, and every time we are here in such a meeting we are asking for our Lord's divine help for ourselves.
We are in need of His divine help at every time, at every moment. You can't imagine a unit of time which is so small that you can't count it (you might say one-millionth of a second, if you could make a second into a million parts) - you can't say that the whole universe is without need, in even such a small unit of time, of divine help. If during that time that divine help is cut off, that divine support for all the universes in existence, then all will disappear. No one can bring it back except its Creator, its Lord, Allah Almighty. Therefore you must ask for divine help for every thing, for every time, for every occasion.
As much as you may be with Him, He will be with you; yes. But you lose yourself and forget. Then that divine support goes from you and you are left in the hands of your ego. Therefore we must always ask for divine support, divine help. O my Lord, don't leave us in the hands of our egos, because our ego is proud, so proud, saying, "I am not in need of anyone," while
it is in need at every moment, never without need for that support. That is why we say, "Lā hawla wa lā quwwata illā bil-lah, al-'Ali, al-'Adhim8.". No thing can be done without our Lord's power, nothing can be left without His power and help.
Religion, and particularly Islam, brings belief's to people. It asks you firstly to believe in your Creator who brings you into existence, because no one may be able to bring himself into existence or to keep himself in existence. It is impossible for anyone to claim that he can bring himself into existence or keep himself in existence, so that we must believe that Someone brings us into existence and also takes us from existence. We appear and then disappear.
That is the main point in the Islamic beliefs, as it was the main point for the other religions - to make people believe in their Lord Almighty, who brings them into existence and keeps them in existence and then takes them away from existence, and then secondly brings them to His Divine Presence.
Thererore, the most important pillar for every religion, and particularly in Islam, is to believe in God Almighty, in Allah Almighty, and then to believe that He brings you into the next life, that He returns you to another life. That is the most important thing which every religion makes its followers or believers believe in: that there is Allah Almighty who created all things including the Sons of Adam, and that He is able to bring them back to life after death, to give them their lives again and bring them into His Divine Presence. That must be the belief in every religion.
Then, when we believe, o servants of our Lord, O mankind, we have been ordered to do something and to leave something, and every religion teaches people to do something and to leave off something. Without commands, it is not a religion, because we act, we work, we do things. Therefore the Lord Almighty orders something for action, and all orders that we have been commanded to act upon are for our karamah, to give us honor; every command that we have been ordered to carry out is to make us more honorable in the Divine Presence. And we have been asked also to leave off something, so many things, and that is for protection for ourselves, for safety. Anything for which your Lord says, "Leave it," is only for your safety here and for your protection Hereafter,
8 Th
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