Winning the True Life

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm

“Yaqūlu Yā Laytanī Qaddamtu Liĥayātī”

(Qur’ān 89:24)

“He will say, ‘Oh, I wish I had sent ahead [some good] for my life’.” Sadaqa Llāhu l-‘Aẓīm.

Mankind says, “If only I valued my life. If only my life didn’t go in vain.” When do they say this? When a person is dying, Allah ‘Azza wa-Jalla shows him everything he did. So he says, “If only I didn’t waste this life.”

This life must be for the pleasure of Allah ﷻ. When so, life has value. Otherwise, people live in vain. They don’t attain anything and pass away with a load of sins on top of that. What is life? The value of life is in being on the way of Allah ﷻ. Who is on the way of Allah ﷻ wins his life. The rest – People of the present time say nonsense things most of the time. They don’t do anything right. They say “We come to this life only once. We should have fun and entertain ourselves. It shouldn’t pass in vain.” When someone dies, they say “Let him die. Life is short. We should spend our life having fun.” They think they attain something. But in the end, they realize they have wasted their lives. There is saying they have which is not good but right. They say someone loses his life in the end. His life is over then, indeed. Life is given only once and he loses it. He has wasted it for nothing and passes away to the other side with many sins. He regrets it there and says “If only I didn’t do so”. It’s too late for his regret then.

Life is the life of those who are on the way of Allah ﷻ. Otherwise, it is not a life. It is nothing. Whenever the life of a person on the way of Allah ﷻ starts, it is a life then. It is the same when someone joins Tariqah. There is ascension in Tariqah and going higher. The more he fights his ego and doesn’t obey his ego, the earlier his life starts. And there is life when he worships, of course. But it is more different when the person overcomes his ego.

Someone had come to one of the holy Mashayikh. He asked, “How old are your Murids?” He said, “My Murids are in the grave.” They went to look. One was written 6 months on the gravestone, one was written 1 year old, another one 2 years old, another one 5 years old. The oldest one was 10 years old. “Were all your Murids children and infants?” He said, “No. It is their ages when they overcame their egos. Otherwise, all of them were of 50, 60, 70, 80 years old. But they could overcome their egos for only this time. So it is counted as such in the life of Tariqah.” In the presence of Allah ﷻ, of course it is accepted for those who are on the way of Allah ﷻ. But these ranks are higher. Because joining Tariqah means killing your ego, overcoming your ego. Only then they enter the age of men – Rijal. So the time they lived as such was written on their gravestones.

Life is not something to lose. It is something to win. There are many people who have lost their lives. Who lose their lives; as we said, sometimes people say the truth unknowingly. They don’t want to say the right, they want to say the wrong. But they say “He lost his life” without knowing. May Allah ﷻ not make us from those who lose their lives. May He ﷻ make us from those who win their lives insha’Allah. May our lives not go in vain. Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq.

Al-Fatiha.

• Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 

3 February 2025/ 4 Sha’ban 1446

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