The Owner of What We Possess

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is adapted from a swuhbah from Shaykh Muhammad Nazhim Adil al-Haqqani (q.s.) on the 04th December 2010. 

We are all His servants.  Some of us obedient and others are disobedient. The disobedient servants have been Stripped of their honour.  Today, man rejects the concept that all that he possesses is a Divine Grant to him.  Man also rejects the idea that all of what is with him Belongs to Allah (s.w.t.).  If what we possess now is truly yours, then why do we leave them all behind when you die?  We cannot name one treasure that we can take along with us yet we claim that all that we own in dunya is ours.  Man has become a liar, taking after the accursed Shaythan.  Shaythan is the Chief Liar.  He teaches Man to lie too.  Anyone who rejects reality is a liar. 

Who do we belong to?  If we own ourselves, why do we not take our body along to the other world?  Why do we leave that carcass behind, here in the earthly realm?  As they wash the body prior to wrapping you in the kafan and burying, they will strip it of every earthly treasure right down to the earrings and rings.  He may have been a king in this world, having servants at his beck-and-call but as the soul stands beside its dead body, no one can hear it pleading for its treasures.  Even if they could hear it, no one would obey as the body must be stripped of its earthly treasures before it is buried. 

Man is a drunk creature.  He is always adding on his calculator, counting all that which is his.  We are ignorant for in Divine mathematics, all that is with us in this world, always adds up to zero.  In the end, Man is buried naked save for his kafan.  He brings nothing, not even his dead body, into the hereafter.  At the very end, man finally realises that he cannot name even one thing that is his to keep from dunya.  We have nothing.  Everything belongs to Allah (s.w.t.) but Shaythan, the Chief Deceiver, repeats constantly into our ears that we are the owner of things we had no part in Creating. 

We are all His servants.  We must never lay claim to being better than those around us.  Many scholars look upon themselves as being superior to others.  Scholars must realise that they are also part of Bani Adam.  They originate from the earth like the rest of us.  Walking around with a kitab tucked underneath their arm is not a sign of piety.  True knowledge that rejuvenates the soul is not in the books, neither is it on the tongues; it is found in the heart. 

There was once a wise Sulthan who liked to keep the company of the pious.  Whenever he heard of any learned ones, he would invite them for mudzakarah, discussion.  However, if the invited one arrived to meet the Sultan bringing his kutub, the Sultan would say, “No, I do not want to hear what is in the book – that we know.  I want to know what is in your heart.  A kitab is written by man.  It is from dunya.  I want to know of what Divine Refreshments He had Sent down upon you.  What has your soul has understood by its striving, so leave the kutub out of our discussions.”  That is an important point to remember.  Anyone can read and understand a kitab but what seekers yearn to know from a true guide are the Divine Gifts of spirituality that have been Entrusted to his heart. 

We must always be seeking such knowledge.  We must never tire of asking Allah (s.w.t.) to Add to what we already know and understand.  But to receive such oceans of knowledge, one has to open one’s heart wide, for such a broad, all-encompassing knowledge cannot fit into a constricted heart.  These oceans have no shores and no seabed – they are vast and deep.  Knowledge is a treasure that is immeasurably wide.  We should seek of that which has never been spoken of before.  We must ask to open what has never been opened before. 

Some scholars do not believe in spirituality.  Others do not accept that there are those who know more than they.  Yet others only want to teach, they never want to learn.  It is not easy to be a guide.  We must take from what the Prophet (s.a.w.) brought and bring that to the ummah.  We must seek the correct understanding in our heart on each matter before we can teach.  Many such scholars concentrate on looking very scholarly but that is irrelevant.  What is relevant is that they must have something to teach the ummah.  They must have something that can awaken the sleeping masses.  They must be able to pierce the thick veils that enshroud each student; the veils of lust, desires and sin.  It is not an easy thing to be a guide. 

The Prophet (s.a.w.) left us such guides as stated in the Qur’an: 

سُوۡرَةُ التّوبَة

يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَكُونُواْ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰدِقِينَ (١١٩) 

O you who believe!  Recognise Allah and be with those who are true (in word and deed). (Surah at-Tawbah:119) 

It is Divine Command that we be with the true, the swadiqin.  They are those who receive Divine Inspiration.  This is what we must spread to the believers - that they seek out the swadiqin and learn from them. The swadiqin are the Divinely-Inspired guides.  Scholars have taken such heavy responsibilities on their shoulders by assuming the mantle of leadership despite being unqualified.  They are not the Divinely Appointed guides.  They are in grave danger of receiving the brunt of Divine Anger.  They themselves must seek out the swadiqin as this Qur’anic Commandment above is not just for the awshab of the Prophet (s.a.w.).  It is for the entire ummah of Muhammad (s.a.w.).



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