Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem
Nawaytu'l-arba`een, nawaytu'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu'l-khalwah, nawaytu'l-riyaada, nawaytu's-salook, nawaytu'l-`uzlah lillahi ta`ala fee hadha'l-masjid
First of all may Allah swt bless the soul of Grandshaykh and give Mawlana Shaykh long life and give us long life with him to see Mahdi .
Why are people living, for what reason? People they say, "O enjoy life because it is one time, one life. Enjoy as much as you like.” So they enjoy food; they enjoy pleasures, they enjoy as much as they like. These people have no wisdom because Allah swt said, "this dunya doesn’t weigh the wing of a mosquito.” To Allah it is not considered as important as the wing of a mosquito or even less than a wing of a mosquito. The most important is the life after death. So those who have even an atom of wisdom they have to say, "we have to enjoy akhira; we have to get pleasure from akhira; we have to build our akhira, we have to do for akhira.” Not for dunya, dunya, dunya. This is our problem today around the world, today and before and before and before. That is why Allah sent us messengers to tell us, “Enough is enough. No need more.” And He sent to us, that is why He called him the Seal of the messengers (s). Why did He call him Seal of the messengers (s)? It means he is closest to the last days.
He (s) is coming to say, "I came to wrap us the message.” There is no more message.
The Prophet (s) is coming and He is the first to be created and the last to be sent, to wrap everything up and to say, "this is it and don’t look for more. This is the package I am bringing for you.”
Today they have all these packages on the internet, traveling packages. Where they take you these travel packages? Vacation. What kind of vacation? Dunya vacation. They don’t have any package except dunya package. Very few package for hajj and `umrah, mostly dunya packages. And where do people go mostly? Dunya package. People say, "we have to have a holiday.” What is a holiday? “We have to go for holiday.” Already you called it holy and you want it to be not holy. So where they take their holidays? They go to the beaches, that is for them holiday. That is holy day or holy hell? That might be pleasurely desire for Shaytan, for sure, you get pleasure from it. But what will happen to your pleasure in akhira.
So we are struggling. You have to know there is a struggle between evil and good. From the beginning of the world there is struggle between evil and good.
Sayyidina Adam has two sons: one is Cain and one is Abel (Habil and Caabil). What did Cain do? He killed his brother. For why? For dunya pleasure. He didn’t want his brother to have more sincerity, because his brother is more sincere than him he killed him. So from day one there is a struggle between good and evil.
Then Sayyidina Nuh . There was struggle trying to bring them to Allah swt. And what happened. Allah supported the good. And brought the flood. Then Sayyidina Ibrahim . What happened?
Are you struggling in your life? Yes. Everyone is struggling. Even children want to struggle. What do they do? They don’t want to study. They want to be lazy. …no, no, no, no, I want to play, to have fun.
I was invited in
So when we finished the dinner, I asked him. He said, "no, no it is not important.” I said, "no, tell me.” He said, "they clogged the bathroom.” I said, "Who clogged it?” He said, “I don’t know.” And people they need to make wudu and it is clogged and there is only one bathroom in the house.
So finally I said, "OK, we pray,” and everyone prayed, we prayed Isha in his house. Then I called some people and I asked them. They said, "The children clogged it.” Then I called the most troublemaker, I know him. I said, "Why they clogged the bathroom?” He said, "it is fun.” That is his answer. What did they put in it? Bottles. Filled bottles. They want to clog the bathroom so no one can use the bathroom. For them it was fun.
So this is our behavior, it is reflected in our children. So we have childrens’ characters, all of us, but we are struggling between good and evil. Our nature is made up of that. Our psychology is a struggle between good and evil. We do good, or we do evil, we don’t know which way we have to go. Everyone, everyone, don’t tell me “no!” Everyone has a complaint against someone or someone has a complaint against you, yourself. There is no one who has no complaint against the other, you will find hundreds of criticism about others and others about you.
Awliyaullah they don’t criticize unless if they are ordered. If they are ordered then yes, because then they carry your sins, they carry your problems. When they criticize you and humiliate you, with permission from their shaykhs, with permission from the Prophet (s), or else they will never open their mouths in order to carry your burdens. Grandshaykh may Allah bless his soul, said, " when I am angry with someone and I shout at him, I am not shouting at his soul, but I am shouting to carry all his burdens on me, I take it.”
So, but us, we are shouting at each other, because we are not awliya, we cannot do like that. So everyone has something against the other, the son against the mother, the mother against he father, the daughter against the cousin, everyone, even more than that, sometimes they go against. Every one has that problem. Shak, doubt. Sometimes Shaytan comes to your heart, "O what to believe in Allah. There is not Allah.” Haasha, may Allah forgive us. Also they go against angels, they go against jinn: “O jinn are doing to me this!” How do you know jinn are doing it? It is hallucinations. There are jinn but the Shaykh knows if there is a jinn on you or not. … it is out of their imaginations.
So the problem is that you have to behave well, you have to struggle against bad and eliminate evil from yourself and don’t doubt people, then Allah will bring you back to the positive. You were on the negative, now the needle goes back to the positive. After the needle goes all the way to the negative side, then it begins to go back and begins to move all the way to the other side, when you stop doubting people.
Don’t say, "my father is like that, my stepfather is like that. They made black magic.” Why? That is because of the shortcoming of your ego.
Why jinn? There are jinn that go along with your life and they are friendly… but when you begin hallucinating, then you begin to go into negativity in your life.
When a jinn wants to take over a person,… [addressing Omar Kone] You were there? You were running away, you were afraid. You were there? [I was upstairs] She was speaking what? [English] No I mean before. In 1990. 1990-1991, in
I began to read what Mawlana gave to read for this, I was reading. And this jinn said, "I am going to burn you!” and I said, "I am going to burn you!” …you are going to burn me “I am going to burn you!” So we were in struggle. But me, my energy was beginning to go down. For a little bit, I would have lost my energy. Then if that happens he will take me over as he took over her body. So don’t touch those who have jinn. Say “I cannot.” Go somewhere else.
I am saying ashhadu an la ilaha illa-Allah and she is saying, "There is no Allah!" haasha, istaghfirullah. I am reciting Qur'an and she is cursing in a man’s voice.
She was shaking and I said, "I have to recite the strongest one.” I began to recite that [special du`a] and she began to shake and shake and shake. I said, "I am not leaving you until you go out from the toe.” That is the worst for the jinn. They normally go out from the mouth or from the belly, but from the toe is the most humiliating for them. So then with Grandshaykh’s and Mawlana Shaykh’s baraka that jinn left.
So there is a struggle. We are struggling between good and evil. There are mu’min jinn, they don’t bother you. But when you bother them, they bother you.
And there are afareet, the worst kind of jinn, they are evil. They bother like that, like that lady.
So in any case, awliyaullah, Allah swt made, and dressed them from the secrets of the Prophet (s). The Prophet (s), with Allah’s permission, when he asked for helpers, Allah gave him these walis to help the Ummah and to carry the flag of the Prophet (s) and to call people to his way, the way of the Prophet (s). So we are blessed. Not because we are good, but because we have been picked up to be under the guidance of these shuyukh. That is a big blessing. That is an honor. Not everyone gets that chance. Very few people get that chance to be under that manifestation of these beautiful people and the manifestation of the secrets of the Prophet (s) on them, that they will speak from the heart of the Prophet .
And every wali speaks according to his level. Some from a lower level, some from a higher level. There is no lower there and no higher, but there is different information that comes to a wali from the heart of the Prophet (s) and some information is more deep than for others. So that is why you have to be happy that Allah gave you that connection. Many people say, "what am I doing here, wasting my time?” Especially you there. You will hear people telling you “why are you going there? Sit in your place and do your work.” But you say, "I have to go.” Who is pulling you? Who is pulling you? You have to know the one who is pulling you wants you to be happy. Allah wants to pull you from the hands of Shaytan because He wants you to be with pious people.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ وَكُونُواْ مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ
Ya ayyuhalladheena aamanoo ittaqullah wa koonoo ma` as-sadiqeen.
O ye who believe! Fear Allah and be with those who are true (in word and deed). At-Tauba [9:119]
You cannot be a pious one, it is so difficult [to reach that level], but you can be with one. So they are pulling you to come. Many people don’t, they come one or two times. Then Shaytan is saying, "O stay here, don’t go. You have work here. I am… I can give you what you go there and get. I will give it to you."
You can give but that knowledge is different from that knowledge. That door is different from that one. Each has a size. If you have a door that is that small can you go through? No, that one has a door that is so wide, then you can go through as long as you are slim. But as much as it opens as much as it is better. If it is small door… the door didn’t become small, but it depends on you. As much as you are connected with dunya. It depends on how much that representative is connected. How much he is connected with dunya, if his connection is less to dunya, it is a bigger door, you can go in, you can dive in. And when you enter the ocean you are entering into Mawlana’s ocean. He is the ocean - you are not the ocean.
So don’t think you are wasting your time:
وَيُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ عَلَى حُبِّهِ مِسْكِينًا وَيَتِيمًا وَأَسِيرًا
Wa yut`imoona ’t-ta`ama `ala hubbihi miskeenan wa yateeman wa aseera.
And they feed, for the love of Allah, the indigent, the orphan, and the prisoner, Al-Insan [76:8]
They fill you with food on the love, because they love to give food, for Allah’s love, for the Prophet’s love, and they offer food for them, to feed them. Allah is saying in Holy Qur'an. To whom they give food? Miskeenin wa yateeman wa aseeran - we are in these three categories, these three groups.
Miskeen. Who knows what miskeen is? Miskeen is poor, miskeen is someone who is low profile. He feels himself… bankrupted, doesn’t have anything, so he is in need for to be provided, so these… Allah for His love and for the love of His Prophet (s) and for love of awliyaullah. He allows awliyaullah to give food to that category. The first category is miskeen. That is not the lowest category - that is the highest. So we are all in that stage of miskeen. We are in need. We are in need for that knowledge because we are all poor. We don’t find a place; we don’t have anything. That means don’t say to yourself, “I am a shaykh.” Then they don’t give you because you are
Who was going to burn Sayyidina Ibrahim ?
Because everyone thinks he is perfect: “I am better than my mother, I know more. I am better than my father, I know more. I am better than my brother, I know more. And I am better than myself, because my self knows more than my ego!”
Struggle.
And the mother says, “I know better than the father. I know better than my child, my daughter or my son.” And the brother says the same thing, and everyone, and vice versa. Everyone of us says the same thing. The reality is that every one of us is arrogant and is a Nimrud in himself in his own character and our psychology of human nature, everyone of us is a Nimrud to himself trying to burn his good character what we inherit from Sayyidina Ibrahim , trying to inherit from Nimrud. If we inherit from Sayyidina Ibrahim , fire will become peaceful on us.
So the first level is that they know our characteristic is that we are miskeen, we don’t have anything. So what do they do? They feed you heavenly food and they feed you normal food. That normal food that you eat at such kind of gatherings is a food that is going to be healthy for you, even if it is oily Pakistani. Pakistani like to come and put too much oil on the food. Pakistanis like oily food. Even then eat it, bismillahi, because it is blessed.
Awliyaullah want to give you healthy food and they give you lot of grease and oil with it why? Because there is the taste. They want to take you through the ocean of taste. With butter and margarine and with ghee and with oil they zoom in so deep to the treasures of the oceans; there we can get your taste. So we are in that level.
So the second level is what. Allah said, "miskeenan wa yateemana” - orphans. Second level is they give food to orphans. Anyone without a mother and father is what? An orphan. Do you have a mother and a father? He has a father. You are orphan, orphan from one side.
“Orphan” here doesn’t mean I don’t have a father or mother. Orphan in the normal meaning that they explain the ayah, but the most "zoomed-in" meaning of the explanation is that "if you don’t have a guide you are an orphan." So there you need someone to give you, to take care of you, to guide you. If you are not guided you are orphan, yateem.
So first we are miskeen. So we are not in the first and lowest category which is aseer, we are not in the second one, which is orphan, so we are in the next position. We have a guide, so that one is eliminated. Because you accepted a guide and he is responsible. He is the one who is going to be asked in Day of Judgment, this is your son or daughter that you were responsible for him in dunya.
Like that one who when he died and they buried him, Ankar and Nakeer came to him and were asking him the questions of the grave. They were asking him, “Who is your creator?” Every question they asked he said, "Abdul Qadir Jilani قدس سرّه.” He knows the answers but by saying that, it means "ask him, he is my guide to Allah swt, he is my guide to the Prophet (s)." It means, “I know what you want, but this is my guide, go and ask him. This my door to Prophet, this is my door to Allah, go and ask him.” So they asked Abdul Qadir Jilani قدس سرّه and he gave them what they need to hear.
Learn. Wa yuti`moona ta`ama `Allah hubbihi, miskeenan wa yateeman wa aseera. Aseera: is the one who is a prisoner. Are we prisoners? [yes] to who? Shaytan and ego. We are prisoners to them. That is why we think our stubbornity is the best. We have to be stubborn, either my opinion or nothing else.
You don’t accept anyone else’s advice. You say, "This is the way it has to go because I decided this. I have to leave and live by myself and I have to have my own apartment; and I have to have my own job; and I have to pick whom I like.” Is it not? Abnormality became normal and normal became abnormal.
That is why the Prophet (s) said, “there will be coming a day when whatever is haraam becomes halaal and whatever is halaal becomes haraam.” So whatever is normal for them is abnormal and whatever is abnormal becomes normal. “Because I think like that” they say. “Do you want to think like that or not?” “But what you are thinking is incorrect.” “No, no, it is correct!” Everyone wants to be independent. That is the culture. They leave their parents that brought them up with the tears of their eyes. They brought them up and they.. and at the end they kick the parents and say, “I want to live by myself.” How are you going to live by yourself? But this is what happened.
So awliyaullah say, " they are responsible and they are happy, for love of Allah and love to the Prophet (s) and Allah put that in their heart and they are feeding those who are in necessity: yateema, miskeen and aseer: the poor, the orphan and the prisoner - prisoner in the hands of Shaytan.
Don’t tell me anything, we are not out of these three different categories. We are in them. Choose one and say which one you are. Which one you are? The lowest one. Which is the lowest one? Prisoner of Shaytan. When you are prisoner of Shaytan, it means that you are orphan also - you have no father or mother. And then if you are prisoner you are poor.
And Grandshaykh that is what he said. That was the introduction. I will quote only one quote from him. What he said
He said “Allah swt helps His servants that are under the description of these three categories by ordering the Prophet (s) to order his helpers, the saints, awliyaullah to help people to get out from these three categories, by eliminating the four enemies that are within us, nafs, dunya, hawa and Shaytan – nafs - ego, dunya – world life; hawa - desire and Satan.
Allah gave them power to eliminate these four enemies. Although you feel these four enemies are with you but in reality they leave you to feel that, because they don’t want you to feel you are better than others. They want to keep everyone in a similar sequence. [Allahu Akbar, suhbanallah!] They keep that feeling within you but in reality these four enemies nafs, dunya, hawa, Shaytan are been chained by these guides and they have been locked and they have no power on your soul. Your soul will be in complete `ibadah and in 24 hours you are prostrating and making sajda worshipping Allah under Allah’s Throne. With that power they have been given by the Prophet (s) these secrets. And we will explain more of that in the next session, by this quote we leave it.
Wa min Allah at-tawfeeq bi-hurmati 'l-Fatiha.