ASK FORGIVENESS IN PRESENCE OF YOUR SHAYKH
27 Ramadan 1427/19 October 2006
A`udhu billahi min ash-shaytaan ir-rajeem
Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem
Nawaytu'l-arba`een, nawaytu'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu'l-khalwah, nawaytu'l-riyaadah, nawaytu's-salook, nawaytu'l-`uzlah lillahi ta`ala fee hadha'l-masjid
Ati` Allah wa ati` ar-Rasula wa uli 'l-amri minkum
T
his suhbat was given on the 9 Sha`ban 1394, Grandshaykh was in Beirut before he left to Damascus, he did Laylat nisf Sha`ban, laylat al-bara`at, he did it in Beirut. After that we took him back to Damascus and on the 4th Ramadan he left this dunya. This was one of his last suhbats and he was giving suhbat everyday.
You know at the end of long age, of living in this dunya, he was giving this suhbat. And it is very important to take the wisdom of what he is saying to understand that you cannot trust the self. It means all his years, he has been advising and at the end he is still saying the same issue.
Because all the time we were running to him and saying, “Ya Sayyidee, musaamaha, and it is common for everyone to run to the wali and ask forgiveness in his presence, as the Sahaaba used to run to the Prophet e and ask his forgiveness and for him to ask Allah’s I forgiveness for them:
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلاَّ لِيُطَاعَ بِإِذْنِ اللّهِ وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآؤُوكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ اللّهَ وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُواْ اللّهَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا
Wa maa arsalnaa min rasoolin illa li-yuta`a bi-idhnillahi wa law annahum idh dhalamoo anfusahum ja’ooka fastaghfaroollaha wastaghfara lahumu ar-rasoolu la-wajadoollaha tawwaaban raheema
We sent not an apostle, but to be obeyed, in accordance with the will of Allah I. If they had only, when they were unjust to themselves, come unto thee and asked Allah's I forgiveness, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah I indeed Oft-returning, Most Merciful. [4:64]
If they found they were oppressors to themselves they come to you, Ya Muhammad e and ask Allah’ I forgiveness in his presence…
So to whom the Sahaaba have to run? They have to run to the Prophet e. And in our time the Prophet e is present, but we cannot see him physically because we are veiled thru our sins. So we run to someone who is not veiled to the Prophet’s e appearance and is always in his spiritual presence, one of Allah’s I saints.
So that is why Allah I has assigned saints, about which He said, ala awliyaullah
أَلا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاء اللّهِ لاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
Alaa inna awliya’Allahi laa khawfun `alayhim wala hum yahzanoon.
Behold! verily on the friends of Allah I there is no fear, nor shall they grieve; [10:62]
Allah I sent saints and spread them, as in the hadith qudsi, “My saints are under My domes, no one knows them except Me.” That means they are everywhere. Allah I has made them a way to take people to the Prophet e.
That is why we used to run to Grandshaykh and ask him musaamaha, “Ya sayyidee, present our istighfaar to Prophet e and Prophet e present it to Allah I.”
He said, “What are you asking forgiveness, for what are you asking forgiveness? To forgive you from your mistakes and sins. The real musaamaha is when you want to ask forgiveness, be sure to ask forgiveness after you have left all manhiyyaat and followed all things ordered ma'mooraat. Of course you have to ask musaamaha after you make a sin, repent. But you cannot advance; you stay in same place, because you make sin and repent, make sin and repent. I cannot take these veils until you are no longer following Shaytaan, then you will follow Rahman.”
The meaning of musamaha = ask forgiveness in presence of your Shaykh = ask forgiveness in the presence of Prophet e. Musaamaha = make sin, ask forgivenss. The real musaamaha is to go higher and higher, leaving what Allah I ordered to leave and practicing nawaafil.
That is the way to slowly increase and increase, then you reach the top of the ladder there you are in level of association. There are many levels there, but at least you enter the first level.
That is what I understand from musaamaha. For sure when you die and you have repented you find that level in the grave. Allah I is generous, He said, “Whoever asks My repentance will be in Paradise,” for sure, but if you want to be unveiled from darkness, you must keep growing, as a child keeps growing and they keep growing until they reach a certain age and then they reach maturity, they reach manhood or womanhood and then no more to grow. Growing as you are young and then as you grow up you will be with your level and play with them. Children play with children their age, not with children that are older, as they will beat them. They don’t play with children that are older than them as they will beat them, but they might play with older ones as they are mature and they won’t beat them.
So according to their level of maturity, children play with each other. But still young children can play with those who are mature because they are at the level that they are peaceful and know how to make them happy.
So you are still like children and come to awliyaullah, you ask musaamaha, and you feel happy. They know how to play with you as they know how to make you happy. You cannot be with other mureeds as they will beat you. You feel safe in the presence of awliya but mureed to mureed that is where you will fall in disagreement.
There he wants you to be in agreement. He wants you to be happy and be in agreement with everyone. There he wants you to love as you love the shaykh. Then the musaamaha is acceptable, else before that the musaamaha is not acceptable.
Grandshaykh said, “What I am speaking to the mountain? My talks are always addressed to you to be mature. But as if I am speaking to the mountains. It means all my life I am trying to raise you to maturity but still seeing a huge mountain in front of me.” That means a huge ego.
Grandshaykh was strict to the point, he is straight forward. You are blind, you are blind. He doesn’t take the easy way, he bombards. No one is big to him, even the elephant. To him it is an ant. He said, “Why do I do that? There is a wisdom. I carry the responsibility and you come clean. I bombard not you, Allah I only can bombard you, but I bombard the bad characters within you.”
When we are angry, we are fighting because we are angry with your body, with your self. The awliya don’t look at your outside, they look and bombard to kill the bad behaviors. Don’t be upset and don’t ask why am I being bombarded. That is a cleansing process and there must be a wisdom and reason that bombardment is coming. Grandshaykh did not say, “This one is this and this one is that.” He throws on everyone. Sometime he throws on the high level ones in order that everyone can listen and understand. To say, “You may be like that one day.” Even the elephant is not big. Teeny weenie tiny winy itsy bitsy [spider] tiny to me, everything is tiny to me. If I let you to think yourself big, then you become like Iblees. That is the characteristic. Awliya are worried for the character of their followers as if they make them big then they fall down.
That is not like Mawlana Shaykh Nazim ?. He has different tajallis. Every wali has different tajallis.
When Mawlana Shaykh was in his forties or fifties he was so strict. But when Grandshaykh passed he became very soft; that is why people run to Mawlana Shaykh. From east and west people run to meet him. That is because of the diplomacy he has.
In time of Grandshaykh he was more majestic. That was Ottoman time, time of real men still. At that time Ottomans and then at the time of the army, everything was strong and disciplined. Today there is no discipline. So people are like that. Then awliya become like that running like rivers down the mountain.
Grandshaykh said, “I am seeing your ego like a mountain, it cannot accept anything.”
One mureed was in seclusion by order of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim ? 35 years ago. He was young and he was telling us when we were in that seclusion in Lebanon, that he saw after many days of seclusion—after 30 days—he saw coming out of him when he went to the bathroom a huge monster coming out of him and that was coming to kill him. And he was running to Mawlana’s room to get shelter. And he was shouting. And Mawlana said, “What happened?” He said, “A monster is coming to kill me!” Then Mawlana said, “That is your ego.” They open to see the reality of the ego.
When you release a gas it spread and fills the whole space. Like an air freshener. Similarly the devil when it is released it expands and fills space. In your body it is compressed and it fills the entire system of the body. Million of miles of veins in the body it is overtaking all that, when it is released it is a huge monster. The awliyaullah are hitting on that monster in order to kill it, not hitting on you. That is the wisdom of seclusion. That is to kill that monster. That monster, if not killed completely from the roots it will grow another time. Grass when you cut it, if there is rain, it will grow again.
Look at the wisdom. In these countries when the snow comes the grass freezes it does not die. So when the awliya speak the monster freezes. But when you water them back they grow up another time. Wherever you freeze them you can freeze them for a while, in their association they can freeze that Shaytaan inside you. As soon as that wali goes somewhere then you water it, watering that Shaytaan back. Because, “We are partners. I cannot leave my partner.”
As today people say, “We have partners.” One time I was in conference and one man was introduced to me and there was a lady sitting with him and he said, “This is my partner.” I said, “O she is a good partner, how much are you paying her?” He didn’t understand what I am saying and I didn’t understand what he is saying. He said, “No, no, she is my girlfriend.”
Shaytaan is like that—a partner. He is your boyfriend and you are his girlfriend. If you are a man, you are the girl and he is the man. And if you are a lady, he becomes the woman and you become the man. So he knows the personality. They know what, so choose what you want.
They hit on these characters that are inside us. That is why Sayyidina Ubaydullah al-Ahrar ? said, “Asma`oo wa aawoo - listen and take heed, fa idha wa`aytum fantafi`u - then you get benefit.”
So when you understand and you are aware of what is going on, and you believe this devil is taking you over then get benefit. So awliyaullah hit on us so we can get benefit. They want to wake us up. So what you do when sleepy, you run to take wudu.
So when they hit on you, run and make ablution. When the Shaykh is not there and Shaytaan is hitting you go and make ablution and recite, “A`udhu billahi min ash-shaytaan ir-rajeem Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.”
Then Shaytaan will run. So Sayyidina Ubaydullah ? was saying, “Listen and take heed then you get benefit.” If you take benefit you will be in presence of awliyaullah and the Presence of the Prophet e.
And Grandshaykh was saying this before he left dunya by twenty days. On the 4th of Ramadan he left and this was 14th of Sha`ban. So how many days? 9th Sha`ban. So around 25 days. He spent all his life in teaching and teaching and at the end he said that, “I am teaching to mountains.” Ego is a mountain. Ego is a mountain that you have to put dynamite and blow it up in order to go to other side. You cannot open a tunnel and you cannot climb it to get to other side. The ego must be destroyed complete.
May Allah I give us wisdom to follow their orders and to be able to reach the Presence of Sayyidina Muhammad e.
Wa min Allah at-tawfiq, bihurmatil Fatiha.