On the Self and It States

There is Allah, and there is your own self [nafsuka], and you must address the situation. The self is the opponent and enemy of Allah. All things are subordinate to Allah, and the self really belongs to Him as a creature and a possession, but the self entertains presumptions and aspirations bound up with carnal appetite and sensual desire. So if you ally yourself with the divine Truth in opposition and hostility toward the self, you will be for Allah's sake an adversary to your own self. As Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) said to David (peace be upon him): "O David, I am your indispensable support, so hold fast to your support. True servitude means being an adversary to your own self."

It is then that your friendship and servitude to Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) will be confirmed in reality. All that is allotted to you will then come to you for your enjoyment and pleasure. You will be held in honor and esteem, and all things will be ready to serve you with dignity and respect, for they are all subordinate to their Lord and in conformity with Him, since He is their Creator and Originator and they acknowledge their servitude to Him. Allah (Exalted is He) has said:

There is not a thing that does not celebrate His praise, and yet you do not understand their celebration. (17:44)

[Then He turned to the heaven when it was smoke] and said to it and to the earth: "Come both of you, willingly or unwillingly." They said: "We come, obedient." (41:11)

Thus servitude-all servitude-consists in opposing your own self. Allah (Exalted is He) says:

Follow not desire, lest it lead you astray from Allah's path. (38:26)

To David (on him be peace) He said:

Renounce your passionate desire, for it is vexatious.

There is also the well-known story of Abu Yazid al-Bistamii (may Allah have mercy upon him). When he saw the Almighty Lord in a dream, he asked Him: "How can I find the way to You?" The Lord said: "Abandon your self and come here!" In response, the Saint tells us: "I shed my self as a snake sloughs off its skin."

Thus all good lies in waging total war against the self under all circumstances. If you are in a state of true devotion, therefore, you must oppose the self by not getting involved with people, whether their behavior be unlawful, merely dubious or even well-intentioned, not depending or relying on them, neither fearing them nor pinning any hopes on them, and not coveting any worldly advantages they may enjoy. Do not solicit gifts from them in the form of presents, of alms or charity, or of votive offerings. Get rid of all interest in them and in material concerns to the point where, if you had a wealthy relative, you would not want him to die so that you could inherit his wealth. Separate yourself from creatures in all earnestness. Regard them as a door that swings open and shut, or as a tree that sometimes bears fruit and at other times is barren, all in accordance with the action of a Doer and the management of a Planner, namely Allah (Glorious and Exalted is He), so that you may be one who affirms the Unity of the Lord.

At the same time, however, we must not forget the proper role of human endeavor, to avoid subscribing to the fatalistic doctrine of the Jabariyya. Believe that no human action is accomplished without Allah. Do not worship His creatures and forget Allah, and do not maintain that our actions are independent of Allah, for that will make you an unbeliever, a subscriber to the [extreme free-will doctrine of the] Qadariyya.* You should rather assert that our actions belong to Allah in point of creation, and to His servants in point of 'acquisition' [kasb], this being the traditional Islamic statement on the subject of requital by reward or punishment.

Obey Allah's command in dealing with your fellow creatures. Keep from them what is your allotted share by His command, but do not go beyond this limit. Allah's verdict in this matter will be imposed on you and on them, so do not be the judge yourself. Your being with them is a decree of destiny, and destiny is shrouded in darkness, so expose that darkness to the Lamp, meaning the Book of Allah and the exemplary practice [Sunna] of His Messenger (Allah bless him and give him peace). Do not step outside these two. If some idea occurs to you, or if you receive an inspiration, check it against the Book and Sunna.

By this criterion, you may find that your idea or inspired notion is declared unlawful. Suppose, for instance, you have received an indication to commit fornication, to practice usury, to consort with dissolute and immoral characters, or to behave in some other sinful manner. This you must repudiate, renounce, refuse to accept and refrain from acting out. Be convinced that it is from Satan the accursed.

Perhaps what you find there will be a license, such as that granted to normal appetites for food, drink, clothing or matrimony. This you should also refuse and decline to accept, recognizing that the suggestion stems from the lower self and its animal cravings, which you are under orders to oppose and combat.

It may also happen that you find nothing in Book and Sunna to show that what has occurred to you is under either prohibition or license. Maybe it is something you are at a loss to understand, like an urge prompting you to go to such-and-such a place to meet a certain good man, although you have nothing to gain there or from the good person concerned, since your needs are already taken care of through the knowledge and wisdom Allah has graciously bestowed on you. In a case like this, you should pause and not react immediately. Instead of saying, "This is an inspiration from the Truth [al-Haqq] (Glorious and Exalted is He) so I shall act upon it," prefer to wait for the full potential benefit. The divine Truth works in such a way that the inspiration [ilham] will be clarified through repetition, and you will be told what steps to take. To people with knowledge ['ilm] of Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He), a sign will be revealed, intelligible only to saints of mature understanding and confirmed Abdal.

The reason for not being in great haste to act is that you do not know the consequences and the ultimate purpose of the affair, nor the snares and pitfalls it contains, with cunning tests devised by Allah. So be patient until He is the one at work within you. When the action is absolutely stripped of self, and you are borne toward that destination, you will be carried safely through any trial that may still confront you, because Allah (Exalted is He) will not chastise you for His own doing; no penalty can apply to you unless you get personally involved.

If you are in the state of reality [Haqiqa], which is the state of sainthood [wilaya], you must oppose your passions and obey the commandments in their entirety. Obedience to the commandments is of two kinds:

One kind means taking just enough from this world to supply your genuine personal needs, forsaking extravagant indulgence, performing your religious duties, and making efforts to get rid of your sins, both outwardly and inwardly.

The second kind is obedience to an inner command, one by which the Lord of Truth (Almighty and Glorious is He) orders or forbids His servant to do something. Such commands apply only in the sphere of 'neutral' matters, which are not covered by any positive injunction in Islamic law, in the sense that they belong neither to the category of prohibited things, nor to the category of things that are obligatory; since they are legally indifferent, the servant being at liberty to handle them according to his own discretion, they are called mubah [neutral/indifferent/permissible]. Rather than taking any initiative in this area, the servant should wait to receive instructions, then obey the order when it comes. He will thus be with Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) in all his doings, whether in movement or at rest, through his respect for the rules of sacred law where they apply, and that inner commandment in other cases. At this stage he genuinely belongs among the People of Reality [ahl al-Haqiqa].

In the absence even of this inner commandment, there is nothing for it but spontaneous action in a state of surrender. If you are in touch with the truth of truth, this is the state of obliteration [mahw] and annihilation [fana'], the state of the Abdal who are broken-hearted on account of Him, the state of pure monotheists, men of enlightened wisdom, endowed with knowledge and power of understanding, the commanders-in-chief, the wardens and guardians of mankind, the vicegerents of the All-Merciful, and His intimates and helpers and friends, peace be upon them.

To obey the commandment in such matters means going against your own self, emptied of any power or strength, utterly devoid of all will and ambition for anything of this world or the hereafter. You come to be the servant of the King, not of the Kingdom, of His commandment and not of whim and passion. You come to resemble a babe at his nurse's breast, a corpse receiving its ritual wash, a patient lying sprawled for treatment by the doctor, in all that is not subject to the injunctions and prohibitions [specified by the sacred law].

Only Allah is All-Knowing!

Loose your Ego and you will be closer to God

Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami (Q) used to worship Allah continually, asking in all his prayers that Allah open for him that beautiful Divine Presence.

And after progressing for many years, he heard a voice in his heart that said, "Ya Aba Yazid, what do you want?" He said, "Ya Rabbi, I want to come to You." Allah (swt) said, "Ya Bayazid, there is a correct way to come to Me.""Ya Rabbi, what is that way?" Allah (swt) said, "You have to be a garbage dump for My servants." What does that really mean?Being a garbage dump means that you have to carry the burdens of Allah's servants in order to come to Him.

You cannot come with your ego to Him. In order to step on your ego and come to Allah, be a garbage dump. So what did Aba Yazid do to become a rubbish dump? How do you do that? You have to leave anger, be patient, you have to be of service to humanity, regardless of what they do to you . Biyazid was thinking and thinking and thinking, "How am I going to be of service to people?" To become a rubbish dump means everyone has to speak badly of you, but you still carry their burdens. Everyone has to say, "This one is bad." And you instead have to be saying, "Ya Rabbi, forgive them, Ya Rabbi, forgive them."

How many times did the neighbor of Prophet (s) dump his rubbish at the door of Prophet (s)? For 7 years. The Prophet (s) did not tell anyone - he took the garbage and quietly threw it away. So to become a dump means you have to forgive everyone. To make people love you is easy. Be a sincere person, and everyone loves you. You are happy when they say, "Masha`Allah, you are a lion." But, if they say to you, "You are a donkey," you will get angry! Both of them are animals - a donkey and a lion. But being a lion makes the ego happy. Being a donkey makes the ego angry. Just as you are made happy by something being said of you that really does not have value, the love of people is something good that makes you happy - but compared to the love of Allah, that love of people has no value. Sayyidina Bayazid had created some problem in the city - we will not go into that story now, but as a result they ordered him killed by stoning. He was given the power to destroy but instead he forgave everyone.

They stoned him continuously, children and adults, until he fainted. And as he was being stoned, he was saying, "Ya Rabbi forgive them. Ya Rabbi forgive them. Ya Rabbi forgive them." Who can do that now? They thought he was dead, so they threw him into the rubbish dump. Seven days he stayed there unconscious. When he woke up he said, "Ya Rabbi, I wish that they had thrown stones until I died, and You brought me back to life, and I could be stoned to death again, my Lord, for Your love. "Make my body as big as hell so that no one can go to hell except me. And let everyone else go to Paradise." That is the saints' approach to the Divine Presence, among them Sayyidina Bayazid al-Bistami.

The beauty of Colours

This was passed down to me by Salma Remani.

Salaam Alaikum to you all...

The variation of colours reminded me of the signs of Greatness of Allaah

Today as i was walking home i lifted y heads and looked at the things around me and saw how beautiful the colours are that they have, i especially noticed the sky-- the blue sky........


And among His Signs Is the creation of the heavens And the earth, and the variations In your languages And your colors; verily In that are Signs For those who know (The Romans 30:22)


Truly, colours are the signs of Allah.

I pray to Him that as we look at the magnificent colours around us today, we are able to think and reflect upon His Creations and not be the people whose hearts are blind as what He mentioned in His Verse below,



Have they not traveled about the earth and do they not have hearts to understand with or ears to hear with? It is not their eyes which are blind but the hearts in their breasts which are blind. (Surat al-Hajj: 46)

Nauzubillaah...

Ya Allah, I beg of you to open up our hearts so that we are able to see and understand the signs of your Greatness, the Truth of Your Existence from the glorious colours You created, ameen…

Let us hope that now we would be able to see more than colours. Let us pray that from now, the colours of thousands of shades that we see everyday would make us closer to Him, that we are able to see the magnitude of Allaah’s Brilliance and Creativity, that we would be mesmerized and astonished with His Greatness and fall in Love with Him; and praise Him as how He deserved to be praised…


SubhanAllaah wa Alhamdulillaah,
Allaah is The Most Glorious and All Praise is for Him…

Think about it….

May we learn to dissolve the illusions of separateness
so that we may know, as deeply, as intimately as we are known. Ameen

Principles of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order

Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani coined the following phrases which are now considered the principles of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order:

1. Conscious Breathing ("Hosh dar dam")

   Hosh means "mind." Dar means "in." Dam means "breath." It means, according to Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani (q), that

   "the wise seeker must safeguard his breath from heedlessness, coming in and going out, thereby keeping his heart always in the Divine Presence; and he must revive his breath with worship and servitude and dispatch this worship to His Lord full of life, for every breath which is inhaled and exhaled with Presence is alive and connected with the Divine Presence. Every breath inhaled and exhaled with heedlessness is dead, disconnected from the Divine Presence."

   Ubaidullah al-Ahrar (q) said, "The most important mission for the seeker in this Order is to safeguard his breath, and he who cannot safeguard his breath, it would be said of him, 'he lost himself.'"

   Shah Naqshband (q) said, "This Order is built on breath. So it is a must for everyone to safeguard his breath in the time of his inhalation and exhalation and further, to safeguard his breath in the interval between the inhalation and exhalation."

   Shaikh Abul Janab Najmuddin al-Kubra said in his book, Fawatih al-Jamal, "Dhikr is flowing in the body of every single living creatures by the necessity of their breath -- even without will -- as a sign of obedience, which is part of their creation. Through their breathing, the sound of the letter "Ha" of the Divine Name Allah is made with every exhalation and inhalation and it is a sign of the Unseen Essence serving to emphasize the Uniqueness of God. Therefore it is necessary to be present with that breathing, in order to realize the Essence of the Creator."

   The name 'Allah' which encompasses the ninety-nine Names and Attributes consists of four letters, Alif, Lam, Lam and the same Hah (ALLAH). The people of Sufism say that the absolute unseen Essence of Allah Exalted and Almighty is expressed by the last letter vowelized by the Alif, "Ha." It represents the Absolutely Unseen "He-ness" of the Exalted God (Ghayb al-Huwiyya al-Mutlaqa lillah 'azza wa jall). The first Lam is for the sake of identification (ta^crif) and the second Lam is for the sake of emphasis (mubalagha).

   Safeguarding your breath from heedlessness will lead you to complete Presence, and complete Presence will lead you to complete Vision, and complete Vision will lead you to complete Manifestation of Allah's Ninety-Nine Names and Attributes. Allah leads you to the Manifestation of His Ninety-Nine Names and Attributes and all His other Attributes, because it is said, "Allah's Attributes are as numerous as the breaths of human beings."

   It must be known by everyone that securing the breath from heedlessness is difficult for seekers. Therefore they must safeguard it by seeking forgiveness (istighfar) because seeking forgiveness will purify it and sanctify it and prepare the seeker for the Real Manifestation of Allah everywhere.

2. Watch Your Step ("Nazar bar qadam")

   It means that the seeker while walking must keep his eyes on his feet. Wherever he is about to place his feet, his eyes must be there. He is not allowed to send cast his glance here or there, to look right or left or in front of him, because unnecessary sights will veil the heart. Most veils on the heart are created by the pictures which are transmitted from your eyes to your mind during your daily living. These may disturb your heart with turbulence because of the different kinds of desire which have been imprinted on your mind. These images are like veils on the heart. They block the Light of the Divine Presence. This is why Sufi saints don't allow their followers, who have purified their hearts through constant Dhikr, to look at other than their feet. Their hearts are like mirrors, reflecting and receiving every image easily. This might distract them and bring impurities to their hearts. So the seeker is ordered to lower his gaze in order not to be assailed by the arrows of devils.

   Lowering the gaze is also a sign of humility; proud and arrogant people never look at their feet. It is also an indication that one is following the footsteps of the Prophet (s), who when he walked never used to look right or left, but used to look only at his feet, moving steadfastly towards his destination. It is also the sign of a high state when the seeker looks nowhere except towards his Lord. Like one who intends to reach a destination quickly, so too the seeker of Allah's Divine Presence is moving quickly, not looking to his right or his left, not looking at the desires of this world, but looking only for the Divine Presence.

   Imam ar-Rabbani Ahmad al-Faruqi (q) said in the 295th letter of his Maktubat:

   "The gaze precedes the step and the step follows the gaze. The Ascension to the high state is first by the Vision, followed by the Step. When the Step reaches the level of the Ascension of the Gaze, then the Gaze will be lifted up to another state, to which the Step follows in its turn. Then the Gaze will be lifted even higher and the Step will follow in its turn. And so on until the Gaze reaches a state of Perfection to which it will pull the Step. We say, 'When the Step follows the Gaze, the murid has reached the state of Readiness in approaching the Footsteps of the Prophet, peace be upon him. So the Footsteps of the Prophet (s) are considered the Origin of all steps.'"

   Shah Naqshband (q) said, "If we look at the mistakes of our friends, we will be left friendless, because no one is perfect."

3. Journey Homeward ("safar dar watan")

   It means to travel to one's homeland. It means that the seeker travels from the world of creation to the world of the Creator. It is related that the Prophet (s) said, "I am going to my Lord from one state to a better state and from one station to a higher station." It is said that the seeker must travel from the Desire for the forbidden to the Desire for the Divine Presence.

   The Naqshbandi Sufi Order divides that travel into two categories. The first is external journeying and the second is internal journeying. External travel is to travel from one land to another searching for a perfect guide to take and direct you to your destination. This enables you to move to the second category, the internal journey. Seekers, once they have found a perfect guide, are forbidden to go on another external journey. In the external journey there are many difficulties which beginners cannot endure without falling into forbidden actions, because they are weak in their worship.

   The second category is internal journeying. Internal journeying requires the seeker to leave his low manners and move to high manners, to throw out of his heart all worldly desires. He will be lifted from a state of uncleanness to a state of purity. At that time he will no longer be in need of more internal journeying. He will have purified his heart, making it pure like water, transparent like crystal, polished like a mirror, showing the realities of all matters essential for his daily life, without any need for external action on his part. In his heart will appear everything that is needed for his life and for the life of those around him.

4. Solitude in the Crowd ("khalwat dar anjuman")

   "Khalwat" means seclusion. It means to be outwardly with people while remaining inwardly with God. There are also two categories of seclusion. The first is external seclusion and the second is internal seclusion.

   External seclusion requires the seeker to seclude himself in a private place that is empty of people. Staying there by himself, he concentrates and meditates on Dhikrullah, the remembrance of God, in order to reach a state in which the Heavenly Realm becomes manifest. When you chain the external senses, your internal senses will be free to reach the Heavenly Realm. This will bring you to the second category: the internal seclusion.

   The internal seclusion means seclusion among people. Therein the heart of the seeker must be present with his Lord and absent from the Creations while remaining physically present among them. It is said, "The seeker will be so deeply involved in the silent Dhikr in his heart that, even if he enters a crowd of people, he will not hear their voices. The state of Dhikr overcomes him. The manifestation of the Divine Presence is pulling him and making him unaware of all but his Lord. This is the highest state of seclusion, and is considered the true seclusion, as mentioned in the Holy Qur'an: "Men whom neither business nor profit distract from the recollection of God" [24:37]. This is the way of the Naqshbandi Order.

   The primary seclusion of the shaykhs of the Naqshbandi Order is the internal seclusion. They are with their Lord and simultaneously they are with the people. As the Prophet said, "I have two sides: one faces my Creator and one faces creation." Shah Naqshband emphasized the goodness of gatherings when he said: Tariqatuna as-suhbat wa-l-khairu fil-jam^`iyyat ("Our Way is Companionship, and Goodness is in the Gathering").

   It is said that the believer who can mingle with people and carry their difficulties is better than the believer who keeps away from people. On that delicate point Imam Rabbani said,

   "It must be known that the seeker at the beginning might use the external seclusion to isolate himself from people, worshipping and concentrating on Allah, Almighty and Exalted, until he reaches a higher state. At that time he will be advised by his shaikh, in the words of Sayyid al-Kharraz, 'Perfection is not in exhibitions of miraculous powers, but perfection is to sit among people, sell and buy, marry and have children; and yet never leave the presence of Allah even for one moment.'"

5. Essential Remembrance ("yad kard")

   The meaning of 'Yad' is Dhikr. The meaning of 'kard' is the essence of Dhikr. The seeker must make Dhikr by negation and affirmation on his tongue until he reaches the state of the contemplation of his heart (muraqaba). That state will be achieved by reciting every day the negation (LA ILAHA) and affirmation (ILLALLAH) on the tongue, between 5,000 and 10,000 times, removing from his heart the elements that tarnish and rust it. This dhikr polishes the heart and takes the seeker into the state of Manifestation. He must keep that daily dhikr, either by heart or by tongue, repeating ALLAH, the name of God's Essence which encompasses all other names and Attributes, or by negation and affirmation through the saying of LA ILAHA ILLALLAH.

   This daily dhikr will bring the seeker into the perfect presence of the One Who is glorified.

   The Dhikr by negation and affirmation, in the manner of the Naqshbandi Sufi Masters, demands that the seeker close his eyes, close his mouth, clench his teeth, glue his tongue to the roof of his mouth, and hold his breath. He must recite the dhikr through the heart, by negation and affirmation, beginning with the word LA ("No"). He lifts this "No" from under his navel up to his brain. Upon reaching his brain the word "No" brings out the word ILAHA ("god"), moves from the brain to the left shoulder, and hits the heart with ILLALLAH ("except The God"). When that word hits the heart its energy and heat spreads to all the parts of the body. The seeker who has denied all that exists in this world with the words LA ILAHA, affirms with the words ILLALLAH that all that exists has been annihilated in the Divine Presence.

   The seeker repeats this with every breath, inhaling and exhaling, always making it come to the heart, according to the number of times prescribed to him by his shaikh. The seeker will eventually reach the state where in one breath he can repeat LA ILAHA ILLALLAH twenty-three times. A perfect shaikh can repeat LA ILAHA ILLALLAH an infinite number of times in every breath. The meaning of this practice is that the only goal is ALLAH and that there is no other goal for us. To look at the Divine Presence as the Only Existence after all this throws back into the heart of the murid the love of the Prophet (s) and at that time he says, MUHAMMADUN RASULULLAH ("Mu ammad is the Prophet of God") which is the heart of the Divine Presence.

6. Returning ("baz gasht")

   This is a state in which the seeker, who makes Dhikr by negation and affirmation, comes to understand the Holy Prophet's (s) phrase, ilahi anta maqsudi wa ridaka matlubi ("O my God, You are my Goal and Your Good Pleasure is my Aim.") The recitation of this phrase will increase in the seeker the awareness of the Oneness of God, until he reaches the state in which the existence of all creation vanishes from his eyes. All that he sees, wherever he looks, is the Absolute One. The Naqshbandi murids recite this sort of dhikr in order to extract from their hearts the secret of Oneness, and to open themselves to the Reality of the Unique Divine Presence. The beginner has no right to leave this dhikr if he doesn't find its power appearing in his heart. He must keep on reciting it in imitation of his Shaykh, because the Prophet (s) has said, "Whoever imitates a group of people will belong to them." And whoever imitates his teacher will some day find this secret opened to his heart.

   The meaning of the phrase "baz gasht" is the return to Allah Exalted and Almighty by showing complete surrender and submission to His Will, and complete humbleness in giving Him all due praise. That is the reason the Holy Prophet mentioned in his invocation, ma dhakarnaka haqqa dhikrika ya Madhkur ("We did not Remember You as You Deserve to be Remembered, O Allah"). The seeker cannot come to the presence of Allah in his dhikr, and cannot manifest the Secrets and Attributes of Allah in his dhikr, if he does not make dhikr with Allah's Support and with Allah's Remembrance of him. As Bayazid said: "When I reached Him I saw that His remembering of me preceded my remembrance of Him." The seeker cannot make dhikr by himself. He must recognise that Allah is the one making Dhikr through him.

7. Attentiveness ("nigah dasht")

   "Nigah" means sight. It means that the seeker must watch his heart and safeguard it by preventing bad thoughts from entering. Bad inclinations keep the heart from joining with the Divine. It is acknowledged in the Naqshbandiyya that for a seeker to safeguard his heart from bad inclinations for fifteen minutes is a great achievement. For this he would be considered a real Sufi. Sufism is the power to safeguard the heart from bad thoughts and protect it from low inclinations. Whoever accomplishes these two goals will know his heart, and whoever knows his heart will know his Lord. The Holy Prophet (s) has said, "Whoever knows himself knows His Lord."

   One Sufi shaikh said, "Because I safeguarded my heart for ten nights, my heart has safeguarded me for twenty years."

   Abu Bakr al-Qattani said, "I was the guard at the door of my heart for 40 years, and I never opened it for anyone except Allah, Almighty and Exalted, until my heart did not know anyone except Allah Almighty and Exalted."

   Abul Hassan al-Kharqani said, "It has been 40 years that Allah has been looking at my heart and has seen no one except Himself. And there is no room in my heart for other than Allah."

8. Recollection ("yada dasht")

   It means that the reciter of Dhikr safeguards his heart with negation and affirmation in every breath without leaving the Presence of Allah Almighty and Exalted. It requires the seeker to keep his heart in Allah's Divine Presence continuously. This allows him to realize and manifest the Light of the Unique Essence (anwar adh-dhat al-Ahadiyya) of God. He then casts away three of the four different forms of thoughts: the egoistic thoughts, the evil thoughts, and the angelic thoughts, keeping and affirming solely the fourth form of thought, the haqqani or truthful thoughts. This will lead the seeker to the highest state of perfection by discarding all his imaginings and embracing only the Reality which is the Oneness of Allah, 'Azza wa Jall.

   `Abdul Khaliq al-Ghujdawani had four khalifs. The first was Shaikh Ahmad as-Siddiq, originally from Bukhara. The second was Kabir al-Awliya ("the Greatest of Saints"), Shaikh `Arif Awliya al-Kabir (q). Originally from Bukhara, he was a great scholar in both external and internal Sciences. The third khalif was Shaikh Sulaiman al-Kirmani (q). The fourth khalif was `Arif ar-Riwakri (q). It is to this fourth khalif that Abdul Khaliq (q) passed the Secret of the Golden Chain before he died on the 12th of Rabi`ul-Awwal 575 H.

Seeing Events As Tests

From the teachings of Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Haqqani,

"Years ago as I was walking with my Grandsheikh in Damascus, a football that some boys were playing with hit me on the head and knocked off my turban. I got very angry and turned around, shouting; “Oh you miserable, misbehaved brat!” Grandsheihk said; “Oh Nazim Effendi, you have just lost your faith. How can you claim to believe that everything comes from Allah Almighty when you are ready to blame someone for something that hits you on the head? Do you not know that Allah is the Original Cause of that event? So why are you blinded by secondary causes? When that ball hit you why did you look to see which one threw it in order to quarrel with him? Do you not know that it is from Allah?”

Then I recited the confession of faith to renew my faith.

The level of faith that our Grandsheikh was referring to is the level of prophets and saints. We are trying to attain to that level, and when men reach that level, peace will reign on earth. The reason for all trouble on earth, for all wars and suffering is that people have lost sight of their Lord’s Will behind all events. They have lost sight of the hand of the One who is testing them through those events. They have stopped seeing events as tests from their Lord. Therefore they continue failing those tests."

Swallow Your Anger: Then Digest It

Swallow Your Anger: Then Digest It
By Mawlana Shaykh Hisham al Qabbani

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 would overdose; 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.

Real Love is forever!

Here is a Sohbet, "Lecture" from Shaikh Nazim himself. Bare the translation as it was emailed to me like this but you can understand the main essence of the lecture.

Real Love is forever, as it is For the Sake of Almighty God

There was one student in Daghestan who was on a high degree of love, a strong lover of Allah and the Prophet Muhammad (sal). He was saying about the love between people and that so many people are liking one another but that we cannot accept this love until it is tested to be true or not. A love that is true for only seven days, or seven months, or seven years and then on the eighth goes away, that is not love. How is that love described? You may see in your friend a no good word or action, and become angry with him and cut that love. Any love ending in enmity is not real love. We must love for the sake of Allah, then there is always forgiveness, and a love that is never ending. Real love must be forever.

If I like you and you are grinding me in a mill, and if it is possible for me to come out whole ? after suffering all that crushing, if my love for you changes, it is not real love. Who is in love for the sake of Allah, will be on Mimbars of Light on the Last Day, says the Prophet Muhammad (sal). All people will ask, "Who are these, Prophets??" Angels will answer: "No, they are lovers for the sake of Allah." If love is for this life and the ego's enjoyment, then it is no real love. An important characteristic for believers is to love for the sake of Allah, even if it be to love only one person.

Our Grandsheikh said to me that there were two mureeds (students) in his homeland who would sometimes meet and assault one another with words, saying to each other all manner of things. Then they would look to each other's heart to see if there came any effect from the cursing, but no change. Next, with their hands they would slap each other until they got tired then they would sit down and blow on their hands. Still, not changing in love. Finally they would beat each other with sticks, until they fell down, then they would laugh together. Here Satan (Devil) would become very angry and run away. To be like this is the highest degree of love, and for Awliya (saints) their love never changes, come what may from people. This is the love that Tariqa teaches us to endure. If one gets angry, it means, no real love in his heart. We must accept the faults of people, as we all have so many faults. We must be tolerant and compassionate.

Our Grandsheikh says if a man loves a person, he never sees any disliked thing; every thing is perfect, his features, his speaking and actions. By practicing, you may be on that station. Like Layla and Majnun, he loved everything belonging to her, her dogs, her village, including even the stones. Perfect love results in looking to a person and seeing all perfection. For a lover, nothing can be disliked in his beloved; if we see people in perfection, we will like them. Because everyone is unique in His creation, there is complete and special perfection with him. Even physically, each one is a special individual. This is from Allah?s endless power, to make everyone unique. Looking with these eyes, our hearts must incline to at least be friends with everybody. Then everybody also comes to us with friendship, and then friendship will lead to love. As much as we are loving people, we are strong in love for the Lord. Look always at people's perfection and search for their good actions. Allah orders, don?t look at people's faults, it brings you to hate and enmity. You will come down to these same faults. You must keep your eyes.