Is there life on Sufistuff? (Is Uthman still alive ... and well?)

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Strangest feeling after more than an hour trying to get into my old blog. What has happened to me no one would believe .. or perhaps they would ,knowing some of the craziness that always seems to surround me .. and the "bad luck" perhaps.
I'm not in Spain right now .. everything that I ever had there has been destroyed .. it's a long story and my heart hurts with confusion and pain as soon as I mention it.
It might be nice to just hear from any old friends that may be around ...

Real Submission.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Thanks to Osmanli Traveller for this;


Sohbets

BismillahirRahmanirRahimSHEYKH ABDUL QADIR GEYLANI’S KINGLY LIFESTYLE
Tuesday 15 Jumad al-Ahir, 1427July 11, 2006
Sheykh Abdul-Kerim EffendiOsmanli Naks-i’bendi Hakkani Dergah, Siddiki Center, New York.
(After reading from the sohbet of Sheykh Mevlana Nazim, a murid asked:“Great saints like Abdul Qadir Geylani didn’t have so much. Then aftera certain point they were living like kings. What’s the secret behindthat?”)
BismillahirrahmanirrahimMedet Ya Seyyidi Ya Sultanul Awliya, Medet.
It was just said in the sohbet. The world is given in their hand andunder their authority. But they don’t have it for themselves. Theyhave it for others. He wasn’t sitting and eating like that too. He waseating only to show people that he was eating. But Allah is sayingthat those who reached to that station, their eating is counted asworship, their sleeping is counted as worship and their talking iscounted as worship. There was a Sheykh who was always giving advice tohis murids about these three things, saying, “Don’t do these threethings. Don’t eat too much, don’t sleep too much and don’t talk toomuch. One day some person came from somewhere and the murids heardthat this man is a Sheykh. In the dergah he was talking with them. Hewas talking non-stop. The murids were listening to him. When he wasgoing to sleep he wouldn’t get up. As soon as he gets up he startseating non-stop. The murids were thinking, “This man talks like aSheykh but our Sheykh taught us that a man shouldn’t drink too much,eat too much, sleep too much and talk too much. This one is a Sheykhand he is doing the opposite.” They went to their Sheykh and told himwhat happened. He said to them, “There must be something wrong. Butlet me just go and look at it.” That one was a hidden one. When theSheykh came to him he looked and said, “Don’t you know Allah says thatthose who reached to that station their eating is worship, theirsleeping is worship and their talking is worship?” He said, “Yes.Please, you must speak to every one of us from now on.”
There is a test that Allah puts people through with their lives.Today, everyone is playing games saying, “Ah, I am under the test.”There are a couple of questions, whether you give answer to them ornot, you pass. The (real) test is not like that. Allah put thosepeople through that test with their lives. If they passed that testthen everything was given to them because they were not for Dunya,they were for Akhirat. Everything was under their authority.
Abdul Qadir Geylani (qaddasallau sirruh) was living alone in themountain. He wasn’t running to find food or other things. He waskeeping himself busy with Allah. He wasn’t worrying and running to payrent or work saying, “I need this and I need that.” No. He said,“Allah is going to provide me with what I need. If it’s necessary forme then He is going to.” That was the submission that he had. He wasworshipping. And whenever it was necessary and he really needed to eatsomething, he would find some grass, which I remember from mychildhood that we were doing that on the mountain. We were findingsome kind of mountain grass [greens] that doesn’t need to be cookedand we were eating it. And it fills you up. What do you need? Thewater is there too. What else do you need? What is the need of man?Man has to know first what his need is. But today’s people’s need isnever ending. There is no end to their needs. They are pilingeverywhere and before you know it they are scared to use it too.
They were not like that. They were going through tests which Allah wasputting. He (Abdul Qadir Geylani Hazretleri) passed the test. He waseating grass, water and keeping himself busy with Allah only. Hewasn’t running around to teach people too. He didn’t care if he wasgoing to be a Sheykh or he was going to have these many peoplefollowing him. No. He was not running for that. So Allah was lookingat his sincerity. Then Allah inspired him, saying to him, “Go down toBaghdad and live like a king from now on. Eat like a king, live like aking and give the secrets to people.” He got the command. He didn’tworry to think, “How am I going to live like a king.” He said, “Allahis moving me.” While Allah was moving that one and when he wasentering to Baghdad, Allah was inspiring the richest man in Baghdadsaying, “Go to the entrance of the city and you are going to find Myservant coming. From now on you will be his servant. Serve him and youwill find safety in Dunya and Akhirat.” The man had faith. He had themoney too. He had the wealth. He built everything and he realized,“Oh, this is what I built it for. So I must go to see the owner who iscoming.” So he went, he saw Abdul Qadir Geylani (qs) coming and hesaid, “Please, come to be my guest. Allah is ordering me to serveyou.” He had a place like a palace. He (Abdul Qadir Hazratleri) didn’trun to build it. Allah built it for him through other people. And hewasn’t using it for himself. He was using it for other people again.
So alhamdulillah, it is easy for Allah. It is not easy for man. Whenhe gives a little bit he starts shaking, he starts worrying, he startscounting, he starts thinking and he starts planning. But Allah hasendless treasures. It (submission) is not by words. Sheykh says tothat one, “Give this to that poor one.” These days they don’t give itto the Sheykhs also. If Sheykh says, “Bring the treasure and put itthere”, what do people say? What are they going to say? “He is tryingto fool me. He is trying to steal from me.” Sheykh doesn’t need that.He is not for Dunya. He is in Dunya but he is not for Dunya. He is inDunya for people, for their safety. Nothing else. If it’s necessary totake things away from you then he has to take things away from youbecause of your love and attachment to that. So many people say, “I amso generous” but they are so much in love with those things. They makeshow that they are generous but they are not really. So Sheykh touchesfrom this angle, that angle, moves it a little bit. As soon as hetouches the button then `grrrr…’. Now he says, “Huh, that is in yourheart. Dunya is in your heart.” As long as dunya is in your heart nolove of Akhirat is going to open. Impossible. You are not going tosmell Paradise when the Dunya is in your heart. But when the Dunya isin your hand then yes. (Sheykh Efendi picks up a saucer with his indexfinger and thumb). This is how he was holding the Dunya. He had to,because he was living in Dunya.
What are today’s people living for? Leave the unbelievers. What arethe believers living for? Dunya. Millions, for Dunya. That’s why theyare not running to tariqats and to Sheykhs to give submission becausesubmission comes with everything that you have. Not only by wordsaying, “I am submitting myself to you.”
“Are you submitting?”
“Yes.”
Then Sheykh has the right to say to you, “Take out your clothes andput it there too.” Do you think that the one who has authority on yourspirit doesn’t have authority on your wealth and your health? He cantake it away from your hand so fast. And it is a blessing if theSheykh says to you, “Go bring me this, bring me that and give methat.” It’s a big blessing to you. But this mentality is gone today.People lost this faith. People lost faith these days. Murids lostfaith, people who call themselves murids, not murids-murids (realmurids). Murids will never lose faith, the ones who are murid. But theones who call themselves murids, some of them lost this faith. As soonas you touch they start bargaining with you. What is the bargain? Cana slave bargain with his owner? That is his owner. If the owner saysto his slave, “O my slave, what would you like to eat and drink?” Hesays, “As you like. Whatever you give to me.”
He asks, “What would you like to wear?”
“Whatever you give to me.”
“Where do you want to sleep?”
“Any place that you show to me.”
He tries him like this and then he says to him, “Because you have somuch submission like this I am giving you your freedom. You are not aslave anymore.” And he asks, “How come you are like that?” He says,“Because I know that I am a slave. And if I am a slave and I amaccepting it then how can I rise and say to you, `I want this and Iwant that?’ You are my owner. You know what my need is and you aregoing to give me that.” Hmm. Murids have no trust in their Sheykh.That is Ahir Zaman, the end of times. Trust? You don’t know whatSheykh has? You don’t know. He is not showing. If he says, “Don’tbreathe the air”, then breathe it. Go ahead. “Who cares?” he says tothem. “You are not in that book as murids anyway. Say anything youlike.” Huh, to be a murid, you need to have Adab, you need to havemanners. Everything starts opening to a man who has manners. The moreopens to him the more obedient he becomes to his Sheykh then. He cansee the paradises, he can enter and come back, but he will never leavehis Sheykh then because what he is looking for is not even inParadise. It is in his Sheykh’s hand and nobody else carries that.
So today Sufism, tariqat became people’s running to have someentertainment. Some are running to have some comfort. Some are alreadyfed up with the outside world and they are getting old. They cannot doanything. They are tired of sitting home and so they are running totariqat. This is the mentality of today’s tariqat. But did tariqatschange and did Sheykhs lose that power? No. They still have it. Butthis Dunya is garbage. So they are not looking for it. They arecircling around this world and they are just checking people. You maybe sitting next to him for twenty years and you may get nothing. He iscircling in the world, he is looking and he says, “This one has goodbehavior.” He gives it to that one and walks away. He never finishes.The more he gives the more comes. But can you give diamond to the handof an ignorant person? Can you take a diamond and throw it in front ofa pig? What is he going to do with it?
So first you have to know what the treasure is. You have to know whatyou are looking for. And to get that you have to know what you have tosacrifice. You have to sacrifice something. Everyone has to sacrificesomething. If you are not sacrificing it means that you are not reallyready and prepared to get what is there. You just want it for your ownego. You are never going to get that for your ego because then ego isgoing to cut your neck off. Sheytan is going to take that treasure,that secret and he is going to go away. And you will be in big troublethen. So yes, in tariqat sometimes Sheykhs show the people the mostluxurious life and sometimes they show them the worst lifestyle thatpeople are going through. You have to go through it to understand. Youmay be with the Sheykh one week and you will be living like a king andthe next week you will be living like a beggar in the street. Sheykhhas the right to tell you, “Let’s go, we are going outside now tostart begging from people.” Heh, what will you do then? If you have nosubmission, what are you going to do? You are going to say, “He is athief. Is he trying to teach me how to steal or to ask from people?”
So submission comes with everything you have. You no longer have yourown ideas of thinking and understanding. If you cannot think the waythat the Sheykh is directing you then it is forbidden for you to thinkand to try to analyze things by your own self because you are going tocome to the wrong understanding. Sheytan is going to be there. So yourSheykh is not there. Sheytan is going to be your Sheykh. And you arestill going to say, “He is my Sheykh.” But no. Sheytan is your Sheykh.Sheytan is giving you directions then.
Wa min Allahu taufiq.
This much is enough for you and for me inshaAllah.
El-Fatiha.

High Spiritual Rank of Abdl Qadr Jilani

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Thanks to "az" for the following;


In the name of Allah the Most Compassionate the Most Merciful
Sheikh Junaid Al Baghdadi lived two hundred years before Sheikh Abdulqadir Jilani may Allah be well pleased with them, and foretold Jilani's coming in the following manner: while Sheikh Junaid al Baghdadi was in a state of spiritual ecstacy he stated: 'His foot is on my shoulders, his foot is on my shoulders.' After he had come out of this spiritual condition, his disciples questioned him concerning these words. He said, 'I have been informed that a great saint will be born towards the end of the fifth century. His name shall be Abdulqadir and his title will be Muhyiddin. He will be born in Jilan/Iran and he will reside in Baghdad. One day, on the command of Allah, he will say ‘My foot is on the shoulders of all the saints of Allah’. While in my spiritual condition, I saw his excellence and these words were uttered by me without my control.'
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Sheikh Bahauddin Naqshiband was ordered by his master to keep the remembrance of Allah/dhikr, but there was no way to 'imprint' the holy name 'Allah' in his heart, and he was really worried about it. One day Sheikh Naqshiband -whose name was not yet known as 'Naqshiband'- was traveling in the desert and he met Khidr alaihi salaam peace be upon him who within seconds transported him to the spiritual presence of Sheikh Abdulqadir Jilani. Sheikh Bahauddin said, 'O one who holds hands in the universe, hold my hand so they will be you holder..' -when taking initiation, one holds the hand of the master to receive Almighty Allah's blessing and when someone needs to be rescued, he/she holds out master's hand-. Sheikh Abdulqadir Jilani put his hand on Sheikh Bahauddin's heart and said, 'O the holder of the adornment of the worlds, hold my adornment so that they can call you Naqshiband (the one who adorns). And then Sheikh Bahauddin recited the following poem, which is inscribed on both the tombs of Abdulqadir Jilani and Shah Bahauddin Naqshband:
'The King of this world and the hereafter is Shah Abdulqadir
The head of the children of Adam is Shah Abdulqadir.
Sun, moon, heavens, the throne and the pen,
They all get their light from the heart of Abdulqadir."
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150 years after the death of Sheikh Abdulqadir Jilani people asked Shah Bahauddin Naqshiband may Allah be pleased with them, 'Sheikh Abdulqadir said, "My foot is on the shoulders of all the saints", what do you think about this?' Shah Naqshiband said 'May Sheikh Abdulqadir Jilani's foot be upon my eyes and my vision.'
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The scholar Abulasan Ali Nadwi wrote in his book Rijal al-Fikr waddawah, Abdulqadir Jilani, the ghawth/helper of the sufi orders, Sheikh Muhyedden Al Arabi, and all the masters of the Naqshibandi Golden Chain, opened the door of initiation as wide as possible, for every individual who has good and true belief to find something that will be of value to him spiritually, and for everyone to renew his initiation/bayah with Allah Almighty and Exalted. These sufi masters of the Naqshibandi Golden Chain and all sufi orders lifted their followers to a station of Truthfulness, to feel the responsibility of their initiation and to renew their faith.'

Firm Educational base in historical reality.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Here is a url for an interesting article in support of the master/disciple relationship http://www.wie.org/j31/salas.asp which may help people to understand about the dissolution of the ego.If you click on the icon of the magazine you will get many articles with a similar slant on the theme.

Here is a talk from Sheikh Nazim about an educative base in historical reality.

We shall look from our headquarters, from spiritual world heavenly commanders, what they are sending to warn people in such a difficult daysDestur, ya Sayidi, Meded, ya Sultanu-l Awliya...Audhu...B.r.r., la haula...
Einer sollte sprechen, die anderen zuhoeren, und es koennen tausende sein, es macht nichts, aber wenn alle reden, und keiner mehr zuhoert, kommt nichts dabei heraus...
We shall look from our headquarters, from spiritual world heavenly commanders, what they are sending to warn people in such a difficult days that we are entering in it, and we are asking heavenly support, heavenly support is much better from whole material supports or technological supports. Every time mankind when they are trusting on their material powers or strength, trusting in what they have from weapons, that they are all belonging to our material being, they failed. When they are trusting in heavenly support, they never going to be failed. This is unchanged measure or balance, nizam. When mankind trusts in their material power or capacity, ability, they failed. But when they are feeling that they are weak and ask heavenly support they never failed. Therefore mankind must be directed to a save direction through their minds, they must use their minds on a safe direction. Or they should be failed. And how they are going to be able for a direction on safe way? Holy Quran that last message coming from Heavens to the last messenger for the last prophecy, the most honoured prophet in divine Presence Quran Kerim, Holy Book coming and you can find everything it, what is necessary for the safety of mankind here and hereafter.
And main teaching pillar through the holy Quran is to remind believers from beginning of mankind on earth bout their lives that we are saying now for that knowledge history. To remind them for the lives of mankind how they began and continue up to time of Seal of Prophets, bringing knowledge from past times, past nations, about their lives an about their dealing with their prophets, in another words, development, how happened up to time of Seal of Prophets. Then it is going to be a strong foundation for a nation that they have no knowledge kaumu-l jahiliya, people that were through the darkness of ignorance. This is teaching style, method, of holy Quran for mankind. Because if not knowing about past times, past nations, how they were, how was their dealing with their prophets, the messengers of Heavens and what happened to them, that must be known. Therefore it is first important point for education programs to put first the knowledge of past times that is history. You must know your history. About your nation and about for common nations, most important knowledge. Others if you are not teaching people, if not teaching youngsters, you can’t be able to teach them anything. They are going to be ignorant. Don’t think that if they learn physics, or chemistry or arithmetic or astronomy or so many knowledges, they are not… they haven’t any base to sit on. All of it is like something just hanged but can’t sit on a strong base. A person may know arithmetic or physics or chemistry or mathematics or medicine, but all of it is on air, no base to sit on. Therefore first point is to call people and to train them in a safe way.
If you are asking new building you must do and make a strong foundation. You are architect. You are going to build on sandy land? Sandy land you may put tent or such weak places, so simple, as people making now for some moving markets, fairs or flee markets. Every Saturday and Sunday in Europe flee markets. Flee markets only one or two days. People can’t be able to live in it whole year; but shops that building strongly, everything in it in safety, and who going on it also going to be in safety, they did strong buildings. Bazari. Now education system is like flee markets. No any strong base foundation, no. They are teaching architecture, law, medicine, engineering, this and that, but they are never using a strong foundation. Even the faculty of history they are also never using a strong foundation, it is only like a show. In most important point the time of tyrants, period of tyrants, that they are mainly supporters for their hegemony, they are using lies and cheating. They are teaching they say we are teaching history. Everything through story that they are mentioning, there is their system’s… they use it to show that past times worst and our time now best. Changing every reality into lies and using lies for cheating people. That is the time period of tyrants now. They are saying ‘National policy’ for their benefit. Everything changing and bringing, showing everything bad and every bad what they are doing, showing to people as best. Showing golden as no value, bringing tin with the colour of gold and saying this is the best. Throwing away diamonds and bringing plastic diamonds, if putting, people think: o, this is much better, because real diamond is natural, it has some signs that signing its originality. But when they are making from plastic you can’t find any sign, it is so false…Therefore they are trying to change valuable things from past time and to throw them away and bringing new ones that are only so quickly described with technology, no value. That is their states policy, to make for them a strong base to be in it and to continue on it.
And now whole world they do this only. They are not teaching real history, that holy Quran and holy Books all of them try to teach people what happened in past times for nations whom where living thousand years ago and they have been sent holy Books from Heavens and how they were dealing with their Prophets…I may ask a question: I learnt also through their schools and university. In their history books I never learnt about flood of Noah. You learnt through your schools books? Most important event of the past time! Sometimes people coming and going to Turkey to find the remaining parts of Arch of Noah. Why they are coming? Why not putting in history books? They write about Zeus, Greek mythology or Roman mythology or Assyrian or Egyptian mythology, they write as a knowledge, even writing about their Gods and wars among them! But I am wondering how people run through streets and say: We don’t like war, no war. Ya Hu, their schools teach as mythology that eve their gods fighting each other, how you are saying ‘no war’? If your gods going to fight each other, what happening? How they are running on streets and say ‘no war’? What happened to those people? Shaitan teaching them that gods may fight each other, killing each other I don’t know or sending them to exile? How happened? Now people ask ‘no war’, and Muslims.
O believers, just it is an order that Heavens stamping on it, sealing, and it is an command from Heavens for Muslims to fight! Battle, fighting. How you are running on streets and say ‘no war’? What happened? Which time you are looking people are not fighting? Always fighting running and you ask now to stop war? Oh, how happening? Everywhere battle, fighting going on. I mean to say that people…now those no mind people tyrants, writing through their books as a knowledge, historical knowledge for Greek civilization, old Greek, Old Roman civilization, and making as a knowledge about their gods, and they are putting also their statues and pictures on say: This is Zeus, that a another, that is another, and top Zeus. Zeus they are saying, Theos, Zeus coming from theos, the God. They are writing this but not one world you can find about Noah. It did not happen? If they are saying Yes, they must believe in holy books!
Therefore they are writing lies and changing everything in opposite, not from front but from back. And they are going ton fail. They failed, and they are going to be failed, all those people whom not knowing about their histories, never going to stand up on their feet, because their feet can’t carry their bodies, so weak. History giving power for nation to stand up on their feet.
And I am speaking through Holy Quran and its style of teaching. Beginning Holy Quran through the creation of Adam and then coming, coming, coming and explaining, bringing so many events what happened to the Children of Adam at is a real way of education but now they lost it and changed, because ..first pages in Holy Quran changing hidayet with dalalet- leaving real way that Allah Almighty
Sending to them realities and changing truth with lies and asking to make a trade, but never reaching a benefit, because they changed reality and asking to make on it benefit, but never happened. What Allah sending throwing away and bringing something form their devil, form their Shaitan and asking to make a trade, a profit. Never bringing. What they do now against the laws of Heavens they lost. No profit. Everywhere you can see that they failed, and now they run to a dangerous way that never happened before, the cost of this crises perhaps going to be billions of people, Now they are saying 2o people, 4o, 2oo people…not millions, but billons should be cost of their wrong way that they try to make as a profit for themselves and never going to reach a profit but it is going to be biggest lost for mankind through this most dangerous war. And nations day by day running on it, and reaching to them bottom of loosing and finishing.
May Allah forgive us. And blessings for new generation before going to be dirty ones. Whole dirtiness from earth must be taken away and should remain a clean land with clean people. We are asking forgiveness for the honour of most honoured prophet in His divine Presence S.Muhammad sws, Fatiha
© by Sheikh Nazim Al-Qubrusi Al-Haqqani
= Vielen Dank an Khairiyah Siegel. =

Latest news .. moving towards humanity/humaness (?)

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

O.K. just a quickie to say all is O.K. Things seem to be somewhat under control and clearing themselves into some kind of pattern or order. There is still so much to assimilate after Bilquis's death. However there is a positive side to things in the form of a kind of re-birth. Once again I am pressed for time now as I am still subject to the rigours of internet shops for my use of the service. The story with internet at home has had all the usual Andalucian twists and turns and frustrations .. but I take it all as coming from the First Cause and that, perhaps the most obvious wisdom is that I am unable to lose myself in the easiest "get out" that exists .. though of course the nafs still searches and finds its excuses and escapes amongst food and music and books and mini projects within the game of survival in dunya.
Hey ho, life goes on .. time seems to be running very fast .. I see the hour glass of my life getting quite full in the bottom half and still no really serious application to the only thing that has any sense or meaning ... however .. I feel clearer and in some senses more able to get some sort of control and perhaps make some real decisions as to how I want to run things instead of always feeling like the victim of circumstances and my emotional reactions to them.
EFT has helped greatly with this but really I think the removal of Bilquis as my support in every way, has projected me forward into something resembling a normal human being.
Maybe I can write more fully about this at another time. Perhaps when I finally get internet in my own house again ? !
For now, salaams and Ramadan mubarak.

Recent news update. Plus Flickr link for photos.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

O.K. Well summer really is over now. I'm trying the experiment of living at the coast with all its inherent dangers especially that of relating to others through the bar scene when confronted with the option of returning to an empty house at night devoid of my beloved Bilquis. I'm there for access to the markets where I make my living and that scene too has many distractions away from the spiritual path. The Prophet PBUH said that Shaytan has two homes .. one is the lavatory and the other the market place ... oh dear!
Anyway I am starting something new and that is around the Country Farmers markets .. rather nice actually though it involves a fair amount of travelling. Today I was in Mollina near Antequera about 150 kms from my place and now another 150kms west in Orgiva where my home base has been for a few years. Friday I could be another 150 kms east in Cartama .. The idea is to get a large van and put a bed cooker and water in it and then I am free to move the night before and be there for the early morning. If this is lucrative enough I will then make forays into Morrocco for some things I want to bring back from there (painted furniture, mirrors lamps, bags and shoes etc ) and hopefully make some reports and photographs from there.
Up 'til now I perhaps haven't mentioned that I have many of my photos on www.flickr.com where if you go and sign up (free and takes three mins) you can put my name "Sufibridge" in the search engine and you should get my page.
I still have no internet at home .. and this place is closing now .. so I'll sign off until the next time .. soon insha'llah!

Spain,England,families and traditional values.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Summer is drawing to a close now and, as I took a night off to recuperate from the general madness last night, I have found the time and the place to jot down three words. I am still waiting to recieve the ariel and the opportunity to try it out in my cortijo, so I am writing this from a place on the sea front calledd "The Sun Lounge." or "Salon de Sol." I normally go to a little place called the Hideaway which is run and mainly frequented by English people but Debbie who works there and has also lived in Lanjaron in the Alpujarras, told me about this place and the possibility to connect to the net here while sitting on the comfort of a large leather three piece suite and being served food and drink. (Can't be bad eh? Just a little compensation for all the hard work and stress on the stall I suppose.) Originally I came to Spain mainly to get away from England and all it represented to me of psychological and emotional pain connected with my very unhappy and insecure childhood.I found some balm for my soul in the Spanish countryside and amongst the Spanish people who still knew what family life and friendship are about.It seems that since Bilquis died I am finding some comfort and peace in being amongst English people again after all these years.
Nowadays Spain is in such a hurry to become truly democratic, modern, materially well off and supposedly "liberated" that it is beginning to suffer from all the sicknesses which the English know only too well and which are mainly the result of too much so called freedom which is in reality only an enslavement to the ego or "nafs" and all its desires.
Perhaps the pendulum is swinging the other way in England, or perhaps it is really what I observe as a phenomenon amongst the less well off and supposedly less "educated"(brainwashed?) people, the fact that they are not easily persauded that breaking all traditional moral rules is necessarily a good thing.
Last night the bar was full up with good straightforward working people from England who had gathered to watch England against Greece on the huge screen available in this place. I noticed over and over again such kindness and love and tolerance towards children from both fathers and mothers and a general feeling of happiness and welfare amongst the adults as well as the fact that the men tended to congregate with other men and the women with other women and the children.
Could it be that my beloved sane Spain will have to pass through all that modern madness generated by clever ideas of "freedom" from traditional values and that my sadly despised and forgotten England is swinging back to some kind of sanity?

A little general personal news.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Hi everybody, I'm just leaving this message on here because there has been a bit of feedback recently and really I am generally a bit restricted in my access to the blog as I have moved into a great little cortijo above La Herradura where I work in the summer but, as yet have no internet connection. Also, after the death of my beloved wife Bilquis, which many of you will know about by now, I have simply been very busy trying to keep up with all the things that two people used to do.
Forgive me (Nis & co ) if I don't get back to you in a while .. it shouldn't take long, but this is Andalucia and things are not always too logical here. Basically I think I can get a wi fi connection for only 18€/mth but the owner of the net cafe has been away on honeymoon and was not around today .. it seems that if I purchase an arial from him I can get sorted and maybe share the cost (about 250€) with interested neighbours.
Thanks for the interest and the offers .. Salaams and good wishes to all .. Uthman.

Ingendering love for the Prophet saws.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

I actually come from a family of five generations of Anglican vicars on my father's side. My father left the church and wouldn't allow me anywhere near it as a child. As a young man very little religious teaching was given in school and consequently I had little connection with the prophet Isa (Jesus). I have noticed here in Spain the immense love and veneration which Spanish Muslims quickly assume for Prophet Muhammad saws when becoming Muslim,, and I believe this is partly due to already having been accustomed to loving Jesus (as) as this had been inculcated since early childhood. I therefore look out for anything which may help to generate that same love and veneration for him in me.
The following short article from Islamicity was helpful in this respect.

O Prophet of Allah, where shall I find the source of my adoration for you? I have memorized hundreds of your sayings since my youth, taught your seerah (example) to numerous students, grown a beard, used the miswaaq, sang and proudly taught others odes (qasidahs) in praise of you. But I did not find you in these rituals nor did any of these make me any more like you; rather they merely flung me into the fray of insignificant debates in the arena of so many of the sunnahless Muslims who see your sunnah only as an endless array of harsh laws and practices or as some justification for their cultural tendencies. O Allah, save me from being of those who consider the sunnah of Thy beloved as being expressed only through aimless imitations and who know Thy Prophet only as a conveyor of commands and warnings.
O Prophet of Allah, I did not truly find you in the books of fatawa (religious edicts), nor in grand seminars and conferences throughout the world, and certainly not in the harsh arguments between groups proclaiming mutually exclusive rights over you.
I found my source of adoration for you in the love and respect that the Almighty has proclaimed for you; in the honor that He bestowed upon you; in His confirmation of you as "the ultimate exemplar"; "seal of Prophets" and "mercy unto all existence". Allah has elevated the very memory of you and has made His boundless love accessible through obedience to you.
I catch but a dimension of you through the instances of compassion you extended to others; how you played with the poor orphaned boy when other children refused to play with him, how you prolonged your prostration out of consideration that your change in posture may inconvenience or hurt your beloved grandson who had climbed on your back; how you commanded your army away from the anthill in order not to disrupt the ants' activities; how you blessed with Paradise the sinful woman for saving the life of a cat by making the water of the well accessible with her shoes; how you intervened and prevented a man from abusing his wife by teaching him that "the best of men are those who treat their wives the best"; how you patched your clothes, mended your shoes and did your daily household chores; how you wrestled with your nephew and raced with your wife; how you joked with the kids and carried the baggage of the elderly; how you hosted the Christians of Najran in your mosque and stood up to honor the bier of a Jew.
O Prophet of Allah, why is it that so many of us who claim to be of you refuse to be like you. We sing for you and dress like you, but do not come near fulfilling the expression of love, care and beauty that generated from yourself. Why is it that we see in you that which suits our cultural, organizational and chauvinistic interests, yet ignore the essence of what is essential to your being. Others who are not of you proclaim the multi-dimensional and multi-faceted nature of your personality. "The personality of Muhammad is most difficult to get the whole truth of it. Only a glimpse of him I can catch. What dramatic succession of picturesque scenes? There is Muhammad the Prophet; there is Muhammad the General; Muhammad the King; Muhammad the Warrior; Muhammad the Businessman; Muhammad the Preacher; Muhammad the Philosopher; Muhammad the Statesman; Muhammad the Orator; Muhammad the Reformer; Muhammad the Refuge of Orphans; Muhammad the Protector of Slaves; Muhammad the Emancipator of Women; Muhammad the Judge; Muhammad the Saint.. In all these magnificent roles and in all these departments of human activities he is equally a hero." (Professor Ramakrishna Rao). O Prophet! Your life-example is an integrated biography, history and law; it is above all a model of excellence.
O Prophet of Allah, you have certainly been adored by many much more worthy than I. Yet, neither the inability to capture my appreciation of you with the eloquence of poets nor my weakness as a believer debars me from qualifying as one who adores you; for in the commemoration of your being do I find the dignity and honor of my existence.
Imam Sadullah Khan is Professor of Islamic Studies at California State University in Dominguez Hills.

Maulud Mubarak.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Maulud Mubarak everybody! Here in Orgiva we've just had a wee drink in Sheikh Omar's beautiful tavern in the campo singing songs and making dhikr accompanied by "tambores". A lovely and elevating way to start the celebrations with some tea and dates and enchanting recitation from Moroccan Ahmad, our resident sayidd.

Alhamduli'llah wa shukruli'llah!

Welcome welcome ! All are welcome .. you may visit us any time .. the celebrations continue until next Sunday evening, Orgiva is the host venue this year for all mureeds from all over Spain (La Vera, Madrid, Ibiza etc) and anywhere else in the world!

Rumi.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Thanks to "Warriorette" for putting the next four pics up on her Flickr page.

If the print is too small, just click on 'em.

Rumi 4 

Rumi 3 

Rumi 2 

Rumi 1 

Message from "az"

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Our beloved Maulana Sheikh Nazim spoke about the total solar eclipse of 2006 March 29, & asked his followers to give charity/sadaqa in big amount -he was specific about the charity to be 'real big'- and also March 29 would be the last Wednesday of the month safer of the islamic lunar calendar. he warned us not to look at the sky -the dangers of looking at the sun during the solar eclipse could cause major eye damage and possible blindness! Eye damage can occur rapidly, without any pain, since there are no nerves in the eyes, or more surprisingly the loss of eye light or blindness could happen even after many years at an instant!
Maulana Sheikh Nazim asked his followers to say 'astaghfirullah/I ask Allah forgiveness' as much as possible.

Concentrate on aligning your will with Allah's here and now,and don't magnify little problems.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.


'Accord with My purposes this moment, and then rest assured that I will help you keep your future moments similarly aligned with My will'

The Seal of Prophets, Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alahi wa sallam peace be upon him, imparted this good advice to mankind 'If you awaken in the morning and find that you are lacking nothing in the way of material sustenance, and that you and your family are in good health, then don't burden yourself with worry'.
The Holy Prophet advises us not to make problems for ourselves. If there are immediate and pressing problems, that is another story but so many 'problems' in people's minds are not problems at all except in their minds. They are only 'projected problems' which may or may not ever materialize. This is the affliction of the twentieth century man: anxiety, or suffering inflicted upon oneself over the possibility of future suffering. As a result of this neurotic anxiety people may suffer intensely over a long period of time, although none of what they fear ever materializes This is the epitome of foolishness!
We are shouldering weekly, monthly and yearly burdens each day. Why carry such baggage when you may walk unburdened and find all that you need awaiting your arrival at each station of your journey? You only exist here and now! Tomorrow's 'you' is only a fantasy, as you can't even know if you'll live that long. By inventing so many problems for yourself you are only making yourself ill. Is this advice of the Prophet not enough evidence of his adherence to a way that leads man to felicity?
Allah Almighty doesn't want His servants to suffer needless self-inflicted misery, and He says: 'Oh My servants, don't load heavy burdens on yourselves by worrying about the future. Just bring yourselves in line with My will; accord with My purposes this moment, and then rest assured that I will help you keep your future moments similarly aligned with My will'.
Perhaps you may understand my point from the following example: When a new railway track is laid, before a locomotive and train are ever sent over it, a two-wheeled cart is first drawn over it to check whether the tracks have been laid straight. In the same way, if you can align your will to that of your Lord's even for one moment, without carrying a heavy burden, you may be sure that your way is right, and that, even should times get rough, and so many burdens be coupled to your locomotive, your track is straight and true and you will pass along it smoothly and safely. A solution to this moment's problem is the solution to next year's derailment.
When I am here in western countries I daily encounter people carrying the weight of anticipated problems, It is so difficult in the modern world to escape from having this perspective and to concentrate on the moment in order to put it right. With tens of thousands of problems in front of you all at once, how should a solution seem possible?
I often see people running into the mosque, saying the obligatory prayers quickly and running out. Sometimes I ask them 'What's the rush?' Then they nervously look at their watches and say 'We have tarried in the mosque too long already. We have so many things to do today!' I reply 'It is laudable to be industrious and to look after your affairs well, but who would look after your affairs were you to drop dead here and now?'
I am not encouraging people to spend their whole days in the mosque, but only trying to remind people who are not only running after their sustenance, but leaping, head over heels after ambitious all-encompassing undertakings that it is impossible to 'master the world', and destructive to devote so much energy to their attempt, and with so much abandon.. First of all, the world already has a Master, and addressing Him humbly and with presence of mind (not hurriedly) in your prayers is even more instrumental in attaining your sustenance than rushing through the city. Secondly, far from attending to your affairs more efficiently by running, you are only likely to have a heart attack and die young!
Don't live in a world of great big-time schemes, for such schemes will not save you from trouble, but entangle you in itself even further. Simplify your problems so that the solutions may be simple, also don't regard your problems with a magnifying glass so that they are out of perspective! That habit will destroy you physically and spiritually.

Tawhid, Junayd.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

The truest and highest stage of worship is to see God face to face, and to receive his guidance from his own mouth. Those who attain this highest stage, choose for themselves whatever God chooses for them. Their entire characters are transformed by God. They are God's friends; so they no longer discriminate between people, but regard all people as friends. Wherever they go, they go from God; wherever they arrive, they arrive at God. Whatever they do, they do for God; whatever service they perform, they perform it in God. The self has been truly annihilated.-Junayd, "Tawhid"

...Not like any other thing."

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

What a tiring and boring thing the rampaging mind is! .. sticking us in duality even as we try to explain the "highest spiritual realities" ... "Wa lam yaqun lahu qufuwan ahdad."

And He is not like any other thing.

Latest Sohbet from Maulana Sheikh Nazim.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Here's the latest sohbet from Maulana Sheikh Nazim, sent by Khairya to Naqshbandi group "Sufi Village." (She keeps pretty close to the original language .. so bear with it !)

Maulana Scheikh Nazim's sohbet from 19.2.2006
”O our Lord- save our souls!“
Meded, ya Sultanu-l Anbiya, Meded, ya Sultanu-l Awliya, Meded, ya Rijalallah! Audhu bi-llahi mina shaitani rajim, Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim, La haula wa la quwatta illa bi-llahi-l ‘Aliyu-l ‘Adhim.
As-salamu alaikum!
It is a short association and we are trying to follow the ways of holy people. And who is living on earth- billions of people are living- they are two kinds of people: Holy ones and unholy ones. I was once passing through Switzerland on my way from London to Cyprus. There is a famous monastery St.Nicolaus (von der Flüe), always (when) I am passing, his spirituality was asking me to come closer and he was taking familiarity from my spirituality. I was passing and coming there, stopping and visiting the monastery and his tomb also. Once I was there, just I visited and (I was) coming out, a person (was) coming and he said that: “I am priest of this monastery” and I was addressing to him: “Your holiness.” He said to me: “I am not a holy one. If you are saying ‘holiness’, holiness inside, buried there, but I am ordinary priest, I am not holy one.” I said to him: “What about (the) Pope?” “He is not also a holy one; he is also a person that (is being) appointed by some group of religious people (that) we are saying ‘Cardinals’ (for them). (‘His) Holiness’ that is a grant and blessing from Heavens. Whom they are appointed by someones on earth, they are not holy ones. (‘His) Holiness’ is a rank that (is) granted from Heavens to the Lord of Heavens’ servants.” I said: “What you are speaking, it is true. When they are appointed by governments, they can’t be holy ones.” To be ‘(His) Holiness’ that is something belongs to Heavens; that is not a reward or such a thing that people may give to anyone. Yes, I may dress (something that looks) like (the) dress of Popes or Saints- their clothes is holy clothes, as we are looking- but inside, no. Don’t think (that) if a person (is) dressing what dresses (a) holy man, (he is) going to be (a) holy one, no! Clothes we are understanding, but not that person. We are speaking on that point that people must know (that) some of them are holy ones, and mostly they are ordinary people. For example: Can’t be a person King, (even) if he is going to dress (a) Kings dressing; (and) even (if he is) putting on his head a crown, he is not going to be a King, no. But now (this imagination is) through whole nations and people are not asking who is holy one or not. They are not understanding what is (the) mission of (the) holy ones. People now (are) going to be (all) on the same line that their mission (is) to work for Dunya. Who (is) working for Dunya, he is not a holy one, no. Who (is) working for his Lord, he is holy one. Holy one is a clean person, (there is) no dirtiness on them for Dunya, no, but who (is) working for Dunya, they are all of them just going to be dirty from Dunya. You may say: there is a pond; who is swimming in that pond, (in a) clean one, he is clean, but who (is) falling in(to) a dirty pond, he should be dirty. Dunya is dirty and we are not created for Dunya, no, we are created for the Lords servanthood. Who (is) choosing to be (the) servant of his Lord, his life is clean and he is reaching through his cleanliness his Lords divine Presence. (That is for the) clean ones. Who (is) choosing Dunya, all of them (are) just coming in(to) a dirty pond and they should be left through that dirty place. It is so clear, so clear! All Prophets that came, that have been sent- they are all of them chosen ones- they were saying (the) same thing. Don’t think (that) Adam a.s. was saying other words than what we say now. Don’t think (that) Noah a.s. was calling his people to another station. Don’t think (that) Abraham a.s. and his sons, grandsons and (the) lines of Prophets through (the) 12 tribes (of Israel)- thousands of Prophets-, don’t think (that) they were calling people to Dunya, no, but they were calling them to be for their Creator, the Lord of Heavens: “Come and be servants for your Lord Allah Almighty!” (And) Shaitan (is also) calling people: “No, you must try… you must run after Dunya and you must try to enjoy your physical being with so many things from Dunya!” Shaitans’ calling (is) that! (And) all Prophets just called. Now we are living in a time (where) there is a Muslim world (and) there is a Non-Muslim world; Non-Muslim world means: Christian world and then Jewish world- that they are also Book-given people (people of the book), all of them- and (then) there are so many millions or billions (of) people, (that) they are never taking care or (who are) never interesting in Holy Books and (in) following some ‘ways from old time(s)‘. And now the representatives of (the) Muslim world, the representatives of (the) Non-Muslim world, the representatives of (the) Christians, the representatives of (the) Jewish faith- all of them (are) never getting a power for defeating Satan from people. Satans power (is) coming over their powers! They are in such a way that their faith (is) not enough for defending Truth and the Lord of Heavens sent all Prophets and their real inheritors, (as) defenders of Truth. And Truth (is) coming from Heavens. Truth is not from earth; the Balance of Truth (is) coming from Heavens. Every balance that they are doing now- nations and their religious people-, their balance (is) from earth, (and) therefore they are not able to make (a) defence or to be defenders of Truth. They are following their egoistic interests; they are interesting only for Dunya and can’t be able to be defenders of Truth first of all that we must do our defence to make people to believe in (the) Lord of Heavens, their Creator. And secondly we must do our defence for defending that: “O people, take your true ways according (to the) Rules of Heavens that just had been sent through His chosen people, honoured people, that they are Prophets!” (But) we are not saying: “How we are going to be defenders of Truth?” (and) therefore Truth- now (among) perhaps 6 billion people- you can’t find even one million people to be real defenders for Truth. That means: all our destinations through wrong heads (in the hands of people) that are not knowing (anything about the) true destination of mankind; and we are accepting them and following them and (so) we are going to be defenders for Shaitan, defenders for shaitanic ideas. Now people (are) defenders of satanic ideas and works and activities, that what they are doing (is) carrying heavenly Cursing on earth! What do you think (about) now, today, through East and West, from North to South? You think heavenly Blessings (is) coming on earth or Cursing coming? Cursing (is) coming, because we are not defenders of Truth, (we are) not following (the) Prophets and their real inheritors. That is it, nothing else! People (are) running to do this, to do that, to stop this…(Then they are) stopping that and beginning another cursing there, coming another… Every day and night another kind of cursing (is) coming, unexpected…unexpected… until they are saying: “O our Lord, save ourselves!” If a ship (is) going to sink, (it is) giving (an) announcement: “SOS…SOS…SOS!“ (They are) calling. What does it mean SOS? “O people, we are going to die, save our souls!” Not your souls! (If they were) saying: “SOB, SOB, SOB“ it is better, because people can’t say, ordinary people can’t say ‘souls‘. (Therefore they) may say: “(SOB- Save our) bodies, without (the) souls.” Why not sending- they are sending that announcement through 4 directions- (and) calling: “O people, we are in a dangerous position. (The) ocean (is) going to swallow our ships and ourselves! Please, quickly reach to ourselves and save our bodies, not souls!” Why (they are) not saying (this)? These people, 21st century people, why (they are) not sending their announcement: “O our Lord, save our souls?” Why not saying? People (are) running through (the) streets, Muslim people, for a nonsense person drawing. That is (the) Islamic way? No! Why (they are) not going to (their) mosque and saying: “O our Lord, You said, You promised for Your beloved servant that You are going to be Guarantor for him! Please, send us armies from Heavens, as You did some time (ago as) we are believing. Send (them to) us to destroy their technology, their nuclear weapons, send (them to) us to destroy their whole nuclear bombs!” Why not saying? (Instead they are) on streets, burning cloth (flags)! That is Islam that saying our Prophet and our Holy Book? Written in such a way? Allah knows! Therefore I am saying that I heard a punishment is coming for the inhabitants of this world: One punishment for (the) Non-Muslims, seven punishments for (the) Muslims, because they lost their way! Keep yourself! Run and ask (for) holy ones! One holy one may shelter you, but 1ooo regiments cannot shelter you. That is the head of crises and that is its treatment. May Allah forgive me… Therefore ? coming, I am saying: “O our Lord, send us Your Sultan!” Sultan means who has heavenly Power! I was in Damascus at the end of the Second War- no one was born from you- and the French forces were bombarding from Mezza; it was a center of army, protected with everything. They were bombarding Damascus and we looked and saw that one shell (was) coming on S.Yahya, Yahyas tomb. Just appeared a hand, taking that shell and throwing (it) away. And I was also looking (and seeing that) in Homs, (a) famous place in Syria (already in the) time of (the) Christians and after (the) Christians (in the time of the) Muslims. They were bombarding from Kel’a, (a) sheltered place, and (the) army (was) there and (they were) bombarding. I was in S.Khalid ibn Walids mosque- (may) Allah bless him- (and there was) also coming a shell (and it was also) passing! And they were taking as their target to destroy that holy tomb of Prophets people, S.Khalid ibn Walid r.A. Only one piece (was) coming on (the) minaret and (it was) falling down. I was there. That shell (also) passed away! We have power! We are not weak people! Now- we are weak people, but (the) inheritors of (the) Prophets have such power! But people are not believing in holy ones. They are finished… Therefore every day one punishment on (the) Islamic world coming, coming, coming… May Allah forgive us and bless you for the honour of the most honoured one in His divine Presence S.Muhammad sws, Fatiha.

Rabita/Muraqaba .. connecting to and through, the Sheikh.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Someone, a good friend,who is muslim and also a member of th Subud group, was asking me recently about taking a Sheikh as they are wanting to practice a "real" Islam and not a heavily Wahhabi influenced one.

Here is a wonderful talk (the best thing I have ever seen from Sheikh Efendi on the subject.) sent to me in an e.mail from "az"may Allah bless him eternally and bless and protect and raise our Sheikh's station for ever amin. (Fatiha):

Allah Almighty is ordering His servants to follow the steps of His friends, and to be with them. Therefore we should be like neighbors with blessed people with our physical body. Then we may be closer through our hearts.
If a pipe does not connect to a tap there will be no water from the tap; spring water may reach to you through pipes. You must have pipes so that the tap can give water. Likewise all the Prophets, and Sayyidina Muhammad alaihi salaam peace be upon them are carrying heavenly streams and mercy to our hearts. Therefore we must always keep connection to their holy and pure hearts in order to recieve wisdom from heavens; you may reach to them and drink from their grand mercy streams. Without the saints/awliya, it is not possible to reach to this. You simply cannot reach to it. Allah Almighty made the awliya to be His mercy springs. The one who reaches to them is going to be alive and be a real living person. Those who reaching to awliya, will reach to ever lasting life. How can we reach to Allah? This is so difficult. But to reach to His representative is to be with Allah.
If a person does not reach to the awliya, it is difficult to reach to blessings. There are common blessings which reach everyone, to even unbelievers.. if not, they wouldn’t exist. But if you want to get much closer, you need another kind of blessing. The person who is heedless looses his expensive life and wastes his precious time. As for an authorized person, it is not important for him outwardly, but in reality, he is always with his sheikh. He has a kind of telephone to his sheikh, to see what news he may benefit from. This has nothing to do with our own will, but it is the will of the sheikh who is taking from the presence of the Holy Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam peace be upon him. The sheikh is always with the presence of the Prophet Muhammad whose reality is always with Allah.
The servant who is asking to reach to the Divine Presence of Allah Almighty, of the Prophet Muhammad and of the sheikh, must always keep his observation/muraqaba/attentive observation, or watchfulness, on the sheikh. You should always observe your sheikh, as he is always looking after you. He never leaves you. To observe means to know, that the sheikh is always with you, and that he is always watching you. The follower/murid is never alone.
Say 'Ya Allah', 'Don’t leave me alone with my ego'. When the murid is not with his sheikh, he will be with his ego, and with the satan, and the ego has millions of tricks to play on you. When the murid keeps observation of the sheikh --for one minute, a while, or as much as he can do-- the sheikh will be with him, and in every situation, he will support him. The observation brings the support/medad. If you are cutting off, then the sheikh’s support is cut off. The sheikh supports the one who is walking on the way to Allah.. as a car fills up its tank at a petrol station before moving on. A real authorized person, has such a station to make you to reach to Allah Almighty. He is also taking from the presence of his sheikh, who is taking from the presence of the holy Prophet Muhammad who receives from the presence of Allah Almighty. If you cut this connection off, you will be left alone, and be like a tape recorder with finished batteries. Instead if you have support through a cable, it will never cut off, or become less. Always it will continue and go on.
For how long do you want to stay with your ego? To observe the sheikh is one of the most important things, so that you can always be with the sheikh, and so that you may be able reach to the presence of the holy Prophet Muhammad. Then you will be able to observe the Prophet Muhammad, and you may see that the eye of the Prophet Muhammad is looking at you, and that you come to know the meaning of the Quranic verse which says that the holy Prophet is among you, he is not absent. If there is no observation/muraqaba, you will never see or feel anything.
Muraqaba makes the servant to hear things from the sheikh, and he will see and watch events and things also. Then you may see 'the reality of the sheikh' whose power is surrounding the whole world -if he is a true one. There are no borders.. No! Not if the responsibility has been given to him, officially, by the holy Prophet. His power is always present, in every place, on the land and in the Oceans. Wherever you go he is present.
When you have a good connection, at first you will hear -like a kind of divine telephone to the sheikh- and he will show you the way by what he tells you. After this, when the murid becomes higher in his maqam/station, he will begin 'to see' also the sheikh who is directing him with words. This is the highest level from the muraqaba of the murid, until the murid climbs up to the observation of the Holy Prophet Muhammad whom he will first hear until he gets higher and then he will see the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.
Of this state, the greatest of the holy ones used to say 'If we are not looking at the holy Prophet Muhammad even for the blink of an eye, and if he is cut off from being directly in front of us, we would not count ourselves as being muslims anymore'. This is because if a man is with his ego he is not a believer -no iman/faith. Until he is with Allah Almighty, the holy Prophet Muhammad, and the other Prophets, he will be cut off, and there will be nothing else to serve accept his ego. He would have made himself to be a servant of his ego until they will say of him 'Did you see the one who made his own ego to be his God' the Holy Quran. This person will no longer separate what is allowed or forbidden. He will say 'I am free, and that which I want to do, I will do'.
Therefore, the observation of the sheikh by the murid, is the most important thing for his improvement on the way, and if not, his diesel or petrol will finish, and he will stand on the way without moving. When he insists that he doesn’t want to think about his sheikh, he will be left there.
These are some sensitive points which satan and his supporters have interfered with to cheat the ones who are on the way. They say that it is making partners with Allah -shirk- when one observes the sheikh. It cannot be and is not shirk or unbelief. It is only that these people have no understanding about how to obtain a ‘true state’. Muraqaba is for one on the way, and it is to be done always until he reaches to the Divine Presence. Then he will be from one of those who have reached, and there will be nothing left in him of the worries of the world or of the hereafter. He will be in permanency.
This is a very precise and heavy lecture, and no one else in this time from the authorized people may speak about this except our Grandsheikh’s representative. Tariqat/path is to have adab/good manners, and is for guiding people to the highest level of adab. Becoming a true murid means being an accepted one in the Prophet Muhammad’s sallallahu alaihi wa sallam peace be upon him presence, and in the Divine Presence. 'O Allah, give Your most beloved servant more majesty and honor'. Who does not make dhikr/zikr has no divine light, and the person who has no light is blind.. so the veils cannot be taken away.

True humility.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

The Sheikh has said,"In order to be with everything, one must become nothing. Like the drop which falls in the ocean .. then, where is the drop and where is the ocean.?"
He has also said,"When one great sufi asked Allah how he may be with Him, he recieved the reply "Step on your ego and come."
As the Sheikh has also said, "So simple, ... but so difficult!"

The Violet. A symbol of humility. 

Being.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Friday 10th March. 2006. Yawm al Jumaa.
17.16.Hrs. Orgiva.

It’s a long time since I’ve just sat and written in a Word Document. Written, one might say, for myself, or to myself perhaps for my own benefit (although at another stage or time, what I write here, could be beneficial to others) “ojala” que fuese asi.

It’s about what one’s looking for, as usual, or as always, and, as always, the core mystic works have the answer/s. It really doesn’t seem to matter wether one calls it “The Vacio” (or The Void) or Brahman, or God or Allah .. or The Essence .. nomenclature is not important at this stage .. all that is important is not even “finding” it .. for there is no place or space where what I am looking for exists, it is not in space to be found nor in time either .. beyond all dualities and concepts one can only either “be” it/It .. or not, as sura 112 says “He is not like any other thing.” It is something to be lived and experienced not something to be talked about .. and yet it is an object of desire, (which desire perhaps blocks the very obtaining of it.) To know Him is to be Him ..(or It) .. He is one’s true self .. so one has to get rid of, or put aside the false self or ego in order to find Him or It.

As Nisargadatta, so perspicaciously says;


There is no such state as seeing the real. Who is to see what? You can only be the real, which you are, anyhow. The problem is not mental. Abandon false ideas, that is all. There is no need of true ideas. There aren't any.

(italics mine)

That text at last! (Wonderful translation.)

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

The Secret of the Golden Flower - The Chinese Classic book of Life Lu Yan


The Celestial Mind .

Naturalness is called the Way. The Way has no name or form; it is just the essence, just the primal spirit. Essence and life are invisible, so they are associated with sky and light. Since ancient times, those who realized spiritual immortality all communicated their teaching verbally, transmitting it from individual to individual.
In obedience to a directive, I am acting as a guide to liberation. Herein we will bring light to the source message of the golden flower of absolute unity. The absolute unity refers to what cannot be surpassed. There are very many alchemical teachings, but all of them make temporary use of effort to arrive at effortlessness; they are not teachings of total transcendence and direct penetration. The doctrine transmitted here brings up working with essence and does not fall into a secondary method. That is the best thing about it.
The golden flower is light. What color is light? It is symbolized by the golden flower, which in Chinese characters also conceals the words one light within. This is absolutely unified real energy of celestial immortals.
The whole work of turning the light around uses the method of reversal. The beauties of the highest heavens and the marvels of the sublimest realms are all within the heart; this is where the perfectly open and aware spirit concentrates. Confucians call it the open center, Buddhists call it the pedestal of awareness, Taoists call it the ancestral earth, the mysterious pass, the primal opening.
The celestial mind is like a house; the light is the master of the house. Therefore, once you turn the light around, the energies throughout the body all rise. Just turn the light around; this is the unexcelled sublime truth.
The light is easily stirred and hard to stabilize. When you have turned it around for a long time, the light crystallizes. This is the natural spiritual body, and it steadies the spirit. This is what the Mind Seal Scripture refers to as "silently paying court" and "soaring upward."
The transmutations of spiritual illumination are all guided by mind.
The Original Spirit and the Conscious Spirit
From the point of view of the universe, people are like mayflies; but from the point of view of the Way, even the universe is as an evanescent reflection. Only the true essence of the original spirit transcends the primal organization and is above it.
Vitality and energy degenerate along with the universe, but the original spirit is still there; this is the infinite. The production of the universe all derives from this. If learners can just preserve the original spirit, they live transcendentally outside of yin and yang. They are not within the three realms.
This is possible only by seeing essence. This is what is called the original face. What is most wondrous is when the light has crystallized in a spiritual body, gradually becoming consciously effective, and is on the verge of moving into action. This is the secret that has not been transmitted in a thousand ages.
Turning the Light Around and keeping to the Center
Turning the light around is not turning around the light of one body, but turning around the very energy of Creation. It is not stopping random imagination only temporarily; it is truly emptying routine compulsion for all time. Usually people wind up pursuing objects and come at age in conformity with life, never once looking back. Just observe deeply, and when your breath grows quiet you then become accurately aware. This is application of the method of reversal.
The light is neither inside nor outside the self. Mountains, rivers, sun, moon, and the whole earth are this light, so it is not only in the self. All the operations of intelligence, knowledge, and wisdom are also this light, so it is not outside the self. The light of heaven and earth fills the universe; the light of one individual also naturally extends through the heavens and covers the earth. Therefore, once you turn the light around, everything in the world is turned around.
The light rays are concentrated upward into the eyes; this is the great key of the human body. You should reflect on this. If you do not sit quietly each day, this light flows and whirls, stopping who knows where. If you can sit quietly for a while, all time-ten thousand ages, a thousand lifetimes-is penetrated from this. All phenomena revert to stillness. Truly inconceivable is this sublime truth.
Nevertheless, the actual practice goes from shallow to deep, from crude to fine. Throughout, it is best to be consistent. The practice is one from beginning to end, but its quality during the process can be known only by oneself. One winds up at the point where "heaven is open, earth is broad, and all things are just as they are."
What has been communicated through successive sages is not beyond reversed gazing. Confucians call it " reaching toward knowledge." Buddhists call it "observing mind." Taoists call it "inner observation."
The essential teaching is summarized above; as for the rest, matters of entering and exiting stillness, the prelude and the aftermath, one should use the book Small Stopping and Seeing as a touchstone.
The words focus on the center are most sublime. The center is omnipresent; the whole universe is within it. This indicates the mechanism of Creation; you focus on this to enter the gate, that is all. To focus means to focus on this as a hint, not to become rigidly fixated. The meaning of the word focus has life to it; it is very subtle.
The terms stopping and seeing basically cannot be separated. They mean concentration and insight. Hereafter, whenever thoughts arise, you don't need to sit still as before, but you should investigate this thought: where is it? Where does this come from? Where does it disappear? Push this inquiry on and on over and over until you realize it cannot be grasped; then you will see where the thought arises. You don't need to seek out the point of arising any more. "Having looked for my mind, I realize it cannot be grasped."
This is correct seeing; whatever is contrary to this is false seeing. Once you reach this ungraspability, then as before you continuously practice stopping and continue it by seeing; practice seeing and continue it by stopping. This is the twin cultivation of stopping and seeing. This is turning the light around.
The turning around is stopping, the light is seeing. Stopping without seeing is call turning around without light; seeing without stopping is called having light without turning it around. Remember this.
- Taken from "Secret of the Golden Flower" Translated by Thomas Cleary(1991)

Uthman "Avatar" (Me.)