15 July 2014 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
A'oodhu billah min ash-Shaytani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem alhamdulillahi rabbi ‘l-`alameen was-salaatu was-salamu `ala sayyid al-mursaleen Sayyidina Muhammad (s) wa `alaa aalihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullah wa barakaatuh.
Nawaytu 'l-arba'een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu'l-`uzlah, nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-salook, lillahi ta`ala fee hadha 'l-masjid.
We are continuing the series on Tasawwuf and how it is the Heart of Islam and the heart of Maqaam al-Ihsaan, and we reached a discussion on the Warith al-Muhammadi, the one inheriting from the Prophet (s). The murshid is the one who guides and the shaykh is the one that gives to the guide, and “al-murshid” means anyone who guides you anywhere, like in conferences you have ushers who show you to your seat or wherever you have to go, such as to the stage to give a speech. In Arabic, ushers are murshids, someone who guides you. So in Tasawwuf, the term murshid is applied as “the one who guides people” to the four principles of Tasawwuf and the murshid has to acquire these four principles. We explained three of them before, and I will mention in summary:
1) An yakoona `alimun bil-faraaid, he must know about obligations, he must be knowledgeable in worship, he must know everything in detail of Fiqh and Tafseer.
2) An yakoona `arifan bi-Llah, he must know about Allah (swt) and His Wahdaniyya and His Ahaadiyya, His Uniqueness and Level of Vision, so he has to reach that level in order that he can guide the people.
3) An yakoona khabeeran bi taraaiq tazkiyyat an-nufoos huwa sayyid tabiyaatiha? He must be expert in the ways of Purification of the Self, because if he is not an expert he might take you somewhere wrong, so he has to be very straightforward, as it is more difficult to be an `alim of spirituality, Maqaam al-Ihsaan, than to be an `alim of Fiqh and Tafseer.
. قال : فأخبرني عن الإحسان ، قال : " أن تعبد الله كأنك تراه ، فإن لم تكن تراه ، فإنه يراك " .
He (Jibreel) said, “Tell me about Ihsaan.” The Prophet (s) said, “That you worship Allah as if you see Him, for if you don't see Him then truly He sees you.” (Sayyidina `Umar, Muslim, Bukhari)
The guide has to take you all that way to Maqaam al-Ihsaan that Prophet (s) mentioned to Abu Hurayrah (r), Yaa Aba Hurayrah `alayka bi-husnu ’l-khuluq! “O Abu Hurayrah, you must acquire the best of characters,” and he was thinking, “What best of characters?” and he said, “Yaa Rasoolullah, wa maa huwa husnu ’l-khuluq? What is that husnu ’l-khuluq, good character?”
أوصى النبي صلى اللّه عليه وسلم أبا هريرة بوصية عظيمة فقال: { يا أبا هريرة! عليك بحسن الخلق }. قال أبو هريرة رضي اللّه عنه: وما حسن الخلق يا رسول اللّه؟قال: { تصل مَنْ قطعك، وتعفو عمن ظلمك، وتُعطي من حرمك}
The Prophet (s) advised Abu Hurayrah, “O Abaa Hurayrah! You must have good manners.” Abu Hurayrah asked, “What is good manners, O Rasoolullah (s)?” He (s) said, “Connect with the one who cut you off; forgive the one who oppressed you and give to the one who prevented you from reaching your desires.” (Al-Bayhaqi)
Reconnect to Allah--Fulfill your Obligations
And Prophet (s) gave him three things:
1) An tasill man qata`ak. “You must reconnect with the one who breaks with you.” Previously we explained it differently, as meaning the one who broke a relationship with you, then you go back and reconnect and apologize, even though you did nothing wrong and he was the one who cut you. Here is another meaning: when you go in the way of Shaytan, the murshid will cut you, prophets will cut you, so you have to immediately go and reconnect by repentance, istighfaar, and Allah will forgive. So it means anyone, an tasill man qata`ak “to connect with The One who will disconnect you.”
Allah will disconnect you when you are not praying or not fasting or not giving zakaat or not making Hajj or not saying Shahadah; Allah will block you and disconnect you. So, what is your duty? To reconnect. “Yaa Aba Hurayrah, you reconnect.” The Prophet (s) can disconnect you and you have to get the murshid to guide you back to the right way. If the murshid doesn’t know the right way, so `ala ad-dunya as-salaam, forget it as he will take you somewhere else. Like today those who claim the name of Tasawwuf, those who give a bad name to Tasawwuf, take you somewhere else completely! They are people who only give time to their own spirituality without doing their obligations; they don't do their prayers and say, “Tasawwuf is enough!” No, Tasawwuf is not enough! You cannot climb to the third level without a ladder.
Fulfillment of the Five Pillars is Essential in Tariqah
The ladder, the infrastructure of Islam, is the Five Pillars: shahadatu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa iqaamu ‘s-salaatu wa eetaau ‘z- zakaat wa sawmu ramadaan wa hajj al-bayt, these are the Five Pillars and if you don't have them you cannot put your ladder to the next level, the Six Pillars, which are the Belief. You cannot jump! You cannot say, “I will take the Belief, but not the obligations.” That doesn’t work as you don’t have the connection. And if you don’t have the Belief you cannot jump directly to Maqaam al-Ihsaan, about which Jibreel (a) asked and the Prophet (s) described it. You cannot jump. You have to have a structure, a pyramid, the base, which is big, the Shari`ah, the obligations, then it goes to `Aqeedah, our beliefs, and then the top of the pyramid is Maqaam al-Ihsaan. Therefore, if the guide does not follow Shari`ah and says what these people say, that is not an Islamic guide, that is, although I don’t like to say it, it is a wrong way.
The Prophet (s) mentioned that you have to worship Allah (swt) as though you are seeing Him, and if you are not seeing Him, He is seeing what you do. Some people today are also selling Tasawwuf for money. There is too much of that, you see too many shuyookh around the world are using Tasawwuf to make money and these are considered charlatans, they are not real guides, but they give you what you want to hear. They try to teach adab, discipline, and they are first ones running after money! And they say that Ahlu ‘s-Sunnah wa 'l-Jama`ah are charlatans, whereas they are the charlatans! They say Tasawwuf is innovation, which we mentioned earlier in this series, and we have explained the different levels and how you guide yourself. It is not that simple, not that easy.
So Maqaam al-Ihsaan is the way that the murshid will take you to that maqaam, and as Prophet (s) said, “Connect with the One that disconnected you,” plug back! Don’t delay yourself, repent, repent! Say “astaghfirullah, astaghfirullah” and Allah will forgive.
قُلْ يَا عِبَادِيَ الَّذِينَ أَسْرَفُوا عَلَى أَنفُسِهِمْ لَا تَقْنَطُوا مِن رَّحْمَةِ اللَّهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَغْفِرُ الذُّنُوبَ جَمِيعًا إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ
Qul yaa `ibaadiya ’Lladheena asrafoo `alaa anfusihim laa taqnatoo min rahmatillaahi inna Allaaha yaghfiru ’dh-dhunooba jamee`an innahu huwa ’l-ghafooru ‘r-raheem.
Say, "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the Mercy of Allah, for Allah forgives all sins for He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Surat al-Zumar, 39:53)
“Allah will forgive all sins,” He didn’t say, Allah yaghfiru kaleel, He said, yaghfiru ’dh-dhunooba jamee`an “Allah will forgive all the sins, but ask!”
The Guide Leads You to Strong Belief
2) The Prophet (s) continued, wa an tu`tee man haramak. “Give to the one who took from you. Never mind, for Allah’s sake be better than him. “Give to him what he prohibited you to take.” If he prohibited you to take some of your earnings because of his ihtikaar, monopoly, like today some big companies monopolize industries or markets and small companies cannot survive and everyone is becoming greedy. The Prophet (s) said, “Give to the one who doesn’t give you; never mind, give to him and don't be like him, when he is in need give to him. And even if you are in need and he didn’t give to you, when he becomes in need, help him.”
Sayyidina al-Husayn (r) said to Yazeed when he sent his army to take him in and he was killed, “You are going to be ashamed, all of you!” Ten-thousand people came to kill 73 people who were with Sayyidina al-Husayn (r) at Karbala. He said, “You are going to be ashamed! You have the power now in your hand and you are killing us, but when my grandfather (s) has the power on Judgment Day, he is not going to kill you, he is going to forgive you. You will be punished, but with his intercession (which is Mukarim al-Akhlaaq, the Excellence of Good Manners), when he (s) has the power he forgives you! My grandfather (s) has the power and he will forgive and intercede for everyone! Then, how are you going to turn your face towards his, how are you going to look at him? You are going to be ashamed!”
Astaghfirullah al-`azheem wa atoobu ilayh, may Allah forgive us all! So the problem is when we do something Allah does not like, it means we are killing His Order. Allah will not be happy when we put His Order down. Can you find anyone who did not put Allah's Order down?
So awliyaullah, inheritors of the Prophet (s), will assign guides, khulafah, which means (to be a) caliph, they will assign guides, too many, in order that the mureeds around the country or around the world or wherever they are, will be able not to come against Allah's Order, because coming against Allah’s Order means you are killing His Order, and that will be punished. But we are asking forgiveness...you cannot find anyone who does not have a sin, can you? Even if you find someone who thinks he has no sin, because they didn’t do anything in their life, if Allah wants to judge us and we even if we give one bad inspiration attention, one gossip of Shaytan in your mind and you pay attention to it, then we will be judged for it, if Allah wants to judge us to that extent.
Here is a story: Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q) was passing with one of his senior mureeds by the rivers, Dijla and al-Furaat, in Baghdad, the two main rivers. As they were walking Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q) pushed his mureed to fall into the river, from up on the cliff and the mureed did not know how to swim. He pushed him to fall into the river. Look how they trained their followers! Going, the man was falling down and he did not say anything when he was falling down, with love to his shaykh, the hand of his shaykh was under him and as soon as he touched the water, he raised him up and gave him his trust, because he had good `itiqaad, strong belief. Miracles happen when someone has strong belief. At that moment, as Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, said, at that moment one of the greatest awliyaullah in one order, said to Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q), appeared and said to him, “Is that how you gave him his trust?” Awliyaullah can speak with each other.
Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir Jilani said, “Because he was clean from doubt and he was surrendering to my order. He did not have doubt in his heart.”
He said, “Yaa Sayyidee, Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani we detected in his heart some doubts, because when you looked at him you looked at the second level of the heart, and it was okay, but the third level of the heart...”
Because the heart is five levels: Qalb, Sirr, Sirr as-Sirr, Akhfaa, Khafa. Qalb is heart, where all whispers of dunya go in and out, Shaytan goes in and out; Sirr, Secret, which many Tariqats look at and similarly for Sirr as-Sirr; then Prophet (s), Akhfaa, Hidden; and then Allah, Khafaa, Most-Hidden.
“...you looked at his heart at the second level, but we detected from the third level that this mureed was saying, ‘What is the wisdom behind my shaykh throwing me in the river?’ not objecting, but it’s a kind of adab, saying it with adab, ‘Why he threw me?’ That curiosity was a defect in his heart. If it were up to us we wouldn’t have given him his trust until his second and third level, when he completely reached Maqaam al-Ihsaan.”
So Inheritors of Prophet (s) Irshad teach their followers until they reach the level where they can guide through different advice, as Prophet (s) said:
الدين نصيحة
Ad-deenu naseeha.
Religion is advice.
So these murshids go everywhere by order of the shaykh and give guidance, especially in the time of Sayyidina Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q), who opened Tariqah from East to West. That is what Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Adil did, may Allah give him blessings on his soul, he opened the Tariqah the Naqshbandi Order from East to West.
He Leads You to the Safe Shore
3) So the guide must know all the secret ways to be able to take the mureed out of the maze and take him with him to the safe shore, Maqaam al-Ihsaan. The Prophet (s) raised all Sahaabah (r) to Maqaam al-Ihsaan as that is his power.
Signs of the Last Days
But now, with the passing of time things are less and less and less, not like in the time of the Prophet (s). The Sahaabah (r) were raised to the highest level, then the Four Imams of Fiqh were raised to higher levels, then the Twelve Imams, grandsons of the Prophet (s), were also raised to higher levels. Our levels, we are less and less as we are moving towards the Last Days and ignorance is filling the Earth. Today bloodshed is everywhere, about which Prophet (s) said, “The killer doesn’t know why he is killing and the one who died doesn’t know why he was killed.”
وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ ، لَا تَذْهَبُ الدُّنْيَا حَتَّى يَأْتِيَ عَلَى النَّاسِ يَوْمٌ لَا يَدْرِي الْقَاتِلُ فِيمَ قَتَلَ ، وَلَا الْمَقْتُولُ فِيمَ قُتِلَ ، فَقِيلَ كَيْفَ يَكُونُ ذَلِكَ ؟ قَالَ : الْهَرْجُ ، الْقَاتِلُ وَالْمَقْتُولُ فِي النَّارِ . رواه مسلم
(The Prophet [s] said:) “By The One in Whose hands is my soul, this world will not pass on until there comes a day on the people when the one who kills does not know why he killed and the one being killed doesn't know why he was killed.” They asked, “How could that be?” He (s) said, “Al-harj, the killer and the killed are both in the Fire.”
Yesterday I heard twenty-seven ladies were persecuted by hanging them, it was in the news. So we are in a situation that we are in the Signs of the Last Days, as the Prophet (s) said there will be fitna, confusions, like big chunks of dark night:
إِنَّ بَيْنَ أَيْدِيكُمْ فِتَنًا كَقِطَعِ اللَّيْلِ الْمُظْلِمِ يُصْبِحُ الرَّجُلُ فِيهَا مُؤْمِنًا وَيُمْسِي كَافِرًا وَيُمْسِي مُؤْمِنًا وَيُصْبِحُ كَافِرًا الْقَاعِدُ فِيهَا خَيْرٌ مِنَ الْقَائِمِ وَالْقَائِمُ فِيهَا خَيْرٌ مِنَ الْمَاشِي وَالْمَاشِي فِيهَا خَيْرٌ مِنَ السَّاعِي " . قَالُوا فَمَا تَأْمُرُنَا قَالَ " كُونُوا أَحْلاَسَ بُيُوتِكُمْ "
Before the Hour comes, there will be a tribulation like patches of dark night. A man will get up a believer and go to sleep a kafir, or will go to sleep a believer and get up a kafir. The one who sits will be better than one who stands and one who walks will be better than one who runs. Break your bows, cut their strings and strike your swords against stones. If someone comes to kill any of you, then be like the better of the two sons of Adam. (Narrated Abu Musa al-Ash`aree, Abu Dawud.)
The one who is sitting is better than the one who is walking...because it’s fitna, you don’t need to walk, keep at home! And the one who is walking is better than the one who is fighting. So at that time, take the sword and hit it on a rock until it breaks with the bows and the arrows, and empty your heart of anger. Empty your heart from anger! So to empty the heart from anger is what we need today, because Shaytan is stronger than before because there are there are too many shaytans from ins, human beings, that are dressing in the dress of Shaytan. They are mostly after Ummat an-Nabi (s). Why you don't see these shaytans in Western countries? Aren’t human beings there? In the West they took their constitutions from Islam and Holy Qur'an, upholding the order, “There is no compulsion in religion,” which freedom of belief. You don't see fighting in Western countries, they are not fighting each other (in civil wars), but in Muslim countries you find them fighting. Why? Because Shaytan goes to their hearts, which are full of faith. There is light in the heart of the Muslim, of the mu’min and they are trying to take that Light of Islam away and put the Muslims into problems.
Allah (swt) said:
وَقُلْ جَاء الْحَقُّ وَزَهَقَ الْبَاطِلُ إِنَّ الْبَاطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقًا
Wa qul: ja'a al-haqq wa zahaq al-batil inna 'l-baatila kaana zahooqa.
Say (O Muhammad), "Haqq (Truth) has come and baatil (falsehood) has perished.” (Surat al-'Israa, 17:81)
Haqq came and Baatil vanished. Baatil is bad and is going to be removed, it will disappear completely! O Muslims! We are Ahlu ‘s-Sunnah wa 'l-Jama`ah and we cannot deny Mahdi (a). Prophet (s) gave many strong hadith about Mahdi (a), go and check! There are over 100 hadith that Mahdi (a) will come; this is one example:
أبشروا بالمهدي رجل من قريش من عترتي يخرج في اختلاف من الناس وزلزال فيملأ الأرض قسطا وعدلا كما ملئت ظلما وجورا .
Good tidings of al-Mahdi, a man from the Quraysh from my descendants, who will appear during a great dissension between the people and earthquakes and he will fill the Earth with justice and fairness as much as it had been filled with harm and oppression. (al-Haakim)
“One of my grandchildren will appear and fill the Earth with happiness and tranquility and take oppression and injustice away.” By what? Not by swords and machine guns. Today they want to make Islam of machine guns. Sayyidina al-Mahdi (a) will do it by saying, “Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!” War will stop on Earth completely and then many other issues, which is not now the place to say it, but the most important issue is that he will stop the war by takbeer:
لا تقوم الساعة حتى تقتتل فئتان عظيمتان تكون بينهما مقتلة عظيمة دعواهما واحدة.
Laa taqoomu as-sa`atu hatta taqtatila fi’ataani `azheematani. Yakoonu baynahuma maqtalatun `azheematan da`waahuma waahidah.
The Hour will not appear until there will be two enormous groups fighting each other in a colossal battle and their issue is one. (Sahih Bukhari)
Judgment Day will not come until two big nations, two big groups will fight with each other, hattaa taqtala fi'ataana `azheemataan baynahuma maqtalan `azheem wa da`waahuma waahida, and there will be tremendous killing and they will be fighting for same cause. And today we see that the world is of two groups: China and Russia, and on the other side the Western countries. So the Western countries and the Eastern countries, the Sign that Prophet (s) mentioned. So what is our duty? We must show good manners, good characters, reconnect back with whom we left, reconnect with Allah through istighfaar, reconnect with Prophet (s) through salawaat and awraad, dhikrullah, reconnect with your guides. The guides must be on the Right Way so they don’t take you on the wrong way.
The Guide Must Have Ijaazah From His Shaykh
So we have stated what are the qualifications of the guide.
4) The last, fourth one is, he must be ma`zhoon from his shaykh, certified to guide by permission of his shaykh. It is necessary that the murshid has ijaazah, authorization from his shaykh, permission to raise people up to their level in their salook, spiritual journey. Also, his certification has to be witnessed by experts that know this person has already finished his experience and is now on the right track. Who are these ikhtisaasiyoon, specialists, that have to check on the mureed? The shaykh cannot give permission to anyone without permission of his shaykh through the chain of shaykhs all the way to the Prophet (s). So the shaykh and his shaykh, and his shaykh, and his shaykh have to sign off on this person that he is okay and then the shaykh gives him the ijaazah.
And it is said that the ijaazah certification for guiding people certifies, “This person is qualified to guide people,” wa hiyazat sifaatu and to acquire the description that has to be on a guide: how to learn and to dress himself with these different experiences. On that basis, we see today schools and universities are following the Muslim way by giving certification, which was never given before except in Islam. Always when a shaykh finished his study of Fiqh he was given his certification, and iit must go back to one of the Four Imams: Abu Hanifa (r), Imam Malik (r), Imam Shafi`ee (r), Imam Ahmad (r). If he was from Shafi`ee School he must have a certificate that reaches back by as-sanad, the chain, all the way to Imam Shafi`ee (r). If he was from Hanafi School he has to study all the madhhab until he has a certification that reaches to Imam Abu Hanifa (r). It is the same for all the schools. It is as-sanad, the chain you must acquire.. That is why if a hadith has no chain of narrators all the way back to the Prophet (s), it is considered mawdu`, a fabricated hadith that cannot be accepted.
And no one can claim irshad until he will connected to his shaykh, who will connect him all the way in Fiqh, in Shari`ah, to the Prophet (s) and in Tariqah they have to be connected through different shuyookh all the way to their main source of Tariqah.
In the Naqshbandi Way, it must reach that main point from two ways: to Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r) and from the other side coming to Sayyidina `Ali (r). You cannot disconnect yourself from the main one. That is why it is called Siddiqiyya, coming from Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r) to Salman al-Farsi (q), whom Prophet (s) described:
سلمانُ مِنَّا أهل البيت
Salmaanu minaa ahlu ‘l-bayt.
Salman is of us Ahlu ‘l-Bayt (Members of the Household).
“Salman is from us, Ahl al-Bayt.” So it has to go through shuyookh to Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r) and it was called Siddiqiyya. And in the time of Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (q) it was called Tayfooriyya and then in time of Sayyidina al-Khidr (a) it was called Uwaysiyya, and in the time of Shah Bahauddin Naqshband (q) was called Naqshbandiyya, and then Mujaddiyya after Mujaddid Alf Thani Ahmad Faruqi as-Sirhindi (q), and then called Dahlawiyya after Sayyidina `Abdullah ad-Dahlawi (q), then it was called Khalidiyya after Sayyidina Khalid Baghdadi (q), and then it was called Daghestaniyya up to the time of Grandshaykh (q), and then it was called Haqqaniyya by Mawlana Shaykh (q). And the past March. before he left dunya, I visited with Mawlana Shaykh Nazim and spoke to him about that, “Inshaa-Allah we will call it after your name, Naqshbandiyya-Nazimiyya,” because:
عِنْدَ ذِكْرِ الصَّالِحِينَ تَنْزِلُ الرَّحْمَةُ
`Inda dhikr as-saaliheen tanzilu ’r-rahmah.
When the names of the pious are mentioned Allah’s Mercy descends.
(Narrated Sufyan ibn `Uyayana in Imam Ahmad’s Zuhd)
“When you mention the names of pious people, rahmah comes.” So he is one of the pious people and when you mention his name that rahmah will come over you, so why we don’t we mention the name of the one who spread the Tariqah through East and West? When Sayyidina Shah Naqshband (q) spread it East and West it was called after his name, Naqshbandiyya, so now we are calling it Naqshbandiyya-Nazimiyya to highlight that it is coming through Mawlana Shaykh Nazim to everywhere around this globe.
So without ijaazah you are not a guide! Without real ijaazah, and the ijaazah has principles and obligations that you have to follow in the Tariqah, and we will inshaa-Allah continue that later. But before we finish, it is said that Sayyidina al-Khateeb al-Baghdadi said in a hadith of Prophet (s):
عَنِ ابْنِ عُمَرَ ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَّ ، أَنَّهُ قَالَ : " يَا ابْنَ عُمَرَ دِينُكَ دِينُكَ ، إِنَّمَا هُوَ لَحْمُكَ وَدَمُكَ ، فَانْظُرْ عَمَّنْ تَأْخُذُ ، خُذْ عَنِ الَّذِينَ اسْتَقَامُوا ، وَلا تَأْخُذْ عَنِ الَّذِينَ مَالُوا "
Inna hadha `ilmu deenun fanzhuroo `ammaa taakhudhu. This kind of spiritual and Shari`ah knowledge is religion, deen,” fanzhuroo `ammaa taakhudhu, so look from whom you are taking your religion.”
And the Prophet (s) mentioned to Ibn Omar (r), “Deenaka deenak, keep your religion and don't deviate,” emphasizing to him, “Follow your religion, keep your religion, don’t deviate.” Waqad awsa ar-rasool ibn Omar deenak deenak, innamaa huwa lahmuk wa dammuk fanzhuroo `amman takhudh, “Your religion is your flesh and blood; be careful from whom you take it.”
You cannot take it from charlatans whose only conern is to make money. Don't take it from the people that deviated. Khudhi ’d-deen `ani ’Lladeena ’staqaamoo, “Take the religion from the trustworthy ones.” Where can you find trustworthy ones today? There are very few. Wa laa taakhudh `ani ’Lladeena maaloo, “And don’t take your religion from the people who deviated.” (al-Khateeb al-Baghdeed al-Baghdaadi)
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The Shaykh Blows Knowledge into Your Heart
Unfortunately today we are slowly, slowly losing our faith and we have to recover from that sickness. To recover, we need a doctor to give us some pills to save us from that sickness. In order to save our lives from sickness we have to follow the teachings of guides, of the Inheritors of Prophet (s).
Someone said, one of the `Arifeen billah said, “Al-`Ilmu roohun tunfakh, knowledge is a noor, is a light that is blown into you, you cannot get it by yourself.”
Like a trained reciter of Holy Qur'an doesn't learn from a normal teacher, he has a special teacher that shows him how to open his mouth; they train them. Not everyone who reads Holy Qur'an is a reciter. Laa yukhra il-qur’an...Holy Qur'an cannot be taken from a book by yourself, it must be taken from the mouth of the reciters. Here he said:
Al-`Ilmu roohun tunfakh, “Knowledge is a spirit that is blown into you,” from outside, which means from the guide, from the Inheritor of Prophet (s). Laa masaailu tunsakh, “It is not taken by copying books.”
When the shaykh blows the `ilm in you, it will be different from the `ilm he blew in someone else. The shaykh will blow into the mureed what they need, according to their capacity. Especially in the Naqshbandi Order, it must come from the main shaykh, the Inheritor of the Prophet (s), not from books that you can photocopy. They blow it into your heart directly so that you become with them a speaker, like this story. We end with that.
Realities Make You Light
In the time of Khawaja `Abdul-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani (q), who is buried in Merv, near Bukhara, one of greatest scholars of Islam, when he did his daily dhikr...where do we do dhikr? In our house we do it in special room or in a masjid, but today we do our dhikr while watching TV and carrying masbaha. That is a problem for us, it is a mistake. He used to have special place to do dhikr that Shaytan could not approach: he did it in a well! He took a big breath and went under the water, made his dhikr until he needed another breath, and then went up for a breath and then went down again, because Shaytan cannot approach water. That is why you must be careful when you open a faucet. Sometimes people saying they feel someone talking to them or someone touching them, and that is caused by harming one of the jinns with water. That is why you must open the tap a little bit, not like today they open it all the way, because Shayateen will attack you if it hits him and burns him. Shayateen are in tribes, moving and living together and they can attack you, so be careful about using water especially at night.
So `Abdul-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani (q) used to do his dhikr under the water and then come up. One night he was in the masjid, he prayed `Isha with his mureeds and they left and closed the masjid, but one mureed named Orkallisa hid in the masjid and when they left he made sure no one was still there, then he sat and spoke to himself, “O Orkallisa Muhammad! Your shaykh asked you to this job and that job and you failed in one job to another, and the shaykh was merciful, merciful, merciful to you! You are the worst person on this Earth! If I am not saying the truth, may Allah’s adhaab, punishment, come on me.”
And through his spiritual power, Sayyidina `Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani (q) knew the mureed was going to be there and had hidden himself behind another pillar and looked at his heart, and he was ordered to give him his Trust, because in what he said about himself he was convinced that he was the worst person in this dunya, and since he gave an oath it means if his oath was wrong he would have been beaten up and thrown out, but since the oath was correct and the shaykh checked his heart, he was ordered to give him his Trust.
So Sayyidina `Abdul-Khaliq al-Ghujdawani (q) appeared to him and the mureed was so ashamed and said, “Yaa Sayyidee, I didn’t know you were here.”
Sayyidina `Abdul-Khaliq (q) said to him, “No, I have been ordered to give you your Trust because of your sincerity and piety, because you believe you are the worst person.”
Who now believes they are the worst person? It is not simple.
Sayyidina `Abdul-Khaliq (q) said, “Connect your knees to mine,” that is giving the real baya`, they sit knees-to-knees. And the shaykh moved his Shahadah finger to Orkallisa’s heart and that beam of spirituality, enlightenment, went to his heart and opened the Six Realities: Haqiqat al-Jazba, Haqiqat al-Fayda, Haqiqat at-Tawajjuh, Haqiqat at-Tawwasul, Haqiqat al-Irshad, Haqiqat at-Ta`yy. Six Realities he opened for him and in that moment the mureed was flying, rising up to the ceiling and down, because he reached a state in which gravity did not apply!
Why is there gravity on us? Because we are attached to dunya. If you drop dunya, you will be like Jalaluddin al-Rumi (q) when he whirled and rose up, and all his mureeds were rising up with him. Today whirlers are sinking down. Sayyidina Jalaluddin was whirling like an engine, like an airplane, like a turbine engine; it goes up. When he whirled they were rising up. When you disconnect from dunya and connect with Akhirah then you will rise up, you will be very light. When we buried Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) and I took him from the people to give to my two sons in the grave, he was so light like a feather! When he was in the coffin he was heavy and when we took him out to bury him he was very light.
May Allah make us light and open that light in our hearts, the light of the Inheritors of the Prophet (s), who filled their hearts with love of Prophet (s) and love of Allah (swt)!
Wa min Allahi ‘t-tawfeeq bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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