Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm
In loving memory of our beloved Sheikh Muhammad Abdul Sattar Khan, on the night of his Urs.
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By the name of Allah, All-Mighty, All-Merciful, Most Beneficent and Most Munificent.
Allah Almighty gives us sufficient honor, and we are saying, Alhamdulillah, thanks to Allah Almighty.
It is a divine gift granted by Allah Almighty to us. Among millions of people, we have been chosen to be here and to listen to the holy words that our Lord ﷻ has granted us.
May Allah ﷻ fill our hearts with the light of faith, with divine lights.
We are asking for divine lights, and divine lights never enter a heart that is occupied by this world. Whoever gives his heart to his Lord ﷻ, his Lord sends His divine lights into that heart, because Allah Almighty always looks at our hearts.
He ﷻ does not look at your hair, your turban, your moustache, no. Whether you are black, white, brown, yellow, or red, the colour of the heart is one.
Allah Almighty is looking at our hearts and asking, “My servant’s heart, with whom is it engaged?” If He ﷻ looks and finds Himself in the heart of His servant, He sends His lights into it.
It is like an airport, with flights always arriving and departing. In the hearts of such servants, angels are always coming, always coming.
We say that at Heathrow Airport, every two seconds a plane lands or takes off, but the traffic of angels in the believer’s heart is greater still.
Angels are coming from the Divine Presence, landing upon the heart, bringing light and mercy. Yet your heart is not simply like this [he gestures to show its physical shape]. This is only its outward form.
The true heart, Hu-n-n! The true heart is beyond form and beyond measure.
Within that heart is a throne, and upon that throne is a secret of the Divine. Allah Almighty chose the hearts of the children of Adam (AS) to be the place of His Throne.
The whole universe is too narrow to contain Allah Almighty, but the heart of the believer is wide enough to hold what no creation can hold. You cannot see its sides. You cannot see its end.
We do not know who we are, we do not know. We walk upon this earth blind to the treasures within us, until Allah Almighty opens our hearts, granting us the key to understanding. But if He ﷻ is not pleased with you, He will not give you that key.
You must make your Lord ﷻ pleased with you, and when He is pleased with you, you are going to be pleased with Him. Yes, we must seek His pleasure so that He may grant us ours. Then He will grant us that key for opening.
Allah Almighty says, “Inna fatahna laka fathan mubina” (Surah Al-Fath 48:1).
This means, “Indeed, We have granted you a clear victory.”
“Fath” means opening, so “fathan mubina” is not only an outward triumph but also an inner opening, a victory of the heart. It is when Allah ﷻ opens what was closed and lets His light enter.
This verse was for the Prophet ﷺ, but the Prophet ﷺ asked his Lord ﷻ if it was also for his Ummah. He ﷺ always asked that every honor given to him be shared with his nation.
And Allah Almighty said, “Yes. If they follow in your footsteps, they too will have ‘fathan mubina.’ They are not deprived or prevented from attaining that. Everything that was given to you, O My beloved Muhammad, peace be upon you, is also for your nation.”
When Allah Almighty looks at a heart and finds it filled with other than Himself ﷻ, He ﷻ is not pleased. But when His ﷻ servant gives that heart back to Him ﷻ, His Throne descends upon it.
Upon that Throne you may witness a divine manifestation, a divine appearance, unique and personal to yourself.
And likewise for everyone, because the manifestations, tajalliyat, of our Lord are endless, and He ﷻ appears to each one of His servants according to their faith, sincerity, and love for Him.
Then angels are always coming and going within that heart, and the heart becomes illuminated.
Therefore, the Awliya say, if the lights in the heart of a mumin were to appear, there would be no darkness in all the universe. It would be filled with lights, if the light of a single mumin’s heart were to appear.
That light is hidden for now, yet sometimes it shines upon the face or the eyes or the hands. When a believer walks, he may appear as a figure of light passing through the darkness of dunya.
Therefore, we are asking our Lord ﷻ for just a little light, so that we may see in front of us, where we are walking. If you seek to follow in the footsteps of the Prophet ﷺ with sincerity, you will find light in his ﷺ footsteps.
If those who have lights in their hearts look at the places where any prophet (AS) has walked, in their footsteps there is light, nur. The same for the Awliya, the inheritors of that light.
In the time of Sultan al-‘Arifin Abu Yazid al-Bistamiق, the people of his town spoke badly of him. Sometimes the Awliya speak realities that the common people cannot understand, and so they are tested. The outward eye sees only the form, but the inward eye witnesses the truth.
Those who are given inner sight sometimes speak of what they witness. But those who only see the surface say, “What is this? We never saw or heard such a thing. From where did you bring this? We cannot accept it!”
So in Sultan al-‘Arifinق’s time, scholars accused him of heresy (deviated teachings). They placed chains on his feet and sent him to the capital for the sultan to execute him. And he walked along slowly because of the chains.
That night, the sultan saw a dream. The Prophet ﷺ appeared and said, “O sultan, now Sultan al-‘Arifin is coming from among my Ummah. He is on the way, coming to your palace. You must go and receive him and bring him here. You must respect him as you would receive and respect 124,000 prophets, including myself.”
The sultan awoke in awe and quickly ordered two horses. He mounted his horse and rode through the night. In the darkness of the night, he saw a figure shining with light, a man walking with chains upon his feet.
He ran forward, broke the chains, kissed the hands and feet of Sultan al-‘Arifiniق, and brought him to the palace with honor.
The sultan dismissed the guards and he himself stood and watched over Sultan al-‘Arifinق as he rested. Then, after one hour, Knock-knock-knock, knock-knock-knock, knock-knock-knock. More and more people were coming.
“Who are you?” the sultan asked.
They said, “We are the mureeds, the students, of Abu Yazidق!”
“How did you know to come here?” asked the sultan.
They replied, “O guardian, O sultan, you are asking such a question? How did you see him?”
“I saw him as a lighted figure,” replied the sultan.
“We saw lights where he had walked, and followed his lighted footsteps. We saw that the light of those footsteps finished here.
That is how we know our Shaykh is here!”
This is the way of seekers. The footsteps of their guides are filled with light. Whoever follows them reaches their presence, and whoever follows the footsteps of the Prophet ﷺ reaches the Divine Presence.
May Allah ﷻ grant us from His divine lights until our hearts, faces, and beings are filled with nur. Without light we are blind. Without light we are lost in darkness.
With light, every step becomes easy and every path becomes clear.
May Allah ﷻ fill our hearts with His divine light, grant us the key to our hearts, and let us walk in the footsteps of His beloved ones, until our footsteps too become lights for those who come after us.
Al-Fatiha.
• Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Haqqaniق
More sohbahs from the Liberating the Soul Series can be found here.
On his blessed Urs night, we remember the one who carried that light among us, our beloved Sheikh Muhammad Abdul Sattar Khan.
Though we may be apart in body, our hearts remain connected. As Mawlana Shaykh Nazimق said, “From heart to heart, there is always a connection.” When that love is true, distance means nothing, for hearts that are bound through eternal love are never separated.
Just as the mureeds of Grandshaykh Abu Yazid al-Bistamiق followed the footsteps of light until they reached their guide, we too are following the footsteps of our Sheikh, step by step, heart by heart.
May we find our way back to him, and may he welcome us with open arms, just as a father welcomes his children, and as a guide welcomes those who never stopped seeking. May his light continue to guide us always, and keep our hearts firm upon this way.
May Allah ﷻ elevate his station, increase his light, and let his guidance continue to reach every heart that yearns for truth.
May our footsteps follow his, as his footsteps followed his masters in the Golden Chain, until they reach the Prophet ﷺ in the Divine Presence.
And as the Prophet ﷺ said, “A person will be with those whom he loves.” May our hearts find peace in that promise, and may we walk with love and sincerity until we too are received by those we love, in the gardens of light, beneath the shade of mercy, where no separation remains.
May we be reunited with Sheikh Muhammad Abdul Sattar Khan and all our blessed guides, for all eternity, in His ﷻ endless oceans of love and light. Ameen, ya Rabb.
Al-Fatiha.
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