Good Company Is Life’s Essence

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

AlhamduliLlah we are here; all are ṭarīqah people. This is the word of Shah Naqshband, the Pīr of Ṭarīqah Nashbandiyyah. There are things that must be in ṭarīqah: Khatm ul-Khwajagan and Ṣuḥbah, in shā’a Llāh. To be together.

AlhamduliLlah we are now gathering by the order of our Pīr Shaykh Bahauddin Naqshbandī, in shā’a Llāh; with his Nazar, his sight upon us. This opens that Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla’s sight to be upon us, to be happy with us. Every time, I pray for Allāh ﷻ to send good people to us, to be together with good people. This is our prayer, our du’ā’ every time.

To be with good people is the best thing to do, because Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam ordered this. He ‎ﷺ gave example on this. If your friend is good, he’s like a perfume seller. If you go to his shop, even if you don’t buy, if you just go there, you smell nice smells and that will make you happy. Even if you don’t buy anything, if you just go inside, you will be happy because there’s a good smell, a clean place and good people.

And the bad friend is just like the blacksmith. If you go to his workshop – it’s his work of course, there’s no problem for him. He pumps air into fire to make it strong and to melt iron a little bit. So when he blows air on the iron, this small fire coming out will either burn your clothes or make you smell like smoke.

Besides this, to temper the iron and make it stronger, they sometimes quench it in foul water-even using horse urine-which constantly gives off a terrible smell. For this, this is an example here. Of course, there’s no need to go near the blacksmith; from far away, if you have any request, you can buy or ask. But nobody goes to the blacksmith’s shop and enjoys his time there.

So we must find good people to be friends with; with good people, in shā’a Llāh. Good people are those who love Allāh ﷻ, love Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam, love the ṣaḥābah, love Ahlu l-Bayt and mashāyikh. These are the good people, the best people.

This is the meaning of life of human beings. This is how it must be. They are looking and researching “Why are we here?” You haven’t been invited to come to this world. Allāh ﷻ created you. You cannot ask Him, “Why am I here?”

Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla says, ‘أَفَحَسِبْتُمْ أَنَّمَا خَلَقْنَاكُمْ عَبَثًا وَأَنَّكُمْ إِلَيْنَا لَا تُرْجَعُونَ’, ‘Afaĥasibtum ‘Annamā Khalaqnākum Abathāan Wa ‘Annakum ‘Ilaynā Lā Turjaūn’, ‘Then did you think that We created you uselessly and that to Us you would not be returned?’ (Qur’ān 23:115).

Allāh ﷻ says, “Do you think We created you just to enjoy yourself and that you are not coming back to us?” This is to wake people up. But if they are not reading this and not listening, they are all the time suffering. They thought they are only coming here by means of their father and mother.

They are not happy with them, saying, “Why did you bring us to this world!” This is the real ignorance, Jāhiliyyah. Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says, the second Jāhiliyyah, the second time of ignorance is worse than the first one.

So if they know what the meaning of life is, they will be satisfied, they will be happy, no stress, no anxiousness, no sadness. This is the meaning of a good friend, of good people. To be with good people: this is the meaning of life.

AlhamduliLlah here we see many people AlhamduliLlah coming for ṭarīqah. There are many zāwiyahs here and everywhere, in shā’a Llāh, in Indonesia. Mawlānā Shaykh Nāẓim, our father, used to say that, in shā’a Llāh, there will be 40,000 dergahs, zāwiyahs across the world.

Allāh ﷻ created everybody a little bit different from the other. Someone might like to be with his friend whom he’s more happy with. They can be together with them, no problem. There’s problem as long as they are following Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla and have love towards each other.

There are 124,000 prophets. There were some whose entire ummah, nation were only one person. For one prophet, one nation. For this, if you are a wakīl (representative) or you have a dergah, there’s no need to be worried if people are coming or not. Of course, you must welcome anybody coming and be together. If not coming, okay also.

AlhamduliLlah we are Naqshbandī; and this applies towards other ṭarīqahs also. They are all our brothers. We love each other. We traveled last year to Irāq. We visited all mashāyikh: Shaykh Abdul Qādir Al-Gaylāni, Abu Hanifa, Sayyidina Ahmad Rifāi, Hassan Al-Basri. We visited all these Awliyā’. All are upon our head. We are happy with them.

And we are happy with those in our time also; many great ‘ulama, Awliyā’ and salihīn (righteous). AlhamduliLlah, we meet with them; they visit us and we visit them. They are beloved ones for Allāh ﷻ. So no need to make a problem. As much as you meet with good people you must be happier.

AlhamduliLlah our Imām was reading a very nice Sūrah, Sūratu z-Zumar. The meaning of the āyah is that those who believe in Allāh ﷻ, and remain conscious of their deeds to not feel ashamed in front of Allāh ﷻ, will be together.

The Sūrah says, they will go in troops; party by party. “Zumaran” means troops together. They will go like that to paradise. When they are in dunyā together, in ākhirah also, they will be going to paradise together. The angels will greet them, “Salāmun ‘alaykum.” The Malā’ika (angels) will say, “Allāh ﷻ is happy with you, come to paradise.”

May Allāh ﷻ make more and more people be together to go to Jannah with millions of people, in shā’a Llāh. May Allāh ﷻ reward you because you’ve been waiting here since Maghrib; many of you. They are not tired, they’re waiting for the love of Allāh ﷻ. They were waiting here for us and they are not tired from waiting.

They are not waiting for a party, for singing or playing. They are waiting with the intention being just to hear something to open their hearts and for Allāh ﷻ to bless them. May Allāh ﷻ bless you, in shā’a Llāh. May we be together forever, in shā’a Llāh.

Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq.

Al-Fatiha.

•⁠ ⁠Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbaniق

29 October 2026/ 18 Jumada al-Awwal 1448

Masjid Raya Pondok Indah – Jakarta, Indonesia

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