Who is the Zahid?

As-Salāmu ‘Alaykum wa Raḥmatullāhi wa Barakātuh. A‘ūdhu Billāhi Minash-shayṭāni r-rajīm. Bismillāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm. Wa ṣ-Salātu wa s-Salāmu ‘alá Rasūlinā Muḥammadin Sayyidi l-Awwalīna wa l-Akhirīn. Madad yā RasūlAllāh, Madad yā Sādāti Aṣḥābi Rasūlillāh, Madad yā Mashāyikhinā, Dastūr Mawlana Shaykh Abdullāh al-Fā’iz ad-Dāghistāni, Shaykh Muḥammad Nāẓim al-Ḥaqqānī. Madad. Ṭarīqatunā aṣ-Suḥbah wa l-Khayru fi l-Jam‘iyyah.

AlhamduliLlah for our brother, he is Masha’Allah – may Allah ﷻ give him more and more light insha’Allah. It is good. Allah ﷻ sends Barakah with such people who respect Awliyau’Llah, respect the servants of Allah ﷻ. And this respect is for the respect of Allah ‘Azza wa-Jalla, not for anything else; for Allah ﷻ. Allah ﷻ is happy with His ﷻ beloved one, with people who give good things for [other] people.

As he said first, we are Ahlu s-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah. Ahlu s-Sunnah walJama’ah are following Prophet salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. And the first thing for the Prophet salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam:, “Be merciful to those who are on the earth, and you will be shown mercy from Who is in the heaven.” Be merciful to those who are on earth, so Who is in the sky, Who is in heaven, Allah ‘Azza wa-Jalla will be merciful to you., “Who does not show mercy will not be shown mercy.” [Hadith] Who is not merciful will not be shown mercy himself.

This is the main thing for Sufism, as they say. Sufi means Tariqah, from Ahlu s-Ṣuffah or anything else. These people for the love of Prophet ﷺ have mercy for human beings. Why are they like this? Because Prophet salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says this. And the teaching of Tariqah is to be humble, not to be proud.

Who is not in Tariqah is all the time proud, “We do this, we do that. We are like this, we are like that.” And they are happy with their ego. As the ego is going bigger, they are more - they thought they are happy. But Tariqah makes the ego smaller; smaller and smaller, not bigger and bigger. Also the ego, Allah ﷻ created it for you to make you go more higher with Iman and Islam. As much as you make it smaller and you control it, you will be a winner. But as much as you

make your ego bigger, first Allah ﷻ will not love you, the Prophet ﷺ will not love you and also people will not love you. “Egoistic” they’ll say. Even non-Muslims or non-believers; nobody loves the egoistic one, who has a big ego. They don’t like it at all. They’re only captured by their ego and they think that everybody is happy with them. When they’re making their ego [bigger], “I am like this. I am like that”, they think it is good. Even in this, they are cheated by themselves. But for Tariqah and for Shari’ah also, the ego is not good.

All of Awliyau’Llah were running away from appearing or showing themselves. Many of them are like this. There are many examples especially - it came to me tonight - Sayyidina Sufyan Al Thawri. He is from the big Awliyau’Llah. He was running away from any high rank or position. Once he was with Sayyidina Abu Hanifa. They were during the same time. This Khalifah intended to put one of them as a judge, as the highest judge. Nowadays people, if someone said, “You will be a doorman for the court” they fight each other to get this job. But at that time, even if they will put him as chief judge, the Sultan, he won’t accept.

They said there were four of them, big Awliya, big ‘Ulama. One of them was Sayyidina Abu Hanifa. They were thinking how to escape from this position. Not running for it; they are escaping from it. Even Sayyidina Abu Hanifa, Imam ‘Azam, the greatest Imam of Fiqh, who the whole knowledge of religion came from him, he was running away from this. The Sultan caught him and said, “You must accept this.” And he was old, maybe 70 years old. He said, “No, I cannot accept.” He answered, “If you don’t accept, I will put you in prison.” He didn’t accept and he was put in prison. And every time they were asking him [again] if he will do this, he was not accepting. So he [Sultan] was ordering his guards to beat him. And even by this, he was not accepting because it is a responsibility. They cannot make anything that oppresses people. They are merciful people. They don’t accept to do that. Even if the Sultan says so, there is a Bigger Sultan: Allah ‘Azza wa-Jalla. He ﷻ will ask about this. They were beating him and beating him every time. But at the end, the Sultan was afraid of the people because the people loved Sayyidina Abu Hanifa so much. Sayyidina Abu Hanifa was with Sayyidina Imam Ja’far Hazretleri. He studied 2 years in Tariqah, our Tariqah, this Tariqah, all Tariqah. But in our Silsila (chain) Sayyidina Ja’far as-Sādiq was one of these Imams and he taught him. And with this, the Sultan took him out. After that, they poisoned him and he became Shaheed. Even with this, he was happy not to go along with the big responsibility, to be not merciful to people.

This is the real Islam, the real men of Allah ﷻ, the beloved ones of Allah ﷻ. All of them are like this. Sayyidina Sufyan Al Thawri also. He was his whole life tough on himself. His Murids asked him, “Why are you so much tough on yourself?” He said, “I am tough [..]. Because when people go to Jannah, there will be some light/Nur shining in Jannah, people will think it is the Light/Nur of Allah ‘Azza wa-Jalla. And they will go to Sajdah. There will be a call for them, “O My servants! Take your head up from [it being] down. This is not My Nur/Light, it is only one Hoor Al-Ayn.” When she saw her master, her husband, she smiled and from her smile came this Nur. If this is like that, if they were not blamed for making Sajdah, how can I get blamed for [being tough on myself for] the real Nur of Allah ‘Azza wa-Jalla!” For this he was tough on himself. He was not looking for his health, or to what he was eating, where he was going or coming. And he was like an old man even when he was a young man; his back was like this [hunched back]. They asked him, “Why do you do this?” He said, “Because I’m afraid. I see many people in the end of their lives go without Iman. For this, I’m afraid. I’m making this I’badah (worship) for this reason.”

Once he was ill - he was maybe 60 or 65 years old when he passed away. His Murids brought him some doctor. The doctors in Baghdad were Christians. They were living with other people together. They were not forcing, “You must be Muslim.” If they like, they can be. So the doctor was looking at him, putting his [ear on him]. Mawlana Sheikh Nazim Hazretleri says, “Old doctors were real doctors.” Even when they examine ladies, if the doctor is a man, he just puts one rope while she’s inside and he’s outside. And with his hand he knows what the problem is and he gives the treatment. So this doctor was a clever one. When he finished testing him he said, “What is this! How is this man alive! His lungs are finished, his kidney is finished, his liver is finished. It is impossible to be alive with all of this!” And he asked him, “How are you alive?!” He said, “We believe in Allah ﷻ. Allah ﷻ is Able to do anything. Without anything, we can live.” So the doctor said, “If I saw this by myself, it must be the real religion.” And he took Shahadah and became Muslim.

These are Awliya’uLlah. They are not a joke. Ahlu s-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah from that time until this time - Thousands of those with not good belief and not good Aqidah (creed), came and went without anybody knowing anything about them. But the real ones, the beloved ones for Allah ﷻ, they are all the time mentioned and people visit them. Even if they cannot visit them they can read for them. They ask for Dua from them, and they are responsible for it. When you ask from them, with their Barakah, you will take what you want.

Some people say about themselves Ahlu s-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah, but they say things that are not from Ahlu s-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah. They every time say, “When you go, don’t ask from the people of the graves. Ask from Allah ﷻ.” We are asking from Allah ﷻ, not asking from these people. We are going to them because Allah ‘Azza wa-Jalla is sending the Barakah and Rahmah (mercy) for these people. And when you are near them, Allah ﷻ looks at you, “This one loves Our beloved one” and He ﷻ gives you what you want.

This is the reality, but these people don’t understand. They don’t have wisdom. They think we are asking from people. These people are Allah’s ﷻ beloved ones. For their Barakah - we put our Dua between this Barakah and ask from Allah ﷻ what we want. And it is all the time of benefit, all the time good. For this, Mawlana Sheikh was saying when some people have a problem, in any place [they are], go visit 7 Awliyau’Llah in their graveyard and ask from Allah ﷻ for their Barakah to give you what you want: Shifa’ (cure), children, money, a good life. Everything for their Barakah, Allah ﷻ will give insha’Allah.

Of course, the reality, what they are teaching is to be with Allah ﷻ all the time. Don’t look for Dunya. Dunya is not important to put in your heart. [..] Since 50 years this money is coming and dividing the whole Muslim world. They made the Muslims enemies to each other because they have money. But when Muslims have money, they cannot do this. For this, money is not to be put in your heart, put it in your hand and give for every good thing. When you give one, Allah ﷻ gives you ten, Allah ﷻ rewards you ten, Allah ﷻ rewards you hundreds, Allah ﷻ rewards you thousands.

It is also important. We are not saying - some people say, “I am Zahid.” Zuhud means not to want anything from Dunya. Yes, if you don’t have anything and you say “I am Zahid” you are not Zahid [because] you don’t have. But if you have and you give, this is the real Zahid; who doesn’t want anything from Dunya. Zuhud means we do not to want anything from Dunya, we give for the benefit of people, for the benefit of Islam. This is the teaching of Tariqah. Because people maybe say, “Don’t work. Don’t do anything. You are Dervish. You are Zahid. No need for you [to work].” If you don’t have anything and you say “I am Zahid”, you already don’t have anything. But if you have, after that we will see if you are Zahid or not Zahid. That time it will appear what your reality is!

May Allah ﷻ help us. We are living in a time when you think many people are saying a good thing but in reality they are trying to destroy Islam. This is what we are suffering from. What Prophet salla Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says about Muslims in the end of times is that there are many Muslims but there is no value for them because most of them are out of his ﷺ way. May Allah ﷻ help us. May Allah ﷻ keep us in His ﷻ way insha’Allah.

Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq. Al-Fatiha.

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 20 January 2023/ 27 Jumada al-Akhir 1444 Masjid-e-Raza – Blackburn, UK