Thariqah Naqsybandi Haqqani

2009-03-03T23:29:00.001-08:00

Mawlana Shaykh Nazim's Declaration for UK, Europe and everyone

Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Adil Al-Haqqani Sultanul Awliya | Saturday, Jan 03, 2009 | Lefke CY

Es-selamu aleykum.

Nuhiy al-majlis an aqool Bismillahi-r-Rahmani-r-Raheem Tarikatuna Sohbah wal khayri fi-l-jamiyah.

Sheik Hisham Effendi [n`am Sayyidee] Khalifat mawlana tarteeb jawami' hali `ala ismuna. Jami' Peckham, wa jami' ewalu Shacklewell Lanes, ba'dayn Green Lanes ewal masjid tab'ana. Muhim hadha.

[to make our association alive I say “In the name of Allah the Beneficent the Meriful.” Our Tarikat is association and the goodness is in the gathering.

Sheik Hisham Effendi (yes Sayyidee) is calipha of Mawlana.

Arrangement of the Mosques that are under our names. Masjid Peckham, and Masjid, the first one, Shacklewell Lanes, after Green Lanes, the first mosque belonging to us. This is what is important.]

I am making you on behalf of me to look in London: Peckham Mosque and Shacklewell Lanes and Green Lanes, three of them, to look what is there our situation in front of laws. We must take them under our control because we are owners.

As I am a chief trustee and owner in Peckham and Shacklewell Lanes and in Green Lanes dergah I am giving to you my authority also what is the difficulties there to arrange to make these three places for Islamic foundations to make for Islam - not for some groups but must be for everyone. And I like that you can try to call British Muslims to use these three mosques also under our trust how they may do, if they are asking to pray Jum'ah, to make khutbe, to make zikr, under our permission they may do.

Anything they may be in need, we are supporting them also. Because we are not buying these three big places for dunya. No, never. But we tried to reach some big centers in London, therefore I tried so many years, perhaps thirty years I was there, and the Lord of Heavens making me successful to make so many mosques.

St. Anne's is now under our control, fully, but these three ones that no trust working on it or chief trustee, we must look, we must arrange how we may use for the sake of Allah and Rasuluhu Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam and making to change how many trustees there, as I like to be a trustworthy person and a mukhlis, sincere one, and young ones, to be, to take care through these three places. If anyone getting against my declaration, then it is not going to be good for them. If coming some heavenly punishment I don't know.

My maqsad, my intention, to work as I like, that I was intending. I would never intend to buy something and to take some benefit on behalf of mosques, estaghfirullah. I am, I have enough, Allah Almighty giving to me, in our country, enough.

After this age I am not asking dunya, I am ashaming. But I am asking that these three places also to be put for the benefit of young people or calling people to come and to learn Islam. I like to take over the whole trust and bring new ones. New ones.

There should be chief trustee: Shaykh Hisham. And also to be chief trustee Shacklewell Lanes and owner and chief trust on Green Lanes dergah. What is necessary to be done on trusts through these three buildings I am making you on behalf of me, to look Shaykh Hisham.

Yanee Angleterre importance for you because I can't move from Cyprus to reach to London, like before. We have now in London, in important points of London, we have a jami` wa masjid wa dergah [Jumu`ah mosque, and mosque and Sufi center]. Wa haythu… dergah … now I am not able as before to go to London, to look after our people as well as you are also the… you have permission from our Grandshaykh calipha, yumkin tatasil bin-naas `ayesheen bi UK [you are able to connect with people living in UK], that it is easy for you to go and to look after our followers and also you may try to keep our huqooq, rights, there and to call people to Tarikat an-Naqshbandiyyati-l-`aliyye. And therefore I am, as my… as I am servant of our Grandshaykh, I am giving to you a ijazet, permission, to come to London, to England, UK and to look after our followers what they may be in need, if anything going to be difficult, you may consult with me and you should be my calipha there.

Wa idha, and therefore I like not to be our brothers and sisters without a shaykh and UK big country [and] London a biggest city on Europe without a shaykh. Therefore just I am giving you ijazet to look after people in London, in Ireland, in UK, and also you may look after people in France, and you may look also in Spain, and also in Italy, maybe time by time you may go. You can call people in Europe, to come to Naqshbandi tarikat and you may go to African continent. Because they are in need also a shaykh calling them to our tarikatun `aliyye [most distinguished Sufi way]. And you may go also to shay, Africa shimalinda [North Africa] – Morocco - wa and also inside of African continent you may do - you may have a big area and you are not a fadi, empty [one], to be only in America, no. In Africa, it is big area for you. Everywhere.

I am Shaykh Nazim the servant of our Grandshaykh. Biwasi' - advising Shaykh Hisham that he may go anywhere invited for tarikatun `aliyye [most distinguished Sufi way]. That is my ijazet, permission, as our Grandshaykh permitting me.

After my age I never reaching east and west. Only if Allah Almighty giving a permission to move without plane that is another point.

Allahuma edrikna fee yawmina jadeed an nakoona fi-l-amna wa-l-amaan was-selamat wa-l-islam. Wa-Allahu khayru-l-hafidhan wa Huwa arhamur-rahimeen. Fatiha.

[O Allah reach us in this new day to be in safety and security and good health and Islam. And the Allah is the Best of Protectors and He is the Most Merciful of those who are merciful. Fatiha]

2009-02-23T07:39:00.000-08:00

Ahl al-Sunna Refutations of Those Who Attribute a Direction to Allah
Mawlana Syaikh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani Ar Rabbani qs

• Imam Bukhari (d. 256) believed that Allah exists without a place as stated by Ibn Hajar in Fath al-Bari. Ibn Hajar repeats in many places that Allah is clear of places.
• Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d. 311) said in his commentary on the verse "Then turned He (thumma istawa) to the heaven" (2:29):
The meaning of istiwa' in this verse is height and elevation... but if one claims that this means displacement for Allah, tell him: He is high and elevated over the heaven with the height of sovereignty and power, not the height of displacement and movement to and fro.
• Imam al-Ash`ari (d. 324) said in the authentic version of his Ibana published by Dar al-ansar and edited by Fawqiyya Husayn Mahmud:
Allah is established on the Throne in the sense that He said and the meaning that He wills, with an establishment that transcends touch, settlement, location, immanence, and displacement. The Throne does not carry him, rather the Throne and its carriers are carried by the subtleness of His power, subdued under His grip, and He is above the Throne and above everything down to the extremities of the lower earth, with an aboveness that does not make him any closer to the Throne or to the heavens. Rather, He is as exalted high over the Throne as He is exalted high over the lower earth, and together with this He is near every creature, and He is nearer to His servant than his jugular vein, and He is witness over everything.
• Shahrastani (d. 548) relates that Imam Ash`ari also said:
The vision of Allah does not entail direction, place, or form, or face to face encounter either by impingement of rays or by impression, all of which are impossible.
• Mulla `Ali al-Qari states in Sharh `ayn al-`ilm:
It is obligatory that you believe that your God... is not contained in any place or direction.
He states in Sharh al-fiqh al-akbar:
Allah is not located in a place, whether above or below, or any other than these, and time is inapplicable to Him, unlike what the mushabbiha and mujassima and hululiyya or incarnationists believe.
He also cites in Sharh al-Mishkat al-hafiz Zayn al-Din al-`Iraqi's statement that all Four Imams agree that anyone who believes Allah lies in a specific direction has committed disbelief.
• Al-`Izz ibn `Abd al-Salam does not declare those who attribute a direction to Allah to be disbelievers but only innovators:
The correct position is that the one who holds belief in Allah's direction is not declared a disbeliever, because the scholars of Islam did not bring such as these out of Islam, rather, they adjudicated inheritance from Muslims for them, burial in Muslim grounds, sanctity of their blood and property, and the obligation to pray over their remains. The same is true of all the upholders of innovations.
• Imam Ghazali said in his al-Iqtisad fi al-i`tiqad:
The Hashwiyya asserted direction for Allah while guarding themselves from divesting Allah of His attributes (ta`til), falling thereby into likening Allah to creation (tashbih).
Allah has granted success to Ahl al-Sunna in establishing the truth. They have recognized the proper goal in establishing their method, and understood that direction is denied and disallowed for Allah because it pertains to bodies and complements them; while vision of Him is firmly established because it directly follows knowledge and attends it as its perfecting component.
• Ibn al-Jawzi says in his Daf` shubah al-tashbih:
Some claim the verses "Good words ascend to Him" (35:10) and "He is the Omnipotent over His servants" (6:18, 6:61) as proof that He is above in sensory fashion, forgetting that sensory aboveness is only applicable to bodies or atoms, and that aboveness can also be expressed for loftiness of rank.
Furthermore, just as He said: "above His servants," He also said: "and He is with you" (57:4). Therefore whoever interprets the latter as meaning "with you in knowledge," permits his counterpart to interpret istiwa' (in 20:4) as "subduing" (al-qahr)....
Abu Ya`la says: "What is meant by "aboveness" is Allah's istiwa' in person on the Throne, which is a limit for him in the direction that is bounded by the Throne. As for the other directions, such as above, behind, in front, and left, they are not bounded." I say: these words are the very root of anthropomorphism, because what bounds is either greater or smaller than what is bounded, and these dimensions only apply to bodies.
• Ibn Hajar states in Fath al-bari:
The fact that the two directions of "above" and "below" are inapplicable and impossible for Allah does not preclude His being described with the attribute of elevation (`uluw), for such description is only from the standpoint of the meaning of elevation, not that of sensory perception.
Al-Kirmani said: "The outward meaning of the saying: "He Who is in the heaven" (man fi al-sama') is not meant. Allah is transcendent above immanence and place. However, because the direction of aboveness is nobler than any other direction, Allah linked it to Him to indicate the loftiness of the Essence and the Attributes." He addresses the other expressions of aboveness in the same manner.
• Ibn al-Hammam al-Hanafi (d. 681) said in al-Musayara, a commentary on Ghazali's tenets of belief:
The seventh foundation of Islamic belief is that Allah, the Exalted, is not characterized by a direction, because directions -- above, below, right, etc. -- are created with creatures... and if, by "direction" other than that is meant, which does not suggest the immanence of boundaries or corporeality, let it be made plain (i.e. that it is a loftiness of rank, not space), so that it can be examined whether it belongs truly to transcendence, and if it is misphrased or other than that, then it must be shown to be corrupt.
• Imam al-Yafi`i (d. 768) in the end of his Kitab marham al-`ilal al-mu`dila devotes an entire chapter to the refutation of the anthropomorphists. The title of the chapter is: Bayan al-istidlal `ala nafi al-jiha wa al-jismiyya wa batalan madhhab man qala bihima min al-karramiyya wa al-hashwiyya wa muta'akhkhiri al-hanbaliyya (The exposition of the proofs upon which are based the negation of direction and corporeality and the invalidity of the school of those who assert them among the karramiyya and the hashwiyya and the late Hanbalis). It begins with the words:
The true Imam and teacher of the scholars of kalam, Imam al-Haramayn said: "The madhhab of the People of Truth (Ahl al-Sunna) is absolutely unanimous on the question that Allah is exalted above boundaries and above being characterized by directions. The Karramiyya and some of the Hashwiyya have said that He is bounded and that He is characterized by the direction of aboveness... and each of these two positions is tantamount to declaring that Allah has a dimension or that He has parts, and constitutes pure disbelief."... I quoted this from his book al-Irshad.
• Abu Bakr ibn al-`Arabi al-Maliki (d. 543) labels the believers in Allah's direction "followers of Pharaoh" in his `Aridat al-ahwadhi:
Your conclusion shows that you are indeed the followers of Pharaoh, who believed that the Creator lies in a certain direction, and so he desired to climb up to Him on a ladder. He congratulates you for being among his followers, and he is your imam!
• Even Ibn Hazm al-Zahiri (d. 456), the arch-enemy of Ash`ari and the Ash`ari school, says in al-Fasl fi al-milal:
By no means whatsoever is Allah in a place or in a time. This is the position of the vast majority of the scholars (al-jumhur) and ours as well, and other than this position is not permissible, for anything other than it is false.

2008-12-18T18:17:00.000-08:00

The Secrets Behind The Secrets Behind The Secrets

Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Al Haqqani

CONTENTS
PREFACE FOREWORD:
SHAYKH MUHAMMAD NAZIM ADIL AL-HAQQANI AN-NAQSHBANDI INTRODUCTION TO THE HAQQANI ISLAMIC TRUST FOR NEW MUSLIMS

1 THE SECRETS BEHIND THE SECRETS BEHIND THE SECRETS
2 JUDAS WAS ON THE CROSS
3 BARNABAS' HIDDEN TREASURE
4 ARMAGEDDON, THE SAVIOR (AL-MAHDI), JESUS CHRIST, ANTI-CHRIST, AND THE JINN
5 FANTASIES
6 CATCHING THE WHOLE WORLD WITH SPIRITUAL POWERS
7 KILL YOUR EGO!
8 HOW TO SURVIVE ARMAGEDDON
9 HE GIVES AND HE TAKES
10 BE FIRM AND STEADFAST IN WORKING AND PRAYING
11 KEYS TO YOUR LAND OF PEACE
12 STOP FOR A WHILE!
13 CONTROL YOUR EGO WITH YOUR WILL
14 FIRE IS TO BURN EGOS
15 MOVING FROM SHAPES TO MEANINGS
16 TIME IS OVER
17 SHOW ME A PLACE THAT ISN'T THE OCEAN AND I'LL SHOW YOU THE OCEAN
18 DESIRES CARRY SUFFERINGS
19 THE ONLY NEWS I WAIT FOR
20 PREPARE FOR TAKE-OFF !
21 NOTHING COMES WITHOUT A REASON
APPENDIX:
THE NIGHT OF POWER: THE MAHDI (AS)
INDEX

PREFACE

Our hearts can feel, can recognize the bright light of goodness coming from our respected and beloved Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani of the Naqshbandi Sufi order. In the midst of ever increasing dark waves of modern life, he is like a lighthouse showing the direction to the only worthwhile place to go— back to our Source, back to God. The Shaykh is a living example of the highest quality which a human being can attain: saintliness.
The following book is a collection of transcribed tapes recorded during gatherings with Shaykh Nazim in Basal and in the Schweiben Alp in the summer of 1985. Special thanks to our brothers and sisters there. The fact that they called our Muslim Sufi Master to come and stay with their Hindu community shows that spiritual people of the heart are beyond the divisive barriers of religious segregation. Praise belongs to God!

Listening to Shaykh Nazim speak in Switzerland, I felt such an exceptional inspiration and intensity in what he said, that I decided to transcribe the tapes word for word and so make it available to many people. While doing this, it seemed more important to keep the originality of the words rather than making the correctness of the language the first priority. In this way the many various dimensions of his heavenly messages are kept alive.
He says, "It is a deep subject to understand, but it is made simple, praise belongs to God. With simple words we may understand. We are only asking that people understand. We are not asking to create a literary masterpiece like Shakespeare. No! We make no such claims. It is possible for me to speak like Shakespeare, or even more even though I am not English, but that would be useless because the Prophet Muhammad ((JO) said, 'Make everything simple to be understood.' And God Almighty said, 'I made the Holy Quran simple to be understood.'"
Humblest thanks to God for showing us Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani, whose enlightened presence can reveal some of the secrets behind the secrets behind the secrets.

Haqqani Trust for New Muslims October, 1994

FOREWORD:
SHAYKH MUHAMMAD NAZIM AL-HAQQANI AN-NAQSHBANDI

Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani is the world leader of the most distinguished Naqshbandi order of Sufis {tariqah an-Naqshbandiyya-t-il-'awliya). Shaykh Nazim is both a scholar of the Divine Law {shari'ah), being the mufti of Turkish Cyprus, as well as the Shaykh of the Way (tariqah).
A resident of Turkish Cyprus, he was born in Larnaca, Cyprus on April 23, 1922 (12th Rabi' ul-Awwal, 1341 AH). He is a descendant of the family of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) on both his mother and his father's side, being both a Hasani and Husayni Sayyid. On his father's side, he is a descendant of Sayyid 'Abdul Qadir Gilani, the founder of the Qadiri Sun order and on his mother's side, his ancestry comes from Jalal al-Din Rumi, the founder of the Mawlawi Sufi order.
Shaykh Nazim finished high school in Cyprus in 1940 CE/1359 AH. He then traveled to Istanbul for higher education. He studied at the University of Istanbul, completing an MA in Chemical Engineering. During his years in Istanbul, he also completed the requirements of the Divine Law and Arabic language. He received his "permission" Cijaza) from Shaykh Jamal al-Lassuni (d. 1955 CE/ 1375 AH). Shaykh Nazim then directed his attention to the study of the spiritual path of seven Sufi orders: Naqshbandi, Chishti, Qadiri, Mawlawi, Rifa'i, Shadhili and Badawi. He then increased his study of the Naqshbandi order under his shaykh at that time, Sulayman Arzurumi (d. 1938 CE/1368 AH). After a few years, Shaykh Sulayman told him, "0 my son, the one who is carrying your secrets is not me, but my spiritual teacher who migrated from Daghistan to Turkey and who is now residing in Damascus in the Midan district {sa'ahat il-Midan}. He is known as the Master of the Golden Chain of the Naqshbandi order in our time."
Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani then moved to Syria. On the way to Damascus, he first visited Aleppo, Hama and Horns. In Horns, under the direction of his Shaykh, he stayed for one year in seclusion in the mosque and tomb of the famous Companion of the Prophet (SALLALLAHU ALAYHI WA SALLAM), Khalid ibn Walid. There he received more intensive instruction in the Divine Law, the Traditions (ahadith), and the Science of the Quran (ilm al-Qur'an} under the Shaykhs Muhammad 'Ali 'Uyun as-Su'ud, 'Abdul 'Aziz 'Uyun as-Su'ud, mufti of Horns, Abdul Jalil Murad and Sayyid as-Suba'i, who are all Naqshbandi shaykhs as well as famous scholars of the Traditions (muhaddithun) and religious scholars Culama) of the Divine Law {shari'ah).
In 1944 CE/1364 AH, he moved to Tripoli, Lebanon, where he was the guest of Shaykh Munir al-Malik, the mufti of northern Lebanon and Shaykh of the Qadiri, Rifai' and Naqshbandi Sufi orders. In 1945 CE/1365 AH, he went from Tripoli to Damascus to Ha'i al-Midan where he finally met Shaykh 'Abdullah ad-Daghistani an-Naqshbandi. He stayed with his Grand Shaykh until his Grand Shaykh passed away on October 4, 1973 (4th of Ramadan, 1398 AH). During that period of almost forty years, Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani (may God bless him) continued to receive the heavenly fountain of spiritual knowledge which poured forth from the heart of Shaykh 'Abdullah ad-Daghistani (may God sanctify his soul) into his heart.
Shaykh Nazim continuously traveled to the Middle East and Turkey during these 40 years. Upon the death of his Grand Shaykh and by his spiritual order, he enlarged his scope of travel to include Europe, America and the Far East. He established hundreds of centers all over the world, spreading Islam together with Sufi spiritual knowledge which has brought hundreds of thousands of converts to Islam. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he is the mujaddid of this century as was Sayyid 'Abdul Qadir Gilani, in his time; Shah Bahaudin Naqshband, in his time; Sayyid Ahmad al-Fa'ruqi, in his time; and Jalal al-Din Rumi, in his time.
Shaykh Nazim carries the secret of seven Sufi orders: Naqshbandi, Chishti, Qadiri, Mawlawi, Rifa'i, Shadhili and Badawi, through a chain of authorization from his master, Shaykh 'Abdullah ad-Daghistani, through the chain of 39 Grand Shaykhs linking him to the Prophet (SALLALLAHU ALAYHI WA SALLAM).
He has entered many seclusions during his lifetime ranging in duration from 40 days to one year. These took place in many different places including the Prophet's city, Madinah, Baghdad in the presence of Sayyid 'Abdul Qadir Gilani, Konya in the presence ofJalal al-Din Rumi and Damascus at many holy places. He has written numerous books on spirituality and Divine Knowledge (gnosis, ma'rifah) which have been published throughout the world. He has written many poems on Divine Love Cishq) in both Arabic and Turkish. He is a source (marja) for many modern juristic matters. He follows a moderate line in approaching people and issues of contemporary life.
Shaykh Nazim has a very charismatic personality which moves people and attracts them to the manifestation of Divine Love which continues to pour forth from his heart. His resplendent smile is ever present. When he speaks, it is as if a Divinely-inspired waterfall had been opened connecting his heart to the hearts of the listeners. It is that nectar of love that draws thousands of new converts to Islam every year.

Shaykh Hisham Muhammad Kabbani, MD

THE HAQQANI TRUST FOR NEW MUSLIMS

Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani an-Naqshbandi four years ago appointed Shaykh Hisham Kabbani the sole designated representative of the most distinguished Naqshbandi order of Sufis in the western hemisphere. During this time, the students and disciples {murid) of the Naqshbandi order have flourished and the order has vastly expanded in America.
In order to support the growing needs of these students and disciples to establish Sufi teaching centers, mosques, itinerant study centers (zawiyyah), to publish literature, videos and tapes relevant to the teachings of Sufism and the Naqshbandi order, and to establish contact with similar organizations, an association for managing these matters was established called the Haqqani Islamic Trust for New Muslims. Founded in 1991 as a non-profit organization, it is dedicated to the purpose of spreading Sufism and the spiritual teachings of the Naqshbandi order throughout the western hemisphere. For the last four years, the Haqqani Islamic Trust, under the dedicated leadership of its president, Shaykh Hisham Muhammad Kabbani, has established thirteen centers and mosques in the US and Canada including a large convention and camping center in the mid-West (near Detroit, Michigan). Several large conventions have been held under the auspices of the Haqqani Islamic Trust. The Trust also sponsored the visit of the Grand Shaykh of the Naqshbandi order, Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani, to America in 1991 and 1993.
The Haqqani Islamic Trust continues its ongoing mission of spreading the teachings of Sufism (tasawwuf), Divine Love and Divine Gnosis {ma'rifah). One of its goals is to reach the maximum number of readers through its publications such as this one and subsequent works to be published in the near future.

1
THE SECRETS BEHIND THE SECRETS BEHIND THE SECRETS
BASAL, SWITZERLAND, JULY 15,1985

Shaykh Nazim: In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. It will be the way our Lord asks it to be. We are His slaves. No one can prevent His Will, but His Will prevents our wills. We must know that we are slaves and that He is the Lord. To be His slave means to have good manners. For His slaves it means to be obedient in their actions and in their wills, as well. It is easy to be obedient with actions, but to be obedient with the will, as well, is very difficult. Most people rebel through their will.
We have a saying in our most distinguished Naqshbandi order, which is the highest order of all Sun ways. Every religion has Sufi orders in its structure. Sufi orders are like a fundament of every religion. You cannot find a religion that doesn't include Sufi ways. This is because religions have come to turn people towards the heavens, to turn the face, one face, of the people towards the heavens.
Religions are not only to bring order to this life. The important message that the religions bring is a heavenly message. The actions or practices that religions bring to people are not only for our physical bodies, like some people think in our times, saying that prescribed prayers are just like exercises for the physical body or that prescribed fasting is only to help our physical body or that the pilgrimage is for our body's pleasure. They see religions as being only to serve the physical body. They are mistaken. This applies to Judaism and to Christianity, as well.
All faiths ask people to turn a face of their faces towards the heavens. Therefore, the fundaments of every religion must be to show the ways to the heavens.
A human being may follow any religion. One is free to follow any religion. One is free to follow any belief from the East to West. One is free to follow the prophets, to follow the saints, to follow the shaykhs, to follow the Babajis. They are free, but the main purpose of following must be to face towards the heavens.
Today we call all religious methods which show the way to the heavens as Sufi ways. The Sufi orders show the way towards the heavens. The most important, the most perfect way to the heavens of all methods of Sufi orders is the most distinguished Naqshbandi order.
I am someone who has been authorized as a guide to that perfect way of the distinguished Naqshbandi order. The Naqshbandi order is like a sky covering the whole
world. No one can escape out of it because it includes all the ways and it is perfect. It is the shortest way.
Now we must say something about ourselves as human beings. What is our relationship towards the heavens, towards the heavenly ways, towards the heavenly destinations? These are first and last points so that we can understand what the situation of people, of humanity and of the children of Adam on this planet is.
What are you and who are you? As I am looking here at all of you, you all appear as skeletons to me, covered by skin. Your real forms are all skeletons. These are appearing here now. That is, the structure of our physical body. All skeletons are the same. When you look at skeletons, there are no differences between them. But when the Lord dresses the skeletons as He likes, they then differ.
We have a secret behind the secrets behind the secrets behind the secrets behind the secrets. All of those secrets are hidden for you to find while you are wasting your time, your life and your age with nonsense actions. As a first step, you are looking in a mirror, and everyone has mirrors. The mirror will be the kind you are used to. This is an imitation mirror. There exists another mirror, a Real mirror. We all have so many of the imitation mirrors in our houses. When you look at your face in these imitation mirrors, it shows your physical body. When you improve, as a result of heavenly messages, hidden secrets will open to you. As a first step, when you look into the Real mirror, you must be frightened because that mirror will show you your skeleton. That is a beginning of improvement through Sufi ways. We need a Real mirror to look into. It is in such a Real mirror that you may look and see the Real you.
Once upon a time Grand Shaykh Abdul Khaliq Ghujdvani, one of the greatest pillars of our most distinguished Naqshbandi order, was sitting and speaking with his 700 disciples. He called one of his disciples and said, "Bring me the disciple that I had ordered to go into seclusion. Bring him to me." By going into seclusion, this disciple (murid) was trying to cut out the gravity of his ego, that is, the bad ego which was pulling down his soul because no one can improve as long as he is a servant and slave of his ego, as long as he gives into all of his ego's desires.
Here we are all listeners and I will say something as long as I am being ordered to do so. All attendees of this meeting are trying to reach the highest rank of the heavenly stations. I hear the egos through the hearts of those of you who are rejecting and refusing this. Your hearts are frightened. They are saying, "How can we accept such a thing if there is no pleasure for us? It's OK for now. We are only listeners. Later we will try." At the moment, we are just speaking to those people who are trying to reach such heavenly stations, so that they can save themselves from the miseries of this world. We are only asking to give freedom to such people. We want to give them freedom from being servants of their egos because our souls are ever living. Our souls are eternal while our egos and physical bodies are going to die. Every desire of our physical life is limited and will end one day. Today's pleasure is not the same as yesterday's. Sometimes pleasure comes to a peak. Even if you urge your ego on, it is impossible to move beyond that point. After that peak, you will begin to come down. Nothing can prevent it when it is beginning to come down and becoming less. Nothing can even keep it in the same station.
These are our physical desires. You may be thirsty. There is a bottle. At first you may have a great desire to drink. You may drink one sip and say, "Oh, one more!" and you may drink it but it is not the same as the first. Someone may ask you, "One more?" and you will answer, "No." That person may say, "Why no? Don't you want to drink one more?" And you may drink up to the fourth cup, but if he then says, "One more?" you will say, "No. If I drink one more I will lose all of them."
You may reach the peak of your desires, of your physical desires and after that point, it will become less every day. Therefore we are asking for something which is the desire of our soul. These desires continuously increase and do not lessen.
Once upon a time, Grand Shaykh Abayazid, one of the greatest pillars of the distinguished Naqshbandi order, had such spiritual power that he was able to pray one Friday noon prescribed prayer at 12,000 different places at one and the same time. Is it not a pleasure for you to be in seven different places at one and the same time? Is it not a pleasure to be in Paris, in Rome, in London, in Istanbul, in Spain, in America and here at one and the same time with the same power? Isn't that a pleasure? Yes! Wunderbarl It is wunderba! (German: wonderful).
Yes, everyone may wish to do it, but to do it, one must pay a high price. If I buy a ring in the old bazaar, for example, I might get a fake for a cheap price. Then I will go away. I will not go to the expensive stores. I will go to the bazaar, because it is too expensive. The original is too expensive, but the initiation is cheap.
As it is a pleasure for you to be able to be at seven places at the same time, you must pay. It is not cheap. If it was cheap, I could do it myself, but as it isn't. I can't do it myself. This was how Abayazid, our Grand Shaykh, was performing the prescribed prayer in 12,000 mosques at the same time on the same Friday.
He met another Shaykh. That Shaykh pointed to himself and presented himself to Abayazid, may God bless him. He asked Shaykh Abayazid which Shaykh is present who just drank one cup of God Almighty's oceans of love, just one cup, and he was drunk? He was referring to himself. The Grand Shaykh Abayazid answered, "Here is someone who drinks and drinks and never says 'It is enough5."
So physically you can force yourself to drink this whole bottle. The taste will become less and less, but if you can reach the endless oceans of love and beauty of your Lord and you are allowed to enter into them, then you may drink and the taste will improve and increase and never become less. So which of these is important to you? To increase your taste or to weaken it every day? Your physical pleasures will become less and less every day. A person may marry a lady, but already the second night becomes less, the third night less, the second month will be less, the third month less. The first year is all right, the second year becomes less. That is the law of nature. You cannot prevent it.
But if you can reach out to the love of the Lord through your wife and she can reach it through you, then it will increase. I have been for thirty-three years with my wife, but she is still like she was the first night for me and that is my Lord's favor to me because we are asking through that love for the real love of God Almighty. It is the most perfect teaching for humanity to make a relationship from that love and to jump from it to your Lord's love, but we lose that chance if we are going to imprison ourselves in our physical love because physical love is not the real target. Instead, it is your Lord who is asking for your love because he gave you that love which you have towards her and her love towards you so that you can find your way into the Lord's love and be able to reach endless oceans of love.
Today, in our times, people come together for just three days! We are not asking for the love of animals. No! We are humanity, the vicegerents of the Lord, of God. You must represent your Lord's love as a male and she must represent her Lord's love as a female. Then both will mix and find light.
The power goes through two wires. One alone cannot function. Only both of them together. Therefore, when Divine love pours into your heart, you pour it into her heart and you must join the two loves. It is then going to be your Lord's love. And that is what we are asking for. Therefore, our Grand Shaykh Abayazid was saying, "I drank oceans and yet I was not satisfied."
Which one do you prefer? Permanent and increasing or temporary and decreasing? You must think about that. When you say, "That is all right," then come to me. Permanent, that is what we want. When you have made your decision, then we must show you the ways. Children may play in the playgrounds, but when they grow up and reach the age of maturity, they will come to
their parents and say, "This game is no good anymore. We want something else. We are no longer little children. We are asking for another game." When you have finished the importance of your temporary pleasures and you have decided to reach the age of maturity, you may say, "I must ask for something else," and, "Life is not just a game" and "This planet is not just a playground." Then you may reach the real target of your permanent pleasures and permanent desires. You may then taste the endless oceans of love.
European people are writing, "Love, love, everywhere love." It means that it is the most important thing for them. However, they are not asking for real love and how they can reach that endless ocean of love. They have only been given a drop of that endless ocean of love and they waste it so quickly. Still they are saying, "Love, love, love," because they have lost their chance. They had been given that love as a chance to show and reach the real oceans of love, the endless love-oceans of our Lord, but it has been wasted. Now you are running and saying, "Love, love, love..." and there is no more love.
All people are sincerely asking to reach the endless love-oceans. Everyone's soul is asking to reach the endless beauty-oceans. Only one drop of the beauty-oceans of the Lord is divided between all peoples. How much can reach a beautiful girl? Or a handsome man from that one drop? How much? So much that you can be drunk by the beauty of one person. You may lose yourself through that beauty, even though it is just the part of that one drop that is coming to her from the endless beauty-oceans that are waiting and expecting you to reach it and to come into it and to swim and to drink and to be drunk in it.
Thank you for your attention. If it wasn't for your attention I wouldn't be able to give you anything of our Grand Shaykh's oceans. I'm only making a caricature, a simple drawing, and still it is enough for you to be able to understand something. I am trying to give you an explanation about the heavenly stations. According to how much you improve, it will become clearer to you. Therefore, a person who is doing his best in a Sufi way will approach such beautiful, charming views and visions in his heart's screen. Every day that you draw closer to your heavenly stations, you will receive more pleasure. You will feel more happiness, more enjoyment, more lights, more wisdom, more perfection and so on …

Thank you for your attention. I think it is enough. God bless you. It is a command for me to say that everything that I may say in a meeting in which attendees give me their attention according to their beliefs, they must reach all the stations that we are talking about. We are not such people who show something and say, "This is for you!" and then prevent you from getting it. You must be given it. These are good tidings for you. We have been informed that when we are in a group which is not only to be attended by humanity. It must also be full of other creatures which we call jinn. They must also attend my groups. They just left because we have finished now.

It is good luck for all of you to be present in this group. There has never been such a group in the twelve years that I have been coming to Europe. This is because of the blessings (barakah) of Shaykh Abdus Samad and of all of you. Also, because of the blessings of my daughters and sons. Those are my elder brothers, but the others are my daughters and sons.
Thank you.

In the Name of God.
2
JUDAS WAS ON THE CROSS
BASAL, SWITZERLAND, JULY 16,1985

Shaykh Nazim: The Pharisees were rulers who made many rules for the people to look after this materialistic world and not to look at the heavens.
They did not see how Jesus Christ (alayhis-salam) came in a miraculous way because they were occupied with the material world. They say he is a word of God. That means when He says, "To be!" and it is, it will be. He comes into existence.
He doesn't need a father, just as Adam had no father and no mother. That is even more miraculous than Jesus Christ. Still no one says that Adam is the Son of God. Concerning Jesus Christ (AS), that is just what is being said. He may have said "Father!" as the highest degree of respect to Him, not as a relationship to Him because a creature is one thing and a Creator something else. It is impossible for the Creator to be like His creatures. A man can have a son and when he vanishes from existence, the son come to fill his place, but the Lord will not be vanished from existence so that a son should be there to take his place.
Sons usually inherit something from their father. If you look at your son, at your children, they will look a little like you. The nose, the mouth ... may look the same. And if Jesus Christ (AS) is the son, then he must have something from his Father, from the Lord Almighty's famous attributes like the fact that He never dies, that He is everlasting. It is impossible for a person who is the Son of the Lord to die. It is impossible. It is something that you cannot accept. You can accept it through your imagination. You can believe it, but you will never benefit from it.
Maybe I am saying too much, but sometimes I ask religious people, "How long are you going to put that man on the cross and hang him? Is it not enough now until today? When will you take him down to rest? He must rest. It is enough! Everyone has seen him." And then they say, "You must believe in that person." He is showing the weakest position of a man. The weakest position! And he should be mighty! If I am to believe in someone, he should be mighty, almighty. And you are showing me the weakest one to believe in. I am saying, "How am I to believe in that one who cannot even save himself? Then how about the others?" This I must ask everyone.
There are so many gospels about Jesus Christ (AS). I once went to Iznik. Iznik is a city close to Istanbul. There is a strange name for a conference that took place there
called Nicea. I was there. It is the oldest city in Christianity and the most famous one. It is surrounded by old walls. While I was looking under the huge arches, they took me to a place which was about twenty-five meters square and about five meters deep. My guide said to me that this room had been filled up with skeletons, hundreds of people — their heads, their bones. Archeologists from Europe had come and opened it and looked and then said that these people who had been buried in this huge place were from the time of the Council of Nicea that had been held there in the 4th century.
When the patriarch of Constantinople at that time was looking at all the different Christian gospels around the world, he said, "Oh, some of them are like this, some like that, some like that. There are so many differences." They called for a meeting and everyone brought their versions of the gospels. Then they decided on four books among hundreds. Perhaps they refused the true ones, because otherwise no one could have decided on those four because even they are different. Otherwise one would have been enough. But four!
They destroyed all books except those four. They killed everyone who brought a different gospel so that they could not go back and write it down again. They destroyed their books, killed them and put all of them in that huge place!
Therefore, so many tricks run through Christianity until today. So many different ideas come and you cannot say which one is right of all their books. All four of them are speaking about the crucifixion although most of the other gospels do not accept that.
As we know, when they gathered to catch Jesus Christ (AS), he was in a meeting with his disciples. The Romans were coming to catch him to crucify him. Then Judas went out. They were waiting for Jesus Christ (AS-) to come out to be able to catch him. While they were waiting, Judas said, "I must go inside and bring him out to you." When he came in, God Almighty sent the angel Gabriel to take Jesus Christ (AS) up to Him so that no one would touch him. At the same time, He made the head of Judas look like Jesus Christ (AS). Not his body, just his head. The Romans were waiting and waiting. As no one came out, they rushed in and, facing Judas, they said, "This is Jesus Christ!" They caught him, took him away and crucified him.
Then, as they were looking, they saw that the head was one thing and the body from someone else so they asked, "Where is Judas? If that person is Judas, where is Jesus Christ? If it is Jesus Christ, then where is Judas?" They began to doubt and God Almighty sent Jesus Christ (AS) to heaven. As a punishment for Judas, he was on the cross, not Jesus Christ (AS).
Until today the Jews as well as the Christians doubt what happened because they also ask, "Where was Judas? Did he just disappear? Did Jesus Christ also just disappear? One of them must be on the cross." When they then saw that the head and the body were different, they continued to doubt and they kept saying something else. They knew that one of them must have disappeared. They say that Jesus Christ (AS) was on the cross and that he then rose to the heavens. But what about Judas? Where did he go?

A: They said he went and killed himself on a tree.

UH: What about the story when Jesus was supposed to rise from the dead and then came back and taught his disciples after they opened the grave after three days? When he came in white and talked and ate with his disciples? All of this is also written in the gospels. One disciple who was called Thomas. He met him on the road and said, "I thought you were dead." Jesus (&) said, "No, I'm not dead, see the wounds are here," and he showed him a cut in the side and nails through his hands. Are these all tales? Fairy-tales?"

SN: It is exactly the opposite. Because if they say something, then everything must be arranged in that way. They were prepared for any questions. This was done without touching their belief, because as God Almighty was saying, no one can touch Jesus Christ (AS). He was taken away in the same way he came, without trouble for him.

A: But the disciples who loved Jesus Christ wrote this. How could they write lies?

Z.: No. The people who wrote the gospels lived 80-120 years later.

3
BARNABAS
HIDDEN TREASURE

Shaykh Nazim: We are asking for the nearest sources because neither John, Matthew, Mark or Luke were with Jesus Christ (AS. But Barnabas was with him and Barnabas also refuses the crucifixion idea.
Barnabas is a disciple. Just like we have Abu Bakr, the first of the Companions of the Prophet, Barnabas was the nearest of the twelve disciples. He was living with Jesus Christ and he never accepted the crucifixion. We take our source from him. So what is the reason that they refuse Barnabas and accept four others when he was living with him and the others came 100-150-200 years later?
St. Barnabas was from Cyprus. He is now buried in Cyprus. There is a dome on top of his grave. This is the most ancient church to be found on Cyprus. When you enter it, you can see the story of St. Barnabas in pictures. There are several pictures which show that the bishop of that time had a dream. Barnabas' tomb was unknown. It had disappeared. It was out in the countryside. The bishop, who was living on Cyprus at that time; dreamed and this is shown in pictures on the walls of the church. First, St. Barnabas came in a dream and told him, "My tomb is under that tree, under that olive tree." Second, the bishop goes to the tree and starts to dig. Third, they find him in the same way in which he had been buried, his gospel was lying on his chest. Fourth, his gospel is been taken away from his chest and the bishop is bringing it to the Emperor of Byzantine. Fifth, the Emperor is dressing the Bishop of Cyprus in clothes like his own, royal, and is giving honor to him by making Cyprus independent.
That is why the Cypriot Church became independent from Constantinople and was called the Orthodox Church. And that break was with the Emperor. From there, the Gospel of Barnabas was taken to Rome. It is now in the Vatican together with some hidden treasures. They cannot show it. And if you ask, "Where is the writing, the Gospel of Barnabas?"

UH: Many times: people tried to translate it. There was an Italian priest in the 16th century who came across this gospel in the Vatican. He immediately became Muslim as he read it and he translated it into Italian. Then it disappeared, and every time when someone translated it, it always disappeared.

SN: They were killed.

Z: How did the Pakistanis get it to make this paperback edition in English?

SN: From Vienna.

Z: But there were three copies: one in the Vatican, one in Vienna and one...?

SN: The original is hidden in the Vatican treasuries...

Z: But wait! That is Vatican, Vienna and the third?

UH: Scotland, I think...?...

SN: That is not important. The original is in the Vatican...

Z: And the copy was stolen in Vienna. When?

SN: I don't know. I only know that there is a Gospel of Barnabas and that he is the disciple of Jesus Christ (AS). Why do they destroy it? Why aren't they showing it? Everywhere you see St. Barnabas churches. Who is St. Bamabas? Where is his gospel? I may also ask why is it hidden? Why are there churches in his name? If he is not famous, why do the churches bear his name? What was his position to Jesus Christ (AS)? Or what was their relationship? Which message did he bring us from Jesus Christ (AS)? Where is it hidden? Was he only a name with Jesus Christ (AS)?
We have a saying that you cannot put a spear into a sack because it will always stick out of one side. You cannot hide it. It will always cut open one side and show itself. In this same way, it is impossible to hide the truth. The time will come when it will appear and Christians, particularly church people, know so many things, but they are not sharing it with everybody. It is kept hidden.
In the days of the last Prophet, Muhammad (SALLALLAHU ALAYHI WA SALLAM), a Companion was traveling to Damascus. The Companions were always being trained. He went and met the governor of Amman, the Roman name at that time of a place close to Aleppo. After everyone had left, the governor called him saying, "Come to me!" He then took him to a cupboard and took one picture out of each drawer. The drawings were on silk. When he showed the pictures, he asked, "Do you know who this is?" He said, "No." The governor put the picture away and took out another picture, showed it and said, "Do you know who this is?" "No." until on the last piece of silk, a picture was drawn and he showed it to him asking, "Do you know who this is?" He said, "This is our Prophet. This is Muhammad (SALLALLAHU ALAYHI WA SALLAM)."
He said that these pictures came from Adam, from paradise. Everyone's picture was drawn. Then that disappeared. When Moses came to the children of Israel with the ark, they went with it everywhere and they were victorious. It is famous. All those pictures were brought from heaven and kept. All of them are now in that church, in their hands. They know the pictures. All the pictures are now in the Vatican. They cannot make it clear, but when Jesus Christ comes, he will bring out all of them and show them to the people.
They know so many things but they also hide so many things.

4
ARMAGEDDON, THE SAVIOR (AL-MAHDI), JESUS CHRIST, ANTICHRIST AND THE JINN

M: Will Jesus come back?

SN: He will come very soon in the near future. Very soon he will be with us, towards the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century.

M: Is he coming to stay?

SN: He is coming to stay first for forty years. For forty years he will stay with us. There will be no more unbelievers, no more satans living on earth, no more evil on earth. When he comes, he comes to kill the Anti-Christ. And when the Anti-Christ dies, then the whole world is clean of satans and evil. People will live like the people living in paradise.
After forty years, evil satans will reappear little by little again. After ten years, their numbers will have grown. After those ten years, Jesus Christ (AS) will die just like his Lord will order him to. He will be buried behind the Prophet's tomb, in the fourth one that is now empty. Then God Almighty will send a good smelling wind from paradise and every believer will smell it and die. It will be the best kind of dying, so tasteful and no troubles while dying that kind of death. All believers will die by smelling the smell of paradise. There will be no more believers on earth, only unbelievers.
Then the Day of Judgment will fall on them and they will all die. They will come to the Day of Judgment. All of them, everyone but before the Day of Judgment, he is coming and he is going to be amongst people like a judge to make everything clear because before he comes, everything is mixed up. Truth is mixed up with untruth, goodness with evil, believers with unbelievers, dirt with purity. Now that is the case with the whole world, with the Christians, with the Jews, with the Muslims. Everyone is mixed up with everything. When he comes, he will put everything in its place. No one can say anything.

Z: If you say that the Day of Judgment is fifty years after Armageddon, that means that first there are forty years with Jesus and then...

SN: Armageddon is going to happen before the coming of Jesus Christ (AS). Armageddon, which is mentioned in the Old and New Testaments, is now indicated as near. This is also when Jesus Christ (AS) is coming. There will be believers and unbelievers, followers of Jesus Christ (AS) and followers of the Anti-Christ. There must be a great war. When that is finished, it will have been the last great war happening on earth.

Z: But if the Day of Judgment is not until fifty years later, what happens with the dead people? Even people who die now if the Judgment Day is more than fifty years away. Where are they now? They have had no judgment. If somebody dies, let us say two years ago, where is their soul now? If there is no Day of Judgment before, if we all have the Judgment Day together?

SN: All together on the Day of Judgment, all together.

Z: Where is the spirit of those people now?

SN: Where are they now? Traditions say that Israfil...

Z: The angel of death?

SN: No, not the angel of death, the one who blows the trumpet...

UH: The one who blows the trumpet on the Last Day?

K: May I ask something? Is the Anti-Christ in this moment physically on the earth?

SN: Yes.

AS: Is he in a particular body or in general?

SN: In a particular body. He is chained and imprisoned on an unknown island.

A: Why is he chained?

SN: He is claiming, "I am your Lord!" He claims that he is the Lord of humanity. He is saying, "I am your Lord!" He is not saying, "I am a Prophet!" but "I am your Lord!"

A: But why don't we know of him then?

SN: We know.

Z: Officially it is a secret. How can this be a secret. Why is it not in the newspapers?

SN: It is mentioned in the newspaper of the Prophet. From the beginning until the end, every Prophet...

UH: Is it mentioned in the Traditions?

A: Is he imprisoned or in chains?

SN: Imprisoned means on that island. He cannot move to any other place.

A: Nobody knows of him. Nobody knows his name, which person he is, which particular person?

SN: Through religions...

A: Yes, but no...

SN: Yes, but usually people do not know where he is. It is impossible. It is unknown. That is, if ships would come like this to find him, they would not be able to because it is a secret. No one can approach that place.

Z: And does he know himself what his job is?

SN: Yes. He knows well. He is Satan, the father of all satans.

K: I mean that the Satan of this time is very powerful: anger, jealousy and hatred all come from him. So he may even be able to listen to what we are talking about now.

SN: He is listening very much and he is giving many orders. He has thirty deputies before he comes. He has sent thirty deputies to make the people prepared for his coming.

K: May I tell you a dream.

SN: Yes.

K: I had a dream which is very important to me. The Shaykh may know something about it. First I saw Babaji in a red turban and in red clothes. He was there and he was smiling very beautifully. This was a picture on a wall. Suddenly it changed and became like a door. A man in a red cloak with a turban was standing in front of me. But his turban was not like yours. He had it so that you could see the hair on top of his head. He had one spot like out of ashes here (points to her right cheek), big and round. He had some wooden shoes with a small piece of leather over it like this. He walked through the door. His hair was long, shoulder length and totally fiery red. His shirt and his turban were like a crown. Immediately I knew that it must be a very high being. I did not know whether or not it was Jesus who came and said something to me. You see, his face was a mixture of anger and suffering and there were many people. When he came, they all went away as if it was too dreadful to wait for him to come in. He must have been a very high being. I had this dream in this very house. He looked with his head at this place. He stood like this and just looked. He turned his head so that I could see the ash mark on his cheek again. He was looking at this place.

SN: Was his turban red?

K: Red, very red.

SN: Mahdi, the Savior, peace be upon him because he has ashes on his right cheek. Mahdi! Mahdi! Muhammad Mahdi, the highest spiritual person right now.

K: Yes, I have seen you ... And He stood very clearly next to me. And in front of Him was Baba, our Baba ... And he had the same red shirt, a beautiful red kind of silk, indescribably beautifully red.

SN: Yes, that is the news. Yes. The spot on his cheek shines like a star...

K: And something else, because you are the one who can give me an answer. One night during Ramadan time, I saw a man sitting with a black top. It was not actually like a turban. It was like a hat, a bit like the Egyptians used to have. His beard was like yours, just a little cut. He sat full of light. From the side I could see that light. Light was coming out of him. He was all light Very holy.

SN: And he is Jesus Christ (s.)!

K: Two nights later I had a dream. I woke up, because during a vision of heaven I had seen our Jusry who was here. He is the closest disciple of Baba in Herakan, Muniratschi. I saw him pray like this: (she demonstrates a prostration). It was in this direction: (she points to the direction of prescribed prayer to the Kabah). Out of his hand came lots of light. This was also during Ramadan time. And before I came to Basal, I had a heavy dream: I saw heaven. Suddenly heaven opened and I looked at my side and there was a tall man. He had a gray cloak with hood on. I only knew that he is absolutely...

SN: Huwa! (Arabic: He).

K: ...a good spirit. And he was on my side. We were walking together. No talking, only walking. Suddenly he did like this: he looks up. So I also looked up. Then he left me and I saw this being, a mixture between a wolf, a fox and a snake-dragon. The skeleton was long, very long and I knew in that moment that it was very dangerous. I stood and it came down like this: at first in circles and then step by step. I wanted to run away. Suddenly a person stood in front of me who looked as if he was copying Baba. I knew so I called very loudly, "Swami!" and I said in the dream, "Hurry on!"
So this beast was coming very near to me and I stood and looked at it and knew while I was looking that it had no bones. It was a manifestation of smoke and anger. Like a dust manifestation. All these bad qualities which represent evil. He stood and said to me, "You really should work!" For what he did not say, but I knew when I woke up because my heart was pounding. I thought in that moment that if the Anti-Christ is on earth, even if he is on an island, he knows so much that he would even know how to come. He wanted to catch me two or three times in the last three years. I had three heavy fights. But even this time he could not touch me.

SN: Be careful.

K: Yes.

SN: That Anti-Christ has taken you as his target.

K: I know, I know, yes. But I stood like this. And you know I had a feeling that the Holy Spirit... I can't remember ... God said to the demon, "You can do with this Hiob whatever you want. I know him. Everything except his life. This you cannot take." And Babaji said in Herakion one day, "Kalkatti is my very special child. She has no father, no mother. I take care of her." And when he said very loudly, "If you are harsh with Kalkatti, I will be very harsh with you!" But I had a feeling that he called to the Spirit.

SN: Be careful.

K: Yes, I know I have to be all the time in the Name of God but I had to ask you. It was my chance in life. And here I was not afraid.

SN: Praise belongs to God. You may be protected. Yes, that is...

AS: What do you think is the mission of Babaji?

SN: Mission?

Z: Mission, his job, why was he here?

AS: Mission, his function.

SN: His function is going to appear soon.

K: That's what he says. His real function will be shown. That's what Baba said.

M: Babaji?

K: Is that Muhammad?

CJN: No, the Savior.

SN: The Savior (al-Mahdi or the Guided One) (AS).

Z: Most people here do not know who the Mahdi is. Maybe you could say...

SN: The Mahdi is the descendent of the Prophet in the 40th generation since Husayn's son's, son's son's...son. The fortieth. Now he is living, but he is not with people. It is impossible for people to look at him because he has such strong power.

K: Yes. I could see it in the dream

SN: If someone looks at him, he will fall down dead. That is why he is living in the Empty Quarter Desert between Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

B: Nobody is there.

UH: Nobody

Z: Only the Mahdi.

SN: Running sands, moving sand. If a person stands on it, he will be pulled down and disappear. That is a place where no one can live. And he is there with his high power people, high spiritual powered people, ninety-nine of them.

Z: His spirit is there or his body also? And what about his family, his mother, father?

SN: His father and mother are also descendants of the Prophet. They are living nearby in Jeddah, but when he was growing up as a young person, miraculous appearances started to come out of him so he was taken away from people.

Z: How old is he now?

SN: He is around 35 years old. And he has power now. All Friends of God {awliya) are under his command now.

Z: Awliya are holy people?

SN: They are the Friends of God.

M: The Jewish people in the old days used to have prophets every 200 years. Now, from the time of Jesus Christ (&) until today, there has been no prophet of the Jews. Why?

SN: Because the Seal of the Prophets just came and his message is enough for all nations forever.

M: But they did not accept him.

SN: It does not matter that they do not accept him.

M: They are still waiting for a prophet.

SN: They are waiting for a prophet?

M: For another prophet, yes.

Z: But they did not see the last one yet?

SN: They can wait, but it is like yesterday when Jalaludin went to the airport to pick up someone. Before he got there, the person had arrived and people had picked him up and were gone so when Jalaludin came, nobody was there.

Z: Like the Jewish people.

UH: They even called with loudspeakers at the airport.

J: He heard my message and came, but I had already left.

SN: The Jewish people are waiting to pick up another prophet. He already came, but still people are waiting to pick him up.

F: Their prophet might still come...

UH: No.

AS: They will recognize him when he comes again.

SN: Yes, that must be so.

Z: But when the Mahdi will be the leader of the believers and the Anti-Christ the leader of the unbelievers, how is it going to be? Are they going to fight?

SN: To be an unbeliever means to run after materialistic thoughts and this life's pleasures. So many people run after that. They try to find the pleasure that their ego is seeking. Every freedom....

Z: But are they not going to appear before Armageddon? Is Armageddon before and then?

SN: Armageddon, which is the name of the Greatest War, must be before the Savior comes. That will be a war between the East and the West.

Z: And this has nothing to do with Anti-Christ or the Mahdi?

SN: This is before the Mahdi comes and before the Anti-Christ comes. This Greatest War before the Mahdi comes will be between the East and the West. The West will win, not the East. It is written. The West wins and the East vanishes.

Z: How many people will die?

SN: Out of seven, six will die and one will remain.

Z: This is during Armageddon?

SN: Yes, during Armageddon and then the Mahdi comes and calls, "God is Greater!" {Allahu akbar) in Damascus. Then he moves to Istanbul and takes the flag of Muhammad (SALLALLAHU ALAYHI WA SALLAM). Then when they are in Istanbul, the Anti-Christ will come quickly through Khorasan, a part of Iran, and run to Jerusalem. He will go around the whole world for forty days and when the forty days are over...

Z: But when this, "God is Greater," is called, will something happen to the electricity?

SN: It will be finished.

Z: With the words, "God is Greater?"

SN: Every power of technology will stop.

A: And the jinn also stop...?

SN: The jinn are under the command of the Savior, the Promised One.

A: But they are electric so...

SN: Electric power is stopped.

A: But the jinn are also electric so there are no more jinn?

SN: They are electric, but they are creatures.

A: Uzma says they are electricity.

SN: Uzma is right.

5
FANTASIES

M: Shaykh, I read your book, Mercy Oceans of the Heart, where you are talking about the ego. SN: The ego represents all bad characteristics and bad desires. There is a name for it in Arabic, nafs (self, animal soul).

M: I have not read the Quran too much but I have studied the Bible a little. Now all that you are saying about Armageddon and the coming war is from the Bible, from the last Book of Revelation. Is it not in the Quran?

SN: Everything is in the Quran.

M: I want to draw a conclusion. When it comes to spiritual matters, when you are talking about spiritual matters, the language you use is spiritual. So do we have to take that which you are saying literally or spiritually? Like with Armageddon. Is it going to be physical? Because everything you are talking about also happens in our bodies, as well, does it not? What I am trying" to say is that you are a complete world by yourself. Every human being is a world, a complete world so that what is happening within you in your spiritual world, like evil forces fighting good forces, can happen within myself. And Armageddon is maybe not something physical we are going to see because there is no specific date which has proved that it will happen before then. But the forces from the East and the West can be that which happens inside us before we die or when we are dead. We are not going to see satan or the angels with our eyes because they are inside us, within our egos.
From the universe some leaders are going to invade us like the Savior or Jesus Christ (&). By accident or by desire, I know that they are coming one of these days. They are more advanced than we are because they were before we were created. And when this comes is that not the same like Armageddon? Their size is superior to our size...

SN: That is only imagination!

Z: But these could be jinn!

SN: We are only speaking about humanity.

M: You see, in the history of Ghana, the first time the white man came from Portugal, the Portuguese were the first to come to Ghana. That was in 1492. When they came, they had sent big ships across the Atlantic Ocean. They came and our people did not know anything. They were just standing by the seaside when they saw some ships coming. They thought they were ghosts. They were very curious but I do not think they were brave because they should have run away. If we would see some satellite coming, some of us would hide. They were standing by the seaside waiting for those ships. The white people could put their anchor and came straight to them. They could not communicate. They could see some white people in the ocean, far away. For sure they defined them as ghosts. Then when they came and the chiefs did not run away, they shook hands and exchanged some clothes and some goods. That was the beginning of the contact between Europe and Africa in Ghana. I'm talking about the Gold Coast.
So now I'm taking a similar picture. There are some other advanced creatures somewhere in the universe. I'm convinced of that, very convinced. They are more advanced. Because of all the thousands of planets in the universe, we cannot say that we are the only people living. Now, not only that, there are other creatures, call them angels and they are going to invade us while we are trying to explore space. They will hit us and they will hit all of our technology, all our designs and everything else. They will remove us just like the white people removed us from Africa. Now there is European technology in Africa. You can see skyscrapers in Nigeria, railways, everything. And these invaders will also bring their technology with them. That is, I do not know whether they have a special technology from where they come, but they will make our lives more for their selfishness, pleasure and what you are saying. So one of these days I think we are going to be in contact with the angels.

SN: All of that is your source.

M: The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ ascended into heavens. If it is true, then it means...

SN: It is your explanation...

M: But even that I will see angels come into human forms...

SN: But angels are not men...

M: But we see them sometimes...

SN: We may see them after death...

M: Remember on the mountains, Muhammad was communicating with the angel Gabriel. And Muhammad did not know anything about writing and wrote it. Then I read the Quran I am very impressed. If he could not write and still he got those fine, fine explanations of how the world was made. Everything is explained in the Quran—how the human being was created. All these things. And they deny it. Why don't we believe that angels can come to us?

Z: Is it only the prophets who can see angels?

SN: Yes, only prophets.

Z: And the Friends of God, can they see angels?

SN: When they are in their perfect spiritual powers, they can see.

M: But in the Himalayan mountains people are easily communicating with a spiritual world.

SN: Are there angels on the Himalayan mountains?

M: No, not angels, but somebody can go into a spiritual world and disappear. Just like I am here. I can disappear and go to Ghana and bring my wife some message.

SN: It doesn't matter.

M: Shaykh, from what I have seen was through my ascent to the spiritual world. I am interested, very interested. I have been there. I have communicated. Sometimes I heard the voice of some angel in my
dreams. But one thing I see is that everything we see with the naked eye are three things in this world, but in the spiritual world we have seen. This is what I gather. Now the things we see with our naked eye is only 30% and the rest is 70%. So our mind is more spiritual than physical. What I am trying to say is that the eternal desire in the human being is 70% and maybe the physical desire is 30%.

UH: Nowadays it is the other way around.

M: Because the life we are living is too short and there is one thing which nobody can explain: where we came from. Before I was born, where was I? Maybe if I was not something, how can I be something now? I am trying to say...

X: That you don't wait for an answer?

M: I am getting an answer...

X: He gave you many answers but you did not hear them.

M: So what I am trying to...

X: You are not listening. Why are you not listening?

SN: Because he is speaking.

M: Yes, because I have not finished...

X: Yes, but you have a discourse without taking notice of what is coming. You had to present your...

M: Yes, I had to present, and now I want him to summarize and give me one answer.

X: So you want one answer? But he said it is all stories so if you come to the end, it is still all stories so if it is only 1/lOth or if it is 100, it is all stories.

M: Aha, aha! It is understood. Yes. It is true, yes. That is imagination, that is my own imagination.

SN: Imagination!

Z: Fantasy!

6
CATCHING THE WHOLE WORLD WITH SPIRITUAL POWERS

F : Are people coming with a lot of dreams to ask you what the dream means?

SN:Yes.

F: This is tea (looking surprised at Shaykh Nazim who pours the tea into his coffee).

SN: Yes, I know.

F: You make very strange mixtures.

SN: So that they are not quarreling inside. They come together in peace. It was too strong. Then I put the tea into it and it was all right. How are you Nuria? What are you thinking? Many things? Very little things, very small. Our knowledge is so small. Unknown things are for us are like oceans. Known things are like a little spot on a huge ocean. Therefore, we must be careful not to mix up knowledge with imagination because it would be like putting salt into coffee. Therefore, knowledge is clear.
Knowledge is of two kinds: One of them is science, observation and experiment. You can take the results and call them knowledge. Some other knowledge is from the heavens through revelation or through the way of those who came or through traditions or holy Books. If you got out to this or to that, then you come into imagination and there is no value in that. Everyone can imagine or can think something in her imagination. Her imagination, her imagination, his imagination, her imagination. There are billions of people and everyone has been given a different imagination. All these imaginations together we call: all imaginations. They have no value.
Values are in knowledge. Therefore, when we get knowledge through the prophets, we cannot call that imagination. We may accept it as it is because they have been authorized to explain to humanity according to the level of understanding of the person or persons to whom they are speaking. So there is no need to say something is like this or like that because we can accept it the way it comes. We believe and we act.
If we come out of that, then we lose our way to the heavens because heaven is not imagination. It is a Reality. We can say it is an exact or an absolute Reality. We are a combination, in between animals and angels. We are not complete angels and we are not complete animals. We are mixed-up. We have been honored above all animals and above all angels, too. Animals work for mankind and angels also work for mankind. They are in the service of mankind. And we have been honored by
being the Lord's deputies. We have been created to be deputies of our Lord, God Almighty. Angels asked to be given that honor and God said, "No. I will create creatures who will be my vicegerent," and the angels said, "But they are killing themselves and are making a lot of trouble!" And the Lord said, "Even if they kill themselves and make trouble on earth, they are going to be my vicegerents. I know best about them. More than anybody because I am the Creator."
So as a balance between our spiritual and our physical side, our situation is changing all the time. If we go very much to our spiritual side, the connection to the heavens will be quick. We have been given huge powers and authority in the universe, but if we come to the side of our physical body, the animal side of our creation, then we fall down. Then we even lose our physical powers. They will vanish.
But those who take spiritual power may catch the whole world in their hand and throw it into space because we have been honored to be vicegerents of the Lord God Almighty. So until we are interested and enter into our spiritual station — staying with our physical station, everything will be imagination because if I am sitting here and look at a castle, I can imagine what is inside the castle. But all of it is only imagination. Now when we are talking about the heavens, we may say everything, but it is only going to be imagination. When you enter into it, you will find something else. Some things may be all right, but mostly it is different than we thought. Therefore, when we are outside and speak about it, there is no value. But we have been offered and ordered to prepare ourselves to enter that castle.
When you come to that castle, they will ask you, "Where are you coming from? And with what are you coming?" And you will say, "I am coming with myself." They will say, "You cannot enter! Leave everything outside. Be nothing! Leave your ego, yourself, your selfishness, everything that you are carrying physically. Then the heavens will open to you and you will be welcome."
As long as we are carrying our ego, it is impossible to enter the heavens. It is like a person who goes to the seaside to take a bath. They must take off all these things.
One person visited someone else and knocked. The second one asked, "Who is it?" He said, "It is me."
"If you are there, there is no room. I have only one seat for one person. You and I? No room for that. Go back!" He did not open.
A little while later he returned and knocked. He was asked, "Who are you?" He said, "You." Then the door opened and he said, "If I am there, then come on in! It is only for one so that is enough!"
So if you come into the Divine Presence, you must leave your ego and come free from everything. Then you will be accepted. As long as we carry our physical egos, it is going to prevent us from entering the Divine Presence. Divine Presence is something else. It is not something material. But more than any imagination can imagine. It is only spiritual or physical. It is something that as long as we may try, it is impossible to describe. You cannot describe honey to somebody by talking about it. Only if the other person tastes it will he know that it is honey. If you do not taste it, you will not know. That is a station. Those who enter this station may understand. Those who are outside will never understand. Therefore,
it is our duty now to look after the ways of reaching that Divine Presence not to just sit and to imagine so many things. They are all useless. We must look for the way.

Z: But if everybody is waiting for the Judgment Day, are the prophets also waiting for the Judgment Day? Does that mean that God is now alone with the angels in heaven because no one can be there if they have not had the Judgment Day.

SN: Everyone comes to the Day of Judgment.

Z: But now, in this moment, is God alone? Who is in the Divine Presence now? Are the prophets there?

SN: Souls, souls... that is another ocean you are asking about now.

Z: Hmm...

SN: And you are too far away to understand.

Z:OK.

SN: Leave it.

Z: Tomorrow, if God wills.

SN: After tomorrow?

Z:OK

SN: It is such a deep, deep question and such a deep explanation. We shall speak about that after something has come. Then we will have permission to speak.

U: May I say something?

SN: Are you sleeping?

U: No. I'm not sleeping. I was thinking of Moses.

SN: Moses?

U: Yes. He is sitting next to you, this Moses.

SN: And I was thinking of the Prophet Moses.

U: No, I mean our friend Moses, here.

M: So I am Prophet Moses...

U: No, not yet.

SN: Yes, yes.

U: And I was thinking that I am very happy to listen to what you have to say because you come from a different world. I know that Africa is very different from here. They have the same sun and the same moon, but it feels different.

M: Yes, actually, yes.

U: They have a different language and they have a different word. I believe that they have the same God, but they give God different dresses and put them in different stories. And although it might be ... Shaykh Nazim has not been in Ghana, and you have not explained all the things in different stories.

SN: Sometimes...

U: They cannot know your words in Ghana so to be able to understand your words. I think it is always very lovely to listen and to see what is in your heart.

SN: You are happy that a person from Ghana is here. Do you think that he came here to this meeting by accident?

K: Bravo.

U: Now he will take your words to Ghana.

SN: Sometimes I may... if he looks after me, then sometime he may see me, he may meet me in Ghana. It is not a difficult thing too. He who sends him here to me, may send me to there sometime, but not every time with a passport. I am so tired of passports. Sometimes I pray to go without a passport, without clothes, yes. He may find me sometimes in synagogues, sometimes in mosques, sometimes in Africa, sometimes in the East, sometimes in the West, sometimes in the oceans. It may be as he arranges. I am not walking by chance. I am programmed. People ask me, "What is your program?" I tell them, "This is my program. Now I am talking."
Thank you for your attention, all of you, particularly my daughters who are listening so much and Fatima is so tired from sitting on a hard place, having to move like this, like that... And you are not tired? Are you tired?

U: Yes. I am tired of listening. It is too much.

SN: Too much listening? Tired? So speak! But she will never be tired when he makes like this and like that (waving his foot as U is learning to become a ballerina).

U: No, I'm never tired of that. I am used to that.

SN: Yes, we may take our way.

Z: Noon prescribed prayer?

SN: What time is it?

J: Twenty past two.

SN: Twenty past two! That never happened before. We have been sitting here for three hours.

Z: I spoke with the people from Schweiben Alp and said that the latest you would come to afternoon prescribed prayer and maybe earlier, if God wills.

SN: Yes. It is my custom to pray the afternoon prescribed prayer in Schweiben Alp. Moses, are you going to Schweiben Alp?

Z: With us up to the mountains today?

M: Yes, I am willing. I am ready.

Z: Ready?

M: Yes, I am ready.

SN: But we will catch you there and never let you come down again.

Z: When you are there, he will catch you.

SN: I will make this priest my deputy and make him stay there.

M: Yes, I want to.

SN: Where is Kalkatti?

7
KILL YOUR EGO!
BASAL, THE AFTERNOON OF JULY 17, 1985

Shaykh Nazim: And then it will come to you and you will say when you are the best one, "What about the others?" They are trying to reach you and you must look at them and see that they are beneath your station. You will be hurt by their station, by their level. You will see that step by step, they are approaching your station. Your ego claims, "I am the first. I am the best. I don't want anyone to approach my station!" Then you become envious.
There are so many ways of harming people. The ego knows. The ego makes so may tricks and traps for humanity. It is impossible to save yourself from the hand of the ego. Therefore, the Quran says, "Kill your ego!" Not, "Kill yourself." "Kill your ego!" Thank you Moses for that question.
We have a saying, "You must ask an expert for advice about everything you do." Therefore, even if you want to kill a sheep, if you do not know how to do it, you cannot do it. And our egos are not sheep. A sheep lies down easily and you can cut the throat, but your egos are not sheep. They are like dragons. A dragon does not have only one head. A dragon has 70,000 heads. Every head is like a tongue, a poisonous tongue, with poisonous teeth. That is terrible! And the most terrible creature is the ego. And if it understands that you are killing it, it will direct all its heads towards you to swallow you. It is not a sheep, a lamb, which you can catch and kill and crucify with nails...
Therefore, we must use some ways. If we, for example, move in this direction where an enemy is in the way. That is an important way if fighting. Those who make that with an army will be Field Marshal. There were so many Field Marshals in Germany during World War II who were fighting with that method in Russia.
With the ego we must also use such ways. According to its tricks, you must use your traps. So many years people line up in the army to get their ranks and look up at the Staff Generals who make the plans. Not everyone makes plans in the army. Now, this is only for those simple wars.
But the most terrible enemy is the ego. If a person has never been educated in how to fight, particularly in our time, what can he do with an enemy? He will destroy him quickly. You also need a staff for your ego or it will swallow you up quickly.
It is so difficult to fight and to kill the ego. It is a terrible and dangerous fight. There are many experts in killing egos. You must find one of them who has just killed his ego, to show you how you can be able to kill it.
You can't approach it directly. It is impossible. The moment you say, "I am declaring war on you," you are finished. You must say, "Oh, my friend, my lovely friend." Don't show your sword. No. "You are my friend..."
In this way the ego will finish because it will always doubt you. You must show it your friendliest side and say, "I like you more than anyone else!" If you get up and declare war, then it must swallow you. What is the time now?

F: Three thirty

Z: What time is your train?

U: In one hour.

Z: Aha, OK.

SN: Are you asking to go?

U: Yes, my fiancé is waiting for me in Paris.

SN: Is he only waiting now?

U: Only now?

SN: Do you meet everyday?

U: Yes.

SN: Everyday you meet him? Not weekly but daily?

U: Every day.

SN: Everyday you meet him. Therefore, now you have been without him for three days. Are you going by car?

U: No, by train.

SN: By train, ten hours?

Z: They have a very quick train from here to Paris. It takes five hours.

SN: Are you leaving Aurelia alone? ... Did she phone?

Z: She phoned him yesterday and said she would come today.

SN: For three days she has been patient with us, with our meetings and especially with your talk.

Z: She is patient, yes, because she knows me.

SN: Is she only twenty years old?

Z: Twenty-one but I did not see her much because she was growing up in Africa so I only saw her once a year or not even that. They moved back to Africa in 1971.

SN: For how long didn't you see her?

Z: Since last year in August when our sister got married.

SN: So one year you did not see each other. This year you can be happy. I hope she was not hurt by being in our meetings.

Z: Does it hurt you?

U: No.

SN: Pleased with us? She was attending the morning prescribed prayer today. She would have liked to sleep, but she came and attended from the beginning to the end of the morning prescribed prayer and I prayed for her to be happy in this world and the next. She is always with us. It does not matter if she goes away. That is so, that is finished. And when are you going to take her to the train? Now?

U: Soon.

Z: What time is the train?

U: It is in one hour.

Z: One hour. Is the train station far away?

F: No. If you want, I can take her to the station.

Z: As you like, Shaykh Nazim?

SN: Not as I like, but as He likes.

Z: But you know best how He likes it.

SN: He knows best.

Z: Yes, but you know best about Him!

SN: But He is the boss, not me. I am a servant.

Z: But your hot-line, remember?

SN: Hot-line?

Z: Hot-line like when we were talking about the hotline between Reagan and Gorbachev. The direct telephone, the red telephone. We are saying that your hotline to God is working better than mine, functioning better. Hotter!
SN: As He likes.

Z: But then when I am convinced that we are coming so close to Armageddon and there are people like my sister, who I love very much. I want to make sure...

SN: Do you love them more than their Lord loves them?

Z: They are an expression of our Lord.

SN: You say, 'I love them so much.'

Z: Very much.

SN: Very much. And what about God Almighty's love for them? You love them and you are thinking about them. Yes?

Z: The question is not about me. The question is...

SN: What is the question?

Z: That if I love someone then I want that person to have the best. And as you told me after the big war there will only be one out of seven of the people, of the believers alive.

SN: What ? What is important?

Z: I think it is a big question. Is it so important to be a Muslim or is it just the heart that is going to decide?

SN: Are you interested in all people?

Z: Well, especially the ones I love.

SN : You must love all.

Z: But family is something different.

SN: Others can also be something different. What is wrong about what you are asking? Are you taking care about everyone? So many! He takes care, more than you can do and on one comes into this life with a permanent visa. All of us are temporarily here. "How long are you going to stay?" they ask at the airport. "Two months." Then they give you a visa for six months.

UH: It was so funny in Denmark when they asked you, "What is your destination" and you said, "Holland."

SN: And then I said, "Denmark." So you see, everyone is coming here as it is written for them just for the time they are supposed to come, they come. Then it is finished. Even if there is no Armageddon, they must fulfill their periods of life and leave. Are you running after everyone to be here forever? That is impossible.

8
HOW TO SURVIVE ARMAGEDDON

Shaykh Nazim: Grand Shaykh is giving me a guarantee for people during Armageddon. He is saying that there are three points. If they are kept, the person cannot be hurt in the wars. Zahra! This is not something to cry or ask about. No.
1. It is impossible for those who deny the Creator to survive. Never. If it is your father or mother or daughter, sister or brother! It is impossible!

Z: What is impossible?

SN: To survive if you deny the Creator. These people must be killed. They will kill each other. If anyone of his relatives was denying the Prophet, they would fight them, kill them.

2. All cruel people, cruel people cannot survive. Cruel people will not survive.

3. Envious people: Envious people are the enemy of humanity. They will be killed and hurt and harmed according to the envy in their hearts.

It is impossible for believers to be killed during Armageddon or for people with good actions and good intentions. That is impossible but for those who harm humanity and have enemies and are denying the Creator, they must be killed. That is their punishment.

X: Isn't it cruel to kill somebody?

SN: They are killing themselves. God makes the unbelievers enemies of each other. Without reason or purpose of this life, you may not kill.

A: Jesus' word is also God's word and he said we should not kill. Moses also said we should not kill so why is Muhammad allowed to kill?

SN: Because he is perfect.

A: But Jesus and Moses are also perfect.

SN: Moses had orders to kill his enemies. If not, how could he fight Pharaoh? And how could he have killed him? Jesus also had these rules from Moses. He did not remove Moses' rules of the Old Testament. They are still valid. Do you accept the Old Testament? What does the Old Testament say? They had orders from God Almighty to kill the unbelievers. It is clear. So many thousands were killed. It is written in the Old Testament: Thou may not kill, even an ant, without reason."

A: And if you kill it by mistake:

SN: You must ask for forgiveness. You must not be heedless and kill somebody by mistake. It is a sin and you must ask for forgiveness.

A: If a man is an unbeliever and he talks badly about God and he does wrong to your friends or family, am I allowed to kill him?

TN: That is not your job. That is up to the Ruler, not to anyone. No. We would all be terrorists if we were killing...

9
HE GIVES AND HE TAKES
BABAJI CENTER OF UNITY IN BRIENZ,
SWITZERLAND, JULY 16,1985

Shaykh Nazim: My heart was asking to come and I was ordered to come here. May God accept you and give you reward in the Divine Presence. When He gives from His Divine Presence, it is going to be endless. And you are respecting me and giving me this and I say to you that your Lord may give you your reward Himself in the Divine Presence. How are you all, my sons and daughters? All right?

Z: Shaykh Nazim, they are asking if you would prefer to eat before the evening prescribed prayer or afterwards.

SN: My horse prefers to eat before the evening prescribed prayer.

Z: He means his ego would prefer to eat before the evening prescribed prayer.

SN: Yes, my horse, I can't stop it. What is the time now?

Z: Eight o'clock.

SN: Eight o'clock. And what is their rule?

I: We do the prayers for one hour and then we eat.

SN: You may do your prayers for one hour and after we may eat.

I: We had a hailstorm last night for ten minutes. All our plants, all our vegetables, all our flowers, everything was destroyed. Everything we have been working with for such a long time.

SN: It does not matter. He will give more now. He gives and He takes. Are you going to quarrel? To shoot Him and say, "Bring back the plants!" He who is in space is ruling the earth. It is not those on earth who are ruling space. Therefore, say "As you like, 0, our Lord. We can't do anything. The whole power is in your hands. As you like. You may give and you may take."
I shall tell one tale: The Lord gives and the Lord takes. If He asks to give, no one prevents Him. No one can prevent Him from taking us. We are slaves. Our lives exist with two breaths. When He orders, we breath in, and when He orders, we breathe out. And we say that we are so powerful! And we are so weak! It only takes two minutes to finish us and still we say that we are such powerful people. We are liars. We are the weakest. And if He gives, He gives your share and if He takes, if He asks to take, then give. And if He sends something to take away this house, then He may do so. Praise belongs to God, thanks to Him that he did not send something like that, but something to take away the flowers only. You must be happy!
And this was only a hailstorm that lasted ten minutes. What if it had lasted twenty minutes? What would have happened? When the roof starts going down to the lake? What can we do? Run after it and also fall into the lake? Therefore, it is a good attribute of ourselves if we say, "Oh, our Lord, you are so powerful and we are so weak. Forgive us and bless us." Is that true, Shaykh Moses? Who can do anything else?
I'll tell you a story about Mullah Nasruddin. He was riding his donkey and he had put his bags on his shoulders. So people asked him, "What is the reason that you are putting it on your shoulders and not on the donkey's back?" He answered, "So that it will not be too much for my donkey."
He came from the market and had all his goods in his bag and he put it on his shoulders, not on the donkey. They asked, "What is the reason?" And he said, "It will be too much for the donkey. That is why I am carrying it." And the people said, "You are right." The people of that time accepted that.
Once upon a time he was saying to his Lord, "Oh my Lord, this year I am making my field. You should be my partner. I will plough, plant and seed. Half of it will be for You and half of it will be for me. Then it will be a good harvest, very good." Then it came time for the harvest. When he had finished it, which was not easy like in our time when machines make everything so quickly. At that time they picked the harvest and put it on a special place where oxen would walk on it. Then they would separate the corn and the straw. Then they had a big hill of corn.

So Mullah Nasruddin came and make like this. He divided it into two halves and said, 'This is for you and this is for me" He took his part, but after a while he said, 'Thou don't need your half. It is for me also." He took away the sign separating the two halves and took all of it. "I need it all so I will take it all."
After a while black clouds came and thunder and rain. The water fell on the crop and took away one half. Mullah Nasruddin was frightened and ran to a cave to look at what was happening. Each time when the lightning came, he called to the Lord, "So you are still putting the light to see if something is left or not! You have just taken away your share. This here is for me!"
So you see, if our Lord asks to take, no one can prevent Him. He will take it. Perhaps you have not given the Lord His share of the vegetables or of the flowers. That is why He is taking it. Now I am here as a guest and you can give me of your vegetables, flowers and roses. The Lord will give you more than this.
This is enough as a group. All right? You must work hard and give more. Thank you for your attention.

10
BE FIRM AND STEADFAST IN WORKING AND PRAYING
BABAJI CENTER, EVENING OF JULY 16,1985

Shaykh Nazim: It is difficult for people to sacrifice from themselves and to work and pray. It is not easy for people to follow a way which asks them to lead a simpler life drawing closer to nature and becoming more humble. People usually want to be proud, not humble. They don't want to be simple, but to be complex. That is why they want to be far away from nature and run away from it as much as possible. In the big cities they are trying to lose everything concerning nature and to make it artificial. Everything!
Such systems bringing people back to life, leading them to their Lord are usually too strange for the people and too difficult and too impossible. The simple way of establishing beliefs 4000 years ago when the communities were small and simple was very different from today and very difficult under these conditions. There can only be a few people who are interested and even those will find it difficult to continue practicing. It could be too hard for them because it is so difficult to find such a person who is firm and steadfast in working and praying. It also means a fight between you and your ego.

11
KEYS TO YOUR LAND OF PEACE
BABAJI CENTER, JULY 17,1985

Shaykh Nazim: The key of happiness for humanity: peace and pleasure, comes from glorifying the Lord. If there is no glorification, there is no happiness. So look around yourself and see. Everything is trying to reach from the earth to the sky, to the heavens. Therefore, everything grows towards the sky. Nature stretches its arms up and glorifies the Lord who has given it these beautiful colors. Whether it is in a strong cold or in heat, it is happy with its Lord.
Even if hail comes to it, it will glorify its Lord. It doesn't matter what comes to it, it will glorify its Lord. And we complain we don't glorify! So humanity must be punished because they stopped glorifying their Lord, the glorification of their Creator. And that is important for everyone to know.
Who prevents humanity from glorifying the Lord? Which thing prevents our glorification? It is the bad characteristics of our ego that prevent us. Therefore, we must burn them. We don't worship fire. We are not fire worshippers. But we must know the meaning of the continuation of fire. For me it is a sign to continue to burn your bad characteristics in yourself which are preventing you from glorifying your Lord.
If you are here for forty days or three months or six months or one year or two years and still your feelings are the same, it would mean that your understanding of what is the meaning of the fire has not improved. It should be enough for a person to be at such a ceremony once to be able to understand. If he or she does not understand the first time, then they never will, not even after 1000 times. They can burn the whole forest and still not understand and they will continue to suffer.
Nothing in our lives will be accidental or by chance. Impossible. Everything is programmed. Before this meeting started it had been programmed and planned. Even the fact that Umm Hani is sitting here and Jalaluddin there, that everyone is sitting where they are, is planned. You could not be sitting here and you there! Just like the tree was planned to be where it is. Also, this cherry tree is here. That is planned.
That is the most important thing if someone is asking for the truth—that nothing happens on this planet by chance or by accident. No! Everything is planned in every fine detail. Places and times are always punctual, never too late and never too early. Time is always correct. European people like to be punctual, but I never like that because I can't be. If I said I like it, I would be a liar. Therefore, I say, "I may come anytime," so that people expect me at a certain time when I cannot be there like, "I may come tomorrow."
"What time?"
"I don't know. He knows as He has programmed it."
So every moment of this meeting has been planned. Everything we say and we listen to has been programmed. Every fine detail has been programmed. You cannot find an ant running by itself. Or do you think it is running by itself? And ants are punctual, more than I am. But I am as punctual as He wants because I am leaving my will to His Will, to my Lord's Will. When a person understands this, that is the beginning of peace in himself through the Lord. And you will say, "I am surrendering to Your Will!" When you have surrendered, you may say, "I am asking for peace so I will not fight against Your Will anymore."
Then you can step on the land of peace. And He will call and say, "Come and settle in the Land of Peace!" And there you must be in peace. Nothing can change your peace into a fight but who is preventing you from saying, "I surrender to You?" It is your ego which is saying to you, "Don't do it! You may be with me, with my wills and with my desires. You must follow my commands or I will be angry with you and you cannot take my anger." And this person will tremble and say, "Oh, my master, as you like." And soon afterwards he will cry. He will not be in peace anymore. What I have said to you now is like an instruction, I mean, introduction. Moses, do you understand?
M: Yes sir!
SN: That is why we must use so many methods to get away from evil and satans because as much as you can be far away from your ego and its work, you will be far away from evil and satans. In the land of peace, there are no more evils and satans. Everyone has a private land of peace. He or she may land on it smoothly without hurting themselves. So when you land on your private land of peace, no one can give you any trouble because your land of peace is protected. No one can step on it and give you troubles. No! You have Divine Protection against evil and satans. Everything except evil and satans is welcome. If anyone comes to harm you, there are guards for you.
In August the night is clear without clouds. In our countries we see so much. If you are sleeping outside and look at the sky, you can sometimes see shooting stars. That is the land of peace and when satans ask to enter into it, they are shot down. Do you understand? So everyone who has landed in his own land of peace will be protected by Divine Protection and anytime a satan tries to enter, he will be shot down like a shooting star. So we must try to enter our own land of peace. If any of you find the way and enter into it, then you are in safety and in peace. You are free to do so, all of you. You may enter but your ego says to you, "Don't enter. Listen to me and obey me or else I will be angry with you." And so, as long as you are alive, you may practice. You may pray and still winds and storms may come and take everything away.
We are seeing in our time that this is a time when people never get to their land of peace. Everyday the troubles are climbing, the suffering in the faces is growing and the miseries are increasing. It would mean having good manners to be able to trust the Will of our Lord concerning ourselves. Little boys trust even though they don't know what real trust is. Little children trust their parents by themselves. In the same way, we should at least be like little children when it comes to trusting the Lord's Will. We must know that His Will is better for us than our own will. Can you understand?
Today I heard from Ibrahim, your chief guardian in this place, about a highest degree of belief. He told about a person who comes from Tibet, from the Himalayas, and who is now in Europe.

Z: The Dalai Lama.

SN: Dalai Lama. Yes! Some people asked him, "Are you waiting to return to the Himalayas, to Tibet?" He said, "I am not waiting for anything. I am happy here. Everywhere I may be, I am happy. Everywhere I go with my Lord is happiness for me. There are the Himalayas. I don't find my Lord in the Himalayas. I am not alone here. If I were alone here, then I would long for the day I could return to the Himalayas. To be able to be with my Lord there, but I am with Him now. So I am not waiting to go back to the Himalayas."
That is the highest degree of servanthood of the Lord Almighty, to be with Him. I don't mean as a person. What I mean to say is to be with His Will. To take care of His Will and to try to be as He likes. If my Lord asks me to be where I am, then I am happy to be there. If my Lord wants me to be in Tibet, then I am happy to be in Tibet. And with everything your Lord wants for you, you must be happy because it is His Will. That is the beginning of being pleased and always in pleasure. If you have a little boy or a little girl, then the more they follow you, the more you will try to make them pleased with you. And as much as you consider your Lord's pleasure, with you, He will consider giving you pleasure.
And so these words that I am translating to you from a spiritual center, running through my heart is for all of you. Perhaps you have so many questions in yourself but I am sure that these words coming through my heart are giving you all the keys to happiness, peace, satisfaction, pleasure in here and in the hereafter.
When you have the keys to the treasure of happiness and peace and satisfaction and pleasure and wisdom and knowledge and power and beauty and love and mercy, you can be on Schweiben Alp or in Tibet or in Paris or Bonn or London or New York or Istanbul or anywhere and it is all right. That is a practice. And everything will turn to you. Don't ask for someone to tie something around your neck and to pull you like a cow. No!! You must be free! Free from your ego. You must command and control it.

12
STOP FOR A WHILE!

X: I would like you to tell us something about the Mahdi, the Savior.

SN: In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. As we know through our Traditions, it is clear what will come in the future. Every belief mentions the last days, their signs and what will happen in the Last Days before the Day of Judgment. Every religion also mentions a person who has been called Anti-Christ. The group that will be with him are the people who always come in contact with satan and who easily fall under satan's control. They will be with the Anti-Christ because they are evil in themselves. The satans will carry them to the source of evil and satans: to the Anti-Christ.
Another group of people will prepare for the Savior, the Mahdi (ASand Jesus Christ (AS They are the Saviors. They are coming to save people from evil and satans because in our times satans are establishing their kingdoms on this planet, from East to West and North and South. We are supporters of their kingdom. And I am sorry to say that humanity is the supporters of satans and evil. We are supporters, strong supporters. Soon huge events will come on earth because we are supporting satan and his kingdom. As a punishment for our support, a strong fire will come. A storm of fire will blow from the East to the West and then from the West to the East and from the north to the South and from the South to the North, from the continents to the oceans and from the oceans to the continents. That is the punishment for humanity because they are supporting the kingdom of the devils on earth now. And they are supporting the Anti-Christ. Therefore, the Saviors, Mahdi (AS) and Jesus Christ (ASmust come. And they will destroy the kingdom of satans on earth. We are declaring to all of you to be supporters of the Saviors and not supporters of satans because the supporters of satans will die but the supporters of the Saviors will be saved. He who plans, He who is in charge of time, He is absolutely punctual, not like me. When time is over, no one can prevent His Will.
And so my sons and daughters, you are free to be supporters of satans or of the Saviors. If you have come here to learn how to burn your egos, to burn your evil and satans in the fire, then be happy. If you have come for a picnic, then you are giving your ego more power. You must be so careful in this place about yourself. Your aim should be to destroy the kingdom of satans. Perhaps my words sound strange to you because you have never heard such things before but when you balance between your intellect and your wisdom, you may find that it is true. Then you must decide your aim. That is what I was asking Chief Judge, "What is your aim?" and he was sleeping.

Y: I have a question. How can we decide when everything is planned because you said before that all is planned including how we sit here and everything else, too? So how can we decide when all is planned, when it is already decided if we do this or that? How are we to decide?

SN: Yes. Everything is programmed but as we are part of humanity, we have been honored to have been given wills in our hands. We are not like the other creatures. That is the meaning of as we have wills, we must try to do our best. We should not try to get out of the program, but we should try to go through the program. It is like when a train comes to a crossing between Germany and Switzerland. There is a key to open one of the ways. The driver will give a sign to open one of them. As you like, to Germany or to Switzerland, but it has been programmed this way or that. That is our honor. We are not tied up animals. Therefore, you must understand your honor. The highest degree is to give up your will to your Lord and to say, "As you like!"
When I came here, Dr. Ibrahim said, "Oh Shaykh Nazim, after the prescribed prayer I will take you in my car for five minutes to a very good place." First I thought of telling him my will, then I said, "He knows best. Therefore I am leaving my will to him because he knows this area well, better than I do." And I am happy because I left my will to his will and I hope I will be pleased when I follow him. So how should I not be pleased with my Lord's Will? He knows better if I should be in Germany or in Switzerland but if you like to use your will, then it is all right but mostly it will be mistaken.

Y: How can we find which is the Divine Will and which is our own?

SN: You can find out if you stop for a while. You are heavenly creatures, not from the earth, but heavenly! Half of our structure is from the earth, but the rest is from heaven. So if you want to know what your Lord's Will is, you should cut away all connections to this life and be with your Lord just for one minute and ask Him to give you a sign: red or green lights for that which you want to do.
And it will happen! We all have such signs, but we do not use them. For example a typical Turkish tradition is that when we see traffic lights, it does no matter to us if they are red or green, we always move on. We are not interested. If the human being can make green or red lights for the traffic, do you not think that your Lord does it for you, too? It is just that we never stand up and ask Our Lord, "Oh, my Lord, I am astonished or surprised or even in doubt which way is Your Will." You never ask that!

I am now giving you permission to ask anytime you need to. You must take a shower with hot or cold water. You must treat this seriously. You must be serious about your future. You must be in a silent place and make your greetings to God, to your Lord and then you must sit and say, "Oh, my Lord, I am intending something and I am asking my will to follow Your Will. Give me the right sign for this purpose! Then you will be given green or red lights. It is impossible to do this and not to get an answer.
That is a new form of consultation (istikhara) but now I am giving them free permission to ask. This is for
everybody who is interested in their future and to know if they are going with their Lord's Will or not. Everyone may do this now from the East to the West. Not only for one group. Anyone who is interested may do it and he or she will be all right. They will always be given green or red lights!
There is one condition: not to ask about something that is clear! That would be like coming to the end of a street and to ask to move on. If it is clear, you must accept and not ask or if the direction has been shown, there is no need to ask because it is clear. Or if it says, "No entrance!" it is clear and you do not have to ask. Do you understand?

13
CONTROL YOUR EGO WITH YOUR WILL

M: Thank you very much. Now what about the ego? I like it very much. The problem is that in the Bible, God created Adam and said, "Adam! Do not follow your ego, follow My ego!" So there was Adam's ego. Then the institution of evil, then satan, too, was there at the same place and now that we are all here on this mountain, we have the ego inside us and the institution of evil, that is the tree and then satan, too, or Anti-Christ is also there. And Adam could not fight against those three evils. His ego was conquering him. And he failed. And me, too, Moses. I am always failing because I can't fight three people so Shaykh, what must I do?

SN: In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. This is an important question that you are asking. Adam was carrying all generations on his back. One person was carrying all generations until the end of this world and he was not alone with his ego. Had he been alone only with his own ego, he would never have gone to the tree, but all rebellious generations, who were under the control of their egos, were rushing and pulling him to that tree. Therefore, he repented quickly and asked for forgiveness and he was forgiven.
But satan has an ego and there is no one with him because he was rebellious to his Lord and did not repent. So he has not been forgiven. Now we, as children of Adam and Eve, we all have only one ego. The ego is like a horse or a donkey. You are the rider on it. With your wisdom and with your mind, you must be able to ride on your horse. Why should you otherwise be living on earth? The human being must be the rider. Have you ever seen a person carrying a horse on is shoulders?
That is why we have so many methods to keep our egos on the right path, on the way we like. Still we cause our egos to be disobedient. We are obedient to every desire of our ego and we are not taking care of it by making conditions and saying to it, "If you ask for this, I will give it to you, but the condition is that you also obey me!"
We do not use that method! We are only giving and we don't take. We obey, but our ego does not obey us. You must make that condition. One for one. Obey and I will obey! Do as I like and I will do as you like! That is a method that has been used in the Traditions and will be used until the end of time. At least what you could say to your ego first thing in the morning when you wake up and your ego wants something to eat or to drink, "No. First you must wait for my prescribed payer. Then I will give you something to eat and to drink. And if you do not obey and pray with me, then I will not give you anything
to eat or to drink the whole day!"
Yes, we must know the methods because if the ego puts up traps for us, then we must also put up traps for it. "Why should I obey you in everything and you are not obeying me? What is the reason? If you do not obey me and pray, I will not obey you the whole day and will not give anything to eat or to drink. Be hungry and thirsty! It will come to you in the night and say, "I am sleepy. Please let me sleep." No, it does not say "please." It never says "please." But no! He orders, "I must sleep. I must take my rest!" And you say, "I have so much business, so many things to do and he says, 'I never understood those things. I am just asking to sleep now.'"
Or if you say, "I must pray to my Lord now," it will say, "No. There is still time before prayer and besides, that takes a lot of time. I now need my rest!" That is when you have to be courageous enough to order him, "No! I am not letting you sleep until you have prayed!"
"But my eyes are closing. What can I do?"
"If you do not follow my orders, I will put salt in your eyes! And when salt comes in your eyes, you cannot sleep at all! If you do this, I will do that!"
That is a method. You should try in twenty-four hours at least once to make your ego obedient to you. If you follow it ninety-nine steps, then at least it must follow you one step. That is the minimum! You must not be like a silent sheep, walking behind your own ego! Or like a cow or oxen. I'm not mentioning only the cow... the oxen, too!
You must try to control your ego with your will. I am not saying that you will make a complete control over your will at once because that is very difficult. But it will be step by step. It is like when I look at the top of the mountains now. And I would like to be here at once. Some of us walk, sit down and rest, continue... a little bit further, a little bit further. Then one day I will reach it. If I can't reach it today, I may reach it tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then I may reach it the third day but I must continue! So it is a high position to reach, to take control over your ego but we must begin step by step to reach it.
I think that you are tired now!

I: Just one small question. Could you ask your Lord if He can give you one day more here?

SN: As they order... tomorrow?

I: Yes.

SN: And the day after?

Z: And more and more and more...

I: Just another day...

SN: I am staying for three days and two nights, this night, if God wills, and Thursday morning. I think that the operation on your soul will be enough by then.
I am thanking you that you are happy with me however long I may be here. I am also happy to be here even for a longer period but the most important thing which we give as a spiritual power through our souls to you will be finished by tomorrow morning and it is enough for your spiritual powers. All of your spiritual power batteries will be recharged by then. It could be enough until the end of the world but we will visit you from time to time.
Thank you for your attention and thank you for your invitation. We hope that there will be more improvement in this year for all of you.
And now it is lunch time so there should be a trumpet!

14
FIRE IS TO BURN EGOS
BABAJI CENTER, EVENING, JULY 17,1985

Shaykh Nazim: Physically it is impossible to gather all people into this small room but spiritually we can do so. Everyone can be here with their spiritual light.
Fires are there as a sign to you that you must burn your selfishness and your ego. I am just a translator and I did not come to this place by chance. No one came here by chance. I am not speaking on behalf of myself. Your Boss makes me speak and there is an important declaration from Him: You are making fires in the morning and in the evening. It would not make a difference if you burned the whole forest. All would be useless if you are not burning your selfishness and your ego. You must put the fire on your ego and burn it.
When everyone has burned their selfishness, we can gather all the people in this room because when they have no more selfishness, they will fit. They will bring nothing with them. They will be light, like 100 volts. Even if you put 200 volts in this room, it would not be too small. If we put 1000 volts of light here, the room would still be all right. Even if you put one million volts inside, the room would be much brighter but the walls would not be falling down. What I want to say is that if we can burn our selfishness, then the only thing that will remain is our spiritual power. We will have enough room for all people in this room. No worry. That is all right. We are like lights, all of us. But when you reach selfishness, it will be too much even for twenty people. Even a meeting with twenty people would be too much for this room.
This is a center. They make me speak and translate. If I were moving with my wills, I would not be coming here. No! But I am not coming with my will because this place is neither for Jews nor Christians nor Muslims. It never belonged to any heavenly religion. No! But our Lord, the Lord of the heavens, the Lord of the Being, the Lord of the universes, the Creator of fire and water and of the children of Adam has programmed this. He has made a group of His servants on the top of this mountain to work here. Huwa. And he has also given us another work. We are working, building, destroying.
So all of us did not come and meet here by chance. I did not meet Abdus Samad by chance and he did not meet me by chance. I did not meet Dr. Ibrahim by chance. Also, our priest who came from Ghana to attend a Pentecostal Conference did not miss the conference by chance. He has been appointed by someone else other than the conference to be with me yesterday and today.
He did not come by chance. We must have met in a spiritual world, spiritually to be able to meet here again. And we will meet again in a spiritual world. If we would not, it would be impossible to meet here.
We may be Muslims, Christians or Jews or Buddhists, but our souls are all the same. They are all slaves of our Lord. Only here our titles are different. But you must not be changed by your titles. You must remember your promise to your Lord: to serve Him, the Almighty. That is important.
So the burning of wood on this mountain every morning and evening, the ceremony, is not a simple thing like putting wood and burning it. No! You may burn the whole forest and finish it at once but it is important to teach everyone who attends that they must burn their ego, they must burn their bad characteristics, they must be pure, they must purify themselves. You must be clean for your Lord's invitation, when He is inviting you to His Divine Presence. That is important. He! (Huwa).
Dr. Ibrahim must look after everyone who comes and attends the burning ceremony here. I am saying to him, "Dr... look after everyone. Look if they are burning their selfishness or ego or bad characteristics or if they are on the same step. Are they getting lighter?"
This is now a new meaning. I am not talking about the old meaning of fire, the 4000 year old one. That is not interesting for them because we are not living in that time anymore. We must speak to everyone according to their level of understanding. We are now living 4000 years later. Our understanding is not the same level of understanding.
So people of all levels of understanding may come here. If we cannot give them satisfaction in their hearts, then our method will not succeed. Therefore, they are declaring to me now that it is important for everyone to look after themselves. It is a difficult thing to burn selfishness. Is everyone understanding or not.
To burn the whole world is easy for one person. Nero, the Roman Emperor, ordered his soldiers to burn Rome for his pleasure. And he was pleased when Rome was burning. He was a big satan. And he was able, if he could have ordered, to burn the whole world, too. It was easy for him. If anyone had given him a chance to put his finger on a button to burn the world, it would have been easy for him. That order would be easy for someone like Nero. So it is important point for every attendee of that ceremony every day. To burn wood is easy, but to burn your ego, so difficult.
We are making an analogy. I am saying these words to all of you as I have been authorized to do. He knows what will happen in all of your hearts after this because it is impossible to move a servant of the Lord without wisdom. To come from the end of the world up to this high mountain, I am here physically the second time, but now I have been ordered to inform you that every twenty-four hours I will be coming here spiritually once.

I: Every day?

SN: Every day, every twenty-four hours my spiritual body must look after and pray two cycles of prescribed prayer and then move away, whether it be winter or summer, it does not matter.
But it is so difficult for you to see me when I am dressed in my spiritual body. When we are carrying a physical body, it will be more effective on your physical bodies. When I pass through with spiritual powers, I work on your souls, on your spiritual powers. If I would not do this, it would be difficult for you to be here all alone. Therefore, the spiritual body gives you support and the prescribed prayers that you hold here are not the same ones that you held 1000 years ago or like the ones you do now in the Himalayas. No! It is another form here and everyone must take their care for their ego, their selfishness and to burn every bad characteristic of your physical body and ego. Then step-by-step, these spiritual powers will be able to carry our physical body. Then you can put one step here and one step on the next mountain. You will be so light, because your spiritual jet is so strong that it can carry you there. To the East, to the West, He (Huwa)!

15
MOVING FROM SHAPES TO MEANINGS

Shaykh Nazim: We have so many signs and therefore so many wisdoms. We will not continue in the same class forever. When I met you a year ago, I never said such things to you but this time I have been ordered to tell you that this is a second step, a move from the first class to a higher class.
We must move from forms and shapes to meanings. There is a writing, a drawing, but we must leave the drawing and try to enter into its meaning. We have not been ordered only to be with outward practicing and ceremonies. They are asking us now to step by step move from these outward practices to the meanings. Yes.
One person who burned his ego was sitting and speaking to people. Another person came and listened to him and said, 'The way that I am on is true and yours is not true! I can say everything that you are saying." The other one answered, "If that is what you are claiming, then we must do a test!" He then took the coats of both of them and put the coat of the second one inside and his own as a cover. He then threw both into the fire. After a while he took away the coats again and opened them and looked to see that the inside had burned and the outside was all right. Do you understand?

I: The coat inside was burned and the coat outside was OK.

SN: Because the first one who came claimed something even though he had not burned his ego. He can talk, but only with his ego but the second one came through His Lord. He had no more ego. He had burned his ego. We must burn our egos and we are also saying that our practicing must move from forms to meanings. When we are watching fire ceremony, the question must be: Until which limit are we going to be with that?
We must take a second step. This the second step for you until the time when I will come here for a third time. I don't know when the third physical meeting will be and I also don't know which authority I will be bringing. I may say or I may test everyone here by saying, "Put your feet on the fire!" That I may say if the Lord Almighty orders because we do not play in this center. If we do something, it must be serious. There must be wisdom to it. It must be actions that make our Lord pleased until we have burned our egos. And whoever burns his ego in this life will have nothing to burn in the next life. Hell will not be for him. Hell is only for those who are not burning their egos in this life. But I don't mean to say, "Throw yourself into the fire!" No! That would be a foolishness to say, "Set yourself on fire!" No! It is only for our egos. The fire is for our egos. If you can burn it, like all Divine Books say, you must kill your ego. You must burn it so that you may be free from your ego because your ego is terrible and the most dangerous creature. And everyone has been given an ego so that when you are sitting and looking at that fire ceremony, you should not be saying, "The wood is burning and we are outside. We are in safety"
No! You must try to catch your ego and every bad characteristics of your ego and burn it. And you will be free. You will be honored by your Lord by being His sincere servant. Otherwise there would be no meaning in making a fire and serving a fire! Fire burns and finishes. It is not ourselves that should burn and finish, but our egos. God Almighty, the Creator, created hell not for our souls, because our souls are lights, Divine lights. Hells have been created for the egos of the people.
We understand the wisdom of fire for the here and the hereafter because the Lord's attributes are not like ours. He does not do anything without wisdom, Divine Wisdom that show all children of Adam: "I am burning the bad characteristics and the evil from you. I am not burning you because when I have honored someone, I am not going to take that honor away from him. You may give something and then take it back but that is not good. And I am not like you. I don't give something as a gift from me to you and then take it back. No! But hell is for your bad characteristics and your actions and for your egos!"
The Jews did not crucify Jesus Christ (AS). They crucified evil (Judas). That is the sign, the meaning. They
ran to crucify Jesus Christ (AS) but they could not do it. They only crucified evil. We Have been ordered to crucify our ego because our ego represents the evil in ourselves. Crucifixion was the method of that time and before that it was fire. Fire is a sign of a method we use to burn egos. Before that time, Moses (&) put the evil into the sea and made it sink into the sea.

I: I see...

SN: Yes. Moses (AS) drowned evil. At the time of Jesus Christ (AS), evil was crucified, not Jesus Christ (AS). And in the time of Abraham (AS), "He!" (Huwa). Evil wanted to burn Abraham (AS), but Abraham (AS) was representing His Lord. The fire could only burn evil. That is where fire comes from. Already thousands of years ago it came over Iran from an area we call Majusi. In India, also, people were burning evil. They did not make this fire as a game. No!
Everyday we must burn the evil. And we must burn the representatives of evil. When you then look into the fire you will see satans and evil burn. In every time there is a private method of defeating evil. In these times we may use any method to first take away evil from ourselves and secondly from everyone else and thirdly from the whole world because there will be no peace for humanity on this planet until all the evil is finished. There will always be troubles and the sufferings will continue. So you must do the ceremony as a ceremony of burning evil and satans. That is the meaning that I have been ordered to declare to you tonight. And I also declare to you that we have witnesses. This declaration goes through the whole world from East to West. The witnesses just went away.
When I came here to this meeting, we passed through the narrow path off the main road. I saw that the mountains are filled up with jinn. Their headquarters always follow me. Some of their representatives are still attending this meeting. This area is full of them at the moment. Now that I see that they are attending, I say, "It is enough!" The declaration is finished and I thank you for your attention. That is all. They may go. We may pray and all of you are free. Recite the first chapter of the Quran (Fatihah): "In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Praise belongs to God, the Lord of all Being, the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Master of the Day of Judgment. You only we serve; to You alone we pray for help. Guide us on the Straight Path, the path of those whom You have blessed, not of those against whom You are angry nor of those who are astray" (1:1-7).

16
TIME IS OVER
SCHWEIBEN ALP, JULY 18,1985

I: Yesterday you were talking about how few people are on this way. How little people are willing to work and pray all day. That is true, but there is one theory which has been a hope for all of humanity. That is to make a step into a new consciousness. This is a big hope for many people. All these people will agree that it is possible that the consciousness of humanity will raise. Has it raised from 2000 years ago until now?
The theory I would like to share with you is that they have found out in anthropology that on one island there has been one monkey who started to wash potatoes before eating them. After a few weeks, another monkey started to wash potatoes, too. So both of them did not eat dirty potatoes. Suddenly there were ten, twenty and then all of the monkeys were washing potatoes before they ate them. Two days later on another island, one hundred kilometers away, from one day to another, all the monkeys began washing their potatoes and eating them clean. So there is a theory that when there is a certain amount of people on the planet who start to have "dharma," that is, to live the law, the positive law, the law of God, then suddenly it will take the consciousness of most of the people. Do you believe that there is any truth in that?

SN: In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. That is an important question. Not a question, but an important statement. As believers we believe that all of humanity is under the control of the Divine Will. People live in different periods. It is like the seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter. When people come into spring, it is like with the mountains, valleys, cities, countryside. All of them are under the same vision, under the same control of Will. You can see that all the trees open up like leaves and flowers. No one can stop them. In the summertime, the fruits come. In autumn they fall down. Everything falls down, the leaves, the flowers and the fruit. In winter it will be like a dead country or like a big sleep.
We have such periods with our souls. We know something else now. Some of it we may say, some of it is secret and we cannot open it because it would be too much for people but we know now that this world is being prepared for huge appearances. People will be preparing themselves in their inner souls for something because you see mankind is running after something, either with their actions or with their thoughts. They have intentions and they are being prepared by their thought for a future, which is just approaching. It is appearing just now in our view. That is, in the view of the Friends of God. The Friends of God can see this approaching. It comes from heaven and comes nearer and nearer and then people come into it. When the second one goes away, a new one comes. It is like these new electric spectrum lights where one new light and one new color appears every time an old one goes off. That is a good example to explain that in every period there is a change. Now we are stepping into a common change.

I: Yes, we are.

SN: Therefore, we are expecting and seeing that in a short while there will be a common change, physically and then spiritually. Perhaps it will be physical for some people and spiritual for others, but time is over now. Time is over and therefore you have been prepared for something, just like all nations, all humanity is being prepared for something that is approaching. These are huge events, unexpected huge evens.

I: Like the hailstorm, unexpected?

SN: Which one?

I. The one that came for ten minutes.

SN: Yes, but the Friends of God are now watching the radar screens and seeing it approaching but until it has reached the common screens, it is not necessary to say anything. That one is asking me so much about such things, Zahra.

Z: The details...?

SN: Details?

Z: The details please.

SN: Hum?

Z: Details, please!

SN: But it is impossible because on this radar screen they have just appeared. We are expecting it to come down, but it could be in a few years. I may only say that in a few years time, it will appear. Do you understand?

I: Jesus said he will come soon.

SN: As I have said previously, that event is going to appear in a very short time and its blessings will spread throughout the world.
That is what just appeared to me. If it is a mistake that it will come down, then they know that also but they do not tell us. Just like the person who sits at the radar screen knows how long it will take for the plane to come down, they also know but they can say, "In two minutes, in ten minutes, in a quarter of an hour it may be here." But to know exactly, just like the Staff General of the Friends of God know, because one of them is commanding. He comes from the heavens. And we are now waiting for that which will happen. Huge events will come in a very short period of time. This period of life which has been very long is just passing away and the short time that is left over is filled up with huge events.
Now I will tell you a European tale: The rabbit and the turtle wanted to race. The turtle said, "Yes. I am ready for the race." So they began but the rabbit said, "I will be first." Then the rabbit went away to look at something else and left the turtle to start on the way. The turtle never left the way but the rabbit ran like this and like that and occupied itself with so many thing. Then it remembered the race and saw that the turtle was reaching its target so the rabbit began to run with great speed but the turtle was first.
The tale means that people who keep their way continuously must reach their target even if they are slow but those who do not stay on the way may be speedy and still not reach it. Therefore, that is the way for people on the way of belief. For common people it is such a slow way, it is so slow in giving a result. But it is, like we are saying, better than nothing. Something is better than nothing.

I: Another question. Can you answer one more question before lunch or not? Maybe after?

SN: If my horse is occupied with breakfast, then we must leave it until afterwards.

17
SHOW ME A PLACE THAT ISN'T THE OCEAN AND I'LL SHOW YOU THE OCEAN
SCHWEIBEN ALP, JULY 18,1985

Shaykh Nazim: In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Who has sent me to these servants on the top of the mountain? We are obedient servants to Him. There is no meaning for a person who walks on the deck of a ship moving in one direction if he tries to walk in the opposite direction. That is like trying to make your will against His Will.
We are now here. Some of you want to be here. Others are trying to get away but they cannot. Some others want to stay, but they cannot. Others want to escape but they cannot. Some want to marry and they cannot. Some want babies and cannot. Others are not asking for it and get it. Some want to find work and cannot find any. Others are escaping from work but fall into it. Some people ask to die and cannot. Others who try to escape from death cannot.
What we are saying is common for everyone not only for those here in our meeting. Some people ask for happiness and they say they are happy but they are not happy. They are like fish who are asking for the ocean and are in it. Sometimes small fish ask their mother, "Oh mother, where is the ocean?" She says, "Show me a place that isn't the ocean and then I can show you the ocean." Some people are in happiness and are still asking for happiness. They are heedless people or drunk people or people whose feelings have finished. They are becoming like rocks or like robots without feelings. That is the general view of humanity now on our planet.
I see suffering faces everywhere and people have no rights to have suffering faces. They are like dogs. Look at them! Ask them if they are happy or not. They are happy and they are glorifying their Lord. Humanity is not happy with his situation and is complaining. They are not thanking their Lord but they are complaining. They are not glorifying their Lord. If they would glorify their Lord, their Lord would glorify them because glorifying will make your Lord pleased with you. When you make your Lord pleased with you, He makes you pleased with Him. So how can humanity reach happiness? They must suffer. They must carry misery as a punishment. You cannot find any creatures, not even ants, who are not glorifying. And they are so happy and pleased and in pleasure that they are glorifying. They say, "Glory be to our Lord Who brought us into existence!" And you, humanity! You are not glorifying your Lord! Therefore, you must be punished. You must suffer and have miseries during your whole life."

18
DESIRES CARRY SUFFERINGS
JULY 18,1985

Shaykh Nazim: In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. There is no power but the Power of God. When you are nothing, you will reach peace and happiness. You will reach truth and you will get out of suffering. Those who want to be something will carry sufferings. For many years I have been running after that purpose, to be nothing. If you ask me, "Have you reached it?" I will say, "Yes." This means that I have reached happiness. If not, it will never be reached because if you leave your temporary existence and enter into permanent Divine Oceans, you will disappear. Then sufferings cannot reach you.
If someone flies or is thrown from earth towards space, there is a distance in which gravity will push or pull him down. But if he reaches a level there is no more gravity pulling him down to earth. He then will be in peace without troubles. Up to that distance are sufferings and dangers and fears. But after that there is no danger. You can go far away and still never fall down. If it goes without control, it will go into space. It will not fall on our heads. Yes. It is free.
Being part of humanity, we are like stars running on their orbits. We are running around our egos' desires. Every desire out of our physical body has a gravity, a special gravity which pulls our souls down. It is impossible to save yourself from sufferings because every desire carries one suffering. You cannot imagine any desire which is not carrying a suffering with it. Perhaps the best desire for a person could be a marriage. And this marriage must carry so many sufferings. Particularly in Europe. I am seeing that in Europe, a marriage is a lot of suffering and I am observing that people are running away from marriage. When I see a couple and ask, "Who is that?" she will say, "My boyfriend!" and he will say, "My girlfriend."
Even when they are girlfriends and boy friends, they carry sufferings because it is a desire to have a boy friend and to have a girl friend. It is a desire of our egos. Therefore, it must carry a suffering. What is the suffering? Perhaps after a short while your boyfriend may leave you, but you can't leave him. So that is a suffering for you. Or after a short while your girlfriend may leave you and you will start to cry. And you are a man! Many men cry because of women. Isn't that true?
I mean to say that every desire carries a suffering for humanity. Without sufferings you cannot reach any desires. Maybe they are light or long sufferings. Maybe heavy, maybe light, but sufferings they must be. Therefore if you are moving through this distance, you must suffer. When you leave all of your ego's desires, then no gravity will pull you down into the suffering area. You have then reached that area which is free of suffering.
What I am saying is the reality and not something out of the imagination. It is all something which you can try or which you are already trying. We are now asking to reach a level where there are no more sufferings for people. It is the area in which you have left every desire which belongs to your ego and in which you may follow the Will of your Lord.
I don't think that happy people come to this place. I can see that with my heart. If you come and ask for happiness, then you must know the ways with which to reach happiness. Mostly it is suffering people who come and ask for ways of coming out of suffering. But sometimes I look and see that someone who is asking for happiness and who is asking to give up sufferings come to a place like this and fall into even more suffering. Such a person is like one who is trying to extinguish a fire with petrol. Sometimes exercises work against our sufferings and sometimes they make them grow. Some exercises may be useful and some others may be harmful. Some exercises are useful for women but not for men and some may be useful for men but not for women. That is why we have so many methods in our time. But it is important to know the doses of the methods which we may use for everyone.
Since I came here, I did not see a happy face except for that of the doctor because he is a doctor! The rest are serious, sorrowful, sad. If there is a smile, it is not from the heart. It is from the head. Yes. Do you understand Chief Judge?
It is important for everyone to know about himself and herself to be able to cure. Also to know where to begin and where to stop. Or you will be like a lady who is cooking something and puts everything into a pot and does not know when it should be put out. When she then opens it, she sees that it is all black like coal. So it is most important for everyone to look after themselves because you may know more about yourself than anyone else.
Desires make the illnesses and in our days, desires are increasing. Today's desires are more than yesterday's. We can also say that this year's desires are more than last years. Is that not so? Yes. Every year it increases. We do not stop with the same desires. This year we may be satisfied with everything that we have now. But when the year turns, you will say, "Oh, this is old fashioned. I need the new fashion. That model has passed away. I must take a new model!"
So desires increase every month and every year, step by step. What is the reason? There must be a reason because without a reason, it is impossible. The reason that desires are increasing in our time is that our faith is getting weaker. It is faith that gives a support for everyone's life. If there is no faith, there is no support from your soul to your physical body. Someone came to me today and said, "Your skin is not the skin of an old man. You are not seventy-five years old!" That is true because if your soul supports your physical body, then you will stay on the same level and you will not become old and useless. But those who only depend on their physical body's power without the support of their soul by spiritual powers, will come down quickly.
In our time, faith is coming down. If we lose the belief in eternal life, it means that our desires have to be fulfilled within a short period of time, within our life. So everyone rushes to get more out of their desires and if you run behind your desires, you will be tired. And you will not be satisfied when you have so many desires. If a person thinks that he will die tomorrow and orders, "Today I must eat as much as possible!" and he eats and eats and eats and says, "Bring, bring..." What is that? Will that person taste after one plate? The taste will stop. If he forces himself to eat too much, it is nonsense. It is foolishness.
In these times, people are denying everything concerning eternal life. Therefore, they are asking for more enjoyment with their physical bodies. You must know that you are only there for one. You can't be there for two. One for one. And you can't eat two portions. If you eat too much, then you must far to get too fat. That means we can never reach our desires because our physical body and its powers, abilities and capabilities are limited. A car may run 200 km an hour as long as you are putting your foot on the gas. It cannot go more than 200 km per hour. To be unbelievers makes people crazy. It makes them unhappy and creates "no mind people." The reason of our suffering is, therefore, that we cannot reach our desires so we suffer. Someone may ask, "Why can't I attain my desires?" The reason is because it is impossible. You can't eat all meals. You can't have all women but you want to have everything for yourself. That is foolishness.
If you want to drink because you are thirsty and you are running to the ocean, you can drink but you will never be satisfied. But if you take one cup of sweet spring water, it is all right for you. Instead people are running after oceans! Then they explode from too much drinking. That is the trouble of our times. Those are the sufferings: not to be satisfied with your share. This life is for everybody! We are still like little boys. A little boy will take as many toys as you give to him. If another little boy comes, he will want to keep it all for himself and will say, "This is all for me!"
People grow in their age, but they don't train their ego. Their ego is the same as the ego of a little child. The same characteristics. Everyone wants to have everything for themselves and not for others. That is the source of suffering because they believe in only one life and so they must enjoy themselves in this life as much as possible and it is impossible to cure such a person. He or she must die suffering. Various levels of suffering will come on them. They will die suffering. You cannot find a cure for that. If they do not start to believe in an eternal life, it is impossible to cure.
They can come to Schweiben Alp but they will make the doctor ill too, and he too will suffer. No one can obtain happiness without believing in an eternal life and who believes in an eternal life will say, "That is enough for me. The rest, others may take."

19
THE ONLY NEWS I WAIT FOR

Shaykh Nazim: Yes. Now we come to a new station of our association and that is Kalkatti's question. Every good hearted person suffers through the sufferings of other people. Like people who have a patient in their house will suffer because the ill person is suffering. Or if someone has forty children and one of them is hijacked, not only will the relatives suffer. No! Sometimes I, too, am angry at such things. And I will suffer until they are free.
What I want to say is that every good hearted person must suffer with other people because they are suffering and there is no happiness coming from suffering people. Those are the teachings of all prophets. It is not human to be happy amongst unhappy people. You cannot be. Kalkatti is asking because I see that she is suffering because of the suffering of the people. Like every good hearted person, she is asking for a Savior for the people.
I am also one of the people who are expecting a Savior and who is looking in the morning and in the evening to hear His news. That is the only news I am waiting for, the news of the Savior because I see that people have fallen down in a deep valley and have no means to carry them from the bottom of the valley to the top. I am looking for a Hand from heaven to reach to the bottom of the valley and to take the people out.
Kalkatti is asking for that the Mahdi (AS). As believers of the Traditions, we believe in a Savior who will come first before Jesus Christ (As). Yes. He must come before Jesus Christ (AS). We have in our Traditions. His name is Muhammad al-Mahdi (AS). He is coming, but his arrival will be after a Great War (Armageddon). Our Traditions tell us that the Great War will be the last war. It will be fought by the big powers with each other. Don't say that Switzerland is a neutral country or Austria or Luxembourg or Sweden. No! When the storm comes, it will come from the East to the West, totally, wholly. Also from the West to the East. From the continents to the oceans and from the oceans to the continents. That must be so.
And in that huge war, the Mahdi (AS) will come like a Divine Hand from heaven to earth and stop the war because when small countries are fighting now, the big ones come and say, "Stop!" but what about when the big dragons come to fight? No one can stop them except Divine Power which will say to them, "God is Greater!" {Allahu akbar). Then they must stop. That will be the first Savior (AS) whose name has been given through Traditions as Muhammad al-Mahdi (AS).
After a short time, a tyrant will appear, well known through Traditions as Anti-Christ. And he is the most dangerous tyrant for the children of Adam. The whole world will get into never ending troubles and sufferings during his time.
Then the second Savior, Jesus Christ (&), will come from heavens to earth. He will meet Mahdi (AS) in Damascus at the tomb of John the Baptist, the son of Jesus Christ's aunt Elizabeth, the wife of Zacharias. He is buried in Damascus under a beautiful dome. Jesus Christ (AS) will come to a minaret of that dome which lies in the East. When the people go to the dawn prescribed prayer and two angels will protect Him with their wings. They will bring him down. He will be wearing a green turban and he will be shining. He has the most beautiful face, rosy and white. His beard is red and he is sweating.
He has a sword. When he was on earth, he never touched a sword, but now he is coming a Savior. In his time, all technology will be finished. His sword can reach any point to where he sends it. It is a miraculous sword, a heavenly sword. His Lord gave it to him. He will save the people from the hands of the Anti-Christ. He will come to the dawn prescribed prayer. It will be full of people in the mosque and they will all be performing the prescribed prayer because prayer is always for all prophets and their nations. Even if people have lost it now, it does not matter. Jesus Christ (AS) was, in any case, praying to his Lord. He was not praying to himself or to the cross. No! He was kneeling in front of his Lord. He is the Savior who will save the people and will not leave one of the followers of Anti-Christ on earth.
When he saves the people from the hands of the Anti-Christ, there will come forty years of absolute peace on earth. In these times we will not need planes or ships or cars. Nothing! Every person will be given miraculous powers through Jesus Christ (AS). If I, for example, then look at the second hill of that mountain and say, "In the Name of God," this means, "By your Divine Permission, oh my Lord! You have honored me to be your deputy. I ask of You!" And if He gives permission, then you may put your step from here to the second hill of the mountain.
If I would give you more explanations of these miraculous times, then dawn would arrive. We have been ordered to say some things about those miraculous times and happenings that are approaching soon, to make you change your unhappiness to happiness, to make you more patient and to give you the aspects of happiness. As much as you can hear, you can believe and you can reach happiness quickly. It is not only a hope. It is going to be a reality for you to be able to see Jesus Christ (AS) and Mahdi (AS). May God bless them. Peace be upon them.
Thank you for your attention. If you do not give your attention, I can't speak.

CJ: When you say the second time today that we do not look happy, it touches me. For me it has been a very important experience in the last days to feel my pain which I must recognize. I feel it is sometimes important to feel this pain, is it not? I also realize how much love a town like Dusseldorf needs. When I feel so much love and I recognize this, I have to feel pain.

I: To want more love for the people of Dusseldorf is again a desire which will make us suffer. We should also leave this to the Lord.

K: It is important to feel pain like if I cut you with a knife, you have to be on a very high level to be able to say, "Lord, I thank you that I may feel pain and suffer." I am not there yet. I will tell you quite honestly because this has to do with feeling and not with being able to see and recognize. That is feeling, naked feeling, naked experience.

M: We have to make a difference between something that you desire for yourself and something you desire for others and not think that everything you desire is automatically bad.

Y: But when a baby is born, it starts to cry. So is crying not a natural state?

SN: Your name, please?

Y: It is complicated.

SN: Complicated?

Y: Yaruslav.

SN: Look, Yaruslav, a person may be sentenced to forty years of prison and be told, "After forty years you will be set free with the help of someone and you will be King of this country." Will his sufferings affect him? Forty years of prison is a suffering, but he knows that the suffering will finish and that a kingdom will come to him.
Joseph was a Prophet, peace be upon him. He was in prison, but prison was not a suffering for him because he had been informed through his dream that he would be the King of Egypt. So he had no suffering. Sufferings are only for those who have no hope of a second life, an eternal life! That is a suffering. We know that the whole life is a suffering, but that hope or faith or belief can take all of that away from us. But those who don't believe, will always come under the heavy burden. I am looking everyday into the mirror to find if I still have black hair in my beard or not. I'll be happy and everyday I am looking to complete it because it is a sign that my journey from here to heaven is coming closer to an end. And my hope is that I am getting out of a suffering life to a peaceful life. We are trying to give everyone a hope for an eternal life so that they can carry everything with enjoyment and not be killed with all their sufferings. That is important.

K: I have heard about eternal life but I do not know what it is.

SN: Now we cannot know. We can only believe. You must believe because you cannot know until you are in it.
Knowledge is something and belief is something else. We must believe in what we have been informed through the Traditions, that there is an eternal life. We only believe. We cannot see now. We cannot know about it like we know about this life because we are outside and far away from that life. The way to eternal life passes through death. If you don't taste death, you cannot know about eternal life. Therefore we believe. But knowledge is something else.

M: I am very glad that you mentioned death. Now there is something I need to know. Out of the hundreds and thousands of prophets in this world, why is it that Jesus Christ (AS) should be the only one who is allowed to come back and conquer this world.

SN: Because of all the prophets, no one was as misunderstood as Jesus Christ (AS). Therefore, the Lord is sending Jesus Christ (o) to inform all the people: Christians, Jews, Muslims about who he really is. If anyone else came on his behalf, it would not be useful for that purpose. That is why he is coming, because he is in the person who is most interested in this matter.
Thank you for your attention!

Recite the first chapter of the Quran. "In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Praise belongs to God, the Lord of all Being, the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Master of the Day of Judgment. You only we serve; to You alone we pray for help. Guide us on the Straight Path, the path of those whom You have blessed, not of those against whom You are angry nor of those who are astray" (1:1-7).

20
PREPARE FOR TAKE-OFF
SCHWEIBEN ALP, JULY 18,1985

B: I couldn't live with so much happiness, so I destroyed it myself by making nonsense or eating too much and all these things.

SN: What do you mean to say?

I: She says that she is generally happy but that sometimes she is destroying her happiness. That is, when she sees her own actions, she sees that she is destroying her happiness. And she does not know how to change that.

SN: Yes. Sometimes the sun is shining and sometimes it is raining.

B: But why am I doing it?

I: She sees how she is destroying and still she is destroying.

SN: Aha. That is difficult. That means that you do not have enough power to control yourself. You must do some practicing so that you can control yourself. At the moment you are doing something and then you put fire on it and burn it. This must stop. Your ego must not lead you to destroy. This needs a strong control on your will power. If you do not have enough power to hold your will, then it will destroy everything quickly. So you need a practice with which you learn to hold your will power as a control over your ego. Can you do that?

B: I will try. Yes.

SN: When your ego comes to you to be rebellious, when you see that you are destroying something, then you must fast one day, from sunrise until sunset, no eating and no drinking. As a punishment for your ego because it is destroying yourself.

B: But sometimes I do not destroy something until in the afternoon, then the fast will be short.

Z: Very smart ego.

I: Yes, very smart.

SN: When the time comes, say quickly, "I am now fasting." That will make your ego afraid. It will say, "Oh, if it means that I have to fast every time, then I will not do that. Do you understand? That is a strong method for everyone who wants to control their ego. Just say quickly, "Now I fast!"

B: I am very grateful.

SN: Praise belongs to God. Moses! I was looking for you.

M: Babaji has given us a fine formula for...

SN: Liberty?

M: No. The way that we should follow simplicity, truth and love.

SN: Truth and love is like the sun and the moon on the sky. You must ask for the ways of how to reach the sun and the moon. If they were on earth, everyone could reach them. Babaji made the way and reached them. But you are still on earth and our rockets are not yet obedient to our commands. We are trying to arrange everything so that with our command we can press a button and be taken away. I am trying to arrange everyone's rocket so that they can take off. Because most of you have no command. She says, "I can't command my rocket. Sometimes it is rebellious."

I: Was that your question?

M: I had once more, but before I finished to ask, you had already given me the answer. It is not something you can take your hand to grasp. You need a special method to reach it.

SN: Because sometimes my heart is quicker than your heart.

M: You are talking about the ego. The problem for me is that if we take away the ego completely, it means that we will hate ourselves and are we not supposed to love ourselves?

SN: Now Moses is not paying attention to what we are saying. When we say that we should take away the ego, the ego is our rocket. Without your ego, you cannot be in existence and you cannot reach any station. The importance is to take your ego under your command. If the rocket is not under our control, how could we take off? When our Prophet tells us to take away our ego, it means that you should take control over it and take away the control it has over you...
That is important. It must be understood. The ego is always only speaking on behalf of itself because it never likes to loose its control over you. So it makes like this and like that to deceive you. It is like when one country's army marches into another and says, "WE are only here to protect you," but in reality they are there to control. And when the people say, "We must have elections for a new government." They will say, "No, not yet. We must keep the control over the country for some time."
In the same way our egos are controlling us, even though the ego knows that the power must be given to the soul. Still it wants to keep the control in its hands. Like an arm. That is why it is making so many excuses to be able to be in control even longer. Because if your ego has the control over you, everything will go as it likes. Therefore, it will always make excuses to extend it even longer. That is the whole story about egos.
Egos know thousands and thousands of tricks to cheat you. It is like a lady who cries to her husband to make him look after her and to bring more rings and such things. In the same way, your ego puts up so many traps for you.
The ego makes more traps for women than for men. Women may be cheated quicker but they are also quicker satisfied and they can come to peace quickly. But men, just like they are more powerful, the traps of their ego is also stronger. You can put a nail on wood easily, but men are like rocks. Therefore, it is more difficult to satisfy men. As long as their ego is stronger, it will be so difficult for them to come to satisfaction. But if men reach satisfaction, the satisfaction will continue and will make it easy for them to control their ego. But for women, even if they reach satisfaction quickly, it is difficult for them
to continue the control because they will be cheated quickly again by their ego.
Men are the reason for women to lose their control. That is why men will be punished because of women. Women have an excuse but me do not have any. Men are powerful enough to make a control and to continue it. But women are not like men. They are quickly affected. And men carry the responsibility for them. They can easily lose their control because men do like this and like that.

Z: What are the men doing. I couldn't see it. What is this and that? I was concentrating on the words.

I: Winking their eyes.

SN: I never did. But people do this and like that (winking their eyes). I never did it to anyone. When men wink, women have no more control. Abdus Samad also never did that. That is the reason why men carry more responsibility than women. Rabia....

I: Is it so that in the West the women are developing the male side more? Is that happening? Do they now have the characteristics of men? In the West, the women in the last ten to twenty years have felt that their side has not been strong enough in the world which is the truth and many have now not been developing the female side but the male side to be able to come to power. In this way many women have become very powerful in the male world. I am asking: are these women powerful as women or have they developed their male side?

SN: Women? Women like these will not be men and not be women. They will be strange creatures, useless for men and useless for women. Men must be men and women must be women. Everyone must keep their rooms. It is no good for a man to be a woman or for a woman to be a man. That is not good because you are then trying to fight nature. It is against the Creator.

B: Is it not so that we all have male and female attributes within us like yin and yang?

SN: Who said that?

I: Some cultures do. They say that one side is more female and one side more male.

SN: That is satanic. Satan is in himself male and female and makes new generations through himself, not humanity. Men don't have female sides and females don't have male sides.

UH: But the scientists today are saying so today.

SN: Scientists don't know anything, especially psychologists. They live in the world of the imagination, not in Reality.

CJ: The Indians say that you have four sides: A little boy, a little girl, a man and a woman and that you should try to bring them together in harmony.

SN: That is also imagination.

M: Three days ago you said that humanity is a being between an angel and an animal. That means that we must all look up to the angelic world. The sister is suggesting that without a woman, man is not complete. It is the attitude not our physical body but our character. Sometimes a man's character can be like a woman and a woman's character like a man. Isn't she right in that way?

I: Are angels beyond male and female?

SN: Angels have no male or female feelings. They are special beings and have been created without having any male or female feelings. They do not need any generations. Generations are only for humanity.
Thank you for your attention! What is the time now?
Twelve! I must offer my prescribed prayers and then we may move. With the Will of God. I hope to see you often but it is something that is not physical. Our meetings will be soul and spiritual meetings like we are now having breakfast. You cannot bring lunch and dinner at the same time. We have to wait for lunch time. Then we must wait for dinner. If you bring all of them, it will be wasted. Dr. Ibrahim and all my daughters asked me to stay today, tomorrow and after tomorrow. It means that they want breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same time. But I have been ordered to give you a breakfast only. Don't ask me to bring lunch and after that dinner.
When you are hungry in your souls, I will be sent here. It is not difficult for me and for them to be here. Therefore, it depends on how they command because they have controls over me too. I am under their control and their command and I may not be rebellious against their commands because if they do not give their permission, I cannot speak anything because I am not a lecturer. No! I don't come here with anything prepared to say to you. I come like an ordinary person for a visit. According to this condition, it is an association. According to the way given to me from their wisdom and knowledge, I am only a transmitter. Like a cassette you put in and which then starts to speak. I don't know anything but they know. The Lord knows what we need. Some questions that come from you come according to their commands. To make it clear to you, they give me the answer. Those who accept my answers in these associations are lucky and they may find more power to control themselves.
I have been ordered to make clear to you that anytime when anyone is losing control over themselves or is in a difficult position, they can be in contact with my heart immediately. If they just think about me, they will make a connection with me immediately. They just need to remember me and that will make me look at him or her. That connection will make a power run through you quickly and you will be protected from falling into a dangerous situation. It is not my spiritual power, but I am in connection with a chain that is connected to our Lord through saints. I am the last part of the chain which reaches you. It is like a plug which you can connect with electricity. Thank you for your attention. I think it is enough for everything we are saying. Praise belongs to God.

21
NOTHING COMES WITHOUT
A REASON BASAL, JULY 18,1985

Shaykh Nazim: In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. The Savior's first appearance was in the Hijaz in Makkah, first on Mt. Arafat, the mountain of the house of the Lord, Arafat. That was a private appearance only for the Friends of God, for saints only. It happened twenty-five years ago. 124,000 Friends of God came there and put their hands on his hands. All Friends of God gave their allegiance to Him. No one else but the Friends of God can look at him because his spiritual powers are too strong. If anyone's eyes meet his, they would fall down dead.

K: Yes. That is why he turned. He came in the dream and looked straight but he turned his eyes. And I had the feeling that if I would be evil, he would look at me and I would burn.

SN: For all the people he will appear in the Great War. The Great War will break out between the East and the West. These will be very difficult days for humanity. There will be very strong fighting. Very many people will be killed. Then the Lord will command him to appear. Now he is in a cave, a big, deep cave. No one can approach it. He is protected and guarded by the jinn. If somebody comes, they send out electricity and kill him and throw him away. No one can approach that cave. Once I was in Madinah with Grand Shaykh for a seclusion. He was ordered to be invited by Mahdi (AS). From Madinah to that place it takes forty days.

AS: By foot?

SN: Yes and it is an area with quicksand. You cannot step on it. You will be pulled down like water. At that time I was with the Grand Shaykh for a seclusion and he took me to that place but not by walking or by car but by saying, "Close your eyes and open them again," because at that time we were using spiritual powers. In a second of time we were there and Mahdi (AS) opened his arms to greet us and to stop us from coming inside. The entrance was forty meters wide. His hands reach to his knees. That was the introduction, a physical meeting. From that time on he ordered me to be there spiritually. My spirit never moves away from that meeting. My spiritual body went into the cave but my physical body returned. Now one of my spiritual bodies is with them. As much as it is necessary for me to be there or there or there, the way he orders, my spiritual body will be there, but one of my spiritual bodies never moves away from there.

K: The reason why I believe in this is that a year ago, after you left and went to Germany, you came in a dream to me sitting like this with your coat coming like this: swish. It was a Monday on which I don't talk and you said to me as an answer to my no talk, "One day I will come to you." And it was true. I remember. I will never forget. It was very clear. It was not in color. It was black and white.

SN: Black and white...

K: Yes. It is a difference. Baba also appears to me in black and white, without color. Sometimes I see him in color but not always.

SN: He! {Huwa). That is all right.

UH: If your body is there always, can you see what Mahdi is doing with your physical body.

SN: For the physical body there is no need for that but the spiritual body takes power to give.

Z: Is it up to you or up to him to make the connection? If you close your eyes can you take connection with Mahdi or do you have to wait for him to...

SN: All that is not necessary.

A: If the war starts and from East to West storms go and from West to East and from the continent to the ocean and from the ocean to the continent, then everything will be finished. There will be nothing left over because the bombs are too heavy for this earth.

SN: It is heavy but under control. Everything, every bomb is under control. None of them will go off without control. Every warhead on every bomb is a jinn.

Z: Are they all good jinn? Do they have to obey?

SN: They are under the command of the Mahdi (AS).

A: So why don't they stop the bombs?

SN: They do. Many will go off and just disappear. It will all only be as much as God is asking for. It will be in limits. Now the Russians are throwing so many bombs in Afghanistan. But many of them are thrown and do not hit anyone. Don't think that everything is in the hands of humanity. They may do a lot, but on every missile there is a. jinn to control it. It is limited to where it is going and who is there to be killed or protected. All is clear now. Nothing will be by chance. When you know this, be happy! Nothing on this earth goes by chance or by accident. No! Everything is arranged. What is the meaning of my name?
Z: The arranger.

SN: There is a group of Friends of God who look after everything. If one person is harmed without reason, then that saint will carry the responsibility. They cannot injure one person or allow one drop of blood without reason.

A: But there are so many people who have done nothing and they get killed.

SN: That is Divine Wisdom. Only they know why they have to be taken away.

A: But even good people.

SN: Paradise is for the good people.

UH: You are better off in paradise than on earth. You just don't understand that yet.

SN: Paradise is for some people. For others, there is hell. Death is written for everyone.

The Greatest War is only for those who harm others. Cruel people must be taken away. There will be no such thing as to be unprotected without reason. Everything has a reason. Why did the war start in Afghanistan? Or in Iran? Or in Iraq? In Afghanistan there used to be a King. Then they overthrew the King and he was religious. He was keeping religion and defeating communism. When he was taken away, the people and the tribes did not get together to defend the king. Then the leftists and the communists came to control everything. Then the Russians came.
In Iraq, they also killed their king. He was a young person, around twenty-two years old, and he was a descendant of the Prophet. One night they bombed his palace and killed everyone, even little babies. That is now the punishment. Don't even think that anything comes without a reason. No! There must be a reason. The army destroyed everything of King Faisal of Iraq in just one night. Some of the people even got tied behind cars and were dragged along the streets. And other people were looking. All those who said that that was all right must be killed or their children must be killed or anyone of their relatives must be killed for the cause of one man, a billion people can be killed.
The Holy Quran says and the Old and the New Testament also mention that three disciples of Jesus Christ (AS) came to the people of Ankara, Turkey, to tell them to believe in Jesus Christ (AS) and in the Lord Almighty. The people refused. Then one came, Habib al-Najar (the Beloved of the Carpenters). He came and saw the crowd around the three disciples. They were addressing the crowd and inviting the people to believe in God Almighty but they all refused. He said to them, "What is the matter with you? These people are inviting you to stop worshipping idols and to start to believe in the worship of your Lord, God Almighty. Why do you not believe in His prophets? He started to advise the people and that made them very angry with him. They rushed at him and started to trample on him with their feet and killed him. Then God ordered Gabriel to come to the ancient walls of that city and to shout to the people in a way that they all turned to coal. That is proof that if one is killed and the others say that it is all right, all these people will be killed.

A: Were the three disciples killed?

SN: No. Only that one man, Abu Najar.

UH: In World War I and II, many young men were killed. Was that because they were unbelievers?

SN: Unbelievers or may be it had to do with their parents or ancestors because so many of the people who first went to America or to Africa or to Asia killed many, many people there without reason.

F: Why were six million Jews killed by the Nazis? Six million Jews were killed in World War II!

SN: this is meant as a trial for them from God Almighty as something to give them spiritual improvement through that trial. Again, that is God Almighty's wisdom. We cannot know. There must be some reason. It is impossible that there not be some reason.

UH: Do people also get illness as a trial?

SN: Yes. It is a test from God Almighty. If anything happens there must be something that happened with them or with their ancestors and then this is a cleaning for their souls. There must be something in their souls that needs cleaning.

Z: If you say it is from the ancestors, it does not have to be a personal guilt. It is not something that you yourself are responsible for. If my father was a killer, then maybe I would be killed to pay for his bill, but it is not my personal guilt.

SN: That is true. You will then be rewarded in paradise. Thank you for your attention.

APPENDIX

THE NIGHT OF POWER: THE MAHDI (AS)
CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND, 1986

Shaykh Nazim: Once when I was passing through from Beirut to Cyprus, I met a Shaykh from Lebanon and was a guest in his house. This Shaykh asked me, "What news is your Shaykh giving about the Savior (AS)?
I told him that so and so many years ago, we were on Arafat with the Savior (As). Sometimes this day of Arafat is moved a day ahead or a day behind. Sometimes... That year it was moved. The Savior (AS) was present and 124,000 saints, too. We were all giving our allegiance to the Savior (AA).
Grand Shaykh took me there like a hunter who keeps his dog with him. I was with my Shaykh at that time. When I said this, he said, "Yes. You are right. I was in blessed Makkah the same year with my Shaykh and we met a person from Sudan, We asked him, "Where are you coming from?" He said to me, "I am coming from Central Africa. I have been ordered to be here this year to give my allegiance to the Savior, peace be upon him. I have been walking by foot for one year to reach here, to be here. You are right," he said to me.
There are three kinds of allegiances with the Savior (AS). One kind is the allegiance given by the Friends of God. That has just happened just as declared in the Traditions. The second kind is through a dream. Some people give their allegiance through their dreams because they are not prepared to meet him now. The third kind will be for the common people when he has been ordered to appear.
He is going to appear after 101 hindrances. He must cut all of those before he can appear. This means that the time of his appearance must be just correct. 99 of the hindrances have passed away. Now only two of them are remaining. When these have appeared, the third will be the coming of the Savior, peace be upon him. One of them was that the red-colored people came to Afghanistan. They will then go to Pakistan and then to Turkey. They must come to Turkey. They will come up to Amuq near Aleppo at the west of Aleppo. The plain of Amuq will be the place of the great slaughter. So that is the first sign, Russians coming to Turkey. The Friends of God say this is expected to happen soon.
After this, World War III will come. It is impossible for the end of the world to come until the whole world
will be in two big camps. It will be eastern and western military camps and there will be the greatest fighting between them (see both Bukhari and Muslim).
There must be a Great War between the East and the West and the West will be victorious over the East. The red powers will come to Aleppo and that huge power will gather on the boundaries of Turkey. The huge Russian power will be west of Aleppo. At the same time, the American powers will be in Adana, Turkey, near the sea. Like the Prophet said, "They will approach each other, these two huge powers. There will be a Great War."
This year it will not be because this year is not the Greater Pilgrimage (the pilgrimage falling on a Friday). It must happen during the Great Pilgrimage. This year Ramadan begins on a Friday. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. The coming year Ramadan will begin on a Tuesday. The year after that, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Ramadan will begin on a Saturday which means that in 1988 there will be a real Greater Pilgrimage. And 1988 will be the year when Israel is forty years old. We do not think that they will be more than forty years old. During the war, the Savior, peace be upon him, will come. In these next two years, dangerous and big events are expected.
Until the Savior (&), was fifteen years old, he was with his parents. He did no disappear. No! He is around 35-40 years old. Until he was 15 years old he was at his birthplace, Wadi Fatima, which is a green valley. When you leave Jeddah towards Madinah you will pass through that very good, green valley. His father and his mother, Hasani Husayni (from the line of Hasan and Husayn) are there. When he was fifteen years old, the eyes of the people fell on him too much because his growth was miraculous. By the Prophet's order, he was taken away behind Mt. Qaf. Nujaba, Awtad, Budalla and Akhyar (five kinds of Friends of God) took him. Their Imam is Shihabuddin. Then he was ordered to be in the Empty Quarters. That is where Yemen and Hijaz join. It is a dead desert. No one can go there because there are moving sands. If you put your foot there, you will fall down. Here there is a huge cave. Inside that cave there is the Dome of Happiness which has been built by angels. The Savior, peace be upon him, and ninety-nine caliphs are there. They are waiting and expecting the Divine Command of God Almighty to appear and his appearance should be soon, with the Will of God.
We hope to be his helpers. We are asking Almighty God to let us reach his happy times, his happy days. When he appears, he will say, "God is Greater! God is Greater! God is Greater!" (Allahu akbar\). This will be heard from the East to the West without any doubt. Angel Gabriel will shout, "God's vicegerent has appeared! Join his army, oh believers!" Everything will be clear. It will not be a secret appearance. He will appear with power, with so much power that everything will be taken away that technology is supporting and people are trusting in. He is coming with miraculous power and he will open the seed of faith and make it grow in the hearts of the people. After the Great War has come on earth, they will be ready like a candle is ready for a match. That is how quick their light will appear.
In the last days, so many men will be killed that there will be forty women for every man. This is because men are mostly cruel people. They will die and women will remain until the Last War comes. Times will get worse and worse. Grand Shaykh used to say that six out of every seven people will die. For those women who do not have a husband anymore, God will send people from behind Mt. Qaf. No one will be alone at that time. When the Savior (AS) comes, he will bring so many new people with him who will be coming from around this earth. There are so many unknown worlds around our world. People will come from Nujaba, Awtad, Budalla and Akhyar.
May God take care of you until those Holy Days and make you helpers of truth and believers in truth. That is the honor for every nation and for every person. The truth is one. It is not only for Christians or for Jews only or for Muslims only. Truth is one for all.
Anyone who runs away from the truth must be punished. They will punish themselves by themselves. Who comes to truth will be in safety.

2008-12-08T07:59:00.000-08:00

Mercy Oceans: Oceans of Unity

Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Haqqani

Love Is The Water Of Life

Everything pertaining to this world is impermanent, constantly in a state of transition. Therefore, it is only natural that I am here addressing you today and elsewhere tomorrow. Don't let this condition sadden you, for, in reality, transition is God's mercy to man. Don't wish even for good times to last forever, for you wouldn't be able to bear permanence -you would just get fed up. Know that the discontinuation of any desirable state or condition is the catalyst for gaining an even deeper appreciation of what is good. Longing for the attainment of the spiritual realities of which you have caught a glimpse is the means to their attainment. Is there any morsel tastier than that upon which the fast is broken?

This is the reason that Allah Almighty created the world as it is. The signs of the heavens take their turns inspiring our souls. The rising sun brightens our day, but just when we would start to get fed up with it, lo and behold, it bows out and the soft light of the moon enchants us with its many forms: appearing first as a delicate crescent, then waxing gradually to its full and waning. If it never waned no one would be able to appreciate the awe inspiring immensity of the starlit heavens.

A Visit to God's Holy House
The threadbare pilgrim may cross snowy mountain passes and sun-scorched deserts barefoot, or even on his hands and knees in order to reach Mecca. When he finally arrives he is struck dumb by the awesome majesty of the Holy Kaaba. Tears stream down his face as he clings to its door, pouring out his heart and soul to his Lord--and the Lord fulfills his heart's innermost desire in accordance with the longing that drove him to suffer freezing wind and scorching sun. Longing brought him to the house of the Lord, but the pilgrim's dedication to his Lord will not be served by his staying in Mecca on and on, but by returning to his country with the cherished memories of his pilgrimage inspiring his faith. Should he choose to remain in Mecca he runs the risks of gradually becoming callous and hardened to the sight of the Kaaba like the inhabitants, who never had a Mecca as their distant sought-after goal, who crossed no deserts to attain it, but who may, rather, cross through the holy Mosque as a shortcut to get from one part of the market to another, barely casting a glance at the magnificent Kaaba.

Once a disciple used to attend his Shaykh's discourses only occasionally, although he lived in the vicinity of the Shaykh's Dergah (Sufi School). The Shaykh asked him: "Why do you attend so infrequently?" The clever disciple answered: "Because I don't like being asked to attend less frequently".

The sun, the moon, the stars, the Holy Kaaba, the beauty of nature or architecture, or the face of a beloved person: all these sights may inspire us, may remind us of a great truth that is alive in our hearts, but of which we are yet heedless. But don't become enamoured of the signs to such an extent that they become ends in themselves, and you cease to follow the directions they seek to impart to you. The object is not a heavenly body that will set, a symbol which may become commonplace nor a face that will age or turn away from you. When Abraham was yet a seeker of truth, at a stage of bewilderment on his road to truth, he became enamoured of the sun, moon and stars, but as each set he said: "My love is not for those that disappear".

Love is eternal, and the transitory nature of all things pertaining to this world is a sign of truth, a sign that shows us by means of contrast. Real spiritual love, love of God and love of mankind for the sake of God is the only truth, the only thing in this world that is permanently and constantly sweet. Physical separation from someone you love, in accordance with the rule that pertains to the physical, may create a longing that will cause love to increase, may augment the bliss of reunion. But on the spiritual level that love is constant, is never interrupted by distance nor by time. Your beloved may be on the moon and you may be in bliss at the thought of reunion, but if love is unrequited, that is not sweet separation but a bitter pill. The extinction of love is pitch darkness. You may regard the sunset as beautiful, but how would you feel if it were setting forever?

Love is the water of life. God created Adam from clay and water. If it were not for water the clay would hold no shape. Divine Love is what binds our souls together. That is why people become so miserable when they feel unloved. It is a feeling that something essential is missing from one's life, that life itself is incomplete, and in the face of this ache people set out in search of love with the desperation of a man dying of thirst.

Lesson in a Bumper Sticker
Yesterday, as we were driving back from Sheffield I noticed a bumper sticker that read: "God is Love". That is a statement that accords with a common level of understanding; in reality such a description can never do justice to the Almighty; never can a single word or emotion, nor even all words and all emotions come close to describing His splendour, what to speak of "being" Him. However, the saying: "God is Love" can be called a common wisdom, as the intention is to accord the highest degree of veneration and devotion to love--that is correct--but to say it is God is, let us say, an oversimplification.

Love is an attribute of God Almighty which binds His servants to Him eternally. If God were to hate mankind it would be so easy for Him to bring about an abrupt and terrible end to our follies--but He loves us and therefore shows us so much tolerance.

If you are a parent, consider your love for your children. If your son grew up to be a criminal, would you not love him still? Would you not maintain that despite his bad actions he still had good in him, his essential character is known to you as good, not evil.

Noah's Forty Clay Jugs
Everyone knows the story of Noah, peace be upon him. He is one of the five greatest prophets of God. He called on his people day and night for years, asking them to leave their evildoing, to repent and return to love of God and His worship and to abstain from wrong. His people rejected him repeatedly and scoffed at him. As much as he preached they rejected his teachings.

However he was patient and continued to preach to them. They never let up in their mockery of him. So it continued for years and years, and Noah was persistent and patient. He did not tire of calling his people to truth and goodness, and they in turn did not tire of scoffing at him. This continued for decades, a century, two centuries, and Noah was patient and persistent. Three centuries, four, five...

After nine centuries of non-stop preaching accompanied by endless mockery and rejection, Noah reached his limit. Finally he asked God to punish his people and to send a flood upon them and not leave a single one of them alive. As he was a prophet of God, God was obliged to answer his prayer. We know what came to pass.

Once some time after having been saved from the flood, the Lord addressed Noah saying, "O my servant, I am asking you to go and with your utmost care make for Me forty clay jugs." As he was an obedient servant and a great prophet, Noah immediately went about complying with this order. He gathered the finest clay he could find and spent days and nights laboring with love to create 40 beautiful clay jugs.

After so much effort, the Lord then addressed Noah again saying: "O my servant, now that you have made these forty jugs, go outside and take each one and throw it down upon the rocks." Noah, an obedient servant, had no choice but to obey. He took the jugs which he had spent so much effort in making, and one-by-one smashed them against the rocks.

Then the Lord addressed Noah, saying: "Oh Noah, you made forty clay jugs, and it was odious to you to break them. Do you think that it was a pleasure for Me to kill all of My servants, even though they were unbelievers?" Then Noah began to cry and wail. So proverbial was his wailing that "Nuh" came to mean "wail" in Arabic.

Moses and Korah
Do you know the story of Moses and Korah? Among the Children of Israel at the time of the exodus from Egypt Korah was the richest man. Korah carried a large part of that wealth into the Sinai with him, and with that wealth a great deal of influence over the Children of Israel. Unfortunately for Korah he used his influence to stir up rebellion and discontent with the leadership of Moses. In order to discredit Moses once and for all Korah bribed a dishonourable woman to claim that Moses had committed adultery with her and that the child in her womb was his. As he was of course innocent, Moses was livid with rage, as he could only deny the accusation but could do nothing to prove it false. How could he lead the Children of Israel when they would hold doubts in their hearts regarding his morals and veracity?

So Moses turned to his Lord, saying: "Oh my Lord, vindicate me!" The Lord replied: "I have granted you the power to command the Earth. You may use it to vindicate yourself and prove your innocence to the Children of Israel". Then Moses announced to all the people: "All who are with me come to my side and those who adhere to Korah stay by his side". Then Moses said: "Oh Earth, catch him and swallow him up!" Responding to this command the Earth caught Korah, laying firm hold of his feet and ankles. Korah cried: "Oh my dear cousin Moses, for the sake of our kinship please forgive me!" But Moses was very angry and determined to punish Korah for all of his crimes: "Oh Earth, swallow him!"

Then the Earth grabbed a little more of his legs, and he again cried out to Moses for forgiveness--and so it went on, a full seventy times: Korah asking for pardon and Moses refusing and demanding retribution. Finally the earth had completely swallowed Korah. Then the Lord addressed Moses: "Korah begged you for forgiveness seventy times, but you had no mercy for him in your heart. I swear by My Might and Glory, had he even once addressed himself to Me, saying: 'Oh my Lord, I repent, please forgive me', I would have rescued him. You had no mercy for him because you didn't create him. I am the Creator and I have boundless mercy for My repentant servants".

The Lord created us and loves us; that is why everyone loves love. No one complains of love or wants it to be taken from him, but all want to be loved more. Where are you seeking love? Are you taking pure water from the gushing source, or muddy, slimy water from the ditch? You love people, but they will die. Perhaps your love will be unrequited, or because of a small error or indiscretion on your part that person's heart will harden to you and love will be no more. You say that you love him or her, but do you love him or her unconditionally? Is your love permanent-love for the real immaculate divine essence living in that person, or temporary, as a result of some desirable attributes: beauty, youth, wealth, station or wit? When that beautiful, young, wealthy, clever, amiable socialite becomes an ugly, old, penniless, senile, grumpy outcast will you still love her? Is your love of the spirit or of the world?

Oh people, seek real love, a love that cannot go astray. That love is the love of God and the love of his creatures for the sake of his love for them. That love emanation may bind all receptive hearts. There is a common saying: "The friend of a friend is a friend", so love people if you love God, for you must know that He loves them. It is not always easy to love people, even good people, so what about the Korahs of this world?

Love pertaining to the ego is not love, as all the ego knows is to love itself, and what is commonly called love is but a mutual understanding to support each other's egoism. Don't trust your ego, nor anyone else's, for the ego is disloyal by nature. When the spirit gains ascendancy the ego may be harnessed and put to good use, as the Holy Prophet said: "Your ego is your mount", but left to its whims it will take you many miles from your path in search of herbage.

This discourse is an Ocean, its summary is: what is of the world beware of, and pay attention to the dose. When crossing that ocean embark on a sturdy ship with well maintained lifeboats and life-preservers, and if you swim in it keep your head above water!

Swallow Your Anger: Then Digest It

For those of us whose physical bodies are "over the hill", by this I mean over the age of fifty or so, we must face the fact that, no matter how well we look after ourselves, our physical powers are gradually deteriorating: step by step we are approaching death.

But as for our spiritual condition, there is no such limit, no age when powers are at their maximum, then recede. Spiritual power may continue to grow strongly throughout our lives, but we must seek out conditions conducive to that continuing growth, and weed out those qualities which threaten to choke the precious plant.

One of the most harmful weeds, the most inimical to our spiritual growth is the anger generated by the vanity of our egos. When anger rages it engulfs the light of faith, transforming in into fire. The light of Faith is the pure light of God, but when it is transformed into fire it no longer illumines, it burns.

When you find yourself overcome with anger you must quickly run to a mirror and behold your own face. That ugly spectacle will be enough to calm your anger: for who wants to look like the devil himself? When a person is angry his actions are satanic - destructive and self-destructive. Our Grandsheikh stressed the necessity of abandoning anger, for when the ego's anger dominates a person he may readily deny even the sovereignty of God, and put himself in rebellion against the Overwhelming One - and that is very dangerous. Anger also wreaks havoc on our physical bodies, causing illness and premature aging, especially when a high level of anger is maintained over a long period of time.

Very few people can turn back anger when it assaults them. This is why so few people advance spiritually. The reason that anger is so difficult to defeat is simply because it is an intrinsic part of our physical and spiritual constitution. Anger corresponds to the element of fire in our make-up, which is a balance of fire, water, earth and air. Only those who are trained from a very early age by enlightened parents or teachers will have learned to keep these elements in balance. As for most people, each of these elements may predominate on different occasions according to exterior circumstances and intrinsic propensities, setting the equilibrium off center. Fire flares up in the face of provocation and teasing, aggression or attempts to subdue the will (of the child). Since these occasions are usually frequent in our early lives, we are all adept at getting angry, and from a very early age.

Our Grandsheikh also suggested that we perform a special Dhikr (prayer-meditation) at night in order to gain the upper hand in our struggle against anger. When you arise in the last third of the night to perform superrogatory prayers, after performing your ablutions, start by turning your face to the House of God and implore Him to aid you in your attempt to subdue anger. Then repeat one-hundred times. "Ya Halim" which means "Oh (God, who is) Forbearing and Slow to Anger" This name, al-Halim, is a Divine attribute of God which He wishes to bestow generously upon us, should we seek to receive it.

The first step is to ask God, in this manner, to help us become forbearing; then we must meditate on that Divine Attribute, that it may be absorbed into our being. We are literally calling it upon ourselves. Next we must adopt a practice in our everyday lives that will further our purposes. This practice is, simply, not to show anger, even when you feel it welling up inside. Don't spit that anger out at those around you and poison the atmosphere, like a fire-breathing dragon. Hold it in, but not like a lump of undigested food; no, you must digest it. A certain amount of anger is part and parcel of every personality. Without some of that fire in our constitution we would die; therefore, it is possible for us to digest a certain amount of anger without suffering adverse side-effects. Of course, if we were to remain unchanged over a long period of time and swallow the same amount of anger, we wouldoverdose; but that is not the case, for in time our intake of anger decreases as we learn, and are granted the ability not to react angrily to provocation in the first place. So, just as a baby initially drinks great quantities of milk, then graduates to solid food, decreasing its milk consumption drastically, we can swallow and digest anger, in the full knowledge that other forms of nourishment are soon forthcoming.

If you can manage to refrain from showing anger for forty days, you will have passed a great milestone. When it assails you, you must evade it, and when it is going to issue from you, you must swallow it. If you can successfully avoid it for forty days, anger will begin to assault you less frequently: once every forty days. If you can manage to keep yourself in this manner the initial forty days, and thereafter, in the face of forty more assaults (forty periods of forty days, a little more than four years), Satan will announce to his helpers: "Don't bother attacking that person; you are just wasting your time and energy. His defenses are impenetrable: one thousand attacks are just as futile as one. Leave him alone, he has escaped from our hands". Satan's helpers are the selfish ego, vain desires and worldliness: these are our four great enemies, and whoso learns to control his anger will be victorious against these base influences.

Whenever you feel anger arising you must be aware that you are being tested. Such tests are sent your way from the spiritual world in order to ascertain your trustworthiness. Disliked events are sent from that realm so that you may have the chance to forbear, and thereby advance toward your goal. If there were not some benefit to be found in anger it would not exist. The benefit is found in being patient in the face of it. Without passing this test there can be no improvement.

Forbearance is a key to Divine Stations, and that key is forged by facing odious events with patience and controlling our anger. So, anger is a two-edged sword: if you can grasp its handle firmly you may rent the veils that blind your heart's eyes, but if it is in the hands of your enemies your faith will be severed.

Meded - Asking Support From Grandsheikh

Our Grandsheikh is Sheikh Abdullah Al-Faiz Ad-Daghistani, may Allah Almighty sanctify his blessed soul and draw him ever closer to His Divine Presence. May He Almighty cause us to benefit from Grandsheikh's blessings and teachings, and from his spiritual care for us even from the grave. We derive our spiritual power from his heart center. If he cuts us off we are stranded. Every breath that our Grandsheikh turns toward us from his spiritual breaths is like a warm spring breeze which blows on the bare branches of trees, causing buds and blossoms to burst forth.

Like the spring breeze that carries the revival of life within it, so do the breaths of Allah's Saints give life to their followers, to their spiritual sons and daughters. That relationship is stronger than the relationship to our parents, as there is only a short period of time in which they are all and everything to their small children, and, ultimately, it is very difficult for them to influence their children to follow the way of life that they would choose for them. Perhaps those children will leave them and go away to the far corners of the Earth and choose a way of life totally unrelated to that of their parents. But a real Grandsheikh always keeps a watchful eye on his followers, whether that Grandsheikh be living in this world or already has passed on to the existence beyond this world. He never abandons them.

Yes, we are always seeking our Grandsheikh's support, support that will help us act according to our Lord's commands, and support to help us stand firmly in the face of our enemies: the lower self, Satan, vain desires and worldliness. For both of these goals - progress on the right way and avoiding deviation from it completely - we need his support. Without such a strong support a person will be vanquished.

Therefore, we seek our Grandsheikh's support by saying: "Meded Ya Sayyidi", "Support, oh my Master." You must call upon your Grandsheikh in such a manner when you are in need of support, then that support may reach to you. The more you feel yourself to be weak and in need of support, the more support he will extend to you. But the more you depend on your own knowledge and your mind's powers, the less support you will receive, as Grandsheikh will say: "He is self-sufficient, so why lend him support. Leave him in the hands of his ego."

When the Holy Prophet asked his Lord, "Oh my Lord, don't leave me in the hands of my ego even for a moment", he was seeking refuge from two undesirable possibilities: 1) to be left in the hands of his ego's base desires, and 2) to be left alone to guide himself only by his mind and knowledge. In both these ways the ego attempts to separate us from true guidance, and in admitting our weakness and seeking support in the face of the ego's trickery we gain that help.

Divine Guidance and help reached to our Prophet through the Archangel Gabriel who acted as Allah's representative in carrying His revelation to the Prophets, so that Divine Help reaches to the Saints via the Holy Prophet, who acted as Allah Almighty's representative in bringing guidance to his Nation. And ultimately, after the Prophet's time, that guidance reaches to our hearts through the Saints, his inheritors, as we have not yet developed the senses with which to listen directly to the Prophet's guidance. Some foolish people, even among the Muslims, will undoubtedly deny this, saying that all that remains of the Holy Prophet's guidance is what is written in books. This point of view, far from being the reality, is a blind man's view, for were the Holy Prophet to have taken those powers with him upon his death there would remain no more religion, no more faith, no nothing from Islam. No, that prophetic power never leaves the Earth; it is only transformed and distributed through the awareness of the Holy Prophet's inheritors.

Therefore, you must look for the support of the Saints in a Universe in which you are totally weak. Once you have established a good connection with such a person you will always be in contact with him: a "wire" will carry current to your heart from his power source. That aid will make itself felt most in times of need. Now it is daytime and you don't seek a torch, no need; but at night such a small light will prevent you from falling into a pit.

Familiarity Breeds Enlightenment

Shah Naqshband, the most important pillar of the Naqshbandi Tariqah, used always to say: "The essence of our Tariqah is to be found in gathering in the company of the Sheikh or of fellow aspirants. Such meetings generate pure goodness". This kind of gathering is referred to as "Sohbet", and may involve either the Sheikh (or an appointed deputy of the Sheikh) addressing the group (after having linked his heart with the chain of Sheikhs through which he is connected to the heart of the Holy Prophet), or simply an informal "get-together", a happy occasion for intimacy. (Often a Sohbet consists of both aspects, a discourse followed by familiar interchange) .

Why does Shah Naqshband assign so much importance to such gatherings? Why does he stress this even more, seemingly, than prayer or Dhikr (prayer-meditation)? Why? Because the familiarity arising from such blessed gatherings opens our hearts to each other and to our Lord. Gathering people in such an intimate atmosphere was the method utilized by the Prophets to soften the hearts of their people, and soft hearts make our worship acceptable in the Divine Presence.

If people cannot bring themselves to defer to another, as when people gather with a Sheikh or a deputy of a Sheikh, they will grow to be ever more assertive, wild and egoistic. In our assemblies one person must be the symbolic leader and address the others. If he is a deputy of the Sheikh, he may be, on the level of everyday life, just one of a group of brothers pursuing a common goal, or he may have already attained spiritual stations which enable him to take on a more comprehensive role in guiding the members of his group. Whether the former or the latter be the case, when any of our deputies puts his heart in connection with the spiritual transmission for the sake of leading Dhikr and delivering a Sohbet discourse, he should become the means for that spiritual power and blessings to pervade that assembly.

Divine blessings descend on meetings where one person is presiding humbly and the others are deferring humbly. Such blessings never rest on a group where each is vying to prove the superiority of his views. No, our assemblies should not be debate clubs. If we follow these guidelines, after one person addresses the group and the others defer both outwardly and inwardly, a special atmosphere of intimacy should settle on that meeting, so that everyone feels well inclined towards the other members of the group, and all are able to exchange ideas in a constructive, non-confrontational manner.

Our egos rebel against being on an equal footing with others, so how should they feel about showing deference! The ego is a wild creature, constantly seeking to assert its uniqueness and superiority and to belittle others. If we can manage to get the upper hand in the struggle with our egos, they may reluctantly accede to show deference, but they will never do it voluntarily.

Man is subject to conflicting impulses. He wants to be unique, but he is also a social animal. Uniqueness is an attribute of our Lord, and we have all been given a share of that Divine attribute in that we are all different physically and in the realm of personality. In fact, there is a unique Divine Name reflected in each and every one of us, a Divine Name which the Lord has bestowed us a share of to the exclusion of others. Because of this we have an intrinsic tendency to see ourselves as being unique-because we are - but the mistake is to see ourselves as being superior to others, for it is in unity with others that we fulfill our potential for completeness, as our unique name is made manifest through the act of joining it to the whole of Divine Attributes.

The way to the fulfillment of this great potential passes through familiarity with people. Whoso finds a way to the hearts of mankind finds his Lord's Divine Presence. This is why the Holy Prophet brought people together in such informal meetings. But don't think that this is an easy task! The power to draw people together is a gift of Heaven. The Prophets and their Inheritors have been granted the gift of addressing people's hearts directly, so that all those whose hearts are not of stone, all open-hearted people and all those whose hearts are closed but not locked must be affected by their message.

Usually a humble class of people responded widely to the message of the Prophets, as being close to nature they were more easily able to distinguish something living from a fabrication. In general, women also were more open to the message of the prophets than men, because women's hearts are more easily opened. Men's hearts are often locked tightly.

It is impossible for an open-hearted person to reject the guidance of a Prophet or one of their Inheritors. But as for people who are puffed up with their knowledge, and approach men of God in order to make them accept their ideas rather than accepting Divine teachings, such people are likely to lock their hearts to Tariqahs.

The sign of real spiritual transmission is that hearts are affected and softened so that real familiarity and affection grow among the recipients of that transmission. That is the first step towards real faith. You aren't a real believer until you want for others what you would like for yourself, until you can put yourself in the shoes even of those with whom you find yourself in conflict. Until you can feel affection and familiarity towards a group of fellow seekers, it is impossible to imagine sympathy for people inimical to yourself.

How is it possible to open up your heart to your fellow man? Your hearts must meet in the heart of one of Allah's Saints, for in their hearts is Divine Attraction, and it is that power which enables them to be a medium for the binding of hearts. If there is no connection to the Source of all love- the Lord of all beings-then no really durable familiarity can develop between people, only the commonplace surface familiarity that is so easily disregarded when self-interest intervenes.

If a person has not undergone training at the hands of an Inheritor of a Prophet it is impossible for him to bear with people who inflict trouble upon him. He will become like a thorn bush: unapproachable, always ready to prick whoever approaches, friend or foe. Usually, however, such people are unable to perceive that they are prickly, but attribute the thorniness to others. This is not surprising, as it is a common mechanism of the human psyche to put off on others our own objectionable characteristics. We are all mirrors, but we do not realize that it is our own ugliness we are abhorring in others.

The Lord sympathizes with His creatures, and whoso has received a ray of that attribute may find his heart inclining towards people. This familiarity is a transmission from heart to heart. Don't bother with my words, just receive my transmission.

Familiarity with our fellow men is only the first level upon which Divine familiarity is made manifest, for the truly loving soul evokes affection even from wild animals.

Once I was with my Grandsheikh in the countryside. As we approached the house of the person we had gone to visit, a yellow dog started to rush at us with his tail curved between his legs like a scorpion. I thought that we would be torn to shreds, but then, as the dog came within clear sight of us, his whole aspect changed (even though Grandsheikh had never been there before, and therefore, the dog did not recognize him in the ordinary sense of his being a frequent visitor) and he began to wag his tail. Then the dog approached and Grandsheikh rubbed his head. At this the vicious guard dog took on the aspect of a frolicking puppy, rolling on the ground and prancing about. Then Grandsheikh explained to me: "He recognized me. I am no stranger to anyone".

Even ferocious lions may become pussycats in the presence of the receptacles of Divine familiarity. Once, in the early days of Islam, a caravan of pilgrims were coming to visit the House of God in Mecca. All of a sudden the caravan stopped. Abdullah Ibn Umar was with the caravan and when it stopped he went forward to see what was the matter. The people were in a state of great trepidation, for a lion was sitting in the middle of the road, and they were afraid he would attack the pilgrims. Abdullah Ibn Umar made his camel kneel and climbed off its back. He went over to the lion, lifted up its ear, and reprimanded him gently, saying: "Don't stay here. This is not the place for you: this is a road for the pilgrims bound for the House of God. You must be obedient and respectful, and not attack us, as we are under the Protection of the Almighty".

Depression: Cause & Cure

A PERSON'S VALUE CORRESPONDS TO THE VALUE HE ASSIGNS TO HIS TIME

Time is the "Hand of God": it moves everything along its course towards its ordained destination. Some are able to comprehend the purport of the passage of time, and observe it with the eye of wisdom. Such people deal with time by grasping the reins of each passing day, utilizing their God-given vision to move their lives in the right direction.

Others perceive time in a distorted manner, like a person looking at a convex or a concave mirror. This malady of perception occurs because they are not reconciled to the "Hand of God", haven't understood the reason why God has confined us to the realm of time and space. He intends thereby only to give us a chance to perfect ourselves, to acquire Divine Attributes through our own efforts in a difficult situation, and thus prepare ourselves for the day of our reunion with our Lord.

In a Holy Tradition the Lord said:
"The Children of Adam curse time, and I am time. In My Hand is the passage of day and night".

For those who have not yet understood this truth, time seems to behave in an erratic and disturbing way. The effect of this is to draw our attention to the need tp change ourselves to feel in harmony with the passage of time, since time itself, obviously, will neither speed up nor slow down to accommodate our wishes. Our perceiving our own problem with time is a mercy from God, for as a stomachache indicates the need for a change in eating habits, so does this malady awaken us to the need for adjustment of our lifestyle.

For some people time seems to fly, carrying them along like helpless riders on the backs of stampeding horses, in a herd headed over a cliff. For others time seems to stand still as if it were bogged down in the mire.

First of all we must understand the value of time; how, once spent, it is irretrievable. If all the nations were to pool their resources to try and redeem even one second of the past (in order to change a catastrophic decision, for example) would they succeed? No, a mountain of treasure cannot bring back even a second of your life. So, time is precious beyond reckoning, but yet do people idly frit- ter away the hours, and seek means for gaining even more leisure time.

So many people (not only those who would be considered clinically manic-depressive) suffer from an inability to adapt to the passage of time in a way that accords them peace of mind.

The egos of very young people want to devour the whole world immediately. The feverish heat of the fulfillment of passions and the pursuit of pleasure makes time appear to fly by. So often, at this critical time in people's lives no prudence is exercised, and heeding the urges of the ego they expend all of their energy. Such unrestrained indulgence is the sure way to deplete one's energy quickly and foolishly for life is like a marathon run: it requires pacing: if you just sprint from the start you will collapse after a few hundred yards. Keeping back a reserve of energy calls for self-control and willpower attributes rare among the young.

For the most part very young people steer clear of spiritual paths: only when they suffer a "breakdown" do they come limping in here for 'servicing'. Hundreds of people come to me saying: "Oh Shaykh Efendi can you help me?" It is such a difficult task to help people who have expended all their energy uselessly and whose physical and mental powers are at a pitifully low level. Sometimes I am amazed at what I see, for these people are still, for the most part, quite young. Raising the dead is a miracle given only to Prophets, but as long as there are signs of life we hope to be able to arouse people from their coma-like states.

As a result of the excesses brought about by the manic state, its opposite, depression, manifests itself in these young people. Now time no longer flies, but drags along at a snail's pace. A depressed person wishes that time would again fly, but, on the contrary, minutes seem like hours, hours like days and days like weeks. Usually, people who lack useful outlets for their energies and feel unfulfilled are subject to these feelings. How foolish it is for people to wish that their time would pass quickly, when, as we pointed out, time is like a priceless jewel.

In the Most Distinguished Naqshbandi Sufi Order we have a rule of thumb: A person's value corresponds to the value he assigns to his time. If you perceive your time to be a worthless burden that you hope will pass away quickly, then you are a burden on the face of the earth, and it would be better to be under it than on it. Why? Because you wantonly squandered one priceless treasure: your vital energy. Now that other priceless treasure, time, is not like wealth in your hands but like an immense pile of treasure underneath which you are buried. Be judicious with your vital energy so that the value of time may hecome manifest to you. When you keep your time like a diamond you will be exalted in the eyes of people and in the Divine Presence, here and hereafter.

There is a Sufi aphorism: "The Sufi is the child of his or her time". This means that the Sufi treats his or her time with the same veneration and respect due to his or her parents. Filial piety is a paramount duty in religion, and in the Sufi Way we are exhorted to honour our time as if we were honouring our mother and father. A true dervish will never waste a moment, but will catch it as a skilled jockey grabs the reins of his horse, applying his skill so that it runs in the right direction and at the right speed. Look in on a true dervish and you should find him or her occupied with something useful, never with detrimental or useless activities.

If a person can guide himself in such a manner he is on the road to perfection, because he knows what he must do. His heart's eyes will never be blind; he is keenly aware of the significance of all he encounters.

Our Grandshaykh used to say:
"Oh people, how are you filling your days? Don't waste time, but strive to weave time and space with still so that you will leave an enduring legacy behind you in this world and be honoured thereby here and hereafter".

For followers of a Sufi Way wasting time either idly or in useless activity is the greatest sin. Guard your vital energy and your valuable time make every moment live.

Seek your Sustenance

The Holy Prophet advised his Nation to work for a living, though our stay in this world be only temporary. He advises us to seek out our sustenance, not to wait for it to find us. It is best for us to work for our livelihood, to engage ourselves in any type of work that does not transgress the Law, as the most tasteful of food is that earned with one's own hands. For man to seek his sustenance within the bounds of the Divine Law is most pleasing to our Lord, and is also conducive to good mental and physical health. So whoever is able-bodied must work. Don't argue that, since the sustenance of every creature is already destined for him you need neither pursue it nor avoid it - these are the excuses of lazy people - and Allah does not favour laziness. As long as you are in this world there must be some work that you can do with your hands.

King Solomon, who was both a Prophet and a Divinely Ordained Monarch was granted by his Lord opulence far beyond the imagination of even the richest man of our time, for Allah Almighty granted him knowledge of the exact location of all the treasures in the Earth, and also empowered him over armies of Jinn who not only guarded those treasures but would bring up any of them upon command. Solomon was also granted the power to discourse with the animals, and they too were his servants.

Even such a magnificent emperor as Solomon never in his life ate food except the proceeds from the sale of baskets he himself wove. Can we find such scrupulousness anywhere? King Solomon set an example for all of his subjects, and people of all time by not using the wealth of the Nation for his personal needs. But nowadays, on the contrary, the government is expected to supply everyone's needs, so that many people, other than those who are truly handicapped or in need, unashamedly take government handouts and demand that they be increased. Don't be unemployed! Perhaps you can cheat the government, but you can't deceive Allah; and He Almighty punishes such people in this life by making that money a cause of discontent for them. No "barakah" comes from unearned money, and the result of such a life will be both physical and mental illness. Therefore, if you value your health and your sanity, eat from the work of your hands!

Sultan Abdul Hamid, the last Khalifa of the Ottoman Empire was a great personality of his time. By virtue of his great stamina and charisma he was able to not only hold together the crumbling empire, but to actually effect a kind of revival of spirit throughout the vast realm. He was the last ruler to be mentioned in sermons all across the Muslim World, and he was the last keeper of the holy relics of the Prophet which are in Istanbul.

In the midst of all the affairs of his empire that needed his attending to, he found time to engage in a craft and eat from the proceeds of that work. Not only this, but he never ascended his throne to attend to court until he had recited his Naqshbandi exercises and read a portion of the Qur'an and also of the prayer book Dalail-ul-Khairat, as well as praying the two sets of supererogatory prayers of the early morning. It is enough of a testimony to his strength to mention that he sat on the throne for thirty - three years in a time when most kings could not manage to retain their power for even ten years because of the many intrigues and the growing chaos of the times. The magnitude of his majesty was such that Kaiser Wilhelm II once said:
"I have met many monarchs and rulers in my life and have found them all to be my inferiors, or at best my equals, but when I entered the presence of Abdul Hamid I began to tremble."
The Holy Prophet once said:
"You must work for your honest provision as if you are going to remain in this world forever, and for the afterlife as if you will die tomorrow".
Now why would the Prophet, whose mission it was to call to eternal life suggest that we work as if we will always be in this world? Because when hope for the life of the world is abandoned man will die. Hope for the future of this world and for our position in it is necessary for our being able to devote ourselves to our duties in this life. Besides this, the Holy Prophet declared that man's good deeds live on after him in this world, through the benefit that future generations derive from them.

And with regard to the afterlife, the Holy Prophet was reminding us that we will cross that barrier, and it could be tomorrow, or even today: So, should we not be prepared? In order to put the matter in perspective, the Holy Prophet also said:
"Oh people you must consider how long you may remain in this world and work for it in accordance with the length of your stay; and you must consider as well how long you will be in the life of the hereafter and strive for it accordingly".
This saying may seem to contradict the previous one, for if you balance the time you will spend in this world against the time you will be in the hereafter, it will be nothing. Each of our Prophet's sayings is perfect; therefore, for those who would abandon their worldly duties, he has urged them to oppose this tendency by thinking of this world as eternal, so that they may give value to their duties. And for those who would pursue this world exclusively, the second measure: the time spent here against the time there, so that they may seek what is in fact eternal.

Sayyidina Ali related from the wisdom he gained from the Prophet, that exaggeration on the one hand, and the total abandonment, on the other, of any aspect of life is a sign of ignorance. Therefore, in this matter of balance between different aspects of effort we have been urged to seek equilibrium. And our Naqshbandi predecessors recommend the following division of our day: eight hours for prayer and devotions and eight hours for seeking our sustenance, (and time devoted to our families may be considered as devotion, as Allah has ordered us to attend to them). Following such guidelines, even people with heavy responsibilities may find time for both work and prayer, like King Solomon and Sultan Abdul Hamid.

Question: "What shall I do in my work situation where I am surrounded by people who are really antagonistic, and are always trying to drag me down to their level? Shall I be very short with them, reject their familiarity and just go about my business?"

The Sheikh answered:

There is no wisdom in pointing out people's faults to them directly, nor in behaving in such a way that your disapproval becomes very obvious. All you may do is to make some very generalized statements at an appropriate time without coming too close to directly attacking their actions or ideas, for there is nothing that the ego hates more than being blamed or accused.

All souls have wings, but the wings of sinners are broken, and they cannot fly until their wings heal, and that takes time. Meanwhile, they do not seek nests in high places-on roofs, mountains or trees - but crawl into the basement. Because they are imprisoned by their egos they remain in that dark surrounding, never seeing the light of day, only knowing artificial light.

They may in time emerge from that dark basement, but if you make them angry with you they will become even more stubborn. Allah Almighty warned the Holy Prophet of the consequences of such an attitude when He said:
"And if you were short-tempered, severe and hard-hearted they would flee from you".

This verse indicates that only through exemplary tolerance and kindness can any impression be made on ill-mannered and badly educated people.

It is not Allah Almighty's way to punish people, not even tyrants, until a Divine Messenger has been sent to them, to offer them a better way than the way of tyranny on which they tread. The door to repentance and just dealing is open to everyone, and it was the duty of the Prophets and their Inheritors to beckon all towards that door; all the more so the tyrants, as their bad actions may adversely affect millions of people or the whole world!

The very word "Pharaoh" has become synonymous with "tyrant". Our Lord teaches us the proper way of trying to turn a tyrant away from his tyranny, when He ordered Moses and Aaron, peace be upon them, to:

"Go unto Pharaoh and speak to him smoothly and politely, that perhaps he may be guided".

Only later, when Pharaoh's intransigence became apparent, Moses was ordered to threaten him with divine wrath and to bring down divine retribution upon Pharaoh's people.

According to this Divine Wisdom, it is wrong for a believer to confront anyone with bad manners and derision. We have not been ordered to be quarrelsome and scowling, cursing-and-swearing people.

Whenever our Grandsheikh would receive government officials, secret police or people who had come to his assembly to try and find fault, in order to oppose him, he, of course, could easily read their secret intentions. He always treated such people with especial kindness, showing them extraordinary respect and deference. The result was that they would feel ashamed of their previous insincere intentions and go away with a good feeling about Grandsheikh, resolving to treat him respectfully from then on. Our Grandsheikh's wife used to warn us: "If you see Grandsheikh making a great fuss over a visitor, beware of that person!"

What to expect in the grave

CONTROLLING ANGER AND PASSION
We are speaking on the life of Barzakh--life in the grave, between this life and last life. Commonly, everyone will enter grave, perhaps with some exceptions. The Prophet said that everyone must find in his grave what he or she did throughout his life. In our life one's rank or riches or highly honoured father's and mother's may be useful for one, but in the grave only one's actions are important. from the heart. You can't listen to your Lord or to your Prophet. If a person dies angry, he will go to Hell.

Bayazid’s 24,000 Expansions

Our Grandsheikh was saying that whoeve has real spiritual exercises, if he can complete them, there may appear from himself many forms like himself. Firstly there may be three then seven, having the same shape and bodily pov ers, but in seven different places, each independent, looking, acting and knowing. This power grows from one completing exercise under the supervision of a Perfect Master: Murshidun Kamil.

Abu Yazid once prayed one Juma'a prayer in 24,000 different places. He told the religious authorities in one place: "I was praying in 12,000 different houses of worship today." They asked: "How?" He said "by the power of the Lord Almighty. If you don't believe me, send people around to ask." The sat and waited until messengers returned saying that he was seen in so many places. Abu Yazid said later: "I was afraid to say 24,000 so only said half."

Allah says that when planting one grain of wheat, it disappears into the earth and becomes seven ears, each ear with a hundred grains, 700 grains coming from one. If a person gives his body to be nothing, Allah gives a body from His Divine Presence. Don't be surprised about Allah's actions; He is al-Qadir, The All-Powerful. But no one agrees to be nothing, everyone is asking to be something, to be, to be, to be, even in religion. In Tariqat also, people ask miracles and heavenly vision, no one likes to be nothing. When agreeing to be nothing, you will be all things. The Palace of Unity is not open to those saying 'we are something'. You must enter into Khalwat, seclusion, not thinking to come out, finished, addressing to your ego; "Don't think that you are coming out and able to do miracles. I am going to bury you. My sheikh will send the Angel to take your soul." Then it will be real seclusion, otherwise it is only training. For the first condition, the sheikh looks to the disciple to see if desires of the ego are still running in his heart. Ego must be finished there; then to such a person ready for death, all keys to treasures can be trusted. This body must be taken. Everyone will die. Some may offer themselves to death with their willpower. This does not mean killing oneself, but killing the ego's desires. Then you are ready for Divine powers.

Abu Yazid was such a hard fighter to ego. People asked him what is the most difficult fighting. He replied: "You can't live up to it at all." And what is the lightest fighting? Maybe you may listen a little. I called my ego to come out to pray: It said, 'but I want to sleep'. I told it 'Enough, leave sleeping and get up!' 'But I like to sleep'. 'I swear by God won't give you any sleeping or drinking one year if you don't get up.' This is lightest fighting to my greatest enemy."

For twelve years he was in a dry well; he buried himself there to make his soul free for the whole Universe; free to wear any body. These are most expensive pearls, only Kings Queens may put on their heads. For them you must sacrifice your ego. We're now only listening but saints are also from mankind and perhaps they are weaker than us; but they know the Lord and He is All- Powerful. You must do everything for His sake. Say: "Oh Lord, we are needy."

Purity Of Heart:
To Forgive And Forget And To Be Immune To Vainglory

Once the Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, was sitting with his companions, when, sighting from afar a man approaching, he said: "Oh my companions, if you want to behold one of the inhabitants of Paradise, look at that man who is now approaching". The man presently arrived and took his place among the congregation. The next day, and yet the next day after that, the Prophet delivered his companions the good tidings of that man's eternal felicity (without saying anything, however, to the man himself).

So often I have heard people lay claim to possessing pure hearts. Especially people who reject religion and mystical practices out of hand love to make such claims. We don't lay any such claims, but we believe that our Way is the way of purification, and that our efforts should set us in the right direction. Anyone who thinks of himself as a pure-hearted person should pay heed to this account and reexamine his claim in light of it.

This account has reached our time through Abdullah, the son of Umar, the second Khalipha of Islam. When Abdullah heard the Prophet laud that person three times he decided to follow him to his house and seek both his blessings and knowledge of exactly what means had led to his attaining such a high station of perfection in this life.

When Abdullah arrived at the man's home he knocked on his door and was welcomed in. The man asked him: "May I inquire as to the purpose of your visit?" Then Ibn Umar related to the man what the Holy Prophet had said about him each of the three preceding days. The man said: "I know". Abdullah Ibn Umar continued: "Oh my brother, I would also like to be one of those fortunate people to have secured a place in paradise while still living in this world. What exactly have you done to attain such distinction in the Divine Presence? What kind of ascetic austerities have you undergone? What kinds of superrogatory acts of devotion have you performed?"

"Oh Abdullah, I don't worship more than you or anyone else does. My being given those good tidings is not a result either of my austerity or my devotions. There are, however, three attributes that I have cultivated and which I prize very much, as one would cherish rare pearls in his possession. First of all, every night as I lay in bed before sleeping I say to my Lord: "Oh my Lord, if any of Your servants has harmed me today, either with his hand or with his tongue, I have forgiven him with complete forgiveness, and will never raise a complaint against him to anyone nor to You, neither now nor on the Day of Judgement. You are my witness that I have forgiven them all: now and forever, here and hereafter."

I must ask all people who claim to be pure of heart: Can you forgive in such a manner? Or do you run to court over sixpence, reciprocate for a single word of abuse with a shower? When slapped do you turn the other cheek, or answer it with ten blows? Do you hold grudges over a long period of time? If you react in this manner to provocation you must know that you are cultivating filth and disease, not purity. Don't hold grudges, for their fruit is hatred and enmity. Where then is your purity?

Then Abdullah Ibn Umar said: "Hmmm... that is a very difficult attribute to emulate. Tell me the second attributeÐthat, perhaps, may be easier to aspire to". The man said: "Look, if I were given the whole world and its treasures, and if the people were to make obeisance to me, saying. 'We are making you our king and putting a huge royal treasury at your disposal. Please take your place now on the Imperial throne and order us to do what you like, your wish is our command', I would not be happy or gratified at all. And what is the sign that I really feel this way? That is the third attribute, and it confirms the second, is proof that I care nothing for wealth and power. For, if those same people were to come the next day, abuse me and kick me off the throne, saying, 'Go away! We don't accept such a foolish king who is not even happy at being crowned king nor pleased at having sovereignty over the whole world bestowed upon him, nor with vast wealth and treasures', I would not be sorry in the least, but greatly relieved".

Are such attributes so easy to attain that everyone should go around claiming to have purity of heart? If someone were to give us an ordinary house Ðforget about palaces Ðwe would be happy, and certainly if they came the next day and claimed it back we would be sorry. So what about having the whole world at our command? Such renunciation is a sign that the topmost point of fait has been reached. Allah has said, "The material world is of less value to Me than the wing of a mosquito". That man had attained certainty of this, had taken this wisdom to heart and stopped coveting this world. The true believer will say: "Oh my Lord, as much as the material world is worth in Your sight, so let it be in mine".

Being Fully Present

Our Grandshaykh was saying that if you like to take benefit from listening or attending a meeting, you must be present in body and heart. But so many people are just like empty jars, sitting. Divine Knowledges pour out when the heart is present. It means when listening with the ears of your heart it gives you Divine Powers. Our Grandshaykh said that if one person in a meeting is scratching his head, the one speaking must come down seven degrees. He may lose that Divine outpouring. But some people are speaking with each other, some watching the door to see who is coming and going, some looking at the clock, and the power is going down. Grandshaykh was always annoyed about this. If you are giving care, my heart is in his hands, and he is in relationship with the Prophet, and the Prophet is in the Divine Presence.

Our Grandshaykh told of two mureeds in his homeland. One was in seclusion for spiritual practice. The second came one day by order of their shaykh to take the brother for a walk outside of the village. They were going on the road in conversation about important spiritual instructions when they reached to the fields of the one in seclusion. As they approached, his eyes wandered to those fields. The other said: "Oh my brother, turn back to your seclusion, you are leaving pearls and turning to fields."

Our attention span is very short, Psychologists say, first fifteen minutes, keen attention, afterwards decreasing. Our Grandshaykh says, not to make any meeting more thar three hours, even though people may be strong and interested. As much as you can make it shorter, more benefit comes, especially in our time.

The Station of Unity

"Oh my Lord, I ask You to grant me understanding, and to enable me, Oh my Lord, to make others understand."
(A prayer of the Holy Prophet Muhammed, Peace be upon him)

Every time I address people I silently make this supplication, as I know that only he who himself understands can teach people anything useful. A visitor recently told me about a spiritual teacher whose lectures and writings were so difficult that only trained intellectuals could make sense of what he was saying. It is not a sign of a man's understanding that his teachings be incomprehensible; a man of understanding will always try to make himself well understood by using clear and straightforward speech, adjusting to the level of his audience, and he will try to address as broad an audience as possible, otherwise his words will be scattered with the winds.

Even Allah Almighty, the Lord of all creatures, the Master of existence, in all His Glory and Greatness condescends to the level of His creatures. This is called "Tanazzulat Subhani" or, as close as it can be translated, "the Condescension of Glory" (or "the Condescension of the Glorious One"). You may find Him Almighty with His creatures on every level.

If He were not with an ant, and knew not the conditions in which that ant lives and what are its needs, He could not, by definition be the Lord of that ant. He, the Lord of all, in His knowledge, is even with microscopic creatures; so what about mankind, the most distinguished of His creatures, is it saying too much to say that He is with us? "Does the Creator not know what He created?" asks the Lord, that we may understand His Omniscience, and that being the Lord of all creation does not detract from His being with each individual creature.

The Holy Prophets and their Inheritors in every age have been endowed with knowledge of Divine Realities which is hidden from the rest of humanity, and it is their main duty to make these realities comprehensible to mankind in general, and to individual people in whatever way possible, in accordance with the respective levels and capabilities of those people. As the teachers of humanity they have been granted the ability to communicate in this manner: to speak directly to people's hearts.

This they have been granted from the Attributes of their Lord. But only Prophets and their true inheritors may find such flexibility available to them; for others it is very difficult to address anyone other than those who share with them a similar background and manner of perception. But Divine Teachers may be to every people what they need, may say what they need to hear; that is why people of varying backgrounds and ranks in life may all find peace with the same man and follow him.

A Concorde could never land on the roof of this building, but a helicopter could. Most scholars are like Concordes: so proud of their immense wingspans, streamlined form and speed. Only a few statesmen and tycoons - men and women of distinction and endowed with great wealth - may enter and ride Concordes. So scholars may speak and write for the appreciation of other scholars. Concordes fly at tremendous speeds and require huge runways at international airports to land, but a helicopter can land anywhere, even sometimes at sea, and can always hover in mid-air while lowering a lifeline to people trapped by a fire. So Divine Teachers are accessible to everyone in every situation, whereas Concordes might crash in a place where only helicopters can reach to rescue the survivors. Therefore, I am not leaving them on the tops of Himalaya mountains, but bringing them to safety.

Seekers of truth must look for those qualities in a teacher who purports to be addressing subjects related to the Divine. Otherwise they will be pursuing useless studies, and, according to the Holy Prophet, a sign of a person's perfection in Islam is his abandonment of useless activities ("that which doesn't concern him").

Our guest mentioned that this scholar was addressing the topics of "Fana and Baqa",or ''Annihilation and Permanence in the Divine". I think that no one except those who have arrived at these Stations is qualified to speak of them, otherwise his description will be like that of a person who has never tasted honey trying to describe its taste from what he has read about it to others who have been deprived of honey. Or it will be like asking a little boy about the pleasures of a honeymoon... useless.

These topics are Oceans. When you melt, dissolving in the Unity Ocean of Allah Almighty, then you may understand the meaning of "Fani-fillah" (Annihilation in Allah). When you abandon your position as a being in existence, when you become as a drop of rain falling from the sky and are immersed, united in that Ocean of Divine Unity, then no one can ask where that drop has gone: the drop became an Ocean.

As long as the drop is falling, it continues to say: "I am something", but when it reaches that Ocean, it looks and says: "Where am I? I am finished. I am with Him. I am here, but not here; only He is here, but I am now with Him. I am in His Ocean. I feel this, but no more can it be said that I am a drop: this drop has become an Ocean". That is only a very simple description of Annihilation in God.

"Baqa" or Permanence, is to be with Him always. In such a Station your personality does not appear; what appears is only Divine Existence. You have been dressed in Divine Unity. That is the "Station of Unity", "Maqam at-Tawhid". What Baqa means is that you will never lose sight, hearing, feeling, knowing, understanding - never, but they will be without limits. We must try to attain these Stations, but the Way is difficult and requires severe training.

One of the aspects of that training is to try and see everything as proceeding from Him Alone. This is the sixth pillar of faith in Islam: The belief that everything that happens in this world, the good and the bad alike, are from God. This is referred to as "Tawhid al-Af'al" or "The Unity of Actions". The way to begin to realize this point is to remember the source of all events, Allah Almighty, when events occur, and not to occupy one's self with blaming or lauding those who are not really the causes of events, only the instruments to their occurrence. This means that if Ahmed comes and gives you a pound coin and then Fulan comes and slaps you and takes it away, you don't think of Ahmed as the giver of the money, nor of Fulan as a thief. If you think like this you have fallen from that high level of faith. You must perceive the hand of Allah behind both hands - that which giveth and that which taketh away as He is the creator of the actions of people.

When someone is generous or kind to you, you must remember that it was your Lord who sent him with that favour, and you must thank your Lord. But at the same time you are going to say: "Thank you" to that person, as without giving thanks to the carrier of that blessing your thanks to its origin is not going to be complete. Therefore the Holy Prophet said: "Who thanks not people thanks not Allah". Our Prophet, upon whom be peace, is advising us strongly that we should not allow our vision of unity to distract us from perfecting our politeness with our fellow men. But you know that it is your Lord who sent him, and you are not forgetting that under any circumstances. And when you see that Ahmed has filled your hands with gold, you must say to him: "Oh Sheikh Ahmed, thank you so much! And firstly thanks to your Lord, who sent you with favours for me, and thank you for faithfully delivering what was entrusted to you".

And when that robber Fulan comes, hits you and takes all the money, don't be angry with him! Yes, the Divine Law, the Shariah, permits you to retrieve that money if you can, and prescribes a Punishment to be meted out by the society as well, but if you are on the way of Unity, then you must regard that action as coming to you from Allah Almighty too. He Alone sent that man to rob you, because the Creator of every action is only One: Allah Almighty.

Because it is not possible for all people to aspire to this high level of faith in which God's Hand is seen behind every event, Allah Almighty in one verse of the Holy Qur'an, condones "a life for a life" in the case of murder, and goes on to call those who are capable of it to "turning the other cheek". These are the levels, respectively, of Shariah, the Law, and Tariqah, the Path. Based on this verse, therefore, the Islamic Law concerning murder is balanced, making concession for the normal human feelings for vengeance in the face of such an abominable crime. Islam allows for the execution of the duly convicted murderer, and in this way assuages the feelings of the close relatives, thus preventing extended blood-feuds. The law also allows for the payment of blood money in lieu of execution, to be paid to the victim's close relatives. Lastly the verse calls those who are seeking the highest level of faith and unity of vision to forgiveness, saying: "And whoso forgives and promotes understanding, his reward is incumbent on his Lord".

What Allah is saying to seekers of absolute truth is: "Now forgive him, because I sent him to do that action". Then you realize that, in reality, there is no question of guilt nor need for revenge. But that is not the common level. That is the level to be striven for, and it is beyond us to forgive in such a manner because our egos are like volcanoes.

Now people may be very polite in their everyday dealings, as long as everyone behaves in accordance with their expectations and everything falls into place according to plan; but should, God forbid, the smallest thing go wrong - for example a small error in driving, even one that causes no accident - for such a small reason one may hear the ugliest obscenities pour from their mouths like a lava eruption. That ego makes people dangerously ill, and now that people are totally under their egos' command, where can you find the tolerance described in that Holy Verse of the Qur'an?

So much hate and frustration is pent up in people - I see it in their looks - and so often a scapegoat is sought upon whom to release that torrent, and the best, the tried and true scapegoat throughout the world is always the "foreigners"; so I am quick to assure people here in the West: "We are just here as your guests. This is your homeland." But is it? You can't stay here either except in your graves. Your homeland is the grave, not above ground. Thank God, no one is begrudging us cemetery plots, no one is trying to prevent our being buried. The gravedigger wipes the dirt off his hands and goes away, and the Earth accepts us indiscriminately; but people on the Earth are Once I was in Mecca with our Grandsheikh making Tawaf (circumambulating) the House of Allah, the Kaaba. Grandsheikh said to me: "Look up!" When I looked I saw above the heads of the people another group of worshippers performing their Tawaf; but these people were of a different class: calm, peaceful and graceful. They too were of mankind, not Angels, but they were the ones who had reached the level of seeing every action as issuing from Allah Almighty, therefore they left the level of earthly struggle.

But, meanwhile, back on the ground, amidst the throng, with those who lack such certainty, we were being pushed, shoved and trampled upon, Some groups locked arms and shoved straight through the crowd, full-speed ahead, sending all who were unfortunate enough to fall in their path flying through the air, like discarded banana peels. Elbows in my ribs, heels on my toes... but above us, the ones who concur with God's Will have no need for earth under their feet. Now, perhaps, you are thinking that such a thing is impossible. that I am telling a "tall tale", but Yet, when you are told that airplanes fly you think nothing of it. If man can make metal fly, cannot God make man fly? They are at peace with their Lord and with everything in creation, therefore, everything carries them.

And so, we have been shown a higher way, the vision of Unity, and we have been asked to be patient with those events that are not to our liking, remembering their source. This is the best training for our egos. Undergo this training or you will struggle fruitlessly - up to the grave. We are being trained by our Lord to recognize the Unity of Actions, so that we can come to understand the Unity of His Holy Names, which leads us to the knowledge of the Unity of His Holy Attributes; that knowledge will prepare us for that ultimate dive into the Unity Ocean of Allah Almighty's existence - essence. That is the final goal: that raindrop falls, and it will not emerge again ever - and it is content because it has just gained everything eternally, forever.

Therefore, Allah Almighty addresses mankind, saying: "Oh man, verily you are striving towards your Lord, and you will meet Him". He Almighty is teaching us that all our striving on Earth, our running from East to West, here and there, night and day, is, unwittingly, nothing else than our race towards our Lord's endless Unity Ocean, but we can't now understand. Our souls long for our Lord, therefore we move, and there is nowhere to move save towards the One.

Look not to the Faults of Others

HOW TO BECOME FREE OF BAD CHARACTER

Our Grandshaykh is saying - his every advice is like ammo for guns, given to you to use against the enemy. But you are only taking them and making a stash. We are giving them to you for shooting; that is our intention. We are giving you shells for every range, some for nearby and some for the other side of the mountain. Yet our Grandshaykh is saying: "I can't find anyone to keep my advices." I hope you may keep his advice.

Our Grandshaykh is asking, what is that which Allah and his Prophet don't like? You must know, and when knowing, keep far away from it. He answers that it is to look after a person's faults. Allah has prohibited this. It is a big sin and the worst action a person can make. You also have faults--everyone has so many--and you have a responsibility for those faults in the Divine Presence. So why are you looking at the faults of others; you must eliminate your own. When one is looking to the faults of another, the respect we have for him or her in our heart disappears, and the love toward that person is extinguished. Therefore, it is prohibited. Everyone has so many faults, that if we were looking at them, all would become enemies to one another. It causes separation of the Community and then comes Satan to capture us. Sufism calls for such actions as bring love and strong relations between people, to protect from badness and give power to faith. Therefore, we are ordered to worship together, so that our faith will grow stronger.

Our Grandshaykh says we must be careful that Satan does not make our worship unacceptable. It is unacceptable when we are asking for any rewards. We must ask for our Lord's pleasure only. When all the ego's desires are finished, then one is a servant of the Lord. To look for some reward for worshipping is like idol worship, it is a secret form of polytheism. Sincerity is to ask only your Lord's service. So many people are worshipping and then doing what their ego demands. This means that they are servants of Allah and of Satan. It is a dangerous way. Until we become clean of bad character we can't be free of Satan, this world, our egos, and vain desires. Until you become fully aware for each you make with your foot, whether that step is on the right way or the wrong way, you remain in need of alignment in your heart. You must know and be awake to where you are putting your foot. One second's heedlessness may be cause a dangerous accident. Therefore, we are always in need to repeat the word of Testification, to put us on the right way. Until we become free of bad character, we cannot attain to real faith; and without real faith, then there is no real life, the life that is forever. Whoever realizes real faith in this world will live on in the tomb, his body not turning to dust. That is a sign from God that he or she has reached true life.

How is it possible to save ourselves from bad character? A bad charecteristic is pride. Satan was thrown out of the Divine Presence for his pride. If a person is not humble enough to accept another to teach him lessons, he is proud. You must have a Sufi Teacher to show you how to apply the Divine Ordinances to yourself. He learned from his Shaykh how to use Shariah on himself. There can be no surgeon who hasn't witnessed a surgery performed, but learned only from books.

Don't Worry!

The Seal of Prophets, Sayyidina Muhammad, peace be upon him, imparted this good advice to mankind: "If you awaken in the morning and find that you are lacking nothing in the way of material sustenance, and that you and your family are in good health, then don't burden yourself with worry".

The Holy Prophet advises us not to make problems for ourselves. If there are immediate and pressing problems, that is another story, but so many "problems" in people's minds are not problems at all except in their minds. They are only "projected problems" which may or may not ever materialize. This is the affliction of twentieth century man: anxiety, or suffering inflicted upon oneself over the possibility of future suffering. As a result of this neurotic anxiety people may suffer intensely over a long period of time, although none of what they fear ever materializes This is the epitome of foolishness.

We are shouldering weekly, monthly and yearly burdens each day. Why carry such baggage when you may walk unburdened and find all that you need awaiting your arrival at each station of your journey? You only exist here and now. Tomorrow's "you" is only a fantasy, as you can't even know if you'll live that long. By inventing so many problems for yourself you are only making yourself ill. Is this advice of the Prophet not enough evidence of his adherence to a way that leads man to felicity?

Allah Almighty doesn't want His servants to suffer needless self-inflicted misery, and He says: "Oh My servants, don't load heavy burdens on yourselves by worrying about the future. Just bring yourselves in line with My will; accord with my purposes this moment, and then rest assured that I will help you keep your future moments similarly aligned with My will".

Perhaps you may understand my point from the following example. When a new railway track is laid, before a locomotive and train are ever sent over it, a two-wheeled cart is first drawn over it to check whether the tracks have been laid straight. In the same way, if you can align your will to that of your Lord even for one moment, without carrying a heavy burden, you may be sure that your way is right, and that, even should times get rough, and so many burdens be coupled to your locomotive, your track is straight and true and you will pass along it smoothly and safely. A solution to this moment's problem is the solution to next year's derailment.

When I am here in western countries I daily encounter people carrying the weight of anticipated problems, It is so difficult in the modern world to escape from having this perspective, and to concentrate on the moment in order to put it right. With tens of thousands of problems in front of you all at once how should a solution seem possible?

I often see people running into the mosque, saying the obligatory prayers quickly and running out. Sometimes I ask them: "What's the rush?" Then they nervously look at their watches and say: "We have tarried in the mosque too long already. We have so many things to do today!" I reply: "It is laudable to be industrious and to look after your affairs well, but who would look after your affairs were you to drop dead here and now?"

I am not encouraging people to spend their whole days in the mosque, but only trying to remind people who are not only running after their sustenance, but leaping, head over heels after ambitious all-encompassing undertakings that it is impossible to "master the world", and destructive to devote so much energy to their attempt, and with so much abandon. First of all, the world already has a Master, and addressing Him humbly and with presence of mind (not hurriedly) in your prayers is even more instrumental in attaining your sustenance than rushing through the city. Secondly, far from attending to your affairs more efficiently by running, you are only likely to have a heart attack and die young!

Don't live in a world of great big-time schemes, for such schemes will not save you from trouble, but entangle you in it even further. Simplify your problems so that the solutions may be simple, also don't regard your problems with a magnifying glass, so that they are out of perspective: that habit will destroy you physically and spiritually.

Importance of Enduring Troubles

Our Grandshaykh was saying about trials: everyday they are coming afresh and the seeker must be ready and careful each time for that trying, that his faith may become real faith. Everyone may improve his station. For one still under his ego's rule, he will be tested by that which his ego will never like, From everything, family, friends, work and neighbours, may come to you what you don't like. The way of development is the way of patience. There is no quick development. One must be agreeable to all happenings to and around himself.

That is the sign of development, to endure peoples' troubling you. It is not important to fly in the sky or to walk on the sea or to be seen in several places at once or to dream good dreams. lmportant in our way is to be patient, resisting every wave of evil like a mountain in a storm, not beiilg pushed back. That is development. Or like the ocean, not becoming dirty from the rivers pouring into it. People with extraordinary powers may fly, but may in the end lose their faith when Satan rushes to attack them. We must be able to endure every harm from everyone.

Our Grandshaykh says, we must be awakened for everything coming contrary to our liking and be ready to tolerate it. This is the real station of faith. Three times a day at shaykh looks to his seekers, but not with a looking to give them pleasure, intead they are looking to send something to the seeker that he will never like. Are you patient, or giving up? When you are patient, your heart is given satisfaction, and a light comes on your real eyes and more faith comes to you. At each opportunity you may advance or regress. This time is particularly filled up with unliked things, the world is full of evils and devils. The Prophet said, "to keep religion in this time is more difficult than to keep fire in one's hand." We must be patient. Allah gives to those enduring unliked things endless reward. It is the way of real faith, like the way of Prophets and of Saints, to endure the badness of people.

2008-12-08T07:47:00.000-08:00

Mercy Oceans Rising Sun

Sheikh Nazim Adil Al Qubrusi Al Haqqani

The Station of Unity

“Oh my Lord, I ask You to grant me understanding, and to enable me, Oh my Lord, to make others understand.”
A prayer of the Holy Prophet Muhammed, Peace be upon him

Every time I address people I silently make this supplication, as I know that only he who himself understands can teach people anything useful. A visitor recently told me about a spiritual teacher whose lectures and writings were so difficult that only trained intellectuals could make sense of what he was saying. It is not a sign of a man’s understanding that his teachings be incomprehensible; a man of understanding will always try to make himself well understood by using clear and straightforward speech, adjusting to the level of his audience, and he will try to address as broad an audience as possible, otherwise his words will be scattered with the winds.

Even Allah Almighty, the Lord of all creatures, the Master of existence, in all His Glory condescends to the level of His creatures. This is called “Tanazzulat Subhani” or, as close as it can be translated, “the Condescension of Glory” (or “the Condescension of the Glorious One”). You may find Him Almighty with His creatures on every level.

If He were not with an ant, and knew not the conditions in which that ant lives and what are its needs, He could not, by definition be the Lord of that ant. He, the Lord of all, in His knowledge, is even with microscopic creatures; so what about mankind, the most distinguished of His creatures, is it saying too much to say that He is with us? “Does the Creator not know what He created?” asks the Lord, that we may understand His Omniscience, and that being the Lord of all creation does not detract from His being with each individual creature.

The Holy Prophets and their Inheritors in every age have been endowed with knowledge of Divine Realities which is hidden from the rest of humanity, and it is their main duty to make these realities comprehensible to mankind in general, and to individual people in whatever way possible, in accordance with the respective levels and capabilities of those people. As the teachers of humanity they have been granted the ability to communicate in this manner: to speak directly to people’s hearts. This they have been granted from the Attributes of their Lord. But only Prophets and their true inheritors may find such flexibility available to them; for others it is very difficult to address anyone other than those who share with them a similar background and manner of perception. But Divine Teachers may be to every people what they need, may say what they need to hear; that is why people of varying backgrounds and ranks in life may all find peace with the same man and follow him.

A Concorde could never land on the roof of this building, but a helicopter could. Most scholars are like Concordes: so proud of their immense wingspans, streamlined form and speed. Only a few statesmen and tycoons – men and women of distinction and endowed with great wealth – may enter and ride Concordes. So scholars may speak and write for the appreciation of other scholars. Concordes fly at tremendous speeds and require huge runways at international airports to land, but a helicopter can gland anywhere, even sometimes at sea, and can always hover in mid-air while lowering a lifeline to people trapped by a fire. So divine Teachers are accessible to everyone in every situation, whereas Concordes might crash in a place where only helicopters can reach to rescue the survivors. Therefore, I am not leaving them on the tops of Himalayan mountains, but bringing them to safety.

Seekers of truth must look for those qualities in a teacher who purports to be addressing subjects related to the Divine. Otherwise they will be pursuing useless studies, and, according to the Holy Prophet, a sign of a person’s perfection in Islam in his abandonment of useless activities (“that which doesn’t concern him”).

Our guest mentioned that this scholar was addressing the topic of “Fana and Baqa”, or “Annihilation and Permanence in the Divine”. I think that no one except those who have arrived at these Stations is qualified to speak of them, otherwise his description will be like that of a person who has never tasted honey trying to describe its taste from what he has read about it to others who have been deprived of honey. Or it will be like asking a little boy about the pleasures of a honeymoon ... useless.

These topics are Oceans. When you melt, dissolving in the Unity Ocean of Allah Almighty then you may understand the meaning of “Fani-Fillah” (Annihilation in Allah). When you abandon your position as a being in existence, when you become as a drop of rain falling from the sky and are immersed, united in that Ocean of Divine Unity, then no one can ask where that drop has gone : the drop became an Ocean.

As long as the drop is falling, it continues to say: “I am something”, but when it reaches that Ocean, it looks and says: “Where am I? I am finished. I am with Him. I am here, but not here; only He is here, but I am now with Him. I am in His Ocean. I feel this, but no more can it be said that I am a drop: this drop has become an Ocean”. That is only a very simple description of Annihilation in God.

“Baqa” or Permanence, is to be with Him always. In such a Station your personality does not appear; what appears is only Divine Existence. You have been dressed in Divine Unity. That is the “Station of Unity”, “Maqam at-Tawhid”. What Baqa means is that you will never lose sight, hearing, feeling, knowing, understanding – never, but they will be without limits. We must try to attain these stations, but the Way is difficult and requires severe training.

One of the aspects of that training is to try and see everything as proceeding from Him Alone. This is the sixth pillar of faith in Islam : The belief that everything that happens in this world, the good and the bad alike, are from God. This is referred to as “Tawhid al-Af’al” or “The Unity of Actions”. They way to begin to realise this point is to remember the source of all events, Allah Almighty, when events occur, and not to occupy one’s self with blaming or lauding those who are not really the causes of events, only the instruments to their occurrence. This means that if Ahmed comes and gives you a pound coin and then Fulan comes and slaps you and takes it away, you don’t think of Ahmed as the giver of the money, nor of Fulan as a thief. If you think like this you have fallen from that high level of faith. You must perceive the hand of Allah behind both hands – that which giveth and that which taketh away – as He is the creator of the actions of people.

When someone is generous or kind to you, you must remember that it was your Lord who sent him with that favour, and you must thank your Lord. But at the same time you are going to say: “Thank you” to that person, as without giving thanks to the carrier of that blessing your thanks to its origin is not going to be complete. Therefore the Holy Prophet said: “Who thanks not people thanks not Allah”. Our Prophet, upon whom be peace, is advising us strongly that we should not allow our vision of unity to distract us from perfecting our politeness with out fellow men. But you know that it is your Lord who sent him, and you are not forgetting that under any circumstances. And when you see that Ahmed has filled your hands with gold, you must say to him: “Oh Sheikh Ahmed, thanks you so much! And firstly thanks to your Lord, who sent you with favours for me, and thank you for faithfully delivering what was entrusted to you”.

And when that robber Fulan comes, hits you and takes all the money, don’t be angry with him! Yes, the Divine Law, the Shariah, permits you to retrieve that money if you can, and prescribes a punishment to be meted out by the society as well, but if you are on the way of Unity, then you must regard that action as coming to you from Allah Almighty too. He Alone sent that man to rob you, because the Creator of every action is only One : Allah Almighty.

Because it is not possible for all people to aspire to this high level of faith in which God’s Hand is seen behind every event, Allah Almighty in one verse of the Holy Qur’an, condones “a life for a life” in the case of murder, and goes on to call those who are capable of it to “turning the other cheek”. These are the levels, respectively, of Shariah, the Law, and Tariqah, the Path. Based on this verse, therefore, the Islamic Law concerning murder is balanced, making concession for the normal human feelings for vengeance in the face of such an abominable crime. Islam allows for the execution of the duly convicted murderer, and in this way assuages the feelings of the close relatives, thus preventing extended blood feuds. The law also allows for the payment of blood money in lieu of execution, to be paid to the victim’s close relatives. Lastly the verse calls those who are seeking the highest level of faith and unity of vision to forgiveness, saying: “And whoso forgives and promotes understanding, his reward is incumbent on his Lord”.

What Allah is saying to seekers of absolute truth is: “Now forgive him, because I sent him to do that action”. Then you realise that, in reality, there is no question of guilt nor need for revenge. But that is not the common level. That is the level to be striven for, and it is beyond us to forgive in such a manner because our egos are like volcanoes.

Now people may be very polite in their everyday dealings, as long as everyone behaves in accordance with their expectations and everything falls into place according to plan; but should, God forbid, the smallest thing go wrong – for example a small error in driving, even one that causes no accident – for such a small reason one may hear the ugliest obscenities pour from their mouths like a lava eruption. That ego makes people dangerously ill, and now that people are totally under their egos’ command, where can you find the tolerance described in that Holy Verse of the Qur’an?

So much hate and frustration is pent up in people – I see it in their looks – and so often a scapegoat is sought upon whom to release that torrent, and the best, the tried and true scapegoat throughout the world is always the “foreigners”; so I am quick to assure people here in the West: “We are just here as your guests. This is your homeland.” But is it? You can’t stay here either except in your graves. Your homeland is the grave, not above ground. Thank God, no one is begrudging us cemetery plots, no one is trying to prevent our being buries. The gravedigger wipes the dirt of his hands and goes away, and the Earth accepts us indiscriminately; but people on the Earth are busy making distinctions, and therefore, that high level of acceptance of actions as coming from God is rarely found. But He teaches us the lesson nonetheless, saying: “You must understand who I am: I am the Creator of people and their works: understand this, that you may attain peace and finally leave behind your quarrelsomeness.”

Once I was in Mecca with our Grandsheikh making Tawaf (circumnambulating) the House of Allah, the Kaaba. Grandsheikh said to me: “Look up!” When I looked I saw above the heads of the people another group of worshippers performing their Tawaf; but these people were of a different class: calm, peaceful and graceful. They too were of mankind, not Angels, but they were the ones who had reached the level of seeing every action as issuing from Allah Almighty, therefore they left the level of earthly struggle.

But, meanwhile, back on the ground, amidst the throng, with those who lack such certainty, we were being pushed, shoved and trampled upon. Some groups locked arms and shoved straight through the crowd, full-speed ahead, sending all who were unfortunate enough to fall into their path flying through the air, like discarded banana peels. Elbows in my ribs, heels on my toes …. But above us, the ones who concur with God’s Will have no need for earth under their feet. Now, perhaps, you are thinking that such a thing is impossible, that I am telling a “tall tale”, but yet, when you are told that aeroplanes fly you think nothing of it. If man can make metal fly, cannot God make man fly? They are at peace with their Lord and with everything in creation, therefore, everything carries them.

And so, we have been shown a higher way, the vision of Unity, and we have been asked to be patient with those events that are not to our liking, remembering their source. This is the best training for our egos. Undergo this training or you will struggle fruitlessly – up to the grave. We are being trained by our Lord to recognise the Unity of Actions, so that we can come to understand the Unity of His Holy Names which leads us to the knowledge of the Unity of His Holy Attributes; that knowledge will prepare us for that ultimate dive into the Unity Ocean of Allah Almighty’s existence – essence. That is the final goal: that raindrop falls, and it will not emerge again ever – and it is content because it has just gained everything eternally, forever.

Therefore, Allah Almighty addresses mankind, saying: “Oh man, verily you are striving towards your Lord, and you will meet Him”. He Almighty is teaching us that all our striving on Earth, our running from East to West, here and there, night and day, is, unwittingly, nothing else than our race towards our Lord’s endless Unity Ocean, but we can’t now understand. Our souls long for our Lord, therefore we move, and there is nowhere to move save towards the One.

Love is Lovely

Love is lovely to the Lord and to His servants. If you do anything with love it should be accepted by your Lord, and He should make it tasteful for you. If you love your work it will be easy for you to do, if not, it will only be a burden. The Lord says: “I am not inn need of your worship, I am only seeking the love with which it is offered.” Oh servants of the Lord, Oh believers, you must not overlook this point. Don’t be like slaves rowing in the galley of a ship – if you pray, you must pray with love not by force, as if a slavedriver were standing over you with a whip! Allah never appreciates such forced devotions. Now we are trying to perform all the practices but forgetting to ask for Divine Love, so we are becoming like mechanical robots, or like people performing gymnastics.

Allah has asked us to engage our bodies in His worship and in service to His creation through charity and good deeds, but what must be the fruit of those actions? If the fruit is not love it is a bitter fruit and is rejected. If our worship causes Love of God to grow in our hearts, then we must keep to that practice and continue on our way; and if we are keeping the company of a spiritual teacher, and find that through keeping his company love of God is awakening in our hearts, then we must follow him closely.

The Love of God is not easy to attain, for we cannot imagine Him; therefore, He Almighty has made the Prophets apostles of His Love. Allah’s Beloved, the Seal of Prophets, Muhammad, upon whom be peace, was such a pure medium for the transmission of that love that the hearts of his companions were overwhelmed with his love, and were transported to the love of God. He was the representative of Allah, who is the Absolute Truth; therefore, the Prophet declared: “Who has seen me has seen the Absolute Truth”.

When a delegation of non-Muslims came to visit Medina, they were amazed at the love and respect shown to the Prophet by his companions. When they returned home they said to their leader: “We have met many emperors, kings and tribal chiefs, but never have we seen one whose subjects or courtiers treated him with such sincere love and devotion. How can this be?” They were not able to comprehend the secret of this love, as their egos caused them to deny Muhammed’s prophethood. The love of the companions towards the Prophet was such that they used to say to him: “I am ready to sacrifice for you even my mother and father”, which, for the Arabs, is much stronger than saying: “I would sacrifice myself for you”. And in reality many of them underwent nearly unbearable hardships for the sake of their belief in the mission of the Holy Prophet: exile, disinheritance, boycott, torture and death.

Who represented the Holy Prophet after his life on Earth? Those who evoked such love. The Prophet himself described them: “Those who see them are reminded of God”. He who thirsts for Divine Love must seek out such people, but in our time they are mostly hidden, and Islam has come to mean for many people only a set of rules of conduct and forms of worship – an empty shell. Who can derive taste from such a thing? Shall mosques be only gymnasiums? And now the “gym teachers” are opposing Sufi Paths, which are the ways of the heart, ways that lead to the Love of God.

Our Lord has given us an instrument that measures not your blood pressure but our “love pressure” and our goal is to make it high! Yes, seek to improve with every new day, for the Holy Prophet said: “Whoever does not improve with each day is losing ground.” What does this mean? It doesn’t mean that if we pray forty rakats of prayer today, we should pray forty-one tomorrow and forty-two the next day. No, that is not required, what is intended is that you fill your worship with ever more love of your Lord, so that He will observe: “My servant has sent Me more love today than yesterday. “One of our Grandsheikhs summarised perfectly what I am trying to say: “An atom’s weight of love is worth more than seventy years’ worship without love”.

Love is the Mortar of all Prayer

As we were coming to the mosque today I saw a billboard that read: “Everyone Needs Standards”. I didn’t understand what this could mean, but just then the traffic light turned red, so that we stopped right in front of the sign. Then I looked more closely and noticed that someone had vandalised the sign, and with a pen had crossed out “Standards”, and written instead: “Love not Standards”, so that the billboard now read: “Everyone needs Love, not Standards”.

If one is open to wisdom he may take wisdom from every side, and so, Glory to Allah, this bit of vandalism has given me a topic for this lecture. Yes, that person was right, and this recalls to mind a saying of the Prophet Muhammad, upon whom be peace, in which he prayed to God :

“Oh Allah, I ask you to grant me the love of You and the love of those whom You love, and grant me, Oh my Lord, the love of those actions which lead me to the love of You”.

To ask our Lord to open up our hearts to His Divine Love is the most important request we can make of Him in our prayers, as nothing can take the place of love. The Holy Prophet, who is called the Beloved of Allah, whom Allah created with the yeast of love, and whom Allah loved some such He dedicated the creation to him, even this beloved Prophet asked Allah for Divine Love – why? Because who tastes of that love asks for more. Whose hart is like a rock will not ask God for this love, but those who have had the slightest taste of that love know that it is the key to all spiritual progress, to mercy, beauty, wisdom, to all favours that God may bestow upon His servants. Therefore, the Holy Prophet taught all mankind what is precious in this life.

And then his prayer continued: “And grant me the love of those who love You”. The first level, “Love of God”, is that Station of the Prophets, and you can’t step from the bottom of the stairway to the top in one step. Allah Almighty is the Transcendent Being – you can’t even begin to fathom anything about Him almighty – but it is easy to love those who represent His Love among mankind, for it is much easier for us to begin to understand and love human beings like ourselves. You will find nothing in their hearts but the Love of God; therefore, loving them is a means to approach the Divine Love.

Lastly, the Holy Prophet asks for the love of those actions which lead to the love of God, actions which carry blessings with them, which soften our hearts and weaken our greed and selfishness. These are the actions encouraged by our Lord through the example of His Prophets, actions ordered and recommended in His Holy Books. And, although in the beginning our inner state may not correspond to these saintly actions, by engaging our limbs in what pleases our Lord, He will strengthen our hearts thereby.

These are the three levels of love for which the Holy Prophet prayed, and the wisdom reflected in this prayer is proof enough of the veracity of Muhammad, peace be upon him. While Believers must always ask for that love, Satan is ever at war with such a notion, for he knows that once love has entered the heart of one of his slaves, that slave is lost to him, for he will not be able to snare him anymore with this world’s pleasures. He who has tasted that love may not even notice those pleasures, or may regard them as only a drop in an ocean.

Once, as Moses, upon whom be peace, was headed toward Mount Sinai, he passed the cave of a hermit. The hermit emerged and called after Moses: “Oh Moses, please ask our Lord to bestow upon me just an atom’s weight of His Divine Love”. Moses agreed to do this, then continued on his way. Later, when Moses was addressing his Lord, he petitioned on behalf of that hermit. The Lord replied: “I will grant that servant of My Divine Love, but not in the amount he requested. I will only grant him the tiniest fraction of an atom’s weight of that love”.

When Moses returned from the mountain, he quickly went to see what was happening to the hermit, to see what effect such a tiny dose of Divine Love might have had on him. When he arrived he was startled to see that where the cave had been a part of the mountain was blown away, and in place of that cave there was a deep chasm in the Earth. “Oh servant of my Lord”, he cried out, “What has happened, where are you?” Then Moses looked down the chasm and saw the hermit sitting down there as if in another world, completely overwhelmed by that love.

Why did that hermit ask for a portion of Divine Love? Because he was worshipping but feeling nothing; he felt an emptiness in his heart that could only be filled by that love. Without love, worship is tasteless and useless; therefore, we must be sure to build our worship upon a strong foundation of love and to bake love into the bricks of the building of our devotional practice. This is more than an analogy, for even physical buildings are either alive with the love of their builders, or dead from their hard-heartedness.. Therefore, old buildings often emanate a good feeling because of the love and goodness of those who built them. This is especially true of old mosques and churches, for their original congregations built them for the same of their Lord’s love and in an attitude of sincere piety. There is often a very strong feeling of the Divine Presence in old mosques, but have you ever felt such an atmosphere in the new showpiece – of – sterile – architecture – mosques? No, it is impossible, you may feel only an inner contraction side of such concrete hills. They have left the love out of the mortar: the most important ingredient is missing.

2008-11-20T08:04:00.000-08:00

The Divine Kingdom

Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil Al-Haqqani An-Naqshbandi

FOREWORD

SHAYKH MUHAMMAD NAZIM ADIL AL-HAQQANI AN-NAQSHBANDI

Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani is the world leader of the most distinguished Naqshbandi order of Sufis (tariqah an-Naqshbandiyya-t-il-'awliya). Shaykh Nazim is both a scholar of the Divine Law (shari'ah), being the mufti of Turkish Cyprus, as well as the Shaykh of the Way (tariqah).

A resident of Turkish Cyprus, he was born in Larnaca, Cyprus on April 23, 1922 (12th Rabi'ul Awwal, 1341 AH). He is a descendant of the family of the Prophet Muhammad (saws) on both his mother and his father's side, being both a Hasani and Husayni Sayyid. On his father's side, he is a descendant of Sayyid 'Abdul Qadir Gilani, the founder of the Qadiri Sufi order and on his mother's side, his ancestry comes from Jalal al-Din Rumi, the founder of the Mawlawi Sufi order.

Shaykh Nazim finished high school in Cyprus 1940 CE/1359 AH. He then traveled to Istanbul for higher education. He studied at the University of Istanbul, completing an MA in Chemical Engineering. During his years in Istanbul, he also completed the requirements of the Divine Law and Arabic language. He received his "permission" ('ijaza) from Shaykh Jamal al-Lassuni (d. 1955 CE / 1375 AH). Shaykh Nazim then directed his attention to the study of the spiritual path of seven Sufi orders: Naqshbandi, Chishti, Qadiri, Mawlawi, Rifa'i, Shadhili and Badawi. He then increased his study of the Naqshbandi order under his shaykh at that time, Sulayman Arzurumi (d. 1938 CE / 1368 AH). After a few years, Shaykh Sulayman told him, "O my son, the one who is carrying your secrets is not me, but my spiritual teacher who migrated from Daghistan to Turkey and who is now residing in Damascus in the Midan district (sa'ahat il-Midan). He is known as the Master of the Golden Chain of the Naqshbandi order in our time."

Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani then moved to Syria. On the way to Damascus, he first visited Aleppo, Hama and Homs. In Homs, under the direction of his Shaykh, he stayed for one year in seclusion in the mosque and tomb of the famous Companion of the Prophet (saws), Khalid ibn Walid. There he received more intensive instruction in the Divine Law, the Traditions (ahadith), and the Science of the Qur'an (ilm al-Qur'an) under the Shaykhs Muhammad 'Ali 'Uyun as-Su'ud, 'Abdul 'Aziz 'Uyun as-Su'ud, mufti of Homs, Abdul Jalil Murad and Sayyid as-Suba'i, who are all Naqshbandi shaykhs as well as famous scholars of the Traditions (muhaddithun) and religious scholars ('ulama) of the Divine Law (shari'ah).

In 1944 CE / 1364 AH, he moved to Tripoli, Lebanon, where he was the guest of Shaykh Munir al-Malik, the mufti of northern Lebanon and Shaykh of the Qadiri, Rifa'i' and Naqshbandi Sufi orders. In 1945 CE / 1365 AH, he went from Tripoli to Damascus to Ha'i al-Midan where he finally met Shaykh 'Abdullah ad-Daghistani an-Naqshbandi. He stayed with his Grand Shaykh until his Grand Shaykh passed away on October 4, 1973 (4th of Ramadan, 1398 AH). During that period of almost forty years, Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani (may God bless him) continued to receive the heavenly fountain of spiritual knowledge which poured forth from the heart of Shaykh 'Abdullah ad-Daghistani (may God sanctify his soul) into his heart.

Shaykh Nazim continuously traveled to the Middle East and Turkey during these 40 years. Upon the death of his Grand Shaykh and by his spiritual order, he enlarged his scope of travel to include Europe, America and the Far East. He established hundreds of centers all over the world, spreading Islam together with Sufi spiritual knowledge which has brought hundreds of thousands of converts to Islam. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he is the mujaddid of this century as was Sayyid 'Abdul Qadir Gilani, in his time; Shah Bahauddin Naqshband, in his time; Sayyid Ahmad al-Fa'ruqi, in his time; and Jalal al-Din Rumi, in his time.

Shaykh Nazim carries the secret of seven Sufi orders: Naqshbandi, Chishti, Qadiri, Mawlawi, Rifa'i, Shadhili and Badawi, through a chain of authorization from his master, Shaykh 'Abdullah ad-Daghistani, through the chain of 39 Grand Shaykhs linking him to the Prophet l (saws).

He has entered many seclusions during his lifetime ranging in duration from 40 days to one year. These took place in many different places including the Prophet's city, Madinah, Baghdad in the presence of Sayyid 'Abdul Qadir Gilani, Konya in the presence of Jalal al-Din Rumi and Damascus at many holy places. He has written numerous books on spirituality and Divine Knowledge (gnosis, ma'rifah) which have been published throughout the world. He has written many poems on Divine Love ('ishq) in both Arabic and Turkish. He is a source (marja') for many modern juristic matters. He follows a moderate line in approaching people and issues of contemporary life.

Shaykh Nazim has a very charismatic personality which moves people and attracts them to the manifestation of Divine Love which continues to pour forth from his heart. His resplendent smile is ever present. when he speaks, it is as if a Divinely-inspired waterfall had been opened connecting his heart to the hearts of the listeners. It is that nectar of love that draws thousands of new converts to Islam every year.

Shaykh Hisham Muhammad Kabbani, MD

INTRODUCTION

THE HAQQANI TRUST FOR NEW MUSLIMS

Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani an-Naqshbandi four years ago appointed Shaykh Hisham Kabbani the sole designated representative of the most distinguished Naqshbandi order of Sufis in the Western Hemisphere. During this time, the students and disciples (murid) of the Naqshbandi order have flourished and the order has vastly expanded in America.

In order to support the growing needs of these students and disciples to establish Sufi teaching centers, mosques, itinerant study centers (zawiyyah), to publish literature, videos and tapes relevant to the teachings of Sufism and the Naqshbandi order, and to establish contact with similar organizations, an association for managing these matters was established called the Haqqani Islamic Trust for New Muslims. Founded in 1991 as a non-profit organization, it is dedicated to the purpose of spreading Sufism and the spiritual teachings of the Naqshbandi order throughout the Western Hemisphere. For the last four years, the Haqqani Islamic Trust, under the dedicated leadership of its president, Shaykh Hisham Muhammad Kabbani, has established thirteen centers and mosques in the US and Canada including a large convention and camping center in the Midwest (near Detroit, Michigan). Several large conventions have been held under the auspices of the Haqqani Islamic Trust. The Trust also sponsored the visit of the Grand Shaykh of the Naqshbandi order, Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani, to America in 1991 and 1993.

The Haqqani Islamic Trust continues its ongoing mission of spreading the teachings of Sufism (tasawwuf), Divine Love and Divine Gnosis (ma'arifah). One of its goals is to reach the maximum number of readers through its publications such as this one and subsequent works to be published in the near future.

HONORABLE WORKS
MAY 3, 1985

'We must try to give our support to His Kingdom on earth. We must be supporters of His Kingdom. That is the honorable work for the honored Children of Adam."

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Time is running, taking everything away, No one can stop it. No one, up to this day, has tried to stop it. It is our Lord's favor. Time is running and everyone is also running to the speed of time. Everything in time runs by time. We are running, also. If the speed of the running of time were to appear, no one would be able to bear that vision, but God Almighty takes care of that for us, so that we say, "It is all right. " Praise be to God (al-hamd Allah), thanks to our Lord Almighty.

We feel that time is running. Islam says, "Oh people, you must guard against time." How can we guard against time? Time runs, but you must put something into that time so that your activities, your works, guard time for you. And on the Last Day, all that time we guarded by actions and works is going to come to us.

Now, here is a cassette. If it is left alone, it runs without recording anything, but if we speak, record, it will fill up. Time may only be kept by actions, and you, as your Lord's vicegerent on earth, have been ordered to fill your time by actions that your Lord Almighty likes because your whole life's cassette will come into the Divine Presence. He will look. His beloved Prophet Muhammad (saws) and all the prophets are going to look at the record. All believers (mumin) and all the Children of Adam crowding onto that Plain of Mashar1 will look at them. If we do something secretly, it is going to be open one day, that Day which is coming. Everyone must be afraid of that, because all our actions and words are going to appear. Oh believers in holy books, every holy book speaks about the Day of Resurrection. Everyone will come and will show his book, his workbook, on that Day.

Now, we know that time is passing, running, and our lives are running and passing. You must look after it - how are you filling your life. As Children of Adam, you have been honored by the Lord of the heavens to be his vicegerents on earth. No one has been honored as the Children of Adam have been honored. From honored people the Lord expects honorable works.

This is a simple thing to understand and to know and to do. When you have been honored, your works must be honorable. But most, the majority, of the Children of Adam fight against the prophets, fight against the Friends of God (awliya)2, attack them with the intention of killing them. At one time, during a single day, one thousand prophets were killed at the time of the Children of Israel, more than one thousand.

What is the reason that people attacked the prophets? Each one was attacked and Jesus Christ (as) also was attacked or intended to be crucified. Why? Why did the Children of Adam attack the prophets? They attacked the Last Prophet, the Seal of the Prophets, also. Muhammad (saws) was attacked by his nation. They tried to kill him. Nimrod attacked Abraham (as), the father of the Prophets. what was his sin? What was his crime? Why did people rush to attack the prophets? They were pure people. They asked only for the happiness of humanity. Why were they attacked? What is the reason? And those who attack them are among those who have been honored by the Lord, Almighty God. Honored! And then to attack His prophets? And all people who are following the ways of the prophets have been attacked, as well.

Who is making the Children of Adam be enemies to their prophets? Prophets are pure people, the best and the most merciful among the Children of Adam. what was the sin of Noah? What was the crime of Abraham? The crime of Moses? Of Jesus? Of Muhammad, peace be upon them all? Who makes human beings enemies of each other? Have you thought about that point? I don't think so. But it is an important point. You have read histories, full of fighting, crimes, full of cruelties. What is this'? What makes the Children of Adam enemies to each other and enemies to good people'?

There is evil. There must be evil that makes us be enemies to prophets because the importance of all prophets is to remove evil from the face of the earth. That is their importance. They came to fight evil so that no more evil may be on earth. Our first and most dangerous enemy, the most terrible enemy of the Children of Adam, Satan, produces evil. He produces evil and makes a big market for it from the East to West, the evil market now in this world. We have been honored by the Lord, God Almighty, but we see that the whole world is now the market of evil. Is it correct or not? Everyone is looking now. After a little, after a while, there will come so much evil destroying everything on earth. Satan will say, "Oh, I am very happy. The Children of Adam are finished!" Yes, that is so.

And people are also sellers and buyers of evil in this big market, dirt-market, evil-market. From East to West, in every place you put your foot, you can find evil. Everywhere you may spread your hand you can find evil. Everywhere you may send your gaze, you can find evil. We are living in a world that is full up with evil, because the Children of Adam are not supporting the Kingdom of the Lord, God Almighty. Instead, they are supporting the kingdom of Satan on earth.

Now, you must look to yourself. Everyone must look to himself or herself. You may say, "What can we do?" Yes, you can do something. When Nimrod wanted and intended to burn Abraham (as), he made a big fire. Its flames could be seen from Damascus, although it was near Baghdad - so big, so gigantic a fire. Only one stick of wood is enough to burn a human being, but Nimrod made a gigantic fire because he represented Satan and his kingdom. He wanted to burn the Kingdom of Truth,

Reality (Haqq), the Kingdom of the Lord of the heavens and worlds. It was because of that that he made such a big fire. And Traditions coming up to our day say that a little ant was running toward the fire and in its mouth it carried a small drop of water. It was seen and was asked, "Where are you running?" It said, "I am running to put out the fire of Nimrod. I am carrying water to save Abraham, the Friend of the Lord Almighty God."3 God Almighty rewarded that ant. It is mentioned in Holy Books and in the Holy Qur'an. God Almighty made that ant enter into Paradise.

Look, Oh believers! Don't say, "What can I do?" Don't be an evil-seller or buyer. You must open your eyes, your mind, your heart. You can't open your eyes and your mind and your heart without believing. You must believe and you must be able to refuse the kingdom of Satan on earth. That is the most important duty for us now in our time. You can be like a little ant that was rewarded by its Lord Almighty for carrying a drop of water in its mouth to put out that gigantic fire. You, the Children of Adam, can do more than that ant did.

Therefore, this is an important point today. We must understand4 what is happening and what is going to happen in this world by reason of our heedlessness. We are heedless people, not heeding evil, never looking to ourselves - what we are doing, whether we are selling evil or buying it. We must be open-eyed, open-hearted.

What opens hearts? Belief. We must believe in our Lord Almighty. We must try to give support to His Kingdom on earth. We must be supporters of His Kingdom. That is the honorable work for the honored Children of Adam. If you can do this, you will be honored. Otherwise, most people are going to be ashamed on the Day of Resurrection. They will wish that there were a crack in the earth and that it would swallow them up. So many people will wish that on the Last Day, the Day of Resurrection. When they see that, all their works, all their actions, their selling and buying evil, they will wish that this earth would crack open and swallow them up in it.

Oh people, it is not too far away. As I was coming to the congregational prayer (jumah) today, I met a funeral procession. I saw a brown coffin. A man was lying in it. His eyes were closed. He will open them for that Day. It is so near. Don't imagine it to be too far away. No, when you close your eyes, and at the next moment, open them, you will be in that Divine Presence for Judgment Day. We will all be there. That Day is coming for everyone.

Fill your life's cassette with honorable works because you have been honored by your Lord. That is the word of all prophets, from the beginning up to the end. But, Oh Children of Adam, your egos never leave you to do honorable work because egos always want evil, tasting and living in evil. Therefore, do not be with your ego. Rather you must be with your Lord and His representatives. Prophets are the representatives of God Almighty and after the prophets, the saints are the representatives of their Lord on earth because God Almighty created the Children of Adam to be His vicegerents. Some of them have reached the true station of being His vicegerents, but most people are still just candidates. If you are going to do honorable works, then you will be clothed, also, in the true station of vicegerent, given the true vicegerent's crown. That is all. Think about these words.

ILLUSIONS
MORNING, JUNE 1, 1985

"Ninety-nine may be illusions, but one may be a real oasis for you because the Lord Almighty says, 'Don't cut off your hope; don't despair'."

You5 don't have forty hands to go everywhere to take forty Shaykhs' hands. Therefore, if you are traveling on a spiritual journey, when you meet with your guide or with your destination, I think it is enough for you at that time to be in one place. However, if you are doing it as a pleasure for your ego, you may travel from East to West, looking at this or that.

Sometimes I go to the market, looking at one thing or another and then another, from beginning to end. If you are buyers, you must look for what you want. You must know that you want that thing and you must see where it may be. If you find it, you may buy it and go on because no one can take the whole market and carry it, or all the markets. Rather, everyone who goes shopping knows what he is going to buy. Thus your Shaykh sent you here, understanding that you were asking for something. If you can find it with someone, names are not important, but it is important that you are able to find your desire in him. If you can find the thing you want with a young person, it is all right. Anyone you can find it with, it is all right. Your Lord of the Heavens may put our purposes with anyone. You must not be cheated by someone's outward appearance, passing him by, saying, "Who is that person? What thing can be with that one?" While there may be with him that of which you are in need.

We are most in need of wisdom. Knowledge is one thing, but wisdom is something else. Knowledge you may find everywhere. Wisdom is also written, written in books, but when it is written down, it also becomes a part of knowledge. Wisdom comes directly from the tongue, from hearts. when it is put as writing in books, it becomes knowledge. You may use that, but more important is wisdom. The Lord may place something of His endless wisdom with anyone. It may be a peasant, or a boy, or a woman, or an old man. It may be with a young man, with a black man. It may be with an ignorant one, as you might say. He may not have been educated in schools or universities, but he may have been given wisdom. We have a saying that treasures are mostly under ruins. No one comes and asks for treasures among huge buildings in the center of a city, no. The one who wants to find treasures looks where there are old ruins. From the outside no one could say there may be something there, but underground, among ruins, you may find them. And that person is pleased if he can find broken cups or other broken things. He says even though they are broken, still they are antiques, they are precious, and he takes them, not taking such an unbroken, new thing. If you say, "Do you prefer this or that'?" he may say, "No, this. I prefer it though it is broken. I don't prefer to have this new and whole cup."

Therefore, Divine wisdom makes wisdom to be found with anyone. Don't suppose that it must be with people who look suitable from the outside. No. The doors of Islam are open from the East to the West. We can look anywhere. If we find that wisdom, we may take it from anyone. No need to be a special person, no. Anyone may have it. The Lord may give it to you. However, we must be humble enough to listen to anyone and to look at what his product is, what is he selling. We may take from anyone when we are humble enough.

God Almighty gives His wisdom and He speaks wisdom. You have knowledge. You have so much knowledge. Everyone who comes to me has it - learned people, perhaps scholars, because most Western people are educated. But, as we said, wisdom is something else. We must be humble. We must look among ruins to dig it out.

Yes. You are traveling, seeking wisdom, and you may find it anywhere. It is all right. Knowledge is like a plane and wisdom is its fuel. Without fuel planes can't fly. Thus, there are so many scholars, but they are still waiting for fuel. They are so proud of their wings that sometimes they go around like this, like that, on the plane but not flying. Perhaps they say that the knowledge of Sufis is not knowledge because to them, the only knowledge to be found is what we read in books. We call this products of the mind. These products grow bigger and bigger. It becomes a load, a heavy load for our heads to bear because we have to carry it around with us. Knowledge from the heart differs from this.

Products of the heart carry us. We have to carry mind-products, but heart-products carry us. It was because of this that Abu Yazid Bistami, a famous Grand Shaykh in the most distinguished Naqshbandi order, addressed scholars, saying, "Oh scholars, you carry your knowledge about. You are always looking to see whether that knowledge is becoming less and less, going down. You are always looking because when you put aside the knowledge that you got through books, you then have to carry those books around with you to refresh your minds. You are like horses, putting too heavy a load on yourselves, carrying it around, and you are always tired. But we are not in need of carrying books, to be like a horse bearing so heavy a load. Rather our knowledge carries us. Therefore you are bearing a heavy burden, while our knowledge carries us along."

For this reason, all mind-products are a heavy load for scholars. The Prophet, beloved Muhammad (saws), said, in the original words of a Tradition (hadith), "The calamity of knowledge is forgetfulness." The thing that destroys knowledge is to forget it. Therefore, each scholar is always worried about that point because he or she is growing older. At every moment his or her mind's power grows weaker. Everything it may hold little by little leaves. Scholars are always thinking about this, about forgetting. There are so many things that causes our memory to grow weaker and weaker.

Now people, even if they are scholars, are under the command of their egos. They do as their egos want so that their memories weaken. They do not use their hearts. Hearts are never weak. Hearts are strong, but we do not use them. My Grand Shaykh, Sultan of the Friends of God, Shaykh Abdullah ad-Daghistani, may God Almighty bless him, was about l13 when he died. He used heart memory. when the heart's memory is all right, it never weakens. Such a person may know from the beginning of his life up to its end. He never loses his memory. However, those who leave their heart and use only their mind's memory, are going to find that their knowledge decreases in time.

Therefore that Grand Shaykh, Abu Yazid Bistami, said to scholars, "If you have no books, you are finished. If you forget what is in your memory, you are going to be empty vessels with nothing in them. You bring from outside and put into the minds' memory. When your minds are finished, they are like empty cups. Our knowledge, on the other hand, are springs in our hearts." Therefore, you can see that when they are old people, they lose everything. They lose what they say, what they do. But it is impossible to stop the springs of wisdom of those who have them in their hearts. It is impossible to stop those springs. The springs carry them, as well. Wisdom is a Divine power. It does not have ordinary properties, no. Divine powers come through wisdom and may take that person, by his physical body, from the East to the West in a second, may take them from earth to the heavens.

I am seeing that there are some desires appearing among western people, because I have never seen people who like to read books like western people. Muslims always tried to read the Holy Qur'an. They never tired of reciting the Holy Book. Now, however, most people are occupied with their egos. This is also true of the Islamic world. Therefore, they have put aside reciting the Holy Qur'an and also they do not really want to read other books in the way that western people do. You have a hobby of reading books. But for what? A person may say, "I have read perhaps one thousand books and I still want to read more and more, but - for what? What is the main purpose for which I am reading and reading, and am still hungry to read and read'?"

Then it comes to their hearts. After all that reading there must be something else. Therefore, now a lot of people are asking about Sufi knowledge. Then, also, they are beginning to read more and more and more, reading, reading. But yet they feel that they are still thirsty. They are thirsty, even though they say that it is a spring, still it is not enough to quench their thirst. Now they are asking the Real springs as a person in a desert asks for water and springs. But most people see only illusions, so many illusions. And now in our time, so many western people are running after such illusions. They imagine that there may be a spring there, water. They run toward it, but find that it is only an illusion. It is very rare to find an oasis amidst huge deserts. Very rare, but there are so many illusions, mirages. Now, I am sorry to say, western people are all like a person in a huge desert and thirsty. They are looking everywhere, asking for water that will give them life - looking and running and finding that finally, that they are all illusions. Still they must run after an oasis.

Therefore, our brothers who have come to visit us this morning are among those people who feel that they are in a desert and thirsty, asking to reach an oasis to drink. Otherwise, they will see only illusions everywhere. I am seeing here in England, in France, in Germany, in Holland, in America everywhere, everywhere - so many illusions; in India, in Pakistan, in Tibet, in China, in Russia, in the Caucasus, in Iran, in Turkey, in Arab countries - so many illusions, but very few oases. Rather, they are full-up with illusions. The Lord of the heavens! the Lord of the Children of Adam, says, "Do not cut off your hope" (39:53). Therefore whoever seriously asks to find, he must find.

Why is it that He makes wisdom difficult to find? Because everything that the one finds easily is cheap, taken for granted while everything that one finds with difficulty, one looks after more carefully. One may say that it is so difficult to obtain. Yes, that is true. Therefore, if you are asking for an oasis, it is difficult to find and you must face every difficulty to find it.

As long as you are alive, you must walk towards somewhere. There may be one hundred illusions. Then you may find, at the end of one hundred, that oasis. Don't say, "I went there and found that it was an illusion. Then I turned to another one and that also was an illusion. I have run after all ninety-nine and found them all to be illusions. why should I try this one?" Don't say it! To the extent that you can walk, you must go on and try. Ninety-nine may be illusions but one may be a real oasis for you because the Lord says, "Don't cut off hope. Don't despair." When you cut off hope, you are going to die. Finished. No one dies until he cuts of his hope of living, but whoever hopes to live, may live. Whoever hopes to find, must find.

THE PURE HEART
AFTERNOON, JUNE 1, 1985

"The pure heart (qalbun salim), that is perfection which God Almighty wants from His servants to reach that perfection."

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Merciful, the Compassionate, Who created all the universes and all things; the Lord of the heavens, the Lord of the Worlds, the Lord of the sons of Adam. We are his weak servants. Every time we are here in such a gathering, we are asking for our Lord's Divine help for ourselves.

We are in need of His Divine Help at every moment. You can't imagine a unit of time which is so small that You can't count it (you might say one millionth of a second, if you could make a second into a million parts) - you can't say that the whole universe is without need, in even such a small unit of time, of Divine Help. If during that time that Divine Help is cut off, that Divine Help for all the universes in existence, then all will disappear. No one can bring it back except its Creator, its Lord, God Almighty. Therefore you must ask for Divine Help for everything, for every time, for every occasion.

As much as you may be with Him, He will be with you. Yes. But you lose yourself and forget. Then that Divine Help goes from you and you are left in the hands of your ego. Therefore, we must always ask for Divine Help. Oh my Lord, don't leave us in the hands of our egos, because our ego is proud, so proud, saying, "I am not in need of anyone," while it is in need at every moment, never without need for that support. That is why we say, "There is no might and no power except with God, the Most High, the Almighty."

Religion, and particularly Islam, brings belief to people. It asks you, first of all, to believe in your Creator who brings you into existence, because no one is able to bring self into existence or keep self in existence. It is impossible for anyone to claim that he or she can bring self into existence or keep self in existence, so that we must believe that someone brings us into existence and also takes us from existence. We appear and then disappear.

That is the main point of Islamic beliefs, as it was the main point for other religions - to make people believe in their Lord Almighty, who brings them into existence and keeps them in existence and then takes them away from existence.

Secondly, He brings them to His Divine Presence. Therefore, the most important fundamental for every religion, and, particularly in Islam, is to believe in God Almighty, and then to believe that He brings you into the next life, that He returns you to another life. That is the most important thing which every religion makes its followers or believers believe in - that there is God Almighty Who created all things, including the children of Adam, and that He is able to bring them back to life after death, to give them their lives again and to bring them into His Divine Presence. That must be the belief in every religion.

Then we do believe, Oh servants of our Lord, Oh humanity. We have been ordered to do something and to leave something. Every religion teaches people to do something and abstain from something. Without commands, it is not a religion, because we act, we work, we do things. Therefore, the Lord Almighty orders something for action, and all orders that we have been commanded to act upon give us honor (karamah). Every command that we have been ordered to carry out is to make us more honorable in the Divine Presence.

We have also been asked to abstain from something, from such-and-such things. This is protection for ourselves, for safety. Anything for which our Lord says, "Abstain from it" is only for our safety here and for our Protection in the hereafter.

No one can object concerning those actions which are prohibited by Islam, claiming that this was useful and Islam prevented it. If he does he must be foolish. He must be a mad person. He must be an ignorant person. Who knows more about humanity than anyone else? Its Creator must know the most about humanity. Therefore, He knows best what is worst and most harmful and dishonorable for this life and the hereafter.

Every action that you do here takes a shape, takes a form, and reaches you after death. You must see everything that you did in this life in front of you. Nothing is going to be lost. All your deeds are preserved for you. First of all, you are going to meet them when the door of your grave opens. Then you will meet everything that you did parading in front to of you. No one can see that except the owner of that grave, but your neighbors may come and look. So, then, we have been ordered to do something. God Almighty is going to look at everything that you did and to ask His servant about it.

Imam al-Ghazzali is one of the "King-sized" scholars and Imams in Islam who is known throughout the world. God Almighty gives honor to those people who are sincere with their Lord Almighty. We are following their way and accepting them. Imam al-Ghazzali wrote so many books; perhaps one lifetime is not enough to read his books - to read and to understand and to act on them, as well. He has a collection of books called Ihya Ulum al-Din (Revival of Religious Sciences). If all other Islamic books were destroyed and only those books remained, they would be enough to make everything in Islam clear. Yes, they are enough. Such peoples' hearts are always occupied with the Holy Qur'an and the Traditions (ahadith). God Almighty opens the springs of wisdom to them and gives them understanding of the Holy Qur'an and of Traditions. If a Tradition (hadith) consists of five words, we can read only five words. We can't make it six words. They may give meanings and understanding. They may understand from one Tradition (hadith) as much knowledge as a volume. According to your faith, you may receive meanings, you may receive more lights, from the verses of the Holy Qur'an and from the Traditions.

Then, Imam al-Ghazzali, may God bless him, was saying that when a person dies and is put into a coffin and people carry him to the grave - (before our time, people would carry the dead person on their shoulders to the cemetery. Now there are such gigantic cities that it is impossible to carry the coffin on their shoulders. They put the dead body into a car and quickly bring take it to the cemetery) - when that dead body is taken, the Lord asks that person forty questions; Imam al-Ghazzali says, forty different questions before the body arrives and is buried in the grave, questions which are only between the Lord and the dead person.

He says that the first question that God Almighty asks that person is, "O My servant, you always adorned yourself among people. You were very careful to look after yourself - how you dressed, fixing your hair, having so many things. You were careful to look handsome, beautiful and elegant among people, very careful, because people looked at you. But did you do anything to your heart for Me? You knew that I looked only at your heart, not at your outward appearance, what color your eyes were, or your skin color, whether you were tall or short, black or white - no. I always looked at your heart. Did you ever think to yourself, 'My Lord is looking at my heart, I must keep it pure and adorned with excellent qualities! Did you ever think of that because I was looking, saying, "My Lord is looking at my heart. I must keep it excellent for Him"? "

That is the first question. It contains everything in itself.

Is it enough for believers to be doing their best to illuminate their hearts, purify them - enough for them here and in the hereafter, as well? On the Day of Resurrection, God Almighty is not going to ask you what you brought of money or of sons or of property or of ranks - no. "Where is your heart? With which heart have you come to me? The purified heart, the golden heart (26 :89) - where is it? Give it to Me. That was what I was asking from you during your life." That is the main thing which is asked of everyone: Keep your heart pure and excellent and bring it to Me.

Then, according to your heart, your purified heart, everything will appear to you for the Eternal Life. You will look at your Lord's Eternal Lights and Endless beauties through your heart's mirror. You will see your Lord's beauties, Endless beauties, Endless Lights, through your heart. Therefore there will be ranks in the Divine Presence - first, second, third, fourth.

The first rank is for prophets (anbiya) and saints (awliya), and for those who reached true faith during their lives and then, according to the degree of their faith, they go into the Divine Presence. Whoever would like to in the first rank must first take care of his or her heart.

Now we are fasting. We are keeping our stomachs from eating and drinking, but mostly we are saying to our organs, 'You are free. " We are fasting only by not eating and drinking, but for our organs, as well. We are not commanding them and saying, "You must stop this, you must keep guard on your self. " We do not say this.

Then, there is still another kind of fasting. It is the most important fast, to free our hearts from everything except our Lord Almighty, to be with your Lord with your heart. If anything wrong comes through the hearts of such people, they say that we must wash ourselves as a person who is in a state of prescribed impurity washes. If any kind of thoughts of this world or of paradise and anything in it come to the heart, he must wash himself or herself. It means, "Oh My servant, you are occupying your heart with something other than Me. Your heart is for Me alone. I must always be there and you must be there with Me always. You may be with this world with your body but, Oh My servant, you must be with Me always with your heart."

If you say that this is impossible, your Lord does not speak except the Truth, the Real. If it were impossible, He would not say it, He would not request you to be with Him with your heart. It is possible, so that He asks His servants, "Oh My servants, you may be bodily, physically, in this world, going, coming, doing everything. But you must be with Me with your heart. Don't leave Me." The reason, He says, is, "Because I don't leave you. If I leave you, you will be nothing. If I am with you, you are all things. Don't leave Me!" For this reason, when people of the first rank think of something other than their Lord Almighty, they have been ordered to wash - to wash their bodies and then their hearts, washing them from every thought except their Lord.

That is perfection which God Almighty wants from His Servants. God wants His servants to reach that perfection. Islam brought the complete ways and methods for reaching that perfection so that Islam is perfection every way. Anyone who wants to reach that perfection must follow Islam and its methods and ways. To the extent that you can follow, you may take benefit, but you must make your goal that perfection. You must not agree to less than perfection. It is not an honor for a servant if his Lord gives him or her a chance to reach that perfection and he or she remains less than that. That is also the honor of Islam which it gives to people and to which it calls them.

We are asking forgiveness from God Almighty because we always want to stay down below, not going up, and saying "I seek forgiveness from God," (istighfar Allah) for everything that we are doing contrary to the commands of our Lord Almighty. We are also praising Him with the most high praises because He made us candidates for that perfection and asking for His Divine Help by saying, "Praise belongs to God and thanks be to God" (al-hamd Allah wa shukr Allah).

TWO FUNDAMENTALS OF ISLAM
MORNING / JUNE 2, 1985

"Islam brought respect and mercy. We have lost them both now. "

We are living during a time in which everything has changed and appears in an opposite form. Everything has been changed from its original state to another, a non-original state, you may say.

This holds true for Islam, as well. You can look at Islam and can see that in our time, our scholars or our statesmen are presenting Islam in a form which was not its original one. Everything now is going according to the desires of peoples' egos. Everyone says about Islam what he likes. Muslim statesmen and scholars are running out of Islam. They are saying what their egos want them to say, because everyone's ego wants Islam to be as he or she likes, so that in our time you can find thousands and thousands of descriptions of Islam.

All of them are wrong because they are changing Islam from its original form and giving some unheard of descriptions of it according to their egos' desires (hawa nafs). They say whatever their egos suggest to them about Islam. They do this in the name of Islam according to their egos' desires.

We reject all of them. There is the war between Iran and Iraq. That is proof of what we are saying now. This is not Islam, not from either side. We do not accept it. And everywhere you may find that people are not trying to follow the original Islam, but making Islam follow them. That is the most dangerous, terrible way that people are going on.

We must follow the sunnah, the practice of the Prophet Muhammad (saws). To what was he calling people and for why was he fighting? He was only fighting with Haqq, Truth, Reality, against falsehood (batil). The claims of your ego are useless. Your ego is useless. Therefore, if peoples' hearts do not meet on one point, then it is useless, and that one point is one which Islam brought - monotheism, unity (tawhid). Everyone's thoughts must meet on that point of unity. In Islam, there it is not that one person thinks one thing and another person thinks something else with everyone going his or her own way. No. Everyone must meet on the point of monotheism, of unity.

We accept our Lord, Almighty God. We claim that we are His servants. Therefore, we must live in servanthood to Him and nothing else. Abu Yazid Bistami, may God bless him, said that we find Islam built on two fundamental, simple things. One of them is respect, most high respect, towards our Lord. The second is to care for, to be compassionate towards His servants and towards His creatures in general.

In everything that you do there must be respect for your Lord Almighty. That is the first thing that is to be considered in any action that a person may do. One must not do anything without giving respect to one's Lord, Almighty God. Therefore, Prophet Muhammad (saws) said that respect for your Lord is to begin everything by saying, "In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Merciful, the Compassionate." That is the respect that you can give to your Lord at the beginning of every action. You must know that if He does not give permission or success to you, you can't be successful in any action. You can't even move your hands or your feet.

Then, you must care for, you must be Compassionate, to every creature. The Prophet (saws) said, "Even if you need to kill, do that kindly (ihsan), also." When you kill a sheep, a cow, a camel, a chicken, kill it kindly, God so orders, but people have lost that now. Even if you kill some harmful insect or animal, you must use something that doesn't give it too much pain. You must kill it instantly, and, therefore, it is prohibited to burn people or animals or insects. God prohibits it because only He may burn. No one may use fire to burn people - but now people are intending to burn the whole world and everyone in it, all nations. Earlier, weapons were only cold steel, swords and spears, but afterwards every weapon used fire to burn people. Now big bombs are burning everything. Earlier very few people used fire for execution - it is forbidden (haram) in the Divine Law. If you are obliged to kill some harmful thing, don't burn it. Fire is only for cooking and for heat - that is all.

You must be compassionate. You must not even step on an ant without reason, because it also has life and when it sees you approaching to kill it, it runs away. It feels death and its pain. Therefore, it runs. It also glorifies its Lord. Therefore, you can't kill it if it has not harmed you. You can't kill it. If you kill it, you must bear the responsibility. Thus, Islam came with endless compassion for creatures, for everyone. Compassion is the correct word to describe Islam through the statements of the Friends of God (awliya).

When the angel Gabriel (as ) came to the Seal of the Prophets, beloved Muhammad (saws), for the last time, he said, "This is the last time that I will come to you to bring God's commands. Prophethood is finished. I will bring no more message from heaven to prophets." The Prophet (saws) asked, "Will you ever come again to earth?" "I will come," angel Gabriel said, "but I will not bring anything. Rather I will come to take away something from the earth. I will come to take knowledge from the earth so that ignorance covers the whole world and people fall into those oceans of ignorance."

They are even claiming that there is no God. Instead of saying, "There is no god but God," they stop at saying, "There is no God." That is the highest point of ignorance. You can't find anything more ignorant than that. If a person knows everything, but does not know the Owner of himself and of the whole of the Universe, he is ignorant.

"I will come to take that away. I will come yet again to take blessings (barakah) from the earth," angel Gabriel said. You can find everything. People receive a lot of money, fill up their pockets, but still they say, "Not enough, not enough."

I remember there were three pence, three piasters of Queen Victoria, in Cyprus (Shaykh Nazim grew up in Cyprus during the period when it was a part of the British Empire). I can remember it quite well, a little piece of a silver coin, three piasters. It was enough for a person for one day; even for a family it was enough, that little silver coin. Some coins were even less than three piasters. There were some shepherds who for the whole day looked after sheep for one piaster. Their owner gave them a piece of bread and olives to eat and one piaster. Thirty piasters for a month, and they were happy.

Now, so many pounds! We were astonished when we were fifteen or sixteen years old, to see that some people went to London from Cyprus and they worked and said they got two pounds, three pounds, each week. Hah, so much money! "Each week or each month?" "No, each week - three pounds, four pounds, even five pounds." In Cyprus a famous officer made five pounds in a month. A policemen, for one-and-a-half pounds a month would go and come, go and come, not sitting down, not like the police in our time, six hours and then finished. No. From early to late or up to night, and sometimes the whole night, sometimes the whole day, they were working. One-and-a-half pounds and they were very pleased that they had a job. "We are policemen with uniforms and a fez." Yes, important people.

Then, angel Gabriel came and took away the blessings. He also came once again to take mercy from the hearts of people. It has been taken away, also. No more mercy. Yesterday I heard about something which shows the mentality of people for sports, for football. They injure so many people and leave them on the ground. Then they come and say, "You must play again. We want to watch." What mercy is in their hearts, those people? What is this? This is an example only, but more and more dangerous things are now going to happen because mercy has gone out of hearts. Every day you may take newspapers and look at what people are becoming - like robots, no more mercy, their hearts becoming rocks, never feeling. Islam fights against such things. Therefore its Prophet (saws) came with mercy and as a mercy.

"Will you come yet again?" the Prophet (saws) asked angel Gabriel.

"I will come once more," Angel Gabriel said, "to take modesty (haya) from the earth." Look outside now and see how men and women are dressing. In earlier times, mothers or grandmothers were ashamed to be in their bedrooms in such a way that people now dress outside. That is humanity, that is honor, this is modesty?

And this is the news from heaven which came to us fifteen centuries ago. What angel Gabriel, announced has come to us now. Yes, it is correct. No more knowledge that leads people to goodness and to honesty and to honor either here or in the hereafter. That is finished. People now are learning - learning for what?

Only to support the kingdom of Satan on earth. They are learning only that one thing, how they can support Satan's kingdom on this earth. That is all the knowledge that you can learn. Even religious schools are bringing something from that satanic knowledge, putting it amidst true knowledge. For what? To make it ineffective, also. Yes, finished. Its power goes away. You can't find even religious schools or colleges giving pure knowledge heavenly knowledge, because Satan does not give permission for pure, heavenly knowledge, saying, "No. It is no good. You must mix up something else with that knowledge."

What is that knowledge? It is a heavenly knowledge, coming from God Almighty. We must accept that, not those - those are for Satan only, and support for his kingdom. Satan is so careful to do everything for himself. And as the Prophet (saws) informed us, it is now appearing. You must look at what you do.

Then, when we said that everyone is describing Islam according to his Satan, everyone has a Satan with himself, also. Therefore the future of this generation, these people, is bleak. You can't see any brightness or light. It is bleak, very bleak. God knows what things will appear amidst those bleak horizons, falling on people. There must be something, and that is a punishment that people will be given from themselves to each other.

Islam brought respect and mercy. We have lost both of them. In the Divine Presence, one life from among the children of Adam is more precious than the whole world, but we are making it less than a fly's. European people are laughing at Iran and Iraq, but they themselves are doing worse than that. Football is an example of what they are doing. It is only a small example, but if they can do that, it means that those people can do more than this. If that door opens to them, mercy is finished.

Therefore, the West can no longer laugh at the East nor the East at the West. When winter comes, the whole world is covered with snow. In such a way, now hearts are covered. No mercy enters into them. Islam says, "Don't kill." We say, "We must kill."

May God forgive us. We are asking forgiveness at every moment. If we give our wills into the hands of our enemies, or if we give our wills into the hands of satans, this is the result. You can't expect any other. Yes, I am looking at Cyprus now, also. The newspaper comes everyday. We are 100,000 or 200,000 people living in the Turkish part. Now there are fifteen parties and all of them quarreling, seriously, fighting with each other, swearing, cursing everything. What is this'? And we claim that we are Muslims! If we can find the chance to kill, we may kill each other there, also, but the Turkish government has put a strong power and holds people by their hands, like this. And they say this is democracy.

That must be, yes. People can kill each other for the sake of democracy. That is the mentality of the twentieth century, because Satan says, "My kingdom can never continue without democracy" (that is, unlimited personal freedom which a democratic society permits becomes, inevitably, a tool of Satan). Therefore he urges people, "Take courage," urging people to have democracy. Everywhere it is written. I say that it means that you must be sufficiently brave to have democracy. They asked me, "Do you accept this?" giving me the ballot, and on it was written "Yes" or "No." I wrote on it "Yes for Islam." And from God is the Divine Help (wa min Allah at-tawfiq). It is time for prayer.

SHAYKH ABDULLAH AD-DAGHISTANI
AND JALAL AL-DIN RUMI
AFTERNOON / JUNE 2, 1985

"May God bless them both, give respect to everyone."

God Almighty teaches His people. Each one of the children of Adam can learn teachings from God Almighty. If we can put their hearts wholly in the Divine Presence, we can always learn teachings from God Almighty in the form of inspiration.

Revelation (wahy) is for prophets, because they put their hearts wholly in the Divine Presence. Their hearts were not occupied by this world or by anything except their Lord. They were not occupied by this world or by anything except their Lord. They were occupied by their Lord only. As God Almighty called them to his Divine Presence for his worship, they said, "Here we are, ready" (labbayk). Therefore, they faced their Lord's Divine Presence wholly through their hearts. The one who faced his Lord's Divine Presence most was the Seal of the Prophets, beloved Muhammad (saws). Then, to each one of God's servants, to the extent that they can put their hearts in the Divine Presence, inspiration is directed from the Divine Presence into their hearts. Sometimes it is easier for my heart for inspiration to come when I am awake and you put your hearts toward my heart. Then it is easy, translating from the Divine Presence to the Prophet (saws) and from the Prophet (saws) to the Grand Shaykh, and from Grand Shaykh's heart to my heart.

Today when I was praying an important point just appeared on the mirror of my heart to speak about. What is the Muslim's position in relation to others? When we say "others," it means toward all people excepting yourself. It is divided into so many parts, also. What is your position toward unbelievers or toward believers in other religions? Then, what is the position of men toward women and of women toward men? What is your position in relation to older people or younger people? What is your position toward rich people, toward poor people? What is your position toward learned people and toward ignorant people, toward peasants, toward every kind of people, and toward animals, toward plants, toward non-living things - toward all things that may be in existence?

We may gather everything into a word, into a saying that the Prophet (saws) spoke advising his nation, his community (ummah). The Prophet (saws) said, "My Lord taught me and gave me the best manners. whoever wants the best manners may take them from me, through me" (addabani rabbi fa ahsana tadibi). He himself informed us that he had been taught or had been given the best manners (adab), that one may have.

Therefore, O believers, we can learn all good manners through our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saws). Now, we are in need of knowing what are the best manners for coming face to face with people, for everyone according to his or her level, because we are all of us the same in creation, but we are different in our forms, in our capabilities or abilities or characteristics. Everyone carries something different. That is from our Lord's Greatness that He can make everyone to be only one of a kind. Everyone carries a different personality. That is a sign to you that you have been honored in the Divine Presence. No one can anticipate the real honors that everyone has been given by His Lord.

Now we have, throughout this life, by Divine Wisdom, different levels. Therefore, you can't consider human beings like a factory product, all in the same mold. No, because you, the children of Adam, have been created to be God Almighty's vicegerents. Each one of the children of Adam, man or woman, has a manifestation of God Almighty's Most Beautiful Names. They are each manifestations (madhahar) of one of the Most Beautiful Names of the Lord Almighty. You can't say that your Name is the same as the next one's. No matter how many individuals you can imagine from humanity, from among the children of Adam, no matter how many millions of human beings may come, each of them is going to manifest one different Most Beautiful Name from among the Names of God Almighty.

That is a general view for you about the children of Adam. Therefore, you may stand up for everyone who comes to you, respecting that person. You must see each one of the children of Adam, all of them, as being a manifestation of a Most Beautiful Name of your Lord Almighty. That is good manners (adab). You must acquire the excellent manners which God Almighty taught His Prophet.

However, we have lost that now. We are going so far from true Islam and the true excellent manners, and we are inventing something. This is innovation (bidah). We must look at every one of humanity with respect. Therefore, if a baby is born and opens its mouth, breathing, one-two-three, and dies, you must give a name to that child. You must wash the body and you must pray over it with respect. Even if the sultan came, he would pray over the child. If there were no one but the sultan, he must pray, must give respect, to the children of Adam. That baby is one of the children of Adam, yes? That is having good manners or the best manners. We must maintain this. We must make a grave for that baby, not just throw stones and dust on that body.

That is true Islam. You can't find this in any other path, in any religion except Islam - the excellent manners which give perfect respect to the children of Adam. One day a funeral procession was going by where the Prophet (saws) was sitting. when it came near, he stood up, teaching people manners. Someone said, "Oh Prophet of God, that person was an idol-worshipper (mushrik)." But still the Prophet (saws) remained standing.

It was not good manners for a person to say this to the prophet, (saws), but at the beginning it didn't matter because the Prophet was teaching his Companions (sahabah) step-by-step. They were reaching perfection. But it was unmannerly. Then that person regretted that be had reminded the Prophet (saws ) saying that this is the body of an idol-worshipper. The Prophet (saws) knew this. How would he have been a prophet if he didn't know'? You know and He doesn't know?

What did the Prophet (saws) say then? He said one word according to the common level of people, because the Prophet (saws) kept so much knowledge in his heart, and he gave common knowledge to common people and private, special knowledge to special people. Some other knowledge was for himself and some for His Lord Almighty alone. He only said, "I am standing because the angel of Death is going with him. I see that and am standing up." And that is a form of respect, also. He was indicating that he could give respect, even for dead bodies, for everyone. When the funeral procession goes by, we may look, we may stop, because the dead body is not going alone. It is protected by angels, going with it, also. You must look and you must say, "Glory be to the Living One Who never dies" (subhana-l-Hayy al-ladhi la yamut). You must remember death and you must say that God Almighty alone never dies. Those are teachings for everyone from God Almighty to His beloved Prophet (saws) and to ourselves.

What is the measure of respect among people now, when we are claiming we have reached the peak of civilization? Rather, people are coming down. They have reached the lowest point of civilization, not the peak. No, the lowest. Islam comes with most high respect to our Lord, Almighty God, and out of respect for our Lord Almighty we respect His servants. We must respect them because everyone has been honored to be a vicegerent to our Lord Almighty and to be a manifestation of a Most Beautiful Name of our Lord, Almighty God.

Then, every trouble and every problem can be easily solved if we can do this for everyone, because the fruit of respect is respect. when you respect someone, you can find respect from that person to you, but when you are proud, trying to make him low, he will make you low, also. Therefore this world is now like a hell, people falling into it, everyday going down lower, because we have lost respect for the sake of God Almighty.

This is the excellent manners that the Prophet (saws) teaches believers in Islam. Our respect begins from the day of birth, from our birthday. Everyone has a birthday, not just certain people. But you must not think of giving some value to a person only on one day and then throw that away. No. Respect must continue from the birthday on. You must be trained, from the beginning to the end, to give respect. Islam brought respect to humanity, men and women. No faith has given rights to men and women except Islam. Islam bases itself on good manners or the best manners for men and women and the relationship between them, in respect for the sake of God Almighty only.

What makes our Lord pleased with us? Everyone must try to make his or her Lord pleased with him or her. That is the important thing for us throughout our lives. We must make Him pleased with us. If you are asking what thing makes God Almighty pleased with us, you must know it makes our Lord pleased with us to respect His servants. Give respect to everyone for the sake of your Lord and it is enough. He is going to be pleased with you.

I was, by my Lord's favor, with my Grand Shaykh, may God Almighty bless him, for forty years. He taught me and he gave respect to everyone who came to him. "Oh my son, give your respect to everyone because that makes your Lord pleased with you."

If a little child, three years old, four years old, two years old, came to his assembly, and if Grand Shaykh, may God Almighty bless him, was sitting he would get up for him, saying, "Welcome, ahlan wa sahlan." As we said, if that baby is born, taking three breaths and then dying, if no one else is there, the sultan and all statesmen must give their respects to him because he is a candidate for being a deputy of God Almighty.

That is what we have been given by our Grand Shaykh, may God Almighty bless him, and we are trying to give you also those good or best manners. And you must keep them. To the extent that you keep them, you are going to be happy and in peace within yourself. You will find satisfaction. You will be respected among creatures and among heavenly beings, as well. That is an honor for us.

Therefore, don't say that that such-and-such a person is a Christian, that one is Jewish, that is another kind; that is black that is white, that is red, that is yellow; that is rich, that is a peasant, that is a worker, that is a miner; that is a learned one, that is an unlearned one - no. You must look at everyone as a manifestation of one of your Lord's Most Beautiful Names, God Almighty looks at him or her through that Name. He or she is being trained under that Name. Therefore, everyone is perfect in that manifestation. Our Lord, God Almighty, gave to them from His Attributes and you must keep that respect for the sake of your Lord, God Almighty.

Once Jalal al-Din Rumi, a famous mystic among Grand Shaykhs was walking in the market place. A priest was approaching. When that priest saw that Jalal al-Din Rumi was coming, he bowed. Then Jalal al-Din Rumi bowed lower than that priest.
The one who has been given wisdom may understand what the meaning of this is. Knowledge you can find everywhere but wisdom is a grant from God Almighty to certain people, not for everyone. Therefore, God Almighty praises the one who has been given wisdom, saying that he has been given a great favor by his Lord Almighty.

Perhaps someone may object concerning such a Grand Shaykh. "Why, that is a priest and he is a Grand Shaykh. Why did he bow like that, more than that priest? That priest is a humble person in front of such a Grand Shaykh." Who is grand? The one who is more humble than anyone else. He is grand. Grand is not the one who is proud of people. You must understand. That is the point. But the other thing that made Jalal al-Din Rumi bow lower than that priest was because he saw a manifestation of one of the Most Beautiful Names in that priest. Although he was a priest, he manifested one of God Almighty's Most Beautiful Names. Yes.

We are carrying so many sins concerning people and concerning ourselves, as well. We must ask forgiveness every time. May God Almighty bless you and forgive you and forgive us.

FREEDOM
MORNING / JUNE 3, 1985

"So many people in western countries everywhere are asking for more freedom, more freedom. what more freedom?"

Do you think that if you put a big cage, a lion in the will come and enter it, saying, "Shut the door, I will sit inside." Do you think this? It is so now to catch hold of people and to make them be a situation in which everything is in measure, with discipline.

Now it is, as they say, "the Age of Freedom." It began from the year 1789. You know that date? The French Revolution. Heads rolled, feet rose up. The turmoil (fitnah), of the whole world began from that time, the time when they put the noble people under their feet and the lowest level took their place. The door was opened at that time and it is still going on.

It is impossible to close it except by God Almighty's will and power. No one can stop it. Now, each day, from those seeds, is coming terrorism. Finished. All governments are trembling from terrorism everywhere. They can't stop it, because they opened - they opened - the door for the wild nature to come out and to do everything under the title of "democracy." Yes.

There is the zoological garden here, the zoo. Have you seen it? I went eleven years ago. I saw a strong building, stronger than any other. On it was written "Lion House." I went through the passage. On both sides tigers and lions were sitting and looking, like this, very angry at the children of Adam, as if to say, "Why have you put us here? Let us have our freedom." Yes.

Can you think, if they give freedom to those animals, what they would do? I also saw poisonous snakes and lizards inside, well-protected. Why do they not leave them free? They must be free because we have democracy! Is democracy only for people? They must give it to animals, also. Yes. they must.

And I also went to Safari Park where they give more freedom to wild animals. They say, "Lions walk around here as they like," but I saw a wall, perhaps ten meters high, with iron bars all around. Then they say, "We gave them freedom," but it is not true. The animals are very angry, sitting by the walls, looking around. "What is this freedom?" they say. "It is not freedom." As so many people in our time are saying, they also say, "This is not yet freedom. We want more freedom." It means take down all the walls. Leave them. They will destroy anything that may come in front of them. That is their freedom, and they are asking for more. Very angry, because guards are waiting with rifles, and those big doors open by electric commands. If one of them rushes at a guard, a bullet will go through his head, This is freedom? They do not want such freedom!

So many people in western countries, everywhere are looking for more freedom. what "more freedom?" They mean to say, "We must be like lions in the jungle - African jungles or Indian jungles - where we can move everywhere without any hindrance. We may see, we may like a woman and we must ride her. We may like to eat; from anywhere we may take. We may take any car, any jewels, anything - we may do anything we feel like doing." That is their "freedom."

That freedom, that bad freedom - I mean to say, what we have of those wild animals within ourselves - wants more freedom. The first step was from that time, 1789, the French Revolution. They have opened that door and they are unable to shut it now. From there it spread to every place and now they are trembling from terrorism - the French government, the English government, the Turkish government. Only the Russian government is not trembling. Communist governments never tremble. But democratic countries, all of them, are trembling, like this. Yes it is good for them. May they continue with democracy! Then the dragon of terrorism will swallow all of them. That is coming now.

We are giving the Prophet's (saws) information. It is something which has to happen. No one can stop it because democracy is feeding them, and it must be. Therefore, from the time that we gave freedom to everyone - for good ones and for bad ones, and the bad ones have more courage, no shame to rule over others, but good people are ashamed, without courage. Therefore, bad people have covered the whole world. That is why we say that governments are trembling from bad people, from terrorists. They do so many bad things, but governments still say, "There is a law, there is humanity. We must protect them not punish them. They may kill but we can't kill them."

Those who do not give their voice or vote for the execution of killers, they will be killed, also, because it is impossible to stop killers without killing. Everyone must know that whoever kills is going to be killed. Put a guillotine in the Champs Elysees, and every day put one murderer on it and cut of his head, all the people looking. Will they begin to tremble, or not? In the Tower of London there is a big wooden log with an ax. They used it to cut off the heads of kings and queens. Bring killers. Put one there with an ax on his head. Then see who becomes bold to do such things. But you are talking about dragons. "Oh, we must keep those. Democracy - we have democracy. what shall we do? Even if you eat us up, we must keep democracy!" They are swallowing people and yet they are saying, "May you be pleased with us! Eat as many as you like, but we must keep you in the same democracy." You understand?

No intelligence with people now. Finished. This is correct. This is the meaning of democracy - to give the good person and the bad person the same chance. You must know that bad people have courage. They quickly conceal everything, taking matters into their own hands. Then good people become like sheep under a shepherd. What mentality can accept this? If people are bad, you must give no chance for badness, for evil. That is the perfect government, not to give every bad one an opportunity to do as he likes. With democracy, everything is all right for bad people.

Then, how can a person in our time agree to come and say, "I agree to be in a cage?" They say that if they come into Islam, they must be under a discipline. There is a discipline in it, but they want freedom. That is the reason why people are running away from Islam, nothing else. Nothing else. What is wrong with Islam? Nothing. Something is wrong with them.

Who can agree to be in a cage without doing anything that his ego says to him? People want to make everything permissible (ibahiyah, religious libertinism), a kind of thought in which they say that everything is permissible (halal) for them. No harm. They do anything their egos dictate and then they say, "It is all right."

That is an old way of thinking. Now most people practice that school of thought. They say, "We must give our ego everything that we are able to give it. We must make our ego pleased with us by any means, without my hindrance." Men can be women, women can be men. That is the worst thing. They are asking for this, making laws, also. You can understand from this what condition people are in now. This is one of the fruits of democracy, also. In democratic countries people are fighting against nature, changing nature. Therefore, the Prophet (saws) said that the time will come when men will be women and women will be men, and a curse will fall on them.

Once Jesus (as), was walking. He saw a man and a boy. The man was on fire, burning the boy, and the boy was on fire, burning the man. He was astonished. What was that punishment for the two of them? That is the worst action. Those people were making fire come on them. Therefore, God Almighty is punishing, His curse coming on earth by fire. It is impossible to stop World War III - Armageddon. They say this in all books. It must be. Don't suppose that the fire from nuclear weapons is without wisdom. No. It is by the Will of God Almighty, to burn them, to burn every dirtiness on earth. "I seek refuge in God from satan" (istighfar Allah).

Whoever comes to a Muslim teacher to listen and to say, "You are right," then his ego or her ego, like a dragon, catches him by his ear, taking him out. "I do not give you permission to do more than only go and see what is in this Regent's Park Mosque - to see how it is built; what is inside, what they are eating and drinking, what they are saying; to look at it as an exhibit, not to learn Islam from these teachers. I do not give that permission. You can just go and look around. Then it is like an exhibition in Alexander's Palace. Leave. it is enough. Who said you should sit down to learn what religion is, what Islam is, what it orders? What is this? Get out," it says.

Therefore, the one who may be able to put his ego under foot, he or she is a real hero / heroine. Without overcoming your egos, none of you can come to me from Germany, from America, from Sweden, from every part of the world. So many people are coming. You are overcoming your ego so that you can come. Yes. Your names have been written as heroes and heroines on the Guarded Tablet. It is not an easy thing to overcome your ego and almost all of you are young people with egos like spirited horses. All of you, all of you, you may fly - strong ones, your egos. That is the reason that you have been written as heroes and heroines on earth. Wherever you may go, there is light, lighting you as we look at the stars at night and heavenly people are looking on earth and seeing you also with light. Say, "Praise belongs to God, the Lord of the Worlds."

Disciple: You were speaking yesterday about respect, and I would like to understand. How do we respect those people who are like wild animals or people who are oppressors or who are really wicked?

Shaykh Nazim: The Prophet (saws) said, "You must help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or oppressed" (unsur akhaka dhaliman au madluma). You must give your help because all people have been created for the manifestation of the Most Beautiful Names of God Almighty. They are candidates to be God Almighty's viceregents. That is their honor.

Now, we are fighting Satan or against egos. A surgeon performs an operation, but he does not cut a person to kill him. He is not a butcher. Butchers kill, and surgeons do the same kind of thing but they do it to preserve life. Thus, every one of the children of Adam has been honored originally, but our egos take people under their command. Egos are wild animals. We must help them or save them with any means possible. For this reason, the Prophet (saws) said, "Whether oppressor or oppressed, you must help your brother."

Then people asked, "Oh Prophet, how can we help an oppressor?" He said, "You must catch hold of his hand." If you see one person beating another, catch his hand, or if there is a sword in his hand ready to kill, catch his hand. That is help to the oppressor. You can help the oppressed person by taking them from the hands of their oppressor.

Now, all people, even oppressors, like to be respected. Respect is a kind of protection for you. You are weak before an oppressor. You can't keep him away. Therefore, when you give him your respect, you may receive protection from him and by that means - because your respect works on him, also - you may be able to make him give at least something of respect for your life.

Therefore, although oppressors may do bad deeds, they are not bad originally, but by the path of following their egos, they went towards bad ways. The human being is not bad originally. He or she is not dirty originally, but you may make yourself dirty by dirty actions, by following satanic ways and by following your ego. Therefore, we may give respect, particularly to oppressors, to protect ourselves through that respect. That is a wisdom that we may use in our time.

Our Grand Shaykh lived in a time when there were so many oppressors around, so many enemies for shaykhs and spiritual paths during his time. They would often come to visit him. They wanted to do some harm to him, also, but he had heavenly wisdom, keeping respect for them. when he gave respect to an official person, too much respect, too much praise, then his disciples, his students, would sit and look in amazement. They thought that it was alright. But his wife often said, "Oh my sons, when you hear your Grand Shaykh praising someone too much, run away from him. It is only for protection from his evil so that no harm comes to you."

Therefore, respect takes away troubles and harms from you. There is no problem in giving your respect. Originally all people are respectable in the Divine Presence. According to your intention, you are going to apologize to God Almighty for what you did, but it is something God Almighty's tolerance covers. God Almighty never punishes a person because he showed respect towards His servants because respect keeps harm away from you.

Disciple: So even if you meet Hitler or Stalin, for example, the worst of the worst, you should behave respectfully to him?

Shaykh Nazim: What else can you do? You have no power to stand before him, to take his harm. No. Once a Shaykh was sitting at the entrance of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus. A new general came by on a horse and all the people stood up to salute him. That Shaykh looked to see who he was. Then everyone stood up, saluting, except him. The Shaykh had a tiger skin in front of him. Then with his stick, he hit the tiger skin. A tiger - grr! - rushed at the people, at the general, also. If you can be such a person, no worry about facing Hitler or Stalin or any other one!

HOW CAN WE RESPECT OURSELVES?
AFTERNOON / JUNE 3, 1985

"We bear witness that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is the Servant and Messenger of God" (ash-shadu an la ilaha ill-Allah wa ash-shadu anna Muhammadun abduhu wa rasulahu).

There are so many tape recorders here, but which is the best one? The best one is Japanese, they say, or British, because they have a certain stamp or seal, a trademark. Then, if people see that seal or trademark, they say, "This is a famous one, It must be the best."

What about yourselves, the children of Adam? You have a stamp on your heart, the stamp of the Creator. Do you think about that? Sometimes newspapers put some photographs, saying that the word "Allah" is written here, but it is written so weakly (if there is something useless, photographs fill the whole world and people look at that so much). And on the heart, they say "Allah" is written, as well. It has the Lord's stamp on it, but not too many people are looking for that.

Everyone's heart has been sealed by the Divine Signature. The children of Adam bear the Divine Stamp, the Divine Signature all of us. That is to be honored (tashrif) by the Divine Seal. We have that honor. Now, with the Will of God (insha Allah), as they give to me, as my "Spiritual Headquarters" gives to my heart, I am going to translate to you, according to your spiritual desires.

Now, there are two kinds of people who have knowledge. One group of people claim that they are scholars. They claim that they have knowledge. Another group of people claim that they have wisdom. Scholars may get their knowledge by looking at everything, testing and observing, obtaining knowledge, but wisdom is heavenly knowledge, and it is given to certain people, not given generally.

The vision of those who have been given knowledge is different from the vision of wise people. Scholars may look at you, but wise people look and see you in another shape or form. Wisdom gives honor to everyone, as Allah Almighty honored them, even though they may do bad actions.

What is the proof? When God Almighty, the Creator, the Lord of the children of Adam, the Lord of the universes, the Lord of the angels, the Lord of the heavens, decided to create Adam, or when He decided to make him appear in existence, Adam was our Lord's deputy from the time when there was no time. Time is created by this world. If the sun does not move or the world does not turn, no more time; time would finish. Allah Almighty made Adam and his children to be deputies from eternity to eternity. That is in the sight of Allah Almighty, but it was appointed by His Divine Will that he appear when He declared to all the angels that now is the time when I am going to create, saying, in effect, "The time has now come to appear, O My deputy Adam."

Then the angels said, "O Lord, what are you doing? What are you creating'? Are You going to create creatures who do evil and kill each other, doing every dirty thing, while we are always, from beginning to end, glorifying You?" They meant to say that those creatures whom You are going to create or to cause to appear in existence are creatures of such bad actions, while we are correct, glorifying You, servants to You. If You need to make someone Your vicegerents, then it must be ourselves. We are suitable for that.

Yes, that was the meaning of their statement, but God Almighty said, "I know whom I am making My viceregents because I gave them something I didn't give to you." A ruby or diamond may fall into the dirt, but no one would leave it there and go away. If it fell from someone's hand into the dirt, no one would leave it there. Yes, the person who found it would take it from there and wash it, putting so much soap on it, and also cologne. Then no one would say to him, "Why did you take it out of the dirt and put it here?" No, it is right. Why? It has its value and dirt does not affect it.

Therefore, even if they kill each other, they make so much trouble, suffering, war - every kind of dirtiness, yet they have something from My Divine secrets, My precious Divine thing I have given to everyone. Even though they may do everything, they are still vicegerents because I gave them that Divine secret which I never gave to anyone else. Therefore, the children of Adam are at the top. No one can reach their ranks. "Then all the angels said nothing." They knew.

Those who have been given Divine wisdom, wise people, look at all those people who are corrupting the earth and say, "Oh our Lord, one drop of Your Mercy Oceans will clean them, We respect Your servants. No matter how corrupt and dirty they are from their actions, yet that secret which You gave them is still there and it is well-protected in their hearts, deeply planted, as the most precious treasure is placed in the deepest place of their hearts."

You still do not know about yourself. When you look at yourself, you may understand about yourself step- by-step. But we are occupied by everything around our selves. We are looking outside, not within our selves. As long as you look outside, you are heedless of your "self." If you can look into yourself, you will find something else. You look at your photograph or you look in the mirror and you still see the outward view of yourself, but you must think about yourself that you have been given Divine secrets. The universe that you have been given within yourself is something like a very little drop in an ocean. There are five secret treasures hidden in your heart. The heart is not that piece of flesh in yourself. That is the physical body's heart. You have something else within yourself. That is your personality in the Divine Presence. You have been given five treasures, five universes. Each one is wider than the next and deeper. The deepest one, which has no limits, is the Throne of your Lord. It is the Throne of your Lord because nothing can contain your Lord. It is impossible. Neither the worlds nor the heaven can contain your Lord Almighty, only your heart, the hearts of the children of Adam contain it. This means there is no limit to your heart.

Yet you are running after this temporary life's pleasures and you do not reach any of them because when you reach one, your eyes go to the second one. No time to take pleasure, enough pleasure, from this because the second one appears. When you move to reach the second, then a third one appears, saying, "Come to me. Leave that one and come to me." Then you put this one in your mouth but another says, "No, leave this and take that." And this is our life. You are tiring yourself to catch a pleasure but it is impossible to enjoy anything because so many are calling you, "Leave that one and come to me," and when you reach that, then another calls, "Come to me." No one is going to be in a state of enjoyment throughout his whole life, even if he may live eighty years, ninety years or more, particularly as each time he becomes more tired, and when your age increases your taste goes down, also, little-by-little. In this way you are leaving the true tastes which you can end within yourself, leaving them and running after something which is just an illusion.

Now we are here. Where did all our life's pleasures go up to this day? All of them are finished. Nothing is left with us. Therefore, if we can use wisdom - not knowledge - if we can use wisdom - we must look to ourselves.

When we look within ourselves, then we may look at the whole universe. Then you may look at, you may know about yourself. When you know about yourself, you are going to know about everyone else, also. When you are pleased with yourself, at the same time you are going to be pleased with everyone else. When your true personality appears, you will take care to respect yourself. We have also been commanded to respect ourselves because we have been honored by Divine Honors.

Therefore you must respect yourself. How can you respect yourself? We say, 'We bear witness that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is the Servant and Messenger of God" (ash-shadu an la ilaha ill-Allah. wa ash-shadu anna Muhammadan 'abduhu wa rasulahu). The Prophet (saws) also must bear witness to himself. He also said, "I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and His Messenger" (wa ana ashhadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasulahu). He had to proclaim the honor that he had been given by his Lord and say, "The Servant of God and His Messenger" (abd Allah wa rasulihi). Everyone of the children of Adam has to pro-claim that he has been honored by his Lord, Almighty God. That is one meaning that God Almighty commanded by saying, "And proclaim the favor of your Lord" (93:11) (wa ammo bi-ni'mati Rabbika fa-haddith). You must know what God Almighty gave you endless honors and glory. You must know this and you must respect yourself.

There is a good saying among Arabs. when they are angry with someone or someone makes them angry, they say, "Maintain your honor!" (yahtanll nafu). What does that mean? When you are angry then I may do something that is against your honor. When two people are quarreling and insulting each other, the saying goes, "Maintain your honor," because if I begin, your honor goes down. "Maintain your honor." Everyone must keep respect for himself because he has been honored by his Lord, God Almighty.

Then when he respects himself, he is going to keep respect for everyone else. That makes our Lord pleased with us. If you keep respect, everyone must keep respect for you, also. And if everyone keeps respect for you, you will keep respect for them, as well. Then all problems will find a solution among people. Everyone is going to be in satisfaction within himself.

A sister was asking me today, "If we face a tyrannical person, doing so many cruelties, what are we going to do?" Yes, if you face Pharaoh - and you can find a lot of pharaohs in our time, I mean to say tyrants, because our time is the period of tyrants, and tyrants are worse than dictators. Tyrants are like Nero. He gave the order to burn Rome so that he could see the city burn and take pleasure in it. The Prophet (saws) described our time as the time of tyrants - not dictators, but tyrants like Nero saying, "Tyrants and after monarchy will come the tyrants" (Jababirah. Wa mirl ba'd al-muluk al-jababimttm). They have fallen into the dirt and as long as their bad actions remain, they must be in dirtiness. God Almighty created seven hells for purifying every impurity that comes upon the children of Adam. That cleaning, that purification, may be during his life. God Almighty Purifies His servants through every means - every suffering, misery, every trouble - purifies them. Then if that is not enough for them, there will be further purification in the grave. If that is not enough, it will be on the Day of Resurrection. If it is still not enough, they will go into hellfire to be purified. And if it is all right, they may come out. If not yet enough, they may stay more and more and more, up to eternity. And for eternity - He knows about the people of hellfire. When God Almighty orders, purification ends. No one may object.

Hujjaj was a well known tyrant who made hills out of the heads of people. He died, and then he was seen in a dream, saying, "For each one of the people I killed, I have been killed, also, this for this, and for just one Companion, Ibn Zubayr, may God be pleased with him, for that one alone, seventy times."6 Yes. God Almighty will never leave him alone. There must be purification, according to our impure actions.

Now, every night in our countries there are advertisements for washing powders; Every night I look. This one is the best. That one is the best, making dirty clothes very clean, Yes, big machines in hellfire to make you clean, very pure. Therefore, you may do everything. You are free. But you must know that at some time you will be caught. No one can escape. Everyone must come to that door to pass through it. Then, "Come here, come here!" Hujjaj thought it was alright to order, "Cut off his head! cut off that other head!" But then he said, "For each of them, my head has been cut off once, and for that one Companion alone, seventy times." Yes. Therefore you are free to do everything, but He says, "I will give you free will. Do everything, but if you make yourselves dirty, there will be washing."

Now, no one enters paradise except clean people - the pure. They will be bought from hellfire, burned bodies. There are two oceans, springs, at the entrance of paradise. Burned people will come from hellfire and be thrown into one of those springs. They will come out with beauty like that of Prophet Joseph (as). Then they will come and drink from the second spring, and every dirty characteristic of their egos, envy and others, will go away, and the Prophet's (saws ) good attributes will replace them. They will become perfect in beauty and character. Then paradise will open to them and say, "Welcome." Up to that point, too much washing; no one can enter paradise if they have not been purified.

Therefore, the one who has been given wisdom looks at people and respects them and feels pity for them, because they are in need of purification. He feels respect and pity towards everyone, particularly sinners. The eyes of knowledge, however, look at them in a different way. They curse them and if they can they take revenge on them, they do so. Therefore, wisdom cares more about everyone and wants to bring them under Mercy Oceans, while knowledge's eyes sees them as sinners and wants to punish them. Divine punishment is also a mercy for sinners, to clean them, to purify them. Thus Islam, true faith, looks at all people and sees them as respectable and honored creatures and as candidates to be vicegerents of God Almighty. If they are clean, pure human beings, then God Almighty crowns them with His Divine crowns, and no one except the children of Adam have been given that honor.

You must respect yourself and keep respect for everyone. Don't say, "That is a sinner, that is an unbeliever, that is a Christian, that is a Jew, that is a Buddhist, that is anything else." Their actions may be of any kind but they have been honored and their Lord wants to purify them. God Almighty never leaves His servants permanently in the hands of their egos or in the hands of Satan. Haqq, Truth, Reality is going to destroy the kingdom of Satan. It must be destroyed, finished and vanish.

THE DAY OF THE GATHERING
NIGHT, JUNE 3, 1985

"God Almighty will ask His angels to find one person who during his or her life had so much pleasure, who was most pleased with this life, every enjoyment for himself or herself - look for that one..."

The greatest good tidings for the people of faith (ahl al-iman), the people of paradise is that when they enter into paradise, angels come and say, "You are welcome to be in these paradises eternally. Whoever enters never goes out."

That is the greatest good tidings for them, the Divine guarantee that they will never leave. The greatest sorrow, however, is for the people of hellfire. They enter and never leave. If you could count as many as the whole universe has atoms, and also has electrons, for each electron you may be in it for one million years and then you come out. But still they are happy because it is a period of time which is counted and it is going to be finished one day. The hope of that one day gives them peace, even if they are in hellfire. It is such a huge, huge number of years, but they are still going to be happy and say "Praise belongs to God (al-hamd Allah), it is not eternal." There is going to be nothing, nothing, nothing beside eternity. Therefore, the people of hellfire, when they hear that they will stay in it eternally, that is the deepest suffering. And they ask to be taken out of hellfire, even one moment of it is so difficult.

Then, on the Day of the Gathering (yaum al-mashar), the Day of Resurrection, God Almighty will ask his angels to find one person who during his life had so much pleasure, who was most pleased with his life, every enjoyment for himself - "Look for that one." And they will bring a person who lived 1,700 years. He had been king of all the world. He had been given everything of enjoyment. That person will be brought and God Almighty will order, "Take this person into hellfire for one second. Put him in it and then bring him here."

They will put him and then bring him there. Then God Almighty will ask, "Oh My servant, what thing that you tasted throughout your life of more than one thousand years during which time you were given everything - what thing from those pleasures and enjoyments is with you now?" He will say, "Oh my Lord, I swear by Your Name that I have tasted nothing, nothing. That one second I was put into hellfire and taken out just finished everything that I tasted during the thousand-and-so years of this life." Then, what about being in hellfire for thousands, millions of years, billions of years, not finishing, not ending, no hope? That is terrible! Therefore, so many believers' eyes do not sleep from the fear of hellfire, the fear of the anger of their Lord.

Then He will order the angels to find one person among all the people in on that Day of Gathering who suffered so much. God Almighty will command, "Take this person for one second into paradise." The angels will put him in it. Then God Almighty will ask, "What kind of suffering did you have during your life?"

"Oh my Lord, nothing! Nothing for me, finished!" Nothing does he remember because of that paradise. If all the prophets, saints, and religious scholars, were to sit together from the beginning of this world up to the end and speak about paradise, it would be impossible for them to give a description of it. They could speak about only one drop from an ocean.

What would you think if the last person who enters paradise should be given ten-times of this world? In this world, out of four parts, one-fourth is continents and three-fourths is oceans. Of the continents, also, half of them are deserts or forests where no one lives. However, ten-times of this world is filled with every favor of our Lord Almighty. That is just for the last person who is to be given from paradise. Then what about for the others? Yes, this is also our life, counted days or months or years. It is going to finish. Every breath takes us towards the Day of Judgment, toward Eternal Life. Keep your breaths for your Lord, Almighty God, and say, "God! God" (Allah! Allah!). If you do not say it by your will, still your breath each time says, "Huwa. Huwa. Huwa. Huwa. Huwa. Huwa."7 This is going on, "Huwa" with each breath whether you like to say it or not, this "Huwa. Huwa. Huwa. Huwa" must be. May God Almighty call us to His remembrance (dhikr).

THE BEST CHARACTERISTIC
OF HUMANITY

AFTERNOON, JUNE 4, 1985

"Therefore, the most acceptable and lovely characteristic of humanity is..."

Which characteristic places you in a high rank in the Divine Presence? This is an important point. Everyone must ask and must know it, because we are trying to make our Lord, God Almighty, pleased with us.

Which characteristic makes God Almighty pleased With us? It is humility (tawadu) that makes our Lord pleased with us. The first thing that made our Lord Almighty be angry with His creatures is the opposite of humility. What is that? Pride, the first sin appeared from pride.

The first one who raised his head and was rebellious to his Lord Almighty was Satan. The reason was that he claimed to be proud towards one of his Lord's creatures. God Almighty created Adam. Then Satan claimed to be above Adam, not to be beneath his rank, saying, "I am more important than this creature. How can You order me to make to prostate (sajdah) myself before him? I see that my station is higher than anyone else's, particularly the station of the one who has just been created. I fill every square foot on earth and in the heavens with prostration. I give You the highest respect while that one, the new one, has not even made one prostration to You. Yet You are saying that I must prostrate myself, I must give my highest respect to that one? I am the one who will never accept to prostrate to anyone except You," Satan said to God Almighty, seeing himself as being above every creature, and particularly over Adam. That was pride from him, so that the Divine anger or the Divine curse fell upon him.

Therefore, every prophet came to advise people that they should put aside pride. They should be humble, because pride makes your Lord angry with you and humility makes Him pleased with you. That wisdom is enough for everyone throughout his life. But it is not so easy to make your ego accept that, particularly as our ego always votes for Iblis, Satan, never voting for God Almighty. Isn't it so? Everyone knows it. Always for God? No! For everything that Satan does our ego says, "Alright. Yes this is correct, that is wrong." "We seek refuge in God from satan" (istighfar Allah).

Therefore, each prophet came with a Book and with commands (manffiuma), a law including other laws, as prophets came from the Lord. The last, the Seal of the Prophets (saws) also came with so many commands, bringing them to people in his time and up to the Last Day, so that if this world were to continue, his Message would cover every nation, even up to eternity. The summary or soul of all the commands that the Seal of the Prophets (saws) brought to the children of Adam is for what? To teach people how they can be humble servants.

In the Holy Qur'an and in the Divine Law (shariah), commands have been given to keep - 500 kinds of commands and good deeds that you may do out of respect to your Lord and as charity to His servants, because all commands consist either of respect to God Almighty or charities to His servants, which are at the same time most high respects to your Lord. Therefore, Islam is perfect because it brought people the highest respect to give to their Lord and, at the same time, it brought the children of Adam every kind of charity, good actions, and at the same time as you are doing or giving your charities, you are giving your highest respect to your Lord Almighty. If you look at Islam from this direction, you will find it perfect because it covers every charitable work and includes every respect, the highest respect, to your Lord. Yes, You can find in Islam every charity that you can think of and every kind of highest respect for your Lord can be found in Islam, as well.

Then there are also 800 prohibitions, prohibited actions, so from that direction, also, Islam is perfect because you can't find any evil, any wrongdoing or anything that harms people, without its being prohibited in Islam. Any harmful thing, no matter how simple or unknown or unthought of, Islam brings before people to see that this evil, even such a thing that you can't imagine but which harms you, either in your faith or in your health or in your thoughts, because our ego always allies with Satan when it comes to following prohibitions. The ego, the "I" likes the taste of bad things. Therefore, it generally conceals them and tries to show you that they are excellent. "What is wrong if you go to the pub? What is wrong with drinking wine and whiskey and spirits? Why are they prohibited when they give you so much enjoyment?"

That is the animal soul's defense, wanting to make things seem good, to present them as good to your ego. The Prophet (saws) said that when the Last Days approach, people will drink wine, but will give different names. They do not say "Wine," they say "whiskey," "champagne." They say, "This is vodka, this brandy," doing so much advertising, making so many beautiful looking bottles, saying, "This is Johnny Walker. You must be like this when you drink," doing so many things to cheat, to deceive people. Therefore, your ego always comes with Satan and conceals prohibited things, saying, "This may be good. Particularly in our community, in our time, you must use it. You must also put a bar in your house. It must be there, and every kind of bottle." I see some houses which are like a hotel. Yes, up to here with bottles of wine and whiskey. One thousand Satans are in them, sitting - sitting quietly, but when drinking, all of them appear.

Thus 800 things which are harmful physically or spiritually have all been prevented in Islam, so that no one can object concerning any of them that it gave benefit and was useful to people, but Islam prevented that. Therefore, Islam is perfect through its commands, and it is perfect through keeping people from harmful things. God Almighty honors us with each of the commands He gives. We said that there are 500 respects, highest respects, to God Almighty and also charity. Each one that you do, that you keep, gives you more honor. That is honor (karamah) and the prohibited things are for safety (himayah) - for the safety of humanity physically and spiritually. That is perfection. For this reason God Almighty said, "Oh My Prophet, beloved Muhammad, I have just completed your faith, your religion, your Islam, and I am pleased with whomever comes to Me with Islam" (see 5:4).

It is complete now. No one can imagine a religion more perfect than Islam even for the 20th century. Islam is perfect even up until the 121st century and beyond, Islam is perfect since God Almighty created the human being as a human being,8 not creating people as monkeys or apes. No. He created the human being as the human being from the beginning. Apes were created as apes. Monkeys were created as monkeys, but the human being was created as the human being. He gave the human being His form. Even if one hundred centuries more may pass, no one can think of a more perfect form either for men or for women.

Therefore, when God Almighty says that it is now complete, perfect, it is perfect. What is after the full moon? Islam has become the full moon. If you ask for something else after the full moon, you are going to find it waning. Therefore, people now are running. They are not looking at the full moon of Islam and they are running to find something, particularly old religions. Christianity or Judaism are trying to make themselves like the full moon, but it is impossible because they were before Islam and Islam came as a full moon. If anyone wants something after the full moon, he will find only deficiency. For this reason, God Almighty says, 'Who is the one who can bring something more perfect than what I brought to you, Oh Muhammad? Tell them that anyone who can do that may do it, may try. But no one can." And we are saying, as our Lord commands, "Then proclaim" (93: II) (fa-haddith), issuing a challenge.

Yes, come - Christians, come. Jews, come. Islam is the full moon. From any direction you may look, you can find it perfect. Don't look at its followers. No. Look at the full moon itself. Why are you accusing Islam because of the actions of its followers? Islam is perfect, but its followers are not perfect.

Now we shall come to the important point, humility. In summary, what is the main goal of all these commands and prohibitions? Why does God Almighty order all these commands and prohibitions? To make people humble servants, nothing else, because they are under His command.

God Almighty created Gabriel (as) the angel of prophethood,9 the messenger, as the most beautiful angel. Among angels you can't find anyone more beautiful than angel Gabriel (ordinarily you can't look at any of the angels; from their beauty you may fall down dead). He created Gabriel and Gabriel looked into the mirror of his Lord's Power (qudrah), looking at himself. Because of his beauty he has been called "peacock of the angels," (tawus al-malaikah), after the most beautiful and ornamented bird.

When Gabriel (as) saw that God Almighty had created him with such beauty and ornaments, he made two cycles10 of thanks to his Lord.

Each cycle lasted 20,000 years, two cycles or 40,000 years, praising his Lord. When he had finished, God Almighty said, "Oh My angel Gabriel, this is good praise from you to Me, yet its value is not as much as the value of two cycles from My beloved Muhammad's nation. Even if they pray two cycles very quickly, those two cycles from those servants are more valuable in My Divine Presence than the two cycles that you prayed during 40,000 years. Why? Because you prayed without My ordering you to do so. Without My command you prayed those two cycles, but those servants from the nation of My beloved Muhammad (saws) are praying from My command. They are keeping My order and praying, making themselves humble servants. That humility of theirs, their keeping My command, makes them humble servants to Me. They say, 'Our Lord is commanding us. We are His humble servants. We are praying the prescribed prayers.' That humbleness gives their prayer value. Their two cycles, because they are doing it out of humbleness, are more valuable in My Divine Presence."

Therefore, you can understand the reason why we have been given commands. Every command of God Almighty that we keep is to make us humble servants to Him. And for every prohibition, also, we say, "Our Lord has prohibited this. We must obey, we must be obedient servants to our Lord, keeping His order." This gives value to the children of Adam and all the Divine Laws, all Books, and all prophets, including the Seal of the Prophets, peace be upon them all, just came to teach people to be humble servants.

That is all. Any time your ego calls you to be rebellious to your Lord, that is disbelief, denial, ingratitude (kufr). It is a dishonor for you if you know that action makes you proud in the Divine Presence. The one who is proud in the Divine Presence, the one who is proud must be cast out of the Divine Presence just as Satan was cast out.

Therefore, the most acceptable and lovely characteristic of humanity is to be humble. All the prophets, peace be upon them all, just came to teach us how we can be humble servants. We are asking forgiveness for everything in which we are following our egos and leaving the Holy commands of our Lord, saying "I seek forgiveness" (istighfar Allah). We are pleased with our Lord's endless favors. We continuously say, "Praise belongs to God. Praise belongs to God and thanks" (al-hamd Allah; al-hamd Allah wa shukr Allah ).

ETERNAL LIFE
NIGHT, JUNE 4, 1985

"If you cannot be here without working, how can you say He will give you Eternal Life without working for it?"

May God Almighty give us more faith and make it stronger every day and every night. The Prophet (saws) advised his nation, his community (ummah) that because we are living in this world, we must work for this life to acquire our lawful provision (rizq halal). We must work, because the most tasteful food for people is when they work and buy and eat. That is most lovely to our Lord, God Almighty. It is also the reason of physical health, so that anyone who has the power to work must work. Don't say, "There is no work for me." Those are not true words. As long as this world is in existence and life goes on, you can always find some work for yourself to do.

The prophet Solomon (as) was at the same time a king and a prophet. He had been given all the treasures under the earth. He commanded and ruled human beings and jinn. They were also under his command. Jinn are guardians of the treasures under the earth. If Solomon had commanded them, they would have brought up all those treasures. He was such a magnificent king, and, O believers, he ate by the work of his hands, never taking from those things. But we - we are waiting for the government to give us unemployment - unemployed people, every week going and taking.

You may cheat the government, but you can't cheat God. You may take money from it, but if you can work and yet you take it, there is no blessing (barakah) in it. Illness will come to your body, and troubles. Therefore, it is healthy if you can work and eat from the work of your hands.

Sultan Abdul Hamid, one of the last caliphs of the Ottoman Empire, held the whole Empire by himself, one person. The sermons (khutubat) were given in his name throughout the whole Muslim world. He kept the trust (amanah) of the Prophet (saws). He also worked with his hands. Yes. He sold his work and ate from its earnings. He found time for that amidst the work of a huge empire. He never sat upon his throne for judgment until he had made the Naqshbandi remembrance (dhikr) of God,11 recited from the Qur'an, recited from the book of daily devotions (salail al-khayrat), prayed a supererogatory prayer of two cycles observed shortly after sunrise (ishraq) and another supererogatory prayer of between two and eight cycles which is observed around mid-morning (duha). Then he would come. He was such a person. There were blessings (barakah) during his rule, more mercy. For thirty three years he held the whole Ottoman Empire, that is, the Islamic Empire, because he was the caliph, keeping the flag of the Prophet (saws). The whole Christian world was afraid of him and Queen Victoria was a friend of his.

What are we saying? We are saying that in this world, as long as it is in existence, you can find so much work to do. Don't be unemployed, no. If you can take this from here and put it there, you can earn money in this huge country.

Yes. You must work for your lawful provision (rizq halal) not for saving. Saving, saving in banks. Your lawful provision is a grant from your Lord to you to give benefit to yourself and to the servants of God Almighty. What is the benefit of saving in banks? The Prophet (saws) says, "You must work for your lawful provision, and you must work as if you are going to be on earth forever," because when the hope of life is cut off from a person, he is going to die. Hope must be with him and must continue. Hope of life makes him stronger for everything, for every job or duty or responsibility.

At the same time, you must think about your afterlife, your Eternal Life. You must consider that perhaps tomorrow you may die. You may transfer to the Eternal Home. Even a one square foot place in paradise is of more value than the whole world and all the treasures in it. Why? Because the whole world and its treasures are going to be nothing but one square foot in paradise. That is eternal. This world may be bigger than that one square foot, but it is going to be finished and vanish. It is temporary, but that place in paradise where you can put foot, that is permanent, eternal. Therefore, you must be careful also about that point, to work for your Eternal Life.

The Prophet (saws) said, "Oh people, you must think about how long you are going to stay during this life and work for it for as long as you are intending to stay here. Then, for the Eternal life, you must think how long you are going to be in Eternal life and you must work for it, also. You must make a balance. But if you make that balance, you will not be able to find any time for this world. The whole of our time we must spend working for Eternal Life, not for this world because it is so short a time. To the contrary, we give all our power to this temporary life and its needs and for the Eternal Life, we say, "Nevermind. It does not matter. The One who gives to you here in this life is going to give to you in the next life, as well."

If you cannot be here without working, how can you say that He will give you for the Eternal Life without working for it? And that is important. We must look after, we must be more careful about the Eternal Life. We must give more time. Now during Ramadan we are giving a little bit more, praise belongs to God, but after Ramadan, also, we must make a balance - for prayers, for everything that makes our Eternal Life more enjoyable for us and more honorable so that we may be honored in the Divine Presence.

LOVE OF GOD ALMIGHTY
AFTERNOON, JUNE 5.1985

"Try to acquire more love of God Almighty because love covers, love includes everything."

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Don't suppose that Shaykh Nazim is giving a lecture. Shaykh Nazim is nothing. If my Grand Shaykh does not send his heavenly spiritual support, it is impossible for me to say even one word. Grand Shaykh is nothing if the Prophet (saws) does not give him support him by his prophethood's spiritual, heavenly support. And he also, beloved Muhammad (saws) is nothing if God Almighty does not support him by his Divine Power. That is the way. You must give value to these communications that come in such a manner. I don't know what I am going to say to you. I am only waiting for what They open to my heart to say to you, and through your asking, I am also hearing and listening. I am asking from my Lord, Almighty God, to make us among those who are listening and keeping and acting.

Now, it is a new day, a new meeting here. We are always asking for a new thing. Every new thing is tasteful (kullu jadidun ladhidh). Our egos are always interested in new things. That is their hobby. We are asking from our Lord, Almighty God, new and tasteful favors. Everything in the Divine Presence is new. Everything from the Prophet (saws) is new. Everything from Grand Shaykh is new, as well.

Now today there comes a sign for an important point. We are looking for what that is. What is the most important thing for servants? Which thing is most important and most acceptable in the Divine Presence? Which thing is also most precious to the Lord of the heavens, and even most precious among the children of Adam? That is a very important thing we must know and we must try to obtain.

If you do every action that you do with love, that is acceptable in the Divine Presence. Therefore, those actions which you do with love are tasteful to that worker or worshipper, and also to his Lord. If you love your work, it is easy for you to work. If you don't like it, it is a burden on you. Almighty God invites His servants to worship with love. "Otherwise," He says, "I am not in need of your worship. I am only looking, amidst your worshipping or amidst your actions, whether they are coming with love."

Oh believers, you must give so much attention to this point. In earlier times, in vessels using oars, there were slaves. They rowed, but not one of those people did it because of love. Don't be like a slave, no. God Almighty does not want that. If you do something, you must do it with love, love of God Almighty, every action. You can pray, but you must pray with love, love not by force, beating you with a whip and then you pray. "No need," says God Almighty. "I don't like such worship."

Every action that you can do with love - that is more lovely to your Lord, Almighty God. However, we have lost that now. We are trying to do everything out of habit, but without asking for that love, like robots, doing everything but they are not tasting. You are Muslims, You are believers. You must believe in your Lord and you must love Him. Everything that you are presenting to His Divine Presence must be with love. That is important. Therefore, God Almighty offers His servants so many ways to remember Him, so many forms of worship and so many charitable deeds to give Him the highest praise. Then, what do those actions, those forms of worship, bring? What is their fruit? All worship, if it does not bring love for our Lord, is refused. Not acceptable. If our worship makes love for God Almighty grow in our hearts, then it is alright. Keep it. Follow that way. You may follow anyone. If you can see from those meetings that some love is awakening in your heart for God Almighty, then you must keep with those meetings.

The love of God Almighty is not so easy, because you can't imagine Him. He is beyond our imagination. Therefore God Almighty has put His Divine representation into His prophets. Finally, He gave that Divine representation to His beloved Muhammad (saws). He was beloved by his Lord, Almighty God. Therefore, the hearts of his Companions were filled with God Almighty's love. The Prophet represented Truth, Reality, Haqq. He represented his Lord Almighty, so that whoever looked at him saw that he was God Almighty's representative. 'Whoever looks at me sees truth, reality in me" (man raani fagad raa al-haqq). All the Companions' hearts were caught and were filled with that Divine love.

For that reason, when the idol-worshippers (mushrik) came and saw the relationship of the Companions with the Prophet (saws) they would say to each other, "We have seen so many kings, but not one of them is given as much love and respect by his Companions as the respect, the highest respect and the highest love, which Muhammad (saws) is given by his Companions." They were astonished. How is it that so many majestic kings have so many companions but not one of them is given such respect and love? Yet they never understood what the secret was because their egos denied that he could be a prophet.

Therefore, the Prophet, beloved Muhammad (saws) represented his Lord, Almighty God and his Companions were attracted by that love. They did everything and with their physical bodies with love, with an endless love, for their Prophet (saws). Spiritually, as well. They gave everything for the sake of Muhammad (saws) because they knew well that he was the vicegerent of God Almighty, His representative. Each one, when they wanted to address the Prophet (saws) would say, "May the most beloved beings to me, my mother and father, be sacrificed for you, O God's Messenger" (fadaka ummi wa abi, ya rasul Allah). They sacrificed their lives for their Prophet, who represented the Lord of the heavens.

Then, we are also in need of someone who may represent the Prophet and may represent his Divine love within himself so that we can find a way to be in connection with the Divine love of the Lord of the heavens. The Prophet (saws) gave a sign, an indication, of such people. It is a simple sign but it is right: "They are those people who, when you see them, cause you to remember the Lord, Almighty God" (idha ru'u dhikr Allah). when you look at those people who have Divine love in their hearts, there quickly comes to your heart the remembrance of your Lord Almighty, through the Prophet's heart falling on your heart.

Therefore, if we are asking to acquire love toward our Lord Almighty, we must look for such people. Now in our time most of them are hidden, because in our time Islam is only a form, some actions, and most people say, "It is a gymnastics exercise" - yes. If it is a gymnastics exercise, how can you taste love? Tasteless things! And most people are trying to make all Muslims only act like robots, doing actions, doing exercises, and no more. For this reason, in our time people are fighting against the spiritual way (tariqat). That is the reason, because spiritual ways make people taste love. However, scholars can't taste. They are such hard people, such difficult people. They can't give any love for Islam and for its actions to people. It is impossible. They can't do that.

Other religions, as well. They are trying to give love but they can't. For this reason, at the time of the Prophet (saws) most of the Jews of Madinah were against Islam and its Prophet (saws). Why? Islam gives love; they can't give it. People find love and taste in Islam and run into it, but they can't give it. Even though they do not taste it, yet they are stubborn, quite stubborn people. Still they are trying, but it is impossible for Christians to give a person Divine love. Prohibited. Finished. That door is closed. We may give, we can give, that is our authority. Scholars can't give it, but we may give. These are not my words because we are speaking as the words come. And that is our meeting.

We are asking for more love, every day to increase in the love of our Lord Almighty, through His saints (awliya). For this reason, at every He makes His saints represent His love and to transfer Divine love from their hearts to your hearts. But stubborn people and envious people reject that. They do not want to come to our meetings, and we are not in need of them. We are asking for love. If anyone is asking to approach His Lord with Divine love and increase in love, it is alright.

As we have been given we are speaking. They have for me a scale (mizan) and they are looking at your love pressure every day (not blood pressure), whether it is increasing or coming down. I hope it is increasing. We are trying to give that love to our sisters, brothers, my sons, my daughters. That is the aim. The Prophet (saws) said, "If two days are the same, equal for you, no improvement, it means that you are losing; no sale" (man istawa yawahu, fa-hua maghbun).

It is not the object of that Tradition (hadith) that you are going to increase in bodily actions. For example, if you pray forty cycles today, tomorrow you will pray forty-one and after tomorrow, forty-two. No, that is impossible. But every day you must put more love with your actions and send it to your Lord's Divine Presence, and He looks and sees that today My servant is sending Me more love than yesterday. That is the meaning, so that we must increase in love for our Lord every day. Therefore, one of the Grand Shaykhs said, "A little bit of love is more important, more lovely to Me than praying for seventy years without love" (muhabbah) (dharra min al-muhabbah ahabbu ilaiya min 'ibadati saba'in sanah bila muhabbah). Try to acquire more love of God Almighty because love covers, love includes, everything. Oh believers, Satan and his workers are putting enmity among you and also making coldness (burudat) between yourselves and your Lord. Therefore, beware. Don't come near the works of satans because that extinguishes the love of God in our heart. We are asking forgiveness for every action that makes that coldness between ourselves and our Lord, and saying, "I seek forgiveness from God" (istighfar Allah). "And we are thankful that God Almighty gave us from His Divine love and increases it; we are thankful. Praise belongs to God. Praise belongs to God and thanks be to God" (al-hamd Allah, al-hamd Allah wa shukr Allah ).

GOD ALMIGHTY SAYS...
NIGHT, JUNE 5, 1985

"God Almighty says, 'fikum rasul Allah"."

We are in need of our Lord's mercy. Without His mercy no one can save himself. The Prophet (saws) says, "God Almighty is asking me to worship Him according to His glory and greatness. But I can't. It is impossible. If God Almighty makes an accounting of my worshipping, it is nothing beside His glory and greatness."

Where is your praising Me according to My greatness? Two cycles of the Prophet (saws) if balanced against the whole worshipping of the children of Adam and jinn, and angels, also, is more valuable than all of them in the Divine Presence. Why? Because the value of our worshipping is according to our respect for our Lord. Our respect is going to be according to our knowledge of the Lord Almighty. The greater the respect you can give to God Almighty - and no one can reach the Divine knowledge of the Prophet, beloved Muhammad (saws). When he prayed two cycles, he gave such respect that no one can reach that point. Therefore, two cycles of prescribed prayer from him are more valuable than all the worship of humanity and of jinn and angels, even though he says, "All my worshipping is only a drop from an endless ocean. God Almighty has been respected from pre-eternity to post-eternity and my respect and worship is only a little drop from the endless ocean of respect and worship."

What about ourselves? Don't we have any right to raise our heads and say that we are worshippers? You must look at the whole universe. How many atoms are there? If you could count the atoms in a little drop, all the people in this huge city would not be able to count that number, counting, "One, two, three, four..." like this, in one year. Then what about the whole universe? No one can know the number of atoms in it. You may consider that there may be a like number of servants of our Lord, worshipping, and you are only one of them. Then what is your position? What is the position of one atom in a huge number of atoms? We are so proud of fasting, of praying, and saying, "Those people not praying or not fasting. We are praying and fasting," and we become proud people.

Each time we must ask forgiveness for every action that we do. Rabi'ah al-Adawiyah was a saint (wali). She was only one lady among millions of women, but she has been well-known in the Islamic world for centuries. Everyone knows Rabi'ah Sultan, Rabi'at al-Adawiyah. what made her so well known? She was so simple, so sincere, so humble a person. She was only for her Lord Almighty, not for anyone else. All scholars came to her to solve difficult questions for which they couldn't find any answer. They came to visit her because she was always in the Prophet's presence; the Prophet (saws) was never veiled from her eyes.

The Prophet (saws) is living as God says, "Among you is the Messenger of God" (49:7) (fikum rasul Allah). He was not only for the Companions. God Almighty is addressing the whole world throughout the centuries, but if we deny it and we do not see him, what is the benefit of denying? If night denies the sun, it is nothing. If all blind people deny it, saying that there is no sun, their denials never change reality; the sun is shining. The Prophet, beloved Muhammad (saws) is living, hearing, seeing (hayun, sami'un, basirun). This our belief. We believe that he is with us. If you can't breathe his Holy scent, still you can't deny that Rabi'ah was always with her Prophet. If anyone asked a question, she would take her answer from the Prophet. She said openly among the people - not ordinary people, but scholars, saints who came to visit her, "Oh my brothers! our saying, 'I seek God's forgiveness,' needs another 'I seek God's forgiveness.' We are not sincere when we say, 'I seek God's forgiveness.' Our tongues say it but our organs never listen to obey." And that is the peak of humility. If our saying, "I seek God's forgiveness," needs another "I seek God's forgiveness," what about for other actions or other prayers? Therefore, the Prophet (saws) advises us that after praying we must say, "I seek God's forgiveness," "may God forgive me," "may God forgive me."

WHAT IS THE WORST THING IN RELIGION?
AFTERNOON, JUNE 6, 1985

What is the worst thing in any religion? Kufr. That is the worst. What does this mean? To cover, to conceal Reality so that no one sees it. In other words, the worst thing in any religion is to tell lies. Every religion declares that God Almighty has cursed liars, "That curse is for liars. This is from beginning up to end, and this is right" (la'nat-llahi 'ala-I-kad-hhibin).

The second rightly-guided caliph, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, may God bless him, said, "Even during the time before I became a Muslim I never told a lie. Then how could I tell a lie after I accepted Islam? I would think, 'What is the value of a lie?' Nothing. No value for a lie. When a person tells a lie, his value, when it is known he is lying, becomes nothing. Therefore I never told a lie before coming into Islam, and it is correct that whoever lies, his value becomes nothing."

Islam says that faith never goes together with lying; one of the two must go. If a person has faith, you can't find him lying. If he lies, he has not faith. Therefore, lying is cursed by every religion and God curses liars. I am asking Divine protection from being liars in our faith and in our actions, our deeds and our dealings, from all the troubles which appear from lying. Lying is the source of troubles among people. If everyone keeps to truth, not lying, there will be no more problems among people and among nations and among religions.

Then, on the same level, kufr means to cover, to conceal reality, to cover truth. If anyone covers truth and realities, we must say that he lies and, therefore, he will be cursed by God Almighty. Now, all religions in our time, what do they say about the Prophet (saws) of Islam? What are their ideas?

When they deny the prophethood of Muhammad (saws) they are lying and curses are landing on them, from beginning to end. They also say that Muhammad (saws) was a wise man. Yes. They accept that he was a wise man, and that is true. Therefore, when they say that he was not a prophet, they are lying. When they say that he was a wise man, they are being truthful. They can't deny that he was a wise man, because any wise person must accept that he had wisdom, that he brought wisdom. If a person brings only one bit of wisdom, he is considered to be a wise person. What about beloved Muhammad (saws) who brought millions of pieces of wisdom?

They claim that Muhammad (saws) dictated the Qur'an from himself. Leave aside millions of Traditions, each Tradition bringing so much wisdom just about the Qur'an, the Glorious Qur'an. Yet, they must say that he was a wise person. If they say that he brought the Qur'an from himself, even that is enough to say that he was a wise person because no one who is not wise can bring such a book.

When a verse would come to him, he would recite it at the walls of the Kabah, the House of the Lord, the House of the Lord of Abraham. This is well-known in other religions. The Jewish people know it and Christian bishops know it. Even if common people do not know it, still bishops and rabbis know that it is the House of the Lord of Abraham, although they write in their books, "The House of the Lord of Jacob." Before Jacob, He was the Lord of Abraham. but they want to change it. If they said "The House of the Lord of Abraham," then it would be well-known, but they are covering it up.

That is kufr. It is not a lie, but covering truth and showing it in another way. Jacob was the grandson of Abraham, peace be upon them both, and Abraham built the House of the Lord of Makkah. The descendants of Abraham from Ishmael came to that House. They were poets, well-known poets. They would hang up the most famous poems by the most famous poets. For so many years one of their poems hung on the Kabah. No one could bring anything like that poem. But when the Qur'an began to come and the Prophet (saws) recited the first verse when it came, then they took down that poem, saying, "This new one is like the sun of writing and this is like a candle." Beside God Almighty's words, it was no more than a candle by the side of an endless, shining sun. Therefore, they quickly took it down. The Qur'an is such a glorious Book that no one can produce even one verse, one sentence, like it. It says, addressing all people, all the children of Adam, "I am the word of your Lord. You must believe in me because no one can produce anything like me. If you are unable to do that, you must believe that I have been sent by your Lord, from your Lord's Divine Presence." Therefore every wise person must believe that it has been sent by the Lord of the heavens because people can't produce even one verse of it, and it is filled with wisdom.

Now in Europe, in museums, so many precious books are kept. Here also, in the British Museum and other famous European museums, they have manuscripts of the Holy Qur'an and writings about the Holy Qur'an's meanings. See what was the situation before the coming of the Qur'an and what happened after it came, so that no one can deny that Muhammad (saws) was a wise man. If they accept that he was a wise person, it is part of wisdom not to be a liar because wisdom keeps a person from lying.

This must be well known. If you are a wise person you can't tell a lie. Then what about that person, Muhammad (saws)? His sayings and actions generated millions of Traditions, sayings, all of which contain perfect wisdom. He brought a Book filled with wisdom and endless knowledge. As a sign of the endless wisdom and knowledge in the Qur'an, in libraries in the Islamic world, you can now find millions of books (and millions more were also destroyed for various reasons) whose base is the Qur'an. We have now millions of precious books, precious wisdom and knowledge, and the main source is Umm al-Kitab, the Mother of Books, which means the Mother of All Knowledge, the Mother of Wisdom, as a source. that is the Qur'an. Then how can you say about that person who brought it from his Lord that he may be a liar?

They are saying it. Muhammad (saws) said, "I am the prophet of your Lord." How can you say about him, "You are liar," when that person has spoken millions of pieces of wisdom? If a person brings only one piece of wisdom you can't say that he is a liar.

Then what about these people, Christians and Jews, who deny his prophethood? They must be wrong-minded people or they must be envious people, as mentioned in the Qur'an. Yes. They are envious people. Therefore, a curse has come upon them, and the result of that curse is that the Devil's kingdom has been established on earth because they are supporting satans by saying about Muhammad (saws) that he is not a prophet. If they say that he is a prophet, they must follow him.

Therefore, all troubles that have appeared on earth and are continuing will go on to now become a fire-festival, a fire-celebration, over the whole world. As Nero burned Rome to enjoy himself, now all the satans who have established their kingdom throughout the East and West will burn the whole world with fire that can't be extinguished by water or anything else. For this reason, a Grand Shaykh, who is well-known in western countries, Muhiyuddin ibn al-Arabi, a giant-sized saint, a worldwide personality, was saying in his books, books which are full of wisdom (I am taking from his oceans, from Muhammad's oceans (saws). I am taking wisdom that still western scholars can't understand, never finding a solution for that wisdom - he was saying that at the end of this world, when the Last Days are approaching, there will be a fire, a fire burning on earth. If all the oceans could fall upon that fire, it would be impossible to extinguish it. Only the swords of a Divinely-appointed Sultan, ruler, can extinguish that fire.

The Holy Books also mention the Messenger Muhammad (saws). Every Holy Book before the Qur'an also mentions him. People may be liars, but even they can't change the realities in Holy Books. They can't hide the realities in Holy Books. It is impossible. There is a saying in our language that if there is a spear in a sack, you can't keep it there. It must cut its way out. Therefore, they may want to hide it, but it is well-known that a Sultan will come at that time to extinguish that fire from earth because it is going to burn our planet. And that is the reason why they are lying about Prophet Muhammad, (saws) and that is the punishment for them - fire.

Therefore, God Almighty fights against liars. All the prophets, peace be upon them all, fought against liars. All believers have fought against liars. A curse falls upon liars. The Prophet (saws) said, "The one who deceives or cheats us is not from our nation" (man rashana fa laisa minna). If the Prophet (saws) says he is not from his nation, he is not going to be from the nation of any prophet, and thus he is going to be from the nation of the satans.

Therefore, the biggest sin on earth in the Divine Presence is to lie, to conceal realities, to cover truth, and to change the direction of people. The Kabah is on this side, but you show it to be on the opposite side. People are asking to reach their Lord's Divine Presence but you say, "This is not the right way." Then what is? Such people are not from the nation of any prophet but they are from the nation of satans and that is all.

Western people must look once again at the personality of beloved Muhammad (saws), particularly now in our time. They must think about it. At every time they want a new way of thinking, looking for so many ways to take the whole of mankind out of miseries, but each time they are unsuccessful, just as God Almighty mentioned in His Book, the Glorious Qur'an, that when the children of Israel were rebellious to their Lord, their Lord imprisoned them in the desert of Sinai. And they said, "What kind of a prison is this? There are no walls surrounding us, no guards (like in Berlin, watching people, nor barbed wires ). We are free. We can go anywhere. We can escape. Who says we are not in prison? Let us move from this place and get out." Then, they walked from morning up to night time, walking, walking, walking. In the evening they came tired, sweating. Then the sun set and they saw that they were sitting at the same place from which they had started.

What has happened? The whole day we have been walking, walking, to escape, and now we have come back to the same place where we started. Tomorrow we must change our direction. Today we started from this. Tomorrow morning we must go from that side. We must escape. Then going, going, walking hard up to sunset. At sunset they sat down, waiting, so tired, at the same station where they started. What is this - going, turning, coming back to the first station? For forty years they were imprisoned, every day starting but never getting out and always coming back to the first station.

People now claim that they are wise, but they are not such wise people because every time they move they do not search for the true path to go on it. They try every way, try every idea, except that which Muhammad (saws) brought. They do not try that way. Yes, try, up to the end of this world, To where will you come? You will come back to the same troubles, falling into the same pit, falling into the same hell, always falling; yes, trying to climb out and then falling down. As the Prophet (saws) said, "As long as nations go against my way, there will be only degradation (dhillat) and dispiritedness (maskanat) for them." The beloved Muhammad (saws) is true in his every word, every saying. That is all. I am asking forgiveness for me, for you, for them, and saying, "I seek God's forgiveness" (istighfar Allah). We are giving our endless praises, highest praises, to our Lord Almighty and saying, "Praise belongs to God, praise belongs to God and thanks be to God" (al-hamd Allah, al-Hamd Allah wa shukr Allah).

EGOS FEIGN SLEEP...
AFTERNOON, JUNE 7, 1985

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Lord of the heavens, the Creator of all existence. Everything in existence He created. Anytime He wants to take it all away, He can. Therefore, He is the Mighty (al-Aziz), the Glorious. No one can stand in front of Him. No one can be victorious against Him. Yes? No power can stop Him. All power originates with Him, Don't suppose that something He gave to you works for you. No. All works for Him. He is absolutely victorious.

When is religion alive? This must be an important point for everyone to know. We are living in a time of different ways of thinking. There are so many different ideas and schools of thought, because our egos make themselves out to be a prophet or to be a most important person, or to be the first of those who may be pointed out by people, "This is the one."

This is a great, heavy thing that is put upon a person. It is sufficient as a test or an examination from God Almighty for a person to be pointed out by people that is such-and-such a person.

But our ego, our animal soul (nafs) now wants to be pointed to by hands, by fingers, that that is that person. This is the hobby of our egos. But our ego, our animal soul is still sleeping. If it can find a chance, it wants to be the first. Truly, each an ego is waiting to find a chance to be Pharaoh or a Nimrod or a Nero or any tyrant from among tyrants. Don't imagine that our egos are now very quiet, sitting. No! They may deceive you; that is the characteristic, the well-known characteristic, of egos.

God Almighty says, "Truly the animal soul (nafs) impels toward evil" (13:53) (inna-n-nafsa la-ammaratun bis-sou). When he says, "ammaratun," it is exaggeration - so much! You can never imagine what your ego may command, may order you to do - such bad, such bad, such bad things! Everyone's ego!

That is how, from the time of Prophet Joseph (as) from his mouth, through his sayings, God Almighty speaks and teaches. God Almighty, in His Divine way, is still teaching people, speaking of the past and instructing future people, listening people. Joseph (as) was a prophet and he had an ego. All the prophets, peace be upon them all, have an ego, but they can command it. They are kings of their egos and their egos are slaves to them. That is the difference between ourselves and prophets and saints. We are slaves to our egos. The king's Throne, our hearts, we leave to our ego, saying to it, "You should be here. You can command us," and we say to it, "I am your slave." God Almighty is warning people, because if you put your ego on the throne of your territory, your body, no doubt its orders will be the worst. What is it going to say to you? If it can find the chance to sit on the throne of Pharaoh, then it is going to order you the worst things, saying, "Oh people, you are my slaves, you are My servants, and I am your Lord!" Yes? Anything incorrect in this? It is correct. God Almighty says that our egos order us to do the worst things.

Therefore, in our time, in this 20th century whose end we are reaching (the last quarter is passing away and we are going through to the 21st century), now people have found such freedom that before no one could dream of such a thing, of such freedom. If your ancestors, O Londoners, were to awaken, coming from cemeteries, they would first cut off your heads. They would say, "What is this?" People with no shame, living in this country? Who are these people? Where have they come from?" Yes - they would fight the people living in our time, in London, and also everywhere else, not only in London. Because we are in London now we are saying this, but even in Turkey, if the Ottomans came, they would fight the people living in Turkey now; in Arabia they would fight them, also. In every kind of a country, from East to West, if the previous inhabitants of those territories came, they would fight the people who are now living on earth because they would say, "What is this? What is this ignorance among people, what is this immodesty?"

We are so proud that civilization has reached the peak of freedom. Still people are asking for more freedom. What is that freedom? To make a throne for everyone and to put him on it, making him sit and say, "I am your Lord. Come to me," everyone declaring that he is the Lord of this world and of the worlds. That is what people now want of freedom, so that no one can command them - the Lord of the heavens cannot command them. They can order anything, they can do anything.

Yet if I say that now everyone claims to be like a prophet, it is still a lower position. But our egos never want to be lower; they want to be higher. Someone told me a story which shows our time's characteristics, how our egos go on. A person went to look around a mental hospital. One patient said, "I am a prophet. I am unknown but still I am a prophet." Then, when he began shouting so much, there was another one sitting in a high place, with a long beard, calling, "What's the matter? What are you quarreling about?" The person who was visiting said, "This one claims that he is a prophet." "One minute" - a big book in front of him; turning pages, turning, and then he said, "He is a liar because I never sent such a prophet."

That is the characteristic of our egos. Don't imagine that now they are calm. When they find the chance, they are going to do everything. Therefore, throughout his life the Prophet (saws) proclaimed or warned by saying, "Oh my Lord, don't leave me in the hands of my ego." And all the Companions, all the saints, were afraid of their egos. The Prophet (saws) had Divine protection. His animal soul or ego (nafs) was never commander over him, never, but he taught us. "Oh people, you must be very careful. I am warning you about your egos. Too dangerous, too powerful wrestlers, yes? You don't know at what time they may throw you down. You must be very careful." He was asking, "Oh my Lord, don't leave me in the hands of my ego." We put it on the throne of our territories, of our bodies, and say, "Enjoy yourself. As you like. This is London."

This is faith. This is a religion. It is not a game. We must be serious about our faith and our religion. Now we will say something important on that point. In our time, there are so many thoughts because everyone claims to be something. No one agrees to be nothing, and the highest honor in the Divine Presence is to declare that I am nothing, O my Lord. But our ego is never going to agree to be nothing. No. How can it be? I had printed, also, a card, writing on it that I am such and such a person, with letters after my name (a visiting card). Yes, I am registering my personality. Then you are telling me to be nothing!!!

That is important, because when God Almighty created the ego, He ordered it, "Come forward," but it went back. Ordering, "Go back," and it came forward, doing the opposite. He asked it, "Who am I and who are you." It claimed to be something, saying, "I am myself and You are You. You are You and I am myself in front of You, I am something." It means to say, "I seek God's forgiveness," that if You are something, then I am something, also. If You are in existence, I am in existence, also. I am something. I must prove my existence, it claimed. Never saying that You created me; You are everything, I am nothing, not saying that.

That is a battle, going on from the beginning up to the end. Therefore, how is your ego, your nafs, going to agree with you without making a visiting card? You have one, also. Everyone must make a visiting, writing on it, "I am something!" The ego never wants to be something, never agrees to be something. Rather, it can find a chance, it says, "I am everything!"

"Beware!" is written in certain places - "Beware of the dog." It is written within ourselves, also. What kind? A mad dog may bite you, but this is a dragon - a dragon with 70,000 heads, poisoned heads. If the real form of their egos were to appear to people, everyone would fall down and die. Therefore, we must be very careful of our ego, of our nafs. How can we be careful? How can we be able to protect ourselves, if we have such a terrible companion? It is the companion, the partner, with us, with our personality. Then how may we be able to be victorious over our ego (nafs)?

Yes, we are living in a time in which that useless but harmful freedom gives more power, more authority, to our egos, and everyone says, "I am a prophet," or "I could be a prophet," or "I can speak as a prophet speaks," or "I can think as they thought," and want people to follow his way, each one more than the other. For this reason, religions are now only something looked at from outside. People look at that church, that synagogue, that mosque, and pass through it to the pub. Yes! No need for us. What was this church? What is that mosque? What is that synagogue? We must go to bars, pubs.

Who is commanding those people? What thing commands them except their egos? Their egos are saying this because the ego never finds enjoyment in a mosque or in a synagogue or in a church. For this reason, now in our time religions are simply forms, even though God Almighty never leaves His servants without shelter against their egos, against satans. There must always be a shelter for those who are asking a protection from devils in every time. That is Divine Justice. Divine Justice makes that shelter for everyone, so that if anyone is running away from satans, he may be under protection.

Now, we may say that there are three heavenly religions on earth: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Then, whoever feels fear of satans may run into one of these three shelters. Yes, I may say to people who are asking for a shelter that they can run into any one of these three shelters. If one of them keeps them or protects them, it is all right. If anyone finds a shelter in Christianity, asking for a shelter and finding a shelter from the hands of satans and from the hands of his ego, that is alright. No discussion, no argument with him. I am saying: Stay in that shelter. However, you must be very careful. If you can find a strong entrance, you may go in and you may lock it, but be careful about the back. There may be holes in the back. Satans may enter. You must look all around to see if it is all right. Don't be like a heedless person, escaping from the enemy and entering a fortress. It has only a strong door, but the back is all destroyed. Yes, because we look and we see that every religion except Islam is like a show. It is all right outwardly, as people claim in their writings, but the back is full of so many holes, so many destroyed walls, so that a thief may easily enter it, Therefore, we are advising any person who is asking for a shelter from satans to take care, inspecting everywhere. If it is all right, then he can stay. Otherwise he must look for a strong and safe shelter.

Then, we should speak about Islam and about two others, both of them claiming to be partners in shelters for people in our time. If you can find two things in any religions, it is alright. It means that it has a living power, that it is alive and can protect you, One thing is if a religion gives you fear of God, it is young, it is powerful. If it can give you love of God, then that is also a sign that it is alright.

If you can find both of them anywhere except in Islam, continue. Go, no need for a new shelter. However, you must not lie about it, because liars are accursed. If that power was with that shelter, God Almighty would never have sent Jesus Christ (as), the Messiah, after Moses (as), and if that shelter, also, was sufficient and strong, He would not have sent the Seal of the Prophets (saws) six centuries after Jesus Christ (as). You must think about it. Now you can find only in Islam the fear in God Almighty and the love of God Almighty. I met a famous scholar who lived in western countries, in England. He was saying, "I visited the tomb of a saint in Damascus. When I first stood before the grave, I was trembling and I couldn't stop trembling. That was Muhiyuddin, Muhiyuddin ibn al-Arabi's tomb. A fear came on me and I was trembling. I couldn't stop. Then after that, a deep love fell on my heart," he was saying.12

A saint represents the life of a religion. No one can now take me to a Christian saint's tomb, although they have so many saints, and make me feel fear or feel hope or make me feel love. However, I can bring anyone to such a place, making him tremble and feel fear, and at the same time love, deep love, for his Lord Almighty.

Thus, we have people, people alive now, who in no other religion except Islam represent such Divine Attributes, making people fear, making people love, through himself or herself; this is specific to the living religion of Islam. You may find in the presence of such a saintly fear, and at the same time love, for your Lord Almighty. These are important signs that we are speaking of, "Praise belongs to God," (al-hamd Allah), we are in a strong shelter.

NOTES

1. The Sacred Place (mashar) of the Gathering for the Last Judgment near Damascus, Syria.

2. Awliya, pl. of wali, the Friends of God, by which Muslim saints and mystics are designated - those who have overcome their egos and surrendered totally to God.

3. See 14:125. The fire is mentioned in 31:68-69.

4. See 28:18-19, the Chapter of the Ant.

5. During this session, Shaykh Nazim was addressing two young brothers who had come from another Shaykh and who planned to continue their travels after leaving him.

6. Hujjaj, who governed Iraq during the early Umayyad times, was an extremely harsh and tyrannical ruler. 'Abdullah ibn Zubayr was a great Companion of the Prophet who stood up against his tyranny and was executed cruelly by Hujjaj.

7.He means Divine Presence.

8. That is, the human being's nature and form has been the same from the beginning of his or her creation and will remain the same up to the end. Thus, Islam came for the guidance of the human being as human being (not as a creature "evolving" from another species) and hence is perfect.

9. Gabriel was the bringer of Divine revelation (wahy) to all the prophets including the Messenger Muhammad (saws)

10. A rak'at or cycle is one complete unit in the prescribed prayer or salat.

11. Dhikr and dala'il al-khairat refer to the litany said daily by the followers of the Naqshbandi order. Ishraq is an optional prayer of two cycles observed shortly after sunrise while duha is also an optional prayer of between two and eight cycles, which is observed around mid-morning.

12. This refers to the well-known writer, J. G. Bennett. For his own report on the above incident and his meeting with Grand Shaykh Abdullah ad-Daghistani, see his book Subud and his recently published Autobiography.

Copyright 2001, Islamic Supreme Council of America & Naqshbandi-Haqqani Sufi Order, all rights reserved.