Suhbah at CSCA Centre, Feltham
As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh.
Dastoor yaa Sayyidee, yaa awliya al-madad, yaa Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) madad,
qaal Allahu ta`ala fee kitaabeehi ’l-kareem Ati`oollaha wa ati`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.
Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)
A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. 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.
Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillahI Rabbi ’l-`alameen, wa ’s-salaatu wa ’s-salaam `ala ashrafi ’l-mursaleen, Sayyidina wa Nabiyyina Muhammadin wa `ala aalihi wa sahbihi ajma`een, nahmaduhu ta`ala `ala ni`amaihi zhaahira wa baatinan wa nashadu wahdaaniyyatih wa naqool, ash-hadu an laa ilaaha illa-Llah, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan `abduhu wa habeebuhu wa rasooluh.
We ask Allah (swt) to always keep us in the presence of the Prophet Sayyidina Muhammad (s), and our teacher, master, Sayyidee wa Mawlana Shaykh Nazim and Sayyidee wa Mawlana `AbdAllah al-Fa`iz ad-Daghestani (q).
Alhamdulillah with Mawlana's barakah and after his permission, of course, I came here today to see you; to see our brothers and sisters and to say salaam `alaykum to all of you on behalf of Mawlana Shaykh.
Prophet (s) built his Sahaabah (r) on love. Before they were Sahaabah, before Islam, Prophet (s) was the most beloved one in his society and community. So love is required as it can move the hearts of people to listen and accept. Allah says, “Ati`oollah, obey Allah!” If there is no love there is no obedience as no one cares. Why did awliya become awliya? Because Allah gave them a speciality; He gave love in their hearts and brought them forward and dressed them from His Beautiful Names and Attributes - but people take that lightly.
However, the one who is being dressed knows that it is not something light but heavy. Allah (swt) is generous, when He gives a dress of His Beautiful Names and Attributes He does not weigh it on a scale and say, “I cannot give more than that.” When Allah gives, He gives from His endless bounty. And it pleases Allah when He waits for His servant to approach and ask for it; at that time He orders his angel to bless that person with Beautiful Names and Attributes. Many times we came across that verse of Holy Qur'an and up to today every speaker and every `alim or scholar always mentions it, Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah hold so tight to it that they mention in every khutbah, in every meeting, in every Mawlid or milaad, or in any other celebration. We mention that verse of Holy Qur'an because it is very important and it shows how much Allah (swt) loves His Prophet (s).
Anyone who does not say it in Khutbat al-Jumu`ah cannot say it is baatilah, but we say it is not complete. And that verse is:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
inna-Llaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala 'n-nabi, yaa ayyuha ’Lladheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi was sallimoo tasleema.
Verily, Allah and His angels send praise on the Prophet. O Believers! Pray upon him and greet him. (al-'Ahzaab, 33:56)
Now let us see according to our capacity and understanding, how much love Allah is showing for Prophet (s). Our understanding however, is not even a dharrah, an atom or a drop of that love but we are trying to describe that drop. It is an ocean which no one can penetrate, even Sultan al-Awliya. The knowledge of all awliya is like a drop. Allah is saying inna-Llaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala 'n-nabi, confirming, “I love.” So our explanation is like a drop in an ocean and this is only to show that when someone has love, it is so strong that it is beyond description.
So Allah is saying, inna-Llaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala 'n-nabi, fee haqq an-Nabi! “Allah and His angels make salawaat.” What do you understand from, “Allah and His angels,” how many angels? First, when someone purchases a property, people like to know its capacity, how many it can fit. For example Manchester Stadium has a capacity of 80 to 100 thousand people, but it has limits. Allah did not limit His angels when He said inna-Llaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala 'n-nabi. When He sent angels to support Ashaabi Badr, He gave a number; 3,000 angels were enough to take kufr away.
But in this verse, Allah shows no limit, we can say one million or more, it is limitless. We cannot give it a number, how can we? If we do, we are diminishing the power of Allah on His Creation. I understand much bigger numbers than you; trillion, quadrillion, quintillion, or ten to trillion, there is no count. In every moment Allah (swt) is creating angels because creation cannot stop, Al-Khaliq is continuously creating. If we say it stops, we are not giving respect to Allah (swt) as we should.
When we say “Allahu Akbar” it means Allah is greater than what you think. So who can think and learn in the best way? Prophet (s)! Still we say “Allahu Akbar!” Whatever Prophet (s) knows of high levels of knowledge, Allah is more. Prophet (s) is`abd and Allah is the Creator. Allah’s name Al-Khaliq, “The Creator” means that in every fraction of a second there is Creation. Grandshaykh (q) used to always repeat the story of Sayyidina Khidr (a) asking Jibreel (a), “Can you tell me since when Allah (swt) created Adam?”
Jibreel (a) replied, “Which ‘Adam’ are you talking about?”
“Is there any other ‘Adam?’” asked Khidr (a).
Jibreel (a) answered, “There are 124,000 ‘Adams’ since that one and Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is prophet for them all. Allah has judged them and sent them to Paradise or Hellfire and this ‘Adam’ is the last one.”
So Al-Khaliq is enough to keep our heads in sajdah to show we are nothing. All those who consider themselves to be something have to know that they are nothing. Don't give your ego a boost and don't praise it, if you praise you lose. Sayyidina Muhammad (s) said, “O Allah, don't leave me to my
ego for the blink of an eye, or I will go to soow al-khatima, a bad ending.”
That is why it is not our place to say, “Where do we sit?” If we get a couch it is fine if not, sit on the floor. But we have to say to ourselves, “You don't deserve to be but at the door of the masjid,” you must bring your ego down completely. That is why Allah sent messengers and gave awliya and sultan al-awliya to inherit from them and guide the ummah to discipline themselves to say, “What you think is not correct, no! Your ‘self’ is greedy, stingy, and angry.” Thus, all kinds of bad manners can be found within us. We cannot say we are perfect, many people they think they are. Allah says in Holy Qur'an:
وَفَوْقَ كُلِّ ذِي عِلْمٍ عَلِيمٌ
wa fawqa kulli dhil `ilmin `aleem.
And above every knower is a (higher) knower. (Yusuf, 12:76)
Look at the ceiling, your head is not above that. From their “self” and ego Shaytan makes people to be like a peacock. They are inheritors of Iblis because He was the first one to complain. He said to Allah (swt):
قَالَ أَنَا خَيْرٌ مِّنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِي مِن نَّارٍ وَخَلَقْتَهُ مِن طِينٍ
Qaala anaa khayrun minhu khalaqtanee min naarin wa khalaqtahu min teen.
(Iblis) said, "I am better than him as You created me from fire and You created him from clay!" (Sad, 38:76)
How could he say that? Doesn’t Allah know better? So the ego cannot accept, the worst character in us is the one that is the “self” between your body, that is what is taking humanity into confrontations. Why do we fight? In order for our ego to say, “I am better than that one.” If you wish to be better, then do as that Companion did for whom Prophet (s) said, “This one will go to Paradise.” Sayyidina `Umar (r) wanted to find out what he does, so he visited him at his home. Proper adab is to host a guest for three days but the guest may ask no questions. The host locks the door when the guest comes, he has to give the guest a mattress and food for three days. And if after three days the guest doesn’t leave, then the host has to ask, “How I can help you,” do we do that?
This Companion used to pray the five prayers behind Prophet (s), nothing more. Sayyidina `Umar (r) was praying Salaatu ’t-Tasabeeh, Ishraaq, and Tahajjud. “I am doing more than him,” he thought. The Companion did not say anything for three days, then he asked, “Yaa `Umar, can I help you?”
He said, “Yes. Prophet (s) said you are going to Paradise but I am not seeing you do anything more than me, so what are you doing?”
“Yaa `Umar,” he replied. “Before I sleep or at Fajr, I renew my shahaadah by saying it three times.” Do we do that? We might do it for one day then forget the next five days. He continued, “Then I go to work in the morning and if dunya came to me, I don't look at it. Allah says the whole dunya does not even weigh the weight of the wing of a mosquito, so why do I have to be happy?”
Today if we have get something from dunya, we are very happy. Some people have huge cars, they park them showing others, “Look, at what I have.”
He continued, “And in the evening if the whole dunya is gone, I don't care. And finally, when I go to bed I make a hundred salawaat on Prophet (s) and say, ‘Yaa Rabbee! Whoever made fitnah, backbiting, gave me pain, or made me sad, I am forgiving them from my heart.”
Sayyidina `Umar (r) said, “Sadaqa yaa Rasoolullah, we don't do that!”
So the problem is our nafs. Prophet (s) was told to say to them:
قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ يُوحَى إِلَيَّ أَنَّمَا إِلَهُكُمْ إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ فَمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو لِقَاء رَبِّهِ فَلْيَعْمَلْ
عَمَلًا صَالِحًا وَلَا يُشْرِكْ بِعِبَادَةِ رَبِّهِ أَحَدًا
Qul innamaa anaa basharun mithlukum yoohaa ilayya annamaa ilaahukum ilaahun waahidun faman kaana yarjoo liqaa rabbihi fa ’l-ya`mal `amalan saalihan wa laa yushrik bi`ibaadati rabbihi aahada.
Say, "I am but a man like yourselves, (but) the inspiration has come to me that your Allah is one Allah. Whoever expects to meet his Lord let him work righteousness, and in the worship of his Lord admit no one as partner. (al-Kahf, 18:110)
Those who don't understand say, “He only brought the message and no more,” but Allah wants you to take a lesson that, “I, Muhammad, whom Allah raised to qaba qawsayni aw adna, am showing you that I am humbling myself.” For us to learn that humbleness is a must because if we show arrogance we are following Iblis.
فَأَلْهَمَهَا فُجُورَهَا وَتَقْوَاهَا
fa alhamahaa fujoorahaa wa taqwahaa.
He inspired the self of its good and its bad. (Ash-Shams, 91:8)
Allah likes for us to show humbleness. From the time that He created Prophet’s (s) light, He ordered angels to make salawaat on Prophet (s) non-stop. So now we say, “Allahuma salli `alaa Sayyidina Muhammad,” but do you think the angels are going to make the same salawaat each time? Every time they make salawaat, the second one has to be different than the first, the third different from the fourth and so on. They are continuously making countless salawaat on Prophet (s) and each time with different wording, (it is not repetitive.) Allah does not need a photocopy machine, if you think so, then you are diminishing His greatness.
So the salawaat is different each time. And Allah creates an angel from every salawaat that is being said,. Thus, this is something that far exceeds our imagination. Do you think that ayah has no weight? For example, a goldsmith can measure everything in his scale, even a hair. One salawaat on Prophet (s) is enough for the entire ummat an-Nabee to be taken to Paradise. Why? Because Allah said:
man salla `alayhi marratan yusalli `alayhi `ashar.
For one salawaat made by a human, Allah will reward them ten times.
Do you think it is like ours? No! For each salawaat Allah will dress you and give you rewards that are beyond your understanding, it is like a rainbow, dressing you in different colors. That is why Allah (swt) wants you to understand the value of that salawaat, He wants you to come into this Divinely garden saying, “Do you want to come in? Then make salawaat, to honor him.”
وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِي آدَمَ
wa laqad karamnaa Bani Adam.
We have honored the Children of Adam. (al-'Israa, 17:70)
Alhamdulillah Allah loves his Prophet (s) so He wants us to love him as well and to give him what is dear to us. If you do not give what is dear, then it is not up to a high standard. You have to give like the Sahaabah (r) gave to Prophet (s), they gave their entire lives. He asked, “Come with me,” they went through all kinds of difficulties to bring Islam to us. So don't say, “I am wasting my time by coming here,” if you drove for four hours, then I too came from a long distance to sit and speak with you and to give you something. Al-tariqah kulluhaa aadaab, “If there is no adab, there is no discipline, you can smell it. All of tariqah is discipline.
ادبني ربي فأحسن تأديبي
adabanee rabbee fa ahsana taa'deebee.
Allah trained and disciplined me and He perfected my conduct..
وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلى خُلُقٍ عَظِي
wa innaka la-`ala khuluqin `azheem.
You are of the most exalted character. (al-Qalam, 68:4)
وَمَن كَانَ فِي هَـذِهِ أَعْمَى فَهُوَ فِي الآخِرَةِ أَعْمَى وَأَضَلُّ سَبِيل
waman kaana fee hadhihi `amaa fa-huwa fi ’l-akhirati `amaa wa adalloo sabeela.
But those who were blind in this world will be blind in the Hereafter and most astray from the path. (al-Isra, 17:72)
And the worst thing is to say, “I am connected.” Without respect no one is connected. To be connected means that you are like a magnet and will catch anything, or like a pipe, the water will pass through. But if the pipe is broken, you have to go fix it. Connection is not cheap, a plumber charges a lot of money. He will ask for £100 just to install one pipe. How many pipes do you have in your body, especially the very small hair-like capillaries inside the intestines or other organs. The kidney alone has one million holes; they absorb all the good water and throw away the bad minerals you don't need and it can distinguish between the two. Scientists say that if all your capillaries that are hundreds and thousands of kilometers long become dry with no blood, you can die. If awliya don't connect you through all this and plug you with a heavenly plug, you cannot survive. Don't say “I am something,” you are nothing, because only awliya are capable of this, you are not.
I will tell you a story that Mawlana always mentions, it is about Sayyidina Abu Yazid al-Bistami (q). He was always asking, “Yaa Rabbee, open for me your Door, I want to enter!”
One day he heard a voice saying,“Yaa Aba Yazid, you are asking for something special and it cannot come easy. Do you want My Door?”
He woke up saying, “Yes!”
Allah (swt) is sending inspiration, “If you want to be in that position to come to My Divine Presence, no problem, but you have to go through a treatment. I have to check you.”
“Alright, I am ready,” he replied.
Angels came with the message, “Go and be a dump for My servants.”
What is a dump? It is a place where people throw their garbage. When you reach that level and become a dump for your community, then at that time we will check you. Who can be a dump? It means submission, don't raise your head. How many so-called “shaykhs” (do that)?
I received an invitation to go to a country for a big conference. Ministers and members of Parliament from all over the world will attend. It is known as, “Al-Multaqaa ’l-`Alamee li ’t-Tasawwuf, The International Meeting for Sufis.” This meeting is going to be opened by the President of Indonesia. I didn’t want to go as I just recently ended my visit from there. I told them, “I will let you know.” I asked Mawlana and he said, “You go and give them ijaazah.”
I asked, “Mawlana, How am I going to give them ijaazah, baya`?”
...
He said, “No one now has heavenly power, it is coming to us alone.” (meaning to him).
He replied, “Go and you will see,” so I am going.
Allah wanted to test Sayyidina Abu Yazid al-Bistami (q), “Be garbage for people,” so he had to create something for people to throw him in a dump. So he went into a masjid and he wants to create a situation to make them dump on him. He said, “O Muslims! Alhamdulillah you finished your prayers.” He knew it was correct, but to test them and to test himself, he said, “You made sajda to the wrong place. It was wrong, make sajda to me.” They beat him and they threw him in the city dump. Grandshaykh (q) said, “For seven days he was unconscious, disconnected from dunya, but he was connected to akhira.” For seven days he was searching for food and found a bone. As he took a bite, some dogs came and said, “This is our territory, are you taking over?” He spoke in their language, “You take this side, I will stay on the other side.” Allah gave him the ability to understand what the dogs were saying. He said, “These children threw me in the dump thinking I was dead. Yaa Rabbee! Forgive them and if they would kill me again, You create me again and forgive them again.” This is real love to Allah (swt)!
Where is our love today? Love to each other is not there anymore. Goodness in general no longer exists. We try to make conspiracies, “This one does this, this one does that,” it never ends. I was bringing that story to give an example that Allah opened for him to keep coming nearer and nearer to ma`rifatullah, gnosis, until He did something more, created a bigger confusion. We won’t mention it here. But that made them take him to the king to cut his neck. So they have to take him through the desert. They didn’t put him on the camel, but they chained him and made him go to the king on foot. Look at how many tests awliya are put through!
After he had been walking with chains through the desert for seven days, the king, Haroon ar-Rasheed (r), saw Prophet (s) in a dream, saying, “Ya Haroon! One of my awliya and descendants is coming to you. Go and meet him. He is one of my grandchildren, go and meet him.” He went to sleep, had the same dream.
Immediately, Haroon ar-Rasheed ordered his army to go and bring him. They brought Aba Yazid (q) and immediately washed his feet. Haroon ar-Rasheed stepped down from his horse, stopped the soldiers from both sides, then washed the feet of Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami, and put him on his horse and although he was king, he walked beside it, walking until they reached the palace. He apologized to him and took him inside.
At midnight, there was loud knocking at the door of the palace. There was a huge crowd and the king asked, “Who are you?”
“We are the students of Abaa Yazid and we want to know where He is.” How did they know? No one knew the soldiers had brought him.
They said, “Wherever awliya move there is light. We were following that light until it ended in this house and we entered here.”
So adab and love is bringing people; it pulls his followers like a magnet. That is why awliya pull their followers through that light that they send to their hearts. No one can go and visit his shaykh if there is no light that draws you to him. And that is a sign this heavenly love is in the hearts of everyone that accepts tariqah and a shaykh. And we accept Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani (q) as our shaykh!
Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.
May Allah (swt) protect you and keep you happy with our shaykh.