Suhbah after `Isha
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,
nawaytu 'r-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`ala fee haadha 'l-masjid.
أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ
Ati`oollaha wa ati`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)
I was asked by people in the Washington DC area why am I not giving more lectures like previously, why am I now giving less? I said, “The reason for this is if we cannot understand from one lecture, we will never understand from millions of lectures.” Likewise, if we cannot understand from one verse of the Holy Qur’an, we cannot understand from the rest of the Qur’an, even if we read its entirety. That is why if people really want to make a change, they cannot expect the shaykh to change them; they must know that in order to change and be better Muslims, they have to do it by themselves.
Our teacher, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, may Allah (swt) give him long life, guided us in the right way much like children are taught how to swim. At first when they are introduced to the water, they are given ‘water wings’ so as not to sink, then after some time the water wings are removed and the children learn to swim without them. At that time they don’t sink because they have been trained. Similarly, guides are always giving us water wings. They throw you into the Ocean of Knowledge and see if you can try to get something. They give hundreds of water wings, but if you are standing on the beach not trying to throw yourself in the ocean, you are not going to understand anything! And so our shuyookh give us our water wings and say, “Dive!” but if we don’t dive it is our mistake, not theirs.
Sayyidina Baha`uddin Shah Naqshband (q) said, “Our way is advice and the best is in company or in the group.” If we are not going to learn from one suhbah then we cannot change, even if we make hundreds of suhbahs. I have said numerous times that you must have a notebook in order for the teacher to be encouraged to give more when he sees that you are taking notes, but when you are not taking notes it is as if you are not interested. The knowledge that comes from Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) will decrease because we are not asking for more! How many times did you and others who have attended for many many years... if you were really doing what Mawlana is saying to us through his representatives, you would have already been awliyaullah and would have been seeing things that no one can see! But it is not like that. So I say to myself, “Why don’t I keep quiet, it is better, and do dhikr and go rest?” But if there really are people or listeners that want to get more, of course more will come.
As Mawlana, may Allah give him long life, said, in his sickness that kept him in seclusion for more than one month now, from the begininng of Rabi` al-Awwal, so for nearly forty days, Allah (swt) has opened to him things that He never opened before, and new instructions came now, more than what came before, because day by day we are approaching more and more towards the Signs of the Last Days. When he says the tajalli, manifestation from Heavens is changing from “cause and effect” to “qudratullah,” it means a change from al-asbab of hadhihi ‘d-dunya dunya al-asbaab, this dunya of cause and effect, whereby you do something and you get something. If I have a cup someone gave me and said, “Keep this as amaanah,” and I break it, what will happen? He will punish me, because I broke his amaanah, but if I return it to him clean and nice then he will reward me. That is an example of “cause and effect.” If I throw this (object) it moves, because I pushed it with energy; however, if you leave it it remains still. So it means anything we do, there is a (result). When you do something you will get the answer, or you will be given according to what you have done, good or bad.
And an example from physics is that if you take a round ball and put it in a closed environment where there is no gravity, and you push it, what happens to it? It continues moving non-stop for infinity, as long as there is nothing stopping or no friction irritating it, it continues, but it just needs that push, that button. But if you want to push it here, and this is not straight ground, it goes a little bit and then stops. So mashaykh, may Allah give them long life, gave us that push and they paved the road for us and they say, “I am giving you a push, so then keep going.” If you are throwing stones in front of yourself, what happens? You stop. So the advice of the shaykh is like energy: it is always there, it exists and it doesn't die. So the shaykh gives us a push that is energy that never dies, if we are not putting obstacles in front of our movement, but if we put obstacles in front of our movement we are going to stop.
Grandshaykh (q) used to say when I took notes of his advice, “How Ka`b al-Ahbar (r) was wrote and registered everything that happened (and too many things we got from him in the seerah of the Prophet), you are like Ka`b al-Ahbar to me that you are writing everything that we can find it in the future, ready to be taught.” But, unfortunately, I am not feeling that people are ready for high knowledge, so I am keeping these notes safe, but if I see people are interested, then we can open from that. Grandshaykh (q) used to say, “One lecture is enough to guide you from the day you were born to the day you die!” But, unfortunately, we are not of that high calibre, so what do we have to do? We have to say, “Yaa Rabbee! We are weak servants. Forgive us and give to us without account, not according to our `amal, but according to Your rahmat!” Allah will give.
Dunya is moving. Did you ever see the Earth stop spinning? How many years has it been spinning? If we want to speak according to science, the Earth has been spinning around its axle for billions of years, and never said, “I am tired. I am bored. I need fuel.” But it is moving, doing its work non-stop. Allah (swt) likes us to do our work, and “the greatest of miracles is to be steadfast in something”, ajal al-karamaat dawaam at-tawfeeq, to be continuously doing what is assigned for you. Don’t stop, because then you will find the reality of sainthood. But if we are not so interested then awliyaullah don’t speak.
There was a time when there was a lot of ignorance in this country about tasawwuf, and there still is, but not as much as before, and alhamdulillah, with Mawlana's barakah, we stood up and did our best until the name of tasawwuf is now a well-known term, is it not? Before no one knew what tasawwuf is. It is your duty, here and around the world, to carry that flag of Mawlana Shaykh and of awliyaullah to people and teach about the Maqaam al-Ihsaan, the Station of Moral Excellence, which is our goal in this life. Now whether we get it or not, that is not the question. Someone told me, “I do a lot: I make salawaat, I read Holy Qur'an, I read this that, but I am not feeling anything.” That happens because they want to check your patience. Are you going to stop or are you going to continue? They might not open for you because they want to see if you are jad fee `amalak, serious in what you are doing. Is there going to come a day when you stop, because you think you are not getting any reward? Like someone who is running a marathon, and the first year he doesn’t win 1st Place, nor in the second and third year, but he is still training. Then in the fourth year he wins 1st Place. It is also like that with awliyaullah; they test us.
I will mention this example that Grandshaykh (q) gave and we will end with this. He said, “In this Sufi Order of the Naqshbandi Golden Chain, you must have three nails in your forehead, the three principles to follow:
1) If your teacher says to you, man or woman, “The order came to me that your amaanah are deep under seven Earths,” and he gave you a broken shovel and said, “Dig and get them,” if you think for a moment, “How is a broken shovel going to help me dig and reach my trust?” then you fail, you lose. If the shaykh said, “Dig!” then dig. You are not worshipping to get any reward, as Rabi`ah al-`Adawiyya (r) said, “O Allah! I am not worshipping You for Your Paradise and I am not worshipping to save myself from Hellfire as I don’t care about Hellifre. I am worshipping You for Your Love!” So your first job is to take the broken shovel and dig. Don’t think that it is impossible, just dig.
2) If they tell you your amaanah is in the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean and you must go deep down to get your amanaah, and they give you a bucket and say, “Empty the ocean with the bucket!” then take the first bucket of water and throw it on the beach, then the second bucket of water, and by the third bucket of water it runs back into the ocean, still your job is not to say, “I am not seeing results or getting rewards.” Your job is to keep going!
3) The third principle or nail is that our movement is similar to the ant’s. If your shaykh tells you when you are in the west to go and get your rizq from the east, go without asking how, even if it is impossible to reach because of the vast land or ocean in between.
Nonetheless, do not use your mind as it will stop you; however, using your heart will save you. Think about this carefully: when you are in the presence of your teacher, use your heart and leave your mind.
May Allah (swt) give our teacher and us long life to see Mahdi (a), and give him and us shifa`a.
Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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