Suhbah After Maghrib Salaat
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,
nawaytu 'r-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`ala fee haadha 'l-masjid.
أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ
Ati`oollaha wa ati`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)
Alhamdulillahi Rabbi 'l-`Alameen, wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaamu `ala ashrafa 'l-Mursaleen, Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een.
Ayyuha ’l-mu’minoon, ayyuha ’l-muslimoon, ayyuha ‘s-saalihoon.
Allah (swt) has favored us with the honor of Islam and with the honor of Holy Qur'an, with which Allah saved humanity from Hellfire. Anyone who accepts the Holy Qur'an of Allah will be saved from Hellfire and sent to Paradise. It is Allah's Book revealed to the Prophet (s) in certain times and it frees a person from Hellfire. Allah will grant anyone who reads the Holy Qur'an with the light of Knowledge and of Ihsaan coming from every letter of the Qur’an, as Grandshaykh `AbdAllah al-Fa'iz ad-Daghestani (q) said, “On every letter, Allah gives awliyaullah 24,000 oceans of knowledge and for some he gives 12,000 oceans of knowledge,” as it differs from wali to wali.
This is a big ni`mat that Allah (swt) has revealed to the Prophet (s). Allah said:
إِنَّا نَحْنُ نَزَّلْنَا الذِّكْرَ وَإِنَّا لَهُ لَحَافِظُونَ
Inna nahnu nazzalna ’dh-dhikr wa inna lahu la-haafizhoon.
Behold! It is We Ourselves Who have bestowed from on high, step by step, this reminder and behold, it is We Who shall truly guard it (from all corruption). (Surat al-Hijr, 15:9)
Allah (swt) will keep it safe and protected from any changes, as the Holy Qur'an is Kalamullaah al-Qadeem, Allah's Ancient Words, and His Words are without beginning or end. So Allah will open from No-Beginning up to No-End for anyone who reads the Holy Qur'an from these manifestations and secrets. There are awliyaullah to whom Allah gave the Sultan adh-Dhikr, the King of Dhikr: with each breath they inhale they complete one Qur’an, and with each breath they exhale they complete one Qur’an. Grandshaykh `AbdAllah al-Fa'iz ad-Daghestani (q) said Grandshaykh Sharafuddin ad-Daghestani (q) had that ability. And alhamdulillah all of you here and everyone around the world are students of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q), and he is the student of Grandshaykh `Abdullah al-Fa'iz ad-Daghestani (q) who had that secret, which was also passed to Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q). We witnessed the moment when he passed that secret to Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani (q); he trembled for half an hour and Grandshaykh said, “I am passing to him what the Prophet (s) gave to me.”
So Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) is carrying lots of worship, rewards, and instruments that he can use to fix his students around the world. There are many other shaykhs as well who are equipped with many other tools to fix their followers. We believe that Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) has sophisticated heavenly tools that can fix and support everyone both spiritually and physically; however, awliyaullah always try to keep a low profile and not to use this power.
Allah (swt) sends awliyaullah to people who are honest, honored, and noble royals, and normal people who do things for the benefit of what Mawlana likes, which is to see more and more people entering Islam, and the States of Imaan and Ihsaan, and bringing followers from everywhere to present to him, much like a hunter. Every hunter has a helper that tries to bring the prey near him so that he may hunt. Similarly, awliyaullah are the hunters and their representatives are the ones who try to bring good people to learn from the shaykh and to make the way easy; through his powers and through what he inspires in their hearts they pave the shaykh's road to make it easy for the shaykh to get them.
Alhamdulillah there many representatives around the world for Tariqat an-Naqshbandi ar-Rabbaniyya from Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q). Mawlana has given power and authority to many and may Allah (swt) bless their work. But there are always those in class who do not take a grade of “A+” or “A,” they may take a “B,” “C” or “D,” but they do not get a failing grade, “E”. Those who get an “A” are very few. At the same time, you cannot exclude the others as everyone is doing according to their capacity.
During the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, Mawlana had already established three centers in London and then in 1991, he established the big center in Seven Sisters, but everything needs a cause. If for example, if you don’t push a ball it will not roll. Allah (swt) arranges people to push the ball. I don’t know how Mawlana bought Shacklewell Lane Mosque, but for Green Lanes and Peckham Mosque, our family helped and some Saudi families helped as well to assist Mawlana to purchase those two places.
Also in the early 1980s, the governor of Sarawak, `Abdur-Rahman Yaqoob, was once in a library looking for a nice book and he found Mawlana Shaykh's book Mercy Oceans, which he read and was amazed! At that time there was a young man, a member of the Royal Family of Malaysia, Raja Ashman, who also a friend to `Abdur-Rahman Yaqoobi. Raja Ashman was the son of the Sultan of Perak, and they decided to go to visit Mawlana Shaykh. From that time in the 1980s, Raja Ashman always followed Mawlana Shaykh Nazim when he came to London.
In 1987, Mawlana Shaykh was invited to Sarawak by the governor, `Abdur-Rahman Yaqoobi. I was in Jeddah and Mawlana called me to come and go with him, so I went to the capital of Sarawak, Kuching, where they were opening a center for displaying all kinds of Islamic artefacts and books. Then Raja Ashman said, “We are near the border of Brunei, let’s go to Brunei.” So we went to Brunei and the Minister of Education put us up in a hotel. The trip was a bit difficult and in sand and water, and that person, Raja Ashman was so in love with and did his best for Mawlana Shaykh!
Because he is royalty, it was easy for him to meet (many high people). That year the father of the Sultan died and we were there as guests to Pehin `Aziz, and Mawlana Shaykh with his son Shaykh Bahauddin went into the stadium where they were reciting Mawlid an-Nabi (s). The Sultan saw Mawlana Shaykh and he was attracted and invited him to his palace and then every year we visited the Sultan of Brunei, and Malaysia and Singapore, with Raja Ashman’s help.
Then, because Mawlana Shaykh asked the Sultan of Brunei if he can donate a place in London, the Sultan bought the Priory on 277 St. Ann's Road, Seven Sisters and refurbished it and gave it to Mawlana Shaykh! After that I prepared a trust to keep it with Mawlana Shaykh, and he, Raja Ashman, myself and one Turkish person (were appointed the legal trustees). They put that in place and that increased Mawlana Shaykh’s opening to go with Raja Ashman to Brunei, Singapore and Malaysia, accompanied by Raja Ashman, who is a prince.
We knew him for a long time. He was a high, noble person who ran the Naqshbandi center in Malaysia and did his best for Mawlana Shaykh and came to Cyprus in Ramadan. Before 2003, when Mawlana retired from traveling, Raja Ashman arranged Mawlana's trips, except the 2001 trip to Uzbekistan, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, and Pakistan, which I arranged.
In 1991 we made a trust, and since that time Raja Ashman led dhikr and brought people in Malaysia to tariqah. He did his best and may Allah bless him, may Allah give him happy Paradise.
The thing that people don’t know is the spiritual side of His Highness, Raja Ashman Shah and other people like Raja Ashman, the side that is the hidden reality, as Allah (swt) created every human being in pairs, so there is the real one and there is the reflected one, and our realities are always in the Presence of Allah, from the time of alastu bi-rabbikum qaaloo balaa (the Day of Promises). Those are always in the Divine Presence and then there is the reflection on Earth that is given permission by Allah (swt) to move. But there are things that are hidden, and one of these hidden things I would like to say, and some people might wonder why we speak about Raja Ashman. It is because he finished dhikr nearly twelve hours ago, about midnight in Malaysia, and he felt short of breath. He went home because he has asthma and his wife ran to give him the injection to breathe well, but he had got a panic breathing attack and became blue. When the doctor arrived he was already dead.
He is fifty years of age and represented Mawlana Shaykh in the best way and helped everyone in the best way, and we are asking Allah (swt) to give his wife, Jane, and his children the best of peacefulness in their hearts after this deep disturbance and sadness to them. We all cried [on hearing the news]. We are saying to Jane and to Raja Ashman’s sisters and to Crown Prince Raja Muda, and to his father the Sultan of Perak:
إنَّا لله و إنَّا إليه راجعون
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji`oon.
To Allah we belong and unto Him do we return. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:156)
May Allah give him Paradise! He left after finishing dhikrullah, he went home and died.
And the thing behind it that Mawlana Shaykh allowed me to say, as not everything can be said, but he allowed me to say this for all mureeds around the world. You can look at a person and you might say he is a normal person, but there is a secret that not everyone knows. Mureeds behave according to that secret, either voluntarily or involuntarily. So before he died, Raja Ashman asked, “O Allah! Take from my life and give to my shaykh my life!” This is something that no one knows. He asked and he died in the same manner, medically in exactly the same shortness of breath that Mawlana Shaykh has: because his lungs are full of fluid he has shortness of breath and until today they are giving him oxygen day and night. When Shah Raja asked, his du`a was accepted, so Allah (swt) replaced what was left in Raja Ashman’s life and gave to it Mawlana Shaykh, and what was left of Mawlana Shaykh's life was given to Raja Ashman. That is why he died, because of the shortness of life that Mawlana had left!
So he asked for it, and awliyaullah don't ask these things. One time I was asking that and Mawlana Shaykh said, “Don’t say that because length of life is written for every human being!” But he said that out of love to Mawlana Shaykh, to switch the remaining life of Raja Ashman to go to Mawlana Shaykh and the remaining life of Mawlana to go to Raja Ashman. That is why, because Mawlana’s life was short. He died before everyone, and we say may Allah give long life to Mawlana Shaykh and we say with the dhikr that Raja Ashman did, and with the help he did for many poor people in his country, and for his sisters and Raja Muda, we ask Allah (swt) to give them and us long life to see al-Mahdi (a)!
It was near noon today when we received the call from someone very near to Raja Ashman, who said, “I have bad news.”
I said, “Say! What is it?”
He was unable to speak. At that moment, I saw Raja Ashman in front of me dressed nicely with a bit of black beard and a pale face, and the man hadn’t yet said what is the bad news, but I saw Raja Ashman standing before me and I realized it is something relating to him.
Then he said, “Raja Ashman died,” and as soon as he said that, Raja Ashman disappeared. He appeared in his last moment of his life, although he had already passed away, but Ahl al-Barzakh, the People of Barzakh can move anywhere, so he visited me.
Our relationship with him was very, very good and he used to keep me in his palace with his sister until Fajr time, asking about tariqah, Grandshaykh and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, then we prayed Fajr and then sat again. We never saw any bad word from him, and he was always good with everyone. May Allah bless him and give patience, especially to the followers of Mawlana Shaykh in Malaysia.
This is a lesson to everyone that death is always coming. The Prophet (s) said, “The most difficult is the quick, sudden death, mawtu fuja`atan.” Some people have cancer and know they are dying and they set their affairs straight, but some people die suddenly, and the Prophet (s) asked to protect us from this kind of death. Raja Ashman finished dhikr and went home and died! When Hajjah Naziha heard this she collapsed, as he was very good with us, and she decided to complete the tahlil and the Holy Qur'an for him before they bury him. And now I am giving the Ihda for him.
Ash-hadu laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah.
Ash-hadu laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah.
Ash-hadu laa ilaaha illa-Llah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah.
Astaghfirullah min kulli dhanbin wa min kulli ma yukhalifu deen al-Islam wa min kulli ma yukhalif at-tariqah wa min kulli ma yukhalif ash-shari`ah kulli ma yukhalif al-azeema, wa min kulli ma yukhalif al-ma`rifah...
Surat al-Ikhlaas (3x); Surat al-Falaq, Surat an-Nas. Fatihah.
Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. Alif. Laam. Meem. Dhalik al-kitabu la rayba feeh... (Surat al Baqara.) [du`a]
(After khatm)
With all my condolences to the family of Raja Ashman, I would like to say that Mawlana Shaykh has said to me while we were doing dhikr just now, that he left dunya on the level of a martyr as he died on Thursday and will be buried on Friday, and all awliyaullah have come and each one has dressed him with the tajalli of Laylat al-Jumu`ah, and every wali knows what his level and dress is and dressed him with that, and he left dunya with the level of Qutbaniyya, and he is in the presence of awliyaullah and in the presence of the Prophet (s), and the Prophet (s) is in the Presence of Allah (swt).
May Allah give him and us mercy, and give Mawlana Shaykh Nazim long life because many mureeds called from Malaysia asking where to go now and from whom to ask questions. He was like the head of the Naqshbandi in that area and now they are like orphans; they don’t know where to go, and I am saying to them, “Be patient.” May Allah make it easy for you, and that applies to every one of us. We all have to pray that Allah (swt) gives Mawlana Shaykh Nazim long life, because otherwise everyone will be orphaned and not know where to go, and they may be mislead and follow someone who is not fit to be a representative, and be taken here and there!
May Allah give long life to Mawlana Shaykh Nazim as he is the guard of this tariqah, the one keeping it together! May Allah give him long life and give us long life to see Mahdi (a).
http://sufilive.com/Memoriam_of_HRH_the_Late_Raja_Ashman_Shah_and_His_Legacy-4214.html
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