We began with the series Who Is the Guide? in order that everyone can know who is the real guide from the fake guide. Today, too many misunderstandings are going around the students about who are the guides. Not about those who make dhikr by permission of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, or who give baya`. I am speaking about who can guide people and what are their responsibilities and levels.
Anyone can give an advice. Anyone of humanity—brother can give advice to brother, to sister, to parents, whatever—that is understood. You can say, “Don’t drink this water, it’s bad, drink another water.” Or, “Don’t read this book, read the other book. That’s okay.” “Don’t lie, don’t do this.” That’s not the meaning of a guide. A guide is the one who can carry the responsibility of the mureed in the presence of Prophet(s). The Prophet (s) then carries that mureed, after coming to him through that authorized shaykh, to the presence of Allah . So, we already explained two of the meanings and definitions of the guide before I went to
So we spoke about Murshid at-Tabarruk “the Guide of the Baraka” and Murshid at-Tazkiyyah “the Guide of Purification”. Now after the Guide of Purification, we’ll explain Murshid at-Tasfiyyah. He is the one that takes the cream of the mureeds and selects them. We have explained some of his characteristics, now I will continue with the rest. He said that guide has to have malaka: the power, or capacity, or capability to purify the students (mureeds) from 800,000 faults. These can even be committed by the mureed in one day. The guide has the ability to purify them and carry that responsibility on himself to the presence of the Prophet(s).
So this gives us an idea of where people stand and where the guide stands. It’s not that everyone can become a guide. No way, it’s impossible. He has to purify them even at the tongue. Grandshaykh قدس سرّه, may Allah bless his soul (ameen) wants to show how much they are implanted within us. These faults are so engraved within us that we are not able to see them. Even the tongue cannot express them and pull them out. It needs the vision of the guide who has the power from Prophet(s). With the eyes of the power that he is inheriting from the Prophet(s), he is able to see these mistakes and faults. These faults cannot be seen by everyone. They are above the faults and mistakes that can be seen towards each other. For example, if you look at me you might see some mistakes, you can find them. If I look at you, I can find some mistakes. But the mistakes that cannot be seen or no way can be found, awliyaullah can see them.
So that guide has the ability to remove and carry 800,000 faults the tongue cannot see. Furthermore, he has his company, his association. When he says, “tariqatuna as-suhba wa ’l-khayru fi ’l-jami`ah, - Our way is suhbah” (the gathering), and the company is wa ’l-khayru fi ’l-jami`ah, “The best between the group”, that suhbah and company is with each other. But his company is not only with his mureed. One face is with his mureed, one face is in the company of Prophet (s), and also with alive and deceased awliya. He can reach them and get power from them any time he wants. That is the third level of the guide. Still we didn’t reach the fourth level, we’re not describing that yet. But this is the power of the third one. So it is a small question to ask those who are seeing and listening over the internet or where ever they are. Can anyone claim from all of Mawlana’s mureeds that they have that power? No way! Very few might be, but not everyone. That’s why they have to be very careful.
When we are in a country, a city, or a village—and there is someone representing awliya—we have to be careful to understand that he is not the guide. He is conducting the dhikr, yes. He is giving baya` on behalf of the shaykh, yes. But he is not the guide. The guide is the one who authorized him with that dhikr and that baya`, but that representative is not the guide. We are traveling around the world, and seeing too much of this problem and sickness; it is everywhere.
When the guide connects himself with the association of Prophet (s) and alive and deceased awliyaullah, immediately they will connect him, and through their power, he will be able to see the breaths going in and the breaths going out. We say that human beings are between two breaths. If Allah stopped one of them, we are dead. If you cannot take in air, oxygen, you cannot breathe, so you are dead. If you cannot breathe out, you are dead. That power is taken away. So between these two breaths, this is very, very important. And that’s why no one can understand awliyaullah. It’s very difficult to explain what they say. An entire book can be written from just one word. He [Grandshaykh] said, “Between these two breaths that they are breathing in and out, there are twenty-four thousand wisdoms between them that the mureed is receiving inside his heart.” Twenty-four thousand between two breaths! There are twenty-four thousand wisdoms; the guide will give him only to see twelve thousand. The other twelve thousand is hidden from him, because the guide is still in the third level and not in the fourth.
So this means when anyone breathes in and out, there are twenty-four thousand wisdoms that awliyaullah can see from the third level. Allah knows what these twenty-four thousand hikmah are. It’s beyond our mind. Do we know what is going on between the breaths that are going in and out? What kind of angelic, heavenly power is there? What kind of dhikr Allah is making your soul to do within these two breaths and with what speed that in every two breaths, there are twenty-four thousand wisdoms? No one knows. This is a kamaal ul-`ubudiyya, the “perfect absolute worshipness.” Allah will assign angels for those who are following Sufi Orders, and here we are referring to the Naqshbandi Order. Others may speak about their Orders. In the Naqshbandi Order, there are twenty-four thousand `ibadaat within these two breaths that angels are doing on your behalf, without you even knowing. This is one of the wisdoms, one hikmah.
In order to give you an idea of what kind of hikmah there are, one of these twenty-four thousand hikmah Mawlana Shaykh Nazim is opening now. Allah assigned angels between these two breaths: one group of angels bringing the breath in, and another taking the breath out. They do `ibadah, praising Allah . It’s written for you in the perfect way of `ibadah (worshipness), not in the imitational way. So between these two breaths, angels are doing twenty-four thousand different kinds of worshipness. That is what those wisdoms are that awliyaullah can see. He said he’s able to check on them. He’s able to know about twenty-four thousand of them. He will also be able to open to the mureed’s heart from these twelve-thousand breaths. That’s why they tell you in meditation to breathe in and out. In these two breaths (twenty-four thousand, three times), what kind of secrets there are, awliyaullah know; we don’t know.
The guide is also able to pull out from the Holy Qur`an twenty-four thousand Oceans of knowledge. He is able to do this on every letter of the Holy Qur`an. He can go into that Ocean, every letter is an Ocean. You cannot see its depth. It is very deep. Every time that letter is near, they can go inside and pull out twenty-four thousand of these Oceans of knowledge and pour into the heart of the mureed. He also said that Allah will enable them to understand nineteen meanings from every word of the Holy Qur`an as soon as they read it. For example, Allah said to Adam (a), وَنَفَخْتُ فِيهِ مِن رُّوحِي “I am blowing in him from My soul”.[15:29] He said nafakhtu, meaning “I blow”. From that one word, they can take nineteen different meanings; besides from the twenty-four thousand Oceans of knowledge from each letter.
And that guide is always on the right path of sincerity and piety. During the day and the night, he will observe and do the five-hundred obligations that Prophet (s) explained and that are mentioned in the Holy Qur`an. He has to do them one by one in his day and in his night, not to leave one behind. Not even miswak. So mainly ask, “What are we doing?” We have a turban, we say it’s sunnah. We have a ring, we say it’s sunnah. We have a miswak, we say it’s sunnah. We have loose clothes, we say it’s sunnah. We have pebbles, beads, we say it’s sunnah. We are making five sunnah, we’re relieved. They’re saying five hundred obligations, five hundred of them! Who is doing that?
I used to many times, sleep with Mawlana Shaykh Nazim in the same place when he was young. The first time I slept near him, I saw that before he woke up; before he even opened his eyes, they are still closed, he made tayammum on the bed. Then he put his hand under the pillow. I am watching and thinking “What is he doing?” I didn’t know at that time. So he put his hand under the pillow, took something and ate it. Then he opened his eyes. I asked Mawlana, “What is that?” He said, “This is a sunnah of Prophet (s) and it’s from the five-hundred obligations.” I said, “I didn’t understand, can you explain to me?”
Mawlana Shaykh said, at night you sleep with wudu and you are okay, you’re clean. But during the night, lots of negative energies are passing through the place you are sleeping. This negative energy is a bad energy. They are bad reflections that move with different kinds of waves and pass over you. But since your eyes are closed, they don’t affect you. When you open your eyes, immediately the eyes attract them in. And then they go through your system. And when this happens, many times you wake up with no energy, depressed, feeling sick, headache, many problems; lots of people come like that. So the way to purify ourselves and to be able to throw away these negative energies. “As Grandshaykh قدس سرّه taught me,” he said, “I’m now teaching you.”
That’s why I say people don’t know. You need a lot of experience with the shaykh, the master. These things don’t come easy. And as much as youngsters come, it’s as much as better than elderly. Because then you can train yourself from a young age. When you are young, then the bad energy does not affect you too much. But when you grow up and become fifty and sixty, you’re already advanced; advanced problems, advanced sickness. It’s very difficult to cure with all these bad energies. That’s why sometimes people go to psychiatrists. They have been under this radiation, this bad energy that has been flying everywhere at night. They go to the psychiatrist and contaminate the psychiatrist! Then the psychiatrist will come, and now they both need purification. This happens always.
Grandshaykh قدس سرّه, may Allah bless soul (ameen), told me to keep on the side of the bed, under the pillow, or on the side table a little bit of salt or a small piece of bread. But also have to know we said he made tayammum. You cannot eat without ablution. Since he didn’t take ablution yet, he had to make tayammum. After tayammum, he put that bite in his mouth. So you also have to be careful on that issue. People today eat without tayammum or ablution; they don’t care. Their food is already mixed with all kinds of bad energies. So he takes the salt and puts it in his mouth. You can take anything; a cracker, a piece of bread, an olive, whatever you want. As soon as the food enters the mouth, it will become like a block. It’s a blockage against any kind of bad energy that is floating everywhere. So that bite will go through all your system immediately. Three-hundred angels will be putting it in your mouth and will be responsible for it to pass through your system, your digestive system and your whole body. Then at that time you can open your eyes. I don’t know why we didn’t mention it before. I never mentioned it to anyone since I went to
He said this is one of these five-hundred obligations.
Imagine how many of these five-hundred we are missing, we are not doing. So that wali (guide) has to do these five-hundred obligations completely and he has to stop doing eight-hundred forbiddens. For example, men walking on the street or women walking on the street. Where your eyes have to be looking? Your eyes have to be where you are putting your feet. You cannot put your eyes far. Why? To prevent you to look at something that is forbidden. When you look far, you might see many unacceptable visions; you can see them every where, men or women. So that means a sin is being committed. But if you are driving a car [Mawlana laughs], you cannot look. You have to look or you will make an accident. But Grandshaykh قدس سرّه may Allah bless his soul (ameen), said that if you can stop your eye from not committing one of these sins, it is better to Allah. He will reward you more for this than as if you have done the five-hundred obligations.
That’s that easy. It is very simple for you as `ibadah (worship). Look at Allah’s mercy. He says to you, “Don’t look at that haram (forbidden).” You look, turn your face and say astaghfirullah. You will be rewarded more than you’ll be rewarded for these five-hundred obligations. To stop one time is as if you did the five-hundred obligations at the same time, in the same moment; you have fulfilled them, you’ll be rewarded for them. One forbidden you stop yourself from committing is better than the five-hundred obligations. See how much Allah is rewarding human beings without them knowing and feeling anything.
This is why I’m saying, I don’t want to say it, but I have to. Prophet (s) prohibited someone to look at the face of an amrad, it is haram (forbidden). We are not allowed to look at someone that has no hair on his face. But, there is an out here, an exit; so, don’t worry too much. He an amrad means someone that has no hair completely, hair doesn’t grow. So his face looks like the face of a woman. But some of them have traces, like him [pointing to someone] no, like you [pointing to someone else], it’s okay. But amrad means someone that has nothing, completely nothing. In some countries there are some people that don’t have hair, but they only have one or two. They leave it to be a sign that they have hair. So it is not allowed, it’s prohibited to look. Except for all the mahrams: your daughters, your sisters, your aunt’s daughter, your sister’s daughter, or brother, that’s okay, no problem. So generally, I’m saying that these are very tiny things that we are not learning today. We don’t know them and we are thinking that everything is easy. No! It’s not easy. Guides are not easy shaykhs. But now today, Mawlana with too much mercy in his heart, he is not pointing out these issues. He lets the other people to point them out because they will get the sticks, the other ones. He will be okay alhamdulillah, but this is a problem that they are facing.
So the shaykh has the power to do the five-hundred obligations and leave the eight-hundred forbiddens. He has the power through Allah and through Prophet (s) and awliyaullah to put in his mureed’s heart the five-hundred obligations as if the mureed has done them and also as if the mureed has left the eight-hundred forbiddens completely. The shaykh presents the mureed to Prophet (s) as if they have done these obligations and they are being rewarded for it. The shaykh is doing it on their behalf and he is making istaghfar (asking forgiveness) on their behalf when they are committing any of these eight-hundred forbiddens.
We’ll continue later, we stop here today. Wa minallahi tawfiq bi hurmatil Fatiha. So this will give an idea of where we stand, who are the guides and who are not. People like to take it, accept, it’s up to them. They don’t like, it’s up to them. May Allah forgive us. (ameen)
As-salam alaykum wa rahmatallahi wa barakatuh.