Today are many that they pretend that they are seeing. And most of what they are seeing, they are hallucinating or they are imagining. Someone when he doesn’t speak too much, all night he is up, so at a moment he doesn’t know anything anymore what he speaks, he might say something from the east or he might say something from the west.

Or some people they are on different kinds of mental disabilities, they take tablets so they begin to hallucinate. So there is no way of hallucination. He is saying that no hallucination and no imagination. You cannot imagine and write as if it is real.

An architect, when they ask him to draw something what does he do? He imagines. When he wants to draw, before he draws he thinks, he develops a picture in his mind, and then it becomes a reality when he draws it. 

So awliyaullah, murshids they are not of that type. They do not imagine and then they draw what they are seeing. There will be a direct contact from Prophet (s) to their hearts through their real murshid that what they see is not what they imagine and draw what they have seen and they say “we saw a vision.” A vision is a vision like I am looking at you and you are looking at me. In that kind awliyaullah can say “we saw a vision.” 

Many times Grandshaykh (may Allah bless his soul) and Mawlana Shaykh they said we had a vision that this and this and this happening. It is a real scene; they are seeing from their level where they are standing at that moment, they are able to see. They are inheriting that power from Prophet (s). Prophet (s) went into Isra and Mi’raj and saw what he saw. And that reality he passed a drop of that reality to his inheritors, to awliyaullah. From that drop, all awliya are drunk from the drop that Prophet (s) is giving them.

So that Murshid at-Tabarruk, which is first level, he has to see realities of what is going in the brain. Can we pretend that we are seeing that? No. So if we cannot pretend then we have to know our limits. Then he says "he has to know all kind of favours that Allah is favouring these deceased people in the grave. And he has to know all kind of punishments that Allah punished these people in their graves. And he has to know on top of that why Allah honoured them and provided some of them and turned their grave into paradise, with what `amal they did in order to achieve that level, he has to know! He has to know at that certain time, in that day, that deceased person has did something in dunya that Allah favoured him, honoured him, and sent him manifestations of His beautiful Names and Attributes and because of that his grave is turned into a paradise. 

It means he has to accompany every moment of the life, of that deceased – what he has done of good and then he knows why he has been granted that level and what he has done of bad and that’s why what kind of sin he has committed in that day, in that moment and then he knows why he was punished. So irshaad is not something easy because it is difficult to follow a real murshid. That is why Grandshaykh (may Allah bless his soul) when he was asked by Shaykh Sharafuddin to carry the level of Irshaad, he said “O my son, I am leaving this dunya and I want you to be my successor, I am passing you that secret, secret of irshaad, guidance…(So guidance is not something easy)...I am passing that to you” and Grandshaykh looked at him and he said “Ya Sayyidee, I don’t want it.” Today if someone Mawlana says to him, “I am passing something to you,” he will be so happy – he will blow it out of proportion and make a big huge sign on his door that he became the big calipha – only if Mawlana said one word, he becomes the calipha of dunya and akhirah. So Grandshaykh said, “Ya Sayyidee, I don’t want it.” And Shaykh Sharafuddin said, “Oh my son, this is an order coming from Prophet (s) for you to carry that responsibility, to carry that ijaza, that permission to guide people to their goals.” He said, “Ya Sayyidee, I don’t want it.” And in that night, in a vision Sayiddina Shaykh Sharafuddin presented that request to Prophet (s) saying, “My son doesn’t want.” He said, “Ask him.” So the next day, he called after Mawlana Shaykh Abdullah ad-Daghestani and said “Ya waladee, why you said no?” and he said, ‘Ya Sayyidee, from you up, all awliyaullah, they were the highest level of guides and they were guiding their followers to the best of their lives but what happened to the followers?”

So followers never achieved the level that they need to achieve. Because followers are lazy, followers are not going to do what you are going to ask them. 

“So I don’t want to carry that burden and what I am going to present to these followers and these followers are not going to follow what I am saying. It’s becoming a burden on me and on them.” So he said, “Ok what you want then?” He said, “Then Ya Sayiddee, if you give me something that I like through that Irshaad, guidance, then I will accept.” 

So he said, “What do you want?” He said, “Whenever I do a suhbah, lecture, advice, tawsiya, anyone sitting in my company and listening to me, I want him to be raised to the same level I am in that moment - without them doing anything (except of course their obligations). I am not expecting from them to do their awraad, they do it alhamdulillah, they don’t do it, I want them to be in my level. If I speak about any wali in my presentation, my advice, I want them to be in the level of that wali. If you give me that irshaad then it has a meaning, then at least I will say that these mureeds have been raised and I will feel happy, or what is the benefit I will be somewhere and they will be somewhere very far from me. No, if they will be with me because they are in dunya with me, I want them in akhirah with me. If I get that, I will accept.” 

And in that night, that was presented to Prophet (s) through a vision, ru’ya and Prophet (s) said, “Ana raadee, ana raadee, ana raadee, (and this is the word Grandshaykh used) I am satisfied, I am satisfied, I am satisfied and I accept.”

So that kind of irshaad, Grandshaykh at the beginning he said, “I don’t want if it’s not going to raise the level of mureeds.” So we have to be very careful where we are connecting ourselves. Many people today are misled; they are misled of their source, of their father. Allah said in Holy Quran

“Idu`hum li-abaa’ihim –

Call them by (the names of) their fathers: that is juster in the sight of Allah. [33:5]

Call them to their parents,” everyone call him to his father, everyone must know that his father is his Shaykh, spiritual father. You cannot call them to these representatives. Today they say, “Oh we are followers of this representative or that representative, or that representative.” No you are not. Allah said in Holy Quran, call them to their parents, to their father. If you don’t know their father then say to them you are my brothers. If you didn’t really know who is your father, who is the head of the tariqah, you are misled. Say to that one who is calling you to tariqah, and he is misleading you, “You are my brother; you are not my father. Okay, you gave me something; I am happy with it, thank you very much but you are my brother. I want to find my father.”

Who is your shaykh? Then this one is my father. If you don’t know your father then they are your brothers. Don’t be misled. That will be more balanced Allah is saying id`uhum li abaa’ihim - it’s more valuable when you recognize your background and you are going to be forgiven but you will not be forgiven if you are misled because you have your mind. You have your mind to think, you have your mind to know where is your connection. 

So Murshid at-Tabarruk with these characteristics, we here can understand that we are not even finding that Murshid between any of these representatives. Of course, Mawlana carries not only Murshid at-Tabarruk; we said four levels of irshaad yesterday that they mentioned, from Grandshaykh and Mawlana Shaykh through their notes, until the last one Murshid at-Tarbiya – the Murshid of disciplinary way and raising you. So these characteristics cannot be found except in our spiritual fathers. So don’t call yourself murshid. You are not yet at that level.

Then he said, that murshid has to know all doors of goodness that, because might be what is good for him is not good for you. If he takes a pill, medical pill, if you take it might be poison for you but it is good for him. And what you take is not suitable for him. So Murshid at-Tabarruk the first level of irshaad, he has to know what kind of thing that you have to do from different kind of dhikr or awraad that will benefit you, not borrowing from what he is doing and you are doing, no, he has to know what he will give everyone in person. He might give everyone something alike at one time but he will give different things to everyone differently. If that Murshid doesn’t know that, he is not really in the level of Murshid at-Tabarruk. He has to know abwaab al-khayraat and abwaab al-ni`am and all doors of provisions that Allah will benefit you from getting them. And then he has to know all details of all sins from kaba’ir and sagha’ir  - what are big sins, what are small sins. He has to know them and what his mureeds, his followers have done during that day of good or bad, he has to immediately reach him in order if he did not do good, he will do good on his behalf. And if he did bad, he will immediately ask forgiveness in the presence of Prophet (s) and Prophet (s) asks forgiveness in Allah’s Presence for that mureed to be forgiven at that moment.

Then he has to carry what Sayiddina Adam was been given and Allah said…(something in Arabic) He taught Adam all names! That murshid has to inherit this secret of what Allah gave to Sayiddina Adam. He has to inherit from Sayiddina Adam the knowledge of all names, in order that we can call him Murshid at-Tabarruk. Or else he is not Murshid at-Tabarruk. So he must know the names of everything that has been created. (Something in Arabic) He taught him all the names of creation, of what He created. Now today you want to know, there are these big encyclopedias and they have names of everything, you want to know a name you go to that encyclopedia check and you can see the picture or the definition of that creature, is it not? And it is millions of names and millions of scientists are writing on that. Adam , one man, Allah gave him the knowledge of all universe because everything has a name. It cannot exist without a name. Every star in the universe has a name; that star cannot exist without a name. So it means that when Allah taught Adam all names, that they are on dunya, they are in planets, they are in universe and with their details, not only with their name, you cannot memorize a name without seeing it. 

I can say to you this is a phone, you say a phone but immediately you imagine what is the meaning of the phone because you saw the instrument. I say this a recorder, you immediately understand what is a recorder because you saw a recorder. So when Allah taught Adam the names, Adam saw all these, what these names represent. It is not only memorizing names without knowing what is the meaning of it. So Murshid at-Tabarruk has to inherit from these names. And Mawlana he says…(Something in Arabic) he has to have the capability, capacity, he is holding the knowledge of all these names on all creation that Allah created. And when you know the name of it, not only if he says Dhul Qarnain, is not only I saw Dhul Qarnain, but I can look at his face and know what kind of eyes he has, what kind of nose he has. I have to differentiate him between Dhul Qarnain and Wissam or between Sahib. 

Means you have to see the particular of every individual. How many breaths he is going to breathe in a day, how many breaths he is going to breathe in a year, how many breaths he is going to breathe in all his life – he has to know that. He has to know every smallest detail of that person – what he is going to feel in his life, how much his heart is pumping every moment. You go to a machine in ICU, if they put you on the machine it keeps recording everything until you die, is it not? A murshid has to know everything about you until you leave this dunya. That is a murshid. If you don’t see that, don’t underestimate the power of a murshid. 

These are explanations to understand how much irshaad is difficult and how much Mawlana is carrying, responsibilities that you cannot see in his face. You come and say oh I am seeing Mawlana 5 minutes, 10 minutes before I leave and that’s it. But you don’t know what kind of power he is carrying, what kind of responsibility he is carrying. He is with you but he is not. He is with us but he is not. He has another image; he has another personality that it is always in the presence of Prophet (s) depends on the level of the wali. So that murshid has to know everything about you in dunya and what is going to happen to you in akhirah. And he has know about every creature, what is this? (Something from Holy Quran Surat an-Naml) One ant, Allah said in Holy Quran, one ant, saying

“O ants! Run to your cave, to your hole before Sayiddina Sulayman comes and step on your kingdom.” One ant can speak and speaking to all ants, no microphones, no speakers like these speakers, the voice of that ant was able to reach to all ants that the army of Sulayman is going to step on them. It means how much they were huge scattered these ants and without using any instrument that ant, one ant alone, Allah is saying spoke to all ants that they are going to be overstepped by Sulayman and his army.

Oh ants run to your cave, run to safety, run to your home, run to your Shaykh, run to Prophet (s), you will be saved. And all ants can hear. If one ant is like that, can we speak to people and our voice can reach everyone? That is only for murshids. But normal people cannot even reach to their selves, to their egos. That’s why Prophet (s) said “man `araf nafsahu faqad `araf rabbahu” if you know yourself, you know your Lord. So Murshid at-Tabarruk, Allah gave him to inherit from Sayiddina Adam and Prophet (s) knowledge of names. And those who are under his wings or arms he has to know them and present them daily to the presence of Prophet (s). And he said…(Something in Arabic) he has to know also the knowledge because on everyone of us, on every bite of food you eat, Grandshaykh said, “300 angels Allah will create in order to take it from your mouth all the way to your digestive system and all the way through your body what is coming from nourishment or minerals or vitamins can go through all your body; from one bite 300 angels.” 

He has to know, the murshid, every angel that has been assigned for you, daily, even if you want to move your finger, must be an angel sending an inspiration to your mind to be able to move your finger. Every finger is connected with a different line to the brain, you cannot move one if the brain doesn’t give order. You cannot move your eyes, you cannot move your head, you cannot look up, you cannot look down without orders that come from the brain. All this complicated system that Allah gave to human beings in your body, your murshid has to know about it or he is not yet reaching the level of irshaad. That’s why Grandshaykh said, “O my Shaykh! I don’t want that irshaad if I am not able to bring them to my level for sure because they are not going to listen what I am going to say to them, they will run away.”

So he has to know every angel that has been assigned for you day and night. Through your sleeping, it is said in hadith of Prophet (s) that the soul of the mu’min 49/50 will be going from the body out, the soul, and one will be staying with the body to feed it. And the soul goes under `Arsh and makes sajdah there. He has to know at which moment the soul of his mureed is going to go ascend through Allah blessings and Prophet’s barakah where it’s going to ascend and where it’s going to make sajdah. He has to accompany his mureeds. 

But still we are in Murshid at-Tabarruk we didn’t go yet to other murshids, to higher levels. And he has to know all the names of these angels, not only to know about them, but he has to know them and their names and their characteristics and what they are doing. And he said there are three times in 24 hours that these angels are changing, like a new shift. He said they change at sahoor time when you stop eating and begin fasting; he said in the middle of the day and he said at sunset. There are three shifts for them, he has to know these shifts and he has to be present in every shift when they are being changed and who are going to replace them and what power are going to be coming for that mureed, for that moment of that day. Insha’Allah we will continue tomorrow and still too many of his characteristics of the first level of irshaad but this will give us an idea, it will shed light on how important the level of irshaad is. May Allah forgive us, may Allah bless us, and may Allah support us. These notes, there is barakah in them, there is blessings in them as much as we keep reading them and reminding ourselves we will get barakah from them because they have been said by sultans of Awliya in every time, like Shaykh Sharafuddin, Grandshaykh Shaykh Abdullah Faiz ad-Daghestani, and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani, may Allah bless them and may Allah bless us because of their blessings, and may Allah accept.