Mercy Oceans, Book 11 (183 pages, 2/17)
https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6157
ere is no might and no power except with God, the Most High, the Almighty. An oft-repeated phrase by which Muslims express their total dependence upon God's power and will
No one can make any objection concerning those actions which are prohibited in Islam, claiming that this was useful and Islam prevented it. If he does, he must be foolish, he must be a mad person, must be an ignorant person. Who knows more about mankind than anyone? Its Creator must know the most about mankind. Therefore He knows best what is best for you, for your life here and Hereafter, and He also knows best what is worst and most harmful and dishonorable for you here and Hereafter. Because every action that you do here takes a shape, takes a form, and reaches you after your death. You must see everything that you did in this life in front of you; nothing is going to be lost. All of your deeds are preserved for you.
Firstly you are going to meet them when the door of your grave opens; then you will meet everything that you did, making a parade in front of you. No one can see that except the owner of that grave, and also your neighbors may come and look. So then we have been ordered to do something, and Allah Almighty is going to look at everything that you did and to ask His servant about it.
Imam al-Ghazali is one of the "king-sized" scholars and imans in Islam who has a world-wide personality known thoughtout the Islamic world and throughout the entire world, also. Allah Almighty gives karamah, honor, to those people who are sincere with their Lord Almighty; we are following their ways and accepting them. Imam al-Ghazali wrote so many books; perhaps one lifetime is not enough to read his books - to read and to understand and to act on them, also. He has a collection of books called Ihya Ulum ad-Din 9If all other Islamic books were destroyed and only those books remained would be enough to make everything in Islam clear; yes, they are enough! all other Islamic books disappeared, to make Islam appear. Such peoples’ hearts are always occupied by the Holy Qur'an and by Hadith, so that Allah Almighty opens to them the springs of wisdoms and gives them understanding the Holy Qur'an and of Hadith. If a hadith consists of five words, we can read only five words; we can't make it six words. But they may give meaning and understandings; they may understand from one hadith as much knowledge as a volume. According to your faith you may receive meanings, you may receive more lights, from the verses of the Holy Qur'an and from hadith.
Then, Imam al-Ghazali, may Allah bless him, was saying that when a person dies and is put into a coffin and people carry him to his grave (before our
9 The Revival of the Religious Sciences, by Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali, a work of several volumes published in translation in many major languages
time, people would carry the dead person on their shoulders to the cemetery; now there are such gigantic cities that it is impossible to carry him on their shoulders - they put him into a good car and quickly bring him to the cemetery) - when that dead body is taken, his Lord asks that person forty questions, says Imam al-Ghazali, forty different questions before he arrives and is buried in his grave, which are only between his Lord and himself.
He was saying that the first question that Allah Almighty asks that person is, "O My servant, you always ornamented yourself among people. You were very careful to look after yourself, how you dressed, doing your hair, having so many things. You were so careful to look handsome, beautiful and elegant among people - very careful, because people were looking at you. But did you do anything to your heart for Me? You knew that I was looking only at your heart, not looking at your outward appearance, what your eyes' color, your skin's color, was; whether you were tall or short, a black one or a white ane - no. I was looking always at your heart. Did you ever think that my Lord is looking at my heart and I must keep it clean and ornamented, excellent looking? Did you ever think of that because I was looking, saying, "My Lord is looking at my heart and I must keep it excellent for Him?!
That is the first question, and it contains everything in itself. It is enough for believers if they are doing their best to make their hearts lighted and clean and excellent - enough for them here and Hereafter, also. Allah Almighty, on the Day of Resurrection, is not going to ask you what you brought of money or of sons or of property or of ranks - no.. "Where is your heart? With which heart have you come to Me? Qalbum salim10, the golden heart, the purified heart - where is it? Give it to Me. That was what I was asking from you during your life." That is the main thing which is asked of every one: Keep your heart clean and excellent and bring it to Me.
Then, according to your heart, your purified heart, everything will appear to you for the Eternal Life, and you will look at your Lord's eternal lights and endless beauties through your heart's mirror; you will see your Lord's beauties, endless beauties, endless lights, through your heart. Therefore there will be ranks in the Divine Presence - first, second, third, fourth.
The first rank is for anbiya and awliya, prophets and saints, and for those who reached true faith during their lives and then, according to the degree of their faith, they go into the Divine Presence. Whoever would like to be
10 A sound (clean, pure) heart. (XXVI:89)
in the first rank must first look after his heart.
Now we are fasting. We are keeping our stomachs from eating and drinking but mostly we are saying to our organs, "You are free." We are fasting only by not eating and drinking, but for our organs, we are not commanding them and saying, "You must stop this, you must keep guard on yourself; we do not say this.
And then, there is still another kind of fasting. It is the most important fasting: to make our hearts fast from everything except our Lord Almighty, to be with your Lord by your heart. If anything wrong comes through the hearts of such people, they say that we must wash ourselves as a person who is junub11 washes; if any kind of thoughts of this world or of Paradise and anything in it come to his heart, he must wash himself. It means, "O My servant, you are occupying your heart with something other than me. That is for Me alone, your heart. I must be there always and you must be there with Me always.
You may be with this world by your body but, O My servant, you must be with Me always by your heart."
If you say that this is impossible, your Lord does not speak except truth; if it were impossible, He would not say it, He would not request you to be with Him by your heart. But it is possible, so that He asks His servants, ”O My servants, you may be bodily, physically, in this world, going coming, doing - everything. But you must be with Me by your heart. Don't leave Me," He says, “because I don't leave you. If I leave you, you will be nothing. If I am with you, you are all things. Don't leave Me !" For this roasan, when people of the first rank think of something other than our Lord Almighty, they have been ordered to wash - to wash their bodies and then their hearts, washing them from every thought except their Lord.
That is the perfection which Allah Almighty wants from His servants to reach that perfection. And Islam brought the complete ways and methods for reaching that perfection, so that Islam is perfect from every direction. Anyone who wants to reach that perfection must follow Islam and its methods and ways. To the extent that you can follow you may take benefit, but you must make your goal that perfection; you must not agree to less than perfection.
11 the state of impurity for whatch the Islamic Shari'ah or divine law makes a complete bath obligatory
It is not an honor for a servant if his Lord gives him a chance to reach that perfection and he remains less than that. That is also the honor of Islam, which it gives to people and calls them to.
We are asking forgiveness from Allah Almighty because we always want to stay down below, not going up, and saying "Astāghfirullah12" for everything that we are doing contrary to the commands of our Lord Almighty. And we are also praising Him with the most high praises because He made us candidates for that perfection, and asking for His divine help, saying, "Alhamdulillah, wa shukrulillah”.
Morning/ June 2, 1985
We are living during a time in which everything has been changed and appears in an opposite form. Everything has been changed from its original state to another, a non-original state, you may say.
Islam, also. You can look at Islam and can see that in our time our scholars or our statesmen are presenting Islam in a form which was not its original one. Everything now is going according to the desires of people, egos; everyone says about Islam what he likes. Muslim statesmen and scholars are running out of Islam and they are saying what their egos want them to say, because everyone's ego wants Islam to be as he likes, so that in our time you can find thousands and thousands of descriptions of Islam.
All or them are wrong because they are changing Islam from its original form and giving some unheard of descriptions of it according to their hawā nafs, their egos' desires. What their egos suggest to them they say about Islam, and according to their egos' desires they do in the name of Islam.
We reject all of them. There is the war between Iran and Iraq; that is the proof of what we are saying now. This is not Islam, not from either side. We do not accept it. And everywhere you may find that people are not trying to follow the original Islam but making Islam follow them. That is the most dangerous, terrible way that people are going on.
We must follow the Sunnah, the practice of the Prophet, p.b.u.h. To what was he calling people and for what was he fighting? He was only fighting with haqg, truth, against batil, falsehood. Batil is the claims of your ego, your
12 I seek forgiveness from God
nafs; that is batil. Therefore, if people's hearts do not meet on one point, then it is batil. Islam just brought tauhid, unity, and everyone's thoughts must meet on that point of unity. In Islam there is no this one thinking this thing, that one thinking another thing, and everyone going his own way; no.
Everyone must meet on the point of tauhid, of unity.
We are accepting our Lord, Almighty Allah, and we claim that we are His servants, and therefore we must live in servanthood to Him and nothing else. Sultan al-'Arifin Abu Yazid Bistami, may Allah bless him, was saying that we find Islam built on two pillars, simple things. One of them is respect, most high respect, to our Lord. The second is to care for, to be compassionate to His servants and to His creatures generally.
We find Islam built on these two pillars, nothing else; these two pillars include everything. You can make it broader and broader, so that everyone can take his share of Islam, and everyone can use that measure for Islam and can measure his actions or take accounting of every action by looking toward these two important bases.
In everything that you do there must be respect for your Lord Almighty; that is the first thing that is to be considered in any action that a person may do. He must not do anything without giving respect to his Lord, Almighty Allah, and therefore the Prophet, p.b.u.h., said that respect for your Lord is to begin everything by saying, "Bismillahi-r-Rahmani-r-Rahim, in the name of Allah, All-mighty, All-Merciful, Most Beneficent and Most Munificent." That is the respect that you can give to your Lord at the beginning of every action. You must know that if He does not give permission or give success to you, you can't be successful in any action; you can't even move your hands or your feet.
And then you must care for, you must be compassionate, to every creature. Even if you need to kill, the Prophet said, use ihsan; do that kindly, also.
When you kill a sheep, a cow, a camel, a chicken, kill it kindly, Allah orders, but people have lost that now. Even if you kill some harmful insect or animal, you must use something that doesn't give it too much trouble and must kill it instantly, and therefore it is prohibited to burn people or animals or insects. Allah prohibits it because only He may burn; no one may use fire to burn people - but now people are intending to burn the whole world, everyone in it, all nations. Earlier, weapons were only cold steel, swords and spears, but afterwards every weapon meant fire for burning people; now big bombs are burning everything. Earlier very few people used f'ire for execution; it is
haram, prohibited, in Divine Law. If you are obliged to kill some harmful thing, don't burn it; fire is only for cooking and for heat - that is all.
You must be compassionate. You must not even step on an ant without reason because it also has a life and when it sees you approaching to kill it, it runs away; it feels death and its pain, and therefore runs. It also glorifies its Lord; therefore, without giving you any harm, you can't kill it. If you kill it, you must bear the responsibility. Thus Islam came with endless compassion for creatures, for everyone. That is a correct word to describe Islam through the statements of awliya.
When the Angel Gabriel came to the Seal of the Prophets, beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., for the last time, he said, "This is the last time that I will come to you to bring orders. Prophethood is finished, and no more will I bring any message from Heaven to prophets."
And the Prophet, p.b.u.h., asked, "Will you ever come again to the earth?"
"I will come," Gabriel, p.b.u.h., said, "but I will not bring anything. Rather I will come to take away something from the earth. I will come to take knowledge from the earth so that ignorance covers the whole world and people fall into those oceans of ignorance." They are even claiming that there is no God; instead of saying, "There is no God but Allah," they stop at saying, "There is no God." That is the highest point of ignorance; you can't find any thing more ignorant than that. If a person knows everything but does not know the owner of himself and of the whole universe, he is ignorant.
"I will come to take that away. And I will come yet again to take barakah, blessing, from the earth," Gabriel said, p.b.u.h. You can find everything; people receive a lot of money, fill up their pockets, but still they say, "Not enough, not enough." I remember there was three pence, three piasters of Queen Victoria, in Cyprus13; I can remember it quite well, a little piece of a silver coin, three piasters. It was enough for a person for one day; even for a family it was enough, that little silver coin. And some coins were even less than three piasters. There were some shepherds who for the whole day looked after sheep for one piaster; their owner gave them a piece of bread and olives to eat, and one piaster. Thirty piasters for a month, and they were happy.
13 Sheikh Nazim grew up in Cyprus during the period when it was a part of the British Empire
Now, so many pounds. We were astonished, when we were fifteen or sixteen years old, to see that some people came to London from Cyprus; they worked and they said that they got two pounds, three pounds, each week. Hah, so much money! "Each week or each month?" "No, each week - three pounds, four pounds, even five pounds." In Cyprus a famous officer made five pounds in a month; a policeman, for one-and-a-half pounds a month would go and come, go and come, not sitting down, not like the police in our time, six hours and then finished. No; from early to late or up to night, and sometimes the whole night, sometimes the whole day, they were working. One-and-a-half pounds, and they were very pleased that we have a job, we are policemen, with uniforms and a fez. Yes, important people.
Then - Gabriel came and took away barakah14. And he also came once again to take mercy from the hearts of people. It has been taken away, also; no more mercy. Yesterday I heard about something which shows the mentality of people for sports, for football. They injure so many people and leave them on the ground, and then come and say, "You must play again," also; we are looking. What mercy is in their hearts, those people? What is this? This is an example only, but more and more dangerous things are now going to happen because mercy has gone out of hearts. Every day you may take newspapers and look at what people are becoming - like robots, no more mercy, their hearts becoming rocks, never feeling. Islam fights against such things; therefore its Prophet came with mercy.
“Will you come yet again?" the Prophet, p.b.u.h., asked Gabriel.
"I will come once more," Gabriel said, "to take haya, modesty, from the earth." Look outside now and see men and women, how they are dressing. In earlier times, mothers or grandmothers were ashamed to be in their bedrooms in such a way that people now dress outside. That is humanity, that is honor, that is modesty?
And this is the news from Heaven which came to us fifteen centuries ago. What Gabriel, p.b.u.h., announced has come to us now. Yes, it is correct. No more knowledge that leads people to goodness and to honesty and to honor here and Hereafter; that is finished. People now are learning - learning for what?
14 Sheikh Nazim adds parenthetically: " But in those countries where there are kings or queens there is more barakah than in republics. You may look anywhere; more freedom, more barakan, in them."
Only to support the kingdom of Satan on earth. They are learning only that one thing: how they can support Satan's kingdom on this earth; that is all the knowledge that you can learn. Even religious schools are bringing something from that satanic knowledge, putting it amidst true knowledge. For what? To make it ineffective, also. Yes, finished; its power goes away. You can't find even religious schools or colleges giving pure knowledge, heavenly knowledge, because Satan does not give permission for pure, heavenly knowledge, saying, "No - it is no good. You must mix up something else with that knowledge."
What is that knowledge? It is a heavenly knowledge, coming from Allah Almighty. We must accept that, not those - those are for Satan only, and support for his kingdom; Satan is so careful to do everything for himself. And as the Prophet, p.b.u.h., informed us, it is now appearing. And you must look at what you do.
Then, when we said that everyone is describing Islam according to his Satan, everyone has a Satan with himself, also. Therefore the future of this generation, these people, is dark black; you can't see any brightness or light. It is black, dark black, and Allah knows what things will appear amidst those dark black horizons, falling on people. There must be something, and that is a punishment that people will be given from themselves to each other.
Islam brought respect and mercy. We have lost both of them. In the Divine Presence one life from among the Children of Adam is more precious than the whole world, but we are making it less than a fly's. European people are laughing at Iran and Iraq, but they themselves are doing worse than that, also. Football is an example of what they are doing; it is only a small example but if they can do that, it means that those people can do more than this. If that door opens to them, mercy is finished.
Therefore the West can no longer laugh at the East or the East at the West. When winter comes, the whole world is covered with snow. In such a way, now hearts are covered; no more mercy enters into them. Islam says, "Don't kill." We say, “We must kill."
May Allah forgive us. We are asking forgiveness at every time. If we give our wills into the hands of our enemies, or if we give our wills into the hands of devils, that is the result; you can't expect any other. Yes, I am looking in Cyprus now, also; every day the newspaper comes. We are 100,000 or 200,000 people living in the Turkish part. Now there are fifteen parties, and all of them are quarreling, seriously, fighting with each other, swearing,
cursing - everything. What is this? And we claim that we are Muslims! If we can find the chance to kill, we may kill each other there, also, but the Turkish government has put a strong power and holds people by their hands, like this. And they say that this is democracy.
That must be, yes. People can kill each other for the sake of democracy. That is the mentality of the twentieth century, because Satan says, "My kingdom can never continue without democracy15." Therefore he urges people, "Take courage," urging people to have democracy. Everywhere it is written; I say that it means that you must be sufficiently brave to have democracy. They asked me, "Do you accept this?" giving me the ballot, and on it was written "Yes" or "No”16. I wrote on it, "Yes - for Islam." Then they said. that it is canceled because you wrote "For Islam". Wa min Allah at- taufio17. It is time for prayer.
'Asr/June 2, 1985
Allah Almighty teaches His people. Each one of the Children of Adam can take teachings from Allah Almighty. If we can put our hearts toward our Lord's Divine Presence, always we can take teachings from Allah Almighty in the form of inspirations.
Wahy, revelation, is for prophets, because they put their hearts wholy in the Divine Presence. Their hearts were not occupied by this world or by anything except their Lord; they were occupied by their Lord only. As Allah Almighty called them to His Divine Presence for His worship, they said. "Labbayk, we are ready." Therefore they faced their Lord's Divine Presence wholy through their hearts, and the one who faced his Lord's Divine Presence most was the Seal of the Prophets, Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h. And then, to each one of Allah's servants, to the extent that they can put their hearts in the Divine Presence, inspirations are directed from the divine Presence to their hearts. Sometimes it is easier for my heart for inspirations to come when you are awakened and put your hearts toward my heart, also. Then it is easy,
15 That is, the unlimited personal freedom which a democratic society permits becomes, inevitably, a tool of Satan
16 Probably refers to a referendum held in Turkish Cyprus to determine the form of government
17 And from God is the divine assistance
translating from the Divine Presence to the Prophet, p.b.u.h., and from the Prophet to Grandsheikh, and from Grandsheikh's heart to my heart.
Today when I was praying an important point just appeared on the mirror of my heart to speak about. What is the Muslim's position in relation to others? When we say "to others," it means toward all people excepting yourself, and it is divided into so many parts, also. What is your position toward unbelievers or toward believers in other religions? Then, what is the position of men toward women and for women toward men? What is your position in relation to older people or younger people? What is your position toward rich people, toward poor people? What is your position toward learned people and ignorant people, toward peasants, toward every kind of people, and toward animals, toward plants, toward non-living things - toward all things that may be in existence?
We may gather everything into a word, into a saying that the Prophet spoke, advising his nation, his ummah. The Prophet, p.b.u.h., said. in his original words, "Addabani Rabbi fa ahsana tadibi." He himself in formed us that he had been taught or had been given adab, the best manners that one may have, saying, "My Lord taught me and gave me the best manners."
It is enough for Muslims, for believers, to take everything from those holy words. The Seal of the Prophets, p.b.u.h., was speaking by his Lord's command, saying, "I have been taught by my Lord. He is my teacher for everything, and for adab I have been taught by my Lord the best manners. Whoever wants the best manners may take them from me, through me."
Therefore, o believers, we are learning all good manners through our beloved Prophet Muhammad, p.b.u.h. Now, we are in need to know what are the best manners for facing people, for everyone according to his or her level, because we are all of us the same in creation but we are different in our forms, in our capabilities or abilities or characteristics; everyone carries something different. That is from our Lord's greatness, that He can make everyone to be only one of his kind. Everyone carries a different personality. That is a sign to you that you have been honored in the Divine Presence, and no one can anticipate the real honors that everyone has been given by his Lord.
Now we have, throughout this life, by divine wisdoms, different levels. Therefore you can't consider human beings like a factory product, all in the same mould; no, because you, the Children of Adam, have been created to be Allah Almighty's deputies, and each one of the children of Adam, man or
woman, has a manifestation of Allah Almighty's Holy Names. They are each madhahar, manifestations, of one Holy Name of the Lord Almighty, so that you can't say that your Name is the same as the next one's. No matter how many individuals you can imagine from mankind, from the Children of Adam, no matter how many millions of human beings may come, each of them is going to manifest one different Holy Name from among the Holy Names of Allah Almighty.
That is a general view for you about the Children of Adam. Therefore you may stand up for everyone who comes to you, respecting that person. You must see each one of the Children of Adam, all of them, as being a manifestation of a Holy Name of your Lord Almighty. That is adab. Through the excellent manners which Allah Almighty taught His Prophet you must acquire it.
But we have lost that now. We are going so far from true Islam and from the true excellent manners, and we are inventing something. That is bid'ah18.
We must look at every one of mankind with respect. Therefore, if a baby is born and opens its mouth, breathing, one-two-three, and dies, you must
Link: https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6157
ere is no might and no power except with God, the Most High, the Almighty. An oft-repeated phrase by which Muslims express their total dependence upon God's power and will
No one can make any objection concerning those actions which are prohibited in Islam, claiming that this was useful and Islam prevented it. If he does, he must be foolish, he must be a mad person, must be an ignorant person. Who knows more about mankind than anyone? Its Creator must know the most about mankind. Therefore He knows best what is best for you, for your life here and Hereafter, and He also knows best what is worst and most harmful and dishonorable for you here and Hereafter. Because every action that you do here takes a shape, takes a form, and reaches you after your death. You must see everything that you did in this life in front of you; nothing is going to be lost. All of your deeds are preserved for you.
Firstly you are going to meet them when the door of your grave opens; then you will meet everything that you did, making a parade in front of you. No one can see that except the owner of that grave, and also your neighbors may come and look. So then we have been ordered to do something, and Allah Almighty is going to look at everything that you did and to ask His servant about it.
Imam al-Ghazali is one of the "king-sized" scholars and imans in Islam who has a world-wide personality known thoughtout the Islamic world and throughout the entire world, also. Allah Almighty gives karamah, honor, to those people who are sincere with their Lord Almighty; we are following their ways and accepting them. Imam al-Ghazali wrote so many books; perhaps one lifetime is not enough to read his books - to read and to understand and to act on them, also. He has a collection of books called Ihya Ulum ad-Din 9If all other Islamic books were destroyed and only those books remained would be enough to make everything in Islam clear; yes, they are enough! all other Islamic books disappeared, to make Islam appear. Such peoples’ hearts are always occupied by the Holy Qur'an and by Hadith, so that Allah Almighty opens to them the springs of wisdoms and gives them understanding the Holy Qur'an and of Hadith. If a hadith consists of five words, we can read only five words; we can't make it six words. But they may give meaning and understandings; they may understand from one hadith as much knowledge as a volume. According to your faith you may receive meanings, you may receive more lights, from the verses of the Holy Qur'an and from hadith.
Then, Imam al-Ghazali, may Allah bless him, was saying that when a person dies and is put into a coffin and people carry him to his grave (before our
9 The Revival of the Religious Sciences, by Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali, a work of several volumes published in translation in many major languages
time, people would carry the dead person on their shoulders to the cemetery; now there are such gigantic cities that it is impossible to carry him on their shoulders - they put him into a good car and quickly bring him to the cemetery) - when that dead body is taken, his Lord asks that person forty questions, says Imam al-Ghazali, forty different questions before he arrives and is buried in his grave, which are only between his Lord and himself.
He was saying that the first question that Allah Almighty asks that person is, "O My servant, you always ornamented yourself among people. You were very careful to look after yourself, how you dressed, doing your hair, having so many things. You were so careful to look handsome, beautiful and elegant among people - very careful, because people were looking at you. But did you do anything to your heart for Me? You knew that I was looking only at your heart, not looking at your outward appearance, what your eyes' color, your skin's color, was; whether you were tall or short, a black one or a white ane - no. I was looking always at your heart. Did you ever think that my Lord is looking at my heart and I must keep it clean and ornamented, excellent looking? Did you ever think of that because I was looking, saying, "My Lord is looking at my heart and I must keep it excellent for Him?!
That is the first question, and it contains everything in itself. It is enough for believers if they are doing their best to make their hearts lighted and clean and excellent - enough for them here and Hereafter, also. Allah Almighty, on the Day of Resurrection, is not going to ask you what you brought of money or of sons or of property or of ranks - no.. "Where is your heart? With which heart have you come to Me? Qalbum salim10, the golden heart, the purified heart - where is it? Give it to Me. That was what I was asking from you during your life." That is the main thing which is asked of every one: Keep your heart clean and excellent and bring it to Me.
Then, according to your heart, your purified heart, everything will appear to you for the Eternal Life, and you will look at your Lord's eternal lights and endless beauties through your heart's mirror; you will see your Lord's beauties, endless beauties, endless lights, through your heart. Therefore there will be ranks in the Divine Presence - first, second, third, fourth.
The first rank is for anbiya and awliya, prophets and saints, and for those who reached true faith during their lives and then, according to the degree of their faith, they go into the Divine Presence. Whoever would like to be
10 A sound (clean, pure) heart. (XXVI:89)
in the first rank must first look after his heart.
Now we are fasting. We are keeping our stomachs from eating and drinking but mostly we are saying to our organs, "You are free." We are fasting only by not eating and drinking, but for our organs, we are not commanding them and saying, "You must stop this, you must keep guard on yourself; we do not say this.
And then, there is still another kind of fasting. It is the most important fasting: to make our hearts fast from everything except our Lord Almighty, to be with your Lord by your heart. If anything wrong comes through the hearts of such people, they say that we must wash ourselves as a person who is junub11 washes; if any kind of thoughts of this world or of Paradise and anything in it come to his heart, he must wash himself. It means, "O My servant, you are occupying your heart with something other than me. That is for Me alone, your heart. I must be there always and you must be there with Me always.
You may be with this world by your body but, O My servant, you must be with Me always by your heart."
If you say that this is impossible, your Lord does not speak except truth; if it were impossible, He would not say it, He would not request you to be with Him by your heart. But it is possible, so that He asks His servants, ”O My servants, you may be bodily, physically, in this world, going coming, doing - everything. But you must be with Me by your heart. Don't leave Me," He says, “because I don't leave you. If I leave you, you will be nothing. If I am with you, you are all things. Don't leave Me !" For this roasan, when people of the first rank think of something other than our Lord Almighty, they have been ordered to wash - to wash their bodies and then their hearts, washing them from every thought except their Lord.
That is the perfection which Allah Almighty wants from His servants to reach that perfection. And Islam brought the complete ways and methods for reaching that perfection, so that Islam is perfect from every direction. Anyone who wants to reach that perfection must follow Islam and its methods and ways. To the extent that you can follow you may take benefit, but you must make your goal that perfection; you must not agree to less than perfection.
11 the state of impurity for whatch the Islamic Shari'ah or divine law makes a complete bath obligatory
It is not an honor for a servant if his Lord gives him a chance to reach that perfection and he remains less than that. That is also the honor of Islam, which it gives to people and calls them to.
We are asking forgiveness from Allah Almighty because we always want to stay down below, not going up, and saying "Astāghfirullah12" for everything that we are doing contrary to the commands of our Lord Almighty. And we are also praising Him with the most high praises because He made us candidates for that perfection, and asking for His divine help, saying, "Alhamdulillah, wa shukrulillah”.
Morning/ June 2, 1985
We are living during a time in which everything has been changed and appears in an opposite form. Everything has been changed from its original state to another, a non-original state, you may say.
Islam, also. You can look at Islam and can see that in our time our scholars or our statesmen are presenting Islam in a form which was not its original one. Everything now is going according to the desires of people, egos; everyone says about Islam what he likes. Muslim statesmen and scholars are running out of Islam and they are saying what their egos want them to say, because everyone's ego wants Islam to be as he likes, so that in our time you can find thousands and thousands of descriptions of Islam.
All or them are wrong because they are changing Islam from its original form and giving some unheard of descriptions of it according to their hawā nafs, their egos' desires. What their egos suggest to them they say about Islam, and according to their egos' desires they do in the name of Islam.
We reject all of them. There is the war between Iran and Iraq; that is the proof of what we are saying now. This is not Islam, not from either side. We do not accept it. And everywhere you may find that people are not trying to follow the original Islam but making Islam follow them. That is the most dangerous, terrible way that people are going on.
We must follow the Sunnah, the practice of the Prophet, p.b.u.h. To what was he calling people and for what was he fighting? He was only fighting with haqg, truth, against batil, falsehood. Batil is the claims of your ego, your
12 I seek forgiveness from God
nafs; that is batil. Therefore, if people's hearts do not meet on one point, then it is batil. Islam just brought tauhid, unity, and everyone's thoughts must meet on that point of unity. In Islam there is no this one thinking this thing, that one thinking another thing, and everyone going his own way; no.
Everyone must meet on the point of tauhid, of unity.
We are accepting our Lord, Almighty Allah, and we claim that we are His servants, and therefore we must live in servanthood to Him and nothing else. Sultan al-'Arifin Abu Yazid Bistami, may Allah bless him, was saying that we find Islam built on two pillars, simple things. One of them is respect, most high respect, to our Lord. The second is to care for, to be compassionate to His servants and to His creatures generally.
We find Islam built on these two pillars, nothing else; these two pillars include everything. You can make it broader and broader, so that everyone can take his share of Islam, and everyone can use that measure for Islam and can measure his actions or take accounting of every action by looking toward these two important bases.
In everything that you do there must be respect for your Lord Almighty; that is the first thing that is to be considered in any action that a person may do. He must not do anything without giving respect to his Lord, Almighty Allah, and therefore the Prophet, p.b.u.h., said that respect for your Lord is to begin everything by saying, "Bismillahi-r-Rahmani-r-Rahim, in the name of Allah, All-mighty, All-Merciful, Most Beneficent and Most Munificent." That is the respect that you can give to your Lord at the beginning of every action. You must know that if He does not give permission or give success to you, you can't be successful in any action; you can't even move your hands or your feet.
And then you must care for, you must be compassionate, to every creature. Even if you need to kill, the Prophet said, use ihsan; do that kindly, also.
When you kill a sheep, a cow, a camel, a chicken, kill it kindly, Allah orders, but people have lost that now. Even if you kill some harmful insect or animal, you must use something that doesn't give it too much trouble and must kill it instantly, and therefore it is prohibited to burn people or animals or insects. Allah prohibits it because only He may burn; no one may use fire to burn people - but now people are intending to burn the whole world, everyone in it, all nations. Earlier, weapons were only cold steel, swords and spears, but afterwards every weapon meant fire for burning people; now big bombs are burning everything. Earlier very few people used f'ire for execution; it is
haram, prohibited, in Divine Law. If you are obliged to kill some harmful thing, don't burn it; fire is only for cooking and for heat - that is all.
You must be compassionate. You must not even step on an ant without reason because it also has a life and when it sees you approaching to kill it, it runs away; it feels death and its pain, and therefore runs. It also glorifies its Lord; therefore, without giving you any harm, you can't kill it. If you kill it, you must bear the responsibility. Thus Islam came with endless compassion for creatures, for everyone. That is a correct word to describe Islam through the statements of awliya.
When the Angel Gabriel came to the Seal of the Prophets, beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., for the last time, he said, "This is the last time that I will come to you to bring orders. Prophethood is finished, and no more will I bring any message from Heaven to prophets."
And the Prophet, p.b.u.h., asked, "Will you ever come again to the earth?"
"I will come," Gabriel, p.b.u.h., said, "but I will not bring anything. Rather I will come to take away something from the earth. I will come to take knowledge from the earth so that ignorance covers the whole world and people fall into those oceans of ignorance." They are even claiming that there is no God; instead of saying, "There is no God but Allah," they stop at saying, "There is no God." That is the highest point of ignorance; you can't find any thing more ignorant than that. If a person knows everything but does not know the owner of himself and of the whole universe, he is ignorant.
"I will come to take that away. And I will come yet again to take barakah, blessing, from the earth," Gabriel said, p.b.u.h. You can find everything; people receive a lot of money, fill up their pockets, but still they say, "Not enough, not enough." I remember there was three pence, three piasters of Queen Victoria, in Cyprus13; I can remember it quite well, a little piece of a silver coin, three piasters. It was enough for a person for one day; even for a family it was enough, that little silver coin. And some coins were even less than three piasters. There were some shepherds who for the whole day looked after sheep for one piaster; their owner gave them a piece of bread and olives to eat, and one piaster. Thirty piasters for a month, and they were happy.
13 Sheikh Nazim grew up in Cyprus during the period when it was a part of the British Empire
Now, so many pounds. We were astonished, when we were fifteen or sixteen years old, to see that some people came to London from Cyprus; they worked and they said that they got two pounds, three pounds, each week. Hah, so much money! "Each week or each month?" "No, each week - three pounds, four pounds, even five pounds." In Cyprus a famous officer made five pounds in a month; a policeman, for one-and-a-half pounds a month would go and come, go and come, not sitting down, not like the police in our time, six hours and then finished. No; from early to late or up to night, and sometimes the whole night, sometimes the whole day, they were working. One-and-a-half pounds, and they were very pleased that we have a job, we are policemen, with uniforms and a fez. Yes, important people.
Then - Gabriel came and took away barakah14. And he also came once again to take mercy from the hearts of people. It has been taken away, also; no more mercy. Yesterday I heard about something which shows the mentality of people for sports, for football. They injure so many people and leave them on the ground, and then come and say, "You must play again," also; we are looking. What mercy is in their hearts, those people? What is this? This is an example only, but more and more dangerous things are now going to happen because mercy has gone out of hearts. Every day you may take newspapers and look at what people are becoming - like robots, no more mercy, their hearts becoming rocks, never feeling. Islam fights against such things; therefore its Prophet came with mercy.
“Will you come yet again?" the Prophet, p.b.u.h., asked Gabriel.
"I will come once more," Gabriel said, "to take haya, modesty, from the earth." Look outside now and see men and women, how they are dressing. In earlier times, mothers or grandmothers were ashamed to be in their bedrooms in such a way that people now dress outside. That is humanity, that is honor, that is modesty?
And this is the news from Heaven which came to us fifteen centuries ago. What Gabriel, p.b.u.h., announced has come to us now. Yes, it is correct. No more knowledge that leads people to goodness and to honesty and to honor here and Hereafter; that is finished. People now are learning - learning for what?
14 Sheikh Nazim adds parenthetically: " But in those countries where there are kings or queens there is more barakah than in republics. You may look anywhere; more freedom, more barakan, in them."
Only to support the kingdom of Satan on earth. They are learning only that one thing: how they can support Satan's kingdom on this earth; that is all the knowledge that you can learn. Even religious schools are bringing something from that satanic knowledge, putting it amidst true knowledge. For what? To make it ineffective, also. Yes, finished; its power goes away. You can't find even religious schools or colleges giving pure knowledge, heavenly knowledge, because Satan does not give permission for pure, heavenly knowledge, saying, "No - it is no good. You must mix up something else with that knowledge."
What is that knowledge? It is a heavenly knowledge, coming from Allah Almighty. We must accept that, not those - those are for Satan only, and support for his kingdom; Satan is so careful to do everything for himself. And as the Prophet, p.b.u.h., informed us, it is now appearing. And you must look at what you do.
Then, when we said that everyone is describing Islam according to his Satan, everyone has a Satan with himself, also. Therefore the future of this generation, these people, is dark black; you can't see any brightness or light. It is black, dark black, and Allah knows what things will appear amidst those dark black horizons, falling on people. There must be something, and that is a punishment that people will be given from themselves to each other.
Islam brought respect and mercy. We have lost both of them. In the Divine Presence one life from among the Children of Adam is more precious than the whole world, but we are making it less than a fly's. European people are laughing at Iran and Iraq, but they themselves are doing worse than that, also. Football is an example of what they are doing; it is only a small example but if they can do that, it means that those people can do more than this. If that door opens to them, mercy is finished.
Therefore the West can no longer laugh at the East or the East at the West. When winter comes, the whole world is covered with snow. In such a way, now hearts are covered; no more mercy enters into them. Islam says, "Don't kill." We say, “We must kill."
May Allah forgive us. We are asking forgiveness at every time. If we give our wills into the hands of our enemies, or if we give our wills into the hands of devils, that is the result; you can't expect any other. Yes, I am looking in Cyprus now, also; every day the newspaper comes. We are 100,000 or 200,000 people living in the Turkish part. Now there are fifteen parties, and all of them are quarreling, seriously, fighting with each other, swearing,
cursing - everything. What is this? And we claim that we are Muslims! If we can find the chance to kill, we may kill each other there, also, but the Turkish government has put a strong power and holds people by their hands, like this. And they say that this is democracy.
That must be, yes. People can kill each other for the sake of democracy. That is the mentality of the twentieth century, because Satan says, "My kingdom can never continue without democracy15." Therefore he urges people, "Take courage," urging people to have democracy. Everywhere it is written; I say that it means that you must be sufficiently brave to have democracy. They asked me, "Do you accept this?" giving me the ballot, and on it was written "Yes" or "No”16. I wrote on it, "Yes - for Islam." Then they said. that it is canceled because you wrote "For Islam". Wa min Allah at- taufio17. It is time for prayer.
'Asr/June 2, 1985
Allah Almighty teaches His people. Each one of the Children of Adam can take teachings from Allah Almighty. If we can put our hearts toward our Lord's Divine Presence, always we can take teachings from Allah Almighty in the form of inspirations.
Wahy, revelation, is for prophets, because they put their hearts wholy in the Divine Presence. Their hearts were not occupied by this world or by anything except their Lord; they were occupied by their Lord only. As Allah Almighty called them to His Divine Presence for His worship, they said. "Labbayk, we are ready." Therefore they faced their Lord's Divine Presence wholy through their hearts, and the one who faced his Lord's Divine Presence most was the Seal of the Prophets, Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h. And then, to each one of Allah's servants, to the extent that they can put their hearts in the Divine Presence, inspirations are directed from the divine Presence to their hearts. Sometimes it is easier for my heart for inspirations to come when you are awakened and put your hearts toward my heart, also. Then it is easy,
15 That is, the unlimited personal freedom which a democratic society permits becomes, inevitably, a tool of Satan
16 Probably refers to a referendum held in Turkish Cyprus to determine the form of government
17 And from God is the divine assistance
translating from the Divine Presence to the Prophet, p.b.u.h., and from the Prophet to Grandsheikh, and from Grandsheikh's heart to my heart.
Today when I was praying an important point just appeared on the mirror of my heart to speak about. What is the Muslim's position in relation to others? When we say "to others," it means toward all people excepting yourself, and it is divided into so many parts, also. What is your position toward unbelievers or toward believers in other religions? Then, what is the position of men toward women and for women toward men? What is your position in relation to older people or younger people? What is your position toward rich people, toward poor people? What is your position toward learned people and ignorant people, toward peasants, toward every kind of people, and toward animals, toward plants, toward non-living things - toward all things that may be in existence?
We may gather everything into a word, into a saying that the Prophet spoke, advising his nation, his ummah. The Prophet, p.b.u.h., said. in his original words, "Addabani Rabbi fa ahsana tadibi." He himself in formed us that he had been taught or had been given adab, the best manners that one may have, saying, "My Lord taught me and gave me the best manners."
It is enough for Muslims, for believers, to take everything from those holy words. The Seal of the Prophets, p.b.u.h., was speaking by his Lord's command, saying, "I have been taught by my Lord. He is my teacher for everything, and for adab I have been taught by my Lord the best manners. Whoever wants the best manners may take them from me, through me."
Therefore, o believers, we are learning all good manners through our beloved Prophet Muhammad, p.b.u.h. Now, we are in need to know what are the best manners for facing people, for everyone according to his or her level, because we are all of us the same in creation but we are different in our forms, in our capabilities or abilities or characteristics; everyone carries something different. That is from our Lord's greatness, that He can make everyone to be only one of his kind. Everyone carries a different personality. That is a sign to you that you have been honored in the Divine Presence, and no one can anticipate the real honors that everyone has been given by his Lord.
Now we have, throughout this life, by divine wisdoms, different levels. Therefore you can't consider human beings like a factory product, all in the same mould; no, because you, the Children of Adam, have been created to be Allah Almighty's deputies, and each one of the children of Adam, man or
woman, has a manifestation of Allah Almighty's Holy Names. They are each madhahar, manifestations, of one Holy Name of the Lord Almighty, so that you can't say that your Name is the same as the next one's. No matter how many individuals you can imagine from mankind, from the Children of Adam, no matter how many millions of human beings may come, each of them is going to manifest one different Holy Name from among the Holy Names of Allah Almighty.
That is a general view for you about the Children of Adam. Therefore you may stand up for everyone who comes to you, respecting that person. You must see each one of the Children of Adam, all of them, as being a manifestation of a Holy Name of your Lord Almighty. That is adab. Through the excellent manners which Allah Almighty taught His Prophet you must acquire it.
But we have lost that now. We are going so far from true Islam and from the true excellent manners, and we are inventing something. That is bid'ah18.
We must look at every one of mankind with respect. Therefore, if a baby is born and opens its mouth, breathing, one-two-three, and dies, you must
Link: https://www.nvrislam.net/index.php?j=eng&post=6157