The Holiness of Our Ottoman Sultans

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.

Abu Ayyub Al-Ansari. Madad Ya RijalaLlah (O Men of Allah ﷻ).

Shukr to Allah ﷻ, we are meant to be here in holy Ramadan. We will break our fast and have iftar in this beautiful place insha’Allah, make Ziyarah and pray Tarawih. It is a beautiful month and an even more beautiful day today insha’Allah. May Allah ﷻ bless you.

The month of Ramadan is always beautiful. When is it not beautiful? When you don’t remember this beauty, you cannot taste it. When you remember it and appreciate it, Allah ﷻ lets you taste this beauty. He ﷻ makes you experience this beauty.

We were telling about the beauty of the month of Ramadan. As we said, whoever appreciates this beauty has its benefit. Who knows its value attains its Thawab. It is a very precious month. Our Holy Prophet ﷺ loved this month. And we love what our Holy Prophet ﷺ loves. Whoever prays a Nafl prayer attains Thawab of a Fard prayer in this month, says our Holy Prophet ﷺ. Therefore, the more people can perform Tarawih or night prayers, they should do so.

Shukr to Allah ﷻ, even though our country doesn’t have much to do with the religion, Allah ﷻ has given that love to people. They are striving to do everything perfectly. As a Nafl prayer has Thawab of a Fard prayer, how high is a Fard prayer! Our Holy Prophet ﷺ said one Fard prayer brings Thawab of seventy Fard prayers for the honor of this month.

The surroundings of Sayyidina Ayyub Sultan area is an area cherished by Sultans. Ottoman Sultans were the people who knew the value of everything and appreciated it. Their tastes and delicacy cannot be found not only in 1 person out of 100 but in 1 out of 1,000. Unfortunately, they constantly criticize Sultans and defame them. They attribute bad things to them that they hadn’t done.

Not all Ottoman Sultans were Khalifahs, but the last ones after Sultan Selim were Khalifahs. And before becoming Khalifahs, they had been following Khalifahs. According to the order of Allah ‘Azza wa-Jalla and Sunnah of our Holy Prophet ﷺ, they were the blessed people who accepted the four Madhhabs and Tariqahs. They must be shown great respect.

Unfortunately, those who defame them are absolutely disreputable foreign historians who have nothing to do with the religion and Islam. They may speak. They may say what they like. But sometimes Muslims believe them. “The Sultan did this. The Sultan drank this. The Sultan did that.” Never ever in their lives have the Sultans drank a drop of that! […] Traitors made them Shahid. Many people don’t know how many Sultans became Shahid. Some died by being given illness or poison, by being given this and that. They are Shahid. Apart from being Shahid, they are defamed and accused of dying from alcohol. Whereas if they came in this time, they’d be the greatest Awliya. Sultans are such great beings.

We are telling this today to our brothers. And Shukr to Allah ﷻ, this tool is broadcasting it all over the world. You must not have a tiny doubt about them in your heart. If you have doubt, that doubt will reduce your Iman. It will harm your Iman. Because they sacrificed their lives for Islam. They sought the pleasure of Allah ﷻ day and night. What they feared the most was: they would think, “How will we account for this?”

People think they enjoyed their lives in the Sultanate. They see it in absurd foolish movies on TV now and think that Sultans lived their lives in enjoyment and pleasure. No, their worry was the Ummah, not one or two persons. Sometimes in some families now, husbands and wives cannot tolerate each other and keep complaining about each other. Complaints of all the Ummah and millions of people were on the Sultans’ heads. They hardly slept at night. Therefore, we must always make Du’a that Allah ﷻ sends mercy to these great beings and raises their Maqam. Because Du’a brings benefit to us as well. Du’a elevates our spirituality and makes us from accepted people in the sight of Allah ﷻ. The Thawab from all these services will be granted to us as well. We will also have from their goodness. We will have from their good Du’a. Because they have both good Du’as and curses. May Allah ﷻ protect us.

People who have no goodness are those who slander others. They never had and will never have any goodness. Those who slander these great beings and sell their Akhirah for this cheap Dunya are idiots. We always say this. Kafirs are idiots. Unbelievers are idiots. Who are not on the way of Allah ﷻ are idiots. They are free, of course. We don’t force anyone to come. But it is our duty to say this. It is our duty to warn so that they wake up and come to their senses, so that they leave idiocy and think. They must think why we are on this way, why we were created. Were we created for this bad Dunya? Or were we created for Akhirah? They must think about this. When they think, they will come to their senses and reach guidance insha’Allah.

This advice is for the pleasure of Allah ﷻ. The message of our Holy Prophet ﷺ is to save people who have fallen into Dunya from Dunya. Some idiots ask, “Why was so much Jihad made? Why were so many lands taken?” For the pleasure of Allah ﷻ. The word of Allah ﷻ is for the benefit of people. All of that was done for people to be humans; not for money, not for land.

When the Islamic army went somewhere, they said, “You either become Muslim and be our brothers, or be our friends and pay taxes. If you don’t betray us, you may still remain here, or we will fight.” Why? Because people of those times were not treated as human where they went. Islam brought light and justice to this world. It brought mercy. Otherwise, why would they do so? The order of Allah ﷻ for people - He ﷻ created people with the highest rank. And when others oppress them, Islam is there to remove that oppression. Islam is there for people to have peace. It was done for that.

Wherever there were oppressed ones and people with needs, our ancestors fought and made Jihad in order to protect them. A hundred years since they are gone, we see oppression, badness, war and destruction. Millions of people died. All people who didn’t like the Ottomans and fought against them perished. They can’t make both ends meet. As we said, traitors were cursed. And enemies were damned by Allah ﷻ.

That’s why, we must know the value of our ancestors. Even the month of Ramadan was a great beauty for them. The whole country was experiencing the feeling of a feast throughout Ramadan. Everyone poor and rich, from the Sultan to the simplest man experienced this beauty. Shukr to Allah ﷻ, we are experiencing this beauty with their Barakah. Otherwise, it could have been forgotten long ago. Their honor and Barakah is everlasting. When Allah ‘Azza wa-Jalla shows mercy to some place, He ﷻ doesn’t cut His ﷻ mercy off. His ﷻ mercy is everlasting.

As we said, this is a very important point. The Sultans are very blessed people. We must not have the slightest bad thought about them. As we said, many of these blessed ones died before reaching 30 or 40 years. Very few lived over 50.

All of them were made Shahid by some means. But of course, people don’t know that. We must show respect to the Shahid. They are both our Sultans and Shahid. They are people who walked on the way of our Holy Prophet ﷺ. They followed the four Madhhabs. They showed respect and followed Tariqahs. They had Shaykhs. They were the people who sat at the feet of their Shaykhs and showed respect to them. They were beautiful people, in short. May Allah ﷻ increase their Maqams. Insha’Allah we will be together with them in paradise.

Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq. Al-Fatiha.

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 17 March 2024/ 07 Ramadan 1445 Eyup Sultan Dergah, Istanbul