#SohbahSeries: The Secret of Tests

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.

Sometimes tests are sent to clean people, and sometimes they are for advancing them in spiritual stations. Nobody is left without tests.

My Grandsheikhق was saying, “I do not leave anyone among my mureeds without testing.” Nobody is excused. Everyone is tested according to the strength of his faith.

When a person has the potential for strength, he is given a greater test. If he succeeds in that, then quick improvement comes.

Tests are always according to capacity, and Allah ﷻ has endless ways of testing His servants. You must always be awake and careful.

Some tests are from Allah ﷻ, some from the Prophet ﷺ, and also from our sheikh.

A believer must be ready to accept the test, to carry it, and to be patient. When he is patient, he approaches the Divine Presence quickly.

Our worship is small and ordinary steps towards Allah ﷻ. But tests are like comets, suddenly coming and shooting across the sky, carrying a servant very far at once. In a single moment they may bring him to what years of worship cannot reach.

Tests continue at every time, never stopping, and every test comes against the desires of our ego. It is always difficult to carry.

But if you know that the test is given according to your capacity, then you may be patient. Nothing comes greater than what we can carry. Every test is measured exactly to our strength.

Therefore, a mureed must be awake at every moment. If something comes that the ego does not like, he must quickly recognise it as a test. If he recognises it as a test, he may be patient. And with patience, every test becomes an improvement for him.

Each test carried makes the next one easier, and step by step the servant rises in Heavenly stations.

Therefore, it is always important in our tariqat, to think about and look out for a test in every occasion. If seeing something as a test, then you must be patient. Tests may come from children, husbands, wives, neighbours, even from animals. There may be so many different kinds of tests. As long as you are patient, it is good for you.

Grandsheikhق was saying that every day a true sheikh looks at his followers at least three times. It is not just looking, but seeing if something disliked by you is coming towards you, something which the ego does not like. The sheikh is looking and seeing if we can carry it. 

If the mureeds carry it, they rise. If not, they remain where they are or fall down.

Grandsheikh Abu Yazid al-Bistamiق was quiet and patient with his wife and children, carrying whatever came from them. Then he would go out among the people, seeing what difficulties might come to him, testing himself whether he could carry them with patience or not.

He said to himself, “If it is only in your own village, among your family and people, it is easy to be patient. But you must also go to foreign places, among strangers, to see if you can carry what comes from them as well.”

It is important for a mureed to try to reach divine attributes; we must try to be like Allah Almighty in our attributes. Even though all mankind are servants, they are rejecting being servants to Allah ﷻ, only asking to be servants to themselves, working only for their egos, not for anyone else.

But all of us are His servants. We said that to Him ﷻ, on the Day of Promises, we promised Him, “We will be obedient to You.”

Then when we came to this life we said, “Do You think we will obey You? No! That promise was not here.”

Yet Allah ﷻ is carrying billions of people, even though we are disobeying him. If He wished, He could destroy everything in one second, but still He is carrying.

As He ﷻ is carrying us, real servants must be patient and carry others, like Grandsheikh Abu Yazidق, running to foreign people to see if he could carry them. But today people cannot even carry one wife or one husband. Instead of patience, there is always argument.

We are ordered to be like Allah ﷻ in our attributes. He is carrying billions. Allah is protecting and providing for billions, yet we, in our time, are such difficult ones. Why are we not carrying others? We must carry all people. Do not be angry!

Perhaps later that person may turn to his Lord ﷻ; perhaps that one has a secret rank among people. You do not know. Sometimes he is carrying the whole load of others on his shoulders, which no one else knows about.

Grandsheikh Abu Yazidق would run to see if he could carry others. But in our time it has become so hard that we cannot even carry one person. The whole of tariqat is good manners, and the best of manners is to try to reach the divine attributes. The most important is to carry others.

And this was not only the way of the Awliya, but also the way of the Prophets (AS). Look at Sayyidina Nuh (AS). For nine hundred and fifty years he carried his nation, but we are quickly complaining when asked to carry one or two people.

He endured rejection and insult through all those years, yet we cannot even be patient with the difficulties of our own homes and families.

For beginners it is enough to start at home, being patient with family and neighbours. Then, when one grows, he can widen the circle until it reaches all of humanity.

Then you should reach the station of the Prophet ﷺ, not his prophethood but his attributes, because he carried the whole of creation.

And for every level of faith, there is a test. Surely, there will be a test. Without tests, there is no rising.

Sometimes it becomes necessary to stop bad behaviour, whether from children or from those who have overstepped the limits.

But our hearts must always be saying, “Whether they are educated by our treatment or not, that belongs to Allah. I am only trying to do it in the right way.”

And if it becomes worse, then we give it to Allah ﷻ and say, “You are the only One, ya Rabb, O my Lord, who can do anything. I cannot. You know what is best.”

Grandsheikhق spoke of a majdhub (mystic) in Bursa. Children were throwing stones at him. Each time, he would slap himself and say, “Go to your homeland!”

Grandsheikh Sharafuddinق asked Grandsheikh Abdullahق, “What does this mean?”

Grandsheikh Abdullahق replied, “He was not speaking to the children. He was speaking to his own ego, saying, ‘Go back to your Lord, return to your origin!’

For if his path had been completely straight, no stones would have come. They were only a mirror, showing that his ego still held something to be corrected.

So instead of blaming others, he blamed himself, saying, ‘This test is for me. It is because of my own imperfection.’”

O believers, everything is a test. Sometimes it comes from family, sometimes from neighbours, sometimes from strangers. If you are patient, you will rise. If not, you will remain where you are.

Tariqat trains us to see every occasion as a test, to be patient, and to carry others with mercy, just as Allah ﷻ carries us.

May Allah ﷻ grant us patience in every test, strength to carry others, and wisdom to see His Will in all that comes to us.

May He ﷻ raise us in stations until we reach true servanthood.

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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