A`udhu billahi min ash-shaytaan ir-rajeem
Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem
Our way and direction is to follow the path of the most distinguished Naqshbandi Tariqat (spiritual path). The path that has been laid in this era by the master of our time Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Haqqani and his beloved Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani. Everyone is free to choose what they do with their life and a passageway they prefer from this life to the afterlife. We believe our ship of safety in this world is to follow our captain. Our obedience to their teachings is our safety. Any situation our master will put us through is the correct way. How one follows cannot only be achieved through obedience, perseverance, and patience. An element that governs them all is love. You may hear someone tell you due to one’s action that they are blinded by love. Then admit you are blind. We are blind and our Guide can see. That is the level of belief we are trying to accomplish in order to truly experience love.
What is Love? Our Master Mawlana Shaykh Hisham once explained. Love is to feel what the one you love is feeling. When they are experiencing pain in any part of their body than you experience the same in your body. What they are feeling you are feeling. Anything affecting them is also transferred to you. You are annihilated in their love. You become a mirror image of whom you love. To follow a Master is not easy and even more difficult when we are not governed by love but our ego. To give your hand to them and take an oath to pursue their wisdom is not a short term commitment. It is a lifetime commitment. It is like someone is being rescued in the middle of the ocean. The teacher reaches out and grabs you up into his ship and saves you from the stormy oceans. He is guiding the ship to reach the destination of safety. That ship is the spiritual path. All you have to do is to hold on and do not let go.
We cannot illustrate or even begin to understand the sacrifices these guides make for the love of their Creator and beloved Prophet (pbuh). Whatever we may describe is always falling short of the true reality. They sacrifice for the benefit of their students and want nothing but the best for them. That best is for the eternal life and the life of this world which is coming to an end one day. These Guides have dedicated their entire lives to this spiritual path. They give up their time, wealth, privacy, and family life for the sake of their Lord. It is the greatness of God that he has created this reciprocal relationship; you cannot love me until you love all that I have created. They carry the burdens of their followers. These are all our bad behaviors, bad manners, and sins which they clean us from and give us positive energy. They are bringing those difficulties on to themselves and Allah is granting them power to carry our burdens. Imagine if one person comes to talk to you about their problem from something small or big. It will leave you heavy in your heart for days and affects your daily life. How are these saints listening to thousands of people and everyone is coming with an issue. Everyone is seeking a resolution from these saints and these guides are raising their hands to pray for them. Overtime they find their problems to go away slowly and their lives are filling with blessings. These Guides show the best of manners in treating everyone equally and always receive you with a smile. People come and throw rocks at them they return with flowers. They return with their pure prayers and ask forgiveness on their behalf. When one’s goal is the love of their lord, prophet, and master then they embrace every difficulty with a smile. Their prayers become as God says in the holy Quran: (6:161) “Say: Lo! my worship and my sacrifice and my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the Worlds.” They have a pure intention that has an upward movement to the Creator. It does not leave any room for the material world. They are not in need of anything from us. We are in need of them to bring out the seeds of love which God had created us with in the first place.
Our Masters have love that is not only on their tongue but every cell of their body is in action to give that blessing. It does not stop there until we are receiving from their heart the endless oceans of love. That is the love they have toward us. How then do we define the love we have to have for our Guides? It cannot be defined. However high we will reach to show that love we cannot give its true right. In our everyday life how appreciative we are when someone favors us. It can be as simple as holding a door for someone or letting someone pass on the road. We are grateful and return the favor to others. How do you return a favor when someone has sacrificed their entire life for the benefit of his followers? We have neither the words nor the actions to accomplish such a task. We are indebted and can offer nothing but imitate their ways and be of service to them. Hoping for that understanding to open in our hearts to truly experience love. Help and support them with all means God has granted us. That support is for our benefit as we are falling short on our promise. Love for our Guide is a taste each and everyone has to experience in their journey. But first, have unconditional love. Love that does not want anything in return. That love will lead you to the love of Prophet and to the love of Lord of creation.
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