Oakland Zawiya

Murshid at-Tazkiyya

 

 

 

 

In the previous session we spoke about the spiritual guide of purification, murshid at-tazkiyyah, that he is the one who has purified himself and he has been given permission to purify his followers. And this is the second stage or second level of the murshid, as here are four levels of murshid and the highest is the fourth.

So we explained some of his specialty and we continue today to say that “he has to know all the awliyaullah, all these pious sincere servants of Allah swt that they are the inheritors of prophets, and as we know there are 124,000 prophets as ibn `Abbas mentioned in the Tafsir of Surat al-`Araaf.

And so every wali is inheriting from one prophet. Every wali is inheriting from a prophet. Because all these prophets came before Sayyidina Muhammad (s). Although Allah said to them, in Holy Qur'an, that if the Prophet comes in your time you have to be a follower to him.

 

 

 

So all of them came before and the Prophet (s) is seal of messengers and wrapped everything together.

This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. [Al-Ma'idah 5:3]

 

“Today I completed to you,” Allah is saying in Holy Qur'an, and that is [addressed] to Prophet (s) and that khitaab, address, is to the Prophet (s) and when Qur’an says something it has a deep meaning. It not just as we take it today, that “today we have completed for you your religion.” But it is an announcement that we are completing the religion for all time and that is addressing all that came before - that Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is the completion of the religion for all time. Your religion was not completed. It needs the Holy Qur'an to be completed. It needs Sayyidina Muhammad to be completed. That is why they come behind each other. Always the one comes first as like for example you have a grand father, who is going to inherits from him? Your father, his son and then you will inherit from your father. So it goes from one to another.

So what your grandfather accumulated is not like what you accumulated. You accumulated more than your grandfather, because everything comes to you. Then his treasures and valuables end in your hand and then it ends in the hand of the one after you.

So as Sayyidina Muhammad (s) was the beginning and at the same time he was at the end. At the beginning Allah was giving to the Prophet (s) from Allah to prophet from prophet to anbiyaullah. It has to have that lineage, they cannot jump. Even a nabi cannot jump, it must have a certain discipline. That is why Allah swt said “If the Prophet comes in your time you will follow him.”

So allah is sending a message to all prophets, that without Sayyidina Muhammad (s) the religion is not complete.

That is a message from Allah that Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is the one completing the religion. That is why he said,

All prophets will come to the Prophet Muhammad (s) on Judgment Day. Why will they come to him? Because with Sayyidina Muhammad (s) everything is completed. So completion of the religion means that the weight, it is completed by the Prophet (s), but before the Prophet (s) came 124,000 minus one. Because he is the last one. So all these different prophets all their knowledge ended up where? In Sayyidina Muhammad (s). And he is on top of it. So Sahaaba, the Prophet (s) gave them according to their level, their capacity, from different prophets.

So that is why the Prophet (s) said, “The scholars of my Ummah are like prophets of Bani Israel -`Ulama Umattee ka anbiya Bani Israel.” You have to put things together. Not normal scholars, but those who are murshids, they are like prophets of Bani Israeel. Not in their rank. Because they are prophets. And there are Sahaaba they have different rank, and `ulama have different ranks. But in knowledge they are inheritors, they will inherit from different prophets according to different level.

So scholars, which means the awliya who are the pious sincere people, the spiritual guides, will inherit from different prophets. The highest will inherit from the Prophet (s).

So that is why al-Busayri said, “kullun min Rasulullah multamisan - Everyone is taking from the Prophet (s).” kullun means? That everyone means including prophets. That kullun doesn’t mean group of people but it means everyone, before or after, they are seeking help of Sayyidina Muhammad (s).

So he said the murshid of tazkiyyat, the murshid who purifies you from the destruction of your ego, you know our ride a horse, the ego is riding us today, whatever the ego wants we do.

So that murshid has power on your ego to eliminate yakoonu lahu feehi malakatu `ilmu jami` al-awliya. In him, he is the expert, malaka in Arabic, yaanee he has a power that he will know all the knowledge all awliyaullah what they know. Because every wali inheriting from the Prophet (s). So these four levels of murshids are in the line of inheriting from the Prophet (s) directly, where we are speaking about the second level.  He is able to receive whatever is in hearts of pious people and saints, he is able to pull it out and look at it. And that means he is able to understand every wali and to know his name and to know from which prophet he is inheriting.

And that is why we explained about grand Grandshaykh Shaykh Sharafuddin ad-daghestani, and how he went into secret of Surat al-An`am and he was pulling out from it the names of the awliyaullah, because he is a guide, a murshid, and the secret of each prophet they are inheriting.

He knows their names. That is not easy. He knows their name not what their parents call them but the name that Allah gave them in the Divine Presence. those are the names seven that Allah gave to each person. Fee yawma alastu bi rabbikum qaaloo bala.

What is your name according to the seven diff levels.

So when he was pulling these names, grand Grandshaykh Sharafuddin, when he was pulling these names it was very hard on his heart and after three months he told Grandshaykh Abdullah that he is leaving this dunya and he died after that.

So the shaykh in second level has to know all the names of these awliya and he has to know all the knowledge they are receiving from every wali. That means he is accompanying them all. As if he can be with you and you and you all at the same time. He can be in 124,000 images, reflections, appearing in front of all these pious people all at the same time taking from them.

Irshad is not something easy, as we are seeing in the flyers they are distributing. `Allama, `allama, mufti, pir, then the name. Hazrat, `allama, mufti, That means they are becoming higher than the murshid.

“And he has to raise up his followers to his level.”

You cannot say something to your followers and you tell them something that make them, you know when someone is hungry and he is eating in front of you. What will happen to you? No just hungry.  Before you eat, your stomach will begin to move and the saliva will drip down from your mouth.

So when the wali say something he encourage that student to have desire to reach that level. So that wali will begin to give shahwat to have that thing. That is why when the Prophet (s) began to describe the levels of paradise, that is why the Sahaaba were all ready to give their lives for him.

You have to give, when the wali beings to describe these levels of paradise and levels of different saints, gives them the taste he gives them the desire to go to these stations. That is the duty of the murshid. That means on day of death, they will see all these ready before them. Like there are people today,

Like on day of death, when father is dying, he has a box fullof jewelry. He will give you his special jewels or grants, at a special time. Not during his life. How much are the son or daughter ready to take it, they are happy to take it.

So when the mureed dies, the wali must present his mureed with all these treasures that the shaykh was speaking about in dunya and the student was hearing it they must give at the time of death.

So Grandshaykh said, “When one of my students dies, I am obliged by Prophet to appear to my student at the moment of death and to talqeenuh, to put on his tongue, talqeen, the shahada. Sayyidina Azraeel will not take his soul except with his presence and with prophet permission they call on the Prophet (s) request and depend on the level of the mureed, then the Prophet (s) is so… yaanee he will not let one from his Ummah to die without his presence to make sure that one gets to Paradise.

Don’t think that Allah dressed the Prophet (s) with that mercy for nothing. The Prophet (s) will never let any follower to leave the dunya, whoever said la ilaha ill-Allah Muhammadun Rasulullah, Azraeel will be delayed until the Prophet (s) appears before him and the follower will see him directly, and the prophet will take rsponsibilty in front of allah to clean that person and they send him to grave.

There was one man in the time of the Prophet (s) that people don’t like him. He is,… we don’t want to explain what he was but he was very bad. When the month of Rajab comes, he locks himself in his room and he has a du`a that he reads it, he keeps reading it day and night and it is Allahumma innee Astaghfiruka min kulli ma tubtu `anhu ilaika thumma `udtu feehi. …. fa ayyuma `abdin min `ibadika aw amatin min ima’ika…[1] until the end, it is a du`a.

So every Rajab he close the door and recites that du`a. No one likes him. But he does that du`a. So when he died they didn’t bury him in the Muslim graveyard the children took him and threw his body in a well, not a very deep well, a dry well. And after they threw him there, Sayyidina Jibreel came to the Prophet (s) and said, “O Muhammad (s) Allah send you salaam, and says to you, today one of My awliya, My saints died. Go and wash him and give him wudu put the kafan (shroud) on him and bury him.”

So the Sahaaba were surprised. And the Prophet (s) went, took him out and cleaned him and washed him and put the kafan on him and then they were going to Jannat al-Baqi` and the Prophet (s) was walking on his toes, not on his complete feet. And Sayyidina Abu Bakr (s) said, “O Prophet! This is strange.” And the Prophet (s) said, “No, there is no place to put my feet, angels are filling this place.”

So don’t think there is no mercy. There is mercy for everyone. Don’t think something you did or your son or daughter did, will not be forgiven. When you ask repentance Allah will forgive.

Because he died in Rajab, which was the month he was in seclusion and he was reading that du`a in Rajab.

So the Sahaaba were surprised and asked the Prophet (s). And Jibreel came and said, “Ask the man’s daughter.” Of course the Prophet (s) knows but he has to say to explain to the Sahaba. So he went and asked her and she said, “my father said, ‘there are 12 months of the year, all of them are for me but one is for Allah.’”

That one was a pirate, a burglar, a robber, finding people in the jungle and stealing from them, then sending them away. This was his business. One day he stole that du`a from someone. He said, “O that is good it came in time; I am going to read it.” That du`a from one wali, might be one Sahabi. So he was reading that du`a. Eleven months for him and one month for Allah. For that du`a, it means he was repenting, that is what it meant. For that du`a he sent him to paradise and made him a wali.

What do you think about you? You are doing your prayers, you are fasting Ramadan, you are believing in Prophet (s). You are trying to purify yourself and trying to reach maqaam al-Ihsan and following Allah’s awliya and their guidance. What is better than that. So Allah will not let them to leave dunya without saying the shahada in presence of Prophet (s). He is witness on Judgment Day. So he will not leave one of the Ummah without witness his shahada.

 

w`Alamoo anna feekum Rasulullah. You have to know the Prophet is within you. [Al-Hujurat 49:7]

So Prophet is shahid on us.

So all this was to explain how the murshid must take his students up to his level. Because he made their saliva to come out, meaning their desire, to come out, through the nice stories he is telling them about realities. So he must raise them to his level.

He must have power that he can take in one moment that he looks at his student, because the shaykh looks at his student in 24 hours three times at least. Wherever you are, you took baya` from your shaykh, say Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, let us say we are speaking about this order now. Might be shuyukh in other orders say what they want to say. So in this order Mawlana Shaykh is responsible in front of the Prophet (s) to look at what you are doing and look at you three times.

And when he looks at you he doesn’t give you candies. He tries to give you did. Something to see if you arepatient or not patient.

You come here and sit here.

So he likes, now he is looking at us, that is why he put these two troublemakers together to see what will happen. So you sit here, that is ok. So three times he has to look at you and three times when he looks at you he raises your level. And he has to take away, as he is saying daf` al-adawat al-arba`a. He has power to pullout the four enemies that are within you what are the four enemies? nafs, dunya, hawa, shaytan. Nafs is ego, dunya is desire for material world, hawa is desire, and shaytan is Satan. Everyone is carrying these in himself. Maqaam al-Ihsan is to be able to purify yourself from their control. To remove that control from oneself. Now they control us. So what is duty of murshid. To make you to control them. So that is why has to look at you three times daily.

And by taking the four enemies from you he has to throw in your heart az-zuhd at-taam. The highest level of zuhd, in dunya. Like the asceticism of Ibrahim ibn al-Adham, that is one of biggest awliyaullah who is buried in Damascus. That is what he has to make sure, and to make sure the followers drop from their eyes the love of dunya.

Today we cannot drop from our eyes the love of dunya. Some people especially those who are in tariqah, in Sufi orders, and especially those who are following the footsteps, or following Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, he throws in their hearts to drop the love of dunya. That is why you see many of them humble. They are not looking to build high rises. You ask them what are they doing? I am handyman. I am doctor. But he is generous; he gives his money in the way of Allah. He does his best, he works, then gives in way of Allah. One is a bank director, but he is giving in way of Allah.

So you can see among these students of murshids at different levels the love of dunya has dropped from their eyes. And it depends on the level of the student.

And he has to have the power of purifying - that is why we called him the spiritual guide of purification - he has to purify his student of laziness. You cannot be zaahid and lazy. Because  today they think that zaahid means to be lazy. Sitting in corner. No you must be active, doing everything and doing your awraad.

This one you can see him all day doing something. Never stopping. Without asking anyone, he finds something to do. This one the same. Without asking anyone.

But in different way. Everyone Allah gave him specialty in a different way.

And also that special guide of purification has to take away all kinds of imagination and hallucinations and gossips against the others from his heart. He has to clean the student of the gossips and hallucination. And he has to guide in the way of Shariah. You cannot guide anyone outside the Shariah. It is not accepted. If anyone is murshid and is not following Shariah then we reject him. Murshid has to comply with Shariah.

So his wife has to follow Shariah and his children have to follow Shariah. Now if someone of his close family is not doing this, then he has to renounce the member of his family as not following Shari`ah and say, “I am innocent of what he is doing.” At least for his students to know. That is to clear to his students.

Like Sayyidina Jamaluddin al-Ghumuqi al-Husayini, one time was going to the masjid and Allah sent him a wife that always gives him a hard time. Always. So one Jumu`ah, going to the mosque, dressing his nice dress, as Allah said, khudhoo zeenatakum inda kulli masjid,… take your best attire to the mosque and also to have a good heart. Not only physical, but also spiritual to every mosque. So she asked him, “Where are you going?” He said, “I am going to mosque.” She said, “No stay with me.” He said, “It is jumu`ah, I have to go it is Allah’s Shariah.” So he kept quiet and left the house. Not arguing. And as he went past the house she brought all the laundry water and poured on his head.

That is a Golden Chain wali. That is why Grandshaykh said, that out of every 1000 wali, might be only two of their families who will understand the importance of their husband and the rest don’t understand. They don’t know they are wali. Like this lady, his wife, pours on him dirty water. And not only the wife, children also, don’t know the father is a wali. That is why they behave as they do.

So the wali’s duty is to tell you, that is why there are many pirs that they call themselves: `allama, Hazrat, mufti, pir, sayyid, their wives, they are nothing. But people have been .. what can you say, people are fascinated with their ways, but these people they don’t have really have a connection, spiritual power. So they do whatever they like.

So the problem is that you have to be a murshid, means you have to carry all these kinds of characteristics which is heavy characteristics and kind of discipline. But we are asking Allah to guide us and to guide everyone and to guide every murshid who believes he is murshid but did not reach all these levels to reach these levels.

 

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