30 July 2011 Burton, Michigan
`Asr at As-Siddiq Mosque
A`oodhu bil lahi min ash-Shaytaani ‘r-rajim. 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.
Kalimataan khafeefataan `ala al-lisaan thaqeelataan fi’l-meezaan. SubhaanAllah wa bihamdihi subhaanAllahi ’l-`azheem astaghfirullah.
With shafa`a, intercession of the Prophet (s), we are asking Allah (swt) to forgive us. Allah said in the Holy Qur'an:
وَأَلَّوِ اسْتَقَامُوا عَلَى الطَّرِيقَةِ لَأَسْقَيْنَاهُم مَّاء غَدَقًا
wa law istiqaamoo `ala at-tareeqati la-asqaynaahum maa’an ghadaqa.
If they had (only) remained on the (right) Way, We should certainly have bestowed on them rain in abundance. (Surat al-Jinn, 72:16)
It means, “If they would stand forth on the Path, We would shower them with heavy rain; as rain comes heavily, We send them Our mercy; I make them angels, I make them awliyaaullah, I make them ahbaabee, My lovers.”
People come from everywhere seeking Allah's love and our shuyookh's support; there is nothing else. They give up time with their children and families, and some bring their families with them. Allah is The Merciful and He knows why everyone comes. No one comes for dunya; all are coming for Akhirah.
Allah (swt) gave everyone something He didn’t give the other, just as Allah gave every prophet something He didn’t give the other, but He gave one more than He gave every other one. If you add everything the other prophets received, it will not be a drop in the ocean of Sayyidina Muhammad (s)! That is why in jama`ah, the group, Allah always gives something special, but there will be one whom even if you were to add what the others get, they will not be a drop in his ocean. An example is bees: the queen is only one in the group, and Allah gave her a specialty more than all the other bees. If there is no queen there is no honey; there is nothing. Even though every bee has something different than the other bees, they can only make honey because of their queen, that one to whom Allah gave more than He gave others. That one has to be one, there cannot be two as two cannot be on the same level, but there can be two and three on the mercy that will be divided to them. However, there must be one queen attracting all other bees, and this is what we call the master or shaykh.
Laa bud min murshidin hissee. There is no way but to have a murshid, a guide, only spiritually, but you have to see him; he must be physically there and existing. You cannot say, “I connect with my teacher who is in the grave.” In the grave it’s finished. You need someone hissee, “a living shaykh,” one who inherits from the Prophet (s) what is needed for his students, because every student, every member of ummat an-Nabi (s) has a wire from his heart to Prophet's heart. If that wire is disrupted somewhere, you will not get any flow of information: it must be a direct connection with the Prophet (s).
Don’t think that is impossible. The Prophet (s) mentioned it in his hadith: "I observe the `amal of my nation." If there is no connection, how does he observe? Now there are higher levels in technology where they don’t need wires to connect, it is wireless and they pull more and more from the floating electromagnetic waves. Also through telepathy they can reach more and more. That is why awliyaaullah reach all their students but those students cannot reach everyone, only to their shaykh can. The shaykh has a wireless network and wherever he is there is heavenly WiFi that reaches him and through which he reaches the Prophet (s), and he presents all the students.If human beings can reach with a WiFi, why can’t a wali reach with a heavenly WiFi?
Wa kullun min rasoolullahi multamisan, “All of them are taking from the Prophet (s).” That means, all awliya, all anbiya, and all Creation must have a share in that "taking," where they are taking something. Sometimes they have a cable, or they have a big tube that houses thousands of small cables. It depends on the caoacity of that wali, how many cables he can carry. A sultan al-awliya doesn’t need cables as he reached heavenly manifestations and has a heavenly WiFi through which he can always reach and get information.
Allah (swt) said:
وَمِن كُلِّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقْنَا زَوْجَيْنِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ
Wa min kulli shayin khalaqnaa zawjayn la`allakum tadhakkaroon.
And of all things We have created pairs; perhaps you will remember. (adh-Dhaariyat, 51:49)
SubhaanAllah. This verse, “from everything We created two,” means that from every shay, “every thing, We created two.” Allah (swt) didn't say “one,” He said “two.” It’s not male and female, forget about that; there is another ayah for that, but He said, “Of every thing we created two.” We have two of him and two of him: we have one reality here and one up, which means one reality and one image. So when awliyaullah want to see and know about your reality, they don’t look at you (here) as you are the image. It is like looking in a mirror: when you move right, the image moves left; when you move left, it moves right. So they don’t look at the mirror to see your image, they don’t look inside the box, they look outside the box. We are inside the box; when we go outside the box we find realities and when we go inside the box we find images.
So that is why Imam Ghazali (r) said, "When you die, then you will know your reality, then you will awake, leaving the image behind.” The reality is outside dunya, so when you leave dunya, the box, you reach reality. Allah (swt) said, “From everything We have created two.” When awliyaullah look, as Grandshaykh and Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) said, “Everyone has a reality, a star in this universe, whether big or small, depending on the reality of that person."
Allah's Will created realities and images, and Allah ordered these images that are like a shadow to follow the real form. When you stand under the sun facing it, you see your shadow; there is the reality and the shadow. With Allah’s wisdom and will, He made the shadow move on its own through iraadatan ju`ziyya, a partial will, but He left the real will with the reality that controls your nearness and presence in Allah's Presence.
Reality cannot be tudannas, it does not commit a sin and cannot become dirty; it is pure and clean, and always in Allah's Presence, glorifying Him. Allah has taught us how to glorify Him by the first surah of the Holy Qur’an:
الْحَمْدُ للّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ
Alhamdulillahi rabbi'l-`alameen
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. (al-Fatihah, 1:1)
Allah is glorifying Himself by Himself to Himself, saying, “Alhamdulillah.” It means, "O My servant! Say ‘alhamdulillah!’” In every moment our realities are saying “alhamdulillah” in Allah's Presence, and therefore they are always clean. That is why the Prophet (s) said:
يولد الانسان على الفطرة وانما ابواه يهودانه او ينصرانه او يمجسانه
yoolidu al-insaanu `ala ‘l-fitra fa imma abbawaahu yuhawwidaanihi aw yunasaraanihi aw yumajjisaanih.
Human beings are born on fitra, innocence; either his parents make him Jewish or Christian or Zoroastrian.
He didn’t say, “His parents make him Muslim,” because already Allah (swt) created him Muslim; he is created clean. So it means the partial realities of his shadow move in different directions in his imaginary life. This is an imaginary life. Can anyone say, “I am not going to die” or, “I am will live forever.” If so, show us your power: go to the graveyard and make everyone wake up! So the shadow acts in dunya, but the reality does not. So we need murshidin hissee, a living guide who is real, not someone who calls himself ‘murshid.’ It is not easy to become a murshid, it is only by Allah (swt)'s grant. A murshid must meet certain specifications that do not come because they are clever, but rather it is a grant.
Laa bud min murshidin hissee. You must have a physical murshid who will take all the wrong you committed in your shadow form back to your reality, to make sure your reality is always glorifying Allah (swt), saying, “alhamdulillah.” When you say, “alhamdulillah,” Allah is happy with you! That is why Surat al-Fatihah is read in every raka`at of prayer, as without reciting “alhamdulillah” the prayer is not valid. You cannot begin reciting from “rabbil-`alameen” with no “alhamdulillah;” you must recite Surat al-Fatihah from beginning to end, which is all glorifying Allah (swt).
There was one wali who always smelled so beautifully, as narrated by Grandshaykh (q) and Mawlana Shaykh, may Allah grant him long life. These stories are not fabricated, they really happened, because awliyaullah yanzhuroona bi nourillah, can see what is in the past, present, and future. There was a wali who, although he never took showers and always sweat, he smelled so nice. Wherever he went that nice smell reached everywhere. One of his students had doubts, like many people today. He said, “It is so strange that wherever he goes he has a nice smell. What kind of perfume is he using?” Then hidayah, guidance came to his heart; Allah opened his heart and he said, “Today I am going to make sure that I am present in the morning when my shaykh wakes up, and I will take him the pitcher of water for his wudu to see what he does.”
The shaykh went out to relieve himself in a field away from people, down a cliff, as they had no restrooms like today, and after in one minute he returned. The mureed put water for his shaykh’s wudu and he smelled a very beautiful fragrance coming from his shaykh, who said, “Come after me.” The mureed didn’t want to follow the shaykh, but he was curious to see what is there. The shaykh found three pieces of defecation and said, “Mashaa-Allah!” and put them in his turban. The mureed thought, “What is this? Yesterday he ate a whole chicken and today he is making only three small drips with such a nice smell that never existed before!” Wherever the shaykh went, musk emanated from his turban. Although Shari`ah-wise that is not accepted, this is to tell us that the murshid is not the one who leaves a bad smell behind him, he only leaves a good smell. That is the murshid we need, and know that Allah is Great and can provide us that.
Sayyidina Abdul Qadir Jilani (r) said, ayyuhal walad, “Know, O child!” What is meant here by “child?” Sayyidina Abdul Qadir Jilani clled a fifty-year-old man “child.” It doesn't matter if you are fifty years old, or if you have a short or long beard. “May Allah favor you with the Straight Path, which without it you are a child.” If you want maturity, both men and women, if you want to carry responsibility, it means you have to be on the Surat al-Mustaqeem, the Straight Path. If you are not on the Straight Path you are a child.
Prophet (s) said, `alam ayyuhal walad, “Know that the first step in Gnosticism is istiqaamah.” Without istiqaamah you will not get anything. He also said, “The scholars of my nation rank with the prophets of Bani Israa`eel.” (Narrated by Imam at-Tirmidhi in his book of tafseer on the authority of ibn Sa`id al-Hakim. Al-Bukhari in his Tarikh, at-Tabarani in his Kabir and Ibn `Adi in his Kamil, from Ibn `Umar [r].) This does not apply to common scholars who can be bought. Those are academic scholars, whose knowledge is from papers. For knowledge of the heart, there are only awliyaullah, those scholars whom the Prophet (s) described as `alimun `aamil, who performs what he learned. So if you are on the Right Path, Allah will make you a scholar that inherits from prophets.
The door to that level is istiqaamah. Istiqaamah means, “you cannot go astray.” If you do go astray you must repent and Allah will forgive. We cannot claim we are ma`soom, infallible, as only prophets are infallible. So since we are not ma`soom, don’t say a shaykh does not commit a sin as that is not true.
Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) is ma`soom as he is a prophet. When the people asked him, "Who cut the necks of these idols?" he said, “I don’t know,” although he cut them, he will not be judged for it. And Sayyidina Yusuf’s brothers threw him in the well and they are all prophets; that was a big test for their father, Sayyidina Yaqub (a).
So `ulama are not ma`soom; they sin, but they repent. Don't say, "That wali does not sin." No, he might sin but his intention is good and he didn’t mean it. That is amrullah, Allah's Will, which must happen, so he has been set up by angels to fall and say to himself, "O my self! You are dirty." Allah makes His awliyaullah fall down to show them:
فَلَا تُزَكُّوا أَنفُسَكُمْ
fa laa tuzakhoo anfusakum.
Therefore, do not justify yourselves. (Surat al-Najm, 53:32)
“Don’t glorify or praise yourself.” Allah (swt) makes His saints fall into mistakes in order to remind them that they did something wrong in their life and repent for it. There is a big meaning here. There is something we have to taste. For example, when someone commits a sin, he tastes that sin and will regret it all his life. The root of insaan, “man,” comes from nisyaan, “forgetful.” If insaan doesn’t forget, all his life he will be in depression because of his sins, so Allah makes him forget. He repents and that bad deed is gone as Allah forgives him and makes him forget.
A wali doesn’t forget. If a wali is on a Straight Path and falls right or left, he doesn't forget, but he continues to ask for forgiveness. We need such a guide; that is the guide we have to find as not everyone who claims they are a shaykh is a guide. Pharoah proclaimed, “I am Your Lord, the Highest One!” but he forgot who he is. Also, Allah (swt) said to Sayyidina `Isa (a):
يَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ أَأَنتَ قُلتَ لِلنَّاسِ اتَّخِذُونِي وَأُمِّيَ إِلَـهَيْنِ مِن دُونِ اللّهِ قَالَ سُبْحَانَكَ مَا يَكُونُ لِي أَنْ أَقُولَ مَا لَيْسَ لِي بِحَقٍّ إِن كُنتُ قُلْتُهُ فَقَدْ عَلِمْتَهُ تَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِي وَلاَ أَعْلَمُ مَا فِي نَفْسِكَ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ عَلاَّمُ الْغُيُوبِ
Yaa `eesá 'bna maryama a'anta qulta li '-naasi attakhidhoonee wa ummiya ilahayni min doonillahi qaala subĥaanaka maa yakoonu lee an aqoola maa laysa lee biĥaqqin in kuntu qultuhu faqad `alimtahu ta`lamu maa fee nafsee wa laa a`lamu maa fee nafsika innaka anta `allaamu al-ghuyoob.
O `Isa, son of Maryam! Did you say to men, 'Worship me and my mother as two gods besides Allah?'" He will say,"Glory be to You! It was not for me to say what I had no right. Had I said such a thing, You would surely have known it. You know what is in my inner self, though I do not know what is in Yours! Truly only You are the Knower of All that is Hidden and Unseen. (Al-Ma'idah 5:116)
Allah asked, confirming to him, to make him feel the pressure of what others were saying, “Yaa `Isa! Did you tell the Hawariyoon, attakhidhoonee ilahayni min doonillah, ‘Take me and my mother as two gods other than Allah.’” Of course Allah (swt) knew the truth of the matter but wanted to show Sayyidina `Isa (a), “You, defend yourself!” Sayyidina `Isa (a) said, “If I said it, You know it, as You know what is in my self, but I don’t know what is in Your Self.” And then Allah said something to put him down further. "He and his mother ate food (used the toilet).” Allah doesn't care if they are prophets or not as they are all His servants! It means, “You go to toilets. How can people accept that you are God and you use the toilet?” Haasha lillah.
When Allah wants his awliyaullah to say something He sets them up, then they are pushed. “O, they made a mistake. Be careful and don’t do it next time.” Tubna wa raja`na, we repent. And so we need a guide at this level, not those who claim they are guides. Many people claim. Pharoah claimed, "I am Allah!” So do we just accept that claim? If someone claims he is a shaykh, bring the proof.
We explained the four levels of murshids that Grandshaykh classified and explained in detail. We published a book, Who are the Guides? (available at http://www.isn1.net/Who-are-the-Guides-p/bk-
whoaretheguides.htm) There are four levels of shaykhs. Such guides carry the whole universe on their shoulders and say, "O our Lord! Give us more, we will carry it." they are not like the charlatans we see everywhere today.
Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.