From Worship to Love on the Path of the Prophets

May God, the Glorified and Exalted, not allow anyone to be led astray.
(Amen)
Perhaps we must continuously repeat this verse during prostration, just as we do when we supplicate with the Qunut prayer (supplication offered during prayer at a specific point while standing).
‘Our Most Generous Lord, do not let our hearts swerve after You have guided us, and bestow upon us mercy from Your Presence.
Surely You are the All-Bestowing’ (Al Imran, 3:8).
My Lord!
After guiding us to the right path, do not let us go astray.
Do not allow us to suffer or allow us to compromise our ideals because of other worldly goals.
You are the All-Compassionate Who gives gratuitously, the All-Generous, the All-Forgiving, the All-Kind, the All-Bounteous and the All-Merciful, without any expectations.
As you all know very well, one of the constantly recited prayers from the Pride of Humanity, peace and blessings be upon him, is:
‘O God Who transforms all hearts!
Bind my heart to Your religion!’
He, peace and blessings be upon him, charged with a great responsibility; understood his position and rank in the sight of God.
At the same time He was sent with special abilities; the capability and means to look after everyone around him.
But even he would repeat hundreds of times ‘O God Who transforms all hearts!
Bind my heart to Your religion’, a hundred times.
This is what our noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said.
Now as he is the one saying this.
It may have been a requirement for him as a guide; he may also have said it due to his profound scope.
If he is concerned of his own heart being transformed.
He may be saying ‘Do not allow me to be one of the heedless’ for even a ‘fleeting second’, a temporary moment.
While resting, when rising, while sleeping.
Indeed, he says; ‘My eyes sleep, but my heart does not’.
That is to say, even in that state, he is in constant recitation.
What was his scope, his perspective in saying this?
The meaning behind why he says this does not matter, I believe he has provided guidance for those ready for worship.
It’s as if he says, ‘Yes, say it like this!
O God Who transforms all hearts!
Bind my heart to Your religion’, he tells them.
Some of the Companions ask; our mother Aisha also points towards the same question:
‘O Messenger of God, why do you repeat this prayer so much?’
He says, ‘The believer’s heart is held by the two fingers of God’s hand, he changes and shapes it as He pleases’.
These are symbolic or metaphorical expressions:
Yes, one’s heart within the grasp of the All-Just God; He transforms and changes it constantly.
Without realising, a person’s heart may at once be lead astray; may God protect us!
As you are witnessing in our current time.
This era was called ‘The Era of Sufyan’ by “the Owner of Time” (the noble Prophet).
Sufyan was foretold by our noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him.
He also stated: ‘The Last Day will not come before the appearance of thirty Dajjal’s (a possible symbol of multiplicity)’
These are the types of people who believe their own lies as truths.
One may call Dajjal the ‘Extravagant Liar’(Pathological Liar), since the term ‘kazzab’ is used here in the form of exaggeration.
Extravagant liars are such liars that they are unaware they are not telling the truth.
They lie, thinking ‘I am telling the truth’, assuming their lies benefit humanity.
People must request their most significant concerns from God during prostration, the most sincere submission.
In this regard, when we feel closer to God, we must implore for our most vital issues and seek refuge in Him.
We must mention the most crucial matters when we feel the nearest to him.
The hadith that I saw on the digital screen when I was coming in today inspired me:
Our beloved Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, said: ‘A servant is nearest to his Lord when he is in prostration’.
It is the nearest stance and moment to God, for a servant.
‘Feet and head at the same level,
forehead kissing the Prayer mat,
that is the shortest path that takes one to Him.’
If you want to reach God via a shortcut, it is in the moment when you place your head on the ground and your feet at the same level, in a sacred union of feet and head on the ground, where the Prayer mat says ‘I have longed for you, thanks for touching me with your forehead’ and kisses you.
Also if you are crying tears of joy and speak deeply from your heart, like a musician plucking on the strings of an instrument you say:
‘O God, I prostrated for You, believed in You and surrendered to Your will.
My face prostrates to the One that created and shaped it,
You are the most Graceful and Unique, All-Glorified You are,
My eyes, ears, bones, flesh, each and every part of my body carried by these feet obey You, O Lord of the Worlds’.
Consider the following:
He created this mouth, lips, and tongue and created these eyes.
If you calculate the probability analytically, you realise how profound this matter is.
Just for the eyes, the probability would be one in a trillion.
What about the mouth, tongue, and ears?
If you consider the issue in terms of the nose, throat and ears, it is impossible to explain these without attributing them to God the Most Exalted, Who possesses the All-Encompassing Knowledge, Absolute Will and Absolute Decree.
Do you see how futile it is to try to explain these miracles through materialism? Linking these occurrences to natural selection is like being stuck in a dead-end.
It isn’t possible.
I will not delve deep into this topic.
‘Feet and head at the same level, forehead kissing the Prayer mat.’
The meaning of this is:
The blessed Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him says:
‘Make plenty of prayer and supplication when in prostration.’
What is the most important thing for you?
One:
If you were to handle the issue as I do, as a simple servant of God; we wish for our lives in this world to be prosperous, and that in the next world, if possible, hope that God Almighty will place you in a marquee in Paradise while a stream flows beneath your feet.
These are the demands of ordinary people like me.
However, there is something above this:
Many times such people will turn down and obliterate interest in this world while uttering, ‘I desire nothing in this realm’; yet, their minds will remember the islands, the streams, mansions and spouses mentioned in the Qur’an.
God’s Messenger, peace and blessings be upon him, expresses, regarding the beauty and charm of the spouses:
‘If one of the partners unveils her covering to this world, the world will be enlightened from east and west.’
When the blessings of Paradise are mentioned, envy is roused in the individual.
Indeed, a person in deep devotion will also desire such things to a lesser degree and they will perfect their servitude to God and perform their worship with love and enthusiasm as a result.
As mentioned in the Qur’an, ‘Certainly the believers have succeeded,
They who are during their Prayer humbly submissive.
And they who turn away from ill- speech and all that God has forbidden’ (Al-Mu’minun, 23:1-3).
They are opposites; one of them, ‘will offer their Prescribed Prayer with all solemnity and full submissiveness’; and the other, ‘will abstain from falsehood and vain talk.’
Their hearts are trembling.
This trembling will manifest itself in their Prayer.
As the saying goes, ‘If one has an overwhelming feeling of awe and respect for God in their heart, this will manifest in one’s actions’, you can perceive it in their Prayers.
When you draw a picture of it, you shall draw it in a manner of fear and reverence.
You will see God Almighty's favour showered unto them like rain.
This is the ‘servanthood’ perspective.
‘Layla is to Majnun, as Shirin is to Farhad
I am the poor one of a crazy love.
But beyond ‘servanthood’ is the matter of ‘ultimate devotion’. I believe all the Prophets surrendered themselves to such an undertaking in which they flowed towards the ocean of ‘Divine Uniqueness’, ‘Divine Self-sufficiency’, and ‘Divine Unity’.
They wiped away everything from their eyes, until they could only think of Him, may He be Glorified and Exalted.
Neither Paradise nor its treasures entered their minds.
Indeed for some, the delicacies of the hereafter are important; and so that is what they desire.
But some, full of ultimate devotion and loyal love, say:
‘What they call Paradise
is a few palaces, and a few pleasures
granted upon those who desire such,
Yet, You are the One I need; You are the One I desire’. They say these words belong to Yunus Emre.
Many others must have said similar things in the same uprightness.
For instance, Niyazi al-Misri has said:
‘I looked right and left
in order to catch a glimpse of my beloved friend
I looked for Him outside
However, the Soul had been hidden in a soul
‘Listen to the words of Niyazi
nothing can cover the face of the Truth
and there is nothing that is more evident and clear than the Ultimate Truth.
which has become hidden to those who do not want to see.’
Just as creation and things are ultimately known through their opposites, the intensity of the manifestation of God keeps Him hidden, as there is no opposite of Him.
I referred to the plural of ‘thing’ is “things”.
The Divine Essence can also be referred to as ‘thing’.
In Bad’ al-Amali it is said:
‘God is such a “thing” but not in the manner that you consider “things”.’
Yes, they too have captivated their hearts to Him, even if you tried to stop them from doing so.
You can place all the great Messengers in this fold,
and even all of their successors.
For some, “love” will overpower; and they will constantly churn and erupt like lava.
Yet for some, ‘loyalty’ is predominant, that excitement, that feeling, the subjective sensation stirs inside of them, yet, like the noble Abu Bakr, they retain it within themselves and do not reveal it to others.
If you were to perceive their inner worlds, you would see things constantly stirring and boiling much like the flames of the Hellfire.
They are truly devoted to God with such “loyalty”.
This attribute is seen profoundly among women.
The honoured and treasured daughter of the ‘Truthful One’ (Abu Bakr) and the highly esteemed wives of our noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, are among those women.
They call her ‘Aisha the Loyal and Faithful’, but you can call her ‘lover and loyal’ or ‘loyal lover’.
The term ‘the woman who loves’ has never been used.
As though no woman has fallen in love.
However, the love of Shirin to Farhad, Farhad to Shirin, Layla to Majnun, Majnun to Layla, Azra to Wamiq and Wamiq to Azra were all with the same enthusiasm; they were all passionately in love with each other.
There are so many others that are today’s Wamiqs, Azras, Laylas and Majnuns.
However they are passionately in love with plain, simple things.
If someone falls for something, he will be detached from the things for which he should actually fall.
Indeed, they will be passionate about mandatory needs such as eating and drinking.
That said, preventing these desires will mean declaring war on nature.
Of course, these necessities should be realised, however one’s heart should beat for Him only.
The heart should always say, ‘There is no deity but God’, ‘There is no deity but God’, and the bosom should always hear the tones of this phrase.
Muhammed Lütfi Effendi, also known as the Imam of Alvar, used to say this phrase with this tone of voice.
Then his heart used to comply with the rhythm.
Who knows, maybe there are countless people that we are unaware of who are loyal lovers, those who always express Him, even in their breaths.
Those who say, ‘I should breathe in such a way that if someone like Picasso was to portray my breath in abstract, the word “God” should appear’.
And for you, this should be the ultimate goal of your path.
The goal should not be becoming the sultan of the world or the sovereign of a place.
These are very simple and primitive goals.
The primitive goals of people who perform servanthood only as action and imitation.
These people have faith due to the environment in which they were raised, that was essentially open to belief.
These people only live through imitation and emulation.
They prostrate however are unaware of the consciousness of placing one's forehead to the ground.
They bow down where they start making plans on how they can deceive others.
They say; ‘’This is the perfect time to think about these’ and believe that their brain will work better at this time and sacrifice the moment they are closest to God.
While standing before (Him) in respect and admiration, they would pursue worldly matters.
O those miserable ones.
Those who go forth like this will run and run then stumble while on the right path.
However, the ones whose hearts beat for the sake of God will constantly go forward and elevate, by God’s leave.
In other words, as they strive to overcome themselves, they will travel great distances.
He is closer to us, than we are to Him.
‘There is nothing that is more evident and clear than the Ultimate Truth,
He says:
‘We are nearer to him than his jugular vein.’ (Qaf, 50:15)
‘I am nearer to mankind than their jugular vein.’
Yes, being far from Him belongs to us.
Human desires, carnal feelings, lustful sensations, worldly-minds, grudges and hatred are the feelings that distance us from Him, may He be glorified and exalted.
Although He is near, the nearest to us, we force ourselves to be distant.
What we need to do is overcome that distance and come nearer to the Near One, may He be glorified and exalted, Who is nearer to the hearts than the jugular vein, and to perceive Him in this nearness.
And prostration is where this nearness is expressed most beautifully—it is a representation of ‘ultimate devotion’, ‘servanthood’ and ‘worship’ to God.
Now, everyone will ask for what is most important to them while prostrated.
As I mentioned:
Those at the ‘worship’ level will ask for Him, those at the ‘servanthood’ level will ask for Him, and those at the ‘ultimate devotion’ level will ask for Him too.
In other words, if we are to personalise these levels, the worshipers will seek Him, the ascetic devotees will seek Him, and the lovers will also seek Him.
Those who compare the latter two (the ascetic devotees and lovers) say:
‘It is Paradise that the ascetic devotee desires in his heart,
The lover, with a pounding heart, desires only the Beloved Owner of Hearts.’
The ascetic devotee repeatedly says ‘Paradise’ at every step.
The other (the lover having the knowledge of God) however says, ‘What need do I have for Paradise if I cannot witness His Countenance and reach His good pleasure?’
In our prayers, both with our verbal speech and the speech of our mind and soul, we must always and foremost ask for His good pleasure and the quest to exalt the Word of God, which is the most important opportunity for His pleasure.
In terms of our relationship with God, we must ask Him what is most important to us during our prostrations, where our wishes and desires are responded to.
This is what we must seek at the place where requests are definitely responded to.
The paramount issue for you today is:
For the purposes of exalting the Word of God, say, ‘My God, enable us to perform and succeed in what You love and what pleases You’.
‘God, allow us to succeed in carrying Your Exalted Name to all corners of the world and raising it like a banner.’
At the moment, there are some who are disturbed by this and are trying to hamper those who are dedicated to this quest.
My God, do not give those miserable heedless ones the opportunity.
They are trying to defame the Hizmet volunteers by using various labels such as ‘terrorist organisation’ and in various places paying people in order to slander Hizmet volunteers and hurt this endeavour.
But if you are devoted to this quest, if you say, ‘We want nothing except for the Exalted Name of God be waved like a flag or banner in minarets taller than minarets’, and ‘We want nothing except for the exalted name of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, to be waved like a flag wherever we go’, and ‘We have customs and traditions based on these important fundamentals and we must showcase them to others’, you must express these wishes to God when you are closest to him, and seek His protection from those who are trying to block these efforts.
In various Muslim countries different customs and traditions have appeared based on Islam.
You too have traditions and customs based on Islam.
And maybe, most of the people around the world are unaware of this.
Nowadays, when they hear your name, when the public is aware of your existence, people are curious about you and they want to know you better.
Yesterday there were guests here from overseas.
They were from a little known place, a country when you hear its name, you say, ‘Oh, is there such a country?’
In the morning they wanted to join the class so came and sat here.
But believe me they looked and felt as if they had come and gone to the mosque with you for the last 50 years and prostrated in the same congregation as you did.
They respect all of your core values and they try their best to prevent your values from being damaged.
These people have faced pressure to close your institutions almost 50 times. However, they have crossed their arms and said—just like the master Necip Fazil—‘This is a dead end,’ ‘You cannot harm these people’.
Their women have said the same, their men have said the same, and they have all said the same things.
Now that people have started to know you this well, I feel that, when you prostrate you should ask for it through whether inner speech or verbal speech.
The concepts of inner and verbal speech are put forth by Yahya ibn Ma’in.
A contemporary of Ahmad ibn Hanbal
He is also the Hadith teacher of Imam Bukhari, Imam Muslim, Abu Dawud and Ahmad ibn Hanbal.
At that time, Ahmad ibn Hanbal is being whipped continuously so that he may say that the ‘Qur’an is a creature’.
Muslims are torturing him, forcing him to say that the Qur’an is a creature.
So that he may accept that the Qur’an is something that has been created, a creation of God.
However, the Qur’an is pre-eternal speech; it is not a creation in this sense.
In order to be saved from this situation, Yahya ibn Ma’in uses ijtihad (reasoning).
His reasoning may be flawed.
He says ‘As verbal speech and in the manner that it is written as a book, the Qur’an is a creature.’
‘However in terms of its origin,’ he says, ‘as it is revealed through Gabriel or directly to the heart of the noble Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, which is a polished mirror to the Divine Message, it is not a creature.’
Ahmad ibn Hanbal could not tolerate such a judgement and felt more saddened by his friend’s statements than the countless wounds inflicted upon his body due to the tortures he was going through.
He considered it a compromise. ‘Oh no!’ he exclaims, ‘Oh no!’
A compromise has been made in this issue.
However, Yahya ibn Ma’in makes his own judgement
And I would imagine that you too may have seen nothing worthy of objection while I tried to convey this opinion to you.
But Ahmad ibn Hanbal is so respectful to his own core values that he does not want to compromise at all.
True guides are the ones who do not expect anything in return for their service and walk the right path ahead of everybody else.
We are reading Imam al-Ghazali’s The Revival of the Religious Sciences.
While he was considering the topics, you can look at the issues from his perspective of ‘abstinence’.
When you reach out for something, for instance, ask yourself, ‘Is this glass mine?
Is this plate mine?
Was this tea mine?
Did I pay for this water?’
When you come across a book that you once gave to somebody, when you see it in their room; you should ponder, ‘Can I take this book?’
It was once yours, but it has now become their property.
‘Am I allowed to lay my hand on this?’
Do not have suspicion when reaching out for it.
Abstinence...
The point is to approach these kinds of things in a sensitive manner.
That is a step, an ascension from servanthood to ultimate devotion.
When you don’t satisfy the requirements of one, you cannot jump up to the next level.
Going back, from that perspective, what you have done are the things that the Prophets accomplished.
That is why it is called ‘the path of the Prophets’.
Because, the Prophets never expected anything in return for what they did.
Those people who tried to make sacred aims linked to worldly gains have never been successful, and what they were able to organise did not last for too long.
As it is alluded to in the Qur’an through many verses with little variation, they embodied the message of ‘My reward is not but from God’.
Habib an-Najjar mentions the same thing in the Chapter Ya-Sin:
Follow those who ask of you no wage (for their service), and are themselves rightly guided’ (Ya-Sin, 36:21).
They walk on the path of salvation, on the path of the Prophets and at the same time they do not expect anything in return.
If they joined this service with the shirt on their backs, they should act with such dignified contentment to the extent that people would say, ‘He doesn’t have burial shroud, shall we bury him with this shirt?’ when they pass from this world.
‘Let God take my soul, destroy me if I will reap anything of worldly value in the service to God.’
Acting with this consideration in mind!
I’m not talking about using the sacred for worldly gains, but if you are on the path of God, you should not expect anything in return for your service.
If you say, in return for your service, ‘Let it provide me a roof over my head!
Let me have a car, an armoured car; a couple of armoured cars!’ and if you go further, like Nimrod, and say, ‘Let me have a castle!’
If you say, ‘Let me have a mansion everywhere I go!’, and have tied your service to such worldly gains, you have abandoned the path of the Prophets.
You do not realise that you are following the footsteps of the accursed Satan.
You are following Satan.
Even though you may visit the mosque every once in a while, you are unaware that you are following the accursed Satan.
The Qur’an provides a measure:
‘They walk on the path of the Prophets and do not want anything from you in return.’
If you have set out on this path with a pure intention, even if you do not reach your target, in the hereafter God will reward you as if you have done so; because pure intentions fill the gaps in your deeds.
If you protect this intention, you will realise the horizons you aimed for.
Even if you do not reach them completely, you will be rewarded as if you did.
The intention of a believer is better than their deeds.
Remember the first hadith of Bukhari.
Who is the first to narrate this hadith from our noble Prophet?
Noble Umar ibn al-Khattab.
The hadith became famous with the narrator Yahya ibn Sa’id al-Ansari.
‘Actions are judged by intentions, and a person will get a reward according to the intention.
Whoever’s emigration is for God and His Messenger, and then his emigration is for God and His Messenger.
Whoever’s emigration is for some worldly gain which he can acquire or a woman he will marry, then his emigration is for that for which he emigrates.’
If the intention is God, He will be reached.
God will fill in the shortcomings of His servant.
He will say, ‘My servant, you did all of this under the pressure of your carnal desires.
In reality, you were going to cover a distance of ten metres, but ended up only covering five.
I am covering up the remaining distance with My grace.
I am allowing you to reach that pinnacle.’
This is the requirement of God’s mercy.
God is not compelled:
‘No action that is of benefit to the servant is an obligation for God, the Supreme and Exalted, the Holy and True guide.’
This is from Bad’ al-Amali again.
Those who attribute all human acts and accomplishments to themselves by denying God any part in them say, ‘God is obliged to create good’, I ask forgiveness from God!’
‘And God does whatever He wills’ (Ibrahim, 14:27); ‘Assuredly, God decrees as He wills’ (Al-Maeda, 5:1).
Nothing is obligatory for God.
But as an element of His ample blessings, He fills the gaps in the actions of the believer with the believer’s intentions.
An example; our noble Prophet’s statement:
You have observed the Night Prayer.
You slept with the intention of getting up at night.
Every breath of air you take in your sleep becomes like reciting glorifications.
Until the morning...
The following is the last hadith of Bukhari.
‘There are two statements which are light on the tongue but heavy on the Scale, pleasing in the eyes of the All-Merciful.
These are:
‘Glory be to God and all praise be to Him; glory be to God, the All-Magnificent.’
There are two statements which are quite light in speech.
As you can see, these are really easy to pronounce.
But profound in weight when placed on the Scale.
May God protect us but if we arrive there on that day with tons of sins; sins of the eyes, of the ear, mouth, walking to evil, reaching for the evil, thinking or planning of evil.
The sins have arrived; they are placed on the scale.
However, something unknown and unexpected that looks like an arm patch; lands on the other side of the Scale.
And all of a sudden, the side that seemed so full with the sins rises and the other descends.
You are going to say, ‘My God, what is this?’ This is the glorification, ‘Glory be to God and all praise be to Him; glory be to God, the All-Magnificent.’
Because these two sentences are greater than everything else on the Scale.
In fact, in another of the most noble Prophet’s sayings (the hadith of the Bitaqa), it is mentioned that the declaration that weighs heavy on the Scale is ‘There is no deity but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God’.
Our noble Prophet depicts one's state on the Day of Judgement as follows.
Their sins weigh exceptionally heavy, then an unknown entity gets placed on the other side of the Scale.
This time, the side that first weighed heavy rises up.
The servant says, ‘O Lord, what is this?’; Almighty God says;
‘That is acknowledgment for the “There is no deity but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God” that you have repeated.’
With excitement, feeling and the sincere sound of heart chords being struck with a plectrum of faith, ‘There is no deity but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God’.
This is it; this is heavier than anything on this earth.
When you sleep with that intention, every breath of air you take in your sleep becomes a glorification; such as ‘Glory be to God and all praise be to Him; glory be to God, the All-Magnificent.’ or ‘God is the All-Great, much praise be to God, and glory be to God at the beginning and end of the day’.
This again belongs to him, peace and blessings be upon him.
Or ‘Glory be to my Lord, the All-Magnificent’.
Just like we repeat while bowing in Prayer.
Or ‘Glory be to my Lord, the Most High’, as we repeat in prostration and in remembrance.
Since these are all prayers and recitations of the noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, they may all be referred to.
And it will be recorded as if you spent the entire night glorifying God.
Thus, the time spent sleeping, is a moment of emptiness in your lives; in fact it is a dark line.
However God, may He be glorified and exalted, in effect is saying:
‘I do not want (such) a dark line, or time in the life of My servant.
He remembered Me, and then slept,
he slept with the intention of waking and remembering Me.
I am removing that dark line also, I am drawing a bright line there; I am drawing a bright line.’ ‘My mercy prevails over My wrath.’ ‘My Mercy embraces all things’ (Al-A’raf, 7:156).
That is what is expected of Him.
Hence with the prayers and recitations of the noble Prophet, peace and blessing be upon him, it is open to debate.
‘In a manner suitable to Your grandeur, a manner suitable to Your infinite mercy, O God; distinguish us with Your blessings’ it is said.
Finally, they made the event in Norway propaganda material; how bewildering, without even considering their position or feeling ashamed, some people are partnering in the slander.
Also these great works you are doing on the path of the Prophets, God willing, don’t think God will nullify them; don’t let the thought cross your mind.
If we die and die on this path and are resurrected.
If we die a few times each day, and are resurrected a few times again.
This humble man is deprived of that blessing, if they deprive you of your partners, and deprive your partners of you.
If they deprive your children from their parents, and deprive parents from their children.
In my opinion, I think it is worth it for the sake of the path you are on.
Our masters, may God be pleased with them, when they left everything they had in Mecca, they left in this manner, walked to God like this.
They walked to God on the path of the Prophets.
Behind the Pride of Humanity, peace and blessings be upon him, who was walking towards the dominion of Thawr, they walked to God.
And God did not leave them empty handed, nor abandon them.
One day they returned with relative ease, they entered their true homeland; however since ‘Yathrib’, became ‘Medina’, the center of civilisation, going back to their Helper brothers in Medina became a compulsory act of loyalty.
They returned to their Helper brothers, and let their lives pass there.
Aside from those that had duties.
Those who had duties were left there, so they could teach Islam.
And in this way the world was forever changed by Islam by the era of the noble Umar.
How much time after?
After our noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, migrated, ten years.
If you count the noble Abu Bakr’s as three years, 13 years.
The noble Umar’s ten years, about ten years.
23 years, in 23 years...
Look in 23 years, we haven’t been able overcome the issue of terrorism in one of the corners of our country.
We have at our disposal tanks, planes and trained soldiers.
May God bless and support them.
Someone with a big mouth goes and says, ‘An organisation named F... may have planned what has happened in Norway’.
‘They have planned it!’
The man is openly stating this in front of his own country.
What a shameless person!
One could show some shame in light of their authority and position.
Sometimes, it’s about your rank.
For someone who is entering the mosque in the back rows and committing improper actions, this sort of behavior can be expected from that person, since they have entered last.
However, the congregation will turn around to someone who takes their place behind the Imam and acts inappropriately and will say, ‘You should be ashamed!’
They will say, ‘You are behind the Imam and you take the first row; is this worthy of you?’
If in the future when you come across those people who are blackening their lives in this world and the next, and you notice them crippled and hobbled, may I plead that you greet them with the charity of your smiles?
For now, let them burn and suffer in the emptiness of their current state. With God’s permission and grace, you have succeeded with your pure intentions.
Yes, and when you get there, say, ‘In response, our Lord is God’, recognise his authority and the angels will descend on those who follow the correct path.
‘Those angels will protect them in this world. They will become their friend in the Hereafter and give them tidings: Do not worry of the sins you have committed in this world. Rejoice, for you have been granted Paradise’ (Al-Fussilat, 30:41).
From the grave onwards...
The descent of the angels...
It’s called ‘descending’; the angels will gradually descend.
‘O Lord, let us go down and greet them.’
Just as citizens may line up to greet the representatives of government...
‘Our Lord is God,’ they said, and they fulfilled the requirements.
They then marched to the horizons of their spirits.
The angels descend reciting.
You know how they sometimes crowds applaud people, sing anthems and folk songs for them.
Do not get caught up in fear, do not worry.
We are giving you the glad tidings of what was promised to you and you are being blessed with Paradise.
Glad tidings to you!
You are on the path of Paradise that God has promised you with.
This is what they are going to say.
And when you look back and remember the challenges that you were burdened with, you will see that they are like a wing on the back of a fly.
As you know, the blessed hadith states:
‘If the world’s value was even as much as the wing of a fly, a person who denied God would not even be able to drink a sip of water.’
When it comes to those who oppress you, they are chewing away at their afterlife and bringing it to a hopeless end in this world.
They are destroying it through backbiting.
Through lies.
Through slander.
They are destroying their afterlife by demolishing mosques.
By demolishing schools.
By closing down schools.
By torturing people.
They are destroying their own afterlife, these miserable people!
However, to those people who do all this evil to you, you will do one last good.
I absolutely believe with all of my soul.
Relying on your sincerity and purity,
I believe because you have remained straight on God’s path, because you have submitted to God and God alone.
I believe by looking at you that
one day when those people see that all they have struggled for vanishes from their hands, either in this world or the next, I believe that you will continue to act in accordance with your character.
Once those downcast and wounded people turn to you in shame, either in this world or the next, this humble man requests you:
Although I do not know if I have a right to request this much from you, or whether this request would mean anything in the sight of God,
I request that you do not hold back your smiles from them.
Do not make plans of committing evil against them neither in this world nor the Hereafter in response to the evil they committed against you.
Do not dirty your hearts with such thoughts in this world.
Since you are on the path of the great Messengers, peace be upon them, take their good conduct and manners as your example, and do not hold back your magnanimity from them in the afterlife.
This is what your character requires.
God who has made you persevere in this matter, has surely made you achieve proper humanity, and elevated you to the perfect pattern of creation.
In my opinion, this is the required behavior.
Act as such both in this world and the next, through the consent and grace of God.