We are wild creatures

Summary of Maulana Shaykh Nazim’s Daily Suhbah

5th�February 2010, Friday

We are wild creatures

A’uzubillah himinsh shaitan nirrajeem

Bismillahir Rahman-nir Raheem

Assalamu’alaikum wrh wbkt

• Maulana reminds us that we have been placed on this earth to know ourselves, for one who knows himself, knows his Lord, and one who knows his Lord, seeks to please Him by doing good. Despite this, many humans are doing evil things, and these stem from the wild behaviour in themselves.

• Maulana likens each of us to a garden filled with trees. Imagine if a farmer found a wild cherry tree in his garden, what would he do? To chop it down and replant a domestic cherry plant (which would provide a bountiful harvest, as compared to the wild cherry tree which, in all probability, would produce fruits that were unfit for human consumption), would take ages. As time is of the essence, the best step, would be for the farmer to graft a branch of the domestic tree, onto the wild tree, and if the graft is successful, the wild tree can start producing edible and tasty fruits.

• Some of us are like wild animals. Look at a wild animal – it is a danger to other creatures, it has wild characteristics, a vicious animal-like nature, and many would wound, poison or kill another, if provoked. Allah did not create us to be wild – he created us to be the best of creation, he created us to strive against our animal-like nature, to purify ourselves, to become perfect ones! Allah sent us Guides, (or Animal-trainers), to help nurture us and tame our unbridled egos.

• Yesterday, we did not exist on this planet. Tomorrow, we will no longer be here. So we have a short stint here, and Man must understand his importance, mission and identity, during this all-too-brief sojourn on earth. Allah has sent us Guides to train and teach us, but we have begun to seriously believe the notion, that we can learn, by simply reading books. That is a terribly wrong assumption, and many have been misled by this.

• Books are the products of the minds of humans, whatever a person thinks and believes, he puts it down in writing, and publishes a book. Books are human-made creations, products of the ideology and experiences of the author. How can we depend on that to lead us to the Divine? Only someone, sent by the Divine, and authorised to guide, may lead us along the journey to perfection. Many authors of books are like you too, they too are veiled from all four sides, they are blind themselves, so how can you hope that their books will lead you to the light, when the authors themselves are groping in darkness? Neither the author, nor you, know what lies beyond that veil, so all parties are simply sitting in darkness. Only one who has seen the light can guide us to it.

• Thinking and reflecting are very important for our spiritual progress, but many matters cannot be understood by simply thinking. We are in need of a guide to unlock bolted doors, to show the way around an obstacle, or to teach us how to evade a well-set trap. Many treasures of knowledge lies beyond such hurdles, we need a guide – not a book – to walk us through.

• For example, Allah created night and day to teach us something. But what? We know that half the earth is bathed in light and the other half is plunged into darkness – but what does it mean? What is light, and how does it dispel darkness? We know that the earth undergoes alternating periods of dark and light, zhulumat ila noor, but what is the secret behind that? How does the Sun send that light to us, and what is the spiritual significance of that light? If we are not taught, we cannot crack open these secrets simply by thinking, or reading books where other equally lost people, share their opinions and suggestions. Only the enlightened heart of the Awliya, the Saints, are given such access to Divine secrets, and this is a Divine grant to them, so we must humble ourselves before them, to learn. Maulana says, the secret of the matters above, is an Ocean by itself, he could speak about it till the next morning if he had to. So we must acknowledge that we are in need of teaching and guidance, for only then can we attain understanding and realization.

• This earth is covered in countless secrets, behind every creation is a secret in its form, its life cycle, its diet, its uttered sounds and its reason for existence. Who gave them their form, their special designs? Why?

• Another huge ocean of locked treasures, is the world of males and females. Though they live on the same planet, in the same dunia, they actually exist on two different planes, two different dunias. Men lead very different lives from women. They have different mentalities, different psychologies, different worries, different physical limitations and organs, different ways of tackling issues and different approaches to faith and practices. Two different worlds. Even the darkness within men and women are different, the dark suggestions thrown up by their souls and desires, are different! Maulana says, men and women are a hundred percent different, and Allah has sent them different lights to enlighten their darkened souls. Shaitan has always been trying to muddle things up, by preaching equality of sexes, by trying to make them into a single confused group, instead of the separate groups that they are. This is the greatest foolishness, the greatest corruption, of the people of the 21st century. It is only a great fool who tries to equal an apple with an orange, or a chicken with a duck! Men and women, have different roles and responsibilities, they undergo very different burdens and tests, it is absurd to pretend that they are one and the same.

• So we are wild trees or wild animals, says Maulana, we are filled with darkness, we are in need of a guiding light to achieve purity and understanding. Allah had sent the Prophets, and now the Saints, for the sole purpose of grafting tame and domestic human-like characteristics into us. If we reject them, we shall continue to wallow in darkness, in this world and in the hereafter, for whosoever is blind here, will be blind in the hereafter. For those who humble themselves before a guide, and undergo the difficult grafting process (difficult, as our egos will oppose it), we will attain enlightenment, safety, joy and fulfillment.

• Oh Muslims, the world is full of wild trees/animals today, the Saints are trying to take our hands to guide us to be good and kind ones. Yet, people are fleeing from the guides, they do not wish to attain perfection and goodness. One who rejects heavenly teachings, will always be unhappy and will never attain peace, he will find life tasteless, as pleasure in life is a Divine gift, you cannot find it on the shelves in any store, you cannot buy it with money, you cannot find it in this dunia.

• So the choice is yours, to remain a wild tree, producing tasteless fruit (ie to have a tasteless and meaningless existence in both worlds) or to be ‘grafted’ and to start bearing sweet fruit (tasting the sweetness of faith, by being of benefit to Mankind wherever you are, the state of ihsan). That tasteless existence is actually Divine punishment, for as long as Man rejects Prophetic teachings, his life will be under the cloud of Allah’s punishment, until he returns to the fold, and repents. When humans do not shed their wild behaviour, they co-exist, not as humans, but as dangerous beasts that maim and hurt one another. Today, we see conflict within families (domestic violence and divorce), communities (strife and racism) and nations (terrorism and war). Why? Because this is what wild beasts do, they fight, and this is part of the Divine Chastisement for those who abandon the Ways of the Prophets and Saints, by either refusing to study and to be guided, or by trying to self-guide, by reading books.

• Maulana shares one last example to highlight the importance of following Rasulullah’s (saw) teachings. Rasulullah (saw) said in a Hadees, that even if all the previous Prophets were alive today, they would abandon their own books (kitabs), and follow only the teachings of Rasulullah (saw) completely. None of them would be holding on to any teachings from their own books, they would abandon their books, in favour of what Rasulullah (saw) brought. So, we should abandon our animal-like behaviour, follow Rasulullah (saw) and the Saints, we should be ‘grafted’, to become sweet ones.

Fatihah.