30 Ramadan 1427/22 October 2006
A`udhu billahi min ash-shaytaan ir-rajeem
Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem
Nawaytu'l-arba`een, nawaytu'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu'l-khalwah, nawaytu'l-riyaadah, nawaytu's-salook, nawaytu'l-`uzlah lillahi ta`ala fee hadha'l-masjid
I
n the previous session we said that that verse Ati` Allah wa ati` ar-Rasula wa uli 'l-amri minkum, “Obey Allah I, obey the Prophet e and obey the authority” [4:59] is the summary and it is woven everything together, all the hadith and all the verses of the Holy Qur'an and all the explanations. It is the head of the body of the message of Allah I to His servants.
And Grandshaykh said that, “Whoever obeys Allah I must obey the Prophet e. Without obeying the Prophet e you are not completing the requirement of Islam.”
He said, “The proof on that is that Allah I alhaqa bi La ilaha ill-Allah muhammadun Rasulullah e. He made muhammadun Rasulullah e to follow La ilaha ill-Allah. You cannot say La ilaha ill-Allah without Muhammad Rasulullah e. If you say like that it is not complete.”
“And more proof for that is that He raised the name of the Prophet e with His Name. That is why Sayyidina Adam u was looking around Paradise and he saw the name of Prophet e everywhere besides the Name of Allah I. He knew that Sayyidina Muhammad e was one of his sons, for which Allah I created creation. So he knew that for that verse salloo alayhi wa sallimoo tasleema.”
“Also the other proof is that if you pray without saying wa ashadu anna muhammadan Rasulullah e on the shahada: ashadu an La ilaha ill-Allah in the at-tahiyyaat.” “That means our religion will not be complete if our prayer is not complete and our prayer will not be complete if we don’t say the second part of the shahada.”
“And our prayer is not complete if we left the second part of the shahada. When you say shahada then you are witnessing the messengership of the Prophet e of Allah I with the belief in Allah I by La ilaha ill-Allah. That is why ati` ar-Rasul followed ati` ullah.”
And he said, “That uli’l amr are those whom Allah I has put as leaders of countries and the others are awliyaullah, those who annihilated themselves for the sake of humanity, for the sake of Allah’s I servants, as they tried their best to guide the servants of Allah I to guide them to Paradise. They are the ones who try to take the people from hellfire, one after one, by trying to save them.”
And he said that, “One of the principles of your presence here is your example and is a condition that you have to be in that association,” [in my association he means or Mawlana Shaykh Nazim’s ? association or those who have been given authority by Prophet e directly to Grandshaykh and thru Grandshaykh to Mawlana Shaykh who have been given authority to represent those are the real representatives.]
“Appearing in their association is proof that you have been taken from hand of Shaytaan and saved from the burning hellfire and put in a peaceful relaxing cool place, bardan wa salaaman, although around you is burning but you are sitting cool and peaceful in that paradise that they have created for you in the condition of appearing in their association.
And that is why the Prophet e said that, “Yadullah ma` al-jama`at – the Hand of Allah is with the gathering,” It cannot be by individual. And the other proof that you are saved from hands of Shaytaan and taken to the Presence of Allah I is that Prophet e said man tashabbaha bi qawmin fa huwa minhum. That is the proof and condition that you are with that happy group.”
He said, “Some people come with the intention of associating with that group and to listen and some people want to progress more come with love to sit and learn and to discipline themselves. Some people come with the intention of getting their trust. Some people come with the intention of being on right way and some people come to save themselves from hellfire. And each one comes for a certain purpose and everyone is on the intention that they come or on the intention that the develop later on their journey if they follow that journey for a certain reward then they are after that reward and using that journey to get something out of it.”
Don’t forget that there are difficulties. For example, when they say to you sometime, there are boxes on the road, “Don’t approach, danger of death.” That is where there is high voltage electricity. “Don’t approach.” Only experts can approach, electricians. You approach there and you are not expert you burn there. You will be immediately gone. So awliyaullah they know that they cannot open that dangerous place to a child. Still he is or she is learning how to walk how you are going to open and open to that child the danger of death. They put two bones and a skull there; it means you are going to be like these two bones and that skull. So people don’t approach. Not only that; they are wrong to put two bones and skull. They have to put powder, you will be completely turned to dust, nothing left. When awliya take you on that way they have to shatter you completely and for people to step on you, accepting or not. Still ego cannot accept. Ego is so huge that it cannot accept humiliation. Don’t say, “Yeah, no I accept.” No way to accept. It is impossible.
So they cannot give you that. Because it is hard. Like sometimes you come here and you can see because the light is not so strong, but if you have spotlights in your eyes you are blind, you cannot see it. You cannot see, because they want you to enter in spotlight. How can you see, that is 10,000 watts. How can you see 10,000 watts? It is impossible. So don’t ask those things.
Come like a sheep, saying, “I want to follow the shepherd.” Let the shepherd take the responsibility. The shepherd has to know the ins and outs and he can stay the high voltage and high wattage. He knows and has been guided thru that road. We cannot do that because we are not the shepherd. Let us leave that and relax and where the shepherd goes we go.
The Prophet e said that, “The people of Madina knows its districts.” When the camel came to Madina, bringing the Prophet e from Makkah to Madina, he said, “Leave the camel,” because everyone wants to be the door of the Prophet e, everyone wants to be the one who is the host. He wants to be proud that he hosted Prophet Muhammad e and the Prophet e did not want to make anyone unhappy because he is the perfect one, and he knows he cannot have but one host, because he is going to be with one in his house and he doesn’t want to make the Sahaaba to feel bad. Everyone loves the Prophet e and everyone wants to be door for Prophet e, but the Prophet e said, as he is the perfect man that Allah I has created. He wants to make them not to be in problem. And he wants to show, “There is only one door, don’t bother, don’t worry.” If he says, “This is my door,” everyone gets upset and it might be that one does something that is not appropriate for the Prophet’s e reputation. So what did he do? He put the responsibility to the camel. “Qaala itrakuha fa innaha ma`moora- Leave the camel for she is commanded.”
It means, “She has been ordered from heaven where to stop. Which door she will assign I will stay there.” So who is going now to object? It can stop at only one door. If they object they are objecting on the camel.
And the camel stopped by the door of Sayyidina Abu Ayyub al-Ansaari y, he was the host of Sayyidina Muhammad e. He is buried in Istanbul and that is where the Prophet e predicted that, “You, Ya Abu Ayyub y will die from cold weather.” The Sahaaba said, “The desert is all hot weather, how will he die from cold?” SubhanAllah he went to Istanbul to spread Islam there and he died there from cold weather. He died there when he went to conquer there trying to open the gates of Constantinople.
So that way is full of obstacles. And awliyaullah went thru that way and they don’t appoint their successor except in their will when they are leaving. They might say to someone you have permission to do this or do that and that doesn’t mean that one is the door or the window or the successor. There is no door to them. To them everyone is similar to each other, as the Prophet e said in hadith, “An-naasu sawaaasiyyatun ka asnaan al-masht. Human beings are equal like the teeth of a comb.” And he said, “Laa farqa bayna `arabiyyan wa laa `ajamiyyan illa bit-taqwa - There is no difference between Arab and Persian, `ajam, except by righteousness.” Those called `ajam, means the Persian side, those who don’t speak Arabic, Turkish and persons, they are not Arabic-speaking but they are Muslim. He wants to show that, “Everyone I treat equal,” as Mawlana has mentioned many times, “Everyone of my followers are like gems on my turban. All of them have a place on my crown. If one gem is taken out of its place then the turban looks not nice.”
So awliyaullah try their best to take people to paradise and save them from hellfire. In every century there is awliyaullah that Allah I gave them the protection of the Ummah to guide Ummat an-Nabi e. And every group, Allah I gave them to a wali. No way that a group will increase or decrease but according to what Allah I has given to be there. Even if thru their physical body they are not present still that shaykh has been given that trust and even if they go and never meet that wali they are still guided by that wali. Many people are guided by dreams and many people are guided by the ambassadors of the shaykh. You know that the ambassador is not always an ambassador. They serve a term and then they may be changed. Anyone may serve as ambassador to the shaykh in order to bring those around him to the shaykh. You cannot be ambassador for life. Has anyone seen ambassador for life? No. Why don’t you speak? You are like dead people, you don’t answer. They answer but you cannot hear them.
Did you ever see ambassador for life? No! They serve for a time and then sit on the side. Who can serve fulltime? The one who can serve fulltime is the one who has the power of attorney. If someone you want to sit in your place you give that one power of attorney. But anytime you can cancel that power of attorney because you own it. He only owns it as long as you authorize it. When you don’t authorize it, you pull it out; it is no longer effective; it is gone. Although that person might continue acting as if that power of attorney is existing but in reality that is no longer, he cannot sign, his signature is cancelled.
Awliyaullah authorize people, then they cancel. They cancel for the benefit of the students. They want you to reach a certain level and then cancel it. Your duty is over. Then they look into what is best for you. It might be then that it is best for you to be normal to be like the others. They know what relationship for you is better and they put you in for the benefit of the people.
The only one that cannot be canceled are the ones that have been authorized not for a term, but for life. That they don’t cancel, they keep that.
And as I said, this has been given to two people who are serving Mawlana Shaykh Nazim ? not two more. One is Shaykh Adnan ? and one is the one sitting here. That is a grant from Allah I and we must be thankful and we must be happy to be with Mawlana Shaykh Nazim ? and Allah I has given us that living shaykh that connects us with that Golden Chain, to be happy when Grandshaykh ordered Mawlana for seclusion in Madinatu’l-Munawwara for nine months and Grandshaykh was there one year. At the end of his seclusion, he said, and this is Grandshaykh saying, me and my brother were there, only two of us and he is saying that story. At the end of that seclusion the 9 months the order was to Shaykh Nazim ? to go from the place he was doing seclusion to Masjid an-Nabi e, pray his five prayers and come back and as he is walking he looks at his feet. And he cannot look far; he has to look at his feet. Go do his prayers and come back and do his awraad in his seclusion. He said, “I was in a high place.” Mawlana was speaking in a vision, of kashf sitting with the Prophet e. “I said, ‘Ya sayyidee! Ya Rasulullah e, my student has finished his seclusion.’”
He said, “We cannot give the trust to students without the stamp of the Prophet e.” “I said, ‘My student has finished his seclusions. Can we give him his trust?’ Prophet e said, ‘No, not yet.’”
Although Mawlana Shaykh Nazim ? had given up everything in dunya—he sold everything that he owns which would be worth millions and millions today, and he gave it to Grandshaykh. He didn’t look back.
When you look and say, “I gave,” what you gave? You gave dirtiness of dunya. Don’t you know how much they have carried you and how much they have pampered you? Don’t say, “I gave.” What you gave it is for Allah I. It is gone. Don’t give from the beginning. Don’t show you did favors. la tumannin. Don’t say to Allah I, “O, I did this,” Allah I doesn’t like that. You didn’t do it; Allah I did it, for your safety. You don’t know how much Allah I saved you from what you gave. People give according to their love. Don’t come back and say, “I gave.” Some give everything.
They want to train us as they know we are children. They want to walk us. If you see your son you see him falling you catch him in order to make him not to fall. If it is another person’s child you don’t care. But your child, awliyaullah they discipline the child. Else why to speak, they don’t have to speak. They leave that job to another person. They say, “I don’t care if he falls in hellfire or falls in the building.”
Don’t look back at what you gave then you lose what you gave. Grandshaykh said, “So the Prophet e said, ‘No, wait, don’t give the trust. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim ? isn’t yet complete. He is complete but there is the last key but the key has a price.’”
As I said before about that seclusion and many other seclusions that Mawlana made, that was in 1967, there were many before it. But that was one of the main important ones. They want to give the key. They said, “Wait! Test him.” I am not saying something from my own but saying what Grandshaykh said. This is sharing of knowledge, it is to build us up, for everyone to reach that level has to go on that journey. Mawlana had to go on that journey, Grandshaykh had to go on that journey, Grand Grandshaykh had to go on that journey. That doesn’t diminish his position but it explains that for every wali what kind of test he went through. We know only of two, Grandshaykh’s test and Mawlana Shaykh’s test. We don’t know of what happened previously except what our shaykhs tell us.
And we wrote many of those in The Naqshbandi Sufi Way book, on their lives. The Prophet e said, “Don’t give it yet, there is one last test.” So Grandshaykh knew what that last one is. And Mawlana Shaykh Nazim ? was coming from the Mosque, from the Presence of the Prophet e and he was looking at his feet; not looking farther and the three were looking at him: Prophet e, Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq y and Grandshaykh. And Grandshaykh was there and he said to him, “Ya waladee, there is still one thing that is not clean with you.” He said, “Ya Sayyidee! I am your student. Teach me and then I will know what is wrong with me.” He said, “You see yourself too much. You see yourself that you are above everyone. That is a sickness.” And he is looking at him and Prophet e is looking at his heart and awliyaullah are looking and Sayyidina Abu Bakr y is looking. He said, “How can I not see myself when I have you behind me, you are like a lion behind me eating Shaytaan. I am seeing myself with that, and I am proud dunya and akhira with that.”
All that was one word. The Prophet e was happy with that and said, “Give him his trust.” That was all in the combination of one sentence.
Awliya are of such caliber that we must be happy we are in their presence and this gathering is under their name. They look at everyone the same to pull them out of their difficulties and bring them back to life. Their ambassadors are everywhere. Sometimes they have an ambassador that doesn’t have a position; he doesn’t have an embassy. They call him a goodwill ambassador, or ambassador-at-large. That means all ambassadors are under him. When he comes to a country and those ambassadors of different countries are there, they have no right to speak. These ambassadors-at-large are only one or two. These ambassadors-at-large are assigned the job of deputy and their job is to bring the followers to the main gate, as-Sadr al-`Adham—the biggest chair in the Ottoman court. So our main focus is Mawlana Shaykh Nazim ? and the ambassadors all bring their followers to the shaykh. These ambassadors can finish their terms and they put new ones. It doesn’t mean they have no respect. They have respect but their terms are over. They have to continue their love to the shaykh and their obedience to the shaykh.
The time is near for big changes in the world; changes for the best. When these changes are coming there is big heavenly light coming. Not every ambassador can carry that light. That is very difficult capacity to carry. So everyone is in hands of those in authority. They pulled all out of the hands of representative to them.
Like Mawlana Shaykh said and Grandshaykh said, may Allah I give him long life and bless Grandshaykh. He said that, “All tariqats, as the shaykh is passing away, Sayyidina Mahdi u is taking that place.”
And the last tariqah that is alive is in the hand of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim ?. But all other tariqats are taken from their hands. These representatives cannot sit on position of shaykh when the shaykh, who is a spotlight, has gone, no one can take the position of that spotlight.
So now that time is so near, that power is coming very soon, and we don’t know how soon that is, and as Allah I said to Sayyidina Musa u, alaysa as-subhu bi qareeb and it took forty years. So as I said in a previous session, if you followed, this is a series, if you don’t follow you cannot understand what comes after, as this goes from grade one up to university, to heavenly university. We said that, “When Grandshaykh speaks about Sayyidina Mahdi u and Sayyidina `Isa u, it may be they are speaking to your descenders that are in your back. That waiting for Mahdi u is that even if you don’t reach that time you will be rewarded as if you have been in their time.”
So the time is so near that all the authority has been taken from representatives and it is all in hands of Mahdi u. And Mawlana said in Cyprus in an association there, “I have two authorized persons only, Shaykh Adnan ? and Shaykh Hisham ?. All others are doing dhikr only. Those authorization that have been given out, are taken back. There are no more representatives. Everyone does his own work and not more than that.”
Everything has been turned back to its original and it is from our hands to Shaykh Nazim ?. Those who have been representing they have no authorization and everyone of you has authority to speak to bring people to tariqah. But no longer a door or window. As the burden is very heavy, they might die and then you must die. Let us be sheep not the shepherd. Let us not fall in obstacles and then everyone fall with us.
That is not diminishing anyone’s position. People are all around the world. Mawlana told them to conduct dhikr and people now know there is no door to Mawlana Shaykh and there is nothing in their hands, only the two who are authorized they can still function. And that is in his hands also, he can pull that also. There are no more doors and they are still with their love to Mawlana Shaykh and he is looking after them.
Wa min Allah at-tawfiq bi hurmatil Fatiha.