Praise be to Allah to whom saints reach only with His love. May prayers and peace be with our beloved Prophet with whom wise people found the spiritual maqam (position). May prayers and peace be with the family and companions of the Prophet Muhammad by means of whom Muslims found the righteous path.
Dear brothers, it is discontinuous to mention Allah Subhanallahu. Even, a servant is ordered to do that every time. On the other hand, there are different special times of the other worships. These worships can’t be performed in any different time, except from their own time. Although the most superior worship is Namaz (ritual worship in Islam), it isn’t permissible to perform it in any different time. However, zikr which is made by heart can be performed in every time and every situation. Mentioning Allah with heart (silently) is the sword of the followers.
O! My brother! The chance of time is a godsend. A person must see his health and his spare time as a godsend. Therefore, it isn’t appropriate spending his life with useless things. He must spend his life for the things that Allah is willing. He must perform ritual worship (namaz) five times in a day with a congregation. He must not give up tahaccud (night prayer). He mustn’t leave asking Allah for forgiveness in daybreaks, not stay behind worships because of sleep like rabbits and he must not be deceived by desires of the world. He must take account of the conditions of death and the Hereafter. Moreover, it is obligatory to mention times continuously in the divine zikr. Therefore, in order to make our acts zikr, we should comply with the judgments of Shari’a in all our actions. Surely, zikr is performed for getting rid of unwariness. When it is complied with the orders of Allah in all actions, it will be possible to escape from the effects of unwariness. Thus, the merit of zikr will continuously come into existence.
People must work for the will of Allah more than for the world, because almighty Allah undertakes to give food of His servants as a result of His beneficence. So, He saved us from hesitating for daily food. The more population of a family increases, the more their necessity of food increases. Therefore, we should turn towards the will of Allah before death and we should transfer the duty of food and world over to Allah.
The will of Allah is related to the will of a genuine murshid (guide) and His anger is related to the anger of guide. This tariqa was taken from the temperament of Abubaqir Al Siddiq (radiyallahu anh) who was the most superior person in the world after the Prophet Muhammad (s.).
There isn’t any remedy of jealousy. Jealousy means objecting to the fortuity and fate of Allah. As you know, jealousy means objecting to almighty Allah (subhanallahu taala).
It is known that the necessity of thankfulness is connected with the amount of blessing. How much a person has blessing, the necessity of thankfulness is getting increase much more. For this reason, thankfulness is necessary much more for the rich than the poor.
O! My friend! A servant must be willing to everything that Allah gave him. The things that his Lord wished for him are more beneficial than the things his nafs wanted. The person who is belonging to the Bahauddin Naqshbandiah tariqa must be willing to everything that Allah made. As you know, everything that Allah made is pleasant for the people of this tariqa. So, if a person who was afflicted with a real pain thinks of this, his pain will lessen.
The loftiness or deficiency of a murshid (guide) becomes perceptible from the actions of most of the followers, but not from all of their actions.
If you ignore your faults, surely you can’t be in the right way. How happy to the person who deals with the faults of his nafs and doesn?t talk about the others? faults. It is the beauty of Islam to give up humiliating people, mentioning about their faults, spending time uselessly and having bad feelings against Muslims.
O! My brother! The real meaning of death is to contemplate on it in order to awaken from unwariness and learn a lesson from it.
The ingenuous wise people and scholars say that the main reason of disobedience, unwariness and lust is to be willing to the nafs. On the other hand the main reason of chastity and awakening from unwariness is not to be willing to the nafs.
Our Sheikh Hadrat said one of the words of Mavlana Jalal-ud Din Rumi: ‘A person should have himself painted. It will be possible with his worships and being patient with the torments and troubles he had in the world. All troubles that happened to the guide in the path of Allah are for his goodness.’
O! My brother! There isn’t any tree that grows on its own without care. If there was any, it would be tasteless. It is a current habit of Allah that everything needs to have a reason. As generation and birth are not possible without father and mother, spiritual improvement is also not possible without education.
As long as you have an opportunity, you should benefit from the talks of Sadat (lofty people). The spiritual benefits which result from their talks can?t be gotten by long-period asceticism and a difficult struggle, because this path is the path of the Companions of Prophet Muhammad (ridvanallahu taala aleikhim acmain).
Nafs is very deceitful. It can?t be trusted, it can deceive us. As a matter of fact Allah says in Qur’an by telling the story of Hadrat Joseph (may peace and prayers be with him and Hadrat Muhammad) that: ?”Nor do I absolve my own self (of blame): the (human) soul is certainly prone to evil, unless my Lord do bestow His Mercy: but surely my Lord is Oft- forgiving, Most Merciful.”(Joseph:53). Nevertheless, Allah says in the holy book Qur’an that ‘It is not required of thee (O Messenger., to set them on the right path, but Allah sets on the right path whom He pleased.’ (Al-Baqara: 272)
We advice you the love of Allah and His messenger (sallallahu aleikhi wa sallam). The sign of their love is to obey their orders, be saved from the things they forbid, show loyalty to the government and feel compassionate for the people. The saints said ‘Everything that the Lover did is lovable.’ Allah revealed to Hadrat Moses that: ‘Indeed if I love one of my servant, I give him disasters and troubles that even mountains can?t bear them in order to test him. If I see that he is patient I will make him my friend. If I see that he complains about me to the people, I won’t treat him in a friendly way and I will disgrace him.’ The messenger of Allah (sallallahu aleikhi wa sallam) said: ‘In the aspect of troubles, the people who have the most severe troubles are the prophets, then the other good people coming after them.’
Prophets and Messengers of every nation faced with torments and troubles. But they showed patience with them. Consequently, the result of their condition became good.
As we said before, contemplation means being in the presence of almighty Allah day and night and imagining that He sees us and knows whatever we do and whatever we say. He knows all memories that come to our heart.
O! My brothers! Big saints, even prophets, had different kinds of torments and troubles continuously. However they showed patience with them. The other saints and scholars following them were also patient with troubles, so that the other common people would imitate them and not fall in bad thoughts when they had troubles.
As you know, the purpose in the creation of people is to obey Allah secretly and clearly, act with the Shari’a of Prophet (sallallahu aleikhi wa sallam) in all our words and actions, be saved from all innovations in the religion which is not based on the Qur’an or the sunnah and not to be proud of this mortal and deceitful world. It is such a world that deceives the people, destroys them and put them into the hell. Therefore, you shouldn’t leave off loving Allah and His saints. A person who loves saints, obeys the rules of their tariqa and escapes from forbidden things reaches prosperity and eternal happiness. There is nothing being equivalent to these blessings. The more the follower works, the more the sheikh helps him. As long as worships and works of the follower increase, the honorable sheikhs help him to be exalted in the presence of Allah. Then, the follower will awaken from unwariness and he will be get rid of it. There will be a whole tendency in his heart for going forward to the spiritual presence of Allah. Then, he will reach eternal happiness and divine victory by being saved from the desire and slavery of Nafs, Devil, and desires of the world and the things in the world.
To reach Allah with desire and wish is within almighty Allah’s power. When almighty Allah who has beneficence puts the desire in His servant’s heart, it indicates that He gives a spiritual degree to that servant and wants him to reach Him. We heard this from honorable guides of the tariqa.
This time is the time of scarcity of religion and Islam. Being a little religious in this time is more beneficial than being religious in the other times. Moreover, one of the hadiths of Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu aleikhi wa sallam) indicates it.
I advise you once more: O! My brothers! You should be dependent on this bright shari?a and holy Sunnah, because tariqa is the core of shari’a. Moreover, the sheikh of this tariqa shah Naqshbandiah (May Allah bless him) said that: ‘Any tariqa which is contrary to the shari’a is atheism.’
Our tariqa is dependent on three principles:
a) Love
b) Ikhlas
c) Submission to Murshid (guide)
According to Ahlullah, there isn?t any worth of the world, because the world takes the servant away from his Lord. The world is enough to prevent the servant from worship. Moreover, if you want to understand how much the world is worthy, look at the people who have the wealth of the world.In the Allah?s opinion, wicked people have this wealth, not the good.
Wise people described the world by saying ?Everybody in the world is mortal.? For this reason, they didn?t give importance to the world, stays away from the love of world, prepared themselves for the death, made themselves dependent on Allah, left superstition and took their nafs away from the mortal poison of the world.
Our beloved Prophet said in one of his Hadiths: ?Be like a stranger or a passenger in the world? .Separation isn?t a new thing. The world is the house of torment and arrogance. As we see, brothers and sisters, daughters and sons, fathers and mothers are separated from each other in the world. A wise person should work for gaining the love of Allah by dealing with the works of hereafter. Nothing equals to the merit coming from calamity, only if it is showed patience. Our Murshid (guide) (May Allah bless us with His secrets) said in some letters of condolence he sent to his followers; ?The calamity of death is one of the biggest calamity. On the other hand, being unaware of it is a bigger calamity than it.?
O! My brother! According to the books of fiqh it is sure that, almighty Allah makes Muslims incumbent to know Him. It is a big blessing. It is a religious duty for all Muslims. Therefore, a wise person must work for it. In order to get love, Ahlullah improved too many styles. The shortest path is the tariqa of Naqshbandiah. Its foundation is upon two principles. One of them is Sunnah: Following the path of the prophet (sallallahu aleikhi wa sallam) and being saved from the innovations in religion that Allah and His Messenger are not willing to. The other is that the sheikh must love the murshid (guide) who is dependent on him. So, it needs to work for these two principles.
In other words, one should perform religious duties with the judgments of shari?a. He should give up innovations in the religion and performing his duties with permissions. Bid?at (innovations in the religion) is perversion, because in order to reach Allah we should follow the path of Hadrat Muhammad (sallallahu aleikhi wa sallam). Loving this tariqa and the people of this tariqa is regarded as the benevolence of Allah.
It isn?t permitted to act according to the things seen in dreams. Moreover, if the prophet (sallallahu aleikhi wa sallam) orders a person to do something, it isn?t permitted to act with it.
O! My brother! Nafs is mean in performing worship and prayer. It escapes from performing the judgments of almighty Allah. Scholars said that: ?If a person requests that upon his death his properties be given to the wisest people of that time, his properties will be given to the zahid (perfectly matured people) after his death, because they didn?t pay attention to the world thanks to their perfectly matured wise.
O! My brother the most honorable period (youth) of the life passed with the desires of nafs. The most disgraceful period (oldness) of the life is left. If we don?t spend the remaining time for the will of Allah, how will we reach Allah in doomsday and which sign will be able to save us?
O! My brother! It is sure that the death is one of the biggest calamities. Being unaware of it is a bigger calamity than it. Therefore, it is obligatory to everyone preparing himself for the death as it is written in the funeral subject in the books of fiqh scholars. Especially, a person should make amends for all that has past with his enemies and people with whom he did business.
O! My brother! You must know that: There isn?t any peace in the world for anyone except the person who lives for the hereafter. In fact, the world is the place of trouble and deception. There is a hadith about the world ?The world is damned, except the zikr of Allah and the things include zikr in it. The things in the world are also damned.?
My brother! Almighty Allah says in the holy book Qur?an ?All creatures will taste the death.? For the confirmation of this word, death is necessary for people. How happy to the person whose life is long and whose performance is too much!
A servant must be willing to the works of his almighty Lord. He must know that everything Allah chose for him is more correct, lofty and perfect than the things he chose. Especially, the person who is dependent on Naqshbandiah tariqa must be willing to everything Allah did, because the great people of Naqshbandiah Tariqa say that ?Everything that Lover did is loveable.? If we contemplate like that when we have a trouble, the pain of our trouble will be easy to us. When this big trouble comes to our mind, being patient will be easy by thinking about the death of the Prophet (sallallahu aleikhi wa sallam). So, we say against this and the other troubles that ?We are the servant of Allah and indeed we will return to Allah (we will die).?
