BismillahirRahmanirRahim

LOVING THOSE WHOM ALLAH LOVES

Khutba delivered by Sheykh Abdul Kerim el-Hakkani el-Kibrisi

Friday 27 Rajab, 1426

September 2, 2005

Osmanli Naks-i'bendi Hakkani Dergah, Siddiki Center, New York.

(Sheykh began the Khutba in Arabic and then continued in English)

Medet Ya Syyidi Ya Sultanul Awliya, Medet.

Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) is addressing us through His prophets what

He wants from us and what is it that we have to do in this world. It

is a great blessing to mankind for their Lord to send a message

saying, "This is what I want from you." If He didn't send any

messengers and if He didn't send any books to us, then the

intelligence that He has given us was going to make us responsible

in the Judgment Day. We were going to be appearing (on earth) and

saying, "Oh, what happened? Who put us here?" And that way we would

have been forced to think and find our Lord. But Allah (subhana wa

ta'ala) made it easier for us with His mercy. He sent prophets,

books, messengers (rasuls) and (holy) people who came after.

No group of people in the Judgment Day is going to be able to

say, "I didn't know. I didn't know any better and so I didn't do

this and I didn't do that." Allah is saying to us, "We have sent a

reminder to every nation." Somebody to remind them, somebody to tell

them and somebody to give them the good news also. The messengers

didn't just come to remind us and to put fear in us. They also came

to give us the good news, to teach us and to show us how much our

Lord cares for us and loves us.

If a man is not showing any love back to that Lord who is giving

everything, that one is Kafir. Kafir (unbeliever) is that one.

Twenty-four hours a day the Creator is sending His mercy, His

rahmat. Everything around us and everything in and out of us is

because of His mercy. If you are not returning that love even with

mere words by sitting somewhere saying, "O my Lord, You love me and

I love you," then for that one it is better to be under the earth

than to be above it.

Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) knowing how weak we are, knowing that we

are going to leave everything and run away from His orders and run

after our ego, He made some special days and some special nights for

us to catch up with the things that we have left behind. In one Ayat

He is saying to us, "O you who pass your limits in every wrong

thing, going under the heavy burden of sins, don't lose hope from

Him, because He is the Most Forgiving One. You will find Him

forgiving for you whatever you have done, as soon as you turn to Him."

This Ayat is a sign showing to us that in the holy days and holy

nights that are coming, if we turn sincerely to our Lord and if we

prepare ourselves for those days sincerely then we will be finding

comfort and peace coming to our hearts. We will understand then that

we have been forgiven. If a man is not forgiven then with the burden

of the sins that he is carrying he cannot live in this world (in

peace).

Allah creates reasons to forgive us. In one hadith Holy Prophet

(alayhi salatu wa salam) is saying to us, "When the days are

approaching for the night of Berat (night of calculations,

accounting night) spend that night in worshipping to your Lord and

spend the day in fasting. Then you will find Allah (subhana wa

ta'ala) forgiving you and forgiving your sins.

We are all full with these (sinful) ways. Especially, being the

people of the 20th and 21st century, we are not caring anything for

our Hereafter life. We are so busy caring for this life, and this

life is occupying us twenty-four hours and this world is taking us

as hostages. We are working, working, working day and night non-stop

but before you know the world comes to an end and the life comes to

an end. As soon as the life comes to and end then the work is

finished. All the mountains of work that you have is going to stay

there. You cannot do anything about it. I am finding so many people

like this in these days, from the believers, from the people who

gave Shahadat. (I am saying,) "Just come for Juma once a week. Once

a week respond back to your Lord saying, `Oh, You love me and I love

You. That's why I am obeying Your orders.'" Once a week!

You are running for the world to earn things from the world but you

are not going to. If you are not making Allah happy with you then

the world is not going to give you the best of it. It's going to

give you only the headaches of it and the burdens of it because the

world has also been ordered by the Creator Allah (subhana wa ta'ala)

that, "Those who run after you, run away from them. Cheat them and

fool them saying to them, `I am yours. Come, come.' And they will be

busy with you running after you all the time. But never give any

treasure to them. Keep them wandering, keep them in pain, keep them

in suffering and keep them running after you. Any minute, any second

they turn away from you and they turn their faces towards Me then

put all the treasures under their feet." This is the order that

Allah has given to this world. Except man, all other creatures are

obeying the order. Except man. Man has been created in Ahsani

Taqweem, as the most perfect one, but man is the one that is

disobeying the order. All other creatures and anything that you are

seeing, alive or dead (to you it's dead but in the Divine Presence

everything has a life, everything in existence has a life in their

own world) are obeying that order.

So Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has ordered to this world and this is

what this world is doing. Anyone who leaves Allah and runs after the

world just gets tired. Tired, tired, tired and in the end they

retire and after that they become retired to the other side. What is

the benefit of this world then? What did you gain? You must think.

If everything was given to us, if the whole world was given to us by

tonight, what are we going to do if we don't have Allah? What are we

going to do if we don't have Islam? What are we going to do if we

don't worship? What are we going to do then? Sit and eat non-stop

and sleep non-stop? Your life has no meaning then.

So Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has given this world to us to keep us

busy someway somehow because when a man is alone and he turns only

to Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) and he thinks non-stop trying to

understand, trying to know and trying to come closer to Allah

(subhana wa ta'ala), then he may lose his mind. It's because the

capacity that has been given to the intelligence is only limited but

Allah has no limitation. So if a man is trying to find his Lord with

the limited capacity of the intelligence then he is going to lose

that. He is going to blow that box away. So Allah (subhana wa

ta'ala) has also given us this worldly work so that when we are

tired of thinking so much then we can keep our head busy with these

worldly things and while we are doing those things He will give us

answers from different angles and different ways that are coming to

us. He is the one who is putting the question in us and He is the

one who is going to give the answer. When the question is coming, if

you are asking and waiting properly, then you may get the answer.

But it is also another thing about this century that people have no

patience. No patience at all. They want to do everything that comes

to their mind right away. Nineteen-years-old man is only going to

understand nineteen-years-old intelligence. He cannot understand

what is going to be for him when he is eighty-years-old. Every age

is giving different maturity to a man. That's why Allah (subhana

wa ta'ala) is showing to us again that He made His prophets, almost

every one of them, when they reached to forty years of age. That's

when He sent them prophethood. He could've prepared them at twenty

years of age to give them prophethood. It's showing to us that we

need to have the maturity age to be able to carry.

And when a man is preparing himself in early ages for that then he

is going to find the answers. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) will not

leave us without any answers. He has created us and He is promising

to us that when we are obeying Him then He is under our service. We

are saying we are serving Allah. What are we doing? Praying? Prayer

is for you. Musa (alayhi salam), the Kalimullah, one of the Ulul

Azam prophets to whom a Book is given, Allah is addressing him

saying, "Ya Musa, what have you done for me?"

The Prophet is saying, "O Ya Rabb, I am praying."

"That's for you."

"I am fasting."

"That is also for you."

"I am making pilgrimage."

"That is also for you."

"I am giving in Your way what You have given to me, sharing."

"That is also for you."

He says, "Ya Rabbi! I don't know what to do for you."

So Allah is addressing saying to him, "Love those that I love and

leave those that I don't love."

If we just obey this then we will find ways because if we love those

that Allah loves then their blessing is going to reach to us before

anything else because they are sitting in the Divine Presence.

Whatever they ask Allah will not say `no' to them. They ask and

Allah says, "I'll give. Whatever you want I'll give." But we must

try to reach to those and reaching to those is not running and

giving something, taking something or whatever you have. No. It's

the proper manners. Proper respect. That's what they are looking at

because where every knowledge, every intelligence and every `ilm is

finishing, that's where proper manner is beginning. And then, who

has proper manners has intelligence.

All intelligence is to teach people to have proper manners. We are

seeing it from Sheytan that he lost and he has been kicked away from

the Divine Presence only because he lost the proper manners. He was

worshipping. No one can worship the way that he was worshipping. He

was doing everything but he lost the proper manners. When the Lord

of the Heavens said to him, "Make sejdah to this one." He looked (at

Adam alayhi salam) and he said (to Allah), "No, it is wrong what you

say." That's how he lost the proper manners. He didn't curse. Today

so many people are cursing to Allah and His Prophet (saw). He didn't

curse. He didn't say ugly words that man is using today. But he

said, "You made a mistake. That one is supposed to be prostrating to

me, not me to him. That's a mistake." He lost the manners and all

these worship and everything that he did, Allah counted them for

zero and He said to him, "Get lost from the Divine Presence, and

wherever I am sending you is a punishment to you. Stay there until

the Last Day. And after that I will put you into accounting."

So when a man loses proper respect then he will also be kicked away

from the Divine Presence. The Divine Presence (for murids) is the

dergah, the dergah of Allah. It is not such that (after losing the

Divine Presence for improper manners) a man is going to leave this

area, going somewhere else, living there and worshipping. No. Then

anywhere you turn your way to worship, (you will find that) you have

been kicked away. You have been cursed away. You can turn, you can

go up and down but you are not going to benefit anything then.

So all knowledge is teaching us to have proper respect. And all

these things that Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) is ordering us to do, He

is saying to us (about them), "You are doing those and through them

you are learning proper respect. Through that proper respect I am

bringing you closer to Me." And as He said to Musa (alayhi salam), "All these

that you are doing is for you." If a man is

praying, fasting, giving zakat and going to hajj, it is all for him.

As soon as you enter into the grave, they cover the grave, the Imam

gives the last words to you, he takes off and then you are alone in

the grave. As soon as everybody leaves from there then the fire

starts coming from four sides. If you were praying then one wall

comes to one side covering that part. If you were fasting then

another wall comes, it becomes a fireproof wall and the fire cannot

penetrate through. If you were giving zakat, it was for who? For

yourself. If you were giving zakat and sadaqa then another wall

comes covering the fire not to enter to your grave. If you did the

last principle of Islam, if you went to Hajj then another wall comes

and it covers it. So you will be surrounded by those four walls and

the fire will not touch you then. You will be in safety. If you

didn't do the last one, if you didn't get the chance to do it then

another good deed that you did covers that and you will be safe

there.

But only being safe there is not enough again. Now two windows are

going to open on two sides, one on the right side and one on the

left side of where you are laying down. From the right side you will

see the paradises and from the left side you will see the fire, the

hell. The angels show to you saying, "Look, this was the place that

you were supposed to enter, in the hell, but the mercy of your Lord

came and it put you in the paradise. Then your grave becomes one

piece of paradise. There is no worrying for you then.

So Allah is saying to us, "You will become beloved to Me when you

are keeping the orders that I give to you." The orders are the five

principles of Islam. If you do that sincerely, without making any

show to anybody, then you will become beloved to Allah. Whatever you

are, if you do that sincerely then you will become beloved to Allah

(subhana wa ta'ala). Do you think when you become beloved to Allah

(subhana wa ta'ala), Allah is going to send that fire to you? What

kind of love is this? When we have just a little bit of love for

someone in our hearts, or let's put it this way, you hate someone so

much but that person has one good thing that you always liked, and

if the chance is given to you then you won't put that one to burn in

the fire saying, "Ah, this one has this good behavior. Let me

forgive." So if you are doing these five principles then you will

become beloved to Allah.

When you become beloved to Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) then you don't

sit alone again. You don't sit doing nothing again. You try harder

this time to run to do the voluntary worships that are not orders,

that are not obligations but it is common sense and your heart is

not leaving you alone now saying, "Do this, you will benefit from

it." So then you start coming closer to Allah (subhana wa ta'ala)

and all spiritual worlds then slowly starts opening. Otherwise,

today spirituality is only a word that people are using. So many are

saying, "I am very spiritual. I have reached to this station."

(You ask,) "What are you doing? How did you reach there?"

"Umm, I am thinking. I love this one."

"Do you love the one that Allah loves? And do you leave the one that Allah

leaves?"

That's one of the most important things. If you do that then all the

other ones come along and you run to do them.

Alhamdulillah Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has permitted us to come

forward and to make intention to worship Him. We cannot say that we

are worshipping Allah. We are just practicing here. People these

days are practicing - except the friends of Allah, the Awliya Allah.

They are worshipping. Even those are not seeing their worship as

worth something. Why? Because Holy Prophet (saw) is saying, "O my

Lord, Do not ask from me the worship that You deserve to have

because I cannot do it. It is impossible for me to worship You the

way that You deserve to be worshipped." If you put two rakats of

prayer of the Holy Prophet (saw) on one side of the scale and on the

other side of the scale if you put the prayers of all the angels,

all prophets, all the Awliya, Saliheen, righteous people and

believers during all their lifetimes, that two rakat is more beloved

to Allah. The two rakat that the Prophet (saw) is doing is more

beloved to Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) because Allah loves that one

and He has created everything else because of that one. So the

little that he is doing is more beloved to Allah. But that Prophet

(saw) is saying, "O my Lord, do not ask me to worship the way you

deserve to be worshipped because I cannot handle it."

He also said, "O my Lord, don't leave me in the hands of my ego even

for the blink of an eye. Don't leave me to my ego for even that much

because I am fearful that I will lose." With that, the understanding

is being given to us that the Holy Prophet (saw) has never done

anything from his ego and Allah did not leave him to his own ego for

a split second. And because of that every second he is going through

different stations, reaching to higher stations and he is seeing how

great Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) is. Everytime he is reaching from

one station to another he is understanding the mercy that Allah is

sending to mankind and how great our Lord is and because of that he

is saying, "I cannot worship the way you deserve to be worshipped.

It is impossible."

But even the small things that we are doing here, the small deeds

that we are doing here, inshallah will be counted and the big sins

that we are making, inshallah will be erased off before we reach to

the other side because we are living the Last Days of this world. We

are living the Last Days. And in these Last Days the majority of

people and almost every government is teaching people the wrong

things. It's forcing people to do the wrong things. The parents of

children are trying to teach the children wrong things. Because of

that the little that you are doing becomes very valuable. You must

keep it. You must not let Sheytan fool you. Everyday now are holy days and holy

nights but there are special nights. We passed the Miraj and another holy night

is waiting for us.

InshaAllah Leylat-ul Berat, coming Saturday night (the night from Saturday to

Sunday)

We are intending again to be here and inshaAllah this time we are intending as

Holy Prophet (saw) is saying, "Try to sacrifice that night only for Allah. Try

to worship more that night." Now you know. You have almost two weeks to prepare

yourselves for that night. Try to prepare. If you do then you will win. If you

don't then one day you may say, "Why didn't I do?" Because every holy night and

day is coming with their own blessings. Even if you reached all the other nights

of Berat before, this time it's coming with something new. So inshaAllah this is

what we must prepare for. That way we will always take the heavenly orders high

and we will run after our Akhirat. Then the world will start running after us

inshallah ar-Rahman.

(Sheykh finished the Khutba in Arabic and then made the following

dua)

Ya Rabbi, forgive us for the wrong things that we are doing. Keep us

in the Sirat-ul Mustaqim. Keep us with those You love, keep us with

those whom You said to us to love and give us understanding to know

the ones You don't love and we will turn our faces away from

them.

(Sheykh then said how to know the ones that Allah doesn't love)

The easiest way to know that is the love of the Prophet (saw). Love

of the prophets. Love those who love the Prophet (saw). It is very

easy to understand then. You don't have to go into details, "This

one is beloved and this one is not beloved." Those who have a drop of love in

their hearts for the Holy Prophet (alayhi salatu wa salam) or for any other

prophets, it is a sign to us that we must try to have some communication with

those. Those who don't love Allah and His Prophet (saw), leave them. They are

not any good for you and not any good for me.

(Sheykh then lead the Jamat in prayer)

El-Fatiha.

Transcribed by “Yeni Osmanli”.