31 July 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.
Inshaa-Allah we will go through and expand on some of what we have here regarding the Naqshbandi teachings and the blessings that Allah (swt) has sent on His Servant. First of all, let us put the foundation: ma ahad ahsan min ahad, “No one is better than anyone else.” Allah (swt) looks at everyone in Allah's Way and we don't know: you might be the shaykh, you might be the student, you might be nothing, Allah knows best. How many students were better than their shaykhs and yet Allah gave them the power to reach the heart of human beings?
Alhamdulillah, Allah guided us and directed us to be at the threshold of Sayyidina Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani (q), who was on the threshold of his teacher, Grandshaykh `AbdAllah al-Fa'iz ad-Daghestani (q). We were lucky to have spent some time with Grandshaykh and to witness the relationship between Grandshaykh and Mawlana Shaykh, alhamdulillah, from 1958 until Grandshaykh left dunya in 1973. For fifteen years we accompanied two shaykhs and witnessed a lot of experiences in different ways from both. Although one followed the other, and this is the way from time of the Prophet (s) up to time of al-Mahdi (as), we saw how they were showing love to Allah (swt), and love to the Prophet (s), and love to awliyaullah and love to their students who were with them.
They were like rockets in their teaching. They were never exhausted from seeing mureeds or from making du`a for those who are asking. Always they were on the Straight Path, Siraat al-Mustaqeem, in such a way that, according to our knowledge and in everything we saw from them, every day there was something new that rendered you unable to keep a record. Both of them were the best examples of teacher and student (very close and loving), such an example that made us always try to not be away from their side.
I cannot say except shukran lillah and alhamdulillah. “Alhamdulillah” has a meaning and “shukran lillah” has a meaning and the two meanings have big differences. “Alhamdulillah” is glorifying Allah, as one of the meanings, and “shukran lillah” is thanking Allah. You have to say “alhamdulillah” as it is the first word in Surat al-Fatiha. Therein, Allah is praising Himself by Himself. But shukran lillah is from the `abd to His Lord. Allah doesn't say “shukran lillah,” He says “alhamdulillah.” Allah didn't say, "Shukran for Me," but we say shukran. Our Lord said:
لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ
Wa la in shakartum la-azeedanakum
If you thank Me, I will give you more. (14:7)
So shukr, to give thanks, is an order to the servant to say every moment in his life, that Allah is granting him a drink in this dunya and a drink where everyone will be thirsty, in akhira. So in every moment you have to say “shukran lillah,” and you must say “alhamdulillah,” which is glorifying Allah (swt).
I never saw Mawlana Shaykh or Grandshaykh complain. They both lived very simple lives, which is the theme of this year’s Ramadan Series.
You need a murshid. Not everyone can say, “I am murshid,” as to give irshad (guidance) is one thing and to lecture and lead dhikr is something else. Guidance will put you on Siraat al-Mustaqeem. Awliyaullah will carry their followers if they are handicapped, but Siraat al-Mustaqeem is not cheap, it is expensive. The way these shuyookh lived is like Stone Age life, very primitive and simple, that to us is like a chicken coop, but for them it is a palace! They don't look with the eyes of the head only, but they look with the eyes of their heart and see that chicken coop is a paradise.
To build the foundation of this series, I will describe Grandshaykh’s house. It was comprised of two rooms and one kitchen. His bedroom and living room measure 15 x 12 feet. Between the two rooms is a small hallway and then the door to the kitchen. The house is made from mud and is located on top of Mt. Qasiyoun. At that time there was not one house on the mountain except his. The mountain is so steep that no car will take you up, you have to climb. When we came from Lebanon to visit, when we reached Damascus the car didn't go up what is known as “Tal`at al-Muhajireen, the Hill of Immigrants.” It was a very fancy area below and very simple area up on the mountain. We walked from where the taxi stopped and climbed the mountain, taking 60-to-90 minutes depending on where the taxi dropped us.
He put the guests in his living room. At `Asr time it is very hot inside, perhaps 50 Centigrade (120 Fahrenheit), with no air conditioner, only a fan. We went out with Grandshaykh, may Allah bless him, and with Mawlana Shaykh, and sat on the sath al-manzil, roof of the house, where Grandshaykh gave his irshad. It was such that a child might fall down from there as it had no fence at the edge of the roof. We and other guests sat there and Mawlana drank tea after praying `Asr, and he gave suhbah up to Maghrib, for two hours. All Damascus is below and you can see all the way to Masjid al-Amawi; from the top of the mountain you can see the whole city.
Inside the house, the kitchen had no refrigerator. In the old traditional way, there was a cabinet keeping dried meat if they had it, and their food was primarily vegetables, olives, cheese, bread and yogurt. That is how they passed their lives. Outside the house is the independent wudu area, and I know for sure that not one among you will go to it (from it’s rustic condition). So they lived a very simple life, waking one or two hours before Fajr to pray Tahajjud. Grandshaykh did his awraad on his bed.
In winter they heated the place with a rustic wood stove made like a barrel, with only a door and a broken pipe, half of which carries some exhaust out the window. We came to pray Tahajjud with him in the early morning, and it was so cold there that you feel chilled to the bone! We arrived 1.5 hours before Fajr and could not see anyone because of the smoke that filled the house from that stove! Grandshaykh (q) sat reciting, "Allah, Allah, Allah, Allah;" he was not here. When he was doing his awrad you could not approach him as the tajalli was so majestic that if a lion came to the door it would have run away! That tajalli was under the Divine Name, “al-Jabbar.” Grandshaykh was so powerful that he was moving mountains; in his presence you felt it was like a tsunami will take you! You could hear not only his voice, but so many voices that you cannot count, an infinite number of voices reciting.
Grandshaykh, may Allah grant him the highest level to be with the Prophet (s), used to say that as soon as he opened a subhah, by order of the Prophet (s) all jinn and awliyaullah around the world have to be present and listening to what he is saying. Such kind of a shaykh you have, Grandshaykh (q)! He said Allah (swt) gave them heavenly hearing that they are able to direct themselves from their places to that suhbat. At that time we didn't understand how, but we believed it. Today Allah shows you that ability through technology. With Twitter, millions of people can hear from east and west via dunya instruments. When awliyaullah say that, all who are under that tajalli open their headsets and listen to that lecture. Now everyone can listen, so why do we accept that ability via technology but not from awliya?
Grandshaykh (q) said to tell you about Imam al-Bukhari (q), who collected ahadith of the Prophet (s), Sahih al-Bukhari. His masjid and adjacent school in Bukhara can easily hold five-to-six thousand worshippers, and when he gave a lecture at least 25,000 people attended. It cannot accommodate that many now, but Allah (swt) stretched it. If Allah wills, He can expand this dunya and pass it through the eye of a needle; can the needle say "no?" So when he gave his lecture, everyone there was able to hear as if they were sitting beside him. That is not for everyone, that is only for those mentioned in the hadith:
ومازال عبدي يتقرب إلي بالنوافل حتى أحبه فإذا أحببته كنت سمعه الذي يسمع به وبصره
الذي يبصر به ويده التي يبطش بها وقدمه التي يمشي بها وإذا سألني لأعطينه وإذا استغفرني لأغفرن له وإذا استعاذني أعذته
wa maa zaala `abdee yataqaraba ilayya bi 'n-nawaafil hatta uhibah. Fa idhaa ahbabtahu kuntu sama`ulladhee yasma`u bihi wa basarahulladhee yubsiru bihi, wa yadahulladhee yubtishu bihaa wa lisanahulladhee yatakallama bih.
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 tongue with which he speaks. (Hadeeth Qudsee)
When you have heavenly hearing, you can hear maa bayn al-mashriq wa ’l-maghrib, everything from east to west. That is when he opened his lecture for Isma`il al-Bukhari. What do you think about the ability of a wali? He was a wali, but in sainthood there are various levels of ability and knowledge, so when that wali says, “When I speak, people east and west can hear,” if a video camera can broadcast anywhere, can a wali not do that?
Throughout my childhood, by invitations of my father and uncle to world-famous `ulama who came to our home, I never heard any of them speak even one word as great as Grandshaykh and Mawlana Shaykh (q). It is like comparing Earth and Heaven, there is no comparison! Just as Earth will end and Heavens are everlasting, `Uloom al-Awliya, Knowledge of Saints, never ends.
When Grandshaykh (q) offered food, we ate in the hallway next to the kitchen. We were ten people around him. Even if only a child was present, he gave a lecture for three hours. He often said, “I am not opening this for him, but he is a cause to open the suhbat. I am talking to all awliyaullah and all jinn and angels hear it as they are in need for that suhbat.” I cannot repeat his suhbat; they are very heavy. Sometimes we give from that; sometimes they open it, especially in Arabic when we travel to Indonesia. English does not convey the right meaning. Never one of Grandshaykh’s subhat is similar to the previous one, whereas our suhbat are all similar in nature.
In Madinat al-Munawwarah, when he was in seclusion, although he was always in seclusion, once he let Mawlana Shaykh Nazim stay in the same room. Mawlana Shaykh said, from Maghrib time to Fajr Grandshaykh never slept and his food in 24 hours consisted of one small bowl of lentils, which he gave to Mawlana Shaykh; Grandshaykh only drank tea. He said Grandshaykh was in munajaat, standing making du`a without pause for four-to-six hours, or even ten-to-twelve hours, and not one du`a was similar to the other! Whatever he supplicated was never repeated. I didn't speak yet about Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, I am speaking about Grandshaykh.
They received all this because they are the key of the code for all knowledges that Allah (swt) will open for His Servant! That key is one word. It is the key for everything, the key to Siraat al-Mustaqeem. That is what the Prophet (s) urged his Sahaabah to do, and awliyaullah encourage their students to do, and the whole Islam is built on it. It is tawada`, “humbleness.”
فمن تواضع لله فرفعه
faman tawada` lillahi rafa`ahu.
Whoever humbles himself for Allah's sake, Allah will raise him.
The Prophet (s) humbled himself and Allah raised him in ‘Israa and Mi`raaj, so Islam is built on humbleness.Don’t think about racism as in Islam there is no racism. Whether you are white, yellow, black, green, red, when you become Muslim you have to forget everything you were built on, finished! You only show humbleness. Don't say, “He is white and they put us in slavery,” as that is gone: you became a Muslim.
لافرق بين عربي ولا اعجمي الا بالتقوى
laa farqa bayna `arabiyywa laa `ajamiyy illa bi’t-taqwa.
There is no difference between one race and another except in piety.
Sincerity is only for Allah. Don't say, “I am sincere and he is not.” It might be someone is covering himself to appear insincere and yet he is the most sincere to Allah (swt). They want you to be under a test (so do not judge others).
Awliyaullah of such calibre live a very simple life and Allah raised them. Whoever showed humbleness to Allah, Allah raised them. With what does Allah reward them? He raised them in a Mi`raaj. Allah gave the highest and best level of Mi`raaj to the Prophet (s), and these awliyaullah inherit a little from secrets the Prophet (s) received in Mi`raaj. Do you want to be in Mi`raaj (Holy Ascension)? This assocation is a Mi`raaj!
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ قَالُوا رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ ثُمَّ اسْتَقَامُوا تَتَنَزَّلُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ أَلَّا تَخَافُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا
وَأَبْشِرُوا بِالْجَنَّةِ الَّتِي كُنتُمْ تُوعَدُونَ
inna alladheena qaloo rabbuna Allah thumma ’staqaamaoo, tatanazaloo `alayhimu ’l-malaa’ikati alaa takhaafoo wa laa tahzanoo wa’bshiroo bi’l-jannaatillatee kuntum tuwa`doon.
In the case of those who say, "Our Lord is Allah,” and (who) further stand straight and steadfast, the angels descend on them (from time to time, saying), "Fear not, nor grieve, but receive the glad tidings of the Garden (of Bliss), which you were promised!” (al-Fussilat, 41:30)
Those who say, “Allah is our Lord, Creator,” will have equal! Do you say, “rabbunAllah?” We are coming here to say, “Yaa Rabbee! You are our Lord!” So that word alone, rabbunAllah, is recited to humble yourself so that Allah raises you. So we say, “O our Lord! We are your servants and slaves!” When they say “rabbunAllah,” they put their first step on Siraat al-Mustaqeem, then they stand forth. What did Allah give them? He didn't say, “I give them one hasanaat,” like when you do something good, Allah gives you ten hasanaat: that is the entire reward and Allah knows what reward He gives.
But when you say, “You are my Lord and I am your slave!” and put your feet in the direction of Siraat al-Mustaqeem, what did Allah say He will do? He said, “al-malaa’ikat;” He didn't say ten angels, He said al-malaa’ikat, “countless angels.” It could be millions, a hundred million, trillions, Allah knows. When those limitless numbers of angels descend on you, what will they do? They descend with heavenly rewards and say to you:
أَلَّا تَخَافُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَبْشِرُوا بِالْجَنَّةِ الَّتِي كُنتُمْ تُوعَدُونَ
alaa takhaafoo wa laa tahzanoo wa’bshiroo bi’l-jannatillatee kuntum tuwa`doon.
"Fear not, (they suggest), nor grieve, but receive the glad tidings of the Garden (of Bliss), which you were promised! (43:14)
That is for saying “rabbunAllah” once. If you say it a hundred times or how many times you like, there is no limit on how many times angels will descend on you. So when awliyaullah say “rabbunallah,” it is not like when we say it; heavens open for them and they dress their followers with that.
This suhbat is under the tajalli of that verse today. We will continue tomorrow, inshaa-Allah.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
(Baya`)
That suhbah is enough for everyone’s difficulties to go away and for all their problems to disappear, so you don’t need to say what is your problem. With that barakah of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim and Grandshaykh (q) it is as if you are newly born. So all your questions will be answered through your heart, and Prophet (s) is watching everyone in his ummah. Every moment he is seeing and hearing, and he is asking Allah’s forgiveness on our behalf as in the verse:
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلاَّ لِيُطَاعَ بِإِذْنِ اللّهِ وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ إِذ ظَّلَمُواْ أَنفُسَهُمْ جَآؤُوكَ فَاسْتَغْفَرُواْ اللّهَ
وَاسْتَغْفَرَ لَهُمُ الرَّسُولُ لَوَجَدُواْ اللّهَ تَوَّابًا رَّحِيمًا
wa law annahum idh dhalamoo anfusahum jaa'ooka w 'astaghfarullah w 'astaghfara lahumu 'r-rasoola la-wajad-Allah tawaaban raheeema.
We sent not an apostle but to be obeyed in accordance with the will of Allah. If they had only, when they were unjust to themselves, come to you and asked Allah's forgiveness, and the Messenger had asked forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah indeed Oft-returning, Most Merciful. (al-Nisa, 4:64)
So we are presented to Prophet (s) through our shuyook and Prophet intercedes for everyone to take all their difficulties and problems, inshaa-Allah.
Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.