Are you standing in a Circle in the Sand?

Summary of Maulana Shaykh Nazim’s Daily Suhbah

24th�February 2010, Wednesday

Are you standing in a Circle in the Sand?

A’uzubillah himinsh shaitan nirrajeem

Bismillahir Rahman-nir Raheem

Assalamu’alaikum wrh wbkt

(This Suhbah was on the night of the Prophet’s (saw) birthday, 12th Rabi’ul Awal 1431)

• Mawlana said that all us, himself included, are gathered today with the intention to learn and to acquire more honor and glory from Allah.

• We must try to learn and we must also increase in our belief, our faith (iman). By learning, one acquires knowledge, but one cannot acquire all knowledge that way. A portion of knowledge is acquired by having faith and believing – that is an honor Allah bestows on whom He wills. To know and to believe are two different things. (For example, we all know that Allah is Most Good, Most Kind and Most Merciful and that His will is the best for us. That is simply knowledge. But when faced with a tragedy that shakes our lives, do we really still feel that way about Allah, do we submit, accepting His will without struggling? Not many of us do, as that requires faith, not just knowledge.) Faith is a Divine gift – no one understands the reality of faith itself.

• Many scholars draw a circle in the sand around themselves and accept only what is within that circle, rejecting all that lies outside it. Why? Why place an imaginary limit to Allah’s limitless gifts of knowledge? Why limit yourself from growing in understanding, when Allah gives endlessly? It is a loss for the scholars themselves when they do so, for they are merely standing in shallow waters (of understanding), rejoicing in the little water that surrounds them, rejecting the vast ocean of knowledge before them, hence rejecting the pleasurable satisfaction of advancing in understanding and in spiritual stations. What is worse is that all of this is self-inflicted. It is them who have drawn this imaginary circle around themselves!

• The second issue with such scholars is that they feel that once they acquire all the knowledge within that tiny self-drawn circle, they feel that they have acquired all the Prophet’s (saw) knowledge, and that they are his equal in understanding. Mawlana explained why this is a fallacy: none in the creation, be it the angels, companions or even other prophets, can achieve the level of knowledge and understanding bestowed on The Prophet (saw).

• Why? The Seal of Prophets (saw) was bestowed knowledge and understanding by Allah Almighty directly. And the companions of the Prophet (saw) took that pure knowledge directly from the Prophet (saw). The knowledge that each companion acquired from the Prophet (saw) was different – no two companions acquired identical knowledge, each one was at a different level of understanding. Look at how vast the Prophet’s knowledge was. He was able to feed the spiritual needs of 124 000 companions, and each one was filled with knowledge suitable for his own level (maqam), each one had his own special knowledge!

• None of the Companions (may Allah bless them all) could reach the level of the understanding of the Prophet (saw). None of the other prophets, even the great ones such as Sayyidina Isa (ra) and Sayyidina Ibrahim (ra) can reach the understanding of the Prophet Muhammad (saw). So we can never reach to that level of knowledge. Mawlana was emphasising this point as some scholars actually feel that they have acquired the level of the Prophet’s (saw) understanding! They may not even have reached the levels of the followers of the companions, yet they are busy issuing ‘fatwas‘ and edicts declaring many deeds of the Ahli Sunnah wal Jama’ah as innovations.

• Millions of books have been written by so many learned ones in the past thousand and four hundred years, all taken from the knowledge of the Prophet (saw). Look at the vastness of knowledge contained in the Prophet’s heart. And he took his knowledge from the Holy Qur’an, which contains only 114 Surahs, a tiny drop from Divine Knowledge. Mawlana said that if there were 200 Surahs, we would not be able to carry the burden of fulfilling its commands. The heart of the Prophet (saw) is full of knowledge and he is feeding this knowledge to the ummah. And millions of books, endless numbers, can be written from such an ocean of light.

• The third issue with such scholars is that they believe that they are not in need of the Prophet (saw) or his intercession, as having mastered the little knowledge within their little circle, they believe they are being showered by Allah’s blessings. Mawlana said that rain does not fall if there are no clouds, so blessings do not descend if there are no pious ones, saintly ones, holy ones amongst us. Rain cannot appear until the clouds arrive carrying them, so holy ones are the means, the waseelah, by which Allah sends His blessings upon us, so we must seek their company and presence always. If we are to seek blessings whilst being distant from them, it is akin to a person awaiting rain in the parched desert, devoid of clouds. How can we receive blessings if we reject the cloud bearing the rain? For is not the Prophet (saw) mentioned in the Qur’an as the rahmatan li -l’aalameen, the mercy to all the worlds.

• The fourth issue with such scholars is that they believe they are the honored ones within the ummah, having studied everything within their tiny circle. How will one attain honor by turning his back on the Prophet (saw)? This is a blessed night, the holiest night in the Muslim calendar, a night in which Allah rains blessings on His beloved, the best of creation, the most glorified, the most honored in all of creation. Allah said, “Oh My beloved one, for your honor did I create the creation.”� Nothing would have existed if not for the Seal of Prophets (saw)! Every creation was created in his honor. If not for him,�we would not have been created. Our honor comes from being associated with him, for he is the most honoured in the Divine Presence, and we were created for his honor. How proud we feel if we were seated with a King at his table or if the President regards us as his personal friend? Man’s honor is to be associated with the Prophet (saw), so how do these scholars hope to achieve honor by belittling him, rejecting Mawlid celebrations, and denying his favored status in creation?

• He is the favored one, for Allah gives His grants to the Prophet (saw), and the Prophet (saw) then distributes it to each one of the ummah, according to their stations, positions and levels. These grants reach to everyone, and it differs for everyone. Allah does not send his grants directly to the creation, they are sent via the Prophet (saw), His only representative, His khalifa.

• Tonight is the blessed night where the creation can celebrate the reason for its creation. It is a Holy Night to celebrate the appearance of the Prophet’s (saw) star in the sky. For every human being Allah brings into this world, on the day he is born, a star appears in the sky, and that star continues to exist for as long as that person is alive. When that person dies, his star disappears from the heavenly realms. Each of us has a different star. Hence, there are billions of stars in the heavens, so each Prophet (saw) has a different star. Each of us has a different name too, in the Divine Presence, no two names are alike!

• Study the seerah of the Prophet’s (saw) life as it contains knowledge for all of mankind. On the night of the Prophet’s birth, a Jewish crier ran around the streets of Madinah Al-Munawwarah, calling out, “Ahmad’s star has just appeared!”� He referred to Sayyidina Muhammad (saw) as Ahmad, as that is how he was referred to in the New Testament. Sayyidina Isa (as) said in the New Testament, “I am sent as a bringer of good tidings, heralding the appearance of the last prophet (saw), whose name is Ahmad.”

• Even if we ceaselessly praised the most honored one, the one most honored by his Lord, no one can limit that honor. It is limitless, for when Allah bestows honor on someone, no one can know the limit of that honor. Allah dresses him from Nasoot (Humanity) to Lahoot (Divinity). This is a blessed night, it is impossible to understand what is occurring in the Divine presence, the whole Heavens are decorated in heavenly lights, one cannot fathom or imagine how the heavens and angels are celebrating.

• The birth of the Prophet (saw) is a blessing for Mankind, for he is such a blessed one. The appearance of the Prophet’s (saw) star in the sky sent ‘electricity’ through the people of his time. They were trembling that night from the blessings that descended, for he is the luckiest in creation, here and in the Hereafter, he is the real representative of Allah. That night, Mawlana prayed for one wave of light to reach our hearts, to shake our hearts to awaken, to awaken us from our drunken stupor within dunya�to become one of those bestowed with understanding.

• We are foolish ones, drunk with dunya�. We do not see the truth, the reality, and we do not understand. Mawlana advised us not to waste our lives seeking meaningless things. Repent always! Those who deny the Prophet (saw), their heavenly lights are darkened. There is no opening for them to rise spiritually unlike those who accept and love the Prophet (saw). Some humans will be of the Right hand, enlightened ones, the others will be of the Left hand, in darkness.

• Try to understand the Prophet (saw) for he was blessed from the beginning of creation (no one knows when the beginning was) and he is blessed for eternity. We must try to reach enlightenment through heavenly lights and heavenly guides. Allah sends His blessings and heavenly dressings on those who try to learn about and to know the Prophet (saw), such that those who do so will be so happy and pleased in the hereafter, they will be granted to be in Allah’s endless oceans of pleasure.

• Mawlana said to give our life to Sayyidina Muhammad (saw) and accord him our highest respect, to honor him, for he is honored in the Divine presence! Keep striving, though it is impossible to reach the reality of Muhammad (saw) -�haqiqatul Muhammadiyyah�- still we can approach the circle of light around his holy existence, his holy presence and his holy essence. Leave your circle in the sand and come to the circle of his light.

Fatihah.