As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
A`udhu billahi min ash-Shaytan ir-rajeem. Bismil-Lahi’ r-Rahmani ‘r-Raheem.
Where is Professor Abdul Ghani? At the Al-Khayyam (restaurant). We were just now in Al-Khayyam, en Francais, "le tente" and in English, "the tent." So al-khayyamah is that which gives you shade, the place you find shelter, tranquility, peacefulness, and whatever you like. That al-khayyamah is the tent, under which you have shelter. In the desert all the time you need a tent from the heat of the sun; in the jungle you need a tent to shelter you from the coldness of the jungle. So either wild area or not, you need a tent. You cannot live without a tent. People build apartments or homes in order to have a tent. Without a tent you cannot be away from those who will harm you. You need a tent to shelter you from those who harm you and want you to be in a tent to know where you are and to give you better shelter.
Professor! Here!
Shaytan wants to give you a dirty tent. Allah disrupts Shaytan's plan:وَمَكَرُواْ وَمَكَرَ اللّهُ وَاللّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِين - wa makaroo wa makarullah w'Allahu khayru 'l-maakireen - And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah. (3:54) for God is above all schemers.. Who is makaroo? Shaytan. All who follow him from human beings are Shaytan. They plan to come against Allah . But the difference between Iblees and human beings that come with Shaytan, is a big difference; the ones with him don't believe in Allah . Iblees believes in Allah and he knows Allah will destroy his soul, bi ma aghawatanee, as you made me wrong, not like Sayyidina Adam (a), saying "I did wrong." He (Iblees) said, "You gave me life, You made me do wrong, so I will make them all do wrong!" (astaghfirullah!) On last day when they came and said, "you made us do wrong", he says, "I don't know you." So Allah disrupts his plan by giving us a tent that is never away from the Divine Presence, that is the Muhammadan tent. Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is the tent for all of Creation; the whole Creation is under his tent. When you say Muhammadun Rasulullah, you are in that tent. Who can take you out? If you say Allahumma salli `ala Sayyidina Muhammad or what some call Darood Shareef, it means you are in that tent, and no one can pull you out of the hands of Prophet (s)! That is why he said, man qala la ilaha illa-Llah dakhal al-Jannah, "Whoever said la ilaha illa-Llah will enter Paradise." Now you are in that tent, and you are under contract with the Prophet (s), because you signed la ilaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasulullah. If you breach a contract, they penalize you and you cannot get out of it.
When you buy a house they give you this thick paper to read; a contract. When you sign it, finished (you are bound to honor it). So on the Day of Promises when Allah asks all souls behind Allah and in the presence of Prophet (s), "Who are you and who am I?" and we answered through Sayyidina Muhammad (s) who is representing whole humanity, "You are our Lord and we are your servants." We said la ilaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasulullah there. Do we say in our prayers la ilaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasulullah? No. There we say ash-hadu anla ilaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadun Rasulullah. It is the same direction, but with different meaning. "I bear witness that Allah is our Creator and I bear witness that Muhammad is His messenger."
One is Maqaam al-Mushahadah and the other is Maqaam al-Ahadiyya. That is the maqam of Sayyidina Bilal (r) when he was tortured, saying ahad, ahad. In the Station/Maqaam of Vision, la ilaha illa-Llah is saying with tongue but ash-hadu an la ilaha illa-Llah is recited with vision and full belief. That is after standing and saying Allahu akbar, recite al-Fatiha and a surah, bowing and standing, then Rabbana laka 'l-hamd, then sajda, and then sitting, and ending in Maqaam al-Mushahadah. So after praying two raka`ats, you are purified to Maqaam al-Mushahadah. At the beginning of reciting at-tahiyyat you are getting to Allah, then you are prepared to say salaam to Prophet (s), so after saying at-tahiyyaat, you then say as-salaamu `alaykum ayyuha 'n-nabi, salaam to Prophet (s). Then as-salaamu `alayna, to whom? To all those like us. You didn't say as-salaamu alayka, you can say, but there is meaning here. You are speaking to yourself. First speaking to Allah, sending glorification, then speaking to Prophet (s) and then speaking to yourself, as-salaamu `alayna, means to all human beings. Then why do we have to say as-salaamu `alayna wa `ala ibaadillah as-saaliheen? Why do we send special greetings to them? Because they are the guides, the door to Muhammad (s), and that is why they come at the end: they open for you the door! These are awliyaullah. That is to bear witness now in Maqaam al-Mushahadah. You can see. Are we seeing? (No.)
I was in Indonesia 10 years ago and there was a huge crowd, maybe 60, 70, 80 thousand people. All the streets were blocked and officials invited me to speak and very sincere `ulama were there, and I thought, "What I am going to speak?" I said, to me and to all of them, we are not yet reaching what Allah wants us to reach. In the level of shahada you are a witness. So we say at-tahiyyaat, sending greeting to Allah and salaam to Prophet (s). That is why people today are saying "peace", "peace", raising their fingers. We say "peace" to our guides and then I ask those scholars, are we in Maqaam al-Mushahadah? They cannot lie, so they say we are not yet ready. Don't think you are shaykh and you are not ready. Don't deceive and cheat your followers. Don't make your followers to deviate from reality. They and me, same. We are not seeing. Can you lie to Allah ? Can you lie to Prophet (s)? Can you lie to Sahaba? Can you lie to awliyaullah? Can you lie to yourself? No you cannot. How you dare to lie to those people! When you say, "I am this and I am that," you are lying. Look, Mawlana is every day saying, "I am the weakest, I am weak servant. Whatever they send to me I am speaking." So today whoever is sitting in fancy chairs, they make themselves the peacocks of Islam. They are the Fira`un of Islam! Allah's innocence on them. Let one of them say, "I can see Allah and His Prophet" when they say ash-hadu an la ilaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullah, can they say they are seeing the Divine Presence to the light of Sayyidina Muhammad (s)? Then how can they declare they are shaykh and murshid? So forget those on TV who say they are shaykhs! What about those who say "I am pir, murshid, wali?" You don't feel you are cheating people and one day you will be asked? May Allah forgive us!
So they prepare you to reach that Maqam of Vision, witnessing what is going on. Awliyaullah like to guide their followers through that line; scholars cannot. Scholars teach you what is in the book, correct Professor? That's it. But awliyaullah don't need to open the book because the words in the book (Mawlana stands to carry the Qur'an), and this is Holy Qur'an, kalamullah al-qadeem, they have the secret of life, they are living words. We are opening it, and it came to, وَلاَ تَقْرَبُواْ مَالَ الْيَتِيمِ إِلاَّ بِالَّتِي هِيَ أَحْسَنُ - wa laa taqraboo maal al-yateem Illa billatee hiya ahsan - Don't approach the wealth of the orphan except in the best way." (6:152/17:34) We are all orphans. Don't try to take what your orphan brother owns, cheating him! Allah gave him something. He gave him innocence. This one, Allah gave him understanding, knowledge; that one he gave spirituality. Don't try to take that bite from his mouth! Allah gave to him not to you. Don't be jealous of what Allah gave to your brother. Illa billatee hiya ahsan, "except by the way which is best." Try to progress and do what he did. Try to be like him, clever and intelligent and a worshipper. Don't dress in what he has been given, as if you are a wild animal dressing in the skin of a lamb (wolf in sheep's clothing). Allah is saying, don't try to cheat each other. Try to behave by best way. You can have more by competing. Competition in worship is accepted. If he prays 5 raka`ats, I pray 10, and if he prays 10, I pray 100. Allah likes that. Competition in religion is okay.
This is Holy Qur'an. These are Allah's Words, living words, and they have light; but when we look we don't see that light and we put it on the shelf. When something has life, it has movement. Anything that has life has movement. If you die you have no movement. When you have life, a soul is there and you have movement. Allah's Words have life and movement. The barakah of Allah's Words will be jumping out when you put words of Holy Qur'an in your house, but you didn't see that. You are not bearing witness yet; you are lying to yourself. When you truly bear witness to Allah (swt) as your Creator and Muhammad (s) as His messenger, you will hear the recitation of Prophet (s). These words jump to you and they are alive. That is why they speak of Sultan adh-Dhikr, which we have no time to explain it here.
May Allah grant us that maqaam in dunya before we go to akhirah. Then you witness Allah's Presence and Prophet's Presence. The Prophet (s) will not let them leave dunya before they come in front of him and bear witness to him. That is why Ahl as-Sunnah people are lucky, as they will not leave dunya without saying shahadah in the presence of Prophet (s).
Grandshaykh once said that Allah doesn't accept Sayyidina Azra`eel (a) to take souls of Sufi people like others. Allah's Name will be written on his hand in a beautiful light, and when the souls of tariqah people see that light, it will jump to it. You are lucky Qadiri, Naqshbandi, Rifa`i, all Ahl as-Sunnah.
bi hurmati 'l-Habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatiha.
All meetings have an end and ours is coming to an end. Without delay I will go. We said salaam many times, and everyone is now free. I will see you next time. No need to come to the airport as I will be travelling early in the morning. As-salamu alaykum!