Come back to nature!

(Suhbah in 1999.)

When Grandsheikh said that technology is going to finish, no one was believing him. But now they are saying the same, scientists and computer-specialists are speaking about it, that the life of mankind depending on technology is going to finish with the last day of 1999. Computers are going to finish, and all those technical inventions, that were intended to make the life of man easier, but really made his physical powers to come down to zero. Because everything that we did before with physical power is done by machines now. Allah Almighty is bringing an end to that period, and everything must have an end...

My advice to my followers is to come back to nature, and to begin to put into action, and to practice, their own physical powers, not to give commands to machines to do this and not to do that. Step by step we must try to save our freedom from technology, to bring ourselves to ourselves. It is important what we are saying now. You must try not to use these machines and instruments. Use them less and less... when the electricity is suddenly cut, billions are going to die. Who didn’t prepare himself for a new period should die suddenly or go crazy. Depression, a very bad depression should come to people, which is impossible to treat, because medicine will be out of time. Factories and everything are going to stop... No more will doctors cut people, no more operations, no more caesarians...

Step by step try to come back to your natural position and to use man-power. Learn how to live without technology and how to act by yourself. Don’t sleep! Don’t build high buildings, make them only 2 floors. Don’t use concrete, cement, iron, but use mud, timber, stones... and use wells, because there will be no more running water ... No more electricity, cars, telephones... Alhamdulillah...

Now, until Sayyidina Mahdi a.s. is coming, for a period of three to six months, so many things are going to happen. People are going to go crazy, kill themselves or die, so that from seven people only one will remain... Who is depending on technology, is never going to live... in only one night, from evening until the morning, billions of people are going to die... If it is a nuclear bomb, it will poison the earth. But I hope, Insha Allah, there is no permission to do that. In every country there should be safe areas... like areas between two countries, passages that no one is using... Go according to your inspiration... and the first sign is for water to be near... five, ten, fifteen meters...

Believers should be in safety, worshippers much more, and servants for Allah’s Divine Presence should be in full safety...

When the Anti-Christ is coming, there should be an opening for you to come quickly to Damascus. For 40 days every believer must be there, then the Anti-Christ should be killed by Jesus Christ, 'Isa a.s.... Then the whole world should be open...

When Mahdi a.s. is coming, at that time another power will open, so that no one is going to ask for technology. Allah Almighty is going to grant to common people the power of Islam - miraculous powers like those which He granted before to His Prophets and Saints. So that you are not in need to fly, but you will move with instant steps. You will look from here to that horizon, and with: "Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim", as far as your eye is reaching, you may put your foot there...

For 60 years I have been waiting for that day... from 1940. There was one Grandsheikh in Istanbul who was saying: "I can foresee that spring is coming and Armageddon begins and Mahdi a.s. appears." They were expecting Mahdi a.s. to come at that time. But no, after 60 years he is coming... Next year, insha Allah... and we hope we shall be with him... Bi hurmati’l Habib, Fatiha.

from 'Bridge to Eternity' by Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani, compiled by Khairiyah Siegel.

Living in the truest way

(Suhbah in 1999)

Man now is forced to come back to nature. 20th century civilization made him run away from nature, fighting it, killing it with such foolish factories, wasting supplies foolishly. Now the Lord is punishing man... Enough! Oceans have died, what is that? For what? For quick, fast wasting of everything. That is the base of economics: fast supply, fast wasting. No more can nature supply foolish mankind now. Therefore Allah Almighty is going to punish them, so that people should save even one cup of water, and not waste it. This is coming in our time... To wash one cup they are opening the tap and wasting half a gallon of water, and ladies put so much detergent. They must learn...

You must look after this point everywhere: don’t use high buildings, but come down and prepare simple houses for a simple life, and don’t waste anything. You must learn and try to come back to nature, so that nature is not fighting you. As much as you are fighting nature, nature is fighting you back... When you make peace with nature, nature will help you in your life. Perhaps then that foolish illness, AIDS, will disappear...

Look at crowded cities everywhere. It will be impossible to live in them in the 3rd millennium. People must go out to the countryside, dig wells and use them. And you must not throw away the fat of animals, because from it will be made candles. No more electricity; you can’t use lamps any more, no paraffin... Only torches, as before, burning and giving light. And fire-places should be used for cooking and heating inside. And you are going to wear and use your clothes much longer, not putting on a new dress every day or every week... Industry will be finished... You must think about it. This is important for everyone. If not, so many people are going to die...billions...

Even now, when sometimes they cut the electricity here for two hours or even only one hour, people go crazy. What about when it is cut for days and there is no hope for it to come back? If it is only cut for 1 hour we may have hope that it will finish, that it will be re-connected and come back. But at that time there will be no more hope for that power to come back again - finished. That is terrible... you won’t be able to use anything. People, who built their lives on computers, TV, radio and such things are going to die, because they will have no more hope for coming days...

We have hope, we are believers; we know that this is only a bridge from one side to another. Materialism is going to finish and die, and we are passing on a bridge to another point of life. Who is reaching that second life of this world should find that another source of power is coming into action... Therefore we are not hopeless, but hopeful! Only for a short distance you must pay attention, so that you may pass freely through that valley.

Everything depends on beliefs. Who doesn’t believe, you can’t make them believe. If they believe in spirituality through Islam, that will be useful for them. If they are materialist people, depending on material life and technology only, we will not use it on the other side, so there is no hope for them...

You are asking about your family and friends; they should carry many more difficulties in their life. My advice is to go to the countryside, where it is going to be more safe. Crowded places, cities, are going to be more dangerous. Don’t be near military bases, navy, airforce; run away from them. You must have a well because life depends on water. Without water, no life... and keep some animals, so that you may feed yourself with them. Live in simple houses. Try to come to a simple, natural life, not using TV and any of those technological instruments, because they are going to finish. And you must keep everything with care, so that you don’t waste what you have. Whoever wastes is going to finish...

When you are in the countryside you don’t have to stay in the house all day. You may move around, as Allah is ordering us to do... Don’t go to big cities, there are so many problems there- robbers, countless shaitanic groups. Everyone who is entering their places and closes the door with: “Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim”, should be protected...

There is a Hadith that there will come a time when the sun will rise from the West, come up to the midday-place and set, as it was rising. So that for three days there will be no sunshine. That will be the last point for people to repent, the last door, then it will be closed... May Allah forgive us and bless you... Fatiha.

from 'Bridge to Eternity' by Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani, compiled by Khairiyah Siegel.

Adab is the Soul of Knowledge

Don’t look down upon anything or anyone... The ego only loves itself. It is Kafir, not accepting Allah, and it wants to be sitting alone on the Throne.

The Holy Prophet said: "Allah Himself has taught me the best manners, Adab."

A human being is living through his soul, and the soul of knowledge is Adab. Knowledge without Adab is a misfortune for its owner. Shaitan had knowledge, but he had no Adab, behaving badly in Allah’s Presence, and then he was finished. Always the ego is bad-mannered, going against Allah, denying Him. It never likes to be under the control of anyone. All our egos are the same. We have to bring it under control, and train it to become Allah’s servant, and not be controlled by the ego.

Allah is not forcing anyone. Not everybody can keep his ego, and they are falling from one trouble into the next, never finding any rest or peace.

Man needs, and must learn Adab. It is not easy to teach Adab. Someone may read hundreds or thousands of books, but he may not be able to control his ego. He may have knowledge, but he can’ t practice it. Shaitan had so much knowledge, and it didn’t benefit him. And everybody in our time wants to study, and they all fail the test...

And someone may go on Hajj, he may stay 40days, make Hajj, Umrah, Ziyarat and become clean. Everything seems perfect. But then he gets on the plane home and he looks to a stewardess with desire, and everything is lost, finished... Six months, one year he stayed there, so many prayers he did, Tawafs, 'Umrahs, everything is good. But then, for one moment he doesn’t control his ego, forgetting that Allah is looking to him, forgetting and being without Allah, and Shaitan makes him from his staff...

Don’t give a chance to Shaitan, because he is always looking for an opportunity to catch people. There is Haram and Halal. Whoever is not respecting that border falls out of Adab with Allah. Few people want to save themselves from their bad-mannered ego. Tariqats and the four Madhhabs are based on Adab, and that is why Shaitan is against them, because they are against his school. His school is the fifth Madhhab, the school of Batil. So many people follow it... May Allah not leave us in the hands of our bad ego. Whoever is not asking that will be caught by Shaitan.

Your ego is telling you that you are number one, that nobody is like you. It is telling you that you don’t have to listen to anyone, that you are strong and know everything, that you are your own Sheikh. And the ego is lying to us.

What we are saying here is what they have put in our hearts, and we are ashamed in front of Allah and fearing Him because we are such ignorant ones, making so many mistakes and bad-mannered actions. Who is the Sheikh? He is that one who teaches you about Allah and His Prophet. How you can know by yourself? But they don’t want to accept a teacher, these Wahhabi people. And whoever doesn’t accept a Sheikh, a Hoja, an Imam, a guide, Dalil, his teacher is Shaitan. He is telling them: "Why do you need a Sheikh?"

Follow a pure guide, that he may take you to purity because only pure ones will enter Paradise... Allah knows best who are the hypocrites... We are trying, working on it, asking to be clean. But: "Thumma amanu, thumma kafaru..." sometimes we believe and sometimes not, listening to our ego and Shaitan. On the way of faith, Iman, you can be saved...

And the Angels of the Grave will ask you if your face is turned to Dunya or towards Maula, Allah. They will ask you what is your Qibla, to where is your heart directed? If they find your face turned towards Allah, everything is good. But if they find your face turned away from Him, then Allah will also turn away from you. If in prayer you turn your eyes away from the place of Sajda, looking left and right three times, then Allah is saying: "My servant has turned away from Me. Leave him..." This is an important point in Adab... Don’t behave badly in the Presence of the Sultan... May Allah forgive us and not throw us out of the Ummat-i-Muhammadi sws... Fatiha.

from 'Bridge to Eternity' by Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani, compiled by Khairiyah Siegel.

News for the future of mankind

Run to find your Real Identity (Suhbah in 1999)

There are going to be unexpected events. Terrible, horrible, and fearful events, that no one can bring an explanation for... And there should be Divine Purposes and Wisdoms in those events. If one event is going to happen, after it there should be so many events coming immediately or suddenly... Up until today so many expected events have come, but now and in the future, even if people are thinking about coming events, everything should be unexpected. And this is a new beginning. A new period for Dunya is coming now...

From a very confused and complex life people should come back to a very simple life, as it was before, at the beginning. Life has reached a top point, with countless burdens and efforts for man, who in the 20th century has reached to the height of his wishes. But suddenly a wave of unexpected power will come and destroy everything that people have reached to during two hundred years or more by science and technology - suddenly it all will vanish and disappear...

Therefore it is a time that people must try to get away from difficulties to a restful, comfortable and simple life. The complex life now in our days is bringing countless difficulties, because modern science and its inventions are causing people to cut themselves off from nature. That break between man and nature makes people very strange outwardly, as well as in their inner life. Their appearence is ugly, and their inner thinking or understanding is nonsense, useless, terrible...

This is a punishment from the Lord of the Heavens because man seperated, or ran away from, nature to an artificial life. Everything that surrounds people is artificial, and all artificial things are against nature. Nature never likes artificiality, and artificiality never likes nature... they are fighting. Now it is the end of a wild period full of violence... And the main creations of mankind which became rebellious against everything are named science and technology... That is what is happening around the whole world now in our days, and a terrible end is waiting for the rebels...

Big events are coming to destroy everything that makes mankind artificial. Technology has made people into artificial beings, and their real identity has left them. All of them are artificial. And they are also using artificial means, so that they can’t do anything themselves anymore...

Therefore we are saying that man should run back to nature now, to save himself and to find his real identity, because men and women lost their real identities. All of them are dressed in artificial identities. That is why our foolish people here in Turkey use artificial names for themselves, leaving real names... this shows that they are finished...

Now day by day time is approaching an end that no one can be able to prevent. Everything must run to its last point, last station. The majority of people are going to vanish and finish because of unexpected events which should appear from East and West, from up and down, causing people to die or lose their mind. People are not going to find what they want to eat and drink, and they are going to lose their physical being. People will try to save themselves in two ways: first, they will try to save their physical being, and second, they will try to reach to their spiritual being. They must make a seperation, not for one side to involve in the other side, no. And they must give each side what it needs.

Therefore it is important now for everyone to try to be sometimes with their own selves, because people have been taken away from their real identities. It is now a big obligation for you to ask to come back to your real personality, to find your identity. Man doesn’t know who he is, if he is an animal or an angel... wondering, but he never finds out what is his personality, his identity. This is terrible and very dangerous...

You must try daily for some minutes to be with yourself, to come to yourself. This is going to be a foundation for the life of mankind on earth after the year 2000, in the 3rd millennium...

Everyone must know what is his real value and must follow a new way after the destruction of humanities’ qualities. And human beings, if they are not reaching in this very short period the special and valuable qualities that were granted to them by their Creator, they are going to sink down... If they quickly run and find them, they are going to be saved... May Allah forgive us... Fatiha.

from 'Bridge to Eternity' by Shaykh Muhammad Nazim al-Haqqani, compiled by Khairiyah Siegel.

Shah Naqshband's role in giving Intercession

Shaykh `Abdullah ad-Daghestani (q), related the following during one of his gatherings:

"One time, during one of my seclusions, Shaykh Sharafuddin came to me and spoke to me about the greatness and specialties of Shah Naqshband. He praised him and told how Shah Naqshband would intercede on the Day of Judgement. He said, 'If anyone should look at Shah Naqshband's eyes, he would see them rotating, the white on the black and the black on the white. He aimed to save his spiritual power for the Day of Judgement and not to use it in this life.

"'On the Day of Judgement he will send light from his right eye to go out and circle back to his left eye, encircling in the process a vast number of people at the Gathering. Whoever is embraced by that light will be saved from Hell and will enter Paradise. He will fill four Paradises with that Intercession.'

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/39.htm

Shah Naqshband on Servitude

Shah Naqshband (q) used to say, "We love to serve, not to be served. When we serve, Allah is happy with us, and this brings more attraction to the Divine Presence and Allah opens that state more for us. However, to be served, brings pride and weakness to the heart and causes us to recede from the Divine Presence."

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/20.htm

Shah Naqshband gives initiation to a murid

Khwaja Ya'qub al-Charkhi said about the time he gave his bay'ah (allegiance) to Shah Naqshband:

He said, "I have been ordered by Allah, Almighty and Exalted, and by the Prophet (s), and by my Shaykh, not to accept anyone in my way unless Allah, the Prophet and my Shaykhs accept that person. So I will look tonight to see if you are accepted.' This was the most difficult day of my life. I felt I would melt from the fear that they would not accept me on this Way. I prayed Fajr behind him and I was so afraid. When he looked into my heart everything disappeared and he was appearing everywhere. I heard his voice saying, 'May Allah bless you. He accepts you and I accept you.' Then he began to recite the names of the Masters of the Golden Chain from the Prophet to Abu Bakr, Salman, Qasim, Ja'far, Tayfur, Abu-l Hasan, Abu 'Ali, Yusuf, Abu-l 'Abbas, 'Abdul Khaliq. Every Shaykh he mentioned appeared in front of him. When he mentioned 'Abdul Khaliq he stopped and 'Abdul Khaliq appeared in front of me. He said, 'Give him to me now,' and he taught me more of the knowledge of Wuquf al-'Adadi, the Science of Numbers. He told me that knowledge came to him through Khidr (a.s). Then my Shaykh continued reciting the Silsilah (chain), 'Arif, Mahmoud, 'Ali Ramitani, Muhammad Baba as-Sammasi, Sayyid Amir Kulal. They were each appearing by turn and giving me initiation. I continued serving him, standing at his door, learning from him, until he gave me permission to be a guide to people on this Way. He said to me, 'This Way is going to be the greatest happiness for you.'"

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/19.htm

Shah Naqshband on the Naqshbandi Way

Shah Naqshband (q) said,

"Our Way is very rare and very precious. It is the 'Urwatu-l-Wuthqa ("Firm Handhold"), the way of keeping firm and steadfast in the footsteps of the Prophet s.a.w. and of his Companions. They brought me to this Way from the door of Favors, because at its beginning and at its end, I witnessed nothing but the Favors of God. In this Way great doors of Heavenly Knowledge will be opened up to the seeker who follows in the footsteps of the Prophet s.a.w."

To follow the Sunnah of the Prophet s.a.w. is the most important means by which the door will be opened to you. He said, "Whoever is not coming to our Way, his religion is in danger." He was asked, "How does someone come to Your Way?" He replied, "By following the Sunnah of the Prophet s.a.w."

He said, "We have carried in this Way humiliation, and in return Allah has blessed us with His Honor."

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/17.htm

Shah Naqshband on Spiritual Knowledge

He said,

"To reach the Secrets of Oneness is sometimes possible, but to reach the Secrets of Spiritual Knowledge (Ma'rifat) is extremely difficult."

He said,

"Spiritual Knowledge is like water, it takes the color and shape of the cup. Allah's Knowledge is so great, that however much we take, it is like a drop of a huge ocean. It like a vast garden, however much we have cut it is as if we had cut but one flower."

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/17.htm

Shah Naqshband's state upon leaving this world

He died on a Monday night, the 3rd of Rabi'ul-Awwal, 791 H. (1388 CE). He was buried in his garden as he requested. The succeeding kings of Bukhara took care of his school and mosque, expanding them and increasing their religious endowments (awqaf).

Abdul Wahhab ash-Sha'rani, the Qutb (Spiritual Pole) of his time said, "When the Shaikh was buried in his grave, a window to Paradise was opened for him, making his grave a paradise from Heaven. Two beautiful spiritual beings entered his presence and greeted him and said to him, 'From the time that Allah created us until now, we have waited for this moment to serve you.' He said to these two spiritual beings, 'I don't look to anything other than Him. I don't need you but I need my Lord.'"

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/17.htm

Shah Naqshband's miracle in defending Khwaja Muhammad Parsa against the jealous scholars

One time he was pushed to show miraculous power in order to defend one of his successors in Bukhara, Shaikh Muhammad Parsa. This occurred at the time when Shaikh Muhammad Shamsuddin al-Jazari came to Samarkand, in the time of King Mirza Aleg Beg, to determine the correctness of the chains of transmission in Narrations of the Prophetic Traditions. Some of the jealous and corrupt scholars had complained that Shaikh Muhammad Parsa was giving narrations of hadith whose chains of transmission were not known. They told Shamsuddin, "If you try to correct that problem, Allah will give you a great reward." Shaikh Muhammad Shamsuddin asked the Sultan to order Shaikh Muhammad Parsa to appear. The Shaikh al-Islam of Bukhara, Husamuddin an-Nahawi, was there, along with many scholars and imams from the area.

Shah Naqshband (q) came with Muhammad Parsa (q) to the meeting. Then Shaikh Husamuddin asked Muhammad Parsa about a hadith. Muhammad Parsa narrated the hadith along with its chain of transmission. Shaikh Muhammad al-Jazari said, "There is no error in the hadith, but the chain is incorrect." Upon hearing this the jealous scholars were happy. They asked Muhammad Parsa to give another chain for the hadith. He did, and it was again said that it was not correct. They asked for another chain, and he gave it and still they found fault with it.

Shah Naqshband interfered, because he knew that whatever chain he gave they would say it was incorrect. He inspired Muhammad Parsa to direct a question to Shaikh Husamuddin and say to him, "You are the Shaikh ul-Islam and the mufti. From what you have learned of external knowledge and sharica and the knowledge of hadith, what do you say about such and such narrator?" Shaikh Husamuddin said, "We accept that person and we base much of our knowledge of hadith on his narrations, and his book is accepted by us, and his lineage is one that all scholars accept, and there is no argument on that matter." Muhammad Parsa said, "The book of that person that you are accepting is in your house in your library, between such and such books. It contains 500 pages and its color is such and such, and the cover looks like such and such, and the hadith you rejected is written by that person on page such and such."

Shaikh Husamuddin was confused and doubts came to his heart, because he did not remember seeing such a book in his library. Everyone was surprised that the shaikh would know about the book while the owner didn't know about it. There was no alternative except to send someone to check. The hadith was found as Muhammad Parsa mentioned. When the king heard about this story, the scholars who brought the charges were humiliated, and Shah Naqshband and Muhammad Parsa were raised up.

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/17.htm

Shah Naqshband's Miraculous Vision

One of his followers who was serving him in the city of Merv reported,

"One day I wished to go see my family in Bukhara, having received news that my brother Shamsuddin had died. I needed to take permission from my shaikh to go. I spoke with Amir Hussain, the Prince of Herat, to ask permission on my behalf to Shah Naqshband. On their way back from Jum'ah prayer, Amir Hussain told him about the death of my brother and that I wanted permission to go to my family. He said, 'No it is impossible. How can you say he is dead when I can see him alive. More than that, I can even smell his smell. I am going to bring him here now.' He had hardly finished his words before my brother appeared. He aproached the shaikh, kissed his hand and greeted Amir Hussain. I hugged my brother and there was great happiness among us."

Shaikh Alauddin Attar (q) said,

"Shaikh Shah Naqshband was once sitting in a large association in Bukhara speaking about the Unveiling of the State of Vision. He said, 'My best friend, Mawla 'Arif, who is in Khwarazm, (400 miles from Bukhara) has left Khwarazm for the government building, and he reached the station of the horse-carriages. When he reached that station he stayed there for a moment and now he is going back to his house in Khwarazm. He is not continuing on to Saray. This is how a saint can see in his station of gnosis.' Everyone was surprised at this story but we all knew that he was a great saint, so we recorded the time and the day. One day Mawla 'Arif came from Khwarazm to Bukhara and we told him about that incident. He was very surprised and he said, 'In truth, that is exactly what happened.'"

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/17.htm

"All kings of this world should bow to the Saints"

Shaikh Alauddin al-'Attar (q) said,

"One time the king of Transoxiana, Sultan Abdullah Kazgan, came to Bukhara. He decided to go hunting around Bukhara and many people accompanied him. Shah Baha'uddan Naqshband (q) was in a nearby village. When the people went out hunting, Shah Naqshband went to the top of a hill and sat there. While sitting there, it came to his heart that Allah gave much honor to saints. Because of that honor, all kings of this world should bow to them. That thought hadn't yet passed from his heart before a horseman with a crown on his head, like a king, came into his presence and dismounted from his horse. With great humility he greeted Shah Naqshband and stood in his presence in the most polite manner. He bowed to the shaikh but the shaikh did not look at him. He kept him standing one hour. Finally, Shah Naqshband looked up and said, 'What are you doing here?' He said, 'I am the king, Sultan Kazgan. I was out hunting, and I smelled a very beautiful smell. I followed it here and I found you sitting in the midst of a powerful light.' His very thought, 'All kings of this world should bow to the saints,' had instantly become reality. That is how Allah honors the thoughts of his saints."

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/17.htm

Shah Naqshband's Miracle with Muhammad Zahid

Shah Naqshband, may Allah bless his soul, said,

"One day I went out with Muhammad Zahid (q) to the desert. He was a truthful murid and we had a pickaxe with which we were digging. As we were working with the pick we were discussing such deep states of knowledge that we threw aside the pick and entered deeper into spiritual knowledge. We were going deeper and deeper until the conversation led us to the nature of Worship. He asked me, 'O my shaikh, to what limit does worship reach?' I said, 'Worship reaches such perfection that the worshipper can say to someone 'die,' and that person will die.' Without thinking I pointed at Muhammad Zahid. Immediately he fell down dead. He was in the state of death from sunrise until the midday. It was very hot. I was very anxious because his body was deteriorating from the excessive heat. I pulled him under the shade of a tree and I sat there contemplating the matter. As I was contemplating, an inspiration came to my heart from the Divine Presence telling me to say to him, 'Ya Muhammad, Be Alive!' I said it to him three times. In response, his soul slowly began to enter his body, and life slowly began to return to him. He gradually returned to his original state. I went to my shaikh and told him what had happened. He said, 'O my son, Allah gave you a secret that he has given to no one else.'"

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/17.htm

Shah Naqshband's teachings on voluntary fasting

He used to fast most of his days. If a guest came to him and he had something to offer him, he would sit with him, break his fast and eat. He told his followers that the Companions of the Prophet used to do the same. Shaikh Abu-l Hasan al-Kharqani (q) said in his book, The Principles of the Way and the Principles of Reaching Reality, "Keep harmony with friends, but not in sinning. This means that if you were fasting and someone came to you as a friend, you must sit with him and eat with him in order to keep proper company with him. One of the principles of fasting, or of any worship, is to conceal what one is doing. If one reveals it, for example by saying to the guest, 'I am fasting,' then pride may enter and ruin the fast. This is the reason behind the principle."

One day he was given a cooked fish as a gift. There were in his presence many poor people, among them a very pious boy who was fasting. Shah Naqshband gave the fish to the poor and told them, "Sit and eat," and he told the boy who was fasting, "Sit and eat." The boy refused. He told him again, "Break your fast and eat," but he refused. He asked him, "What if I give you one of my days of Ramadan? Will you sit and eat?" Again he refused. He told him, "What if I give you my whole Ramadan?" Still he refused. He said, "Bayazid al-Bistami was once burdened with a person similar to you." After that the boy was seen running after the worldly life, never fasting and never worshipping.

The incident to which Shah Naqshband (q) was referring occurred one day when Shaikh Abu Turab an-Naqshabi (q) visited Bayazid al-Bistami (q). His servant offered him food. Abu Turab said to the servant, "Come and sit with me and eat." The servant said, "No. I am fasting." He said, "Eat, and Allah will give you the reward of fasting for one year." He refused. He said, "Come and eat, I will pray to Allah that he give you the reward of two years of fasting." Then Hadrat Bayazid said, "Leave him. He has been dropped from Allah's care." Later his life degenerated and he became a thief.

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/17.htm

Shah Naqshband's attitude towards food

He taught that,

"One of the most important doors to the Presence of Allah is to eat with Awareness. The food gives the body strength, and to eat with consciousness gives the body purity."

One time he was invited to a city by the name of Ghaziat where one of his followers had prepared a dinner for him. When they sat for dinner he didn't eat. His host was surprised. Shah Naqshband said, "O my son, I am wondering how you prepared this food. From the time you kneaded the dough and cooked it, until you served it, you were in a state of anger. The food is mixed with that anger. If we eat that food, shaytan will find a way to enter through it and to spread his evil throughout our bodies."

One time he was invited to the city of Herat by its king, King Hussain. King Hussain was very happy at the visit of Shah Naqshband and threw a great feast for him. He invited all his ministers, the shaikhs of his kingdom and all his noblemen. He said, "Eat from this food. It is pure food, which I made from the pure earnings which I inherited from my father." Everyone ate except Shah Naqshband, prompting the Shaikh ul-Islam of that time, Qutb ud-Din, to ask, "O our Shaikh, why are you not eating?" Shah Naqshband said, "I have a judge to whom I go for counsel. I asked him and that judge told me, 'O my son, about this food there are two possibilities. If this food is not halal (lawful) and you do not eat, when you are questioned you may say I came to the table of the king but I did not eat. Then you are safe because you did not eat. But if you eat and you are asked, then what are you going to say? Then you are not safe.' At that time, Qutb ud-Din was so overcome by these words that he began to shake. He had to ask the King's permission to stop eating. Then the King was very confused and asked, "What shall we do with all this food?" Shah Naqshband said, "If there is any doubt about the purity of the food it is better to send it to the poor. Their need will make it halal for them. If as you say, it is halal, then there is more blessing in giving it as charity to those who need than in feasting those who do not."

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/17.htm

Shah Naqshband's sayings on Hidden Shirk (Polytheism)

Shaikh Salah, his servant, reported: "Shah Naqshband said one time to his followers, 'Any connection of your heart with other than Allah is the greatest veil for the seeker,' after which he recited this verse of poetry:

"The connection with other than God
Is the strongest veil,
And to be done with it,
Is the Opening of Attainment."

Immediately, after he recited this verse, it came to my heart that he was referring to the connection between belief (Iman) and Islam. He looked at me and laughed and said, 'Did you not hear what Hallaj said? "I rejected the religion of God, and rejection is obligatory on me even though that is hideous to Muslims." O Shaikh Salah, what came to your heart -- that the connection is with belief and islam -- is not the important point. What is important is Real Faith, and Real Faith for the People of the Truth is to make the heart deny anything and everything other than God. That is what made Hallaj say, "I denied your religion and denial is obligatory on me, although that is hideous to Muslims." His heart wanted nothing except Allah."

"Hallaj, of course, was not denying his faith in Islam, but was emphasizing the attachment of his heart to God Alone. If Hallaj was not accepting anything except Allah, how could one say that he was actually denying the religion of God? His testimony of the reality of his Witnessing encompassed and made as child's-play the ordinary witnessing of the common Muslim."

Shaikh Salah continued, saying, Shah Naqshband said, "The people of God do not admire what they are doing; they act only out of the love of God."

Shah Naqshband said,

"Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya said, 'O Allah I didn't worship seeking the reward of Your Paradise nor fearing your punishment, but I am worshipping You for Your Love alone.' If your worship is for saving yourself or for gaining some reward for yourself, it is a hidden shirk, because you have associated something with Allah, either the reward or the punishment. This is what Hallaj meant."

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/17.htm

Shah Naqshband on Reaching the Divine Presence

He said,

"What is meant by the Hadith of the Prophet s.a.w., as-salatu mi'raj ul-mu'min ("Prayer is the Ascension of the Believer"), is a clear indication of the levels of Real Prayer, in which the worshipper ascends to the Divine Presence and there is manifest in him awe and reverence and obedience and humility, such that his heart reaches a state of contemplation through his prayer. This will lead him to a vision of the Divine Secrets. That was the description of the Holy Prophet's prayer. In the life-history of the Prophet s.a.w., it is said that when the Prophet s.a.w. would reach that state, even the people outside the city could hear coming from his chest a sound which resembled the humming of bees."

One of the scholar of Bukhara asked him, "How can a worshipper reach the Divine Presence in his prayer?" He replied, "By eating from the hard-earned sweat of your brow and by remembering Allah Almighty and Exalted inside your prayer and outside your prayer, in every ablution and in every moment of your life."

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/17.htm

Shah Naqshband explaining the Nation of Muhammad s.a.w.

He said,

"When the Prophet s.a.w. said, 'The portion of my Nation destined for the Hellfire is like the portion of Ibrahim destined for the fire of Nimrod,' he was giving the good news of salvation for his nation just as Allah had written salvation for Ibrahim : Ya naru kunee bardan wa salaman 'ala Ibraham ('O fire, be cool and safe for Abraham') [21:69] This is because the Prophet s.a.w. said, 'My Nation will never agree on error,' affirming that the Ummah will never accept wrong-doing, and thus Allah will save the Nation of Muhammad from the fire."

Shaikh Ahmad Faruqi said that Shah Naqshband said: "The Nation of Muhammad s.a.w. includes whoever comes after the Prophet s.a.w.. It is composed of three types:

1. Ummatu-d-Da'wah: absolutely everyone who came after the Prophet s.a.w. and simply heard his message. That the Prophet s.a.w. came to all people without exception is clear from many verses in the Qur'an; furthermore, his Community is the Moderating Witness over all other Communities, and the Prophet s.a.w. is the one Witness over everybody, including the other Communities and their own respective witnesses.

2. Ummatu-l-Ijaba: those who accepted the message.

3. Ummatu-l-Muttaba'a: those who accepted the message and followed the footsteps of the Prophet .

All of these categories of the Prophet's Community are saved. If they are not saved by their deeds, then they are saved by the Intercession of the Prophet s.a.w., according to his saying, "My intercession is from the big sinners of my Community."

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/17.htm

Shah Naqshband's sayings on the Duties of Saints

He said, "Allah created me to destroy the materialistic life but people want me to build their materialistic life."

He said, "The people of God carry the burden of creation for creation to learn from them. Allah looks at the heart of his saints with his lights, and whoever is around that saint will get the blessing of that light."

He said, "The shaikh must know the state of his murid in three categories: in the past; in the present and in the future in order for him to raise him up."

He said, "Whoever is initiated by us and follows us and loves us, whether he is near or far, wherever he is, even if he is in the East and we are in the West, we nourish from the stream of love and give him light in his daily life."

from www.naqshbandi.org/chain/17.htm