If You Want Tariqah You Must Know Shari`ah

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

21 August 2013  Lefke, Cyprus

Zhuhr Suhbah 

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.

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-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`alaa al-`azheem fee haadha 'l-masjid al-kareem, masjidi ’l-ummah, inshaa-Allah, masjid Sayyidee Shaykh Muhammad Nazim `Adil al-Haqqani.

Alhamdulillahi ’Lladhee ja`alanaa min Ummat al-Habeebu ‘l-Mustafa wa ja`alanaa min ahbaabi ‘l-Mustafa wa karramanaa ilaa mahabbati ‘n-Nabiyyi ‘l-Mustafa `alayhi afdalu ‘s-salaatu wa ‘s-salaam. that Allah has made us from Ummat al-Mustafa and has made us from the beloved of Sayyidina al-Mustafa and honored us to be the lovers of Nabiyy al-Mustafa (s), alladhee anbathaqa minhu an-nooru ’l-ilaahee haythu qaal Allahu `azza wa jalla min kitabihi ‘l-kareem, the One from whom was bursting forth the Divine Light, as Allah said in his Holy Book:

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Qad jaakum min Allahi nooran wa kitaabun mubeen

Indeed, there has come to you from Allah a Light (Prophet Muhammad) and a plain Book (this Qur'an). (Surat al-Maa’idah, 5:15)

From Prophet (s) the Heavenly Light reached us, reached the ummah, reached humanity, reached the angels, reached everything that Allah (swt) created, reached, where Allah said to Sayyidina Adam (as) in hadith:

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When Adam (as) has committed the sin, he said, 'O Lord! I ask you for the sake of Muhammad [bi haqqi Muhammad] to forgive me.' He subhanahu wa ta'ala said, 'How did you know Muhammad?' He said, 'because when you created me with Your Hands and blew into me from Your Spirit, I raised my head and I saw on the legs of Your Throne written, 'laa ilaha ill-Allah Muhammadu Rasulullah' so I knew You would not put next to your name except the one who is the most beloved to You.' He said, 'you have said the truth, O Adam, and if it were not for Muhammad, I would not have created you.' (al-Haakim in al-Mustadrak)

That means the respect and love is for Sayyidina Muhammad (s), not for this one or that one.

Then after the Prophet (s) it is for the Sahaabah (r), then after the Sahaabah (r) for awliyaullah (q), the awliya that you and me don’t know about. No one can know awliyaullah realities, wherever a person rises up in levels, rising up toward heavenly knowledge, they cannot reach to know the shaykh. The mureed, the follower, cannot have any doubt in his shaykh, in his teacher; if there is doubt that is dangerous. If no doubt, that is good. May Allah bless the soul of Grandshaykh (q) and give Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) long life!

Yes, we love Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q)! Not only you, but everyone says, “I love him the most,” no! All of us, all the mureeds east and west love Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, may Allah give him long life. Don’t accuse this one or that one that he betrayed the shaykh as that is not nice, that is not nice! No one betrays his shaykh. No one betrays his shaykh. Don’t give the example of a prophet and his disciple betrayed him, the example of Sayyidina `Isa (a) who was betrayed by his disciple. These are prophets; don’t touch on prophets!

Mureeds are in the station of thumma aamanoo thumma kafaroo, which means one day they are strong believers and one day kafaroo; “kafara” here does not mean shirk, but it means his faith has shaken a little bit. So try to help him. If you see someone falling try to hold him, you don’t try to push him down more to crush his head.

I will tell you a story, which is a nice story. May Allah (swt) grant our Grandshaykh, Sayyidee Shaykh `AbdAllah al-Fa’iz ad-Daghestani (q) high levels and grant Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) high, high levels! Don’t accuse us that we don’t love Mawlana Shaykh, no! If Mawlana doesn’t love me, why did he give me his daughter? Did you ask this question in your mind? Why didn’t he choose you for his daughter? It’s a question mark.

I will tell you a story, let us change this subject. This is a very nice story. Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, said that one of the awliyaullah had students and they were of different levels, because there are 124,000 awliya on Earth. When a wali dies, another one comes and sits in his place as his inheritor. When they pass they have successor, so there is not only the Forty Awliya of the Golden Chain, but other than the Golden Chain there are too many others, as Grandshaykh (q) and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) said. There are 7007 Naqshbandi Order shuyookh. Where are they? We know one, but we know only the Sultan. He is the Sultan, but where are the 7007? Did we ask ourselves that question? They are there. You might be one of them or you might be one of them, or maybe he is one of them. Allah veils them, Allah covers them.

So one of these mureeds that is a wali--and the shaykh at the highest level at that time was from the Naqshbandi Order from the 7007 saints--he had many followers and one follower was such a good worshipper: he doesn’t backbite, doesn’t make fitna, doesn’t spread false rumors, he is always straightforward and worshipping, like Shaykh Mustafa. I never saw him except smiling; he doesn’t speak (casually) with this one or that one as his heart is with Mawlana Shaykh. This one, he is one of the hidden ones. I don’t say that it is coming from Heavens and signs, to go so much higher to qaaba qawsayni aw adnaa. There are such ones, wa maa dhaalika `ala-Llaahi bi `azeez, Allah can do that as it is not difficult for Allah! 

So that shaykh had many followers and one of them was a big worshipper, worshipping and worshipping, every moment in sajda, sajda, at Fajr time hundreds of sajda, Maghrib time hundreds of sajda, always making dhikr, always doing what Allah loves to be done like dhikrullah, until one day he was in sajda and he saw the name of his teacher appearing to him on the Preserved Tablets. He was able to reach, to read what is written on the Preserved Tablets that is known between the awliyaullah, not the original Preserved Tablets, but the Alwaah, the Preserved Tablets that the awliya can read. There are different Preserved Tablets: let it be known so as not to confuse the people that everyone can read what’s on the Preserved Tablets, no! There is a Preserved Tablet, according to `ulama of Islam and awliya, that the first appearance of the Holy Qur'an came from the Preserved Tablets to the Prophet (s) and then he revealed it on the level of the Sahaabah (r) and awliyaullah, but the original came from the Preserved Tablets that is what the Prophet (s) received. So there are many many Preserved Tablets coming from that main Preserved Tablets, according to the level and capacity of the people who are hearing.

So he was praying and praying, until one day in sajda he saw his shaykh was written to go to Hellfire, punishment. His shaykh, one of the 7007 Naqshbandi Shaykhs, his name was written to go to Hellfire. So what does he have to do? He went into more sajda, saying in his heart, “Yaa Rabbee! What is this? My shaykh who is bringing thousands and thousands to Islam and other thousands to imaan, and guiding Muslims to their destiny, how is he in Hellfire?” So he began making more and more sajda, praying, “Yaa Rabbee! Take my shaykh from Hellfire to Paradise. Yaa Rabbee! Take my shaykh from Hellfire to be in Paradise,” until one day after raising his head from sajda he saw on the Preserved Tablets that his shaykh is now in Paradise. He was so happy! After Fajr, he quickly ran to his shaykh, so happy to tell him, “I took you from Hellfire to Paradise!” But as soon as he entered, the shaykh took his miswaak like this and broke it, and said in front of everyone, fa w ‘Allahi wa Rabbu ‘l-Ka`bah, giving an oath by Allah, the Lord of Ka`bah, “Who allowed you to interfere in my destiny? I will break you into pieces like I break this siwaak! You are not allowed to come back to my association until you bring me back to where I was, to Hellfire, for my name to go from being in Paradise back to Hellfire!”

Everyone was surprised and they were running after him to know what happened. He didn’t speak, he was crying, “I did good! What is better than that?” So he went home and then he went into sajda, (pleading), “Yaa Rabbee! Take my teacher back from Paradise to Hellfire. O Allah! Take my teacher back from Paradise to Hellfire,” until one day his name was changed from Paradise to Hellfire. He went happy to tell his shaykh. But as soon as he entered the door, his shaykh said, “Yaa waladee, O my son! We worship Allah for His love, so if He wants to put us in Hellfire let it be, if He wants to put us in Paradise let it be, we don't interfere. You broke the rule! I am seeing this in the Preserved Tablets since twenty-five years and my worship never changed. I was worshipping harder and harder, because my name was there and (I began) showing more love to my shaykh. I am seeing this since twenty-five years ago and I didn’t put my iraada, my will.”

Don’t put your iraada in the Will of Allah (swt), don’t put your will in the will of Prophet (s), don't put your will in your shaykh's will. Submit, surrender; don’t bring yourself up as if you are a partner. Allah has no partner, He is The Creator and everyone is His servant! The Prophet (s) has no partner, he is the Seal of Messengers and the Mercy to the Worlds. And shuyookh have no partners! Everyone has his place. So interfering in the will of awliya--changing the one whom you like, putting the one you like, taking out the one you like--that is not correct, that is wrong! That will take you... in the presence of the Prophet (s), your shaykh has to take all of us to the presence of the Prophet (s) every day, so don't make him ashamed!

If you do a sin between you and Allah (swt), Allah will forgive, you can repent and Allah will forgive, but if you do something against the rights of your brother, you took his rights away so then Allah will not forgive unless the oppressor gives back the oppressed his rights. We don’t want to fall into this problem, this hegemony of Shaytan, because you are holding it, but we are allowed to go (public with it) according to the hadith of the Prophet (s), and for sure everyone has heard that hadith.

Tariqah is not only spirituality. Be careful! Be careful! Be careful! Mashaa-Allah, be careful, there are too many representatives of Mawlana making mistakes. Tariqah is not only spirituality, tariqah is also Shari`ah. The Shari`ah is the highway, the bridge, the tunnel. Tariqah is how to be guided through the tunnel in order not to have an accident. So you need to have a structure in order to move from one side to the other; if there is no tunnel, no bridge, no highway, you cannot. Shari`ah is that. Tariqah is the light that will guide you through that tunnel and through the highway, not to let you exit to Shaytan, but to keep you on the highway.

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What did Imam Malik (r) say? Man tasawwafa wa lam yatafaqqah faqad tazandaq, “Whoever learned tasawwuf without learning Shari`ah becomes a heretic,” because he might do things that Shari`ah does not accept, so what is the benefit of tariqah then? It doesn't work. (They say), “Come and make whirling!” They are making whirling with women and they are broadcasting it everywhere and putting pictures on the Internet. Is that accepted in Shari`ah? How your tariqah will grow up when you are rejecting the Shari`ah of the Prophet (s)? We are not living in a jungle, where everyone has his own Shari`ah. This is a disciplined tariqah! The mureeds are making it undisciplined, but the shuyookh make it disciplined.

So Imam Malik, who is one of the biggest imams, said, Man tasawwafa wa lam yatafaqqah faqad tazandaq, “The one who studied Tasawwuf without Shari`ah will be a heretic,” wa man tafaqqaha wa lam yatasawwaf faqad tafassaqa, “and the one who does not study Tasawwuf and only keeps on Shari`ah, that person is tafassaqa, corrupted,” because Shari`ah polishes you, Shari`ah gives you the structure. Tariqah, Sufism builds you up with nice characters, such as how to be diplomatic between people, how to speak nicely with people. It gives you the taste of Islam.

Why do converts come to Islam? Why do many people through Tasawwuf come to Islam? It is a taste, as Ibn `Ajeeba (q), one of great scholars of Egypt and Sufis of North Africa, said, Al-`ilmu `ilmaan, “Knowledge consists of two: `Ilm al-Awraaq wa `Ilm al-Adhwaaq, Knowledge of Papers, and Knowledge of Taste.” You need both of them. You need the Shari`ah, the books, and you need the Tariqah, Maqaam al-Ihsan, the Level of Moral Excellence. So we said if you studied Tasawwuf without the Shari`ah you will be a heretic, and if you studied Shari`ah without Sufism you will be corrupted. (Continuing the statement,) Wa man jama` baynahima faqad tahaqqaq, “Whoever mixed them both together (he studied Shari`ah and Tasawwuf), that person will reach realities.” So do we want to reach realities or do we want to build our building on a cliff, as Allah said in the Holy Qur'an (9:109), that it will continuously fall down, you and the cliff. 

So Imam Malik, one of the greatest imams, do you know how many teachers he had? They counted his teachers, all 900: 300 on Shari`ah and 600 on Tasawwuf.

Sayyidina `Umar (r) used to be afraid to make a fatwa, because it is a responsibility. Imam Malik rarely in his life made fatwa. Today everyone is making fatwa through the Internet, every Muslim is making a fatwa and everyone in tariqah is making fatwa, and when you ask them, “From where is this?” they say, “Mawlana told me.” (Laughter.) 

I will tell you a story that is from yesterday. It happened here. One person who can go upstairs to see Mawlana, because not everyone can go upstairs to see Mawlana Shaykh, I won’t mention their name. There is a fitna in one country between two people who they make dhikr. One of them, everyone knows he is appointed by Mawlana Shaykh and the other one claimed that he is appointed by Mawlana Shaykh, because someone told him, “You have permission from Mawlana to do dhikrullah.” In the same city! In the same city and a big confusion was coming up. So then someone who can go upstairs asked Mawlana, “Yaa Sayyidee, did you give that other one permission?” and Mawlana said, “No, I didn’t. Everyone does what I say, everyone does their job, I am the one who gives and I am the one who takes. I didn’t give him.”

What did they say? They said, “Mawlana gave him permission,” and Mawlana did not give him permission. That is why when they say, “Mawlana gave permission,” it is not true, because it is very difficult to speak with Mawlana Shaykh. So what happened is that they began to have problems in the same city, in Berlin, and that person went to Mawlana asking him, “Did you give that permission?” He said, “No I did not, I only gave it to one.” I am not mentioning their names. Alhamdulillah, I am so happy that this subject came up, because now you can build on it (regarding) what is happening in other countries. Who is the one who went up? It was Shaykh Muhammad, Mawlana’s son. He went up and asked his father, “Did you give that other one ijaazah?” and Mawlana said, “No.”

So that is a sickness going around, everyone claims he is responsible. Okay, responsible people take permission and it has to be announc