Ati` Allah wa ati` ar-rasula wa uli 'l-amri minkum
So, Shaykh `Abdul-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani قدس سرّه said to Ubaydullah al-Amawi, as we left in previous session, that, "I cannot give you even a drop of knowledge in this tariqah, in this way, in this journey of yours. I cannot open except on one condition and that condition is necessary for you to understand and carry that responsbility and carry this burden."
It (irshaad) is not kashf. Vision (granted to awliyaullah) is not for an enjoyment. People think, "Oh they entered tariqah in order to see." What do you want to see? Right? They go in tariqah not for adab, discipline, not for knowledge. They go in tariqah thinking they will see angels, see jinn, see everything around and they are so happy. They are seeing dreams and seeing visions. These are toys, as we said; these are not important in tariqah. Tariqah depends on one issue: that when you get it, it is your burden and you are responsible to carry it, and how you will uplift those listening to you. They don't give to you for your own pleasure but give to you for those you will guide. So [being a] wali is not an easy task. People today run to be shaykh in order for people to follow them. But where they are taking them? A wali is always backing up, he doesn't want to be up front.
Look, Grandshaykh قدس سرّه in 1967 when he came out from his seclusion of one year, he said Prophet (s) told him, "Ya waladee, you don't go anywhere. Don't leave your home. You don't go after anyone anymore, I will send to you sincere servants. Back up, be away, seclude yourself. Don't go from here to here to here. I will send to you those to whom you deliver a message." Awliyaullah, the responsibilty on them is to deliver a message - but slowly, slowly. When they have gone so far and they have been tested to see if they carry the message and the burden of people, then Allah will give them rest. (someone suggests "respite") What is respite, what is this? Give them rest, to relax. So he sent, he inspired peoples' heart, they go to them as their test is over.
Similary, I am seeing now Mawlana Shaykh Nazim قدس سرّه in a similar situation, that he used to go from one place to another, right and left, east and west, north and south. Now (Prophet) he said, "No, I am sending them to you." Before Mawlana Shaykh Nazim قدس سرّه used to say, "I am going to you in their countries." Now he says, "You want to come, you come." Similar to Grandshaykh قدس سرّه in 1967. That is not something easy. When going from people to people, that is not easy - too much negativity from one country to another. So, when they are coming they are the sincere ones. Those who are there, although they might conspire here and there and backbite, but still they are in there. That place like an ocean. When you enter you wll be clean as an ocean, like a shower.
So, those spending lots of money to reach there, they are sincere. Else why to go? Some come for finance, business, wealth. Huh? They want... What do they want, doctor? they want money, and what do you expect from someone asking money from the shaykh? What will the shaykh do? He has no luck for akhirah issues, that is his
naseeb.
Like Grand Grandshaykh Sharafuddin قدس سرّه, Grandshaykh mentioned that in one of his associations, held each week, one day he is giving suhba from high level, he has these private associations and only by name you can attend. You cannot come and sit if (just because) you want to sit. There are reserved places, you know your place in the circle. You cannot jump in front. That is why no one can sit behind the imam except the one who can lead the prayer, if the imam steps back, that one has to come in, if (for example the) imam loses wudu. So, don't stand in the front line if you can't lead the prayer, the one imam entitled to lead the prayer, then the one on the right and the one on the left.
Those (places) have to be kept to the one who can lead the prayer, not everyone jumping behind the imam. From where the one who replaces the imam, if he loses the wudu, from where he comes? If the imam loses wudu during prayer, the prayer is not void. The one behind the imam has to take his place. Where he wants to come - from behind the last row? So, when they sit in the presence of the shaykh, they know their places: one on the right one on the left. Tariqah is discipline. If we don't know discipline, we are like children still. They don't have discipline: they sit here and there.
So when he was in that private association, Shaykh Sharafuddin قدس سرّه saw one coming and he knew that one is coming for
dunya issue. He will come and spoil the attention of mureeds. So what did he do? Immediately... because many people come to Mawlana Shaykh they come asking for money, you hear it, you cannot believe it, how they come with ideas. They are muhtaal, charlatans to take anything that the Shaykh is giving, they want, because the Shaykh is not stingy, he is generous. From his generosity they want to take something and Shaykh Sharafuddin قدس سرّه knew he is coming for something and will disturb association. He said to his helper to go to house and get the jubbah, (one) that he doesn't wear. It is a gift from Sultan Abdul Hameed, and it is silk. Men cannot wear silk in Islam; it is embroidered with gold and silver thread. "Go bring that quickly!" As soon as he brought it that man arrived. He said, "Oh I was waiting for you, I have that jubbah for you, take it and go."
So they dont care what they have, they give and they dont want to disturb the association and disturb the love that is to the shaykh. So the shaykh might ask, "Do you need anything?" and some say "yes" and some say "no". Grandshaykh قدس سرّه taught us, if shaykh asks you "Do you need anything?", then ask his du`a. Dont take money. If you take money, that means that is what you deserve, waste of dunya. So he said, "What I give you is going to be a burden, It is not for you I am giving."
Shaykh `Abdul-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani , similarly to Grandshaykh, is backing up from people, less people, but because he is delivering them, sending them these kinds of blessings and Allah is sending His sincere servants to him, as Grandshaykh said after his last seclusion. Allah is sending His sincere servants, as Prophet told him, "Y
a waladee, don't run after people anymore. I am going to send you the best of the Ummah."
So Shaykh `Abdul-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani , told Ubaydullah al-Amawi, "In order to carry that you need to have a specialty, something very important to achieve it in order that I give you that. If if you do it in three hours, I can take you all the way to know when that Day of Promises was that Allah asked you, "Am I not your Lord?" and you said 'Yes' and I will take you there to know what you promised to do of worship and you know who is on your right all the way up to the end and who is on your left all way to the end. Those you are advising right and left you will know everything about their lives in the first ,in dunya, in their graves, and in the Last Day. You will know everything about them."
So he said, "My shaykh I am ready!"
So why these associations where a wali sits and guides, as we learned from Mawlana Shaykh and Grandshaykh? They sit and give advice for three hours, two hours. It depends. Why? They know we cannot do and cannot reach what grandshaykhs reached, like Sayyidina `Abdul-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani and other grandshaykhs. We cannot reach the level that Ubayullah wants to reach; that is why subha is important and that is why Shah Naqshband said, "Our way is association and the best way is sitting together." When they say we have to be
ashaab, to be companions to each other.
Today they teach dirty things on Internet. What do they call it? Facebook, and yesterday someone told me, "You are on Facebook" How am I on facebook? I don't (even) know how to open a computer. They said you have "fans", more than 1000; there is a page for you with 1000 fans. So I said to Ishaq, "Open it!", and I saw fans, friends, groups. These are friends for what? For shaytan! Friends for what? All these pictures there. You don't know who these people are, and they are trying to expose, these websites are trying to expose people to know their identity.
That is not something for fun. That is more something for checking, to know what everyone is doing and with whom they have a relationship because they don't trust anyone these days. So, from Facebook they invented that in order to know everyone. These young ones are happy and they are exposing themselves with people that might be bad ones. those are not friends on facebook, those might be shaytanic ones. Friends are your companions, who when you are hungry they are hungry, and when you have food they have food, and when you are weatthy they are wealthy. Like the companions of the Prophet sws, they would do anyting for you out of love. Tariqatuna as-suhba wa'l-khayru fi 'l-jami`yya. You have to have companionship with people who are dedicated to each other, look after each other, help each other.
They cannot reach, Shaykh ``Abdul-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani was asking Ubaydullah the way he is asking him. We cannot reach it, we didn't get to that yet, but you can reach that by association with the Shaykh as the association keeps raising you and raising you up.
We say what it is and end this series. He said, "Ya waladee, the perfect ones, those who reach a high level of perfection you cannot be 100 percent, but grandshaykhs and al-kummal, those will not talk about the unseen future."
They don't like, these are kummal, the perfect ones, kummal means those who completed their requirements and have been given that high rank. They don't want to make themselves know more than others, so they don't speak on the unseeen future because they want to keep themselves low-key, low profile. They don't speak about what you are going to have tomorrow or after tomorrow or what to see or in which country you end up or where you migrate to or whether you have children or no children. It is not accepted for awiyaullah; it is haraam to mention anything from the unseen future.
That is why it is haraam and haraam and haraam to find out what kind of child you will have. First thing people do is ultrasound to find out if boy or girl today. Allah doesnt like that. Why if it is a girl you want to change to a boy in the womb of the mother? Or if a boy change to a girl? Why are you checking? What is your reasoning? So he said, "No way to unseen future and no way to speak of the visions you saw and whatever you told me of your visions of making
sajda under `Arsh - as every mumin when he sleeps goes to sajda under `Arsh - and whatever you mentioned before that is not to explain to people to say 'I see this and I see this', unless you reach the level of completion, to be perfect. When you reach that level then you can speak on these issues. Then you can speak on the unseen future."
I ask a simple question, how many shaykhs, I mean walis, speak of the coming of Mahdi ? No one except one, and before that one was another one and before that one another one. That will show us they have achieved that completion of perfection.
They have completed their perfection and they have been issued a statement from Prophet, if we can say that, that "you have achieved that level and you can speak of the unseen future." That is why Mawlana Shaykh speaks about Sayyidina al-Mahdi , and before him Grandshaykh and before him Shaykh Sharafuddin قدس سرّه, and before him Shaykh Jamaluddin al-Ghumuqi al-Husayniقدس سرّه, and before him Shaykh Muhammad Effendi al-Yaraghi قدس سرّه, and before him Shaykh Khas Muhammad قدس سرّه, and before that Shaykh Isma`eel al-Kurdemiri قدس سرّه, and before that to Khalid al-Baghdadi قدس سرّه, they were speaking. So, what was that matter that he has to achieve to go through in order to achieve that perfection? It is not something simple, it is something big. Leave to tomorrow, or tomorrow there is no session. It is Friday.
We leave it till tomorrow.
Bi-hurmati 'l-habeeb bihurmati 'l-Fatiha