Mercy Oceans, Book 11 (183 pages, 13/17)
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s is for all people, and particularly for you, for believers. When you start to ask for something, you must ask, "O my Lord, give me a little bit of love, a little bit of love." But Satan fights people, saying, "If a little love comes to your heart, then you are going to leave everything of this world's pleasures." Yes, if you can be given a little bit of that love, you are going to sink down
into an endless Pleasure Ocean, so that all pleasures during this life are not going to be even one little drop in that huge Pleasure Ocean.
Once Moses, p.b.u.h., was going to Mount Sinai. He passed by a little Temple, like a monastery, where 'abid, worshippers, stayed to worship. There he saw an 'abid worshipping. That worshipper greeted him and said, "O Moses, when you speak to your Lord, Allah Almighty, please ask Him to give me a little bit of love - dharra, one little particle of love."
Then Moses, p.b.u.h., came to Mount Sinai and he said, "O my Lord, Your servant is asking for a little bit of Your divine love."
"I have given it to him, not as much as he is asking for but less, less, less, less, less - seventy times less than the little bit he asked for I have sent to him," because that worshipper was worshipping but not tasting, because without love worshipping is nothing121.
Therefore you must build your worshipping on love, and into every stone, every brick, you must put the love of your Lord. Then this building is going to give you love. Therefore, in old buildings you can find, when you pray in them, some holy feelings and love. Go to Central Mosque; you can't find that
- never! Go to that new mosque; you can't find it. Even for churches, people have put those bricks there with love. And in old mosques, also, you can find so much spiritual feeling; in new ones, never - they are only concrete hills, Yes - love is most important.
That priest worshipped but he did not taste. And then he said, "O Moses, ask your Lord to give me a taste" (may Allah give us a little bit; but I am afraid).
Then when Moses returned from asking that to his Lord, he saw that the earth in that place was opening, cracking. And that priest called out to him, "Where are you, O servant of my Lord?"
Moses, p.b.u.h., looked. No one was there. Then he looked down and saw that person – finished; he couldn't hold that little bit of love. If he had asked that it come through Moses, he would have been able to, but when he asked directly, for himself, he couldn't hold it.
121 He was sent so much less than he asked for because, with all his worshipping without love, he was not at that point able to hold more divine love than the minute amount which he was sent
What are prophets for? For this purpose. People say there is no wasit122 between people and their Lord. They are wrong; they are denying the prophets and prophethood. You couldn't attain anything if there were no prophets. That 'abid asked Allah Almighty to send him His love, not through Moses, but coming to him directly123, and like that he went away, died. But still he has taken his share; now he is in such a state up to Qiyamah. Yes, he is now in the Station of Divine Love.
O people, ask from your Lord what is most precious in His Divine Presence. Nothing can be more precious than love in the Divine Presence. Ask! And we are asking, through His beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., or through His beloved Friends - asking for divine love.
'Asr/June 17, 1985
o suffering people, you can find peace only in dhikr-Allah124. Most people are suffering and in miseries, most people are asking to where they can escape. Allah Almighty informs us in His holy books and also finally in the Holy Qur'ān that there will come a time on men when they will cry and say, “Aina- l-mafar125”. To where can we escape?" That is a terrible speech, a terrible news, but I see that day by day people are shouting and crying and saying, "To where can we escape?" and anywhere you can escape to you may find, more than other places, troubles and miseries and sufferings.
At last this world is going to be finished. Nobody is going to remain on earth, and also in the Heavens. Every living being must die and is going to die; it is our Lord's holy command and His divine will that everything living must die, must taste death; no one can escape. Only Allah Almighty is Ever-living and
122 A means or channel through whom Allah Almighty works or sends His divine favours to His servants
123 This is a reference to the role of the murshid or guide in bringing that divine love to the state of "tasting" in the murid or follower for whose spiritiual development he is responsible. This is so powerful a thing that "tasting" should not be attempted except through someone who has himself tasted that divine love at the hands of his own guide or sheikh, going back to the Prophet himself, and who therefore knows how to guide his followers safely to that state
124 The remembrance of God through recitations of phrases of glorification or of His Holy Names
125 Where is the shelter?" (LXXV:10)
Never dying. And at the end Allah Almighty will order the Angel of Death, Azrāil, to take the soul of Satan. When Azrāil appears, Satan runs. When Azrail races to take his soul, Satan runs from East to West. "Maybe the West is a more safe place for me. So many people there followed me in my time." Running from East to West, and finding Azrail rushing on him to take his soul. And he runs to the North to find another safe place but finds there also Azrail to take his soul. Running to the South and finding him; anywhere he runs, Azrail comes from every side. And he asks, "Aina-l mafar? To where can I escape?" But now you can't escape.
As it is, now people want to escape from the East to the West, or from the East to the North, from the North to the South, because people want to run away from the countryside to cities, and from cities they want to run to the countryside. People who came from the East to the West are now asking how we can return or how we can escape from the West to our homelands. Most people are falling into troubles everywhere, and then they are asking, "Aina l-mafar? To where can we escape?" And, as the Prophet said, p.b.u.h., there should come a time on people when they will pass through cemeteries and among graves, and they will say, "Oh, you are such fortunate people!
We wish we could be there and you could be as we are now. You are such restful people; we are in such sufferings. You are so fortunate, going before coming to these days." They will say this.
Therefore, now people are asking for a shelter to escape from all miseries and sufferings - asking for a shelter, to run into it. But there is coming more than this because every day troubles and sufferings are increasing and mounting, not becoming less. Every day is going to be worse than the day before; tomorrow is going to be worse than today.
Allah Almighty informs us through His prophets that such days are coming. And also - because the Holy Qur'an explains some verses by some others - when Allah Almighty says, "Aina-l-mafar?" for those people who are falling. into troubles and sufferings, asking where that shelter will be, then He says, "Fa-firru ila-Llah126, then flee to your Lord."
Simple. But each time that Allah Almighty, after 120,000 year leaving Satan in Hell and then taking him to the entrance of Paradise, orders him, "Make sajdah to Adam and enter," Satan says, "Never! I am not going make sajdah to Adam." From beginning up to end, he never made sajdah – so stubborn.
126 (LI:50)
And the same characteristic you can find among people. When Allah calls them. "O My people, o mankind! Come to Me," then ego says, "No to Me - not to anyone else. I do not give permission to you to escape or to ask for any shelter except Me. Come to Me. Because I have My own will, My own knowledge, My own power, My own ideas, My own ideas, you must come to Me. You can find shelter in Me."
And then sufferings increase, individually and collectively. Allah Almighty, from beginning up to end, sends prophets and asks people to come under His shelter, but most people refuse. They trust their knowledge, their wisdom. If they have wisdom, they must come under the shelter of their Lord
- but no wisdom; they may have knowledge but no wisdom. Those who do not come under the divine shelter, no wisdom with them; they trust their minds' producs, mind-productions.
Allah Almighty shows and informs us, giving news about nations that have passed away from the beginning up to the end, and it is a very good example to living people. Allah Almighty sent Noah, p.b.u.h., to his nation, to all nations, to all the people living in his time, and they rejected him127. For 950 years he called them, and each time they refused him and denied his prophethood. Every day he would stand and call people, and people threw stones and other things attacking him, and then they left him, saying, "He is dead and gone." Every day for 950 years he gave his message to people, and finally he said, "O my Lord, not leave anyone of those unbelievers on earth, not even one household which includes such unbelieving people."
And then Allah Almighty ordered him, "O Noah, I will do as you asked Me, and I am going to punish everyone of the unbelievers. I will send a flood on earth to kill everything on it, and you make an ark to take all the believers and some of every kind of animal. Keep them in your ark."
As his Lord commanded, he made that ark. He made that ark not at the beach but in the countryside. And people came and went, saying, "O Noah, what are you doing?"
"I am making an ark because a flood is coming."
"Oh. If you are making an ark, it will never go in the countryside. Why don't you go to the seaside?"
127 For the Qur'anic account of Noah, p.b.u.h., and the flood, see: VII:59-64; X:71-73; XI:25-48; XXIII:23-30; XXVI:105-122; XXXVII:75-82; LIV:9-15; LXXI: 1-28.
And he said, "No. The flood will come and take this up, and it will float."
And they laughed at him. "Mad person, mad old person, he still thinks the same as when he was young! He said the same things then, and now that he is an old person, he still doesn't leave his nonsensical message," the unbelievers said to him.
Finally he finished his ark, and he called the believers and called his sons to go in it. Some of his sons went in. But one of them said, "I do not believe in what you are saying about the flood. If it is going to happen, I will climb on the mountains. A flood can only come in the valleys but will never reach the tops of mountains. I have an idea," he said. "My mind, the knowledge that I have, says to me that when a flood comes, be on the mountains. I am not going to stay in the low places or in valleys. I will go up, because I know where I can escape when a flood comes."
Then Noah said, "O my son, you know, but I am inviting you to safety. Come and get in the ark."
He said, "No. I will climb on the mountains, because I know where I can be when a flood comes."
Then Allah Almighty sent the flood. And water filled all the valleys, reaching, climbing to the tops of mountains and going over the tops of mountains also. And that mountain on which the son was thinking to be, waves went seventy yards above the highest point of that mountain.
This is an example for people who trust their ideas, their thoughts, their mind-productions. We are showing them what was the end of the son of
Noah when he took to the mountains and couldn't escape. He died. And now people, nations and all mankind, are not thinking about their Lord's rules, to keep them, to escape to the divine shelter, but they are inventing some ideas, saying, "You must follow this." Then the second group says, "No, this is no good. You must follow this !" Then another group comes. "No, both of them are no good. We must follow this one, our ideas," "Your ideas !" "Our ideas!" "Your ideas!" Then the flood will come and cover them.
It is not a flood of water but a flood of sufferings, a flood of miseries, Allah Almighty sinking people into it - yes! And every day the waves are rising, rising, and reaching every point that those people think is a shelter for mankind, so that in the near future they are going to find no shelter for anyone. And that is a terrible end for humanity on earth.
Therefore Allah Almighty is calling, "O people, come to Me!" Allah Almighty saved those believers in the ark. When the flood came, in every square foot of earth springs flowed and from the skies came rain, but not like our rains; you could see only a single block of water, only one block. And that ark floated as a submarine floats - not on the water, no; like a submarine, it floated under, in the water. From where did they take breath, subhānallān? But Allah Almighty, when He wants to preserve someone, is able to preserve him; if He wants to protect, He is able to protect. As He protected Abraham, p.b.u.h., in the fire, a huge fire, so He protected Noah, before Abraham, inside the water. From where did Abraham breathe, and from where did Noah and his believers breathe in the water, huge waves?
And Allah Almighty is now sending a flood of miseries and troubles and problems and sufferings and wars, everything which, like a flood on earth, is increasing now, rising, rising, so that only one group of people may be in safety - those who take an Ark.
Is there any Ark now in our days? Yes! Safinat an-Najjah128, the Rescue Ship. Yes, we have one. If you take that ship you may be in safety.
Therefore you may escape to your Lord. The Rescue Ship is floating, sailing on the flood of sufferings, and anywhere, at any moment that servant wants to put his foot in it, he may find it in front of himself. So easy.
Say, "La ilaha illa-Llah. La ilaha illa Anta; subhanaka, inni kuntu mina-dh- dhalimin129." Yunus, Jonah, p.b.u.h., was in the fish's stomach, sitting freely and glorifying his Lord, Allah Almighty, and he was alive, not dead, so that if Allah Almighty makes people die, they die; if not, no one dies. Glorifying made him in safety, and when he was glorifying his Lord, after that narrow prison, he was in safety and peace. Jonah found his peace and safety by glorifying Allah Almighty, and "Kadhalika nunji-l-muminin130."
Yes, for every time! Whoever wants to be in safety from the flood of sufferings, he must glorify his Lord, Allah Almighty. Once a person complained so much, annoyed by a frog's croaking, and he shouted, "What is this? Every night, Brak-brak-brak!! What is this?" But, o Son of Adam, I am not like you, sleeping. I am glorifying my Lord Almighty one thousand times
128 Literally, the Ship of Safety
129 'There is no deity but God. There is no deity but Thee; glory be to Thee, truly I have been among the wrong-doers. The latter sentence is from the tongue of Prophet Jonah (XXI:87)
130). Thus do We save the believers” (XXI:88)
each night. Do you glorify your Lord, even ten times? No; you sleep and you say, "I can't sleep because of your 'Brak-brak' the whole night."
Yes, glorify, and all miseries and sufferings go away. Any time you feel that those miseries are reaching you, say, "Subhānallah-subhanallah subhanallah...," glory be to my Lord Almighty. Then those waves will leave you, going away.
Glorify your Lord, Allah Almighty. Then you will be glorified in the Divine Presence, you will be an admired one in the Divine Presence. That is our solution. "Nasu-laha, fa-nasiuhum131"; as much as we forget Allah Almighty, we are going to be forgotten. He is not going to forget anyone, but as a punishment that flood will come and people may sink into it.
Therefore, every day so many people come with so many problems. Newspapers, from the beginning to the end, are full of sufferings. That Satan-box 132every night shows thousands and thousands of miseries. Before we did not see such news but now everything that happens of miseries is coming to our visions as a punishment; every night we are looking. Even if you are made of iron you are going to be affected. And
people come to me, also, so many hundreds of people; everywhere I go they run to me to complain.
There is a new branch of doctors, paychiatrists. Psychiatrists, also, come to me. What am I going to do? People run to them for their solutions, and they come to me. Psychiatrists are becoming more numerous than other doctors; they are now going to be more than grocers, everywhere thousands. What does that show? That people are without peace, agitated. It means that the suffering-flood is rising.
Psychiatrists have such big hearts to listen and then to speak, but my heart is not like a psychiatrist's heart. My heart becomes too much affected, and I am asking from our Lord forgiveness for me and for those people, because they are coming to load their sufferings on me, also. Sometimes we may find a way. Mostly they are running into sufferings, running into the reasons for sufferings. If you can't stop those reasons, you must fall down.
'Asr/June 18, 1985
131 They forgot God; then He forgot them
132 Sheikh Nazim's term for television
We are in need of something during this life which makes people be at rest. One thing makes people fall into Hell, burning them, and there is also one good attribute that makes people in peace. One characteristic makes people out of peace, throwing them into troubles and miseries and sufferings, and another attribute makes people in peace and satisfaction and pleasure. Both of them must be well-known by everyone because everyone is running away from suffering and asking for peace.
I don't think that anyone likes to be in suffering or in miseries or wants to be in troubles; I don't think you can find a person who says, "I like miseries, I like sufferings," no. Must be something wrong with his mind if he says that. And I don't think that anyone can say, "I do not want peace. I always run after troubles and sufferings, and my hobby is troubles." Therefore we are saying something that must be acceptable to everyone.
You must know that trouble started with Satan, and Satan just fell into troubles and was thrown out of the Divine Presence through envy. That is the beginning that made Satan fall into troubles and endless miseries and sufferings; that is the reason. And look - for mankind, also; all troubles come to people through envy. An envious person may have the whole world but still he is in miseries and troubles. An envious person may be the richest one but yet he is peaceless; no peace for him, neither in the nighttime nor the daytime. He may be such a learned person but there must be others, also, other learned people, scholars, professors; he alone can't be a professor.
Must be others, but envy makes him restless, yes.
Why? His ego wants to be the only one. That is our ego's desire. I must be only one, unique. And everything that a person may ask from this world, of material things, no matter how much he may be given, envy makes him restless and makes him suffer. Therefore we must now look at what thing kills envy. That is an illness; must be something against that illness to kill the microbes in the body. This is important. Which thing kills envy?
It is that medicine which all the prophets gave, and the Seal of the Prophets spoke in his hadith about that attribute that makes people happy, at rest, in peace. What is that? He said, p.b.u.h., "Al-qana'atu kanzun Ia yafnā133.".
Does it kill envy or not?
Yes, that attribute is qanā'ah; now insha-Allah comes the explanation of that word. Qana'ah is to be rich in one's heart, so that for everything that may be
133 Contentment is a treasure which does not decrease (Hadith)
given to a person he says, "Oh, so many, my Lord's favorsi”: to take from this life's materials only what may be enough for him, not running so much after this dunya's material goods; to take from everything what is enough for him, not more - no. This is enough for me. One car is enough. for what that car? This one is all right. Why that second or third or fourth one? One shop is enough; for what two shops? One house is enough; for what two houses?
Yes, in the Shari'ah, Allah Almighty makes it halal to have more. One, two, three houses or farms - everything is halal, but in reality the whole world is not only for you. If you say, "It must be only for me," you are wrong because you can buy all of London but you can't carry even one stone of it with you. Even if you say that the city of London is for me, mine, you can't carry anything of it. What is the benefit for you to take more than enough while you have been ordered to take from this only as much as is enough for you?
The Holy Qur'an teaches everything for people, for believers (and for unbelievers, also; they also take their share from the Holy Qur'an), and in it everything is mentioned. Once - this is not a tale; it is an event, a historical event, and it is mentioned in holy books - once the Children of Israel asked their Lord, Allah Almighty, to send them a king to fight and to bring them honor and power and sovereignty. Then Allah Almighty sent Talūt, King Saul, and then there was so much discussion concerning his kingship. The Children of Israel were proud by their natures. Therefore they said, "This is a person with no money, no riches - an ordinary person. How can he be king of the Children of Israel134?"
Allah Almighty said, "I gave him a big, strong body, and knowledge I gave to him, also. He is a strong person and he has so much knowledge. That is enough for him to be a king to you. You must obey." And their prophet said to the people, "You must obey him. You have not appointed him, making him king over yourselves."
Then they agreed, and that king gathered his army and went to fight Jalut, Goliath. Their country was not like our European countries; so many deserts, and people quickly got thirsty. Their king, the commander-in-chief of their army, warned them, "Now we are reaching a river but you are forbidden to drink from that river. Only one sip from your hand; more than that is for bidden."
134 The story of the Children of Israel and their king is narrated in II:246-251
But the people ran, too thirsty, and when they saw that river flowing, most of them threw themselves into the water. Only a handful of people from that huge army kept the orders of the Lord, Allah Almighty. They were 313 people, like the people of Badr135. They kept the command of the Lord, Allah Almighty, and took only one sip out of their hands, wetting their mouths. And that handful of people from that huge army was satisfied; their thirst went away. But those remaining people, all of those who threw themselves into the river, were not satisfied; never did their thirst go away.
You must understand what Allah Almighty means. "O people," He means say, "this whole world and its pleasures and its favors, everything through out this life, is like that river. Keep for yourself only the one handful that You may be in need of; it is enough for you. Then you may reach satisfaction; perfect satisfaction, perfect rest, perfect peace you may find in a handful.
That is your share of this world. Keep to it and you will be all right. But the one who runs after this life's pleasures and material things will never be satisfied - finished." Those 313 people were Ahli Qan’la, People of Contentment, and the others were never contented.
Therefore every trouble comes to people because they are running after this temporary life's pleasures and enjoyments but never getting to be satisfied. But those - they said, "It is enough." And now here another meaning comes for you. O people, that ocean can never take away your thirst. You may drink from that ocean, the Atlantic Ocean here; you may drink but it will never take away your thirst, yet that one cup of water which you take may quench your thirst. Yes? Because that one cup is sweet, fresh water. One cup gives you satisfaction but that huge ocean's waters do not because there is salt in it.
You must understand, o people, o believers, what I mean to say. One cup of fresh water - I mean to say, one cup of halal - makes you contented, satisfied, but the whole of haram can never make you satisfied. More than enough is going to be a trouble for you. If more than enough, perhaps it belongs to someone else and you will end in prison, so that you bear some responsibility. Therefore the Shari'ah says that when you have reached a limit, if you have more than that limit you must give some to others. If others' rights, others' shares, come to you, then you must return them to people, to
135 The first battle in Islam, during which 313 people, by the help of Allah, defeated the large army of the pagan Quraish
those who are needy136. Therefore the Shari'ah of Islam is perfect, the teachings of holy Islam are perfect; no one can make any objection to them.
You know the story of Alexander, the son of Philip, Alexander the Great? When his death was approaching and he knew that he must die, he made a last will and said, "When I die and you put me in my coffin, let my hands be outside my coffin."
They asked, "Why is His Majesty the Emperor saying this? All people put their hands inside the coffin but you are saying to put them out of the coffin. What is this wisdom that you are speaking? You are the emperor; there must be some thing in it."
And he said, "I mean to say that I want everyone to see that Alexander the Great is taking nothing with him from this earth of his endless treasures.
They may see that my hands are going empty. That is my wisdom to give to people."
O people, o mankind, the Children of Adam - you can't be like Alexander the Great. Allah Almighty gave him a whole world to be king of, and he taught people, also, that if you were able to be like me - and it is im possible - you will still go away empty-handed. And if you are wearing something on your hands, on your legs, your necks, then your descendants who come after you and who know that you are wearing your jewelry will come and open your grave to take that, also. Therefore the British Museum is full of such jewels.
No one is able to take with him more than what he had during his life. Take only what you can wear. Even if
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s is for all people, and particularly for you, for believers. When you start to ask for something, you must ask, "O my Lord, give me a little bit of love, a little bit of love." But Satan fights people, saying, "If a little love comes to your heart, then you are going to leave everything of this world's pleasures." Yes, if you can be given a little bit of that love, you are going to sink down
into an endless Pleasure Ocean, so that all pleasures during this life are not going to be even one little drop in that huge Pleasure Ocean.
Once Moses, p.b.u.h., was going to Mount Sinai. He passed by a little Temple, like a monastery, where 'abid, worshippers, stayed to worship. There he saw an 'abid worshipping. That worshipper greeted him and said, "O Moses, when you speak to your Lord, Allah Almighty, please ask Him to give me a little bit of love - dharra, one little particle of love."
Then Moses, p.b.u.h., came to Mount Sinai and he said, "O my Lord, Your servant is asking for a little bit of Your divine love."
"I have given it to him, not as much as he is asking for but less, less, less, less, less - seventy times less than the little bit he asked for I have sent to him," because that worshipper was worshipping but not tasting, because without love worshipping is nothing121.
Therefore you must build your worshipping on love, and into every stone, every brick, you must put the love of your Lord. Then this building is going to give you love. Therefore, in old buildings you can find, when you pray in them, some holy feelings and love. Go to Central Mosque; you can't find that
- never! Go to that new mosque; you can't find it. Even for churches, people have put those bricks there with love. And in old mosques, also, you can find so much spiritual feeling; in new ones, never - they are only concrete hills, Yes - love is most important.
That priest worshipped but he did not taste. And then he said, "O Moses, ask your Lord to give me a taste" (may Allah give us a little bit; but I am afraid).
Then when Moses returned from asking that to his Lord, he saw that the earth in that place was opening, cracking. And that priest called out to him, "Where are you, O servant of my Lord?"
Moses, p.b.u.h., looked. No one was there. Then he looked down and saw that person – finished; he couldn't hold that little bit of love. If he had asked that it come through Moses, he would have been able to, but when he asked directly, for himself, he couldn't hold it.
121 He was sent so much less than he asked for because, with all his worshipping without love, he was not at that point able to hold more divine love than the minute amount which he was sent
What are prophets for? For this purpose. People say there is no wasit122 between people and their Lord. They are wrong; they are denying the prophets and prophethood. You couldn't attain anything if there were no prophets. That 'abid asked Allah Almighty to send him His love, not through Moses, but coming to him directly123, and like that he went away, died. But still he has taken his share; now he is in such a state up to Qiyamah. Yes, he is now in the Station of Divine Love.
O people, ask from your Lord what is most precious in His Divine Presence. Nothing can be more precious than love in the Divine Presence. Ask! And we are asking, through His beloved Muhammad, p.b.u.h., or through His beloved Friends - asking for divine love.
'Asr/June 17, 1985
o suffering people, you can find peace only in dhikr-Allah124. Most people are suffering and in miseries, most people are asking to where they can escape. Allah Almighty informs us in His holy books and also finally in the Holy Qur'ān that there will come a time on men when they will cry and say, “Aina- l-mafar125”. To where can we escape?" That is a terrible speech, a terrible news, but I see that day by day people are shouting and crying and saying, "To where can we escape?" and anywhere you can escape to you may find, more than other places, troubles and miseries and sufferings.
At last this world is going to be finished. Nobody is going to remain on earth, and also in the Heavens. Every living being must die and is going to die; it is our Lord's holy command and His divine will that everything living must die, must taste death; no one can escape. Only Allah Almighty is Ever-living and
122 A means or channel through whom Allah Almighty works or sends His divine favours to His servants
123 This is a reference to the role of the murshid or guide in bringing that divine love to the state of "tasting" in the murid or follower for whose spiritiual development he is responsible. This is so powerful a thing that "tasting" should not be attempted except through someone who has himself tasted that divine love at the hands of his own guide or sheikh, going back to the Prophet himself, and who therefore knows how to guide his followers safely to that state
124 The remembrance of God through recitations of phrases of glorification or of His Holy Names
125 Where is the shelter?" (LXXV:10)
Never dying. And at the end Allah Almighty will order the Angel of Death, Azrāil, to take the soul of Satan. When Azrāil appears, Satan runs. When Azrail races to take his soul, Satan runs from East to West. "Maybe the West is a more safe place for me. So many people there followed me in my time." Running from East to West, and finding Azrail rushing on him to take his soul. And he runs to the North to find another safe place but finds there also Azrail to take his soul. Running to the South and finding him; anywhere he runs, Azrail comes from every side. And he asks, "Aina-l mafar? To where can I escape?" But now you can't escape.
As it is, now people want to escape from the East to the West, or from the East to the North, from the North to the South, because people want to run away from the countryside to cities, and from cities they want to run to the countryside. People who came from the East to the West are now asking how we can return or how we can escape from the West to our homelands. Most people are falling into troubles everywhere, and then they are asking, "Aina l-mafar? To where can we escape?" And, as the Prophet said, p.b.u.h., there should come a time on people when they will pass through cemeteries and among graves, and they will say, "Oh, you are such fortunate people!
We wish we could be there and you could be as we are now. You are such restful people; we are in such sufferings. You are so fortunate, going before coming to these days." They will say this.
Therefore, now people are asking for a shelter to escape from all miseries and sufferings - asking for a shelter, to run into it. But there is coming more than this because every day troubles and sufferings are increasing and mounting, not becoming less. Every day is going to be worse than the day before; tomorrow is going to be worse than today.
Allah Almighty informs us through His prophets that such days are coming. And also - because the Holy Qur'an explains some verses by some others - when Allah Almighty says, "Aina-l-mafar?" for those people who are falling. into troubles and sufferings, asking where that shelter will be, then He says, "Fa-firru ila-Llah126, then flee to your Lord."
Simple. But each time that Allah Almighty, after 120,000 year leaving Satan in Hell and then taking him to the entrance of Paradise, orders him, "Make sajdah to Adam and enter," Satan says, "Never! I am not going make sajdah to Adam." From beginning up to end, he never made sajdah – so stubborn.
126 (LI:50)
And the same characteristic you can find among people. When Allah calls them. "O My people, o mankind! Come to Me," then ego says, "No to Me - not to anyone else. I do not give permission to you to escape or to ask for any shelter except Me. Come to Me. Because I have My own will, My own knowledge, My own power, My own ideas, My own ideas, you must come to Me. You can find shelter in Me."
And then sufferings increase, individually and collectively. Allah Almighty, from beginning up to end, sends prophets and asks people to come under His shelter, but most people refuse. They trust their knowledge, their wisdom. If they have wisdom, they must come under the shelter of their Lord
- but no wisdom; they may have knowledge but no wisdom. Those who do not come under the divine shelter, no wisdom with them; they trust their minds' producs, mind-productions.
Allah Almighty shows and informs us, giving news about nations that have passed away from the beginning up to the end, and it is a very good example to living people. Allah Almighty sent Noah, p.b.u.h., to his nation, to all nations, to all the people living in his time, and they rejected him127. For 950 years he called them, and each time they refused him and denied his prophethood. Every day he would stand and call people, and people threw stones and other things attacking him, and then they left him, saying, "He is dead and gone." Every day for 950 years he gave his message to people, and finally he said, "O my Lord, not leave anyone of those unbelievers on earth, not even one household which includes such unbelieving people."
And then Allah Almighty ordered him, "O Noah, I will do as you asked Me, and I am going to punish everyone of the unbelievers. I will send a flood on earth to kill everything on it, and you make an ark to take all the believers and some of every kind of animal. Keep them in your ark."
As his Lord commanded, he made that ark. He made that ark not at the beach but in the countryside. And people came and went, saying, "O Noah, what are you doing?"
"I am making an ark because a flood is coming."
"Oh. If you are making an ark, it will never go in the countryside. Why don't you go to the seaside?"
127 For the Qur'anic account of Noah, p.b.u.h., and the flood, see: VII:59-64; X:71-73; XI:25-48; XXIII:23-30; XXVI:105-122; XXXVII:75-82; LIV:9-15; LXXI: 1-28.
And he said, "No. The flood will come and take this up, and it will float."
And they laughed at him. "Mad person, mad old person, he still thinks the same as when he was young! He said the same things then, and now that he is an old person, he still doesn't leave his nonsensical message," the unbelievers said to him.
Finally he finished his ark, and he called the believers and called his sons to go in it. Some of his sons went in. But one of them said, "I do not believe in what you are saying about the flood. If it is going to happen, I will climb on the mountains. A flood can only come in the valleys but will never reach the tops of mountains. I have an idea," he said. "My mind, the knowledge that I have, says to me that when a flood comes, be on the mountains. I am not going to stay in the low places or in valleys. I will go up, because I know where I can escape when a flood comes."
Then Noah said, "O my son, you know, but I am inviting you to safety. Come and get in the ark."
He said, "No. I will climb on the mountains, because I know where I can be when a flood comes."
Then Allah Almighty sent the flood. And water filled all the valleys, reaching, climbing to the tops of mountains and going over the tops of mountains also. And that mountain on which the son was thinking to be, waves went seventy yards above the highest point of that mountain.
This is an example for people who trust their ideas, their thoughts, their mind-productions. We are showing them what was the end of the son of
Noah when he took to the mountains and couldn't escape. He died. And now people, nations and all mankind, are not thinking about their Lord's rules, to keep them, to escape to the divine shelter, but they are inventing some ideas, saying, "You must follow this." Then the second group says, "No, this is no good. You must follow this !" Then another group comes. "No, both of them are no good. We must follow this one, our ideas," "Your ideas !" "Our ideas!" "Your ideas!" Then the flood will come and cover them.
It is not a flood of water but a flood of sufferings, a flood of miseries, Allah Almighty sinking people into it - yes! And every day the waves are rising, rising, and reaching every point that those people think is a shelter for mankind, so that in the near future they are going to find no shelter for anyone. And that is a terrible end for humanity on earth.
Therefore Allah Almighty is calling, "O people, come to Me!" Allah Almighty saved those believers in the ark. When the flood came, in every square foot of earth springs flowed and from the skies came rain, but not like our rains; you could see only a single block of water, only one block. And that ark floated as a submarine floats - not on the water, no; like a submarine, it floated under, in the water. From where did they take breath, subhānallān? But Allah Almighty, when He wants to preserve someone, is able to preserve him; if He wants to protect, He is able to protect. As He protected Abraham, p.b.u.h., in the fire, a huge fire, so He protected Noah, before Abraham, inside the water. From where did Abraham breathe, and from where did Noah and his believers breathe in the water, huge waves?
And Allah Almighty is now sending a flood of miseries and troubles and problems and sufferings and wars, everything which, like a flood on earth, is increasing now, rising, rising, so that only one group of people may be in safety - those who take an Ark.
Is there any Ark now in our days? Yes! Safinat an-Najjah128, the Rescue Ship. Yes, we have one. If you take that ship you may be in safety.
Therefore you may escape to your Lord. The Rescue Ship is floating, sailing on the flood of sufferings, and anywhere, at any moment that servant wants to put his foot in it, he may find it in front of himself. So easy.
Say, "La ilaha illa-Llah. La ilaha illa Anta; subhanaka, inni kuntu mina-dh- dhalimin129." Yunus, Jonah, p.b.u.h., was in the fish's stomach, sitting freely and glorifying his Lord, Allah Almighty, and he was alive, not dead, so that if Allah Almighty makes people die, they die; if not, no one dies. Glorifying made him in safety, and when he was glorifying his Lord, after that narrow prison, he was in safety and peace. Jonah found his peace and safety by glorifying Allah Almighty, and "Kadhalika nunji-l-muminin130."
Yes, for every time! Whoever wants to be in safety from the flood of sufferings, he must glorify his Lord, Allah Almighty. Once a person complained so much, annoyed by a frog's croaking, and he shouted, "What is this? Every night, Brak-brak-brak!! What is this?" But, o Son of Adam, I am not like you, sleeping. I am glorifying my Lord Almighty one thousand times
128 Literally, the Ship of Safety
129 'There is no deity but God. There is no deity but Thee; glory be to Thee, truly I have been among the wrong-doers. The latter sentence is from the tongue of Prophet Jonah (XXI:87)
130). Thus do We save the believers” (XXI:88)
each night. Do you glorify your Lord, even ten times? No; you sleep and you say, "I can't sleep because of your 'Brak-brak' the whole night."
Yes, glorify, and all miseries and sufferings go away. Any time you feel that those miseries are reaching you, say, "Subhānallah-subhanallah subhanallah...," glory be to my Lord Almighty. Then those waves will leave you, going away.
Glorify your Lord, Allah Almighty. Then you will be glorified in the Divine Presence, you will be an admired one in the Divine Presence. That is our solution. "Nasu-laha, fa-nasiuhum131"; as much as we forget Allah Almighty, we are going to be forgotten. He is not going to forget anyone, but as a punishment that flood will come and people may sink into it.
Therefore, every day so many people come with so many problems. Newspapers, from the beginning to the end, are full of sufferings. That Satan-box 132every night shows thousands and thousands of miseries. Before we did not see such news but now everything that happens of miseries is coming to our visions as a punishment; every night we are looking. Even if you are made of iron you are going to be affected. And
people come to me, also, so many hundreds of people; everywhere I go they run to me to complain.
There is a new branch of doctors, paychiatrists. Psychiatrists, also, come to me. What am I going to do? People run to them for their solutions, and they come to me. Psychiatrists are becoming more numerous than other doctors; they are now going to be more than grocers, everywhere thousands. What does that show? That people are without peace, agitated. It means that the suffering-flood is rising.
Psychiatrists have such big hearts to listen and then to speak, but my heart is not like a psychiatrist's heart. My heart becomes too much affected, and I am asking from our Lord forgiveness for me and for those people, because they are coming to load their sufferings on me, also. Sometimes we may find a way. Mostly they are running into sufferings, running into the reasons for sufferings. If you can't stop those reasons, you must fall down.
'Asr/June 18, 1985
131 They forgot God; then He forgot them
132 Sheikh Nazim's term for television
We are in need of something during this life which makes people be at rest. One thing makes people fall into Hell, burning them, and there is also one good attribute that makes people in peace. One characteristic makes people out of peace, throwing them into troubles and miseries and sufferings, and another attribute makes people in peace and satisfaction and pleasure. Both of them must be well-known by everyone because everyone is running away from suffering and asking for peace.
I don't think that anyone likes to be in suffering or in miseries or wants to be in troubles; I don't think you can find a person who says, "I like miseries, I like sufferings," no. Must be something wrong with his mind if he says that. And I don't think that anyone can say, "I do not want peace. I always run after troubles and sufferings, and my hobby is troubles." Therefore we are saying something that must be acceptable to everyone.
You must know that trouble started with Satan, and Satan just fell into troubles and was thrown out of the Divine Presence through envy. That is the beginning that made Satan fall into troubles and endless miseries and sufferings; that is the reason. And look - for mankind, also; all troubles come to people through envy. An envious person may have the whole world but still he is in miseries and troubles. An envious person may be the richest one but yet he is peaceless; no peace for him, neither in the nighttime nor the daytime. He may be such a learned person but there must be others, also, other learned people, scholars, professors; he alone can't be a professor.
Must be others, but envy makes him restless, yes.
Why? His ego wants to be the only one. That is our ego's desire. I must be only one, unique. And everything that a person may ask from this world, of material things, no matter how much he may be given, envy makes him restless and makes him suffer. Therefore we must now look at what thing kills envy. That is an illness; must be something against that illness to kill the microbes in the body. This is important. Which thing kills envy?
It is that medicine which all the prophets gave, and the Seal of the Prophets spoke in his hadith about that attribute that makes people happy, at rest, in peace. What is that? He said, p.b.u.h., "Al-qana'atu kanzun Ia yafnā133.".
Does it kill envy or not?
Yes, that attribute is qanā'ah; now insha-Allah comes the explanation of that word. Qana'ah is to be rich in one's heart, so that for everything that may be
133 Contentment is a treasure which does not decrease (Hadith)
given to a person he says, "Oh, so many, my Lord's favorsi”: to take from this life's materials only what may be enough for him, not running so much after this dunya's material goods; to take from everything what is enough for him, not more - no. This is enough for me. One car is enough. for what that car? This one is all right. Why that second or third or fourth one? One shop is enough; for what two shops? One house is enough; for what two houses?
Yes, in the Shari'ah, Allah Almighty makes it halal to have more. One, two, three houses or farms - everything is halal, but in reality the whole world is not only for you. If you say, "It must be only for me," you are wrong because you can buy all of London but you can't carry even one stone of it with you. Even if you say that the city of London is for me, mine, you can't carry anything of it. What is the benefit for you to take more than enough while you have been ordered to take from this only as much as is enough for you?
The Holy Qur'an teaches everything for people, for believers (and for unbelievers, also; they also take their share from the Holy Qur'an), and in it everything is mentioned. Once - this is not a tale; it is an event, a historical event, and it is mentioned in holy books - once the Children of Israel asked their Lord, Allah Almighty, to send them a king to fight and to bring them honor and power and sovereignty. Then Allah Almighty sent Talūt, King Saul, and then there was so much discussion concerning his kingship. The Children of Israel were proud by their natures. Therefore they said, "This is a person with no money, no riches - an ordinary person. How can he be king of the Children of Israel134?"
Allah Almighty said, "I gave him a big, strong body, and knowledge I gave to him, also. He is a strong person and he has so much knowledge. That is enough for him to be a king to you. You must obey." And their prophet said to the people, "You must obey him. You have not appointed him, making him king over yourselves."
Then they agreed, and that king gathered his army and went to fight Jalut, Goliath. Their country was not like our European countries; so many deserts, and people quickly got thirsty. Their king, the commander-in-chief of their army, warned them, "Now we are reaching a river but you are forbidden to drink from that river. Only one sip from your hand; more than that is for bidden."
134 The story of the Children of Israel and their king is narrated in II:246-251
But the people ran, too thirsty, and when they saw that river flowing, most of them threw themselves into the water. Only a handful of people from that huge army kept the orders of the Lord, Allah Almighty. They were 313 people, like the people of Badr135. They kept the command of the Lord, Allah Almighty, and took only one sip out of their hands, wetting their mouths. And that handful of people from that huge army was satisfied; their thirst went away. But those remaining people, all of those who threw themselves into the river, were not satisfied; never did their thirst go away.
You must understand what Allah Almighty means. "O people," He means say, "this whole world and its pleasures and its favors, everything through out this life, is like that river. Keep for yourself only the one handful that You may be in need of; it is enough for you. Then you may reach satisfaction; perfect satisfaction, perfect rest, perfect peace you may find in a handful.
That is your share of this world. Keep to it and you will be all right. But the one who runs after this life's pleasures and material things will never be satisfied - finished." Those 313 people were Ahli Qan’la, People of Contentment, and the others were never contented.
Therefore every trouble comes to people because they are running after this temporary life's pleasures and enjoyments but never getting to be satisfied. But those - they said, "It is enough." And now here another meaning comes for you. O people, that ocean can never take away your thirst. You may drink from that ocean, the Atlantic Ocean here; you may drink but it will never take away your thirst, yet that one cup of water which you take may quench your thirst. Yes? Because that one cup is sweet, fresh water. One cup gives you satisfaction but that huge ocean's waters do not because there is salt in it.
You must understand, o people, o believers, what I mean to say. One cup of fresh water - I mean to say, one cup of halal - makes you contented, satisfied, but the whole of haram can never make you satisfied. More than enough is going to be a trouble for you. If more than enough, perhaps it belongs to someone else and you will end in prison, so that you bear some responsibility. Therefore the Shari'ah says that when you have reached a limit, if you have more than that limit you must give some to others. If others' rights, others' shares, come to you, then you must return them to people, to
135 The first battle in Islam, during which 313 people, by the help of Allah, defeated the large army of the pagan Quraish
those who are needy136. Therefore the Shari'ah of Islam is perfect, the teachings of holy Islam are perfect; no one can make any objection to them.
You know the story of Alexander, the son of Philip, Alexander the Great? When his death was approaching and he knew that he must die, he made a last will and said, "When I die and you put me in my coffin, let my hands be outside my coffin."
They asked, "Why is His Majesty the Emperor saying this? All people put their hands inside the coffin but you are saying to put them out of the coffin. What is this wisdom that you are speaking? You are the emperor; there must be some thing in it."
And he said, "I mean to say that I want everyone to see that Alexander the Great is taking nothing with him from this earth of his endless treasures.
They may see that my hands are going empty. That is my wisdom to give to people."
O people, o mankind, the Children of Adam - you can't be like Alexander the Great. Allah Almighty gave him a whole world to be king of, and he taught people, also, that if you were able to be like me - and it is im possible - you will still go away empty-handed. And if you are wearing something on your hands, on your legs, your necks, then your descendants who come after you and who know that you are wearing your jewelry will come and open your grave to take that, also. Therefore the British Museum is full of such jewels.
No one is able to take with him more than what he had during his life. Take only what you can wear. Even if
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