Mercy Oceans, Book 11 (183 pages, 10/17)
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speak about all those questions which Satan asked, but the important point I must tell. At the last Satan said, "O Muhammad, at the end I may say to you that on the Last Day I will be proud because I will look behind me and see all people crowding around me, my followers, so many that you won't be able to count them. Even these computers can't say what that number will be. A big crowd will be behind me, and you will come with three people, four people, three hundred, four
81 Garbage cans
hundred, one thousand, one million people, but too big a crowd of people will come with me on the Last Day, and I am proud that my followers are going to be more numerous than yours. You are all so many prophets, yet only a little community will come with you. But my community is so big, and I am proud of it!"
But, o believers, you must be careful because you are a little community. Here is a gigantic city, and people are mostly running after devils and Satan. Perhaps your ego is urging you to join those people, numerous people, and it says, "What about those people? What about you? You are holding yourself back." Ego means to say, "You are holding me back from enjoying my life." And even children are saying to their parents, "We must live our life"; yes, everyone is running away from his home, from his parents I am asking, where do you live? You have parents?" "Yes, I have." "You are with your parents?" "No. I rent a room, I rent a flat, a private flat." "For what?" "Because I wish to live my life." Masha'Allan, too important a life! It means, to live a dirty life. If no marriage, if a person goes away from his parents without marriage, it means to live a dirty life, a dishonorable life. And who is their teacher? Satan. Satan says, "O you young person, now it is the beginning of your life and you must be independent, to be the commander of your own self, to do everything you like, no one saying, 'Where did you go? Where did you come from? When did you come? When are you going?
What are you doing?' No one will say that. You will be in your flat. In the morningtime, during the whole night, outside; coming in the morning, or going from the morning, no one asking you. You must live your life, going, coming." Therefore most of those recently-matured ones are now lost, and for each one who listens to Satan and does what he asks him to do, Satan says, "Oh, I destroyed one more, also. Another one, another one."
You must know, you must recognize your enemy and you must leave him. It is enough, I think, for today. If anyone can think about these words, he may be pleased throughout his life, but the one who is not going to think about them may regret too much. May Allah protect you from regretting,
'Asr/June 12, 1985
If the Prophet or prophets had said something that listeners couldn't understand, what would have been the benefit? There is a hadith of the Holy Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h., ordering us to speak according to the level of people. Anyone who is going to do tabligh or d'awah, that is,
calling people to Allah Almighty, must speak according to the understandings of people. If he speaks above their understanding it is useless, and if it is below their understandings, it also gives no benefit; useless. Therefore it is important to make it easy for peoples' understandings so that it may be useful for everyone.
For this reason, Allah Almighty, when He invited His beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., into His Divine Presence during the Night Journey82, - He gave him from His divine knowledges and also from the Oceans of Knowledges and Wisdoms. Then He ordered Sayyidinā Muhammad, p.b.u.h., to divide those knowledges and wisdoms into three parts.
One of them is for common people; you may say, for everyone. That is on the level of common people so that they are not going to be shocked when they hear something that they cannot imagine, they cannot understand; yes. When I speak on a tape, you can understand it later because you have seen me and you have a photocopy for that thing in your mind. When we speak on it, your mind works without seeing this, looking into yourself and saying that this tape is the thing which I know, but if you haven't any photocopy in your mind, it would be impossible to understand what that is. Therefore the Holy Qur'an came down, so easy that everyone thinks that he understands it.
Yes, the Holy Qur'an, the Glorious Qur'an, is for understanding, not for not understanding.
Therefore everyone may understand from the Holy Qur'an. But don't think that it is only that which you understand and no more. Even for scholars, they must not suppose that the Holy Qur'an's meanings are only those which they understand and no more - no. For the Holy Qur'an, according to our faith, that faith makes our minds sharper. If there is no light of faith here, there will be darkness in peoples' minds. What makes our minds bright and lighted is only our faith, and to the extent that your faith is stronger, its light is going to be brighter and shining and showing, taking darkness away from your understanding. Therefore everyone looks at the Holy Qur'an and says, "I understand," but it is only according to his faith, so that his mind and understanding are going to be as much as he has power of faith.
We must know this point. Therefore it is not right to make an objection to the meanings of the Holy Qur'an if a meaning comes to your hearing that you
82 The Holy Prophet's miraculous journey from Makkah to Jerusalem and his ascension from thence to the Heavens and to the Divine Presence of God Almighty which occurred shortly before the Hijrah
never heard before. The Holy Qur'an's meanings are not within limits - unlimited oceans. It is important to be stronger in your faith and then you may take more pearls from those oceans.
Therefore even scholars are going to be in different and endless ranks, as Allah Almighty mentions, "O leamed people, you must know that for every station of knowledge, you can find over it another station of knowledge83." And for wisdoms, also, you can find over your station another knowledge station and in that station there are many people. And over that you can find another knowledge station, there are a lot of people understanding from that knowledge, and over and above them, without end, you can find knowledge stations and wisdoms, and people for those stations. Therefore it is ignorant to claim limits for the Holy Qur'an and its understanding.
But now in our time we may say, and we hear and see, also, that scholars, 'ulamā, who came before our time were stronger than we are; they could understand more than we do. Yes, it is correct. Therefore our writers or thinkers can do only a translation from their books, changing some words and giving them back to us. They do not make their hearts work; therefore they take an easy way instead of a difficult way, saying, "To take from those is easy." But to take by the way of their faith – that is difficult, so that in our time you can find so many doctors, but all of them take their texts, their material, from this book, from that book, making a disseration and giving it, and when that is written and signed they are told that they are doctors. Yes, nothing from themselves. Bring something from yourself because you have something, also!
The Prophet, p.b.u.h., brought something for common people so that they could understand. And then he also brought a kind of knowledge which is only for those who can understand by their faith, according to their faith, and the Prophet gave it to them. Each time, each century may be different; a lot of peoples' understandings may improve, and the Prophet gives to them so that they may understand.
A grandsheikh, Muhiyuddin ibn al-'Arābi, may Allah bless him, brought such meanings that people were astonished. They said, "From where does he bring this? We are looking, looking in books, looking in the Qur'an; not the same. We don't see this. From where does he bring it?" As at the time of
83 A reference to "And above every possessor of knowledge is a knower (of more)." (XII:76)
beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., the unbelievers said, "We never knew of such things and no one has ever said them. From where does he bring such kinds of things?" (not saying "knowledge"), so also in our time so many scholars object to Muhiyuddin ibn al-'Arabi, may Allah bless him, and they never say that what he brought is knowledge.
That understanding - from where did it come to Muhiyuddīn? Because he had very bright faith, like a very powerful light. Not like a searchlight, no - like a laser; a searchlight a little boy may have. Where was it, that laser light, before? Was it absent and then created, coming into existence, or was it already in existence? Do you think that? No. Allah Almighty made that person make it clear and appear. It was on earth, that power. Muhiyuddin ibn al-'Arābi had such a powerful faithlight in his heart and he saw.
And another, Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi, and Bayazid Bistami; then Naqshbandi and Dāghistāni 84- don't be astonished about where they brought that from. The Prophet kept a special kind of knowledge for those people. as Allah Almighty ordered him, "You must give that to some people, not to all." It is private, because if someone speaks of it generally, it will be an unknowable, in-understandable thing. And if a person does not understand a thing, he may throw it away.
There is a famous diamond in Istanbul; perhaps it is one of the biggest diamonds on earth. It was found by a street sweeper. He found a stone in the dustbin, looking at it like this, like that, and taking it to a maker of wooden spoons, saying, "See what this is." He looked at it and saw that it was an important thing. "Give it to me and take this spoon," the spoonmaker said, giving this big spoon, wooden spoon, and the sweeper put it like this. It was important to carry a spoon in case there was rice or soup to eat; in earlier times everyone would carry around a spoon as one may carry a pistol.
The sweeper gave that diamond worth millions of pounds for one spoon, a wooden spoon. And that spoonmaker took the diamond to a jeweler, and the jeweler gave a lot of money and took it from him, and then cut and polished it, Then the wazir, the Chief Minister, heard that there was such a diamond, and paying money to the jeweler, he bought it. Then the sultān asked for it and the wazir gave it to the sultan as a gift. Now people look at it, astonished at such a beautiful diamond. But it was with a sweeper at the beginning and
84 Great grandsheikhs and awliya in the Naqshbandī Tariqah._ "Daghistāni" is Sheikh Nazim's murshid, Grandsheikh 'Abdullah ad-Dagnistāni
he never knew its value; to him its value was only one spoon, a wooden spoon.
Therefore don't suppose that wisdoms may be given easily to those who do not understand their value. For this reason Allah Almighty ordered His beloved Prophet Muhammad, p.b.u.h., "You must keep those diamonds, and to whomever can understand their value you must give." And it is written on the preserved Tablet who may be given.
And there is yet another kind of knowledge and wisdoms which no one can understand. It is for the Prophet only, keeping it for himself. Therefore if the Prophet had given all knowledge to everyone generally, it would have been something destroying all faith. Some Sahābah, Companions of the Prophet, were given secret knowledges and wisdoms, and they even said, particularly Sayyidina 'Ali, may Allah bless him, "O people, if I were to speak of such wisdoms as I have been given and am keeping in my heart, you would not be able to bear it and then you would attack me to kill me”. Yes.
Now, the Prophet, p.b.u.h., was in touch with every kind of people. Some of them were learned people from the Jews and from the Christians, also. They would come to ask questions because it was mentioned in their old Testament and New Testament, in their holy books, that one more prophet, the Seal of the Prophets, was coming; he must be sent to people at last. For this reason, when the Jews left Jerusalem and spread over the world, an important group of them came and settled in the holy land of Hijaz85 because they knew well that the Seal of the Prophets was to be born in Makkah and then would make hijrah, emigration, from his people to Yathrib, Madinah.
They knew well that the place of the Last Prophet's birth would be near the House of the Lord of Abraham; that was well-known. Thus they went to the deserts; otherwise you would not be able to see any Jewish person living in deserts, leaving the beautiful part of the earth, no. But for what did they go and carry a heavy burden for life under difficult conditions - no water, no shining nature, and a very hot sun. Why did they prefer to go and make that a homeland for themselves? Because they knew very well that the Last Prophet must come. His birth was going to be in Makkah and his homeland would be that holy place.
Then why, when that Prophet was born, did they refuse the Last Prophet? Because they had migrated to that holy land, and they wanted and hoped
85 The western part of what is now Saudi Arabi
that the Last Prophet would be from their tribes, from among the Children of Israel, from Isaac's branch. But Allah Almighty sent him from Ishmael's branch, peace be upon them both. When they saw that he had come from the side of the son's brother86, they were envious, saying, "We do not accept him." And they mostly came to examine or to test him by difficult questions, through holy books; except for very strong scholars or learned people, no one except themselves could know, no one could give any reply to such deep questions.
They were always coming and asking. And for one of the difficult questions which several Jewish learned people, scholars, asked, they sent some people from the Quraish87, also, and they listened to what the Prophet, p.b.u.h., replied.
Once they asked him about the soul, ruh. They knew that, if a person was a prophet, he would not give a description of the soul but if he wasn't a prophet he would try to give a description. And then the Prophet, p.b.u.h,, replied to their question when that ayah88 came, saying, "La y’alamu-l-ghaiba illa- Llah89”. It is some thing whose knowledge belongs to the Lord, Allah Almighty. You can't know it, you can't know about souls."
The Prophet, p.b.u.h., knew about souls, as Allah Almighty had given him that knowledge, but for those people who came and asked, the knowledge about souls was an ocean. Those people came with a thimble and said, "Put from your knowledge about souls into this." Into what would he put it? The ocean in a thimble? And so he said, "No, no knowledge about it. We don't know anything. You can't carry the power of that knowledge."
This and similar questions, every kind of questions, they would ask. And often also in our time scholars see, among so many hadiths, strange knowledges, strange answers, and they are astonished and say, "How do these answers come from the Prophet?" But those people, also, are ignorant
- ignorant of wisdoms; even if they are scholars and doctors, they haven't
86 That is, the brother (Ishmael) of the son (Isaac) of Abraham
87 The pagan tribe to which the Holy Prophet belonged, which was at war with him and with the Muslim nation.
88 The ayah, Qur'anic verse, referred to here is, "And they ask thee concerning the soul. Say (O Prophet): The soul is by the command of my Lord, and you have not been given of knowledge except a little" (XVII:85). This ayah was revealed in response to the question which had been put to him
89 No one knows the Unseen except God." (Hadith)
been given wisdoms. To be a doctor is so easy, but wisdoms - those treasures are so dif ficult to be opened to a person.
Yes, the Prophet gave an answer. They must understand that the Prophet's answers were right for those people who were asking, and particularly for those scholars of the Jewish people who had only an old Testament understanding. Their understanding belonged to two thousand or three thousand years before the time of the Prophet, and they would not have been contented with any answer except in the Taurāt90 understanding.
Therefore he gave them answers according to their understanding, but now people object to them, saying, “Why did the Prophet give such answers?" It was for those people, according to their levels of understanding, and it is correct, also. From that hadith91 - we may understand and, according to the level of understanding of our time, we may give meanings for that answer, also. It is not difficult for one who has been given wisdoms to make everyone understand.
Then, when the Prophet, p.b.u.h., spoke according to the levels of his people, of his nation, Islam easily spread among people whom we may say were on the bottom because they were unlearned people, unlearned tribesmen.
Islam spread among them and grew up, making a base, and the Prophet, p.b.u.h., then built on it. When they began to acquire the first knowledge and to digest it through their faith, they were able to take more and more and more.
Therefore, throughout twenty-three years, the Prophet, p.b.u.h., established such kind of Companions, Sahabah, that each one was like a star in the sky, shining stars.
And we - we must follow the way of the Prophet, p.b.u.h., and we must use wisdoms, according to the understandings of people in our time.
You can't use the same words, the same methods, for everyone, because they should be different; those may be easy for you but difficult for someone else. When the Prophet, p.b.u.h., used wisdoms according to the understandings of people, Islam quickly spread from East to West; yes,
90 The Torah
91 Refers to the hadīth cited in Footnote 7
quickly it spread. Christianity did not spread so easily and quickly, but Islam spread because it addressed the understandings of people of every level.
Therefore don't be a difficult person for others. You may give to everyone according to their minds and understandings. Then knowledge will be built on it; step by step you may go up. Islam gets its power from being simple and easy and suitable for everyone, men or women, young or old, learned or unlearned, laborers or peasants - for everyone. It is simple and easy, and it is in accordance with nature; you can't find anything in it against the nature of people or the nature of this earth. But we must be ahl, worthy, to give Islam or to present Islam to people.
Often now old people like me may blame young people. But you must consider in what conditions youth is living or growing up, and you must put yourself in those conditions; then you can blame them. And also for Islam. You may be a strong Muslim, keeping the ways of your Lord Almighty, keeping Sunnah, but you must know under what conditions people are living so that you must not give the whole load that you are carrying to those new Muslims. You must observe in what conditions those people are living now. Therefore the Prophet said, "Yassirū - make it easier, as much as you can – wa lā t'uas sirū92." He did not stop at saying only, "Make it easier," but he said, also, "Don't make Islam difficult." Yet everyone who comes from our countries, from Islanic countries to the West to present Islam, mostly makes people hate Islam because they imagine that the same conditions exist for people living in the West as in the East, and that is khilaf as-sunnah, against the Sunnah, the example of the Prophet, p.b.u.h. May Allah make us understand what is the way of Islam and where we are directed to go.
‘Isha/June 12, 1985
Allah Almighty is victorious. No one except Allah Almighty is going to be victorious. And anyone who goes with his Lord, who is with Him - he is also victorious. Anyone who leaves Allah Almighty, even if he has all the armies, navies and air forces, he will gain nothing, but the one who goes with his Lord, Allah Almighty - he is powerful, he is going to be victorious, no one else.
92 Make it (Islam] easy and do not make it difficult (Hadith)
And you, as believers - you must believe in this point, also. This is important. Don't think that you may do something without your Lord's help. If He helps you, you will be successful during your life. If Allah Almighty does not help, everyone's help is going to be useless.
Subhanallahi-l-'Ali al-Adhim93! No one among creatures is more heedless than the Children of Adam! The Children of Adam always trust in themselves
- their riches, their power, their tribes, their armies, their ranks. Heedless Children of Adam - they trust in everything that belongs to them during this life, and nothing is going to be useful for them except their Lord's support. Nothing else can support you. You must take lessons from history and particularly from the history of Islam.
Allah Almighty informs us in the Holy Qur'an that the first battle took place between the believers, the Sahābah, and the unbelievers, the mushrikin94 of Makkah, at Badr. It happened now, during these days; between the fifteenth and the twenty-fifth of Ramadan that took place.
They were 313 Sahabah, so powerless, so weak, and all of them asked from their Lord, "O our Lord, support us." The Prophet, p.b.u.h., made sajdah and prayed for divine support. Then divine support reached them, coming on the Muslim army and going with them into battle, and they were victorious. They won that battle.
If you had looked at both sides, you would have said, "This side must win. That side is so weak; it is impossible for those people, without weapons, without anything, to fight such a big power in front of them. It is impossible." Judging by our intellect, it would be impossible, but Allah Almighty supported them with heavenly armies, coming and supporting them, and then they were victorious.
Allah Almighty means to say, "O people, when you support Me, I am going to support you. If anyone asks for My support, I will never leave that servant without support. It is not My attribute, if a servant asks for My divine support, to make him deprived, in loss." You must know this. You must ask for support from your Lord, Allah Almighty, and He is going to support you.
93 "Glory be to God, the Most High, the Mighty
94 The idol-worshipping Quraish of Makkah and their allies, who stood against the Holy Prophet and his mission with unrelenting hostility. The main events of this battle are mentioned in II:13 and VII:5-19, 42-48
'Asr/June 13, 1985
We are asking for Allah Almighty's divine favors and helps to make us understand and to make things clear. If divine help does not come, you must know that we are nothing. Everything in existence stands by its Lord’s power and help; otherwise nothing can be in existence. If divine support is taken away from the universe for less than a second's time, then finished; nothing can be in existence.
"Wallahu waliu-l-muminin95":- this is not a complete verse but it is a part of a verse, too important a part of a verse, which came to my heart while I was reciting Holy Qur'an, and we must see what thing, what understanding, they will send to our attenders.
Allah Almighty is Walī, the Wali of mumins, of believers. He is the Helper of believers, He is the Supporter of believers, He is the Saviour of believers, He is the Friend of believers, He is everything to believers, here and Hereafter. As much as you believe in Him, Almighty Allah, that He is the Supporter to you, you will find Him to be supporter for you. As much as you believe in Him that He is the Helper to you, you will find Him the complete helper for you. If you believe that He is the Saviour for you, you will find Him, in every terrible or dangerous situation, saving you. Individually or collectively, when people believe that their Lord is the Supporter for them, then they will find Him their Supporter and Helper and Saviour.
0 people! O Children of Adam! For every condition that you may be in, for the terrible conditions that may surround you, you will never get out of such conditions by your power or by your knowledge or by your thoughts, your ideas - they can never get you out of those conditions, perhaps such difficult conditions. Too heavy and dark conditions may surround you, but if you believe in your Lord, Almighty Allah, that He is the Friend and companion of believers, He says, "I am with you, your companion96."
The Holy Qur'an, Glorious Qur'an, teaches all mankind; they may take everything that they may be in need of for their lives, particularly for difficult conditions. And in it Allah Almighty gives everything about nations, and about prophets and their communities and their dealings with their prophets, what terrible conditions sometimes surrounded them, and what things made them come out of those terrible conditions and be saved.
95 And Allah is the Protector (Supporter, Helper) of the believers. (III:68)
96 See XX:46, LVII:4
Allah Almighty talked most about Moses, p.b.u.h., and about the Children of Israel because Moses was one of the greatest of the prophets and he was honored by hearing the divine addressing without Gabriel97; Allah Almighty honored him to hear His divine speech and address. And he was sent to Pharaoh, who represented Satan on earth.
Pharoah said to people, "I am your Lord, the greatest one," and he fought against the Lord of the Heavens and the Lord of the worlds, the Lord of Pharaoh himself. He fought, and the Lord of the Heavens sent him Moses with a stick - only one stick, and it was enough for the Lord of the Heavens to punish all people on earth with one stick. Whoever may raise his head and claim that he is a Lord - whoever says that, there is a stick on his head for punishment.
The Children of Israel were under terrible conditions in Egypt; sometimes they show some films about the Children of Israel in Egypt under the Kingdom of Pharaoh, how they suffered. Allah Almighty gives lessons to people who at any time are going to be Pharaohs, and in our time there are so many Pharaohs. At that time, there was only one Pharaoh and the people were slaves, but now there are modern Pharaohs, more tyrannical than that Pharaoh. That Pharaoh accepted the L
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speak about all those questions which Satan asked, but the important point I must tell. At the last Satan said, "O Muhammad, at the end I may say to you that on the Last Day I will be proud because I will look behind me and see all people crowding around me, my followers, so many that you won't be able to count them. Even these computers can't say what that number will be. A big crowd will be behind me, and you will come with three people, four people, three hundred, four
81 Garbage cans
hundred, one thousand, one million people, but too big a crowd of people will come with me on the Last Day, and I am proud that my followers are going to be more numerous than yours. You are all so many prophets, yet only a little community will come with you. But my community is so big, and I am proud of it!"
But, o believers, you must be careful because you are a little community. Here is a gigantic city, and people are mostly running after devils and Satan. Perhaps your ego is urging you to join those people, numerous people, and it says, "What about those people? What about you? You are holding yourself back." Ego means to say, "You are holding me back from enjoying my life." And even children are saying to their parents, "We must live our life"; yes, everyone is running away from his home, from his parents I am asking, where do you live? You have parents?" "Yes, I have." "You are with your parents?" "No. I rent a room, I rent a flat, a private flat." "For what?" "Because I wish to live my life." Masha'Allan, too important a life! It means, to live a dirty life. If no marriage, if a person goes away from his parents without marriage, it means to live a dirty life, a dishonorable life. And who is their teacher? Satan. Satan says, "O you young person, now it is the beginning of your life and you must be independent, to be the commander of your own self, to do everything you like, no one saying, 'Where did you go? Where did you come from? When did you come? When are you going?
What are you doing?' No one will say that. You will be in your flat. In the morningtime, during the whole night, outside; coming in the morning, or going from the morning, no one asking you. You must live your life, going, coming." Therefore most of those recently-matured ones are now lost, and for each one who listens to Satan and does what he asks him to do, Satan says, "Oh, I destroyed one more, also. Another one, another one."
You must know, you must recognize your enemy and you must leave him. It is enough, I think, for today. If anyone can think about these words, he may be pleased throughout his life, but the one who is not going to think about them may regret too much. May Allah protect you from regretting,
'Asr/June 12, 1985
If the Prophet or prophets had said something that listeners couldn't understand, what would have been the benefit? There is a hadith of the Holy Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h., ordering us to speak according to the level of people. Anyone who is going to do tabligh or d'awah, that is,
calling people to Allah Almighty, must speak according to the understandings of people. If he speaks above their understanding it is useless, and if it is below their understandings, it also gives no benefit; useless. Therefore it is important to make it easy for peoples' understandings so that it may be useful for everyone.
For this reason, Allah Almighty, when He invited His beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., into His Divine Presence during the Night Journey82, - He gave him from His divine knowledges and also from the Oceans of Knowledges and Wisdoms. Then He ordered Sayyidinā Muhammad, p.b.u.h., to divide those knowledges and wisdoms into three parts.
One of them is for common people; you may say, for everyone. That is on the level of common people so that they are not going to be shocked when they hear something that they cannot imagine, they cannot understand; yes. When I speak on a tape, you can understand it later because you have seen me and you have a photocopy for that thing in your mind. When we speak on it, your mind works without seeing this, looking into yourself and saying that this tape is the thing which I know, but if you haven't any photocopy in your mind, it would be impossible to understand what that is. Therefore the Holy Qur'an came down, so easy that everyone thinks that he understands it.
Yes, the Holy Qur'an, the Glorious Qur'an, is for understanding, not for not understanding.
Therefore everyone may understand from the Holy Qur'an. But don't think that it is only that which you understand and no more. Even for scholars, they must not suppose that the Holy Qur'an's meanings are only those which they understand and no more - no. For the Holy Qur'an, according to our faith, that faith makes our minds sharper. If there is no light of faith here, there will be darkness in peoples' minds. What makes our minds bright and lighted is only our faith, and to the extent that your faith is stronger, its light is going to be brighter and shining and showing, taking darkness away from your understanding. Therefore everyone looks at the Holy Qur'an and says, "I understand," but it is only according to his faith, so that his mind and understanding are going to be as much as he has power of faith.
We must know this point. Therefore it is not right to make an objection to the meanings of the Holy Qur'an if a meaning comes to your hearing that you
82 The Holy Prophet's miraculous journey from Makkah to Jerusalem and his ascension from thence to the Heavens and to the Divine Presence of God Almighty which occurred shortly before the Hijrah
never heard before. The Holy Qur'an's meanings are not within limits - unlimited oceans. It is important to be stronger in your faith and then you may take more pearls from those oceans.
Therefore even scholars are going to be in different and endless ranks, as Allah Almighty mentions, "O leamed people, you must know that for every station of knowledge, you can find over it another station of knowledge83." And for wisdoms, also, you can find over your station another knowledge station and in that station there are many people. And over that you can find another knowledge station, there are a lot of people understanding from that knowledge, and over and above them, without end, you can find knowledge stations and wisdoms, and people for those stations. Therefore it is ignorant to claim limits for the Holy Qur'an and its understanding.
But now in our time we may say, and we hear and see, also, that scholars, 'ulamā, who came before our time were stronger than we are; they could understand more than we do. Yes, it is correct. Therefore our writers or thinkers can do only a translation from their books, changing some words and giving them back to us. They do not make their hearts work; therefore they take an easy way instead of a difficult way, saying, "To take from those is easy." But to take by the way of their faith – that is difficult, so that in our time you can find so many doctors, but all of them take their texts, their material, from this book, from that book, making a disseration and giving it, and when that is written and signed they are told that they are doctors. Yes, nothing from themselves. Bring something from yourself because you have something, also!
The Prophet, p.b.u.h., brought something for common people so that they could understand. And then he also brought a kind of knowledge which is only for those who can understand by their faith, according to their faith, and the Prophet gave it to them. Each time, each century may be different; a lot of peoples' understandings may improve, and the Prophet gives to them so that they may understand.
A grandsheikh, Muhiyuddin ibn al-'Arābi, may Allah bless him, brought such meanings that people were astonished. They said, "From where does he bring this? We are looking, looking in books, looking in the Qur'an; not the same. We don't see this. From where does he bring it?" As at the time of
83 A reference to "And above every possessor of knowledge is a knower (of more)." (XII:76)
beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., the unbelievers said, "We never knew of such things and no one has ever said them. From where does he bring such kinds of things?" (not saying "knowledge"), so also in our time so many scholars object to Muhiyuddin ibn al-'Arabi, may Allah bless him, and they never say that what he brought is knowledge.
That understanding - from where did it come to Muhiyuddīn? Because he had very bright faith, like a very powerful light. Not like a searchlight, no - like a laser; a searchlight a little boy may have. Where was it, that laser light, before? Was it absent and then created, coming into existence, or was it already in existence? Do you think that? No. Allah Almighty made that person make it clear and appear. It was on earth, that power. Muhiyuddin ibn al-'Arābi had such a powerful faithlight in his heart and he saw.
And another, Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi, and Bayazid Bistami; then Naqshbandi and Dāghistāni 84- don't be astonished about where they brought that from. The Prophet kept a special kind of knowledge for those people. as Allah Almighty ordered him, "You must give that to some people, not to all." It is private, because if someone speaks of it generally, it will be an unknowable, in-understandable thing. And if a person does not understand a thing, he may throw it away.
There is a famous diamond in Istanbul; perhaps it is one of the biggest diamonds on earth. It was found by a street sweeper. He found a stone in the dustbin, looking at it like this, like that, and taking it to a maker of wooden spoons, saying, "See what this is." He looked at it and saw that it was an important thing. "Give it to me and take this spoon," the spoonmaker said, giving this big spoon, wooden spoon, and the sweeper put it like this. It was important to carry a spoon in case there was rice or soup to eat; in earlier times everyone would carry around a spoon as one may carry a pistol.
The sweeper gave that diamond worth millions of pounds for one spoon, a wooden spoon. And that spoonmaker took the diamond to a jeweler, and the jeweler gave a lot of money and took it from him, and then cut and polished it, Then the wazir, the Chief Minister, heard that there was such a diamond, and paying money to the jeweler, he bought it. Then the sultān asked for it and the wazir gave it to the sultan as a gift. Now people look at it, astonished at such a beautiful diamond. But it was with a sweeper at the beginning and
84 Great grandsheikhs and awliya in the Naqshbandī Tariqah._ "Daghistāni" is Sheikh Nazim's murshid, Grandsheikh 'Abdullah ad-Dagnistāni
he never knew its value; to him its value was only one spoon, a wooden spoon.
Therefore don't suppose that wisdoms may be given easily to those who do not understand their value. For this reason Allah Almighty ordered His beloved Prophet Muhammad, p.b.u.h., "You must keep those diamonds, and to whomever can understand their value you must give." And it is written on the preserved Tablet who may be given.
And there is yet another kind of knowledge and wisdoms which no one can understand. It is for the Prophet only, keeping it for himself. Therefore if the Prophet had given all knowledge to everyone generally, it would have been something destroying all faith. Some Sahābah, Companions of the Prophet, were given secret knowledges and wisdoms, and they even said, particularly Sayyidina 'Ali, may Allah bless him, "O people, if I were to speak of such wisdoms as I have been given and am keeping in my heart, you would not be able to bear it and then you would attack me to kill me”. Yes.
Now, the Prophet, p.b.u.h., was in touch with every kind of people. Some of them were learned people from the Jews and from the Christians, also. They would come to ask questions because it was mentioned in their old Testament and New Testament, in their holy books, that one more prophet, the Seal of the Prophets, was coming; he must be sent to people at last. For this reason, when the Jews left Jerusalem and spread over the world, an important group of them came and settled in the holy land of Hijaz85 because they knew well that the Seal of the Prophets was to be born in Makkah and then would make hijrah, emigration, from his people to Yathrib, Madinah.
They knew well that the place of the Last Prophet's birth would be near the House of the Lord of Abraham; that was well-known. Thus they went to the deserts; otherwise you would not be able to see any Jewish person living in deserts, leaving the beautiful part of the earth, no. But for what did they go and carry a heavy burden for life under difficult conditions - no water, no shining nature, and a very hot sun. Why did they prefer to go and make that a homeland for themselves? Because they knew very well that the Last Prophet must come. His birth was going to be in Makkah and his homeland would be that holy place.
Then why, when that Prophet was born, did they refuse the Last Prophet? Because they had migrated to that holy land, and they wanted and hoped
85 The western part of what is now Saudi Arabi
that the Last Prophet would be from their tribes, from among the Children of Israel, from Isaac's branch. But Allah Almighty sent him from Ishmael's branch, peace be upon them both. When they saw that he had come from the side of the son's brother86, they were envious, saying, "We do not accept him." And they mostly came to examine or to test him by difficult questions, through holy books; except for very strong scholars or learned people, no one except themselves could know, no one could give any reply to such deep questions.
They were always coming and asking. And for one of the difficult questions which several Jewish learned people, scholars, asked, they sent some people from the Quraish87, also, and they listened to what the Prophet, p.b.u.h., replied.
Once they asked him about the soul, ruh. They knew that, if a person was a prophet, he would not give a description of the soul but if he wasn't a prophet he would try to give a description. And then the Prophet, p.b.u.h,, replied to their question when that ayah88 came, saying, "La y’alamu-l-ghaiba illa- Llah89”. It is some thing whose knowledge belongs to the Lord, Allah Almighty. You can't know it, you can't know about souls."
The Prophet, p.b.u.h., knew about souls, as Allah Almighty had given him that knowledge, but for those people who came and asked, the knowledge about souls was an ocean. Those people came with a thimble and said, "Put from your knowledge about souls into this." Into what would he put it? The ocean in a thimble? And so he said, "No, no knowledge about it. We don't know anything. You can't carry the power of that knowledge."
This and similar questions, every kind of questions, they would ask. And often also in our time scholars see, among so many hadiths, strange knowledges, strange answers, and they are astonished and say, "How do these answers come from the Prophet?" But those people, also, are ignorant
- ignorant of wisdoms; even if they are scholars and doctors, they haven't
86 That is, the brother (Ishmael) of the son (Isaac) of Abraham
87 The pagan tribe to which the Holy Prophet belonged, which was at war with him and with the Muslim nation.
88 The ayah, Qur'anic verse, referred to here is, "And they ask thee concerning the soul. Say (O Prophet): The soul is by the command of my Lord, and you have not been given of knowledge except a little" (XVII:85). This ayah was revealed in response to the question which had been put to him
89 No one knows the Unseen except God." (Hadith)
been given wisdoms. To be a doctor is so easy, but wisdoms - those treasures are so dif ficult to be opened to a person.
Yes, the Prophet gave an answer. They must understand that the Prophet's answers were right for those people who were asking, and particularly for those scholars of the Jewish people who had only an old Testament understanding. Their understanding belonged to two thousand or three thousand years before the time of the Prophet, and they would not have been contented with any answer except in the Taurāt90 understanding.
Therefore he gave them answers according to their understanding, but now people object to them, saying, “Why did the Prophet give such answers?" It was for those people, according to their levels of understanding, and it is correct, also. From that hadith91 - we may understand and, according to the level of understanding of our time, we may give meanings for that answer, also. It is not difficult for one who has been given wisdoms to make everyone understand.
Then, when the Prophet, p.b.u.h., spoke according to the levels of his people, of his nation, Islam easily spread among people whom we may say were on the bottom because they were unlearned people, unlearned tribesmen.
Islam spread among them and grew up, making a base, and the Prophet, p.b.u.h., then built on it. When they began to acquire the first knowledge and to digest it through their faith, they were able to take more and more and more.
Therefore, throughout twenty-three years, the Prophet, p.b.u.h., established such kind of Companions, Sahabah, that each one was like a star in the sky, shining stars.
And we - we must follow the way of the Prophet, p.b.u.h., and we must use wisdoms, according to the understandings of people in our time.
You can't use the same words, the same methods, for everyone, because they should be different; those may be easy for you but difficult for someone else. When the Prophet, p.b.u.h., used wisdoms according to the understandings of people, Islam quickly spread from East to West; yes,
90 The Torah
91 Refers to the hadīth cited in Footnote 7
quickly it spread. Christianity did not spread so easily and quickly, but Islam spread because it addressed the understandings of people of every level.
Therefore don't be a difficult person for others. You may give to everyone according to their minds and understandings. Then knowledge will be built on it; step by step you may go up. Islam gets its power from being simple and easy and suitable for everyone, men or women, young or old, learned or unlearned, laborers or peasants - for everyone. It is simple and easy, and it is in accordance with nature; you can't find anything in it against the nature of people or the nature of this earth. But we must be ahl, worthy, to give Islam or to present Islam to people.
Often now old people like me may blame young people. But you must consider in what conditions youth is living or growing up, and you must put yourself in those conditions; then you can blame them. And also for Islam. You may be a strong Muslim, keeping the ways of your Lord Almighty, keeping Sunnah, but you must know under what conditions people are living so that you must not give the whole load that you are carrying to those new Muslims. You must observe in what conditions those people are living now. Therefore the Prophet said, "Yassirū - make it easier, as much as you can – wa lā t'uas sirū92." He did not stop at saying only, "Make it easier," but he said, also, "Don't make Islam difficult." Yet everyone who comes from our countries, from Islanic countries to the West to present Islam, mostly makes people hate Islam because they imagine that the same conditions exist for people living in the West as in the East, and that is khilaf as-sunnah, against the Sunnah, the example of the Prophet, p.b.u.h. May Allah make us understand what is the way of Islam and where we are directed to go.
‘Isha/June 12, 1985
Allah Almighty is victorious. No one except Allah Almighty is going to be victorious. And anyone who goes with his Lord, who is with Him - he is also victorious. Anyone who leaves Allah Almighty, even if he has all the armies, navies and air forces, he will gain nothing, but the one who goes with his Lord, Allah Almighty - he is powerful, he is going to be victorious, no one else.
92 Make it (Islam] easy and do not make it difficult (Hadith)
And you, as believers - you must believe in this point, also. This is important. Don't think that you may do something without your Lord's help. If He helps you, you will be successful during your life. If Allah Almighty does not help, everyone's help is going to be useless.
Subhanallahi-l-'Ali al-Adhim93! No one among creatures is more heedless than the Children of Adam! The Children of Adam always trust in themselves
- their riches, their power, their tribes, their armies, their ranks. Heedless Children of Adam - they trust in everything that belongs to them during this life, and nothing is going to be useful for them except their Lord's support. Nothing else can support you. You must take lessons from history and particularly from the history of Islam.
Allah Almighty informs us in the Holy Qur'an that the first battle took place between the believers, the Sahābah, and the unbelievers, the mushrikin94 of Makkah, at Badr. It happened now, during these days; between the fifteenth and the twenty-fifth of Ramadan that took place.
They were 313 Sahabah, so powerless, so weak, and all of them asked from their Lord, "O our Lord, support us." The Prophet, p.b.u.h., made sajdah and prayed for divine support. Then divine support reached them, coming on the Muslim army and going with them into battle, and they were victorious. They won that battle.
If you had looked at both sides, you would have said, "This side must win. That side is so weak; it is impossible for those people, without weapons, without anything, to fight such a big power in front of them. It is impossible." Judging by our intellect, it would be impossible, but Allah Almighty supported them with heavenly armies, coming and supporting them, and then they were victorious.
Allah Almighty means to say, "O people, when you support Me, I am going to support you. If anyone asks for My support, I will never leave that servant without support. It is not My attribute, if a servant asks for My divine support, to make him deprived, in loss." You must know this. You must ask for support from your Lord, Allah Almighty, and He is going to support you.
93 "Glory be to God, the Most High, the Mighty
94 The idol-worshipping Quraish of Makkah and their allies, who stood against the Holy Prophet and his mission with unrelenting hostility. The main events of this battle are mentioned in II:13 and VII:5-19, 42-48
'Asr/June 13, 1985
We are asking for Allah Almighty's divine favors and helps to make us understand and to make things clear. If divine help does not come, you must know that we are nothing. Everything in existence stands by its Lord’s power and help; otherwise nothing can be in existence. If divine support is taken away from the universe for less than a second's time, then finished; nothing can be in existence.
"Wallahu waliu-l-muminin95":- this is not a complete verse but it is a part of a verse, too important a part of a verse, which came to my heart while I was reciting Holy Qur'an, and we must see what thing, what understanding, they will send to our attenders.
Allah Almighty is Walī, the Wali of mumins, of believers. He is the Helper of believers, He is the Supporter of believers, He is the Saviour of believers, He is the Friend of believers, He is everything to believers, here and Hereafter. As much as you believe in Him, Almighty Allah, that He is the Supporter to you, you will find Him to be supporter for you. As much as you believe in Him that He is the Helper to you, you will find Him the complete helper for you. If you believe that He is the Saviour for you, you will find Him, in every terrible or dangerous situation, saving you. Individually or collectively, when people believe that their Lord is the Supporter for them, then they will find Him their Supporter and Helper and Saviour.
0 people! O Children of Adam! For every condition that you may be in, for the terrible conditions that may surround you, you will never get out of such conditions by your power or by your knowledge or by your thoughts, your ideas - they can never get you out of those conditions, perhaps such difficult conditions. Too heavy and dark conditions may surround you, but if you believe in your Lord, Almighty Allah, that He is the Friend and companion of believers, He says, "I am with you, your companion96."
The Holy Qur'an, Glorious Qur'an, teaches all mankind; they may take everything that they may be in need of for their lives, particularly for difficult conditions. And in it Allah Almighty gives everything about nations, and about prophets and their communities and their dealings with their prophets, what terrible conditions sometimes surrounded them, and what things made them come out of those terrible conditions and be saved.
95 And Allah is the Protector (Supporter, Helper) of the believers. (III:68)
96 See XX:46, LVII:4
Allah Almighty talked most about Moses, p.b.u.h., and about the Children of Israel because Moses was one of the greatest of the prophets and he was honored by hearing the divine addressing without Gabriel97; Allah Almighty honored him to hear His divine speech and address. And he was sent to Pharaoh, who represented Satan on earth.
Pharoah said to people, "I am your Lord, the greatest one," and he fought against the Lord of the Heavens and the Lord of the worlds, the Lord of Pharaoh himself. He fought, and the Lord of the Heavens sent him Moses with a stick - only one stick, and it was enough for the Lord of the Heavens to punish all people on earth with one stick. Whoever may raise his head and claim that he is a Lord - whoever says that, there is a stick on his head for punishment.
The Children of Israel were under terrible conditions in Egypt; sometimes they show some films about the Children of Israel in Egypt under the Kingdom of Pharaoh, how they suffered. Allah Almighty gives lessons to people who at any time are going to be Pharaohs, and in our time there are so many Pharaohs. At that time, there was only one Pharaoh and the people were slaves, but now there are modern Pharaohs, more tyrannical than that Pharaoh. That Pharaoh accepted the L
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