Today, 1 August 2021, Sunday, we have received the news of the passing away of Shaykh Abdalqadir As-Sufi, a shaykh of the Shadhiliyya, and were deeply saddened with the loss of this great man of Da’wa who dedicated his life to the spread of Islam and living a life by the principles of Sufi ethics. He was a great man of action, who declared war on riba, wrote refutations of the banking system and struggeld to prevent the exploitation of mankind. On the one hand he adorned his Derwisches...
Both our Lord’s approval as well as His wrath are hidden in deeds that sometimes appear large, sometimes mediocre and sometimes small. This is why no act of goodness, nor indeed vice, should be viewed as unimportant.
Just as the purity of natural spring water is lost with just a single drop of impurity added to it, acts of worship undertaken murkily, with worldly aims and intentions, also forfeit their acceptability.
Understanding the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, is the most important step in servitude to Allah. Without understanding him, knowing him, following in his footsteps and receiving a share in his spiritual disposition, our belief will not be complete, nor will we be able to fully comprehend the Qur’an, nor will we achieve perfect servanthood.
The hearts of children born upon the Islamic fitra are like pure earth. They need to be worked. They are a crude ore needing to be refined. Whether they will turn out to be roses or thorns, and whether they will produce bitter or sweet fruit, depends on the seeds that are sown upon them, especially on the teaching and inspiration of their parents.
Life is like a film reel, the length of film that is wound on it unknown. Nobody knows where and when it will end. Every living thing that is born is destined for death; every human being has one foot in the grave.
Just as when we hold a magnifying glass under the sunlight the light passing through will burn and bring to ashes whatever is under it, every believer, too, must focus on the Declaration of Faith and undertake such a cleansing of carnal ambitions in their heart.
Seek out those in this world whose days are darkness. Guide those who await guidance and rush to the aid of those in need, that these good works be a light for you after you die, in the darkness of the grave.
Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi says: “If you seek us and our approval, then do not forget that this depends on winning over a single heart. Give everything you have and win over a heart, that that heart give you light in the grave, in that dark night.”
The rose attains perfection and beauty by befriending the thorn and through establishing a warm relationship with it. In other words, it gains beauty and a subtle aroma by means of enduring the thorns surrounding it. The human being, too, becomes purified and advances spiritually by enduring suffering and affliction.
Joyously spending one’s wealth in the way of Allah is a great honour. Not just anyone can receive such an honour. Those who are deprived of such an honour are the miserly – those unfortunate souls who live like paupers in the world and who will give account in the Hereafter like the wealthy.
There can be no psychiatric ailments in a society where the Prescribed Prayer is offered in humble, devoted reverence. Allah, glorified and exalted be He, becomes shelter, a refuge, a sanctuary for those believers who turn to Him in humble submission. Sociological crises cannot be encountered in a society that wholeheartedly undertakes the prescribed annual alms, gives in charity and spends in the way of Allah.
The meticulousness shown in the Prescribed Prayer is a kind of ‘moral report card’ for the believer. It is a mirror to one’s spiritual character and disposition.
The believer should be more concerned with their spirit being hungry than with the hunger of their body, for the garment of the spirit that is the body will eventually return to the soil from which it came. The spirit, however, will become elevated and exalted to the extent of its spiritual capacity and refinement.
We need to show familiarity, friendship and closeness to those people of learning and wisdom who have advanced spiritually, that they lead us with them toward that refinement and perfection. Otherwise, it is highly likely that one will face reluctance and not guidance.
Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi says: “Supplication and worship is togetherness with Allah. For those who are with Allah, both life and death are agreeable. But for one in whose heart Allah is absent, even the water of life is fire.”
The deliriums of minds made infirm by unsound philosophies will not save the servant at their last breath, in the grave, at the Resurrection, on the Day of Reckoning, in the Balance, on the path of Sirat. The love, submission and obedience to Allah and His Beloved, however, will be the only spiritual capital for eternal happiness.
Bilal ibn Sa’d, from the generation of the Successors, may Allah have mercy on him, says: “A friend who increases your piety and devotion is better than a friend who places a gold coin in your palm at every encounter.”
Those who lead a person both to the straight path and astray are generally those who keep their company and with whom one has established familiarity. A Prophetic Tradition states: “A person is upon the religion of their friend; so, let each one of you consider whom they take as their friend.” (Abu Dawud, Adab, 16/4833)
Dhu al-Nun al-Misri says: “One must be a friend to Allah and a foe to their carnal self, not a friend to their carnal self and a foe to Allah.”
Those who do not know the wisdom of the soul’s existence, the purpose for its being given to the human being, and its guiles and stratagems, cannot properly perceive their servanthood to their Lord. It is because of this that it has been said, “One who knows their own self, knows their Lord.”
Neglect of religious training brings with it the scourge of materialism, or the pursuit of worldly self-interest. And this is one of the fundamentals and cornerstones of irreligion. Materialism is not a philosophy, but an intellectual wretchedness. It is not wisdom, but a disease.
It is certain that a dark night of the worldly life deprived of the light of belief and acts of worship, and spent in all kinds of amusement, madness, oppression, injustice, and carnality, will not bring forth a bright morning of eternity.
Every age that passes in heedlessness of Allah and His Messenger is essentially an age an ignorance. Every age that has not been reformed through Divine revelation and Prophetic wisdom is equally savage.
Wahb ibn Munabbih, may Allah have mercy on him, says: “How strange people are! They weep for the dead, but they do not weep for those whose hearts are dead, whereas the real calamity is the death of the heart.”
Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi says: “You are angered by every difficulty, you bear a grudge against every vulgar person. How then, without rubbing, will your mirror be polished?”
Many people are fair-weather friends. True friendship, however, is as much about sharing one’s suffering in times of difficulty as it is about sharing their joy.
Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi says: “What do you have? What have you acquired? What kind of pearl have you pulled from the ocean floor? This will become apparent the day you die.”
Those who do not have the courage to dive into the vast ocean of sublime suffering for the sake of Allah, should not forget that they may one day drown in a small puddle of water.
Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi says: “If you tremble like grass with every wind, you would not be worth even a single blade of grass, though you may be as grand as the mountains.” If you do not hold fast to the Qur’an and the Sunna, you would have no worth, like those dry leaves tossed this way and that before carnal and Satanic winds.
Prophet Adam, upon him be peace, ate the forbidden fruit, but he repented immediately. Satan, however, saw it beneath himself to correct his mistake and thus rebelled against Allah. This goes to show that acknowledging one’s mistake, turning away from such a course and repenting for it immediately, is essential for deliverance from Divine punishment.
It would not be right to compare ourselves to society’s ignorant and heedless in the matter of service and endeavour in the way of Allah. Allah, glorified and exalted be He, holds up the Companions as an example for us. In other words, we are duty bound to measure our efforts in Allah’s way up against the state of the Companions.
Of the 120,000 Companions who were present during the Farewell Pilgrimage, only 20,000 lay buried in their own lands. The greater majority died, but breathed life into the lands to which they went to convey Allah’s message, to strive in His way and to revive hearts.
Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi says: “‘What is religion?’ my mind asked my heart. Whispering to my mind’s ear, my heart said, ‘Religion is noble conduct.'”
In our day, Islam is being attacked from all sides. Islam is facing such attack by virtue of its being the sole religion which reminds people of a Hereafter and calls them to truth and justice. Accordingly, it is imperative that believers strive for the future of Islam.
Allah has given the human being two ears and one mouth. This means that one should not speak without first listening and trying to understand.
Sufism is the art of forgetting grievance. It is the means of acquiring His good pleasure and approval through resignation to His every determination, bitter or sweet.
A believer who loves Allah will be subjected to many trials in their lives, to test the sincerity in their affection, in the same way that gold is rubbed against a touchstone to test its purity.
In this realm of trial, every product has its own market. A servant who seeks happiness should avoid wandering through the markets of misery and gazing at carnal and satanic shopfronts.
The sun of eternal happiness can only rise on the spiritual horizon of those who lead their lives in the light of Divine revelation, in accord with what is right, and who know how to transition to the Hereafter with a clear conscience, a sound heart and with nothing that will cause them shame.
The passing rosiness of worldly life is the precursor of a pallid end, and its heedless laughter, the omen of Hellfire’s crackling.
It is certain that a dark night of the worldly life deprived of the light of belief and acts of worship, and spent in all kinds of amusement, madness, oppression, injustice, and carnality, will not bring forth a bright morning of eternity.
The worst heedlessness is a person’s possessing a spiritually lifeless heart and not even being aware of it.
All of us will see in the Hereafter what we have done in this world. What we will reap in the Hereafter tomorrow can only be the crop of what we have sown in the worldly field today.
Funerals pass us by constantly on the street. Human beings should take lesson from the millions of people who are buried beneath the earth. They should continually contemplate their end, knowing that they too will one day be carried in that wooden casket.
Dominion belongs to Allah. It has been given to the servant as a trust. The believer has come to this world not to take possession of it, but to be a witness, or representative of the Qur’an and the Sunna. This is why wealth should be made a witness for one’s belief. This can be realised by viewing wealth not in the sense of ownership, but as a trust.
On the Day of Resurrection, other beings will be raised up along with human beings, and will seek retribution for the rights that were violated in the world. In this respect, the oppression of animals – not to mention human beings – over-exerting them, and even breaking off a fresh branch from a tree unnecessarily has been prohibited in the religion.
Human spirituality and carnality are like opposite ends of a balance. When one end becomes lighter, the other weighs heavy. Hearts cannot attain eternal pleasures until they draw away from fleeting ones. In just the same way that children cannot receive loftier sustenance and life-sustaining nourishment without first being weaned off milk.
The most fortunate of people are those who can render their hearts a spiritual meeting place in the climate of the Qur’an and the Sunna, and who are able to take in all of creation.
Every sincere service and endeavour undertaken purely for the sake of earning Divine approval, and far from any thought of self-interest, is an expression in action, of the aspiration and quest for ultimate union with Allah.
In this world, the poor are in need of the wealthy, while in the Hereafter, the wealthy will be in much more need of the prayers of the poor. The poor are in this sense an invaluable blessing for the wealthy, because it is through the poor that they are able to attain the approval and good pleasure of Allah.
A believer who aspires to attaining the good pleasure and approval of their Lord must first be pleased with God’s determination for them.
Patience is required, until one’s last breath, in times of affluence and poverty, in the endeavour to earn rewards and in avoiding sin. For, all of these are a means of Divine test and trial.
A believer must forget complaint even at the first moment of trial, when all afflictions and tribulations strike with all their might. They must consider the good that will come to them as a result of their patience, and must remain self-composed.
Some properties are referred to as timeshare properties. However, when considered from the perspective of belief, all transitory properties are in fact timeshare properties.
Selfish and uncaring indifference to the suffering of others can in no way reflect the scope of a Muslim’s conscience.
Allah Almighty gives to whoever He wills in abundance, and to whoever He wills, sparingly. But He holds everyone accountable relative to the bounties He bestows upon them.
Every blessing that the servant converts into capital for carnality is in reality not a blessing, but a spiritual affliction that will turn their otherworldly life into torment.
When one can offer thanks to Allah for His countless blessings and strive to earn His good pleasure and approval, what great ingratitude it is to instead focus on the bounty and forget the Bestower of that bounty.
Every blessing for which thanks is not given and which leads a person to heedlessness has in fact ceased to be a blessing, and has become instead a heavy burden in the Hereafter.
