From Mawlana Shaykh Nazim's Personal Notes
A`oodhu billahi ‘s Sami` al-`Aleem min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem.
Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
Inshaa-Allah, Allah (swt) will make us benefit from kalaam of Awliyaullah, kalaam of saints, the speeches, the words that the saints have given. Everybody nowadays wants to have their five cents. What are you going to say? Their topics are the same. They have three or four topics and they go around, nothing else. Allah (swt) has opened doors of `ilm that even some big prophets did not have access to. Sayyidina Musa (a) had great knowledge but he did not have access to greater knowledge. Even if he had access to greater knowledge, there is still another level of yet greater knowledge. If you reach that horizon, there’s another horizon. When you reach that horizon, there are more.
Never think, “Mashaa-Allah, I have become a big one. My mind is the mind of aliens.” You know how they depict aliens with large brains? No, your mind has not reached that much yet. That is what Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) teaches us. He teaches us humbleness. Humbleness is lacking in all the speakers, in all the imams, in religious arenas and non-religious arenas, the professors and the other side of professors, doctors of Shari`ah and doctors of philosophy. There are two doctors nowadays. As Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) used to say, both ways think they have encompassed all knowledge. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) quotes Allah (swt)’s Holy Words in Qur’an al-Kareem, asta`eedhu billah:
وَفَوْقَ كُلِّ ذِي عِلْمٍ عَلِيمٌ
Above every knower is a (higher) knower. (Surah Yusuf, 12:76)
Wa fawqa kulli dhi `ilmin `aleem. “Above every knower is another one that knows more.” Always humble yourself down, O insaan, O mu'min, O Muslim. The first thing Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) says in this suhbah is, Allahumma `alimna maa yanfa`una wa zidna `ilma, “O our Lord! Teach us and increase our knowledge.” He is Waliyullah. He has reached knowledge that we can’t even imagine. He has reached the heart of Rasoolullah (s) and he is drinking from there. How did he reach the heart of Rasoolullah (s)? What do you say when you love somebody? “You’re in my heart. You’re in my eyes. You’re everywhere I see. Everything I see, I see you.”
If Rasoolullah (s) loves you, you’re in his heart. There is a du`a by Sayyidina ibn Mashish (q), Allahumma ja`alna fee qalbi’l-insaani’l-kaamil, “Yaa Rabbee! Make us in the heart of the perfect human, the perfect insaan.” If you’re in his heart then you have access to everything in his heart.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) has reached into the heart of Rasoolullah (s). He has done what made Rasoolullah (s) love him. That is the way. Why are you on this Way? You say, “I am headed towards my Lord. I want my Lord. I want to find the way.” Why? “So He can love me.” The goal of all religions, the goal of all messengers, the goal of all prophets is, yuhbibkumullah, that Allah (swt) will love you. That is the goal, to be accepted in the Presence of Allah (swt) and beloved by Allah (swt). Be in His Presence as a beloved. That is the whole point.
Don’t seek anything else. Make Allah (swt) happy with you, that’s what’s important, nothing else. If He’s happy with you and you have reached His Love Oceans, and Rasoolullah (s) has loved you and put you in his heart, you have reached your goal. Sayyidina Musa (a) asked Allah (swt), yaa Rabbee! Kayfa ajiduka, “O my Lord! How do I find You?”
First we say, a`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. Dastoor, yaa Sayyidi, Qutb al-Mutasarrif, madad.
Yaa Rabbee! Kayfa ajiduka, “O my Lord! How do I find You?” He said, yaa Musa! Idha qassadta ilaya faqad wassalta ilayya. “O Moses! If you head for Me, if you proceed to route...” How many times do you get that on your Apple Maps? Do you use Apple Maps? What does it say? “Proceed to...”
“If you proceed to Me, you have reached Me. If you head for Me, you have reached Me. If you take to Me, you have reached Me.” That’s it. It’s not rocket science that I have to go in a rocket and go up to Mars to find Allah (swt), my Creator. Where do you find your Creator? The minute you turn your face to Him, you have directed yourself to His Presence. He is always looking at you, but we are not looking at Him. There is no hijab between us and Him. We are the hijab. There is no veil. He is not veiled from you, you are the veil and you have veiled yourself from Him.
He said, idhaa qassadta ilaya faqad wassalta ilaya. “If you proceed to Me, you have reached Me.” That is the whole point of religions that have come from the time of Sayyidina Adam (a) to the Last Messenger, Rasoolullah (s), Muhammad (s). Until his time, all of them have called to this, “Proceed to your Lord. Head for your Lord. Take to your Lord an `abudoo’Llah.”
Be humble, as Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) is saying and ask for more knowledge. Don’t say, “I know enough.” He says, wa’l-`ilmu ‘l-maqsood huwa ‘L-ladhee yuqarrubu ‘l-`abd ila’Llah. The knowledge that you are seeking, O human being, is what makes you approach your Lord. Any knowledge that makes the servant Allah (swt) is the knowledge you have to seek. Don’t seek knowledge that takes you away from Allah (swt). These are Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q)’s holy words.
He said, everyday you have to advance and get closer to your Lord, Allah (swt) by what? Not that, “Today I prayed 40 raka`ats. Tomorrow I will pray 50 or 60 raka`ats.” No, the love of Allah (swt) settles more and more and more in your heart and the knowledge is the engine, the locomotive. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) has given so many examples. One example is that the locomotive pulls the wagons. Or is it caboose? “Kaboos” in Arabic means “nightmare.” We don’t want that caboose. There is also a locomotive which is called Shaytan. That is the caboose. That is the nightmare. If you hook yourself to Shaytan, he will take you wherever he is going.
The knowledge is what moves you closer and closer to Allah (swt). Without Divine Knowledge, there is no movement in approaching Allah (swt). You need an engine. Real knowledge has the power to move you closer to Allah (swt).
Why do you want to know more about your Lord? Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) is saying, the more you gain knowledge, the more you know about your Lord. The more you know about your Lord, the more love you have towards your Lord. The more love you have towards your Lord, the more yearning you have for your Lord. That yearning, that love is what pulls you to His Presence. When you love someone and you give them gifts and you’re kind to them, you call and text them, send them flowers, what happens? That one starts to love you. They’re all tricks.
When my friend and I used to walk on the street, he used to shout, “Don’t believe him. He’s fooling you.” It’s true. When you send nice things, when you say nice words, when you have kind actions [audio cut]... what He has given you and how many favors are upon you, you start to love Him. When you start to love Him, you want to meet Him and yearn for Him.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) is saying, walladhee yuhibb yameelu ila mahboobihi, the one who loves becomes so much into his beloved. If you love somebody, that will create love in that someone towards you. That’s why when you have `ishq, shawq and mahabbah to Rasoolullah (s), be sure that you are entering his heart. That means he loves you. If you have muhabbah, `ishq and shawq to Allah (swt), be sure that you are entering into His Love Oceans and He loves you. That is through `ilm and that’s why you have to find true knowledge. True knowledge makes you approach your Lord. The more you know, the more you approach.
They asked Sayyidina `Isa (a), man nujaalis “Who do we sit with?” He said, man yazeedahu fi’l-`ilm kalaamahu “Sit with those whose words increase your knowledge.” Knowledge of whom? Allah (swt). When you sit with somebody, be sure that you are learning more about Allah (swt), not more about politics, finances, banks and dunya. When you sit with a true saint, he is not looking for dunya. He knows that Allah (swt) has created it for a reason and the reason is to test.
وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُم بِشَىْءٍ مِّنَ ٱلْخَوْفِ وَٱلْجُوعِ وَنَقْصٍ مِّنَ ٱلْأَمْوَٰلِ وَٱلْأَنفُسِ وَٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ وَبَشِّرِ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ
Be sure we shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods or lives or the fruits (of your toil), but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere. (Surah al-Baqarah, 2:155)
Wa la-nabluwannakum. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) has said so many times, “We will test you.” This dunya is daaru ‘l-mihnat, daaru ‘l-balaa, the place of trials and afflictions. Why? Li-yameez al-mukhlis min al-kaafir, to separate the sincere one from the fake one. Allah (swt) sends tests. Why? Because it’s fire. What happens when He sends that fire? We have a jeweler here. What happens to the gold? It becomes purified. It separates itself from impurities. When you subject gold to fire, it becomes of better, higher quality.
The mu'min is like gold. It is said, al-balaa’u lil-walaa ka ’n-naaru li’dh-dhahab. Balaa for Waliyullah is like fire for gold, it purifies. True Awliyaullah talk about Allah (swt). They don’t care too much about this world. This world is a place of testing. You’re not going to have comfort. Maybe you will have periods of comfort and you say shukr and when you have periods of difficulty, you have sabr, patience. Sabr and shukr are your two phases.
It is said that you are in four situations 24 hours a day. You are either in obedience or disobedience and in shukr, thanking or in sabr, patience. There are no other phases in your life. You’re either having a difficult time and you’re patient, you’re either having a good time and you’re thankful, you’re either in obedience or you are in disobedience. There is nothing else. This is your 24 hours. See where you are in these 24 hours.
Try to be in the way that Allah (swt) wants you to be. His Name is Ar-Raqeeb, the Ever-Watchful. Laa taj`al-hu yafquduka haythu amarak wa laa taj`alhu yajiduka haythu nahaak. “Don’t make Him see you where He forbids you and don’t make Him miss you where He ordered you.” Look at the hikmah. That is jawami`a al-kalima, meaning with only a few words, there are so many meanings. “Don’t make Him miss you where He ordered you to be, and don’t make Him find you where He forbids you to be.” It’s enough. You don’t need more.
You don’t need volumes of books behind you. You see all these shuyookh. I saw a shaykh who had the books behind him, reaching to the ceiling. On his desk he had five here, five here, five here--the whole front was full of books and he put one book on top of all of them. All I see are books everywhere on his table. You don’t need any of that.
Make sure Allah doesn’t miss you where He ordered you. If He told you to pray Fajr, be there. He’s waiting for you? Where are you? Don’t go clubbing after midnight because He told you not to go. Don’t allow Him to see you where He forbids you. Don’t allow Him to miss you where He ordered you. That is enough for your whole life.
Hasbiyy. You reminded me of something. I read that somebody came to Rasoolullah (s) and said, “Teach me something from what you got. Give me some `ilm.” He sent him to a Sahaabi and told him, read something from the Qur’an. He read Surah az-Zalzalah. He came to, faman ya`mal mithqaala dharratin khayran yarra, “Whoever does an atom’s weight of goodness, he will see it.” Wa man ya`mal mithqala dharratin sharran yarrah, “Whoever does an atom’s weight of badness, he will see it.” He said, hasbiyy, “That’s enough. I don’t need to know anything else. This is enough for me for my whole life. Two verses.”
فَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ خَيْرًا يَرَهُ .وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُۥ
And anyone who has done an atom's weight of evil, shall see it. Then shall anyone who has done an atom's weight of good, see it! (Surah az-Zalzalah, 99:7-8)
Tell the people that are in this world, if you do an atom’s weight of good, you will see it. An atom’s weight, not like what you do nowadays, mountains. If you do an atom’s weight of badness, you will see it. That is enough for the whole world, if they listen. But they don’t because they have attached their wagon to the caboose of Shaytan, the nightmare. The nightmare is taking them into darkness. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) is saying he is going so fast and the bridge is out. You remember what Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) used to say? You are on that train. You don’t know what’s in front of you. It’s all dark and the bridge is out. What’s going to happen? You’re going to fall off that big cliff headfirst. With whom? With the caboose, the nightmare which is Shaytan.
The whole world is not listening. They have attached themselves to Shaytan and his whispering and they have left the Words of the Creator. Two verses are enough for you, O humanity, if you don’t want to know anything from the whole Qur’an. They don't accept, they don’t believe, they don’t like the stories. Okay, leave that alone. Take these two things: if you do good, you will find good. That is even common sense. You don’t need religion for that. People on the street know that if you do good, you will receive good. If I come and shake your hand and give you a rose, what will you do? You will say, “Thank you.” Will you punch me? You will if you are doing something wrong.
If I do good to you, if I’m kind to you, you say, “Thank you,” and you want to be kind to me. Once I opened the door for someone. There were two doors and I opened the front door. When they reached the inner door, they opened the door for me. I did something that made them happy and they returned the gesture.
These two verses, faman ya`mal mithqaala dharratin, “Whoever makes an atom’s weight of goodness, will see it.” He will see yarahu. How? What will he see? Awliyaullah have said, Allah (swt) will not give you an atom’s weight of goodness back. He is Al-Kareem. He will give you mountain loads of goodness back. If you do one good deed, He will give you without calculation. He is not like you. If I give you one dollar, you give me one dollar back. No! If you give Him one, He will give you mountain loads of that.
If you do an atom’s weight of goodness, you will find goodness multiplied. If you do bad, you will find an atom’s weight of badness. Allah (swt) will give one sayi’a for one sayi’a, He will match it. But He multiplies good actions. If you say, “Astaghfirullah,” He will replace that one sayi’a, bad action, with a good deed. That makes Shaytan crazy.
You have spent all your life sinning. You have mountain loads of sins. Your sins have reached the sky as mentioned in the Hadith. If you say, “Yaa Rabbee! Forgive me,” Allah (swt) will say, “I will forgive and I don’t care.” Allah (swt) can change that mountainload of sins to hasanah. That is what drives Shaytan crazy: Allah (swt)’s Maghfirah, Allah’s Rahmah, Allah’s Mercy and what He has in store for you. That’s why He keeps telling people, “No, don’t go. He will not forgive you for what you have done.” No, He forgives no matter what you have done.
These two verses are enough for the whole world. Rabbee zidnee `ilma. Yaa Rabbee, increase our knowledge. With those two verses you know what to do. Be busy with goodness, don’t be busy with badness. If I offered you a job that pays one thousand dollars and another one offered you a job that pays one million times that, one billion dollars, which one would you take? The second one.
Sayidina Ibrahim ibn Adham (q) came to a person and said, “Would you like to have one thousand dollars in a dream or would you like to have one million dollars while awake?” He said, “I would like one million dollars in wakefulness.” He asked, “Why are you running after dunya then? Run after Akhirah.” This dunya is a dream. Do you remember your past life? Bits and pieces. Where is it? It’s gone. If you do good, you will see it multiplied.
You wasted your life in this world for a thousand dollars. Instead if you had done what Allah (swt) loved for you to do, you would find gold over there. Here there is silver, over there is gold. He asked, “Why do you work for dunya then? Why are you wasting all your energy on this world?” Work because you have to support your body. If you don’t eat and drink, you can’t worship. You have to have a living. Do what you need to and the rest is for Allah (swt). That is our goal. Our goal is to be for Allah (swt). When you are for Allah (swt), He will take care of everything for us.
These two verses, if the human beings out there, if the FBI that are watching my clips and I don’t know who else is watching my clips...they watch now. If you get one thousand views, it’s from one thousand intelligence agents. If you see 100,000 views, be careful. Who’s watching me? Don’t think the ladies and men are watching, no. These are things you don’t want to know.
These two words are enough for you. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) is teaching people from the wisdom of Rasoolullah (s) and from the wisdom of Awliyaullah and from the wisdom of the Holy Qur’an, two verses are enough for this whole world.
The one who loves his beloved, his beloved will love him back. When Allah (swt) loves you back, He says, irji`ee ila Rabbiki raadiyatan mardiya. “You have pleased Me now, O tranquil soul.”
ٱرْجِعِىٓ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَّرْضِيَّةً
Come back thou to thy Lord, well pleased (thyself), and well-pleasing unto Him! (Surah Al-Fajr, 89:28)
When you love Allah (swt), you’re comfortable with dhikrullah. No matter how much bala` comes your way, you are comfortable with dhikrullah. When you remember that Allah (swt) has sent this bala` onto you--who sent it, your father, your uncle, your mother? They might just be a means. When you see the One Who originated this bala` onto everyone, “It is my Lord and I’m accepting what has come from Him,” right away the anger dies down in your heart. When you become mutma’in, content, and Allah (swt) loves you, He will say, “Come back happy, pleased and pleased with. Enter into My good servants. Enter into My gardens.”
That’s what we need. Inshaa-Allah, Allah (swt) makes us from them. Attach yourself to the engine that is going on the way to Allah (swt). Don’t attach yourself to the caboose, the nightmare that is going to the bridge that is out.
May Allah (swt) forgive us. Ameen.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, wa bi sirri Surat al-Fatihah.
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