How to Bring Fire of Anger Down " Qul Ya Naru.." from Sufi Meditation Center on Vimeo.
Qul na Ya Naru Kunee Bardan wa Salaman ala Ibrahim..
From the Teachings of Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
Shaykh Nurjan Mirahmadi
Sufi Meditation Center, Vancouver, BC
Audhubillahi min ash- Shaytanir rajeem, Bismillahi Rahmaani Raheem. Mawlana Shaykh is teaching us Ati ullaha wa ati ur rasul wa ulil amri minkum, and it is reminding myself that, be in obedience to Allah (SWT), and then Allah (SWT) is giving us a way, like a rope, and bi hub'li-Llah that rope is that, "My obedience is going to be in the hands of the Rasuls," and so the obedience to the Rasulullah, Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and this rope extends down to the ulul amri min kum or "the people of authority" and that we should "Hold tight to that rope and do not separate; to be one group and come to the jamaa." And that jamaa with those ulul amr will lift us to the presence of the Prophet (s) through muhabat and love. Our love and ishq to Sayyidina Muhammad brings the light and nazar (gaze) of the Prophet (s). When that light of the Prophet (s) comes and emanates, then we must know that Allah's light is present.
That is why Allah (SWT) says, Inn'alladhuna yuba`unaka innama yuba`un-Allah, "Lo!
Those who swear allegiance unto thee (Muhammad), swear allegiance only unto Allah." (48:10)
The Prophet (s) was confirming to the Companions that Allah (SWT) is saying "Take his (s) hand, and no doubt that My Hand is over his hand, he is My Habeeb." He is the beloved of the Divine Presence and the beloved of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) is Allah (SWT); means that it is a two-way love; Allah (SWT) is giving us an attribute of love that "My love is upon Sayyidina Muhammad (s)." There is friendship and many other characteristics that Allah (SWT) can dress on Creation, but for Allah (SWT) to say that, "My love is to My Habeeb," and then from Sayyidina Muhammad (s) to all of Creation who are in turn saying that "We are in love with Allah," means there is a tremendous reality that is being opened in this relationship. And Allah (SWT) is teaching us that, "The love of the Prophet (s) is going to be the Perfection of Faith," without the love of Sayyidina Muhammad, there is a deficiency in belief, a deficiency of faith.
And Awliyaullah come into our lives and begin to teach us that "For that love to develop, it is like a fire." The first fire that will be cast into our being is the fire of Shaytan and that we came mazloom, pure and purified into this world with that ishq just pumping. And you see children, they hold their thumb into their hands as infants and they don't let it go, and within nine months they grow at a speed that we never accomplish again in our lives; how proportionately they grow and how fast they grow. It means that out of that ishq and love, they are growing, and that heart is pure with love and as we grow and we mature, then there is the fire of Shaytan which is a test within the heart. And as that fire of Shaytan is hitting the heart, that heart is no longer a heart filled with love but becomes the fire of anger or ghadab.
So then they are teaching us like in a series (of talks). That, Love = Faith and then that fire of love, is a pure ishq of the Divine Presence and that is why in all the old miniatures they show like a shams, the sun, around people because they are a "being with a fire of Divine love" but their fire burns nobody; it burns away dunya, it burns away bad character, it burns away everything that comes into its presence and it instils the light and the hope of love, and builds it within the heart.
But then Awliyaullah come and teach us that ghadab and the fire is constantly being thrown in our lives, it is being thrown within the heart, and they begin to teach us from the Father of Faith, Sayyidina Ibrahim (as). When you do salatul Ibrahimiyya, because Sayyidina Ibrahim (as) is in-charge of Nafs ul Mutmaina, he guards the Paradise that has to do with "the Perfected Soul." He is the father of iman taking us on his rituals, what we call our Hajj. He is the father of these rituals to teach us how to perfect ourselves and perfect our faith so that the purity and the reality of the soul can be brought out.
So then we always say Allahuma salle' ala Sayyidina Muhammadin wa 'ala ali Sayyidina Muhammadin kama salayta 'ala Ibrahima wa 'ala ali Sayyidina Ibrahim and salatul Ibrahimiyya must begin to come to our souls and to teach us that, "If you are going to take the path of love and the path that begins to move us closer to the Divine Presence, then you have to take the ghadab and anger out of your heart." So then we say "Qul ya naru kooni bardan wa salaamun' ala Ibrahim (as)," from the Holy Qur'an Sayyidina Ibrahim (as) comes and teaches us that "From that ayat kareemah and the power of the Holy Qur'an, you must make this your way of life."
So then Awliyaullah begin to teach us that "If you are going to fight that fire - and first they teach us that your love has to be with iman and iman is love - but when the heart is just filled with anger and not love, then they have to come and train us that, "The only way to take that fire down is by (saying) Qul ya naru kooni bardan wa Salaamun 'ala Ibrahim." It means they want for us to understand the reality of that ayah and that as you are washing with water and as you are performing all the practices constantly remember to say "Qul ya naru kooni bardan wa Salaamun 'ala Ibrahim, make this fire within me that always seems to be raging, to be brought down," and the best way to make that fire come down is to wash, which is what the Prophet (s) came and taught us, "That the best way to put that fire out is to wash and with washing recite this, and as you are thinking that the fire is coming, recite this holy ayah to bring the fire of this character down." And that is why fire can be extinguished by either water or tayammum with dirt.
The Prophet (s) gave us two ways to extinguish fire so you will never be lost, as some people say, "I have no water so now I have the excuse to burn," but the Prophet (s) said, "No, the Ardh or Earth, the clean soil will also extinguish that fire." Put it upon yourself with the training, bring this fire down and Sayyidina Ibrahim (as) begins to come and teach us that Nimrod was building a fire to burn him and cast a huge fire to throw him in and this is the fire of faith, this is the opposite of Divine ishq, and that everything in this dunya is trying to burn me and is trying to engage me into the fire, "Come burn with us as we are burning."
And Awliyaullah begin to teach us that everything around us is a Nimrod; everything is casting a fire onto us because of bad characteristics. They cast that fire and say, "Let's see, we are very fiery in nature, like gasoline which immediately explodes," even the color changes and the yelling and all sorts of profanity begins to come out and you are like someone of a fiery nature; this is not from Divinely Nature. Divinely Nature is like water, maee; Allah (SWT) says, "I put My Throne upon water." It means the secret and reality of maee is that it is an angelic force of life. Awliyaullah come and teach us that, "You have to be like water that you can put out fire, and fire doesn't burn water." But most of our life we are like gasoline, you see people come up with things like gasoline, it doesn't take much and you see things come out that you never imagined and you say, "Where was all that, this character that is coming out?"
So then they are teaching that in our practices and our understanding, we have to know there are many things they are going to throw at us, and now see where this ghadab is; are you fire and gasoline or are you like water in your nature. So this is a tareeq of adab and tarbiya and this is a tareeq of training and that as soon as we sit in an association that we wanted to or we didn't want to, it means we were inspired to come to the associations of tarbiya, then, it means we have to know that Allah (SWT) is going to be testing us and Allah (SWT) wants the fire of ishq to burn in hearts of the Ahlul-zikr, people of zikrullah, they must be from the heart of love of the Divine Presence. So then every bad character is going to be tested. And they begin to teach us that, "This is like a doctor's office and the only problem in that office is that as you sit there in the waiting room all day long, you don't benefit in anything." You sat in the sitting room and even as we sit in these associations and if we don't perfect ourselves and we don't take the medicines that they are teaching us, it doesn't mean it was wasted, because it was being dressed upon the soul. Many people come and say, "I have been sitting here many years and nothing has changed?" Because they didn't take the medicine they were given, they sat in the waiting room.
But the difference between a physical doctor and a spiritual doctor is that every association is a dress upon the soul and your soul will realize what it achieved in the grave. And many people are tired of the physical body not changing and the character not changing and the heart not opening. So if you sit in the associations, but partake in the medicine that they are prescribing, it now opens up something more sensitive. So sitting in the doctor's waiting room is nice, but unless you go into the doctor's office and take the prescription, and know that the prescription given is only for you, it is not for your spouse; your spouse and your loved ones are under different medicines especially if you are in the tareeq. And if you are in tariqa and your loved one is in the tariqa you don't go home and start sharing the medicine, it's just like if you got some antibiotics and you go home and start putting it in everybody's mouth and say, "This is the newest pill I just got, take it," it will make you and three other people sick, so its just what you needed and not what others needed.
So then there is the understanding that, "Ya Rabbi I am trying to take this medicine," and they say, "Okay make the zikr: Qul yaa naro kooni bardan wa Salaamun 'ala Ibrahim, and realize that the Nimrod will still be running after you as it did for Sayyidina Ibrahim (as)." And if the prophets were not safe, then we must realize we are nowhere near safety. And so the prophets came and inspired within the heart that we must recite these verses and battle the fire. And every time a character defect of yours is triggered, you are going to become angry and now these Nimrods were successful. If you became engulfed with anger and you became a "volcano," then you are very far from the Divine Reality and what the Divine wants from us. And if we become consistent in putting down this sickness and taking our medicine and keeping our anger down, then when things are thrown at you, you become like water and you are able to put the fire out and you are able to put other people's fire out. And then Allah (SWT) says, "My throne is upon that water," it means if you control your being, then Arsh ar-Rahmaan the Divine Presence begins to enter the heart and the Prophet (s) describes, "Allah is not in the Heavens nor on Earth but He is on the heart of the believers, Qalbun mum'in baytullah." Allah (SWT) is saying, "I can come into that heart, that light can shine in the heart," but not if it is filled with the fire of Shaytan because iman and disbelief they don't come together, just as love and anger don't come together, they are polar opposites.
Then they begin to teach us, "By coming to the associations, it is different from reading and watching the tariqah." By watching tariqah from a distance and reading about it from a distance, it is very different, but to come to the association and take the medicine from the beginning, is something very different. So they begin to teach us that, "Every time you do something related to the association, see how you react," and it is important to know that your medicine is very different from your spouses' medicine and make sure your spouse is not the one interfering with your prescription.
Many times in our personal life, if the Shaykh is ordering me to do something and if I go back home and my spouse says "No" it has nothing to do with her, this is my medicine and this is for me, and this is my soul and my destination that I have to achieve; by listening to her she became my Shaykh, and she is not my Shaykh.
My Shaykh is the Shaykh; means the guide is the guide, and I am also not her Shaykh. She knows that from coming and what the Shaykh wants from her, she has to obey. It means then our spouses and our understanding are going to interfere with our co-ordinance. It is very important for us to contemplate and meditate that everybody is trying to fight their ego, but their ego's are fighting them and interfering with their loved ones. The ego is not happy that you are achieving something and they are not, so then it begins to influence and it begins to say, "There is no need, we don't have to do that, let's not do that or what the Shaykh wants from us, lets not participate in what they are participating in," because every ego is going to be affected differently. So for example the Shaykh says to be generous, and one is very generous and boom! The other one says, "No, don't be generous," and they said "Yes," here and when they are in the car and they head home, they say, "Don't," but then to be generous is a medicine for that soul.
The Prophet (s) warns and Allah (SWT) warns that, "Your generosity is the medicine for bad characteristics," and the spouse who does not want to be generous is immediately invoking anger. And then they are also showing that the reason you don't want to be generous because there is a fire in the character, and every time a defect comes out, that is the fire they are talking about, and if you give-in to that fire, then you have allowed this rage to burn, enmity and jealousy and the opposite of generosity, all of these character defects, why are they defects, why are they coming? Because they invoke within us a fire, and we become upset and it becomes a Nimrod. The angelic reality and the angelic being is that they care about nothing, what ever comes to them, it comes, and what ever leaves from them, it leaves from them and nothing moves their heart; they have no concern, everything is flowing and going. But every time something makes us upset, then don't listen to the other partner, if they are saying something, do not listen to their co-ordinance because that partner is becoming your shaykh because that partner's ego is very strong and it says, "No, you are not going to do that." It is a very sensitive issue because they are teaching us, "Don't fall into this trap."
They have a prescription for everyone and they start dishing it out in large quantities saying, "Put this in your mouth and start taking it." And they are going to see how you react to what was given to you. So if you are clever, you begin to take notes and you say, "When they said this to me, I got very upset, when they said to do this, I got very upset, when they said to participate in this, I got very upset," and every time you got upset you take a note and say, "That is the defect that is being brought out." And then if you didn't get upset and the spouse comes and gets upset, you can point to it and say, "You have generosity issues, why is it making you upset? Are you lacking in faith? Do you think that what you give, will not come back ten to a hundred times more? Do you want to bring us all down based on your stinginess?" We had big teaching within our lives; we didn't just all come along. We had big teachings even within our home, and we convinced ourselves all the time that, "This is the tareeq, this is what the Prophet (s) wants, this is our life and Prophet (s) is watching us," and it is not going to be a walk through the garden; "O this is the garden ahlan wa sahlan, this is Paradise," and the Shaytan moves aside and will be singing for you, just like the salawaats you are singing; do you hear the Shaytan singing ahlan wa sahlan marhaban? He is saying, "I know you are coming and I am going to tackle you," and he is going to attack you every step of the way so that you don't get to that gate.
And then the ulul amr come and re-convince us that, "Sitting in the waiting room is nice and your soul will benefit on the last breath, but if you want your soul to benefit in this life through this physical body, then take their medicines." And their medicines come to you very subtlety. And the medicines no longer have to come to you (by the doctor saying), "Sit down, I am going to tell you this," because the ego will not even take that, but the medicine is just the environment. Why did Allah (SWT) open this environment for us? Because it pulls all of these defects out, it will pull out all these bizarre characteristics. Shaykh says, "Go and get that rice," he says "I don't eat that rice," who cares what rice you eat, but take the rice. If you knew the blessing on that rice, and maybe that is going to take away many difficulties from you that you don't see! If you say "Take that water," "O Shaykh I don't drink that water, that water is from xxxx, I drink this ..water." It means this is the perfect prescription for the issues that we are having. But the ego is blocking everything and the ego does not want to hear anything from anyone; these are the fires.
So the ishq and love can not come until you are like water, and water means we were broken down by the shaykhs until your ego submits and becomes nothing you say, "Samena wa atana." They crush you and grind you into nothing because water fits in everywhere, you throw water into any form and it goes in. They say there are three states of matter; solid, liquid and gas. We are at a solid state of matter hoping to move towards Divine Presence, but there is no solid matter in Divine Presence! It means the solidness, or the square-headedness and the rigidness has to be burnt and has to be destroyed. Either the qabr (grave) will do it and that is going to be difficult, and if you are taken with square-headedness into the qabr means the azab of qabr is coming because Allah (SWT) says, "Everybody is going to be cleansed there, no body will be spared, no one is going to escape the bath, the washing and the cleansing." So the Awliyaullah come into our lives and say, "Do you want your square-headedness to be fixed now or do we fix you in the grave?" It's going to be done either way, in the grave it is going to be 70,000 times more difficult than being purified in dunya.
And so they come and they begin to teach and teach and then this "matter" begins to boil with anger and they teach you "Control your anger...control your anger," and they teach you to say, "Qul ya naru kooni bardan wa Salaamun 'ala Ibrahim, go do your wudhu and your meditations," and then it begins to melt. If you can control it, then it begins to melt and liquefy and you have less and less anger and you keep submitting, until you are like maee (water), which is meem and alif. The reality of maee and what makes it powerful is that it has the meem of Sayyidina Muhammad (s) and the alif of Allah (SWT). And Allah says, "My throne is upon that reality, My throne is upon laa ilaha il AllahuMuhammadun Rasulullah," means they begin to teach and to open the reality "to be like water". Awliyaullah are like water so much so that what ever Allah (SWT) puts of heat and difficulty in their lives, they become gaseous or ethereal and where ever the wind blows them they are going, and if they say, "Go here," you go here, or "Go there," then you go there and if you are not to go anywhere, you don't go anywhere.
We pray that we leave the square-headedness and the bad character and that we leave the ghadab and anger and move towards the muhabat and ishq of Allah (SWT) and muhabat of Rasulullah (s), ishq of Ahlul Bayt, ishq of the Sahaba and ishq of the Awliyaullah; and the ishq of Allah (SWT) is the all-encompassing love. Subhaana Rabbika Rabbil izzati amma yasifoon, wa salaamun alal mursaleen wal hamdulillahi Rabbil Alameen.
