Summary of Maulana Shaykh Nazim’s Daily Suhbah

16^th October 2010, Saturday

The Kingdom of Heaven on earth

A’uzubillah himinsh shaitan nirrajeem

Bismillahir Rahman-nir Raheem

Assalamu’alaikum wrh wbkt

• Maulana says that there are Muslims (Salafis/Wahhabis) who are jealous of the love and honour showered upon Rasulullah (saw). The entire creation has been created for Rasulullah’s honour, and that honour is from pre-eternity to eternity! We must honour, he who is the most honoured creation in the Divine presence. He who glorifies Rasulullah (saw) will attain happiness in both worlds, for the pious ones’ (soliheen) names will be written in the Heavens, where they belong.

• But whoever hates the beloved of Allah, will be hated by all of creation, and his name will be written on this lowly earth, where those devoid of honour, belong. Those who do not show respect and honour to the the Most honoured one, will be deprived of honour and love. How can one attain honour without giving honour to Rasulullah (saw)?

• To illustrate the respect shown by the great Ottoman Sultans to Rasulullah (saw), Maulana spoke of how Sultan Ahmad carried stones in his own jubbah for the building of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, which was built to honour Rasulullah (saw). He was Sultan of the East to the West, Sultan over 25 million square miles of land! Yet he worked the Mosque with his own bare hands, like a common labourer. When he held court, each time Rasulullah’s (saw) name was mentioned, he stood up from his Throne, to honour the Prophet (saw). It is no wonder that the Ottoman Sultans were dressed by Allah with so much respect, honour and power.

• Do we see any Sultan or King today who gives such respect to Rasulullah (saw)? No. That is also why we do not see any Sultan or King who is bestowed such honour and power, as was given to the Ottomans; no leader has built a Kingdom anywhere near what the Ottomans built.

• There are only a few countries that have Kings now, just as the Prophet had foretold, “After me there will be the rightly guided Caliphs, then the Kings, then the tyrants…” So it is inevitable and unavoidable that we have come down this road, where kings have been pushed aside, and the citizens of the world clamour for democratic elections to raise a President or a Prime Minister or a Parliament.

• Is that the best system of government in Islam? The answer, as always, lies in the Holy Quran

أَلَمۡ تَرَ إِلَى ٱلۡمَلَإِ مِنۢ بَنِىٓ إِسۡرَٲٓءِيلَ مِنۢ بَعۡدِ مُوسَىٰٓ إِذۡ قَالُواْ لِنَبِىٍّ۬ لَّهُمُ ٱبۡعَثۡ لَنَا مَلِڪً۬ا نُّقَـٰتِلۡ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ‌ۖ

Have you not thought about the group of the Children of Israel after (the time of) Musâ (Moses)? When they said to a Prophet of theirs, “Appoint for us a King and we will fight in Allâh’s Way.” (Quran 2:246)

• The Children of Israel asked their Prophet to raise amongst them a leader, a King (Malikiyyah) – one who was appointed by Allah! They did not request to pick their own leader, for they knew it would be of no benefit. The Quran has never mentioned the word President, Prime Minister or Minister; these are all imitated worldly titles that we dress ourselves in. Muslims have left the advice of the Holy Quran (which is to honour and follow Kings), and in doing so, from having been rulers of the world for 700 years under the Ottomans, they are now grovelling under the feet of the unbelievers. The Holy Quran is the complete guide to attaining happiness and honour, both here and in the hereafter. When we abandon guidance, we must fall into a dark abyss.

• A hadees of Rasulullah (saw) says, “Sultans are Allah’s shadow on earth,” so Sultans represent the Kingdom of Heavens on earth. Just as Divinely-picked leaders are Allah’s shadow, human-picked leaders are Shaitan’s shadow on earth, as anyone not guided by Allah, has shaitan as his guide. Look at today’s world, they have been cursed because they deviated!

• Maulana explained how this single deviation from guidance, has brought the world into its current state. The Prophet (saw) was commanded to perform his first Friday prayer, when he was amongst the tribe of Bani Salamah. At this Sermon, he said, “From today till Qiyamat, Juma’ah prayer has been made compulsory, it is a Heavenly Command for all believers. Whoever respects this Divine Command and performs this prayer, he will be granted endless treasures for all his needs in this world and in the hereafter, his life would be forever sweet and filled with pleasure for all eternity – that is a Divine Promise. But whoever disregards the Juma’ah prayer and absents himself without excuse, Allah will remove his happiness and pleasure, in both worlds.”

• What is the lesson here? For obedience to a single Divine order, Man is promised salvation, and for defying one order, he faces impending doom. All that for one order/command of Allah’s! So when that single command that Allah gave in the Quran, for Man to live under the rule of Divinely-chosen Kings was disregarded, though it is just one command – the entire world fell into darkness. It is today a restless and simmering pot of friction, like a volcano about to explode!

• There is nothing we can do today, we cannot turn back the clock. We can only wait for Allah to send us the promised Messiah, Mahdi (as), he will rule as a Divinely-chosen ruler, and bring blessings to the earth once more.

Fatihah.

Ishak Pasha Palace, or Ishak Pasa Sarayi as it is known in Turkish, is one of Turkey’s most stunning Ottoman palaces. The Ishak Pasha Palace complex, which includes a mosque, was built between 1685 and 1784 by the Ottoman governor, Ishak Pasa, and is a mixture of Ottoman, Persian and Seljuk styles. Ishak Pasha Palace is set in an isolated location, and part of its unique character is undoubtedly its remote setting. on what was once an important trading route and its appearance is stunning.

Commentary

• Go to any people-skills workshop or team-management seminar, you will hear all these self-help Gurus spell out one cardinal rule – ‘give respect to get respect.’ Adab! If you give your highest respect to Allah (by honouring his Commands) and to His Beloved Prophet (by following assiduously his Practices, and reciting selawat upon him), we will be afforded respect by Allah and His Prophet (saw). When one has acquired the respect of the Heavens, then all creatures on earth, will also bow in genuine respect for such a one.

• In all of history, not one Prophet, Saint or Knower, was chosen by Man. Not even one. Every one of them was chosen by Allah, from His Divine Wisdom. Those whom He chooses, He endows them with Authority and Power, Wisdom and Ability, to fulfill their responsibilities to their citizens/subjects/followers/nations/families. Today, Man has the audacity to say to Allah, “Look here, we don’t accept Your choice, we are going to choose someone whom we like.” True, you are now free to choose your own leader, but after you elect them, how are you going to equip them with Authority, Power, Wisdom and Ability? Lacking all these Divinely inspired gifts, how can they guide you out of the quicksand? Look at today’s world and you will see mayhem, confusion, unemployment, persecution, racism, dissatisfaction, unhappiness, protests, demonstrations, crisis and conflict on a scale never seen before.

• Prophet Noah had just about 80 followers from the whole world, after preaching for 950 years. If the Prophets that Allah had sent, had stood for elections in their respective Nations, they would all have lost, as each Prophet had small followings and were opposed by so many of their citizens, although they were bringing what was good for their Nations. So based on this, do you think a group of humans know how to choose who is good for them, when so many of them chose wrongly in the past? Who knows (and chooses) better, Man or God?

قَالَ إِنِّىٓ أَعۡلَمُ مَا لَا تَعۡلَمُونَ

Allah said, “Surely, I know, what you do not know.” (Quran 2:30)

• Similarly, ulama’ are not accepting that there are Divinely-endorsed Guides (Saints, Sadiqeen, Servants), instead they are giving themselves worldly titles (PhD, Dr, Masters, Ayatollah, Hujjatollah etc) to proclaim to their followers, that they are learned. You cannot take guidance, from a person who is self-endorsed or endorsed by people/institutions. All worldly titles, worldly awards, worldly ranks that Man dresses himself with, are meaningless and worthless. Only Divinely given titles have any meaning or worth. Real guides, just like real kings, are Divinely-inspired, and they are Allah’s shadow on earth. A shadow moves where the being moves, so such chosen ones move obediently, with Allah’s Will.

• Maulana is not telling us to dispose of our rulers or to force our Islamic system of government on anyone, no! He is teaching us to have faith in the Prophet’s hadees, for he said that Kings will be replaced by tyrants, and it has come to pass. Secondly, he is showing us the Wisdom in following Divinely-chosen ones, as humanly-chosen leaders cannot find a solution to their country’s problems in today’s chaotic world. Next, he is highlighting how important it is to obey every command from Allah, disobeying even a single command will bring disaster to us. Finally, he is showing us that, since all that the Prophet (saw) has told us has occurred, we must have no doubt that, as foretold by Rasulullah (saw), Imam Mahdi (as) will definitely emerge, at the height of this chaos and ignorance.

• Imam Mahdi (as) will not come to start a war (as so many people wrongly believe, due to manipulation/stereotyping/propaganda in the media), he will emerge to stop a horrific war that has been foretold/predicted in so many ancient texts, as well as in Biblical and Islamic texts. This bloodbath, called the Armageddon, will leave 6 out of 7 people on this earth, dead. How do we survive something so horrendous? Read yesterday’s Suhbah – we will survive if we become flowers! The war is a Divine-cleansing, that will remove all humans with hatred and evil in their hearts (regardless of religion). It is like a weed-killer that will destroy all the weeds in the garden, leaving the flowers intact. That is why Maulana is teaching humans worldwide, to stop the senseless fighting and killing, to lay down arms, to stop hating each other and to start building bridges of love! When all the ‘weeds’ have died, Imam Mahdi (as) will emerge to stop the war, and since only ‘flowers’ are left, those left at that time will be living in a Garden (of Paradise), the Kingdom of Heaven on earth!

• So many misguided ones, have become terrorists and fundamentalists, bringing shame to real Muslims who live with love! Why is this happening and how do we bring back the real teachings of Islam – peace, love, tolerance – adab? Like the Children of Israel, we must ask Allah to send us a Divinely inspired guide to teach us! When we choose religious guides who gave themselves worldly titles, they bring an extreme and deviated form of understanding, as they are not Divinely inspired. We must seek out Saints, Sadiqeen and Servants of Allah, to guide us to fight our nafs.

• That is why the Children of Israel said, “Appoint for us a king and we will fight in Allâh’s Way.” (Quran 2:246). It means, “Send us a Divine-chosen guide (a real Shaykh), who will take our hand (Bayat), and show us the Way (Tariqah) of Servanthood (you can only learn to be a servant when you are bowing to a King) to fight in Your Way (jihadun nafs – fighting our dirty egos).” You cannot take this Spiritual journey with anyone who is humanly-endorsed, even if he has studied at the best Islamic institutions, has so many certificates and degrees, speaks fluent Arabic, and looks really Holy. Those are not the criteria for choosing a Guide. There is only one criteria, he must be chosen/inspired by Allah!

If you would like to listen to the actual Suhbah by Maulana Shaykh Nazim when it was recorded, please click here. Once at the site, please click on the Sohbat 16 Oct 2010.

Maulana Shaykh Nazim teaches daily, at 1720 hours GMT, please go to www.Saltanat.org to attend these illuminating lessons. There are no charges to attend these lessons, they are completely free-of-charge. These transcripts and Study materials are found at the Singapore Naqshbandi portal, recent.sufihub.com, these are also completely free-of-charge.