Allahuma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammad (s) hatta yarda Sayyidina Muhammad (s).
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`ullaha wa ati`u 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)
"Ati`oollah," what does it mean? "Obey Allah." This is for `awwaam, common people. For advanced people like yourself, like themselves, it means "submission." You might obey when you say, "ati`oollah," but sometimes you disobey, so it means it is not a real obedience. To become a real obedience, it means you have to submit to Allah's Will; you must have no ego, no will of your own. And if you check all of us, you can see that everyone has an ego; no one is free from an-nafsu 'l-`ammaarah, the self that is commanding you. So it means your obedience is to the self. So by tongue we say, "ati`oollah," but in reality, no.
Also, if child reaches maturity, it will be committing a sin by not submitting, by not obeying. But as a child has not reached maturity, all his actions are disobedience. Look at a child and look at yourself; you will find similarities in many ways. People say, "Children are innocent," but you can learn from them by observing their disobedience. Allah (swt) made them like that in order to learn from them, to learn not to act like them. So in its high meaning, "obedience" is submission, to submit to Allah and not to submit to your self. If someone has an atom of anger, it means he did not yet completely submit Who doesn't have an atom of anger? It means submission, but we are only saying it by tongue and we are not saying it by action. When you do something for Allah (swt), it must be the same by tongue and action, and the same by tongue and heart. But what you say on the tongue and what you do are not the same. (That is a state of)ثُمَّ آمَنُواْ ثُمَّ كَفَرُواْ thumma aamanoo, thumma kafaroo, "Those who believe, then disbelieve." (4:137) They are one day on the right way, then one day off the path. However, the highway is straight. If you exit you are lost, and there are too manya exits. If you get off the highway, you are lost until you find your way back and then you must come back to the beginning.
Many people ask, "What is tariqah?" I have explained the meaning many times before. The highway is like the Shari`ah. On the highway, what do you find? You find rest areas, restaurants; these are scenery or decoration for the highway. That is tariqah. As you go further on the highway you find restaurants like mansions, very nice places to spend your time eating and drinking. As long as you are on the highway you find nice places to stop, restaurants and scenery, but when you exit there is nothing. The exit is from Shaytan! When you exit you have to come back in order to find the right path. Some people say, "We are working, doing our job and doing our five prayers. What more do you need from us?" Nothing! Do that and you will enter Paradise, but not the Paradise of the Prophet (s). It depends on your rank, like in an auditorium when there is a very important speaker, they reserve seats in front and it is written on them "Reserved"; you cannot sit there. If you push and sit there, they will throw you out, saying, "Go back!" So you enter Paradise, but you go to the back, not to the front. The front is for those who go for Azeemat ash-Shari`ah, the highest level of Shari`ah, which is Maqaam al-Ihsaan, the Station of Purity.
Allah (swt) tests everyone in different ways to see his submission, so we have to be very careful about how far we are going on the highway, to go as far as we can without exiting. If we don't exit we see better and better scenery, and more advanced places. That is what you need. You might reach the first Paradise and say, "First Paradise." If you sit there and say, "Alhamdulillah! I am here, I am happy," that is no problem. But you cannot go to the second unless you go through hardship, and the highway will get more difficult as you go forward. If you are patient and continue on your way, then you will see the Second Heaven, the Third Heaven, the fourth, the fifth. Does Allah (swt) have seven Heavens?
It is mentioned there are seven Heavens in the Holy Qur'an. We say, aamanaa wa sadaqnaa, "We believed and testified to the truth." But each of these Heavens might be bigger than this whole universe, and not only our galaxy, but all galaxies. The Second Heaven might be a trillion times larger than the First Heaven, and what is in the Second Heaven is not the same as before. There is no repetition; what you see in the Second Heaven you will never see in the First Heaven. So if you don't progress to the Second Heaven, you will be mahroom, deprived. To be in the higher one is not similar to the first one. Think of one of Allah's Heavens and you cannot compare it to this universe. So with what is it filled? Whatever it is filled with is not repeated! Look at these three bottles of water: they are the same. Switch them around and they are still the same. But in Heaven there are no two things that look the same as each other. In the Second Heaven, there is no repetition of what is in the first, in the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh and then, Maqad-as-Sidq, The Assembly of Truth, and beyond that is for the Prophet (s). What will be there and how big is it? There are no similarities with that Heaven and the Heaven of the Prophet (s).
So our duty is to keep on the Straight Path. As we go forward, then we dive in the Ocean of Submission. When you swim, you float. If you don't know how to swim and you drown, you float. With one, you float because you are struggling,. In that state you are "kafaroo," but still you go to Paradise. And in the other state you are floating in Allah's Love; with Allah's Power you go up, you float. That is the one who is "amanoo,"submitting. And that one who is swimming is not submitting, as swimming is a struggle. So that one is in Paradise, and the one who drowns in Allah's Love is dead, with no will, finished; he is dead in Allah's Love and he floats up. When our egos die, what happens? We float. So it is up to you. Do you want to float? Either you struggle, or you submit: choose one. It is easy to submit. Don't continue to struggle; when you are struggling you get tired. That is why those who struggle get fed up and become depressed and they need medicine. They are not submitting, they are not letting things move freely. Don't push it and don't put up obstacles; leave it. Don't think, "Oh, that (bad result) is going to happen." Whatever is going to happen, happens!
You are not going to live more than Sayyidina Nuh (a), a thousand years less fifty years, but at the end he left (passed away). Did he stay? He didn't. He went to make the boat and he got fed up with the people who did not help him. He said, "They are not believing." Allah (swt) wanted him to play a little, to be happy, and instructed him, "Go and build a boat." Allah would take care of it. Sayyidina Nuh (a) was building the boat when they came to him and said, "What is this, O Nuh? We thought you were calling us to Akhirah and to Allah, and now you are building the boat in a forest, on a mountain, and it is far from the sea!" He submitted to Allah's iradah, will; he didn't say, "O my Lord! Why are you telling me to build a boat in the jungle where there is no water?" So he built the boat and when he finished, Allah sent a flood.
When you submit, Allah (swt) sends support. When we don't submit, we are not correctly evaluating what we need. But with Allah's mercy with which He dressed the Prophet (s), that mercy can take us to Jannatu 'l-Firdaws, the Highest Garden of the Heavens, to be with Prophet (s), to keep his sunnah and follow his way, to love him and to make salawaat on him. No one can keep the Shari`ah completely; only the Prophet (s) can keep Shari`atullah. And the rest of humans, all Mankind, are less and less and less and less perfect. Prophet is the Seal of Prophets (s), and then all the rest are less. No one can reach the station of the Seal of Prophets (s) or his position. That is why He said:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ
Ati`oollaha wa ati`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)
"Obey Allah, then Obey the Prophet." He knows not everyone can reach that high level, so, ati`oo ooli 'l-amri minkum, "follow those guides." Allah (swt) made shuyookh. to follow, then they carry you, they take you to the door of Prophet (s), and he takes you to the door of Allah (swt). So they take care of you; awliyaullah take care of their students.
In the classroom of 40 or 50 students, there must be some naughty ones, some troublemakers. Too many of them, especially in high school, are troublemakers who want to humiliate the teacher. Also, there are troublemakers in tariqah who want to humiliate their teacher by trying to backbite or confront each other. What is your business with others? Leave them alone! It is not your business to look at other students; look only at the shaykh. Avoid being a troublemaker in the class of the shaykh. There are too many troublemakers, both physical and spiritual. Here is not the only class. The head of tariqah is Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, and his class is all over the world! Don't be a troublemaker: observe your limits, wherever you are, because if you make trouble it will reach the shuyukh. They may not say (reveal) it, but they have a very long whip to reach you. In the old days, when they study recitation of Holy Qur'an for ten or twelve years, their teacher has a stick long enough to reach the back of the classroom, and they hit those who are making trouble on the head!
This is true even in secular schools. I attended a secular school, Lycee Francais, and any student who didn't do his homework or who got a bad grade, or speaks out-of-turn in the class, the teacher called him out. The teacher said, "Open your hand!" and struck it with such force with his stick! Allahu Akbar! You felt your hand has become sick. How many times my hand was beaten like that! (laughter) That is why children today now have no adab and they are miserable. Shaykhs have a spiritual whip; if you do something, they know, and from far away they hit you. So we have to be careful to keep on the highway, submitting to achieve ati`ullaha wa ati`u 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum. If we don't do that, we will be always fighting with each other, as everyone wants to be boss over the other. Isn't it so? Everyone wants to be boss. Over what? On chickens, on goats, on sheep, even to that level they want to be boss over each other. Be boss over Iblees, not your brothers! To speak harshly is bad. Smile on your brothers.
Prophet (s) said:
idkhaal as-suroor fee qalb al-mu'min min al-imaan.
Giving happiness in the hearts of the believer(s) is from faith.
What actions are most excellent? To gladden the heart of human beings, to feed the hungry, to help the afflicted, to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful, and to remove the sufferings of the injured. (Bukhari)
It is better to put a smile on face of our shaykh. Sadness leads to harshness and a smile leads to love. Allah built this dunya on love, on love to the Prophet (s). May Allah (swt) keep us always with the love, and in love with, the Prophet (s)!
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
Laziness is not good. I was feeling too lazy to come, but someone said, "Why are you not going to dhikr?"
"Jet lag."
And that one said, "I also have jet lag. I am very young and you are older, so how are you not coming?"
That was Sajeda (Shaykh Hisham's daughter).
May Allah (swt) always keep us under the wings of the Prophet (s) and that means under his arms, always hugging us, and under Sultan al-Awliya, and under awliyaaullah. Always awliyaaullah are under attack. From the shaykh to his representatives, they are under attack. And if you look at which one is more under attack, that one is nearer to the shaykh. Mawlana is always under attack, all his life. Recently, now for the last ten days, Mawlana has been under severe attack. Every day emails are coming, attacking him, and attacking me and attacking my brother, Shaykh Adnan. It is like an avalanche of emails. Because of what? Hasad, jealousy.
Don't expect that the shaykh will not be under attack; if someone is not under attack that means that one is not on the right way because Shaytan is happy, so he doesn't care. But the one on the right way, Shaytan is not happy with him and so there are attacks on him all his life. The last ten days there have been so many attacks, I feel shy to repeat them. Inshaa-Allah those who are attacking, may Allah guide them back to normal. What can I say but, "alhamdulillah" (In accordance with the hadeeth of Prophet) we are getting their hasanaat (credit for their good deeds)and they are getting our sayi`iat (sins)! Some said, "Let us make a rebuttal," but I said, "No need. Let those who gave ammunition to the attack rebut; we are not rebutting until Mawlana orders us." In any case, may Allah (swt) keep us on Siraatu 'l-Mustaqeem and support us.
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.