3 August 2024 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
A`oodhu billahi ‘s Sami` al-`Aleem min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. Laa hawla wa laa quwatta illa billahi 'l-`Aliyyu 'l-`Azheem.
Dastoor, yaa Sayyidee, Qutb al-Mutasarrif, madad yaa Sultan al-Awliya. Madad, yaa RijaalAllah.
Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,
nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-siyam, nawaytu ‘s-sulook, lillahi ta'ala al-`Azheem fee hadha 'l-masjid.
Dastoor, yaa Sayyidi wa Mawlay. Madad, yaa RijaalAllah.
Inshaa-Allah, a few words that we have heard from our masters. In our way, we don’t claim that we know, you don’t claim you are an `alim as this is tarku ‘l-adab, outside of adab. We say that we are taalib, seekers, people who want more knowledge: want to be better Muslims and mu’mins. Don’t ever claim you have reached perfection and that, mashaa-Allah, now you’re in a position to guide others. That is not for you or us.
Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur’an:
وَإِذِ ٱبْتَلَىٰٓ إِبْرَٰهِـۧمَ رَبُّهُۥ بِكَلِمَـٰتٍ فَأَتَمَّهُنَّ قَالَ إِنِّى جَاعِلُكَ لِلنَّاسِ إِمَامًا قَالَ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِى قَالَ لَا يَنَالُ عَهْدِى ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ
Wa idh ibtalas Ibrahima rabbuhu bi kalimati fa atamuhuna qaala innee ja’ilooka li ‘n-naasi imaama.
And remember that Abraham was tried by his Lord with certain commands, which he fulfilled: He said: "I will make thee an Imam to the Nations." He pleaded: "And also (Imams) from my offspring!" He answered: "But My Promise is not within the reach of evil-doers.” (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:124)
Innee ja’ilooka li ‘n-naasi imaama. “I am making you an imam for people.” Allah (swt) sent tests and trials to Sayyidina Ibrahim (a). Do you know what trials he went through? There were so many. When he finished them completely, genuinely, and truthfully, Allah (swt) said, Innee ja’ilooka li ‘n-naasi imaama. “I am making you an imam for people.”
Sayyidina Ibrahim asked, “And from my descendants?”
Allah swt said: Qaala laa yanaalu `ahdi azh-zhaalimeen. “I would not give that honor to the zhaalim, to the unjust one.”
When you claim you are something you are not, you are being unjust, a zhaalim to yourself. The guidance comes from Allah (swt), not the diploma from Jeddah, Pakistan, India, Turkey or Europe. That diploma that they give you saying you are an `alim does not count. Allah (swt) has to give an order that you are now somebody who can be trusted not to take another way. You have to understand Allah (swt)’s Holy Words, Inni ja’ilooka li ‘n-naasi imama. “I am the One to make you imam.” Innee ja`ilun fi ‘l-ardi khalifa. “I am the One to make a deputy, representative, on Earth, an imam for people.”
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) taught us to always say, “I am a taalib,” that we want to know, but about what? How to reach eternal happiness! Everybody wants to be happy. How can you be happy? “When food, drink, clothes, designer sheets, everything comes so peacefully without me lifting a finger, then I’m happy.”
That means you want Jannah. Allah (swt) promised you that before you even reach the delights of Jannah, He made these branches come to you in an instant. You don’t have to reach it with your hand, it will come to you. That means you want Jannah. Insaan wants comfort. Human beings want comfort. Allah (swt) promised you comfort.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) is saying that’s what you want to find out, the way to eternal happiness, eternal comfort, eternal bliss, and eternal pleasure. If you are good, Allah (swt) will make dunya Jannah for you if you are on the way of Sayyidina Ibrahim (a).
مَا كَانَ إِبْرَٰهِيمُ يَهُودِيًّا وَلَا نَصْرَانِيًّا وَلَـٰكِن كَانَ حَنِيفًا مُّسْلِمًا وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِين
Abraham was not a Jew nor a Christian, but he was true in faith and bowed his will to Allah's Will, and did not join gods with Allah. (Surat Aali-`Imran, 3:67)
Wa maa kaana min ‘l-mushrikeen, he was not a mushrik, he was on Tawheed. If you are on the way of Tawheed, only wanting Allah (swt), He will make this world Jannah for you as He made the Fire salaam for Ibrahim. Mashaa-Allah, the dunya is on fire. You can still find bardan wa salaaman for you in the midst of fire.
Nimrood could not approach the fire to throw Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) in, so he made a catapult, manjaneeq, and didn’t know how to launch it because the fire was so strong. Finally when Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) fell in the middle of the fire, help came to him.
It is said that the angels of Heaven started to cry and shout, “Yaa Rabbee! Ibrahim!”
Allah said, “If you want to help him, go ask him what he wants.”
Sayyidina Jibreel (a) came down right away and said, “I am here to help you. Do you need anything?”
Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) said, “No.”
If your heart is inclined towards Allah (swt), no matter what fire you’re in, spiritual or physical, it does not matter as you will be bardan wa salaman, in a Jannah of roses, and your companions will be the angels!
Muslims and mu’mins fear nothing except their Lord. They only worry about their Lord’s displeasure, and that is the way to Jannah. If you are a mu’min, this world will be a Jannah for you. Nothing that is happening in this world will affect you, bad news or good news doesn’t matter when you are in Jannah in this world.
Allah (swt) will make this dunya a Jannah for you, but He also promised you something better on the other side. How do you go there if you are in the middle of Jahannam? Dunya is the Jahannam of your wants. Basically Allah (swt) created in dunya what makes you desire it. You desire everything in this world. To get what you desire, you have to go through fire. Trample on this one, hit this one, overcome this one, reach this one, steal from this one, lie to this one, hurt this one to get what you want. That is Jahannam, the dunya.
To get what they want, they eat, burn, and kill each other. That is human nature. If you want dunya, go get it!
When Sayyidina Adam (a) came to Earth, Allah (swt) sent Sayyidina Jibril (a) to him in the form of a human being. Sayyidina Adam (a) was going around checking where he was. He found a guy who looked just like him.
He asked, “Are you here, too?”
He said, “Yes, I’m here too.”
“Wow. Okay. What should we do? We should split this Earth. You go to this side and I'll go to that side.”
“Okay.”
They set up a barrier. “This is your side. This is my side.” Allah (swt) is showing us human nature, which likes to possess, so humans fight over it. Then Allah (swt) told Sayyidina Jibril to move the barrier a little bit into the land of Sayyidina Adam (a) and he noticed it.
He said, “No, this is not correct.”
Sayyidina Jibril (a) replied, “No, this is correct.”
They started to quarrel. Sayyidina Jibril (a) was able to put Sayyidina Adam (a) on his back because of angelic power but Sayyidina Adam kicked the border back.
If you want this dunya, if you run after it, you are going to hit a wall, another human being just like you. You want and he wants. It’s the same. Don’t run after the Jahannam of dunya. Allah (swt) has shown you what can happen if you let go your want for Allah (swt) and you turn towards dunya: you will become a Fir’aun or Nimrood of your time!
The way to happiness is to get out of Jahannam to the rivers of Jannah. How do you get out? Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) tells this story. Sayyidina Malik (a) was sent to find a person in Jahannam.
Allah (swt) said, “Yaa Malik. There is a servant of Mine in the midst of Jahannam calling Me, ‘Yaa Hannan. Yaa Mannan.’”
The root of hannaan is huniya, endless compassion for others. Mannan is the one who does good for you, maan.
He said to Sayyidina Malik (a), “Go find him.” He went into Jahannam and found him in a casket. He took him out of the casket and that person was totally black like charcoal. That is the darkness of Jahannam. He shook him once and broke off all of the chains. He shook him a second time and he removed all of the insects, scorpions, snakes, caterpillars, spiders, whatever crawled. Then he brought him to the door of Jannah.
That was because of the virtue and benefit of his dhikr, “Yaa Hannan, yaa Mannan.” When you make this dhikr, imagine yourself in the the hell of dunya, saying, “Yaa Rabbee! O Compassionate One! O The One Who grants favors! Get me out of this fire. Yaa Hannan. Yaa Mannan. Yaa Dayyan (The One Who rewards).”
That is on Yaumu ‘l-Qiyamah. You are in front of Jannah. He brings him to the door of Jannah where there are two rivers. This is the external meaning, but the internal meaning is when you are calling for dhikrullah, the angel Malik or your shaykh will grab you from the middle of Jahannam.
Why do you need a Waliyullah, to eat and drink with him? There is something more important they do. He grabs you from the middle of Jahannam in dunya and tells you, “O my son, come with me. Leave that.” He takes you out and frees you from the shackles and chains of your desires that chain you to dunya.
Do you have desires? Everybody has different desires. The Waliyullah grabs you from the fire of dunya, the darkness you are immersed in until you yourself have become dark. He grabs you, shakes you, and frees you from the desires of this world. Then you no longer desire what’s in this world.
Second, he takes away the venomous creatures and insects, your bad akhlaaq: jealousy, envy, hatred, anger, lust, greed and stinginess. These are crawl within you. The shaykh cleans you from the external chains and from the internal, venomous creatures. He takes you to the door of Jannah to the two rivers. When you say, “Yaa Hannan, yaa Mannan,” Yaa Rabbee, grant me Your Favors. O Compassionate One, rescue me from the fire of dunya, then He will send a malik, owner.
When you come to a Waliyullah, you say, “Yaa Sayyidee. I want baya`.” What is baya`? It means, “I will be your shadow. If you move right, I will move right. If you move left, I will move left.” You will be the shadow of the shaykh. The shadow follows the body. Have you seen a shadow on one side and the man on the other side? Wherever the shaykh turns, the shadow turns. That is what mureed means. “Yaa Sayyidee. I want to be your shadow.”
That is your request, the shaykh is going towards the sun, Allah’s Divine Presence. He takes along those who are following him correctly. If you are a shadow following the Waliyullah, Nabiyullah, or Khatmu l-Anbiya, Rasoolullah (s), he will take you to the door of Jannah, the Divine Presence.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) tells this story, but it has a spiritual meaning. When you stick to Dhikrullah, when you call Allah (swt) by His Holy Name ‘al-Mannan’ Allah (swt) says:
وَلِلَّهِ ٱلْأَسْمَآءُ ٱلْحُسْنَىٰ فَٱدْعُوهُ بِهَا وَذَرُوا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ يُلْحِدُونَ فِىٓ أَسْمَـٰٓئِهِۦ سَيُجْزَوْنَ مَا كَانُوا۟ يَعْمَلُونَ
The most Beautiful Names belong to Allah. so call on Him by them; but shun men who use profanity in His Names, for they will soon pay for what they do. (Surat al-A’raf, 7:180)
Fa lillahi Asmau ‘l Husna fad`oohu bihaa, call Him by His Holy Names. How do you get to the door of Paradise? [Audio cut…]
You attributed yourself Jannah (which makes you a zhaalim): that is not your role. Allah (swt) decides who goes to Jannah, not you.
He didn’t know what to say, so he said, “Do I have Jannah or not?” [Audio cut…]
Most of us approach sins. When you are about to commit it, do you fear Allah (swt) in your heart? Do you get scared of Allah (swt) or not? He said, “Yes I do, big time.” That is taqwa. Mashaa-Allah, all of us are muttaqee, big ones, muttaqoon. We approach sins and don’t even remember.
He said, “When I approach the sin, great fear comes into my heart.”
He said, “Yaa Amir al-Mu’mineen, then I guarantee you have two Jannahs, not one.”
He asked, “How?”
He said, “Allah (swt) says in Surah ar-Rahman, asta’eedhubhillah:
وَلِمَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِۦ جَنَّتَانِ
But for such as fear the time when they will stand before (the Judgment Seat of) their Lord, there will be two Gardens. (Surat ar-Rahman, 55:46)
Wa li man khaafa maqaama Rabbihi. The one who is afraid to stand in front of his Lord to give an account has two paradises. If you are afraid to stand in front of your Lord, Allah (swt) will give you two Paradises:
فِيهِمَا عَيْنَانِ تَجْرِيَانِ
In them (each) will be two springs flowing (freely). (Surat ar-Rahman, 55:50)
Feehimaa `aynaani tajreeyaan. There are two running rivers. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) said that Allah (swt) will bring the person from the Jahannam of dunya or Akhirah to Jannah. In the front there are two rivers you will bathe in. It means you will stand in front of Him. When you stand in front of somebody, do you see him or not? When you stand in front of the judge in court, do you see the judge or is he veiled? You see him. You will see Allah (swt) as He shows you.
That is why Rasoolullah (s) said: Allahumma ’rzuqna ladhatan nazhari ilaa wajhika ’l-kareem. “Yaa Rabbee! Give us the pleasure of gazing upon Your Noble Face.”
When you look at Him, slowly you will forget yourself. Do you find that sometimes when you are immersed in pleasure, you forget everything? Yes. Do you know what happened to those who looked at Sayyidina Yusuf (a)? They cut their hands. How? By looking. If you don’t know the story, read the Qur’an (in Surat al-Kahf). From the pleasure of looking at a beautiful human being, let alone Allah (swt), they cut themselves with knives.
When you look at Allah (swt), you will forget yourself as you are immersed in Divine Light, not seeing anything else. That is al-Fana, the first river. It is the river of Eternal Life, where there is nothing but Allah (swt). The second river is Baqaa. You will take on Eternity. First you enter the ocean of Hayatullah. There is nothing but Allah (swt), Al-Hayy. Then you enter the oceans of Ma`rifah and Hikmah. You become knowledgeable with His knowledge and become Rabbani.
Did you reach the first river yet? You come to the door of Jannah. The key is makhaafatullah, not fear that He will punish you, but fear that He will turn His Face away from you. That is why Rasoolullah (s) was asking to look at His Holy Face. He is in the tunnel of light. There are different versions of it. I am disappearing in the tunnel of light. After you say, “Yaa Hannan, yaa Mannan,” making Dhikrullah, after the Waliyullah takes you away from the Jahannam of dunya—social media, TikTok, YouTube, news, all trying to drag you into the Jahannam of dunya, so leave it and be busy with Dhikrullah!—that Waliyullah will break the chains, take away all the crawlers from your heart and put you in front of Allah’s Divine Presence, the true Jannah.
When you see the light, you will tell everybody goodbye and go into Bahr al-Hayy, the Ocean of Eternal Life. That is why Allah’s `Ismullah al-Adham is Al-Hayy Al-Qayyum. First you disappear into His Light and come back through His Knowledge.
That is what Awliyaullah went through. This is the way. If you can find that way, good. I don’t know if anyone can remember anything. I don’t even remember what I said, but I will leave you with one word. SubhaanAllah. This sums it up for all of us. Don’t they have Investing for Dummies, the yellow book, Islam for Dummies, Tasawwuf for Dummies? We are the dummies. Don’t say, “Masha'Allah, I have become smart.”
How do we reach the door where you go into that Light and come back Rabbani? What is Tasawwuf? Hadrat Ali (r) described Tasawwuf as wearing the dress of suf, wool. Three letters in suf: saad, waw, daad. Saad is the first letter, the second is waw and the third is faa. If you take this home, you will find the way. Wahabis are against Tasawwuf. They say Sufis put on the dress of wool. They do not mean it only externally, there is an internal meaning. The dummies don’t know. We don't know.
Sayyidina Ali (r) said, saad is the first letter of sidq, to be truthful, sincere. Sabr, safaa. If you say, “Yaa Rabbee, I want You,” what happens next? Allah (swt) will send you the trials. “You want Me? Let me see.” How many people get into problems and they turn back. They start yelling at Allah (swt) like Shaytan did. “Do you really want Me, do you really seek Me? Do you really want to be in the Divine Presence under My Lights, under My Throne, in My Jannah? Do you really want Me? If you do, sabr, sidq.”
“Yaa Rabbee, I really want you.” “Tomorrow I will send you somebody to smack you on the face. Are you patient? Sabr. I will send you an affliction. Are you patient? I will send you a divorce. Are you patient? I will send you a disease. Are you patient? I will send you to bankruptcy. Are you patient? I will send you hunger. I will send you fear.” That is in Surah al-Baqarah. “I will send you fear, and decrease in money and fruits. Are you patient? Give glad tidings to the patient ones.” The first letter is sad. When you say, “Yaa Rabbee. I want you. I am sadiq, telling the truth,” then patience, and then safaa. Saad is sidq, sabr, safaa and the waw is wud, love. You have to love Allah (swt) and His Messenger (s). You cannot reach Allah (swt) without love in your heart.
Sayyidina Ali (r) is telling you, first I am sincerely wanting You, then you have to have wud, love for Allah (swt) and His Messenger. You will reach Love Oceans and Allah (swt) will give you from His Love. The faa is Fanaa, to be faqeer, poor. From what? Poor from dunya. No more wants of dunya, only Allah (swt) is in your heart.
Before I came today, I shampooed my hair, put on perfume and cleaned the car. That was lovely to me from dunya. You are poor from dunya and you become for One. You enter that light tunnel and disappear. If you can remember the Sufi, what the letters stand for, you will find the way. Sayyidina Ali (r) summarized the way in these three letters. It is not by the mind, you will experience it. It starts with Dhikrullah. May Allah (swt) make you reach Fana. Fana means you are out of yourself and by your Lord.
Fanaaun `an an-nafs baqaa’un `inda ar-rabb. That’s what we are trying to reach. Awliyaullah take and they give as Rasoolullah (s) takes from Allah (swt) and he gives. May Allah (swt) make us from the Dhaakireen, those who make Dhikrullah. Make us from the ones who find Awliyaullah and get rid of the chains of the desires of dunya and the venomous creatures of the heart. May Allah (swt) allow us to take a bath in these two rivers.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, wa bi sirri Surat al-Fatihah.
https://sufilive.com/-We-Are-Seeking-the-Way-to-Eternal-Happiness-Mawlana-Shaykh-Nazim-8294.html
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