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Don’t Think You Are Independent!

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

3 December 2009 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan

After `Isha

Allahumma salli ‘alaa Sayyidina Muhammadin hatta yarda Sayyidina Muhammad.

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.

Allahumma salli ‘alaa Sayyidina Muhammadin. Alf, alfus-salaat ‘alayka yaa Sayyidee, yaa Rasulullah!

This is a continuation of the previous suhbat from the notes of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim and Grandshaykh AbdAllah al-Fa`iz ad-Daghestani. As we mentioned all the time, we must seek means to get support; don’t think you are independent, as anyone who thinks he is independent is a loser. No one can claim that he is independent. Anyone who is claiming he is independent, he lost his mind. Sorry! Even a lamb is dependent on his mother and a monkey is dependent on his family; all animals are dependent on each other. Why do we think we are independent? No one can claim that he is independent! Even a child is dependent on his father or mother. The only One that is independent is Allah (swt): He depends on no one! Sayyidina Muhammad (Mawlana stands and sends salaam) is dependent, which means the whole Creation is dependent, and Allah (swt), with His endless mercy, gave us the Holy Qur’an in order that we read and understand it. And since we are dependent it means we cannot understand without someone who we can depend on to teach us.

The Prophet (s), with his majesty and his greatness that Allah gave to him as a servant of Allah, was still dependent on Allah through Sayyidina Jibra’eel (a) to guide him. Even in his migration from Mecca to Madinah, he (s) was dependent on a guide to guide him on his ways through the desert, although Prophet (s) doesn’t need it, but it is to teach us. Don’t say you are independent! A wife is dependent on her husband on some issues, and a husband is dependent on his wife on some issues, so don’t claim, “We can read the Qur’an on our own.” We need a guide to teach us the hints and secrets in the words of Allah, that we might understand it better. And it is endless! If a wali wants to teach us one verse, he can explain that verse in an infinite number of ways, such that what he says in the beginning is different in the second interpretation, and different in the third and fourth interpretation, and so on!

Look at Allah’s greatness! If you say the Qur’an is only what we understand, then dhalamna anfusana, we are oppressors to ourselves by minimizing to ourselves in our minds reagarding the meanings of Holy Qur’an. Every letter can be expressed in millions of meanings, and every word of Holy Qur’an can be given endless meanings to Allah’s words! So anything related to Him is independent and anything related to humanity is dependent. We depend on someone to guide us through the way and explain to us meanings in the Holy Qur’an. That is why scholars--sincere, pious ones who know the (true Islamic) meaning of “scholar”--understand that they have no way but to depend on someone who is a wali from awliyaaullah: someone whom Allah opened his vision and his hearing and opened his heart to understand the Holy Qur’an, more than the normal scholars. That is why sometimes scholars followed awliyaaullah even though they had more knowledge in literal meanings and interpretations, but they are in need of awliyaaullah to explain to them meanings they never conceived.

That is why the four imams followed many different teachers. Imam Abu Hanifa followed Shayban ar-Ra’iyy, and Imam Jafar as-Sadiq and Imam Shafi’i and Ahmad ibn Hanbal followed Shayban ar-Ra’iyy and Bishr al-Hafi. They all were scholars, but they followed those higher in spirituality. Imam Malik followed 600 teachers of Sufism and 300 of Shari’ah! This is to say that whatever we explain is limited, but what awliyaaullah give is unlimited: they continue to give non-stop, as their guidance in the meanings of interpretations of Holy Qur’an and Holy Ahadeeth comes directly from the Prophet (s), direct from Heaven or from the Divine Presence, unlike us, who look at the explanation of the Holy Qur’an in footnotes or margin notes, which only give meanings of the language. For awliyaaullah, the information is embedded, like information embedded in an email; they hide that within the message they are sending, not encryption. There is something in the message they send which they decode, and like in old times they used special ink to the write in between the visible words and put on it under a special light to make that writing visible. Awliyaaullah have a pen like that. That information comes to them very clear and they relate it to their students.

That is why we are dependent. Are you independent? (No, Sayyidee.) Don’t make this mistake like so many today who say, “We are independent. We want to go buy our own apartment, our ownn studio. We don’t need you.” And they are on drugs and on this and on that. Why do they want to be independent? Now your father and mother are not good? You are 18 years of age and you think you know better. The parents spoiled them. They want to sell drugs and they say from the other side they are confiscating drugs. They take the drugs from one side and sell from the other side. There are mafia within mafia, and there are mafia within police. Go and sell and they make themselves shurafa, honorable people. That is criticism, but it is constructive criticism. Say, “I am dependent on my parents and they were dependent on their parents, all the way to Adam (a).”

So awliyaaullah understand meanings from Prophet (s) and they give to their students to increase their understanding. It increases your thinking, it does not limit you. Grandshaykh spoke about the verse of Holy Qur’an:

Ya ayyuhal ladheena aamanu! Ati`oollah wa ati`ur-rasool wa ulil-amri minkum. Fa in tanaza`tum fee shay in fa rudduhu il-Allah wa Rasulihi in kuntum tu’minoon billahiwal yawmil akhiri. dhaalika khayroon wa ahsanu Taweelaa.

O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger, and those among you who are in authority. (And) if you differ in anything amongst yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger, if you believe in Allah and in the Last Day. That is better and more suitable for final determination. (An-Nisa 4:59)

What did he say? “O Believers!” It means if you are not a believer, you are not going to understand. You are blind in dunya and then blind in Akhirah. Fa man kaana fee hadhihi aama. So a believer is dependent. Shaytan is saying, “I am independent from you, O my Lord.” But he is crazy, because he said, “O my Lord, give me life and I am going to run after them and deviate them.” And Allah said, “I am going to give you life, and you will see who is right and who is not.” So even Shaytan is dependent.

O Believers! Obey Allah. He said, ati`oollah. So the head of every association is to be obedient, to follow the way of obedience, to obey Allah and His Prophet and those in authority. And if you have a problem, render your case back to Allah (swt) and His Prophet (s). So you are dependent on His Prophet and you are dependent on Allah, as the Prophet takes you to Allah. He is the door. You are dependent on your guides, those in authority, to take you to the holy presence of Prophet (s).

That means, “O My servant, don’t think you are something. You are not even zero.” Zero exists, so it is a number, and either you have plus or minus. So if you are zero, you are in the middle. Either you are plus one or plus two or minus two or minus three. So on both sides there is something. Zero still counts. Zero is better than minus one and minus two. But after 100 years, you are not zero even, you are not even nothing, you are nowhere!

(Allah is guiding us,) “O My servant, you have to understand that if you are dependent on Me then you are something, and you will exist in the grave. I will give you an existence above zero: plus one, plus two, plus four. If you think you are independent, then I am going to make you minus one, minus two, minus four. That means I will drown you in punishment to show you that you are dependent on Me.”

Like many people who are proud in their opinions, can you say anything to them? No, and we are like that: arrogant, stubborn, and we don’t want to get any advice; we think we know everything.

Awliyaaullah are trying to pull interpretations to show they are in need of Allah’s mercy, and if you show your dependence then they will give you more. Every association is to tell you, “You are nothing and I am everything. I am the Lord and you have to obey Me. Ati`oollah. To really obey Me you have to obey My Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad (s), in order that I will accept you. Who obeys My Prophet is obeying Me. Man ata ar-rasool faqa ata Allah. You must know that you have to obey not only Me, but you have to obey My Prophet, and through My Prophet, you have to obey those who are My guides, who guide you to My Prophet.”

Then your arrogance will drop. Don’t sit in a meeting stubborn on your opinion.

That is why you come to awliyaaullah and ask, “Can we do this?”

(They answer,) “Of course you can do it.”

“What about this?”

(They answer,) “Yes, of course you are right, do it,” and a third one comes.

They want to go with the flow of the river; they don’t want to give any order or be hard on the student, but then you will do this and do that until you are trapped in a corner and you have to come and get the advice. You come and get all kinds of heaviness on your head and they crush your arrogance. They want you to suffer. There is an easier way, take a stick and beat them all, but now they take the nice way, the diplomatic way. That is why Allah delays but He does not ignore. He lets you to go wherever you like, but He delays then brings you back. Awliyaaullah understand that wisdom. They let you go (into your plans) and finally you find yourself stuck at the end and you have to go back to them.

Grandshaykh (q) says that verse, ya ayyuhalladheena aamanoo ati`ooallah, is carrying so many secrets that you will be amazed and overhwelmed in the interpretations of this verse. That is why they always like to have it a big banner that reads, Ati`oollah wa ati`ur-rasool wa ulil-amri minkum, as it carries a lot of meanings. That is why we said it will overwhelm us if we go into the oceans of these meanings, and if someone will see these meanings they will understand how great Allah’s patience is with His servants and with all the wrong they are doing. He is overwhelming them at the end with endless Mercy Oceans to make them happy. And you cannot count that happiness: it is beyond your mind! If they open one drop, you will be drowned in that Ocean and that happiness is in dunya and in Akhirah. That is from one verse only! What do you think about the other verses of Holy Qur’an?

So I will leave this and we will come to what he extracted. That is only one interpretation of that verse that Allah will open to His servants with an infinite number of interpretations. But we will go into one interpretation and how much it is going to be overwhelming when we explain it. May Allah forgive us and may Allah bless this meeting and every meeting.

I wanted to continue but there are some people who wanted to leave early so it might be Saturday at noon or in the evening.

(Sahib says, “Hal min mazeed! We want more!” as taken from Mawlana Shaykh Nazim’s recent suhbahs.)

We will continue tomorrow, not everything at once. May Allah keep us from the fire. How many minutes? (31 minutes) Today Mawlana spoke for 38 minutes

they said, no 37 but he said, “I thought I am speaking longer than that.” So they were pushing him to go longer but he said, “Enough.”

Did you advertise that Sufilive is on telephone? Announce it here. I am announcing, now you can hear Mawlana’s suhbat on the phone if you are driving or don’t have the Internet. You can connect directly to an 800-number and you need a code. We need some people to help in subscribing. We are not asking too much, maybe 10 or 12 dollars per month for the telephone transmission. I think in Europe and Singapore it is very cheap to hear, like two cents per minute, and 80 cents to hear a suhbah, together with monthly subscription. Today we didn’t have Internet. We used the phone and it was nice. So we will send now an email. If you have any questions you can chat now. Ishaq behind the computer and he can answer you. So in any case for those who are in US or Canada, the call is free, but you have to subscribe with us and in Europe is it cheap or free. So later Ishaq or Orhan will put a list of countries from where you can call and the cost.

May Allah bless all of you to have long life and to be with Imam Mahdi (a). Bi hurmati ‘l-habeeb, bi hurmati ‘l-Fatihah.

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