A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
Laa hawla wa laa quwatta illa billahi 'l-`Aliyyu 'l-`Azheem.
Dastoor, yaa Sayyidi wa Mawlay. Madad, yaa RijaalAllah.
Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. `Azeez Allah.
Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Kareem Allah .
Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. SubhaanAllah.
Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Allah, Allah. Sultan Allah.
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.
Mashaa-Allah, May Allah (swt) always keep us together. May Allah (swt) make our children grow up to be good Muslims, inshaa-Allah. May Allah (swt) protect them. In this day and age it’s difficult to raise--what raise? It’s difficult for us to stay on Islam. It’s difficult for adults. It’s difficult for grownups to remain on good conduct, good ways. Everybody is going right and left.
SubhaanAllah. If you look at people, as Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) has said, if you throw a seed in the middle of land, it will grow to be a good tree if you have good soil, good water. But if that same seed is thrown on a concrete road or in bad soil, it will give a little bit but not too much. It will become a plant, half a plant or a quarter of a plant but it will not become a full grown plant.
He said the same thing is with the ego. Allah (swt) allowed the ego of Fir`awn to grow to perfection. What is the perfection of the ego? When it claims it is lord, saying, “I am lord. Don’t say, ‘Laa ilaaha illa-Llah.’ There’s nothing like that. You have to say, ‘Laa ilaaha illa-ana, me.’ I am your boss. I am your lord. I am your sustainer. I am the one who gives you orders.”
When Allah (swt) allows the ego to grow to its potential, everybody can become a Fir`awn. Every human being has the potential and the capability to become a Fir`awn, a Nimrud, somebody who claims to be lord on earth. He can kill and can give life. He can take life and grant life like Nimrud. Didn’t Nimrud say that? He said, “I can give life and I can take life.”
A human being’s ego can reach that potential if Allah (swt) allows it to grow that way. He allowed Fir`awn to have the wealth, the power and whatever was growing inside of his heart to think that he had become something big. The other ones are a quarter Fir`awn, one-tenth of Fir`awn, half of Fir`awn but not the full potential. Alhamdulillah that Allah (swt) did not allow us to become a full Fir`awn but you can see how He allowed others in this world to become a full Fir`awn, a full Pharoah, with the literal meaning, a full Nimrud.
That is one of the bad characteristics of a human being. There are three bad characteristics of the ego as we said before. There is sifaatu ‘l-ghadabiyya, anger, predator characteristic and cattle characteristic, shahwa, the desires and the lust.
SubhaanAllah. Do you follow P. Diddy or not? You don’t know P. Diddy? Puff Diddy. I don’t know who’s following. You have to follow in order to take lessons, not to become like them. He represents the characteristic of the ego that if you allow it to reach its full potential, it will lead you to that deep well of desires and lust. Isn’t that true? Now everything is surfacing.
Allah (swt) allowed that ego to use everything in its power, everything that was granted to it by the Lord of Heavens. To reach what? To reach the bottom pit of that well of lust and desire. What’s coming out is amazing. It’s amazing how much the ego can fall into that well of desires. If you’re not following that, you have to take a lesson. That’s one.
If Allah (swt) gives you the chance like He gave to Diddy with the wealth and the power and the control, your ego can take you as it took him to the bottom of the well of desires and lust. That is the first one sifaatu ‘l-bahimiyya, animalistic, cattle characteristic. What is that? To eat, drink, get power and mate. That’s what he was doing, and everything else in between. That’s one.
Another one, if Allah (swt) allows your ego to be that way, it will become like the one in the Middle East: the anger characteristics. The anger characteristics can lead you to the well of killing, murdering and having no mercy in your heart. If somebody becomes angry, they can fall down all the way to the ones in the Middle East. You can see it. We don’t have to say names.
What do you do, O insaan? One person came to Sayyidina Hasan al-Basri (r) and said, “How is it going? Comment ca va?” I picked up some French in Montreal. “Ca va bien. It’s going well.” That’s the only thing I know. Umer Masood, you can correct me. “How is it going?” This guy asked Sayyidina Hasan al-Basri, “How is it going?” Sayyidina Hasan al-Basri said, “Bi khayr. Bien.” And then he said, “How are you doing?” First it was, “How is life going?” Alhamdulillah. You should not complain. Say, “Alhamdulillah bi khayr, it’s going with khayr.”
He asked, “How are you doing?” He said, “O my son. I will tell you. What do you think of a bunch of people who boarded a ship and when the ship came to the middle of the ocean, it broke down and sank and everybody jumped on a wood board to survive? What do you think is the condition of these people?” Have you ever watched the Titanic, Shaykh Abdallah? What was the condition of Leonardo DiCaprio? He is in that Puff Diddy case. Let’s see how he’s going to survive that one. Many names are coming out.
Like we said, if Allah (swt) allows your ego to take you down that path, it will take you. Alhamdulillah, we live in the mountains. We only come to a farm or some farms and that’s it. We don’t know any Hamptons, we don’t know any Los Angeles or any of that stuff. How nice.
He asked, “What do you think of people who boarded a ship, came to the middle of the ocean and the ship broke, sank, and everybody was grabbing a wood panel? How is their state?”
He said, “Yaa Sayyidi. Their state is very severe, very difficult.”
He said, “My state is worse than theirs. Fa ‘l-mawtu bahree. Death is my ocean. Wa ‘l-hayatu ‘s-safinatee. Life is my boat. Wa dhunoobu khasbatee. Misdeeds are my wood board.”
Do you understand what it means? You have life but you are moving in this ocean and at any time that life can go away and you can sink into death. All of your grabbing on is your misdeeds, that wood board like Leonardo. He’s now grabbing onto his misdeeds, his faults. That was how Sayyidina Hasan al-Basri was seeing his life, his death and what was going to happen at the end of his life when he was falling into death. He is only grabbing onto his deeds, good or bad.
Insaan, the human being has to know how to get rid of the misdeeds. That’s why Allah (swt) teaches us in the Holy Qur’an to say, iyyaka na`budu, “Yaa Rabbee. We worship You.” What is `ibaadah? As they said, `ibaadah is obedience. “I am obeying You, O my Lord. Okay, I understand where Puff Diddy is going. I understand where the other people in the Middle East are going. I understand the difficulties we all face as human beings. Yaa Rabbee. I am obeying. I am listening. Tell me what to do.”
If you want to get rid of these misdeeds, faults, wrongdoings, evildoings, you have to get rid of your ego that has four characteristics. The first characteristic is ammaara. It orders you to do evil. It orders you around. It says, “I am your lord. I order you around.” Sayyidina Yusuf (a) said:
وَمَآ أُبَرِّئُ نَفْسِىٓ إِنَّ ٱلنَّفْسَ لَأَمَّارَةٌۢ بِٱلسُّوٓءِ إِلَّا مَا رَحِمَ رَبِّىٓ إِنَّ رَبِّى غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
Wa maa ubbari’oo nafsee inna ‘n-nafsa ‘l-ammaaratum bi ‘s-soo illa maa rahima Rabbee inna Rabbee Ghafooru ‘r-Raheem.
"Nor do I absolve my own self (of blame): the (human) soul is certainly prone to evil, unless my Lord bestows His Mercy: but surely my Lord is Oft- forgiving, Most Merciful." (Surah Yusuf, 12:53)
I would not give my ego credit that, “Mashaa-Allah, you’re such a good one. You are purifying the world from the evil ones. You are cleaning up the acts of the bad ones. You are the hero and everybody else is the villain.” Don’t give your ego that credit. Sayyidina Yusuf, the son of Jacob, peace be upon both of them, did not give his ego credit. He said, “No, my ego orders evil, orders bad acts.” The Prophet is teaching you a lesson. Now they say, “We are purifying the world from the bad ones.” You are not following the way of prophets.
The first characteristic of the ego is ammaara, it orders you around. The second is lawwaama, it blames itself. “I should have done this but I have done this. I did wrong. I should have done right.” That is the characteristic of the ego that is seeing the truth and the falsehood. It is the second stage. At the first stage there is no truth and no falsehood, everything goes. “I am the good one.” At the second stage, no, “This was right. This was wrong,” and it starts to look.
لَآ أُقْسِمُ بِيَوْمِ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ وَلَآ أُقْسِمُ بِٱلنَّفْسِ ٱللَّوَّامَةِ
Laa uqsimu bi Yawmi ‘l-Qiyamah wa laa uqsimu bi nafsi ‘l-lawwaama.
I do call to witness the Resurrection Day; and I do call to witness the self-reproaching spirit: (Eschew Evil). (Surah Al-Qiyamah, 75:1-2)
There is a second stage. Allah (swt) tells you about it in the Holy Qur’an. The first is in Surah Yusuf, ammara, and the second is in Surah Qiyamah, lawwama, the ego that blames itself.
The third is mulhamma, inspired. Allah (swt) starts to inspire you. The Lord of Heavens starts to inspire you with the Truth. When He sees that you’re struggling between Truth and falsehood and you say, “Yaa Rabbee. `Iyyaka na`budu. I am worshiping You. Wa `iyyaka nasta`een, and I am counting on You,” then Allah (swt) will start to inspire you to the good way.
وَنَفْسٍ وَمَا سَوَّىٰهَا فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَىٰهَا
Wa nafsin wa maa sawaahaa. fa ‘l-hammahaa fujoorahaa wa taqwaahaa.
By the soul, and the proportion and order given to it. And its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right. (Surat ash-Shams, 91:8-9)
This is in Surah Ash-Shams. Wa shamsu wa duhaha. And then He says, “And the ego and the One Who created it, fa ‘l-hammaha. He has inspired it.” The third stage is ilham, mulhamma. Mawlana Shaykh Hisham used to say to some people in front of me, “You have nafsun mulhamma, an ego that gets inspirations.” The fourth one is mutma’inna.
يَـٰٓأَيَّتُهَا ٱلنَّفْسُ ٱلْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ ٱرْجِعِىٓ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَّرْضِيَّةً
Yaa ayyuha ‘n-nafsu ‘l-mutmma’inna irji`ee ila Rabbika raadiyata mardiyya.
(To the righteous soul will be said:) "O (you) soul, in (complete) rest and satisfaction! "Come back the Prophet (s) your Lord,- well pleased (yourself), and well-pleasing unto Him! (Surat al-Fajr, 89:27-28)
When you say, “Yaa Rabbee. `Iyyaka na`budu. I am worshiping You. I am obeying You. Take me from the darknesses of myself to the Light of Your Existence.” That’s why it is called ihdina ‘s-siratu ‘l-mustaqeem. “Guide me to the right path.” The right path of what? Take me from the well of desires and lusts that others are falling into. Take me from the well of anger and killing and murdering and maiming that others are falling into. Take me from the well of being a predator, a cattle and being a shaytan. Take me from the well of lying and cheating that others are falling into. To where?
Siraata ‘l-ladheena an`amta `alayhim, to the place that Your Anbiya and Awliya went to. What is, “An`amta `alayhim”? “The ones that You favored.” Who are they? Anbiya and Awliya. Just by reading Fatiha, you are asking Allah (swt) to take you from the darknesses of yourself, to take you out of the fourth stage of your ego from the one that orders evil, from the one that blames itself, from the one that is inspired and from the one that is tranquil. I don’t want my ego in whatever level it’s in. I want Your Nooru ‘l-Wahdaniyya. I want the Light of Your Oness, yaa Rabbee.
That is Siratu ‘l-Mustaqeem sirata ‘Lladheena an`amta `alayhim, the place of Anbiya and Awliya. When you are reading Surah al-Fatiha, you are asking Allah (swt) to join you with Anbiya and Awliya. You don’t need any more du`a. “Give me du`a. Give me du`a.” You are reading it yourself everyday. How many times? Forty. There are four raka`ats a day that you have to do. Forty times a day you are saying, “Yaa Rabbee. Take me from the darkness of myself and the consequences of these darknesses to Nooru ‘l-Wahdaniyya, to the Light of Your Oneness. Sirata ‘l-ladhena an`amta `alayhim. Allah (swt) will give you. That is why you say “ameen” at the end. He will let you go.
Sayyidina Hasan al-Basri gave a great story and the Titanic copied his story, but they missed the end. The end is that, “Yaa Rabbee. As I am holding on to this board of misdeeds, of faults, I would like You to make me clean from every level of this ego.” This is the board, your misdeeds. Yaa Rabbee. I don’t want to be hanging out on a misdeed, I want to be on a lifeboat. You want to join the other ones that were on the lifeboat. Who are the captains there? Anbiya and Awliya. They will take you.
May Allah (swt) forgive us. That is why when you read Surah al-Fatiha and you say, “Alhamdulillah,” you are calling Allah (swt). Allah (swt) is `Illa. Laa ilaaha illa-Llah. You are calling Him by His `Uluhiyya to go against the ammara. You are calling Him by His Lordship, by Him being `Illa, God, telling you what to do and what not to do against nafs that is telling you what to do and what not to do. Basically you say, “I am obeying Allah (swt).” We say, Alhamdulillah. I am obeying Allah (swt), not obeying you.”
The first level of the ego is canceled, ammara, the one that gives you orders. I’m not taking orders from you anymore. I’m taking orders from Allah (swt). Alhamdulillah. Allah (swt).
Lawwaama, the blame. Alhamdulillah. Allah (swt). What is after “Allah (swt)”? Rabb. The ego starts telling itself, “Allah (swt) is giving me so many favors and I’m misusing them.” That’s wrong. To cancel that lawwaama, you have to match it with Ruboobiyya, with Allah (swt)’s Lordship, Sustainership, Providership that, “My Lord is giving me so many favors. Where is my thanks? Where is my gratitude?” Your ego starts to blame itself.
In Surah Al-Fatiha, Allah (swt)’s Holy Names are going head to head with the levels of the ego. Ar-Rahman for the mulhamma. Ar-Raheem for the mutma`inna. I don’t need to go into much more because it’s late but if you read Surah Al-Fatiha, Allah (swt) will pull you out of the wells of bad characteristics of the go into His Noor. Ask. Read Surah Al-Fatiha every time and may Allah (swt) take us to His Noor, inshaa-Allah.
They say Nooru ‘l-Wahdaniyyatihi wa shuhoodu fardiyyatihi. Not only do you enter the Ocean of Light of His Oneness, also you will be granted shuhood, viewing. You will look at His Beauty. You will look at His Kamal, Perfection and Jalal, Majesty. That is Siraatu ‘l-Mustaqeem as Sayyidina Musa (a) heard from Allah (swt) and he wanted to see. Rasoolullah (s) saw Allah (swt) as He wanted to in Israa’ wa 'l-Mi`raaj. You can be offered that shuhood, that viewing of Allah (swt)’s Beauty, not only to enter into His Ocean but also to view His Beauty.
May Allah (swt) make us from them. Ameen. Be careful. If your ego is given the opportunity, it will become a P. Diddy. Be careful. If your ego is given the opportunity, it will become like the ones in the Middle East. If your ego is given the opportunity, it can become like Fir`awn and Nimrud, but Allah (swt) has favored you and did not give you that opportunity. Don’t see yourself as better than them. He might switch it and make you like them and make them like you, if you think you are a good one.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) always said, if you see Allah (swt) using you for good, thank Him. If you see Allah (swt) using others for evil, also thank Him that He has not used you for evil. He is using others, but ask guidance for them. These are things you can only learn in tariqah. When you open YouTube and open the `ulama and shuyookh and the people who speak, nobody speaks like that. This is all from what I have heard from Mawlana. They have other desires in their heads that clouds their thinking. When dunya clouds your thinking, you will not speak about respect and love to human beings. You will speak about bringing them down, demeaning them, belittling them, harming them.
May Allah (swt) forgive us.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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