#SohbahSeries: Alhamdulillah for Everything

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

Maulana Sheikh Nazimق’s Suhbah

Allah Almighty loves His servants to always be pleased. That is important. You must be pleased with your Lord ﷻ. Therefore, He begins His Holy Book, the Qur’an, with the verse, Alhamdu lillahi Rabbi-l-‘Alamin. Yes, you must understand what it means.

Awliya, the saints of Allah ﷻ, say that it means, “O My servants, all of you, say Alhamdulillah, all praise belongs to Allah.” He ﷻ is asking us to be pleased with Him. That is the secret.

Be pleased with your Lord ﷻ, and He will make you pleased with everything. Say, “O my Lord, I am pleased with You.”

This command covers our entire life, from beginning to end. When you reach the age of understanding, you are ordered to be pleased with your Lord ﷻ. When you reach maturity, you must say, “Alhamdulillah.”

From that age until the end of your life, say, “Thanks to my Lord, all praise and thanks to my Lord Almighty.” This is the teaching of the Holy Qur’an.

Wa akhiru da‘wahum an il-hamdu lillahi Rabbi-l-‘Alamin. The first and last word of the servants to their Lord ﷻ is to say, “Alhamdu lillahi Rabbi-l-‘Alamin, endless thanks and most respectful praises be only to our Lord, Almighty Allah.“

That is divine teaching. Allah Almighty teaches through His Prophets (AS), through the Seal of the Prophets ﷺ, and through their inheritors, the Awliya, to say Alhamdulillah, thanks be to our Lord ﷻ, endless thanks!

He ﷻ is pleased when His servants say Alhamdulillah. If you live your entire life saying Alhamdulillah and nothing else, you will reach your Lord ﷻ. You will be a neighbour to the Prophet ﷺ, beloved Muhammad ﷺ, and even a neighbour to Allah Almighty Himself.

Allah Almighty likes people to be happy, but I am seeing that people are unhappy. Why? Because He ﷻ created them from mankind, not creating them monkeys? If He had created us donkeys, what could we do?

You are sons and daughters of Adam (AS), deputies or candidates for being deputies of your Lord ﷻ, yet you are crying and complaining every day. Why are you complaining, O people?

If He ﷻ had created you as black beetles, what could you say? Those small creatures glorify their Lord day and night, but you, the children of Adam (AS), thousands and thousands of complaints!

That is never suitable for the honour Allah ﷻ granted you. No other creation has been given such a rank in the universe. Why, then, do you complain? A believer who understands what he has been given cannot complain. For every complaint, there is no reason except heedlessness.

One day, I was walking from my house to my Grandsheikhق’s house in Damascus. It was raining heavily, and I was wearing wooden sandals. There was too much water in the streets and my kuff, leather socks, became wet.

I complained to my Grandsheikhق.

Then Grandsheikhق shouted, “Do not say such a thing, Nazim Effendi! Do not complain! People have been waiting for rain, and when Allah sends it, you are talking about your wet socks!”

I said, “Astaghfirullah! Forgiveness, ya sayyidi, O my master.”

Many people come to me, and all day and night I hear complaints. Grandsheikhق used to say, “Stop complaining, or I will take a stick and strike anyone who comes to me with complaints!”

From then on I learnt, for every small thing that you may complain about, you must remember the blessings you have been given and be ashamed to complain.

Some things come to us according to our level of faith. As much as you can carry, carry it, and do not complain. It is better for you. Grandsheikhق never accepted that his mureeds should complain. He said Allah Almighty is giving something to you, and He is testing you.

You must not think that everything should be as you like, no. You must learn to say to your Lord ﷻ, “O my Lord, as You like.” That is tarbiyah, training, and irshad, guidance. That is the training of the Tariqah.

You must be tested, but you must keep yourself from complaining. You must fight your ego, because the ego is always complaining. If you complain for one reason, ten more reasons will come. But if you take everything with patience, Allah ﷻ will lessen your burdens.

Therefore, do not be trained to complain. Yes, there may be so many things which could be a reason for complaint, but you must leave it so it becomes less and less, until it finishes. That is important, for all of us.

Do not complain about your husband, do not complain about your wife. Look at each other as a favour from your Lord ﷻ. Then your home will be a place of peace. But if you look with ego, you will find fault in everything.

A believer must see everything around him as a blessing, not a burden.

Allah Almighty loves His servants to be happy, because when they are happy, He is happy with them. If one member of your family is unhappy, can you be at ease? No. In the same way, Allah ﷻ is not pleased when His servants are unhappy. Therefore, He is angry with those who are unhappy even after receiving every favour from Him.

He ﷻ gave you everything that He did not give to anyone else. He made you human, honoured you as His Khalifah, and placed you among the Ummah of His beloved Prophet ﷺ. Yet if you still complain, His divine anger reaches you. So beware of approaching the divine anger.

You must try to be happy and content with everything. Do not let your ego rule over you, because the ego will never be pleased. Give it the whole world, and it will still ask for more. Its desire has no end. Say instead, say, “Alhamdulillah for everything.”

Al-hamdu lillahi Rabbi-l-‘alamin opens the Holy Qur’an. O people, say Alhamdulillah and enter Paradise. Say Alhamdulillah and your troubles will finish. That one word saves all humanity.

It is the divine key for every problem. For every condition, say Alhamdulillah. Then you will live in peace here and in the Hereafter.

On the Day of Resurrection, all people will come to Mahshar, the place of judgment. It is going to be on the plain of Damascus, the Prophet ﷺ said. All people, from East and West, from North and South, will come, and the plain will be filled from the first to the last.

Then, before the judgement begins, Allah Almighty will order an angel to call out, “Those who always said Alhamdulillah, who at every occasion and in every condition said, Alhamdulillah, endless thanks and most respectful praises to our Lord, let them stand up!”

They will rise among all the people, and angels will come to them, one on the right and one on the left, and take them away from the plain of Mahshar.

Allah Almighty will say, “Take them to My Paradise. No judgment, no accounting for them. They were pleased with Me at all times and I am pleased with them. No need for judgment here. They may enter My Paradise, they may enjoy themselves, because they were pleased with Me.”

The Prophet ﷺ showed us this perfect example. When his beloved little son, Sayyidina Ibrahim, passed away, he ﷺ wept out of mercy. Yet he ﷺ said, “The eyes weep and the heart grieves, but we do not say except what our Lord loves and is pleased with.”

Such heavy conditions and difficult trials may come upon you, but you must never lose your faith in your Lord, Allah Almighty. You may feel sorrow or pain or even brokenness, yet always say, as our beloved Prophet ﷺ showed us, “As my Lord likes and is pleased with, I agree.”

Through this, you will rise to a level that only a few ever reach, the level of rida, the level of contentment. That is the highest point a servant can reach.

The people of rida have their own private Paradises. Others will look at their stations as people on earth look at the stars, shining, unreachable, and full of light. It is impossible to reach them, and as we look at the stars, the people of Paradise will look at the ranks and stations of those people of contentment.

So make it a habit to say Alhamdulillah for every breath, every trial, every gift. Then you will feel the nearness of your Lord ﷻ. The doors of mercy will open to you, and you will find peace in your heart.

When you say Alhamdulillah, angels come to write it as endless worship. Every breath of contentment is more valuable than years of complaint. Alhamdulillah is the word of paradise. It is the word that makes your soul shine and your Lord ﷻ pleased with you!

May Allah ﷻ fill our hearts with contentment and love, and make us among those who say Alhamdulillah in every moment, in ease and in hardship, in joy and in sorrow. 

Alhamdulillahi Rabbi-l-‘Alamin.

Al-Fatiha.

• Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Haqqaniق

More sohbahs from the Liberating the Soul Series can be found here.

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This series was initiated by the SufiHub Team in honour of the 2nd Urs of our beloved Sheikh, the late Sheikh Muhammad Abdul Sattar Khan, who lovingly dedicated himself to transcribing and summarising the daily sohbahs of Mawlana Sheikh Nazimق.

It was through this blessed service that he began his journey on this beautiful Way in 2008, remaining steadfast upon it until his final breath in 2023. Today, his legacy continues at our Zawiyah at A’Posh Bizhub Singapore through his representatives Sidi Shalihin, Ismail, and Syed Muhammad, who humbly carry forward the path he sincerely paved.

We pray that our dear Sheikh Abdul Sattar has been reunited with his beloved Mawlana Sheikh Nazimق and all our Grandshaykhs, and that their light continues to guide us always on the way of Haqq.

The text was originally taken from Liberating the Soul – A Guide for Spiritual Growth by Shaykh Nazim Adil al-Haqqaniق. With love and sincere intention, parts of this sohbah have been gently revised by the SufiHub Team for clarity and contextual relevance.

If you wish to share it on your platforms, kindly post it in full and ensure that proper credit is given to all its sources. For this is adab, the very core of our beautiful religion and way.

Should you have any queries or concerns, you are always welcome to reach us at thesufihubteam@gmail.com.

Wassalam.

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