Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim

RELIANCE ON ALLAH FOR PROVISION

Sohbet given by Sheykh Abdul Kerim al-Hakkani el-Kibrisi

Friday 5 Safar, 1425.
May 6, 2005

Manhattan Dergah, New York City.

Selamun aleykum. Meded Ya Sayiddi, Ya Sultan Evliya, Mevlana Sheykh Nazim al-Hakkani. Meded.

Tariqatuna sohbet wa khayru fil jamiat. Our way is association. Association is voluntary. Anyone who comes, comes voluntarily and they listen voluntarily. They either like it or they don't like it. It is still voluntary. They take it and then either they apply it to their lives or not. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) sent the prophets and He said to them, "Your job is only to say to them. When they come to argue with you, say, `Lakum dinukum.' 'Your religion is for you and my religion is for me.' Don't argue with them. Say to them. If they accept, they accept. If they don't accept, leave them."

Tariqats and the tariqat sheykhs are following the footsteps of Holy Prophet (alayhi salatu wa salam) and they must be given ijazat, permission from the Prophet (alayhi salatu wa salam). If there is no permission they cannot speak and whom Prophet (saw) gives permission to speak, those who call themselves Muslims and who claim that they love and obey Prophet (saw) must obey that one. Disobedience to that one is disobedience to Holy Prophet (saw) and it is disobedience to Allah subhana wa ta'ala.

Sheytan was the first disobedient. The first one. He was disobedient to Allah subhana wa ta'ala. Because he was disobedient he lost everything. He was a very high one. He was worshipping a lot and doing everything for Allah. One disobedience. He was obedient to his Lord Allah (subahana wa ta'ala), to our Lord, all that time and for one thing he became disobedient. One! That one (act of disobedience) made him to be cursed, to be thrown away from the divine presence, to be sent down to earth and to wait until Judgment Day and after Judgment Day to be severely punished. One action. Disobedience. Don't think that running around, reading so many books, having so many friends, this and that is going to give you safety. No! If you become disobedient to that one that you accepted (as a Sheykh) then you will fall into the same category as Sheytan.

(Many say) "I live alone, I pray as I like, I know how to pray." You are still disobedient. And all those actions are going to become good for zero because Allah is ordering to you and to me to follow those, to hold onto them, to be with the true ones, to follow the true ones, to sit with them, to associate with them, to spend time with them, to learn from them and to make progress in your life. If you are not with them, if you are not learning from them, if you are not sitting with them and if you are not associating with them then your problem is with Truth. It's nothing else. So if you have a problem with Truth then you are following your sheytan. Your sheytan is holding you prisoner. Sheytan is holding the Christians saying, "Stop here! Don't go one more step ahead to accept Holy Prophet (saw) who is the Seal of the Prophets. Stop here." He is holding the Jews saying, "Stay behind. Don't accept Jesus and Muhammad." He is holding the Muslims saying, "Accept only Allah. What else do you need? There is nothing between Allah and you. Do as you like."

So disobedience is coming from Sheytan. Anyone who is disobedient inherited that from Sheytan. You must get rid of it. You must find somewhere that you are obedient. Not to sit to enter in your own dream world and to enter into illusion world saying to yourself, "I am following that one." Who? "Shah Naqshband". Hmm. Mashallah. Or "Abdul Qadir Geylani" or such and such. You need someone to sit in his presence to take orders. That means your ego doesn't want that. It is easy for your ego to say, "I follow that one" because that one is not physically there to tell you even if you are turning to the wrong direction. Your ego doesn't want anybody to tell him something. That's why you're running away from that (living) one.

Run away. But if you want safety then you must find another true one. You must be taking orders from someone, unless you have reached to that station where you might be taking from the Sultanul Awliya of what he is giving to you. What he is giving to you, if you are taking it from him, then it shows. It will put you in light and it will give light everywhere you go. It will put you in peace and it will make peace everywhere you go. It will cut off and it will destroy the worldly desires and it will open a door to you from Paradise. You will find peace. Anytime you want to be working or doing something worldly you will find difficulty to yourself. If they want to pay that man 500 dollars and they want to pay you 5000 dollars for the same job you will still find difficulty saying, "This is a difficult job. I am in the service of my Lord. How am I going to change this for that?"

Then you will call people to Allah. You will call people from Dunya to Mawla if you are that one. Not calling people saying, "Let's make better business to become better." Better what? Have you not reached, have you not yet become better when you are saying, "Ash- hadu an-La ilaha illallah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu"? Are you not better? Are you holding that one (Holy Prophet) valuable? Do you hold that one with value? Are you holding him high? If you are holding that one high then that should be enough for you. Especially these days because Prophet (saw) is ordering you for these days saying, "Escape. Escape from the governments. Escape from the government jobs. Escape from those jobs that are holding you so tight that you cannot worship your Lord. Escape. Get your provisions just a little bit here and there and be in the service of your Lord."

So check yourself. Association is to remind you to check yourself whether you are there yet or not. Are you obedient to that (order of Holy Prophet) or not? Are you following that or not? That's why associations are free to do as you like (afterwards). You accept or you don't accept. It's not a university or lecture which forces you to study to pass the class. No. You don't have to pass. So many other nominees want to pass. You don't have to. Some people have to enter to the fire. There is no other way. Either Nar or Noor. If you don't want to enter into Noor you are entering to Nar. If you don't want to enter to the light, then there must be light from your burning to give light to others.

But Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) did not create you and your material for that job. He has created you for His service. And if you are leaving His service and running to Dunya that is the biggest foolishness that you may do to yourself. Not to anybody else. To your own self. Especially if you are not twenty years old anymore. The twenty-years old ones say, "I want to get this car, I have to have a house, I have to have this and that." But if you pass beyond that, especially if you pass beyond thirty years of age you should not go too crazy about this world. Your provision is going to come to you. If you are suspicious about Allah, then check your faith. There's something wrong with your faith. Something is wrong. If you are thinking your provision is coming to you because you work - that faith is not going to save you. That faith cannot save you. Provision comes to you from your Lord. Before He created you He had already chosen and separated your own provision. It's going to come to you even if you run away. What I am saying fits to this story (that I am going to tell you now). Take it to yourself or leave it. This is sohbet and association is free. You take it or you don't take it. We say.

There was a time when there was a man who was a good shepherd in the whole village and everyone was trusting him and they were giving their sheep to him to look after. And he was running after the sheep all day and all night long looking after the sheep for other people in that village. One day he comes along and his manager was counting the sheep finding that one baby is missing. He said, "One baby is missing. What happened?" He says, "Really I don't know. I didn't see it. I don't know what happened. Let me go back to the mountain." He looked but he didn't find it. The manager went to the owner and said, "Look, one of your sheep is missing but we trust the shepherd. He is a good one. We know he didn't steal it. He doesn't know what happened." They say, "Okay. Keep him still as a shepherd."

He continued like that and sometime later another sheep got lost. The manager says, "What happened?" He is looking everywhere but he is not finding it. So the other ones are thinking that he is stealing. So he says to himself, "I must find it. I am the shepherd. I must know what's happening." So he goes back to the mountain watching very carefully every sheep and which corner they go to. Then he found one sheep going right next to a cave and one blind wolf there whose mouth was open grabbed it, finished it and started eating it. "Allahu Akbar!" He says. "Now I see. I learned a lesson." He goes back to the village and he says, "I won't do this job anymore. I am giving up. I will pay you the debt of those two sheep but I won't look after your sheep anymore." They say, "Why? Why will you not look after them?" (Sheykh smiles). He says, "Allah taught me a lesson. That One is giving provision to that blind wolf, and that blind wolf is sitting over there not running around and his mouth is open and it is finding that a sheep is coming and as soon as it comes he closes his mouth and he eats it." He says, "My Lord who gives provision for that blind wolf, do you think He is not going to give it to me when I am trying to be a servant to Him and a good one? He says, "No. I don't want any more money from you and I won't look after your sheep. I am going to spend my time for Allah in my house."

He is sitting over there. Some days later his wife says, "My husband, are you crazy? Go out and get some food. We have no bread. We have nothing to eat anymore." He says, "Look, I promised Allah I am not going out. I am going to be in His service and that One who gives provision to that blind wolf is going to give it to me." So the woman is seeing that nothing is happening. They had a land and she said, "Let me go at least to dig that land and plant something. This way we will have something to eat." She went there and as she was digging the land she struck something. She looked at it and she opened it. It was one big clay jar full of gold inside. She is running and saying to the man, "Come! Allah gave us the provision! At least help me to bring it inside." He says, "No. The One that gives the wolf by sending the sheep to his mouth will send it to me too." She says, "The gold is there. He gave us the provision. Let's go!" He says, "I promised Him that I am not going to go. Go and take it. Who cares?" So the woman is saying, "Let me wait until the next night and then I will go and take it."

But the neighbor already saw it that when she was digging there was a clay jar which she couldn't take. So that night the woman said, "Let me go over there, take all the gold and this way they will get only air tomorrow." She went over there and she tried to get the jar. She looked and inside the jar there were so many snakes. She said, "These stupid ones. They took all the gold and they put the snakes for me. They knew that I have seen the gold. Wait, wait. I will fix them." She took that jar, she came to the chimney and she started throwing the snakes down the chimney and tik, tik, tik, tik, gold is falling down. The woman was still saying, "Let's go take it out." He says, "You stupid woman! Don't you see? Allah is sending it from the chimney down to us, to my mouth. Don't you see? I have submitted myself to Him like that wolf."

Hmm. You cannot submit yourself like that shepherd but at least submit yourself to say, "The provision that I am earning is not because I am working. He is sending it to me. Otherwise, possibility is that you may not save your faith when the Angel of Death comes."

Faith is important. The most important thing for a believer is faith, to save the faith. Not to become rich in America or to have a green card to have a better life. This is foolishness. Get rid of that! This country sucked millions of people like that and put them under the ground and it finished them. The next is you. If you don't wake up then the next is you because the Angel of Death is waiting. As soon as he hits you, you are out. Nothing can save you. No American government and no Chinese government. You have to do this because you are a believer. You are calling yourself a believer. You cannot run for Dunya. You must run to Allah subhana wa ta'ala. You must run to the footsteps of Holy Prophet (alayhi salatu wa salam). Get rid of that sickness. Everyone since 1923 invented a new religion saying, "Yeah you have to work too brother. Working is worship and this and that." No! Allah gave you worship. Allah is saying, "You must worship five times a day, you must keep Allah and His orders high." Then Allah will keep you high. Then Allah will make your work to work. You are running non-stop to work. You don't have a chance to sleep anymore. America is supposed to give you a luxury life. You became a slave to America. You became a slave to the American system! You don't have the chance even to sit and relax anymore. Wake up to yourself! Wake up because the Angel is waiting. Angel (of death) is waiting for you and for me. He is waiting for all those Firauns. If their time is up, he is taking them down. You don't know when your time is up. And Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) hid it. It's hidden. You don't know when the Angel of Death is going to come to you.

And the most dangerous part that you must make sure is that when the Angel of Death comes to you he must find you in an awakening station. Not to say, "Let me go fix whatever I didn't do and come back again." You are not coming back. He is coming and taking. You don't know if it is today or tomorrow. You don't know if it's a hundred years from now. So Umar (radiyallahu anh) is saying to you, "With regards to the hereafter, the believer must live as if the Angel of Death is going to come to him the next minute. But when he is doing the work of Dunya he must think that a hundred years later he has to come back and find those things." You have to have your faith between these two. When you have your faith between them then you know that the whole control is in the hands of your Lord and not in your hands. You are just a tool. Allah is using you like this and like that. Moving you left and right. Then you will not become a Firaun. Then you will not praise your own self. Then you will not become proud with the things and with the deeds that you do in the world because you know that everything comes to you from your Lord.

If He does not permit you, you cannot move your finger. If He doesn't permit then the air doesn't come inside and you die. If He doesn't permit then the air doesn't come out and you die. You are a prisoner between two breaths. Prisoner! You are running around with these American foolishness and American ideology saying, "We are free!" Free what? You are free between those two breaths. You are imprisoned in that. If He is not permitting it is not coming out. If He is not permitting it's not going in. That is your freedom. Don't let this Sheytanic system to fool you. This system fooled millions of people. This system sucked the faith of so many people. The Generals of Sheytan are running around to get you by the ear, to put the reins around your neck and to pull you. Don't give up (your faith) for that. If you want to then go ahead. If you want only Dunya then you have no place here. If you want Dunya then don't go to these places. Work twenty-four hours a day and not twelve hours a day. Work, eat, sleep and fill the toilet. Work, eat, sleep and fill the toilet and then look what happens later. The Angel of Death doesn't come to you because you are young or you are old. He comes because your time is up. The breath of life that has been given to you, you used it wrongly and your time is up!

Today's people are using the breath of life wrongly also. They don't know how to breathe. They are running top-speed jogging, bogging, running and (I am) saying, what are you doing? "I have to make my body look good." To whom? Look good to whom? To make show? (Sheykh imitates the panting of a jogger). Continue like that. If Allah gave you permission to take the air 100,000 times a day and you are taking 200,000, then you are living two days in one day's life and you are finishing your life quickly! Wake up to yourself. Come back to your self. We are believers. We are not only ignorant and arrogant believers. We are not Wahhabi believers. We are not saying, "Okay, Allah created us. We take the book and we pray five times a day." No! We have to pray five times a day and we have to follow the footsteps of the Holy Prophet (alayhi salatu wa salam). We have to take that (way of Holy Prophet) high, we have to treat that high and we have to apply that to our own lives. We have to live not for Dunya. While we are living in Dunya we have to prepare ourselves for the hereafter life. This way no America and no world can take you hostage. Otherwise, you will become a hostage. If you are not a hostage today it is because you don't have the opportunities. One day Sheytan may open one door to you saying, "Look, all these valuable treasures." Then you will run in there and you will leave everything too.

My duty is to advise myself and to those people who listen. Tariqat is voluntary for people to come to listen and to take or not to take. Tariqat is not by force. Allah is ordering His prophet saying, "Say to them. You are not a tyrant or a ruler or an oppressor on them. Say to them. If they accept, they accept, if they don't accept, leave them." If you accept you will find safety to your own self. If you don't' accept you are going to find what is there for you. But then you will not find somebody else sharing that for you.

Wa min Allahu tawfiq

Bihurmatil Habib

Bihurmatil Fatiha.