Suhbah at Private Residence
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillaahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.
Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,
nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-salook, lillahi ta'ala al-`Azheem fee hadha 'l-masjid.
أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ
Atee`oollaha wa atee`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:59)
Prophet (s) said:
قال رسول الله ص حياتي خير لكم تحدثون ويحدث لكم ومماتي خير لكم تعرض علي أعمال لكم فإن وجدت خيراً حمدت الله وما وجدت غير ذلك استغفرت لكم.
My life is a great good for you: you relate from and narrations are related to you and my death contains good for you as well, for I observe the `amal of my ummah. If I find good I thank Allah, and if I see other than that, bad, I ask forgiveness for you. (al-Bazzaar in his Musnad)
“I observe your `amal, and my life is good for you because I speak with you and you speak with me.” Do we speak with the Prophet (s)? Of course we do: when you mention his name you are speaking with him, so mention his name! The name of the Prophet (s) after Surat al-Fatihah. What is after Surat al-Fatihah? Surat al-Baqara. What is the beginning of Surat al-Baqara? Alif, Laam, Meem. What is “Alif”? In the understanding of the letter of the Holy Qur’an, Alif is “Allah,” the first letter of “Asmaullah”. He named all His servants with that name, all with “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah w’Allahu Akbar” or “SubhaanAllah wa bihamdihi subhaanAllahi 'l-`Azheem, astagfirullah,” the heaviest words that will make the Scale heavy with hasanaat is to say that. Say, “SubhaanAllah w 'alhamdulillah wa laa ilaaha illa-Llah w ’Allahu Akbar.” We recited it once here and one time is enough to make the Scale heavy with hasanaat when Allah judges us!
You always ask the owner of what you are buying to give you more for your money especially when you want to buy grocery and they want to weigh it, so what do they do? They give you a little bit more. That is for dunya. For Akhirah subhaanAllah w 'alhamdulillah wa laa ilaaha illa-Llah w ’Allahu Akbar is always heavy with hasanaat. So to activate to understand what is behind it...he is a professor, they don’t activate, they memorize, what do you memorize? To activate you need to clean your mouth first with salawaat on Prophet (s) in order to prepare you to know a little bit from that ocean. Alif is the letter that is always standing....without that letter in “Allah”, if you take it out, then it is “lillah”, it is not anymore the name, the name is with Alif. So Alif represents Allah (swt).
Then Laam...because we are reading and we don’t know what we are reading sometimes. Laam is “al-Mulk”: Mulk as-Samaawaati wa Mulk al-Ard, meaning dunya with all universes that Allah created and with Heavens, it is Allah’s Creation. Mulk wa Malakoot. Alif “Allah” the Creator of Laam “Malakoot” and The One responsible for Mulk wa Malakoot Allah gave to Muhammadun Rasoolullah. So if we say ‘Alif, Laam, Meem’ 100 times daily, we are making dhikrullah, we are making salawaat on the Prophet (s) and we are thanking Allah that He created us in this dunya and inshaaAllah will take us to Akhirah with no account!
Look first for Awliyaullah that take you to know about prophets, look for them as they are not hidden. What do we need to do? It is like a pamphlet of instructions when you buy an electronic item, you get a list of different steps in numerical order. So do that to know the secret of Alif, Laam, Meem, to understand the secret of Creation in order to understand that ayah. You have to follow procedure.
Levels of Your Spiritual Journey
The First Level is to Obey Allah
Awliyaullah tell us to do awraad in the procedure. Why some do the procedure and they don’t see any benefits? They don’t find any change in their life, but some do the procedure and they find things opening for them one after one. It is so simple: when you buy a computer the instructions tell you to do step one, step two in the application and you follow. I don’t know computers, but those are the instructions and if you follow the instructions it opens up and if you don’t it says ‘error’. Everyone of us has errors and you have to eliminate one error after the other. How? Why is it that when some people do their awraad and follow instructions of dhikrullah, they feel something blossoming, they feel something different in their hearts, they begin to feel light in their heart, they see things that cannot be seen, hear things that cannot be heard, as is mentioned in a Hadith? Because they are following procedures.
You may see children play video games, they go from one level to the next, it does not send them back unless there is an error. If they have no error they can go further, opening up further levels in the game and it keeps opening and opening, it is an ocean that never ends, from one horizon to another, one level to another, just by following instructions! If you don’t follow instructions then you do your awraad as if you did not do anything.
Why in Islamic history are the names and lives of Awliyaullah mentioned? Awliyaullah have recorded their entire lives: their students wrote the history of their shuyookh and how they became saints, Awliyaullah. They are alive, can you not see who is alive? You can see! Why are we not seeing? Allah mentioned in the Holy Qur’an:
بَلْ أَحْيَاء عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ يُرْزَقُونَ
No, they live, finding their sustenance provided in the Presence of their Lord. (Surat Aali-`Imraan, 3:169)
They are alive in both death and life. They alive in the Presence of their Lord provided. How did they reach that? They followed instructions. If you don’t follow instructions, you will be considered to be from `awwaam an-naas, common people. You will be like the others. Do you want to reach the second level, and then further levels?
The First Step is to Remember Allah
The first step to open is, I don’t like to call like a game, but when you say ‘game’ everyone understands; it is like a game that opens from one level to another, but they are Divinely Levels that move from level one to an infinite numbers of levels. (...video cut) These instructions are not so difficult. Allah (swt) said:
إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلاَفِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لآيَاتٍ لِّأُوْلِي الألْبَابِ الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىَ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ
Behold! In the creation of Heaven and Earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding, those who remember Allah (always, and in prayers) standing, sitting and lying down on their sides, and contemplating the creation of the Heavens and the Earth. (Surat Aali `Imraan, 3:190-191)
Alladheena yadhkuroon Allah, that part of that ayah, “Those who remember their Lord”, when you want to do your awraad, the first level is that you must remember your Lord. Allah (swt) said, “Those who mention Allah (swt), who call on Him, who praise and glorify Him.” So the first step going forward is by moving towards the Divine Presence through dhikrullah. Agreed? [Yes.] The best dhikrullah is to say, “I seek refuge in Allah from Shaytan, Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem,” to mention Allah’s Beautiful Names in Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem. Through these three Levels and Names, “Allah, ar-Rahman, ar-Raheem,” you are pushing yourself up. How? Through remembering Allah (swt), then your awraad will be on the right track, moving.
So what is the second thing you must do now? To remember Allah in which situation and in which way? Qiyaaman, standing, qu`oodan, sitting, and `alaa junoobihim, lying down. So it means in every position you are in your daily life, either standing, sitting or lying in your bed, you have to remember Allah (swt). Awliyaullah did that. I used to travel with Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q), taking him here and there, and sometimes we were guests in a house where the host didn’t have except one room and one bed to give, and Mawlana would say, “Okay,” and sleep on the bed and tell me to sleep with him, so it would be the two of us on the bed. I never saw him except with beads in his hand, even when he was sleeping. He would not drop the tasbeeh from his hands except to wake up and make wudu. When he would finish his wudu, he would take the beads in his hand. So that is to remind me and to teach me to do dhikrullah.
Did anyone figure out that if one sleeps with his shaykh in the same bed, what kind of ni`mah Allah will give? I used to sleep on one side, afraid to move right or left, so that he may not shout at me. I slept not on my right side, because if I give my right side my back would be to him, so I slept on my left side in order to keep facing him. Sometimes he would say, “Sleep!” I wanted to see what he was doing, but he would not let me. His heart was open, you could hear his heart saying, “Allah, Allah, Allah” by itself, you could hear it without a stethoscope.
Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, said, “Nazim Effendi never drops the beads from his hand, except when he needs to refresh his wudu.” I saw that during the day and I saw that at bedtime. So it shows us that when he is in bed laying down he is with dhikrullah, so he is in dhikrullah standing up, sitting down and laying in bed. What did Allah (swt) say in a Holy Hadith that He revealed to the Prophet (s) and the Prophet (s) revealed to the Ummah?
أَنَا جَلِيْسُ مَنْ ذَكَرَنِي
I sit with him who remembers Me. (Hadith Qudsi. Ahmad, Bayhaqi)
If we take it literally, Allah (swt) is saying, as it came in the hadith, “I am sitting with the one who remembers Me.” What you want better than that? So to remember Allah is to say “Allah.” Now we said “Allah,” He is with us. This is a Holy Hadith (Qudsi), which means this hadith is revealed by Allah directly to the Prophet (s). Allah says, “I am with you, I will activate for you all kinds of levels that you can move in to reach to see what people cannot see and to hear what people cannot hear.” So you have to follow these instructions to remember Allah (swt), when you are standing up, sitting and laying down until you fall asleep. That will take you to a higher level. When you do that standing, sitting and lying down, remembering Allah, then you will reach to contemplate and meditate, think and ponder on the creation of Heavens and Earth, then Allah will open to you Heavens and Earth.
سَنُرِيهِمْ آيَاتِنَا فِي الْآفَاقِ وَفِي أَنفُسِهِمْ
We are going to show them Our Signs in the horizons and in themselves. (Surat al-Fussilat, 41:53)
If you want to see Allah’s Signs, come jump on that train, that caravan! Allah is saying, “Come, I will show you My Signs.” How to jump? It means to meditate, sit and contemplate. When we make dhikrullah saying “Allah,” or “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah,” because you have to say it 100 to 1,000 times a day, your heart has to be in meditation and thinking about Allah’s Greatness, don’t just take the tasbeeh and say, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah” while you are talking. Yes, that is after you finish your awraad, but that will not take you to another level, as you are still in kindergarten with no improvement. You say “Bismillah” anywhere and get rewards, you say “Allah” and you get rewards, say, “Allahumma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammadin wa `alaa aali Muhammadin wa sallim” and you get rewards, but you will not go level after level without contemplating. Now people are doing it without contemplation, but Allah (swt) said:
وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ
And contemplating the creation of the Heavens and the Earth. (Surat Aali `Imraan, 3:191)
Tariqah is based on meditation and without it, you cannot go from one level to the next. Yes, as soon as you accept your shaykh, your name is registered, like you register your son in school but the benefit is not there until you study well and pass your tests. So here are a lot of tests: the rich have tests, poor have tests, middle-class have tests, every kind of people have tests, everyone has difficulties, and everyone has problems and debts.
لا راحة في الدين
Laa raahata fi ’d-deen.
There is no rest in religion.
There is no relaxation in religion when you are a pious, sincere Muslim, as the Prophet (s) said:
قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : يأتي على الناس زمان القابض على دينه كالقابض على الجمر
[In the Last Days] the one holding his religion firmly in his hand is like someone holding a burning coal.
(Tirmidhi)
Today there is so much difficulty around the world, you will feel like you are holding coal, and those who hold fast to their religion will be like they are holding fire in their hands, especially for women who cover their heads, and they receive rewards that no man can know except the Prophet (s), because they stepped on their ego and they cover their hair. And those who don't (cover their heads) their affair is with Allah (swt). Similarly we are not exempted from that. If we don’t cover our head we will also be asked about it; the Prophet (s) never walked outside uncovered, every moment in his life he (s) had a cover on his head.
So Allah (swt) gave us instructions, “Remember Me standing, sitting and lying down.”
إِنَّ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَاخْتِلاَفِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ لآيَاتٍ لِّأُوْلِي الألْبَابِ الَّذِينَ يَذْكُرُونَ اللّهَ قِيَامًا وَقُعُودًا وَعَلَىَ جُنُوبِهِمْ وَيَتَفَكَّرُونَ فِي خَلْقِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ
Behold! In the creation of Heaven and Earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding, those who remember Allah (always, and in prayers) standing, sitting and lying down on their sides, and contemplating the creation of the Heavens and the Earth.
(Surat Aali `Imraan, 3:190-191)
“When you meditate on the creation of Heavens and Earth” that will lead you to know the secret up and up in levels. It will lead you even to know the secret of every grain of sand that Allah created! You will understand what every grain of sand says. Do you think it does not make tasbeeh? How many grains of sand can you find in a desert? You cannot count them, but Allah knows how many:
كُلُّ شَيْءٍ عِندَهُ بِمِقْدَارٍ
Every single thing is before His Sight, in (due) proportion. (Surat Ar-Ra`d, 13:8)
Allah (swt) created everything in a measure.
لَقَدْ أَحْصَاهُمْ وَعَدَّهُمْ عَدًّاوَ
He does take an account of them (all) and has numbered them (all) exactly. (Surat Maryam, 19:94)
Ahsaahum wa `addahum `adda, He counted them and numbered them one by one. (...video cut) Everything has its measurement! Allahumma salli 'alaa Sayyidina Muhammadin ...they do tasbeeh:
وَإِن مِّن شَيْءٍ إِلاَّ يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدَهِ
And there is not a thing but celebrates His praise! (Surat al-Israa’, 17:44)
Everything makes tasbeeh! Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur'an, everything praises Him, even the grain of sand is making tasbeeh, even the atom, even smaller than an atom, they all make tasbeeh, and Allah said that you don’t understand their tasbeeh, we cannot understand it, but the Prophet (s) can hear it. When the Prophet (s) put seven pebbles in his hand the Sahaabah (r) were around him hearing the tasbeeh of the pebbles. Do you want to know the second stage? The first stage is to remember Allah (swt) and the second stage Allah will open for you to reflect on the creation of Heavens and Earth. What does that mean? It means Allah will give you that secret and hide it for you until you become mature; not maturity as we understand, here it means you begin to see these things and Allah is keeping it for you, what Allah gave you is different and what He gave you (another person) is different and what he gave you is different. So if you want to reach the second level, make tasbeeh to Allah and reflect on Heavens and Earth. You want to know.
They say this theoretically before the universe took form it was gas and swimming in it the galaxies and they form another stage of elements, icy elements with molecules and after millions of years it becomes mountains and becomes Earth. These all will disappear from your mind and all these theories of Darwin of how skies were formed, then you will begin to know the realities of how these skies were formed. (...video cut) And when they give, they give! When the Prophet (s) gives, it is not taken back, and when the shaykh gives, he gives! There is no abrogation, only Allah makes abrogation in the Holy Qur'an or the Prophet (s) makes abrogation in Holy Hadith. You cannot abrogate what the shaykh said! If he gave you something you are honored, and you cannot abrogate it. To abrogate means to say something one time and then something else another; he can, but you cannot abrogate what the shaykh said. When he gives you something, you are honored and you thank Allah (swt) that He gave you something.
When you go to Mecca and Madinah, what do people buy there? Dates, tasbeeh, beads, forget dates and Zamzam; they are something beneficial to health, correct? But why do you buy beads? For barakah! You carry beads from Madinat al-Munawwarah to your home although those beads are coming from China to Madinah. From one place to another place, but because the Prophet (s) is there, everything becomes barakah. Anything in Madinah will get that tajalli, that Manifestation of Noor and Allah will give to your heart to see what others cannot see. So you get it for barakah and you come home and give to people, saying, “This is from Madinah.”
So when the shaykh gives you a title, whatever they say, they cannot take it away! Whatever they try to do, it is impossible! When Allah (swt) said to the Prophet (s):
يا عبدي اطعني اجعلك ربانيا تقول لشي كن فيكون
O My servant! Obey Me and I will make you Lordly; (if) you say to a thing "Be!” it will be (exist).
And that Lordly giving is not like our giving, like we sometimes give then we fight and say, “Give it back to me.” Allah does not do that. When He gives He says, “Take as much as you like, but improve yourself as you continue and go forward there are more instructions and more obstacles, and the instructions become more difficult.
إِنَّ اللّهَ اشْتَرَى مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنفُسَهُمْ وَأَمْوَالَهُم بِأَنَّ لَهُمُ الجَنَّةَ
Indeed, Allah has purchased from the Believers their lives and their properties; (in exchange) for that they will have Paradise. (Surat at-Tawbah, 9:111)
Allah (swt) purchased the Believer’s wealth and their selves. When they go for fighting they give their life and Allah gives them Paradise. And so as much as you go forward in following instructions, it gets more and more difficult, but keep going on, going on, and meditating, doing awraad, contemplating and doing dhikrullah, then you will see Paradise opening for you! Why? Because you are dedicating your time to meditation and to dhikrullah. Allah is Just! He is the Best of Judges. He will grant an opening to you from a rawdah from Allah's Paradises in Jannah, for as much `ibaadah as you want to do. But when you want to do dhikrullah and don’t do meditation on that dhikr, it is like reading from a newspaper, like saying, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llaah,”[very fast on beads] and you finished 200. Otherwise, you can say, “Laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llaah” [slowly] from your belly up to your right shoulder, acknowledging ‘There is no God but Allah’ on your heart side and meditating on it. (...video cut)
قُلِ الله ثُمَّ ذَرْهُمْ فِي خَوْضِهِمْ يَلْعَبُونَ
Say "Allah," then leave them to plunge in vain discourse and trifling. (Surat al-An`am, 6:91)
Allah is reminding us, “Whatever they want to humiliate, they humiliate, but your concern is not about them, your concern is about Me.” Look at Me, meditate on Heavens and Earth, stay focused and follow the instructions. That is what will benefit you, not focusing on what people say, “This one deviated in Tariqah.” There are people who say all Tariqahs are deviation, bida`. We have to be careful to follow our instructions and follow the awraad according to the instructions, and do dhikr of “Allah, Allah, Allah” according to instructions and Allah will open. May Allah forgive us.
Is the program finished? Because for three nights now, where is the Singaporean? Over there hiding or they might be sleeping there as they did not let me sleep for two nights! F`alam annahu ‘laa ilaaha illa-Llaah, laa ilaaha illa-Llaah, laa ilaaha illa-Llaah’.
Wa min Allahi ‘t-tawfeeq bihurmati ‘l-habeeb bi hurmati ‘l-Fatihah.
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