A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen, wa 's-salaatu wa 's-salaamu `alaa Ashrafi 'l-Mursaleena Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin, wa `alaa Aalihi wa Sahbihi `ajma`een.
Wa man tabi`'ahu bi 'ihsaani 'ilaa yawmi 'd-deen wa `alaa saa'iri 'l-Anbiya'i wa 'l-Mursaleen, wa 'l-`Awliya, wa `ibaadillah as-saaliheen, wa `alayna ma`ahum ajma`een, yaa Arhama 'r-Rahimeen, wa laa hawla wa laa quwatta illa billahi 'l-`Aliyyu 'l-`Azheem.
Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. `Azeez Allah.
Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Kareem Allah.
Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Subhaan Allah.
Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Sultan Allah.
Dastoor, yaa Sayyidee yaa Sultanu 'l-Anbiya (s). Dastoor, yaa Sayyidi yaa Sultan al-Awliya (q). Dastoor, yaa Sayyidee wa Mawlay (q). Madad yaa RijaalAllah (q).
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.
Few words, inshaa-Allah, from the words of our master, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q), al-Qubrusi al-Haqqani an-Naqshbandi, may Allah (swt) bless his soul and raise him higher and higher, sanctify his secret and allow us to take some of his lights. Their characteristic is kareem (generosity). They are kiraam.
All Awliyaullah are generous, noble ones. If you come to a generous one and you are in need of something, he will not deprive you of it, he will give. That's why we come to Awliyaullah, to take from their knowledge and wisdom.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) once said: “Şeyhliğin kıtından bizi şeyh diyorlar. From the scarcity (rarity) of shuyookh, they think we are shuyookh.” Same with us. We are not Awliyaullah, we are all pretenders. But, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) reminds us of the Hadith, “Whoever imitates a people is from them.” We are trying to follow the Awliya way, but only to look like them with a beard and turban. Actually, our outside doesn't look like them, and our inside doesn't look like them. May Allah (swt) forgive us.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) is saying, Tahaaratu 'l-jasad muhimma wa laakinna 'l-aham tahaaratu 'l-baatin.” To be clean, good-looking and pure on the outside is important. You cannot pray if you are not clean, you cannot approach the mosque or the Qur'an if you don't take ghusl: you have to be clean. That is outside, but more important is the inside.
Let's look at ourselves. How is our outside compared? Leave Rasoolullah (s), we cannot be at his (s) level. How is our outside compared to Awliyaullah? We can look like them, put on this and that, but how about the inside? Are you pure on the inside as Awliyaullah? That's why we come to their majlis, to hear their wisdom.
وَثِيَابَكَ فَطَهِّرْ
And purify your inner self. (Surat al-Muddaththir, 74:4)
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) reminded us of a verse in Suratu 'l-Muddaththir: “Fa thiyaabaka fa-tahhir. Make your clothes clean."
يَـٰبَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ قَدْ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكُمْ لِبَاسًا يُوَٰرِى سَوْءَٰتِكُمْ وَرِيشًا وَلِبَاسُ ٱلتَّقْوَىٰ ذَٰلِكَ خَيْرٌ ذَٰلِكَ مِنْ ءَايَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَذَّكَّرُونَ
O Children of Adam! We have provided you with clothing to cover your bodies, and for luxury. But the clothing of piety, that is best. These are some of God's Revelations, so that they may take heed. (Surat al-`Araaf, 7:26)
Not only the outside, it also means the inside, libaasu 't-taqwa. “Wa libaasu 't-taqwa dhaalika khayr.” The libaas, garment of righteousness, piety, purity, dhaalika khayr, is more important. We try as much as we can to clean ourselves on the inside. That's why `ilm is important.
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ إِذَا قُمْتُمْ إِلَى ٱلصَّلَوٰةِ فَٱغْسِلُوا۟ وُجُوهَكُمْ …
O you who believe! When you rise to pray, wash your faces. (Surat al-An`am, 5:6)
Qur'an al-Kareem has come to clean our inside. First, the fard of wudu, when you prepare to stand for prayer, the first thing you have to wash is wahj, your face. Awliyaullah have said there is a physical face and there is a face of the heart that has been polluted with all the desires of the ego.
That is dirtiness, najaasat. When we wash our face to make wudu, we also have to wash our hearts of the desires of the ego. Awliyaullah teach us how to clean our hearts from impurities.
وَٱتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ ٱبْنَىْ ءَادَمَ بِٱلْحَقِّ إِذْ قَرَّبَا قُرْبَانًا فَتُقُبِّلَ مِنْ أَحَدِهِمَا وَلَمْ يُتَقَبَّلْ مِنَ ٱلْـَٔاخَرِ قَالَ لَأَقْتُلَنَّكَ قَالَ إِنَّمَا يَتَقَبَّلُ ٱللَّهُ مِنَ ٱلْمُتَّقِينَ
And relate to them the true story of Adam's two sons: when they gave an offering and it was accepted from one of them, but it was not accepted from the other. He (Cain) said, "I will kill you." He (Abel) said, "God accepts only from the righteous." (Surat al-An`am, 5:27)
Allah (swt) accepted the Qurban (sacrifice) of Abel, and not the sacrifice of Cain, who was angry and said, “I'm going to kill you.” What did Abel say? “Innamaa yataqabbalullahu mina 'l-muttaqeen. Allah (swt) only accepts from the pure ones.”
What was his qurban to the Lord of Heaven? Allah (swt) accepted his sacrifice. It is said that he gave the fattest camel he had. Abel was a shepherd, Cain was a farmer. Cain gave the worst of his grains and said, “This is for You.”
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) said the camel represents khuluqun dhameem. Every animal represents a bad manner, a lowly characteristic. I don't know all of them, I heard from my teacher. He said the camel represents arrogance, that, “I am better, higher, a big one, and all these are little ones."
To be accepted by the Lord of Heavens, you have to offer your arrogance and say, “Yaa Rabbee, O my Lord! I want You to accept me. I will give away my arrogance to be accepted in Your Presence.”
That's the first thing a Believer has to wash off from his heart. If you want to be in prayer taahir (pure), physically you take wudu. But if your heart has arrogance—if you think “I should be the imam, the mu'adhdhin, the munshid (reciter, singer), this and that, because I am better,”—Abel gave that up and Allah (swt) accepted it from him. So, if you want to be accepted by Allah (swt), O mu'min, O Muslim, O mureed or whatever you are, the first thing you have to wash off from your heart is arrogance, love of being number one, being the best. That was Shaytan's dream.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) is saying, every day you have to learn, your knowledge has to increase until you die, because Rasoolullah (s) said, "Whose two days are the same (without having learned something new) is losing.” Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) is asking, Maa huwa `ilm ad-daroori? What is the essential knowledge we have to learn that increases daily? Look how Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) explains in such nice words that everybody can accept, because not everybody can read a Hadith and the books of deen and understand.
Mawlana is asking, if you want to get closer to your Lord, what knowledge must you acquire? An ya`rifa 'l-`abd man 'Lladhee yuhibbullah wa Rasooluh wa maa ladhee yakrahahullahu wa Rasooluh? “The servant must know what Allah (swt) and His Messenger like and what Allah (swt) and His Messenger dislike.”
Can you do that, O mu'min? Whenever you attempt to do something, you have to ask yourself, “Does my Lord like this? Does Rasoolullah (s) like this?” If you get the answer 'yes,' go ahead, you will be rewarded. If the answer comes 'no,' Allah (swt) dislikes it, Rasoolullah (s) dislikes it, then stop. That is ta`ah (obedience) and ma`siyah (disobedience). It's as simple as that. There is no need for giant minds to absorb this.
إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَـٰتِنَا وَٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ عَنْهَا لَا تُفَتَّحُ لَهُمْ أَبْوَٰبُ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَلَا يَدْخُلُونَ ٱلْجَنَّةَ حَتَّىٰ يَلِجَ ٱلْجَمَلُ فِى سَمِّ ٱلْخِيَاطِ وَكَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِى ٱلْمُجْرِمِين
Those who reject Our Revelations and are too arrogant to uphold them, the doors of Heaven will not be opened for them, nor will they enter Paradise until the camel passes through the eye of the needle. Thus We repay the guilty. (Surat al-`Araaf, 7:40)
When we obey Allah (swt), He promised eternal happiness. When a human disobeys their Creator, Allah promised punishment and suffering. We have to be careful about arrogance. If you put that turban on and say, “I'm following a great master,” you have to put arrogance down. Why? “The doors of Heaven will not open to that unbeliever. until the camel goes through the eye of the needle.”
Until your arrogance shrinks to a negligible amount that you can go through the eye of the needle, then the doors of Heaven will open. So work on that. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) is teaching us. May Allah (swt) make us work on bringing our arrogance down to tawaadu` (humility).
It is said a Wali was worshiping at night. He got tired and slept. In his dream, he saw as if Yawmu 'l-Qiyamah had come and as if people were being pulled to giving their account. He saw some people going to Jannah, some people going to Naar, punishment. He went to Jannah and asked the people, “What did you do to achieve entering Paradise?” They said, Ta`atu 'r-Rahman wa ma`asiyatu 'sh-shaytaan. "Obedience to The Merciful (swt) and disobedience to Satan.” He then went to the door of Jahannam and asked, “How did you enter the Fire?” They said, Ma`siyatu 'r-Rahman wa ta`atu 'sh-shaytaan." By disobedience to The Merciful (swt) and obedience to Satan.” This is the litmus test, no need for more.
As long as you ask yourself, “Would Allah and Rasoolullah (s) like what I'm doing?” If you get the answer yes, you are an obedient one, you are taqee, on taqwa. You are avoiding Their discontentment. This is how you can measure, and the first thing we have to work on is arrogance. May Allah (swt) make us break it down. Don't be a camel. Try to squeeze yourself through that eye of the needle!
May Allah (swt) forgive us and make us from those who lower themselves in humility, in kindness to others. Rasoolullah's baatin was humble, as was the Awliyaullah. Our inside has to match our outside. Some people pretend they're humble, they are trying, but they are arrogant inside, it is not matching. That is not acceptable.
May Allah (swt) forgive us. I think it's enough. So, be sure when you take wudu the face is washed and also the face of the heart is washed from the badness of your ego.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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