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Adab in the Naqshbandi Tariqah, Part 2

Ramadan Series 2015, Vol 9

Shaykh Hisham Kabbani

1 July 2015 Fenton Zawiya, Michigan

Fajr Suhbah from Great-Grandshaykh Sharafuddin’s Notes

The Adab of Naqshbandi Awliya in Seeking Forgiveness for Their Followers

As-salaamu `alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuh.

A`oodhu billahi min ash-Shaytani ‘r-rajeem. Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem.

Nawaytu 'l-arba`een, nawaytu 'l-`itikaaf, nawaytu 'l-khalwah, nawaytu 'l-`uzlah,

nawaytu 'r-riyaada, nawaytu 's-salook, lillahi ta'ala al-`Azheem fee hadha 'l-masjid.

أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ

Atee`oollaha wa atee`oo 'r-Rasoola wa ooli 'l-amri minkum.

Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:59)

Before yesterday we spoke about adab and its meaning, that adab is to keep all the principles of Shari`ah, which is adab in front of Allah, not the word ‘adab’ that we know in Arabic, which is to have good manners. Yes, we must have good manners towards what Allah has sent to His Prophet (s) and follow that.

وَمَا آتَاكُمُ الرَّسُولُ فَخُذُوهُ وَمَا نَهَاكُمْ عَنْهُ فَانتَهُوا

Leave what Prophet (s) forbade and take what he ordered. (Surat al-Hashr, 59:7)

We repeat that verse, because every word of Holy Qur'an gives Light. Holy Qur'an is ghayr makhlooq, not created, it is Allah's Ancient Words which are forever, they don't change, and His Words are alive. That is why it is recommended to open the Holy Qur'an daily and read. Some `ulama say if you cannot, just look at the words of Holy Qur'an as they are Light, and now mashaa-Allah, Islam spread all over the world and not everyone knows Arabic. In previous days, the Arabic language was more common and everyone could read, but now many non-Arabs became Muslim and they can read through transliterations and even make mistakes in pronunciation, which is okay.

اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ

Allah is the Light of the Heavens and Earth. (Surat an-Noor, 24:35)

“Allah is the Light of the Heavens and Earth.” That means anything living will get that Light if they read Holy Qur'an. Those who are in Heavens, the angels, are infallible, prohibited from committing sins; Allah does not allow them to sin. Allah can prohibit sin when the person is ready, He will stop sins from him. The angels are completely sinless, completely within the Shari`ah of Jannah, Paradise. That is why awliyaullah recommend to open the Holy Qur'an and read even if you cannot read Arabic and need to read a transliteration, because these words are alive, so the principles of Shari`ah are the high adab you show to Allah (swt), as He said in Holy Qur'an:

أَطِيعُواْ اللّهَ وَأَطِيعُواْ الرَّسُولَ وَأُوْلِي الأَمْرِ مِنكُمْ

Obey Allah, obey the Prophet, and obey those in authority among you. (Surat an-Nisa, 4:59)

Atee`oollah, Obey Allah, in what? In the principles and orders He gave to us.

So to Saadaat an-Naqshbandiyyoon, the reality of adab is how they look at the adab of the student who reached level of Mureed, not Beginners or Lovers: they have to observe every breath they are making, coming in and going out. You ask how. Even when you are working, you are still contemplating, but how? By dhikrullah. You are working behind a desk and if you are able to make dhikrullah that will be key: to control your breath. Allah created angels that are sent to human beings, to all humanity, in order to inspire what they have to do and say on the breath in (inhalation) or breath out (exhalation). If they did not do that but they have intention to do it, angels will do on their behalf.

That is why in the Hadith of the Prophet (s), one prayer in Mecca al-Mukarrama is equal to 100,000 raka`ts and one prayer in Madinaat al-Munawwara is equal to 10,000 rak`ats. That is what I mean: when you open up, Allah will flood you with endless powers and open for you different levels of the heart, but when you are observing your breath and not being heedless about it. Now we are sitting here and we are focusing completely on `ibaadah, and our `ibaadah is recognized by Heavens, recognized by angels. That is why any word you say regarding `ibaadah will be taken up by angels to Heavens and anything that has to do with dunya, which is not good, will be written against you, but the angels will not write it until after 24 hours, waiting for you to repent from that word.

So awliyaullah say anything we are doing--praying, fasting and dhikrullah--is not yet ripe. They said if a person accumulated and added all the `ibaadah of the Creation and was able to dress it and take it to the Prophet (s), still it is not perfect and not complete.

You cannot compare your `ibaadah, not even from all Creation, wa law lahzha, even for a moment. If you prayed from the beginning of dunya to its end with the power of all Creation, it is not equal to even one drop of the worship of an-Nabi (s), that is how much Allah has perfected his adab. How the Prophet (s) worships Allah is the real meaning of adab. That is why it is said, maa ataakumu ’r-rasoolu fakhudhoohu wa maa nahaakum `anhu fantahoo, “Leave what Prophet (s) forbade and take what he ordered.” Whatever the Prophet (s) gives, take it quickly, which is why the Prophet (s) said:

أدبني ربي فأحسن تأديبي

My Lord perfected my good manners and conduct. (Ibn `Asakir)

The Prophet (s) is saying, “Allah trained and disciplined me and perfected my adab.” That is not for the Ummah. [What I am saying] is from the notes of Grandshaykh `Abdullah al-Fa'iz ad-Daghestani (q) and Great-Grandshaykh Sharafuddin ad-Daghestani (q):

If a wali dresses with the dress of sainthood and if every person becomes Muslim and each becomes a wali and you add all of them, they cannot reach even one drop of the perfection of the Prophet (s)! If a wali struggled a lot and strived as much as he can do until Judgment Day in order to enter one drop of the Prophet’s (s) adab, he cannot, even though that is what the Prophet (s) wants from us: to achieve and present something. Even the biggest wali will do the best `ibaadah according to what he can, but it will not be sufficient nor accepted at the level of the Prophet (s). That is why the Prophet (s) said, man tashabaha bi qawmin fa huwa minhum, “Whoever imitates a group of people will be with them and of them.” The Prophet (s) knows that the Ummah cannot do that, even to reach a drop in the adab of the Prophet (s), so he said, “Imitate me,” as mentioned in the Holy Qur'an:

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

Say (O Muhammad), "If you (really) love Allah, then follow me! Allah will love you and forgive your sins, and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Surat Aali-'Imraan, 3:31)

“If you want to love Allah then follow me, then Allah will love you and He will forgive your sins.” When He says ‘yaghfir lakum dhunoobakum’, that is the Key of Paradise, the maghfirah, as when you have no sins you enter Paradise. W'allahu ghafoorun raheem, Allah is The Forgiving and The Merciful: with His Mercy He dresses us with that drop from the Ocean of the Prophet (s).

If Allah required from anbiya a certain level of `ibaadah--not like ours, their `ibaadah is high, on the top--but if Allah requires from them a certain level of `ibaadah only Sayyidina Muhammad (s) can do that, other prophets are struggling to worship at that level, and there are 124,000 prophets. Prophets do `ibaadah all their life; if they are messengers their entire life is giving da`wah. Messengers are prophets and messengers at the same time, and yet even if all them worship at their very best, they cannot achieve what the Prophet (s) acquired of `ibaadah.

أدبني ربي فأحسن تأديبي

Adabanee rabbee fa’ahsana taa'deebee

Allah perfected my principles of `ibaadah.”

That is ‘Allahu Akbar’ for the Prophet (s)! That is why when awliyaullah are on their deathbed, they express, “Yaa Rabbee, forgive us! Yaa `Afoow, yaa `Afoow! Forgive us because we did not perfect our adab.”

It reminds me of the story of when Muhammad Baha’uddin Shah Naqshband (q) was on his deathbed. He kept falling from the bed to the floor and his mureeds carried him back to the bed. It is said awliyaullah struggle when they die, did you know that? They struggle, not the struggle of dunya, but they struggle for Allah's Love as they want to show Allah their love, so they carry their followers on their shoulders before they leave this dunya, they carry them clean and turn them over to their successor.

That is why the Prophet (s) showed struggle on his deathbed, when Sayyida Fatima (a) asked him and he said, “This is sakaraat al-mawt.”

She said, “O my father! Even you have this struggle at death?”

He replied, “It is because I am carrying my Ummah on my shoulders.”

Awliyaullah carry their followers on their shoulders and not one wali dies without saying, “Yaa `Afoow!” on his lips. That reminds me of the story of Grandshaykh about Baha’uddin Shah Naqshband (q). He was on his deathbed and kept falling to the floor; his mureeds carried him back to bed, but he fell back to the dirt floor, rubbed his beard and face on the Earth, saying, “Yaa `Afoow, forgive me!” meaning, “forgive my followers.” His mureeds were surprised, because Baha’uddin Shah Naqshband’s fame had reached throughout dunya and his name was on every tongue! In his time, his suhbah was for at least 5,000 people and until today his masjid still stands in Bukhara. They were surprised he kept falling down and they kept putting him back. Those who could understand were around him, his very close mureeds, and they wanted to know why he kept saying, “Yaa `Afoow!”

Grandshaykh (q) said it in his accent, with his mouth that is like noor, with the fakhaamat of that sound like a reverb in his voice when he speaks, “Yaa `Afoooow, yaa `Afoooow! Forgive me, yaa `Afoow!” Shah Naqshband said it because of one thing he did in dunya. As we explained before, if there is a man with what the Prophet (s) acquired of his Ummah, who carried all the worship of all Creation, it still is not enough for the Prophet (s) to present.However, Shah Naqshband was in that level of `ibaadah, but not fully reaching the requirements of the Prophet (s). Like when students enter a university they must fulfill specific requirements; however, to show their `ajz, weakness, awliyaullah are not able to complete everything, Allah makes them unable to complete it, leaving a few things floating on the surface.

So Shah Naqshband (q) said, “Don't be amazed, I sinned.” What was his sin? One day there was a drought in Bukhara and people were suffering with no water, no food and in one month they would run out of everything, so they came to Sayyidina Baha’uddin Shah Naqshband (q) telling him their story and asking his advice. He said, “Bring me any small amount of wheat.” They kept searching in the village, but could not did find any wheat, then they went to the city and discovered one rich person who might have some wheat, so a delegation asked him, saying they are from Sayyidina Baha’uddin Shah Naqshband (q). The man said, “I have one small sack of wheat I was saving for my son, but you take it.” When he gave that for the Ummah, Allah opened to his heart the Seven Levels of Wilayah. You don't know with what sadaqah Allah will open to you, and even a smile is a sadaqa. Don't show anger; rather, smile to your brothers or sisters.

So Shah Naqshband (q) took that sack of wheat and put it between the two grindstones with a yoke and ox. He put part on his head, part on the ox and began grinding the wheat, making himself like an ox, astaghfirullah. As he began turning, a lot of grain came out from the grindstones, enough that they filled the whole village from morning to evening, and then all Bukhara was filled with wheat. He showed his karaamah, miracle, so the story continues: he was on his deathbed and Allah inspired in his heart, “I made that drought with a specific purpose. Who gave you permission to interfere in My Will? Do you think I don't know of the people’s suffering?”

As that khitaab, address began in his heart, he knew he made a grave mistake. That is why awliyaullah submit, surrender, and don't like to be involved in dunya matters: they submit to everything, as they don't like to interfere in Allah's Will. Like today, I saw one person from Ahlu ’s-Sunnah wa ’l-Jama`ah saying that tawassul is kufr and he is someone people respect. How do you say tawassul is kufr when you are making tawassul with the Naqshbandi Golden Chain, when you are part of the understanding that tawassul bi ‘n-Nabi (s) is required for anyone to be saved? That is a huge mistake from a scholar of that calibre.

That is why at the beginning we said that you have to be careful, looking at your breath in and out, and not to be heedless for a moment. You have to bring all your power and concentrate it in your heart. With all these powers from different parts of the body through meditation, we begin to hear them all making dhikrullah. Our life is dhikrullah, every cell in our body is dhikrullah. Look at the heart, what is it saying? “Huuu, Huuu”, put a stethoscope and listen to it. Allah made every organ to say His Names and Attributes. Every organ has a different heavenly musical sound. If you watch yourself well, you will see that and if you don't, you will not see it. You have to tujama`, gather all your power to know the secret of your appearance.

That is the level of the mureed, he has to meditate on, “Why was been created? How did I appear?” That is recommended, to know what is your position in dunya, to know what they want from you, so when you meditate on that Allah will open. However, we are not meditating on that, we are busy fighting here and there, busy being angry here and there. We are not busy focusing on principles of adab that Allah likes, so we have to be very open-hearted and open-minded.

Do you count your breath? Doctors count them for you, but why, you cannot count them? Medical doctors are able, they have labs where they can count your heartbeat because they are professional, but we cannot. Can awliyaullah count or not?

[A small bug comes near Mawlana] It was coming to listen, now it is running. He was focusing well, so he saw that. You took it away. Since we saw that animal walking up, Grandshaykh (q) said, “Even if a black fly comes on your hand, Allah (swt) will send you 70,000 blessings,” and you don't know the limit of rewards Allah will send. That is for one small animal sitting on your hand; what do you think about bigger animals?

Shah Naqshband (q) was asking for maghfirah, saying, “yaa `Afoow” and saying, “Why am I interfering? Allah is al-Qaadir, Muqtadir, He can feed everyone or not! Why am I interfering?” We say, “Yaa `Afoow!” as Baha’uddin Shah Naqshband (q) did; we repeat it and inshaa-Allah our sins will be forgiven! Anyone who says, “yaa `Afoow” or “Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem” or “laa ilaaha illa-Llah” his sins will be forgiven. ‘Laa ilaaha illa-Llah’ is the key to Paradise, ‘Bismillahi 'r-Rahmani 'r-Raheem’ is the key to Paradise and ‘yaa `Afoow’ is the key to erase your sins and to bring you to the Shore of Safety!

لا راحة في الدين

There is no rest in religion.

There is no relaxation in religion, you must always struggle! When the Prophet (s) was asked, “What is the best jihad?” he replied:

أفضل الجهاد كلمة عدل عند سلطان جائر

The best jihad is a word of justice (or a word of truth) before a tyrannical king.

( Related by Abi Sa`eed al-Khudree)

People think jihad is fighting a war, but he said, “To say a word of truthful justice in front of an oppressive ruler”, sultaanin jaa'ir is who transgresses all limits without care, which is the ego: the sultan of the ego that is extreme in its transgression of the rights of every person. That is why now there are too many hearts transgressing the limits, because they have tyrant egos, what are we seeing in the Middle East countries, killing innocent people, blowing them up here and there. May Allah protect us all from that evil power!

Wa min Allahi 't-tawfeeq, bi hurmati 'l-habeeb, bi hurmati 'l-Fatihah.

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