23 May 2015 Burton, Michigan
Suhbah at As-Siddiq Institute & Mosque (ASIM)
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. Allahumma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammadan nabi al-ummiyy wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi wa sallam.
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.
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.
Knowledge is important and we appreciate what scholars are doing, but when you go deep into the reality of knowledge you will find that what you are doing or what is being said by scholars who are not yet understanding the reality of the spiritual background of every Hadith of Prophet (s) or every ayat
That ayat of Qur’an can carry unlimited meanings and the Hadiths of Prophet (s) can carry unlimited knowledge and this is an example of what we are speaking about.
One of the greatest knowledgeable scholars of his time, Muhammad Zahid al-Bukhari of the Naqshbandi Golden Chain was busy in his time to raise up the level of his followers; to make them reach and understand and visualize through their eyes -- not physical eyes but al-baseera the “inward” eyes, the eyes of the heart. There are many eyes in the heart, try to raise them the level of understanding of the Day of Promises, what they said there, what they experienced there. Allah said, as everyone knows, “Am I not your Lord?” and they said what He opened at that time to those who said ‘yes’--and yes means, “Yes yaa Rabbee, laa ilaaha illa 'Llah there is no God except you and Muhammad is His messenger!”--that there must be some hidden knowledge appearing from that reality.
So Sayyidina Muhammad Zahid al-Bukhari was trying to raise his followers to the maqaam of alastu bi rabbikum, “Am I not your Lord?” because Qur’an is Allah's Ancient Words, beginningless, qadeem, uncreated, not something created, invented, but rather Allah’s words that not even Jibril (a) can understand, He can only understand what Allah reveals to him for the Prophet (s). But Maqaam al-Tawheed is, “Yes, we believe, O our Lord, that you are our Creator and we are your servants!”
So Muhammad Zahid Bukhari (q) was trying to raise his followers to the Maqaam al-Tawheed and when scholars try to explain , they say Maqaam al-Tawheed is “laa ilaaha illa 'Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah” with the tongue, but no one can describe its Reality unless you reached that level. Alastu bi-Rabbikum - “Am I not your Lord?” is the ocean and anyone who enters that ocean can understand the meaning of Maqaam al-Tawheed, and really no one can understand except one, Sayyidina Muhammad (s), when Jibril brought him to Qaaba Qawsayni awAdnaa and he understood the whole Ummah, the whole creation and the secret of Creation and why Allah dressed him with the secret of Alastu bi-Rabbikum.
So Muhammad Zahid Bukhari was working on his followers to raise them higher and higher, for them to understand the reality of Maqaam al-Tawheed. So in that maqaam Allah planted as explained by Grandshaykh `Abdullah al-Fa’iz ad-Daghestani (q), may Allah bless his soul, a heavenly fragrance for people to understand how much it is valuable, that fragrance he put into the Six Powers Allah has given to everyone in his heart, the Six Realities: Haqiqat al-Jazbah, Haqiqat al-Fayd, Haqiqat at-Tawajjuh, Haqiqat at-Tawassul, Haqiqat al-Irshad, Haqiqat at-Tayy.
One night, and this is why it is inadvisable to be out on the streets at night, the way most people go out at night nowadays, why? They say, “We want to entertain ourselves”, and Shaytan is running from one to the other, so it is better be at home rather than to be out. So one night that mureed of Muhammad Zahid al-Bukhari was walking in the street going from the dhikr halaqah they were doing, and on his way he never looked up always looked where he put his feet. SubhaanAllah, Allah made him look and he saw as he passed by a maqha, tavern, people drinking alcohol and he was frightened by that scene as he had tried to look where his feet walked, but his eyes went somewhere else. He didn't like what he saw and he said “alhamdulillah”, which in Shari’ah is lisaan al-shukr, an expression of thanks among four words which are found in the Holy Qur’an:
أحب الكلام الى الله أربع سبحان الله والحمد لله ولا اله الا الله والله اكبرلا يضرك ليهن بدأت
The most beloved words to Allah are four: subhaanAllah and alhamdulillah and laa ilaaha illa 'Llah and Allahu Akbar. It makes no difference with which one you begin. (Sahih Muslim)
Allah gave them to us to save ourselves and anyone who says them goes to Paradise. So what he said? Thanks to Allah he was thanking him, and this is a must in Shari`ah, to thank Allah every moment:
لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ
If you thank Me, I will give you more. (Surah Ibrahim, 14:7)
More of what, fruits? No, more of heavenly foods as the Qur’an is heavenly. “I will open to your heart more and more of what you need, the Six Powers.” What is jazbah? Attraction, which means if he directs his eyes to a mountain he can move it; that is the smallest meaning of Haqiqat al-Jazbah. So imagine how awliya can do that with the mureed: if he lives in China and the wali is in Egypt, he can attract him as he can attract anything! Haqiqat al-Fayd is the Reality of Manifestation, through which the noor is sent and you will be dressed with it. Haqiqat at-Tawajjuh is one of the most beautiful powers Allah gave to the wali through which Allah guides whom He likes, even from far away, a learned person or not! If Allah turns to that person through the wali, immediately He opens on his heart even without that one reading books.
So he passed on the street and saw those people drinking and said, “alhamdulillah”, which, as we said by Shari`ah it is very important and by Haqiqat it is also very important, but that mureed of Muhammad Zahid Bukhari as soon as he said that he became junub in need of ghusl he needed to repent because he saw himself as better than those drunks and he said alhamdulillah. he saw them as low. You don’t know, maybe Allah is testing you through some people so don't put them down; however, he put them down by saying “alhamdulillah”, because he saw himself as better than them [thinking to himself, “Alhamdulillah I am not like them!]
Immediately he heard in his ears the shaykh telling him, “You are out of Tariqah!” because he saw himself as clean and the rest as unclean. This is anaaniyya, egotism, seeing oneself as higher. The Prophet (s) never saw himself as better, in fact he said:
قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ
Say, "I am but a man like yourselves.” (Surat al-Kahf, 18:110)
He saw himself so small in the Divine Presence, he felt that humbleness as no one can be in the Divine Presence and see himself; rather, he is `abd, the image of `abdAllah, servant, not as Allah, haasha, but as a servant of Allah. However, we say that he is not like us, as he is a jewel and we are rocks.
Because of what the mureed said, his shaykh told him that he was out of tariqah, which shows you how to move in every step you take, because one may fall in one step and not recover, especially those who say they are something. Allah immediately threw the love of the bad, shahwat al-haraam, into his heart, the desire to be with a lady who is not his wife, which can run through you in one second! I took a CT-scan, because I was coughing and the doctors gave me an injection and told me,“Don’t worry, you will feel hot and we will take pictures.” Within seconds, my whole body felt hot. How does it move through all the veins and make you hot in a second? Allah (swt) said:
وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ الْوَرِيدِ
Wa nahnu aqrabu ilayhi min habli ‘l-wareed.
And We are nearer to you than your jugular vein. (Surat al-Qaaf, 50:16)
Allah said, “I am nearer to him than his jugular vein; more near than any injection in any person.” So immediately bad desires were injected into him because, “You are using My Qur’an for selfishness and arrogance!” In one second Iblees came and was happy the road was now open. Iblees entered his veins behind the bad desires that were thrown into his heart, through that black clot that Prophet (s) described is in the heart, through which Iblees enters, and he entered with the power of fifty men. As he walked he saw a widow in whom Iblees put bad desires, and that man had the bad desires of fifty men. All that because of what? Because he was selfish and said, “I am better than them”, like Iblees said:
قَالَ أَنَاْ خَيْرٌ مِّنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِي مِن نَّارٍ وَخَلَقْتَهُ مِن طِينٍ
He said, “I am better than him because You created me from fire and You created him from mud!” (Surat al-`Araaf, 7:12)
That is anaaniyya, egotism. He was ordered to make sajda, not for Sayyidina Adam (a) but for the Light in his forehead, which was Noor Muhammad (s).
Those bad desires led that shaykh into a big sin. After he finished what he did of adultery, he was not showing up for dhikr for twenty days; he didn't come to the shaykh, but pulled away. He did not come to Khatm al-Khwajagan.
“What happened?” they asked. He was in his house and they said, “You were a great murshid, we were learning from you, why did you not come?”
He said, “Leave me alone.”
They said, “Why did you turn out your light from us?”
He was so angry that he said, “Leave me alone!”
All tariqah he was rejecting and he became another time in sin, so three sins! His color changed and he started to fall into being up/down, up/down until the other mureeds pitied him and told Muhammad Zahid al-Bukhari (q), who said, “I will inshaa-Allah do what is necessary.”
At that time, Grandshaykh `AbdAllah al-Fa’iz ad-Daghestani, may Allah bless his soul, said (in summary), the roohaaniyya, spirituality of Prophet (s) appeared to Muhammad Zahid al-Bukhari (q) and said, “O Muhammad Zahid, I am blaming you. Why did you open for him the Six Powers without my permission?” That was a mistake because when they open for you the Six Powers you become mature and responsible and they strip you completely, yujarridunak. Muhammad Zahid Bukhari (q) was shivering. “That was your mistake: you lost him because you needed to test him more before you gave him his Trust!”
That is why shuyukh keep the amanas and don’t give them to the mureeds, because they cannot carry it. They give it in Akhirah. He said one word that is right in Shari`ah, alhamdulillah, but he said it with egotism and fell. So Muhammad Zahid Bukhari (q) left the Khatm al-Khwajagan, and that is not easy for the murshid, and he went to Shah Naqshband (q) and made sajda to Allah there and said, “Yaa Rabbee! What can I do?” and he was crying.
At that time Shah Naqshband (q) raised his head and said, “Why did you gave him the Six Powers? You made the mistake, just as Prophet (s) told you.”
From then on, you cannot give anyone his Trust unless first Shah Naqshband (q) accepts, Abu Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r) accepts, Prophet (s) accepts, then you can give; otherwise people will fall into sins. Prophet (s) is present always and he can see as Allah gave him the power:
قال رسول الله ص حياتي خير لكم تحدثون ويحدث لكم ومماتي خير لكم تعرض علي أعمال لكم فإن وجدت خيراً حمدت الله وما وجدت غير ذلك استغفرت لكم.
My life is a great good for you: you relate from it and narrations are related to you. And my death contains good for you as well, for I observe the `amal of my Ummah. If I find good I thank Allah, and if I see other than that, bad, I ask forgiveness for you. (al-Bazzaar in his Musnad)
He can see us at all times and all of us when we say:
وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآؤُوكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ اللّهَ وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُواْ اللّهَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا
If they had only, when they were unjust to themselves, come to you and asked Allah's forgiveness, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah indeed Oft-returning, Most Merciful. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:64)
“If only when they oppress themselves they came to you!” We are always oppressing ourselves, which means we are always coming to Prophet (s), which means we are always forgiven. It means we are always making istighfaar inside, because the meaning of the ayah is that we are ‘oppressors to ourselves’, can anyone say no? So in every moment we are coming to Prophet (s) asking Allah’s forgiveness and he is asking for us, which means there is continuous istighfaar and continuous presence of the Prophet (s), who is making istighfaar for us and Allah is continuously forgiving us! It is not only an outward literal meaning, it is the spiritual interpretation of awliyaullah: that verse is alive, so forgiveness is continuous, not once and it stops, no!
We say, “I am praying,” but in our prayer we are oppressing ourselves, oppressing our salaat! Sayyidina Abu Yazid al-Bistami (q) said, “Yaa Rabbee, I want to pray for you a prayer that no one has prayed for You before.” He took a shower, put on his clothes, faced the Qibla and said “Allahu Akbar” with clean thoughts. However, as soon as he said, “As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaah,” he heard a voice from each side saying to him, “O Abu Yazid! You prayed the kind of prayer that I will never accept from you! First of all, you asked to pray two raka`ats thinking that no one will pray like you, that is anaaniyya, selfishness. Second, you leaned on your right side more than on your left, so you are an oppressor. You are out of My Presence!”
Awliyaullah cannot move a hair from Siraat al-Mustaqeem or else Allah will say to them “zhaalim, oppressor! That is for a wali, and within us, we are continuously oppressing our souls, which means we are continuously coming to the Prophet (s), making continuous istighfaar and continuous Intercession is coming from him, asking Allah to forgive us!
What happened to that mureed? Muhammad Zahid Bukhari (q) made sajda and said, “Yaa Rabbee, I ask forgiveness for my mureed. I cannot move without my mureed. You are The One Who can move him from punishment to happiness. Yaa Rabbee, either you take me with him to Hellfire or you take him with me to Paradise. I will not leave my mureed behind.”
At that time the heavenly message came, “ I am happy with what you said and Prophet (s) witnessed that forgiveness.” Because Allah said in Holy Qur’an that he makes istighfaar on our behalf in that verse, “If they had come to you [O Muhammad] asking for forgiveness, you would have asked forgiveness for them and they would have found Allah indeed Oft-returning, Most Merciful.”
This is how that mureed was saved. The story went more deeply, but we said it quickly. May Allah (swt) forgive us and bless us. These are explanations of our grand-shuyukh. You can see that it is not something from paper, but from knowledge through hearts. It is a story that happened to a mureed of Muhammad Zahid al-Bukhari (q), not something you can’t express in any other way except by the heart.
May Allah open our hearts, and were asking, “Yaa Rabbee! Clean us for the sake of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and open to our hearts the Six Powers, for the sake of these holy months Rajab, the month of Allah; Sha`baan, the month of Prophet (s); and Ramadan, the month of the Ummah, when Allah will send these heavenly mercies, rahmat.
May Allah forgive us for the sake of the Fatihah. Inshaa-Allah we will continue later, remind me.
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