Summary of Maulana Shaykh Nazim’s Daily Suhbah

16th March 2010, Tuesday

You don’t even understand about one Ant

A’uzubillah himinsh shaitan nirrajeem

Bismillahir Rahman-nir Raheem

Assalamu’alaikum wrh wbkt

• Maulana asks if we are able to accept that Allah can send His help to us, even via a weakly ant. Though our minds may not fully understand how this may be possible, the heart can accept such a possibility. To understand is difficult, as there is a limit to Man’s ability to understand, but to have faith – to believe – is easy, as there is no limit to a Man’s ability to believe. That is a special grant that Allah has bestowed upon humans – our capacity to believe, is endless. We can never understand everything in life, there is much that we simply accept, with faith.

• To illustrate this, Maulana says that if the abilities of all humans were joined together into a single human being, that fusion super-human would still be unable to understand every single creature on this planet – to understand their language, nature, purpose, duties, individual names and secrets of its creation. Even the Qutbul Mutassarif, the Spiritual Pole of our time, who has been tasked to oversee all the creatures on this planet, only knows the creatures in a general way, he cannot know each creature in a personal and intimate manner, unless Allah so Wills it. Only Allah, the Creator, knows each creature personally and intimately, down to the hidden and deepest secrets in their hearts! Allahu Akbar!!

وَلَقَدۡ خَلَقۡنَا الۡاِنۡسَانَ وَنَعۡلَمُ مَا تُوَسۡوِسُ بِهٖ نَفۡسُهٗ ۖۚ وَنَحۡنُ اَقۡرَبُ اِلَيۡهِ مِنۡ حَبۡلِ الۡوَرِيۡدِ

We verily created Man and We know what his soul whispers to him, and We are nearer to him than his jugular vein. (Quran 50:16)

• Look at how weak we are! We are Allah’s Khalifas on earth, yet when we look at a single ant, moving along the earth, what do we know of it? Do we understand its thoughts, its destination, its mission, its desires, its current condition? Do we know its name, its origin, its final step? We know nothing, except that it is an ant. And that is just for one ant. What about the billions of ants that scurry about on this planet’s surface? Each one has its own personality – and we are completely in the dark about each one of them. What more about the infinite other creatures that Allah created – the fish, birds, insects, domestic animals, wild beasts, worms, bacteria, viruses, trees, shrubs, plankton, fungi – each one, a unique individual within a community of unique individuals, each of whom Allah has a complete and perfect understanding about! And what about the creatures of other planets in other parts of the Universe? Surely, Allah the Most Rich has more than just one planet of creatures, there are other planets filled with creatures totally unlike what we see on earth – and for all those planets, filled with infinite wondrous and complex creatures – Allah knows each one of His creation, perfectly. And we haven’t even come to understand ourselves, let alone the other creatures in creation. See how small, weak and helpless we are, in comparison to Allah’s Infinite Greatness? Oh Man, humble thyself, say, “Oh Allah You are the Creator, You are All-Knowing, You are All-Powerful, we are but weak servants.”

• Maulana says that this revelation to us above, is like a flash of lightning striking our minds, bringing light and realization to us, as heavenly lights bring understanding to us.

• Before we can ask, “Who is Allah?”, we should ask the ant first, “Who are you? Where are you from? Who created you? Where are you going now?” Never for a moment, think that the ant is deaf or dumb – it can hear you and it can answer you. It may even know more about itself, that we know about ourselves.

• Allah commands us in the Holy Qur’an to have faith in Him and His Rasul (saw).

يٰۤاَيُّهَا الَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡۤا اٰمِنُوۡا بِاللّٰهِ وَرَسُوۡلِهٖ

O ye who believe! Believe in Allah and his Messenger (Quran 4:136)

• What does He mean by that? It means that our faith, our belief, that certainty in our hearts – is still very weak. The knowledge that leads to true belief in Allah, is a vast Ocean, how can we feel that we have already acquired strong faith? Even if Mualana were to speak for a thousand years, that knowledge is not going to end! It is not enough to simply say, “I believe in Allah and His Rasul (saw).”

قَالَتِ الۡاَعۡرَابُ اٰمَنَّا‌ ؕ قُلْ لَّمۡ تُؤۡمِنُوۡا وَلٰـكِنۡ قُوۡلُوۡۤا اَسۡلَمۡنَا وَلَمَّا يَدۡخُلِ الۡاِيۡمَانُ فِىۡ قُلُوۡبِكُمۡ‌ ۚ

The wandering Arabs say, “We believe.” Say (unto them, O Muhammad): Ye believe not, but rather say “We submit,” for the faith (iman) hath not yet entered into your hearts. (Quran 49:14)

• Despite already having acquired a little faith, we are still veiled by so many curtains, never think it is just one veil, says Maulana, there are countless veils that we need to pierce through, in order to reach our objective. Faith has boundaries, it has a border, and when we reach such a limit, we must dive into that Ocean of knowledge again, to seek more knowledge that will lead to an increase in faith. Even if you are at level zero now, or even if you are below level zero, Maulana says, strive onward to build faith in Allah, that effort will open doors of understanding from your right and from your left, and you will grow in your understanding of Allah’s Strength, Greatness and Perfection.

• Never stand still at any one point in your journey, as if you have achieved all that you already can. No! You must keep pushing forward without rest, for the levels of faith are infinite, beyond each horizon that you reach, is a new horizon, which brings new veils that you must pass through, and new experiences that you must swim in. For every veil that you pass through, you receive a new set of honours and pleasure. Allah created you to climb this spiritual ladder of faith, to be bestowed honour and pleasure at each level of your ascension – this is the purpose of your creation, you were not created for dunia! As much as you make effort, that much you will rise on the spiritual ladder of faith, rung by rung. Each time you reach a new rung, ask to go higher, for you have yet to attain perfection. Allah Himself urges Man to climb higher, to take more from His gifts, to benefit from having being created.

• You were not created to roll in the mud of this dirty worldly life! Every Prophet came to teach us to clean ourselves from the dirtiness of this material life, from the dirtiness of our egos and the dirtiness of our worldly desires. The lowest rung on the ladder, the dirtiest level, is the level of animals. An animal only looks at the earth (like a grazing cow) all its life, it never looks up to the sky, it never yearns for spiritual ascension, it is only concerned with its worldly desires and fully occupied with fulfilling its carnal needs. That attribute/attitude, of only looking to dunia, is what causes Man to fight, to hate, to murder/kill/shed blood, to be jealous, to persecute, to create chaos and mayhem on earth. If Man were to look to the heavens, and seek ascension in faith, he would be like the Angels. Maulana asks, do you ever hear of Angels fighting or quarreling? Killing and warring? No. So Prophets came to teach Man how to cleanse themselves of this dirty material life, to discard their animal-like dirty characteristics, and to rise to heavenly and angelic Stations.

• If you stay at the despicable level of animals, and you make no effort to rise, you will never reach the Divine presence. What stops us from ascending? We cannot rise, because we are trying to carry our donkey, our ego, on this journey to meet the King. When the Angels of the Divine Court see us approaching with our donkeys on our shoulders, they chase us away, for we are supposed to ride on our donkeys, not carry them, to the Divine presence. If we are slaves to our dirty egos, slaves to dunia, slaves to shaitan, we cannot rise, we will remain in this chaotic, filthy life, unable to taste the pleasure of either dunia or akherat.

• So repent, says Maulana, say Astaghfirullah and change, start moving upwards! The first step is to leave the level of animals. We may be happy to remain at a low level of faith, but the Lord of Heavens is not happy for His servants to remain contented at such a level, He is encouraging His servants, “Come and take! Come and take! Come to Me, there is much more! Clean yourselves, and come to Me.”

Fatihah.