Mercy Oceans, Book 12 (192 pages, 12/15)
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ives. No science can take it away from that one, nor riches nor ranks nor knowledge; nothing can take from him the reaction to the bad action that he did. And it may be only for some minutes or for some seconds, but because of that bad action he or she should cry for a whole lifetime.
You can understand, you can know, what bad activities people are running after, males and females running after those bad activities that Allah Almighty has prohibited, and no one asking if it is good or not; they are only running without thinking, without using their minds, running into that current, and whoever falls into it, it carries him or her away. It is now called “freedom," freedom in everything, freedom without limits.
Those are satanic activities in our time, which people later regret too much,, but it is useless, gone by. Therefore, Allan Almighty says: "O people, I do not want you to fall into sufferings. I am pulling you away from troubles, but My servants are running into the fire as a moth to a flame." A moth flies into the
fire and fire burns, and people are running into the fire but they can't see the flames. Our world is now burning with fire, with flames, and we are seeing it, from East to West, from North to South. Every place is amidst fires.
Muhiyuddin ibn al-'Arabi, may Allah bless him, was saying: "Day by day, when the Last Days approach, a fire is going to blaze on earth, everywhere, little by little, because everyone will take a match to kindle that fire - everyone." Satan was created from a flame of fire; therefore he likes fire so much, and he also likes to burn people by his fire. Therefore, he teaches people everything that has to do with fire.
Before there were no firearms, but he taught them to make weapons which work with fire, and the whole world now, all nations, are racing with each other, arms race, to make them more and more. Satan is very happy, giving everyone a match. A match is a small thing, but there is a chain reaction, putting the nuclear match everywhere and saying, advising people, "You must do more and more." Even one is enough to make the whole world in flames but he says, "No, not enough yet! They must all be there." And Muhiyuddin, a king-sized wali, saint, was given telescopic eyes to look into the future, telescopic eyes for looking into the Holy Qur'an, for looking into Holy Hadith. The one who looks into them may see what is coming in the future, but blind people, even if you put a telescope or microscope in front of them, never see anything. And awliya, saints, are looking and seeing what is coming; and Muhiyuddin was saying that this is approaching: when the Last Days come near, a fire is going to burn over all the world, even blazing on the seas.
Now awliya are seeing that everywhere people are running into fire, men and women. Every prohibited action makes another flame, and people are running into it. Then how can you stop suffering? Money can stop sufferings? No. We have everything but sufferings are mounting because everyone is adding another flame to this fire.
Nimrod ordered his nation to bring more and more wood to burn Abraham,
p.b.u.h. 119For what? Nimrod wanted to burn not Abraham, p.b.u.h., because only one match is enough to burn a person; but his intention, his aim, was to burn tauhid120, faith - to take it off the earth. Therefore he commanded his people, saying that whoever wants the highest rank in my presence must bring more wood to burn. It was a huge hill of wood which the people brought; from Basra in Iraq, when it was burning, the flames could be seen in Damascus. And now Satan is making people gather to build a big fire; everyone is working for Satan to make a flame, also, and he is asking them, "Burn faith, burn beliefs," so that no one is going to be a believer on earth. That is his aim now. .
The Prophet, p.b.u.h., says, "There is a jowhar, jewel, but there is something which makes that jowhar worthless." And religion og beliefs, they are jewels. What makes them worthless is fornication121; that makes beliefs worthless.
And everywhere now Satan and his workers are doing advertising for every kind of fornication, and everyone is striking this match, making a fire from East to West.
That is dangerous. No more karamah, no more honor, remains with people; that burns it. That is the meaning of what Muhiyuddin ibn al 'Arabi, may Allah bless him, was saying; day by day, it is going to cover the whole world with flames. At the least, these eyes are doing fornication - at the least, and that burns faith and beliefs. If a nail comes into the tire of a car, puncturing the tire, then quickly that car will stop; it can't go on. Even one - one glance does the same thing to faith, to beliefs. When you approach the Divine Presence, that glance makes you stop, immediately; you must come down, you must see whether you have a spare or not. If you have one spare, you can
119 The story of Prophet Abraham and the tyrant Nimrod is mentioned in II:258 and XXI:68-73
120 The Oneness and Uniqueness of Allah Almighty
121 This should be understood to refer to adultery as well
remove that punctured one, putting the spare, but after a little bit comes another, and no more spare. Sometimes it comes for all four tires at once, and then - going down; yes!
Therefore, in our times, improvement, spiritual improvement, is so difficult; everything that we can gain from spiritual practices quickly runs out through our eyes and we remain behind. Therefore it is impossible, without locking the doors of fornication by every means, to take away suffering from people or to give spiritual improvement; it is too difficult. You must take along too many spare tires; for one second's looking, it puts you on the ground. Then what if you go up in a plane and one engine becomes destroyed? It is so terrible; if you move from the earth, it is so terrible if you have something wrong - yes. We are still on earth; doesn't matter, falling, getting up. But we are asking for the Heavens; we do not want to be always on earth.
We have been invited, and the time is approaching, and flames are covering the whole world. Bad activities are covering from East to West, and you must look after yourself, to take some precautions for yourself. You must be able to understand which activities satanic deception is coming through; you must be very careful.
I am asking forgiveness for my sisters, for my brothers, for everyone; and asking from our Lord, Almighty Allah, His divine help in sending us someone to lock up every door that is open to fornication and that takes away honor from mankind. They are using the terms "girl friend" or "boyfriend," and I am asking, "This is a friend, or your wife? This is your friend, or your husband?"
Why are you not going to make it legal but are always going on illegally? What is the reason? You are accepting that girl, you are accepting that boy; then, after accepting, what is the meaning of doing that illegally? But - bad activities, Satan advising them, "Keep this one for some days and then leave her, leave him, and go to another one."
That is not honor for mankind; it is not written in any of our holy books, from the beginning up to today. These bad activities are the harvest or the product of our times, the product of the twentieth century's civilization - badness, dishonorable things. A father sees his daughter bringing a man: "Who is this one?" "My boyfriend." Or his son brings someone: "Who is that one?" "Girlfriend, my girlfriend." "My son's girlfriend!" And then they say, "All right, all right." That is not honor for parents but finishes honor!
We are asking forgiveness from Allah Almighty, and we are asking Him to send someone from His Divine Presence with divine powers to stop that. Therefore, our "Headquarters" is advising, we are advising, our brothers and sisters not to be single, not to be unmarried; must be married. That is a safety and honor for ourselves in our time, and it is the beginning of spiritual improvement. Without marriage it is too difficult.
By the name of Allah, All-mighty, All-merciful, Most Beneficent and Most Munificent. You can't find anyone who may be more merciful to mankind than their Lord. We may be sinners but yet our Lord is merciful to ourselves; we may be disobedient people but yet He sends from His endless favors to ourselves - yes. And He is asking from His servants to say, "Thank You, o our Lord"; but we are too greedy to say, "Thank you, o our Lord."
If you say "Thank You," He will not leave you without giving you anything; as long as you say "Thank You," He will pour on you more and more.
Therefore, "Wa-shkuru Li. La'in shakartum, la-azidannakum122. My servants, if you thank Me, then I will give more and more to you. But you are forgetting Me. When you are forgetting, I am leaving you as forgotten. I do not forget
122 A combination of the verses, "And be thankful to Me" (II:152) and "If you are thankful, I will increase (My favors] to you." (XIV:7)
anyone, but as a punishment to you when you forget Me, I am leaving you as someone forgotten."
He gave us the key of happiness but we are not using it. Our Lord just gave us it, and that is the key: "La'in shakartun, la-azidannakum. If you thank Me, I am going to give you more and more."
For which thing are we giving thanks? If you receive a favor from someone, you say "Thank you" because you are pleased, and that is happiness; when you are happy, you must say "Thank you." And Allah says, "If you feel happiness, you must say, 'O my Lord, thank You because you are making me happy and making me pleased'"; and then he is going to increase His favors on you more and more.
You may say, "What about the difficult conditions which people or society or all mankind have fallen into, such bad and difficult conditions - how can I be happy or in peace?" But Allah Almighty has endless ways to make His servants happy and pleased with Him. When you choose the way of thankfulness, it leads you to an area of pleasure, to an area of happiness, and anything may happen but that never changes your happiness.
The Prophet Joseph, the son of Jacob, peace be upon them both, was thrown into a well. It was a terrible well, but Allah Almighty sent the angel Gabriel to Joseph to give his Lord's greetings to him and bring him good tidings about his future, saying, "O My servant, I am pleased with you. Are you pleased with Me?"
And Joseph said: "O my Lord, if You are pleased with me, what must be my pleasure? I may be in a well, but in reality I am in Paradise when You say 'I am pleased with you.'"
That well might be full-up with snakes, lizards, scorpions and spiders all around. No worry for him; he was pleased with his Lord.
Nothing could harm him because he was pleased with his Lord, and his Lord asked if you are pleased with Me, because I am pleased with you. Joseph was pleased with his Lord; and then Allah Almighty sent around a group of people to take him out, quickly taking him from the well and arriving in Egypt, the country of Pharoah. And he was pleased; anywhere he might go he would be pleased.
That is one key that makes you happy throughout your life. Allah Almighty, every day, every morning and evening and at every time, is asking you, "O My servant, are you pleased with Me?" But our ears - people are putting cotton inside; only that, listening to nothing.
Allah Almighty is looking at His servant: "O My servant, are you happy with Me, are you pleased with Me?" What do you say? Yes; He is asking His servants and He is seeing whether they are pleased with Him. But mostly, if He is asking and we are hearing, so many people would reply, "How am I going to be pleased with You? No money," they would say. "So many people are poor. So that we can have more money, let this rain rain down silver coins. Then we will be happy!".
A person was complaining that he hadn't any shoes. But one day he saw a man with no legs, and he said, "O my Lord, I am very happy, O my Lord; very peaceful, my life. I am so happy, so pleased with You, O my Lord." When he saw that no-legged person, he understood what he had, which thing he had been given. Yes, no more asking or complaining about shoes; that doesn't matter because I have legs, but that person - no legs. Do you not see blind people? Who would give up his two eyes? If I give this whole place full-up with gold, will anyone give even one eye? Yes, what rich people we are! If I give you the whole world, to be king of it but without eyes, will you accept? If these eyes are closed, what is the taste of life without seeing?
You will be a blind king. Alhamdulillah, we have eyes. We are rich ones, yes!
Therefore, when we look at our Lord's favors, we must be happy. But we are asking something from our Lord, Almighty Allah, which is too cheap; the cheapest things we are asking. We must ask from our Lord, from His endless favors, something that will be ours forever.
Each thing that you are asking of this world and of this life, it is temporary. Nothing is going to be permanent except the heavenly grants that Allah Almighty grants to you. You must ask. Heavenly grants are going to be with you forever, and He likes His servants to ask for something that is valuable.
The Holy Qur'an teaches people through many tales; Allah Almighty gives examples from passed-away nations and their life conditions, and teaches us. Don't be like the Children of Israel:
Allah Almighty put them in the Desert of Sinai. Then, when they were imprisoned there, each day Allah Almighty sent them from the heavens mann wa salwa123. That is very beautiful, too-delicious food; people look upon kebap as delicious. Each day He sent those birds, very tasty, delicious, and halwah, that sweet - each day:
Then they said to Moses, "What about this kebap and that sweet every day? Every day, in the morning this sweet, at nighttime kebap; or at morning kebap, in the evening the sweet. We are fed-up! Ask from your Lord something like onions, garlic and cucumbers - something like that. We are fed-up with this, every day kebap and sweet!"
Look what they were asking from Allah Almighty; and we are like those people, also, the same characteristics. We are asking, "Give us more of this life's pleasures." And you know that from the time of maturity, from that day, your pleasures are making a path from maximum to minimum, coming down;
123 Manna and quails, which were roasted as kebap. Manna is a sweet, sticky substance coming from trees, found to this day in Iraq, Iran and other areas. See II:57, VII:160 and XX:80
no one is going to have the same taste from the beginning of maturity to the end of his life. As much as you are asking you are given, but its taste is going to be less day by day, day by day, day by day.
Why are you asking that? You must ask something valuable in the Divine Presence for yourself! He gives; He is not stingy. Generosity is His attribute, the divine attribute of your Lord, Allah Almighty. He gives. Ask; He can give. And say, "O my Lord, I am asking from You that I may be pleased with everything that you are giving to me."
One day a black fellow was walking with his boss in a garden. Those colored people, Allah gives them more barakah, blessings. We don't have that, but to any house that a colored person is in, Allah Almighty sends so much barakah; therefore, in earlier times everyone had colored people in their houses, in their farms, and Allah sent more barakah The Prophet said it; we must like them - yes.
They were going though fields that were planted, and his sayyid, his master, cut a cucumber. It was so bitter that he made a face at his servant. But his servant ate it, all of it. "Isn't it bitter?" his master asked.
He said, "O my master, so many times I have eaten sweet things from your hand. Why does it matter if once you give me something bitter? I am ashamed to throw it away because it is coming from your hand to me." .
This is a big lesson for those people who have minds or have hearts: our Lord sends us endless favors; we are receiving them, but if sometimes something comes upon ourselves, we complain about our Lord. He never likes complaining, and no happiness or pleasure for the one who opens the door of complaining.
Believers must not complain. Then, that is the key of happiness. There are some people whose habit is always to complain; look - you may find such people, and you never find them any day without complaining. Therefore, all
the prophets advised their companions, their people, not to complain. And our Prophet, p.b.u.h., lived in the desert; he was born in Makkah amidst huge deserts, hot weather and no water, no trees, no plants. And his Companions always suffered because of little food, but no one complained. They would fast, and mostly they would make their break-fast with two or three dates. (When we sit, before eating dinner124, thirty dates, like a machine. Yahu! While I am eating one, other people are eating ten!) Yes.
They were getting one or two dates, or even a half, but they were not complaining.
Therefore Islam has a strong base. The Companions of Muhammad, p.b.u.h., they were strong enough to bear every difficult condition, particularly being hungry. Many times they would show that they were putting stones on their stomachs to keep away the pain of hunger, and the Prophet showed that he sometimes had two stones. And we have been given everything but still we are complaining. Therefore, no pleasure for the one who complains.
Therefore Islam and its Holy Book begin by saying "Alhamdulillah." O people, you must always say "Alhamdulillah"; it means, "All praise and all thanks to You, o our Lord," when you say it. If a person does nothing except to say "Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah..." from the beginning up to the end of his life, it is enough. If he says, "O my Lord, I can never find time, I can't do anything except to say 'Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. I am never going to be unoccupied with it, so that I can't do anything of worshipping except saying 'Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah...,'" it is enough.
For every condition you must make ready "Alhamdulillah," and then every difficulty goes away; it brings solutions for every difficult problem. Just only
124 According to the Holy Prophet's tradition, the fast is broken at sunset with one or three dates, if available. The Maghrib, sunset, prayer is then performed, followed by dinner
one way; try it - I am advising you. Leave off complaining and say, "Thanks and glory to Allah Almighty," because He sends us endless favors, and if sometimes something difficult comes on us, it is no good to complain. When you complain, Allah Almighty says, "Look at My servant, complaining about Me to My other servants," and it is no good to let your Lord say this; it is no good.
Therefore the keys of happiness are in our hands; He gave them. This is the tradition from the first prophet up to the last one. Don't suppose that this is only the Last Prophet's advice; but from the beginning up to the end, through their traditions (and we have been sent 124,000 prophets), all the prophets were calling to people: "O people, be pleased with your Lord. Be happy with Him, be respectful to Him, and He will make you pleased, here and Hereafter."
By the name of Allah, All-mighty, All-merciful, Most Beneficent and Most Munificent. Islam means truth, haqq. And if we would like to be with haqq, we must follow and we must accept Islam.
We have not come to this life to play. It is a serious thing that we are here, and we have been ordered to know what is truth and we have been ordered to know what is falsehood, and to choose between them.
We must keep truth, but truth is bitter for our egos and they like falsehood; it is lovely to our nafs, so that it is difficult for a person to choose between them. But if you use your mind, it should say to you, "Keep the safe way; choose the truth," and if we listen to our feelings, our feelings will choose what our ego shows to be falsehood.
The prophets and awliya are the leaders of this caravan which is going toward Allah Almighty; they are moving from this life and their direction is toward Allah. They are those people who never look at or are interested in
this life's cheap pleasures. They know what is valuable, and they are joined to that caravan that has been moving since the first man and the first prophet, Adam, p.b.u.h.
He began when he was sent on earth. He was longing for his homeland, Paradise, but Paradise without your Lord is like a prison; he was longing to return to his homeland, to his Lord's Divine Presence, and that is Paradise, the real Paradise. And he began, as the first one in the caravan moving toward Allah Almighty, and he called his sons, his children, to follow him.
The ones who accepted followed him from the time that that caravan moved, and when his children left off following the caravan, Allah Almighty sent another prophet, another beloved one from among His servants, to call people to follow the caravan. And those who accepted the prophets were following it. But there is another caravan, led by Satan, and he is also calling people to his caravan.
Those who follow the prophets are coming with them toward Allah Almighty and His Divine Presence. The Seal of the Prophets, Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h., was the last one who was sent to call people to his caravan, which was the biggest and most important caravan which has moved toward the Divine Presence. And his invitation was international; through every century and among every kind of people who were gathered under the banner of mankind, he was calling to people.
Now, I am saying these words because one of our brothers said to me that some people had asked him to give a talk in a church, and he was asking if he could take the Holy Qur'an in his hand for speaking to people in a church, or could bring Holy Hadiths of the Prophet and make a speech for them.
Then I said to him, "See if after a little bit something comes through our assembly, and then you may keep it, you may use it."
Anyone may be invited to give a talk about Islam in a church. A church is also built to be a place for worshipping the Lord, Almighty Allah, and Allah Almighty rewards those people according to their intentions. It is impossible for a person not to be rewarded if he has sincere and good intentions; he must be rewarded by the Lord, Almighty Allah - don't suppose anything else. A person may be Christian, may be Jewish, may be from another religion, and Allah Almighty looks at his intentions and rewards him.
I heard a tale about a Majusi, a fire-worshipper who lived in Baghdad. After his death, a grandsheikh looked into Paradise and saw that one there. And he was surprised and asked, "How can you be in Paradise when you were a fire-worshipper?"
Saints have been given divine lights; to the true and real believers, Allah Almighty gives through the lights of real faith, and they are from divine lights. But they have been given only to those people who really believe. Therefore, if a person has been given real faith's lights, no distance or darkness or huge mountains can hold him back; his lights reach everywhere, reaching into your hearts, also. Nothing holds back those lights.
Therefore, that grandsheikh could look into Paradise; such people can see Paradise. They have come to be out of time and space; they may look and may see. And that grandsheikh saw that person, the Majusi, in Paradise and asked, "How can you be here?"
That is in order to give people something of real knowledge and of divine knowledge, so that servants may know something about their Lord's attributes, and in order that no one should be hopeless. Every one may hope; everyone has a right to be hopeful of his Lord's Mercy Oceans. When Allah Almighty wants to save His servants from the hands of devils, He has endless, countless ways to save them. Therefore we have rights to be hopeful, fully hopeful.
And when that grandsheikh asked him, the fire-worshipper said, "O my Lord's servant, the reason that I am here in Paradise is a simple, very simple thing. I wasn't taking any care about it, but it happened:
"One day I saw that my child, a little boy, had a piece of bread in his hand, eating it, and I took him by his ear and said: 'Do you not know that this is the holy month for Muslims? They are fasting. Then how are you carrying a piece of bread in your hand and, eating it, while people are respecting that this is the holy month? What are you doing?' And I slapped him and took him inside," the Majusi said.
Zoroastrian. Even among non-Muslims living in Muslim areas, eating in public during the daytime in Ramadan was considered a mark of disrespect for the sanctity of the holy month and toward
one's Mu
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ives. No science can take it away from that one, nor riches nor ranks nor knowledge; nothing can take from him the reaction to the bad action that he did. And it may be only for some minutes or for some seconds, but because of that bad action he or she should cry for a whole lifetime.
You can understand, you can know, what bad activities people are running after, males and females running after those bad activities that Allah Almighty has prohibited, and no one asking if it is good or not; they are only running without thinking, without using their minds, running into that current, and whoever falls into it, it carries him or her away. It is now called “freedom," freedom in everything, freedom without limits.
Those are satanic activities in our time, which people later regret too much,, but it is useless, gone by. Therefore, Allan Almighty says: "O people, I do not want you to fall into sufferings. I am pulling you away from troubles, but My servants are running into the fire as a moth to a flame." A moth flies into the
fire and fire burns, and people are running into the fire but they can't see the flames. Our world is now burning with fire, with flames, and we are seeing it, from East to West, from North to South. Every place is amidst fires.
Muhiyuddin ibn al-'Arabi, may Allah bless him, was saying: "Day by day, when the Last Days approach, a fire is going to blaze on earth, everywhere, little by little, because everyone will take a match to kindle that fire - everyone." Satan was created from a flame of fire; therefore he likes fire so much, and he also likes to burn people by his fire. Therefore, he teaches people everything that has to do with fire.
Before there were no firearms, but he taught them to make weapons which work with fire, and the whole world now, all nations, are racing with each other, arms race, to make them more and more. Satan is very happy, giving everyone a match. A match is a small thing, but there is a chain reaction, putting the nuclear match everywhere and saying, advising people, "You must do more and more." Even one is enough to make the whole world in flames but he says, "No, not enough yet! They must all be there." And Muhiyuddin, a king-sized wali, saint, was given telescopic eyes to look into the future, telescopic eyes for looking into the Holy Qur'an, for looking into Holy Hadith. The one who looks into them may see what is coming in the future, but blind people, even if you put a telescope or microscope in front of them, never see anything. And awliya, saints, are looking and seeing what is coming; and Muhiyuddin was saying that this is approaching: when the Last Days come near, a fire is going to burn over all the world, even blazing on the seas.
Now awliya are seeing that everywhere people are running into fire, men and women. Every prohibited action makes another flame, and people are running into it. Then how can you stop suffering? Money can stop sufferings? No. We have everything but sufferings are mounting because everyone is adding another flame to this fire.
Nimrod ordered his nation to bring more and more wood to burn Abraham,
p.b.u.h. 119For what? Nimrod wanted to burn not Abraham, p.b.u.h., because only one match is enough to burn a person; but his intention, his aim, was to burn tauhid120, faith - to take it off the earth. Therefore he commanded his people, saying that whoever wants the highest rank in my presence must bring more wood to burn. It was a huge hill of wood which the people brought; from Basra in Iraq, when it was burning, the flames could be seen in Damascus. And now Satan is making people gather to build a big fire; everyone is working for Satan to make a flame, also, and he is asking them, "Burn faith, burn beliefs," so that no one is going to be a believer on earth. That is his aim now. .
The Prophet, p.b.u.h., says, "There is a jowhar, jewel, but there is something which makes that jowhar worthless." And religion og beliefs, they are jewels. What makes them worthless is fornication121; that makes beliefs worthless.
And everywhere now Satan and his workers are doing advertising for every kind of fornication, and everyone is striking this match, making a fire from East to West.
That is dangerous. No more karamah, no more honor, remains with people; that burns it. That is the meaning of what Muhiyuddin ibn al 'Arabi, may Allah bless him, was saying; day by day, it is going to cover the whole world with flames. At the least, these eyes are doing fornication - at the least, and that burns faith and beliefs. If a nail comes into the tire of a car, puncturing the tire, then quickly that car will stop; it can't go on. Even one - one glance does the same thing to faith, to beliefs. When you approach the Divine Presence, that glance makes you stop, immediately; you must come down, you must see whether you have a spare or not. If you have one spare, you can
119 The story of Prophet Abraham and the tyrant Nimrod is mentioned in II:258 and XXI:68-73
120 The Oneness and Uniqueness of Allah Almighty
121 This should be understood to refer to adultery as well
remove that punctured one, putting the spare, but after a little bit comes another, and no more spare. Sometimes it comes for all four tires at once, and then - going down; yes!
Therefore, in our times, improvement, spiritual improvement, is so difficult; everything that we can gain from spiritual practices quickly runs out through our eyes and we remain behind. Therefore it is impossible, without locking the doors of fornication by every means, to take away suffering from people or to give spiritual improvement; it is too difficult. You must take along too many spare tires; for one second's looking, it puts you on the ground. Then what if you go up in a plane and one engine becomes destroyed? It is so terrible; if you move from the earth, it is so terrible if you have something wrong - yes. We are still on earth; doesn't matter, falling, getting up. But we are asking for the Heavens; we do not want to be always on earth.
We have been invited, and the time is approaching, and flames are covering the whole world. Bad activities are covering from East to West, and you must look after yourself, to take some precautions for yourself. You must be able to understand which activities satanic deception is coming through; you must be very careful.
I am asking forgiveness for my sisters, for my brothers, for everyone; and asking from our Lord, Almighty Allah, His divine help in sending us someone to lock up every door that is open to fornication and that takes away honor from mankind. They are using the terms "girl friend" or "boyfriend," and I am asking, "This is a friend, or your wife? This is your friend, or your husband?"
Why are you not going to make it legal but are always going on illegally? What is the reason? You are accepting that girl, you are accepting that boy; then, after accepting, what is the meaning of doing that illegally? But - bad activities, Satan advising them, "Keep this one for some days and then leave her, leave him, and go to another one."
That is not honor for mankind; it is not written in any of our holy books, from the beginning up to today. These bad activities are the harvest or the product of our times, the product of the twentieth century's civilization - badness, dishonorable things. A father sees his daughter bringing a man: "Who is this one?" "My boyfriend." Or his son brings someone: "Who is that one?" "Girlfriend, my girlfriend." "My son's girlfriend!" And then they say, "All right, all right." That is not honor for parents but finishes honor!
We are asking forgiveness from Allah Almighty, and we are asking Him to send someone from His Divine Presence with divine powers to stop that. Therefore, our "Headquarters" is advising, we are advising, our brothers and sisters not to be single, not to be unmarried; must be married. That is a safety and honor for ourselves in our time, and it is the beginning of spiritual improvement. Without marriage it is too difficult.
By the name of Allah, All-mighty, All-merciful, Most Beneficent and Most Munificent. You can't find anyone who may be more merciful to mankind than their Lord. We may be sinners but yet our Lord is merciful to ourselves; we may be disobedient people but yet He sends from His endless favors to ourselves - yes. And He is asking from His servants to say, "Thank You, o our Lord"; but we are too greedy to say, "Thank you, o our Lord."
If you say "Thank You," He will not leave you without giving you anything; as long as you say "Thank You," He will pour on you more and more.
Therefore, "Wa-shkuru Li. La'in shakartum, la-azidannakum122. My servants, if you thank Me, then I will give more and more to you. But you are forgetting Me. When you are forgetting, I am leaving you as forgotten. I do not forget
122 A combination of the verses, "And be thankful to Me" (II:152) and "If you are thankful, I will increase (My favors] to you." (XIV:7)
anyone, but as a punishment to you when you forget Me, I am leaving you as someone forgotten."
He gave us the key of happiness but we are not using it. Our Lord just gave us it, and that is the key: "La'in shakartun, la-azidannakum. If you thank Me, I am going to give you more and more."
For which thing are we giving thanks? If you receive a favor from someone, you say "Thank you" because you are pleased, and that is happiness; when you are happy, you must say "Thank you." And Allah says, "If you feel happiness, you must say, 'O my Lord, thank You because you are making me happy and making me pleased'"; and then he is going to increase His favors on you more and more.
You may say, "What about the difficult conditions which people or society or all mankind have fallen into, such bad and difficult conditions - how can I be happy or in peace?" But Allah Almighty has endless ways to make His servants happy and pleased with Him. When you choose the way of thankfulness, it leads you to an area of pleasure, to an area of happiness, and anything may happen but that never changes your happiness.
The Prophet Joseph, the son of Jacob, peace be upon them both, was thrown into a well. It was a terrible well, but Allah Almighty sent the angel Gabriel to Joseph to give his Lord's greetings to him and bring him good tidings about his future, saying, "O My servant, I am pleased with you. Are you pleased with Me?"
And Joseph said: "O my Lord, if You are pleased with me, what must be my pleasure? I may be in a well, but in reality I am in Paradise when You say 'I am pleased with you.'"
That well might be full-up with snakes, lizards, scorpions and spiders all around. No worry for him; he was pleased with his Lord.
Nothing could harm him because he was pleased with his Lord, and his Lord asked if you are pleased with Me, because I am pleased with you. Joseph was pleased with his Lord; and then Allah Almighty sent around a group of people to take him out, quickly taking him from the well and arriving in Egypt, the country of Pharoah. And he was pleased; anywhere he might go he would be pleased.
That is one key that makes you happy throughout your life. Allah Almighty, every day, every morning and evening and at every time, is asking you, "O My servant, are you pleased with Me?" But our ears - people are putting cotton inside; only that, listening to nothing.
Allah Almighty is looking at His servant: "O My servant, are you happy with Me, are you pleased with Me?" What do you say? Yes; He is asking His servants and He is seeing whether they are pleased with Him. But mostly, if He is asking and we are hearing, so many people would reply, "How am I going to be pleased with You? No money," they would say. "So many people are poor. So that we can have more money, let this rain rain down silver coins. Then we will be happy!".
A person was complaining that he hadn't any shoes. But one day he saw a man with no legs, and he said, "O my Lord, I am very happy, O my Lord; very peaceful, my life. I am so happy, so pleased with You, O my Lord." When he saw that no-legged person, he understood what he had, which thing he had been given. Yes, no more asking or complaining about shoes; that doesn't matter because I have legs, but that person - no legs. Do you not see blind people? Who would give up his two eyes? If I give this whole place full-up with gold, will anyone give even one eye? Yes, what rich people we are! If I give you the whole world, to be king of it but without eyes, will you accept? If these eyes are closed, what is the taste of life without seeing?
You will be a blind king. Alhamdulillah, we have eyes. We are rich ones, yes!
Therefore, when we look at our Lord's favors, we must be happy. But we are asking something from our Lord, Almighty Allah, which is too cheap; the cheapest things we are asking. We must ask from our Lord, from His endless favors, something that will be ours forever.
Each thing that you are asking of this world and of this life, it is temporary. Nothing is going to be permanent except the heavenly grants that Allah Almighty grants to you. You must ask. Heavenly grants are going to be with you forever, and He likes His servants to ask for something that is valuable.
The Holy Qur'an teaches people through many tales; Allah Almighty gives examples from passed-away nations and their life conditions, and teaches us. Don't be like the Children of Israel:
Allah Almighty put them in the Desert of Sinai. Then, when they were imprisoned there, each day Allah Almighty sent them from the heavens mann wa salwa123. That is very beautiful, too-delicious food; people look upon kebap as delicious. Each day He sent those birds, very tasty, delicious, and halwah, that sweet - each day:
Then they said to Moses, "What about this kebap and that sweet every day? Every day, in the morning this sweet, at nighttime kebap; or at morning kebap, in the evening the sweet. We are fed-up! Ask from your Lord something like onions, garlic and cucumbers - something like that. We are fed-up with this, every day kebap and sweet!"
Look what they were asking from Allah Almighty; and we are like those people, also, the same characteristics. We are asking, "Give us more of this life's pleasures." And you know that from the time of maturity, from that day, your pleasures are making a path from maximum to minimum, coming down;
123 Manna and quails, which were roasted as kebap. Manna is a sweet, sticky substance coming from trees, found to this day in Iraq, Iran and other areas. See II:57, VII:160 and XX:80
no one is going to have the same taste from the beginning of maturity to the end of his life. As much as you are asking you are given, but its taste is going to be less day by day, day by day, day by day.
Why are you asking that? You must ask something valuable in the Divine Presence for yourself! He gives; He is not stingy. Generosity is His attribute, the divine attribute of your Lord, Allah Almighty. He gives. Ask; He can give. And say, "O my Lord, I am asking from You that I may be pleased with everything that you are giving to me."
One day a black fellow was walking with his boss in a garden. Those colored people, Allah gives them more barakah, blessings. We don't have that, but to any house that a colored person is in, Allah Almighty sends so much barakah; therefore, in earlier times everyone had colored people in their houses, in their farms, and Allah sent more barakah The Prophet said it; we must like them - yes.
They were going though fields that were planted, and his sayyid, his master, cut a cucumber. It was so bitter that he made a face at his servant. But his servant ate it, all of it. "Isn't it bitter?" his master asked.
He said, "O my master, so many times I have eaten sweet things from your hand. Why does it matter if once you give me something bitter? I am ashamed to throw it away because it is coming from your hand to me." .
This is a big lesson for those people who have minds or have hearts: our Lord sends us endless favors; we are receiving them, but if sometimes something comes upon ourselves, we complain about our Lord. He never likes complaining, and no happiness or pleasure for the one who opens the door of complaining.
Believers must not complain. Then, that is the key of happiness. There are some people whose habit is always to complain; look - you may find such people, and you never find them any day without complaining. Therefore, all
the prophets advised their companions, their people, not to complain. And our Prophet, p.b.u.h., lived in the desert; he was born in Makkah amidst huge deserts, hot weather and no water, no trees, no plants. And his Companions always suffered because of little food, but no one complained. They would fast, and mostly they would make their break-fast with two or three dates. (When we sit, before eating dinner124, thirty dates, like a machine. Yahu! While I am eating one, other people are eating ten!) Yes.
They were getting one or two dates, or even a half, but they were not complaining.
Therefore Islam has a strong base. The Companions of Muhammad, p.b.u.h., they were strong enough to bear every difficult condition, particularly being hungry. Many times they would show that they were putting stones on their stomachs to keep away the pain of hunger, and the Prophet showed that he sometimes had two stones. And we have been given everything but still we are complaining. Therefore, no pleasure for the one who complains.
Therefore Islam and its Holy Book begin by saying "Alhamdulillah." O people, you must always say "Alhamdulillah"; it means, "All praise and all thanks to You, o our Lord," when you say it. If a person does nothing except to say "Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah..." from the beginning up to the end of his life, it is enough. If he says, "O my Lord, I can never find time, I can't do anything except to say 'Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah. I am never going to be unoccupied with it, so that I can't do anything of worshipping except saying 'Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah...,'" it is enough.
For every condition you must make ready "Alhamdulillah," and then every difficulty goes away; it brings solutions for every difficult problem. Just only
124 According to the Holy Prophet's tradition, the fast is broken at sunset with one or three dates, if available. The Maghrib, sunset, prayer is then performed, followed by dinner
one way; try it - I am advising you. Leave off complaining and say, "Thanks and glory to Allah Almighty," because He sends us endless favors, and if sometimes something difficult comes on us, it is no good to complain. When you complain, Allah Almighty says, "Look at My servant, complaining about Me to My other servants," and it is no good to let your Lord say this; it is no good.
Therefore the keys of happiness are in our hands; He gave them. This is the tradition from the first prophet up to the last one. Don't suppose that this is only the Last Prophet's advice; but from the beginning up to the end, through their traditions (and we have been sent 124,000 prophets), all the prophets were calling to people: "O people, be pleased with your Lord. Be happy with Him, be respectful to Him, and He will make you pleased, here and Hereafter."
By the name of Allah, All-mighty, All-merciful, Most Beneficent and Most Munificent. Islam means truth, haqq. And if we would like to be with haqq, we must follow and we must accept Islam.
We have not come to this life to play. It is a serious thing that we are here, and we have been ordered to know what is truth and we have been ordered to know what is falsehood, and to choose between them.
We must keep truth, but truth is bitter for our egos and they like falsehood; it is lovely to our nafs, so that it is difficult for a person to choose between them. But if you use your mind, it should say to you, "Keep the safe way; choose the truth," and if we listen to our feelings, our feelings will choose what our ego shows to be falsehood.
The prophets and awliya are the leaders of this caravan which is going toward Allah Almighty; they are moving from this life and their direction is toward Allah. They are those people who never look at or are interested in
this life's cheap pleasures. They know what is valuable, and they are joined to that caravan that has been moving since the first man and the first prophet, Adam, p.b.u.h.
He began when he was sent on earth. He was longing for his homeland, Paradise, but Paradise without your Lord is like a prison; he was longing to return to his homeland, to his Lord's Divine Presence, and that is Paradise, the real Paradise. And he began, as the first one in the caravan moving toward Allah Almighty, and he called his sons, his children, to follow him.
The ones who accepted followed him from the time that that caravan moved, and when his children left off following the caravan, Allah Almighty sent another prophet, another beloved one from among His servants, to call people to follow the caravan. And those who accepted the prophets were following it. But there is another caravan, led by Satan, and he is also calling people to his caravan.
Those who follow the prophets are coming with them toward Allah Almighty and His Divine Presence. The Seal of the Prophets, Sayyidina Muhammad, p.b.u.h., was the last one who was sent to call people to his caravan, which was the biggest and most important caravan which has moved toward the Divine Presence. And his invitation was international; through every century and among every kind of people who were gathered under the banner of mankind, he was calling to people.
Now, I am saying these words because one of our brothers said to me that some people had asked him to give a talk in a church, and he was asking if he could take the Holy Qur'an in his hand for speaking to people in a church, or could bring Holy Hadiths of the Prophet and make a speech for them.
Then I said to him, "See if after a little bit something comes through our assembly, and then you may keep it, you may use it."
Anyone may be invited to give a talk about Islam in a church. A church is also built to be a place for worshipping the Lord, Almighty Allah, and Allah Almighty rewards those people according to their intentions. It is impossible for a person not to be rewarded if he has sincere and good intentions; he must be rewarded by the Lord, Almighty Allah - don't suppose anything else. A person may be Christian, may be Jewish, may be from another religion, and Allah Almighty looks at his intentions and rewards him.
I heard a tale about a Majusi, a fire-worshipper who lived in Baghdad. After his death, a grandsheikh looked into Paradise and saw that one there. And he was surprised and asked, "How can you be in Paradise when you were a fire-worshipper?"
Saints have been given divine lights; to the true and real believers, Allah Almighty gives through the lights of real faith, and they are from divine lights. But they have been given only to those people who really believe. Therefore, if a person has been given real faith's lights, no distance or darkness or huge mountains can hold him back; his lights reach everywhere, reaching into your hearts, also. Nothing holds back those lights.
Therefore, that grandsheikh could look into Paradise; such people can see Paradise. They have come to be out of time and space; they may look and may see. And that grandsheikh saw that person, the Majusi, in Paradise and asked, "How can you be here?"
That is in order to give people something of real knowledge and of divine knowledge, so that servants may know something about their Lord's attributes, and in order that no one should be hopeless. Every one may hope; everyone has a right to be hopeful of his Lord's Mercy Oceans. When Allah Almighty wants to save His servants from the hands of devils, He has endless, countless ways to save them. Therefore we have rights to be hopeful, fully hopeful.
And when that grandsheikh asked him, the fire-worshipper said, "O my Lord's servant, the reason that I am here in Paradise is a simple, very simple thing. I wasn't taking any care about it, but it happened:
"One day I saw that my child, a little boy, had a piece of bread in his hand, eating it, and I took him by his ear and said: 'Do you not know that this is the holy month for Muslims? They are fasting. Then how are you carrying a piece of bread in your hand and, eating it, while people are respecting that this is the holy month? What are you doing?' And I slapped him and took him inside," the Majusi said.
Zoroastrian. Even among non-Muslims living in Muslim areas, eating in public during the daytime in Ramadan was considered a mark of disrespect for the sanctity of the holy month and toward
one's Mu
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