The Real Root of All Evil

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.

Now, there are hypocrites. There are hypocrites among Muslims, and there are hypocrites among non-Muslims. Hypocrisy is rare among Muslims today; in fact, there is no need for a Muslim to be a hypocrite. If they do not perform prayer, they simply do not; they do not even care anymore. Muslims of this era are often unaware of what hypocrisy even is. The true hypocrites are the non-Muslims hypocrites. Who are they? They are people who attack Muslims and accuse them of all manner of evils. Those nonMuslims frighten people away from Islām. The motto of the Muslim is this du’ā’, “Allahumma Anta s-salam wa minka s-salam wa ilayka ya’udu s-salam fa-hyina Rabbana bis-salam.” That is to say: “O Allah, You are Peace; peace comes from You, and peace returns to You.” All forms of wellbeing come only from You and are found within the religion of Islām. The commandments a Muslim follows are these: Do not torment anyone. Do not oppress anyone unjustly. Do not kill anyone. Do not violate anyone’s rights. And do not seize anyone’s property. These are the commandments for a Muslim.

What non-Muslims do, however, is speak of “Islāmophobia.” They frighten everyone regarding Islām. This is the greatest form of hypocrisy. The phobias we ought to be discussing are different. Here, one should speak of Christianophobia, Buddhistophobia, Hinduphobia, and Communistophobia. Those are the real phobias. No group in the world has slaughtered one another to the same extent that Christians have slaughtered other Christians. When the Crusaders arrived in Anatolia, they reached Armenian strongholds. They said, “We are Christians too; let us join forces.” Believing this, the Armenians opened their gates. Once inside, the Crusaders left not a single man alive. They slaughtered everyone—young and old, men, women, and the elderly—declaring, “You are not one of us.” Before that, there was Constantine, the founder of Constantinople; he was the one who corrupted Christianity. He massacred anyone who did not acknowledge Isa ‘alayhi s-salām as the “son of god.”

Here in Germany, when Christianity first spread 1,500 years ago, people initially regarded Isa ‘alayhi s-salām as a prophet. Later, that other faction arrived and slaughtered everyone who refused to submit. Then came the Spanish and the Portuguese. They both

tortured and massacred people who were not of their own kind. They took millions of people from Africa; they killed most of them and enslaved the rest. Upon arriving in the Americas, they slaughtered as many of the indigenous people as they could. Those they did not kill directly, they destroyed by giving them disease-ridden goods. The same happened in South America. These so-called Christians has killed millions of people. Why do they speak of “Islāmophobia” but not “Christianophobia”? That is what makes me angry. Where has it ever been heard that a Muslim killed millions of people? Has such a thing ever been heard of? There were the Mongols, who destroyed everything in their way. Yet, in the end, even they converted to Islām. Before Islām, they were savages who slaughtered everyone in sight. Upon becoming Muslim, they brought civilization. Go and look at India; it is filled everywhere with their works. Indeed, this is entirely the work of shayṭān. If a Muslim ever committed an act of oppression—though such a thing is rarely heard of—let people dig deep into the matter. Invariably, one will find non-Muslims involved at the root of it.

Shukr to Allāh ﷻ, last week we were in Central Asia, in Uzbekistan. They spread knowledge; both worldly and spiritual knowledge to the world. The Muslims there radiated light in every direction. Before Islām, there was nothing of knowledge in those lands; they were illuminated by Islām. Their knowledge benefited both themselves and the entire world. Furthermore, all civilization reached Europe through the Muslims of Spain. In those regions known as Central Asia, there were also many spiritual guides. They had hundreds of thousands of disciples. Those mashāyikh would send their disciples to other lands—sending them to show people the way of truth, to teach knowledge and adab, and to impart the meaning of life. And they were of benefit to people—beneficial in every way—because they taught humanity.

Nowadays, people speak of “humanists,” but they are merely another type of hypocrite. Shayṭān never rests; he never sleeps. We sleep, but he continues his work; he never gets tired. Such is Allāh’s ﷻ wisdom: when a person sets out to do a good deed, they may feel reluctant or lazy, yet when they set out to do something evil, they proceed without the slightest hesitation. Therefore, for those on the way of truth, shukr to Allāh ﷻ, Allāh ﷻ accepts their deeds according to their intentions. Even if shayṭān didn’t make them carry out the act, if they simply say, “We will do it,” Allāh ﷻ grants them their reward based on their intentions. In Central Asia, the communists declared, “We have eradicated the roots of Islām.” There was no evil deed they left undone. Yet, shukr to Allāh ﷻ, once they departed, Islām sprung forth anew from that very soil. They razed the graves of the local scholars and entire Islāmic cemeteries to the ground, settling nonMuslims upon those sites. Unfortunately, this also occurred frequently in Cyprus and Türkiye; they removed old cemeteries and erected unnecessary structures in their place. In Cyprus, they cleared away the graves of our ancestors and forefathers to make room for

other construction projects. They discarded those massive, ancient Ottoman tombstones, replacing them with schools and similar superfluous buildings—and this happened in so many locations across Cyprus. Yet those very graves were the title deeds to our land. If you want to say today, “This is our land”, you no longer have any proof in hand. There were 500-year-old graves there; they took them all away and discarded them. As we mentioned, they thought that by stripping the people of Central Asia of their religion for eighty years, they had made them forget it. Shukr to Allāh ﷻ; in an instant, Allāh ﷻ eradicated those oppressors from the region. And Islām blossomed there once more, shukr to Allāh ﷻ. This is due to the barakah of the murshids and mashāyikh there; their roots run deep. Even if unseen from above, or even if cut down at the surface, they suddenly sprout again from the depths.

That is why being in the company of a murshid (spiritual guide) is crucial. One must follow their way. Showing them respect brings benefit in both this world and the hereafter. Some people might come forward and say, “There is no need for such things.” We shall not call them ignorant; we shall call them hypocrites—those who say, “Ṭarīqah is unnecessary.” It cannot be without it. You cannot learn on your own. You cannot become an engineer or a doctor on your own. You absolutely must have a teacher. A wise person recognizes the value of this. For the sake of the Hereafter, they desire to be in the company of such a guide. We saw the tombs of so many sultans there; they all wished to be buried beside the ‘Awliyā’. Some even wished to lie at the feet of their murshid. These were people who once ruled the world. They did not do this without reason. If you are looking for wise people in this world, they are the wisest of all. Life does not last forever; it is only for a limited time. One must think about what comes after. The most direct way to saving one’s Hereafter is to love our Prophet ṣallá Llāhu ‘alayhi wa-sallam, for he ﷺ uttered these blessed words: “A person is with whom they love.” That is why shayṭān and his army are infuriated by this—by the mention of intercession or reverence for our Holy Prophet ﷺ. If you love our Prophet ﷺ, they go mad with rage, for they never want people to attain salvation. Shayṭān said to Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla, “I will lead them all astray; we shall enter Hell together.” Consequently, it displeases them greatly to see anyone saved.

Therefore, shukr to Allāh ﷻ, the way of the ṭarīqah is the way that leads to our Prophet ﷺ. It is a way that seeks his ﷺ love and his ﷺ intercession; a way that teaches every form of reverence and proper adab toward the Prophet ﷺ. May Allāh ‘Azza wa-Jalla never let any of us stray from that way, and may He ﷻ grant guidance to others as well, in shā’a Llāh. This path is vast enough for everyone; it suffices for all. Our Prophet ﷺ said, “A believer, a Muslim, must desire for others the same good he desires for himself.” Thus, ṭarīqah is a way of love for humanity; it exists to encourage people toward this beautiful way. Others, however, harbor envy; there are many who say, “Let only me enter; let no one else.” We will tell a funny story about that. Over in Arabia, there’s a certain

type of people who deny the honoring of our Prophet ﷺ. Two men were sitting and talking. One said, “They are all polytheists; only you and I are left!” Then, looking at his friend’s house, he saw a satellite dish—a television antenna. “You are a polytheist too!” he declared. “I am the only Muslim left in the entire world!” That is the mentality they have; that is the mentality of those who oppose Sufism. Sufis, on the other hand, always say: “Everyone else is better than I am.” They say, “MashaAllah, everyone else is far better than we are.” The mentality of those people is the mentality of shayṭān, whereas the mentality of the Sufi is the mentality of our Holy Prophet ﷺ. May Allah ﷻ set them right. May no one be deceived by them; there are many who are easily deceived—may Allah ﷻ protect us.

Wa min Allāhi t-Tawfīq. Al-Fātiḥa.

Mawlana Sheikh Muhammad Adil ar-Rabbani 23 September 2026/ 12 Rabih Al-Akhir 1448 Salzgitter-Lebenstedt, Germany