This is from Mawlana Shaykh Nazim’s notes. It is his words with a little bit of explanation, I am reading what he is saying and I am explaining.

He said: “siffat man yatasadar al-majalis li nasihat al-Ummah. The characters and description of those who present themselves to give advice to the Ummah?”

 

He said that what are the characters of that one who tries to consider himself as someone important that sits and give advice to people? And he put it in that way: siffat man yatasadar - the one who by his own, sits and gives guidance or he thinks that he is the head of the gathering or that he is better than everyone else. How we can describe that?

And this is a sickness that goes always within groups of people, within different communities, different backgrounds, different race, in very country or in very small district you find people they sit and they have a circle of listeners and they sit as if the know everything and they are the best. This is how they feel in themselves. They don’t sit in a way that we are like you and then read and explain. No they sit as if they know more than everyone.

He said “this is character that I not acceptable. Awliyaullah they don’t like that kind of description of that someone who thinks he can give an advice or a presentation to others because others are less then him. And it happened before as an example with Iblees.”

And Mawlana is describing that person as similar to Iblees in character. Not in the honor that Allah honored him as a human being, for He honored him and gave but he is speaking on the bad manners that Allah doesn’t like and we have to run away from that as Iblees was cursed and he said, “beware of this difficulty that you are putting yourself in it.”

He said that awliyaullah like that everyone of us dress the reality of servanthood, not the reality of president hood. He wants people to carry, awliyuAllah they like people to dress following the footsteps of the Prophet when he was called as abd with his high level with his perfection, Allah gave him the title of `abd, servant. So he wants from his Ummah, the Prophet wants from his Ummah to follow his footsteps to be on servanthood; not to be on level of Iblees hood that they like fame and they want to be pointed to “this one knows everything.” The Prophet said, “O Allah! Don’t leave me to myself for the blink of an eye.” “O Allah! Don’t leave me!” Sayyidina Muhammad is seeking refuge in Allah, saying “O Allah! Don’t leave me to myself for the blink of an eye.”

Did we say that for ourselves? When the Prophet is saying that it means that every moment he is saying that. From beginning of creation on until its end it does not stop in the divine presence, from when Allah created him it never stops in him the understanding of “Ya Rabbee keep me a servant to You and don’t leave me to myself for the blink of an eye.” Are we following that? We have to be truthful we are not judging but we have to confess we are not. Even saints, don’t think that a wali, don’t think… We have to understand that a wali never reached the level of the Prophet , never. So if the Prophet is saying “O Allah! Never leave me to my self for the blink of an eye” awliyaullah don’t have instances when they were under their ego’s control?  Only the Prophet was not under his ego.

He said, “aslamtu shaytanee - I have made my shaytan Muslim.” It means, “I made my desires to submit. I put them under my control.”

What did Sayyidina Musa say? He said, “O Allah let me see You.” Why he said that? Because he thought he was so near, that he begins to take advantage and this problem inside him, he said, “I want to see You now.” But what did the Prophet say. Sayyidina Musa said, “O Allah let me see You.” What did Allah say? “Look at the mountain if you think you can see Me. I will give you an example. First if the mountain stays in place then you can see Me.”

Why did Allah want him to look at the mountain? Because if He revealed Himself [to him directly] he will die. He doesn’t have the capability. Only the Prophet has that ability. He went to the Divine Presence, to the station of qaaba qawsayn. He is the only one and yet he said, “I am only a human beings like you.”

See how much he lowered himself. “O Allah! Don’t leave to myself for the blink of an eye. Don’t let me to say I am more than `abd.” And more, he said, “I am only a human beings like you.” If he was only a human being then how was he able to go for Mi’raj.

Space shuttle how far it goes. It goes 20, 30, 100 miles up. And they need a shuttle to go up in order not to be burned. The Prophet went up and he didn’t need a shuttle.

And here is the difference between two prophets.

One prophet said, “O my Lord! Let me see You.” And the other said, Sayyidina Muhammad , said, “I am but a human being like you.”

Each has his own role and according to what Allah gave them they moved.

So that is why he said to the Prophet , “I sent you not but as mercy to humanity.” no one else was given that title, “mercy to humanity”. The others are mercy to their nations. Sayyidina Musa is mercy to those who believed in him. Sayyidina `Isa is mercy to those who believe in him.

So what is needed from us is not to sit with all this ego on us, as if we are highest and best. The Prophet said, “I am like you.” Not as if the others are nothing.

He said, that “awliyaullah like everyone to go back to their limits.” And “everyone” here means human beings. To go back to their limits. And many human beings crossed their limits. They crossed the red light. 

“Man `arifa hadahu waqafa `indaha -  Who knows his limit stops there and cannot exceed it.” When you go beyond, what happened? Immediately a yellow light comes. It means “make sure, don’t cross.” There is a red light there. You cross what happened? You will be threatening yourself, your life. You didn’t care, the red light came and you crossed, you are finished. There are cameras now, everywhere. In every country. Tickets come to you at your door, without you knowing anything. It comes with your name, address, everything. It says “you crossed the red light.” If human beings have that Allah didn’t create angels to give you a ticket? How many tickets we are getting every day, every 24 hours.

Awliyaullah they are taking from prophet. That his why he said, `ulama umattee ka-anbiya bani Isra’il. They are calling people to what Is good for them.

He said, "ulama warathat al-anbiya - the scholars are inheritors of the prophets." They inherit from them and they give. Why awliya speaking about ego. Because he said you are still in the green light.

I am telling before you reach the red light. I am telling you while you are still moving on green light. One day believer, one day disbeliever. I am telling you be careful the yellow light is coming, and if we don’t want to listen we are going to cross the red light and what happened. At that time a big ticket is coming. And not only tickets but also with points. And these point you know they are more dangerous than normal ticket when you are driving. Everyone says “O, let me take a ticket but no points.” How many points you have Ibrahim? Four? Ibrahim? No points. Yusuf, six?

Don’t you prefer to have a tickets with no points? Yes, it is easier. But how many tickets we are getting with points by angels? We don’t know. With police we know. At least we say, we have these points, we slowly, slowly take them from our records. But with angels we don’t know, how many points they are giving us every day.

So that is why it is recommended in Holy Qur’an that when they are oppressors to themselves the come and repent in your presence and then prophet asks on our behalf and Allah accepts.

Allah is generous. Qul li `ibadee alladheena asrafoo `ala anfusihim la taqnatoo min rahmatillah. Inna allah yaghfira adh-dhunooba jami`ayyan, innahu huw’al ghafoor ar-raheem - Say O my servants, [look how much He is generous]. Those who were oppressors to themselves. Don’t lose hope. I forgive you. But repent.” Say istighfaar. That is why the Prophet recommended Ummah to make 70 times istighfaar a day according to hadith and to Qur’an.

So awliyaullah deduce they extract from that yastakhrijoo that istighfaar Is needed daily. You do or you don’t do, don’t say I don’t need. You have to do istighfaar. Sometimes they recommend 200, 300, sometimes 7000 in order that Allah swt will forgive us and protect us. So I don’t want to say more, but there are some awliyaullah that say there are 24,000 every human beings has 24,000 breaths. With every breath there is a mistake. That means we have to do 24,000 istaghfirullah, istighfaar. Is it not right?

So that is our problem. In every breath is like one second.

In a minute how many seconds? 60 because breath in and breathing out is 2. so let us make a little calculation. Between breath and breath is how much? Breath in and breath out. Some say 2 seconds, some say 3 seconds. So one in, one out, every second there is one breath and in every minute 60 and in every hour. 3600. in 24 hours , more than 24,000, it is 18,000 something like that. They are merciful with us when they say 24,000. with every breath in, breath out here is inspiration which is bad inspiration. Allah made place in heart of every human beings that is place of shaytan.

If you slaughter a … cow, chicken, if you open fresh heart you will find a small clot there black. You didn’t find that in goats. You see red blood and there is one clot there black. In everyone. That is place of shaytan.

That is when Jibreel came to the Prophet when he was young and did open heart surgery for him. See open heart surgery in Islam 1400 years ago and that was made for Sayyidina Muhammad and it has its background in Islam. How they opened. You see they had the traces now. Then now trace they had plastic surgery. Not trace, no stitches. And Jibreel took that out for prophet.

So shaytaan Is there. You think with every breath in and breath out he is not there interfering. He was there with Sayyidina Adam saying, “quickly eat. If you eat I am happy with  you and if you don’t I am angry with you.” Why I am angry for you benefit. Because this is shajarat al-khuld, you are going to be everlasting if you eat it.

and Adam is prophet, father of children of Adam, he is highest one to be prophet., what he did? [claps hands] pity, he ate.

Mawlana said, “He didn’t eat. We moved his hands, human beings. Because he is a prophet, he is protected, he cannot do something against his Lord’s wish. But we in his back, his children, moved and went so strongly in his hand and in his brain that it ordered the hand to move and to take a bite.”

So it means that as these dharraat - souls of human beings - those small atoms of human beings. That Allah put in back of Adam, they went into his veins and nervous system might be and moved him. Because our shaytan is big. Not him.

So you think that shaytaan cannot come into your heart and move you to eat from tree of forbiddens – it is. We are not saying no. when someone confesses it is better, then he repents. When someone doesn’t confess it is bad. Not to go to someone and confess and he says, “Oooooo you are cleared.” How they are cleared> What you did? You carried? Ok, if you can! Say ya Rabbee , forgive them and I will carry. Then you are responsible. So here you have to confess to yourself, within you audit yourself, then we have to repent to Allah swt. And Allah said “come to Muhammad.”

If Sayyidina `Isa said to his people “come to me” it is correct. So we are not saying it is wrong. Sayyidina Muhammad said to his people “come to me,” it is correct. When they were worshipping the golden calf, what Allah ordered them? To kill each other as a repentance. Sign of repentance.

So Sayyidina Musa said, “You want I give you the answer? You want to save yourself? Kill each other.” And Allah sent a fog or dark cloud so that they cannot see each other, who they are killing. That is rahmat. Because if they are seeing each other it is much harder. They might kill their son or their wife. It was very different at that time. Sayyidina Musa came with very strict Shariah. Because people were very strong at that time. But when Sayyidina `Isa came people less strong. So Allah gave it more easy. “If they come to you ya `Isa ibn Maryam I accept them. You bring them in.” That is why if they go to Sayyidina `Isa Allah accepts them. But as long as they don’t say `Isa is the son of God.

The religion of Sayyidina Musa is on our head. The religion of Sayyidina `Isa is on our head. But more than that is dangerous. So you go to `Isa , go no problem. You go to Sayyidina Muhammad , you have to go. How? As those who believed in Sayyidina `Isa , they didn’t have anyone, to whom they have to go? They cannot go to someone on the street. They have to go to Sayyidina `Isa . So who believes in Sayyidina `Isa will go to Sayyidina `Isa .

When Sayyidina Muhammad came, Allah said, “Ya Muhammad I am not sending you only to your nation, but to humanity, all of it.” That is why Prophet was always saying “O Allah! My Ummah.”

That is why he said, “Adam wa man dunahu tahta liwaee yawm al-qiyama – Adam and all who are under him are under my flag on the Day of Judgment.”

So the problem today is that with every breath in and breath out, as we have calculated now it is about 80,000 times in 24 hrs. It means that in every breath in and breath out, there is something, we must admit and accept, we must not be proud. What is a blink of any eye in seconds. It is less than a breath in and a breath out. To close the eye and open it. Breathe in is more than a blink. What did the Prophet say? “O Allah don’t leave me to myself for a blink of an eye.” That means smaller than a second. More fraction than a second. That is shorter in time than breath in and breath out. And the Prophet was saying “Don’t leave me to myself.” It means in every moment make istighfaar. So then you how do you think you are someone to be head of everyone else.?

Look at your dirtiness before you look at someone else. Look at your dirty clothes before you look at someone else. You are full of dirty clothes and you are smelling and looking “from where is that smell?” looking at everyone else. Like the one whom the skunk has sprayed on him, and looking who is smelling.

Don’t be shaykh, don’t be representative. Sit with people and say, “I don’t want that job.” I am saying to myself also. Run away from it.

When Grandshaykh’s shaykh, Shaykh Sharafudddin ordered Grandshaykh Abdullah to make irshad to people, he said, “I don’t want it - give it to someone else.”

So when Mawlana gives to someone and he doesn’t know anything from Islamic Shariah and he only wants to make him happy, he will say “represent me,” and that one will make himself big and put a big website and make kohl on his eyes.

That is Sunnah. But in Pakistan, in the Middle East, but not in America. They see you with kohl in your eyes and they say “gay”. Their pictures is on the website with Mawlana standing and with kohl in his eyes. And they see him here and think he is gay. Who understands Sunnah. They see only the eyes like shaytan eyes and saying to his people that they are deceiving and saying this is Sunnah, they think you are gay; looking for boys.

You know what the Prophet said, to make things very important in Islam, you have no right to look at a male person with no beard else you are doing zina. To that extent because it is dangerous and especially in this country to do an act that makes people to fall into a sin, because if making yourself to look like a woman; to make yourself to look very nice. That is why the Prophet said, “don’t look at the amrad” - the person whose face doesn’t grow a beard and there are people who have no beard, shaved.

 

I was once coming from Peckham Mosque with Mawlana Shaykh in Ramadan to show you how strict Mawlana is. We were going back at 11 o’clock. And you know Peckham Mosque it is area that is not so fancy, pubs, clubs areas. And we were finishing taraweeh and I was thirsty and I had a bottle of water and I was drinking from it. And Mawlana hit me on the hand, and said, “Don’t.” I said, “What?” He said, “Don’t drink here because it will bring shubha. That will bring doubt because we are passing by pub area they might think we are drinking.”

Fitna is dormant and Allah cursed who bring it up.

So we come back that we have to be very careful. Don’t be happy that you are a representative or deputy. Your ego will play with you if you don’t have power to control your ego that has been granted to you and that has been granted to your shaykh by the Prophet and then you fall. And if you fall all those behind you will fall and you will carry their sins. They are innocent of you. So it is not easy to be representatives, run from it.

So when grand GrandShaykh Sharafuddin asked Grandshaykh Abdullah to carry the responsibility of irshad he said, “I don’t want it.”

Look today if anyone is appointed by Mawlana to do anything he will be so happy and he will find all kinds of titles to put on his website.

I was invited to a Mawlid in Los Angeles. I said, “Do I have to come?” But they insisted. Then they sent me the flyer. And everyone’s name, and I don’t know if you have this custom in Pakistan, each one has a name with a title: `allama Mawlana mufti pir sahib and then his name. How many titles you have in Pakistan?

`allama you know what is `allama, doctor? `allama is a walking encyclopedia, not only an encyclopedia but with a background in every science and religion. That is `allama in Arabic. Why you say `allama then why do you have to say the rest? Why do you have to say Mawlana also, mufti? If he is `allama he is mufti; he might be higher than mufti. Why we have to say pir, what else we missed out? Whatever, for what?

Khan is not here? What was written, do you remember? [it was like that] that is ego. You don’t want that. It is dangerous. And only one line we read and explained from that suhbat. Only one line. He said, “Let everyone go back to his limits - Fal yarja kullu insanin li haddih. Li anna kullu qad kharajoo an atwaarihim.”

You cannot say, “I am shaykh.” I don’t care who is listening. Me and all the rest. Calipha, deputy, go and throw it in the toilet. There is one calipha and one shaykh? If we don’t want to carry the understanding of the Prophet when he said in Holy Qur’an, “qul inama ana basharun mithlukum - Say, I am only a human being like you revealed to him” and I say that Sayyidina Muhammad only said that out of humbleness. And Imam Suyuti said that the Prophet said that when he was in the Divine Presence, he felt so ashamed, he said, “Ya Rabbee, You are here; there is no me here.”

So why we are saying, “I am khalifa.” And Allah in Holy Qur’an called every prophet by name in Holy Qur’an but except for Sayyidina Muhammad. He called him: Ya ayyuhal muzzamil. Ya ayyuhal mudaththir, ya rasulullah.

What the Prophet said? He said, “Allah is honoring me with all these titles but I am most happy when Allah calls me `abd.”

Let us be happy when people call us by name even if someone calls you and respected you and gave you a title don’t let yourself to feel you are owner of that title. Think, “He is thinking of me good but I am not that one.”