[Suhbah before Khatm.]
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem
Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,
nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-salook, lillahi ta`ala al-`Azheem fee hadha 'l-masjid.
أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ
Atee`oollaha wa atee`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:59)
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.
Barakah. When you have barakah, you can move mountains. Everyone is dressed with barakah. Qaa'im bi barakatillah. Qaa’im does not mean existing rather it is more sweet, like standing. So everyone exists with this barakah. There is no existence without barakah in your heart, immediately you will not exist. Existence is by the barakah of Allah (swt). Awliyaullah guide their followers through their existing in Allah's Blessed Barakah. Everyone has his own blessing that he is known by, and that is why you have seven names.
[Speaking about a mureed.] He is a fugitive, we don't see him, but all day he makes tasbeeh and that is what saves him, even in the house you don't see where he is staying. Allahumma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammad wa `alaa aali Muhammadin wa sallim.
Allah’s Servant is Weak:
Leave Angry People; Repproach Your Ego; Change Yourself
Kull `abdun da`eef bi kulli da`fuhu yatakkabar. How is Allah's servant weak? Because yansab kullu shay’in li nafsihi, he claims everything to his own credit. He is strong when he claims everything to his Lord's credit. That is why weakness is in everyone, but it differs: some people have a high level of weaknesses because of their arrogance and some have a lower level of weaknesses, because they try to accommodate themselves to not be weak by trying to be patient and not being angry.
Make sure you leave an angry person alone immediately, because he is not going to listen except to his ego, there is no way of debate with him. Angry people think what they are doing is correct. They kill, they cut necks, and they think they are correct because they claim everything to their weaknesses, but if they go back and claim everything to Allah, there will be no weakness, they will be strong.
That is why the Prophet (s) said:
من رأى منكم منكرا فليغيره بيده ، فإن لم يستطع فبلسانه ، فإن لم يستطع فبقلبه ، وذلك أضعف الإيمان
Whoever sees something wrong should try to change it with his hand, and if he cannot then with his tongue, and if he cannot then with his heart, and that is the weakest level of faith. (Muslim)
That means you must change what is wrong in yourself, you have to change the "inn" inside you. If you cannot then by lisaanihi, the tongue, advise yourself when you are alone, try to correct yourself. You are not perfect; tell your ego you are not even in the first step of perfection, you are still going around the bushes. If you cannot change by your tongue, then sit in your room and ask Allah (swt) to change you. May Allah (swt) open.
I was in Montreal and just came back on Monday. There were too many things going around (not from the people there) and one becomes sick quickly because of the very cold weather. It takes away the immunity and your body cannot control itself, so it becomes sick. If you cannot control yourself to not become sick, what are you? Can you stop a sickness? They try their best.
Look at Shaykh `Abdul Wahid [who passed away], may Allah bless his soul. I came to the masjid and I saw all these people. I said, “Where did they come from?” (They came) because he was a person who was soft with everyone and everyone liked him. I even saw his doctors drop their work and come to his funeral, I saw people from different states drop their work to come to his funeral, flying and driving. So if you cannot prevent your own illness, can we claim to be weak or strong? We are weak.
We all Face the Dangers of Shirk
May Allah bless us. Tonight is Laylat al-Jumu`ah, the night of Friday.
اللهم طهر قلبي من الشرك والنفاق
O Allah! Purify my heart from shirk and hypocrisy.
If anyone says that and uses the miswaak before any worship or action, Allah will take away any shirk, about which the Prophet (s) said:
أخوف ما أخاف على أمتي الشرك الخفي
What I fear most for my Ummah is hidden shirk. (Ahmad)
Hidden shirk is hypocrisy and false actions for anything other than Allah's sake and that is why we are so weak, we don't remember anything! When Ankar and Nakeer come to you after you are buried, can you know what the questions are? If we don't know, what we are going to say to them? Do you know what you will say to them? If they ask you any question, immediately is coming on your tongue: Ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa ’Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadu ‘r-Rasoolullah. Amantu billah wa malaa’ikatihi wa kutubihi wa rusulihi.For any mu’min, that comes quickly on his tongue and he says it, then it [the questioning] is over. What are they going to ask? “Are you accepting Allah as your Creator and accepting to be his servant?” May Allah keep us saying that: Laa ilaaha illa ’Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah is the key to Paradise!
So I got sick in Montreal, but you cannot take too much heaviness, not from the people there, but from everything that is going around. You hear from here and there and you get sick, but alhamdulillah it didn't stay a long time. So we are here and inshaa-Allah we will do the dhikrullah, remembrance of Allah, sending it as a gift to the Prophet (s) and to Awliyaullah, especially to our shaykh, Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil (q) who, despite `ala raghmi anfihim, in spite of their noses, our shaykhs are Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Al-Haqqani (q) and Grandshaykh `Abdullah al-Fa`iz ad-Daghestani (q)!
And we are trying our best, all of us here and around the world. There are thousands and thousands that took baya` and all are asking humbly that when Allah (swt) takes our soul that we be with the Prophet (s); ma` alladheena ana`mta `alayhim min as-siddiqeen, the Trustworthy Ones; wa ‘sh-shuhadaa, the Martyrs that killed their egos, not killing other people as that is not shuhaada, to blow up oneself and kill innocents; wa ‘s-Saaliheen, the Righteous Ones. May Allah write us to be among them!
[Khatm al-Khwajagan.]
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem. As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh. Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen, wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `alaa ashrafi 'l-mursaleena Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een.
We Must Obey Orders from the Top:
Our Protection is to be with the Gathering and to Lean on Allah’s Mercy
May Allah (swt) bless the soul of our shuyukh, that goes from the Prophet (s) to awliyaullah everywhere, and when something comes from top we have to follow. When something comes from the bottom it might be blended with dirtiness so we have to check. In every association, suhbah, Shah Baha’uddin Naqshband (q) said 24,000 times in his life:
طريقتنا الصحبة والخير في الجمعية
Our way is companionship (to be together in association) and the best is in the gathering.
Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen, wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `alaa ashrafi 'l-mursaleena Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een.
May Allah (swt) bless the soul of our shuyookh, beginning from the Prophet (s) to awliyaullah everywhere. When something comes from the top, we have to follow; when something comes from the bottom it might be blended with dirtiness, so we have to check. Sayyidina Shah Naqshband (q) said in every association, suhbah, 24,000 times in his life, Tariqatuna as-suhbah wa ‘l-khayru fi ‘l-jami`yya, “Our way is through guidance, companionship, and goodness is in the gathering.” Allah (swt) said, as the Prophet (s) mentioned in the hadith:
يد الله مع الجماعة
Allah’s Hand is over the congregation. (Tirmidhi)
Allah’s Power, His Qudrah or His Hand is over the group of people, or it is also “`ala al-jama`ah.” Ma`a al-jama`ah means “with” the group and `ala al-jama`ah means “on” the group. We ask for both, yaa Rabbee! Give us from the two oceans, `ala al-jama`ah wa ma`a al-jama`ah. Allah’s Hand is not like our hand, it means the power that Allah bestowed on the Prophet (s) and that is our focus. The way to reach that is to tell your ego, “I am watching you,” and check what the ego desires. We are weak, we have many weaknesses because we lean on our ego and we think that our ego is going to save us. If we lean on Allah’s Mercy we will be strong. So you must choose: lean on your ego or on Allah’s Mercy!
These are the basic (teachings) of tariqah; when you enter tariqah these are the basics. You cannot build tariqah on your ego, because sometimes you might get upset and easily destroy everything you have built. We must build on a strong foundation, so we have to lean on Allah’s Mercy, then we will be strong.
What Grandshaykh Revealed about Rabi`ah al-`Adawiyya
To do that, what Grandshaykh (q) said on 13 Rabi’ al-Akhir 1388, 48 years ago, and it was shocking to many when they heard this advice, which he said directly without any explanation, “Rabi`ah al-`Adawiyya reached sainthood because she was under punishment of her husband for seven years and she never opened her mouth.”
Rabi`ah al-`Adawiyya (q) is a saint. Allah (swt) granted her what she never expected, He made her a saint, waliya. Grandshaykh (q) said, “With this patience on `adhaab, torture and abuse, she reached al-Haqiqah,” she found the Reality, which means her spiritual eyes were opened, her heart was opened and she saw with the Light Allah granted her from His Light:
اتَّقُوا فِرَاسَةَ الْمُؤْمِنِ فَإِنَّهُ يَنْظُرُ بِنُورِ اللَّهِ
Beware of the Believer's intuition, for indeed he sees with Allah's Light. (Tirmidhi)
If someone says, “Oh, what is that, she was able to look with Allah’s Light?” that is a hadith of Prophet (s), Ittaqoo firaasat al-mu'min fa innahu yanzhuru bi noorillah, “Be aware of the vision of a Believer,” because, innahu yanzhuru bi noorillah, Allah gave the Believer authority and Prophet (s) dressed him with the power to use Allah’s Light that is within his heart to see what cannot be seen, to say what cannot be said, to hear what cannot be heard! Rabi`ah al-`Adawiyya (q) was able to reach that Reality. For example, everything...even this (plastic water bottle) will come to her and say, “Allah created me on this time for that purpose,” and this (water) would say, “Allah created me for this purpose.”
She endured seven years of torture, that means seclusion; in seclusion you will be tortured! When your shaykh orders you into seclusion, a lot of things there can make you run away, but if you stand still and hold yourself they open for you. I told you in the last seclusion that Mawlana (q) gave to me by order of Prophet (s), before the last days of the seclusion they wanted to spoil the seclusion. They torture you like that to see how much you can take and I heard the rattling of a snake in the corner of the room, with no one there in Mawlana’s (q) house high up on a mountain in Damascus. The house was empty and at night you only hear voices of animals that run here and there, and the noise of that snake rattling made me tremble, and I heard it from one corner to another corner! When you don’t pay attention, after 24 hours it disappeared.
Grandshaykh continued, “Because she was patient she was saabirah, and as she didn’t complain, wasalat ila ‘l-haqiqah, she reached the Realities of Creation”--she met that stone, that animal, those herbs, those trees, that fruit--”and they told her why Allah created them for the benefit of humanity”, about herbal medicines. In seclusion you will know about every herb and why Allah created it and for what kind of medicine. When she reached that level, then she was able to reach the Rawhaaniyyatun'n-Nabi, the Spirituality of Prophet (s)!
If You Want the Honey You Must Taste the Bitterness of Dunya
So if you want the honey you have to tajarra`u ‘l-murr, taste the bitterness of this dunya. If in this dunya everything comes easy, everything opens, you will not reach the honey of Akhirah while in dunya. You might reach it in Akhirah, you are okay, you are a mu’min, you are Muslim, but you are not wali. You have to reach that level of tajarra`u ‘l-murr, not the bitterness only, but “to quench your thirst in bitterness”. That is when there is too much bitterness all around you, too much fire everywhere, and they say, “Okay, save yourself from fire, run away!” but you cannot: you have to do it and whether you succeed or don’t succeed, the order comes and you have to do it! You need the honey. As-sihaam al-muwajaha ‘ilayh, “Anyone who wants to hold to religion nicely must face all the arrows around him.”
It is as if you are in the middle and enemies surround you with their arrows, what do you want to do? Save yourself, yes. Do you want the honey? Then face the arrows, face the bitterness of the dunya and don’t complain, then they give you what you never expected to get! Allahumma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammadin wa `alaa aali Muhammadin wa sallim.
Grandshaykh said, “Anything your ego, your nafs asks for you, leave it, don’t do it. Tahammal muraarat al-mukhaalafa, Carry the load of the bitterness of disobeying your ego.”
How very strong it is! When someone is obeying his ego and you tell him, “Cut that!” can he? He cannot. So Allah (swt) said:
وَنَفْسٍ وَمَا سَوَّاهَ فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن زَكَّاهَا
By the soul and the proportion and order given to it, He inspired the self of its good and its bad. Truly he succeeds that purifies it. (Surat ash-Shams, 91:7-9)
Allah has balanced everything within us, we are not balancing by taking what the Shaytan is saying and leaving what The Rahman is saying. So what do you need to do? Put this as bullet point at the entrance to your home: Tahammal muraarat al-mukhaalafa, then look at it and say, “Oh! I entered my home now and remember I have to go against my ego.”
If you are lazy, make yourself mujtahid, tell yourself, “I don’t want to be lazy, I want to be clever, hard-working.” Working hard in what? Not in dunya. Allah gave you eight hours to work in dunya. If you don’t balance that equation you are putting yourself in an unbalanced situation that may not allow you to carry the bitterness of this dunya in order to reach the honey. It will become like a wasp hive with no benefit, only stings! So we have to put it up and know that we have to face all the difficulties. Enter your homes smiling, husbands or wives; try to hide what the difficulties you faced during the day as there is no need to bring it to your house.
Leave Bitterness and Fight Your Ego’s Desires
That means don't put bitterness in your heart against anyone who is bitter towards you. Sil man qata`ak, “Connect with the one who disconnects from you,” carry that burden from him, because it is barakah for you. If someone slaps you all day, what will happen? He gets tired, but you get all the hasanaat. He expedites you to reach your reality by being patient. He slaps you: one slap from here...if you are patient Allah brings you forward. More slap, more slap, more slap: Allah brings you nearer. That is why awliyaullah face lots of problems. You might say, “What is this?” It is not just awliyaullah, look at anbiyaullah. How many problems they faced with their nations and their communities. Look at what they did with Sayyidina Yahya (a)! When he was running away, he ran into a tree. Allah gave him the power to enter the tree, but they cut the tree by a saw, cutting him into pieces. Allah gave Sayyidina Ayub (a) the bitterness of difficulties. He was given all kinds of difficulties and he was patient on that, then Allah gave him back everything he lost: all his family and all his grandchildren in the best way. Look how much they abused the Prophet (s)! So when someone abuses you say, “Astaghfirullah, I am not going to defend myself, Allah will defend me.”
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُدَافِعُ عَنِ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا
Allah will always protect and defend the good ones. (Surat al-Hajj, 22:38)
We do not say this and I know as soon as we go down the stairs we will forget everything. That is the reality, but awliyaullah address the hearts. So if you are connected to a wali, whatever he says will be known by the heart, it will not be forgotten and that will remain until the Day of Judgment and they can bring out that suhbah at anytime. How are these suhbahs recorded? Can’t a wali do more than a computer? Otherwise you are undermining Allah’s Power.
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The Lordly Attraction
So you have to keep doing everything against your desires, until for sure there will come a time in your lifetime that the Heavenly Attraction will attract you, the Lordly Attraction will catch you. When that happens, you will enter in that Presence and all the doors will open, and as you progress more and more doors will open, then you will begin to understand the hadith where Allah (swt) said to the Prophet (s):
كنت كنزا مخفياً فأحببت أن أعرف فخلقت الخلق
I was a Hidden Treasure (and) I wanted to be known, so I created Creation. (Hadith Qudsi)
“I wanted to be known, so I created Creation and through that Creation they know Me.” So Allah wants us to reach that Reality. He was a Hidden Treasure, He wanted to be known, so He created Creation. Allah wanted what was not appearing, `adm non-existence, He wanted to be known, He brought the non-existing to exist. He made them to exist and to appear through that Reality and then a`damah, He made them to not be there any longer, He dissolved them. In that time frame from non-existence to existence, this whole world is moving. There is no ‘time’: khalaq al-khalqa min `adamin thumma a`damahu, He (swt) brought the Creation from non-Existence into Existence and then He got rid of it. That moment from non-Existence to Existence has been stretched in time and that is what we are seeing now; it is coming to an end. Don't say there are thousands of years nor centuries to come; rather, say:
اقْتَرَبَتِ السَّاعَةُ وَانشَقَّ الْقَمَرُ
The Hour approached and the Moon split asunder. (Surat al-Qamar, 54:1)
Allah ordered the Moon to divide, 1400 years ago Allah said “Iqtarabat as-saa`at,” and now that period is coming to its end. How long it will take for its end, Allah knows best. Awliyaullah have no permission to say more than that, if they know or not. As soon as that Divine Attraction, Jazbah al-Ilahiyya reaches you, tataladhdadh, you will feel a pleasure you never felt before, to be in the Divine Presence:
فَأَيْنَمَا تُوَلُّواْ فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ
Wherever you turn in dunya you see the Signs of Allah. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:115)
You cannot see Allah in dunya, but you can see His Oneness, His Signs. That Reality will make the engine work, like when you turn the key in the ignition and it makes the car run, the spark reaches the petrol and makes the engine run. Similarly, when that Lordly Attraction reaches you, that engine works.
The Five Spiritual Levels of the Heart
Reaching the Holiest Station in Every Human Being
There are five levels in the heart: Qalb, Sirr, Sirr as-Sirr, Akhfa, Khafa. The first level, Qalb, is where everything that you are doing in dunya is happening. When you reach Lordly Attraction, Sirr, then you will be in the Reality of Secrets. The secrets that are put in that level will open to your heart. There are many, we have no time to explain.
The first level is, as we said, Qalb. Everything enters in this level, even Shaytan. So that is where he whispers in your ear. When we say “Allahu Akbar” or begin to do anything, Shaytan whispers in your ear: backbiting everyone slamming and slapping them, false rumors, beating up, difficulties, they throw everything at you there and and tell you to face it. After that, you are eligible for the second level
The second level is Maqaam as-Sirr, a level of Lordly Attraction. Allah opened that maqaam for 124,000 awliya.
The third level is Sirr as-Sirr, the Secret of the Secret. It is like you have a circle, that is the center point of the circle. You zoom in and more and more realities open to you.
The fourth level is Akhfa, the Hidden, that belongs only to the Prophet (s). No one can see that level except for the Prophet (s).
Then the fifth, the most hidden and unknown, is Maqaam al-Khafa, the Light of Allah, like an engine, runs in the heart of the believer. It depends on how much power Allah will give you, then you can open all the other different maqaams. Maqaam al-Khafa is aqdas, the holiest station in every human being. Allah's Power goes there and from there it spreads over the other four maqaams. May Allah (swt) open that level for us, because He said in the Holy Qur'an:
وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَ
We have honored the Children of Adam. (Surat al-Israa’, 17:70)
With that honor, may Allah honor our hearts to carry that. We said at the beginning that we are weak and we cannot lean on our weakness, but we have to lean on our Lord, on Allah's Strength. We think we have to lean on our weaknesses and desires. So look at yourself as the weakest and lean on Allah's Strong Power that He can give you and bless you with in order for that engine to move.
May Allah bless us all and support us in dunya and Akhirah.
Wa min Allahi ‘t-tawfeeq bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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