A year of opportunities

Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani | Thursday, Jan 01, 2009 | Lefke CY

[Transcribed by Khairiyah Siegel]



A message from Mawlana to you!



Audhu billahi min ash-shaytan ir-rajeem

Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem

Nawaytu’l-arbay`een, nawaytu’l-`itikaf, nawaytu’l-khalwah, nawaytu’l-riyada, nawaytu’s-saluk, nawaytu’l-`uzlah lillahi ta`ala fi hadha’l-masjid

Ati` Allahu wa ati`ur-Rasul wa ulu’l-amri minkum.

Meded, ya Sayyidi, ya Sultanu-l Awliya, Sayyidee Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al-Haqqani.



First of all I would like to say that Mawlana has asked and ordered me to say to you that he loves you, he is missing you and you are in his heart. And insha-Allah as soon as the weather changes, he will be as usual always with you, always with anyone coming and visiting and always with anyone that he needs an advice.

Sometimes awliyaullah are difficult to understand and wherever you are, wherever we think that we are, a lot of, many years with them, but still it is very difficult to understand a drop of the meaning of a wali.

the Prophet (s)… and as everyone knows that he used to speak with his Sahaba and give them ahadith, sayings, teaching them, delivering the message of Allah Swt - through the Holy Quran and through the Sunnah of the Prophet (s). And as many of you know that not one single Sahabi, means one single Companion, knew everything. What I means to say with everything means, was present at every moment with the Prophet (s), when he was giving advices or teaching. And that s why we see the compilation of ahadithu Nabi (s) as it is; it was being compiled: This Sahabi said this, this Companion said that... this Companion heard this, that Companion heard that from the Prophet (s)... Some of them they heard ten hadith, some of them heard 20, some of them 100, 1000, but in reality that not all of them heard everything at the same time.

That s why Sahaba, sometimes some of them they say: Oh, we didn’t hear that. They used to have these arguments; I am not going to explain it in detail, but they used to have these arguments between themselves, that (one of them said): I didn’t hear that or the other one said: No, I heard it , and the other one said: No, I didn’t hear it. And different ahadith. It changes from one to one, not all of them heard it. - If you heard something, I didn’t hear it, I might tell you: Oh, I didn’t hear that. You might tell me: No, I didn’t hear that.

So there will be a situation that after the time of the Prophet (s), there were the Sahaba, the Companions, and after the Companions there was the compiling of the ahadith, to bring them together and to compile them. And Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, if you want to give an example, small example: He mentioned 24 or 25 ahadith. That s it; he didn’t mention more than that, although he was the (one) very close to Prophet, when Allah mentioned in Holy Quran about Sayyidina Abu Bakr as-Siddiq Radiallahu anhu, where He said:

إِلاَّ تَنصُرُوهُ فَقَدْ نَصَرَهُ اللّهُ إِذْ أَخْرَجَهُ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ ثَانِيَ اثْنَيْنِ إِذْ هُمَا فِي الْغَارِ إِذْ يَقُولُ لِصَاحِبِهِ لاَ تَحْزَنْ إِنَّ اللّهَ مَعَنَا فَأَنزَلَ اللّهُ سَكِينَتَهُ عَلَيْهِ وَأَيَّدَهُ بِجُنُودٍ لَّمْ تَرَوْهَا وَجَعَلَ كَلِمَةَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ السُّفْلَى وَكَلِمَةُ اللّهِ هِيَ الْعُلْيَا وَاللّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ

Illa tansuroohu faqad nasarahu Allahu idh akhrajahu alladheena kafaroo thaniya ithnayni ith huma fi’l-ghaari idh yaqoolu li-saahibihi la tahzan inna Allaha ma`ana fa-anzala Allahu sakeenatahu `alayhi wa ayyadahu bi-junoodin lam tarawha wa ja`ala kalimata alladheena kafaroo as-sufla wa kalimatullahi hiya al`ulya w’Allahu `azeezun Hakeem.

If ye help not (your leader), (it is no matter): for Allah did indeed help him, when the Unbelievers drove him out: he had no more than one companion; they two were in the cave, and he said to his companion, "Have no fear, for Allah is with us": then Allah sent down His peace upon him, and strengthened him with forces which ye saw not, and humbled to the depths the word of the Unbelievers. But the word of Allah is exalted to the heights: for Allah is Exalted in might, Wise. [Tawbah, 9:40]



The Prophet (s) is saying to Sayyidina Abu Bakr, “Don’t be sad, Allah is with us.” And what he said? 24 or 25 ahadith he related! Where are the other ahadith?

So what I want to say and come to the conclusion is that awliyaullah, it is very difficult to understand them. You might hear something; I might hear something. It depends what time and at that time, at that moment, where he was, in which level of ascension with the Prophet (s) he was and he said that advice.

If you look at the ahadith of the Prophet (s), you see (that) one hadith says something, the other hadith comes in more detail that it was not mentioned in the first time. Why? Because first time the Prophet (s) for example was speaking from this level - lets say level X. Next time, when he was ascending more and more, he was speaking from level Z. So from this level to this level the hadith will increase or might change. It depends on the time and the situation.

And this is where it is very important to understand awliyaullah because they are inheritors of the Prophet (s). How to understand them, when they say something and then, in another time, they say the same thing, but in more detail or they might change it? And then you become thinking “Oh, what he meant?” You say, “What he meant?” The other one heard it differently, he says, “Oh no, it is what he meant this way.” That is why not everyone can understand a wali! We cannot understand from awliyaullah even a drop of their knowledge.

I was coming and he said to me, “Send my love and support. Tell them about I love them and I support them.” So what does that mean? It is an ocean, when he is saying, “I love them and I support them.”

Allah said in Holy Quran to the People of the Cave:

وَإِذِ اعْتَزَلْتُمُوهُمْ وَمَا يَعْبُدُونَ إِلَّا اللَّهَ فَأْوُوا إِلَى الْكَهْفِ يَنشُرْ لَكُمْ رَبُّكُم مِّن رَّحمته ويُهَيِّئْ لَكُم مِّنْ أَمْرِكُم مِّرْفَقًا

Wa idhi i`tazaltumoohum wa ma ya`budoona illa Allaha fa’u ila-l kahfi, yanshur lakum Rabbukum min rahmatihi wa yuhay lakum min amrikum mirfaqa.

When ye turn away from them and the things they worship other than Allah, betake yourselves to the Cave: Your Lord will shower His mercies on you and disposes of your affair towards comfort and ease." Al-Kahf [18:16]

They were debating:, "Where we have to run?" and the advice came, "Run to that cave! Run to that cave!" Allah swt, in that cave Allah sws is going to manifest His Mercy on you. Regardless of what you are doing, Allah will send His Mercy on you and He will adjust and show you his guidance, the way. So when Mawlana said, “Say to them I love them, I support them,” it means, we are in his cave! He is that cave that we run to.

For us that cave is like today you want to look at GoogleMaps for skies or you want to go to Google to see any building on earth - what you do? You check: you give the address and then shows you an area, but it is so huge, so you want to zoom in, in order to see more closer, to where you want, what you want to see. Awliyaullah, when you zoom in, when they speak and you enter their cave, if you are entering with complete belief, you can zoom in, because they will zoom you into the presence of the Prophet (s). As much as they show you that zooming in, as much as you are reaching and approaching the presence of the Prophet (s).

Is not so easy to zoom in - it is very difficult. A wali has to carry the responsibility of his students in order to zoom him into the presence of the Prophet (s). And the Prophet (s) has to carry the responsibility and the difficulty of the Ummah, in order to zoom them in into the Divine Presence.

When he said, “Send my love to them,” it means: If someone loves someone it means he will take care of him or her. If you love your child, you take care of your child. You cannot say: O, I love my child, and when he is sick you say, “I don t care.” No, you keep up all night to take care of your child. We are children in the eyes of awliya. Even we have big long beard, we have a black beard, we have a white beard, we have a red beard... still we are children in the eyes of awliyaullah; they have to carry our problems and our difficulties.

One time Grandshaykh, may Allah bless his soul, said, that the wali is in need for his students. If there are no students, there is no wali. He is saying that to show how much the wali carries responsibility. He said: Why a wali to be a wali, if he doesn’t have students, disciples? The disciples make the wali to... Allah to open on his heart, whatever they need to hear and whatever they need, in order to improve and move on, forward. That is why it is very important that a wali, when he speaks, he is reaching the hearts of his students And we have to be very attentive, because he is carrying us; because he is opening. If we don t open our heart to receive from him, we are in problems. He is not in problems, we will be in problems.

One day Sayyidina Abdul Qadir Jilani, may Allah bless his soul, has a khalifa and that khalifa was an old person and he was not really `alim; he was, how we say? Self-learned. And he was learning from Sayyidina Abdul Qadir Jilani humbleness . Because in tariqah the most important issue is humbleness If we don t have humbleness, we must look for it and try to learn it and try to practice it. Humbleness is necessary. Humbleness means: you don t give an excuse to your ego for pride, you don t let (your) ego to get proud of itself. The Prophet (s) was the most humble. What Allah said about him in Holy Quran? Because Prophet was looking at these Oceans of Knowledge that Allah opened to him in his night of Isra wa-l Miraj:

قُل لَّوْ كَانَ الْبَحْرُ مِدَادًا لِّكَلِمَاتِ رَبِّي لَنَفِدَ الْبَحْرُ قَبْلَ أَن تَنفَدَ كَلِمَاتُ رَبِّي وَلَوْ جِئْنَا بِمِثْلِهِ مَدَدًا

Qul law kaana al-bahru midadan li-kalimaati rabbee la-nafida al-bahru qabla an tanfada kalimaatu rabbee wa law ji’na bi-mithlihi madada

Say: "If the ocean were ink (wherewith to write out) the words of my Lord, sooner would the ocean be exhausted than would the words of my Lord, even if we added another ocean like it, for its aid." [Kahf, 18:109]

When he saw those Oceans of Knowledge he said:

قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَنَا بَشَرٌ مِّثْلُكُمْ يُوحَى إِلَيَّ

Qul: Innama ana basharun mithlukum yuhaa ilaya. Say: "I am but a man like yourselves, (but) the inspiration has come to me….." [Kahf, 18:110]

The Prophet (s) says about himself: “I am only a human being like the rest.” He is different!

Like Imam Busairi (said). What did he say? “Bal huwa yakutatun wa naasu ka-l hajari - He is a gem, a diamond, and human beings are like pebbles, rocks!” He is completely different, but he was humbling himself. He went into Isra wa’l-Mir`aj, he made himself more humble. So our duty is to show humbleness to each other. It s not only to show humbleness to the shaykh, it is easy to show humbleness to the shaykh, but it is difficult to show humbleness to each other.

So that khalifa of Sayyidina Abdul Qadir Jilani, whenever Sayyidina Abdul Qadir Jilani sent him to speak in different villages or in different associations, he sat and spoke (and) everyone, as soon as he opened his mouth to speak, people were listening, they were very... their eyes were open. Not like me and some other people when Mawlana speaks - we sleep! People divert their minds different ways... But everyone was listening, even you throw a pin, you can hear it.

That Shaykh had a son, but his son was very educated in Islamic Shariah. Explanation of Holy Quran, explanation of Holy hadith, memorizing the Holy Quran, memorizing the hadith, knows every details in Shariah. He was looking to himself. Every time his shaykh, who was his father, sat and spoke, people are listening and he, in his heart, was saying, “O, what about me if I speak? Of course, I am more educated than my father, then everyone will be not only opening his eyes, but opening his eyes and his heart to what I will say and people will appreciate what I say!”

So his father knew that this is the sickness of his son, so what he did? He said, “O my son!” next week that came - “I am sick this week. You go and speak! Go and give the people a suhbat.” He was so happy, he didn’t believe that he is going to give a suhba to people. He went and sat on the chair of his father and the father was in the other room, hiding himself, looking what’s going to happen. As soon as that son was beginning to speak - he is `alim, very big `alim in his time - like when we go to conferences - I go a lot and I see that - the professor or the presenter is giving a presentation and most of the audience is sleeping. No one is listening, they get bored. So why do they get bored? There is a secret here.

And the secret in this story is that the son, big `alim, big professor - there is no professor at that time, but he is an `alim - and as soon as he began to speak, everyone was sleeping. So he was speaking and speaking and speaking and looking and saw: most of the people were sleeping. He was so surprised. He finished as soon as possible quickly and went to his father. He said: O my father, what s going on? I am more educated than you, I know more than you. When I spoke, everyone slept. When you speak, everyone is open eyes and open heart. What s going on? He said, “O my son! That is the problem of today’s scholars at that time - they are proud of themselves, they are arrogant of themselves. When I sit to speak, the message that I am delivering to everyone, is coming from the heart of Sayyidina Muhammad (s). So when I am speaking, I have to be the first listener to what I am saying. I am the first student sitting there; I don t see myself as the representative and I don’t see myself as the `alim; I see myself the least among everyone, the lower between everyone. That is the humbleness that it should be experienced, when you are going to give your speech or you will make everyone bored.”

So when we zoom in with Mawlana Shaykh Nazim s speech, when he is speaking to us, we have to make sure, that our eyes and ears and heart are open, because we are not sitting in their presence only. At that moment their presence is the presence of the Prophet (s). How we have to be sitting? How Sahaba were sitting in the presence of the Prophet (s), student has to sit, to imitate that way. Although no one can reach the level of Sahaba and the wali cannot reach the level of the Prophet (s). But we have to imitate their ways, in order that we will be able to reach, what they want us to reach.

And that s why I said one time before here that: Anyone entered the cave, is safe. When you enter the presence of Mawlana Shaykh s cave, we are safe. That s why I said last time about Grandshaykh. When he was asked to carry the guidance, irshad . He said to Shaykh Sharafuddin - I am cutting it short - he said to his shaykh, “What is the benefit of I take the khilafa from you and I know my students are not going to do anything? They are going to be lazy; they are not going to do, except their prayers and that s it! So if you give me the authority that anyone sitting in my presence I will raise him to my level, then I will accept irshad!”

That is a good tiding for all of us: that this secret is with Mawlana Sultanu’l-Awliya Sayyidee Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al Haqqani - may Allah swt give him long life.

When we are sitting in his presence, he is lifting us is like a lift. They are lifting their students up to their levels. Don’t think the shaykh will accept someone will be in the hand of Shaytan chained. Like a general in the army cannot let one of his soldiers to be prisoner in the hand of the enemies, awliyaullah will not allow their students to be prisoners in the hands of Shaytan. The Prophet (s) will not allow his Ummah to be prisoners in the hands of Shaytan. Allah swt will not allow one of His servants to be prisoner in the hands of Shaytan. That is why Ummatun-Nabi (s) ummatu marhouma, will be sent to Paradise!

So he said, “I sent them my love,” which means, “I take care of them. Tell them not to worry. And I give them my support.” It means we are supported. There are many people they say that Mawlana is sick, we don’t need to come. No, come, if your heart says to you, “Come!” It is enough to come to the maqam. The maqam is... his presence is here, it cannot be away. Allah swt honored us to be from Mawlana’s followers and from Ummatun-Nabi (s).

He said also, “Tell them that this is a year of opportunities.” What does it mean “year of opportunities”? A year of opportunities means “Don’t let any opportunity to pass without taking advantage of it.” That is why they use that word too much in the financial world, brokers, stock-market – opportunities. It means, “Don’t let a stock that you can see there is a benefit from it, it is an opportunity, grab it!”

“This year is the year of trading” he said, “with Allah swt, because it is a year full with problems, full of revenge and punishment.” So it is a year of opportunities for those who are humbling themselves; those who are doing their awraad; those who are praying their prayers; those who are trying to elevate themselves against the desire of their egos! Those are these opportunities! Don’t let these opportunities to be lost, especially this year! And he said, “This year is going to be a very heavy year on evil powers and easy year on believers!”

May Allah swt keep us and make us believers with the baraka of our shaykh, Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani, and with the blessings of Sayyidina Muhammad `alayhi afdala as-salaat was-salaam.