#SohbahSeries: The Need for Certainty

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

Maulana Sheikh Nazimق’s Suhbah

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By the name of Allah, All-Mighty, All-Merciful, Most Beneficent and Most Munificent.

It is impossible for a person to leave evil and walk upon the right path unless his Lord ﷻ helps him. Therefore, we must ask help, divine help, for everything.

You cannot take yourself away from evil without your Lord ﷻ’s help, and you cannot place your footsteps upon the straight path unless you ask your Lord ﷻ to guide you. When you are in need of leaving evil, say, A‘udhu billahi min ash-Shaytani r-rajim.

This becomes a protection for you, a fortress around you.

Any time you feel that Shaytan is approaching, you must say, “O my Lord, Shaytan wants to make me his servant, to make me his follower. O my Lord, keep me away from him.” Even if you say this only with your tongue, it brings benefit. If you say it with your heart, it becomes very strong.

And when you are asking to put your feet on the right path, you must say, Bismillahi r-Rahmani r-Rahim.

In our time, if a person wishes to move forward on the straight way, one hundred shaytans rush to catch his feet so that he cannot move forward. When you say Bismillahi r-Rahmani r-Rahim, it takes them away and gives you power to walk on that straight path.

Yes, that is true. Bismillahi r-Rahmani r-Rahim is so powerful. It is the key to every miraculous power. As much as you are certain of that, even if you put your foot on water, you may walk upon it. It is only certainty that can achieve this.

Everyone knows something, but only a few have certainty. Knowledge may be for everyone, but certainty is not.

Hasan al-Basriق was a famous Imam. In his time there was Habib al-‘Ajamiق, who was not an Arab, he was from Persia or Bukhara. He did not recite the Qur’an as the Arabs recite. He was also simple and unlettered.

Once, Imam Hasan al-Basriق came and saw Habib al-‘Ajamiق praying Maghrib. When Hasan al-Basriق heard that the Shaykh could not say al-hamdu but pronounced it el-hemdü, he thought, “His recitation is not correct” and he did not pray behind him. He prayed alone.

Then a hatif rabbani, a divine address, came to him. Allah ﷻ sometimes makes His ﷻ beloved servants hear what He ﷻ wills. Allah ﷻ informed him through ilham, inspiration, and Hasan al-Basriق listened.

“Except for that prayer which you did not pray behind Habib, I was going to accept all your prayers. But you left that prayer. You are still looking at the words, not at the heart of the imam. I am looking at the imam, and I look at his heart.

If his heart is with Me, that imam is all right. If his heart is not with Me, and he is occupied with making his voice and recitation beautiful while allowing his heart to be absent from Me, then angels are the ones who carry that prayer to Me.

But when the one who prays is with Me in his heart, I accept his prayer directly without intermediary.”

Therefore, all prayers are of two kinds. One is the kind of the person who goes to pray and when he says, “Allahu Akbar” he puts everything aside and is with his Lord, and Allah Almighty takes his prayers directly to His Divine Presence.

For the one who says “Allahu Akbar” and throughout his prayer he is traveling, selling and buying, going and coming, sleeping and awaking, eating and drinking, running after this and that, angels are taking his prayer to Allah ﷻ.

But Allah Almighty Himself accepts the prayers of those whose hearts are with Him ﷻ. “O Hasan al-Basri, I was ready to accept all of your prayers, but because you refused to join the prayer of Habib al-‘Ajami on account of his recitation, that acceptance was withheld.”

Hearing this, Imam Hasan al-Basriق wept so much.

Once, Hasan al-Basriق was sitting by the Tigris River in Baghdad, waiting for the boat to cross to the other side. Habib al-‘Ajamiق came and said, “O Ustadh, my Master, what are you waiting for?”

Hasan al-Basriق said, “I am waiting for the ferry to cross.”

Habibق said, “You are the Imam, yet you wait for a raft? Come and say Bismillah and walk.” He said Bismillahi r-Rahmani r-Rahim and walked upon the Tigris and crossed.

Hasan al-Basriق cried, “This ‘ajami, this foreigner, unlettered, crosses the Tigris, and I am sitting here!” Yes, Hasanق knew the power of Bismillahi r-Rahmani r-Rahim, but Habibق possessed certainty. Hasanق did not have enough certainty to say it and step upon the water.

Therefore we are in need of more certainty rather than more knowledge. That is important. In our time people run after learning many things. What is the benefit? You may learn much and forget much.

But certainty never leaves you. Certainty is the seed of knowledge. Plant it and it grows.

Once, when Habib al-‘Ajamiق was sitting in front of his khanaqah, his takiyah, Hasan al-Basriق came running. “O Habib, hide me,” said Hasanق, “because Hajjaj, the governor, has sent soldiers to seize me. Hide me.”

Habibق said, “Go inside and hide yourself.”

Hasanق went in and found a place to hide. Soon the soldiers arrived and asked Habibق, “Have you seen Hasan al-Basri?”

He said, “Yes. I saw him inside. He is inside.”

They entered and searched everywhere. Hasanق was looking around in fear. The soldiers left and said to Habibق, “Are you not ashamed to lie? Where is he? Hajjaj will deal with anyone who helps Hasan. You said he was inside. You are not ashamed to lie!”

Habibق said, “Inside. I am not lying. He is inside.”

They went in and out again, becoming very angry, then left.

Hasan al-Basriق came out and said, “O Shaykh, what is this? I came asking you to protect me, and you told the soldiers I was inside!”

Habibق said, “O Hasan, O Imam, you were saved by the truth of my words. I told the truth, and Allah protected you because I spoke truthfully.

I said, O my Lord, this Hasan al-Basri, Your servant, came to me and said, ‘Hide me, keep me.’ I cannot protect him. I entrust him to You, giving him to You as my trust. You protect him.

I said only that, and I recited Ayat al-Kursi.”

The soldiers searched everywhere, even brushing Hasan al-Basriق’s head, yet they did not realise he was there.

Yes, if Allah ﷻ protects His servant, it is done. Awliya are deputies of our Lord ﷻ. If a person runs to a wali and asks for protection, the wali may protect him in this world and in the Hereafter. These are miracles for anbiya and also for awliya.

We are in need of certainty. Once again, Hasan al-Basriق came to visit the Shaykh, Habib al-‘Ajamiق. When Hasanق arrived, Habibق brought two loaves of bread as courtesy to his guest and placed them before him.

Just as Hasanق began to eat, a hungry person came and asked for something for the sake of Allah ﷻ. Habibق took both loaves from before Hasanق and gave them to the man.

Then Hasan al-Basriق said, “O Shaykh, you are a good person, but if you had more knowledge of Shari‘ah it would be better for you. You should know a little, you are in need of that. One loaf for me and one for him, not taking both and giving them away.”

The Shaykh remained silent. After a short while, someone came to the door. The Shaykh ordered, “See who is there.”

A disciple looked and said, “A man has brought a tray full of food.”

The Shaykh said, “Bring the tray.” He turned to Hasanق and said, “Now, Imam, eat! You know much, but you have little certainty. You must try to have more certainty.”

Because he had certainty, the Shaykh knew that if he gave for the sake of Allah ﷻ, more would surely come. “You were angry with me when I gave away both loaves. Look! If I had not given both, this would not have come. I am certain that when I give, Allah Almighty will return it at least tenfold.”

Therefore, certainty benefits everyone more than anything else, and we are in great need of it. If there is no certainty, knowledge cannot give benefit. It becomes only an ornament that lets people say, “We are doctors, we are scholars.”

What is certainty? Someone said, “If I put my hand in the mouth of a dragon, and my heart is sound, it will not fear that the dragon will bite. I know with certainty that only if my Lord gives the order will it bite. Therefore, without doubt, if I were to place my hand there, I would not be afraid.”

Imam Sha‘raniق, one of the people of tawakkul, complete trust in the Lord ﷻ, said,

“Once I was traveling and it was near Maghrib. I saw a dome and walked toward it. When I entered, I saw a tomb inside, and the place was in ruins.

After a short while, peasants came running and said,

‘O Shaykh, do not stay here. Come to our village nearby. This is a terrible place, particularly at nighttime. So many snakes, big snakes, come out, and if anyone sleeps here, in the morning we find only his bones, nothing else. They eat him; only bones are left. Therefore we are warning you not to sleep here.’

I said to them, ‘O my brothers, after you told me this, I cannot move. I cannot take even one step out of this place.

Since you warned me about those big snakes, my ego felt fear, and I am so ashamed before my Lord that my nafs feared snakes and did not fear Allah.

I will not go with you. I must sleep here tonight. If my nafs deserves to be eaten, let it be so. I will not leave.’

They said, ‘You know best, Shaykh. We invited you and warned you.’

I said, ‘Yes, thank you very much. Go, and I will remain. If you had simply invited me without mentioning snakes, I might have come. Since you spoke of danger, I cannot move a single step.’”

They departed. In the morning they hurried back with shovels to gather his bones. They found the Shaykh sitting in remembrance, making dhikr.

The snakes lay beside him like wooden beams. When he lay down in the night, they circled him and left tracks in the sand while hissing. And he was at rest.

Yes, if you know your Lord ﷻ and place your trust in Him, He ﷻ protects you. If you are familiar with your Lord ﷻ, creation becomes familiar with you.

That is certainty, very important! We must try to improve in certainty, not just collecting many verses of the Qur’an and hadiths. If we take the secret power within them, that becomes certainty for us.

Whoever possesses it may give it. The one who has something may share it. If he does not have it, how can he give? You ask for bread from a person. If he has it, he gives. If not, he cannot.

Certainty is with the Prophets (AS). Their certainty brought Jibril (AS) from the heavens to them. Certainty is with the Awliya as well. You may take certainty from such people. All true Awliya possess certainty. You will not find a wali without certainty.

Therefore we are asking our Lord ﷻ to let us find one of them, so that we may receive certainty.

They give certainty as lamps give light. Some lamps give five watts, others a thousand, even ten thousand. As much as a person needs, they give; as much as you are asking, they give certainty. We are in need of that.

May Allah ﷻ bless you and forgive you, and grant us certainty from His ﷻ beloved servants.

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.