Our Real Marathon

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.

Bismi Llāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm:

(Qur’ān 06:32). ‘Wa mā l-hayāatu d-Dunyā illā la’ibun wa lahwun wa la’ddāru l-Akhiratu khayrun lil-ladhīna yattaqūn’, ‘And the worldly life is not but amusement and diversion; but the home of the Hereafter is best for those who fear Allah.’ Ṣadaqa Llāhu l-‘aẓīm.

Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla is saying in this Ayah: this dunyā is only for enjoying and playing; nothing of benefit. What’s of benefit is the next life. Today we saw this in Berlin. They said there is a big marathon, meaning running for hours and hours. For what? For enjoying themselves; but it finishes. It is for maybe two hours, four hours, ten hours, then it finishes. For what? There is no benefit for them. It is only to say, “We ran all day in the marathon in Berlin; very famous. We are runners. Once upon a time, I was running.” To tell their children or grandchildren. The benefit is only for these people who are taking this seriously and are training themselves, coming from their countries, taking awards with money and going. They are the most benefitting ones between all these people. Maybe they get happy, “We trained the whole year and we managed to finish this.” But this is only a little bit of happiness and satisfaction. But for their whole life: they will forget this quickly.

Our real marathon is for us, for believers. In which not only two people or four people take this money or award and go happy; we can be all happy. Because in this marathon: they are running and many of them cannot finish maybe. They must be patient. Even if they are tired, they try to finish; to not leave it without finishing. Our marathon alhamduliLlah is from day one, from being a baby when born until death. And it is not difficult. You mustn’t be fed up and you mustn’t be

tired. It is not tiring but maybe shaytan makes it feel difficult and makes you tired. But it’s not at all.

In this marathon, everyone who joins this marathon gets award. A real award. Forever. You not only feel it for a few hours. You feel happy forever because this is the promise of Allāh ﷻ:, ‘Wa la’d-dāru lAkhiratu khayrun lil-ladhīna yattaqūn’, ‘But the home of the Hereafter is best for those who fear Allah.’ (Qur’ān 06:32). Ākhirah is better for believers.

In everything in life, there are two against each other. Dunyā people, those who are following their desires and going after what they like – they thought it is good for them when doing this, but they don’t know that this happiness quickly finishes. After this comes sadness, comes emptiness, comes being fed up. This is what happens for these people who are trying to enjoy themselves against the way of nature. Because Allāh ﷻ has given a limit for everything. You cannot, by yourself, go beyond this limit. For everything, for happiness, for sadness: for everything there is a limit. So if you think you do something you’ll be happy: you cannot.

We see many people think they will be training for the end of their lives, making their bodies with big muscles, strong muscles. But after they become very strong and look muscled everywhere, they cannot continue. And later on, they become like a bag of fat. Because for everything, Allāh ﷻ has given a nature. They say “Nature”. Nature is from Allāh ﷻ. The nature of human beings: they have a limit for everything which they can do their whole life. They are forcing themselves to do more than what they can do. Some reach a limit and after this they finish; they cannot do anything after this.

This is our Creator. He ﷻ wants like this. When you are doing by yourself, you cannot get any benefit, you cannot take any pleasure and any taste from what you do. To do what Allāh ﷻ orders is for your nature: easy and suitable. Other thing is not suitable at all. Because when you are doing against your nature – against the nature is to do bad things, to do wrong things, to do forbidden things. Every time you do a forbidden thing, heaviness comes on you, darkness comes on you.

For this, this Ayah clearly – each Ayah in the Qur’an is an ocean of wisdom. And this Ayah is especially for these days, it is exactly saying: Playing and enjoying. , ‘Wa mā l-hayāatu d-Dunyā illā la’ibun wa lahwun”, “And the worldly life is not but amusement and diversion.” (Qur’ān 06:32). And, , ‘Wa la’d-dāru l-Akhiratu khayrun lil-ladhīna yattaqūn’, ‘But the home of the Hereafter is best for those who fear Allah.’ (Qur’ān 06:32).

The best for people is the next life where there isn’t any sadness, not any boredom, not any pain, not any illness. All of this will be for people who are following the order of Allāh ﷻ in the next life, and this life also will not be heavy for them. Those not doing forbidden things and are doing what Allāh ﷻ orders, it will be easy for them to live here, and the better, the best is the next life for them also.

This is what all prophets were telling people through the heavenly order of Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. And their followers also, but they changed many things before our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam. And they allowed some things that are not allowed by heavens. By themselves, they changed many things. They changed, but the real benefit for human beings, for each people, for each person is Islam which shows what you must do, what you can do, what you mustn’t do, what’s forbidden to do.

Nowadays people, they are looking for something different for their health. A different kind of diet or way life: to eat, to not eat. What they must eat and what they mustn’t eat, they say. Some of them said you must only eat grass. Some of them: you can eat grass and some kind of milk – or what I don’t know anything of – something with grass, and don’t eat meat. But other ones say, “Only eat meat.” Some of them say, “Don’t eat anything, only drink water.” All of this is not the nature of human beings which Allāh ﷻ created us upon. You must eat from all of this which is allowed for you to eat: from meat, from all vegetables also, not only one kind. Now people make this for children also: they don’t know any vegetable. They only know potatoes from vegetables. Because in each one, Allāh ﷻ has put a secret healthy thing in these vegetables that you can eat. So you are in need of this for your body.

And this is the perfection of our religion. It is coming from Allāh ﷻ. Because He ﷻ created us and gave us the instructions on how to use our body. He ﷻ sent prophets. And after prophets ulamā, Awliyā’, Mashāyikh. All of them are telling us what we must do. We must look after what they are saying and follow them insha’Allah and how they were doing. AlhamduliLlah many people saw Mashāyikh. They saw Mawlānā Shaykh Nāẓim. He was the best example, the perfect example for us on how he lived and his life. And he lived a long a life with good health, good mind and good everything. This is the biggest example for us. AlhamduliLlah he made people after him maybe becoming more and more, and they have continued to serve him. We are happy with them. Allāh ﷻ becomes happy also insha’Allah. May Allāh ﷻ make Sayyidina Al-Mahdi ‘alayhi s-salam come and meet here also insha’Allah. Insha’Allah may they make more and more dergah and Jami’.

Wa min Allah at-Tawfiq. Al-Fatiha.

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 29 September 2024/ 26 Rabih al-Awwal 1446 Isha Prayer – Berlin, Germany