Suhbah after Salaat adh-Dhuhr at Private Home
Ati`ullaha wa ati`u 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)
Everyone is free to do whatever he likes. According to all rules, you are free, you decide what you want. Allah (swt) has shown you what is good and what is bad, you can choose! You want to choose goodness, you are with it. If you are choosing badness, you are with it. It's up to you. There are rules that Allah has put. If you want to follow them, you follow, and if you don't want to follow them, you don't follow! Those who follow will succeed, and Allah (swt) will reward them. It's up to Him. And those who don't follow, also their judgment is in Allah's hand. No one can judge. `Alayna bi ittiba` azh-zhaahir. The rule is to follow what has been made apparent. What you can see, and read and understand, it means you have to follow what is clear to everyone. You cannot say, "I follow what is not clear for you, what you don't see." It cannot be. You have to follow what people follow. You cannot build for yourself something that people do not understand. `Alayna bi ittiba` azh-zhaahir means you have to follow what Prophet (s) came with. He came with everything clear, al-halaalu bayyin wa 'l-haraamu bayyin. "Halaal is clear and is known, haraam is clear and is known." Don't make for yourself an excuse, you cannot. Prophet (s) ordered us to follow his message. He said, `alaykum bi 's-sawaad al-`azham. "Follow the majority of Muslims, don't follow minorities of those who invent something that we don't know and is not clear to us, those who take their information from their imaginations or from their egos." You cannot! People will come and say, "What are you saying?" But you have to take what Prophet (s) made clear to everyone.
Yes, there are awliyaullah who take from Prophet (s). They take from Allah's Beautiful Names, huwa 'zh-Zhaahir, huwa 'l-Baatin. Everything is clear in front of you like a screen, and you have to follow that. You cannot invent things and make changes. It is not acceptable. Baatin, not everyone can understand. That's why if you are not based in Islamic Shari`ah you cannot understand what is behind and you cannot speak about it because you have no tongue to speak, your tongue is helpless. Don't listen to people whose speeches are about jinn and wherever they sit to speak they say, "There is jinn here, there is jinn there, I take the jinn away, take this du`a and put on jinn. " Who are you to speak about jinn? Did Sayyidina Suleiman (a) give you the authority on jinn that he had? Don't sit and say, "I'm the shaykh." When you say you are the shaykh; you are not the shaykh! When you sit with our shaykh, how is he addressing everyone on the Internet? Mawlana (Shaykh Nazim) says, "I am nothing." Can you see a shaykh on a talk show saying, "I am nothing"? Or does he build himself as a big inflated balloon, or is like a peacock? It needs only one pin to poke and it disappears. So don't claim something that is not for you.
Sayyidina Musa (a) is from the five big prophets, oolu 'l-`azaam. Allah (swt) gave him the Shari`ah, orders and discipline, all the principals of Shari`ah for his time. But when he said, Yaa Rabbee, aarinee anzhur ilayk, "O Allah! let me see You." When he asked that, it was something like, "O Musa (a), you cannot ask this." If you ask this, it is a big claim. To say, "O Allah, let me see You," because who are you in relativity to Allah? Allah created you as a prophet, as a messenger, but Prophet (s) never said, "Yaa Rabbee let me see you." That is adab! Prophet (s) is the Seal of Messengers, he did not approach that way. He is so humble.
قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ يُوحَى إِلَيَّ
Qul innama anaa basharun mithlukum yooha ilayya.
Say, "I am only a human being like you, but it is revealed to me." (18:110)
This is showing humbleness. Sayyidina Musa (a) is speaking directly without an intermediary, because he felt the lovely presence, so that he can ask, that he can exceed the limits. Allah said, لَن تَرَانِي وَلَـكِنِ انظُرْ إِلَى الْجَبَلِ lam taraanee. Wa laakin anzhur ila 'l-jabal. "No you cannot see Me. Look at the mountain." (7:143)
It means, "Before you come to Me look at the mountain that you are carrying with you, look at the mountain when I manifest My Beautiful Names and Attributes on it, and if it does not shatter, then you might see Me." When Allah manifested His Beautiful Names and Attributes on the mountain, what happened? It was crushed into powder and Sayyidina Musa (a) fainted. So to teach Musa and to raise him higher and higher, Allah (swt) sent him to Sayyidina Khidr (a), to teach him there is something that is not for everyone.
No one can claim that. Today they are claiming that `Ilm ul-Haqaa'iq, Knowledge of Realities is easy (to acquire). Everyone is speaking about jinn as if they are speaking about realities and they carry a long stick and hit on the head of people, saying, "Don't talk in this majlis, it is the majlis of Rasoolullah (s)! Don't talk, or else I will send jinn on you, be careful." They speak like that, they want to show their voice is changed, (Mawlana speaks in deeper voice) to show that now it is real. (laughter) Before they used to joke about it, but now they go to a special school to learn how to attract at a certain moment. So they change their voices and begin to shake, saying, "I am that shaykh, he is dressing me now, I am that one."
(Mawlana stands, bows.) "Yes, my shaykh."
"Don't speak or else jinn will come on you, don't speak!"
"As-salamu `alaykum."
"Hmph!"
When you say, as-salaamu `alaykum to such claimers, they say, "Hmph!" It means he is in hudoor, complete hudoor. They are in such hudoor in the presence of Shaytan, so they learn from there! Look at the humbleness of Sayyidina Musa (a). He did not say, "I am a prophet from the big messengers." Allah said, "Go to them, `abdan min `ibaadinaa, find them."
وَجَدَا عَبْدًا مِّنْ عِبَادِنَا آتَيْنَاهُ رَحْمَةً مِنْ عِندِنَا وَعَلَّمْنَاهُ مِن لَّدُنَّا عِلْمًا
fa wajadaa `aban min `ibaadinaa aataynaahu rahmatan min `indina wa `allamnaahu min ladunna `ilma.
When found they one of Our slaves, unto whom We had given mercy from Us, and had taught him knowledge from Our presence. (18:65)
Look this is very important, aataynaahu rahmatan, "From Our rahmah," then He taught him `ilm; without rahmah he cannot get the heavenly knowledge. It means, "We have given him a connection with Prophet (s)." (Mawlana stands and sits.) Without qalba Muhammadi (the Muhammadan Heart), no one can take the reality or take anything from that rahmah. You have to have that connection with Prophet (s) first, then the flow of knowledge comes. Aataynaahu rahmatan min `indina wa `allamnaahu min ladunna `ilma (and) "We have given him a connection with Prophet (s)," and:
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ
wa maa arsalnaaka illa rahmatan li 'l-`alameen.
We did not send you (Muhammad) except as a Mercy to the worlds. (21:107)
If you put the two (verses) together, it means, "You want My door. My door is My habeeb." Huwa al-Habeebu 'Lladhee turjaa shafa`atuhu. "He is the beloved one." He is the one giving Khidr (a) from the hidden knowledge. Then, "We gave him that connection with Prophet (s), then We gave him heavenly knowledge," so now he can carry it.
That is why when they asked Ibn al `Ajiba, he said, `ilmu 'l-awraaq wa `ilmu 'l adhwaaq, "Knowledge of paper and knowledge of taste." When you speak about jinn, that is not taste. Awliyaaullah don't talk about that issue; it has to be within themselves. It is not to be exposed; it is not like you are selling vegetables in the flea market. What is important is `ilm ul-azwaaq. All scholars learn `ilm ul-awraaq. We are not saying, "Don't learn it." Learn it, but you have to add to it the taste. Just like when you cook but don't put salt, there is no taste. Or when you cook sweets but add no sugar or honey. What is the benefit? Like Pakistanis, for them the food is not nice until you put spices. No spices, no taste. And you cannot have the spices alone, you have to mix them with the vegetables or whatever you are cooking.
So Shari`ah without Haqiqah (Truth) is tafassuq, which means you will not follow the right way, you will be corrupted. Because if you have no taste, no belief and no good manners in your heart, what is the benefit of learning the awraaq, papers? You go and cheat, you deceive, what is the benefit? If you don't pay zakat, what is the benefit? Zakat can be paid in many different ways; by money or different products, by making work with others, you can work for Allah (swt) and not take money, you can give your time to work, go build a masjid; make a hospital, this is zakat also. So you cannot do without spices or sweetness from one side and cooked food from the other side, they have to come together.
So yes, there is `ilmu 'l-awraaq wa `ilmu 'l-adhwaaq. When Imam Abdul Wahab Sha`raani (r) was asked about `ilmu 'zh-zhaahir wa `ilmu 'l-baatin, he said, "What are you asking me? This is a stupid question. Your question is rejected. We don't have `ilmu 'l-baatin, Allah has that. We have only `ilmu 'zh-zhaahir," meaning, "Everything for us is Haqiqah, there is only one knowledge, `ilmu 'l-haqa`iq. `Ilmu 'zh-zhawaahir, when it appear it becomes known, zhaahir. When it is not appearing, to you it is baatin, but for us it is zhaahir. I know what is behind that door, but you don't know what is behind that door, so for you it is baatin, but for us, we can see, so it is zhaahir." Allah sent Sayyidina Musa (a) to learn, and to take wisdom. Sayyidina Khidr (a) said:
قَالَ إِنَّكَ لَن تَسْتَطِيعَ مَعِيَ صَبْرًا
qaala innak lan tastatee`a ma`eeya sabra.
You will never be able to have patience with me. (al-Kahf, 18:67)
"You cannot follow me." And you know the story of Sayyidina Khidr (a) and Sayyidina Musa (a). Then they left each other.
Sayyidina `Isa (a) came with knowledge of spirituality. He didn't come with Shari`ah. Sayyidina Muhammad, (Mawlana stands and recites salawaat.) yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolallah, yaa Rahmatan li 'l-`Alameen adrikna bi nazharatan minka. qadimna ila hadarat al-haqq taahireen mutaahireen la khawfan `alayhim wa laa hum yahzanoon. (Mawlana sits.) They wrapped everything, zhaahir and baatin alike. Everything is zhaahir and baatin, but people consider it baatin because they cannot see. Baatin is not knowledge about jinn, no. You need to know about angels, heavens, you need to know the secrets of the words of Holy Qur'an. That is what is important. Sayyidina Abdul Qadir al-Jilani (q) said, "If you see someone flying in the air, and he missed one sunnah, shoot him down, say 'You are Iblees, you are a devil,' even if he is a big scholar." If he break one sunnah of the Prophet (s). If you see one mistake, don't accept it.
It is not flying in the air or walking on water or walking on fire, or putting skewers (in your ears or nose); Hindus do that. You didn't go to India and see that putting skewers and some of them put long hooks on their back, and walk on fire. You didn't see them? So what is the benefit if you do that? They do that and say, "Oh, I do that and I have jinn in my pocket." It might be that your pocket has a hole! (laughter). This is how they brainwash their students and people around them. "Jinn, jinn, jinn." You are after a while becoming ginger. "That one has jinn, that one has jinn;" if you speak with them, they will even call you jinn! Then you hear stories, I don't want to speak about Muslims' behaviors, some Muslims, not all. There are a few Muslims' behaviors that you have to be careful of. They are giving wrong name, like these terrorists, they are giving a bad name to Islam. Like I said two days ago that there are people who are suicide bombers, they are killing people, every day they put one bomb, but there are some self-proclaimed shaykhs whose tongues are like suicide tongue-bomb. Every moment they are hurting people.
So, what did Allah (swt) say about the Prophet (s) in the Holy Qur'an? He said:
لَوْ أَنزَلْنَا هَذَا الْقُرْآنَ عَلَى جَبَلٍ لَّرَأَيْتَهُ خَاشِعًا مُّتَصَدِّعًا مِّنْ خَشْيَةِ اللَّهِ وَتِلْكَ الْأَمْثَالُ نَضْرِبُهَا لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
Law anzalnaa haadha 'l-Qur'ana `ala jabalin la-raytahoo khaasheey`an mutasaddi`an min khashiyatillah wa tilka'l-amthaalu nadbribuhaa li 'n-naasi l`alahum yatafakaroon.
Had We sent down this Qur'an on a mountain, verily, you would have seen it humble itself and cleave asunder for fear of Allah! Such are the similitudes which We propound to men, that they may reflect. (59:21)
It means not one single mountain, not one, can carry the greatness of Holy Qur'an. If the Holy Qur'an had descended in this universe, and would be hanging in this universe, this whole universe would shatter. A mountain to `azhaamatullah, to His greatness, is nothing! But as soon as the Holy Qur'an reached the atmosphere of this universe, it did not shatter. Why? This will give you a meaning that al-qalbi Muhammadi will never shatter! The Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet's (s) heart, and it did not shatter. It means Prophet's (s) heart will never shatter. That is why he was able to go to Mi`raj, it has that greatness of power, heavenly power. He reached qaaba qawsayni aw adnaa. "Two bows' length or nearer." If the Holy Qur'an comes in this universe, it will shatter, but Sayyidina Muhammad's (s) heart did not shatter! (Mawlana stands and sits.)
See the greatness of Prophet (s) that his heart was able to carry that revelation and Sayyidina Musa (a) was not able to. And when Sayyidina Khidr (a) said, "You will never be able to have patience with me!" Sayyidina Musa (a) said:
قَالَ سَتَجِدُنِي إِن شَاء اللَّهُ صَابِرًا
qaala satajidunee inshaa-Allahu saabiran.
You will find me, if Allah wants, among the patient. (al-Kahf, 18:70)
He knew he was not patient, that's why he said, inshaa-Allah. Allah didn't wish so he was not able to stand with Sayyidina Khidr (a), although his rank is higher than Khidr (a). Although Sayyidina Musa's (a) rank is much higher than the rank of Sayyidina Khidr (a); there is no resemblance between their ranks. Of course, who is Khidr (a) in front of Sayyidina Musa (a)? But Allah wanted to show that, "Only one of My servants can stand in front of you, yaa Musa (a), don't ask to see Me. Seeing Me is only for Sayyidina Muhammad (s)!" That is why Allah will be seen in heavens, not all heavens, but the one in which Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is present. "No one can carry. So don't come and approach Me if you don't have a connection." Where there is a connection, the flow of knowledge will come. With no connection, no flow of knowledge.
So flow of knowledge from Prophet (s) does not come with jinn my brothers. Jinn are created to do work for dunya. What were they doing for Sayyidina Sulayman (a)? It was dunya work. They cannot do heavenly work. It is not their function, they have different functions. So don't play with words saying, "Jinn, jinn, jinn," or you are going to become ginger and the jinn will drink you. Ginger can be like chili in the mouth. They make you ginger, put you in a pot and drink you. Then the jinn will be happy and say say, "Oh, we took one human being on our side."
So everything has its way, and that's why it is very difficult to be with awliya. To accompany a wali is not easy; it is a difficult matter. Like a paralyzed person says, "I will follow you." How can you follow? You are paralyzed, rest in the bed and take care of yourself. It means, look at your inner self. Like when you have diapers and you are claiming you are something, how? That is why when you are someone who has not reached `ilmu 'l-adhwaaq, the reality of taste, don't use the term jinn to attract people, or else jinn will come and attack you and make you look like jinn. How do the eyes of jinn look? You saw the eyes of jinn? I saw. In Africa they make these big statues with big black eyes, very dark statues with no light on them, but their eyes are always very dark. They put black paint, and they look scary. Prophet (s) used to put kohl in his eyes in a very elegant way, not in a way to make his eyes so big that if you look at that person you will say, "Oh, what is this? A man who wants to be like a woman?" It might be makeup like Christian Dior, Elizabeth Arden, or Bulgari, I don't know what is all that. We are living in the 21st century, go and see, did Mawlana Shaykh put kohl on his eyes? I have known him for 50 years and I never saw him putting kohl, because he is living in an area where people will speak bad about Islam. He avoids it according to the principle of Islam, mawaqi`u ash-shubuhaat, place of suspicion, "to avoid suspicion."
I was going from Peckham Mosque in London with Mawlana Shaykh one night of Ramadan, after we had broken our fast and prayed taraweeh. We left Peckham Mosque in one car. It was me, Mawlana and someone; we were driving, and I was thirsty. We had a bottle of water that I wanted to drink and Mawlana said, "Don't drink here." I did not know that there were too many bars there. We were going on that road in the car. He said, "If a Muslim sees you, even though you are only drinking water, they will be suspicious that you might be drinking something." Don't drink in places of suspicion. This is a qaidah, a legal principle in Islamic Shari`ah. You have to take care of this. When you put kohl on your eye or on half of your eye, what will people say? "This man wants to be a woman, only needs an operation." Don't try to stir the mud as lots of things will come out.
If you want to accompany a wali, you have to know it is a very difficult situation. You have to behave like a wali, not like a charlatan or a warrior in the street wanting to beat this one or that one. In Lefke, Cyprus, Mawlana says, "Go fetch that one," to someone from Chechnya. That person goes out to fetch them and that one says to him, "There is no one here but me, I am the shaykh." And this was in Mawlana's city, in his presence. They wanted to punch him with a knife, and this is a Chechyan, so he beat them all up. If you want to follow a wali, you have to behave, not be like a warrior in the street! You have to be domestic, not wild. That is an example of following a wali.
There is a Grandshaykh's story, I would like everyone to hear. He said there was a Muslim businessman who was rich. He invited some people for hajj at his expense, like they do today. Then he found someone, a poor person, "Why don't you come with us? I will pay for you."
He said, "No, no, you have to know, I am a difficult person. You will not be happy with my company." He was a businessman, so he thought that "I see so many people like this so I can manage."
So he said, "No, don't worry, come with me and I will pay for you."
He said, "No, I don't need your money, but if you want my company and if you insist then I will come with you"
The businessman did not understand that the poor man was a wali. He said, "I will come with you. But I will tell you that if I come with you, your hajj will be the best, I will make your hajj pure."
He thought, "This man is in love with Allah and the Prophet (s). He doesn't know what he is saying, he is speaking out of some kind of jadhbah, trance." He took him on the boat with some other people, his wife, and the businessman. They were on the boat. One day before arriving to Jeddah harbor, a monkey came on the boat from somewhere. They didn't know where it came from.
They were looking and said, "Might be from the day we left, hiding on the boat somewhere, and coming out now." That rich man was so harees, so careful about his money. He always wrapped it in a pouch and kept it in his belt, very tightly. There was gold and silver at that time. That monkey came all the way to that rich person, pulled the pouch and ran all the way up the mast.
The businessman tried to climb up but he could not go there. So he called the captain, but no one could go up. And this monkey took the pouch and threw one golden coin into the sea and one to the poor man, the wali who was sitting beside the businessman. One to the ocean, one to the wali, one to the ocean, one to the wali, until all the coins finished. Now the silver coins. One to the ocean, one to the wali, one to the ocean, one to the wali, until the pouch was empty and he threw the empty pouch to the businessman.
It means, "you have no share from that money." The wali looked at him and said, "You owe Allah half of your money because this year, you didn't pay your zakaat. The other half I give it back to you." As soon as he said that, the businessman did not believe him, and the wife of the businessman fell in the ocean. They jumped to find her, but she had disappeared. Who can find someone in the ocean at that time? The man was cursing, and shouting at the wali. The wali said, "I told you don't take me with you, don't follow me, my way is different than yours. I go by principles." He doesn't go by "jinn, jinn, jinn."
Those who speak too much about jinn and black magic, especially when people are a bit emotional, they start thinking that it IS black magic. Even if one person tells them about black magic, all their lives they will think about it. These charlatan shaykhs say, "Come I will cure you," and are taking their money. "I will give you this taaweez, that taaweez. I will give you blessing, you read this, read that," and he milks them. But the real awliyaaullah follow the real principles of Islam.
That wali could have taken everything from him from the beginning, but no, they sent a monkey. So that lady disappeared and the businessman was angry and shouting. As soon as they arrived at the harbor, he saw his wife on the beach, and not one drop of water was on her clothes. He jumped from the boat, running to her saying, "Alhamdulillah, how did this happen?" She said, "This one saved me," pointing to the wali, "As soon as I fell in the water, he was behind me, he pulled me up, and threw me on the beach." So then he knew that one was a wali.
So in order to accompany a wali, you must know that they squeeze you. When you see them petting you, say to yourself, ''Oh, I'm doing something wrong," especially those who are using jinn, jinn, jinn, be careful! You have to be very careful in what you are doing. So, awliyaaullah, their company is not easy, their company is very difficult. Their company is not simply eating and drinking at their tables.
Mawlana relates this story many times, that when Sayyidina `Ali (a) and Sayyidina Mu`awiyya (r) were in a dispute, one of the Sahaaba (r) went on top of the mountain. They said to him, "Come, join one group," and he said, "No, never."
They said, "But we see you praying with Sayyidina `Ali (a) and eating with Sayyidina Mu`awiyya (r)."
"I come down and pray with Sayyidina `Ali (a) because I know that his prayers are accepted. And Sayyidina Mu`awiyya (r), I know his food is good, so I eat with him. So don't put me in the politics."
So don't think that because you are eating at the table (of your shaykh) that you are a different person. No, you should put a big question to yourself: What are you? Are you smelly in front of Mawlana or not? Is the smell of arrogance coming out of you or not? They smell us.
May Allah (swt) forgive everyone, and bless us, and bless you.
Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.