The Secret to becoming a real Mureed

Maulana Shaykh Nazim’s Friday Suhbah

The Secret to becoming a real Mureed

1^st April 2011

A’uzubillah himinash shaitan nirrajeem

Bismillah-hir Rahman-nir Raheem

Assalamu’alaikum wrh wbkt

• Maulana began by stating that he would have liked every human being on earth to attend this Friday’s Holy Suhbah, as it was of supreme importance, for the message being inspired into his heart was for all of Mankind.

• On the Day of Promises, Allah had asked Mankind, “Am I your Creator? Are you my Servants? Do you accept these dressings of Servanthood?” Having been dressed in stunning Robes of Majesty, the Garment of Servanthood, the Apparel of Obedience – attires of such immense beauty – each one of the Souls proclaimed spontaneously in the Divine Presence, “Yes, YOU are our Creator, and we are YOUR weak servants,” as they stood in their Heavenly Dress of Honour. Allah said, “Oh My Servants, to be dressed by Servanthood, is the Highest Honour in all of creation!” On that Day, every Soul had been dressed in such unimaginable honour.

• When sent to this worldly life, some of the Souls kept their word to Allah, and have remained dressed in those Holy Robes of Obedience and Submission ever since, but others sank into a life of treachery and evil, discarding the noble Dress they had been bestowed. Such a pity. They broke their Oaths, they forgot what dress they had been given, and they said, “We are not servants! We do not accept the lowly status of being servants. We are Lords!”

• Such misled ones, have taken the worst teacher, shaitan, as a guide, and he whispers to them, “Leave servanthood. I shall lead you to an honour that you can taste in this worldly life. I shall lead you to the point that you can proclaim, I am a King, I am an Admiral, I am Field Marshall, I am a President, I am a Prime Minister – I am someone great!” When Man assumes leadership, he is suddenly transformed from the Lord’s servant to the people’s Master – no longer does he view it befitting that he be labeled as a lowly ‘servant’!

• Shaitan leads humans to seek adulation from the masses, to seek fame and name, to seek to be idolized and worshipped. Why bow, when you can be bowed to? Those who accept shaitan’s offer, discard their robes of heavenly honour, and are cheated into seeking worldly honour. Shaitan will lead you away from nothing-ness, towards something-ness. By discarding the priceless heavenly honour of being acknowledged by one’s Creator, such unfortunate ones seek worthless worldly honour of being acknowledged by the creation! Can the creation give honour to another creation? Never. Why?

مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ ٱلۡعِزَّةَ فَلِلَّهِ ٱلۡعِزَّةُ جَمِيعًاۚ

If any do seek for glory and power― to Allah belong all glory and power. (Quran 35:10)

All honour and glory belongs to the Lord, so one cannot find this from being hailed by fellow creation.

• Shaitan’s mission from the beginning, till the end of time, is to convince Man not to accept that they are servants of the Lord of Heavens. Look at what happens when a human being assumes the mantle of leadership and discards his Robe of Honour. He becomes shaitan’s representative and leads his followers astray. How can one who keeps not his promise to his Lord, be expected to keep his promise to his Lord’s creatures? And these are the people chosen to lead in today’s world!

يَـٰبَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ لَا يَفۡتِنَنَّڪُمُ ٱلشَّيۡطَـٰنُ كَمَآ أَخۡرَجَ أَبَوَيۡكُم مِّنَ ٱلۡجَنَّةِ يَنزِعُ عَنۡہُمَا لِبَاسَہُمَا لِيُرِيَهُمَا سَوۡءَٲتِہِمَآ‌ۗ إِنَّهُ ۥ يَرَٮٰكُمۡ هُوَ وَقَبِيلُهُ ۥ مِنۡ حَيۡثُ لَا تَرَوۡنَہُمۡ‌ۗ إِنَّا جَعَلۡنَا ٱلشَّيَـٰطِينَ أَوۡلِيَآءَ لِلَّذِينَ لَا يُؤۡمِنُونَ

O ye Children of Adam! Let not shaitan seduce you in the same manner as he got your parents out of the Garden, stripping them of their clothing, to expose their shame: for he and his tribe watch you from a position where ye cannot see them: We made the Evil ones friends (only) to those without Faith. (Quran 7:27)

• Once the Robes of Servanthood to the Creator are stripped off, the yoke of slavery to shaitan and dunia are then fixed upon him. His honour is lost, he becomes worse than a domestic animal now, living life only to seek pleasures of the flesh and to fulfil the desires of the ego. They have become representatives and deputies of Shaitan, like the dictators and tyrants of Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Yemen and other Arab countries – lording over their subjects with an iron-fist of cruelty. “Whoever does not accept my rule, kill them! We have the latest array of powerful weapons – unleash them on those who defy me! It is I who am in power, I am your Lord! You must be obedient to me, or I shall kill all of you. This Chair is only for me, and all of you are my servants,” cry these inhuman despots. They have forgotten the promise they had made to Allah

• Allah had said to Sayyidina Muhammad, “Oh My beloved, don’t think that I have only given the opportunity for a small number of people to be like Pharoah or Nimrod. I have given every human being a chance to be so.” That is why the situation in the Arab world will not change, even if they deposed of the ruling dictators, for he will be replaced by another, who although at the outset may claim to be there for the people, will eventually also want to wield absolute power and demand complete obedience. Soon, he will be exactly like his predecessor – another cruel tyrant. So changing the leadership is not the solution. Changing the system of government to one based on the perfect true Words of the Lord, the Holy Shariah, is the only solution out of this mess.

• Our Muslim ancestors, the Ottomans, ruled by the Quran, and they achieved honour and respect, ruling for 700 years with such dominance. If the current Muslim Community returns to that method of rule under one Sultan, we will achieve the same result as achieved in that Golden Era of Islam. If the Ummah had held on tightly to the guidance of Shariah, they would have been safe from the grip of these latter-day Pharoahs, Nimrods and dictators. No man-made Constitution based on selfish desires, designed to replace the Holy Shariah, can ever work. Ever. The Muslim Community must be aware of this.

• Despots, tyrants and dictators always reject governing by the Holy Shariah with a multitude of excuses, as their man-made laws allow them to rape the country, legally, of its resources. By cleverly wording the laws so that the layman is left baffled, clauses for nepotism, cronyism and daylight robbery of the nation’s coffers are woven cleverly into the fabric of the Constitution, so that these shaitan-certified criminal leaders have unprecedented and unmonitored access to the nation’s valuable resources. Oh Muslims, awaken! Any leader who refuses to uphold Allah Almighty’s Holy Shariah in governing the nation, is a student of shaitan! Such a leader will be a source of great suffering for his citizens, so do not accept such a trouble-maker.

إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَأۡمُرُ بِٱلۡعَدۡلِ وَٱلۡإِحۡسَـٰنِ وَإِيتَآىِٕ ذِى ٱلۡقُرۡبَىٰ وَيَنۡهَىٰ عَنِ ٱلۡفَحۡشَآءِ وَٱلۡمُنڪَرِ وَٱلۡبَغۡىِ‌ۚ يَعِظُكُمۡ لَعَلَّڪُمۡ تَذَكَّرُونَ

Allah commands justice, the doing of good, and liberty to kith and kin, and He forbids all shameful deeds, and injustice and rebellion: He instructs you, that ye may receive admonition. (Quran 16:90)

• Allah had sent justice and kindness via His Chosen Prophets to the people, but humans have chosen to reject it. What a crying shame that we have descended into such mayhem. Having been commanded by Allah to keep obedience to a single Khalifah or Leader for the entire Islamic world, the Muslim community has broken into small nations, each under a shamefully un-Islamic ruler. The world fears China as a superpower because they are united under one leader, but Muslims still do not take a lesson from that. The Muslim Ummah has fallen the lowest ebb of ignorance – Maulana says – there is no lower point on that scale, than already exists now. This is the post-mortem of the Community today. How staggering. Every obedient one will taste one Divine slap of suffering and difficulty in his worldly life, but defiant ones will experience a hundred slaps!

• Hence the first slaps are directed at the Muslim world. You will witness what is happening now in the Middle East. Slap after slap will strike, until the Muslims submit in obedience to His Holy Orders, until the Muslim world accepts one Imam to rule over them, and such a reality will only be attained when Imam Mahdi (as) comes.

• Just as the Angels Harut and Marut are being punished for defying heavenly orders, Muslims nations will also go through this period of trial and tribulations until they submit. These two Angels have been suspended by their feet, in a thirsty condition, with water being held just four fingers away from their faces – they are being deprived of water due to their disobedience, and the Islamic world will be deprived of peace and rest, until they bow to His commands by upholding His Shariah and discarding man-made Constitutions. The unfolding events in the Arab world are proof of this. Maulana said, “Oh Arabs, you will see in 40 days what will happen to you.” Eventually, one man will stand up there, and say, “Let us bring back Allah’s Heavenly Laws, which will bring us peace and happiness, in dunia and akherat.”

• Maulana ended by reminding all to keep adab to Allah, and faith in Allah and His Prophets, in order to attain felicity here and in the hereafter.

 

Commentary

• It is indeed a revelation that Man was dressed in such beautiful clothes of honour as he accepted servanthood in the Divine Presence. It is also very sobering to know that shaitan has convinced billions to discard that dress of honour.

• Man is enticed to exchange his humility for arrogance and pride, and in doing so becomes stripped of his robes, just as Sayyidina Adam (as) and Hawa (as) were left stark naked the moment they sinned against Allah, their majestic robes falling away from them.

• This stirring Suhbah touches on a central issue in Islam – unity. It is truly difficult for Muslims to unite, as unity cannot be achieved when egos clash. Whereas the non-Muslims have united to form the UNITED States of America and the UNITED Kingdom, the Ottoman Empire crumbled into tiny dis-UNITED splinters of states, each with its own leader and ideology, each governed by a man-made Constitution in defiance of the Holy Quran.

• Today, Muslims are divided into 73 sects, and within each sect, many smaller offshoots and sub-divisions exist. Even within Tariqah today, there are people who follow one representative so fanatically, that they attack and bad-mouth mureeds/muheebs who are following other representatives. Like Maulana said in this Suhbah, we have hit rock bottom, there is no level of ignorance that is lower than what we are seeing in this world today. Whilst our Prophet (saw) stood up to respect the dead body of a Jew being carried past him – he showed such reverence for a dead unbeliever, today, those who claim to be on a journey of love, spirituality and Sufism, show hatred and an acid tongue to living believers, even to those who share a common Spiritual guide. It is mind-boggling, really.

• The Prophet (saw) said, “You will not enter Paradise until you have faith, and you will not acquire faith, until you love one another.” Such a powerful statement from Rasulullah (saw)! With so much dislike, disdain, hatred, malice, back-biting, slander, evil assumptions and jealousy in the hearts of believers today, how are we to know Him, and to be with Him, which is the aim of this worldly journey?

• When we were in Damascus recently (March 2011), we were so fortunate to have had a private few minutes with Shaykh Ibrahim, the caretaker of GrandShaykh’s Maqam on Jabal Qasiyun. We begged him for a Suhbah, as, on our previous trip, it was his Suhbah at the end of the journey, that laid the foundations for our baby steps in understanding Tariqah, so we really wanted to hear more from him. Since he had to attend to many guests, he could not speak long, but what he managed to convey in those precious few minutes taught us more than all the years of reading and studying we had done.

• He said, “You know that mosque (he pointed to the Mosque attached to GrandShaykh’s maqam)? It was full during GrandShaykh’s time. There were thousands of people flocking to sit with GrandShaykh. So many of them were diligently taking notes, they followed the adab, awrad and wazifa religiously, they did all the sunnat prayers as ordered….they were all striving to succeed in the Way. Yet only two mureeds at that time were given Bay’at and acknowledged by GrandShaykh as mureeds – Shaykh Hussein (q) and Shaykh Nazim (q). Do you know why?”

• He continued, “These were the only two mureeds, who harboured no ill-feelings to any other mureed of GrandShaykh. They loved all other mureeds without exception, they did not bear malice, revengeful thoughts towards other mureeds, even if they had been hurt by them. They did not run down others, they did not feel superior to other mureeds, they did not make do’a against them and they did not hurt anyone of them. One who loves Allah, must love all of His Creation, one who loves Rasulullah (saw), must love all of his Ummah, and one who loves his Shaykh, must love all of his mureeds, without exception.”

 

• It was a beautiful and stunning revelation to us! A mountain of worship, performed with an impure heart, yields nothing in the Divine Presence. Iblis worshipped like no other in Creation, yet his envious heart blinded him to Sayyidina’s Adam’s (as) true Maqam, and he openly defied his Lord when put to the test. No matter how one tries to bury the secret of an evil heart behind an appearance of knowledge, worship and outward piety, eventually this defect will emerge, to bring us suffering and disgrace.

• As Allah says to Sayyidina Ibrahim (as), nothing can save you on that Day, unless you come to Him with a pure heart.

وَلَا تُخۡزِنِى يَوۡمَ يُبۡعَثُونَ. يَوۡمَ لَا يَنفَعُ مَالٌ۬ وَلَا بَنُونَ إِلَّا مَنۡ أَتَى ٱللَّهَ بِقَلۡبٍ۬ سَلِيمٍ۬

The day when wealth and sons avail not (any man) except him who bringeth unto Allah a pure and sound heart. (Quran 26:88-89)

وَإِنَّ مِن شِيعَتِهِۦ لَإِبۡرَٲهِيمَ. إِذۡ جَآءَ رَبَّهُ ۥ بِقَلۡبٍ۬ سَلِيمٍ

Verily among those who followed his Way was Abraham. Behold, He approached his Lord with a pure and sound heart. (Quran 37:83-84)

• So much conflict has arisen within the Tariqah, because followers of different representatives are fighting to prove that their representative is superior! They quarrel needlessly and on every petty matter, and attack fellow mureeds who are following other representatives, given the slightest opportunity.
• One follower of a prominent representative even told me personally, “We are so lucky to be following our representative. The followers of this other representative (he named the man), are destined to be led astray.” How sad when mureeds of the same Shaykh and same Prophet (saw), feel superior to fellow mureeds, and are in a constant state of condemning them, all the while believing that it is they who are the real mureeds, while the others are mere unimportant and low-class muheebs.

• What Shaykh Ibrahim of Shams has taught us is indeed an eye-opener for every battle-hardened mureed who has spent much of his life in Tariqah trying to uphold his representative and trying to convert followers of other representatives to follow his. There are even mureeds who no longer accept Shaykh Nazim as their Shaykh, instead saying they are mureeds of the representative. Such a teaching has never originated from the Tariqah.

• This Tariqah’s teachings are plain for all to see – it is to follow ONE Shaykh, Shaykh Nazim Al-Haqqani, and to follow ALL that he is teaching without doubt. There is no need to nor any benefit from, quarreling about which representative we are following. Ultimately, we are all following one Shaykh. There is wisdom in Maulana appointing different representatives for different types of followers, as ‘each Man is given the type of leader he deserves’ (Hadees). Maulana Khalid Al-Baghdadi As-Shami had 299 representatives, to spread the teachings of the Tariqah far and wide. Today, there are many representatives, but only ONE Shaykh. When we asked Maulana about the fitna’ that was sparked in our country recently amongst mureeds of the Tariqah, Maulana said to me, “Keep your eyes focussed on me, and me only. Don’t let your eyes swerve to anyone else.” When I asked for Shaykh Mehmet Adil’s advice in Istanbul two days later, he said, “Keep your focus on Maulana (Shaykh Nazim). He (and no one else) is your Shaykh. The rest are not (your Shaykh), so ignore them.” Simple and beautiful – there is only ONE Shaykh, keep our rabitah, muroqabah, love and obedience towards him only, and no other.

• Maulana Shaykh Nazim has followed the beautiful example of the Prophet (saw)’s conduct, and showed us that Way. From the previous Suhbah, we have learnt that one should not feel superior to any mureed (even if you mistakenly think that he is lower than you, because his representative is less well known that yours), and from this Suhbah, we are taught that one must have love for every mureed of Shaykh Nazim’s, for every believer and even non-believers. Read about the lives of Saints, and you will never find them ill-treating or disrespecting anyone or anything – even when Shaykh Nazim kicked a stone which was in his way, GrandShaykh advised him never to do it again, for that stone was in remembrance of Allah, and that Shaykh Nazim was to use his hand (and not his feet), to move it, as a sign of respect towards it. With our Shaykh respecting even a stone, how can we, who claim to follow him, be disrespectful to any human being? Oh mureeds, follow your Shaykh, not just in appearance and dressing, but in adab and conduct – only then will you stop striking at others, only then will you start wrestling your ego, only then will you start to taste the sweetness of the Way.

• Without these two traits of lowering ourselves and loving God’s creation, then we are indeed like iblis – we are merely putting on an act of piety, whilst hiding the true nature of our stained hearts, deep within our breasts. On the Day when graves will be split open to reveal the inhabitants buried within, hearts too will be split open to reveal the secret they have buried within. Oh fellow seekers, hearts belong to Him, it is His Throne, don’t fill the Throne with hate, if you wish for the King to visit. He is the Lord of Love, invite Him in with Love.

 

 

 

 

 

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