14 August 2010 5 Ramadan 1431
Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
Ramadan Series 2010
Allahuma salli `ala Sayyidina Muhammad hatta yarda Sayyidina Muhammad. As salamu `alaykum. Ramadan Kareem and insha-Allah, Allah will give us long life to see many more Ramadans.
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`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)
It might be this Ramadan inshaa-Allah, a lot of changes we are going to see and especially spiritual changes in the hearts of mureeds of awliyaullah, and more changes will be in the hearts of mureeds of Sultan al-Awliya (q), who gave permission to speak on his behalf these kinds of lectures or this kind of knowledge, this Ramadan. And he mentioned to me to speak about the importance of awliyaullah in the life of human beings. Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur’an:
وَطَهِّرْ بَيْتِيَ لِلطَّائِفِينَ وَالْقَائِمِينَ وَالرُّكَّعِ السُّجُودِ
wa taahhir baytee lil `akifeen wa-ruka` us-sujood.
Sanctify My House for those who compass it round, or stand up, or bow, or prostrate themselves (therein in prayer). (Al-Hajj, 22:26)
It means Allah is giving an order to Sayyidina Ibrahim (a), all the way to Sayyidina Muhammad (s), to purify, saying, wa taahhir, which is not only to clean but to “purify My House;” purify the status of the House, to make it ready for people to circumambulate it. Everything is pure, even the mass: the mass is what Allah (swt) created; this physical body is the mass and it is the house of the soul. The atom is the house, the mass of the electron, and since the mass is pure, the electrons are circumambulating the mass; the electrons will not circumambulate if the mass is not pure, or then everything will be still with no life.
Allah made everyone circumambulate around a purified House of Allah. The bees circumambulate their queen, birds circumambulate their mother and father, children circumambulate their parents. And Allah (swt) has made the soul in the body to circumambulate a purified house in the body, and that is why Allah said, wa taahhir baytee.“purify My House,” to Sayyidina Ibrahim and Sayyidina Isma`eel and all prophets, for the taaifeen. those who are circumambulating the House and the `akifeen, those who withdrew from dunya or something they like, and everyone likes dunya. But the `akifeen that Allah mentions in Holy Qur’an are those awliyaullah who are away, but they are `akifeen; it means they are sitting and withdrawing from dunya.
The first level of awliyaullah are those who are circumambulating in constant motion around the House. Those who are on a lesser level are withdrawing and doing dhikrullah, remembering Allah through their hearts, but not circumambulating and standing. And the third level are are those who are in ruk`oo and prostrating in sujood. "Clean My House," is meant for those who are in these three categories: who are circumambulating constantly, who are not in dunya, sitting, and those who are in ruk`oo and sujood.
That message applies to the House of Allah (swt). Allah made his angels make sajdah to whom? To make sajdah for the light of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) that was in the forehead of Sayyidina Adam (a). That is why Imam Malik (r) said to the ameer of that time, "Don’t turn your face to the qiblah in Madinah, turn to the Prophet (s), to the one who took you to Allah's House." So turning your face to Prophet (s) is the place where awliyaullah are circumambulating. The Sahabah (r) were circumambulating the Prophet (s), as his heart is House of Allah. The revelation of the message didn’t come on the Ka'aba, it came on the heart of the Prophet (s), so that heart is what Prophet has given pure for the ummah to circumambulate.
Awliyaullah are inheritors from the Prophet (s), so they have a direction for their mureeds to run to them, to circumambulate their hearts, as it is the House of Allah. Prophet (s) said:
قلب الموءمن بيت الرب
qalb al-mu'min bayt ar-rabb.
The heart of the believer is the House of the Lord.
ما وسعني ارضي و ل سمايئ ولاكن وسعني قلب عبدي الموءمن
maa wasi`anee ardee wa laa ardee wa laakin wasi`anee qalbi `abdee al-mu'min.
Neither Earth nor Heavens contained Me, but the heart of the believer contained Me.
So your direction is to find one of these purified hearts that you can withdraw from dunya and do muraqabah, meditation, to them and they will take you to presence of Prophet (s), and you must always keep their respect. An example of that is, someone asked one of the awliyaullah, "Can you tell me about the level of Sayyidina Abdul Qaadir al-Jilaani? What is his maqaam?"
And he said, "One time Sayyidina Abdul Qadir al-Jilani was asked, 'Who is your shaykh?'"
man laa shaykha lahu shaykhahu ash-Shaytan.
Who doesn't have a guide, his desires will be Shaytan.
Because without a shaykh you cannot decide; you might see something wrong as correct and the correct as wrong. Sometimes the shaykh tells you, "Do this," and to you and to many others it is not correct, but to the shaykh it has hikmah, wisdom. You don’t know the wisdom and they can see farther than you, and you will know the wisdom later, so don’t object. What do we do? We complain and object; that order doesn’t click in our mind. We think, "Why is he telling me to do this? It is haraam." Do you know better than the shaykh if it is haraam or halaal? No. So what must you do? Surrender!
So one time they asked Sayyidina Abdul Qadir al-Jilani (q), "Who is your shaykh?" He said, "A long time ago I had a shaykh, Sayyidee Hammad ad-Deebaas, but today it changed." Because Sayyidina Abdul Qadir al-Jilani (q) kept respect to his shaykh, and he went very high, and after his shaykh left dunya he became an inheritor and he reached higher levels. He said, "Today I am receiving knowledge from two oceans."
Look at how awliyaullah receive knowledge; not like us, because their hearts are purified. They buy machines today, saying, "This machine is a purifier." Purifier of what? Purifier of the pet dander that you cannot see, but they are there; it means the bad desires. You need a purifier to purify that animal dust and take it out, and then you need a humidifier to give you a nice breeze. So the heart of a wali purifies and humidifies the mureed, giving them that cool breeze at the end after purifying them. The shaykh knows the hearts of his followers. He might look at you and see that you need to do and he wants to empty your heart, though it might not coincide with what you believe. So he asks you to do something specific as he wants to take that away.
So Sayyidina Abdul Qadir al-Jilani (q) said,"I receive from two oceans, Bahr an-Nubuwwah, "the Ocean of the Heart of Prophet (s)," and from Bahr al-Futuwwah, "the Ocean of Chivalry." One is from the ocean of the Prophet (s) and one is from the ocean of Sayyidina `Ali (q), as Prophet said:
la fataa illa `Ali wa la sayf illa dhul-fiqaar,
There is no chivalry except Sayyidina `Ali and no sword except Dhulfiqaar (his sword from Heavens).
That means he was most powerful against his ego with his sword, not only on unbelievers. Mawlana Shaykh always tells us a story about Sayyidina `Ali (q), when he was in battle, one of the unbelievers, a very strong wrestler, called Sayyidina `Ali bad names. Then they fought in one-on-one combat and afterwards the armies fought directly, not like today when soldiers don’t even see the enemy. There is no chivalry today; they blow them up from far away. That is not chivalry, that is cowardice. And so, Sayyidina `Ali put him down and in war when you put someone down you have the right to kill him. So that wrestler said, "Okay, kill me!" and then he spat in the face of Sayyidina `Ali. Immediately Sayyidina `Ali threw the sword down.
Again he said, "Kill me!"
Sayyidina `Ali (q) replied, "No, I cannot."
"Kill me!"
He said, "I cannot, for I became angry, and then it will not be for sake of Allah."
Then that wrestler said, "If your religion is like that, then I will become Muslim." Then that wrestler took from the heart of Prophet (s) and the heart of Sayyidina `Ali (q)!
So there was a question that stayed in hearts, as today it stays in the hearts of mureeds. They ask, "What is your shaykh's level?" (We answer), "It is Sultan al-Awliya and he takes from the heart of the Prophet (s)." So that stayed up to today. They asked Sayyidina Imam Abul Hasan al-Shadili (q), a very famous wali buried in Egypt, "Who is your shaykh?" and he said, "My shaykh was Sayyidina Abdu 's-Salam ibn Masheeh (q)," a very famous shaykh from Morocco, a big wali. "I used to receive knowledge from his heart and circumambulate his heart and sit looking at him, and I withdrew from dunya looking at him and making ruk`u and sujood in his presence. But today I am receiving from ten different oceans."
Look, you don’t understand how awliya are speaking; it depends on the time they are in. Today more rahmah is coming as we are in time of fitnah. That power, more is coming to the Ghawth and passing to the five qutbs, and that makes us able to see with his light, as he is taking from Prophet (s), who is ascending so high. By looking with the power in their eyes, they can turn bad into good! With their strong vision that is like a laser, they reach and clean and purify, and cure diseases. Awliyaullah's vision can purify people from all their diseases and clean and purify them only by looking, or hearing, or touching.
Then they asked him, "Who is your shaykh today?"
"It was Abdus-Salam ibn Masheesh, but today I am taking from ten oceans: five from Heavens and five from Earth. I am receiving from their hearts directly." He was taking from the heart of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (q) whatever Prophet (s) poured in his heart. And from Sayyidina `Umar al-Farooq (r), who fought baatil, of which there is too much today. And from Sayyidina `Uthmaan (r) and from Sayyidina `Ali, karam-Allahu wajah wa `alayhi 's-salaam, taking from five. About Sayyidina `Ali, Prophet (s) said:
انا مدينة العلم و علي بابها
'ana madinatul-ilmin wa `Aliyyun baabuha.
I am city of knowledge and `Ali is the door.
ما صب الله في صدري شيأ الا و صببته في صدر ابي بكر الصديق
And he (s) said:
Whatever I received, I poured in the heart of Abu Bakr.
And `Umar was the one distinguishing haqq from baatil. And Sayyidina `Uthman had two lights, two daughters of Prophet (s) and he was so generous.
Allah (swt) said:
تَعْرُجُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ إِلَيْهِ فِي يَوْمٍ كَانَ مِقْدَارُهُ خَمْسِينَ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ
ta`ruju 'l-mala`ikati wa 'r-roohu ilayhi fee yawim kaana miqdaarahu khamseen alfa sannat.
The Spirit and the angels ascend to unto Him in a day whose length is 50,000 years.
He is receiving revelation from Jibreel (a), and from Mikaa'eel (a) who sends rain, from Israfeel (a) who blows the trumpet (it means he receives the power of that), and from Azra`eel (a) he receives power of the Afterlife, and from "Rooh," the Angel of Souls, who carries all these souls. So this is how awliya receive their knowledge; they purified their hearts in order that their mureeds can reach and take from that fountain in their hearts. And we have to know that Allah (swt) gave to every wali khusoosiyyah, a specialization, a special job or way, unique to that wali; it is not the same to another wali. Everyone has a different way, a different mashrab, fountain, and that fountain is like naqsh `alaa hajr, engraving on stone, which is permanent and never disappears. So one wali knows the other wali from what is engraved on his heart. That is why there are 99 Beautiful Names and Attributes, and from them the names of high-level walis are engraved on his heart. So like Allahu laa ilaaha illa Huwa ar-Rahmanu 'r-Raheem, Abdur-Rahman is receiving that knowledge from that secret of the Divine Name, "Ar-Rahman," and Abdur-Raheem is receiving from the Divine Name, "Ar-Raheem." We will explain them later, one by one.
As their hearts are purified, Allah (swt) is throwing in their hearts from Ahadiyya, "the Ocean of Unique Oneness," and Wahidiyya, "the Ocean of Oneness." And especially in Tariqah Naqshbandiyya, we are receiving from an ocean that takes you to Maqaam al-Fana, "the Station of Annihilation," which Sayyidina Shah Naqshband (q) pulled from heart of Prophet (s). That is why the tariqah takes from his name, as he was able to take from secrets of these engravings, that every wali has a name, and he exposed them from a level we can understand, and it is a different level for each wali depending on the level in which he receives knowledge. There are awliya that stand at the feet of prophets, which means they receive directly from hearts of prophets. There are 124,000 prophets and there is a wali receiving from each prophet, and there is one receiving from the heart of Prophet Muhammad (s).
This is an introduction to what we will be speaking about this Ramadan, and I hope we can continue as much as we can.
So during this discussion, they asked Sayyidina Abdul Qadir al-Jilani (q) from where he received his knowledge, and they asked Sayyidina Abul Hasan al-Shadhili (q), and then they asked Sayyidina Abu Madyan ash-Shaadhili (q), who said, "I have juld, I traveled in knowledges of Allah’s Kingdom, and that is 101 oceans of knowledges. And Grandshaykh (q) said what we will explain tomorrow inshaa-Allah, "To awliyaullah in this time, on every letter of Holy Qur’an, Allah (swt) opened from 12,000 to 24,000 oceans of knowledge that He will open to your heart and guide you through spiritual navigation."
As you navigate today with GPS, Allah will navigate you with heavenly navigation, but only your soul knows, not your body, as they cannot open those secrets to our bodies. So that is coming to the hearts of mureeds like a drizzle, dripping from different sides like a shower, so you get heavenly knowledges they throw in your heart to navigate you. Your soul understands, as you have baya` with the shaykh, so Mawlana Shaykh is navigating our souls, but not openly; some are getting like a drizzle, some like a shower, and some receive like a thunderstorm.
May Allah (swt) forgive us and may Allah bless us, and we will continue inshaa-Allah tomorrow.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.