The Magic Mirror

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is adapted from a swuhbah from Shaykh Muhammad Nazhim Adil al-Haqqani (q.s.) on the 23^rd March 2010. 

The first thing that we must learn is that we are servants to the Lord of Creation.  That is the foundation of all teachings brought by all the prophets so we must teach this to our children from the moment they are able to understand.  And we must remind ourselves of this all our lives. 

The second fundamental teaching is that we must be thankful to our Prophet (s.a.w.) for being part of his ummah and we must be proud of him.  We must constantly send swalawat upon him for the angels are unceasing in their praises for him, and Allah (s.w.t.) Showers him with goodness continuously. 

The ego likes to be praised.  It likes to be hailed and idolised.  It likes to inflate itself to be far bigger than it really is.  It likes to be respected, to be noticed, to be admired.  The ego is obedient to Shaythan.  Shaythan rouses the ego to puff himself up, to praise himself, to vie for leadership, to seek to become an authority.  Shaykh Nazhim (q.s.) said once, he was atop the Eiffel Tower, and he caught sight of a man at the foot of the tower.  From that a height, the man looked no more than an inch tall but in that man’s own mind, he felt taller than the Eiffel Tower itself.  This is an example of how drunk we can be.  A man standing beside his palace is so small yet he feels so great and proud.  He feels bigger than his palace.  Shaythan has a magic mirror that he holds up for our ego to admire itself.  Shaythan tells us to use this mirror all the time.  It is a special mirror.  When the ego looks at itself in that mirror, it looks imposing, it looks so important, he looks special.  When we look into this mirror, we feel pride, we feel superior. 

We must know that Allah (s.w.t.) has Reserved honour for the believers only.  There is no portion of honour for disbelievers.  The only religion accepted by Allah (s.w.t.) is Islam.  This must be made known to all in no uncertain terms.  We cannot leave the unbelievers in the dark about this truth and we must give good tidings to the believers to encourage them on.  Sadly, even the Muslims have been poisoned by Shaythan. we have become sinful.  We have become heedless.  Muslims are living the lifestyle of the disbelievers.  The believers must abandon the ways of the disbelievers for the Prophet (s.a.w.) said that those who followed the practices of a particular group will be raised on Judgement Day, with them.  So we should strive to follow the Sunnah of Rasulullah (s.a.w.), in every aspect of our lives. 

Iman, faith, is a light.  We use that light to observe what is happening around us and to understand what the haqq, truth, is and what bathil, falsehood, is.  When one looks at this dunya with the light of faith, one will understand what the reality of life is.  We cannot imprison ourselves within the walls of narrow-minded, deviant teachings.  We look to the Qur’an for guidance of the widest possible nature.  We ask Allah (s.w.t.) for it, for He Alone Bestows the width of understanding we seek and the depth of understanding that makes us certain.  There is no limit to how much knowledge – both of this world and of the afterlife – that Allah (s.w.t.) can Bestow upon us, so we seek it fervently.  As much as we strive and beseech Allah (s.w.t.), that much will He Shower upon us.  Beyond this horizon, lie countless other horizons, so we must not be contented to remain where we are now.  By limiting ourselves to a narrow understanding, it is our loss. 

We live in difficult times.  There is a spreading, enveloping darkness.  It is our duty to bring this light, and to shine it around us, to guide those who have lost their way.  We must always have the intention to be one who destroys bathil and spreads haqq.  In doing so, may Allah (s.w.t.) Raise our stations.  Every action is judged according to our intention, so we must be sincere in all that we do and we will be successful.  Allah (s.w.t.) is All-Seeing, All-Knowing.  Just as we look at a crawling ant, Allah (s.w.t.) Looks at us.  He Knows where we are headed and what we seek.  So we should seek servanthood and stop staring into the magic mirror.