Fajr Suhbah
Dastoor yaa Sayyidee, Sultan al-Anbiyaa. Yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasoolullah, yaa Rahmatan li ’l-`Aalameen. Dastoor yaa Sayyidee, yaa Qutb al-Mutasarrif, dastoor yaa Mawlana Shaykh Nazim.
RijaalAllah `aeenoona bi `awnillah wa koonoo awnal'lana billa asa nahda bi fadlillah.
RijaalAllah `aeenoona bi `awnillah wa koonoo awnal'lana billa asa nahda bi fadlillah.
RijaalAllah `aeenoona bi `awnillah wa koonoo awnal'lana billa asa nahda bi fadlillah.
Laa ilaaha illa Anta! Subhaanak wa qina `adhaab an-naar.
Our teacher, Mawlana Shaykh (q), said Sayyidina Musa (a) asked Allah (swt), “O My Lord how can I please You? What can I do to make You happy with me?” and Allah (swt) responded, “O Musa, it's so easy. When you are pleased with Me, I am pleased with you.” That is satisfaction, ar-rida, which is satisfaction of God with Man and also satisfaction of Man or humans with God, it’s a two-way condition. Satisfaction of God with humans is when He bestows His favors and grace on us, which is al-Hamd, “The Praise.” When that grace comes on us, it is God’s satisfaction with humans, then He makes them His representatives on Earth. There are messengers, prophets, and the saints who teach humanity about Allah (swt) because now they represent Him, like Sayyidina Musa (a) was representative of God Almighty to his Nation, so he was dressed in satisfaction, rida, from Allah (swt).
When human beings are satisfied with Allah (swt), then they perform His commands and submit their will to His Decree, they accept, which means they are satisfied. Our satisfaction with our Lord consists of fulfilling His commands and submitting to His Decree. Whatever He wrote for our destiny we must accept or else we are not satisfied with what Allah (swt) wants for us.
Sayyidina Musa (a) asked our Lord, “How can You be pleased with me?”
Allah (swt) said, “Be pleased with what I wrote for you, your destiny, then I will be happy with you.”
Our teachers say we must be satisfied with Allah’s Decree and our satisfaction does not happen without divine help reaching us, which is why we say in Surat al-Fatihah, iyyaka na`budu, “We worship You, fulfilling Your commandments,” wa iyyaka nasta`een, “We seek Your aid, we are asking for Your help.” So essentially we are praying, “Yaa Allah! We are worshiping You, but need help from Your side for us to be happy with Your Decree; we want Divine Aid.”
Surat al-Fatihah contains everything we need. When we accept what Allah has destined for us, then everything becomes balanced: we are stable in our faith, then become satisfied with our destiny, then we are steadfast on the Right Path, which is ihdina ‘s-Siraat al-Mustaqeem. When we are stable in faith we accept our fate: whether something good or bad happens to us it is the same, we submit. If we are consumed in Allah’s wrath (swt) or in the light of Allah’s mercy, for us it is all the same and that one is satisfied with his Lord! If you are in the ocean of anger or punishment or in the ocean of light and mercy, for that perfect human it is all one. Why? Both of them are characteristics of Allah (swt) and both come from Allah's Divine Presence, they are the same. Allah (swt) has jalaal, majesty, and jamaal, beauty, and when both manifest on that perfect human being, the perfect Sufi, he accepts them as the same, with no difference, they are one.
That is why you see when saints or the prophets were in difficulty, they were happy because they still got the taste, but then had a different taste of Allah's manifestation. They say, "O my Lord! I love You and You want to make me love You more, in both ways, in Mercy and Light or in anger and wrath,” which are both Manifestations of Allah's Beautiful Names. Allah's Name is al-Muntaqim, the Avenger, what Manifestation comes from that Name, the saint has to know, the Prophet has to know! Allah (swt) is al-Qahhar, the Subduer, The One that Crushes; and al-Kareem, The Bounteous; al-Raheem, The Merciful. A saint and a Prophet has to accept every Manifestation of the Divine Presence, all the jalaali and jamaali Names, so rida, satisfaction, is when we are learning how to accept both.
Nowadays people say, "I don't want difficulty," but difficulty makes you approach Allah (swt) more, like Mawlana explained, when we have money, health, house, cars and food and we are happy, everyone is happy with Allah (swt), is not happy with Him? If you have everything you are happy, there is no problem, but when you have difficulty, that is when it shows if you are really happy or not, that is when we are tested: are you satisfied with Allah's destiny or not? Our teachers tell us how to acquire more rida from Allah (swt): you are tested not when you have everything and are comfortable, but when you are uncomfortable and in difficulty. Are you accepting what the Lord has destined or do you want to change it? Are you complaining or breaking plates or yelling and screaming at your friends, wife or husband or kids? What are you doing? Allah is watching, so at that moment we have to be sure we are also satisfied with Allah (swt) by showing patience: where is our sabr then? If you don't have difficulty how are you going to be saboor, patient? Do you need patience when you have everything? You have to be patient during difficulty.
That is why Prophet (s) said, "The affairs of a mu'min is all khayr, everything that happens to a mu'min is good.” When a favor comes he thanks Allah, which is good, and when affliction comes he is patient, so both ways are good for him and Allah (swt) likes both ways because he is giving thanks for the favor and he is being patient for the difficulty, which is rida.
We have to pay attention to that: Allah (swt) is testing you in a moment of difficulty and we ask Allah (swt) relief from it and Allah (swt) likes that you know you are in difficulty and that you turn to Him, not to the loan officer, the congressmen, the senator. No, you go to your Lord. He (swt) makes reasons and causes and means; of course if you have difficulty with a bank you have to go to the loan officer, or difficulty with the government you have to go to them as these are the channels, but it doesn't mean forget The One from Whom you ask for an opening and then follow the means, the channels, the sabbab, whatever you need to go through, but then you keep your Lord in your mind, in your heart, on your tongue with dhikr.
Mawlana teaches that satisfaction is when Allah (swt) is happy with you, and when we receive Divine Aid, for us to be happy with Him by following His Commandments, iyyaka na'budu, and following and asking for His Divine Aid and be satisfied with His Decree, that is iyyaka nasta`een. When ‘Anger Light Oceans’ and ‘Light Mercy Oceans’ manifest on human beings, we accept it is coming from our Lord.
Our teachers say that Sayyidina al-Husayn (a) said, "Whoever sees God's actions and is happy with what He destined for them and does not want to change it, that is when they are delivered from sorrow." When you accept Allah's choice and you know, like what Sayyidina Husayn (a) said, “Whatever Allah (swt) chose for me is the most excellent choice for me.” When we do not want to change that then we are saved from all sorrow, because now we are satisfied with what Allah (swt) destined, and in the same way our hearts are saved from heedlessness. If we are heedless, we have difficulty and we are not satisfied, but when we keep our Lord in our mind and heart and we say, “Allah” during that difficulty, then we are present with the Lord and that difficulty becomes so easy. So satisfaction, rida, is a cure for heedlessness, being unaware of Allah (swt), because you have to be present to get it, which is why it is said in Holy Qur’an:
ارْجِعِي إِلَى رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَّرْضِيَّةً
Return to your Sustainer well-pleased [and] pleasing [Him]. (Surat al-Fajr 89:28)
“Be present with your Lord,” as then you become pleased and Allah (swt) is satisfied with you! That is achieved through dhikr, to keep awareness and remembrance of Him in your heart, then you know everything is coming from Him. If it is good we give thanka, if it is hard we become patient and say, Iyyaka na`budu wa iyyaka nasta`een, “help us through it," and Allah (swt) sends the help and when it comes, the next verse is ihdina ’s-siraat al-mustaqeem, then we are going forward on the Right Path, siraat alladheena an`amta `alayhim, “the path of those whom You favored.” Where is that siraat, bridge coming from? "You Favored," means that bridge is coming from His Presence to us. Some people think it is our effort to find the siraat and walk on it, but our teachers point out that the siraat, Straight Path is not from us to Him, it is from Allah’s Divine Presence to us, the other way around: siraat alladheena an`amta `alayhim. So there is a favor coming through, first to those who will come on that path. That is nasta`een, the help, the aid we are asking for.
Our shaykhs say when we receive that Divine Aid then we become pleased and satisfied with the Commandments, satisfied with the Decree. That is why we keep reading the Surat al-Fatihah because we understand that Divine Aid has to come for us to go on that sirat, the Bridge. Now they (the teachers) went and we are attached to them and we are also treading the path they are on. If we do not tread the path of the favored ones, what is left? Ghayri ’l-maghdoobi `alayhim wala ’d-daaleen. So we are asking for the Bridge, the path of the favored ones, we have to find them or else we are going to end up Ghayri ’l-maghdoobi `alayhim, with those on whom Allah's anger has come or those who lost the way. We don’t want to be on that way. So we have to find these “an`amta `alayhim.” Who are they? Who are the favored? Who are those that received Divine Aid and were able to tread that path? These are the Prophets, the Messengers, the saints, the Companions, the Ahlu ’l-Bayt, these are those we have to find to go on the path that Allah extends from His Divine Presence. They are those who teach us the way of satisfaction and patience and acceptance of Allah's Decree. Don't fight Allah's Decree because Sayyidina al-Husayn said that whatever He chose is the best for us. When somebody sees it that way: O my Lord whatever you chose is the best for me, then you don't feel sorrow any more, no sadness any more because you know it is the best for you, where it is through experiencing patience or through shukr, through thanks, praise and grace.
Allah is raising us so He has to teach us or else how would we know sabr if no difficulty in our lives. So alhamdulillah we are on that path, the path of the favored ones, the path of Ahlu ’l-Bayt and Companions of Prophet (s). Inshaa-Allah we are always with them and not from the other two groups which are always there and we can fall into them. Siraat al-Mustaqeem is straight and if we go a little bit of the course you are going to fall. We have to be careful even if we are Muslims now or Mu'mins now tomorrow we don't know what happens. How many Mu'mins and Muslims hearts changed? Even Prophet (s) made a du`a: O my Lord, thabbit qalbee `alaa deenik, “Make my heart steadfast on Your deen,” and they said, “Yaa Rasoolullah you? You Are a Prophet, how can that be?” He said, "My heart is like a feather in the wind," it is a hadith, it can go anyway the wind wants it. So he used to make that du`a that make my heart steadfast on Siraat al-Mustaqeem because if we go a little bit off to the right or left we will fall and the higher we get into Imaan, in faith, the more dangerous it becomes, because now when you are higher in Imaan and Islam Shaytan enters through pride and show off and being happy with who you are. When we are starting to see yourself as somebody now we are making partners of ourselves with Allah (swt) that they are coming for me not for You. That is why we say. “Laa Ilaaha illa-Llah.” We remind ourselves. People who want to make Mawlid or somebody giving a lecture, we give an example, he sees all these people sitting there and says, “O they all came for me,” but they came for Mawlid. Mawlid is for whom? Prophet (s). You can't listen to your voice, but that person thinks they came for his voice or her voice. “They came for me because I am a famous singer,” but they came to listen to Mawlid. That thought enters the heart because Shaytan plays and the same thing with an imam, a scholar; he thinks people came for him but they came to learn about the Lord. People came to pray to know their Lord, they are not coming for the imam or his importance as a qari or that he has a beautiful voice, that is an extra, but they came to worship their Lord. So that imam is in danger not the jama`ah. The jama`ah are not claiming anything but the imam maybe claiming himself to be something that they are coming for him not for Allah (swt) or Prophet (s). That is the danger of being upfront.
That is why Prophet (s) Allah testified in Holy Qur’an:
مَا زَاغَ الْبَصَرُ وَمَا طَغَى
(His) sight never swerved, nor did it go wrong. (Surat an-Najm, 53:17)
Prophet (s) never looked, his eyesight did not go anywhere other than to God, he did not look at things around him nor himself, so he did not see himself or things around him as anything, his focus was on his Lord. That is what the saints have to do, for them that is Siraat al-Mustaqeem: the direction is the Lord. Once we start thinking of ourselves as somebody important, Allah (swt) becomes angry! When an imam, hafizh, qaari or `alim starts to think he is something, he starts to fall from Siraat al-Mustaqeem into maghdoobi `alayhim, “those who have earned anger” or he falls into ad-daaleen,“those who lost their way.” This is an example and there are so many others. That is the danger, the higher we go in worship the more dangerous it becomes and the less we claim anything for ourselves the easier it is. So the more you are elevated, you don't have any more wiggle room, you really have to be straight. When you are at the bottom, you can move this way or that and you can be corrected, you can fall off because at the Bridge is still a little wide, but the higher you go the thinner it becomes, so we have to be careful of that. When we are favored with Allah's Grace and representing our shaykhs anywhere we are, we have to be careful to continue on Siraat al-Mustaqeem, to be happy with what Allah (swt) destined and continue to ask for Divine Aid `iyyaka nastaeen. As Sayyidina Husayn (a) said, follow that and know the best thing that happened to us at any moment is what Allah (swt) chose for us and that is what we accept, then contentment comes and all the sorrow departs. Inshaa-Allah we will continue this beautiful Naqshbandiyya Path of our shaykh and Grandshaykhs that leads to Sayyidina Imam Naqshband (q) and from him up the chain to Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (q) and Sayyidina `Ali (q) and the Ahlu ‘l-Bayt and the Companions (r)!
O our Lord! Make us steadfast on Siraat al-Mustaqeem. O our Lord! We ask that you grant us to not deviate from the Right Path or fall into the two other categories, ghayri ’l-maghdoobi `alayhim and ad-daaleen, that we continue with those whom You favored. O our Lord, give us Your help! We are happy with what You have decreed for us, yaa Rabbee, but give us power and aid to accept it. Give us mercy and might that we continue into Paradise with our Prophet (s) and our families, parents, brothers and our relatives and friends! Yaa Rabbee! Whoever asked for du`a, be it with a relationship or solving kid’s problems or money, You know best as You put us in that difficulty; therefore, we ask that You give us power to endure it and that You save us from it and give us an exit. Shower us with Your Mercy and grant that we become satisfied with Your Decree. O our Lord, for the sake of Your Prophet grant us his shafa`ah in Your Presence and make us continue with our shaykh and our Grandshaykhs to attain Your Pleasure, yaa Rabbee.
Bi hurmati ‘l-Habeeb, bi hurmati ‘l-Fatihah.
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