Zuhr Suhbah at Private Residence
(Suhbah starts @ 9:00 on video)
Allahumma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammad! Allahumma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammad!
Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,
nawaytu 'r-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`alaa fee haadha '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)
Tariqatuna as-suhbah wa ‘l-khayru fi ‘l-jami`yya. I’m not going to be a teacher on you, but I am asking Allah (swt) to forgive all of us and to (grant that we) follow our teachers in order to achieve (the best in) dunya and Akhirah. And dunya is, as Allah (swt) said in the Holy Qur’an:
رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
Rabbana atinaa fi ’d-dunya hasanatan wa fi ‘l-akhirati hasanatan wa qina `adhaba ‘ n-naar.
Our Lord, give us in this world (that which is) good and in the Hereafter (that which is) good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire. (Surah al-Baqarah, 2:201)
“Rabbana atinaa fi ’d-dunya hasanatan” has many meanings, but (basically) it means, “Give us the connections, give us the keys." Holy Qur'an says, "O Allah! Give us in dunya goodness." What is the goodness? The highest level of goodness that the `abd, servant, is always asking is to give him connections with Heavens, and connections cannot be achieved through your hard work only, but also through love of awliyaullah and to learn from them their experiences that they have lived in it and they learned about it and they faced difficulties. “To live about it” is to accept what the shaykh has to say to you. Why you want your child to listen to you and you get upset if your child doesn’t listen to you, is it not? They want that whatever they say to the child, he has to obey. If that is the case, we are children in the presence of our shuyookh, which means the shaykh gets upset if he says something and we don't respond.
What do you do for your child when he doesn’t respond? You get upset with him and you punish him, and from country to country the punishment differs. You understand what I am saying? (Yes.) So punishment differs from one place to another; according to the place you are living in, you give him the punishment so he can behave well through it. And awliyaullah, when they see their followers need a punishment--because we are children in their presence, we must accept and remember that we are unhappy with our children if they are not obeying--also the shaykh is not happy with us when we are not obeying.
And as it is mentioned in a story about a teacher and his student. His student was a highly qualified scholar who didn't like anyone to yantaqid, criticize his knowledge, because his understanding is high above everyone’s understanding, but out of the understanding that you need a guide, he took the shaykh as a guide for him. Then 27 years after that, he came to the shaykh and said, “O my teacher! I am with you for 27 years and I never get what others are getting--not all of the others but some of them--so I served you and I looked after you and I did my best and still I am not reaching what the Prophet (s) said in the hadith that, ‘You will be able to see what people cannot see, you will be able to hear what people cannot hear.’ I am (with you for) 27 years and I am coming to the end of my life.”
Too many people today come to tariqah to hear or they come to tariqah to see or they come to tariqah for their problems to be solved. Everyone has different intentions to come and to address his issue. No one comes for something important, which happened between that shaykh and that teacher, and it will give the meaning. Everyone says, "O! I am coming to visit the shaykh." Eh! The shaykh is not in need of your visit; he is wasting his time with you, he is doing it as a favor for you, welcoming you! Sometimes you knock at the door of someone in a western country and he opens the door and says, "How can I help you?" They don’t even tell you, “Please come in,” is it not? They don’t tell you, “Come! Please come in.” So everyone wants respect and they get upset with that person who didn’t let you to come in.
Also awliyaullah they have...they do things in order to make you to know that you have something missing in you and you have to fix it; to come in, you have to fix something that is missing in you. So we have something missing in us, like some people on the stage think they are the peacock of the gathering and that they don't need to accept any complaint. It is a wrong belief! You are full of mistakes and you don't want anyone to say, "O!" criticizing you. So the shaykh, in an indirect way, wants to teach that you have no presence in the shaykh's presence, you have no choice, you have no opinion! You cannot give your opinion; if you want to give your opinion, why do you have a shaykh? “Give your opinion and continue,” means, “Do as you like!” You say to someone, "No, don't do this," and he says, "Why I must not do that?" Okay, do it, it’s up to you!
So you don’t want to be criticized of what you are saying and doing by the shaykh or by anyone, and you want to keep all the characters that the shaykh finds wrong in you, you don’t try to take it away and throw them in the garbage. The shaykh is for your benefit, not for his benefit! As I said, the shaykh is wasting his time sitting with people. He prefers to be in his own presence, in his own circle, always focusing through his heart on the Prophet (s). He is not in need to focus on everyone! That’s why sometimes you ask the shaykh a question to give you an answer and he might be in a state of trance, he is not here, his heart is somewhere, so he is not focussed with you and he might give you an answer that you might not like and even if you like it and you do it, you might lose. Don’t argue, “Why I lost?” Like the Prophet (s) said to the Sahaabah to plant the trees and pollinate the trees. Then they died, they didn’t give fruit, dates next year and they got upset, and the Prophet (s) said, “I came to fix your Akhirah, not your dunya. Don’t ask me for your dunya, for your tijaarah, businesses, ask me for your businesses for Akhirah.”
So when that man, that scholar whom everyone knows is of high caliber came to his shaykh, what did the shaykh say to him after he complained? Let him complain! He complained, “I did this, I did this, I did this and I didn’t see any benefit in 27 years. I’m lost! I lost these 27 years of my life in your service. What did I get?" Many, many around the world with their shuyookh, their thinking doesn’t coincide with the thinking of the shaykh: he answers from the west, they want answer from the east, so there is no way to meet, no intersection, (like) parallel lines and parallel lines do not meet.
So that’s why the shaykh always...if he has millions of followers, he will have a few among them that he gave them what they deserve because of their loyalty, not to him, as he doesn’t mind if you are loyal to him or not, but your loyalty to complete what Prophet (s) said, “I have been sent to perfect your characters, to complete your characters."
انما بعثت لاتمم مكارم الاخلاق
Innamaa bu`ithtu li utammimu makaarim al-akhlaaq.
I have been sent to perfect the best of conduct (your behavior and character). (Bazzaar)
What is the benefit of someone with bad characters? And that is why the relationship between....Why shaykhs put representatives in every place? In order at least these representatives went into training, and sometimes without training but by grant, he grants them that, to be a representative for people to see them because it is difficult to go visit the shaykh if he is in India or in Pakistan or in Southeast Asia or as our shaykh, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, may Allah give him long life, in Cyprus. It is difficult to travel within this huge world. Before, (if a) shaykh was in one city in India and all the people are around him, they take from him and the one in Pakistan is in Pakistan. You had five, you had ten, you had twenty different cities (and that shaykh remained there). But in the case of Mawlana Shaykh (q), (he has followers in) too many places, so he gives permission in order to spread the name of tariqah and the connection with the shaykh and that is what is enough for the time being.
Before, no! Before, they wanted you to study and finish all courses of Shari`ah in order that you begin with tariqah and to know it very well, and it is not standing on a stage and wanting everyone to admire you, because tariqah’s balance is very delicate. If you are not studying and learning and reading and doing your best in a humble way--not to think of yourself that you are a peacock standing on the stage and want everyone to speak nicely about you--if you go like that to the stage you will lose, but if you go to the stage with inkisaaru ‘l-qalb, that, “Yaa Rabbee! I’m not that one. O Prophet! I’m not that one. O my teacher! I’m not that one. O gathering! I’m not that one. I’m trying my best, but I’m not that one (who is great)!” That’s what they like from their representative to go to the stage with a broken heart, that they are trying to do their best and this is what they can do, then he rest comes from awliyaullah.
So that person, that `alim said, “I am with you 27 years.” First, when he is addressing his shaykh, that is tark al-adab, disrespect, to tell him, “I’m with you 27 years.” To tell someone else between the mureeds is okay, but not to the shaykh! The shaykh doesn’t need your 27 years, he can find many like you! It is good he did not kick you away, but he wants to teach you a lesson. So he said, “I am with you 27 years and I never got anywhere, I was not able to reach what you are speaking about,” because tariqah speaks about people to be in a trance, in a state of love to Prophet (s), to Allah (set), to give their lives to them and to give their lives to the teacher. And without looking at what is going wrong here and there, they focus on their teacher and reach what other people cannot reach.
One time a shaykh in a big gathering called his followers and said, “I want the biggest gathering possible! I want everyone to be present on this day; whatever people are, away and far, whatever, they travel and they come. I want everyone!” So everyone came, sitting with the shaykh in adab on their knees, and the shaykh said, “Tonight I am asking you something, a favor. All my life I am doing you a favor, (now) I want a favor from you. I want you to give me financially whatever you can give, you give with no question. Tonight I didn’t tell you to come with a lot of money in your pockets, but whatever you have put in front of me, everything you have, to the smallest penny!” There was no penny at that time, but only dirhams.
Everyone, out of love to the shaykh, pulled out whatever they had, even rings and bracelets and put them in front of the shaykh and many of them were poor people, but they gave out of love, they gave everything they had! He said, “You are not allowed to keep anything in your pocket!” so they gave everything. There was no credit card, so they gave their ‘credit cards’ also, although there was no credit card, they gave it, they gave everything! The shaykh took it as it was, read on it, wrapped it with a blanket, brought it in front of everyone and called his son. His son was a person who was always drunk; he drank and drinking is not accepted, which means he commited sins and so on.
The shaykh took the money and gave it to him, saying, “Go, do what you like.” Allahu Akbar! Everyone began to doubt, thinking, “What is the shaykh doing? We are more in need than this drunk son who took the money and left!”
The shaykh gave the money to him, so this doubt began to come in their hearts, and the shaykh said to his son, “Go and spend it, don’t leave anything! Take your time spending it.” So the son was happy as it big money! He took it and he went spending left and right, and the mureeds were not happy, not all of them but some of them, until one day they saw the son coming to dhikr with his father.
All the mureeds were there, and he said, "O my father! I want to repent."
Everyone said to themselves in their hearts, doubting, "After you spent our money, you want to repent?"
So the shaykh said, "O my beloved students, mureeds! I want to tell you something which shuyookhs don’t always say, but I want to tell you something. I looked at the Preserved Tablets and I saw that my son will never stop drinking until he will spend a certain amount of money. When he spends that amount of money, he will repent. Then I looked deeply and I found in order that he can spend this money, to get all that amount and to spend it, it’s going to take him all his life until he dies to be able to collect that money, spend it and then repent. So it meant he is not going to repent in dunya and he might go to the grave with punishment, although I am his father.”
In Allah 's Eyes there is no father and there is no mother; everyone is responsible for himself. Now the other issue we can explain about--that the shuyookh will intercede or Allah will forgive for the shaykh or for certain people Allah will forgive for shafa`ah of Prophet (s)--but this is another situation, another field of rahmatullah. We try to focus on what we have to do.
So he said, “I saw that he is going to repent when he will spend this amount of money on garbage, on anything that he wants. So it will take him all his life, and I don’t have money, so he is going to be like a burglar on the road and he will take money by robbing people. So I said to myself, ‘There is no way to save him except through your help; with your help I can save him.’ So when I asked you to collect that money that I hoped will reach the exact number that I saw on the Preserved Tablets that he needs to spend in order to be forgiven, to repent, I expedited it. Instead of him spending all his life to get that money, I made it for him to get it in one week’s time and that he can spend it in one week’s time. What you gave me was the exact amount that was written on the Preserved Tablet that he needs to spend in order to repent. I made him expedite it so that he will repent by spending this money in a short time, as he has it now because of you.”
See awliyaullah, what they do! “Now because of you, he repented. You did a favor for me, and my favor to you is, I am asking Allah and His Prophet (s) to intercede for all of you to go to Paradise!"
So with that wisdom, awliyaullah work. We cannot see that; we cannot see that way of wisdom. All of the mureeds or most of the mureeds were saying, “Why did the shaykh collect (money) and give it to his son?” Because he is saving, and because he saved his son, now he has to render back their favor by saving them. So it is cause and effect: in this dunya when you do something you get something. So don’t doubt when the shaykh asks you something, because it might take from you a big problem. You don’t know, you might be going out of your house and end up in an accident and you die, so if the shaykh asks you something, quickly help! Do it, because it might save you from something that is more dangerous that you are not seeing and awliyaullah don’t show that; they do it privately, like in the story of Grandshaykh (q), may Allah bless him, about a shaykh with his mureed.
One of his high level mureeds who is one of the khalifahs of the shaykh, always in his prayers makes du`a for his shaykh, “May Allah give him long life! May Allah keep him among us!” and is always dedicated in his prayer, praying all his prayers, doing salawaat on Prophet (s), doing the work that the shaykh wants from him until he reaches, after many years, to be able to see what is written on the Preserved Tablets about himself and about his shaykh. On the Preserved Tablets, he saw it was written that his shaykh is going to Hellfire, to punishment. Twenty-five years he spent with his shaykh and at the end he was able to see that. He went into sajda and began to supplicate, “Yaa Rabbee! Forgive my shaykh, forgive my shaykh! Change him from Hellfire to Paradise!"
After lots of supplications for a long time, he saw on the Preserved Tablets, “O My servant! Your du`a is accepted. I’m changing your shaykh from punishment to Paradise.”
He went to his shaykh to tell him the good news. As soon as he reached the house of the shaykh, the shaykh took his siwaak and broke it and said, "I will break you into two halves! I will break you like this miswaak I broke now! I will break you and don’t come to show me your face, don’t come here anymore until you change me back from Paradise to Hellfire! Don’t interfere!”
He went back not happy. He was thinking he did a favor for his shaykh and that is bad adab, also. Who are you to say to the shaykh (anything)? No, if you want to say, “O Allah! Take him from punishment,” it’s okay, but don’t come with arrogance to tell your shaykh, although from beginning you were in a mistake! So now you come with arrogance to tell the shaykh, “I did this,” in front of everyone? So he didn’t let him to speak. He broke the miswaak and said, “Go back! Bring me back as I was before.”
He went not happy, going to his prayer room and went into sajda, crying, “Yaa Rabbee! Take my shaykh back from Paradise to Hellfire!” but he was disciplined in his way of saying it, as, “Yaa Rabbee! Render him back as he was.”
So after a while he saw that it was written, “Your du`a has been accepted: the shaykh is under punishment in Hellfire.”
He came to the shaykh happy to tell him, “O my teacher! I brought you back from Paradise to Hellfire.”
The shaykh looked at him and without him saying that, he read his heart and said, “Yaa waladee, O my son! For 25 years I am seeing this written on the Preserved Tablets, since 25 years I never interfered in my Lord’s Will! He wanted me to be in Hellfire (then let it be so as) I am not worshipping Him to be able to be away from Hellfire, I’m worshipping Him because I love Him! If He wants to put me in Hellfire, there might be a wisdom there and if He wants to put me in Paradise, there might be a wisdom there, so I follow!”
So he never interfered in Allah’s Will. That’s why in the Naqshbandi Sufi Order, they don’t interfere in Allah’s Will. Don’t expect you are going to see, don’t expect you are going to hear! You are not coming to tariqah to hear and to see, you are coming to tariqah to discipline yourself, to polish your heart with such gatherings as it is a polishing of the heart. So tariqah is this: not to show miracles. Showing miracles, they don’t like it as it means your mureeds are not satisfied with what you are giving them of discipline, so they want miracles to believe in you, so shuyookh don’t like that. It’s forbidden without the permission that the shaykh will take from Prophet (s) that, “I will do this miracle.” If he was authorized to do it, he will do it or else he cannot do it, he will never do it!
Like last night they (mureeds) wanted to go late at night and it is not preferable to drive six hours at night. They wanted to go for their job. Was it not better to pray Qiyaam al-Layl, Tahajjud, Salaat an-Najaat, Shukr and Tasbeeh? Was it not better for them to get the benefit of that, or was it better for them to drive at night after twelve o’clock? So Mawlana didn’t want them to be lost in the middle and they will be far, so he broke their car on the exit to bring them back, to teach them not to go when everyone is together, even if you are going to make millions of dollars in that day! You can do millions of hasanaat for Akhirah! So he put them on an exit and the engine ended. Now they are towing the car back. Sometimes such cases are difficult; if he had put them in the middle of the way out of nowhere to be in a difficult position, so at the exit everything there.
So the shaykh said, “I am seeing this for 25 years and I never said, ‘O my Lord! Change me.’ Allah wants me here or wants me there, I’m accepting.” So the shuyookh...coming to the shaykh is for discipline, so when you lose that point and you say, “I want to see, I want to hear,” then they don’t need you. When you ask for these things, they don’t need you. You go find someone else that can give you that, as we don’t give you that, period! There is no choice!
Grandshaykh `AbdAllah, may Allah bless his soul, said, “When Shaykh Sharafuddin gave me the secret after the first five-year seclusion”--he was in seclusion for five years eating seven olives and a piece of bread half as big as your hand, for five years--“when he gave me the trust, amanaat, after I finished miracles were coming like water. I am moving with miracles. He came to me and said, ‘Yaa `AbdAllah Effendi! You make sure you completely stop yourself from miracles, as you divorce your wife three times and you cannot go back to her, so you divorce miracles six times!’”
That means there is no way to go back to miracles, not only three times, but six times!” He said, “In tariqah there is no way to do miracles. If you are looking for miracles, go find some other shaykhs.” That is their way and you cannot change that. People come to Mawlana Shaykh or those representing him and what are they expecting? Miracles. “What should I do with my business,” “What I do with this and that?” Might be the shaykh will give you a decision that he is...like yesterday, they wanted to go. Okay go, but it was better for them to make one-million salawaat here for the barakah of the salawaat and Qiyaamu ‘l-Layl, better than going to make one-million dollars the next day! So they might give you an answer from that side, from an Akhirah point of view, and you lose, then you come to the shaykh saying, “O my shaykh! You said to me I’m going to make better, what’s happening?”
(and he says) “Okay, I told you, but I look for Akhirah.”
The Prophet (s) said, “I came to fix your Akhirah, not your dunya.”
One time I asked Grandshaykh (q) a dunya question, like people ask. He said, “Yaa waladee, O my son! Go downtown to the business area and ask the people of business what you need to do, don’t come here to ask me!”
So going back to the beginning, that scholar came to his shaykh and said, “I spent with you 27 years (I mentioned that story before) and I never got something that I feel I can see or can hear."
The shaykh said, “Okay, you want to see and hear? Go to the market, buy a bucket, fill it with walnuts and go to door of the masjid, take off your shoes and put them there and tell everyone who is coming in or going out, ‘Take my shoes and beat me on the neck, I will give you one walnut; beat me two times, I will give you two walnuts; beat me three times, I will give you three walnuts.’ Do that until you finish, then come back to me to discuss," not yet sure to give him anything.
People don’t like this kind of an answer. The shaykh wants him to wake up; it is a wake-up call to wake you up from sleep. He wants to wake him up to tell him, “The way you are...for 27 years you thought you are a peacock, the best musician, the best speaker, the best businessman. No, you are not! You are not the best in Allah’s Eyes, but you are the best in Shaytan’s dunya! You want to be the best? Be the most humble; humble yourself.”
It means, don’t come to the shaykh and say, ‘I am here 27 years....’ Who cares for you? 27 years or fifty years! They crush you and you have to accept the crush! It’s not easy to accept the crush. They send tests from left and right and if you keep steady it will open up more. Although you are beaten, you can see the slap coming right and left. You have to walk through this minefield. There are some machines (with which) you can see where there is a mine or not, so you can use that machine--if you can, if you know how to use it--and walk beside the mine. Don’t step on the mine or they break you down! They want you to learn how to move in difficulties and to take the followers to move through their difficulties to come to the end, which is clear for everyone, white for everyone. So this dunya is a minefield.
So this `alim didn’t accept and he lost 27 years of his life! He didn’t accept that and he said, “No, this is not for me, to ask me to put my shoes and tell people to beat me. This means you are humiliating me.”
What is the big issue with being humiliated?
“Yes, I’m humiliating you. You want to learn? You want to learn? You don’t want to learn, find another shaykh.”
How many people are finding other shaykhs! Now it is a big test for everyone in our tariqah, it’s a big test for everyone! Certain people can be called upstairs to see Mawlana Shaykh (q) and there are very few that can go, because the decision is in the hands of some two or three people there. Whom they like they bring up and whom they don’t like they curse, saying, “Go down, stay down!” We can see him when he is going out for his drive. Alhamdulillah, with all of that test, people are still in love with Mawlana Shaykh (q) and they are happy even to get a glance at him! We tell them, “Don’t be upset if you see a situation that you don’t like, nevermind.” Looking at him is rahmah! Go and let him look in your eyes and you look in his eyes, it’s enough! Alhamdulillah, people are accepting and they are still going, although it’s a big test for everyone. And what you tell them...you have to make them to pass through that minefield in order to save themselves.
So tests are everywhere. We have to open our minds that the shaykh did not come to fix our dunya. The shaykh has been given permission from his shaykh and from his shaykh and from his shaykh to the Prophet (s) to fix our Akhirah, not our dunya! Our dunya, what’s the benefit? Look, this book and thousands of books have been written like this book, but why do I like this book? Because the author took from all books about tariqah, about the Naqshbandi Tariqah, about the love of Prophet (s), about dhikrullah, about tasawwuf, and put them in three lines, four lines, five lines, in small summaries from different shuyookh from different backgrounds. You read two or three lines, the summary, because in one page you have two or three summaries or paragraphs, and one paragraph is enough to give you knowledge until Akhirah and give you a way to accept awliyaullah! If I read these stories of awliyaullah with their families and with their followers, you will be amazed because most of these stories are tests that the shaykhs make for their representatives and their followers. Every moment they are in a test, even awliyaullah, as it’ is mentioned (in this book) and I heard that story from Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul. How many times have I read this book? Many times, but I didn’t see that story (until) today. Grandshaykh (q) used to say that story forty years ago, and this book is not from forty years ago but sooner, like thirty years ago. Fifty years ago Grandshaykh (q) used to say that story, about a test from a wali to Sayyidina Azra`eel (a), Malak al-Mawt (a), the Angel of Death.
Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, (same story here as in the book) said that one time Malak al-Mawt (a) was ordered to go and collect the souls of people who are dying in the moment, because in every moment there is someone dying that Malak al-Mawt has to take their soul. A moment came, one moment in the life of one mureed of Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q), and Malak al-Mawt had already collected thirty-seven souls around the world from people dying and he came to that person in a moment, taking his soul. So he took his soul and put it in something you cannot describe in dunya, a container, and put all these souls there. At that moment when he took his soul and put it inside, Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q), al-Ghawth, the highest level in sainthood, Sultan al-Awliya, was calling on that mureed, one of the best mureeds who was always with him.
They said, "O! He died."
He said, "How did he die and I didn't know?"
He looked and saw Sayyidina `Azra’eel (a) taking the soul of his mureed to the cage, to that container. He said to him, “Yaa `Azra’eel! How are you taking that soul without notifying me? Adab is to notify me! You have to tell me as I’m responsible for him.”
Prophet (e) said the level of al-Ghawth is responsible in front of Prophet (s), in front of Allah (swt). These awliya, al-Ghawth, then the Five Qutbs are under responsibility to answer.
He said, “How he took it without telling me? You cannot continue your trip up,” where there is no up, there is no left, there is no down, there is no right, there is no left, whatever.
إنَّا لله و إنَّا إليه راجعون
Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji`oon.
To Allah we belong and unto Him do we return. (Surat al-Baqara, 2:156)
“You have no right to take the soul of my servant and put it in that cage, in that container with the others, without telling me. Might me I will supplicate to Allah (swt) and Allah will send him to Paradise, to a place where he needs to be sent!”
So they began an argument, between Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q) and Sayyidina `Azra’eel, Malak al-Mawt, which didn’t end up well. (Laughter.) So Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q) with a movement pulled that cage, the container, and all the souls came out! He took the soul of his mureed (along) with the other souls and at that moment the mureed opened his eyes. Sayyidina `Azra’eel didn’t know what to do as he was stuck between Heavens and Earth.
He said, “Yaa Rabbee! What do I have to do?”
A voice came, saying, “You did what you did, your job, but you did not listen to My Ghawth, you did not give him the respect that should be given to one of My awliya!
من عادا لي وليا فقد آذنته بالحرب
Man `adaa lee waliyyan faqad aadhantahu bi ’l-harb.
(Allah [swt] said) Whoever comes against My wali, I declare war on him.
(Hadith Qudsi; Bukhari, from Abu Hurayrah)
“Anyone who comes against one of My Awliya, I declare war against him! I don’t mind. My wali is a human being and I honored human beings and I honored My awliya!
وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَ
Wa laqad karamnaa Bani Adam.
We have honored the Children of Adam. (Surat al-'Israa, 17:70)
“Now because of you, what is the problem if you gave him the soul of his mureed? Give to him, then it’s another story and we will see. Why did you quarrel until he freed thirty-seven of them? For the sake of the love of My servant Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q), I freed them all and I gave them thirty-seven years of age more! Come back.”
So awliyaullah are not a toy. They do things, but they don’t necessarily tell you. That is the story in this book on p.260-261, a long story, but I summarized it and I heard it from Grandshaykh fifty years ago. That is why I said I like this book, because it has everything in it that you can go back to.
He said, inna ‘l-ghawth al-`azham mahboobun wa matloob. The voice came to `Azra’eel that the Greatest Ghawth, the Ghawth al-`Azham, mahboob, has been loved, wa matloob, and he has been sought after. Allah wants him; He will not say to him "no," He wants him. He is murad, he is wanted by Allah (swt) and he is beloved. We are invoking his love, we are calling, “We love him!” Li maa laa `ataytahu rooha khaadimi, “Why didn’t you give him the soul of his servant?” Wa qad raahatil arwaahi ‘l-katheeran min qabdatika bi sabain waahid, “All the others were freed because of that one.” Fa tanaddama malak al-mawt, “The Angel of Death regretted it.”
Awliyaullah do things we cannot understand, so don’t object. Don’t object! Mawlana being in the bed has a big wisdom, that he is in a seclusion in his bed and at same time giving a test for everyone. So you go to the shaykh and you don’t need except his prayers; you don’t need to tell him your story because your story is not going to change what he’s going to give you. You tell him a story of five pages. Some people write... a long time ago Mawlana Shaykh Nazim used to give me these letters and say, “Check these letters,” ten pages, eight pages! Who is going to read all of that? And every day might be hundreds of these letters come, and he used to say, “Check them.” Go to the shaykh and say, "Yaa Sayyidee! Pray for me,” that’s it! If you want to tell him your story, you are making him as if he knows nothing, as if you are telling him, “You don’t know your mureeds.” What is the benefit of the shaykh if he doesn't know his mureed? Look, Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (q), in a moment that they didn’t notify him, brought all the souls down and took thirty-seven souls because of one. The shaykh doesn’t know?
When my father died in Sha`baan 1971, Mawlana (q) came to Lebanon from Cyprus. He never came except after Ramadan. Rajab, Sha`baan and Ramadan he spent in Cyprus, then come back to Syria, passing through Beirut. And suddenly in Sha`baan he came. He said, “I’m at the airport, come pick me up.” To make the story short, he said, “Your father is going to die at 7 o`clock tonight. I’ve been ordered by Prophet (s) and by my shaykh through a vision to come and wash him, pray on him and bury him.” This is similar to Sayyidina `Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani’s story, but in a different way.
So the one or such ones who know that, are you going to tell them your story for half-an-hour, telling him, “I did this,” “My wife has done this,” “My husband has done this,” “My money is this,” “What should I do, buy stocks or don’t buy stocks?” Even if you tell him about stocks, he doesn’t know what stocks are. You say, “O, the shaykh doesn’t know?” You make him not to know because you are asking things that...just say, “Pray for me!” and it’s finished! He likes that, and it is more acceptable and then it will work out, because you didn't give him a hard time. You said, “Pray for me,” that’s it. He knows what he has to pray. If he says, “Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem,” or “Read Fatihah,” or “Read anything,” take it and go, don’t argue!
Like (a mureed’s) dream; I tried to stop him from (telling it in public), but he continued. I tried to stop him (by saying) “Fatihah,” then another, and then another! But his love is more than...when I shout at him his love is better, more and more. With other people, if I say that to them they get upset. He doesn’t get upset. Okay? So I’m told him, “Okay, it’s a good dream,” but he continued.. “Good dream,” he continued... “Fatihah,” he read Fatihah, then he continued again! I wanted to tell him, “It’s enough! I know what you saw, finished. Drop it!” but he cannot, he wants to keep asking, asking, asking. So one time if you have a problem, say to the shaykh, “Please pray for me,” then the matter is finished as he will pray for you and you will go, in this current situation now. Before, he used to hear from people, but now it’s different. You don’t need to hear a (harsh) word from those who are around him and to chase you away! Be light, like you drink something lite: be lite or zero (calories)! There is zero now; be zero, it’s better! Look at him, he will pray for you through your heart!
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
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