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Sultan adh-Dhikr Penetrates Heavens and Earth

The Benefits of Dhikrullah Series, Introduction

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

30 June 2012 Burton, Michigan

Suhbah before Maghrib at As-Siddiq Mosque

Subhaan-Allah, as-sadaqata tazeed al-`umr wa tarudd al-balaa, sadaqah takes away afflictions. I was in Los Angeles and one person came from Arizona to spend some time with me. I think he came Thursday and stayed until Saturday. On Saturday he came to me and said, “I want to ask you a question.” He was smiling but he was not happy.

I said, "Say!"

He said, “I just was carrying my luggage to enter my room and I carried them and put them and I left. I came to you, attended the dhikr and suhbat, everything, and I came back and remembered I left my work computer outside.”

All his work and plans and work of many others who work with him are on that computer.

I said, “Go speak with the manager, he might find it on the camera.”

They checked the camera recording and said, “We saw your bag,” and they brought him the bag, but there was no computer inside.

I told him, “Give sadaqah and do this wazeefah, go back to Arizona and maybe it will return,” and he called just now to tell me that they just shipped him his computer. Subhaan-Allah! (What is the wazeefah?)

Everyone has a different wazeefah depending on his weight, size, eye-color, we weigh you first and then give the wazeefah! (Laughter)

Subhaan-Allah, that mureed came from Arizona with good intention to see us in Los Angeles, and he lost that computer and was still smiling. He gave us a check for $500 and I think it was his last check, because first he wrote “$300” then crossed it out, then “$400” and he crossed it out and wrote “$500” So he contacted the manager of the hotel, who said they will check the cameras, which they did, and they said, “We found your computer, come.” He was happy they had found it and went to get it, but there was no computer, only the bag. Then I gave him a wazeefah to do. On Sunday he said, “I am leaving and they didn't find the computer.”

I said, “Inshaa-Allah they will find it.”

He said, “How?”

I said, “Inshaa-Allah!” And just now Ishaq tells me that he called and said they shipped him the computer! So he wrote a check for $500 and the bank rejected it, because it began with “$200” and he scratched it out, then he wrote “$300” and scratched it out, then there was no room left so he wrote “$500” on the very top of the check and they rejected it, so he is sending a new one.

Alhamdulillah `alaa ni`amihi, we thank Allah (swt) for His Endless Favors. Everyone of us is being dressed with infinite numbers of favors. If you say no you are lying, me and you. Ni`amatullah daa’iman. Allah's Favors are continuous and don't stop! Every breath you breathe in or out is a ni`mat, because if Allah stops it, what happens? You end. It means all of us here have to thank Allah (swt) that He is giving us breathing in and breathing out.

Don't complain! People complain. I am not saying you only, but we all complain. If we don't find anyone to complain to, we complain about our wives! (...) All of us complain either by his tongue or his heart or some other way. To lose your breath is a big disaster, and all of us, the Prophet (s) said, “Ask Allah to give you long life,” which means long `ibaadah not only for dunya, but for dunya and Akhirah. Our ego doesn't remember that because it is harbi, a fighter and it always wants to fight in order not to let us say, “Thank you, yaa Rabbee!”

لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ

La-in shakartum la-azeedanakum.

If you thank Me, I will give you more. (Surat al-Ibraaheem, 14:7)

And Allah swt said:

وَقَلِيلٌ مِّنْ عِبَادِيَ الشَّكُورُ

Wa qaleelan min `ibaddee ash-shakoor.

But few of My servants are grateful! (Surah Saba, 34:13)

Very few servants remember to say “shukran lillah!” When Allah (swt) says “qaleel,” it means little “like crumbs,” very little. Some people complain about African-Americans, “Why they are not respecting us?” or, “Why aren’t we being respected?” Allah is respecting and honoring you, so what more do you want? If a white person goes to Africa, he cannot survive the heat of the sun! Immediately he goes red, then yellow: so the white man changes color, but not the black man: black is black. So you should be happy you are not changing! But a white person goes out for a little while and comes back with a red face. This means not to be against white, and not to be against black, but to say, “shukran lillah!” Say, “Allahumma hassin khuluqee kamaa hasanta khalqee, “O Allah! Make my character better just as You made my face beautiful!”

Look in the mirror and say, “I am Miss Universe!” and a man should say to himself, “I am Mr. Universe!” Don't say, “I am ugly,” or then you are complaining about Allah (swt)! Look at (this mureed) who comes every day with chains and a different color turban, and he is happy; that is why he is growing. Allahumma hassin khuluqee kamaa hasanta khalqee. Allah gave you to breathe in and breathe out. Why are you upset? Why are you complaining? Only Shaytan complained:

قَالَ رَبِّ بِمَآ أَغْوَيْتَنِي لأُزَيِّنَنَّ لَهُمْ فِي الأَرْضِ وَلأُغْوِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ

Qaala rabbee bimaa awaytanee bilak la-azayyinanna lahum fi’l-ardi wa la-aghweeyanahum ajma`een.

(Iblees) said: "O my Lord! because Thou hast put me in the wrong, I will make (wrong) fair-seeming to them on the earth, and I will put them all in the wrong.” (Surat al-Hijr, 15:39)

“O Allah! As You have made me commit the sin, I am going to run after them, those about whom You say You love!” Allah (swt) said, “Okay, go run after them! I have already built a big place for you and them for punishment!” May Allah forgive us from all our sins and not to make us complain!

So when you breathe in and breathe out, if you are really open-minded and open-hearted you can breathe in with remembering one of Allah's Beautiful Names and Attributes, and breathe out remembering one of Allah's Beautiful Names and Attributes. You go to the doctor to check your heart rate, to see if it is okay or not. Angels are also checking our heart rate, that are we remembering Allah with every breath in and breath out?

يَا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ وَالْإِنسِ إِنِ اسْتَطَعْتُمْ أَن تَنفُذُوا مِنْ أَقْطَارِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ فَانفُذُوا لَا تَنفُذُونَ إِلَّا بِسُلْطَانٍ

Yaa ma`ashar al-jinni wa’l-insi in in istata`tum an tanfudhoo min aqtaari’s-samawaati w ’al-ardi fa ’nfudhoo laa tanfudhoona illa bi-sultaan.

O you assembly of jinns and men! If you can pass beyond the zones of the heavens and the earth, pass! Not without authority shall you be able to pass! (Surat ar-Rahmaan, 55:33)

O you jinn and mankind! If you are able to penetrate through heavens and earth then do so, but you cannot do that without a sultan. What is “sultan,” a vehicle, a means? Both are correct. And what is the vehicle, the means? “You cannot penetrate without a means,” the sultan, which is dhikrullah! That is your vehicle to the Divine Presence.

They say, “Why do we make dhikr?”Now, there was recently an election in Egypt and one person won over 70, 80 million people, so he is the top, the sultan, is he not? Another won here or there, he is the sultan, on top of everything that Allah (swt) created. And everything has been created, but The One that is not created is the Sultan of Sultans: Allah (swt)! So the sultan of `ibaadah is dhikr, because it includes Allah's Beautiful Names and Attributes. When you say “Allah,” or “yaa Allah,” it is the sultan of `ibaadah; when you say “laa ilaaha illaLlah,” it is the sultan of `ibaadah and the vehicle and means to take you to what Allah wants you to reach! So don't underestimate dhikrullah.

Dhikrullah is miftaah al-falaah wa misbaah al-arwaah, the Key for Success and the Lamp of Spirits, like the lantern at the seashore, the lighthouse for the safety of vessels. It is the Lantern of the Spirits which shines in the horizon of the heart. And you cannot imagine how big the heart is! People say it is the size of a fist, a small piece of flesh in the body, and as the Prophet (s) said, if that flesh is healthy then the whole body is healthy and if that is not healthy then the whole body deteriorates. Then how is it so big? You look at it and you see it as small, but awliyaullah see it is huge, with no beginning and no end, because the Prophet (s) said in a Hadith Qudsi, in which Allah (swt) said to him (s)::

ما وسعني أرضي ولا سمائي ولكن وسعني قلب عبدي المؤمن

Maa wasi`anee ardee wa laa samaa'ee wa laakin wasi`anee qalbi `abdee al-mu'min.

Neither My Heavens nor My Earth contain Me, but the heart of My believing servant contains Me.

(Hadith Qudsi, Al-Ihya of Imam al-Ghazali)

“The heart of the dhaakir (one who makes dhikr) ‘contained’ My Light,” and here “contained” does not mean “take it over,” but Allah will dress you with that Light and open a way for you to be dressed from His Beautiful Names and Attributes. So that Light Allah (swt) gave to the heart is what makes it bigger than earth and heavens! We are not saying this, the Prophet (s) said it! That is what Allah revealed to him, “Yaa Muhammad! Nothing can contain My Light. I am sending My Light to the heart of the believer, which is bigger than heavens and earth because they made a sultan, they come to Me.” Because the ayah says, “If you were able to penetrate,” which means, “If you were able to come to Me,” but you need a sultan, a vehicle, and the dhikr is the way to come to Allah!

The Prophet (s) said that Allah (swt) said:

يقول الله عز وجل: من ذكرني في نفسه ذكرته في نفسي، ومن ذكرني في ملأ ذكرته في ملأ خير منه، ومن تقرب إلي شبراً تقربت منه ذراعاً، ومن تقرب مني ذراعاً تقربت منه باعاً، ومن أتاني يمشي أتيته هرولة

Man dhakaranee fee nafsee dhakartahu fee nafsee wa man dhakaranee fee mala’ain dhakartahu fee mala’ain khayra minhu wa man taqarrab ilayya shibran taqarrabtu minhu dhiraa`an wa man taqarrab minnee dhiraa`an taqarrabtu minhu baa`an wa man ataanee yamshee aataytahu harwalah.

I am as My servant thinks I am. I am with him when he makes mention of Me. If he makes mention of Me to himself, I make mention of him to Myself. And if he makes mention of Me in an assembly, I make mention of him in an assembly better than it. And if he draws near to Me a hand’s span, I draw near to him an arm’s length. And if he draws near to Me an arm’s length, I draw near to him a fathom’s length. And if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running. (Hadith Qudsi)

Allah (swt) is saying, man taqarrab ilayya shibran taqarrabtu ilayhi dhiraa`an, “Whoever comes to Me by one hand-length, I will come to him by one arm-length.” Can anyone say no? That means, “I am more generous with My Servant. If he comes to Me with one hand I show more Mercy, and if he comes to Me with dhikrullah, and if anyone comes to Me walking I come to him running.” Is walking like running? No, walking is walking and running is moving fast.

Allah (swt) gave these specialties for dhaakireenullah and awliyaullah gave us the daily awraad, daily wazeefah or daily dhikrullah to recite in order for us to have the vehicle we need or the means to reach, depending on what you choose. In tariqah there are four levels, and although they don't mention the first level, which is that of muhibbeen--those who show love to the shaykh and his followers, but they do not do the awraad--they are muhibbeen: they love the shaykh because he is like a spotlight. He gives them knowledge which they lack, so they like the shaykh and their hearts are open.

The higher level above the muhibbeen is mubtadi`een. The level of mubtadi`oon is the first level mentioned, and dhikr for them is 1,500. The next level is the “ready,” musta'id, which mean he has the vehicle, and he needs the keys, he doesn’t have the key. He is ready with his vehicle like in racing, they are all in line waiting for the key, which is the whistle. The musta'id does 2,500 dhikrullah a day. The mureed is the one with the key to run his vehicle with 5,000 dhikrullah, then you can go up to 10,000. So you choose which vehicle you want. Do you want the muhibboon, the mubtadi`oon, the musta'idoon, or the mureedoon level, which one? (Mureed!) I say we like to be mureed, and above mureeds, awliya! Why not? Kun fa yakoon! We are now at the level of muhibboon, lovers, because we are not in their system, that they can stamp us (certify). There are some from this group that are in that system. They went from the level of lovers, to beginners, to ready, to mureedeen and they reached the highest level because they are very pious: they pray at night, they recite Qur’an and Dalaa’il al-Khayraat although they are young, and from their childhood, Allah (swt) guided them to the Right Way, and they grew up with that. So there are some and I will not mention names.

So to reach and to take benefit from the atmosphere of this dunya means you need to drop dunya, which you can, but you need a sultan for akhirah. Now there are two ways: awliyaullah know we cannot do anything, that we are worthless, so don't claim you own something because you are nothing! Awliyaullah know that, which is why they are sultans for us, our means. If you leave it to yourself you are not going to be anything, and don't claim you are anything. If you ‘claim,’ then that is al-anaa, “me.” “Me! I know. Me! I speak. Me! I have to sit at the table. Me! I have to be respected.” Al-anaa is egoism, selfishness. You think you are on top. Your ego says that, not you. Like when he challenged the computer. Who is going to win, the computer or him? Finally he gave up. When I told him, “Don’t bother because you cannot, so give up!” he said, “No! I am going to challenge the computer and the computer is going to go on its knees to me!” and he was not successful.

I told him, although he is my age and I am his age, “In my experience, although I don’t know computers, just drop it.”

He was angry with me, thinking, “How dare you tell me to drop it!” and he said, “I am going to make the computer surrender!” (Mawlana asks mureed) Were you successful? (No!)

There is a computer in our heart that is full of information on how to penetrate from the worldly life to a heavenly life here in dunya. You need a sultan that is the computer of dhikrullah, the heavenly computer. That is the “Lamp of Spirits,” Misbaahu ’l-Arwaah. Like when you open a computer there is a light so you can see, and Sultan adh-Dhikr is in the heart and it is the Light of Spirits, that can give our spirits power. That is dhikrullah. The computer has been programmed as Allah (swt) programmed everyone’s computer by Kun fa yakoon! He doesn’t need to say this and that, just “Kun!” He has no need to say, “...yakoon.” He has no need to say, “Kun!” He only says, “Kaaf!” The blueprints come from al-`Alim, the Absolute Knower, and Ism al-Khaaliq creates and executes the Will of al-`Alim, then immediately that creation appears, manifesting from these two Beautiful Names and Attributes

Sultan adh-Dhikr is Misbaahu 'l-Arwaah. Your heart is programmed to workout with Sultan adh-Dhikr, with Misbaahu 'l-Arwaah, and you go inside by reciting the daily awraad and increasing them more and more, then you will be able to reach the highest level of knowledge that Allah (swt) will bestow on you through Allah's Beautiful Name, “Allah.”

Wa huwa al-`umdat fi ‘t-tareeq, “it is the Pillar of the Way: when you decide to go on this gnostic way of penetrating the earth’s atmosphere to reach Sultan adh-Dhikr. That is the pillar (stronghold) for you not to fall back. What does it mean to ‘fall back’? Whenever you make dhikrullah, whenever you finish or get tired,the Prophet (s) keeps it for you in your trust because if he were to leave it to you, when you do something wrong Shaytan will take it, so the Prophet (s) keeps it for you. That is why it is al-`umdat fi ‘t-tareeq, “the Pillar of the Way.” You need something to depend on in the road; if there is no gas station on the road, you cannot go that way. If you have to go 500 miles, you ask if there is a gas station on that road because no car can go that distance without refueling, and you ask if they have food on that road? If they say “yes” you go, if not, you don't go as you might be hungry.

Sultan adh-Dhikr opens whatever you need on the Way, one after one, and that is mahwilu ahlu ‘t-tahqeeq, the Pick of the People of Realities, because it opens. You bring a pick, mahwa in Arabic; the pick of Ahl at-Tahqeeq, the People of Realities. They will give you that pick and tell you your treasures are on this road, so take it with you and use it as you are going straight.

That is why Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, said, “Tariqah is based on three rules; you don't need more. If you can do them it is okay, and if you cannot do them, then there is another answer.” Can you do them? No, you cannot, but you are ordered to do them. So don't use your mind or intelligence to say “it can’t be”, which is to say you know more than your teacher, and that is rejected.

Today in universities, professors want their student to say, “It can’t be,” but in tariqah that does not work. Maybe your teacher is tricking you in a hundred different ways, and if you want to use your mind you will never reach what he wants to really give you. Everyone wants his trust, is it not? Why are you here? Say! (To see our trust!) Anyone who wants his trust is never going to see his trust! (Laughter) We are not coming for trusts and treasures, we are only coming for love of the Shaykh, love of the Prophet (s) and love of Allah (swt). That is our goal, not, “O Allah! I will do this and You give me that!” That is bargaining. Allah likes to trade, which is okay; He is trading with us when He says, “Make one salawaat on the Prophet (s) and I will give you ten hasanaat in return. Make salawaat with miswaak and I will give you twenty-seven hasanaat.” But in tariqah, they want you to go the hard way, not the easy way, because if you are trained from the easy way, later you cannot be trained in the hard way, like those who slept on silk mattresses and now are told to sleep on mattresses of straw! How can you accept? You cannot, so awliyaullah train them on the hard way.

The first time I went to Jeddah was in summer. I had a partner there and I was not lazy. From 1970 to 1975, up to 1990, there was war in Lebanon worse than the war in Syria now. When we first arrived in Jeddah, someone hosted us in his house for two or three days, and then we did another project and we had to move near the old airport. Our host’s partner said, “I don't have any apartment to give you other than at the top of a new building. It has no windows, doors or electricity, only water. It’s not finished, but there is a kitchen and no windows.” We were very happy without windows, as it is very hot, and usually on the top floor they put asphalt, because there it rains a lot, but asphalt is black and absorbs the heat of the sun!

It was 138-140 degrees Fahrenheit daily, and there was no elevator, and that apartment was on the on the 14th floor! We had climb stairs, and you complain! We had to go down every morning, then in the afternoon up again and every afternoon down, because they close, and in the evening we had to go back up, and there was no elevator and we had to carry things with us to the 14th floor! Two-to-three months we were there and we could not sleep; it was as Mawlana Grandshaykh (q) had trained us. You cannot sleep. We used to soak the foam mattress and foam pillows with water (because it was so hot), and the entire floor was full of water! We slept for half-an-hour if we were lucky and otherwise we didn’t sleep. Then we put more water because in half-an-hour it had dried! So the wisdom is:

اخشوشنوا فان النعمه لاتدوم

Ikhshawshanoo fa inna an-ni’mata laa tadoom.

Live a rough life, because the favors are not going to last.

Live the hard way, be frugal, because the favors are not always on your side. If you are trained to take any circumstances, you can do it. So awliyaullah go for `azeema, which is the highest level of hardship.

We used to pray Zhuhr two raka`ats, four raka`ats, two raka`ats. When we enter tariqah, we have to pray two raka`ats wudu, four raka`ats sunnah, four raka`ats Zhuhr, four raka`ats sunnah and going up, and then the same for the other prayers like Tahajjud, Maghrib and `Isha. On Jumu’ah we increased to four raka`ats sunnah al-Jumuah, two raka`ats fard al-Jumuah and four raka`ats sunnat al-Jumu`ah, four rak`ats fard azh-Zhuhr, four raka`ats sunnat fard al-Zhuhr; add them up, it becomes like taraweeh! So they take you up to make sure that if you drop, you are still hanging on the higher level like balancing your legs on the highest level, but not on the lowest level.

So they give you a broken shovel and say, “O, you want your trust?” All of you said you want your trust. “So take this broken shovel and dig!”

You thought, “What? Take this broken shovel and dig?” Not only a broken shovel, because if you don't dig it means you are using your mind, as it is impossible to dig more than ten feet down with a shovel. You must think, “All my life I will use this broken shovel and dig,” although you are not going to reach anywhere, but you must believe your trust is in the middle of the earth. How are you going to reach it? In the middle or heart of the earth they find diamonds, and the deeper the mines the better the diamonds. They need years and years of very high temperatures and pressure under volcanoes to break the rocks into diamonds, as those rocks undergo extreme scrubbing in the heart of the earth for a diamond to develop, and only in the heart of the rock. They gave it to you saved, so don't say, “I won’t dig!” for if you don’t dig you won’t get your trust!

We are lovers only, not more. We are the same, all of us are lovers of the saints, of the Prophet (s) and of Allah (swt). So they know your trust is there and you will get it. Divine Knowledge is hidden, but you will get it. Allah (swt) said:

كنت كنزا مخفياً فأحببت أن أعرف فخلقت الخلق

Kuntu kanzan makhfiyyan fa ahbabtuhu an u`rafa fa khalaqtu ‘l-khalq.

I was a Hidden Treasure (and) I wanted to be known, so I created Creation. (Hadith Qudsi)

So Allah's Beautiful Names and Attributes are Divine Hidden Treasures. You cannot get them ready-made for you or without hardship. If you wake up at eleven in the morning and go to sleep at three in the morning and you cannot pray Fajr, you won’t get your trust that way! You have to be careful. Say to yourself, “Yes, I can do it Sayyidee. You trusted me, I can do that.” You have to even honor the broken shovel and respect that at least he gave you a shovel, and it is from the Shaykh and nice to hold. Then say, “O Sayyidee! Thank you for giving me a broken shovel!” So take him tomorrow and give him a broken shovel and go digging. There is barakah in a broken shovel, because your heart will be broken with it. That fixed shovel has ego in it, whereas the broken shovel has a broken heart in it. They (who use the fixed shovel) are feeling arrogant and you feel broken hearted, and broken-hearted ones win. So they must be happy that the Shaykh gave them a broken shovel, as you know the Shaykh will not scold you because he knows you cannot get anything with it! But with a good shovel you are responsible, then the Shaykh scolds you, “What did you do with it? Why didn’t you use it?” So a broken shovel is better as there is no responsibility. That is the first principle in tariqah: “dig!” Whether you get anywhere or not, you dig.

The second principle is if the Shaykh says, “O my son! Today my order is for you to go to the beach. I decided that you must take this bucket to the beach as I want to tile the floor of the ocean, so go and empty the ocean with this bucket!” (Laughter) Are you going to smile, or are you going to take the bucket to the ocean? If you smile in his face it means, “What are you telling me? Are you joking with me, Mawlana?” What do you need to do? Don't look back! Kiss his hands, say, “Yes Sir!” and go to the ocean and begin to empty it with that bucket with a hole in it. (A mureed) is going to do that; he is in the Gulf, and there are too many oceans with sea water in it.

So you go directly toward the ocean, don't say, “I need a car.” If you have no car, walk, don't even look for a taxi as the Shaykh didn't say to take a taxi, he said, “Go to the ocean.” Finished! If the taxi stopped by itself near you, alhamdulillah, then take it and go to the ocean. If it didn't stop, go by yourself, then say, “Bismillah, Allahu Akbar! Bismillah, Allahu Akbar, Bismillah, Allahu Akbar!” and throw the water (with the bucket). After four or five times, the water will begin to flow back to the ocean. Even then, your duty is to continue doing it. Don't use your mind, as in tasawwuf they want you not to use your mind. In dunya work you can be a genius. Many Golden Chain saints were geniuses in many sciences, but from the tasawwuf understanding, `amr is `amr, “an order is an order.” And so you go to empty the ocean, thinking, “I am happy here because he is going to send me my drink in the morning, send me my lunch, send me my dinner and send me an umbrella to cover me from the sun (i.e., you are spoiled).”

It is a sunnah to look at the ocean. When you are upset, nervous, stressed out or depressed, go to the ocean and make dhikrullah. Every wave and every drop of water has an angel that is making dhikrullah; therefore it is a sunnah to go to the ocean and even put your feet in the water, and those angels come and make you feel relaxed, then they send happiness on you and your work. Your duty is to do it until the Shaykh says, “You stop.” Until then, your position is to do it, although you go home at night. You have to do that, and don't try to make a show of it, like those people around the shuyookh who make a show. Such a show happened today, but I don't like to mention some husband and wife, so we will keep it hidden.

[Shaykh `Abdul-Kareem Aydogan passed away in Cyprus two days ago of a heart attack. Inna lillahi wa inna ‘ilayhi raji`oon.] When someone dies, your duty is to tell the Shaykh so he can read Fatihah for the deceased; otherwise, that person will not be happy in his grave. He spent all his life with the Shaykh and if you don't tell his Shaykh, then you are doing a bad thing for that deceased person or to his people. Whatever misunderstanding there was between him and various representatives, that doesn’t mean when death comes that you keep quiet! No, you must stand up and say, “We are reading Fatihah for Shaykh `Abdul-Kareem Aydogan.” You must tell Mawlana Shaykh, “Mawlana, one of your representatives, Shaykh Aydogan, passed away today.” My son went to tell his grandfather that person [Shaykh Abdul-Kareem] had passed away, for him to get barakah of Mawlana’s du`a at least, but that Egyptian lady tried to stop him! He said, “No, I am not listening to you, I am going to tell my grandfather!” And he did, after which Mawlana Shaykh prayed for him and recited Fatihah, and Hajjah Ruqiyya said to my son, “You did good.”

You have to stand for haqq whenever it comes, and death is haqq! Different representatives may take different ways, but it doesn’t mean in such a position you take revenge as there is no revenge in death! Now I can say he was very good, he was okay, and may Allah (swt) bless his soul and give him happiness to be with Grandshaykh (q)!

Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.

When someone dies, do you hide it from your father? Alhamdulillah, for three weeks Mawlana shaykh has been able to go around with no oxygen because his health is okay, so there is no problem in telling him such news. When they didn’t inform him about the passing of Shaykh Raja Ashman, he was severely sick at that time, but now alhamdulillah he is fine! She wants to show that she controls everyone, but doesn’t she know we are from the Kabbani Family? My father was the head of the Trade Organization of Lebanon; when he said “no”, it was a no, and when he said “yes”, it was a yes. We are Hasani-Husayni: from my mother’s side we are from Sayyidina al-Hasan and from my father’s side we are from Sayyidina al-Husayn.

So what you have to do is empty the water. Empty it, don’t say you cannot empty it! Mawlana Shaykh knows better than you, Egyptian! (I didn’t say “Egyptians” [plural]). Do you know better than him? How can you say, “Mawlana Shaykh knows everything,” and when something you don’t like happens, you say, “He doesn’t know,” or, “He is sick.” Stop lying! Don’t try to control everything by saying, “Mawlana, this will be okay and this will not be okay.” The decision is Mawlana Shaykh Nazim’s decision, not yours!

I am going from dunya with a complaint against these two persons and will ask our rights from them in front of the Prophet (s)! We are not forgiving them! But what can we do; at the end we still say may Allah (swt) forgive us and forgive them.

The third principle is to be like an ant. If it is said to an ant, “Your rizq is in the east” and the ant is in the west, the ant will continue moving. Like bees, the ant gets inspiration. An ant is not even 1/100 of a millimeter; you can't tell her head from her back, so how does it know where its food is, going all the way to the door to bring it? So if an ant is ordered to go from west to east for food, it will go; it doesn't say, “O! But there are mountains, deserts, oceans, scorpions!” You have to be like an ant, walking slowly, even though you might be stepped on by someone after ten feet! For example, they are going to tell you that your amaanaat is in the east and you are in the west and you would have to go on foot, as there were no airplanes back then. That is the principle of tariqah. It is impossible to walk from west to east; he might die before he can reach, but you cannot say to your teacher, “It’s impossible, I need an airplane.” You need an airplane? Okay, first go and execute the order; if you are still living, then come and ask for an airplane! In the army you cannot complain and tell your general, “I need an airplane!” You must obey. You have to accept what awliyaullah say to you, then at the end you can complain about whatever you like.

So these are three principles in tariqah. If you keep them, Allah (swt) will send Reeh as-Sibah to you, a Breeze of Youth, Maa’u ’l-Hayaat, what Khidr (a) found. Dhul-Qarnayn (a) and Khidr (a) were running to find the Fountain of Youth, which Khidr (a) found but Dhul-Qarnayn did not. So Allah will send you that Breeze of Inaayatullah, Divine Care, which will carry you from where you have reached and put you in the Divine Presence. That is not through what you achieved, because they know you cannot achieve anything from these three principles, but rather it is from following them without using your mind, saying, “I cannot do it,” but rather saying, “I’m doing it for Allah's Sake!” That is real achievement.

So today, for Allah's Sake, they are reminding us that the best vehicle you need is what Allah (swt) mentioned in the Holy Qur'an, the sultan:

يَا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ وَالْإِنسِ إِنِ اسْتَطَعْتُمْ أَن تَنفُذُوا مِنْ أَقْطَارِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ فَانفُذُوا لَا تَنفُذُونَ إِلَّا بِسُلْطَانٍ

Yaa ma`ashar al-jinni wa’l-insi in in istata`tum an tanfudhoo min aqtaari’s-samawaati w ’al-ardi fa ’nfudhoo laa tanfudhoona illa bi-sultaan.

O you assembly of jinns and men! If you can pass beyond the zones of the heavens and the earth, pass! Not without authority shall you be able to pass! (Surat ar-Rahmaan, 55:33)

If you are able to penetrate from the atmosphere of the earth do it, but you cannot do it without the sultan, which is Sultan adh-Dhikr, which is of two levels: one is to mention Allah by the Name that encompasses all His Beautiful Names and Attributes, “Allah,” which is the top dhikr that has no higher equivalent; the other is the Holy Qur’an, which is Allah's Ancient Words and His Highest Knowledge. So Sultan adh-Dhikr means “the highest Heavenly Book in Allah's Ancient Words,” which is the Holy Qur’an, and that is the sultan that takes you to penetrate the earth’s atmosphere.

Grandshaykh `AbdAllah(q) and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q), may Allah bless their souls, said that there are nine awliyaullah in the Naqshbandi Sufi Order that have read Qur’an with Sultan adh-Dhikr, the highest way of remembering Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s). Awliyaullah also have one higher level of understanding what Sultan adh-Dhikr is, and only nine awliya knew that, which is to recite the Holy Qur'an with all its secrets!

After the Sahaabah (r) and the Family of the Prophet (s), Sayyidina Abu Yazid al-Bistami (q) was the first one to recite the Qur’an once with Sultan adh-Dhikr, with all its secrets, which took him his whole life, because Grandshaykh (q) said, “On every letter, Allah (swt) will open 24,000 oceans of knowledge.” There are around 350,000 letters in the Holy Qur'an. Multiply 24,000 by 350,000 and that is the number of oceans of knowledge that opened to Sayyidina Abu Yazid al-Bistami (q), and each one receives different oceans of knowledge, all of which comes from the Divine Presence with the barakah of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and our Grandshaykhs! So Sayyidina Bayazid was able to do it once, and other awliyaullah did it three, five and seven times. Grandshaykh mentioned that Shaykh Sharafuddin (q), but in reality he meant himself, was able to complete Sultan adh-Dhikr with every inhale and exhale, completing the Holy Qur'an with all its secrets! With that out-breath come different secrets than on the in-breath.

May Allah (swr) teach us! I was going to leave this subject for Ramadan, but now we are going to do tafseer of Surah Yaseen for Ramadan. In this suhbah I focused on the importance of dhikrullah. May Allah bless us and forgive us, and one more time we read Surat al-Fatihah for Shaykh `Abdul-Kareem Aydogan's death.

Fatihah.

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