Those who follow the will of the Prophet ﷺ like a shadow follows a body are his ﷺ Ummah. Those who follow the Will of Allāh ﷻ like a shadow follows a body are His ﷻ servants. Allāh ﷻ guides you in the direction you ask for. You wish for it and He ﷻ Wills it, both good and bad. Your main aim should be worship and the most precious time is the time before dawn.
Bismillahi r-Rahmani r-Rahim
Sultan ul-Awliya Mawlana Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Al-Haqqani An-Naqshbandi (ق)
Sohbat – 1987
Hz. Shah Naqshiband said – Our way is stands on association. We are following his order and we are waiting for the mercy and care that is appointed for this night, from Allah Almighty’s grants and the compassion and intercession of Habibullah, the truths that will be sent to us and to our Sultan, Sultanul Awliya. The same way the shadow follows the body, in the presence of his Sheikh, his Sayyid, if he leaves his own will, then he will follow his sheikh’s will. The murid who follows his sheikh’s will is safe. If he goes outside the sheikh’s will, he falls into danger.
Who are the Ummah/Nation? The true Nation of our Master, Hz. Muhammad Mustafa (ﷺ), are the ones who follow our Master’s will and follow behind him. They don’t object to his will. They follow his will. That is the Nation. The same way the shadow follows the body, those who follow our Master’s way are the true Nation. When do they become servants of Allah? Those who follow behind Allah’s Will the same way the shadow follows the body, then they become servants of Allah. That is the true characteristic of a servant. “Why did this person become that” or “Why didn’t this happen?” – To like something and dislike something else. When an incident happens, and he uses his own will and objects, that person falls from the rank of servant.
The sixth pillar of iman/faith that was presented to us – “Khayrihi wa sharrihi min Allahi Ta’ala” (good & evil is from Allah) It is to believe in our servanthood. It is easy to say, but to keep that rule with actions is very difficult. “Good and bad is from Allah Almighty” means that whatever happens, at least you should know that Allah is aware of what happens. So whatever happens in dunya/this world, Allah is aware of everything. In many places, we think that Allah is not aware of what is happening. Can there be any secrets that Allah is not aware of? Many things happen without the knowledge of governments because governments cannot control everything. But Allah is not like the governments. If an ant is struggling, Allah will know. And what about man? Man, who is created as Allah Almighty’s representative and given honor and all their actions carry responsibility. Allah is even aware of the struggling and movement of an ant. The actions that you do, the good and the bad that you do, is He not aware?
Whenever you do anything, that action takes place with the Divine Will. You want it to happen, but Allah wills it to happen.
At least when we say, “khayrihi wa sharrihi min Allahi Ta’ala” we should believe that every action we do, good or bad, Allah Almighty knows. He is aware, He is informed. He is watching every action and listening to everything. And beyond that, as a believer, you must believe that everything you did, everything that happened is by the Divine Will. If Allah doesn’t will something, then you cannot do anything. Whenever you do anything, that action takes place with the Divine Will. You want it to happen, but Allah wills it to happen. Therefore, good and bad is from Allah, but it’s according to the servant’s request. When the servant wants good, Allah wills good for him. If the servant is turned toward badness, then He wills badness and you will do bad things. Your good situations and bad situations, the blame is with you. The person is at fault. He shouldn’t have wanted that, he shouldn’t go towards the wrong way.
You wanted to come here tonight. To come all the way from Kayseri, from Istanbul, from Beirut, from Lebanon, from Istanbul, to come from Istanbul; to come from London, to come from Germany, to come from Germany, to come from Egypt, to come from Haleb. When you want to go somewhere, Allah Almighty gives you a way to go. If you don’t want to go for Allah, He will stop you. Whichever direction you want, he gives you a way to go there. That means, good and bad is by the wish of Allah Almighty. Allah Almighty will wish for something when the servants wishes for it. The servant…
When the train comes, the railroad splits into 2. One way goes to Kayseri and the other way goes to Nigde, for example. If the coming train is for Kayseri, the railway operator gives a signal, either it is an operator or it is automatic. They give a signal and switch the railway tracks to Kayseri. He opens up that way. Whatever is the destination of the coming train, the mechanic or the sign on the train, whichever direction it is showing, it opens that way accordingly. If going to Nigde, it opens the way to Nigde. Why does Allah Almighty give willpower for mankind for everything? To ask for things. Ask something with your willpower. If you want this way, Allah Almighty will open it for you. If there was only willpower, mankind wouldn’t be able to do anything. The Creator is Allah Almighty. You want something and Allah Almighty creates the reasons for your requests. Either you will reach goodness or badness. No one wishes for goodness and gets badness, don’t be afraid.
If someone asks for that way, if he wants badness, then his way will be towards badness. If he repents and stops, then Allah Almighty will turn him around. If he insists, He will leave him. Finished, wasted. That’s why, our way especially, and all tariqahs teach Adab/manners. Adab for Allah, Adab for the Prophet, Adab for Saints, Adab for elders, Adab for husbands, Adab for governments. In conclusion, Tariqahs show the Adab for everything. Therefore, this matter that we mentioned, the Adab that Islam has shown us, is to make our will follow the Will of Allah. Then you will be a servant of Allah. Make your will follow the will of the Prophet, then you will be truly be from his Nation. If you follow the will of your sheikh, you will be a true murid.
At dawn, Allah Almighty sends a wind from paradise to earth called Rihu-s Sabah. Whoever breathes that wind gains life.
Hz. Abu Ahmed as-Sughuri, may Allah sanctify his secret, was the Qutb of his time. He had the highest rank, he was an inheritor of the Prophet. Every night he would wake up early, and at the time of night when two thirds of the night was over and one third of the night was left, he would sit in his room and start reciting Tawhid – La ilaha ill’Allah. La ilaha ill’Allah. La ilaha ill’Allah. La ilaha ill’Allah. He would start reciting Tawhid. From his miracle, every house in the village would hear his voice. They would quickly wake up. He had that miracle. Just like the whole city hears the train whistle, everyone sleeping at that time would quickly wake up when they heard him saying “La ilaha ill’Allah”. When he recited Tawhid with the power of attraction, he would wake up their hearts. They would get up and spend the night standing for Allah.
The most precious time of night is the last third. That means, two thirds of the night has passed, and when the last third remains, until the sun rises, that is the most precious time. Whoever wants to collect a prize, should be awake at that time. As much as possible, he shouldn’t waste that time. Yes, our Muslims, we are sitting here to say a few words. The best time for worship is at dawn. There’s no one who doesn’t know dawn time. At dawn, Allah Almighty sends a wind from paradise to earth called Rihu-s Sabah. Whoever breathes that wind gains life. If a sick person wakes up at that time, for 40 nights, his trouble will go away. Someone whose heart is troubled and worried, if he gets up for 40 nights at dawn, his heart will reach 7 levels. His heart will be strengthened by that faith. That is why he would get up at that time.
Hz. Sughuri would wake up even earlier, but in order to wake up the people, he would recite Tawhid, La ilaha ill”allah. And angels would make his voice reach every house in the village. And people would wake up. Muslims now, forget about night worship. They forgot about daytime worship too. Do Muslims wake up for night worship? The life of the Muslim has become weak and his spiritual life is even more weak. Where will those people find the love and longing for worship? The most precious time, the last third of night and dawn. But those who are lazy to worship during the day, how will they pay attention to worship at night? Night worship is what Allah loves. Let’s pay attention to that. The worship that softens hearts, and opens springs of wisdom, is night worship. Night worship is the one that gives love and longing.
The worship that makes Allah and His Prophet happy, is night worship. The virtue of night worship is great. Pay attention to that at night. And during the day, don’t forget to say, “O my Lord, I am Your servant”. At that moment when Allah Almighty calls you ‘His servant’, your affairs in this world and the hereafter will be smooth. Yes, we must be careful about that. The same way we give importance to daytime worship, we must also take care of nighttime worship. When we take our worship seriously, all our work becomes easy. Since we don’t keep worship as our top priority, we are faced with so many problems. Muslims should keep worship as their top priority. After making worship the top priority, that Muslim’s work becomes easy, without problems.
If you put the gunpowder after the bullet, will it shoot? That weapon, if you put the gunpowder on top of the bullets, will it shoot? You put the gunpowder inside, in front, and when it explodes, it hits the bullets. So if Muslims don’t keep worship in front, their affairs won’t go well. When we throw worship to the backup plan, all our actions start to weaken. Bring worship to the front, and your affairs will go well. We must pay attention to this too. Muslims in this century especially, are very careless about worship. They don’t take worship seriously. However, the most serious matter is worship.
Very Well. May Allah Almighty give all of you the pleasure of worship. May He give you the love & longing of good actions and dhikr. May He change the darkness in our hearts to light.
Bi hurmat-il Habib, bi hurmat-il Fatiha.
Sufi Qalam 