The Greatness and Rank of Shah Naqshband (q)

Part 2 of 2

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

Saturday, Jan 11, 2009, Fenton , MI USA

A`udhu billahi min ash-shaytan ir-rajeem

Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem

Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-salook, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah lillahi ta`ala fee hadha 'l-masjid

Ati` Allah wa ati` ar-rasula wa uli 'l-amri minkum

Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. Yesterday we spoke about Sayyidina Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه and it was his birthday and Sayyidina Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه, Allah gave him many characteristics. And one we explained yesterday and another is that Allah gave him two eyes that one cannot distinguish the white from the black - one is always overtaking the other. You can see the white over the pupil and the pupil over the white and he has big eyes and so people cannot dare to look at his eyes; they get afraid because there is a majestic power in his eyes. As Grandshaykh قدس سرّه explained it was like a tahoon, a grinder, they turn like that and they are as big like that, symbolically we say, "they are big eyes.” And people cannot look into his eyes because of that manifestation of that heavenly power that comes to him from two oceans, the ocean of rahmat - Divine Mercy and the ocean of qudrah- Divine Power, these two oceans were always manifesting these two Beautiful Names and Attributes on him and they are appearing in his eyes. And because Allah gave him that power he is trying not to waste it and trying not to spend it, because in every moment these manifestations are descending from heavens on him and to keep his eyes safe, from looking at something haraam, he was trying to, as when you look and see something that you are not allowed to look at what do you do? You turn your face or you look down. Or when a bad thought comes to the mind, of anything you are thinking, you close your eyes and then open your eyes and say “istaghfirullah,” as focus comes first from the eyes. So you try not to focus, as Sayyidina Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه likes to keep his focus not on dunya things, he wants to keep it more on heavenly things.

So some people when they pray they want to chase away these bad thoughts that come, so they close their eyes, and that is the only reason it is accepted in Shariah to close the eyes in prayer, as it is not accepted to pray with your eyes closed - you must keep the eyes open.

Some people when they pray they might look at you or they look back and left by moving their eyes, not their head. And sometimes you focus on many thoughts bad thoughts that come and you forget the number of raka`ats you prayed.

And Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه didn’t want to lose that focus so in order to do that he was keeping the white moving over the black and the black moving over the white. And anyone looking into his eyes will be struck by lightning as he doesn’t want to use the energy to look at people.

So the discipline was that his mureeds never look at his face. And that is the correct adab of tariqah when the Shaykh gives association then you must keep your head down and not look up.

That is ok for us, as we are beginners. But in our time when we were sitting with Mawlana Shaykh Nazim قدس سرّه or with Grandshaykh قدس سرّه the adab was to keep the eyes down.

And Sayyidina Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه was keeping the energy of that light for a day when everyone will be in need of it. That is the day:

يَوْمَ يَفِرُّ الْمَرْءُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ وَأُمِّهِ وَأَبِيهِ وَصَاحِبَتِهِ وَبَنِيهِ

yawma yafirru al-maru min akhihi wa ummihi wa abeeh. That Day shall a man flee from his own brother, and from his mother and father, and from his spouse and his children: (80:36)

The day a person runs from his brother and sister and father and mother and wife and children running and saying “myself, myself!”

At that day you will not see pity for anyone you will not think about anyone but yourself, not even the children. Today always they say save the children. But on that day no one will be able to think about the children or anyone but himself.

Only Sayyidina Muhammad (s). Who is able to stand up in the presence of his Lord and think about someone other than his family? That One is not caring for himself or his family at that time, but he is caring for the Ummah.

He is the only one. He is saying, “O my Lord! Do whatever you like with me, but [give me] my nation.”

Even all prophets cannot ask intercession - they come to Sayyidina Muhammad (s) asking intercession Judgment Day.

آدم ومن دونه تحت لوائي يوم القيامة ، ولا فخر

“Adam and whoever is other than him are under my flag on Judgment Day.”

On that day, Allah gave him that right. On that day Allah gave him that right, Allah gave him helpers. Although the Prophet (s) doesn’t need helpers, but in order to guide the Ummah there are every century helpers to help guide the people.

And that is why we know there are 124,000 saints and there are 7007 Naqshband saints. They are present with the Prophet (s) and waiting for [unclear] ummah.

The Prophet (s) said, "Afdal al-ummah akhyar al-ummah, akhir al-ummah - The Ummah that has been most mercied by Allah is this ummah, and the last of this ummah.” You might be from these 7007 saints, Allah knows best. Very few are coming and attending Mawlana Shaykh Nazim’s lectures. Who knows. They might be 7007. There are always 7007.

So first to be ordered after Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq قدس سرّه and Sayyida Fatima az-Zahra is Sayyidina Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه. And that day, because you know that if you have a hundred golden coins and a generous person came and said, "this is 100 golden coins and every week I am giving to this center.” And he asks the shaykh or imam to distribute to whoever is attending that center every week, equally. And if there is 100 people every one will take one. And if there are 10 people everyone will take 10. And if there is only one person he will take all the 100.

And on Day of Judgment the intercession of intercessors will be cumulative. First Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and then Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq and then Sayyida Fatima and that is her dowry.

And that is when she was asked to marry Sayyidina `Ali (r), the Prophet (s) asked if she accepted and she said “no.” And the Prophet (s) was not happy with this answer, and Jibreel came to him and said, " ask her why? And the Prophet (s) asked and Sayyida Fatima said, "you were always asking ‘my Ummah, my Ummah!’ In birth you were saying, ‘my Ummah, my Ummah!’ and in your life you are asking, ‘my Ummah, my Ummah,’ and in your grave you will be asking, ‘my Ummah, my Ummah,’ and on Judgment Day you will be asking ‘my Ummah, my Ummah!’ So I too want to be like you in saving the Ummah, and so I am asking that my dowry will be the whole ummah.

Now the dowry is that - she owns that dowry. Now there is custom that they bring a wife and say, "make a marriage.” There is no dowry, no wakeel, how is that? You must give a dowry. You must not be cheap. You must give as much as you can to respect the honor of your wife.

Today they make a marriage and they give two rings. What is that $10, and $10!?

Bring her something that will benefit your wife in her future, she and her children. That is why the dowry will be important for her. It might be khatm al Qur'an [recitation of entire Qur’an]. It might be you do 1000 salawat on her behalf every day.

So her dowry was she got married with the whole ummah as her dowry. At that time she will come and say, "O My Lord, I am asking my dowry.” If she doesn’t get her dowry then her marriage is not accepted. Her marriage was accepted and authenticated by Allah. And they say there is no respect for ladies. One lady will take everyone to Paradise, men and women.

So they are… she intercedes for the Ummah. Sayyidina Abu Bakr intercedes for the Ummah. Sayyidina Muhammad (s) for sure will intercede for everyone. Then Awliyaullah one after one, will intercede and that will accumulate. That trust will accumulate on us. From the Prophet (s) , from Sayyidina Abu Bakr , from Sayyida Fatima from Awliyaullah, so they will accumulate and then the mercy of Allah will come. So we will all be under that.

So after that Allah will give permission to Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه to use his eyes. There is no “how” in religion, there is kun fayakoon. How many human beings are on earth today? 6 billion. Can you put 6 billion in one saaha, or one playing field or one courtyard? Let us say you can put them. There is a huge area bigger than this earth that can accommodate these 6 billion people and you see them and you see this huge gathering jam`an ghaafir, too much like an ocean that has no beginning and no end. Bigger than oceans. There are 6 billion in one courtyard. Can you identify one in the middle with your eyes like that? No. you cannot. Imagine then, not imagine, but think, forget 6 billion, on the day of resurrection not only 6 billion, but everyone is going to be on that huge playing field that Allah creates. This is beyond our understanding but at least it will give us an idea and open our minds to think.

We never thought like that before now Mawlana is sending that information. So you look not at 6 billion but at trillions of human being, standing in this playing field. Each with a name and with a personality and with different features. No two looks the same except twins. They don’t look the same. And think what kind of power Allah gave to Sayyidina Muhammad (s) to identify each one from this crowd. He knows them one by one - he cannot intercede for them without knowing their names. Allah will open for him an ocean of knowledge that he (s) will know each of them from beginning to end.

Can you imagine that? Try to draw it in your mind, as if you are looking at this playing field on Day of Judgment and asking Allah, “Ya Allah! We are weak servants forgive us our sins” and we are seeing Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and the Awliyaullah and they will intercede for us in our sins.

At that moment after whomever Allah wants to intercede first, when Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه’s turn comes, he will release that energy that he has stored up from those two Beautiful Names and Attributes: al-Qadir and ar-Rahman, from that light he was accumulating in his eyes all his life, he will release it out and make that light as thin as possible and he will send it as much as it can go to the right. He will send it as much as it will stretch right it will go right and when it cannot reach any more right, it has to go to the other side, it goes like rectangle, as much as it can go vertical over this crowd. He is standing beside the Prophet (s) and releasing it and it goes right as much as it can go and then vertical as much as it can go and then left as much as it can go and then vertical again as much as it can go from his right eye all the way to make a square or a circle or a rectangle and then finally coming all the way around back to his left eye. Whoever is inside the rectangle, square or circle will go inside the intercession of Sayyidina Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه قدس سرّه besides the intercession of the Prophet (s). And Awliyaullah say in the way he does it he will pull out from this crowd what will fill four paradises.

That is why he didn’t want to waste his sight in dunya. It is not worth it. He is saving it for akhira, when everyone is in need of it, when everyone runs from wife, runs from his father, runs from his mother and runs from his children saying, “myself and myself.”

And awliya say, “If Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه did that by himself, cannot the rest of awliya fill the remaining three paradises. Look one wali, Allah gave that power to Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه. That is one of his characters that Awliyaullah they like to save their energy their power for the last day. They don’t like to show, Naqshband saints for dunya, they like to keep it for akhira. What is benefit if I tell to Muhammad Amin to rise up and then he rises up. What is the benefit? Sayyidina Muhammad (s) brought a miracle that last from beginning to end, that there is no beginning and no end. The Holy Qur'an. Allah spoke these words to Jibreel and Jibreel to the Prophet (s) and the Prophet (s) brought it to us. Not any other religion has these words of Allah to be given to their nation. We have been give the words, the letters of the words that Allah gave to Jibreel and Jibreel revealed to the Prophet (s). `Allama al-qur’an – He taught the Qur’an - that is the Word of Allah, the Letter of Allah and it is what Allah likes. Only looking at the Qur'an will intercede for you in Day of Judgment and in the grave. Even a convert if you cannot read, even looking into Holy Qur'an will benefit you.

If people give you this recorder as a gift you will be happy. What about when Allah is giving us His Holy Words revealed to Sayyidina Muhammad (s) by Jibreel ? What better gift do you want?

So Naqshband shaykhs don’t like to do miracles - don't ask them for miracles. They will make du`a for you, but not in direct way. They want to hide themselves, hiding their powers. They want to use it in Judgment Day. So Sayyidina Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه was saving the power of his eyes to use in the Judgment Day to fill four paradises. When he was passing away he was on the bed and as Sayyidina Azraeel was coming to take his soul, and say Azraeel in one of the hadith says, if I knew and if I felt, ("knew” here means “felt”) if I know how much difficulty is the taking of a person’ soul I would not take except with softness. As on the last day, when Allah orders him to take the soul of every angel, he takes his own soul and except for Sayyidina Israfil. So he takes the soul of himself and he says if I knew how it was to take the soul, I would never do it except with ease.

So as Sayyidina Azraeel (as) was coming to take his soul he was falling from the bed to floor. And the mureeds were putting him back on the bed, and each time he would fall down again. And each time he is on the floor and rubbing his head and his beard on the floor and saying Ya `Afuw, Ya `Afuw. This majestic saint, with the light of his face and the light of his sainthood and the breath of spiritual incense that comes from him, was rubbing his face on the floor when he falls and saying Ya `Afuw, Ya `Afuw and they carry him and put him back on bed and he falls again and says Ya `Afuw Ya `Afuw Ya `Afuw. If he has to do like that what about us? Look at how you are spending your life and look at yourself and how you can fight your ego.

Seven times he was falling down and saying, “Ya `Afuw, Ya `Afuw….`afuw `anna Ya Kareeem `afwak wa ridaaka. Bi sirri suratil Fatiha.

The one who will fill four paradises is rubbing his face on floor and from something he considers a big sin. We know there are big sins and small sins, kaba’ir and sagha’ir. He considered he did a big sin, bigger than the biggest sin. The big sins are known. Lying cheating, drinking alcohol, zina, eating pork, these are big sins. Kaba’ir. Sagha’ir are whatever you do outside these, they are sagha’ir. For these you make ablution and pray two raka`ats and ask Allah’s forgiveness, they are gone, Allah will forgive.

The Sultan al-Awliya, the one who spread the tariqah, east and west, and after whom the tariqah takes the name. What he did to say, "Ya `Afuw.” It is good to say, "Ya `Afuw.” But in that emotional way.

Allah is reminding him on the time of his death, “Ya Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه, you are inheritor of the secrets of the Prophet (s), you are My saint.

أَلا إِنَّ أَوْلِيَاء اللّهِ لاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

Alaa inna awliya’Allahi la khawfun `alayhim wa laa hum yahzanoon.

Behold! verily on the friends of Allah there is no fear, nor shall they grieve; 10:62

Alaa inna awliyaullah… you have nothing to fear. But Ya Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه, what you did was not accepted.”

Look He is speaking to him not from our levels. Inspiring his heart. We have to be careful when we say these things it is not for our level, we are beginners. These are levels of saints. The Maqam al-Ihsan the level of submission to Allah and not interfering except you are submitting and accepting to say ashhadu an la ilah illah Allah wa ashhadu anna muhammadun Rasulullah you are bearing witness with vision not with the maqam al-awwaam that is normal communal level. But kashf if you are speaking in at-tahiyaat, al-mubarakat lillahi was-salawatu at-tayyibaat,… you are in the Divine Presence my salaams to him Ya Muhammad (s), you are seeing him there. So that level is not for us. That is level for what Allah inspiring Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه. He said, "Ya Muhammad (s) Bahauddin Naqshband. What you did is not for a saint to do. My Will is My Will. My Will no one will interfere in it.” “Ya Rabbee what I did?” He is speaking to himself, speaking to Allah, getting an inspiration. “Remember in the village when you had a drought, remember what you did?” That is why he was falling off the bed and saying Ya `Afuw. He said, "I learned the lesson not to interfere in anything You want.”

That is why when you got to wali you ask him to pray, he will pray but if he has no permission to change that destiny, it will not change. That is a code.

What he did Sayyidina Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه to cause this humiliation at the time of his passing? There was drought in his village for many months. There was no food - so they came to him saying, “Ya Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه, we have nothing to eat. Children have nothing to eat. We are begging you to intercede.” So instead of praying as it must be done in the Naqshbandi way, instead he did something to teach the Naqshbandi students [what not to do]. And he asked the richest family, “Do you have any slight amount of wheat in your home?” That villager said, "W’Allahi if you look through whole village you will not find any wheat at all but I have a small amount that I saved.” Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه said, "bring it.” So he brought it and you know in the village they have grinding stones and they have two cows or buffalo and they put the yoke on the cow and he turns the grinding stones. He put one yoke on himself and one on a cow and put the wheat between the stones. And he began to turn the grindstone, and he told the people “come and bring as many people as you can and wheat will be coming out for all the day.”

And as he was turning the people were filling their bags with flour and filling and filling. It was filling the whole area, from morning to evening. He did that physical miracle one time. Allah made him to make istighfaar when he was leaving dunya saying to him, “Why you interfered in My Will?”

“I put My Will like that. Why did you put your finger in it? It is not your business, it is not your job.”

It is Allah’s iradah. “You want to do it you do it, but you must take permission.” That is why after that story, Awliyaullah cannot do miracles except with permission of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). So Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه considered that a big sin, bigger than the big sins and he was asking Allah’s forgiveness, and finally, after seven times falling and saying “Ya `Afuw…” he stopped falling from the bed and Allah forgave him and he passed away on his bed.

So that is one of many stories from the line of saints of Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه, and I didn’t plan to have that story and also I am hearing that story from Mawlana Shaykh now and maybe to take a new understanding. And whatever Grandshaykh spoke he took his mureeds to the level that was spoken about. And that means we don’t leave here without he level that Shah Naqshband قدس سرّه was dressed and what other Awliyaullah have been dressed and so we will insha-Allah be with him under that light that comes from his two eyes and under the shafa`ah of the Prophet (s) and all Awliyaullah.

https://sufilive.com/The-Greatness-and-Rank-of-Shah-Naqshband-Part-2-of-2-1454.html