From the Teachings of Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
Shaykh Nurjan Mirahmadi
Sufi Meditation Center, Vancouver, BC
Audhubillahi min ash-Shaytani rajeem, Bismillahi Rahmaani Raheem.
Bismillahi Rahmaani Raheem. In light of benefit for myself, and if anyone else takes benefit, alhamdulillah, we try to take all that we believe or what we want (of adab) and leave that which is of no interest. The days of difficulty are opening into dunya and Mawlana Shaykh is teaching us the love of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), and the love of the Ahlul Bayt, the love of the Companions, and the love of Sayyidina Mahdi (as). And they say to open that love and the nearness which is the Ocean of Safety, and this means we are asking, "Ya Rabbi to be under (opening of) Bismillahi Rahmaani Raheem." But the key to opening that is in the understanding of Audhubillahi min ash-Shaytani rajeem. It means (when saying) Audhubillah this is asking to be in the heavenly association that Allah (SWT) is pleased with, and that is the protection against Shaytan and the dominions of bad character and of the devil. It means for us to find Allah (SWT) it is very difficult. So then Awliyaullah come into our lives and begin to teach us that, "It is not Allah (SWT) that you are going to find. That is very difficult, and this was the quest of the prophets."
Bismillahi Rahmaani Raheem.
Atiullaha wa ati-ur Rasul wa ulul amri min kum. (Obey Allah, obey the prophets and obey authority).
And the obedient ones to Allah (SWT) were the Rasul's (prophets) and Allah (SWT) gave us a way and a means in to reach; it means to obey Allah (SWT) then we must obey the prophets. And the obedience to the prophets is in the hands of the ulul amr (those in authority). The people of authority follow the amr and the guidance and the Will of Allah (SWT) to the best that they can in their darajaat of submission and we find ourselves with the highest of the ulul amr, Sultan al-Awliya Mawlana Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani (q) and in these regions and this area, Qutb al-Mutasarrif Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani. And Allah (SWT) opened for us these blessings for Adabana Rabbi fi ahsanul tahteeb, and that Prophet (s) described to us that, "Allah (SWT) has perfected my adab and my characteristics,"
and that is what dresses us with Divine Mercy. It is the perfection of characteristics, and the perfection of the adab (manners), it is not the amal (deeds), even the donkey has better amal that insaan (humans). The entire natural world that Allah (SWT) has created is in perfect submission; we cannot even compare ourselves to the submission of the animal kingdom, they completely submit. The lamb puts his head out and you come and make zabiha (sacrifice) and nothing happens; the trees, you cut them and burn them, there is no screaming.
It means if it was just the actions and the amal that Allah (SWT) was interested in, then why was there a description of Prophet (s) as the Khuluqul Adheem? Allah (SWT) said, "You are of a magnificent character." The characteristic and the adab, the mannerisms and the tarbiya, the discipline, is the perfection that the Prophet (s) wants to dress us with, and to be perfected so as to be protected because this dunya is now going to clean everyone. And everybody is going to be washed and cleansed through hardship and the degree in which the hardship comes to them cleanses them and perfects them and sends them back towards Divinely Presence. And the Prophet (s) is teaching us that the secret of reaching that mercy and the secret of reaching Allah's satisfaction is the perfection of characteristics, you pray, Alhamdulillah you have to (do that) and you fast so Alhamdulillah you have to, and you read Qur'an, Alhamdulillah you have to. All of that everyone has to do, but that is not where the reward or the prize is.
Allah (SWT) says, "If you don't have good adab, what is all this praying going to do?" If you have bad manners or bad characteristics and you do harsh and awful things, then what is the purpose of praying? What is Allah (SWT) going to do with that prayer? What is the purpose of fasting if the characteristics become bad and evil or rotten? What is the purpose of a Hajj? If all these pillars are not built upon the foundation of good character or good manners and good adab, then Prophet (s) is teaching us, "Be careful, Allah (SWT) will throw them out and you will be out of Divinely Presence."
Allah (SWT) is going to say, "The character was not good, what do I need these deeds for?" The purpose for your Shahada; wa iqamatus s-salaat wa ita az-zakat wa sawmu ramadan was to perfect the character. It was not the actions that Allah (SWT) was interested in.
He said, "I ordered for you salat, so that you would be disciplined and controlling your bad characteristics so that you would reach towards good character and that you would be of service to My Creation with good characteristics. The reason I ordered zakat is to give from what you have, so from that perfection of character, you care for others and you would be your brother's caretaker, you would be the one responsible. This is your family and your community and your responsibility." It is not that the zakat is the prize and we go around thinking, "We did something great." All of that was for the purpose of bringing perfection to the character. The siyam, the fasting that Allah (SWT) has ordered "Don't let them come to Me being proud of their fasting." If that characteristic is not perfected and you have fasted and you are not compassionate or merciful then, are you thinking about other people's ability to eat and to take care of themselves?
In everything you do and before you do anything, Mawlana Shaykh is teaching from the inheritance of Prophet (s), "Do they have the ability to take care of themselves? Are there people who are hungry near me and are there people who are in difficulty around me?" And you will be asked by Allah (SWT) "Why did you not take care of that one? That was the purpose of the fasting." It is not that we get a prize because we fasted. He (SWT) says, "For all those years that you have fasted and still you have no compassion for those who are down or outside or for those who are hungry or people who are less fortunate?"
It means that every action that Prophet (s) brought for us from Shariah was to perfect the character to Maqam al Ihsaan. There is Islam, Iman and Ihsaan. Your Islam brings you into submission, and if that is submitting properly, then the lights of Iman begin to dress us and the light of Iman begins to shine at the station of Ihsaan or perfection that Allah (SWT) says, "These are the best adab, these are the best of characters and that one is Mukhlis, a sincere servant of Mine. He is not only Muslim and he accepted My Way but he became Mukhlis, he became a sincere one in everything he is doing." He realizes that when he is praying it is to tame his animal (self) and it is not the reward of praying. And he fasts so he becomes compassionate and he feels what it is to be hungry and to be down and out. He gives charity and realizes that everybody is in need and that a day may come when he is more in need of it. He goes on his pilgrimage so that he can get closer and return to the Divine Presence, "Ya Rabbi we are always on a pilgrimage to our Akhira," and that at any moment we are going to die, and at any moment somebody is going to go, and at any moment, many people are returning back to Allah and that is their final Hajj.
From that good characteristic Prophet (s) is sending those teachings and Mawlana is inspiring us that in these holy days remember Sayyidina Maryem (as) and remember that a tremendously pious servant of the Divine Presence who was sitting and fasting and praying through all sorts of difficulties and Allah (SWT) was showering her with endless Rahmah and endless Mercies. There was so much sustenance in her niche and also sustenance that was coming from seasons that the prophet was amazed. Sayyidina Zachariah came into the niche and saw there was so much blessing and so much Baraka there. And what Mawlana Shaykh is focusing on in these days of difficulty that are opening, is that Sayyidina Zachariah (as) with his high station saw that miracle because of his humility and he said, "Although I have authority and I am someone (of importance), I do see the miracle," out of humility. "And as a result of seeing this miracle, let me make a dua." And Allah (SWT) opened his heart because he would testify later to a big secret, (regarding Sayyida Maryem)
"You took the benefit of that dua, and you got your child from that dua." It is very important to note here, that we take benefits from Awliyaullah through so many gifts and so many changes in our lives and then later we say, "We had no benefit by accompanying you. We didn't get anything; we don't even know why we are with you or why we are on this path?" But Allah (SWT) says to Sayyidina Zachariah (as), "Look, all your life you prayed and your dua did not come to be, but (it did) when with humility you went into that niche."
But for the perfection of our character, these are eternal stories for us to reach our realities because Sayyidina Isa's (as) message for us is eternal and that at every moment history is repeating itself and insaan copies that exactly, there is no new trick! Nobody can come and say, "Shaykh this is a unique characteristic that is only within me." No, that is incorrect; you will keep copying the same characteristics (as the predecessors). So when we read the Holy Qur'an, Allah (SWT) is describing that it is a guide book for you and me, people do not need a change.
Sayyidina Zachariah (as) saw the miracle and testified to it and then he received a child from that miracle. And as a result, later Allah (SWT) tests the saint whom he got the blessing from. And the saint comes with a mission that she was going to have a child. "When I am in seclusion, isolation and praying, how am I going to have a child when there is no man who has touched me? What will these people say to me?" And Allah (SWT) said, "Yes I know what they are going to say to you and I do not give permission for you to testify." No permission to give daleel (shed light) because she is a wali, she could have opened her mouth and given so many examples and it would have finished the whole debate, as she was an Awliyaullah.
She (as) had so much yaqeen (certainly) that when she gave birth, it is described by Allah (SWT) that the angel came and said, "If you are hungry, shake the palm tree." And she brought the palm to herself. And in the article that we sent out, that many different shuyookh focused on what kind of power did she have, that she could shake the base of a palm tree. Have you seen a palm tree? It's like a truck, its not a twig which you bend down and bring it to eat the dates, but Allah (SWT) describes her yaqeen in that, "She could hit the palm tree and brought the dates to her mouth," could she not have debated? And now people are going to accuse her and curse her. And Allah (SWT) says that, "She is of perfected character that I am not going to give her permission to speak." And Allah (SWT) says, "Let Me show you." Allah (SWT) wants to always show pious people the character of the people around them. So this is a testing for her.
Testing is eternally in our lives so that when we move towards sincerity Allah (SWT) wants to test everybody around sincere people, so that your eyes can open up to the Haqq of dunya. So then she was always in her niche praying all the time, surrounded by men, pious and religious men, thinking all along that they are respecting her, seeing her miracles and benefitting from those miracles and then Allah (SWT) says, "I know what you don't know and what is hidden within their hearts and bring it out in an instant." It means the mastery of the Divine Presence is to bring out the characteristics that we don't know that exist. So then tariqa is a tremendous testing university because it is under the same authority the same nazar. The shaykhs who are authorized, they begin to send a light into everyone's heart and bring out characteristics, so that with tafakkur and contemplation we can begin to realize these characteristics.
So then Sayyida Maryem (as) is inspiring and teaching us that, "On this day other than maximizing your credit card, sit and meditate with me and think about my life. I was given a tremendous test by the Divine Presence then told 'now go out and don't speak.' And then as soon as I went out and instead of the people remembering my miracles and remembering that the food was coming and remembering my piety, and there was no question of my piety, they threw attack after attack," and this is the human nature of people. And Mawlana Shaykh says, "That is the root of the sickness," because they are the masters of good character and adab and say, "
That incident, if you go deep into your meditation, is the root of bad character," because lying dormant within the heart is the hasad, so much so, that Allah (SWT) makes you repeat it and in Surat al-Falak: "Min hasidin idha hasad." Allah (SWT) says, "Seek refuge from that hasad," because it lies dormant and it is so dangerous and it veils us from everything and it makes us begin to make moves that you would never imagine you would make. And people can have hasad of other people, and they can have hasad of places or hasad of things and they may know it or it may be so deep down inside the ego that they just don't know why they don't like to go there. But the ego knows because the ego has hasad. It has hasad with people and things and with everything around it and that ego with that sickness is waiting for one mistake because all those people were watching and witnessing her miracles. And with continuously witnessing, if they had yaqeen, certainty, as soon as they would have seen that event, like the companions of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) they would have said, "Sameena wa atana, we have heard and we obey it Ya Sayyidi, Ya Rasulullah they say you went to al-Aqsa we hear it and we obey, we do not want confusion, we are not looking for bringing you down, we are looking to accompany you whether you are in Heaven or in Hells we are with you all the way." Always saying "Sameena wa atana."
But with hasad and the sickness in our heart, we say, "No, no." And that sickness of the heart sits and waits for a problem and as soon as the problem comes (from others) they say, "Ah! I knew you all along,..We knew you were bad...I knew it!" And that is the root of our downfall into dunya. Because the master of this dunya is Shaytan and he fell from grace from hasad. He thought he was the imam and he thought he was going to be enriched by the Divine Presence and he thought he was going to be the leader of all the angels. And when he realized that Allah (SWT) had appointed a Khalifa and that Khalifa was not him, he said, "I will not bow down, and not only that, Ya Rabbi give me time to attack him." It is not that you can get out of the way; hasad doesn't allow us to get out of the way. In some degrees of hasad , you go your own way, but the danger of hasad (can be extreme) like when they went after Sayyida Maryem (as), Allah (SWT) had to dispatch three Awliyaullah for her.
Who are these Awliyaullah who are shown on the front of every church and they come as three men with turbans? They are dressed as Naqshbandi (smiles). The Nativity scene is on every church, Allah (SWT) despatched Awliyaullah to send her away (to safety) and gave her what she needed because she was in tremendous danger. When they showed that miracle (baby Jesus) instead of people believing stronger and stronger when they saw the miracle, they wanted to kill her!
It means that hasad blinds you from the grace of the Divine. Instead of saying, "O my God there is so much emanation and so much light and so many blessings, everything must be blessed, and everything must be dressed with that blessing because this is miraculous. They said, "No, it's not! And that this lady did something very bad and they began to go after her to kill her." Astagfirullah. And then they wanted to kill the child, and when they could not do that, they went after Sayyidina Zachariah (as).
And Sayyidina Zachariah (as) said that he saw the miracle before, and that he would not deny it now. So they came to Sayyidina Zachariah and asked, "Did you touch her, we put her in your custody?" He said, "Wallahi I had nothing to do with that, Allah (SWT) has done this; this is between Allah and her, how this happened." He could have easily said, "I don't know, I did not see anything." But he would have been accountable as a prophet that, "You knew and you got your gift from her niche that dua was accepted from you and that miracle and dressing came to you. You saw all her provision within her niche." It means Allah (SWT) is saying "If you see that blessing and you see it with yaqeen, you cannot doubt it again, and you (cannot) come into belief and leave belief. So the reason for the first miracle was that Allah (SWT) was going to test him with a second one, that he had seen that and he said, "I know her character is in full submission to Allah (SWT) and this is something from Allah (SWT)," and he ran into a tree and his people cut the tree in half, to kill him.
So then the lesson in these holy days and in this holy month that keeps opening up is that this root of hasad is going to blind us from everything. Anytime we have a dislike, especially towards pious people, dislike of them or their place or their associations, you have to come back to yourself and look at the hasad, meditate and contemplate that there should be nothing from that association aggravating you other than issues rooted in hasad. If you can identify that hasad and work on that characteristic, then you can bring down that sickness, because it is a testing facility. Or then why would Allah (SWT) put that gift there, or the light there, or the blessings in that association and you find it hard to be there, or accompany them, and this is (true) for any center around the world, it doesn't have anything to do with this location. Everything about this (association), Sultan al-Awliya is holding that secret. He is the custodian of these realities and he wants to take everyone to those realities. Everything of ours is going to be tested and this light is emanating from within their hearts and it begins to hit us and all these thoughts come out and they teach us, "Contemplate." And when you contemplate you start to go into your characteristics and ask "Why is it that I don't like this person or this place or this thing?" But don't look for an outside cause, because you are blaming all of humanity, but look within to see why you don't like it.
It means find the sickness within the self and not the sickness in other people. Allah (SWT) doesn't want you to judge His Creation. Muraqaba is the stage of meditation and "Who knows himself knows his Lord," and as he begins to know his Lord, his Lord is going to expose his character. So then Muhasaba is the accounting of the character. Allah (SWT) is saying, "Now I am going to expose your defects, work on them, and don't find the fault in somebody else." Don't say, "I don't like that lady because she talks too much," no, there is something wrong with you; you don't like any lady because you are a jealous person and you can't stand the sight of them. "I don't like to eat this, or I don't want to do that or I don't like this or that..." It has nothing to do with anyone else, this is tariqa and Allah (SWT) is saying that, "The Shaytan and the sickness is within you, don't worry about anyone else."
So then the Muhasaba is (not only) to write all these things and why you don't like them, but find the sickness within yourself and check why you don't like them. "I don't like this guy," maybe because he has so many things. "I don't like this," is it because I am jealous or, "I don't like that," is it because I am envious? Look at the self in everything and the sickness can be identified. If we identify that sickness then that Baraka begins to open and when that Baraka opens and if we had eyes to see with reality, and our hearts were opened with reality, we would realize the tajalli and the emanation that they are sending. Again from the understanding and the inheritance of Sayyidina Isa (as), he (as) was raised in this reality and he prayed for a Table from Heaven, "Ya Rabbi send me a table from Heaven," and Allah (SWT) said, "If We send you a Table from Heaven, We guarantee no one is going to eat from that Table." Because Allah (SWT) knows His Creation and when that Creation sees a miracle, they don't come running towards the light, they don't run towards the blessings and they actually begin to curse it. And they said, "What happened to you? Why did you bring the Table from Heaven? Why does it have to be he who brought the table why not me, why is he always at the Table?" So they ran from the Table and the only ones who ate from that Table were the poor because they were hungry anyways. They would eat from any table.
From that reality Mawlana Shaykh is teaching that all of Naqshbandia secrets are in the food. It's not coming only to your hearts and its not coming where you think it is; "I am absorbing all the secrets of the zikr." They are teaching that with all this hasad and bad characteristic, we are pushing most of the blessings away because we are thinking throughout the zikr of all these thoughts. The ego is locking the heart and blocking the tajalli and they know that nobody is going to receive it, or if they were feeling the zikr and the emanations and what energy and lights that zikr is bringing from the Divinely Presence, they would pass out.
So then the secret of tariqa is that they put that ne'mat and blessing in the food. Because they know and they think of us as children and if this medicine has to reach you, they have to put it inside a candy, and they put that candy in your mouth, and the ego loves to eat, and the ego will take it. So then they begin to teach us that when the ocean of humility opens, and the heart opens, it begins to realize this secret is dressed on everything and out of their tremendous Rahmah they have been given many ways to receive this blessing. If you have belief and you drink zam zam water, Alhamdulillah for you. If you are going to somebody who doesn't have a belief and is not interested in your zam zam water and is not interested in the way that you are going to approach, so they put the secret in a candy for you, they put it a grain of rice for you, or they put it in water for you and say, "Give that to them." If we had belief, we would have seen and understood that, they are creating a fountain of blessings and healing that we can use for all our loved ones because you can't only care for yourself, but you have to care for all those whom you are responsible for.
As these difficulties begin to open it is not about saving yourself. It means if Allah (SWT) does not take you but begins one by one, with all the weaker ones, and the grandchildren and the children that you don't see, if they start to become sick and they fall into an ocean of difficulty, what did you do to reach out to them? Most people will say, "Nothing." But in their infinite mercies and their infinite realities, they are providing in many ways to reach out. Take water and ask for a dua and send the water to them, or take a candy and don't care that you don't eat candy, but get the candy and get the dua and send it to them, to your grandchildren; they are in need of it. Don't ignore everyone and think it's only about you in life. You are going to be very sad with these difficulties. Death is not coming quick.
They say, "Don't worry. O Shaykh I don't care about dying." It's not the death that you have to worry about but it's the time in which this dying is going to take place. That movie on the stoning is horrible. They are asking the lady who is about to be stoned (as punishment) all these people who are falsely religious are saying, "What are you worried about; you will die and go to Allah." She said, "It's not the dying that I am worried about, it's not death, but the process of dying is very difficult." It means that in the days of difficulty, there will be one difficulty after another. We pray that our faith begins to open more and more, and that light begins to open more and more and that ne'mat begins to dress us and we send it everywhere for the people whom we love; to dress them from that blessing, and dress them from that light and from that Baraka so they would be safe here and hereafter. Subhaana Rabbika Rabbil Izzati Amma yasifoon wa illa sharafin Nabi (s) wa sairi sadatina wa siddiqina al-Fatiha.
In old days when people had faith (in this blessing) they came to the zikr with salt and water and olive oil, all the things that they were cooking with at home, they were coming with it from the market and putting that in the zikr. They would take that blessing and go home and cook for their families and then they would invite all their family members to eat from that, because they knew that those family members may not necessarily be coming to the zikr. That is why you still have a tradition of making halva. They don't make kubideh, but they make halva, and it's like candy and everybody eats it. They would take the flour and the sugar and have it blessed at the zikr and they would make it into candy and distribute it to everybody. And they would ask them to eat to be dressed from that ne'mat, and many of these cultures made sweets for the associations; they would bring ingredients for these sweets and they went back home and prepared them and gave to all the relatives so that their relatives would be dressed by these associations, and they are going to put their secrets. And different shaykhs are inheriting different realities based on the locations of where they are (in the world); they are going to throw that secret into that ta'am, into the food, so that we can take from that reality and blessing for what we need for what is coming inshaAllah.
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