A`udhu billahi min ash-Shaytan i`r-rajim. Bismi-lLahi `r-Rahmani `r-Rahim.
Nawaytu ’l-arba`in, nawaytu ‘l-`itikaf, nawaytu ’l-khalwa, nawaytu ’l-`uzla, nawaytu ‘r-riyada, nawaytu ‘s-suluk, lillahi ta`ala fi hadha ‘l-masjid.
Ati` Allah wa at`i ar-Rasula wa uli ‘l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)
As-salamu `alaykum wa rahmatallahi wa barakatuh.
Awliyaullah have spiritual knowledge; they don’t need to read books. Allah made shaykhs through Prophet (s) to put in their hearts knowledge so they can give advice to people. Irshad (guidance) is not easy. Already we have been explaining about the four levels of irshad and who are the Guides. And it’s a very important message from Grandshaykh قدس سرّه and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim in order for everyone to know where he is standing and what he is doing.
With Allah’s grace, I have notes of Great Grandshaykh Sharafuddin قدس سرّه, Grandshaykh `Abd Allah قدس سرّه, and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (may Allah give him long life – ameen). Without a father, people are orphans and don’t know the value of their father until he leaves dunya; then they recognize what orphans they are. May Allah give our shaykh long life (ameen), Sultan al-Awliya Sayyidi Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Haqqani, because if I don’t mention his name, some people might say in their hearts, “Oh, he is mentioning another shaykh." We say, “Oh Allah, give our shaykhs long life." Some naughty people might say, “Oh, he didn’t say Shaykh Nazim, meaning he is speaking about someone else." No, I am saying Sultan al-Awliya Sayyidi Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Haqqani, may Allah give him a long life. (ameen)
Without a father we are orphans, and we are orphans if we don’t have a spiritual father and when we are away from our spiritual fathers. Whatever we do, if there is no connection in 24 hours with our spiritual father, we are orphans. Allah shows us how not to be orphans. Don’t think that those who call Mawlana by phone are not orphans: they are. Don’t think that those who visit Mawlana Sultan al-Awliya in his dargah in Cyprus are not orphans: they are. Wherever you are, you are an orphan if you are not every moment in the presence of your shaykh. Allah gave us a way to not be orphans, because our father, or grandfather, or great-grandfather, or great-great-great-grandfather is Sayyidina Muhammad, `alayhi adfal as-salaatu was-salaam.
Allah is saying in Holy Qur'an, “You don’t want to be an orphan? Then make salawat on Prophet (s).” It means keep your tongue wet with salawat on Prophet (s), then you are not an orphan for you will be given spiritual knowledge. The moments in your life when you remember Prophet (s) are real life and when you don't remember him, when you are preoccupied with dunya, in those moments you are an orphan. An orphan has no protection and without protection, at any moment Shaytan can play with you. Allah honored Sayyidina Adam (a) with the light in his forehead, the light of Prophet Muhammad `alayhi afdal as-salaatu was-salaam. So he was not an orphan; he had protection. As soon as he was, I don’t want to use this word "heedless" because he is not, but for one moment in his life Sayyidina Adam (a) was a little bit away from the Presence of Prophet (s) and that light, then Iblis was able to come and attack him. If Sayyidina Adam (a) was attacked, what about us? It means, "Oh human beings, oh seekers of realities, look forward to where you have to stand, and what you have to call your home, and what you have to say to not be an orphan?"
On the Day of Judgment Allah will count for you all the moments you were not in His presence or in the presence of the Prophet(s), or in the presence of Awliyaullah. That’s where He will judge you. The other moments are the rewards that Allah put you in; the moments that you are praising Sayyidina Muhammad (s), or praising and glorifying Allah , and remembering your shaykh. In our case, our shaykh is Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Adil al-Haqqani, and we respect all other shaykhs that Allah has made them Awliyaullah, for there are a lot of Awliya and they are everywhere. We are orphans if we are not going to remember our shaykh in every moment because he is the wasila (means) for you to reach the presence of the Prophet (s). Why we are here, for dunya? No. For Akhirah? I don’t think so. You are not coming here for Akhirah. It might be that someone will say, “Oh, the shaykh is saying that for Akhirah." When we pray, we don’t think that. We are coming here because we have that connection and love for our shaykh. That is our main concept. You don’t say, “I’m going to visit my shaykh in Cyprus to be rewarded in Akhirah,” you say, “I’m going to visit him because I love him!” So that magnet of love is what really attracts you to that presence. It’s not because we think we will be saved in Akhirah by visiting the shaykh. No one says that.
When I visited Grandshaykh قدس سرّه for the first time, I was not thinking I was going to visit him because I will be saved in Akhirah; I didn’t understand anything from Akhirah. I went with my brothers and my father out of love to see that great shaykh قدس سرّه that people are talking about. And because of that rabitah (spiritual connection), we have been connected. Before we visited Grandshaykh in Damascus, already that bond, that “naqsh” was established between us and the shaykh, Allah(swt) and Prophet(s). That naqsh became engraved in our hearts, the love of shaykh, Prophet (s), and Allah . So the first step is love, not for any dunya reason. If you come to them for a dunya reason, it’s not going to be important, but only come for the love itself.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (may Allah give him long life) came first in the big mosque in Beirut in 1958, so I was 12 years old. And when we me him for the first time that connection had been made, and he attracted us to Grandshaykh قدس سرّه. So that bond was established before we went to see Grandshaykh قدس سرّه. When I saw him, I was young and with my elder brothers; we were three brothers when we went to see him for the first time. It’s like a magnet; from the first look we have been hooked. And he was young, like that picture you see that goes around. I had some quarrel with my wife (Hajjah Naziha Adil قدس سرّه) to take all of her old pictures of her father and mother (Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) and Hajjah Anne Amina (rahmatullah `alayha), and Grandshaykh قدس سرّه and all these old pictures that no one was able to get them. She had all of them in the album. We published them in a Naqshbandi calendar, and now alhamdulillah everyone can have them. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim was so young! That hook, that bond was there and with that love he hooked us to Grandshaykh قدس سرّه, may Allah bless his soul, and bless Mawlana Shaykh Nazim! (ameen)
So that love is what’s important. If you don’t develop a love, you will not attain the first level of Wilayah, of sainthood. The first level of sainthood, of Tariqah, is not the beginner’s level, musta`id, which is to be ready to become a mureed. It’s not the mureed level, love is before beginners. And if you establish that love, that will put your feet on the first bridge that can take you to reach real sainthood.
Understanding Wilayah is like a professor of chemistry, physics, astrology or astronomy telling you, “You see that big star there, the North Star? You see it? Can you describe it?”
You don’t know anything about it; you saw only the light. So, sainthood is so far to reach, farther than a North Star that can guide you wherever you are moving. Awliyaullah are stars like North Pole stars: they are guides and you can navigate through them. But you need to know how to navigate through their heart. Their hearts are a mir`aj for you. Students don’t know the importance of the heart of the shaykh, which is the real Mi`raj for you to reach and to navigate in the heart of the Prophet (s). So that takes you to navigate through Qalb-e-Muhammadi (s),the Muhammadan Heart. After you have navigated in the heart of the shaykh, you will then inshaAllah navigate in the heart of the Prophet (s), who takes you to navigate in the Divine Presence. That’s why first is to establish love of the shaykh; Muhabbat tush-Shaykh, then Muhabbat tur-Rasul (s), and then Muhabbatullah.
محبة الشيخ , محبة الرسول , محبة الله
So first for seekers of that journey, they must have love of the shaykh. Like a child first establishes love of the mother and father. they have that intense attraction and they don’t know anything else. Your child wants your attention and wants you to carry him. If you give him to your friend to carry, your child will cry, because he wants you. That’s why shaykhs cannot take students of each other. That is kidnapping, and there is another word that Grandshaykh قدس سرّه used, I don’t want to use it here, but it’s more than kidnapping. It’s considered forbidden between the shuyookh; it’s a very big sin to take mureeds of another shaykh. When some students from other shuyookh come, don’t try your da`wah machine around them! We have to learn discipline. If there is no discipline, there is no Tariqah and no adab.
It’s haraam for Awliyaullah to say, “This shaykh is better than that shaykh.” Leave it to Allah (swt). You have your father and you’re happy with him. You have your shaykh; say whatever, praise your shaykh as much as you like, call him “Sultan al-Awliya”; it’s between you and your shaykh. But you cannot say to another person, “My shaykh is Sultan al-Awliya and your shaykh is not” as then you are making an enemy, and for what reason? Allah wants unity, and Ahl as-Sunnah wal Jama`ah has to learn to make unity as they are so fragmented. I’m sorry to say this, but we had 25 Ahl as-Sunnah wal-Jama`ah scholars in the meeting yesterday, and we tried to unite. Everyone has his own capacity, everyone with his own shaykh, but they are under the banner of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). And that banner is love to the Prophet (s)! That is what’s important. So that relationship, that bond that you build with your shaykh out of love takes you to the love of Prophet (s), that takes you to the love of Allah (swt). When you love, you don’t forget. In dunya you love, and after a while you decide, “I feel bored with my wife. I’m going to find another wife”. I’m speaking to the Muslim community, not to a non-Muslim community! This is what they do! The non-Muslims cheat. They say, “Oh, we have a girlfriend, two girlfriends, or three girlfriends.” Muslims don’t do that; they say, "Okay, I'll bring a second one!" (laughter) Some of the wives are innocent, but some of them have problems also. We have to say both sides have problems. (more laughter)
But real love is when you love and stand on it, and it never changes, the love is firm. Grandshaykh قدس سرّه always used to tell us this story about Sayyidina `Abdul Qadir Jilani قدس سرّه. Some people say raheemahu’Llahu `anhu after his name, but for Awliyaullah we say qaddas Allahu sirrahu, may Allah sanctify their secret. Because already Allah (swt) has mercied them, He (swt) gave them Ghawthiyya, so ask for more.
So one of his students died. Azra`eel (as) came to take his soul and he died and they put him in the grave. You know after everyone leaves, and that is why it is very important for Ahl as-Sunnah wa ‘l-Jama’ah, to make talqeen:
Ya `abdallah adhkur ma kharajta `alayhi min dar ad-dunya ila dar al-akhira shahadatu anna la ilaha ill ‘Llah wa anna Muhammad Rasoolullah (s).
You have to make talqeen for the deceased to remind him to say shahada.
The last one leaving the cemetery, the Shaykh must be the last to leave he must make talqeen for the mureed and the people have to leave the cemetery because Ankar and Nakeer will not come until everyone has left. So the shaykh must give talqeen after everyone has left whether man or women. Two angels will come and ask: “Who is your Lord, your creator?” “what is your book?”, “who is your prophet?” “what is your religion.” They ask. What is your book?”
Ypou have to answer. Allah is my creator, Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is my messenger, Holy Qur’an is my book,, Islam is my religion.
But you can add. [subhanallah] You can add there, “and my shaykh is that shaykh!” [naray risalah]
When you add, the shaykh has to be present. How is he a Wali? How did he get that sainthood power? He will be there for every moment of the life of his mureed in dunya and Akhira. He is the father he has to be there! So in came Ankar and Nakeer to that mureed, and there might be some people on these cameras listening and they say, “O look at what these Ahl as-Sunnah wa ‘l-Jama`ah people what they speak!” Who cares for them!?
I said to Mawlana Shaykh, may Allah give him long life, “Sayyidee do you like to make broadcasting live on the Internet?” Because he is not delivering speeches except on Friday. So when we are there we broadcast it live.
He said, “Hmm. Hmm.” You can hear him, it is on the archive now our archive: Sufilive.com. Now we have another account sufilive2.com that will be broadcasting from Cyprus, maybe every day.
So I said, “Do you like to broadcast.” “What is broadcast?” Broadcast he knows what that means. Awliya have their own broadcast. But what he likes to hear he hears what he doesnt like to hear he makes himself not ot here. He said, “from where?” I said, “from here where you are secluding yourself.” He said, “Cn we do that” So he said, “Ok.” So the first day, it was about 10 days ago, I think Laylat ar-Raghaib we began on the first Jumu`ah of Rajab and it continued to now but now it stopped as we are not there.
The first day we broadcast Mawlana Shaykh live from Cyprus. And the second day, you know there is a chat on the broadcast on the side, people are watching and chatting with each other. They are from all over the world because Mawlana’s students are all over. I was looking and seeing and I asked Iftikhar, “How many people are watching.” So we have statistics that show how many people. It was amazing. I never expected it. 83,000 people were watching it. So the next day I told Mawlana. He said, “Are you sure people are watching?” I said, “yes, Mawlana.” He asked, “how many people?” I said, I cannot believe but it is 83,000. Mawlana was happy be the message is reaching. I don’t remember how many but between the first 3 days it is ranging between 100 to 115,000 in 24 hours. So who is bringing these people to watch? And many of them are not Tariqah people. But that magnet of love is attracting them to hear his message. So that bond, that is important. And some of them after hearing, we have on our website, you can take initiation on the website. Only you click one button and there is Mawlana Shaykh with voice and picture is giving baya. And hundreds are taking baya and hundreds of non-Muslims are taking Shahada. Who is the one that is bringing these people to this way. It is that love that has been planted in their hearts.
So grandshaykh Abdallah al-Fa’iz ad-Daghestani (q), said, many times, “Don't think this is the jama`ah. My jama`at is la hadd wa la yu`add. They cannot be counted. I can reach them: through visions and through dreams I reach them and I give them what they need to do in 24 hours of their Awrad.” I have encountered many of these people.
So who is bringing them? Who is attracting them? Like the Bedouin came to the door of the Prophet (s) and said, “Ya Rasoolullah when is Judgment Day?” But Rasoolullah (s) asked him, "What have you prepared for it?” I am cutting that hadith short. The Bedouin said, “I have prepared your love ya Rasoolullah (s).” He (s) said, “It is enough.” That is great good tidings for us.
That love that has been engraved in the hearts of people, attracting people to come and to come and sit with this particular group. Because Al-arwaahu junoodan mujannada. That shows the miracle of the hadith of the Prophet (s). “Souls are like battalions in the army. They come together and whoever of them knows each other they be together and those who differ separate.” It means our souls and these hundreds of thousands who are watching on the Internet, they have one spiritual father and that is Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani.
So that connection is an indication that our souls are with his soul in the presence of the Prophet (s). And us and him we are in the presence of grandshaykh, as we have to go through levels who connects through shaykh Sharafuddin ad-Daghestani who connects through Shaykh Abu Muhammad al-Madani all the way to the Prophet (s). With all the mureeds of the NaqshbandI order with all the different branches and shuyookh are going to be in a paradise called Jannat al-Muhammadiyyoon.
Grandshaykh may Allah bless his soul, said that Allah swt is not going to put the lovers of the Prophet (s) with those who don’t have that strong love to the Prophet (s) as others have. He said, yushar al-maruw ma` man ahabb. So if a father has 10 children five of them are so in love with the father and five of them are running after dunya but when they come to the house he does not give them special affection as he gives the others. Because Muslims are Muslims. Man qaala la ilaha ill ‘Llah dakhal al-jannah. But which level of Paradise? Is it the first level of Paradise? Mawlana told me before I was coming here, he walked with all the way to the stairs. He said, “Hisham! You are going to London?” He knows I am going. “Don't look at who harmed you.” That is why today’s lecture is smoothe. I was coming to give a very strong one, but he said, “Go very nicely,” so I am going with love now. Because we have permission from Mawlana Shaykh Nazim and Grandshaykh, that if we empty our anger and take sins away from people. Awliyaullah don't shout at their followers for nothing–they clean them. So Grandshaykh and Mawlana Shaykh said many times, 40 years ago, “You and your brother have that permission to shout, not at the people themselves but at their bad egos.”
So in any case he said, “forgive them.” So we forgive, what is the big issue. So what do you think of the Salafis and the Wahabis. They will fill the First Paradise themselves. And we take the Paradise of the Muhammadiyoon, in qaaba qawsayni aw adnaa. Better. Why stay with sheep? We stay with the shepherds. It is better. Of course they are going to go to Paradise. After Allah judges them for their not enough of love to Rasoolullah (s) . But grandshaykh said that those who have love to Sayyidina Muhammad (s). Don’t think you have `amal.
Your `amal is zero. Allah will come to our `amal and throw it in our face.
Wa ja`alanaha habaa’in manthoora. We will make it completely dust. Because is dunya `amal. We want Akhira `amal. That is love of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). That love is for the person, for the one whom Allah raised His Name with His Name. That is not something simple. That is something you can imagine. It is beyond the mind. You cannot think about that in your mind.
So he said there is a paradise that Allah (swt) opened to Awliyaullah that is called Jannat al-Muhammadiyyoon. Paradise of the Muhammadans. He said when he was in a seclusion he was a shown a vision by Allah (swt). He was doing five consecutive years of seclusion, eating only 7 olives and 1 piece of bread every 24 hours. At the age of 18 he was secluded in a cave for 5 years. Can anyone do that. He was married. He got married and after one week, or 10 days his Shaykh ordered him to go into seclusion. Allahu akbar. Look how Awliyaullah struggled.
In a vision that came to him, Allah (swt) said, “This is the Jannah for the lovers of the Prophet (s).” It is all, you can look inside and you see all of them on the same haaya, picture or image. You don’t know this one from that one. They all look the same. You cant’ tell one from the other. And the light of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is reflecting on them so you think it is Muhammad (s), Muhammad (s), Muhammad (s) everywhere. It means that manifestation from the Seal of Messengers (s) will be dressing them so wehn you look at them you cannot differentiate them. They are the reflections of the Prophet (s) on them to make them look like him. They are not him, they are themselves, but that reflection, is from him. That is why you see the advanced mureeds, they are reflecting the shaykh. That does not happen with everyone. There are very few where you see them like that. That is the reflection of the shaykh because of the bond of the love between that he will reflect his light that Allah and the Prophet (s) gave to him, onto that senior student that is moving forward to the presence of the shaykhk. He may not have reached but he is on the way of the Shaykh.
He might have a long way to go. We spoke of knowledge but not of presence. When you love you enter. So the keyhole to the second level is love. Hudoorullah, Hudoor ar-Rasool, Hudoor al-mashaykh. The second level is presence. We are not going to describe that. When you are always in the presence of your father you are always talking to him. That means his name is always on your tongue. So after that you begin to establish the full relationship, which we call Maqam al-fanaa. That is fanaa’un fi ’sh-shaykh. That is fanaa’un fillah, fanaa’un fi ’r-rasool, fanaa’un fi ’sh-shaykh. That is where you enter the station of `uboodiyya. Don't say, “I am the secretary of the Shaykh. I am doing the work of the shaykh!” No one will do the work of the shaykh.
If you like dunya he will give you that. If you love Akhira he will give you that. If you love fana he will give you fana. If you love presence of the Shaykh he will give you that. It is not like when you come to him and say, “O I am doing your work. I am secretary to you.” Who cares about that. Dunya to them is zero.
Sahaba did not give only dunya, money, but they gave their lives. They gave their best. What is the best you can give? If someone is sick in dunya they give all their money to be cured. Sahaba gave their lives. We have to be very careful here. They gave their lives in the true way. Not like today they are giving their lives for nothing. That suicide bombing is completely haram in Islam. In any case they gave their lives to the Prophet (s). Our duty is to give you life to the Shaykh It does not mean you give up your wife and family and children. When you raise them on the love of the shaykh you are not reducing it. You are increasing it. If you have seven children then seven children love the shaykh you are multiplying.
It is not that you eat meat and the shaykh eats rice. Not you are building businesses and buildings and the shaykh is in a shack.
O Muslims! Tariqah people. O Ahl as-Sunnah wa ‘l-Jama’ah this is not an ordinary sohba. We spoke about love, is it not. We did not go into the others. And Mawlana is saying to all of us, now this is his message. “You spoke about love for sure that level will be established for you. That is what is important to be raise do that level. By hearing it you will be raised to that level spiritually.” You want it more, try to do it physically also. That means your spirit, your body, your soul, your mind all of that will be in the love of the shaykh which takes you to the love of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and that takes you to the love of Allah (swt).
May Allah (swt) give you love. Real love. Not this imitational or fake love. You can see these people say “We love the shaykh, we love the shaykh,” but not really, they love their pockets. They try to get their own benefits. So if you really love shaykh that is what is really important to show it by `amal. to show your `amal, your actions.
We have to take today’s message to build up that love. How to build it? By salawat on the Prophet (s), Darood. By praising the Prophet (s) will reach you to love of the shaykh and then to the love of the Prophet (s). When you do salawat try to close your eyes, as if you are in presence of your shaykh and with his support and his himmah trying to reach the presence of the Prophet (s) with that salawat, that is where it will be accepted. May Allah forgive us.
I hope we have more time. But every time we come here we have more work to do. But we hope more and more we can come to England. I will be going on Friday evening to Friends House and then on Saturday to Bury and on Sunday to Sheffield. What can we do? We cannot be here all the time. We have opened offices for the Sufi Muslim Council. Who wants to see them can come there. They are very humble offices where we are trying to do work for the benefit of Ahl as-Sunnah wa ‘l-Jama’ah and for the benefit of the Tariqah. We are looking forward to see you more. May Allah forgive us and forgive you and may He keep us on the way of our shaykh Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani and for the others as well may He keep them on their ways.
Bi-hurmatil-habeeb bi-hurmatil-fatiha.
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