The Second Age of Ignorance

Assalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuh, Auzu Billahi Minashaytanir Rajeem. Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem, Wassalatu Wassalamu ala Rasulina Muhammadin Sayyidul Awwalin wal Akhirin, Madad Ya Rasulallah, Madad Ya Sadat As’habi RasuLillah, Madad Ya Mashayikhina, Dastur Mawlana Sheikh Abdullah Faiz Daghestani, Sheikh Nazim al-Haqqani. Madad. Tariqatunas sohba, wal khayru fil jamiyya.

Our Holy Prophet ﷺ says that everything cuts off for a person except for three things. No goodness comes from his deeds and worship. After the soul is released, you cannot pray and you cannot fast anymore. You can only do them while alive and get benefit from them. Only three things last, one of which is Sadaqah Jariyah (ongoing charity), another is good children and the third is knowledge you leave behind. You should leave good knowledge after you. When people get benefit from these, Allah ﷻ leaves your book of good deeds open, and they are written there. The more they last, the more is written. But as we said, it should be good knowledge. Not all written knowledge is good, more often it is ignorance.

Ignorance means not to see the good. Not to see the truth is ignorance. Those who don’t see it are ignorant people. People become professors with good reputations at universities. They have no real reputation and no value at all. They are not passing knowledge but trying to mislead people from the path. And they are considered ignorant in the sight of Allah ﷻ. Ignorance is of many kinds. There are some ignorant people who are illiterate; they don’t know how to read and write. You call them ignorant. Who are they? They are those who don’t know how to read and write, don’t know about the religion, don’t pray and do whatever their egos like. It doesn’t matter if they are poor or rich. A person who follows his ego is ignorant. Even though he thinks he is knowledgeable, he is ignorant. And then there are educated people who don’t recognize Allah ﷻ. They are even more ignorant. They are both educated and ignorant. They do useful things for themselves and go against Allah ‘Azza wa Jalla at the same time. They are people who write things that are contrary to the orders of Allah ﷻ and show their ignorance as something good.

There are many types of ignorance. May Allah ﷻ protect us from ignorance. There are so many Ayat which say, “Do not be with ignorant ones. Do not associate with ignorant ones”. The same is said in Hadiths. Ignorance is darkness, ‘iman is light. Our Holy Prophet ﷺ came in the darkest time. He ﷺ filled the world with light. Our Holy Prophet ﷺ said that there will be the second age of ignorance which is even worse. It is the ignorance of our time. During his ﷺ time, people were illiterate and without knowledge, so they used to worship idols. They were ignorant. But when Haqq came, they turned to Haqq. But this time now is much worse. The second age of ignorance is much worse. May Allah ﷻ protect us. We wish that Allah ﷻ gives guidance to ignorant ones. What else can we do? May Allah ﷻ protect us from ignorance. It is a dangerous thing. The most dangerous thing is ignorance because it takes ‘iman away. May Allah ﷻ give us strong ‘iman and protect us.

Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq. Al-Fatiha.

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 26 August 2021/18 Muharram 1443 Fajr Prayer, Akbaba Dergah