HAKKANI – Defender of Truth

Saturday, 28th Safar, 1428 (March 17, 2007)

Springfield, Virginia

Sohbet by Shaykh Abdul Kerim al-Hakkani al-Kibrisi
Friday, 20 Shawwal 1425 (December 3, 2004)

Manhattan Dergah, 39th Street, NYC

Audhu billahi min ash-shaytanir rajim
Bismillahir rahmanir rahim
La hawla wa la quwata illa billahil alyil azim.

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

Tarikatuna Sohbet wal khayri min jami’at.

Allah subhana wa ta’ala is speaking to us saying, “All your wealth,
your children and your families, whatever you have worldly is only a
confusion.” Your family, your children, your worldly wealth and
everything is a confusion. Grandshaykh is saying, “Whatever Allah
has given to the children of Adam is temporary. It is something that
is given to you temporarily. Why then run after and try to hold on
to it very tightly?” It is given temporarily. It is going to be
taken away. It’s not yours. Nothing is yours and nothing is mine.
Everything is temporary. Only unbelievers, people who do not believe
in the hereafter life run to catch it here and there. But they leave
it also and they go. Everything they leave and they go. The families
that they love so much they leave; children that they love so much
they leave; the wealth that they have they leave and they go. No one
is taking anything with them. Everyone is going by themselves. Not
with anybody else. No! I have never seen an incident yet where two
persons die at the same time and they love each other so much that
they get buried in the same grave. Separate graves are opened for
them too.

So everything you have is only confusion. This is what Allah is
saying to us. Hm� now it’s good. Now we understand. Confusion is
just that what makes us forget about our Lord. You forget about your
Lord and you remember everything else. What’s the value? Nothing.
The whole world praises you and puts you very high and your Lord
doesn’t love you. What’s the value? Nothing. The whole world puts
you down and your Lord loves you, that is what’s valuable. That is
where the value is.

So Allah subhana wa ta’ala created each one of us for His service.
Not for other services. Only for His service. Only for Him. He is
our Owner. No one else can own you again. He pays good and He takes
care of you too. He has created and He pays very high value to us.
He says, “You are Mine. You are for My service.” So anyone who is
not on the service is running after what? Their egos. If you want an
enemy, that is enough for you. Your biggest enemy is your ego.
Nothing else. Your second biggest enemy is Dunya. It’s saying, “I am
yours, take it. I love you so much, take it.” But as soon as you
close your eyes it takes you in and it finishes you. So much love,
finished right away.

So Allah subhaha ta’ala is saying to us, “I have created you for My
service. And if you do that service, everything else I am going to
give you, everything is going to work for you.” If you don’t, eh�
when there’s a car that is working with a battery, if the battery
dies then the car doesn’t work anymore and people have to push it.
What is that car good for? You are pushing the car? The car has to
carry you. What are you going to do when you come to an uphill? You
cannot push it anymore. So when you are running after this world you
are like that car that’s battery is gone and it’s finished and
you’re pushing. For what? Run to Allah, run to the service of Allah,
that is enough.

Also if you are looking to have honor, don’t look for people to say
to you, “Oh you are so good, you are that you are this.” You know
who you are and you know what you are. If you are looking for honor,
be with those who have honor. And only Holy Prophet (alayhi salatu
wa salam) has been honored by Allah subhana wa ta’ala and all those
who are following his footsteps. That is the honor you must look
for. All other titles they are giving to you are garbage and
rubbish. Nothing else. It is only temporary too. If you get that
honor, if you will be in that book once and if they put your name in
that book, that is forever. Dunya and akhirat.

That is what an intelligent man must run after. To make his Lord to
be happy with him. In this short life that Allah has given to us, we
must run to make Him happy. Not to make our ego happy. Our ego is
never going to be happy until the end and when it is going to leave
you, you will ask, “Where are you going?” It will say, “I’ll tell
you. I’ve finished my job and you are going to the dumpster now. You
are finished. That was my job, to finish you up.” Don’t get fooled
by that. We should not get fooled by that because we are carrying
this life with us and we know the tricks and the traps of this ego
and what it is trying to do to us. If you still get fooled then what
do you call those? Ahmak. What is it in English? Say whatever you
want, it’s Ahmak,(fool,idiot) lost.

Be intelligent. Intelligence is not how much you read and how
much you write. Intelligence is not how much computer you know.
Intelligence is not how much you know how to count money. Everybody
can do that. If you train them they can do it. Intelligent man is
that one who asks and who questions saying, “Who am I? What am I?
What am I doing and where am I going?” That one is intelligent,
asking questions. If you sit and you ask that question sincerely,
then you are going to need to find an answer for that. Otherwise you
cannot sit comfortably after that. But if you say, “I am just like a
grass. Growing, rain comes, growing, sun hits and then dying”, that
is not intelligent. We must be different than the grass; we must be
different than the tree; we must be different than the animals. We
are humans.

And Allah has created us in Ahsani Taqweem (Most perfect form). No
creature can know their Lord or find their Lord except man. Without
a guide. You don’t need a guide, you don’t need a prophet, we don’t
need a book. What Allah put here (pointing at the heart), if we sit
and think and calculate and understand we can find our Lord. But He
sent prophets, books and guides to us to make it easy for us and
saying to us, “This is the reason that I have created you. Work for
that and everything around you will work for you.” Everything Allah
has created for man and everything has been given under the
authority of man. Who are you that this metal has to listen to you
(Shaykh tapping on the pipeline in the room)? Don’t you see? The
metal is obeying the man. It’s such a hard object but it obeys the
man. Any shape that the man puts it into, it stays there. You hit it
with your fist and your fist breaks but you put it in that shape and
it stays there because the Owner of that one is saying, “I have put
you under the authority of that man. So you must obey.”

And everything that Allah has created He has put under our authority
saying, “You are not alone. You are under My authority. You must
watch out what I say and what I say is good for you.” This is what
our Lord is saying to us. “What I want for you is what is good for
you in Dunya and Akhirat.” Anyone who holds that tightly wins in
dunya and akhirat. Anyone who left that lost. This world, this
ground here, ohh� What are you and me? We are nothing. It has seen
so many Firauns who had power in their hands. They were not
powerless like us. They had something. They had everything. Anywhere
they looked they said, “This is mine” and no one could object. No
one could say, “It is not yours.” They said, “Yes your highness it
is yours.” “That one is mine, this one is mine, this one is mine”,
and that Firaun even said, “Anal rabbul `ala.” “I am your biggest
Lord. Bow down!” And everyone did. But this world that was saying to
him, “I am yours, I am yours, I am yours”, it swallowed and finished
him. Huh� I am yours. “You were giving me everything and now you are
taking me in? Treat me good!” You open the grave only to find dust.
Not only disobedients but obedients too. All prophets are buried
there. Everyone that Allah has created is under that earth. Today
you and I we are here, tomorrow we may not be. We may be those ones
who are gone with the wind, down there, finished.

In these days it is more difficult and there’s another prayer we are
making that, “Ya Rabbi! Don’t let us without a grave.” Another
special prayer you must make in these days, for somebody to find us
when we die and to bury us. For in these days unusual ways of death
are happening everywhere. Building burns, oh� What happened? They
come to you. You say, “What is that?” “Eh� from DNA we find this is
your family. Here are the ashes, take it. Go home, you want to drink
it or do whatever you want with it.” It’s not a joke. It is real.
Car accidents, car crashing into each other, planes crashing, planes
falling down to the ocean, fishes say, “Oh we have some fresh meat.”
Before you know, who knows until Judgment Day you may be spending
your life inside another fish and that fish is eaten by another one
and another one, who knows what kind of things you will be passing
through. So in these days we must pray another special prayer
that “Ya Rabbi, when it is good for us take our lives and make us
rest in our graves.” Otherwise it’s pretty dangerous. Be
careful.

There was a time when a funeral was going on and people were all
crying and this and that and I said, “Well, what can you do? Be
patient. The man was at this (old) age and it’s okay. What can we
do? Inshallah he reached to this age and he is going to a cemetery.
It could be worse than that.” “What are you saying?” Somebody is
upset with me. “It can be worse? What can be worse than that?” Then
the bearing came, people got up, everyone was crying and before you
know it, we were traveling under the bridge. A car made accident up
there while the funeral car is passing from underneath. A big tanker
slips on the snow, it falls down and it falls down on top of the
funeral car and starts burning. They couldn’t take out the box. Ha�
The worse can happen, can come any minute.

Allah has granted this life to us. We didn’t do anything to earn it.
He is giving it to us nonstop and saying to us, “Spend this breath
of life properly because I am going to question you one day.” And if
you do it you will win. If not, the pleasures and the treasures of
this world is very little and it is very short. Temporary? We cannot
even use that word anymore. It is very very short. In the old days
at least those people who were Firauns would live almost a thousand
years so many of them. A thousand years in the world. Now fifty
years of life, sixty, a hundred. Can you pass beyond that? If you
pass beyond that you pray to die then. You say, “Everything expired
and I cannot die.” My wife’s grandmother was begging to die. I
said, “Don’t beg to die. Wait. Your time is not up yet.” She was
saying, “Well I am good for nothing, I cannot even put food to my
mouth.” I said, “So, Allah has put you in this difficult position.
Be happy that He has left you so many children and they are looking
after you. They didn’t throw you in the hospital. They are cleaning
and feeding you. Don’t worry. Be happy with this and you will be
alright.” She was crying to die. Hm� I don’t think we also want to
reach to that age because after that age your health is gone and you
become helpless. Your children sometimes say words that are hurtful.
You cannot do anything, you cannot change anything.

So Allah subhana wa ta’ala has granted this life to us and He is
ordering us to use it properly. If we don’t use it properly we will
be sorry here and hereafter. The intelligent man must be heedful.
Otherwise, so many people came, billions, and they are gone. And we
are going to go also. We must keep that alive in our hearts.
Eshrafil Mahlukat the Holy Prophet alayhi salatu wa salam. And
everything else has been created for his sake. He is also a guest
under the ground in this world. The earth is holding him as a guest,
another temporary life there. So if we keep that alive in your
hearts, Shaytan cannot find so many ways to fool us and to make us
to fall in love with this world. There is only one we must fall in
love with, Allah and His Prophet (saw). If we fall in love with
other than that, it is foolish. They are going to use you and when
the time is finished they are going to drop you. No matter how much
they love you. “My wife, you love me so much?” “Yes, ohh�.”
Say, “What will you do when I die?” “Well, I am going to fix you,
bring you to the cemetery to bury you. After that, well the truth is
I have to come back home. I cannot stay there.” Same day? Of course,
same minute. As soon as they close that grave it is like it never
happened. In these days they say, “You have something you left for
me? You go there and I am starting my life again.”

There is nothing to enjoy. One thing to enjoy is to be the servant
of Allah subhana wa ta’ala. If you are looking for that Allah makes
everything around you to be enjoyable to you. Otherwise you are
always going to live fearfully and with that fear you cannot be
comfortable with anything anywhere anytime any minute.

Wa min Allah at-taufiq
Bi hurmatil habib
Bi hurmatil fatiha.

Sheykh said in Juma Khutba recently that the number of salawat that we recite is not that important. What matters is the manner in which we say it: the wakeful station. One should sit somewhere for fifteen or twenty minutes, or half an hour or an hour, and make salawat while paying attention. This way we will get closer to the Prophet (sallallahu aleyhi wasallim) inshallah.

We are reciting as many short salawat as possible in preparation for the celebration of the birth of our Prophet Sayyidina Muhammad (salallahu aleyhi wasallim).

You may keep a daily record of your salawat and turn them in to Mustafa on Friday, 12th Rabi al-Awwal.

Assalatu Wassalamu Aleyka YaRasulallah.

Friday, 20 Safar, 1428 (March 9, 2007)

Osmanli Nakshibendi Dergahi, Manhattan, NYC

Sohbet by Shaykh Abdul Kerim al-Hakkani al-Kibrisi
Friday, 13 Shawwal, 1425 (November 26, 2004)

Manhattan Dergah, NYC

Nawaitul arbain, nawaitul itikaf
Nawaitul khalwa, nawaitul uzla,
Nawaitu riada, nawaitu suluk,
Fi masjid lillahi ta’ala, Ya Rahmatan lil Alamin.
La hawla wa la quwwata illa billahil `aliyil `azim
Hasbinallah wa ni’mal wakil

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

Tarikatuna Sohbet wal khayri min jami’at.

Our Tarikat, our way is founded on association. Without association believers
cannot know what to do. Through association we listen, we learn, we take, we
apply to our lives and we become better servants everyday. Holy Prophet is
saying, (alayhi salatu wa salam), that if we take one hadith, not one million
but one, and if we concentrate on that hadith; if we take that hadith, the word
of the Prophet (alayhi salatu wa salam); not the whole Quran, not the other
words of the Prophet (saw), just one and any hadith; if you are sincere, you
take that hadith and you apply that hadith to your life and you say, “I am going
to live according to that hadith every single day”. Then you will find that you
don’t need anything else. It is so easy.

So the Holy Prophet (saw) is saying one hadith. “In a believer’s life, today
must be better than yesterday, and tomorrow has to be better than today.” If we
just take that hadith and we apply that to our lives, and we check, “today, hm�
is today our lives better than yesterday?” If not you must make intention to
change it by tomorrow. We just entered to a new day. Sun has set and Islam is
entering to a new day. We closed that page when the Sun had set. It’s been 24
hours and the page is closed. The angels sealed it, took that page and put it in
that area in the skies, “the archives”, where everyone’s records are kept and no
one can open it until Judgment Day. Nothing is coincidence. Allah did not leave
anything to coincidence. Everything is working perfectly but we are ignorant
about it. For us being ignorant about it is not changing it.

So the whole activities of today, everywhere in the world, your lives, my life,
and everyone’s life; the sun has set and its gone. Tomorrow say, “What happened
yesterday?” All these works, all these problems and all these earnings,
everything is gone. It’s going to stay in the newspapers for a couple of days,
then they will go to the newspaper archives and it’s gone. This day, 24 hours,
is gone, finished. So the Holy Prophet (saw) is saying to us, “Watch out! Your
today must be better than yesterday and tomorrow has to be better than today.”
If we take that and we apply that to our lives, as much as we will run for this
world, the same we will run for Akhirat too. Because Holy Prophet (saw) is
saying to us, “Work for this dunya, this world, as much as you are going to stay
in it. Work for Akhirat as much as you are going to stay there.” Which one can
we leave? Which one can we escape?

We worked for this dunya today and our job is finished tonight. Leave the
worrying for dunya tonight. Don’t worry now. You may start worrying tomorrow
morning, but stop worrying now. There is nothing you can do. So now start
worrying more, “What about Akhirat? What about if I don’t get up for tomorrow?”
So if we live according to that then we don’t need a guide. Yes, then we will
become those about whom Allah says in the Quran, “If you live according to the
knowledge you know, I will teach you the knowledge that you don’t know.” So if
we live according to the knowledge that we know, Allah subhanu wa ta’ala will be
our teacher. But Shaytan, ego, egoistic people and selfish people are so much
around us in today’s world that we cannot open our eyes.

And we feel obligated for so many people in the world, which we must be careful
about, because our lives are given to us and we are responsible for our lives.
No one is going to be questioned for our lives. You are going to be questioned
for your life; you are going to be questioned for your life (Shaykh pointing to
the audience). Your wife is not going to be questioned for your life. Maybe
Allah is going to say to you, “Are you happy with this woman?” “Yes.” (Allah to
the woman) “Go enter into Paradise.” It is so easy for the women. Only if the
woman becomes obedient to her husband and if she keeps her five daily prayers,
Holy Prophet (saw) is saying, and if she keeps one month Ramazan fasting then in
the Judgment day Allah asks the husband, “Are you happy with this woman?” “Yes.”
“Get up and enter into Paradise.” Then the man stays there and very hard
questions are coming for him.

If I ask you a couple of questions here as a Shaykh, you become very tight, you
want to escape and to run away. Some people comes to the dergah one day, two
days, three days, one week and then when I start questioning, they are watching
for doors to escape. There are no doors there to escape. We cannot escape; the
reality is waiting for us. You and me everyone of us who is here now that are
listening to these words; your heart, your spirit is saying, “Yes, these are
right words.” Your ego may say, “don’t listen”. Shaytan says, “don’t get
fooled”. But your spirit is saying, “These are the right words whether you like
it or not.” Say to me that it is not. It is for you and it is for me.

So Tarikat is teaching us how to live. Tarikat is teaching us how to expect and
how to prepare us for tomorrow. Tarikat is teaching us how to take the lifestyle
of Prophet (saw) and put it in our lives. That is what Tarikat is teaching us.
So many people are saying, “Was there Tarikat in the time of the Prophet (saw)?”
Of course. That was a lifestyle without a name. Today so many names, so many
tarikats but the lifestyle has changed. We must go back to that. We must turn
back to our origin. And we can only find the way to our origin if we hold on
tightly to the traditions, sunnats and the lifestyle of our Prophet (saw).
That’s why Allah sent that Prophet (saw) to this world and Allah made that
Prophet (saw) stay in this world for 23 years. And in 23 years He made that
Prophet (saw) go through so many different experiences to show us how we are
going to live.

If you calculate that you will live 60 years of life, put an ‘X’ on twenty
years. From the first age to twenty years are gone. You didn’t really do
anything and up to 16 years of age you were not responsible if you are a man. If
it’s a woman until 13 years of age, she’s not responsible. So twenty years.
Especially in these days they say, “You are young. Go enjoy yourself. Don’t be a
foolish one going next to a Shaykh.” What does it mean? “Go enjoy, go drink, go
do adultery, go gamble, do this and that” meaning, “Dirty yourself. Heh, You are
clean, go dirty yourself.” Later you may have the chance to clean or you may not
have the chance to clean.

So twenty years are gone. From twenty to forty years, man is really running for
this world. The majority of men are running for the treasures and pleasure of
this world only. Now if you make it, you have the years between forty and sixty.
So you have another twenty years of life. So everything you are going to earn
[for Akhirat] is really in that last twenty years. But if you are a wise one you
start collecting [credit from your good works] from twenty years of age. Then
when you reach to forty you say, “Oh! I shouldn’t work so much for this world.
Now I should work for Akhirat.” Because the world’s wealth is never going to
come to an end. Holy Prophet (saw) is saying to us, “When you reach to forty
years of age, if your good deeds are not more than your bad deeds, then prepare
yourself for a long and difficult journey.”

We must turn to our own selves. And if you want safety, then for tonight’s
safety, take that hadith. Say, “Today has to be better than yesterday; and
tomorrow must be better than today.” If we take this hadith today and apply it
to our lives, then tomorrow will be better. The next day will be better than
that. The next day will be better than that, and then we start awakening and
preparing ourselves for that goodness.

Wa min Allah at-tawfiq
Bi hurmatil habib
Be hurmatil fatiha.

General Zikir Sohbet

Saturday, 14 Safar, 1428 (March 3, 2007)

Osmanli Naksibendi Dergahi, Sidney Center, NY

Sheykh Abdul Kerim al-Kibrisi

Sunday, 10 Ramazan, 1425 (October 24, 2004)

Osmanli Naks-i’bendi Dergahi, Sidney Center, NY

BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Meded ya Sayyidi, Meded
Selamun aleykum,
Rabia, may Allah be pleased with her, was a Muslim saint. Some
scholars had come to her for advice, to learn something from her. She
told them, “Oh, our astaghfirullah that we are making, we are in
need of turning to make astaghfirullah for that astaghfirullah that
we are saying in ghaflet.” Tell me about ghaflet now – heedlessness.
Oh, Oh, Oh. How are we going to say? Forgetting the constant fight to
ego. This is what it is, nothing else – constant fight. You are
sitting down. Now you start feeling relaxed- very nicely. Move right
away. Get up. What your ego doesn’t like that time – the cold
water. Go and make a wudu with a cold water. After a while you get
used to that. You like it. So what the ego doesn’t like now –
praying. Get up and pray. After a while you get used to it for the
prayer. So now, ego starts fooling you from that angle now. Oh, you
are praying so good. Masha’allah, becoming Evliya soon. So your ego
is fooling. You are this one; you are that one. Look – You are doing
this; but that one is not doing. Ego is always showing something to
you. As soon as that happens – leave that voluntary worship, not the
obligations. Obligations are obligations. So your ego likes it now
from what side? The prayer. Now I am sitting and relaxing – very
good. Ego is going to fool you from that side now. What is hard for
your ego now? – to make zikir. Sit and make zikir. Your ego is
fooling you that way. What is hard for you to do now? To go out there
to work. Go to work. The fighting the ego is not only fighting …
everyone is thinking. If I ask, they go. I watch their hands. Even
that one is holding tasbih now. Masha’allah How many you make? If I
ask from the beginning of the sohbet up until now “how many zikir you
make”, and what kind of zikir you make, they are not knowing. So, ego
is fooling from that side now.

That is the saint saying our astaghfirullah is in need of saying
astaghfirullah again for that. That veli woman, she used
astaghfirullah. What about if you are saying in ghaflet “la illah il
Allah”? What about if in ghaflet if you are saying salawats to the
Prophet salla Allahu aleyhi ve selam? We have a long way to go. So,
ego is never going to leave you. Ego is never going to leave you
alone. Always going to run from that way. Your ego says to you, “You
don’t like tea, you like coffee.” Drink tea. Because your ego has the
one it doesn’t like. You have to drink that, not: “I want that”. You
are serving your ego or are you serving your Lord? What you want?
What Allah put in front of you – water! Ego is saying: Alhamdullilah
Ya Rabbi. Ego is saying: “I don’t like it!” Who are you? You don’t
like it? If your Lord likes it and gives it to you, who are you to
say, “I don’t like it?” It’s not only in one way – every way, ego
saying – eating – “it’s very good – this part”. It’s very good now?
Yes. Give it to somebody else. That’s the way to fight the ego.
Otherwise, somehow, someway it’s going to knock you down. And that
fight must be continuously, and it will go, it will bring you up to
the grave. And that time now you see you win. Now you are sitting,
relaxing. And you say, “Let me relax a little bit more.” [You start
slouching in your chair.] Before you know, so many people I am
watching, they almost end up laying down in front of other people.
First respect, the tarikat – the first is manners. Manners. Good
manners. If you have no manners, you say whatever you want. You claim
whatever you want. Anyone can claim, anyone can say whatever they
want about you. You may reach to certain stations, if you don’t have
proper manner, from that station, Shaytan is going to knock you down.
He is going to find the way to bring you down. No way that you are
going to reach to your station, he is never going to let you reach
there. He is just going to fool you at certain times to say, “Look
you are progressing. That means you are doing right.” Look look look.
This is a dangerous area now. From there, he knocks you down. You
find yourself all the way down and you never can climb up again.

Ego is the enemy of Allah. Ego is the enemy of our spirit, of our ruh,
our real being. Allah put it there to us in this body, the ego and
the spirit, and the ego and the spirit are continuously struggling.
The intelligence never likes what the ego likes. Put it to
intelligence, you are going to see. Anything that ego likes, when you
put it to intelligence, it doesn’t fit to intelligence. The spirit will
be supported by intelligence. Ego is supported by Shaytan. So, what the
awliya are saying – Bastami al-Bayazzid qas – “The one who has no Sheykh,
that one’s Sheykh is Shaytan”. That shows to us that if you
do not have a Sheykh, your ego is directing you somewhere, somehow.
And the ego’s Sheykh is Shaytan. Shaytan is showing way to ego.
Anything that ego wants, as Grandsheykh Sultan Evliya is saying, you
should do otherwise, if you want to win. So many times, people
don’t like working. He says “Why you don’t like working?” No one can
really come to say to Him, “I don’t like the work for this reasons.
Why you don’t like the work? Allah is putting there for you. Allah is
saying to us, through the ayats sometimes it is good for you. That’s
why I am putting this benefit in it for you. The man through reading
books and doing certain things may reach to certain stations but if
you don’t have the proper manner …

So many wahabbis, they know the Kuran perfectly. So many wahabbis,
they are very punctual for their prayers. “Brother, not yet brother,
one more minute, brother. OK, call adhan brother.” They never delay.
But you see them standing and waiting with a sourness in their face.
They are tired. They are kind of upset that the time is coming again.
They are blowing fire from their nose when they are making wudu.
Thinking. The time is coming to prayer. “Selam aleykum”. [No
response – just frown]. That time, you’re watching them. They are
fighting, but they are still going to the prayer line. They are not
benefitting, because they are doing it with anger. Anything with
anger, it is from Shaytan. Anything you are doing with anger, you
speak with an angry voice, it is from Shaytan. He is going to knock
you down somewhere again.

So, we have to do what our ego doesn’t like. Whatever it likes, then
you are going to say “OK, do this [first] and I’ll give it to you
later this .” Because you cannot fight so much too. OK. Did you put
sett? If you put sett and say “I will never give it to you until I
die”, ego is going to fool you someday. Say to it, “OK. You don’t
like this drink. Drink this now, then I am going to give you what you
like [later]”. When you drink that, look how the Mercy of Allah is
going to reach you at that time. You are going start enjoying the
first drink, and you are not going to take the other inside. Because
it is ego. There is nothing there that is a big difference. It’s ego.

So are we here to support our ego or are we here to learn how to
knock down our ego, how to step on it. Because if you go with the
ego, you are not going to reach anywhere – not in dunya, not in ahirat.
If you go out from this world with your ego, you are not … You did
not clean your ego. You didn’t come out from that mess. You are entering
into the grave with the dirtiness of that ego. And the grave will close
that time on you. They will squeeze the grave, and you will find that it
is very difficult. Now you cannot leave, you cannot run.

That little cat over there [in a box] is screaming. If we let it, it
is going to run around. It is not going to scream. It is going to
reach wherever it wants to sit comfortably there. But if it sits
comfortably there – there [in the box] is comfortable also. “No, I
don’t like it. Open it. Let me go.” Sit. That’s how our ego is. We
must make it, we must force it, we must work against our ego. That
time, we will reach what is destined for us. Otherwise, you only
claim. You can claim. So many cannot even claim. So many claiming,
saying “I went; I did.” Illusion only. You’re thinking on it; but
you’ve never been there.

Alhamdulillah aRabbi alemin, it is a very heavy work of course, but
without that work we cannot reach what we are aiming. The ego is
fooling people very specially from laziness. Shaytan likes – loves –
lazy people. He loves them. Shaytan loves dirty people, and Shaytan
loves those people who sleep too much, who eat too much, and who talk
too much. “And these are my number one special workers. They are
working for me”, Shaytan is saying. Although they think that they are
working for Allah; but they are in my hand; because as long as they
have these characters and they are not working to break it down, they
are working for me, someway, somehow. He will bring us down.

We are asking support from the holy ones, especially from our
Grandsheykh, to fight against our ego. The war, the war, the big war
is that. The big war is to fight against our ego. The biggest war,
the biggest jihad, and if you die while you are fighting your
ego, you will become the biggest martyr. The martyr is not only that
one who goes to a war and physically dies. That one is a martyr too.
For the sake of Allah he dies. But which one is the greatest work,
the bigger jihad? What one does Prophet say? Prophet said, “The
biggest jihad is the jihad you are making against your ego. So, if
you are making jihad against your ego, and at that time if you die,
then you are the martyr. You are reaching to the highest station. So
that way, to know the reward is big too. Again alhamdulillah. And
Allah knows best. Ameen. That’s enough now. Your ego wants tea. Give
tea now.

Ben Bu Aşkın Mecnunuyum

A composition by our murids for our Sheykhs, similar to “Zahid Sultanim”.

RAMAZAN 1425

Sohbet by Shaykh Abdul Kerim al-Kibrisi

First Friday of Ramazan 2004, Manhattan Dergah, NYC.

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

Our way is association. Through association, believers will learn how to live.
Our guide is our Sheykh. Our Sheykh is our guide.

Elhamdulillah, we have entered the holy month of Ramazan, and this Ramazan came
with its own Rahmat and blessing. It is not like last Ramazan. Every year’s
Ramazan is not like the year before. Completely different, different blessings
coming down. If we think that it’s the same and if we keep it the same, nothing
is going to change. Everyday is passing, one going by, another day coming, sun
is rising, sun is going down and we are not seeing any benefits. Fast forward
it, you are moving to the grave empty-handed.

Allah is saying, subhanu wa ta’ala, to us through His Prophet (saw), “You must
make this month different. You must make it different.” So what’s different? How
do we have to make it different? You must pray from five times prayers to fifty
times? We cannot do that. We have to make it different than the other days. For
example, every Sunday that is coming, every Saturday that is coming, those
people who are working, they are preparing themselves for the weekend. It is
different than other days. But if you have a wedding party or something that
weekend, now you’ll see how much more care you show before that weekend comes.
Not as soon as it comes, to run to do those things. No. You prepare yourself for
that one day, for that party.

Of course, Allah’s order is far better than that party, any party in this world.
If you take it seriously, you win. If you don’t take it seriously, days are
coming, sun is rising and the sun is setting. It doesn’t matter where you are or
what you are busy with. If you are not taking the words of Allah and his Holy
Prophet (saw) with high respect, then you are not going to gain any benefit from
anything that you are doing. Ramazan is the month of what? Ramazan is the month
that Allah subhanu wa ta’ala has granted to the Nation of Muhammad (saw), saying
“This is your month, this is a present to you.” Allah is giving present to the
Nation of Muhammad (saw). You must make it different. It cannot be like other
months, it cannot be like other days. You must make it different. And Allah
subhanu wa ta’ala will not be happy if we are selfish and we only think about
ourselves. That’s why in this month He is saying, “You must come together more
often, you must share.”

This is another name of this month, the month of sharing. Giving away, giving,
giving for the sake of Allah. One thing, the biggest problem that today’s world
is facing, although it is one of the principles of Islam, is to give. And
especially during that month to give. Isn’t it? Of course. First, giving
Shahadat. The principles of Islam are five. First is Shahadat, Second is Salat,
to pray. The third, if you reach to Ramazan, to fast, the whole month of
Ramazan. The fourth obligation, the principle of Islam, the pillar that Islam is
standing on, what is it? You don’t know? Of course, nobody wants to say that now
because you’re in trouble if you say. Zakat, to give. Give it away, that’s what
it means, Zakat. And the fifth is to go to Hajj.

So who’s going to give Zakat? Now everyone may say, “Well I’m not rich. That’s
for rich people.” So Allah said to us about that too. He knows what kind of a
creature he has created. The millionaire is going to say, “Well I’m not rich,
there’s a billionaire.” The billionaire is going to say, “I’m not rich.” We have
what? I lost the numbers. Leave it. Turkish style. Now they’re taking the zeroes
out [of the Turkish lira]. So everyone pointing somebody out saying there’s
someone richer than me. It doesn’t fit to me. It has to fit to you, to you, to
you, to me, to everyone. It is obligation. Because Allah is saying for the fifth
principle of Islam, “You must go to Hajj. One time in your life, you must go to
Hajj.” In order to go to Hajj, you must make the fourth one. You must be rich to
be able to go to Hajj.

So Islam is now forcing you to become rich. It’s forcing you. If you want to
keep the principles of Islam and to fulfill every one of them, then you have to
force yourself to become rich. Not to work the whole week, the whole month, the
whole day and not to have twenty dollars in your pocket. What kind of Muslim are
you? Excuses, excuses, never-ending, never finishing. Don’t excuse yourself. Let
somebody else excuse himself. If you are excusing yourself, then that is the
biggest trouble, the biggest problem and you become the biggest enemy to your
own self. Don’t excuse yourself, let somebody else excuse it. But never excuse
your own self saying, “I didn’t do it, why? I could’ve done it. Allah gave me
two feet, two hands and one head. I must do it, I must be able to do it, I must
be forcing myself to do it. If it is not today then tomorrow, if it is not
tomorrow then the next day, I must make it better.”

So where’s the hadith of Holy Prophet (saw) saying, “For the believer, Muslim
believer, today has to be better than yesterday, tomorrow must be better than
today.” That is a believer, this is what Holy Prophet (saw) is saying. “Today
must be better than yesterday, and tomorrow”, he’s saying, he’s talking for
sure, tomorrow, today, yesterday. Yesterday has passed and today is in the
process to finish. The Prophet (saw) is saying, “The believers today MUST BE
better than yesterday and tomorrow HAS TO BE better than today.”

So now tell me, that way are you going to be able to reach in your lifetime to
the point, to that station where you will be able to give Zakat? Of course. And
Allah is making us go through that to understand that different feeling, the
different secret that Allah is actually blessing us with. He is granting that to
us because it’s only Allah who is giving without receiving and He is making you
give saying, “You give too. I’ll give you and you give ” Look what happens that
time. Look!

The Muslim world, the believers they have lost. They have lost because of this.
One of the biggest problems why Muslims have lost today everywhere in Muslim
nations and in Muslim countries is because they are not giving Zakat anymore. Go
and search them and you will find how many of them are giving Zakat. That’s why
no Berakat, no Rahmat, no mercy coming to those nations. Individuals yes,
individuals, Allah is separating them, but to those nations, no mercy, no Rahmat
is raining. No Berakat coming. Mercy is still there because there is not
punishment. But no Berakat, whatever they have, there is not Berakat. Because we
are stepping on the word of Allah subhanu wa ta’ala that way.

So the month of Ramazan is to remind us. The month of Ramazan is to make us
understand, “Oh! I was so selfish. I was only thinking about myself. Never
thinking about others.” The month of Ramazan is to make you to think, to
understand the feeling of other people, how they are feeling. They don’t have,
you may think they have. There was a time, a man was killing himself working so
hard and saving up some money, little money every day. In the old days it was
almost impossible. In these days it’s possible for everybody because Allah made
everybody rich. If you go into the category of Islam today, every one of us are
rich. And if you don’t believe me then come later to me, after we finish the
prayers and everything, tell me “I’m not rich” and I’ll tell you “Tell me what
you have” and I put it in an accounting digest and you’ll see if you’re rich or
not. According to Islam, not according to America.

In America nobody is rich. Everybody is poor. That is for sure. Everybody is
poor in America. They are wealthy, but they are very poor. They are not rich.
Rich are the believers. Believers are rich, because they don’t count, they don’t
calculate. They take and they give. They’re rich. The one who is counting is
wealthy. Americans are all wealthy. But they are not healthy. Because they are
not doing, they are not giving what Allah is ordering.

So let’s leave that aside now. But what happened to us? Yes, once upon a time we
were not like that. The Muslims were giving and in the time of Osman (radiyallhu
anh), the Baytul Maal was filled up. So they were also giving money to
Christians and to unbelievers to make their hearts warm to Islam. They were
giving away just like that. They said, “How foolish are these ones, how foolish!
They’re giving.” Allahu Akbar. No! The more you give the more Allah sends, the
more you give the more Allah sends. There is a direct connection of Riziq, Ya
Razzaq, the Riziq that is between you and Allah. It’s direct and it’s reaching
from here (Shaykh putting his hand above his head) to Paradise. If you cut it
this much, instantly it comes down again. Take that out and it fills up
instantly. The more you take, the more comes down, never-ending. Try it. Look
what happens.

The month of Ramazan is to make us go back to that. To think to understand what
we have lost and what we are loosing. Eating food! Allah Allah. That’s the only
thing we are created for? Do you think that staying hungry all day long and
right after breaking the fast filling up everything whatever you have lost for
twelve hours is fasting? You tie an animal to a corner for twelve hours or
fifteen hours. Leave the food here. Twelve hours later release him, Whoosh� he
is going to jump there again. The month of Ramazan must make it better. We must
make it better. We must understand that animal self and the angelic self.

There are two sides. Angels are not in need of eating and drinking. They are not
eating and drinking. When we enter into Paradise we are not going to be in need
of eating and drinking. No. We are going to eat and drink for pleasure only. But
there is no need there anymore. So that is another side for you. One side of us
is longing for that side and the animal side is longing for this side. And now
we have to fight against it. That is why Allah is setting time to us saying,
“From this time to this time you don’t eat, you don’t drink and you don’t have
sexual activities.” It is forbidden. Now we know that these characters that
Allah has forbidden to us is also being carried by the animals. So Allah subhanu
wa ta’ala is teaching us making us turn to our angelic side so that something
may start opening to you. If we do that physically and if we correctly start
doing the Ramazan� Correctly! Whatever Allah and His Holy Prophet (saw) is
ordering us we will find slowly that we are getting rid of that animal side and
we reached to that angelic side.

Eating and drinking. As long as you will stay in this world you will eat and
drink. It is a part from us to teach us that we are not angels. We are humans.
We are not animals. Ramazan is teaching us how to behave. Ramazan is teaching us
how to think. How much to eat, when to eat, how to eat, where to eat, from whose
hands to eat and drink. It cannot be from everybody too. Ramazan is teaching us
all these things if we concentrate on it. If we don’t concentrate we stay hungry
all day long, as soon as we break the fast we fill up the stomach and we cannot
even pray the Terawih that time because the stomach is too full.

We must make it different this month. This month is a holy month, a holy month
for the Nation of Muhammad (saw). For us! Allah says, “This is for you, a
present. For you, make it different!” In every way we must make it different.
Not only in eating and drinking. Certain things I say one year before and the
year after I don’t say it. I watch the activities, how it is going to happen. I
waited until the last minute and I did not say to anybody, “Are you making a
difference?” I am waiting, waiting, waiting, nothing happened. Today I say,
“What happened, you are making differences?” No differences, where? There are no
lights, there is nothing. Every year I am putting on the Ramazan lights. Nice
design lights everywhere. This year I say there are five or six guys there. Let
me turn my head to the other side to see if anybody is doing it. No. No passion!
Ashq! Nothing there. I made sure for those holy days and holy nights that at
least I put lights in front of the house. But “X” came, he took everything down
and he did not put them back up.

Now you see? Not only in dergah, you must make it different in your house.
Especially in this country, you must make it different in front of your house.
Put some lights on, “Oh what are these people doing there? Christmas is not
yet.” “Ramazan”, say to them. “It is not Christmas, it is Ramazan.” Make it
different. That is the simplest way to make a difference. Make it different in
any way possible so Allah and His Prophet (saw) will be happy with us. If Allah
and His Prophet (saw) are happy with us what else do we need? We don’t need
supermarkets anymore, we don’t need anything. Otherwise whatever we ate up until
now we can fill supermarkets. But everything became waste and toilet. Whatever
we drink, we can fill up lakes. We are still hungry and we are still thirsty.
Never-ending struggle. This is not why you have been created. So this month is
the month to make us understand the poor man who has nothing to eat and drink,
to understand how to reach to that one. It is not only to say, “Heh, take this,
it’s my Sadaqah.” No. It’s not accepted that time. You may be punished for it.
You must make it in a way not to hurt the feeling of that one.

So the man was working so hard and saving money aside. You all forgot about the
story, I am coming back to that now. He was saving money aside to go to Hajj. So
he is working so hard and every time saving and saving, putting aside. And
finally he is preparing saying, “This year I am going to Hajj, everything is
prepared.” You don’t want to listen to the story? It’s being taken away from me.
(Shaykh looking at `X’ smiling) Maybe you don’t want to listen. But anyway, you
are here. If you want it or not, you are going to listen. The man is ready to
go, he prepared everything. Across the street there are people living and there
is another woman who was coming. The people across the street were cooking and
the smell of the food was coming to that pregnant woman. When the women are
pregnant they need to have it. It is not something that they can say it’s okay.
Even if just a little bit they must have it. So that woman is pregnant. She is
going to the door and asking, “Please give me something from
what you are cooking. I am so hungry and the smell is coming to me.” So the man
said to her, “Well I cannot give it to you. I cannot give anything to you. But I
have a neighbor across the street. Go and get it from that one. That one may
give you something to eat; I cannot give you anything.”

So that lady came knocking on the door saying, “Look I am so hungry and I got
this smell from this house and they are not giving me anything, they are sending
me to you that you may give me something to eat.” So the man was surprised
saying, “Well I have nothing in the house but let me go look at the neighbor to
see if I can get something for you since you are pregnant.” So he comes knocking
on the door, “There’s a lady here, you must give something.”

“No. We cannot give we cannot share that.”

“Why you cannot share just a little bit?”

“That is only for me and my children. Allowed only for us and not for that lady.
It’s not for you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look, we don’t have food. I don’t have any work for a long time now and we
don’t have any food. So the children were hungry today and they were going
crazy. So I went up to the mountain and I was crying. Allah subhanu wa ta’ala
showed me a donkey there. It was a dead donkey. I cut one piece from that
donkey, then I came here and now I am cooking.”

“Ohh! This is the case.”

“Yes. That is halal to us because we have nothing to eat, so it is okay for us
to eat it. But it is not halal for that person and for you and I am worried
about that child she is carrying and what will happen.”

So that man came back saying, “Oh how foolish am I. I am preparing to go to Hajj
and my neighbor is hungry. What kind of Hajj am I going to make?” So he
distributed everything. Of course as soon as he distributed everything, someone
else came along, Allah’s mercy reached to him and he took him to the Hajj.

It is a lesson to us that in the month of Ramazan we must make a difference. Eh,
in this country, maybe you don’t even know what I am talking about because you
never see hunger or anything like that. Every time you go and open your
refrigerator it is full. So many of you don’t know how it is coming there. So
you must think, you must understand, you must put something to this world from
yourself. Not to live like an animal, eating and going away from this world. But
even an animal is eating and giving something back. You are humans. You must
give something back. And if we are running for titles, running for high
stations, wearing turbans, tesbih going around trying to become Awliya, then
that is not how to become an Awliya. First you must learn this, how to share.
And the month of Ramazan is to teach people how to share.

One of the biggest things in this month is that people invite each other to
their houses. They make dinner. They break fast together. They pray together and
they do different activities. It is different than other days. We must try like
that. We must try our best we must make some efforts to move at least to come
together to break fast, to understand that it is different. Otherwise if you let
it pass like ordinary days and ordinary months, you may not receive any
blessings for it; and you will be accountable because we don’t know what Allah
subhanu wa ta’ala has prepared for us; and if we don’t move forward to get it,
then we may not be able to reach to those people because what Allah has prepared
for us is is not only for ourselves. There are so many people’s rights in it.
And we have to go to Judgment place with that burden. That burden is a heavy
burden. When Allah gives other people’s rights on you to hold and to take care
of and if you don’t then it is a heavy burden for Judgment Day. Nobody wants to
go to that place with that burden.

Ramazan Mubarak. Ramazan came to our dergah bringing Rahmat Elhamdulillah. We
must become more out of that heedless station to become better individuals to
our own selves, to our own community to our own nations and to mankind, step by
step reaching. Whatever you give whatever you do in this life, you are never
losing. You always win. Even if you give something to someone that does not work
for him, it is okay. You are winning. It is in your book. It will be ready for
you and you will find it someday someway somehow in front of you. If you think
that way. If you don’t think that way, turn around and look around you. I am
talking to you from Reality. Turn around and look around. Look around your daily
lives. Specially people who are living in the West. Look around you. People
don’t even give each other tea anymore. They say, “Brother, let’s share it.”
They go someplace and then it’s “you pay for your tea I pay for my tea”.
Mine, yours. People are not sharing anything anymore. Parents are not sharing
with children, children are not sharing with their parents. Brothers and sisters
are not sharing, everyone turning only to themselves being selfish and egoistic
individuals.

And individuality, whole nations became like that. And now that sickness has
covered us the Muslims nations and the Muslim people too. If we don’t come out
from that, pray twenty-four hours a day if you want. Who cares? If you think or
we think that we are going to reach somewhere with that then No! You don’t know
how Allah subhanu wa ta’ala’s mercy and rahmat may reach you and where He is
going to be happy with you. You don’t know which action you are going to do and
Allah is going to be happy with you. Sometimes people do so many extra things
but they are not doing several things right and they are not reaching anywhere.
But if you make one small thing maybe you will make Allah to be pleased with
you. And if Allah is pleased with you everything around will be pleased with
you.

So the month of Ramazan. The month of Ramazan, the month of Fasting. The month
of giving Zakat, the month of giving charity, the month of sharing, the month of
getting together and to enjoy the prayers, the month of getting together to eat
the Riziq of Allah together. Preparing different dishes and to eat together.
This is the month. This month in reality is forcing us to live like that and to
be able to carry the other months also the same way. And then when people become
familiar to each other and they start loving and respecting each other you
cannot find problems anymore. The problems will go away. And if one has a
problem the other one has a solution. If that one does not have the solution
then another one has the solution. Otherwise, heh! look what happens. The whole
world has turned into hell. Everyone has everything today. But they are not
sharing anything. Nobody is sharing anything. Everyone is sitting in their own
house, they are not happy. Nobody is happy in their houses. So what do they do?
They run more. Why you are running more? With one you did not get happy. Do you
think you are going to be happy with the second one or the third one or if you
have ten cars, if you have the whole factory belonging to you? So what? Do you
think you are going to be happy? You cannot.

So when the Ayat came where Allah is saying to us, “Give the best of the wealth
you have to the poor.” Allah’s order saying the best ones. Saying, “When you are
giving away, don’t go to give some things that you don’t like and some things
that you are just going to throw away. He says, “Give the best ones that you
like.”

This is another teaching to teach us not to become slave to the material things.
So that Ayat came and the Prophet alayhi salatu wa salam was saying the Ayat to
the Sahabi-e Kiram. When it finished Abu Talha (radiyallahu anhu) got up and he
said, “Ya Rasulullah! It is known to you that I have a land in Medina that has
six-hundred date trees in it. Everything I am giving to you. Use it as you like.
Give it to the poor, use it anyway you like, it is under your authority. No
longer is it mine. Allah is saying give, but I don’t know to whom to give. You
are the best one. So I give it to you. Use it as you like. Give to anybody you
want.” Don’t take it lightly thinking that six-hundred date trees are not
something. It is something. I will tell you. I will give you a comparison. Date
trees take almost a hundred years to give dates. You have to put it and then
when it reaches over fifty years, passing fifty years then maybe it will start
giving you dates. Six-hundred date trees are as if Abu Talha had a big factory
where dollars are being printed. That is how you have to compare. And he gave it
just like that because Ayat came. He says, “This is the best and Ya Rasulullah
it is known to you that I was keeping this place for you, but now I am giving it
to you completely because of this ayat.” And he came to the land and his wife
was waiting inside, she prepared something to eat and he said to her, “Collect
everything and come out.” He did not even enter inside. She said, “What is the
matter Ya Abu Talha? Come inside and let us eat.” He says, “No, this land does
not belong to us anymore. I just gave it to Holy Prophet alayhi salatu wa
salam.” She says, “Ya Abu Talha, did you give it on my behalf also?” He says,
“Yes”. She says, “Oh Ya Rabbi, thank you. This is
what I was thinking all the time Ya Abu Talha. I have been seeing the poor
people in Medina and I was thinking maybe we should give this to the poor
people. So I am very happy now and I am coming out.” And they left it to the
Holy Prophet alayhi salatu wa salam. And Holy Prophet (saw) fed the whole Medina
with it.

These people would not only give their lands, they would give their lives to the
Prophet (alayhi salatu wa salam). We have nothing to give. At least we must make
it different. At least you must make it a little different and learn how to
share. In holy months like this at least. And in holy months like this you must
sit down and you must calculate. You must know if it is fit for you to pay Zakat
or not. This is the month in which to give Zakat. This is the month
that must reach to the hands of the poor people. Maybe they have nothing. Maybe
they will be happy buying something that will make their lives easier. Allah
gives to everybody but Allah gives to everybody through the hands of others. And
maybe Allah subhanu wa ta’ala will make you to hold the Riziq of another fifty
people. If you are holding on to it tightly and not giving, then maybe those
people’s hearts will not be too happy with Allah although they are praying. And
in the Judgment Day you will be responsible. So if you give maybe you make one
of them happy and they will pray for you. And the best people whose prayers are
accepted are the poor who are not complaining and who are fasting. They are
hungry. That is the time that their prayer is accepted.

So we must look for every opportunity that is coming in our way to reach and to
take. This is not for Dunay, this is for Akhirat. If we do it we will receive
the benefits and blessings in Dunya also. But if you don’t receive in Dunya then
you will see what benefit and what blessings you will be receiving in the
hereafter life. We must try to do it better for this Ramazan. Because Allah
subhanu wa ta’ala made us to reach this Ramazan. We must try to make it
different and not only to stay hungry but also to receive the spiritual
blessings that are coming during this month to ourselves and to be able to reach
to other people. If we do that we will be counted in the book that says these
are the ones working for Allah.

If not you may live yourself and you may not even find anything when the time
comes. Because whatever people give, whatever they invest that is what they will
get in the end. Nothing will be lost in the book of Allah. It may be lost in the
books of humans. You may do something to somebody and later they do not
appreciate and they scream they curse they fight with you. That is another test
that Allah is giving to us. We are not too happy about it, but we are not going
to sit and calculate and fight. No. But you will see and you will find that in
your books in the hereafter.

May Allah open our wisdom and understanding and make us to come out from that
heedless station and to make it better during this month of Ramazan.

El Fatiha.