Finer Points in Character
Who is the creator of the Universe? Allah is the creator (Allahu Khaliqu Quli Shayyin). Allah Almighty created everything and He is the creator of everything and He knows about everything. Among the creatures only mankind has been honoured to be “Muhaata” to Allah Almighty. “Muhaata” means that they have been honoured by Divine adressings from Allah Almighty. “Ya Ayyuhal Insanu,” that honour is only for mankind. This is endless honour. Allah Almighty gave us endless honour with this divine addressing. No one can give a value to that addressing: “Ya Ayuhal Insanu”. No creatures other than mankind are going to be addressed by the Divine Presence. Yes, that is endless honour for mankind, reaching from Pre eternity upto Eternity.
Allah Almighty gives such honour only to mankind. However mankind is not honouring each other but instead they are asking dishonour for each other and trying to bring each other down. Allah Almighty likes His servants to give respect and honour for each other. Therefore as much as you can, try to respect and honour people. Allah Almighty will never say enough or stop giving honour. This is because He gave mankind endless honour.
What is our capacity to give honour? On earth you have been given one name. In the first heaven (Awwal Sama) you have been called by another name and in the second heaven with yet another name, all for the sake of Tashreeq, all for the purpose of honouring. On the Day of Promises, He addressed our souls with seven names (Youm alas Rabbikum). Everyone has seven names. Your name is only for you. Only one name is common for the whole of mankind; that name is Abdullah(Servant of Allah) . Everyone is named as Abdullah, and women they are named Amatullah (female servant of Allah). These names never change. The other six names are different to each other. Therefore I am saying that through the seven heavens we have been given one name, Tashreefa, just to be honoured.
Allah Almighty orders us to do worship and to do Ibadath (good actions). For what reason does Allah Almighty order us to do this? It is for us to reach to our heavenly stations. By means of the physical body alone it is impossible to reach to the heavens. You need spiritual power for that. For example if man does not have an aeroplane, he cannot fly. By himself alone he cannot do it. The plane too needs power to fly, and without this power planes cannot fly.
In the same way your souls need spiritual power to reach heavenly stations and every kind of obedience, worship, ubudiya (servanthood) gives man power. By means of this power our souls can also fly. However, we are wasting it, and therefore we cannot make use of it, because of our committing sins. For example it is like a pot with holes being filled with water. The water goes out through the holes, big sins make big holes and small sins make small holes, taking away that water from the pot. In the same way you, by your sins, are wasting away that power that you are taking from your worshipping. So you must take care to cover these holes. When you know that you are going to commit a sin you must say “Astaghfirulla,Astaghfirulah tubthu darajathu illallah”, “Oh my Lord I am asking you forgiveness”. Then this gets locked and is prevented. When this happens, there may be still another sin and yet another coming up. So many of them. If you do not take care all the power that you get from worshipping will be escaping you and you may not be able to keep that power with you. Therefore to be able to keep that power with you is more important than worshipping.
That is why you find that most Awliya (saints) and holy men escape to the mountains, the deserts, and the jungles, so that they may commit less sins and thereby keep their spiritual power. In doing so they undergo difficult conditions, for it is not easy to be living alone on mountains, jungles and deserts. But this is only for a while and then after taking and saving spiritual power they may fly over jungles, over deserts and oceans, they may walk on air and walk on oceans and with one step traverse deserts. Their steps may reach from East to West and from Earth to Heavens. Allah Almighty orders us to worship so that we can gain spiritual power. Allah Almighty is not in need of our worship. If our worshipping is not even enough for us to increase our spiritual power, what can our worship give to Him? All the angels and the whole of creation is in worship and in glorification of Him everlastingly and eternally. What then are we giving to an endless Ocean with a drop? The glorifying of all the creatures and angels and nature and man is only a drop in this endless and bottomless ocean in comparison to the endless and everlasting oceans of glory of Almighty Allah.
Mankind is so proud of worship. Maybe we are doing for half an hour Ruku, or for half an hour Sajda. For what purpose is this? Is it to make our worship better and to give more glory to Almighty Allah! Asthafirullah. Yes we are looking at ourselves and feeling very proud that we are doing long Ruku and Sajda, thinking that we are making it better and better. Therefore I do not like to do long Ruku and Sajda. The Prophet (Sal) therefore only said “ubhanallahi Wabihamdihi, Subhalahil aleem”, three times. That was his duration of the sajda. But I have been praying in so many places and it takes so long, that Imam is perhaps saying it ten times, twelve times, fifteen times and yet he is in Sajda. The Prophet (Sal) was saying it three times only. Particularly when you are praying with Jamaah, you must be lighter.
Rasoolullah (Sal) has knowledge of every fine point of the characteristic of our Egos. Our Egos tell us when we make a prayer of two rakaats that it should last for half and hour or more so as to to make ourselves proud and call ourselves the best ones. Shaitan makes us accept that we have done the best prayer and to make us declare that it was the best worship from us. If a person says that I did the best worshipping, I did my best prayer he must say “Asthagfirullah”. Every time that you think or declare this way you must say “Asthagfirullah”. For it is never the best to be given to the Divine Presence.
Yes, sometimes we are entering into sins through our worship because we are proud of our worship. This retards our progress towards the heavens. Therefore we need a controller over us. Now supersonic aeroplanes are fully automatic. Or are they? Is there a pilot controlling it? If he is not controlling it, why is he sitting there? Even though the plane is fully automatic yet it is in need of a pilot for controlling it. In the same way although you may be fully automatic in your prayers, yet you are in need of a pilot to guide you and control you. Therefore we are in need of a Sheikh (spiritual guide). The sheikh knows the finer points of our Egos which are in need of correction.
Today new fashioned Muslims are giving fully automatic power to everyone. They are denying and cursing to let a Sheikh control them because of their Egos. It is their Egos that are cursed. They say that holy books alone are enough. Fully automatic. But it is not enough without a controller. Those foolish people quote Quran. Sunnah, Quran Sunnah and Kitab Sunnah. What about the pilot? No pilot.
Do you think that you are doing and knowing your best through Kitab and Sunnah only, without having some one to look after and control you? Almighty Allah says to His Prophet (Sal) “Wa sahabi amfil amar”, that is to control the Sahaba. Everyone knows to read the Holy Quran and Holy Hadis. So many priests and so many professors they too are reading Holy Quran and Holy Hadis, but what is the benefit they derive from it? Therefore we are asking from Allah Almighty for good understanding and to give us some one to control our actions and our worship. Yes like students who do their homework and the teacher who goes through it. These people are not even intelligent as these students who at least have their homework corrected.
Yes these people are so proud of the way they are following and it is the way of Shaitan. Shaitan was fully automatic, and Allah Almighty asked him to take Adam (alai) as his pilot. He rejected this. He said “I won’t accept Adam (alai) as controller over me. I won’t carry any one to be above me” that is the pride that destroyed Shaitan or Iblis. Likewise these people say that they are able to read and understand what is in the Holy Quran and they say that only they may look and that they may understand and that they are not in need of a controller. May Allah forgive and bless us.