Bismillahi r-Rahmani r-Rahim
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BLISS AND HAPPINESS
Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm:
أَلَا بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ
“A-lā bi-dhikri llāhi taṭmainnu l-qulūb”, “Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest.” (Qur’ān 13:28). “!بَلَى يَا الله”, “Bala ya Allah!”, “Yes O Allah!” Contentment of the heart comes by remembering the name of Allah ﷻ. Making Dhikr of Allah ﷻ, remembering Allah ﷻ is for the hearts to feel at peace. When the heart is at peace, people are blissful and relieved. Even if they are in the worst place, nothing can influence them.
Sayyidina Ibrahim ‘alayhi s-salam was thrown into fire. He was together with Allah ﷻ. Allah ﷻ gave him relief. With relief, he turned his surroundings into a place like the gardens of paradise. It is the biggest example for mankind that whoever is with Allah ﷻ and his heart is at peace is always blissful; not in anything else.
People nowadays are looking for happiness, not blissfulness. Blissfulness is a bit different. People on the way of Allah ﷻ are said to be blissful. But people are looking for happiness. They’ve tried various things. They run after all kinds of disgraceful things and all kinds of badness thinking they will be happy. There is no such thing. Even if you are happy, eventually, you won’t have it all the time. You’ll be happy for 5-10 minutes. And then you will be more miserable than before. After doing those things, there will not be lasting peace and blissfulness. Lasting blissfulness is only for those who are on the way of Allah ‘Azza wa-Jalla, who remember Allah ﷻ, who make Dhikr of Allah ﷻ. Otherwise, it is temporary. That happiness lasts for a very short time.
Nearly thirty years ago we went to America. There are places of shaytan where movies are made. They offered to take us around those places. We went there. There are spots where certain scenes are shot. You ride something and go around, and they show them to you. We said ok. When you enter it, there is a queue. And you think it will pass in five minutes. They are such scammers; they are people of shaytan anyway. You go a distance of five minutes, and then it turns, you go ten minutes more. And it is in queue, you wait in a queue. Ten minutes by ten minutes, you reach the scene spot in two hours. They tell you to hop on the thing. After the ride, they take you around for ten seconds and that’s it. They will have taken a lot of money at the entrance before you go in. And there is another one which is like this. They have put so much money on it; we should mention it out of courtesy. You wait for two hours in the queue under the sun. Ten seconds of looking again and then to another one. You hardly see 3-5 places until the evening.
The happiness of this world is like this. But that of Akhirah, Shukr to Allah ﷻ. Go to Hajj or Umrah, make Tawaf from morning till evening, go around, make your prayers there. Shukr to Allah, there is no worry there. This is the difference between the place of shaytan and the place of Allah ‘Azza wa-Jalla, the difference between the people who are together with Allah ﷻ and those with shaytan. Shukr to Allah ﷻ, we waited without any badness happening. Otherwise, Allah ﷻ knows how disturbed people can get.
Don’t let shaytan cheat you on the way of Allah ﷻ. As we said, shaytan is cheating people a lot there. He gives suffering. In the end, he gives you temporary joy for 5-10 seconds. And then they tell you to move on to the next one. Whereas, Allah ‘Azza wa-Jalla says, ‘وَاللَّهُ يَدْعُو إِلَىٰ دَارِ السَّلَامِ’, ‘Wa-Llāhu yad‘ū ilá dāri s-salām’, ‘And Allah invites to the Home of Peace (i.e. Paradise).’ (Qur’ān 10:25). Allah ‘Azza wa-Jalla is calling you to beauty and paradise. May Allah ﷻ protect us. May Allah ﷻ make us steadfast on this way and not let us be cheated by shaytan. Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq. Al-Fatiha.
Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani
24 December 2023/ 11 Jumada al-Thani 1445
Fajr Prayer, Akbaba Dergah
Video link: https://youtu.be/gdPqNi65blg?si=dJ-9okBCezhbfC-C
Sufi Qalam 
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