Paradise Realities

Shaykh Nurjan Mirahmadi
From the Teachings of Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
Sufi Meditation Center, Vancouver, BC

Yourtube Video (www.youtube.com/nurmir)

Aoodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani rajeem, Bismillahi Rahmaani Raheem.
We are talking from the teachings of Mawlana Shaykh Hisham and our beliefs. And we are asking, "Rabbana atina fi d-dunya wa'l akhirati hassantan wa qina azaaban naar, O Allah give goodness in this world and good in the hereafter, give us our Paradise Reality." And most religious practises mention that no matter which spiritual path we believe in.

 But tariqah Naqshbandiyya comes to perfect our understanding that we can make this world a means to achieve a tremendous reality instead of settling for something mediocre. And they ask that for this dunya if you study hard and you graduate, you will have a good career. Most people do study hard to become doctors and lawyers and have other successful careers and their dunya can be very big. But Allah (SWT) wants more of that for the reality of our souls, and there are many different ahadith to support this. And one hadith that the Prophet (s) has mentioned that we are accountable for our time and the reason he was drawing attention to this was to show that we can use our time wisely to taste from our Paradise Reality, from whatever dress that was bestowed on our souls. Instead of only having a decent life in the material world, let us make this world a means to realize this tremendous Paradise Reality. Then Mawlana Shaykh comes into our lives and begins to inspire us that everything we are doing, we can do it for the sake of our Paradise Reality so that if our Paradise Reality is the love of the Divine Presence then they begin to shine that love that if you love that Presence then love the Prophetic Reality and when you do that they begin to teach then serve the Prophetic Reality.

That is why John F. Kennedy says, "Don't ask what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country." And it is the same for the prophets. Don't keep asking what God and the prophets can do for you, "Give me this, O my Lord, give me that." They come and show us that is from bad adab, and everyday wake up and say, "O my Lord, what can I do for You?"
He already gave us so many different nimat/blessings, He gave us life and so many difficulties have been kept away. And so you wake up every morning thinking about this because you can't go straight to the Divine and say "What can I do for you Allah?" So then they teach you the manners of approaching the Divine that if you love the Prophetic Reality then ask yourself everyday, "My Lord how can I serve the Prophetic Reality today?" "How can I serve it tomorrow and with what?" Verily with my life, my wealth, my family, my possession, my debt is all for the Divine. So then the Divine is saying put all that on the table and put it for the service of Sayyidina Muhammad or for the service of Sayyidina Isa or for the service of Sayyidina Musa (as), with whatever you have serve it for their sake. And then they teach everyday wake up and say that if we are the Muhamadiyoon then how can we raise the flag of Sayyidina Muhammad's name today? Not only once a year that we meet for Eid and we do something nice, but ask everyday how can I be of service today, tomorrow or next week? How can I increase the love of Sayyidina Muhammad?

When we go out and have a program which is free on Friday nights, we are asking, "Yaa Rabbi send people to witness what the lovers of Sayyidina Muhammad do." We don't get together and yell crazy things, but we are celebrating the love of the Most Beloved in Paradise and Allah (SWT) is guiding us to show them (that honour) with the flavour of love. And you see everybody coming and experiencing this and saying, "This is so beautiful, it's so fragrant, and everything is so nice and so elegant. Everything is so clean; you are calling your people to be clean ones. Why when we go to some places it is so filthy and dirty? And you are the people of wudu." Everything we are doing is to show the greatness of the Divine and the greatness of Prophet (s). Let Prophet (s) be happy with us, "O you who taught us to wash ourselves and be clean, look our floors and chairs are clean," and we check for dust everywhere. Wudu was not for showing off, but to show that we are the clean ones that wash not only the outside but the inside also. And when we wash the inside everything begins to shine. Anything could be pleasing, and everything we do is with the intention to show that love, respect and honour to be of service to Prophet (s). And our whole life is based on that. We have free majaalis and associations.

And then Mawlana Shaykh teaches that if we are inviting people to make sure that no one goes away hungry. They came for the love of the prophets and there are many other organizations like that which have the same goal, to raise the name and the honour of the prophets, and the prophets don't need it from us, but we need it. They don't need that honour to raise them in Divine Presence but we are trying to give flavour to our existence. We came into (this life) this huge ocean of difficulty, the fires of difficulty are everywhere and Mawlana Shaykh is describing that we are like ants trying to put out that fire. All we want is that it be written for us that we died while trying (to be of service), we did one little good deed or action and if our Lord finds happiness in that, alhamdulillah.

And that becomes the flavour and the fruit of our lives. We live a life asking everyday, "What can I do?" If I can't do it all by myself then find the people who are doing it and support them because they are doing it with a rock on their head that is crushing them. That is why we have the concept of coming together and sitting together. It is not just one person that can do that and raise that flag. So then once we have that concept and understanding that I am going to raise the name, the awareness and love of the Prophetic Reality and the Divine Reality, that is my goal and that is what I am going to do everyday asking myself how will I do that? Then accompany those who are already doing that; support them, be with them, accompany them, and we begin to see the fruit of our life is based on that reality; everything we do is praising the Divine and praising the Prophetic Reality and raising that honour with love and respect so that any stranger that comes, he is treated as a guest of God. If they come, they all say the same thing, "It smelled nice there. There was perfume, the people were so loving, generous and welcoming," because they were trained in tarbiyyah, that anyone who comes through that door is a guest of Allah. And Allah (SWT) is sending that guest to that house to say go and see the lovers of Prophet (s), accompany them and you will see the reality of those lovers' lives. They go away with the fragrance, and say there was so much food, water, drinks and everything you can imagine, it was like a table sent from Paradise, because it is (celebration of) the same prophets.

Holy Quran 5:114 

Qala AAeesa ibnu maryama allahummarabbana anzil AAalayna ma-idatan mina assama-itakoonu lana AAeedan li-awwalina waakhirinawaayatan minka warzuqna waanta khayru arraziqeen 

Yusuf Ali: Said Jesus the son of Mary: "O Allah our Lord! Send us from heaven a table set (with viands), that there may be for us - for the first and the last of us - a solemn festival and a sign from thee; and provide for our sustenance, for thou art the best Sustainer (of our needs)."

Sayyidina Isa was asking, "O our Lord, send us a table from Heaven to feed the first of us and the last so that no body goes away unsatisfied," and not only the Physical Table but the Spiritual Table. There is no doubt that they will be given a physical table with food and drinks and everything to make their egos and their bodies to be happy. And within that food are all these realities, there are Lights and unimaginable blessings that makes their souls to be purified.
Many different difficulties are taken away from them.
Wa qul ja al-Haqqa wa zaahakal batil, in al-batila kaana zahooka, "Verily as the Truth approaches falsehood perishes," because we come to the Truth with all the falsehood of bad character and in that Presence the two of them cannot co-exist within the same dimension. So as soon as they come into these Lights and associations that Light of Divine Love and Divine Grace begins to dress them and pushes away or as Allah (SWT) mentioned, it "knocks off" falsehood.

 It means it takes away their burdens and brings them tremendous happiness and guidance and understanding. What can be a better life than that? Why do we have to wait for Paradise for all these gifts? We just said that Allah (SWT) can make that life like Paradise for us right now, and because He wants us to be like a little Paradise, to be like an oasis of Paradise, whatever you eat is then from Paradise Realities.

Because Allah (SWT)'s rida/satisfaction as mentioned in the Holy Qur'an, Salaamun qawlam mir Rabbi 'r-Raheem, (36:58) He Grants you Salaam/Peace. It means Allah (SWT) is happy with what that servant(s) are doing and He is going to change the entire sustenance of that soul. If Allah (SWT) opens the soul's reality and if He likes what we are doing then He grants His rida to what we are doing, it means your soul's dress will be dressing you in this material world.
So then what we eat can't be from our physical reality anymore because it will just clash.

Wa qul ja al- Haqqa wa zaahakal batil, in al-batila kaana zahooka (17:81),

every falsehood that is contained in the food and drink cannot sustain a Paradise Reality; between the two angels these are two different realities.

So then Angel Gabriel  (as) has to come and begin to dress with  a Light of Guidance, it's a yellow light and it begins to dress the heart and bless the heart with Allah (SWT)'s Divinely Guidance. Then Angel Mikhail has to come with a reddish light and it takes away falsehood and brings the Light of Haqq into the soul. As the Light of Haqq enters the soul then the sustenance has to change. It means Allah (SWT) immediately begins to flip your sustenance and instructs angels to send sustenance from Paradise. So as that soul is breathing, through Nafas al-Rahma, just like our soul, we can't see it but it will be like a vent coming in and will let them breathe from their Paradise breath and their Paradise energies begin to sustain them.

Pious Soul : Everything that they eat is from their Paradise Reality and their drink is from that reality and everything they do is from their Paradise Reality. Even as they pray and as soon as they say Allahu Akbar, depending upon the level of what has opened into their heart, they are now praying at their Paradise Reality. The most basic Paradise Reality is that when they are praying they should be seeing their Shaykh, their Guides and these are mentioned in the prayer; Asalaamu `alayka ayyuhan Nabi wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh, asalaamu `alayna wa `ala `ibadillahi 'saliheen.

You can't see the Nabi, but you must be able to see the `ibadilaahi 'saliheen (if you are being dressed from your Paradise Reality). Who are these saliheen? These are awliyaullah. It means when you pray with them it's not like our regular prayer or behind an imam at a mosque. It's because their Paradise Reality is dressing them, because it's their sustenance and it is dressing them during the prayers. That is why Prophet (s) said there are three things which are dear to him, women, attar/perfume and the prayer which is coolness for his eyes in Divinely Presence. It means when that Paradise Reality begins to open within the soul, the first level is that they must be witnessing the saliheen. If the soul is progressing in its opening they must then be witnessing Sayyidina Muhammad (s) because they have to at least complete the first pillar of Islam: Ashadu an laa ilaha il-Allah wa ashadu anna Muhammad` abduhu wa habeebuhu. Shahada is to be witness, and means you must have seen Prophet (s) otherwise we are not bearing witness, we are in an imitational salah; everybody is in imitational salat and it can only be real when you see and witness what you are saying. Allah (SWT) will ask, "Did you really see Prophet (s)?" And if you didn't then you are lying, it's an imitation; that salah is an imitation. But when the saliheen are praying they are witnessing Prophet (s). And if Allah (SWT) wants them to witness more within the heart of Prophet (s), they witness Divinely Oceans and whatever Allah (SWT) would like them to witness within the heart of Prophet (s).

That is why it is mentioned laa wahdatul wujood "(There is no) Oneness with Allah (SWT)," and Naqshbandiyya teaching is that there is wahdatul shuhud, "(There is) Oneness of witnessing."
When you enter into the heart of Prophet's Reality at that time Prophet (s) says, "Look at what Allah (SWT) wants you to look at," and there are Oceans of Light and you are surrounded by that Light. If a person prays like that means everybody in the room is dressed from that reality; everybody eating with them is dressed from that reality, everybody drinking is dressed with it. So then Allah (SWT) is asking to take all the secrets of the Holy Qur'an by mentioning wa koonu ma as-sadiqeen,..
Allah (SWT) says have consciousness and keep the company of the saliheen. Why? Because of all those realities; everything about you will change and it won't change by your effort, it's impossible. But you have to accompany those whose hearts are open; the Ahlu 'l-Basira the people of insight. And if we accompany people whose hearts are not open then how will our hearts open by accompanying them? It means that all their practises were not accepted by the Divine Presence and so their hearts never opened. So by accompanying them we will increase in disobedience and we will move further away from our reality. Because the one whose heart is not open will be distancing himself from Divine Presence like an iron block that builds and builds (a barrier) and keeps the distance from the Divine. So why do we have all these pictures and books of the Shaykhs ?

It's because we have to keep the company of the saliheen, those whose only interest is the opening of their qalb/heart. And with their qalb they witness what Allah wants and they are building us and training us through these Lights. How can someone train us when these Lights and emanations are not coming? It means you have to first sit with them, as Mawlana Shah Naqshband was saying, At-tariqatuna suhbah Khair fil jamiyyah, to sit in their company and they will dress you from their sustenance because your sustenance will never change you even if you sit by yourself for forty years; Allah (SWT) does not give the key (that easily). If we could get the key by ourselves then what is the purpose of the Ahlul Sunnah wal Jamah? We might as well be sitting at home. But what Allah (SWT) wants is what the Prophet (s) had in his life and they were the Sahabah keeping companionship with the Prophet (s).

And so keep companionship with those who are the chosen ones and everything you eat with them will change you completely; it will move your heart. And everything you drink will begin to change the whole blood system because 70% of our body is made of water and as soon as you drink with them, it changes the angelic reality within that liquid in our bodies. The food, ta`am, is accompanied by 300 malaaika/angels as Mawlana Shaykh described. So which darajaat/ranks are these angels from that accompany that food? Coming from Qutb al-Mutasarrif these are malaaikat al-Suaada, happy angels which are in service to that wali, to that Qutb.

So imagine if you eat from that Qutb what kind of sustenance are you getting? Whatever energy he needs to do the work that Allah (SWT) wants him to do, that fuel is dressing the association and dressing everybody in their presence. So if you go eat in the tajalli of Sultan al-Awliya what kind of unimaginable reality is that? It means whatever fuel that soul needs to do the work that Allah has assigned, everybody is going to be dressed by that sustenance. And the saliheen, those pious people who are always trying to improve themselves, everything they eat and drink will begin to change our reality (in companionship). That is what fi dunya wal akhiraati is all about. The Paradise Reality is for everyone who accompanies them, it begins to change everything and as their Paradise dress begins to dress them, many miraculous things happen and it takes away tremendous difficulties and brings tremendous blessings to their children and their environment and everything around them. Subhaanaka Rabbil izzati amma yasifoon wa Salaamun 'alal mursaleen wal Hamdulillahi Rabbil 'Aalameen.