A`udhu billahi min ash-shaytaani ’r-rajeem bismillahi ’r-rahmani ’r-raheem

Nawaytu ‘l-arba`een nawaytu ‘l-`itikhaaf nawaytu ‘l-khalwah nawaytu ‘l-`uzla nawaytu ’r-riyaada nawaytu ’s-sulook lillahi ta’ala al-`adheem fee hadha ’l-masjid

Dastur ya Sayiddi ya Sultan al-Awliya Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Haqqani

Dastur ya Sayiddi ya Sultan al-Awliya Shaykh Abdullah Faiz ad-Daghestani

I think this is a very important series of suhbah that it is important for us to differentiate between what is the definition of a guide.  We have, I’m not making a promotion, but already we have a book that didn’t come yet but might be coming in a few days a new book, “Who are the Guides?”  Because these days too many people declaring that they are guides, they are looking after their own followers whom they bring them to Naqshbandi tariqah and they think that if they have been given permission or authorized to give a dhikrullah and to make a circle, or group of people to come to make dhikr and remember Allah Names and Attributes and call people from every walk of life, they look at them as if they are their guides or they are Murshids.  So that’s why I will in this series of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim and Grandshaykh Shaykh Abdullah Faiz ad-Daghestani notes from long time I will shed a light, a little bit, on the importance of and the definition of who are the guides and what is a guide.

Because we are lost in too many around the world because Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani Sultan al Awliya may Allah give him long life, giving everyone authorization to dhikrullah because he want to spread that kind of knowledge of Naqshbandi tariqah but the problem is that that person who has been authorized begins to think that he became the guide for that group of people.  Like yesterday I was sitting with Mawlana Shaykh and he was seeing some people and he said to one of one them that “I like you to do dhikr, group dhikr in your home.” And the man said “I am attending dhikr with this authorized one” Mawlana said “ok you do in your home” …and because you will get more people around you because some people might be far for them to drive to that person and the barakah of dhikr will be continuing and once a month you can meet altogether.  Now, some people might understand from that that they are already been authorized and they begin to act as if they are guide and you can see on all websites on the Internet today from all over the world everyone is claiming that he is the authorized guide for this and that.

Guide has to be for the whole Ummah, first of all. Guide is not a guide for 10 or 50 or 100 people.  A meaning of a guide, the definition of a guide is al-Murshid, Maqam al-Irshad, the level of guidance.

Guidance is not only to give you a presentation like a professor in a university.  Professor in a university will come and give a presentation or an `alim - scholar in a masjid or mufti or whatever he gives you a presentation, you listen… you like it you like it, if you don’t’ like it, he is not interested.  But a guide, no, he has to follow you up from one level to another level until you reach to the presence of Prophet .  So it is a big difference.  So I will in general, I will shed that light because many people are thinking they are guide of this country or they guide of that country or they are guide of this street or that street or that alley or that house or that village or that even shack or that what you call, barn or that barn, or that farm.  So it is like that now, it is a big issue and a big problem.

So I hope from this place, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim’s house and Masjid we can find a definition from their notes what is the characteristics of a guide and there are different kind of guides and the most important is that Grandshaykh (may Allah bless his soul) has described in notes that we took from him that there are 4 different levels of guides.  First is:

1. Shaykh at-Tabarruk – the murshid or the guide for barakah (blessings) that he gives blessings, and barakah - a wali that can give barakah and blessings.

2. Murshid at-Tazkiya – the murshid, or the shaykh, guide of purification

3. Murshid at-Tasfiya – Guide who can sift from the other two guides that comes to him from mureeds, he sifts through the mureeds and takes the purest.

4. Murshid al-Wilaya –most important, guide of irshad, the highest level of guidance, which is the Murshid al-Wilaya, a murshid that can carry all the others that are in need after they have been given the blessings from the first level of Murshid.  So there are four different levels - from the first level they have been given the blessings, second level have been given purification, third level they have been sifted to take the purest between thousands or millions to take the very, very purest, and the last one is the one that he raised them up, disciplined them up, and called Murshid at-Tarbiya, which is the real Murshid of Wilaya that is the Sultan al-Awliya. 

So we must not make a mistake and consider that everyone who speaks and says that “I am calipha of Mawlana Shaykh” or “I am a deputy of Mawlana Shaykh” or “I am a representative of Mawlana Shaykh.”  You can see a lot of them, I’m pointing to these cameras, and you can see a lot of them claiming today that characteristic.  And from the first line of notes that I’m going to say, you can realize that not one of them on these websites or these different around the world countries, not one of them is a guide, murshid. 

He is someone conducting dhikr yes, he is someone teaching from Mawlana’s teaching yes, but is he a calipha, a guide?  No because from first words that Mawlana Shaykh, through Grandshaykh said first guide is Murshid at-Tabarruk, Murshid of blessings.  That you come to him you get blessings, you come to him to take barakah.  You come to him even you don’t do anything, only in his presence, he is like a spotlight, his presence will attract you.  And what is in Murshid at-Tabarruk it has to be in Murshid at-Tazkiya after him all these characteristics.  

The second one has to have the first murshid's characteristics and the second, the third has to have all of them, the fourth has to have everything inside him.   

So the first one, Murshid at-Tabarruk, is the first level of irshad, the first level of guidance and his descriptions are, he has been authorized from his Shaykh, Murshid at-Tabarruk, before he has to address anyone and speak to anyone and guide anyone and take them through this dark tunnel that has a beginning but has no end…he has to try to take these mureeds all the way like a Shepard taking sheep from all obstacles, all wolves around.  He has to accomplish first, that Murshid, that guide, he has to accomplish that he will receive from his Shaykh an authorization, not only an authorization, he has to receive a power that enables him to inherit from the tongue of Prophet directly to give to those who are in his circle, to give them, to put on their tongue, what we call in Arabic at-talqeen.  

At-talqeen is like someone that is dead and you go to the cemetery, and this is Sunnah of Prophet , when someone is dead you go to his grave and say after they bury him, say ‘ya Abdallah’ it is called at-talqeen al mayyit, to put on the tongue of that deceased person what he needs to say in the grave to remind him that he has to say Shahadah.  Say ‘ya Abdallah, ya Abdallah qul!’ and it is very well known, established in Islamic Shariah to go to the grave and say “Qul ya Abdallah, say!” When you say ‘qul’ it means you put on his tongue.  Like in Holy Quran Allah revealed to Prophet saying, “Qul ya Muhammad, say, Qul Hu Allahu Ahad, say Huwa Allah - He is Allah .  Allah put on the tongue of Prophet and on his heart.  So that one who is in necessary to be given that guidance he has to have on his tongue, the Shaykh has to put on his tongue, like you put on the deceased person because he is already dead, that deceased person is already dead, you have to put on his tongue, say ya Abdallah, qul ya Abdallah, ashadu an la illahi illallah, qul shahada to an la illaha illallah wa ana Muhammadan Rasul Allah, first thing you have to say when the deceased is being put into the grave! 

So when you are dead really, in real life, spiritually dead, not physically dead…like Prophet said if anyone wants to see a dead person before he died look at Abu Bakr as-Siddiq.  So it means you have to carry that definition, that characteristic, so Murshid at-Tabarruk, Murshid of barakah, cannot reach the level of Irshad, until he is deceased spiritually in life, then he will inherit from his Shaykh and Prophet put on his tongue talqeen adh-dhikr, he will put on his tongue how to do dhikrullah 5000 times everyday.  So in tariqah now when you are initiated on tariqah you have to say 5000 times ‘Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah’, is it not?  The lowest is 1500, higher 2500, higher is 5000 through the heart and through the tongue.  So you cannot do that dhikrullah, you can do it, but what we do today, all of us daily, is like an imitation, it is not a real one.  But when you reach Murshid at-Tabarruk, and I am speaking to those who are watching today and they are also live today, watching, that those who are on the websites has to know these important characteristics of a Murshid.  Not people to be confused with them and that is a sickness, a contagious sickness, that goes from that one who assumed that he is a Murshid, goes to those who are following, it is a sickness like a flu.  And now you have the Swine flu, it’s worse than a Swine flu and you know that flu what is its name…what is its name? (Someone says H1N1)…no it’s the flu of pigs!  Because when you cheat your people, when you cheat those who are believing in you, you become more dirty than the dirtiness of a pig.  You are contagious; you are making people to be contagious.  You have to be very careful.   

I’m saying this out of love because we don’t want people to fall into the trap of Shaytan.  So not everyone can come and declare, “I am calipha; and I am murshid!”  Irshad has its rules and these rules that they gave to us in writing but there are rules that are from heart to heart that you cannot explain them, there is no permission to bring them on top.  So he said Murshid at-Tabarruk, the first level of Irshad, is that one who is going to inherit from his Shaykh, his Shaykh is going to put on his tongue what Prophet put on the tongue of the Shaykh how to recite the 5000 ‘Allah, Allah,’ dhikrullah.  Because today what we are doing saying ‘Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah….’, is it not?  By tongue and by heart you have to put your tongue on the ceiling of your mouth inside, and see your heart is saying ‘Allah, Allah, Allah.’  But with Murshid at-Tabarruk, it’s not only that.  With every time he says ‘Allah’ he will be receiving the 99 Names and Attributes at that moment, what kind of secrets are in those Names, he will be dressed with it. 

It’s not something that you added 1 + 1 = 2, literally.  You say ‘Allah, Allah’ literally, that’s ok, you did your wazifa, you did awraad, you did your job, you did your duty.  But every time you received from that Murshid, that one who has the authorization from his Shaykh through Prophet , whenever he is going to say ‘Allah’ he has to see something.  He has to be dressed with that moment because every moment Allah is giving different manifestations for His Beautiful Names and Attributes.  So that person who is sitting and reciting 5000 times ‘Allah, Allah’ like say in 15 minutes or 20 minutes, whatever it takes, he is receiving in that moment manifestation on every time he says ‘Allah’ (jala jalaaluhu) he will be receiving a manifestation of these 99 Beautiful Names, he will be dressed with it, he will feel it, if he cannot understand it, but at least he will feel it, he will feel the beauty of it. 

So I can ask now, who can have that?  Those who are calling themselves Murshid today, how many of them, can they lie if they have that or not?  Can they claim that they have this characteristic?  No one can claim!  It’s beyond them.  And if they claim, you can punch their eyes because they are lying and you have authorization for that. (Laughter) And Grandshaykh (may Allah bless him) said (Shaykh Hisham recites something in Arabic):  He has to recite dhikrullah 5000 times in that way that I described and not only that, takes knowledge from it and then do 500 times salawat on Prophet and when he is saying (that Murshid, not those ‘Murshids’ on those cameras) salawat on Prophet 500 times means every time he says ‘Allahuma salli `ala Muhammadin wa `ala ali Muhammadin wa sallim’ (this is the way Mawlana Shaykh says you recite salawaat for awraad).  Every time the lowest that he can go, the Murshid at-Tabarruk, is to feel the nice smell of Prophet - every time he makes salawaat.  Or he can feel his presence or he can visualize him through his heart, every time he makes salawaat!  Today what we are doing?  We take our beads and sit in front of the TV and ‘Allahuma salli `ala…’ we are visualizing the TV!  (Laughter) Or you can see their beads in their hands, it’s ok, that’s good.  But there are groups of men or women sitting there, and he is trying to show that his beads are longer than Mawlana’s beads, carrying a 500 one.  (Laughter) 

You know that I never saw Mawlana Shaykh Nazim with a bead except these lately, only a few years back.  Before, I never saw him with a bead more than a 100 beads.  It was a 100 only and with a pin, not more than that.  Today they carry 1000 - they carry it like on their necks, on their shoulders and wrap it on their bellies.  (Laughter)  Mawlana Shaykh had 1000, always for the time of Tahajjud; he has it in his room.  So when he reads Tahajjud and finishes his prayer and waiting for Fajr, he is doing his dhikr with the 1000 yes or the 500.  But he never during the day, he carries more than 100.  I’m not saying that don’t carry 200 or whatever but he never let his ego to play with him.  Because when you go out and you are carrying 200, or 300, or 400 it means, look to me, look at me, I am having big long beads.  Unfortunately today they don’t sell 100, they are always selling these 200’s, but it is ok since everyone is carrying them, it is ok.  But that one who is sitting on his couch and making himself a Murshid and he can have rings on all his fingers and his turban is so huge, and he never knows anything from Shari`ah, nothing!  You ask him a question about Shariah he doesn’t know how to answer.  They don’t lead prayer even because they don’t know and they are becoming big shaykhs, is it not?  You saw them the troublemakers, you saw them around the world. 

So when he is going to recite 500 times salawaat `ala an-Nabi , his heart is with his Shaykh, he is Murshid because he is Murshid of the first level, his heart with the Shaykh, his Shaykh who is the Murshid, the last one, Murshid at-Tarbiya, the one who will at the end raise everyone.  So he is Murshid at-Tabarruk he is in first level but he is connected to Murshid at-Tarbiya, that Murshid at-Tarbiya is connected to Prophet directly.  So when he says ‘Allahuma salli ala Muhammadin wa ala ali Muhammadin wa salim’ his Shaykh, Murshid at-Tarbiya will take him all the way to the presence of Prophet , so up to that Murshid level he can smell, or he can see, or he can feel.  This is from the first and a half line, I didn’t continue yet...

Does anyone have that?  No.  Then how do they claim they are murshid?  So this will bring everyone to say to himself, ‘oh I have to reconsider.’  I am not saying something to harm anyone; no we are defining.  So everyone who has authority and permission from Mawlana Shaykh to do dhikr has to know that, to consider himself as a murshid, he has to reconsider, if he wants to hear these tapes.  For sure some people will throw it in the toilet they don’t like it, so they don’t want to hear. But those who are interested to hear these things, they have to reconsider where we stand.  Where is our level, are we improving, are we cheating, can we observe what we are describing from Grandshaykh’s notes or not?  And then he said and I am reading in Arabic (Shaykh Hisham reads something in Arabic from notes), those who can’t understand, I will translate.  He said he has to have, not he needs to have; he has to have if he wants to call himself Murshid at-Tabarruk, the first level…(sound cuts out)….he has to the capacity and capability of knowing all languages, of all that has been created of those who you hear voices from them and those you don’t hear their voices. 

Means those creatures that they have voice, means human beings and all wild or domestic animals they have a voice, and of those whom they don’t have a voice like butterfly, worms you don’t hear, leaves on the trees you don’t hear, trees you don’t hear, pebbles all of that is praising Allah , mountains they are praising Allah, you have a stone on your ring?  Why we have a ring on right hand?  Because it is a Sunnah of the Prophet.  Why is it Sunnah of Prophet?  Why Prophet had showed Sahaba to have a ring?  Because then you will have praises all the time on your finger.  Wa inni shay’in ila yusabihu bihamdihi…every stone, every pebble is making dhikrullah, is praising Allah .  You have it on your right finger on your right hand.  That is why Prophet said the first Sunnah of stones is `aqeeq because it has the special praises that no other stone can praise the same as `aqeeq is praising, means `aqeeq stone.  Then he said the fayrooz stone, turquoise stone.  They have special stones and that is why you can see all murshids, they either have turquoise or they have `aqeeq the red one, all of them…they like them because they understand all kinds of praises.  With that hikmah we are wearing the Sunnah ring.  Because they wear it and they don’t know why they are wearing it.

Some of us go and make a big one.  I was recently in a country and someone came to me and said, oh I guess you have a small ring, I want to get for you a better ring and then after a while he brought me a very beautiful ring; I didn’t wear it.  Why?  Because it was like UFO, (Laughter) you know space shuttle they come from outer space, they are round like that, you can see…covers three fingers… (Laughter) out of love he did it.  It is a stone and that stone they say, not they say, Sunnah says, but we never understood the hikmah…now for first time Mawlana Shaykh mentioned the value of the ring.  So they think that if the stone is connected on the flesh, on the body it gives you energy, yes of course.  That is why Chinese they have this kind of old philosophy that if you want to wear a ring, let the stone touch the finger because it will pass that energy, that stone that is praising Allah. 

So that shaykh, that murshid, that guide, we are still in the first level of his characteristics, Murshid at-Tabarruk, has to know all different praises, all different languages of everyone that Allah has created, human and non-human and he has to know every letter of their languages, every letter of their languages, Tafseer al-Huroof.  Huroof are the letters, you have to separate letters in the words that they are reciting or you are hearing from them, how they put the words together, might not be your language.  That Murshid has to know that through his heart, his power that he is taking from his Shaykh, who is taking from Prophet .  And Tafseer al-Huroof means he has to understand every letter and the meaning of every letter that is being given to him.  And he has, not one voice will separate him from the other voice.  That means he can hear them all at the same time and he can understand them all in the same time, in the same moment but with different headsets.  He doesn’t need to change headsets.  What Allah gave him of hearing he is able to hear all of them in the same time and differentiate between all their needs in the same time, that Murshid at-Tabarruk.

So that’s why I say, we have to be very careful oh brothers and sisters whom you are declaring in your websites or to your people, you are murshid, you are murshid, you are guide, ok I am not saying anything but reconsider your situation.  Don’t get those who are listening to you, reflect your sickness on them.  If you do not consider your relationship with your mureeds in the Day of Judgment, Allah will ask you.  If you say you don’t have anything, it’s ok, it’s no problem, but if you say that you have that you have to be asked.  May Allah forgive us.  Don’t declare anything, we are the weakest, we have nothing.  I have only my shaykh that is my source.  I’m not saying I have anything, I’m lower from the lowest.  But you be careful, it’s out of love we are saying this, be careful.  Don’t think high too much; you will lose.  We will continue that tomorrow Insha’Allah about Murshid at-Tabarruk.  It’s going to be a series, I explained it before in that book that is coming out but every time we explain more things, comes more, Mawlana opens more things for everyone. 

Now, this today one which we began on Monday, and Tuesday tomorrow will be the first of Rajab.  Tonight is the night of Rajab.  So, “Rajabun shahrullah wa Sha`ban shahree wa Ramadan shahra ummatee.”  Prophet said, “This month Rajab is the month of Allah ” so we will begin and we will see where we can arrive at that time.  May Allah forgive us and may Allah bless you and bless everyone.  Wasalamu’alaikum warahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

Wa minallahi tawfeeq bi hurmatil Fatiha.