Reality of The Subduer (Al-Qahhar)

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani 
Wednesday, Feb 11, 2009 | Oakland, CA US
SufiLive.com. Oakland Zawiya

A`udhu billah min ash-shaytan ir-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem
Nawaytu'l-arba` een, nawaytu'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu'l-khalwah, nawaytu'l-riyaada, nawaytu's-salook, nawaytu'l-`uzlah lillahi ta`ala fee hadha'l-masjid 

Allah swt, as we said this is a continuation of the previous two lectures. They are not lectures, but advice and they are realities that awliyaullah have explained to us through their lives.

And still they are through our Sultan al-awliya, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Adil al-Haqqani and through our Grandshaykh that these knowledges are coming slowly and appearing. It is not… a fountain when you turn it on, and if there is no water in the pipe, there is no water coming to the tap.

Many today, their pipes are coming from the reservoir through pipes, through the tap. Many have no water coming as there is a defect in the pipe. But the water is there, realities are there, heavenly presence is there, divine knowledge is there, but it is in its heavenly place. If you don’t have a system to bring it or the pipe is broken or the heart is not working or your mind is not understanding it doesn’t come.

So what do we need? We need someone whom Allah gave authority in order to extract these knowledges and give us even a drop in the desert which is enough to quench our thirst. Is it not?

One time there was a king, Haroun ar-Rasheed, king of Baghdad, which is known today as Iraq.He went with his soldiers hunting in the desert where they lost their way. Allah wanted them to lose their way in order to teach them a lesson. They had no more water and were very thirsty, for when they go to the desert they go for days and days. It was not an easy trip. Not like today - you go in one day and arrive. Sometimes they went on horses or camels; sometimes they went on mules, and sometimes, like me, they went on donkeys.

So they lost the way and they didn't have water to drink. His people were very very thirsty. And suddenly they saw a house, made from mud, and bushes - a nice place in this desert. They looked at it and they were very happy. They approached and the man, the soldier knocked at the door. An old lady opened and asked, "what do you want?”

He said, "The king is thirsty and we have no more water. Do you have water for us to drink?” She said, “I have water but not for you to drink. If the king wants water let him come here. He is in need of me, I am not in need of him.”

Today we are not in need of a president. The president needs you. If you don’t elect him can he be president? So who needs who? Does the president need the citizens or do the citizens need the president? The president needs citizens! If he doesn’t have citizens he is alone in the jungle or desert. So he needs the citizens' votes to become president. He has to thank the citizens. Today presidents or leaders or important people think people are in need of them. No - they are breaking the law. They are in need of the citizens.

Prophets are in need of their nations. For what is he a messenger of God? He needs human beings with him. As Grandshaykh said, may Allah bless his soul, “every prophet is in need of his ummah, or else what does he want to do? Sit by himself in the corner? He has a message to deliver so he needs people to come.” So she said, "the king is in need of me, I am not in need of the king. Let him come here.”

So Haroun ar-Rasheed came and said, "I am in need of water.” Look she brought him from his high level and cut his ego down. Today an important person will never accept to cut his ego down. Sayyidina `Umar (r), khaliphatu rasulullah, used to hire someone every day to remind him in the morning when he went out and in the evening when he came home, “Ya `Umar! Remember your grave is before you - you are going to die.”

Then after many years Sayyidina `Umar (r) laid that man off. Today they laid many people off. He asked him, “Ya `Umar (r), did I do something wrong, that you are laying me off?” He said, "No you did your job very well, perfect.” “Then why have you laid me off?” He said, "I now have someone to remind me not once or twice every day, but every moment in my life.” He asked, “What is that, an angel?” He said, "No, I have a white hair in my beard.”

Today you see people running here and there. Each one thinks differently. Look computers - each one works the same; they have the same programs. But no two persons have the same program. Who did that? It must be someone that is great. Allahu Akbar. Al-`azhamat lillahi - Greatness is for Allah. He is the Creator - He can say to something “be!” and it is.

So that Sultan Haroun ar-Rasheed… Today we say to people “Mother Earth.” It is an Islamic symbol because in interpretation the earth is represented by a lady, by a woman, because it carries nature, it carries animals; it carries human beings; it carries birds; it carries fish, everything.

It is a family and a mother. So that lady in the desert symbolized the earth. She said, "Ya Haroun. You are knocking in the desert. You have to know your limits, else you die.” She said, "Ya Haroun! I need to have a price for the water I want to give you.” He said, “Anything you want I will give you for your water.”

She said, "Do you replace this cup of water for your kingdom?” What will he say? Of course. He needs to drink and his people need to drink. So he said, "Of course.” She said, "This cup of water is more valuable then your kingdom.” So awliyaullah if that pipe is broken they don’t get that water to come through to flow to you. That is why too many people today call for imaginary realities. It is not real. It is a Hollywood reality. What are Hollywood realities? They are zero, they are illusions.

They say something and think it is true. They speak of spiritual realities. They are inventing it and innovating it. That is why awliyaullah’s words are so strong that you can see the value in it. Like you find a diamond and on the other side you have a pebble.

So which is more important? The diamond. So what do you do wuth the pebble? You step on it. And what do you do with the diamond? You clean it every day [symbolized spitting on it and polishing it.] Then you put it back. Who will throw away a diamond? You might throw your wife away but NOT a diamond. Or the wife might throw the husband away but NOT the diamond. But your wife will not throw you out; don’t worry!

So in the midst of that reality, Allah asked, after He dressed His Prophet (s) with all these lights which we have explained in the previous session and He taught him from His Ancient Word, that is why He says,

الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ

“ar-Rahman `allama al-Qur'an – the Merciful One taught the Qur'an.” [ar-Rahman, 55:1-2]

The Merciful out of his mercy taught the Holy Qur'an to the prophet. That means before any creation. Then:

خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ

Khalaqa ’l-insaan - He has created man. [55:3]

What Allah taught the Prophet (s) - do you know? Does anyone know? No one knows. Why, were you present? No one was present.

What Allah gave to Sayyidina Muhammad (s) no one knows except Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and what the Prophet (s) gave to the Sahaba and to the Ummah is but a drop of that knowledge. Why? Because this reality will explain to us where we stand. That the Prophet (s) gave a drop but that drop for us is like an ocean.

If you add all books together and everyone what he wrote and what he said from the beginning it will be like an ocean of knowledge and yet it will be but a drop in what the prophet gave to humanity and what we are getting is but a small drop of that huge ocean.

And he asked him, who are you and who am I? He said, SubhanAllah anta al-qahhaar wa an abduk al-`ajiz – Glory be to Allah, You are the Subduer and I am Your weak servant.” He realized the reality. He said, "You are the Subduer, al-`Adheem, al-Kabeer, al-Akbar. You are the Greatest, the Highest and no one is above You and no expression can express Your Divinely Essence. So who am I? Nothing. Compared to that it is zero. Ana `abduk al-`ajiz - I am Your servant who is weak and ...”

The Prophet (s) can say that but we cannot say that. For us the Prophet (s) is the greatest in creation. To us he is the creation. Allah created him and within him creation came. From within him. Then when the Lord answered, “thumma qaala ta`ala `azza wa jall,’ ma ma`an qahhaar wa ma ma`na al-`abd - what do you understand from the meaning of Subduer and what do you understand from the meaning of servant, `abd?’”

So what do you understand? You. Qahhaar. Subduer. Force anything under him, smash everything. Is that Subduer? That means everything becomes shattered when He wants. He asked the Prophet (s) “what do you understand by it?” He [Grandshaykh] said, "with the power of heavenly vision that has been given to the Prophet (s) he looked first at what came to him, what Allah wants him to see: Every bad characteristic which exists and that will come, the dress that human beings will be dressed in.”

Who will dress these bad characters? Creation, and humans. So what happened? The creation of course has pollution, what they call today pollution, everything is polluted with bad characteristics. The imam who has a mosque, the priest who has a church or the rabbi who has a synagogue or the Buddhist who has a temple or the Hindu who has a shrine - everyone has to receive from the negative energy that goes from these bad characteristics. No one is clean from that. Don’t tell me someone is clean, not possible.

After this series we will go into the series of bad characteristics. Last time we went into seventeen. Now we will count 105. People can count 10, 15, 20 bad characters. But awliyaullah came up with 105 bad characteristics. And there are in reality 800 bad characteristics.

So everyone has been polluted. So the Prophet (s) when he was asked, “what is the meaning of the Subduer,” he looked immediately at what wrong might come. You don’t look at what is good, as good is good. Praise Allah - alhamdulillah you don’t look at what is already fixed. Look at what needs to be fixed.

People today they say, “O this one doesn’t lie, this one doesn’t do this, this one doesn’t do that. But no. Look at what he is doing bad and fix that. Iblees, Satan, what did he say? He said, “You made me to sin” to Allah. What did Sayyidina Adam Alayhissalam say? He said, “I did it, O my Lord, forgive me. What is good is coming from You, O My Lord, and what is bad is coming from me.”

So the Prophet (s) is representing creation and he looked at the bad that is going to come out from creation. He saw all the bad that comes out from human beings and even animals. Don’t animals eat each other? So animals are going to be judged on Judgment Day. Every animal is going to be judged and asked, “Why did you eat this and why did you ate that.” Then Allah will make them disappear.

Then He says, “O human beings, come to Me.” What are you going to answer? Did you commit big sins? Yes, did you commit small sins? Yes. We all will say yes. So if you fix these then everything is clean.

So what did the Prophet (s) look at? He looked at the sins that human beings are going to commit and whatever they are going to commit from every creation that is under him. He was looking at them one by one, at every individual, and he was able to see and to see how long he is going to live and what sins he is going to commit. Leave the good, what is good is good. He has to make sure all these sins are all cleared.

Today when they want to put a building down what do they do? They put explosives. The building if it falls, it will bring the other buildings down. So today they have technology to setup the explosions to make the building come down by itself. So in the case of a small building you cannot use a large explosion which you would use for a large building. Every one is like a building. What brings us down? The bad characteristics and sins.

So the Prophet (s) looked at that and said to Allah, “The meaning of the Subduer, that is what it means to me is the one that will submerge or drown or (yughriq) plunge sinking, make all these …the meaning of Subduer is the One who can erase all these sins and bad characteristics and destroy them completely in the ocean of His mercy.

That means, “Ya Rabbee, you are the One that can with Your oceans of mercy, destroy all kaba’ir and sagha’ir - All big sins and small sins. And all bad characters from anyone you have created from jinn, ins, angels. Though angels are protected, [but] from angels. From everything. Ya Rabbee, You created and You can destroy all these bad characters and sins. Sagha’ir wa kaba’ir – the minor sins and the major ones.

No one gave that answer. How many books I read, I never read that answer. So realities that are given to awliyaullah they can extract them.

Even a tree, you go in a jungle and you see a small tree strangling a big tree and you see the big tree dying. Also it is going to be judged as there is life in it. That small tree will be asked why you strangled the big tree and killed it? But the Prophet (s) gave the answer. He said, "Ya Rabbee, with your oceans of mercy you can clean everything. So to me the Subduer is the one who can completely demolish the sins and bad characteristics and drown them.”

This is one meaning and we will not go to the other meanings. The meaning of servant is the one who is in need of the treasures of His Mercy.

`Abd, human being is in need of God’s Mercy.

That is the meaning of `abd. That means he is in need of something. Not in need of one thing, but he is need of everything. He needs health and wealth and moral excellence to progress in his akhira. An `abd is always in need of his Lord. Today they say “be independent.” You cannot be independent. You have to be dependent on Allah swt.

He is in need of the treasures of Allah’s Mercy without … it means in every moment of his life without any moment of heedlessness. Not one moment you can be heedless of remembering you are in need of Allah’s mercy. If you become heedless one time in your life, one moment in your life, that you are asking his mercy then it means you didn’t reach the meaning of `abd or the status of servanthood.

So who reached servanthood today?. No one. Every one is heedless. Not one moment but every moment. So he said, "bi laa ghaflah wa law bi lahdhah - without heedlessness even for a moment.”

At that time Allah called, "O my beloved one! I am making you a messenger and I am sending you as a messenger to all creation - ma siwAllah - other than Myself. Anything created I am going to send you to them. I am sending you to them that in order with the power of the Subduer, with the manifestation of the name al-Qahhaar, I am giving you authority that with the manifestation of that Name that you can destroy evilness from every human being and from every individual and from every creation that I created; that everyone becomes clean through the oceans of My Mercy and I am sending you to them.”

Then the Prophet (s) said, "O my Lord, then what have You created them for? To whom are you sending me?” We leave this for next time

Wa min Allah at-Tawfeeq Bi-hurmati 'l-Fatiha

The Creation of Prophet's Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam Essence

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani 
Wednesday, Feb 11, 2009 | Oakland, CA US
SufiLive.com . Oakland Zawiya

Allahuma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad (s) Allahuma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad (s) wa ala aali Sayyidina Muhammad (s)

Audhu billah min ash-Shaytaan ir-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem
Nawaytu'l-arba` een, nawaytu'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu'l-khalwah, nawaytu'l-riyaada, nawaytu's-salook, nawaytu'l-`uzlah lillahi ta`ala fee hadha'l-masjid. As-salaam alaykum wa rahmatullah,

Ati` Allah wa ati` ar-rasula wa uli 'l-amri minkum

قُلْ هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّمَا يَتَذَكَّرُ أُوْلُوا الْأَلْبَابِ

qul hal yastawee alladheena ya`lamoona wa’lladheena laa ya`lamoona innama yatadhakkaru uloo’lal-baab

Say: "Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know? It is those who are endued with understanding that receive admonition. [Az-Zumar, 39:9] 

Allah swt said in Holy Qur'an, are they going to be equal those who knows and those who don’t know?

Only those Allah gave them uloo’l-albaab, are the owners of the hearts, those who can read their hearts. Those who can know their limits. uloo’l-albaab are those who have intelligence, those who are awake and they are ready in every moment.

Those who know and are in that group are intelligent of whatever is going in their hearts are aware of what is going on, or those who don’t know anything and they are blind, of course there is no way of comparison. One knows and one doesn't know.

Then those who knows, are only those who are uloo’l-albaab. Those who have fitna [with tha], inspirations, who can understand between the lines and they can understand the secrets behind every verse of the Holy Qur'an. Those who are open-eyed as we explained in the previous session, as this is a series. Those who don’t know can not be compared those who know. Those who don’t know are blind. They don’t know any farther than their nose. After that they cannot.

That is the description of awliyaullah: Hal yastawee…

Those who knows are awliyaullah. Those who don’t know are common scholars. We are not speaking about the difference between common people like us. We are speaking about the difference between a scholar and a wali. We are speaking of those whom Allah said, "

Ya ayyuhalladheena aamanoo ittaqullah wa koonoo ma as-saadiqeen

O you believers. Ya ayyhualladeheena aamanoo. Those who say we are believers. The English explanation is “O believers.” But in reality it is, “O if you consider yourself a believer then what do you have to do?” Ittaqullah. How if you are a believer is it said “ittaqullah – fear God”? A believer is going to have taqwa for sure. If he doesn’t have taqwa, sincerity, then how is he fitting the description of believer. If he is a mu’min for sure he is going to have taqwa, sincerity. It means you are not yet considered a believer but if you consider yourself a believer then you are with trustworthy people.

He said:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ وَكُونُواْ مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ

Ya ayyuhalladheena aamanoo ittaqullah wa koonoo ma as-saadiqeen.

O ye who believe! Fear Allah and be with those who are true (in word and deed). 9:119

It means, “you are not yet a believer, but if you consider yourself a believer then keep with trustworthy people.”

Not trustworthy in our description we look at someone and say that is trustworthy. Not to our knowledge or our evaluation. It has to be trustworthy from heavens. Allah will dress him as he dressed Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq Radiallahu anhu. Siddiq, he dressed him as “the Trustworthy.” Always he said, "sadaqta ya rasulullah.” No doubt Allah dressed him.

It means: “O ye believers, whom you considered yourself a believer, then you have to have taqwa.” Do you have taqwa? We are struggling. We cannot say we have taqwa. We cannot say “yes.” We can say we have nothing. We have nothing. You need taqwa. You cannot declare something that doesn’t belong to you. They will not give to you. Go to the bank and say “I am Mr. so and so, I have an account with you, I have 10 million dollars.” They say, "no, no you are not that person. You cannot take it.” You cannot take the personality of someone else – we say in Arabic yantahil ash-shakhsiyya – someone who makes himself someone else. You cannot go to bank and say I am that person. You are not that person.

So we cannot say to ourselves that we have taqwa. We don’t have it. You cannot declare something that you don’t own.

Taqwa is when you are reaching the highest level of discipline and no lies; no deceit; no conspiracy, nothing. It means you are loose from the hand of Shaytaan. Are we loose from the hands of Shaytaan?

And what is the smallest, the lowest, uh… if we have that it means we are still in the hand of Shaytaan. When you argue with someone that you are right and he is wrong. That means you are still in control of Shaytaan. Whatever that person says, close your ears. Let him say whatever he likes. Then you are not in the hands of shaytaan.

So are we in the hands of Shaytaan? We hope we are not and wish we are not. We ask Allah swt that we are not in the hands of Shaytaan; that we are in the Divine Presence. Without Allah’s support, without the Prophet’s support, without sincere awliyaullah support we cannot.

هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّمَا يَتَذَكَّرُ أُوْلُوا الْأَلْبَابِ

qul hal yastawee allatheena ya`lamoona w’alladheena la ya`lamoona innama yatadhakkaru uloo’lal-baab.

Say: "Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know? It is those who are endued with understanding that receive admonition. 39:9

It is a question mark. So Allah is asking are those who know the same as those who do not know? No; no way. So those who know are the awliyaullah the saadiqeen. Allah is ordering us to be with the company of trustworthy people. Where your heart is attracted to is the place where it is, you can feel whether that is a trustworthy person. You will be attracted.

And from one to another it differs. From one trustworthy to another trustworthy differs. It might be someone is trustworthy for dunya so what you get? You get trustworthy for dunya. And it might be someone for akhira. So what do you get? You get akhira. So if you be with him he is trustworthy for akhira.

So what it means is be with those who are trustworthy for Allah’s Divine Presence. Don’t be with those who are trustworthy for dunya. For example there are those who are trustworthy in finance. They are trustworthy for money. They know about money but they don’t know about akhira.

Our focus is on akhira. Awliyaullah their focus is on akhira. So from those who know where Allah says hal yastawee… They say … they say according to their levels. So what we are going to speak about today is from the level of Grandshaykh’s wilayah, sainthood and level of Mawlana Shaykh sainthood. It is not from the level of normal [awliya]… Between awliyaullah there are different levels.

We are speaking from what they say from their high levels. May Allah give them high and higher levels. Because if they get higher levels we get higher levels with them. We cannot go by ourselves. we go with them. That is why Allah said,

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ وَكُونُواْ مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ 

Ya ayyuha alladheena aamanoo ittaqullaha wa koonoo ma`a as-saadiqeen

O you who have attained to faith! Remain conscious of God, and be among those who are true to their word! [Tawba, 9:119]

Saadiqeen - trustworthy ones. You cannot be a trustworthy one, but be with them. So to be with them, we must understand, as we said yesterday, is a drop from an ocean they are speaking from, and that ocean is but a drop from the ocean of the Prophet (s). The Prophet (s) has infinite knowledge oceans, no limits.

All awliyaullah in total, with all their knowledge they are taking but a drop of the oceans of the Prophet (s) knowledge. And in that drop, every wali has oceans and what they are saying here is a drop. Say that Allah swt created Sayyidina Muhammad (s) before any creation. Because when you love,.. .we cannot make this comparison, I don’t want you to say “O we did,” but [we say this] only [as a means for us] to understand.

An artist will have something inside of him he has an artistic touch. So what will he do? He will draw a beautiful calligraphy. Look all these big calligraphers of the Holy Qur'an who wrote the Holy Qur'an.

They want to show all their beauty for the Holy Qur'an. They want to show their best for Holy Qur'an from time of Holy Prophet (s) up to today. They innovated all kinds of different styles of writing to show the beauty of the Holy Qur'an through their love of the Holy Qur'an. Because there must be something in them that makes them do that.

Not everyone can do that. People who love flowers put flowers together to make a bouquet. Everyone has different ambition or touch or taste. When you have that you have to put all that on what you want to do, is it not?

If that is for human beings, then what do you think about Allah swt. If human beings have this artistic touch they like to express their artistic feelings in something that stands out. Then Allah who created arts and artistic touches, then this whole universe that Allah created is all like a very beautiful appearance, a very beautiful manifestation to His Name al-Qaadir or his name al-Khaaliq, the Creator. So when Allah swt wanted to show His Beauty out, He created the dharratu ’n-Nabi (s) - the atom, if we can say atom. The essence (is a better word than atom). The essence of the reality of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) before any creation.

Allah wants to show that love to his beauty and to his Beautiful Names because He has only been described through his Beautiful Names. You cannot know Him except through his Beautiful Names and Attributes – that is it. So through His Beautiful Names and Attributes that flower, if we can say, that beauty of Muhammad (s) came out from this manifestation of these Beautiful Names together Allah wanted something to appear. So what appeared was haqiqat an-Nabi (s) - the reality of the essence of the Prophet (s).

That made awliyaullah to be stunned from this information. That is not an easy information to understand and get. Because what we are understanding is some notes that they gave and expressed to us. But what they have seen is completely, with its taste it is coming out. With its beauty it is coming out. Like you look at a nice garden full of all different kinds of beautiful flowers and fruit trees. You go inside and you smell the smell of the flowers. You take a fruit and you take a taste of these fruits. So you are tasting it and feeling it. But we are only reading it. It is a big difference. We are not tasting it.

When it was given to them it was given slowly with all its level. Not every wali can bring such kinds of knowledge. He said, "no human being, wali or not even wali, but even all prophets other than Sayyidina Muhammad (s), there is no way for them to understand in dunya or in akhira about the reality of that essence. That is only for the Prophet (s). He has no partners in that. As Allah has no partner, He is Allah, our lord and our God, He has no partner, so the Prophet (s) has no partner in his servanthood.

So that essence that came out, awliyaullah they took some, they taste some and they understood some but not everything. Because the knowledges of the Prophet’s essence are always pouring out, more knowledge, more knowledge and more knowledge. So no one can reach the complete knowledge of the Prophet (s). You look up and you can see but you cannot see what the one up can see. You sit below the roof you see the roof but the one on the roof sees much farther.

So Grandshaykh may Allah bless his soul, said, "Allah created the reality of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), the essence of the atom of his reality from the manifestation of his Beautiful Names and Attributes, and especially from two of these different names, ar-Rahman and ar-Raheem: ar-Rahman the Merciful and ar-Raheem the Compassionate.

From these two Beautiful Names ar-Rahman and ar-Raheem. That is why He mentioned in Holy Qur'an:

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ

Wa maa arsalnaaka illa rahmatan li’l-`alameen - We sent thee not, but as a Mercy for all creatures. Al-Anbiya [21:107]

Because his reality and his essence came out to know the 99 Names. If we can say the 99 Names they are together, like we say, as a bouquet of flowers and in the middle you have the most beautiful flower that everyone looks at it. These Beautiful Names and Attributes have in between them, the two Names ar-Rahman and ar-Raheem and the offshoots of the reality of the Prophet (s) are coming out from in between these two Names. That is why his name is rahmat. Ar-rahmat al-muhdaat - the Gifted Mercy to humanity.

So Allah swt created the reality of the Prophet (s) from the beautiful Attributes of ar-Rahman ir-Raheem and He decorated him with all kinds of lights - beautiful lights. Every Beautiful Name and Attribute has its own light. The Prophet (s) when he looks in the laylat al-isra wal-miraj he was looking at these lights in the Divine Presence, “qaaba qawsayni aw adna - two bow’s-length or nearer” and he was seeing all these beautiful lights the differing lights coming from the appearance of these Names. Every name has its own appearance.

In our case it is when we say on a rainy day and when there is a little sun and we see a rainbow of different colors and we look observing and say, "that is very nice.” So Allah’s Beautiful Names and Attributes were, we said, emitting light of different colors which means different realities and different knowledges appearing from these different Beautiful Names and Attributes. He was dressed and decorated with these lights, and these lights were the lights of wilayah. Wilayah means that when someone is dressed with light of sainthood he becomes holy.

That wilayah, every wali is under a different name of sainthood. Wali - wilayah. Wilayah means a territory. We say wilayaat al-mutahiddah, United States. So it is a state, a territory. So the Prophet (s) was given that wilayah - that state. What is that state? Allah swt was dressing him with a dress to be ready for that state. What is state? It is to be ready for the creation that He is going to create for him. 

That is why He was dressing him with all these Beautiful Names and especially the light from the wilayah of the name al-Qudoos - The Holy One. So He was dressing him with a Holy Divine Presence and dressing him, preparing him for prophecy. So that is why when you are a prophet… and that is why he said, "I was a prophet when Adam was between clay and water.” He was being prepared already even before Adam Alayhissalam was, to be the leader or head of creation.

That is why when Allah ordered the Pen to write la ilaha illa-Allah it was writing for 70,000 years, and then He ordered the Pen to write Muhammad rasulullah. La ilaha illa-Allah represents Lordship and Muhammadun Rasulullah represents servanthood which Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is head of. Allah created creation as servants to Allah but as subjects to the Prophet (s), for him to be a prophet to them; for Sayyidina Muhammad (s) was to be sent to them.

So He prepared him to carry the prophecy. So all that which came before was not yet sent as a prophet - it was preparation for him to be sent as a prophet. Then Allah took that essence of the Prophet (s) that had been under the manifestation of the Beautiful Names and Attributes and He began to decorate that light with the light of prophecy.

And the light of prophecy had been taken from one Beautiful Names - Maqam al-wahdaniyya – al-Wahid. From the Beautiful Names and Attributes al-Wahid - the One. That is why we say the Oneness of Allah swt. Who calls for the oneness of Allah? The prophets. So the prophets' realities are coming from heavens. They have been dressed by the reality of the meaning of the name al-Wahid. They are the ones who are allowed to point to the Oneness of Allah swt. From that reality the Prophet (s) was dressed. 

Now he is dressed with prophecy, as he was dressed with prophecy. Now as he dressed him from that name al-Wahid then He moved him to a higher level. After that He dressed the Prophet (s) from the Beautiful name al-Wahid, he moved him to be dressed with the light of ar-risalah, and the risalah is taken from the Beautiful Names al-Ahad. That represents His Uniqueness in His Beautiful Name, Allah. 

Allah dressed him from the Beautiful Name al-Ahad and that lead Him to dress him from the Beautiful Name of adh-Dhaat. The Essence we don’t know but we know it through the Beautiful Name Allah. And we know Allah through the 99 Beautiful Names and Attributes. So all these Beautiful Names and Attributes were dressed on the Prophet (s). That is why he became a manifestation of Allah’s Beautiful Names and Attributes and the essence [of the Prophet (s)] came from the name ar-Rahman ar-Raheem then that offshoot came out, then from…. 

Then from the light of a messenger and from the name al-Ahad which lead to the manifestation from ismullah adh-dhaat - Allah - where all the Beautiful Names and Attributes are within it. These are the Names which were dressed on the essence of the atom of Sayyidina Muhammad (s).
After that had been done, how many years did it take? Do you know? Allah knows.

And for sure the one who had been created, Sayyidina Muhammad (s), knows. He was under that tarbiyya, that discipline. And after that has been done and dressed on that atom, then Allah asked that atom, “who am I and who are you?” “Who are you, and who am I?”

Answer. What you want to answer? What the Prophet (s) answered?

That dharrah began to speak and the first word that came out, as Grandshaykh and Mawlana Shaykh and grand Grandshaykh all said, on these realities that they pulled out from these levels of their sainthood, the Prophet (s) spoke according to a language and a tongue that belongs to highest level of malakoot - heavenly state. Not according to dunya state or normal heavenly state. It is according to the highest level that the Prophet (s) was in it. And he gave this information to awliyaullah about the reality of the Prophet (s).

What the Prophet (s) said? They say that he said in a language that respected and honored the place that it is in which no one knows what is that high level because we cannot say there is a place or a direction, or a “where.” No. But wherever it is, the Prophet’s (s) first word was “Anta al-Qahhar - You are the Subduer, Wa ana abduk al-`ajiz - and I am your weak disabled servant.”

`Ajiz means the weakest that cannot do anything. After that Allah dressed him from His Ancient Word; from His Kalaamahu al-qadeemi. The Ancient Uncreated Words were dressed on the Prophet (s). That is why He said:

الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ

“ar-Rahman `allama al-Qur'an – the Merciful One taught the Qur'an.” [ar-Rahman, 55:1-2]

The Merciful, from these two Beautiful Names and Attributes, Allah created the essence of the Prophet (s) and dressed him with siffat ar-rahmah, the Attributes of the Merciful. From that secret Allah dressed him from that Name. From the secret of ar-rahman `allama al-Qur'an khalaq al-insaan – The Merciful One, taught the Holy Qur'an and then “He created creation.” So ar-Rahman who created the essence of the Prophet (s) in that Presence taught him the Holy Qur'an, then He created creation. So the Holy Qur'an was taught to the Prophet (s) where there was yet no creation; there was no universe - nothing. That came after. So Allah gave and addressed the Prophet (s) in a way that we don’t understand and no one understands.

They say that words that come out from the reality of Allah’s Essence, are completely mujarrad min al-asma was-siffat, that is completely abstract, unknown, coming directly from the Essence without passing through the Names and Attributes. At that moment, when He said, "I am the Subduer,” the Prophet (s) said, "I am Your weak servant” Allah dressed him directly from the Absolute Essence that no one knows, that Essence was giving knowledge to the Prophet (s) that was coming, not through the Beautiful Names and Attributes, but taking another way or channel, if we can say that. So that means more Beautiful Names and Attributes were coming, ones we don’t know, not only the 99 Names that everyone knows but many more Names that were given to the Prophet (s).

Then Allah asked the Prophet (s) after all these knowledges that had been passed to the Prophet (s), He asked him, “What is the meaning of Subduer and what is the meaning of servanthood?”

“What is the meaning of Subduer and what is the meaning of servant or servanthood?” And the Prophet (s) looked and he said… and we leave it to tomorrow. May Allah forgive us, we are weak in order to understand.

SubhanAllah, they speak like fountains and one line can fill a whole book. How do these knowledges come? It makes us regard all the books we know like one to a million.

Wa min Allah at-Tawfeeq Bi-hurmati 'l-Fatiha

Reality of The Subduer (Al-Qahhar)

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani | Wednesday, Feb 11, 2009 | Oakland, CA US

A`udhu billah min ash-shaytan ir-rajeem

Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem

Nawaytu'l-arba`een, nawaytu'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu'l-khalwah, nawaytu'l-riyaada, nawaytu's-salook, nawaytu'l-`uzlah lillahi ta`ala fee hadha'l-masjid 

 

A`udhu billah min ash-shaytan ir-rajeem

Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem

Nawaytu'l-arba`een, nawaytu'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu'l-khalwah, nawaytu'l-riyaada, nawaytu's-salook, nawaytu'l-`uzlah lillahi ta`ala fee hadha'l-masjid 

 

Allah swt, as we said this is a continuation of the previous two lectures. They are not lectures, but advice and they are realities that awliyaullah have explained to us through their lives.

And still they are through our Sultan al-awliya, Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Adil al-Haqqani and through our Grandshaykh that these knowledges are coming slowly and appearing. It is not… a fountain when you turn it on, and if there is no water in the pipe, there is no water coming to the tap.

Many today, their pipes are coming from the reservoir through pipes, through the tap. Many have no water coming as there is a defect in the pipe. But the water is there, realities are there, heavenly presence is there, divine knowledge is there, but it is in its heavenly place. If you don’t have a system to bring it or the pipe is broken or the heart is not working or your mind is not understanding it doesn’t come.

So what do we need?  We need someone whom Allah gave authority in order to extract these knowledges and give us even a drop in the desert which is enough to quench our thirst.

Is it not?

One time there was a king, Haroun ar-Rasheed, king of Baghdad, which is known today as Iraq.He went with his soldiers hunting in the desert where they lost their way. Allah wanted them to lose their way in order to teach them a lesson. They had no more water and were very thirsty, for when they go to the desert they go for days and days. It was not an easy trip. Not like today - you go in one day and arrive. Sometimes they went on horses or camels; sometimes they went on mules, and sometimes, like me, they went on donkeys.

So they lost the way and they didn't have water to drink. His people were very very thirsty. And suddenly they saw a house, made from mud, and bushes - a nice place in this desert. They looked at it and they were very happy. They approached and the man, the soldier knocked at  the door. An old lady opened and asked, "what do you want?”

He said, "The king is thirsty and we have no more water. Do you have water for us to drink?” She said, “I have water but not for you to drink. If the king wants water let him come here. He is in need of me, I am not in need of him.”

Today we are not in need of a president. The president needs you. If you don’t elect him can he be president?  So who needs who? Does the president need the citizens or do the citizens need the president? The president needs citizens! If he doesn’t have citizens he is alone in the jungle or desert. So he needs the citizens' votes to become president. He has to thank the citizens. Today presidents or leaders or important people think people are in need of them. No - they are breaking the law. They are in need of the citizens.

Prophets are in need of their nations. For what is he a messenger of God? He needs human beings with him. As Grandshaykh said, may Allah bless his soul, “every prophet is in need of his ummah, or else what does he want to do? Sit by himself in the corner? He has a message to deliver so he needs people to come.”

So she said, "the king is in need of me, I am not in need of the king. Let him come here.”

So Haroun ar-Rasheed came and said, "I am in need of water.” Look she brought him from his high level and cut his ego down. Today an important person will never accept to cut his ego down.

Sayyidina `Umar (r), khaliphatu rasulullah, used to hire someone every day to remind him in the morning when he went out and in the evening when he came home, “Ya`Umar! Remember your grave is before you - you are going to die.”

Then after many years Sayyidina `Umar (r) laid that man off. Today they laid many people off.

He asked him, “Ya `Umar (r), did I do something wrong, that you are laying me off?” He said, "No you did your job very well, perfect.”  “Then why have you laid me off?” He said, "I now have someone to remind me not once or twice every day, but every moment in my life.” He asked, “What is that, an angel?” He said, "No, I have a white hair in my beard.”

Today you see people running here and there. Each one thinks differently. Look computers - each one works the same; they have the same programs. But no two persons have the same program. Who did that? It must be someone that is great. Allahu Akbar.Al-`azhamat lillahi - Greatness is for Allah. He is the Creator - He can say to something “be!” and it is.

So that Sultan Haroun ar-Rasheed… Today we say to people “Mother Earth.” It is an Islamic symbol because in interpretation the earth is represented by a lady, by a woman, because it carries nature, it carries animals; it carries human beings; it carries birds; it carries fish, everything.

It is a family and a mother. So that lady in the desert symbolized the earth. She said, "YaHaroun. You are knocking in the desert. You have to know your limits, else you die.” She said, "Ya Haroun! I need to have a price for the water I want to give you.” He said, “Anything you want I will give you for your water.”

She said, "Do you replace this cup of water for your kingdom?” What will he say? Of course. He needs to drink and his people need to drink. So he said, "Of course.” She said, "This cup of water is more valuable then your kingdom.”

So awliyaullah if that pipe is broken they don’t get that water to come through to flow to you. That is why too many people today call for imaginary realities. It is not real. It is a Hollywood reality. What are Hollywood realities? They are zero, they are illusions.

They say something and think it is true. They speak of spiritual realities. They are inventing it and innovating it.

That is why awliyaullah’s words are so strong that you can see the value in it. Like you find a diamond and on the other side you have a pebble.

So which is more important? The diamond. So what do you do wuth the pebble? You step on it.

And what do you do with the diamond? You clean it every day [symbolized spitting on it and polishing it.] Then you put it back.

Who will throw away a diamond? You might throw your wife away but NOT a diamond. Or the wife might throw the husband away but NOT the diamond. But your wife will not throw you out; don’t worry!

So in the midst of that reality, Allah asked, after He dressed His Prophet (s) with all these lights which we have explained in the previous session and He taught him from His Ancient Word, that is why He says,

الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ

 “ar-Rahman `allama al-Qur'an – the Merciful One taught the Qur'an.” [ar-Rahman, 55:1-2]

The Merciful out of his mercy taught the Holy Qur'an to the prophet. That means before any creation. Then:

خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ

Khalaqa ’l-insaan - He has created man. [55:3]

What Allah taught the Prophet (s) - do you know? Does anyone know? No one knows. Why, were you present? No one was present.

What Allah gave to Sayyidina Muhammad (s) no one knows except Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and what the Prophet (s) gave to the Sahaba and to the Ummah is but a drop of that knowledge. Why? Because this reality will explain to us where we stand. That the Prophet (s) gave a drop but that drop for us is like an ocean.

If you add all books together and everyone what he wrote and what he said from the beginning it will be like an ocean of knowledge and yet it will be but a drop in what the prophet gave to humanity and what we are getting is but a small  drop of that huge ocean.

And he asked him, who are you and who am I? He said, SubhanAllah anta al-qahhaar wa an abduk al-`ajiz – Glory be to Allah, You are the Subduer and I am Your weak servant.”  He realized the reality. He said, "You are the Subduer, al-`Adheem, al-Kabeer, al-Akbar. You are the Greatest, the Highest and no one is above You and no expression can express Your Divinely Essence. So who am I? Nothing. Compared to that it is zero.Ana `abduk al-`ajiz - I am Your servant who is weak and ...”

The Prophet (s) can say that but we cannot say that. For us the Prophet (s) is the greatest in creation.  To us he is the creation. Allah created him and within him creation came. From within him. Then when the Lord answered, “thumma qaala ta`ala `azza wa jall,’ ma ma`an qahhaar wa ma ma`na al-`abd - what do you understand from the meaning of Subduer and what do you understand from the meaning of servant, `abd?’”

So what do you understand? You. Qahhaar. Subduer. Force anything under him, smash everything. Is that Subduer? That means everything becomes shattered when He wants. He asked the Prophet (s) “what do you understand by it?”

He [Grandshaykh] said, "with the power of heavenly vision that has been given to the Prophet (s) he looked first at what came to him, what Allah wants him to see: Every bad characteristic which exists and that will come, the dress that human beings will be dressed in.”

Who will dress these bad characters? Creation, and humans.

So what happened? The creation of course has pollution, what they call today pollution, everything is polluted with bad characteristics. The imam who has a mosque, the priest who has a church or the rabbi who has a synagogue or the Buddhist who has a temple or the Hindu who has a shrine - everyone has to receive from the negative energy that goes from these bad characteristics. No one is clean from that. Don’t tell me someone is clean, not possible.

After this series we will go into the series of bad characteristics. Last time we went into seventeen. Now we will count 105. People can count 10, 15, 20 bad characters. Butawliyaullah came up with 105 bad characteristics. And there are in reality 800 bad characteristics.

So everyone has been polluted. So the Prophet (s) when he was asked, “what is the meaning of the Subduer,” he looked immediately at what wrong might come.

You don’t look at what is good, as good is good. Praise Allah - alhamdulillah you don’t look at what is already fixed. Look at what needs to be fixed.

People today they say,  “O this one doesn’t lie, this one doesn’t do this, this one doesn’t do that. But no. Look at what he is doing bad and fix that.

Iblees, Satan, what did he say? He said, “You made me to sin” to Allah. What did Sayyidina Adam  say? He said, “I did it, O my Lord, forgive me. What is good is coming from You, O My Lord, and what is bad is coming from me.”

So the Prophet (s) is representing creation and he looked at the bad that is going to come out from creation. He saw all the bad that comes out from human beings and even animals. Don’t animals eat each other? So animals are going to be judged on Judgment Day. Every animal is going to be judged and asked, “Why did you eat this and why did you ate that.” Then Allah will make them disappear.

Then He says, “O human beings, come to Me.” What are you going to answer? Did you commit big sins? Yes, did you commit small sins? Yes. We all will say yes. So if you fix these then everything is clean.

So what did the Prophet (s) look at? He looked at the sins that human beings are going to commit and whatever they are going to commit from every creation that is under him. He was looking at them one by one, at every individual, and he was able to see and to see how long he is going to live and what sins he is going to commit. Leave the good, what is good is good. He has to make sure all these sins are all cleared.

Today when they want to put a building down what do they do? They put explosives. The building if it falls, it will bring the other buildings down. So today they have technology to setup the explosions to make the building come down by itself.

So in the case of a small building you cannot use a large explosion which you would use for a large building. Every one is like a building. What brings us down? The bad characteristics and sins.

So the Prophet (s) looked at that and said to Allah, “The meaning of the Subduer, that is what it means to me is the one that will submerge or drown or (yughriq) plunge sinking, make all these …the meaning of Subduer is the One who can erase all these sins and bad characteristics and destroy them completely in the ocean of His mercy.

That means, “Ya Rabbee, you are the One that can with Your oceans of mercy, destroy all kaba’ir and sagha’ir - All big sins and small sins. And all bad characters from anyone you have created from jinn, ins, angels. Though angels are protected, [but] from angels. From everything. Ya Rabbee, You created and You can destroy all these bad characters and sins. Sagha’ir wa kaba’ir – the minor sins and the major ones.

No one gave that answer. How many books I read, I never read that answer. So realities that are given to awliyaullah they can extract them.

Even a tree, you go in a jungle and you see a small tree strangling a big tree and you see the big tree dying. Also it is going to be judged as there is life in it. That small tree will be asked why you strangled the big tree and killed it?

But the Prophet (s) gave the answer. He said, "Ya Rabbee, with your oceans of mercy you can clean everything. So to me the Subduer is the one who can completely demolish the sins and bad characteristics and drown them.”

This is one meaning and we will not go to the other meanings.

The meaning of servant is the one who is in need of the treasures of His Mercy.

`Abd, human being is in need of God’s Mercy.

That is the meaning of `abd. That means he is in need of something. Not in need of one thing, but he is need of everything. He needs health and wealth and moral excellence to progress in his akhira. An `abd is always in need of his Lord.

Today they say “be independent.” You cannot be independent. You have to be dependent on Allah swt.

He is in need of the treasures of Allah’s Mercy without … it means in every moment of his life without any moment of heedlessness. Not one moment you can be heedless of remembering you are in need of Allah’s mercy. If you become heedless one time in your life, one moment in your life, that you are asking his mercy then it means you didn’t reach the meaning of `abd or the status of servanthood.

So who reached servanthood today?. No one. Every one is heedless. Not one moment but every moment.

So he said, "bi laa ghaflah wa law bi lahdhah - without heedlessness even for a moment.”

At that time Allah called, "O my beloved one! I am making you a messenger and I am sending you as a messenger to all creation - ma siwAllah - other than Myself. Anything created I am going to send you to them. I am sending you to them that in order with the power of the Subduer, with the manifestation of the name al-Qahhaar, I am giving you authority that with the manifestation of that Name that you can destroy evilness from every human being and from every individual and from every creation that I created; that everyone becomes clean through the oceans of My Mercy and I am sending you to them.”

Then the Prophet (s) said, "O my Lord, then what have You created them for? To whom are you sending me?”

We leave this for next time

Wa min Allah at-tawfeeq bi-hurmati 'l-Fatiha

The Creation of Prophet's Essence

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani | Wednesday, Feb 11, 2009 | Oakland, CA US

Allahuma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad (s)

 

Allahuma salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad (s) wa ala aali Sayyidina Muhammad (s)

 

Audhu billah min ash-Shaytaan ir-rajeem

Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem

Nawaytu'l-arba`een, nawaytu'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu'l-khalwah, nawaytu'l-riyaada, nawaytu's-salook, nawaytu'l-`uzlah lillahi ta`ala fee hadha'l-masjid 

 

As-salaam alaykum wa rahmatullah,

 

Ati` Allah wa ati` ar-rasula wa uli 'l-amri minkum

 قُلْ هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّمَا يَتَذَكَّرُ أُوْلُوا الْأَلْبَابِ

qul hal yastawee alladheena ya`lamoona wa’lladheena laa ya`lamoona innama yatadhakkaru uloo’lal-baab

Say: "Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know? It is those who are endued with understanding that receive admonition. [Az-Zumar, 39:9]     

Allah swt said in Holy Qur'an, are they going to be equal those who knows and those who don’t know?

Only those Allah gave them uloo’l-albaab, are the owners of the hearts, those who can read their hearts. Those who can know their limits. uloo’l-albaab are those who have intelligence, those who are awake and they are ready in every moment.

Those who know and are in that group are intelligent of whatever is going in their hearts are aware of what is going on, or those who don’t know anything and they are blind, of course there is no way of comparison. One knows and one doesn't know.

Then those who knows, are only those who are uloo’l-albaab. Those who have fitna[with tha], inspirations, who can understand between the lines and they can understand the secrets behind every verse of the Holy Qur'an. Those who are open-eyed as we explained in the previous session, as this is a series.

Those who don’t know can not be compared those who know. Those who don’t know are blind. They don’t know any farther than their nose. After that they cannot.

That is the description of awliyaullah: Hal yastawee…

Those who knows are awliyaullah. Those who don’t know are common scholars. We are not speaking about the difference between common people like us. We are speaking about the difference between a scholar and a wali. We are speaking of those whom Allah said, "

Ya ayyuhalladheena aamanoo ittaqullah wa koonoo ma as-saadiqeen

O you believers. Ya ayyhualladeheena aamanoo. Those who say we are believers. The English explanation is “O believers.” But in reality it is, “O if you consider yourself a believer then what do you have to do?” Ittaqullah. How if you are a believer is it said “ittaqullah – fear God”? A believer is going to have taqwa for sure. If he doesn’t havetaqwa, sincerity, then how is he fitting the description of believer. If he is a mu’min for sure he is going to have taqwa, sincerity. It means you are not yet considered a believer but if you consider yourself a believer then you are with trustworthy people.

He said:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ وَكُونُواْ مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ

 Ya ayyuhalladheena aamanoo ittaqullah wa koonoo ma as-saadiqeen.

O ye who believe! Fear Allah and be with those who are true (in word and deed). 9:119

It means, “you are not yet a believer, but if you consider yourself a believer then keep with trustworthy people.”

Not trustworthy in our description we look at someone and say that is trustworthy. Not to our knowledge or our evaluation. It has to be trustworthy from heavens. Allah will dress him as he dressed Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq . Siddiq, he dressed him as “the Trustworthy.” Always he said, "sadaqta ya rasulullah.” No doubt Allah dressed him.

It means: “O ye believers, whom you considered yourself a believer, then you have to have taqwa.” Do you have taqwa? We are struggling. We cannot say we have taqwa. We cannot say “yes.” We can say we have nothing. We have nothing. You need taqwa. You cannot declare something that doesn’t belong to you. They will not give to you. Go to the bank and say “I am Mr. so and so, I have an account with you, I have 10 million dollars.” They say, "no, no you are not that person. You cannot take it.” You cannot take the personality of someone else – we say in Arabic yantahil ash-shakhsiyya – someone who makes himself someone else. You cannot go to bank and say I am that person. You are not that person.

So we cannot say to ourselves that we have taqwa. We don’t have it. You cannot declare something that you don’t own.

Taqwa is when you are reaching the highest level of discipline and no lies; no deceit; no conspiracy, nothing. It means you are loose from the hand of Shaytaan. Are we loose from the hands of Shaytaan?

And what is the smallest, the lowest, uh… if we have that it means we are still in the hand of Shaytaan. When you argue with someone that you are right and he is wrong. That means you are still in control of Shaytaan. Whatever that person says, close your ears. Let him say whatever he likes. Then you are not in the hands of shaytaan.

So are we in the hands of Shaytaan? We hope we are not and wish we are not. We ask Allah swt that we are not in the hands of Shaytaan; that we are in the Divine Presence. Without Allah’s support, without the Prophet’s support, without sincere awliyaullahsupport we cannot.

 

هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ إِنَّمَا يَتَذَكَّرُ أُوْلُوا الْأَلْبَابِ

qul hal yastawee allatheena ya`lamoona w’alladheena la ya`lamoona innama yatadhakkaru uloo’lal-baab.

Say: "Are those equal, those who know and those who do not know? It is those who are endued with understanding that receive admonition. 39:9

It is a question mark. So Allah is asking are those who know the same as those who do not know? No; no way.

So those who know are the awliyaullah the saadiqeen. Allah is ordering us to be with the company of trustworthy people. Where your heart is attracted to is the place where it is, you can feel whether that is a trustworthy person. You will be attracted.

And from one to another it differs. From one trustworthy to another trustworthy differs. It might be someone is trustworthy for dunya so what you get? You get trustworthy fordunya. And it might be someone for akhira.  So what do you get? You get akhira. So if you be with him he is trustworthy for akhira.

So what it means is be with those who are trustworthy for Allah’s Divine Presence. Don’t be with those who are trustworthy for dunya. For example there are those who are trustworthy in finance. They are trustworthy for money. They know about money but they don’t know about akhira.

Our focus is on akhira. Awliyaullah their focus is on akhira. So from those who know where Allah says hal yastawee… They say … they say according to their levels.

So what we are going to speak about today is from the level of Grandshaykh’s wilayah, sainthood and level of Mawlana Shaykh sainthood. It is not from the level of normal [awliya]… Between awliyaullah there are different levels.

We are speaking from what they say from their high levels.

May Allah give them high and higher levels. Because if they get higher levels we get higher levels with them. We cannot go by ourselves. we go with them. That is why Allah said,

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ وَكُونُواْ مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ 

Ya ayyuha alladheena aamanoo ittaqullaha wa koonoo ma`a as-saadiqeen

O you who have attained to faith! Remain conscious of God, and be among those who are true to their word! [Tawba, 9:119]

Saadiqeen - trustworthy ones. You cannot be a trustworthy one, but be with them.

So to be with them, we must understand, as we said yesterday, is a drop from an ocean they are speaking from, and that ocean is but a drop from the ocean of the Prophet (s). The Prophet (s) has infinite knowledge oceans, no limits.

All awliyaullah in total, with all their knowledge they are taking but a drop of the oceans of the Prophet (s) knowledge. And in that drop, every wali has oceans and what they are saying here is a drop.

Say that Allah swt created Sayyidina Muhammad (s) before any creation. Because when you love,.. .we cannot make this comparison, I don’t want you to say “O we did,” but [we say this] only [as a means for us] to understand.

An artist will have something inside of him he has an artistic touch. So what will he do? He will draw a beautiful calligraphy. Look all these big calligraphers of the Holy Qur'an who wrote the Holy Qur'an.

They want to show all their beauty for the Holy Qur'an. They want to show their best for Holy Qur'an from time of Holy Prophet (s) up to today. They innovated all kinds of different styles of writing to show the beauty of the Holy Qur'an through their love of the Holy Qur'an. Because there must be something in them that makes them do that.

Not everyone can do that. People who love flowers put flowers together to make a bouquet. Everyone has different ambition or touch or taste. When you have that you have to put all that on what you want to do, is it not?

If that is for human beings, then what do you think about Allah swt. If human beings have this artistic touch they like to express their artistic feelings in something that stands out. Then Allah who created arts and artistic touches, then this whole universe that Allah created is all like a very beautiful appearance, a very beautiful manifestation to His Name al-Qaadir or his name al-Khaaliq, the Creator. So when Allah swt wanted to show His Beauty out, He created the dharratu ’n-Nabi (s) - the atom, if we can say atom. The essence (is a better word than atom). The essence of the reality of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) before any creation.

Allah wants to show that love to his beauty and to his Beautiful Names because He has only been described through his Beautiful Names. You cannot know Him except through his Beautiful Names and Attributes – that is it. So through His Beautiful Names and Attributes that flower, if we can say, that beauty of Muhammad (s) came out from this manifestation of these Beautiful Names together Allah wanted something to appear. So what appeared was haqiqat an-Nabi (s) - the reality of the essence of the Prophet (s).

That made awliyaullah to be stunned from this information. That is not an easy information to understand and get. Because what we are understanding is some notes that they gave and expressed to us. But what they have seen is completely, with its taste it is coming out. With its beauty it is coming out. Like you look at a nice garden full of all different kinds of beautiful flowers and fruit trees. You go inside and you smell the smell of the flowers. You take a fruit and you take a taste of these fruits. So you are tasting it and feeling it. But we are only reading it. It is a big difference. We are not tasting it.

When it was given to them it was given slowly with all its level. Not every wali can bring such kinds of knowledge.

He said, "no human being, wali or not even wali, but even all prophets other than Sayyidina Muhammad (s), there is no way for them to understand in dunya or in akhiraabout the reality of that essence. That is only for the Prophet (s). He has no partners in that. As Allah has no partner, He is Allah, our lord and our God, He has no partner, so the Prophet (s) has no partner in his servanthood.

So that essence that came out, awliyaullah they took some, they taste some and they understood some but not everything. Because the knowledges of the Prophet’s essence are always pouring out, more knowledge, more knowledge and more knowledge. So no one can reach the complete knowledge of the Prophet (s). You look up and you can see but you cannot see what the one up can see. You sit below the roof you see the roof but the one on the roof sees much farther.

So Grandshaykh may Allah bless his soul, said, "Allah created the reality of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), the essence of the atom of his reality from the manifestation of his Beautiful Names and Attributes, and especially from two of these different names, ar-Rahman and ar-Raheem: ar-Rahman the Merciful and ar-Raheem the Compassionate.

From these two Beautiful Names ar-Rahman and ar-Raheem. That is why He mentioned in Holy Qur'an:

وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ إِلَّا رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ

Wa maa arsalnaaka illa rahmatan li’l-`alameen - We sent thee not, but as a Mercy for all creatures. Al-Anbiya [21:107]

Because his reality and his essence came out to know the 99 Names. If we can say the 99 Names they are together, like we say, as a bouquet of flowers and in the middle you have the most beautiful flower that everyone looks at it. These Beautiful Names and Attributes have in between them, the two Names ar-Rahman and ar-Raheem and the offshoots of the reality of the Prophet (s) are coming out from in between these two Names. That is why his name is rahmat. Ar-rahmat al-muhdaat - the Gifted Mercy to humanity.

So Allah swt created the reality of the Prophet (s) from the beautiful Attributes of ar-Rahman ir-Raheem and He decorated him with all kinds of lights - beautiful lights. Every Beautiful Name and Attribute has its own light. The Prophet (s) when he looks in the laylat al-isra wal-miraj he was looking at these lights in the Divine Presence, “qaaba qawsayni aw adna - two bow’s-length or nearer” and he was seeing all these beautiful lights the differing lights coming from the appearance of these Names. Every name has its own appearance.

In our case it is when we say on a rainy day and when there is a little sun and we see a rainbow of different colors and we look observing and say, "that is very nice.”

So Allah’s Beautiful Names and Attributes were, we said, emitting light of different colors which means different realities and different knowledges appearing from these different Beautiful Names and Attributes. He was dressed and decorated with these lights, and these lights were the lights of wilayah. Wilayah means that when someone is dressed with light of sainthood he becomes holy.

That wilayah, every wali is under a different name of sainthood. Wali - wilayah. Wilayah means a territory. We say wilayaat al-mutahiddah, United States. So it is a state, a territory. So the Prophet (s) was given that wilayah - that state. What is that state? Allah swt was dressing him with a dress to be ready for that state. What is state? It is to be ready for the creation that He is going to create for him. That is why He was dressing him with all these Beautiful Names and especially the light from the wilayah of the name al-Qudoos - The Holy One. So He was dressing him with a Holy Divine Presence and dressing him, preparing him for prophecy. So that is why when you are a prophet… and that is why he said, "I was a prophet when Adam was between clay and water.” He was being prepared already even before Adam  was, to be the leader or head of creation.

That is why when Allah ordered the Pen to write la ilaha illa-Allah it was writing for 70,000 years, and then He ordered the Pen to write Muhammad rasulullah. La ilaha illa-Allah represents Lordship and Muhammadun Rasulullah represents servanthood which Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is head of. Allah created creation as servants to Allah but as subjects to the Prophet (s), for him to be a prophet to them; for Sayyidina Muhammad (s) was to be sent to them.

So He prepared him to carry the prophecy. So all that which came before was not yet sent as a prophet - it was preparation for him to be sent as a prophet. Then Allah took that essence of the Prophet (s) that had been under the manifestation of the Beautiful Names and Attributes and He began to decorate that light with the light of prophecy.

And the light of prophecy had been taken from one Beautiful Names - Maqam al-wahdaniyya – al-Wahid. From the Beautiful Names and Attributes al-Wahid - the One. That is why we say the Oneness of Allah swt. Who calls for the oneness of Allah? The prophets. So the prophets' realities are coming from heavens. They have been dressed by the reality of the meaning of the name al-Wahid. They are the ones who are allowed to point to the Oneness of Allah swt. From that reality the Prophet (s) was dressed. Now he is dressed with prophecy, as he was dressed with prophecy. Now as he dressed him from that name al-Wahid then He moved him to a higher level. After that He dressed the Prophet (s) from the Beautiful name al-Wahid, he moved him to be dressed with the light of ar-risalah, and the risalah is taken from the Beautiful Names al-Ahad. That represents His Uniqueness in His Beautiful Name, Allah. Allah dressed him from the Beautiful Name al-Ahad and that lead Him to dress him from the Beautiful Name ofadh-Dhaat. The Essence we don’t know but we know it through the Beautiful Name Allah. And we know Allah through the 99 Beautiful Names and Attributes. So all these Beautiful Names and Attributes were dressed on the Prophet (s). That is why he became a manifestation of Allah’s Beautiful Names and Attributes and the essence [of the Prophet (s)] came from the name ar-Rahman ar-Raheem then that offshoot came out, then from…. Then from the light of a messenger and from the name al-Ahad which lead to the manifestation from ismullah adh-dhaat - Allah  - where all the Beautiful Names and Attributes are within it. These are the Names which were dressed on the essence of the atom of Sayyidina Muhammad (s).

After that had been done, how many years did it take? Do you know? Allah knows.

And for sure the one who had been created, Sayyidina Muhammad (s), knows. He was under that tarbiyya, that discipline. And after that has been done and dressed on that atom, then Allah asked that atom, “who am I and who are you?” “Who are you, and who am I?”

Answer.

What you want to answer? What the Prophet (s) answered?

That dharrah began to speak and the first word that came out, as Grandshaykh and Mawlana Shaykh and grand Grandshaykh all said, on these realities that they pulled out from these levels of their sainthood, the Prophet (s) spoke according to a language and a tongue that belongs to highest level of malakoot - heavenly state. Not according todunya state or normal heavenly state. It is according to the highest level that the Prophet (s) was in it. And he gave this information to awliyaullah about the reality of the Prophet (s).

What the Prophet (s) said? They say that he said in a language that respected and honored the place that it is in which no one knows what is that high level because we cannot say there is a place or a direction, or a “where.” No. But wherever it is, the Prophet’s (s) first word was “Anta al-Qahhar - You are the Subduer, Wa ana abduk al-`ajiz - and I am your weak disabled servant.”

`Ajiz means the weakest that cannot do anything.

After that Allah dressed him from His Ancient Word; from His Kalaamahu al-qadeemi.The Ancient Uncreated Words were dressed on the Prophet (s). That is why He said:

الرَّحْمَنُ عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ

 “ar-Rahman `allama al-Qur'an – the Merciful One taught the Qur'an.” [ar-Rahman, 55:1-2]

The Merciful, from these two Beautiful Names and Attributes, Allah created the essence of the Prophet (s) and dressed him with siffat ar-rahmah, the Attributes of the Merciful. From that secret Allah dressed him from that Name. From the secret of ar-rahman `allama al-Qur'an khalaq al-insaan – The Merciful One, taught the Holy Qur'an andthen “He created creation.” So ar-Rahman who created the essence of the Prophet (s) in that Presence taught him the Holy Qur'an, then He created creation. So the Holy Qur'an was taught to the Prophet (s) where there was yet no creation; there was no universe - nothing. That came after. So Allah gave and addressed the Prophet (s) in a way that we don’t understand and no one understands.

They say that words that come out from the reality of Allah’s Essence, are completelymujarrad min al-asma was-siffat, that is completely abstract, unknown, coming directly from the Essence without passing through the Names and Attributes.  At that moment, when He said, "I am the Subduer,” the Prophet (s) said, "I am Your weak servant” Allah dressed him directly from the Absolute Essence that no one knows, that Essence was giving knowledge to the Prophet (s) that was coming, not through the Beautiful Names and Attributes, but taking another way or channel, if we can say that. So that means more Beautiful Names and Attributes were coming, ones we don’t know, not only the 99 Names that everyone knows but many more Names that were given to the Prophet (s).

Then Allah asked the Prophet (s) after all these knowledges that had been passed to the Prophet (s), He asked him, “What is the meaning of Subduer and what is the meaning of servanthood?”

“What is the meaning of Subduer and what is the meaning of servant or servanthood?”

And the Prophet (s) looked and he said… and we leave it to tomorrow.

Wa min Allah at-tawfeeq bi-hurmati 'l-Fatiha

 

May Allah forgive us, we are weak in order to understand.

SubhanAllah, they speak like fountains and one line can fill a whole book. How do these knowledges come? It makes us regard all the books we know like one to a million.