Suhba “4”:

“All you posses in this path

Is your submission to the Sheik in faith”

          (Discourse with ladies)

There is a folk song by Köroğlu.

Each song has a literal meaning and a deep meaning. It depends on every person’s understanding. For example it says ‘beloved, beloved’. How many types of beloved ones are there?  ‘Beloved’ has many meanings. However, the real beloved one is Allah; the real beloved means one who takes care of the loving one.

When one says ‘my beloved one, my beloved one, it is the one from whom help comes.  The real beloved one is Allah. All helpers except for Allah are deceitful, transient and false.

Therefore it is said as follows;

If you are in love with the beloved

Don’t be fooled by others

Jump into the fire as Abraham

No one gets burned in that rose garden

It says “If you are in love with the beloved, don’t be fooled by others.”

What is meant with “others”?

“Others” means those who intervene between you and the beloved.

You say “I love Allah”, but Almighty Allah looks into my and your hearts. Human hearts are the places which Allah looks into. Almighty Allah says “We don’t care about people’s nobility, beauty, skills, appearances, or wealth. What matters to us is only what is in their hearts”.

Therefore, you should check what is in your heart when you say “I love Allah”. Almighty Allah sees through your heart and knows what is in it. If you love Allah, you should get rid of all other wishes in your heart. Only then it means you love Allah.  This is what “If you are in love with the beloved, don’t be mistaken by others” means.

If you really love Allah, there should be no space in your heart for the love of anything else. If there is love for other things in your heart, they will set you apart from Allah. Other wishes, desires cause you to get away from Allah.  

Jump into the fire as Abraham

No one gets burned in that rose garden

Look at Abraham. Fire did not burn him. Why didn’t it burn him? He was also a human, a created one and a prophet. Prophets are humans in appearance. They aren’t angels. Angels don’t eat, drink, fire doesn’t burn them and they never turn into ashes. Angels don’t get old, sick or don’t die. Humans get old, tired, sick, hungry, and thirsty and die. These are for humans, not for angels. Prophets are humans in appearance; they eat, drink and doubtlessly get sick.

What big pains they suffered! They got old. For example; Abraham (peace be upon him) got very old. He lived very long; Noah (peace be upon him) lived 900 years. Abraham (peace be upon him) also lived very long, got older than 100.

When Allah Almighty wished to take back Abraham’s soul from his body, he ordered the Angel of death “Go and take back Abraham’s soul, my friend, from his body but first make him agree to that and then do it. Do not take back his soul without taking his consent.

The Angel of Death goes to Abraham in the disguise of an old man. He looks so old that his voice is hardly audible. Abraham (Peace Be upon Him) tells him

 – Speak loudly to my ears so that I can hear you.

Angel of death walks with great difficulty, by using a cane, because of his distorted back. With his wrinkled face and drooling mouth, he can hardly keep his eyes open due to eye crust.

– “Lo, Abraham, I am hungry” he says.

Abraham (Peace Be upon Him) gives him a bowl of soup with a spoon. However, Angel of death takes a spoonful of the soup to his ear, instead of his mouth. His hand shakes so badly that there remains no soup in the spoon. He can’t have even one single drop of the soup.  Upon seeing this, Abraham (Peace Be upon Him) asks him;

“Father, how old are you?” At the time, Abraham is 100.

“I am 101”, he replies.

“Am I going to be like this next year?” asks Abraham.

“Of course, you are going to be like me next year”, answers   the Angel of Death.

 Then Abraham prays to Allah:

– Allah Almighty, please take my life before I become like this.

This is how Angel of Death makes Abraham agree to die.

If you are in love with the beloved

Don’t be fooled by others

Jump into the fire as Abraham

What did Abraham do?

Fire didn’t burn him. Why didn’t fire burn him? He’s a prophet, but he was also a human.  Therefore, fire should have burned him, but why didn’t it?

He expelled all things from his heart but his beloved. He was just with his beloved in his heart. Nobody helped him; he didn’t expect help from anyone else.  He said, “I don’t need anyone else’s help. Allah is enough for me”. Allah Almighty sends four highly skilled angels to protect him from fire.

Abraham was in the air, having been thrown into the fire, just like a shell from a mortar. Then Allah sends those angels by telling them to save Abraham from fire. Allah Almighty has such powerful angels that they govern the Earth and Heaven; they rule lands, mountains, all waters such as seas; Allah Almighty also created angels who rule winds and fires. Nowadays people assume earthquakes result from mines in the depths of Earth which burn away and cause cavities underground, and these cavities make earth plates move and collapse. But should we believe this or the Holy Qur’an verse (Zilzal 99:1-2) which says "izâ zülziletil ardu zil zâlehâ, ve ehrecetil ardu esgaleha" which transliterates as “we shake Earth plate by plate”

 The people of Prophet Lot were subdued by an angel; to some, that angel was Gabriel; to some others, it was Michael. They appeared in the disguise of human. There were seven people who crossed the line among these people. They were involved in very bad practices. However, others did not stop these from their malpractices.  They were indifferent to them.

These people were even harassing other people; couldn’t seventy thousand people stop these seven people? They would not. They were also disturbing Prophet Lot. Consequently, Allah Almighty sent them fours angels in the human appearance. They wanted to harass these Angels, too. They wanted to perform their malpractice with these Angels as well. Four Great Angels used their skills. Gabriel (Peace be upon Him) pushed his wing under the ground of the city and lifted it up in the air. What kind of a power is this? There is another angel who is in charge of lands, he comes to Abraham (Peace be Upon Him), and tells him “Abraham, I am the one in charge of the lands, I can bring those mountains upon this fire, would you like me to do so?” Abraham (Peace be Upon Him) says “No, how can you do this, where do you get this power of yours?   The angel answers, “I do it with the power gifted to me by Allah Almighty.”

Abraham (Peace be Upon Him) says, “No, I don’t want your power, I am asking from Him, don’t intervene between me and Him, get out of the way. He is enough for me, I don’t want you to save me, don’t get involved in this”. After this, Abraham (Peace be Upon Him) refuses all those angels who are in charge of winds, mountains and waters.  Allah Almighty orders the burning fire “Yâ nâru kûni berden ve selâmen alâ İbrahim” Enbiya 21:69   In the language of his glorious power, Allah Almighty commanded the fire “O fire, be cool and peaceful to Abraham, you shall be neither hot to him nor make him cold, be just as he wishes to feel himself comfortable and easy.”

Therefore, it is said in the words of the exalted;

If you are in love with the beloved

Don’t be fooled by others

If you also say “I love Allah Almighty”, then get all others out of the way. If you get all others out of the way, just as Prophet Abraham did,

Jump into the fire as Abraham

No one gets burned in that rose garden

If you also say “I love Allah Almighty”, then get all others out of the way. If you get all others out of the way, just as Prophet Abraham did (the fire didn’t burn him but turned into a rose garden for him), then you will not burn in any fire like him, either. 

If you are in love with the beloved

Don’t be fooled by others

Jump into the fire as Abraham (Peace Be upon Him)

No one gets burned in that rose garden

Well, Nimrod threw Abraham (Peace Be upon Him) into fire. A Muslim always has his self (nefs) and his soul.  His Self is his Pharaoh or Nimrod, and his Soul is his Moses or Abraham.

How did Abraham (Peace be Upon Him) get saved from fire?

He got redeemed by submission to Allah and faith in Allah and always remembering Allah.

A Muslim’s, follower’s self is his Nimrod. How can he be saved from the evil, vice and brutality of his own self? It is only through submitting to his Sheik, having faith in him.

Look at the words of the exalted;

My exalted Sheik is my Abraham and Guide

The palace of his Heart is my Kaaba

What I submit to him is my vicious self

I give in to the knife as Ishmael

What is the palace of his Heart? The palace of his Heart is the heart of Awliya, your sheik.  As Allah almighty ordains in a Hadith Qudsi,

 “No space can accommodate me in except for my faithful servant’s heart.” Alusi Ruh’ul Me’ani XX.101

The palace of his heart is my Kaaba

The heart of Awliya is the palace of heart. It is greater than the Earth and the worlds.

Why is it greater than the world?  

Allah Almighty ordains, “No space can accommodate me except for the heart of my faithful servant.” Alusi Ruh’ul Me’ani XX.101 The body of an Awliya is the mountain of divine revelation.

The light of “Allah is light”

Has been revealed in you

Your body is the mount of divine manifestation

You heart delivers his Glory

 So, what if a person, a follower makes his way into the heart of an Awliya, his sheik;

He will find Allah and Our Prophet (Peace Be upon Him)

The soul of Awliya is Ravza-i Mutahhara, and the reality of Allah. His heart is Allah Almighty’s Palace

My exalted Sheik is my guide and my Abraham

The palace of his heart is my Kaaba

What I submit to him is my miserable Self

I submit to the knife as Ishmael 

Ishmael (Peace Be upon Him) agreed to be sacrificed with the knife of his father.

Ishmael (Peace Be upon Him) says, “Father, I promise to obey you. Fulfill your vow to Allah, untie my hands and do your job so, why are you tying me? I will not resist you. I have submitted to you, but blindfold my eyes because maybe if I look at you, you will not be able to cut me” Saffat 37:102.

Although there are no actual signs of such events in Sufism now, make sure that in our Sufi order (tariqat) those followers (disciples) who realize the truth of Sufism have been experiencing, going  through all these states  spiritually in their hearts. 

Therefore, in the wise words of the exalted, it is said as follows;

You have had my heart burned in the fire of Nimrod

Hasn’t the time of my rose garden reached yet?

You have ruined all my body and soul

Haven’t all parts of mine burned away?

There is a fire burning deep in me like the fire of Nimrod to burn Abraham, it is burning me.  When, however, will this fire inside me turn into a rose garden like that of Abraham?

It will, but when will it?

Whenever you have realized this;

Your entire possession in this path is your submission to the Sheik in faith

If you rely on Allah truthfully, there is no way that you can’t be blessed

What will be your blessing then?

The fire burns away your self. What happens then? Your self goes away. In fact your self is your separation.  If you get rid of your self, your veil disappears. To put it in other words, your separation will end. 

What will you become? You will be together with your beloved.

What will you become? You will get annihilated in your Sheik or in the Prophet or in Allah Almighty. However, these take place in an order, you can’t get annihilated in the Prophet before annihilating your self in your Sheik; likewise, you can’t   get annihilated in Allah Almighty without annihilating in the Prophet.

Well then, you say, “I love very much and I have a very big love, but why couldn’t I get annihilated?”

My dear, you have this experience in your soul, you have but you should just preserve your faith and your love. Tariqat has four conditions. If you fulfill them, then it is all right.

What are those four conditions?

Love, purity (sincerity), piety, submission.

Without these, a disciple (murid) cannot make any progress.

Love is said to be easy, not very hard. For some, it is not so. All these depend on your faith.

That’s why Salih Baba (a Sufi poet) says;

Your entire asset on this path is your submission to the Sheik in faith

And one who doesn’t know his sheik truly can never know Allah Almighty, either.

Also,

He who can’t penetrate the mount of being

He who can’t smile while crying

He who can’t know his sheik truly

Falls into trouble, my dear

What kind of trouble?

It is a loss. What is his loss? If we can’t realize our Sheik’s righteousness, and don’t believe that Tariqat (Sufi way) is the right path to take, and then we will be in great loss. Why is it so?

People know Allah theoretically; clerics (scholars) know Allah theoretically, verbally. Of course, scholars can understand Quran verses, Hadiths (sayings of the Prophet). They can understand the meanings in Quran. Allah Almighty tells us everything in his holy book Quran, such as his Glory, Grandeur, divine doings, creative power, the world, the afterworld, the heavens, beings in the heavens and the earths, creatures in the seas and all the like.

Clerics (scholars) know about Allah informatively through books, but ascetics also know about Allah observationally and they get closer to Allah. However, those in love with Allah Almighty   know him truly, experiencing the divine reality.

 Knowing Allah informatively tells you about Allah’s existence; there is a distance between you and Allah Almighty. Knowing Allah observationally makes you closer, but there is still a separation and distance. However, knowing the divine reality of Allah truly makes the knower and the known become one.

Salih Baba says in his poems;

“The knower and the known, isn’t it that one soul”

He also says,

May the praise be to Allah; all I have has become you

All I seek in everything has been you

Thanks to Allah, everything I have is you, everything seen and unseen, live or inanimate, whatever there is, I seek, ask for you in all these, I want to see you. 

At the end, he says, ‘You are the one I seek in everything’.

Here, it means:  

People have a desire for everything. It changes depending upon time, just like all utilities such as electrical appliances, electronic devices. I seek you in all these.

May the praise be to Allah; all I have has become you.

 All I seek in everything has been you

Whatever I look at, I see you in that

Hereby, you have become my supporter

Well, this is how to know Allah truly; Knowing Allah informatively tells you about Allah’s existence, and leaves a distance between you and Allah Almighty. Knowing Allah observationally makes you closer, however, knowing Allah truly opens all veils.

What is a “veil”?  All these things are veils, your being and my being are all veils. If we can get rid of our veils, then “Is all seeing and seen not that soul?” is realized.

Yes, thanks to Allah and May all praise be to him. May Allah boost your station and grace.  May Allah give you a long life and preserve your life, faith, practices and your love.

“Can there be any blessing better than this?” said our exalted masters.

“Which blessing is this?”

It is not wealth, neither is it health, nor is it residences or buildings.

This blessing is that Allah created us as Muslims, and made one of the followers of his beloved prophet Mohammed (pbuh). This blessing is that Allah made us love those whom he loves. This is the greatest of all blessings.  

Why? It is because Allah Almighty has made it possible for his beauty to be seen, and he will enable us to see his beauty. This is the greatest blessing. Allah Almighty says “I created everything as a blessing for my servant and I created my servant for myself”.

Allah created everything as a blessing for his servant and his servant for himself”.

That’s why it is said in the words of the exalted;

I came to this world in order to go

In order to attain peace through knowledge

In order to enjoy soul in love

“I came to this world in order to go” is comprehensible, and we can comprehend it. People believe it. Our coming is our birth, our going is our death, and we were born and will die.

What is the world for? For knowledge, we came to this world for a purpose.

What is our purpose?

Our purpose is to serve Allah here and to go to his heaven and see his beauty.

But will everyone who goes to Heaven be able to see Allah’s beauty?

Not everyone.

Then, what is required for that?

 Since it is said:

“In order to watch the Soul in love”

Then, it is necessary to fall in love

Love means Sheik in Sufism (tariqat), to believe Sufi way and to love Your Sheik.

This is the source of love.

That’s why Celali Baba, one of those in love with Allah, says:

Come, those who buy from my stock  

My stock is from the depths of sea

What is “deep sea”?

It is knowledge, but what kind of knowledge is it?

There is one type of knowledge above all the rest. When we say knowledge, you shouldn’t think of knowledge taught in school.

Yunus Emre tells about knowledge taught in schools as follows;

Even if you studied how to distinguish white from black for one thousand times

Impossible would it be to know without going to a Perfect Sheik

If you wish to find the divine reality of Allah

Impossible would it be to know without going to a Perfect Sheik

If you wish to see the spiritual beauty of the Messenger of Allah

Impossible would it be to know without going to a Perfect Sheik

All we should understand from this is that it is impossible without a Sheik.

Look, the Prophet (pbuh) says, “El ulemâü verasetül enbiya” Ebu Davud, Knowledge

“People of wisdom and saints are successors of prophets”

If so, we should meet them, we should find them, we should know them.

We will find our exalted prophet by means of these. Such are the gracious stations, blessings of our Tariqat.

Then, what happens when a follower (murid) attains these? He gets annihilated in the presence of His Sheik. It is impossible to get annihilated in the prophet without getting annihilated in the Sheik.

These are spiritual experiences, the education of the soul. The soul is educated. What is the education of the soul?

It is just like a child who can’t be accepted to secondary school without first graduating from primary school. This is impossible because he should get his diploma from a primary school first before his father could send him to a secondary school. Then he will attend a high school and then go to college.

Look, the soul of a disciple, follower is attending primary school until getting annihilated in the Sheik. This is a metaphor.

After getting annihilated in the Sheik, this time his Sheik takes him to our prophet (pbuh), saying:

“This is one of your believers and followers (your ummah).” 

That’s why it is expressed in the words of our exalted masters;

May my soul be sacrificed for the Messenger of Allah

He accepted us to his gracious school of his path

He ordered My Sheik Mohammed Shah

To lead us from darkness to light

Sheik Mohammed Shah means here every follower’s his own sheik.

He ordered My Sheik Mohammed Shah

To lead us from darkness to light  

What does this expression mean?

First of all, a disciple’s soul, a follower’s soul cannot get annihilated in our prophet without getting annihilated in his Sheik. He can’t reach our prophet, and he can’t become his accepted follower (ummah). That’s why Yunus Emre says;

Come, brother, if you want to find Haq (Allah)

Impossible is it without getting to a Perfect Sheik

If you wish to see the beauty of the prophet

Impossible is it without getting to a Perfect Sheik

Come on, brothers let us go to the Nile

May the chests of plenty of lovers be burned

Even Gabriel is a means for Ahmed

Impossible is it without getting to a Perfect Sheik

There is a secret in this,

So many set out to look for a Sheik

Those who look for the cure to their illness found it

 Even if you study how to distinguish white from black for a thousand times

Impossible is it without getting to a Perfect Sheik

It says many people set out on a journey to find a Sheik; and eventually, they could find one. This is also Allah’s command, Allah ordains; “ileyhil vesilete”. Maide 5:35

A verse in the Holy Quran says, “Look for a means to reach Allah”. This is an order. This guide is a Sheik. A person is supposed to find such a guide who will lead him to Allah. For example, you want to cross a sea, can you cross a sea without a means? You want to go to the other side of the Mount Ararat? What are you going to use?   By a means, for example, by plane. People can’t go by themselves to places unreachable except for by plane or by ship.

To sum up, Allah Almighty commands that we need a means to reach him. Likewise, Yunus Emre says in his poem as well;

So many set out to look for a Sheik

Those who look for the cure to their illness found it

Even if you studied how to distinguish white from black for one thousand times

Impossible is it without getting to a Perfect Sheik

In this poem, it is said if you live for one thousand years, or study religious sciences in schools for one thousand years, you still need a Sheik as a means to reach Allah. If you don’t find a Sheik and get to him and don’t get annihilated your self (being) in his spiritual presence, you will not be able to find Allah. That is, your soul who came from Allah cannot return to Allah.

Allah Almighty created a means for everything. He made everything available, attainable only through a means.

That’s why here it is said;

“In order to enjoy soul in love”

Here it means if he doesn’t fall in love, he cannot reach Allah because love is the means to reach Allah, not Dhikr, meditation and religious practices. It shouldn’t be misunderstood, Allah commands us to do all these. However, all these are for the body.

There is physical activeness in the body, and it has partial willpower. Therefore, humans were ordered to do all these by Allah. Nevertheless, does the soul have willpower? It doesn’t,, it cannot be said to have willpower. What does Allah ordain in the Qur’an Verse?

“Gulirruhü min emri rabbi” İsra 17:85

Our exalted Prophet was asked about soul. Upon this, a Quran verse was revealed to him by Allah Almighty.

My beloved, they are asking you about soul, say that soul is under the command of my lord Allah. “Gulirruhü min emri rabbi” İsra 17:85.

Then it is the body that is responsible. Responsibility is upon the body.

What is the body doing? Body is the container of soul. It bears soul. To exemplify, if some water is put into a glass which is dirty, will the water keep clean? No it will not. On the other hand, if the water is dirty and the glass is clean, can the glass clean the water? No, it cannot.

Therefore, there is sharia, tariqat for people. 

It is not possible without Sharia, or without tariqat. 

Sharia is for the body, tariqat is for the soul. Well then, we are aware of our body but unaware of our soul. That is, we are unaware of the processes that our souls are going through, we don’t know about the education the soul is getting. If it is in the tariqat, what kind of processes is the soul undergoing?

Tariqat is about the soul. If a person has joined a tariqat, believed in a Sheik, become a disciple of that Sheik, his soul is going through a process and receiving spiritual training. We can’t know about this. It is not important for a person to know about it; however, it is important for him to believe it. What do we believe? It is submission to the Sheik in faith. If you have this faith, it is all right. What shall we believe? We will believe that he is training our soul just like a mother giving birth to a baby and feeding him, raising him, nurturing him, and cleaning him. Without all these services of the mother, a child can’t be brought up. Without the custody and supervision of a Sheik, the soul of a disciple can’t make any spiritual progress.

 The Sheik’s (Awliya’s) soul educates, nurtures his disciples’ souls. We have to have full faith in this. There are four conditions of this belief in Tariqat.

Love, purity, piety, submission

Love is to love one’s sheik more than his own life.

Purity is to view his Sheik as the greatest. There are a lot of Sheiks, and they are all one; however, one must see his own sheik greater than the others. It's is mentioned in the Divan (Collected poems):

There are a lot of Awliyas of the divine reality in this rosarium of the earth

He doesn’t deny the other Awliyas of the divine reality.

Who are the Awliyas of the divine reality?

Awliyas of the divine reality are those who have lived Sharia, Tariqat and have reached the divine reality of Allah. When they have reached the divine reality of Allah, their souls have been entrusted with authority; their souls have achieved perfection, not their bodies.

However, it is said:

There are a lot of Awliyas of the divine reality in this rosarium of the earth

Mohammed Sheik Sami is the best of all

One condition of Tariqat is that every disciple shall see his Sheik greater than all others so that he could love his sheik.  Speaking of ranks of Awliyaullah, there are those in charge of notification and perfecting. There is a Gavs and a Pole.

There are many in charge of notification and in charge of perfection.

But there is only one Gavs and only one Pole.  If everybody thinks of his Sheik as Gavs or Pole, this is in his own favor. Which one is Gavs or Pole? Only Allah knows it.

However, there is some clear evidence. What kind of clear evidence is it?  For example, in our chain our exalted Sheiks have the titles of Gavs, Pole, Pole of the poles, pole of perfection, Great Gavs; these are how they are referred to. However, we shouldn’t go any further.

If we think of the sheiks in our chain starting from Mevlana Halidi Baghdadi, there is truth in the words of Salih Baba:

There are a lot of Awliyas of the divine reality in this rosarium of the earth

Mohammed Sheik Sami is the best of all

What about Celali Baba? What does Celali Baba say about our Sheik grandfather Muhammad Beshir, who is the Sheik of our Sheik? (At first, he opposed him, then he went through a state; he was stricken by a disease, he almost died, he was made to learn the reality about our Sheik grandfather.)  

This holy place belongs to the beloved one of The Almighty

For that I swear on Allah

For Allah’s sake, why should we deny it?

The Successor of the prophets has arrived

And then he goes on and concludes as follows:

Celali, salute him and look forward to his arrival

This is the Sun and the Moon of the world

The greatest Sheik of the Nakshi Tariqat

Has arrived with his appointment as Gavs in his hand

Look now these are made known to us, there were many sheiks at the time of Our Sheik grandfather Muhammad Beshir and our sheik Dede Pasha. There were plentiful signs to prove their rank, but they can’t expose these; otherwise, they will be held responsible.  But they have faith in that. Every disciple shall think of his sheik as Gavs (the greatest of his time). There are proofs of this; there are proofs in the words of the exalted. There are no shortcomings in the words of the exalted because whatever there is in the Quran verses and the hadiths of the messenger of Allah, it is also in the words of the exalted.  One should believe this. What's expressed in the words of the exalted is right.

Exalted Mevlana Halidi Baghdadi has two wings: he is both Uwaysi (trained by the souls of Great Awliya spiritually) and a great scholar in religious sciences. What happened after he studied four major religious sciences?

He would love Exalted Master Abdulkadir Geylani and was one of his descendants.

Exalted Master Abdulkadir Geylani is the Sultan of Awliyas.

The top of the men of wisdom; what does it mean? He is the head of all Awliya. Although he was so distinguished, he would always visit the shrine of Exalted Master Abdulkadir Geylani. He also lived in Baghdad. He would cry very much in his shrine asking for help and mercy. One day, he received an answer in the Shrine of Exalted Master Abdulkadir Geylani.

- My son Molla Halid, there are some deviations in my Tariqat.  Go to the Tariqat of Azizan (the elite).

Another name for our Tariqat is Tariqat of Azizan (the elite), Tariqat of Hacegan (Scholars), and Tariqat of Nazenin (the Polite).

- Go to Tariqat of Azizan (the elite).

- “Where is this Tariqat of Azizan (the elite)?”, he asks.

- “Go to Beytullah (House of Allah), talk to whoever you first come across”, answers the spirit of Exalted Master Abdulkadir Geylani. Baghdad is a long way from Kabaa. Mevlana Halid starts out from Baghdad to Kabaa. This journey takes many months. When he first arrives at Kabaa, he sees a man sleeping and snoring with his feet stretched out towards Kabaa. He considers this situation to be disrespectful. “What a rude act in such a holy place”, he thinks. He doesn’t like this and doesn’t go to speak to him. In the meantime, the man puts his in his shirt and kills a live thing like a bug. “What a blasphemy, he also committed a murder!”, Mevlana Halid says to himself. (Killing anything live even a fly is considered to be equal to a murder in the holy lands). Just at that moment, the man rose and called to him;

-   Molla Halid, come here

- “How does he know that I am Molla Halid?”, he asked to himself and went near him.

The man said:

- Molla Halid, I have a question to you, answer it.

- Of course sir, he answered.

The man asked:

- If a person watches the building made by Celil (Allah) by leaning his back against the building made by Halil (Prophet Abraham, friend of Allah), what can be said about him?

The man meant the Heart of Molla Halid by saying the building made by Celil (Allah)

-  Nothing can be said about him.

 - You could have received your designated blessing here, Molla Halid, but you have missed it. Come to India and find me there, said the man.

This man was Exalted Sheik Abdullah Dehlevi

Molla Halid:

- “What Exalted Master Geylani instructed me to do and what did I do?” he thought to himself in great regret.  He went from Kabaa to his hometown. There was a cousin of his who was very old with the name of Seyyid Abdullah. He told this and what happened and asked him:

- Let’s go to India together.

Seyyid Abdullah answered:

- It will take us one year to go to India and another year to come back from there, maybe we might need to live there for two or three years. And we have families and children here. What will happen to them, then? One of us should stay here and take care of them and meet their needs. The one who goes to India will give half of whatever he gains to the other.

Seyyid Abdullah was old and offered Mevlana Halid to go to India on the condition that he should give him half of whatever he gains there. Halid Baghdadi accepted his proposal.

Mevlana Halid went to India. If he hadn’t considered Abdullah Dehlevi to be disrespectful at Kabaa, he could have been given the blessing by Exalted Sheik Abdullah Dehlevi right there.

However, this is the way to make one forget about his knowledge, and realize his ignorance with respect to sublime divine knowledge just as Shams Tabrisi did to Mevlana Jalaleddin. He was made to feel ignorant and behave ignorantly. This was done to make him forget about his knowledge and lose his high esteem in the public eye.

There is disaster in fame. Knowledge of a person and deeds of a person become a source of pride for him. It is not easy to get rid of these. People can’t easily overcome these.

Eventually our exalted Master Mevlana Halidi Baghdadi went to India and stayed there for seven years.  When he got there, he happened to find out that Exalted Sheik Abdullah Dehlevi had passed away and had been succeeded by Exalted Sheik Ziyaeddin.

Before he passed away, Exalted Master Abdullah Dehlevi had instructed Exalted Ziyaeddin, who was his successor, to deal with Molla Halid and give him the required attention and his bliss upon completion of his perfection.

-  Molla Halid is arriving here from Baghdad, by the time he comes here I will have changed my world, give him the necessary care and do your best to enable him to reach his grace and bliss.

When Mevlana Halid arrived in India, he happened to see that the man who had seen in Kabaa was not there and his post had been taken by another man.

However, Exalted Sheik Ziyaeddin comforts him:

-Don’t bother, nothing has changed, my sheik, whom you had seen, has left your instruction and education to me.  Don’t be afraid, do your service and you will get your grace and bliss. 

Molla Halid was made to carry water to the dervish lodge for seven years by means of a wooden stick on his shoulders with two buckets hanging from both ends of the stick. These people are called porter.  There were scars on his shoulders, which were bleeding from time to time.

There was an Armenian lady. While Mevlana Halid was walking past her house, she saw his scars bleeding. Upon seeing this, this lady pitied him, and cleaned his scars and placed cotton bandages on the bleeding parts, although Mevlana Halid did not want her to do so. She forced him to accept her help.

Exalted Sheik Ziyaeddin sees this.

“Molla Halid, what is it?” he asks.

Mevlana Halid answers:

- Master, it was an Armenian lady. I didn’t agree her to put those; she forced me to let her for Allah’s sake. She didn’t listen to me.

 - “Come here, if the Armenian lady felt mercy for you, it is already time for Allah to have mercy for you.”

Then, what is he doing? He completed his service and gave his blessing.

Molla Halid didn’t stay in Baghdad, either. He went to Damascus and settled there. Exalted Mevlana Khalid’s shrine is in Damascus. Let us put this straight; He is a very great person, he was the greatest of his time, those before him or after him until the doomsday didn’t have services as great as those of his, both physically and spiritually. He is also the Renovator of his century. He has two wings (physical and spiritual domains)

In the formal sciences of Islamic Sharia, he did great services, but he also served in Tariqat. No one except for a Renovator, especially in the spiritual sciences, can split a branch from a Tariqat. It is allowed by a command, from Rasulullah (the messenger of Allah, our prophet).

Well, Mevlana Halidi Baghdadi split a branch from Nakshbandiyye Tariqat, and it was named after him as the branch of Halidiyye, which is our branch.

Exalted Mevlana Halidi Baghdadi completed the education of 365 disciples as his successors. That is, for each day of the year, he graduated one successor, this was his prayer, and he never had a day of the year without qualifying one of his disciples as one of his successors. Every day of his year was fruitful.

Our branch;

Tariqat of Sharia,

Tariqat of Discourse (Conversation, chat)

Tariqat of Rabıta (Bonding, devotion)

Tariqat of Hatma (A collective service of disciples where they perform certain verses and prayers)

It is also mentioned in the poems of Salih Baba:

Not everyone can become a man of wisdom

Unless he has become like a hair split into forty (longitudinal pieces)

How come a hair can be divided into forty longitudinal pieces? Allah is omnipotent, all doing. Allah Almighty can either thicken a hair or split it into forty pieces. That hair can seem very thin to us but it may be so thick to those who are pious and meticulous.

It is because Allah ordains “Be pious!” Pious ones will achieve redemption.

However, who is the pious one? 

“The most pious of you is those of you who fear Allah the most.”

Therefore, Awliyas of Allah have fear. However, in the Quran Allah ordains “Ela inne evliyaallahu

lâ havfün aleyhim velâhüm yahzenun” Yunus 10:62  . In this verse, Allah says there is no fear for Awliyas of Allah.

Then what kind of fear do Awliyas of Allah have? We also have fears, but their fear (the one in Awliyas of Allah) is not like ours.

Why?

It is because they have reached the station of ‘havf’fear; in that station, a hair becomes thick enough for them to split it into forty pieces. They do it in the station of ‘havf’fear. Otherwise, a hair cannot be divided into forty longitudinal pieces. This is not something to be grasped by the ordinary human mind. However, there are sublime spiritual stations. When one reaches the station of ‘havf’fear, a quality, attribution reveals through him. It is such a fear that if all fears of all people were gathered, they would be like a drop in a sea, compared to it.

Who’s the one who splits a hair into forty pieces?

Not everyone can become a man of wisdom

Without becoming a hair split into forty.

A man of wisdom does it; one who can’t split a hair into forty pieces can’t become a man of wisdom. Nevertheless, Awliyas of Allah are not what they appear to us. They have a peculiar quality and power, specialty, and uniqueness.  We cannot see those features.

Look at what Salih Baba says:

He made the veil of four elements a cover for himself

What does ‘four elements’ mean? 

Four elements mean four substances. What are these? These are things from which the human body was created.

In the human body, there is;

Earth,

Water,

Fire,

Air.

Human body is made of these. Without one of these, people can’t live.  However, we can see only of these four, and we can’t see the other two.

Look at this air ventilator, it gives us air. Is air visible? Without air people cannot survive. There is also fire in the human body. People take their body temperatures. There is an upper limit; if it is exceeded, people will die. There is also a lower limit, if the body temperature goes below this limit a person cannot live likewise. These two are not visible, but they exist in our bodies. However, water and earth are physically visible. All humans have these four substances.

Awliyas of Allah have also these. However, it says:

He made the veil of four elements a cover for himself

It means that he covered himself under those four veils. This human body is composed of these four components. These cover and hide the true self of an Awliya.

He made the veil of four elements a cover for himself

You, the soul from the Holy One, constitute the whole wisdom,

Here ‘the soul from the Sublime Holiness’ refers to Allah’s ordinance "When I have fashioned him and breathed into him of My spirit.”  Allah says he placed, breathed a piece from his sprit into the human (Adam) Sad 38:72  If this spirit was breathed into man by Allah,  then will it return to Allah?

It may go to Allah, or it may not go back to Allah.

 “Kale inna lillahi ve innâ ileyhi râciun” Bakara 2:156, which means, “We came from Allah, and we will get back to Allah”.

Our body came from earth, Allah created it from earth and it will return to it again. Our bodies didn’t come from Allah. However, our souls came from Allah and it is our souls that will return to Allah.  But do all these souls go back to Allah? No, not all of them.

Sharia

Tariqat

Haqiqa (Truth of Being)

Mârifa (Spiritual Wisdom)

If a person has all these, then his soul goes back to Allah.

If a person doesn’t have these, his soul gets farther away from Allah and deeper down in terms of being instead of going back or closer to Allah.  May Allah save us from being blasphemous, where is Allah? Up in the heavens or down on the earth?

Allah may not be attributed a location. However, it is not proper to think of Allah as being on the lower earths except for Arsh Ala (High Holy Place); it is kind of being disrespectful to his glory in a way. It is respectful and pious to think of Allah up in the heavens. May Allah be contained by a place like Heavens or earths? No! Allah surrounds everything and everywhere, and he is omnipotent.

However, our souls rise up to high holy stations if we could return them to these sublime places.

By what means can our souls reach their original stations?

 By means of Sharia, Tariqat, Haqiqa (Truth of Being) and Mârifa (Spiritual Wisdom)

A person may fall down to the deepest and lowest seventh layer of the world of misery if he doesn’t have these means.

This is a fact expressed in the Holy Quran. Allah Almighty ascended Jesus to the Heavens. On the other hand, what did Allah Almighty do with Karun (May Allah curse him)? 

Allah made him, his family and his entire wealth sink underground. Until the judgment day, he will keep sinking underground every day. Karun (May Allah curse him) was a very rich one of the followers and believers of the Prophet Moses. In the Holy Book, Old Testament, Allah ordered the rich among the people of Moses to give away a certain share of their wealth to the poor and the needy. However, Karun (May Allah curse him) refused to do so by saying:

“I earned my wealth on my own. Nobody may tell me what to do with my wealth.”

This caused Allah’s wrath, and Allah made him, his family and all his wealth sink underground, they keep sinking deeper and deeper to the depths of the ground. Likewise, it is our souls which will return to Allah, going higher and higher up to Arsh Ala (Highest Holy Place) not our bodies. Both ways are possible: we can go either up until Arsh Ala (Highest Holy Place) or down to the deepest of the ground. If we follow Allah’s orders and serve him through Sharia, Tariqat, Haqiqa (Truth of Being) and Mârifa (Spiritual Wisdom), we may get back to Allah.

First of all, we should practice all the rules of Sharia, and then we will proceed with Tariqat.

After fulfilling the requirements of Tariqat, we start with Haqiqa (Truth of Being). This is because there is Tariqat between Haqiqa (Truth of Being) and Sharia.

Think of a city, for example: This city is divided into two by a river, one side of which is Sharia and the other side of which is Haqiqa (Truth of Being). What do we need to cross the river? We need a bridge or a boat to cross the river.

If one side is more desirable and enjoyable than the other, a means is needed to get to that side.  That’s because Allah Almighty has blessed us with Sharia, Tariqat, Haqiqa (Truth of Being) and Mârifa (Spiritual Wisdom)

You need to have full compliance with all rules of Sharia, and then Tariqat will be a bridge for you to get to the side of Haqiqa (Truth of Being). When you have reached Haqiqa (Truth of Being), you will get your soul to get back to the holy station from where it had come.

You make the soul from the holy, sacred place reach Arsh Ala (The Highest Holy Place where Allah Almighty is present with his pure self light.)

Then you become precious, and you become the precious human. Such humans are above everything, even angels.

When people reach Haqiqa, they become more precious than Angels. Allah Almighty ordains in the Verse Fig (At-Tin) “legad haleknel insane fi ehsani takvim”. Tin 95:4   We have indeed created man in the best of moulds.

“The best of moulds” means precious and most blessed.

“Nusha’i kübra” (microcosm) means that we have created man great and gorgeous.

Then do we abase him (to be) the lowest of the low; we send down this precious human to a place called “esfele safilin”, which is the darkest corner of the hell. Tin 95:5

If a person lacks Sharia, then he will fall down to that place. However, if a person fulfills the requirements of Tariqat in addition to Sharia, he will gain a beauty which is even better than that of angels. That’s why we should feel endless gratitude to Allah for   such a great bliss. If we appreciate this bliss, Allah will make it even bigger.

Allah Almighty created endless graces for humans, but where? Both in this world and the afterworld. All these visible and spiritual graces are for humans to serve Allah duly.

 If a person is in service of Allah, Allah has a vow given to him; what does Allah ordain?

 “irciî ila rabbiki râzıyeten marziyye fedhuli fi ibadî vedhulî cennetî”. Fecr 89: 28-30 

"Come back thou to your Lord, - well pleased (yourself), and well-pleasing unto Him!

Enter among My devotees, and enter My Heaven!"

This is the last verse of the Sura Dawn. Salih Baba expressed this as follows:

Is that a true follower who is unaware of the daily seventy calls made for return?

And unconscious of the secret of “Fedhulî” What does Allah command

“İrci ila rabbiki razıyeten marziyye”

“Marziye” (being well pleased) is a station for humans, but which station is this? Humans shall go through the stations of Commanding self, Critical self, Inspirational self, Assured self and reach the station of being Well-Pleased and the station of Well-Pleasing.

There is also the station of purity (Safiyya). These are all the stations of the Self:

Make this self of yours well-pleased and well pleasing.

Come to the place of the Friend in order for to sacrifice it.

That is, people quit on their selves for the sake of Allah’s pleasure. Unless these stations are reached, people can’t give up on their selves; unless one gives up his self, he can’t reach the beloved, Allah. 

I can’t call this life my life

Unless it enables me to reach the beloved.

Eventually this sorrow will drive me crazy

I have come to you, the Healer, for the cure.

Life means our soul, the beloved means the person of Allah Almighty.

Our souls came from Allah Almighty, and they wish to return to Him.

However, they can’t return to Allah Almighty except for a means because our souls came here by a means, our parents. We aren’t like plants; we didn’t spring out of earth, or grow out of a wall. We are humans; we came to this world by means our parents. 

One can only get back only by a means to a place from where one came by a means. Allah Almighty ordains, “Look for a means to him.” 

What is the means here?

It is a Sheik.

This bird of flesh is full of desires and wishes

My bird of soul screams in a cage

Our devotion is to you in every breath of ours

I am truthful on this path

Then it means, Rabıta (Bonding with the Sheik spiritually):

What is the means which bonds the servant with Allah Almighty and takes him to Allah and makes him reach Allah?

It is Awliyas of Allah.

Allah Almighty orders us to find a means leading to Himself in the Holy Quran. Then, this means is Sheiks, Awliyas of Allah. Allah Almighty created all these things and graces for us. Let’s not be fooled by the minor ones and kept away from the major ones. What is the bigger blessing, gift of Allah? It is to see and witness the beauty of Allah Almighty.

People can’t reach the beauty of Allah Almighty without the help of a Sheik. This is because people may reach the light of Allah’s names.

There are three lights of Allah’s;

The light of Allah’s names,

The light of Allah’s attributes,

The light of Allah’s self.

People can reach the light of Allah’s names without a sheik. People can reach the light of Allah’s attributes without a sheik. However, people can’t reach the light of Allah’s Self without a sheik.

That’s why it’s said:

People of love got to realize, after growing pale with grief in this path,

A heart couldn’t be without a Sheik and without a school

Where no sounds and letters are used

Who are people of love?

Those who are in love with Allah, consumed away with grief by trying to look for their beloved here and there, everywhere. Finally, they happened to see that it is impossible without a sheik.

They eventually understood that a heart couldn’t be opened up without a sheik. If a heart isn’t opened up, it is impossible to find or reach Allah. Allah says in a Hadith Kuds, “I was a hidden treasure” Fususül Hikem Vol. 1 p 43. Allah Almighty also says in another Hadith Kuds, “I can’t be accommodated anywhere but in the heart of a true believer of mine” Alusi Ruh’ul Me’ani XX..101 

If you could open up your heart, you’ll see Allah in there, whom you can’t see and find in places or horizons.

Who opens up the heart?

It is Awliyas of Allah. A person can’t open up his own heart by himself.  How does this happen?

It is ordained:

“Mûtû gable entemûtû” El-Mesn’u, which means “die before your death”

There is death for people before dying.  However, people are afraid of death and try to keep away from it as long as possible. A man can give up everything such as his wealth for the sake of his life. He can give up on everything for this life, but he can’t know how to quit on his life. If he could, he would, but he doesn’t know how to.  It is Awliyas of Allah who make one know how to give up on his life.

What they say is as follows:

- Look son, this is your gift, blessing. This life of yours is very precious and sweet to you, but if you can give up on this life of yours, you will find a life which is an even more precious and better life. Such is this, May Endless thanks be to Allah Almighty. This is the greatest blessing and grace.

May Allah forgive me, I don’t mean myself, we are brothers and sisters, and I mean our sheik and our masters before him.

Getting me to my Sheik

Having me reach the Union

Enabling me to find this treasure

See how Love made me

And eventually it turned me into a dervish

Such is this, my sisters;

Our Tariqat is one of Bonding (Rabıta)

Our Tariqat is one of Sharia

Our Tariqat is one of Discourse

Be aware, do not overlook these. Other tariqats are said to have some shortcomings in terms of Sharia. Let’s not have any of such shortcomings, and let’s not criticize them for doing so.

Just as commanded by our exalted Master Nakshbandî:

- What you are doing is right, I can’t deny it, but I just can’t do as you either.

This is what we need; this is how we should be. Let’s not look down on what is practiced in other tariqat branches. Let’s not say that they aren’t quite right or that they have shortcomings. Let’s not do as they do either.

Formal Sharia requires, “Emri bil maruf ve nehyi anil münker”. Al-i İmran 3:104-110-114

Let’s comply with the Holy Book (Quran) and the Sunna (practices of The Prophet). This is our formal Sharia. This is our objective in Sharia. Let’s follow Holy Book (Quran) and the Sunna. However, we shouldn’t also quit on bonding with the sheik; let’s keep our Sheik in our heart.

It is quite acceptable that we may forget to bond with the sheik because of being busy. However, if you are true in your bond with your sheik, his spiritual hand will come and poke you back into bonding. This is such a thing as a fly landing on you, a finger of yours getting stuck in a door, or stumbling upon something on the ground. This is just your sheik’s spiritual finger poking you to wake up, asking you why you forget.

But you need to be regretful when you are poked this way; so, your forgetfulness may diminish and fade away. If a person doesn’t regret his wrong-doing, he will do it over and over again. But if he regrets wrongdoing, he won’t make the same mistake again. 

Your being poked requires your regret, your regret means your resolution and not doing it again.

Here it is seen that we need to endeavour to lessen such ignorance and forgetfulness.

Look, there are states of depression and serenity in humans.

These two states, depression and serenity,are given to the disciples by their sheik.

As a matter of fact, the state, mood of depression results from the sheik making the leash of a disciple’s self a bit looser. This is because the sheik has leashed the self of his disciple. When the sheik releases the leash a little bit or sets the disciple’s self a bit free, then the state of depression comes out.

But why is he doing something like this?

It is because you are required to struggle with your self. There will be somewhat sorrow, depression and regret in this. Because of these, you will get to beg and ask for pardon from Allah, and the opposition of your natural components will start to change. Look for example, a tanner has hides; Salih Baba’s words express this:

If he tans your hide hard, you should love him better

As the tanner beats his favorite hide more

Nonetheless, the sheik doesn’t spank the disciple but gives him hardships. Why does he do so?  This is how he trains the self of his disciple. These hardships are for the training of the self of the disciple.

If he tans your hide hard, you should love him better

If there are any troubles or sorrows, they are from the sheik.

This comes to the disciple from the sheik he’s bonding with.

His sheik sends the disciple these troubles so that he should seek refuge in Allah, in the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon Him) or in his sheik.

This is because Allah Almighty asks us to do “Lo, my servant, seek asylum, shelter in me in every condition or state”.

Eventually, the man of love happens to say:

I got to realize I am not done

Without begging you

But what will cause us to beg and to ask from Allah?

We are all common, ordinary. We are all new starters, we own our will. Just as we said before, our comfortable and peaceful times get us into forgetfulness and unawareness. Our hard times, days wake us up. Only in hard times do we beg Allah, our prophet or our sheik for help and forgiveness.

 That’s why it is said;

If he tans your hide hard, you should love him better

As the tanner beats his favorite hide more

He dyes it various colors

He beats it to the stones until it is done

Tanners are craftsmen who process hides and turn them into leather.  When animal skins are brought to them, if the like one of the skins more than the rest, he gives it a special treatment. He puts much more labor into its processing and treatment. He beats it more than the others, uses more dyes while dealing with it.

Well, our tariqat is a tariqat of Sharia. Keep in mind that our Sharia requires “emri bil maruf ve nehyi anil münker”, which means following Allah’s orders and keeping away from what he bans. I repeat: your greatest service is to respect your husbands. If you don’t respect your husbands, all other good deeds of yours will vanish.

None of your other doings and deeds will do you any good because Allah Almighty ordains “Perform your daily prayers and respect and treat your parents well”. Isra 17:23 However, not only your parents are meant here; your husband’s parents are also parents to you. Our Prophet says: “If anybody else from Allah were to be prostrated before, I would order wives to prostrate themselves before their husbands.” Cem’ul Fevaid, Rudani 4290

If there are so many rights of your husband’s upon you, then you should also treat their parents well accordingly in order to please them. Since Allah Almighty ordains that we should treat our parents well, then we should behave well to our parents in law as well. Why is it so? In Islam (zakat) giving of alms to parents isn’t allowed. Likewise, giving of alms to parents in law isn’t allowed either.

It is because they are also like your own parents; you have to look after them; in fact, you have to carry them around on your back if necessary.

So, you should accept that if you perform your daily prayers, treat your parents well and want to fulfill the requirements of your faith, you also need to treat your husband’s parents well. 

You should please your husband so that your good deeds and doings should be accepted, and appreciated by Allah Almighty. Especially in our time, you should give much importance to this practice because it was expressed that if anybody else from Allah were to be prostrated before, wives would be ordered to prostrate themselves before their husbands.”  I ask you to do so as well.

Be aware of the fact that today it is the time of Republic; women have been given a lot of rights; however, and women haven’t been given such rights in the Holy Book. The husband of a woman is her master, and she is her servant.   

You should believe so and treat your husband accordingly so that your other services in Sharia and Tariqat could be accepted by Allah.

Thus, our tariqat is a tariqat of sharia, a tariqat of bonding (rabita), a tariqat of discourse and a tariqat of hatm (a collective ritual in Nakshbandî Tariqat).

Now, we have understood Sharia: Allah’s orders and bans. We shall do as we are ordained by Allah. You, as women, have to have hijab, perform daily prayers, and perform ablution and full ablution in addition to other religious services.

Yes, in our tariqat we won’t be much involved with the worldly pleasures and the world itself.

(A lady asks:)

- It is said that religious rituals and practices of a woman are not accepted without the approval of her husband. Is it really so?

Women are allowed to go against the words of their husbands in two situations.

The first one is while acquiring (religious) knowledge so that she could perform her religious duties.  What is Sharia? It is knowledge and practice. What is Sharia? It is Allah’s Holy Book and the Sunnah (doings) of Allah’s messenger, our Prophet. One should know these so that she can perform her religious duties.

She may not listen to her husband’s words when it comes to learning about the religion. This is the first place where she may not obey her husband.

She may not listen to her husband’s words when it comes to performing the religious tasks and services. This is the second place where she may not obey her husband. 

If one’s husband is mean and is being harsh to her, she won’t be afraid of performing religious duties secretly. However, when it comes to things other from these two, women are supposed to follow the words of their husbands.

However, if her husband wants her not to learn religious knowledge, not to listen to religious advice and to attend the sermon of a Sheik, this is not acceptable. It is because the religion is about advice. Our prophet says, “religion is about advice”, and religion consists of advice.

This religion, this holy book and the Sunnah of the Prophet should be followed by only men? Aren’t women supposed to follow religious orders and perform religious duties? Don’t women have a religion? Women should also know these. How do they learn these? From books, from a master. Not everybody can understand a book through reading it.

It is certain that one doesn’t need to listen to advice if s/he can interpret Quran verses and sayings of the prophet. However, as stated by Yunus Emre:

Many set out to find a sheik

Those who looked for that got that

Even if you studied how to distinguish white from black for one thousand times

Impossible would it be to know without going to a Perfect Sheik

It says, “Humans, even if you studied many sciences for one thousand years, you would need a Perfect Sheik to know the truth”.

It is impossible without a sheik. That’s why our tariqat is one of discourse.

“Religion is advice, religion is advice, religion is advice.”, our prophet repeats this three times.

There are two types of advice: the first one is a sermon, the second is discourse.

A cleric would read a sermon from a book. However, a discourse of a sheik comes from his heart as inspired by Allah.

That’s why both types of advice are needed; more importantly, we need discourses from a sheik. Why is that? It is because our tariqat is a tariqat of discourse, isn’t it?

Yes, it is. We need the discourses of our sheik:

His disciples are never left unaware,

He makes many attain spiritual maturity,

Those who experience his spiritual beauty are left amazed.

Our tariqat is a tariqat of discourse; books can’t make us reach spiritual maturity. Read books, but books can’t get us to spiritual maturity. They can’t subdue our obstacles. Our tariqat is a tariqat of discourse.

If you see the spiritual beauty, the spiritual face of the Awliya, then you’ll get rid of your physical self and get over the boundaries of your physical self.

You can’t see his spiritual beauty without getting beyond the boundaries of your physical being, neither can you see his spiritual beauty with your physical being or eyes. Is it clear?

So, here it says:

He makes many attain spiritual maturity through discourse

What is this? It means this is a tariqat of discourse.

Let’s come to “tariqat of Rabita” (spiritual bonding with the sheik).

In the tariqat of Rabita, it is said “His disciples are never left unaware”. Therefore, you should always maintain your spiritual bonding with your sheik as if he is standing right by you and telling you “do like that” and you do so and you do everything just as he is telling you by means of your spiritual bonding with your Sheik. When you are eating, imagine you are eating at his dinner table, you should imitate his eating manners. This imitation is imaginary bonding. Our bonding is just imaginary; however, this imaginary bonding will turn into a real spiritual bonding through these imaginary practices.

That’s why you should always keep your bonding at work, at home while eating or doing anything else.

If you forget your bonding, feel regret about it when you realize you have forgotten your bonding, blame yourself for that. You should know that you are making a great mistake by forgetting your bonding so that you can bring it down to a minimum or get rid of making the same mistake again.

As of Tariqat of Hatm, pay close attention to Hatm. There are a lot of hadiths of our prophet about Hatm; for example he says to his companions “Enter the gardens of Heaven and eat their fruits”. They asked him:

-O messenger of Allah, what does ‘the gardens of Heaven and eat their fruits’ mean? 

He answered, “The gardens of Heaven are circles of Dhikr and their fruits are the divine graces resulting from and eat their fruits”. Tirmizi 3580

In the words of our exalted Masters, practices of and direction (a spiritual practice conducted by the sheik in which the heart of a disciple redirected to Allah from other concerns) are mentioned a lot;

Disciples, come to Direction (of heart to Allah)

There is the circle of ar-Rahman

What is the circle of ar-Rahman?

It is the minor form of Teveccuh (Direction of heart to Allah). Teveccuh (Direction of heart to Allah) is the major form of Hatma. However, ladies cannot join the congregation of Teveccuh (Direction of heart to Allah).

Ladies have Hatma; Teveccuh (Direction of heart to Allah) is the same of Hatma for ladies in a way. The difference between the long Hatma and the short Hatma is the same as the difference between Teveccuh (Direction of heart to Allah) and the long Hatma.

The Gardens of Heaven are open then.

The circles, congregations of Dhikr turn into Gardens of Heaven and Rıdvan, servants of Heaven arrive there spiritually, 

Yes, our tariqat is a tariqat of Hatma. Hatma is a great spiritual practice. It is very precious, and you should attach great importance to Hatma. As a matter of fact, there is a Quran verse about Hatma. The number of angels in Arsh Ala is only known to Allah Almighty. Angels were created before human beings.

When Allah Almighty made Adam’s body from earth, there was no blood, color or life in that.  Allah Almighty gave it the present human shape, and ordered angels to prostrate themselves before Adam.  Angels just saw Adam’s outer appearance, and they were reluctant to do so despite Allah Almighty’s command. Angels had some reservations about Adam. Allah told Angels “I am assigning him as my caliph (proxy, successor)”

Angels were still reluctant to prostrate themselves before Adam.

They are almost innumerable, Allah Almighty created so many of angels. They are very keen on following Allah’s commands and they are performing so big services for Allah. All services of all humans wouldn’t outdo even those of only one angel.  Why? It is because they say “suphane rabbiyel azim” for thousands of years when they bow in their prayers.

They never get tired while performing Dhikr. They never sleep, get sick, eat or drink. This is how they perform Dhikr (remembrance) of Allah. Then it is clear that even the religious practices, services of one million humans wouldn’t be a match for those of only one angel.

They are always in service of Allah. They say:

- O, our Lord, we are enough for your service, aren’t we? You have created Adam with deficiencies and you are sending him to the world. He will rebel against you and will not obey you there. He will cause turmoil and shed blood there. However, Allah told the angels:

“"I know what you know not." Bakara 2:30

What would angels know? They saw the body of Adam. They looked at the body of Adam and thought Adam had a lot of shortcomings, he had neither a skill nor a qualification.

However, Allah Almighty meant Adam’s soul not his body. Allah Almighty breathed into Adam from his own spirit.Al-Hicr 15:29  However, Allah Almighty hadn’t breathed into angels from his own spirit. Based on this fact Allah told angels “My angels, do not oppose, I know what you don’t know”. Bakara 2:30 Then, angels asked Allah for his forgiveness "Glory to You, of knowledge We have none, save what You have taught us: In truth it is You Who are perfect in knowledge and wisdom." Bakara 2:32

A lot of angels had been created in tens of thousands until the creation of Adam. They never get less in number. They neither die, nor are they born. They have been created by Allah Almighty. They will exist until the doomsday. They will perish when Raphael sounds a blast on the Trumpet.

So many angels beg Allah saying “O Lord, there’s a light coming from earth, it surrounds us and confuses us. So we can’t recite your Dhikr”.

Allah criticizes these angels just as he criticized those angels opposing Adam.

“Calm down my angels, that light is the light of those reciting my Dhikr.”

Salih Baba also expressed this Quran fact:

When Nakshbandî disciples form up circles of Dhikr

All Heavens, Earths and Arsh start reciting His Dhikr

That’s why Hatma is very valuable in Nakshbandî Sufi way. Be careful, you should cause no hardships for Hatma to be performed. This city, Ankara is a big city. Not everybody has a transportation means. Not everybody can go to far places. Not everybody’s husband lets her go to far places. You should form up groups in every place and perform Hatma.

However, if there are two groups close to each other and if they can perform Long Hatma when they unite, unite and perform Long Hatma.

Someone leaves a group and joins another group.  Why does she join another group?

If she feels herself more pleased there, let her go there, or her arrival makes the performing of Long Hatma there, don’t stop her from joining another group.

However, keep in mind that this is both-sided, it is not one-sided. There is a group of 15 people, if that person causes this group to perform Short Hatma by her departure and decreasing the number of people down to 14, she will suffer spiritual loss instead of a gain. Then, she is supposed to leave her original group. If the group does not get so small as to perform Long Hatma because of departures, then a person may go to another group where she is spiritually more pleased. What counts is for Hatma to be performed by every group. If departures cause Hatma not to be performed in a place, then those who leave and others in the group will suffer a big spiritual harm somehow. This is important. If a group stops performing Hatma because of those who leave the group, both parties will suffer great spiritual losses resulting from this situation. On the other hand, if a person has acquaintances, friends or relatives in another group, and wants to join another group  and  she feels spiritually more pleased and blessed  in that group, let her go, don’t stop her.