Ṭarīqah is the Water of Life

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 Sheikh Abdullāh al-Fā’iz ad-Dāghistāni, Sheikh Muḥammad Nāẓim al-Ḥaqqānī. Madad. Ṭarīqatunā aṣ-Suḥbah wa l-Khayru fi l-Jam‘iyyah.

This is the main thing for ṭarīqah: the gathering of good people and giving naṣīḥah (advice). Because ṭarīqah and sharī’ah are the same; no difference. So to give people spiritual with zāhirī (apparent), there must be ṭarīqah also. It is like a bird. It cannot fly with one wing, there must be two. For this, we see many people who are not giving or are not happy with ṭarīqah. They have half a thing. They cannot do anything. Maybe many people can be around them, but when coming to get benefit, there’s nothing, dry.

This is “Mā’u l-ḥayāt, ḥaqqu l-ḥayāt”, “The Water of life, the Reality of life.” For the knowledge of Allāh ﷻ, we must be in ṭarīqah. Many people are thinking that ṭarīqah is a different way. It is the same, nothing different. What you do only is connecting yourself with the mashāyikh, with Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. This is the difference. And with Bay’ah, you put your hand and it is connecting to Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. This is not dry. This is a river, a sweet river. A sweet water giving life for the dry earth, becoming green, giving fruit, giving good things for people. No need to be afraid from ṭarīqah.

Ṭarīqah is the way of Prophets, all Prophets. ‘ ’, ‘Qul Lā 'As'alukum `Alayhi 'Ajrāan’, ‘Say, [O Muhammad], "I do not ask you for this message any payment.” (Qur’ān 42:23). We are not asking any benefit or anything from you. We only want to take you from down to up, from dunyā to heaven. This is our aim. Who is running after dunyā, dunyā runs [away] from him. People are knowing this but are still running after dunyā. Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam says in many ḥadīths that he ﷺ is not happy with who are running after dunyā. Because when you are running after dunyā, dunyā runs [away] from you, going away from you. If you leave dunyā, dunyā comes after you. This is what all ṭarīqahs, 41 ṭarīqah are teaching people.

Sayyidinā Abdul-Qādir Jīlānī left dunyā for twenty-five years. He was in the desert, not looking for anything. After that, when he came back, the whole dunyā was coming on him. And Masha’Allah he was not looking after dunyā. But also to make a lesson for people, he was dressing very well. Not looking like an unwell one. He was looking very well. This is an example. For twenty-five years, he didn’t want anything in the desert. When he came here also, to his place in Baghdad, he was also the same [even with having] the best thing. Nothing changed in him. “I was nothing. I don’t have anything. When I come here, I am wearing a good thing, I’m living good.” It is to teach the murīd who is following ṭarīqah to know there’s no difference between poorness and wealth. If they have wealth, also it is not changing their heart. If they have nothing, also not changing their heart. Because this is dunyā, if they have and one small atom of love for dunyā, they know they will not be acceptable in the Divine Presence of Allāh ﷻ. All of what Allāh ﷻ gives them, they thank for it. But if He ﷻ takes also, there is no problem for them. This is what all awliyā’u Llāh, all real ulamā', real ṣaḥābah are like. They are not giving any importance for dunyā.

Also Sayyidinā Abū Ḥanīfah. When they put him in jail, forcing him to be a judge. He said, “I don’t want.” And he was very rich, not taking any present from anybody because he is afraid from Shubḥā (doubtful matters). Of course, they are not like us. They know. They are very sensitive because they are an example [for people] and they are writing ḥukum (rulings) for the ummah. They were not caring about things that can be of harm for people. Because in that time of course when you are a judge, you must follow the order from up, from the Sulṭān or from the Wazīr or from others. So he did not accept [the offer of being a judge]. But the Sulṭān knows he is the best one, yet he didn’t know the wisdom of why he did not accept this. So they beat him. He was even old, maybe more than 70 years old. They beat him, beat him, beat him until he became a shahīd. But he didn’t accept this. And even if he accept, he can get anything. But he already has richness and has everything.

And the most important thing he has is the fear of Allāh ﷻ. He knows Allāh ﷻ. Ma’rifatu Llāh, this is Ma’rifatu Llāh (knowing Allāh ﷻ). And the most important thing for him, he said, “Lawlā sanatān lā ḥalaka l-Nu’mān.” If it wasn’t for these two years, Nu’mān (Himself/Abū Ḥanīfah Al-Nu’mān) would’ve been destroyed, nothing. These two years meaning those when he was with Sayyidinā Jaʿfar al-Ṣādiq in our Silṣilā (Chain). He was his Shaykh. His Shaykh from the Silṣilā gave him spiritual watering, watering him with blessed water from Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. So he became Imām Āẓam (The Great Imām). Most of the Muslims are following him. Even Sayyidinā Imām Shāfi’ī benefited very much from his ulūm, from his knowledge.

So these people are the people of Allāh ﷻ. We are happy to be following them. We are following the best people. Those whom Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam also gave them - Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam said many things. One of them is that he gave a sign (prophecy) about Sayyidinā Abū Ḥanīfah also. He ﷺ said that he will be keeping this dīn, this dīn: the religion of Islām. Because he wrote knowledge in which all imāms took from his knowledge. And he was very humble and accepted if there’s any wrong thing. He was very keen for this. He was making munāẓarah (disputation) and asking all his students. His students became the biggest ulamā’ in that time and after him. They are the pillar of Islām.

Of course in the time of Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam, by the wisdom of Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam, to not mix between the Qur’ān and between the ḥadīth, he ﷺ only ordered to write the Qur’ān. But after him ﷺ, he ﷺ allowed this. And Sayyidinā Abū Bakr, Sayyidinā Umar and Sayyidinā Uthman were all writing this. Because in the time of Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam, the ṣaḥābah, as Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam says, , “Aṣhābī kā n-nujūm bi ayyihim qtadaytum htadaytum”, “My companions are as the stars. Whichever you follow, you will be in Hidayah (guided).” All ṣaḥābah were imāms. Everyone is an imām. He can do what Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam was doing; there was no objection for this. But after Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam the ṣaḥābah little by little started to pass away. So there was a need for it to be registered, to be kept in writings, in books. So the law, sharī'ah and everything - after Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam, especially in the time of Sayyidinā Umar, most of them were registered and kept.

And from them, after that also ulamā’ were coming, like ulamā’ of ḥadīth. Nowadays there is a new kind of shayṭān coming. They are denying the ḥadīth saying, “This is good. This is not acceptable.” But these people were real ulamā’, Ulamā’ āmīlīn. They are making istikhārah, seeing Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam in their dream and they approve the ḥadīth. By this, they wrote. And all these ḥadīths by these ‘ulama are acceptable. Who says it’s not acceptable is making Fitnah, making doubt for Muslims. They want to destroy īmān, belief of Islām.

For this, we are giving example, one example. There are thousands like Abu Ḥanīfah radiya Llahu ‘anhu. They are who sacrifice themselves to keep this religion and they are alive until Qiyāmah. All these ‘ulum (knowledge), all of these which people are following, Allāh ﷻ writes for them also, rewards them. As Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam says, who teaches something or makes people to be in hidāyah, in the right way, Allāh ﷻ will reward him for each one [guided], one for him also. If one, one [reward]. If two, two. If ten, ten. If a hundred, hundred times reward, million, billion. Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla is generous, not afraid for them to finish. He ﷻ will reward. So these people, ulamā' will be rewarded billions, billions of times until Qiyāmah.

They are really clever: clever with their thinking and clever with how they are following Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam to get this reward. Not like people who make people go out from the way. Also Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam says, if you destroy someone’s belief, you will be punished for one, one; for two, two; for a billion, a billion times punishment for you. For this, these people are idiots. They are thinking they are winning something in being famous but they are losing their real life, the thing of real value.

We are praising these people, ulamā', awliyā’, ṣaḥābah, Ahlu l-Bayt, all of them. We love them. We accept what they are saying. Ahlu s-Sunnah wa l-Jamā’ah: this is our way. The ṭarīqah way are accepting all Ṣaḥābah and all Ahlu l-Bayt; no difference between them. Those who make difference, Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam is not happy with them. Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam is saying, “They are my companions. They are like stars. They are very valuable. Who is an enemy for them, I am an enemy for him.” This is what Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam was saying and there are many ḥadīths like this. So we are in shā’a Llāh on the way of Prophet ﷺ, way of awliyā'u Llāh, as-ṣāliḥīn (the righteous ones).

Until maybe forty or fifty years ago, there hasn’t been anyone like these people. But in the end of times, they are coming, growing like cancer, quickly destroying Islām, countries, putting doubt everywhere, destroying īmān, destroying after īmān Islām. They are destroying.

So we are asking Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla to send His ﷻ Ṣāḥib. Because we are now going in a time of no return. There is no time to make people to return from this bad habit, bad thing. Every day coming more shayṭān, more shayṭān, more dajjāl coming, making people in doubt. So the only solution for this is, as Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam was saying, Mahdī ‘alayhi s-salam. In shā’a Llāh he will come

and clean all this. Mawlānā Shaykh Nāẓim used to say they will be taken by a big broom. In shā’a Llāh Allāh ﷻ keep us safe to see these nice days in which there is no kufr, no shirk, no doubt, no shayṭān follower, no dajjāl. In shā'a Llāh we see this.

It will be a time of Barakah in the whole world. Mawlānā Shaykh used to say when Mahdī ‘alayhi s-salam comes, all these ugly concrete buildings, in one night the Jinn will take them and throw them in the ocean. Because all this concrete is illness, bad energy, a bad thing. And it was created in the communist system. You see many of them when you go to Uzbekistan or Russia or this area. You see this concrete. They like it too much. It’s giving hardness for heart. So after this, they throw all of this [concrete in the ocean] and Allāh ﷻ gives Barakah for the earth, for heaven. It starts raining in night time and day time. Opening, green everywhere, food, sheep giving birth twice. There will be very much barakah, without kufr. The whole world will be in peace and happiness, and no poorness. Even as Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ʿalayhi wa-sallam says, a man will go out to give zakāh, he will not find anybody to take zakāh. So he brings it and gives it to Baytu l-Mal because he must pay. He will put it there. Gold will be like mountains. Nobody wants. “There’s no need for this”, they’ll say. This time is in shā'a Llāh coming. We hope for it to be near and we ask Allāh ﷻ to send him to save the whole humanity. Humanity now is becoming very bad. May Allāh ﷻ keep us safe from them.

Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq. Al-Fatiha.

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 18 February 2024/ 08 Sha’ban 1445 Greengate Jamia Masjid – Oldham, UK