Even if you owned all of dunya, it is meaningless

Summary of Maulana Shaykh Nazim’s Daily Suhbah

25th February 2010, Thursday

Even if you owned all of dunya, it is meaningless

A’uzubillah himinsh shaitan nirrajeem

Bismillahir Rahman-nir Raheem

Assalamu’alaikum wrh wbkt

Mawlana welcomed all students who were gathered to hear and to understand something which they had never understood before. That was a gift of Allah for attendees, that they be blessed with an understanding that would not fade away.

Allah is sending gifts on His servants, day and night, without fail, though more of such gifts arrive at night as compared to the daytime. Some saints teach of a special blessing of Allah which descends at night. Each night, Allah creates a special group of angels for a special task, only for that night. And He creates a different group of angels each night for this same task. Each night is different, each creation is different, even ourselves are not the same today, as compared to how we were yesterday.

In the last third of every night, this group of angels descends upon Earth. They search from east to west and from north to south for a selected group of people. Who are these people? Allah commands these angels, “Go to My servants in dunya. Look how many of My servants are standing up and praying and glorifying Me and asking from Me for My Pleasure?”

Mawlana said Allah did not ask, “Who seeks my Paradise?” Paradise is secondary, the most important goal that all saints seek to attain, more than anything else, is Allah’s pleasure. That means their only target is to make Allah pleased with them and for them to also be pleased with what Allah has set for them. The most important thing for you to achieve in this worldly life is the Pleasure of your Lord.

They are not asking for any gifts from the entire creation – not even for Paradise! Compare that to our prayers, which are always for worldly treasures. Awliyaullah are not in the least interested in the treasures of dunya, they are not even interested in the treasures of Akhirah; they only want Allah to be pleased with them.

That group of special angels are instructed by Allah to seek out and look after those chosen servants of His, servants who desire His pleasure only. These angels roam the four corners of the globe, seeking out every Son of Adam who stands in worship, seeking to please Allah as his only goal. They record down and confirm the names of these pious servants of Allah, and then rise through the heavens to their special stations to present these names to Allah Almighty. These angels are special as not every angel gets to be addressed directly from the Divine Presence. These chosen few have that single task on that single night, and they remain in their station with the list of names after completing their task. These angels, will never come down to earth ever again.

After these names are shown to Allah Almighty, He then creates a second group of special angels who are laden with gifts, guidance and heavenly grants, and they descend to earth bearing these gifts. They seek out the servants whose names were on the list and place these gifts in front of these pious servants of Allah. When this occurs, these servants’ hearts are filled with heavenly pleasure and satisfaction, which radiates from their faces, so that a special halo is seen around the faces of these sincere ones.

So in every last third of the night, angels seek out those who are standing and crying and begging their Lord, that they be accepted in the Divine Presence, and grant them their gifts. Hence, say the Saints, those who seek Allah’s pleasure will be granted it. This is a never-ending process, to be repeated nightly, in the last third of each night. Everyone listed in that special list will receive Allah’s grants and gifts.

This is the prayer of the Saints each night, “Oh our Lord, we are asking for Your pleasure, we are asking to please You, that is our Jannah, that is our Paradise. We are asking You to be pleased with us and to make that our Paradise!” That is the ultimate destination for a believer. Those who are in this group can be identified by the contented glow emitting from their faces, for, every action has a reaction, every good deed has a reward.

Is there any Reward for Good other than Good? (Quran 55:60)

Those who seek to please Allah, Allah rewards them by pleasing their hearts and making this life pleasurable for them too, each one according to his level and station. No two servants receive identical gifts of pleasure from Allah – similar perhaps, but not identical – and each gift is tailored to suit its recipient perfectly. Seek to please your Lord, seek His pleasure, and be pleased with Him, and He will fill your heart and life with immeasurable pleasure.

“Oh believers, do not seek the pleasures of dunya, do not chase this worldly life, the Prophet (saw) said that this dunya is a carcass. What is the benefit of having the entire treasures of dunya in your hand? Or for that matter, the treasures of the whole universe in your hand? No Prophet came to call his ummah to dunya. None. You were not created for the purpose of chasing this temporary life, the imitation ruby. Do not waste your life chasing this worldly existence. Anything associated with this dunya is worthless.” Mawlana lamented that it is so sad that billions are chasing dunya today, and he prayed, “Oh Allah, give us understanding, that we love the eternal life, save us from being cheated by the imitated treasures of this life. Oh Allah, give us from Your treasures, that we may be in Your Divine Presence.”

The summary of the teachings of all prophets and of all holy books is this: That Man must live in this dunya to seek his Lord’s pleasure, and to be pleased with Him. That is his sole purpose, his ultimate goal in life.

Mawlana then addressed some of the disgruntled scholars who have borne the brunt of his hard-hitting criticism in past Suhbahs. He told them to be fair to themselves, and not to brush off every advice from Mawlana just because they feel offended by his advice in the past. Instead, Mawlana said that they should weigh each advice carefully, and if they feel that a particular lesson or advice is beneficial, they should accept it and practice it. A blanket rejection of all Mawlana’s advice is not sensible, as they may miss out on some pearls which they can practice and benefit from. Mawlana gave an example of ruby miners in Ceylon: When they dig in the mines, they will turn up both gravel and rubies, of which they discard the gravel and gratefully pocket the ruby. So everyone should listen to the advice dished out. If they feel it is merely gravel, feel free to walk away from the lesson, but if it is a ruby, surely they should treasure it close to their hearts.

Fatihah.