6 August 2011 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan
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.
Ati`oollaha wa ati`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (an-Nisa’, 4:59)
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh. There is no teacher and no student here, all are the same. Awliyaullah don't differentiate between themselves and their students. As we have learned from our shuyookh, no one is better than the other.
Everyone is carrying a watch, except lazy ones. Everyone has a clock in order to be aware of the time and not to sit being lazy, as time is passing. Everyone constantly looks at the time, but time never listens to them; it is moving and we watch it move. We never saw time going backwards but we see it going forward, so time always keeps us up to date on where we are.
The words of awliyaullah are timeless and give us an awareness of where we are and how far we are moving forward. That is why looking and listening to the words of awliyaullah is as important as looking at a clock. Some people might listen once and then disappear for one or two weeks, then come back and listen a second time, then return after one month, leave and return. That is not going to work. Although people are going to be away from them and usually to be in the presence of the shaykh you have to travel, Allah (swt) made it easy for you to read from notes of what they said.
Before Grandshaykh (q) left dunya, he said, “When you want to address people, open the notes you have taken and read them, even one or two sentences, then fuyoodaat, a flow of information will come and your tongue will begin to speak. This means read what you have written, because, for example, if you are cooking food you don’t put the pot on the stove and cook it for ten minutes, take it off the fire and then return to it after one week to continue cooking another fifteen minutes! If you did that the food will never be cooked, but if you kept the fire even over a slow flame, slowly, slowly the food will cook in perhaps one day. For instance, if you want to cook meat until it is tender, put the meat in a pot with no water, add whatever you want of salt and pepper, then put it over the stove’s lowest flame and leave it all night; in the morning you will find the meat is very tender and then you will say, “Mashaa-Allah, it cooked over a slow fire.” If you cook it over a high fire, there may be a little bit of flavor but it will be chewy, so everyone prefers meat to be cooked slowly.
Similarly, awliyaullah prefer their followers to attend their naseeha, advice, and to take it easy. They said, ajalla al-karamaat dawaam at-tawfeeq, “The best of miracles is to be consistent in what you are doing.” Miracles are only for anbiya, but karamah, a blessed action that gives fruit quickly through the blessings of the shaykh, is like a miracle. To be consistent, we don’t do dhikr 1,500 times a day then stop for two days and start again. Some people do 5,000 dhikr and then they stop. It is better not to stop but to stay with the lowest level, which is 1,500 times recitation of “Allah, Allah”.
Continuation of such associations are like miracles on us; they are not dead associations! If we have no continuity we are not benefiting. Today, the continuity of such associations is available through the Internet, by reading your notes, and by listening to the shaykh’s recordings to hear what he has said. That is what is important, then the food will be cooked slowly, slowly, and as it gets cooked, you will see changes! Don’t say, "I am not seeing anything." You are not cooked yet; you have to be continuously cooked slowly, then you will see the changes. Through the quotes of awliyaullah, may Allah bless Grandshaykh’s soul and give Mawlana Shaykh long life, they said, “The best of miracles is the continuity in what you are successful,” which means to continue what you are doing.
One time Grandshaykh (q) said, “If someone takes wudu, prays two raka`ats, and when he feels tired or sleepy, takes a new wudu and prays another two raka`ats, he will feel awake. Whenever he feels sleepy or tired, if continuously for forty days he takes new wudu and prays two raka`ats and then does whatever he needs to do, he will never need any sleep.” If you really follow that procedure continuously, then at that time you will never need any kind of sleep, you will begin to feel awake, but you must not stop doing wudu and praying two raka`ats or else you will revert to your previous condition. That is why in many of his seclusions he didn’t sleep, and his seclusions are not like ours of only forty days, but for one year or five years. He said, “I no longer need sleep or food.”
There are some people who don’t eat food and yet Allah gives them life. It is not like someone who is on a hunger strike, protesting against the government by starving himself. Awliyaullah don’t starve because Allah (swt) gives them heavenly food due to the continuity of what they are doing. They are busy with awraad and recitation of Holy Qur'an, and they keep their time full of Allah's love and the Prophet's love.
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ مَا أُرِيدُ مِنْهُم مِّن رِّزْقٍ وَمَا أُرِيدُ أَن يُطْعِمُونِ
Maa khalaqta al-jinna wa ’l-ins illa li-y`abudoon. maa ureedu minhum min rizqin wa maa ureedu an yut`imoon.
And I created not the jinns and ins (humans) except they should worship Me (Alone). I seek not any provision from them, nor do I ask that they should feed Me. (Adh-Dhariyaat, 51:56, 57)
Illa li-y`abudoon, He didn’t say y`abudoon one day and stop the next day, but continuous worship. It is an affirming verb in the future tense that means it keeps running. Maa ureedu minhum min rizqin, “And I do not ask them to provide rizq for themselves; I provide for them.”
What kind of provision will Allah (swt) give them? From our understanding it means Allah will send people to help them, but the spiritual interpretation is that Allah will provide them rizq as He provided the Virgin Mary. He gave that as an example--not in a prophet but in a normal person and in a lady--because in that society men were held at a higher level than women. Allah (swt) provided heavenly provision to someone that was not a nabi nor a man.
كُلَّمَا دَخَلَ عَلَيْهَا زَكَرِيَّا الْمِحْرَابَ وَجَدَ عِندَهَا رِزْقاً قَالَ يَا مَرْيَمُ أَنَّى لَكِ هَـذَا
قَالَتْ هُوَ مِنْ عِندِ اللّهِ إنَّ اللّهَ يَرْزُقُ مَن يَشَاء بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ
Kullamaa dakhala `alayha zakariyya al-mihraaba wajada `indaha rizqa. qaala yaa maryamu anna laki haadha qaalat huwa min `indillaahi inna Allaha yarzuqu man yashaa'u bi-ghayri hisaab.
Whenever he (Zakariyya) entered her prayer niche, he found with her provision. He said. "O Mary! From where does this come to you?" She said, "From Allah, for Allah Provides sustenance to whom He pleases without measure." (Aali-`Imraan, 3:37)
What kind of rizq? Every time Zakariyya (q) visited Maryam (r) there was a different fruit, not just simple bananas or apples, although the narration didn’t say what kind of heavenly rizq, but it made Zakariyya come back and pray for a child. Grandshaykh and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) say that in time of Sayyidina al-Mahdi (a) people will not need food, that one bite every forty days will be enough to keep them running with power! That one bite is to show you are in need, to make you humble, not to make you an angel. So as human beings we need, but Allah will nourish you for forty days with one bite!
Do you receive the one bite on a plate? How do you receive it? It is brought to you by angels. You don’t have to do anything, angels will appear and put it in your mouth, like when you put fuel in a car to keep it running, but here one bite keeps you running for forty days. Each bite has a special angel that allows you to run for the time between each bite. Each bite is different, depending on the time, moment and environment. Each person has a different bite that keeps you moving forward without tiring, because at that time Allah orders the Earth and Heavens to give their power and you will be moving like a very strong wrestler who never gets tired. SubhaanAllah, what nutrition that one bite gives!
In Indonesia, in the mountains you see old men and women still very strong, working in the rice fields, and they eat only a bite of rice wrapped in a banana leaf. So how do nutritionists claim that to maintain health we need a normal daily diet of 2000 calories and must take vitamins and supplements? Today everyone buys big bottles of them and they take ten tablets from this, five capsules from that, and manufacturers make more money. It has become like a pharmacy of alternative medicine. Those poor rice farmers eat one bite of rice in the morning and they are muscular, tanned, and working hard.
What is inside the one bite of rice? Barakah! With barakah you get everything and when you truly understand the meaning of barakah, Allah will open everything for you, when you approach Him through the Prophet (s) and you know Allah is the One to bless you. You approach the Prophet (s) through your teacher and then every day they open new secrets to you. Awliyaullah understand that and then new secrets open to their hearts. Do awliyaullah prepare notes before they talk? I never saw Grandshaykh (q) write anything except once: he read Holy Qur'an and so on, but never wrote. Before my time he asked Mawlana Shaykh Nazim to write, and in my time he used me to write correspondence and the like. The one time he wrote it was the taweez, the ruqya, that everyone is wearing. He was ordered to hold a pen and by order of the Prophet (s) his hand wrote the taweez. You can see his handwriting.
So awliyaullah don’t prepare, the information just comes. The one who is clever believes in what they are saying. The one who wants secrets to open to his or her heart believes what they are saying as Imam al-Junayd (r) said, at-tasdeequ bi `ilmina hadha wilaya, “To believe in what we say is a level of sainthood.” Do not to object or question; take it as it is. As Grandshaykh (q) said, one bite is enough for forty days; don’t question as your mind over-analyzes and may object. We have the example of these people in the mountains who are eating one bite of rice in a banana leaf.
So continuity is important, and to read Holy Qur'an is very muhabbab, likeable, but don’t read it through once and then stop. It is better to read one juz, a thirtieth, every day or you can read one chapter or even one page. Ajall al-karamaat dawaam at-tawfeeq, “Don’t do something you cannot do next day.” Do what you can do each day. Read one page or one line. Open the Holy Qur'an and just look at the Arabic characters on the page if you don’t know how to read, and pass your fingers over the words as there is light in those letters that is not found in any book! You may read millions of books in Arabic, but if it is not hadith or Qur’an, it has no light of akhirah. Each word of the Holy Qur'an is shining with light that will raise you more and more in your attachment to akhirah. Don’t let Shaytan cheat you! He is always after us and he is never tired and very clever. He whips his shayaateen, “Continue!” They are enemies of Mankind:
وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَ
wa laqad karamna Bani Adam.
We have honored the Children of Adam. (al-'Israa, 17:70)
We break Shaytan’s head by reading Holy Qur'an! Even if you pass your fingers under the different verses, Allah will be happy with you because you don’t know how to read but are trying your best to learn. Those who know how must read and if you miss it one day then make it up the next day, so if you are reading one page, then read two pages, or if you are reading one juz, then read two juz. Awliyaullah also say if you cannot read Holy Qur'an then recite one-hundred qul huw allahu ahad, or three ikhlaas, because thalathat al-Ikhlas ta`dil al-qur’an - “reading three times Surat al-Ikhlaas is equivalent to reading the Holy Qur'an.” So in your awraad if you recite one-hundred times “qul huw Allahu ahad” it is like reading the Holy Qur'an thirty-three times.
Look how Allah (swt) is generous with His servants! Even if you recite one juz it is better to add one-hundred or three recitations of Surat al-Ikhlaas, because there is a great secret of the unity of Allah in that surah: “Say! This is My Holy Qur’an, My Words, Whose Essence cannot be known, that is Allah, and The One with Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names and Attributes is Unique!”
Surat al-Ikhlaas shows the Oneness of Allah, so awliyaullah pull out their secrets from it. That is why they have many quotations from which to advise their followers. One such quotation is, maa yata`abad al-muta`abidoon bihaa, “Worshippers did not worship except seeking the love of awliyaullah.” How much they have worshipped is highly accepted by Allah (swt), but more than that, what makes their worship higher is their love to their shuyookh to awliyaullah. It means as much as you love your mentor, your shaykh, your master, your guide, and according to the love you show and the level of that shaykh, you will be raised like a rocket!
Li anna mahabbata awliyaaihi daleelan `ala mahabbatih, “Because love of His saints is proof of love to Him,” as mentioned in the Holy Qur’an:
أَلا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاء اللّهِ لاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
alaa inna awliyaullahi laa khawfun `alayhim wa laa hum yahzanoon.
Behold! Verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve. (Yunus,10:62)
Love of the saints is proof of love to Allah and His Prophet (s). As much as you love your shaykh, it takes you to love of Allah (swt) and love of the Prophet (s). Your shaykh guides you to way of the Prophet (s), which is the way of Shari`ah and ma`rifah, but first comes Shari`ah. That’s why, Allah (swt) said, “If you really love Allah, yaa Muhammad, tell them, if they love Allah, they have to follow your footsteps.” And who guides you to the footsteps of Prophet (s)? They are your shuyookh. So if you love them and His Prophet, then you love Allah (swt). If you have good thoughts about them, if you find familiarity and are happy with their ways, then you will reach sainthood, as mentioned, “Anyone who accepts and believes them will become a saint and reach the level of sainthood.” Don’t have doubts or you will stay in one place!
Another bullet point/quotation: Keep the company of the people of religion, especially the people of khayr, favors and goodness, because to sit and mingle with pious and sincere servants of Allah is accepted and loved and in it there are a lot of benefits, `ajilan wa ajillah, some which will be granted immediately and some which will be given later, as you are progressing in their ways. Since the condition to receive benefits is to mingle with them, be with them, listen to what they say for you will be loved, and then, as the Prophet (s) said:
ولا يزال عبدي يتقرب إلي بالنوافل حتى أحبه، فإذا أحببته كنت سمعه الذي يسمع به وبصره الذي يبصر به، ويده التي يبطش بها ورجله التي يمشي بها،
Wa laa yazaala `abdee yataqarabu ilayya bi’ n-nawaafil hatta uhibbah. Fa idha ahbaabtahu kuntu sama`uhulladhee yasma`u bihi wa basarahulladhee yubsiru bihi, wa yadahulladhee yabtishu bihaa wa rijlahullatee yamshee bihaa.
My servant does not cease to approach Me through voluntary worship until I will love him. When I love him, I will become the ears with which he hears, the eyes with which he sees the hand with which he acts, and the legs with which he walks (and other versions include, “and the tongue with which he speaks.”) (Hadeeth Qudsee, Bukhari)
Then Allah will give you hearing different from everyone else: He will be your hearing and your sight,
then Allah yaj`al waizhan min qalbik, “When Allah sees you asking and sitting with your teacher, Allah will make a guide in your heart, advising you.” Allah will make a guide from within your heart, which means you will be guided in your way. Your food will be cooking slowly to become tender. So that is why it is essential to not be one day practicing and one day leaving practices; consistency is best. If you cannot attend the gathering, open your notebook and read. That is why we say keep a notebook to write in and then you can open it anytime and read and think on it.
They hire thousands of people with different languages to research and analyze what Shakespeare meant in his play, “Macbeth,” when it is from his imagination. When you analyze the notes of awliyaullah’s teachings, is it not better? But we are lost in the era of Facebook and YouTube. Yesterday when we gave the Jumu`ah khutbah against using Facebook and YouTube, one lady told me she was writing a paper on Imam Ghazali and Googled him, but when she opened the page, on every side there was porn! May Allah (swt) protect us.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.