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.
May Allah ﷻ grant us inspirations through the Holy Qur’an and through the holy hadith, the sayings of the Prophet ﷺ.
The Prophet ﷺ was the one who taught mankind every good manner, and what he ﷺ spoke was from his Lord ﷻ. Therefore, we believe that not only is the Qur’an from Allah Almighty, but the understanding of it is from Him ﷻ as well.
The first interpreter of the Qur’an was the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and he ﷺ did not know anything until Allah ﷻ taught him. Jibreel (AS) brought the words, but he did not bring their meanings. The meanings Allah ﷻ placed directly into the heart of the Prophet ﷺ.
Thus, we, the people of tariqah, believe that every word the Prophet ﷺ said is from Allah ﷻ. The Qur’an came with its words, and the hadith came with their meanings placed in his ﷺ heart, which he then expressed in his own noble words.
The Prophet ﷺ said, “Inna Allaha yuhibbu-l-‘abda idha ‘amila ‘amalan an yutqinahu.”
“Verily, Allah loves His servant who, when he does something, does it perfectly, as much as he is able.” This is a very important hadith.
This is a great teaching, because it concerns adab, good manners. Whatever you do will be presented before Allah ﷻ. Just as people display their best works in an exhibition, so will mankind on the Day of Resurrection display the works of their lifetime.
I was in the market just now. Everyone was displaying and presenting their goods in the best way, hoping that many would buy. On the Day of Resurrection, it will be the same, but far greater.
A great exhibition, very great, and everyone’s works will be raised up to be shown to all. The works of Abdullah, the works of James, the works of Elizabeth, the works of Ahmad, the works of everyone else. Everyone’s works will be shown, both the good and the bad.
But now we are speaking only of the good ones. No one will be pleased with his bad works being shown in the sight of all.
We are speaking now of works that we neglect to make perfect, saying, “It is all right, it does not matter.” No! Whatever you are able to do, you must try as much as possible to make it perfect or nearly perfect. In every work, you must look after that.
It may be for this life or for the next, but in everything you do, you must try to reach perfection.
This is a rule, and it is enough for mankind as a guide. Only this one hadith, this one saying of the Prophet ﷺ, can raise a person from the lowest station to the highest.
Truly, each hadith of the Prophet ﷺ contains ‘ulum al-awwalin wal-akhirin, the knowledge of the first and the last. Endless lessons can be drawn from it.
This is our life rule. You must write it with golden letters, placed everywhere for remembrance. Even those with no mind will think, “This must be a precious saying, because people are writing it with golden letters.” Yes.
That is why the Prophet ﷺ ordered his nation that if they want to do something, they should think about it first, then act. You must consider the details of your action, look at it carefully, and then try to do it perfectly or nearly perfectly.
So many things Allah ﷻ sent to His Holy Prophet ﷺ in His Holy Qur’an, and the Prophet ﷺ taught the best of those things to his nation. Every teaching of the Prophet ﷺ is perfect, but we carry them out in imperfect ways and therefore do not reach perfection.
We must try to reach that perfection in every activity which Islam teaches and brings to us.
Allah ﷻ gives His orders through His beloved Muhammad ﷺ as obligations. Then He ﷻ gave authority to His beloved Prophet ﷺ to teach people through his Sunnah, his practice, which perfects the obligations.
For example, prayer is fard, but Sunnah completes and beautifies it. Without Sunnah, worship remains incomplete.
Sunnah covers everything: eating, drinking, sleeping, speaking, learning, working, even resting. For every action imaginable, there is a Sunnah. Sunnah makes everything complete. That is the wisdom, and we must know it in order to make our deeds perfect.
But in our time, many people neglect Sunnah. They say, “Before fard there is Sunnah. Does not matter, we may pray only fard and go.”
Yes, four raka‘at for Dhuhr, four raka‘at for ‘Asr, four raka‘at for Isha, three raka‘at for Maghrib, two raka‘at for Fajr are obligatory. But the Prophet ﷺ never left Sunnah, and by it our deeds are raised to perfection.
People now are mostly following the ways of shaytan. Shaytan, if unable to prevent you from praying, is satisfied if you leave off Sunnah.
He whispers, “It does not matter.” So many Muslims you see, even in the Central Mosque, neglecting it, becoming lazy, saying, “Sunnah is not fard.” They do not understand what the Prophet ﷺ is teaching.
O believers, if you do anything, you must try to do it perfectly or nearly perfectly. Why are you leaving off Sunnah? You must complete it, yes.
And after every prayer, there is tasbeeh: thirty-three times Subhanallah, thirty-three times Alhamdulillah, thirty-three times Allahu akbar. But some say, “Does not matter.”
Do not say, “It does not matter.” It matters, yes, because the Prophet ﷺ never spoke from himself. By the order of his Lord ﷻ, he ﷺ spoke, and you must complete it to reach perfection.
We must try to follow Sunnah in worship, because worship belongs to Allah Almighty. More than anything else, you must strive for perfection in your worship.
If someone prays quickly, with his heart wandering between East and West, Allah ﷻ accepts it, but he will still be blameworthy, for worship is presented in the Divine Presence and we must try to make it perfect as much as possible.
Whoever strives for perfection in their worship becomes beloved to Allah ﷻ, beloved among the awliya, and respected among people.
Even in worldly matters, the same principle applies. Anyone who wants to learn something must also strive for perfection.
I am always, according to my inspirations, saying to students, “O young fellow, whichever branch of life you want to go into, you must try to be the first one in your branch. Do not accept to be the last one.”
If you are to be a doctor, an engineer, an advocate, you must not be one of the lowest. Even if you are a boot polisher, you must be a first-class boot polisher. If you are a cobbler, you must be a first-class cobbler.
Allah Almighty created everyone with a specialty, and in that specialty, if he accepts it, he should excel.
But devils deceive people with titles. A doctor may be one who barely passed, yet people see the title and are deceived.
The Prophet ﷺ said, “Man ghashshana fa laisa minna.”
“Whoever deceives us is not from us.”
A doctor who has no skill, deceiving people with his title, is also included in this.
Everyone has been given a gift, a specialty from Allah ﷻ. Parents and teachers must look for this in their children, guiding them to where they belong.
Once, someone from London, from the group of John G. Bennett, came to Grandsheikhق. He was working on pedagogy and asked, “How can I discover the abilities, the talents, of children?” I translated this question.
Grandsheikhق replied, “It is not something known by physical means. It belongs to hearts. Only the one whose heart has been given that power can look and say, ‘This is for you.’ It cannot be learned from books or theories.”
This is one of the crises of our time, we are fighting against nature. People are in the wrong places. A man who should be a teacher is a carpenter. One who should be a doctor is a shopkeeper. One who should be an advocate is an engineer. This is why societies suffer.
If people kept only this one hadith, this world would be changed into Paradise. By abandoning it, everything becomes confused and corrupt.
O believers, strive to make every action such that if it were displayed before all creation, you would not be ashamed. This is the meaning of doing things with perfection.
May Allah ﷻ grant us to follow the Sunnah of His beloved Prophet ﷺ in every action, and to complete our deeds with beauty and sincerity.
May we be raised among those whose works shine brightly in the great exhibition of the Last Day.
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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