MSH.12 DEC 2010.ISHA.PREPOST.ENG

To Seek Leadership Is Forbidden in Tariqah

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

12 December 2010     Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

After `Isha at Private Residence

(Suhbah at MP Dato Noora's home, with Dato Sri Mahmud, son of the Minister of Sarawak.)

 

As-salaam alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani 'r-rajim. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.

Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah, nawaytu 'r-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`ala fee hadha 'l-masjid.

Dear brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, children and adults. Happy Hijrah New Year! Kulli `am wa antum bi-khayr, "May you be well throughout the year." It is the beginning of the year and we hope it will be a year of happiness for all of you and for ummat an-Nabi (s). Insha-Allah it will be a year of heavenly peace. We have to know we began our year with dhikrullah; from Tuesday until today we haven't had any interruption in making dhikr every night, like this group doing Mawlid an-Nabi (s), remembering Allah (swt), saying, laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadan Rasoolullah, and forgiving each other for the sake of Allah (swt), His Prophet, Sayyidina Muhammad (s)!

Allah (swt) reminded us always, by saying:

 الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ وَتَطْمَئِنُّ قُلُوبُهُم بِذِكْرِ اللّهِ أَلاَ بِذِكْرِ اللّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ

Alladheena aamanoo wa tatma'innu quloobuhum bi-dhikri Allahi `alaa bi-dhikri Allahi tatma'innu 'l-quloob.

Those who believe and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance of Allah, for without doubt in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find satisfaction. (Surat ar-Ra`ad, 13:28)

Here, the use of the Arabic letter "lam" is a definite article, meaning, "the hearts will become tranquil." If we are in a problem, or in debt, or if we want peace between each other, we say, "Yaa Allah!" And Allah (swt) said, "O Muhammad, say 'Allah'!" How much Allah loves this word! We are not here for any business or for any projects; we are here only for the love of Allah (swt). "Love of Allah" also means love of Prophet (s), and "love of Prophet" means love of mashaykh, the sincere and pious people. That is why we love our shuyukh. We also have to love our family and parents, our communities, our groups, and our country.

Prophet (s) said:
Hubb al-awtaan min al-imaan.
Love of country (or nation) is from faith.

If you don't love your country, you don't have faith; that is what Prophet (s) said. You are Malaysian, so you must love your country as that shows faith. Everything in dunya and Akhirah is based on love. Allah (swt) loved us, so He created us. So love is important, like in the story of the Bedouin on Jumu`ah when Prophet was on the minbar giving the Jumu`ah khutbah. He said, "O Prophet! When is the Day of Judgment?" and Prophet didn't answer. And he asked a second time and Prophet didn't answer, and a third time he asked. Then Jibreel (a) came and said, "Answer him." In Jumu`ah you must not hold anything, even beads or a telephone; you must listen and pray. Prophet said, "It is a long journey. What have you prepared for it?" The Bedouin was one of pure heart, who came from the desert. He said, "Your Love, O Prophet! I love you." And Prophet said, "Kaafee ya `arabee, it is enough, you will be resurrected with the one you love."

Do you love this group or not? If so, then you will be resurrected with them with your mashaykh and with those you love. And Prophet (s) said, "Souls are like army batttaliions and those who love each other come together, and those who don't will separate."

Allah said to Prophet (s) in Holy Qur'an: 

قُلِ اللّهُ ثُمَّ ذَرْهُمْ فِي خَوْضِهِمْ يَلْعَبُونَ

quli l-lahu thumma dharhum fee khawdihim yal`aboon.

Say "Allah" then leave them in their discourse, playing. (6:91)

So what do we say? "Allah"! I will quote that saying in Kashf al-Ghummah, that Prophet (s) said that Sayyidina Musa (a) said, "O Allah! Teach me something, that I will remember You with it, and seek du`a from You with it." Allah (swt) told Sayyidina Musa, "Say, laa ilaaha illa-Llah." Say, laa ilaaha illa-Llah! And what are we doing here? We are saying, laa ilaaha illa-Llah; that is dhikrullah!

"O Allah!" Sayyidina Musa (as) said, "all Your servants say laa ilaaha illa-Llah. Give me something special that I won't share with anyone, that is private." In Islam there is no "private." What you have is for everyone; what you have of knowledge you have to teach. Spiritually, according to your heart you give, but you don't give jewels to those who don't know jewels; give candies and they are happy. Sayyidina Musa said, "All your servants say, laa ilaaha illa-Llah. Give me something special." Allah (swt) said, qul laa ilaaha illa-Llah. What is the meaning here? It means, "Don't see yourself above everyone." That was to Sayyidina Musa (a). Allah (swt) said to the Holy Prophet (s), qul innama `ana basharun mithlukum, "I am only a human being like you." Allah is teaching humbleness, which is important. 

That is when you fight someone and you have the power to kill or forgive, but you don't kill him, you forgive him. When Sayyidina Ali (r) and the Sahaabah (r) were in battle along with Prophet (s), they did mubariza, dueling, one-to-one fighting. And one kafir wrestler said, "Where is that `Ali? I will kill him and put him down and teach everyone a lesson," since they knew that Sayyidina Ali was "Asadullah al-Ghalib," the Victorious Lion, who was always winning. And he called, "Bring that lady here," not to lower the level of ladies, but he was trying to humiliate him, to say he was not a man. At that time, Sayyidina Ali had a problem with his eye, and Prophet (s) put his holy saliva on it and it came back to normal. Then he fought that kafir, and in two minutes he put him down. He took the sword to kill him and that wrestler spit in Sayyidina Ali (r)'s face! What did Sayyidina Ali do? He threw down his sword and said, "You are free (to run)!" What is that? The law in that time was that if you put the enemy down, you killed him. That was humiliating him, as he wanted to be killed as a brave fighter.
He said, "Why are you not killing me?" and then the discussion began.

When you sit with non-Muslims you have interfaith. To solve any problem you need to discuss the facts. They began to negotiate, and Sayyidina Ali (r) said, "I will not kill you."
The wrstler said, "Kill me!"
Sayyidina Ali said, "No."
The wrestler said, "You have to kill me!"
Sayyidina Ali (r) said, "How can I kill you? Before you spat on me, I would have killed you in the way of Islam, but now I want to kill you from anger."

So to satisfy the ego is not Islamic; what is Islamic is to do everything for Allah (swt).Allah (swt) said, "Say, laa ilaaha illa-Llah," and Sayyidina Musa (a) said, "Give me something special." Allah said, "If the whole of the seven Heavens and the seven Earths were on one side of the Scale, and laa ilaaha illa-Llah was on the other side of the scale, laa ilaaha illa-Llah is heavier than everything else."

O Muslims! This is good tidings! You coming here and remembering Allah is important, because we can see how all tariqats and sufi shuyukh from beginning to end were teaching dhikrullah, and I am quoting from this 500 year-old book and as Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Adil al-Haqqani is teaching us. Some people say, "Don't read books. You are not supported because you are reading books." Don't they know, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim has rooms full of books? He has two rooms in Damascus full of books and manuscripts of Grandshaykh (q). In his house in Cyprus he has four rooms full of books. If you go to my home in America, the whole basement, from here to the far end, is full of books, in Arabic and English, on whatever topic you think you can find. Also it is full with manuscripts; I have collected 400-year-old manuscripts. We have books not because we don't have knowledge, but in order to learn. 

So to say, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, is heavier than the Heavens and Earth. Our associations are to remember, and nothing else. In Kashf al-Ghummah, of which Mawlana has two volumes which he keeps on the shelf next to him; don't think Mawlana doesn't read! The Prophet (s) said, "Not one servant says, laa ilaaha illa-Llah at any hour during the day or the night, Illa tumisat sayiatihi, "except all his sins will be erased." Say, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, Muhammad (s) Rasoolullah! And on the other side all hasanat will be given. What do you want easier than that? Look at how easy Islam is! Where are the scholars who teach that? Why are they hiding this? This is our Islam!

There is another hadeeth, "On the the Day of Judgment, Allah (swt) will take one of the people, and he is the worst of people, on the Day of Judgment and He will take him from all the people around and open for him his notebooks, his records, like all the data in your computer, and all your records will be there. He opens for him ninety-nine records. Each record is mithal magd al-basar, wherever your eyes are reaching to the horizon, and it is full of sin." It means, who is that person? May Allah (swt) not make us that person! May Allah forgive us. That person is in trouble, with sins that reach to the horizon, and when you reach that horizon there is another horizon. So He opens for that one ninety-nine records and He puts that on the Scale, and that person thinks he is haalik, "destroyed," and there is no way for rahmat. And when he thinks he is finished, Allah (swt) will send an angel with a ticket that has "laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadan Rasoolullah" written on it, because he is from ummat an-Nabi! Although he has a lot of sins, he said one time, laa ilaaha illa-Llah,so that ticket will be put on one side of the Scale. On one side are his records and on the other side is laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadan Rasoolullah, and that will be heavier than his sins! Nothing can be heavier than the Beautiful Names and Attributes. And Prophet (s) said, "Who says, laa ilaaha illa-Llah, it is the ticket that supersedes all deeds." It supersedes everything!

O Muslims! It is very important to know about that and to know what we are doing. What is important is to say, "laa ilaaha illa-Llah" and to have a pure heart and not to be arrogant.

And here is a story of a Naqshbandi student, not now, but 500 years ago. He said that a man was a student to a shaykh for many, many years, mudattan taweelan, and he was serving him. Then that mureed who had stayed with his shaykh for twenty, thirty or forty years complained, lam tuhsil haalat al-qalb aw lam tatahasan haalat al-qalb, that his heart had not improved.
The shaykh said, "What is the improvement you are talking about? What is the goal? What do you want out of that improvement?"
He said, "The ni`ma that I achieved from you, I will give to the others."
Look at how tariqat is so delicate. Either accept it or say, "We are lovers, not following on the level of mureed."
He said, "Whatever I get from you, O my master." He had served him for many, many years, so it was like saying, "I was a servant in your house for a long time and I have become old. What are you going to do with me? You will not throw me in the street."
His shaykh said, "What do you want?"
And he said, "Whatever spiritual ni`mat I get from you I will take and distribute for others."

Is that good or bad? The shaykh said, "That is the real corruption in you, the real heretic, fasaad." What did he do? He said, "Whatever I get from you I will share with the others."
The shaykh said, "The whole problem is from that bad intention. O my son, don't repeat it another time or I will throw you out. Don't ask, 'I want to teach others and make summaries of lectures and be a shaykh to teach others.' That is the wrong niyyah. You are daring to tell me that you want to learn from me to make yourself a leader in the community? That is egoism and corruption. It means your intention from the beginning was not love of dhikrullah and love of the shaykh, but it was to be a leader in the community to be obeyed. Go and leave from here!" 

That is a teaching and the shaykh will not throw him out, but there are people in this tariqat or other tariqats around the world who want to be a leader. Why do you want to be a leader? Be a sheep and let the shepherd take responsibility. Take your chair and put it by the shoes. Don't ask to be respected; respect comes from Allah (swt), not from humans. 

The shaykh was well-mannered, and after he shouted at him he said, "O my son! You have to take that bad idea from your mind to be a teacher, to make lectures and teach others. This is the wrong way; take that out of your mind and remember what Allah (swt) has given us of the great favors. It is our duty not to ask to teach, but to go sit in a corner with all this knowledge in you and say, shukran lillah wa'l-hamdulillah! Thank Him and He will give you more. Don't ask for that permission, it has to come by itself." And not everyone will have that kind of power; it is for very few. Those who think they are doing dhikr, leading dhikr and doing suhbah and that includes me, I am not saying this does not include me. Those who are doing that dhikr and suhbah and making da`wah have to correct their intentions and they must know that it is from Allah (swt) and they must thank Allah for what He gave them. Don't throw jewels in front of those who don't understand, but give them candies and they will be happy.

O Muslims! O Lovers of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim! Dhikrullah will save us, and bring us from Hell to Paradise. And keep saying, laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadan Rasoolullah. I spoke with Mawlana just before I came, at 5 o'clock our time here. He sent his best salaam to all of you and he asked, "How is your travel?" He spoke with my wife and with me in Turkish and Arabic. I personally told him, "All around the world people are putting on black turbans," and he said, "This is the year of black turbans." He asked about the visit to rhe maqam of Shaykh Isma`il in Malaka and there were 500 there, or 400 with 100 of the others. He sent his best regards and I will now play his voice, to hear as a blessing for all of us, inshaa-Allah. Mawlana prayed Duha and is now coming to speak:

Mawlana Shaykh Nazim: How are you?
Hajjah Naziha: We are in Malaysia.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim: What are you doing there?
Hajjah Naziha: Everyone here is kissing your hands and feet! Send salaam to Hajjah Anne from me when you visit her grave. We came from Singapore and are in Malaysia now, and will go to Indonesia on the 27th of this month. It is going to be around three weeks traveling.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim: Shaykh Hisham is doing a great job and his sa`ee is accepted. How are the children? I am praying Duhaa, but stopped to talk. It began to rain in Cyprus and inshaa-Allah it will be more and more this year. (Mawlana is very happy about rain.)
Hajjah Naziha: We went to Australia. All the mureeds here are happy with you and are kissing your hands.
Shaykh Hisham Effendi: As-salaamu `alaykum, Sultan al-Awwaleen wal-`Akhireen! Allah, Allah, Allah. Your barakah is reaching here and we are full with people here, all wearing black turbans.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim: This is from your himmah (zeal) and efforts.
Shaykh Hisham Effendi: This is from your high himmah! We went to the maqam of Shaykh Isma`il and there were hundreds of people on boats.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim: Mashaa-Allah, you are doing well.
Shaykh Hisham Effendi: From morning time to evening it is busy.
Mawlana Shaykh Nazim: Did they give you food?
Shaykh Hisham Effendi: Yes Sayyidee, and we left 10:00 a.m. and reached the maqam of Shaykh Isma`il at 4:00 p.m.! Hundreds of people were there, and then we returned to Kuala Lumpur at night. They were all wearing black turbans and I told them that this is the year of Mahdi (a). All over world people are putting on black turbans; as you ordered, they did. And all here are sending salaams to you and kissing your hands, from the prince to the servant. We are going to Indonesia, where they put your name everywhere, on signs on every street it reads, "Mawlana Shaykh Nazim ar-Rabbani al-Haqqani." We will be in very big gathering there, with hundreds of thousands of people in one big stadium they rented for dhikr and Mawlid.

(End of suhbah.)

(Mawlana Shaykh Hisham asks Dato Sri Mahmud to speak.)

 

(Dato: Thank you very much. I would like to say that I have never seen so much love in all my life! There are so many of my old friends I have not seen in a long time. I came to see Mawlana through my friend Zaharuddin, as my family is in crisis, attacked by black magic. After some help it reduced the pain, but the problem kept coming. Alhamdulillah, Allah has shown me the way to Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, and everything is improving minute-by-minute. Thank you so much Shaykh Mawlana. Thank you, all my friends, for helping us. Before my father retires, he wants to set things right and then retire, so then Sarawak will be a better place, inshaa-Allah. He has done a lot of things for the ummah and insha-Allah we will have a lot of people join us in Sarawak. I am extending my invitation to Shaykh Mawlana to come to Sarawak to speak to our people, to Europeans, to our Muslim brothers and sisters, and to our friends who have not yet embraced Islam. (...) I hope that Allah (swt) will give barakah to us all. And I have never heard takbir and dhikrullah like this, ever! Thank you all for letting me come here tonight.)

He is happy and we are all happy, because all our sins are forgiven by saying, laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadan Rasoolullah. Say, laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadan Rasoolullah! This lecture will be online on Sufilive.com tonight, if anyone wants to download it. I would like to thank Dato Noora and her husband Hajji Sulayman, and Abdul Jalil and his wife, who could not make it tonight as she is sick. May Allah (swt) bring us here again and I am so happy that Dato Sri Mahmud met his old friend, Faysal. I was surprised that he saw his old friend beside me and he forgot the shaykh and went to his friend, then he sat on my left! (laughter) And I probably have been his friend more than, or the same as, Dato Sri Mahmud. May Allah make this a happy year for all of us, and for your father, the chief minister, for this country, and for those sincere ones who are running this country, and that they continue running it as it is now. 

(Group photos are taken.)

(baya`) 

Inshaa-Allah, baya` is to Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, may Allah (swt) give him long life, and it will go to Grandshaykh `AbdAllah (q), then to Prophet (s)! laa ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadan Rasoolullah! Inshaa-Allah we will see you next time and may Allah bless you. I will see you the next time we come to this country and I look forward to seeing Shaykh Mahmud, inshaa-Allah. As-salaam 'alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

 

MSH.12 DEC 2010.ISHA.FINAL.AR

مولانا الشيخ هشام القبانى

7 محرم  1432

12 ديسمبر 2010

– كوالا لامبور - ماليزيا

أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم نويت السلوك نويت الإعتكاف نويت العزلة فى هذا المسجد

إن شاء الله يكون هذا العام الهجرى عام سلام ونبدأ هذا العام بذكر الله و منذ بداية العام الهجرى لم ننقطع عن الذكر علينا أن نسامح بعضنا البعض و ذلك من أجل الله و الرسول ص.

ألا بذكر الله تطمئن القلوب فى السراء و الضراء نقول يا الله عندما نريد الحب و السلام نقوم بذكر الله لسنا هنا للتجارة أو المشاريع ولكننا هنا من أجل ذكر الله سبحانه و تعالى و محبة النبى ص.

حب الأوطان من الإيمان و لذلك نحن يجب أن نحب أوطاننا هذه علامة من علامات الإيمان.

جاء البدوى إلى الرسول ص يوم الجمعة، فسأله الرسول ص ماذا أعددت ليوم الدين؟

يوم الجمعة يجب أن نركز فى الصلاه فقط قال البدوى أنه أعد ليوم الدين حبه للرسول ص فقال له الرسول يكفيك هذا فيحشر المرئ مع من يحب فإن الأرواح جنودا مجندة . أنتم هنا تجتمعون من أجل محبة الرسول ص. قل الله و ذرهم فى خوضهم يلعبون أتركوا من لا يريد الحضور فسوف يأتون إلى بعد ذلك.  قال موسى عليه السلام يا رب علمنى شيئا أذكرك به قال الله سبحانه و تعالى قل لاإله إلا الله ز قال يارب أريد شيئا تخصنى به.  فى الإسلام العلم متاح للجميع لا تعطى المجوهرات الثمينة إلى من لا يعرف قيمتها أعطيهم حلوى يكونوا سعداء لا ترى نفسك فوق باقى الناس. التواضع و التسامح مهم عندما كان سيدنا على فى عراك مع المنافقون كان المسلمون يذهبون فى مجاميع للقتال. سيدنا على أسد الله الغالب. دائما ينتصر. قال المنافقون أحضروا هذا الرجل المرأة على. كان يريد أن يقلل من شأنه. عندما إستطاع سيدنا الإنتصار على المحارب قام المحارب بالبصق على وجه سيدنا على و لكن سيدنا على أطلق سراحه و لم يقتله كما كان قانون الحرب حينذاك .

فى الحوارات بين الأديان يحدث نقاش و تفاوض قال المحارب لسيدنا على يجب أن تقتلنى قال سيدنا على كيف أقتلك و قد أكون غاضب و أقوم بقتلك لغرض شخصى و ليس لوجه الله سبحانه و تعالى.

قال موسى ياربى إنى أريد شيئا تخصنى به . قال الله سبحانه و تعالى إذا كانت السماوات و الأراضين فى كفة تكون لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله فى الكفة الأخرى.

مولنا الشيخ ناظم يمتلك مكتبة كبيرة جدا و غرف كثيرة فى الشام و فى قبرص مملوءة بالكتب والمخطوطات و فى بيتى فى إمريكا ذلك لا يعنى أننا لا نستطيع الكلام كفى أن نقول لا إله إلا الله. مولانا الشيخ ناظم يقرأ الكتب. ما من عبد قال لاإله إلا الله فى ساعة من النهار لطمست ما فى صحيفته من سيئات و يعطى بدلا منها الحسنات الإسلام سهل لماذا لا يعلمنا العلماء هذا لماذا هم مختبئون؟

يستخرج الله من أمته رجلا يوم القيامة و يفتح له 99 سجلا كل سجل مثل مد البصر مملوء بالسيئات.( يا الله إعفو عنا و لا تجعلنا مثل هذا العبد). ووضع الله السجلات فى الميزان حتى إذا ظن أنه هالك أحضر له بطاقة فيها لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله و تثقل البطاقة فلا يثقل مع إسم الله شيئا. قال الرسول ص لا إله إلا الله لا يسبقها عمل . يجب أن نطلب القلب الخالص و نتخلص من الكبرياء.  إشتكى مريد بعد 30 أو أربعون عاما مع شيخه لأنه لم يرى تقدم فى قلبه سأله الشيخ ماذا يطلب قال المريد النعمة التى أتحصل عليها منك يا سيدى سوف أبلغها إلى الآخرين. هذا هو الفساد الحقيقى للنفس قال الشيخ هذا هو الفساد بعينة إن الفساد كله من هذه النية الفاسدة قال المريد أريد أن أعلم الأخرين هذه نية فاسدة من النفس فقد نويت من البداية أن تكون شيخا تأمر و تطاع هذا ضد الطريقة لما تريد أن تكون راعى القطيع لا تطلب الإحترام. الإحترام يأتى من الله سبحانه و تعالى و ليس من الناس يا ولدى أخرج هذه الفكرة الفاسدة من بالك و تذكر أن ما أنعم الله به علينا من النعم المتنوعة العظيمة أن من واجبنا الأول أن نذهب و نشكر الله سبحانه و تعالى و لا نطلب الإذن بأن نكون معلمين فهذا الإذن لا يطلب فإنه يأتى من عند الله . على من يطلبون الإذن بالدعوة أن يصححوا نواياهم. يا محبين الله ذكر الله هو ما سوف ينجينا لقد تحدثت مع مولانا الشيخ و هو يرسل السلام لكم جميعا و قال الحمد الله على العمائم السوداء هذا عام العمائم السوداء و إليكم صوت الشيخ ناظم و سأل مولانا عن زيارتنا لمقام الشيخ إسماعيل قال سلطان الأولياء هشام إفندى أحسن صنعا الحمد لله السماء تمطر بقبرص الحمد لله الكل يرتدون العمائم السوداء قال سلطان الأولياء أنه من همة الشيخ هشام و تحمسه. كان هناك خمسمائة شخص فى زيارة مقام الشيخ إسماعيل. قال سلطان الأولياء أحسنتم صنعا . قال مولانا الشيخ هشام نحن فى طريقنا إلى إندونسيا و سوف نقوم عمل مولد لعدد خمسمائة ألف شخص بركة سلطان الأولياء.

MSH.20 NOV 2010.PREPOST.ENG

O Human Beings, Don't Raise Your Head!
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
20 November 2010 Burton, Michigan
After Salat al-Isha at As-Siddiq Mosque

A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.

Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,

nawaytu 'r-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`ala fee haadha 'l-masjid.

Ati`ullaha wa ati`u 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.

Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (4:59)

I was not planning to speak, but will say two words inshaa-Allah, as an advise to myself and to you. As Sayyidina Shah Naqshband (q) said, Tariqatuna s-suhbah wa l-khayru fi 'l-jam`iyyah, "Our way is companionship with the group." That means, to sit together and listen. The best of your daily worship is to be together. And that is why prayers are recommended to be done in jama`at, congregation. The best jama`ah is the one which is not coming together for dunya, to ask about dunya issues, but to come in a little bit of a spiritual gathering, to uplift themselves and accept what situation Allah has put them in, and be content with it.

Contentment is very important. In downtown San Francisco, you see a lot of homeless people living under bridges. One time I saw a homeless person had built himself a three-storey living area out of cardboard. It rained, but it didn't rain there because it was under the bridge. He was storing things inside, and he was very happy, content. Some people might have houses, money, cars, and they are still not content or happy with their lives, but this homeless person had nothing and he was happy. Happiness cannot be bought, it is a grant. When you try to close the doors of Shaytan, from attacking you, coming against you and telling you to do this or that, when you close that door, then your Lord will open the door of contentment. But if you keep your house with no doors, thieves can enter easily. If you keep your heart without doors, Shaytan can easily disturb you. There is no benefit as it makes you unhappy. Allah (swt) created you to be happy, so why are you making yourself miserable?

 

Some people making only $1000 a month and they are happy. They have a wife, children, they have a job and home, and they are happy. Money cannot make you happy. To be happy you must close the door of gossip in the ear. Shaytan has nothing to do but gossip. When he sees you, he comes with all kinds of gossip in the ears. We all have this problem. I am not saying I am clean, I am speaking about me and you. But this is advice coming from Mawlana Shaykh to me and you. Most important is to close the door through which the wind comes, close it and relax. Don't ever think that friends like to help you if you are better than them. They are jealous of you. Those who pet you, they take benefit from you. If they cannot benefit from you, they curse you!

وَدَخَلَ جَنَّتَهُ وَهُوَ ظَالِمٌ لِّنَفْسِهِ قَالَ مَا أَظُنُّ أَن تَبِيدَ هَذِهِ أَبَدًا

Wa dakhala jannatahu wa huwa zhaalimun li nafsihi qaala maa adhunnu an tabeeda hadhihi abada.
And he went into his garden while oppressing himself. He said, "I think not that this will ever perish." (al-Kahf, 18:35)

 

Here "oppressing" means arrogant, proud of himself, thinking, "I know everything." You know nothing and no one knows anything! Don't raise your head! There are millions of heads above your head. Allah (swt) said:

وَفَوْقَ كُلِّ ذِي عِلْمٍ عَلِيمٌ

wa fawqa kull dhi `ilmin `aleem.
Above every knower is a (higher) knower. (Surah Yusuf, 12:76)

That means you keep quiet, don't talk! When you talk you are expressing arrogance and pride. "I know how to speak, and I know how to make presentations." Take those presentations and throw it in your face. You have to be humble! Don't enter your kingdom by being arrogant, or Allah will give you a hard time. He entered his garden oppressing himself, how? By saying, "I own this kingdom; I own my mind and my brain." You don't own anything. In any moment Allah can send you a very small sickness and you will be in a coma; then your brain will be gone. They say that you have become a vegetable. What vegetable? Throw him in the garbage! Don't think that you are something. You are nothing, you can't even raise your eyes above your eyebrows! Allah wants to show you that your forehead and eyebrows are for Him, for sajdah! "Don't be arrogant, or I will take everything from you."

He entered his garden as an oppressor to himself, thinking, "I made it, I entered my kingdom, I made all that. It is never going to disappear. I made it very strong." However many palaces they build, along comes one tornado and they are gone. So he entered his garden and Allah sent a tornado. What happened? He said, "I don't believe in the Hour and I don't think this will ever perish." His friend said to him, "What are you trying to do? Where are you going? Allah will take it! Don't disbelieve in Allah's strength and power! Remember what you were and from where you came, from soil."

Allah (swt) created you from soil, khalaqaka min turab, from one cell that comes from dirt, from Earth. Thumma, He created Adam from clay, mud, and thumma min nutfah, after creating the first man from soil, everyone else was created from a sperm and an egg. Is it not? From where did that sperm and egg come from, your eye or your nose? You say you are a king, the master, a professor, or an engineer. No one can talk to you. You are arrogant, You are arrogant. From where you did you come? From a bottle, or a cup? You came from the lowest place in the body, that disgusts everyone, from there you go to the toilet. How can you raise your head? When you eat where do you go? From where do you eat? You eat from your mouth. Do you eat from anywhere else? But what you eat from your mouth goes down from where you came! So why are you arrogant? It is all from Allah's favor, Allah gave food to you by your mouth to show you not to raise your head in pride, as He made you come from that place. Can you raise your head anymore?

Think about it! Islam is about thinking. You say we are intelligent people, so think about it. Can you raise your head and say, "I am here." I wonder about the president of any country; when he goes to the toilet in the morning, what is he thinking? Is he a president or a king in the toilet also? He is Allah's servant! Wa fawqa kulli dhi `ilmin `aleem, "Above every knower is a (higher) knower." So there must be a top one; there cannot be two at the top. And he is the one whose name Allah raised with His own name, La ilaaha illa-Llah Muhammadun Rasoolullah, `alayha nahyaa wa `alayha namoot wa `alayha nalqa 'Llah!

Whatever you are going to try to do, men or women, you are not going to be able to stretch your life and you are going to face death. Are you remembering that day? Did you prepare something for that day? People say they have a "401K" (retirement fund). What you did with your money? "I saved for my pension, my 401K." Okay, you are brilliant. How much did they take from your salary, twenty, or ten or five percent? You worked like a donkey all your life, and run like a monkey and bark like a dog all your life, and what are you paying? You are paying your bills, and they take ten percent and say, "We will give that to you when you become 75 years old." What will you do with it at that time? You work for them day and night, and your pension goes away with the economic crisis and nothing is left. You reach 75 years of age and have nothing. You worked all your life and end up with nothing. (It's better to) prepare yourself for death. Do you want to be a snake, a dragon, a monkey or a donkey? Which one do you like? None of them. Then prepare something for your akhirah!

Now some people of different beliefs, not the Muslim belief, say you become a snake, a monkey or a barking dog, or even a worm or an ant, in your second life; through "reincarnation" you become an animal. But you are human being. Why do you have to become an animal? You don't get anything. They promise you that you will become an animal or a worm later. Be happy to be a worm, that someone will come and crush you! (laughter) Allah (swt) has given you dignity and honor, to pray and worship, to have a pension for your akhirah. Are we doing work for our akhirah? So many are not. I am not talking about this group, masha-Allah they are doing, but I am speaking to everyone through this camera. That camera has one red light that shows it is alive, and if that goes out it is dead. I am speaking to that red light. We want it to be a green light, a passage from dunya to akhirah with pension. Make a pension for akhirah as this dunya is going.

Close your heart to Shaytan, and be content with what Allah is sending you. Open doors for angels. Say, "I don't know anything and I need to take advice from everyone around me." Today there is no respect for fathers, no respect for mothers, no respect for husbands, no respect for wives, no respect for sons and daughters! Everyone likes to say, "Today I am Einstein." You are what? Okay, remember that smallest ant, the smallest you were able to see. Grandshaykh `AbdAllah (q) was giving a lecture and suddenly stopped, and his followers wondered why. He is big `alim of fiqh, tasawwuf, hadith, Qur'an. He said, "Did you see that ant, that very small ant it came from the right, all the way to stairs, it picked up a little crumb of bread and took it back. Who moved that ant? Was it a reincarnation, or Buddha, or Jesus, or Moses, or the Prophet (s), or did Allah (swt) move it? How did that ant know there is bread there. Go and check, as I can't see from here."

How was that ant is able to see from far away, when you have bigger eyes? Don't you sometimes see an ant going to a plate, and they are so small that scientists don't know their stomach from their head. Who made that ant move and take that bread, then take it to its house, then eat it, and then make waste from it? Don't raise your head. Allah (swt) made the ant, can you make an ant? And He sent their provision, and the Prophet (s) is the one who is dividing the provision to that ant, yet you want to raise your head and say, "White is black and black is white (nonsense)!" So be careful. Bring yourself to normality. What is normal? It is to be like an ant, to surrender to Allah's will. Don't nag, don't keep speaking, "blah blah blah," complaining, never stopping. Leave everything to Allah's will!

If you see a misunderstanding, don't interfere. I had someone complaining to me like Yuhanna. The two of them have a problem and are trying to fix it, but one of them insists on bringing up stories from two or three years ago, incidents which they hadn't discussed. But it is gone! You are today's child. What happened before is gone. If you want to fix something, fix the future. Don't keep trying to fixing the past. Until today they are speaking of Hitler, of WWII. It killed millions and finished. Look to the future of your community and your country, that is what counts. May Allah forgive us. 

So don't go from this door today closing your heart without realizing that you are smaller than an ant! Don't raise your head. Allah (swt) raised the Prophet (s) because he never raised his head; he was humble, always in sajdah. Remember, that is your pension, that is your real estate, those are your children, and remember how to make a pension for you, your children and your wife in akhirah. It is not what you are doing now for your children and your wife. Don't forget to show them and teach them about Akhirah. Behave lovingly in front of your wife, and your wife in front of them, to be a happy, content family. Try hard, no problem. Allah didn't say not to work. Don't be lazy. Allah doesn't want you to be lazy. We are getting emails from someone who is saying, "I am lazy, I want to keep lying down." The Prophet (s) urged the Sahaabah to work.

Sayyidina `Ali (r) famously said:

`Amal lidunyaka ka-annaka ta`ayshu abadan wa `amal li-akhiratik ka-annaka tamooto ghadan.
Work for your dunya as if you will live forever, and work for the Next Life as if you are dying tomorrow.

MSH 2 DEC 2010.PREPOST.ENG

How Meditation Defeats Depression
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
2 December 2010    Melbourne Theosophical Society
Melbourne, Australia

Introduction:
I will say a couple of words about our speaker. Shaykh Hisham is a deputy of the Sufi Master, Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Haqqani. Welcome, Shaykh Hisham. As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. For the program tonight we will begin with qasidahs and a general form of dhikr, the remembrance of Allah (swt), and that will be followed by a talk by Shaykh Kabbani, who exemplifies having both the things of this world and taking care of his spiritual love. He has degrees in Chemistry and Islam, and he travels the world to spread Islam. He has a huge responsibility, taking care of things regarding our tariqah, and we are very blessed to have him in Australia. We are going to have questions regarding our Creator. We begin now with praise of God and His Prophet (s). (salawaat recited.)


Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

Good evening. Is it evening now, is the Sun still up? For sure, time is in our imagination.

A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytaani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmaani 'r-Raheem.

Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,

nawaytu 'r-riyaadah, nawaytu 's-sulook, lillahi ta`ala fee haadha 'l-masjid.

It is an honor for me to be here tonight, not tonight, but this morning! (laughter) We don't know where up or down is; the earth is round. So it is my honor to be here a second time and to see these beautiful faces. Some we saw last time and some for the first time, but in our spiritual understanding we are always together. Whether we see each other physically or not, the eyes can see, our hearts can see, every cell in our body can see. It is very difficult to express our feeling because the tongue and language is limited, but spiritual understanding is never limited; that is why you can speak with your Lord with no language. Without language you can speak with someone you don't see; you can move your energy, you can move your spiritual power to everyone around the world and some can hear it. God gave you ears to hear with, but with everyone is it is different between some ears and others. I have a telephone, but unfortunately I can't hear. Is it a defect in the phone or in my ear? I found out my secretary, who is sitting here, lowered the volume in my phone and I cannot hear it but he can hear, and this means his hearing is stronger than my hearing. For everyone God gave a specialty. 

We are not here to discuss believing in God or not. As a person I believe in God, in a Creator, because of what I see around me. When you look, you are going to see different faces. Who has the power and ability and capacity to make these faces look different? It is impossible to do; even technology today cannot produce anything similar. You have a computer and he has the same brand computer with the same software, but his software does not work. So what do you need? Tech support. Without tech support you cannot fix the problem in your computer, although the software is the same. Then tech support instructs you, "Press this button, now this button," and it works. Did he do miracles? No, he is someone with experience, a healing expert that can see a defect in software and fix it. 

A tech support can heal; he is a guide, a healer, and it is impossible to live your life without a guide. In your life there are so many guides and those who say we don't need them are mistaken. Because in your life you have a guide in nursery school, until you grow older and enter primary school, secondary school, high school, university, and even for PhD studies you still need a guide. Especially at the PhD level, they send you not one but ten people, to whom you must prove that you became a healer. Then they certify that you can become a guide, and give you permission to guide others.

Now, how many professors are studying the human body? There are hundreds of specialties. What do you think about the spirituality, the spirit in your self? Does it not need a specialist on how you can improve yourself? Yes. You go to the gym and build up your body. They give you tablets and you become so big, like Superman, Batman and the Incredible Hulk. (laughter) Okay, you become all that, you are building your body, good. Why are you only building your body, you don't want to also build your spirit? Such meetings in these places are to build your spirit, and without this it is impossible to improve ourselves. And there are such guides and healers that you can find in different walks of life depending on which guide you are following. Is it that someone who uses a rocket is a very fast healer, or who uses a car is a very slow healer? It depends on who you are choosing, as God has said in Holy Qur'an:

لاَ يُكَلِّفُ اللّهُ نَفْسًا إِلاَّ وُسْعَهَا

laa yukallifullah illa wus`ahaa.
On no soul does Allah place a burden greater than it can bear. (al-Baqarah, 2:286)

So a healer does not give you a handful of medicine, but he might give you one tablet because he knows what kind of problem you have. They tell you not to take an antibiotic on an empty stomach, take it with meals or you will have stomach pain. It is the same for spirituality: you will have pain in your soul if you don't take medicine. That is why people have the pain of depression, and problems at school or work. Everywhere they feel this depression. How to take away this depression? That is the key today: how to take this away and be happy. Did you ever have anyone tell you, "No, I don't want to take this away, I want to always be in misery and pain." (laughter) I don't think anyone wants to be unhappy. 

We are not discussing our Creator, what He created or what religion you have to follow. You are free to choose. There is no compulsion in religion; no one can tell you what beliefs you must follow. We are speaking about the problems of today, which is so much technology. Some technology is very good and some is annoying. I cannot say it is not good, but annoying and a nuisance to many people. First of all, it takes your time; hours and hours and hours behind the computer you are navigating. What are you navigating? Yahoo or Google. Let us navigate through Google: there is Google Earth and Google Space. Everyone is on Earth, so we know that. Go to Google Space and what do you find? Go to these twelve constellations, abraaj in Arabic. Go to one, zoom in, and you can see unlimited stars there; you cannot count them. And as you zoom in, it navigates you deeper into space.

It is impossible to understand how this happened and you will be amazed. That is not annoying, but that is the good part of technology. That is the space around us that we cannot understand, and in it Earth looks like the head of a pin, and this is just our solar system. We are not yet speaking about space; people are not even able to understand Earth!

I will ask one question. Some of you came by car, some by train, and I don't know, some by horse? (laughter) If you came by car you need fuel, as without fuel the car cannot operate; even if it is electric, you need some kind of energy. Can anyone in this room tell me with what kind of fuel the Earth is turning around its axis for millions of years? How does it keep turning? Why, instead of turning clockwise, is it turning counter-clockwise? Is it by mistake? No, it is always turning counter-clockwise. It did not change its course all this time. What kind of fuel is making it turn? What is inside it to make it turn? It doesn't depress you not to know why? (laughter)  

As a student I was a depressed, because not one teacher gave me an answer about what was making this Earth turn and what kind of fuel it takes. (Someone gives an inaudible answer about explosions on the Sun). I was studying quantum physics and they answered like that. But what kind of reaction is taking place on the Sun, and what kind of fuel is it that is not making the Sun completely explode? What kind? Every star has its own characteristics, and in the middle of the Sun where all these explosions happen, the temperature is 15 million degrees Centigrade. If you put that on Earth, what will happen? It will explode, it will be gone! Why is the Sun not gone? When you don't know what is around you, it is depressing. If we don't know the inner side of ourselves, it is depressing. For the outside we are searching, but for the inside we are not. 

O People! In order to understand yourself, look within yourself, for that small hotel or motel that carries a lot of emotion and spiritual power: in your heart. You have been given a heart so that you may enlighten it. Some people ask, "Why the heart? Why not the brain?" Of course it is the heart, because if you go into a coma and the brain stops, you are still living, but if the heart stops, everything stops. Muslims have a saying from God,  "Neither My Heaven nor My Earth contain Me, only the heart of the believer contains Me." If someone is good and of benefit to himself, his family, his community, his country, or wherever he lives, that person will begin to receive that light. When you receive ma`rifah, knowledge of the Divine, that depression slowly goes away. 

Why do we have depression? Because we cannot address our problems, we delay our problems. It is like students today, or children, you see when they study there is one book here, one book there, and their socks are there; they are not focused. So when we are not focused and our heart is not zoomed in, of course we cannot see. Depression comes when you cannot see the obstacles within you. You cannot overcome the obstacles that come your way, so you try to create a situation within yourself, not to attack that obstacle (offense), but to defend yourself from it (defense). That will not be successful, because our duty is not to be defensive, but to attack and stop any enemy that is coming to our soul. 

We have trillions of cells in our body and each cell is like a huge factory with security police and army battalions, trying to defend any attack. So if that is the case for a cell, what do you think about the whole body? If we are not able to use this energy to defend our body, how can we send it to benefit anyone else outside the body?

Healers are those who gave up their lives, and who always connect their hearts with their Lord, their Creator, building up their energies in seclusion. Now many people do that in shrines, in mosques, and in churches. Everyone has to account for himself at the end of the day, what he has done. That is why we have to meditate. If we don't sit and meditate by ourselves and account for ourselves, how will we know what was our mistake for that day, in order to correct it for the next day? I asked my teacher one day how to count the mistakes we do during the day and how many bad characteristics we have in our soul. Because in Holy Qur'an it says, "And God inspired what is good and what is bad." Every major religion teaches this. 

Someone has the microphone and wants to speak.

Q: What do you think about children who have no defense system and no protection against what comes their way?

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham: That is the problem, that children are not raised in an environment to study spiritual knowledge to build themselves up, because parents are not teaching them that. Socially speaking, many of their parents are separated, or they have no social ties. I am sorry to say this is the problem of the 21st century. If you ask, in my time I was studying in a French school, where we studied social behavior and how to build character. Today schools have eliminated this and they have no such thing on how to improve ourselves. If the energy in the house is good the children will be okay. If the energy in the house is not good then there will be problems, the children will have problems. I am feeling by your energy and by your question that you have that problem. It depends on the age of children. If you can, direct them toward better behavior, and put them in touch with meditation and these procedures. There are many places that teach it, and it will be okay. 

Depression is a big problem that creates obstacles in so many people's lives. In order to overcome that we have to meditate. I asked my teacher, "How many bad characteristics can we count?" I ask anyone here. (100, 200, 250.) It ends up as 800 different bad characteristics that we build up in ourselves! I asked him, "How many were you able to identify in yourself?" Now he is 90 years old, and he said that once in seclusion, in six months he counted 650 bad characteristics in himself. It is very difficult to understand them. It comes slowly, and you begin to understand them and slowly you build up (your knowledge and defense). 

I was in Malaysia at an event where the dean of an Indian University gave a lecture. He is a very nice person, very famous. He is Hindu, a very beautiful person and very nice. He was expressing how to know ourselves and to make ourselves stronger, and he got different quotes from different psychologists. He said, "You have to count what good you have done during the day and write it on paper."
When it was my turn to speak, I said, "I agree but I would like to add more. We should not only count the good things, but also count the bad things to counter the ego, because when you count the good things you are uplifting your ego. There are two kinds of ego. You are increasing your good ego (when you acknowledge your bad deeds), but if you count the bad characters, you destroy the glory of the bad ego by showing it, 'You were bad today.'"
He said, "Can I quote you in my book?"
I said, "Yes."
He said, "I want the whole speech." It was a 52-page speech and he put it in his book!

Today we count what is good and forget what is bad. Wives and husbands separate because they don't want to discuss their problems. It ends up in a big depression and when depression comes it is very difficult to take it away.

Regarding the Earth, we don't know its fuel source, but for the human body we say it is the soul. Did anyone see their soul? I saw my soul. If you train yourself under a competent master healer, you can see your body and your soul. You can separate them, because you can take your soul out. Because the body is the cage of the soul, you cannot move freely. That is why healers can move. God's friends, saints, have nothing to fear because they can move freely in their vision, in their soul. When you put yourself in their care, there are different ways Allah, God, will give you hearing and with your spiritual eyes you will see things you cannot see with your physical eyes. All of this will relate to how much you can take your soul out of your body. At that time you understand what is the "soul." This is where the healer looks and he knows what is the defect because he can see people's souls. There are doctors that can heal the physical body and there are too many hospitals, but I never saw a hospital for the soul, except mental hospitals! There are very few places for healing the soul, where you practice meditation, which can identify your problem. 

May God forgive us and keep you happy in your lives, and keep you always happy in your country. Our duty is to obey God, obey Prophet (s), and obey those in authority; that keeps us safe. Also, there is an authority within us, that when we want to do something, immediately the mind or heart will jump to say, "Don't do that! It is not good." There is a balance in your conscience that is like uploading to a computer. In the world we upload so many miseries to our minds! When you have uploaded too much your computer crashes, and your brain will crash. So always you have to download and empty, and when you meditate you will become safi, clear; your mind and heart will clear. So my recommendation is to meditate five, ten, or fifteen minutes daily and connect with whom you like. Meditate and understand your reality. It will help you fix yourself, unless you find a healer, someone who can understand and help you. 

May God bless you and give you happiness, health and wealth. God gives because He is the Most Generous and anyone who asks, for sure He will give. Generosity is to keep giving.

As-salaamu `alaykum. May God bless you.

If anyone has a question, you may ask. If there are no questions, it will be a pleasure! (There is a question.) Ooohhh! (laughter) Come sit here, and I will sit here. His questions need my teacher to answer!

Q:  As-salaamu `alaykum. I am Iranian. (...) I bought your book. I believe the Sufis are peaceful and they discover what is in themselves. I love the Sufis. My question is, please remind us what is the relationship between matter and mind, between matter and consciousness, and between matter and soul. Thank you. bi l-f``il wa 'l-quwwah, "in action and strength."

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham: (laughs) Your questions are not normal questions; they are from a very high level and to answer it needs time, but we will try. Matter and mind, what is the relationship? Okay, it's very simple, what is the relationship between matter and mind, matter and consciousness, matter and soul. I will give one example that will give you the whole answer. What the relationship is between atoms is "matter = mass + electron + proton." If there is no electron or no proton, there is no mass. So to have equilibrium of matter requires mass + atom + equilibrium. Similarly, soul + mass = body. Without mass, this body consists of soul and flesh, so "soul + mass = body."

Then there is faith, what people believe in. Let me say my faith is Islam (law) + imaan (faith), whether that is Jewish, Hindu, Christian,  seek ihsaan (the state of perfection). These are the equations that answer your question. The relationship is so combined you cannot take them apart. You can identify mass and elements, and in the periodic table 200 elements. Also, the relationship of the matter to the soul, mind, education, whatever, all these different equations you mentioned, everything is woven together. In order to understand, you have to analyze it. Like in this carpet, to achieve so many colors you have to analyze it. It is not accurate to say only, "It is made of red and blue threads." To achieve those colors I would have to take every thread out and analyze it. Similarly, the soul has many aspects. As we say, "soul + mass = body," we say "religion + faith = perfection. To understand this you must analyze it, and we hope people can analyze for themselves.

Q: You mentioned out-of-body experiences. Sometimes I experience that.

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham: The soul and flesh give the body life. When you take out the soul you only see flesh, and then you can understand the relationship. When you free your soul you feel better, because the freer your soul becomes, the more knowledge you receive.

[End of broadcast]

MSH.5 DEC 2010.PREPOST.ENG

Know Your Place in the Hierarchy of  Mawlana
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
5 December 2010     Singapore
Private Residence

As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakaatuh. 

A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani 'r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem
Ati`ullaha wa ati`u 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.

Allah (swt) said, "Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you." (4:59) And inshaa-Allah we are obedient to Allah (swt), obedient to Prophet (s), and obedient to the country whose rules we are under. Everyone is free. Allah (swt) gave everyone a mind to think and a heart to live, and Allah (swt) gave to everyone according to the capacity which that person can take.

لاَ يُكَلِّفُ اللّهُ نَفْسًا إِلاَّ وُسْعَهَا

laa yukalifullahu nafsan illa wus`ahaa.

Allah does not burden any soul except to its capacity. (2:286)

Allah (swt) said in Holy Qur'an, and subhaanAllah, this is like a prediction:

وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ

w `atasimoo bihablillahi jamee`an wa laa tafarraqoo.

And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not be divided. (3:103)

The Holy Qur'an always gives predictions of the future, but here it is as if it is giving an answer to those who don't like to do dhikr or be united, as Allah (swt) said, "Hold tight to the rope of Allah and do not separate." So the message is to not separate; if you separate you will be questioned. The Prophet (s) said, "Follow the big majority," don't follow one or two. Here you are free to follow, but the Prophet (s) said, "Follow the big majority." And Allah (swt) said this in Holy Qur'an, as if predicting that there will come in the future a group of people saying, "It is haraam to make dhikr." What do Wahhabis say if you recite dhikr, if you say, "Allah, Allah"?

قُلِ اللّهُ ثُمَّ ذَرْهُمْ فِي خَوْضِهِمْ يَلْعَبُونَ

qul Allah wa dharhum fee khawdihim yal`aboon.

Say "Allah," then leave them to plunge in vain discourse and trifling. ( Surat al-An`am, 6:91)

That is the answer to Wahhabis who say don't do dhikrullah, and to those who divide a community and make it into this one and that one, who remove the focus on saying, "Allah," and who keep confusion. For what reason? For the chair? Who is going to be sitting on the chair?

O Believers! Awliyaullah don't have or use weapons, as that is not their way. They use some people through their mercy, to remind us:

وَذَكِّرْ فَإِنَّ الذِّكْرَى تَنفَعُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ

wa dhakkir fa-inna 'dh-dhikraa tanfa`u 'l-mu'mineen.

And remind, for indeed, the reminder benefits the believers. (51:55) 

So awliyaullah have people whom they send to the front lines, but not to the front lines of their enemies to fight with weapons. Awliyaullah have their khalifahs to reform what is wrong, to straighten and put back in place what is wrong. I am not here today to question or answer to someone who is young and came to tariqah one-and-a-half years ago. And all of you know who that person is. It is not of my caliber to speak to him if he doesn't want to accept advice. Today I am here and I have a special message. I had a phone conversation with my brother, in order to clarify things for people in Singapore and everywhere. I am not as I normally am, laughing and joking. No, I am here today in full capacity as khalifah of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim! With my shaykh's permission I can change a situation; I can move mountains with my shaykh's permission!

These young ones are fitnah-makers. There can be thousands of representatives; Mawlana Shaykh Khalid al-Baghdadi (q) had thousands. Anyone can be a representative to his own family and do dhikr in his own house, but no one has permission to divide. If you are an ambassador of a country, you speak as an ambassador of that country, but you cannot go and speak to people in the White House. You must know your limit. This group has been established and raised for more than 20 years and built up, not to be divided. They are running after four or five people and Shaykh Ibrahim is the one who has permission from Mawlana Shaykh directly. Whoever says that is not true is not telling the truth! I spoke with my brother, who knows about this situation, that Shaykh Ibrahim has that authority from Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, and at that time, Shaykh Adnan's wife congratulated Shaykh Ibrahim's wife.

We have Shaykh Abdu 'sh-Shakoor, Razib, Nassir and Muhammad Nasir. I can even appoint hundreds; no one can question me; the only one who can question me and whom I listen to is my shaykh! All others are under me, under my brother, and under Mawlana's son, Shaykh Muhammad, whom Mawlana Shaykh has mentioned these three people and appointed them as shaykhs. There is no one else! You get your permission from anyone. Do your own dhikr, go get your own people, but don't come and divide this community!

I am speaking to you in a full shaykh's capacity. I am not like someone coming from the jungle or coming from nowhere. I was with Grandshaykh (q) and I was with Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q) and I will share with you things that people never knew, and I don't mind if it's on the Internet or not. Before leaving dunya, Grandshaykh (q) told me to write all his lectures and copy them down. I was the only transcriber, not one single other person transcribed! I was the one who used to write Mawlana Grandshaykh's (q) own personal, and even secret letters. And I am saying this for the first time. Shaykh Adnan knows that; if he wanted to write a secret letter, he used me to write it. I am not playing with you, young boy (Abdus-Sattar Khan), who is still a child who didn't come out!

One day I was writing and Grandshaykh `AbdAllah (q) appeared and said, "Yaa waladee, I am going to give you your names among awliyaullah." The first name was "Madad al-Haqq, Hujjatullah al-Mukhlis, from among Rijaal ul-Ishraaqiyoon." These are only very few quality people and Shaykh Adnan is mentioned among them (Rijaal ul-Israaqiyoon) as "Shaykh Adnan at-Tahir," and that is confirmed by Grandshaykh (q) and Mawlana Shaykh. Then he said another name between the A'immat al-Mudabbirroon, which is another taa'ifa, group of awliyaa where he said, "Your name is "Muradullah adh-Dhaakir." And your third name between another group of awliyaa is "Thameer al-Haqq, Zayn al-`Abideen." These three names were given to me with their secrets directly from Grandshaykh (q)!

I am not playing with you. We don't say these things normally, but he forced me, and some others forced me to mentioned these things. We usually don't mention them. I am speaking with full capacity. And not only that, in another vision with Mawlana Grandshaykh (q), I saw him taking me to Ghari Hira, the cave in which the Prophet (s) hid with Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (r) on the way to Madinah al-Munawwara (Mawlana Shaykh Hisham stands), `ala saakiniha afdal as-salaat was-salaam. Allahumma salli `ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa `ala aali Sayyidina Muhammad. (Mawlana Shaykh Hisham sits).

He said to me, "I want you to take a real baya`." Grandshaykh (q) usually doesn't give baya`; he didn't give it to anyone except two: Mawlana Shaykh Nazim and Mawlana Shaykh Husayn. All other representatives never had baya` and were never allowed to give baya`. Now Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, with the mercy that he is carrying, is giving baya` to everyone. That is the wisdom, to spread that everywhere in dunya. 

GrandShaykh said, "O my son! Now I want you to give the real baya` in front of me." At that moment, 124,000 walis appeared, and he said, "Put your hand under their hands and I will put mine." And Mawlana Shaykh Nazim put his hand on top and Grandshaykh's hand was on top of all of them! Then 124,000 prophets' spirits appeared and they put their hands on top, and then Sayyidina Mahdi (a) put his hand on top of that. Then Prophet (s) put his hand, (Mawlana Shaykh Hisham stands) `alayhi `afdalu 's-salaati wa 's-salaam, yaa sayyidee, ya rasoolullah, shafa`atak yaa habeebullah (Mawlana Shaykh Hisham sits), and Grandshaykh (q) recited Ayatal-Baya` in front of all these awliyaullah, Imam Sayyidina Mahdi (a), the Prophet (s) and all the prophets. That is real baya`! That is not a childish baya` that people are running and calling by phone, saying, "O Shaykh Bahauddin! Please get me ijazah from Mawlana Shaykh to put it up." There is baya` that Mawlana gives without people asking, there is ijazah that is given without people asking, and there is also ijazah that is given because people are asking. Mawlana Shaykh Nazim told me openly, "Hisham, I want everyone to know that you may give written ijazah to anyone you like. Sign my name and sign your name for everyone to know; you don't have to come back to ask me." But we don't like to make these things public.

In another vision when Grandshaykh (q) came, in 1980, he took my soul from my body and he showed me my body and said, "This is your dead body. Your soul is in our hands. I want to give you real baya` to Mawlana Shaykh Nazim directly." He extended his hand and I took baya` at that moment and the Prophet (s) was present.

O Brothers (who made this fitnah). I am speaking as a shaykh today and I never shared these things. You need to know as time is approaching. Don't play and waste your time! There is no group discussion here; there is no discussion with you or with anyone; this is tariqah here! The shaykh knows what is good for you, you don't know. You are blind; you use your mind in order to see if it's correct or not, doubting. No! If the shaykh tells you, "Do this, it's good for you," you have to do it and don't question it. If you question it according to your mind, then the shaykh will go according to your mind. 

You, Abdus-Sattar Khan: for the first time I am addressing you directly. I said to you on Day One, when you came complaining to me about Ibrahim in Cyprus--and I know you will not lie about this--didn't you ask me, "I have a problem with him?" and I said, "Go and do dhikr. You have permission; go call new people to you and don't bother with them. Go." Many people come like that and we tell them, "Go". Didn't I say to you to do that? Why did you complain to Bahauddin when he came to Malaysia, and also go to Raja Ashman? I had already given authority to you, but you didn't want it because you know I love Razib, I love Abdush-Shakoor, I love Nassir and I love Shaykh Ibrahim. You want to be your own leader, unfortunately. Leadership in tariqah doesn't work with boys, with children. You did not yet come out from the egg. Repent, and don't call Shaykh Adnan and everyone seeking help (against what you have been ordered)!

I am broadcasting the conference call, the message that Shaykh Adnan is sending you. Whatever you spoke with Shaykh Adnan, you misinformed him and you misinformed Bahauddin. You might mislead anyone, but you cannot mislead brothers and you cannot mislead realities, with my respect to you as a person. Here we are speaking to egos and spirits. Repent, and you will be rewarded and go higher. Even if you don't like the one appointed by the shaykh, it's not your business; it's the business of your shaykh!

O Bashir! It is not your business to say, "This one is good," or "This one is bad." You must listen, ask for forgiveness, and be with the jama`ah. If the shaykh appoints anyone, even a tree, and says to you, "This is my khalifah, my representative," you must follow! Like Sayyidina `Ubaydullah al-Ahraar (q) had many scholars as representatives, but he appointed the one who cleaned shoes at the door to be his khalifah. Everyone accepted, although in their hearts they didn't. You have no right to question! When the shaykh says something, you follow! You will be rewarded; don't think you will not be rewarded. Even if your ego says, "Don't come," you have to come. Step on the ego! That is tariqah. Tariqah is to step on your ego.

This message is to everyone, not just to Abdus-Sattar Khan and Bashir. Step on your egos and come and reconcile. It's haraam, forbidden (to divide into opposing groups). This group is the only one, the only country in which there is no division, and now you are going to make division? For what, for Shaytan to be happy? You have a problem with this one or that one. As I told you, if the shaykh appointed someone and you have a problem, you still have to listen, whether you like it or not. Come to dhikr, finish dhikr, then go. And before Shaykh Adnan and Bahauddin gave you authority from Sri Lanka, I told you to go and make dhikr, but I didn't tell you to split the community and take mureeds of 20 years by calling them and sending text messages with all kind of summaries of what you are doing.

Do what is right! It was a wrong decision by you to complain to Shaykh Bahauddin, until he said to you, "Okay, you have permission from my father." Mawlana didn't even know you until I took you upstairs to see him and he still doesn't know your name! Even Bahauddin doesn't know if he asked his father or not. Even if he asked his father, Mawlana will say to anyone, like one came to him from Canada and said, "Mawlana, I don't like to go to Shaykh Hisham for dhikr, it is far." Mawlana Shaykh Nazim said, "Okay, what is your name?" He said, "Amiruddin" (it's on the Internet, go and see it) and Mawlana said, "Okay, I'm giving you baya`; I'm giving you khilafah; I'm giving you ijazah," and so on. Then he said to him another time, at the end, "What is your name?" (i.e., Mawlana Shaykh did not even know him.) That doesn't mean anything. Even if they give you hundreds of ijazas it doesn't mean anything. 

You needed support and I was the first one to give you support, not waiting for anyone else. It is said in the hadeeth, "The people of Mecca know its alleys, not everyone knows." I know this country, this group here. Shaykh Adnan doesn't know them because he didn't come; inshaa-Allah he will come. Bahauddin doesn't know them also because he never came here and made dhikr; (although) it might be for his work. If you spoke with Bahauddin, the courtesy would be to give me a call or to tell him to ask me personally (but you did not do that). In any case, as a shaykh, I don't accept anyone to go to his (Abdus-Sattar Khan's) dhikr. No way! (You may) bring any new one, as the country is big; go ahead and get hundreds or thousands. Build yourself up, no problem. Do what you want.

And Bashir, I don't like your SMS's (text messages) that have been sent to everyone five or ten times a day, whatever it is. (And you are replying,) "They misinformed me." Whatever it is, you are getting their sins on your shoulders and you don't want that. We love you, we are clearing you every day (in the Divine Presence), we are responsible for you every day, and we have to take your burdens and we present you clean in front of Mawlana; this is our duty as khalifah. Don't think you are left behind; we are taking your burdens. But that is enough, what you are sending of SMS's. And the same to Abdus-Sattar, enough sending SMS's, calling them to come to your home to speak to them privately. Tariqah is not private. Privacy is a kind of situation that sleeper cells use; you are endangering our group to be under a question mark. There is no secrecy in tariqah! Our doors are open for everyone in the government, agencies or whatever. We have no problems with anyone. We don't want someone to speak person-to-person, as if you are a recruiting agency, endangering us. Please stop that. You claim you are a shaykh and have authenticity from Shaykh Bahauddin and Shaykh Adnan, then go ahead with it and find new people. Open your doors, with no secrets and no secret teachings. We don't want secret teachings.

There is a limit there. Please stop that. Don't send, "Come to my home to speak person-to-person." Many people said that you are sending messages saying, "Come and speak, person-to-person." Did you ever see Mawlana speak to someone person-to-person? No, it is an open door; there is no 'person-to-person'. Even he is speaking about people's problems in public, openly. We are on the right track, we are representing Mawlana authentically, not through papers. It is coming from the Prophet (s), directly to Grandshaykh (q), to Mawlana Shaykh Nazim (q), to me, to Shaykh Adnan and to Shaykh Mehmet; three of us. So I don't like anyone to play any games! Shaykh Bahauddin is on my head. He is a shaykh, doing his work and doing his best, but he might not know some areas. He told me personally, "Shaykh Hisham, we are very happy. You are doing the spiritual things we cannot do. My father is happy with you, as you are travelling all around the world. We are happy to see that."

So don't try to go on one side to make a fitnah. They told me (and I hope I am wrong) that you went to Shaykh Adnan to learn from him in Sri Lanka how to "take me on". Correct? You said it to some people and these people told me. That is bad! You go to a brother to learn how to "take on" his brother? We never heard of such a thing. Don't burn your fingers. We are all mureeds of Mawlana Shaykh Nazim and we will all be under his wings on the Day of Judgment. Yes, we will be! I'm telling you yes! But don't be in a shamed position on Judgment Day, with those who are dividing the community. Don't divide the people here; this is the only country where people are not divided. You have to know that you will be ashamed there in front of Prophet (s) and in front of Mawlana Shaykh! Although in dunya, they might pet and caress you, saying you are doing a good job, continue. There is a wisdom. I'm not going to tell you that secret for you to use it as if you know it.

You are not up to our level; we are three of the same level. Grandshaykh (q) called me and Shaykh Adnan one time, saying, "I want to reveal to you these secrets." We went in a side room of his house, and it was me, Grandshaykh (q) and Shaykh Adnan, and we were young. He said, "Allah (swt) created you from my light and Allah created prophets from the light of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). (Mawlana Shaykh Hisham stands and sits) From the light that is left, he created awliyaullah, from the light that was left from Prophet's creation in the Day of Souls."

If some `ulama might say, "What are these?" these are visions.  Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) said, "I saw in my dream, in a vision that I must slaughter you, O my son." These are visions of awliyaullah. So Grandshaykh said, "Allah created both of you from my light and you are like a bean, identical. When you cut it, you are half and he is half; you complete each other." So don't come and put your finger between my brother and me. Be careful! I'm warning anyone around the world among Mawlana's mureeds: don't come and put your finger between me and my brother, who is on my head, Shaykh Adnan. It is not anyone's business!

Stand at your level. Ladies and men who are listening to us and seeing what we are saying and speaking, be they representatives or mureeds, with all my love to every representative and all their mureeds who love and follow them, thinking they will be after Mawlana Shaykh. May Allah give long life to Mawlana Shaykh Nazim, that no one will be after him, to be with Sayyidina Mahdi (a) directly!

We have no problem with anyone. Be representatives, be whatever (you are assigned). I shared with you some stories, and I cannot share more than that. Be careful to know the limits you are within. We ask forgiveness for everyone and for ourselves. May Allah (swt) forgive us and forgive you and forgive everyone. Now, when you see Mawlana Shaykh Nazim in his private house and anytime he is saying, "O Allah! Forgive me!" you will see him crying. This is his daughter here, you can ask her.

(Hajjah Naziha: Yes, he is asking forgiveness for everyone from Allah (swt). Always he is asking forgiveness from Allah (swt), and he cries when he is asking forgiveness. And all his life, day and night, I never saw him sleeping and never except he is asking forgiveness from Allah (swt)! He is a pious person and he is a big saint. And all my life, I know that he is praying day and night. Never did I see him sleeping or sitting without doing dhikr, without a tasbeeh, without asking for forgiveness from Allah (swt). May Allah give him long life! May Allah (swt) keep us under His mercy and may we go to Paradise with his shafa`ah! And we are lucky to be following him and to be his mureeds. May Allah keep us under the umbrella of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). Thank for listening to me. As-salaamu `alaykum.)

(Everyone in the room is crying.)

If Mawlana Shaykh is asking forgiveness and crying, what about us? And we are asking for a paper to be hanging on the wall? You are looking for Bahauddin to get ijazah, and you went all the way there to get it. For what? Okay, we give you as many ijazas as you like, but don't divide this community, leave them alone! Go to movie theaters, discos, in the street, and find new people, then bring them; that is okay. What do you want with the old people (who are already mureeds)? The Tablighi Jama`ah way is to go to Muslims and knock on their doors (proselytizing). Go find new people; that way we will grow.

Are you not ashamed that I am coming here and making dhikr in the mosque with one-thousand people and you are sending text messages to Firdaus to call them to another dhikr? Are you not ashamed? How you do call yourself a representative? Does a representative not come to listen to the khalifah of the shaykh? I am not like you, a representative; I am a murshid! No one gets irshaad from any representative except from three; they have Maqam al-Irshad (Station of Guidance). So when a murshid comes, everyone has to come. Step on your ego and come! Not only you, but all mureeds around the world, step on your ego and come together. Fulfill the requirement of the Holy Qur'an: 

     وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ

wa'tasimoo bihabli l-lahi jamee`an walaa tafarraqoo.

And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not be divided. (3:103)

I will be here on the 25th of December, so come to show your sincerity that day and finish this misery. Before, we had two people, Hasan al-Bahr and Shaykh Zakariyya, and I gave Shaykh Zakariyya that authority, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim did not! We had them both (leading dhikr) and that was no problem. But (you dissenter) don't try to get people from here and there. Come and repent; we will all repent and everyone will repent. May Allah (swt) forgive us. Now I will broadcast the conversation between me and Shaykh Adnan on the phone. We hope it will reach you and get you to humble yourself! It is not so difficult on the ego. The Prophet (s) was the most humble one. 

Bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.

(Recorded conversation plays in Arabic with English subtitles, during which Shaykh Adnan supports everything Shaykh Hisham has said.)

May Allah (swt) forgive us and bring back people's minds to their normal way. You heard the message from Shaykh Adnan and may Allah grant him shifaa, as his back is hurting, and grant all of us shifaa. We will see you the 25th of December (in Singapore), inshaa-Allah.

(Bashir responds in the Sufilive chatroom, saying this is not fair treatment.)

As-salamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Shaykh Bashir, with all respect, speaking to your chat that you are discussing now, I am speaking as a shaykh now. If you have issues, you come to me and speak with me. But I am not changing my decision to appoint Shaykh Ibrahim, Shaykh Razib, Shaykh Nassir, etc. I might appoint more later. What I appoint is what works. You cannot question a shaykh; you can give your opinion but you cannot question! That is my decision. I said to Abdus-Sattar openly that he can do dhikr on his own, but he must get new people. I respect him and I was the first to give him (permission) to make dhikr on his own. It is bad and not nice for him to be away from our group. He is part of this tariqah, and if he has a problem with Shaykh Ibrahim, he should not have a problem with me. Come on December 25th; I will meet you privately. Bring with you whoever you want and we will meet privately and finish this headache! Speak with Abdus-Sattar and come December 25th.

(In Sufilive chatroom, Bashir agrees this is very fair and says he loves Shaykh Hisham very much.)

Now I would like to ask something that is not nice (good manners). We have to leave for the airport. I will stand by the door and shake hands and you may give salaams. We will see you the 25th of December, inshaa-Allah.