A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem.
Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
They have all come with the truth. All of them have said, an `abudullah. An `abudullah. An `abudullah. “Worship Allah (swt).” That’s it. All of the prophets, including Moses, Jesus, Abraham, peace be upon them, have come with the same message, “Turn to your Lord. Speak to your Lord. Ask from your Lord. Ask forgiveness from your Lord. Ask for good things from your Lord. Turn to Allah (swt).”
One thousand names were given to the Anbiya (a). Three hundred names were revealed in the Zabur. Three hundred names were revealed in the Torah. Three hundred names were revealed in the Bible, Injeel. Ninety-nine names were revealed in the Holy Qur’an, as Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) has said. One Name is Ismullahi ‘l-`Azham and that is with Rasoolullah (s). When you say, Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem, Rasoolullah (s) dresses you from these three thousand Names, from the Lights of these three thousand Names, from the blessings of these three thousand names.
One is, Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. When you say it, you get dressed. The one who dresses you is Rasoolullah (s) as he is the representative. Of course, it goes through the channels. As Awliyaullah have said, you cannot sit under Niagara Falls. You have to sit under your shower at home. The water comes from the lakes but you cannot take all of it. You take what you need.
Rasoolullah (s) is like Niagara Falls. From him goes into the rivers and lakes that are his representatives. What the heart of that saint takes depends on the vastness of his heart. What you get is through the pipes that they build to your home, and that’s what we get to our sinks and our showers. That is enough for us.
When you say, Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem, know that you are getting lights by Rasoolullah (s) and his representatives that are dressed on you. That’s how you can get protected from Shaytan and then you start your journey. Your journey is to find a Rasool if you lived in the time of prophets but nowadays you should find Waliyullah. Your journey starts with Waliyullah who will recite to you Allah’s (swt) Ayaat. Yatloo `alayhim ayaatih.
رَبَّنَا وَٱبْعَثْ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِّنْهُمْ يَتْلُوا۟ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَـٰتِكَ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ
"Our Lord! send amongst them an Messenger of their own, who shall rehearse yourSigns to them and instruct them in scripture and wisdom, and sanctify them: For You are the Exalted in Might, the Wise." (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:129)
He will recite to you Allah (swt)’s Holy Words and he will teach you Kitab and Hikmah. He will teach you the Book and he will teach you wisdom. Wa yuzakkiyhim. He will purify you.
If you don’t find that saint, Allah (swt) might send a regular person to you, as Mawlana has said, akhun saalih, a truthful brother. Nowadays a truthful brother is very hard to find. Don’t think your brothers are truthful.
[Translation into French]
I’m sorry. I thought you were trilingual. Also you know your African language or your Pakistani, Urdu language or Turkish language or Arabic language. May Allah (swt) always keep you on the footsteps of Awliyaullah. They have followed the footsteps of Rasoolullah (s) and his Sahaabah and his Tabi`een correctly. When they followed correctly, they reached. If I take a plane to Quebec City, I won’t see you tonight or to Toronto. You have to find the right plane at the right time to be here. You have to find the right person. May Allah (swt) allow us to find them.
When you find someone like that, he will recite Ayatu ‘Llah, Allah (swt)’s Verses, Words, upon you. He will teach you the Book and the Wisdom and he will purify your heart and then you will start your journey. What is your journey?
They came to Abu Yazid al-Bistami (q) and said, “Yaa Sayyidee. Somebody is flying in the air.” He said, “The birds can do that.”
“Yaa Sayyidee. Somebody can walk on water.”
“The fish do that.”
“Yaa Sayyidee. Somebody can be in one thousand places at the same time.”
“Shaytan does that.”
They asked, “What do we do? What do you think Waliyullah is if he doesn’t fly, if he doesn’t walk on water, if he doesn’t appear in one thousand places at the same time? What is he?”
He said, “Al-Mustaqeem. The one who can keep Allah (swt)’s Orders. He does what He said to do and he leaves what He said not to do.”
That is Waliyullah, the one who has taken Allah (swt)’s Words as his motto, as his principles. I cannot deviate from my teacher. Allah (swt) is the Teacher, Allama ‘l-Qur’an. He taught the Qur’an. He is the Teacher, but not to you, to Rasoolullah (s), from Rasoolullah (s) to Anbiya and Awliya and from them to their followers. He is the Original Teacher.
They said, the one who keeps the teachings of his teacher is Waliyullah. It’s not about flying in the sky or walking on water from Africa to America. The hurricane does that. What do you want? That is not coming with mercy, that is coming with destruction. Don’t be like a hurricane flying on water, rotating around like a whirling dervish. Nowadays everybody just whirls around just for show. You don’t need that. That is not what Waliyullah is. Waliyullah is the one who has taken the orders as a must and he has left all that Allah (swt) told him, “Don’t do. You will go in the wrong direction and the wrong destination.” Allah (swt) is protecting us from ourselves. He is teaching you. He is showing you the way. He said, “O My servant. I am showing you the way of Jannah.” Don’t you like Jannah?
Nowadays, people say, “No, we don’t like Jannah. We want to be burned. We want to eat zaqqoom. We want to suffer.” Who wants to suffer? Nobody wants to suffer. Everybody wants Jannah.
When you take a teacher, what do you do? Whether it’s a prophet or whether it’s a saint, what do you do? There is no difference between a Christian, a Jew or a Muslim when they are following their prophets. This story that I am about to tell you will show you that. If you have followed your prophet correctly, he will take you to the right place, which is Jannah. If you have followed your prophet incorrectly or if you have followed your Wali incorrectly, you’re going to end up somewhere else. Lost at sea. Lost land. Lost area. Lost desert. You’re going to be lost if you don’t follow your prophet correctly.
A Muslim was walking by a cemetery and he saw a Christian monk sitting by one of the tombstones. He became curious, “What is this Christian monk doing in this cemetery?” He went inside. He went to him and looked at him and said, “As-salaamu `alaykum.”
They greeted each other. He asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Whenever I am in difficulty from seeing everybody, I go to a place where nobody talks to me. I am by myself remembering the next life.”
When you are in difficulty and in trouble, know that everything disappears. Nothing lasts, not the biggest one and not the littlest one. Everybody is going to pass over. It’s time to go. You’re going to be replaced. He said, “I come here to the cemetery.”
The Muslim looked at this Christian monk and saw some stones in his hand: white stones and black stones. He asked, “What are these stones about?”
“O my brother, whenever I do something good, I throw one of the white stones into the pile of the black stones. Whenever I do something bad, I throw one of the black stones into the pile of white stones. At the end of the day I look to see which hand has more. If the good actions were more, I would break my fast. I will eat and drink and allow my ego to rest. But if the opposite is true, if I committed more sins than good deeds then I don’t break my fast. I don’t eat, drink and I don’t allow my ego to rest.”
This is a Christian monk following the teachings of his teacher. A human being is about doing good. It is to perform good acts, to perform good deeds. It doesn’t matter what faith you’re from. It’s human nature to love goodness, whether you’re Christian, Muslim, Jew, Sikh, Hindu or whatever faith they follow. Your goodness has to outweigh your badness or else you are a shaytan. You are not a human being. You have gone outside of being a human being. You are a shaytan in human form. Shayateenu ‘l-insi wa ‘l-jinn.
They shaytans from insan and from jinn, not only from jinn. There are shayateenu ‘l-ins. Your good acts have to outweigh your bad acts, otherwise you are not on the right path. It doesn’t matter if you follow the Christian faith, it doesn’t matter if you follow the Jewish faith, it doesn’t matter if you follow the Muslim faith. If your goodness is not more than your bad acts then you are on the way of Shaytan. Shaytan has no faith. Shaytan is kafir as Allah (swt) has said:
Wa ‘s-takbara wa kaana min ‘l-kaafireen.
وَإِذْ قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةِ ٱسْجُدُوا۟ لِـَٔادَمَ فَسَجَدُوٓا۟ إِلَّآ إِبْلِيسَ أَبَىٰ وَٱسْتَكْبَرَ وَكَانَ مِنَ ٱلْكَـٰفِرِينَ
And behold, We said to the angels: "Bow down to Adam" and they bowed down. Not so Iblis: he refused and was haughty: He was of those who reject Faith. (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:34)
In Surah Baqarah, the first two pages. Abaa. “He resisted.” Wa s’-takbara, “and he put himself up.” They resist heavenly messages. They said, “We don’t accept. We are big ones.” Shaytan has no faith. He is a kaafir. The one who does more bad than good, they have to check themselves. “Am I really on the path of messengers and saints or am I just fooling myself and I’m on the path of Shaytan.” They are on the path of Shaytan.
Shaytan appeared to Sayyidina Nuh (a). There is a scholar by the name of Wahab. He was from the Tabi`een. He used to read so many stories of the prophets. He told one story about Sayyidina Nuh (a). When Nuh (a) came down from the ship, Shaytan appeared to him. He said, “O the enemy of Allah (swt)! What brings you here?”
He said, “You, insaan, human being.”
As long as there is a human being, Shaytan is there. He will not leave one human being without playing with his mind and his heart. Be sure of that. He is going to follow you until your last breath, to take you away from iman. You have to be careful. He is out there. Sayyidina Nuh (a) asked, “Which characteristics of a human help you to deceive them the most?” That is why He said, yuzakkihim, “purify you,” so to purify you from these characteristics.
The five most important characteristics that Shaytan uses to deceive a human being from his destination, from Akhirah are: shaheehhan, hareesan, hasoodan, `ajoolan, jabbaara. Shaheeh is somebody who is stingy. He has millions of dollars but he sees it as if he has nothing in his hand and he always wants what others have. He has a hundred billion dollars and he still wants more and he wants what others have. A human being that is stingy and his eye is always upon what other people have is someone who Shaytan plays with and deceives. He is stingy and with his eyes, eying his brothers’ or sister’s or other people’s money.
Harees. “Everything for me. Nothing for you. I will not even leave one crumb of bread for you. I will not even leave one penny for you. Everything will come to me.” This one is greed, as they say. He wants everything.
Hasud. Jealous. Envious. Jealous of what others have and he wants them to lose that. That is the bad jealousy. When you say, “Yaa Rabbee. He has good stuff and I want good stuff too,” that is half-half. But when you say, “Yaa Rabbee. I want what he has and take away what he has. I want that for me but take that away from him,” that is Shaytan. He said, “I want khilafah instead of Adam and take the khilafah away from Adam.”
So, shaheeh, stingy and eying the wealth of others. I don’t want to give more of a description of who that might be. Harees, greedy and want everything for themselves. Hasood, jealous of others.
Ajool, hasty. He acts quick. He reacts. There is no thinking. Whatever is on his heart, right away comes on his tongue without thinking.
The last one is jabbaar, a tyrant, the one who forces others to do what he wants. He has control over them.
He said, “When we find a human being with these five characteristics, we call him Shaytanu ‘l-ins. He is a shaytan like us. He is from us. We play with him as we want.”
When that Christian monk was calculating his good deeds from the bad deeds, he was making muraqabah to his Lord. That is when you observe your Lord looking at you. Everyday if you can determine how many good deeds you have done, how many bad deeds you have done and if you have done bad deeds, say, “Astaghfirullah.” Shaytan said the worst thing is when he works all day long and you come at the end of the night and say, “Astaghfirullah.” Shaytan’s work is “poof,” erased. That is what makes him the most angry, when you say one, “Astaghfirullah.” That is why he tells you, “Don’t say, ‘astaghfirullah.’ There is no need. You didn’t do anything wrong. It was his fault. It was her fault. It was their fault. I didn’t do anything wrong. I’m innocent.”
That is why they say:
Fa la tuzakku anfusakum. Don’t put yourself up by saying, “I am pure.”
ٱلَّذِينَ يَجْتَنِبُونَ كَبَـٰٓئِرَ ٱلْإِثْمِ وَٱلْفَوَٰحِشَ إِلَّا ٱللَّمَمَ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ وَٰسِعُ ٱلْمَغْفِرَةِ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِكُمْ إِذْ أَنشَأَكُم مِّنَ ٱلْأَرْضِ وَإِذْ أَنتُمْ أَجِنَّةٌ فِى بُطُونِ أُمَّهَـٰتِكُمْ فَلَا تُزَكُّوٓا۟ أَنفُسَكُمْ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ ٱتَّقَىٰٓ
Those who avoid great sins and shameful deeds, only (falling into) small faults,- verily yourLord is ample in forgiveness. He knows you well when He brings you out of the earth, And when ye are hidden in your mothers' wombs. Therefore justify not yourselves: He knows best who it is that guards against evil. (Surat an-Najm, 53:32)
Nobody is pure. We are all under that egoistic control, unless Allah (swt) says, “You are pure.” When that permission from Him comes to Rasoolullah (s) to your Wali, to your shaykh and he tells you, “O my son, now you are pure,” what does that mean? Now we can give you what you need. “For what, O my shaykh?” “To bring others this way, otherwise you’re going to bring them to yourself.”
People now bring others to themselves. “First, you have to see me.” I don’t want to see you. This is mihrab. You are sitting in between me and my Lord. Get out of the way. Waliyullah is supposed to be a mihrab. Adam (a) was mihrab of malaa’ikah. When malaa’ikah were told to make sajdah, basically Adam (a) was nothing but a mihrab. Why do you make sajdah to Ka`bah? Because Allah (swt) ordered you. The same thing, Adam is [like] ka`bah. It’s a sajdah to Allah (swt). He was only a qiblah. He was only a mihrab. The shaykh or the Nabi or the Wali or the khalifah or whatever it is, is only to be a mihrab. What is a mihrab? You see through it. There’s nothing there. It’s just a qiblah.
He has to be faani, invisible. He shouldn’t be seen. His ego should have not baaqiyah, no remnant from your ego. When you are a wali, there is no remnant from your old ego. Your ego doesn’t exist anymore, it’s gone. Where has it gone? Allah (swt) took it and gave you something else. Allah (swt) took your wujoodu ‘l-majaazi, as they say, the temporary living being and He has replaced it with an eternal living being. What is that eternal living being? It’s nothing but the Noor of Ismullahi ’l-`Azham that has come upon you from Rasoolullah (s).
When Waliyullah says, “O my son, now you are pure.” Pure from what? Pure from stinginess, greed, jealousy, being a tyrant, murderer or oppressor. Pure from hastiness and reaction and all of that stuff. You are pure and there are many more things that you should be pure from: riya`, sum’ah, ujoob, kibr, ghadab, shahwa. These are bad characteristics that all of us carry. Your desires have no end. Your anger has no end. Your showing off has no end. Your catering to others so you can gain advantage from them or you can gain something from them has no end. This is insaan, a human being. All of that has to go.
It all starts with the pebbles. Put stones in your hand everyday. If you don’t get stones in your hand, at the end of the day, say, “Yaa Rabbee. Thank You for everything good that I have done and excuse me for everything wrong that I have done.” That’s why you have to get yourself to do that at the end of the day. Allah (swt) has said in the Holy Qur’an:
فَٱصْبِرْ عَلَىٰ مَا يَقُولُونَ وَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ قَبْلَ طُلُوعِ ٱلشَّمْسِ وَقَبْلَ ٱلْغُرُوبِ
F ’asbir `alaa maa yaquloona wa sabbih bi hamdi Rabbika qabla tuloo`i ’sh-shamsi wa qabla ‘l-ghuroob.
Bear, then, with patience, all that they say, and celebrate the praises of yourLord, before the rising of the sun and before (its) setting. (Surah Qaf, 50:39)
Praise your Lord and make tasbeeh. That’s why we say, “Subhaana ’Llah wa bi hamdih. Subhaana ’Llahi ‘l-`Azheem. Astaghfirullah,” before sunrise and before sunset. At sunset you have to say, “Subhaana ’Llah wa bi hamdi. Subhaana ’Llahi ‘l-Azheem. Astaghfirullah,” and everything will be gone. In its place will be all hasanat, all good deeds. That is what burns Shaytan the most, so burn him!
It is said that one shaykh saw Shaytan in his dream. He ran after him to beat him. He said, “O shaykh! Don’t beat me. Nothing hurts me or kills me except one thing.”
He asked, “What?”
“Shamsu ‘l-ma`rifah fee qalbi ‘l-`arif. The sun of knowledge in the heart of the seeker.”
Knowledge about what? About Shaytan wanting to deceive you. That burns Shaytan. That kills Shaytan. That takes him away from you, when you know more about Shaytan, your enemy. The human being is not your enemy. A human being should not be the enemy of another human being. Your enemy is known. The Lord of Heavens has already said it in the Holy Qur’an so many times. Your enemy is Shaytan. Fa ‘t-takhidu `adoowu. So take him as an enemy.
إِنَّ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنَ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ فَٱتَّخِذُوهُ عَدُوًّا إِنَّمَا يَدْعُوا۟ حِزْبَهُۥ لِيَكُونُوا۟ مِنْ أَصْحَـٰبِ ٱلسَّعِيرِ
Verily Satan is an enemy to you: so treat him as an enemy. He only invites his adherents, that they may become Companions of the Blazing Fire. (Surah Fatir, 35:6)
He didn’t tell you, “Take your brother as an enemy because he doesn’t think like you, he doesn’t want things like you.” No, He said, “Take Shaytan as an enemy.” When ma`rifah comes in the heart of a seeker, that is what burns and kills Shaytan, not a stick, not fire or any of that and not your mind either. You have to follow the guidance of Allah (swt).
Alhamdulillah, we are in a place that teaches that. What has Mawlana Shaykh Hisham established this place for? To teach you how to take Shaytan as your enemy. This center teaches humanity how to take the devil as their enemy. If human beings realize that and they start to take the devil and his assistants as their enemies, all of them will be brothers and sisters. All of them will live in peace because they will know who the real enemy is. Shaytan is your real enemy, O insaan, O human being. But nobody knows, nobody cares and nobody comes to these places.
How many people are there here? A hundred. How many people are in the Imax theater? Thousands. That is one theater and there is every show, all eating and drinking, dining and wining. They whine at home, complain about that. [Audio cut 25:35]
Shaytan wants you to take the wrong direction to the wrong destination, which is to the Fire along with him. Wake up. May Allah (swt) allow this center to thrive. May Allah (swt) reward our shaykh, Mawlana Shaykh Hisham, for whatever he has done in Montreal, for what he has established here, what he has established in Toronto. We have Shaykh Ibrahim in Toronto. We have Shaykh Hussain in Morocco.
Mawlana has trained people and has sent them out. Do your best so that when people look at you, they say, “What a beautiful man you are. Who is your teacher?” Instead of saying, “What a horrible person you are. Who’s your teacher?” Right? “Who taught you this bad adab?” When Mawlana sends people out, you have to represent him. You have to know that you are representing that light that came through the chain, through the silsila, through Awliyaullah.
If you’re not worthy of representing that light, they will take you out. “Take you out” means they will make you distracted. You will be distracted with something which will take you out of the way. So many Muslims at the end of their lives have turned into something else. They have left iman, faith, and went somewhere else. May Allah (swt) protect us from that bad ending. That is not an ending that anybody wants. We should not ask for anybody to end up like that.
We are asking that all humanity finds that way of heavenly messages that will take them to peace and justice. Every other way will take them according to the desires of the one that is showing that way. Don’t get distracted. May Allah (swt) forgive us. I think it’s too long of a speech.
Inshaa-Allah, Allah (swt) will allow us to understand their words. Ameen, yaa Rabbi ‘l-`Alameen.
Yaa Rabbee, give the barakah in what You have given to us, this center, this jama`ah, these hearts that have come for dhikrullah, that have come for muhabbatu ‘l-Llah. They have come from muhabbatu ‘l-Awliya, yaa Rabbee, muhabbatu ‘n-Nabi (s). Give them the barakah. Make that muahabbah multiply a thousand times more, yaa Rabbee. Make that love multiply a thousand times more, yaa Rabbee, and make that yearning to meet with You and with Rasoolullah (s) multiply a thousand times more.
Yaa Rabbee, give Shaykh Omar power. Give the jama`ah in this place power, yaa Rabbee. Give every representative of Mawlana power, yaa Rabbee, to propagate the love of Rasoolullah (s) for Your Pleasure, yaa Rabbee. Ameen. And give Sidi Anwar milk and honey every morning so his voice can get better and grant us to follow suit with him, yaa Rabbee, to understand the beautiful poetry that he is reciting for Rasoolullah (s). Give us from that love, yaa Rabbee. Ameen.
Fatihah.
There was an Egyptian singer by the name of Umm Kulsum. I heard that every morning she would drink milk and eat honey. That is how she kept her voice. Alhamdulillah.
Mawlana said to go to sleep after `Isha. Winter is coming. By 6 o’clock you should be in bed and wake up at 3 in the morning. Okay, get your eight hours, 2 a.m. Wake up at 2 a.m. That is the last third of the night. Inshaa-Allah, may Allah (swt) make us from the qaa’imeen. How does it go? Yatloo `alayhim ayaatika wa yu`allimuhumu ‘l-kitab.
رَبَّنَا وَٱبْعَثْ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِّنْهُمْ يَتْلُوا۟ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَـٰتِكَ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلْعَزِيزُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ
"Our Lord! send amongst them an Messenger of their own, who shall rehearse your Signs to them and instruct them in scripture and wisdom, and sanctify them: For You are the Exalted in Might, the Wise." (Surat al-Baqarah, 2:129)
I forgot but Hadhrat Usman (r) stood up all night long reciting the Holy Qur’an. It is said that he did khatm in one night, 10 hours, 12 hours. We are lazy. We go to bed at 10, wake up at 6, hardly pray Fajr, get out of the door with our big suitcases. Now it’s a small iPhone, with our big Samsonite and go to work, go to the office. When you go to the office, help people. Don’t be the one who agonizes people. Don’t torture them. Make their work go easy. Inshaa-Allah, Allah (swt) will give khayr on your hands for the people of this country, for the people that you deal with, for Muslims, for Christians. What does it matter? Help humans. They say “humanity.” Helping hands. Be a helper, don’t be a destroyer.
When Sayyidina Khidr (a) separated from Sayyidina Musa (a), Sayyidina Musa (a) said, “Give me some advice.”
He said, “Be beneficial. Don’t be harmful. Be a smiley one and don’t be an angry one.”
The one I remember is, “Be somebody that benefits others. Don’t be harmful.”
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