After Dhuhr
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.
Ati`oollaha wa ati`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)
Allah (swt) said to obey Him, obey His Prophet (s), and obey those on authority. It means obedience is important. And to obey, is not so easy. Its easy to obey yourself, but it is difficult to obey others. Everyone is under the control of himself or herself, because whatever the self says, we do. Allah said,
فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا
Fa alhamahaa fujoorahaa wataqwaahaa.
And its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right. (Surat ash-Shams, 91:8)
Allah inspired the self what is good for it and what is not good. Many people come and ask advice, "Is this good or not?" and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim and Grandshaykh said that whatever you want to do, always think about it through your mind, if your mind says, "Its okay," do it. If your mind says, "No, its wrong, its bad," then stop it. Allah gave us a scale, a balance, to balance the good and to balance the bad.
One time, the Shaykh said that there are eight hundred bad characteristics. I was surprised. How can you count eight hundred bad characteristics? How many can you count one, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty? Like: lying, cheating, deceiving, backbiting, making confusion, hate, anger, rebelliousness, you can count but.
(Connection disrupted.)
...Grandshaykh `AbdAllah (q) ordered Mawlana Shaykh to go into seclusion in Jordan at that time; (asks Hajjah Naziha) how old was your father then? Around thirty-five or thirty-six years of age. He said, "Everyday I had a notebook in which I wrote throughout my seclusion, and whenever an inspiration came about a bad characteristic, I wrote it." Those who are asking advice on what to do, or to improve and to feel energy in themselves and open centers, or to do all kinds of good actions to benefit everyone; you have to follow this. So he said, "Whenever an inspiration came about a bad characteristic, I wrote it. In my seclusion of forty days, I was able to write one hundred and sixty-seven bad characteristics." This is too much! He was able to do this because when someone in seclusion is able to empty their heart from this worldly life, and give a possibility to themselves to think about the goodness of the other life, spiritual life, the life of the soul, then they will be inspired from the soul because they are two different bodies. Then you can tell the mistakes that the body is doing through these bad characteristics. Your soul is pure. Allah (swt) said:
وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي وَمَا أُوتِيتُم مِّن الْعِلْمِ إِلاَّ قَلِيلاً قَلِيلاً
wa yasa'loonak `ani'r-rooh quli 'r-roohu min amri rabbee wa maa uteetum min al-`ilmi illa qaleelan.
Say, "The soul, (O Muhammad), is from the affair of your Lord, but what you have been given of knowledge is very little (O men)." (17:85)
"Say the soul of people is from My Own Words." It means that all the souls of human beings are heavenly. The body is from Earth, so the soul is always stronger than the body. Because the soul is heavenly and the body is earthly, so it inspires you about what is wrong. Those who ask about what to do, they have to sit in their homes when their family is sleeping or at night, sit by yourself and cover yourself with a sheet and there you can connect your heart to your shaykh, from the shaykh to Prophet (s), from Prophet (s) to Divine Presence; and then recite the dhikr that is the key to Paradise. Prophet (s) said the key to Paradise is laa ilaaha illa-Llah. Muftahul jannah is laa ilaaha illa-Llah , and then begin to recite,
Allah Allah Allah..or Laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, repeatedly, the same way I am saying, very nice, not high. laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah... (continues), and meditate on it. You will begin to experience inspirations when you are focusing on what is good and what is bad. On one page write the good inspirations, and on one page write the bad characteristics, and then continue: laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah (tasbih). Think about the good ones and the bad ones. (Dhikr ensues.)
Okay, during dhikr, what did you think was good or bad? Okay, I will repeat. laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah....(tasbih). (Mawlana pints to mureeds.) Okay, write it, what is your thought? (Someone else) What was your inspiration? (Fear.) You? (Envy.) You? (Not paying attention.) Of course something will come, so you write. You? (Arrogance, fear of others.) Of course "fear of others," that is why seclusion cannot be made with more than one person. When you are with everyone, if there is bad energy you get it; that is why the self become afraid, thinking, "I don't want to have a problem." But the highest level of sainthood is what we call in Arabic, "khalwati jalwati." It means you can be by yourself and can be highly enlightened, and at the same time you can be with people and it will not effect you, and you will still be highly enlightened.
An example is, ocean water tastes salty and fresh (river) water tastes sweet, but the sweet water goes to the ocean and becomes salty. You cannot mix with those who are salty or you will become salty. You have to keep with those who are sweet. Saints remain sweet in fresh or salty water and they will not be affected.
I will give you an example from Holy Qur'an, a scientific discovery that Prophet (s) mentioned 1400 years ago. Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur'an:
مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ يَلْتَقِيَانِ
Maraja al-bahrayni yaltaqiyaani.
He has let free the two bodies of flowing water, meeting together. (Ar-Rahmaan, 55:19)
Allah made the two oceans or seas to come together, to each other. For example, this is the Mediterranean Sea and this is the Atlantic Sea, or Atlantic and Pacific (Mawlana places his hands next to each other), and they don't meet. Allah said in Holy Qur'an they come together but they don't mix. He said:
بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌ لَّا يَبْغِيَانِ
Baynahumaa barzakhun laa yabghiyaan.
Between them is a barrier which they do not transgress. (Ar-Rahmaan, 55:20)
There is a quarantine between them so they don't mix. Between them, there is water also, but it blends with both sides. So this is a verse from the Holy Qur'an. Scientists today have found this to be true. When two oceans meet, between them is a quarantine zone; the fish from Atlantic ocean or the Mediterranean ocean or Pacific with Indian ocean, cannot go straight to the second side, they will die. But they go in that quarantine for sometime, and after being there for sometime, they acclimatise their bodies, and then they pass to the other side. Like a sick person, if he is contaminated, they put him in a quarantine until he recovers. It is the same like this fish. 1400 years ago the Qur'an mentioned this and now they have discovered it. If you get my book; The Approach of Armageddon from Amazon.com; you can see a lot that I have explained there. I gave only an example that awliyaaullah can be here and there, but you cannot. That is why its correct that you have fear, because you don't want bad energy reflected on you. That is why the best time for seclusion is before midnight, or one or two hours before before sunrise or the Fajr prayer.
If you do that and meditate with dhikrullah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah... all angels and jinns around that area, in that time, will make dhikr with you: Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, and thinking, connecting with your heart, and focusing everything within your heart connecting it all towards Allah (swt). Then with all these nice angels, a very nice smell will begin to come, like perfume. Like when you are playing some nice music, and people who are passing by come in because they like that music. What do you think; when you say "Allah", it is a very beautiful music that comes out of it, is heavenly and attracts angels. Prophet (s) said there are angels, yatufoona fee turuqaat yatalamasoona halaqu ’dh-dhikr (narrated Abu Hurayrah). They roam the streets looking for circles of people doing dhikr and they sit with them. So when you are doing dhikr by yourself or with your family, three, four, or a hundred people, angels will come, because they like that musical sound and they will say, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah. They will inspire in your heart what you like to learn and they will give you what is good and they will begin to tell you what is bad; they will tell you in your heart.
So I don't want to take much longer than this, as we are leaving tomorrow. You take this advice with you and wake up two hours before sunrise, then sit and do this for forty days: laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah (tasbih continuously), laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah. In forty days you will see miracles! You will see that many doors are opened in your heart and you can feel their presence.
May Allah (swt) guide us and forgive us, and may Prophet (s) intercede for us and may our shaykh, Sultan al-Awliya, keep guiding us and may Allah give him long life and give us long life, to see Sayyidina Mahdi (a). Al-Fatihah.
Every meeting has an end, every time there is separation, but there will be another meeting. So we hope to return soon and see you another time. Allah knows that all of us, you and I, came here for the love of Allah, for the love of the Prophet (s), and love of our shaykh. I thank those who gave their time, and those who arranged and were part of that arrangement, and alhamdulillah they also respected us. May Allah (swt) make you happy in your lives, all of you who participated in this program. Now we have been here for eight days. Alhamdulillah, these are heavenly days. So we will see you next time and thank you very much, all the ladies and all the men, and we wish for you a happy and prosperous life.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.