Listen and Understand

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,

Listen and understand. When you understand, you will benefit. This isn’t a ḥadīth, but perhaps a saying of Sayyidinā Abu Bakr or Sayyidinā Osman. Because people hear but don’t understand. They only speak, but they don’t benefit from what they say. Therefore, this blessed saying says, “Listen and understand.” If you understand, you will benefit from what you hear accordingly.

Most people come and say whatever is on their mind. They neither understand what the other person is saying nor benefit from it. Therefore, if you want advice, knowledge, or an opinion from people, listen to it carefully, understand it. Understanding makes things easier. You must look at what is necessary, not what you want. People have now become stuck into a mold [with the same mindset], wanting the other person to say the same thing. If they say the same thing, that’s good. However, they don’t understand what they themselves are saying; they don’t understand what they want, what they are asking, or the answer they receive. Even if it’s their own idea, they don’t know what it means. Therefore, one must pay attention. One must understand what is being said. Understanding leads to benefit; not understanding is useless.

That’s why, these lessons, Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla has revealed in Qur’ān ‘Aẓīmu shSha’n; it is a blessed and sacred word, the word of Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla. To understand it, one certainly needs a Shaykh or a teacher. You cannot understand it according to your own mind. Nowadays, some self-proclaimed intellectuals have emerged, saying, “We can read and understand it ourselves; there’s no need for madhhab, no need for ṭarīqah; we can understand these things on our own.” You cannot understand it! As we said, you neither understand what you are asking nor the answer you receive. You will come up with something that you claim to have understood, but that is nothing but the whispers of shayṭān. May Allāh ﷻ protect us. May Allāh ﷻ make us among those who truly understand. May our minds and hearts be opened. It’s not enough to understand with just

the mind and intellect; we must understand with the heart as well. May Allāh ﷻ open the hearts of us all, so that we may see the truth, in shā’a Llāh.

Wa min Allāhi t-Tawfīq. Al-Fātiḥa.

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 04 August 2026/ 21 Safar 1448 Fajr Prayer – Akbaba Dergah, Istanbul